February 2007

PARENTS’ NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 2007

TERM DATES 2006/07 2007 Term 3 Monday 8 January – Friday 16 February 2007 Term 4 Monday 26 February – Friday 30 March 2007 Term 5 Monday 16 April – Friday 25 May 2007 Term 6 Monday 4 June – Friday 20 July 2007

REMAINING TEACHER DEVELOPMENT DAYS 2006/07 Friday 22 June 2007 Monday 23 July 2007 Tuesday 24 July 2007

SCHOOL CLOSURES – THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY AND FRIDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2007 Closing a school for any reason is not a decision taken lightly. The knock-on effects of any closure create major inconvenience for families and the normal smooth running of our school. A number of important activities both for students and staff have had to be rescheduled (where possible) or cancelled altogether. The Year 8 Parent/Subject Teacher Consultation Evening has been rescheduled for Thursday 15 March 2007. Letters and appointment sheets will be reissued by the Key Stage 3 team in Term 4. The decision to close Bradon Forest last Thursday was taken at 6.40 am after consultation and inspection of the site and access to the school. The road including The Peak is not treated as it is classed as residential and not a priority. Access and conditions, both on the sloped entrance to The Peak, plus in and around the site, were not safe. Delivery lorries and several cars were unable to gain access. Our rural position and very open car park with its narrow access point exacerbated the situation and made the site conditions difficult. When a closure decision is made it needs to be made early enough to ensure radio stations are alerted (BBC Local Radio, GWR and Brunel FM were broadcasting our decision from 7.00 am) and families are aware of the position as soon as possible. The school’s contact system was put into operation at 6.45 am and completed by 7.00 am. Conditions on site remained poor during the morning but began to improve during the afternoon. In light of weather information, including from the RAF, we were expecting to be open on Friday. Our contact system was put into operation again that afternoon to inform everyone that we planned to be open. Site conditions were checked late Thursday evening and it looked positive. Unfortunately, the freezing overnight conditions made the access and site conditions even worse than on the previous day. After consultation, and due to safety concerns regarding buses, cars and people on site, the decision was taken to close at 6.40 am and our alert system was activated. The hard work put in by our site team on Thursday – clearing paths, slopes, walkways, steps, etc – was cancelled out. The weather deteriorated further after 8.30 am and site conditions worsened over the morning. The decision made on each day was taken regardless of other schools’ decisions or the media. Each decision was properly based on the conditions at the site, with the safety of all concerned and the interests of the school community at the forefront.

NEW ANTI- BULLYING CHARTER As part of our ongoing pastoral work, we are remodelling our Anti-Bullying Charter. As well as our three bully boxes located around the school, we have also introduced an on-line bully box on Learning Platforms for Years 7 and 10. Students are now able to report any bullying directly, and in confidence, to their Head of Year. This can be done from home too. Year 10 peer mentors are also specially trained to act as buddies to Year 7 students and are able to help deal with bullying incidents. Students have already participated in PSHE lessons in which their opinions were sought, and staff have been involved in giving their ideas to the Charter too. We would like to involve parents in this consultation process. Below is a copy of our Anti-Bullying Charter which is to be amended. If you would like to comment on this please could you access our school Learning Platform through the school’s website (www.bradonforest.wilts.sch.uk) and follow the link to the Learning Community. To view and take part in the survey you will need to log on using your child’s username (STU) and password. Parents of students in Year 7 and 10 will be able to access this immediately and those of students in Years 8 and 9 will be able to access this in the first week of next term. If any parent, especially those of Year 11 students, cannot access the Learning Platform and would like to take part in the survey, please contact Helen Wilkinson. Once feedback has been collated, the Charter will be presented to the School Council for any final adjustments to be made prior to going to the Governing Body for adoption. As with our School Rules and Rights and Responsibilities, the Charter will be displayed in every classroom around the school. Thank you for your support.

