This half term we are focusing on self-belief. This is one of our six Etone Values that are integral to being an Etone Learner. Having self-belief is having the confidence to achieve our goals.  All pupils have received an assembly on this value and how they can demonstrate this value in all areas of school life and beyond.  We will be rewarding pupils who demonstrate this value – one member of each tutor group every week – with a certificate and House Points – as well as the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw.  Please can you work with us to encourage our pupils to have self-belief and:

·       Have confidence to achieve the goals that they set themselves

·       Be resilient and not give up – try, try and try again – use their prior learning, exercise books, resrouces  and peers to try to work out problems

·       Try to learn from any mistakes and see them as a learning opportunity

·       Respond to teacher feedback to be the best that they can be

As part of this, it is also important for pupils to show resilience – one of our key eight employability skills that we embed into all aspects of life at Etone to prepare pupils for their future destinations. 

On Thursday 10th February year 10 Enterprise and Media pupils took part in an exciting adventure to Watford’s Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.

With it being a while since pupils were able to physically visit venues it was warmly welcomed by all pupils as an opportunity to explore how the behemoth film series was developed, created and became the biggest franchise in the world. Media pupils were able to consider the specific design features, tools used and the careers that could wait for them in film production. Linking this to their current Media course and to sixth form and beyond pupils could see how a basic concept would be worked on with special effects to get the desired impact on the silver screen.

Enterprise pupils were equally as enthralled as they were able to explore the various impacts a film series has not just on the film company but also suppliers, contractors and subsidiaries from local set designers to the shops near the studios who would see a boost in sales during filming.

Mr Bowley was excited to get back out into the real world with the pupils “Since the pandemic pupils have been able to use online experience to really enrich their understanding of our subjects. However, nothing can quite fill the place of physically going somewhere. The experience has been the ticket to getting our pupils to apply how the theory of Enterprise and Media links with the real world application. It is no doubt this will help them as they move forward in their paths to become future directors, designers, entrepreneurs and marketing executives.”

The pupils were especially well behaved showing the Etone Values across the day with the venue stating “It has been lovely to host Etone College today. The pupils were exemplary and show great potential in a future in the film industry.”

Theme: Growing Together

Etone College are recognising Children’s Mental Health Week which takes place from 7-13 February. During the week we will we learning about our mental wellbeing in Learning for Life lessons and through our subjects.
Each subject will be promoting this theme in different ways. Pupils will:

ICT –find out how screen time can affect mental health but also how to use apps in a positive way to benefit health and wellbeing.

PE – find out about the benefits of fitness and how it links to wellbeing.

English – discuss their emotions – both positive and negative (emotions tree) and complete the kindness in a jar activity.

Food – learn how healthy eating supports wellbeing and what helps our wellbeing.  They can come to after school food club to make Valentine biscuits – gift them to family or friends to make them feel happy (give to others).

Music – sing a song that makes you feel happy  (hairbrush microphone optional!) and reflect on how singing brings people happiness and improves their wellbeing.

MFL – the benefits of learning a new language (learning a new skill) and a taster session in a new language.

Geography – connect with others through lesson activities about people .

Science – discover the importance of sleep and the benefits to our wellbeing.

Art – learn about how art can benefit wellbeing and complete a mindfulness project.

History – learn about role models in History, their dreams, their struggles and how they showed resilience to overcome them.

Maths – have fun by completing maths puzzles in lessons – puzzles are a great way of relaxing whilst using your problem solving skills.

Learning for Life – learning about your mental health and about Children’s Mental Health Week.

At home, remember our 5 top tips for mental wellbeing so:

• Try to connect with others
• Keep physically active
• Try a new hobby or interest
• Focus on the present
• Give to others

Don’t Forget: Thursday 8^th February – drop into the Sixth Form after school for “Time to Talk” Day. Have a drink and a chat and take part in the activities that staff are providing to help you relax and unwind at the end of the day.

What a fantastic start to the year it has been for reading at Etone. With some fantastic entries into the Extreme Reading and Christmas Read challenges it has been great to reward pupils for their efforts. Following on from this we entered January continuing to promote a culture of reading through a staff book swap station.

Now we turn our attention to the reading event of the year: World Book Day. Created by UNESCO on 23rd April 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, World Book Day is currently celebrated by over 100 countries around the globe. Each year authors and publishers work hard to spread the values of reading, particularly with the younger generation. This year marks it’s 25th Anniversary and Etone College staff and pupils intend to observe the day with the full credit it deserves with some brilliant initiatives:

Read for Good Readathon

The charity Read for Good encourages children to read through its unique motivational approach inspiring reluctant readers to give reading a go, and keen readers to read more widely. Pupils can choose whatever they want to read – from comics to classics and audio books to blogs – they are not being assessed, it’s all about reading for fun. And, they are motivated to read because the money they raise in sponsorship helps to provide a regular supply of brand new books and a resident storyteller to every major children’s hospital in the UK.

At Etone, pupils will be given a ‘Readopoly’ challenge charge on which to record their reading. The more books they read, the more entries they will have into our prize draw to win one of five £25 vouchers.

For more details on how to support your child please click this link: HERE

100 Reads Challenge

Alongside the Readathon, each tutor group has been challenged to see if they can read 100 books between them before World Book Day on March 3rd . There are lots of prizes to be won by the tutor group and points awarded towards the House Competition.

The BIG Book Quiz

Pupils in KS3 will take part in a book quiz during their firm time. The winning team from each tutor group will be chosen to represent their house in the BIG BOOK QUIZ FINAL on World Book day itself.

Whose Shelf is this?

During the week beginning 28th February pupils will be able to have a go at our fun quiz ‘Whose shelf is this?’ where they will need to use their best inference skills to work out which member of staff’s bookshelf is shown.

World Book Day

Non-Uniform day On March 3rd we will run a non-uniform day to celebrate World Book Day and also to raise money towards the House Charities. The cost of the day will be £1 to each pupil wearing non uniform and they will be asked to make their donations into buckets as they arrive at school. For pupils who choose to ‘dress up’ to represent a character from a book, there will be no charge. Pupils dressing up will have the opportunity to win prizes throughout the day for their costume.

Scholastic Book Fair

Our World Book day celebrations will culminate in a Scholastic Book Fair that will run from 16th to 24th March and where pupils will be able to browse and buy a range of books. Details will be sent out closer to the date with information about the books available and the best way to pay.

Please help us support these events and your child by encouraging reading as much as possible at home. Remember it could be a fiction novel, autobiography or even an article in the newspaper, it doesn’t matter as long as they enjoy it.

To find out more about the Readathon or World Book Day just follow these links:

https://readforgood.org/join-the-fun/

https://www.worldbookday.com/

If you require further information about any of these events from Etone, please contact Mrs K Smith at school.

Join us for our parent/carer support session where we will be looking to provide some key strategies to support your children with literacy and homework.

Wednesday 2nd February 2022
5:00pm – 6:30pm

Microsoft Form link has been sent as part of a text. Please call the school for further assistance.

On Wednesday 1^st December we were delighted to welcome the Speakers Trust at Etone as they delivered their Climate for Change program to a group of our year 10 pupils. The program is geared towards developing the public speaking, communication and listening skills of young people and empowering them to speak on a number of topics close to their heart.

Across the day pupils were given the chance to look at some of the worlds greatest speakers from Winston Churchill to Greta Thunberg, consider the key principles of delivering a strong speech such as using research and evidence to back up points and the strategies we can all use to tackle nerves and get our points across confidently. The pupils have really enjoyed the event with Declan saying “I feel that I have so much more confidence now in giving a speech. It has really helped me and I think it will be good for all of my subjects, especially MFL, English and Enterprise where I have to talk and give presentations.”

As the result of the day a number of our pupils have been entered into the national ‘Race to Zero’ competition for an opportunity to present their speech at a COP26 affiliated event in the new year. Two pupils Celastina and Amira have been entered into their national final with their speeches on Saving the Planet.

With the final event taking place on 27^th January we are wishing them the very best of Etone luck.

Holocaust Memorial Day is a national commemoration day in the United Kingdom dedicated to the remembrance of the Jews and others who suffered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution throughout the Second World War. It was first held in January 2001 and has been on the same date every year since – 27^th January

At Etone College each year we commemorate this day and as a school have; been fortunate enough to be visited by Holocaust survivors, who bravely relived their stories for our benefit, created our memorial which all of our pupils have contributed towards and prior to the pandemic, supported our pupils in becoming Holocaust Ambassadors, travelling to a concentration camp to experience first hand the horrors of the time.

Last week, Dr King and sixth form students (our Holocaust Ambassadors) led House assemblies to raise awareness of Holocaust Memorial Day. It also links into the Fundamental British Value which we promote at school of tolerance and mutual respect for others faiths and beliefs.  Pupils also completed form time activities last week to reflect on the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 and to think about what they could do to remember those that lost their lives.

It is heartwarming to hear the thoughtful words of our pupils as they consider the horrendous conditions, heartbreaking stories of families broken up and the importance of spreading the word to ensure similar events never occur again.

At Etone we know just how important reading is. Not only is it integral to developing our literacy and ensuring that we develop our Employability skills however, reading also allows you to broaden your knowledge, travel across the globe to different lands and time periods as well as discovering more about ourselves. The need to read is something we like to promote and weather that is in a lesson reading an article, case study or text or perhaps getting lost in your favourite read, we want to encourage you to get the most out of it. This term we will be finding out about our pupil and staffs favourite reads and what it is that ignites the passion to delve into literature. Let’s start by looking at Miss Stafford’s entry here.

Captain Correlli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières:

This book is set on the idyllic island of Kefalonia (Cephalonia) and I read this whilst on holiday there several years ago. I loved reading about the places that I was visiting and was even lucky enough to sees some of the locations for the film that followed the book.  The book is set in World War 2 and centres around the Italian occupation of the Greek Islands.   I love this book, not only because of its beautiful location and its historical context, but because it is a story about love on all different levels. It deals with the love of a daughter for her father and he for her, unrequited love, love that is against the odds but prevails and the love that people have for their homeland.  It was a book that I could not put down and have read many times since.  It is a book that you can get truly lost in.

At the start of the Christmas break  we launched our Extreme Reading Challenge where we invited pupils and staff to take pictures of themselves whilst on their adventures in the most extreme places possible. Although the competition has yet to be judged we would like to share some of the entries we have had so far:

Don’t forget to keep sharing your extreme reads with us and let us know what your reading.