Park House School Personal Best Issue 43

Jumping for joy Students and staff enjoy the gradual return to normal school life...

Student resilience and enthusiasm What a year! I think it is fair to say that nobody could ever have imagined the impact that the pandemic would have had in schools. At times this year, even the most fundamental aspects of school life have had to flex or change completely to accommodate the ever-changing situation we all found ourselves in.

However, the constants that have endured all year have been the resilience, commitment and enthusiasm of our young people to do their best, give everything to their education and see the bright side in all situations. For those of us working in schools and with young people for years, this did not really come as a surprise, but it has still been a source of great joy and satisfaction to see just how well they have adapted and 'rolled with the punches' throughout such a challenging year.

So, of course, every story in this edition of Personal Best is a testament to those qualities and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have. It really is a celebration of commitment over adversity and speaks to what amazing young people we are lucky enough to have at Park House School. • Tom Goodenough, Principal

New extended leadership team...

At the end of term, we say goodbye to Mr Tom Goodenough, who has been Principal at Park House School since September 2020.

Though Mr Goodenough has only been with us for year, nationally it has been one of the most challenging in education and we are grateful for his strong leadership and clear guidance through such a turbulent time. Mr Goodenough is leaving to seek new opportunities outside education and we wish him well for the future.

Mr Crabbe, Interim Principal

In September, Mr Damian Crabbe has been appointed as Interim Principal, and Mrs Lamorna Waddell has been appointed as Interim Deputy Principal. They will be supported in their roles by Mrs Laura Bromberg (CEO Transform Learning Trust), and the Trusts’ school Improvement Advisor Mrs Claire Thompson.

The extended leadership team have worked extremely closely together this term, to ensure a seamless transition. We wish Mr Crabbe and Mrs Waddell well in their new roles. • Mrs Laura Bromberg, CEO Transform Learning Trust

Mrs Waddell, Interim Deputy Principal

Park House School

Personal Best is published by Park House School. It is distributed to students, staff, parents, stakeholders, alumni and friends of Park House School. Issue No 44 will be published in 2021.

We need the help of staff and students to produce Personal Best – thank you again to all those who have contributed to this issue – we’re sorry if your story couldn’t be included this time.

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Do you wish to say something positive about school life? Please submit ideas, stories, copy and high resolution photos for future issues to Principal, Mr Damian Crabbe or the school office.

Park House School, Andover Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 6NQ T 01635 573911 E tjones@parkhouseschool.org W www.parkhouseschool.org /ParkHouseSchool @PHSNewbury

Designed and produced by Waddell Digital Limited WaddellDigital @WaddellDigital www.waddelldigital.co.uk

A message from our Trust’s Chair and CEO At the end of term, we say goodbye to Mr Tom Goodenough, who has been Principal at Park House School since September 2020.

Dr Coleen Jackson

Laura Bromberg

When we wrote last year’s article for Personal Best, we would not have believed what the coming year was going to bring – and lockdowns and home learning, the school administering over 2500 lateral flow tests in two weeks, masks and continued social distancing in schools, and no external examinations for the second year running.

However, the one thing that we absolutely confident about was the ability of the Park House School Community to rise to the challenge. They say that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ a never more have we seen this than over the last year in school.

As a Trust, we are immensely proud of our students. They have supported each other and demonstrated huge resilience in a year which has at times challenged us all. Initially they looked forward to the excitement of no school and ‘home learning’, but as the novelty wore off, they showed delight in returning to be with their friends - appreciating school more than they could have ever imagined.

Likewise, we know that many parents, will also have sought delight in their children returning to school! We can only begin to imagine the difficulties which you have overcome this year; sorting learning spaces for the whole family to work at home, sorting IT issues (of which there were initially plenty), and supporting your children’s learning - often whilst having to work from home yourselves. Despite the challenges of the year, the one thing which many children will always remember is the precious time that they spent with you at home. As a Trust, we are hugely grateful for your support – from the purchasing of ‘food tents’ to keep lunchtime food dry, to volunteering to run an on-site covid test centre. We thank you all.

We also all owe a huge debt of gratitude to our staff. In a very short space of time, they had to manage their own families, as well as educating the children of key workers in school, and deliver lessons on-line to students. Let alone set up

and run a covid test centre! This term, they have been evaluating students for catch-up, organising three summer schools, and assessing and moderating GCSE and A-Level grades, in lieu of the missed external examinations. We know that you will join us in offering your thanks and appreciation, and hope that everyone manages to get a good break over the summer.

The whole community has shown immense flexibility and resilience this year, and we all hope that with the roll out of vaccinations, that we will have a more settled year ahead.

As we break for the summer, we have a number of exciting plans starting in July and extending through next year. We aim to: • implement a teacher CPD (Continuing Professional Development) programme for the year. This has begun now, and will focus on staff and student wellbeing, a Trust wide ‘culture for learning’, and an increased focus on individualised learning for students to help them catch-up. This will be supported by individual and group additional tuition sessions • improving the school’s cabling and Wi-Fi, to enable the further roll out of the Year 7,8 and 9 laptop scheme • Two major building projects worth over £2 million are about to start – one to replace all of the flat roofs in the school and the other to build a new library resource centre and convert the existing library into three classrooms and teaching seminar room for smaller groups room.

• To re-introduce a school level of Governance through a setting up a Parents and Community Strategic Group (in the Autumn) • To work with other local schools, and beyond, to begin to ‘grow’ the Trust Finally, we wish Mr Goodenough well for the future, and thank him for his leadership and guidance this year. We extend our good wishes to Mr Damian Crabbe (Interim Prinicipal) and Mrs Lamorna Waddell (Interim Deputy Principal) for the coming term, they will be well supported in their roles by the Trust Leadership.