BRADON FOREST SCHOOL

ANTI-BULLYING CHARTER

There are three Bully Boxes around the school for confidential referrals. All referrals are treated seriously and discreetly. A group of older students have formed a counselling committee to assist bullies and victims of bullying.

Anti-bullying referral forms are available to staff to assist with very serious matters.

Anti-Bullying Charter

We, as students, have the right: 1. To be free from bullying, in school and in our towns and villages. 2. To travel peacefully and in safety to and from school. 3. To express our concerns to staff and parents in the confidence that they will be treated seriously. 4. To play a significant part in the development of anti-bullying strategies.

We, as students, have an obligation: 1. To report bullying. 2. To support friends and fellow students who are the victims of bullying. 3. To respect the well-being and property of other students.

We, as parents, will be diligent in: 1. Listening to the anxieties of our sons and daughters. 2. Reporting a difficulty to the School however trivial the problem may seem to be. 3. Ensuring that the School’s subsequent actions have been effective.

We, as staff, must: 1. Keep alert to the possibility of bullying. 2. Ensure that the bullies and the bullied are treated appropriately. 3. Enable all interested parties to be informed. 4. Give all students the confidence that we will listen to, support and help them.

Finally, we are associated with a school which is determined to be vigilant about bullying, so that decisive and quick action can be taken to eliminate it.

INTERNET MISUSE AT HOME A few parents have raised concerns over the last few months about their children’s use of the Internet at home, eg sites such as ‘Bebo’, ‘MySpace’ and ‘chatroom’ facilities. The school network blocks access to these sites in school and attempting to access them via proxy servers is against our student internet use policy (this is recommended by government ICT agencies). Some students have used these sites from their home computer and some misuse has taken place. This has included cyber bullying, name calling and in a very few extreme cases, sites and threads have been devoted to insulting, mocking and bullying of others. There have been a series of assemblies on safe internet use and the abuse of these sites. On one occasion this misuse has involved the police as it is a criminal act. This issue has surfaced in a large number of schools nationally and it is important that parents are aware of this issue. Parents need to inform us if they are aware of misuse of these sites from home as this can create consequences and problems in school. It would be valuable for parents to monitor the use of home computers so as to avoid the impact of this negative and unacceptable activity.

NEWS OF PAST BRADON FOREST STUDENTS We were delighted to learn that five ex-Bradon students have been offered Oxbridge places: Charlotte Booth Cirencester College Cambridge Holly Dowling Cirencester College Oxford Mary Matthews New College Swindon Oxford Nicholas Taylor Cirencester College Cambridge Andrew Tedstone New College Swindon Cambridge

YEAR 10 SHORT COURSE RELIGIOUS STUDIES All Year 10 students who are studying Short Course RS are encouraged to attend a series of workshops which will be led by Mrs Shelley and Mr Winward in the lead-up to their examinations in May. A letter will be issued by Mrs Shelley nearer the time outlining the nature of the sessions and times/places to meet. Students will be required to sign-up to the workshops as and when they are promoted by their RS teachers during lesson time. We have found that students who attend these sessions benefit greatly and that it is often reflected in the number of high grade examination passes that students obtain. 19 April 2007 Session 1 Christian Perspectives 26 April 2007 Session 2 Christian Perspectives 3 May 2007 Session 3 Christian Perspectives 10 May 2007 Session 4 Sikhism 22 May 2007 Session 5 Sikhism Please note that examinations take place on the first day back after Work Experience Week. They are as follows: Monday, 21 May 2007 Christian Perspectives Wednesday, 23 May 2007 Sikhism

MATHEMATICS Key Stage 3 On 13 February a small group of able Year 7 mathematicians took part in a morning of sessions at in Chippenham. They were joined by able Year 7 students from six other North schools. The two sessions dealt with new areas of mathematics not covered in the KS3 curriculum and gave students a chance to work with a large group of similarly gifted mathematicians. Our students enjoyed the event, worked hard and were a credit to the school. Key Stage 4 On 31 January a group of sixteen Bradon Forest students attended a mathematics enrichment day at Chippenham Town Hall. The day consisted of three lectures given by academics from Plymouth and Bristol Universities. The purpose of the day was to give GCSE students a taste of the sort of mathematics they can expect to study at A level and beyond. The event was attended by two hundred students from schools across North Wiltshire. Our students very much enjoyed the day, and gained a useful insight into what further mathematical study might entail. Thank you to those students who attended for helping to make the outing such a success.

