Phoenix Joins Excellence Programme
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The Phoenix Collegiate Newsletter Winter 2014 Edition No: 14 Phoenix joins Excellence Programme Phoenix has been chosen to become a Centre enter adult life with the of Excellence in Financial Education as part of a skills, knowledge and ground-breaking partnership between the UK’s confidence they need to leading financial education charity pfeg (Personal manage money well”. Finance Education Group) and Santander. Tracey Bleakley, pfeg We are now working with pfeg’s educational Chief Executive specialists to create a detailed programme of financial education for our students. Santander is supporting Phoenix to enable us to IN THIS EDITION achieve the Centre of Excellence status this year, turning us into a beacon of best practice in teaching this is going to make an enormous difference to our Governors .................................................page 2 children and young people about money. students, both now and in the future”. Hubs news ......................................pages 2 - 10 “Everything we do at Phoenix Collegiate is aimed at Gary Hill, Head Teacher preparing young people for life. Key Stages news incl “We are delighted that Phoenix Collegiate has joined Duke of Edinburgh.pages ...............pages 10 - 13 Managing money is one of those skills that we use our Centre of Excellence programme through our every day in one way or another - and we believe it is partnership with Santander. Pastoral news ................................pages 13 - 14 crucial that we give our students the tools they need The work that staff will be doing with our educational to do this well. Priority School Building Programme..........page 15 specialists over the coming months will be of We are absolutely delighted to be joining the pfeg enormous benefit to students, with financial Sports update ................................pages 15 - 16 Centres of Excellence programme to embed financial education set to be firmly embedded into the education into the school curriculum, and know that curriculum. Our aim is to ensure that all students www.aspirebelievesucceed.com 1 Additionally this announcement will be posted on the due to poor weather school website, www.aspirebelievesucceed.com (details will also be posted on the Local Authority conditions website following notification by the school to the LA). SchoolClosures due to poor weather conditionsClosure are very rare and will be avoided where possible. In some cases we may decide to open later than normal to allow time for the site to be made safe; again, this will be announced If the school is closed BEFORE the start of the on the radio and the school website. There is no need for parents to contact the school to check whether or not School Day - Please refer to the procedures the school is open. Unless announced on the radio and school website, the school will be open. outlined above. School Closure Procedures: If the school closes DURING the School Day - If the school is to be closed, there will be an announcement on the following radio stations to state this: Pupils will only be sent home if there are satisfactory arrangements for them to return safely. Should Radio WM any parent/carer wish to make any alternative Free Radio Birmingham (formerly BRMB) arrangements for their child, they should put these in Heart FM/Capital FM writing to the Head Teacher. Free Radio Black Country (formerly Beacon Radio) Governors Important dates for Spring term 2015 Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th January 2015 School closed to pupils for Inset days (pupils return to school on 7/01/15) Sodhi Aujla Monday 12th January 2015 Year 10 parents’ evening 4.00-7.00pm Teaching staff governor Monday 26th January 2015 Year 8 parents’ evening 4.00-7.00pm Sodhi Aujla is the Phoenix Monday 2nd February 2015 Year 9 options evening 5.00-7.30pm Collegiate teaching staff governor, responsible for Monday 9th February 2015 KS5 parents’ evening 4.00-7.00pm bringing the views of the Monday 16th to Friday 20th February 2015 Half term holiday Phoenix staff to governors’ Monday 2nd March 2015 Year 9 parents’ evening 4.00-7.00pm meetings and inputting a staff perspective in to the Monday 30th March to Friday 10th April 2015 Easter break work of the governors in raising standards for all students. High School. Kelly lives in West Bromwich Born in the Punjab (North India), Sodhi immigrated and is familiar with the community. She has English to England with his family in the mid-1960s. He has genuine interests in adding value to good lived in North Birmingham ever since. quality education to all students regardless of their barrier and in raising aspirations. Kelly Having graduated from Hull University with a degree Year 8 Progress has strategic and project management skills, in Mathematics, Sodhi started teaching Mathematics knowledge of business, education & careers and in 1984 at Moreton School in Wolverhampton, Reward Trip work and personal experience which complement then worked in three