Denmark Road News

Issue 4: April 2019

Dear Parents/Carers I am never quite sure how we manage to fit so much in to a term, but we do! I know you will enjoy reading this newsletter, which highlights the wonderful experiences and achievements of our students. In our end of term assembly, we celebrated student achievements by recognising those highly commended in sport and the awarding of colours. Awards are as follows: Year 7-9 Netball Highly Commended: Year 7: Millie Baldwin, Florence Hampton, Juliet Bye Netball Junior colours: Year 8: Rebecca Moore, Tilly Hall. Year 9: Suhani Manju, Sienna Viveash, Annabel Goodrum. Year 9: Sophie Paulus, Emily Wiles. Year 10-11 Netball Highly Commended: Year 10: Amelia Clarke, Molly Stephens, Maddie Davis, Charlotte Ross, Esme Crooknorth, Rebecca James, Abigail Russell, Isobel Fraser Hook Netball Senior colours: Year 11: Felicity Townend, Scarlett Jinks, Sofia Moran Casanova. We also celebrated the achievement of the Charity Committee, a student body formed of representatives from each Year 7 to 10 tutor group and ably led by 7 Year 11 students. The committee has so far raised an incredible £2011.21 for their chosen charity ‘Make a Wish’. The committee members (listed below) were awarded their pin badges today. Year 7: Riya Joseph, Esme Grange, Lilia Morley, Aleeta Babu, Laila Khaira Year 8: Natasha Doherty, Nicole Carnova, Olivia Nelmes, Amy Gettings, Jessica Smart Year 9: Niamh Rainbow, Martina Jones, Freya Simpson Hooper, Sophie Methven Year 10: Ellen Hallett, Hannah Badat, Molly Carey-Topping, Rebecca Greenough Year 11 Chairs: Neha Joseph, Grace Bullows, Areesha Hassan, Olivia Edwards, Aaisha Hassan, Anakha Byju and Julianne Amata. There is always much excitement around House events and the announcement of running total for House Champions. These are as follows: Individual House Point Totals: 1st Mynd - 3284, 2nd Kyneburga - 3195, 3rd Bearland - 3086, 4th Hartland - 3003, 5th Barwell - 2900 Overall House totals as at end of Term 4: 1st Bearland - 391, 2nd Mynd - 390, 3rd Kyneburga - 368, 4th Barwell - 366, 5th Hartland - 362 As you can see with just 29 points between 1st and 5th place the competition is still on to be overall Champions at the end of Term 6. With best wishes for a wonderful Easter.

Claire Giblin, Headteacher

Page 1 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Year 9 Geography - Volcanoes

It’s that time of the year - making and exploding volcanoes with either vinegar and bicarbonate of soda or coke and mentos! Well done to 9LG on Thursday - a special mention to Hannah who crocheted her volcano, a first for DRHS - amazing! Mrs Slatter

Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape

Page 2 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019

Year 8 Art – Fish

U16 District Netball Champions!

Year 8 Parents’ Consultation Evening Images of art by year 5 and 6 students from Thursday, 2nd May - 4.30-7.30 pm kingsholm primary school - they explored (Change of date from 7th May) monoprinting and created colourful prints of bugs!

Page 3 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Cyber First Girls Competition 2019 in Edinburgh Back in January, I sent an email out to all Year 8 students asking if they would be interested in entering this competition. It is the 3rd year it has been run by NCSC, part of GCHQ. 6 Teams signed up ranging from a team of 1 person to the maximum of 4. The on-line part of the competition was held over 1 week in January. During this, the girls came to IT1 during lunch and after-school in order to solve many problems by entering the correct flags into the system. There were 4 sections to this - Cryptography, networks, coding and cyber security each with beginners, intermediate and expert level of problems to solve. During the week, we had a school leader board on display that led to a big rivalry between the teams! 3 days after the competition I had that magic phone call to say that the Cheesepuffs had managed to solve enough problems, without using hints, to allow them to attend the final in Edinburgh, as one of only 10 teams. They were overwhelmed with the news and excited. We had to tell them they couldn't say anything for over a week as there was a news embargo. Being close to the NCSC we were asked to be the voices of the competition on Radio with the support of Chris Endsor, Deputy Director of NCSC during the breakfast show. We had a month to wait to the actual final, during which the girls carried on researching all things cyber. The Sunday before the competition we met at train station bright and early to travel the 6 hours up to Edinburgh, during which many games of Snap (silently!), Cheat and Cluedo were played. We arrived at the hotel realising we had the best view of the castle from our rooms. During the briefing we were told the location of our formal dinner that night - Edinburgh Castle's Great Hall and that the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon was meant to have been there. Sadly there seems to have been something quite major happening politically that she deemed more important! During the evening, we had a private viewing of the Scottish crown jewels, as well as an empty castle, such a privilege! Monday was the competition - we were based in the Playfair Library within the University of Edinburgh. A fantastic space to use as all the tasks were in one place. The 10 teams were asked to solve problems and fix a new app called 'Pomboo’ as if they were employees of a cyber security company after a cyber-attack on the app. To compete he teams had to find the flaws and problems in the app and as many ‘Easter eggs’ as they could to gain 'flags’ to gain points. Watching the leaderboard from behind the 'staff pen’ (no help allowed!) was painful -they led for around 45 minutes during the morning and were always in the top 4! To finish the morning, they had to write an email to Pomboo board explaining their findings, which then led to our final task - presenting to the board all the breaches, problems and fixes they had found and devised during the morning. One task to finish - all 40 girls having to solve mixed problems to solve a question as a group… did you know the duchess of Cambridge's grandmother was one of Bletchley Park's finest? In the end, the girls did not win on the day but in reality, they are winners being one of the 10 out of 3389 teams that entered - a phenomenal achievement! They were disappointed but do realise their success. They have been given a reward for their efforts - a trip to Windsor Castle in May to have afternoon tea with the Duke of York. Well Done Chloe, Isabel, Jasmine and Olivia! Mrs Shaw

