Newsletters

Dear Parents and Carers,

The term is flying by, but it has been packed with so many fantastic events that have enriched our 'aspirational' curriculum and provided our students with additional support as they move toward their external exams.  I am very grateful that our dedicated staff still find time to deliver further cultural capital opportunities to our students and pupils from our partner primary schools.

In our recent successful inspection it was recognised that we are true to our statement of 'Excellence Every Day'. The inspectors wrote,"The school is ambitious for pupils to achieve well and be prepared for adult life. It nurtures the talents and interests of pupils and students in the sixth form."  We are an academy where community is at our core and Ofsted endorsed this by stating,  "The values of kindness, positivity and belonging underpin school life."    

Since our last newsletter, our students have demonstrated how they thrive at The John of Gaunt school.  They have raised over £1,000 for Comic Relief, our Yr 9 boys have made it to the area football finals and three of our girls have competed in a Shakespeare performance competition and were successful in making it to the regional finals (we were the only state school who participated!).

We do not limit our enrichment programme to just our students; parents and pupils from our primary partner school enjoyed an absolute treat when they attended Mr Lear's Astronomy seminar last week.  This was an engaging, thought-provoking and interactive evening where the audience linked up to telescopes on the Canary Islands and used apps that provided live images from space.  People were literally queuing up to speak with Mr Lear after the seminar had concluded and some of the knowledge of our young audience was truly impressive.

We will always strive to challenge our students to realise the heights they can achieve.  This week some of our students have been working with a PhD scholar through the Brilliant Club programme.  We have been members of this programme for the last three years. Its aim is to help our younger KS3 students recognise they can access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there.  Our older students are also pushing themselves physically this weekend as they train on Dartmoor for the Ten Tors competition in a few weeks' time.  Dartmoor is an unforgiving place where mental strength and drive are as important as physical endurance.  I wish all the students involved in these programmes well.

I am sure you will enjoy reading the rest of this newsletter that will cover so much more that has occurred over the last fortnight.  Please keep looking at our Facebook posts to see our everyday life at JoG!

Lastly, I want to encourage all Year 11 and 13 students to take up the opportunity of additional support offered through our Easter revision programme.  Details of the sessions can be found via the link below along with many revision resources our staff have uploaded for our students to use.  I would urge parents and carers to use the link with their child.

https://www.johnofgauntschool.org/students/year-11-revision-resources

Have a lovely Easter everyone.

Year 13 Geographers recently enjoyed a very informative and interesting guided tour with David Birks from Trowbridge Museum exploring Trowbridge's industrial past.

The 6th form students dressed up in red and took part in a very competitive game of Bingo to raise money.

Students raised over £60 and had a great time doing it!
 

The warmest of congratulations to our three KS3 entrants of this year’s Education Speaking Union’s Performing Shakespeare Competition.

This is the first year the English department has entered, and our students could not have got us off to a better start! Hannah Watts and Daisy Taylor, (Y8) and Abigale Cooper, (Y7) performed scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet at Stonar School (Wiltshire) on Monday evening. They were competing against seven other entrants from St Mary's (Calne), South Wilts Grammar School, Collegiate School (Bristol) as well as entrants from Stonar itself. In our draw we were the only state school represented.

It is a fast-growing competition involving over 4,500 pupils from almost 150 schools across the country. I have been delighted with the level of commitment and enthusiasm the girls have shown since the autumn term in their rehearsals and preparation for this event. The girls performed beautifully, and I am delighted to announce that Hannah and Daisy were amongst the 4 entrants to be offered a place in the regional final which will take place in May.

I can’t wait for the next round of the competition!

Well done to all of you.

M Murtagh

We are thrilled to have raised £1125 for Comic Relief. Our week of year team fundraising included a Lucky Dip Tuck Shop, Penalty Shootout and Bingo. Staff also braved Sponge the Teacher, and a huge amount of cakes were donated to our bake sale.

Thank you to all our students, families and staff for your generous support. 

For further photographs please click here.

Ten Tors Training in the Gorgeous Gorge

Last weekend our Ten Tors trainees spent a lovely day hiking in the vicinity of Cheddar Gorge. Although this was mainly footpaths, it was a good opportunity to walk in smaller groups and practise their map skills, whilst also trying to maintain a good pace - anything above 3kmh.

All 3 groups navigated relatively successfully and the weather was kind. My own personal highlight was an up-close encounter with a wild baby "mountain" goat. Most students got around 18–20 miles under their belts, and it was a good opportunity to get to know one of our famous local geographical landmarks. As the day drew to a close, we ventured down to the banks of Chew Valley Lake and enjoyed a lovely sunset.

For other photos, please click here.  

Music Exams

Congratulations to the following students who have passed their Music practical exams with flying colours:

Anton (year 10) - Grade 2 Piano

Max (year 10) - Grade 2 Piano

Cameron (year 10) - Grade 2 Cornet

Martha (year 7) - Grade 1 Flute

You should feel exceptionally proud of yourselves!

Mrs Maguire 

Year 9 end of term celebrations

On Wednesday of this week, Mr Walker & Mrs Green had the privilege of meeting with a small group of students who had been nominated by their tutors for an end of term treat.  These students were chosen in recognition that they are always doing the right thing at school & they try hard every day to uphold our school values of Kindness, Positivity & Belonging.

We shared some Easter treats along with hot chocolate & squash - what a lovely way to spend the afternoon tutor time slot!

