WINCHCOMBE NEWS a Round-Up of Recent Events in and Outside School

Summer 2019 WINCHCOMBE NEWS A round-up of recent events in and outside school

In this issue:

 Annie - school musical production

 Leavers’ Prom

 Review of the Year

 Climbing Wall reward day Above: ‘You’re Never Fully  Capital Funding News Dressed Without a Smile’.  Joffre White, poet, visits the library

 New pens for peer marking There should be smiles all round at the two evening performances of  Gloucester Rugby in school Annie during the last week of term.  MFL - Chinese Visit & languages Tuneful choruses have been echo- ing down the school corridor for  7LA Environment Action weeks - ‘Tomorrow’, ‘It’s the Hard  Catering: Cup Cake Challenge Knock Life’ (we’re all singing them!) Well done to Mrs Turner and Miss  Pudding & Race - WiSPA fundraising Stevens for leading rehearsals.  Careers & Employability

 Duke of Edinburgh Below: Another great Prom on a  Malham Tarn Trip & Glos Uni visit beautiful summer evening at Prescott Hill Climb Club House, Year 11  Cycling, Sports Day and Wimbledon danced the night away. Thank you to Party Balloons in  Sports Fixtures News Bishops Cleeve for supplying some  Students’ Success Stories wonderful decorations

 Headmaster’s Message

Good luck to all our Leavers for their future studies and careers. We have a ‘Where are they now?’ display in the corridor - if you have news of a past pupil to share with current students, please email [email protected] Review of the Year 2018/2019

Well done to the students pictured above, who submitted applications and succeeded in their interviews to become prefects, peer counsellors, Parlia- ment representatives, House Captains and Head Boys and Girls. We hope you’ll wear your new ties with pride!

Left: Ben Tower Right: Sue Proctor, Chair of Governors introduces the 2019 Review of the Year.

Left: The cups and awards polished and waiting to be presented, including Rotary Club award - thanks to them for their support for the school.

Catherine Cox Y10 writes: On Thurs- accounts after he experienced problems day 13th July, we were delighted to wel- with his finances with his children’s bank come entrepreneur Ben Towers to be the account, and then went on to do TV work, guest speaker at our Review of the Year start another business and eventually, assembly. He told us about how he start- become a motivational speaker for young ed building websites as a hobby at the people. It was a delight to have him as age of twelve, and went on to become our guest speaker as, although only a few very successful in website designing be- years older than us students, his career fore he’d even left school. We were also was inspiring and proved to us that age told about how he created bank business doesn’t matter, just follow your dreams.

Mr Bale (Head of Sudeley House) and Mr Buttler (IT Network Manager but also an experienced climber), organised a reward day for 100 lucky pupils who have worked hard and behaved well during the past year.

RUClimbing set up their mobile climbing wall on the field and students had a go at climbing, under the careful supervision of the visiting trainers. Fastest climber in the school (over 3 climbs) was Flo Turfrey and in 2nd place Max Ma- thias. Capital Funding News

tinue our efforts to provide an excellent Good News! Winchcombe learning environment for our pupils. School is awarded Capital Whilst this is exciting news, it does not Funds (Kate Franklin, Business Manager) ease the burden and pressure on our teaching and learning resources. The School has been working closely with Gloucestershire County Council on possi- The school is hugely grateful for parental ble expansion plans. support through the School Parents’ Asso- ciation’s (WiSPA) efforts. GCC would like the School to increase the intake to meet the demand for secondary Their fundraising work is vital and the school places within the area, therefore School Leadership Team trusts that new the School will increase the year 7 intake parents will come forward in September to in 2020-2021 from 98 pupils to 110 pupils. join the WiSPA committee to continue the In order to accommodate the extra pupil excellent work. numbers, in working with GCC we have secured a one-off payment of £2 million This year in conjunction with donations capital spend. We do need to stress that from Cheltenham Round Table, GCC, this funding is for capital spend only to Winchcombe Show and Winchcombe Cy- expand the premises and cannot be used cling Club, you have raised enough funds to fund teaching and learning resources. to resurface the school’s tennis/netball courts. We are currently looking at the areas within the School that we wish to expand to In the forthcoming year we are looking for provide the additional capacity required. help in raising funds to care for our pupils’ mental health and well-being through the This will be an exciting opportunity for the support of WAM and Teens in Crisis. school and will enable us to continue to enhance our existing facilities and will con- (Further report on WiSPA later in News)

Library News

Joffre White’s Visit

On 2nd July we had a visit from a very talented author, Joffre White. He is also a Patron of Reading and an Ambassador for Achievement For All. He gave two presentations and so all pupils in the school were able to hear him speak. He didn’t talk about his books but based his talk on a range of different topics, which made the experience even more interesting. He told us about his earlier life and what inspired him to write and have such a big passion for books and reading. What we enjoyed the most was Joffre’s personality and how he per- formed his presentation. Instead of just sitting and reading a book he used props and moved using hand gestures and it really showed how passionate he was about books.

However, it was his motivating language that made us be inspired by him. Also, at lunchtime he chatted with pupils in the library and during the afternoon he held a writing workshop for Key Stage 3 pupils, showing clever techniques for creative writing.

His lecturing on self belief inspired people to do better and reach their full poten- tial. Thank you Joffre for coming to Winchcombe School, continue to do what you are doing because it is very inspiring.

Grace Elliott, 8 Cleeve and Molly Williams, 8 Prescott

£5,000 for the Library?

National Book Tokens are running a prize draw this year. All entries received before 31 July will be add- ed and the prize is £5,000 worth of tokens for the school Library - brilliant! All it takes is a couple of minutes to fill in an online entry. To nominate us please visit https://www.nationalbooktokens.com/ schools

The more nominations we receive, the more chances there are of us winning!

Did you know that the Finance Office stocks a variety of stationery at low prices?

Coloured Pens In Assessment

This academic year, we have been trialling the use of green pens for self and peer-marking, as well as purple pens for editing and improvement work. This introduction has been posi- tively received by both students and staff. In a recent survey, 97% of students said they wanted this to continue in the next academic year, as it helped them to revise and reflect on the different stages of their work. Consequently, we are asking all students to have from September, a green and purple pen, along with their current equipment, which is:

 a pencil case  black pens,  pencils  a ruler  a maths set and  a calculator.

Green and purple pens are available from many supermarkets and stationers, however, I have ordered over 100 BiC 4 colour (TM) medium tip 1mm biro pens (purple, green, pink and blue) - see above right, which are available from the Finance Office for only £1.50, if you would prefer to purchase just one pen from school.

Many thanks for your continued support. Sarah Teague (Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning)

Gloucester Rugby Review

(by Charlie Holmes-Fry Y9)

“At the start of the 2018/2019 year, two professional rugby players from Gloucester Rugby Club came to our school to take us out of our lesson on a Friday morning to play rugby/ skill games, but their aim was to improve our behaviour, interactions, confidence and our team- work. A minority of year 9 boys were chosen to take part in this experience. Later on in the year at the end of winter, a small group of year 8 boys joined us to achieve the same goals as we were trying to achieve. As the year went by, everyone was improving not just as rugby players but improving mentally and physically. At the end of each session for the last 10 minutes we all sit in a circle and discuss positive achievements and congratulate one another.”

Morris Osawe Y9 also attended the sessions and writes:

“We played multiple games and learnt new skills and techniques to include in a game of rugby, as the sessions every Friday proceeded everyone became more interactive and confident in rugby and in lessons. Harvey and Terry (Gloucester Rugby representatives) made sure we learnt something new every week not only including rugby but in other areas of our academic life. At the end of every session we’d reflect on the week on our behaviour and rewards, Har- vey and Terry made sure that every positive deed received recognition and congratulations. Terry recently showed us his belongings such as medals, shirts and caps that he has won or collected throughout his 18 years of playing rugby, He also told us how he came up from his upbringing in Samoa and how he played rugby and the highlights in his career. At the end of that session we took a group picture with the students, rugby players and with Mrs Marsh to round up the last proper rugby session of the 2018/2019 year.” MFL: Chinese students visit & languages in school

Twelve Chinese students visited the school with their teacher during May and June. They were paired with buddies and many Winchcombe students took the opportunity to find out more about a different culture. Emma Whales, Oliver Granger and Isabel Fletch- er in Y8 asked a couple of students some quick fire questions and here are their replies:

Thank you to those of you who volunteered to host the students. The youngsters enjoyed a number of trips out during their stay, which were coordinated by Mrs Playfair.

