Lytchett Minster School | Newsletter
March 2020
elcome to the March edition of Wthe Newsletter!
It was great to see so many parents attending the recent KS3 production, Alice in Wonderland, in the school Dance Studio on Wednesday 12th February. It was a fabulous evening. We clearly have an extraordinary amount of talent in years 7, 8 and 9. A number of the young performers on stage will no doubt be taking on lead roles in future whole school productions. My thanks go to the team of Year 13 students who directed and produced this show, giving our younger students an opportunity to show off their singing, dancing and acting abilities to a suitably appreciative audience.
Whether it was in a face to face meeting at one of our Parents Evenings or via one of our termly Progress Reports, our teachers have recently been giving feedback to parents about their child's attitude to learning and their progress. The progress grades and thresholds may be what parents consider to be the most important part of the overall picture, but I would suggest it is the attendance record and the behaviour for learning scores that tell us the most about how a student is likely to progress in the future. We expect all students to have an attendance figure of 97% or better, and we expect Behaviour for Learning scores to be 1s and 2s (on a 4 point scale). Where students are not attending lessons as often as they should and/or are not applying themselves or fully engaging in their learning, they are unlikely to achieve the outcomes of which they are capable. The vast majority of Lytchett students are attentive, well-behaved and conscientious, and they will assuredly enjoy great success. Where there are issues on the attendance or ‘behaviour for learning’ front, I would urge parents to work closely with the school (via House teams) to address the problem and bring about a positive change.
Some of you may have seen the Lytchett Minster School Learning Centre feature on BBC South Today on Friday 14th February. This was in connection with a recent report on the increase in permanent exclusions across Dorset schools (secondary and primary). Our Learning Centre was included in the programme to show the lengths that some schools are going to avoid permanently excluding students who struggle in mainstream education. You can read more on this story on page 5.
I hope you enjoy reading this month’s Newsletter!
01202 622413 • www.lytchett.org.uk • /lytchettminsterschool
1 Student of the Month
Congratulations to the following students who were nominated as February’s Student of the Month:
English Biology LIBRARY Music
Photo not
available
Emily Campbell-Montgomery Molly Seal Kaylin Loveless Paul Stevens
Year 11 Sixth Form Year 8 Year 9
Graphics Psychology PE Art
Photo not Photo not Photo not
available available available
Tristan Cooke Aila Osborg-Schmitz Amber Henshaw Riley Conner
Year 11 Year 12 Year 11 Year 7
PRE FOOD History CHEMISTRY
Photo not Photo not
available available
Adam Watkins Martha Wilson Lauren Hawkins Connor Redpath
Year 9 Year 8 Year 11 Year 12
D & T Media
Connor Girdler Bethany Buyers
Year 11 Year 10
2 DRAMA FRENCH Dance PHYSICS
Isabelle Garvey Olivia Robinson Lucie Etches Tom Cluett
Year 11 Year 11 Year 10 Year 11
Geography Geography
Photo not
available
Amiee Legg Emily Cuff
Year 8 Year 8
Purbeck Portland Sixth Form
Photo not
available
Thomas Marshall Georgia Reynolds Scott Povey
Year 10 Year 11 Sixth Form
Agglestone Gault
Spike Knight Mia Whitehall
Year 7 Year 7
3 KS3 Limitless Production: Alice in Wonderland
Congratulations to all the KS3 students involved in the production of Alice in Wonderland, and to the fantastic 6th form team (led by Ben Parkinson and Rosie Painter) who put the whole show together. It was a most entertaining and enjoyable evening.
Head of Drama, Mrs Midworth writes: On Wednesday 12th February, the Drama Department proudly welcomed over 140 people to the Dance Studio for a wonderful performance of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
After the main school production (Into the Woods), back in October, I was approached by Ben Parkinson and Rosie Painter from our 6th form and asked if they could re-launch, direct and produce a performance for the ‘Limitless’ programme. This is a gifted and talented programme which they were a part of when they were in KS3. The programme allows 6th formers to mentor and produce a production with our KS3 G+T students. Since December, Ella Wilson (costume), Alistair McGregor (sound), Emilie Waldie and Kieren Nisbett (choreographers) in addition to those aforementioned created an audition programme, rehearsal schedule, acquired scripts and produced a fantastic production to allow our KS3 stars to shine!
