Posted Nov 15 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: January 10th 2020
Head's Blog
Dear Parent,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good Christmas. I always enjoy welcoming the students back to school at the start of a new term and your children have thrown themselves right back into school life. There have already been sports fixtures, with wins for the girls in netball and hockey and for the boys in basketball where the Year 9s thrashed their opposition 34-6 in their County League match. Next week, some of our boys have County Cup games while our U16 girls will be playing their National Cup match in football on Tuesday. We wish them all luck. Today Year 11 students have visited Royal Holloway University. This visit is aimed at getting students to think about whether undergraduate life may be for them and I am sure that they will have found it enjoyable and informative. Almost all students attended and, as you can imagine, organising a visit for that many is not an easy logistical task! Thank you to the dozen or so accompanying staff.
Year 13s were straight into their mock exams when they returned on Monday and all seems to be going well so far. This is the last full term of school this year for Years 13 and 11 and for all year groups other than Year 13, there is a Parents' Evening this term with Year 11s first up next Thursday, 16th. I therefore look forward to meeting many of you over the course of the term when you are here to discuss your child's progress with his or her subject teachers. We also have the GCSE options process taking place this term for Year 9 students. Parents will meet subject staff at the Progress Evening on 23rd January and there will be an Options Information Evening for Year 9 parents the following Thursday, 30th. Please do try to attend both events so that you can help your child as she or he chooses subjects for GCSE. As always, if you have any questions or need any advice, please get in touch.
On Saturday 21st December, I attended the charity rugby match between CGS alumni and Chesham Stags RFU which raised money for The Julius Little Foundation. As you will be aware, this is one of the charities we have committed to supporting as a school. Julius, who died in June last year, left CGS in 2017. He loved playing and watching sport and represented both CGS and Chesham Stags in rugby. It was good to see his friends and peers battling it out on what was a very wet, cold and windy day. Despite the weather and the horrendously muddy pitch, there was a very large turnout and I really enjoyed catching up with so many of our alumni and their parents. The event raised a superb £2,500 for the Foundation which is seeking to support young people during periods of poor mental health by providing them with access to free counselling services.
As you know, we have a very active PTA, The Friends of Chesham Grammar School, which raises over £40,000 for the school each year. This allows us to buy things we simply could not otherwise afford. Over the course of your child's seven years in the school, the FOCGS will raise over a quarter of a million pounds and every child in the school will benefit from this. The current Co-Chairs, Amanda Arnold and Sue Valentine, will be stepping down at the end of this year, as will our Treasurer, Libby Booth. They have all done a superb job and I am enormously grateful to them but it is time to hand the baton on to their successors. Please do have a think about whether you could join the Committee and/or take on one of these roles. It has worked well having Amanda and Sue working together and I know they would be happy to talk to anyone who may be interested in finding out what the role entails, likewise Libby. Look out for a parentmail about this next week. Thank you.
Finally, just a reminder that towards the end of this half term, we have a staff training day. This takes place on Friday, 7th February so the students will finish on Thursday that week and enjoy a long weekend.
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
