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.

 

 

Tuesday 27 June 2017

There are now only four weeks to go until the end of the year, but nothing is slowing down.  This week is a very busy one. Yesterday and Thursday we welcome a gentleman to the school who is currently undergoing his NPQH: the qualification required for headship. He will be spending 9 days in school over the next few months, and the two days this week involve him shadowing me, attending SLT meetings and working on a project that provides him with a contrast to his current school.  Yesterday I also met with the Head of a local primary school to chat about how we can both learn from each other’s experiences and give us a different perspective to our schools.  It was very helpful. This week public examinations finish after six busy weeks for a number of students.  With the examinations finishing, students in Years 11 and 13 are invited back into school to return their textbooks.  For Year 11 that day is Thursday and for Year 13 it is tomorrow.  To coincide with Year 13 book collection we also invite Year 13 to stay in school for a little longer and attend their Leavers' Tea: an opportunity to catch up once more over some strawberries and cream and a glass of punch.  Year 11's book collection takes place on Thursday morning as the rest of that day and Friday we run our Pre Sixth Form Induction Days.  Over these two days, students wishing to take up a place in the Sixth Form here spend time in school learning about the subjects they have chosen and hearing from key staff about life after GCSEs.  On Friday this week, I am out of school attending two meetings: the Kent Schools’ Funding Forum and the Kent and Medway Grammar Schools' Association.  Both meetings are incredibly valued as they provide opportunities to meet colleagues from across the county and learn about a number of important matters that affect our schools.  Also on Friday, the Parents’ Association are putting on an ABBA tribute night.  About 100 tickets have been sold already, but there is still time and availability if you fancy a night dancing to some ABBA classics.  The evening includes a BBQ and starts at 7.30pm. Congratulations to Kaan Belton (OM 2015) who qualified to row in this week’s Henley Royal Regatta, the most prestigious rowing event in the World.  He is rowing for Maidstone Invicta Rowing Club, in a coxless 4, and has a pretty good chance for progressing past the first round in the competition.  Well done and good luck Kaan. And finally, Teddy Ostler of Year 7 coxed a J14 crew on Saturday for the South East at Peterborough Junior Regatta, and after a long hard gruelling day with wins under his belts progressed to the final and won gold.  Well done Teddy.

 

 

Tuesday 20 June 2017

Firstly I would like to acknowledge and congratulate Samuel Ghinn of Year 9 who competed in a National U16 Gymnastics Competition last Saturday and won Gold on the Pommel Horse and came 4^th overall across all disciplines.  Sam has also been selected to take part in the GB Squad that is competing in the Junior International Competition in Portugal this weekend.  Well done Sam.

 

This week the four new Heads of House finalise the House Prefect Structure by appointing their House Captains and Deputy House Captains from the 16 strong Student Leadership Team.  Thank you to the students who have applied for the posts of House Captain and good luck.

 

On Thursday and Friday of this week students from Years 7 and 8 put on the dramatic production Fantastic Mr Fox.  The boys and staff have been working really hard over the last few weeks and months rehearsing and preparing themselves for these two performances.  There are tickets still available so please do come along.

 

With a temperature yesterday of 30 degrees, and the rest of the week being predicted to be in the high 20s, it is important that everyone stays as cool as possible.  School buildings are not the best for staying cool so we need to ensure we can adapt to the high temperatures easily.  During the summer months we always enforce summer uniform regulations, and on very hot days we will also allow students, if they wish, to remove their ties and undo their top buttons.  Students should also be sensible themselves and think about what they do and where they go at break and lunch.  Staying out of the sun and drinking plenty of water would be a good idea.  I hope everyone is managing.

 

 

Tuesday 13 June 2017

This week is a busy one.  Last night students and parents of Year 12 attended our UCAS Evening: the event at which Year 12 students begin to think about what they wish to do after they leave MGS.  It is followed today with Year 12 students being off timetable and attending a carousel of sessions that get them thinking about university and the world of work.  I hope they had a good day. 

