Headteachers Letter – 24th June 2022
Dear Parents and Carers,
Year 11 and Year 13 Leavers
Over the past week, we have officially bid a fond farewell to students in Years 11 and 13. It has been wonderful to resume the traditional leavers assemblies and events, giving our students the send off that they so richly deserve. We are very proud of how students have approached the exam season, both in terms of practical preparation and in terms of a positive mindset.
Results Days revert to their traditional slots and are as follows:
A level results: Thursday 18th August 2022, 8.45AM- 10.45AM
GCSE results: Thursday 25th August 2022 8.45AM- 10.45AM
We will of course notify each year group individually of detailed arrangements and will have staff on hand on the days themselves to assist with careers advice and help to support decision making on University places and post 16 study.
We look forward to seeing both year groups again in the autumn term for their awards evenings and welcoming many of our Year 11s who will return to Wollaston for their Sixth Form study.
Examinations and Assessments in other Year Groups
Now most external examinations are complete, we are turning our attention to internal assessments and mock exams across the school. The format for this is different depending on both subject and year group, and students can request information from subject teachers if they are unsure how end of year assessments will function.
Inevitably the covid pandemic had an impact on all year groups, and we retain the ethos of ‘No pressure – but plenty of purpose’, as we prepare for the end of this year’s curriculum. Please do assure your child that these assessments are designed to be helpful in pointing out areas of strength and areas for development. Whilst assessment grades are of course important, of more significance is the target setting for the next academic year as we work with every individual to maximise their potential in every subject.
Parent Survey
You may recall that we asked for parental feedback during the covid disruption and were gratified and humbled by your messages of support regarding how we had managed to continue to function throughout. Of course, there were also areas in which improvements were suggested and these were also very useful in directing our future work.
Now that we are free of Covid restrictions, we are now looking for parental views on a broad range of educational areas to ensure that we are able to evaluate where we are being particularly successful and where we may need to target any further improvement. As the results will help to inform our future work I would ask that you spend 5-10 minutes looking at the following two links so that you are able to make a considered response to the questions regarding our approach to anti bullying (please click HERE) and our curriculum (please click HERE) as both topics are referred to in the survey.
The link to the survey can be found HERE and thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this (we estimate it should take no longer than 5-10 minutes.)
We would be grateful for all responses by Wednesday 29th June 2022.
School day timings
All parents and carers will have received notification last week of our intended changes to the school day for the next academic year. For those who may have missed it, please click HERE for this information.
BFI Learning Languages through Film Workshop
Last week Dr. Gracey took a group of students to Milton Keynes to take part in the BFI Learning Languages through Film Workshop where a number of schools were represented including schools with older year groups in attendance. Our students did themselves and the school proud with their contributions showing incredible resilience and resourcefulness. This included two year 7 students, Jamie in 7MIL and Fletcher in 7BKS who provided the voice over (in French!) to a silent film. Well done also to Layton in 7BKS also volunteered during the workshop.
Year 9 Girls Rounders
The Year 9 girls rounders team competed in the School Games Rounders Tournament hosted at Rushden yesterday afternoon. There were 5 schools in attendance, comprising of: Wollaston, Rushden, Huxlow, Ferrers and Weavers. The students who represented Wollaston were: Lily, Libby, Jasmine, Freyja, Abigail, Sienna, Phoebe, Sky, Emmanuella, Grace, Alice.
Overall, the Girls placed 2nd! Very well done to all involved.
Student achievements -Y11
One of our Year 11 students, Jessica Sillis, is not only a very keen ten pin bowler but is also very successful! She is a winner of various national tournaments and she is currently ranked the number 1 female for the U18s in the UK.
She has also again qualified to represent Team England in two major tournaments this year. The first tournament is the Triple Crown where Team England play against players from Ireland and Scotland. This tournament will be played at Barnsley from Thursday 25th August until Sunday 28th August.
She will also be representing Team England in Wittelsheim, France where she will be participating in the European Youth Championships.
Hunstanton Trip
On Wednesday our Year 10 geography students visited Hunstanton to take carry out their Geography fieldwork. The students visited the Norfolk seaside town to study coastal erosion and examine coastal defences. They also carried out an urban study of the town centre, where they carried out environmental surveys, pedestrian counts, and some land use mapping.
During their visit they also completed some annotated field sketches of the coast, measured sediment build up on the groynes and looked at land use along the coast to determine whether the area merited investment to save it from erosion.
The students will use their research to write up their geography fieldwork in the next few lessons. They will need to present their findings in a variety of ways, analyse the data to help them make conclusions, and then evaluate their project. They will be tested on their fieldwork on Paper 3 of their Geography GCSE.
Our students were great ambassadors for our school during the visit and after a hard morning of data collection techniques were able to enjoy the sunshine and the local amenities of Hunstanton, including ice cream and fish and chips!
Careers Fair
We had an amazing careers fair today where Year 10 and 12 students were able to take the opportunity to visit 38 stalls representing many different industries and further education providers. All students represented the school fantastically and enjoyed the opportunity to investigate future pathways. Mr Myers will provide more detail in next week’s newsletter. I am sure all the students involved today would appreciate me thanking Mr Myers on their behalf for the organising and running today’s events!
Fundraising presentation
Well done to all students (and staff!) involved in the parkrun events that Mr Brookes has organised over the last term to raise money for facilities on the Gosset Ward, a neonatal unit at Northampton General hospital. Overall, the students managed to raise £450 with some students completing more than one parkrun. All students involved received a certificate and an ambassador pin badge for their excellent achievement and recognition for their achievement.
Mr Brookes said, “I am extremely proud of everyone who took part in the charity event and everyone should be incredibly proud of themselves for giving up their time to raise money for a charity so close to home. It’s great to see so many students now continue to complete park runs even after the event and students enjoying running and having fun.”
HPV Reminder 8th July
A reminder to Parents of students in year 8, the NHS School Aged Immunisation Team will be visiting Wollaston School on Friday 8th July. if you have not completed the consent form yet, and would like you child to receive the vaccination please click HERE
Simon Anderson
Head of School