December 2010

Name ___________________________ Form __________

T I M E S

On the 21st October, Arthur Terry School Sixth Form raised money in aid of Breast Cancer Research. All paid £1 to wear a fabulous pink garment.A few individuals really got into the spirit of things cornering many students and teachers with a pair of pink specs and a lavish wig. Those individuals were Evie Wilkes, Leanne Salt, Charley Meehan, Rebecca Denton, Alice Brooks and Janina Randhawa. The day was a huge success and £500 was raised. The money will be donated to the national charity Cancer Research UK and to our local support group Breast Friends.

Pink Day

Recently Jane Taylor, Finance Manager of The Arthur Terry School, has won 'Administrator of the Year' at the National Association of School Business Managers. This nationally acclaimed award is raising the profile of support staff within schools.

Jane said ‘The National Association of School Business Managers (NASBM) held their annual National Support Staff awards on Saturday 9th October 2010 in London.  Staff are nominated by their school for one of 10 categories, I was nominated for Administrator of the Year.  The nominees have to pass through three stages of selection; local, regional and national before an award can be made.  I was delighted to be chosen by The Arthur Terry School and feel it an honour not only to represent my school but also the profession.  The event itself had overtones of the Oscars complete with gold envelopes and the famous phrase ‘the winner is….’  I am pleased to say that I was awarded first place, a tremendous honour and one which I will treasure.  As I said at the event, it was a shock, but one which would not be possible without the promotion of the awards by NASBM or the full support of my school and colleagues’.

Jane Taylor

On Sunday 21st of November Mrs Bailey and Mrs Little were proud to attend this years Great Midlands Fun Run Presentation Evening. There were various groups and organisations at the evening. You may have seen in the press that the Great Midlands Fun Run has now raised over £1million for various charities and groups since the first event in 2003.

Our team of over 100 runners, joggers, walkers, official fun run helpers and our first dog raised £2400 in total. This included some participants who raised sponsorship worth several hundred pounds each. This will be distributed between your chosen charities this year, Cancer Research UK, Acorns Children’s Hospice and our work with our South African partner school.

Well done to all involved this year and remember we do it all again on Sunday 5th June 2011. Make a note in your diary to join this exhilarating, atmospheric and rewarding day. Remember you can walk, jog or run with friends or on your own. Watch out for the announcements and assemblies in early February next year and join our growing team. Together we can raise even more money to help others in 2011.

Fun Run

In November Arthur Terry staff and students attended five different events organised and funded by the Gifted and Talented Northern Network.

The month started with tuition for a lucky four of our NQT teachers. The Saturday morning training given by Louise Darby provided them with a wealth of resources, ideas and strategies to use in their classroom teaching. This information was shared back in school with the rest of our NQTs so they all have benefitted early in their careersand will be confident and able to support our G&T students.

Ten Year 10 History students spent a morning at Great Barr School working with three other Schools and a former Chief Examiner.Our students expanded their research skills by searching through Sensors and establishing life expectancy, diseases and professions, giving them a picture of 19th century life. We brought all the resources back to school to be integrated into the History Faculty.

Four of our dedicated Year 9 GCSE Food Technology students gave up their Saturday to work at Sutton Girls Grammar School with 5 other schools. They prepared a two course meal starting with raw ingredients and prepared roast vegetable lasagne, followed by a sweet pastry custard flan filled with fresh fruit. This was a real challenge for our students but they all enjoyed it and experienced many new skills, and the food was yummy.

Our first Year 7 G&T visit took place on the 19th November when, our 13 students joined with students from five other schools, attended Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School. We had four taster sessions of speaking Japanese and writing our names, we learnt our numbers in Italian and looked at similarities in Spanish and French. The singing in German was great fun followed by an exhausting session of learning words and performing a Bhangra Dance. The day enthused everyone about learning languages and highlighted the great importance of having language skills in the world of work.

To end our very busy November, all our Year 9 students have had a session on Study Skills to help prepare them for their GCSE exams. They were able to discuss different ways to revise for exams, discover the best way to make the brain work and how to improve memory skills. Many of our students enjoyed learning how to learn and we hope these new skills will be transferred to the classroom and used for examination revision.

A Busy November for Gifted & Talented by Mrs Halfpenny

The Birmingham Building Bridges Partnership between The Arthur Terry School, Great Barr School, and King Edward VI High School for Girls offered a wide range of challenging activities through its Summer School Programme in 2010. The programme is funded through the Building Bridges Partnership and the aim is to improve attainment particularly in maths, sciences and modern foreign languages.

As part of this programme, selected Year 7 Gifted and Talented pupils were given a fantastic opportunity to participate in the Eddies Summer School. The Summer School took place from Monday 12th – Friday 16th July inclusive at King Edward VI High School for Girls and our G&T Students were released by Arthur Terry School, for the whole week to enable them to engage in the programme.

The Summer School offered seven courses and our students chose one to study for the whole week. Chemistry Whizz Bangs and Potions! Was where our students made their own slime, invisible ink and hand warmers. built stalagmites and made plastic bags from potatoes.

Electronics and Robotics students made and took home a range of fully workinghigh-tech devices, including a PCB, micro-processors and computerised controlled robotics.

Fashion and Design went from the drawing room to the catwalk in one week. They used their flair, fashion sense and unique ideas and turned them into their very own design. Once they had created their own fashion masterpiece, they showed it off in their end-of-week fashion show.

The Mind and Body Challenge was where the mind was exercised as well as the body. They tackled brainteasers and puzzles, learned how to crack codes and sharpen up their memory .They even had some magic tricks thrown in.Then it was time for physical challenge with circuit training, martial arts and fun team games.

iHola – Spanish for Beginners took a trip to Spain without the travel. They learned the language, tasted the food, gave salsa dancing a go and experienced the flavour of Spain in many ways. Our students got

the basics to give them the confidence to communicate in Spanish. There were a lot of practical activities to try out and the emphasis was always on fun.

Musical Theatre involved our students in putting together a fantastic musical from scratch with the story, lyrics and tunes written and composed by the students. There was a creative team to help and they all threw themselves into it developing their singing, dancing and acting. The end of week performance was a showcase for the talented students involved.

Physics for Fun. Yes, it was physics and it was also FUN. They had lots of practical hands-on activities including pinhole photography, making telescopes, constructing astronomical models, electronics projects, launching rockets, flying aeroplanes and they saw some amazing scientific demonstrations. Our students all loved the experience, Arthur Terry won the rocket launching competition and their film animation has been entered into a national competition, which we hope to win.

All our students had the opportunity to work with like minded pupils and the classrooms had an air of purpose, where every student was on task and achieving in a concentrated day, covering what would normally take weeks. The Design Technology students particularly enjoyed being able to finish a project each day and take home their design.

The culmination of the week’s work was celebrated and shared between the seven groups so that everyone including parents could see what had been achieved over the week.

All our Year 7 students enjoyed the experience: I was told on the coach home after the first day that they “could not wait to go back tomorrow as they loved it so much”

I am sure that all the skills and confidence achieved will be transferred into the Year 8 classrooms and enable them all to achieve their full potential.

Building Bridges - Summer School 2010 by Mrs Halfpenny

Artworks by four of our talented art students were among those selected to go on display in the first Birmingham ‘Visualise’ Open Art Exhibition.  In summer 2010, children and young people aged up to 24 years from around Birmingham were invited to submit their artwork inspired by the theme, ‘Birmingham: Our City of Culture’. A stunning exhibition of work by the winners was held at The Visualise Hub – Units 10 & 13, in the Pavilions Shopping Centre.  Curated by a team of young people, the exhibition presented the breadth and diversity of Birmingham’s young artistic talent. The awards ceremony and festival launch was a great success, with hundreds of young people and parents turning up to see their work and receive their awards.  Arthur Terry finalist for the 16-24 age category, Nick Davis, presented an intriguing series of long-exposure photographs of the city at night, while Steph Lawton’s thought-provoking textile work combined cultural fabrics purchased from markets and stores around the city.  Dan Warrilow’s exquisite photorealist pencil study received third prize, and Helen Davison’s brilliant self-portrait was awarded second place for the 11-14s. The artworks were also featured on billboards, bus shelters and phone boxes across the city centre and in local neighbourhoods. 

Students Exhibit at ‘Visualise Open Art Exhibition’ by The Art Department

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

TroopSupport

help us to help them

Grandmother Shirley McKeown devotes a lot of her time to organising fundraising events for the 'Queen Elizabeth Hospital Troops Support' charity.  Several Arthur Terry students have been helping with collections at Snow Hill Station, a bag pack at Somerfields and a forces night at Hill social club.  The charity's aim has been to raise £2000 for the injured troops in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, giving them a gift for Christmas.  The Art department were asked to create a series of large posters to advertise the charity at these events.  Seven Year 11 students produced huge drawings and paintings of army boots.  The work was skilful and lively, and once the text was added and the posters were printed out, they looked really eye-catching.  The students should be very proud of their work, and we are pleased and honoured that we could help. We received a great letter from Shirley just a few days later which read:'Many many thanks for those splendid posters they are just great!  Today we visited the ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the lads were so delighted with them they asked if they could have one.  It's on the wall in the ward -they called it 'the empty boot'.  One squaddie said it looked like his boot when he lost his leg... someone in the ward called out "No-way your boot never looked that good!"

It means so much to them to know we care, and they send to you their best wishes and thanks.'

Troop Supportby The Art Department

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

TroopSupport

help us to help them

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

TroopSupport

help us to help them

Hidden Talents ofYork A Studentsby Sarah Arrowsmith

Students at Arthur Terry have always demonstrated many extraordinary talents through extra-curricular activities at school. I continue to be amazed however, at how discreet students can sometimes be when it comes to sharing some of their other talents. Many seem to be almost secretive about their interests outside of school!

I asked some York A students why they thought this was the case. Why are we no longer eager to share our ‘news’ and have recently discovered an array of astounding talents within my own tutor group alone (YA5); many of which I would never have guessed or matched to the individual. There are ice-hockey players, a Grade 6 Ballet dancer, a basketball player and assistant coach, and even a regular scuba-diver. If, in only one tutor group, there is such a range of talents and interests that few others know about, imagine what other secrets are lurking!

So why conceal such abilities and interests? In my mind there’s nothing better than seeing a student perform, or hearing news about someone’s achievements. Our school certainly encourages success, and as a York A journalist I plan to use this regular column to reveal hidden amazing achievements in our House. Watch this space......

Liverpool, the European Capital of Culture in 2008, always lives up to its reputation and offers a wealth of artistic pleasures.  In the last few months, the city's biennial festival has filled the city with artworks, and Year 9 went to experience just a few.  An installation of 1000 glass bells currently hangs inside the Oratory with a sound work acompanying it; a video piece greets viewers at the top of a narrow staircase inside Liverpool Cathedral, and a Tracey Emin neon text piece has found a surprising home above the chapel doorway.  We also visited an excellent sculpture exhibition at Tate gallery, where works ranged from huge waxwork figures to a private disco experience, and artworks you could lie on!  Leaving the comfort of the gallery, we headed out to the coast for the afternoon.  Students braved the elements in pursuit of artistic enlightenment visiting Antony Gormley’s  installation, 'Another Place' along Crosby beach.  The work consists of 100 cast-iron, life sized figures of the artist which have been embedded at differing heights into the shoreline. Solemn and expressionless the figures face out towards the Irish sea gazing out at ‘another place.’

 Hoods up and scarves tucked firmly into coats we walked along the one mile stretch literally soaking in the atmosphere! The corrosion of the iron from the salty sea water created an array of visual delights for us to admire. Several of the sculptures were particularly intriguing due to the appearance of their oxidised surface.  Fiery reds and magical greens vied for the eyes attention creating an enigmatic aura. Students discussed how the torso of the figure appeared to be impaired and eaten away and that this could reflect how the human body fights disease.  On other figures barnacles and shells had amalgamated compiling around the ankles and wrists creating engrossing visceral textured surfaces.   Despite the weather and the muddy wellies Year 9 enjoyed their experience of Gormely’s installation and contemplated the literal and metaphorical interpretations of 'Another Place' on the dry coach ride home.

Year 9 Art Students Visit Liverpool by The Art Department

On Monday 15th of November, forty year eight pupils visited a top French Restaurant in Birmingham City Centre. The restaurant was called ‘La Bastille’ and was also open to members of the public.

Firstly, the head-chef gave a demonstration of how to cook the frog’s legs and snails. We revised key vocabulary with Mr. Gannon and then we got to taste them. They were great but the textures and flavours were very unusual!

Then, we had to order our main course. All of the waiters and waitresses were French so we could only talk in French but we all managed very well. We have been learning food and drink in French lessons recently and that helped a lot. The choice for our mains was either le poulet basquaise or les pâtes provençales. The food was lovely and was very fresh.Before dessert, we had fun making and tossing crêpes into the air and then trying to make them land in the frying pan. Most of us failed! Lowan Bryant (HA5) even managed to get his crêpe stuck on the ceiling! The crepes were lovely and the rich sauce au chocolat was delightful! Délicieux!

The staff were very polite, helpful and welcoming. We really enjoyed learning all about French food and speaking in French with the real French waiters and waitresses. We’d love to experience something like this again.

Bon Appétit! by Maisie Waller & Megan Anyan 200 Club

October Winners

181 J. Goodman £50149 S. Micklewright £2526 S. East £15191 J. Meek £10

November Winners

68 A. Ray £50176 R. Willis £2567 L. Dorn £15124 S. Burke £10

French Fashion ShowTuesday 23rd November

Well today has been all about catwalks and the

french language. Thirty students from a variety of

classes were asked to come to the Birmingham

City Learning Centre for a fun day of excitement.

We were asked to design and describe a catwalk

show all in French and it was so much fun. We

had to do a numerous activities which all worked

up to our fashion show at the end, well I have to

say it was hard work but the finished result was

wonderful, Thank you Madame Grimason for

arranging this fantastic day!

Daisy Turner - HB6

I think today has taught me a lot of things, like how to improve my French accent and be more confident in what I am saying. I also feel proud that I have been able to work on my accent and that I have used my own clothes in order to learn French. So thank you for helping my French along!Amie Richards

It was really good and was enjoyable, going down the catwalk and 'showing off!'Ethan Smith - LB3

If I had the chance I would do it again or

would recommend it to othersGeorgia Longhorne YB1

Humanitiesby The Humanities Department

We really hope you enjoy reading through the Humanities articles in this edition of the Arthur Terry Times. They demonstrate just some of the brilliant activities students have been involved in this term within Humanities! The Faculty has gone from strength to strength this term with three Subject Leaders delivering assemblies to the whole school on a variety of topics. In addition, a number of exciting enrichment activities have taken place including offsite educational visits and a deep learning day for Year 8.

As I am sure you’re aware, the History Department received an impromptu visit from Ofsted earlier this month. Mr Leese and his team saw this as the perfect opportunity to showcase their talents with great enthusiasm. Students were interviewed, lessons were observed and staff were interviewed ahead of the final verdict where the team were rightly awarded ‘Outstanding’ in all areas for History! In his feedback, the inspector Mr. Chauhan said he could count on one hand all of the schools he could remember for all of the right reasons, one of which is now Arthur Terry!

It has been the perfect end to a fantastic term for Humanities and we’re already looking forward to the next!Miss. Sarah Bursnell (Curriculum Leader of Humanities)

A Level Ashes Hollow Field Trip by Libby Franklin HB8

On the 4 of November the Year 12 and 13 Geography students had the delight of yet another trip to Ashes Hollow, proclaimed by many to be a sight of natural beauty but disputed by all students to be a ‘good day off if its sunny’ and a ‘miserable chore’ in the rain.

As luck would have it, it rained, and rained, and rained. Fortunately for the sanity of the accompanying teachers, Mr Vaughan, Mr Napper and Mr Simmons, most of the students came well equipped for the weather, sporting highly attractive waterproof jackets and undeniably cool green Wellington boots which meant that general complaining was restricted. The best equipped person of the day would have been Chloe Plant, in her Ski Jacket, hiking bag and ski socks, had it not been for her mismatching Hunter wellies which were not only different sizes but the same foot aswell.

The trip was a general success, as we finished an hour earlier than planned with all the data we went to collect. Unfortunately, I doubt James Anderton would share this view, having gone home with a completely ruined pair of trainers. Walking around the source of the river, he found himself stuck in a muddy bog, and when he ‘ran for freedom’ he discovered that one of his trainers has been left behind. Seeing the muddy hole closing up, I ran over and attempted to retrieve it. As you can imagine, I wasn’t too impressed when we realised that the trainer was stuck, elbow deep under a pile of sloppy mud. Luckily, due to my brute strength I managed to retrieve this shoe and return it to a ‘grateful’ James.

All in all, despite the muddy incidents, calamitous fashion decisions and horrendous weather conditions, it was a good field trip, we all got the data we went for, and can now look forward to discussing it in our exams!

Sociology & Law Students Crime & Deviance TripThis term Year 13 students experienced a unique opportunity to meet with people who had spent time in prison, listen to their life stories and interview them about their experiences. Not only did students learn about the Criminal Justice system but also saw the human face of life inside and the various reasons why people commit crimes.

Our students wanted to share their experiences.....

“I felt the day showed how in some cases, the legal system is still failing people, the innocent being imprisoned when there is little evidence of them committing an offence.”

“The whole day was informative and eye opening. It was nice to hear how people value different things in life and how they have coped with their upbringing and time in jail.”

“It shocked me to see how a murderer seemed like such a regular person, he didn’t fit the murderer stereotype.”

“I thought the trip was really interesting in that I saw why people chose to commit their crimes. You found out things you wouldn’t learn in books.”

“The day was beneficial for us as it gave us an insight into what prison was like for people who have committed a range of crimes. The day also answered questions or put straight wrong assumptions about criminals and prison.”

“I loved the talks especially the falsely accused man so I hugged him, his talk made me cry.”

“Best trip ever, emotional, don’t take things for granted.”

This is the second time this trip has taken place and the impact is still as great. We hope to continue offering this experience to Year 13 students.

On October 18 eleven intrepid Year 13 Geography students set out to explore the Urban Heat Island of Birmingham. Over 50 years ago, geographers observed that urban areas (cities) had their own microclimate and were warmer than rural areas (the ‘countryside’). The fabric of cities stores energy more effectively than soil and vegetation and releases it slowly at night, like a storage heater. Human activities, such as space heating in homes and commercial properties and motor vehicles also release heat in to the atmosphere. However, one of the most important factors is the reduced Sky View Factor of cities. Tall buildings in city centres create ‘urban canyons’ that trap the heat stored during the day, which is lost to the atmosphere in rural areas.

The students selected 16 sites between Shenstone and Birmingham city centre to investigate how and why the temperature changed. Students used digital thermometers to record temperatures, GPS receivers to accurately locate the position of each site and a fish-eye lens mounted on a digital SLR camera to investigate the Sky View Factor.

In lessons students will use Google Earth and Ordnance Survey maps to estimate how much of the surface at each site is natural and how much is man-made. Using special graph paper, the photographs will be ‘converted’ in to a Sky View Factor of between 0 and 1. This information, along with the distance from each site from the city centre, will be used to determine whether Birmingham does indeed have an Urban Heat Island.

In the next issue of the Arthur Terry Times, the students will present their findings and will consider whether an Urban Heat Island is beneficial to Birmingham,

Fieldwork is a vital part of Geography and in April 2011 A Level students will spend five days studying the landforms and management of the Dorset coast.

Birmingham’s Urban Heat Island by Mr Napper

Site 1 at Shenstone has a high Sky View Factor, with little of the sky obscured by buildings.

Site 2, New Street in Birmingham city centre, has a much lower Sky View Factor, with much more of the sky obscured by buildings.

On Thursday 21st October 2010 the Yr 8s in The Arthur Terry School had the great privilege of having 2 ½ hours of history fun and learning.

During this 2 ½ hour lesson we were learning about Black History. We had posters stuck on the wall about famous people that had a massive impact on Black History such as:

Martin Luther King Rosa Parks Emmett TillLittle Rock Nine Abraham Lincoln

During part of this lesson we made a board game of our choice which taught the players about Black History Month. And most of the students didn’t realise they were learning because they were having so much fun!

We learnt many skills from this lesson as we were working together however, still putting our own individual ideas into the board game.

By Kostantia Stylianou

“I enjoyed Deep Day very much. It was different from what we normally do and it was fun, but I also learnt a lot about important people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Overall, it was a great day.”

Raphella Nicodemou

“We learnt about segregation, and then made a board game. I thought a lot about mine and I thought it looked good.”

Amie Richards

“When we were completing our project, I think I got a lot better at teamwork.”

Jessica Reid

“Everyone played their own part in creating the board game.”Thomas Phipps

“I enjoyed being creative when we designed our board game.”Hannah Cotter

“I enjoyed working with people in my class who I don’t normally work with.”

Joe Hancox

Year 8 Black History Day

Year 9 Young Geographers of the Year by Mr Simmons

Arthur Terry pupil Dominic Stevenson, aged 16, recently took part in a high profile charity event involving a team of 18 Scouts aged 16-25 in adventure based activities in the heart of London. This was to launch the Soldiers’ Charity’s ‘Soldier Challenge’ fundraising event, an adventure race to be held in London on 26th March, 2011 and led by Prince Harry.The event was held outside the Imperial War Museum in London where an assault course was set up along with log carrying, climbing the big gun in front of the IWM, walking along netting, climbing down, running around a barrier, crawling under camouflage nets, going over and under bars and balancing. After completing this a few times Dominic’s team recorded the fastest scouts time from the 20 Scout groups There were also 20 Cadets groups present.

Chief Scout, Bear Grylls, then came down on a zip wire from the front of the IWM. After this the Scouts and Cadets spoke to both Bear Grylls and Prince Harry then the press suggested that the Cadets and Scouts formed a team with Bear and the Prince to climb the gun and lift the rest up, with a group photo on top.

Dominic said ‘I had a fantastic time and it was certainly a unique and memorable experience’

Soldier’s Charity Prince’s Challenge

Youth ParliamentArthur Terry pupil Tom Hulin, currently in year 12, went to London last month to voice the views of the young people of Birmingham as a member of the Youth Parliament. This was only the second ever debate to take place in the House Of Commons not involving elected MP’s.

Three hundred members of the Youth Parliament debated five issues ranging from University tuition fees to the war in Afghanistan to sex and relationship education. Tom was chosen by John Bercow the Speaker in the House of Commons to speak in the second debate on University tuition fees. Tom expressed the view that the cap on tuition fees should not be lifted saying ‘I believe everyone should have an equal opportunity to study at University and it should not just be a privilege for the students that can afford it’ This was an amazing opportunity to meet young people from all over Britain and to represent the views and feelings of young people in Sutton Coldfield and I thoroughly enjoyed it’

The Royal Geographical Society set a competition to find the best young Geographers within schools in Europe. The topic was on Deforestation (cutting down trees) in forests.

Year 9 have been learning all about the Tropical Rainforests of the world. Their task was to create and perform a short production of the bad things that are happening to the rainforests. Keep your fingers crossed as we may just have a winner!

This half-term Year 9 students have been learning about Growth

and Development in the Childhood Life Stage during their Health and Social Care GCSE lessons. As part of this topic, the Social

Sciences Department organised a visit to the City Learning Centre (CLC) at Stockland Green School. The aim of the visit was for

students to create a storybook for a child between the age of four and ten years old, using an ICT package of their choice. The visit

was a huge success with the CLC staff saying that students’ behaviour and attitude to learning was a credit to Arthur Terry

School. Across is a short account of what some of the students thought of the visit.

Thank you to Miss Bursnell, Head of Humanities for her support in organisation of the day alongside all of the other staff who contributed to its success. A special BIG thank you goes to Mrs Holland who accompanied the students on the trip.

“We have been to the CLC before so knew what to expect. The facilities there are very good and we could use them to make our storybook really special, especially using the microphones to record the voices for our characters”. Edward Turner & Oliver Davies.

“I had been looking forward to going on this trip because it was a chance to do something new we don’t always do at school every day. I made a story book on the theme of Christmas with Santa getting stuck in a chimney for eating too many mince pies! It was a relaxing day which I really enjoyed.” Kavita Dubb.

“We were making a story on the theme of Christmas but we didn’t have any music so we challenged Miss Lakin to sing for us! We had a nice day working together.” Bella Danks & Mellissa Wallace.

“It’s fun to do something different like this instead of being in the classroom but we were still learning lots about children and how to help their emotional development through stories.” Sophie O’Malley.

“It was nice to be able to work together and share ideas, helping each other make the sound effects to go with the stories.” Ellie Higgins & Lucy

Winkless.

“My story is about a Lion who couldn’t find his roar who was laughed at by his ‘friends’. But, with practice he got really good at it and shocked his friends by proving them wrong. This shows that it doesn’t matter if you can’t do things to start with. The moral of the story is: practice makes perfect!” Rosalie Moloney.

Story Makers by Miss Lakin

Hereford School have made an excellent start to the academic year. On Friday, 5th November they demonstrated their caring, charitable side by raising over £600 with a Bonfire Day Charity Fayre at break and lunchtime. Each of the twenty tutor groups in Hereford organised stalls and activities to encourage their fellow students to part with their cash! Great entrepreneurial skills and team work were demonstrated by all the groups.

Students chose the the worthy charities of Make a Wish Foundation and Cancer Research as the recipients of their fund raising. Thanks to cake stalls, chocolate fountains, bobbing apples, penalty shoot outs, naming teddies, guessing how many sweets in jars, nail painting and numerous other enterprising ideas the grand total of £615.28 was raised. HA raised £282.99 for Make a Wish Foundation and HB raised £332.29 for Cancer Research. The top fund raising  tutor groups were HA2 and Mr Bagnato & HB4 and Mrs Ridley. Both were rewarded with treats to share in tutor time.Both charities will be invited into school next term to receive their cheques.

Well Done Hereford students, tutors & ACs!

Hereford HouseWe have nearly had our first full term of the year, and we are working hard to achieve the position of the Best House and reap the rewards of that.

Lincoln house has spent a long time this year looking at the term RESPECT and what that means to all of us associated with this very powerful work.

As a house we have put meanings to it and how we as individuals receive and give respect. This we hope will help us contribute to Arthur Terry School becoming an even better school to work in and be more successful.

The house activities have been coming thick and fast and we are doing our best to compete in them and achieve as many points as we can and also get as much enjoyment as we can.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and remember Lincoln, “We are the champions!”

Lincoln House

In late September the year 10 textiles class made a visit to Four Oaks Primary School as part of their research for the toys design brief they were given. We interviewed the children, asking them about what kind of clothes they like to wear and what kind of toys that they like to play with. This helps us get a better idea of what that age group like. This will then help us when we come to gather our research and later start designing. The year 1 students were very helpful giving us clear opinions and excellent ideas. They were very clear about what they liked and what they didn’t like, this allowed us to eliminate unpopular ideas and confirm correct ideas.

Later on at break time we played with the children in the playground, Lucy made some new friends, Katie went to the year one hairdressers and had her hair beautifully redone, and we all remembered being 5 years again when we all played ‘hop scotch’ together. It was like being a kid again; it was great fun, definitely worth the morning off school. We were all sad to come back to school just in time for lunch leaving the carefree life of being a year one.