This afternoon the middle leaders of the school meet for the last time this year and will be using that time to review the year and consider ideas for the future.  It is always important to build time in the academic year to reflect on how things are going, and the meeting this afternoon is one opportunity of doing that. Public examinations for Years 11, 12 and 13 continue all of this week and do so for another couple of weeks.  Keep revising hard everyone! Today and tomorrow I am attending the Grammar School Heads’ Association Annual Conference in London.  Every year the heads of grammar schools come together to discuss a number of matters that are prevalent in their schools and hear from key speakers who give them their thoughts on a variety of issues.  The timing of this year’s conference is very apt following last week’s outcome of the General Election. Tomorrow and Thursday after school the other half of the new Year 6 students are coming into school to begin their induction process.  With the introduction of new Houses from September we have introduced four Year 6 House Teas, and the first two were last week which went extremely well.  Well done to the U13 Cricket Squad who beat Harvey Grammar School last week in their weekly fixture.  The boys scored over 100 in their 20 overs and then managed to keep Harvey to a total of about 60 in their overs.  Congratulations boys and keep up the good run that you have produced so far this year. And finally, on Saturday the 9th of June, Simon Coppard of Year 11 attended the Kent School Championships at the Julie Rose Stadium in Ashford representing MGS. He won his heat in a comfortable time of 2:05 and then went on to win the 800m Intermediate Boys Final in a time of 1:59 which will hopefully allow him to be selected for the English School Athletics Championships in Birmingham representing MGS and Kent during early July. In addition to Simon, Bashiri Ryan of Year 9 also ran at the weekend and placed 4th in the Junior Boys 800m Final.  Well done to them both.

 

Tuesday 6th June 2017

Welcome back everyone; I hope you all had a pleasant Spring Bank Holiday.

Just before the half term break over 100 people on Thursday 25 May enjoyed an evening with Steve Davis.  We were thoroughly entertained throughout the whole night watching the six-time world champion play six frames of snooker and listening to a number of funny stories about his life.  Thank you to everyone who came along and supported, and thank you to the Parents’ Association for organising the event.

Yesterday, while many students continued with their half term, staff were in school attending one of their training days.  The day involved learning about a number of new and different initiatives that will be introduced into school in the near future, and provided time to prepare for events that are coming up this term.  A good day.

This week is a busy one.  This afternoon and tomorrow afternoon half of the new Year 6 students are coming into school to begin their induction process.  With the introduction of new Houses from September we have introduced four Year 6 House Teas.  Year 6 boys and their parents are being invited into school for about an hour or so in their Houses to meet each other and key members of staff in that House.  We hope they enjoy themselves.  The other two House teas take place next week.

Tuesday 23rd May 2017

This week Year 7, 9 and 10 join Year 11 and 13 in completing their end of year examinations.  All the students in Years 7, 9 and 10 will complete examinations in a number of subjects which will then provide a detailed analysis on how they have progressed during the year.  Good luck to the boys and I hope that they have been revising hard.

Yesterday the Senior Leadership Team spent the day away from school working on a number of things in preparation for next year.  It is always this time of year when a lot of work takes place for the new academic year, and being away from school allows for a clear head and no distractions.  From now we are able to put together the 2017-18 School Development Plan which draws our attention to key areas we wish to see develop.

Tonight I am attending the final full governors meeting of the year.  At every full governors meeting I compile a report in how MGS has developed and what we have been working on since the last meeting.  It is also a chance for me to inform the governors of the outcomes of the previous day.

Tomorrow evening I have invited some neighbours who live around the school site to join me in looking at the plans for the new pavilion.  It is really important we engage our neighbours with such matters and understand from them their thoughts and ideas.  I look forward to welcoming them.

 I am very excited about Thursday night’s Parents’ Association event.  I am a huge snooker fan and was brought up on the vintage snooker years of the 1980s.  The six-time world champion Steve Davis will be here at MGS playing a few frames of snooker and entertaining the audience with some funny stories and providing an insight into his life.  Tickets are still available. 

