ASPIRE The official termly newsletter of Langley School

INSIDE:

• Langley ‘Battle of the Bands’ • Our drama production ‘Summer Nights’ • Year 10 visit Disneyland Paris • Catch up with our Spring Term sports update ISSUE 11 SPRING 2016 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Headteacher Introduction

HEAD’S LINES

Dear Reader A very warm welcome to the Spring 2016 edition of Aspire. Although this term has been much shorter than normal, you will see that we have packed in an even greater number of exciting activities and opportunities for Langley’s students, ranging from a fabulous musical production, which played to sold-out audiences over one afternoon and three nights, to growing success in a variety of sporting events; from a visit to the House of Lords, at the personal invitation of Lord Faulkner, to our students’ first-class support for young people far less fortunate than themselves in Africa. We are able to offer such a rich diet of ‘life beyond the classroom’ opportunities to our students for two main reasons: The exceptional commitment of our staff who volunteer their time, care and expertise. They show a genuine interest in developing our young people to be ‘life ready’ rather than simply ‘exam ready’. My colleagues really do inspire, support and challenge our students to achieve more, both academically and personally. I am very grateful to them. Our young people’s outstanding behaviour and enthusiasm, ably supported by their families. I am always delighted when members of the public approach our staff to say how impressed they are with Langley’s students. Indeed, only last week an elderly gentleman approached the Head of Year 7, who was leading a visit, to ask which school the children were from. He said that his faith in young people had been restored by their excellent behaviour and politeness. I am so proud of such fine Langley ambassadors. Talking of fine ambassadors, I could not let this edition of Aspire pass without saying a fond farewell to our out-going Year 11 students. Where have those five years gone? It has been wonderful to watch them grow into fine, young adults and I know I speak for everyone associated with our school, when I say a special thank you to them for all they have done to make Langley an even better place. I would also like to wish them the very best of luck as they enter the examinations season - I know that they will give all they have got in the pressured time ahead, doing themselves and their families proud. I hope that you enjoy reading about the enriching life on offer at Langley over the following pages. My very best wishes to you.

P. Talbot Headteacher

2 Aspiring to be the best we can be: The Arts

1950s theatre, film and music have always been a favourite of mine and I was thrilled to bring them to life at Langley for this year's production of Summer Nights. The success of the show was down to the hard work of the students and staff involved in the long journey right from the launch to final show night. Sandy and Danny's epic love story was played out with energy, colour and passion. The supporting cast of Pink Ladies, T Birds, Cheerleaders and choral parts all gave their all into making it a Langley show to remember. The students involved astounded me with their commitment and professionalism and they really did pour their hearts and souls into it. They made themselves and the Langley community extremely proud. Langley has a fantastic network of talent amongst the teaching and support staff and many of those individuals were involved in the band, the technical team and part of the army of helpers along the way. I would like to give a special mention to Mr Talbot who was the Musical Director and did a fantastic job working with a live band to accompany the singers. Summer Nights was a product of the all the fantastic Langley talent and I enjoyed the experience immensely. We are all looking forward to the next production! Miss E Nield, Director

3 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Langley Fundraising WORLD BOOK DAY

Langley Secondary School was overrun with magical wizards, Katniss Everdeens and many other favourite story book characters in the biggest ever World Book dressing up day for charity. World Book Day, which took place on Thursday 3rd March, saw lots of our students and staff donating £1 each to dress up as their favourite story book character to raise vital funds for World Book Aid. At Langley, students managed to raise over £150. YEAR 8 TRIP TO BOING ZONE Year 8 went on a reward trip to the Boing Zone Trampoline Park in Stourbridge. The trip was a reward for excellent effort and behaviour during the Autumn Term. 150 students along with the Year 8 tutor team took part in a range of activities at the trampoline park including dodgeball, and wall climbing. The enthusiasm and excellent behaviour of those who attended was constant and a privilege to experience. Evidence of the energy expelled during the trip was a very quiet coach trip home.