Birmingham schools teaching the Governing Body. Several Year 8 students enjoyed an afternoon at The mathematics up to Advanced level, before coming to Blue Orange Theatre on Thursday 6th November. the Phoenix Collegiate in 2012. Her employment experience: Kelly was employed Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ was definitely a by Black Country Connexions as the Senior Passionate about teaching his beloved subject performance not to be missed and was fully enjoyed Service Deliver Leader. In that role she was of mathematics, he often supports students after by all the students who attended. Congratulations to responsible for reducing the number of young school, in the holidays and Saturday mornings with you all; we are very proud to be able to acknowledge people not in education, employment or training extra lessons in preparation for their examinations. your hard work. (NEETS) in Sandwell. She managed a team of Sodhi has three children; a son who is twenty five Personal Advisers who supported vulnerable and working in the family business, a daughter aged NEETs in Sandwell, such as the homeless, teenage twenty one studying Medicine at Leicester University parents, looked after children, young offenders and the youngest daughter in year 10 at Hamstead etc. Kelly is therefore aware of barriers to learning Hall school. In the past Sodhi served as a parent and processes and methods in motivating and governor for eight years at Hamstead Hall School. encouraging young people back in to education, Sodhi has been a keen philatelist (stamp collector) employment and training. since the age of 12 and now has millions of stamps Kelly is also an experienced Business Contracts in his collection, from various countries around the Manager which involved managing Business world. He also enjoys playing badminton and snooker Advisers to meet contract obligations to support regularly. people to become self-employed or in company/ business growth throughout the West Midlands. The trip was in recognition for Kelly Hurd Currently she is self-employed and has two their effort, attainment and positive attitude, which they have shown Parent governor quite varied businesses: a Business Consultancy business and a Fitness Academy. within their English lessons. Here Kelly has been appointed as in the English department we volunteer parent governor Her personal experience: Kelly was a teenage mum, encourage and recognise the hard and joined in May 2014. having her daughter at 15 years old. She therefore work that our students portray She has a daughter who has had a colourful background and education and and we have many more exciting attends Phoenix Collegiate has first-hand experience of overcoming barriers adventures for our students to be and another daughter who in achieving an education, gaining confidence and a part of. So come on, get yourself attended the school when ambition. recognised, and who knows… you it was known as Menzies could be off on our next adventure! 2 www.aspirebelievesucceed.com Literacy Update Birmingham This term has seen the launch of our ‘Reading Mentor’ Programme, Repertory where Sixth Form students volunteer to read with year 9 students in order to accelerate their progress in improving their reading ages. This Theatre Trip year we have also extended the programme to twenty year 11 students, who will be supporting year 7 tutor groups. The Kite Runner - October 2014 The Renaissance Accelerated Reader scheme is also still helping This term pupils from Y11-Y13 had the opportunity students to develop their reading and comprehension skills, with many of our to experience a live evening performance of Khalid students successfully reading lots of books and passing Housseini’s The Kite Runner at the Birmingham Rep. multiple quizzes. We already have 3 students this year in our The New York company provided a mesmerising exclusive ‘Millionaire’s Club’, meaning they have read over 1 adaptation of this AS level set text. We were million words since September. Congratulations to Aadel Semmoudi transported back to a more peaceful time in (1,949,434 words), Bardia Dodangeh (1,249,649 words) and Arijus Afghanistan, then travelled on a journey that took us Danilevicius (1,237,510 words). to the more recent troubled past, and finished with a As Christmas draws closer, the English department have created a new future in America. list of unmissable reads, including The Bunker Diary (Kevin Brooks), We were spellbound throughout, all pupils expressing Solitaire (Alice Oseman), The Pointless Book (Alfie Deyes) and, for their appreciation of the storytelling skills of the fans of the Hunger Games series, The Maze Runner (James Dashner). actors. These are all great gift ideas which will support reading progress as well as being superbly entertaining! A truly memorable experience for all! Year 9 story openings... “Homelessness” Oh, how I adored sunrises! The way the sky bleeds red as the sun creeps over the horizon, like a silent murderer; casting sunbeams in every direction while it illuminates this small town.