Prefects and pizza help new UCS Sixth Form pupils to feel at home

The team of UCS Sixth Form prefects – known as ‘Monitors’ – have successfully organised a lunchtime social event to help the school’s new Year 12 joiners to feel at home at Frognal.

Dubbed ‘Sixth Form Social’, the welcome event was led by prefects Esther Meade and Evan Verpoest and offered the new students the chance to meet each other in a less formal context as part of a warm introduction to their new UCS community.

The organisers were pleased to report a high turnout in the Sixth Form Centre, with Esther and Evan commenting on how quickly new friendships were forged thanks to “the positivity and confidence with which the new joiners got stuck in and got to know their peers, those in the year above, as well as their Form Teachers”.

Despite an initial (perhaps understandable) focus on the lunchtime pizza, the conversation soon sparked and it became apparent that the Sixth Form of 2023–24 will be a collaborative and welcoming environment.

Head of Sixth Form and Assistant Head, Rebecca Baxter, said: “It’s very important that our UCS Sixth Form is welcoming and that new students joining the school feel part of the community as quickly as possible. The social was a great event for students to start to get to know each other and we have another coming up in a few weeks.”

The intermingling between Year 12 and Year 13 students – aka ‘Transitus’ and ‘Sixth’ – was aided by the Transitus buddy system spearheaded by prefect Lily Pears. This entailed pairing new Year 12s with older Sixth students with similar interests. The event was an opportunity for these pairs of pupils to speak at length and ask or answer any questions about UCS.

With introductions done and pizza devoured, it was illustrative from the large numbers of pupils still present at the end that the new academic year has been embraced with energy, enthusiasm and excitement by lower and upper Sixth Formers alike.

“The Sixth Form Social was a wonderful event and a pleasure to attend. It was amazing to see older students welcome newer members of the UCS community with arms wide open, offering advice and having a lovely chat over the centrepiece of the event: pizza!” said prefect and deputy head boy, Samir Rahman.