18 July 2017

Welcome to my last blog posting of the 2016-17 academic year.  Yesterday we saw a marvellous Sports Day where the whole school competed in numerous events to win points for their House.  The weather was kind and made for a great day.  Afterwards the governors hosted a Governors Tea for those staff who are leaving at the end of the year.  Thirteen members of staff are leaving this year and collectively they have given 199 years’ service to the school.  Monday evening was a chance for the governors to say thank you.  Last Thursday a number of our sixth form students organised a football match against a local charity that supports young refugees.  The match raised a small amount of money that is now going to be used to buy some English teaching books and to pay for travel to and from the charity’s centre.  Thank you very much to the students who organised the event, and let’s hope for similar opportunities in the near future.

Congratulations to Hamish Reilly who took part last weekend in the European Biathlon Championships in Portugal representing GB in the U17 category.  He qualified in the semi-final on the Saturday to compete in the final of 16 competitors on the Sunday.  The event included a 1200m run, followed by a 200m swim, followed by another 1200m run.  He produced the race of his life to clinch second place achieving a silver medal and the knowledge he is the second fastest U17 Biathlete in Europe.  Well done Hamish.

Tomorrow is a big day: House Launch Day.  The first two lessons of the day will be cancelled and students and staff will spend two hours in their new forms meeting their fellow tutees and coming together as one in their first house assembly.  We have been building up to this day for over a year now, and we look forward to see how the new structure develops.

On Thursday it is the staff's chance to say goodbye to their colleagues. Over 100 members of staff and former members of staff are all attending the Staffing Leaving Do; enjoying a two course meal prepared by Independent Catering and hearing a number of speeches about leaving staff.  It will be an emotional occasions and we wish all leaving staff the best for their futures.

And Friday is the final day of the year which will, as always, finish with an end of term assembly.  We are hoping the weather holds to allow for that assembly to take place in the Quad. It will be the last time the current student body have an opportunity to say goodbye to the leaving staff, and it will be the last time they see the current music block building.  When we return in September the music block will have been demolished to prepare the ground for the second phase of the building projects.  Have a wonderful holiday.

 

 

 

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Welcome back to normal school.  I hope everyone enjoyed last week whatever they were doing.  Years 7 to 10 took part in a variety of activities as part of Extended Learning Week, and Year 12 spent the week undertaking work experience.  I have already heard a huge number of positive comments about the week from students, parents, staff and governors.  At this point, I would like to thank the staff, older students and Old Maidstonians who helped support Years 7 to 10 during Extended Learning Week.  Their help and hard work was invaluable and contributed towards an amazing week.  Thank you.

We return to school for two more weeks before the summer holiday, but these last couple of weeks are packed full of events.  Tomorrow we welcome about 75 Year 4 and Year 5 students to MGS to enjoy our Brazil Extravaganza, and the outgoing Year 13 enjoy their Leavers' Prom, this year taking place at Bearsted Golf Course.  On Thursday we welcome all the boys who will be joining MGS in September to the Year 6 Induction Day, and on Friday it is our annual Founders' Day Service and Lower School Speech Day, with guest of honour Mr John Francis (OM 2009).

Next week we will be enjoying our annual School Sports Day on Monday (Tuesday if the weather is bad), and launching the new house structure on Wednesday.  Yesterday all the students found out what new house and form they will be in from September, and next Wednesday is the day when we will be embarking on the new structure for the final three days of term. 

Congratulations to the U13 Cricket Squad who reached the final of the Kent Cup.  They played their semi-final against Rochester Maths the Friday evening before Extended Learning Week and played fantastically well, beating them in a very close encounter. “The best cricket performance I have seen during my time here”, said Mr Terrell, Head of PE. They did the school proud.  Unfortunately, they were beaten by Chislehurst and Sidcup School in the final last Thursday.

And finally, many congratulations to Matthew Howson of Year 8 who has been selected to compete at the Inter-Regional Triathlon Championships taking place on Monday 28th August 2017 in Leicester.  Well done Matthew.

Tuesday 4 July 2017

Extended Learning Week is finally here.  Many months of planning and preparation behind the scenes have now come to fruition.  I hope everyone is enjoying their activities and that you are keeping up with what is happening with our daily blog. 

At the same time as Extended Learning Week, Year 12 students are enjoying a week of work experience.  The students themselves have chosen where they would like to work, with some scattered all over the country.  I hope they value the experience.

On Friday last week, Mr Seymour and Mrs Acaster accompanied six Year 12 students (Sam Jeffrey, Matthew Piper, Ella Collie, Charlie Luxton, Will Terry and Allen Wesson) to compete in the BASE 2017 National Final in Birmingham.  I am pleased to report that they performed fantastically in the various tasks and came overall runners up, finishing second to the North London Collegiate School.  In addition, Allen Wesson won an individual award for the Best Individual Performance across the day.  Well done to the team, they bring back a trophy as well as essential employability skills training.

It is a long way off but next year's school production, which will take place in December, is School of Rock.  Last week there was a meeting for students to register their interest and a staggering 94 students signed up.  This is an incredible number considering Years 11 and 13 are not currently in school.  This has the potential to be a truly amazing show.  Do look out for details nearer the time.Ben Ward of Year 9, who competed in the Kent Swimming Championships in February and the South East Championships in May, has now been invited to compete at the British Swimming Championships this month in Sheffield.  He will be competing with the top 24 swimmers in GB in his age group.  Good luck Ben.Finally, congratulations to Will Skinner of Year 12 who is the new English record holder for the U18 U74kg Deadlift with a weight of 213kg.  Because of this, he has been selected to represent England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.  Well done Will.