 And finally congratulation to Hamish Reilly of Year 9 who took part in the National Youth Triathlon Super Series event in Llanelli last weekend.  It was Hamish’s first race at this level and he finished in a very credible 6^th place.  Coming out of the swim he was in 31^st place but then had a fantastic bike segment which put him into 8^th place going into the run.  Well done Hamish.

Tuesday 16 May 2017

 Last Friday was a sad day for many as we said goodbye to Year 13.  Year 13 Leavers’ Day is always an emotional occasion; for students saying goodbye to their school after building a connection with it can be very difficult.  The students left in good spirits, with some shedding the odd tear.  Good luck and best wishes to them all.

 Sadly the U14 footballers lost to Oakwood Park Grammar School at last week’s Maidstone District Final at the Gallagher Stadium.  It was 1 – 1 at full-time and then still 1 -1 at the end of extra-time.  After the standard five penalties, it was 3 -3, and then sadly we missed the next penalty to mean Oakwood taking the match.  The game was incredibly exciting with the boys being a credit to their School.  Bad luck boys, and thank you Mr Terrell for supporting them throughout the season. 

The GCE and GCSE examinations began yesterday and will be with us for the next six weeks.  Timings of the school day are different because of the examinations and it always takes a few days to get used to them.  With lunch being an hour earlier I am sure there will be some hungry students in the evening when they return home!

Tonight after school there is a Full Staff Meeting which is providing me with an opportunity to speak to everyone about the coming months and years.  It is always this time to year when attention turns to the new year in September, and my words to the staff tonight will set out the next phase in MGS’s life.

On Friday I am in Birmingham attending the Grammar School Heads’ Association (GSHA) committee meeting.  I am standing to be a committee member of GSHA and this meeting on Friday is my first opportunity to support the workings of the association.  With grammar schools being encouraged to expand and the drive from the Government to increase the number, the work of GSHA is becoming even more relevant. 

Tuesday 9 May 2017

This week we say goodbye to Year 11 and Year 13.  GCSE and GCE examinations begin in earnest next Monday, so it is that time of year to let students of those two year groups begin their study leave.  Year 11 will go some time during the week, but Year 13 leave on Friday.  Year 13 Leavers’ Day is a very special day for everyone involved, particularly for the students as they move from being a Maidstonian to being an Old Maidstonian; there will be tears.  I would like to wish Year 11 and Year 13 success in their examinations, and thank Year 13 for their service to the School.

This week Year 12 will be completing their examinations, which, along with the AS examinations later in the month, provide an idea of how the students have progressed since September.  These examinations are vitally important as they form the basis of predicting the students’ UCAS grades later in the year.  Good luck to them all.

On Thursday last week two events took place.  The U15 football squad played Valley Park School in the Maidstone District U15 Final at the Gallagher Stadium.  The boys played really well, but sadly lost to Valley 3 – 2.  The boys were very disappointed not to bring back a win for the School, but throughout the game conducted themselves extremely well and were a credit to MGS.  And also on Thursday the Year 11 drama students performed their GCSE pieces to an external examiner.  The students had spent the last few weeks preparing for their assessments, and fingers crossed for some good results which won’t be known until August.

Today after school the U14 football squad play Oakwood Park Grammar School in the Maidstone District U14 Final at the Gallagher Stadium.  Good luck to the boys and let’s hope they can bring home a win.

Finally, congratulations to Matthew Piper of Year 12 who completed the Milton Keynes half marathon a week ago.  He finished it in a really good time of 1 hour 52 minutes and raised over £250 for Great Ormond Street Hospital.  He now has plans to run the Tonbridge half marathon later this year.  Well done Matthew.

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Good morning, I hope you all had a good bank holiday weekend; I could get used to these three day weekends and four day weeks!  This week is a relatively quiet one.  Tonight we welcome parents of Year 7 boys at the Year 7 Parents' Evening.  It is the first time parents of Year 7 boys have met their son's teachers, and I hope the feedback they receive is positive. 

Thank you to everyone who supported the Parents' Association’s non-uniform day on Friday.  Support from the Parents' Association is becoming increasingly important, and their non-uniform day is a really good example of an event that involves the entire student body supporting the School.  Thank you.