Headteacher's Message
It has been an emotional week of last lessons for our Year 11 pupils, with favourite songs sung in language lessons, fun quizzes as well as exam questions covered. We are all incredibly proud of the students and how far they have come in the last five years. I know that they are ready for their final written exams starting at the end of next week but want to take this opportunity to remind you that revision sessions will be running until the end of the exam period. Everyone is very much looking forward to our Year 11 celebration events next week.
Please note that the school will be closed to Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 pupils on Wednesday morning during this the final celebration assembly for Year 11. The school will open gates at 11.15am, with students expected to be in class and ready to start their usual Period 3 lessons by 11.15am. Further details can be found in the letter sent home before the Easter break.
Thank you to everyone who supported the Friends of Waldegrave Quiz and Curry Night on Friday, this was a really fun night with a fantastic quiz, excellent food and an abundance of drinks shared with our wonderful school community. The event, organised by our brilliant FOW committee of volunteers, raised nearly £1,500 for the Friends of Waldegrave Charity all of which will go towards supporting and enhancing the educational opportunities available to all students at our school.
Our Year 10 Drama students have been impressing us this week with performances in assembly on Tuesday and Thursday, showing off the fantastic work they have pulled together for Component 1 of their Drama GCSE. Well done to them all for such creative work.
Pupils from Year 7 and 8 took on the UK Maths Trust’s Junior Maths Challenge on Wednesday, with 106 students sitting the paper. We are very proud of our Maths Department who always encourage our pupils to take part in these national competitions, which really challenge pupils on their mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and mathematical fluency. Well done to everyone who took part, we will soon hear whether they are through to the next level of the challenge – the Junior Kangaroo!
Please don’t forget Monday is a Bank Holiday with school remaining closed until Tuesday when we look forward to seeing all the fantastic costumes our Year 11s will be dressed in for the annual Dress Up Day.
Next week is also our final teaching week for Year 13 and we wish both them and Year 11 the best with their up coming exams.
On Tuesday we had an assembly with Mr Page who hosted four Year 10 students who performed a thought provoking piece about the use and effects of social media on young girls. They performed amazingly, gave pupils a lot to think about and, I hope, inspired our Year 8 to perform like that when they get to Year 10.
We are well and truly back into the swing of things. This week I have been encouraged to see how hard our wonderful Year 9s have been working in their various subjects. In DT this week Year 9 were making the most wonderful focaccia bread which was lovely to see, while in PE they have been doing track and field athletics preparing for district trials and Sports Day!
May is Mental Health Awareness Month when we think about supporting those around us, as well as self-care. I would like to use this as an opportunity to share some local services that can offer some help in these areas:
This week our Rounders teams had their first matches of the season against Turing House. Both our Year 7/8 and 9/10 teams played fantastically, showing great teamwork and winning 11.5-5.5 and 6-5.5 respectively. Our players of the match were named as Luna B, 7EVA and Daisy G, 9EDA for their fielding skills, Lyla TS, 8ESU and Mabel J, 9EBH for their batting skills.
