Lytchett Minster School | Newsletter February 2020 elcome to the February edition of Wthe Newsletter! We were delighted with the attendance at our recent Parents’ Evenings, especially the Year 9 Options/Parents’ Evening, which saw 90% of our parents making appointments to speak to their child’s teachers. We really appreciate the time and effort parents make to attend such evenings. Parental attendance at such events sends a very powerful and important message to our students: that their parents care about their progress and behaviour, and want to work in partnership with the school. We do like to celebrate our students’ achievements in our monthly newsletter. A notable success this month for four of our top Year 13 students was being awarded a place at Oxford/Cambridge universities (see page 7). It is good to see our top academic students being rewarded for all their hard work and competing for and gaining places at the top universities in the country. Our Year 10 and 12 students had the very useful experience of a Mock Interview this week. My thanks go to local employers, governors and friends of the school who kindly agreed to come and grill some of the country’s future engineers, doctors, teachers, scientists, performers and tradespeople. I am sure they enjoyed it! Our extra-curricular programme is a strength of the school. We aim to cater for all tastes. I am pleased to hear that the Eco Clubs are thriving (see page 18). We want our students to become responsible citizens and take care of our endangered planet. This newsletter also features an article (page 6) by Mr Waters about our Lytchett Character (PiXL Edge) programme. We are really hoping that parents will get behind this and encourage their children to get fully involved with it. We have some exciting events coming up in the near future. Battle of the Bands is always guaranteed to be a most entertaining evening. I do hope you will come and support our budding rock and pop musicians on Tuesday 4th February. I am sure our Year 11 and 13 students (and their parents) do not need reminding that the GCSE and A level Mocks take place after the half term holiday. I would encourage all our students taking exams to revise thoroughly but to balance this with some sensible relaxation and exercise. This will ensure the time spent revising is effective. I wish you all a very pleasant half term break. 01202 622413 • www.lytchett.org.uk • /lytchettminsterschool 1 Student of the Month Congratulations to the following students who were nominated as December and January’s Student of the Month: English Maths LIBRARY Music Photo not Photo not available available Issy Baskett Lucas Sibley Daniel Richardson-Shaper Isabel Massey Year 11 Year 9 Year 8 Year 9 Graphics Psychology PE PE Photo not Photo not available available Amelia Dacre Freddie Howarth Pippa Barnard Olivia Critchell Year 9 Year 10 Sixth Form Sixth Form PRE FOOD History CHEMISTRY Photo not available Ella Davies Emma Mccabe Elliott Bell Jack Craig Year 8 Year 7 Year 10 Year 10 D & T COMPUTING Photo not available Toby Meldrum Bobby Stroulger Year 9 Year 8 2 DRAMA FRENCH Dance PHYSICS James Wood Olivia Curran Polly Davies Erin Wilkinson Year 10 Year 9 Year 8 Year 11 Wealden Agglestone KIMMERIDGE Gault Photo not available Imani King Evie Robertshaw Maia Johns Trixie McQuaid Year 10 Year 7 Year 7 Year 9 Purbeck Portland Sixth Form Photo not available Amy Jerman Joe Smith Jude Brady Year 9 Year 10 Sixth Form Unwanted Containers Any unwanted containers taking up precious room in your cupboards, sweetie containers or biscuit tins leftover from Christmas? If so, please donate them to the Food department where we can make use of them to help students who forget containers to take their products home in. We appreciate any you are able to donate. 3 GCSE Business Studies Trip A group of students including GCSE Business, OCR Enterprise and marketing students spent a cold December morning at Farmer Palmer’s Farm Park attraction in Organford. The students found out how Farmer Palmer’s was set up, the problems they encountered, what market research they used and how important this was to them. Students really enjoyed their morning there and were so grateful to Farmer Palmer’s for giving up their time and allowing them to visit. Trip to Lille On Thursday, 12 December, students from Years 7 and 9 set out on an overnight trip to Lille, France, for the annual Christmas market and the Euralille Centre Commercial. All concerned were impressed with the great atmosphere and the friendly, welcoming people. The students immersed themselves in the French culture and made good use of their French language skills, despite occasionally being a little daunted by the native speakers! Equally impressive was the food – one student commented, “Who wouldn’t want churros for breakfast?!” – and the breathtaking views provided by the 18-metre high La Grande Roue – “A little tip: don’t wear a hat!”