Over 40 students participated in the performance and the audiences were amazed by the talent presented. The commitment, creativity and characterization exhibited on stage highlighted how much talent we have coming through the school. There was so much talent that the 6th form team producing the show had to be a little creative casting three Alices played by the talented Lucy Wilson, Arizona Stroulger and Lily Taylor.
4 KS3 Limitless Production: Alice in Wonderland (continued)
There were many notable performances, far too many to mention individually, but it has to be said that the standard of performance on stage was exceptional and the audiences left with nothing but praise for both the actors on the stage and the team who put it together. What is more magnificent about this event is that the cast all voted on a chosen charity who they wanted to support with the proceeds of this performance. They chose the Rainbow Trust who look after families with seriously ill children. I am pleased to announce that they raised £126 for charity.
I hope those of you who attended this performance enjoyed it as much as I did and thank you for supporting the students. One student said as they left, ‘When I get to 6th form, I want to be a mentor and give someone the memories they have given me’.
Mrs Midworth
BBC South Today comes to Lytchett
Headmaster Andrew Mead was initially contacted by BBC South Today because of his role as Chair of the Dorset Secondary Headteachers’ Association (DASH). The programme wanted to explore the reasons why permanent exclusions in Dorset’s primary and secondary schools had shot up from 13 exclusions a year (on average between 2010 and 2016) to an incredible 74 and 103 in 2018 and 2019. During the initial phone interview, the programme makers were interested to hear about Lytchett’s own Learning Centre and decided to come to the school to carry out some filming. The film crew requested some shots of a typical lesson in the main school, an interview with the headmaster and some pictures of the Learning Centre. We chose a Year 11 Science class, taught by Mr Sherwood, for the lesson. The camera angles used by the programme ensured that no students could be identified, but Mr Sherwood and his Physics experiment did feature, as did Mr Daniels teaching our Year 8 and 9 students in the Learning Centre.
It was made clear in the programme that Lytchett Minster School is doing all it can to avoid permanently excluding students, but that Dorset local authority needed to do more to increase the provision of affordable alternative provision for vulnerable students in the county. To date this year (2019-2020), Lytchett Minster School has not permanently excluded any of its students .
5 Battle of the Bands
The Static, Alien-Nation and The Game provided the stand out performances at this year’s Battle of the Bands competition on Tuesday 4th February. The whole evening was put together by the outstanding Le-Ann Walters (Year 13), who provided a very professional sound and lighting display. Deputy Headteacher, Mr Kent Catchpole and former Lytchett Musician of the Year and now Teaching Assistant Mr Jake Wood contributed to the judging panel. It was great to see friends and families supporting the bands, who performed with great confidence and style. The winning band this year was The Game. Congratulations to all those who took part, and a big thank you to the new PTA team from providing the refreshments.
6 Yes Chef! Competition
Four students made it through to the quarter finals of the Yes Chef competition which this year was held at Bournemouth and Poole College. All four were brilliant and an absolute credit to the school. Following this Freddie Howarth and Amelia Barber have gone through to the semi-finals.
Sandwalk 2020
After consulting with students in school the Student Voice has decided to support two smaller local charities this year. We have supported CLIC Sargent before as they have been/are involved with the care provided for Lytchett students undergoing treatment for cancer.
The Student Voice feels that mental health is a major issue at the moment, one that health services are struggling to cope with. Consequently they have chosen to support the Dorset Mind Your Head project. The next Student Voice (Year 10 reps) will launch this year's design competition and discuss the all Important tee shirt colour! Talk to them if you want to influence the choice of colour!
SANDWALK LOGO 2020 COMPETITION This is your chance to have your design on well over 1,000 of this year’s Sandwalk tee shirts! Your design needs to include the following text: Sandwalk 2020 Lytchett Minster School
Your entry should be: A4 One shade of one colour Simple designs are the best! Handed in to Mrs Biddle in Kimmeridge
Closing date is Friday 6th March. The Student Voice will then choose the win- ner (and the colour!) and announce them on Friday 13th March.
7 Student Achievements
Dorset's Takeover Challenge 2020 On Friday 14th February Elliot Bell, Year 10 took part in the Children’s Commissioner National Takeover Challenge with Dorset Youth Council at Dorset Council. The Challenge is an opportunity for young people to take over from senior officers in the Council, health services and politicians. Elliot spent the day with Councillor Kerby at County Hall.
