Heads Blog - Week ending 4 November 2011

One of the reasons we introduced a House system into our school was to create opportunities for young people to undertake leadership roles in school, so one of the joys this week has been to meet our new Head Boy and Girl for each House and all of our House Captains for each year group. They are all excellent role models and a credit to our school and their families.

The first reason for meeting them was to congratulate them on their appointment. Each had to apply and be interviewed to earn their role, and they were all successful from strong fields. The second reason was to officially hand over to the House a framed portrait of the colleague their House was named after. Each frame contains a photo, a House badge and a short description of the personal qualities of the colleague. We have two sets of the portraits, one in Reception for visitors and one on the main corridor for our young people.

I am really proud of House Captains and Head Boys and Girls.

 

COOPER

House Captains: Ewan Connell, Megan Law, Ellie Brayshaw, Robbie Warrington, James Hullock, Amy Meadmore, Gemma Armitage, Jacob Walton, Declan Isaac, Nadine Earp, Ellie Plews and Lucy Bullimore.

The Head Boy for Cooper House is Luke Bretton and their Head Girl is Polly Orton.

 

 

DONALDSON

House Captains: Lucia Batley, Josh Kent, William Davies, Patrick Hazelgrave, Lucy Hillcoat, Dominic, Masefield, Callum Kelliher, Carmen Cher Harper-McCardle, Ethan Foster, George Davies, Khavel Afzal, and Sophie Rymill.

The Donaldson Head Girl is Bethany Newman and their Head Boy is Tom Bleasby.

 

 

THOMPSON

House Captains: Beth Adamson, Joe Wilton, Molly Garbutt, Harry Jackson, Becky Reynolds, Alex Williams, Teah Renton, Charlotte Appleyard, Heather Unsworth, Savannah Roqaa, Kia Clinton, Kyle Humphrey.

The Thompson House Head Boy is Peter Dobbs and the Head Girl is Zahraa Akhtar.

 

BUCKTROUT

House Captains; Chris Oakes, Charlotte Gavaghan, Ellie Bruce, Martha Millson, Beth Kerrigan, Brandon Johnson, Elise Curtis, Sally Marshall, Abigail Broadbent, Finola Daley Dee, Danielle Greaves and Josh Hallas.

The Bucktrout Head Girl is Emma Hammond and the Head Boy is Nathan Curtis.

 

Elsewhere this week, I spent lesson time in Languages where I enjoyed GCSE Spanish lessons and some really hard A Level German, it was a humbling experience as I watched young people make progress at a level way beyond my own tiny ability with languages!

 

I was glad of the opportunity to welcome Cllr Lamb into school again this week. I also appreciated the time given to our school by Julie Slingsby and Diane McElwee, who are the new Chairs of the Friends of Boston Spa School. It was a delight in the meeting to be given a cheque for over £1,600 to replace the curtains in the main hall. We are very grateful to the Friends for their support and look forward to their Quiz night next Friday 11/11/11 at 7.00pm.

 

Congratulations to Kieran McWilliams who has received a certificate of thanks from the Chronic Kidney Disease Department at York District Hospital for his fundraising.  It is a charity very close to the family’s heart and they were delighted that Kieran and his friends from Bucktrout House managed to raise £70 in 15 minutes over a break time with a bun sale. The charity hope to raise £200,000 to build a life saving, shared care dialysis unit at Harrogate District Hospital.  Kieran said "a huge thanks to everyone for supporting this charity. This unit has made my family complete and I hope we can continue to fundraise to make sure we reach the goal they need to help other families."

 

Thursday evening was our Year 10 Consultation Evening and it was lovely to welcome so many families into school. November in Year 10 is so important, as we are in a position to reflect on progress made in the first two months, and to set new targets, while still having time on our side to make significant impact. I am grateful to everyone who made it such a useful evening.

 

Thursday was also our first full Governing Body meeting of the year, it was an especially long, but nevertheless most useful meeting; again I am appreciative of the considerable voluntary commitment these people give to our school.

 

Friday started with our usual staff briefing, only instead of being led by me, Tom Bleasby from Yr11 took my place to advertise our participation in National Take Over Day next week. He did a great job and we look forward to many such stories next week.

 

 

Next Friday is also Remembrance Day and our school will stop at 11.00am as a tribute to those whose lives have been lost in war. Through this week and next, our House assemblies have seen a fantastic personal presentation from Mrs Varley which has brought home so powerfully the message of Remembrance Day; if you have three minutes, Mrs Varley’s assembly presentation is here, and it had such an impact on our young people.

 

If families and our community would like to join us at the front of school next Friday at 11.00am, we would be delighted to see you there. We will be creating, once again, our own Memorial Garden

 

As ever, I end the week looking at progress in Community Contribution Points, and at the moment it is looking like a Donaldson week! Well done Miss Hibbert and her team, I look forward to perhaps wearing my yellow badge for the first time!