We have welcomed our pupils back after what I hope has been a relaxing and exciting half term break for everyone and immediately entered into a busy and horizon expanding first week of this Autumn term. The crisp sunshine we have seen inbetween bouts of rain reveals how the grounds are turning from variegated greens into the beautiful rusty reds and oranges as the sugars transform the leaves into that gorgeous colour. Our outdoor learning day on Thursday, as reported on below, was an excellent opportunity for pupils to be inspired by learning outside in such an environment for lessons beyond Forest School and Games, where they normally can enjoy what is so special about Gosfield.
There have also been special events for our Year 11s and Sixth Form, a lot of trips and as you’ll see below, this is just the start of what will be an exciting half term with Antibullying week and Children in Need next week, many PTA events coming up as well as scholarship opportunities, sporting and other successes to report and of course we will have more news about our Christmas celebrations. Gosfield School has returned and life here is as bright and colourful as our grounds, welcome back everyone!
Remembrance
We have been selling Poppies all this week in preparation for our Remembrance ceremony which will take place by 11am on Monday 11 November. This is always a very well observed occasion and we look forward to seeing all of our pupils remember all those who gave up their lives so we can enjoy the freedoms we do today.
Children in Need and Anti Bullying Week
Next week we have two big events – Children in Need and the very important national Anti-Bullying Week.
The Prep and Senior School Children in Need Non-Uniform Day will take place on Friday 15 November 2019. Please bring £2 for Non-Uniform.
There will also be a Cake Sale for the Senior school and the Prep school. Donations of nut free cakes are very welcome, remember to bring your money to buy a cake.
On Tuesday 12 November we are supporting the National Odd Sock Day Campaign to support Anti Bullying Week. This is not a non uniform day, just show your support with odd socks.
Gosfield School Painting
We have recently been informed that the Gosfield School painting (shown above) was created by Dennis Roxby Bott. He was a student here between 1959-1961. The watercolour above was on display at the Royal Watercolor Society's Exhibition at Bankside Gallery, London in 2015 of which he is a member.
Outdoor Learning Day
Carroll diagrams, multiples and not multiples with Year 5
On Thursday this week, Gosfield School took part in the international Outdoor Classroom Day, and what a fantastic day it was! Despite the weather's best attempts to dampen the day, pupils from Nursery up to Year 9 were able to spend time outdoors, taking part in such varied topics as natural art sculptures, using leaves for data collection and scatter graphs in Maths, experiencing how soldiers would have felt in the trenches during the First World War, drawing chalk Rangoli patterns on the playground and many other things. Throughout the day, updates were posted on our Facebook page, so please do visit the page and look at the photos and videos of the day. Nationally, nearly 700,000 pupils and globally over 3 million pupils took part in the day and we are delighted that Gosfield was able to participate. The next Outdoor Classroom Day is on Thursday 21 May 2020 and we look forward to another great experience for our pupils.
Sixth Form Open Evening and Taster Day
The Sixth Form Open Evening took place on Tuesday 5 November. It was wonderful to see so many Year 10 and 11 students taking an interest in the various subjects that we have on offer. It was also great to hear all the reasons our current Sixth Formers chose Gosfield Sixth Form; most notably that they ‘never leave a lesson with a question unanswered’ due to the level of teaching and pastoral care.
Later this week on Friday 8 November we had our Year 11 Sixth Form Taster day. Our Year 11s had an opportunity to experience a variety of different A level subjects, in order to get a ‘taster’ of A level studies and further education beyond GCSE. Mrs Flynn-Hadden delivered some highly useful career sessions and students were also given an opportunity to attend a Life Skills lesson learning about first aid. We really hope Year 11 enjoyed the day and are now clear and confident in their decisions about their future education.
Cricket Scholar Trip to Lords
Our Cricket Scholars enjoyed a trip to the Lords Cricket Ground yesterday. The scholars took part in a 2-hour training session using the Lord’s facilities, as well as having a tour of the historic ground and museum. They all had a lovely day which finished with Mr Stephens awarding them with their Cricket Scholar badge.
Little Princess Trust
Towards the end of the summer holiday, Grace from Year 11 had 13 inches of her hair cut and donated it to the Little Princess Trust, which was a fantastic achievement, congratulations Grace!
As a reminder, we will be raising money for both the Little Princess Trust and Children in Need next week. The activities will take place on Friday 15 November during House assembly time. Mrs Stewart, Teacher of Chemistry in the Senior School has kindly volunteered to cut her hair for the Little Princess Trust. Cash donations will be forwarded to the trust. We will also have a cake sale for Senior and Prep pupils at break time, so please support us with nut free cake donations and send some monies for purchasing cakes and a raffle ticket for the large cake, any donations for this are also welcome.
