Twynham School 2013 “Ambitious for All Our Students” February 2006

February Snippets Twynham School 2013 “Ambitious for all our Students” February 2006

Dear Parents borderline – which is precisely how we Inside this issue: have approached students’ learning all Dr Fish - Front Cover Introduction along! I will write to explain more about this It is with great pleasure that I write the intro- in a later newsletter, but what this does Dr Fish continued 2 duction of this latest newsletter. Much con- confirm is that those students in Year 9, tinues to happen in the world of education; who are currently choosing their options, nationally and at the school. Nationally the have absolutely the right mix from which to government has finally backed down over choose – and they will be sitting GCSEs Attendance & Punctuality 3 the replacement of GCSEs with the hard to rather than some new, hastily cobbled to- Youth Speaks 3 pronounce EBCs in the face of almost uni- gether examination. Careers 3 versal opposition (More detail here if you Year 7 News 4 are reading this electronically), and at Thoroughly Modern Millie Twynham the preparations for Thoroughly Modern Millie gather apace amongst all the other activities which go on at a busy, suc- Year 10 News 5 cessful school. Holocaust Memorial 6 Year 9 Options 7 Twynham in the Top 100 Schools nation- Year 11 Workshop 7 ally I hope that you will already have read the letter which was e-mailed to all parents, or Vocational Learning 8 have read the Latest News on the school’s Year 8 News 8 website to see that the school received a Student Council 9 letter from the Minister of State for Educa- tion (Mr David Laws MP) letting us know You will see an article in this newsletter Student Support 9 that we were in the top 100 schools for the about this imminent show. At a time when Thoroughly Modern Millie 10 progress our students make between Key so many schools have almost side-lined the ICT News 12 Stage 2 and their GCSEs. To quote Mr Arts, this has not been our approach since PE News 14 Laws: “Your school is exceptionally effec- we believe that they are a vitally important tive in educating its pupils”. In a year when part of the curriculum, children’s develop- the English GCSE fiasco affected the re- ment and life generally. Also, at a time Uganda Challenge 17 sults of a relatively small number of stu- when there is so much examination pres- Community Pages 18 dents last summer, with the resulting drop sure on students and staff, I would like take Forthcoming Events 20 in the ‘headline figure’ of five or more this opportunity of thanking everyone who GCSEs at A*-C, it is reassuring to be for- is working so hard to make this production mally acknowledged that when you con- a success. I hope that you will support the sider the performance of our students in school and our students by booking tickets five GCSEs: English, Mathematics and the – please put the date(s) in your diaries – students’ three best other GCSEs, we are 7th, 8th and 9th March 2013 – at the Regent in the top 100 schools. The article with a Centre. link to the letter from Mr Laws can be seen on our school’s website or by clicking here.

It is interesting to note that Twynham was Attendance Telephone the only school across Dorset, Bourne- Number mouth and Poole to be in the top 100 01202 495778 schools for the progress measure. Oak- mead College of Technology were con- gratulated for the improvement in their Sixth Form Attendance GCSE results from 2011 to 2012 and I’d Number like to congratulate them on this success. 01202 495745

Interestingly the Performance Measure for Twynham Learning Federation schools is changing and will much better Our work with the Grange school continues reflect how schools support the progress of and not long ago I had the pleasure of ob- all their children, based on 8 subjects in- serving Mathematics lessons alongside the cluding English and Mathematics, rather Head of Mathematics at the Grange, the than those who happen to be on the C/D Head and the Deputy Head. There have Page 2 Twynham School been negative comments about the Grange in the past but and perhaps parents could also write to him requesting his I wanted to let you know just how impressive their stu- support. We have even agreed to ‘match fund’ this pitch dents and teachers were. Two examples are where I ob- since it is so vitally needed. Your support would be grate- served some top sets and I commented to the Head of fully appreciated. Mathematics at the Grange that the level of the work and the engagement of the students was tremendous. There was no difference to what I see at Twynham and the students deserve real success in their GCSEs this coming summer.

In addition, about 10 staff will be joining the Twynham staff for the training day on 15th February when we will be looking at effective classroom practice. This joint development will benefit both schools and is an exciting aspect of our Federation.

We are also working much more closely with the Priory School, Christchurch Junior and Christchurch Infant Schools where a real focus has been on all of us working more effectively with the Locality Team. This is proving to be extremely successful and as well as all of us being able to provide a greater level of ‘joined up’ support for our community’s most vulnerable families, we are also bring- ing a number of policies into line – such as attendance. I will write more in due course.

6th Form th The 6 Form continues to go from strength to strength and The field being pumped! our Year 13 students are now receiving their University offers. We wish them well and I would also like to thank T and congratulate our Year 12 students who have settled Summary so well into 6th Form life and who are working so well. This Twynham continues to be an exceptionally successful bodes exceptionally well for the future. school and we are delighted to be recognised as being in the top 100 schools. This does not happen by chance and We also have over 400 applications for the 200 places we it does not happen without everyone working together. I have available for the 6th Form next year and we are now would not only like to congratulate and thank our staff but working through the interview process. For those who also to thank and congratulate you, our parents, and our have applied, my advice is to work hard for your GCSEs students who are a real credit to the school. and to do your best – it’s worth it!

