This week our students have again been hard at work in lessons, and it has been a real pleasure to see this. Our Year 7 students now seem part of the furniture; this week I have watched them in a whole range of subjects, and it is wonderful to have watched their confidence grow since September. In addition to this, it has also been so nice to see many students joining in with extracurricular activities.
This week we have also seen a slight rise in Covid numbers. This has meant we have some students absent from school together with a handful of staff. As always we have been able to prioritise learning in lessons and maintain our protection procedures.
For the next two weeks, our Year 11 enter their Mock period. Students have been preparing a long time for this, so we wish them all the very best. As you know P6 does not take place during Mock periods but will continue once it is over.
Amongst others things, next week (Thursday 3rd February @ 6:30pm) we are looking forward to hearing from Dr Dominique Thompson. She is a specialist on teenage mental health. If you would like to join us, please see the link in the article below.
This week during STEM club, the students had to work in teams in order to make a chair... out of cardboard! The challenge was for it to look like a chair, and for it to be comfy to sit on.
The students did a great job!
Harry Parker and Chloe Barton have been selected to host the West Wilts Dance Festival in February at The Forum in Bath. They will be presenting in front of 1,500 people and will have 6 cameras pointed at them. They were both successful at an audition today.
This is a great achievement, and I am sure they will do The John of Gaunt and Trowbridge proud!
Mr Dunbar
Hello from the PE department
Can we please remind you to name and label all items of PE kit as we have had a large number of kits handed into lost property with no names on them. The policy with un-named kit is that it will be held in the school office lost property area for 2 weeks, and then it will be donated or disposed of.
Many thanks
Mr Mockett
School deadline for entries is 11th March
Undefeated season for year 7 boys football after our first 2 A and B team games. The A team drew 0-0 with Clarendon and beat St Augustine’s 1-0.
The man of the match for the A team was Oliver Dearden for his extreme work rate. The B team were off to an excellent start with a 3-0 win against Clarendon, a fantastic first goal from Russell Sherratt followed up by 2 headers into the back of the net on his man of the match performance by Owen Ingham. The B team them continued in form to score in the last play of the game to beat St Augustine 1-0.
Well done boys! Onto the next game!!
The year 8 football team have continued to prepare well for the start of their season. With good numbers at training, all the boys have shown great teamwork, some individual flair but most importantly positive attitudes and a strong team spirit.
Seeing some other year groups getting their matches underway this week has helped drive their desire to get stuck into their games next week.
We look forward to welcoming Clarendon and St Augustine’s on Wednesday for the first round of games.
Good luck to all involved.
Mr Walker
Year 9 Football vs. St Augustine’s – Match Report
The year 9 football team got their season off to a winning start against St Augustine’s on Thursday.
On a lovely sunny afternoon, the boys arrived at St Augustine’s confident and hopeful for a good result. After a good warm up the boys settled into their rhythm quickly, dominating the early play with strong movement and pressure through midfield. Early on in the first half, Tommy won a challenge and put a hopeful ball into the box which Casper pounced on and got a low header away from the keeper’s outstretched arms and into the bottom corner. This gave the boys the confidence to keep pressing. Shortly after this, a break on the right-hand side by Casper saw him float a ball across the box, over the goalkeeper and drop into the far corner. 2-0. He’ll claim it was a shot! With their confidence up, the JOG boys kept pressing and won a corner. A perfect ball in saw Rusi rise at the back post and get a great header to knock the ball into the top corner giving JOG a 3-0 lead. This seemed to spark St Augustine’s into life, and they immediately got a goal back after the ball was not cleared from the JOG box, and it fell kindly to the St Augustine’s player who placed it calmly past JOG’s goalkeeper Callum; there was nothing he could do. The JOG boys then fought back, and a ball won by Tommy in the St Augustine’s half was poked through; Rusi reacted quickest and got a foot on it before the advancing goalkeeper to slide into the net. 4-1. Again, St Augustine’s fought back and then a long dipping shot was saved by Callum only for one of the St Augustine’s players to react first to the rebound and lift the ball over the stranded keeper into the net. 4-2 at half-time.
The second half started with St Augustine’s getting on the front foot and quickly scoring a third after another ball in the box not being cleared, leading to a shot that wasn’t going to be saved. 4-3 and the game was getting tense. The boys stayed calm though and after some positional changes from JOG they tightened up their shape and started to get a bit more of the ball. The second half played out with both teams creating chances but neither able to add to their scores. The full time whistle went and the boys in good spirits, cheered and celebrated before congratulating the St Augustine’s team on a well fought game. Final score 4-3 to John of Gaunt!
Man of the match, voted by the team – Rusi, 2 goals and phenomenal work rate up and down the pitch.
Other notable performances – Casper, 2 goals and an assist. Callum, some great reflex saves keeping JOG in the game. Tommy, 2 assists and good control in midfield.
Overall, a performance to be proud of. Great contributions from all players and a really positive attitude. The boys are already looking forward to their next game against our other local rivals, Clarendon, next week.
Mr Walker
Year 10 JOG vs St Augustines
The year 10 boys took to the astro for their first match of the 2022 school football season, up against local rivals St Augustines. The match was played in good spirits with both teams trying their absolute best.
JOG started well in the match, with good possession and territory. However, it was the visitors that took an early lead 1-0. JOG fought back well and pounced on an error in the St A's defence, levelling the scores at 1-1. The away side however grew into the game and started to control the flow, winning aerial duals, and growing strong in the midfield battle. Half-time saw the game 1-1.
