FRIENDS OF WBGSEDITION 2

NEWSLETTER

Cover image:Thomas Wright

WBGSFRIENDS OF

Dear Parents, Friends and Staff at the SchoolI am delighted to have become a part of the Friends of WGBS and take this opportunity in introducing myself as the new Chairperson of the Committe since November 2014. I am a mother of two and work with the Export Department at the Ministry of Trade and Investments. I bring with me considerable experience in sales, marketing, networking along with relationship and event management. I hope to add much value to the existing network of Friends and look forward to all your support.Those who already know me would surely expect a lot of laughter and fun filled activities to bring us all together and serve the purpose of this Committe, so do join us for the Committe Meetings and Events, the more the merrier.A keen enthusiast of sports, yoga, music, cooking and dancing, you would usually catch me in a rush or see me at Cassiobury Park during the weekends

Warm regardsArchana Singh

New Chair

Friends elect new chair and secretary

New SecretaryMy name is Germaine Matthews and I am the new Secretary of “Friends of Watford Grammar School for Boys”. I first met the Friends Committe at the year 7 activity team building day and the school welcome evening, their refreshments and hospitality were most appreciated. The Headmaster’s speech on that night demonstrated their integral role in the school.Having previously served on a pre-school Committe I knew that joining the Friends would mean two things: Good Fun and Hard Work - with the added bonus of meeting new people. I still keep in touch with those who I met at pre-school now! My first event was a School concert. I really enjoyed the evening. I met a lot of new people; it took me back to my event management days!I am now a School Business Manager, so administration, organisation and generating income is second nature to me. As Secretary I will be providing minutes and working with the other Trustees to produce the business administration for Friends. I worked for a charity for 2 years so I hope my knowledge of regulatory aspects will be useful too. RegardsGermaine Matthews

The Friends unanimously elected their new Chair and Secretary at their AGM on Wednesday 12th November. They are Archana Singh, Chair and Germaine Matthews, Secretary. They join Amanda Hardy who has been Treasurer since 2014.

WBGSFRIENDS OF

School events

Newsletter put together by: Kathryn Bourke, Luzia Lei, Victoria Conquest, Deborah Bush, Nicholas Bush

The Autumn school concerts in the Muse

As well as supporting fundraising events Friends also provide refreshments at Welcome, Options and Parent Evenings.

These activities can only take place if Friends of the School volunteer to help. Everyone is welcome. Look out for e-mails asking for help!

Archana SinghBarry TynemouthDaksha DodhiaDeborah BushDeepa SolankiGermaine MatthewsHayley JacobsJaqueline PisapiaJeanette MacLeodKathryn BourkeLan LaLouise Marks Luzia LeiMalcolm BushMary Ann Staines

Nayan DasRachael SpeirsRita FieldSylvia TuiteVictoria ConquestSaira PuffettMirna ShahBex KearneyMike WrightJames WrightGeorge WrightThomas WrightJordan BoyleKieran BoyleSusie Huxham

Barry Tynemouth and Kathryn Bourke help out on Year 11 Parent Night.

Thanks to everyone who took part in last terms half terms events including:

Last term Danielle Wright organised the November School Quiz night on behalf of the Friends. It was a great success:‘Good quiz, good fun and everyone enjoyed it.’ - Danielle.‘I thought it was very well arranged. Someone at our table won a Watford Boys Monopoly board.’ - Nayan Das.Friends also provided refreshments for the School Concerts and the Upper School play. The total amount raised for all of these events was £2,246.80.

Autumn Review

WBGSFRIENDS OF

The CloudFriends of Watford Grammar School for Boys will be using the Cloud to help them generate their income. Moving over to the Google apps for education, will mean all the Committe will get their own email address. It will enhance our professional image in the community and provide easy ways to communicate as a group. Friends can share an electronic calendar allocating important School dates of which everyone needs to be aware. We

can also show who is working on each event at a glance. Not only has this shared

document storage space meant minutes will easily be accessible. It will mean that everyone involved will know exactly what’s

going on at Friends! And what’s more it’s free and very secure; emails are

encrypted! Everything is backed up too. What more can you ask for!!Germaine Matthews

