Welcome back to the sun and what promises to be a great Summer. It seems that the Easter weather has returned after yesterday’s short detour, and we can enjoy all the great events of the term – which includes not only Sports Day, the Summer Soiree, Activities Week and Matilda the Musical, but also our 90th Birthday celebrations on Friday 21 June.
A huge thank you to all our staff who came in over the Easter holidays, both our fantastic support team who got so much done whilst most of our pupils and teaching staff were away, and also to all those teachers who came in to run extra GCSE and A Level sessions for our Year 11 and Sixth Form students; this was very much appreciated by all and I’m sure we’ll all see the fruits of their labours in our students’ success come August.
We welcome a number of new faces this term: Hannah McCann as Head of Prep and Nursery, Nicola East as our new MIS Officer and Henry Shipley as our new Cricket professional – I'm sure everyone will make them all very welcome. Mrs Watts – Our New SENCO
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Mrs Watts has been appointed as our new SENCO starting this term. Many of you will already know her as our Head of Modern Foreign Languages based in the Senior School, where she has been the driving force behind a very popular and high performing department.
During last term Mrs Watts did a fantastic job working with parents, pupils, staff and everyone in the SEN team in an interim capacity, and I have received only excellent feedback about the way she has picked up this important department. I am also pleased to announce that Mrs Watts is joining the Senior Leadership Team in light of this additional role. Nicola East – Our New MIS Officer
This term we also welcome Nicola East as our MIS Officer. Over the past year our School has made significant progress in the way that we capture, measure and make data meaningful in order to understand where each pupil is in terms of their progress and, therefore, how we can help them to achieve beyond their potential. Technology increasingly informs all that we do and in this role Mrs East will also be involved in all aspects of our use of digital data, ranging from our central MIS System, monitoring attendance and pastoral information, to testing and examinations and the use of ParentMail for two-way correspondence, such as booking appointments for parents’ evenings.
Mrs East joins us after working for many years at the University of Essex in a number of roles focusing on data, systems, exams and registration; and brings a wealth of knowledge to our team. Henry Shipley – Our New Overseas Cricket Professional
This term we welcome Henry Shipley as our new overseas Cricket Professional. Henry is a fellow New Zealander and friend of Tim Johnston, who took this role for us last year as we set up the Academy. Like Tim, as well as working with all of our cricketers, Henry will also play for East Anglian Cricket Champions, Sudbury Cricket Club.
Henry plays for Canterbury where he made his debut on 17 January 2016 in the Ford Trophy. He made his first-class debut on 22 October 2016 in the 2016–17 Plunket Shield season. In June 2018, he was awarded a contract with Canterbury for the 2018–19 season and made his Twenty20 debut in the 2018–19 Super Smash on 23 December 2018. Cricket runs in Henry’s family - his uncle was left-arm spinner Mark Priest, a former Canterbury stalwart and New Zealand international. Please make Henry welcome to our School and our country when you meet him. And Some Fond Farewells for the End of this Term
At the end of this term we will be wishing three popular teachers well as one retires, and two move away from this area. Mrs Lyne has been at our School for many years (she really should speak louder when telling us just how many...) and has decided to retire to make the most of her first grandchild who was born recently. Mrs McCann and I have already recruited an excellent new Prep teacher and she will be announced nearer the time. We will also return to celebrate Mrs Lyne’s contribution to Gosfield School life towards the end of term.
Mrs Spurr is leaving us in September to be closer to her family. She will be replaced by a new English Teacher and an advertisement is already in place. We also have another new English Teacher joining next term to expand this core department who was appointed last term.
And finally we are very sorry to be losing Mr Robb, having only been with us for one year and yet having made such a positive impact on our Music department. Mr Robb has been offered the opportunity of a lifetime to work in the developing education system in China.
All three leave us with our very best wishes. ISA Arts Spring Newsletter
I was delighted to return my desk this week and find that, within just six articles in the ISA Arts Spring Newsletter, ours was the only School with two mentions; and we should be thrilled with both.
First we learned that the painting which featured as our Christmas card a few months back, and that had been awarded as the winner of the prestigious ISA Fine Art award, has now been voted as the ISA pupils’ favourite piece of art of the year and has thus been lauded by both adult experts and pupils nationwide. This exquisite piece was created by our former A Level Student, Harry, and its presence and notoriety continues to grow.
Then, we had confirmation that Year 6 Freddie had been Highly Commended by the judges at last term’s ‘Shakespeare Monologue Competition’ even though his piece was included in the Original Monologue section. It was most satisfying for all of us who value the arts, both fine and performing, to see our small School punching well above its weight in this one ISA Newsletter. Business, Accounting Skills and Employability Competition
At the end of last term, whilst many students were thinking about Easter eggs, revision or the holidays, Year 12 Economists completed their presentation for this year's Gosfield School entry into the BASE Competition. BASE, (Business, Accounting Skills and Employability), is an annual competition ran by the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and Gosfield School has taken part for many years. Whole School Photo
On Wednesday 1st May next week, the Whole School Photo will be taken. As per the recent ParentMail to all parents on this subject, may I remind you that all pupils should arrive wearing full Winter School uniform. The photo will be taken first thing in the morning to ensure that everyone is as clean and tidy as possible.
