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Happy New Year to<br />
everyone and I hope<br />
you all enjoyed a very<br />
relaxing Christmas<br />
holiday.<br />
HEAD TO HEAD<br />
2016 will be another<br />
exciting year in AGSB’s<br />
development because<br />
we will be pleased to<br />
welcome North Cestrian<br />
School into the AGSB<br />
family in September<br />
when it opens as<br />
a state secondary<br />
school. As you know,<br />
we have established<br />
the Hamblin Education<br />
Trust to support this<br />
process and its board<br />
of trustees will oversee<br />
the management of the<br />
changes which are necessary. North Cestrian School will<br />
provide each year around 125 much-needed school places<br />
for the growing population of young people in Altrincham.<br />
At the same time we are considering increasing our annual<br />
intake of students at age 11 by one form group. So far,<br />
we have been able to do this in some years but not every<br />
year because we simply do not have the classroom space<br />
to cope with such growth. Yet we are very conscious that<br />
there is a growing population of young people in Altrincham<br />
and beyond who would benefit greatly from a place at<br />
AGSB. Consequently we have made a bid, supported by<br />
Trafford Councillors both in spirit and with capital money,<br />
for a substantial building development on the School site<br />
which would not only increase our classroom space but also<br />
resolve some of the other issues we face, such as with pupil<br />
movement through narrow corridors.<br />
As you know, competition for capital funds in all areas of life<br />
is very fierce so if the bid is not successful first time round<br />
we will continue to try for capital funds because we are<br />
committed to playing our part in providing the best possible<br />
opportunities for teenagers in Altrincham and beyond.<br />
Happy New Year<br />
everybody! I hope<br />
you’ve all had a nice<br />
break and that you’re<br />
refreshed and ready to<br />
start on the uphill climb<br />
to end of year exams.<br />
My message to you at<br />
the start of this year<br />
is to try and better<br />
yourselves just that<br />
little bit. The principle of<br />
marginal gains applies<br />
massively to life. If you<br />
go on that extra run each<br />
week, listen to that extra<br />
Radio 4 programme<br />
each week, or even<br />
just sit down with one<br />
subject and focus for an<br />
hour that you wouldn’t<br />
have done last year, you will see an improvement in yourself.<br />
Your health and general knowledge will be improved, and<br />
if you multiply these improvements together, you will be a<br />
better you. Life is very competitive, so get yourself ahead<br />
now! Your exams are closer than you think.<br />
Life isn’t all about exams and hard work though, life is<br />
about happiness. In the same vein as marginal gains,<br />
Julian of Norwich said that “All shall be well, and all shall<br />
be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”. This is just<br />
talking about lots of little “wellnesses” adding up and<br />
accumulating so that all is well. Put your phones away, and<br />
just have a chat with the person next to you. Look for the<br />
beauty in nature walking to and from school, maybe even<br />
pick up a book and immerse yourself in a whole new world.<br />
Change your life in a small way and watch happiness come<br />
in to it, and if someone gives you a smile, smile back and<br />
share the joy.<br />
Our school is a nice place to be, but, if everyone in it is that<br />
little bit happier, then through marginal gains it will be an<br />
even more enjoyable place to be for everyone. Have a good<br />
year!<br />
wheelie<br />
fast<br />
The first two weekends of October saw Mr Suthard achieving further cycling success, while competing to defend his World<br />
Champion title at the Manchester Velodrome.<br />
The weekends consisted of several races – the first of which was a 750m TT race, where he finished 9th despite having an<br />
unknown puncture in his rear disk wheel. The next race was the big one, with Mr Suthard hoping to become the 3000m pursuit<br />
World Champion once again. Racing alongside many professional racers, Mr Suthard managed to shave 3 seconds off his<br />
previous times, qualifying 3rd fastest and placing him in the ride off for the bronze medal. In this race, he managed to knock<br />
another 2 seconds off his last year’s winning time, finishing with the bronze medal. Amazingly, Speedy Lee’s time was actually<br />
faster than the silver medallist, and only 0.8 seconds behind this year’s winner – and ex US Olympic cyclist – Dean Phillips!<br />
Mr Suthard was then invited to race in the champions of champions race the following weekend – a race only world champions<br />
could compete in! This race format was a little different to the ones Mr Suthard was used to, as he hadn’t taken part in this<br />
type of race for over 15 years. Despite this, after 64 laps and over 20 minutes of cycling, Mr Suthard finished in a brilliant 6th<br />
position, although he feels half a lap more could have seen him on the podium.<br />
Mr Suthard has hopes of knocking another 5 seconds off his time next year and hopefully he will be champion once again<br />
You can watch Mr Suthard in action on this link: https://youtu.be/tl21mDAvM4s<br />
Congratulations to Speedy Lee!<br />
Devansh Metha<br />
Head Master<br />
Tobias Nicholls, Head Boy
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