News & Events

As the weather improves and we all enjoy the warmer, drier days and lighter evenings, there is always a ‘feel good’ factor associated with the summer months.  Building towards the celebration events during June and July and the summer break beyond; it is an exciting and exhilarating time of year for all. 

For our younger years they have fabulous performances to look forward to, engaging trips and visits within the UK and abroad. Please spare a thought for our older students though... the summer GCSE and A-level exams can be an incredibly worrying and anxious time with the pressure of 12 to 14 years of formal education culminating in a single examination series. As students await their results with excitement and trepidation in mid to late August, this particular summer will perhaps be a slightly different experience than previous ones.

Whether the summer is your favourite time of year, or you are feeling stressed about the pressure of workload or forthcoming examinations, it is an important time to reflect on the culmination of a year’s progress and achievements. Taking thinking time to sit and consider in a really positive way the journey from last September to this year is an important process. Within this, we can all identify our personal goals, successes and achievements. We can also use it as an opportunity to consider what we could do more of, or do differently in the future.

An area I would very much like to touch on relates to making a difference to yourself and others. In a hectic, modern, fast-paced world of continuous change and rapid development, recognizing when to take the foot off the accelerator and spend time and energy ensuring you are okay is so important. This might be something as simple as ‘chunking’ up your revision time and ensuring you have productive, re-energising breaks and experiences, within your revision schedule.  I hesitate slightly to say this, but more is not always better where revision is concerned. Ensuring your time is spent really well, in a focused and highly effective way, is much more important than endless hours of continuous revision. It could also be ensuring you spend time with family or friends, engaged in special times and memorable experiences. 

For our younger students, taking time for yourself and remembering how brilliant they actually are would be a great start!  A happy, engaged and confident student will learn so much more and far more quickly than a worried, anxious learner. I am so incredibly proud of all our students at Sherfield and whilst growing up is sometimes a challenging experience, we are here to support and guide them.  Again, taking a moment to consider how much they’ve grown, matured and succeeded this year, will no doubt bring back some wonderful memories.

I mentioned making a difference to others and this is equally important. Taking the time to be kind, supportive and generous with your time is so rewarding and will have such an impact on others. With perhaps more than a thousand conversations or interactions every day, the positivity of those experiences has a direct impact on the wellbeing. This can be accentuated through social media connections as well, so ensuring a mature, sensible and supportive approach to discussions and conversations, either in person or via social media platforms, is always necessary and should be encouraged.

So, as we enter our final term of the year, we will be discussing building positive relationships with our students and encouraging them to take ownership of their experiences, celebrate the diversity of our wonderful population and be supportive of each other.  The more positive interactions we can all have, the better we will feel and the more productive we will be in every area of life.

Kind regards,

Nick Brain

Executive Head