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By James Saunders

It has been a fantastic enrichment week. Across all years there has been a range of capital enhancing activities. Cohort 7 had a great day at Marks Hall which kicked off with a hike to get there from school. The route was a bit muddy but the learners styled it out - apologies for adding to the washing load this week. The weather held out and learners enjoyed a range of outdoor activities. What struck me the most was how happy our learners appeared. It is far too easy to focus narrowly on achievement at the expense of personal development but seeing how our learners took to the day I know it has been worth it.

Today is the culmination of the creative careers project for Cohort 8. At the start of term this project was launched to all learning groups. They have been busy using learning group time to prepare for this week which kicked off with a trip to the Mercury theatre. At the theatre learners engaged in a number of presentations and workshops and learnt all about the many creative careers that form the arts - this included backstage, set design, technical, costume, lighting, art direction and performance.

Today learners have been in their groups preparing their final products. Groups included: drama, dance, art, music and computer games. The day ended with each group presenting their products to a range of guest judges from the arts and creative industry.

Cohort 9 have spent most of today in Thorpe Park. It is not all adrenaline and excitement. They have also been focusing on the STEM side of things and attended workshops and presentations about the engineering behind roller coaster design. Back in school groups have been creating model roller coasters in learning group time.

Cohort 10 have been in school all week and have had a range of work related and careers experiences. The Department for Work and Pensions led some excellent workshops on financial literacy and applying for jobs

and then learners took part in MADE training to support them with their studies and exam technique. They have rounded the week off with elite skills sessions run by the army. The aim of these sessions was to identify and develop cognitive skills.

And finally, yesterday was the cohort 11 trip to London. This trip remains one of my favourites. It was lovely to see learning group leaders who have supported their groups for five years enjoying each other’s company. Whilst the day had an element of challenge and competitiveness the real winner was seeing the relationships that exist with learning groups. Cohort 11 are often missed out when it comes to enrichment experiences as they have exams to focus on. However, I feel that this trip was a welcome mental health break and allowed them to enjoy time together and for a short period of time, forget about the pressure of exams.

I would like to thank Mrs Frogley who is central to the organisation of our enrichment programme. It is a colossal ask of all of our staff to support a week such as this. To name them all would take an entire page. Every member of staff has supported and contributed to the enrichment programme this week and the personal development of all our learners. I hope that they speak to you this weekend about the various activities they have engaged in this week. Looking ahead, we have only one more week until the Easter break. Have a lovely weekend.

James Saunders

24th March 2023

C10 FOOTBALL

Honywood 7 Vs Rickstones 0

On Tuesday afternoon, C10 boys football team entertained Rickstones Academy at Honywood on a cold, windy afternoon. Both teams warmed up with anticipation for what was to be a good match. As we got underway, Honywood applied pressure to their ranks with an almost instant left footed strike from Zach Thorogood which sailed into the top right corner giving the boys a shot of confidence and a deserved 1-0 lead. This was quickly followed by a great Jack Garner header assisted by an Owen Johnson corner and soon after a composed Logan Humphreys finish into the bottom left hand corner assisted by Zach. This gave us a brilliant lead going into the half time break at 3-0.

With a healthy lead, C10 started the second half playing some great free-flowing football and the Rickstones floodgates openedthis was started with a cut back by Theo McQuillan into the path of Zach, who dispatched again to take his tally of the game to two. Another player with two goals was Bobby Storey-Smith with two great long range strikes both finding their way into the bottom right of the goal. In between these was a left footed shot placed into the bottom right by Theo which beat the keeper. These proved to be knock out blows which left the Rickstones players slumped and failing to trouble the disciplined Honywood back line despite decent efforts. This convincing lead enabled the C10s to fully express themselves with many other great moves conjured by the whole side - and these continued right up to the full time whistle resulting in a well deserved victory for Honywood.

Players of the match awarded to: Jack Garner and Theo McQuillan. Match report written by Theo McQuillan