Influenced by the excitement of the World Cycling Championships this week, Mr Grierson’s assemblies have had a similar theme, looking at the success of people from the past such as Sir Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy and Graeme Obree. Yes, I know, who? Apparently he broke the world hour record in July 1993 and April 1994 but is perhaps best known for the Old Faithful bicycle he built which included parts from a washing machine. What did they all have in common? Yes, you guessed it, the secret to their success was commitment, dedication, hard work and training.

Talking of such things, now that Year 7 have completed two cycles of their timetable, I thought I’d pop into a few lessons to see what they’ve been learning. Starting in Art, I saw students developing their self-portraits, mastering the skill of portrait proportion. In comparison to two weeks ago, when their work was beginning to take shape, portraits were now fully recognisable. The finishing touch is for them to add a facial expression to show how they felt in their first week at BHS. You’ll be pleased to know that many smiles were on display. Up in Science, the focus was Atoms, Elements and Compounds with students counting up to 20 in elements before singing the Elements Song to consolidate their learning. If you’d like to sing along at home, you can find it on YouTube. Over the corridor, in History, students were exploring Anglo-Saxon Britain examining areas such as place names, food and jobs before comparing it to life in Roman Britain. A couple of classrooms away, in RE, students were working in groups to identify people responsible for acts of atrocity. Much discussion was taking place.

Appearing in a Science lab soon will be the Safety Posters designed and developed by Year 7 over the Summer holidays following their Induction days in July. Judging has now taken place and our congratulations go to Niamh H for this fantastic poster.

Staff and Sixth Form students were raising money for Macmillan this morning by taking part in the World’s Biggest Coffee morning.  I’ll let you know how much we raised next week.

Enjoy the cycling and have a lovely weekend.