Another Fantastic Open Evening!
On Wednesday 2 July we invited over 700 young people and their families to explore Sheldon at our annual Open Evening. This event showcases all of the academic and extracurricular opportunities available to Sheldon students. We've been very lucky over the last few years to have beautiful weather during our Open Evening, allowing us to make full use of our green campus with live music from our Brass and Flute Groups outside our Arts Block, Lino Printing on the Quad and our explosive Live Science Show on the lawn outside our Science Block.
As families arrived, young people were given a passport to stamp as they tried different activities around the school. Many headed directly to the School Hall to hear Headteacher, Pete Lynch, introduce the school ethos and values. He was joined by newly our appointed Sixth Form Presidents and Head Students, as well as two representatives from our current Year 7 students to speak about their experiences at Sheldon. It's fair to say that it's the enrichment activities for new Year 7 students at Sheldon that were the highlight for many--including Camp, the Science Fair, Young Musician of the Year Awards and the Christmas Market trip to Birmingham! Our older students also highlighted the strong pastoral system at Sheldon that helped them to feel valued and supported as they made their way through the school.
Throughout the evening, students and staff were on hand to speak with families about what it is like to study at Sheldon. Each faculty area had fun activities set up to demonstrate what you'll learn and to show off our specialist facilities. We had lots of hands-on science demonstrations, aided by or Science Ambassadors. Sixth Form Computer Science students helped show curious minds how to programme our fleet of robots and Food Preparation & Nutrition students made handmade pasta with visiting families.
In our Maths Block, families could try out games from our puzzle club or compete against each other in a fun math quiz challenge we often use in classes. Our Sports Hall and Gym were packed with young people trying out some of the many sports we offer as part of lessons and after school clubs, while our dancers rehearsed for their upcoming Disneyland Paris performance in the Dance Studio.
In the Humanities Corridor, history students put on a puppet show and our geography faculty helped visitors plot their homes on a map of Chippenham. Our English faculty created Shakspearian love potions, while PRSE students worked on designing a huge, colourful mandala. Up in the Drama studio, we had a mask workshop and a chance to try on costumes from recent productions.
In the Refectory, families could try samples of the delicious hot dishes, wraps and deserts served up by our catering team. They could also speak to students from Year 9 and 10 who recently completed the Ten Tors Challenge and their Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions. We have a strong tradition of participating in these events at Sheldon with an expert support team on hand to help prepare young people for the adventure.
We hope that everyone enjoyed their visit and that we will see you all back in our halls when your start Year 7. It makes us very proud to see the school full of young people discovering all the possibilities waiting for them in secondary school! What makes Sheldon a truly special school is our community and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone from our community who gave up their time to organise the evening, especially our Year 7 helpers, Prefects and Sixth Form students.