Why we enjoy languages at Winchcombe by Sophie Netting and Lara Chilton To celebrate our languages at school, we thought we would look at some Spanish festivals. We found so many amazing celebrations all over the world, but there was one that stood out to us the most. The Portobello Spanish festival in London.

The Portobello Spanish Festival brings the best of Spanish culture, food, shopping and entertainment to the well-known Por- tobello Market on Sunday 23rd June 2019. The festival brings a taste of Spanish life, culture and vibrancy to the streets of Porto- bello.

To celebrate the festival and learning foreign languages in our school we decided to ask some of the pupils here some questions on why they enjoy languages. Here are the answers we received:

‘WHY DO YOU ENJOY LANGUAGES?’ We enjoy them because we get to interact with our friends whilst learning a language. We also get lots of opportunities such as trips and competitions.

‘WHICH LANGUAGE DO YOU ENJOY THE MOST AND WHY?’ French; because of the culture and the people. Spanish; because of the atmosphere of the country and the community that surrounds it.

‘WHAT INTERESTS YOU ABOUT THE COUNTRIES AND THE CULTURE YOU LEARN ABOUT?’ The food as it tastes great! I find the clothing fascinating as it is very different to the clothes we usually wear. Also the dancing and festivities, as they fascinate me. Don’t forget the sports too as there are so many.

‘WHAT OTHER LANGUAGES WOULD YOU WANT TO LEARN IF YOU COULD PICK ANY?’ Russian as the country and the word like symbols are very different to our own.

‘THIS FESTIVAL IS ALL ABOUT TEACHING PEOPLE ABOUT SPAIN AND LANGUAGES, WHO WOULD YOU TEACH ABOUT THE LANGUAGES YOU LEARN? My relatives: as I want them to get a better understanding of what I learn in school.

‘WHAT SKILLS HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM LEARNING A FOREIGHN LANGUAGE AT SCHOOL?’

Teambuilding, communication skills and more career paths to help me in my future. I love learning both French and Spanish and learn so much about both the language and culture.

There you have it, we hope you can experience this wonderful festival through the languages we learn at school. If you want to learn more about languages in school our MFL teachers: Mrs Playfair, Miss Beard and Mrs Hastings, will happily give you more information and other resources you can use to learn these amazing languages. 7LA Environment Action

Miss McGaw and Miss Beard (Head suggested that as soon as 2030, the world of House) are very proud of 7LA will reach a point of no return. That’s be- who have led a number of Assem- fore any of us will even turn thirty. We blies this term. know that lots of things are beyond our control, but we need to try. Their report below is most thought- Here are some of our suggestions to help provoking and should challenge us make your home more eco-friendly: all to reconsider our personal im- pact on the environment. Turn off your lights and devices when you’re not using them. 7LA Take Action on the Environment This prevents unnecessary burn- ing of fossil fuels to make the It’s July – time to embrace the country- electricity. You should also turn side, go for holidays, and take long off the tap while you’re brushing walks with your family. But do you en- your teeth or washing up. joy your holidays and walks when every Make the effort to recycle. Plastic wondrous landscape you walk by, every takes up to 1000 years to biode- patch of grass you walk over, every grade and causes so much dam- beach you lie on, is covered in polluting age to the planet. Check if there litter? are recycling facilities near you that might take items like electron- We are 7 Langley, and we decided that it ics or plastic was time to step up and take action to re- bags that your solve the amount of litter that our world is curbside ser- drowning in. We can’t leave the govern- vice doesn’t. ment to do it all for us – we all need to do Switch to eco- our part. friendly prod- Earlier this term, six students from 7 Lang- ucts. There ley delivered brilliant assemblies to the rest are LOADS of of the school, and others are writing letters new products being invented now to the Senior Leaders about making that can replace our Winchcombe School more green but we plastic ones. Things like bamboo feel that the message needs to reach eve- toothbrushes, reusable shopping rybody; not just the school. bags, silicone wraps instead of cling film, and solid shampoos and shower gels can all make a difference. They might be more expensive to begin with, but they last longer – and it’s an investment in your child’s future. You can look online for more ideas.

