@newentschool

A New Principal and A Renewed Sense of Priority

Mrs Harrison is delighted at how quickly Newent School came out of special measures. She feels that there is now great momentum and that the School is having a lot of deserved recognition of success. “So,” she affirmed, “when the governors indicated that they were going to advertise for the post of Principal, I thought there was still a job to be done here and I’m in the middle of it. It made perfect sense to me; both for myself and for the school to follow through the work already underway.” As expected, Mrs Harrison feels an additional pressure as the permanent Principal. “Previously, I was stepping into a difficult situation and doing the best to make the best of that difficult situation. Now we’ve reached stability but we want to continue to drive up standards and attain our ulti-mate goal to be an outstanding school.” The time frames have changed for the school. “It’s now about: where are we going to be in three years? Where are we going to be in five years?” It’s the longer term direction of travel we

By Alex Shibli

have to work on and Mrs Harrison emphasised the pres-sure around that. “One of the key things that we need to do is to look out-side of ourselves.” Mrs Harrison outlined some positives about going into special measures and one of those was that Newent School linked up with multiple secondary schools. She considered this as “very healthy” and add-ed that the aim is to look at primary schools, colleges and more secondary schools “to build collaboration in this area of Gloucestershire; to build a group of schools that are all trying to do the best for our children.” There has been a shift in priorities now as the school looks to longer time frames. Things that were not priori-ties when we were in special measures are now priorities. “Some of which,” she told me, are going to be quite diffi-cult to resolve but will be dealt with and faced.” Mrs Harri-son is excited about the prospects for Newent School and anticipates further success. She later held an assembly to talk to the whole school about the plans and her inten-tions. It is clear that the job of taking the School out of special measures is complete. Now the job of taking the School into a successful future has provided a renewed sense of priority.

New Vice Principal Mr. Glen Balmer

Our fourteenth annual Year 11 Prom on Friday 23rd May 2014 definitely ranks among one of the best ever. A mas-sive thank you must go out to all of the staff from Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre for the help and support to bring the event together and to out host Tim Victor-Trott and his team at The Grange, How Caple. The Year 11 students began making their entrances from 7:30pm in an incredible array of vehicles, sports cars, limousines, bicycles, tractors, horse drawn carriages and a helicopter, yes... A HELICOPTER! The weather was not the best, but fortunately the arrivals were not scup-pered by any of the rain.

By Helena Morgan Heels and Helicopters

Words cannot do justice to the glamorous ball gowns and dapper suits. It is always a delight for all staff to see the students completing their transformation from school stu-dent to young adults. It has to be said one of the most im-pressive feats of the night was how the girls wore their HIGH heels for the whole evening, many of the teachers resorted to their flats.

Staff and students were left befuddled and bemused by the hi-jinks of the magician on the evening, “Phil Jay”. His card and coin tricks were fantastic...if anyone can tell me how he got that card into his shoe I would really love to know! Further entertainment on the night was provid-ed by the DJ and, despite the weather, a bouncy castle provided by Megabounce. High-quality photography was provided on the night by Mr Mortimer and his glamorous assistants (a.k.a. Mrs Cox, Miss Terry and Mrs Roberts). The team worked flat out all night providing students with professional quality photographs as memories of the night, and something for parents/carers to display with pride. Prom awards commenced at 10pm, when Mr Steve Edgell and Miss Kelly Thompson presented the fun awards as voted for by the students, followed by the Prom Royal Awards 2014. The atmosphere throughout the award ceremony was joyous and the Year 11s ap-plauded and encouraged all winners. Special mention to the Royal House winners and the Prom King and Queen 2014. Students and staff danced and sang the rest of the night

away, well until midnight anyway, until the last song was played out and the coaches were loaded and students made their way home or to their after-prom celebrations. The prom was attended by around 170 students and 20+ staff. Not only did everyone look wonderful, behaviour was also brilliant and again our students have shown themselves to be a credit to us all. Thank you all for a great night. We hope you enjoyed it and that when you’re older you think back with fond memories.

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See you on GCSE Results Day Thursday August 21st from 9am

This was a rare experience where I was al-lowed to play a full sized, concert grand pi-ano. It was the most inviting instrument I have seen played, and heard. The people who were performing with me were of all standards; there was even a (near) toddler who could not reach the pedals! Following our performance, experienced mu-sicians responded with constructive criticism that I found very helpful. After the performances had ended, I had the

chance to see the Steinway Hall’s workshop, where pianos were being built, restored or rebuilt. There was one piano that had extremely fine paintings that were made out of separate pieces of wood stuck together to form the instrument’s shape. The main entrance had up to 50 grand pianos lined up in different colours, sizes, ages and prices; it was all rather mag-nificent. The day turned out to be a pleasurable and musical day.

By Colin Willis

Playing at the Steinway Hall

Please visit the web to hear the result of a year-long collaboration between Ben O’Sullivan (The Songwriting Charity) and Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre on the project of “Something Kind” - the antidote to bullying. The project was sponsored by GHLL and the Summerfield Trust, and songwriter Ben O’Sullivan delivered a series of workshop throughout the year culminating in workshops with Picklenash School where our students became the men-tors. The song was composed, produced and recorded on the 2nd May 2014 at Picklenash School with Mica, Rosita, Harry, Emma, Isaac and Jen facilitating and leading the workshop under the direction of Ben O’Sullivan. Listen and marvel! https://soundcloud.com/the-songwriting-charity/picklenash-newent-exploring-the-future

“Something Kind” Collaboration Year

18th Century Revolutions in History

By Ivan Woodward

You are Invited to BEE (Biology Ecological Experience)

From Bats to Boar, and Moths to Millipedes - come and find out more. A one night residential with a focus on wildlife in their natural habitats.

Cost : approximately £35.00

Yr 11 Biologists are invited to our next BEE weekend. FRIDAY 3rd - SATURDAY 4th OCTOBER 2014

Information is available from your biology teacher.

Forest of Dean

Mr Woodward’s Year 8 History class have been trial-ling a new study unit on the Georgians, which will be replacing the Romans next year. The eighteenth century is very much a “century of revolutions” with significant changes in agriculture, industry and science as well as the political revolu-tions in Britain, the USA and France. As part of our studies of the French Revolution the students have constructed their own model of a guil-lotine.

The New History Syllabus

Our Yr 11 Environmental Land Based Science students have cele-brated the end of their growing year with a vegetable show and Barbe-cue. (Name removed) stole the Best in Show with his awesome onions. Mr Davies, Show Judge, comment-ed on the high quality of this year’s entries and hopes to see entries in Newent’s Onion Fayre in Septem-ber. Much of the produce grown by our students is taken home and enjoyed by their families and surplus is pur-chased by staff. This money is then used to buy seeds for next year – recycling in its best form!!!!

By Jane Price

ELBS Annual Vegetable Show and Barbecue

Gloscol Success and Prize Giving

Lionheart Challenge All Year 10s spent the day working in teams and develop-ing entrepreneurial skills to match the challenge present-ed to them. All 200 students were engaged in the challenge of ‘conceptualising, designing and creating a product or de-vice which will help fire prevention in the UK.’ Each stu-dent had a different role within their team whether it was designing, marketing, costing, advertising or presenting. The winning team from this school heat will go on to the regional final to be held at Wembley Stadium. Quote from Austin Binning-Year 10 student. “Personally, I wasn’t looking forward to Monday, but once the challenge began, all I wanted to do was win.” Pictured with the winning team are Sue Lawrance, Barry Vicary and our guest, Mark Owen of Moose Marketing.

On the evening of 3rd July students from Gloucester and the Forest who studied Construction, Building Services, Motor Vehicle, Engineering, Construction Technical, Busi-ness and Professional Studies came together in Glouces-ter for their Awards Ceremony. It was a beautiful warm sunny evening and proud parents, friends and employers enjoyed celebrating the successes of the Award Winners. We celebrated the successes of two of our students: Alex Haste was awarded Best All Round Performance on a Schools Link Construction Course. Alex was an exemplar student with an excellent attitude. His behaviour was out-standing showing great professionalism in his practical work. His attendance was 100%. Alex has been fortu-nate to obtain an apprenticeship with John Shaw Installa-tion and Maintenance Services; John and his wife cele-brated Alex’s success with his family.

Rhys Brown Williams was presented with an award for the Best All Round Performance on a Schools Link Motor Vehicle Course. Rhys was chosen for his 100% effort and professional manner in which he conducted himself in the workshop. Rhys was always willing to help his peers if they were having difficulty and he had excellent attend-ance. This was a well-deserved award and Rhys revelled in the occasion I don’t think his smile left his face for one moment all evening, his family enjoyed his success. It was a wonderful evening culminating with a barbecue and live music. I was proud to share in their well-deserved successes; we wish them both continued success in their future training and careers.

By Jane Goward Brown

Year 7 have been renewing the link with our partner school in France, Collège Joffre at Rivesaltes near Perpi-gnan. Earlier in the year 71A enjoyed making a DVD in-troducing themselves in a mixture of French and English, which we sent to an equivalent class in the French school and since then have worked on some materials describ-ing their homes to our French friends. The culmination of this year’s activity took place on 23 June when we talked live to the French children using a Skype link. This was very difficult to organise due to time differences, timeta-bling and holiday differences, but both groups were very excited to be finally talking to each other on the last day of the French summer term. The students put into action a lot of the language they have been learning this year and managed to avoid speaking franglais. Some of them even worked out in ad-vance how to say ‘after you’ in French, in case the slight time lag caused problems. Afterwards Izzy Godwin com-

mented that it was interesting to see what the French stu-dents did in their free time and a really fun way to find out France and Ellie Hughes summed up everyone’s thoughts: ‘It was a better way of learning because it was fun and you didn’t actually know you were working.’ We were only sorry that there won’t be another opportunity to Skype with them until September. We aim to continue to develop our relation with Collège Joffre with more Skype and DVD links from September and also hope to be able to offer an exchange visit to France for Years 9 and 10 in the spring of 2015 - some students in Year 11 and 12 may remember a similar trip two years ago. Rivesaltes is in a lovely position on the Mediterranean, quite close to the border with Spain – what better way could there be to practise your language skills?

Skyping with Rivesaltes: Translation Below

Success in UK Mathematics Trust Challenges

2014 was another very successful year with our students performing brilliantly in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Challenges run by the University of Leeds. All stu-dents taking part gained good scores, with the following mathematicians receiving awards. Intermediate Challenge Year 10 Conor Nolan - Gold Award Isaac Raun – Silver Award Callum Cullen – Silver Award Eliza Taylor – Silver Award

Kathryn Russell – Silver Award Louis Penn – Bronze Award Jordan Buckley – Bronze Award Chloe Cullen – Bronze Award Matthew Evans – Bronze Award Year 9 Alex Lightburn – Bronze Award David Reed – Bronze Award Sam Isbell – Bronze Award Harry Bloxsome – Bronze Award

Junior Challenge Year 8 Harry Senior – Silver Award Abbie Williams – Silver Award Jordan James – Bronze Award Lewis Mitchell – Bronze Award Kira Sheppard – Bronze Award Lydia Kelly – Bronze Award Sophie Pritchard – Bronze Award Bethan Limbrick – Bronze Award Felicity Beach-Thomas – Bronze Award Phoebe Bunce – Bronze Award Mabel McClellan – Bronze Award Sarah Davis – Bronze Award Year 7

Isaac Hatcher – Gold Award Ben Phelps – Gold Award Harvey Howard – Silver Award Lily Hughes – Silver Award James Clift – Bronze Award Annie Tuck – Bronze Award John Samuel – Bronze Award Conor Nolan gained such a high score that he pro-gressed to the UKMT European Kangaroo Challenge, where his performance was very creditable. Very well done to all the mathematicians who took part.

On the 4th of April pupils from both Newent and Stroud visited the Gloucester Crown Court to witness the justice system in play. The experience was both exciting but un-nerving at the same time as you watch others decide the fate of the few people who had committed the crime. The crimes we saw on trial ranged from theft from schools and tax avoidance all the way up to rape and domestic violence. After entering the court we watched a 15 minute video on what it is to be a Juror and what it is you would be expected to do. One of the Clerks then in-formed us about who is who and what they do. Off to the side was a clock apparently monitoring the time but no one knew its true purpose: while the clock is ticking eve-rything in the room was being recorded. A drug offender who had already been convicted in previ-ous years was on trial. On that day he walked out of the holding cells from underneath the court and stood before the court. He could have received a minimum of 5 years for intent to sell, however because he had tried to kick the habit and wasn’t intending to sell he only received 3 years. We sat in court for 2 hours watching lawyers delib-erate over what is right and what should be done and witnessed how they deal with a wide range of crimes. It is strange to think that as we go on about our day to day lives we are blind to the work done by the courts, whose key objective is to keep us safe. They have an important role in our community and we know this be-cause those on trial gave great respect to the judge and others. As well as witnessing live trials we also witnessed how they brought people to court from long distances away and all they did was effectively ‘Skype’ them. The visit opened our eyes to realise just how important the justice system is and how it works in fairness to all those stand-ing trial - “You are innocent until proven guilty.”

By Matthew Reeve

Eye-Opening Experience of Gloucester Crown Court for PSHE Students.

As a young carer I was asked to represent the Newent Young Carers group with our leaders at the visit of the Earl and Countess of Wessex to Newent. So on Thurs-day 24th April, I went to St Mary’s Church feeling a little nervous. I was lucky to be inside the church amongst some of the organisations and local schools that had representatives waiting to meet the Earl and Countess. On arrival I was shown where I would be stood when the couple came in. While we waited for their arrival I was given a piece of cake. When the Earl and Countess arrived in Church Street we got into our places and had to wait for them to come into

Visit by the Earl and Countess of Wessex

By Erin Ayre

the church which seemed to take a long time as they chatted to other groups on their way down the drive. At the church entrance they met the bell ringers and when they entered the church the Reverend Mason said a few words. The couple then split up with Edward walking down one aisle and Sophie the other. They then swapped over. They were introduced and spoke to each of the groups. I was introduced to them along with my leaders and they both chatted like normal human beings. Sophie asked who I cared for and said that I was special for being a young carer. After they had spoken to the groups they returned to the entrance, Edward said a few words and they cut a blue ribbon. Once this was over they returned to their car at the end of the drive and went off to their next destination.

On the 6th of July a group of 52 students and 4 staff visit-ed the favourite theme park in Staffordshire. On arrival the students were given free-rein and throughout the day enjoyed a range of roller coasters, water rides and other attractions. Some of the more adventurous preferred the more frightening rides; Oblivion and the famed Nemesis were firm favourites with many. The weather was kind to us and kept us in good spirits. Excited students on the way back recalled incidents of terror and delight as they highlighted their favourite rides and experiences, armed with toys and goodie bags to munch on the journey home. All returned to school in timely fashion, some worse for wear and looking a little green around the gills, but all none the less having enjoyed a good day out with lots of fun. Well done to all who went for making this a fabulous, thrilling day to remember. Here’s what some students had to say: “It was a brilliant day and I would happily go again” “We thoroughly enjoyed our day” “It is little wonder that the school continues to visit Alton Towers as it is such a popular day out”

Alton Towers 2014

Awards in Memory of Former Newent Staff

At the Mountbattern House Record of Achievement As-sembly, two very special awards were give to three ex-ceptional students. The Tony Trevail award for Endeavour went to (names removed) while the Alan Slade award for Loyalty to the House went to House Captain, (name removed). Miss Gordelier commends her for the singing performances in Assemblies and for her powerful ability to juggle drama, music and academic studies and be successful in all.

We have been having a lot of fun making various things from brightly coloured paper, the latest being some beau-tiful dahlias. The club runs through Thursday lunchtime in G10 and every week we like to try out new ideas. Anyone who wishes to join the club is more than welcome and we would be really pleased to see you. Please remember to bring along your lunch so that we can get stuck straight in.

Origami Club

New Legislation for the #freedom2choose

By Alex Shibli

Aneeta Prem is a human rights campaigner, magistrate, British author and founder and president of Freedom Charity which actively seeks to raise awareness of and stop forced marriage. She was welcomed at Newent Community School and I had the opportunity to interview her about her work. “We knew there was no other charity that had been set up to prevent forced marriage,” Aneeta explained. “And the first thing we had to do was to raise £5000 to become a registered charity.” She wasn’t daunted. She spoke to everybody she knew to seek donations of small amounts of money and managed to cover the cost. After becoming a registered charity, the aim was really about trying to get as many people interested in what it was trying to achieve and “it seemed the easiest way was to go to parliament and ask politicians if they could support the campaign.” “At first people said they wouldn’t support Freedom Chari-ty,” she said, “because they thought the issue of forced marriage was culturally sensitive. However, in the last 4 years we have even got the Prime Minister’s support and then, in June, forced marriage became a crime in Britain as a result of the work of the Freedom Charity has done”. It is often the case that people feel nervous about being politically or culturally sensitive. “They worry that they will be accused of being nosy or racist”. They may also think that they should not get involved in family life. Aneeta is unequivocal in her stance. “Actually” she points out “when you are looking at forced marriage you’re looking at child abuse.” There are some who think that in criminalising forced marriage it actually helps to drive it underground. Aneeta disagrees. “It’s already a hidden crime” she justifies. “What this legislation means is that if somebody comes forward they know the police will help them, whereas in the past they wouldn’t have had the same level of help or response”. Aneeta is pleased to see a seven year impris-onment for the perpetrators which she sees as an addi-tional deterrent. It also means people who fear forced marriage for themselves, a friend or a relative know they will be helped and supported if they turn to the authorities. Aneeta is certain that in criminalising forced marriage lives are being saved. She believes this is one of Free-dom Charity’s biggest achievements yet. “We know there are some lives that we have absolutely saved,” she deter-mined, “and we will have stopped some people getting forced into a marriage and a life of terrible unhappiness.” It may surprise people that “the truth is it happens in al-most every country in the world.” She is aware that peo-ple find it easy to try and look at particular countries

where forced marriage is taking place and focus on them to the exclusion of places like Britain. “However,” she elaborates, this can ‘ghettoise’ that society and you can’t do that because that drives the issue underground fur-ther. You have to look at the wider issue of dishonour and then from there consider how you can make a differ-ence.” I later put this viewpoint to Detective Superintendent, Si-mon Atkinson, with whom I also had a chance to speak. He does consider some areas of the country and the world to be more at risk of this crime than others. He re-ports how, during his time working for the Gloucester-shire Police Force, he had never witnessed a case of

forced marriage. However, he agrees with Aneeta about the far-reaching consequences of forced marriage and its severity as a crime. “It is not just the problem of forced marriage that we are tackling.” He asserted. “The results of forced marriages – such as physical, sexual and emo-tional abuse – are just as important to address.” Schools receive visits from Aneeta to talk about Freedom Charity and the issues it addresses both to educate and empower young people but also as a way of establishing young ambassadors: “Young people from the school can get involved in what we’re doing, tell their friends and spread the word. They can fundraise or just generally raise awareness. I want young people to know they can change lives and make a difference”. To see Freedom Charity as a global charity is one of the

biggest things Aneeta is working towards. She hopes to see forced marriage eradicated from the UK in her life time. “If the generation of parents that are teenagers now become the generation that will not see it happening to their children, then it will have been eradicated and made unacceptable.” “Thank you to everyone for welcoming me to Newent School,” Aneeta concluded. “I would like everyone who finds this issue important to join the #freedom2choose campaign.”

Dove Self-Esteem Project

By Di Harrill

The Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England (UWE) are conducting an exciting new research project that aims to improve the body image and self-esteem of children throughout the United King-dom and overseas. Our Year 7 and 8 students have been lucky to participate in this research project through PSHE. The Centre for Appearance Research was established in 1992. It is a thriving research centre with more than 25 academics and researchers who are committed to making a real difference to the lives of the millions of people with appearance-related concerns both in the United Kingdom

and across the world. The Dove Self-Esteem Project was founded in 2004 to en-sure the next generation of young people grow up to be happy and content, free from misconstrued beauty stereo-types and the burden of self-doubt. Dove’s aim is to im-prove the self-esteem of over 15 million young people by 2015. So far, Dove has reached over 13 million young peo-ple with self-esteem education.  This research project supports the development of the Dove Self Esteem Project’s new world-leading healthy body image programme for girls and boys aged 11-14 in secondary schools. The results of this research will help to maximise the ability of this program to positively impact the lives of young people in more than 20 countries across the world. We are excited our Year 7 and Year 8 students and teachers have taken part in this research project. The benefits this study had included your child

learning about some very important issues concerning the media, friendship, communication, and other influences that can affect young people’s body image and self-esteem. There is also research evidence to show that taking part in ac-tivities like the ones included in the body image lesson, have a positive impact on young people’s well-being.

George Crocker is keen to liven up his dull life so he decides to join the Village Drama Club. What happens then turns his world upside down. Set during the Second World War this nostalgic, funny and moving story will appeal to all, from ten years and up. It is a vivid portrait of village life with all seventeen colourful characters played by one man. To book your seat(s) in the main school hall (You will not receive a ticket but your name will be added to a register that will be checked off on the day), please bring £2.50 to the Finance Office. All wel-come including parents!

PERFORMANCE OF ‘INTO THE

BREACH’ BY MARK CAREY

Wednesday 17th September 2014

3.35 pm, the Main Hall.

90 minutes running time.

Student Reunion

It is been a happy end to the year for the Drama Depart-ment with Year 7 students excelling in their Melodrama performances! After studying the stock characters Year 7 wrote, re-hearsed and performed their own scripts. These perfor-mances have provided a superb end to an Outstanding year for Drama across the Key Stages. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and our friends in the community for your support. Have a wonderful summer!

Year 7 Melodrama - Spot the Stock Character

By Marie Hood

Recently over 100 ex Newent Grammar School students (pre 1965) attended a reunion at Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre. These former students are now all in their 70s, 80s or 90s. The main hall was a buzz of conversation. One lady brought all her old school magazines whilst another clutched some treasured photographs. The oldest member in attendance was William Howell, who was 94 yrs old. He informed me he attended the

Grammar School (the building on the traffic lights) be-tween 1931 and 1938. He became a Production Engi-neer, joined the RAF then lectured at Gloucester Tech-nical College based in Brunswick Square between 1960 - 1983, where he fulfilled the role as principal lecturer in Production Engineering, having a book published on Basic Engineering. He informed me that he had a pride in his school at Newent, and recognized the history of the green and yellow school colours, along with the school song and prayer book. The two Freeman brothers, Eric and Barry, both well known in Newent today, were also present at the reunion and enjoyed seeing various people who travelled back to the area for the afternoon.

By Scarlett Miller

Heart of Gloucester-shire Award for Quiet Man with Big Heart

For the past 22 years Mr Edgell has been volunteering and raising money for the well known charity working with bereaved children, Winston’s Wish. Mr Edgell has been part of numerous fundraising events and family fun days and has also played an important role at residential weekends for bereaved children and their parents/carers. Mr Edgell has been an active member of Winston’s Wish from the very beginning and has recently won a heart of Gloucestershire award, recognising his dedicating volun-teering at Winston’s Wish for the past two decades. As well as donating his time and efforts, he is also a keen fundraiser for Winston’s Wish. He has participated in a variety of fundraising events including the annual Christ-mas event ‘Wish upon a Star’ campaign at the Regent Arcade. As many people know Mr Edgell is also the tutor for C2 and his tutorial have adopted Winston’s Wish as their chosen charity, raising several hundred pounds. Mr Edgell says that he is very pleased to have been in-volved in the charity’s journey. He has supported young children and teenagers who have been bereaved for a variety of reasons including suicide, manslaughter and murder, and illness. He says that he wanted to help and support bereaved children make sense of the death and rebuild their lives. Mr Edgell was nominated by Winston’s Wish for

‘Volunteer Hero’ in the 18+ category of the annual Heart of Gloucestershire Awards. He was up against 2 other nominations but was voted winner because of his com-mitment and responsibility towards the charity. The Heart of Gloucestershire Award winners are people who put others before themselves and his work has touched the lives of many children in Gloucestershire. Others working at Winston’s Wish say that they are immensely grateful for his dedication and enthusiasm over the years.

Achievement at KS3 Celebrated

John Moore, Secretary of the highly suc-cessful Newent Rugby Club, was the guest speaker at the KS3 Achievement Evening and presented the certificates. We were also privileged to have Mrs Vicky Sherwood back who presented (name removed) with the ‘Will Luckett’ award on behalf of Will’s family. Mrs Sherwood was Will’s tutor and so knew him and his family very well. Mrs Sherwood said a few words from Will’s mother, Helen Stiles.

Mr. Moore first reassured students that his very striking Newent Rugby Club blazer was not a proposal for a new school uniform. He then spoke very powerfully about the way in which the Rugby Club has achieved its outstanding success. He told us that it was a combination of many factors and of the skills of many people. However, he was insistent that the most important factor was the “100% Effort” mentality. He congratulated all the students who, by winning the subject and the House awards, had so clearly demonstrated that they had the right attitude as their teachers so frequently repeated in the recommendations that were read out in support of each award. It was a lovely, friendly and informal evening, punctuated by musical interludes and the words of Mr. Moore and Mrs. Harrison. It was good to be able to welcome parents to such a positive and encouraging event. Photographs of the evening are available on NELE for download.

One of the year 8 Food studies groups had the opportunity to learn from our local chef who joined their lesson and helped guide them with practical skills and helpful dips during a challenge lesson to create a savoury dish that would impress Jamie Oliver. All of us enjoyed our morning.

Kevin Meecham Challenge

30 students performed solos and in ensembles from Year 7-10 The Jazz Band, Orchestra and ukulele group performed pieces they have been practising since the end of May Spectacular solos by Year 7 students Aspiring ensembles by Year 10 students who were performing for their Controlled Assessments All performances showcased the extraordinary talent we have in this school.

The Music Department finished the Year with a bang, Running concurrently with the Art, Design and Technology show, the KS3 Music Showcase presented the musical talent of youngsters at Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre.

The first ever Music Tour will depart in February 2015, destination London. 4 days of extreme music-making, giving 3 concerts, watching a Musical Production, going on the London Eye, spending free time in Covent Garden and having a music tour special Restaurant meal. In addi-tion staying in a central London accommodation and trav-elling on luxury coach. Currently the price for the tour is £396- inclusive based on 25 students going. Who is going? Jazz Band, Orchestra and Choir. Please join our groups – we start again in September during week 2. If you don’t play an instrument but would still like to come on the Tour just bring your voice to Choir rehearsals! The more of you join, the less each of you will have to pay. Ms Zissiadou will open enrolment for this tour again in September 2014 but please sign-up as soon as possible! All those who have signed-up already (25 students so far) have their place guaranteed. Letters are at Reception or can be downloaded from the School website.

London Music Tour Newent will not know what hit them when they hear our talented musicians perform on 20th July. The event is tak-ing place from noon – 6 pm and some of our student tak-ing part are: Hollie Mullins Annabelle Price Harry Wilkins Jacob James Charlie Robinson Jake Rose Rosita Da Silva Teixeira Abbie Williams Mica Fishley-Williams Zoe Sheppard Liam Bowers Guest appearance by the ‘Eden’s Hill Trio’ (Ms Z’s Trio) that features Sarah Waycott (currently flute and cello teacher at NCS) and Annie Perry (ex-saxophone and clarinet teacher at NCS). At the end of the event EVERYONE will be invited to join on stage and grab an instrument and “jam” together.

Live at the Lake

The Music department area getting ready for this auspicious event which again will take place in Gloucester Cathedral. This year’s theme is “reunion” and we will be fundraising for creating a professional studio in memory of Will Luckett to complete ‘Willi’s Music Hub’ so it can be used by all our students and visiting professional and amateur musicians for producing, performing and recording music. Tckets: £10 and £3 (for under 18s) Any students who would like to perform should email Ms Zissiadou or see her as soon as possible. Jazz Band, Orches-tra and Choirs will be performing. There will be, as before, a Year 7 Massed Choir with all our new Year 7s invited to participate. The invitation is extended this year to all our Year 8s (from September 20-14) as they missed out the chance to take part because of our heavy involvement with ‘Les Miserables’.

Gloucester Cathedral November 18th 2014

Sports Review of 2013-14 By Steve Edgell

It has been another fantastic year of sport here at Newent Community School. The year began with two visitors. Mel Clarke Paralympian, silver medallist in archery came to meet our aspiring sports leaders. We then saw the return of ex-student Joe Edwards who plays professional foot-ball with Yeovil. Terms 1 and 2 saw our Year 10 rugby team reach the last 32 of the Natwest National Rugby cup, a truly brilliant achievement. Both the Year 11 boys and girls basketball teams were crowned District champions and performed admirably at the County Finals. We had nearly 400 runners take part in the Annual House Cross-Country race which allowed us to pick another strong team for the District event. It proved to be a bril-liant event with Newent winning 8 overall medals and overall winners in 5 out of 6 of the team events. We had 24 athletes qualified to represent the Forest District at the County event. Without doubt the highlight of the County event was a first in the Inter girls race for Ellie Hathaway. In a spirited and gutsy finish she sprinted past her closest rivals to clinch the gold medal. We also won the year 10 District Table tennis event which meant we were now representing the Forest at the Gloucestershire School Games. It was the turn of our swimmers to shine at the start of 2014. We took a strong team to the Gloucester City Swimming Championships and won the event. There were a  number of stand-out performances (to name a few) from Harry Wilkins (Senior), Harry Bloxsome (Year 9), Ella White (Year 9), Liam Bowers (Year 10), Tom Isbell (Year 9), James Cole (Year 9), Isaac Raun (Year 10) and one to definitely watch out for in the future, an incredibly talented Lilly Wood (Year 8).  Our year 8 and 10 footballers were crowned District champions and both year groups put in some excellent performances making good progress in the National com-petitions. The summer term focus switched to the Gloucestershire School Games. We finished an amazing 8th on the medal table and would have been 3rd if it had been decided on total medals. Gold medal winners included Lauren Rich-ards shot putt, Charlie Millman, Mountain Biking and Ellie Hathaway 3000m. Both the Year 10 boys and girls won team gold in the mountain biking. This year we entered the Gloucester Schools cricket

league as well as the County Cup competitions. The Year 8s played some excellent cricket reaching the County Cup semi-finals. They also took part in the Chance to Compete 8 a-side National competition. Winning the Dis-trict, County and Regional competitions the boys are now in the National finals being played at the Northants Coun-ty ground in September. The U15 boys also won their District and County competition and finished 3rd at the Regionals. The U13 girls team finished runners up in the County competition. Our year 7 and 8 girls rounders teams were crowned Dis-trict champions and Lucy Wallace won the District U15 road to Wimbledon tennis tournament. We have a hugely successful Leadership Academy here at Newent. The core group of Year 9 and 10 Young Lead-ers, nearly 100, help run events here at School, plus Dis-trict and County Competitions. We have 4 Year 9 Silver Ambassadors, 8 Year 10 Gold Ambassadors. 16 students were selected to help run the County School Games. Three students have been selected to attend a National Talent Inspiration Programme, Aiden Jane, Katie Gould-ing and Daisy Kellow. Other opportunities included… Smash up Badminton Year 10 mental health project with Cheltenham

Town FC Forest of Dean Community Dance Festival Royal Marines visit year 9 Year 9 Gifted and Talented workshop PGL netball weekend Sports Relief Mile challenge Girls Football coaching led by Cheltenham Town

FC Gloucester Rugby Imitative girls Gloucestershire County Cricket coaching girls. Basketball Trip – Playoff Finals County Netball, hockey and cricket competitions. Roll of Honour John Hogg, Irish Exiles U16 rugby Maddie Smith, Gloucestershire U16 Hockey George Humphris, Gloucestershire U16 Rugby Frankie Cox, Sam Cresse and Beth Broady, County net-ball satellite squad Anya Hyatt and Charlotte Clarkson, County Hockey De-velopment Squad Harry Senior, Gloucestershire U13 Cricket

It has been another good year for Newent Community School & Sixth Form Centre in the Sainsbury’s School Games. The competition, based upon that of the Olym-pics, philosophises in giving more numbers of wide rang-ing students the opportunity to compete in more sporting activities. The school has been even more active than ever in its participation this academic year. The PE De-partment thrives upon giving as many students as possi-ble to opportunity to participate in sport, and this year was

Sainbury’s School Games - Medal Haul no different. Since the start of the school year our talent-ed students have participated in many activities compet-ing for the coveted Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals, from Local Level 1, to District Level 2, to County Level 3 com-petitions with a great amount of motivation, and huge amounts of willingness to try new things and give them a good go, often with unprecedented success. The compe-tition really has opened the eyes of many of our students to new opportunities they never thought they would have

participated in previously, and of which the school is ex-tremely proud. It is commonplace that many students prefer staying in their comfort zones of Football, Rugby, Cricket, Netball and Hockey – for which the school has also had a num-ber of notable successes and which will always remain core to the ethos of our school sport delivery – but it has been the continued development of these newer activities that has really sparked the interests of more students in Basketball, Badminton, Girls Football, Girls Rugby, Boc-cia, Softball, Athletics, Sailing, Mountain Biking, Equestri-an, Archery, Table Tennis, Indoor Rowing and Kwik Crick-et – an amazing achievement to fit so much in, and testa-ment to the students within our school.

The final medal table for 2013/2014 saw Newent Commu-nity School & Sixth Form Centre win a total of 22 Medals – the most of all the schools in the Forest of Dean – and equal third of almost fifty schools in the Gloucestershire County on medal-count – an incredible achievement – with 6 Gold Medals, 5 Silver Medals and 11 Bronze Med-als. Some of the individual successes that have seen no-table Level 3 County Success have included the talented Lauren Richards with Athletic Shot Putt Gold and numer-ous Mountain Biking Golds featuring the awesome Year 9 Boys Team including Dan Rowley who also stepped up to compete for the Year 10s. It has been a very successful year, but now is the time to step it up to another level next year with even more of those Gold Medals.

Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia

Living well with Dementia

All go round to Nan’s for Tea!

Me and Nan had so much fun, She used to sit and wait for us to come.

The table was always full of favourite things to eat, It was so nice at Nan’s, always a treat.

We used to go for nice long walks,

And I would look forward to our lovely talks. We’d talk about some funny things,

And on our way back, we would always sing.

She wouldn’t forget a thing I say, And then she’ll rest and watch me play.

I was very young when me and Nan would play, But now she doesn’t remember what we used to say.

Sometimes she feels very good and sometimes she feels quite bad,

And to see my Nan like this makes me feel really sad. To me my Nan still looks the same,

I know it’s just the inside of her brain.

It’s hard for Nan to remember what we have done, The times we have shared lots of fun.

I hope she won’t forget about me, I’ll never forget her and the times we all went round for tea!

Imogen Heath

*****

RAF Instructors Lead Life-Saving Course for Year 12 Induction Day A team of RAF Cadet instructors from Bristol and Gloucestershire Wing recently trained over ninety Year 11 students at Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre in basic life saving skills. The British Heart Foun-dation's Heartstart course was part of their Year 12 - Sixth Form Induction Day. During the course, students learned how to deal with a variety of situations including an un-conscious casualty and administering CPR. Squadron Leader David Morgan said "We were delighted to work in partnership with Newent Community School, their behaviour, interest and good humour was second-to-none. Statistically several of the students are very likely to be in situations where people are injured or taken ill. The Heartstart skills will help them to save a life". If anyone is interested in becoming a cadet or adult instructor with the RAF Air Cadets, please go to http://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/. Changed your mind about next year? Apply to the Sixth Form TODAY!

Sixth Form at Newent

New Year 12 The sun was shining as the Sixth Form team welcomed nearly 100 prospective Y12 students for the recent Induc-tion Day. After a welcome message from Mr Britten and the newly appointed Head of Sixth Form Mrs Rogers, the students were split into teams for a group competition were they had to get to know each other quickly in order to produce a number of creative photographs from differ-ent categories. Students were then thrown in at the deep end and had the opportunity to attend real life A Level lessons and receive a taster of what they can expect in September. Students were positive about the taster sessions many commented that they were excited to start their prospec-tive courses come September. Andy Creese Butchers put on a fantastic hog roast at lunchtime which Sixth Form teaching staff and students enjoyed on the green outside

the common room. Life in sixth form is not just about aca-demic development but gaining personal transferable skills. To this end we provided all students with the oppor-tunity to gain a First Aid qualification in the afternoon ses-sion. The British Heart Foundation's 'Heart Start' course was delivered by members of the Air Corps and first aid-ers from the school staff. The students had the opportuni-ty to perform CPR on dummies, put each other in the re-covery position, deal with minor cuts and choking. It was great to see young people learning essential life skills and gaining a qualification at the same time. The students were also entered in a raffle to win a tablet com-puter and £400 worth of vouchers. The induction day was a huge success and I look forward to welcoming the new students to the Sixth Form to start this new exciting chapter of their lives.

This term we have enjoyed sharing our practical food room facilities with primary children from Coney Hill, Pick-lenash, Hempsted and Gorsley schools. The primary pupils have created dishes linked to their curriculum topics. These included designer biscuits, Tu-dor jumble biscuits, pitta bread and hummus linked to the study of ancient Greeks, and Wolton Pie linked to WW2 topic. As the new term starts in September we invite all prima-ry schools to contact ppalmer@newent.gloucs.sch.uk to make arrangements for link visits in the autumn term.

Primary School Cooking Visits

By Lesley James

Pauntley School pupils came to Newent to make Vegeta-ble Pottage: a traditional Tudor recipe as part of their pro-ject. Children learnt about different practical preparation techniques and smelt and used a range of fresh herbs. They left with smiling faces and looked forward to eating it for lunch.

Pauntley School Visit

Year 9 students had the opportunity to follow the BTEC Level 1 course Jamie Oliver Home Cooking Skills. The course was extremely popular and students worked well during the year perfecting their cooking skills. The final assessment required students to plan and prepare a sea-sonal main course dish using freshly prepared ingredi-ents. Comments from students: Scarlett Miller C13: I enjoyed this course because I have learnt many new skills that I will be able to use in the future and it is great to be able to come up with tasty meals and snacks that are healthy and homemade.

BTEC Jamie Oliver Home Cooking Skills

Harriot Farmer N2: I really enjoyed this course be-cause I learnt many new skills and experienced cooking with seasonal produce. It has given me more confidence to cook at home and to prepare meals for my family.

Isabella Norman C11: The course was great. I now feel that I would be able to prepare a lot more dishes which included more complicated skills. Also I feel the course is really helpful as it will help me a lot in the fu-ture.

Few people can have missed the visit of the ‘Tour de France’ to Yorkshire earlier this month. In preparation a group of the more experienced students, and staff cycled the route of the first day through the Yorkshire Dales the weekend before the professionals arrived. We sampled the breath taking scenery, lung bursting hills, villages covered in yellow bunting and hundreds of strategically placed yellow cycles. The journey started with a long minibus drive from Newent to Skip-ton and then the 60 mile cycle for day 1. The route headed north into the Yorkshire Dales and the first major break was in the pictur-esque village of Kettlewell. As we were about to set off cycling again, a troop of Morris dancers approached us and invited us to stay and watch, we just couldn’t say no. Five minutes later with the first dance complete and the road blocked both Ben Arkell and Ol-lie Hayward were co-opted members of the Morris dancing team. Wielding sticks they bravely completed their first (and only) Morris dance and with bruised, but still 10 fingers intact, they returned to their cycles to start the climb of the ‘Cote du Buttertubs’. A long afternoon of undulating riding through the unspoilt dales country-side was completed 60 miles later as we started the climb onto Grinton moor. Back in the minibus for the journey to the youth hostel, food, show-ers and sleep before returning on Sunday morning to complete our circuit. The navigating on the second day was circumspect but the ever helpful Yorkshire ‘folk’ soon put us ‘rite’. Our journey conclud-ed in Pateley Bridge, where the bikes were again loaded for the long drive back to Newent. We were all inspired by the trip and were confident that Yorkshire would host the best ‘Grand Depart’

Grand Depart for Tour de Yorkshire

Snowdome Rocks By Maddi James

ever. Although we were not there ourselves, the TV pictures of the actual event quickly brought back some wonderful memories. ‘’I am looking forward to watching the Tour De France on the T.V and being able to relate to the places they are cycling. Even though I complained throughout every hill that my legs were going to fall off, I really did have a great weekend. I was impressed that even when everyone was tired, Mr Mortimer or Mr Shirley would still be able to find a way to slip in a terrible joke to lighten the mood.’’ Emily Arkell Year 10

Newent Community School’s Snowdome trip in May was amazing. The trip was well worth the money, because the ski-ing teachers are really friendly and the skiing is so much fun. When you get to the Snowdome all you have to do is tell them your foot size and they will get you some skis: it’s that easy. If you can’t ski, come along and learn how to. If you would like more information, look out for the next Snowdome letter.

Mountain Bike Success at Hartpury By Tim Drake

A very successful year once again for our mountain bik-ers has culminated in some great results at the annual Gloucestershire Games at Harptbury College. Year 10 girls - Gold medal winners, Charlotte Hayward, Emily Arkell, Katie Goulding. Year 10 boys - Silver medal winners, Charlie Millman, Alex McDowell, Dan Rowley (Year 9). Year 9 boys - Gold medal winners, Tegan Pen-ny, Dan Rowley, Tom Isbell. Year 9 girls - Bronze medal winners, Lucy Goodyear, Lydia Smith, Morgan Jones. Time trials - one lap of the course. Charlie - Gold medal - and the only competitor to record a sub two minute lap! Charlotte - Silver medal Emily - Bronze medal Dan - Bronze medal Special mention to Dan Rowley, who, after picking up Bronze in the Time Trials and Gold in the Year 9 race, stepped in to the Year 10 team, as they were a man

down and picked up a Silver medal there. An amazing feat of stamina, Dan. A huge well done to all who competed, both throughout the year and in the finals.

It has been an incredible evolutionary year for Sports Leadership at Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre, topped off in July with not just one, but THREE fantastic Year 10 students being selected to represent Gloucestershire as Team Managers, out of a total of only fifty nationally, at the upcoming National Talent Inspira-tion Programme 2014. The training and application of learning, held in parallel to the Sainsburys School Games Final in Manchester at the start of September, will allow (names removed) the op-portunity to work alongside not only many of their equally talented peers from across the country, but also elite ath-lete mentors (whilst the luxury of five star accommodation and free food and kit may have also been a motivating factor!) “Having one student selected out of fifty nationally would

have been incredible, but to have three is just amazing,” said Mr Mills, PE Department. He continued, “All of the credit should go to the individual students however for their immense levels of responsibility, dedication and self-motivation to take full advantage of every opportunity put in front of them, and lead and inspire many others to do the same.” This final outcome has been the result of much hard work by the entire ‘Newent School Leadership Academy’ over the last year. With over fifty Year 9 students having un-dertaken Sports Leadership training as an extra-curricular opportunity, and another fifty undertaking a Sports Leadership course in Year 10 and Year 11 during their KS4 Core PE time, the small army of volunteers cur-rently at work is incredible to watch. From marshalling within Newent School Intra-House Cross Country Com-

Prestige Selection for Newent Sports Leaders

petitions, to officiating Newent Primary Schools’ Five-a-Side Tournaments; from receiving training from Netball and Hockey National Governing Bod-ies, to planning and delivering District RFU Tag Rugby Competitions; from being mentored by elite athletes such as Paralympic GB Archer Mel Clarke and Young Ambassadors from Hartpury College, to mentoring new Y5 Playground Leaders in Forest of Dean Primary Schools; and from fif-teen students being nominated by Newent School to act as School Games Makers at the School Games County Finals, to all fifteen being suc-cessfully selected and trained by Ac-tive Gloucestershire ……..there has been so much to shout about! Through the Leadership Academy so many students have had their opin-ions and experiences of sport and PE altered, and for many it is no under-statement to say it has been a real life-altering opportunity.

The U13 Boys of Newent Community School & Sixth Form Centre have batted and bowled their way into the National Finals of the Chance to Compete Cricket Tournament after winning the South West Regional Finals! The competition, held on Monday 7th July at Bristol Gram-mar School, was a gathering of some of the finest Cricket talent in the South West, up against many other county rep-resentatives from Wiltshire, Dorset, Wales and more. This third round of the tournament came as a result of winning both the Gloucester District Competition, held at Newent Cricket Club, and conse-quently the Gloucestershire County Competition held at Frocester. The team had only lost once all season in the Semi-Finals of the County Cup to Sir Thomas Rich’s. The ‘Chance to Com-pete’ tournament, however, only allows non-county players to participate, and therefore talismanic leader Harry Senior has had to painstakingly observe and manage the team from the side-lines. Jack Blackwell and Elliot Finch were able to demonstrate some superb batting with some well-placed and well-timed clever batting and superb aggressive running between the wickets, whilst Jacob Wise and Josh Akerman were able to demonstrate some stunning bowling displays, supported by quality team work from Sam Mattingly, Steve Loveridge and Tiger Manners. Jo Whiting, left-handed all-rounder, led the team superbly in Harry Sen-ior’s absence, and made some cracking decisions!

National Finals Place for U13 Cricketers

A 6-wicket win over a very strong St Bartholomew’s School team, Berkshire, opened the proceedings and gave the boys momentum. The second game was a 7-wicket victory over a competitive Cheney School team, Oxfordshire. In the ‘final group stage’, on a very wet and slippery wicket, the boys came up against a very classy outfit from St Laurence School, Wiltshire, who had already demonstrated superb shot making in their own group stage. Motivated by the prospect of winning the boys stepped it up yet another gear to make these sure fire tournament favourites look average up against the superb spirit of the Newent School boys. Result - a brilliant 8-wicket victory! Now through to the National Finals in Northamptonshire in September, the boys are ready to take on the best in the Country.

On Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th July, Year 10 students had the opportunity to participate in a one to one formal Mock Interview. The purpose of this experience was to give students an under-standing of how to perform in interview conditions. Students had been well briefed in their PSHE les-sons beforehand about the importance of body language, confidence, dress and the attention to detail and accuracy of their application form. They were required to dress formally in business attire as if were sitting for a real job interview which re-sulted in a very professional and impressive Year 10 cohort. With their 15 minute interview complete, students were given professional feedback on their efforts both verbal and written as well as advice on per-sonal presentation and interview techniques. This feedback will equip them with hints and tips for future successful interviews and preparing them for the world of work. The interviewers who were drawn from local busi-nesses such as EDF Energy, Gooch Sports, SPP-Pumps, Renishaw, Malvern Trade Link, Pro-spects, Lloyds Bank and British Energy, Gloscol and members of Newent Rotary as well as profes-sional individuals, were extremely positive with comments such as: “I was impressed with the politeness of the inter-viewees and their willingness to take on feed-back.” “Students were very interesting and made an ef-fort to maximise their opportunity to practise the required skills.” “The overall standard was very high.” “It was an enjoyable experience and educational for me” “The students were so polite and I noticed how confident they were but not in an arrogant way.” We are very grateful to those business friends of the School who gave up their time to help us with this intense programme of interviews and feed-back. It was very valuable to the students and a very generous gesture.

Year 10 Dressed to Impress at Interview

As soon as we were told what week of camp we were going on, excitement began to build between us. When it came to the Saturday that week one was supposed to leave, the excitement grew stronger, from the moment we got on the coach at school until the moment we arrived. Automatically the teachers began to help us with ‘moving in’ so we could settle into our tents. Later that day we went on what we thought was a fairly long walk, but much to our surprise it was rather short in comparison to the walks that lay ahead. The second day we walked from camp to the top of Pen-y-Fan and back again, which was arguably one of the greatest achievements that we had overcome so far in our teenage lives. After the main activity of the day, we all mixed together playing games and socialising with one another, much like we do at school. That night we had biscuits and hot choco-late. On the third day we walked into Brecon, which was easy for us after what we had done the day before. We stopped at different points along the way to play games. When we arrived in Brecon we were given two hours to shop for ourselves and to buy the food that we needed to cook our meal for our table group. We all socialised, drank hot chocolate and fell asleep quickly that night as we were so tired. On the last day we said goodbye to the fields in Brecon that had temporarily been our home and made our way to the beach where we played football and explored. After the beach we went swimming: a great way to end camp. On the bus journey home we all spoke about the fun time we had had and we agreed that Year 9 Camp is an opportuni-ty not to be missed.

By Lauren Wood Year 9 Camp - Week 1

Year 9 Camp - The Most Amazing Experience By Scarlett Miller

Year 9 camp has been running for more than 30 years and every year the Year 9s have a fantastic time and come back full of stories of their time at camp. Year 9 camp is so much more than simply camping in a field. You learn a lot of skills that you can use in later life like cooking and getting on with new people who you may not have spoken to before and this is one of the real ben-efits: everyone tends to stick with people they know at school, but being on camp gave us the opportunity to realise that our school is a big place and there are lots of other people in it that we could talk to and get to know. On camp there are 2 fields where the boys’ and the girls’ tents are, and in the middle there is the marquee where you eat and prepare the food. Although it is only camp-ing, the tents are not just little tents. They are large heavy duty canvas tents set for 4-6 people with plenty of room for us and our luggage. There were six in our tent and we had lots of room. On the first day we set off from Newent School at 8.45

full of excitement and maybe a few nerves about what was to come. We got there about 11:00. We had a chance to settle in and find out our table groups and du-ties which were, sweeping, food prep, toilet duty, water duty etc. and then we had the chance to go on a short walk around the beautiful scenery and landscape. After the walk, Mr Britten and Mr Mortimer set out the water slide. Everyone had a go sliding down the flow of soapy water and we all thought that it was fantastic. After every-one’s turn we could try to walk up the water slide from the bottom and this proved very difficult and we were all left covered in soap and mud! Everyone made their way down the hill at the end of the field to the water fall for a wash, and although it was absolutely freezing it was an incredible experience and a lot of fun. At the end of the day we put comfy clothes on and sat in the marquee where we would take part in activities. On the first night we did a midnight walk, then we had to make a life size lantern that we had to try to light and fly and on the last night we had a pub quiz. The next day half

of the group took the challenge of climbing up Pen Y Fan, where we also climbed up Corn Du, A mountain located immediately southwest of Pen Y Fan and Cribyn, another mountain that connects to the peak of Pen Y Fan the highest peak in South Wales and the Southern United Kingdom. The other half of the group walked into the town of Brecon to shop for food for the evening meal and we also stopped at a small pebble beach to practise skimming stones (which proved very difficult!) and at a small park to go on the swings and talk with our friends. On the way we also had to memorise some welsh say-ings like Croy-see-o! and Yucky-daw! and then repeat them to our friends when we got back to the camp. We also got the chance to have some free time in Brecon and even have a coffee in Costa. Back at camp, we gathered together with our table groups to prepare our evening meal, a starter, a main, and a dessert. This proved a challenge as we were forced to do it with no oven and only two hobs to cook on. In the evening we went down to the stream again and later on we were given 16 sheets of tissue paper to make a life size paper lantern! The next day the groups swapped over and we all got wash off tattoos with 'I Love Cymru!' on for climbing up Pen Y Fan and walking to Brecon. In the afternoon the people who walked to Brec-on cooked the evening meal and we all took part in Pub quiz and a very strange game of musical statues with Mr Mortimer and Mr Britten. The next day we packed up all of our things and got ready for Week 3 when they arrived. Later on when the next week arrived we had a chance to tell the next group tales of the Very Exciting trip ahead of them and after-wards we took the coach to the swimming pool and lei-sure centre in Swansea. At the leisure centre we had the chance to play Badminton, Volleyball and Football and afterwards we went swimming and on the water slides and wave pool. On the coach return to Newent we all felt mournful that the trip was already over and we had to return to school and go home. We were all tired, a little bit sunburnt (weirdly on my ears), but very happy. Year Nine camp - an amazing experience! Lots of us really did not want to go home. This is such a fantastic opportunity that our school offer us - the teachers go out of their way to make sure the trip is unforgettable and if you are lucky enough to be in Year 7 or 8 then you are in for the best time ever on Year 9 camp. It was certainly the highlight of my year this year. (Obviously Week 2 was the best though.)

Karen Dowdeswell

For most students their first encounter with Miss Dow-deswell will have been on Year 9 camp, which she has assisted with since she began teaching at Newent Com-munity School back in 2012; however we have to say a sad “goodbye” as her final term here reaches an end. Karen Dowdeswell gained 11 A-C GCSEs in secondary school and 3 A Levels across Media studies, Psychology and Biology. At University she gained a First in Psycholo-gy.  Miss Dowdeswell is now a well loved Psychology teacher at Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre but prior to becoming a teacher she worked briefly at a sales and marketing company. While in the Sixth Form herself, Miss Dowdeswell volunteered to teach extra English Year 7 and 8 students who were struggling and gave up her summer to be a teaching assistant at a summer school. She also helped teach dance classes while at University. She always enjoyed training and supporting new staff after graduating and so it seemed logical to combine her love of Psychology with her interest in teaching. As well as Year 9 camp, miss Dowdeswell has been run-ning a debate group with the sixth formers, where they had some “fantastic debates about really controversial issues.” So it’s fair to say she has got very stuck in during her time at Newent School.

By Hannah Praide

She was thrown right in at the deep end when beginning teaching at Newent, with her first class being a group of Year 11 psychology students, who convinced her one of the boys in the class was Australian. Miss Dowdeswell took this with good humour and enjoyed teaching them for their final year. Unfortunately we have to see miss Dowdeswell leave, for she is transferring to The Cotswold School where she will be Head of Social Sciences, which she says is “very ex-citing and will be a great challenge.” But that she is “going to really miss Newent School, because the staff and stu-dents have been so lovely and it’s going to be very sad to leave.” We wish her all the best with her future at The Cotswold School, and luck with her forthcoming marriage in January of next year. The Cotswold School have gained an exceptional teach-er, with a real skill, love and passion for what she does. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say having her as a teacher has been a privilege, and her humour, knowledge and ability to relate to students has been inspirational.

Charys Bailyes

Carys had always wanted to be a teacher since early childhood and when it came to picking a subject, her en-joyment of sport at secondary school made PE ideal. She was sometimes disappointed by the teaching she re-ceived at A-level, and this made her determined to enter the profession and do a stronger job.She took her degree and her PGCE at Exeter University but teaching jobs in PE are currently rather scarce and part of her time at Newent has been working as a Cover Supervisor and therefore appearing in lessons which are not her special-ism. That all changes from September with the full-time permanent appointment to Farmor’s School in Fairford where she will be teaching mostly PE with a little Health and Social Care. Netball is her strong sport, but she is also a dancer and

has missed the opportunity to teach dance at Newent. New National Curriculum orders are likely to increase the amount of Dance in the PE offering and so she is hopeful that Fairford will allow her to share her interest with students and give an even wider range of activities at both Key Stages 3 and 4. “It’s a bit scary,” she says, “but it should be good.”

Hamish Young is a graduate from the Royal College of Art where he studied Foundry Practice and was involved with large projects involving hot metal, Maths and Science. If this sound dan-gerous - well it is. And even more so when the process involved pouring molten metal onto shotgun cartridges or blocks of ice. Surprisingly, perhaps, the molten metal / ice combination is the most explosive. Students involved had to stand outside the foundry and pour the metal with extremely long handled crucibles to avoid the shrap-nel from the disintegrating ice. It is hardly surprising that Mr. Young is not your average, predictable teacher with an education like that. More conven-tionally, though, he is the joint author of a book on the “lost-wax” process which boils wax out of moulds with molten metal in order to make a metal object. He has a mischievous sense of hu-mour and enjoys confronting people with things they feel are wrong or un-comfortable in order to draw a thoughtful response from them. While still a young student, he was fascinat-ed by the level of response his group achieved by convincing onlookers that they had poured hot metal over a chicken – they HADN’T of course! Other students and staff were far more angry that they had been tricked than by the idea that hot metal had been poured over a live creature. An odd response! He has a more refined and productive version of that technique in his teaching repertoire today. “I like to set up drawing activities that create mistakes intentionally, like drawing with your eyes closed or taping a pencil to the end of a stick. Setting up a law that prevents students from starting again. We are human, we make mistakes, it's what we do about them that is important.” In his former role in a London Comprehensive, Hamish led whole-school change in the attitude to the mistakes that students make. He believes firmly in restorative jus-tice and not punishment as the solution to conflict. But his creative and radical approach is not limited to this. Sur-prisingly, students will have found Mr. Young as their Maths teacher this year.

This does not surprise Mr. Young. “It seems entirely rea-sonable to me that creative practitioners should deliver Maths or MFL. “The new National Curriculum document for Mathematics calls it a creative subject in the first sen-tence, and I genuinely believe that it is.” The “I can’t do Maths” response is not dissimilar, he says, from the “I can’t draw” response in Art. Neither is accurate. “I did start a degree in Theology and Sociology with the intention that I would be a vicar. I soon realised that one of the prerequisites for this role was a belief in God, one that I didn't hold, so I changed to study Art. Teaching had always been in the back of my mind and after a few soli-tary years of being a jobbing sculptor and artist I decided I wanted to share ideas with others. Teaching is great for that!”

Hamish Young

Ben Cheeseman has spent the past two years in a bap-tism of fire. Joining the SLT as an Assistant Headteacher just before the terrible Special Measures news was not the ideal start to a career in School Management. The work has obviously been hard and uncomfortable at times, but the triumph of coming out of Special Measures – and being part of the team that led the School Improvement, has equipped Mr. Cheeseman for his new role as Assis-tant Headteacher in Rednock School from September, 2014. “It’s a new-build School – only three or four years old, but in every other respect it is very similar to Newent in fact. The main role is going to be oversight of Sixth Form, preparing for the new separate Ofsted judgement that is applied to Sixth Forms and making sure that the quality of Teaching and Learning and therefore the out-comes for the students are up to the required standards.”

Ben speaks confidently about the difference between College and School Sixth Forms. “There is a continuity in the pastoral care in a School Sixth Form. My own experi-ence of going to a Sixth Form College was that you were just there without that sense of really feeling as if you be-long, or that as an individual you are valuable.” Born and brought up in Weymouth, Dorset, Ben devel-oped his interest in History from GCSE, studying relative-ly similar topics to what is found in today’s curriculum: the Nazis, the development of the Modern World. And this was developed into an A-level course which confronted the 20th Century dictatorships with their enduring legacy for modern politics. “I always looked to do contemporary History while at University but since graduating from Southampton I have become far more interested in peri-ods of Ancient History, the Romans in particular, which I never thought would interest me.” It is this open-mindedness and the ability to break from preconception that has made Ben Cheeseman a creative and thoughtful practitioner. He has always been involved in the reflective practice of good teachers, joining and driving groups examining how NELE and Learning to Learn – to name just two obvious examples – can change the dynamics of learning for students and support pro-gress. “I will miss the staff immensely. Many of my col-leagues I have known for all the time that I have been here. Not seeing those people on a daily basis is going to feel very very weird. Those confidences that you build up in people – starting those from scratch will be difficult. I am going to miss the students hugely. I have got so used to knowing particular families and knowing the factors in students’ lives that shape them, that being without that insight fills me with dread, really.” “I am of course looking forward to all the challenges and using the skills that I have developed here at Newent. I am very comfortable here as I am with my own home. I am not a huge fan of having to up-sticks and start your whole life again.” Ben sees Gloucester as the family home now and feels a real sense of community in the area. For the moment, this is a sideways move to a per-manent SLT position and there are no plans to move out of the county just yet, at least. “I don’t believe in having a well-laid-out grand plan: I think you just take life as it comes and the good fortune it brings. I had never even heard of Newent until Bristol University sent me here dur-ing the PGCE.” The rest is History – as they say.

Ben Cheeseman

At Newent, Mr. Young found a strong department which contributed strongly to the ethos of the School and the achievement of students but where the results were just beginning to dip slightly. He set about re-examining the schemes of learning and introducing team-work struc-tures to help the Department to drive up achievement. He is particularly pleased with the online Photography course which allows the students to be fully responsible

for their own learning and to follow their instincts. “I'm very happy teaching and I never imagined that I would be learning so much all of the time. But that is what makes the profession so special. Whatever the subject, I want my students to think, find creative solutions to prob-lems and enjoy the journey.”

Tony Clarke grew up surrounded by an educationally-orientated family; his father, grandfather and uncle were all schoolmasters. This gave him the first notion as to his future career, though journalism and travel were also seen as attractive possibilities. Having an enduring love for Lan-guages, he took English, French and later Economics at University, eventually becoming a teacher of English. Arriving on the 1st of September 1997, Tony Clarke took up his first position at Newent. Even though the posting was originally for a single year, he decided to stay and further his work in the English Department. In 2004 Tony was made Head of Collingwood House. In his ten years as head, Mr Clarke has been the brain-child behind many varied fundraising events, such as the annual Collingwood Walk and the sponsored fasts that continually raise funds for all kinds of good causes. In sport, there is always a healthy and strong Collingwood team: this year saw our triumph over our friendly rivals Mountbatten and Nelson at the swimming gala, something that doesn’t happen that often! Collingwood has always participated and has always been encouraged in the as-semblies after, to be as gracious in defeat as in victory. One of Tony Clarke’s most enduring and well known achievements is, of course, the Kenyan Exchange Group that is paired with the Kenyan school St George’s. The Group began as a one off trip to Kenya in 2007; piloted, not by Tony Clarke but by a pair of equally enthusiastic teachers, who have since moved on. It was an “ironic twist of fate” that led to his involvement: In late 2007 and early 2008 controversy erupted in Kenya after Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election. The vio-lence that broke out, due to tensions over allegations of electoral manipulation, forced a postponement of the trip. As a result, the two primary drivers of the Kenya link ex-change were unable to go, giving Tony the opportunity to travel in their place in 2009. He has participated in various Kenya trips over six subsequent years. The travel opportunities opened up by these fortuitous circumstances brought with it cultural development and experience. One such example is when Otienday Ibrahim, a teacher at St Georges, came to stay with him at his home. This encounter “lit the blue touch paper”, progress-ing his and his family’s love for the county. February 2014 brought yet another offer of travel, this time from friends overseas at a Kenyan school called St An-drew’s. Job vacancies were now available at St Andrew’s School. A brief meeting took place in a hotel beside the M4, Skype discussions followed and a job application with corresponding interviews culminated, a month later, in a letter confirming that he, his wife and two excited daugh-ters would be set to leave for Africa. “They [his family] experience Kenyan culture through me,” and the feeling is, “not that we want to leave,” but a mutu-al agreement that it would be a great adventure. The school that Tony Clarke will be working at is a selec-tive, fee-paying prep-school where students will live near-by, rather like a British boarding school. He will be meet-ing the privileged children of nearby African countries like Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, with pupils from Asia, Europe, America too, of altogether different backgrounds;

a truly multinational school. Tony’s new role is the Depart-ment Head of English there, and ‘House Parent’ for one of the houses for 5-13 year olds, while his wife will be ‘house parent’ for the senior boys. While this huge move is enthusiastically supported by his family, the change of scenery and new working conditions will be radical. This has not deterred him; in fact Tony is looking forward to the challenge. “Different is good for me right now.” Ties with the Newent School won’t be altogether broken. He plans to keep in touch with colleagues and students and “will always have some involvement.” He says that he “loved the job of Head of House” and may “one day return - who knows? They say ‘never go back’, but Newent has a place in my heart: it is a place that will always be special to me.” We wish Tony Clarke, and his family, all the very best for the future.

Tony Clarke By Dan Tinson

Stop Press. Refurbishment

programme for school Toilets will start in

September