The Sixth Form students awarded the Climate Kick-start Prize last week have been busy planning the project. They want to use the funds to create an ‘eco bike shelter’ to accommodate the additional bikes that will result from their campaign to get more students cycling to school. News of their success reached the Evening Standard and Harrow Times, as well as ITV news, and they were congratulated by local counsellors this week, as well as the Mayor of London last week. The official photographs have now arrived, which feature in the blog this week. A film about our project is on the Mayor's Youtube channel: Climate Kick-Start Prizewinner, Pinner High School - YouTube It is an exciting time, and an important moment to focus on Climate change. The students asked me to sign up to become a carbon-neutral school by 2030, which I have done here: UK Climate Change • Let's Go Zero (letsgozero.org) we are already working on this target.

Our student poets will be representing the school as winners of the Harrow Mayor’s Poetry Competition. They have been invited to attend the Mayor’s Remembrance Sunday commemoration where they will read their winning entry as part of the service. Many congratulations.

Our Sixth form open events have been very well attended over the last couple of weeks, both in person and online. Last year we had applications from 59 different schools to join our Trailblazers in the Sixth Form. Last week we received the total applications for Year 7 places, which have risen for the seventh consecutive year. We have been the most oversubscribed school in Harrow since 2020. This is due to the brilliant students and colleagues at the school, and the strong level of parental support we are lucky to enjoy- thank you so much.

And as is now becoming customary, some sporting success with which to end: Badminton success for the Year 9 boys, who progress to the next round of the borough championships. Congratulations!

Chair of Governors Dr. Ahmed is the guest contributor of this week's blog, to round up our first half term of the year:

"I am delighted to write to you at the end of the first half term of the year to thank you for your support through these complex times. I also want to let you know what your Governors have been doing to support and challenge our school leaders over the last term.

 The term started with the brilliant news of truly outstanding GCSE results. To be 24% above the national average for grades 7-9 this year is astonishing, and our Trailblazers, parents and teachers have so much to celebrate. However, rest assured, the governors are not complacent. We are always challenging and scrutinising data during our Students, Standards and Achievements Committee, holding the school to account. I know the students are enjoying the new building, especially the students who remember where we began in 2016 in just one corridor!  The Governors certainly remember, and we are immensely proud to see the completed product. The photo is from 1939! Our Finance and Risk Committee have overseen this since before the school opened, with the school management team. The Governors know how hard the school has worked to achieve the finished product plus how patient and flexible our children have had to be.

It was a real honour for the Governors to be recognised alongside the School in the Harrow’s Heroes nomination in September. As Chair during this continuing difficult period, I remember how the school's response to managing Covid in the first wave was described by public health as 'exemplary'; staff delivering laptops to children on new year eve; our school being open to children of frontline workers from several local schools during the holidays; the endless hours of work that went into teacher assessed grades and you may recall how the school opened in August to begin Covid testing so that term could begin on time for all our students.  The governors oversee that the school are continually monitoring and assessing the Covid risk. 

The term has felt like a welcome return to some sense of normality: we have enjoyed seeing the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions take place again, Harrow’s Music Service is back in the school, renewed and expanded LAMDA provision is available, we’re a part of a new Artist in Residence programme, and we have a full calendar of sports fixtures. Governors also recently had their first in person meeting in school since March 2020 and had a tour of the school. All this while continuing to ensuring Covid safety.

With all of these activities going on, perhaps it is no surprise that interest in our school is greater than ever. We are the most oversubscribed school in Harrow for the last two years! Of course, all this success requires the support of you as parents, and the school and governors are extremely grateful for this.

We continue to support and challenge the school to ensure we continually improve and grow.  This is done via regular meetings plus subcommittee meetings. We also have link governors monitoring areas such as safeguarding and SEN.

As a local GP I am especially interested in mental health support, and I was pleased to have the chance to talk to Year 10 and 11 parents this week about supporting young people’s mental health. I also spoke to staff at school about the same topic, and  how to prioritise their own wellbeing so they can continue to offer outstanding care to our students.   

I hope you will have a restful break, and thank you again for all your support this term. Pinner High has a strong community, and my Governors and I are pleased to be involved in it."

