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NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019 Headteacher’s welcome Activate Learning Education Trust ALET Teaching and Learning Conference Dear parents and students, In January, a teaching and learning conference took place for all teachers in all of the seven schools across the Activate Learning Education Trust (ALET). This focussed on sharing good practice in teaching and learning and Welcome to our Easter 2019 edition of the School newsletter. facilitated subject teachers’ networks to share ideas and resources across the schools community. In April, we will be following up It has been a short term but nonetheless crowded with activity and I think all staff and students are now looking with a conference for business forward to the holiday break. support staff and school administrators. As with the School will be open in the Easter holiday for Year 11 and Sixth Form to come in and study independently or attend teaching conference, we will use one of the numerous Easter revision classes that are being put on by teachers to prepare for the exams that start this to share best practice and just a few weeks after we return for the summer term. allow sufficient time for those doing similar jobs in schools On Friday 29 March, I had the privilege to attend the school play, Mary Poppins The Musical which was a huge to network and form self-help success and it was marvellous to see so many of our students involved in the production either on stage or communities to share ideas going backstage. I would like to thank all of our students and staff who put the production together as I know just how forward. I am delighted that we much rehearsal and preparation went into making it such a success. have a key note speaker from one of our industry partners, who There is a short piece in the newsletter about the Duke of Edinburgh Award and this is something we want to will address the group on how encourage as many of students to complete as possible. We are in the process of appointing a teacher to take business has tackled sharing responsibility for the Award and are hopeful that we can have at least 100 students signed up to take Bronze, Silver, ‘back office’ practices and how etc. more remote support is used to be more productive and effective. Finally, parents will be aware that our school is now supporting Bicester Technology Studio. Reports in the media This is a relatively new area have suggested a merger of the two schools or that the Tech Studio is about to close, but this is not so. The two for education, so I am excited that we are doing something like this to learn from other sectors, and involving our schools will remain separate educational establishments with their own unique ethos and curriculum. Roland teams in the process. Howard and I have been working more closely with the Tech Studio for the last three weeks or so and we see an opportunity in the future to build a much broader educational base across central Bicester which will open up further and wider opportunities for the students in the town, and further afield. Bicester Learning Campus We wish all of our students and staff a good Easter break and look forward to your return on 24 April. Most audiences will have received letters home or will have had presentations on this topic by now, but exciting Best wishes, things are afoot as we create our unique Bicester Learning Campus along Queens Avenue – comprising two distinct ALET schools (Bicester Technology Studio and The Bicester School) – working through one vision, one leadership Tony Rushworth team, and one governing body. Our vision is to strengthen the technical, work-related offer at the Bicester Technology Studio and the EBacc and university-oriented offer at The Bicester School and to make sure that the larger Key Stage 3 coming through The Bicester School is exposed to proper choice. Working with parents and students, the choice offered across the two schools can be more expertly applied by the common leadership group, making sure all children are all on the right education path for them, one that meets with their future career and academic aspirations. We know this approach is unique in Bicester and we think it is pretty rare nationally, but if we get this right we will achieve the right things for our students, we will strengthen teaching teams across the two schools and we will create a more sustainable education offer in tight financial times. As you will know, Tony Rushworth is the Executive Head Teacher across these two schools now and is working on plans for September 2019 on- wards. This ideas will be presented to the ALET Trust Board in early April. Tony Rushworth Lee Nicholls Headteacher CEO at ALET and Group Executive Director - Curriculum, Standards and Academies at AL Staff profile: Paul Stuart The Duke of Edinburgh Award Having been born in the village of Charlton-on- The Duke of Edinburgh at all levels, bronze, silver and gold are Otmoor, I spent pretty much all of my life living well underway this term with participants eagerly looking forward locally. I did however spend brief periods living to the expeditions that begin in April, the dates and venues for in Didcot and also in the Scottish Highlands. which can be found on the school calendar. I was educated firstly at Charlton-on-Otmoor Primary School and then at The Cooper School. As happens every year, our students are organising and carrying out their chosen activities for the various sections of the award - I left school aged 16 with 7 CSEs (that is volunteering, skills and physical, which they will undertake for a what GCSEs were called then) and secured set period of time. a job in retail management with Tesco. I have also worked in sales for Magnet Trade, and Our new cohort of Year 9 are bonding as they excitedly find out more about the scheme and begin to prepare for the automotive industry at Rover car plant in their September expedition. The weekly Monday afterschool sessions, where this is happening, are ably supported Cowley, now known as BMW. by Sofia, Selina and Mason, who are using this opportunity to pass on their skills and knowledge whilst fulfilling the criteria for their silver volunteering section. At 35 years of age I felt that I needed to change direction. I wanted to work in helping and We wish success to all participants who will be presented with their award at our celebratory evening at the end of supporting people to make good choices in the year. life, and change their destiny, by adopting good morals and making sound judgements. I have Mrs Brady been working for the Ministry of Justice for the last 20 years in a supervising, instructional role, working with men aged 18 and over. I have three grown up children, one grandchild, and my wife and I have also fostered children. Fostering children first gave me the inspiration to follow a career where I was able to help other people, and working at the school is an ideal opportunity for me to continue that work. After retiring last July, I felt that I still had more to give which is why I became interested in the role of Behaviour Manager, working with the students of The Bicester School and Bicester Technology Studio and supporting, guiding, and helping them to understand the importance of making good behaviour choices now and throughout their life. I would like to pass onto everybody one of my favourite quotes: Our destiny is not determined by the chances we take, but by “ the choices we make.” Paul Stuart Behaviour Support 5 6 English department news ENGLISH LITERATURE CORE TEXTS REVISION MATERIAL Poetry becomes a major topic for students this term Macbeth by William Shakespeare Year 7 have been studying poetry this term with an eclectic mix of nature poetry and ballads designed to engage Oxford School Edition is preferable. and inspire. With ballads such as The Lady of Shallot by Tennyson and poems such as Daffodils by Wordsworth, students have a rich experience of lively poetry designed to encourage our students to explore with confidence. Exam board: AQA, 9-1 spec. Year 8 have been studying World War One poetry exploring the persuasive campaigns of propaganda poetry and comparing this with the poignant poetry of the trenches. Students have had opportunities for critical and creative writing to engage and discover the ideas in the poems. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle Year 9 are completing their non-fiction unit and are getting to grips with arguing their viewpoint. Discussion and analytical work support their critical approaches to language. The aim is to support our students in gaining Any edition of the text. confidence with generating ideas. Exam board: AQA, 9-1 spec. Year 9 have also been on a vocabulary building programme to develop their range of vocabulary. This term, they are studying key words for commenting on tone and writer’s attitude in literature. Year 10 are studying Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Exploring themes of fatal ambition through this famous tragedy, students engage with the supernatural, ambition, deceit, insanity and treason. Students learn about the context of the Jacobean era and conventions of the theatre. Poetry: ‘Power and Conflict’ Poetry An- thology and Unseen Poetry In A-level English Literature, Year 12 are currently looking at ‘Science and Society’, studying what the authors of Frankenstein and The Handmaid’s Tale may have been influenced by and what ideas they are giving us about Students are given the anthology in society at that time and warnings for the future.

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