It has been a busy and creative year for all our artists. As I sit to write this, we have just finished putting up our annual show of GCSE and A Level Art and Design work. What a sense of pride and pleasure to see the creativity and ambition on show. The work demonstrates that all our exam learners have accessed their courses and learning, to develop as individuals with their own expression. Every portfolio is different and unique. From large-scale paintings to delicate pencil studies, photography and 3D work, the sheer range of approach and technique is impressive. The entire Lower School Hall and the corridor area outside L52 have become a colourful exhibition space, showcasing the vision and skills of our students.

The successes of our examination groups are all the more impressive given they returned to the demands of an external component, with timed tests re-introduced. We were so pleased to see our Year 11s and 13s manage their time under pressure with maturity and perseverance, culminating in ten- and fifteen-hour tests respectively. Though these tests sound long and arduous, they are simply two to three days, spaced out, working in the department on a piece of art pre-planned by the student. What incredible effort, focus and concentration all our students showed during this period, both before and during the test. A wonderful opportunity to work on one’s own creativity! Congratulations to all involved. Unfortunately, Non Examined Assessment rules prevent us sharing images of this work at this time, but come the Autumn Term we will restart the ‘Throwback Thursday’ slot on our school social media so you can see what they have made.

Elsewhere in school, our Key Stage 3 students have worked on projects celebrating culture at home and further afield. Year 8 have learnt about the local historic craft of straw-plaiting and created landscapes inspired by Hitchin’s lavender-growing history. Year 9 studied the art of the Haida, First Nation people of what is now Canada, while Year 7 have learnt about contemporary ceramics and the art of Islam.

Mrs Wallace, Head of Art & Design
 

As always, the Biology department has been as busy as a hive of Apis mellifera this term!

First up, Mrs Dixon led a very successful diving trip down to Cornwall. Back in summer 2022, a group of students in our Biology Society worked hard and against a short deadline to make a marine creature out of single-use plastic. Barry the basking shark was born, and he and his story won us 20 places on Dive Project Cornwall '23. More than 70 students applied for places, and the lucky 20 from Years 9-13 travelled to Porthkerris in Cornwall at the end of June to start their marine adventure.

Other than the cost of getting there, this was completely free, and included all learning materials, dive tuition up to Open Water PADI level, all equipment, accomodation in large purpose-built tents, food and educational lectures from the Marine Conservation Society. A fabulous week was had by all, and we want to thank all of the dive team, base camp crew and sponsors for supporting this amazing opportunity. Their drive and dedication to get our young people in the water and appreciating our oceans was inspiring.

In the words of one student: “I honestly loved every minute of the trip, but one of my favourite parts was during our second dive, when we did a swim through some massive rocks and we saw lots of fish, starfish and cuttlefish. Altogether, it was the most unforgettable week and I did not want to come home.”

Thanks also to Mrs Corish and Miss Mills for accompanying the students and making the week so much fun.

Also this term, Mrs Pearce led a group of students through the prestigious Intermediate Biology Challenge, running numerous after- school training sessions throughout the year. Chloe Butcher in Year 12 obtained the Gold certificate, which is only given to the top 5% of candidates! Additionally three students achieved Highly Commended and four Commended. All students who participated gained free access to the Royal Society of Biology's BioNet website, and a certificate of participation and grade awarded.

Mr Buckridge took a group of Year 9 students to the University of Hertfordshire for the KS3 Climate Change Summit. The keynote speaker was Dr Phil Porter, a glacier scientist who, for the past 30 years, has led and participated in scientific expeditions to some of the last true wilderness areas on our planet. The girls took part in several workshops, one of which was delivered by one of our Year 7 parents, where they heard all about the Airlander, an innovative helium-filled airship. Plus with an exhibition to look around followed by a panel discussion, the girls came away with a fantastic understanding of some of the challenges we face, and some of the possible solutions.

We have been working closely with University College London’s Institute for Women’s Health this term. Professor Joyce Harper came into school to run two focus groups with some Year 10 students hoping to improve the teaching of menstruation in schools. Their "Report on sex and reproductive health education in the UK and proposal for improvements" is now in draft form, and will be sent to the DFE soon. Additionally, six Year 12 students have recently completed a week-long Biomedical Sciences Summer School at UCL, where they experienced an inspiring and eye-opening week of talks, activities and laboratory sessions for those interested in careers in science and women’s health.  