Page 4 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Year 13 Leavers’ Concert – April 2019

Page 5 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019

GCSE Art Textiles work A Level Art Textiles work

KS3 Art Textiles work

Monday, 8th April - Monday, 22nd April - Easter Break Term 5 (2018) Starts on Tuesday, 23rd April

Start of Term 5. Week 2 Summer uniform from today More images on page 7 Open Morning – 8.50-10.45 am

Page 6 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Ski Trip to Austria 2019 In the February half term of 2019, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Austria with the school on the annual ski trip. As we were leaving Vienna Airport the coach was buzzing with noise and excitement even though we still had a long way to travel! The scenery in Austria always kept our cameras at the ready, as the thick fluffy snow outside was very contrasting with the weather at home. We all wanted to arrive as soon as possible to jump in the snow, or have a very competitive snowball fight! Every night, we had a different activity, for example; Disco, Tobogganing, Swimming, Pizzeria and Quiz Night where we learnt some questionable facts about the teachers! In the mornings, we would always have a playlist of brilliant songs (it would always wake us up!). Once we’d had our breakfast and were kitted up, we would head for the mountains or to the nursery slope, depending on how much experience we had. To see the beautiful mountain range around the area you had to go on the variety of ski lifts, chair lifts, cable cars and the amazing g-link, which were all such good fun! The G-link was a huge ski lift, which can carry 130 people; it would travel back and forth from two different mountains. When you were on the lift you would be able to see little towns below, it was beautiful! Skiing down the mountain was also an exhilarating experience! On the last day of skiing, we had lots of fun going down most of the slopes around Wagrain, (the place in which we stayed). During the day the advanced and intermediate groups had a go at a slalom course to see how much we had improved from the beginning of the holiday, which was a great deal, and we had had so much fun learning along the way. I think everyone was more confident on their skis than when we first started. This was definitely an experience nobody would forget! Heading back to England everyone was very tired, so the teachers had a peaceful bus journey home! A huge thank you to Mrs Bird, Miss Heeks, Miss Giblin and Mrs Steele, but the largest thank you goes to Miss Leathart for organising the whole trip. Jess Smart, Ayisha Patel and Abigail Brooks

Page 7 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 KS3 Art Textiles work

Well done Mynd!

Junior House Netball

1st Mynd 2nd Hartland 3rd Barwell 4th Bearland 5th Kyneburga

Page 8 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Music trip to Bath Spa University Netball At the beginning of our season, we had a bit of a slow start. We ended up losing against Cheltenham Ladies College and Archway, even though they were very good games. After this, we picked ourselves up and won our next few matches against St Peters, Bournside and others. This brought us to our U16 district tournament, where we were unbeaten and won defeating Ribston twice, in the pool stage and the final. Next we played a match against Kings, where we found an unexpected shooter in Esme and a new wing attack in Susan. Our final tournament, the May Dent U15, consisted of 7 group matches, where we were unbeaten, avenging our losses On Tuesday 5th March, 13 students in Years 10, 11 against CLC and Archway. Maddie put her body and 12, including myself, went to Bath Spa University on the line to get interceptions, Izzy attempted to experience what it would be like to be a music the wing defence position, which was a first for student there. In the morning, we took part in a choir her, and she also got some interceptions. Susan rehearsal, singing some Tavener pieces, which was and Jo worked together to make a really strong particularly interesting as it allowed us the defensive circle, turning over lots of balls. As opportunity to sing SATB and to develop our sight- normal, Bec and Abi’s shooting was consistently singing abilities. Later, we were able to join an good, securing our victories. This got u through orchestra rehearsal, in which we played Mars and to the semi-finals against Pates. Though it was Jupiter from Holst’s Planets Suite. It was an excellent tough, we won, allowing us through to the final opportunity for us to develop our technique in pieces against Farmors. The final was very tight, and that many of us were already familiar with, with the mostly going goal for goal. Unfortunately we lost support and advice from university students playing by one goal, in the Golden Goal time period. in our sections. In the afternoon, we took part in a However, we were very happy being runners-up. Gamelan session led by two of the university’s Charlotte Ross, Year 10 students. It was truly fascinating to learn about another culture’s music, and to try playing different U13 Regional Hockey Finals instruments. I think that everyone in the group We went to the U13 Tier 2 regional hockey finals thoroughly enjoyed the challenge! Overall, it was a at Kings College Taunton today and won the most enjoyable day, and an amazing opportunity for group beating Dean Close and Taunton Prep and us to develop our skills and experience life in Bath drawing with Colstons. We got through to the Spa University’s music department.” semi finals where we lost to KES, Bath. The girls By Hattie Griffin Year 12 played some lovely hockey and were a credit to the school. Mrs Simpson

Page 9 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Back in time for Dinner Year 7 have been researching and preparing for their "Back in Time for Dinner" presentations. Cake, costumes and dinner party conversations about politics, religion and gender roles throughout history.

