Wonderful to see our EAL (English as an additional language) students and their teacher gain the recognition their commitment and hard work deserves! Eight of our EAL students were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Mother Tongue Other Tongue' multilingual poetry competition and two were winners in their age categories!

They attended the award ceremony last week at Murray Edwards College Cambridge and the winners confidently read their poems to a packed auditorium. All eight students are now published poets in the Routes into Languages East Mother Tongue Other Tongue 2024 Anthology.

𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙-𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡: 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑖 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝐸𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑂𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛, 𝐴𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑎 𝐾𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑘𝑜, 𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑦𝑎 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑦𝑐ℎ, 𝐸𝑟𝑖𝑘 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑛𝑎𝑟, 𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑢𝑛𝑔, 𝑆𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑖𝑎 𝐵𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑘𝑜𝑣𝑠𝑘𝑎, 𝐿𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑎 𝐾𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 (𝐵𝐿)

'Mother Tongue Other Tongue' is a multilingual poetry competition that celebrates cultural diversity and the many languages currently spoken in schools across the UK. It is run by the University of Cambridge and the Routes into Languages Project which aims to celebrate languages, culture and to give the students the opportunity to appreciate their heritage, using poetry.

Joelle Taylor, a poet supporting the competition said:

“Some people use words as border patrols. Some use words as passports. Others use words as fences. Mother Tongue Other Tongue uses words as bridges”.

Congratulations to Industrial Cadets!
Several Year 9 students have been working towards their Bronze Industrial Cadets Awards with EDT. Their latest brief was to design 'a Theme Park for the Future' and the students had sustainability on the top of their agenda. After weeks of hard work, they completed their presentation in front of a panel of six expert engineers and answered questions about their project ‘on the spot’. They also produced a detailed and lengthy report with the final design attached.

The students have worked really hard on this project that has taught them lots of different skills; teamwork, oracy skills for presenting, writing a technical report, using AI tools to their advantage and so much more. They are going to a celebration event in June at the University of Cambridge, where they will be presented with their awards and certificates. We look forward to seeing more from our new Industrials Cadets!

We are so honored to have won this AMAZING and hugely GENEROUS prize. Students are already making great use of the laser cutter and to see their winning designs brought to life was an amazing experience!

Technology Teacher Becky Leatherland commented: "With this laser cutter, we can introduce more students to CAD at a younger age, demonstrating its benefits and enhancing their studies. It will also equip them with valuable skills for the future and enable them to use up-to-date software.”

Thanking HPC Laser on behalf of the school community she added: "I think this was a fantastic competition. I am so proud of the students and how hard they have worked, not just with their initial ideas but also in developing them into the finished products.”

🎉 Barracudas Holiday Camps at our school this summer! 🎉 

Barracudas, the UK’s favourite holiday camp for children aged 4½ to 14, will be running at our school this summer! With over 80 exciting activities—including swimming, sports, drama, dance, motorsports, arts & crafts, an aqua slide, archery, and teambuilding—there’s something for every child to enjoy. 

Children get a choice of activities in each of the six daily sessions, so they’re always engaged in something they love. Standard hours are 8:30am - 5:30pm, with optional Early and Late Clubs extending to 8am - 6pm. 

🔗 Find out more and book now: https://www.barracudas.co.uk/ 

💥 Exclusive discount for our parents! Save £20 on a week or £4 per day with code HSCP25. 

Computer Science Careers Fair: Huge thank to representatives from Arm, Roku, Jagex, Thorlabs and Cambridge Consultants who attended Ely College Computer Science Fair last week on Tuesday, 25th February 2025.

It was a tremendous experience for all of our Year 8s as well as Computer Science students in Years 10, 12 and 13 who had the opportunity to interact with industry experts and listen to talks about career options and skills within the very vast IT and Computing field.

Students came away with more awareness of the impact of this industry on all aspects of everyday life and how they could go about exploring opportunities within it. Design, Creativity and Problem Solving were the top skills mentioned, which we hope will inspire more students, especially girls, to show more interest in exploring studies and careers in Computer Science.

For sixth form students who which to explore internship, here is a link to Roku's early careers webpage: https://www.weareroku.com/early-career

For more information about early careers, apprenticeship, work experience, and internship from the other organizations, please visit their websites.

Remember all this week, we also have a series of Lunchtime guest speakers to celebrate #NationalCareersWeek!

WOW! How wonderful to get a SHOUT OUT from the utterly stunning and timeless Toyah Willcox!!!

Huge thank you for offering our students some amazing insights into their Graded Synoptic assessment where they will putting their 1980's looks on the runway!

Exciting times ahead for our Hair and Beauty students. More details on the Salon Skills Showcase soon but for now, please all save the date: Thursday 20th March!