The week began with the celebration of our nomination as ‘Harrow’s Heroes’. Harrows Heroes “celebrates the hard work, dedication and achievements of local people and teams who make Harrow a special place to live and work.” It is a great honour for our school and Governors to be acknowledged in this way. More details of the award scheme can be found here: Harrow's Heroes 2021 – Harrow's Heroes – Harrow Council
Our first ‘Artist in residence’ event takes place this afternoon. We are delighted to be involved in this scheme, set up by Andria Zafirakou, 2018 Global Teacher Prize winner: About Andria - Artists in Residence. We will host Armando Alemdar who will be leading an oil painting workshop today. Our A Level art students will be involved, as well as all the trainee art teachers working with the Hillingdon School Centred Initial Teacher Training programme. This art programme is led by our Head of Art. Art is already a strength of the school, and I am excited to see how this continues to develop.
We had other visitors this week, from the Amy Winehouse Foundation. They led a workshop for Sixth Formers on drug and alcohol awareness, with a focus on the pressures that young people go through such as self-esteem, fitting in, peer pressure, social media and body image. They heard a ‘life share’ from a speaker who had experienced drug and alcohol dependence and overcome this. Students were so engaged in this session and had lots of questions for the speakers about their life experiences. Brook also delivered a session on consent and healthy relationships. The focus of the session was on empowering students to recognise unhealthy relationships and to ensure that students feel empowered to stand up to any situations in their relationships where they do not feel comfortable.
The image this week is from our Origami House event- a big contrast to House Tug of War, and great to see so many students involved.
Our open events for Year 7 entry to the school in September 2022 take place next week. All six in person sessions are now fully booked, but if you know anyone interested in finding out about a Pinner High School education who has not been able to book a place, there are live Zoom presentations on Monday that they may be able to join. We also have a new school film available that gives a good insight into our school if you cannot be here in person: Pinner High School 2021.