Head’s Newsletter – 16th December 2022
Dear parents and carers
I would like to thank you all for your continued support throughout the first term. It has been an excellent term and as a school we have had many significant successes and accomplishments, please do congratulate your children for the progress they have made this term.
Our final public event of the term was held last night with the performing arts department hosting a festive concert with our choirs, individual singers and musicians as well as bands contributing to the performance. We also saw some excellent dancing by both lower school and sixth form students. Once again it was an evening that gave me cause to be extremely proud of our students who performed so well and in particular the soloists who showed no signs of nerves to perform so well in front of a large audience!
There are many messages to relay this week so please do take some time to read through them as there are some important notices. Have a merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
Notices
Children and Young People’s Safety Around lakes, rivers and bodies of open water
With the cold weather set to continue and as we enter the school break please do speak to your children about the dangers of going near to frozen bodies of water as waterways freeze due to the persistent low temperatures. Sunday’s tragic incident in Solihull serves as a stark reminder about the dangers of open water, particularly in the winter months, as temperatures can be lethal. A quick conversation with your child reminding them that they should never engage in the following acts:
- Never go onto the ice to play, to retrieve an object or a pet
- Never enter the ice/water to rescue somebody, call 999 and ask for the Fire and Rescue Service
Local Police forces are encouraging people to download the app, What3Words which allows individuals to identify a location that isn’t addressable such as a lake or a rural location. The app is free and will enable an individual to give a 999 operator a precise location for emergency services to respond to.
Free Festive Holiday Activities for Children who receive PP Funded Free School Meals
Corby Sports Dimensions are running their activity camps in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough with free breakfast and lunch included for the Christmas holidays. They have free places for families who receive means tested benefits free school meals, are deemed vulnerable or are young carers. Even if this does not apply to your family situation, please do pass this on to anyone that you know in the community who may be able to benefit from this provision during the Christmas break.
Please see the letter detailing how you can sign up HERE and a flyer for the provision HERE.
District Indoor Athletics
Mr Brookes writes “On Thursday 1st December, 16 Year 7 students took part in the annual Indoor Athletics tournament, competing against the other local schools across East Northamptonshire. The students performed and conducted themselves exceptionally. The tournament is made up of 6 track events: obstacle relay, 2 lap race, 4 lap race, 6 lap race, 8 lap paarlauf and 2 lap relays. As well as 5 field events: speed bounce, indoor shot put, vertical jump, long jump and triple jump. Both boys and girls competed against each school to win each event to become the winning school overall. Every child performed exceptionally and can be extremely proud of their performance. The Year 8 athletes had a tough task attempting to follow in the same footsteps as the Year 7 athletes. However, the Year 8 students used this as added incentive and used this to their advantage to win the overall standings for both the boys and the girls competition. This is an exceptional achievement and all athletes involved have done the school proud. The girls created history winning the Year 7 competition for the second consecutive year, a feat which has not been achieved before.
The Year 7 girls team and both Year 8 teams will now represent Wollaston School at the county Indoor Athletics Championships in the new year.”
Christmas Hampers
Every festive season the canteen host a Christmas hamper competition, whereby purchasing a main meal during December, customers gain entry in a draw to win a Christmas hamper. The winning entries this year are the following students: Year 7 Abigail Hayward – 7BUR, Year 8 Poppy-Mai Lawrie – 8HRU, Year 9 Grace Higgs – 9ALG, Year 10 Lola McConville – 10OLZ, Year 11, Matthew Pollard – 11JON, Year 12/13 Emily Chapman – 12RBT, Staff Mrs S Taylor (Finance). Congratulations to the winners!
OAP Christmas Party
Poppy Jones 10FOS and Head Council writes “On Wednesday 14th December, Wollaston School held our annual Christmas party for a large number of local senior residents.
We kicked the party off with a selection of acts from some of our talented students, including those from our newest and youngest year group, the Year 7 choir, who sang beautifully.
A group of our Year 10, 12 and 13 students did a brilliant job of cooking and serving a Christmas feast with all the trimmings to nearly 60 guests.
The event ended with an exciting raffle, with many of our guests leaving with a prize. All guests received a present from Scott Bader, Christmas cake from the school and a little present from Father Christmas.
All the guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves, with smiles and laughter all round and compliments saying that the day had been ‘Grand’ and ‘Delightful’.
Thank you to everyone who attended the event, and an extra big thanks to all the staff and students who helped to make it a success.
Looking forward to the next one!”
Termly Safeguarding Update
Please see the latest safeguarding update from our Assistant Head and DSL, Mrs Walker which can be found HERE
Please click on the links below to read the Wellbeing bulletins below;
SEN Seasonal Support Pack
Please use the link to find a support pack that will give families advice and support for managing a variety of issues that may cause some concern during the break such as anxiety, trouble with sibling relationships, sleep related issues and coping with changes to routines.
Flu Vaccinations
For those parents who would like their child to receive a flu vaccination please find this HERE.
Financial Stress Webinar
Expert advice on coping with the mental health impact of the rising cost of living is on offer in the run up to Christmas. The free webinars, run by NHFT Talking Therapies, will offer useful advice, practical ideas, and general coping strategies to help people at this difficult time. Whether it’s managing worry, problem solving, tips on self-care, or practical support available locally, the online sessions aim to help.
The Financial Stress Webinar take place on:
Tuesday 20 December – 6pm-8pm
- Yasmin Bailey, Talking Therapies’ Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, said: “We know the increasing cost of household bills and worries about budgets and spending can have a significant impact on mental health, especially in the run up to Christmas. With this in mind, we’ve launched these webinars as a new and innovative way to share real practical solutions which can help people who find their mental health being impacted by difficult financial circumstances.”
- Sign up to view the webinar by completing the online registration form at www.nhft.nhs.uk/iapt
- Or you can register by calling 0300 9991616 (9am to 5pm weekdays).
For more information about anxiety and support with mental health issues visit www.nhft.nhs.uk/iapt”
House Events Update
Mr Beeby writes: “This week we celebrated the festive season with an old favourite and a new event.
The Christmas Hamper competition continues to be a firm favourite and we were once again grateful for every tutor group that entered, they created amazing hampers and gave generously to our charities – the Salvation Army and Wollaston is Kind. The winners were Austen house. Photos of these amazing creations can be viewed HERE
The new event was titled Festive karaoke – each house chose a festive song and they went head to head with the other teams. As you can see from the image below, Mr Holmes enjoyed himself and took the prize for Austen house.
That means it was a bumper week for Austen, the current standings are as follows:
| 1st Place | Drake | 13200 points |
| 2nd Place | Churchill | 12600 points |
| 3rd Place | Austen | 12400 points |
| 4th Place | Nightingale | 10400 points |
Next up in January are Pickleball and the University Challenge.”
Simon Anderson