Weekly Bulletin – Week 13

This week in form time Year 7 have been looking at the period of Advent and have been thinking about ways to spread kindness during this period. It was wonderful to see that 7SRI have created their own kindness advent calendar to share ways of spreading kindness amongst their form and with friends & family. Well done, what a lovely idea.

Also in tutor time this week Year 7 have written a letter to their future selves which they will open in Year 11. They have written about how they have settled in to life at Waldegrave, what they have enjoyed so far and hopes and aspirations for the future.

They have created a total of all the books they have read this term as their entry to the Interhouse reading competition. Good luck to all.

Finally, at the end of the week the 70 Year 7 members of the school choir will take part in the Carol Service at St Augustine of Canterbury Church. We will report back about the thoughts & experiences of Year 7 members next week.

We would like to congratulate Rose 7PCL on her well prepared presentation for Show and Tell last week. The whole form found her stories about her chickens extremely interesting and entertaining. It was a pleasure as her tutor to find out more about her hobby.

Here is the student Epraise leaderboard as we approach the last 2 weeks of term:
1st Alice J 7FBO equal 2nd Jemima P 7SSN & Annabelle H 7PRE & equal 3rd Ellen B & Annie B 7PRE.

The tutor group leaderboard is still close and changing as students engage in a variety of activities; 1st 7PRE, 2nd 7EHA & 3rd 7FBO. Well done all keep doing everything you can to keep earning those Epraise points.

With only 2 weeks left now we can start to look forward to the festive end of term activities. Next Thursday the Winter Festival takes place, good luck to all those Year 7 students who are involved. Please order tickets here.

On Monday 15 December it is the Key Stage 3 Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day, tickets for the Christmas lunch are £4.50 (or free for those on free school meals) and can be purchased in the school canteen using lunch balances on student lanyards. Everyone who wants to join the Christmas lunch must get a ticket.

For those not wishing to have a Christmas lunch, the canteen will be selling other lunch items at break time only on both the 15 and 16 December.

Christmas Jumper Day coincides with the KS3 Christmas lunch on Monday 15 December. On this day we are asking pupils to wear a Christmas Jumper with their usual school uniform in aid of Save the Children. If your child(ren) does not have a Christmas jumper already they may decorate their school jumper or a jumper of their choice with tinsel, Christmas decorations or a home-made Christmas-themed badge.

Then on the last day of term Year 7 get to watch the staff Pantomime and what an amazing experience this will be!

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Bashford-Hynes, Head of Year 7

This week kicked off with a trip to the Houses of Parliament for a lucky few members of the School Parliament. Students met for an early train into central and battled adverse weather conditions on the walk over the bridge to a wonderful tour of the historic Palace of Westminster. Students saw portraits and statues of many of Great Britain’s monarchs and learnt all about how Parliament was formed and how it runs today. This was followed by a workshop led by one of the team in the Parliamentary Education Centre. The girls all behaved impeccably and returned to school for the last two lessons of the day.

This week we had an assembly on violence against women and highlighted that online and digital spaces should empower women and girls. Yet every day, for millions of women and girls, the digital world has become a minefield of harassment, abuse, and control.

What can start small, on screens – a message, a comment, or a post – can quickly spiral into a torrent of threats and violence in real life. Private photos are stolen without consent. Lies spread in a matter of seconds. Locations are tracked. AI is weaponized to create deepfakes designed to shame and silence women.

This 16 Days of Activism (25 November – 10 December) join us as we rally for a world where technology is a force for equality – not harm.
You can learn more here.

This week out top ePraise winners are Lottie M, Aki M and Jasmine L all from 8FLY – can they take the top spot for ePraise points at the celebration assembly next week?

Next week we will hold our celebration assembly for the year group celebrating the achievements of the year group throughout Year 8 so far.

With only 2 weeks left now we can start to look forward to the festive end of term activities. Next Thursday the Winter Festival takes place, good luck to all those Year 8 students who are involved. Please order tickets here.

We will be holding a Christmas Jumper day – Monday 15 December and our Christmas lunches on the same day for Year 8. Tickets for this need to be purchased in advance at the canteen till. Please make sure your child has done this as meals can not be purchased on the day and we don’t want any disappointment.

Have a great weekend!

Ms M Rook, Head of Year 8

It has been another busy but enjoyable week! We have seen great focus in lessons and continue to hear some excellent feedback from tutors and subject teachers. Year 9 are continuing to be proactive, attending after school and lunchtime clubs such as the very popular Chess Club. It is wonderful to see students getting involved in the wider life of the school.

