Winter 2018
Welcome FROM THE HEADTEACHER Grove School and College in Market Drayton joining the Marches MultiAcademy Trust. We look forward to We have now reached the end of our building strong and successful working second half-term, with fifteen school relationships with our new colleagues weeks already passed. and students at Grove School, for the It has been an exciting term, but a busy benefit of all. one and we now begin the process of counting down the weeks before exams This term, our students also travelled to Sir John Talbot’s to participate in the start in a little over four months time. inaugural Varsity Tournament, which was won by the Marches with a final score As well as many enrichment opportunities this term, during half-term line of 24-21. The attitude and endeavour of the students competing in the sports we took a group of students to New York which was an amazing experience from both schools was exceptional and for all. Students and staff from both the we were very proud of their achievements. Marches School and our cross-trust colleagues at Sir John Talbot’s School took part. Those in attendance were fine As a final note, I and all the staff here at the Marches School would like to thank representatives of this trust, and we you for your continuing support must applaud and thank the students during 2018 and wish you all a Alison Pearson and their parents/carers for this. very Merry Christmas and all the Headteacher During this month, we were delighted to very best for a Happy New Year welcome a new school to the trust, with during 2019. Dear Parents and Carers,
Vision: ‘Achievement through caring’
Mission: We believe: Successful, creative, lifelong learners participate in a journey of self-discovery. They know how to learn, and acquire skills to be happy and thrive in a changing world with confidence and courage.
Values: Excellence - striving always for mastery and personal success Integrity - consistently acting with honesty, compassion and respect Empathy - embracing and supporting the uniqueness of every individual Creativity - inspiring and challenging through invention, experimentation and exploration Equality - ensuring fair opportunity for all
The Marches School T. 01691 664400
Morda Road, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 2AR
E. E. marchesadmin@mmat.co.uk admin@marchesschool.net
W. www.marchesschool.co.uk
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News YEAR 7 LORIC DAY
PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE We hosted a Psychology Conference with over 200 students from the Marches, Sir John Talbot’s School and a variety of other local schools and colleges attending. There were representatives from several higher education institutions including Aberystwyth University, Wrexham Glyndwr University, the University of Wolverhampton, Liverpool Hope University, Bangor University and the University of Chester, with lecturers delivering a wide range of psychology lectures and presentations.
We recently welcomed BBC Radio Shropshire to talk to Year 7 students about the LORIC Day they were participating in. The students focused on World War I, and looked at the Geography of where people came from, the religions of people who took part in the war, the role of women around wartime and the participation of animals.
As there are A Level exams and university application deadlines fast approaching, this conference was a well-timed and thought-provoking revision session for Year 13 students. It also allowed Year 12 students to not only further their psychology subject knowledge, but to find out more about the many excellent universities locally and gain an idea of what direction they would like to head towards when they have completed their A Level studies.
Once they had learnt about the war, the students created a poppy wreath, which they then presented to the other students in the hall at the end of the day. We would like to thank everyone who took part.
The lectures that were covered were ‘Lying as a social phenomenon’, ‘eating disorders’, ‘introversion and extroversion’, ‘the psychology of humour’, ‘managing our online identity’ and ‘the ethics surrounding neurodevelopmental disorders’.
Poetry Slam Recently, we welcomed several local primary and secondary schools to participate in a 'Poetry Slam'.
A special thank you goes to Dr Leoni for her hard work in organising the successful day.
It was a wonderful evening with high-quality, powerful and thoughtprovoking poetry being written and recited on World War I. We would like to thank those who represented the Marches School so well and to those who helped organise the evening. ITV cameras were in attendance and the footage of the evening can be seen in this clip here.
Christmas Card Winners
First: Sophie Williams Year 10 Stephens
Second: Olivia Luke Year 8 Whitaker
Third: Fourth: Jessica Daszkowska Willow Casey-Jones Year 9 Year 9 Hargreaves Mallory
Fifth: Ella Davies-Carr Year 8 Bonington
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More News
Book Release
Congratulations to the two members of staff who have produced a book and attended its launch recently. Dr Leoni, who wrote the book and Mrs Wyatt, who illustrated it, have been working hard in their own time to produce ‘Into the Woods’, which has taken true stories of modern day abuse, co-dependence and domestic violence and retells them as spell binding, classic fairy tales, ingeniously combining self-help with magic and fantasy.
