On Tuesday our Community Champions met to discuss their next big event. The Big Olympic Challenge, this rowing marathon looks set to raise as much as possible for our House Charities. However, the other agenda item for our pupils was the awarding of their Community Champion badges. These bespoke badges are only available to those who are part of the Charity Committee and help to recognise the efforts they put into leading the way for Etone and all of our community initiatives. Mr Bowley was very proud having the following to say: “This really is something to shout about. The Community Champions are something so special at Etone and really underline our Etone Values and lead our way in the community.” A big thank you to all of our champions and a reminder to everyone else – Get applications ready for next year.

Read more about our Big Olympic Challenge here

Monday saw the last set of workshops by Gaby Songui to create material for Nuneaton Library’s ‘Body in the Library’ project.  Pupils in years 7, 8, and 9 fleshed out the details of the characters, chose the victim and read, evaluated and re-wrote chunks of script.  We can’t give too many details away but between the creative setting, the engaging characters and, of course, the murder, this will be a performance not to be missed.

As you are aware we are proud to support our local community at Etone College. Through our engagement in community projects, such as our recent visits to the Nuneaton Library and our fund raising initiatives.

Across the year pupils raise awareness and money for various charities, four of which are our Etone House Charities. Selected by our Head of House and pupils, these are local organisations to look to have an impact in Nuneaton and the surrounding area:

Centaur - University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire

Dragon - Guy's Gift

Griffin - Doorway

Phoenix - Mary Ann Evans Hospice

On Friday 28^th June, our staff will be taking part in Etone’s Big Olympic Challenge to row the distance between Dover to Calais and cross the Channel. Each staff member taking part will be working in rotation with others in their affiliated House to be the first across our virtual finish line.

Set to raise funds for our charities and celebrate the run up to the Paris 2024 Olympics in France. The challenge encompasses a distance of 39 kilometres and will be taking place across the day in our Main Hall.

In order to support us, we would welcome any and all donations to our Just Giving page. All donations will be split equally between our House Charities to support the initiatives mentioned above. If you would prefer to give cash donations, these will be collected in sealed buckets on the day of the event.

To read more about our House Charities follow this link: https://bit.ly/3VcrK7Y

To donate to our JustGiving page follow this link: https://bit.ly/3KoBu8q

A fieldcraft event was held at Barr Beacon last weekend. Two members of the adult staff within the CCF were able to be taught how to us and gain their weapon handling tests on the Cadet Scorpion Air rifle.

This means that they are able to handle and fire the air rifle on any of the CCF run rifle ranges. They were able to take part in a shooting practice on Saturday also. The next step for them is to attend a course which will teach them how to teach the cadets how to use and fire the Air Rifle.

Well Done to Mr Watts and Mr White.

On Thursday, 16th May, 30 Etone pupils accompanied by two staff, experienced a day as a pupil at one of England's most regarded schools, Eton College. 

Starting the day exploring the architecture in Europe's oldest classroom (just under 600 years old), they learnt about the history of Eton and its foundation to serve less affluent boys. They then stepped through the doors of the College Library, which houses a vast collection of rare books, maps, artefacts and paintings. They examined one of the first books, complete with the hole through which a chain was fed to secure it to a desk before hearing an interesting presentation about some of the library's collection. Pupils learnt that the oldest book was a 9th century leaf of the Qur'an; the collections themselves are arranged by donar, and the library holds copies of the first folio editions of Shakespeare and special editions of all of George Orwell's books. Iren, year 12 reported that "being in the main college library felt like being in a capsule of historical knowledge and innovation."

Pupils moved then through the windy streets of Eton to the Bekynton Marquee to socialise with current pupils and ask them about daily life at Eton. 

Learning a new sport was next on the cards under the instruction of the Eton Fives Lead Coach, Mr Perry. Based on a traditional game created by boys using the chapel walls to play ball, Mr Berry challenged pupils using a variety of drills embedding the importance of hand-eye coordination.  

The highly decorative, specially created CIRL Obs School Room was their next stop, engaging in a highly aspirational lecture by Mr Noakes, Director of Teaching and Learning, on Self-Leadership. With a focus on seven key principles, pupils were guided to self-reflect, set goals, and revisit their views of themselves and how to achieve Ikigai, a Japanese model for how to live life to the fullest. Amaan, year 10 particularly enjoyed, "the focus on entrepreneurship which was different from a traditional approach."

Lunchtime enabled the opportunity for more socialising, and chatting, alongside sampling a range of delicious foods including Eton Mess! Alise, year 10 "enjoyed hearing the Eton Pupils' ideas and opinions about life, careers, and education."

Their last lecture of the day focussed on Careers Education with Mr Fussey, Director of Education. Pupils shared their own ideas about employability, drawing strongly on Etone's careers model, and explored how to choose and enable their ideal career paths. 

They finished the day with views from the balcony and a tour of the main Chapel, an awe inspiring building which is the venue for Eton assemblies and worship. They admired the stained glass windows, wall paintings and pipe organ, before rejoining the coach for their homeward journey. Year 10 pupil, Makae, reflected that his day was, "inciteful and inspiring", Madiha added, "I left the room feeling empowered; my day was aspirational."

