This term has been another busy one in the Art and Design department. Firstly, congratulations to all our Year 11s and Year 13s who worked hard to complete their studies and submit exciting and personal portfolios of work for final assessment – good luck to you all in August! Elsewhere, our other classes have also worked hard, with Years 12 and 10 building a strong basis for coursework portfolios for submission next year, and our KS3 classes completing project work and presenting it in their digital portfolios. We celebrated our students’ achievements in our annual summer exhibition on 3^rd July. We welcomed pupils from Whitehall Junior School for a special preview of the show and an opportunity to meet two of our Year 13 artists. The children really impressed us with their thoughtful engagement with the art and their questions for the artists. We cannot share images of examined groups yet, but below are some examples of work by our KS3 cohort.

 

 

 

We have had a number of Art and Design trips this term. Year 9’s future creatives visited The Making of Harry Potter Tour at Leavesden Studios, to attend workshops in set design and graphic design, and find out about the many creative careers in the film industry. Year 10 students visited the National Portrait Gallery to take part in ‘Identity in Art’ workshops, which used the gallery collections to explore how identity is explored in portraiture. They were also able to visit the outstanding displays and gain inspiration for their project work. Year 12 artists and photographers visited the Royal Academy Summer Show. This diverse and lively collection of artworks in various media and formats is always a favourite, and provides something of inspiration to everyone.

  

Year 8 students took part in Take Your Child to Work Day in April and we loved seeing all the photos they sent in! Those who weren’t able to go to a workplace had a day of activities arranged for them by the school, including a visit from Airbus and a trip to Elstree Studios.

We completed all our one-to-one careers interviews with Year 12s, and we have launched Apprenticeship Club, which supports students looking at possible alternatives to university.

A small group of Year 10 students went on a careers trip to ComputaCenter and Hertfordshire University, which included tours of the sites and careers-related workshops. We were also very lucky to be selected to take 12 students to Cambridge University in July.

Year 10 students were also able to attend the Generation Stevenage careers fair at Knebworth Barns, designed to highlight local career opportunities for young people.

We are now busy preparing for next year’s careers events, including the annual Careers Fair which showcases employers, colleges and universities from across the country. If you think your organisation might be able to run a stand or if you would be able to support one of our careers events, by talking about your work or conducting mock interviews, please contact the school and let us know.

To everyone who has supported our many careers events this year, we thank you for your generosity in giving your time to help students prepare for the workplace and explore a wide range of job options.

Ms Stojko & Mrs Townsend

In KS3 Latin, our Year 7 students have continued to enjoy their carousel course, learning all about Caecilius and his family in the Roman city of Pompeii. Year 8 have been reading some spooky Roman ghost stories, learning what the Romans believed about life after death, and more recently about Roman gladiators. Year 9 have enjoyed learning about life in Roman Britain, and discovering the fascinating and diverse society of ancient Alexandria and the relationships between different peoples in the ancient world: Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and more. We have been impressed by our students’ engagement this term.

In KS3 Ancient Civilisations, Year 7 have immersed themselves in 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 students have been looking at the Return from Troy story, following Odysseus on his journey and exploring wider Ancient Greek culture. Year 9 are continuing their study of the Romans, exploring the turbulent politics of the fall of the Roman Republic: the assassination of Julius Caesar, the rise of Augustus, and all the intrigue and controversy of the Julio-Claudian emperors.

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 Classical Civilisation students have continued to engage well with the course materials: they have shown great enthusiasm for the topics and have developed a great understanding of the roles, expectations and challenges facing women in the ancient world. We said farewell to our Year 11 and Year 13 students and wish them 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 our students’ professional attitudes and mature approaches to learning.

Year 9 trip to Verulamium

We recently took 65 of our Year 9 students to visit the site of Roman Verulamium in St Albans. This allowed them to gain a deeper understanding of what life would have been like in Roman Britain, and first-hand experience of the archaeological evidence available to us. It was a lovely sunny day, the students were enthusiastic, very engaged and well-mannered throughout, and did a fantastic job of representing HGS.

This year saw yet another successful trip to Greece at Easter - many thanks to all the students for their exemplary behaviour and endless enthusiasm, and for making our 32nd annual Classics trip great fun. Hot on the heels of this trip, Mrs Coe has been busy planning Italy 2026, and we look forward to that with great anticipation.

