Lealands News

School Newsletter | Issue 14 | October 2013 | Student Name ______

Inside this issue: Year 9 Engagement Headteacher’s Introduction P2-3 Programme P12-13 Notices P4 News P14 GCSE Results P5 Accelerated Reader P15 Welcome Year 7s P6-7 Ghana Trip P16 Summer School P8 Book Festival P17 Memorial Garden and Dan Global Citizenship P18-19 Freedman Visit P9 School Trips P20-21 Opening Event & Community School Production P22-23 Fun Day P10-11 Open Evening P24

Coming Up Term Dates: >>> Autumn Term Half Term Week Open Evening Wednesday Monday 28th October— Wednesday 4th September— Friday 1st November 16th October Friday 20th December , Road, LU3 3AL Tel: 01582 611600 Fax: 01582 612227 Email: [email protected] www.lealands.luton.sch.uk

Aspire Believe Achieve Introduction from Headteacher - Mr Burridge

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have had an excellent start to the term and have returned to news of fantastic GCSE results from our ex-Year 11 students. More details about these are given in this newsletter. Year 7 students are settling in really well and we are all getting used to the increased numbers. We were very relieved to come back to our completely finished school after the disruption of the last couple of years – but it was all worth it!

The new term sees us welcoming a number of new staff to the school: Mr Abraham (English teacher) Miss Ayres (Head of Technology) Mr Concannon (technology teacher) Mrs Kellett (art teacher) Miss Miller (art technician) Mr Reading (Head of Year 7 and maths teacher) Ms Wright (science teacher) Mrs Pittard (Communications Administrator) Mr Choudhury (learning support) Mrs Lalji (learning support) and Mrs St. Ville (learning support). We are very pleased to have successfully employed such high calibre staff and I am sure you will all join me in welcoming them to Lealands. We also have a number of trainee teachers working with us this year through our partnerships with the University of , Chiltern Training Group and Luton Futures/Schools Direct. We wish them well this year.

We received some very good news at the end of last term as Miss Bews gave birth, in June, to a healthy baby girl. We miss her and look forward to Miss Bews returning to the school soon. Two other members of staff have just begun maternity leave: Miss Evans (Communications Administrator) and Mrs Smith (PE teacher). We all wish them well for the future.

Much has changed and improved at Lealands over the last couple of years and we know that parental satisfaction is now very high. However, we also know there are always things we can improve further. Please let us know of any concerns or comments you have as these are always helpful to us in planning for the future.

This year our priorities for continued improvement have been refined to cover:

 Supporting every student to achieve excellence

 Stakeholders – working more with governors, parents, partner schools, local community and others

 Improving school systems – including: teaching and learning; home learning and responses to marking

 Growth and succession planning – ensuring we cater well for the growing number of students attending the school

2 We have already made a good start on these priorities with a staggering number of Year 7 parents volunteering to join the parents forum – Mrs Bendefy (Assistant Head) is planning how to manage the numbers and will be in touch soon. We have also introduced green pens for students to respond to the marking in their books. This builds on the very positive comments made about marking in the school. We continue to work very closely in partnership with Lea Springs schools and within Luton Futures. This will be further enhanced with a joint Luton Futures training day in January where teachers from Lealands, High School and Girls School will all work together on planning outstanding teaching.

I hope you enjoy reading about the many events and student achievements in this newsletter and I am looking forward to another exciting year at Lealands.

John Burridge

Headteacher

Online Payments

This is a reminder that you can now pay online using the ‘Parents Payment’ link from the homepage of our website: www.lealands.luton.sch.uk

If you do not have your link code to login, please contact the school finance office on 01582 611600. Parents can pay online for the following:

Voluntary Contributions Trips and Visits

Technology contributions Years 7, 8 and 9 Blue Peris November 2013 Graphics contributions Years 10 and 11 Resistant materials contributions Years 10 and 11

3 Important Update To The Student Leave of Absence Policy

Following advice from , the Lealands High School Student Leave of Absence Policy has been updated, to correspond with the new Local Authority Policy. A copy of the full policy can be found on the policies page of our website www.lealands.luton.sch.uk

The main changes are: The school will not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The law does not give any entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time. Authorisation for leave will not be given in the following circumstances:  A pupil’s attendance is less than 97% in the current academic year and 95% in the previous academic year.  A pupil is in Years 7, 10 or 11.  During SATS, GCSE or other public examinations.  At the beginning of any academic year.  Retrospectively.  If there are any other attendance concerns such as poor punctuality.  For family holidays.  If leave of absence has already been taken in the same school year.

