Newsletters

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome back after half term.

My name is Mr Lee and I have recently been appointed as an Assistant Headteacher whilst Ms Eyers is on maternity leave.

I am passionate about teaching and learning, and want all students and teachers to love what they do, and be the best they can be.

I have taught in both Australia and the UK, both have been amazing experiences! I have now been in the UK for 6 years but still have my Australian accent!

I love music, and play violin in the Trowbridge Symphony Orchestra. If you attended our Christmas Concert you may have spotted me playing. 

Ed Jackson, a former rugby player and Bath local, addressed the Equa Trust staff sharing his story from being weeks away from representing Wales, to suffering a life-threatening spinal injury where doctors warned him that he may never walk again then facing immense physical challenges to walk again and gain independence.  He shared about the mental and emotional hurdles he had to overcome using the support of those around him to the point where he now literally climbs mountains.

Ed shared the importance of positivity, perspective and purpose and explained that one of the biggest contributors to his success was resilience. It is the ability to stay strong in the face of challenges.

We can fall into the trap that to succeed you need to be smart or lucky. However, it is that ability to be self-disciplined and pick yourself up after failure and try again, that will lead to ultimate success.

As we start a new term, it is a great time to reflect and set new goals for what we want to achieve. More importantly, when you encounter set back, whether it might be a poor result in a test, an injury or illness, or having to repeat work to ensure you are producing the best that you can, think how you can be resilient in those moments. Learn from it. Grow from it. Keep on going. Be positive.

I wish you all a successful term.

Dear all

It was a pleasure to have members of the student leadership team join our Senior Leadership Team this week to present their proposals around recycling and improving the school environment.  There were a number of excellent and feasible plans and procedures that can be adopted swiftly.  Once the student team have met with our site team and canteen staff, we hope to increase the amount of paper and plastic the school recycles and reduce the plastic usage. This will be measured with the intention of the student team to share their findings with their peers which will hopefully improve students’ attitudes towards recycling. 

Both the student leaders and the Senior Leadership team are also planning to work collaboratively to raise the number of water fountains around the site for the benefit of all students. More to follow with our work together.

I wish both Yr13 and Yr11 well with their mock exams and in-class assessments over the next few weeks.  It is now that time when students are working independently building to their final exams and there a number of supportive programmes in place provided by our dedicated staff.  Yr11 & 13 students are accessing period 6 sessions, intervention sessions with HLTAs and academic mentors and engaging in mental health management strategies, revision technique and resource development in tutor times.  We have an external company, ‘Elevate’ coming in to support our Yr11s as we draw nearer to the exams.  As parents and carers, please remember there is a wide range of supportive materials on class charts or have been emailed to your child by their teachers.  Please encourage them to use them and have a look at them for yourselves.

Years 7,8 & 9 will be receiving information about activities week in term 6.  This is a wonderful range of events that they can participate in within school and further afield.  It is another example of the commitment of our staff to our young people to provide a fulfilling whole school experience and I thank, in advance, all those involved in planning and providing these opportunities.  Mrs Baines will be providing more information regarding this later in the term.

I too wish all our students a happy and successful term.

Rehearsals are underway for the John of Gaunt’s New School Show! Set at the BIGGEST, BESTEST FESTIVAL IN THE SOUTHWEST…nope, not Glastonbury! We follow the characters Mac, a boy with an eclectic taste in music, and Mads, a wannabe influencer who is more interested in her online presence than being actually present.

As they clamber over turn-stiles, dodge cowpats, and desperately cling to their wellingtons, we hear music from a variety of genres and time periods to get us in the festival mood!

Should you be interested in being involved, it’s not too late, just pop by the Drama studio to see Miss Regan.  

Lost Property

Since the start of the new academic year, Reception has acquired a vast assortment of lost property, including many expensive overcoats.  If your child has lost a coat or other item of uniform, please come in and chat with our Receptionist, who will only be too happy for you to sort through, and hopefully retrieve any lost items.  

Dear all, we are excited to start term four with a fantastic opportunity to take part in Comic Relief 2024.

This year will see each year group take a lunchtime slot to complete a fund-raising task, anything from a Joke-a-thon to a bake sale. Tutor groups will vote on their favourite activity and students can join in the fun throughout the week. More details to follow. Sessions will run in the week commencing 11^th March.

The event will culminate in a non-uniform day on Friday 15th March where we will ask you for a £1 donation for the Comic Relief fund. 

• Please ensure students' clothing is appropriate for the setting, more guidance will come from tutors.

Mrs Eagle will be leading this charity event and collating the monies raised.

We can’t wait to start the term off with a fantastic event such as this and look forward to all the creative ideas that will come from our students and student leaders!

Dear Parent/Carer 

Urgent - please action if not done so already

Year 9 Td/IPV (DTP) & MenACWY vaccination

 Your Year 9 child is now due their Diptheria, Tetanus, Polio – (Td/IPV (DTP)) & Meningitis ACWY (MenACWY) vaccine, which will be delivered by the School Aged Immunisation Team at John of Gaunt on either 27^th February, 23^rd April or 24^th April.   These vaccines are offered to all boys and girls in Year 9 (aged 13/14 years).

To consent for your child to receive the vaccination, or to decline, please click on the link below:

 https://schoolimms.hcrgcaregroup.com/dtp/2023/wilts

You can also use this link to find out further information about the vaccination before you provide your response.

As part of the process we will be required to pass on a contact phone number to the immunisation team. If you do not wish to have this data passed on then you will need to inform the school. If parents do not inform the school then we will assume you give consent and will be sharing this information

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.   

Please respond as soon as possible. 

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.

Thank you

School Aged Immunisation Team

Year 11 Exam Booster Sessions

In order to fully support Year 11 students in this summer's exams, next term will see the second and final block of compulsory Exam Booster Sessions.  

These sessions will run from 3pm until 4pm, and focus on Exam Technique within each of the subject areas.

 There will be 2 sessions for each of the Year 11's subjects. 

The schedule for these is given below.  

Year 11 students have all been sent this timetable, and they will be sent the locations for each subject weekly.

The John of Gaunt is now registered so that any students who wish to, can enter artwork into the Royal Academy of Arts Young Artists summer show. Now in its sixth year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–19 studying in the UK.

Artworks are judged by a panel of artists and arts professionals, with selected artworks displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Students who are 13 or over can submit their own work. 12 or under need an adult to submit it for them. Submission is open until 27 March 2024.

There is so much artistic talent in our school, and it would be wonderful to have students from The John of Gaunt School included in the show as we have in previous years! It is an exciting opportunity to have their work displayed publicly.

The artwork can be made using any material; it can be a painting, sculpture, photograph, installation, video, drawing, or a combination. There is no theme, so artwork can be of any subject, and we don’t mind when you made the artwork as long as you are between 4–19 years old when you submit it. We also welcome collaborative pieces made by more than one student. If you’re submitting as or for a student at GCSE, A Level or BTEC level, we suggest submitting artwork that is not being assessed for exams.' 

More information (and previous exhibitions) can be viewed on the Royal Academy website- https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk

Guidance for submission can be found here-

https://yass.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/2024/YASS-Submission-Guidance.pdf