Weekly Bulletin – Week 30

We hope Year 7 enjoyed the extended Bank Holiday weekend and the late start on Wednesday morning, a real treat for them!

On Tuesday, Year 7 had their first experience of ‘Dress Up Day’ seeing Year 11 in school celebrating their time as a Waldegrave student by dressing up in an array of wonderful costumes. It proved to be a fun morning for them to experience.

On Thursday tutor time students have been presenting their interests to the rest of the form group in a show and tell format and I’m delighted to say that most tutor groups are still completing this activity each week. Well done to all those students who have presented to their tutor group this year, their classmates are really enjoying finding out about each other. I hope they keep this up!

Congratulations to the Year 7/8 Rounders team who had a win against RTS on Wednesday after school. Please see full details in the Sports Fixture section below.

The top three on the epraise student leaderboard after 4 weeks of this term are: 3rd – Orla S, 7SRI, 2nd – Ruzgar C, 7SRI and still in 1st place – Annabelle H, 7PRE. Well done, this is still a hotly contested leaderboard.

The Epraise tutor group leaderboard sees 7PRE still at the top with 7EHA remaining in 2nd place and 7SRI have moved up to 3rd place this week. Well done to everyone who has been earning epraise this week.

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

Next week Year 7 will look at the theme of May being designated as a walking month. We will discuss the benefits of walking and then undertake a Walk to School Week challenge! This year, the five-day challenge takes place between 18 and 22 May. Year 7 tutor groups will try to walk to school during this week and log the distance they have covered to see which tutor group will be awarded the walk to school week champions for covering the furthest distance. Good luck to all.

Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs Bashford-Hynes, Head of Year 7

This week we celebrated and said goodbye to our Year 11 and Year 13 classes, some of whom have already begun their exams! Year 8, along with the rest of the school very much enjoyed seeing the Year 11s dressed up on Tuesday, with many sporting orange or blue body paint in some serious fancy dress. It was a late start for our Year 8s on Wednesday following the Year 11 Celebration Assembly and I am sure they are already looking forward to their turn at the top of the school and looking back on their achievements.

Our students who are topping the epraise points this week are Kate C, Maya G and Sakeena M all from EHO. Great work to them and to everyone who has earned epraise this week!

Please remind your child that they can be awarded epraise both in lessons and form times for: working collaboratively, great work and homework, supporting each other, engagement in class activities, helping in the classroom and supporting the teacher/tutor.

Next week is an exceptionally busy week for trips for Year 8 with all students going out to visit the Buddhist Temple as part of their RE work. The trips are spread over the week, two tutor groups at a time and require parents to contribute so please look over your emails.

On Tuesday we have a small group going to the QE Prize Engineers Speed Mentoring Event where students will get hands-on training and mentoring from prize winning female Engineers. There was a long list of students hoping to attend this trip and unfortunately not all students were able to attend. For those who were lucky enough to get a place, please remember to bring a packed lunch and check all uniform is looking smart before attending. Thank you in advance to parents and carers for your support in this.

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms M Rook, Head of Year 8

It has been another busy week and we have had the pleasure of saying farewell to our wonderful Year 11 students. On Tuesday they had dress up day, this is a Waldegrave tradition whereby all of the students dress up in fun outfits as characters and look fabulous. It was lovely to see the variety of costumes on display and to see year 11 smiling and enjoying their last few days in school.

Well done to all of our students who have achieved epraise points and to those forms who are leading the way. Our top epraise form this week is 9STR who have done incredibly well to take pole position with 2441 – well done!. Topping our individual leader board this week are Viola C 9SHU, Mina R 9PIR, Lisa B 9SHU well done – keep up the great work!

It has been another busy week and we have had the pleasure of saying farewell to our wonderful Year 11 students. On Tuesday they had dress up day, this is a Waldegrave tradition whereby all of the students dress up in fun outfits as characters and look fabulous. It was lovely to see the variety of costumes on display and to see Year 11s smiling and enjoying their last few days in school.

