The summer term seems to be closing with scorching weather and it has been a tremendous term. 

The Year 11s are about to finally depart after the leavers' ball and I hope the results are fairly awarded by the boards and that they receive what they deserve. The summer assessments are over in the senior school and the pupils are taking stock of their achievements - and, of course, they should be reflecting on what needs to be done in order to achieve greater progress here and there. This is how it should be. The new GCSEs are challenging and these tests are all about training our pupils up for the future and getting them 'GCSE ready'. The assessments are excellent learning moments. Our pupils will have some vacation work to do too, we don't want the academic pot to go cool, over the summer.

I thoroughly enjoyed the open afternoons in the junior school. I visited the classrooms and I was pleased to see how much work had been done. There was some wonderful writing, numeracy, art work and much more. It was lovely to chat with parents, who were busily completing their own feedback sheets on their children's work. This kind of engagement between parents and the College is so important.

Our sports' days were terrific and records that had stood for many years fell. I am constantly amazed by how our pupils excel at county and national level. Our athletics teams went away to the national competitions in the Alexandra stadium in Birmingham this term, coming back with 19 medals bringing our overall tally to more than 200 medals, which we believe may be the largest haul the College has ever had.

I would like to mention our young female footballers (U13s) who went off to St George's Park, the home of the FA, to finish 3rd in their group at national level. A splendid achievement and I know that Mrs Liley was immensely proud of them, as were their parents. I suspect Mr Southgate might be interested in hearing their thoughts on our performance in the World Cup. He would do well to listen.  

The junior and senior swimming galas were glorious days and our pupils have been enjoying the fabulous weather in the Forest School, which was officially opened this term by Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University. I enjoyed some time over there too with governors building assault courses for squirrels under the strict guidance of our experts Mrs Savill and Mrs Murphy. 

Our sleepover for Year 5 was a great success as was the Blackland trip for our Year 6s and I am pleased to say that a group of intrepid youngsters in the senior school will be tackling the challenges of Snowdonia this summer led by Mrs Sawyer. I wish them all well up there in the mountains; they will certainly find out about themselves, which is what it's all about.

Speech Day was lovely, I think, if quite a hot one. The College grounds were looking splendid and it was a community moment when we shared and celebrated all that our pupils do, not simply and only the prizewinners, in the company of an Olympic medallist, Amy Williams who gave an excellent talk about the nitty gritties of true success. I don't think I quite realised how much you had to do, including sewing parts of your own suits together, to get to the top. Amy was superb after the event and chatted to parents and pupils, many of whom got to touch and be photographed with her gold medal.

Mr Taylor-West, Headmaster

Well, Easter's coming round again and, like last year, we did get in a scramble for the hefty pancake before the end of term, having emerged out of the dampness of February and before we met with the Beast from the East. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event, with Grenville's Year 5 winning the match with a mighty bag of pancake - more than double the weight of those produced by the less efficient scramblers in other houses.

The Junior School has been as busy as ever and I only have space to mention a few things: our pupils have been out and about, Year 4 visiting Bignor Roman Villa this term, togas on show, and Year 5, as you will see from our blogs, have been experiencing the delights of Forest school, armed with rolling pins and den building equipment.  The Junior Spring Concert conducted by Ms Summers and Mr Manson was a highlight with every junior pupil taking part in the singing. My congratulations to the Year 5 & 6 Junior Inter-house Quiz teams, as the staff report this was one of the closest finishes in recent years with Nelson squeezing past Raleigh to win, with Rodney taking 3rd and Grenville finishing 4th. Little Lions and Reception have been learning about spring and the new life it brings - which might have been momentarily under threat from the snow and ice. I do hope that the seeds they have been planting, including carrots, sunflowers and wild flowers survive the frost to bloom in the summer term. I am sure they will. Little Lions and Reception also had lots of fun getting into their 'pjs' and listening to a bedtime story, enjoying one of Miss Frost's favourites, "Can't You Sleep Little Bear." 

