Start to the new school year

It has been a delight to see the children return to school looking so smart and refreshed after their summer holidays. It was lovely to see them excited about joining their new classes and getting to know their new teachers and teaching assistants. I have also enjoyed spending time on the playground over the last couple of days where the children have been loving catching up with old friends as well as getting to know new ones too!

I spent this afternoon walking around the school and popping into every class. In all classes I saw the children looking very settled and displaying very positive attitudes to their learning. In the photos you can see the children playing well together, completing art, spelling and writing activities and reading to their teachers. 

Creating a penguin in 1T

Playing collaboratively

Making patterns

The pupils of 1S enjoying playing together

There have been lots of smiling children this week.

Taking turns in 2J

Our pupils enjoying a game in 2J

Miss Jones hearing readers

TJ reading to Mrs Bowen in 2P

Children in 2P enjoying some art

Mrs Robson said Paige had been a star this week

Children publishing work in 5J

Ellie making her bookmark in 5B

Working hard in 5B

Jessica's beautiful bookmark

Lots of smiles in 5B. It's great to have Luke back too!

Reece has had a great start in 6K

Josh E showing an excellent attitude to his learning

Amber-Louise and Rhia enjoying their spelling session

A great end to the week for Tyler in 6J

A perfect start for Lyndon

Aimee enjoying her conversation with Miss Ryder and Mrs Pedder

Have a fantastic weekend.

Rona Mackie
Headteacher

Georgia's Bench

On Monday, we held a dedication ceremony for Georgia's bench. It was lovely welcoming her family into school and being able to celebrate the time Georgia spent at Guildford Grove and remember the wonderful pupil she was.

As part of the ceremony, Mrs Scrivener (Georgia's teacher in Year 1) spoke about her memories of Georgia and read a beautiful piece of writing that Georgia wrote during her time here. A small group of children then sang 'Somewhere over the rainbow' and Georgia's family members and friends from Year 4 tied some personalised decorations and messages to the new blossom tree. To mark the end of the event, brightly coloured balloons were released. 

Georgia's bench

I would like to thank the PTA for helping the school to design a fitting tribute to Georgia and organising its installation along with our new tree. We are so pleased that we now have a wonderful bench that children and families can enjoy for years to come. We will never forget Georgia.

The choir singing 'Somewhere over the rainbow'

Releasing the balloons

Georgia's parents with Mrs Scrivener

Georgia's family standing by the new blossom tree

Rona Mackie
Head of School

Halfway through the summer term!

Well it certainly feels like the last few weeks have flown by and lots has been happening at Guildford Grove. We have enjoyed many performances including the KS1 spring concert as well as a number of class assemblies. All were a joy to watch and as usual our children performed wonderfully. 

Last week, our Year 6 pupils completed their SATs tests. We were so proud of how hard they worked to prepare for them and they tackled the tests with positive attitudes. They are currently in Wales enjoying a sunny week of activities. I'm not sure how much sleep either the pupils or the staff have had but we are looking forward to welcoming them back tonight!

As always, I have been regularly popping into the classrooms to chat to the pupils and find out about their learning. Today, I really enjoyed looking at the bird feeders that Year 2 pupils have been making and seeing the space boxes that the Year 3 and 4 children had designed. Our pupils really are a talented bunch!

Last week, I was also lucky enough to sit in on some auditions for our summer production of 'Grease'. I was amazed with the confidence I saw in our children. They were not fazed at all by the process despite being asked to sing and act. I am very much looking forward to the rehearsals beginning after half term.

Finally, a big well done to Daisy in 4C who had a poem published in the Surrey Advertiser. It was a lovely poem all about Guildford Grove and how cool her new school is. The poem really brought a smile to my face just like the assembly this morning from 1S.

Here are some photos to enjoy!

Daisy's poem in the Surrey Advertiser

Some of the Year 6 girls in their audition

Mrs Schollar and Mrs Johnstone working with some of the boys in their audition

Miles, David and Rodin in 2P showing me their bird feeder

Leah's space box

Grace even went home and made her own space box

Kian and TJ's space boxes

Gabriello and Amy in 6J working hard on their writing

The whole school enjoying Foundation Stage's assembly about the Three Billy Goats Gruff

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely half term holiday!

