Dear OFS Community,
As we shine a light on mental health this week, the theme of ‘find your voice’ offered a lovely way to empower pupils – introvert or extrovert, confident or shy, this was a week to listen to that voice in our heads and to act. This week really provided opportunities for everyone to grow; a chance for some to take a leap of faith in voicing a thought but also for others to spend time listening. I was so impressed that the week was essentially planned and led by our pupils – that's empowerment right there!
This is always an interesting time at the upper end of the school as many senior schools have been contacting me to run through our candidates for 11+/13+ places. One thing that links every conversation is the way that Headteachers reflect on the interviews that their respective schools have had with our girls and boys. Here are just a handful of words Heads have used to describe your children after meeting them:
Considered, thoughtful, creative, animated, confident, composed, fun, humorous, engaging, real, honest, empathetic...to capture just a few!
I know that parents are invariably more anxious than their children about this process, and I only wish that I could capture and bottle the conversations and feedback that Headteachers share, as it’s priceless and surpasses any exam score in describing real life progress and growth.
A Little Crunch!
After the freezing temperatures followed by flooded pitches, it was great to host our first home rugby matches and boy, we were treated to fast running, precise and highly organised attacks. We scored some stunning tries with the ball going through numerous hands – let's hope that the opening weekend of the 6 Nations is as entertaining! Well done boys, some well-deserved results.
Green Power
Our Green Power Team launched a ‘Top Gear’ challenge at the end of last term to make and personalise a ‘pull back’ car kit – selling 70 kits. St. George’s Hall has provided the drag racetrack for our leaderboard and there has been a fair amount of noise coming from this space over lunchtimes. A huge thank you to Mr Dholakia and the Yr8 Race Team for running such an engaging competition, this really captured the imagination of Middle School who bowled us over with their enthusiasm and competitiveness.
Performance Competition
Over two weeks of lunchtimes, races were held in St. George’s Hall and the Top Gear style leaderboard saw constant change at the top.
Design Competition
I love that the recycling bins have been raided...who’d have thought of upcycling a pineapple...congratulations to our winner and our runners up!
An Advert for London
Talking of finding our voice, Yr1 pupils were on fire this week as they led their assemblies in front of parents and teachers! I suspect that the Mayor of London could have made the most captivating of adverts inviting tourists to the rich diversity, the heritage, the culture and sights & sounds of our capital. I hope that parents are taking up the challenge of planning sightseeing tours with their children – it inspired me to sign up to a few historical walks over the coming half term break!
Tooled Up
As a Tooled-Up School, we have access to some fantastic resources, do click through on the link below for the latest food for thought: