Tuesday 19 July 2016

Welcome to the last Headmaster’s Blog of the year.  We break up for the summer holiday tomorrow, and I am sure many members of staff and students are looking forward to it.  It has once again been a busy year and I wish to thank every member of staff for their commitment and service they have given to the School.  Much has gone on, and we have three exciting years ahead of us, so the next six weeks are well-deserved. 

Last Thursday we saw Sports Day Part 2.  Due to the change in weather on Tuesday we had to abandon Sports Day just as the relay events were taking place and continue it two days later.  The weather on Thursday was much better and so Thursday afternoon the whole school enjoyed the afternoon on the field watching their fellow peers compete for their Houses.  Congratulations to Endeavour House who won Sports Day, and we will hear on Wednesday whether they have won this year’s House Cup.

Last Friday was an important day for MGS: The Founders’ Day Service and Lower School Speech Day.  The weather was on our side which made for a glorious afternoon in the Quad awarding numerous prizes to students who have made significant achievements this year.  Well done again to all prize winners and many thanks to Ms Alexandra Auger, a former student, who was our Guest of Honour for the event.

This week the staff say their goodbyes to colleagues who are leaving the MGS Community.  Nine members of staff are leaving altogether; some retiring and beginning the next phase of their lives elsewhere, some moving to pastures new.  Please have a read of the Summer Newsletter published this week to see who is leaving, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their years’ service and wish them well in their futures.

Finally I wish to thank all the students for another wonderful year, have a lovely holiday and well-earned rest, and I’ll see you all back here on Monday 5^th September.

Thank you.

 

Tuesday 12 July 2016

Straight away I must thank the MGS Parents' Association for a wonderful Summer Ball on Saturday evening.  The MGS and MGGS Parent Associations hosted a combined Summer Ball for over 120 parents from both schools to enjoy an evening's entertainment.  The Ball took place in our school hall and included a lovely 3 course meal catered by Independent Catering, a raffle, music from ... and students from both schools, and a table magician who wandered between each table sharing some very impressive close up trickery; all very well managed by Neil Turrell, the Master of Ceremonies.  It was a very enjoyable evening and thanks must go to the parents from both associations that worked hard for many months planning for the event.

This week we begin to see the end of term approaching.  Today, weather permitting is our annual Sports Day: a day when the whole school community comes together to enjoy a day's competition.  The whole school gets involved in some way with many parents coming along to enjoy the day.  Good luck to all competitors and I wonder if Spitfire House will win again?!

Friday is our Founders Day Service and Lower School Speech Day.  During the morning the whole school processes down to All Saints Church to celebrate the founding of the School which is then followed in the afternoon with Speech Day for years 7 to 10.  The afternoon is an opportunity to acknowledge the successes of the younger students of the School and to hear from key staff about the 2015-16 academic year.  We welcome many parents and invited guests and hope for good weather.

Congratulations to Hamish Reilly who has been selected for the South East Region as one of three competitors for his age group to compete at the Triathlon Nationals taking place in Glasgow on the 4^th September. Qualification within Hamish’s category was extremely competitive, coming down to seconds between them all in recent qualification events.  At a recent ‘high performance’ event at Eton Dorney, which involved competitors from 6 Regions from the West Midlands down to South West, Hamish achieved a fantastic 3^rd place overall.  Well done Hamish and good luck at the National Finals in September.