Important Dates

Presentation Evening - Thursday 3rd October 2013 Open Evening - Wednesday 16th October 2013 Christmas Concert - Tuesday 10th December 2013 and Wednesday 11th December 2013 (Details to follow)

Parents Evenings Year 11 - Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Year 10 - Wednesday 20th November 2013 Year 8 - Wednesday 4th December 2013

Term Dates Autumn Term Wednesday 4th September - Friday 20th December 2013 Half Term: Monday 28th October - Friday 1st November 2013

Spring Term Tuesday 7th January 2014 - Friday 4th April 2014 Half Term: Monday 17th February - Friday 21st February 2014

4 Important Update To The Student Leave of Absence Policy Class of 2013 GCSE Results

Well done to the class of 2013 on excellent GCSE results. 72% A*-C English and 68% A*-C in maths. 57% 5+ A-C (EM).

Lealands’ students have achieved excellent results in 2013 GCSEs. Their successes reflect the school motto, ‘Aspire Believe Achieve’ and many have achieved above expectations which is a credit to their hard work and dedication.

Provisional results show further improvements from last year’s very good attainment. 18% of students achieved 3 or more A/A* grades. 72% achieved a grade C or above in English and 68% in maths. Overall, 57% achieved 5+ A*-C including English and maths which we believe is above this year’s national average.

We are very pleased to report that our results for pure academic GCSEs (without equivalent easier qualifications) hold very well at 55% 5+ A*-C with English and maths which is likely to be well above the national average.

Some individuals performed exceptionally well, achieving more than 6 A*/A grades: Jess Conway, Matthew Cooney, Molly Davies, Alex Eves, Shannon Kitsell, Chantelle Knight, Aaliyah Lockitt, Jordan Mongey, Shannon Murphy, Amy-Liann Nilsson and Lauren Powell. A special congratulations to Amy-Liann Nilsson who gained a phenomenal 13 A*/A grades.

A number of students made exceptional progress in English/maths: Nathan Beck, Ryley Divine, Aeishia Dayes, Tia Fleming, Shannon Kitsell, Pierce McCarthy, Kareem Ngwisa, Leanne Rouse and Samantha Thompson.

Mr Burridge, Headteacher, said, “I am overjoyed by the success of our students. They and their teachers work so hard and it is great that this has paid off with such fantastic results. This year has been full of highlights with the completion of our refurbishment, excellent outcome from Ofsted and now this! We are all celebrating.”

Paul Troughton, Chair of Governors, said, “Our school has gone from strength to strength and these results are wonderful. The staff are so committed and dedicated. The Governors would like to wish all of our ex-Year 11 students well for the future”.

5 Welcome To The New Year 7 Students

After a busy summer filled with transition events, the new term loomed ahead. In past years this filled many students with dread, fear and wonder at what exactly lay ahead in their first year at . For many Lealands High School students this year, that was not the case.

Many felt they were already a part of Lealands after attending the transition clubs after school last term.

‘I attended the dance club. It was really good and it also helped me feel I was part of Lealands school’ Jessica Farquharson

‘I went to the art club and we got to use the chalks and stuff. I liked it because I met some of the teachers and older students. When I came in September is was like coming back more than being new.’ Elijah Mead

Some selected students then went on to attend the summer school program which included a week of events held at the school in the first week of the holidays and a residential project at Dell Farm towards the end of the summer.

6 Year 7 Transition Days - Dell Farm

‘I went to the summer project at Lealands. We did all sorts of exciting things but I loved the sports best. I got to meet loads of people who would be joining in September like me and it made me feel confident.’Seiya Fujino

‘I stayed at Dell Farm. There were lots of fun things to do, climbing, caving, bike rides and the zoo but more than this I made some good friends and had fun. The staff were really funny. So when I started in September I felt good, not nervous at all’ Michael Bankole

After this, first day was easy ;

'My first day was fun. I played with friends and did fun lessons.' Mukai Dryden-Chidawa

'I really enjoyed my first day. All of the staff were polite and kind and there was plenty of activities to do.' Leon Doherty

‘My first day was fun because I got to see my form tutor. Also I got to see my friends because I had not seen them in a long time.' Julie Soeng

'I enjoyed my first day because I got to share it with old friends and new friends.' Marvin Witter

Welcome Year 7 and have a great year!