Yours sincerely The Field! I am sure that you will have seen the Fire Service pumping water from our field last week. You may also have read the article in the local press. Following the flooding, more than 5 million litres of water were pumped off the field and it is now in the process of drying out. This really is a ridicu- lous situation and whilst we await the result of our bid to the Education Funding Agency for a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area – basically an all-weather pitch) we are also checking all the drainage around our field to try to mini- Dr Terry Fish mise any future problems. I have written to our MP, Mr Chris Chope, asking him to support our bid for the MUGA

Safety Crossing Roads

Would all students and parents please be aware that it is very dangerous to cross any of the roads near the school, including Fairmile and Barrack Road at any place except a designated crossing place. There will be a fatality if students continue to cross anywhere except at designated pedes- trian crossings.

Thank you for your co-operation. Page 3 Twynham School Attendance & Punctuality As you know, at Twynham School we firmly believe that ment statistics are clear about the link between atten- good working habits are formed at an early age. As a re- dance and attainment; students with attendance of less sult you will be aware that we have been relentless in our than 93% are affected by the loss of a grade for each approach to ensuring that our already excellent atten- GCSE they sit. Indeed at Twynham School in 2011-12 dance and punctuality rates remain as high as they possi- there were only 2 students with an attendance of less than bly can. In 2011-12, Twynham School attendance was 90% for the year who achieved the all-important threshold 94.9% - one of the highest figures in the County and well of 5 A*-C including English and Maths which becomes a above the national average. To put this into perspective, passport to Post 16 Education. this represents an average of 10 school days (or two school weeks) of absence. What is also clear is the link between attendance and punctuality and we make no apologies for continuing to In an attempt to maintain and improve on these figures we track and monitor individual student data to ensure that we introduced both an Attendance and Punctuality Strategy in can offer support and intervention as it is required. We September 2012 which applies to all students in Y7-11. thank you for your continued support in this matter and The strategies can be found on the Parent Zone of the hope that you will continue to encourage your children in school website under information about Attendance and maintaining their good attendance habits. Absence. Research shows that attendance trends are formed early in a child’s life and, in our experience, stu- Mr J Taylor dents with low attendance in Year 7 and 8 will continue in Assistant Headteacher this manner as they progress through the school. Govern- Youth Speaks Careers

On Tuesday 12th February, the following Sixth Form students will be competing in the National Youth Speaks competition which is a public speaking event run by the Rotary Club: Oliver Buckley-Mellor, Alex- ander Burgess, Callum Mercer, Samuel Dalzell, Daniel Patten and Maria Plummer.

The competition aims to offer young people:

 An experience of speaking on a public platform as members of a team.  An incentive to formulate ideas on topical subjects  The discipline in dealing with a topic in a limited time.  The opportunity of learning and practising high stan- dards of expression, presentation and appearance.  The impartial criticism and assessment of performance by experienced adjudicators

The competition consists of a number of stages, the first stage being the Club competition, which will take place at Bournemouth School for Girls on Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 7.00 pm. If successful, the students will compete in the District and Regional competitions, and possibly even the Final.

Please wish the students good luck for the competition. Details of their success to follow in the next issue…

Miss Hopkins

Page 4 Twynham School Year 7 News

Achievement Awards I would like to start by saying congratulations to those students who gained the most Achievement Awards last term (from Half Term-Christmas). You did a fantastic job and I am continually amazed at how many AAs Year 7 have been awarded. As I write this, we currently have over 16,000 as a year group; more than any other in the school! The top 25 students were rewarded for their hard work with a Head of Year Breakfast, during which they tucked into croissants, pancakes, muffins and much more. It was a great opportunity to reward their success and hard work. Well done!

Top 25 AAs from Half Term to Christmas:

Stephanie Day Megan Moist Sarah Jeffes Daniel Granger Thomas Bryden Samuel Matthews Panto Trip Toby Gadd Louis Russell- George Hazeldine Scaysbrook On Wednesday 23rd January, a small group of Year 7 stu- Toby King Summer Torkington dents went to The Regent Centre to see Cinderella by Molly Hyde Angela Mitz Pineda Highcliffe Charity Players. We were joined by our Student Support Worker, Kirsty Austin-Baril, and we all had a fan- Bea Lewis Fraser New tastic time. The evening was full of laughs, ice cream and Gabrielle Holdsworth Claudia Cheeseman lots of audience interaction! Thank you to all the students Abigail Richardson Benjamin Eaton who came for making such an enjoyable evening. Daniel Squire Lauren Stickley Harry Seymour Harry Dibden Help your Child Settle into School Evening Thomas Matthews Abbie Sharp This event was held on Thursday 31st January and offered parents a wide range of tips to help and support their children achieve in all aspects of school life. Parents were Tutor Time – The Origami Challenge! given the chance to meet and talk with a range of profes- At the beginning of this term, Mr Taylor delivered an as- sionals and ask those all important questions. Included in sembly to Year 7 about trying something new this year. the evening were presentations from: To help get them started, Mr Aston set each tutor group an ‘Origami Challenge’ to make as many paper cranes as  Alcohol Education Trust they could. Year 7  EDAS Essential Drugs and Alcohol Services rose to the chal-  School Nurse lenge and it was  Safe Schools & Community Team great to see them have a go at a skill Alongside this, we also had a wide range of Twynham many had not tried staff giving advice on Literacy, reading and student sup- before. port. I would like to say thank you to all those involved, and in particular, to the parents, for making the evening a DKE worked espe- huge success. cially hard and I would like to say well done to them for their excellent effort at making the more complicated version of the origami crane! I look forward to seeing more creations in the future!

