News & Headteacher Blogs

Dear Year 7,

I don’t know about you, but I look back at our first day together fondly.  I remember greeting you as you poured off the buses with blazers that were a little bit too long, school shoes that rubbed after having a summer wearing flip flops and shaky smiles plastered upon your faces.  I think we all completed our 10,000 daily steps by lunchtime after extensive orientations led by our tutors and two practice fire drills!  As I write this drinking coffee in the Heads of Year office listening to your chatter filtering in from the Year 7 area, it seems as if you have been part of The Downs School forever. 

Miss Wright (Assistant Head of Year 7) and I were overwhelmed with the large number of you who interviewed for the position of School Council Representatives and were blown aware by the maturity of your responses.  If we could have appointed you all, we would have.  Congratulations again to Amy K, Hadeed Y, Jonathan P and Jazmine K.

Your enthusiasm to join in and dress as Where’s Wally on the sponsored walk was unrivalled by other year groups; the photo being printed in the local paper and a copy proudly displayed in our reception and our school website.  I also have a copy of it in the HOY office along with your tutor group photographs and they always make me smile, on tough days I look at them and chant “they’re lovely, really they are!”

Spooky disco was a huge success and we all owe Mrs Segre a big thank you for her organisational skills and who knew that she was such a disco diva?! Thanks to Max Voltage and crew who did a superb job DJing and kept us all on the dance floor – well done boys!  Thank you to all of you who attended and made it a great end to our first term.  I knew it would bee a great night .  (You had to bee there to get that!).

You threw yourselves into your first PDP day designing logo’s, motto’s and a children’s toy for Meijboom Airlines.  I felt very proud watching the presentations led by the finalists in the Hall and was in awe of how much confidence you all have. 

You’ve survived your first House matches and, more or less, come through unscathed and triumphant.  You’ve had your first taste of House Music and it’s obvious there’s an abundance of talent among you.  Although I am Head of Perborough, and therefore always slightly biased, I was bursting with pride seeing you all perform and cannot wait to see you on stage again in the House Drama competition in July! You may also have participated in the praise postcard competition, attended your first praise assembly, collected 100’s of house points and helped out at the Xmas Fair.  You have definitely packed in a lot.

Along the way you have attempted to teach me a few things and I am very sorry to say that, despite practicing in the HOY office on repeated occasions, I cannot mimic that infamous tik tok move and it has become obvious, sadly, that flossing is a skill that I am never going to possess!

We owe a big thank you to all of your wonderful tutors (Mr Ball, Dr Brown, Mrs Duffy, Mr Evans, Mr Gunputhrum, Miss Jaqaar, Miss Wright), our vivacious Deputy Head of Year (Mrs Holbrook) and our fantastic Student Support Manager (Mrs Jones), who have not only helped you smoothly transition into life here, but have printed new timetables for you when yours have been washed in blazer pockets, dried tears when friendships have become overwhelming, shared a biscuit (or two!) at the meet the tutor afternoon and provided IT support for logins to smhw, school email, my maths and grofar to name a few!  I know that they have enjoyed getting to know you and, along with me, are looking forward to welcoming you back in 2020.

May you and your families have a wonderful Christmas.  Know that a good Christmas is not measured by how many presents you receive, but by the magical memories that we make with our loved ones.  These are the things we treasure the most in years to come.  Saying that, I hope that Father Christmas is good to you all and please know, after careful thought and deliberation, I have decided not to put any of you on the naughty list so you’ve nothing to worry about!

Merry Christmas and best wishes,

Mrs Meijboom

Head of Year 7