Dear parents and carers

It has been a delightful week at Wollaston with amazing weather which has been fortunate as we had planned for our Eco Ambassadors to lead the school in a litter pick house competition. So far year 7 have completed the first round of litter picks and the site is looking great- so a big thank you to our Year 7 forms. Year Eight and Nine are going to do their litter picks in the following weeks and then our site team will judge the total amount of litter collected by each house and 1000 points will be added to the ongoing house competition totals for the winning house.

It was also really useful to have a sunny day today as we officially opened Admiral House, our recently built learning support provision for students with autism and neurodiversity. We welcomed the Lord-Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, James Saunders Watson Esq, to cut the ribbon and declare Admiral House ‘open’. Our Admiral House students had the opportunity to speak with the Lord-Lieutenant and even take some selfies with him! We will ask our students and the Admiral House team to write a report for next week’s newsletter.

Year 7 Notice

As I mentioned last week, some of Year 7 will be off to Dorset next Wednesday and for those remaining in school they will have an alternative timetable to follow. We will communicate this with them next week but please be aware that they will need to bring in a full PE kit on Thursday.

Duke of Edinburgh Award Expeditions

Mrs Ayling writes, ‘We have recently completed two successful D of E Expeditions – our training for both Silver and Gold. The Silver team had a few days in the Peak District and the Gold team were up in the Yorkshire Dales and camped at the foot of Malham Cove. All the teams involved did brilliantly and are certainly ready to take on their qualifying expeditions later this year. The weather was quite chilly for both groups – definitely character building but an excellent experience and we had great fun learning to walk on bearings and find hidden features. The views from the top also always makes it all worthwhile. Harry and his silver team have shared some words reflecting on their experience below:’

“For our DofE silver practice walk we experienced incredible views from the top of Edale’s most mesmerising peaks such as Mam Tor where we found out how windy it was up there for ourselves – we had to rescue Libby’s bag cover! Once getting back from our trek we were very lucky to be able to stay in a youth hostel which kept us nice and warm during the nights. The evenings were really fun too as we were able to talk about our day and what we really enjoyed and what we didn’t fancy on that day. It allowed us to talk as a team and connect with each other so that we built that strong team bond. In the evenings we chilled and had loads of fun as we participated in activities such as pool, Connect 4, table football and ping pong. We had a great laugh!

But, of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. There were times that we all struggled on each of the three days whether that was climbing steep peaks or being genuinely tired and aching but despite the circumstances, we came together as a team and pushed on. Each one of us motivated each other on and that’s what it was all about. And the most important thing that motivated us all was the KFC on the way home (That definitely got us through it!). DofE can help to motivate and encourage people to get the best experience out of them and it can really help to adapt your leadership skills and working as a team.
DofE is more than you think it is, it isn’t just about knowing how to dial a compass or reading a map, it’s about making memories with your friends and remembering them in the future and making the best out of the experiences that you’ve have.

And that’s what we did, and it was amazing…”

What a great way to sign off- thank you to Harry for his reflections.

Best wishes for the week ahead.

Simon Anderson