YEAR 10 BTEC REWARD TRIP BUBBLE FOOTBALL Due to their fantastic effort and behaviour in lessons this half term the Year 10 BTEC PE students were given the opportunity to take part in a bubble football session. Students took part in a For sports relief we had a non number of games where they were inside an uniform day and the total inflatable sphere. The students were an absolute amount raised was £762.45 . pleasure and represented the school well.

4 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Student Enrichment

After successfully making it through the local finals last year, on FUTURE CHEF 2016 Saturday 6th February, Harry Fitzwater (Year 11) competed in the regional finals of Future Chef. This is a national culinary competition for 12-16 year olds. The heat was held at UCB in their competition kitchen and Harry was up against 5 of the best young chefs within the . They were set the challenge of creating a main course and dessert for two people within 1½ hours, with a budget of just £10, and they had to showcase as many knife skills as possible. Harry’s hard work and dedication, practising over the past 6 weeks, paid off and he competently filleted and skinned a whole cod, before continuing with the rest of his preparation and cooking. Harry served pan-seared cod with curried cauliflower and beurre noisette, followed by panna-cotta with ginger and pineapple. After a tense 1½ hours, it looked like it was going to be a close call between a couple of the competitors, but eventually the judges made their decision and Harry was awarded runner up. It was a brilliant effort from Harry and he certainly did himself proud. Unfortunately, only one chef from the regionals can progress into the national finals. However, after the competition Harry was inundated with professional chefs approaching him to find out his plans after Langley and with various job and work experience offers. Should catering be the route Harry chooses to take, he will undoubtedly be very successful and it has been a pleasure to mentor him through the competition. For any other budding chefs out there, if you are interested in competing in next year’s Future Chef, then please speak to Mr Hannah.

SOLIHULL SCHOOLS’ Holocaust Memorial Service SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL “I was extremely lucky to be asked to go to the Holocaust PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION Memorial Service on Wednesday 27 January 2016 at the Council House, On Saturday 5th February, Darcy Humphries representing Langley School. in Year 7 represented Langley at a Public I found this very interesting Speaking Competition arranged by the and learnt a lot. Soroptimists. The event was held at St. John’s Hotel in and attended by The Holocaust was a terrible teachers and parents as well as Councillor time when approximately Joe Tildesley and the Mayor of Solihull. 6 million Jewish people of all ages were killed between Darcy spoke with passion and purpose on 1933-1945 in mass shootings the subject of migration and her eloquent or gassings by Nazis. The message for this year’s speech was well received by everyone in memorial was ‘ Don’t stand By’ , meaning if the audience. We would like to congratulate something like this was happening today, would Darcy on her performance and the brave you stand by and not speak out? I got to meet the way she spoke with such confidence to such Mayoress of Solihull, and heard the overwhelming a formal audience. and amazing story of Dr Martin Stern, a real-life Holocaust survivor, who told us his story in person. The Chief Superintendent of West Midlands Police Year 7/8 Trip to Solihull Ice Rink was there and students from CTC Kingshurst read poems. At the end of the service prayers were said On Friday 26th February, 190 Year 7 and 8 by Rabbi Yehuda Pink from the Solihull Hebrew students went on a trip to Solihull Ice rink. The Congregation and there was a minute’s silence to trip was a reward for excellent work, effort and remember all those who lost their lives in the behaviour during the months of January and Holocaust, as well as other genocides since February. Everyone enjoyed themselves and World War II. behaved in an appropriate I feel very proud to have been invited and to have manner. The students were taken part in such an important event.” a credit to the school. Amelia Bodenham, School Council Member Miss Struthers & Mr Cox

5 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Beyond the Classroom

MFL EASTER EGG COMPETITION

Well done to everyone who took part in the Year 7 MFL Easter Egg Competition 2016 Here are some of the eggtraordinarily, eggcellent eggs that they made this year WINNING EGGS 1st - Chloe Delpino for the fantastic 'Eggheads'

2nd - Hattie Pearce for her beautifully painted eggs

3rd - Fynn Williams for his super large 'Captain Underpants' egg

Over the past 6 years, kind-hearted students at Langley school have raised a Educaid Cheque substantial amount of money for the Solihull based charity – EducAid. This fantastic charity gives children in Kenya the life-changing opportunity of having an education, which they could alternatively not afford. In these recent years we have been able to make a difference and have sponsored several children in Kenya. ‘Africa Day’, which took place in July last year, was a great success, when students in KS3 had the day dedicated to learning about the cultural differences of their lives with those in Africa. An impressive amount of money was raised on this day alone and together with the Summer Fete Langley students have raised an impressive £2,053.82 again this year. This has resulted in us being able to continue sponsoring ‘Alice Sammy’ who is now able to start training to become a teacher over the next 2 years. Alice was one of the first students that we sponsored at Langley and we are delighted that we have been able to give her this fantastic opportunity. Miss Isaac (previously – International Links Co-Ordinator)

6 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Curriculum Enrichment

‘Of Mice and Men’ Year 9 Theatre Trip HOUSE OF LORDS On Thursday 4th February, I had the privilege of taking a group of Year 9 students to The Birmingham Rep to see a live performance of the American classic ‘Of Mice and Men’. Year 9 had recently studied the novel in their English lessons and the opportunity to see live a production helped consolidate their understanding of the characters and themes. The performance was enjoyed by all students who attended the trip. Morgan Lennon said: “It was really enjoyable as I got a chance to go the theatre” and Meghan Cilliers said: “It was a great opportunity to experience it live after reading the book in class. I thoroughly enjoyed it!” All of the students were fantastic representatives of Langley and I am very much looking forward to the next opportunity to visit The students arrived promptly in school at 5.45am and the theatre with these amazing students. unfortunately it took us 4 hours to get to the House of Miss Scott, English KS3 Co-ordinator Lords. They were all very well behaved though and we enjoyed an excellent tour of the Palace of Westminster upon our arrival. At the end of the tour we were led to a Committee LONDON ART TRIP Room in the House of Lords where Lord Faulkner was waiting for us and he took an hour of wonderful questions from our students. The students conducted themselves impressively, especially when you consider that many of them are only 11! They asked a range of questions, revealing themselves to be polite, mature and politically engaged. After an hour Lord Faulkner took us to spend 10 minutes with the Lord Speaker, Baroness D'Souza, in her office. Again, the students represented Langley In January, Year 11 GCSE Art & Photography students visited well and gave articulate and thoughtful answers to her London’s Tate Modern and Tate Britain to kick start their exam questions. Indeed, she commented to Lord Faulkner projects. Mrs Hartshorn, Ms Bates, Mr Law and Mrs Attenborrow at the end of the meeting that she was very impressed led students around both galleries talking to them about artwork with the students, to which he replied, "It's a very which linked to their chosen exam title. At times the modern and special school!". Praise indeed! contemporary Art at Tate Modern both inspired and intrigued many students. We had the opportunity to see the ‘World Goes Pop’ exhibition, which housed lesser known Pop Art. Henri Cueco’s large scale block coloured sculptures were a favourite amongst the students and staff. Ms Bates was particularly excited to finally see Tracy Emin’s infamous ‘Bed’ for the first time, whilst some of the students wondered if they could submit similar work for their GCSE’s! Thankfully the students have been working hard and have finally completed the project, along with their final piece which was created in a 2 day exam.

In March Year 10 historians visited the National Cold War Exhibition at RAF Cosford. As part of their GCSE History Course students study the causes of the Cold War and key events including the Berlin Blockade, the Cuban Missiles Crisis and the Vietnam War. The day began in the lecture theatre with Brian talking to students about his experience as an RAF pilot during the Berlin Airlift. Being able to listen to oral history first hand is an incredible opportunity for the students. The rest of the day was spent in the exhibition and included a 'Protect and Survive' workshop, which involved the students learning about how people prepared for a nuclear war during the Cold War era.

7 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Beyond the Classroom

LANGLEY BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Tuesday 1st March saw the “Battle of the Langley Bands” 2016. Year 7 and Year 8 Bands took to the stage in the theatre, and entertained an enthusiastic audience with their musical skill and talent. There was a variety of different genres of bands and an eclectic choice of songs delivered. This year, each band had to do their own arrangement of a given song as well as perform one of their own choosing. The judges, Mr Talbot, Mrs Hadley and Mr Beattie from the Music Service had a difficult decision to make as the standard was so high but in the end it was ‘Melody Dynamcis’ that won the judges over with their performances of “Next to Me” by Emeli Sandé and “Rule the World” by Take That. They now have the opportunity to have a CD and DVD made of their performance. Thank you to all those students and staff involved and to all the family and friends who came to support this event. Ruth Marshall (Music Teacher)

8 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Curriculum Enrichment

Year 9 Engineers without borders! UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Last term some of our Year 9 students went to visit Ove Arup which is an independent firm of designers, planners and consultants On Friday 11th March, Langley students were given specialising in the built environment. The aim of the day was to inspire the opportunity to take part in Girton College’s Solihull the next generation of engineers. Students participated in a workshop Schools Roadshow. The roadshow was aimed at Year exploring the issues around renewable 10 and 11 students who are predicted to achieve A energy and looking at energy sources and and A* grades in many of their GCSEs. The aim of the solutions. roadshow was to provide students with information The day helped to develop our students’ about why to go to university, courses available to vocational skills linked to science, study at Cambridge and the importance of making the technology, engineering and maths. right choices at A level.

YEAR 9 AT SOLIHULL MAGISTRATES COURT

Last term we took 50 Year 9 students to the Big Bang STEM fair at the NEC. Here they went on a voyage of discovery of virtual reality, medicine, marine biology, film and TV, space exploration, explosive chemistry, crime- solving, robots, computer coding, microscopic bugs, giant trucks and more! There was also a mixture of employers and universities showing students what exciting and rewarding opportunities there are for students interested in STEM based careers. The Year 9 team of Langley students entered the Magistrates Mock A great day was had by all. court competition in March. The team trained for 6 months before the competition after school and during lunchtime. We visited the court before the competition to see how the court ran, met a magistrate and sat in a live court session to see how the trail takes place. Each member of the team had a specific role: magistrates, prosecution/ defence lawyers, witnesses, court usher, legal advisors and a defendant. On the day of the competition the students were all very nervous and excited in equal measure. We were up against Q3 Academy from Great Barr and Bordesley Green Girls school. Both the trials were tough but Langley pulled together as a team and were absolutely fantastic. We won both rounds, I am very proud of the team.

9 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Curriculum Enrichment

YOUTH ELECTIONS SPRING TERM IN FOOD The lead up to Easter was another busy term in Room 6, with plenty of fantastic cooking on display. The Year 7 and 8 groups continued learning the key skills that all good young chefs need; whilst the Year 9’s culminated their 13 week rotation by competing in a savoury and sweet cooking competition, in true ‘masterchef’ style! The results were impressive! The Year 11 GCSE group have been busy completing their coursework and revising for their upcoming exams; and the Year 10 GCSE group have been creating dishes all themed around Afternoon Tea, in preparation for the first of their practical controlled assessments. We also have a new group of Year 10 students completing 12 weeks of cookery skills as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. They got started with learning all sorts of chopping skills, Langley took part in the local Youth elections. We had assemblies presented by Mrs Botley to Years 7-9. The followed by making their own pasta to produce students learnt about the voting system in our country, were butternut squash agnolotti’s, and then from next introduced by promotional video to the 3 local candidates week we start learning how to cook on trangias. and also about the 10 subjects that the youth parliament Don’t forget to follow Room 6 on Twitter or Instagram to see more pictures was going to be debating and lobbying parliament about. of our students incredible work! The top 5 topics with the most votes were- • Tackling racism and religious discrimination, particularly against people who are Muslim or Jewish. All young people should work together to combat racism and other forms of discrimination, and ensure we know the DISNEYLAND PARIS dangers of such hatred. • Make public transport cheaper, better and accessible for all. • Mental health. Services should be improved with young people’s help and mental health education should be compulsory and challenge stereotypes. • A Curriculum to prepare us for life. Schools should cover topics including finance, sex and relationships and politics in the curriculum. • Living Wage. Everyone should be able to live comfortably. Everyone aged 16 or over should be paid at least the Living Wage of £7.85 per hour (£9.15 in London). (The ‘Living Wage’ as devised by the Living Wage Foundation.) A total of 279 Members of Youth Parliament aged 11-18 took part in the debates, the subjects for which were voted for by over 968,000 young people across the UK. On Wednesday 23rd of April, a group of Year 10 students went on a trip of a lifetime During their term of office, MYPs work with their MPs, to Disneyland Paris. We arrived at school at 6:40, knowing we had the dreaded 13 decision makers, councillors and local youth groups on the hour coach journey ahead of us. At 18:30 a bunch of hungry, tired students entered issues of greatest concern to their constituents. the restaurant, where we all had a well-needed meal! Eventually we arrived at our Joshua Murphy elected as MYP for Solihull hotel, which was going to be known as our home for the next 3 nights. Alexandra Birch elected as Deputy MYP for Solihull After a great night’s sleep, we woke up at 7am, knowing we needed to fill ourselves up at breakfast for the busy day we had planned ahead. After breakfast we boarded the coach once again and before we knew it, we had arrived at the gates of Disneyland! Everyone was excited – especially those that had never been before. Through security and ticket barriers we went, and soon we were inside and free to go where we liked. Everyone’s day went as planned; we got on all the rides we wanted to. The experience was incredible. After an amazing but long day, we had a delicious meal in Planet Hollywood – which meant that we missed the firework show we had planned to see! Due to the fact we had missed it, we ventured to the hypermarket to spend some of our euros. This was a great end to a tiresome day. On the second day we went to the Walt Disney Studios park. This day was just as good as the first, going on all the wonderful and thrilling rides! My favourite ride was Tower Of Terror as this was scary yet extremely enjoyable at the same time. I also found the finding nemo ride one of the best, which was unfortunate because the queueing time was over 2 hours, meaning I could only go on it once. After a brilliant day we met to go and have a meal, making sure we were earlier than yesterday so that we didn’t miss the fireworks! After our meal we headed back into the other park and all stood by the castle awaiting the spectacular show. We were all speechless, it was such a breath-taking and unforgettable display. It was a brilliant end to our fantastic trip - one we will all speak about in years to come. On behalf of all the students that went, I’d like to say a big thank you to the staff that gave up their time to make sure we had the experience of a lifetime. We all appreciate it and hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. By Sophie Fowles

