Dear parents and carers
Another fantastic week at Wollaston with some amazing things happening to tell you about! I am particularly proud of the Remembrance Service we held on Tuesday. The weather was kind to us as we assembled outside for the service. I would like to thank our Head students Richard Fajinmi and Chloe Deacon for their reading of the poem Mametz Wood and to our cadets who were resplendent in their uniforms. It was a very proud 10 minutes to see the whole school come together to mark Remembrance and to do it with such respectful deference to the occasion – it truly highlighted what a wonderful community we have. We also had the school council meeting yesterday afternoon to meet each other across year groups and think about what they want to achieve this year- if your child was lucky enough to be involved do ask them about what they discussed! Mr Braham-Nicol, who is leading on student leadership this year is excited at the prospect of working with so many of our young leaders.
GCSE Geography Fieldwork at the London Olympic Park
Head of Geography, Mr Clement writes’ This week our GCSE Geography students travelled to the London Olympic Park to carry out the human fieldwork element of their fieldwork studies, required for their Paper 3 exam. The visit provided an excellent opportunity for pupils to bring-to-life their in-class studies on their investigation into how the area has been transformed since the 2012 Games and to explore the long-term impacts the regeneration has had on the community.
Working along a transect from Newtown, outside of the regeneration area, through East Village and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to Hackney Wick, students conducted land-use mapping, environmental quality surveys, service tallies and questionnaires to assess the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the scheme. They were able to see first-hand how the transformed athletes’ village, green space, transport links and commercial developments have shaped the lived experience of a modern, sustainable urban landscape.
Their enthusiasm and curiosity throughout the day were a credit to the school. The insights gathered on this trip will be followed up with some independent work outside of the classroom, to present their findings, come to conclusions and evaluate the validity, reliability and accuracy of their fieldwork.
We look forward to seeing how their findings develop over the coming weeks.’
Year 11 Intervention
We were thrilled to welcome Damian Carr GB Ultra Runner and Former Army Soldier to Wollaston this week to work with some of our Year 11 students, where he shared some motivational stories from his time in the army and as an GB athlete and he was able to give some really proactive strategies to students in terms of dealing with exam stress and building resilience. We would like to thank him for his time and the impact he had on those in the audience!
Notices
Flu Vaccinations
The NHS school vaccination team are visiting school on Tuesday 18th November to administer the flu vaccination to Years 7-11 students. The vaccinations will be in the Main Hall and tutors will let their tutees know the time they have been allocated to get their jabs.
Inset Day Friday 21st November
A reminder that next Friday the school will be closed to all students so that staff can engage in professional development opportunities.
Best wishes for the week ahead
Simon Anderson