Wrotham School Newsletter Term 2 2012-2013

www.wrothamschool.com 1

Record Results for the

Mathematics Department Bucking the national trend Wrotham

School’s students gained the highest

ever mathematics GCSE results the

school had ever seen. 76% of

students gained a C grade or higher

this summer.

Congratulations to both staff and

students.

Pro Soccer Scholars Lead

the Way We are immensely proud of our Pro-

Soccer scholars who remain unbeaten

since September 2012. This term the

boys have played some tough

opposition and have had to draw on

the fitness and experience gained in

training for at least two hours a day. A

recent victory against the Swadelands

Academy students sees our scholars

maintain their position at the top of the

Kent Football Academies League. A

number of the scholars have trials over

the next few weeks with professional

teams and six of the boys already

represent Kent.

Year 7 Eco-Cops Winners

enjoy week with TV Star A group of year 7 students recently

enjoyed a week away at an outdoor

act iv i t ies centre in the Lake

District. The trip was the first prize in

the National Eco-Cops N Power

Competition. The week away included

a bush-craft session with TV star Ray

Mears, climbing up gorges and

waterfalls and spending a night in a

cave.

Read more about their adventures on Page 4

English Results

Overturned With absolute determination to

see our students’ work rewarded

fairly, we fought hard to have our

English results checked again. As

far as we know we are the only

school (outside Wales) that has

managed to secure such a

turnaround for our students.

Upcoming Events Start of Term 3 for Staff and Students

07/01/13

Mock Result Event for Year 11 10/01/13

Year 11 Consultation Evening 10/01/13

Year 7 Consultation Evening 24/01/13

Year 9/10 PSHE Day 06/02/13

Music and Drama Showcase 31/01/13

“The Wizard of Oz” 20 & 21/03/13

January Exams Begin (see website) 09/01/13

Wrotham Sixth Form

Goes it Alone Recruitment for our new

independent Sixth Form

continues as we move into the

new year. A number of new

courses are now on offer for

September including the

Wrotham Business Academy

Professional Pathway, A levels in

Physics, Chemistry and Biology, A

levels in Psychology, Product

Design and Performing Arts. Add

to this our new Sixth Form

Resource Centre and the

opportunities available to our

students look really exciting as

they consider this important next

Matthew Wright - Headteacher






Term 2 2012/2013

Enjoy a Well-earned Break The students and staff here at Wrotham have worked incredibly hard over the

last two terms and all of us are looking forward to the Christmas break. I would

like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and I hope that everyone is able to

enjoy some festivities, celebrations and peaceful time over the holiday period.

Over the following pages we offer you some our of our highlights of 2012 –

there are too many to mention but here are a few.


Ahead of ‘The Curve’ At the end of January we are due to

take ownership of our Phase 1

building. ‘The Curve’ will house the

Science, Languages and History

departments, as well as our new Sixth

Form Resource Centre. Builders will still

be on site until the end of March as they

demolish the old HORSA huts and make

good the ground. This has been a long

time coming and we look forward to

celebrating this important new phase in

the life of our school. I would like to say

a huge thank you to our contractor’s,

Jenners, and to both Mrs Sowten and

Mr Meredith for all their hard work in

seeing this project delivered on time

and to such a high standard.

Staff Changes At the end of this term we say goodbye to a number of staff: Mr Rowe and Miss Magee leave the teaching staff to pursue new opportunities; Mr Lucas leaves the Teaching Assistant Team; Mrs Emirali and Mrs Sowten are leaving the finance team. We all wish them the best of luck in their new ventures. In January 2013 Mr Laviolette joins us as a Music teacher; Miss Payne joins us as a Technology teacher; Miss Noakes joins us as a full time Teaching Assistant. We are also really pleased to be able to tell you that Mrs Bridgland has been

promoted to the role of Head of Performing Arts. This is really exciting for our

students as she has had a fantastic impact here since her appointment in June.

Academy Status The school will become a convertor

Academy next year. Thank you to those

parents who attended the recent

consultation evening. It was very useful

to talk about this important decision

with you. The Governing Body have

now agreed the decision to convert and

I will keep you updated with progress

here. Key to this change for our school

will be a significant increase in our

annual funding and access to the

Academies Capital funding which we

hope will see us able to replace all our

older buildings over the next few years.

