Our Parent Support Workshops have been a really successful aspect of our parental communication strategy at Etone College. As you will be aware we ensure that wherever support is required, it is there to be accessed. 

In our first session of 2023 we continued this success with our annual KS4/5 Help Your Child Revise Workshop. With mock exams on the horizon and our incoming Year 10 and 12’s starting their next chapter, it is always important to provide pupils and parents with the very best information with plenty of time to embed practices.

One of the interesting facts from our research in this years session, was the impact that early revision can have on a pupil. From a recent study where a pupil engages in effective revision at the start of their study, this increases their overall results by between 1 ½ – 3 grades. In discussions with our parents this was perhaps the most surprising highlight of the evening. It is therefore, of course, imperative that we support pupils to revise throughout their time with us.

Additionally it was an opportunity for parents to be aware of the support we provide pupils with effective revision. This is something we are proud of at Etone and through assemblies pupils get the chance to explore revision strategies, the importance of revising and how to access support for exam stress. Following this pupils develop their revision skills through tasks during their Form Time activities and create their own personalised revision timetable.

There was also an opportunity to share some fantastic resources that are available to all parents in supporting their children with revision: 

• Effective Study Strategies by Kate Jones – Webinar session for parents in supporting pupils at home, well reviewed and extremely useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FLodJngqFc&t=157s&pp=2AGdAZACAQ%3D%3D
• Coping with exam pressure: A guide for students by Department for Education – Sharing the research and support on offer for pupils and how families can support: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coping-with-exam-pressure-a-guide-for-students/coping-with-exam-pressure-a-guide-for-students

Whilst the focus was clearly on supporting our pupils and families there was even an opportunity to take part in some fun activities including the below task. Why not try it?

1. Write down the letters of the alphabet
2. Circle the vowels
3. Underline all the consonants
4. Find the letter that comes before R
5. Work out what is special about this phrase – the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
6. Don’t do any of the above except for the first one

The aim of their exercise is to understand how important it is for pupils to read questions/ criteria carefully before carrying out the task – We hope you got it right!

All of the information on the evening along with our video recording is available on our website, so please have a look and use the information to support yourselves and your families:

Parent Support Sessions: https://www.etonecollege.co.uk/parent-carer-support-workshops/

Etone College Revision Website: https://www.etonecollege.co.uk/help-your-child-revise/ 

On Thursday 26^th October we are excited to be hosting our annual Careers Fair. This event is one of the cornerstones of our Careers Curriculum at Etone College and was a key factor in being awarded the Quality in Careers Standard in 2021.

During the event each pupil across the school and sixth form will have the opportunity to visit our fair with over 40 exhibitors from across all sectors including; further education, apprenticeships and businesses.

Each year our pupils get a chance to explore potential careers and network, picking up contacts in the industries of their choice, in preparation for their next steps. 

Additionally parents are also invited to attend 2:00pm-3:30pm. 

Each year at Etone College we celebrate National Teacher Day. This event allows pupils past and present across the country to thank the educators who have had a major impact on our lives.

It is estimated that we spend around a fifth of our lives in education. That means that our teachers are an incredibly large element of our upbringing. 

As a result it was heartwarming to see our staff and pupils sharing kind hearted messages of thanks, as a token towards the work their teachers have done to support them.

Additionally we would be nowhere with out our dedicated team of support staff who work tirelessly to ensure the school runs like clockwork. These individuals are the lynchpin’s to making everything we do a success.

During the day pupils will share Postcards of Thanks with staff across the school for the support they have been given this year and in previous ones. All of our staff will also receive special treats and lunch as a personal thank you for everything they do.

So as we show our caring values, why don’t you reach out to an old teacher and thank them? 

On Thursday 28^th September the time arrived for Etone to once again throw open our doors as we welcomed perspective pupils to have a look around and explore what Etone has to offer.

Each year we share how successful the event was along with lots of pictures across the evening. We always have such an amazing time we often wonder how we can top it year on year.

Well, we are proud to say we have once again done it as we have hosted what may be our most successful event yet. Scores of parents and perspective pupils flocked to our school to be welcomed by our pristine prefects fresh out of their prefect training to provide support and information to parents as the navigated the campus. It was a particularly proud moment when one parent shared “I will defiantly be sending my son to Etone. The pupils hear are so polite, it really is unlike anywhere else.” After collecting their tickets for the welcoming talk parents were offered a chance to taste some of the delights on offer form our brand new Etone Bistro menu, with exotic tastes and homemade classics the flapjacks were a particular favourite. 

Next it was time for the welcoming talk as our choir opened with some show-stoppers including a personal crow pleaser Pompei as made famous by Bastille. Mr Smith then shared his vision for the school along with the many success we have enjoyed including; being shortlisted for TES Wellbeing School of the Year, Schools Games Gold Mark and our staff being published in national research.

