Weekly Bulletin – Week 32

This week Year 7 have been “stepping up” to the Walk to School Week Challenge. They have been calculating the distance covered and the number of times they have been able to walk to and from school. We have had a number of staff join in too logging their information. We will announce the winners after half term.

On Wednesday in assembly Year 7 were very fortunate to have been able to watch one of the Year 10 GCSE Drama students performances. The four students who performed had written the piece on the topic of bullying, the impact it can have on young people and where to go for support. It was very informative and Year 7 showed their appreciation to these students for the time they spent preparing for this assembly.

Well done to the Year 7&8 Cricket team who had their first league match against Teddington School on Monday. You can read the full match report in the Sports Fixtures section further down.

The top three on the epraise student leaderboard has seen a slight change in placings. This week we have in 3rd place Alice J, 7FBO, in joint 2nd place are Ruzgar C, 7SRI & Annabelle H, 7PRE, still keeping a slight lead in 1st place Orla S, 7SRI. Well done to Alice who has now achieved 200 Epraise points!

The Epraise tutor group leaderboard sees 7SRI move to top spot, 7PRE are in 2nd and 7EHA remains in 3rd place this week.

Keep earning Epraise points so that you can choose something exciting from the shop before the end of term.

As part of our ongoing work on digital wellbeing and reducing distractions during the school day, we recently gathered feedback from students about their experiences using Blackout so far. The discussions with students were thoughtful and honest, with many students recognising the positive benefits of the app regarding distraction and screen-time habits. Please read our full update on Blackout here including some technical clarifications, ongoing approach and the feedback from our students.

We hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing half term week and we look forward to seeing Year 7 back in school, for their final half term as Year 7s on Monday 1 June. We have lots still to look forward to before the Summer Break, with Drop Down Day, Waldegrave’s Book Week, Sports Day and our Summer Festival all still to come!

Have a lovely break!

Mrs Bashford-Hynes, Head of Year 7

This has been a very busy last week of term for Year 8. We kicked off on Monday with Y7/8 Cricket match against Teddington at home, the first competitive match for this team – read more in our Sports Fixtures section below.

On Thursday I hosted an Assembly on friendships and how they end, change and develop over the students’ time here. We discussed how dealing with conflict is an important part of growing up. We promoted kindness, forgiveness and understanding of each other. This is an especially important message at this time in the students journey and we would appreciate you exploring these themes with your child(ren) about this further at home.

Following a number of other residential and international trips leaving school this week, 60 of our Year 8s joined by multiple members of the maths department and tutor team headed out to Devon this morning. This Maths Residential will take place at the Osmington Bay PGL centre, where they will get to experience lots of outdoor fun with plenty of maths challenges thrown into the mix.

A massive well done to Tabby and Shaleen who competed in the basketball regional 3v3 finals last week, where they were playing as part of an U15 team (so played higher than their age group). And they Won! Fantastic effort girls, we are very proud of you.

Epraise winners this week are Lyla TS from ESU, Jessica A from ESU, and Erika C from SDE.

Congratulations to Imogen J, 8SDE for taking part in the Tier 2 Girls under 14s hockey final at the weekend. Her club came third which is a great result!

Congratulations to Sio D, 8SDE, also for the fantastic achievement of being selected for the London City Lionesses (LCL) Academy for the 26/27 season. This is wonderful news and is a result of her hard work.

As part of our ongoing work on digital wellbeing and reducing distractions during the school day, we recently gathered feedback from students about their experiences using Blackout so far. The discussions with students were thoughtful and honest, with many students recognising the positive benefits of the app regarding distraction and screen-time habits. Please read our full update on Blackout here including some technical clarifications, ongoing approach and the feedback from our students.

We look forward to our half term break and wish you all a wonderful rest. It looks like the weather is improving just in time for some Spring sunshine!

Have a great break and we look forward to seeing you back and refreshed in June!

