Like us Follow us @SWPSOfficial Subscribe Please submit any content for Sir William Perkins’s School to [email protected] Content is used at the School’s discretion Visit us SWPS News 3 March 2017 Head’s News I have recently been reading a book on the teenage brain. Unsurprisingly to any parent, the changes that occur within the evolving adolescent brain are both dramatic and disorientating. The changes reflect their personality and often provide emotional responses to events and issues that are contradictory and unexpected. What can seem too much for the young person to bear and cope with on one day is met with small regard the next. Large traumatic events can be managed with remarkable equanimity, whilst a small insignificant affair can seem like the end of the world. We all know that hormones are racing in all teenagers and in this biological context teenagers seek to assert their independence and identity. The ups and downs that all teenagers suffer and enjoy are part of this change within their brains. Scientists who study the brain have shown, through brain imaging, that teenage brains function differently from the adult brain. Young people, for example, are more prone to take risks than we adults. That is why as we get older the thought of riding a roller coaster become less attractive! There are, of course, many other reasons. Fortunately, throughout adolescence, young people learn greater self-control so that they are able to think through the consequences of actions with greater insight and clarity. A parent of two teenagers, this is good news for everyone. C Muller Head 7Q Lunchtime Concert A huge congratulations to 7Q who performed so bravely and beautifully in their lunchtime concert yesterday. It was so lovely to hear such variety of repertoire and it was an absolute delight to see the fantastic costumes as well. The music department would also like to thank Music Scholar Catherine Abela for serving refreshments and the fantastic audience for coming along to support them. P Tham Admissions If you are the parent of a current student whose sibling has been offered a place for Year 7 September 2017 entry, and your intention is to accept the place, please remember that the deadline for receipt of completed paperwork and payment of the deposit, which must be received together in order to confirm the place, is Tuesday 7 March. If you have any queries, please contact the Admissions department. #WBD2017 On Thursday 2 March, SWPS staff and students rose to the annual World Book Day fancy dress challenge with the expected levels of enthusiasm and, to be honest, madness. The younger years, in particular, showcased an array of literary characters from Katniss Everdeen to the Mad Hatter; from Things 1 and 2 to Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children. The staff were equally inventive, exhibiting a spectrum from the dapper to the ridiculous, and many have submitted their home ‘shelfies’ to Mrs Malcolm in the library for students to guess who owns them and, possibly, judge us for our methods of organisation and literary selections! Whilst this is all daft fun, this now twenty year old UNESCO event is celebrated in over one hundred countries; it throws a spotlight on the joys and importance of both literacy and reading, both of which SWPS wholeheartedly supports. Happy reading! T Hanley