March 2016 Newsletter

Dear parent/carer

As you will see from this edition of the school newsletter, it has been a short but very productive half term including sports, rehearsals for the school play, Saturday schools and many opportunities for extra classes and revision for students in Years 11 and the Sixth Form.

A few things to bring you all up-to-date with:

1. Easter School Revision – will take place for those in Years 11-13 during the first week of the holiday break, which is Tuesday 29 March – Friday 1 April. Mr Vardy has done a sterling work in organising the packed programme, which has now been sent in letter form to students in the various year groups. Additionally, students who may wish to come in and do independent study as well as attend revision sessions are welcome and can be supervised in the school library on any or all of the days. 2. New lesson timings for September have been agreed with Heads of Departments. Although the start and finish of the school day for next year will remain unchanged, there will now be 6 lessons per day instead of 5 from 1 September, with lessons running for 50 minutes instead of 60 minutes. This will enable us to run a fuller programme of student choice, as well as additional lessons in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science and double sessions in many of the practical lessons such as Art, Technology and PE. 3. New Heads of Year are currently being appointed. We are slowly moving away from the House pastoral system at The Bicester School back to a year-based approach. For September 2016, Years 7 and 11 will be in year-based tutor groups, with Years 8-10 likely to remain in a vertical format. Assemblies though will in the main be year-based rather than House based as this will enable pastoral leaders to direct assemblies and notices to their specific interests and needs. (There is more about the new arrangements on Mr Marston’s page in the newsletter).

Lastly, I trust you will enjoy reading through the contents of this newsletter and I wish you a happy Easter break.

Best wishes Tony Rushworth (Headteacher)

Tim Marston Deputy Headteacher

Pastoral changes at The Bicester School

We are almost two thirds of the way through this academic year and are already thinking about how to drive further improvements in attendance, behaviour and pastoral support.

At Easter, our current Head of Key Stage 4 is moving on and is being replaced by Mr McAulay, who will have overall responsibility for Key Stage 4 as well as specific responsibilities as Head of Year 11. We are in the process of appointing a new Head of Year 10 to assist Mr McAulay and to ensure that the beginning of Key Stage 4 is as focused and purposeful as it can be.

Mr Hume will continue to have overall responsibility for Key Stage 3, with Mr Wootton continuing to lead Year 7 and oversee the transition from primary to secondary school.

Our Year 7 intake is up by fifty per cent from a year ago and is a real sign of the improvements in both the academic results and the reputation of the school. We are looking forward to welcoming over 200 students into Year 7 in September and are changing our pastoral team to adapt to the larger year groups. In addition to appointing a new head of Year 10 we are also seeking someone to lead on Year 8.

By moving to a system where each year group has a designated member of staff we are able to tailor our approach to individual students and react more quickly to communication from parents and students.

The vertical form group system will remain but for students in Years 8 to 10 only. Students in Years 7 and 11 will have a dedicated team of tutors and will work within their own year groups to ensure that in Year 7 the right standards are set and that in Year 11 the most is made of all opportunities from exam intervention and academic support.

Students will continue to be linked to our House system for assemblies, sporting events, enrichment opportunities and rewards. Our intention is to strike the appropriate balance between a strong academic focus and a robust system of pastoral support.

It is fantastic to see our attendance figure rising but we are still striving to improve this and hit the 96% mark as a school.

Lee Nicholls Activate Learning

In the last week, the school's board of governors held its spring meeting. On this occasion, we also held the Activate Learning Education Trust (multi academy trust) meeting just prior to the local school governing body meeting. This proved to be a really good opportunity for school governors and MAT trustees to meet and share ideas. It was useful for all concerned to discuss those matters that the MAT trust should be concerned with and those matters that the local school governors should be concerned with. In essence, we agreed that the MAT trust (overseeing the Bicester School and the studio school at present) should focus on future gazing and strategies that help both schools survive financial issues arising from government funding and that the local boards should be more or less entirely focused on supporting and challenging the school on student progress and attainment.

For your information, the overall MAT Trust board is made up of Sally Dicketts (CEO of Activate Learning), myself, the heads and chairs of the two local governing bodies and two independent members. The two independents are Placi Espajo and Phil Shadbolt - two local business people well known in the Bicester community.