Business ClubSome Friends are looking at setting up a business club for parents, friends and members of the local community. The idea will be to meet from time to time over dinner and a few drinks, in a local restaurant, to network and exchange some business cards. The emphasis

will be very much on the social side. We will also be looking to make a contribution to Friends of WBGS to create a pool of contacts who can offer occasional work-shadow placement opportunities and who can also assist in playing a part at careers evenings. More

information will follow, but if you would like to get involved then please contact Paul Marmor on pdm@sherrards.com (or 07789 938 479) and/or Sanjay Asher on sanjay_ashar@hotmail.com. Watch this space for details of the first event.Paul Marmor

Undercover ParentNot so long ago we were trying to make sense of the entry requirements, counting houses in the catchment area, worrying about the exam and then the next thing is the uniform list…

Speaking of which – not only is there the need to discover his size in centimeters rather than years, but also there’s an awful lot of sports kit! Suddenly realize that the little boy is nearly as tall as me, and will be off to school on his own – more trauma!

A few things I’ve discovered since then:

• Buy two ties (small and easily lost)• Keep laundry pen / marker away from kids (small and easily “borrowed”)• Teach him to empty his sports kit at the end of the day (horrible to find it after a week)• Yellow and red cards aren’t something to do with football after all!

A couple of things I haven’t found out yet – like where on earth is lost property kept – he’s vague on the subject….and what he has against using his locker – everything gets

dragged around with him, even hockey stick. And when does he need his rugby boots (which he’s already outgrown)?

Some of the good bits – he’s enjoying his lessons (mostly), he’s managing the homework, and is even excited about some of it, and he loves art – which can’t be bad! Tracker is reassuring, but first parent-teacher meeting coming up next – a bit different from primary school I’m told, another new challenge for new parents!

WBGSFRIENDS OF

Reuse unwanted uniformLan La, a Friend of the School, raised the recycling of school uniform as a fundraising issue. At present there is a small amount of second hand uniform

for sale at school, which can be seen by making an appointment with the school, the School’s Fundraising and Communications director.

The Friends of the School are looking for ways to increase the amount of uniform which is recycled and, where possible, raise money for the school.

According to the Guardian, parents will fork out an average of £240 to kit out each of their children with essentials to equip them for the new school term in September – adding up to a staggering £2.5bn across the UK . That’s not only bad for your pocket, but also the planet! Kids grow fast...WRAP (government agency to encourage recycling) says that:

• The average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes – and around 30% of clothing in wardrobes has not

been worn for at least a year;• The cost of this unused clothing is around £30 billion;• Extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints; and• An estimated £140 million worth (around 350,000 tonnes) of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.

The Friends are looking into the following ways to make a difference• End of year sale

• Internet (cloud) notification of used school uniform available • We will let you know more once we’ve got the plans up and running.Kathryn Bourke

Why Recycle?

WBGSFRIENDS OF

Fundraising & DonationsLast year the Friends made large and small donations to the school, which included;£20,000 towards the new cafe area in the Sixth Form Centre£10,000 to purchase laptops and a laptop charging cabinet£7,500 contribution to the new school minibus£2,500 for a new gym floor£960 to upgrade keyboards within the music department£3,000 for spring loaded basketball rings and a new electronic score-boardMoney was also spent on Cricket equipment, a pop up shelter, software and cycle helmets.

Friends of School also make small awards of up to £200 to support the Boys’ clubs and are preparing to grant £800 to the school library for the purchase of e-books.

Friends’ donations contribute significantly to the quality of school life:

Dear Amanda (treasurer) and Friends A huge thank you to all of the Friends of the school for helping with school cricket. As you

probably know cricket equipment can be very costly especially when we have so many boys playing cricket at the school. I really appreciate the £600 you have donated to help with buying equipment such as helmets, pads and bats. Over the last three years school cricket has gone from strength to strength winning 4 county titles in that time. The boys will really appreciate and benefit from the new equipment.Many ThanksLuke SamarasingheHead of Cricket

Dear all,On behalf of the entire School community, I would like to thank you all for supporting the School bid for £800 for the purchase of more e-books...These e-books are a real resource to the students allowing them to access reading material at any time and encouraging reading. We are absolutely delighted. Many thank and best wishes,

Mark Allchorn

Easter Concerts in the Muse

Summer Gala Dinner Dance to be held possibly in early June. Date to be confirmed

50k Sponsered Walk by Teri Bishop, Saturday 27 June 2015

WBGSFRIENDS OF

Art-work

Thomas Wright, 9CVienna

Next Committe meeting:

Tues 17 MarchTime/Room To Be Confirmed