Page 5 Twynham School Year 10 News The start of 2013 saw celebrations for term were also invited to a cinema lunch in recognition of year 10. Students received their review their efforts. grades and ATLs before Christmas and we were very proud of the year group Year 10 are currently working hard this term to finalise once again. The students have excelled details for their work experience placements later on this themselves with 52 students receiving all year, a time for students to consider their future plans. As and Bs in their Attitude to Learning grades. We held a celebratory lunch for 18 students in the Many of our students are involved in the school production year group; students enjoyed pizza and cup cakes! The of Thoroughly Modern Millie, with rehearsals well under students achieving the most AAs in the Christmas half way we look forward to the production later on in the term.

Year 10 Textiles

Year 10 textiles students have started a new fashion project, where they are working in groups and using recycled and re-usable fabrics/ materials to produce an outfit which will be showcased at a fashion show held at the Grange in the summer term.

The textiles students have had a blast experimenting with recycled materials. Students have been let loose on the ‘Bin-Bags’ and have produced exciting garments in their groups.

Page 6 Twynham School Holocaust Memorial Bryanston School Visit Arieh had a horrific story to tell of how he managed to escape the Warsaw On 27th January this year it was Holo- Ghetto with the help of his mother and caust Memorial Day. The following day to become part of an underground Jew- 16 Year 9 students from Twynham, ish group of partizans. along with 400 students from other schools, went to Bryanston School to The level of devastation was shown on meet two brave and heroic men that had the screen in our History lessons but to survived the Holocaust. hear it from a mind of experience made us appreciate the event more and sympa- We didn’t really know what to expect or thise on a broader scale. Overall this how much detail they would go into. visit improved our perspective on the We have begun to learn about the Holo- Holocaust and strengthened our respect caust at school but hearing two survivors’ for such events. We felt privileged to accounts was going to be very different. have heard the stories and altogether this was something we will never forget. What they had been through and the things they had seen was nothing short of sensationally moving. The two men, Harry Grenville and Arieh Simonsohn, spoke in detail about their experiences and as they did so we were constantly re- minded to consider what this would have been like if it had been us and our families.

Harry told his story of how he had been one of the ‘lucky’ Jewish children that Arieh Simonsohn is believed to be the had been able to gain passage to England boy with his hands in the air in this fa- on a Kinder transport as the worst of the mous image from the Warsaw Ghetto. horrors were just about to begin. He has recently had proof that his parents were By: Oliver Moss, Oliver Lines and Ben killed at Auschwitz Death Camp. The Blackmore—Year 9 evidence came in the form of one of their suitcases being identified by a visi- tor to what is now a memorial to those who lost their lives. Page 7 Twynham School Year 9 Options Begin!

Year 9 have had some big Following successful consultative and options evenings, decisions to make this half the students all had a guidance interview in order to give term as the time has come them the opportunity to discuss their options with mem- for students to decide on bers of staff. It has been really pleasing to see students their options for Year 10. who have clearly taken the time to think about Year 10 and I have very much enjoyed listening to their future The options website has plans. allowed students, parents and guardians to explore The next step will be finalising these choices in the coming the content of all courses weeks. available and this has been used in PSHE, tutor time and at home by the year Rebecca Mee group to help them in the Head of Year 9 decision making process. A successful options evening

Students were offered the opportunity to spend an afternoon at The Grange School, looking at the facilities that Twynham Vocational has to offer. Three such trips took place and all those who attended showed a real en- thusiasm for the courses available. The students were able to see the new hairdressing salon and the motor vehicle garage whilst being given the opportunity to ask questions about the courses. Twynham’s new hairdressing salon and motor vehicle garage

Year 11 Parent/Student Workshop

It was with great pleasure that the Maths Department ran The MathsWatch website is available to all students - a workshop for over 30 Year 11 students and their parents www.mathswatchvle.com - and the login details are twyn- on Tuesday 29th January. ham, twynham, 123456

We have often talked about how difficult it can be to sup- Finally, I would like to thank Mr Schuring, Miss Larrington- port your child with their maths so a hands-on session in Vandy and Mr Whiteman for helping out and to thank the computer rooms seemed the ideal way to prepare stu- those parents that came in on Tuesday night for a really dents and their parents for constructive revision for GCSE. enjoyable hour!

Using the MathsWatch website, we looked at real exam questions, identifying which topic areas they come under and then watching, learning and practising similar questions with MathsWatch.

