D of E Expedition to Wales

By Mahdi, Year 12

On the 4 th of April my Duke of Edinburgh group, along with the Year 12 team, embarked on our Gold DofE practice expedition in Brecon Beacons, Wales. It was a 4-day long journey in which we covered a total distance of 46.6km (28.9 miles). The expedition was an exciting, memorable and exhilarating adventure.

The highlight of our trip happened on the first day, when our planned route took an unexpected turn, leading us into the middle of a dense forest filled with thorns and nettles. It was already getting dark, and things were tense for a while, but we stuck together and managed to navigate our way through and reach the other side. That day we didn’t reach the campsite till 10.30pm. Exhausted, but proud of ourselves.

The next day (Saturday) was a lot smoother than the day before. The views were incredible, and we followed a scenic trail passing by 3 lakes, which made for an enjoyable hike.

Sunday was arguably the most iconic day of the expedition. We hiked up Pen y Fan, the highest peak in South Wales sitting at 886m above sea level. The climb was a tiring one, especially with the heavy bags we were carrying, but the views at the top were worth it. We had lunch at the top as well – pasta – all while enjoying the panoramic views. The descent was also quite challenging due to the steep rocky surfaces and the sheer drops on both sides of the path. After completing the mountain section, we endured another 7.5km walk to reach the campsite which, fortunately, was the most comfortable of the trip.

The final day was arguably the easiest, since our route took us mostly through fields and farms, around the sheep, and we managed to complete the expedition successfully at around 2pm. The ride back to London was, ironically, the best bit about the whole trip, providing a much-needed rest after four days of intense hiking.

When preparing for our assessed expedition in July in the Lake District, there are a couple of things we could improve upon. Firstly, we could plan our breakfast meals better—particularly by incorporating more carbohydrates—this would help ensure we start each day with sufficient energy. Secondly, we could also get a bit more disciplined and leave the campsite slightly earlier, to help us manage our time more effectively. Lastly, it would be very useful if we took shorter breaks, since that would ensure that we got to our campsites earlier.

Overall, it was an extremely fun trip – one that we will always remember. I would like to express my gratitude, on behalf of the DofE group, to Miss Edwards for organising this fantastic opportunity for us. I would also like to thank Miss Nelson and Mr Fox-Bryne for giving up their time to accompany us on our trip and making it just that bit more memorable.

Sports Round-Up

Football:

We’ve had a fantastic year again with the girls football. Our Year 8 & 9 won most of their games but narrowly missed out on top of the league spot. Year 10 & 11 girls finished top of their league and went on to win the play off tournament against all other league winners to become BARNET CHAMPIONS for the 3rd year in a row!

Dance:

For the second year running we took a group of girls to perform at the Barnet Dance Festival. Everyone put in lots of hard work to make the dances look incredible. We got some amazing feedback from the event organiser and parents and we are already looking forward to next year’s event! 

Trampolining:

We took a small number of pupils to the Barnet trampolining competition this year where we achieved great success once again, taking home two gold medals. Evangeline came 1st in the Year 10 girls category and her brother, Matthew, came 1st in the Year 7 boys category! 

Netball:

Our Year 7 netball team had great success this year, with them winning their league pool! They have worked really hard to achieve this goal, coming along to training every week and improving their netball every match we played. As well as winning our netball league pool we also came 4th in the whole of Barnet! Congratulations Year 7 netball team.

Message From The Principal

This term has flown by and you will see from all of the events that have been celebrated on the website how packed it has been.

Some of the highlights have included numerous Futures visits related to different careers and apprenticeships. Our Year 12s have attended a UCAS event to start the process of thinking about their future step, while the Year 13s have enjoyed receiving offers from universities and are planning for the summer exams and what comes afterwards. The Year 11s are in the final stages of preparation for their GCSE exams and the T Level students have performed brilliantly in their Occupational Specialism assessments. These are grueling projects that are completed over a series of days and involve real-life work-related problems to solve based on everything they have studied throughout the course.

On the personal development side, events this term have included an author visit for World Book day, Year 9 pupils going out on Duke of Edinburgh bronze expeditions, while a Sixth Form group are on their gold expedition at the moment. We celebrated an Iftar together during Ramadan, our choir sang at The Royal Albert Hall, and all of Year 10 took part in a programme aimed at preparing young people for employment led by a partner charity ‘Leadership Through Sport and Business’, who were introduced to us by Saracens.

This Easter we are delighted that our first international visit is taking place, with 39 pupils and 5 staff heading to Italy for a week of skiing, and we are looking forward to more international visits to Spain and Germany in the next year.

We had another extremely successful Making Memories day where the feedback included the comment ‘it was the best day of my life,’ and I again received an email from a member of the public to say how our pupils are wonderful citizens while travelling on public transport. I receive one of these lovely emails most Making Memories days, and I am always so impressed that a person has taken the time to research the school and find an email address to write to. Clearly the pupils make a big impression to prompt someone to do that.

Earlier in the term we welcomed senior leaders from other schools to help us in a review of our school. Challenge Partners is an organisation that facilitates schools working together and learning from each other, and we were delighted with the experience of the three day review in our school, as well as five members of our SLT visiting other schools for three days. We were also proud to host a day at Saracens for other leaders, which was facilitated by Partners in Excellence (PiXL). Over 20 senior leaders from around the country visited us to see how we support pupil premium children to make exceptional progress.

We know the importance of attendance to school, and we are proud to have been in the top 7% in the country to this point, with Year 11 in the top 2%. We know that attendance to school is the biggest predictor of outcomes, so great attendance, along with living the values of discipline, hard work, honesty, and humility, will lead to great results in the summer.

Our Saracens partners have played in some big games recently and I was delighted to see so many families at the ‘takeover day’, the ‘women’s cup final’, and ‘the showdown game’ at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. With the women’s season completed, the focus now turns to the men’s final games of the season and the playoffs. Hopefully we will have more games to attend and celebrate.

This Easter break sees two members of staff moving on from Saracens to pastures new. Mrs Baptista has led Computer Science for the last two and a half years, helping to establish a fantastic curriculum and introducing the A Level and T Levels courses. We wish her well in her new role at a school in Enfield. Mr Sylvester has been Assistant Year Lead of Year 7 for the last 18 months and is now moving into a new job out of the education sector. We thank them both for their contributions to the Saracens community.

I hope you have a relaxing and safe holiday and look forward to welcoming everyone back on Wednesday 24 April for the first day of the summer term.

Sixth Form Notices

Year 12

28 April – 2 May: UCAS week (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service)

This will be an important week for Year 12 students. As well as workshops for students there will be an assembly for parents (details to follow). Students will be assigned mentors to help them successfully navigate university applications.

Year 13

Students need to mark Thursday 26th June in their diaries for our first ever leavers’ dinner (details to follow)!

Duke of Edinburgh Expedition

25 pupils from Year 9 successfully completed their Duke of Edinburgh overnight practice expedition in March, in preparation for their assessed expedition in June.

In 5 teams the children carried their own equipment in rucksacks as they navigated their way through woodlands and around lakes in Hertfordshire. The explorers cooked their dinner on camping stoves and camped overnight in tents.

We enjoyed beautiful sunshine during the day and did our best to stay warm overnight when the temperature dropped to 3 degrees.

Our explorers did brilliantly and we’re looking forward to their assessed expedition in June.

Year 11 Go Ape

The Year 11 pupils went to Go Ape on Wednesday 19th March.

It was a bright, sunny day as we made our way towards Alexandra Palace to tackle the treetop adventure that included three levels of sky-high ropes course and the adrenaline-fuelled zip wire. The pupils faced their fears, making their way across their chosen pathway with support from their Learning Coaches, peers and the Go Ape instructors.

Now they have shown they can overcome barriers, they are ready to take on the challenge of their GCSE exams next term.

FEAR: Face Everything And Rise! 

Circus Skills

The circus came to Saracens High School in April to spend the day teaching a whole host of skills to our Year 10 pupils.

Pupils watched an incredible performance before practicing a range of skills themselves: hula hooping; plate spinning; diablo; and juggling. Pupils also made their own juggling balls and balloon animals.

The day ended with a fun hula hoop competition where both boys and girls represented their learning groups in great spirits.
Learning skills like juggling requires a lot of focus and perseverance; two skills that stood the children in good stead for their mock exams and in future for their actual GCSEs exams.

Soapbox Challenge

Year 8 became entrepreneurs for a day when they completed the Soapbox Challenge.

In teams of 5-7, the pupils created a business plan, designed products, calculated profit margins and built an advertising campaign.

The products these bright minds invented were fantastic and the pupils presented their company to the whol year group with confidence and verve.

The winners were a group from Hill House with their Arabia based product.

Iftar

We were thrilled to host over 200 members of the community for our annual iftar.

Staff and pupils brought their families along to our family lunch style bring-and-share meal. We even had games and prizes.

The hall was beautifully decorated and we’re particularly grateful to the parents of the school who raised nearly £600 to buy and make delicious food. The clean up crew afterwards were exceptional, working together with real camaraderie to leave the school spotless.

We look forward to breaking fast together again in 2026.