Headteachers Letter – 30th September 2022

Good evening

I must start with saying how incredibly proud I am of our students and staff.

Yesterday evening we hosted our annual open evening for prospective students and their families and was delighted by the number of enthusiastic students who volunteered to be school ambassadors for the evening- whether as tour guides, helping in subject areas or musicians. We had large numbers through the doors and I am certain they will have been impressed by warmth of the welcome they had from our students and staff.  It was a significant experience for me to see so many students showing off their school with absolute pride and doing so with such confidence. It really embodied the culture and values of Wollaston that we all hold so dear. I thank all students involved and of course families for their support with dropping off and picking up!

Helping me deliver our key messages in three presentations in the main hall were Jacob from Year 7 and our Head Students from Year 13, Ryan and Holly.  All three were exceptional, not only in the independence they showed in the planning and preparation for their speeches but also in the execution of their delivery to audiences in excess of 250 in each of the three sittings! No mean feat even when you’re accustomed to public speaking let alone when it’s the first speech you have made to such large audiences. All three were inspiring and an excellent representation of the school community.

 

Eco Schools Award

As a school community we are very fortunate to have such wonderful surroundings with the countryside on our door step as well as such vast grounds. For a long time I have felt that as a school community there is more that we could do to not only protect our wonderful environment but also to enhance it. This is a sentiment that has also been echoed by our students via the student council – particularly around the issues to do with litter and sustainability. I am pleased to say that following decisions made at school council level regular student litter picks have started this week.

At Wollaston we are rightly proud of the academic and personal development curricula that we offer and this is, especially with regards to our community work, reinforced by a clear moral purpose. One such community action that we have taken is to sign up to become an Eco School where we will look to take that moral purpose and help our students engage with the key environmental and sustainability issues and to work on projects in school and locally to make a difference. The Eco-Schools Programme works through a seven step framework designed to empower young people to make a difference in their school, the local community and beyond and works towards Green Flag accreditation that recognises the ecological achievements made by young people.

We have many students already signed up to be part of the school’s eco group- should your child wish to be part of the team then they should sign up with Miss Ayres our Assistant Headteacher for Student Experience. Her office can be found in the Art and Design department. I will be excited to meet the group and to discuss their plans for Wollaston!

 

Notices:

Please click HERE to read our first Safeguarding Bulletin of the year. This will be a monthly bulletin devised to keep you updated of key elements of our safeguarding practice in school and where appropriate apprising you of any local issues that we feel you need to be aware of as parents. Support Services for Families 2022

 

Dauntless

We have a vast array of clubs both at lunchtime and afterschool- many of which have been instigated and organised by students for students. We are also very fortunate to have Dauntless – a local company- who run an afterschool club for us. Taking inspiration from action films and series such as the Marvel franchise, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and even Stranger Things, Dauntless work with our students on acrobatics and physical acting skills and produce short films for students to showcase what they have been learning. The clubs runs for three one hour sessions on Wednesday during term time: 5pm-6pm, 6pm-7pm, 7pm-8pm. Students can book for one hour, two or all three and should look out for posters around school for more details.

 

Sporting Fixtures

Mr Bennett writes; “The PE department has been exceptionally busy this past week and have really enjoyed a great level of student engagement and participation.

The amount of students attending the sports and activities on offer is really pleasing and wonderfully supported by the PE staff and Teachers. There were over 150 students across the school.

On Monday the Year 11 GCSE PE students were very busy with their athletics practical moderation and performed well against the other two schools present. The Wollaston students presented their skills well and also behaved impeccably during the times they were not performing.

The Sports leaders from Wollaston were out of school and busy supporting their conference and get together. The Wollaston students received high praise for their skills and also presentations that were really well received.

During the week the PE department provide lunchtime activities every day  in the sports hall and Gym. These include basketball, dodgeball, badminton, volleyball, spike ball and futsal. All students are welcome to attend. There is also the invitation club that PE staff invite students to come and enjoy sport and recreation with a difference.

Tuesday saw the girls netball teams playing against Weavers School and both Wollaston teams were successful. The year 9 and year 8 girls combined football team played against Lincroft School in the National Cup competition and were beaten by a very good opponent. The Year 9-10 girls football team narrowly lost to VanDyke school in their 1st round of the National Competition. We look forwards to the County competition for the girls, which will take place further in the term and other fixtures also. The Year 7 Boys had their first fixture in the National Cup and were beaten by a fantastic opponent from Hinchingbrooke school. It was great to see the year 7 boys team find their feet in the second half and start to put some meaningful passages of play together.

Wednesday the U18 Boys played against Vandyke in the 2nd round of the national cup as they have already beaten Mark Rutherford school in the first round. They won 2-1 and progress to the 3rd round of the National competition. On Thursday the year 10 boys Rugby team beat Manor School and won the district competition. The year 10  rugby team put some excellent passages of play together and performed well against a strong opposition.

In a final bit of news and regarding the academic side of the PE learning experience. The year 10 Year 11 GCSE students have been enrolled into “The Everlearner” which is an online learning resource that will be rolled out to them in the next few days. This resource will enable them to review and revise their course content as homework and away from school. This will include many helpful clips and learning tools that will massively enhance their access to a better understanding and hopefully higher attainment and progress also.  Thank you to everyone and in particular the students for all of their efforts in making this a great start to this academic year.”

Kind regards

 

Simon Anderson