Another exciting and packed week waits in the wings for us to rush and greet it.  We have Year 13 trial exams this week and on Monday and Tuesday next week too.  These are an opportunity for the students to shine and show us what they know, and just as importantly, show us what still needs to be worked on to ensure success this summer.

We have Number Week coming up too which links into this week’s assemblies and the work being done by the NSPCC to stop cruelty to children. It’s so important for students to understand the world in which we live and the fact that some children live in very different circumstances to them.  Empathy is such a key emotion which brings success in the wider world.

Lots of learning outside the classroom this week too despite the freezing temperatures!  Art are out and about with their Year 11 students.  Some are off the Victoria and Albert Museum on Wednesday, whilst others are off to the Tate Modern on Thursday, and still others to the National Gallery on Friday.  Sounds like a very cultural experience will be had by all.  Drama are also getting in on the act (see what I did there?) as they are taking their Year 13 on a theatre trip to see Hedda Gabler; a play written in 1891 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.  Wow, sounds very high brow indeed!

Year 11 have their final set of study skills sessions run by ‘Learning Performance’ this week – on Tuesday.  This is where students choose which skills they think they need to improve from memory techniques to how to review their work and a whole lot in between.  The same group are then delivering training to staff after school on how to build resilient learners, which is always invigorating and with lots of techniques to try out in the classroom.  Essential that we show our students that we too are life-long learners!

Year 11 will also be getting the first of their ‘run-in’ sessions this week.  These are sessions delivered by a number of staff on how to prepare for their summer exams during form times over the next ten weeks or so.  These range from ‘How to answer GCSE style questions’ to ‘Are you Exam Ready?’ and even health and well being sessions about what to eat and how to exercise.  Lots of practical advice on how to cope with the stress and how to ensure success.

This week’s theme is all about the ‘Learning Pit’.  It is a reminder to students that things do not always click straight away or come naturally and often we have to work at them to have that ‘eureka’ moment.  It’s all about resilience again and having the mentality to never give up.  The brain is a muscle after all and so we need to ensure we give it a workout every day!

I look forward to meeting with the Parents’ Focus Group this Thursday evening.  We are discussing communication between school and parents.  This is a new initiative this year where a core set of parents give their views and work with the school to improve an area of the school.  Our first project is communication and we are starting with parentmail.  If you have any views you would like to be considered or indeed would like to commit to joining the parents’ focus group (who meet regularly throughout the year) then please contact Jackie Moore at jm@hinchbk.cambs.sch.uk.

On that note…have a great week.

Anna Nightingale

Vice Principal