Newsletters

Where do I even begin! What an absolute honour it was to take 137 students & 14 members of staff away to PGL Liddington. We climbed, abseiled, built rafts, problem solved, worked on our team building & communication skills as well as screaming on the giant swing. 

Our students were fantastic & I'm so proud to be their Head of Year. Thank you to our staff who gave up their time to ensure the trip was able to go ahead. 

I'm looking forward to taking the second half of the year away next week! 

Miss Lewis 

The English Department is delighted to have launched the Ovid in the West Country Competition this week for our Y7 cohort. Run by the Bristol Classics Hub at Bristol University to encourage interest and celebrate the inherent joy of the classical world, it is a super opportunity for pupils at John of Gaunt and across the region to respond creatively to the classical myths studied this term. Students can pick any element of their favourite tale (or indeed the whole tale) and re-tell it in any medium they choose. Whatever their favoured flavour of expression, we would love to see the Y7s strut their creative stuff! Be it through prose or poetry writing, cake making, model making, embroidery, costume making, video, stop-motion animation, Lego, drawing, pottery, painting, woodwork, basket weaving – there is no idea that is out of bounds.

The submission deadline is Tuesday 2^nd November and Mrs. Bruton will arrange an exhibition of all entries in the library. Both Mrs. Bruton and Mr. Woodville will judge the top three, and these pupils will be invited to Bristol for the final round of the competition. The Bristol Classics Hub will announce an overall winner for the school and an overall winner for the region. They will be offering prizes and an additional book voucher prize of £250 for the school of the winner. With another £10 and £5 Amazon gift voucher for internal first and second prizes (plus other prizes for runners-up), we are hoping to encourage as many of our Y7 pupils to take part.

I would like to encourage as many pupils from every year group across the school to support the event too. Please do visit the library during the first week after the half-term break and take a moment to enjoy the entries and vote. Ballot slips and box will be placed by the exhibition to cast your votes. There will be a separate prize for the winner of the student choice.

The English department have loved working with the Y7 cohort on the classical myths this term, and they have responded really positively.

Good luck Y7s.

Well done to Edward Stacey (7B) who took part in the young writers annual showcase and had their story chosen to be published!

He showed ambition and excellence and I can’t wait to read his story!

Food Preparation

We have had a busy few weeks in the food rooms and there is a lot to celebrate!

From Year 10 deboning chicken and pasta making, to knife skills and Cheesecakes in key Stage 3.

Well Done everyone!

The Year 10 boys' rugby team combined with St Augustine’s Year 10s to make a 15-man rugby team to take on Wellsway and Frome College on Wednesday. The fixture took place at Frome Rugby Club and was a brilliant event. It was great to see KS4 rugby being played and enjoyed by all.

The now combined, ‘Wingfield Warriors’ took on Wellsway first. A strong side backed by many players playing for Keynsham Rugby Club. The game was well contested and played at a high level of intensity. The tackles going in from both sides were hard and committed which was brilliant. Both sides were keen to move the ball and the offload game of both sides was impressive. It was Wellsway that broke through first to score a try, but the conversion was missed, 5 – 0 at half-time. The response from the Wingfield Warriors was nothing short of outstanding, in their first match together, the boys played for each other and didn’t let their heads drop after conceding. They pushed hard for most of the second half and eventually found a score in the corner to make it 5-5. The Warriors had the conversion kick to win the match however being tight to the touch line it was always going to be hard and was missed. Full time 5 – 5. This was a brilliant result for us, our first game together, against a very, very good side, much to build on here!

Our second game of the afternoon was against Frome College. The game had a different feel to it, as the rain came down, lots of knock on’s leading to lots of scrums. The scrums were well contested, but a couple of break away tries for the Wingfield Warriors gave us the edge. Full time 10 – 0.

A win and a good draw for our first games as a team with St A’s, we are looking forward to further fixtures to build and get stronger.

A big well done for all players from both schools from Mr Smith, keep it up boys.

Shoebox Appeal

We are once again running the Link to Hope Christmas Shoebox appeal, and students will be working collectively to try and complete one shoebox per tutor group. This is a charity scheme we have participated in for a number of years, and if you would like to know more about the charity and what they do you can visit the website here: https://linktohope.co.uk/ a list of suitable items is also included below.

Mrs Addecott and Miss Wood are leading the project and donations and completed shoeboxes can be delivered to the Year 9, 10 and 11 office, next to the PBSC before 15^th October.

A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

A debut YA crime thriller as addictive as Serial as compelling as Riverdale and as page-turning as One Of Us Is Lying. Twists, shocks and red herrings are liberally strewn about the plot, but the thrills and spills are never allowed to overshadow the novel’s tender central relationship. One of my fastest reads and my spider sense didn’t work properly to find the killer or killers till the last pages. The author was always ten steps ahead of me, and I was so happy to be beaten by her smart writing. This book is easily my favourite mystery in the last couple of years!

Happy Reading!

Mrs Bruton