Dear Parents and Carers,

We have approached the end of a very busy and eventful term at Holly Lodge. Students have been preparing for and taking examinations during the penultimate week of term. Despite having to close school for three days due to the recent bad weather, we were able to conclude the examination schedule successfully. I would like to convey my thanks to all members of the school community, especially the staff, who have worked extremely hard to ensure that the education of the students remains a priority at Holly Lodge.

We have also celebrated the success of last year’s Year 11 students with a fantastic presentation evening attended by Mr Amolak Dhariwal, a former Holly Lodge Student who is now named in the top 100 Ethnic Minority Business Leaders.

This year we have one of the best value added of any school in the Local Authority and have had the best Post-16 results ever.

In November I felt very proud of our students as we held a Remembrance Parade in the school quad involving the whole school. This was attended by Governors and also the local MP Rt.Hon John Spellar, all of whom commented on the exemplary behaviour of our students.

As you are already aware, school will close at 12.00pm on Wednesday 20th December 2017 for the Christmas holidays. Students who are entitled to Free School Meals will be able to collect a packed lunch from the dining room at break time only.

Please also note that the school re-opens on Thursday 4th January 2018 with a prompt start. As is always the case, students acquire clothing items over the holiday period and are eager to wear them to school. This often causes unnecessary issues. Can I ask that you check your child’s uniform as they leave for school and ensure that they are not wearing fashion accessories that may have been acquired during the holiday period. Your support in these matters will ensure that we have a positive start to the new term.

May I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

With very best wishes,

Paul Shone Headteacher

CCF News

Biennial Inspection

On Tuesday 14th November, the Cadets had their first Biennial Inspection from the CCF. We arranged a day at Swynnerton Training Area, and were inspected by Colonel of Cadets, Colonel Kim Knutton. The Cadets took part in an observation task, navigation, stalking, setting Remembrance up shelter and cooking in the On Friday 10th November 2017, all pupils and staff of Holly Lodge took part in the Remembrance parade at 11:00. field. The inspection went This was impeccably observed by everyone involved. We had a bugler from RAF Cosford playing the Last Post. very well and everyone had a On Sunday 12th November 2017, the Cadets were once again representing the school, this time at the Smethwick good day. Remembrance parade. The Cadets made up over half of the turn out, and as always, were a credit to the School and Cadets.

Tree Planting

On Saturday 18th November, the Cadets arrived at Holly Lodge to help plant 420 saplings that had been donated to the school by the Woodland Trust. Over 20 cadets braved some cold and wet conditions and the result has transformed an unused field at the school, to what in a few years’ time will be an area to be used by the Cadets, School and Local community alike.

There are 175 non-school days a year – for visits, family time, shopping,

holidays and so on….. …which leaves just 190 days a year for education – too few to miss!

Every child deserves the best

chance at education Congratulations Duke of – all students need to Edinburgh participants, attend school regularly . who over the 15th and 16th October, completed the expedition Days off school add up to lost learning….. section of their Bronze Award. The expedition Attendance of 85% means a student has missed half a term – 29 days was tough, moving between – of learning time. the Lickey Hills, Redditch and camping Absence from school must be covered by a telephone call or letter overnight at from a parent/carer otherwise it will be unauthorised. We may also Blackwell Adventure, near ask for medical evidence to authorise the absence. Bromsgrove. The second day was particularly difficult as it coincided with the tail end of The following pupils have all taken music exams this term and we Hurricane congratulate them on their success: Ophelia. The sky turned red and Ayomide Soremekun - Distinction grade 2 piano the winds picked Promesse Miesi - Distinction grade 2 violin up, but that Jack Hickenbottom - Pass grade 2 violin didn’t stop our brave souls completing their task. Well done to all involved and I look forward to you doing the Silver Award soon.

