22 May 2018

Firstly, I would like to thank the entire cadet force for last Thursday’s CCF Biennial Inspection.  The Inspecting Officer and accompanying team enjoyed an afternoon in school watching a number of activities and drills conducted by the cadets and staff across all three contingents.  Once again the students were a credit to the school and to the contingent.  Well done and thank you.

 

Last Friday we said goodbye to the ‘Class of 2018’.  The students of Year 13 are now Old Maidstonians following an emotional few hours in school that culminated in their Leavers’ Assembly and the singing of the School Song.  Thank you everyone, and good luck in your up and coming exams.

 

Yesterday afternoon the ‘Family of MGS’ met for the first time to discuss how the School moves forward over the next few years.  The workings of the Parents’ Association, the Old Maidstonian Society and the MGS Development Fund are all integral in supporting the School to further develop the experiences of the students. 

 

Congratulations to Simon Coppard of Corpus Christi House who is now the Kent U20 800m Champion.  He has been the U17 Kent Champion for the last two years, so this event was a huge step up for him as he was the youngest competitor.  The race took place at the Julie Rose Stadium in Ashford and his time was 1.54.93.  Well done Simon.

Six boys in Year 9 are all part of Coxheath and Farleigh Junior Football club: William Riggs-Sutton, William Turner, Thomas Rankin, Matthew Taylor, Owen Jeffrey and Toby Griffith.  The U14 team has made it through to the Express Cabs League Challenge Cup Final – The Jack Small Cup, to be played at the Gallagher Stadium in Maidstone on 27^th May at 12.45pm against Rochester FC. They have also, just at the weekend, become champions of the Express Cabs Primary League U14 division two. The parents, families, friends and coaches are so proud of the boys. They have worked hard the whole season, playing in all weathers to achieve this.  Well done boys for getting this far and good luck on 27^th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 15th May 2018

Firstly, I would like to thank the entire Combined Cadet Force for paying tribute to Old Maidstonian Thomas Walker who sadly died in April and whose funeral was last Thursday.  Thomas was Cadet in Charge of the Army Section in 2016 and so it was fitting that the current Cadet Force payed tribute to him.  It was of course a very sad and reflective occasion, Yet again it illustrates to us how we all feel about our school. 

Public examinations have now begun and will continue for the next six weeks.  Years 11 and 13 will now be busy but with the knowledge that a long summer holiday is just around the corner.  Year 12 UCAS examinations have finished and the results of these will be shared with the students just after half term.  Examinations for years 7, 9 and 10 begin next week.

On Friday we say goodbye to Year 13.  Leavers’ Day is an opportunity for the students to say goodbye to their school and for us to wish them well as they become Old Maidstonians.  Preparations for Leavers’ Day have already begun which included the distribution of Leavers’ Hoodies last Friday. 

Last Tuesday the U15 Football Squad took part in the final of the Maidstone District Cup.  We were up against our main rivals, Oakwood Park Grammar School, the same opponents we had last year in the U14 Final.  The boys played extremely well and produced a really exciting game but sadly lost 3 – 2.  Bad luck boys, but well done for reaching the final two years in a row.

Over the past three months we have been hosting a monthly mile run in partnership with the Mason Foundation. It has grown each month and last Saturday saw a good turnout, including parents, students from MGS and local schools as well as some staff. The event is all about getting out and being active, this is as competitive or non-competitive as each individual wants to make it but ultimately it is a community event.  Look out for the next monthly mile in June.

So far this year we have raised just shy of £15,000 for charity.  The four house charity days plus the BBC Children in Need and Sport Relief days have all contributed to this amazing total.  We still have one more charity day in June which is supporting the Young Lives Foundation Charity: a local charity that works to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in Kent.  Thank you to everyone who has helped us achieve this.

Tuesday 8 May 2018

I hope you all enjoyed the bank holiday weekend.

This week year 12 students are not in lessons as they are completing their Year 12 UCAS exams.  These exams, along with everything else this year, will help staff make their predictions for any future application to university.  Best wishes to all of Year 12.  

Also this week, year 11 students will be released at some point to begin their study leave before they start their exams next week.  We have now reached the ‘business end’ of the year and so we are seeing the students knuckle down to plenty of revision and preparation.  Good luck to them too.

On Thursday the school will be paying tribute to Thomas Walker, an Old Maidstonian who left in 2016, who sadly died a few weeks ago.  He was a committed Maidstonian who loved his school, and whilst here achieved Cadet in Charge of the Army Section of the CCF and Captain of Challenger House.  Many will miss him.

