We want to make sure that you all achieve your very best results in your GCSE and A-Levels. This will only happen if you work hard in every lesson, every day

This blog goes ‘live’ for tutor time every Monday. Therefore, by the time this is read our Armistice assembly will already have taken place. In my assemblies last week, I stressed the importance of the Royal British Legion poppy appeal and that we should support it and remember those who fought and lost their lives in order that we can live our lives in freedom. We owe a debt of gratitude to those people and it right that we show our respect in the assembly and in the subsequent activities in tutor time. I was pleased to see increasing numbers of you wearing a poppy throughout the week. I also know how respectful you always are with regard to marking this occasion and I would like to thank you for the fantastic levels of respect you showed in the assembly.

Welcome back! I hope you all had a really enjoyable half-term and are feeling refreshed for the run up to Christmas.

This is one of the longer half-terms in the academic year and I would like to start by thanking you for your good manners, politeness and positive behaviour over the last seven weeks. I know that we all don’t get everything right all the time – and I include myself in that – but we must all remain determined to do better when we get things wrong. My message in assemblies this term has been about kindness, respect and hardwork. We must keep all those things uppermost in everything we do.

I wanted to start by thanking all the students who helped on the open evenings we had over the last two weeks. We had two very busy evenings – one for year 6 and also for Year 11. Lots of families and students came to visit our College and what impressed them most, as always, was your behaviour, manners and politeness – thank you. I’d also like to thank the students who helped by giving tours to Year 6 students and their parents – parents were very complimentary about you.

I hope you all had a very good longer weekend. Last week was very busy in the College. We had 270 year 6 students in College, which definitely made it feel very busy! I would like to say a huge thank you to all of you who were involved in the day as helpers, but also to everyone else for making the year 6 students feel really welcome.

I remain incredibly impressed by the way you are working in lessons. I have been into several classes this week and have seen you working hard and making progress. Well done and keep it up! One of our values is achievement and within this, there is the statement: we do what it takes for as long as it takes. I am pleased to say that I am seeing this in lessons – it is important that we all work to maintain and improve these high levels. You do not get to the top, or stay at the top without putting in maximum effort all the time. Whilst I have seen you working hard, I will challenge you all to work even harder.

I will start this week by saying well done to you all. I have visited several lessons this week and in every case I have you working hard, behaviour well and being respectful – thank you and keep it up! One of our key priorities for this year is independence. In order to do your very best you must make sure you look back through your books to make sure you remember everything you have been taught. Tutor time next week will focus on teaching you the skill of note taking, which I would ask you to then use in your lessons to help your learning. 

I’d like to start by welcoming you all back to a brand-new academic year. It is great to have you all back with us again and I hope you all had a good and relaxing holiday and are now feeling refreshed and ready for the year ahead. I am hugely impressed, as always, by the way in which you have started the academic year. I have visited several classrooms and in each case, I have seen you working hard, behaving well and making good progress. Thank you and well done.

Last week was activities week, a week where you are given the opportunity to learn something different from the normal timetable you follow. There was a variety of things for you to try, including archery, taking part in a historical re-enactment, the whole College participating in creating an art jigsaw collage, making pizzas, Bushcraft, various sports, visits to National Trust properties, making masks in English, different experiments in science and residentials to the New Forest, West Dean and also Barcelona. It was a very busy, and I hope, enjoyable week!