Thursday 4th January 2018 School re-opens after Christmas for

students and staff Monday 8th January 2018 Year 12 & 13 Exams Week Thursday 25th January 2018 Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Thursday February 15th 2018 Year 9 Parents’ Evening 19th – 23rd February 2018 Half Term Holidays Monday 26th February 2018 Training Day – school closed to students Tuesday 27th February 2018 School re-opens to Students Thursday 1st March 2018 Year 9 Options Evening Monday 5th March 2018 Year 7 Exams Week Thursday 8th March 2018 SIDS Day Monday 12th March 2018 Year 11 Parents’ Workshop Thursday 22nd March 2018 Year 12 & 13 Parents’ Evening Thursday 29th March 2018 Easter Holidays to Friday 13th April 2018 Monday 16th April 2018 School re-opens to Students and Staff ART TRIP GOES AHEAD DESPITE THE SNOW

On a cold Saturday 9th December, despite the snowy conditions a group of GCSE and A level Art students went to Liverpool. The first place we visited was the Tate Gallery where we had the rare opportunity to see a Lichtenstein exhibition. We had an informative guided tour around the Constellation exhibition, giving pupils the chance to see a wide variety of art from Pablo Picasso, LS Lowry and Grayson Perry, to name but a few. We then walked across the city to the Walker Art gallery. Here we saw the work of Turner Prize winner Lubiana Himid and a display of Grayson Perry dresses.

Despite the freezing conditions the day was a great success.

Student Leadership

Last term year 10 pupils were selected by Mr Newton to be peer The introduction of Student Leadership mentors. They are Samira Adam, Sadia Ahmed, Lena Akhter, at Holly Lodge this academic year has Dounia Allaiouti, Anouska Antoine, Aliyah Begum, Sian Curtis, been very successful so far. Since Ariana Graf Haro, Kainat Hashmi, Nuzeha Hasnath ,Iman Hussain, September we have appointed over 100 Ronan Jakhu, Joacey Jawanda, Amrita Kalsi, Navjot Kaur,Jahanara Khanom , Amina Khatun, Safina Lalh Thasnima Lima, students into various leadership Kareena Rai,Najiah Ramezan, Ria Saini,Himmat Sanghera, Saphal positions such as: Head Boy and Head Sapkota, Afroja Sheikh and Sukhpal Singh. Their first role was to Girl at 6th form along with Senior support new 7 on induction day. This involved supporting their Prefects; at Key Stage 3 and 4 we have assigned year 7 class by ensuring they attended all their sessions Year Captains and Vice Year Captains and did not get lost. All the peer mentors worked hard and enjoyed along with Year 11 Prefects, and all this responsibility. They then helped out on year 7 Welcome tutor groups across Key Stage 3 and 4 Evening by greeting parents, serving refreshments and selling the also have a Form Representative. These school ties. students have been involved in a variety The peer mentors have continued to support year 7 every Friday of events during the winter term such as during am registration when they arranged team building activities open evenings, new pupil tours, with the classes. The peer mentors have enjoyed having this Remembrance Day speeches and The opportunity as they have to plan a new activity every week. This Diana Anti-Bullying campaign support has helped year 7 feel settled in the school. training. These events have provided As the peer mentors are good role models for the school they have students with opportunities to develop a had further opportunity to support year 7/year 8 progress evening number of leadership skills including; and also for the first time year 12 parents evening. .Here they communication, teamwork, greeted parents, handed out reports and showed parents where responsibility and commitment. A big to go for their appointments with the teachers. Miss Dunn was thank you to Mrs Goodwin and Mrs very impressed by the maturity that the peer mentors showed Whitehouse who took the Key Stage 3 throughout this busy evening. and 4 Year Captains and Vice Year Every year there are more and more year 9 pupils applying to be Captains to the Anti-Bullying training peer mentors. As spaces are limited 3 years ago Mr Newton and working extremely hard with them suggested we give all those who have shown interest in being peer to provide a Year 7 Skills session on mentors an opportunity to train as peer mentor readers with year 7 Selfies and Self-esteem which was who have low reading ages. extremely well delivered and received. We look forward to next term with lots This scheme has just started in the library every Wednesday during am registration. Those who have received their training are now more events for our leadership students reading with selected year 7 pupils whose reading age is low. The to get involved in and continue to peer mentor readers are Abubakar Abubakar, Rajna Akhtar, develop their leadership skills and Mohammed Ghaffar, Taranjit Singh Hira, Anisodora Huja , Tristan qualities. Johal, Ismail Khan, Lija Khanom, Mahima Kumkum, Taybah Mohmood, Kaynath Nasar, Sulayman Nodvi, Alisha Parvaiz, Amisha Regmi, Zatrrah Shazad and Tanesha Warren.

