Sports Day, fresh ideas and looking ahead
This week brought creativity, teamwork and plenty of House spirit – from our Year 5 Taster Day to a joyful whole-school Sports Day.
It has been a wonderfully full and energetic week at Hollygirt, with several moments that have captured exactly what makes our school community so special. Earlier in the week, we welcomed children from local primary and prep schools for our Year 5 Taster Day. They joined us to sample lessons, meet staff and pupils, and work collaboratively on planning their very own Hollygirt Rocks festival. I had the pleasure of judging their ideas, and I was so impressed by the creativity, teamwork and confidence on display. It was lovely to see visiting pupils so quickly settling into the spirit of Hollygirt life, contributing ideas, listening to one another, and throwing themselves into the challenge with such enthusiasm.
Today has then been an amazing whole school Sports Day, full of competitive spirit, good humour and collaboration. There was a real sense of pupils encouraging one another throughout the day, whether they were competing, supporting from the sidelines, helping their House, or simply enjoying the chance to be together as a school. I particularly enjoyed the mascot races and the chanting, both of which brought a brilliant sense of fun to the occasion. The House spirit was fantastic, and it was a real joy to see pupils of all ages getting behind one another with such energy and pride. Even a few of our super dedicated Year 11s came back in to support with arrangements!
Our Year 11 pupils have now finished their exams, and I know there will be a mixture of relief and anticipation as they look ahead to the next stage. They have worked incredibly hard and should be proud of their efforts. Next Friday is Prom night and I am sure everyone is excited to meet up and celebrate their time at Hollygirt.
As one group starts to move on, I have to look to the future, so I have been spending time working on next year’s Prefect Team, which is always one of the privileges of this point in the year. There have been some thoughtful conversations and strong applications, and I am very much looking forward to announcing the team soon.
Finally, there has been a lot of press coverage about the Government’s decision to issue a ‘blanket ban’ on all social media for under 16s. There has been much praise for the decision but also concerns raised for particular groups of young people who may become more isolated, and concerns that a ban is preventing young people from viewing social media but not tackling what platforms are allowed to produce and put online, meaning that content will still be viewable once a young person is old enough. In many ways, this is not dissimilar to the approach to alcohol, tobacco and vape use. Those dangers are still available to individuals once they are old enough to purchase and consume, they key factor in support safer and healthier choices is to educate young people about risks, dangers, healthy habits. We remain committed to this at Hollygirt and Dr Holbrook has provided some key pointers for parents to consider in his safeguarding update this week.
Ever Onward and Upward
Ms Purdy
