A particularly action packed round up of a Pinner High School education this week!
Anti-discrimination charity ‘Stand up’ were in school again for their second workshop with Year 9 Philosophy, Religion and Ethics classes for a workshop on anti-discrimination, in particular looking at Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. They also led an assembly for Year 12 as part of their ‘And beyond’ programme on fake news and discrimination which students responded very positively to, as always.
Just before half term in our Deep Learning Day each year group spent time focusing on specific topics. Year 7 looked at eSafety, where they learnt about how to use the internet responsibly and protect themselves online. Year 8 focused on fake news, looking at examples of this, considered how to spot fake news and also made their own news articles, using their new skills to spot which articles were real and which were fake. Year 9 had sessions on drugs and alcohol awareness. A particular highlight from this was externally led workshops on county lines and a talk on alcohol and drugs awareness from the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Both facilitators commented on how fantastic the students were in these sessions and the maturity of the questions students asked. Years 10 and 11 investigated aspects of the ‘Prevent’ programme, and considered what the causal factors behind extremism are as well as what can be done to challenge extremism. They looked at current examples and had opportunities for debates and discussions.
A group of Year 10 students took part in a training day last week to become Wellbeing Ambassadors for Pinner High School. They worked with two trainers, who helped them to develop a number of skills and learn how they can support students in all year groups. After half term, they will begin their work as Wellbeing Ambassadors by delivering assemblies to each year group to introduce themselves. The trainers were so impressed with our students that they wrote to me the day after the training sessions to say what fantastic ambassadors we have, the first time they had every felt compelled to do so in all their years of training.
The English Department recently promoted The Remembrance Sunday Mayor’s Poetry Competition, run by Harrow Council to our Year 9 students. The entries we received were beautifully written and not only did they show the brutal devastation of war, but they also commemorate the brave people who fought for our country. 6 students have been shortlisted, and the winner will be invited to attend the Remembrance Sunday ceremony with their family and read their poem after the period of silence.
The House event was a combined Year 7-9 event this week. Students had to create freestanding towers using only newspaper and 3cm pieces of sellotape. There were some interesting designs and impressive ‘tallest’ structures- as in the image this week.
And as well as all this, this week the Year 8 boys football team won their second game at home!