The drama of the Year 5 scramble was a fitting way to complete a term which has been packed full of activity. Our Year 11s have given the mocks their attention and we are keeping our fingers crossed for them, as they are facing tougher GCSEs this year. They are in a sound position to push forward and use the Easter holiday for the most important phase of revision available to them. I encourage them all to make a timetable carefully and hit the learning hard: it makes such a huge difference if that holiday is used effectively.

Academically, I was very impressed by our Key Stage 3 pupils who really got stuck into their projects about Marie Curie and medical technology. The work was impressive and certificates will be awarded to pupils who managed to reach advanced and expert level with their projects. I was particularly impressed to see mini-laboratories created and pupils' imaginations were caught up in the wonders of 3-D printing, amongst other things. Artistically, the inter-house music competition produced some lovely songs and instrumental numbers and we are looking forward to Mr Hoggarth's version of 'The Odyssey' - one of my favourite stories of all time.

The viciously cold weather has meant that a few sporting events (ISA netball and cross-country) did have to be cancelled last weekend, but I am very pleased to say that the whole College has kept moving (to prevent freezing solid), taking part in the 'mile' event for Sports Relief last week, for example. Currently, the College has raised £1300 and the money will be used to support medical and mental health projects around the globe. Earlier in the term, an exceptional silver medal was won by the U11 netball team at the London South ISA regional tournament in the final against Lingfield. My congratulations to Leia Quinones-Rosenior, Eloise White, Elsie Smith, Charlotte Wedge, 

Bo Lily Emmerson, Nina Rogers, Eva Long and Madeleine Stewart. I would also like to congratulate Ethan White in Year 8 for being selected for the Harlequins pre-squad 2018. Finally, I wish good luck to our bronze and silver DofE expeditioners who will be out in the county shortly, aiming to secure a key part of their award.

Another busy term has come to a completion here at Shoreham College and I would like to wish you all a luxurious Easter egg, or two, and some wonderful family time. I do hope the weather is a little warmer for you all, so that you can walk off the chocolate and add a few more miles to your Sports Relief million mile challenge.

Mr Taylor-West, Headmaster

The term here seems to be flying by. The Year 11s are now under way with the new GCSEs and I wish them all the very best with those. It will take a few years for us to learn how the new grade boundaries work, of course, but I know that the staff here have done all that they can to set the pupils up for success.

The rest of the senior school is approaching summer assessments, which are, as I say each year, important as markers of progress, but will also affect sets and streams, as always. I know they all wish to be out and about letting off steam in the sun (which we sometimes get) but Key Stage 3 and Year 10 do need to take the business of revision in the evenings and at weekends seriously. There is vocabulary to learn, key facts to memorise and equations to practise. Nothing comes out of nothing and the new GCSEs are demanding.

Beyond things academic, our pupils have had some stunning successes recently. It's lovely to see some cricket matches out there on the green sward and my congratulations to the Under 11 girls for winning a bronze medal at the national netball competitions in York. Six of our athletes, girls and boys, have qualified for places in the county championships this summer and we also won 45 gold medals - possibly the best result ever according to Mr Edlin - in the regional athletics competition at Bromley in Kent. The D of E Bronze and Silver expeditions have been a great success this term with 60 of our pupils taking part in the expeditions.

The Junior School film club produced an extremely funny film this term: 'The Puppet Master's Curse' which contained some truly engaging acting and some slick humour and effects. Though I was unable to attend this year, the Year 5 and Year 6 musical competition was lovely. Mr Manson reports that it was 2 hours long, with Klas Wallseth and Charlotte Wedge taking first places for instrumental solo and for vocal solo, respectively. As ever, the pupils participated superbly and supported each other so well too. Mr Manson was also pleased with the pupils' ambition with vocal solos.

It’s good to see the Bikeability course up and running again, as this is such an excellent set of skills to learn.

This term, as a College, we will be supporting the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Gill Perkins, its chair, came in to speak to our pupils, junior and senior. Did you know that this country has to import Bumblebees as it does not have enough pollinators?  This will be the summer term's senior challenge, academically, and our junior and senior pupils will be engaged in all kinds of creative fund-raising activities in aid of the trust.

