Maidstone Grammar School - mgs.kent.sch.uk · silenced us all with her stunning rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from ‘Les Miserables.’ One or two people may have even shed a tear…

Maidstone Grammar

School

In this Issue

News & Achievements

Sporting Achievements

CCF

MGSPA.

Term Dates

Welcome to the first newsletter of the year.

The 2017-18 academic year has started very well indeed; there is calmness about the place, but with a feeling of purposefulness. Students have settled back into learning, staff have high aspirations for the year and the ongoing building works have continued with very little fuss. On this last point, the new Performing Arts Centre opened on time ready for the September start, we are on schedule with phase 2: the new Science and Computing Building, and we begin phase 3: the new Pavilion straight after half term. Thank you to the students and staff who are coping with the ongoing works around the school site.

I particularly would like to acknowledge and praise how our new members of staff and students have begun their MGS journey. There is a positive feel to the place which I hope continues as we progress throughout the year. Please do enjoy the half term break and do enjoy reading on and hearing of the many news stories.

M Tomkins

MGS Autumn Newsletter 2017


Student Achievements & News

Vertical Pastoral Structure

Our new Vertical Pastoral structure was launched in July just before the end of the academic year 2016/17. All students were carefully assigned to the new Vertical Tutor Groups (VTGs) and met with their new Heads of House (HoH) in assemblies during the last few days of term. At the start of this new school year it was only the incoming year 7 and 12 students who then joined their VTGs for the first time. We of course also welcomed many new members of staff in September as well.

So far the feedback on the new VTGs has been very positive from staff, students and parents. Tutors are involving the students in the weekly quiz, in debates on current affairs and enjoying some games. The MGS PA very generously financed the purchase of a whole range of games that might be played in a 15 minute slot during VTG time; these included Boggle, Dobble, Codeword and Bananagrams as well as Sum-it and playing cards. There's a Boggle League going on in one VTG at the moment! These games have provided the opportunity to enjoy getting to know new student colleagues whilst having fun in a relaxed atmosphere. Some tutors are introducing 'Cake Friday' and 'Movie Monday'- there's plenty of room for tutors to include a range of activities which will build relationships in our school community.

The new Heads of House and Assistant Heads of House, along with the tutors in their teams, are now the main points of contact for students and parents and they have been working very hard to get to know the boys and girls in their Houses and there have already been a number of meetings with parents. Miss Johnson and I are of course overseeing their work very carefully, but parents will not automatically meet with us as was often the case in our old system. The HoH and AHoH are also very involved in tracking their students via assessment manager and overseeing attendance - there is unsurprisingly a direct correlation between these two.

The new system is still very much in its infancy, but all the hard work and planning which went on behind the scenes in the year prior to its launch has certainly paid off and we are all enjoying working within the new system and refining it as we go. We know it's not perfect and we expect that there will be some teething troubles along the way. However we are all grateful to the students for there open-minded and optimistic approach and to everyone involved for their hard work. Thanks must also go to you as parents for your support and encouragement and all the positive emails and comments that we are receiving, it's so good to hear from you when something is going well.

We 'took the road less travelled' and it is making a difference.

Mrs J W Sewell

Deputy Headteacher



MGS University Fair On the 20th September 2017, Maidstone Grammar School held its annual University Fair, which was open to students in from Year 10 and above, attending secondary schools in Maidstone. Around 50 of the UK’s leading universities from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were present to offer advice and information to students and parents about their courses and institutions. Advice was also available on studying overseas and taking a gap year. The event continues to be successful, attracting almost 800 visitors from 9 local schools, with positive feedback from visitors and exhibitors alike:

“Thanks again for putting on such a fantastic event at Maidstone Grammar. We’ll look forward to seeing you again next year University of Bath

Thank you for hosting such a fantastic HE year this year we were very busy and it was extremely well organised as usual. University of Reading

Thank you so much for inviting Burnett Global Education to the Maidstone Grammar University Fair. It was beautifully organized and the student helpers were excellent! I found the students, particularly those from MGS, to have been well prepared with sensible questions – that makes the whole thing much more rewarding. I hope that the information on the ‘International’, vocational option provided a small window on some of the alternative choices out there. Burnett Global Education

It was a very positive experience, with a lot of interest shown from your students.. University of Kent

Thank you so much for your warm welcome at the school - I had a really good event and met some great students. University of Glasgow

Thank you very much for inviting us to exhibit at your fair. I spoke to some very engaged students and their parents, University of Portsmouth

MGS Summer Newsletter 2017


On Wednesday 27th September, a group of staff and students had the privilege of going to see a performance of Wicked! at the Apollo Theatre in London. What a fantastic show!

