This week in our school community: 06 September 2024

Welcome back and how lovely for our community to all be together again after the six week summer break.

On Wednesday, we took great joy in welcoming our new Year 7 and Year 12 cohorts for their induction day and they have already impressed us with their smart appearance, kindness and respect for each other and their eagerness to be an important part of the St Greg's family. We held our inaugural Year 7 Transition Evening and BBQ this Thursday and, despite the miserable weather, it was well attended and a joyful community event where families got to meet their child's form tutor and key members of staff. Thank you to all involved in making this such a special start to the Year 7 St Greg's journey.

A huge congratulations to our examination classes of 2024 - they have done exceptionally well, especially as both our Year 11s and Year 13s were affected by the Covid pandemic in their early years of secondary school. We have four students off to Oxbridge, including Edgar H who takes up a place at The University of Cambridge to read Linguistics after securing A*A*A* and A. Beth H will be reading veterinary studies at Cambridge with A*A*A* and Elena H goes to the University of Oxford to read Chemistry with A*A*A* and an A in AS Further Maths. 19% of all A level grades were A*-A, with 96% of students receiving A*-E. 92% of students who applied to university have secured places and others are off on exciting gap years or other pathways, including apprenticeships, drama school and into their chosen careers.

Our GCSE and Cambridge National results were outstanding with 31% of all GCSE grades being 7-9 and 80% of grades were 4-9. The Year 11 class of 2024 showcased what happens when you work hard, have the right attitude to learning and want to reach for the stars - we are incredibly proud of them.

Our whole school theme this year is 'Pilgrims of Hope' and next week I will write more about what it means to be a pilgrim of hope and how we are going to journey together on our mission to live out our faith on a daily basis. Our family is what makes St Greg's stand out from other schools and forging positive relationships is what makes our community so special.

Students have arrived in good spirits for the start of the year ahead, wearing the correct uniform with smart school shoes. Please take some time to refamiliarise yourself with the student handbook and key policies on our website, including the Behaviour for Excellence policy. We are a gum free site and chewing gum is not permitted, including in the New Sixth. A polite reminder not to park in the road between our main building and The Gateway Building - road access is needed throughout the day for emergency vehicles and our school buses. Parking is available at the Odd Down Park and Ride only.

Fr Jeremy has invited me to speak at this week's Education Sunday 10am Mass on Sunday 8 September at St Mary's Church, Bath, and I look forward to seeing you there if that is your local parish. You are all warmly invited to attend regardless of whether this is your parish or not and I will be speaking about the importance of education, especially a Catholic education, and drawing on inspiration from scripture and some of my educational greats.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend and I will leave you with this blessing from the first whole school assembly on Thursday:

Let us reflect on being a pilgrim of hope.

Let hope be what makes us get out of bed every morning.

Let hope be what makes us reach out to others in friendship and love.

Let hope be what makes us do what we can to make the world a better place.

Let hope be what makes us find a way through suffering and stress.

Let hope be what makes us bring hope to those without it.

Let hope be what makes us.

Let hope be.

Amen.

Mrs Melissa George (BA Hons, MA, PGCE) 

Headteacher