High School: Welcome back!

It was great to welcome Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 back to school on Friday afternoon, and to see all the tired, happy faces. The students looked pretty tired and happy too…

I asked all the students pictured below what the best thing about their week had been and, while many of them named specific activities (e.g. bamboo rafting, kayaking, rock-climbing, the ropes challenge), the most popular answers were “everything” and “the best Residential ever”.

Year 12 arrived back from our first ever International Residential later on Friday evening, and they also had a great week. Over the next couple of weeks teachers and the Heads of Year will review the Residentials, including a survey for the students to complete, as we begin to plan how to make next year’s even better…

Year 11 and 13 had a great week too, though very different to those of the students on Residentials. The High School was very quiet with all those students away, so Year 11 and 13 could really focus on their Mock Exams, and their attitudes throughout the week were exemplary. Those tired, happy teachers took home a big pile of exams to mark over the weekend, and will be reviewing this in lessons this week and next week before Results Day on Friday next week, when the students will receive their overall grades in each of their subjects. Results Day is followed by the Year 11 and Year 13 Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings on Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th February respectively.

Before then, however, we have two more highlights of the year, with Fun Day taking place this Saturday and St Andrews Presents… taking place on Wednesday next week.

All High School parents should have received an e-mail from the PTG on Friday, giving more details of the day, including details of the entry bracelets, the raffle prizes and parking at Gateway and MaxValu on Soi 71. Please see this e-mail and the PTG section of this Newsletter for more information.

Tickets for this year’s St Andrews Presents… are selling fast with just over a week to go. The last two years’ events have been fantastic, but this year’s promises to be even better, both in terms of the quality of the performances and in the excitement of the evening also being the grand opening of our new Theatre.

I look forward to seeing many of you at both of these events, with a range of High School musical performances and some sneak previews of St Andrews Presents… taking place at Fun Day and then the real thing happening only four days later.

Roo Stenning
Head of High School

The full High School Calendar is available on the school’s website.