On Monday, Year 7 and 12 were in prior to the rest of the school to help with their transition. Year 7 spent the first part of the morning in assemblies and with their form prior to going into lessons – some of which they had not experienced before in their primary schools. Year 12 had a similar morning to Year 7 but spent their afternoon getting to know each other better at Tenpin in Bexleyheath! We hope that all those students new to the school quickly settle in and achieve the academic success they deserve whilst becoming well-rounded young adults who are forward thinking, confident, motivated and comfortable with the unknown.

We have a new website currently being developed which is due to go ‘live’ on Friday 29 September. This week we have had a videographer and photographer in capturing the school at work and these images will be used on the new website. We have lots of new features like an interactive calendar and the opportunity to book parents evenings on-line – which we hope you will find useful. Do please take a look at it once it has gone live – we hope that you will find it easier to navigate and more informative than our current site.

Over the summer, you may have seen some of our advertising at prime rail station locations and on the trains themselves. A further campaign will be taking place in late September/early October to promote our Open Events following the 11+ results.

Returning to the end of the summer term, Year 7 students were involved in the MFL Song Competition during the last day of term. Each group practised and recorded a song in Spanish or French and these were then judged by the MFL department, Mrs Keeley and one of our Year 13 students. The entries were amazing with some groups chosing authentic foreign songs and others translating British or American ones. Excellent singing was accompanied by some great dancing. Whilst judging was tight, after much deliberation, it was decided that 7Fr2’s Au Bal Masqúe came third, 7Sp4’s Colores Colores came second and 7Sp2’s Oje de Tigre was 1st. Well done to all and especially 7Sp2 who came away with certificates and medals.

Staying with MFL, during Year 9’s activities week, the department ran an ‘International Market’ where students went from stall to stall buying goods in different languages. They also learnt Italian in one of the sessions.