Posted May 3 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: October 21st 2022
Head's Blog
AMAZING FUNDRAISING!
I hope your child is enjoying the first day of the holiday. The last week of the half term has been wonderfully busy and has shown the best of CGS. Our fundraising, led by Austen House in support of Mr Pontin in what is his birthday week, has been hugely successful and it has been with pride that I have watched the students and staff throw themselves into the events across the week in order to raise as much as we can for The Brain Tumour Charity. As I write this, the total raised stands at around £4,000 which is phenomenal. The week started with Mr Hayes having his legs waxed as several hundred students looked on, enjoying every grimace! This event raised over £1,000 and set us well on the way to an impressive overall total. Huge respect to Mr Hayes and thanks to Tracy Martin, one of our parents, who kindly offered to undertake the waxing. Having this done professionally saved Mr Hayes as Mr Stoddern had originally offered to do it! There have been cake sales, staff sports matches and of course a whole school mufti day rounded off the week. Very well done to Austen House and thank you to Mrs Maishman, the House Leader and the House Captains, Bruno and Robyn, who have done an excellent job of inspiring everyone across the week. Watching Robyn lead all those who were watching Mr Hayes on Monday in an impromptu rendition of 'Happy Birthday' for Mr Pontin, a video of which I have sent to him, brought a tear to my eye. By way of an update, he was able to spend time at home last weekend, ahead of his birthday, his first visit home since undergoing his surgery in August. We all hope this will be the shape of things to come.
WINTER HOUSE SPORT
We had two gloriously sunny days for our Winter House Sports Competition. On Wednesday, Sixth Form students spent the afternoon playing sport for their House with the previous day seeing those in years 8 - 11 doing the same. This week has had a number of highlights for me but there are few better sights than watching the students having fun while competing fiercely against each other in House events. It was also really good to see mixed games across the school taking place in football, netball and table tennis, an excellent advert for co-education.
OPEN MORNINGS
Last Friday, parents of those in year 6 received their child's 11+ results, a moment I am sure you can recall very clearly. We held two Open Mornings this week for those with a child who has qualified for a place for next September and who need to make their school choices by the end of this month. All the indications are that the school will be heavily oversubscribed once again for year 7 next year. I would like to thank our Sixth Formers who acted as guides for our visitors and who impressed our visitors, as they always do.
OTHER EVENTS THIS WEEK
Tutors have enjoyed meeting parents of year 7 students at our transition meetings which have taken place across the week and I hope parents found it useful to hear about how their child has settled into life at CGS. I also hope that parents with a child in year 11 found the online Information Evening on Monday useful, during which Mr Hayes and Mr Stoddern talked through the process we have in place to deliver feedback after their mock exams which start after the break. Other events taking place this week have included a 'Chill Concert' held by the Music Department, a visit to see &Juliet in the West End organised by the Drama Department and the year 7 and 8 Halloween Disco held by The Friends of CGS last night.
AN ALL-WEATHER PITCH FOR CGS
As you know, we are always seeking ways to improve our facilities and for some time, we have been exploring the possibility of an all-weather pitch. This would significantly enhance our outdoor PE and games provision and would also give us a space for students to use at break and lunchtimes; we are very short of outdoor playing space for use at break and lunchtimes for much of the year when the field is out of bounds and we do not have a playground as such. We have recently submitted a planning application for an all-weather pitch to Buckinghamshire Council and, subject to being able to raise the funds, we hope that the project is one we will see come to fruition in the not too distant future. We will obviously be sharing much more information about this in the coming months but I wanted to let you know as the planning application is now live. We are very excited about the prospect of being able to provide our students with this facility in the near future.
CGS DEVELOPMENT FUND
Last week I wrote to new parents about supporting the school through a voluntary donation to our charitable trust, the CGS Development Fund. I'd like to thank all the parents who already donate to the Fund and also who support Friends of CGS events, which has enabled us to create our new wellbeing centre for students opened in September. As Bucks grammar schools are historically amongst the lowest funded in the country and government funding only covers the very basic necessary works within the school such as heating and roofing, support from parents is critical. Many parents choose to give a regular donation to the Fund. You can set up a regular direct debit here, make a one-off or ongoing gift via your Parentpay account, or give via an employee giving programme or matching donations. This year we are planning significant improvements to our outdoor facilities including those for sport and PE, as well as refurbishing student toilets in the languages and maths blocks. Any student in the school will tell you that the toilets in these areas are ones they try to avoid using if they can! Thank you for giving this your consideration, and if you have any questions please contact Martha Ware (martha.ware@cheshamgrammar.org).
WELL DONE AND BIRTHDAY TEAS THIS WEEK
Well done to Magnus in year 12 who entered the London School for Economics Undergraduate Political Review School Essay Competition. Over 300 submissions were received and Magnus has won the competition. This is a superb achievement. Congratulations! Happy birthday to those with whom I met for birthday tea this week: Sanne, Kitty, Becca and Kieran in year 13 and Lara, Mannat and Elliot in year 7. Many happy returns to them all.
FOCGS QUIZ NIGHT AND MORE
The popular FoCGS Parents’ Quiz Night is back on Friday 18TH November at 7.30pm. Tickets will go on sale immediately after half term. Get your quiz team together and swot up on your general knowledge over the half term break! Please note that The Friends are also looking for a new Treasurer. If you think this could be you, please email friends@cheshamgrammar.org to find out more. Finally, it is getting to the time of year when The Friends start to prepare their hampers which are sold at the Christmas Fair. If you have any baskets or hampers which they can use, they would be delighted to receive them. They can be brought into school at any time. Thank you.
SPORTS RESULTS
There have once again been lots of fixtures this week. A number of year groups played football v DCGS with wins, draws and losses across the games. Around 40 of our year 7 boys have represented the school in these matches or v Chalfonts Community College and this level of participation has been great to see. The year 10 boys played football v Chiltern Hills, winning a hard-fought game 4-3 while our U15 girls also won their football match v Highcrest this week. In netball, the U16s and U14s both had Sisters in Sport matches v Didcot School. Both teams won and made it through to the next round while the year 10 team played a tough game v Woodlands School in Basildon, Essex, taking a while to settle into the match but winning 25-18. We also heard this week that our inter girls swim team has qualified for the English Schools National Finals which will take place at the London Aquatics Centre in November. Well done to everyone. When we return to school, the clocks will have been put back an hour and the loss of light makes outdoor fixtures difficult. Boys start their indoor basketball season after half term and the PE Department has asked that I include in my newsletter information about the dates of after school practices which will take place for each year group in the first few weeks of next half term. This can be found here.
Finally, I would like to thank you for your support of the school this half term. Your children have been an absolute pleasure to work with and I look forward to welcoming them back to school on Tuesday 1st November.
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend.
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