All these little things can really make a difference if we all start pitching in and Did you know that over 9 million metric doing our bit at home. Encourage your son tonnes of plastic ends up in the sea each or daughter to re-use their water bottle year? This lead to the formation of the Pa- rather than buying a new one every day, cific Trash Vortex – an island of litter and and teach them good habits about recy- plastic in the ocean that is bigger than cling. Spend some time as a family this France. Animals are suffering and dying in summer by participating in beach cleans or huge numbers: 100,000 marine animals community cleans around the country. die each year by becoming trapped and Our health, safety, and welfare is being drowning, or by swallowing plastic; 1 mil- threatened by plastic and pollution. We all lion birds are killed in the same way need to do our bit to help save the planet, each and every year. There is more micro- save our future, save us. plastic in the sea than there are stars in the Milky Way!! Even we are affected – Nancy Holmes, Sydnie Carty, Peter how have we got to the point where you, Golding, Jack Darville, Ben Featonby, me, your children, are all breathing in or and Deano Saunders (7LA) consuming a credit card’s worth (5 grams) of plastic every week?

We need to become more eco-friendly before it’s too late. Climate scientists have Catering Cup Cake Challenge

Once again, Year 8 excelled 1st Emily Chilton themselves with their cupcake 2nd Myles Hall 3rd Natasha Hicks decorations. It wasn’t an easy 4th Violet Weaver task for Mrs Brooks and Mrs 5th Ruby Stankovich Darville to decide the winners as they were all amazing.

Pudding & Ponies (Race Night)

Mr Hall’s first official engagement as Headteacher in 2010 was to compere a Pudding & Race night. Remembered as a fun evening for both students and parents, it seemed fitting for his final official engagement before retirement to be another similar occasion. With five teams of chefs and six official sponsors (Emporium gift shop, Village Clinic physiotherapists and podia- trists, British Bespoke Auctions, Gardeners Arms in Alderton, P&H Services Electrical Engineers and JB Charles Construction), the evening raised a magnificent £822 towards Teens in Crisis and WAM funding. The Catering Department are also hoping for a new fridge!

Left: Mr Hall provides the racing commentary

Right: Mr Murray created the horses on the laser cutter - bought several years ago by WiSPA. Mrs Davis’s class decorated them.

Left: Puddings plated up ready to be served. The winning team were Jack Darville and Jack Fairbrother, runners up: ‘The Brownie Ban- dits’ (Ella Wakeman, Lucy Hayling, Karis Bedford & Oscar Levers)

“Pudding and race night is a great fundraising event for the school and an enjoyable one for pupils, teachers and parents! Prior to the event, five pupil teams spent 2 lessons in the catering room conjuring up tasty desserts to be served to the guests. Some examples of the puddings were: strawberry jellies, cookies, brownies, chocolate tart, truffles, ginger cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake and shortbread. The hall was set up with tables, chairs and the horse racing area, which included six wooden horses, a grid and two foam dice. As well as being an inventive way to raise money, this event was an opportunity to socialise and build up team- work skills. The evening was off to a flying start (or should I say ‘raced into action’?) with the first horse betting and game shortly followed by the first pudding. This continued with many cheers as the winning betters of each race stepped up to collect their prizes. Once the last cake had been served and the last race had ended and… everyone was pleasantly stuffed, after wolfing down five consecutive puddings, a vote was held for the best dessert.” (Cora Bolton Y8)

Since the last News, WiSPA has also supported the British Heart Foundation bike ride with refreshments

Sadly, due to a clash with a tractor rally and last minute date change, the number of cyclists was vastly reduced and also the profits for both school and BHF, but the event still raised £500 for each charity and the 200 unsold filled rolls were donated to Cheltenham YMCA for distribution to the homeless.

