From the Head
Just three and a bit days to go! Well done everyone - it’s been a long old term, with a fair share of gloomy, rainy mornings but we have almost done it!!
I’d like to finish off the term with some final thank yous and some recent shout outs from Hot Chocolate Friday. Thank you to Hiba, Tom and Paul for taking students to Google in London, Jacob and Naomi for a trip to The Natural History Museum and Georgia for taking students to Tate Britain. Deeqa has also asked me to thank Alistair Newall and Clare Secombe for their support and the amount of time they have given up for her. In Deeqa’s words, Alistair’s ‘interesting way of answering a question with another question has meant that I’ve had to really reflect on my work and teaching practice’, and she has said that Clare ‘watched a video of me teaching and spent an hour after school helping me put strategies in for my difficult Year 11 class.’ Thank you to both, and thank you to Deeqa for thanking them!
Regarding Hot Chocolate Friday, to date, we have had 33 nominations from students for the staff they wish to celebrate. It’s been a real spread of names over the term, which just shows how much ALL of our staff are valued by our students.
Over the last few weeks, Indy has been nominated for his ‘unique teaching methods’ and for being a ‘surprisingly good artist!’ while Oumayma has been celebrated for teaching ‘fun and beneficial lessons’. Sandeep in Year 9 said that Richard and Dan ‘sort out lots of problems’ for him while Philip in Year 10 celebrated Anneka for being ‘very kind’ and ‘helping him when I am struggling’. Siobhan was celebrated for ‘being there’ for everyone, Sabina for helping students ‘learn a lot’, Shaun for ‘explaining things’ well, Jamie for just being ‘amazing’, Maddie for helping our students ‘enjoy French’ and Ayan for being ‘inspirational.’
I’m not going to say much about the election results, but whatever your feelings on the outcome, we should remain confident that whatever happens in the political sphere going forwards, we will continue to do what we do, and no doubt do it well.
All that remains for me to say is that I hope that everyone has a really lovely break with lots of rest, festivities, food and fun! It’s been a great term and I want to thank everyone again for their support for me in this new role, but also for everyone’s constant commitment to our students. I came back to GHS because when I was here before, it was a wonderful school, full of staff who wanted the very best for all students. I had every hope it would still be like this and suffice to say, I have not been disappointed!
Have a wonderful Christmas everybody.
Mia
