Keeping Safe on the Internet Matters!
Since 2004 when it was initiated, Safer Internet Day has become an ever more important annual event in the school calendar. As schools, we have to tread the tightrope of preparing our students for the world they will inhabit where devices will play a key and pivotal role, whilst also ensuring that we keep them safe and protected from the malevolent elements that are seen all too much.
This is not an easy balance to get right, and it is why Safer Internet Day provides such an important moment to reflect, educate, inform, and guide. This year, the focus is on the theme: ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online‘. As a whole school community, we will be raising awareness on how paramount being safe online is for our students through workshops, presentations, and an assembly. We are looking forward to welcoming the Cyber Security Team and Police into the school who will be talking to our students whilst also sharing key information with Mrs Mann (Assistant Head Pastoral and DSL). Please see the link below for further information on this crucial topic. Safer Internet Day 2025 – UK Safer Internet Centre
The students are continuing to work incredibly hard preparing for the performances of Footloose next week. They will be in for most of the weekend working on the technical side and fine tuning the various songs and dance routines; with over 125 tickets already sold, it promises me to be a real highlight of the Performing Arts calendar. Please do book your tickets over the weekend if you have not already done so to avoid disappointment; the music, dances and whole spectacle will be amazing with the student buzz palpably electric as the last few days of rehearsing comes to an end.
It was wonderful to welcome PeopleHawk to Saint Felix again this week as we continue our collaboration and partnership to ensure a fantastic Careers provision for our students. As with any such platform and service, it is only as good as the student usage. We will be doing everything our end to facilitate this but your additional support for students in Years 8 and above will only be beneficial. The benefits are considerable and will also help Year 9 and Year 11 students as they make their GCSE and A Level choices that will start to shape their future options. PeopleHawk: Match your Personality & Skills to the right Career
On the 14th March (Pi Day – more details on the link below), the STEM faculty will be holding a competition to see who can recite Pi to the most number of decimal places. Pi has been calculated to over a trillion digits beyond its decimal point since as an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorise and to computationally calculate more
and more digits. All sorts of Pi related prizes will be available for winners and to commemorate the event, whilst our wonderful Head Chef is concocting a special Pi(e) Dish for the day! Interestingly but perhaps not entirely relevant, the 14th March is also the birthday of Albert Einstein and our very own Head of STEM, Mr Chapman! Pi Day | Celebrate Mathematics on March 14th
In Prep Department news, I was delighted to find out that we won the Year 3 and Year 4 Society of Heads Junior Poetry Recital Competition; with every student across those two-year groups involved, it truly was a team performance and what a wonderful achievement! Additionally, Aurora D came 2nd and Lucas C 3rd in their respective individual performance categories; well done to both of them! With so many students in the Prep Department actively involved in LAMDA, the Performing Arts and learning to use their own voice, their confidence will only continue to increase in a positive way. This was so evident when Harry P-R spoke to an assembled audience of over 100 fellow students, across both Prep and Senior, about his passion for Go Karting and his intimate knowledge and understanding of the intricacies of the sport. I met with him after he had done this and I was so impressed with his ability to talk through every aspect of his pursuit, how the equipment all works and the safety elements that underpin the racing. We wish him all the best in his race this weekend!
On the sports pitches, it has been another busy week. Our Under 12s Netball team were victorious away at Langley School, whilst our Under 14s played a strong game in both defence and attack away at the Royal Hospital School, and whilst they were not able to win, every player gave 100% effort with Henrietta S awarded player of the match. Our Under 16s Footballers travelled away to Finborough School and whilst they lost 4-2, they had more than enough chances to win the game not least in the first fifteen minutes when they could easily have taken the lead. The vicissitudes and vagaries of sport can be cruel at times and Cody H found this to be the case when leading at the Cross-Country East Anglian Regionals going into the final quarter of the race before having to retire with a sprained ankle. Sport, as in life, brings its successes and failures, and as Tottenham fan I certainly appreciate the latter! It is why sport is so integral to school life since it teaches us all so much about coping with defeat, working as a team, leadership, and fortitude.
One of my greatest pleasures is going to the Cinema; I love the sense of expectation, the build-up to the feature film with trailers highlighting future opportunities for further visits and then settling in to fully immerse in hopefully a wonderfully creative and inspiring production. Last weekend I saw such a film and wanted to recommend it to you all! A Real Pain starring Jesse Eisenberg (who also wrote the screenplay) and Kieran Culkin was truly a tour de force. Sensitive, imaginative, funny, and sad, it was one of the best movies that I have seen in the last twelve months. Do give it a go!
Wishing you all a pleasant weekend when it arrives.
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Oakman
Head