Once again, the Wychwood Festival kindly donated a family weekend ticket for the music festival in May, helping us to raise money from the sealed bid auction. Mrs Burgess was delighted to win the ticket for her family. We hope they may pass on another promotional discount next year - it’s a lovely family festival event if you get the chance to go.

Please email [email protected] to volunteer to help with future events - many hands make light work! Careers Events

Employability at Winchcombe School

Right: Y8 Careers Speed Networking June 2019

Employability at Winchcombe School At Winchcombe, we aim to provide all students with balanced careers guidance, en- couraging them to explore labour market information to help them make good GCSE subject and future choices. Our goal is to help students to improve their life skills to prepare them for the world of work in later years. We schedule at least one major careers event per year group during each academic year.

Going forward, afternoon registration on one day each week will be devoted to Ca- reers. Your child will spend time:  Watching short videos about specific jobs  Discussing business news stories  Watching videos about coping with exam stress/choosing options/going to college or university/apprenticeships  Doing work-related quizzes  Having discussions about modern work (working patterns, finding jobs online, online profiles, etc.) Reflecting on employability events If you work in a job which you think might be interesting to students or if you’ve had experience of interviewing candidates for jobs and have time to volunteer occasionally during the school day, please email me ([email protected]) or Sarah Edwards ([email protected]), giving details of your work/experience.

Year 8 Speed Networking Careers Event Friday 21st June 2019 (by Jamie Hook Y8)

The Year 8 Speed-networking Careers Event was an amazing experience which helped students get ideas about what different careers are like and also gave them an opportunity to find out what grades and qualifications are required for certain ones as well. In the event, people from all different careers walked around the room, sat down and explained to groups of pupils what they did for a living, what was good about it and what was bad about it, and after about five minutes, swapped places and went to another table. It was great because I started to think about what I wanted to be in a few years’ time. Everyone was incredibly polite to us and always listened to what we asked them. It was so much fun, I really enjoyed it and I recommend it to other pupils. (photo top right)

Years 10 Careers day

st On 1 July 2019 Winchcombe School A series of colleges, 6th forms and workshops held a Y10 careers day in which people came to the school to enhance our knowledge from other schools came in to give us all and give ideas for post-16 courses. To name a few a talk or teach us skills that we will need Cleeve, Balcarras and Hartpury came to visit us. in later life. For example, I attended the They informed us of what they had to offer and in Hartpury College and University talk, turn what we would have to do to get a place which started off with an introductory there. We found out that it is not just about video for Hartpury and was followed by a talk about life at Hartpury and the grades by any means. For more practical courses different courses that you can apply for. it is more about your attitude and work ethic. We Furthermore, we were shown a video had a workshop from Mr Watson about money about the day in the life of a Hartpury management showing our dream job at the age student, and the talk ended with a quiz of 25 and finding the salary. Then taking away tax including all the information that we and other costs such as housing and every day had been given during the talk. Finally, expenses. Finally we had a workshop about we were handed prospectuses and went writing a CV. I think this is very important as eve- on to our next talk. ryone will have to do this when we leave Winch- combe. We were given a pamphlet on key skills (Logan Platt) and with an example CV. (Harry Greasby)

At our careers day I attended a Criminology session from Cirencester College. I really enjoyed this because it was very interesting and this is what I would like to study at college, the session was really helpful because it gave me more information and a better look at what I would be learning about. I learnt what GCSE’s I need and some information about the college. (Caitlin Calder) Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

Some pictures from this term’s Duke of Edinburgh expeditions:

Looks like a lot of fun! Well Right: Orienteering at done to all students who Croome Park have completed their Bronze or Silver awards this year.

Malham Tarn Residential Trip

In April, a group of Year 8 students visited Mal- ham Tarn in Yorkshire.

