On Tuesday 18th June we were delighted to welcome in our new Year 7 cohort for September 2024, to get an idea of what life is like here at Wakefield Girls’. The main aim of the day was to acclimate the students and help them to feel comfortable in their new school environment and meet their new peers who will be in their year group. 

The day started with several ‘ice breaker activities’, before a formal introduction by Head Ms HJ Boyes. Mrs K Lindley Head of Year 7, then gave a brief overview of the day and introduced what a ‘Head of Year’ does. Our new students were then joined by their new form tutors: Mr J Hargreaves, Mrs S Heptinstall and Mrs K Robinson, who are all very experienced Year 7 form tutors. 

Next, they went to the Quad to meet Blakey House Leader Mrs R Besford, who explained the House system and introduced the four school houses: Blakey, Clayton, Lee and Mackie. One of the most exciting parts of the day was the ‘House sorting ceremony’ where they were organised into one of our four Houses and met their fellow House members. 

At lunchtime our new students were joined by their ‘buddy’ (a current Year 7 student who will be in Year 8 next academic year). The ‘buddy’ role is an important part of the Year 7 experience, as they have several meetings throughout the year to ensure the new students are happy and settled in their new school. They provide informal advice and take on an ‘older sister’ role. 

They then discovered our dining hall called ‘Peppers’, where we had a Portuguese tapas theme day! After lunch they met Head Girl Ellie, Deputy Head Girl Alice and the Senior Prefect team, who explained some of the leadership opportunities available to them when they join Senior’s. These roles include: form prefect, charities leader, school council, members of committees, plus many more. They then played more fun games to get to know each other better, such as corners, ladders and human knots in the Quad.

Our Deputy Head teachers then joined students to introduce themselves and explain what they do: Mrs J Tingle, Deputy Head: Academic, Mr J Harris, Deputy Head: Pastoral, and Mr D Eggleston, Deputy Head: Teaching and Learning. 

We were delighted to welcome parents of our incoming Year 7 cohort into school at the end of the day, where they had the opportunity to speak to  form tutors, senior leadership team, and our senior prefect team. We hope all our new students enjoyed their day in the Senior section of Wakefield Girls’, and it has made them even more excited about joining us in September!

Mrs K Lindley 

Head of Year 7