Forest Hill School’s five day summer school took place from Monday 9 to Friday 13 August 2021 and 174 Year 6 students were invited to attend.

The aims of the summer school included:

• supporting students with the transition to secondary school
• familiarisation with the school buildings, routines and senior staff
• team building and getting to know other new pupils, the teachers and pastoral staff
• opportunities to participate in both academic and fun activities
• parental engagement and relationship building through a family barbecue at the end of the week

The number of students attending each day varied between 79 and 96. Each day began with a short welcome ‘assembly’ by the Headteacher, Deputies and Assistant Headteachers.

Students were allocated to one of five teams, named after the school values: Aspire, Ambition, Rigour, Partnership and Community. Teams were then put into smaller groups with a high staff: student ratio.

The week kicked off with team building on Monday. Hands-on and interactive lessons in drama, art, cooking, photography, dance, music, design technology, basketball and football took place throughout the rest of the week. On Thursday, the boys met Chris Bradford, author of the Samurai Warrior and were given a copy of his book to read during the holidays.

The week ended with a hugely successful family barbecue and circus skills workshop attended by over 250 family members.

An end-of-week survey was sent out to all families and 35 families responses received, with answers and comments clearly showing that the boys were feeling confident about starting school in September and that all boys had benefitted from attending the summer school.

The school applied for a summer school grant of £35,686 which was spent on:

• Staffing £24,353.00
• Activities £ 2,630.00
• Resources £ 3,204.00
• Catering £ 5,499.00