Focusing for a moment on things outdoors and wild, our Forest School will be officially opened this term by a distinguished guest from Sussex, Professor Dave Gouslon and the Chair of the SCPA, Mrs Jo Bushby, on June 12th. Our sincere thanks to the SCPA for their contribution to this educational addition which has been a huge hit with the pupils and staff alike. On that note, could I please encourage parents to come forward and assist the SCPA, who are keen to meet new potential recruits. We could not achieve things like the Forest School without them.

To round off the year, I look forward to sports days, junior and senior, swimming galas and, of course, our Speech Day at the end of the year. We have an excellent speaker coming to us, though I won't give that away just yet, as last year. We hope to see all of our parents there on Saturday June 30th to celebrate all of our pupils and the wider life of the College. We look forward to seeing you there. Tempus fugit.

Mr Taylor-West, Headmaster

It is impossible for me to write for this newsletter without mentioning in passing that the DfE league tables have placed the College in the top spot, pretty much in Sussex, for last summer's results, give or take the odd independent school here or there that does not declare its figures. As I said in a press release, reaching 98% A*-C (grade 4) was a spectacular achievement for a non-selective school - indeed for any school - and I am proud of the pupils and the staff who supported them. 

We will wait to see how our current Year 11s get on in the mocks. It is tough for them: the new 9-1 GCSEs are harder and I make no bones about the fact that we will find it hard to get a feel for how the grade boundaries will be placed by the examination boards. I feel for our team: it is tough to be the first year through the completely new system. I have confidence in them, however. As a group, there is potential there, if they make the very best use of our staff and work hard. 

I have said before that exam results are not the only thing that is important about education, of course, and I stand by that. We aim to give the pupils here a wider sense of the world, for example, and I was pleased to see that Key Stage 3 was looking at inter-faith relationships and it was enjoyable to explore Hindu and Vedic texts in St Julian's Church with them. It was striking how similar the messages of the great religions in the world can be: love and community, essentially, are key to making the universe go round. Our independent learning project, the Senior Challenge, is a cracker this term too: Marie Curie and medical technology. I look forward to seeing what Key Stage 3 produces for this.

In terms of communities, we have literally just been enjoying the spectacle of the inter-house singing competition. It is always a team bonding moment and this year was no exception. The performances were not necessarily musically perfect, but as I said to the seniors and juniors who took part, it's amazing what can be achieved when people with different skills get together and perform as a unit. The outcomes can be energetic and harmonious. Well done to all of them, but particularly Nelson who won the cup with their rendition of 'Valerie'. 

There has been plenty of sporting action this half-term too, as ever, in the swimming pool at the ISA nationals and one of my favourite moments of the year is always the Buckingham Park ISA cross country competition. Again, we had some fine performances - particularly from Marley Bigg, Georgia Maguire, Adam Firsht  and Leah Hamilton who came second, fourth, first and second respectively in their year groups. My congratulations to them and all of the runners from the College who showed real character, running hard through some pretty claggy mud.  I would also like to mention young Max Bushby, who was placed silver in a national ISA fencing championship this term. 

Our juniors have been very busy as ever within and beyond the classroom. As usual, we have had plenty of excellent trips for them, including Year 5 and Year 6's visit to Chichester Theatre. It was lovely to see so many parents come in to take part in the celebration of their children's work for the open afternoon. I had a good look around the classrooms too and stopped to have a chat with parents who were impressed and pleased with their children's work. As I was doing this, I was struck by the vibrancy of our classrooms and  it was good to see some high quality hand writing, and some vivid Chinese dragons too. I also enjoyed the animals in the Little Lions sandpit - perhaps a little too much. 

I am looking forward to some old favourites that this term has to offer, the Pancake Scramble being one example. Before we get there, however, I hope everyone has a lovely half-term and that you achieve refreshing family time. We can hope for good weather, but we live in Britain after all and we can never guarantee anything. We are expected to teach fundamental British values in school and I am sure one of them should be that wonderful balance we have between pragmatism and optimism. We will crack on, whatever the weather, of course.

Mr Taylor-West, Headmaster