Look below and you will see some marvellous photos of our Year 11 students using our giant trampoline this week. Aside from the fact that trampolining is so very good for fitness, agility and creative thinking (because you land differently every time!), it also serves as an appropriate metaphor for jumping into Year 11. You bounce and leap into the air, never really knowing just how you will land. It is a leap of faith. The braver the bounce, the higher you reach, but the greater the drop…

And yet a high leap will always give you a bigger bounce next time. And bounce-back-ability is what resilience is all about, really. Our Year 11s, just like last year’s students – and our new Year 13s! – will need to aim high this year, safe in the knowledge that every effort they put in right now will place them higher and help them to bounce back better whenever they have a fall. Aiming high requires courage – and self-worth too, because none of us like to aim for something that we believe we have no chance of reaching. As Henry Ford said, whether we think we can, or we think we can’t, we are probably right. (So we might as well believe we can). Self-belief is an essential ingredient for reaching our potential.

This is why we never miss an opportunity at HSW to help our students feel even better about themselves. I know that aiming high carries its risks, but it is oh so worth it! Let’s all commit to reaching up as high as we can this year; who knows where we’ll land.

Have a great weekend all.

Yours,
Andrew Hammond
Head