Year 10 taking Module 1 Examination on 5 March 2007 Remember that you should now be revising at home as well as in lessons: § You should have your booklet of past papers to practise with as well as your exercise books with notes and examples to remind and help you. § Revision sessions continue every Monday from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm in Maths 2 with Mr Thomas and Mrs Henly. § You will find helpful material on the Learning Platform. § www.mymaths.co.uk: Log in: Bradon Password: half § If you have any concerns please speak to your Maths teacher, Mrs Henly or Mr Thomas. § On the day of the examination, remember to bring: pens, pencils, rubber, ruler, protractor, compasses and calculator (we do not have equipment to lend to all of you). Advance Notice for Year 9 Students and Parents Dates for the diary: The mathematics team will be running its ‘traditional’ Maths NCT Revision Sessions during the Easter Holidays. These are scheduled for: Wednesday 11 April and Thursday 12 April 2007. Details to follow later.

ASSET LANGUAGES EXAMINATION RESULTS In December, fourteen Year 10 students volunteered to sit a new examination to recognise their French Listening and Reading skills and fifteen Year 10 students and a Year 9 student sat German examinations. The Year 10 students had studied both French and German to the end of Year 9 and chosen one language as a GCSE language. The certificates were presented at the Year 10 Assembly during week commencing 12 February. They have now gained a qualification for another foreign language, which is the equivalent of half a foundation level GCSE. Of particular note are the following students who gained the highest grades in both Listening and Reading: German French Rebecca Grinham Hannah Stiles Nicola Faramarzi William Johnson Hollie Tidball Shauna Jenkins Jennifer Saunders Louise Wadsworth Laura Seabourne Katy Stewart Bryan Watkins Kerry O'Shea

LEARNING PLATFORM NEWS Mr Wright, ICT Co-ordinator, reports: Year 7 students from and Bradon Forest have started a collaborative task to work on local news. As more and more people work from home, we are seeing how people can work together electronically. The students met on Friday and the first step was for our Year 7 students to teach the Malmesbury students how to create pages on the Learning Platform. The students worked really well as ‘teachers’ and their peers picked things up quickly. The students then formed teams and started to lay out an on-line news page. Each team set up a forum where they can share ideas and talk to each other when they are not sitting side by side. At this stage we ran out of time so it is over to the teams of Year 7s to work together now to keep their pages up to date. If you would like to see the progress, follow the link from the school’s Learning Platform home page. Mr Soloman, Mr Vizor and Mr Wright from Bradon Forest, Mrs Doulton from Malmesbury and Mr Worrall of Uniservity all agreed the students worked really well. We will all meet up in in March to see how it has worked! The Bradon Forest students involved are Joanne Cook, Stephen Monk, Liam Stacey, Megan Godwin, Mali Webb, Charlotte McPhee, Samuel Stafford, Chris Jones, Holly Lynch, Matthew Hawkins, Emily James, Katy Sellars, Curzio Potenza, James Fletcher and Rachel Blakey.

ARTS NEWS Music § The following four students from Bradon Forest took part in the Swindon Young Musicians’ Competition held at Blunsdon House Hotel on Sunday 28 January 2007. Senior Section Junior Section Rebecca Richards (saxophone) Rosanna Fish (clarinet) Daniel Titchener (piano) Dominic Hedges (E flat bass) All performed excellently and displayed good musicianship. They were not only a credit to themselves but also good ambassadors for the school. Rebecca achieved third prize in the Senior Section. § Jessica Beaumont recently auditioned for the National Youth Guitar Ensemble. She has been successful and has been offered a place with this Ensemble on their 2007 programme.