Together with Geography's Mr Lynne and Mr Beardmore-Crowther, we have been hard at work with Eco Club, which has been going from strength to strength. Among some of our achievements this term have been the planting of several fruit trees and the emergence of a beautiful strip of wildflowers to brighten the walk to Woodside. We have also managed to create a raised bed (out of old scaffold boards) and the students have grown a variety of organic vegetables which are beginning to provide some tasty treats!

Finally, the department once again made use of AMGEN lab equipment this term. The annual loan from one of the world's leading biotech companies allows our Sixth Form students hands-on experience of a range of genetic engineering techniques, including micropipettes and gel electrophoresis. As always, the department's technicians were heavily involved and were key to another successful year's worth of practical work.

In KS3 Latin, we have spent another term learning about Caecilius, his family and their life in and ex horto. Year 7 Latin students have ‘attended’ a Roman dinner party and created their own stop-motion 'Latin Movies'. Year 8 students have enjoyed learning about gladiators, and exploring different cultural attitudes between people in Rome in the first century AD and people nowadays, in respect of baths and bathing practices. Year 9 students have enjoyed learning about diversity in ancient Roman Alexandria and the Egyptians. We have been impressed by all our students’ engagement this term.

Year 7 Ancient Civilisations students have enjoyed looking at the War with Troy story. They have made some lovely character diary entries, illustrations of new shields for Achilles and cartoon strips of the action.  Year 8 Ancient Civilisations students have studied the Minoans and are currently enjoying the Return from Troy story. They have engaged in some wonderful discussion, demonstrating that they have really understood what led to the end of the Minoan Civilisation. Year 9 Ancient Civilisations students are continuing their study on the Romans, moving onto Roman Britain and the end of the Roman Empire.

In KS4, Year 10 Latin students have continued to make great progress in their GCSE course in Latin literature and produced great results in their end-of-year exams. Year 10 Ancient History students have continued to engage well with the course materials: they have shown enthusiasm for the topics and have developed discussions about the themes of Ancient Greece and Persia. We said farewell to our Year 11 and Year 13 students and wish them all luck for their future undertakings.

In Year 12, our Latin and Classical Civilisation students have completed their exams and are now working on their UCAS applications.  We have a number of students hoping to study Classics-related subjects at university. We continue to be impressed by all of our students’ professional attitudes to learning and mature approaches.

Staff and students were both excited by the return of our annual Classics trip with an incredibly successful trip to Greece - many thanks to all the students who were involved for their exemplary behaviour, endless enthusiasm and for making our 30th trip the best one yet.  Hot on the heels of this trip, Mrs Coe has been busy planning Italy 2024, and we look forward to that with great anticipation.

Additionally, we are planning a trip for our Year 9 Latin and Ancient Civilisations students to Verulamium (St Albans) in the Autumn Term and, looking ahead to Spring Term 2024, Mrs Coe has been planning and organising an exciting three-day Romans in Britain residential tour for our Year 8 Latin and Ancient Civilisations students.

Congratulations to Flora Jolly (Y13), who was our annual winner of the Margaret Beddard Award. Miss Beddard was Head of Classics and later Deputy Head at HGS for many years. She kindly set up the award for students who show promise and commitment in Classical subjects.  Flora has been a dedicated student of Classics throughout her time at HGS, studying both Latin and Classical Civilisation at A Level and getting involved with the wider life of the department.

We said farewell to Ms Mistry, our trainee teacher from the University of Cambridge, who will be teaching Classics at The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in West London from September. We wish her well in her future career.

Finally it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Miss Emanuel who will be leaving us at the end of term. We will miss her hugely, but we wish her well for her MPhil at University of Cambridge and the exciting future that lies beyond. Next week we will welcome Ms Romain into the department to get settled in ahead of the Autumn Term.

As term draws to a close, Mrs Rowe hosted our annual Classics Society BBQ for our senior students and the cast of the annual play. This is a lovely tradition that brings our Classical family together to celebrate the end of a busy academic year, and we are very grateful to the Rowe family for hosting this event every year.

Here is just a small sample of the fantastic work students have been producing across the D&T department this term. We have some biomimicry work and night lights from Year 7, ring pots and mirror packaging from Year 8, and some bags and Jewellery from Year 9. 

Graphics

Textiles
 

Product Design

Food 

Year 7 have been studying Shakespeare’s The Tempest this term, alongside creating their own fantasy writing. We have seen some wonderful imaginations at work in the original maps of fantasy worlds they produced. Year 8 have been studying George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and Year 9 have also been exploring the modern novel, including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, To Kill a Mockingbird and Salt to the Sea. The English teachers have been hugely impressed with students' responses to the texts they have been reading, including excellent debates and discussions. 