The second half was played in much the same nature with St A's showing control and positional discipline. Whilst substitutions from JOG didn’t impact the final score, they had a real impact on the intensity and physicality of the side. Winning aerial duals and getting stuck into the St A's midfield and attackers. Well done to the subs. Unfortunately JOG couldn’t hold out some well worked moves from St A's who turned out 3-1 winners on the day.
Man of the match went Leyland Walsh-Collett for his impact off the bench!
We look forward to the next year 10 match vs Clarendon away.
On Saturday 22nd January 30 students set off on the latest Ten Tors training hike - a 16-mile circuit around Cheddar Gorge and the Mendips.
We began with a cold wander down through the depths of the Gorge, marvelling at the limestone crags and wild mountain goats. After a difficult and steep ascent up onto the southern ridge of the Gorge, we were rewarded with glorious sunshine, and far-ranging views over the Mendips and beyond. We then dropped back down into the Gorge and headed north towards Beacon Batch - the highest hill in the Mendips. The muddy and boggy terrain of the hill gave a few students some challenges and there was one notable slip and falling over on the treacherous mud. After ascending Beacon Batch and enjoying views in to Wales over the Severn Estuary, the students meandered along a range of tracks, footpaths and Roman roads towards Blagdon and Compton Martin.
When all was said and done a lovely day was had by all, the navigation was superb, and the group was showing clear improvements - looking out for each other, much better road awareness and some great leadership qualities beginning to be seen.
Well done, and thanks to Mrs Brooks and 'Smoky' Bill Smith for their help.
Please find below links to our revision presentations. There are 4 separate links - one is an introduction from the Year 11 Leaders, followed by presentations from Science, English & Maths. Please feel free to watch them all together or one at a time - whatever suits you best. We hope you find the information useful, both for you and for your child.
We also intend to share these presentations with the students in our tutor time sessions after the mock exams & we will also email the links to all students.
If you have any questions, please contact the subject teachers directly, in the first instance.
We would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our students the best of luck in their final set of mock exams which start on Monday.
Next week, all students will get to vote online for John of Gaunt School representatives to sit on the Wiltshire Youth Council.
We have got 5 candidates standing for election:
Lily Harrowing
Ava Pike
Ella Robinson
Dennis Simeonov
Diana Velea
We wish them all every success and look forward to having our young people representing us on the Youth Council.
Applications to University
January 26th was the closing date for on time applications to university. This year 72% of our Year 13 students have made applications. We wish them every success with the process.
The Brilliant Club
This year we are working with an organisation called The Brilliant Club. The Brilliant Club links small groups of students with university PhD students to work on a project together.
We have invited 12 Year 9 and 12 Year 10 students to be part of this project. They will have the opportunity to visit a university for a launch event and then to graduate at that university at the end of the project. It's a great opportunity, and we're excited to extend our students' academic experiences by being part of this.
Welcome to the bi-weekly food newsletter! Full of tips and information for your mind and stomach.
January feels like a great time to watch food related television such as the fantastic Great British menu on BBC2, the hilarious Somebody feed Phil on Netflix, the bingeworthy Chefs Table also on Netflix or the educational and sometimes scary Food Unwrapped on Channel 4. The range of cookery programmes these days are so diverse, from the budding chefs and experienced bakers. When does Bake Off start again??
We have also had Burns Night this week. A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), the author of many a Scots poem. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, known as Burns Night. A traditional meal would consist of Haggis, neeps and tatties.
Produce of the month: Late January is a good time for the brassicas. Especially leeks, cabbage and broccoli. Try leek and potato soup or broccoli and stilton soup, filling and warming served with some crusty bread.
Keep eating and being adventurous!
Mr Lascelles
Food and Nutrition
How to Grow a Grown-up - Parenting in a Pandemic
On Thursday 3rd February we have invited Dr Dominique Thompson to speak to parents on how best to help build your child's confidence and resilience - so they can become a strong, happy and independent adult.
This presentation is FREE and will be taking place for us online from 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Dr Thompson is an award-winning GP, young people’s mental health expert, TEDx speaker, author and educator, with over 20 years of clinical experience caring for students, including as a police and expedition doctor, and as Director of Service at the University of Bristol Students’ Health Service. It was for this work that she was named Bristol Healthcare Professional of the Year 2017. Dominique is the author of the Student Wellbeing Series of books, and has co-written a book for parents of teenagers ‘How to Grow a Grown Up’, with the aim of developing an independent and resilient younger generation.
The talk is aimed at John of Gaunt parents of students from years 7 to 13 and will cover:
· An overview of the pressures and problems facing this generation of young people - why are they increasingly stressed, anxious or suffering from mental health issues
· What exactly parents can do to help their teens and young adults become healthily independent, navigate challenges and flourish in preparation for adult life
· Top tips for addressing new challenges such as social media, tech use, sexting and study drug use, as well as traditional worries like alcohol and parties
· Ways to recognise the signs of mental health distress and what to do about it, particularly dealing with problems from a distance.
We are anticipating this to be a popular event as Dominique has spoken to John of Gaunt parents previously, and she has always been well received. The event will be a live broadcast on Microsoft Teams and the link is below:
Saturday 12th February 2022, 10am - 1pm (Both Campuses)
Wednesday 16th February - Apprenticeship Open Event - 1-7pm
Wednesday 4th May 2022, 4-7pm (Both Campuses)
If you have any questions about options post-16 or post-18 or need support with applications, please contact Ms A Lynch- careers adviser for an appointment. alynch@jogschool.org
This week during STEM club, the students had to work in teams in order to make a chair... out of cardboard! The challenge was for it to look like a chair, and for it to be comfy to sit on.
Trowbridge proud!
On Saturday 22nd January 30 students set off on the latest Ten Tors training hike - a 16-mile circuit around Cheddar Gorge and the Mendips.
