Good news with which to start the final half term of the year: we are fully staffed for teachers for September. I have read over 850 applications since the school opened, which is a phenomenal amount given the difficulties many schools experience with recruitment. Long may it continue! The quality of candidates continues to be extremely high, and I am delighted to work with such talented colleagues. Three of our current Teaching Assistants will be training to be teachers with us next year. It is brilliant that their school experience with us makes them want to pursue a career in teaching. Of course this means that there will be Teaching Assistant adverts on our website shortly. We are also looking for a Cover supervisor and an IT technician for our growing school. Please do get in touch if these posts are of interest. We will number over 700 students in September, and it is an exciting time to be part of our school.

The sporting life of the school is always busy this time of year, this week the Quarter finals of the boys cricket at Harrow School and further athletics fixtures taking place. Although we have no external examinations we have internal ones in core subjects for Year 7 next week, and Year 8 the week after. Assemblies have focused on wellbeing activities as well as revision skills. Fresh from the success of ‘Hairspray’ just before the half term holiday, we are preparing for PinnFest on 11^th July. This is open to the whole community, and is a chance to enjoy some performances, browse the exhibition, and have a bite to eat from our PTA run BBQ. My thanks to them for their dedication and support.

I know many members of our community are keen to hear feedback from our Ofsted Inspection last month. I hope to have the final report to share with you next week.

Governance has always been a strength of the school, given the involvement of the other Headteachers in Harrow in the foundation of Pinner High School. Many of these Headteachers are still Trustees of the school, though they now delegate much of the day to day governance to the Local Governing Body. Governor and Trustee David Chappell recently won the  Outstanding Contribution to Harrow Schools Award, from the Association of Harrow Governing Bodies. It is especially pleasing that Governors’ have been formally recognised in this way, as they are all volunteers and tireless supporters of the school. Dr. Ahmed, our Chair of Governors, nominated Mr. Chappell for his contribution to the successful setting up of Pinner High School. Congratulations!

Congratulations are also due to the students who took part in the recent borough athletics tournament. The individual success was reported last week, and we now have team news success to share as well. All the teams were placed in the top 4 out of the schools in the area, which is brilliant. Special congratulations to the Year 8 and 9 boys who tied first place with hosts Harrow School. The competition 'on the Hill' was of a very high level, and to achieve this result is a fantastic accomplishment. Our cricketers opened the season with a confident victory this week as well. My thanks to Pinner Cricket Club for hosting the match.

The Bank of England was the venue for a group of Year 9 students yesterday, who took the day to investigate the real life mathematics of interest rates and inflation. They had an excellent day, and even held a real bar of gold!

The curtain rises on ‘Hairspray’ this week. Students and colleagues have been rehearsing intensely, and I look forward to seeing you at the shows on Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets are available on Parentpay.

We are hosting an Open Day on 27th June this year for prospective parents. Our usual open event on 3rd October will still go ahead, but as we will have significant refurbishment work at that time I would encourage any current Year 5 families to attend in June if they are able to do so. Booking is essential. We also have some spaces available in the current Year 8.

Sporting success steals the headlines this week: the Year 8 boys are Harrow Champions, ending their season undefeated in all matches. The final at Harrow Borough FC was a tight match against a strong Nower Hill team, with Pinner coming through 4-3 winners. Congratulations to all the players and coaches. It was a real team effort, and very tense to watch on the sidelines! The Rugby team made their 7s debut in the Middlesex competition, winning 2 matches during the afternoon. We are grateful for the support of Pinner Rugby Club in launching the sport with us. The tennis team were in action as well, and there were trials for cricket team places, which are always keenly contested with lots of interest.

There was lots of interest in the Police Cadets, who had their introductory session this week. Almost 30 students attended, which is a brilliant response, and I know PC Peacock has some great sessions planned for the future.

110 students took part in the Junior Maths Challenge this week, which is a very high number indeed. The Senior Maths Challenge students received their certificates at the end of the last half term, and we have high hopes for even more recognition in this version designed for the younger year groups. We also have news of our first Silver Duke of York 'Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award' winners, which is very exciting too.

Congratulations to all involved in a particularly successful week. Plenty more to come!

Somehow there is only one week left until the end of term. It has flown by in a mixture of lessons, sports, arts activities and more students than ever before! During the term we have grown past 500 students, with 150 still on our waiting list for September.

Our guest speakers on Deep Learning Day commented on the positive reception they received from the students, and how actively they engaged in the activities. I was delighted to welcome our final Q?rius speaker in our Careers series of presentations this week, who gave a fascinating insight into starting up a business and seeing it grow into an international success over the last 10 years. Students were also challenged to see how the world of work has changed in the digital age, and how they need to be prepared for the changes this will bring to their working lives. Many thanks to all who have contributed to these presentations. It is brilliant to have such support from the community.

We had a very well attended coffee morning for families of students who access support through our ASD provision this week, with a visiting expert to answer questions and signpost further resources. Our final coffee and chat of the term is on Wednesday 3rd April at 2pm. Please do let us know if you plan to attend so that we can have enough refreshments.

At the end of next week I shall be on the inaugural trip to Beijing, China.  I will wish you a restful holiday now, and look forward to seeing all the student back with us on Tuesday 23^rd April, ready for our final term of the year. Lots to look forward to!

Science week has been a mixture of activities; perfume making, rocket film canisters and a chemical symbols hunt. I enjoyed being the element Praseodymium, which it has taken me most of the week to be able to say fluently.

Our World Challenge expedition group going to Costa Rica in the summer have more training this week, in the rather less exotic Kent countryside, where they will be learning camp craft skills that will be essential in the rainforest of Central America.

Our first Parents Association Event takes place this evening; a Quiz night with fish and chips. My immense thanks to those involved in the planning of it. They have been extremely proactive. Over 100 tickets have been sold, and we are all looking forward to an entertaining evening.

Year 7 were entertained this week by children’s author Cath Cassidy (pictured) who read from her latest book and talked about the writing process. Students said their highlights were seeing the sketches of her characters, and the process she goes through when planning a book. They also said they enjoyed her stories about day dreaming- but there will be no daydreaming in the quiz tonight!

Our Year 9 Economists had expert insights from the Bank of England yesterday, with a guest speaker giving real life examples from the financial world. At the same time, Year 8s were hearing from this week’s Q?rius speaker, a parent kindly coming to talk about her work with an international NGO within the humanitarian and development sector. I am very grateful to both visitors for giving up their time.

Today is ‘National Offer Day’ when students in Year 6 find our which secondary school they will be attending in September. I am delighted for the 180 families who will have the chance to join our community and experience all that a Pinner High School education has to offer. You are invited to visit us on Wednesday 6^th March at 4pm to share our excitement that you will soon be Pinner High School students! Inducting our fourth year group is very exciting. This week our Trailblazers in Year 9 reached the milestone of being nearer the end of Year 11 than they are to the start of Year 7; a date that captured their attention!

Our community keeps getting stronger, and planning continues for our first Parents Association Event, our Quiz night on 15^th March. Do book your tickets soon!

Another date for your diary is our school musical, ‘Hairspray’ with performances on 2^nd and 3^rd  April. I look forward to seeing you there!