Principal’s Welcome
20/06/2025
Dear Westholme Family,
Transition has been the name of the game at Westholme this week!
For me, there are four great transitions during a child’s education and all four were in action in recent days.
The final transition is from school to university, degree apprenticeships or the world of work. University Open Day season is in full flow, and our Year 12s are making the most of the opportunities. On a personal level, that meant a visit to Leeds last Saturday and a trip to York tomorrow. How is this happening? I’m not old enough to have a child at university in 15 months’ time! I’m not psychologically prepared yet for my little girl to leave home!
The first transition – which still feels like only yesterday for me – is into Reception and it was a pleasure to see our twenty new children enjoying their day together with Miss Hawkins on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to my weekly reading session with them starting in September. Bring on Julia Donaldson and the funny voices!
All Prep year groups “stepped up” that same day. The most significant, of course, was for those Year 6 pupils who become Year 7 students in September. Many thanks to Mrs Moore and Mrs Gough for putting together a day of discovery that marks the start of new friendships and, perhaps most significantly, new independence for our children. I look forward to speaking to their parents again in September on the topic of parenting adolescents!
The other big transition is between Year 11 and the Sixth Form, and our induction day is in full swing as I type. In some ways, this is the most underestimated transition because, in reality, the increase in academic expectations from GCSE to A Levels is more demanding than the change between any other year groups. As I always say, though, the Sixth Form always brings the best days of any school career, with students now in full control of their subject choices, co-curricular development and future choices.
Transition, in a totally different sense, will always make or break any sporting relay event. We could have the four fastest runners or swimmers in the world, but if the handover breaks down, the team can’t succeed. As you’ll read in this edition of Westholme Weekly, we had a major success at the national schools’ swimming championships in Sheffield last Saturday, with our Under 11 medley relay team finishing third out of all schools in the UK. A major congratulations to the children involved, but also to Mr Barnett and Mr Thompson for their expert coaching and mentoring.
On that note, there was a really interesting piece by Sir Gareth Southgate in The Observer last week. Don’t let the headline put you off if you have daughters; the article contains thought-provoking ideas on how we develop young people in the 21st century. You can find the article here: Gareth Southgate on the importance of male mentorship
Wishing you all a very pleasant weekend,
Paul Taylor
Principal
