To kick off Fyling Hall’s reinvigorated Sixth Form, all Sixth Formers took part in a two day “bonding” trip, accompanied by Headmaster, Mr Allen, Mr Mayne and myself. The purpose of our two days was to have time away from lessons to get to know our new students, from other schools and abroad, and to integrate them into the Sixth Form and encourage them to see themselves as part of a team. Based at the Youth Hostel in York, take a look at our mixture of activities . . . including our visit to Help for Heroes . . .

The following are a few quotes from the students . . .

‘I enjoyed mixing with people I would not normally spend time with in an out of school environment’

‘The escape room really helped our teamwork’

It was enjoyable, and I had fun working with new people and going to Maccies!’

‘It pushed me out of my comfort zone and it was better than I thought it would be.’

‘It was a lovely welcome, not to be in school but to do something together’- from a new student.

From the ‘Games Master’ at the escape room ‘ they are the best group of students we have had because they all got involved’

My particular highlight was the meal at the Korean restaurant where we all had to cook our own food on the table grill using metal chopsticks. Some of us would have starved without Manfred’s skill with the chopsticks! The real low point was listening to Mr Mayne gloat over the cricket.

Did the trip achieve its aims? It certainly provided the students with time to socialise and work with each other and for me, I had the opportunity to talk to the new students and those I had not taught before. I found out about their likes, interests and hopes for their time in school and the future. I saw so many examples of students working together from the escape room to the team building activities, watch out for Lydia she is very fast! There was a lot of laughter particularly when the ‘bat’, Kian launched himself at the ‘moth’ Perdi and sent her flying to the ground. I hope the trip, with a few tweaks and improvements, will become a yearly event. I strongly believe that a happy and supportive Sixth Form is a successful one. On the evidence of this trip I think we can look forward to some excellent results.

Ms Jane Mitchel

Head of Sixth Form