"Celebrating the Last 50 Years" Famous Faces and Iconic Image/Brands That Are Representative of the Last 50 Years

Test Valley School Newsletter

July 2012

"Celebrating the last 50 years" Famous faces and iconic image/brands that are representative of the last 50 years. The art work in this banner was created by the following pupils: George Allen, Lucy Scullard, Daniel Graham, Harry Rymer, Michaela Reeves, Billy Andrews, Hannah Gravenor, Jessica Walukiewicz, Bud Pollard, Nick Jarvis, Jake Smith, Kieran Jordan, Ella Cruz, Georgia Spayes, Emma Foster, Evie Templeman, Rachel Chambers and Maia Cavey.

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Dear Parent

As I write we are in the final week of this school year after another very successful Activities Week for Years 7, 8 and 9. Pupils had the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of activities in and out of school, including mountain-biking, creative arts, film- making, sports, drama and dance. We also had three residential activities going off to Normandy, Germany/Poland and Ferny Crofts. In school the week culminated in a wonderful performance on the Friday by the music and dance groups to parents, staff and pupils.

Activities Week is an example of what our school community does so well, with staff and pupils coming together to enjoy new experiences and having the opportunity to work together outside the classroom. World Sport Day in June was a similar occasion when pupils were able to share and develop new skills together as the start of the Olympics comes closer. Year 10 are not to be left out with a recent post-16 taster day and many currently out on work experience placements until the end of this term.

This term we have also said farewell to Year 11 who completed their GCSEs in June. We marked the end of the examinations with their prom at Oakley Hall. They have worked very hard with their teachers this year to secure their results and we look forward to celebrating these with them in August.

Our vision is always to ensure we provide our pupils with a high quality learning experience which will prepare them to be confident, independent and well qualified young people. We want them to enjoy their learning and make substantial progress across all areas of the curriculum. We also want them to develop a range of positive attitudes and attributes that will serve them well both at and beyond school. The above is just a flavour of some of these activities alongside all the hard work going on in the ‘classroom’ every day.

I take this opportunity to thank parents for your support throughout another very busy year and hope you enjoy this copy of our newsletter.

With best wishes

L Hiscock Headteacher

Governors’ Report – May 2012

The school’s governing body is responsible for the strategic oversight of the school. In cooperation with the head teacher we agree the school’s vision, ethos and primary objectives and monitor how well the school is performing. We are comprised of parent governors, staff governors, governors appointed by Hampshire County Council and governors representing the local community who are appointed by the governing body. The head teacher is also a governor.

We are organised in 3 main committees which meet twice a term. These are “Finance and General Purposes”, Curriculum and Pupil Achievement” and “Staff and Students”. There is also a “Strategy and Community” committee comprising the chairs of the other committees which meet twice a year. The Full Governing Body meet twice a term.

During the past year the governors have had to consider several major issues. We have discussed becoming an academy (as a “Good” school we are entitled to become an academy in our own right) but have decided that there is currently no benefit in converting. We will continue to review this decision annually. We have also had to handle the challenge of reduced pupil numbers in Year 7 and in the next year’s intake: this has been due to fewer pupils coming from the feeder primary schools and to the effects of the recession. As a school we want to be able to offer the choice of curriculum suitable for all abilities and to this end the governors have supported the Key Stage 4 pathways initiative and are monitoring its introduction. We have also supported Key Stage 3 initiatives to encourage independent learning, including the Aspire programme in Year 7. We believe that these initiatives will significantly benefit the pupils.

As governors we have always been pleased when pupils have achieved excellent results and we sponsor a governors’ prize each year for the pupil who has excelled in the GCSE exams. It is a perk of the governor role that we are aware of and able to celebrate pupil achievement and endeavour whether in their dramatic and musical performances, or in their individual and group achievements. Once again pupils have had success in the national Toyota Technology Challenge, “Young Enterprise” and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. One individual pupil has excelled in the international Maths Challenge competition.

Overall the governors are committed to helping direct the school and to monitoring its progress against challenging objectives.

John Smith Chair of Governors Year 11 Prom at Oakley Hall

Photo courtesy of John Eccles Photography

New Online Free School Meal Eligibility Checking

Hampshire County Council Catering Services (HC3S) has launched a new online service so parents can check their eligibility for free school meals themselves.