10 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Curriculum Activities

YEAR 7 TWYCROSS ZOO YEAR 9 On March 22nd, we went on a school Science trip to Twycross Zoo. We all attended two educational training sessions to learn CARDING MILL VALLEY interesting facts about animals at the zoo. In our first session there was a chinchilla; they are now very endangered. In our next session we were shown a cockroach and we learned that the cockroach makes a hissing sound so they sound like a snake to predators. We were then allowed to go around the zoo to see the other animals. My friends and I decided to visit the elephants. They were amazing and we could get really close to them. The elephants are from different places in Asia like Burma, India and Thailand. Another of my favourite parts was the lemur walk through. Lemurs can leap as far as 3 metres; we all tried to leap further but we couldn’t! We all thought the trip was amazing and loved looking at all the other animals. We learned lots about animals being killed for their skin and fur, that animals are clever like us and that they should be treated with respect. Madilynne Clarke, 7H Following a unit of work on rivers and flooding our year group had been completing in Geography, we were given the opportunity to go to Carding Mill Valley in Shropshire to examine the river and waterfall which runs through it. With steep valley sides, numerous types of rocks with varying properties, fast flowing streams and the waterfall itself, Carding Mill Valley was the perfect place to learn more about rivers and how they are formed. When we arrived, my group went on a lovely (but quite tiring!) walk up the stream to the waterfall. Throughout the walk, we stopped to discuss certain features of the river and learnt a lot more about why and how they were that specific way. After the long ascent, we SCHOOL GAMES COUNTY FINAL finally reached the stunning waterfall and were taught about how they were fascinatingly formed over thousands of years. Then a few of us took the opportunity Langley took part in the Coventry, and to climb further up some steep steps to see the waterfall from a different angle. Solihull School Games County Final Competition. After enjoying our lunches, it was our turn observing and examining the river, the 5 Students represented Langley in wheelchair valley and their properties. We had to find out things like: how deep the water is, basketball. The students played well and showed how steep the valley sides are, how wide the river is, how fast the water was flowing excellent team spirit, supported each other and the and to examine some of the rocks on the river bed. After choosing our spot, we other teams. used a variety of equipment to find out these statistics. Examining the rocks was really interesting, as you could see how the constant movement and power of the They won gold medals coming a well-deserved water had worn them down in different ways and how greatly they varied in weight 1st place. and length. After observing an area of the river, we moved onto a different place, where some of the statistics changed, such as the width and depth of the water and The team - Kayleigh Haynes, Ryan Barton, the speed at which it was travelling. I really enjoyed this activity, as we had the Rebecca Wall, Yasin Zeb & Stephen McElwee. opportunity to actually get into the river. Finally, after a long and enjoyable day, we made our way home. I really enjoyed the trip and learnt a lot about rivers and their formation. Being able to see the river and even stand in it really has helped me understand how they began which was very helpful throughout the following lessons in Geography. By Lucy Humble INCLUSIVE SPORTS DAY 2016 South Solihull School Sports Partnership School Games level 2. Inclusive wheelchair basketball and table . Hosted by Langley on the 15 th January

11 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Community Events

Langley Staff British Heart Foundation Fundraising Evening

On Friday 5 th February 2016, Langley School Dove house theatre, hosted a fundraising event in memory of a former colleague Catherine White (née Pollitt). The event was to raise money for the British Heart Foundation and for its ‘wear it beat it campaign’. The event was a huge success and involved live music and comedy from the band ‘Fat Chance’, as well as a raffle. Overall we managed to raise £1132 for an amazing cause. However this would not have been possible if not for the generosity of so many people and we wanted to say a special thank-you to the following individuals and companies for helping to make it happen. Fiona Mitchell, Kristina Smith, Fat Chance band members as well as Craig Bennett, Various artists from The Handmade boutique – Touchwood Solihull, Maplins electronics, Solihull, Timpsons, Solihull, Cudmore and co hairdressers- Prospect Lane, Solihull , Patricia and Terry Henderson, Hays recruiting experts, Teacher Active, Monarch Education. As well as staff and friends of Langley school who kindly donated wine, chocolates and other prizes.

Orchestra of Solihull Schools in Concert YEAR 8 – Your Green Future – Solihull Conference Centre, Symphony Hall venue provided a prestigious platform for an orchestra made up of 220 school children from across the borough of Solihull. The A visit to the Your Green Future event gave our talented group consisted of children from 8-18 years old from 14 schools students the unique opportunity to work with over 25 including 12 students from Langley School. businesses to explore the growing job opportunities Julian Lloyd Webber, Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire gave a in a low carbon economy. The day began with short speech and spoke about the importance of this event in encouraging keynote talks and then students were able to participation and creating such a great opportunity for young people. participate in a range of professionally facilitated The concert programme was made up of a selection of pieces from the activities. In each activity, students had the BBC 10 Pieces and some more contemporary classical offerings including opportunity to work with diverse businesses and two World Premieres of brand new compositions. education providers. Students also were able to The children worked hard rehearsing all day at the venue as well as a spend time in the Career Pathways Exhibition. previous Saturday and on their own at home. Conductor Daniele Rosina, Director of Orchestral Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire brilliantly lead the mass orchestra. The involvement of the Birmingham Conservatoire has been considerable with mentoring from students during rehearsals and hands-on guidance. Richard Jones from Solihull Music Service said: “It’s been a joy to see teachers and music service staff playing alongside these young people and we want to thank everyone for making this fantastic, inspirational event.” It was supported by Solihull Music Service, The Birmingham Conservatoire, The Rotary Club of Solihull, St Alphege and the Rotary Club of Meriden.

