Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends,
I am starting off the blog this week with some sporting success. Mrs Bolton and Miss Johnson took 3 teams of great runners to the Berkshire round of the Cross Country Cup at Reading Bluecoat last Tuesday. All the girls had an excellent race, and the team results were:
Junior girls: 3rd place
Intermediate girls: 1st place
Senior girls: 5th place
Huge congratulations to Grace, Lilly, Maya, Matilda, Alice and Josie who are now Berkshire Champions! We wish the Junior and Intermediate teams the best of luck at the Regional Finals in Dorset on Saturday8th November. Thank you for the Mrs Bolton and Miss Johnson for their support and encouragement.
Another example of great success comes from a charity event this week. Three of our sixth form students Maryam, Mariam and Nada organised a bake sale to raise money for Save the Children who raise money for emergencies across the world including the Gaza crisis.
Maryam told us: “We raised £441.38 which was a lot more than we expected to raise! People were coming to buy anything and everything they could, we even had people come and say they didn’t want to buy anything, just to put five pounds on the card reader for a donation, and others telling us to keep the change, and I think that was a really lovely moment.”
Thank you to all the students who donated cakes and ran the stalls to make the event such a success.
We have had a great report from our long anticipated French exchange programme which took place last week. Mrs Amye told us:
Since its inception in September 2022, Our French Exchange program has blossomed into an incredible journey of cultural and linguistic discovery for our students. It all began with our lovely Year 8 students pairing up with pen friends from Saint-Thomas in France, guided by the wonderful collaboration with Mme Jennifer Lecoutre.
From the start, our students exchanged letters, postcards for holidays like Halloween and Christmas, and even shared videos and school presentations. Over time, these exchanges evolved into regular video calls, helping students not only practice their French but also build genuine connections. This year, as Year 11s, they had the amazing opportunity to travel to France, meet their pen friends face-to-face, and stay with host families.
The exchange has been invaluable in boosting our students’ confidence, cultural awareness, and language skills. They immersed themselves in everyday life in Lille, enjoyed exploring new places, and cherished their time with host families. Whether it was visiting a theme park, touring a chocolate factory, or simply sharing a meal, these experiences were truly unforgettable. When it came time to say goodbye, everyone was touched by how meaningful the journey had been.
We are now looking forward to welcoming the French students from the second cohort in March 2026, where they will have a chance to stay with our host families here and experience life on our side. And of course, we’re also looking forward to the new adventures ahead as we prepare our second cohort, our current Year 9 students, for their exchange trip in October 2026, and our third cohort for 2027. The journey continues, and we can’t wait to see even more of our students grow and thrive through these exchanges!
We want to extend a huge thank you to our MFL department, Mr. Darby, Mrs. Diaz, and Mrs. Totolan-Moore for all their support in the exchange. We also want to give an additional thanks to Mrs Amye. It is difficult to convey how much time and effort went into making this a success with all of the correspondence between schools, parents and writing lots of risk assessments! We are so grateful for all your passion and enthusiasm that made this possible.
Looking forward to the future, yesterday we held an extended assembly for Year 11 to introduce them to some new subjects that we offer in the sixth form, as well as giving students information about subjects they may study at GCSE but are quite different at A-level. These included subjects such as economics, sociology, psychology, politics, philosophy and ethics and many more. We are looking forward to seeing all our Year 11 students at our sixth form open evening next half term on the 20th November to find out more about everything that is on offer at Holt Sixth.
And finally, Made in Dagenham rehearsals are in full swing! Students are practising at lunch times and after school and already the drama and music department are blown away by the amazing talent we have here at The Holt. Keep your eyes peeled for info on tickets next half term…
Emma Salamut-Ward
Assistant Headteacher
Head of Sixth Form