Head Student Review

Sophie

My name is Sophie and I was one of the most recent head students. Studying in the last year has been challenging but manageable with the right support. When I was working at home, the regular zoom classes were invaluable for keeping me on track. This was reinforced with frequent email exchanges between myself, other students and most importantly our teachers. Most of them were really great at supporting our learning, trying to keep it as normal as we could but also allowing us the breathing room required for the adjustments that come with working from home. For example, you could ask for extensions on projects if something stopped you from being able to complete the work- e.g. sharing a computer with siblings. This was also accompanied with a healthy dose of humour that made the whole thing more enjoyable, with us sharing our experiences of working from home. We then came back for the few months before Christmas which was a nice grace period where we were gently reintroduced to what it was like to see other humans in the flesh again. This was, however, one of the hardest periods academically and socially, with the step up from AS Levels to A Levels being obvious, and with the lockdowns continuing outside of the classroom meaning that we couldn’t have much of a distraction when we got home.

The uncertainty surrounding examinations during these times was also emotionally exhausting as we didn’t know what we would be expected to do at the end of the year. There was also the threat of all our class work possibly being used as evidence for our grades, putting extreme pressure on us to perform constantly. This was eased somewhat by the school’s promise to do what was in our best interest, should it be left to the school to decide? I also want to mention the excellent communication between the head teacher, Mr Collins, and the parents. My parents and I would receive an email the same day as any announcements which would usually summarise what the announcement meant for us and what Mr Collins and the staff intended to do to support us. This was very helpful for us both and put our minds at ease.

It was eventually decided by the government that we would have the in-school testing and assessments. This came as somewhat of a relief as we would be tested by people with our best interests at heart, but it was also quite scary as it meant that there was no real room for error. The teachers would do their best, but this would mean taking a lot more assessments and earlier than in previous years. I was predicted an A in criminology, a grade 6 in anthropology, and a B in geography. This was above the requirements of my chosen course of Ancient History at the University of Reading which was reassuring, but also meant that the pressure was on for these exams. We went into these exams knowing that we had to provide the evidence that we were already at the grade level we were going for, as the school had made it clear that they would not be able to give us grades that we had not already proved were the level we were currently at. Whilst I believe this was probably the fairest way for teachers to assign grades, I do feel that it didn’t consider the stress and pressure that this year had placed on all the students and didn’t reflect what many students may have been able to achieve if COVID hadn’t happened. However, I am currently awaiting my results and believe that I will achieve the grades necessary to go to university in September 2021.

The skills I have picked up from attending Knole Academy and specifically being a Head Student here have already proved to be invaluable to me. I find speaking in public to be significantly less intimidating, my ability to communicate with others has improved massively, and my confidence in myself has become one of my biggest strengths. Not only has being head student taught me how to connect with my peers as a leader, but it has also enabled me to become confident in my ability to communicate all of our needs

to people in positions of authority as well. This is mostly down to the governor’s meetings my fellow head student Immer and I attended, where we were asked to relay our opinions on the running of the school and how we thought they had done at supporting us throughout this year. It was a honour and a pleasure for both of us to talk to them about this topic, as it was the main reason I had applied for the role in the first place- to make real change in the way students and staff worked together. It also gave me great insight into how schools and organisations like ours can be run and this was helpful for me in terms of deciding what kind of involvement I wanted to have with the school in the future. I signed up with Future First to take part in the Knole alumni network and am really looking forward to the opportunities I will be able to offer and receive from working with Knole academy in the future.

All in all, Knole academy has been an amazing experience for me. The staff have been so supportive for the last 7 years and especially raised their game over the course of the pandemic. The skills I have picked up from attending Knole academy will stay with me for the rest of my life and serve me well. The mentoring I received from some of the senior staff at the school has been immeasurably useful and I am so grateful for having the chance to study with them. The opportunities offered to us by Knole have also been amazing, including NCS and taking us to the Sevenoaks District Youth conference. I was introduced to this in the beginning of year 12 and have since created a committee called Sevenoaks District Youth Assembly with my peers.

We have already made a measurable impact on the young people in Sevenoaks, with us running our own virtual assembly at the end of last year. I really feel I have left my mark on both the academy and Sevenoaks itself.

Immer

Being a student over the past 18 months has definitely been a rollercoaster experience. Studying online during lockdown was very full on, but I definitely felt lucky to have had the support of the academy during that time. As someone who was having to do online classes as well as teaching both my younger sisters during the first lockdown, it was really useful for me to have that pastoral support and understanding from my teachers that I received. When we got back to school, I think my peers and I appreciated being back in the school learning environment, although the uncertainty of our A-level exams caused a lot of stress for pupils and teachers alike.

It was announced that our grades would be based on evidence collated by teachers, through assessments (hard evidence) and in-class work (supporting, soft evidence). Whilst this was useful as it meant we finally knew what we were working towards, there was also a pressure to constantly be performing at the grade that you were aiming for. My coursework was used for both Music and Photography, in Sociology and Geography we had three assessments for each. My current predicted grades are an A in Geography and Sociology, a Distinction in Music and a B in Photography. These grades should get me into Goldsmiths University to study Popular Music later this year.

I am hoping to keep in touch via the Knole Academy Alumni Network, with the aim to continue to support the school and hopefully offer any career/education advice I can in the future. I am already working on coming into school from September to help with Knole’s Music Partnership with local primary schools. I am very grateful to the academy for the opportunities that I have had over the past seven years. Not only have I taken part in NCS which has helped me develop my teamwork skills, but I have also been fortunate enough to be part of the Kent Academies Network over the past five years. The programme really helped me with my confidence and understanding of university life. Being a head student I have worked alongside Sophie to communicate with staff and take on public speaking and expressing the opinions of my peers confidently. The skills that I have gained from being a student at Knole have really helped me feel that I am ready to begin the next part of my life. I feel super grateful to the school and staff for such a positive secondary school experience and the support they have given me over the past seven years.

HOUSES