We are pleased to be working with Active in Mind Athlete Mentor Programme again this year. This programme is a student-led intervention, designed to make use of physical activity as a proactive solution to mental health and wellbeing issues present within schools. The project is ran by 5 Young Mental Health Champions from Year 12, who will plan and deliver a ‘10 week’ intervention for 15 young people in year 7-9. The programme supports Etone’s Mental Health top tips; Connect; Be Active; Take Notice; Give and Keep Learning.

On Wednesday 24^th April Etones’ Active in Mind programme got underway with the Sixth Form Mental Health Champions working with our professional athlete mentor, Yasmin Clark.  Yasmin is a former professional tennis player who competed at Junior Wimbledon in 2005/2006. She now coaches tennis to people of all ages and abilities in Derbyshire.

The Mental Health Champions took part in a number of tasks throughout the morning including learning all about what it takes to become a mentor and planning activities ready to deliver to our year 7 – 9 students. During the afternoon the sixth formers worked alongside Yasmin to teach the lower school pupils the importance of good physical health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle to support positive mental wellbeing.

Our sixth formers are looking forward to continuing this programme and leading a series of sessions with our pupils, aiming to give them lots of knowledge about keeping active and leading healthy lifestyles.

Within the CCF we deliver a progressive syllabus, enabling cadets to learn and improve their skills in many areas from drill to shooting to personal development skills like; communication, leadership, team-building and other key employability skills, which are also delivered across the curriculum here at Etone.

Last weekend, six of our cadets spent the day at Barr Beacon School on a Bronze Leadership course. Cadets had to of already achieved the Blue leadership qualification to be able to attend this weekend.

The day started with some classroom-based lectures on areas like; management styles, communication skills and how to be an effective leader. 

Once this was completed the cadets were then split into groups of six and started a carousel of different leadership activities where each team member lead the group in turn to complete one of six tasks. 

These tasks are known as command task. The task starts with the team leader firstly being briefed on a scenario, what they need achieve, the time scale and what restrictions apply to the task. The team leader, using the SMEAC process (Situation, Mission, Execution, Any questions and Check understanding), will then brief their team with the information they were given, delegate certain roles to members of the team, discuss the task and how the team will complete it, then attempt to complete the task.

Each team leader is then assessed during the task from the initial delivery to their team to the discussion and finally the execution of the task. Each leader is marked against a set of criteria and given a score out of thirty. If they achieve the number of points required, they will pass the task and the course and achieve their Bronze Leadership.

We are very pleased to confirm that all our cadets that attended the course passed and achieved their Bronze Leadership badge and certificate.

As part of our mental health strategy, we have held a Stress Awareness Fortnight from 15^th – 26^th April.

During this time, the following activities took place for pupils: self-Reiki and meditation at break time, a positive pineapple treasure hunt around school for Years 7 and 8 ; a drop in every Wednesday at the Success Centre for Year 11 & 13 during the build up to exams and a “Grow your own Sunshine” project for pupils and staff. Pupils have taken  a sunflower seed and  will grow this over the next few weeks with prizes awarded at the start of July. We have also sent out information to all pupils on how to manage stress and have information available on our website to support the preparation for exams.  This has been a very successful event and we look forward to seeing all the sunflower pictures in July which will be shared on our website. 

On Thursday 18th April, Etone were paid a visit by a real life Story Teller. Unique to a play or reading, a story teller delivers the very core, emotion and contextual character of a story in the words of the author themselves.

Our Year 10 and 11, were delighted to receive a special story time of ‘A Christmas Carol’, the classic from Dickens. The perfect Spring time story (ironic), however with GCSE exams a mere few weeks away. The event is an important part of our strategy to ensure pupils retain key pieces of information.

Following the session our pupils had the chance to ask questions, with the wonderment around what life as a story teller might be like as the focus. 

Next up our KS3 pupils were treated to some traditional Nordic tales of Viking conquests, hero’s and damsels. The story’s sparking a creativity in our pupils, which will be the guiding life for many of their inspirations to come.

