Headteacher's Message
Despite being so close to the end of term there is no slowing down at Waldegrave and we have had another very busy week of sport, trips, Christmas activities and performances! And this all followed a wonderful carol service last Friday and the weekend’s Christmas Tree Sale – which raised over £700 for the school. Thank you to everyone who bought a tree!
The week kicked off with our basketball squad attending professional training at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. ‘Her Time to Play’ is dedicated to empowering girls and women by offering on-court basketball training sessions, female-led coaching, and opportunities to connect and collaborate through the game of basketball. The aim of this session was to build excitement and support the team ahead of events they will take part in later this school year.
Our Year 11s have visited Hounslow Mosque this week to support learning about Islam as part of the R.E. GCSE curriculum. It was a very interesting trip where they learned about the different aspects of the muslim faith, how the mosque supports the community as well as taking a tour inside the mosque.
On Tuesday Year 13 Literature students attended the Poems of the Decade conference in London hearing from four renowned poets who read and discussed their work as well as delving into the ideas, construction and impact of some of the poems studied at A level.
Our Maths department got into the festive spirit on Tuesday with a Christ-maths quiz for our Year 8 pupils. They had to test their maths mastery as well as their Christmas knowledge to come out on top.
Wednesday was a bumper day for trips in Year 13, our German students headed to the British Film Institute while those studying Economics went to the Bank of England. The BFI hosted pupils for an A Level study day focusing on the changes in East Germany in 1989, helping students to expand their vocabulary and improve their critical film analysis skills by exploring key themes and styles in contemporary German cinema. Economics students visited the Bank of England museum, listened to a talk from one of the bank’s employees and then after lunch went on a fascinating walking tour of the City of London.
We also held our parent consultation meeting with Year 11 on Wednesday. It was great to see so many parents attending following on from the mock exams.
We finally got to our Winter Festival on Thursday evening, which seems to have come around very quickly since last year. It was a spectacular event with plenty of Christmas classics and the magic of the season even brought us some snow!
Next week is our final week of term with plenty of festive activities taking place before we break up for the holidays on Friday 19 at 12.30pm. On Monday Waldegrave will be celebrating Christmas Jumper Day. We are asking pupils to wear a Christmas Jumper with their usual school uniform in aid of Save the Children. If your child 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.
We also have our Christmas lunches on Monday for Key Stage 3 and Tuesday for Key Stage 4 and 5. For those who do not have a ticket for the Christmas lunch, the canteen will be selling other lunch items at break time only on both the 15 and 16 December.
Our Year 10s will be treated once again to the fantastic Globe Players on Tuesday, this time with their curriculum set play, A Christmas Carol. And on Thursday students will go carolling at the Bentall Centre in Kingston to share some Christmas spirit.
Well done to Hannah W, 7FSM, for her winning entry into Mrs Croucher’s Library competition for the best book mark designs. Hannah’s pink design is really striking. She will receive a £10 voucher.
Well done to Ava S, 8PCO, for her winning entry into Mrs Croucher’s Library competition for the best book mark designs. Ava’s colourful design is really beautiful. She will receive a £10 voucher.
Yesterday evening we all enjoyed getting into the seasonal spirit with Waldegrave’s Winter Festival put on by our fantastic Performing Arts Department. I’m sure everyone who attended will agree it was another triumph and a lot of fun! Well done to all of Year 8 who took part.
Last Friday, a number of Year 9 students took part in the Carol Service at St. Augustine’s Church. The students singing was uplifting and the congregation really enjoyed joining in the festive singing. Well done to all who took part, whether as a soloist, musician or member of the choir.
Well done to Zoe N, 9SHU, for her winning entry into Mrs Croucher’s Library competition for the best book mark designs. Zoe’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory design is really fun. She will receive a £10 voucher.
Well done to Hadia H, 10SAN, for her winning entry into Mrs Croucher’s Library competition for the best book mark designs. Hadia’s spooky design is really striking. She will receive a £10 voucher.