This week saw the release of our now annual Waldegrave Wildlife Calendar and once again the standard of photography this year was phenomenal. Huge congratulations must go to Year 9 students Selin Y, Gabriella H, Yovela H and Elle J whose wonderful captures of local wildlife are displayed in the calendar – fantastic work we are super proud of you!

Topping our Epraise individual leaderboard this week is Marharyta K 9PIR, followed closely by Angela Hui 9PIR and Pera Oker 9FDR . Keep up the great work! The battle of top of the table for the tutor group leader board is equally tightly contested with 9PIR leading the way with 1045 points, followed by 9EDA with 735 points and 9SHU with 713 points!

With only 2 weeks left now we can start to look forward to the festive end of term activities. Next Thursday the Winter Festival takes place, good luck to all those Year 9 students who are involved. Please order tickets here.

A reminder that Monday 15 December is Christmas Jumper Day. This is an altered uniform day, meaning students must wear full uniform as always, but they can bring a Christmas- themed jumper to wear over their normal uniform in place of their school jumper. Don’t buy new – CREATE new or give an existing jumper some extra bling! Donations can be made to Save the Children via ParentPay.

Year 9 will also be having their Christmas lunches on Monday 15 December. Tickets for this need to be purchased in advance at the canteen till. Please make sure your child has done this as meals can not be purchased on the day and we don’t want any disappointment.

This Friday the school choir will be taking part in their annual Carol Service, from 6pm at St Augustines in Whitton, this event is sure to be wonderfully festive and all families are invited to attend.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs N Lyddon

This week we had an incredibly important assembly on the 16 days of action to end gender based violence led by Ms Moore. Students in Year 10 were encouraged to be active bystanders of any online/digital abuse. We would encourage you to speak to your child/ren about this issue at home .

The carol service will be taking place this evening. We are so excited to have so many wonderful Year 10s performing. If you are in attendance we hope that you have a lovely evening.

Out top 3 Epraise this week are:

1. 10POR
2. 10FCO
3. 10SSR

Keep up the great work!

As we get into the festive spirit, we have lots of fantastic events coming up over the next 2 weeks. This Saturday we have the Waldegrave Christmas Tree sale where those who have preordered trees can collect them and next Thursday we have another musical event ‘The Winter Festival’, good luck to all those Year 10 students who are involved. Please order tickets here.

Monday 15 December is Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children. This is an altered uniform day, meaning students must wear full uniform as always, but they can bring a Christmas jumper to wear over their normal uniform in place of their school jumper. Don’t buy new – CREATE new or give an existing jumper some extra bling! Donations can be made to Save the Children via ParentPay.

On Tuesday 16 December Year 10 will be having their Christmas lunches. Tickets for this need to be purchased in advance at the canteen till. Please make sure your child has done this as meals can not be purchased on the day and we don’t want any disappointment.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Mrs O Mortimer

This week on Tuesday Year 11 music students had a performance workshop in order to build their confidence in performing. This was a really successful day and the students very much enjoyed themselves. Hopefully they have found this experience useful for gradually gaining confidence in performing in front of an audience.

This Friday is our annual Christmas carol service. It is great to see so many Year 11 students taking part in this and getting into the festive spirit. Well done!

With only two weeks left of school we have lots of fantastic Christmas events coming up. This Saturday we have the Waldegrave Christmas Tree sale where those who have preordered trees can collect them and next Thursday we have another musical event ‘The Winter Festival’, good luck to all those Year 11 students who are involved. Please order tickets here.

Monday 15 December is Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children. This is an altered uniform day, meaning students must wear full uniform as always, but they can bring a Christmas jumper to wear over their normal uniform in place of their school jumper. Don’t buy new – CREATE new or give an existing jumper some extra bling! Donations can be made to Save the Children via ParentPay.

On Tuesday 16 December Year 11 will be having their Christmas lunches. Tickets for this need to be purchased in advance at the canteen till. Please make sure your child has done this as meals can not be purchased on the day and we don’t want any disappointment.

A reminder that if students own a Chromebook they need to bring this into school. There have been a few occasions where there have been no chromebooks left to borrow due to students who have already got a Chromebook taking them. Students need to ensure that they come to school with a fully charged chromebook that they can use in all of their lessons.

Wishing you an enjoyable weekend,

Mrs H Porteous