Japanese visitors enjoying Drama! In groups, 10YD and the Japanese visitors put together spontaneous 3-minute performances of Romeo and Juliet, rehearsed for just 25 minutes! It was great fun, and I know they enjoyed it a lot. I was also impressed that they were so enthusiastic to be involved. Ms Bartow

Page 10 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019

A Level Artwork

Page 11 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 St Catherine’s Church Lunchtime Concert Choir Competition

On Tuesday 19th March 39 students from Year 7-13 On Thursday 28th February, 41 students in Senior performed in the newly named 'Lunchtime Live' Choir travelled to Birmingham to sing in the national concert at St. Catherine's church in Gloucester. Music for Youth competition. We were excited to There were some fabulous solo performances from be performing in a new venue (The CBSO Centre) Libbellule Pym, Kayleigh Lloyd, Anna Bowman, which has a lovely acoustic, and also to be Joseph-Silmon-Clyde, Abigail Bennett, Ella Bowman, performing alongside other groups (vocal and Emma Holder, Lana Slade, Hermione Smith and instrumental) from as far as Bristol to Birmingham. Esme Crooknorth who sang a song, which she had The choir sang three varied pieces: Kuimba! (an composed herself. There were also performances African piece), Ubi Caritas (an acappella sacred by the String Ensemble and the Glee Choir. As arrangement) by Gjeilo, and It don’t mean a thing if always, this was a wonderful opportunity for our it ain’t got that Swing! Amelia Lake accompanied students to perform in a fantastic venue and an the choir on her Cajon for two of the pieces, which opportunity for the local community to come and added to the performances. hear the fabulous talent that is at Denmark Road The feedback we received was overwhelmingly High School. Mrs Warner positive, with special mention for Ubi Caritas as being an outstanding performance. We are waiting to hear if the choir has progressed to the next stage in the competition – which would be fantastic, but whatever the outcome, the choir performed beautifully. Mrs Day

DRHS Summer Fun Day With the Summer Fun Day coming up on 6th July we are starting to collect raffle prizes. We are incredibly grateful to parents who donate prizes as this helps the PTA to fund things which cannot be covered by the normal school funds. If you are able to donate, please would you send your prizes into Mrs Rachel Hayward, Office and Events Manager at DRHS or drop into the school reception. We are looking forward to building on the success of last year’s event.

Page 12 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Year 7 spent a great day learning all about STEM, Year INVEST Day 4 – March 2019 8 went on a Geography field trip to Weston-Super- Mare to learn all about tourism, Year 9 went to London to watch ‘Lord of the Flies’, Year 10 spent a wonderful day at Gloucester Mosque and and Year 11s spent the day learning about Human Rights.

Page 13 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Antarctic Expedition – Visit by Captain Louis Rudd

‘I’m absolutely elated. It’s a miracle we made it,’ says polar hero Louis Rudd Recovering after his crossing, the explorer describes how he survived his gruelling 56-day Antarctic trek Key Stage 3 students at DRHS were extremely privileged to be the first school visited by Captain Louis Rudd on his return from Antarctica. He is the first British person to trek across Antarctica unaided and told them all about his experience in our assembly. 8BE had a question and answer session with Louis during their Geography lesson. An amazing experience! A big thank you to Beanie Farrimond for setting up this link between the Army and DRHS.

Page 14 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019

World Book Day

Page 15 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Year 9 History – World War 1 Projects Wonderful Year 9 World War I projects - creating something that represented trench life and warfare in their History lessons.

Page 16 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 News from the Learning Resource Centre We are coming to the close of a term with so much Our Scholastic Book Fair was successful, with a total going on in the LRC still – I have even managed to of £451 spent by students. This provides almost £200 award some long promised House Points to of “credit” to spend on some exciting new books with students who have been participating in the Scholastic. Thank you so much for your support for activities! this. Many students used their £1 World Book Day The LRC Clubs continue to meet every week and vouchers in the Fair, which was good to see. We also include Origami, Murder Mystery, Harry Potter and have an online account with Scholastic, and their Year 11s. Two Year 10 students who have leaflets are distributed several times a year to Years 7 participated in several previous LRC groups, Emma and 8. As with the Fair, all purchases benefit the LRC Giles and Emily Kaloo have volunteered to help out – 25% of the value of Book Club orders is “banked” as with the Murder Mystery Group on Tuesdays. credit for the LRC to use for new books. Books are Book Week provided students with plenty to do. I delivered to school early in the new term. Please adapted our usual staff book character treasure visit: http://schools.scholastic.co.uk/denmark-road if hunt, so not only did students search for the paired you would like to take a look. staff book characters (eg Mary Poppins and Bert), but staff searched for their own paired character too. Ms Spragg managed to find all the staff pairs Students have been signing up for the third annual and Jerin Mathew won the student competition. Battle of the Books House Competition. House Mrs Hoare in Science (Piglet) found her paired Teams of Year 7 and Year 8 students will read 10 character in the dining hall, Ms Hilton (Winnie the books, ready for a House Quiz to take place in late Pooh). Prizes have been awarded and House Points June or early July. House Points are awarded for are being added to student records. participation as well as for winning, and a House Cup World Book Day was celebrated in our usual way, will be awarded at the end of the summer term. I will with dressing as a book character. As ever, the have the books ready for students to take home students showed their ingenuity in designing and before the end of term. If you wish to read along creating costumes, so it was very difficult for Ms with us, the books are as follows: Whittle and me to choose several eventual winners. After the great excitement of the Book Character Parade, it was a gentle end to the week with an hour’s Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) in the LRC. This was a ticket only event, to ensure the event was manageable, so 42 students and 3 members of staff settled down to a quiet and peaceful read. Students have also voted for the 20 books they believe everybody should read before they leave school. Jordan and the other Library Prefects have been counting up the many votes, ready for us to create a Twenty Before Eighteen Reading Wall in the LRC – there will be more about that in the next Newsletter. Many thanks to all those who took part in this year’s Book Week – pictures are up on the DRHS website in the Photo Gallery section: https://www.denmarkroad.org/gallery/?pid=0&gcat id=1&albumid=136

