Tuesday 25 January 2022

Today is the last day where we open our doors to the wider MGS community and invite prospective sixth from students to see what we do at MGS.  These mini post 16 open mornings, which we have run for the last few days, have gone extremely well, and I thank the staff and students who have helped organise them.

On Thursday last week two year 12 students, Thomas and Callum, qualified for the National Finals of the Oxford University Schools Debating Competition. This is one the country’s leading academic competitions and this is the first time that a team of Maidstonians will be representing MGS at the Oxford Union in this event. Well done Thomas and Callum; a remarkable achievement.

Congratulations must also go to the U15 football squad who beat Dane Court 1 – 0 to progress into the semi-finals of the Kent Cup.  Well done boys, and congratulations to Charlie of the squad who scored the winning goal.

On Thursday this week the virtual Year 13 Parents’ Evening takes place which is perfectly timed following the Year 13 Mock Exams that took place a couple of weeks ago.  The evening will provide an excellent opportunity for parents to understand how their children are getting on. 

And on Friday this week the first charity day of 2022 takes place.  Students and staff of Corpus Christi House will be leading the day with the usual non-uniform and fundraising events taking place.

And finally, well done to Alfred of Tonbridge House who, after writing his own book, raised over £1,000 for FareShare: a charity network aimed at relieving food poverty and reducing food waste in the UK.  He has also been invited to present his book at the Faversham Literary Festival next month and will be sharing the stage with a Michelin star chef who Alfred interviewed in the book and kindly agreed to come and support Alfred on the day.  Great job Alfred.

 

Tuesday 18 January 2022

Last Wednesday the senior footballers had mixed fortunes in the Kent Cup.  The 1^st X1 lost in their quarter-final to Dane Court Grammar School 2 – 1, but the 2^nd X1 beat Norton Knatchbull 4 – 3 to reach their respective semi-final.  Well done to the players, and thank you to the staff members who support them.

Congratulations to the year 7 and 8 boys who competed in the Junior Knole Run for the first time last Friday. It was a fantastic event and our boys gave everything.  Out of 211 runners MGS had four in the top 20, and as a team finished 3rd out of the 39 teams.  The boys were a credit to their school.  Well done.

This week Year 13 return to normal school following their mock examinations last week.  Now their teachers will be marking their papers and so results will come out soon.

Also this week we are opening our doors to the wider community and inviting prospective students and their families in to see if the wish to consider MGS as a viable sixth form option.  Sadly, due to the ongoing Covid restrictions we cannot run our normal Post 16 Open Evening, but the five smaller events over five mornings will hopefully go some way in illustrating to perspective students what life is like at MGS.  As well as this we are also inviting our own year 11 students to spend an afternoon in school speaking to subject staff about all things A Levels, and what subjects are right for them.  We hope the students find the opportunity useful.

Tuesday 11 January 2022

Welcome to my first blog of 2022.  Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you all had a good Christmas break and an opportunity to catch up with friends and family. 

The new term started last week with us testing those students who consented to have a lateral flow test.  I was delighted when I heard that we had tested the entire school in just one day, which meant that the disruption that it undoubtedly causes was kept to a minimum.  Many thanks to the testing team, which included a number of parents who came in to support.

Sadly, last week we had to cancel our Year 8 Information Evening and our Post 16 Open Morning due to the ongoing restrictions we are all experiencing, but alternative measures and events have already been put in place to provide the essential information that we wish to share.  Details of these will be shared soon.

This week is a relatively quiet week except for Year 13 who have their first set of mock exams.  All schools are being asked to run Plan B alongside Plan A, so Year 11 and Year 13 will be completing three sets of examinations over the course of the year to help their teachers, if required, give Teacher Assessed Grades in the summer.  Good luck to Year 13.

Tuesday 14 December 2021

Welcome to my last blog of 2021 - I cannot believe we have reached the end of the calendar year already.  I am sure, like me, you are looking forward to the upcoming festive period, particularly considering the restrictions we had to endure last year.  Once again I wish to thank the staff and students for bringing life back to MGS since returning to school since September – it has been so good seeing the energy and buzz around the place. 

Reflecting on last week, I would like to thank College House for organising last Friday’s Christmas-themed charity day.  Students and staff enjoyed the Christmas market in the Quad, sang along to numerous Christmas songs being played over the school Tannoy, and enjoyed the many cakes and gingerbread sweets on offer.  Everyone enjoyed the day and raised loads of money for charity.  Thank you for the support.

On Saturday the school rugby squads enjoyed the last weekend fixture of the season.  It has been so good having the rugby fixture programme return this year, but there is still one more game of the season: 1^st XV MGS vs. Oakwood this Wednesday.  Good luck to the players.