“It was an opportunity to become a local politician and it could not be missed. Cllr Kerby represents the Winterborne North Ward and is the chairman of the Dorset Community Safety Partnership.
During my time acting on behalf of Cllr Kerby I sent an e-mail to Mark Blackman, the Corporate Director for Education and Learning in Dorset, regarding a Peer Support Scheme (PSS). The policy I had put forward myself is for young people to volunteer to undergo light training to prevent seemingly minor issues becoming larger. This would be more effective than ideas put in place now as not everyone wants to talk to an adult. With this the pair would have a natural bond to allow them to speak openly and the engagement wouldn’t feel scripted or forced.
After this we took a trip down to the ‘Not So Secret Nuclear Bunker’ that was raided by others on the challenge. We also won the Council acronym challenge (we found 84!) and came up with some of our own. It was a fantastic day, Cllr Kerby would like to work with me and take my policy forward, he has also offered me work experience in the school holidays”.
Elliot Bell
8 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
9 Lytchett Fundraising
Agglestone House were proud to present their 2nd annual Ed Kent Fundraiser during lunch time on the last day of term. Ed was a pupil at Lytchett Minster School and part of Agglestone House until he sadly passed away just over 4 years ago and, as a house, we continue to raise money for the Ed Kent Trust which supports young people in our local community.
Agglestone students paid £1 to wear non uniform and were amazing at coming up with ideas and setting up their stalls, which included:
Hot dog stall Milkshake stall Sweet stall Dangling Doughnut Cake stall
As a house, we managed to raise a whopping £321.35 which is fantastic. Thank you to all who helped support us.
In Portland House…... During the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, Portland’s prefects Joe smith, Lewis Bar- ry, Mia Crawley, Kate Barrett, Rhianna Jones, Kelsey Brennan and Rosie Cassidy sold Valen- tines gifts to raise money for Cancer Research. The prefects made just under £100!
Reminder about After School Detentions
If students do not meet our expectations regarding good behaviour for learning in the classroom or general good behaviour around the site, they will be sanctioned. Failure to accept these sanctions will lead to more serious consequences, as set out below: 1) If a student has to be relocated from a lesson (i.e. receives a C4), s/he receives an lunchtime detention and a one hour after school detention 2) If the student fails to attend the lunchtime detention, s/he receives an additional one hour after school detention 3) If the student fails to attend an after school detention, s/he receives a two hour after school detention on a Friday. 4) If the student fails to attend the two hour after school detention on a Friday, s/he is placed in internal isolation on the Monday and is excluded for one day on the Tuesday. 10 Sixth Form News
Reminder to all parents of students in sixth form:
Any absence must be reported by phone or email to [email protected]. Contact must be made for each day of absence. Students cannot report the absence themselves. This must be done by the parent / carer. Medical appointments, university interviews etc must be notified in advance.
Students are required to complete a foreseen absence form and return it to the office along with evidence of the appointment. The forms can be obtained from the Sixth Form Centre. Students are not permitted to leave the school site during the day. Year 13 students are permitted to leave at the start of period 5 (2.25pm) if they have an independent study period.
Friday 14th February saw the Sixth Form students wearing pink and red raising money for Rays of Sunshine. Rays of Sunshine is an award winning national charity that brightens the lives of seriously ill young people and their families by granting wishes and providing ongoing support in hospital and within the community.
Alice in Wonderland
Congratulations to the six sixth form students who helped the Key Stage 3 students with their superb Alicein Wonderland production. They showed great leadership skills, producing a show full of humour, imagination and colour. Directors: Ben Parkinson and Rose Painter Producer: Ella Wilson Musical Director: Alistair Macgregor
Choreographer: Emily Waldie and Kieran Nisbet Technical Manager: Freya Inglis
Sixth Form interviews begin in the second week of March. These will be for Year 11 students who have applied to the sixth form to study A levels or BTEC Level 3 courses. Parents are not required to attend these interviews. The students will be sent an invitation to attend the interview via their tutor. It is still not too late to apply for a place in our fantastic sixth form.
If you have any questions about any items then please do not hesitate to contact the team via: [email protected]
11 Ex-Lytchett student nominated for an Oscar
We are delighted to share news of a former student, Danielle Turkov, who studied A Level languages at Lytchett and was involved in several of the school's theatrical productions.