The local governing body received presentations on school standards and from each of the heads of English and Maths. The focus was on Year 11 progress and likely attainment in the summer.

As I mentioned at the staff briefings this week, the local board was very impressed with the attention to detail on student progress for different types of learners. Most impressive of all was the array of whole school and individual departmental interventions. The whole school buy in to providing for the needs of individual learners through these interventions is to be commended. Well done everybody - it was a very encouraging set of presentations.

It has been a short half term - but Easter is upon us. I hope you can all take some well-earned rest and spend time with your families. Have a good break!

Lewis Walduck (7RGO)

A day at the

In the Christmas holidays I was fortunate enough to go to the BBC Broadcasting house in London. I had been wanting and wishing to go there for a while. My best friend’s Mum works for the World Service at the broadcasting house and she was able to give us a guided tour. When we arrived at the building it looked far smaller than how it looks like on the television.

Before we went into the building we went for a coffee at Cafe Nero, which you can see in the background from the 'One Show'. We then went into the building, where we first went to the reception desk to get our visitors pass. There are two sets of doors, one from the outside and another set of security doors on the other side. We went through the second pair of doors where you arrive in a room with some chairs. Behind the chairs was a big sheet of glass, and behind this you can see the desks of the BBC news room. You can also see the cameras that film the BBC News theme tune, little did we know that we were stood directly on top of the news desk. We were standing; looking at the news desks, however we found out that the news desk was directly underneath us. (We had to bounce up and down).

We then went to the lifts and went right up to the top floor where Radio One is. We could not actually go inside the Radio 1 Studio because of the security, but we could faintly see through the glass. We then slowly walked back down the stairs. Each floor had lots of small funky areas where you can have meetings. We met a man from the World Service who is very famous in Somalia. Radio One only get about 3 million viewers but he had 20 million viewers. He was going to commentate on a premiership football match. In Somalia, the paparazzi follow him around everywhere. He was a very polite and friendly man.

Afterwards we went to the basement and you would be surprised that the BBC News is actually filmed in the basement, but you wouldn't think it was. Then we quietly walked into the BBC news room which is surprisingly large, in fact it is the largest news room in the world. The shots of the newsroom which you see on the BBC news theme tune are all filmed live. Also there is a no camera crew as everything is done by robots.

My friend’s mum was also able to explain how the newsroom works and how the news is filtered to the correct team to make the news that we all see.

After sneaking out of the BBC newsroom, we went to the ground floor and continued a fantastic day in London.

Fran Pollard Head of English

World Book Day - Thursday 3 March Led by Miss Hoyles in the English department, staff and students celebrated World Book Day on Thursday 3 March. With enthusiasm, a number of students and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters for the day. Students in Years 7 and 8 celebrated by entering competitions including best 500 word short story and designing their own book tokens. We also marked the occasion with our first ‘Drop Everything and Read’ event; a bell signified that everyone had to drop whatever it was they were doing, grab their reading book and enjoy 20 minutes of reading for pleasure. All in all, World Book Day was a real success celebrated and support by students and staff alike. Thank you to everyone who took part.

English language and English literature GCSE- Key dates

Tuesday 3 May 2016: English language GCSE core and extension examination paper (40% of final GCSE)

Monday 23 May 2016: English literature examination paper 1 (Of Mice and men and either The Woman in black or Lord of the flies) (40% of final GCSE)

Friday 27 May 2016: English literature examination paper 2 (Poetry seen and unseen) (35% of final GCSE)

How do I revise for English literature GCSE? a) Have a thorough knowledge of the text’s plot (storyline) by re-reading the text several times b) Create character cards for all characters- major and minor- including key characteristics and key quotations c) Create theme cards for each text- what are the key themes? Make key points supported by key quotations d) Read sample scripts (on showmyhomework or available from your teacher) e) Plan past papers or sample questions (available in revision guides on showmyhomework) f) Practise writing answers in timed conditions

Year 11 theatre trip: Of mice and men On Wednesday 11 May we will be taking over 80 students to see an evening production of John Steinbeck’s novella Of mice and men at the Oxford Playhouse. All students in Year 11 study this novel and have their final GCSE exam on 23 May, so it is a fortuitous opportunity to see it performed. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Letters have been given to students already.

English A-level Conference on The handmaid’s tale On 29 February I had the pleasure of taking 16 English literature and English lit/lang A-level students to London to attend a conference on Margaret Atwood’s The handmaid’s tale. The day comprised of four lectures on the following topics:  The Handmaid’s tale as dystopian fiction  Religion and authority in The handmaid’s tale  Offred - heroic figure or victim of oppression?  The significance of memory in The handmaid’s tale

This was a worthwhile event, which will undoubtedly enhance student understanding of Atwood’s feminist dystopia.

Carnegie Shadowing Miss Hoyles will be running a Carnegie Shadowing book group again this year. Children and young people 'shadow' the judging process for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards; they read, discuss and review the books on each shortlist selected by CILIP's panel of Librarian judges and engage in reading related activity online. Young people taking part are known as 'Shadowers'. The scheme has thousands of registered reading groups across the UK and internationally - engaging tens of thousands of children and young people in reading.

Reading activity takes place from March to June; from the moment that the shortlists are revealed to the final winner’s announcement.

New laptops for the English Department

The English Department took receipt of a brand new, class-set of laptops this term. They are for use in any English lesson and so far have been well-received by our students. They provide another opportunity to enhance student learning.

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Katrina Nash Head of Mathematics

Whilst approaching the Easter holidays, we have had a jam packed few months in the Maths department.

14 March (3.14.16) saw us celebrate Pi day and the fun of Maths Week. Lot of exciting activities have been taking place including problem solving team work activities with our Y7s, Y8s and Y9s. Our Y7s took on the challenge of cracking codes with Mathspy, Y8s accepted the challenge to build a bridge from basic equipment such as newspaper and sellotape, to be purchased with a tight budget, in order to carry the heaviest weight possible. Some of our students bridges managed to hold over 5kg! Y9 then took a more athletic route designing fitness tests in order to get their heart rate to its target bpm. A full investigation took place with students recording and reporting their findings and drawing conclusions using a variety of mathematical techniques. In addition to this we had a range of guest speakers in to talk to a variety of year groups about how maths is extremely important in their professions. These individuals talked to our students about topics such as HR, jewellery design, construction and baking. Our Y10’s were so enthused prompting us to request one of our speakers come in again to add to their presentation. All in all, a very successful week for the students and teacher in Maths.

UKMT host a Team Maths Challenge each year at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford. Four of our dedicated students in Y8 and Y9 proudly accompanied Mrs Cowey to represent The Bicester School and enjoy a day of problem solving with 25 other schools across the county. Spencer Matthews (Y8), Matthew Harris (Y9), Kyle Gunzofer (Y9) and Evie Webb (Y8) were an absolute tribute to the school and achieved a very respectable 19th place out of 26. A great improvement on the previous year.

Our intermediate Maths Challenge recently saw a fantastic number of our students in Y9, Y10 and Y11 achieve a wealth of success with a range of bronze, silver and gold achievements being awarded. Our three gold award students, Aaron Flanagan (Y11), Chiara Brown (Y10) and Matthew Harris (Y9) were then also selected to sit a round of Kangaroo papers this week. We wish them every success with this challenge and are very proud of them and all the students who took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge itself. Year 11s are working extremely hard as always in the run up to the start of the GCSE exams. Maths saw the whole year group sit their third Maths mock for the year at the start of March. We hope through this all students will gain much valued exam preparation skills and have the chance to see exactly where their individual strengths and areas for improvement lie in this next crucial couple of months. Results will be coming out for the Maths, English and Science mocks together in the week before the Easter holidays.

With the Easter holidays almost upon us we look forward to working with a large group of our Y12 and Y13 Maths students over 2 days at the start, 29th and 30th April from 9:00am to 12:20pm covering a range of topics from C1 to C4 with Mrs Cowey, Mr Hollindale and Mrs Nash. These days have proven productive and beneficial in previous years to our sixth formers and we are sure they will again this year.

