Welcome to the first Head’s weekly review for the new academic year. It has been wonderful to see everyone’s excitement, whether new to Roedean or returning, at coming together as part of our community. We are delighted to share that 22.4% of all A Level grades have been awarded A*, our second best results in over a decade, and that 54.8% were at A*- A, showing a second year of improvement in the number of top grades. And a heartfelt congratulations to all students on achieving excellent GCSE examination results. Across 1000 GCSE examinations, the majority of grades were at the highest possible Grade 8 or 9 level, and a third achieved the top 9 grade. This represents the highest ever proportion at this level in the School’s history, with 51.3% at Grades 9-8, and 32.3% at Grade 9. We are also pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted for three different categories as part of the Independent School Parent magazine's Independent School of the Year awards: Girls School of the Year, Performing Arts School of the Year and Rising Star Award. The winners of each category will be announced in October, but shortlisting is, in itself, a wonderful accolade for Roedean. In other news, we are thrilled that two new ambassadors will be joining Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh, our Olympic Champion Sports Ambassadors, this term. OR Anabela Chan (No.1, 1995 – 2003), who is an incredibly successful jewellery designer, will be the School’s Ambassador for the Creative Arts, and Dr Suzie Imber, Professor of Space Physics at Leicester University, who will be our STEM Ambassador. And finally, congratulations to Amelie H (Yr11), Laila E (Yr9), and India H (Yr8) who all qualified to compete in the most prestigious event of the street dance calendar, the United Dance Organisation (UDO) World Street Dance Championships, which were held this year in Blackpool in August. They danced over 4 days, and won through to the finals. The weekend was electrifying, with teams from over 35 countries around the world competing.