On Thursday, International Poetry Day, Years 9, 10, and 11 were treated to performances by poet, Damani Dennisur. This is the third year that he has returned to Etone and he continues to impress. 

His epic poem entitled ‘Tra La La La. Boom’ enthralled Etone pupils who engaged and participated in the performance fully. We can’t wait to see it on Netflix in 2028!

We would like to extend a warm welcome back to all of our existing Diversity Champions and a special welcome to our new members joining the team this year.

Our Diversity Champions play a vital role in promoting inclusion, equality, respect, and understanding across our school community. We are excited to begin another year filled with opportunities to celebrate the diverse cultures, backgrounds, and experiences that make our school such a vibrant place to learn.

To help shape our plans for the year ahead, we have recently completed a Student Voice survey. Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas and suggestions. The feedback has been invaluable and will help us create a programme of activities and events that reflects the interests and views of our students.

We have already begun organising some exciting initiatives, including a Language Competition, where students will have the opportunity to showcase their linguistic talents, and a Guess the Flag Competition, encouraging everyone to learn more about countries and cultures from around the world in a fun and engaging way.

Throughout the year, our Diversity Champions will continue to lead and support activities that celebrate diversity, encourage belonging, and promote positive conversations across the school. We look forward to working together to make this our most successful year yet.

Thank you to all of our champions for your enthusiasm, commitment, and willingness to make a difference. We can't wait to see what we achieve together!

The Diversity Champions Team

On Tuesday our Student Council met for the first time this academic year to celebrate their election to the office and to enjoy a special breakfast with the Head, Mr Smith.

After enjoying their treats and the obligatory photo (underneath our brand new banner) pupils had the chance to raise what is important to them and share their individual mandates across the year. Led by Mr Bonner the themes range form how our school can further support the community and environment, to specific ideas for events and activities in school.

All pupils were a credit to their Form groups as they showed the values of an Etone Learner. We can't wait to see what the year holds.

Tuesday 22^nd marked a very special occasion for the Matrix Academy Trust, as we hosted our first ever Pupil Conference at the Holte Stand in Villa Park.

Following the success of our staff Trust conference's, the event had been years in the planning as staff from across the trust came together to deliver an exciting and engaging day centered on the theme of 'Pride'.

Each school was represented by a delegation of model pupils as they arrived to consider some of the fundamental questions around what pride means to them. With the chance to gather an insight form various individuals they day was a resounding success.

From Etone our pupils did a tremendous job of discussing with staff what the word PROUD means to them. With ideas ranging from "Being who you are no matter what you are." to "Supporting others and showing why you see them as equal". Throughout all of the sessions our pupils were dedicated to the event and focused, embodying the spirit of the Etone Learner.

From headteachers football teams to James Bond fandom the list of what makes the Matrix proud is endless. However, perhaps the most insightful display of pride was from Musharaf Asghar (Mushy) who you may recognise from the 2013 documentary Educating Yorkshire. As a teenager Mushy struggled with finding his voice. A speech impediment that hade left him to avoid communicating wherever possible, became a debilitating experience that seemed impossible to overcome. However, with the support of Mr Burton he was able to do just that and find a way to live with his barriers and push beyond them. Something that Mushy is now proud to share with others.

The event was a resounding success with pupils being able to articulate what makes them proud, why they are proud to be a member of the Matrix Academy Trust and what they are proud of about themselves.

We are so proud of all of our pupils and how they have upheld the values of the Trust and of course Etone showing their Caring, Courteous, Supportive selves. Full of Self-Belief, Trustworthiness and Integrity.

We can't wait for our next one!

In our latest parental engagement coffee morning directed at the parents of KS4 pupils we explored the importance of starting early with revision when young people have additional needs.

Retention can be challenging for our pupils with additional needs so this coffee morning shared strategies to consolidate learning and help secure ideas into the long-term memory.

At the centre of this is the well-being of the pupil.  For those with additional needs it can be challenging to get them to engage in any school-related learning outside of school hours so we explored ways to make revision fun and interactive as well as looking at intrinsic rewards for small gains.

Our website has a wealth of information to support parents in understanding revision strategies as well as course content and we had an in-depth look at all of the resources available.  Revision Resources - Etone College

Our next parental engagement coffee morning is on 28^th September, directed at the parents of KS3 pupils with a focus on supporting home learning.   If there are more topics you'd like to see covered during future sessions, please let us know.

Over the final fortnight of the Half Term, make sure you are in attendance as we launch our annual ‘Don’t Ghost Me’ event. With the chance to win treats, prizes and those ever so needed House Points, it’s all for the taking.

On Friday 25th September, some of the Etone Choir finished off a busy week of singing with another performance as part of the Solihull Harmony and Harvest festival. The event is a first for Solihull with a range of local choirs of all ages taking to the stage to celebrate as we head into the autumn through song, all organised by local choral director Anya Small. We also shared the bill with Anya's choir, Pop Voices Home - Singing Loud and Proud - Pop Voices<https://pop-voices.co.uk/> who have performed all over the UK including at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, Birmingham Town Hall and Abbey Road Studios as well internationally; you may also have seen their very memorable and record breaking Britain's Got Talent audition! Wow!

Thank you for inviting us, Solihull, and we hope to visit again!

By popular demand and for a great cause.

If you have had a summer clear out, a wardrobe declutter, or like mine your children are rapidly growing the Mary Ann Evans charity donation bins will be back in reception.
When: W/C 28^th of September!

We are so excited to have Mary Ann Evans back as our Phoenix house charity this year and this is such an easy way to support our local charity.
Any unwanted items need to be in sellable condition. This all goes to the store in the Rope Walk which helps raise funds for the charity.

Thanks all for your on-going support

On Friday 25th September we celebrated our amazing team of Learning Support Assistants.

Our Diversity Champions for Inclusion had been busy all week, collecting 'thank you' notes to help us recognise all the ways our team of LSAs help pupils in school.  They also put together little 'thank-you' goodie bags as a token of our appreciation.

Then, on Friday morning they visited all of our LSAs to say a huge 'thank you' in person.

At Etone, our LSAs play an integral part in supporting pupils.  Not only do they offer invaluable learning support in lessons, but they also run breakfast club and break club giving pupils a safe and welcoming space where they can meet friends, play games or complete homework.  They also go on many trips to support pupils for whom extra-curricular visits might otherwise prove challenging.  

Then there is the Homework Club support in the library before and after school every day where pupils who want to keep their home life separate from their school life are supported to complete all of their home learning ready to be handed in on time.

In addition to that, as key workers for all of our pupils with EHCPs, our LSAs carry out regular check-ins and support in all aspects of school life.  

They participate in many of our extra-curricular clubs: CCF, Lego Club, Nature Club, Hockey Club as well as facilitating less confident pupils to attend a club for the first time.

We are lucky to have such an amazing team of LSA's at Etone and we've enjoyed celebrating everything they do on this year's 'Thank a Ta Day'.