Ms M Rook, Head of Year 8

We have had a fantastic final week of this half-term and I know Year 9 is looking forward to their break. Our assembly theme this week was ‘Belonging’ as Year 9 prepares for the exciting transition ahead. With exactly six weeks remaining (after the break) of Key Stage 3, students were challenged to reflect on what it means to be a part of the Waldegrave community, emphasising that true belonging means being valued for exactly who you are.

As they prepare to step up to Year 10 and begin their GCSE pathways, Year 9 are focusing on using these final six weeks as a launchpad, building the strong study habits, organisation and supportive peer networks they need to hit the ground running in September.

This week Year 9 visited the birthplace of the gothic novel, Strawberry Hill House, famous for its fantastical and eerie atmosphere when 18th Century owner Horace Walpole decorated it in a unique gothic style. Our wonderful Year 9s thoroughly enjoyed the trip which inspired them to create their own spooky comic style stories, dressing up and taking photos to help embellish these. They all got stuck in and were great ambassadors for the school.

Well done to all of our students who have achieved epraise points this half term. Our Year 9 total for the year to date is 15,450 points which is incredible. Our top form this week is 9PIR with 2,843 points in total and they have done incredibly well to take pole position! Topping our individual leader board this week are Mina R, 9PIR with 10 points, closely followed by Kayla S, 9PIR on 9 points and Angel H, 9PIR a close runner up with 8 points! Well done!

As you will be aware after the half-term break we will be rolling out the Blackout App for Year 9 pupils who choose to bring a smart phone into school with them. Blackout is a mobile phone app that helps students manage and limit their phone use during the school day by blocking access to distracting apps during school hours, such as social media, games and web browsers, while keeping essential communication (calls and SMS) available.

You may be interested to read the feedback we have recently gathered from Year 7 and 8 students about their experiences using Blackout so far. The discussions with students were thoughtful and honest, with many students recognising the positive benefits of the app regarding distraction and screen-time habits. Please read our full update on Blackout here including some technical clarifications, ongoing approach and the feedback from our students.

Now that our Year 11 students are on study leave, we are reorganising the part of our pastoral care involving the Key Stage hub teams.

After the half-term break, all Year 9 students will be looked after by the Key Stage 4 hub instead of the Key Stage 3 hub. As such, if you have any queries, please direct them to the Key Stage 4 hub by emailing ks4@waldegavesch.org.
Year 9 students have been informed of the change this week.

Have a wonderful half-term break!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs N Lyddon

As we reach the end of another incredibly busy and productive half term, I want to take a moment to reflect on our students’ progress and share some important updates as we look toward the final stretch of Year 10. Over the past few weeks, form time has been highly focused and productive. Tutors have been guiding students through creating realistic, manageable revision schedules in preparation for their upcoming mock exams. Students have also been exploring helpful revision sites. I encourage you to sit down with your child and look over their study plans.

We wish our German pupils well on their trip to Boppard, they have an exciting weekend ahead of them, exploring Kӧln today visiting Phantasialand

I would like to congratulate everyone who has collected Epraise points this half term for their hard work, kindness, and dedication to their studies.

A massive well done to our Top Epraise Form: 10POR!
Congratulations also go to our Top 5 Epraise Students this half term for their outstanding effort: Viktoriia M, Anastasiia M, Bea W, Imogen H, Karlotte C

Congratulations to Daisy M who was undefeated as Middlesex Hammer Throwing Champion last weekend. She won the title last year, competing in the Middlesex County Championships and held on to her title this year, despite the freezing weather, with a winning throw of 31.29m!

A quick but vital reminder regarding punctuality: please ensure your child arrives at school on time each day which is 8:35am. Arriving late means they miss out on essential form time, which is a crucial part of our daily routine. Form time is used for daily notices, uniform checks, and—most importantly—a vital wellbeing check-in to ensure your child is ready and feeling positive about the day ahead.

Thank you for your continued support from home. I hope you and your families have a restful and well-deserved half-term break, and we look forward to welcoming the students back for the final half term of Year 10.

Mrs O Mortimer