§ Year 7 students will be presenting a musical performance of The King with Cold Feet on Wednesday 7 March and Thursday 8 March commencing at 7.30 pm in the School Hall. Admission will be by ticket only (adults: £2.50, children: £1.00). Tickets are available from the Music Department. Drama Please note revised dates of ‘The Birthday Party’. All tickets can be reserved by calling 01793 770570 or e- mailing [email protected]. Please visit our new website at www.bradonforest.wilts.sch.uk.

Gonzo Moose presents 'You Don't Need To Know That!'

20 March 2007 - 7.30 pm start Tickets: £5.50 adults, £4.50 students

Harold Pinters 'The Birthday Party' performed by Bradon Forest Theatre GCSE students directed by Dominic Waldron 15 and 16 February 2007 - 7.30 pm start Tickets: £4.00 adults, £3.00 students

SPORTS NEWS Year 10 Basketball National Cup The Year 10 Basketball team has continued its success from last year qualifying for the “Elite 8” National Finals held at Brunel University. To reach this stage Bradon Forest again became South West of England champions beating Millfield 47 – 31 and Churston Ferrers 94 – 60. After this Bradon Forest beat Stantonbury 61 – 47 and finally, in a hard fought game, Dagenham Park School London 73 - 67. At the finals were a number of specialist basketball schools who also play National League basketball at the weekend as a school, making the standard extremely high. In the group stages Bradon Forest firstly played Greig City who were last year’s champions. After a very close game Bradon Forest went down 58 - 57 with Dean Hobbis scoring 21 points through good driving to the basketball and some excellent 3 point shooting. After that Bradon Forest lost a number of key players to injury and illness and it was an uphill struggle in the second game which Bradon Forest lost 62 - 49. This was followed up with a narrow overtime defeat to Priestnall 73 – 71. This meant that on Sunday, Bradon Forest students were playing for the minor places. In the first match Bradon Forest played St Peters and again lost 48 - 45 but in the last game they beat a strong Northampton side 41 - 33 to end the weekend on a high. Overall the boys finished in 7th position but a special mention needs to go to Dean Hobbis who averaged 22 points in each game, Mike Farage, Will Evans and Ryan Way who rebounded well, both offensively and defensively, all day. Members of the squad are Dean Hobbis, Mike Farage, Will Evans, Dan Norcross, Ryan Way, Liam Williams, Adam Bedwell, Marcus Welch, Tom Barron, Adam Corcoran, Billy Bodin, Jordan Legge. Also, this week, Bradon Forest defended its Swindon Schools Basketball Cup beating Churchfields 97 – 14 in the final. Many thanks to Mr Thomas, PE Colleagues and all staff involved in supporting the squad who yet again had to play all their matches away. Well done to all the students in the squad – another impressive year. Cross Country Running Jake Ferris in Year 9 came second in the Wiltshire Cross Country Championships and will now represent the county in the South West Championships on 3 March 2007. Rugby Dan Norcross in Year 10 has been selected for the Dorset and Wiltshire U15 Rugby team. On top of this, Dan has been training with Bristol Shoguns Academy a year early. Dan continues to show tremendous potential for the future.

PTA NEWS KS3 Disco dates Thursday, 1 March 2007 Thursday, 17 May 2007

200 CLUB JANUARY DRAW PRIZE WINNERS 1. Mrs C Welch, Bradon Forest 42 £25 2. Mrs B Wilkinson, 68 £16 3. Mrs P Robathan, Shaw 106 £12 4. Mr M Fisher, Grange Park 85 £10

DATES OF FUTURE NEWSLETTERS 2006/07 It is important with secondary age students to create a system that maximises the chance of newsletters arriving home to parents. The newsletters for this academic year will be published in the week beginning: Issue 8 - 19 March 2007 Issue 10 - 11 June 2007 Issue 9 - 30 April 2007 Issue 11 - 16 July 2007 Tutors will ensure that all students receive every issue to take home and will keep copies for those who are absent.

L M Spiers Headteacher