Alongside our classroom studies, Years 7 and 8 have continued to achieve lots of Reading Awards in their Library and Reading Skills lessons once a fortnight in our wonderful Library. Year 8 have been producing some eye-catching presentations on authors as part of their author research mini-project: Malorie Blackman, Charles Dickens, Anne Frank and Charlotte Bronte are just a few of the names they have explored. They will be up on display in the Library to welcome us back in September. Year 7 will be carrying on their Reading Award scheme into Year 8, so I hope they enjoy lots of good books over the summer! The prestigious Platinum Award is worth a Headteacher’s Award and 100 Reward Points!

Year 10 have been studying their GCSE poetry anthology and making insightful connections between the poems in their collection. They also delivered their presentations for their Spoken Language NEA. This is a formal part of their GCSE course, and we were extremely proud of all of their efforts. We enjoyed listening to their varied and interesting speeches and know that a huge amount of work goes into this - well done, Year 10!

Our Year 10 and Year 12 Media Studies students have been busily researching and planning for their NEA practical work, but also found time to squeeze in a trip to the Harry Potter studios in Leavesden where they took part in a storyboarding workshop. Some of our Year 12 students have written about their experience for you to read here.  Thank you to Mrs Manrique for running this exciting trip. 

Our Year 12 English Literature and English Language & Literature students have also been busy with their mock exams, and their independent reading and investigations for their NEA coursework recently. They have all impressed us with their work this year and we look forward to welcoming them back to Year 13 in September. Look out for our A Level Literature Book Club in the Autumn!

Lastly, well done to all of our Years 11 and 13 students for all their hard work during the public exams. We wish you all a restful summer break. 

Mrs Batchelor, Head of English & Media

The Summer Term has been a busy but successful one in the Geography department. It started with Year 12 students enjoying a residential field trip to Norwich and Southwold in preparation for their coursework. This opportunity allowed them to explore a range of investigation ideas and they came back to school ready to tackle their own independent projects. They can decide what to investigate and this year the titles are as diverse as always. They include: explorations of urban microclimates in Letchworth; assessments of liveability and sustainability; studying the impact of sporting events on the urban environment; assessing the effectiveness of coastal management; and even investigating people's experience of place at Portobello Market. We wish all of our Year 12 students success as they collect their data over the summer. 

Years 11 and 13 students have now completed their examinations following an intense period of revision. The Geography team hope that they all enjoy a well deserved rest over the summer before celebrating their successes in August. 

The term finished with a small group of Year 10 students attending the Hertfordshire Youth COP23 conference alongside other schools from across the county. They took part in a climate debate and various workshops, and we hope that some of the ideas will transfer into school to support HGS's efforts to be more sustainable.

From a personal point of view, I want to take this opportunity to thank all the students (over the past 18 years) who have studied Geography and come on our various trips. You have made working at HGS and leading the department an absolute delight. My biggest thanks go to all the staff who have supported me in running those trips over the years, as well as the team in Geography who stand beside me every day. It has been an honour to work alongside each and every one of you and I will miss Team Geography as I move on in my career. 

For one last time, this is Miss Johns signing off!

It has been an incredibly busy time in History and Politics this term. Year 7 have been working on their Native Americans projects recently, Year 8 have been exploring life in Britain in the early 20th Century and Year 9 completed a study of Britain in the 1960s, which focused on the life and times and the Windrush arrivals. Some examples from Ms Lowe’s Year 9 group are below. In Year 10, 39 students went off to Berlin to see the Berlin Wall and other historical sites of the Cold War Era. Thank you to Ms Lowe for leading the trip and Miss Johns, Mrs Pateman and Miss Plunkett for taking the students.   

A Level History have started their coursework and we wish them luck with their research over the summer. Meanwhile in A Level Politics, we took a group of Year 12 students to Parliament and the Supreme Court  where they sat in on sessions and also took part in a workshop.

Thank you all for your hard work. Have a well deserved break over the summer!

Mr Hanse, Head of History

Berlin trip

Year 10 historians have just returned from four days in Berlin. The trip started early last Friday with us leaving school at 3am! But this had the advantage of giving us a full first day in Berlin, which started with a walking tour of some of the most iconic landmarks, including the Reichstag building and Brandenburg Gate. There was also the opportunity to reflect on the stories of individuals at the Roma and Sinti memorial, as well as the Holocaust as a whole, at the powerful Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. 

Our second day was a hot one, with temperatures peaking at 35 degrees.  We started at Sachsenhausen Memorial Site, a concentration camp used by the Nazis and then the Soviets during the Cold War. Students responded with maturity and asked lots of insightful questions throughout the visit. Both our guides commented on how impressed they were with the students in such an emotionally challenging place. During the afternoon we were fortunate enough to have an air-conditioned coach taking us to the German-Russian Museum and Treptow Park Soviet Memorial.  

On Day 3 our focus was on the Cold War period. We went to Bernauer Strasse to look at the reasons why the Berlin Wall was built, and the human impact it had on so many individuals. We continued with the focus on East Germany, looking at the role of the Stasi at Hohenschoenhausen, where learnt about their methods of intimidation and control as well as the conditions in the prison. The afternoon was a little more light-hearted with a visit to the interactive DDR Museum, where students enjoyed a faulty East German lift, sat in a Trabant and tried on some East German clothes! We finished the day by looking out over Berlin from the top of the Reichstag building.

Our final day started with looking at Checkpoint Charlie and its significance during the Cold War. This was followed by some retail therapy at the chocolate shop and Mall of Berlin! 

77,542 steps and 31.42 miles later, we made it back to HGS on Monday evening. Both the staff and our guides were really impressed with Year 10 - we hope they enjoyed the trip as much as we did.

Mrs Lowe

 

There have been lots of exciting developments in Learning for Life this year - all resources have been updated and are now accessible (where appropriate) on Google Classroom. Miss Plunkett has enjoyed working closely with the Careers team this year, who have also produced fantastic new careers resources for nearly all year groups - thank you Mrs Townsend!

This year it has also been possible to reintroduce parental workshops after a break of a few years due to the pandemic. We would like to formally thank Mary Deller, who delivered a parent workshop on Alcohol and Drug Awareness and an excellent one for Year 9 on the risks of alcohol. We are also extremely thankful to the brilliant Phase team, who have run two parent sessions: a KS3 workshop on resilience, and a KS4 workshop to help students manage exam stress and anxiety. Phase have also held workshops on resilience with Years 7 and 8, a session on e-safety with Year 7, and a series of four RISE sessions with Year 9, aimed at boosting self-esteem and resilience. We are so grateful for their amazing work and how they continue to prioritise the mental and physical health of our students!

We would also like to say a huge thank you to Herts Young Homeless, who have worked with Year 10 on solving conflicts healthily, as well as delivering workshops to raise awareness about homelessness in Hertfordshire. Thank you also to the charity Dignify, who delivered an informative and well-received session on the dangers of pornography and its negative impact on body image with Year 10. Next year we look forward to rebooking all of our speakers in order to further enhance our RISE, Citizenship and PSHE curriculum.

We hope you all have a lovely break over the summer!

This term has been a hugely busy one in our department with the supporting of exam access arrangements for students. The team has done a wonderful job ensuring that students have been calmly supported during a potentially very stressful period of the year.

We have had some real highlights this term to celebrate. Students who struggled with their confidence previously have come forward and delivered a range of Headstrong sessions, around neurodiversity and masking, and other medical conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, in order to educate our school community about the hidden needs which might impact students. As SENCO, I am incredibly proud of the resources the students constructed and also the mature way in which the rest of the school responded to these sessions - truly the embodiment of our values of respect and kindness. 

It has been delightful watching the students who attend Take a Break Club form friendships, and the creative skills of Miss Mills and Miss Broadhurst in providing fun and engaging sessions each week have been a triumph. Seeing some of our students dressed up at prom recently, looking absolutely stunning, when previously they might have been too nervous to participate, is testament to how far they have come on their learning journey. School is not just about academic outcomes but also social achievements, and we smile as these students leave us for their next chapter in education.

The whole team has worked incredibly hard this year supporting in a wide variety of lessons, and adapting resources and approaches for many students. We wish all the students we have worked with a very happy summer break, and we look forward to hearing what you have all been up to in September. 

The team will have some changes come September too. Miss Broadhurst will be leaving us for an opportunity to work in a local primary school - this is her long-term goal, so she will gain valuable experience as an LSA in a primary setting. Miss Mincher is also leaving us this term in order to complete her teacher training course at university. We wish them both the best of luck and know they will be wonderful assets to education in the future. 

