Friday 18th November 2022

Transition Afternoon

The second transition event took place on Wednesday 16^th November with afternoon lessons becoming co-educational on the Stamford School site. The school was buzzing with Stamfordian Spirit as the pupils took to their planned activities with gusto.

• The year 7 students enjoyed a musical afternoon with joint rehearsals for their autumn soiree before moving to history and languages.
• In year 8 the students took part in a co-ed games afternoon with a round robin of hockey, basketball, fives and netball.
• The year 9 teams were also in co-ed lessons. Their subjects included DT, Drama, MFL and geography which involved a highly competitive trading game. The teachers become bankers, high net worth commodities were set squares, protractors and scissors, and money was quite literally being made!
• External speakers from Inner Drive led the sessions for year 10 and year 11. Year 10 looked specifically at studying with the brain in mind, whilst year 11 joined in with workshops in small groups looking at performance under pressure ahead of their exams next year. Both workshops can be found on the Inner Drive website: Studying With The Brain in Mind | Inner Drive and Performance Under Pressure | Inner Drive.
• Finally, the sixth form students attended a lecture in the SHS Hall from renowned speaker Trever Gordon, relating to inclusion and diversity. We hope all the pupils found the afternoon both useful and enjoyable.

Boarding Update

As part of the merger of our two senior schools, we have been considering how best to restructure our boarding provision to ensure the boarding community continues to thrive. Our thinking has been driven by a desire to collocate our younger boarders, both boys and girls, on the St Paul’s site to avoid the need to travel across town between their boarding house and the school campus where lessons will be held. Having reviewed the options, we have concluded that the best solution is as outlined below.

We know that these changes will have a material effect on all those involved in boarding, and that boarding parents and students in particular will have questions. We ask for your patience whilst we establish which boarding staff will be working in each boarding house. Consultation is underway with all boarding staff to work out staffing for the future. Change can be very unsettling, but it also provides huge opportunities, and our intention is to build on our already excellent boarding provision so that it can continue to thrive and be at the heart of our new coeducational school in September 2023.

Head of RSE Appointment

We are pleased to announce that Rev. Matt Phillips has been appointed as the new SES Head of PSHE. Rev. Phillips joined SES earlier this year as the school Chaplain and brings with him a wealth of experience working pastorally with young people in both community and school-based roles. He is currently undertaking a research project with the University of Buckingham focusing on the pedagogy that underlies the delivery of PSHE in independent secondary schools as part of an MA in Education. Commenting on his new role, Rev. Phillips said, 'To me, PSHE is one of the most important elements of the curriculum at SES, and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to give our students the best preparation for life today and tomorrow.’ From September 2023, Rev. Phillips will combine this new role with his existing role as Chaplain, which we hope will strengthen the overall pastoral provision offered as we continue to strive for excellence in this area.

Timetable

Since September we have been working with MIST Timetable Solutions who have been building our new timetable.

We have run a provisional options process with the current Y9 and Y11 to ascertain the likely option blocks for Y10 and Y12 next year and so have been able to build a hypothetical (but not unrealistic) timetable based on this.

The keys changes focus on lesson length. In Y7-11 lessons will be either 45 or 90 minutes long depending on the subject and year group. Whereas in Y12-13 lessons will either be 60 or 90 minutes long and all subjects in the Sixth Form will have a combination of both lengths throughout the fortnight. Significant research was undertaken looking at a range of high performing schools in both the maintained and independent sectors and moving away from 35/70 minute lessons to the new model is very much in keeping with best practice.

We’re pleased to be able to confirm that the proposed timetable works and so now work begins in earnest on the following areas:

• Ensuring that we have the required rooming and facilities for both sites for all lessons throughout the fortnight
• Looking at the implications for specific staff in terms of movement across the sites
• Ensuring that all equality and access arrangements for staff are identified and reasonable adjustments made accordingly
• Working with Heads of Departments (HoDs) to iron out any subject specific issues
• Looking closely at Schemes of Work and how these may need to be adapted to meet the requirements of the new timetable.