Head’s Newsletter – 3rd March 2023

Dear parents and carers

We had a wonderful Class of ’22 Awards Evening last night and it was fantastic to see so many familiar faces return to pick up their exam certificates and for some to be recognised for outstanding achievement or progress in their studies. Well done to all students, we were exceptionally proud of their accomplishments that were all the more remarkable given the disruption to their courses. This year’s Year 11 are also making great progress towards their exams that start very soon, and they have also had a busy (and exciting) week! There has been a bit of an English theme to their week with a mock English paper being sat on Thursday and then we were exceptionally pleased to be able to book a theatre company to come in and perform Macbeth this morning. I am also really pleased to see so many Year 11s taking advantage of the additional sessions being offered by staff.

 

Published Reports for Years 11 and 13

Parents of years 11 and 13 should have received a letter today to inform of an updated progress report. This is following further opportunity for progress and targeted assessments since the November Mock exams. We will publish progress reports for all other year groups next at the end of the current term. All report guidance and letters can be found on our website, https://www.wollastonschool.com/parents/progress/

 

Access to School Site Before and After School

School opens to students at 8am each morning, please be reminded that children dropped off before this time will be unable to access the site. As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter the canteen is open at that point for breakfast. At the end of the day, students are welcome to homework club in the library or to stay for other planned extra-curricular sessions. Students are not permitted to remain on the school site unless they are supervised so in cases where parents cannot collect their child at the end of the school day, we would encourage those children to make use of homework club.

 

World Book Day

We have welcomed our new librarian, Miss Caldwell, this half term, and she has been working tirelessly to reorganise our library. It’s currently closed to students whilst this work is completed but we are excited for the work to be completed. This week also saw us celebrate world book day with students and staff looking the part with some imaginative costumes!

Miss Caldwell writes “We had a wonderful turnout for World Book Day today! We had some amazing students come dressed as dinosaurs, princesses, The Boy in the Dress and more! We awarded some prizes to the best costume, as well as giving out some books to students.’

Photos of a selection of the wonderful costumes can be found HERE

 

KS3 STEAM Project

We are excited for our STEAM ambassadors to be leading an assembly next week to celebrate all things science and this has been teed up nicely with the project that KS3 students undertook on Wednesday- it has been really pleasing to see the amazing entries delivered to Mr Pugh!

 Head of Science, Mr Pugh writes “We have had an unbelievable response to the STEAM Personal Development Day project and would like to thank every student who has submitted an entry. The level of the entries has been incredibly high, and we have begun the process of reading through them. The prizes will be announced in the reward assemblies at the end of the term and there will also be a gallery on the school website of all the winning entries for the form and year group prizes.”

 

National Careers Week

 Students will be treated to a second assembly next week- delivered by Mr Myers- to mark National Careers Week. Students will also have some pastoral activities in tutor time to explore careers and have been asked to approach staff and ask them about their careers to date and the career journey that they have been on to reach Wollaston! This may also be an activity they may benefit from extending to family discussions! Year 9 will also have a visit from Northampton College on Wednesday who will give them information about the work the college does and the courses that they offer for students making their next steps after Year 11.

Best wishes

Simon Anderson