Several Performing Arts students took advantage of the chance to see some live theatre, while our GCSE Music

students were able to see one of their GCSE set pieces – ‘Defying Gravity’ – live in performance.

From start to finish, this bounding, colourful, bejewelled production tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West – but from her perspective. Secret revelations help the audience to develop their view of the witch – was she really all that wicked after all? If you’d like to know, you’ll need to see it yourself!

The sets were all incredibly intricate and detailed, transporting the audience from Munchkin Land to the University of Shiz, the Emerald City and the Wicked Witch’s castle. The costumes were rainbows of the most vibrant shades, bedecked with sequins, ribbons, glitter and crystals.

As always, the cast were spectacular. The show ended with a surprise announcement that the day marked Wicked!’s eleventh anniversary in the West End – whereupon suitably green balloons cascaded from the ceiling onto the audience.

All the group were humming and tapping their toes on the coach journey home – definitely an evening well spent, and well worth a few yawns the following day for such a great night out.



Look out for details of our next theatre trip to see War Horse.

MGS Autumn Newsletter 2017 2017

The Autumn Showcase was the first performance evening to be held in the brand new Performing Arts building, allowing our audience to see the fantastic new facilities, including the stunning Drama Studio, where the Showcase took place.

After a brief introduction from compere extraordinaire, Allen Wesson, we kicked off with Gaudeamus Brass, directed by Steven Seeds, performing La Mourisque from “The Danserye” by Tielman Susato. This was a very strong start to a very strong show, with an assortment of brass performers from all year groups. This was followed by saxophonist Kamren Mendis, performing Flower Duet by Leo Delibes and Bye Bye Blackbird by Ray Handerson. These were expertly performed by the young Year 8 student who managed to settle his nerves to play his piece brilliantly, which takes a lot of skill and courage.

Music A Level student, Alice Wilson, continued to set high standards with a wonderful rendition of Cry Me A River on the trumpet, and Jonah Diomede then performed the first piano piece of the evening. Further pianists to perform across the evening were Joel and Benjamin Parfitt, Charles Edwards (taking on the mighty Star Wars soundtrack) and Matthew Hua. Brass and wind instruments were showcased by Thomas Hall playing his euphonium, accompanied by his grandmother on the piano. Henry Brown demonstrated his skills as a clarinettist, whilst getting some vital performance practice in for his GCSE solo recording.

Dramatic pieces came from GCSE Drama students, Samuel Cox and Daniel Edwards, performing a scene from ‘DNA’, as well as Elliot Stedman performing a monologue from Hamlet. This was a particular highlight for me - the amount of words Elliot had memorised was very impressive, his facial expressions were so emotional, overall making this one of the most memorable performances of the evening.

As always, we had a number of our talented singers performing throughout the night. Mackenzie Skinner performed Hero by Enrique Iglesias, Daniel Edwards performed an acoustic rendition of Creep by Radiohead, and I performed my first ever public solo! Daniel Pugh accompanied himself on the ukulele, whilst Hannah Folkes and James Tuck performed a beautiful duet, before Hannah silenced us all with her stunning rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from ‘Les Miserables.’ One or two people may have even shed a tear…

Future rock gods Ethan Stubley, Elliot Elks and Christopher Haywood performed two classics from Green day, Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and our very own compere Allen Wesson and his dance partner Elaura Lacey finished the evening with a (literally) breath-taking Cha Cha Cha and Jive. I was exhausted just watching this incredible performance! The energy and passion the pair gave when dancing was a perfect way to end such a wonderful showcase.

Well done to all involved, from the performers to the Sound and Light team and everyone in between – we look forward to seeing you all at our School of Rock production in November.

AUTUMN SHOWCASE 2017 By Thomas Darch



Congratulations to Ben Ward Y10 who has been placed in the top 10 British swimmers in his age group for 5 events. Ben competed in the British Nationals 14 year age group, winning Gold in the 400 Medley. In the British Summer Championships he gained 4th in the 200 Breaststroke, 6th in the 100 Breaststroke, 6th in the 200 Medley and 9th in the 50 Breaststroke.

MacMillan Coffee Morning The School, once again, supported the annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning which was held in the Big Hall on Friday 29th September. Parents and Old Maidstonians joined the staff and students at break time where they could purchase one of a variety of home baked cakes and biscuits and a hot or cold drink for just £1. As usual the event was very well attended and a total of £574.75 was raised.

Thanks to Independent Catering for donating all the cakes as well as a Carrot Cake as the raffle prize. All the proceeds of the event will go to MacMillan.

Double European Champion

Finley Lodge Y10 took part in the European Shukokai Karate Championships in Estonia. Finley did extremely well and he is now double European champion after winning gold in fighting and the team kata.

