Welcome to the start of a new academic year; welcome to Maidstone Grammar School’s 475th Anniversary year; and welcome to the first Headteacher’s Blog of the year. I hope you are all keeping well, and for those readers who have had a holiday, I hope you had a good one. It is so good to be back, sharing once again news stories and successes that we are proud of and wish for you all to know.
We start with some amazing news from three Old Maidstonians. Owen, Michael and Charlie, who all left Maidstone Grammar School in 2022, decided to set themselves a challenge. At the end of July they all completed a 76-day walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Along the way they were raising money for Parkinson’s, and at the moment, have raised over £7000! What an achievement, and what an inspiration to others. Well done to them.
Today we welcomed the entire student body back and acknowledged it at a school assembly in the Quad. With the weather being ideal, we were all able to come together and celebrate the start of term before beginning the first lesson of the day. It is always good to see the students return to their school, and being able to do it altogether added to the day.
This week there are further opportunities for the school to come together. On Thursday, we hope to be able to have a whole school photograph – something that we have not been able to do since September 2014. This opportunity to record the moment when all Maidstonians come together is the first event to celebrate the 475th anniversary of MGS. We are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather.
On Friday our older students come together to acknowledge the achievements of last year’s Year 11, 12 and 13 at the Upper School Speech Day. Guest of honour this year is Eileen Lewis, a former member of staff who gave MGS over 25 years’ service. Colleagues of mine are looking forward to seeing her again, as well as seeing the many students who have achieved great things receive recognition and applause. I addition to this event, on Friday morning Year 7 will be enjoying a morning of team building activities to support their transition and induction, as well as helping them make new friends. This always proves to be an enjoyable and memorable event.