We have an exciting year ahead, and look forward to working closely with you all over the coming months. Have a well-earned summer break. • Dr Coleen Jackson, Chair of the Board and Mrs Laura Bromberg, CEO Transform Learning Trust

With huge gratitude to our testing volunteers

Pictured above are just some of our Covid-testing volunteers. We were very fortunate to have great support from staff within school and from the outside community including, amongst others, parents and ex-students . We thank you all for the wonderful support you have given.

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Accelerated Reader – Reading Millionaires!

Across Key Stage 3 English this year, our students have read over 62 million words! This is a great achievement for all who used the program during library lessons, at home and during lockdown: Year 7 Harry Bagshaw Tilly Mouzouris-Marzetti Myles Jones Isabelle Perry Suki Humphreys Logan Alexander Year 8 Freya Bailey Jonah Tiley Multi-millionaire Readers Year 7 Oskar Breitsprecher Ellie Ross Beth Knight Amelia Wharton

“I have found Accelerated Reader (AR) to be an enjoyable experience and a fun way to encourage students to read.”

Keelin Joyce, Year 7

“AR was a good way to check my knowledge of a book.”

Amelia Wharton, Year 7

“AR is a good way to check your knowledge on a book you have read. I have really enjoyed it.”

Poppy Gray, Year 7

“It is a great learning platform. It has helped me pick books, like Harry Potter, to read and enjoy.”

Keaton Meyrick, Year 7

Multi-millionaire Readers Year 8 Rachel Saddington Well done to all our readers, those working to becoming Millionaires and those who have achieved their goal. • Miss Herden

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

J.K. Rowling

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Matt aims high with the RAF Matt Maynard, who was featured in Personal Best Issue 36 for his involvement in the Bloodhound Super-Sonic Car (SSC) ‘Race for the Line’ competition gives us an update on his life after Park House: I’m not really sure when the idea to join the RAF first formed but it became more of a reality after competing in a rocket car challenge for Park House at Santa Pod in June 2017. The event was supported by the Royal Air Force and after talking to the RAF staff there, including one of their rugby coaches I realised it could be a way for me to do an apprenticeship, gain many useful qualifications and also continue to play rugby at a high level.

After GCSEs I chose to remain at school and joined the MadDog Rugby Academy in Sixth Form but my desire to join the RAF had really started to grow. After discussing options with my parents, they advised that I should do what was going to make me happiest. I chose the RAF. I applied to join in November 2019 and had my Airmen Selection Test invite in December which I passed with top grades allowing me to choose the course I wanted; Aircraft Technician – Mechanical. I had my interview in January 2020, the medical exam in February and finally the fitness test in March. After this I just had to wait for my start date…but then Covid-19 hit.

I finally got a start date for March this year and I have just completed my ten-weeks basic training at RAF Halton, passing out on 19 May 2021. Hearing the trumpeters in the band signal the start of our parade whilst in full dress uniform was an amazing experience and gave me goosebumps.

I have made friends for life and will now go on to start my Phase 2 training at RAF Cosford in the next few weeks at which time I hope to be able to start playing rugby again, assuming lockdown restrictions are lifted on base!

I am excited about my future, the travels and experiences that are to come, and only wish I had done it sooner.

University isn’t for everyone and if that sounds like you, maybe you too should look at the options of a military career. You get the opportunity to learn a trade, with some of the best training available, whilst also being paid! The career options are almost limitless from aircrew support roles, chef, dentistry, logistics, musician, firefighters, police, photographer to name but a few.

• More details can be found at www.raf.mod.uk

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Alyssia’s Animal Art I have started a small business on Facebook where I take commissions for watercolour pet portraits.

It has been a big step for me as I was always sceptical about whether people would like to buy my art. I’ve created many portraits already and have more to come!

I took Art at GCSE and am currently studying it for A Level. My Art classes have enabled me to explore a variety of media and styles as well as helping to improve my skills and confidence within the subject.

By studying Art at Park House School I have been able to investigate techniques and areas that I would not have on my own and to experiment and find the styles I enjoy. • Alyssia Denness, Year 12

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Golf business tees off My journey started when I decided to take Business studies for one of my GCSEs. The reason I decided to take this subject was because it interested me and I wanted to know how businesses function and learn about all the problems and issues people have to go through in order to make an idea work During one of my lessons, we were learning about entrepreneurship and we came across the term sole trader. This is when a person takes full responsibilities for the business debt and profits. I knew this is what I wanted to do, be responsible and not have anybody making the decisions for me. This lesson inspired me to create something of my own and I wanted to understand how a business operates in more depth.

I heard a valuable piece of advice – start a business around a passion. So that is why I setup Foregolfclothing a brand I designed with the ambition to make a change to the clothing worn in golf. I set about on my journey by looking at big companies like TaylorMade, Titleist and others to see how they operate, and things I wanted to incorporate into my business. I saw a gap in the golf clothing market for hoodies which many brands do not provide.

Recently, there had been an article written about Tyrell Hatton a current golf professional who sparked a lot of attention by wearing a hoodie whilst playing.

So, that is when I knew there really was an opening in the market to revolutionise the clothing worn in golf.

I started off my journey by designing my logo. I ended up by choosing a quite common word in golf – “fore”. The reason for choosing that was because I knew I had to differ from my competitors and I had to create something different. I then set up my website making sure that everything was in place. I then took the plunge and launched the website.

You cannot have a successful business without marketing, so I needed some way to get my product and brand out there. So, I decided to make a social media page where I advertised the products and the website in order to try and gain some sales, which I did. Now I can proudly say that I have my own website.

My business has taught me so many life lessons about resilience, hard work and commitment. These lessons I can transfer to my schoolwork and life in general. I would like to say thank you to Mr Columbro, my Business Studies teacher, for inspiring me start this adventure. • Seb Chapman, Year 9

Transforming breaktimes As part of a learning walk one lunchtime, the school’s Improvement Adviser and I found Charlie, Keaton and their friends eating lunch near the cycle sheds. (Covid restrictions have resulted in year group ‘bubbles’ being split across the school, with insufficient seating to accommodate them).

