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!

This week saw Etone Football Education Academy in partnership with West Bromwich Albion take the EFL title for the first time since their launch, having come runners up on the previous couple of seasons it was the Academies year to clinch the title and they did so in style losing only two games and achieving a +72 goal difference which is a fantastic achievement. As the academy has developed over the past few seasons the teams have won several different cup competitions and AOC league titles but this seasons achievement is the biggest yet as they have beaten established academies from Aston Villa, Wolves and Nottingham Forrest to name a few in the race to the title. Academy Director Mr Petch said ‘the cohort of lads involved have been brilliant, they work so hard and their dedication has been second to none which is both a credit to themselves as well as the academy, two special mentions have to go to the Academy captain Callum Brown who leads by example on a daily basis and Josh Atkins who was the leagues top scorer with 49 goals’

Not only do the team receive the League title which will be a nice addition to the Etone Football Academy trophy cabinet but they will also receive their award during the EFL Championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 26^th May, this will be a fantastic experience for the lads and a nice way to complete another very successful season. We’re hoping to spot a few of them on TV.

Mr Smith head of Etone college stated ‘The success of the academy is truly astounding. Whilst we are proud of all our students and pupils, the ethos of the academy is to provide an opportunity for those who might otherwise move on from education. In the past few years the academy has really developed a strong reputation in the area, both for the quality of the football played and the outcomes of our students results. The win is of course the cherry on top of the cake.”

If any current year 11 pupils are still undecided on their steps and are interested in the Academy further details and expression of interest can be found at www.etonecollege.co.uk/Football with the next taster session taking place on Tuesday 28^th May.

As you are aware, attendance in schools is a hot topic with the Department for Education focused on supporting schools to improve attendance.

With this a host of new research has revealed some interesting facts. For example the month of May has one of the biggest impacts in a pupils year long memory retention. With the summer break weeks away, May is a time where strong attendance can help consolidate the knowledge learned since September across the extended break.

In a recent study pupils with excellent attendance in the summer term retained 40% more than their peers when tested the following September.

With the drive to ensure our education is the best possible we are announcing this half terms competition: Maytime Matters! Drawing on the theme of the above, pupils who are putting in the effort to achieve will be in for the chance to win a slew of prizes including:

-The highest form time average in each House will receive entry into a prize draw for 2 x £10 vouchers.

-For each day you attend in the final week, you get an entry into a prize draw for 5 x £20 and 3 x Echo Shows.

-If your attendance for this half term is above 97% you will also be entered into an additional draw.

Good luck and stay tuned for updates.

We are so proud of our Year 11’s for starting their exams in such a dedicated and mature manner.

Since that start of last week our pupils have completed the final aspects of a number of their courses, with the exam season building up to a very busy week.

It was also time to award the next set of pupils the coveted “Celebrating Success” badge. With this being the new must have accessory it was great to see our Year 11’s happy that their hard work was paying off.

Stay tuned for more updates!

#Classof2024

After our sixth form students visited Auschwitz as part of the Holocaust Ambassador scheme ran by  Holocaust Ambassador Trust the next part of the project required them to share what they know and encourage others to remember the Holocaust. 

Below is T. Sweets’ article she has written to share what she has learnt: