From The Principal #202
9th February 24
Dear Parents and Guardians,
The final week of this half term feels to have come around so quickly as the college has been buzzing with activity and opportunities for students.
This week we were privileged to have Rhys Chant, a district councillor in Chichester, speak to all of our students as part of Democracy Week. Rhys shared their thoughts on the importance of young voters and the positive impact politics can have. This was followed up by discussions in PSHE and Careers lessons, where students were able to discover their own thoughts and views on voting.
Another focus this week was National Apprenticeship Week. Apprenticeships are evolving and now offer possibilities for newer as well as more traditional industries. DLD’s atrium was full of conversation as students were invited to learn more about alternative opportunities after their time at school.
DLD has also been pleased to start our Wellbeing Workshop programme that runs after school until June, as spearheaded by Emma Finnerty. I was honoured to launch this programme with the first session on Monday on Study Skills and Exam Preparation. Students discovered the neuroscientific processes that determine learning in our brain, and were able to try out different methods of revising actively, avoiding passive processes. Further sessions in the programme include The Importance of Values with our Principal Irfan Latif, Healthy Eating, Stress, Academic Anxiety and The Importance of Co-curricular Activities. We look forward to hearing about students’ experiences of those sessions.
This week DLD also hosted visitors from the Middle East region who were particularly impressed with the maturity and enthusiasm of our students. We continue to be immensely proud of them all.
The half term holiday next week gives students an opportunity to take stock and reflect on their academic journey so far. We encourage parents, guardians and students to have lots of conversations around their future goals as aspirations. For students in Years 9 and 11, this is a period to come to decisions about their next steps. Parents will have received a letter from the school which contains a link to a form in which to indicate the preference of courses for next academic year. DLD is here to support in those decisions and we are more than happy to have further conversations on request.
Kind regards,
Dr Sarah Watson
Vice Principal (Academic)