Prep and Nursery Assembly Dates
This half term we have the following class assemblies and we would be delighted if parents and other family members would like to join us at 8.50 am on a Wednesday morning. Similar to last half term, you will also have the option of staying and experiencing one of our Prep school singing lessons, which would finish by 9.35 am.
20 November - Year 2
27 November - Year 1
4 December - Reception and Nursery
Prep Stay and Share
On Friday 29 November at 3.20 pm, we would like to invite all the parents and carers of Prep children from Year 1 to 6 into the classrooms to look through your child's books and share their learning and progress. You will be able to move between the classrooms if you have more than one child. The children have all been working extremely hard, filling their books with work that they are very proud of. We do hope you can join us.
Christmas Craft Session
On Friday 29 November we would like to invite Nursery and Reception parents to a Christmas Crafts session. This will be from 2.50pm - 3.50pm held in the Cricket Pavilion. Please can Reception parents arrive at Meadow Court at 2:40pm to share their child's learning as part of our Prep 'Stay and Share' event ahead of this.
Primary Maths Challenge
Year 6 have been working hard on their problem solving skills in preparation for taking part in the national Primary Maths Challenge event next week. The Primary Maths Challenge is a demanding set of problem solving questions, designed to stretch Year 6 minds all over the country. It will be a great opportunity to expand their mathematical thinking and experience a wide variety of interesting maths questions in the familiar environment of their own classroom.
PTA
The new Chair of the PTA writes....
Hello everyone and welcome back, I hope you all a restful half-term. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as the new chair of the PTA having taken over from Terri just before the half term break. My name is James Clark-Wright and my family and I joined the Gosfield School community in September this year with Rupert joining Year 4, Montgomery joining Year 2, and Percival joining the Reception class. My wife Emmer has also joined the PTA committee, so we are very much entrenched into the school community! I would also like to take a moment to thank Terri Ulrich and the previous PTA committee for all the work they have done, and I look forward to working with the 2019 committee to build on this success.
I am hopeful that going forward this PTA blurb will be a key feature of the school newsletter to keep you all up to date with important events and dates in the PTA calendar and act as a vehicle for sharing relevant PTA news with the wider school community. I have created a PTA e-mail address; gosfieldpta@gmail.com so please feel free to use this to share ideas or make suggestions on what you would like your PTA to do. We are always keen to have new members and with this in mind, our next formal meeting will be held on November 27. Thanks very much and look forward to seeing you around and about the school.
Key dates for the weeks ahead:
16 November - PTA Gatsby Ball
22 November – Prep School Movie and Pizza night (helpers needed!)
27 November - Cut hedge run (helpers needed!)
27 November - Formal PTA meeting (venue/time TBC)
6 December – Prep Christmas Party
Impressive achievements
Lily from Year 6 has been selected to join the U11 Essex County Cricket Squad. She plays for Maldon Cricket Club and is one of our very own Gosfield Cricket Scholars. County training starts in January. We look forward to hearing more from Lily when the season begins. This is great news, well done, Lily!
Darcy from Year 7, played her debut match for Sudbury U13s girls’ rugby team in the half term break against Rochford. Despite the girls best efforts, Rochford took the lead and won the match. Darcy received the U13 player of the day award in recognition of a super performance in her first match for Sudbury. Congratulations, Darcy!
Louis from Year 9 and Freddie from Year 7 represented Colchester and District Fencing Society in both U11 and U14 categories. They both competed in the Foil tournament at St Ives on October 20. Congratulations to both boys on their first inter club event!
Scholarships and Bursaries
We currently have several Scholarship and Bursary opportunities available:
Cricket Scholarship Day - 5 December 2019
Our next Cricket Scholarship Day will take place on 5 December 2019. Applications are invited from existing pupils in year groups 3-11 and from external applicants for Years 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9. Scholarships for other Year groups will only be available should a place become available in that Year group. Application forms are available to download from the school website gosfieldschool.org.uk/school-downloads or from Mrs Daniels at caro.daniels@gosfieldschool.org.uk. Applicants should be a member of a cricket club. The closing date for applications is 20 November 2019.
Pinegar Bursary
We are delighted to be able to offer a 50% Pinegar Bursary for a Reception applicant for September 2020 entry. This will be means tested and is designed to allow a family who may not otherwise be able to benefit from a Gosfield School education to join us. There is only one bursary available and application forms can be requested from Mrs Daniels at caro.daniels@gosfieldschool.org.uk. The closing date is 28 February 2020.