After leaving Lytchett in 2005, Dani went on to major in Spanish and Hebrew at university in London. This led to a job in Barcelona, where she taught English and Dancing. Since then, she has worked as a translator for the European Union and served in Martin Schulz's office when he was President of the European Union. More recently, she has worked with human rights organisations and is now co- running a company making documentaries.
She recently co-produced a film called The Cave, which has been nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, and has already received a number of important awards within the film industry. The Cave is based on the work of hospital medics in war-torn Syria.
Dani, now based in Brussels, is due to become a mother in April and is currently enjoying a break with her husband, Cliff Wilson, another Lytchett alumnus. Cliff, aside from having cycled around the world, is a languages graduate and a private tutor. Cliff and Dani are pictured, above, at the 2020 Oscars.
Dr Bike session
Calling all cyclists!
On Thursday 26th March we will be running a Dr Bike session. This is where all bikes will receive a free safety check. This is available to all pupils, parents and school staff who cycle to school on the day. We will prioritise the pupil’s bikes first, but will usually have time to do adults bikes too, over in the main bike shed. If there is time, we can also check over scooters.
We will do the safety check, and may be able to do minor repairs so that your bike will run more smoothly. Please note that where the bike or parts are in bad condition or of poor quality, we are unlikely to attempt repairs as this could lead to further damage and instead we will advise of the best action to take.
With your and the schools support we hope that this event will teach the pupils that it’s important to keep a bike in good working order. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to get your bike checked – see you there. In recognition of cycling in you will also receive a £1.50 token which can be used to get a snack in the canteen.
12 Contacting your child’s House office
To aid quick and effective communication between parents and the House Offices we have recently introduced some new email addresses. Please could we encourage you to use these email addresses instead of individual staff email accounts - the main benefit to this is that if a member of staff is not in school and therefore unable to respond to your query, another member of the House team will be able to pick this up for you.
Agglestone House Office: [email protected] Gault House Office: [email protected] Kimmeridge House Office: [email protected] Portland House Office: [email protected] Purbeck House Office: [email protected] Wealden Office: [email protected] Sixth Form: [email protected]
Access to school letters
Introducing the new online communications archive! From this term, all general letters sent home to parents will be archived on our website for future reference.
http://lytchett.org.uk/wp/students/communications-archive/
13 Sporting Achievements
Football
After being beaten by Poole Grammar school twice in the last two finals of the PEDSSA cup the boys wanted to prove a point, they definitely did this as Lytchett won7-0!!! They are through to the semi-finals and the quarter finals of the County Cup! Congratulations to our Year 11 boys footballers!
Congratulations to the sixth form football team who beat St Peter’s 1-0 in less than ideal conditions (strong wind blowing from one end to the other, grass that covered their boots and pitch so short even Mr Laishley could throw it from one end to the other). Well done to Jack Orchard, the ‘fox-in-the-box’ who raided the chicken run and bagged the winner! Now for the semi-final!
Netball
The final round of the Year 8 Netball League was incredibly difficult but the girls worked extremely hard and managed to have the lowest number of goals scored against them. The highlight of the final round was a well contested match against Parkstone Grammar, where the game went back and fourth to both ends with interceptions being made by our strong defenders (Queen Douglas and Melissa Mitchinson) to then only lose 1-0 in the last 20 seconds - this was a great achievement as Parkstone Grammar went on to win the league!
Team: Melissa Mitchinson, Teagan-maria White, Ruby Bown, Lily Darcy Wykes, Mia Case, Josephine Dolman, Queen Douglas, Daisy Miles, Gemma Cluett, Kaylin Loveless.
14 Library News
World Book Day tokens will be given out to students in years 7-11. These book tokens can be exchanged at local booksellers for a £1 book or used as £1 off any full price book instead. The tokens are valid from Thursday 27th February until Sunday 29th March 2020. Details of this years’ £1 books are below.
Reading Well provides quality-assured information, stories and advice to support you to understand and manage your mental health and wellbeing. The books are all recommended by health experts, as well as people living with the conditions covered and their relatives and carers. https://reading-well.org.uk/books/books-on-prescription/young-people-
Parent Forum
Parent Forum meets every half term. This is an opportunity for parents to come and discuss any aspect of school life (positive and negative) directly with the headmaster. Meetings are open to all and are advertised on the back of the newsletter with the calendar of events. For more information please contact [email protected].
