Tuesday 24 April 2018

It is amazing to think that last week’s hot weather was only six weeks after we closed the school to heavy snow and extreme cold temperatures!  The students coped well with the heat, but fortunately we now have much more realistic weather for this time of year.  It was nice while it lasted though.

This week we have two main events.  Tomorrow is the Year 6 Induction Evening where we welcome to the school the boys and their parents who will be joining MGS in September.  Excitement will be mixed with anxiety, but it is hoped that they all have a positive experience and that they are looking forward to becoming a Maidstonian. This event also marks the end of the current senior prefect team’s tenure and the start of the new one.  Kristian and Lex, the 2017-18 school captain and school vice-captain, will be allowed to ring the ship’s bell that hangs in the main lobby, and at that point their term of office ends and Henry’s and Dan’s begin.  At this point I would like to thank the both of them for their leadership and service they have given to MGS.

And Friday is the last of the four House charity days and this time it is Barton’s turn.  Led by Mr Highsted, the Head of House, and the House Prefect Team, a number of events will be taking place raising money and awareness for their charity, which this year is the NSPCC.  I hope everyone enjoys the day.  Sadly, I will be missing most of the morning as I will be attending the Kent Schools’ Funding Forum April meeting: a forum of representatives from all Kent schools that work collaboratively looking at how our schools are funded.

At the end of last week I was able to present a number of students with their School Colour ties.  Back at Christmas and at Easter I awarded these students with their School Colour certificates in the final assemblies but had to apologise to them because the ties had yet to arrive in school.  They arrived on Wednesday last week, so now many of the students are proudly wearing their ties around school.  Congratulations to all of them again.

Finally, congratulations to Sgt Maj Saumtally, SSgt Gautam, Sgt Skinner, Sgt Hulme, Cpl Pearson, Cpl Owen, LCpl Taylor and LCpl Jessell.  Over the weekend these army cadets competed in the Cadet Cambria Patrol in the Brecon Beacons. The patrol is the most challenging army cadet competition in the UK. Reveille was at 4am, with the last cooked meal provided by the field kitchen at 4.45am. The section was dropped off at the starting checkpoint at 6.30am. Over the next 12 hours the cadets navigated a 40km course over the demanding terrain of the Sennybridge Training Area. At various checkpoints they also had to demonstrate their military skills on stands for first aid, observation, fire and movement and military knowledge. After cleaning the rifles, the section had to prepare their overnight accommodation in the forest, before making a model of the next day's exercise and delivering orders for the next two phases. After a cosy night on the forest floor the team had to navigate to the range to show their target shooting skills with the cadet rifle. The competition finished with a very welcome brunch in the field kitchen! Presentation time arrived, all the teams had assembled, the Colonel was waiting for the announcement from the RSM 'Maidstone Grammar School, silver medal'.  Well done boys, and many, many thanks to Major Highway and WO2 Rai for accompanying them.

 

 

Blog 17 April 2018

Welcome back from the Easter holiday; I hope you all had a good break.  Firstly, I wish to thank everyone who continued working over the holiday to prepare for our return.  Much work has gone on around the site and many members of staff have been in school supporting numerous students who are busy revising.  Thank you very much.

If like me you were able to enjoy some Easter television, I hope you were able to catch two very interesting programmes.  Indian Summer School, a Channel 4 programme about five British teenagers who spent six months studying in The Doon School in India; and Living With The Brainy Bunch, a BBC programme about two struggling teenagers who lived for six weeks with a different family seeing how their learning habits differed from their hosts’.  Both programmes of course raised further questions, but on the whole were incredibly interesting and ended with some very strong messages.  If you missed them then I am sure they are still available on iPlayer.

 

Year 11, 12 and 13 students are now in their last few weeks of school before the summer examinations begin.  I hope the two-week holiday was productive and that those students have returned to school better prepared for what is to come.  Keep working.

 

This week the Year 12 geography students are completing their essential A Level fieldwork in Dorset.  I still remember my own fieldwork in the Forest of Dean and the Isle of Wight measuring footpath erosion, counting cars in the local town and establishing the impact of longshore drift on the beach.  Let us hope they are enjoying themselves. 

 

Finally, tomorrow Year 13 will be having their leavers’ photo taken.  It is a chance for the entire year group to capture a moment in time which I know many will look back on in years to come.  Let’s hope the weather is good so the photo can be taken outside.