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Riverline Mag Cover (Feb 2021)_Layout 1 18/02/2021 13:00 Page 1 RRIVERLINEIVERLINE A AY eYearar in in W Wisbechisbech GGrammarrammar SchoolSchool 20202020 Distance Learning Connecting hers & Pupils Home Teac Baking Resilience Th an k T HE YEAR ou Y GROUP THAT DID Music Kindness T International O n li n e S po rt Bubbles in Sc P B oa rd i ng hool d i nity v mmu Co & C pirit S ising Fundra Vaccine T eams Microsoft Contents Covid-19 page 4 - 13 Mental Health and Wellbeing page 14 - 15 Academic page 16 - 23 Drama page 24 - 25 Music page 28 - 29 Art page 30 - 33 Houses page 34 - 37 International Boarding page 38 - 39 Sixth Form page 40 - 45 Alumi page 46 - 47 Fundraising page 48 - 51 Heads of School page 52 - 53 Trips and Events page 54 - 61 Early years page 62 - 69 Sport page 70 - 80 Food page 81 Staff Leavers page 82 Obituaries page 83 Welcome to Riverline... At the end of a year like no other, or should that be at the start It can be hard to remember these happier, dare I say it, ‘more of year, I am unsure but it is a source of some considerable normal times’, such has been the impact of the virus on our pride and consolation to write this introduction to Riverline. lives. I take great comfort from the fact that our pupils and staff Pride because the pages that follow tell the story of a School have continued to find ways to thrive, even when facing the community that has continued to evince vibrancy, positivity and unprecedented challenges of the national lockdown, remote compassion even as the storm of Covid-19 passes over us. learning and a huge disruption to their daily routines. And consolation because of the encouragement I take for a brighter, happier future from the reminders of the time before the We absolutely missed out on the usual bustle and energy of the pandemic, when social distancing, “zones and bubbles”, hand Trinity term. However, our whole community - pupils, staff and sanitizer, face coverings and the need for constant vigilance parents alike - showed tremendous resilience and commitment didn’t curtail our daily lives. right the way through the final term. Cyberspace was alive with activity as pupils, teachers (and parents) adjusted to online What the pupils have managed remotely and how the staff have learning (in an instant) and the delivery of a remote curriculum managed to educate their classes through ‘blended learning’, and pastoral care. And so it was, that as we faced a period has characterised much of what has been great about WGS. unlike any other in our (long) history, we remained a place of At the same time it has highlighted that nothing beats being kindness, hope, academic endeavour and ingenuity. I cannot physically present at School, but we found new ways to be thank my colleagues (the entire teaching and support staff), our together, to keep our School and wider community alive and to pupils and our parents and guardian community enough for celebrate our shared achievements. making this so. As ever, such achievements are numerous and varied. By the time the results of the public examinations were published Through the last 12 months they include stunning individual in the summer, it felt as if Covid-19 was woven into the fabric accomplishments in study, music, drama, art and sports, as of our lives. Its shockwaves continued to reverberate with well as team (in the broadest possible sense) successes. uncertainty surrounding final grades. Despite the immense We still had great House competitions, debating events and challenges this posed, I was delighted that ‘the year group sporting competitions and expeditions to name but a few, long that does’, a phrase I coined in a farewell message to our U6th before the clouds of Covid-19 gathered. Our boys’ hockey 1st Leavers’, achieved great and deserved success in their A levels, XI made it to the National Finals and equally as impressive, the BTECs and GCSEs. It has been an extraordinary year, but our senior Prep School Netball team made it to their Finals as well. high academic standards have been maintained, with pupils We welcomed more international students to our campus, had proving their mettle across a vast array of disciplines. a double reception class for the first time in our history and all staff received iPads to assist with their teaching, as a pre-cursor Such was, and is, the ongoing story of the past 12 months to the roll out for pupils, (fingers crossed in 2021), as we look to or more at WGS. Undoubtedly a different year but it did show improve and enhance our teaching and learning. WGS at its very best, not least in the innate care and kindness demonstrated by the interactions between those in our precious“ community. I hope you enjoy reading on, as much as I have, and will associate the year group 2019-20 as the “‘Year Group that did’! Chris Staley, Headmaster Reflections on Distance Learning Pete Timmis, Deputy Head Pastoral Care For many of us the last 12 months have been the most challenging in living memory. Whether you work in the classroom, elsewhere in the School, are a pupil or parent, our lives have been turned upside down, and back again, thanks to COVID-19. To me, what has been most inspiring is that despite our own problems and setbacks, the WGS community has stood firm What makes Wisbech Grammar School special is not our all of this we ran our Key Worker Program, which allowed some buildings, facilities and grounds (though they are wonderfully pupils to come into School so that their parents could continue looked after by our fantastic support staff), it is the pupils and to attend work and look after us all. staff who would usually inhabit them. Having our community spread out to the four corners of our vast catchment area Our next challenge was the maintenance of our routine. I count created a catalogue of challenges. myself lucky that I was able to continue to come into School most days. I don’t think the combination of soft chairs and a - How will we teach? full fridge would have helped me maintain energy levels and - How will we support each other? motivation! That was not the case for everyone though; some relished the loss of commute and the need to be up as early. - How will we maintain our identity as a School? Wherever we found ourselves on the coping spectrum, people still needed purpose and routine. From a pastoral point of view, The Easter holidays quickly became a time of upskilling and that meant bringing the School together through assemblies, preparation. Staff and School Leaders were thrust towards a new form periods and events. Assemblies ran live each week both horizon through necessity rather than design. This was a very on a whole School and section level. Sections also had a weekly challenging time, but one that reinforced just how much our staff social on a Friday. care. Live teaching through Microsoft Teams commenced in the first week of the Trinity term and we all quickly got to grips with a There were challenges such as the WGS Top Ten Challenge, new routine. Microsoft Teams connected our community across where pupils were given lots of activities to complete that took the miles, with pupils and staff all experiencing their own unique them away from the screen and as far out into the real world as levels of progress. Some were familiar with Teams, some were they could. They then shared their achievements with each other high flying technology aces who intuitively embrace platforms and the wider community through the School website and social such as this; others needed to quickly get up to speed and media. Some example of their work can be seen on the reluctantly step away from the comfort and reassurance of how following pages. we normally do things. As with life, in lockdown we all had our own experiences and our own levels of success. The key lesson For all of us it has been difficult to look too far ahead but it we learnt was to ‘reach out’ to our community. Whether through has been possible to focus on the positive things we can Teams calls to colleagues, parents or pupils, regular welfare achieve. I continue to be inspired by our pupils and staff, their surveys, department meetings and emails, we encouraged resourceful industry and empathetic attitude. Whilst technology everyone to let us know if they were having problems or finding is connecting us across the miles, the strength of our WGS things difficult. I think the fact that everyone was going through community remains are the heart of who we are and what we a period of transition and challenge bred a shared empathy that can achieve. actually strengthened our community and goodwill. Throughout 4 Wisbech Grammar School Covid-19 Parents Feedback Families feedback during distance learning March 2020 Can I just congratulate you all on the quality of your I would like to send our thanks to you, lessons during these difficult your team and all staff members for the excellent level of online learning the times – it’s not easy delivering school is providing for our sonJack. everything via Teams, but there This is a trying time for us all and is a real sense that you are we are so impressed how quickly the system has been set up and got up and keeping everyone on track so running with minimum fuss.

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