My colleague Helen Pemberton sent me this e-mail about Horsforth School...

"Hi Chris, When you're next on your visits to schools Horsforth would be a good place to go. The Head of Science there, David Mulvaney, has been working with students this year to enter a rocket building competition. The team won the UK event by designing and building a rocket which had to fly to 215m carrying 2 eggs and return them safely to the ground. As part of the prize the team won a trip to Washington DC. They will also be launching in direct competition with the US winners at Farnborough Air show at the end of this month. On the strength of the success in the competition they have also been invited to take part in an Aerospace Summer School at Cranfield University and the Ritsumeikan Science Fair in Japan in October this year. Also the music department are taking a group of 40 students to Holland for five days from this weekend to play at different locations. They're taking a number of different groups including a samba band, a choir, an orchestra, a swing band and a jazz band. There is always a lot going on at Horsforth which they are often quite modest about, but as the first school to face the new Ofsted framework it is now preparing for the second Ofsted under the new framework. They have much to be very proud of and should be in a position to go for outstanding so any support you can give would be great - a visit would really help acknowledge what they're doing. Thanks, Helen"

It is wonderful to hear from colleagues like Helen about some of the fantastic things happening in schools across the city. Horsforth School is a great school with a great headteacher leading a great team and I look forward to getting there next term.
Chris