For those parents that couldn’t make it, I have put the materials on the Maths area of the Gateway – go to Maths/ KS4 and then either Linear or Unit 3. In each of these folders there is a folder called Student Parent Workshop with the materials in.

You will also be able to access many past papers and mark schemes in these folders as well and for those students sitting exams straight after half term, I would encourage them to work through a paper a day, marking each paper as it is completed.

Page 8 Twynham School Vocational Learning

VOCATIONAL LEARNING INCLUDING

We are delighted to have received a lot of interest in our Twynham Vocational Post 16 courses. A number of students have applied from local schools and are currently being interviewed. If you are interested in our Twynham Vocational courses please visit our website www.twynhamvocational.com or telephone me on 01202 486781.

All our courses are both practical and theory based and include up to one day per week or block work placements with local and national employers:

Public Services – This is a Level 3, two year course which will provide a qualification equivalent to three A levels. The course will provide an insight into public services in- Ed4life cluding uniformed and voluntary services and help de- The year 10 group velop team leadership skills. also visited the Cap- tains Club recently; in Hairdressing – This is a Level 2, one year course which class they have been will run in our purpose built salon and will include place- discussing customer ments with the Scissors group and local salons. care. During the visit to the hotel they chat- Motor Vehicle – This is a Level 2, one year course which ted to staff about the importance of good customer care will run in our purpose built Motor Training room and will and also received a tour of the hotel. include work placements with local and national garages and dealerships. Work Experience Year 10 go out to one week’s Work Experience on 20th Business Retail – This is a Level 3, two year course May this year. There are approximately 15 students that equivalent to three A levels. Theory and practical work is do not have any placement chosen at the moment; please completed in our purpose built board room style training can you remind your child to email me room and work placements with local and national retail- [email protected] with some choices as ers. soon as possible. A further 84 students have applied to employers but now need to contact those employers and Halo - Hospitality obtain confirmation of a placement. Please could parents/ The year 11 Halo group visited the Captains Club Hotel guardians discuss this with their child as a matter of ur- recently; staff kindly talked to the group about customer gency. arrivals, departures and taking payments as part of the units covered in the course. The students had the chance to count cash and to identify forged notes; they also dis- Mrs Jane Hopkins cussed the processes used in customer care. Vocational Learning Manager

Year 8 News Year 8 Parents Consultative Evening Appointments for the evening can be requested from staff The Year 8 Parents’ Consultative Evening is on Thursday and planned using page 33 of the logbook. February 28th, 4.30 - 7.00 pm. This is an important evening to discuss your son/ daughter’s progress with subject We look forward to seeing you at the evening. staff. Students will have a note in their log books to remind them of the date. Mr Neil Massie Head of Year 8 Please can parents check the Gateway for the letter and respond regarding your attendance through the survey monkey tab. Page 9 Twynham School Student Council Student Council Academy, which was enlightening. We hope to build fur- The student council continues to work ther links with other local schools in the coming months to with staff and students for the better- share best practice with them. ment of all students at Twynham School. There are still some projects The Bourne Academy which are reaching completion and A group of Twynham students some new projects to make you all undertook a ‘Learning Walk’ at aware of. Hopefully the following update the Bourne Academy recently. should enlighten you all… This allowed the students to see another local school and meet Culture Group with the student council. They The culture group has turned its shared ideas, visited lessons and attention to exploring qualification participated in some training. The for the ‘Silver’ Eco-Schools Award. students were superbly behaved This is after the group successfully as you would expect. Feedback from the students was secured the ‘Bronze’ award two positive with many of them wishing to ‘host’ a similar event years ago. The group has spent with our new found friends from the Bourne Academy. two meetings completing an Eco- Watch this space for more details… Analysis which is a substantial inventory which identifies areas of YIC strength and areas to develop. It is Emily Board and Callum Mercer continue to attend the hoped that at the end of this, we will be in a position to Youth in Christchurch meetings. The most recent meeting write the action plan. was held at the Lighthouse and involved a number of other students from other schools. A big thank you to both of Teaching and Learning them for continuing to attend these important meetings. The Teaching & Learning group continue to have really proactive discus- UK Youth Parliament sions about issues that affect all stu- The election of the local UKYP representative will take dents in the classroom. We have place in school on Thursday 7th February. Students from been thinking a lot about the behav- all years will be able to vote for the candidate they feel will iour consequences system already represent their views at a national level. Unfortunately we in place. The council think this is a don’t have our own candidate this year. However, it still fair system if it is used consistently provides the students with a good opportunity for participa- and we are looking at how we can tion and allows them to see the election process first hand. use some INSET training time to help all staff, both new and experienced, to implement the system fairly. Some Mr D Brown members of the group made a recent visit to the Bourne Student Support

PANTOMIME VISIT

The Highcliffe Charity Players very kindly presented the school with 15 tickets to see ‘Cinderella’ at The Regent Centre.

The Highcliffe Charity Players have offered generous support in the past to the Innovation Project, so the students involved in the project were delighted to attend – the evening started on a high, with pizzas in Christchurch!

The Panto was excellent, much laughter all round!

