Newsletters

The Brilliant Club Launch Day at Oxford University

22 students from Year 8 & Year 9 spent the day at the prestigious Oxford University for the launch of this year’s Brilliant Club Scholars’ Programme.

They had a tour of St Anne’s College, attended seminars and took part in Q&A sessions with undergraduate students, to find out more about student life. They also had the chance to put their critical thinking skills into practice, in an interactive lecture about the relationship between classical mythology and the modern world. The day was rounded off by a fantastic lunch with students from several other schools from across the country.

Over the coming months, these students will be scholars, attending tutorials with postgraduate students and developing their research skills to really get a taste for what academic study is like. They will complete the programme with a graduation ceremony at another highly-regarded university, later in the year.

Activities Week 18^th – 20^th July 2023

You should all now have received an email with an Activities Week Booklet and a link to the online options form.

The deadline for submitting the form is Sunday 16^th April – 17^th April for paper copies to be handed in. If you do not submit/hand in the form before the deadline, your child may not get their preferred choices.

The booklets and links can all be found on the website.  If you are unable to submit the form online, you may email your choices to Facultyadmin@jogschool.org - but please make sure you give 3 choices for each day, and an emergency contact number.

Many thanks.

Year 13 Biologists were practising their forensic science skills to identify who committed the crime.

They are currently learning about gene technologies, so we're putting their knowledge of gel electrophoresis into practice with very steady hands. 

Mighty Girls Advocacy Project

We are lucky enough for a group of our Year 9 students to be involved with a local charity, Mighty Girls, in their Positive Relationships Advocacy Project. The aim of this project is to get students to lead the way in making positive change in the school community and tackle the issue of peer on peer abuse, inappropriate language and build equal and respectful relationships and communication. 

It is hoped that by involving students and using a student voice will help them to encourage everyone, students and staff, to tackle any issues or worries appropriately. 

Young Carers Accreditation Award

Through the hard work of our Young Carers and staff we are pleased to announce that John of Gaunt has been awarded the Young Carers' Accreditation Award. 

This Award recognises the hard work that students and staff are doing to support those students identified as Young Carers and ensure that they achieve their full potential. 

If you believe your child is a young carer and would like to discuss this further in confidence, please contact Sarah Hill, Pastoral Support Manager. 

What a great season for our Y7 netball team which accumulated at the end of season tournament. Both teams have grown on confidence and ability which was consistently displayed throughout the tournament. I am so proud to have managed them & I can’t wait to see what happens next year! 

Thank you to all the parents who have supported their daughter participating in netball. We move onto rounders & athletics next term where I hope to see many of their faces. 

Miss Lewis

On Wednesday 22^nd March The John of Gaunt School hosted The Trowbridge Collaborative Schools' Concert. This event involved children from 10 primary schools and two secondary schools across Trowbridge. Each school performed a song in the concert.

The JoG Chamber Choir gave a stunning performance of Dear Theodosia from the musical Hamilton. As well as singing individual songs all the children came together to sing two songs collaboratively – Stand by Me and How Far I’ll Go. It was fantastic to see children ranging from 5 years old through to 17 stood together singing. Wingfield Hall was full to the rafters with families and friends and everyone enjoyed an evening of singing.

Well done to all the performers, you were incredible!

Ten Tors 2023 Training Now Completed! 

The last two weekends saw the final, back-to-back Dartmoor expeditions for our students, with the finalising of the 6 team members for each team, and the successful completion of actual routes which are used on the Ten Tors Event. The supervision levels were also reduced to check pointing so that all 3 groups were forced to navigate and make totally independent judgements on routes, rest breaks and river crossings.

Over the two weekends, a real mixture of conditions challenged the students - they had to put tents up and try to use stoves in 30mph winds, hike in the dark whilst experiencing heavy wet drizzle after a long day walking and also experienced a few overnights of torrential rain beating down on their tents. It was a good learning experience and helped some participants identify improvements they could make with their waterproofs, stove use and tent set-ups.

All 3-groups hiked brilliantly covering between 35 and 55 miles depending on their routes (bronze is 35-mile, silver is 45-miles, and gold is 55-miles) and the pace was generally excellent, giving students confidence for the upcoming event.

Now everyone gets a well-earned rest until the main Ten Tors 2023 event on the 22^nd and 23^rd April.

Well done team, and as usual a huge thanks to our volunteers and helpers over these two weekends - Mrs Brooks, Xavier Lord, Iain Richards and Bill Smith.

For further photographs please click here.

Year 8 rewards

On Wednesday 29^th March, we had the pleasure once again of spending tutor time with some very special students!  We asked our tutors to each nominate 2 students who they felt had been wonderful all term - just doing what we always ask of them! 

The students joined us during tutor time for some Easter treats.  Once again this was a really lovely way for us to spend some time together & for the students to feel recognised. 

In addition to this, we held our end of term celebration assembly for our whole year group on Thursday 30^th March.  This was another opportunity for us to celebrate achievement & attendance, as well as sharing some 'shout-outs' from the teachers.  It was wonderful to read so many positive messages!

We would like to thank you all for your continued support.

Happy holidays everyone!

Mrs Green, Mr Walker, Ms Galbraith & Mr Rhodes (The Year 8 Team) 

Dear Parent/Carer

Your Year 9 child is now due their DTP and MenACWY vaccinations, which will be delivered by the School Aged Immunisation Team at John of Gaunt on Monday 24^th April 2023.

These vaccinations are delivered as part of the national immunisation schedule. Information in: English, Chinese, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak and Tetum can be accessed using the following link: https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/teenage-immunisations-ages-14-18-english-and-translations

 For more information and to consent to or decline the vaccination please click on the link below. If you wish to decline the immunisation for your child please ensure you do this online so that our records are up-to-date. 

https://schoolimms.hcrgcaregroup.com/dtp/2022/wilts

Consent must be given online by 16^th April.  After this date it will not be possible to give your child the immunisation, and you will not be able to contact the school on the day to give verbal permission.  It is therefore essential that you do this as soon as possible. 

If you have any difficulties completing the consent, please contact our Immunisation Team on 0300 247 0082 or email vcl.immunisations@nhs.net for support.  

 Once completed you will receive an automated email with a reference number as confirmation.  Please check your junk/spam box if not in your in box and contact the team if it is not received.

 Where possible, please ensure that your child is wearing a short-sleeved shirt on the day of vaccination or has a T-Shirt/vest top under their shirt to enable easy access to their upper arm whilst maintaining your child’s dignity.  This will be discussed with your child on the day to ensure they are comfortable with any part of the process.

 After your child has been vaccinated (if consent provided) you will receive an automated email to confirm this and provide post-immunisation advice.  Please check your junk/spam box on the day of vaccination if you do not receive this in your inbox.

If you have a child in Year 10 or 11 that you have not already consented for, but would like to, please contact our team on 0300 247 0082, and they will be able to assist you with this.  This link is for children in Year 9 only.

Thank you

School Aged Immunisation Team

HCRGcaregroup

 t: 0300 247 0082 (Monday – Friday, 9am - 4.30pm) 

e: vcl.immunisations@nhs.net  

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