Additionally, Ms Romain is currently organising a trip to the British Museum for students of GCSE and A Level Classical Civilisation and Latin in the new Autumn term, so that they can see first-hand the material culture prescribed by the exam board and some exciting artefacts from a range of ancient cultures. Meanwhile, Year 8 recently returned from their busy and exciting Romans in Britain Tour - many thanks to all for their exemplary behaviour, which was commented on by the staff of all the sites we visited. Mrs Coe has been planning the same three-day residential tour for our upcoming Year 8 cohort of Ancient Civilisations and Latin students for Summer term 2026; details of how to express interest in this trip will be shared in September.

Congratulations to Leyla and Ribhya, who were our winners of this year’s 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. Leyla and Ribhya have been dedicated students of Classics throughout their time at HGS, studying Ancient History (both students) and Latin (Leyla) at GCSE, and Classical Civilisation at A Level. We are grateful to both students for the coaching and revision support they gave to GCSE Ancient History students. They also co-wrote, co-produced and directed Cleopatra, our Senior Classics Play this year. We wish both of them all the best for university.

We said farewell to Mr Jarvis, our trainee teacher from the University of Cambridge, who will be teaching Classics at Nower Hill High School from September. We wish him well in his future career and thank him for his excellent contributions to the department.

As term draws to a close, I was pleased to host our annual Classics Society BBQ for our senior students and the cast of the play. This is a lovely tradition that brings our Classical family together to celebrate the end of another busy academic year.

Mrs Rowe, Head of Classics

Year 7 Product Design

Well done to 7C and 7F students who have been trialling the new Y7 Product Design racer project this term, and have come up with some fantastic design ideas and practical outcomes to race against their classmates.

Year 10 Product Design

Year 10 have produced some amazing lights and shopfronts this year in Product Design and Graphics. They have worked with a variety of materials and showcased a range of techniques to produce some creative, high-quality outcomes. These were displayed for students to show their parents, carers and teachers as part of our annual Design Show.

Textiles

It has been a busy time in KS3 Textiles! Year 7 have been designing, printing and stitching their vibrant fabric lanterns:

Year 8 have been showcasing their tie-dye and stencilling skills on their eye-catching drawstring bags.

Year 9 have been impressing us with their creativity and imagination by designing and making their unique Pugglie plushies.

In Year 10, students wrapped up their first year of GCSE with a soft storage project of their own design, and an inspiring visit to the New Designers graduate show in London.

A Level Textiles students have been focusing on fabric print, pattern and garment construction. Well done to Elana in Year 12, who produced an outstanding hoodie that combined her own print designs, digital design and sublimation techniques.

                

Our weekly Textiles Club has been a hive of activity too, with crochet and zippered pouches as the focus this term. A big well done to all our club members who continue to demonstrate HGS values by teaching and supporting each other every week!

Food & Nutrition

In Food, students across all year groups have been showcasing their culinary skills with creativity, enthusiasm and impressive results.

Year 8 took on the challenge of creating scone-based pizza from scratch, with inventive topping combinations.

Year 9 have expanded their culinary repertoire by making savoury tartlets, muffins and Eccles cakes. These dishes allowed students to practise both sweet and savoury pastry techniques, as well as developing their understanding of flavour balance and presentation.

The Year 10 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition students have been working on high-skill dishes, including homemade coleslaw with freshly made mayonnaise, meringues for Eton Mess and show-stopping profiteroles. These challenging tasks have allowed students to refine their techniques and gain confidence with more advanced culinary skills.

  

  

Well done to all the Food students for their passion, teamwork and determination!

The Drama department finished a very busy year with its first visit to The Globe in some years, to see Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Year 10 and Year 12 students were joined by Year 9s who will be starting GCSE Drama in September for the trip to London's Southbank. 

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play about a witch-hunt in the town of Salem. Led by Abigail Williams, a band of young girls cause mass hysteria through their lies and pretence, after being caught dancing at night in the woods. This interpretation by the director Ola Ince was particularly period- accurate, including a pre-show displaying Salem life. Interestingly, The Globe does not use microphones, allowing for an authentic Elizabethan experience which created an immersive atmosphere, despite the planes overhead. Overall, we enjoyed The Crucible as it was a chance to experience something new in a traditional way.

Lyla and Esme, Year 12 

This has been a bright and busy Summer term in English and Media. Most recently, we welcomed Julian Sedgwick, author of Tsunami Girl, for a return visit after a fantastic talk and workshop last year! He spent the morning with our Year 8 students, who are currently studying their ‘Novel in Context’. We have many excellent writers in the year group, as well as avid readers, and I hope all students found the experience enjoyable and enlightening. 

