Head’s Newsletter – 17th March 2023
Dear parents and carers
Dance Live
It is that time of Year when approximately 100 of our students across all age groups compete in the annual Dance Live competition. As a staff this week, we enjoyed seeing the final dress rehearsal for Monday’s upcoming competition and send our support to all the students and staff involved. I look forward to updating the community next week with news about their performance!
Wollaston Year 7 Competes at Crufts!
Year 7 students, Declan Sheehan, competed at Crufts on Saturday 11th March 2023, having earned his place there last summer. Declan had qualified for two competitions – Agility Dog of the Year and Under 18’s Jumping – and was the youngest competitor in his age category. Declan picked up just one mistake in the Agility Dog of the Year but had a great run, and then went clear with no faults in Under 18’s Jumping and placed 5th in his height category. Declan only started training in dog agility in May 2022, so to have competed at Crufts just 9 months after starting, is a fantastic achievement! Well done to Declan- we look forward to some updates on his progress in the new season!
Comic Relief
This week we have held a number of events in support of Comic Relief including the Sally Up – Press Up Challenge, More or Less Quiz, Shoot the Boot, Fancy Dress and Mario Kart Wii. Highlights were Mr Bodicoat not breaking sweat in the press-up challenge, a Drake member of staff (who was only on her way to the toilet!) being roped in and winning ‘More or Less’ and Mr Crook hitting the boot first time with an audacious drive and Mr Pugh demonstrating his advanced driving skills to win Mario Kart.
We appreciate the support from staff and students alike and thank everyone for their donations today, the total raised so far is £739.27. If anyone would still like to donate, ParentPay has the option to do so.
Reducing Parental Conflict Conference
Local Authorities in the East Midlands and the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust are running a Reducing Parental Conflict Conference on the week commencing 20th March with 13 online sessions over five days. All sessions are free to access for East Midlands Professionals that work with children/young people/families. All sessions are delivered via Zoom.
You can sign up to the conference sessions East Midlands Reducing Parental Conflict Events | Eventbrite and the PDF document attached to this email details all of the sessions available.
NVP Professional Development Day
On 24th March all Nene Valley Partnership schools will be closed to students for a trust wide staff training day. Wollaston School are very excited to be hosting this event and we are looking forward to sharing knowledge and ideas with our trust colleagues.
Year 11 Group Photograph
Monday 27th March is the last day to take advantage of free delivery back to school for the year 11 group photograph. Order through the Tempest website using your unique link or visit www.tempest-orders.co.uk If you need any assistance in ordering your photos, feel free to contact Tempest on 01736 751555 (option 3).
STEAM ambassadors
The Wollaston School STEAM ambassadors did a great job teaching pupils from Cogenhoe Primary School about senses for British Science week. They ran hands on activities for pupils ranging from pre-school to Year 6. They included investigating reaction times and touch sensitivity, hearing and pitch, how we detect colours and the jelly bean experiment that showed how much of our taste is based on smell. Our students gave clear explanations, coordinated their stations smoothly and most importantly were really friendly and encouraging to all the pupils. Thank you to Mr Brooks and Mr Cecil who came and helped with some of the sessions. Also thanks to Karen Prescott at Cogenhoe School for helping with the logistics of the day.
Seed Swap Event
This event has been organised by our landscaping company Maximow. It will be held on the Wollaston school site on the afternoon of Saturday 25th, Entrance is FREE, children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. This is an outdoor event and subject to weather. More information can be seen on the facebook page ‘ Wollaston Seedy Event’ .
Best wishes for the week ahead.
Simon Anderson