Weekly Newsletter 14.9.18
/ Categories: Newsletter
As I tell the students in my first assembly every year, I spend most of my summer holiday looking forward to September. Standing at the gate on the first day as I greet our smiling students and staff is an absolute pleasure every year. I am immensely proud of the success of our Year 11 students in their GCSE results. The outcomes of their motivation and hard work throughout their time at school serves as a chance to take pride in academic achievements. However, this year I find myself considering the outcomes of an education that are harder to measure. The results of an education are broad. We know GCSE results matter and we also know who you are matters as much as what you do. How do we know that our young people are learning to be kind, to be confident and to be resilient?
Martin Luther King once said: "Life's most urgent and important question is, what are you doing for others?" This speaks to me as a Principal: how am I helping our students prepare themselves for life beyond school? What opportunities for greatness am I offering them? As a team, the staff at The Hurlingham Academy strive to foster integrity and kindness in our pupils. I see examples of these character strengths around the school everyday. Students guiding our new Year 7s to the canteen at lunch; our new Year 11 prefects taking their new duties seriously and with pride or entire classes thanking their teacher for a great lesson as the bell goes. It is in these small acts that character strengths grow and I am proud of each and every student who works hard to develop their own character. As ever, I am excited to get started on a new academic year and I have no doubt that we will continue to build on our successful results of both the Academic and the Character education that we offer.