Ends and Beginnings

The end of June and start of July is always a busy time of year in a secondary school, marked out by a very clear ‘end’ and an equally clear ‘beginning’.

Last Thursday night, myself and over 50 colleagues had the pleasure of helping the wonderful ‘Class of 2023’ mark the end of their five years in school. The Concorde Conference Centre has been home to two Year 11 Proms now and we love it. It’s a fitting venue to hold what is a really important event, and it was fantastic to see students enjoying themselves and celebrating alongside the staff who have helped along the way. We’ll see most of the students again of course, not least for the nerve shredding exam results day in August, but it was lovely to be able to share their final event with them in style.

Move forwards exactly a week and yesterday we welcomed 340 new starters to school on their official transition day. We had great support from primary schools to enable every member of the new Year Sevens for September to attend, and it was a brilliant to see them all jump in with such enthusiasm and confidence. I had the pleasure of teaching one class for a spot of History, and having seen the whole year group at break and lunch they have a bright future here at MHS. Not long to go now before they join us for real. It was also great to meet so many parents and carers in school yesterday evening, for some the start of a new journey as well as their eldest child starts secondary school. Exciting times all round!

Today of course is an odd day with only the new Year 11 in school due to strike action. I’m looking forward to the whole school being back in for one final week before enrichment week, and in particular looking forward to celebration evening, spark evening and spark day – it’s going to be busy!

Many thanks

Joe Barker

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