Light Switch-On The Marches School Choir serenaded a large audience in Oswestry town centre as part of the Christmas light switchon. Miss King conducted the students singing “Carol of the Bells” and “All I Want for Christmas is You”. The crowd were extremely complimentary of the students’ beautiful singing. Well done to everyone who took part.
The book is available to purchase from www.julieleoni.com or Booka Bookshop on Church Street in Oswestry.
8 Miss Redfern’s class in Year 8 have been studying development in Africa. The students were using ‘Top Trumps’ cards with different development indicators such as ‘Life Expectancy’ and ‘GDP’ to work out which countries were most and least developed.
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Year 11 students were able to sample life as a Sixth Form student here at the Marches this term as they took part in a taster day. Students had taster lessons, team-building exercises and talks from Sixth Form tutors and the Head of Sixth Form, Mrs Boyes.
Remembrance Sunday On Sunday 11th November, Head Boy Dan Lee and Head Girl Hattie Leslie-Miller, along with Year 11 Progress Leader Mrs Newey, represented the Marches School at Remembrance Sunday in Oswestry. The students laid a wreath at the Park Gates to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War and a special wreath, that was made by Year 7 students, on the new statue of Wilfred Owen.
www.marchesschool.co.uk
Alex Young Alex Young, in Year 10, has recently attended the RAF Cadets North Region Concert Band Camp and was awarded a Silver Musicians badge. Alex performed with his valve trombone in the RAF 100 concert in the huge, echo-filled Gorton Monastery in Manchester, in a concert that was attended by a number of Manchester dignitaries. An Air Vice-Marshall, which is the third highest rank in the RAF, was in attendance at the concert. Alex, who represents Chirk Air Cadets, is now applying to take part in national camps and in the future, would like to become a Communications Engineer in the RAF. Good luck Alex.
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School Trips Cross-Trust University Trip A Level Music students from the Marches and Sir John Talbot’s Schools attended a Set Work Seminar at Liverpool Hope University. Students and staff watched a live performance of Debussy’s “estampes” and listened to various discussions on some of their other set works by Dr Dori Howard, Professor Stephan Davismoon, Dr Annika Forkert and Dr Miles Brocken. The students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the day and found it to be extremely helpful, beneficial and inspiring.
Spanish Exchange We welcomed nineteen students from our partner school in Pamplona, Spain. They stayed with the Marches students and visited the local area including Manchester, Chester and Powis Castle. They also visited Liverpool and spent the day exploring the cathedral, the city centre and the Royal Albert Docks.
Belgium Trip Seven Sixth Form students, Mrs Wyatt and Miss Murray have travelled to Belgium to participate in the Erasmus Cultural Exchange trip to Antwerp and Brussels. They had a fantastic time as they visited wonderful locations such as the Red Star Line Museum and European Parliament. They also visited Atheneum MXM School and were recipients of a lecture by Professor Burssens from Antwerp University on the ‘Current Vision of the EU’. They also had taster sessions on different enrichment modules and team building activities. It was a highly beneficial trip for the students as they were taken out of their comfort zone, integrating with students from the Erasmus+ schools and took part in simulated interactive European Parliament role play. Thank you to Mrs Wyatt and Miss Murray for attending the trip with the exemplary behaved students.
Twickenham Trip Staff and students enjoyed a trip to Twickenham last month to watch England play against Japan. In an entertaining game, England came from behind to defeat next year’s World Cup hosts by a score of 35-15. Students were given an extra treat of meeting and having photos with World Cup winning outside half Jonny Wilkinson.
www.marchesschool.co.uk
4 | Winter 2018
New York Trip 2018 Students and staff from both the Marches School and Sir John Talbot’s School headed to New York during half term and enjoyed a breath-taking week in a stunning city. The attendees visited a variety of places, including Times Square, the World Trade Centre memorial to listen to a retired NYPD Officer’s memories of 9/11, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to learn some of the history of the USA, as well as a visit to the Brooklyn Bridge. We would like to say a huge thank you and well done to the students who represented the school and trust so well during the trip to New York. We would also like to thank the staff who attended the trip and ensured that a truly wonderful time was had by all.
www.marchesschool.co.uk
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Sport SWIMMING
Several students headed to the North Shropshire Swimming Gala as they competed against students from a variety of schools and did phenomenally well as they finished in the top two in most heats. Outstanding performances came from Keira Lee, who won both the Under 15 Breaststroke and Individual Medley as well as helping the Under 15 Girls to first place in the relay. The Under 13 Relay Team finished in second place overall, despite having three Year 7 students competing against Year 8 students from other schools.
