The River Thames outside DLD College London

From The Principal #150

27th May 22

James Kidd, Senior Vice Principal (Pastoral)

As the end of the penultimate half term of the academic year falls upon us, the College has seen fervent activity, as revision for public examinations and the final internal assessments of the year is the order of the day. Having had very few public examinations for the last few years, it is nice to see the students back into some sense of normality, albeit with hopefully not too much stress along the way!

Away from the examinations, we had an opportunity to reflect and celebrate Year 12’s academic achievement, with Dr Sarah Watson, Vice Principal (Academic), leading the ceremony. In just a few short weeks, it will be the turn of our Year 13 and 14 students who will have their graduation ceremony at Portcullis House at the UK Parliament; please do reply to the email that has come your way regarding booking tickets – deadline for booking is Tuesday 31 May next week.

Celebrations aside, a highlight this week has been my fortnightly meeting with the Heads of School; it was excellent to hear of the plans for the new Student Council, half a term into their leadership – we look forward to seeing more from them as the year progresses. Leadership is a pillar of all that we do, and these young people embody it so well.

On the food front, I hope you have heard lots of positive things about our new catering provision, with menus being tweaked based on student and staff feedback and a real buzz as the menu is released: this week saw a sushi pop up and a cheesecake bar, amongst other things!

Finally, as I explained to the students at the start of this week, after half term they can look forward to a mix of lessons, assessments, careers, universities and enrichment. The period will see them meeting individually with teachers to look at progress ahead of the next academic year, so there is a lot going on right up to the end of the academic year…I, for one, can’t wait!

Have a restful half term break.

James Kidd
Vice Principal (Pastoral)