A selection of the Year 12 social sciences students attended a Philosophy conference day at the University of Warwick. They were able to listen to various lectures throughout the day based on a wide range of topics within the subject of Philosophy including 'Valuing beauty' and 'Ethics and the Belief in God'. This gave students the opportunity to explore new ideas, theories and thoughts around these philosophical topics and gain an insight into what it is like to study Philosophy at university. 

Each year at Etone, we strive to provide the very best education possible for our pupils. Across the course of our journey with the Matrix Academy Trust we have been dedicated to ensuring the highest standards of practice both within the classroom and the development of our pupils as citizens of the future.

In most recent years Etone has achieved some tremendous results including retaining positive progress at Key Stage 4 since records began, continuing to be a leading school in the local community and most recently developing our global links with a stream of exciting and enriching visits to the USA, Europe and of course Japan.

With our programs of delivery for all areas being commended by partners and stakeholders alike, we are incredibly proud of the package we deliver to our pupils. We are therefore overwhelmed to announce we have been nominated and shortlisted for the second year in a row at a national awards ceremony.

Etone College has been shortlisted for the BIG award of the event: Secondary School of the Year along with our Headteacher Mr Smith, who is shortlisted for Headteacher of the Year.

Since joining the school in 2015, Mr Smith has led the school to successfully achieve and maintain an Ofsted Good judgement, secure positive progress in outcomes comparable to the highest in the local area and double the number of pupils attending Etone each year. Our growth in popularity is testament to our standards and achievements, making us the first choice of many parents and pupils locally.

The Education Awards are a national body that looks to recognise the achievements of schools, leaders, and staff across the UK. A prestigious accolade for any school to be nominated, it is an honour to be shortlisted.

Both for the school and for Mr Smith himself, it is the recognition of the efforts from all staff to enable Etone College to be the place it is today. “I am so proud of Etone to have been shortlisted for this honour. Any award is appreciated but to be shortlisted for School of the Year, it’s really something special.”

The award ceremony takes place on 4^th July 2024 at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. Wish us luck and we will keep you posted.

Community School of the Year

We are incredibly proud to announce that Etone College is in the running for the Community School of the Year Award 2024 from the prestigious Education Business Awards.

As you will be aware Etone prides itself as a valued member of our community. Whilst we are a centre of education, we also understand the importance of active citizenship and providing positivity to the local area. Over the past few years just some of our community programs have involved:

• Continuing our membership as Holocaust Ambassadors
• Achieving the International Language School Award
• Developing our careers program with community support on our Careers Day and Fair
• Engaging with local sport clubs
• Supporting our local primary schools in the education of their pupils
• Working with the Nuneaton Library to create links for pupils and their families
• Our Cadets have represented Etone and Nuneaton at remembrance day events
• Achieving a three year streak as league winners for our Etone Football Education Academy

Whilst these are just a few of our initiatives we are proud of all we do. However, perhaps our most impressive is the Community Champions that are at the forefront of how Etone College helps those around us. Since 2021 these pupils have supported a number of events and programs, ensuring successful food and toy bank drives each year, promoting important causes and organisations within the area and helping to support charity events that are on track to raise £10,000 within 4 years.

Of course to be nominated makes us proud, but to be shortlisted by the awards organisers is something that makes the experience truly special. Wish us luck as we attend the ceremony on June 12^th at the Leonardo Royal London St. Pauls hotel London.

First of all we want to wish all our social sciences students good luck in their exams! We know pupils have been working hard towards their goals and know they will make great Criminologists, Psychologists and Sociologists of the future.  

Recently I asked my students what they have enjoyed most about criminology this year and they all mentioned they loved the murder mystery lessons. This is where our year 13 criminology students delved into their various investigative roles to help solve a murder mystery.  Students had to dress up in bunny suits, hair nets, face masks and foot coverings ensuring no risk to themselves and eliminating the risk of contamination whilst dealing with the cordoned off murder scene.  The Pupils were allocated different investigate roles which they had been studying about as part of their unit 3 controlled assessment such as detective, scene of the crime officer and forensic scientists. They each spent time then collecting evidence and solving murder mystery clues such as using evidence like news reports, train tickets, building blue prints, lab results and witness statements to try and piece together a time line of events and eliminate each of their suspects to try and solve the murder mystery. Thankfully they were successful and caught the killer. It was amazing to see them work so well as a TEAM, use their critical thinking skills and help bring their subject to life in the most realistic way – without the actual murder part!

Recently Year 12 Psychology students had fun developing their own hierarchy of needs similar Maslow’s hierarchy in class this term, there was a lot of discussion over what is the most essential need for a human to function and debate over what would belong at the top of the hierarchy and it was interesting to see their introduction of technology and where pupils believe this would be places on the hierarchy in our modern day world where access to technology is normalised and essential for modern living.  Additionally, some of our students have been entering psychology writing competitions with organisations such as tutor 2 you - so our fingers are crossed for you all that you do well!

Coming to Etone College in 2025, we are looking for our very own Sandy, Danny and, of course, Rizzo! Open auditions will be taking place in the main hall on Tuesday 18th June to help us find our crew of T-Birds and Pink Ladies to tell the story of the students of Rydell High. Auditionees will complete a series of group tasks in music, drama and dance to help us cast our upcoming school musical. We will be looking for talented performers who are also excellent team workers.  There are roles available for both principals (main roles) and for those who want to be in the chorus and perform in a group. This is open to current year 11s who will be joining us in September in the 6th form. Looking forward to seeing you there!