Longhill High School Longhill Falmer Road Rottingdean Brighton, BN2 7FR Tel: 01273 304086 Email: [email protected] News www.longhill.org.uk

December 2016 ______

Hello from the Headteacher

It’s the last week of the Autumn term and I’ve just passed my 100th day as Head of Longhill – and what an exciting journey it’s been! I’ve enjoyed every minute of the challenge, excitement and achievement that I’ve experienced so far and I look forward with anticipation to what the New Year will bring.

I’ve had the pleasure this term of celebrating the achievements of the students who left us last summer – those students who achieved our best ever exam results – at Graduation Evening. I have high hopes that our current Year 11 students will do us equally proud and I know they have been working really hard during their mock exams over the past few weeks.

Our new Year 7s have continued to settle in well, fitting in to the Longhill community and beginning to take an active role in the life of the school; Year 8 students are starting to consider their options, with their special Options Evening coming up in February; Year 9s have now started their GCSE courses – the first cohort to start this in Year 9, so it’s something new for everyone; Year 10 are also now well into their GCSE courses and are making excellent progress.

We were all delighted this week to welcome so many children from the primary schools in the Deans Partnership to our Christmas pantomime. It was wonderful to watch their enjoyment of the special matinee performance of CinderAbba, which was written by our Deputy Head, Bill Holland. What a lovely lead-in to the Christmas holidays, as staff and students worked tirelessly together to put on this dazzling musical extravaganza!

It just remains for me to wish you all a very merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Kate Williams Headteacher

House News

THE KING’S MESSENGER Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase. -Martin Luther King Jr

It is nearly the end of 2016 and what a school year it has been so far! We have achieved so much as a House and together we keep growing; the Thorpe Park reward trip was a lovely treat for our most spectacular students and all the students behaved impeccably.

As a House, we finally chose our charity, which is called Right Here, a mental health project for youths aged 13 to 25. This is something King students and staff felt very strongly about and we look forward to welcoming Right Here into Longhill School; they will be telling us about the good work that they do, as well as where the money we raise as a House will be going.

The members of JLT and myself are working hard towards making next year’s King House day the best yet, with a fun-filled day and lots of surprises! A reminder that King House day is 13th January 2017. So please save your pennies as I will be around to collect them.

Finally, I want to thank each and every member of King House for all your hard work and positivity. I’m sure that you will all bring on more of the same in 2017!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Ms Rhodes King House Co-ordinator

Thank you for all your support this term; students, staff and parents have been brilliant supporting Nightingale and Longhill School. In particular I was very impressed with the £123 for the Poppy Appeal. Nightingale and students from other houses have made a massive contribution to the school and local community and we will be celebrating this in a year 8 assembly where they will be handing over cheques to the value of £2,000, raised from a community run. Representatives from the Royal Sussex County Hospital cardio vascular and kidney departments, along with the Wooden Spoon Rugby Football charity, will be in attendance. Many thanks to all the parents that so ably supported us and we look forward to next year’s event. We completed a charity run for Children in Need, raising £55 and I was impressed by the students’ effort and attitude. As always, it has been great to see large numbers of Nightingale students getting involved with sport, music and drama. I’m very proud of their achievements and efforts. Our Nightingale Junior Leaders team are working on a number of projects and committees to enhance school life at Longhill. They are developing their creative ideas in a number of committees such as Food, Events, Uniform, Environment, Buses and Behaviour. Nightingale students have continued to support the Rugby Football Union’s backing of Rugby at Longhill by attending after school clubs and rugby festivals. Sixty four girls and boys from all Houses have been playing competitive Rugby. Nightingale students, as well as students from other Houses, have made outstanding progress in developing their leadership skills. Years 8, 9 and 11 have been supporting the Brighton Rotary leadership award, promoting fun and enjoyable lessons in our local primary schools, teaching years 3, 4, 5 and 6. The future is looking positive as the whole House plans for February 24th, which is Nightingale Charity Day, where we will aim to support The Royal Sussex County Hospital Cardio Vascular and Kidney departments. We will also support the Wooden Spoon rugby charity. I look forward to your continued support in the future. Merry Christmas Mr N J Rolf House Co-ordinator

Merry Christmas!