This self service option is available at http://hants.gov.uk/caterers/hc3s-freeschoolmeals.

Please note that the criteria for free school meals is the same, regardless of method of checking eligibility, but for the online service, all you need to do is enter your name, national insurance number or asylum number, your address and your child’s details. Press ‘submit’ and you will find out if you are eligible.

If your result comes back ‘found’, this means your child is eligible for free school meals and the system automatically tells your school.

No more hassle in digging out paperwork and going into school to get it checked.

For more information, check out the web address above, or phone Sue Martin on 023 8062 7738.

Professor Petra Oyston Visits Year 10 Science pupils

On Friday 25th May 2012, Professor Petra Oyston gave a one hour lecture on the plague (Black Death) to Set 1 Year 10 pupils. She explained the life cycle, history, and current dangers of the plague today. Pupils watched a video from “The Dirty Cities” television series in which Petra took part.

After a short break Petra continued to speak to the Triple Science group about Genetics and Genetic manipulation, where the pupils were able to write their name in genetic code.

To complete the session Petra then talked about various career paths into a science career.

The pupils were able to ask questions about Petra’s work at Porton Down and although some of the content was challenging during the session, all pupils enjoyed the experience of meeting Petra.

Mrs C Crossland. ‘StockFest 2012’

On Friday 4th May, Test Valley School's music and dance festival ‘StockFest 2012’ celebrated its fourth year. This outdoor festival has now become embedded in the culture of the school providing pupils with the opportunity of a lifetime to perform to a large audience and get involved.

This year StockFest had its biggest line-up which included bands, solo artists, duets, the school choir and a street dance performance. Pupils were very excited to see the event headlined by Assistant Head, Mr. Gibbs, who reformed a band from his school days for their first public performance since coming back together.

A surprise to many would be that the event is managed by a team of pupils who plan, promote and manage the whole event. They started early in the academic year with auditions leading to a warm-up gig in January. This was followed by promotions including a poster campaign, several assemblies and an ‘open mic’ week in the lunchtimes leading up to StockFest. The team get involved in every last detail, from ensuring staff are allocated to all the different roles which need to be filled at the event to informing the local residents of what is happening. Event managers of the future maybe!

StockFest would not be StockFest without an audience and we were delighted by the number of pupils who attended in their hundreds and were joined by many of their families.

As well as the performances on our main marquee stage pupils from all the Year 7 & 8 tutor groups organized stalls to raise money towards the schooling of a pupil we sponsor in Uganda as part of the charity ‘Education Uganda’. The vast array of different ideas which the pupils come up with is a credit to their creativity and, combined with their energy and enthusiasm, proved very popular and good fun for all throughout the event.

We are also very grateful for all the support and time so generously given by many to ensure the success of this event. Our newly reformed PTA committee organized and ran a very successful barbeque and refreshments tent, which did a great trade throughout the event. Trevor Johnson from Nether Wallop provided two very large marquees to house the performers and refreshments. Ian McDonald and Steve Haines, both from Winterslow, generously provided, setup and ran the incredibly professional sound system which really makes this whole event amazing, right down to the detail of microphones for each and every part of the drum kit. Finally, of course, the large number of staff, led by Mr. Langdown, who are willing to undertake so much both behind the scenes and upfront.

Mr Langdown

Year 9 STEM Careers Visit

On Tuesday 12th June, ten Year 9 pupils went to the Hampshire Court Hotel in Basingstoke for a TeenTech STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) careers event. We visited a number of companies including JVC, Airproducts, BT, Winchester University, e-mpirical and Laleham Health.

At each company we watched a demonstration, for example liquid nitrogen being used to freeze various objects including a sausage at Airproducts, or we took part in an activity. At Laleham Health we had to dress up with white coats, gloves and hairnets to produce and package a health and beauty product. It then had to go through checks to see if it would pass for sale. After a few slight alterations we managed to get our product passed.

During lunchtime the Duke of York visited the event and gave a speech. In the afternoon we also took part in a ‘design an app’ competition. Unfortunately we didn’t win! Thanks to Miss Hibbert and Mrs Webb for taking us!

