It has been great to welcome our students back after the Christmas break. I hope you all had some rest and were able to spend time with family and friends, bringing light and happiness at the darkest time of the year.

As students have started with a three day week, we do not have any students or tutor groups of the week to celebrate but there has been lots already to appreciate. I enjoyed visiting a Year 9 food technology lesson on Thursday morning, where the onions and potatoes were being sweated down into a soup. I especially enjoyed the final part of the lesson where students decided on how to transport their pans of hot liquid home that evening. Generally a water bottle was the vessel of choice, with the top firmly screwed on. I wish good luck to the two students who decided to pour the soup into rectangular plastic sandwich boxes – I really hope that the food stayed firmly in the lunch box when the school bag was unpacked last night.

Thinking about careers

Next week will be the launch of our 2023 careers sessions, started by assemblies led by our Heads of Year. We will be undertaking a series of lessons with students of all ages, ranging from personality profiles to CVs, as well as exploring the world of work. 

On each day of next week (from Monday for Year 7 to Friday for Year 11) students will be asked to consider which of these two employment sectors they are interested in. They are: art and creative; business; construction and property; engineering; finance; healthcare and veterinary medicine; hospitality and travel; IT and technology; law; media; public sector and charity; retail buying and fashion; science and teaching and education.

I know that this might not cover all areas of employment but we are encouraging our students, particularly in the younger years, to consider a wider range of careers than maybe the ones they are already familiar with. There is the chance for students to add specific details, so they could add ‘paramedic’ having chosen the sector of ‘healthcare and veterinary medicine’ but this is not a requirement for Years 7 to 11.

You will receive a text from me during the evening for your year group asking you to check that your child has completed a survey on Frog, our school learning website. Next Friday I will share with you which of the sectors the 1,500 young people in our school are most interested in.

Safely walking to and from school

Following the advice received from Sutton Police back in December, we would remind parents and carers to talk to their children about keeping safe and to avoid where possible having their phones visible on the way home.

In the meantime, especially for those of you that do not work at the weekend, I hope you pause your own careers and have a relaxing weekend.

Nick House, Headteacher