On Wednesday 21 September 2022, our youngest pupils attended the Year 7 Pupils’ Learning Conference in the Main Hall during the first lesson of the day and their parents and carers attended the parent version of the event that evening.

The purpose of the conference for the pupils was to help them understand how to learn more effectively. Mr Clutterbuck taught them about their memories and how to use them effectively. This involved accepting that revision should be treated as a friend not an enemy and carried out little and often, and that every Year 7 should aim to be like the Chinese Bamboo Tree.

Mrs Pennington, Head of Maths, interspersed the work on memory and bamboo trees with the importance of Maths and its place in our lives. The conference finished with practical demonstrations of effective ways of revising and our pupils helped set a challenge for their parents for that evening with the judicious use of flash cards.

That evening during the Year 7 Parents' Learning Conference we hosted over 150 parents and carers. The themes were the same as in the pupils’ conference that morning, with the additions of what makes an effective home learning environment and guidance over when and how the pupils should use computers and other digital devices to enhance their learning. This conference was Deer Park's first in-person conference since the pandemic and the first formal opportunity to welcome our Year 7 parents and carers into the school since their children had started with us.

For those parents unable to attend, we have uploaded a narrated recording of the Year 7 Parent Conference made by Mr Clutterbuck: