Welcome to this week's parental bulletin with the latest news for Year 7.
WEEKLY BULLETIN
26 SEPTEMBER 2025
ENJOY - ACHIEVE - EMPOWER
HEADTEACHER’S MESSAGE
KEY SCHOOL DATES
We had our final Thames Young Mariners trips this week for our Year 7s who were blessed with bright sunshine. This followed the Year 11s sunny weekend in Ashdown Forest, Sussex, who were completing their training expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. Both trips were lots of
Y12 - Geography Fieldwork - 29 September & 1 October Y10 - Art Trip to Kew Gardens - 1 October Y12 National Portrait Gallery - 3 October World’s Biggest Coffee Morning at Waldegrave (Macmillan) - 3 October HOLIDAYS & NATIONAL DAYS
A MESSAGE FROM OUR HEADTEACHER
fun and everyone put in their best efforts. On Tuesday we had a visit from a student choir from Jordan. These students were paired with buddies throughout the school, joined in lessons, enjoyed our school canteen lunch and shared a wonderful cultural exchange as the choirs shared a performance of songs together in the afternoon. Thank you to all the Year 7 and Year 13 Parents who attended our Information Evenings this week. We hope you found the evening useful, we certainly enjoyed meeting you all. This week we began our annual Open Mornings and it is always a joy to welcome so many lovely new prospective families through our doors. Our Year 8 pupils have been fantastic ambassadors for Waldegrave while taking these families on school tours. Year 13 Geography students have also undertaken fieldwork trips this week, visiting Battersea Power Station and Brixton exploring urban environments and collecting primary data to support their coursework. Next week they will continue these fieldwork trips with a visit to Bushy Park, which we are so lucky to have on our doorstep. We are all very much looking forward to next Friday’s Macmillan Coffee Morning. Students are invited to bring in homebakes which will be available for purchase on the day. Parents can buy £1 tokens through ParentPay. For more information please see the poster on page 4.
October - Black History Month
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Send us your achievement stories and photos to share by email to 2 October - Yom Kippur (Jewish) & Dussehra (Hindu) 2 October - National Poetry Day
info@waldegravesch.org STAY CONNECTED WITH US:
~ Ms Tongue, Headteacher
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
In their September newsletter, the organisation Young Minds have highlighted some of the key issues affecting young people and provided links to really helpful tips to manage them. These include Tips for coping with anxiety about change and advice for parents around school anxiety and refusal, which features this helpful and practical video. It also has this positive reminder of the power of music to support our wellbeing. In the article Music: A pathway to mental wellbeing and connection, the writer explores how music has supported his mental health and helped him process his emotions. He says: “Music is more than just a collection of sounds; it’s a profound form of therapy, a raw expression of the human spirit, and a vital tool for mental wellbeing. Science shows that music can heal, demonstrating how it’s deeply connected to our mental health, helping to mend emotional wounds and past scars.” Young Minds free parent helpline 0808 802 5544 runs Monday to Friday.
A little help goes a long way... make a one-off donation here or click below to learn more CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT
A MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF YEAR 7
This week two more Year 7 form groups experienced the Thames Young Mariners trips. I am delighted to say we were really lucky with the weather as the sun shone on both days and a great time was had by all. Many showed their knot tying skills and made really efficient rafts. They paddled these around the river and then sped along during the “pack-down” race. They even withstood the instructor’s build quality checks when they made a few waves each team had to keep afloat on! Whilst Kayaking many of the students developed their paddling skills and water confidence playing various games and exploring the far end of the river. Well done to them all! My thanks goes to the Form Tutors and accompanying members of staff for supporting and encouraging everyone to achieve our aims of having fun,
developing teamwork skills and challenging yourself. Well done Year 7 for earning 2,098 points so far this term. It is a tight contest and the top 3 tutor groups this week are: 1st 7FSM, 2nd 7PRE and 3rd 7SSN. Great efforts and please keep it up!
With the Thames Young Mariners trips complete for this year, the next Year 7 visit will take place on Drop Down Day, our termly off-timetable day of activities which will take place on Wednesday 15 October. More details to follow on this. We encourage all pupils at Waldegrave, especially our Year 7s to join a lunchtime or after school club. Please take a look at what we have on offer on the school website here to check if there is something that your child(ren) would enjoy doing and is offered at school. Please note next Friday is a bumper day for Year 7s. Firstly we will be holding our MacMillan Coffee Morning and I would love to see Year 7s showing off their baking skills by contributing to this event (see poster on page 4 for more information). In the evening, the famous Year 7 Family Bingo Night will return, running from 6.30-9.30pm in the school hall. This is a great chance for you and your children to have some fun, meet other Year 7 parents and tuck into some pizza. There will also be a bar offering a range of refreshments. We have a limited number of tickets available so please visit ParentPay to book tickets and order your pizzas - book now to avoid disappointment!
MRS BASHFORD-HYNES, HEAD OF YEAR 7
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Being Miss Nobody by Tasmin Winter Miss Nobody is a book about a girl with selective mutism, who rarely speaks and even then only to her family and her very much trusted neighbour. Rosalind has to deal with being the ‘mute ant’ in her school and has lost all hope of having a social life when she is tasked with being the buddy of a new girl at school. Having to tour Ailisa is a big struggle but this is a turning point, as a great friendship blossoms leading Rosalind to challenge herself further and further with her speech. Little did she know on meeting Ailisa that she would encourage her to speak in an assembly in front of the whole school and reveal in this assembly that she was the author of the ‘blog’ about the rude students in school that accidentally went viral… I really enjoyed this book because it reminds me of how we all struggle with school life but eventually we manage to find the answer to the solution. Read this book if you liked the Lottie Brooke’s Diary series!
- S Cushnie, 8PFO
Please contact us with any queries or problems you may have. To get in touch with a member of staff from your child’s year group, you can: Send an email to KS3@waldegravesch.org Or you can contact the school via phone by calling: 02088943244 WALDEGRAVE SCHOOL Fifth Cross Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW2 5LH HOW TO CONTACT YEAR 7 HEAD OF YEAR AND TUTORS
MUSIC TASTER SESSIONS FOR ALL The music department will be running a taster session for the whole school on the week 15th-19th. Feel free to turn up to any of the open rehearsals to have a go! All are welcome. See you there! If you have any questions, come over the Performance Arts Block or ask your Music teacher.
BEHAVIOUR FOCUS For our first school term the school’s leadership team has chosen to focus settling back into our classroom routines. We have discussed our common-sense daily expectations with pupils during tutor times but as a reminder please see below for you to discuss at home.
Live Lounge Concert MU2 1st October 2025
3.30 - 5pm
Concert on the 20 October th
The following items are not endorsed by Waldegrave School.
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