In tutor Mr Carolan was aware that our design had been approved by Mrs Bromberg and he suggested I tell my tutor group about how this plan had come about. Many teachers and staff have already spoken to us about our plans and we are due to meet with Mr Cordell to turn our plans into the seating area. • Charlie Kirby 7 Sigma and Keaton Meyrick, Year 7

The boys were enthused by the idea of designing a plan to improve their area. The criteria were set (somewhere to sit, something to do, and a bin to keep the area tidy), and a ‘deal made’ that if they kept the area tidy, we would ‘make it happen’. A nearby plastic bottle immediately found its way into the bin! That evening a ‘plan’ was emailed to me, and Mr Cordell (a woodwork wizard), has offered to work with the boys to actually build the benches from scratch. We really look forward to seeing their plan ‘come to life’

Charlie and Keaton joined us from local primaries Falkland and Kingsclere as part of our Year 7 intake in September. Charlie said: “I feel really proud to be doing something for the school in my first year ... maybe a design job for the future?”

Our plan is that following this initial project, we will now begin to improve areas for students to sit, throughout the grounds. • Laura Bromberg, CEO Transform Learning Trust We were sitting on the woodchip area as there were no benches free. Mrs Bromberg came along and asked us whether we would want some benches to sit on and bins to keep the area tidy. We said yes and she bargained with us to go away and think about a design and as part of the agreement we picked up the rubbish near us! Our parents were sent an email about the chat and we got on with the design, the first of which is shown here...

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Fridays 4 Future A few weeks ago, on Instagram, (the social media platform I already use to raise awareness of issues like climate change) I discovered the Fridays 4 Future movement. This movement allows people from all over the world to stand together for this increasingly urgent cause and I thought Park House needed to be a part of this inspirational community.

So now, each Friday, from 8am until tutor time I hold a demonstration to show our support of the cause and raise awareness. The teachers have all been very encouraging, voicing how important that they think it is for change.

Other students have also become an integral part of this protest (specifically Chloe Wells and Lewis Hanna – Year 9 – who have been helping me almost every week in this positive action for change).

In the next few weeks, I hope the number of people attending will only grow as Covid restrictions are lifted and more students find out about the issue.

• Maya Mouzouris-Marzetti, Year 9

“Climate change affects everyone and doing something about it isn’t a choice, but a responsibility we are all born with.”

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Studland studies...

After missing several field trips over the course of the pandemic it was great to finally be able to go back out with Year 10 and take them to Studland Bay. The GCSE course requires them to do a Physical day of fieldwork so we were excited to take them back out and doing some Geography in action again.

The key question for the day was “why does vegetation vary on a sand dune system?”. Students looked at the management of Studland Bay and noted down management strategies on a map. They also looked at conflict matrixes and had to think about all the different users that the beach has and any issues between them that may occur. Students then completed a dune transect from the shoreline back into the dunes. Data was collected on the type of vegetation, the temperature and wind speed in the dunes, the angle of the slope and the soil depth.

All the students enjoyed having a day collecting data and this data will be used in answer to a key question when they are back in the classroom working towards their exams in Year 11. We benefited from lovely weather and we even had time for ice creams before we left. • Miss Bunn, Geography Department

“It was great to go out and do some physical geography. I really enjoyed the trip” Keir Sherlow The trip was an amazing opportunity to learn outdoors in a practical way and gather our own data. I enjoyed measuring the sand dunes and working as a team.” Louise Kervella “The trip was an interesting opportunity to learn outside in the field which created a new perspective on geography while having some fun.” Rebecca Gray “It was a great trip and good to be outside again with everyone.” Freddie Goodman

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Lighting the Darkness Remembering Holocaust Memorial Day As with many other events, Holocaust Memorial Day was marked differently this year. Students working remote were able to get involved and play their part. An assembly was available to watch during tutor time and this was followed with discussions in later tutor sessions.

The UK Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 ceremony was streamed online at 7pm, being the first fully digital Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony.

Students were asked to get ready to ‘Light the Darkness’ and join households across the UK by lighting candles.

There were a number of thoughtful and respectful discussions and photos that were shared with us from our brilliant students for Holocaust Memorial Day. The maturity of how they were able to process, recognise and develop their knowledge on the importance of remembering this harrowing event was outstanding. • Miss Emily Davis, Head of History

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Laura Farris opens up about life as an MP As a year thirteen student studying politics at A-level, I found getting the opportunity to listen to Laura Farris on her visit to Park House, not only informative about the demands and role of an MP, but also enlightening on how we as constituents are represented.

I found it particularly interesting to hear about Laura Farris’ own experience of being a woman MP in the Conservative Party; a party which is undoubtedly made up of mostly male politicians. Concerning this topic, Farris expanded on how social media can affect female politicians as they can face sexual and violent abuse online. Farris also mentioned that Hilary Clinton was a significant inspiration and role model for her in the political industry as she worked for her in the past. Other topics such as extending the franchise by lowering the voting age to sixteen and whether direct democracy is good for UK politics, I found useful as those areas were relevant to the A-level course and provided us with lots of examples to use when writing about such topics.

With a strong focus on the environment, Newbury High Street and women in the workplace, Laura explained how her role as our MP pushes her to become familiar with the local area and make positive changes.

Overall, I found the experience valuable to have insight into what it means and takes to be an MP and gained knowledge about relevant topics covered in the A-level course which will definitely be used!

