Dear Parents/Guardians and Friends
Well summer is definitely here – blazers are left at home, the queues at water fountains are long and air-conditioned classrooms are very popular! School, however, remains as busy as ever.
Last week the summer music concert took place, a really lovely evening where students from all year groups performed a wide variety of music.
It was also brilliant to learn that Naomi S from Year 9 came joint first in the Magistrates Court Reporter competition- her report was read out whilst showing all the entries for Court artist and the judges and said how impressed they were with it. Megan was the court artist and although didn’t win, was very impressive, it was a tough crowd of sketches to beat!
Here is an extract from the winning court report and the court sketch –
YOUNG ADULT ARRESTED AFTER BEING CAUGHT WITH A LUMP HAMMER IN COMMUNAL COURTYARD
On Saturday, 11th March, 25-year-old Jamie Rowe was found guilty of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place without a reasonable excuse.
The accused claimed to have been using the weapon – a sizeable lump hammer – to repair the broken panel of her apartment door, which had been damaged by her visitor Max Thomas during a party. The court heard that Rowe confronted Thomas and demanded to ‘take it outside’ whilst still in possession of the hammer.
Well done Naomi and Megan!
So on to this week – which is officially a ‘non week’ (ie not week A or week B) although in reality is nothing of the kind, it is of course ‘Activities Week’.
Here is an example of what was happening during the third session on Monday.
Year 9 students were in several different department areas, all of which had planned a subject specific but unique activity. In Art they had taken photographs and were participating in a photo manipulation workshop, in English they were making a short film about women in sport, and in technology they were cooking burgers they had made over an open fire.
The sports field was full of groups playing rounders in the sunshine and the Social science dept were having great fun with the ‘Game of Life’ the photographs will give you clues as to what this involved!
The students will be able to participate in many other activities throughout the week for example – geography walks, survival challenge and dragons den. They went off to Marwell zoo yesterday, and Thorpe Park today.
Year 7 had a fantastic day out at Chessington – 237 students and 16 staff had a full and very active day. They are looking forward to their trip to Winchester science museum and planetarium on Thursday.
Year 8 are having probably the biggest adventure – they are at Caythorpe Court Lincolnshire on a four-day residential run by PGL. It is clear from the pictures below that they are having a great time.
In addition to all this, the drama and music departments are working with a group of students to put on a ‘show in a week’, “We will rock you”, which will be performed on Friday. These students were preparing for their auditions.
Every year group will be able to experience some of the fantastic activities run by the different departments and all will be able to participate in and watch their hotly contested inter-House dance competitions!
A massive thank you must go to Mr Adams for facilitating the whole of Activities week – it is a phenomenal task. Thanks, also to all the trip leaders it is no small effort to plan and run a trip whether it is for 200 or 20 students.
This is just a taster of the things on offer this week – Activities Week continues until Friday – so look out for more information in next week’s blog!
Yvonne Smith
Assistant Headteacher