Miss Coffin was able to join us, with a small group of Year 7 students. It was lovely to see new friendships being kin- dled during the course of the evening! Mrs E Perry Student Support Co-ordinator/Designated Teacher for Thank you Highcliffe Charity Players! Looked After Children Page 10 Twynham School Thoroughly Modern Millie Thoroughly Modern Millie - Twynham School Production

The Regent Centre – 7th, 8th and 9th March 2013

Recently we had a photo shoot that saw all the students donning costumes for the very first time. The 1920’s style of dress looks amazing, as you can see from some of the photos that accompany this article. It’s at this point that it starts feeling very real. We are all able to visualise part of what the final product will look like, which is very exciting!

We hope that many of you will come and support the school production and those students involved. Many of you will have friends taking part. The lead characters include: Millie – Holly Allen (Year 11) and Jessie Angel (Year 12), Jimmy – Will Grantham-Hill (Year 12), Trevor Grayden – Jack Edwards (Year 12), Miss Dorothy – Holly Perrins (Year 12) and Charlotte Dadds (Year 12), Mrs Meers – Lara Cawkwell (Year 12), Ching-Ho – Jack Haberfield (Year 11), Bun-Foo – Jon Pineda (Year 9), Miss Flannery – Giverny Helliar (Year 12), and Muzzy – Annabelle Williams (Year 12). There are many other smaller parts and dancers too making a total of more than 50 students performing on stage.

For those of you who don’t know the story, here is a short synopsis: It’s the roaring 20’s, Millie Dillmount from Kan- sas, steps off the train into a New York city filled with speakeasies, frivolous flappers and the pulsating sounds of syncopated jazz. America has thrown off its inhibitions and anything goes! Millie’s ‘modern’ plan is to work in a typing pool and marry the wealthy boss. But then she Many months have passed and we grow ever closer to our meets and falls in love with Jimmy, a man without a dime production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. With rehearsals to his name... or so she thinks. As if this isn’t enough to most lunchtimes, and some after school, it has been a cope with, Millie has to save her best friend from the very busy time indeed. Rehearsals are packed with things clutches of the evil Mrs Meers – a landlady with a sideline to get done. There are three strands to what we have to in white slavery! achieve because each scene usually consists of dialogue to practise, dance to choreograph, and songs to arrange Buy your tickets now! and sing. The students involved have worked extremely Tickets are selling well and particularly for the Saturday hard, and the staff involved have appreciated all the effort evening showing so please purchase yours before you are they have put in and continue to put in! too late! You may purchase tickets either directly from the Regent Centre box office on 01202 499199 or online at The production is really taking shape in these later stages. www.regentcentre.co.uk Many of the song and dance numbers are now looking and sounding great, and many of the comedic aspects of The prices of tickets are: £10 Students; £12 Concessions; the story are coming across very well – there is a lot of £15 Adult (each includes 50p towards the Regent Devel- laughter during rehearsals! opment Fund).

Page 11 Twynham School Thoroughly Modern Millie

Giverny Helliar (Miss Flannery) Holly Allen (Millie Dillmount) Jessie Angell (Millie Dillmount) Jack Edwards (Mr Graydon) William Grantham-Hill (Jimmy) Charlotte Dadds (Miss Dorothy)

George Drake Tom Skitt Annabelle Williams Jordan Pace Jacob Perrins Sam Chapman (Muzzy) Jack Ballinger

Bethany Davies Ella Josey Lara Cawkwell Amy Bevan Hannah Small Grace Burns (Mrs Meers) Scarlett Farhang Page 12 Twynham School ICT Department News Year 8 & 9 Programming Club

Following on from the popular programming clubs we ran last year, programmer Ricardo Sanchez will be visiting on 5 dates to lead a series of Programming Animation sessions.

He uses the increasingly popular ‘Processing’ programming environment to give students an introduction to programming. Students learn through creating some very clever animations. If you have a good grasp of graph / map coordi- nates, this might be for you.

The sessions will be after school on Tuesdays starting 25th Feb and following on 5th March, 12th March, 19th March and 26th March.

Drop me an email or come and see me if you are interested. Places are limited to a maximum of 16.

Mr Smith [email protected]

Robotics @ Twynham – Request for Help!

The amazing landing and activities of the Mars rover ‘Curiosity’ has been a fascinating insight into the progress that has been made in robotics in recent years.

Robotics is currently regarded by the government as one of the key areas of opportunity, representing huge potential for growth over the next 5-10 years. This also represents great career opportunities for our students in the years to come. The Mars Rover Curiosity

I hope to develop some practical units of study for our students at KS3 to provide an insight into this world of micro-electric engineering and programming. However, there is little or no support for this in schools at the moment so I would like to request help and advice from any parents in the Twynham community who have experience or even contacts in this industry.

The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction A cheap robot arm from Maplin author Isaac Asimov. combined with webcam and Arduino

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection Will Smith in iRobot does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Page 13 Twynham School ICT Department News World Record Attempt! Friday 22nd March. A date for your diaries! Four years ago an A Level ICT Project Management group organised the attempt for Twynham School to break the world record for the number of people dressed as super heroes. We successfully smashed the world record with 643 super heroes and became world record holders for about three weeks, before a hospital in Philadelphia then went and smashed our record with two and half thousand participants!