• Emma Evans, Year 13

No spoilers from Dylan at Shepperton Studios Year 8 student, Dylan Lowe, recently won a part in the Disney movie, Cruella – a prequel, telling the story of the eponymous character’s life before 101 Dalmatians. He has kindly shared his experience with us:

instructions carefully. In the end, we did about 15 to 20 takes, for the five or six scenes I was in, tweaking it each time. I clearly hoped I would make it into the final cut of the movie but you never know...

It started with an audition for a film coming through from my agent. They gave me a short script to learn and, at the first audition, I had to perform an extract from it to three people in charge of casting.

It was an amazing experience and seeing such a big production company was brilliant. The film was released on 28 May. •

They filmed the audition so they could look back at it and to see what I looked like on camera. Fortunately, they liked it and I was recalled to meet the director, Craig Gillespie. It was a nervous time waiting to hear back from them after that but a couple of weeks later I got a call to say I had got the part!

Next came two visits to the great Shepperton Studios for wardrobe fittings, hair and make-up. I had to keep my hair long so they could style it and make any changes they wanted once filming began. Filming my part took two days on set and on location in September of 2019 so I had to stay in a hotel overnight with my dad and actually missed the first day of term at Park House! This was unfortunate but definitely worth it for the brilliant experience!

During filming I got half a trailer to myself where I stayed in between takes and the crew brought food and drinks to us. On set there were over 250 people and it was very organised; I was escorted to the set and had to follow the director’s

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Parting is such sweet sorrow It has been a strange 12 months for everyone, but for me, 2021 also marks the end of a personal era as I leave Park House for pastures new. There is a lot I will miss, but the things that will leave the biggest hole in my heart are the wonderful productions for which we have become famed.

Since 2006 I have worked with some of the most brilliantly talented, hard-working, committed and utterly amazing students I could have ever wished for, and had the opportunity to put on some of the best musical productions (all pictured here) Newbury, or indeed the whole of Berkshire has ever seen!

From starting on the school stage in 2007 with Grease, to transforming the hall in 2012 for We Will Rock You, then making the move to the amazing Arlington Arts Centre in 2015 for Fame, Our House (2016), Sister Act (2018) and finally coming full circle with our production of Grease in 2020, it really has been a journey I won’t forget.

I am so proud of every single student I have worked with over the years and am so thankful for all they have done to make working at Park House the absolute pleasure it has been. I am taking a planned break from education to focus on other challenges, but the memories of trying to squeeze full sized vans and cars through small doorways, the tiring, long days of tech rehearsals and dress rehearsals, and the pride I’ve felt on every opening and closing night will stay with me for a lifetime.

So if you have ever been in one of our school shows, if you have supported us by buying a ticket, or ferrying your children around at all hours to get them to rehearsals, or allowing students out of your lessons so they could take their place in the spotlight… THANK YOU! It might be time to say goodbye, but how lucky am I to have such amazing memories and experiences that make saying goodbye so hard? I wish the department and the students of Park House all the best for what I know will be an exciting future, filled with brilliant theatre! • Miss Baron

Grease – 2008

We will Rock You – 2012

A-Level Drama performance

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Fame – 2015

Our House – 2016

Sister Act – 2018

Grease – 2020

Our Year 13 Drama and Theatre students were lucky enough to be able to perform their original piece of Drama in December just before lockdown hit again. The piece, which they wrote remotely during the first lockdown, used the approach of the renowned Kneehigh Theatre Company to tell the tale of a young boy and his sister caught in the midst of Francoist Spain in the 1940s. Including live music, song, dance and puppetry. It was a wonderful way to end the term as they were able to perform and share it with their peers before the school had to, once again, close. • Miss Baron

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A virtual visit to the V&A Year 12 Product Designers were recently involved in a Virtual Classroom workshop with the V&A Schools Team, in which Bethan from the V&A took them through some design exercises, using 20th Century Design objects from the V&A collection as inspiration.

Ella, Joe and Oscar rose to the challenge using Abstraction from a product, Disassembly, Cross Pollination, and Combination to generate a series of sketches, and embrace new ways of working, to produce idea sketches that may not have been possible if told to ‘just design something’!

The final exercise was used by Joe to start generating ideas for his A-Level NEA coursework project, where students select their own client to work with, generating ideas to solve their real life problems.

All found the techniques a creative method considering form over function, designing with freedom.

Although lockdown has been incredibly tough, being involved in sessions such as this make you aware of some of the positives that have come from a change in working practices, allowing students to access a museum’s education program that may not have been available previously • Mrs Hayes, Head of Design & Technology

Health and wellbeing...

Recently, we all have a new profound understanding of how important our health and wellbeing is. This is why at Park House, Park Life has been created. This will encompass and include a variety of activities, events and initiatives to support all student and staff health and wellbeing.

The first activity was a competition open to all years to design the Park Life logo which is being professionally drawn up and will then be used on all Park Life media. A teacher panel had a tough decision from the amazing selection of entries, but after much consideration Livvie Matthews (pictured left) was awarded first place. In joint and close second were Isabella Perry and Nicole Burns.

Livvie Matthews

This term there was the opportunity to become a Park Life leader. A number of students across Years 7, 8 and 9 have volunteered for this role. These students will meet termly and will be able to not only voice their opinion but also be an advocate for their year group, by having a say in how we, as a school, can shape and support their wellbeing. Next year they will also have the opportunity to run and organise these events and initiatives.

Together with our staff members, students and support from parents and the community, we aim to build a holistic culture and ethos of ‘being well’ that supports everyone to develop healthy habits that last a lifetime. • Miss R Tregear, PE Department Isabella Perry

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Nicole Burns

Students inspired by Science Club The Science Department have launched a brand new Wednesday lunchtime Science Club where students have an opportunity to explore science concepts in fun and innovative ways to and participate in award programs and competitions. So far they have made Elephant's Toothpaste, Slime and are working on a project to design a flood-proof house.

