Archway News Issue No 23
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
www.archwayschool.net Archway News Issue No 23 July 2016 July 2016 Dear Parents / Carers It is my pleasure to send you our end of term Newsletter highlighting some of the activities in which students have been involved. We enjoyed tremendous performances on the field last week in Sports Day and look forward to our Summer Concert and Art Exhibition this week, and Sports Awards Evening next week. We celebrated with Year 11 at their Prom at Cattle Country last week and are looking forward to the Sixth Form Prom at Stonehouse Court Hotel later this week. Next week also sees Year 10 out on work experience—we are grateful to those who have assisted in offering them placements. Archway has a long history of success stories; we are very proud of the achievements of former students who have gone on to make many contributions to their communities and to society. We would like to share their successes with current students and establish a ‘Celebrating Archway’ Facebook page. If you have details of where former students are now and how they are doing, we would be grateful if you would let Elaine Coley, Head of Key Stage 4, know. She can be contacted via email: [email protected] The end of the year is often a time when we say goodbye and good luck to staff who are leaving us. Mr Hill leaves us to become Head of Faculty at Gordano School, Mrs Bolton takes up a promotion at Gloucester Academy, Miss Williams moves to an academy in Arrow Vale, and Mr Donegan is relocating to Northern Ireland. We wish each of these colleagues all the best for their new ventures and thank them for the dedication and commitment they have shown to Archway and its students. From September last year we added the Archway logo to the school skirt for Year 7 and asked that all year groups moved to this version of the skirt by September 2016. Your support in this and your support of the school over the past year is greatly appreciated. Term will end for students at 2.05pm on Friday 22 July. The contract buses which collect children from site have been advised and will collect at our earlier finish time. Students who rely on Stroud High / Marling buses should be aware that they will collect from the usual bus stop on Cainscross Road at 2.20pm, even though these schools finish term the day before. The new term will begin on Friday 2 September at 8.50am for Year 7 and 12 students, at 1.35pm for Year 13 students, and at 8.50am on Monday 5 September for Years 8—11. On behalf of the staff I hope that you have an enjoyable summer. Yours faithfully Colin Belford Headteacher Page 2 Archway News Visit from Mr Harry Bibring, Holocaust Survivor Ms J Coleman In May Harry Bibring visited Archway to tell students in years 9, 10 and sixth form about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. Harry was born on 26th December 1925 in Vienna, Austria. After the Anschluss in 1938, Harry was forced to leave his Gymnasium (German grammar school) and was transferred to a basic secondary school that was designated to accommodate Jewish children. Harry told us that he had not liked school work very much but had liked it even less when forced to leave his school and abandon his studies. On 10th November 1938, Harry’s father’s menswear business was looted and destroyed during Kristallnacht. He was arrested and Harry’s family were forced to leave their flat and live in a house together with 50 other Jewish women and children. The family were allowed to return to their flat following Harry’s father’s release, but by this point they knew they had to leave Vienna. The intention was for the family to flee to Shanghai but Harry’s father was unable to procure the visas and passage tickets, probably because by the time he was able to raise the necessary funds, they were no longer available. Fearing for the safety of their children, Harry’s parents decided that he and his sister should leave for Britain on the Kindertransport. The plan was for them to be sponsored by a family friend and for their parents to join them as soon as they could. That never happened. In November 1940, Harry’s father died of a heart attack. His mother was deported by the Nazis to the death camp at Sobibór in German-occupied Poland in 1942. The Year in Music! Miss R Auster This year has seen many fantastic performances from students in all year groups! New extra- curricular clubs such as ukulele club and boomwhacker club have flourished, alongside the positive and continued growth of the choir. I would like to congratulate two very dedicated students for attending every rehearsal for every extra- curricular club this year – Isabelle Beaumont (Y7) and Jonah Carter (Y8). GCSE and A Level students have worked hard this year to deliver in their courses as well as taking Piano, flute, drums, opportunities to perform regularly as soloists. KS3 lessons have seen the development of new skills with guitar, voice or brass a variety of instruments, creating performances from around the world - Samba and Gamelan to lessons available name a few – and lessons are now enjoying popular music projects. The Autumn Chamber Concert, Christmas Concert and Spring Concerts have showcased many student’s hard work and dedication in a truly outstanding and professional manner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your ongoing support at these events. I look forward to the Summer Concert and to the continuation of musical success in September! Page 3 Governors’ News Miss A Delrosa, Chair of Governors It’s hard to believe we’re through another school year. This academic year has been particularly busy for Governors, and for me taking over as Chair it has been both challenging and informative. We’ve welcomed a number of new Governors onto the Governing Body including Georgia Boon, Anna Ellis and Ginny Smart (who join us as Parent Governors) and Gavin Townsend (who has been co-opted from the staff at Archway). If you want to find out more about the Governors, who we are and what we do, you can visit our page on the website - www.archwayschool.net under Parents / Governors. Over the last 4 months we have been seeking the views of parents, students and staff on various aspects of the school to help inform our strategic plan for the next three years and some of our priorities over the coming year. We conducted a survey at some of the parents’ evenings, undertook focus groups with students and did an online survey with staff. The feedback has been very useful and we intend to repeat these surveys on an annual basis to ensure that we are making improvements where needed. Below are examples of some of the key things that came out of the surveys: We were pleased that so many parents were satisfied that their child was happy, enjoys school and feels safe here. This was borne out by the student survey, as they did not feel bullying was an issue. We were pleased too that most parents felt their children were respected and valued and that all students said they felt respected by teachers. The majority of parents felt that their child was encouraged to aim high and reach their potential. The school is launching a new homework system in September—’Show My Homework’ and re-designing the Behaviour for Learning procedures. We have been able to feed parents and students’ views into each of these new initiatives. Between 90 and 100% of parents (depending on year group) said they would recommend Archway as a place to study. All students who were surveyed said if they had the choice again, they would choose Archway. With regards to the strategic plan, we are just finalising this document and will publish it in due course. Many of you will have heard or read the announcements around academisation and the subsequent revisions made. It is our intention to continue as a maintained school under the local authority for the foreseeable future, but we will keep you informed of and discuss developments and opportunities as they arise. I hope you all have a good summer. Anne-Marie Delrosa Chair of Governors Year 10 Food & Nutrition Practical Exams Mrs S Bloodworth 40 students in Year 10 have been working very hard to prepare for their practical exam based on the use of fruit and vegetables, which accounts for 20% of their final grade. As you can see from the photographs, there was some very high skilled well executed final dishes (unfortunately not enough room to show them all). Well done Year 10 – now looking forward to Year 11! Page 4 Archway News “The Scholars Programme” The Music Works Miss R O’Bryan Miss N Toohig 12 of our year 10 students have just started on a new initiative at Two rappers recently visited Archway and Archway School, called “The Scholars Programme.” This is part of a spent the morning with 30 year 8 boys, helping national organisation called the Brilliant Club. Students have attended a them to mix a creative blend of poetry and rap. launch trip at Wadham College, Oxford University, and have This was an extraordinary experience for the embarked on a series of tutorials with a PHD student focusing on a students, who not only got to explore the many social sciences stream.