Newsletter Summer Term 2015

Bents Green School

It has been a busy summer term at Bents Green and the summer holiday is almost here. Firstly, I would like to thank Parent/Carers, staff, Governors and Friends of Bents Green for supporting the school in its new journey. Student achievement during the term has been progressive; both students and staff have worked hard towards gaining those all important learning targets. Personalisation has given students exciting opportunities to participate in placements such as 'Big Foot' Music Production, Young People's Boxing Gym, Whirlow Hall Farm and many other great activities.

Bents Green first ever Prom was a huge success and celebrated the achievements of our Year 11 and Post 16 Leavers. This week our new Year 7 students enjoyed their Transition visits to our Ringinglow and Westfield sites. The remainder of students will meet their new teachers and teaching assistants in their learning environments during the last week of term. Finally, we say goodbye to four of our long serving members of staff who have completed 94 years service

collectively. Enjoy the rest of the summer and we will see you in September for the start of the Autumn term! Amanda Costello, Headteacher

Cathy Varley, KS4 HLTA and Andrew Hinchliffe, Director of Learning KS4 have worked closely with the Progressions Team to develop personalised learning journeys for some of our students, fully supported by staff from BGS. Placements accessed include: On Board Skate Park, Big Foot Music Production, Musical Works Studio, South Yorkshire Clubs for Young People, Boxing Gym, Sheffield Sharks Media Production, Whirlow Hall Farm, Sheffield Media productions, Fly Cheese Animation Studio and A Mind Apart Drama Club. Eleven students from Y7 Y11 have benefitted from access to a personalised curriculum by attending one or more placements.

The success has been incredible and the feedback received from the providers has been overwhelmingly positive. Students have not only gained valuable learning experiences, but they also achieved some credible qualifi-cations. Students achieved AQA Entry Level Awards as well as Functional Skills Level 1 qualifications. The students commitment and hard work on these placements was recognised last week when Cathy and Andrew were invited to The 14 25 Progressions Team Annual Celebration Event 2015. Two Bents Green School students were nominated for an award. This is an amazing achievement as there are over 600 students accessing placements and only 25 were nominated for awards. Andrew and Cathy went along to the event that was held at The Town Hall and Councillor Jackie Drayton presented both students with their awards.

Bents Green School are incredibly proud of Kyle and Omar for receiving awards for their outstanding effort and achievement.

Kyles nomination and award from South Yorkshire Clubs for Young People recognised his perseverance and effort at the sports gym. Omar received 2 nominations and awards for his 100% attendance, punctuality and commitment to learning. Both students were described as an inspiration to others!

Achievement and Success for Bents Green Students!

Bents Green School Website: https://bentsgreen.wordpress.com

Independent travel training is going extremely well for several students including Charlie, Tom, Declan and Callum. Keep an eye out for them walking into school in the mornings from the Hammer and Pincers.

All Y7s have continued to develop their outdoor skills in Forest Schools. They have enjoyed cooking food on an open fire. We have some really talented footballers; they enjoy organising matches against each other most days, especially James and Chris.

Lots of students have very good ICT skills including computer programming; Blake has designed his own games. In Technology lessons students have enjoyed making their own money boxes; Evan is even producing his own Go Cart. We have all enjoyed cooking healthy dishes in Food Technology. Swimming lessons have gone with a great splash!

In 7R we have been learning about forces in Science and went to the park to see which play things we could push and pull.

We had some very cute ducklings come to school which 7R enjoyed holding and in Forest Schools we enjoyed Den building.

EXAM SUCCESS! This year has been a busy year for Bents Green pupils who have been working hard towards their GCSEs, Functional Skills and AQA Awards. Seventeen Year 11 pupils and one Post 16 pupil sat their Maths GCSE exam in May at Bents Green School. Three pupils have been attending Silverdale School for the past 2 years to study GCSE Photography. For the first time this year Cathy Varley worked with the support of Silverdale School to teach 8 pupils the Functional Skills English syllabus and they sat the Level 1 exam in May. All the pupils have worked very hard this year. We should also have great results in Entry Level Certificates in English, Geography, Food Studies, History and Resistant Materials. Results Day is Thursday 20th August.

Y7s recently showcased some of their achievements in an exciting

assembly Y7s Got Talent. Ant and Dec (Aaliyah and Kieran) ran the

show, Kieran sang a brilliant solo and some of our very talented dancers

performed a great Just Dance routine (Callum, Charlie, Kagan and

Aaliyah). Several students are learning martial arts and showed us some

impressive moves in assembly (Joe, Thomas and Blake). Josh made us all

laugh with his impressions of The Simpsons!

Thanks to all staff, students and parents/carers who helped us with The Master Cutlers Challenge 2015 raising money for The Brathay Trust and Help for Heroes. The Post 16 students organised and ran two events in school and spent two days on a market stall at The Moor Market. The Master Cutler, David Grey, came to our last event and was very impressed by the students and all of the work they had put into it. The raffle we

ran was a huge success and we hope the winners enjoy their prizes. Our total raised has reached over 1,250 so was a tremendous effort from all involved! David Grey was so impressed by the sequin art pictures made by James (P16H) that he bought one and temporarily displayed it at Cutler's Hall before donating it on to WORK Limited. A quote from two of our students:

I like fundraising. It is important to raise money for the people of the nation. (James, P16H) Fundraising is a good thing to do. It could be a good career. (Zak, P16H) Helen Philliskirk - P16 Trainer Assessor & Master Cutlers Challenge Co-ordinator

The Master Cutlers Challenge Market Stalls at The Moor Market

http://www.mastercutlerschallenge2014.co.uk/

Thanks for the Last 94 Years!!

.

Information for Parents

The Independent Travel Training Team (ITT) In Sheffield there are lots of new and exciting travel opportunities for

children and young people that help them work towards a level of independence which suits each individual. The Learning as you go leaflet explains the different levels a young person can reach with independent travel, and the range of support available through the ITT team. The ITT team works with young people in special and mainstream schools who want to achieve independent travel, and experience the benefits this can offer them. Parents become reassured that they young person is trained and able to travel safely between home and school, though an individualised travel plan. The assessing and training of the young people takes place during the school day and normal travelling times. No young person travels independently until the Travel Trainer is confident that they have the skills necessary to make the journey safely. For more detailed information please look on the School Website or contact the School Office if you would like a copy of the leaflet. More information can also be found on the link - www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/information-for-parentscarers/care-support/specialneeds/transport/indetravel-learn-as-you-go.html Or email: Indetravel@sheffield.gov.uk One of the ITT team will respond directly to parents with any means of communication they feel comfortable with. They can go to their home or come into school and meet parents, to offer them more information about ITT and the process for referral.

Festival of Fun The activities will be FREE to Sheffield children who have a CU Passport to Learning. If students dont have a Passport to Learning yet, please dont panic they can buy one from Sheffield Libraries for just 2 each. The Festival of Fun will kick off with a fantastic launch event in the Winter Gardens on Saturday 11th July 2015, 10am-4pm. Families will be able to have a go at some fabulous FREE activities and there will also be a market place of Learning Destinations armed with all the info youll need to plan your summer activities school holidays sorted! Make sure you find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sheffieldcu and follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SheffieldCU for all the latest Festival of Fun updates too! Full details can be found on the school website or if you contact the School Office we can provide you with a copy of the programme.

A group of Y11 students have recently taken part in our 27th annual residential trip to Boggle Hole in North Yorkshire. The Youth Hostel at Boggle is situated right next to the beach, so we spent lots of time strolling on the sand, searching for fossils, looking in rock pools and getting our feet wet! Whitby is only a few miles down the road and Wednesday proved to be a very busy day. This included searching for Draculas grave, walking the 199 steps to and from the Abbey, exploring the shops and taking a boat ride on the Captain Cook. Experiences: eating doughnuts and chips; relaxing on the beach and burying Colm in the sand! Then we finished the day with a barbeque and board games before retiring to our rooms exhausted!

We have 4 members of staff who will be leaving Bents Green School this summer: pictures from left to right:

John Brabban (Wood Technology tutor) has taught at the school for 27 years. Julie Crookes (English / RE tutor) has taught at Bents Green for 29 years. Cath Fletcher, one of our domestic staff, has worked at Bents Green for 8 years. Linda Hambleton who is the Bents Green School Business Manager has worked here for 30 years. We will miss them all, but wish them a long and happy retirement!