On Thursday Etone was out in force to celebrate World Book Day 2024. The initiative started in the early 90’s to support getting the world reading after reading ages dipped to an all time low. Flash forward over 30 years, now the day is celebrated around the world as the flagship event in the literacy calendar.

To show our own support Etone took part in a number of initiatives to get the whole school involved. First of all our staff raided their costume boxes to dress up as their favourite literacy characters. This year our team had some truly genius offerings with story book characters, real life role models and of course Winnie-the-Pooh. This year the PE team decided to show their true colours, by spotting up as a group of the 101 Dalmatians. Mrs Oakley of course led the team as a terrifying Cruella Deville, whilst the MFL department wowed with fairytale favourites. To tie this in with our pupils’ fun, they were tasked to find out interesting facts about each of the characters, with one interesting fact being from Mr Bowley, whose idol (Richard Branson) started his first business – the magazine Student – to get more students in the country reading.

Next up our Year 7 Form Teams descended to the Hall to take part in this years edition of The Big Book Quiz. A cornerstone of our celebrations, Phoenix once again steered towards victory to make it a second year in a row. Check out the results here.

Finally, our day ended with a scavenger hunt challenge to find out which staff member’s favourite read was on their list. With the results yet to be declared, we await next week for the award.

1. 7P1 – 54 POINTS
2. 7C2 – 49 POINTS
3. 7P2 – 45 POINTS
4. 7C1 AND 7D1  – 40 POINTS
5. 7G2 – 33 POINTS
6. 7G1 – 25 POINTS

We are delighted to announce our Antibullying Ambassadors have passed their training with the Diana Award in supporting and collaborating with other pupils to develop the strong community feeling we are proud of at Etone. As part of the program, our pupils were invited to attend their final workshop at the Diana Awards HQ and receive their certificates and badges. 

A huge congratulations to our staff who attended the annual Matrix Academy Trust long service celebration meal last Friday. They joined colleagues from across the trust at the wonderful BANK.  Racking up over 700 years’ service collectively across the trust.  Another huge thank you to you all for your continued dedication to our community. 

On Thursday 29^th February 30 Year 7 students had the opportunity to take part in the M&G Enterprise Challenge. The aim of the day was to act as large-scale event organisers in charge of arranging a pop concert for 10,000 young people. The students had to consider many different aspects of running the day. The first task they were given was to create a questionnaire to decide on different aspects of the concert such as the type of food and music on offer. After collecting the results of the questionnaire they displayed their results using a bar chart. Next they had to decide on the most important part of any concert, the set list, ensuring they had enough acts to last the length of the concert and to keep track of the total cost. Finally the students set their ticket price to ensure they made a profit and the long awaited stage design commenced using nets of 3D shapes. The students worked excellently together showing their employability skills throughout the session.

Etone College is so full of talent as seen in our auditions on 27th, 28^th February and 1^st March.  Mrs Kaye-Shepheard, Mrs Leftwich-Lloyd and Miss Oakley were treated to comedy, music, instrumental recitals, singing, bands, drama, acrobatic and modern dance … the list goes on and on.  A huge well done to everyone who auditioned; it take immense courage, focus, preparation, creativity and confidence to take part in auditions and we are incredibly proud of every auditionee for putting themselves forward. The line up for the Talent Show final competition on stage at 7pm on 4^th July is amazing; tickets will be on sale soon to join us, the Etone Choir and the Etone Dance Squad for an amazing evening.

It is recognised that young men sometimes are less likely to talk about their feelings as they think they need to be strong and not show emotions. At Etone College, we want to change that culture and we want all members of our school community to know that.  We want to empower our young people, especially boys and young men to talk about their mental wellbeing and emotions in a safe and healthy manner. At Etone College, we have been promoting boys and young men’s mental health and have held mental health awareness events for boys at breaktimes. The latest Childline analysis shows that 1 boy for every 5 girls talk about mental health on Childline and boys are less likely to contact the services when having negative thoughts. We have created a Mental Health booklet to show how Etone’s male teachers look after their own mental health, Etone’s top tips, what the celebrities have to say and have signposted support for our young people to access. Please follow the link and have a look at our key messages and do please continue the discussions at home. 

Male Mental Health Booklet

This is taking place in the second week of March. It is a chance for the whole school community to focus on our wellbeing and those top tips to promote wellbeing.  Watch this space for more details of what will be taking place during the week.

Once again it was a fantastic night on Wednesday for our Parent Support Session for KS3 parents. With the focus of the evening on supporting assessment and understanding how to best support your child there was some really good knowledge and advice on offer.

Mr Bowley was extremely flattered with the support and thanks form our parents as he shared some of the key strategies to support children at home. In addition to strategies there was the opportunity to take part in activities which looked to underscore the key themes of the session. Whilst useful, hilarity also followed with Cows in Top Hats, mnemonics such as Jumbo Elephant Say’s Uno Stacko and even some parents who DIND’T READ THE INSTRUCITONS. 

There was also chance to share some of the updates we have made to the website including the key information shared from our Topic Checklists. These are given to each pupil at the start of any new topic in every lesson. As a first port of call to supporting your child with their subjects these are vital. Check out here for more details:  Etone Topic Checklists

For more information on our parent support workshop including the video for this and our previous, check here: https://www.etonecollege.co.uk/parent-carer-support-workshops/

Admissions 2024

It is National Offer Day.  If you have been successful in your application for Admission into Year 7 2024, we will write to you shortly with a welcome letter and information about forthcoming key dates.   If you have changed address since you applied, please contact us via email so that we can ensure we have the most up to date information for your child.  

If you were not successful on your application, please follow the link for information about Appeals: https://www.etonecollege.co.uk/admissions/