Year 9 are studying their ‘modern classic’ novels, and practising their literary analysis ahead of their GCSE study of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in September of Year 10. Meanwhile Year 7 are writing their own fantasy stories: they really are a pleasure to read and showcase their wonderful creative imaginations.

At Key Stage 4, our Year 10s have impressed us with their powerful speaking for their GCSE Spoken Language Assessments. Every year, we are really inspired by the wonderful speeches we listen to, and this year has been no exception. A huge well done to students for completing this challenging and rewarding part of their course. Years 10 and 12 Media students are also starting their NEA productions.

A highlight of the term was our Year 12 theatre trip to the London Coliseum to see the musical of The Great Gatsby, one of our set texts. This is what our student reviewers, Lauren and Connie, had to say about it (and our Literature course):

‘The Great Gatsby Musical’ was a fun and intricate performance which featured lots of incredible set design and staging, and phenomenal song-writing. Although the script slightly differs from the original novel, it adds new perspectives of different characters which could provoke empathy from the viewers. This was prevalent in the character Daisy Buchanan, as she had more of a redemption arc at the very end of the musical, and performed a beautiful song about being taken advantage of and being overlooked as a woman in 1920s America.

The production also used the set design to show the gap between the Old Money and New Money perspectives in comparison to the Valley of Ashes. It used bright colour schemes for the wealthy, to represent their lavish lifestyle, whilst using a dusty and dreary atmosphere to show how characters like Wilson are metaphorically left to decay. - Connie

‘The Great Gatsby Musical’ was genuinely such an incredible experience filled with stunning set designs, beyond-talented singers and an amazing lighting department. It’s always interesting to see different interpretations, especially as the book was not originally written for the stage, much less with songs. As a student, the opportunity to see the three main interpretations of ‘Gatsby’ has shown me how Fitzgerald’s work is so timeless, as his criticisms are carried across eras with equal significance in each one. The contextual relativity of literature - as seen in ‘Gatsby’ - is what makes this course such an interesting one. Literature is not just about stories; it is a part of history and a vessel to voice matters of importance both in its context and later. One lyric that stood out for me from the whole musical is sung by Myrtle: she sings ‘The only choice is love or money’, which truly embodies the core narrative in ‘Gatsby’. This experience was so fun, and I would definitely recommend the musical to anyone wishing to see it. - Lauren

Finally, we were delighted to welcome our new A Level English and Media students to our taster lessons last month, and can’t wait to see them in September! Good luck to all students waiting for their results this summer and we wish everyone a lovely, restful holiday.

Mrs Batchelor, Head of English

Creative Writing Club

What an amazing year we have had at HGS Creative Writing Club!

Highlights have included the Culture Day poster competition; Valentine’s Day song- writing; creating strong female characters for our own novels; the World Book Day reading room; and the Fable, Myth and Folklore student takeover.

We are delighted to share that we ended the year with a series of inspiring sessions fit to stimulate the worthiest of wordsmiths. June saw truly unique student takeover sessions, starting with Mallory (Year 9) delivering her session on employing tropes in narrative fiction. We rounded off the series and said goodbye to this academic year with a much-anticipated session on fantasy characters run by our brilliant Year 7 writers: Genevieve, Delilah, Scarlett, Alina, Molly, Mia and Elora.

We were also treated to a wonderful poetry workshop delivered by Mrs Parker, one of our Pastoral Assistants, which was about combining mindfulness and poetry as stimulus for creative writing.

Happy Writing, HGS!

Ms Mani and Creative Writing Club

What an incredible year it's been for the Geography department!

An exciting upcoming event is our trip to Iceland with our GCSE and A-Level geographers. This promises to be an experience filled with awe and wonder, as students will see first-hand the incredible landscapes, rivers and glaciers of this unique island while learning more about tectonic and fluvial processes. We will be sharing images on the HGS_Trips Instagram account - do follow us and take a look.

Our Year 12 geographers have been out in the field, undertaking crucial curriculum trips to King's Cross, Norwich and Southwold, staying on the University of East Anglia campus. These excursions were specifically designed for students to learn a variety of techniques for collecting data, which they will now adopt during the summer as they gather information for their Non-Examined Assessment (NEA) projects.

Meanwhile, students in KS3 have been showcasing their creativity and understanding of geographical concepts. Year 9 truly impressed us with their excellent ‘Tropical Rainforest Biome in a Box’ creations, demonstrating a fantastic grasp of these vital ecosystems. Year 8 produced some incredibly interesting ‘Adopt a USA State’ projects, delving deep into the unique human and physical geography of different American states.

This year, we've also seen some fantastic opportunities for our students to extend their learning and share their passion. All geographers from Year 7 to Year 13 have the chance to enter the prestigious RGS Young Geographer of the Year competition. This year's theme is 'Understanding Islands', encouraging students to explore the diverse geographies, challenges and connections of islands worldwide. Be sure to get your submissions in before the deadline on Friday 3 October 2025 at 5.00pm!

Furthermore, we're incredibly proud of our Years 10 - 12 students who have been offered the fantastic opportunity to teach Geography lessons to Years 1 - 6 pupils at St Andrew's Primary School. This initiative not only hones their teaching and presentation skills but also inspires the next generation of geographers.

It's been a year of exploration, discovery and outstanding work from all our Geography students. We're incredibly proud of their achievements and look forward to even more exciting adventures in the future!

Mr Sutton, Head of Geography

This term, Year 7 have been learning about how their brains work and metacognition, comparing growth and fixed mindsets, and attending some very interesting careers sessions. They have also been learning the importance of budgeting and creating their own budgets.

Year 8 have covered the topic of stereotypes and challenging them, as well as ways to resolve conflict. Year 9 have been learning about international relations as part of the citizenship curriculum, plus first aid and how to perform CPR. 

Year 10 have found out about the electoral system in the UK and, as part of the PSHE curriculum, have looked at issues surrounding online gaming and gambling, as well as the laws and safety concerns associated with tattoos and piercings.

We have been very lucky to have some fantastic sessions led by external speakers throughout the term. It has been a pleasure to have our colleagues from Phase leading a wide variety of workshops, from Resilience for Years 7 and 8, to a series of lessons for Year 9 in their Fuel programme. This programme examined themes around self-esteem, emotions and general wellbeing, and was very well-received by students. Year 10 heard from the charity Herts Young Homeless, who have also led talks on online safety and image-sharing with Year 8. We extend our thanks to all our external partners who help enrich our LFL curriculum.

Mrs Kim Pearce

The Learning Support team have been so proud of the students we work with this academic year. We have seen students flourish in their GCSE exams, become more confident in a range of subjects, and build on social skills to develop some lovely friendships. The use of read-and-write technology in exams has been a huge success and students are growing in confidence to use this independently in lessons.

The team will be saying goodbye to Miss Mincher, who will be completing her final year at university, and Mr Chennells, who is staying at HGS, but moving to train as a teacher in the English department. We want to thank them for the wonderful work they have done with students and wish them luck for the future. 

Next year will see exciting developments in the team as we build on the intervention work with HLTA roles. We look forward to seeing how this helps us ensure students have the support they need to be as successful as possible. For now, we wish everyone a lovely summer break and hope that they come back refreshed and ready to work with us again in September. 

Mrs Laura Cole

The end of this year sees us saying goodbye to our librarian, Mrs Goose, who is retiring after 21 years at HGS. Both students and staff will miss Mrs Goose, who has made the Library such a welcoming and inclusive space, stocked with a fantastic variety of the latest books, magazines, journals and other resources. She has run countless trips, organised author visits, set up both the student and evening book groups, and inspired thousands of readers over the years. We wish her a relaxing and enjoyable retirement with lots of time for reading!

As a leaving gift for Mrs Goose, Alice and other members of the Reading Group created this incredible model of our Library shelves. Complete with replica book covers and volumes that can be opened with farewell messages written inside, the adorable miniature measures just 13.5cm x 7cm!

We rounded off the school year with our annual trip to Waterstones in town recently, where more than 20 members of the Reading Group helped choose a wide range of new books for our Library shelves. Between them they selected around 70 titles, including fantasy, thrillers, non-fiction and graphic novels. They finished off the trip with a visit to Fabio’s for some cooling ice creams. The new books will be available to borrow before the end of term.

Also this month, we were thrilled to welcome back author Julian Sedgwick for the second year to talk to all of Year 8 and run workshops for the three classes who are studying his book, Tsunami Girl. Julian spoke about how he researched his books, visiting Japan and even venturing into the Fukushima Exclusion Zone. He shared the experiences of some of the people he met there who had survived the 2011 tsunami, and explored the elements of Japanese culture and myth that run through his work.

As well as answering questions and signing books, Julian met with the Reading Group to chat about being an author. In the workshops, students worked in groups to create the opening scene of a ghost story. It was an informative and engaging visit and we hope that Year 8 felt inspired by the experience.

