We marked the halfway point of the session with a Vintage Circus-themed party at the distinguished Randolph Hotel in the centre of Oxford. Students used their afternoon free time to get ready — resident artist and Junior Dean Zoe transformed students and staff alike into lion-tamers, ringmasters, and clowns happy and sad with a few deft daubs of face-paint.

At the Randolph, students were treated to an assortment of pre-dinner delights, as they sampled candy floss and colourful mocktails, and took turns at the coconut shy. Dinner in the Randolph ballroom was a sumptuous affair, with a choice of chicken in Parma ham or ricotta gnocchi, and a spread of no fewer than four delectable desserts. After dinner, students competed to be named “King of the Hammer”, and threw some serious shapes on the dancefloor to the musical stylings of Ed Sheeran, Shakira and the Chainsmokers. We have it on good authority that students flopped straight into their beds on returning to Yarnton Manor, exhausted after the evening’s exertions. They also insisted to their Counsellors that next Friday’s Graduation party be extended so as to allow more time for dancing away the farewell tears.