Newsletters

NEWSLETTER 7 - 19.12.24 - 10.01.25

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Dear all

It's so lovely to see so many of our students in the festive spirit dressed in their Christmas themed casuals.  The festive spirit really grew on Tuesday when I had the absolute pleasure of attending our Christmas Carol concert. What a wonderful event this is in The John of Gaunt calendar.  I am always proud, as headteacher, to see and listen to our talented students performing with staff in the choirs and orchestra.

As always keep up to date with all the events, activities and day-to-day lesson experiences our students are involved in through our website and social media.

Website:  https://johnofgauntschool.ovw3.devwebsite.co.uk/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063904941052

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jogschool24/?hl=en

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  We all look forward to the well-earned break and then to welcoming our students back next term, which is an important one for many of them.  For our Years 11 & 13, they will be building toward their next set of mocks and for our Year 9 they will be starting their options process, deciding which subjects they would like to continue with or new and exciting opportunities to pursue.

Take care everyone,

Mr Rhodes
Headteacher

 

Dates for the Diary

End of Term 2
8:35am – 3:00pm
19
December
INSET Day
All Day
06
January
A Level Celebration Evening
5:00pm – 6:30pm
07
January
A Level Celebration Evening
5:00pm – 6:30pm
07
January
GCSE Certificate Evening
All Day
09
January

The John of Gaunt School Christmas Carol Concert

On Tuesday 17th December, the music department held its annual Christmas Carol Concert at Holy Trinity Church. It was wonderful to have the Church full once again with an audience of 360 people coming to see 112 students across all the years, and the staff performing.  The Carol Concert was opened by six Year 7 students who sang the opening verse from Once in Royal David’s City by candlelight. A variety of music was performed by the different ensembles and also included the traditional carols for everyone to join in with. Everyone left the service feeling festive! The collection raised £235.22 which is being divided and given to the Church fund and The Children’s Society. The music department would like to thank all the students who were involved and all the parents, relatives and friends who have supported this Christmas event. We would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

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Our Trip to Bletchley Park

Our recent trip to Bletchley Park was a resounding success, providing an engaging and enriching experience for both Year 9 and Year 8 students. The day ran smoothly from start to finish, with all the students having a fantastic time.

This visit perfectly encapsulated our Year 9 Unit 1, allowing students to delve deeper into the fascinating world of code-breaking during World War II. I was particularly impressed with how confidently our students participated, answering numerous questions posed by the tour guides. Their enthusiasm and knowledge truly shone through.

The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the opportunity to use a real Enigma machine. This hands-on experience, combined with the interactive D-Day code-breaking session, deepened their understanding of the historical significance and cryptography behind the efforts at Bletchley Park and the lives of those who worked tirelessly to protect our nation.

Overall, it was a memorable outing that sparked curiosity and fostered a greater appreciation of computer science and history amongst our students. I look forward to more educational adventures in the future!

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Affordable Schools – Uniform donations

We are collecting donations of any unwanted or outgrown school uniform for our next free uniform event. The Affordable Schools group run a free uniform event three times a year, ensuring that we make the cost of the school day more affordable for all and save clothing from landfill. Our next event will be taking place in Term 4.

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Please bring any donations into the school reception.

If you have any questions regarding donations or would like to be involved in future events, please see our website for further details: The John Of Gaunt School - Affordable Schools Information

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Affordable Schools needs you!

The Affordable Schools group is looking for any parent/guardian volunteers to assist us with our fundraising activities. This is much like a PTA, looking at ways we can bring down the cost of the school day for our whole school community. We are currently fundraising to subsidise the cost of trips for all students. However, this can only be achieved through a variety of fundraising activities.

If you are interested in be involved, please email Emma Jeffries ejeffries@jogschool.org or visit our website for further details.

Affordable Schools updates

This term, The Affordable Schools team have been busy selling personalised candy canes in order to raise money to support our school community. Thank you to all those who supported us in raising over £100.

 

 

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During the most recent parental survey, you identified the following areas that would benefit from cost-saving solutions. Please see the table below detailing some of the actions we have undertaken.

Cost saving area

Solution
  1. School Uniform

We now hold free uniform events across the academic year and encourage parents to donate any used uniform so that we can recycle this. Within the last academic year, we have helped 157 families with free uniform.
  1. The cost of using the canteen

We have been working closely with our school canteen to ensure that prices are kept as low as possible. Therefore, they offer a meal deal for £2.80. Whilst we recognise that this is still a significant daily cost, this includes a hot meal, drink and pudding.

From January, students will be able to try a baguette ‘Saver’ deal priced at £1.50 along with other take away items, also priced at £1.50.
  1. School Trips

The Affordable Schools team are currently fundraising throughout the year to subsidise the cost of trips for all students in our school community. We will also publish a trip calendar on our website so that parents are able to plan for future events. We also offer payment plans via our finance department for those families that may benefit from this facility.

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Below is the flyer for YCDT's 2025 Aspirations Conference for young carers and young adult carers being held at Bath University on April 16th.

Bookings for this will open after we reopen on January 6th following the festive period. Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment by emailing me or phoning me on the details below.

For 2025, we will be taking names and pre-booking workshops wherever possible as this will help ensure young carers get to go to their workshops of choice and help manage the registration process.

There is no cost to attend and YCDT can help reimburse reasonable travel costs.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kind regards

Mel

Melanie Rees

Service Manager 

07368 610881

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Year 10 end of term celebrations

On Wednesday this week, Mr Walker & Mrs Green had the privilege of meeting with a small group of students who had been nominated by their tutors for an end of term Christmas treat.  These students were chosen in recognition that they are always doing the right thing at school & they try hard every day to uphold our school values of Kindness, Positivity & Belonging.

We shared some Christmas treats along with hot chocolate & squash - what a lovely way to spend the afternoon tutor time slot!

On Thursday we celebrated again in our end of term year group assembly. We celebrated our tutor stars, attendance, students who have achieved recognition via Class Charts positives & students who have been nominated by their subject teachers.  It goes without saying that there will be some sweet treats to share!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for all your support this term.  Our students have been busy continuing to settle into their GCSE studies as well as focussing on finding a work experience placement for 4 days in July.

We hope you enjoy spending time with family & friends during the Christmas break & we look forward to welcoming back our students on Tuesday 7th January.

The Year 10 Team.

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As we draw to the end of our flu season we would like to thank parents/carers once again for all of your support with the school aged immunisations, it really is appreciated.  

 It would be really good to have feedback from you on your experience of the Childrens’ vaccinations. 

The link for parents is:  https://forms.office.com/e/FvPmKvdM16

 Thank you in advance for completing this and we wish your school, families and pupils a very Merry Christmas and New Year. 

Kind regards,

B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire, and B&NES School Nursing Service
Wiltshire and B&NES Children’s Community Services and B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire School Aged Immunisations Service.

HCRG Care Services Limited

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