Leadership Likes: Mr King
Mr King talks about the explorative opportunities available to our girls.
Read MoreWeekly News
Find out what is happening at Croydon High this week.
Mr King talks about the explorative opportunities available to our girls.
Read More“Space – The Final Frontier” was brought to mind this week as pupils from Year 11 and Year 8 pitched their vision for the Astrogazers club to the Senior Leadership Team on Thursday. In short, they wish to send a weather balloon out to the edge of space! Effort, time, energy, enthusiasm and competence aside, I think they had won over their audience with the sheer concept alone!
It sparked a chain of thought about what pupils enjoy exploring, from the small and innocuous to the bigger and much scarier. We have had Zoom meetings this week involving the team departing for Zanzibar in a couple of weeks’ time. I’ve also seen a draft letter from the PE department about fundraising opportunities for the South Africa sports tour next autumn.
Both trips will undoubtedly open their eyes and minds to everything they see and experience. Our artists are also travelling to St Ives at half term to explore different scenery and workshops. The modern languages department has just bid Auf Wiedersehen to their German Exchange partners – the return leg taking place in February to Bonn. This exchange between Croydon High and Clara Schumann Gymnasium for the over 70 years – is a lifetime of exploration, bringing a deeper understanding of different cultures.
At the Year 8 Welcome Evening last night, some pupils excitedly asked permission to show their younger siblings the wonders of the Lecture Theatre. It was a mere 50 metres from where they were standing but appeared to be a voyage of discovery and enlightenment for these younger family members. Pupils across the school have been exploring the exciting range of new clubs and societies available in the Junior and Senior school; just like the school trips, these can be equally engrossing, offering the same opportunities to make pupils stop and think.
Exploring needn’t mean voyaging, of course. Exploring Electives in Year 10 are well underway, with the HPQ group considering titles on motorsport, writing a children’s book, considering how best to protect vulnerable wildlife or whether or not it is possible to make sustainable trousers. These are a few of the many fledgling projects that will have opened avenues of thought, word, and deed far beyond the GCSE curriculum.
This week’s letters included an invitation for Year 11 historians to go to the Old Operating Theatre and A level English to a variety of Literature seminars. The GCSE Geographers have just come back from fieldwork this week, ranging poles in hand, and the LRC hosted a Zoom call this morning for Young Reporters to meet with their mentor on the programme.
Space may have been the final frontier once upon a time, but at Croydon High School, it seems we enjoy exploring all physical and metaphorical frontiers.
Oh, and for more developments on the weather balloon… Watch this Space!
Mr King
Deputy Head (Pastoral)
Sixth Form Politics students enjoyed a trip to Parliament and the Supreme Courts in London.
Read MoreThis week we went on a shared trip to visit Parliament and the Supreme Court with politics sixth form students from GDST Sutton and Sydenham.
We appreciated the day out in London in glorious weather to see up close the history of democracy in the UK.
We engaged in a mock debate on how to make a UK law, and the complexities surround that process as demonstrated when looking at assisted dying reforms. Croydon High showed their aptitude and enthusiasm for debating.
We also had a mock legal presentation to the Supreme Court justices on the Lee vs McArthur case which involved issues around definition of direct discrimination and freedom of religion. Eleanor demolished the opposition and enjoyed a round of applause from all.
Mr Loveday provided numerous facts and eagerly tried grabbing every artefact available, much to the annoyance of Pete our guide. Missed opportunity to leave a friendly note to our MPs in the pigeon holes, next year maybe?
History surrounded us everywhere and we paid homage to Margery Humes, the suffragette who chained herself to the statue of Lucius Cary leaving him spurless. A poignant reminder that protest is always needed in a democracy!
We particularly liked the fancy chairs and decorative curtains in the Supreme Court. We didn’t how much symbolism there could be in carpet, curtains and ceilings!
Sad times we did not get a glimpse of Liz Truss or even Larry the cat at 10 Downing Street. But we did enjoy lunch together and hot chocolate at Victoria train station on our way back.
Sixth Form Politics Students
A Level Theatre students were fully involved in a professional theatre workshop led by Splendid Theatre.
Read MoreOur Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth Theatre studies A Level students took part in a professional theatre workshop today led by Splendid Theatre. Their workshop focussed on political theatre and devising in the style of Bertolt Brecht; exploring techniques such as Gestus, Spass and Chorus.
Mrs Morgan-Collins
Head of Drama
GCSE Drama students enjoyed a performance of Noughts and Crosses at Richmond Theatre this week.
Read MoreOur year ten GCSE Drama students went on a trip to Richmond Theatre on Wednesday 28th September to see Pilot Theatre’s production of acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman’s ‘Noughts and Crosses’.
‘Noughts and Crosses’ is our Drama GCSE set text and is a captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world.
Mrs Morgan-Collins
Head of Drama
Do you know the difference between a phoneme and grapheme? Mr Eaton held a workshop for over 60 parents this week!
Read MoreOver sixty parents recently attended a phonics workshop held in the junior school hall. Everyone readily contributed and participated enthusiastically in a range of activities to raise awareness of the new phonics scheme recently introduced in the Early Years and lower Key Stage One.
Mr Eaton shared his passion for the early teaching of reading and gave useful strategies to parents who expressed an interest in helping their daughters at home. Further information videos to follow up on this session are already being planned. Please watch carefully for further details. Mr Eaton is determined that, eventually, all parents will know the difference between phonemes and graphemes and will be able to share their knowledge of digraphs with our very youngest learners!
