This half term has been a whirlwind of settling in activities, parent meetings, house events, excellent lessons, ending in our Celebration of Success event last night.
Celebrating the success of our students is something I always enjoy doing, loudly and publically. There are so many young people distinguishing themselves in so many ways that competition for awards becomes more intense every year. The many many students who won prizes have every reason to feel very proud of themselves. I am extremely proud of them. Martin Post was our guest speaker. He is the Regional Schools Commissioner for our area, and in his previous role as Head of Watford Boys knows the locality and our school very well. He reflected thoughtfully on our 'work hard, be nice, no excuses: proud to belong' ethos and how successful he feels it is.
Assemblies this half term have had a particular emphasis on this, and the tolerance we expect in our community. The first one of the year tackled issues around homophobia, and the last one of the half term on gender equality. We have a very respectful community, and assemblies such as this celebrate that within the school, and challenge students to take that into the world around us.
Our more able scientists in year 10 had the opportunity to attend a very prestigious event in the Great Hall at the City of London School where Dr. Roger Crouch, NASA astronaut, was launching a global STEM based education programme. As someone who has flown two space missions, the chance to hear him was a very special one.
The half term has certainly flown by. I hope you will enjoy the two week half term, and I look forward to welcoming students back to school on Monday 2nd November.