Sixth Form - March Highlights

Games Night!

On Friday 6 March we held our inaugural Games Night, organised by the Student Leadership Team. We started off the evening with a mammoth delivery of pizzas from Pizza Express and everyone fuelled themselves up before the competition began. The first half of the evening was spent in Suffolk House, where each different classroom was turned into a games room with classics such as Charades, Pictionary and Articulate. Teams rotated around the rooms competing against each other for points and both the tension and excitement were high! Never have Mrs Harvey and Miss Hatchwell experienced a louder or more competitive game of Dobble! Then for the second half of the evening the teams were spread out across the Lees Hall, for rounds of the always-enjoyable Splat and Wink Murder, while smaller groups played Hide and Seek around Suffolk House. How many people can fit behind Mrs Harvey’s sofa? More than you would think!

Future Conference

Also on Friday 6 March, before heading back to school for Games Night, Miss Hatchwell took seven Year 12 students to Sydenham High School’s annual Futures Conference. This was an incredible experience for these students, where they got to hear from high profile speakers and take part in Q&A sessions, alongside networking with other young women from the GDST and other local schools. The students heard from: Professor Funke Abimbola MBE, award-winning AI Governance Expert and General Counsel who has held senior leadership and advisory roles across life sciences, healthtech and AI enabled platforms; Raj Sidhu, Careers Consultant at the University of Cambridge; Camilla Carson, Non-Executive Director on the board of FYLD AI, one of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies and with over 18 years of experience in high-growth startups and finance and; Jacynth Bassett, founder & CEO of Ageism Is Never In Style and first age-inclusive womenswear online boutique & platform and a globally recognised expert, consultant, and keynote speaker on age-inclusivity, longevity, and intergenerational strategy.

Geography A Level Trip To The Coast

Year 12 Geography class had a ball at their residential early this month. They stayed at the South Downs YHA and spent time in Tide Mills, Newhaven, Seaford and Brighton. Highlights were the Rampion wind farm and a very informative place perception tour of Brighton by a Geography lecturer at Brighton University.

Kerrie-Anne – Move At Your Desk

On Thursday 12 March Year 13 enjoyed their second Enrichment session with Kerrie-Anne Bradley, founder of Move At Your Desk. Kerrie-Anne’s Move At Your Desk Method™ brings movement into the everyday, through classes and workshops designed for how real bodies live and work. Kerrie-Anne has been a regular fixture in our Enrichment calendar for a number of years and her method, grounded in Pilates, posture, and workplace wellbeing is the perfect preparation for our Year 13s who re about to embark on countless hours of revision and exams. Not only did Year 13 have great fun during the session but they came away with lots of tips for helping their physical and mental health during this stressful period ahead.

The Women of the Future Programme

On Thursday 19 March Year 12 joined Year 11 for their Enrichment lesson and had a talk from the brilliant Carter sisters, Polly and Rosie, which had been organised through the Women of the Future Programme. Both sisters work for JP Morgan and got into their current roles through different pathways. It was not only a timely talk, with Year 12 starting to think about their Post-18 plans and what is going to be the right path for them, but it was interesting and inspiring with a health dose of realism! The sisters not only talked us through their academic and path to this point but gave brilliant advice to the students about how to build your skills and experience and get yourself noticed in the workplace. A key take home message was not to worry too much about what A Levels you are taking or what university course you are studying, because for most careers it is the skills you will be building that matter far more than the subject you are learning. The queue of students waiting to ask questions at the end of the talk, long into the next lesson period, was a testament to how useful they found it.

MP Visit, Luke Taylor

Finally, to round off a busy month in the Sixth Form, on Friday 20 March the whole Sixth Form attended a talk by our local MP, Luke Taylor. Luke spoke to the students about his career trajectory, having spent 18 years as an engineer, before his move into local and subsequently national politics. After explaining to the students how the different sectors of government operate and work together, and outlining his personal areas of focus, both as a counsellor and MP for Sutton, he opened the floor to questions. This is where the Sixth Form really shone and they asked a brilliant range of questions on wide-ranging topics including: community cohesion and environmental sustainability in Sutton; issues affecting young people and young women in particular, including knife crime and safe streets; the housing crisis and what can be done to improve the situation in Sutton and; his views on electoral reform, now that his party have benefitted from the FPTP system.

Sixth Form – March Highlights