Cross Country Two MGS teams competed in the first round of the National Cross Country Cup at Sevenoaks school.

The juniors race was won by Alistair Shelley and the team came 5th, unfortunately not quite qualifying for the next round.

The intermediates race was won by Hamish Reilly with the team coming 3rd - qualifying them for the next round which takes place at The Judd School on Saturday 11th November.


CCF News


CCF RN

CCF Royal Navy Section goes from strength to strength…

Welcome to the Y9 new recruits who have now been kitted out in their uniforms ready for the adventure ahead.

Already this year a few of our cadets have braved the cold of Mote Park to go on Afloat training; Canoeing and Paddle Boarding and the new recruits have learnt about the Royal Navy and been shown how to shape their berets, as well as learning how to work as a team in their divisions learning the basics of Drill.

In the future we have secured a trip on a P2000 Patrol Boat and we are looking into organising a Canoe Expedition with our older cadets up the Medway.

I am also very pleased to say that in a drive to forge closer links with the Army Section a few hardened souls will be surviving ‘out in the field’ under bashas on an Infantry Exercise.

A/Lt Pinn

Section Commander of the MGS Royal Navy Cadets

MGSPA. News Raising Funds, Raising Learning

Wow, this term has flown by – the start of the new academic year brings two lovely events that the PA help with – the Year 7 Welcome evening and Barbeque, and the Year 6 Open Evening, when we help to showcase the school, and what a great place it is.

We have been very busy getting ready for our Annual Fireworks Spectacular which is on Saturday 4th November. The gates open at 6pm, and the display should start at around 7pm. We have some great food vendors serving fish and chips, pizza, burgers, gourmet grill and other tasty treats, all on the floodlit tennis courts, so turn up at 6 to grab some food before the display starts.

On Friday 10th November we are holding our first Wine and Beer Tasting event, in the Refectory. Tickets are £20 per head, and include complimentary cheeseboards and nibbles. There are a few tickets left, so please, if you can, do come along and support this highly informative but fun evening.

Our rescheduled Race Night is on Friday 8th December, in the School Hall. All the races are sponsored now, but we do have some horses and jockeys still available to be sponsored, from just £2. Every winner wins a prize. There is a licensed bar, as well as the tote, so look out for the Parentmail, with the ticket application form, which will be sent out in early November. Tickets are just £5, so please do come and enjoy a night at the races.

Have a great week off, and see you at the Fireworks!

MGSPA Committee

Upcoming Events:

4th November—Fireworks Spectacular

10th November—Wine & Beer Tasting Night

8th December—Race Night

9th December—Bruges Coach Trip

11th December—Wreath Making Evening

2nd February—Quiz Evening

9th March—Evening of darts with Eric Bristow and Keith Deller

17th March—Spring Fair

TBC April—Charity Golf Day

18th May 2018—Robbie Williams/Michael Buble Tribute Night

7th July—Viva Las Vegas—Casino night with Elvis & Dean Martin and American themed food

Diary Dates

Contact us

Maidstone Grammar School Barton Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 7BT 01622 752101 [email protected] http://www.mgs.kent.sch.uk


Term 2

30 October 2017 - First day in Term 1—Week 2

1 & 3 November 2017 - Post 16 open Morning (9.00am-11.00am)

4 November 2017 - MGS PA Grand Fireworks

7 November 2017 - Y12 Licence to Kill Presentation

9 November 2017 - Post 16 Options Evening (4.30pm-7.30pm)

10 November 2017 - GCSE Certificate Presentation afternoon

10 November 2017 - MGS PA Wine Tasting Evening (7.30pm—10.30pm)

13-20 November 2017 - Y11 Trial Exams

17 November 2017 - Children in Need

29 Nov-2 Dec 2017 - School Production

5 December 2017 - Y12 Parents’ Evening (4.30pm-7.30pm)

8 December 2017 - Charities Day, Salvation Army gifts & “Quid and a Can”

9 December 2017 - MGS PA Trip to Lille

11 December 2017 - MGS PA Christmas Wreath Making

14 December 2017 - Y8 Information Evening

14 & 15 December 2017 - Y8 Careers Days (half year group each day)

18 December 2017 - A Level Certificate Presentation Evening

19 December 2017 - Annual Carol Service All Saints Church (7.30pm)

20 December 2017 - Last Day of Term 2 (2.30pm finish)

First day in Term 3 – Thursday 4 January 2018 - Week 2

School photographs will be available to order soon

Documents

Maidstone Grammar School - mgs.kent.sch.uk · silenced us all with her stunning rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from ‘Les Miserables.’ One or two people may have even shed a tear…