From the Headmaster

ENewsletter

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Volume 5 | Issue 12 | 24th November 2016

Prayer for the week

God of the waiting, give us courage to wait with those in the most broken places of theworld, and with all those who struggle to be bearers of hope there. Amen

Regular readers of this letter will notice that it has a different author this week. The Headmaster has beenaway from school for a few days (don’t worry, he is not the latest entrant to the Australian jungle and he willdoubtless be back writing to you next week).

At the time of writing we are in the midst of the whole­school production of ‘Coram Boy’. I do hope youhave had the chance to see it, or like myself will be seeing it on Thursday evening. I am giving no spoilersat all, but am assured that the performance is incredibly powerful, moving and redemptive. One parent haspassed on their thanks for a ‘mesmerising evening of theatre’. There are still some tickets available on thedoor for Thursday evening (24th November).. The cast and crew have been working extremely hard and Ihave been, as ever, very impressed with their level of professionalism and talent. Our most heartfelt thanksgo to Mr Williams and Mrs Robertson as Director and Producer. They have worked tirelessly to support ouryoung people and I have lost count of the extra hours that they have given to the school in this venture.They have been ably supported by a host of other staff including Mr Wallace, Mrs Emeny, Mrs Elwin, MrsCrossland, Mrs Edmunds, Mr Massey, Mrs Bailey and Mrs Turner. We are incredibly fortunate to have suchtalented and dedicated teachers. A review of the show will feature in next week’s bulletin.

You will see from the school calendar that next week is our Senior Prefect Week of Fun, aka SPWOF. Forthe uninitiated, this is a week of fundraising activities organised entirely by our prefects to support charitiesof their choice. They spoke movingly in Chapel last week about these causes: Keech Hospice, The BreckFoundation and Médecins San Frontiérs and we are really proud of their desire to help and lead theschool in this. Students will have already purchased tickets in advance for these events and I wouldremind you (and myself, and Mr Waters) that Friday 2nd December is a non­uniform day.

St.Georges School <noreply@stgeorges.herts.sch.uk>

Tue 29/11/2016 09:30

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To:noreply <noreply@stgeorges.herts.sch.uk>;

News and Events

Year 11 students leave their normal routine of lessons to embark on their grade indicator exams over thecoming weeks. We are extremely grateful to Mr McGillivray and Mrs Michaels for their ‘Grade 9 work’ (lookthis up, it’s A** of the brave new GCSE world) and the work of the invigilators in supporting the studentsthrough this essential and demanding time. Support materials to help your child in their preparations canbe found under the ‘Revision Express’ icon within the school’s Moodle. We wish them well over thisperiod.

Friday is ‘Black Friday’, a tradition that seems to have leaked into our culture in recent years. It seemsstrange to spend a day in thanks for our blessings only to head out the next day to accumulate more stuff.However… if you do come home from ‘Coram Boy’ too excited to sleep and you are tempted to go onlinefor some bargains can I direct you to visit the website www.giveasyoulive.com. The school PSA has set upa charitable link though this website. This means that if you register and make a purchase from any of over4000 retailers the school PSA will receive a percentage of the purchase. It is a really easy way to help theschool whenever you shop online. I fear Mrs Cullis will take this as a personal challenge to raise enoughfor a school minibus!

We move into the season of Advent next week, one of my favourite times of year. We have our CarolServices to look forward to and doubtless we will all be busy with our preparations for Christmas. I wonderif you have written the cards yet? Have you booked the delivery slot? Have you held the UN­style familynegotiations on where to spend Boxing Day? As a child I would watch my parents at about this time eachyear sit down to compose the family Christmas letter (they still do, but it’s mostly about the grandchildrennow). Quickly they learnt this had to be finished, printed and posted before my brother, sister and I couldread it. There was huge competition over who would get the most lines in the letter; my personal best was2008 when I got married with seven lines, and most of that was about my wife. Isn’t it funny what wechoose to include in these letters, so often a checklist of all the things the family has achieved. As I thinkback over 2016 as a teacher of your children I celebrate their many moments of glory both big and smallbut what I particularly cherish are the successes that often go unmentioned and unnoticed. Those acts ofkindness, examples of perseverance and resilience and moments of quiet courage that we see every dayhere at St George’s. All our young people will have gone through a lot this year, experiencing great highsand quite probably some lows, as is the nature of life. But I am constantly impressed and inspired by them,they have so much to be proud of and so do you.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Cullis Assistant Headteacher

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FROM THE EXAMS OFFICE

Year 11 exams1. Please note that the Art practical exams will take place on Tuesday the 29th and Wednesday the30th of November, and not as originally advertised. The timetable on the website has beenupdated.

