Jones

For our Year 13 students, looking ahead means thinking about what happens after they finish school and in addition to the excellent range of offers from top UK universities which Mr Ward outlined in last month’s newsletter, several of our Year 13 students are faced with some incredibly exciting options for the next step in their educational journey to take them to a different country or even continent. We have supported a total of 21 overseas applications this year, with students already holding offers from universities in the US and Canada and applicants to universities in a range of European countries and Hong Kong waiting to hear. Our thanks go to Dr Woodward, our Head of Overseas Applications, whose expertise in this area continues to broaden the horizons of our Year 13 cohorts.

Our Year 10 and Year 12 students have also been asked to think ahead this half-term, with the launch of our refreshed student leadership programme and invitations going out to these cohorts to apply for positions or vote for those they would like to see holding them. We are bringing together our formerly separate student leadership teams in Year 11 and Year 13, to create an 11-18 Student Leadership Team, to be led by current Year 12 students acting as Heads of School along with Heads of House, with current Year 10 students appointed as their Deputies.

The two Heads of School and two Deputy Heads of School will work closely with me and Mr Ward, meeting regularly to ensure an effective flow of communication between the student body and school leadership. They will also run Student Forum, our student voice mechanism, which will now be attended by Student Forum Representatives from Year 7 up to Year 13 to ensure everybody’s opinions are heard. The Heads of House and their Deputies will run House Meetings, to include students from Year 7 to Year 13 for the first time in well over a decade, celebrating communal successes and organising themselves for events and competitions. Finally, we will be appointing a number of current Year 12 students to lead on various areas of school life, including charitable activities, sustainability, mentoring younger students, student wellbeing and social events. Once in post, these students will run committees open to other students from current Year 9 upwards who are also interested in getting involved in working on their area of responsibility.

Finally, looking ahead to the increasingly near future, we wish our Year 11 and Year 13 cohorts the very best with their preparations for this summer’s public exams. Our core advice, as ever, is to take the advice of your subject teachers, eat and sleep well, get outside regularly, and aim for a good balance between revision and rest. Good luck!

Abbey Jones

Senior Deputy Head 11-18