Newsletters

NEWSLETTER 25 - 29 April 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

Firstly, I hope you were all able to have a nice Easter break. It seems a while ago now! This is a particularly short, with 4 weeks left until we break up for half-term; that means it will be busy. Over the course of this week in Morning Welcome and in Assemblies I have been speaking to students about ‘decisions’ and encouraging them to be people that look back at their time in school who say ‘I’m glad’ rather than, ‘I wish’. This week, it was also really positive to have our Year 10 parents' evening, thank you to all those that made appointments with staff.

As you know, this week is bank holiday weekend, followed by an inset day. Students therefore now have 4 days off school, and we look forward to seeing them again on Wednesday.  As staff, we have a training day on Tuesday focusing on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

As usual, I hope you are all able to enjoy an extended weekend.

Best wishes,

Paul Skipp

Headteacher


Dates for the Diary

MAY DAY HOLIDAY
All Day
02
May
Week 2
All Day
02
May
TD Day
All Day
03
May
Week 1
All Day
09
May
Year 7 Parents Evening
3:30pm – 6:30pm
12
May
Week 2
All Day
16
May
Week 1
All Day
23
May

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Dear Parents and Carers

The Governing body work with school staff to regularly review and update school polices. We have now updated the school’s online safety policy which includes specific information for Parents and Carers, Students, Staff and other adults in school. 

As a school we are committed to ensuring that all those who work with children and young people, including their parents/carers, are informed about the ever-changing risks so that they can take an active part in helping children and young people navigate the online world safely and confidently.

The updated policy can be found here:

https://www.johnofgauntschool.org/page/?title=Policies&pid=76

It is quite a long document, but it would be particularly helpful for all parents and carers to be particularly familiar with the parent and student sections in appendices 2 and 3

Should you have any queries regarding this policy please contact Mrs Kerr via email on hkerr@jogschool.org


Supporting Careers Education, Information and Advice at JoG

Year 9 Mentoring project comes to an end

Students celebrated the end of a 6-session group coaching project with local employer THG/LABS Acheson.  Students reflected on what they had learnt and set goals for the future.  They were each given a certificate of participation and a bag of goodies!  Due to the success of the project we aim to develop this partnership and offer the opportunity to further students next academic year. 

                                                                  


HPV IMMUNISATIONS

This information is for children in Year 8 only.  

Due to numerous Year 8 pupils missing their HPV Vaccination earlier this week, the School Immunisation Team are returning to school on Tuesday 10th May to do a catch-up session.

For more information regarding this important immunisation which helps to prevent certain cancers in later life and to enable your child to receive this vaccine it is ESSENTIAL that you complete the online consent following the link below.  This link will be closed on 4th May, and it is essential you give consent before this date or your child will not be able to have the immunisation. Email/telephone consent on the day is not possible.

If you have already given consent you do not need to do this again. 

 If you do NOT want your child to receive the vaccine then please also complete a form stating that you do not want them to receive the vaccine, this means we will not chase further.  

https://schoolimms.virgincare.co.uk/hpv/2021/wilts 

If the link is not working for you, please try to copy and paste it into your internet address bar. If it continues not to work OR you are having any other problems then please contact our designated team on 0300 247 0082, and they will be able to help.  

Please also note that Virgin Care has been re-branded to HCRG Care Group and as such you will soon see a change in the branding, but we remain the same team providing the service.   

This link is for children in Year 8 only.  

Thank you 

School Age Immunisation Team 

HCRGcaregroup

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

e: vcl.immunisations@nhs.net  

w: www.virgincare.co.uk 


                                                                                                    

Brand New Book Club - Year 7 and 8

Do you love reading books?

Are you open to reading books you haven’t read before?

Then come and join Miss Merrick’s book club in the library on Wednesdays from 3:05pm – 3:45pm (ish!).

What is a book club?

A book club consists of a group of people who all have one thing in common – a love of reading.  Each week, we will all read the same book and meet together every Wednesday to talk about the book, the author and what the story means to us.  There is no pressure to share your thoughts if you don’t want to.

Who can join the Book Club?

Any students from Year 7 and 8 are welcome. This will be opened to Year 9 from September 2022.

This club is limited to 10 students on a first come, first served basis. If you would like to be included, please see Miss Merrick in L31 (The Mentoring Suite) during morning breaktime on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th May. The Book Club will begin on Wednesday 11th May.

 

 Snacks will be available for you!

Coffee And Doughnuts Icing Cartoon Clip Art, PNG, 1000x750px, Donuts, Cake,  Cartoon, Chocolate, Clip Art Download


DofE participants erecting tents in preparation for their practice expedition

On Wednesday the participants spent time checking their tents, making sure they had all the right poles and enough pegs.

They even managed to fit them all back in the bags!

Next week they will be practising cooking on their small stoves and preparing a hot evening meal.


Local Apprenticeship Opportunities – Rygor, Westbury  


The final walk of our training was a 32-mile single day circuit of the Imber Range Perimeter Path. We all began at the Westbury White Horse and in the early morning overcast gloom made our way down into Warminster and over the 4 Iron Age hill forts on the southern edge of Salisbury Plain.

The skylarks were singing and the bright yellow rape seed fields contrasted beautifully with the white chalky paths. The group maintained their pace (an exceptional 4.5km) as we continued through the farmland and could hear gunfire around the MoD land around Chitterne, Tilshead and Gore Cross.

As we approached the final 8-9 miles blisters, aches and fatigue began to set in, and it was a truly heroic effort by the 19 participants to arrive wearily at the White Horse at a record early time of 1915.

Other walkers regularly praise our students for their politeness, friendliness and considerate behaviour on paths and roads. Well done all - 2 weeks now until the final event!

Huge thanks to Mr Lord, Mrs Brooks and Iain Richards for their valued support.

For photographs of this final walk please click on the attached link.

https://www.johnofgauntschool.org/gallery/?pid=7&gcatid=2&albumid=15



Years 10-13, free virtual event. Could a career at Jaguar Land Rover be for you? 

 Monday 16th May 5:00pm - 6:00pm 

Jaguar Land Rover is the UK’s largest investor in automotive research, development and engineering.  You will be hearing all about how the company has become what it is today and their visions for the future with revolutionary new sustainable technologies particularly in the electric car space.  With a wide variety of school-leaver opportunities in a number of engineering fields, data analytics, supply chain & logistics and finance, could a career at Jaguar Land Rover be for you? 

To register for the online event: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JLR-Event

There are many apprenticeship vacancies available within a 10-mile radius of our school.

https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch?searchMode=Keyword


Final College Open Days –Y11s it’s still not too late to apply and Year10s, It's not too early to visit!

Wiltshire College

To register for any of these events follow https://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/events

 

 

Bath college

Wednesday 4th May 4-7pm

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/openevents#:~:text=Wednesday%204th%20May%202022%2C%204%2D7pm%20(Both%20Campuses)