We started this week how we usually end it, with an Achievers’ Assembly. Given the hectic nature of the last few weeks, we haven’t been able to hold our regular Friday festivities and so I held an impromptu celebration to kick off the week.
We caught up with some of the sports reports from some successful outings including very impressive football wins in the Wix Cup for the boys’ team and a strong performance and win in a league match for the girls’ team.
There were a few awards handed out for ice skating, swimming, trampolining, and driving (yes, you read that correctly) and then we received our House point update from Lillian and Lottie (Year 6). The House Cup went to Earth this week and then for a number of reasons, including an amazing assembly on Friday, the Class of the Week trophy went to Voyager.
The assembly concluded with a wonderful performance of a Taylor Swift song by Emma (Year 6). I noticed several members of staff hovering outside of the hall as they were so impressed.
Across the week, many of our Year 5 pupils have been taking part in their Bikeability course and assessment. They start on the school grounds to complete their level one award before spending sessions riding around the local area, on the roads, to complete their level two. As always, we received some lovely feedback from our visiting instructors.
Another whole-week activity has seen pupils taking part in a mini-marathon event each lunchtime. Tasked with running 12 laps across the week, some managed it in one go on Monday, others preferring a more leisurely approach, chatting with friends, and clocking up the laps… eventually. Either way, it was lovely to see so many pupils getting involved.
It was awesome to see so many parent, carers, relatives join us on Monday afternoon to have a look at the books and displays and to see the work the pupils have been getting up to this term. I enjoyed chatting to many of our visitors and appreciated the kind words which were shared with me about the work the pupils have been doing and showing support for my teachers.
An unexpected meeting off site on Tuesday meant I didn’t get back to school until the end of the day, just in time for the staff meeting followed by a trustees’ meeting at HGS. What a day!
On Wednesday morning, I joined Year 3 as they headed up to Highbury to enjoy the dress rehearsal of the Year 2 Easter production. It was such good fun and I was so impressed with the way the Year 1s and Year 2s were clearly enjoying performing. Whilst it would be wrong to single any pupil out, I would like to give a ‘shout out’ to Lana and Caitlin (both of whom have siblings at Whitehill) for their all-round performance. I have no doubt Mr Denney and Miss Smith were taking notes across both Year 2 classes as they think about Christmas 2026!
Our Year 4s were engaged in a day entitled, ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ (Sorry, couldn’t think of anything more original). It was a day of workshops and practical sessions designed to bring their topic to life. I popped down on a number of occasions to see what they were getting up to and to witness their engagement. It was wonderful to see, even when Mats was demonstrating the effectiveness of a Roman helmet, against a sword!
Wednesday lunchtime saw me watch a few more laps of the in-school marathon event. Mr Ciepiela was being assisted by a group of Year 6s who decided to offer compliments to every runner as they checked off another lap. It had such a lovely feel to it.
Making the most of the nice weather, I took Emily (Year 3) and a group of her friends, together with a group of Year 5s to the pond. Always looking for learning opportunities, we were trying to identify which big fish, all our baby fish have descended from, given their markings. We also played a new game invented by Willow, entitled ‘Frog or Rock?’ Not as easy as it might sound!
I don’t usually reference governors’ meetings in my blog as, and no offence to my wonderful governors here, they are not the most ‘blog-worthy’ events. That being said, on Wednesday night our JLT presented to the governors and shared with them the work they have done to date and what they have learned about themselves whilst doing it. I was so proud of them. Mrs Dorrell, my Chair of Governors, was also impressed, stating that, ‘We were all particularly impressed by how you talked about working as a team – listening to each other’s ideas and combining them into something even better. That’s a skill that will serve you incredibly well in the future.’ I couldn’t agree more.
I left school early on Thursday for round four of my Farmington Institute round table discussions and on this occasion, I was leading the debate. I selected ‘parents’ as the single-word title and spent time reflecting upon research evidence (which I have also been involved with) looking at the biggest ever parent survey reflecting upon parent perceptions of their children’s schools. It was a very insightful discussion in a beautiful venue. Just two more to go.
We held a slightly shorter Achievers’ Assembly on Friday as we did one on Monday and, we also had the team in upgrading the sound system in the hall and so didn’t want to take up too much of their time.
We celebrated a few individual achievements including gymnastics, scouting and Crufts as well as presenting the House Cup to Water. Aztec Class won Class of the Week much to the delight of the Year 3s.
Straight after assembly, the casting was announced to much excitement (my ears are still ringing) for this year’s Year 6 production, High School Musical. The pupils were all so supportive of each other and now have the small task of learning 80 pages of script!
Thank you to those who contributed to the Next Page Books project. Mrs Vernon and our junior librarians popped into town on Friday afternoon to pick up a lovely selection of books to add to our amazing library.
Next week is the last week before the end of the Spring Term. I can’t believe how quickly this term has flown by.
It will be a very exciting week for the pupils as we have our STEM week, where the pupils will be coming off timetable and enjoying a week of science, technology, engineering, and maths. The subject leads have been working hard to put a package together which includes some of our parents coming in to talk about the STEM-based work they do.
Throw into the mix, two consultation evenings, a hockey festival, a hockey competition, two football matches and a netball fixture and once again, Whitehill School will be a hive of activity.
The whole of Whitehill will be rooting for Katie (Year 6) and her brothers (Year 7) who are representing Hertfordshire on Saturday at the national cross-country finals. We wish all three the very best of luck!
I am off to watch our boys’ football team play in the Wix Cup final. At last, an opportunity for my trustee reporter, Mrs Richards, to enjoy the game without having to send me updates!
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Steve Mills
Headteacher
