Issue: 17 | Friday 4th February 2022

Message from the Head

Dear Parents,

As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, our most recent review from the Good Schools International guide has now gone live. It is great to read such a positive, independent external review of the school. 

My favourite quote is ‘Without doubt, GES is one of the warmest, most welcoming and family orientated schools in the world’. This is high praise indeed and something that the staff of GES are proud of.

Whilst COVID may have stopped some of the more social aspects of the community over the past couple of years, we have ensured that students have continued to be challenged, supported and guided in school.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Matt Williams
Head

Upcoming Safeguarding events

GES is committed to ensuring the highest possible levels of Safeguarding. This is most effective when there is a 360-degree approach. To enable such an approach, we will be delivering learning activities, staff training and parent information sessions over the coming weeks.

Week beginning Monday 7 February: All children from Reception to Year 6 will be learning about Safeguarding using both the NSPCC PANTS resources and our PSHE SCARF (Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience, Friendship) programme.

Monday 21 February: ALL GES staff will be receiving training from a UK specialist during a 3-hour session at the end of the regular school day. Therefore, there will be no After School Care at Primary and please note that the following after-school clubs will be cancelled: 

  • Secondary Rugby
  • Secondary Outdoor clubs (Years 7 to 11)
  • Primary Netball
  • Primary Prep sessions

Tuesday 22 February: All day advanced training for key members of staff. Any club cancellations will be notified directly to parents.

Friday 25 February: Parent Information session on how we teach Safeguarding in Primary. We will share further details about this session once we know whether this can be held as an in-person event or online.

News from your Eco Schools Committee

The Eco Schools Committee across Primary and Secondary has been busy these past few days presenting the results of the school’s Biodiversity audit undertaken in November 2021.

As the results showed a lack of knowledge relating to biodiversity generally and at GES, the Eco team has created age-appropriate presentations to explain what biodiversity is and is pleased to share these with our parent community as well:

During the presentations at school, we also asked staff and students to think about how we could improve biodiversity at GES.

Once everyone’s answers are collated, the Eco Committee will then set out to design our action plan for the upcoming months.

 

 

World Book Day - Primary - SAVE THE DATE

This year, World Book Day will be celebrating its 25th anniversary  – with the wonderful message for all children ‘You are a reader’.

At Primary, children will be invited to dress up as their favourite character from a book on Tuesday 1 March.

So, it’s time to brush off those dress-up clothes or maybe come up with something new altogether?

Secondary Prospectus

Being part of our GES community already, you may not be aware of some of the brochure material we created over the past year to explain both the GCSE and A Level curriculum in more detail, including the subjects which our older students can choose from for GCSE options and A Level studies.

We hope you find them interesting and please feel free to share them with friends and colleagues who might be curious about what a British education has to offer. Both brochures are available on the GES website under the Admissions section:

What's happening over the next weeks?

9 Feb
Sports Leaders trip to FIBA 15:50
10 Feb
Year 9 Parent Teacher Student Meetings 17:00
14 Feb
Half Term starts 15:30
21 Feb
Half Term ends 8:30