Principal’s Newsletter 22 November 2019     

Welcome everyone to this week’s newsletter. A week of bright sunshine and quite a few showers after the glory which was the PTA Gatsby Ball last Saturday. What a tremendous event, designed and created by Messrs Stapleton, Ulrich and Tarbin, as well as a wide variety of other PTA members, and widely regarded as one of the best ever PTA Balls in terms of  venue, decor, food and the wonderful atmosphere created by those who curated our evening and all who participated. A huge thank you to everyone who made it possible, we understand just how much work goes into an evening like this, and hopefully soon we shall hear just how much was raised on the evening!    

As Christmas approaches there are some further big events coming our way, many of which are referenced below, as well as some exciting ones which took place this week, including a great new venture run by Miss Wiggins which we report on here: 

Prep Poetry slam  

This week we were excited to have our very first Prep School Poetry Slam. The children were inspired through their English lessons, studying various poets with a focus on the poem 'All the World Were' by Joseph Coelho. Their poetry developed as they learned more poetic devices and edited them ready to perform to their classmates.  All the children in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 have grown in confidence through this process and performed their poems in school.   

The first round took place during English lessons, producing four finalists per class who were chosen to move onto the grand finale. The final round of our Poetry Slam was performed to the Prep School with an illustrious judging panel, consisting of Mr Martyn, Mrs Redfern, Mrs McCann and our current Senior School Poet Laureate, Ted from Year 8. 

They all performed with gusto and made it very difficult for the judges to pick their winner.  They decided that one child from each year group would be highly commended and one overall winner.  

Congratulations must go to the successful poets who were: 

YEAR 3 – Niall    

YEAR 4 - Harry 

YEAR 5 - Isabelle 

YEAR 6 - Ivy 

Overall Prep School winner was awarded to Joseph from Year 5. Joseph was delighted with his achievement and will be inspired to continue writing poems when he reads some classic and modern poems from his poetry book prize. Here is the winning poem: 

If all the world were… 

If all the world were sea, 

I would jump like a dolphin, 

Swim like a shark, 

And squawk like a seagull. 

If all the world were bedding, 

I’d snuggle with my mother, 

I’d snuggle with my father, 

Then snuggle some more. 

If all the world were wheat, 

I’d like to meet and greet 

And if I didn’t 

I wouldn’t eat or sleep. 
 

If all the world were space, 

I wouldn’t hear a thing… (hello) apart from my heart, 

Which beats all the time, 

Apart from my Grandma’s, which I didn’t think rhymed. 

Unfortunately, the world is the world, 

Which I can’t change, 

But WE can. 

Cut Hedge Cross Country Championship    

We have a very exciting event taking place next Wednesday 27 November, our 53rd Cut Hedge Cross Country Championship. The first race is scheduled for 11.00am and the finish planned for approximately 12.30pm. Spectators are welcome to arrive from 9.30am and parking stewards will be on hand to greet you. Refreshments will be available to purchase through the PTA, who will be selling hot drinks and snacks throughout the morning. If your child is taking part, they should come to school in uniform and bring with them their full Gosfield PE kit, including tracksuit and skins. We recommend that they wear football boots or spikes as the ground will be wet and slippery. Children who have games scheduled in the afternoon will need to bring a spare set of PE clothing to wear for their lessons. Good luck to all students participating in the event! 

And on the subject of Cross Country, we had our Inter House Cross Country today; Alex from Year 10 finished the course in a record time. Well done to all our runners!   

Important Christmas Dates 

As you are aware, we have several exciting Christmas events taking place next month. You would have received a ParentMail with all the relevant information for each event, can you please make sure you respond and let us know if you will be attending. We hope that you will join us and please do encourage friends and family to come along. The events are all family friendly and it will make a lovely start to the festive season. 

Tickets for the following events can be requested via ParentMail. 

A Christmas Carol - Thursday 5 December at 6.30pm and Friday 6 December at 6.30pm in the Dining Hall 

Carol Service – Thursday 12 December, St Andrew’s Church Halstead at 2.15pm  

Santa's Surprise (Nursery, Reception, Years 1 and 2) – Tuesday 10 December at 9.30am and 2.30pm in the Dining Hall 

Social Spaces Update 



Our Sixth Form leaders have been working hard on colour schemes for the new furniture which will be going into the Senior students’ social spaces. They put together a voting system with six different colour schemes for the school to vote. You can see the winning colour scheme above.