Since we returned to school after Easter we have been taking part in the national art exhibition, ‘There but not there’, to remember the many who lost their lives in the First World War.  To mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the war Perspex silhouettes sit in churches, schools and public buildings to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of people who are ‘there, but not there’.  Thanks to Mrs Birrell, one of these silhouettes sits in our hall and will do so right up until the 11th November.  The students have responded to this as one would expect.

With the weather getting warmer we are looking forward to moving school assemblies to outside in the Quad.  I always look forward to Quad assemblies as they provide an opportunity to get the whole school together in one place.  It is hoped that the first Quad assembly will take place after the half term.

The better weather has also allowed the building contractors to crack on with the two building projects: the pavilion and the science and computing building.  The pavilion, we hope, will be handed over to the school at the end of June, just in time for Sports Day, and the science and computing building will be ready for the beginning of the next academic year in September.  They are both really coming along well.

Congratulations to Joe Gosney of Corpus Christi House.  He will be attending Buckingham Palace next week to receive his Duke of Edinburgh Gold award.  He has worked incredibly hard for over a year to achieve this prestigious award.  Well done Joe.

Tuesday 1 May 2018

I cannot believe today is the first day of May, and from next month the nights begin to draw in!  Many thanks to the students and staff of the school who coped with yesterday’s dreadful weather.  There was so much rain water yesterday we had to build a temporary platform over a large puddle to allow students and staff to access part of the school.  It was all received in good spirits.

 

Tonight, parents of boys in Year 7 attend their son’s parents’ evening.  It will be the first opportunity for parents to meet their son’s teachers and to hear how they have progressed in their first year.  I am sure the evening will be a positive one. 

 

This week is the last full week Year 11 are in school; their study leave begins sometime next week.  Now is the time that they constantly have their heads in a book revising.  However, year 11 students studying history have their first exam tomorrow as they are following the iGCSE course and art students began their exam yesterday.  Year 12 students begin their UCAS exams this Friday which will continue for five school days.  We will welcome them back on Monday 14 May.  Year 13 students don’t leave us until Friday 18 May.

 

With the summer months soon upon us we will soon be allowing the students to use the field at break at lunch.  We were hoping to open the field up yesterday, but the unpleasant weather prevented us from doing so.  We hope to be in a position to open the field later in the week.

 

Many thanks to the students who have already become accustomed to the new arrangements in the Refectory.  With food their being more popular we adjusted the queuing arrangements on return to school after Easter to ease certain pressure points, and I am pleased to say that all has gone well.

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.

 

Tuesday 27 March 2018

Can I firstly congratulate and thank all the rowers and runners who took part in last week's Sport Relief Charity a Day.  The 24 Hour Rowathon in itself raised over £2500 and rowed a distance of over 2.1 million metres.  The Sport Relief mile at lunch saw many runners and walkers enjoy a lap of the field being cheered on by the rest of the school.  Well done everyone; it was a great day for the School.

Also on Friday over 80 Old Maidstonians enjoyed an evening of memories and catch up at the Old Maidstonian Supper.  Sam Coppard (OM 2012), the President of the Society, presided over the event with guest of honour, Robert Lednisky (OM 2012) who is the only Maidstonian to have ever achieved a place at the prestigious Harvard University.  Thank you to the Old Maidstonian Committee who organised the event.

This week is the last week of term before we break up for the Easter holiday.  A number of students leave today for the classics trip to Greece, and tomorrow we welcome back more Old Maidstonians who will be playing in the OM vs. MGS rugby and football matches.  Kick offs are at 2.30pm.  Do come along.

Congratulations to Hamish Reilly of Corpus Christi House who finished 3^rd in the British Schools Biathlon Championships last weekend.  On Sunday Hamish also competed at the British Duathlon Championships for Elite Youths.  It was a very close and exciting race, and Hamish was delighted to finish in 3rd place again.  He recorded the 3rd fastest run and the fastest bike segment, and is looking forward to taking this result into the next event of the British Triathlon Super Series at Llanelli in May. Well done Hamish.

Finally, can I take this opportunity to wish everyone a restful couple of weeks.

