Posted Dec 19 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: December 2nd 2022
Head's Blog
CHRISTMAS IS COMING
It is hard to believe that we are just two weeks away from the longest term of the school year; it is flying by. The Christmas trees are up and we are all set for the FoCGS Christmas Fair. This takes place from 1pm to 5pm tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing many members of the school community there. It is a wonderful event and a really good opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done with a range of stalls on offer as well as over 70 hampers for sale. Thank you to parents who were at school on Wednesday evening helping to create the hampers and to those who donated so many wonderful items for them.
Christmas in Words and Music takes place on Monday 12th December and tickets will be available next week. This is always a very popular event and I can highly recommend it to anyone who has not been before. Next Friday Shakespeare House will be holding Christmas Jumper Day 
to raise money for charity. Further details will follow.
At 2am this morning, CGS was a hive of activity as lots of those studying GCSE German assembled for the departure of the Christmas Markets visit to Aachen. Almost 70 students and 7 staff are involved and I am sure they will have a superb visit. Huge thanks to the staff for giving up their weekend to accompany the students.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR FAIR
At the start of the week, it was good to see so many students involved in our Extra Curricular Fair. Our Sixth Form students are involved in the running of some of our lunchtime clubs and along with the staff, they invited year 7s in particular to come along to find out about the range of activities and clubs on offer. Well done to everyone involved.
WELL DONE AND BIRTHDAY TEAS THIS WEEK
Molly in year 10 has participated in the Young Leaders in Cricket scheme during this calendar year. This has involved her completing courses in first aid, coaching, groundskeeping and fundraising amongst others. Bucks Cricket held a presentation ceremony this week where Molly received her certificate as well as a special award to recognise the fact she has undertaken 50 hours of volunteering. Thank you and well done to Phoebe, Madeleine and Vivienne, all in year 12, who volunteered to help at the Ley Hill School Christmas Fair last weekend. The organisers were very grateful for their hard work and support; to quote the email I received, 'they were absolutely fantastic'.
Well done also to four CGS year 8 students, Scarlett, Megan, Radhika and Amelie, who took part in Amersham Rotary's Young Chef Competition, held at Pipers Corner School recently. Congratulations to Megan who won. She will now go through to represent Amersham Rotary at the District Heat in Hitchin in February. Meanwhile, Scarlett attended the ITF British Taekwondo Championships last weekend, winning a gold medal and thus becoming an ITF Union British Champion. Lucas in year 9 also received a gold medal at the
BUTF Taekwondo Tournament at Brunel University. Well done everyone.
We are proud of our Inter Girls who competed in the ESSA National Finals at the London Aquatics Centre a couple of weeks ago. Over 2,000 teams from several hundred 
schools participated in this competition, held across three age groups, with 30 schools making it to the finals. Our team, Alicia, Danica, Iris and Izzy swam hard, finishing 15th in the freestyle relay and 21st in the medley relay. I know from Mrs Maishman how proud she was of them all. Well done!
Happy birthday to Josh, Shaan, Jensen and Naishal in year 7 and to Ted, Finn, Eleanor and Andrew in year 13 with whom I have met for birthday tea this week.
BUCKS HOME TO SCHOOL TRANSPORT CONSULTATION
I have been asked to make parents who live in Bucks aware of the consultation launched by Bucks Council on Home to School Transport. This covers the Spare Seats Scheme as well as the Council's Home to School Transport Policy. There have been numerous changes to this over recent years which we know have impacted on our students and parents so please do take a look and have your say on the proposed changes if they affect you. The consultation closes on 4th December.
CGS AT THE ESAA NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CUP
As I write this, Miss Day-Haynes and Mr Stoddern and two
of our cross country teams are somewhere on the M1 en route to Leeds for the ESAA Cup Final. The event is being held at Leeds Grammar School this year. The two teams are our intermediate gi rls (years 9 and 10) and senior boys (Years 11 and 12). Good luck to Catherine, Issy, Anna, Alicia and Alice and to Euan, Archie, Ernie and Sammy. Alicia will be joining the team from Sheffield where s he is competing in the British winter national swim finals today. We would like to thank Total Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic in Amersham for sponsoring the team hoodies which look very smart indeed.
MR STODDERN'S 10PB ATTEMPT
As you may be aware, Mr Stoddern is himself a keen runner and having visited Mr Pontin when he was still in hospital, he wants to raise money to say 'thank you' to the wonderful staff who supported Mr Pontin and his family during his many weeks spent in Wycombe General. Mr Stoddern is aiming to knock almost a minute off his 10k personal best. Euan and Archie, mentioned above, will be supporting him, acting as pacemakers to try and help Mr Stoddern achieve this. It is typical of Mr Stoddern to publicly attempt something at which he might fail, seeing this not only as a way to raise money for such a good cause but also a way of modelling to our students what we tell them every day. Mr Stoddern would be very grateful for any support and if you would like to donate, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfu nding/stoddern10kpb?utm_term=2VnZZ8JyX
SAFETY ON THE SCHOOL SITE
Earlier this week, we were made aware of a near miss involving one of our year 7s by a parent who happened to witness this while dropping their child off at school one morning. The child was almost hit by a car which had stopped just beyond the crossing on the leisure centre road to drop a student off. The driver then began to reverse across the crossing and into the road which runs along the front of the school site and had it not been for the parent who saw this collision about to happen and stopped the car, there could have been an injured child. I know that mornings can be a rush especially if you are dropping your child at school and are then heading off to work but I am sure we would all much rather be a minute or two late for work than be dealing with an injury or worse. I have repeatedly requested that parents drive with care on or around the school site. There is a 5mph speed limit on the road leading to the leisure centre. Please observe this. For the last two mornings, I have been at the crossing myself during our busy period, from around 8.15am to 8.45am. Most parents have driven carefully but sadly, some have not. All parents must drive slowly and with caution if coming onto the school site in a vehicle and should not:
- drop off anywhere near the crossing at the bottom of the leisure centre drive
- drop off along the leisure centre road. Stopping there causes an obstruction
Thank you.
SPORT THIS WEEK
Well done to our U16 girls who have progressed to round 5 and the last 32 of the National Cup in football with a 3-2 win today. Our U13 girls played Aylesbury High in football earlier in the week, also winning by one goal. The year 9 boys beat Chiltern Hills 3-1 in their football match while the U12 girls lost to Ashlyns in a brilliant end-to-end game which ended 1-1 at full-time with Ashlyns getting the win in extra time. The First XI lost their game to Royal Latin School after a spirited performance, having twice taken
the lead. In netball, all members of our U14 team worked really hard but were unlucky with the result against Sandringham School in the Sisters in Sport Competition. Our year 10s played Dr Challoner's High School with both the A and B teams winning comfortably while the year 8C team lost. For some, this was their first match experience and the staff were really proud of them. We also had hockey fixtures v DCHS with the U13As and U13 Bs winning. Another excellent week of sport...thank you to all involved. Next week’s fixtures can be found here.
Finally, we have noticed recently that a number of students are arriving to school late on a regular basis. This is sometimes unavoidable but we would ask that parents do all they can to ensure their child arrives at school on time.
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
