A Message from the Head...

Wow, it has been a busy week!!

We started with Prep taking part in Odd Socks Day to mark the start of Anti-Bullying Week on Monday with Cherry getting in on the action too!   You can read more about all of this in the Articles from... Early Years & Prep section of this newsletter.  Many thanks to Mrs Prince and Mrs Hallam for leading this initiative in Prep.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday night we were treated to the High School production of Disney's Moana.  Again, there is a full article on this below, but to say the audience were treated to a magical evening, is something of an understatement in itself! 

Mr Lenihan and Mrs Hamlyn certainly outdid themselves and they have set the bar extremely high for themselves next time!  Thank you to both of them and the wider team of staff and pupils who helped to make this such a great production.

And Friday was of course BBC Children in Need Day. 

We had everything from Fancy Dress to Bear Pong and I'm sure there will be a full write up in next week's newsletter together with a grand total of money raised for this worthy cause.

Of course, every fancy dress competition has to have some winners and we had loads!  Some of these are pictured above and a full list can be found in the article on CIN later in this newsletter.

Alongside the pupils, the senior staff at Gateways took part in our usual annual Leadership Challenge in aid of BBC Children in Need.

This year we went "back to the kitchen" and became Dinner 'ladies' for the day.

We started by serving Family Breakfast followed by some collection bucket rattling in the Car Park. 

After judging the pupil Fancy Dress competition, we returned to the kitchen to prepare lunch.  This included donut icing and decorating, coleslaw shredding and mixing, burger shaping, frying and baking, chip loading and shaking, bread shaping and baking, cheese arranging, corn on the cob BBQing and much, much more!

Thankfully, lunch was served on time and the challenge was successfully completed!

At the time of writing, the total amount raised was an amazing £6554 and the winner of the 4 tickets for next year's Firework Extravaganza  go to ..... Paul and Lisa White for their exceptionally generous donation to this very worthy cause.

If anyone would still like to donate then the link below will remain live for a few more days...

Next week we look forward to the Lower 4 residential and our Prep Open Doors events....

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

- Dr Tracy Johnson - 

High School production - Moana

This week saw the culmination of months of hard work as our High School musical production of Moana was finally performed. 

In the show we watched Moana (Niamh) find her courage and strength to save her loved ones back on the island.

It feels a long time ago now when we first auditioned for the show back in May. Rehearsals started in June and with a long break for the summer the pupils had to remember rather a lot. We couldn’t be prouder of our cast. 

There is so much investment of time and energy from so many people, and it’s why the school production is always one of the events which really forges a school’s sense of staff and pupil togetherness.

This Disney musical has been adapted to become the perfect show for young people, whilst still containing all the favourite musical numbers.  The cast have embodied the beautiful journey of Moana. From the Island to the Ocean we were able to discover bravery, teamwork and life skills. We hope everyone who was lucky to obtain a ticket enjoyed the sell-out show!

Mrs Gemma Hamlyn

Children in Need fundraising

On Friday we saw lots of fantastic costumes for out ‘Come as your favourite movie character’ theme.  Bake sales were held in High School and Prep at breaktime as well as fun activities at lunchtime including Bear Pong.  

Thank you to everyone who took part and to  all those who kindly donated - we will provide the final total once we have it!

Winners in the Fancy Dress competition :

EYFS:  Alfie, Jessica & Alice 

KS1:  Wilfred, Meera & Nihal 

KS2:  Sophie, Vaughan, Poppy

KS3:  Upper 4 group - Prison Break, Oliver & Violet

KS4 and KS5:  Group - Midsommer, Sadie, Alex, Jamie, Group - Cars

Teachers: Prep staff, Mrs Carver & Mr Davidson

Well done to everyone who took part!

Pupil news

Willow's swimming success

Upper 2 pupil Willow swims for the City of Leeds and recently achieved the Yorkshire qualifying time for the 50m Breaststroke under 10s to compete in the Yorkshire Winter Swimming Championships at Ponds Forge International Swim Centre in Sheffield.  Willow competed on the 22nd Oct in the 50m Breaststroke Yorkshire Championships Under 10s. Well done Willow.

PFA news

Christmas Raffle tickets have been sent home with pupils and there’s some fantastic prizes to be won. Please return completed stubs and money to your child’s class teacher by next Friday 25th November. 

Our Gateways Christmas Elf will be at the Festive Fayre on Monday 28^th November and is looking forward to going home with the person that guesses his name correctly.  All pupils, parents, family, and friends are welcome to come along and join in the festivities between 2:30pm and 5pm in the PAC.

Revised ticket price of £40!
To spread some Christmas joy before you've even arrived, we have reduced the ticket price of this workshop to £40. So why not invite a friend or family member and join us for a lovely evening of festive crafting over a glass of bubbles and festive treats! Price includes everything you need to get your Christmas season underway with a fresh, bespoke creation to proudly hang on your door. 
All funds go to Gateways PFA Charity to raise funds for the upgrade of the Prep School playground.

A huge thank you to our generous local retailers who kindly donated items for us to sell at the amazing High School production of Moana this week. With the support of parents, our PFA stall raised £365 for Gateways Parents & Friends charity.

- The Gateways Parents & Friends Association Committee Members -

Local Christmas Concert

Mrs Coates, Mr Lenihan and Sixth Form pupil Lucy Sherman are featuring in a Christmas concert fundraiser on the 2nd December at Wetherby Methodist Church.  For more information click here and contact Mrs Wilson fiona.wilson@gatewaysschool.co.uk if you would like to purchase tickets. 

Schoolblazer flash sale this weekend

Schoolblazer will be running a flash sale, with 20% off all in-stock items, this weekend only!

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