The week began with the celebration of our nomination as ‘Harrow’s Heroes’. Harrows Heroes “celebrates the hard work, dedication and achievements of local people and teams who make Harrow a special place to live and work.” It is a great honour for our school and Governors to be acknowledged in this way. More details of the award scheme can be found here: Harrow's Heroes 2021 – Harrow's Heroes – Harrow Council

Our first ‘Artist in residence’ event takes place this afternoon. We are delighted to be involved in this scheme, set up by Andria Zafirakou, 2018 Global Teacher Prize winner: About Andria - Artists in Residence. We will host Armando Alemdar who will be leading an oil painting workshop today. Our A Level art students will be involved, as well as all the trainee art teachers working with the Hillingdon School Centred Initial Teacher Training programme. This art programme is led by our Head of Art. Art is already a strength of the school, and I am excited to see how this continues to develop.

We had other visitors this week, from the Amy Winehouse Foundation. They led a workshop for Sixth Formers on drug and alcohol awareness, with a focus on the pressures that young people go through such as self-esteem, fitting in, peer pressure, social media and body image. They heard a ‘life share’ from a speaker who had experienced drug and alcohol dependence and overcome this. Students were so engaged in this session and had lots of questions for the speakers about their life experiences. Brook also delivered a session on consent and healthy relationships. The focus of the session was on empowering students to recognise unhealthy relationships and to ensure that students feel empowered to stand up to any situations in their relationships where they do not feel comfortable.

The image this week is from our Origami House event- a big contrast to House Tug of War, and great to see so many students involved.

Our open events for Year 7 entry to the school in September 2022 take place next week. All six in person sessions are now fully booked, but if you know anyone interested in finding out about a Pinner High School education who has not been able to book a place, there are live Zoom presentations on Monday that they may be able to join. We also have a new school film available that gives a good insight into our school if you cannot be here in person: Pinner High School 2021. 

This week we had the inaugural meeting of the Medic Society and an inspiring guest speaker, Dr Rao. Aspiring Year 12 Medic Aaron says ‘The Medic Society brings all the aspiring medics closer and broadens our horizons by introducing us to different medical specialities and career paths. It is led by Deputy Head of Sixth Form Ms Bruck who studied medicine at university herself, and she is helping us make sure we are on the right path with this journey. We are very grateful to Rupal Rao, Chief Cardiologist Physiologist at Northwick Park for visiting us and talking to us. We did an ECG and learnt how to calculate heart rate, as you can see in the photo! The Society also helps us to prepare for UCAT and BMAT to help us get into medical school.”

Year 7 continue to settle in well. I enjoyed talking to families at our online welcome event this week. It was lovely to have so many families on the call. The Year 7 assembly today focused on talking about feelings and asking for help, through the metaphor of teachers and students holding out jugs of water. As the water is shared out, it lightens the load. An inspiring assembly!

Although term is only 2 weeks old, it feels like the fun of school is much more a part of daily life; as well as the aspiring medics, inter-school fixtures begin next week with some Year 9 football matches, and really high levels of achievement points have been awarded across all years. Well done everyone.

Our fabulous Chair of Governors, Dr. Andleeb Ahmed has taken over the blog this week for an end of year message to the community. News of the 'Go Ape' trip and other events will have to wait!

Dr. Ahmed writes: "Thank you so much for your support for Pinner High School this year. It has been a very challenging year for so many of us, but on behalf of Governors, Trustees and parents, I want to take a moment to thank all the members of staff at Pinner High for looking after our children with such care and attention.

I am very proud of how our children have responded to the difficulties we have all faced, and I know much of it is because Pinner High School staff consistently go above and beyond what any of our families could reasonably expect. Last year they kept the school open through three consecutive bank holidays for the children of keyworkers and vulnerable students. The leadership team were out delivering laptops to our families on new year’s eve so students would be prepared for the start of Distance Learning in January. Teaching and support staff have managed the transition in and out of Distance Learning, and I am so impressed with all they have done. They managed to create a Covid testing centre for students on-site to help keep our community safe. They have had to track and trace through evenings, weekends and holidays and they still continue to provide opportunities for our children where they possibly can. Alongside this, they have managed a complex multi-phase refurbishment programme, and the opening of what promises to be a first class Sixth Form.

Our vision that Pinner High School expects and achieves the highest standards of and for every student has shone through during this time and I cannot thank the staff enough, but of course with distance learning I also want to thank our parents for supporting their children and our staff. Our community has always been a strength, and seeing everyone collaborate through this time has been wonderful to witness.

On a personal note, as a NHS GP I have seen first hand the impact of COVID and lockdowns  on both children and those in the education sector. Please take the time to talk to your child about how they are feeling about the whole lockdown experience and concerns they may have for the future. I am instructing everyone who works and studies at Pinner High to take a break over the summer and I’d like to congratulate them all on everything they have managed to do during such a difficult time.

I hope you all have a really good summer holiday."