Page 17 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 More News from the Learning Resource Centre Students in Years 9 and above can join the Carnegie The Cheltenham Literature Festival is running a Award Shadowing Group. The Carnegie medal is the reading challenge to celebrate 70 years of the most prestigious in UK children’s literature and we Festival itself and George Orwell's 1984. We have read the shortlist every year, discussing the pros and registered to take part and Mrs James and I will be cons of each book, choosing our favourites and least taking this voyage into dystopian literature with Key favourites, as well as deciding which might win. I will Stage 3 students! More details will follow, but if be distributing copies of the books before the your daughter loves The Hunger Games or the Gone holidays and we will be meeting once a week in the series, this might suit them. new term. See: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/ for more details.

The Carnegie Writers continue to meet each month to share what they have written and, as ever, want to enter writing competitions. This month we are going to look at a writing competition linked to the Carnegie Medal: https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/competitio ns.php

The Year 9 Denner/Blue Coat Book Award Team are making great progress with reading the 10 longlisted books – one student has already finished them all! Next Thursday, April 4, Year 11 can enjoy a quiet The date for our debate with Sir Thomas Rich’s Year lunch hour in the LRC. They have been talking about 9 team is Monday June 17. Year 9 will listen to the Mindfulness recently, so I’ll be providing a quiet Teams present the pros and cons of each book and space where they can do some crafts, sit and read vote to create a shortlist of 5 titles. It will be Year 8’s and have some peaceful me-time. There will be task to promote the shortlisted books to all Key squash and biscuits available too. I am hoping to run Stage 3 ready for a vote towards the end of Term 6. this once more before they leave next term and If your Year 8 daughter would be interested in intend to run a similar one for Year 13. becoming part of the Denner/Blue Coat Team, Once again, many thanks to the Library Prefect Team please ask her to see me in the LRC. Again, thanks for their hard work keeping everything together. are due to Safiya Ginwalla (13AP) and Leigh Phillips Nicole Cheong and Hannah Mattholie have (10QD) who have guided and supported this activity. continued to shelve books and tidy up, putting in 2 years as Library Prefects, so I would like to extend special thanks to them and wish them good luck with A Levels and the next stage in their lives.

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More News from the Japanese Visitors Learning Resource Centre On 9th March we welcomed students from Matsumoto High School in Nagano, Japan. As well as students using this school library, Throughout the week, they visited various places in remember you can join your local public libraries the UK, such as Oxford, The Cotswolds and too. Here is the link for Gloucestershire: Cheltenham. https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries/join- In the mornings the students attended English the-library/ lessons in order to prepare for a final presentation. Anyone who lives, works, or studies in This was followed by an afternoon trip that allowed Gloucestershire can join the library system here. them to experience British culture and customs. The libraries hold books, of course, and you and In the evenings, the students would return to their your children will also be able to access computers, host families. This enabled them to be introduced printers, online research resources, audiobooks, e- to a British lifestyle, and us to learn more about books and e-journals. traditions in Japan. In addition, membership of UWE Libraries is On the penultimate day, each student did a speech available via this link – it’s been a useful resource about the differences between the two countries for some sixth form students: and their culture. From Uniform to Poundland, each https://www1.uwe.ac.uk/library/usingthelibrary/vis speech was unique and enjoyable. itoraccess/jointhelibrary.aspx It was upsetting to see the students leave, but the Finally, just the usual reminder that all online experience was unforgettable for both the hosts journals and other such resources are available and the students. from your home computer at all times. Students can look at the LRC’s Google Site (Online Resources page) for access to journal articles and much more. Over the holidays I am always happy to answer emailed questions about how to use them, if students have forgotten that useful skill. Carol Cordall, Librarian

Follow the LRC on Twitter: @HSFG_LRC Amelia Clarke

INVEST Day 4 – Year 7 STEM Day "Y7 demonstrating all the skills needed to tackle a variety of challenges on our STEM INVEST Day - solving numeracy problems, designing wind turbines, bridges and towers, and seeing if they have what it takes to be an astronaut!"

