Headteacher's Message
This week we have revelled in the warm but extremely pleasant weather as Waldegrave has been as busy as ever with sporting fixtures and trips back on! The Summer term has flown by and looking back the school year has been full of high points and it seems only yesterday we were sending out our new Year 7s away on their trips to Thames Young Mariners.
We have some more exciting awards news to share this week as Emilia B, 8ESU has won the Young Coders Competition, a UK wide competition for children ages 8 to 13 years old. Last year one of our teams came third but this year Waldegrave has taken first place. To have beaten all other entries from across the country is an amazing achievement and we are thrilled for Emilia. You can play the short game she submitted here.
Well done also to all our students who have taken part in school outreach projects in Drama and French this week, Year 10 who have all been undertaking work experience, as well as the Waldegrave team who took part in the Middlesex Athletics event on Monday (see more on this in the Sports Fixtures section below). They were all excellent representatives of the school, demonstrating the Waldegrave values: Enjoy, Achieve, Empower.
Year 10 teaching staff have visited the students in their various work placements this week, making trips to coffee shops, Pre-school Nurseries and Primary Schools, book shops, news papers, cinemas, theatres, a veterinary practice and many others! Students all seem to be enjoying a week on-the-job as a real contrast to school lessons and we look forward to reading some of their write ups in the end of term magazine due to be published next Friday.
Our Year 12 Geography Students have been very busy this week studying different urban and rural areas from Brixton and Battersea to our local Bushy Park. Year 12 students have also had a taster lecture in Maths from the London School of Economics and Political Science with Professor Julia Böttcher. Thank you very much to Professor Böttcher, who is also a parent, and our Maths Department for organising this event.
The rest of the school did not miss out on the fun this week, with our amazing Drop Down Day of activities arranged for Years 7, 8, 9 and 12. Year 7s took part in a Smoothie Making Day, Year 8s undertook life skills training, while Year 9s were treated to a variety of London trips to select from while Year 12 held their own Sports Day. Spirits were still high for the remainder of the week following these adventures.
We are very much looking forward to more excitement next week not only will we be celebrating Waldegrave’s Book Week but we have our annual Sports Day on Tuesday and our team will be competing in the Junior NBA 3v3 Finals in Trafalgar Square on Thursday – we can’t wait to see them on the big stage!
There is a lot of excitement ahead of Sports Day on Tuesday next week. We are keeping an eye on the weather forecast, which at the time of writing suggests perfect conditions, however, if the extreme heat returns we are planning for alternative arrangements.
Our annual Book Week promises author talks and a book swap for students. We also have the highly anticipated Summer Festival next Thursday as presented by our fantastic Performing Arts Department. Tickets for the festival are available via Ticketsource using the following link: Summer Festival Tickets
Please note we are currently advertising for an Academic Officer role at our School. This full time, term time only role would begin in September, with interviews taking place shortly. To apply for this role please visit our careers site. This is an excellent opportunity for a graduate considering a career in teaching who wishes to gain valuable school experience, a qualified teacher returning to education after a career break, or a parent who is looking for a rewarding term time role.
On a final note, thank you to all our parents and carers, teachers and staff and particularly the students for making this another year where students can enjoy, achieve and feel empowered.
Our Year 7 rounders team were also on form on Tuesday, taking part in the RSSP tournament on Tuesday and came a very creditable 3rd place. Well done to the team!
Theatre Tour Outreach: We have taken two wonderful Year 8 casts to local primary schools this week (Archdeacon, St James’ and Stanley) The students performed a play, ‘Smeds and Smoos’, and then ran a workshop with Y2 students. They were great ambassadors for the school.
On Wednesday we had our Drop Down Day where Year 8s learnt valuable life schools in a variety of workshops with outside facilitators coming in to impart their wisdom. The workshops included First Aid, A self defence workshop, Water safety with the RNLI, Financial, Road safety with the practical investigation looking at how mobile phones reduce our reaction time. The girls were very well behaved and really enjoyed the day.
This week, Mrs Dhir and I had the pleasure of going out on several work experience visits. We were absolutely blown away by how well our students are representing the school! Employers have shared fantastic feedback about their work ethic, punctuality, and enthusiasm. It is brilliant to see them stepping up and gaining such valuable real-world skills.
This Summer many families from our school community will be travelling abroad. Taking some simple steps and planning ahead can ensure you and your family stay safe and healthy. The UK Health Security Agency recommends getting travel health advice from a GP or travel clinic appointment at least 8 weeks before you go and allowing time for vaccines to take full effect before your travel (this is usually 4 weeks).
Our Rounders teams were playing this week, with both Year 7 and Year 9 participating in matches as part of a tournament. The Year 7 team won their decider game for third place, playing Turing house, with a score of 7.5 to 2.5. Year 9 were playing in the final to see who would be the tournament winners. They won their match against Grey Court with a score of 8.5 to 6.
Finally our Sixth Form boys Basketball team were also playing on Wednesday this week. They won by a fantastic margin against Hampton Boys with final result of 70-48. Well done!