Year 10 GCSE Textiles by Francesca Westwood

Cross Country Success

Birmingham City Council in association with UK Athletics are looking to take 24 Birmingham based athletes on a trip of a lifetime to Jamaica’s national stadium. The trip would provide potential top young athletes with the opportunity to race at a world famous stadium in the sprint relays in February 2011. A couple of Arthur Terry Athletes fitted the criteria, meeting times etc and went along to the trials last weekend. The following 3 attended the trial day, competing against others from Birmingham.

Nathan Wade- 100mtrAmelia Benjamin-200mtrSean Evans-800mtr

All 3 athletes are awaiting the phonecall for a trip of a lifetime. This has arisen as a result of Birmingham being the training camp for Jamaican athletes during London 2012.

We wish them every success in the selection.

Jamaica Athletics 2011

Streetly Hockey Club and Arthur Terry have a stronger club link thanks to the work of Will Murray (coach) and Miss Horspool. Every Monday evening, whatever the weather our dedicated group of Hockey players and coaches are training towards the Sutton Schools Hockey League in the New Year.The link has enabled students to attend Streetly Hockey Club training sessions on Wednesday evenings, Sunday mornings and play matches on Saturdays. Some of our students will be attending county hockey trials in the new year. The link is aiming to provide a set of Hockey Goals so that students can play competitive hockey on home turf.

Success stories include: Libby Duignan (yr 13) who is pushing for a first team ladies place, Mark Moore (yr 9) who regularly plays for the badgers and 4th team men. Other students are training hard for selection.

Our Yr 7 girls have been extremely enthusiastic and show real promise for the future.

Keep up the good work.

If you would like to attend trampolining and improve your skills (especially for GCSE) then please come along on Thursdays 3.30-4.30pm. See Mrs Morgan for more details.

Hockey News

September saw the start of the cross country season. Arthur Terry competed in each event held locally. Many of the students who represented the school are members of local athletic clubs who train frequently for such events.

There were many success stories throughout the events. Yr 7 Jessica Tarr won her first race convincingly, Sean Evans has been selected for the county team after having a string of victories throughout the series. Sean has also run at various representative events over the past couple of months, often beating off older competition. Ben Topley has also had a successful series of races, also being selected for regional squads however being hampered with injury this season. Mollie Rees has also had continued success in all events, finishing in the top 3 at each event, also representing the North Birmingham Squad. Other successes for being selected for North Birmingham include Elliott Walker and George Rees who had top 10 finishes in all events.

Many other students should be commended for their efforts in what often were difficult running conditions.

Trampolining ClubOver 30 students in years 9,10, 11 & 6th form have been attending

tramolining club every Thursday after school. Students have been

working very hard this term perfecting their individual skills and 10 bounce

routines. All students have made huge progress since September; many

of these students are now developing their coaching and leadership skills

by helping others to improve their technique and performance. I would

like to thank all those students who attend trampolining for their

commitment and dedication to trampolining over the past term.

Pictured are members of the schools years 7 & 8 rugby team and years 9 & 10 rugby team.

This year the school was invited to take part in two competitions for Emerging Schools Rugby Teams there progress has been as follows;

Year 7 & 8’s have now played 5 matches and won them all in quite convincing style;

35-0 against Bishop Walsh35-0 against Aston Manor40-0 against Hamstead Hall30-5 against Heartlands25-0 against Bishop Walsh

They now have a well deserved rest until the New Year when hopefully they will pick up from where they have left off.

The team has been chosen from a squad of up to sixty pupils who at some time have attended coaching sessions on a Tuesday after school with Dave Craig and Sandy Owen from Spartans. A massive thank you must go to all the students who have trained because without you we wouldn’t have been able to field a team, and also to Dave and Sandy for all your hard work.

Year 9 & 10 have only had one match so far this season running out convincing winners against Handsworth Grammar School 30-6.They have two more matches to be played before the Christmas break and hopefully they will be able to emulate the year 7 & 8’s and then take a well earned break.

If the boys keep up the good work they will potentially be playing in a Regional Final at Moseley R.U.F.C.

Aside from their obvious great rugby prowess the most impressive thing about both of these teams has been the way they have conducted themselves on and off the pitch. We can all be very proud of our rugby team.

Arthur Terry Rugby

Girl’s FootballTwo Arthur Terry Girls’ 5-aside teams, hungry for success and silverware, made their way to a Birmingham Schools’ tournament on 11th November. Both teams, coached by Miss Worthington, started off strong; Arthur Terry B team looked dominant in their first few games, and they didn’t lose a match until just before the semi-finals.