These pupils enjoy supporting year 7 and again this has developed their confidence further. Not only do they support year 7 with their reading, they ensure that the pupils take their reading tests as well as being positive role models for them.

Here at Holly Lodge we are working extensively to promote “Anti-Bullying”

Staff Anti-Bullying Ambassadors The Student Online Anti-Bullying Ambassadors are supported by Mrs Goodwin (KS3 Student Support Manager) Student Online Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Mrs Whitehouse (Learning Mentor) who In October Mrs Whitehouse (Learning Mentor) and Mrs Ram (Head of Year 8) are Staff Anti-Bullying Ambassadors in took a group of our Year Captains and Year Vice Captains to undertake training arranged by the Diana Award and Vodafone to become “Strong Online Anti- School. Bullying Ambassadors”. Since September we have produced an Anti- From Year 8 – Kirat Birring, George Davies, Aisha Mohammed, and Tanjina Bullying booklet which was displayed at our Yasmin; open evening for prospective new students From Year 9 – Tahil Akhlaq, Mariyah Begum, Esha Kauser and Ayomide and parents. This booklet provides students Soremekun

with useful helplines/websites, as well as From Year 10 – Aliyah Begum and Kamraj Dhesi From Year 11 –Somya Ayra, Ellie Holmes, Yassar Khan and Kelvin Tannor. giving students information as to “whom They undertook a Social Media Programme and all who attended have become they can speak to in school?” Student Anti-Bullying Ambassadors at Holly Lodge. Their new role is to support During Anti-Bullying Week in November we students in younger years, (especially Year 7 students) to use the internet delivered Assemblies alongside the Student safely and responsibly. Ambassadors promoting this Year’s theme of Since undertaking this training they have: “All different, all equal”. During this week  Spoken to students in the Anti-Bullying Assemblies across Key Stage 3. The theme for this year’s assembly was “All different, all we put together a programme that Form equal”. Here they spoke about what makes them different and Tutors could deliver in form time, this how we should celebrate these differences in school as they included them completing an Anti-Bullying make us who we all are; all individual, unique and special. questionnaire.  Delivered a Social Media Programme to four groups of Year 7’s during their Skills lessons. This included preparing and then the delivery of the module – “Selfies and Self Esteem”. In September West Midlands Police started an initiative to recreate the concept of Police Cadets across schools We feel that it is important to acknowledge the work and support of Somya in the West Midlands. Smethwick was one of the areas Ayra who has taken on the role of Lead Ambassador and who chose the chosen for the Pilot Scheme. Module that was delivered. The aim of the cadets is to Our Student Ambassadors will be delivering another module from the  Encourage community cohesion and programme in the new year. engagement developing active citizens In relation to this our Student Ambassadors will be featured in the Diana Award  Create a platform for positive Newsletter as a Show Case School. relationships with the Police In November, a group of our students from Year 8 and Year 9 participated in  Offer possible recruitment potential an Anti-Bullying SHAPE Programme. Here they were involved in learning more In October a group of our Year 9 students; Abbas about bullying; what hate crime was and had a session on the Youth Bus where Rahman, Mohssin Adchiri, Aleena Jabbar, Suwayne they worked together to produce Anti-Bullying lyrics as part of a local Irving Barnett, Nasara Bowman, Abrahim Iqbal and competition run by the Community Safety and SHAPE Team. Kainat Ahmed attended the first Cadet session at Shirelands. They were all a bit nervous and apprehensive during this first session but throughout they engaged and participated well and by the end of the evening they were all more confident and looking forward to the next session the following Wednesday. On 6th November West Midlands Police held a launch presentation evening about the new scheme. During this evening our Cadets alongside Cadets from the different areas across the West Midlands took their Police Cadet Oath. The students were able to meet and speak to Cadets from other areas to see how the Cadets had helped them and there were presentations and demonstrations from the different sections of the police force which they were able to participate in. Some of the students’ parents were invited and also attended We hope that with all these new initiatives this evening. students at Holly Lodge will feel empowered to Our students look forward to attending these sessions speak up about any bullying issues. every Wednesday and are developing new skills through the opportunity of being part of this new initiative. Mrs Goodwin & Mrs Whitehouse Mrs Wendy Goodwin

ScienceTechnologyEngineeringMaths EVENTS

Coding Event

Some of our top achieving Y11, Y12 and Y13 maths students took part in this year's UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. Over 82,000 pupils from across the

Subject Immersion Day UK participated with Half of our Year 7 cohort took part in our STEM This term, four of our year nine students went to a only the top %s gaining themed Subject Immersion Day this term. STEM certificates. We are stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and STEM coding event at The University of really proud to Mathematics and is all about how we combine Wolverhampton. They got to see campus life, announce Baljodh Singh subjects to increase and improve our student’ university classrooms and began to explore (Y12) gained a Bronze understanding of them. The STEM theme this coding in a whole new light. At the university they Certificate which is a term was engineering; students looked at ideas made their very own ghost themed games to fantastic achievement. they encounter on a regular basis and then support students struggling with numeracy. In these games you had to press a certain number discussed and modelled how they could improve Along with Baljodh them. The four areas this year was: when it appeared to get enough points before Singh our other top 3 the clock went down. Staff at the event were students from Holly - Structural engineering (creating model extremely impressed with the efforts of Holly Lodge, Fahmina Yasmin bridges to ensure they are safe and can Lodge students and our own Mrs Buckmire was (Y13), Jotham Umukoro support appropriate weight) unable to beat the clock!! They went on to Material engineering (looking at how we (y12) and Ali Aqeel - complete other tasks throughout the day like the can make fully recyclable clothes) (Y11), represented the lamp holder that flashed various colours and won - Software engineering (looking at coding school at the Regional a range of prizes for input and effort! At the end games that can be used as intervention Heat of the UK of the programme our students received a programmes for struggling learners) Mathematics Trust certificate of attendance. Here’s what they had - Aviation engineering (looking at Senior Team to say: designing and making rockets, how Mathematics Challenge they launch and what life might be like “I had a lot of fun and enjoyed it loads.” and competed against as an astronaut) 17 other schools. “I didn’t think I would like computers because I Although they didn't couldn’t do it before, but actually it’s alright.” win, they did extremely In each students were told about potential jobs well beating some and career paths in the field…many of the jobs “Can we do it again Miss?!” tough opponents. Well had a starting salary of upwards of £30k…our done all of you! year sevens were inspired to say the least! They coped extremely well with the tight time constraints and real world problems they had to resolve and most of all, fun was had by all!

Mohammed Noman Evontae Edwards Godwill Boateng Akash Salhan Naimur Rahman Pavandeep Shergill Ibrahima Saho Kabba

Abdul Subhaan Ibrahim Uddin (8BRE / Curie) was

Osei Acheampong the winner of the Maths Sahil Multani Challenge. He was drawn at Taher Hussain random from all the correct Vishal Chamba entries and won a certificate Shahinur Chowdhury Humaid Shezad and a voucher. Well done! Ismael Hussain The Maths Challenge runs every

month with the winner being announced during the House Assemblies. Jordin Pedro Aditya Dadwal Mohammed Adam John Anowu Jelson Yandrapati Danyaal Ahmed Joel Wilson YOUR VOTE COUNTS

!

