This has been a very special end to the week, as on Friday we bid farewell to our leavers in Year 11 and the Sixth Form now that their exams are over. The final assembly was held for parents of our leavers outside in the Walled Garden, in front of the whole Senior School. It is always a moving moment to stop and reflect on the end of our time with students who’ve been with us for so long, in some cases since very young ages in Reception. I'd love to report that the sun shone on all of us throughout, but the rain did arrive on occasions to bless all of us celebrating the Class of 2019. The chickens also came to crow with delight, or because they were hungry and thought we were a soft touch - but I don't think many Schools can claim to have cockerels and hens attending their Leavers' assemblies.
Events like these are always emotional, and it was a great pleasure to hear from our valedictory speakers, Adam and Abi in the Sixth Form, and Bertie, Evie, Poppy and Alex, as well as Mrs King, Mrs Lyne, Mrs Barlow and Mrs Gwynne, who ran ceremonies, not forgetting Ben who set the tone for the whole event with his beautiful guitar piece at the very start. There were very amusing tales told of what our leavers were like in Prep School, as some have been with us since they were very young, but there was also a great deal of reflection on what it means to grow up and come to the end of things. I'm sure this will be a memory which will last for our leavers, but also an event which will inspire all who were there, especially our younger students who can look forward to their final years here and know just how much value to place on every day they have at Gosfield School.
We look forward to seeing great results in the Summer, when these students return on results day. However, for now they are in that magical inbetween moment when School has not quite finished and the future has not yet begun, and in these significant moments they have the chance to shape the world in new ways, and we all have the privilege of watching them do so and share, just a little, in all the possibility this brings.
Summer Fest
What a tremendous example we had at Summer Fest of the creative talent which beats at the heart of what makes Gosfield so great. Not only did we have the pure voices and individual instrumental talents we’ve been used to enjoying at these events, but we also had such an inventive array of group performances from a variety of creative fields.
It was wonderful to see more dancers and gymnasts, with delicate yet powerful performances within the tight spaces on offer, as well as drama, karate (in a surely unique combination with piano from Year 7 Zack), as well as the rare sight of Year 9 Niamh playing delightfully on her harp and Year 6 Connie inspiring us all with her total confidence singing with her ukulele, as well as her curtsey. Year 2 Jemima was our youngest performer on the night, but not our least experienced as I understand this was her third time on the playbill just this year, the Year 3 boy band played an old favourite and were kind enough to invite a special guest to accompany them, whilst it was lovely to see some brass from Rowan in Year 7. There were too many great moments to mention here, and my apologies to all those who have not been recognised … yet, as I hope there will be a more fulsome review in time. As ever, my thanks to our student crew, including Year 9 Zak, and of course, Mr Daniels, Mrs Martyn and Mr Robb for putting together such a summery show, as even if the sun didn’t shine, they wouldn’t let it go down on us.
90th Birthday Celebrations
We hope that you are looking forward to the School’s 90th Birthday Celebrations which will be taking place on Friday 21 June. Thank you to everyone who has already confirmed their attendance for this great event. We have some fantastic bands and performances lined up. The ice cream van, Tipple on Tow Bar and inflatables are booked too so all you need to bring is a picnic should you wish to, a blanket and some spending money for any little extras you wish to purchase on the day. We’ve had some exciting additions to the event and we can reveal that there will be a pony and some alpacas to meet as well as a fencing display to enjoy. We very much hope to see you and your family at these significant celebrations.
Year 7 New Pupil Day and Prep Moving Up Day
We are all looking forward to welcoming our new Year 7 students as they experience their first taste of Senior School life on New Pupil Day this coming Tuesday. This will be an exciting opportunity for our own current Year 6 pupils to mix with their new friends from a wide variety of other Primary Schools in what will be a full year group. They will get the chance to meet their new tutor, experience some Senior lessons and begin their journey as a Gosfield School Senior student.
