Weekly Bulletin – Week 36

This week we have done our best to support students in the melting heat. The intensity of classes was decreased in PE and we encouraged students to seek shade or remain indoors at break and lunchtimes. Well done to Year 7 for keeping their ‘cool’ and following our hot weather advice to avoid overheating. All students were informed about the importance of water safety during tutor time on Wednesday.

As part of our transition support for Year 6 pupils who will be starting at Waldegrave in September, Year 7 students have been writing welcome letters. They included their top tips for settling into life at Waldegrave, including the best lunch, joining lots of clubs and not worrying about making friends and the older students.

Today we held the second parent tour followed by the Year 8 information morning. Once again, Year 7 did a great job touring their parents around the school. It was a very enjoyable morning.

The top three on the epraise student leaderboard has no change in placings from last week. With Annabelle H 7PRE in 3rd place & Orla S in 2nd place. Congratulations to both who have passed the 250 epraise milestone! In 1st place still is Ruzgar C 7SRI. Very well done.

The epraise tutor group leaderboard sees 7PRE stay on the top spot, 7SRI are in 2nd and 7FBO in 3rd place this week. 7SSN are doing their best to close the gap. Well done to everyone who has earned epraise this week for hard work and demonstrating our school values: enjoy, achieve and empower.

We are all very much looking forward to Drop Down Day next Wednesday, when Year 7 will be working on creating their own Smoothie Drink, including branding, writing their own advertising jingle and of course, creating (and all importantly, tasting) the product itself!

Year 7 are creating Banners to cheer on their tutor group & House on Sports Day on 6th July and have planned their team to see who will be Year 7 Champion.

Finally, good luck to the following students who will be representing Richmond in the following events at the Middlesex Athletics Championships on Monday 29th June. Luna Balenta- 70m hurdles, Louisa Robinson – Long Jump, 200m & Relay, Isabel McCall – High Jump. Zinnia – Javelin. We look forward to finding out how they get on and reporting back next week.

This is a reminder that we will be selling some ‘previously loved’ items of school uniform tomorrow between 10am and 12.30am. Please note this is a cashless sale and we cannot accept cash as payment.

Any spare uniform?
If your child has grown out of their current uniform, we always welcome donations of second hand uniform. Washed, good-quality, second hand uniform can be handed into the school reception by your child.

Please be aware the uniform policy has been updated this week. We are aware that purchasing branded uniform can be a financial strain for many families and have adjusted our requirements in recognition of this. Moving forwards we will only require students to have three branded items which will include the Waldegrave sweatshirt, PE polo shirt and either a PE hoody or the midlayer. All other uniform requirements remain the same. Multiple piercings, false nails and unnatural hair colours are not permitted and remain so in this update. You can refer to our policy for full uniform requirements here.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Bashford-Hynes, Head of Year 7

This week has been a challenge for all the students and teachers here at Waldegrave but the students have done really well, coming to school in their PE kit, staying hydrated and all stuck into their lessons.

On Tuesday we had an outside speaker Eng Ofetotse come in from the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. Eng is a researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Built Environment at the University of Greenwich, where she teaches building physics, renewable energy, sustainability, and construction technology. She is passionate about mentoring young girls aspiring to pursue careers in STEM and actively supports initiatives that promote gender diversity in engineering and science. She came and spoke to students about engineering, and what jobs you can do and the different routes of entry.

We also had an assembly this week about Humanism as 21 June marked World Humanist Day – an annual, global celebration of our shared human potential and the incredible capacity we have to create a better world through human agency. This was led by Ms Hansen our Head of RE and left the students with their thoughts provoked and lives enriched.

Sadly all planned sports fixtures this week were cancelled but will hopefully be rescheduled next week when the weather will be cooler – much to everyone’s relief!

Top EPraise prizes this week go to Mel P, Tabitha H and Tilda H all from ESU. Very well done!

Congratulations to Nina KN for passing her Grade 2 guitar exam with distinction!

Next week the Year 10s leave us to go on work experience and we will have Drop Down Day for the rest of the school on Wednesday. As part of the school wide activities, the Year 8s will be learning life skills. They will take part in a series of workshops throughout the day, including external speakers, covering road safety, finance, first aid, water safety and self defence. The students will all be mixed up from their normal tutor groups, giving them the chance to make new friends.

Any spare uniform?
If your child has grown out of their current uniform, we always welcome donations of second hand uniform. Washed, good-quality, second hand uniform can be handed into the school reception by your child.

Please be aware the uniform policy has been updated this week. We are aware that purchasing branded uniform can be a financial strain for many families and have adjusted our requirements in recognition of this. Moving forwards we will only require students to have three branded items which will include the Waldegrave sweatshirt, PE polo shirt and either a PE hoody or the midlayer. All other uniform requirements remain the same. Multiple piercings, false nails and unnatural hair colours are not permitted and remain so in this update. You can refer to our policy for full uniform requirements here.

Have a great week!

Ms M Rook, Head of Year 8

It has been another positive week for our Year 9s despite the extreme heat. We have issued safety guidance to students on water safety and keeping safe during the heatwave.