Congratulations to the twelve students who were invited to represent North Shropshire in the School Games Shropshire Cross-Country Championships this week. Charlie White-Jones, Jack Tinney, James Nuttall, Poppy Kendrick, Seren Roberts, Jess Steel, Chloe Downes, Massimo Wyatt, Ben Rothera, Rhys Jenkins, Demi Williams and Mia Wyatt all represented North Shropshire and did exceptionally well in a very competitive field. Poppy Kendrick came third in the Year 7 Girls’ race, with the Year 7 Boys winning their team race, the Year 8 Boys won their team race and the boys won the Overall Boys’ Competition.
7-a-side Football Winners Congratulations to the Year 9 Football Team who travelled to Oswestry School to play in a North Shropshire Tournament. The Marches ‘A’ Team won both group games 2-0 before facing Oswestry School ‘A’ in the final. The Marches School were winning 1-0 before conceding a last minute goal to take the game into extra-time, which proved to be a stalemate as no side could find a breakthrough. In the penalty shootout, the Marches School were victorious, winning 2-1.
Skating in Europe Year 9 student and synchronised skater Lily Waring headed to Belgium recently as she competed in the European Championships. Lily, and her Deeside-based Angels team, finished an incredible fourth out of twenty teams. The next big competitions for Lily are the Welsh Championships in February, and the British Championships in March. Good luck Lily.
www.marchesschool.co.uk
ELLIE’S GOLF SUCCESS Year 11 student Ellie Potts has had quite a year playing golf, with her highlight winning both the County and Regional Nett Championships, which is something that has never been done by a Shropshire girl in the same year before. Amongst her achievements this year, Ellie was Midland North Region 36 Hole Nett Champion, Shropshire Girls Nett Champion, the Kathy Evans Bowl Winner and the Lady Captains Day Team Trophy Winner. We would like to say well done to Ellie and good luck in 2019 as she retains her Henlle Park Junior Captaincy.
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Varsity The inaugural varsity took place this term as the Marches School travelled to Sir John Talbot’s to compete in a range of sporting matches, including football, netball, rugby, hockey and cross-country. It was a fantastic day that everyone enjoyed, with some excellent contests between the cross-trust schools, further strengthening the relationship between them in the process. We would like to thank Sir John Talbot’s School for a brilliant day and for the organising and the setting up of what will be an annual tradition between the schools. The final score was 24-21 to the Marches but credit must go to both schools for having an excellent contest.
Netball In two one-sided contests, the Marches sides completely outplayed their cross-trust opponents from the start to the end of their matches, with the Year 7 side winning 28-0 and the Year 9 side winning their match 30-1.
Rugby The Year 9 rugby team made a quick start against their opponents and despite Sir John Talbot’s improving as the game went on, the Marches were victorious by 9 tries to 3. In the Year 7 game, the boys controlled the game very well and outplayed their opponents with a final score of 9 tries to 1.
Hockey
Football
Those who were asked to represent the Marches at hockey put in some determined performances against quality opposition and did not let the score affect their enthusiasm and effort. The Year 9 team lost 7-0 and the Year 7 team were defeated in a closely fought match 2-0.
The football teams gained mixed results at the Varsity tournament as both boys’ sides put in strong performances against their opposition with the Year 7 side winning their match 6-2, before the Year 9 side won their game 5-0. The girls’ sides were unfortunate, with the Year 7 side losing a closely-fought match 1-0 and the Year 9 team faced a strong Sir John Talbot’s side and lost 8-0.
Cross-Country The honours were evenly spread in the cross-country races, as the Marches won both the boys’ and girls’ Year 7 races, and Sir John Talbot’s won both the boys’ and girls’ Year 9 contests.
