Refurbishment work is well underway, as the fences around the school show. Many thanks for your patience with the disruption this causes. It is brilliant to have started! 

Our Jack Petchey Award winners had their annual celebration at Watersmeet theatre in Rickmansworth this week. The awards recognise the contribution young people make to lots of organisations, and we are delighted to be part of the programme. All our winners decide how to spend £250 of grant money around our school. Here is more information about the programme: https://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/

Over 40 students are preparing for our ski trip to Italy, leaving this weekend. We have run a ski trip every year the school has been open, and I know staff and students are very much looking forward to it. We are planning an even more exciting trip to ski in North America next year. Watch our for more details soon!

Students in Year 9 have been impeccable during their Midterm exams this week. It is the first time they have had a full set of exams, one in every subject they study for GCSE. We run them as if they were GCSEs, and they have really stepped up to this challenge in a very impressive way.

I am sure you will all be impressed with our London Junior Chess Champion in both U18 and U21 categories, despite being in Year 10. More details are on page 19 of the magazine below. Huge Congratulations!
https://www.harrow.gov.uk/downloads/file/27166/harrow-people-february-2020

I hope you have an enjoyable and restful half term. School begins again on Tuesday 25^th February, for a normal school day.

Another certificate for our wall this week, as members of the National Association for Able Children in Education. As well as the everyday challenge in lessons of a stretching curriculum, we have run two programmes for our Most Able, one in collaboration with St. John’s College Oxford, and the Brilliant Club as well. This certificate notes our ‘consistent commitment to provision for more able and talented pupils in school’. This will always be our focus, to ensure all our students are stretched and challenged in and out of lessons.

In lessons, Year 10 are taking on board their examination feedback as the end of their GCSE courses start to get closer. At parents evening last night our Founding Head of Sixth Form spoke to large numbers of students and parents in different sessions about the exciting developments in this area. He is a self-confessed ‘UCAS nerd’ and I am delighted to welcome him to our team. He will be full time with us in July, well ahead of the Sixth Form opening in September 2021. Year 9 Midterm examinations get underway in the last week of this half term, giving them a good opportunity to show their progress since the start of their GCSE courses.

Outside the classroom, Chinese New Year festivities were a great success last week, with bubble tea and Kung Fu the student highlights. Sports results included Year 7 Netballers beating Nower Hill 9-5. They are a formidable team who have won every game so far this year. Year 7 boys Footballers reached the semi-final of the Borough competition. They won their group but lost on penalties. Completing the round up from a busy week for Year 7, the girls Indoor Athletics came second in the borough with the boys coming in 3^rd place. The Year 10 Badminton team won the Plate competition in the Borough. Congratulations to all involved.

Auditions have been taking place this week for our school production of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The amount of interest has been very high and knowing the quality of previous productions I am looking forward to it already. The added challenge is that the hall is about to be refurbished and is unavailable for the performance, so we will experience a different form of theatre for this show. This will be a brilliant experience for performers and audience. More details will follow!

More sporting success this week, with the Year 7 netballers winning again, success for the basketball team, and a particularly impressive set of results in the borough cross country. Our PE department organised the girls event on behalf of the borough, the first time they have been asked to do so, and I am particularly pleased this ran so smoothly. Congratulations to all involved. Our CCF Army contingent had their debut last week, and continue with their weekly parade at John Lyon School. 25 students from Years 9 and 10 take part, and I am delighted to hear it is progressing so well.

Chinese New Year activities start next week off, with a visit to the British Museum. We have a themed lunch during the week, and other activities during form time to celebrate this important festival. The Kung Fu lesson is sure to be a highlight! The photograph this week is of the cards we received from our link school in Taiwan. Our students wrote in Mandarin, the Taiwanese students wrote in English, and students have enjoyed the cultural exchange. Particular thanks to the Chinese teaching team involved in this. You may have seen my article in the Times Educational Supplement a couple of weeks ago about the importance of Mandarin in schools: https://www.tes.com/magazine/article/why-we-offer-mandarin-and-spanish-not-german-and-french

As you may know, before Christmas Governors and I appointed our Founding Head of Sixth Form. He will start with us in July this year, preparing to open the Sixth Form the year after, in September 2021. He is attending our Year 10 parents evening on 30^th January. He will be presenting our early Sixth Form plans, and talking about his extensive Sixth Form leadership experience. Any parents from any year group who are interested to meet him are most welcome to attend. Please do let reception know if you plan to do so, so we can ensure we have enough space. His presentations are at 4.30 and 6.00pm.

Holidays begin today, after a long and rewarding term. This week has been the culmination of lots of hard work on the growing arts scene in the school: Pinner's Got Talent, the Christmas Concert, the Hub Christmas show, and the local schools' carol service have all taken place in the last week. My thanks to all students and staff who have been involved in these events. Year 7 Food Technology students were not left out of the festive feeling with the Reindeer Cookies in the picture! It is worth commenting how our Year 7 students have settled into their new school really successfully. The end of their first term in secondary school is a good moment to reflect on this milestone. Transition to a new school can be difficult, but we know that with personalised pastoral care and lots of activities from the moment a school place is offered, it can be done really well.

Of course, there are lots of challenges for the future, as we look to develop the school still further. I am pleased to report the successful appointment of our Founding Head of Sixth Form, who will take up his appointment towards the end of the summer term, ready to work with our community to ensure our Sixth Form sets off on the same 'Outstanding' footing as the rest of the school. He will be attending our Year 10 Parents Evening on 30th January to start the conversation with our Trailblazing parents and students about post-16 options. I very much hope to have further news of our refurbishment programme early in the new year. There have been positive developments over the last few weeks, and once these are confirmed I will share them with the community. Exciting times!

In the meantime, Season's Greetings and Happy New Year!

"The most outstanding school we have visited" was the feedback from some of our visiting speakers this week who contributed to our Deep Learning Day on Tuesday. The speakers were from 'Healthy Choices' and spent the day talking to students in sessions and around the school. They based their feedback on the quality of the interactions between students and staff, which is certainly lovely to hear. The rest of the Deep Learning Day was also very positive, with topics as diverse as Esafety, CV writing, and Hate speech and prejudice covered between Years 7-10. Year 7 had a Road Safety theatre session this afternoon as well- a topic that always needs to be fresh in students' minds as they become more independent.

Our CCF (Combined Cadet Force) Army contingent launch date is getting closer, and students in Years 9 and 10 had assemblies about that this week. Flt Lt Mann from John Lyon, our partner school, will be answering questions about this for students on Wednesday at lunch time.  There is more information about the types of activities the CCF get up to here: https://combinedcadetforce.org.uk/about-the-ccf

Year 10 exams begin next week for our Trailblazers, which will be a useful indicator of how the students are progressing towards their GCSE target grades. They have a full range of exams which will be really helpful for us to see where they are doing well, and where further development is still needed.

Basketball took centre stage this week, with hard fought victories on consecutive nights for the Year 9 and Year 10 boys teams, the latter by a single point against Rooks Heath. Dramatic stuff!