I’m still on a high! I have just spent the afternoon in the Cathedral at the House Music Competition. Our adjudicator was the excellent Mr Wilderspin, Head of Music at St Paul’s School in West London. He spoke about each individual finalist with great insight, and warmth, deploying humour wonderfully.

The extraordinary 19 Century Oxford poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, in a sonnet entitled Spring, wrote:

 “Nothing is so beautiful as Spring

When weeds in wheels grow long and lovely and lush.”

The last few days have been a kaleidoscope of vibrantly coloured activities. I sit here writing, feeling almost dizzy with the experience of it all.

It was tremendous to see so many of you in the Cathedral this morning to welcome the Dean of Westminster, The Very Revd David Hoyle. I love the fact that parents come to the Cathedral and I would like to say again how very welcome you are.

Today I took some steps which I never thought I would take; they were across the threshold of the new Pavilion. To say that I felt like Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon - “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” - is to exaggerate the moment, but it certainly felt pretty monumental!

Our speaker today in Cathedral Assembly was The Revd Canon Professor Andrew Davison, Regius Professor of Divinity at Christ Church. He talked to us about the importance of caring about what sort of person you are, and directed our attention to the cardinal virtues which are pictured on the floor of the Quire in the Cathedral, and are well worth having a look at.