Page 19 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019

Year 9 Design and Technology Visit to the

On Tuesday, 19th March, 14 Design students from and would do it again if I was given the Year 9 enjoyed a ‘Soundbyte’ Workshop run by the opportunity! It was really creative and I think it’s University of Gloucestershire in conjunction with cool that we worked with university students!” Art Couture, Gloucester. Kira Holmes, 9AB, also “Liked the fact that we could work with the University students!” The beautifully adorned bag below made ‘floaty’ music, emphasised by the flapping of the ‘wing jacket’, as demonstrated by Product Design student, Emily. The finished designs were plugged into the music software as the rest of the group admired the amazing outcomes! It was impressive to see so much creativity, and variation! Sidayah rocking this creativity!

The students were introduced to the concept of turning garments in to musical instruments as part of a competition, with a chance to show off their designs on a catwalk to be held at Gloucester Cathedral in June! The students start to design their masterpieces under the guidance of a BA Product Design or Music student… Zoe - Eletra Katsiva-Corderoy, 9BE, commented, “It This beautiful umbrella design made a lovely, tingly was really fun and interesting. I liked that we could ‘rain’ noise when it was open and closed. talk to the university students as they had some One group were lucky to have two Music students really good ideas. I also liked that we could see on board to perfect the sounds made when their what everyone else had designed”. impressive bag design is opened and closed. The students enjoyed working out how to imbed the electronic components in to their creations, once they had created the circuits using bread- board. Cerys Roderick, 9K, “I found it quite fun and enjoyed working out how to make the sounds, and dressing up”! ‘I really enjoyed the fact that we were able to collaborate with another school and that there were lots of staff around to help us with our ‘sound The image below shows all the amazing creations! things’ “Niamh Rainbow, 9BE. A huge well Once the components were imbedded, the done to all students could let their imagination go wild on our students! decorating their creations; to ensure they would Students produce music (using software called ‘Ardwino’) wishing to when they showed them off. enter the When the students had put the finishing touches to Design their creations they had the opportunity to test the Competition circuit; to ensure they would produce music when should send they showed them off. an email to ‘[email protected]’ Hidayah Ismail, 9M, commented, “I really liked it Mrs K Whittle

Page 20 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 PGL Netball Weekend – March 2019 Day 1 - After a loud but fun-filled bus journey, the year 7 netballers arrived at PGL Liddington, ready for a weekend of netball and fun. On arrival, we all met our instructor and lugged our bags to our dorms. We were given a tour and then we went to the canteen for dinner. In the evening, we participated in some team-building exercises before snuggling up in our sleeping bags an going to sleep (with a few sweets in between!) Day 2 - We awoke ready and raring for a day of fun. The morning consisted of zip wiring, abseiling, climbing, trapeze, vertical challenge, aero ball and archery. They were exhilarating activities and we thoroughly enjoyed them all. After a delicious lunch, we were all ready to play some netball! The A teams first match was against St Tilios, which included a large range of dodging and shooting. They were so happy with a 14-0 win. The B team were up next and they were ready to play Churchers College, but had to admit defeat to an amazing team. The C team was next to play and they won very convincingly. The end of the first day of matches, the As had lost one and won 3, the Bs lost 4 and the Cs lost 1 and won 3. Overall, it was a great start to the netball weekend. After the matches, we all went back to the dorms for a while and chilled out, we then went for dinner. After our food we did the Photo challenge, in which we all went round PGL in our teams taking various photos, it was so much fun! The A team won the challenge. After a full on day we were very tired so we went back to our dorms and went to bed. Day 3 - After a great nights sleep we knew that 2 teams could possibly qualify for the semi-finals, so they were ready to fight. The As and Bs both had early matches, so they began to warm up, with the Cs on the side-line cheering them on, with the legendary chant. The As displayed some great play but they narrowly lost to Chauncy. The Bs managed to win their match against St Tilios with some great teamwork. Overall, the As managed to qualify for the semi- finals. YIPEE! Next, the Cs had their matches wihch decided whether they qualified for the semis and the won against St Tilios with some great intercepting. In eager anticipation the C’s found out that they had qualified for the semi finals, and they were extatic, but they knew the semis would be tough because they were against an A team. The semi finals began and the A’s were against Stags B team. With some great defending, they managed to win meaning they qualified for the final The C’s played really well against the Churchers (their opposition) but they were just too strong. The Cs were happy with their bronze medal. There was still one more battle. The finals. The As started well but in the second half the other team were on fire and the Churchers won 12-6. The as were sad that they just missed out, but they agreed that the right team won. After the medal ceremony (the medals were presented by a ‘Seven Stars’ player) it was time to go (just in time because it began to hail). We were all really tired after an amazing PGL weekend. Florence Hampton, 7M