7 Summer School 2013 During the first full week of the Summer holiday, Lealands hosted a Summer School for some of our new year 7 students.

Over the course of the week they were able to take part in a multitude of different sports and games as well as a massive water fight.

They also had the opportunity to build rockets and launch them, make sweets and, yes you’ve guessed it, eat them! They played with Mentos and cola bottles which made a fantastic mess. They experimented with methane gas and conducted the ‘Whoosh Bottle’ experiment. All great fun.

They learned about famous battles from and made soldiers’ helmets. They then had to recreate the battle itself. Everyone survived!

They took part in an ecological study and learned about vegetables in all their forms. They were able to visit the Lealands allotment to see some actually growing although the weather was not kind to us on that day. Nothing grows without water!

This year we also had a circus school visit us and students were able to learn to juggle all manner of different things. They also filled the sports hall with spinning plates. Very impressive.

The week of activities was supported by some of our fantastic student leaders. Their contribution really made the Summer School so enjoyable and memorable. Well done and congratulations to:

Karl Dearden, Carl Coleman, Ryan O’Reilly, Oliver Stringer, Katie Pye, Kayla Perry, Percy Magaya, Regan Cook and Holly Coleman.

8 Swita Sandhu Memorial Tree and Garden

Some of you may have noticed the lovely white blossom tree that has been planted near the front entrance to the school. A plaque has now been added in memory of a well respected and sadly missed teacher, Miss Sandhu, who died unexpectedly during the Summer holidays last year. The tree and the fenced off grass area is dedicated to the memory of Miss Sandhu and other staff and students who have been sadly lost to us over the years.

Dan Freedman visits Lealands High School Year 8s

On the 3rd July, Dan Freedman came to talk to Year 8 students about how his life changed from being a football journalist to become an author. Dan answered many questions about his career and how long it took him to publish his first book. Dan showed students a preview film of one of his books starring his character- Jamie Johnson. He asked students if they thought it should be made into a film or TV series. The students thought it should be a series to follow the books of Jamie from the age of 13 through to 19. Dan awarded students who asked the best questions with signed books and the top student received an autographed ball and five pounds. The winner was Harry Clark.

9 Lealands celebrates the completed refurbishments of the school

During July, Lealands High School held a number of events to celebrate the completed £17.5 million refurbishment of the school.

A balloon release was held for students and staff, with 1000 balloons in the school colours released on the school field. All balloons had a race ticket attached with the ticket found in the location furthest away from the school winning an Ipad. The winning ticket was found in the Isle of Skye, Scotland, a staggering 575 miles away form Lealands.

On Thursday 18th July, the school held its official opening ceremony. Invited guests included past pupils, members of staff, members of the local community and teams involved in the refurbishment works. Guests were treated to a fruit cocktail and an indulgent cream tea prepared by Lealands catering students, entertainment was provided by Lealands orchestra, choir and an excerpt of our summer show Jesus Christ Superstar.

The grand finale of our celebrations was our annual Community Fun Day where money was raised for Keech Hospice and KK Stars. As part of the activities on the day, visitors were able to see the fantastic school facilities first hand with a guided tour of the completed school. The tours were a great success, especially with a number of ex-students who are now parents of existing students being able to see how the school had changed since they had attended Lealands.

Balloon Race Winner

A year 7 student is the lucky winner of an Ipad, with their balloon ticket being found in Kyleankin, Isle of Skye, 575 miles away, and a member of staff is also a lucky winner of an Ipad, with their balloon ticket being found 79.2 miles away in Newbury, Berkshire.

