WOODLANDS NEWSLETTER
ISSUE: FEBRUARY 2020
Enabling aspiration and achievement through delivery of a knowledge-rich curriculum underpinned by our CORE values:
C
O
R
E
COURAGE
OPTIMISM
REGARD
ENDEAVOUR
WELCOME This half term has seen some significant but important changes for us as a school with the launch of our new statement of intent and values as well as the implementation of a new mobile phone policy. Our statement of intent underpins what we are about as a school and in the first week back after the Christmas break, I held a series of assemblies to help students to understand what this statement means for them and all of us as a community. As a school we believe that knowledge gives power and feel it is an important part of our role to ensure that all of our students can learn lots and acquire deep knowledge and understanding of a range of subjects. For this reason, we have not reduced our curriculum in key stage 3 and we offer a wide choice of GCSE and A level subjects but we expect our students to really get to grips with what it means to think scientifically, mathematically or like a historian for example. To do this, they need to know their subjects well; this is something we are also doing a lot of work on behind the scenes. We also recognise that school is about a wider type of learning; this is where our CORE values come in. We have committed to promoting, demonstrating and developing some important human characteristics to enable our students to be citizens who can participate in and contribute to their wider community. We have stated that we value courage, optimism, regard (for self and others) and endeavour. These traits will feature in many areas of development as we move forward as a school. Our mobile phone policy has been really effectively implemented and I want to thank parents and carers for the support with this change. It is wonderful to hear the buzz of conversation and see students playing chess, Uno, football or joining new lunchtime clubs. Students have now got used to the new routines around phone usage and many have reported feeling a sense of relief about having a break from their devices. This half term has seen the first two of three headteacher/parent forums which have an objective of strengthening the partnership between parents and school to support school improvement. The first group focused on communication and there are some developments in the pipeline to improve channels of communication around key dates, reporting progress etc. The second group has a focus on behaviour and culture and the feedback from parents will contribute to our review of policy which is underway within school and will also tap into student and staff perceptions of what works and what could be better. As part of our review, we are looking closely at how we reward students for demonstrating courage, optimism, regard for others and endeavour; we will be asking students for their views.
Alongside all of this, the school runs as usual with trips and visits planned and undertaken to Auschwitz, the theatre to see GCSE literature texts such as ‘An Inspector Calls’ and ‘Macbeth’, Derby University, Italy for skiing fun and Cumbria for science field work. In addition, we have had some tremendous success in The Big Bang science and engineering competition, Top of the Bench Chemistry, the debating society and several sporting events including being runners up in the National Deaf 5 a side football championships. Well done to all involved, including those who commit to train and play for teams and events week-in-week-out. I’d like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable half term break. Gemma Penny Headteacher
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
Derby Youth Major
Students from Year7-Year 13 have been busy voting for the best candidate for Derby Youth Mayor! Coming from a wide range of schools across Derby, 4 candidates individually promoted themselves in a persuasive speech to try to achieve this incredible role, which would enable them to work alongside the Derby Mayor and the Youth Council to help enhance the lives of the Derby youth. Woodlands provided a ballot box for students so they could exercise their right to vote for the candidate who they believed was the greatest!
School Magazine Launch
“Alex and I just want to say a few words about the first issue of the new school magazine, The Woodlands Word. As you may know, the first issue came out on Friday 8th February, we're particularly excited about it because it was created entirely by students, for students - we tried to give as much creative freedom as we could feasibly give.
Contributions can be sent to : woodlandsword@woodlands.derby.sch.uk or contributors can come to talk to Alex and me in room 1010 on Wednesday lunches, Monday and Friday break times.” Scarlett 6F and Alex 6C The Woodlands Word Editors
Contact Details Should parents/carers have any concerns regarding their child, could they please initially contact their Form Tutors. Thereafter, the next point of contact would be the following Heads of House: Rowan Head of House, Helen Curr—h.curr@woodlands.derby.sch.uk Oak Head of House, Helen Smith—h.smith@woodlands.derby.sch.uk Maple Head of House, Emily Pitter—e.pitter@woodlands.derby.sch.uk Cedar Head of House, Lucy Colley—l.colley@woodlands.derby.sch.uk
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
GCSE Food and Nutrition Exam
A fantastic performance from the year 11 GCSE Food and Nutrition students . Food was served to a high standard and wouldn’t look out of place in a restaurant
Year 9 Art
Year 9 have been working on drawings and figures based on Giacometti figures.
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
CanSat Update
Woodlands Students Take Space industry to Task Daisy Richardson and William Dilley, former Woodlands students, have been interviewed for a Via Satellite article. This is the global satellite industry journal and is read across the world by those in the satellite industry. Elon Musk is a subscriber! In the article entitled ‘Gen Z and Millennials Take Space Industry to Task’, Daisy and William describe their vision for the future of space technology. Read the full article here: http:// interactive.satellitetoday.com/via/december2019/gen-z-and-millennials-take-space-industryto-task/
Woodlands School gains Space Education Quality Mark In July 2019 Woodlands School was awarded the Space Education Quality Mark, by the National STEM Centre UK. This award recognises the excellent space-related STEM work of staff and students in extra curricular clubs like First Lego League and ESA CanSat, as well as throughout the curriculum. Many thanks to all the staff and students who ran activities and developed curriculum resources that were recognised in the award. Find out more at: https://www.stem.org.uk/esero/space-education-quality-mark
Sixth Form Charity Day
Sixth form charity day is proving to be more popular each year. With staff and students taking part in the fund raising day, by dressing up as their favourite Disney character and various activities around the school. This year the school raised the amazing amount of £1768.90, for the charity “Breast Cancer Now”. Well done to everyone who took part!!
