This week, I would like to pay tribute to our Year 11 and 13 students who have braved the storm of announcements and MCOs and braced themselves against the changing tides of examination arrangements to continue their studies and work towards their final assessment points.
Our Year 13 students have now almost completed their final internal assessments and external Cambridge examinations. They are in receipt of a wealth of university offers and we couldn’t be prouder of how they have managed to navigate their final year at Alice Smith in this of all years.
Our Year 11 students have equally risen to the challenge of adapting to the new landscape of (I)GCSE assessment this year.
They have provided gentle support to each other and it has been a pleasure to see them approach their final assessments and Cambridge examinations with such stoicism and maturity. To all of you who are parents of or who know Year 11 or Year 13 students, feel free to remind them how amazing they are and how much they have achieved this year.
Anti-Social Media
Also this week, Gavin Lazaro, our Vice Principal for Community and Operations, shares his thoughts on the Social Media Parent Workshop that took place this week:
Love it or loathe it, use it or shun it, social media is an integral part of today’s hectic life. And in some ways, it’s even more important to us when we are living what currently feels like very fractured lives with rather limited opportunities for socialising with others.
Though there are undoubted benefits, there are potentially some significant drawbacks which can be exacerbated when teenagers use it.
To this end earlier this week, Amanda Coates (Head of Year 11) and I led a parent workshop (online, of course!) to help parents learn more about where students are at with their use of social media and how we can best support them.
We had nearly 30 EP families attend and the reasons for attending highlighted a few common themes:
- what students are using
- how we can manage the amount of time children spend on social media
- how can we support them to use it in a positive way
Parents were guided through a series of scenarios and you can find their thoughts here.
For those of you who weren’t able to join us and are interested in this topic, please take a look at the following resources which should give you a better understanding of the challenges as well as some solutions.
- Hottest Social App Trends for Teens
- 17 Apps and Websites Kids Are Heading to After Facebook
- Social media and teenagers
- How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers
- Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018
- Adults 'should help tackle' social media effect on teens
- Is social media bad for you? The evidence and the unknowns
- 10 Apps That Block Distractions
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,
Maria Osowiecki
Secondary Principal