Next Wednesday we are due to celebrate again at our end of term year group assembly.  We will be celebrating our tutor stars, attendance improvements, students who have achieved recognition via Class Charts positives & students who have been nominated by their subject teachers.  It goes without saying that there will be some sweet treats to share!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for all your support this term.  Our students have been busy choosing their options for Year 10, meeting with Mr Rhodes to discuss their options & choosing what they would like to do for activities this year.

We hope you enjoy spending time with family & friends during the Easter break & we look forward to welcoming back our students on Monday 15^th April.

The Year 9 Team.

Wiltshire Host Families are Award-winning specialists at providing local host family accommodation for short-stay international student school groups.

For those of you with a spare room, Wiltshire Host Families can offer you an opportunity to earn some much-needed cash and a chance to help your school funds. For every family that registers and hosts more than once, we will give your school a £20 voucher to buy resources.

Our host families can earn up to £304 per week, it’s paid in cash at the start of the stay and is completely tax-free as the payment comes under the Rent a Room scheme.

We are based in Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury & Warminster. We are now busier than ever as bookings for 2024 are flooding in. As a result, we are expanding to accommodate much larger groups. This will give more local people the opportunity to join us as hosts and to supplement their incomes accordingly.

Hosting short-stay students is great fun and, because each school group only stays 3-5 weekday nights at a time and go out everyday sightseeing, our hosts find that it doesn’t adversely impact on home or work life. It’s also very flexible, in that a host can dip in and out to suit their circumstances, taking as many or as few groups as they want. Of course, the extra money is a great bonus too!

We are looking for hosts who can take a minimum of 2 students (maximum 4) and make them feel welcome.  Throughout the stay, we will support the hosts, students and their teachers and make sure that everyone has a great time.  We will visit all new hosts to explain exactly how we work and answer any questions they may have.  Once on our register, we will allocate students according to a host family's availability and the group’s matching requirements. In fact, we will be there every step of the way with help and advice whenever needed.

Val Rideout, Managing Director and founder of Wiltshire Host Families, is passionate about giving the students a great English experience and loves the diversity of our hosts; we have single ladies, couples with or without children, single-parent families and retired folk – all of different ages and from different backgrounds and cultures.  Everyone brings a different experience to their students' stay – and this is then shared with the school group as a whole. Although the students are only at home in the evenings, hosts can give them some great memories to take back with them. 

With living costs rising, there couldn’t be a better time to join Wiltshire Host Families Ltd, and earn an extra income, completely tax-free!

For more information about hosting in Wiltshire, please visit www.wiltshirehostfamilies.co.uk or ring 07707 704822

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to another edition of our online safety newsletter looking at the use of technology and how we can work together to keep our children safe. Thanks in part to Internetmatters.org who provided the latest information.

Digital Resilience Toolkit

 Help children become more digitally savvy and get the best out of their online world.

 At this age, your child might be starting to date and grow their network of friends through social media.

As they increase their exposure and consumption of the online world, there is the potential that it may affect their body image, or how they form their identity on and offline and potentially be exposed to cyberbullying and sexting.

How do I get them prepared to deal with these challenges?

Have conversations about sex and relationships in the online world

1. Discuss how the changing nature of relationships can affect trust
2. Get them thinking about their feelings around being pressured to send images online or offline
3. Encourage them to stand their ground and not to follow the norm amongst friends if they feel uncomfortable
4. Share your views on sexting and reinforce the fact that it’s always a bad idea in the long run.

Discuss managing their online identity and critical thinking

1. Help them critically assess what other people say about them online
2. Remind them about the dangers of body-shaming and making trivial comments on social media posts
3. Teach them to question the importance of seeking comments and likes on social media.
4. Get them thinking about possible sub-text associated with some comments

Talk about the time spent online and health implications

1. Talk about what you consider as appropriate
2. Encourage them to spend time away from their device to help create a healthy norm
3. Get them thinking about the health implications this can have on their sleep and memory

Assess the situation and find ways to deal with it together

1. Try and understand what has gone on and who is involved.
2. Don’t overreact, show your support and make a point to give them the confidence that you will deal with it together.
3. Depending on the situation, seek advice from a specialist organisation or your GP to give them the best chance to recover and regain their confidence.
4. Agree a course of action together with your child, so they feel supported.

As a school, we are committed to working with parents to keep children safe online. If you have any questions relating to staying safe online, please contact Helen Kerr, Deputy Head and Designated Safeguarding Lead or John Roberts, Director of Learning for Computing and Business and strategic lead for the use of ICT in school.

Wiltshire Treehouse Easter Trail – Saturday 30^th March, Swindon

We will be holding our annual Easter Trail again this year in Town Gardens, Old Town. The event is a great excuse to get the family out in the fresh air, and we love seeing lots of excited little faces as they claim their Easter prizes.

We expect this year to be popular and advise booking online in advance to avoid disappointment at the reduced cost of £3.50 per participant (£4.00 on the day). For further information and to book your place/s please see https://www.wiltshiretreehouse.org.uk/fundraising/easter-trail-2024.

NEW Wiltshire bereavement programmes

We are pleased to announce that we will be holding 2 further bereavement programmes in the Trowbridge area this year. This programme is for bereaved children in school years 6 – 11. For more information please visit Wilts NEST leaflet email version.pdf (wiltshiretreehouse.org.uk)