Meanwhile during lessons, Year 7 have got to grips with the Van de Graaf generator whilst studying electricity. They described the experience as ‘literally

hair-raising’ and now understand how static electricity works. And, Year 8 students have discovered the complexities of global warming by constructing their own greenhouses and discussing the effect greenhouse gases have on the planet and why greenhouses are useful for growing plants and food.

Finally, Year 11 students have been producing some fabulous chromatograms with Dr Stewart. We are excited to see what our young scientists get up to next term. • Miss Kokkinou, Science Department

Duke of Edinburgh Awards pick up where they left off It has been a challenge for students being unable to participate in many extra-curricular activities. Now, with restrictions easing, students are picking up where they left off with their DofE Awards. Last year’s Bronze expedition is rescheduled and taking place in July. And, despite lockdown we have still been able to grant some awards. Congratulations to all involved, and for those students yet to achieve their award; there is still time to continue with your award. • Linnhe Lay

Silver Awards: Oscar Stephens Ella Thomas Sophie Thornton Allen Lily D’Arcy Masters Georgina Green Emily Valentine Molly Smith Kirsten Oberholzer

Lowri Thomas Ella Matthews Alyssia Denness Rachael Willis Bronze Awards: Molly Burnett Isabelle Dodridge Isaac Lendor

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727 Meals donated to Foodbank Back in December, the Park House community collected enough food to fill an entire van for the West Berks Foodbank – a wonderful display of the charitable nature of our staff and students.

Sixth Form Sigma and 10 Sigma who succeeded in winning the competition were rewarded with a prize on the last day of school for the largest collections within their tutor groups. An honourable mention goes to Miss Brooke-Mee, who organised beautiful homemade Christmas cards to accompany the donations, spreading Christmas cheer even to those in need.

It was a brilliant act of charity and the food will be distributed to those in need, once again a thank you to all who made this possible.

We also received this message from the Foodbank: “Your donations have been weighed and I’m delighted to tell you that they came in at a very impressive 346.2kgs. This equates to 727 meals that the pupils and staff at Park House School have donated to our clients this Christmas. Many thanks to you and everyone involved in this campaign. With demand continuing to be so high, it is very much appreciated.” • Tiegan Doyle, Senior Student Team

£150 raised for Newbury Soup Kitchen This year, 7 Theta hosted a brilliant cake sale, raising over £150 for Newbury Soup Kitchen.

Students were eager to help homeless people in Newbury. They came up with the idea, chose the charity, baked the cakes and organised the cake stand during lunch time.

I am incredibly proud of my tutor group. They wanted to do something to help the community. I am so impressed with the way they put their ideas into action, raising a brilliant amount for a very worthy cause. This is reflective of the creative, talented and value-driven students at Park House .

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It is brilliant to see young people not just caring about the community around them, but actually going out there and making a practical difference.

Meryl Praill, Founder and Operations Manager at Newbury Soup Kitchen, said: “Newbury Soup Kitchen would like to thank you for your kind generosity towards us and the work we do. Without kindness and support of the wonderful hard work and dedication of your students and you as their tutor we would not be able to carry out the support we do on a day-to-day basis. We strive to help people by providing a broad spectrum of food and

outreach to care for the whole person, physically, emotionally, and socially; spending time with people who need support, encouragement, and empathy to encourage and help them to reach their full potential in every aspect of their lives.

“With this donation we will be able to carry on providing Food Provision, Outreach and Support to anyone who needs that extra helping hand and support. We love our work and are committed to strive forward to eventually open a permanent Community Support Centre in the centre of Newbury.” • Mr James Wilder, Tutor 7 Theta

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In October we ran a #HelloYellow event to raise money for the Young Minds charity which helps support young people with concerns for their mental health. Following lockdown and the anxiety around returning to school, we thought it would be an inspiring way to provide the opportunity to open discussion. The event raised over £800; which was brilliant!

As part of the event, students and staff wore non-uniform embellished with something yellow. There was also a special tutor time activity in which students had the opportunity to discuss and learn about their mental health. Even staff found the experience of discussing mental health in an impromptu way beneficial.

Year 10 Student India Mae Farrant said: “Yellow outfits ranged from simple things like yellow laces or hair ties, to yellow tops and my personal favourite – a yellow morph suit. Mental health for teenagers is very important at the moment as lockdown would have affected and impacted their mental health.” •

youngminds.org.uk

£817 raised

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Textiles Architectural Artwork Year 9 are in their first year of GCSE Textiles and to get to grips with the equipment, materials and machinery available to them, they are following a project that is all about experimentation and exploration.

These pieces of work are inspired by the architectural artwork of multimedia artist Ian Murphy, who uses contrast, layering and detailed line work to creative vivid and eye-catching observations of architectural places.

To adapt the inspiration to Textiles, students created a collage of fabric, stitched it in place by hand and painted a single colour ink onto wet fabric to create organic and out of control colour. Once dry, they embroidered the details over the surface with the sewing machines and the free-motion embroidery technique which makes our Textiles work so individually amazing. No two can be the same as the lines that are stitched are

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completely determined by our fantastic Textilers. Once the stitching had been done, detail and shading was added with black paint to really dramatise the overall outcome and I am sure you will agree that the outcomes are simply stunning!

This would not have been possible without the funding from the PHSA (Park House School Association) which allowed us to have three more sewing machines so that students could all have the opportunity to show off their wild and wonderful creative talents – so a huge thank you to the PHSA! All Textiles students appreciate the additional machines and make use of them daily!

The images below show the process of producing these gorgeous architectural places in textiles at various stages. • Miss J Brooke-Mee, Head of Textiles

Sensory Garden competition In January, we were shocked and saddened to hear of the unexpected passing of Henry Nolan, Finance Director at Park House School. Henry was known at school for his warmth, and quick wit. He will be remembered, as someone who always had a humorous reply or witty response.

