Welcome to students

Today we commence 2023 with great optimism for you our students as we have moved on from the COVID crisis that has been with us for the past three years. In all of your schools, COVID has had an impact on your schooling experience so it is with great hope that our assemblies and gatherings as a school community can return to normal and be a part of our everyday life in building a safe and inclusive community. 

We welcome new Year 11 students from over 30 schools, in addition to students in Year 12 who join us for the first time. You have made a choice to attend Sevenoaks as you believe it will be best for your education, and what a good choice you have made.  For our Year 11 students you will find that the time with us will go very quickly, just ask our Year 12 students who sat here this time last year, commencing their journey with us. We also have over 60 different languages spoken at home, so our culture is diverse which makes Sevenoaks unique.

Two major features of Sevenoaks are Find Your Future and a Young Adult Ethos. All of you will have different courses suited to your future career pathway. There are many courses and we hope that you will thrive in your chosen pathway.  We also operate with a Young Adult Ethos which is about mutual respect between staff and students. It is important for us that we work with you as you progress through Sevenoaks so that when you leave us, you do so as young adult, capable of making good decisions about yourself and your future. 

Our CARE values are the key component to how we operate in our young adult environment. We show Compassion to others; we are Accountable for our decisions and actions and our learning; we demonstrate Respect to each other in all of our interactions, whilst also demonstrating respect for our environment; and finally, we pursue Excellence by being the best that we can be.

So, I urge you to strive to do the best that you can for yourself, that you be the best version of yourself that you can be so that you can have the success that you deserve. To do this you must aim to be here over 90% of the time. We will support you to achieve your goals, but you also need to make the commitment to yourself and your learning.

I want you to be the unique individual that you are, I want you to feel a sense of belonging to Sevenoaks as you become the young adult that you aspire to be – the best version of yourself. 

Good luck for 2023.

Dr Karen Read

Principal

Sevenoaks Senior College