This year the Applied A Level ICT Project Management class have decided to organise an attempt to beat the current world record for the number of people involved in a Nerf Gun War. Currently the record stands at 468 people.

For the uninitiated among us, a Nerf Gun is a toy gun made by Hasbro that fires soft foam ‘bullets’ and are recommended for use for children from 36 months.

The guns and ammunition are designed with safety in mind, but we are very aware that with 500+ people shooting each other from 3m apart, it is very important we do everything to avoid the chance of anyone getting hurt. For this reason we have stipulated the following rules.

Safety Rules:  All participants must wear glasses / goggles for the duration of the battle  Guns and ammunition must be unmodified  Any health concerns should be reported to the organisers at least 48hours before participation in the event.  Participants must be at least 3m apart

What you need to do to take part:  Bring a Nerf gun and eye protection to school on the day. Please only bring a maximum of six bullets with you as ammunition will get lost and used by other participants.  You can buy Nerf guns from just about any toy shop and online. Argos and Amazon are the cheapest at the moment. We recom mend the ‘Maverick’ - £6.99 at Amazon or the Jolt £2.50 at Argos. (Prices are current at the time of writing the article but may change)  ONLY STUDENTS WITH ADEQUATE EYE PROTECTION WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE EVENT.  The project team will be visiting assemblies and letting students know more about the event after half term. If you have any concerns or questions please contact us on [email protected] Vacancy! Student News Team Editors and Reporters Ever thought of journalism or digital media as a career and wanted to gain some first-hand experience? Or maybe you would just like be part of a team of like-minded individuals working towards a common goal, producing something you can be proud of?

If you are interested in a role on a new school student newspaper / magazine written by students for students, then please contact Mr Smith or email [email protected] . You must have a determination to get things done and make things happen.

Roles: 1 managing editor, 2 chief editors, 1 social media coordinator, 7 sub editors (1 for each year group), reporters, photographers, 2 or 3 digital layout designers.

Interviews will be held first week after half term. Page 14 Twynham School PE News Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Whilst still awaiting a Government an- nouncement on the position of school sport as a legacy to the successful games, here at Twynham we have continued to extend our extra-curricular programme. New additions include an after school yoga session, led by Julia Silva-Perez. She is currently undertaking an 8 week course at the cost of £5.00 to students. We have been able to offer the course at this subsidised rate due to successful Sportivate funding. On completion of this course, we look to run another course and will notify students on dates and times as soon as confirmed.

Opening up H8, our fitness suite specifically for fitness sessions is another addition and it has been really good to see a number of students attending, participating in training working towards students being able to design their Year 8 boys team in action own personal exercise programmes. The format of the competition included teams of four stu- We have continued to work with Wessex Volleyball who dents looking to complete a distance of 2013m between lead the Friday club. Ed has now departed for the Bourne- them. Teams decide tactically how they want to approach mouth Collegiate School in his new role, but we have the task, with most teams choosing to do 251m relays, worked with a number of coaches who have identified a with each rower going twice. Rowers need to have good talented group, particularly amongst the year 9 boys who technique to have an efficient stroke along with quick are also participating in volleyball in their curriculum. A change overs. At our event, we had teams from The number of students have been asked to attend the Wes- Grange school. The competition was then virtual with the sex club and we hope to see them develop their game through further participation. The School club runs on a Friday lunch time on week one and is after school on a week 2. Students from all years, boys and girls, are all welcome. We look forward to taking a team to the Bournemouth and Christchurch Schools, School games qualifying event to be held on Monday 11 February at the Volleyball centre.

Janine Murphy is running another 8 week Kick boxing course. All of the previous 20 students that attended have achieved their Kick Boxing White grading and will soon receive these certificates in assembly. Students were: Ella Melvin, Mia Santoni, Emily Board, Tess Allen, Ellie Dixon, Millie Fry, Lucy Hyndman, Natalie Jackson, Emily Moist, Jasmine Mussell, Chelsea Payne, Bethany Root, Year 7 Girls team who were overall winners across Molly Semple, Sheena Shell, Deanna Walton, Jade White, Christchurch and Purbeck Schools Tilly-Mae White, Briony Wilson, Rachel Hawkins, Holly Jewiss, Molly Ward and Caitlin Smits. Places are still results being compared to the Purbeck schools who had available for this course, so if anyone would like to attend, their competition mid January. In the overall competition, please collect a letter from the PE office. we have qualified 4 teams as overall winners to participate in the School games event to be held at The Leaf Acad- Though the poor weather and the flooded field have af- emy in March. The year 7 girls squad who qualified was fected the programme, we have continued to run sessions Stephanie Day, Sarah Jeffes, Lucy Gadd and Rudy An- and fixtures as much as possible. Copies of the pro- drews. The year 7 boys team who have also qualified was gramme are also on the parent portal, along with any im- Alex Beech, Cameron Nixon, James Holgate and Lewis portant messages. We try to notify students as soon as Spencer. possible and continue to look at more effective ways to keep them informed. The year 8 girls team did very well having rowed with one person short, the team was Beth Cooper, Robyn Thomp- School Games Indoor rowing qualifying event son and Jade Collins who came in 4th position, so unfortu- On Tuesday 11 December, here at Twynham we held the nately did not qualify. In the year 8 boys Alex Wilson, School Games indoor rowing competition qualifying event. Jake Poynter, Ed Chapman and Connal Morrison came Page 15 Twynham School PE News overall third position. The year 9 girls have qualified with Elle Pearce with her team Southampton the closest oppositions time being 30 seconds slower. Saints GLFC (front row third from right) The team were Libby Booth, Leah Sawyer, Ruby Ashton and Isabella Ottaway. The year 9 boys have also qualified beating their nearest opponents The Purbeck school by 0.2 seconds. The team was Louie Stephens, Greg Hill and Josh Clement. Finally, the year 10 girls had a team but were beaten by The Grange. Students were Alice Par- fett, Jessie Lutwyche, Lucy Hyndman and Elle Pearce. Well done to all that competed.