Yesterday we congratulated Year 12 at the GCSE Certificate Presentation Afternoon.  Students in Year 12 who were at MGS last year received their GCSE certificates in this formal event where the students came up on stage in the Hall to receive a round of applause from their peers.  In amongst the presentations, speeches were made by Mr Martin, Mr Rivers, and two students, before singing the School Song at the end.  A good way to finish the year.

This week there are of course a number of Christmas events to finish off the term.  Today and tomorrow the students enjoy their Christmas meal cooked for them by Cucina; on Thursday the MGS Christmas Concert and Carol Service takes place at 7pm at All Saints Church; and then on Friday I will be leading the Christmas assembly across the airwaves before everyone going home for a well-deserved break. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Tuesday 7 December 2021

Firstly, a huge thank you to all the School’s rugby players who came out to play the biggest game of the season, The Judd School.  Following last week’s mixed performances against Dartford Grammar School I expect some players approached The Judd School with a little bit of trepidation.  Sadly, many of the results did not go our way, but a big well done to the U15 squad who came away with a win. 

And also at the weekend, four boys from years 9 and 10: Alan, Jack, Alex and Theo all competed in the final of the National Cross Country Competition in Newquay.  Out of the 28 schools that competed, the MGS team came 16^th, which was a fantastic result.  Well done boys, and thank you to the parents who made the long journey down to support them.

This week Year 11 return to normal lessons after two weeks of mock examinations.  Teachers are now busy marking the papers, with results being shared before Christmas.  Let us hope they do well. 

The Year 12 Virtual Parents’ Evening is taking place today providing an opportunity for parents to hear how their children have progressed at the start of their A-Level studies.  This is the first parents’ evening of the year, and just like last year, we are delivering it through our new School Cloud system which seemed to go down well last year.  Fingers crossed the technology works!

Students in Year 8 this week are involved in two days of activities that will help them think about future careers and in doing so get them to consider what GCSE subject choices they wish to make.  We have run these two days of activities for Year 8 for a number of years now and we have found they really help the students think about what they want to do after they leave MGS.

And on Friday we are hosting our Christmas Charity Day where students will be encouraged to wear a Christmas jumper, buy goodies from the MGS Christmas market, and bring food donations in for a number of local homeless charities.  The usual £1 contribution on the gate for non-uniform will also apply.

Tuesday 30 November 2021

To begin this week, I would like to return to the Odd Socks Day and the Children in Need charity days that both took place a couple of weeks ago.  At the time of writing last week’s blog we had yet to understand the total amounts of money raised, but now we do.  So, for the Odd Sock Day on Monday 15 November we raised just over £450 for the Anti-Bullying Alliance, and for Children in Need on Friday 19 November we raised just over £2600.  These are two fantastic figures that total just over £3000, which is the highest sum of money raised in one week at MGS in my time as headmaster.  A huge thank you to everyone who supported the two days, and to the students and staff who made them both happen.  Well done MGS.

Last Tuesday was a special moment for MGS as we completed our 100^th sporting fixture of the academic year.  The U15 and U14 football squads both came from 2-0 down to beat Oakwood Park Grammar School and Maplesden Noakes 3-2 in their respective cup games.  In addition, the U15 rugby squad secured a 25-25 draw against St Lawrence School to qualify for the next round of the National Vase Competition.  Well done to all the players and staff involved, and whilst the results mean very little in the grand scheme, the memories of the games will remain with the students for a very long time.

Over the weekend, eight Maidstonians competed in the Cambridge University Schools Debating Competition. This was conducted over Zoom this year and we missed out against Eton of all schools! This is an elite academic competition that only very few states schools are involved with, and our students put in an excellent performance, as well as gaining valuable experience for their upcoming university interviews. A particular mention must be given to Jessie P of Year 13 who demonstrated exceptional leadership behind the scenes in preparing all the students.

This week is a slightly quieter week for us before we build up to the end of term.  Year 11 continue with their mock exams all week and I drive down to Newquay in Cornwall on Friday to accompany the four students who are taking part in the National Intermediate Cross Country Final at the weekend.  Good luck boys.

 

Tuesday 23 November 2021

Firstly, I wish to thank the staff and students who ran last Friday’s Children in Need charity day.  From selling cakes to the hungry masses to the 8-hour Badminton-athon to burn off the calories, we all had great fun and raised a lot of money for the charity.  Thank you to everyone who supported the day.  Particular thanks to Sam, James, Henry and Freddie of Year 13 who played badminton for the full eight hours. Good job gents.

This week we begin a two-week period of mock examinations for Year 11.  They have been working really hard to prepare for these examination and we wish them well for a positive outcome.

