The penultimate week of the term is complete.

It has been a really busy week for our Year 11s as the exam season started for all students. I have been incredibly impressed with the attitude and the conduct of the students. It is clear they are taking these exams really seriously and giving themselves every chance of success. I know from past experience that living with teenagers taking GCSEs is not always easy. Thank you for all you are doing to support them through this challenging period.

Earlier this term, 126 students in Years 7 and 8 took part in the Junior Maths Challenge run by the UK Maths Trust. This week we received the results and they were really impressive. The Maths Challenge is intended to test the most able mathematicians, as you can see by looking at some of the questions here. It was fantastic to see that our students achieved 40 Bronze Awards, 16 Silver Awards and 4 Gold Awards. This was our best performance to date. In addition, 3 of our students: Allan Aguiar (Year 7), Fin Lewis and Vinnie Marques (Year 8) have qualified to take part in the next round of the challenge. This is a particularly impressive achievement. I want to pass on my congratulations to them, to the Award winners and to all who took part.

It has been a busy week on the sporting front:

Year 7 Cricket – on Monday evening our Year 7 cricketers played their first home game against Gloucester Academy. It was brilliant to see this group of students enjoying a sport that most of them had never played just three weeks ago! There have been some great improvements all round, along with excellent teamwork on display. Congratulations to Alby-Jon on his first school sporting fixture! 

Year 7 Rounders – a big well done to the Year 7 Rounders team who won their fixture against Gloucester Academy, with some brilliant fielding and batting. Players of the match went to Priscilla G and Freya W. 

Year 8 Rounders – our Year 8s played their latest fixture against Gloucester Academy this week, winning 15-10.5. There was some lovely play and good decision-making. Players of the match went to Immy and Millie. Well done girls. 

Year 9 Cricket – the Year 9 cricket team played their third hard ball game of the season against Gloucester Academy on Tuesday. The boys started off the batting with TJ scoring an impressive 23 runs through several boundaries, leaving GA with 57 to chase off 10 overs. The game ended in a narrow defeat, but the boys are growing in confidence with hard ball games and are looking forward to their final fixture against St Peter’s after the half-term break.

Year 9 Rounders – our Year 9 girls played at home against St Peter’s this week. The fielding was excellent and there was some great bowling by Ellie W. The girls came away with a loss but had a massive improvement throughout the game. Players of the match: Amber – batter, Scarlett – fielder.

Year 10 Rounders – the Year 10s played their first rounders fixture against St Peters on Tuesday and displayed some excellent fielding skills throughout the game. Unfortunately, some of our strong batters were out early in the game, so the girls missed out on the win by 3 rounders. Batter of the match went to Emilia and fielder of the match to Kacie.

As always, I end with my weekly reminder about Free School Meals eligibility. If your financial circumstances have changed, your child may be eligible for Free School Meals. If you click on this link you will find guidance on the eligibility criteria and the application process. It's a quick process and we are notified of all FSM entitlements by Gloucestershire County Council each Monday. I would urge you to take a look if you think you may benefit from financial assistance.   

And finally, good luck to our DofE students taking part in their expedition this weekend.

I do hope you have a great weekend.

Regards

Richard Johnson 
Headteacher