Leadership is a crucial aspect of personal and professional growth. It goes beyond merely holding a position of authority; true leadership inspires and motivates others towards a shared vision. It is never about who is the loudest person in the room!

Learning to be a leader is essential for individuals in all walks of life, as it cultivates a range of skills that enable success and positive impact. We have high aspirations for all our students in the Sixth Form, and believe that they will go on to lead the world in whatever they do.

How can students develop leadership skills in school?

This week, our Lower Sixth Prefects had the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive training day, with sessions run by the Senior Leadership and Sixth Form team. The thinking behind this initiative was this, if we expect our Prefects to be the leaders of the pupil body, let’s give them training delivered by the leaders of the school!

Session details:

Managing Lower School Pupils by Mr King (Deputy Head Pastoral): The ability to manage and guide younger students is a valuable leadership skill. Prefects, as role models, must understand the needs of lower school pupils and create a positive and supportive environment for their development. A great scenario Mr King gave was how to shepherd a group of Year 6s from one place to another on their Senior School taster day – with a curveball – the toilet request!

Event Planning by Mrs Webb (Assistant Head, Co-Curricular): Leaders often find themselves responsible for organising and executing events. Our Prefects will lead on many events across their sixth form years, not least the large scale Fashion Show! Event planning skills enable individuals to manage resources, coordinate tasks, and ensure smooth operations, to foster teamwork and help achieve successful outcomes. Key skills to develop here include how you “meet and greet”, what your handshake is like, if you stand or sit and what do you actually say?

Emotional Regulation and Conflict Management by Ms James (Head of Year and Psychology and Sociology): Leadership involves working with people from diverse backgrounds and managing conflicts that may arise. Emotional regulation skills help leaders remain composed under pressure, make rational decisions, and address conflicts with empathy and fairness. Examples were given on when you might lose your temper, and how to control it. Prefects considered how they need to understand different people’s emotional colours to manage their interactions.

Prioritising and Organising by Mrs Gower (Head of Year): Effective leaders are skilled at prioritising tasks and managing time efficiently. By understanding the importance of different responsibilities, leaders can allocate their efforts effectively, meet deadlines, and achieve desired outcomes. Students were able to consider a list of things that could happen all before 10am – how do they manage a potentially overwhelming list? How can they decide what needs to be done now, what can be dealt with later and what can be delegated?

How to have effective coaching conversations by Ms Gilmour (Assistant Head, Head of Sixth Form): Listening and questioning skills are essential for effective communication and understanding. Leaders who actively listen and ask insightful questions foster trust, empower team members, and promote a culture of collaboration and growth. In conversations they have with themselves, peers and young people they will have to ensure they turn off their “me listening” and truly focus on their “micro listening” (what has been said) and “macro listening” (what can they read around the words). If they listen well, there is power in the right question at the right time and it is important to think about how they pick their “effective questions”

Running Meetings by Ms Houghton (PA to Head) and Ms Davies (Head): Running productive meetings is crucial for effective leadership. Prefects were trained to facilitate meetings, set agendas, manage discussions, and ensure that objectives are met within designated time-frames. These skills enhance communication and decision-making within a group setting. This could not have been more powerfully led by members of staff who chair the most meetings in the school, and who write the most agendas and notes!

Why are leadership skills important at Sixth Form?

Leadership is a skill that can be developed and honed with practice and experience. The Lower Sixth Prefect training day provided an invaluable opportunity for our students to cultivate essential leadership skills. It equipped the Prefects with the tools necessary to lead with confidence and competence. Now the hard work starts, they have to put it into practice.

Learning to be leaders not only benefits individuals but also the communities and organisations they serve. As these young leaders continue to grow and refine their skills, they will contribute positively to society, inspiring others, and making a lasting impact starting here, within the Croydon High community. By investing in leadership development, we empower the next generation to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and lead us into a brighter future. We are incredibly proud of our pupil leadership team and can’t wait to see how they grasp all the opportunities they have been given.

Ms Anna Gilmour
Assistant Head (Head of Sixth Form)

I’m delighted to announce that voting is now open for the Alumna of the Year Award 2023. We have some really fantastic finalists this year and the webpage with their profiles and links to voting is here.

Voting closes on Friday 7 July 2023.

Mrs Karen Roe
Alumnae Relations Manager

Amber Atherton is an investor, a serial entrepreneur, an author and a former star of reality TV show Made in Chelsea. The Atherton Award is an annual prize given to any pupil who displays entrepreneurial initiative. The winner of each school receives a trophy, £500 and a day of mentoring with Amber Atherton’s team.

Croydon High School had some fantastic entries this year – from a plan to open a veterinary practice to a personalisation business. Year 10 pupil, Akshata, showed amazing entrepreneurial spirit by completing a Harvard University online course in coding and making a detailed plan on how to develop her understanding in coding even further.

A big congratulations to Akshata!

Mrs Sari Leppala
Teacher of Chemistry
Innovation & Enrichment Lead (Science)

The Astrogazers are getting ready to launch the weather balloon on Friday 30th June in partnership with The University of Bath.

It was delightful having the Astrogazers team come together once again, joined by our Junior Astrogazers Ava P and Arya P. Despite the ongoing GCSE examinations, our Year 11 Astrogazers managed to find time to participate in the final stages of our preparations for the scheduled launch. Tara K (Flight director), Isla M (Marketing officer & Health and Safety officer), and Aashka P (Finance officer) along with Mrs Karteepan, had a virtual meeting with University of Bath to discuss details about the launch preparations.