Helena Price writes about the trip below:

Year 8 Malham trip 2019 By Helena Price 8PR

On 1st April, 30 students and I went on a residential to Malham tarn in the Yorkshire Dales. Miss Kingsbury, Miss Hale and Mr Young were the teachers that went, and I thought they were very cheerful and enjoyable even though they had little sleep, due to everyone eating sweets and talking loudly in the dormitories. The staff at the house were also really welcoming and nice.

In my opinion, my favourite activity was the walk on the last day because of the astonishing views and rocky landscape. Our tutor Ellie was very good because while we were on trips out, she knew a lot about the landscape and the history behind everything that we saw. The best part of the walk was Malham Cove as it was so tall reaching 260ft (80m), at the top of the cove the limestone had eroded making lots of large curved rocks. Even though we were very tired due to lack of sleep I felt very exhilarated by the immense height of Malham Cove and the outstanding view of Malham.

Visit to the University of Gloucestershire

Year 9 visit the University of Gloucestershire

On Wednesday 12th June, Year 9 went on a trip to University of Gloucestershire’s Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester. When we got there, we were split into our groups that we went round with for the rest of the day. Before we looked round, we all gathered in the new business lecture room for a talk about University. After that, my group had a tour of the University. We got to see the Performing Studio, The Sports Hall where the netball team the Severn Stars practise, and even Sports Therapy. Some of the subjects you can study there include Performing Arts, Sport, Law, Criminology and Nursing. Also on our tour, we played a board game which was to teach us about money and how to be careful with how we spent it and to make sure we spent it wisely.

After our tour we had lunch, but I for one was quite excited about what we would do next! After lunch, my group headed to the new business lecture room where we talked about university courses, I was very surprised at how many there were! Our challenge was to look through some University Prospectuses and find the most random course we could find for each letter of the alphabet. It was quite hard and my group only managed to find a few, but I definitely did find it interesting looking through the prospectuses at all the different courses.

Overall, I found the University of Gloucestershire trip a great experience and it has definitely made me consider University as an option in future.

Daisy Theobald 9CL Cycling in School

The past year has seen a number of cycling pupils had a great time. events in school, often coordinated by Mr Halsey, IT Technician, who is a keen cyclist Advance Cycling Training for Year 7 stu- himself. dents was held in early July. Mr Halsey writes: “Amazing weather for Year 7’s Ad- In April, he ran an Inter-House Cycle Cross vance Cycling Training. 24 pupils completed competition, which was won by Langley. this year’s course successfully. Riding in pairs with an instructor, they developed In June, the PE Department welcomed their biking skills on the road and were around 50 primary school children to our encouraged to improve their awareness school field to take part in a Mountain Bike and control as well as basic bike mainte- event. Despite poor weather, the event nance. Well done!” was a big success and all the junior school

Sports Day Sports Day 2019

Excellent weather for this year’s Sports Day on Friday 28th June. Mr Haynes congratulated great performances from Lily Marchant, Stan Folks-Underhill and their relay teams.

Sudeley brought home the Cup!

Trip to Wimbledon Tennis

On July 14th, the lucky ballot winners from our tennis squads visited Wimbledon to watch the junior and mixed double finals.

All pupils had a fantastic time and appreciated the level of performance from all the players in display.

Tennis is growing in strength at the school with our current key stage 3 teams in both boys and girls squads winning their respective league qualifying for the regional rounds in September.

Keep up the good work !

Mr Haynes (Head of PE) Sports Fixtures News (summer term)

Rounders: Mrs Russell reports: 2/7/19 - Great sporting achievements with year 7&8 girls beating PITVILLE at rounders. Congratulations! Photos by Emily Chilton Y7 Mrs Cook 5/7/19: WE WON AGAIN! Congratulations to Y9 girls for winning against Prince Hen- ry's with only 7 players, 6 at one point due to injuries. Prince Henry's just won the whole district event for Worcestershire and we only went and beat them. Yippee! Emily Hopkins got player of the match with several fantastic catches, Ellie Berriman did a brilliant catch much to her amazement. Lauren, Bryony and Lottie all had catches with Millie playing a vital role on 1st bases. I was so proud of their conduct and attitude Well done girls. Sadly the Year 10s lost, but their teacher said it was a very close game. I could hear them laughing from across the field, and that is what sport is all about - having fun.