By Hannah Gravenor 9G and Jono Helmsmith 9N TEST VALLEY EQUESTRIAN TEAM Spring 2012

The Test Valley School Equestrian team have been out and about enjoying some local events that have not fallen victim to the recent awful weather which has seen a lot of equestrian events cancelled both locally and nationally.

Firstly, on the 7th of May 2012 five of the team; Charlotte Dicker on Kite, Alice Whittick on Magic, Anna Pearce on Rocky, Olivia Tobutt and Gemma Palmer enjoyed the Abbotts Ann Fun ride. This was a 10 mile course with various obstacles and games to perform along the way. It was a wonderful day and all the riders came back looking as exhausted as their ponies! Well done girls, you looked like you had lots of Alice Whittick with Magic at the fun. Wolympics Showjumping Event

The next event was the Winchester Riding Club Hunter Trials on the 20th May 2012 where Anna Pearce on Rocky and Charlotte Dicker on Kite saddled up for the pairs competition at Dene Farm. The girls rode outstandingly and were unfortunately just out of the placings. The competition was judged on style over the fences and we just needed a little more practice to get the take off and landing in perfect synchronisation for all the dressing fences (these are fences that are meant to be jumped together by both riders at exactly the same time side by side). Charlotte Dicker, Alice Whittick and Anna Pearce at the Abbotts Ann Fun Ride

Our next event was 16th June which was the Wallops own version of the Olympic games. It was a show jumping competition run in Nether Wallop and consisted of 4 classes. Alice Whittick riding Tardebigge Royal Magic and Anna Pearce riding Rocky entered two classes; the 2ft 6 - 2ft 9in Class where Alice and Magic managed a double clear round at speed, being only one second off the gold medal leaving her with a very creditable silver medal. Unfortunately Anna took an error of course but she still managed a clear round. The next class was the 2ft9in -3ft class and both Alice and Anna managed lovely double clears with very, very fast jump offs. Again, Alice and Magic were just a second off the gold medal placing, settling for the silver medal and Anna and Rocky were just beaten into 4th place, missing the bronze medal slot by a whisker!

The summer is fast approaching and in particular the holidays, where we are planning a few more fun Anna Pearce and Charlotte Dicker at WRC Hunter Trials events. We look forward to updating you all with our successes!

Mrs Whittick

Test Valley School’s display at the Stockbridge Flower Festival. Julie Harwood and Jackie Diaper arranged the flowers – beautifully!

Every two weeks on Thursday, Year 7 participate in Aspire. In Aspire we learn in depth about the 6Rs and many other skills that will help us become good young learners as we finish Year 7 and work our way up the school. The Aspire groups are each named after the 6Rs – reasoning, respect, responsible, resilient, reflect and resourceful.

Every Aspire day we always learn a new skill and never do the same thing twice. Sometimes we do lots of practical work, and other weeks we do more writing. We have even been on a mini-trip to Stockbridge! It was made more fun because we were allowed to help plan it to help us become independent learners. Matilda Murphy-Moffitt. 7S

I feel that the Aspire programme has introduced me to new learning techniques, and important life skills. Pupils have been able to participate in many activities such as; Launch Pad You Are Unique Toolkit Dragons Den C.S.I, Healthy Me Marketing Stockbridge Fair-trade Freestyle Week.

My favourites were, ‘ You Are Unique’, ‘C.S.I’ and the Freestyle Week. With ‘You Are Unique’ I got to learn about myself and had to write a letter to myself that would be opened when I am in Year eleven. With the C.S.I programme I got to learn about how crime investigations work and then I became the detective responsible for solving ‘How did Mr Langdown die?’

The freestyle week has given pupils an opportunity to use a variety of independent learning skills and involved working on Junk Percussion, Designing a Marble Run using paper, Foamex and glue (much resilience needed for this task) and creating a Media/ Radio Advertisement to promote a play or movie.

Aspire uses the 6Rs – Respectful, Responsible, Resilient, Resourceful, Reasoning and Reflective – these are all learning attributes that help to show us how to apply our learning in everyday life. Mollie Sandilands – 7N Pupils pictured

Phillippa Ball, Nina Stevens, Emily Fitzpatrick, Poppy Allen, Elena Baker, Lucy Brooker, Danielle Short, Will Daykin, Matilda Murphy-Moffitt, Tom Colbourne, Cameron Langdown, Hugo Leonard, Finn (left now), Charlie Pridmore, Cameron Langdown, Connor Aspinall, Georgia Pointer, Maia Hancock, Sophie Bamber, Heidi Faux-Whitehead, Charlie Capper, Isobel Laughton, Joe Renshaw, Cameron Maguire, Isabelle Woodfield, Lewis Reed, Matthew Cliffe, Francesca Sutcliffe, Sophie Bott, Hugo Leonard, Liam Cook, George Houghton, Scott Lyth, Brogan Milligan, Courtney Collis, Courtney Forrester. Design and Technology Toyota Challenge National Final Winners 2012!

On Saturday 26th May a team of three Year 10 students - Jamie Brooker, James Houghton and Jacob Bill, accompanied by Mr Adrian Lucas (Technician) and Mr Darren Allsopp (Head of Design and Technology), took part in the National Finals of the Toyota Technology Challenge in the Toyota manufacturing plant at Burnaston, Derbyshire. This was the culmination of almost a year of working at lunch times and after school to develop and manufacture a model solar racing car that could be raced in time trials against other schools along an 8 metre track.

The team: 'MAGNUM FORCE', also had to prepare a 5 minute presentation to the judges about their work along with a display for other teams to look at. A display unit was very kindly produced for us by ERA SCREENS and the boys designed a marketing video which was played during the event.

Overall the team put in a very strong performance and were rewarded with first place.

There were over 350 original entries in total but on the day we had to compete against the best schools from all UK regions including Ireland.

As national winners, the team won £1000 for the school along with a six night activity holiday to the French Alps in the first week of the summer break.

This is the second time in four years that we have won this event and we hope to enter again next year with a new team. We will be looking for team members from Year 9, who have the necessary drive, enthusiasm and commitment to achieve as we are in it to win it!

Mr D Allsopp/Mr A Lucas

Broughton school German visit

On Thursday 28th July Miss Williams and two Year 9 students went to Broughton Primary School to teach Years 5 and 6 German. They started off with learning “what’s your name?” and “My name is ……” By the end of the visit, the children had learnt: greetings, short conversations and numbers. They played fun games and used puppets for the conversations to help learn the German. All of the children received a booklet to take home at the end.

The afternoon was very successful and all the children enjoyed themselves and learnt something new.

By Dominic Raymond

Mandev

Year 10 and 11 trip to The Watermill Theatre, Newbury to see “Of Mice and Men”

The Watermill played host to a packed house, including 94 Test Valley students, for this inventive and thought -provoking dramatisation of John Steinbeck’s novel, “Of Mice and Men.” Although not entirely faithful to the original, nevertheless the production focused on the trials and hardships of itinerant workers during the Great Depression, the emotional impact of death and the destruction of the American dream. Test Valley students seemed to enjoy the experience which should have given them an alternative insight into the novel in preparation for their GCSE Literature exam.

Mrs L. Berry English Department Writing Club

Four pupils who attend a creative writing club run by Miss Bushell from The English Department are having their poems published in a book after entering The Young Writers “Express Yourself” poetry competition.

The themes of the poems are very diverse ranging from death, love and a poem about the school itself.

The poems will be published in the book Megan Brett, Kieran Hart, Daniel Bavister Y8 and “Express Yourself – The Michelle Trigwell Y7 with Mrs Bushell South East” (due out in August) and will be kept at The British Library. The school will receive a complimentary copy and this will be a lasting record of their achievement.

The aim of the creative writing club is to encourage all pupils to experiment with all different forms of writing from poetry to prose. I am so proud of the students and hope this will spur them to keep writing!

Miss Bushell English Department

Writing club is a place to be with your friends and express troubles, talent and emotion through writing. There is no silence, or shouting teachers, just a calm relaxed environment where we can let go of all troubles we may be experiencing in school or at home, as well as showing our talent for writing where it may be appreciated and celebrated. There is no other place I would rather spend my lunchtime, and no other way I would rather express my feelings. Megan Brett 8D

Writing club inspires me to work harder and find the inner talent inside me. Miss Bushell (our club leader) makes it a very friendly atmosphere. Also, we are currently entering three competitions all at once!!! It’s so amazing. Daniel Bavister 8D Buongiorno! Parliamo Italiano!!

Year 6 pupils spent an hour in the Modern Languages department on Tuesday 3rd July. The pupils were introduced to some basic Italian. They sang the numbers from 1 to 10 in Italian. They also learnt to pronounce some Italian colours. They were helped by some Year 9 pupils. The children were very quick to learn their new vocabulary and we very much look forward to them joining us in September.

Mrs B McLaughlin Head of Languages

‘In Pursuit Of Personal Excellence’

The above is the school’s motto and for many of our pupils this applies to not only what they do in school but the sports, hobbies and interests they pursue out of school. We are delighted to celebrate their success and achievements in this special section. Here are just a few – please let us know of other pupils we can include in future newsletters. We congratulate all on their achievements!

Toby Brown (9W)and Jacob Breach (8D) have been picked for the Wiltshire County Judo squad.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Congratulations to James Leech 8W who raised a fantastic £220 for the charity Lucy’s Days Out with a sponsored haircut.

The money will go towards funding a special fun day out for a family living with a life limiting illness.

Year 3 & 4 pupils

TRI –GOLF !

TRI – GOLF CHALLENGE 2012

On Weds 30th May 2012 the Test Valley School Young Leaders helped the Broughton Primary School to organise a fun Tri-golf event for the local primary schools. Five schools entered the event with various challenges like ‘crossing the river’ and ‘over the hill’. Each school was awarded points at each station and the winning team, ‘Broughton Red’ managed a total of over 900 points.

Olympic ‘mini’ Festival

For KS1

Test Valley School organised a fun Olympic Festival for its local Primary Schools with sponsorship from local company Hildon Natural Mineral Water. The funding provided several sports coaches from ‘Personal Best Education’ to lead the activities (formally the Mountbatten School Partnership) and to enable every participant to be presented with an Olympic gold medal at the end. The Year 7 Young Leaders from Test Valley School helped host the fun events which included an inflatable gymnastics track which all the pupils really enjoyed.

The event lasted over two hours with the sports coaches and Young Leaders working hard to encourage high levels of performance from all the Key Stage 2 pupils so that they achieved all seven of the Olympic and Paralympic Values. The pupils worked in teams based on Olympic countries to successfully achieve all the values during the event and a number of their parents were there to watch them do so.

The values are: Excellence, Friendship, Respect, Determination, Inspiration, Courage & Equality.

At the end of the event Debbie Jones from Hildon presented Olympic gold medals to all the KS2 pupils and certificates will be presented in their school assemblies.

Debbie Jones Hildon Ltd : “ What a great festival with all the pupils fully engaged and active with such fun and varied activities. Hildon Ltd is very proud to be supporting this local event”

Mrs Smith School Sports Co-ordinator :

“Without funding from local companies children can miss out on such fantastic and unique opportunities. Test Valley School would like to thank Hildon Ltd for their support.”

Medals Awarded to All

Olympic dance festival Managers with Mrs Smith, Hollie Poore,Toby Giles, Joe Fawcett & Max Clarke. Front left Katie Weller, Scarlett Cooke, Emily Trench and Olivia Griffiths all enjoy success for the primary school event celebrating London 2012.

Flags and ribbons were used as part of the ‘Opening Ceremony’ dance created by Gremlin Dance Company.

Test Valley School hosts another very successful primary schools’ dance festival with the theme ‘Olympics 2012’.

Pupils from the local primary schools of Lockerley, Broughton, West Tytherley, Stockbridge, King’s Somborne, Wallop & Wherwell were invited to attend the festival over 3 days. Sports Leaders, all pupils at Test Valley School, performed an opening ceremony with an ‘Olympic Mascot’ dance. The Gremlin Dance Company taught an Olympic performance during the morning session, which focussed on the opening ceremony celebrations, and the primary schools performed their own Olympics dance in the afternoon.

The event’s sponsors were invited as VIP guests to present Olympic Gold medals to all the primary school pupils. These were TVBC, Hildon Natural Mineral Water and HCC Children’s services. Over the 3 days other VIP guests who visited included the present Mayor & Deputy Mayor of Test Valley.

Teaching staff from the local primary schools enjoyed the dance development before the festival by instructor Stacey Wilson from Mountbatten Personal Best Education coaching company, and hope this will continue in 2013. Test Valley Mayor Mrs Dorothy Baverstock : "Seeing the children so inspired about the Olympics and celebrating the opening ceremony through dance has enthused me for London 2012 and I am sure the children will remember this Olympics experience at Test Valley School" We swam the Channel and back again!

For the national World Sport Day, Test Valley School hosted a variety of sports related activities for their 420 Key Stage 3 pupils. BBC sports presenter Mike Bushell joined pupils for the day to talk about extreme sports and the more unusual activities he has tried over the years. Marc Evans, a local triathlete, spoke to the various year groups about getting involved in sport at an early age, training, diet and fitness.

with Kieran Jordan, Toby Easley, Alex Mundy,

Triathlete Marc Evans Harry Francis, Matt Baxter , Nathan Alexander, Jake Harding, Edward Heywood, Oliver Day, Emily Nightingale and Kyle Palmer

As part of the day there was a ‘swim challenge’, the aim was for pupils to swim 2012 lengths in the school’s outdoor swimming pool during the course of the day.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of the pupils, Mike Bushell with and helped by Mike Bushell and Marc Hoadley Olivia Richardson Daniel Tedd and Adam Moussa Evans, this target was actually doubled Elliot Lukaszewski, Anna Pearce, Jacob with pupils swimming 4037 lengths – that’s the same distance as across the Channel and back again!

The day began with pupils researching continents and countries related to the Olympic games and finished with a grand closing ceremony. This included a parade around the school fields with pupils in their house colours presenting all the banners, flags and mascots they had produced during the day, led by a Year 9 samba band. Other events included retro sports races, a rowing challenge and triathlete volley ball.

Mike Bushell said ‘I was impressed with the school and the work and effort pupils put in during the day.’

Mrs N. Osborne Eating Disorder Awareness Week (25th June- 29th June)

In support of Miss King’s 3 Peak Challenge in aid of the charity Beat, a series of events/ activities took place throughout the week to raise awareness of the charity.

The events consisted of a Swimathon, Rowing challenge, Zumba fitness, bake sale and blind football. Miss King was overwhelmed with the positive response of the pupils during each event. As a school we managed to raise an impressive amount of £642.

“I am overwhelmed with the support that I received during the week. So many children offered to help run activities, put up posters or hold a charity collecting pot. I could not have raised this amount of money on my own so with the assistance, enthusiasm and dedication of the students we were able to raise an outstanding amount of money for the charity Beat” Miss King.

Abby Dodds, Sam Brown, Charlie Darbyshire, Evie Johnson, Ashley Crabb, Alice Murphy, Freyja Haigh , Jamie Welfare, Anna Grover By Will Cairns 7N “The Zoo was amazing. There were lots of different ani- mals. My favourite part was seeing two little bear cubs sliding down a pole fighting. The giraffe came right up our zoo train and licked the roof.” “We went to the D-day museum and saw a short 360 film. We also went to lots of French shops (including a biscuit shop) and saw the Bayeux Tapestry. Normandy is very similar to England but is has a better culture (in my opinion) and is more tourist friendly.” Normandy 2012 French Trip

By Emily Fitzpatrick and Mollie Sandilands 7N

Olivia Standfield and Victoria Bass at Laser Quest Mia Cavey, Ben Reed, Anna Pearce and Toby Brown Raft Building at the new Forest Water Park

Charlie Darbyshire and Marcus Boyd with the

Mountain Biking group Jack Murphy ‘going for it’

Table Tennis Club

We have met each Tuesday after school, from 3.30—4.30 pm. It was particularly pleasing to have a cohort of Year 7 girls keenly playing. A huge disappointment was that the club’s ex-pupil, Hannah Hicks, was not picked for the Olympic GB team. Hannah is no. 3 Lady in England, and was in the chosen 6 shortlist, but “missed the cut”. Hannah came into school with a young Welsh international colleague, and gave the pupils a wonderful day of coaching and shared experience. Thank you Hannah!