There will be many more Inter-House competitions across the school for students to take part in in the New Year. Heads of House are now

Year 10y band pupils were involved in our first Subject Immersion Day trip as they choose to either take looking for students to part in Ice Skating in Solihull or Laserquest in Birmingham. We took over 120 pupils out on Tuesday 14th vote for a charity for their November. Thanks to parents/carers for supporting this trip and contributing to the activities and transport on the day. Finally I would like to extend my appreciation to the staff for their efforts and for their House to be paired with. own enthusiasm in getting involved in the activities on the day. 10x will have their Subject Immersion Day Students will be given a later in the year with the same activities on offer. list of local charities to

vote for in tutor time with

the winning charity

representing each House.

This will allow students

within the House to

organise fundraising

events and also continue

to create positive

competition between the Houses.

Physical Education at Holly Lodge has really stepped up in the early stages of this year and both pupils and staff continue to develop and improve as even more pupils are engaging in the extra-curricular programme offered. We have seen an uptake in pupils attending various clubs on offer in the morning and after school. The clubs that are offered include Netball, Football, Fitness, Basketball and Indoor Athletics to name a few. These are open to all pupils in the school and we try to encourage pupils to attend and actively get involved. Breakfast clubs continue to attract a number of pupils each morning from 8am and we believe it helps set the pupils up for a positive and productive day as well as support their learning. School teams and competitions have seen a number of pupils across the school engage in fixtures and competitive sport. This provides a wonderful opportunity for them to develop their skill set in the sports and also improve their knowledge and understanding in sporting areas, especially around the rules, tactics and importantly team work and fairness. Notable successes have been the girls Netball teams who have been successful in achieving positive results and also making the County Final at George Salter on November 25th. Holly Lodge has also staged the Sandwell Handball tournaments for the second successive year.

Netball

Girls Netball has really developed this year and A selection of Year 10 students were rewarded for their extra-curricular participation in they have been successful in their fixtures, some details below: Physical Education with 2 tickets to see West Bromwich Albion vs West Ham. Nathaniel Comrie (Fleming), Ariana Graf-Haro (Curie), Emanuel Kwarteng (Fleming), Felicity Banner- The U14 Girls Netball Team beat Oldbury Mysk (Darwin), Kaleb Coomson (Edison), Joseph Auld (Franklin), Callum Auld (Fleming), Academy 9-0 in a comprehensive victory on 10th October. Well done girls! Fatoumata Konteh Batcthily (Fleming) and Joel Wilson (Franklin). Loredana Kwabla (Darwin), Genevieve Sessay (Fleming), Dynasty Smith-Burgess (Edison), Nasara Bowman (Darwin), Shannia Ward (Darwin), Dayshar Myers (Edison), Zeba Fariha (Franklin)

The girls played extremely well and came 3rd in the Under 16 Sandwell Netball competition.

Back: Lois Mensah (Edison) Belinda Kwabla (Edison)

Kevianne Myers (Franklin) Alex Zacarius (Darwin)

Front: Ariana Graf-Haro (Curie) Fatoumata Konteh Batcthilly (Fleming) Felicity Banner-Mysk (Darwin)

Football Results

We have had a positive number of pupils represent the school this year in football fixtures against other local Sandwell schools as well as high numbers attending training sessions after school. Year teams have had fixtures against Perryfields, Shirelands and St Michaels. The results have been indifferent with some wins and losses in the fixtures played so far. Fixtures will commence after February half term as well as Sandwell Cup fixtures, fingers crossed results go in our favour. Thanks to Mr Hancox, Mr Gill and Mr Moore for taking these sides. We also have girl’s football fixtures running on a monthly basis at Sandwell Academy and have between 10-15 girls wanting to be involved.