The Carnegie Medal winners for writing and illustration were announced this term. The Reading Group shadowed the Medal for Writing award, reading some of the shortlisted titles and writing reviews. During their Library lessons, Years 7 and 8 looked at the books shortlisted for the Medal for Illustration, and voted for their favourite titles. The most popular choice for Year 7 was Wolf and Bear by Kate Rolfe, while Year 8 chose Grey by Laura Dockrill, illustrated by Lauren Child.

Using the research skills they have learned in their Library lessons, Year 8 created some fabulous posters about famous authors. They discovered fascinating facts about the lives of a range of writers, from Jane Austen to Jacqueline Wilson, and presented them with photos, cover pictures and illustrations.

We would like to thank our wonderful student librarians who assist us at lunchtimes. Your help is very much appreciated.

And finally, we look forward to seeing students in the Library next term, when we’ll have lots of new books ready to be borrowed.

We hope your summer is full of reading and relaxation!

Mrs Goose and Mrs Woods

The Music department rounded off another busy term with the Summer Concert in the main school hall. This was a wonderful event that showcased the students' work in choir, orchestra and various ensembles, not to mention the efforts of all the soloists. It took lots of time and effort organising and rehearsing the event, and it was well worth it, with the students relishing the opportunity to show what they have accomplished to such stunning effect. Well done to each of you who took part. 

We say goodbye to Mr Davies, who joined the department just for this term. In the new academic year we will welcome Mrs Stott, who will be the new Head of Music.

As the year ends, we also reflect on what a great experience it was singing and playing on Founders' Day with musicians from Hitchin Boys' School. A special word of thanks goes to Louise Atkins who rehearsed the choir and made sure they sounded so fantastic on the day. 

We leave you with this wonderful video of some Year 8s drumming! They have been studying African drumming this term, and they formed small groups to perform patterns with overlapping rhythms. Some of them even added vocals over the top!  We hope you enjoy Lowri, Helena, Libby and Grace's ensemble:

 

We have had a fantastic summer of sport! Teams have trained and competed in rounders, cricket, athletics and tennis. Sports Week was a big success and a school record was broken! And almost 200 students participated in the annual Gym and Dance Display. We also hosted our first HGS Sports Awards and celebrated a fantastic year of accomplishments across the sports and year groups, with the awards being presented by a special guest! The full report can be found below. 

Miss Shaw, Head of PE

See the PE department Summer Term round-up

In Biology this term, our Years 9 and 10 had huge success in the UK Biology Challenge. In this extremely prestigious competition, our students achieved 18 Gold awards, 16 Silver and 38 Bronze. A further 44 students received Highly Commended, and 52 received Commended. This is a tremendous achievement and all students involved should be incredibly proud of their efforts.  

Many of our Year 12 students have been taking part in the Homerton College Cambridge Challenge. It has asked students to explore questions such as 'why do we dream and what do animals dream of?' and 'how can biology explain a mysterious thing?!' Our teams have risen to the challenge and have created some brilliant projects that have received Commended, Highly Commended and some special mentions from the judges at Homerton College.

We have also had five of our Year 12 students attending a Biomedical Summer School hosted by the UCL Institute for Women's Health, as well as numerous students out on work experience in Biology-related placements such as dental surgeries, GP practices, hospitals and a dive project in Cornwall.

And some of our students combined their love of Biology and Art by entering the Royal Society of Biology BioArtAttack competition, with some wonderfully creative entries, many of which can be seen on display in the Biology corridor.

The Biology staff have undertaken some excellent CPD, including an A Level enhancement day, training on how to deliver the latest biotech practical lessons with AMGEN, and a Plant Science Summer School in conjunction with the Gatsby Plant Science Education Programme in York.

In Eco Club, we have had an exceptionally proactive group of Year 12s helping out this term, with projects ranging from providing sensory walks for SEND students to a sustainability workshop at a local primary school, and empowering our younger students by running weekly sessions.

Mr Buckridge, Head of Biology

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The Physics department has much to celebrate this year. A major highlight was our successful Health and Safety audit, where the radiation protection visit was met with high praise for excellent organisation and meticulous record-keeping.

Across all key stages, we have continued to enhance student support with the ongoing rollout of solution videos, and curriculum development has included the introduction of a new KS3 topic, Energy Stores and Transfers. Our Year 9 students have already completed a creative and engaging project based on this new topic.

