Week 39
It’s unbelievable that we have reached the end of the last full week of term for the school year! It has been another busy week at Watling, with enrichment days, celebration events and Sports Day.
Next week is set to be much cooler, so students must wear their ties to school and return to full summer uniform. When we return in September we will start the year with full uniform checks, so I’d appreciate your support to ensure that all students have new items of uniform where required ready for the start of term. Thank you to everyone who supported our first used uniform sale last Saturday. The event was extremely well attended and we are now planning for this to be a regular fixture on our school calendar. If you do have any used uniform in good condition at the end of the school year, we would still willingly accept any donations to the school reception.
As I write this week’s bulletin, I’d like to share the view from my office window of Sports Day in action:
Sports Day is a favourite day of the year for many staff and students. At Watling, we run a variety of events including athletics, Football, Basketball and Tug of War. Every student is involved in the event all day, culminating in the track finals on the field at the end of the day. It is brilliant to see the whole school enjoying themselves together, doing something slightly different for the day. Sports Day is a huge event to organise and coordinate and I’d like to thank Miss Willison and her PE team for doing another fantastic job this year. I will share some more photos and announce winners next week.
Celebration evening
Yesterday evening we celebrated the academic and extracurricular achievements of our students at our End of Year Awards Evening. I am incredibly proud of all the students who received an award. Every award was so well deserved and a reflection of the hard work and dedication students have shown throughout the year. Thank you to everyone who attended, it was wonderful to see the support for our students. Thank you also to those students who treated us to performances on the evening and to all the staff involved in organising the event.
House Fete
On Thursday lunchtime, our House team ran a fete for students consisting of various competitions and games, from shooting hoops on the basketball court, to guessing the number of sweets in a jar. As part of their Young Enterprise activity, our Year 8 students also ran additional stalls selling a range of products from stationery to lollipops. Thank you to everyone who got involved and supported the event, we raised a grand total of £526.95 which will be split between our House charities; Harry’s Rainbow, Willen Hospice, Mind, The Parks Trust and Unity MK.
The Great Watling Switch Off
This week we were excited to launch The Great Watling Switch Off – a special eco initiative championed by our Eco-Committee. Throughout the week we have been raising awareness of energy use and inspiring our school community to reduce electricity consumption both at school and at home. Students and staff have been engaging in various activities to support this such as un-plugged lessons, the Great Switch Off bingo challenge and eco-patrols by our student ‘Watt Watchers’ with a chance for students to win House points and prizes for their form. It has been fantastic to see students getting behind the initiative and encouraging others to do the same.
FoWA Doughnut Sale
Thank you to everyone who supported the Friends of Watling Academy (FoWA) doughnut sale yesterday and to those involved in organising the event. I’m pleased to share that we managed to raise a fantastic £657 for the school.
Lost Property
Lost property will be available for students to check through afterschool on Tuesday 22nd July in the canteen. Any items leftover after this date will be donated or disposed of as appropriate.
Building project update
I was hugely excited to be able to go in to our new Sixth Form centre last week to see the progress of the build. The speed of development has been, and will continue to be, incredible! It was fantastic to walk into the Sixth Form café and social spaces for the first time, it is going to be a superb facility for our Sixth Form students for many years to come. There have been some more significant milestones in the project, internal walls and the roof have been installed and the building will be watertight in the next week or so. The scaffolding has been erected for the new classroom block and the external walls are due on site next week. In my final bulletin of the year next week, I will share some progress photos with you.
As we enter the final few days of term, I’d like to remind you all that students will finish for the summer holidays at 3:15pm on Wednesday 23rd July. Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to welcoming students back on Monday for the last week of term.
Hope you have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Fry
Headteacher
What’s happening next week?
- Tuesday 22nd July –
- Lost property check – afterschool
- Wednesday 23rd July –
- Last day of term – finish at 3:15pm
