Eggs, Spaghetti and Future Leaders

Term 5, Week 5

We were delighted to have 38 of our Year 10 students apply for the roles of Head Student, 2025-26! This speaks volumes of the ambitions of the year group and their sense of wanting to take on the legacies that have been established by previous year groups, in acting as role models for the whole school community and supporting the further development of our school’s culture and ethos!

Last week, we watched in amazement (and some hilarity!) as they worked in groups to build a tower made of spaghetti that could withstand the weight of a hard-boiled egg. This gave them an opportunity to demonstrate different aspects of leadership, all of which was observed by our current Y11 Head Student team who acted as observers and provided brilliantly insightful feedback on each group!

Based on their contributions to this challenge, we then shortlisted for formal interviews with myself and Mrs Lindley. These have been taking place during the past few days and it is not an understatement to say that we have been overwhelmed with a sense of respect and pride in the way that these young people have presented. They epitomised a sense of ambition and responsibility in how they described their determination to represent the school and spoke with such clarity and passion, about their own experiences and ideas. It is worth highlighting that you may have wondered why your ears were burning a little during the week because in response to my question which asked them to describe a leader they admired and why, so many of them described you, as their parents – or their grandparents and spoke so highly of the ways in which they respect you. All of this reinforces something I wrote about last week – that whilst we do all we can here in school to promote the values that are characterised in our STEPs, we always have huge admiration for all you do as families to instil the qualities that make your young people so inspirational to work with.

Whilst many of the year group are setting off on adventures in Munich and Iceland next week, we will be left with the enviably wonderful tough choices in planning the composition of our Head Student team, ready to launch at the start of Term 6. I have every confidence that whatever the structure of the team, all of them will develop their sense of being role-models and in providing superb leadership to the whole school community.

Mr J Morland

Assistant Headteacher, Character Development