11th May 2012
Dear Parents
The examination season is upon us yet again! Today we have wished Lower Sixth students
every good fortune as they begin their study leave for their AS examinations and,
yesterday, the Upper 5 pupils celebrated
completing their two year GCSE courses with a pizza lunch and an autograph
signing session with friends and staff. All
of the Upper 5 girls have sat their first GCSE today, iGCSE Mathematics. Our best wishes go to all girls and, of
course, we remain here to support their revision during their study leave. I politely ask that all visitors onto the
school site during the examination season are considerate of our candidates and
heed examination notices.
I would like to thank parents and pupils for their support
at our recent Open Days; we had healthy interest in the School and much praise was
received for the girls who accompanied visitors on tours. The soap making activity proved popular and
Schofield had a wonderful aroma during the process!
We were very pleased to welcome Dr Tracy Johnson to our Open
Morning and I know she enjoyed meeting both current and prospective
parents. Dr Johnson will be making
several visits to Gateways over the next couple of months and I shall be
working closely with her to ensure a smooth and effective handover.
Lower 4 enjoyed a fantastic residential visit to Edinburgh
over the weekend of the 27th to 29th April – they had a
packed programme of activities and visits and certainly had much better weather
than we were experiencing in Yorkshire. Staff
commented on how pleasurable it was to accompany the girls – great ambassadors
for Gateways!
The LEAP team, Embrace,
enjoyed success at the annual LEAP awards on the 26th April. They were awarded first place for, ‘Best Trade
Stand’ at the Valentine’s Fair in the Merrion Centre, and two second places for
‘Most Improved Company’ and ‘Best Marketing’.
This is a great achievement given that our girls are a year younger than
all other competitors from local schools.
The Upper 3 Parents’
Evening on the 3rd May had a very different feel for me, as I am the
Upper 3 Teacher of geography. I enjoyed meeting parents and girls to discuss
their progress. It was a very positive
evening and I am delighted that Upper 3 have settled seamlessly into the High
School.
The GCSE and AS Drama
examination performances were excellent and enjoyed by audiences of pupils and
parents. We wish the girls every
success.
Our Lower 4 team of
chemists competed yesterday in the annual Festival of Salters Chemistry at
Leeds University. Their task was to
solve a murder using forensic tests and we are delighted that they secured
second position in a tough competition against other local independent schools. Well done girls!
Our congratulations go
to Mrs McDermott who successfully completed the Belfast Marathon! She finished in the top 20% of all female
runners in 3 hours 50 minutes and has raised over £800 for the School charity,
CamKids. We are very proud of her!
Last Wednesday 2nd May, we welcomed two players
from the Yorkshire Jets Superleague netball squad to run a coaching session
with members of our netball teams. The
session was organised to thank the netball squads for all their hard work over
the season.
At the recent Leeds Netball presentation evening, our girls
who are district representatives received medals and our successful U14 Team
was presented with the Benfield Cup – a proud moment for all the girls!
I would like to thank everyone for their support of ‘Onesy’
Day last Friday; we raised over £400 for CamKids. We then went ‘Pink’ yesterday in support of a
group of Sixth Form students who are participating in the ‘Race for Life’.
Last Friday several members of staff and I visited Westholme
School to learn, first hand, of their experience of the new ISI Integrated
School Inspection regime. It was a very
helpful visit and we thank the staff at Westholme for their time and
support.
We are being visited by Ofsted next Tuesday morning. They are carrying out checks on behalf of the
Holiday Club organisers ‘Camp Explode’ as part of their Ofsted registration.
I am pleased to inform parents that the Stella Programme,
which supports our able and talented pupils, has been reviewed and updated; it
can be viewed via our website. I hope
you have all had the opportunity to visit our ‘new look’ website; we would
welcome any comments and feedback.
As part of her new role as Leader of
Teaching and Learning, Mrs. Wilson shadowed Lower 4 on Thursday to gain insight
into their experience of a school day. She reports that, “Throughout the day all the
girls were interested and engaged in a wide variety of activities, sometimes in groups or pairs, discussing,
debating and reflecting on exactly what they were learning, including some very
challenging ideas and concepts. It was
really interesting to observe how comfortable and confident they felt with
their teachers and each other and were willing to stretch themselves
academically . Much of the time they were enjoying themselves so much they didn't
realise they were learning.” At the end of the day Mrs. Wilson summarised
her observations to the girls and they completely agreed with her.
Congratulations to Mr Holloway on becoming a Dad! Baby Daniel arrived earlier this week – Mum,
Dad and baby are doing well.
I would like to remind parents of the FOG ‘White Tie and
Tiara’ Ball on the 23rd June at the Majestic Hotel in
Harrogate. I am very much looking
forward to an entertaining event and hope to see many of you there. At the recent FOG Committee meeting, I was
most impressed by the auction prizes, from holidays in the sun to pampering and
evening dinners.
I warmly invite parents
and pupils to the Summer Concert next Wednesday the 16th May. It begins at 6.30pm in the Performing Arts
Centre.
Preparations are now
underway for our annual Prize Giving, the highlight of our year. I would like to remind parents that Prize
Giving is being held on Friday 29th June this year so that the girls
embarking on the Cambodia Expedition can be part of the celebrations before
they leave.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Y Wilkinson
Headmistress