Our main objective this week was to verify the ongoing functionality of the datalogger, GPS trackers, and Bluetooth trackers. We conducted tests to assess the Bluetooth tracker’s range and the effectiveness of the three GPS trackers. Furthermore, we are conducting additional tests on both the GPS trackers and Bluetooth trackers. The GPS spot tracker will provide us with the payload’s location every 2.5 minutes until it reaches an altitude of 6,500 meters. The GPS spot tracker, set up by Arya P and Ava P, successfully sent location updates for us to track its location. The GPS tracker uses satellite communication to transmit the GPS location; it relies on Globalstar’s Low Earth Orbit satellite network to send the information.

What is going inside the payload?

•  A camera to take a video of the ascent to the edge of space and its return down to the ground.
• A data logger to record data such as: Date, GPS position (longitude and latitude), Speed over ground, Rate of ascent and descent, Flight altitude, Inside temperature, Outdoor temperature, Humidity, Air pressure, Light intensity white, Light intensity red, Light intensity green, Light intensity blue, Infrared, UV-A radiation and many more.
•  2 GPS trackers
• 1 GPS spot tracker
• 1 Bluetooth tracker
• Onboard experiment
• USB stick uploaded with pupil and staff e-tickets
• Mementos
• Winning Astrogazers logo designs from Junior school

Watch our most recent YouTube video on ‘5 facts about weather balloons’.

We are looking forward to the scheduled mock launch on Friday 23 June to ensure a seamless launch day experience next Friday!

Stay connected with us on Instagram and YouTube to get all the updates on our mock launch and the actual launch! Stay tuned on our YouTube channel to watch the live feed of the launch with commentary!

Mrs Karteepan
Head of Physics

On Wednesday 21 June, Year 3 pupils played in a String Concert to their parents in the Holt Hall. Since the beginning of the year, Year 3 girls have been receiving weekly lessons on either the cello or the violin, funded by The Peggie Guillou String Scheme. The concert was a lovely way to end the year and celebrate the progress they have made on their chosen string instruments. It was wonderful to hear Amy M (Upper Sixth) play Bach’s Bourrée I & II from Suite No. 3 in C Major (J. S Bach). Amy started learning the cello through the string scheme when she was in Year 3 and has now achieved Grade 8 with Distinction. She played beautifully and certainly inspired many of our younger pupils to continue learning in Year 4. We heard ensemble pieces played by the cellos and violins together, as well as some solo violinists. We were delighted to hear solo pieces from two of our Year 4 pupils who continued learning with Miss Martin after going through the scheme last year, Delilah (who took up viola!) and Maryam (violin). The programme ended with ‘Tango’ and Miss Nagioff got everybody up on their feet for some audience participation!

Congratulations to everyone involved and thank you to our cello teacher, Miss Nagioff, and violin teacher, Miss Martin, for inspiring the girls and teaching them so well.

Watch our Instagram Reel of the Year 3 Strings performance

Upper Sixth student, Amy M, performed at our Year 3 Strings Concert this week to inspire the younger girls. Her journey with the cello started in Year 3 with the Strings Scheme. Here is what she has to say:

My name is Amy and I have been playing the cello for 11 years now and I have loved every single part of playing. Miss Nagioff is an amazing teacher and she has always helped me to push myself and be the best player I can be. Last year I passed my Grade 8 with Distinction which has given me so many opportunities. I have been a part of the Croydon Youth Orchestra and have worked my way up to now lead the cello section. In December, I was also able to perform the first movement of Elgar’s cello concerto with them which was an incredible achievement.

I have made so many friends through playing the cello and as part of an orchestra, and it has also taught me so many skills that I wouldn’t have been able to develop without the cello.

Another amazing part of playing an instrument is that I have been able to find part time employment alongside school, as I now work at my music centre and have been earning for a few years now. I help teachers to improve the music education of young people which is extremely fulfilling.

I started playing the cello in Year 3 not even knowing what a note is and I have now performed at the Ends Festival in Lloyd Park, as well as alongside the London Mozart Players and Sheku Kanneh-Mason at Fairfield Halls. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for this amazing scheme and I encourage you all to keep going with your instruments because it can only get better from here.

This last year, with A levels and all of the stress that comes along with exam season, I have particularly enjoyed having that escape from revision. Being able to get my cello out and just change my focus for a bit has been so important for me and I’m so glad 8 year old me decided to stick with this wonderful instrument.

See our Instagram Reel of Amy performing at the Year 3 Strings Concert.

Zoolab was incredibly illuminating and enjoyable. It was an informative and engaging experience to hold, stroke or even just look at all the fascinating creatures. My favourite animal to hold was the Giant African Land Snail which- according to what I was told- could grow to the size of a football! The shedded snakeskin was also really interesting to feel as it seemed so fragile and delicate despite it belonging to such a lethal creature. Another thing I particularly enjoyed finding out was how every animal has its own adaptations to help it survive like the way a stick insect camouflages or how the Australian Green Tree Frog pushes its eyeballs into its mouth just to swallow.

Soha H
Year 7

Watch our Instagram Reel of the Zoolab visit.

The Croydon High School PTA will be holding a coffee morning on:

Friday 30 June 2023 at 8.03 – 9.30am
Holt Hall Foyer

We look forward to welcoming new and familiar faces!

More information coming soon

We are so pleased and grateful to Jemca Toyota Croydon for sponsoring our Netball and Hockey Tour of South Africa later this year.

Thank you to The Artemis Clinic and Inwood Developments for sponsoring the Astrogazers Club, your generous donations has enabled the club to purchase new GPS and Bluetooth trackers!

Well done to our amazing Art scholars – Gloria is truly magnificent!

Read about Gloria in all her glory!