NEWSLETTER Friday 4th October Dear parents and carers, Although our time with students has only been four days long this week, as always, we have had a busy time at the academy and have much to share. It is always positive to see that our activities are wide ranging and give opportunities to students from many different year groups and subject areas. This week has seen us celebrating Black History Month through our assemblies and supporting both World Smile Day and Go Yellow Day. The weather on Tuesday meant we were able to embark on our first Year 7 Geography field trip for our Maritime Futures Curriculum. The whole of Year 7 took to a chartered boat to view, from the Solent, the local coastal features that students have been studying in Geography. We are delighted that under our new curriculum students undertake practical Geography field trips right from the start of Year 7 and we look forward to see how our students’ knowledge of the coast has been deepened from this activity. On Wednesday evening we welcomed Year 7 and 8 parents to our information evening. Thank you to all parents who joined us this week and I do hope that this was useful. I was unable to attend our information evening as I was representing the school at the SERFCA Isle of Wight Lord-Lieutenant Awards to celebrate the tremendous success of Annabel Fletcher, who has been awarded the prestigious role of Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadet for the forthcoming year. This role will see her supporting the Lord-Lieutenant in her duties and potentially meeting members of the royal family when they visit the Isle of Wight. Warm congratulations to Annabel who has always show a wholly dedicated and determined approach to her cadet work. This week we have also had our open evening for prospective Year 7 students. It is always exciting to meet students and families who will join our Cowes family and was positive to hear from so many parents that they found the evening full of warmth.
A reminder that I hold parent surgeries twice weekly on a Tuesday afternoon from 1pm – 2.30pm and from 3.30pm – 5.30pm. Attendance is by pre-booked appointments only. Please either email dharrison@cowesec.org or phone the school on 01983 203103 asking for Donna Harrison to book in a slot in advance. Rachel Kitley Click the arrows or swipe to turn pages
TERM DATES FOR 2019/20 ACADEMIC YEAR
UPCOMING EVENTS
Fri 25th October
Last Day of Half Term
Thursday 10th October
Year 9 and 10 Info Evening
28th Oct—1st Nov
Half Term Holiday
Wednesday 16th October
Year 11 Info Evening
Mon 4th November
Start of second half of Autumn Term
Friday 25th October
Last Day of Half Term
Fri 20th December
Last Day of Autumn Term
23rd Dec 2019 — 3rd Jan 2020 Christmas Holiday
Mon 6th January
Staff Development Day
Tues 7th January
Start of Spring Term for all students
Fri 14th February
Last Day of Half Term
17th February—21st February Half Term Holiday
Mon 24th February
Start of second half of Spring Term
Friday 3rd April
Last Day of Spring Term
6th April—17th April
Easter Holiday
Mon 20th April
Start of Summer Term
Fri 8th May
Early May bank holiday (VE day)
Fri 22nd May
Last Day of Half Term
25th May—29th May
Half Term Holiday
Mon 1st June
Start of second half of Spring Term
Mon 15th June TBC
Staff Development Day
Fri 17th July
Last Day of Summer Term
Sat 18th July
Summer Holidays Start
ATTENDANCE THIS WEEK’S ATTENDANCE WAS 94.6%
Thank you to all parents and carers for your full support in ensuring your child attends the academy for every session possible.
#AttendanceMatters
Term dates can also be found on our website.
PARENT VOICE We held our first parent working group meeting last Friday, a huge thank you to those of you who came along. It was a really enjoyable hour with lots of positive feedback as well as some interesting questions and ideas for improvement. One of the issues raised was how we can improve communication of important events to parents and avoid having to search the bottom of the school bag for the all-important letter, so at our next meeting we will be looking at the website and the newsletter to identify what is working well and areas we can develop to support communication home. If you would like to be involved, you are very welcome to join us on Friday 8 th November from 9am to 10am. Please email me on parentvoice@cowesec.org to let me know that you are coming. Hazel Walker Assistant Principal
YEAR 7 MARITIME GEOGRAPHY TRIP On Tuesday 1st October all students in Year 7 took part in our first Maritime Geography Trip along the northern coast of the island to look at the new Cowes breakwater and different coastal features between East Cowes and Gurnard!
HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR
SPORTS NEWS
On Friday 27th September a group of GCSE Congratulations to Ellie L in Year 12 Film and Art students visited the Warner for her recent discuss success. Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour. She set a new personal best and They enjoyed exhibitions including full sets from the films, models, drawings, U17 IOWAC record at 36.30m! This paintings, costumes, prop making, CGI distance gives her the qualifying and much more! standard for next years’ Senior Girls English School Competition!
YEAR 7 LUNCH CARDS Year 7 Lunch Cards will be given to students next week! These will replace the use of pins. If cards are lost a replacement can be purchased from Reception for £1.
DUKE OF EDINBURGH NEWS
DUKE OF EDINBURGH BRONZE Over the autumn term the focus for Duke of Edinburgh is the skills, physical and volunteering sections. Most participants have received their booklets and if they have not then I will be in touch with them soon to get them registered and on the programme.
In the autumn term students do not need to attend any regular day of the week. There may be some after school sessions and these will be in the school newsletter so please do keep checking there. On Tuesday after school the cookery skills sessions are happening with Mrs Rouse and Mrs Watts in DE13. Students who have signed up for this need to bring in their ingredients, an apron and a suitable container to take their cooking home in. In January we will all meet (students, parents and the DofE team) to discuss the expedition training programme and the expeditions. This will be on Wednesday 8th January 5-6pm so please put this in your diary / calendar. Duke of Edinburgh is an independent programme and students are expected to manage their programme and complete the award. We will support with all requests we receive. If you have any queries then please email jgibson@cowesec.org
Duke of Edinburgh activities were in full swing again this week. We had some culinary delights on Tuesday during the cookery skills with some great ideas from the students. As you can see from the pictures it all looked delicious.
A small group of students are doing dog training with Vinnie and this week focused on ‘stay’ and ‘return’. There was some progress here so we will build on this next week.
LORD LIEUTENANT'S AWARDS We are proud to congratulate Year 13 student Annabelle Fletcher on her selection to become one of the three Lord Lieutenants Cadet for this academic year as her role began at an awards ceremony at the Royal Yacht Squadron on 2nd October. It is a great honour and a proud moment for our Combined Cadet Force. Her role will be to act as an ambassador for the CCF and support the Lord Lieutenant on any official engagements including any planned Royal visits to the county. Thank you to Major Crane and Lieutenant Carey for all their work in making our CCF excellent and we look forward to our Biennial Review on the 14th October. You can follow our Cowes College CCF Official Twitter account here
Taster session on Monday 14th October at lunch time or after the Academy day from 2.45—3.45pm in Capstan House! YEAR 7 PUBLIC AND MILITARY SKILLS Thursdays 2.45—3.30pm Drumming & Drill, Teambuilding, First Aid, Navigation and Outdoor skills, communication skills and signals.
Contact Miss Crane—ED11 or CCF office.
ACADEMY CLUBS Club Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Time
Location
Cowes Combined Cadet Force (ages 12-18)
5-7pm
Capstan House
Chess Club
Lunch
BT11
Homework Support
2.50—3.30pm
DE10
Oasis Board Games
2.50—3.30pm
Oasis
Ukulele Club
2.45—3.30pm
MU02
BTEC Business Coursework Booster Sessions
2.45—4.30pm
BU11
Isle of Wight Radio Newshounds and Communication Club
2.45—3.30pm
Reception
Homework Support
2.50—3.30pm
DE10
Oasis Board Games
2.50—3.30pm
Oasis
Science Club
2.45-3.30pm
Science IZ
Chess Club
Lunch
BT11
BTEC Business Revision
2.45—3.30pm
BU11
Homework Support
2.50-3.30pm
DE10
Oasis Board Games
2.50-3.30pm
Oasis
Warhammer and Model Club
2.45—4.00pm
DE06
Burnet News Club
2.45-3.45pm
ET13
CEC Glee Club
2.45—3.30pm
MU02
Watch this space! More clubs to follow soon!
SPORTS CLUBS Club
Time
Monday
CCF in Capstan House
5—7pm
Tuesday
Boys Football (All Years)
3-4pm
Netball (All Years)
3-4pm
Wednesday PE Intervention (GCSE and BTEC, Years 9—Sixth Form)
Thursday Friday
3pm onwards
Girls Football (All Years) on Field or 3G Pitch
3-4pm
Badminton (All Years)
3-4pm
Military Skills for Year 7 in ED11
3—3.30pm
Basketball (All Years)
3-4pm