Dear Parent / Carer

As always, it was a pleasure to welcome the students back after the half term break and ask them all about the experiences and activities they undertook whilst off school.

I led the assemblies for all year groups which centred on the themes of bravery and motivation. The assembly started with asking students to volunteer for a challenge without sharing any information about what the challenge entailed. It was amazing to see so many students who were brave enough to volunteer and then undertake the blindfolded physical challenge in front of all of their peers. I then went on to talk about different types of bravery such as social, moral and physical bravery and encouraged students to reflect on times where they have stepped out of their comfort zone. The assembly finished with a story from Daniel Pink’s book Drive which explained why internal motivation is much more important than undertaking challenges on the promise of external rewards.  

Our Year 7 students all took part in a character workshop where they were taken through a series of dramatic scenarios before being given the chance to explore the different components of character and reflect on who they want to become in the future. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive from all students.

On Thursday evening, we welcomed a number of parents and carers into school to watch our Year 10s perform both DNA and 45 Minutes. It was a chance for you all to once again see how talented our students are whilst also seeing just how much work has been undertaken by our students in order to deliver such incredible performances. Thank you to the performing arts team and to all students involved for the dedication and hardwork that went into making the performance a reality. 

As you are all aware, Mr Firth has been appointed as my successor and so I will be leaving Rushden on the 28th June to take up my new post from Monday 1st July. Mr Firth will therefore start his role as Principal from Monday 1st July. 

Finally, it was an absolute pleasure to award Rex from Year 7 with his silver tie after completing all the silver badge challenges in the Rushden STARR award. Rex is the first Year 7 to achieve this and it reflects a huge amount of dedication to his own personal development - well done, Rex!  

Have a lovely weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Baines

Principal