Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
Happy New Year!
Thank you for supporting the various Christmas charity events at the end of last term. We raised £1200 on the House charity stalls, £1311 on the tombola and £583 for Save the Children from the Christmas jumper day.
Year 11 have their PPE exams and sat their first ones on Tuesday. Good luck to them for the next couple of weeks and to Year 10 for their POR PPE next Tuesday.
As we head into a new term, I want to share a little insight into one of our key priorities this year – helping students to be enterprising!
Mrs Pearce and I are delivering assemblies this week with the message to our students that working hard and achieving the best grades they can really matters but so too does developing their ability to be enterprising, and developing these skills can be genuinely fun.
Why are we talking about “enterprising students”? Well, we want to give our students a heads-up that the world of work they will step into after school looks very different from the one many of us grew up with. Strong GCSEs, A levels and degrees still open doors but they don’t always guarantee a smooth path into work. Youth unemployment, including amongst graduates is at 16% right now and increasingly employers are looking for young people, who can take initiative, work well with others, adapt to change, communicate confidently and bounce back when things don’t quite go to plan. Many employers value this as much as actual exam grades. We reassured students that achieving the best grades they can and having an enterprising nature go hand in hand.
The good news? School is a brilliant place to develop both, and our students have 5-10 years to develop these before they enter the workplace full time – so plenty of time! Our structured assessment schedules, high-quality teaching and focus on good study habits are all designed to help students achieve their very best academically so that alongside studying, students can build their enterprise skills which help grades turn into opportunities later on. Enterprising skills can be the tiebreaker that helps one strong candidate stand out from another.
We explained to students that being enterprising doesn’t mean starting a business at 14 (although some do!). It’s much simpler and much more achievable than that.
It’s about giving things a go, even if students are not sure they will be any good at them, taking initiative, rather than waiting to be asked, embracing challenge and learning from mistakes, getting on with others, including people who are different from them in background, interests and views and being curious, asking questions and really listening.
We reminded students that they cannot learn these skills from a book but that they grow through real-life experiences and many of these experiences are enjoyable, social and confidence-boosting.
We highlighted to students that some of the best opportunities to build enterprising skills are already part of school life such as trying a new club from the updated timetable that is coming out next week or even going to two or three clubs (shooting the arrows -see below!), getting involved in house competitions, helping organise charity events or fundraising ideas, finding volunteering or work experience in Years 10 and 12 and whenever the opportunity arises putting their hand up and being part of a team.
We also encouraged students to see value in everyday responsibilities such as helping at home, babysitting younger siblings and doing jobs that aren’t glamorous (but are very real!). We shared how we learnt from doing menial jobs…..I worked in a frozen chicken factory when I was a sixth former and uni student and served tea at a service station in the A3 and Mrs Pearce was a washer upper in a restaurant, sold sandwiches on a beach in Spain cleaned toilets and changed beds as a chambermaid. These “low-level” jobs teach resilience, empathy and gratitude – all enterprising skills.
We talked to students about “shooting lots of arrows”, that is, trying lots of small things, knowing not everything will stick, but trusting that something will. We also suggested they start up a little side hustle if they have an idea and earning even a little money builds independence and a real appreciation for effort and value. This might look like selling clothes on Vinted (with parents overseeing the account), helping neighbours with gardening or cleaning, doing people’s nails, making t shirts designs or being a swim school helper.
So, what’s the takeaway for you as parents? We want to reassure you your daughter does not have to sacrifice academic success to develop life skills, that enterprising skills support confidence, wellbeing and future employability and many of these experiences are fun, social and energising, not stressful. We encourage you to also encourage your daughter to take up opportunities or see through ideas.
Our aim is to not only give our students the best qualifications they can achieve but to also have a sense of adventure, try out new things, do things they don’t like, building up connections, learning from other people by being curious, coming up with ideas , chasing those ideas, trying to get better to thrive in whatever path they choose
Thank you, as always, for your support and for encouraging your daughters to be positive, enthusiastic and open to opportunity and the extracurricular clubs’ timetable will be out next week!
Best wishes
Anne Kennedy