What an amazing start to this academic year! Students within Mandela House have been extremely supportive and contributed positively within the school community. House Day

Our House Day took place on Friday 18th November. Members of JLT (Junior Leadership Team) supported the Year 9 Business Enterprise students with their stalls during break and lunch time. The Enterprise students put themselves into small teams and had to come up with an idea for a stall. They were given a budget of £7 per team and they had to plan, source and buy all their resources themselves. They had to advertise and promote their stalls. This helped with their enterprise skills and running a small business to make a profit for charity. Some of the events organised were Cake Sale, Sweets in a Jar, Sponsored Silence, Face Painting, Take a Selfie, Penalty Shoot Out, Tin Can Alley, Cross Bar Challenge, Basketball Shoot Out and Lucky Dip. All of these initiatives raised an amazing £521.63 for Education in Ecuador and our chosen charity Brighton & Hove Young Carers. I would like to thank every student within the Mandela JLT, Year 9 Business Enterprise, Ms Waite and Ms Butters for their 100% effort and commitment which made this day enjoyable and memorable.

Poppy Appeal

Each House were given collection tins and thanks go to Baelie, Skye and Joe for taking charge of this and successfully collecting £93.47 (£39.64 more than last year).

Food Drive

Thank you to Mandela students/staff for bringing in food, which has been donated to a local food bank in Whitehawk. Across the Houses, we collected 383 items.

I would like to wish all Mandela students and staff a fantastic Christmas/New Year and I look forward to more exciting things happening in 2017!

Mrs Noble Mandela House Co-ordinator

As I type this I can’t quite believe that we are at the end of 2016 already! What a fantastic year Pankhurst House has had! In the New Year we begin the planning of our House Day, which will take place on 10th March to tie in with International Women’s Day. Pankhurst JLT have already begun planning activities and events for the whole school to join in with. We will be raising money for a fantastic charity called the ‘Umbrella Project’ that provides young people, who have life shortening conditions, and their families, with tickets to fantastic concerts and events in Brighton, bringing some moments of joy and happiness to others in difficult times. I would now like to take this opportunity to say a very fond farewell and thank you to a true Pankhurst hero, Mr Emment, who leaves us this term after being our champion for over 10 years. Mr Emment has not only been a Pankhurst mentor for many years, supporting and guiding our incredible young people here at Longhill, but has also been one of the greatest supporters of our House and everything that we stand for. I would like to wish him every happiness and success for his next adventures and, on behalf of Pankhurst House, thank him for everything he has done for our young people, our charities and our House. We will sorely miss you! Finally, all that is left is to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and I look forward to 2017 together in Pankhurst.

Mrs Jones Pankhurst House Co-ordinator

Everyone needs to be valued This term has been a very busy one for all Houses. The Poppy Appeal has been exceptionally successful this year. The combined Houses raised a total of £439.30, with Spencer raising a whopping £109.36 of this, so a huge “THANK YOU” to all who bought a poppy. We have had a fantastic turnout for the Inter-House Dodgeball Tournament. Well done to all our Spencer students and staff who attended; it has been thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you to Mr Fallick for arranging this tournament and to all of the P.E. staff who helped. We look forward to the next inter-house tournament in 2017. All Houses are raising money for ‘Education in Ecuador’ and Spencer’s chosen charity is the Rockinghorse Appeal. Liz McCluskey (Schools & Community Fundraising Manager) gave a presentation on the Rockinghorse Appeal and told us where some of the money goes. This was really informative and many of our students spoke to Liz afterwards, telling her about their own personal experiences. It highlights how close to our hearts this charity is, especially as it’s their 50th anniversary this year and they have a huge project. They aim to provide £500,000 worth of funding, which will be split into 10 worthy children’s centres and paediatric services across Sussex. We are getting all the books together to send to the hospital for poorly teenagers who will be in hospital on Christmas Day. Thank you for donating books for these children. Our house day was on 9th December and was very successful. Spencer JLT (Junior Leadership Team) did an amazing job setting up their stalls, selling and clearing up! We will inform you in the next newsletter of how financially successful our day was. Thank you to all parents and carers who support us by baking, making and donating! Mrs Barnard Spencer House Co-ordinator

Copper Coin Challenge by 8MML As part of Mandela Day, 8MML set all the other mentor groups a challenge of collecting as many copper coins as they could; all in aid of the charity ‘Brighton and Hove Young Carers’. Many mentor groups went all out, raiding backs of sofas and knocking on neighbours doors, asking for some spare change. On collection day the bags of coppers kept coming and coming, leaving MML a box which was so full they could not lift it! With assistance from Premises staff, the box of coins was taken to be counted….. on the final count there were 9,978 1p coins, 3,457 2p coins and some sneaky ‘silvers’ - all making a fantastic total of £155.72!!! There were two mentor groups who collected an extraordinary amount and both won the chocolate prize; well done to 7NHO and 7KGA for your efforts. Miss Molloy and 8MML would like to thank all mentor groups and members of staff who got involved. We know all the money raised through the copper coin challenge and the rest of Mandela Day will make a real difference to the carers.

Poetry Live at the Dome

A group of Year 11 students braved the wind and rain on a cold November morning to see a 'Poetry Live' performance at the Dome theatre recently. The students were given essential advice on how to achieve the best grades in their English GCSE examination by an experienced chief examiner and were also privileged to witness distinguished poets reading their poems aloud. For these students, this was a completely different experience, bringing to life the imagery and sounds of poetry at its best; these poets featured at the event were: Simon Armitage, Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, John Agard, Daljit Nagra and the 2009 British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

The poets explained why they wrote particular poems and the ideas behind them, but emphasised the need for students to find their own personal interpretations from the language that writers used. What the poets conveyed was a sense of bringing the students into their world of words, to appreciate the power of language and for students to use their own life experience and knowledge when studying and enjoying poetry. Simon Armitage explained in figurative language to Oakleigh, when she asked him where he finds the words for his work, "I take them out of the freezer; let them thaw; mix them up while cooking them and then I consume them. The product is usually a memorable dish." In essence, Armitage was saying that he chooses his words carefully before using them in his poetry.

John Agard ended the 'Poetry Live' performance in his usual humorous manner, highlighting the musical and rhythmic element to his work in his rich Caribbean accent, which the students loved. If you ever want to hear and experience monosyllabic words stretch beyond their everyday use and sound, you must listen to him reading his own poetry. He plays with language in such a way that makes being prejudiced sound ridiculous and raising up the downtrodden, but important, members of our society. Agard maintained that all children love poetry and somewhere between them being a child and growing up, this enjoyment is lost. In order to reclaim this appreciation, he encouraged the students to revisit their childhood memories and read the nursery rhymes that they used to love; he stressed that analysing these is no different to analysing their GCSE poetry course.

Watch out Carol Ann Duffy for these students - there might be a Longhill Poet Laureate following in your footsteps pretty soon! Michael, Rebecca, Scarlett, Aayushi, Sara, Rebecca, Oakleigh, Amy, Olivia, Beth, Sam, Rachel, Eddy, Victoria and Holly

Longhill School Combined Cadet Force

Longhill cadets, along with Headteacher Kate Williams, joined the blind veterans of Ovingdean for their annual Remembrance Day service last month, before meeting them more informally afterwards for refreshments and a chat. It was an ideal opportunity for our young people to meet some of the older generation and to hear first-hand about some of their experiences. Here are what some of the cadets had to say about their visit: “I felt that it was very interesting talking to the veterans and it was very nice to pay our respects.” – Anthony, Yr 11 “I thought it was really good because it was interesting to hear the veterans’ stories.” – Will, Yr 9 “Great experience; nice to see the inside and have a talk with the veterans.” – Ezme, Yr 11 “Amazing time. Got to see people that were previously in the army and got to hear their amazing stories.” – Leah, Yr9 “Good experience. Got to meet very interesting people who were in the army.” – George, Yr9 “I enjoyed talking to the veterans and hearing their stories.” – Billy, Yr 9 The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) has contingents in secondary schools all over the UK, which aim to enable young people to develop personal responsibility, self- discipline and leadership skills.

If any Longhill students would like to come along to give it a try, please see Mr Pringle or Mr Tester. CCF runs after school every Thursday at Longhill - all students are welcome! Please see our School Information/School Clubs section on the website for further information on the CCF.

Cadets and officers of the Longhill contingent of the CCF have broken all previous records this year with the money they’ve raised for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

Members of the contingent collected money from Asda shoppers on the two Saturdays prior to Remembrance Sunday, as well as collecting on the Green at Rottingdean following the Remembrance Service at St Margaret’s Church.

Christopher Frederick, Poppy Appeal Honorary Organiser, thanked the officers and cadets for their tremendous effort and told us, “….this year is our best ever collection, so far, for the Rottingdean Coastal area, with the total so far at £17, 898.” He went on to thank the CCF for their continuing support with fundraising for the Poppy Appeal.

Commanding Officer, Captain Pringle, told us, “Of that fantastic total, the Longhill contingent have contributed over £4,200 – that is an amazing amount and I’m extremely proud of everybody for the time and effort they have put in over the past few weekends.”

Year 11

This half term has proved to be a challenging, yet eye opening half term, where Year 11 students had another taste of an intense examination period. It was a mini taste of what will take place for real in a couple of months. Many of them coped very well with the mock exams and should be proud of the effort they put into them - well done. Please remind the students to continue with revision and to attend ‘booster’ sessions that are being offered to them in after school sessions. Year 11 Attendance - Currently the overall attendance of Year 11 students stands at 94%. This is a fantastic achievement and we hope to build upon this when we return in the New Year. Having good attendance will put students in a very strong position for their examinations and references for college. The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear. The more a pupil is in school the more they increase their opportunity to fulfil their potential. Attitude to Learning - I am very pleased to report that a number of students have achieved attitude to learning (ATL) grades of ‘excellent’ in all their subjects. The following students should be congratulated: Aayushi Amin, Olivia Darbyshire, Daniella Wilby Lili Goddard and Victoria Jarvis should also be congratulated as they had ‘excellent’ ATLs in all bar one of their subjects in which they had ‘good’. Ms Newbury Head of Year 11

Year 10

What a term! I would like to start by thanking the year 10 students for their positive approach to the start of their GCSE options courses.

This term has seen the students with the highest achievement points enjoy a day at Thorpe Park in recognition of being outstanding. A big ‘well done’ to those that enjoyed this day. We also have a number of our students attending the University of Brighton Formula 24 Saturday club, in which they are working towards building a Formula 24 racing car that will compete at Goodwood in April. I look forward to seeing the finished product.

I would like to thank the Mandela students in the JLT (Junior Leadership Team) that helped with the Mandela house day, especially Justin Coloma, Angel Johnson and Katherine Boyland, whose assistance helped with the success and smooth running of the day.

Congratulations also go to Indigo Jackson, Millie Hashim-Smith, Archie Regrave and Frankie White who have made truly outstanding progress reports this term.

Attendance for Year 10 is better than ever, currently standing at 94.79%, over 1% increase on last year. Special congratulations goes to all students still maintaining 100% attendance.

Now it’s time for everyone to take a well-deserved break over the holidays. I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas & Happy & Healthy 2017.