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
Year 10 Mock Interviews In January, our year 10 students took part in CV Workshops (17th January) and Mock Interviews (24th January). We were delighted to host representatives from a wide range of professions, who joined us on both event days, spending time with form groups and individual students, offering their advice and guidance to our year 10s. It was great to see our students engaging so well with their CV writing, detailing their skills, experiences and competencies. So many students took their CVs home to complete and share with parents and carers, in preparation for the mock interviews! Our guest interviewers then gave our students an invaluable real life experience of an interview. The feedback from interviewers and students alike was amazing. The adults were so impressed by the achievements and dedication of students they met on the day, and our year 10 students were rightly proud of themselves with how they ‘sold’ themselves in their interview.
A huge well done to our year 10 students and THANK YOU to the volunteers and staff at E4E, for helping us provide both the CV Workshops and the Mock Interviews. “I felt so proud of myself, following my mock interview. I was nervous before and left my interview feeling far more confident. I know that next time I have an interview, I will feel more confident and ready to show off the qualities that I have.’ ‘The CV workshops helped me to sell myself – which will be important when I apply for a job. I will now aim to keep my CV up to date, so it is a good reflection of my skills as I move on from my GCSEs and onto sixth-form.’ Mr J. Porter, Co-ordinator of PSE and Careers
Year 12 Psychology Students
Our Year 12 Psychology students, were asked to design a working memory model. “The working memory model, is a model that shows the workings of short term memory and I made it my own showing each component as something that works within a pirate setting to show how everything works together.” Miley 6S
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
Healthy Heart Week
On Monday 3rd February, Allestree Woodlands school welcomed ninety students from Portway infants school, to take part in the yearly Healthy Heart week activities. Students took part in three activities aimed at improving their heart rate.
The activities were all planned by a group of the schools Junior Sports leaders, whom excelled in delivering the event. A firm well done and thank you from everyone in the PE Department for your effort guys!
Endangered by Plastic
Our Eco Committee have recently added the manta ray fish model in our school to add awareness of our plastic use, with the following quote.
“To generate awareness about our own plastic usage, Eco-Committee set up 2 plastic bottle bins. Across 7 days we collected around 750 plastic bottles that had been used and discarded by Students, and we estimated this was only about 2/3 of the total plastic bottle usage around school�.
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
Sports News—Final Standings Yr7 Jr NBA Tournament 04/02/20 Win = 3 points Draws = 2 points Loss = 1 point Team Derby Moor John Port Noel Baker West Park Woodlands
Games Played 8 8 8 8 8
Win s 1 2 3 7 5
Draw s 1 1 2
Losses 7 6 4 0 1
Point s 10 12 15 23 20
Position 5th 4th 3rd 1st 2nd
Congratulations to the year 7 boys who have finished 2 nd in the Derby city NBA league.
Derbyshire Schools XC Championships Results
Y7 Girls Iris 7R1 2nd place
Y8/9 Boys
Y10/11 Boys
Ashley 9R1-8th place
Drew 10R1-16th place
Sam 9C2-13th place
Adam 10O2-36th place
Jack 9O1-19th place
Imogen 10O1-22nd place
Congratulations to Ashley Bellamy who has been selected to represent Derbyshre at English Schools XC championship in March.
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
Our Wellbeing Centre Allestree Woodlands School have been supporting Children’s Mental Health Week this week, with our wellbeing ambassadors going into forms promoting the wonderful support that Woodlands can offer to all students.
Our fabulous Well-Being Centre is now open and proving a huge success! Students who may feel they may benefit from some extra support, can call by at break or lunchtime for an appointment time.
Coronavirus Advice for Parents/Carers You should not be unduly worried about the possibility of your children catching the Coronavirus. There is no reason why your children should not continue to attend Allestree Woodlands school as normal. The Government and NHS are well prepared to deal with this Virus. You can help too. Germs can live on some surfaces for hours. To protect yourself and others: Always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze.
Bin the Tissue, and to kill germs wash your hands with Soap and water or use sanitiser gel. We recognise that some families or children may be planning to travel to China during the forthcoming half term period. If so, please refer to the FCO’s latest travel advice via the link below. Gov.uk/coronavirus.co.uk
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL
Fund Raising
Safeguarding
Taylor 8R2, and her family have been raising money for Taylor’s cousin, who unfortunately was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour. Taylor’s family have raised £5700, by a family run raffle and a fund raising page on Facebook. This money has meant Taylors cousin Ellie is able to go on a well deserved holiday after her treatment. Taylor wanted to thank everyone who had donated. We at Woodlands want to celebrate Taylor and her family’s enormous achievement and wish Ellie all the best with her recovery and hope she enjoys her well deserved holiday.
KEY DATES Return to school—Monday 24th February Year 11 Revision Evening—Thursday 27th February Years 10 and 11 English trip to see Macbeth—Thursday 5th March Year 8 Parents Evening 4:00-7:00—Thursday 5th March Year 11 reports to Parents—Wednesday 11th March Drama trip to see Macbeth—Wednesday 11th March Year 11 Geography River Derwent Trip—Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th March 6th Form Psychology London Trip—Thursday 19th and Friday 20th March
Year 12 Parents Evening 4:00-7:00—Tuesday 24th March INSET DAY—Friday 27th March Spring Concert –7:00—Tuesday 31st March Year 12 Geography trip to Manchester—Wednesday 1st April End of Spring Term—Friday 3rd April Start of Summer Term—Monday 20th April
ALLESTREE WOODLANDS SCHOOL