Rona Mackie

Head of School

Amazing news about an ex Guildford Grove pupil

We were delighted to hear that Graham Spencer, a former pupil at Guildford Grove, won the under 14s London mini marathon wheelchair race on Sunday. His win was shown on the BBC1 coverage of the London marathon where he was interviewed and awarded his trophy. 

Our pupils met Graham last summer when we held a special assembly which Graham, his coach Jenny Archer and his mentor David Weir all attended.   

On Monday's assembly, we celebrated Graham's win and discussed how hard work and dedication can help people succeed. 

So congratulations to Graham and we can't wait to hear about all his future successes.

Graham Spencer at the London mini marathon

Rona Mackie
Head of School

Attendance assembly

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter holidays. We have been so lucky with this wonderful weather and it has been fantastic to see all the children playing happily on the field this week. After the assembly on Monday about sun safety, I was pleased to see children wearing hats and suncream to protect them on the playground and on the field.

This morning, I was delighted to present the 100% attendance certificates for the Spring Term to our pupils in our Friday assembly. It is incredible that 135 pupils received a certificate. This is a fantastic result! Here are some photos to celebrate (unfortunately not all the children who received a certificate are in the photos). The winning class with the most amount of 100% attendance certificates was 6K with 13 children. Well done 6K! Also well done to Year 4 and Year 2 for having the most certificates in a year group.

1T

1S

2P

2J

3G

3B

4H

4C

5H

5J

6K - The winning class!

6J

I will also post pictures of our Foundation Stage children when they receive their certificates next week. I must say that we were very proud of our Reception children this week. They attended a local sports event and competed against a number of other schools. They had a fantastic time and represented our school perfectly. 

Have a fantastic weekend everyone,

Rona Mackie
Head of School

Our School Performances

I continue to be amazed by our talented pupils. Over the last few weeks, I have been lucky enough to watch our pupils perform at the Guildford Schools' Music Festival at G Live, watch Guildford Grove's Got Talent and enjoy our Year 3 and 4 pupils perform our annual Easter concert. The standard of singing, dancing and narrating was, as always, incredibly high.

The Guildford Grove choir at G Live. They look great in our green performance shirts and they were even asked to sing a song all by themselves!

Katie and Alice singing 'Let it go' from Frozen in GGGT

Our Year 5 girl group performing Jump

Ethan, Owen and Dillan singing 'Little things' by One Direction

Inez, Jamie and Jess singing 'The climb' 

Our Year 5 boys performing 'Love me for a reason'

Abi and Conni singing 'Yours'

Megan and Lucy performing 'Thinking out loud'

The whole cast performing 'Uptown Funk'

Year 6 boys performing Bon Jovi

Year 6 girls singing 'Shake it off'

Our wonderful Year 3/4 Easter performance. They sang with great emotion and spoke so clearly. We had a packed hall full of parents too who then went on to enjoy a hot cross bun with their child in class

What a great way to end the Spring Term.

Have a lovely Easter holiday,

Rona Mackie
Head of School

Speak up, stay safe week

A few weeks ago, Guildford Grove organised its first ever safety week. During the week, the children designed their own safety superheroes to help them understand the meaning of safety. They also took part in daily PSHE lessons focusing on staying safe.

On the Wednesday, our school council organised an after school session to review our anti-bullying policy with staff, parents, volunteers and governors. It was an excellent event and the school council, along with some of our Year 6 yellow band lunchtime helpers, spoke confidently and worked with the adults to come up with a definition of what bullying is. We were very proud of them all.

Morgan speaking confidently to the audience

Mya sharing some national statistics about bullying 

Our staff, parents, volunteers, governors and pupils completed a market place activity

One table's work

Staff reading the definitions of bullying

As part of the week, we also held a 'Make Technology Safe Fayre'. Parents were able to bring in their electronic devices and speak to experts to get advice about how to ensure they were safe for their children to use. It was great to see so many parents and children attend with a range of devices from gaming devices to mobile phones.

What a great week!

Rona Mackie

Head of School