10 May 2023

Red Carpet Event

One of my highlights last week has been to celebrate the achievements and successes of our students at the Red Carpet event. The achievements included students giving Citizenship presentations to Mr Gove, winning the KS3 Photography Challenge, medalling in first mountain bike race, debating, winning Surrey heath Rotary Young Citizen Award and the Year 7 football team. 

All the students felt their activities had encompassed our five College values in particular perseverance and inclusiveness.

Achievement Conference

My thanks to Mr Butler who arranged a fabulous Achievement Conference for some of our Year 9 students last Wednesday.  The theme was on career progression and our student feedback was very positive about the activities that gave them a taste of some of the further education courses available to them.  The external presenters were impressed with our students and their engagement with the conference.

Debating

I am again delighted to report that the reputation of debating continues to grow at Collingwood.  Both Bethan Wood and Jay Harindranath in Year 9 competed in the finals of the international competition for Young Debaters and reached the quarter finals.  Both students were exceptional throughout the day and my thanks go to Mr Baird for supporting and inspiring our younger students to be so confident in this arena.

Status Racing

Last weekend our Status Racing team headed to Goodwood racetrack for their second racing event in six days.  There were many positives from the experience such as ‘the pitstops are getting better and better, slicker and slicker’ and encouraging performances from both cars. The highlight was winning their second engineering award for car design where the judges were impressed with the student-led teams and their passion for design evolution.  My thanks again to Mr Thomas and Mrs Alley-Mohindra for inspiring our students and I know the students are looking for sponsorship to develop their car further.  Please see their recent newsletter article.

Year 8 Girls’ Football Team

My thanks to Mr Cleary, Mr San Emeterio and Mr Chauhan who coached and supported the girls’ football team in the District Finals last week.  Although we lost 2-0, the girls played really well with some outstanding performances.  I wish good luck to the Year 7 boys on Thursday 11 May and the Year 9 boys on Friday 12 May in their forthcoming finals.

Road to Twickenham Touch Tournament

Thank you to Miss Robinson for organising and supporting 12 lower school students to be involved in the rugby regional tournament at St John’s in Leatherhead on Wednesday.  The students played superbly and were only defeated in the final minutes of the last two games, but although disappointed they all thrived upon the experience.

Examination Classes

I am always surprised how quickly May arrives in the academic year and that we are now on the count down with our examination classes with just one week to go until the first exam.  Please could I ask that you encourage your child to attend revision classes, intervention sessions or booster breakfasts in the final push to ensure they realise their potential and strive for excellence!