When I was appointed Head of Maple House, it was made apparent to me by Mrs Hughes that I was inheriting a very well performing house that has grown from strength to strength over the previous few years. This put me under immense pressure from the start to ensure that Maple House continued to grow and achieve success in all areas of the school.

Through being involved in sport all my life I am very aware of how hard it is to sustain growth and success over a prolonged period of time. On the other hand, sport has also taught me that determination, perseverance, courage, and commitment are all key qualities that are needed in order for use to achieve our goals. After many years of sport these are all qualities that I feel that I now possess and can now pass them on to all members of this legendary house. 

Throughout my tenure as Head of Maple House so far I have tried to ensure that I am bringing the right amount of energy and enthusiasm to all aspects of the role in order to unify, galvanise and inspire all students within the house. However when you look at the bigger picture of what the house system really is at Bushey Meads then you will realise that the role that I play is only a tiny part of achieving a lasting legacy within the school. You might now sit there thinking to yourself what are the other aspects that are so important? They are the students themselves. I am lucky enough to have a fantastic group of students who proudly represent the orange stripes of Maple house within all facets of school life. 

So far throughout this academic year I have been really pleased to hear that certain CDC groups have been getting fantastic attendance scores across the school as well as participating in all house competitions, such as the Modern Foreign Languages food competition. This comes with a special mention to Emma (8M) who made a fantastic cathedral cake that tasted amazing. This is just the first example of the many different competitions that members of the house have entered. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all students who represented Maple in the House Arts Competition as well as the house quiz. Maple was represented very well in both with some fantastic pieces of creative work and knowledge on display for the rest of Bushey Meads to see. 

Delving deeper into the success of this year I know that Maple House was well represented in the Great Big Dance off competition that saw us come 10th out of 25 schools in the southern heats. This sort of achievement does not come without dedication and hard work. What a fantastic achievement for all involved with a particular mention to Rosie (8M), Layla (8M), Hannah (8M), Jayda (7M), Yasmeen (7M), Retaj (9M) Stanley (9M), Jessica (11M) and Heather (12M) who were all involved.

Furthermore another area of success this academic year for Maple house is sport. As you will be very aware, sport is an area that I hold close to my heart and there have been some fantastic team and individual successes. Maple is a very well represented house across all sports teams in all year groups. However there are some standout individual performances that I feel deserve some recognition. Lewis (8M) has been part of the year 8 football team who have recently won the County plate competition and Casian (10M) who has been representing the Watford District football team for three years now. Alongside these individual successes Maple House has also had success within the inter-house competitions, notably with a series of 1st and 2nd places in the indoor football.  

World challenge is a fantastic opportunity that the older students have the opportunity to be a part of and it is a challenge in itself to raise the funds in order to just get onto the trip. David and Noah (12M) have been raising money through a number of different fundraising events and are now well on their way to achieving their goal.

Another fantastic achievement for Maple House is having three of the top ten students who have achieved the most reward points across the whole school. These students are Jayda 309 (7M), Zoe 304 (9M), Yasmeen 282 (7M). An Amazing achievement so far this year, well done. It would be fantastic to see more students at the top of this list. 

As you can see Maple House has had a fantastic academic year so far across all facets of the school. I am immensely proud to lead this house and I hope there is plenty more to come, especially with Sports Day not too far away. Can we win it for the first time in a number of years? It’s down to you!