Henry was passionate about ensuring that every penny that the school received, was spent for the benefit of the students. It became an affectionate joke, that any spending at all, would need Henry’s approval first – and that was not easy to gain!

Henry supported all school events – especially the cake sales. The picture accompanying this piece was of him in the staff room at a recent cake sale, sporting his ‘favourite’ yellow jumper, which he wore for the school’s ‘wear yellow day’.

The Trust has launched a competition for students to design a garden to celebrate the lives of a number of former members of staff at the school. The plan is to centralise the existing tributes around the school into a more lasting memorial.

Henry’s wife, Ellen MacDuff, came into school to judge the garden plans, with fantastic entries submitted from the below students. The garden will be created next term, with Ellen being invited back to see the completed works.

A school Go Fund Me page raised £750 to purchase a lasting memorial to Henry, which will be included in the garden. Ellen said: “We were impressed by the quality of entries and the wonderful ideas that the students came up with, and I really look forward to seeing the plans come to life.”• Mrs Laura Bromberg, CEO Transform Learning Trust

Amelia Wharlton, Phoebe Merritt, Freya Bailey, Matilda Wake, Darcy Doyle, Suki Humphreys, Aaron Ingleson, Poppy Shannahan

Food, glorious food...

The Flipz house competition FutureChef launched a competition with Flipz (a brand of chocolate covered pretzels) earlier this year and after a few interruptions due to lockdowns we are pleased and proud to announce that we had some lucky winners! Will Atkinson in Year 7 was awarded second place, winning a set of wireless gaming headphones for his cake which appeared itself to be consuming Flipz! Rachel Saddington and Liberty Watters in Year 8 came in third winning a hamper of Flipz products. Congratulations to all those who took part!

Preparing Christmas cake

Christmas cakes A festive practical took place with our Year 10 students giving them the chance to practice their decorating and presentation skills. Some wonderful bakes with creative designs were made.

• Miss Morgan, Head of Food Preparation and Nutrition

Rachel and Liberty enjoying their Flipz prize

Will Atkinson’s Flipz Cake

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Computer Science students learn to be Sharp, Alert, Secure, Kind and Brave...

The year started with big plans but the pandemic scuppered a few! The Year 8 CyberFirst Girls competition was cancelled along with the Amazon App Design Competition and, due to restrictions on class bubbles, students in Years 9 to 13 could not share weekly lunch breaks competing in the CyberDiscovery Competition. We hope to be welcoming these back in the next academic year!

Year 7 students all completed the Google Internet Legends Programme. The key pillars of this education program are: • Be Internet Sharp: Centred around the importance of thinking before sharing, evaluating whether a piece of information is private or not, and bearing in mind who will be able to see what is shared.

• Be Internet Alert: Teaching pupils how to spot phishing scams and how to report them, be able to tell what is real and what is fake, and to think critically about information found online.

• Be Internet Secure: Focused on keeping personal information safe by creating unique passwords, combining characters, numbers and symbols.

• Be Internet Kind: Encourages pupils to spread positivity online, speak up against and report bullying, and teaches them how to identify inappropriate behaviour.

pathways into Higher Education including exciting degree level apprenticeships with IBM and Fujitsu.

Finally, for those of you who cannot afford to buy your own NASA Mars “perseverance” Rover, then why not follow the lead of, our very own, William Smith and make your own! • Miss Roberts, Head of Computer Science

• Be Internet Brave: About standing up when witnessing something inappropriate online, and to speak to a trusted adult about any concerns.

Throughout the year we have coded in Python with students from Year 7, used a dolls house to explore how Wi-Fi works, used the principles of sequence, selection and iteration to get Dolly Parton out of bed and on the 9-5 and Year 9 students are currently coding their own version of NetFlix.

In Key Stage 5 it has been fantastic to see so many Year 13 students pursue technical

From Nasa’s original to Williams Smith’s Mars Perseverance Rover...

Nasa’s Mars Rover

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Details of William’s Mars Rover circuitry

Spectacular... Well done William!

Centre of Excellence for Computer Science Park House School continues its work as a National Centre of Excellence for computer science and an appointed DfE Computing Hub. It has led national research and guidance for schools across the UK and Europe for developing self-efficacy in girls for Computing and STEM. To share its approaches with schools across the UK, the Park House Computing hub has led a remote conference with keynote speakers from amongst others, Google and IBM including ex-Park House students Grace Blake and Kiara Jones. It was wonderful to see the amazing Grace and Kiara offering advice to teachers about their Computer Science experiences at Park House and how the school’s focus on enrichment and widening horizons in computing had led them to roles in cyber security.

Over 300 teachers from primary and secondary sectors attended the conference which included workshops such as creative and collaborative coding, app design, gender empirical research, robotics and much more. The conference received the largest teacher engagement in any conference around computing education this year and is testament to the breadth and depth of the guidance to help other schools address the shortage of girls studying computer science.

Such was the feedback and

reception to the conference that the Park House Hub is looking forward to hosting the next national conference with another exciting context in 2022 – Climate Computing.

Summer School 2020 The Park House NCCE Computing Hub, an advisory school for developing self-efficacy in Computing provided a remotely delivered micro:bit coding summer school for Year 6 pupils across West Berkshire.

This summer school was provided through a collaboration of Park House and West Berkshire Council Education Service. The focus of this summer school was to develop wellbeing and embrace the outdoors to promote activity during in face of the lack of motivations for children to go outdoors amid the hampering COVID-19 restrictions.

The micro:bit programmable portable device provided the opportunity for children to code indoors and take their learning and experiences outdoors.

experienced secondary Computing teachers.

The summer school was designed around the need for pupils to remain active and healthy and love nature as well as developing their wellbeing. A hybrid delivery approach ensured that pupils were provided with a range of resources to access including step-by-step guides, recorded instructional block coding videos and one-to-one support through screen sharing.