Page 21 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 School Games Competition – Archery U15 Cricket Champions! School archery team beat Crypt to go through to For the second competition in a row, the U15 next round of School Games competition to be held cricket team swept all before them, and are the on 2nd April. A very competitive fixture, shooting Lady Taverner's County Indoor Cricket Champions outside in cold, windy conditions, DRHS kept their for 2019! focus on grouping arrows and working as a team to Travelling to UWE in Bristol, they came up against maintain their lead and take them through to the Dene Magna and Winchcombe in the group stage, next round. Thanks to Deer Park Archers who help winning two close games by remarkably similar coach our students. scorelines: Miss Wilkes Game 1: Denmark Road - 76 (Liv Brock retired 15 not out). Dene Magna - 53 (Becky Greenough with 2 wickets in 2 balls thanks to outstanding wicketkeeping by Katie Jones with a catch and a stumping). Game 2: Denmark Road - 78 (Betsy Mangan retired 15 not out). Winchcombe - 54 (Liv Brock with 2 wickets, including a wicket maiden). That put the girls through to the final where they played Rednock, who had seen off Winterbourne and Bristol Grammar School on their way to the final. Final: After a tense opening, which saw us two wickets down with not many runs on the board off South West Counties Indoor Athletics the first three overs, the girls finished strongly, to Championships post 84. An outstanding first two overs from Betsy Emily Brown and Florence Hampton in Year 7 and and Liv reduced Rednock to 15-5, from which they Freya Webb in Year 8 represented Gloucestershire recovered to make a respectable final score of 70. at the South West Counties Indoor Athletics Betsy Mangan was undoubtedly the star of the Championships in Devon during a weekend at the final, with a captain's innings of 35 not out beginning of March. In a 10-strong Under 13 County (including two sixes in the final over), and three team comprising athletes from a number of local wickets, aided by some excellent catching by all the clubs (all three girls are also members of girls. All the girls played their part in the run to the Cheltenham Harriers), the girls produced some final, and have reinforced their reputation as the excellent performances to achieve a third place best cricket side in the county, and they will look to Bronze Medal position overall, against some very make it three trophies in a row in the outdoor strong competition from the other South West competition in the summer! Counties.' The victorious squad: Betsy Mangan (captain), Liv Photo L to R: Emily Brown, Freya Webb, Brock, Grace Matthews, Becky Greenough, Maddie Florence Hampton. Davis, Fliss Harrison, Jenny Shrimpton, Emily Wiles, Sophie Paulus and Katie Jones - well done girls! #cricketscominghome Mr Schofield

Page 22 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Winning Art images These are the images of the published images by Poppy and Ruksch in the YPO catalogue that we mentioned in last term’s newsletter.

And other winners ….

Explore learning giving out awards for the Young National Mathematicians Award.

Team Maths Challenge High School for Girls' Reunion for ‘old On 4th March, we competed in the Team Maths girls’ who were in forms N,Q & R during Challenge at Wycliffe College. The teams consisted of 1959-1966 two Year 8s and two Year 9's so was a good opportunity for team building. There were four Lunch at Dr Foster's in the Quays on Saturday, 7th different rounds: the group round, the shuttle round, September 7th 2019. It will be 60 years since we all the cross-number and the maths relay. All of these started at the school. Partners are welcome. We tested our maths and teamwork skills. We came 11th currently have about 30 attendees, but some people out of 24 schools and had a great time; it is definitely we have been unable to contact. Please email something that we would do again! [email protected] if you wish to attend and we will pass your message onto the organiser Julien. Sophie Fry and Daisy Suehr

Page 23 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Debate Day at the UK Supreme Court

Eighteen fortunate Denmark Road Sixth Form students were invited to attend a prestigious ‘Debate Day’ at the UK Supreme Court in Parliament Square, London. The students, who are all studying Politics or considering prospective law careers, were given the question: “Do stop and search powers strike a fair balance between the rights of the individual and the interests of society?” The trip started with a tour of the Supreme Court, an institution established in 2009 following reforms to the House of Lords. Students were able to ‘warm up’ by discussing several key supreme court cases on a wide array of topics ranging from protecting the rights of catholic senior nurses to not create staffing rotas for abortions to the rights of school children to reject their school uniform if they feel it impinges on their religious rights. Discussing these cases in the respective court rooms they were heard in certainly got the discussion going with many students quickly finding their advocacy voices. For the main debate, students had been given a research pack of past case law regarding Stop and Search in the days prior to the trip to help them prepare. This preparation was augmented by the support of three professional lawyers from the Home Office who took a welcome break in their Brexit preparations to coach the teams through the debate preparation workshops and courtroom speeches. The students split into three teams, the appellants from Y12, the respondents from Y13 and the judges. The debating sides had ten minutes each to put forward their main arguments although this time was often extended thanks to the frequent questions raised and clarifications sought from the superb Y13 judges. After initial arguments, the teams had further coaching and collaboration time before their final responses and the nervous wait for the judges to deliberate. The debate was stunning. Students demonstrated fantastic oratory skills in one of the most intimidating venues for public speaking they will ever face. The arguments presented were smart, evidenced, structured and nuanced. The outcome could have gone either way. As the judges returned to the courtroom to provide their verdict it was the Y12 team of appellants, who had argued that the detrimental impact on individual rights were not outweighed by the interests of society when considering the police’s use of Stop and Search powers, that had impressed the judges most. They were not the only one impressed as Simon Josiffe, who had kindly hosted the event for us at the Supreme Court noted: “In eight years of running these debates at the Supreme Court I have not seen a better performance than those delivered today by your Denmark Road Sixth Form students.” Mr Mannion

Page 24 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Exchange visit to Göttingen – 4th-11th March