Please click the image below to watch our reading journey video.
Some of our Year 10s talk about their experiences with their German Exchange partners.
Read MoreThis week, I have gotten to show my German Exchange partner a bit of my usual life in London. The first night my partner stayed in England, my family and I went out to dinner at a local restaurant not far from our house. Over the weekend, my family took my partner on a long walk in Chartwell, to show her a small part of the English Countryside. On Sunday, she came down to help me coach some younger kids at a hockey pitch, and later in the day came to London with me to go on the London Eye. We showed my partner Covent Garden, Chinatown and some of the markets around London, such as Leadenhall Market.
Overall, I have found having a German Exchange partner very fun and interesting. Although I was showing her my life in England, we also spoke about her life in Germany, which has excited me even more to visit her in February. I think having an Exchange partner has also really helped my German speaking, through speaking to her friends online as well. I have loved having a German Exchange partner, and I am very excited to go to Germany soon and improve my speaking skills in Bonn.
Eleanor H, Y10
Before my German exchange partner came I was both nervous and excited to meet Sonja. When she finally arrived after a long journey on the Eurostar I was surprised to find she was near fluent in English but this made trying to communicate way easier. Over the course of the week we ate many ‘traditional’ English meals such as scones and tea, A fry up (minus bacon as she was vegetarian) and roast dinner. However, I believe the most popular meal of the week was pizza. We played many card games and watched an episode of a classic English series known as ‘Doctor Who’. On Saturday Sonja decided she wanted a break from the busy city of London so we decided to take a countryside walk around Riddlesdown. There, we saw many good views – and cows! As well as this we also played lots of badminton. On Sunday we began our journey into London and decided to do a boat tour. Both Sonja and I learnt something as I didn’t know each of the pods of the London Eye represented a Borough of London and I also didn’t know that Waterloo bridge is also known as the ‘Women’s Bridge’ because it was built by women during World War 2 when men had to go and serve in the army. Afterwards we went on The London Eye and took many photos and got a good view of London. Following this we walked around the city and saw Buckingham Palace along with the guards on their horses. Finally, we went to see Life of Pie, a theatre production that uses puppets to represent animals. This was the highlight of Sonja’s trip as she had never seen the same special effects that the theatre used in Bonn. When the time came to say goodbye to Sonja I was very upset but excited to see her again in February!
Mia W, Y10
This week I’d like to share with you a number of conversations that I’ve been having with the Upper Sixth. We are in the process of ruminating over possibilities, contemplating options and laying the foundations for the next steps that will culminate in the future of their dreams. It is a wonderful moment filled with hope, opportunity and excitement.
Concurrently, however, runs the tinge of anxiety. The last time that this cohort had to sit a “proper” exam was in Year 9. And now all of their hopes, dreams and aspirations appear to hang on a formal public exam for assessment. Further, there is the anxiety of possible rejection; a concept that is new to most students who have always succeeded or who have rarely heard the word “no.”
This week I’ve heard a lot of, “what if I don’t get in?” and, “what if they say no?” Whilst this is a real and palpable concern, I have found myself reminding them that “no” might not be the end of the world. Beyond the walls of school, rejection is commonplace and it is something that we cannot fear; for if we did we would never try. The absolute worst that can happen is that someone says no, but even that is never the end of the world.
One life lesson that I would like to share and that I hope assists not only the upper sixth but all of the students at the school is that a “no” is never the end. It is often the beginning. It may lead to the beginning of self-evaluation and improvement before you try again. It may also be the exact thing that you need to force you to look for other opportunities that may in fact be even better than the one that you had been chasing.
The moral of the story is that a “no” is never the end it can be just the beginning, and if that’s the absolute worst that can happen when you apply for the job of your dreams or for the University place that you have your heart set on, then it really doesn’t have to be something that you fear. So just, do your best and see what happens. Either way, the future is exciting and full of possibilities.
Perhaps this week parents could speak to their children about something that didn’t go quite to plan in their life and explain how that opened doors that they otherwise might never have had.
This week has also seen the registering of students for University Entrance Examinations. To those students, we wish you the very best of luck in these exams and I hope that you go into them looking forward to all that your future has to hold.
Dr Lakha-Kassam
Head of Progression and Futures
Season 2 Episode #2 (How to Say No) – In this episode, we welcome multi award winning Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Child and Adult Mental Health specialist, Dr Nihara Krause. Dr Krause is the CEO and founder of stem4, the Teenage Mental Health charity recently name checked by Hollywood actor Tom Holland when announcing his break from social media to benefit his own mental health. Dr Krause talks about how to break cycles of people-pleasing, how to step back and set boundaries, and how to address issues around consent. We also discuss when it is beneficial to say yes! An essential listen for anyone who feels the need to keep everyone happy and the struggle to protect their own wellbeing.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.
Our School Minibus service offers an efficient and flexible option designed to help families with journeys to and from school. Minibus travel is offered to pupils in Year 3 and up.
The service is managed on our behalf by Vectare, a specialist school transport management company. All bookings for our school bus routes are made via our online booking system, which can be accessed at croydonhigh.vectare.co.uk.
The website allows you to book travel 24/7 from anywhere, meaning that if you need to leave early for work one morning or are running late and you would like one of our students to travel on a school bus as a one off, you can make a booking right up until the route is due to depart. Payment for the school bus service is made at the time of booking, so there is no need for pupils to carry cash.