The six sessions which were delivered across two weeks in August provided the opportunity for pupils to code their micro:bit programmable device to create:

could revisit the live sessions, or indeed visit them when they returned from holiday, have been analysed to provide reflections on the activities that provided the most engagement. • Mr Marshman

• A step counter This summer school also provided the necessary tutoring and teaching to support the missed computational thinking and coding skills during COVID-19 and to provide an opportunity for these pupils to have an experience of transition into secondary school by providing opportunities to work with

• A digital pet • A species counter • A beep test • A workout organiser • A plan moisture monitor The webinars, which have been uploaded to YouTube so that children

PHSA update As for many it’s been a challenging year, but despite the various restrictions Park House School Association has soldiered on and we’re pleased with what we’ve achieved.

Our ‘200 Club’ numbers have grown. For so little effort, there’s a big chance to win some money. This along with the Bags2School and Amazon smile, contributions continue to provide a small steady income. We’ve successfully held a few online raffles throughout the year and we are hugely grateful for those who contributed and our winners have been delighted with their prizes as you can see!

After an urgent plea from school, we quickly achieved sufficient donations through the GoFundMe page for the much-needed Catering Sheds which have allowed staff to serve refreshments comfortably outside and our youngsters to remain dry whilst queuing! This funding has been in addition to psychology books and netball post protectors.

The Committee has continued to meet, via Zoom, though sadly our numbers have dwindled, so we’re desperately keen to see some new faces in September to help see through our fundraising plans and continue to support the school and enrich our young people’s time at school. Do please follow us on Twitter and Facebook and look out for our PHSA flyers. In the meantime, thank you all, enjoy the summer. • Teresa Crocker and Kathryn John – Co-Chairs

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Ben’s javelin prospects continue Seventeen-year-old, Olympic hopeful, javelin thrower Ben East has managed to maintain his training during lockdown with support from various sponsors, and from Hungerford Primary School and Hungerford Rugby Club who have both provided safe training spaces.

At the end of last year’s short season (comprising only four competitive events), Ben managed to achieve a throw of 73.04m, placing him eighth in the world rankings and number one in the UK’s Under-17s. The event on 15 August, 2020 took place at Lee Valley in North London under strict Covid guidelines. Ben was accompanied by his coach, ex-Park House student Luke Angell, who has worked with Ben over the past five years at Team Kennet.

Ben initially found it difficult to remain motivated through the lockdowns, although he continued to cycle with his dad and occasionally did sessions in the garden following plans sent from his coach, Luke. But, Ben has said it is good to be throwing again in these difficult times. Hopefully, he can compete

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again before the 2021 season finishes in October when he will move up an age group to the Under-20s.

Ben and his family are very grateful for support from Park House PE Department and sports therapist Andy Spaak from West Berkshire Injury Clinic YASA Ltd, Hungerford Town Council, Hungerford Chamber of Commerce. Ben has also received extraordinary support, before restrictions, from Herongate in Hungerford with personal training Connor and unlimited use of their amazing facilities. And, Wiltshire-based Charlie’s Charity has enabled Ben to buy nearly all the javelins he will need to compete at this new Under-20 level, where he will throw the men’s Olympic-weight javelin. • With thanks to pennypost.org.uk for information and to Julia Hoaen for the photo. For more information and sponsorship opportunities visit: beneastjavelin.co.uk

West Berkshire School Sports Network The West Berkshire School Sport Network based at Park House School supports over 55 primary schools across West Berkshire and North Hampshire.

The network provides training, support and high quality teaching and coaching in PE and School Sport to each of our affiliated schools.

This includes over 80 events each year being delivered in over 20 different sports.

During Covid restrictions we provided support and opportunities to our schools and moved to a Virtual competition format. This was delivered throughout the year and enabled young people to continue participating in events. Over 8000 pupils from primary schools attended throughout the year, completing activities at school and home.

being introduced including Catchball and the Invictus games (an inclusive sports festival) • Teacher training support to develop new sports and physical activities in primary schools including Indoor Caving, Frisbee Golf, Modern day Pentathlon, Orienteering and Catchball • Supporting Primary Schools to develop a Young Sports Leader programme with training and help develop a Primary Young Leader Academy in each school who will be trained to support and deliver extra-curricular activities.

• Introduction of a year round Health passport for primary pupils full of ideas, activities and challenges supporting young people to be physically active and healthy at school and at home throughout the year.

We have a really exciting year ahead for the West Berkshire School Sport Network with support from Park House School through the Transform Learning Trust continuing to be the driving force behind school sport within the community. • James Mandry

We have a very inspiring offer next year for schools with many new exciting opportunities including: • Delivering over 80 events throughout the 2021-2022 academic year with new sports

Mad Dog Rugby update...

Congratulations to Tyler Harvey, who after a difficult year of restrictions has played for Gloucester Academy Under 18s against both Wasps and Exeter Chiefs Academies. Tyler has one more year with the Gloucester Academy and we hope to see his rugby go from strength to strength. This final term has seen Ollie Cullum, Tom Eade, Tyler Harvey and Alfie Penny begin their own coaching journeys.

They are currently taking part in their first coaching course ‘Kids First Contact’ with England rugby.

To help consolidate their learning, they are now also coaching the Year 10 Mad Dog Rugby session.

Great work boys! • Greg Ward, Head of Rugby

Tyler Harvey

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Holly aims to become a Viper At the end of 2020 I was nominated to attend trials for the Southern Vipers junior academy (a regional cricket team). Initially I had an observation training session where the Vipers head coach came and watched me train at one of my County Squad sessions.