20 March 2018

A huge thank you to the Parents' Association, the sixth form students and the students from Years 7 and 8 who all helped to support the MGSPA Spring Fair on Saturday.  Despite the extreme weather over the weekend the event went ahead and ended up being very successful.  Thank you to the many families who braved the cold temperatures and spent a few hours enjoying the many stalls on offer. 
This week is a busy one for the school.  Tonight we welcome the parents of Year 11 to attend the Year 11 Parents' Evening: a chance to hear from subject staff how the students are performing and what final preparations need to be made before the summer examinations.
On Thursday the Sport Relief 24 Hour Rowathon begins which has now attracted over 60 students, members of staff and Old Maidstonians wishing to play their part.  Thank you to everyone who has offered to row during the day, and thank you to the many of you who have already sponsored the event.  It you would like to show your support then please visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MGS24HourRowathon  and follow the instructions.
And Friday is the Sport Relief Charity Day where we will see the completion of the rowathon but also see many more students take part in the Sport Relief Mile at lunchtime.  Non-uniform accompanied by the usual contribution of £1 will take place, but it is hoped that much more money can be raised during the day when students cheer on their peers in both sporting events.  
Also on Friday the Old Maidstonian Supper takes place in the evening.  A number of former students of the school will return to their old school to reminisce and catch up with old friends.  It always proves to be a wonderful occasion.
And finally, good luck to the rugby players from Year 10 to 13 who are playing in the Rosslyn Park National Sevens Tournament this week.  The Rosslyn Park Tournament is extremely prestigious which will hopefully encourage the players to step up and raise their game.

 

Tuesday 13 March 2018

The CCF Army section entered a team of eight cadets in the 11 Infantry Brigade military skills competition over the weekend 9-11^th March.  Each of the 13 stands tested a different area of the cadet syllabus; weapon handling, military knowledge, first aid, obstacle course, map reading, shooting and section attacks. Weather conditions were challenging and the fog, heavy rain and mud added an extra dimension to the competition. The section finished 5^th overall, against teams from the ACF and CCF from all over the South East of England. The team now has six weeks to prepare itself for the Cadet Cambrian Patrol, the ultimate Army cadet competition taking place in the Brecon Beacons.

Yesterday I was out of school as I was renewing my emergency first aid qualification.  Every three years I refresh my first aid skills to ensure I have the basic elements just in case I need to attend to an emergency.  I am now good for another three years.

Tonight after school I am leading a presentation to all staff looking at what we have achieved this year, what we still need to do, and what we wish to aspire to achieve over the next few years.  We have achieved a lot already, but there is still work to be done to ensure that all of our students reach their potential.  Tomorrow after school I will be making a very similar presentation to governors at the postponed Full Governors Meeting.

On Friday the entire Senior Leadership Team are away from school to give us time to discuss what our priorities are for the rest of the year and beyond.  These 'away days' are really helpful as they provide undisturbed opportunities to discuss a number of matters.

Saturday the Parents' Association Spring Fair takes place.  It starts at 10.30am and there will be many fair-style stalls to enjoy, music and art, refreshments, raffle draw and much draw.  If you have a few hours on Saturday please do come along.  Thank you to everyone who supported the non-uniform day last Friday which generated many items to the Fair.  It also raised over £800 for the Association, which will ultimately be directed back to school in support of a project.

Congratulations to Sam Ghinn of Barton House who competed in the British Gymnastics Competition at the weekend. won the bronze medal for Floor, was 4th on pommel (missing a medal position by 0.75) and came 7th overall in the U16 age group. Well done Sam.

 And finally, please remember to sponsor the 24 Hour Rowathon which is taking place from next Thursday 22 March for Sport Relief.  Many students and staff and already signed up to do their bit, and thank you to those who have offered to make some food for the rowers.  If you would like to sponsor the rowathon please visit:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MGS24HourRowathon 

Tuesday 6 March 2018

It is good to be back to normality.  Last week's disruption due to the bad weather is fortunately rare, but when it happens, it causes problems.  As well as students missing lessons a number of events and meetings had to be cancelled and now need to be rescheduled.  Sadly lessons cannot be rescheduled, so I hope students were able to do what they could at home.  Thank you for your understanding during last week, and thank you to the many who made it in on Thursday.  I also again wish to thank the members of staff who helped clear the school site on Wednesday to allow us to open.

 

Sadly the weather did not improve enough to allow yesterday's CCF Biennial Inspection to take place.  60 cadets accompanied by members of staff and volunteers were due to take part providing an opportunity for our cadets to demonstrate to the inspecting officer how proud we are of our CCF.  We hope to reschedule. 

 

Thursday we invite parents of year 13 students into school to attend the Year 13 Parents' Evening.  It is the last opportunity parents will hear out their child's progress before final preparations are made for the summer examinations.  A busy few months ahead.

 

And on Friday the rescheduled Parents' Association Non-Uniform Day takes place to raise funds and generate items to support the MGS PA Spring Fair on Saturday 17 March.  Please do refer to a previous ParentMail to understand how you can support.