Balloon tickets have also been found in towns including: Bassildon Park, Blewbury Didcot, Braziers Park , Brightwatlon, Chinnor, Cholsey, Compton, Coombe Hill, Drayton Beauchamp, Ewelme, Gillingham, Goring-on Thames, Hampstead Norrey, Ipsden, Kingston Blount, Kyleakin, Lewknor, Lower Basildon, Luton, Menen, Monks Risborough, Motcombe, Newbury, Nuffield, OX, Pangbourne, Princes Risborough, Reading, Stokenchurch, Thatcham, Tring, Herts, Wallingford

10 Community Fun Day - Saturday July 20th 2013

Although the temperatures did not soar, the weather was kind to us and at midday on Saturday 20th July our second annual Community Fun Day opened its doors to the people of Sundon Park and beyond.

Raising money for Children's Services, Relay for Life and Families United Network was our aim and everyone involved was committed to making the day a great success.

Our theme was “old school fete” and so it was very much a case of cakes, ice cream, tombolas and bouncy castles, plus the chance to soak the Head teacher whilst he was securely locked up in our stocks.

Close to a thousand people attended throughout the day and helped us raise £2280 for our charities with close to £1700 raised for Keech.

Highlights of the day included performances from street dancers; Karate enthusiasts; demonstrations from a cheerleading troupe and the five a side football tournament.

However, the real highlight must be the way all sectors of the community came together to make the day such a fantastic success.

Thanks to Sundon Park Centre Trust, Sundon Park Youth Centre, Sundon Park Junior School, Sundon Athletic Youth FC, KK Stars, Families United Network, Lealands High School Staff and all the students, parents and local people who came along to support what was essentially their day.

Preparations are already underway to make next year’s event even bigger and better.

11 Year 9 Engagement Programme

At the beginning of June, 30 students from Year 9 were invited to participate in an exciting new initiative taking place at Lealands. The Engagement Programme would last for 6 weeks and would culminate in a reward trip to Willen Lake.

The programme was designed to engage students in many different activities to help them develop their communication skills; raise levels of self-esteem; increase confidence and show them how to be vital members of a successful team. We believe these life skills will be invaluable during the transition from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4.

During the first four sessions, the students were split into two groups and each group undertook various challenges and activities. Communication skills and leadership styles were discussed and developed. Group dynamics were explored and the students looked at how increased pressure can affect decision making. All the participants had the opportunity to excel in different fields. Some were better at taking the lead and others were more able to solve problems using creative or lateral thinking. The two groups had worked very hard and really improved the team building skills.

These new skills were severely put to the test during session 5. We had arranged to take the 2 groups out into the local countryside for a 4 hour walk and we had also set them some more challenges. Unfortunately, on the morning of our adventure the weather was awful. It started raining just before we were due to leave and it did not stop until after we returned to Lealands.

The students were magnificent. They completed most of their challenges and walked across open countryside in truly terrible weather conditions with no moaning at all. Well not too much!

12 Example of questions the students faced on the walk: A traveller comes to a fork in the road which leads to two villages. In one village the people always tell lies, and in the other village the people always tell the truth. The traveller needs to conduct business in the village where everyone tells the truth. A man from one of the villages is standing in the middle of the fork, but there is no indication of which village he is from. The traveller approaches the man and asks him one question. From the villager's answer, he knows which road to follow. What did the traveller ask?

Would you please tell me which road leads to your village? Either way he will point to the village that tells the truth. The truthful person will point to his own village and the liar would lie and he would also point to the truthful village. On Thursday 4th July the Engagement Programme was on the road again. This time for the reward trip to Willen Lake. They continued with the themes they had explored throughout the Engagement Programme and had the opportunity to take part in various activities including archery, katakanus, raft building and a series of team challenges to get their group thinking laterally and working together.

All the students took part fully and had a great time. They behaved impeccably and were a credit to our school. Well done to: Rana Arif, Latifah Begum, Keiron Lee Dear, Tatiana Kamala, Zac Robinson, Mohammed Shehraz, Rachel Collier, Korban Dearing, Christopher Meaton, Arif Muhmand, Rebecca Smith, Megan White, Ross Withers, Sameer Khan, Samantha Cox, Danell Snookes, Leah Thirlwell, Nabilah Begum, Sumerah Bibi, Stevie Drake, Jimmy Gibson, qman Khan, Heather Masuka, Aniqa Miah, Brenda Nanjengo, Hali Samuels, Matthew Wadja and Amna Zareen.