Year 5 Trip to Colchester Castle 

Dhian and Oscar from Year 5 writes…  

On Monday 18 November, we visited Colchester Castle Museum. Inside the castle museum a lady called Holly told us the safety rules of the museum. We started by going upstairs and working through our workbooks. We saw the Iron Age roundhouse and tried on some of their clothing. We found out that Iron Age people carried out the following duties: harvesting, collecting firewood, looking after animals and carving wood. We then looked at the Roman artefacts, there was a chain mail suit that was very heavy. There were lots of pots, mirrors and Roman coins that we studied and then we watched a short film about the invasion of Colchester. Later, we went to a big room and we worked in two groups to build an Iron Age roundhouse and a Roman Villa, this was really fun. The round house was tricky because we had to weave the boards around the outside. The Roman Villa was a little easier and we got to sit inside them once we'd finished. After lunch we went down to the dungeons and our guide, called Joe, talked to us about the Roman armies and their weapons. It was very interesting being down under the ground. We were really interested in the prison within the castle, it was a little scary. We visited the shop to spend our £5, lots of people bought swords, which we learned are called 'Gladius'. Finally, we went outside and had a class photo and looked back at how big the castle was. We all really enjoyed the day and learned more about the Romans.   

Senior Students Rewards in the Forest and Sports Hall 

In Monday’s tutor time the students with the highest number of positive points in each year group were rewarded with a half-hour of fun. Years 7-9 played dodge ball and Years 10-11 went to Cub Woods for marshmallow toasting and hot chocolate. A warm well done for their efforts this year. In addition, a group of students were rewarded with tea and cake for their contribution to school and the wider community.   

Law Print and Design 

Charlie from Year 11 has run, for a while now, his own small printing company, specialising in vinyl printing of custom stickers and T-shirts. This is a great achievement and we would like to congratulate Charlie on this venture. Please support him by following his Instagram account @Law_print_and_design. And for more details, please email lawprintanddesign@gmail.com, maybe you’d like to place an order! 

Musical Instruments 

Can you help our Music Department? Mr Bennett has a request: do you have any old or unwanted working musical instruments, equipment, microphones, etc. at home that we could use throughout the school to help develop our young musicians? We are looking for donations to help boost the range of instruments we can lend out and use to enhance our provision. 

If so, do please drop them off to the School Office between now and the end of term and we will give them a new lease of life!   

Many thanks for your help. 

Impressive Achievements   

Harvey from Year 4 represented Essex by taking part in the Essex U9 Chess Team in Basildon. We are delighted to say that he qualified to the next stage of the London Chess Championship Finals which will take place next year. Congratulations, Harvey!  
 

William from Year 10 has been working hard at raising funds for his Mongolia trip which is taking place next summer. He has been selling logs, he took part in a Halloween fundraiser party last month, cake sales, a boot sale and worked over the summer holidays. William has raised over £800 so far with a target of £3000 to reach. Well done! 
 

Zac from Year 8 finished the season 7th in Great Britain at Cheltenham racecourse recently. He met some of the racing greats, Sir Antony McCoy being one, on the steps to the weighing room at the racecourse. We are very proud of you Zak, well done!             

PTA  

James Clarke-Wright, Chair of the PTA writes.... 

So, it’s that time of the week again; your lovely School newsletter is here and what a week it’s been! Last weekend saw many of you heading off to Hedingham Castle for the PTA Ball, I have been told that it has raised a healthy pot of funds for the PTA to carry on supporting the school in the year ahead. Final pennies are being counted as I type this, but I’m sure that come next week we will be able to share the final figure with you all. What I would like to say at this stage is a huge thank you to all the parents who supported the event so brilliantly as well as a huge thank you to the fabulous team of PTA members led by Terri, Jo, and Becca without whom this truly splendid evening would not have been possible. Planning for next year's event will begin in the coming weeks, if anyone has any specific feedback they would like to share or get involved with planning next year’s event please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you: gosfieldpta@gmail.com. 

I have a couple of quick reminders for you; the PTA Christmas Tree sale is in full swing. Forms have been sent, posters are up, and most importantly there are two stunning example trees on display in the Senior and Prep School. Please do get your orders in using the forms or contact Stuart Phillips: stuartphillips424@btinternet.com. Orders should be placed by today, and you can return your forms to the school office or given the deadline send them to Stuart directly. The Christmas All Wrapped event is almost upon us and you should all have received the order forms by now. As a quick reminder the children can purchase a small gift for family members to the value of £5 or £10, these will be on sale on Monday 9 December. We have decided to extend the deadline for the forms to come back to us on Friday 29 November so please do return them if you wish to participate. 

The annual Cut Hedge Cup is happening on Wednesday 27 of November and we have a good number of volunteers that have offered their services already but it’s a case of the more the merrier so if you have the morning to spare please do get in touch via gosfieldpta@gmail.com. Thank you all for your continued support and if you are keen to get involved please do come along to our next formal meeting on the 27 November at 7:30pm in the School Library. 

Remaining dates for this term: 

22 November – Prep School Movie and Pizza Night (16:00 – 17:50) 

27 November - Cut Hedge Cross Country (More Helpers please - 08:30 -12:30) 

27 November - Formal PTA meeting (School Library @ 19:30) 

6 December – Prep Christmas Party (14:00 – 15:45) 

Mongolia Expedition - Meet the Leader Evening  

We have a Meet the Leader evening next Monday for students and parents. This will be an informative evening discussing the Mongolia trip. Exciting times await for our expedition teams as we plan towards the real thing next summer! 