Prep School Academic Scholarships
We continue to welcome applicants for our Prep School Academic Scholarships. These are awarded on academic merit and assessment is by way of a CEM assessment and an interview with Mr Martyn. These are open to current Years 1, 2, 3 and 4. Further details are available here (include link to web page gosfieldschool.org.uk/prep-scholarship-awards-2020 or from Mrs Daniels on caro.daniels@gosfieldschool.org.uk
Senior School Scholarship and Bursary Programme
The closing date for the Senior School Scholarship and Bursary program is 13 December 2019. Application forms are available to download from the School website or from Mrs Daniels on caro.daniels@gosfieldschool.org.uk. Applications are welcome from existing and external pupils.
Drama workshops
Year 8 and 9 were extremely lucky to have a guest drama practitioner run workshops during their lessons this week. Amma Boateng, who is an experienced film actress and has worked in a variety of settings, led students through workshops on Stanislavski and Physical Theatre, and the students loved it so much they've asked her back again soon.
ISA Swimming champs
Huge congratulations to the senior swimming team who competed at the ISA East Regional Swimming Gala in Ipswich this week. They were a real credit to the school and delivered some outstanding performances. Hugo and Sam made up our Year 7 boys team and they managed to finish in a fantastic 2nd place out of 11 schools. Well done, Hugo and Sam.
The girls also had a great day in the pool. Chloe from Year 6 started us off with a fantastic win in the first 50m backstroke heat. In the Year 8 girls category Evie and Ella were up against strong competition from Ipswich High School. In the 50m breaststroke event Evie started strongly and kept pace with the other swimmers. Evie narrowly missed out but should be so proud of her effort and determination. Ella competed in the 50m fly and freestyle. In the tough and demanding butterfly event she finished a superb 3rd place. In the freestyle race Ella was narrowly beaten into 2nd place. Ella and the Ipswich competitor were a long way ahead of the others in the race. We are hopeful that this outstanding swim from Ella may secure her a place on the freestyle relay team. These strong performances by Evie and Ella secured them an amazing 3rd place in the Year 8 girls’ category. Well done to all our fantastic swimmers!
All of the Gosfield family wish Chloe and Samuel the very best of luck when they compete as part of the East Regional team at the ISA National swimming championships. This competition is held at the London Aquatics Centre on Saturday 30 November.
Culinary corner
This week Year 3 practised weighing and measuring ingredients and were delighted with their peach crumbles. Year 5 made couscous salad with either a lemon or Moroccan dressing. 7MFH made their mushroom and chickpea curry and 8MAS their chicken chow mein. Year 10 GCSE practised their piping skills with a potato mash topping on their cottage pies.
Next week (also on SMHW)
7CLS Pasta salad
8LWS Cottage pie
9HC and PB Healthy enchiladas
Star of the Week
Year
Star
Reason
Nursery
Amber Thompson
For correctly identifying sounds in our Phonics lesson and then suggesting words for each sound. Well done!
Reception
Bailey Doherty
For super handwriting in phonics.
1
Anthony Fellows
For renewed concentration in class.
2
William Gregory
Displaying a mature and helpful approach to school.
3
Florence Green
For her thoughtfulness and excellent questions on the Year 3 trip to West Stow
4
Rupert Clark-Wright
For always being a polite member of the class.
5
Joseph Blackwell
For delivering an interesting and well-rehearsed speech.
6
Chloe
Linney
Showing determination, persistence and a positive, cheery approach to all her learning.
Mr Davies’ Star of the Week
Marcy Coy
For being resilient and leading the way during Forest School.
Dates for your Diary
Monday 11 November
Anti-Bullying Week
U9 Football Festival at Littlegarth – 1:30pm – 4:30 pm
Remembrance Ceremony
U9 Netball vs St Nicholas School - Away at St Nicholas Old Harlow - 2.45pm - 6pm
Years 12 and 13 Parents Evening
Tuesday 12 November
Odd Socks Day for Anti Bullying Week
Wednesday 13 November
Year 4 Trip to Anglia Water - 10am - 14:30pm
U11 Hockey vs St Mary's - Away at Bocking Hockey Club - 2pm - 4pm
Thursday 14 November
Reception to Year 2 Swimming Lessons
Year 5 ISA Football Tournament - Away at St Nicholas Old Harlow - 2pm – 4pm
Friday 15 November
Children In Need
Sunday 17 November
A Christmas Carol Dress Rehearsal - 12pm - 4pm
And a reminder to everyone, next week is a Week 1 on our two-week timetable. Good luck to everyone with all their endeavours. As ever, my door is always open if you would like to book an appointment in advance via Mrs Bowles.
We are sending you this email because you are associated with Gosfield School or you have at some time expressed an interest. However, if you do not wish to receive further editions, please follow the link below:
