Junior Reflections Week 21 February 2025

Dear parents,

I hope you all had a relaxing half-term with your family and friends; it has been wonderful to welcome the pupils back for the second half of the spring term. At the start of the week, staff participated in two inset days, including our third annual conference, EdFest25. The day featured inspiring speakers and workshops, with a strong emphasis on inclusivity. There was a great atmosphere of collaborative learning, and on the second day, staff reflected on their insights and how they could apply them in the classroom. It was also fantastic to see so many parents attending the two afternoon sessions—Celebrating and Supporting the Teenage Brain and Mental Health with a Spotlight on ADHD—both of which were incredibly powerful and informative.

Extra-curricular activities

Fixtures and clubs started with a bang this week with the upper school in action on both Wednesday and Friday. I am off this afternoon to watch the netball and football tournaments hosted on site; the sun is shining, so some perfect weather for sport. It is always great to see so many pupils enjoying team sports; the sportsmanship, collaboration and simple enjoyment really is such a joy to see. Happy, muddy, red-faced pupils who, for some, are not really interested in the score but just that they have had a brilliant afternoon with their friends and meeting new ones.

Inside the classroom

Part of my job is popping into classrooms and just being generally curious as to what is going on. I popped into Upper One R on Thursday afternoon and joined a PSHE lesson, I ended up staying the whole lesson and thoroughly enjoyed working with my group; talking about plastic pollution and what we can do to help with the growing problem that our world has. The collaboration, enthusiasm, and curiosity that was on display was simply brilliant and it reminded me just how much knowledge and respect the pupils have, given their age. For me that gives me hope for a better future if this class of little people are anything to go by! I then hotfooted it next door to take a form time where our budding entrepreneurs, aka Upper Two C, were busy working on their Virgin Money projects. Market research was the order of this form time, which is an extremely useful exercise when thinking about pricing! I can’t wait to see the wares on offer and to break the bank with all the things I will want to buy.

Today is the beginning of Ramadan and we send our best wishes to all members of the community who are celebrating in the month ahead.

I hope the sun stays out for you all this weekend, and I hope you are all enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings. I know I am!