Events w/b 21 Jan—Week 2

Wed 23rd—Year 11 Parents’ Study Skills Evening 7-9pm

Thurs 24th—Year 8 Options Evening 6-8.30pm

Year 13 Students gain excellent EPQ results

This week our Year 13 students received their results for the Level 3 Extended Project Qualification. 32% of the cohort achieved A*-A grades, 61% achieved A*-B grades and 79% of the entries were A*-C. These are really fantastic results for the students and staff involved.

The EPQ is worth the equivalent of half an A level and some universities will lower an entry offer in the light of good performance at EPQ.

Congratulations to the students, Mrs Littleworth and her team.

INVEST IN YOURSELF – Careers @ JOG

Thursday 31st January 5.30-7.00pm in the school GYM

Year 11, 12 and 13 students, parents, and carers are invited to come and meet local and national employers to discover what opportunities are available for future jobs and apprenticeships post 16 and post 18.

Representatives from DSTL, KPMG, Monahans, Knorr-Bremse, Atkins, Goughs Solicitors, NHS, Hitachi Finance, the Armed Forces, Wiltshire Police, Gompels, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and more will be on hand to answer your questions.

Wiltshire and Bath College will also be present.

Please feel free to drop-in anytime between 5.30 and 7.00pm. This will be a careers fair style event.

For further information please contact A Lynch or L Baines.

Ten Tors 2019 Update: The Toughest Challenge so far

On Saturday, 31 intrepid students set off from Upton Scudamore Barn wieghed down with 15-20kg rucksacks carrying their tents, stoves, sleeping bags, spare clothes, first aid kits and all other necessities. Their aim over the weekend was to complete a 31-mile circuit of the Western section of Salisbury Plain - The Imber Range Path.

Saturday started with a huge hill and some accompanying drizzle, and the brutal reality of carrying a much heavier rucksack started to hit home for many students. Unperturbed, they continued along past the Westbury White Horse, along the top of the Plain and down towards Gore Cross and Tilshead. After 15 or 16 miles, the blisters and aches started to take their toll, and some students took refuge in the bus until nightfall. However most

continued and after strapping on their headtorches as darkness fell, marched wearily into our makeshift camp (a barren field in Chitterne) having completed over 18 miles, after a long challenging day. The clouds parted, the wind rose and suddenly cooking a hot meal was a tricky, yet essential task after tents had been put up. Fortunately 'Smoky Bill's Grill' (our Cook Tent) remained open throughout the night to provide warmth, shelter, fire, boiling water and a mean chilli to those in need.

Rested (ish), and revitalised by a hot breakfast, all remaining students strode out from camp determined to quickly complete the remaining hilly 13 miles bearing west towards Warminster. 4 Hill-forts, and a huge golf-course climb later, students collapsed proudly back onto the minibus.

A huge well done to everyone for the weekend, especially the 21 (including 12 Year 9's) who managed the entire circuit, and as always a huge thank you to my volunteer helpers Bill Smith, Matt Wheeler, Rob Pittman and Mr Lord without whom this could not have been done.

The navigational challenges of Cheddar Gorge and the Mendips await us next Sunday!

Options Evening—24 January

The Year 8 Team would like to politely remind all Year 8 Parents & Carers that the options evening is on Thurs 24th Jan starting at 6pm in Wingfield Hall.

This is a wonderful opportunity to gather information about the options process, as well as finding out key information about all the subjects on offer from Year 9 onwards.

Our school SENCO, Mrs Marshall, will be available to answer any questions, along with our school Careers Adviser, Ms Lynch.

We look forward to a productive evening.

Year 7 Spanish Trip – 14-18th July 2019

A space has become available on the above trip for either a current year 7 student or a year 8 student who did not take part in the Spanish trip last year. This trip is open to any year 7 or year 8 student, regardless of whether they are currently studying Spanish at school. The trip offers an exciting opportunity to experience Spanish culture, form friendships and create fantastic memories, which we hope they will look back on fondly for many years to come. If you are interested in signing your child up for this space on the trip, or you require additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact Lisa Clifford via lclifford@jogschool.org or 01225 762637 ext 261 at any time.

Many thanks

Ms V Lopez - Director of Learning: Modern Languages Faculty - vlopez@jogschool.org

Art trip to Amsterdam

Fifteen year 12 and 13 students went on a residential art trip to Amsterdam last week for 4 days.

Students had the opportunity to see plenty of art in the city at the Van Gogh museum, the

Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk modern art gallery.

We went on a canal boat cruise to see the illuminations, had a very windy experience on top the A'Dam tower, went to the Anne Frank house, and visited the Bodyworld’s exhibition of real life skinned bodies!

Students also had a chance to explore the city on foot,

taking in all the fabulous architecture.

A big thank you to Mr Doughty for supporting the trip and to the students for being so well behaved - they were a credit to the school!

Miss Lang

Dear Parents and Carers,

Another action packed week at John of Gaunt has seen our students relish in a whole range of wonderful opportunities. The week started off on Sunday with Mr Gray leading some of our students on their longest training walk to date! A gruelling 21 miles, in preparation for the Ten Tors events later in the year. Whilst this was taking place our Post 16 Art students were in Holland visiting a wide range of art exhibitions, including the ‘Body Worlds’ exhibition which creates Art from the human body!

This week we also had news of some fabulous Year 13 results, almost 80% of students gained an A*-C in their EPQ qualification, well done to all of the students and staff involved in this, particularly Mrs Littleworth is oversaw their progress. As Year 13 continue with their studies we are particularly proud announce that 82% of the year group have now applied to go to university.

During this week it has been a pleasure to spend a lot of time in classrooms, talking with staff and students. I have been particularly impressed with the high quality learning that has been taking place and the engagement and focus of students.

During next week we are looking forward to seeing Year 11 parents for the study skills evening, this is particularly important as we near the GCSE Mock period, and Year 8 parents, to discuss ‘options’. Year 8 students have been thinking about their ‘options’ in assemblies recently and we are really pleased to have been able to offer more courses and choice than ever before. Also this week we will be introducing Doddle, an online science platform, to our students, this is a fabulous tool that I know our students will find beneficial.

As always, I hope you have a relaxing (and warm) weekend

Paul Skipp Headteacher