We have continued to have school teams in the Andover League. Our ex-pupils, Rob Macey, Liam Francis and Kieron Grist continue together.

Our “A” team won Andover Division 2. Well done Dom Raymond, Jamie Biles, Ray Lockington and Dom’s Dad.

Johny Macey captained our “B” team, with Harvey Fortis and Neil MacDonald. They showed tremendous improvement with Neil triumphing over his old school coach in 2 league matches!

7 of our Club represented Test Valley in the Hampshire Youth Games. Our girls team of Kirsten Jordan, Lucy Brooker and Isobel Laughton, all year 7, did tremendously well, with Kirsten 2nd overall, and Lucy 4th.

The boys, Cameron Langdown and Lewis Reed, Year 7, and Brendon Tasker and Seamus O’Farrell, year 8 did extremely well, reaching the semi-finals. The team was managed on the day by our Year 11 stalwart, Jamie Biles. Well done to all.

Next year we will again run on Tuesdays, after school, and enter teams in the Andover League. We hope, hope, hope to have an all girls team!

I would like to add that Dom Raymond was in a shortlist of 4 for the most improved player in the Andover League. Well done!

Brian Dyke Ancient Club Coach

Lucy Brooker and Brondon Tasker in action P.E. Department Report

This has been another long and busy year for the Physical Education department where all of the staff have worked many long hours to offer as much to the pupils of Test Valley School as much possible. As a result of this the school has been represented at 160 fixtures over the course of the year plus providing regular clubs for pupils to attend. Despite the conditions of another ‘English Summer’ Test Valley have taken part in cricket, rounder’s, athletics and tennis fixtures this term resulting in some excellent team and individual achievements. In cricket both the U13’s and U15’s finished 2nd in the Andover & District leagues and the U15’s lost narrowly to Wildern in the semi-final of the Hampshire State School plate. In rounder’s the Year 7 girls won their Andover & District league and the Year 8 and 9 teams finished mid table. In the Andover & District Tennis leagues the U16 team won all their games but have been unable to play their final fixture due to poor weather. The U13’s won 2 and lost 1 to finish second in the league. In athletics the school was well represented at The Andover & District annual championships where 9 Year 9 & 10 pupils and 11 Year 7 and 8 pupils won through to represent the district at the Hampshire finals. At the Junior Hampshire finals event Millie Darbyshire won the shot put. From the Senior Hampshire finals there was an opportunity for Test Valley pupils to go onto represent Hampshire at the U17 Nationals, Charlie Maw and Jacob Ness achieved this feat with Nick Appleby being selected as a reserve. The two boys travelled to Gateshead and both performed well. Charlie came 6th in the pole vault with a jump of 4 meters, missing out on his PB by 1 centimetre and Jacob Ness ran a PB of 50.20 seconds for the 400 meters before being part of the 4 X 100 metre relay squad which won the bronze medal. Both of this year’s sports days have been major successes. The year 10 day was supported excellently by the pupils and there were ups and downs across the day with Austin finally emerging victorious by winning the final 3 events of the day to move from 5th at lunch to Champions. The Key Stage 3 sports day was again supported superbly by the pupils with the winners being: Year 7 – Austen, Year 7 – Sopwith and Year 9 – Whykam. The overall trophy was won by Austin. Congratulations must also go to the winners of the Victor Ludorum contests who were: Oliver Eastham and Freyja Haigh. Another athletics item from February which missed our Spring Newsletter was that Ben Reed represented Hampshire in the South East Schools cross country championship where he competed against other year 8 and year 9 pupils. He finished 38th out of 90 and was the 9th Hampshire athlete home. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all Test Valley pupils who have made personal improvement, represented the school or achieved within sport outside of the school this year. Keep going and good luck in the future.

Mr C. Falkingham Head of PE Year 10 Sports Day Winners George Robinson, Priyal Mistry, Katie Weller, Toby Redshaw, Tony Chung and Scarlett Cooke