Well done to all of our students who have achieved epraise points and to those forms who are leading the way. Our top epraise form this week is 9STR who have done incredibly well to take pole position with 2,441 – well done! Topping our individual leader board this week are Viola C 9SHU, Mina R 9PIR, Lisa B 9SHU well done – keep up the great work!

Please remind your child that they can be awarded epraise both in lessons and form times for: working collaboratively, great work and homework, supporting each other, engagement in class activities, helping in the classroom, and supporting the teacher/tutor.

Our Rounders team also played this week against Richmond Upon Thames School, you can read more about this match in the Sports Fixtures section below.

Congratulations to Daisy G who recently represented Richmond Borough in the London Mini Marathon. She enjoyed every step of what was a very fast paced race to finish in the top 50, an amazing achievement – we are so proud of you!

Next week our Year 9 and 10 French students will be welcoming visitors from France, they will be buddied up with Waldegrave pupils and joining them in lessons, offering a chance to practise their language skills and make new friends.

Thank you all for your continued support – have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs N Lyddon

This week we had the pleasure of celebrating as our Year 11 students said farewell to lessons and hello to exams! This was with mixed feelings for Year 10 who know that this time next year it will be them saying goodbye.

On Tuesday we all very much enjoyed seeing the fantastic costumes the Year 11s had created for their Dress up day, a Waldegrave tradition whereby all of the students dress up in fun character outfits and look fabulous. It was lovely to see the variety of costumes on display and to see Year 11 smiling and enjoying their last few days in school.

Thank you so much to everyone who took part in the highly successful Parent and Carer Meetings on Wednesday, there was a fantastic turnout. This was an opportunity for families to meet with teachers to find out about their child(ren)’s progress, which is helpful as Year 10 prepare for their end of year assessments in June as well as the next steps that need to be taken for the final year of Key Stage 4. Those families who were unable to get an appointment with specific staff will be contacted over the next couple of weeks. Details of Year 10 assessments will be coming soon.

Well done to all of our students who have achieved epraise points this week, Amber R, 10FDO and Elizabeth N, 10PWA tied on the most epraise earned this week, very well done to them and to those forms who are leading the way. 10POR was in this week’s top spot with 1,582 followed by 10EMU on 1,509 and in third place 10SSR have 1,475. Keep up the hard work!

Congratulations also to Hazel L, 10SAN, who took part in the Junior Scullery Regatta at Dorney Lake, on Bank Holiday Monday. This big inter-regional rowing event had teams competing from all over Southern England. She has only just started taking on the role of cox six weeks ago but managed to bring the Walbrook Women’s Junior 15 quad squad to place third, earning them a Bronze medal. A great achievement – well done Hazel!

Next week our Year 9 and 10 French students will be welcoming visitors from France, they will be buddied up with Waldegrave pupils and joining them in lessons, offering a chance to practise their language skills and make new friends.

Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs O Mortimer

It has been a very emotional week, as Year 11 celebrated their last few days at school.

We started off the week with our annual Year 11 dress up day celebration. I was incredibly impressed with the amazing efforts that the students put into their costumes and it was brilliant to see so many students taking part in the dress up day parade – always a wonderful as well as bizarre event!

All the Year 11 tutors dressed up as Waldegrave students, which took some getting used to!

The end of year assembly was also a very poignant event and it was wonderful to welcome so many of you at home to celebrate the achievements of our Year 11 students. There were farewell speeches as well as musical performances and everything was rounded off by the signing of the shirts and last farewells.

The first official GCSE exam started on Thursday for German. Well done to all students who completed this. It is never easy being in the first exam, but hopefully they now feel relieved that it is done.

Congratulations to everyone who made such an effort with their costumes for the dress up day parade, we loved all the costumes and hope the winners enjoy spending their amazon vouchers!

Date for diaries: Year 11 Prom will take place on Thursday 25 June

If you want your child to have a year book as a keepsake of their time at Waldegrave please ensure that you have paid for this on Parentpay. There are still a few students who have not paid and therefore will not receive one. Designed by our own Year 11 Prefects, the Year Book is a lovely memory of their time here, so we do encourage you to purchase one.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs H Porteous