Spring 2015 Newsletter Beauty and the Beast

Whitenap Lane Romsey Hampshire SO51 5SY t: 01794 502 502 f: 01794 502 501 e: [email protected] w: www.mountbatten.hants.sch.uk

Founder Patron: Earl Mountbatten of Burma Executive Headteacher: Heather McIlroy Head of School: Christopher Cox Patron: The Hon. Alexandra Knatchbull

Everyone loves a fairy tale and students at The Mountbatten School certainly staged a brilliant production of Beauty and the Beast. The show told the story of Belle, an independent girl who was dissatisfied with life in a small, provincial French town, constantly trying to fight off the misplaced affections of conceited Gaston. Fleeing from home she winds up in the Beast’s enchanted castle where the furniture and crockery come to life.

Around 90 students were involved in the show, either as cast members or as technical crew. Mr Whiteside and Miss Gould said, ‘The students worked tirelessly to bring the show together with stunning effect. The show featured toe-tapping musical numbers against a magnificent set, topped off with dazzling costumes.’ Letter from the Executive Headteacher

Dear Parents We have completely changed our approach to the Year 11 examination countdown period. There is now a fixed point Our Music Academy, launched in September 2014, is going when all Year 11 Controlled Assessments should be from strength to strength. The Carol Service was – and completed. My senior colleagues have been terrier-like in plenty of good judges agree with this view – the best ensuring all students have completed this work. I would ever. The beautiful Romsey Abbey, which has seen many like to thank parents for their support; this will enable lovely and historic events in its 900 year history, was full to students (and teachers) to totally concentrate on the final capacity. Indeed, the school had to provide 300 additional examination preparation. We have also moved the Year 11 chairs. Student choirs, our staff choir, our community mock examinations from December to February. Feedback choir, our orchestras and our readers each played their from parents, teachers and - above all - students suggests parts to perfection. The Expressive Arts faculty have that this was a good decision; students have taken their followed up this triumph with a stunning performance of mocks much more seriously than in previous years, and the Beauty and the Beast with memorable performances by all revision they have done will stay with them for the real cast members, particularly our two leads, Freya Burnside exams. The next few weeks are absolutely and Daanyaal Khan. The Music Department will again be crucial. Students should take advantage of the revision competing in the National Festival of Music. The regional opportunities being offered by their heats are coming up shortly and we hope our students subjects. Mathematics have a particularly effective secure their place in the national finals once again. We programme known as ‘30-4-10’ which is a programme of have seen a much greater take up in the number of 30 minutes of intensive revision work over ten days. This students taking musical instrument lessons, with many will be really useful Easter revision. However, students student learning more than one instrument. We must not exclusively rely on the revision provided by the encourage every student to do this; it is life-enriching and, school; they must do their own and have a carefully thanks to the Music Academy, we have the capacity for planned revision programme. more students to take part. Contact Mr Marchant if you would like more information. Students who work hard over the next few weeks and months will be rewarded in August. We wish Year 11 well. Our fabulous third generation football pitch opened last term. It has been in intense demand and is already close to its booking capacity; even England’s youth squad have played upon it. To maintain its fabulous surface, everyone using it must use studded boots; if students wish to use it Heather McIlroy at lunchtime, they will need to have appropriate foot wear.

Year 9 have completed their options process and Mr Cox and Mr Taylor have been meeting with students to finalise their choices. We know that this year group will face tougher GCSE examinations with more rigorous questions, and responses will require higher literacy skills. Last year we made some significant changes to our curriculum and school organisation. The greater literacy demands (e.g. longer free text answers) in Year 10 and Year 11 (and at A- level) has required a careful and planned response from our subject areas in Years 7 to 9. All subjects are expected to have a greater literacy and oracy focus in Lower School. Parents can support this process by talking more at home about school work, and asking students to frame their responses in sophisticated language and full sentences (as they would in an examination). We also know that students will make more progress in school if there is stimulating reading material at home. Young people who read a daily newspaper will have a particular advantage in job interviews and other business/industry- related situations.