Timings: 

4pm - 6pm for Students 

6pm - 8pm for Parents 

Prep Stay and Share 

On Friday 29 November at 3.20pm, 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 also 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. 

Year 5 Road Safety 

We have been fortunate to secure an interactive pedestrian training session for our Year 5 class on Monday 25 November 2019 in the afternoon. This is run by Wendy Kirby, a designated Road Safety Support Officer, who is employed by Essex Highways Working in Partnership with Essex County Council.  The session is designed to deliver valuable road safety advice to primary aged pupils. 

Parent Survey  

Each academic year we send out a parent survey to all families so that we can collect information regarding what you consider the School does well and what you think we can improve. This is a useful tool which informs decisions we make as we strive to improve our School. Previously we have sent this in the Spring term, however, this year to move in line with the ISI survey conducted last year, we have moved it to the Autumn term. Parents who were with us in the last academic year may feel that they have completed a Parent Survey recently, but rest assured this is the only one we will ask you to complete in the academic year 2019/2020.  

There are two surveys, one for Prep School and another for Senior and Sixth Form. If you have children in both Prep and Senior Schools you will receive two surveys. Please feel free to complete both if you wish, with your views on each School, as we recognise you may have different experiences. The surveys are completely anonymous, and we would be very grateful if you could spend a short amount of time providing us with this useful information.   

If you haven’t already, can you please provide your feedback. The deadline for responses is Sunday 1 December at midnight.  

Sports News 

U15 Girls Hockey v Stoke College 

The U15 team braved the cold on Tuesday to play Stoke at Bocking. A tight first half saw some lovely defensive play from Amelia from Year 9, Annie from Year 9 and Robyn from Year 10. Imogen from Year 9 controlled the game beautifully from her sweeper position setting up great runs from our midfield players. Holly from Year 9 scored the only goal of the half from the post. The second half was then controlled by Gosfield. Holly scored 2 more for a hat-trick and not to be outdone, Davina from Year 9 scored a hat-trick too. Imogen scored from the top of the D to make the final score 7-0. Ella from Year 10 played great positional play on the right wing linking well with Shae from Year 9 and Liv from Year 9 in midfield. Well done, girls!   

U15 Boys Rugby v Finborough    

Yusuf from Year 10 writes…  

On Tuesday, the Gosfield U15 rugby team brought home a phenomenal and long-awaited victory against last year's rivals. The boys brought home pride and cheer as they won 17-12. It was a challenging start with Gosfield's defensive line falling to Finborough's tactical attacking, however without hesitation the team pulled themselves together. We managed two tries in the first half from players Max and Freddie from Year 10. During the second half Finborough cracked in on Gosfield's tactics and pulled off their own three tries; Gosfield were three points behind, due to having converted one of their tries and Finborough having converted none. Gosfield scored their winning try by winger William from Year 9 and assisted by forward Yusuf from Year 10, securing the long-awaited victory. Well done to the boys!  

U13 & U12 Girls Hockey v Alec Hunter 

The U13 & U12 teams played Alex Hunter on Thursday. Another cold fixture meant the girls ran a lot to keep warm! The U13 team were 0-0 at half time but a determined play from Ella from Year 8 resulted in 2 goals scored and another from Honey from Year 8 meant they won 3-0. 
The U12 team had a strong start and were 2-0 up after the first half. Daisy from Year 7 and Fareeda from Year 7 scoring. The second half was much closer, but Darcy from Year 7 managed a late goal to see them win 3-0 as well. Well done to the girls!   

Culinary Corner 

Harry’s from Year 8 pictured 

This week in Food Technology Year 3 progressed from crumble to plain scones and Year 5 made pizza swirls. 7MFH and 8MAS made their healthy pasta salads and cottage pies. The Year 10 GCSE group have been looking at different diets and people’s nutritional needs and made spinach and ricotta lasagne with pasta made from scratch. 

Next week (also on SMHW) 
7CLS risotto 
8LWS fish cakes 
9PB breads 
9HC No practical due to Cut Hedge XC 
Year 6 flavoured rolls   
Year 4 pizza toast 

Star of the Week 

Monday 25 November  

Year 5 Road Safety Walk    

Outlook Expedition Meeting for Parents   

Tuesday 26 November 

U15 Hockey vs Alec Hunter 

Year 10 Parents’ Evening 

Wednesday 27 November 

Cut Hedge Cross Country Championship 

Prep Assembly - Year 1 

U11 Hockey vs St Margaret's   

Thursday 28 November  

Reception to Year 2 Swimming Lessons 

Friday 29 November 

Christmas Craft event for Nursery and Reception Parents 

Prep Stay and Share 

Sunday 1 December 

Christmas Carol Rehearsals - 9.30-5pm full Dress and Technical rehearsal 

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.          

Yours     

Guy Martyn    

PRINCIPAL | GOSFIELD SCHOOL