Dear parents and carers
We have had another busy week with lots to update you on. We were privileged to welcome Lu Lawarence to talk to our students and staff on Thursday. Lu is the daughter of Zigi Shipper, a holocaust survivor. Lu has taken up the mantle of sharing her father’s testimony as a member of the second generation. In a powerful talk, she spoke about her father’s experience as well as her your own Jewish identity and why Holocaust remembrance is so important to her. Students and staff were moved by the testimony and continues the Wollaston tradition of hearing these powerful stories each year.
Message from Mr Towers
We understand that communication between home and school is vital in maintaining strong relationships. We appreciate that the provision and care we offer to the young people in our school is underpinned by open and transparent lines of communication between home and school. I therefore want to take this opportunity to remind all families of how to find the relevant contact details for members of staff at Wollaston School.
For general enquires about things like uniform, trips etc. we recommend contacting your child’s form tutor. If there is the need, enquiries can be escalated your child’s head of year. For subject and curriculum questions we would advise contacting your child’s subject teacher in the first instance. Enquiries can be escalated to subject and curriculum leads if needed. Follow this LINK to access staff contact details from our school website. This page will be updated again before the start of next academic year.
For your information, we request that colleagues respond to emails for parents and carers within 72 hours.
PE Update
Mr Bennett writes ‘We are delighted to have finished off the sports year with some wonderful stories of success and super performances, as well as the annual sports awards and trophies that are handed to our worthy recipients. Those students who have shown a high level and commitment and performance will also be recognised on the sports awards board with their Half and Full Colour awards. All year groups have had their awards apart from the Year 10 group which will be held on Monday 22nd July. Congratulations to all the successful pupils and well done for all of the fixtures, practices and leadership activities that have been completed throughout the year. We are so proud of our students and the excellent way they represent the school. They are always well behaved and wonderful ambassadors for the school when engaging with other schools and competitors.
It is with great pride that we celebrate the efforts of the PE teachers and support of the school and the amazing amount of sporting opportunities. We have participated in 146 different sporting fixtures and sporting events throughout the year across all sports played. This number does not include all the practices and after school clubs that have also been facilitated. Thank you to all the parents and carers for supporting and collecting the students after their matches and practices and we hope you all have a wonderful summer break. We are ready for an even bigger and better season and year of sport.
We wish to highlight the individual success of our Year 9 student Laike Favier who recently ran in the Boys 300m and came 2nd in the English Schools Athletic championships. It is an outstanding achievement for Laike to be within a whisker of being the fastest athlete in the country. This is truly amazing, and we wish to pass our huge congratulations onto him.
Olivia Preston has recently been very successful in the recent Irish Dancing World Championships, these were held in Corby and drew competitors from USA, Ireland, Scotland to name a few. Olivia competed in 2 rounds and 7 different dances and routines. Her combined scores for her dances meant that she finished 6th overall. There were over 100 competitors in the event with the best 15 in Olivia’s age group competing to the highest standard. Due to her success Olivia may qualify for the international competition held in Belgium during October 2024 and we wish her all the very best of luck.’
Year 11 Class of ’24
Head of Year Mr Jackson writes: ‘The time had finally arrived for the eagerly anticipated Wollaston School prom of 2024. The prom was set in the stunning gardens and building of Hinwick Hall which provided a brilliant venue for the evening’s celebrations. The front lawns were utilised to host our welcome drinks for students and parents to enjoy. Arrival music was provided by our amazingly talented Year 9 and 10 musicians – their performance left the audience in awe. Parents who had joined us for photos then departed so that the students’ celebrations could begin.
Miss Olechnowicz’ vision of a great prom came to life on the lawns of Hinwick Hall with food vans from the Pizza Shack LDN and Waffle Wands offering delicious treats for the Year 11 students to enjoy whilst DJ Dre provided the music which set the tone for what was going to be a special evening. The only time music stopped was to allow some of the Year 11 cohort the chance to demonstrate their own musical abilities as students played several musical sets for the crowd to enjoy. A wonderful atmosphere was felt as this took place and demonstrated the cohort’s community spirit and sense of togetherness.
Once the performances had concluded, DJ Dre took over again and students danced the night away. Students were impeccably behaved throughout the event and Hinwick Hall staff commented on the “exemplary behaviour that students demonstrated with them all being a credit to Wollaston School”
From the outset the prom was always going to be a celebration of the Year 11 students’ journey with us at Wollaston and I am thrilled that so many students and parents attend and made the evening one to remember for years to come.
I wish all year 11 students the best of luck in their next adventures, I hope to hear of future success.’
Eco Ambassadors Update
Mia J and Ruby Year 9 write: ‘This year, we have been focusing on how we can improve the school environment and work with the local community and educate everyone on the importance of being environmentally sustainable and aware. We led the litter picks for KS3 which ran for a few weeks and from that we saw a significant improvement in the amount of litter on the school site. We have been filling and replacing the bird feeders around science and we have also updated the board towards main reception with facts and information about the world we live in and had posters made to make staff and students more aware of the impacts they have.’
‘This year in Eco we have done a lot with litter around Wollaston School, making it a much more welcoming and eco-friendly environment to the wildlife we see around us. The house litter competitions have helped us involve the students in clearing the litter from the field, which was our biggest challenge within the school at the start of the year. Us Eco-Ambassadors and our Eco-leader, Miss Ayres, have very hard worked on our school’s environment and now we have finally achieved the Green Flag within the school’ .
A huge thank you to all the eco ambassadors for their work this year, Liam, Callum, Ruby, Polly, Mia, Jacob, Silas and Grace and well done on achieving the Green Flag award for the school!
Year 9 Trip to the University of Northampton
Mr Sheldrick writes: ‘ We had a fantastic trip yesterday over at the University of Northampton. Students from Y9 were nominated by their classroom teachers and worked in teams to attempt a range of different engineering challenges. They tried exceptionally hard and succeeded in all the activities. Their behaviour was excellent throughout and, as we have come to expect, were amazing ambassadors for the school.’
Key dates
Tuesday 23rd July – end of term
Wednesday 4th September – start of term
Monday 9th September – school photos for Years 7,10 & 12.
Best wishes for the week ahead.
Simon Anderson