Technology Tournament

On Wednesday 4 March, 3 teams, each of 4 Year 9 students, attended this year’s Technology Tournament at the Cross- field Hall in Romsey. It was an exciting day that involved students designing and building a powered cable car to travel across a gap carrying a pay load, safely deliver it and return. Competition was tough with lots of varied ideas on how best to solve the problem. All students enjoyed the day, their behaviour and commitment were a real credit to the school. One of our teams did particularly well, earning 3rd place.

‘Bright Sparks’ IBM STEM Challenge

Six Year 8 Technology students recently attended an all-day event at IBM Hursley. They were competing in ‘Bright Sparks’, a challenging STEM project. During the day they made excellent use of their IT and computer programming skills to solve various problems. Students attending took on board all that IBM could throw at them and performed exceptionally well.

Students to be commended are: Ryan Pollard, Fraser Henderson, Charlotte White, Grace Nesbit, William Poulter and Athenya Hardy. PE Department

Artur Veeck, a Year 10 student, represented Hampshire at table tennis in the Cadets County Championship. This is a team event involving 3 boys and 2 girls from each county. Hampshire did extremely well and finished as run- ners up of the County Premier 2015.

Having started table tennis at the age of 9, Artur has progressed well with the guidance of his coach, Adam Proszko, at Waterside Table Tennis Club. His training and dedication to the game have led to great opportunities such as taking part in his first international table tennis tournament - the Portuguese Youth Open in December. As the only delegate from England, Artur had the opportunity to train with delegates from France, Luxemburg, Spain, Japan, Netherlands and Portugal, teaming up with a Portuguese delegate to take part in the team events, finishing in 6th place (out of 18 teams).

The Mountbatten School’s U14 Basketball team had a very strong first season together, reaching the Hampshire Schools’ Plate Final. For many of the boys in the team, this was their first time playing competitive basketball. They were matched against St George's, who were tough opponents when they faced off in the league, with Mountbatten winning by only 2 points! The game started slowly and was very close after the first quarter, with the score 15-10 to Mountbatten. Mountbatten then stepped it up a gear and began to dominate the game. The score ended up 79-36 to Mountbatten. Marcus Peach top scored with 26 points, ending the game with 33 re- bounds!! Everyone involved played superbly every second they were on the court, and the team thoroughly deserved their victory.

Zac Booth was awarded MVP for the final with a defensive master class and Marcus Peach was awarded MVP for the season for putting up fantastic numbers in every game he played. Ben Nelson was 'Surprise of the Sea- son'. Ben deserved this award for his outstanding commitment to both the lunchtime and after school sessions, his support and encouragement for his teammates at every game he was in the team, and his progression and de- velopment on the court throughout the season, culminating in scoring the final basket in the Plate Final itself!

The Mountbatten School’s U15 Rugby team travelled to Cams Hill School, Portsmouth to play in their first ever Hampshire County RFU Bowl Final.

The squad of 22 players, was made up of 13 students from Year 10 and 9 students from Year 9. It was a tough match with plenty of huge hits and big tackles. The set piece was dominated by the strong Mountbatten forwards pack, exceptionally marshalled by Year 10 Captain Finn Goodridge.

There was a great atmosphere with a large crowd of parents, staff and friends. The match was very close, with no more than 7 points dividing the teams throughout the entire match. Tries were scored by Charlie Good, Year 9, Matt Scrase, Year 9 and exceptional in their play were speedsters Nick Comer and Theo Wolfarth, with some brute strength from forwards James Sidhu, Ethan Hunt, Graham Bovis and Rafel Moran. However, the winning try was scored by Theo Wolfarth, Year 10, who out sprinted three opposition players on the wing to score un- der the posts, giving an easy kick to Nick Comer, Year 10. The final score was 19-12. Breakfast Club

The Mountbatten School’s Breakfast Club celebrated its 1st Birthday on Tuesday 3 February with an abundance of pancakes, sugar, lemon and strawberries! Every year, people strive to make the perfect pancake, but The Mount- batten School’s Breakfast Club has been a recipe for success from the start!

Studies have shown that little or no breakfast can lead to poor concentration and behaviour and, with people leading such busy lives, some students were arriving at school not having had time for breakfast. As word spread, the origi- nal 8 students have become 28, all enjoying a variety of cereals, fruit, toast and yoghurt with the eagerly awaited, ‘Sausage and Bacon Friday!’

The club, started by Theresa Knight and Nikki Godwin, is funded in a variety of ways including two recently awarded grants. The grants from Radio Solent’s Community Chest and Aster Communities afforded the students a Christmas party, which was thoroughly enjoyed, with the rest going towards the purchase of a hot drinks maker and other nec- essary items. The Radio Solent Community Chest grant also led to a spot on the new Solent TV channel, highlighting the success of the club.

Year 10 Muffin Bake-Off

Year 10 boys proved beyond all doubt that when it comes to baking and making delicious festive muffins, Mountbatten boys take some beating! Cocoa powder was weighed, eggs broken, and much powerful spoon-stirring was completed by Year 10 boys, and teams battled it out with each other in a grand Bake-Off final of English students cross-curricular food marketing project.

They even tidied up after themselves as well. Their mothers would be proud!

Number Day

In December, the Mathematics department ran their annual Number Day for Year 8 students. Across the year group, students worked together in teams to solve a variety of open ended maths based Christmas problems. Successful groups demonstrated excellent teamwork and presented all their assumptions and calculations to the Year 10 judges. A senior member of staff commented, ‘All the students really enjoyed the challenge and asked insightful questions, which showed the depth of thought demonstrated in the students’ solu- tions. It was a great way to incorporate Christmas into Teaching and Learning in a way that all the students enjoyed.’ The Mountbatten School Music Academy On Sunday 22 March, The Mountbatten Big Band performed in the Turner Sims Concert Hall. The evening was fantastic, with performances from primary school students in the Mountbatten Music Academy ensembles.

Everyone performed really well and special congratulations go to the Wellow School KS2 Choir, Rownhams Trumpets, North Baddesley Band and Halterworth Woodwind Ensemble! .

World Book Day and Hampshire Book Award

The Cat in the Hat, Where’s Wally, Sherlock Holmes, The Mad Hatter, The Woman in Black, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldi- locks and The Ghost of Jacob Marley were among the book characters welcoming 47 hugely excited Year 7 students to our wonderful library on World Book Day on 5 March 2015. It was heart-warming to see the Year 7s’ enthusiasm, love of reading and impeccable behaviour, as they enjoyed quizzes and competitions, proof, if it was needed, that reading is hun- gry work - a well-earned pizzathon which saw over 30 pizzas devoured and demolished in record time. The event drew to a chilling close in the twilight, with a spine-tingling tale read by the great detective of 221A Baker Street himself, cunningly disguised as Mr Dunn!

The biggest reading event of the year has started in the library where 70 keen readers are shadowing the 2015 Hampshire Book Award. The Hampshire Book Award is judged entirely by students and our avid readers from Years 7 to 10, will read the shortlisted books and chose a worthy winner. The announcement of the shortlist is eagerly anticipated by staff and students alike and several months of heated debate will follow as students voice their opinions on the six books. Students Become BBC Journalists 18 Mountbatten students rose to the challenge of becoming BBC school reporters for the day on Thursday 19 March. Across the country, over 30,000 students took part in the BBC’s annual School Report Day. Our students spent the day writing, reporting and filming, with former student Tom Bell assisting with the production and editing of the broadcast. Students turned one English classroom into a Newsroom for the day.

Since Christmas, students have been meeting with Miss Ludgate every Tuesday afternoon to hone their journal- ism skills. Students have previously visited Romsey town centre to practise filming on location and interviewing the public. They have learnt about the BBC’s values, how to write a report, how to create a broadcast and how to present to camera. On the day itself, all of these skills were required, as well as great teamwork! Students had a BBC deadline of 2.00pm before ‘going live’ with their broadcast.

On the day itself, students were visited by Assistant Editor and Output Producer for BBC Regional news, Mr Richard Spalding. Mr Spalding was impressed by the students’ professionalism, live reporting skills and in particular with their makeshift autocue!

Sian Brace, one of the BBC school reporters said ‘it was a really enjoyable day and was wonderful to have Mr Spal- ding come in to give us advice.’ The BBC School Report team would love it if you could visit their site to watch the full 12 minute report they created on the day. Visit www.mountbatten.hants.sch.uk/report to catch up on the broadcast and written stories from last week. Election Candidates ‘Question Time’

On Friday 13 March, The Mountbatten School hosted a ‘Question Time’ styled debate with the local election candidates and 120 Year 9 students. The candidates were Caroline Nokes, Conservative, Darren Paffey, Labour, Ben Nicholls, Liberal Democrats, Ian Callaghan, Green Party and Sandra James, UKIP.

Prior to the debate, the candidates met with Executive Headteacher, Heather McIlroy, Head of School, Chris Cox and ex Mountbatten Student, Sam Longmore, who officially handed over the title of Member of Youth Parliament to Year 11 student, Daanyaal Khan.

The debate was chaired by Sam Longmore and history teacher, Julie Morgan, with questions posed by Year 9 students. The questions, which were written during history lessons, were topical and specific to each party, including a controversial question about why a party would want to legalise cannabis. This led to a lively debate amongst the candidates, who finally had to agree to disagree! The students were especially interested to hear the arguments for and against leaving the EU, a topic often discussed in the news, and what each party thought about the £9000 university fees, which will obviously be of relevance to the students in the near future.

Sam Longmore commented, ‘The debate went extremely well and was enjoyed enormously by both students and candidates. I've had lots of achievements and great fun during my term in office, and this was a great way for me to end. I wish Daan every success for the future.’ Cardica Smart Event

On Tuesday 28 January, The Mountbatten School’s Transition and Outreach Co-ordinator, Mrs Lyn Lovell, and ex- student Sam Mangoro attended the Cardica Smart event at the House of Commons hosted by Andy Burham MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and North West Ambulance Service. Among the guests were MPs, Lords and various other interested parties including ‘Hands on Heart’ and ‘SADs’. Mrs Lovell was invited to speak in front of over 200 representatives from interested parties including 60 MPs.

With the help of Sam, Mrs Lovell stressed the importance of better education and access to defibrillators as in the UK, 12 young, and seemingly fit and healthy people, die each week from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. The event highlighted the need for screening to be made available for all children to eliminate the risk of an undiagnosed heart condition and emphasised the importance of all school leavers learning lifesaving skills, including CPR and how to use a defibrillator, which the organisers of the event would like to see increased in number in the community.

In March 2014 Sam, who was then a student at the school, collapsed during a PE lesson after his heart stopped. Sam’s life was saved as a result of the swift action of first aiders on site and the use of the school’s defibrillator. Whilst still in hospital, Sam had an internal defibrillator fitted to ensure that he would be safe should his heart ever stop again. However, he wanted to make sure that other young people who may have undiagnosed heart conditions were also safe, and so he started the ‘All Heart Campaign.’ Sam does all he can to raise awareness of the need for defibrillators to be made compulsory in schools, as well as other issues surrounding sudden cardiac arrests. He spoke at the SADs UK Heart to Heart Conference in October and this November he has been invited to share his story at The Resuscitation Council (UK) Scientific Symposium in Birmingham, which will be attended by all grades of healthcare professionals from all over the UK. Sam also raises funds to purchase defibrillators for schools and has so far placed one in Crestwood College in Eastleigh and another in the Shoreham Academy, West Sussex.

