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Tuesday 22 March 2016

22 March 2016

I cannot believe we have reached the end of term.  With Easter being early this year it has felt a lot busier than normal as we have crammed a number of things in before the holiday.  I am sure many of us are looking forward to a well-deserved break.  At the end of each term we publish a School Newsletter celebrating numerous successes and news stories, so please look out for the Spring edition coming out tomorrow.  The term has ended with the School community once again coming together to illustrate its charitable nature.  At this point I wish to acknowledge the team of students and staff that took part in a sponsored Football-athon last week.  So many 6th Form students supported by a number of members of staff played football for 24 hours.  It was wonderful to see so many wanting to take part; some even spent the entire evening and night playing non-stop.  Many, many thanks to the organisers of the event and to the members of staff who gave up their evening, and their sleep, to supervise.  Well done to everyone and thank you.  In addition to the Football-athon, many members of the School took part in the MGS Sport Relief Mile enjoying a lap round the School field together, and I completed my Three Marathon Challenge.  Thank you ever so much to everyone who sponsored me; in total you raised over £2500.  A huge achievement.  Thank you.

Following the weekend's exertion I spent a day in London yesterday looking at how schools can build character amongst young people.  There is a lot of research out there suggesting that building character amongst young people can lead to improved mental resilience and toughness; and this is something that I personally wish to see develop at MGS.  The day's conference had a number of eminent guest speakers who shared their thoughts and ideas, alongside schools who provided practical advice on how they had built character.  I will be sharing my findings with the rest of the School community in due course.  Last week the Senior Leadership Team spent the week visiting a number of lessons in the Social Science Department: Religious Studies, Politics, Sociology, Philosophy and Psychology.  Just like the Science Review a couple of months ago these visits are nothing to worry about, they simply provide an opportunity to share good practice, praise the excellent work going on across the School and give teachers ...I visited two lessons myself, and I must say I was incredibly impressed with the academic rigour of the work and of the level of debate amongst the students. 

Tomorrow is the last day of term and it is now tradition at this point in the year we hear from the current School Captain and School Vice-Captain about their year in the roles.  Both Harry and Alex will speak to the entire school in the final assembly about their year, what they have enjoyed and what they have learnt about themselves.  At this point I wish to say thank you to both of them for their service since last April.  They have been a pleasure to work with I wish them all the best in their futures.  Have a lovely holiday and we'll see each other on the 11th April.