It was great to see Whitehill represented at the County Cross Country finals on Saturday. For some of our families who had current Whitehill pupils plus older siblings also competing, it did mean a swift change of venues between events, but my trustee reporters were able to cover all races.
Well done to all who took part in some tricky conditions and as always thank you to the parents who provided the support and encouragement. Katie (Year 6) qualified for nationals with a very impressive second place finish and with her older brothers (Year 7) also impressing for Hitchin Boys’ School, it will be another family outing to the finals. They will be joined by another former Whitehill athlete, Leo (Year 9) who makes it to the final stage for the fifth time.
Monday was quite productive but did end up being one of four days where I wasn’t in school for the whole day. Apart from break and lunch where it was good to get out of my office and chat to pupils, I spent most of the time on my computer updating documents and responding to emails.
A different meeting meant that I wasn’t able to hold my weekly JLT session on Tuesday morning and so I can restock the biscuits before Arthur next visits and decides what we will all be eating.
I popped into Kusama Class on Tuesday morning to see Mrs Winter teaching them some Japanese. She had worked out how each of the pupils would pronounce their name and also write it. For reference, my first name would be pronounced ‘Su-te-bu’ and Lara will henceforth be known by me as Ra-ra. Jemima’s is pronounced ‘Ji-ma-i-ma’, whilst Kristijonas is still working his out as there were quite a lot of syllables to pronounce once his had been translated! It was clear that the pupils were completely engrossed in this lesson.
The story of Grendel is always a favourite amongst the Year 3s and Mayan Class were totally engrossed in predicting what might happen next when I spent some time with them this week. The illustrations were very impressive and their ideas were creative. They have all, once again, been inspired. Not to be outdone, Aztec invited me to see their Grendel work and again, it was very impressive to see. Both classes received Headteacher’s Awards for their hard work.
I was back in Voyager on Tuesday afternoon to help out with some more geography work. I was fascinated by the conversations around New York as a place to live having recently visited. I knew my photographs would come in handy one day.
The wet weather stayed away just enough for two of our girls’ football teams to play games against William Ransom. This fixture had already been postponed once before, and so Miss King and Mr Ciepiela were keen to get it played. Honours were shared with one win each.
I wasn’t able to watch either of the sporting events after school on Wednesday, but we had a boys’ netball fixture against St Andrew’s and a speed stack competition for some of our Lower School pupils.
The feedback from the staff who did accompany the pupils was, as always, very positive. The netball team played very well, narrowly missing out on a win in their first game, but making amends in game two. I would like to make public the promotion from ‘Sky Sports reporter’ to ‘chief correspondent’ of Mrs Richards. Her work of late, keeping me informed of Whitehill’s sporting adventures, has been exemplary and her promotion for the second half of the year, much deserved.
There was success too at the speed stacking competition with one of our teams scooping first place in the 3-3-3 event. It was lovely to see two of our Year 6 pupils, who have been helping Mr Lord coach them, be invited to support the lower school pupils.
The reason for my absence was the third in my series of Farmington Institute Headteacher discussions, with this half term’s venue being St James’s Palace. I am so lucky with the venues we are using.
Today’s discussion was around curriculum development but not before we were greeted by Revd Paul Wright who is Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal and Domestic Chaplain to King Charles. He took us into the Chapel Royal and gave a fascinating insight into the history of this very impressive building. I am leading the next discussion in March, where the venue is the Tower of London.
There was much excitement amongst the Year 6 pupils on Thursday as they finally found out (earlier than planned) what this year’s Year 6 production will be. It also means I can share with you a far better photograph of the construction project Mr Mills Jnr and I were involved in last week.
I was out of the school again on Thursday afternoon and other commitments meant that I wasn’t in school on Friday either, so Mrs Burniston deputised for me in Achievers’ Assembly. As always, I received a full account of all we celebrated. Fire won the House Cup and Mayan won Class of the Week.
Well done to the other pupils who were celebrated, including Nora (Year 3) and Katie (Year 6) for their Park Run awards. Two other Year 3s – George P and Emily M – also shared their achievements out of school. Georgia (Year 6) sang for everyone at the end of the celebrations.
Mrs Vernon had some lovely news this week courtesy of our Friends’ Association and your generosity. She now has £400 to spend in Next Page Books to add to our new library. Plans are already being made to take some of our junior librarians into town to help choose.
Next week is our themed, feeling good week in school. Mrs McConnell Smith has already sent information home but as a reminder, Wednesday is a dress-down day where pupils can come to school in clothes that simply make them feel happy! I wonder how many will turn up in onesies.
Looking at other entries in the diary, we have several sporting events to look forward to. There is a netball match on Monday at home to Our Lady School followed by the highly anticipated Wix Cup quarter-final against St Ippolyts on Tuesday. The girls’ football team is then on duty on Thursday against William Ransom.
The other exciting project is the North Herts Sports Partnership dance show and having been banned from every rehearsal, I am looking forward to finally seeing the pupils perform on Tuesday. They performed to the school on Tuesday this week – in costume – and so many members of staff came by my office to say how good it is. I really cannot wait!
Once again, can I share with you the link to Mr Wells’s fund raising page. A huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored him since we shared the link last week. In the last 7 days he has more than doubled his initial target.
As you can see, it has been a very busy week, and can you believe we only have one more week to go before the half term break. The halfway point of the year, term-wise.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
Steve (Su-te-bu) Mills
Headteacher
