Alumnae Newsletter 2025

Happy New Year! January 2025

The autumn term has been filled with enriching activities, including exchange visits to France, Spain, Houston, and Japan. Our next venture is a Science trip to CERN, Switzerland, later this month. You can read more about school news in LGGS Life, our termly school newsletter.

Our extra-curricular engagements remain as varied as when you attended LGGS, with the next big event being this week’s school production at The Dukes Theatre of Beauty and the Beast, a Disney classic.

Beauty and The Beast

Join us for our school production at The Dukes, Lancaster

Tickets are selling fast for the upcoming production of 'Beauty and the Beast' at The Dukes. With a cast of over fifty students, a nineteen-piece orchestra, spectacular costumes, and a dazzling set design, all thanks to our students and staff who have been working extremely hard to ensure the school's production is of its usual high standard.

There will be four performances, from Wednesday 22nd until Saturday 25th January. However, Friday and Saturday night performances are very nearly sold out!

The production is suitable for all ages.

Dick Whittington and His Cat

Congratulations to alumna Cheryl Hutton who directed the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat at the Grand Theatre during December.

You can see Cheryl, pictured below, with LGGS students and cast members: Isla, Scarlett, Amy, Lyra, Melody and Violet.

Contribution to LGGS life

Awards Evening

The start of the autumn term saw our GCSE and A-Level students celebrate tremendous academic successes, with results among the best in the area and country. These achievements were a testament to their hard work, dedication, and resilience.

We celebrated the achievements of LGGS students with current pupils and our 2024 Leavers at the annual Awards Evening, which was held at Lancaster University’s Great Hall in December. The evening was made even more memorable by guest speakers and alumnae, Rebecca Novell and Chloe Shepherd, who shared their inspirational experiences since leaving school.

The audience was deeply moved by Rebecca's journey to her current role, leading Refugee Integration for Lancashire. Rebecca emphasised

Apprenticeship Talk

the importance of small acts of kindness and their significant impact and shared how unexpected events shaped her career, reminding our students that the future holds endless possibilities. Chloe shared her journey of breaking into the world of finance and emphasised the importance of resilience, authenticity, empathy, and emotional understanding in leadership. Chloe has been shortlisted for various leadership and rising star awards and sits on the board of a social mobility charity. She is also a champion and advocate for diversity

The involvement of our alumnae has been invaluable, not just at events such as the Awards Evening, but within school where past students have visited to offer career advice.

Former LGGS student Lauren McCanley paid a visit to LGGS during November to talk to students about apprenticeship opportunities at BAE systems, where Lauren is currently completing her Software Engineering Degree Apprenticeship. Thank you Lauren for sharing your insights and advice.

Careers Fair

Whilst at a recent careers’ fair at Carnforth school, Head of Year 13, Mrs Whitehouse bumped into Maddie, LGGS Leaver 2018. Maddie qualified last year in Veterinary Science and was talking to students about careers in animal care.

In the News

Congratulations to 2023 Leaver, Sumayah, who was selected as a contestant on the 2024 ‘Great British Bake Off.’

Sumayah took a gap year after leaving us in 2023, and she used that time to do some travelling, to volunteer and to learn to drive, and to participate in Bake Off! Sumayah made it to week seven of the competition, impressing the judges and all her fans - especially LGGS staff and students - with her stunning creations, impressive baking skills and resilience under time pressure. We wish Sumayah all the very best with her dentistry studies.

Evelyn in Year 13 was selected as one out of 100 Explorers who were chosen to travel to London during September for the investiture of Dwayne Fields as Chief Scout.

Evelyn holds a Commissioners Commendation Award, which

Last term Marianna, Year 12, successfully won the prestigious BBC Regional (North West) Young Reporter of the Year 2024 competition.

Marianna, who represents the UK at international curling, submitted a video entitled ‘Why we need more curling rinks’. During the summer, she was interviewed on BBC Radio Lancashire and also filmed and recorded a voiceover for BBC North West promoting her editorial news.

Congratulations to Marianna who, once again represented England, competing at the World Junior Curling Championships

Young people aged 8 to 18 living in the Morecambe Bay area were encouraged to step outside and capture on film what their local waterways mean to them.

The winning entries were selected to create a photographic exhibition designed to have a ‘Ripple Effect’ on the local community. Ripple Effects Morecambe Bay was a collaboration between Ripple Effects International, Global Link and the Ernest Cook Trust’s Blue Influencer Programme. The touring exhibition opened to the public at Lancaster s Library and was also displayed at other venues, including Lancaster Central Library.

Congratulations to Molly, Year 8, who is pictured with her winning entry.

Publications

Our Sixth Form students have been exceptionally productive, with the Eco Committee delivering school-wide assemblies and securing a prestigious Eco Schools Programme award. The team have also produced their first e-zine ‘The LED’.

The LED, includes articles on The Effects of Medical Waste and Coral Bleaching. It is fascinating to hear how these issues affect our environment, and the publication offers an informative and interesting read.

Each year, our Year 12 students are able to select an activity from a range of enrichment options. One choice is to work on The Chronicle, our annual school magazine. I

Can you help?

