Jack Petchey Foundation

The school has been part of the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme since 2011.

The Process (or nomination)

What does the winner receive?

The winner receives: a framed certificate, a pin badge, and £200 to be spent on a school or community project of their choice. The other nominated students are given a small amount of money that they can spend within the school community.

Recent winners:

Khushi - Year 7

I teach Khushi both French and Life. Khushi is an impressive young woman with tremendous application and dedication. In her French classes she not only participates at all times and adds richly to the class conversation in French, she also consistently keeps the spirit of the lesson alive – meaning that she strives to make communicating in French meaningful and not just obedient repetition; she has almost always done private work at home and comes to school ready to expand the vocabulary available to the whole class; she insists on the whole class monitoring their use of English and helps me maintain a classroom where French is the prevailing language; she invariably retains new, and often incidental, French language and tries to employ it in her contributions to the lesson wherever possible. Overall she is a great pleasure to have in the classroom.

In Life lessons she is similarly dedicated and attuned, and given that some of the material we cover is quite personal and sensitive, she is mature but also bold in her engagement with the matters under discussion. Unafraid to ask for clarification where things are unclear, I know that she serves both herself and the rest of the students when she does so and that she is aware of this: she seems to have a powerful sense of justice and fairness and this pervades her presence in class, remarkable in one so young and all the more impressive because of it. I warmly recommend her as a serious contender for the Jack Petchey award.

Evie - Year 7

In order to describe Evie, I have to describe the ideal student… Positive. Motivated. Enthusiastic. Determined. Resilient. Respectful. Gives 100% effort, 100% of the time. Likes to help others, contributes in class. Great supportive friend and has a gentle, understanding tone. Disciplined, attentive, punctual. Strong desire to learn and improve, with a can do attitude. Quiet confidence and self assurance without arrogance. Evie is an absolute delight to teach. Her work is creative, beautifully presented with care and attention to detail. 

I am also lucky enough to coach Evie for cheerleading alongside Noah. Together, we decided that Evie would make the perfect Co-Captain and she has taken on the challenge with full effort and the whole team is behind her and respond positively to her. She becomes their cheer mum, styling their hair, adjusting their bows and checking uniform.

She is a dedicated and hard working young girl. Always wanting to improve on her cheerleading skills and always offering to help the coaches. Even when it comes to the more challenging choreography, she always puts in the effort and always wants to try. She is very good at keeping the team positive and always comes up with new ideas. She is always a pleasure to coach, we have loved having her on the team and we can’t wait to see how far she progresses over the next few years.

Lucie - Year 7

I would like to nominate Lucie for a Jack Petchey award from the Drama department. Lucie played the leading role in the school production Bright Young Things this year. Lucie is in her first year at Cheam High School and to play a part like this in the whole school production takes a lot of courage and bravery and Lucie did this with grace.

Lucie has taken on feedback throughout this process and she has applied the feedback immediately to her performance. Lucie has shown dedication, determination and responsibility throughout the process of the whole school play.

Hallie - Year 8

I would like to nominate Hallie for a Jack Petchey award from the Drama department. Hallie has shown dedication to the drama department since starting Cheam High School in Year 7. Hallie has participated in whole school productions as well as the drama plays.

Hallie puts all her effort into every activity in every drama lesson and is always so positive to help the department in any way she can. Hallie has grown in confidence as a performer and has shown determination to progress and develop her theatrical skills.

Georgie - Year 9

Georgie has been fantastic in Media Studies this year. He tries his hardest in every lesson and has improved greatly over the year. What is great about Georgie is how hard he is willing to try. He is extremely inquisitive and always wants to know more (both related and unrelated to our topic). I have never met a student so confident in everything they do. He makes brilliant notes in his book, has performed really well in assessments and is able to link ideas back to what we looked at in September.

Georgie also provides some brilliant responses! He is able to answer all questions I ask to the class and support them with theories and links to previous lessons. Georgie has grasped really complex work and terms; some relating to the A level course. Georgie clearly enjoys Media Studies, has a natural flare for the subject and I cannot wait to see what he produces over the next few years.

Phoenix - Year 10

I would like to nominate Phoenix for a Jack Petchey award from the Drama department. Phoenix has worked extremely hard in drama over the last two years, developing their theatrical skills to apply to each character they have played.

Phoenix has evolved as a performer and has dedicated their own time to the department when participating and performing in the school play this year. Phoenix had a leading role in the school play Bright Young Things and throughout the process was able to take feedback gracefully and apply it to their final performance. I am so impressed by the hard work and dedication that Phoenix has shown to drama.