It was an instant start to the school year as we were in Hitchin Girls' School straight away at the beginning of term this year helping lead some Introduction days for year 12 students and then year 13 the following day.

With year 12 it was all about them getting to know each other, build relationships and helping them think about what they want to get out of their time in 6th form as the new year 12's. This was especially important as there were about 30 new students from who had not previously attended Hitchin Girls' School.

We led a mix of activities that involved them working as a team including building a mascot, a treasure hunt and a lego challenge. We then gave all the students some time to do a bit of dreaming about what they want to get out of the next 2 years

Some year 13's who were helping out on the day were heard discussing how they wished they had something similar when they started year 12 last year.

Next it was the turn of the year 13's. We delivered two sessions for the year 13 students. One session was using a prayer activity called Open, designed by an organisation called Dare2Engage. This consisted of them listening to different meditations on an iPod while opening different bags with objects in that related to the meditations.

In the other session we were thinking about what they wanted to get out of year 13. The students were coming back from their summer holidays having found out their AS results that left some delighted, some feeling OK and some very disappointed. This was the perfect time for each student to do a bit of reflecting but importantly to look ahead and set some new goals. This was a really positive activity to do with year 13, one student commented 'I wasn't really sure what I was coming back to this year so it has been great to spend this time thinking about the year ahead'.

The head of 6th form Tina Stojko e-mailed following the two days to thank us and wrote:
'Today was a busy but great day. I had the feeling the students really enjoyed themselves. Talking to a number of my new students they felt they really got to know some faces and it helped break the ice for them.'