One of my favourite KEGS assemblies was the one delivered to Year 12 early in the Sixth Form. The Sixth Form team used these caricatures to explore and anticipate various issues.  I’ve been given permission to share them from my former colleague Helen Wiltshire, Deputy Head and art teacher who drew them.

The powerpoint version is here: Caricatures

The Rule Flouter: Too cool for school.  The students who challenge you to challenge them… every day!  They take but do not give. Exhausting! Less grown up than they’d like to think;  not people you want to ask to do interesting things or give extra time to.  Is this a person you want to be?  Most people don’t – but it is a choice.

The Ostrich.   The messages are heard but ignored; things pile up; dead-lines loom; problems get bigger – and things don’t get done. Homework, UCAS, essays, difficulties with certain topics… you need to face these things and deal with them because they don’t go away by themselves.

The academo-masohist.  Living a life that is unbalanced; all work and no play is stressful and unhealthy.  The most successful students seem to be those who balance their lives;  after some study there is time for socialising, sport, other interests, part time work, family…. and then time to do more study.  They also often have more to say in interviews and get picked!

The Cheeky Chappie:  Possibly more annoying than the Rule Flouter:  Lovely person but acts in a way that’s just the wrong side of the line, just too often.  Slightly over-familiar, expecting special treatment, a bit of extra leeway, not happy to be seen as one of the many with equal status…just a hint of arrogance that makes you love them just that little bit less.  Redeemable but only if they recognise this about themselves.

The multi-multi-tasker: Running the debate, doing the extra A level, playing in the team, running from one rehearsal to another, squeezing in that bit of mentoring, leaving all their essays until Sunday after the party. The uber-achievers who want to do it all, can’t say no to anything and ultimately risk keeling over in a heap. Unless they give themselves some time and space.

The absentee.  Very simply, people who don’t turn up, don’t learn, don’t contribute and get left out and left behind.  It’s not just about academic success, leadership and employability; it’s about being someone others can rely on in terms of friendship.  People notice if you don’t turn up; at least to begin with.  And when they stop noticing, that’s when you really need to worry.

The snail’s pacer: Tomorrow, later, in a bit… when I get round to it. There’s always plenty of time….until MAD PANIC; there isn’t!  It’s all a state of mind.  Procrastination is usually about avoiding a problem. Like the Ostriches, you need to face them and get on with things.  Very soon in the Sixth Form, there is no longer a Later.  It is NOW. Today!!

Thanks to Helen for sharing the slides; the commentary is mine, each time thinking of real students who fit the bill – I hope I’ve done them justice!