We are continuing to develop our link with Christchurch Rowing Club and British Rowing and are delighted to have Katherine Morris from British Rowing come in on a Tues- day to run an indoor coaching session for students from years 9-13, with David Porteus from Christchurch Rowing club continuing to run the Wednesday club for younger students. over the years: including Christchurch girls and boys and Women in Sport Mudeford boys. My main team however is Dorset Girls; I We are continuing to profile successful students in am the U15s captain being a bowler, batter and fielder and Women’s sport. In this newsletter, we are looking at Elle have played for the team since the age of 9! Like football Pearce. Elle is a very talented sporting young lady who this sport has allowed me to meet many new people, learn has shown the commitment and determination that will new skills and has kept me healthy! hopefully lead to international sporting success in a range of sports. Elle has attended a vast amount of PE clubs I look forward to seeing what my future in sport will bring! and has represented the school in a huge number of teams ranging from badminton to indoor rowing; her blazer Netball laden down with colour badges from every year is testa- ment to this! Elle takes every opportunity provided to de- Year 10 velop her skills and knowledge. We wish her continued Twynham Vs St Peters success in her endeavours. The first match back for year 10 girls was against St Pe- ters, on a cold and dreary night! The girls played excep- Elle Pearce 10CLV tionally well and moved around the court into space nicely. I have played/done sport ever since I can remember, from Special mention goes to Beth Folland player of the match- tennis to skiing; netball to swimming, rounders to athletics. Well done! Team: Emily Neville, Frankie Bendell, Georgia However my two main sports are football and cricket. Hinchliffe, Naomi Hewin, Beth Folland, Katie Holt, Jodie Boakes. I started playing football when I was about four at Two Riv- ersmeet leisure centre. From there I joined Greenfields Vs Ferndown Upper Boys when I was about six with my twin brother Niall be- The girls played very well against a Ferndown year 10/11 fore joining Dorset Girls and getting to travel all around the mixed team. Again they played very well in the first half country. At the moment I play football 3-4 times per week managing to stay within 2 goals of them, but after half time for my team Southampton Saints GLFC on the left wing. we lost our momentum and unfortunately lost 9-4. Player Last season we won the League, the Hampshire cup and of the match was Beth Folland Well done! the New Forest cup Team: Georgia Hinchliffe, Emily Neville, Naomi Hewin, Elle in bat for Dorset which was a real Elle Pearce, Beth Folland, Frankie Bendell, Jodie Boakes, achievement! I really en- Katie Holt. joy football as I have made many friends; it Year 9 keeps me fit and lets me Twynham Vs Ferndown Upper see many new places, Playing inside was a novelty for the girls! We started giving many new oppor- strong in the first half managing to stay within one goal of tunities and prospects for them; however at half time Ferndown switched their play- the future. ers and their shooting proved too good for us. We lost 9- 3, player of the match was Brooke Harford - Well Done! My other main sport is Team: Brooke Harford, Charlotte Pritchard, Charlotte cricket. I again play many Percy, Alice Launder, Lucy Phillips, Caitlin Smits, Rhianna times a week and have Claxton. played for many clubs Page 16 Twynham School PE News Year 9 Lucy Gadd 125th The year 9 netball team played St Peter’s on January 31st. Abi Foster DNF (Injury) At their previous meet they lost 20-0 therefore nerves were high. They had nothing to lose. All members of the The junior girls’ team (year 8) had some very tough com- team worked extremely hard throughout both halves, and petition but managed a team place of 16th out of 19 despite a few players playing in new positions, their skill schools. level and teamwork were brilliant. The Twynham girls were leading for the majority of the game until the last two min- Individual results: out of 130 participants utes. A few rushed passes in St Peter’s attacking zone Abi Gardner 98th resulted in St Peter’s taking the lead, making the final Beth Ibbotson 99th score 8-9. The girls should be very pleased with their per- Rosalyn Fochs 101st formance and such a close result. The Emily Holmes 104th team were Alice Launder, Charlotte Jess Webb 122nd Percy, Brooke Harford, Rhianna Claxton, Caitlin Smits, Lucy Phillips and Rachel We only had one entry in the senior girls; Lucy Du Cros Savage. St Peter’s awarded the player of who managed an excellent 8th place out of 17 competitors. the match to Caitlin Smits for fantastic Lucy was also selected to attend the South West champi- mid court play! onships on 2nd February. We wish her the very best of luck. Year 8 The Year 8s have been excellent at attending Netball club Girls Football th this year. We had enough girls to have two teams play On December 5 2012, the girls U15 football team played against St Peters and kindly had some Year 7s to play as in the County Cup against Arnewood. Considering the well. One team played extremely well with brilliant passing freezing and windy conditions the girls demonstrated both and defensive work. They were losing at half time but good individual skill level and excellent teamwork. Unfortu- pulled it back to win 4-3. The other team also played very nately the team lost but they should be proud of their ef- well with Molly Ashton from Year 7 shooting superbly. forts. They dominated the game and were tough on defence, winning by a significant margin 12-1. Players of the A team of Year 7s competed in a football tournament at st matches were Molly Ashton and Lauren Darwin, well done Littledown on Thursday 31 January. All kitted up, the to all the girls who played and good luck for the rest of the team were ready to play against four teams throughout the season. afternoon. The first game was close, with Glenmoor winning 3-1. St Peter’s played excellently in our second match rd Cross Country Championships and defeated the Year 7 team. The 3 match saw us play The Dorset Schools Cross against the Grange where the girls defended so well and Country Championships were stopped them scoring. Millie Charmoy played in goal and held at Kings Park on Thurs- saved some brilliant goals, the score ended up 0-0. In the day 17th January. This was a last game we played Highcliffe where the girls played their qualifying competition for the best game. They really worked as a team and stuck on South West Championship. their players. Molly Ashton scored two goals and Chloe We entered teams for the mi- Spencer showed her experience and also scored two th nor girls, junior girls and senior goals. The team finished in 4 position, well done! girls. The weather was grey and cold and the competition was high but the girls did very well overall and must be given credit for their enthusi- asm on such a cold day!

