Welcome to my first blog of the
academic year. I have now been writing a weekly blog for seven years, and
so for our newest Maidstonians and their families, they simply provide a brief
insight into life at MGS - sharing news, up-and-coming events and success
stories.
Firstly, I would like to reflect on the start of term and the first few days of the new year. It is so good having everyone back in school and living life pretty normally. On Wednesday last week we had a whole school assembly in the Quad. With the excellent weather it was a perfect opportunity to have the entire school community in one place, and it reminded us what we all belong to. In fact, last week’s assembly was the largest gathering of Maidstonians in the School’s 472-year history. It was a glorious sight.
The start of term also signified the return to verticality and mixed aged forms. Sadly, due to the pandemic and the need for year groups to remain in their bubbles, verticality has had to be put on hold, but we are delighted that we can see it return. Our vertical house structure is something that we are very proud of and has been a main feature of the school for the last four years. It promotes a sense of belonging and identity in a very large school community, and what we are seeing on a daily basis is truly remarkable. In fact, on Thursday, a group of year 11 students invited a group of year 7 students to join them in a game of football, and I witnessed myself a group of year 10 students helping some year 7 students in the Refectory. These two anecdotal examples illustrate the benefits of the house structure and the beautiful nature of MGS.
Last Friday we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon celebrating the achievements of last year’s Year 11, 12 and 13 at the Upper School Speech Day. Sadly, the weather did not allow us to hold the event in the Quad, but despite being in the Big Hall it was still an enjoyable occasion. Congratulations again to all prize winners, and thank you to Dr Vaughan Everett for driving all the way from Pembrokeshire to be our guest of honour.
Also on Friday we hosted our team building event for Year 7. All morning Year 7 took part in a range of activities and challenges on the field to promote a sense of teamwork and camaraderie. They had a lot fun and got to know many more of their peers.
Saturday was another wonderful day
for MGS as it marked the beginning of the new rugby season. School rugby
has not been seen for 18 months, so it was great being able to hold a full
fixture of matches against Gravesend Grammar School. Sadly, we only came
away with two wins out of six, but the atmosphere was incredible, and the size
of the watching crowd was probably the biggest I have ever seen. Welcome
back rugby!
This week we welcome parents of year 12 students to attend the Year 12 Information Evening: an evening to hear from us about the coming year. Other year groups and their parents will have their respective evenings over the coming weeks.
This week we are also arranging for form tutors to meet with their year 11 parents to discuss the year ahead. The pandemic has caused a lot of disruption, so we feel it is important that Year 11 hit the ground running to position themselves in the best place when we get round to May next year. The same idea will apply to Year 13 the following week.