A big thank you to our storyteller for his support and wonderful tales.

This weekend 27 cadets from four of our schools expanded their leadership skills by attending The Bronze Leadership Course at Barr Beacon School. The course was held centrally to allow our cadets to share ideas and harness the fundamentals of leadership training.

Our cadets began the day by learning how leadership styles can affect the output of teams in a practical environment, this was reinforced with group discussions and scenarios based on real-time situations. They then moved onto practical leadership tasks in which each of the candidates were assessed on implementing their own leadership styles.

By the end of the day all 27 cadets achieved the Bronze standard and had a great time in the sun. Well done all!

Etone College were delighted to welcome back on Friday 19th April, Caius Lee, Musical Director from Worcester College, Oxford, to help our choir rehearse for their upcoming concert alongside Armonico Consort and The Orchestra of The Swan in the Royal Albert Hall in London this summer. We have been invited to work again with Armonico Consort after our successful performance last year alongside the world renowned Kings Singers in Warwick. Our students have been excitedly learning a complex and diverse programme which includes the epic Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, even getting our teeth stuck into singing in Latin!

Tickets for the concert are available only from the official Royal Albert Hall box office: https://www.royalalberthall.com

This Saturday was the Matrix Mini Rast where teams from various schools in the Trust took part in several military skills tests. 

I am super proud of the Cadets that we took to the competition and our contingent as a whole. The team efforts were fabulous and this was endorsed by the fact that we took home the trophy for the shooting element!

Next year I will be looking to field two ten men teams and see if we can win the overall competition!

I would like to thank all the cadets that took part and the adults that supported the event.

We are excited to launch our brand-new Careers Guidance Pupil Website. 

Pupils need to be prepared for the evolving working world and so, at the heart of our Careers Programme, is a focus on building up essential lifelong employability skills.

Visit our new website to access a wealth of careers guidance, designed to support both pupils and parents.

With our brand-new resources, you can…

• Choose a subject you love and see where it might lead
• Explore your options for when you leave school
• Gain valuable advice on applying to university, apprenticeships and jobs
• Practice your interview skills
• Discover alternative options like gap years or starting your own business

Visit https://matrixcareersguide.co.uk/

On Thursday 11^th April our Year 11 pupils were treated to a visit by former 400m World Champion Daniel Caines. This visit formed part of the strategy to support our Class of 24 pupils as they near the summer exam series. With the build up underway to the first exam on the 2^nd May, there is a buzz of focus on revision and dedication.

Daniel was bale to develop this with his insightful and inspiring life story. There are striking similarities between the journey of Dan and those our Year 11 are taking towards the summer and it was really appreciated by our pupils to get to understand, it doesn’t matter who you are – We can all be successful.

Initially Daniel was not a natural born winner in athletics, like most pupils not every subject would be a strength

After successive disappointments Daniel wasn’t interested in pursuing his dream further, perhaps in a mock or an assessment the grade achieved wasn’t what we had hoped for.

It was at this intersection that Daniel took it upon himself to make the difference. Listening to the wise words of support around him from his friends, family and teachers, he made the changes to his life required and focused. Put in the ‘time and effort’ and developed his technique with determination and precision.

By the tender age of 21 Daniel was a World Champion who had represented his country at the 2001 Olympics in Sydney, despite being ranked 81 out of 82 he made it through the heats to the final gaining 5^th place at his first Olympics. Despite speed bumps along the way, the dedication to succeed is what eventually led to his success.

Perhaps the most important moment of the discussion for our pupils came as Daniel drove home the impact of a positive attitude. It would be easy to give in and say ‘never going to happen’ but success is something we could decide to achieve from within. Essentially it is up to our pupils how they see their future now. Whatever the current position, they can all improve and focus on ‘marginal gains’ as they see their way through to the exam season.

Overall the points Daniel made were extremely relevant and encouraging to our pupils, who universally applauded his appearance and message. A big thankyou to Daniel for coming, we can’t wait to have him back soon.

Don’t forget you can check the summer exam series timetable here: https://www.etonecollege.co.uk/exams/