He started by asking everyone what the most important quality of a friend was. The first answer he got was as good as any and was delivered by one of our very youngest pupils. “Someone who makes you happy!” Well I think one could spend several decades living life and not get so swiftly to the nub of the matter. My favourite answer though was to another question “Who was Jesus’s best friend?” It is Petertide when the Church remembers the greatest of all the Apostles, St Peter, Jesus’s closest companion and I suspect this was the answer to the question that The Revd Kerr was expecting. However one of the congregation had other ideas – no sooner had the question been asked than a tiny voice echoed round the Cathedral - “Me!”. Now there is a response which shows profound theological insight! As the sermon drew to a close, The Revd Kerr flung his jacket off to reveal that he was wearing an L Plate on his back i.e. one of those signs that learner drivers put on the back of their cars. He was, he said, a learner, that there was a great deal more about life that we all needed to understand. We are all learners. This seemed to me to be a very good lesson to remember at the end of a school year. We are all life-time learners!

We have only recently learnt that the Bishop of Oxford has appointed The Revd Philippa White as his personal chaplain. Philippa is, of course, the Cathedral Precentor and our school Chaplain. She has been so for several years now and has made a huge impact on the pupils in the school, speaking to them every week, attending our Friday services week by week, making herself available to boys and staff, providing us with biscuits at moments of particular busyness and preparing a large number of pupils for confirmation and baptism. Indeed we had a beautiful confirmation service on Tuesday where three boys were confirmed and one baptised. We will miss her warmth and sunny good nature hugely but are delighted for her to have been called to perform such an important role in the diocese.

Next week will be exceptionally busy. I very much hope that you will all be able to attend some of the lovely events planned. On Tuesday afternoon between 2.00 and 3.30 we have an Enterprise Day to which all pupils and parents are invited. Stalls will be set up to enjoy on the fields. All pupils have been plotting ways to make some money which will be donated to charity. On Wednesday we have a fantastic double bill of Macbeth on the fields and the friends and Family concert in the William Walton Hall with time for a picnic in between. These will be delightful occasions (if a play involving a power-hungry murderer and three fearful witches can be described as delightful!) Finally there is Speech Day and the Leavers’ concert in the Cathedral on Friday afternoon. It would be wonderful if you could all be there to celebrate another happy year in the School’s long history.

Tonight Michal Crooks, the incomparable Chair of the Parents’ Association, is hosting an evening drinks on Merton Field at the new Pavilion. I look forward very much to seeing a number of you there. Here indeed is proof that the Pavilion is already proving its worth.

Have a wonderful weekend!