WEEK 19 - Friday 31 January 2025
“It’s a bit like being on The Apprentice, sir. You know that episode where they get destroyed by an interviewer from Hell! Well maybe it wasn’t quite that bad,” so said one of our Year 11 students yesterday when I asked him how his ‘mock’ interview had gone.
The Year 11 Mock Interview Day has been a feature of our calendar for as long as I have worked at Hessle. and it has always proved popular and daunting in equal measure. This year, we spread it over two days with students coming out of their lessons to be interviewed and then to receive feedback. This slimmed down model helped us to keep the school fully open for all other year groups, which is the main difference to previous years.
Thanks to the support and participation of 40+ employers from 30+ business organisations who all volunteered their time over the past two days, we were able to give 230 students a genuine interview experience. Of these, 48 of them were appointed to the ‘jobs’ which ranged from physiotherapist to teacher to RAF mechanic.
The experience is terrific for the young people who further realise what the real world is about and the importance of having a narrative by which to promote your skills and attributes to employers.
My thanks to all the volunteers as well as the staff that organised it, but particularly to the students who, as ever, never fail to impress with their maturity and singular determination to rise to the occasion.
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As I have written before in this blog, next week is our lunch trial whereby we will be adding an additional year group to our early lunch to explore how we can manage the extra demand on the canteen and social space. The trial will last a week and, whilst we are confident that we can support all students, there may be some teething problems at the start (it is a trial, after all). We will ensure that all students have plenty of time to get their food and to eat it but please bear with us. The long-term goal is a better lunch experience for all students.
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There are some aspects of school life that always raise a smile and yet are so everyday that they can often be overlooked. Last term, I was asked to judge the Year 7 Cell Making competition in Science which involved examining dozens and dozens of pieces of student work to determine which one was most creative but also showed the best degree of learning about cells. I was delighted to choose Beth Mullen’s piece of work which was a vivid red orb showing a cross section of a cell – very impressive and the result of hours of hard work.
This term, I have seen students coming and going to school carrying models of castles that they have made. This is an activity that Year 7 students do in History and forms part of their homework programme whilst seeking to answer the Big Question of 'How did William keep control of England after he became King?’
It is great to see students proudly carrying in their models (some of them almost bigger than they are, but all of them showing evidence of many hours of planning and design). It always puts a smile on my face to see it – just an unsung activity that engages students in deep learning.
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This weekend, for the first time in a long time, my wife and I are getting away for the weekend with a trip to Oulton Hall near Rothwell. The children will be at home with Grandma, although my son will be at the Hull City game tomorrow afternoon, playing football on Sunday morning and starts cricket nets on Sunday afternoon.
I also hope to start running again after barely getting outside for the past four weeks due to the weather and an irritating cold that I haven’t been able to shake. As February begins, I’ve convinced myself now it is Spring and so I shall look forward to a run in the sun in the morning (I can but hope).
Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your support.
Mr Groak
Headteacher