Last Friday we were very excited to welcome almost 90 Year 6 pupils for a Young Leaders’ Day.
We invited all the girls who have registered for the entrance examination in January in the hope that they would come along, develop some teamwork and leadership skills, but most importantly establish some friendships so that when the examination day comes, they are more relaxed and confident. Lots of the girls told me afterwards that they had made many new friends, something which is so valuable when moving up into a new school.
The girls arrived and soon the Hall was completely filled with chatter and laughter. After a few party games (very popular as ever), we split off into groups for the tasks to begin. They included: working together to create a domino masterpiece, which we then knocked down in a spectacular rally; creating a structure out of sticks that was strong enough to hold pipes and run a marble through and, my favourite, Space Ball, a blindfolded game that involved working together to follow the instructions of the team leader to manoeuvre balls into a basket. The sense of achievement and camaraderie when my group got their balls in was brilliant! Patience, communication and resilience were all tested throughout the day. The day ended with a fantastic finale – a Crystal Maze dome! One girl from each group stood inside an inflatable booth and tried to catch falling money (the money was not real, much to their disappointment), with much encouragement and cheering from teammates.
The girls were terrific company on the day, I really enjoyed getting to know them and it was lovely to see some of them again, having met them before on Busy Bees and at Open Afternoons. I remember my entrance examination; the past seven years have flown by and when I see the excitement on the faces of the Year 6s I am reminded just how fortunate I am to have spent these years at Farnborough Hill, and wish the girls the best of luck for this next chapter in their education.
Izzy A, Year 13