Posted May 3 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: December 10th 2021
Head's Blog
NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY FINALS
Last Friday, our team of Inter Boys, accompanied by Mr Pontin and Mr Stoddern,
travelled down to Newquay for the National Finals of the ESSA Cross Country Cup. Only around 25 schools from across the country qualified for this final. Each team consisted of 6 runners and our team, Euan, Archie, Adam, Sean and Luca in year 10 and Callum in year 9 ran really well in horrendous conditions, including a hail storm! Archie finished 2nd of the 145 runners with the team finishing 4th overall. Mr Pontin and Mr Stoddern were so proud of them and I enjoyed hearing the details of the race from the boys on Monday. Very well done and thank you to Mr Pontin and Mr Stoddern.
THE TIMES TOP STATE SCHOOLS
I know from emails and messages we have received this week that many of our parents saw the Times list of top state schools last week. CGS appeared not only in the list of top state schools nationally but was also in the top 20 state schools in the South East. My response to league tables like this one is always understated because they are ranked on exam results and, as a selective school, we obviously have a significant headstart in this regard when compared to all schools nationally! Nonetheless, it was pleasing to see the school appearing, especially given there are over 50 grammar schools in the South East so competition for the top 20 in this part of the country will have been tough!
CHRISTMAS FAIR
It was wonderful to see so many parents and students as well as local residents at the
Friends of CGS Christmas Fair last Saturday. As always, the hampers were hugely popular. I am enormously grateful to the FoCGS for all their hard work and to all the parents who helped in some way, whether that be by donating items for the hampers or tombola, or creating the 100 or so hampers or helping on the day. We do not yet know how much was raised but we do know that the event was successful and appreciated by those who attended. While we were preparing for the Fair, Mrs Lee of lauraleegardens.com was in school doing a winter tidy up of the flower beds she very kindly planted for us earlier this year. She also planted a row of decorative grasses by our new covered area outside the maths block. Thank you, Mrs Lee!
THIS WEEK AT CGS...
This week, we have had a number of fixtures and have also competed in the Bucks Table Tennis Competition. Well done to all who took part in this and in particular to the Senior Boys, Pranav, Elliot, Matthew and Zach who secured passage to the Zonal Final in Bristol next term. We have our fingers crossed that our U16 girls team of Alice, Lilly, Suzy and Neha will qualify as runners-up. Our U13 boys and U16 boys played very well also in a competition where the stand
ard was very high. In netball, we have had excellent results against DCHS where the 9A, 9B and 9C team all won. In matches against Chalfonts Community College, the 8Cs narrowly lost while our 8Ds won. Our year 7 boys played two football fixtures against Berkhamsted School yesterday with one win and one defeat. The A team won 3-1 while the Bs narrowly lost 4-3. Finally, we had two friendly fixtures in badminton v DCGS this week, the first for many years. Well done to everyone involved who represented the school. Also this week, those studying drama at GCSE or A level enjoyed a visit to a spine-chilling performance of The Woman in Black. Thank you to Mrs Neagle for organising. As I write this, a large team of year 13 students is in the hall wrapping presents for the hampers we will deliver to the town's elderly residents next week. Thank you for all your donations of chocolate and biscuits. What is going on in there is being overseen by Tom and Isobel, our Head Boy and Head Girl and would certainly rival any Santa's grotto!
Thank you to Mr Bradbury for organising the excellent webinar for parents run by The
Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation. The Foundation was set up by Daniel's parents and focuses on sharing practical advice and guidance for parents and carers to help them to support their child to make healthy and safe choices around alcohol and drugs. A link to the edited recording from last Tuesday’s talk for parents who were unable to attend or for those who would like to review any of the content can be found here. We would also be very grateful if you could complete the following online form to review the webinar and inform us of any further parent sessions relating to safeguarding issues.
NEXT WEEK AT CGS...
On Monday, we are looking forward to Christmas in Words and Music. We have as you know taken steps to ensure we can hold this safely. If you are attending, you must please do a lateral flow test beforehand. I would also recommend bringing a coat as the windows and doors will be open throughout. Next week, students in years 7 and 8 are heading down to The Elgiva to watch the pantomime and we also have our Christmas lunch. On Wednesday, we our holding our Aspiration Day for year 10s. They will hear about life beyond CGS
from ex-students who left us last year or the year before. Many are now at university, some having taken a gap year first, while others have progressed to a degree apprenticeship. It is always inspiring for our current students to hear from those who were in year 10 here themselves a few years ago and it is a good opportunity for them to begin to think carefully about their own life beyond CGS. Thank you to Miss Lindsay and Mrs Ware who have organised the event.
WELL DONE TO...
Last weekend, Lucy in year 10 and Brigitte in year 11 competed in Swim England's Winter National Championships, Brigitte in the 50m freestyle and Lucy in both the 50m and 100m freestyle. It was a great achievement to qualify for this and an excellent experience to compete alongside other top swimmers, including 9 Olympians. Well done!
BIRTHDAY TEAS
Happy 12th birthday to Isabel, Finley and Kieran with whom I met for birthday tea recently and congratulations to Rory and Caitlin in year 13 who have just turned 18.
Finally, a reminder that we finish for Christmas next Friday, 17th, at 1.15pm. This is before lunch so please note that there will be no lunch provided that day. Can I also remind you to ensure your child does a lateral flow test on Sunday evening and ask that any positive result is recorded via the website.
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