www.marchesschool.co.uk
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Information PARENTS’ EVENINGS TERM DATES 2018/19 Year 11 - Thursday 28th March 2019 Year 10 - Thursday 24th January 2019 Year 9 - Thursday 7th February 2019 (Options Evening) Year 8 - Thursday 9th May 2019
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Autumn Term 2018 Tuesday 4th September to Friday 21st December 2018 Half term: Monday 29th October to Friday 2nd November 2018 PD days: Monday 3rd September and Friday 26th October Spring Term 2019 Monday 7th January to Friday 12th April 2019 Half term: Monday 18th February to Friday 22nd February 2019 PD days: Friday 15th and Monday 25th February Summer Term 2019 Monday 29th April to Friday 19th July 2019 Half term: Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May 2019 PD days: Monday 22nd July
@MarchesSchool
EXAM DATES 2019
Bonington - 951 Points Hargreaves - 812 Points Stephens - 774 Points Mallory - 893 Points Whittaker - 694 Points
● Year 11 MFL Oral Exams 1st April - 12th April ● Year 11 Photography Exam 4th April - 5th April ● Year 11 Art Exam 11th April - 12th April ● Years 7, 8 and 9 Core subjects mock exams 29th April - 3rd May ● Years 7, 8 and 10 Non-core subject mock exams in class 10th June - 14th June ● Year 10 Core subjects mock exams 17th June 21st June ● Year 12 Mock exams 25th June - 5th July ● GCSE and GCE Exams 13th May - 26th June
2018-19 Leadership Group Head Girl and Boy: Hattie Leslie-Miller and Dan Lee Deputies: Lucy Arrowsmith and Max Kinsey Heads of Houses: Niamh Lowton, Harry Curtis, Emelia Newton, Ioan Delahay, Rebecca Owen and Freddie McGuinness
www.marchesschool.co.uk
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CARE LEAVER Sixth Form students have been busy participating in ‘Operation Christmas Care Leaver’, which is a scheme to provide gifts in the form of a shoe box for those that have recently left the care system. Every young person deserves a present at Christmas and it is lovely that our students decided to participate in a scheme that will benefit local people and ensure that nobody is forgotten around this time of year.
MP VISIT
FORMER STUDENT VISIT We had a surprise visitor recently as Yaser Adwan, who left the Marches Sixth Form in July 2017, called by. Since leaving, Yaser has been studying and training in Poland to become a pilot. Yaser can now fly Single Engine Piston aircraft up to 7,000kg and as high as 20,000ft. Yaser is aiming to earn his Air Transport Pilot Licence and hopes to have accomplished this, which has been his aim since he was just 4 years old, by next summer. Good luck, Yaser.
Marches School students welcomed a special guest recently as North Shropshire Member of Parliament Owen Paterson visited the school. The MP, who has been representing the North Shropshire constituency for 21 years, spoke to the students about a variety of subjects, including the subjects they are currently studying, what they wish to study in future, how he became an MP and what the future of the country will look like. Mr Paterson was interested in hearing about the views of the students, and offered them advice on their next steps as they make the transition between school, further education and higher education.
Youth Speaks Success Marches School Sixth Form students Jennifer CyffinJones, Chris Walker and Twilia Morris represented the school at the Annual Youth Speaks event which took place at Moreton Hall recently. The trio were successful over competition from Oswestry School and two teams from Moreton Hall and brought home the Rotary plate, with the Marches winning for the first time in memory.
Welcome FROM THE HEAD OF SIXTH FORM Dear Parents and Carers, We are now at the end of the first term of study in the academic year and it has been such a busy but exciting term at the Marches Sixth Form. Year 13 students have completed their UCAS applications and they are receiving offers from institutions up and down the country. We have had talks from people in the apprenticeships sector, which allows students who are not necessarily looking at the UCAS route the opportunity to think about which career they are foreseeing themselves in. We are lucky that three of the students have recently been successful in winning the Oswestry section of ‘Youth Speaks’ which is a Rotary-based competition, beating teams from Oswestry School and Moreton Hall to
claim the victory. The win is the first time the Marches has won the award in distant memory. We were fortunate to welcome local MP, Owen Paterson, who spoke to a group of students at length about their careers and offered words of advice with Brexit on the horizon. The manner in which the students conducted themselves was excellent and Mr Paterson spoke afterwards about how impressed he was and wished the students the best of luck moving forward. We are tremendously excited about 2019 and seeing the current group of Year 13 students through to their exams, as well as giving the Year 12 students the best possible platform for their final year of study here. We would like to thank the students for their efforts in 2018 and wish them the best for the calendar year ahead.
Claire Boyes Assistant Headteacher: Head of Sixth Form
New Student Council Members Following a rigorous selection process and with several outstanding candidates, we are delighted that Jevan, Dom, Jessie, Niall, Emily and Ben have joined the Sixth Form Student Council as the Year 12 representatives. Congratulations to you all for coming through a tough selection process. The Student Council provides the all important ‘student voice’ for the Sixth Form. Students work on projects that will remain imprinted on and shape the future of the Sixth Form for years to come, alongside fundraising and fun activities to enhance the learning experience. The school values the importance of the student voice and, together, we make positive developments that help to keep the Sixth Form moving forward.
NEWS
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Winter 2018