Weekly Update
16th December 2024
Message from the Headteacher
We are looking forward to the annual Awards Evening taking place at 7:00pm on Tuesday night at Lancaster University’s Main Hall. Besides our current students, their parents and carers, we also look forward to seeing our 2024 Leavers who will also be receiving their awards at the ceremony. The evening will give us an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our students and to hear all about our leavers’ adventures since leaving LGGS.
On Thursday 19th the annual Carol Service for students will be held at Lancaster Priory. The school choir and our musicians will perform traditional carols and there will be contributions from students, including a reading of our Poet Laureate’s poem. I am sure the service will spread seasonal spirit and joy throughout the school community.
Please note tickets are now available for the upcoming production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ which will be held at The Dukes theatre from 22nd – 25th January, 2025. The tickets can be purchased online via the The Dukes’ website. Please note, it is best to book tickets as soon as possible, as tickets for all performances tend to sell out quickly.
Thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s Festive Jumper Day. We are pleased to announce that LGGS has raised a total of £775.85, which will be donated to Save the Children.
School closes for the end of term holidays at 1:30pm on Friday 20th December and the school buses will be leaving shortly after this to enable students to get home safely. I would like to wish all our students, parents and carers a restful break and to wish our A-level and GCSE students all the best as they revise, but also recharge, in preparation for their exams.
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Positive News
Netball Wins
Thirty Year 7 pupils represented LGGS in a netball match against Ripley St. Thomas last week. It was good to see so many pupils involved in a competitive game and the atmosphere was really positive. Congratulations to all four LGGS teams who were victorious on the night but well done to the Ripley teams too for providing such excellent games.
Team 1 – won 5-2. Player of the match: A. Fisher,
Team 2 – won 12-2 Player of the match: A. Seth
Team 3 – won 16-0 Player of the match: D. Kind
Team 4 – won 16-0 Player of the match: I. Straker
Safenet Christmas Shoe-box Appeal
Once again, our Sixth Form students are supporting Safenet by running the annual Christmas Shoe-box appeal.
Safenet do such valuable work in our community, helping people – regardless of their age, gender, religion, or sexuality – to live a life free from domestic abuse. Our students filled festive shoe-boxes with items including toiletries, drawing materials, games, and toys which I am sure will be appreciated during the coming weeks.
Year 12 visit to Ashton Manor
Ten Year 12 pupils volunteered their time last week to bring some festive joy to the residents of Ashton Manor care home. The event included singing, reading short stories, and lots of arts and craft activities. It was a very rewarding experience.
World Junior Curling Championships in Finland
Best wishes to Marianna Ward, Year 12, who will be competing this week in the World Junior Curling Championships which are being held in Finland. This will be the second year where Marianna will be representing England in this prestigious event. Please see below a schedule of matches, so that you can follow her team’s progress.
Beyond the Curriculum
Beyond the Curriculum offers our students extended learning opportunities which are relevant to society and our community. Year 7 students have been receiving hands only CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training from Miss Lewis, who was accompanied by trainee English teacher, Dr Baker. Students were shown how to use a defibrillator and the use of rescue breaths was discussed.
The CPR emergency procedure consists of chest compressions, in an effort to manually preserve blood circulation and breathing until emergency services arrive. This training provides a valuable life skill for all our students.
Choose Life
There is no one better to educate and inform about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse than someone who has been there and experienced it all for themselves. Year 10 were off timetable this morning to attend sessions delivered by those who have suffered with addictions.
The session was lead by ‘Choose Life’ founder Steve. Steve set up the Choose Life Project to help those in prison overcome addictions, introducing the idea of using drama and experiential knowledge to generate a forum for addressing the growing issue of drug use among the prison population. Steve left the prison service to educate the wider public about the issues of drugs and addiction.
Students had the opportunity to learn about the often harrowing and emotional pasts of Steve’s guest speakers, and the sequence of events that led to their growing addiction. Students were also offered an opportunity to ask questions after the session.
Author Jonathan Stroud to visit LGGS
On 23rd January 2025, Jonathan Stroud will be visiting LGGS to deliver a session to our Year 8 students to inspire them with advice and ideas for writing fantasy fiction. Amongst his impressive repertoire of children’s and young adult novels, Jonathan will be talking in particular about his new novel, The Legendary Scarlett & Browne, which is last in the Scarlett & Browne fantasy adventure trilogy set in the cities and wilds of an alternative England. The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne is being adapted into a film by Amazon, to be released soon!
Jonathan is a British writer of children’s and young adult fiction who has been writing since 1999 and has won countless awards for his work. He specialises in fantasy adventure novels, often set in alternative universes. In January 2023, Netflix released their adaptation of his book series, Lockwood & Co.
Stroud’s latest book is due for release in the UK the week before the author event! Year 8’s are able to pre-order copies of the Scarlett & Browne books at a discounted price on Parent Pay now, to be distributed at the event on 23rd. You can buy all 3 books for just £20 – a wonderful Christmas present for your child. Find out more on Jonathan’s website.
Year 8 Author
Congratulations to Year 8 student Abeer, whose book has been published by Bumblebee Books. The book called The Puzzling Disappearance is the story of a first-year high school student who must navigate friendship issues while investigating the shocking disappearance of her best friend. Abeer’s book can be borrowed from LGGS Library but is also available on Amazon.
We shall look forward to the next book in the series as she is currently writing the sequel!
A huge congratulations for this extraordinary achievement … a young talent to watch.
Reindeer Rush – Sponsored Run
The annual Reindeer Rush, a sponsored run in aid of St. John’s Hospice, will take place during outdoor PE lessons for Years 7-9 this week. For any Year 10-13 students who would like to take part, they are welcome to do so during lunchtime on Thursday. Please sponsor and support our pupils to help raise money for St. John’s Hospice who provide palliative care for our community.
Poet Laureates 2024-2025
The English Department are delighted to announce that Saimah Patel, Year 11, is now in post as our new school poet laureate. Saimah has written a poem for the Carol Service and we are very excited for you to hear this next week. In the morning service, Saimah’s poem will be read by Iman Patel (Year 10), who will take up the poet laureate role in the summer term, allowing Saimah to focus on her exams.
Support during the school holidays for all students
It is important for you to know that if you feel that you are struggling you are not alone – there are lots of sources of support available to you and many of them are 24-7.
Kooth Support over Christmas
- Kooth is there if you need them over the Christmas period.
- As children have more time to reflect on things over the holiday period, they may consider opening up about the things that have been worrying them, but have pushed aside, due to the worries about what may happen if they do open up, this can sometimes be a barrier to them.
- Kooth can take away the stigma or barriers. offering support on the same day, rather than waiting weeks or months for mental health support. They are able to provide young people with self-help strategies that prevent their mental health from declining, preventing them from going into crisis.
- Kooth CYP services can reduce the necessity of GP appointments and hospital admissions and can prevent the need for referrals into CAMHS. Or can support young people with their mental health for young people on waiting lists or who have been discharged from services.
- Kooth can support neurodiverse young people, who may find face-to-face support more challenging and difficult to engage in.
Recruitment
We are currently recruiting for the following role within our school:
Please find more information on our website.