We have completed one year together as Helsinki House. For those of you who knew the old school buildings and routine, things are very different now. It took some getting used to but I was very impressed with the way Helsinki students adapted so quickly, coped with being shifted out of our house space by a broken dividing wall and cooperated to ensure we still had a smooth start to the year.

In fact, throughout the school year you have all made our house meetings run smoothly. It takes care and cooperation for nearly 200 people to get into a small space for a short, productive meeting then get back out without wasting any of that valuable lunchtime. Many of you have contributed to your form's assemblies and, without exception, they have been worthwhile.

I look forward to form assemblies; they vary enormously but invariably get my vote of appreciation. It's that variety which makes form assemblies an interesting feature. One week we can be informed about a fascinating area of psychology and the next week find ourselves plunged into a wonderful art installation. My thanks to all of you who made that happen.

I have no doubt that you are a generous bunch too. Helsinki students consistently gave more than the minimum on non-uniform days and put a great deal of effort into raising extra cash for good causes such as Comic Relief.
From the point of view of Helsinki charities, your votes last September resulted in our sponsoring a wolf at the WildWood charity for a whole year and a marvelous £249.55 donation to the NSPCC.

You have also risen to the challenge in numerous inter-house competitions where there have been some real unsung heroes throughout the year; particularly in year seven who seemed to have a never-ending stream of quizzes to attend.

However, the highlight of the year for me came right at the end. Two events demonstrated the talents of Helsinki House.
The first was our convincing win on sports day when we left everyone in no doubt of the power of our cooperative determination. We have some exceptional sportspeople but they are nothing on sports day if not roundly supported by the whole house.
And lastly, during House Project Week I was encouraged by so many of you taking our theme and working together (often with people and year groups you had never spoken to before) to produce such brilliant and professional presentations on the final afternoon.

In a few days we pick up where we left off in July and I am sure you will join me in looking forward to an even better year.