13 Athletics - Eavion Richardson

Eavion Richardson competed in the Schools International Athletics in Dublin on the weekend of 20-21st July. She came second with a long jump of 5.33m in difficult wind conditions.

Eavion also competed in the English Schools Athletics competition on 6th July, and she came second with a personal best of 5.85m in the long jump.

Well done Eavion!

Catering Award

School Chef, Doreen Peacock, had cause for celebration in July after securing 3 silver awards in the Local Authority Caterers Association- Finishing Touches Competition.

Doreen secured the silver awards for her sugared flowers, cupcakes and decorated celebration cake. This is a fantastic achievement for Doreen and recognises her skills at a national level. The catering staff at Lealands have won numerous awards over the last 12 months which recognises the quality of food that is available to all students at breakfast, break and lunch time.

14 Accelerated Reader - Trip to Harry Potter

During the last academic year, our average Key Stage 3 student was reading for 20 minutes each day meeting the national target for all children.

In July, 49 students had the opportunity to visit the Warner Brothers Studios in Watford as a reward for performing particularly well throughout the academic year (some students had averaged over an hour of reading every day). The students had great fun learning how to perform spells, flying CGI broomsticks and spotting the hidden golden snitches.

A special congratulations is in order for Karris Mcgonigle, Jodie Clingo and Kate Cheng who won Kobos for finishing top of their respective year groups for achieving the highest number of points.

In a bid to continue the excellent progress students are making with Accelerated Reader, many more prizes will be available this year for those who are making outstanding progress with their reading. Stay tuned!

15 Miss Sterry’s Trip to Ghana

Over the summer, I had the great privilege and pleasure to be able to travel to Ghana to teach in some of the local schools in Accra and Agona. Organised by the University of Warwick, the Warwick in Africa programme has sought to improve the teaching of English and Maths in a number of different countries in Africa over the last 7 years, both through teaching in schools and training existing teachers there.

School life in Ghana is very different to that in . The students we taught were attending a summer school, relinquishing their free time to further their education. Their enthusiasm was astounding: arriving at 6am to clean the school, attending multiple English and maths lessons each day, cleaning the school a second time before leaving at 2pm and heading home to continue the house work or paid manual labour they also had to complete – all without a single complaint!

With the particular help of the current year 9s, I was able to raise over £700 towards buying equipment and resources for the schools I worked in. Together, we provided them with white boards for the classrooms so that the students could read the work clearly, textbooks to provide them with new information and a host of practical maths equipment to make their lessons more fun! Thank you to everyone who raised money; it really has made a difference!

16 Luton Book Festival 2013

Luton’s 2nd Book festival is being held between 28 September and 9 November. There will be a series of special events for adults and children, talks, workshops and performances which are being held at various Luton libraries, Luton Library Theatre and .

Authors giving talks include Conn Iggulden (“The Dangerous Books For Boys”, Emperor & Conqueror series), Jon Stock (Daily Telegraph journalist and thriller writer) and Charlie Lovett (“The Bookman’s Tale” made the New York Times Bestseller list). Local authors will be giving talks, as well as workshops (including a Mythological Monster Illustration Workshop). There are also a number of free events for children.

Tickets can be reserved, booked online or you can buy them at the Visitor Information Centre in the Central Library. Information on individual events be found at www.lutonlibraries.co.uk..

17 Lealands Students Learn About Global Citizenship

Staff and students have been made aware of how lucky they are to have such fantastic learning facilities and resources when they welcomed two overseas teachers; Miss Aparna Kala from Subodh School in India and Mr Edward Ntungi from Sazira Secondary School in Tanzania. This exciting opportunity came about due to the Connecting Classrooms programme and coincides with Lealands being awarded the International School Award (ISA). Lealands’ International Coordinator Mr. Slatter visited Mr Ntungi’s school in Tanzania in May this year and will be visiting Miss Kala’s school in October.

The ISA is designed to help embed international learning within the curriculum; through forging links with partner schools abroad and teaching young people about the world around them and encouraging global citizenship.

Headteacher Mr. Burridge said, “I am delighted that our work with overseas schools and other countries has been recognised by this prestigious award. The British Council has really commended Mr Slatter on his work as International Coordinator and this adds so much to life at Lealands. Our students are extremely aware, and have a great understanding of their role as global citizens. They are also benefitting from some amazing opportunities to interact and learn from others around the world.”

On Thursday 12 September, Miss Kala and Mr. Ntungi kindly presented an assembly to the Year 10 students highlighting the difference in their schools and teaching practices from those in the UK. In the assembly there were performances from Lealands Samba band and the Year 11 performing arts troupe.

18 Following the assembly, two of our Year 11 students, Luke Davis and Georgia Marcantonio were given the opportunity to interview the visitors. Miss Kala and Mr Ntungi talked candidly about the differences they had found in cultures, for example Mr Ntungi spoke of how at Sazira Secondary School in Tanzania, some students have a 1 ½ hour walk just to get to school and they teach classes of up to 78 students with 10 sharing only one book. The differences were not so vast for Miss Kala and we found that there were in fact quite a few similarities in the school system. The main differences were that children started a school at primary age and continued at that same school until the age of 18 and due to their good climate, their assemblies are always held outside instead of inside in an assembly hall.

The difference in culture was something of a shock to Mr. Ntungi who had never seen a motorway like the M25, a train or the tube, and could never have imagined being on an escalator. He even experienced a car crash, “If that had been at home, we would have just driven off” he said.

It really hit home with the students that their education should not be taken for granted and how they need to take full advantage and appreciate the facilities, resources and opportunities they are lucky enough to have available to them unlike their peers in other countries.

19 School Trips - Thorpe Park Trip Monday 22nd July 2013

The trip to Thorpe Park was by far the most popular trip amongst the students, with the original 100 tickets selling out by the end of break on the first day. The numbers were increased and the extra tickets quickly sold, plus there was a waiting list for any cancellations!

So at 8.30am, 230 students and 12 staff left in a 4 coach convoy. The journey was quick considering, and having had the tickets delivered to school, once we reached the park there was not too long to wait. Having received their instructions from coach leaders about staying together and emergency contact numbers, the students were allowed free roaming of the park. Staff were walking around the park and based at meeting points, but we only saw a few students who had minor issues; the rest just waved to us from the stupidly long queues or the top of a very very tall ride.

The weather was glorious, the students were impeccably behaved and a fun day was had by all. We convened at the prearranged meeting point for the trip home, all in very good spirits having had a lovely day. The journey was uneventful, with most students too exhausted to do much more than listen to music or chat with friends.

All in all a lovely day out.

20 School Trips - XC Centre

In July, some of the Year 7 students enjoyed a trip to XC which is an extreme sports facility based in Hemel Hempstead

There is a skate park, a 14m climbing wall, one of the world's largest organic indoor caving systems, bouldering and a challenging high ropes course.

The students were able to experience lots of new activities and many faced up to their fears.

‘It was all very good fun. I enjoyed the caving the most’ Geri.

‘I enjoyed caving the most. I overcame my fear of heights a little bit’Charlotte .

‘I overcame my fear of caving and really enjoyed it all’ Leah.

‘I really enjoyed the whole day, but my favourite part was the caving’ Courtney.

‘I enjoyed the caving the most and faced my fears’ Lydia.

21 School Production of Jesus Christ Superstar

The School Production in July of 'Jesus Christ Superstar', was a resounding success and played to an audience of over 700 people throughout the week. Taking part in the show forms part of the mark scheme for the GCSE Drama practical element of the exam. This particular performance was challenging for the students, due to the fact that there is no spoken dialogue and the whole text is sung. The students rose to the challenge and were outstanding in every sense of the word. Each student gave an excellent performance, but particular mention must be made of Jonathan Addai, who performed the part of 'Jesus' brilliantly!

We are very lucky to have such gifted students who were able to perform such a difficult show (not many other schools would even begin to work on it!) and make such an impression on the audience.

The students were supported by an amazing group of professional musicians who formed the 'show band'. We are indebted to them every year.

The lighting, sound and other technical additions were amazing and added to making the whole week memorable.

The week was 'summed up' in a quote from a letter from the Chair of Governors. 'The Production was totally awesome. I was stunned and amazed'..... 'Unforgettable'.

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