Staff have engaged with valuable CPD opportunities, including an A Level enhancement day at Alexandra Park School in collaboration with the Ogden Trust, and a hands-on Physics day at the University of Birmingham. Activities from both days are already being embedded into next year's planning. Jim Henderson, our Ogden Trust mentor, has also completed his second support visit, with a focus on enriching A Level teaching through new demonstrations and practicals.

The end-of-year Physics exams have now concluded, with students demonstrating strong effort and achieving some impressive results. At KS3, Year 7s are finishing their studies on Space and Global Warming, while Year 8s have finished their epic tour of the Universe, rounding off a fantastic year in Physics.

Our new cohort of budding A Level Physicists enjoyed their taster day, taking part in exciting practicals on stellar parallax and watching the Rubens tube bring sound waves to life. Their enthusiasm bodes well for the future of the subject.

Mr Derrett, Head of Physics

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It has been a busy and highly successful term for the Science department. There have been a wide range of trips and competitions taking place, including a visit to Snozone for our Science Fair winners. Year 12 students performed exceptionally well in the Chemistry Olympiad and the Schools’ Analytical Chemistry competition, demonstrating their growing confidence and expertise.

A great deal of effort was focused on preparing Year 11 and Year 13 students for their external examinations, and we look forward to seeing the results of their dedication in August. Meanwhile, students in Years 7 - 9 worked hard for their end-of-year exams, with many achieving outstanding results.

Across the curriculum, students have been engaging with exciting and challenging content. In Chemistry, Year 7 have explored methods for separating mixtures, Year 8 have studied rocks and Year 9 have been investigating chemical bonding. Year 10 have been developing their understanding of the Periodic Table and organic chemistry. Our Year 12 students have now completed their mock exams and are undertaking work placements, with several gaining valuable experience in STEM fields.

A number of MEDROC students are preparing for additional healthcare-related placements this summer, and we wish the best of luck to all those taking the medical UCAT exams.

Overall, the term has been filled with achievement, enrichment and impressive student progress across all year groups. Our Years 7 - 11 students have answered in excess of 969 000 questions using our online science quiz platform Educake, which is just one indicator of how hard our students work to achieve. We would like to wish all of them a relaxing summer and we look forward to seeing you back in September.

Mr Horner, Head of Chemistry and the Science department

As always, it’s been a busy term in the Sixth Form. Year 13 marked their last day in school by dressing up as their favourite TV or movie characters. They also enjoyed breakfast and a final assembly with their tutors before going off on study leave. As is tradition, they were all invited to Leavers’ Supper at the end of June, where teachers and students get together for a meal and speeches in our Dining Room. The following day we welcomed in the new Year 12 prefects and thanked the outgoing ones, as well as announcing the award winners for outstanding achievements in different fields.  And finally, we walked down Hollow Lane as we do every year, for the Founders’ Day service at St Mary’s.

  

Year 12 have also had a busy term. They attended the University of Hertfordshire taster days and have completed their mock exams. Their personal development this term has focused on preparations for post-18 options. Parents were invited into school for a joint talk by the University of Sheffield and the Head of Sixth Form about the UCAS process.

Year 12s had an active role to play on Founders’ Day, helping out with House activities and Enterprise stalls, as well as on Transition Day, when they supported the Year 6s who will be starting with us in September. The term has culminated for Year 12 with a week's work experience, which they were tasked with organising themselves. They had some amazing placements lined up, and we look forward to hearing about them on their return in September. 

We wish all students a restful summer and thank them for their hard work across the school.

Ms Stojko, Director of Sixth Form

It has been an extremely busy Summer term in Social Sciences, with a total of 13 major external examinations sat across Health and Social Care, Criminology, Sociology and Psychology.

This is not to mention the internal examinations which have taken place and the coursework which has continued. Our focus has been preparing students for these exams and getting them through the series in one piece! We are incredibly proud of the levels of maturity, dedication and resilience the students have demonstrated in their approach to this gruelling term. They have encompassed the school values of aspiration perseverance and positivity and in spades. 

This term we also say goodbye to Mrs Gartwaite, our teacher of Sociology, who is looking forward to her retirement. Mrs Garthwaite's expertise has given students the most incredible platform for success. Her calm, consistent approach, and her drive to keep all students' needs and goals at the heart of everything she does, have been much appreciated by everyone who has been lucky enough to work with her. Miss Murat has joined our Sociology team to work alongside Miss Paul, and she is really looking forward to meeting all her new classes in September. 

The Social Sciences department would like to take this opportunity to wish all our students and their families a peaceful, restful and restorative summer, and we look forward to celebrating all your successes with you shortly.

Mrs Edwards, Head of Social Sciences