Posted Nov 15 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: October 16th 2020
Head's Blog
Dear Parent,
This time next week, your children will be enjoying the first day of their half term break. Just a reminder that we finish for the holiday on Thursday of next week and return on Monday, November 2nd.
This week, I have spoken to all students in both Years 11 and 13 who have mock exams next month. We know that for them, mock exams are potentially high stakes given what happened with public exams this year and the uncertainty around what will happen next year. While we cannot bring any clarity to the situation in terms of what might happen, we can make sure that the students are prepared for whatever may happen. Our mantra is to ignore the external noise. We are bombarded at the moment by ever changing messages in the media and given what happened in the summer with exam results, it is hard to trust that what we are being told will happen in relation to A level and GCSEs next summer will actually come to pass. We have no control over that and so we need to ignore it and instead focus on what we can control within our own school. We will focus on making sure that whether next summer brings a full exam series, teacher assessment or a mix of both, our students are ready. On this theme, please be aware that the provisional A level and GCSE exam timetables for 2021 have been published this week. These are under consultation so may change slightly but they will give you some idea of the likely pattern of exams. You can find them here: https://www.jcq.org.uk/provisional-gce,-as,-a-level-and-gcse-summer-2021-timetable/ As you know, exams next summer have been delayed and this means that there are changes to the usual pattern of results days. Both A levels and GCSE results will be released in the same week in 2021 and the A level release date is later than usual. The dates are Tuesday August 24th for A level results and Friday August 27th for GCSEs.
Well done to Callum in Year 10 who has made a superb robotic MeArm in engineering and has learned how to program it from scratch. In Mr Harvey's words, 'it is really cool'! Lucas in Year 7 has recently achieved his Orange Belt in Karate while Jashvin, also in Year 7, has passed his electric guitar exam with distinction. Finally, I am really proud of Lily in Year 13 who, along with her elder brother Max (who also attended CGS), did the Cancer Walk for Life 2020, raising £7,000 for Cancer Research. What a superb achievement. We also have a number of students in Year 12 who have been raising money for what we hoped would be the expedition of a lifetime to Cambodia next summer. Unsurprisingly but sadly, this has been cancelled but I would like to congratulate the students on their fundraising achievements. They were raising money not only for their expedition but also in some cases for Cambodian charities and I want to recognise their hard work and commitment.
It was really good to welcome those of you with a child in Year 7 to school in small groups this week to share some key information with you. We look forward to meeting parents of the remaining two classes next week.
Can I finish by reminding parents that should a child in Year 7-11 chooses to wear a jumper to school under his or her blazer (a very wise move at present given the need for good ventilation means classroom windows are open) then this must be plain black with a v neck design.
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