Year 8 - Attendance/Punctuality Reward Trip All students in Year 8 who had 100% attendance and punctuality during the months of January and February were put in to a prize draw to win a reward trip during school time to the Acocks Green Bowling Alley. Eight lucky winners were chosen at random and were allowed to bring a friend along to the trip with them. This is part of a new initiative that Miss Struthers has started in order to improve the attendance and punctuality of students in Year 8. The students who went on the trip had a fun afternoon at the bowling alley and represented the school very well.

12 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Sporting Achievements

PE Department Sports Update - Spring 2016

Solihull Schools’ Sports Federation – Roll of Honour Congratulations to a number of our students who have been recognised for their contribution to sport during the last academic year. They received the prestigious Roll of Honour Award at the Council Chamber House in March from the Mayor of Solihull.

Carianne Robertson Megan Parker Tom Robinson Harry Garratt Representation at the English Member of the British Representation at the Representation in the Schools Cross Country and Gymnastics squad English Schools Cross Greater Birmingham Athletics Championships Country Championships. Rugby Team

The outstanding girls team award was won by the Cross Country Team that came 18th in the English Schools Cross Country Cup held in Newquay. This is a fantastic achievement and well deserved.

Carianne Robertson, Hannah Bradshaw, Rosie Weaver, Frankie Austin, Nicola Clifford & Hannah Naylor.

CROSS COUNTRY

The final races of the Cross Country season saw further success, following on from fantastic performances before Christmas. All 4 league races have to be completed in order for students to be in contention for individual/team awards. After great performances at Light Hall and Old Silhillians, the following students received awards for the season:

Year 7 Boys – Championship Winners Year 10/11 Girls – Championship winners Alex Veloso 1st overall Carianne Robertson 2nd overall Jack Stringer 2nd Rosie Weaver 7th Sam Weir 4th Frankie Austin 8th Sam Jamieson 6th Hannah Naylor 9th Josh Naylor 10th Olivia Hall 10th Ben Fitzgerald 11th Year 10/11 Girls Relay Year 8/9 Girls They also won the Relay and retain it from last year. Emma Stringer 10th Year 10/11 Boys Year 8/9 Boys Alex Veloso Rory Jones 6th Jamsey Sharples 7th

13 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Sporting Achievements

ROWING BASKETBALL

U13 v Alderbrook (h) lost 26-28 League U14 v Arden (a) lost 47-18 Semi-final of the League

FOOTBALL

27/1/16 Year 8 v Alderbrook (a) Solihull Schools Cup, Round 1 Lost 4-1 29/1/16 GCSE PE Year 10 student helpers Year 7 v Alderbrook (a) Solihull Schools Cup, Round 1 Won 1-6 Langley School hosted the Primary Schools 4/2/16 Championships in January and February. Once Year 9 v Heart of (a) Solihull Schools Cup, Round 2 Won 1-4 again, Mrs Prichard was on hand to oversee 24/2/16 procedures with assistance from GCSE PE Year 9 v Heart of England (h) Semi final of West Midlands, Won 2-1 Year 10 students. 28/1/16 Level 3 Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Games The Inclusion Basketball Team 1st Inclusion Rowing Team KS4 2nd Inclusion Rowing Team KS3 3rd Year 7 Girls Rowing 3rd Year 9/10 girls Rowing 1st

The event was held in North Solihull and we had our best performances ever.

YEAR 9

2/3/16 Year 8 v John Wilmott (a) Quarter final of B’ham Cup, Lost 3-1 4/3/16 Year 9 v Bishop Walsh (h) Quarter final of B’ham Cup, Won 4-0 7/3/16 Year 7 v CTC (a) Quarter final of Solihull Cup, Won 3-5aet 14/3/16 Year 9 v Archbishop Ilsley (h) Semi final of the B’ham Cup, Won 7-0 YEAR 7 16/3/16 Year 9 v Park Hall (a) Semi final of the Solihull Cup, Lost 3-0 21/3/16 Year 7 v JHNCC (a) Semi final of the Solihull Cup, Won 2-5 At the end of an extremely busy term, Langley teams have excelled. This is especially the case for the Year 7 team who have adapted well to playing 9 a side and have reached the final of the Solihull Schools’ Cup and will play against Arden. The Year 9 Football team continue to play with total commitment and they have reached the final of the Birmingham Schools’ Football Cup against their arch rivals Park Hall. This game is to be played at Villa Park on the actual pitch of the (current), premiership team. This is a fantastic YEAR 8 achievement and is already the furthest a Langley team has gone. Good luck to them.

14 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Sporting Achievements

NETBALL INDOOR ATHLETICS

U13 v Solihull School (h) lost 16-18 Coaching and training for the Indoor Athletics Competitions is U12 v Arden (h) Won 26-1 taking place with over 40 Year 7 U12 A Team v Alderbrook Won 12-1 students taking part in the trials. B Team v Alderbrook Won 12-0 29/2/16 The South Solihull Championships 3/3/16 took place and with all 8 of the Year 9 tournament. 2 wins, 2 defeats put us Year 7 Girls and Boys ready for 3rd in the table with the top 2 teams going through. the event, we turned up in a 8/3/16 confident manner. Year 8 v Tudor Grange (away) Lost 13-9 The boys were extremely consistent and managed a creditable 4th. 8/3/16 The girls won a number of events including the obstacle relay and were Year 7 v Tudor Grange (away) Won 0-14 just beaten into 3rd place by a few points. 15/3/16 Well done to both teams for their commitment and dedication over the Year 8 Tournament With 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in the group stages, Condover Netball Tournament we played Solihull School in the semi final and lost (Solihull went on to win overall). 17/3/16 Year 7 Tournament Drew with Heart of England, beat St. Peters, beat Lyndon, beat Arden in semi final. But then lost to St. Martins in the final

Well done to the Year 7s who were runners up at the borough netball tournament Year 7– Plate Winners

On the weekend of 11th and 12th March, we took 5 netball squads from years 7 to 11 and travelled to Condover Hall in Shropshire for a weekend netball tournament. In the beautiful grounds all the teams played some highly impressive and competitive netball. The girls were kept busy all weekend with netball and if they had enough energy left they were abseiling and navigating across high ropes in the evenings. We were all very proud of the girls both on and off the court and after a fantastic weekend of netball our Year 7 squad were the Plate Winners, Year 8 - 5th, Year 9 - 3rd, Year 10 - 3rd and Year 11 runners-up!! Year 11—Runners up Well done, you should be very proud of yourselves.

15 Aspiring to be the best we can be: Academic Achievements

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT 2015

Langley National GCSE PERFORMANCE MEASURE Comparison 2015 2015

Students gaining 5 or more A*-Cs including Above national 66% 56% English and Maths average

Above national Students gaining 5 or more A*-Cs 77% 66% average

Students achieving the English Baccalaureate (a minimum of A*-Cs in English, Maths, Above national 39% 24% two Sciences, a Modern Foreign Language average and either History or Geography)

Above national Students making expected progress in English 76% 70% average

Above national Students making expected progress in Maths 77% 67% average

Students making more than expected progress Above national 36% in English average

Students making more than expected progress Above national 42% in Maths average

Above national Average Capped Score (best 8 subjects) 328 311 average

Above national Basic Measure (A*-C in English and Maths) 69% 58%* average

Value Added (Best 8 grades including English Above national 1012 ** 1000 and Maths) average

** Based on SISRA Analytics

Langley School | Kineton Green Road Olton | Solihull | West Midlands | B92 7ER Telephone: 0121 706 9771 Email: [email protected] Website: www.langley.solihull.sch.uk Follow us on twitter @langleyschool Like us on Facebook