Governor Day On the 29th of November members of

our Governing Body spent the day at

school. They met with the School

Council and went on learning walks

with members of the Leadership

Team. The Governors then had an

evening of training. The Learning Walk

highlighted the excellent teaching that

our students are experiencing at

present. This year we have had a strong

focus on challenging all students to

make good progress with their learning,

including our most able. This was really

evident in all the lessons we saw.

Prizegiving 2012 As always, this annual event was

very well attended, with hundreds

of Prize winners and their families

celebrating last year’s successes.

We are very grateful to Patrick

Leeson, Corporate Director of

Education, Learning and Skills for

Kent County Council who

presented the prizes to students

currently in Years 8 -13, along

with Exam Certificates to current

and ex-students. Students were

rewarded with prizes for House

Points, Attendance, Attitude to

Learning, Achievement, Positive

Contribution, Progress and

Excellence. In addition a number

of trophies were presented for

various Sports, Art, Engineering,

Food Technology, Business

Studies, Academic Progress,

Personality of the Year,

Community Service, Aspiration

over Adversity and Initiative.

House Point Update

Term 1 saw a fierce battle between

Cheetahs and Tigers to be our overall

winners. Tigers were in the lead

towards the end, but were pipped to

the post at the last minute by the

Cheetah’s winning entry to the

Childline Story Board Competition.

Congratulations to Cheetahs, and good

luck to Tigers who are currently in the

lead again and hoping for their first win

at the end of this term.




Mrs Rushworth - Assistant Headteacher


Prizegiving Ceremony

‘The Curve’ nears completion



School Council Thanks to all of you that entered our Competition to design a poster depicting a Christmas Scene. We had some brilliant entries! All entries were displayed at the PTA Bazaar. The winner chosen by Josh Davis and Mr. Wright was Jodie McHardy in Year 11. Jodie won a Family Ticket to Leeds Castle. Well Done Jodie. We made a reasonable profit at the Bazaar and everyone had a fun day. The Christmas Cake was won by Mr. Williams (LKW) and he has kindly donated this to a Homeless Charity for their raffle which will mean more money will be raised. The Guess the Name of the Teddy was won by Annabel Biggs who correctly guessed the Giant Elephant was called Heffa. By the time this goes to press we will have also run a Christmas Raffle and the winners will be announced on the last day. I wonder who will win the Giant Orange Shark????? We are currently gathering ideas about what we can spend any money raised on. Suggestions have been more benches for the playground, or perhaps some seating in the concourse area. But we still need your ideas! To get our message across we will in 2013 be visiting the House Assemblies to make a short presentation.

Attendance Update Congratulations to the following students who were our draw winners from the students in Term 1 with 100% Attendance:

• Alexander Udell LKW

• Riley Cunningham TAB

• Alex Williams PAY

• Gina Padgett JMC

• Danny O’Halloran CFF

As Parents, you are well aware of our continuous drive to encourage excellent attendance from all students – this alone will have a very positive impact on each individual’s progress and attainment. Please be aware of our term dates for the remainder of this academic year, which

are also available on the school web-site. As a rule, holidays in term-time will not

be authorised and are likely to incur a Penalty Notice and fine from the

Attendance Service who regularly monitor our data. Every lesson really does

count! Thank you for your continued support.

Jack Mitchell steps up a

gear

Congratulations to Jack Mitchell, the new Vice Champion of the Fiesta Junior Championship Jack achieved 2nd place in the

Championship, which was a fantastic

result for his 1st season in car racing,

particularly as he was the youngest

driver on the grid. During the season

Jack had 3 wins and a further 7 podium

finishes. He was leading the

championship unti l mechanical

problems in the last few rounds, saw

him drop to 2nd place. Full details can

be seen on his website

www.jackmitchellracing.co.uk

Charity Match for Children in Need Wrotham Sixth Form and Pro-Soccer students played a charity match on Friday 16th November, and managed to raise £146.00 from spectators at lunchtime. The challenge was laid down by Jack Marchant-Deadman, with the help of Mr Walmsley and our Pro-Soccer Academy coaches, Craig and Jay. The challengers only had half an hour’s training and were up against our Pro-Soccer students who have been training for 10 hours a week since September. The final score was a respectable 2-1 to Pro-Soccer and the spectators were really generous with their donations. Thanks to Jack and the other Sixth Form students who helped with collecting change and supervising the game. Find out more about the Pro Soccer Academy at:

