Happy New Year from the Saint Felix Community
It is always a slight shock to the system when school commences again after the Christmas festivities but also a joy to see all of the students return refreshed and ready for the new term ahead. Before term started, all of the teaching staff gathered for INSET on Friday of last week; the morning was fully devoted to the key topic of teaching and learning, and what takes place inside of the classroom.
It is always a pleasure to think about and discuss our craft and we were fortunate enough to have an outstanding keynote speaker to lead the session, Dr Carl Hendrick, a leading authority on educational research who has written three books devoted to the subject. It was inspiring to hear his thoughts on how to develop our skills and methodology in the classroom to ensure the best student outcomes. This was followed up by four excellent workshops where our Heads of Faculties took the lead; it has begun many conversations which in turn will become part of the teaching and learning fabric at Saint Felix with the sole aim to ensure that your sons and daughters receive the best possible provision, which will in turn lead to strong outcomes.
For our Year 11 students, term starts at full pace with mock examinations having commenced. They have approached this with resilience and fortitude and as we enter into the business end of the academic year, we wish them and our Year 13 students all the very best as they ratchet up their preparations for the final examinations in the summer. In our assembly on Monday, I told a personal story about missed opportunities. As a new year commences, as well as looking forward, it is also important to reflect. The message behind the story therefore was to try and mitigate looking back with regrets. I urged them all to seize the moment and make the most of the wonderful array of opportunities that are available to them; I am sure that will resonate with you, and I hope it did with them as well! There are always many highlights in the Spring Term, but I know that we are all looking forward already to the Senior Department Production, Footloose. Please see the attached poster and book your tickets early to avoid disappointment. It promises to be another evening of joy, fantastic music, and superb performances all-round.
In other news, it was wonderful to hear about the success that Cody H had over the holiday period where he won the Norfolk Under 13 Cross-Country Championship despite being a year younger than the majority of participants. Not only did he win, but he won by almost thirty seconds. What an achievement! As a result of this victory, he will be competing for Norfolk in the London Mini-Marathon Championships in April against all of the County winners; we wish him all the very best. In addition, his younger brother, Charlie H, also competed in the Under 11 Competition and finished a highly commendable sixth, again being a year young.
I would like to finish this week by wishing each and everyone of you a Happy New Year. I hope that 2025 is a stellar year for your sons and daughters as we continue to broaden the provision at Saint Felix and strive for excellence in all that we do.
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Oakman
Head