The Viper trials at the Ageas Bowl were scheduled to take place in November but were delayed a further month due to Covid. However, during that time I had a zoom call with the coach to get a good understanding of the details of the programme. It includes medical testing, many one-to-one coaching sessions and matches in the summer. The junior professional setup is the pathway to the main team where you become a contracted professional player.

Once the trials eventually went ahead, I went down to the Ageas Bowl on Saturday 5 December to participate in the first trial. I was in a group with ten other girls, where we did batting and bowling challenges, speed testing and match scenarios. Most of the girls were over 17 (I was one of the youngest). The following week was my second trial. We did mainly batting against bowling machines at 70mph and fielding drills under pressure. Each session was three hours which felt like a long time!

In early 2021, I got a call back to do one final session. In a bio-secure bubble of six, I did my final three hours of trialling where we took time on the individual skills. A few days later I heard the results and unfortunately I did not get in; however, I got to the top 30 girls in the region out of approximately 300. Next year I hope to get into the academy to get to the next standard of cricket and broaden my opportunities.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying playing for Berkshire U15s, U18s and for the men’s and women’s teams at Falkland. • Holly Rider

YST National Sports Week Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 had the opportunity of a variety of activities during the Youth Sport Trusts’s National School Sports Week in June during the school lunchtime. These included, dodgeball, rounders, dance, tennis, football, climbing and rugby.

An enjoyable time for all, both students and staff. • Miss R Tregear

Girls Active Coaches Leadership Virtual Camp After completing the online modules for the Berkshire Inspire Academy with 17 other students across Years 9 and 10, Grace Sawtell applied to be part of the Girls Active Coaches Leadership Camp. This virtual camp was delivered by Youth Sports Trust and ran over three days in June. Grace was one of five girls who were selected across the whole of Berkshire and only 150 girls aged 14-17 were chosen to be part of this camp.

The unique experience provided Grace with opportunity to continue to develop her personal leadership and coaching skills. It involved theory and practical sessions, keynotes from inspiring speakers and taking part in leadership activities which were delivered by different sporting organisations. Grace said: “I found the weekend a great experience, I learnt so much and it has really boosted my confidence in leading.” • Miss R Tregear

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FA Game of Our Own Football Leadership Programme Since March, seven Year 9 girls (Millie Underwood, Anna Patterson, Grace Sawtell, Myah Josey, Eloise Kadzillo, Tara Fitzgerald and Darcy Birch-Hedger) have been involved in completing the FA Game of Our Own Football Leadership course supported by Barclays.

Once completed they will have undertaken three main sessions called Inspire, Develop and Reflection and will be accredited with the Girls Football Youth Sport Award. During the development sessions the girls will have completed eight modules that focus on delivery and marketing.

All these sessions help the girls to improve their leadership skills, enable them to confidently deliver high quality coaching sessions that focus on building life skills through football.

The marketing modules will focus on building the girl’s knowledge on completing research on what type of football sessions their target audience wish to participate in and how to advertise their coaching sessions.

The girls will take full ownership of running every aspect of girl’s football at Park House. For instance, during National Sports Week they ran two lunchtime clubs for Year 7 and 8 girls and in September they will be in charge of the girl’s football club with limited guidance from staff. • Miss R Tregear

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Students v Staff – netball and football The student vs staff netball match was a wonderful event for all involved! For Year 13 students, it was great to be playing a team sport and doing something other than online school. Having the lower years there supporting us was amazing too - it felt like a return to the normal Park House community spirit after pandemic disruptions.

We may have lost our match (congratulations to the teachers!) but it was so much fun and hopefully a tradition that will be continued next year. Thank you to the staff and students that played and all the students who came to watch! • Lily Marston, Year 13 Head Student The annual Staff V Sixth Form (PH6) football match returned this year with a bang – an unprecedented double-header! Pre-match anticipation rivalled that of the Euro 2020 final and it was wonderful to see the Park House spirit back again!

The profligacy of PH6 was the story of match one and they were eventually made to pay when goals from Mr Hawkins and Mr Howe put the staff 2-0 up. There was a tense last few minutes when the referee, with faultless authority, awarded a penalty to the Year 13s which was dispatched by Ellis Russell. However, it proved merely a consolation as the staff held on for a memorable victory.

PH6’s demands for a rematch demonstrated their passion and the staff’s folly. Without the exuberance of novelty, the second match was played more like a chess game and ended 0-0. We went to penalties and it was the unfortunate Mr Columbro who became the Gareth Southgate of Park House, with PH6 claiming victory.

Thank you to all those involved in bringing the good times back: the staff and students who played, and all those who came to support and prove what a special community we are. • Mr Gook (referee!)

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PH6 Welcome After last year’s virtual induction, it was so good to welcome our New Year 12 intake here at PH6 in person and spend some time talking about our future plans and aspirations together, instead of just talking to lots of blank boxes on Teams!

Students have attended various A Level lessons complete with Summer work to keep them going; Video interviews in lieu of in-person speakers on topics such as how to manage change in your life, study choices and how to set goals; Sessions run by our own PHS staff upskilling students on CV writing, Change Management, Ethics, Study Skills and Employment and the Law; and our new tradition, PH6 Sports Afternoon with new Year 12 Vs our new Year 13, run by Miss Tregear and the PE department which included events like egg and spoon race, wellie wanging and varsity vortex!

The fighting talk started early with Mr Hawkins Captain of the Year 13s and Mrs Onions Captain of the Year 12s, but in the end after a good competition with Mrs Stacey and the PH6 Form Tutors cheering for both sides, it was Year 13 who took home the victory and bragging rights!

We are really looking forward to working with our New Year 12s in September and welcoming them into our PH6 Team alongside our current Year 13. • Miss Onions, Deputy Director Key Stage 5

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So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu...

Wishing our PH6 Sixth Form leavers the best of luck as they move on to work and higher education.

Thank you for the entertaining fancy dress on your last day. Please make sure you keep in touch!

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