By Mr Rodgers-Endersby, Deputy Head of Sixth Form

As we start the Summer Term in earnest there is something of a Janus-faced approach to the coming weeks. In equal measures we will be looking to the future and reflecting on past experience as our Sixth Formers transition into new roles and new life stages. On the 12th of May, our traditional Leavers’ Tea offers an opportunity for students and staff to reminisce about the successes and memorable moments of Year 13’s time with us. The students and staff have been eagerly planning their speeches and performances to send Year 13 off to study leave with high spirits. The Year 13s will no doubt entertain the rest of the school with a rite of passage in the form of a conga through the staff room and entertaining decoration of hallways and atria throughout the course of the day.

Meanwhile in Year 12, it is time to think about the next set of our school leaders with interviews taking place for the Head Girl’s Team next week—I have no doubt that it will be a tough contest as usual. In this continued future focus, we look forward to supporting Year 12 with the beginning of UCAS as we start to think about university choices and personal statements from June. This process includes are new opportunity for parents and tutors to meet mid-June to talk about the next steps.

Though not yet with us, the future planning expands down to Years 10 and 11 as we begin to introduce them to our Sixth Form. Our current Year 10 cohort will join us in join for subject tasters and a glimpse of Sixth Form life, whilst Year 11 will be off books in early July for a fun-packed day with their upcoming form group.

This is perhaps the time of term where one feels most acutely that the academic year has flown by with public exams on the horizon and the prospect of watching seventy students step out into the wider world of university, apprenticeships, and gap year jobs.