Mrs Lovell commented, ‘The Mountbatten School is in the process of training our Year 7 students in basic CPR and we are aiming to roll this out to the other Year groups over the coming months.’

On Thursday 26 March the school hosted an event where students aged 14 – 16 years old were given the opportunity to be screened for heart defects using a simple and non-invasive electrocardiogram procedure. It is hoped that soon defibrillators will be in all schools and the wider community, and students learning lifesaving skills, will UK Heart Safe Awards 2014

The Mountbatten School was recently nominated for the UK Heart Safe Awards 2014. The awards were presented at an evening ceremony on Thursday 2 October at The Radisson Blue Edwardian Manchester Hotel.

Two of the staff who helped to resuscitate Sam Mangoro, Lyn Lovell and Janet Barratt, attended the ceremony. Nominated for two awards, Educational Establishment of the Year and Life Saver of the Year – On Duty, they were delighted to win the award for Life Saver of the Year – On Duty. Lyn Lovell commented, ‘We are extremely honoured to receive the award but are pleased that it has highlighted the importance of having defibrillators in educational establishments.’

Community The Mountbatten School Activity Club is open every school holiday from 8.30am—5.30pm for ages from 6—10 years. Activities in- clude: Cooking, Trampolining, ICT, Sports, Arts and Crafts and much more.

The 11+ Activity Club is open for ages 11—16 years and offers a variety of activities and trips.

For more information please telephone 01794 523037 or visit the school website: www.mountbatten.hants.sch.uk and click on the Community Link.

Year 10 Catering Competition

Year 10 Catering students recently took part in a competition at school to win a place at the Catering Competition at Brockenhurst College. Nick O’Halloran, Head Chef at Silks Hotel, Romsey, very kindly came and judged the entries. The students had to make a 2 course meal, either a starter and main or main and sweet. The entries were all of an extremely high standard and Nick tasted and enjoyed every dish.

The overall winners were Lucy Cripps and Ella Mills who then went on to perform extremely well at the competition at Brockenhurst, with Ella winning bronze.

Key 2015 Term Dates for Your Diary 2015 Easter Holidays 03.04.15 - 17.04.15 Ski Trip 03.04.15 - 11.04.15 Monday 4 May Bank Holiday May half-term 25.05.15 - 29.05.15 Thursday 25 June Open Evening for prospective students who will start Year 7 in September 2016 Thursday 2 July Open Evening for students who will start Year 7 in September 2015 Summer Holidays 23.07.15 - 31.08.15

Training to Teach Information Events

The Hampshire

SCITT Partnership

Interested in Training to Teach?

Is your son or daughter in the final year of an undergraduate degree or a recent graduate and considering a career in teaching? As you know, Mountbatten is a partner school in the Hampshire LEARN SCITT Partnership, a school based initial teacher training provider in Hampshire.

We have training places in Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English, History, Design and Technology and Primary for 2015-2016.

As well as those people who are graduating this year or have recently graduated, we are also interested in graduates who are considering a change in career and thinking about training to teach.

Do look at our website: learnalliance.org.uk

It will tell you all about us, the entry requirements for teacher training and how to apply through UCAS. You will also see a link to the new national government campaign for teacher recruitment: Your Future/Their Future

If you would like more information please contact:

Mrs Sian Taggart (SCITT Administrator) – 023 8024 6950 - [email protected]

Mrs Juliet Pearce (Director of SCITT) – 023 8024 6579 – [email protected]

You can also follow us on Twitter @HantsLEARNSCITT National Citizens Service

Places are filling fast for Summer 2015 Don’t miss out on your chance to take part!

Croyde . Gower . Falmouth Surfing . Coasteering . Kayaking. Total Wipe Out . Power Boating . High Ropes . Laser Quest . Much More

The Mountbatten School ‘A good school with many areas of excellence.’ - Ofsted, 2009 If you would like a personal tour of the School, or would like to meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team, please contact Caroline O’Rourke on 01794 502502