Ms Winfield Head of Year 10

LONGHILL EXTRA -CURRICULAR SPORTS NEWS

Physical Education Welcome to our second newsletter of the year. department We have been very busy this term and it feels like September still!  Mr Fallick We have had sporting success in our rugby development, with boys  Ms Keating and girls making progress in lessons and in after school fixtures. Well done!  Mr Rolf Football remains highly attended and with our new satellite club link  Miss Buxton with BHA FC our girls are getting enjoyable weekly coaching sessions  Mr Emment on a Thursday after school.  Mrs Lowrie This half term we have focused on developing and running inter  Mrs Jones house competitions and these have been very successful.  Mr Grier These events teach our students lifelong skills needed to be  Mr Kelly successful. We as a department thank you for your support and encouragement and look forward to 2017. Keep an eye out for our new Sky Sports Living for Sport and Girls Follow LONGHILL Active programme. PE Dept on twitter to keep up with our fixtures and results! Mr Fallick (Head of PE)

@LonghillPE

Year 7 & 8 Indoor Athletics Every year students across the city compete in the local indoor athletics tournament. The tournament tests athletes on their speed, stamina, power and coordination. We entered teams into both year 7 & 8 and had excellent success. Our Year 8 girls finished 2ND in the city well done girls! All students performed to their maximum and we are lucky to have them at Longhill. If you are interested in Athletics please come and speak to the PE team for more information regarding clubs and events.

Inter House Dodgeball The first inter house competitions for the year took place in November and December and they were an amazing success. We had over 60 students involved per year group, which was brilliant! It was fantastic to see so many students staying behind after school, representing their House to play sport. All students played fairly and had lots of fun. We even had lots of staff turn up to play! RESULTS Year 7 Winners: King Year 8 Winners: King Year 9 Winners: TBC

Inter house competitions will run once a term and will always last from 2.45-4pm. It was fantastic to see so many at our first one for the year and we look forward to seeing you all again at Easter.

Longhill Sports Council Health and Well Being Club

Do you enjoy PE? Do you enjoy playing We are running a health and well being sport? Are you in year 7 – 10? club in partnership with the Longhill Sports Centre during Friday lunchtimes. If the answer is yes to those three questions be part of our first ever A selection of students are being trained Longhill Sports Council. in how to use the gym equipment and will be completing a six week programme You will be responsible for choosing designed to improve their general health what clubs we run, what events we host and also provide an insight into using a and much, much more! fitness suite.

Come and speak to the PE Team for If this is something that interests you, more information. please come and speak to the PE Team for more information.

GCSE Dance Christmas News Christmas landed in the Dance Department as soon as we hit December and we dusted off the Christmas music CDs to warm up to in practical lessons, setting a lovely festive tone for the last few weeks of this very busy term. Our Year 11 dancers have spent the last half term choreographing, polishing and performing solo routines that will form 1 of their 3 final pieces to be examined in spring next year. It has been delightful watching these young dancers blossom into creative and inspired choreographers and showcasing their talents in their solo pieces. They have also sat their first mock written exam which has given them a useful insight into what’s to come in June 2017. It may be cold outside, but our year 10 dancers have been basking in the Brazilian sunshine - in our imaginations at least - as we have explored the Rambert Dance Company’s ‘A Linha Curva’ this half term. This vibrant, infectious and rhythmic dance piece has been great fun to learn and perform and had us shimmying and high kicking to some amazing samba music. This is the 2nd of 6 pieces of dance that the new GCSE Dance syllabus explores and our talented year 10 dancers have done the original piece real justice in their recreation. Year 9 GCSE dancers have been focusing on learning and developing their skills as choreographers this half term with a group piece of dance based on the graffiti artist Banksy. Students have been selecting and working with images as stimuli for their pieces and have had to work together to choreograph and rehearse their routines for their assessment. Some fantastic pieces of dance have been created, along with building important choreographic and performance skills. The Inspire Dance Company have expanded yet again and we now have over 35 students from across all 5 year groups taking part in weekly rehearsals and training. Our next performance together will be in March at the Dome as part of the ‘Let’s Dance Gala’ and already our routine is looking fantastic! The dedication, commitment and hard work these young dancers show really does inspire others and I can’t wait for the audiences to see what we have been working on together. Phew! A busy term indeed! Wishing you all a well-earned rest and a very merry Christmas!

Anti-Bullying Gets an All-Round View

As part of Anti-Bullying Week, around 50 children from Brighton & Hove schools were invited to take a trip on the fabulous British Airways i360 on Brighton seafront. 15 Students from Longhill, who had worked with local charity ‘Safety Net over the past year, were chosen to take part in the event.

