Dear Parents,

So the summer is here, although the rain storms of the last few days make it feel more like October! What a year and what a wonderful week of graduations and celebrations we have had. The highlight for me has to be the Year 6 impromptu disco in the rain on Wednesday evening. It was the first proper on site event this year and was filled with joy and celebration. Thank you to everyone who attended.

This morning we ran celebration assemblies for all the Primary children and in Secondary, tutors celebrated the year and said goodbye to our leavers. Whilst Covid put a stop to lots of things this year, it can’t stop the joy of attending GES for the students. I have found them to be wonderful young people from Nursery through to Year 11. They have challenged and excelled throughout the year. I am so proud of them and all they have achieved this year and that is in no small part down to you, the parents. My biggest regret of the year is not being allowed to have you on site. The small conversations, the quick catch ups and the larger events have all been missed this year. The palpable sense of community has been missed and is something we can and will get back next year. 

To help us do this, please sign up for Classlist. It is a great tool that we will use going forward to bring the parent community together. Secondly, keep the evening of Friday 17 September, free for an event for the whole community. Finally, thank you if you have volunteered to be a class rep or have signed up for one of our new parent voice committees. I look forward to working with you next year. If you haven’t had time to look at this then we will resend the details next academic year.

As you know, we have a number of staff leaving us this year – some have left for promotions and others have left when they weren’t ready to. We held a staff end of year event last night to thank those who have served the GES community so wonderfully over the years. We spent time thinking about the impact those staff have had and paid a special Thank you to Maria Blondeau who leaves after 34 years of service to the school. Maria is such a well loved member of our community and has had such an impact over her time at GES. Maria’s legacy will live on at GES through the creation of the Maria Blondeau Language Laboratory that we will be creating over the summer at Primary. This space will help children develop their French and is a fitting legacy to a special member of staff. Thank you to the other members of staff that are leaving us this year too.

The school office will be open from 9:00 to 15:00 over the summer holiday if you need us and there will always be a member of the leadership team on call if needed. I have, however, asked all teaching staff to turn their email off and so please don’t expect a response over the summer from class teachers.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year at GES, thank you for making me feel so welcome. I wish you, your families and all your loved ones a wonderful summer. See you on Wednesday, 25 August, for the new school year.

Matt Williams
Head

We have had a wonderful year of Sport and PE at GES that finished with a busy Summer term and some very exciting results for our inter-house and inter-tutor competitions this term.

At Secondary, our final inter-tutor competition of the year was Beach Volleyball. Our students’ determination, pride and sportsmanship was exemplary. It was great to watch. A huge well done to Mrs Marett and Mrs Robinson’s tutor group on their victory of this year’s inter tutor Volleyball competition!

At the Primary we had a number of inter-house results to announce today in the Upper School assembly of Sports Competitions from Spring and Summer term. The students have competed to win points for their houses in Gymnastics, Basketball and the most important event of the school year, Sports Day.

Well done to Raleigh on winning the Inter-house Gymnastics Competition and well done to Scott on winning the Inter-house Basketball Competition.

And, drum roll, please  –  huge congratulations to COOK who are the 2021 GES Sports day cup winners!

We are incredibly proud of each and every one of you who represented your house and tutor group, and competed with pride and outstanding team spirit.

I look forward to a new and exciting academic year of sport and PE at GES starting in August with a calendar full of new opportunities and competitions!

Have a lovely summer,
Miss Shibil