Skip to content ↓

We open in

Headteacher's Blog

Here is a round up of our blog posts, keeping you informed about the life and times of Pinner High School.

 

November 2021

Archive

  • Inspiring Learning

    Published 26/11/21, by Admin

    We know ‘Inspiring Learning’, our school motto, does not stop at the classroom door or even the school gate. It is lovely to have students out on trips for the last 3 consecutive weeks. Trips for students in Science and Geography over the last couple of weeks, and this week a theatre trip and students taking part in the InterClimate Network summit at Northwood College, as featured in the image this week. This event took place during our Sixth Form led Eco week. This featured assemblies about how we can all make a difference to our environment, including the initiative that won us a Kick-start award from the Mayor of London.

    Here is a student reflection on the Year 10 Science event last week: “The Emmanuel Centre in Westminster hosted a group of 20 Year 10 students at their lectures about the new, evolving branches of science. The first speaker talked about material science and how it helped her swim across the English Channel. The second speaker enlightened us about DNA mutations and the next lecturer talked about the drastic changes that will take place in our everyday diet due to the increasing population. The penultimate scientist informed us about how animals survived in the twilight zone using waves. Our final speaker was (in my opinion) the best. He demonstrated how to break blocks of wood using simple physics. He was hilarious and the most entertaining. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip as I learnt about new things.” Trip Leaders have commented on how brilliant the students have been at embracing the opportunities available to them.

    A different opportunity was available to Year 12 Maths students, who took part in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge. This is a 90-minute, multiple-choice maths challenge. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. Congratulations to all 16 medallists- an amazing achievement- and Tanmay who won Gold!

    Congratulations also to our Year 9 boys Badminton team who reached the final of the Harrow Cup.

    Read More

  • Prize winners!

    Published 12/11/21, by Admin

    The Sixth Form students awarded the Climate Kick-start Prize last week have been busy planning the project. They want to use the funds to create an ‘eco bike shelter’ to accommodate the additional bikes that will result from their campaign to get more students cycling to school. News of their success reached the Evening Standard and Harrow Times, as well as ITV news, and they were congratulated by local counsellors this week, as well as the Mayor of London last week. The official photographs have now arrived, which feature in the blog this week. A film about our project is on the Mayor's Youtube channel: Climate Kick-Start Prizewinner, Pinner High School - YouTube It is an exciting time, and an important moment to focus on Climate change. The students asked me to sign up to become a carbon-neutral school by 2030, which I have done here: UK Climate Change • Let's Go Zero (letsgozero.org) we are already working on this target.

    Our student poets will be representing the school as winners of the Harrow Mayor’s Poetry Competition. They have been invited to attend the Mayor’s Remembrance Sunday commemoration where they will read their winning entry as part of the service. Many congratulations.

    Our Sixth form open events have been very well attended over the last couple of weeks, both in person and online. Last year we had applications from 59 different schools to join our Trailblazers in the Sixth Form. Last week we received the total applications for Year 7 places, which have risen for the seventh consecutive year. We have been the most oversubscribed school in Harrow since 2020. This is due to the brilliant students and colleagues at the school, and the strong level of parental support we are lucky to enjoy- thank you so much.

    And as is now becoming customary, some sporting success with which to end: Badminton success for the Year 9 boys, who progress to the next round of the borough championships. Congratulations!

    Read More

  • Tallest tower

    Published 04/11/21, by Admin

    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!

    Read More

Cookie Policy