We close the book on another successful English Literature class as Year 13 reach the final chapter in their A-Level studies.

Their well-thumbed and dog-eared copies of Beloved, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Waiting for Godot, Hamlet, The Wife of Bath, The Great Gatsby and A View from the Bridge will be consigned to bookcases; unlike Dorian, our alumni will age and as adults they will pull out these worn volumes and reminisce over their sixth form days whilst attempting to decipher scrawly annotations in margins.

It has been a pleasure teaching the class. Donel, Shayo, Yaqub, JC, Rosheka, Hadil, Humayra and Celia were excellent students who brought fresh perspectives to our much-loved texts.

We will miss them and wish them all the best for the future – and we are delighted that two students, Hadil and Rosheka, have chosen to study English at university.

In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald: “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther”!

Miss Pearson and Miss Maprayil