Y11s and sixth formers: Remember to be using our online resources to aid your revision in the run up to the exams:

MathsWatch: Website: www.mathswatchvle.com Centre ID: bicester Username: your old e-mail address e.g. [email protected] Password: bccmaths

MyMaths: Website: www.mymaths.co.uk Username: bicester Password: parallel

Mr Marston and Mrs Laverick’s Y11 and Y12 resit group received their results from the January iGCSE papers sat at the start of the year. Another student, Laura Humphrey in Y12, achieved her C after a lot of hard work. Mr Marston’s group achieved grades helping them on the way to their targets for the summer exams. A very encouraging set of results for these students.

Mrs. Schmaltz's Year 8 students had a fantastic experience applying their investigation of Geometry into the development of the Activate Studio School (scheduled to open this upcoming September). Students were able to take a closer look at how a floor plan can come to life. Mark Glanville, Project Manager at ISG, gave students at The Bicester School a private tour to highlight how angle relationships can be vital to making sure the building is safe and secure for everyone involved. Students were able to ask questions and could gain valuable insights to see if they may have a future in construction and engineering.

Finally, we are sad to say our goodbyes to Mr Vince, who is starting a new role in a school closer to home in Northamptonshire. We wish him all the best and know he will be missed by staff and students alike. Miss Le Brun will be starting with us on 11 April as Assistant Head and also a valued member of the Maths department. We look forward to her arrival and welcoming her in the team.

Staff Profile Vic Altaf

What is your current role? Since joining the school in the summer of 2015, my primary role has been as a Science teacher at Key Stages 3 and 4, as well as teaching Physics and BTEC Applied Science in the Sixth Form. In addition to my main teaching duties, I am also the Head of Vocational Studies, which involves managing much of the applied learning provision across the school and liaising with external course providers. What did you do before going into teaching? After graduating with a degree in Astrophysics, I quickly realised that my ambitions of displacing the late Sir Patrick Moore, to present the BBC’s Sky at Night, were probably unrealistic. My options were to either pursue a PhD or enter industry. I decided to change direction and rediscover my inner-geek by completing a Masters in Computer Science. This was the springboard for a career in the software development industry, working in both the public and commercial private sectors, spanning more than 13 years. Have you taught anywhere else? Feeling all ‘geeked-out’ from the IT industry, I decided to take a career break as a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher in Turkey for a year. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, combining both teaching and travel, not to mention great weather and great cuisine. Having been inspired to teach, I returned to the UK and retrained as a Physics teacher by completing a PGCE from Oxford University in 2009. Since then, I have worked as a science teacher at a number of schools around Oxfordshire, including the Cheney School in Oxford and The Henry Box School in Witney. What do you most enjoy about your job? The most enjoyable aspect of my job is undoubtedly the interaction with our students. There is certainly never a dull moment and I enjoy the challenge of fuelling their curiosity in science and learning in general. Another very enjoyable aspect of my job is having the opportunity to work with some very talented colleagues from other departments, delivering BTEC courses across Key Stage 4 and 5. This has heightened my appreciation of the extent of provision we offer, not just on a department level, but also on a school-wide level. Tell us about your family. I am married to my wife Sheri and we have four children, ranging in age from 6 to 15. My wife runs her own catering business, specialising in organic, locally sourced Punjabi cuisine. One of her regular customers is the current Prime Minister, David Cameron, who she regularly supplies with samosas and pakoras at the monthly Chipping Norton farmers’ market! The children’s interests vary from My Little Pony, Frozen (heard sung at least a hundred times in the car) to playing the piano and Shotokan karate. What do you do in your spare time? What little spare time I have, is usually spent ferrying the kids to and from various clubs; playing squash with a friend who pulls teeth for a living (he’s a dentist, not a teacher); going for dawn walks in the surrounding countryside; forlornly following the ‘progress’ of my hometown football team, Bradford City (the Bantams) and finding random excuses to use my soldering iron (middle- age is definitely creeping in).

Jordanna Riches Head of History

ISS to TBS- A message from Major Tim Peake, from the International Space Station to Lewis House students

Ms Riches led an assembly for Lewis House on the topic of facing your fears. She discussed her own fears (of flying and public speaking) and how this had encouraged her to face those fears by running school visits to America and China.

Ms Riches broadened the subject out to discuss how fears can stop you being a success and how important it is to try new things and have dreams and goals. She used the British Astronaut, Major Tim Peake, as an example, and sent him a message via Facebook to let him know he was being featured in the assembly.

He was kind enough to reply with this lovely message:

Megan Wood

Inter-form dance competition

On 2 March, the PE department were very excited and proud to hold the first Year 7 inter-form dance competition. Twenty-five students have attended weekly rehearsals and spent countless hours, before during and after school, practising and perfecting their routines. The rules were very simple, with the girls having free choice on the song, style and choreography. As the competition got closer the excitement started to build!

Students arrived at the lower school hall on the Wednesday for a quick last minute rehearsal and a hair and makeup session before preparing to head to the stage. Parents, pupils and staff were invited to witness the competition.

Every tutor group was represented in the competition with a very large group of girls from Miss Gough’s form. The show began with a group dance, allowing the girls to work together on the stage to open the show! It was great to see so many girls enjoying performing and taking the opportunity to impress the judges before the tutor group competition began.

The pupils took to the stage group by group. Miss Hoyle’s form opened the competition with a mash up of two songs and two dance styles to impress the judges. The mix of contemporary and modern dance included some gymnastic moves to add shock and surprise to the performance. The girls made a fantastic impact and a very strong opening performance.

Miss Gough’s army of nine dancers were next to take to the stage, they chose a mega mix of different styles all joined together. A very strong performance included flips and walkovers to keep the audience on their toes. This was the largest group of the competition and their timing was perfect.

Miss Wood’s form entered the stage dressed in their onesies with a very upbeat tempo to their chosen song made the dance very fast and energetic. The girls included a variety of different steps including a range of difficulties. A quick solo for each girl allowed for their own style and dancing ability to be on show. At least those girls were ready for bed when they got home!

Mrs Young’s form were next to the stage. They were made up of three dancers on the stage, one of them was from Mr Curtis’s form. They had changed their dance that week and did brilliantly to learn the new steps and put together a well thought out dance to show in the competition.

Finally Mrs Laverick’s and Mr Curtis’ form came together to work on their dance. The dance was made up of two dancers who took on a contemporary style dance and really portrayed the story of the lyrics of the song through their own movement. Although there were only two girls in the final dance, they performed brilliantly and really owned the stage.

Then that was the end, all of the girls hard work was in the hands of the judges who were Mr Vardy, Mrs Masterson and Mrs Barne. They watched and made notes on each group’s performance ready for the final judging at the end of the show. After, what seemed like a very long deliberation they were ready to announce the winners.

In third place, representing Miss Gough’s form, were Olivia, Millie, Elenis, Eliza, Chloe, Bethanie, Lauren, Megan and Sinea. The girls were fantastic and what really impressed the judges was the number of girls performing. In second place, from Mrs Laverick’s and Mr Curtis’s form group, were Poppy and Erin, although there were only two dancers in this group, the girls were not intimidated by the opposition and performed a beautiful dance which really impressed the judges. Finally, the winners of the inter-form dance competition and winning 50 HPs for their tutor group were Miss Hoyle’s form! Caitlin, Sophie, Kayla, Ellie and Amy were outstanding from the start to the finish with a very well-rehearsed, choreographed and enjoyable dance to watch. The girls ended the competition by performing for the audience and the rest of the competitors.

It was a brilliant event and I could tell that the girls had put in so much hard work and time into the competition. Thank you very much to the parents, pupils and teachers who came along to watch and support the girls. It was lovely to see how many talented students we have in Year 7.

The PE department and I are really excited about what they can show us in the next couple of years. Watch this space!

Sport Relief

It has been an incredibly busy and successful week for sport at The Bicester School. Lots of opportunities for students to get involved for Sport Relief. On Wednesday 16 March, pupils were allowed to come into school in non-school uniform and sportswear. Lots of students brought in their £1 on the gate and looked brilliant in their red sportswear!