A few pieces of good news in MGS sport:

Congratulations to the U18 basketball squad who played and beat Gravesend Grammar School 34 – 30 at a match last week.  It was an exciting match which clearly ended in our favour.  Well done to the squad and thank you to Mr Ashenfelter for leading the team.

Well done to the U15 XI football squad who took part in a tri-school competition last Wednesday with Aylesford School and Maplesden Noakes School, beating them both 2 – 1 and 1 – 0 respectively.  The boys’ efforts were tremendous, producing a strong sense of camaraderie amongst them.  Well done boys, and thank you to the many boys from Year 10 who stayed after school until gone 5pm to watch.

And congratulations to the 2^nd XI football squad who beat Oakwood Park Grammar School 2 – 0 in the District Cup.  The local derby is always a tense affair, and on this occasion we came away with the win.  Well done boys.

Tuesday 16 November 2021

Firstly, I would like to thank the CCF cadets and adult volunteers who attended the Maidstone Remembrance Service at the weekend.  Over 70 students and staff representing MGS paraded through the town to finally reach the War Memorial to coincide with the two-minutes silence.  Thank you all.

Secondly, I wish to congratulate the Boys' Intermediate Cross Country Squad who came second in the Regional Cross Country competition last week. Finishing in second place means that the boys have qualified in the National Final later in the year to be held at Newquay School, Cornwall. Well done boys.

Following the theme of cross country, many of our boys have enjoyed taking part in the inter-house cross country competitions that are currently taking place. Corpus Christi and Barton were 1^st and 2^nd respectively in Year 11, Barton and College in Year 10, College and Tonbridge in Year 9, and Corpus Christo and College were 1^st and 2^nd in Year 7.  Year 8 have yet to complete theirs.  Well done to all.

This week we our focusing our attention on acknowledging the national anti-bullying campaign that sees schools promote a culture of kindness and tolerance within their communities. To start the week off we yesterday enjoyed coming into school wearing odd socks or wearing a tie that was different to what we would normally wear. The students and staff had some fun, but the message of kindness and tolerance is an important one, and one that is already well established in the school.

On Friday we have the second of our school charity days, this time acknowledging the BBC Children in Need Appeal. A variety of activities will be going on around the school that the students can take part in, along with the selling of cakes and the wearing of non-uniform.

And finally, we are delighted to have received the positive news last week that we successfully achieved planning permission to build another floor on top of the current pavilion.  The new floor will house the MFL Department, providing much needed space for an expanding school.  Work will hopefully start in the new year.

Tuesday 9 November 2021

Firstly, I wish to thank the MGS Parents’ Association and all of the staff and students who helped support the MGS PA Firework Display on Saturday.  We were delighted that so many people were able to come to enjoy the event, and the weather held off to make it an enjoyable evening. Thank you to everyone who came along.

Thank you also to the students and staff who took part in the weekly rugby fixture against Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School and to the many parents who came along to watch.  Results were mixed, but it was once again an enjoyable occasion just being able to watch school sport once more.

Yesterday we held our inaugural mixed senior girl's netball inter-house tournament.  This was the first year we have been able to allow students from both Year 12 and 13 to participate collectively. The netball programme and opportunities available has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years with fantastic support from Miss Dimmick and Mrs Coveney.  It was great to see participation from all houses yesterday in what was a competitive and well fought battle, played in the right spirit. There were some standout performances and lots of talent on display. The final game of the tournament between Corpus Chirsti and College houses had huge ramifications, as the winner would claim first overall place.  In a tense, back and forth affair, College House ran out as eventual winners after claiming an 8-3 victory. The girls now shift their focus and attention to their first competitive inter-school match taking place later this month with more fixtures scheduled later in the year.  

There one key event this week is the Remembrance Service which will take place on Thursday.  2021 is an important year as it marks the 100^th anniversary of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.  Sadly, due to Covid restrictions we will be unable to hold a normal service; instead announcing it over the school tannoy system. 

Tuesday 2 November 2021

Welcome back to Term 2, I hope you have a good half term break. 

 This week years 11 and 13 are having an organisation called VESPA speak to them about how they can improve their studies as they prepare for their future exams.  It is an organisation that bases its recommendations from evidence-based research and shares them in a clear, practical and on-the-ground way.  We hope the students value the opportunity.

On Saturday we are delighted to be hosting once again the MGS Parents’ Association Firework Display.  Due to last year’s restrictions we were unable to run the event, but this year it returns.  Gates open at 5pm with the display starting at 7pm.  Tickets are available in advance and on the gate.  Do come along and enjoy a spectacular display.  Entrance is via the Mote Park gate at the back of the school.