NETHERTHORPE NEWSLEARN • ENJOY • SUCCEED OCTOBER 2015

Art Corner

The Staveley Town Council Art Competition

theme this year was 'My Art' and led to students

producing a wide range of work, from a lifelike

model of a dog by Hannah Pitchfork to Adrian

Godfrey's evolution of man picture, which is his

artistic interpretation of how he hopes to

develop into becoming an RAF pilot in the future

(pictured). The presentation evening was very

well attended, and this year the prizes were

given out by his grace the Duke of Devonshire.

Once again Netherthorpe's artists enjoyed

incredible success, scooping 10 of the 16 prizes

on offer to secondary schools. Congratulations

to all our prize winners.

We welcomed our new Lower Sixth with our now

traditional autumn barbecue. It was a very enjoyable

occasion with hamburgers, hot dogs and a lively

disco organised by our resident DJ Tony

Castelluccio. Meanwhile the Upper Sixth marked the

new term with a wet and wild weekend at White Hall

activity centre. A fish and chips supper on the first

evening got the students ready for two action packed

days of climbing, canoeing and caving. Despite

aches, bruises and muddy knees it was a fun filled

break, enjoyed by all.

What is Parent Voice?

• We're not a PTA!

• We're not a fundraising

arm of the school!

• What we are is a great

bunch of friendly faces

who meet 3 times a year.

We discuss new school policies and initiatives and we

look at the successes of the term's extra-curricular

activities. All parents have the opportunity to add

whole school issues to the agenda.

It's a good way to meet other parents and feel in

touch with your child's secondary education.

Come along - tea, coffee juice and biscuits are feely

available.

The next two meetings are on the 14th March & 20th

June 2016 @6.30pm in room 100.

We hope to see you there.

Dear Parents, Governors, Students and Friends of the school,

It is with great pleasure that I open this newsletter, the first of the school

year. So much has happened since the last newsletter and I am going to

present a potted version for you here.

A level results arrived on August 13th and staff worked hard to ensure

that the 90+ students who wanted go to University all had a place to go

to. More students than ever chose the Apprenticeship route instead, and

gained high quality places with real career prospects. A week later the

GCSE results came in and I am pleased to report that we are still improving, with 67.5% of the students

gaining 5 or more higher grade passes including English and Maths. Following these results, we interviewed

both our own Year 11 students and over 100 students from other schools for our sixth form and admitted

record numbers. The sixth form now has 300 students in it. In September, term started well and we

launched our charity causes - Blue Bell Wood Children's Hospice and Sight Support Derbyshire, the latter

because we have now welcomed our first completely blind student to the school. We have more students

with physical disabilities than ever before and they really do enrich the school.

Our first ever cohort of Year 13 students were awarded their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Certificate and

already there have been two Geography fieldwork trips, one to North Wales and one to Derbyshire, for

examination classes. The Department head off once again in a week, this time to Mount Vesuvius. We have

teams producing Christmas items to sell in the shop at Chatsworth House and their creations have had to

go through rigorous selection and quality control processes. We've held a sixth form Barbecue to welcome

new students, had a sixth form weekend away at an outdoor pursuits centre and a fabulous sponsored walk.

Year 7 are about to begin their World War 1 project and all this complements the normal day-to-day

teaching and weekly extra-curricular programme of activities. Children will always learn better when they

enjoy learning and enjoy their school experience and there has never been a better time to be a student at

Netherthorpe.

Mr A. Senior

Meeting our future king

Daniel Humphreys of Year 7 has supported anti-bullying initiatives since junior school, where hewas chosen to serve on a County committee. Hiswork was recently recognised nationally when hewas invited to London to take part in the DianaAward's Anti-Bullying Ambassadors' programme.This scheme, set up by Princess Diana, providesthe opportunity for young people to learn how torecognise signs of bullying and encourage victimsto seek help and speak out about their concerns.Daniel took part in a training session focused onsupport networks, cyber-bullying and LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) bullyingissues. Daniel knew he was going to meet animportant guest but he got quite a shock whenthe mystery VIP turned out to be Diana's son,Prince William. There are not many of us who cansay they have met the future King of England, butDaniel can!

6th Form News

Thursday 12th November:

Monday 16th November:

Friday 20th November:

Monday 23rd November:

Thursday 26th November:

Thursday 3rd December:

Tuesday 8th December:

Thursday 10th December:

Thursday 17th December:

Friday 18th December:

Dates for your diary

Year 11 Presentation Evening

Year 11 Mock Exams start

Staff Training Day

Year 13 Mock Exams start

Year 12 Open Evening

Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Christmas Charity Concert

Year 12 Parents’ Evening

Year 13 Presentation Evening

Term ends

A new Charity Committee has

been formed and has selected

two very worthwhile local

charities to support: Bluebell

Wood Children's Hospice and

Sight Support Derbyshire. Miss

Dexter is our new Charity Co-ordinator and the

committee is packed with students of all ages from

across the school. They have set themselves the very

ambitious target of £10,000! The year got off to a

fantastic start with the Sponsored Walk around

Poolsbrook Country Park. The whole school took part

and it was a very enjoyable afternoon with the students

doing the school proud with their behaviour and good

humour. We wish the

Charity Committee every

success throughout the

year.

