HT Blog -Tuesday 8 July 2025
Hello there, Mr Hanratty here. Yesterday marked the start of Extended Learning Week for Year 7 to 9. ELW is a unique feature of our curriculum and a week many students and staff look forward to, with many arguing it is the best week of the year. This is because during ELW we suspend the normal timetable and provide learning and enrichment experiences that students wouldn’t normally experience through the formal curriculum, including residentials and trips.
Some of our popular activities include Basketball Camp, Chess, Debating, DT Soap Box (a high-energy, Grand Prix-style race where teams will put their soapboxes they’ve been building all week to the test), Golf Academy at Tudor Park Golf Club in Bearsted, Harry Potter Workshop at (of course) Harry Potter Studios, MGS Bake Off, Rowing, Special Effects Makeup, Water sports on St Andrews Lakes (very popular), and Wrestler Bootcamp where students meet real professional wrestlers, create their own wrestler persona, and take part in appropriate exercises that would one day make them ring-ready!
Many of the activities on offer run for 2 and a half days until tomorrow lunchtime, and then we have a reset for those students who have signed up for two 2.5-day activities. There are also 5-day activities such as golf, and of course trips - these include visits to France, Spain, and our CCF contingents travelling to different corners of the UK. We will update our social media over this week with many photos from the various trips and activities and will also publish a rundown of the week in our end of term newsletter.
And while speaking about end of term, next week is the final week of the academic year - and a busy one to end on. On Monday we will celebrate Founders’ Day with our annual service at All Saints Church in Maidstone. The school will walk to the church for the service in the morning and walk back in the afternoon to join our Lower School Speech Day, where subject prizes and top scholar awards will be awarded. The list of prize winners will be published in next week’s end of term newsletter.
On Wednesday we will hold our Sports Day (weather permitting, of course), and you can feel the excitement building amongst the students for this day - they say boys tend to have a competitive streak - well, you really see it when it comes to Sports Day. Like previous years, parents and carers are invited to come along for the day or part of it.
On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, we will be suspending the normal timetable for enrichment activities - similar to this week’s Extended Learning Week - but the focus is more academic in nature, with students given the opportunity to explore academic subjects they wouldn’t normally get exposed to. For example, Year 7 will take part in Film and Media workshops, and Year 10 will take part in Politics and Philosophy lessons.
While on the subject of Year 10, this
year group, along with Year 12, are involved in work experience this week while
everyone else takes part in ELW. Thank you to our Careers Team for supporting
them in finding positions and thank you also to the many employers who have
supported our work experience programme.
Finally, looking back at last week, Thursday was really a day of two bookends - with Year 6 Induction Day held during the school day and Year 13 Prom in the evening and night.
On Thursday we were pleased to welcome our soon-to-be Maidstonians from Year 6 to their Year 7 Induction Day with us. They took part in a carousel of activities and team building opportunities and joined the whole school for one of our assemblies in the Quad. We hope they enjoy their final weeks at primary school, have a great summer, and we look forward to welcoming them in September as our 477th cohort.
And following the Induction Day, that night Year 13 celebrated the end of their MGS journey at their Prom at Leeds Castle. It was great to hear them speak so positively about their time at the school and their recent exam experience. Speeches, prize giving, and quizzes took place between a fantastic three course meal, with plenty of laughter, singing, and some questionable dance moves (including from staff!). A big thank you to the Prom Committee for organising and running such a successful event, and to Leeds Castle for hosting us. We look forward to seeing Year 13 again on A Level Results Day on the 14 August and hope they all have a wonderful summer in the meantime.
As we quickly now approach the end of
term, I’m sure the Head will share his closing message with all you Constant
Readers, but as I will not have the opportunity, I’d like to take this
opportunity to wish you all an enjoyable summer with sunshine and laughs
wherever you may be. I may write to you all again in the future through this
blog, so until then, take care.