Mrs Cole - SENCO

Students from the Library Reading Group, known as the Library Goblins, had an inspiring visit to St Francis’ College to hear author Katya Balen talk about her Carnegie-winning books. They also took part in a workshop where they came up with some amazing story ideas inspired by a variety of pictures and a sherbet lemon!

We had an enjoyable evening in the Library when the HGS evening Book Group met with the student Reading Group. There was a lively discussion about the books shortlisted for this year’s Carnegie medal for writing. The students had been shadowing the competition while the Book Club members had also been reading the shortlisted titles. They were impressed by the confident contributions from the students.

A trip to Waterstones in Hitchin saw the Goblins choosing a number of new books for the Library. They selected a wide range of titles they thought that other students would like to read. The outing was rounded off with a trip to Fabio’s for ice creams!

A group of Goblins also assisted at the New Intake Evening, where they spoke to the Year 6 students and their parents and carers about the Library. The students were a great help handing out leaflets, running the enquiries desk and answering questions.

We would like to say thank you to our parent helpers, Mrs Rodseth and Mrs Beckford, who assist us in the Library at lunchtime.

And finally, we look forward to seeing students in the Library next term when lots of new books will be available to borrow.

We hope you have an enjoyable and book-filled summer!

Mrs Goose and Mrs Woods

For the first time ever HGS had two students qualify for the Junior Maths Olympiad this term, Lena from Year 8 and Anna from Year 7. Anna did extremely well to achieve her Gold award, putting her in the top 4% of contestants nationwide.

In addition, seven other KS3 students took part in the Junior Kangaroo - well done to you all.

This term we welcomed back Mrs Bridge to Maths interventions, and she has been kept busy with a new round of intervention groups, mainly in Year 7 and Year 10.

Finally, a particular thank you to the Y7 Maths teachers who gave their support to the whole-year baseline testing late in the academic year.

This year has seen another cohort of Year 10 students participating in a very successful Project Polyglot, teaching lessons in French and Spanish to pupils in a number of our feeder primary schools. It has been fantastic to see the personal skills and confidence that our students developed over the course of their two visits, as well as the quality of the lessons that they delivered. Thank you to Mrs Clarke and Miss Benmoussa for leading this project, and well done to all involved!

Our KS3 Foreign Language Film Club, led by Mrs Crossman and Mr Clifford, has again been well attended by a dedicated group of students, who have had the opportunity to explore a range of films from different countries.

In this final term, Year 9 French and Spanish students have done some exceptional work putting together their class presentations on Francophone / Hispanic countries and a number of these groups have also presented at our lunchtime celebration event in front of other students and staff. Well done to all of you! 

Year 8 Spanish students have enjoyed discovering Frida Kahlo with an introduction to her life and work, then describing a painting and her clothing in Spanish. Year 10 French students have been exploring the value of cinema in extending their language skills, through a study of the film 'Les Choristes'.  Meanwhile Year 7 French students have had the chance to find out more about the sites of Paris in an introduction to the near-future tense.

Finally, good luck to all our GCSE and A Level linguists. You have worked so hard to prepare for your examinations and we hope you get the results you deserve this summer. 

Buenas vacaciones / Bonnes vacances!

Mr Dellar, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

The Summer Term has seen our musicians performing all over Hitchin!

Founders' Day is a real highlight of the school calendar, and this year was no exception. Nearly 50 HGS singers and brass players joined with musicians from HBS to sing hymns and anthems in a packed St Mary's Church.

Just two days later, another 40 students performed at The Priory Picnic, alongside musicians from the Priory School, the Boys' School and Hertfordshire Music Service. The evening luckily stayed dry, although we needed lots of clothes pegs to hold our music in place! 

Our final musical celebration of the year was the Summer Concert in the last week of term, involving more than 100 students across Years 7-13.

We were delighted that so many of our Years 11 and 13 students came back to join us throughout their study leave and exams. We wish all of our leaving musicians the very best for their next steps, and look forward to lots more music-making next year!

 

What a fantastic term, with so much to celebrate! It has been full of athletics, tennis and rounders fixtures, tournaments and championship finals, as well as Sports Week, the joy of the Gym and Dance Display, a netball and Ultimate Frisbee workshop, and a trip to Wimbledon. Congratulations to all of those taking part, and thank you parents and carers for your support.
 

Athletics
 

Congratulations to everybody who competed in the District Athletics League this term. Both the Year 7 and Year 9 girls were overall winners!

We had a brilliant day at the District Athletics Championships, where the hard work this term culminated in many fantastic performances across Years 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Lots of medals were awarded, and we brought back the Years 8, 9 and 10 trophies with us. Congratulations!

In the County Athletics League, the U14 team finished in 4th place in their league and 2nd at the overall Cup finals. The U16 team finished in 5th place in their league and 1st in the overall Plate finals. Well done to everyone!

Regional Combined Athletics Events

Congratulations to Lucy B (Y11) who finished 17th in the U17 Women’s Heptathlon.

Edythe O (Y8) and Juliet A (Y9) finished 21st and 26th respectively in the U15 Girls' Pentathlon. Well done!

At the County Athletics Championships there were lots of commendable performances. Well done to Florence F, Fran H, Poppy R, Abby M and Amelia G who medalled, and congratulations to Amelia G (200m) and Poppy R (javelin) who were selected to represent Hertfordshire at the English Schools National Competition in Birmingham.

Sports Week

Sports Week involves a day of field event competitions (Tuesday), the District Athletics Championship for Years 7, 8 9 and 10 (Wednesday), track heats for Sports Day for every year group (Thursday), and track finals on Sports Day (Friday)! The Sports Prefects did a great job getting their teams ready, and it really was a pleasure to witness the athletes compete in their House colours as their forms and Houses cheered them on.

Winners of the trophy: Year 7 - Teresa; Year 8 - Frank; Year 9 - Austen; Year 10 - Curie - and the overall House Trophy was won by Teresa!

Tennis

The District Tennis Tournament was held at the hospitable Letchworth Tennis Club again this year. All students played really well in their doubles teams. The U15 A team were Silver medallists in their competition, and the U15 B won their tournament. The U13 A and B teams won some challenging matches and became district champions!

              

Congratulations to our U13, U14 and U15 teams who went to the Nicola Mabbitt Doubles Tennis County Finals and played commendably against tough opposition. A special mention to the U13s who came 2nd in the County. Well done to all!

Miss Jacobs, Mrs Gales and eight of our school tennis team enjoyed a very hot and sunny day on Court Two at Wimbledon. They saw some great tennis, including a well-fought match by Great Britain’s Liam Broady.

Rounders

It’s been great having lots of students out at the rounders clubs, and playing in a number of matches. Congratulations to the Years 7 and 8 rounders teams who both came 2nd in the District Rounders Tournament!

The Year 9 team have played brilliantly this year, winning some great games at the district tournament against some very challenging opponents, finishing 3rd in their pool. Many congratulations to the Year 10 team who, after winning all of their matches, narrowly lost the final and came 2nd in the district. Huge congratulations to the Year 11 rounders team who won all of their matches and became District Champions!

Leadership

We would like to say a massive well done to the Year 12 Sports Leaders who organised and ran a Disney-themed sports festival for 200 primary school children. Thanks also to the Year 10 Sports Leaders who helped to run the activities.

It was a huge success and they were a real credit to the school. Thank you for all your hard work over the last three years!

Gymnastics and Dance

Approximately 95 students from HGS and 13 students from Whitehill Junior school took part in the annual Gym and Dance Display, which also included a surprise PE staff routine! There were two evening shows and one primary schools’ matinee performance, which were wonderful! We had lots of lovely feedback from parents and staff who came to watch. Thank you to all who performed, and a special thank you to our student leaders - Enya K, Bibi W, Layla H, Becca G, Harriet U, Lily B, Isabelle L and Phoebe C. We couldn’t do it without you!

Netball workshop

We were very privileged to have Ellie Rattu from England Netball in school for a whole day to coach our Year 7s this term! Ellie plays for England (Vitality Roses) and London Pulse in the Netball Superleague, and gave all of our Year 7 students a fantastic first-hand training experience.

We also had the pleasure of having Mr Hammond, former U24s GB player and U20s coach, into school to run an Ultimate Frisbee training session. It was a really fun session for students and staff alike, developing our understanding of the game, as we look to start teaching it next year!

I want to thank the PE team who have gone above and beyond to ensure students get the opportunity to practise and get feedback, as well as participate in lots of matches, tournaments and performances. It’s an extremely busy term for all, so well done to everybody who has taken part this term. Congratulations to staff and students on some fantastic sporting achievements outside of school.

Take care and all the best to anybody competing over the summer holidays.

Mrs Gales (Née Evans) - Head of PE