On the same day all of our Prep pupils will be moving up a year and meeting their new teacher, as was highlighted in last week’s newsletter. We wish all of our pupils all of the best on this important day of stepping forward into the future. New Pupil Day Reception
Our fantastic PTA is once again hosting an informal welcome drinks reception at the end of Year 7 New Pupil Day and Prep Moving Up Day on Tuesday 18 June. The reception will take place in the main building Parent Meeting Room before pickup time. All welcome so please do pop in. DofE Practice Expedition
Despite some truly wet and windy weather last weekend, 18 students from Year 9 successfully completed their practice expedition for the Bronze section of their Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Students had to complete map reading, cook a substantial meal and pitch their tents to demonstrate their skills, ably assisted by Mrs Spurr, Mr Davies and Mr Edgar. The practice expedition took place around Gosfield and Halstead with a night's camp in the walled garden at school. The qualifying expedition will be taking place next weekend around Bures and we look forward to reporting on the students' continued success! Welcoming New Staff
Now that we have completed the main cycle of recruitment of new staff for next academic year we can confirm our new appointees who will be joining us in September. Of course, we realise these are names in print only at the moment, but we are delighted to welcome such an exciting range of new teachers who will arrive to inspire our children, and include an international hockey umpire and the current Director of Music at Felsted School amongst their ranks.
I’m sure you will join me in welcoming our new staff next year, some of whom will replace teachers leaving us this term, and others who join us as the School is expanding:
Mr Bennett – Teacher of Music
Ms Blackborrow – Reception Teacher
Mr Kendrick – Teacher of Business and Economics
Mrs Perella – part-time Teacher of English
Ms Sacre – Teacher of English
Mr Smith – Teacher of Science
Ms Taylor – part-time Teacher of Psychology Parent Governor Vacancy
A vacancy has arisen for a Parent Governor to join the School’s Governing Council. All parents of children at the school are welcome to apply and full information about how to apply and a nomination form were sent to all parents in a ParentMail earlier this week. Governors meetings are termly and provide a vital monitoring role at the school. Terri Ulrich, Chair of the PTA is running the election. Fantastic Free Comics from Essex Libraries
Younger pupils can now get free comics and graphic novels with their Essex Libraries card.
With over 180 titles from the publishers Marvel, Disney, IDW and Dark Horse, the collection includes many popular brands that appeal to all ages, such as Star Wars, Frozen, Spiderman, Toy Story and superheroes galore! Download and read through a browser, or on the RBdigital mobile apps.
No Parking Please!
Could parents please observe the no parking restriction in the drop off zone outside Meadow Court? Parking or waiting in this area is causing issues for our mini buses and causing a safety issue. Thank you for your co-operation. Absence Notification
We have set up a dedicated email address to advise us if children are going to be absent from school. Please email as early as possible to absence@gosfieldschool.org.uk Breakfast Club
A reminder to parents that our Breakfast Club runs daily at Meadow Court. If you need to drop your children at school early, Breakfast Club runs from 7.30am to 8.15am Monday to Friday. Children are provided with a healthy and nutritious continental breakfast and it’s £5 for a session or £20 for a week. Call the school office to book. … And Late Club Too
You can pick your children up later too with our Late Club. Located in Meadow Court, Late Club runs from 4.45pm to 6.00pm Monday to Friday (3.45pm start on Fridays). A selection of quiet activities are organised along with time to complete homework. Its £5 per session if booked more than 24 hours in advance or £8 if booked on the day. A late charge of £5 per 15 minutes is applied after 6.00pm. Call the school office to book. Year 9 Thomas’ Great Charity Climb
Year 9 Thomas is planning (with his Dad and a guide) to climb Mont Blanc this summer. At 4810 meters it is a huge challenge for a youngster. He will be undertaking an intensive training course at altitude in the Alps starting on 10 August and then attempt Mont Blanc later in the month (weather permitting) . In the process he is hoping to raise funds for fundingneuro.com in memory of Daisy Brooks who he was at school with in Bures. Thomas is of course now at Gosfield, along with Daisy’s younger sister Poppy and little brother Bertie. If you would like to contribute to Thomas’ charity climb then please do contribute to his justgiving page here:
It was a fabulous week for Year 7 Zack who performed on a West End Stage and received a Trinity College Grade 3 Distinction in musical theatre and production. The curtain went up to a production of Troubles A Brewin in Alberquirky at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Well done Zack!
Sports Report
Surrey County Recognition for our Cricket Scholars
We were delighted to hear this week that three of our cricket scholars have been invited to trial for the Surrey County Cricket team. The boys, Zikriya in Year 7, Shaamil in Year 9 and Kaif in Year 10 have been putting in great all-round performances for Gosfield in their year group matches as well as for our 1st XI. We have also heard that Shaamil has been selected to play for the London Schools Cricket Team, a great achievement when the pool of players is so large. Congratulations to all the boys, and let’s hope the weather stays away and they can put in some equally impressive performances at County level.