If you are able to offer a placement, Work Experience Week for Year 12 students is planned for 12th to 16th May. Our students have a diverse range of interests and aspirations and we are hoping to match that with suitable placements. We would like to hear from you if you are able to facilitate a placement for one or more of our students, and please pass this on to anyone in your wider network of friends or colleagues. If you think they may be able to help, please contact our work experience team at: wexp@lggs.lancs.sch.uk

School Life

Fundraising has always been a big part of school life. In a time when many charitable organisations face challenges, our LGGS Charity Team and School Council have made a significant impact by supporting a variety of organisations.

House Charity Initiatives, led by the School Council

Each school House has chosen a charity to champion, and many of these fundraising efforts involve delicious bake sales.

Rendsburg house raised £108.50 for Young Minds, whilst Aalborg raised £100 for UNICEF. Lublin raised nearly £200 for Save the Children and Perpignan plan to run the next event this term.

LGGS Charity Team

For many years, LGGS has contributed to The Olive Branch foodbank, providing essential support to those in need during the winter months. Year 13 students

Reminiscing

collected and delivered donations to the foodbank during December which were gratefully received.

The Charity Team also organised two exciting events for BBC Children In Need. There was an LGGS bake-off and also a talent show. Together, with proceeds from the non-uniform day, these events raised a remarkable £1,279.

In the lead up to Christmas, the annual Festive Jumper day raised £750 for Save the Children,

The Reindeer Rush fun run, organised by the PE department, raised over £1,000 for St John’s Hospice!

Every year, more and more LGGS alumnae join our staff. It just goes to show what a lovely place this is to be we leave and then get drawn back again!

Many of the traditions still hold strong. Last term we held the event many of you will know as Junior Drama, this has now been rebranded as the ‘Performing Arts Festival'. As always, it's great to see some of the pupils who are quieter in class come alive on the stage.

We enjoyed the Carol Service at Lancaster Priory last month. There are now two sessions: morning and afternoon, so that everyone has an opportunity to attend. Musical and poetic performances, from our pupils, have been added to the service, and this works really well for changing times.

house netball took place last term for the different year groups, with many other sporting competitions on the horizon for the spring and

End of term assemblies are a little different, rather than the entire school being squished into the Main Hall, we have assemblies throughout the morning of the last day, for each different year group. We still belt out the school song and shout 'COMING OF VICTORY'!

Cara Hutton (pupil 2001-2008, Physics teacher 2014

We made it!

Following my last article about how a group of us continued to meet up once a year, and meet online once a month, we made it to the statue of St John Betjeman in St Pancras station in September. Val (Knight) had come to the UK from her home in New Zealand (NZ), along with her two daughters, travelling around the UK for three weeks and visiting her son in Devon. With her, Anne (Phillips) from Leeds, Trish (Lach) from Cambridge, Lyn (Holt) from Whitstable and Carol (Stewart) from Bristol all met by the statue, had a long lunch in the Betjeman Arms with cameo appearances from daughters and a son. Meeting online is great, but meeting face to face is better, and we hope we can continue to do both. Trish is about to make her annual visit to NZ, Lyn and Carol have been in recent years while Anne is well travelled so maybe she will make it to NZ in the not too distant future. Carol Fry

Back to school

It was a pleasure to welcome alumnae from the Class of 1993 back to LGGS during the autumn term. As well as catching up and sharing memories, they were treated to a tour of the school.

‘Thank you for a wonderful afternoon. It was such a delight to tour the school (by Year 10 Prefects) and see how it had changed (or not) since 1993. Loved meeting the students too and hearing about their time at LGGS.’

World’s toughest row

Best wishes to alumna, Lieutenant Commander Izzy Rawlinson who, as a Royal Navy sailor, is making history as part of the first serving military women’s team to attempt to row the Atlantic!

Whilst we were relaxing over the winter break, the team, known collectively as the Valkyries, were facing 3,000 miles of open seas and competition from around three dozen other teams as they take on the world’s toughest row.

It’s the fourth time a Royal Navy team has taken part in the row in five years under the banner of the HMS Oardacious initiative, which looks to support the mental health of sailors and their families and also raise awareness of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). You can read more about their experience, trach their progress and donate to their chosen charity via their website

Izzy, Lieutenant Commander (Royal Navy) is a Marine Engineer in submarines and has acted as skipper, rowing alongside; mine clearance diver Ali Aindow; Aaby Aldridge who maintains survival equipment; pilot Lily-Mae Fisher; and warfare officer Nic Hall. The team set off from San Sebastien de la Gomera in the Canaries during mid December and are rowing to Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua this month.

A school minibus

Dear Alumnae,

We have set ourselves the task of raising funds to purchase a new school minibus which will enable us to provide transport for smaller school visits. It will increase the number of sports fixtures, competitions, and events in which our students can participate, whilst helping us keep transport costs down at a time when schools are facing financial challenges. There is a minibus available that meets our needs perfectly, but we need to raise £10,000 to secure it! Our students have shown immense enthusiasm and creativity in coming up with fundraising ideas to help us reach this goal. However, I am also writing to ask for your assistance. If you have any fundraising ideas or

would like to contribute to the scheme, we would be grateful for your support. You can contact us at finance@lggs.lancs.sch.uk

Warm regards, Mr Chris Beard, Headteacher