Mrs Cook 10/7/19: Y8 girls won the district tournament, we get a cup!! Yeah!! Congratulations to Mrs Russell and the girls - a feisty team effort, with so much passion. Amazing to watch!

Mr Waller reports: Girls’ Cricket (June 2019) Year 7 team beat Cleeve with 6 overs left to play. Freya Davison and Grace Hopkinson made a strong contribution to the result.

Congratulations!!

...to Olivia for English U12 Hockey Nationals success at Nottingham in May... Her team coming fourth! There were 10 teams across 2 pools, and in their pool they won 2, drew 1 and lost 1 (to the even- tual champions). That put them 2nd in their pool and into the 3/4 place playoffs, where they were eventually beaten (but the top 4 teams got medals!)

...to Ethan, who at the age of 13 has achieved his Open Water PADI qualification. This is an Internationally recognised Scuba diving qualification involving both theory and practical elements. The final part of the qualification was four open dives which took place at Cromhall quarry at the end of June. His parents are very proud of him - as is his school!

… to Lily, Y8, who was selected to represent Winchcombe School/ Gloucestershire at the South West Schools’ athletics competition a few weeks ago and although she didn’t reach the podium that day, it was a fantastic achievement to even make the team. She was one of 120 athletes from the entirety of Gloucestershire schools, across all ages to be selected to compete. She was especially proud to represent Gloucestershire as well as Winchcombe school.

… to Lauren Houghton-Brown and Cora Bolton, whose U14 girls’ football manager has emailed school to tell us how talented these two students are. Their team, Bishops Cleeve Colts have won the Gloucestershire County Girls league. He says: “They have demonstrated how you can all improve if you are positive and support each other at all times.” Well done girls!

If you have news about your child’s success outside school and want to share it with the school community, please do email details to their Head of House.

We also enjoy hearing from past students about their successes in further education and career. This term, we’ve learnt that John Galpin (2014 leaver) has gained a 1st class degree in Computer Science from Reading University and is starting work with Discover Bank in September. Peter Scharrer (2013 leaver) has graduated from Cambridge University with a 1st class Masters degree and is just starting an internship with a City company and Michael Whittemore (2016 leaver) and his band, Genuine Panama, have recently released their first single ‘No Good’. Michael’s mum says that encouragement from Mrs Turner and Winchcombe School have led to Michael becoming a confident musician. He is currently studying Commercial Music at Bath Spa University.

Fabulous news from all of you! A Message from the Headteacher:

As I write my final newsletter I find it hard to believe that my 35 years at Winchcombe School has passed so quickly. I calculated that this equates to around 7,000 school days and I can honestly say that I enjoyed almost every one of them.

Winchcombe School is different to other schools with its size creating a unique atmosphere in which staff get to know pupils on a personal basis. This caring ethos is evident as soon as you step through the front door.

The school has obviously changed a great deal in 35 years; an increase in numbers from 320 to today’s figure of 500, new buildings and greatly im- proved facilities – yet that caring family-like feel remains unaltered.

The school is now very much a focal point of the community and I am proud to have overseen the profile and standing in which we are held raised to such a high level.

The school recently received news of a £2 million investment from the local authority to improve our facilities over the coming year and I feel this will greatly enhance the offer the school is able to make to our youngsters and staff.

Finally I would like to say thank you to all parents, friends and the support- ers of the school who have sent cards and gifts to me on my retirement. I really have been overwhelmed by your generosity. Winchcombe School has been a big part of my life and I will miss it immensely but I feel sure that the school will continue to thrive under Mr Templeton’s leadership.

So thank you once again for all your support at so many different levels; the dedicated staff - both teaching and non-teaching; supportive parents and governors but most of all to the fantastic pupils who make Winchcombe School such a special place that I will never forget.

Neil Hall Headteacher

Left: Mr Hall’s leaving cake

Mr Hall and all staff hope you have a sunny and restful summer break.

Mr Templeton looks forward to meeting you and to welcoming students back on Wednesday 4th September (Week 1).