PTA News
The PTA has a new email address. If you wish to contact a member of the PTA please use the following address: [email protected] The PTA Secondhand Uniform Shop will be open from 3.30pm until 4.00pm on: Friday 13th March 2020 Friday 3rd April 2020 Friday 1st May 2020 Please come to main school reception between 3.30pm and 4.00pm. If you have any unwanted uniform in good condition (especially PE KIT) that you wish to donate please send this in to main school reception, marked for the attention of the PTA.
15 Reminders
Parking on the school grounds: Parking on and in the vicinity of the Lytchett site, particularly at peak times and in wet weather, can be problematic. Please could I ask you not to park in the narrow road outside the main entrance. It causes serious congestion and endangers students crossing the road. It may be wise to arrange to meet your child somewhere offsite to avoid the traffic congestion. Please could I also ask you to refrain from entering the staff car park in front of the Manor House as this is used by students as a main thoroughfare and there have been some near misses!
Mobile Phones within school: Mobile phones are not to be used in school between 8.45am and 3.25pm: they should be stored in student lockers. Students found using their phones during the school day will have their phone confiscated and will receive a 6 week phone ban.
Piercings
Our uniform policy is quite clear about earrings and other piercings: Students may wear no more than one ear stud (small, or flush fitting) in each ear. Other body piercing studs, rings, etc, including on the face and in the mouth, must not be worn to school under any circumstances. Piercings that require a ring, retainer or object to remain in place whilst the site heals are not acceptable during school sessions. Stretcher piercings are forbidden in school.
Students failing to comply with our uniform rules will be expected to remove the piercing immediately before they will be permitted to attend normal lessons.
Road Safety
PARENTS OF STUDENTS WHO CYCLE INTO SCHOOL
Please ensure your child is wearing a cycle helmet! We have had a number of incidents recently involving students not wearing a helmet.
Your co-operation with this would be much appreciated.
16 Lytchett Lecture Series Inspire, Challenge, Enthuse
‘Making small stuff big— Microscopy with light, electrons and X rays’ Thursday 19th March 2020, 6.00pm: Presented by Dr. Dave Johnson, Biomedical Imaging, University of Southampton
‘Poole Harbour Osprey reintroduction programme’ Thursday 2nd April 2020, 6.00pm: Presented by Paul Merton, Birds of Poole Harbour
All lectures are free of charge and held in the Theatre. Lectures are open to students, parents and the wider school community. Places are limited so please reserve your seat by booking through Wisepay or email: [email protected]
17 Lost Property
During this half term the main office has accumulated another haul of trainers, sports bags, water bottles and clothing. If your child has lost anything, please ask them to visit the main office to check if it has appeared. Any lost property not claimed will be given to charity at the end of March.
The Ed Kent Trust
To mark what would have been Ed’s 18th birthday this year, the Ed Kent Trust will be holding a charity fundraising evening: “An Evening with Phil Tufnell” on Thursday 5th March at the Hamworthy Club at 7.00pm. To purchase tickets email: [email protected]
Any Budding Bakers?
18 Term Dates 2020-2021 Academic Year
Monday 7th September 2020 Year 7, 10 and 12
Tuesday 8th September 2020
All students
19 Important Dates w/b Monday 2nd March: Year 10 Work Experience and Year 11 Mock GCSEs w/b Monday 9th March - Interviews start for Year 11 students wishing to join 6th form Thursday 18th March (6.00pm) - Lytchett Lecture on Microscopy Tuesday 24th March (4.00pm-5.00pm) - Parenting Workshop (on Social Media) Tuesday 24th March (7.00pm) - Lower School Concert Wednesday 25th March (7.00pm) - Parent Forum Thursday 26th March (4.00pm—8.00pm) - Year 8 Parents’ Evening Friday 27th March - Year 10 and 11 Progress Reports Friday 3rd April: INSET DAY Monday 6th April to Friday 17th April—EASTER HOLIDAYS
Trip Calendar
2nd April 2020 Ski Trip for Yr8, Yr9, Yr10 and Yr12 - Fully Booked
Easter Holidays 2020 India Trip for those taking GCSE in Yr10 or 11, or A level PRE Fully booked.
June 2020 French Exchange 2020
29th June 2020 Paris Trip for Yr10, Yr11, Yr12 and Yr13 who are studying French at KS4 or KS5
10th July 2020 Battlefields Trip for those taking History in Yr10—Fully Booked
July 2021 World Challenge trip to Tanzania
20