Throughout the morning, with help from members of the Sixth form, we set up for The Bicester School Mile. At the start of lunchtime, outside the PE department, there was a large crowd of students forming for the start of the event. There were a variety of competitors from Year 7 to staff! Lots of students were wanting to run it but we also had lot of students wanting to walk or even do it three legged. I even think I saw a five legged group of girls! But the more the merrier and it was all about taking on the challenge of the mile.

Mr Wootton started the race and a large crowd of competitors set off completing the course around the school and out onto the sports field. It was lovely to see so many students involved in taking part and also encouraging and watching others go round. To encourage all students to take part we wanted to award the top three boys and top three girls to cross the finish line. It was a close finish for the top two boy’s places, with Lewis Barnes (Year 11) and Tom Couzens (Year 9) battling down the finishing channel. Lewis took the first place with Tom taking the incredibly close second place. The third boy was Sanju (Year 11). The rest of the competitors then started to come through the finish line at a good pace. The first girl to cross the line was Libbie Nicklin (Year 11), followed by Alice Hobbs (Year 11) and third place Charlotte Whittingham (Year 9). All three girls ran brilliantly and were very close to each other!

It was lovely to see so many students involved with the Sport Relief Mile and it highlighted what talented and enthusiastic students we have at The Bicester School. The PE department look forward to the opportunity for the school to take part in the next Sport Relief in two years’ time! Thursday 17 March saw members of the sports council running a bake sale to continue to raise money for Sport. The pupils brought to school a variety of different cakes to sell to the school. It was a brilliant week of sport and fundraising.

Thank you to everyone who got involved and donated.

Year 7 netball

Year 7 girls netball team went to the West Oxon Tournament earlier on in the month and played against seven other teams. They had a brilliant season, although they started off a little rusty the girls worked together in training and matches and began to win more and more games. The tournament was held in Banbury, and after the journey over the girls had time for a very quick warm up before starting the tournament. Although they lost their first game, spirits were high and they were ready to take on the next one. The team got better and better, winning more and more matches. Although there were mistakes, there was also some fantastic game play!

It was time for the results. The girls sat nervously awaiting the results to be read out, a big cheer came from the girls when we were called out as second. It had been a brilliant afternoon of games and an incredibly well deserved result!

I am so pleased that the girls did well and I am excited to work with them next year as they continue to develop into even better netballers.

Matt Wootton

Year 7 football

Following two wins and a draw in the group stage of the district football competition, the Year 7 team qualified for the plate competition.

In the semi-final they met the Warriner School. In a strong first half, The Bicester School went in as 3-0 leaders, with some brilliant runs in behind the defence from Alfie Wright.

The second half saw Warriner come back, but some excellent defending from Lucheus Lawrence steadied the defence to see The Bicester School hold on to a 4-3 win.

Well done and good luck to the team in the final (date to be confirmed).

Year 7 rugby

On Thursday 3 March, the Year 7 Rugby team travelled to Banbury Rugby club to take part in the county 12 a-side tournament.

The team had enjoyed some success earlier in the season and hopes were high. The draw for the first round was a tough one, being drawn in the same group as Fitzharrys, Chipping Norton and Lord Williams’s schools.

As expected, the games were both tough and close, with narrow defeats 2-0 to both Lord Williams and Chipping Norton, followed by a 4 try victory over Fitzharrys.

League positions in the first round dictated who you played in the next games, so we went into the plate competition to play against Sibford, King Alfred’s and Fitzharrys once again.

By this time the boys tackling and passing had improved and this showed as we took the clean sweep in the group winning each game by 4 tries.

Team members were, Ben Baleiwa, llikya Mafi, Matt Hornby, Tom Fox, Edward Turner, Oliver White, David White, Cameron Fearne, Brandon Marshall, Alfie Wright, Ollie Dowling, Morgan Robinson, Curtis Brierton, Elliot Keeble, Ed Joliffe, Robbie Edwards

Girls and boys badminton

Please pass on your congratulations and commiserations to the players

The girls won two of their five matches and finished in third place behind Oxford Girls and Didcot Girls schools.