Therefore, please can everyone come to School in full School Uniform, even if pupils would normally have Forest School or Games first thing – there will be an opportunity to change into the relevant kit after the photo has been taken. Matilda The Mini Musical
The Box Office is now open for Matilda The Mini Musical. The cast drawn from Years 4, 5 and 6 have been A Little Bit Naughty, but they think you will love them anyway. Buy your tickets now for the performances on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd May 6pm via the ParentMail sent out recently. Please come along and enjoy this family friendly show which is highly suitable for Year 2 and upwards. Sports Round Up
Although we have had no fixtures in this first, short week, I am delighted to see how many have been booked for this term – particularly Cricket matches; you will see a list of next week’s matches further down in this newsletter. Good luck to all our young sport people competing and participating in our program of classes and events this term. Well Done Darcy
Our excellent all-round sports woman, Year 6 Darcy played in an under 15 tennis tournament at Lexden in the holidays and came runner up. This was despite being five years younger than her opponents and half the size!!
Darcy’s mother reports that she played a brilliant final with the match going to a deciding tie break. She played a mature, tactical and strong match and despite just being pipped to the winner’s spot was very pleased with her game. Well done Darcy. New Cricket Whites
We have created some smart new Cricket Shirts to reflect our focus on Cricket and to ensure that our teams’ appearance matches our intent. These shirts will be arriving week commencing 13 May and we will be writing to parents of all Cricket Scholars asking them to purchase a new top so that they can wear these when representing the team. We also have some of the old style tops still in stock, so anyone wanting a spare to wear in games sessions, or who is unlikely to play in matches, can purchase an old top at a 20% discounted cost.
In time these will be Cricket Whites to match the tops, but for the time being our players can wear their own Whites. Dates for this Term
I wrote to all parents and carers this week with a list of ‘save the day’ dates for their dairies. In case you missed this, here they are again. Please note that our next Parent Forum meeting, after the success of those run last term, will run on the morning of Wednesday 15 May. More details will be provided closer to the time.
In addition to these, if you need information about exam dates or sports fixtures, these can be found at our website, gosfieldschool.org.uk.
Weds 24 April New Term Starts
Fri/Sat 26/27 April Duke of Edinburgh Silver Qualifying Expedition
Weds 30 April Watersports Activity Week Parents’ Information Session 5pm
Weds 1 May Whole School Photo
Fri 3 May Reception Trip to Boydells Farm Mon 6 May Bank Holiday
Wed 8 May Year 10 Exams begin
Sun 12 May Matilda Rehearsal
Mon 13 May Year 7 Trip to Courtauld Gallery
Wed 15 May Parents’ Forum (am)
Wed 22 May Matilda Mini Musical Performance, 6pm
Thurs 23 May Matilda Mini Musical Performance, 6pm Mon 27 May Half Term to Fri 31 May (inc)
Mon 6 June Exam Week begins, Years 5-9
Year 10 Work Experience Week begins
Weds 12 June Year 4 Trip to Cressing Temple
Barcelona Activity Week Parents’ Evening Information Session 5pm
Thurs 13 June PrepFest 5pm and SeniorFest 7pm
Fri 14 June Year 11 and Year 13 Leavers’ Assembly and BBQ
Tues 18 June Year 7 New Pupil Day
Fri 21 June 90th Birthday Celebrations – Afternoon into Evening
Weds 26 June Sports Day
Thurs 27 June Reserve Sports Day
Leavers’ Prom, Marks Hall
W/c 1 July Activities Week
Sat 6 July Gosfield Village Fete Tues 9 July Speech Day and Term Ends Star of the Week
Nursery
Jasper George-Jeggo
For being very sociable and joining in when playing with his friends.
Reception
Henry Butler
For a very positive approach to school, after the Easter break.
Year 1
Leo Griffin
For excellent perseverance with addition and subtraction of 1 and 10.
Year 2
Henry Martyn
For a very positive start to the Summer term.
Year 3
Marcie Coy
For always having a smile and a kind word for everyone.
Year 4
Miley Cummings
For an excellent start to the term, especially in Maths.
Year 5
Sophie McMillan
For tackling a new challenge of horse riding with enthusiasm and determination.
Year 6
Lincoln Soligbo
For excellent teamwork and participation in building a den.
Dairy Dates For Next Week
Monday 29th April
Cricket First XI vs Essex University (Home)
Tuesday 30th April
Cricket U16 and U14 vs Felsted School (Away)
Wednesday 1st May
Cricket U11 vs Felsted School (Home)
Cricket U13 vs Framilingham (Home – Gosfield Village Cricket Club)
Friday 3rd May
Reception Trip to Boydells Farm
And a reminder to everyone, next week is a Week 1 on our two-week timetable. Good luck to everyone with all their endeavours this week. As ever, my door is always open if you would like to book an appointment in advance via Mrs Bowles.
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