14th June 2017
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Whoops there goes another … no not a rubber tree plant but another U6th HH constituency who have finished their examinations. This time it is the BTEC pupils who have finished their qualifications and their summer has begun. Congratulations to them, although for Ben Herridge and Joe Hunt their time at school has not come to the end as they will still be heavily involved with Cricket fixtures until the end of term. It is, therefore, only the A-Level examinations that remain. These are in full swing and the Upper Sixth pupils have their final examinations clearly marked in their calendars. It is, as I have said many times before, a time of hard work and of anxiety for many but it is also a time in which pupils feel confident in their preparation, in which they focus carefully upon the coming challenges and in which they actually enjoy managing their schedules and their revision. Each year I am impressed, but never surprised, but how well our Housman Hallians rise to the challenge. This year has been no different!
The Lower sixth may be free of examinations by now, apart from our mathematicians, but they have not allowed this to be an excuse to let the grass grow under their feet. They have kept up their busy lives and have found much to do at this time. Last week the house had an almost ghostly, quiet feel as almost half of the Lower 6th Form were away from the school as part of the Biology trip to Margam park in Wales and almost as soon as they returned many of them jumped on a plane to travel to Prague to take part in a residential CAS trip. This week also sees Alexander Agafanov, Artem Pavlov, Robyn Davies and George Elliot pack up their bags, set up their tents and take part, as leaders, in the Lower Fourth Camp at Symonds Yat in Monmouthshire. It is a wonderful thing for pupils to do and a great few days away in a beautiful part of the world. Hiking, rafting, Kayaking, Caving and camp craft will all be on the cards and … so far … the weather is fair as well. We wish them all the very best!
This week has also seen the first of our monitor training sessions, preparing the pupils for their new role in the U6th. I will be sad not to see this excellent group of monitors and indeed U6th in general take a lead in the house. They are a fantastic group of young people who have been fortunate to have had a great example set for them by the current U6th and Mr Noble is truly fortunate in joining the house at this exciting time.
Although there is still plenty of work to do, despite the busy nature of this final term and taking into account all there is still to do and to achieve this term it is great to see that the longer evenings and the improved weather have afforded the pupils the opportunity to enjoy the Housman Hall garden and to spend time outside letting off steam and doing what young people should do in this weather … play Frisbee!
With two and half weeks until Commemoration there will be only a few more occasions for me to write to you but I hope to see many of you at the many wonderful Commemoration events.
Until next time,
Best wishes
James