SCHOOLS YEAR 7 YEAR 8 YEAR 9 YEAR 10 PERRYFIELDS Lost 7 - 2 Lost 4 - 2 Lost 4 -2 Lost 4 - 2

Q3 ACADEMY LANGLEY ST MICHAELS Won 8 - 6 Lost 11 – 3 Lost 8 - 0 Won 5 - 1

SHIRELANDS WON 7 - 1 Lost 6 - 4

Our girls performed well at the Sandwell Girls Football Tournament during the first two tournaments, being unbeaten in 8 of their 12 games so far and currently lying 3rd in the table.

Back: Jemma Warren (Franklin) Erin Clewer (Curie) Alex Zacarius (Darwin) Sabah Mahmood (Edison) Genevieve Sessay (Fleming) Umeeka Mann (Franklin) Front: Sayan Razul (Darwin) Loredana Kwabla (Darwin) Sky Norton (Darwin) Harleen Kaur (Curie) Denise Asoluka (Franklin)

Rank Pool B Points

1st Wood Green Academy 28

2nd Wodensborough 22

3rd Holly Lodge 21

4th ACE Academy 20

5th Stuart Bathurst 15

6th Oldbury 8

A number of pupils are currently taking part in the Sandwell Indoor Athletics Championship at Tipton Sports Academy: the pupils have six separate events over the year and aim to gain points from the different events in an attempt to finish as high as possible. Pupils compete in a sprint, hurdle, 4 lap distance race and a relay running race. Alongside this they also do a standing long jump, triple jump and shot put field event. Pupils have done really well so far and it has easily been our best start to the indoor athletics league. Results can be seen below for the overall championship.

Position School Points 1 GEORGE SALTER 404 PTS 2 SANDWELL ACADEMY 363 PTS 3 Q3 ACADEMY GREAT BARR 334 PTS 4 WOOD GREEN 325 PTS 5 HOLLY LODGE 296 PTS 6 STUART BATHURST 250 PTS 7 Q3 LANGLEY 248 PTS 8 TURVES GREEN GIRLS 196 PTS 9 PHOENIX 146 PTS 10 OSCA 38 PTS

Holly Lodge is in the process Our Sports Leaders were invited to attend the Youth Sandwell Launch of hosting the Sandwell event at the Albion Foundation. Students were able to try a range of Schools tournaments for this activities from archery to rock climbing. year which will include 4 competitions at Under 13’s and Under 15’s. We have boys and girls sides at every year group representing Holly Lodge. We have been successful with our Under 15 and Under 13 boys teams all making the Sandwell Schools final later in the year.

Badminton

On Thursday 9th November the boys under-16 Badminton team competed in the Sandwell Schools Badminton Competition 2017 held at Oldbury Academy. Playing against a number of local schools the four boys combined outstanding effort and ability to win the tournament outright and progressed to the regional finals. Held at George Salter Academy on Monday 27th November, the regional finals saw the boys compete against Oldbury Academy and two teams from George Salter who also qualified from their area finals. All teams demonstrated some excellent badminton skills during the games, the final result being Holly Lodge finishing third behind the two teams from

George Salter, meaning that overall the Holly Young Leaders Lodge School badminton team ranked second in the regional schools badminton competition. A Naimur Rahman 8MHE huge congratulations to the boys who Shannia Ward 8MHE represented the school, pictured below (left to right): Jelson Yandrapati (10SKN), Vishal Chamba Sarah Benmaach 8JWI (9NPE), Davinder Khala (9CKN) and Tristan Johal Sabir Mohammed Oddin 9ZKH (10SKU). Dounia Allaiouti 10CRO Fatoumata Konleh Batchilly 10LSU Jahlicia Williams 10CRO Jade Graf Haro (Ariana) 10CRO Felicity Banner Msyk 10SKU Taryn Banner-Msyk 9JRU Ismail Hussain 10FWA