The minor girls (Year 7) team did very well and managed to gain a team 4th place out of 17 schools- Big Congratula- tions girls! Amy Mills and Abi Richardson have qualified for the South West championships to be held on 2nd February in Bristol. We wish them the very best of luck.

Individual results: out of 130 participants Amy Mills 3rd Abi Richardson 13th Eden Skinner 37th Lauren Darwin 93rd Sarah Jeffes 119th Page 17 Twynham School PE News Results and fixtures December 7th – February 1st Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers Once again the school is collecting these vouchers for our Football Results and Fixtures PE and Food Technology departments. Please can stu- Year 7: League v BCS won 5-0, League v Grange won 6-2 dents hand them in to staff in the PE department or there Year 8: Quarter Final County Cup v Budmouth won 4-0 is a collection box in reception. As always your support is League v BCS won 3-2, League v Grange won 8-0 much appreciated. Year 10: League v BCS won 4-1, League v Grange drew 2-2 Year 11: Quarter Final of County Cup v Bishop of Win- chester Academy won 7-0

Basketball Results and Fixtures Year 7: v Highcliffe lost 47-20, v Arnewood lost 57-42 Year 8: v Highcliffe won 28-16, v Grange won 53-14, v Arnewood won 40-24 Year 9: v Highcliffe lost 10-8, v Grange won 55-12, v Arnewood won 32-17 Year 10/11: v Highcliffe won 20-12, v Grange As won 85- 45, Bs won 35-25, v Arnewood won 31-24 Uganda Challenge

The Uganda team are very busy raising funds for their trip in July this year. The team will be holding a quiz night in Feb- ruary but decided to challenge themselves with an outdoor swim in winter!

They went for a dip in the sea in Bourne- mouth on Sunday 27th January – it was sunny but very cold. Well done to the team for being so brave!

Mr M Dale

Page 18 Twynham School Community Page

Page 19 Twynham School Community Page

February Snippets FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2013 February 2013 15th INSET DAY Twynham School 16th Ski Trip 16-24th February 2013 Sopers Lane HALF TERM 18th—22nd February 2013 Christchurch 25th School restarts Dorset BH23 1JF 28th Year 8 Consultative

Phone: 01202 486237 March 2013 Attendance : 01202 495778 7-9th Performances of ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ Fax: 01202 486230 13th Year 13 Consultative E-mail: [email protected] 14th Top University Evening—The Village Hotel 22nd MUFTI DAY 27th End of Spring Term “Ambitious for all our Students” 28th INSET DAY

EASTER HOLIDAYS 29th March—12th April 2013

April 2013 2-13th 6th Form French Work Experience 7-11th Netball Trip to Disneyland, Paris 15th A Level Spanish Trip to Granada 15-21st April 2013 15th School Restarts 26th Year 10 Employability Day

Websites May 2013 www.twynhamschool.com 2nd Gym & Dance Show www.twynham6thform.com 6th Bank Holiday 9th Year 10 Consultative 20th Year 10 Work Experience 20-24th May 2013 24th MUFTI DAY 24th Year 13 Leavers Ball

HALF TERM 27th-31st May 2013