Once parents had a chance to discuss questions and explore their understanding with the leadership team it was time to visit our departments. As always there was an ever so slight competitive vibe as all subjects strived to show off why their topics at Etone are the best. With the classic taste testing in Business a real crowd pleaser to the interesting displays in Criminology and the Social Sciences there was no end to studying what the wider school might have in store at KS4 and beyond. 

At KS3 all subjects wanted to show our pupils what they could expect next year as they went into Year 7. With the usual debate between History vs Geography there was a common ground found as all members of the team agree that Etone has the best Humanities Department around. Create were busy showing off their talents with clay, printing and some delicious pieces form the food room. Science as always were blowing our minds with the tricks of the trade including ‘Fire Hands’, Maths were busy collecting data to analyse the correlations of our pupils through shoe-size and height. MFL delivered some delicacies form around the world and of course English offered us a chance to explore the wonderful world of Roald Dhal. As if all of that wasn’t exercise enough Sport were doing their best to get Nuneaton active by taking part in games.

All in all it was a record turn out and further more there was a record number of pupils helpers with around 200 volunteers supporting the Etone Community and showing our Etone Values. Thank you to everyone in attendance, we can’t wait for next year.

Roald Dahl Day is celebrated every year on his birthday, the 13th of September, and people all over the world come together to celebrate the magic he brought to, and continues to bring through his work.

Etone pupils had the opportunity to create their own front cover of one of Roald Dahl’s famous stories.

We had a plethora of fantastic creations from many pupils across KS3. It was very difficult to pick the top three. With some careful consideration and discussion, we finally picked the top three!

Every pupil who submitted a piece of work were rewarded with house points, and the winners were given the delicious prize of chocolate!

Take a look at our “Marvellous Creations”!

Well done to the Year 11 Netball team who took part in the annual tournament on Tuesday after school. They all worked so hard and played well together which resulted in them achieving 2^nd place out of 7 schools. They also had the best goal difference out of all of the teams in the tournament. Well done girls, what an incredible achievement, you should all be proud of yourselves, just as proud as I am of you all. – Miss Lower

As a recipient of the International Schools award, Etone College strives to provide pupils with a rich knowledge and understanding of the world and the importance of languages. 

With this in mind we were delighted to be able to celebrate ‘European Day of Languages 2023’ on Tuesday. Since the end of the ‘Year of European Languages’ in 2001 this event has been held on the 26^th September as an opportunity to:

·       Alert the public to the importance of language learning, diversity and the range of languages learned in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding

·       Promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe

·       Encourage lifelong language learning in and out of school

Each year our pupils look forward to the exciting and enriching activities and this year was no exception. The Modern Languages provided lots of fun things for pupils to do both in lessons and outside of them. First off, our pupils completed a language style escape room as they looked to put their knowledge and skills to the test. Each Form had the chance to win ultimate glory by making sure they were the first to escape as they showcase their Teamwork ability.

Following this Year 9 pupils had the chance to take par tin our annual Postcard Project, where pupils write to a foreign country in the native language to develop a ‘Pen Pal Partnership’. This is a great chance for pupils to practice Communication skills and Caring values which underline what it takes to be an Etone Learner.

Our Year 7 and 8 pupils had the chance to practice conversations in the top 10 European Languages giving them a better understanding of what the international community in 2023 looks like.

And not to be left out even our staff got involved showing the ‘Etone Spirit’ as pupils worked to find out what languages our very talented team speak.

To top it off some of our pupils took staring roles as they shared the languages that they speak from across the globe in a show of International Etone.

On Monday 25^th September a very special event took place as Mr Bonner hosted the inaugural meeting of the newley elected Student Council for this academic year. Each year, pupils in each form nominate someone to be their councillors as they work together to further develop the community of Etone College and enable all to benefit from our school.

Last year our councillors were an imperative part of our student leadership team as they supported Etone with many projects, relayed important messages between the school and pupils and helped to be part of discussions including supporting the new build project.

This year we are excited to continue with those amazing efforts and we made a fantastic start with the first meeting. After taking the obligatory photographs our councillors enjoyed their breakfast complete with a special visit from Mr Smith. During the session pupils received their certificate and were able to discuss some initial ideas including the reasons they were elected by their Form.

Showing self-belief, integrity and communication our pupils are the living embodiment of what it means to be an Etone Learner and we are very excited to see what this year has in store.

During this week our pupils are recognising Genes for Jeans week to raise awareness and support for the organisation who complete research into genetic diseases and work together to create treatments and where possible cures.

In Science lessons our pupils have taken part in activities, learning about Sickle Cell disease and what treatment can be effective. There has also been the opportunity to research other disease and how the charity has helped to support people with those genetic diseases.

With a real show of curiosity form all of our pupils they have shown their Problem Solving skills across the week. Well Done Team Etone.