Anti-Bullying Week is a national event, coordinated by the Anti- Bullying Alliance. Its aim is to shine a spotlight on bullying and encourages all children, teachers and parents to take action against bullying throughout the year.

The theme in 2016 was 'Power for Good' and one highlight of the day was when students and staff from Longhill High School and some primary schools in the area met with Brighton & Hove Mayor, Councillor Pete West.

As well as taking a trip on the i360, each child was encouraged to paint one of our ‘Safety Rocks’ with their idea of what ‘Power for Good’ means to them. These rocks will be displayed in the grounds of the Emmaus complex in Portslade.

All in all, it was a memorable day for everyone in support of a very worthwhile cause.

Focus on Activities Since September the Focus Centre have been running several inclusion groups for Key Stage 3 students. The groups run regularly, twice a week and all the students involved seem to really enjoy them and find them very beneficial. The groups are run by a number of teachers and give the students a chance to engage in activities that they may not have tried before.

Activities vary from the fixing and maintenance of mountain bikes, to the enrichment of the Up-Cycle Group which uses old wood to make stools to take home. The Focus Centre Groups Co-ordinator, Dean Riyami, says, “It’s brilliant to see the students doing something different to what they would usually do in class, such as making a fire outside with Mr Dodd, or helping primary school students fix their own bikes with ‘Bikeitben’.” He added, “It's been a wonderful initiative by the Focus Centre and I hope to see the groups expanding even further in the New Year”.

Forget Cash – Remember sQuid

What is sQuid and why should International payment network you be using it? sQuid is a pre-paid online account with sQuid is a secure online payment cleared funds; where you never get in to system that eliminates the need debt. sQuid is a pre-pay network where for your son or daughter to bring funds are pre-loaded on to a secure online cash into school. It can be used account and then spent via the sQuid to pay for school trips, lunches network using a contactless smart card, and any other expenses that may an online account or unique biometric be incurred at school. identifier, enabling digital stored value to be securely transferred

eMoney

As such sQuid is electronic money (or eMoney) a new kind of +More than just a payment cash that can be used to pay for the partner little things in life: coffees, school dinners, snacks, all the things you sQuid is used across many different keep cash for. sectors and is already widely used across the UK as well as internationally. sQuid work with local Councils, Transit operators, Schools, Colleges, Universities, and International Aid agencies. Where will I find sQuid? Uniquely offering a multi-wallet

account, sQuid also offer cashless On the front page of the Longhill High payments with integrated loyalty. School website

http://www.longhill.org.uk/ You can easily set up your account – just follow the instructions. If you already have an account, but have forgotten your login details, please email We would like to encourage you to [email protected] use sQuid whenever possible – it is easy, safe and avoids the need to and we will help you get back into your bring cash to school. account.

TERM DATES 2016-2017 DIARY DATES

AUTUMN TERM 2016 Whole School th th Monday 5 Sept to Friday 16 December 14th & 15th Christmas Monday 5th September – INSET Day December Production Tuesday 6th September – Year 7 Only CinderAbba

Wednesday 7th September – Whole School Year 11 Friday 21st October – INSET Day 2nd February Parents’ Evening Half Term Monday 24th October to Friday 28th October Year 8 th SPRING TERM 2017 9 February Options Evening Tuesday 3rd January to Friday 7th April Tuesday 3rd January – INSET Day Year 10 Monday 30th January – INSET Day 23rd February Parents’ Evening Half Term Monday 13th to Friday 17th February Monday 20th February – INSET Day

SUMMER TERM 2017 Monday 24th April to Tuesday 25th July Half Term Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June

TERM DATES 2017-2018

AUTUMN TERM 2017 1st September to 20th December Half Term 16th October to 27th October SPRING TERM 2018 2nd January to 29th March Half Term 12th February to 16th February SUMMER TERM 2018 12th April to 24th July Half Term 28th May to 1st June