Our top three epraise forms this week are as follows – 9PIR with 3250 points, 9EDA with 2487 points, 9FDR with 2246 points. In pole position on our individual leaderboard this week is Angel H 9PIR with 6 epraise collected this week! Well done to all the students who are demonstrating the enjoy, achieve and empower aspects of school life.

Please remind your child that you can be awarded epraise both in lessons and form times for: working collaboratively, great work and homework, supporting each other, engagement in class activities, helping in the classroom, and supporting the teacher/ tutor.

Well done to our star athlete, Daisy G 9EDA, who represented Richmond Borough Schools at the Middlesex Schools Championships. She finished a commendable 7th in the 1500m with a time of 5mins 11secs – very well done!

Congratulations also to Team Gripper – Isobel A, Denise A, Niina MO, Lily P and Hazel W – who have been awarded an ‘Honorable Mention Award’ in the V&A’s ‘Innovate’ competition. This design competition is open to all state educated students in Years 7-9 and pupils took up the challenge in their D&T Enrichment lessons. The ‘Gripper’ design, an aid for people with limited hand mobility, was shortlisted with three other front-runners out of 160 teams across the country(!) in the ‘Join’ design challenge to meet a real-life problem with a new design. Yesterday was the final pitch, which we were due to attend at the V&A in person but due to the weather conditions this took place online via a Teams call due with the judging panel. The teaching staff were all very impressed by the students’ confident responses during the Q&A from the panel and we look forward to sharing a photo of them with their trophy when this arrives.

It is lovely to see so many students enjoying the beautiful outdoor areas we have at the school. I do believe that everyone needs a chance to be outside and take a break from the classroom. Whilst we have been enjoying such wonderfully warm temperatures. Please encourage your child to apply sunscreen and bring a water bottle which can be filled at any of our water stations around the school. Keeping hydrated will also help students maintain focus in lessons.

Next week we have our Drop Down Day and Year 9 will be heading out to London which we are all very much looking forward to! We will also be holding an assembly on Humanism as on the 21st June, we marked World Humanity Day – an annual, global celebration of a shrewd human potential and the incredible capacity we have to create a better world through human agency.

Any spare uniform?
If your child has grown out of their current uniform, we always welcome donations of second hand uniform. Washed, good-quality, second hand uniform can be handed into the school reception by your child.

Please be aware the uniform policy has been updated this week. We are aware that purchasing branded uniform can be a financial strain for many families and have adjusted our requirements in recognition of this. Moving forwards we will only require students to have three branded items which will include the Waldegrave sweatshirt, PE polo shirt and either a PE hoody or the midlayer. All other uniform requirements remain the same. Multiple piercings, false nails and unnatural hair colours are not permitted and remain so in this update. You can refer to our policy for full uniform requirements here.

Looking forward to another week with our wonderful year group!

Mrs N Lyddon

As we approach the end of another busy week, I want to share a few important updates and celebrations with you regarding Year 10. Our students have officially cast their votes for the next Head Girl and the engagement from the year group was fantastic. We are currently finalizing the results and look forward to sharing more announcements on this very soon.

We held a reminder assembly this week focusing on our upcoming work experience placements. To ensure everyone is fully prepared, the expectations and guidance covered will be posted onto all Google Classrooms. Please encourage your child to review this information over the weekend

I want to commend the entire year group for their calm and mature approach to the recent hot weather. Their excellent conduct during these uncomfortably warm days is a true testament to our school values.

With the current temperatures, we have issued an important safety reminder to all students about the dangers of open water swimming. Open rivers and lakes carry significant risks, including cold water shock, which can be fatal even for strong swimmers. I urge you to please echo this vital safety message with your child at home.

Any spare uniform?
If your child has grown out of their current uniform, we always welcome donations of second hand uniform. Washed, good-quality, second hand uniform can be handed into the school reception by your child.

Please be aware the uniform policy has been updated this week. We are aware that purchasing branded uniform can be a financial strain for many families and have adjusted our requirements in recognition of this. Moving forwards we will only require students to have three branded items which will include the Waldegrave sweatshirt, PE polo shirt and either a PE hoody or the midlayer. All other uniform requirements remain the same. Multiple piercings, false nails and unnatural hair colours are not permitted and remain so in this update. You can refer to our policy for full uniform requirements here.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs O Mortimer

This week, we officially said goodbye to our Year 11 students at our final Prom Celebration. It was a truly wonderful event, and it was lovely to see the students looking so glamorous and excited as they marked this important milestone. The evening included dancing, a photo booth, and numerous opportunities to have professional photographs taken to commemorate the occasion. We hope that your child had a memorable and enjoyable evening.

I do want to take this opportunity as well to congratulate the Year 11s on completing their GCSE examinations. This is never easy, but they all did so well and should feel very proud of themselves. Hopefully they are looking forward to a fun filled and relaxing summer ahead.

Results day is on Thursday 20th August. Students can come into school to get their results or access this via the ‘Education Record App’. There will also be numerous staff on site to advise students on their next steps when they get results, should they require this.

All the best and I hope that you have a lovely summer!

P.S. Any spare uniform? If you have any Waldegrave uniform that is no longer needed we always welcome donations of pre-loved uniform. Washed, good-quality, second hand uniform can be handed into the school reception by your child.

Ms H Porteous