www.pro-soccer.co


The School Council

Mr Wight - Editor

Miss Hollinshead - Head of Sixth Form


6th Form visit Disneyland Paris On 26th November , nineteen Travel and Tourism students from Year 12 and 13 journeyed to Disneyland Paris for the 17th annual Customer Service Conference. Students reviewed the customer service provisions within the Resort, sampling entertainment, accommodation, hospitality and catering and had a lot of fun during their stay. Students were provided with 2 full days in both Disney Parks with full access to all rides. During the evenings they could sample the entertainment of the Disney Village, eating twice in the Steakhouse and enjoying the arcades, amusements, Winter Wonderland and numerous Disney shops. The Wednesday morning was spent with 1000 students from a range of schools and colleges where lectures were given from the creative director of Disneyland Paris and the marketing director in charge of all advertising for Disneyland in the UK. Students experienced first- hand the effort needed to create a Resort such as this, but also got to enjoy the end result and final product in a sing and dance along with Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck, followed by an afternoon sampling all the Disney rides for a final time. A great time was had by all students and behaviour was of course, impeccable. All students were provided with Disney Awards with the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Award for excellence on the trip being awarded to Josh Manning and Mel Hudson. The School has since been presented with a certificate of attendance, in recognition of the contribution made by students during the conference. Well done and thank you to the students and staff involved on the trip for

making it an excellent experience.

Eco-Cops Winners Outdoor Activity Week During activities week a group of us made an assault course at school out of recycled materials for a competition run by Npower. Out of 100 schools we won, and the prize was a week at the Outward Bound Centre in Ullswater in November. We had an amazing time in The Lake District. We had many experiences that we will never forget. As well as sleeping in the cave we also met Ray Mears! He taught us how to start a fire with the basics of cotton wool and Vaseline and he also taught us about some of the different types of trees in the fascinating nature around us. There was a film crew who filmed us whilst we were with him. On one of our hikes, we decided to climb Castle Cragg. It was an amazing view as we took the last few challenging steps to the top. Climbing this was a massive goal for the whole group, but by helping each other, we all made it to the summit. On the last day of activities, we went Gorge Walking. This is when you walk up a rushing waterfall. This activity required a lot of teamwork, and we all helped each other, pulling each other through the waist high waters, and slippery rocks. Without our teammates helping us, we wouldn’t have got through the week! We all learnt that by doing things together you can achieve so much more than on your own. Overall we had a fantastic week, and learnt that we can achieve a lot more than we first thought. We also learnt that you had to set yourself goals that you didn’t think you could achieve!

Year 7 Invade Dover Castle

Year seven visited Dover Castle in

November. It was extremely foggy, the

mist didn't lift all day making the castle

very atmospheric. We enjoyed

exploring the tower and seeing what

the castle may have looked like in the

Middle Ages. We went through the

Medieval tunnels and had fun dressing

up in the education rooms and looking

at how a castle would be attacked and

defended.

Jodie Wilson and Katherine Stevens Year 8 J

Miss Peck and Mr Friend

Mrs O’Niell - Leader of Learning in History

6th Form at Disneyland

Eco-Cops in Ullswater


We need your batteries We have a chance to win £500 for our school, just by collecting and recycling our used batteries. Can you all bring in any spent batteries

to Isolation.

Anti-Bullying Week

We regularly support this initiative, and

raise the profile with students. This year

the focus was that “it’s ok to be

different”, and Mr Meredith led two

assemblies where the message was very

clear to all students. Activities were

carried out in Community Time and we

had a competition to write a rap or

poem along this theme. Our joint

winning entries are from Cheetah and

Tiger House, and in this Newsletter we

congratulate Imogen Fenwick on her

winning entry for Tiger House,

In addition, during Anti-bullying week

all students took part in a county-wide,

on-line survey and we now look

forward to receiving those results in

March, next year.

I’m scared

I walk through the school gates

There’s shouting

Angry words, violent words

I think to myself

“What have I done?”

There’s more shouting

Why do they hate me?

They’re screaming abuse

They start to laugh

I cry, I run

But I can still hear shouting

I feel so lonely, so isolated

I walk into the classroom

It’s warm and I sit down

I can hear whispering

There’s people talking about me

I try to ignore it

There’s more whispering

They start to laugh again

I cry once more

There’s a hand on my shoulder

I’m scared

I look up, but there’s a friendly face

A concerned teacher, with comforting words

“Talk to me, I can help”

So we talked

We talked about the shouting, about the whispering

The teacher with the friendly face sorted everything

I’m still scared

But now there’s no shouting

There’s no whispering anymore…….

Norman is a Rolling Stone

At the beginning of November, I was asked if I wanted to drum at a gig on the

25th and 29th of November. Little did I realise I’d end up playing at the opening

of The Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary concerts at the O2 arena.

On 20th of November, I was sent to Wembley Stadium for a day of rehearsals.

This is where I met my team, who I was glad to meet and got along with really

well.

On the 25th November I took my team of six up to the O2 arena for a day of final

changes and rehearsal before we went back stage and got into our positions

ready for the performance. Five minutes before we went on, we were given black

clothing including a hat, jumper and jeans. This was accompanied with a Gorilla

mask which was imitating The Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary symbol. This

made us look more like part of the set with The Rolling Stones.

On the 29th November it was the last gig night. We went to the O2 around the

same time and we practiced some more. This performance was much more

enjoyable than the first one as I wasn’t as nervous about making mistakes. At this

gig, I could relax, stare at the crowd and enjoy playing what I had tried so hard to

make perfect for The Rolling Stones.

Over the course of the three days, we met the members of The Rolling Stones

and spent time with them rehearsing and having a good time. We were given a

free ticket each as well as a t-shirt quoting ‘I drummed with The Rolling Stones’

on the back, with the gorilla symbol on the front. We were also given The Rolling

Stones new CD. These were great souvenirs and memorabilia from the once in a

life time chance to play with such a famous and influential band.


Chris Norman (with white drum strap)

Chris Norman - Year 13

Mrs James - Behaviour Support Officer

Imogen Fenwick - Year 11 T


Parking on Site

Please be reminded that there is

no parking available for students

on site – this includes both cars

and scooters/mopeds. Whilst

there are construction works on

site, the area is very congested,

with the loss of approximately 40

parking spaces, and the additional

traffic of large lorries, fork lift

trucks etc moving in and out of

both entrances.

Book Swap Launched

I am pleased to announce the launch of

our book swap facility. We are excited

to be able to provide a well-stocked

and regularly updated shelf of modern

and classic books that are located in our

school library. All students are welcome

to swap any book they have read for

any other in the book case; they can

either keep it or bring it back to swap

again. We hope this will be a fantastic

opportunity for students to broaden

their reading experience whilst

recycling old books without cost or

hassle.

Thank you all for your kind donations of

books to replenish our reading

resources, your donations of quality

books continue to be appreciated.

Sixth Form Leadership

Team

The Sixth Form Leadership team have

been working very hard this term to

raise funds for the Sixth Form Study

Centre which will be opening at the end

of January.

They are currently calculating the total

needed and we have been very

generously helped by Chris Mayes who

has sourced ten computers from his

place of work, Skanska. We still need to

resource more PCs, carpet the space

and acquire furniture for it. Therefore,

any further assistance would be most

gratefully received.

Uniform Reminder

Please be aware of the school uniform requirements

when buying replacements over the holiday. All

students should be smartly dressed with top buttons

done up and ties/skirts of an acceptable length. School

trousers should not be tight fitting or jean style and

under no circumstances are hoodies to be worn. If

additional warmth is required, a black V-neck jumper

may be worn under the blazer. Full details are given on

the school web-site. Thank you in anticipation of your

continued support.

John Downton Exhibition In the last newsletter we announced that 3 of our students had had work accepted for the John Downton Young Artists 2012 Exhibition. Mrs Browning attended the Award Ceremony on Thurday 15th November at Sessions House, Maidstone and is proud to report that one of our students, who took Art GCSE last summer, was successful! Congratulations to Jack Higham for winning The Bronze

Award.

GCSE and A level work from last year can now be collected. It will be out in T1 and T2 until February half term. Unless we hear from students we will presume it is not wanted and dispose of it after that time.

Mrs Browning - Art

Miss Hollinshead—Head of Sixth Form


Mr Cater—Deputy Headteacher

Medau


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Wrotham School Newsletter Term 2 2012-2013