2. Students are reminded that they need their photo id for every written exam. We suggest that theykeep a photocopy of their passport photo page in their locker as a back up in case they forget orlose the card they have been issued with.

3. Exams will start up to 10 minutes earlier than the published starting time if the majority ofcandidates are present.

4. In case of absence please ring the Exams Office (01582 716242 or 716272) as well as theabsence line.

Other matters1. All year 12 and 13 students should now have brought home their certificates from last Summer'sexams. Anyone who has not should collect them as soon as possible next week.

2. Students in Year 10 will be issued their certificates from their ELC Computing exam next week onMonday or Tuesday depending on House. Details will be issued via tutor bases.

3. Students no longer at the school should make arrangements to collect their certificates as soonas possible. Please see the newsletter from the 11th of November for further details (availableunder the information tab on the website).

Paul McGillivray Exams Officer

For all the very latest on medical information please click here

Call for young people to get vaccinated

STUDENT ABSENCE

Call the absence telephone line 01582 765477 or email absent@stgeorges.herts.sch.uk Pleasestate the pupil’s name, year group, tutor group and reason for absence.

PSA

PE Fixtures

Vacancies

Community

Calendar

The latest edition of the PSA newsletter is now available to view and download from the school website—please click here ­ (September Newsletter 2016)

You can contact the PSA at psa@stgeorges.herts.sch.uk

Please ensure you are following or have access to the Boys & Girls twitter account for any late noticechanges to fixtures. The last few weeks have been very frustrating due to the home pitches beingunplayable and we are glad to have been able to move games to the away venues.

@StgeorgesboysPE

@StgeorgesgirlsPE

We are currently advertising for:

Administrative Assistant, Learning Support Part­time, 30 hours per week over 4 days, Term Time Only

If you are interested, or know of anyone who would be interested, please follow the link below. Pleasenote: advertisement closes on Tuesday 29 November.

If you are interested, please visit teachinherts ­ https://www.teachinherts.com, or contact Personnelat: personnel@stgeorges.herts.sch.uk

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL CURRENT JOB VACANCIES AT THE SCHOOL

To find out what's happening in our Community please CLICK HERE

THE SCHOOL IS SUPPORTING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY HOWEVER IT DOES NOT ENDORSE ANYOF THESE ADVERTISEMENTS.

November Calendar Adjustment : ‘Deadline for return of booking forms for Year

11 attending 16­19 evening should be 7th December and not aspreviously published’.

Sat 26PSA Christmas Dance Lacrosse Abbots Hill Senior Invitational Tournamanent, 1sts and 2nds

Sun 27No Chapel Boarders return, 6­8pm

Mon 28

Senior Prefect Week of Fun events begin, lunchtimes ‘Deadline for return of booking forms for Year 11 attending 16­19 evening shouldbe 7th December and not as previously published’. GCSE Art Mock (PE practical and MFL orals alongside)

Tue 29

SPWOF Netball U14 A and B v Beaumont, Home, 4.15pm New staff training, 4pm­5pm, Gr16 GCSE Art Mock (PE practical and MFL orals alongside)

Wed 30Full Governors Meeting, 6.30pm SPWOF Music Practicals and MFL Orals

Thu 1

Year 7 Parents' Evening, 5­8pm Drama practicals all day, catch up session for remaining Music practicals First written GCSE Mock ­ Spanish am, FSMQ pm

Fri 2Year 9 and 10 Graphics and Textiles students to Clothes show live Staff "First Friday" Social Event

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook. It is a great way of keeping up with news and events atschool and the more we have online presence, the more people will be aware of cybercommunication and how to keep each other safe