From the 4th-11th March, 9 Denmark Road and 22 STRS students went on their exchange visit to Göttingen in Germany. There were many things to see in Germany. On our first full day, we went to meet the Mayor of Göttingen and explored the local area through a town trail, which we thoroughly enjoyed. After a good rest, we spent the majority of the next day in Hannover. Whilst we were there, we started to see the full impact of the war and how it affected Germany, as seen through a model of the ruins. We also went to a Zoo on the same day, and many people enjoyed the seal show that was on whilst we were there. The biggest day of the trip came on Thursday when we went to Berlin, and with the help of a guided tour, we got a bit more familiar with the city. There were many impressive sights, such as the famous Brandenburg Gate, the British Embassy and the Berlin Konzerthaus. We also saw some remains of the Berlin Wall, which had divided the city years ago. On Friday we started to experience more of German school life by doing lessons in school (Including Maths, English and Geography as we were all split up), before going swimming with our exchange partners, which was another highlight of the week. In the evening staff, students and families gathered together to enjoy delicious food made by the Germany families, and to express their thank you for the excellent organisation. All of these events led up to weekend where we would spend all our time with our host families. They had planned exciting things for us to do, with some examples being a mine tour, going to a Waffle factory and going to a science museum. On Monday, we enjoyed a final lesson with our partners and their classmates before we all walked to the coach and said goodbye. Overall, it was a very exciting week jam packed with interesting activities. It was a wonderful and memorable week in Göttingen that we are sure none of us will ever forget. Tschüss! Ellie, Joanna, and Alix (10C German)

Page 25 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 A wonderful selection of recent A level and GCSE artwork

GCSE Art Textiles work 9AF have been busy learning about how to take the perfect photograph based on their sweets inspired by the artist Sarah Graham.

Page 26 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Save the date ….

A huge well done to the charity committee who raised £186 for ‘Wish upon a star’ on Thursday, 28th February.

We are making communication easier, faster and more effective I am pleased to advise that we’ve introduced a new service - School Gateway. This means that we can share information such as personalised lesson and exam timetables, achievements and assessment results with parents more quickly via email, text, online and smartphone app. You can also use the app or website to receive key news and updates from the school, view and let us know of any updates to your own details and send information to us our attendance officer. The main hall was crammed full of students eagerly What you need to do now queuing to buy their pancakes and it was fantastic to see Download the app: If you have a smartphone, the charity please download School Gateway from your committee all app store (Android and iPhone). The app working as a shows the same information as the website team - Year 7s PLUS you can send app messages to the all the way school for FREE (for example updates to through to attendance) – this will also save the school the Year 11 money when we send text messages. organisers. OR Visit the website: What a www.schoolgateway.com and click on ‘New success! User’. You’ll receive a text message with a PIN Well done! number. Use this PIN to login to School Miss Hodnett Gateway. Can’t activate your account?

Page 27 of 32 - Denmark Road High School MissNewsletter Hodnett – We Discover, IfRealise, you’re Honour having and Shapetrouble - Issue activating 4 – April 2019 your School Gateway account, it may be because school Year 7 Geography – Cloud Formations

Next lesson we will be out on cloud watch!

Page 28 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Year 7 Art Textiles Work Year 10 Netball

Visit to Cybedea On 19th March, 18 students taking Computing in Years 11 & 13 were fortunate to learn about offensive hacking in Cyberdea’s offices in Quedgeley. Two staff from CSA who work as penetration testers taught us about Linux software, ethical hacking and the computer misuse act. Linux is a form of Command Line Interface (CLI), a text-based interface used for entering commands to control the computer and the computer misuse act was introduced in 1990 to protect users from theft of information. We all worked together to hack into the wifi through Linux by a brute force attack. After completing the basics of linux commands we learnt about the laws related to hacking and methods of hacking, such as phishing. After lunch, we used the five stages of hacking to plan an attack in groups

(hypothetically only). This What wonderful work, well great experience helped us to revise part of our done Year 7! GCSE syllabus and have fun at the same time.

Page 29 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 PLEASE NOTE: All payments On-line School Shop for trips, clubs and activities We now have the facility of an on-line school shop must be made via Parent on our website here (under parental information). Pay. The school no Parents/carers can pay for items on the shop with longer accepts cheques or a debit or credit card and students can pick up the cash. We have been expanding the use of ParentPay items within a couple of days from reception or for permission slips, school fund donations and the relevant teacher/department. payment options for upcoming events. We also expect over time to extend this to catering. ParentPay is far more secure for both school and Contagious Diseases parents as a means of making payments, especially Please can parents/carers let the school know as it gives an immediate receipt and confirmation of immediately if their daughter/son has contracted payments. It also allows us to fairly offer trips with a contagious disease? It is important that we are limited capacity on a “first come, first served” basis. aware of this so we can notify community Over 90% of families are already using ParentPay on members accordingly. a regular basis. For those who need to sign up, feel Thank you in advance. free to email [email protected] for login details, advice and assistance. Parking Term Dates 2018-2019 Please would parents/carers refrain from parking on the zigzag or yellow Term 1 Wednesday 5 September – lines in front of the school at any time Thursday 18 October 2018 during the day. Parking on these lines Term 2 Thursday 1 November – Friday 21 endangers both pedestrians and cyclists. December 2018 At no time should parents/carers drive onto the Term 3 Monday 7 January - Friday 15 February school site unless previously agreed. We really Term 4 Tuesday 26 February – Friday 5 April do not want students to be walking amongst Term 5 Tuesday 23 April – Friday 24 May moving vehicles, as this can be dangerous. We Term 6 Tuesday 4 June – Friday 19 July would be grateful for your support in this matter.

