John Ruskin School

JRS EXPRESS CHRISTMAS 2019 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1

‘John Ruskin School is

a welcoming school

where staff know

every pupil. There is a

strong sense of

community spirit.

Relationships between

pupils and their

teachers are warm’

Ofsted 2019

Dear Bingo fans and support-ers of John Ruskin School, Please be aware that our fund-raising BINGO! night will be held on, Saturday 25

th January.

Get this date put in your diaries- you won’t want to miss out on this fun night!! At the start of the new year the fundraising committee will be making requests for prizes so we hope you will keep us in mind over the festive season.

See our fabulous fell race photographs on page 6 and 7

Following Ofsted’s visit in July 2018, JRS was expect-ing their return any time towards the end of last aca-demic year, and up to Christmas. Ofsted also intro-duced a whole new framework this summer, one of the most sub-stantial changes seen by any of the senior team. As the first secondary school in Cumbria to be inspected under the new framework the new arrangements for the inspection made the experience very different with four subjects being selected as ‘deep dives’ for intense scrutiny on the first day of the inspection. Staff and students were delighted how-ever that, despite only having six weeks of the new framework in place, JRS was judged to be as securely good under this framework as it was under the old one. You will see many quotes from the re-port on our Twitter page and also writ-ten throughout this edition of the JRS EXRPES. The inspection team howev-er commented at the end of the first day that , ‘you should be proud of your students, they are a credit to you.’

Ofsted Success Celebrated at JRS

Thanks also must go to all the parents who took the time to pass their positive comments on to the inspection team.

Page 2 JRS EXPRESS

MESSAGE FROM HEAD TEACHER

As the end of the first term of a new school year comes to a close I am beginning to look forward to my favourite day of the school year, the carol service and Christmas dinner that we all enjoy as a whole school. For me this is one of the clearest expressions of the ‘family’ that is JRS. Yes, we have our fall outs, sometimes it is tough to get along, but we care for each other — and at Christmas we can all join together as one, and come together at the annual event that is our carol concert, (and then enjoy some fantastic food together). I imagine the church at St Andrews will be full to the rafters this year as we continue to grow in number of students on roll. In September it is likely that Years 7, 8 and 9 will be oversubscribed. This is such a powerful indicator of how well we are regarded by parents, the fact that so many of you take the time to pass on your positive impression of JRS to others. Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. It remains for me to wish a very happy and joyful Christmas to your family, from all the ‘family’ at JRS

John Ruskin School has been celebrated in the local press for promoting careers oppor-tunities and advice with the expertise of their new Enter-prise Adviser, Mike Jeschke, from multinational digital pioneer Siemens, Ulver-ston. An extract from the news article is shown here: Despite the collaboration only forming two months ago, through Cumbria Local Enter-prise Partnership’s Enterprise Advisor Network, the partner-ship is already blossoming with students at the school benefitting from a range of innovative enterprise educa-tion initiatives. Mike has worked with John Ruskin School to introduce participation in First Lego League, an international com-petition which aims to en-thuse students about Artificial Intelligence. As part of this, significant work is being com-pleted with girls in year 9 and 10 to dispel the myth that STEM subjects are “just for boys”, with plans to set up a clean energy club.

GLOBAL COMPANY SIEMENS HELPS JRS REACH ENTERPRISE EDUCATION SUCCESS

Under the Enterprise Advisor scheme, local senior business volunteers are matched with a school and they work closely together to empower young people to make informed de-cisions about their future and link the school with valuable business contacts. Peter Blackburn, Headteacher at John Ruskin School, said: “The link with Siemens, a well-regarded, global company is a really exciting development for us as a school. “We are already starting to see the benefits in terms of activities the students can now access and look forward to the development opportu-nities it will continue to pre-sent for our students.” Mike Jeschke, Enterprise Ad-viser from Siemens, com-mented: “We are delighted to be involved in the Enterprise Advisor initiative as it ensures that we are part of a local network of employers who engage and encourage in-volvement in activities at a local school in our area.

“This helps us to build strong working relation-ships with schools and colleges, ensures that we give back to our commu-nity, provides a better understanding of the local education sector and helps to develop our local business network. Alison Beard, Enterprise Co-ordinator at Cumbria Local Enterprise Partner-ship, said: “I am really

excited to see what John Rus-kin and Siemens achieve to-gether throughout the rest of the academic year. I also look forward to seeing new suc-cessful Enterprise Adviser partnerships, helping both local schools, colleges and employers to thrive.” There is a range of opportuni-ties in Cumbria for businesses to engage and benefit from partnership with local schools and colleges, facilitated by Cumbria Local Enterprise Part-nership. Give an Hour asks individuals to volunteer one hour to share their career story and inspire the next generation; The Enterprise Adviser Network invites senior business volunteers to give approximately 8 hours a month to a specific school or college and work strategically to strengthen and support career programmes; and be-coming a Cornerstone Employ-er allows individuals to repre-sent their sector and give a Cumbria-wide view. Together, they aim to ensure all young Cumbrians are prepared and inspired for the world of work.

Year 7 enjoy new Environmental Technology Course

Page 3 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1

‘The school takes

advantage of its

surroundings. Pupils

take part in an array

of extracurricular

activities, such as

Duke of Edinburgh’s

award scheme,

outdoor education

and the annual fell

race competition’

Ofsted 2019

‘Leaders are keen to foster pupils’

appreciation of music, art and

literature … all pupils play a a

musical instrument, take part in

performances and read challenging

books’

Ofsted 2019

Year 7 have had a diffi-cult term with the weather on our new environmental technolo-gy course, but have been very productive in the allotment area. The hens have settled in well, laying eggs regu-larly and pupils do health checks on them every fortnight. The term has involved; soil testing, looking at soil structure and lots of pruning to reshape the area. Thanks go to the National Trust for sup-porting the school with this area, by lending us their loppers and bow saws.

All of Year 8 had a very enjoyable and informa-tive field trip to Inglebor-ough Caves as part of their work on limestone landscapes this term. We walked through the lime-stone scenery identyify-ing features such as dry valleys and limestone pavement and then all enjoyed a guided tour of the caves with some very impressive stalactites and stalagmites. All the students were an absolute credit to the school and were compli-mented on their behav-iour during the visit.

Year 8 Field Trip to Ingleborough Caves

Page 4 JRS EXPRESS

‘Leaders place a high

priority on pupils’

mental health and

well-being’

Ofsted 2019

A CHRISTMAS CAROL FOR KS4 As the festive season began at JRS, we took Year 10 and Year 11 stu-dents to see their set text A Christ-mas Carol in action – it’s the third version of this Dickens’ classic the school has seen live on stage after trips to previous performances in Blackpool and Bolton; would Theatre by the Lake in Keswick live up to our expectations? Here’s what some of our Year 10 students had to say about this version of A Christmas Carol: Tom Wilson said: ‘The Theatre by the Lake served up some laughs and lights in their production of A Christ-mas Carol. The production was origi-nal and quite unique. However, the ghost of Christmas Future was a little disappointing as in the novel it is a dark ghoul who doesn’t speak at all.’ Lauryn Date said: ‘I enjoyed the scenery and the layout of the stage as well as the costume worn by the ghost of Christmas Present.’ Mason Smith enjoyed the setting too and

thought, ‘the setting of the play was cleverly done with characters jump-ing out of the pages of a book.’ This was echoed by Charlie Bolton who said, ‘It contained a good backdrop and a small, talented cast,’ however, Charlie felt, ‘Scrooge’s redemption felt too rushed, like they ran out of time so only spent a few minutes on it.’ This thought was echoed by Ailith Smith who said, ‘I wish the play had remained more faithful to the origi-nal text as the change in Scrooge at the end felt too rushed and too sud-den.’ Will Addington noted, ‘the cast were used to brilliant effect considering there were only five of them to rec-reate all the original characters in the novel.’ Katie Lee noticed that the cast even played, ‘doors, coat hang-ers and furniture.’ Katie also felt, ‘they did adapt it in a unique way, however, they often veered away from the original text by Charles Dickens – however, they did make the performance humorous in for all

ages and overall, it was a very enjoy-able experience.’ Eleanor Orton on the other hand was ‘disappointed by the lack of reference to the text and the confusion about who was the target audience.’ Eleanor wished the play had, ‘stayed true to the novel.’ Aimee Steele thought ‘the actors’ songs really got you into the spirit of Christmas’ and Marcus Brereton said the play had a ‘good festive feel.’ One controversial aspect of the per-formance was the character of Tiny Tim being represented by cutlery; Olivia Rawlinson felt ‘it would have been much better if Tiny Tim was an actual person, not knives and forks.’ Jewel Beaumont noted the poster advertising the play ‘shows Tiny Tim as a little boy, not cutlery.’ A final word from Carl Peck who felt, ‘despite the ingenious and inter-esting backdrop that inspired the eyes, the production did not inspire the heart.’

Year 8’s Fabulous Firefighter Photographs

‘Teachers use questions to

encourage pupils thing and

debate’

Ofsted 2019

Page 5 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1

Rock Night It was the evening of Thursday No-vember 14th and all was still at JRS … until 7pm when suddenly, the stage was set, the hall was busier than it’s ever been and the audience were jumping. Rocking All Over the World rang out to bring in the 2019 Rock Night extravaganza.

Over twenty bands performed and the atmosphere was electric. The audience participation was like a scene at Wembley Stadium, as they sang and danced along to songs old and new, from soft rock, to prog rock, to heavy rock.

Year 11 wowed with their set and they went on to support Mike and the Manic Street Teachers in the finale.

A totally marvellous night was had by all.

Rock on dudes!

‘Parents and carers praised the

support that the school gives and said

that, when pupils joins the school,

they settle well’

Ofsted 2019

Page 6 JRS EXPRESS

Our Fantastic JRS Fell Race saw its first ever overall win for a female competitor, well done

Olesia!!

Page 7 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1

‘Pupils ...behave well,

show interest in their

learning and have positive

relationships with each

other’’

Ofsted 2019

It’s been another great term for fell running club. We have a small group of committed runners who turn up in all weathers showing true JRS resilience! We have en-joyed exploring paths in the local area running up the Coppermines valley, to Guards Wood and along the lake shore to our favourite rope swing. Next week the group will finish off the term with the annual Santa Hat run. Many thanks to Mrs Woodhead and Ms Richards who help each week with this group. If any stu-dents would like to join them in the new year (New Year resolution anyone?) they would be most wel-come - students simply need to collect a letter from reception.

JRS Fellrunning Club

Visit our website at http://www.jrs.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @JRSConiston for more information on all these stories and the many other

activities our students have been successful in

SCHOOL REOPENS FOR STUDENTS IN ALL YEAR

GROUPS ON MONDAY 6th JANUARY

JRS EXPRESS Page 8

Staffing Update

Following many years of service to John Ruskin School, the school business manager Mrs Tunnah

leaves this January for a well earned rest as she retires from her role in school. All the staff and students at JRS wish her all the very best and we are grateful for every-thing she has done to keep the wheels turning at JRS. Mrs Tunnah will be re-placed by Mrs Askew who joins The Fells Fed-eration as business man-ager operating across

John Ruskin School and Coniston Primary School. At the same time Mrs Dyson will be leaving her role in the admin team where she has taken the lead on attend-ance and also has the vitally important role of exam of-ficer. Plans to replace Mrs Dyson will be put in place in January. We have had a number of extra staff join our teaching assistant team since Sep-tember and Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Jones are proving a valuable addition to our team.

South Lakes District Cross Country

Twenty seven students from Years 7 to 10, represented JRS at the South Lakes District Cross Country event, held at Cartmel on Wednesday 13th November. This event hosts nine schools from across the South Lakes area. The event is run through the fields neighbouring Cartmel racecourse, this challenged our students with wet and muddy conditions under-foot along with two long but steady inclines. As ever our stu-dents competed with determina-tion to do their best and showed great support to one another as they cheered from the side-lines. Results: Year 7 Boys: Matti Ligema: 7th, Miles Fieldhouse: 9th, Alex Gra-ham: 14th, Max Rawlinson: 43rd, Louis Hadfield: 52nd, Oliver Wiles: 63rd. Year 7 Girls: Maisie Fieldhouse: 17th, Grace Luscombe: 19th, Hol-ly Wrathell: 29th, Sapphire Sock-et: 33rd, Amelia Grange: 36th. Year 8/9 Boys: Riley Merryfield: 21st, Ewan Taylforth: 39th, Theo Coates: 44th, Seb Hoving: 52nd, Charlie Macleod: 61st, Tom Duck-ering: 66th, Ali Wilson: 70th, Tris-tan Coniguaro: 71st. Year 8/9 Girls: Jess Edmondson: 14th, Hannah Nicholson: 20th, Molly Kitchingman: 34th, Daisy Peart: 55th, Lillie Johnson: 56th. Year 10 Girls: Olesia Winder: 1st, Iona Watson: 12th, Sophie Gill: 21st. A massive congratulations to all students that took part.