The final term of the year started this week. For our Year 11 students this saw the second half of their GCSE season exams begin. For many the exams came thick and fast. Despite the pressure associated with the exams, the students have demonstrated considerable resilience, tackling the many exams with great determination and application. The end is nearly in sight with many completing their exams next week. I know they will keep their focus right to the end of the exam season.

This week saw students across the year groups benefit from a range of visits to the Cheltenham Science Festival. On Tuesday, students in Years 7 and 8 attended a talk by Tim Peake. Hosted by Maddie Moate, he spoke about his time in space on the International Space Station and the students were then able to ask him their own questions - if you have ever wondered how astronauts go to the toilet in space, our students can now let you know! On Wednesday KS3 students went to 'The Science of TikTok' talk with Jamie Gallagher. Students learnt not to believe everything they see online, as well as some excellent science experiments that can be completed at home, such as popping a balloon with lemon juice! The talk ended with a quiz the students completed on their phone, and out of all the schools and students there, Samanta C from year 8 won with 10/10! The week of Cheltenham Science Festival trips concluded today when 15 year 10 students attended a STEM careers panel. All week the students were a delight and staff commented on how it was a pleasure to accompany them.

It also saw our Year 10 Health and Social Care and Child Development students go to London to visit the Science Museum. The students were able to develop their knowledge of the health care system, historic health campaigns, medicine and maternity provision over the years, along with interactive experiences of who we are. They also had the opportunity for a walk and a sunny afternoon lunch in Hyde Park. Feedback from Ms Stead and Mrs Hammond is that the students were a credit to themselves and the school. 

Over the past few weeks 4 of our students have been busily preparing their entries for the South-West Chef of The Year Competition. The four: Emily Pearson, Josh Martin, George Harvey and Adam Birks had to design and then cook a main course dish from scratch that included seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. The dishes were judged based on the creativity of the recipe, balance of ingredients, the skills required to create the dish and use of local ingredients. All four prepared an excellent dish. Congratulations go to Adam whose winning dish was a pasta bolognaise made using a mixture of pork and beef mince from the Gloucester Sausage Company. He now progresses to the next stage of the competition at Glos Col on the 28 June where he will compete against students from across Gloucestershire.  If he wins this stage, he will then go through to the final in October in Devon. Good luck Adam.

Our boys cricket fixtures this week were unfortunately postponed. A number of fixtures still took place including:

• Year 8 Cricket – our girls U13 team played their first fixture versus Denmark Road this week. The girls won a tight game scoring 73 runs and restricting Denmark Road to 60. Player of the match went to Millie S who took 3 wickets in 1 over.

• Year 9 Cricket – our girls cricket team also played their first fixture of the year this week against Denmark Road.  The girls scored a formidable total of 127 runs with player of the match Grace G scoring 19 runs from 6 balls! Denmark Road could only score 77 in reply.

• Year 9 Rounders - well done to the Year 9 rounders team who competed at the District Rounders Tournament on Tuesday. The girls won vs St Peter’s (6-4.5), lost to Ribston (6.5 - 5.5) and drew with eventual winners Denmark Road (6.5 - 6.5). Maddie R was voted as player’s player. The Year 9s had a second game versus Gloucester Academy. In what Mrs Haines called the most complete performance she has seen in her 18 years of teaching, the girls won 18-4.5 against GA’s Year 10 team. Our girls managed to get the entire team GA team out in 18 balls in the first innings and in 19 balls in the second. Batter of the match was Macey M, fielder of the match was Maddie R.

• Congratulations to Year 10 student Leilana Ryder. She won the 12–17 year old age group inthe recent uphill run as part of the recent Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling.

• Also we wish both Zane Hunt and Charlotte Dickinson all the best as they compete this weekend in British Gymnastics National Tumbling Final in Telford.

My regular reminder that a recent analysis showed that approximately 10% of those who are entitled to Free School Meals are not currently taking advantage of this scheme. If you think your child may be eligible for Free School Meals you can click on this link to find guidance on the eligibility criteria and the application process. It's a quick process and we are notified of all FSM entitlements by GCC each Monday. I would urge you to take a look if you think you may benefit from financial assistance. 

I hope you enjoy a great weekend.

Regards,

Richard Johnson 
Headteacher