ISA East Anglia Junior Athletics Success
Mrs Ford reports: The athletics team travelled to Garon Park in Southend for the annual ISA competition last Friday. 14 schools took part from all over East Anglia. Unfortunately, due to the terrible weather the track events were restricted and races were all heats and judged on a time basis for medals. The Year 6 boys and girls’ teams both finished a very commendable 3rd in their heats and missed out on a medal by fractions of a second. There were some great Individual performances and medallists:
Tanaka in the 80 metre sprint storming to 2nd place
Lily in the long jump, who jumped over three metres to take silver
Darcy who finished in second place in the rounders ball throw. This means Darcy had been placed 2nd in Year 4, 5 and now Year 6. An amazing achievement!
Freddie who competed in the long jump and finished 3rd
Oscar who threw the cricket ball an incredible 40 metres! He finished 3rd too!
Other great performances, who narrowly missed out on a medal were:
Oscar D – jumping 3.26 metres – 4th place but only by 3cm!
Lucas – throwing the cricket ball into 4th place
Lilian – running a fantastic 150m and taking 4th place
Chloe – just missing out in the 600m in 4th place
All the children were a real pleasure to support throughout the day and wonderful ambassadors for the school. They displayed great team spirit and cheered and coached each other to great success!
A special thank you to all the parents who came to watch even when conditions took a turn for the worse and it started to pour with rain! Also to Mrs Brown, Mrs Philpot and Mr Lyon who worked so hard on the day to keep everyone safe and happy.
ISA team
Year 4 – Grace, Emily, Freya, Temidayo, Poppy, Lucas, Dhian, Oscar and Adam Year 5 – Scott, Noah, Austin, John, Oscar, Nancy, Lily, Chloe, Imogen and Lilian Year 6 –Tanaka, Fareeda, Alexa, Darcy, Hugo, Toby, Sammy, Lincoln and Freddie
U9 Girls Cricket v St Margarets
Mrs Ford reports: On Monday, the U9 Girls team welcomed St Margarets. The game took place in the Sports Hall due to the rain with indoor rules of hitting walls being four or without bouncing, six. Poppy captained and after losing the toss, Gosfield were put into bat. Poppy and Izzy opened the batting and put on an excellent 22 runs in 2 overs. There were plenty of fours hit and a few sixes. All the girls communicated well in their pairs and ran strongly between the wickets. Gosfield then took the field with every pupil bowling an over and taking the role of wicket keeper with Poppy, Isabella and Freya taking wickets.
An excellent performance with great sportsmanship and teamwork. Congratulations to Poppy who was the very well-deserved player of the match. A fantastic captain's performance.
Well done everyone! Culinary Corner
This week Year 5 made bread and 7MFH made their own Pizzas with Mr Jaques. The sixth form tried traditional liver & onions and black pudding,with mixed reviews! 8MWT made Chicken Parmigiana and 9 CAR completed baking their cakes for the first round of their bake off.
Next week (also on SMHW)
7NAJ Independent Pizza day
8MAS Tray Bake
8DAJ No lesson
Star of the Week
Year
Star
Reason
Nursery
Jude Drake
For suggesting how the toys could be shared fairly between the children.
Reception
Samuel Wheeler
For doing extra writing in his RWInc lesson.
1
Daniel Mhangami
Fantastic progress and obvious enjoyment with reading as well as enthusiasm for overall learning.
2
Ava Hubble
For using her times tables knowledge
3
Harvey Clarke
For an all round fantastic approach to school life.
4
William Jones
For settling well into life at Gosfield
Lucas Philpott
For showing good knowledge and understanding of life in Tudor times by answering questions on our day out at Cressing Temple
5
Imogen Philp
For her excellent personal effort and outstanding encouragement and support of the team at ISA athletics (07.06.19)
6
Alexa Woods
Maintaining a positive and enthusiastic approach throughout assessment week.
Diary Dates
Monday 17 June
Tuesday 18 June
New Pupil Day and Moving Up Day
PTA Drinks Reception 2.30pm onwards
Year 7-9 Scholars Only home v Kings Ely at Home
Year 5 Meet the Teacher 4pm
Wednesday 19 June
U11 (Years 5 & 6) Hard and Softball Cricket vs Fairstead House A-HB T20 B-SB Pairs mixed at Home
Thursday 20 June
Cricket Scholarship Day
Friday 21 June
90th Birthday Celebrations
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.
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