PGS Journalist Report On Starting Year 9

Published by The Portsmouth Grammar School on Wednesday 9th of November 2022

This year sees the start of an exciting new venture for budding journalists at PGS.

Recommended by English teachers and Heads of Year, each Year Group has been assigned a journalist who will be responsible for reporting on all the events relating to their year group throughout the academic year. This significant role will help to document the exciting and enriching opportunities that are on offer at PGS and will become crucial in the future when we look back to the archives to explore memories from our time at school.

These articles will be used for various publications such as Preview, Portsmouth Point blog, annual reports, as well as The Portmuthian.

The team are already out and about, reporting with energy and enthusiasm on the plethora of events that have already occurred over the past few weeks in our vibrant community.

First to be posted is a report on the start to Year 9 by Simone Hellyer and Alexandra Dempster in Year 9.

As the Year Nines came back to school, they were greeted by welcoming staff, a fun Getting to Know You Day and Monday activities. The atmosphere was cheerful and lively with the buzz of new relationships and opportunities. Many pupils grasped the chance to be part of the
CCF community whereas others decided on classroom-based activities. We had a steady and smooth transition from Year Eight to Nine, thanks to much support from peer mentors, teachers and friends. They helped us get accustomed to the new year and answered any queries we had about the subjects or timetables.

The Getting to Know You Day was an activity-packed day on Monday 12th, where the Year Nines were able to meet their new tutors, tutor groups and newly joined students. Though the weather started dark and rainy, the rest of the day brought fun and excitement to each person.

There was a large variety of activities, from axe throwing to being sheep and a shepherd. Each task came with teamwork and competition between the other tutor groups, along with leadership roles coming from students. Collaboration was vastly seen as well with the especially challenging tasks. In fact, Abriti Ghimire tells us, “I enjoyed the day and had great fun getting to know the other people in my tutor group along with my own tutor. The activities were very fun and I feel like we should do another day soon but in classes instead.” Including the writing of smart targets for each activity to complete the task in the best way possible. At the end of the day, we were all tasked with the challenge of creating a song with Love Hearts sweets, and we had the privilege of performing in front of the head, Mr Wickes. Each song was filled with creativity and each performance was entertaining and a great variety of talent and collaboration was shown. The winner was announced as Mr Butler’s tutor group in Smith House - congratulations! Overall, each tutor performed well over the whole course of the day and worked together well.

On the 26th of September, the Year Nines started their selected Monday options with the majority choosing Army CCF, run by Mr Seddon. All the cadets collected their uniforms and supplies. An anonymous cadet said, “Collecting the uniform was very exciting and made me feel so proud of being part of the CCF community.”

Some pupils went to their friends to decide which club, out of the diverse range, to choose. “It was my friends who convinced me to do CCF and I’m really glad I did,” was a statement made by Lexi Duck, who is now part of the Army CCF.

Aside from the cadet force, other, more classroom-based, activities were held such as cooking and art. Another anonymous student - who received an art scholarship, joined the Art Scholars club and stated, “It is nice because the older art pupils help and give inspiration to
the younger pupils.”

All the co-curricular activities help the pupils gain new friends and have new and thrilling experiences. We are lucky to have teachers who give up their Monday afternoons to help us have a fun time and make new friends with the same interests that otherwise we may not have known before.

The start of Year Nine was packed with so many things to do, from Getting to Know You Day to each Monday activity. The list of things to do doesn’t end there though - the new year brought the winner of the Leonardo Competition - Indie Stone with ‘Sonnet 22’, the Prizegiving Ceremony with lots of Year Nine students gaining prizes from Year Eight and the future performance of A Christmas Carol in November including talented Year Nines. The start of the term was exciting for all pupils, students and teachers alike, and with future projects and new experiences coming, there will be a great spark of interest and enjoyment throughout the upcoming years in the Senior School. We collected a quote from an anonymous pupil saying “I am looking forward to going on all the trips and experiencing something with my friends”. The future includes countless trips from the History trip to Ypres, Kent or Bovington and to the Drama trip to New York. Those are the only two of the
highly anticipated trips to come.

All the activities and opportunities provided by the school and prepared by teachers are greatly appreciated by every student. They give us a chance to show our core values and make or build up friendships between, not solely pupils, but also our tutors and teachers.

Report by Simone Hellyer and Alexandra Dempster in Year 9