The Arthur Terry A Team won every game they played and faced an undefeated Aston Manor side in a nail-biting final, which saw 2 goals scored by each team, taking it down to penalties. Arthur Terry just missed out on the title, after losing 4-3 on penalties, however the organisers had nothing but praise for the Arthur Terry Girls and their player of the tournament went to team captain Becky Parsons (YA10). Well done to everybody!

Year 7 girls’ football training takes place in the sports hall every Tuesday at lunchtime. If you’re interested, please come along!

More Rugby!

Maths Teacher, Shane Walsh, has been working with The Shell Centre at The University of Nottingham to develop new teaching materials for Mathematics that promote collaboration, encourage independence and foster creativity. As a consequence of the Maths Department’s work with the University, led by Professor Malcolm Swan and funded by The Bowland Trust, a Japanese research group recently visited the school to see the resources in action.

Shane said ‘Although a high achiever in international studies, the Japanese education system does not promote creativity in the teaching of Mathematics which is something that the Japanese National Institute for Educational Policy Research seeks to develop in schools’. The work that the Maths Department at Arthur Terry has done as a result of their work with The University of Nottingham and The Bowland Trust, was cited as best practise in the country.

In addition to Arthur Terry, the group visited 3 schools in the south east and a school in Derby during their five day visit to the UK.

Earlier this year, a number of Maths lessons were filmed using the Bowland resources that will provide an insight of how to deliver lessons that encourage collaboration. The new teaching materials will be launched in London, in January 2011.

Japanese Visitors

Once again the years 7 & 8 rugby team return conquering heroes having played two more matches in the freezing cold, they played a very big opposition in the shape of Heartlands school and won 30-5 and Bishop Walsh 25-0. Most impressive of all was the way they conducted themselves on and off the pitch they were a credit to us all. Louca Millosha HA7Jamie Harrison HA1Kristov Maou GA9Johnathon Watson GB5Dan Usher HB4Jack Knowles YA7Edward Shilcof HB9Max Craven YB5Max Sellars GA4Dion Lloyd GA8George Rees GA4Gianluca Ruggieri HB6

Help for Heroes

Kirsty Grinham & Jennifer Paulton, year 12 students lead GB9 in preparing the shoe boxes for the 'Help for heroes' appeal. They organised students into groups and everyone then brought in donations and together we filled the boxes.

UK Maths Challenge

Sixteen students from Years 8-13 took part in the UK Senior Maths Challenge on Thursday 4th November. The Challenge is a 90 minute paper consisting of very demanding problem solving questions. The paper is so difficult that only the best mathematicians are brave enough to face it! In previous years we have achieved at best a Bronze award, but 2010 was an outstanding year. The best results are given below:

Gold award Chris Richards (Y13)

Silver award Jamie East (Y13) Deacon IP (Y12) Aimee Salt (Y11) Robert Shilcof (Y10)

Bronze award Leanne Salt (Y13) Emma Plant (Y12) Demetrios Ezekiel (Y10)

Wishing all our students, parents, carers & governorsa Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year

The Arthur Terry School Staff

Snow & Ice

As you will know we do our very best to keep parents informed about school closures during winter particularly when we are hit by snow and ice.

As soon as a decision has been made to close school we post information onto the Arthur Terry website. We also inform local radio stations BRMB, Radio WM and Heart FM who announce closures.

For parents driving to school, the most difficult part of the journey can be getting onto school premises as the roads around school including Kittoe Road, Beaton Road and Butlers Lane are ungritted and treacherous.

For 10 years school has been asking the Highways agency at Birmingham City Council to grit the said roads around our school but in spite of this the situation remains unchanged as parents, staff and students attempt the challenging inclines. We will continue to raise the matter with the local authority but we urge parents to do the same. With your support we may be able to persuade the local authority that gritting roads around our school is a high priority to ensure the safe accessibility to Arthur Terry for staff, parents and students.

If you wish to write to them you should address your letter to Chris Lucas, Highways Department, Birmingham City Council, 1 Lancaster Circus, Queensway, Birmingham B4 7DQ or call 0121 464 7547. Alternatively you can email highways@birmingham.gov.uk

The Staff at Arthur Terry wish you a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

In October, ten Year 10 Food Technology students took part in the school heat of the Future Chef Competition. All participants were amazing and drew in lots of people as the aroma of cooking swept around the school. They all had to cook a main course for 2 people in 1 and ½ hours, not exceeding £5.

Richard Stuart, a former student, chef & previous runner up in the National finals of this competition several years ago, instigated the cook – off and then helped to judge the results. Millie Platts, LB2, proved successful on the night & goes on to represent the Arthur Terry School in Worcester on Thursday 25th November, we wish her the best of luck.

Future Chef Competition