Principal's Blog: Students on show
We were delighted to host a visit from the Swedish Ambassador this week — her first to an English school. Nicola Clase asked some thoughtful and searching questions about our education model and its application in an English context. She was particularly interested in whether the approach worked equally well with boys and girls, and impressed by the ensuing explanations on personalised learning given by our students. Well done to Ross and Amandeep who showed the Ambassador, together with several LST and Kunskapsskolan representatives, around the school, and to Ruth and Ollie who also met her to describe their experiences of visiting Sweden.
Last week we hosted very successful roadshows in two of our linked primary schools; Hampton Juniors and Hampton Hill Juniors. Many thanks to Rachel Kluczinski and Bill Jerman and their Year 6 teams for hosting us; and thanks also to new TLA and parent champion Sarah Savage who attended both roadshows to offer a parent´s perspective on our Academy. Sarah´s third son is now in Year 8, her elder boys having left to join the Hampton School Sixth Form. Again, our students Henry, Charlotte, Harry and Sophie were the stars of the show, giving presentations which they had written themselves and then answering a range of questions from parents and children alike. Our students also contributed to a very important appointment at Hampton Academy last week when we recruited our new Associate Principal to replace Niall Smith, who assumes his headship of Southborough School on 31st October. Details of this appointment will be announced shortly, and our thanks go to our trained learning observers Greta and Tom (Year 10) and to the members of the Student Panel who cross-examined all eight candidates. There was a terrific field for this post which was very gratifying. The new Associate Principal will take up her post in January. Building work continues apace, with the demolition of the front of the old school nearing completion so that the foundations for our brand new colleges, Wordsworth and Conrad, can start being laid shortly. At the other end of the site, the Annexe is now firmly ‘on the map´ as a learning base for maths, humanities, ICT and of course Wordsworth College. We are pleased with the quality of this accommodation and those teaching upstairs have appreciated the lovely views across the Hampton playing fields towards St. James´ Church — our very own dreaming spire! This Thursday sees our annual Open Evening and next week our two Open Mornings; any existing parents wishing to see the new accommodation for themselves are welcome to visit on these occasions to look round. Please note that the school will be opening later (10.35am) to students on Friday morning in recognition of the long late night that so many of them, as well as the entire staff, will be putting in. Another great success this week was the AGM of our parents´ group, the Hampton Academy Association. 22 parents attended, the highest total since I have been at the school, and there was an impressive burst of volunteering for all sorts of tasks which will really help our school community. Many thanks to Alison Dyer for taking over the Chair from Cathy Trevelyan; to Sue Bell and Lizzie Bagley for their secretarial input; and Sue Cornwell for the very important role of Treasurer. All parents are really welcome to get involved with the HAA and as our outgoing Chair remarked after her eleven years of service, it is a really great way to get involved with your child´s education and to get to know their school. Staff were pleased to be able to show our thanks to Cathy and our retiring Refreshments Czar, Jane Harris, at a special presentation at the end of last term. They have given unstintingly of their time all through their children´s education at HCC/ Hampton Academy. And it was great to learn that Jane´s son Ben was catering in the House of Lords this week! As we move into our ‘Open Week´ we look forward to welcoming many more visitors to our school; and once again our students will be stars of the show. If you would like to meet them and join one of their tours, do come along on the 29th at 7pm, or on the mornings of the 3rd and 4th October at 9.15am. We look forward to seeing you. Sue Demont |
