Newsletters

NEWSLETTER 34 - 8 JULY 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week we have welcomed Year 5 children from the local Primary Schools for their taster days, along with our new Year 6 students who will be starting in September. It has been so nice to see their enthusiasm during the activities and wonderful to hear excited they are about joining the school. They certainly had a positive week.

Also, this week, our Year 13 students had their prom. This was a fantastic event at Cumberwell Golf Club. Next week, it’s the Year 11 prom on Thursday!

As you will see, there is lots of information in this newsletter from activities across the week. I hope you enjoy it!

Best wishes,

Paul Skipp

Headteacher


Dates for the Diary

Year 12 Work Experience Week
All Day
From 04 Jul until 08 Jul
04
July
Year 5 Curriculum Day
All Day
08
July
Week 1
All Day
11
July
Year 11 Prom
7:30pm – 11:30pm
14
July
Week 2
All Day
18
July
ACTIVITIES WEEK
All Day
From 18 Jul until 21 Jul
18
July
Last Day of Term - Early Finish
8:30am – 12:30pm
22
July

Latest News

08 Jul 2022
The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme
John of Gaunt is going to be working with The Diana Award to train up some anti-bullying ambassadors. 
Read more

ACTIVITIES WEEK - 18 - 21 JULY 2022

Letters regarding the activities will be sent out via email next week, and they will be available to view on the website.

If your child has signed up for the hiking activity, then we need consent to take your child off site.  Please ensure you have given consent via Parentpay, otherwise your child will have to spend the day in school.

If you still haven't paid for any activity, please ensure this is all paid asap.

The canteen will be open as usual during activities week.

Many thanks

Faculty Admin Team


Wow, what a brilliant Sports Day we had last week. All students performed with great enthusiasm and effort, the atmosphere all day was brilliant! Unfortunately the weather prevented us from presenting the trophy on the day, so we completed the presentations in morning welcome this week.

Hawking retained the cup this year.

Well done to all competitors that took part to help support the win.

A few special mentions from the day:

  • Great performances from all the athletes that competed in the 800m or 1500m races
  • Lucas Frisby broke the school record in High Jump
  • A great performance from Joe Dallimore in the Javelin
  • Great effort from Ella Garnett and Grace Scotney in multiple events
  • Casper Olczak and Tommy Lovegrove rivalry and sportsmanship
  • Hollie O’Shaughnessy for stepping into events at the last minute
  • Lily-Mai Newman and Lily-May Smith for their performances in multiple events
  • Year 7 and 8 competitors and spectators for there motivation and determination throughout

Well done to all students, you all made us proud.

The PE Department

Katherine Bodman

Director of Learning - PE


This week saw the opening of the GCSE Art and Photography Exhibition at Trowbridge Town Hall Gallery. Once again, we had the pleasure of Trowbridge’s Mayor giving his support and encouragement, taking the time to chat to all the students about their work.

As with the A Level, the students have worked hard to produce some fantastic and diverse pieces. This is the first year (for a good while) we’ve had a Photography GCSE course running, and it’s already showing great promise.

We’re showing a wide selection, but not all, of this year’s work, as much as the space allows, and are extremely grateful for all the help and support Town Hall Arts has given. Being able to show work in a dedicated gallery space really does bring out the best in it. Many thanks go to Tessa, Jess, Will, Kieran and Antonia.

The Exhibition (and Town Hall) is open to the public until Tuesday next week and this is a general invitation to drop in and see the work. On Saturday they’re holding the regular Weaver’s Market, local arts and crafts for sale. There’s a very fine coffee and snack bar. Pop along, if you’ve never been, the building alone is worth the trip.

As with the A Level, photographs of the work are discouraged and must not be distributed on social media or public platforms until October, thank you for your co-operation and understanding.

Best wishes, The Art & Photography Dept.


Maths in industry trip to Atkins, a structural engineering company in Bristol 

This year as part of a maths in Industry Project a class of Year 7s have been taking part of an algebra activity. They were looking at finding the best material and supports for a beam that would hold a water tank above. Students worked hard and found that only the steel beams with fixed supports would be below the maximum deflection of 1.

For the end of this project, the class went to visit Atkins in Bristol. They were tasked with creating a bridge from spaghetti, with 2 supports, Sellotape and blu tac. Students were super creative and enthusiastic and made some excellent bridges. They also heard talks about the different roles that people play at Atkins. It was a great day out for the students.


On Tuesday our combined year 7 and 8 cricket team took part in the Wiltshire Cricket chance to compete competition held at Trowbridge Cricket Club.  After winning our first game confidence was high, but we narrowly lost our second game and unfortunately lost our third meaning we exited the competition at that stage. 

The bowling, fielding and team spirit was excellent with all the players contributing.

Well done to all our cricketers, next time hopefully we will score a few more runs to return in future years as a stronger team.


The John of Gaunt has participated in a nationally run programme called, The Brilliant Club.  This has led to students from Yr9 & 10 working with PhD scholars, supporting them with their research projects.  

This has been a challenging but rewarding experience with the students regularly meeting with their tutors before writing and submitting their own papers.  Their diligence and success were recognised at their graduation on Thursday at Bristol University.  It was a fantastic event where our students joined other young scholars from schools in Surrey, Wales and Bristol where they receive their certificates of achievement with some of our students gaining First class awards! 

 


Year 10 Media NEA

Year 10s are well underway with their non-exam assessments in media. Some are recording podcasts and radio shows in our updated 'Dobson-Oleszynski sound studio'. Izzy Nevill and Tom Groves have been recording and editing their scripts.

Luke Harris (pictured in the hat) is having his photo taken by Bradley