Student Medical/Non-Medical Appointments – Forms School Closure Parents/carers should fill out a medical form for all hospital, orthodontist and emergency doctor appointments. Regular Information doctors/dentist appointments should not be made during In the event of bad weather or other school hours. Non-medical forms should be filled in for holiday reasons, information on school closure requests, music exams and any other non-medical reason. can be found on our website or Facebook: Both forms are available here. A week or more’s notice should www.denmarkroad.org or: be given if possible. Forms can be filled in and emailed to www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/closures [email protected] or [email protected] The information will also be available on Hard copies are also available from reception and the Well- the local radio station. Please also check Lostbeing PropertyCentre. the bus company websites for their up-to-date information: A large amount of items is lost each week within school. Please encourage your daughter/son to look after their own property Bennetts: www.bennettscoaches.co.uk (and seek to locate it rather than just buy a new one!) Whilst staff Willetts: www.willettsofyorkley.co.uk will make every effort to return named items to students it is the Aston Coaches: responsibility of all students to care for their possessions and seek www.astoncoachesltd.com to locate lost items. Students’ property is brought into school at their own risk. Marchants: www.marchants-coaches.com PE Kit Please also make sure all PE kit is labelled, including the bag. Trainers should be predominately white with no Velcro and no black trainers please.

Page 30 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 GCSE & A Level Examination Certificates Collection of Students for Appointments GCSE and A Level certificates are available to The school operates strict safeguarding procedures collect, from reception between 8.30-3.30 Monday and takes responsibility for its duty of care for to Friday. Certificates will only be given to family students seriously. Therefore, we would be members/friends if an email is received giving extremely grateful if parents/carers would abide by permission. Current students can pick up their the procedures set out for all students in the main certificates from the Sixth Form Office. school. Any student, who needs to leave the school site during the day must be collected by a parent/carer or named individual for that student, from the MAIN RECEPTION. Students will need to sign out at the Well-being Centre and they will then meet their parent/carer in reception. Please be aware that we cannot make any exceptions to this procedure for any student in Denmark Road High School Facebook Page Years 7-11. Please make sure that we hold up-to-date details for your daughter/son. Please remember that only the contacts detailed on your daughter’s/son’s data sheet can collect them from school. You can also email [email protected] at any time with new telephone numbers or email addresses or log in to your School Gateway account to make changes. Parents/carers are also requested not to park on the school grounds, or on yellow lines outside the school, when collecting daughters/sons for appointments.

https://www.facebook.com/Denmark-Road-High- School-1524568760899185/ Chat Health - Is a new GCS School Nursing Team Denmark Road High School Year 7 Parents’ text messaging service offering the county's 11-19 Facebook Page year olds confidential advice about their health and Year 7 parents are welcome to join this new wellbeing. Messages sent to the dedicated number Facebook group. The groups name is “DRHS 07507 333351 are delivered to a secure website Denmark Road High School Year 7 Parents 2018”. and will be responded to by a GCS School Nurse. It is available Monday to Friday from 9.00 am - It is a closed group and members requesting to join 4.30pm, excluding bank holidays. The aim is to will be asked two questions to ensure they are further improve access to healthcare for young genuine parents. We currently have 66 parents as people and will offer support relating to a wide members. It is a friendly group and the aim is to range of health and wellbeing issues. Examples help one another out, arrange holiday meet ups, include - relationships, bullying, healthy lifestyle, meet new parents, even help with lifts etc if anxiety, drugs, smoking, stress, body worries, needed before matches. alcohol, self-harm and sexual health. New and improved website … www.denmarkroad.org

Page 31 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019 Dates for your diary Monday, 8th April - Monday, 22nd April - Easter Break Term 5 (2018) Tuesday, 23rd April Start of Term 5. Week 2 Summer uniform from today Open Morning – 8.50-10.45 am Wednesday, 24th April Orals, Art and Art Textiles exams from today Governors’ Business Management Committee Meeting – 6.00 pm Monday, 29th April Week 1 Year 10 Geography trip to Nettlecombe (return 30th) Medic practice interviews this week Tuesday, 30th April Junior Maths Challenge KS5 Recital Evening – 6.00 pm Wednesday, 1st May PTA Non-uniform Day Thursday, 2nd May Year 8 Parents’ Consultation Evening – 4.30-7.30 pm (Change of date from 7th May) Governors’ Teaching and Learning Committee meeting – 6.00 pm Saturday, 4th May D of E Bronze Practice (returns 5th) Monday, 6th May Early Spring Bank Holiday Tuesday, 7th May Week 2 Wednesday, 8th May Full Governors’ Committee meeting - 6.00 pm Monday, 13th May Week 1 Year 11 Exam Study Leave begins Year 10 RS Exam (am) Wednesday, 15th May Rags to Riches Collection – 8.45 am Thursday, 16th May Year 9 Vaccinations Friday, 17th May Year 13 Leavers’ Day Year 7 Rugby league competition Monday, 20th May Week 2 Year 13 Exam Study Leave begins Year 10 RS Exam (am) PTA Committee Meeting – 7.30 pm Thursday, 23rd May Jazz Evening (formerly Song and Dance Evening) – 7.00 pm Friday, 24th May Term 5 ends at 3.30 pm Saturday, 25th May D of E Bronze Assessment (returns 26th) Monday, 27th - Friday, 31st May - Early Summer Break Term 6 (2019) Monday, 3rd June School closed for staff training Tuesday, 4th June Start of Term 6. Week 1.

We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape

Page 32 of 32 - Denmark Road High School Newsletter – We Discover, Realise, Honour and Shape - Issue 4 – April 2019