A French breakfast

On October 10th the Year 11 GCSE French group

travelled by minibus to enjoy a French trip… to

nearby Sheffield! They had a petit déjeuner (French

breakfast) experience at the renowned French

restaurant Bistrot Pierre. Ex-Netherthorpe student

Imogen Soakell, now studying Maths and French at

Sheffield University, joined them and they learned of

her plans to study Maths at Versailles University

next year. There was warm French bread with butter

and jams, crispy pains au chocolat and pains aux

raisins. Eve loved her Croque-Monsieur and many

other students had delicious crêpes with cream and

berries, while Evan opted for a petit déjeuner

anglais! The group all appreciated the very French

atmosphere and

they were served

by the French-

speaking waitress

Marsha: "vous

prendez du thé ou

du café?"

Final House Scoreboard 2014/2015

De Rodes Frecheville Sitwell

1440 1225 1175

On the final day of the summer term the Rosebowl

was presented to De Rodes for a record breaking

7th year in a row! The term had ended with a

magnificent Sports Day at the Sheffield Institute

of Sport and hard fought cricket and rounders

competitions. Can anyone beat De Rodes this

year? Time will tell! This term's House events are

badminton, the House Quiz, football and netball.

The Charity Commitee

Mexican ExpeditionThis summer a group of Sixth Form students carried out two weeks of volunteer

conservation work in Mexico. For the first week the students travelled to the

Calakmul Biosphere reserve close to the border of Guatemala. This is an area of

great biological diversity as it is an ancient Mayan city where the ruins have been

reclaimed by the forest. The Mayans farmed and planted fruit trees which have

returned to the forest and provide food for the high density of primates and bats.

The students soon adapted to living without electricity, running water and the

internet!! Since returning to the UK we have had the fantastic news that the

planned 4 lane highway the Mexican government was planning to run to the ruins has

been cancelled, to protect the forest and animals, particularly the critically endangered

Jaguar and Tapir. In the second week the students moved to the coast where they

learned to dive and carried out surveys of the sea grass which is an important food for

the turtles. It was two weeks of hard work, fun and adventure; the students have had an

experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Netherthorpe students have been asked to support a Chatsworth

House initiative to create and make Christmas decoration designs that

could be sold in their shop. Netherthorpe students came up with

several Christmas designs that were then made into prototypes and

presented to the Chatsworth retail buying team for consideration and

approval. Many hours of hard work and careful thought was required to

ensure that the ideas would be easily produced, cost effective and be a

desirable product that would sell well in the shop. Chatsworth was so

impressed with the design ideas and products that four ideas (and

their variations) were chosen to be put into production. The actual

designs are currently top secret and we look forward to their

unveiling ready for Christmas. A specially commissioned Chatsworth

House badge will be presented to the students who have been involved in

the project.

Romeo and JulietNetherthorpe's talented students are rehearsing

and performing a production of Shakespeare's

Romeo and Juliet in a professional theatre. The

students chosen have shown tremendous acting

ability over the past year and will now be given the

chance to represent the school in the UK's biggest

drama festival: the Shakespeare Schools' Festival.

On Wednesday 7th October, students involved in

the project visited the performance venue, the

Montgomery Theatre in Sheffield, for the first time.

At this cast workshop students got the amazing

opportunity to work with professional

Shakespearean actors and directors as they

developed their acting skills through a series of

improvisation games and exercises.

"For never was a story of more woe than this of

Juliet and her Romeo;" this was clear as the

students performed a section of the show they had

been working on in rehearsals to an audience full of

festival coordinators and students from a partner

school. The students were complimented on their

ability to present the raw pain and emotion which

the characters in the play go through.

The performance is due to take place on

Wednesday 11th of November at the Montgomery

Theatre in Sheffield and tickets are already selling

fast. In order not to miss out tickets for the show

can be purchased directly from the Montgomery

Hall's box office. Tickets are £9 for adults or £7 for

concessions. The contact information for the

theatre is below:

Phone the box office on: 0114 249 6000

Buy tickets online at:

http://themontgomery.org.uk/events/shakespeare

-schools-festival1

Project Chatsworth

The end of the last school year was jam packed

with memorable events and activities. There

were two splendid proms for our departing Year

11 and 13 students. The school first XI cricket

team defeated the Old Students in a close and

hard fought match at the Welfare. We enjoyed a

splendid Sports Award Evening and our first ever

Oscars Evening was a glittering occasion.

Activity Day was a great success with a whole

host of activities including bike rides, sports,

music and a visit to the magical world of Harry

Potter. The Modern Languages Department ran

a very successful trip to Santander and the PGL

visit proved as popular as ever. We congratulate

our first ever DoE Gold students (pictured) who

braved the elements and completed their

qualifying expedition in Snowdonia. The year

ended with our ever popular Carnival sports and

our first ever whole school assembly in the

Sports Hall.

Remembering last summer

Staveley ChurchThe Year 11 History students had a very interesting

visit to Staveley Church as part of their GCSE work.

The Church dates back to the Norman Conquest and

is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The students

learned about the central role played by the

Frecheville family in the history of the Church and

marvelled at the splendid Frecheville Chapel. We are

very grateful to the Rector for allowing our students to

visit.