. For a number of students, this was their first trip abroad, but they all had an amazing time, reassured by the friendly people they met and spending time with their peers. 4 Year 10 Geography Trip Famous for going out in awful weather, we didn’t disappoint! The geography department embarked on a Year 10 fieldwork trip to Portsmouth to carry out geographical investigations. (In actual fact, the weather turned out to be kind!) Students had already identified, from secondary data, the areas of the city they wanted to study as they considered how and why the quality of life varies within a city. Life expectancy in Portsmouth is nine years longer in some areas than others – an astounding fact in a developed, first world country. This trip also included a lecture, at Portsmouth University, entitled“ How does where and when you are born affect your life chances?” After the lecture, the students walked (and shopped) at Gunwharf Quays, before ascending the Spinnaker Tower for a bird’s eye view of Portsmouth. Throughout, our students were praised for their outstanding behaviour and manners. Professor Houston, Portsmouth University lecturer, commented that our students are “really attentive” and made “some great contributions”. Staff at Spinnaker Tower appreciated how Lytchett students “are so well-mannered – so many of them said ‘thank you'”. Even the coach driver was impressed: “They are one of the cleanest groups I have taken on a field trip– thank you.” Talk The Talk workshop: a masterclass in communication Earlier this month, Year 9 students worked with expert trainers from educational charity Talk the Talk, whose mission is to improve students’ communications skills, helping them to make positive interaction in all life situations. Talk about Communication is an exciting and engaging masterclass in essential speaking and listening skills within a creative classroom environment, teaching students to get their message across. The day highlighted employability skills, interview techniques and key presentation skills. Students were coached and supported throughout the day to deliver a structured two-minute presentation to the rest of the group on a topic for which they had a genuine passion. When students stood up and voiced their opinions, shared their thoughts and presented their ideas, they were applauded by their peers and congratulated by their workshop leader and school staff alike. Students realised that speaking out is not a ‘life or death’ experience, but something that can be done – and something that is nowhere near as daunting as might have been thought. 5 Lytchett (PiXL) Character Developing character in the children we teach has always been and will always be at the heart of everything we do at Lytchett Minster School. Last year we rolled out a new scheme to further develop these skills that everyone would agree makes a “well rounded child”. These include honesty, politeness, determination to succeed and respect, to name but a few, but also include the “soft” skills that businesses are crying out for such as Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication skills. Once a week in tutor time the students participate in the PiXL Edge Scheme. The scheme is intended, over time, to develop and accredit the life skills and attributes that employers are telling us they need. This will give students a qualification which runs alongside their academic achievements and recognises what they can do as well as what they know. In order to gain the qualification at “Apprentice” level, students need to complete 10 activities from an approved list. The activities can be many and varied and can be undertaken in normal lessons, in extra-curricular clubs or outside of school. The students will have to complete 2 activities in each key attribute by the end of Year 9 to be awarded the “Apprentice” award. Progress on the scheme will be managed by students themselves using a specially designed on-line application, with tutors and Heads of House providing an oversight and awarding credits towards achieving the qualification. This is currently done in school during tutor time but can also be accessed from https://theedge.pixl.org.uk/ Each Year group is currently working their way through one of the key attributes. Autumn Term Spring Term Summer Term Year Organisation Organisation Wellbeing 1-6 Leadership 7 Year 8 Leadership Resilience Wellbeing 7-13 Prepare to Year Initiative Initiative Communication 9 perform Please talk to your child about how they are progressing and what activities they are doing and encourage them to complete them by the deadlines. If you have any questions about the Lytchett Values scheme please feel free to contact me: [email protected] Mr Waters 6 Student Achievements Archie Weedon in the 6th Form has a London Marathon place in April.