Headteacher's Message
Welcome back to the second half of our Spring Term, I hope everyone had a good break. We now have only five weeks until the Easter holiday and there is a lot of cram in, with this week kicking off with a Schools Music Day trip for 18 of our most accomplished student musicians.
The Independent-State Schools Partnership Music Day on Tuesday took place at Hampton School with our musicians joining up with pupils from other local schools to form a Wind Band, a String Orchestra or a Choir, before everyone joined together in a combined Orchestra and Choir. At the end of the day the group held a tremendous concert of the music they had worked on during this event, as well as presenting pieces from each of the participating schools. It was a sensational showcase of the talent we have not only at Waldegrave but across the Borough and I was very proud of our pupils’ efforts.
On Wednesday we sent a small group of Year 9 pupils to a Digital and AI conference held at Tiffin Girls school to help prepare students for our ever changing digital world. We also held our Year 7 Parent Consultation Meetings on Wednesday where parents heard about pupil progress and how students are settling into Waldegrave. As always, this was a great opportunity for families to ask questions and get to know our school better.
We celebrated our fantastic photographers who won the Waldegrave Wildlife Photography competition last term with a trip to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum this Thursday. Pupils from across the school enjoyed a day off their normal timetable to see the winning shots, including the youth category, which are sure to have inspired them.
On Thursday a number of Year 12 students attended the Tacitus Lecture at Guildhall in London. The lecture was from Dr Fiona Hill, Chancellor at Durham University and a defence advisor to our Government having previously sat on the U.S. National Security Council. Her talk was entitled ‘Peril and possibility: collapsing older, emerging disorder or new order?’ covering international diplomacy, national security and global power shifts. It was a very interesting talk and left students with a lot to think about – look out for our news piece with images from this event next week.
Today we have ended our first week back with the formidable Intermediate Physics Challenge for Year 11 pupils as well as the judging of the Year 10 Bake off Challenge! The physics paper is for all students to take part in a national physics competition and to help them develop confidence in this subject, all pupils have been encouraged to take part. Just before half term, Y12 Physicists all participated in the Senior Physics Challenge Online. Every student in the class achieved a Bronze award, which they should all be very proud of.
Our Year 10s made a great effort at the Bake Off Cupcake Challenge, with a variety of colours, icing and flavours on display. The staff judging was a tough task but we managed to cajole a few of the staff to test their tastebuds and rank the bakes by flavour, texture, uniformity of decoration as well as technical skill. They were not disappointed! Well done to all the pupils who took part but there can only be one winner and it was 10PUR with their apple and cinnamon cupcakes.
On Wednesday the music department ran an orchestra assembly for the whole of Year 7. Our own school orchestra was joined by professional musicians to showcase this ensemble giving the students a live orchestra experience and enhancing their current scheme of work in music. It was lovely to see them appreciate this experience by listening so carefully to the performances and engaging with Ms O’Brien’s questions.
The year 7 Rugby team took part in their first competition at Orleans Park school this week. The team won one game and lost two, with tries being scored by Jemima, Mary & Harper. Well done to all who played.