The boys met with fierce competition and won a handful of games against some county level opposition finishing in fifth place on the day.

Rory Mawn Bicester family years 3/4 Girls multi-skills festival

The Bicester School organised the annual Bicester Family Year 3/4 Girls Multi- skills festival on Wednesday 16 March at Brookside Primary School. The event was aimed at less active girls who do not usually engage in sport and physical activity beyond lesson time. Over sixty girls from six primary schools took part, including Brookside, Bure Park, Kings Meadow, Chesterton, St. Edburg’s and Southwold.

Teams took part in various activities and challenges during the festival including: archery, colour match, skittles, narrow pass, obstacle races and Paralympic sports boccia and sitting volleyball. Each activity was led expertly by The Bicester School young leaders, who offered guidance, support and encouragement throughout. The Year 8 and 9 young leaders also acted as role models to the younger girls.

During the festival, the Spirit of the Games value ‘Self Belief’ was a key focus area. Two girls from each team were presented with a special certificate to recognise their positive attitude, trying their best at new challenges and activities and being confident.

With the fun and enjoyment shown by all taking part it is hope all the girls are inspired to take part in sport both in and outside school. Congratulations to all children, young leaders, teachers and additional adults who contributed to an enjoyable and fun afternoon of sport.

Feedback “The girls were all engaged in all exciting activities and had a truly enjoyable time! Well organised as always. Thank you.” (PE Coordinator Brookside)

"All our girls loved the range of activities. The girls who hadn’t participated before were really enthusiastic and are definitely more likely to take part in the future" (Head Teacher, Chesterton )

“The children had a blast! (Teacher Southwold)

“Fabulous event as always, one of the favourites in the calendar! The girls had an amazing afternoon and the young leaders were very helpful.” (PE Coordinator St Edburg’s)

“A fun, well organised event that we throughly enjoyed.” (PE Coordinator Bure Park)

Bicester Young Leaders Year 8: Amie Shaer and Niamh Catling Year 9: Emily Wright, Caitlin Stevens, Jayda Williams, Kitty Holt, Frankie Eddy, Abbie Williams and Maisy North

Bicester Family Year 1 Multi-skills Festival

Over 300 Year 1 students participated in two Bicester Family multi-skills festivals; held at Bicester Leisure Centre on Wednesday 10 February 2016.

Brookside, St Edburg’s and Southwold Primary Schools took part in the morning event and Kings Meadow, St. Mary’s, Fritwell, Bure Park and Chesterton Primary Schools took part in the afternoon session.

Teams took part in various relay and skill based activities in a circuit. These included rugby, tennis, obstacle and beanbag relay and shuttle run, target throw, dribbling and standing long jump. In both festivals there was plenty of enthusiasm and effort by all children. The festivals were expertly led by 25 Key Stage 3 Bicester student leaders who showed tremendous energy to keep going throughout the day.

During the festival, the Spirit of the Games value ‘Self Belief’ was a key focus area. One member from each team was presented with a special certificate to recognise their bravery and confidence in taking on the new activities.

Congratulations to all children, young leaders, teachers and additional adults who all contributed to the fun and enjoyable festivals.

Feedback  “I have had a million trillion amount of fun.” and “I loved balancing the beanbags the best.” (Children Southwold)  “Well organised as always, thanks Mr Mawn.” (Teacher Brookside)  “We enjoyed all of it as it was such fun.” (Children Brookside)  “Great event. Thank you very much. Young leaders were very caring with the little ones.” (Head Teacher Fritwell)  “Well done to all Young leaders. Great set up and all knew their activity” (Teacher St. Mary’s)

The Bicester School leaders

Year 9: Tom Couzens, Will Simms, Charlotte Whittingham, Emily Wright, Ella Wood and Petra Vass

Year 8: Amie Shaer, Niamh Catling, Amy Mather, Mia White, Phillipa Todd, Amy Long, Abbie Lynch, Hermione Clarke, Poppy Baker, Keaton Lewis, Monika Martin and Lucas Northover

Year 7: Matt Hornby, Sophie Chaserton, Alfie Wright, Olly White, Emilla Simms and Katelin Cavil