Longdean Link Headlines Edition 6 28 November 2019

Dear Parents and friends It has been another exciting week at Longdean. It has been an absolute joy to watch the school show this week and to see such as high standard of performance of Annie. The singing, dancing and acting have all been of a high calibre and it has been wonderful to see the enthusiasm and enjoyment of the cast. The cast have given five performances over the course of this week ,three to parents and two to primary schools. I would like to thank all of those who have been involved in sup- porting the production or who have attended as part of the audience.

Away from the show we have also welcomed EPSON into the school this week. They are working closely with a Harpenden based charity Human Milk Foundation, who deliver breast milk to premature babies in hospital. They would like our students to design a car wrap for the vehicle that will be used to transport the milk. EPSON will then print the winning design.

I would also like to use my article to commend two students in Year 11 who have organised and run campaigns for charity over the course of this week. Firstly, Fehrine Mahmood who ran a bake sale to raise money for Billy’s Wish. Secondly Bradley Den- ley Line organised the refreshments for the opening night of the school show. He organised this to raise money and aware- ness for the work of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Both students did this as part of their Citizenship GCSE. Well done.

Finally for this edition I would like to remind all students in Years 9 – 13 that preliminary examinations will begin on Monday 2nd December. For all examinations students need to be in full uniform and have the following equipment. 2 black pens, 2 pencils, ruler, rubber, sharpener, protractor, calculator, compass. If you arrive without this equipment or wearing incorrect uniform there is a risk that you will not be admitted to the examination hall.

I hope all parents and students enjoy the long weekend. Graham Cunningham Headteacher Pond Update

Have you wondered about the pond we are creating at the front of the school? So far we have been successful in attracting £20k in grant funding and work is well underway with the project. This will be a nature pond which we hope will be a home for frogs and newts, contributing to natural diversity and providing both a science study area and a peaceful space for students. As well as making the pond available to feeder schools and youth groups locally, we are planning to create a group ‘Friends of Longdean Pond’

Any parents/carers with an interest in ponds, please contact us at [email protected]

Artist Impression of what the finished pond will look like

Becoming a teacher

Interested in becoming a teacher?

Longdean School is a member of the Alban Federation partnership that works in the area of teacher training. Each year the Federation trains a large number of adults - 55 trainees are currently following the programme in 2019/20 - either straight from University or as career changers, and places them in a host school for the year to enable them to complete their training and gain Qualified Teacher Status.

All applications are submitted through UCAS (the University Admission System) and the application window is now open for courses starting in September 2020. C Courses are available in both Primary and Secondary programmes, with salaries or bursaries available for suitably qualified candidates in many subjects. If you are interested in becoming a teacher and would like general advice or specific guidance as to how to apply, please feel free to contact the Alban Federation team via email on [email protected] or by phone on 01727 799560 Ext217.

Numeracy

Mr El Amine recommends: Top resources to ace your GCSE maths

www.cgpbooks.co.uk

www.daydreameducation.co.uk

Mobile Devices We introduced our new policy on devices in January 2019 and as a staff we have been amazed on the positive impact it has brought. Staff are dealing with fewer pastoral issues, many of which began off site when devices were permitted. Students are also much more in tune with the environment and people around them. I have also been impressed by the responsible way older students have modelled our expectations to younger years. The poster below hopefully reminds all of us why we made the change and the benefits that putting the phone away brings. Mr G Cunningham Headteacher

Closing the Word Gap

 Up to about 5, children acquire words by speaking and listening  High performing children (the upper quartile) know an average estimated vocabulary of 7100 root words.  Poor performing pupils (the lower quartile) know 3000 root words, acquiring only one word per day compared to the three words per day of high performing peers. Biemiller (2003).  ‘The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.’

 Children who do not have a good vocabulary are likely to have difficulty in reading comprehension, and therefore acquiring more vocabulary.

 Poor vocabulary has long been identified as a primary cause of academic failure of disadvantaged students.

 • Huge disparity between different children’s known vocabulary upon school entry and the gap widens

 Children with low vocabularies would have to learn words much faster than their peers, at a rate of three to four root words per day, if they were to catch up within five or six years. Catering BREAKFAST CLUB

All students are welcome to attend the club which runs from 7.30-8.15am and offers the following menu: Cereals 70p Porridge 70p (1st bowl free) Toast 25p (free to all for 1st slice) Baked beans 40p Bacon or sausage rolls £1.05 and sandwich 95p Hash browns 40p Fruit 35p Bagels 75p Squash 20p Tea 45p Coffee 65p Hot chocolate 65p Please note that the parent of any child requiring a gluten free menu can have this mailed to them. Please contact [email protected] The club is supervised and we will be asking the students what sort of activities they would enjoy. Entrance to the canteen is via the door by Technology. Yours sincerely Miss T Doyle Finance Director

If your child has any remaining balance on their catering account and you wish to be refunded or have this transferred to a sibling account, you will need to submit these details in writing to Alliance in Partnership directly. These needs to be sent to: Catering Address

Alliance in Partnership, Suite 440, 4th floor, West Wing, TriGate 210-222 Hagley Road West, Oldbury, West Midlands, B68 0NP Question Time

The Adeyfield Academy is hosting a public General Election Question Time on Thursday 5th December, 7-9pm.

All four candidates standing for election in the Hemel Hempstead constituency have confirmed their attendance.

This is a chance for all of the community to ask questions of the candidates standing for election in the Hemel Hempstead constituency in the general election.

If you are interested in attending the event, please contact The Adeyfield Academy to book your free tickets for the evening on 01442 406 020 or email [email protected]

Please note that this is a panel discussion with questions from the audience. It is not a hustings event.

Artwork of the month

Antarctica Day

Antarctica Day 2019

To celebrate Antarctica Day, Year 7 students have taken part in an Antarctica flag designing competition in Geography. On December 1st 1959 (60 years ago this year!) 12 nations signed the Antarctic Treaty, a document declaring that Antarctica would be off limits to military activity and setting it aside as a place for peace and scientific discoveries. As of 2010, December 1st has been celebrated each year to mark this milestone of peace and to inspire future decisions. The entries from students were of a very high standard, but five flags have been selected. These will be sent to a researcher or engineer who will take them with them on their journey to Antarctica. A photo will be taken of the photos in Antarctica and we will receive a certificate letting us know where the flags have travelled to. Congratulations to the winning entries from: Jack Steel, Nurissa White, Grace Rumble, Lily Luck and Dina Salman

Important dates

 Occasional Day Friday 29 November  Spring Term Starts Monday 2019 6 January 2020

 Senior Presentation Evening 19 December 2019  Christmas Jumper Day 20 December 2019

 Term Ends Friday 20 December 2019

Update Details Have your contact details changed?

You could be missing out on important information for your child.

Address, email, phone number, name, emergency contact information for your child.

In order for you to receive important emails and texts, please ensure that you provide us with your current details by emailing or writing in to the school Admin Office: [email protected].

Thank you for your on-going cooperation. Longdean School Office Lost Property

We have had an alarming amount of lost property brought to reception this half term.

If your child has lost anything, please ask them to come to Student Services during break or lunch time during the first week back of the next half term to search.

Thank you Longdean School Office

Attendance Please support your child by ensuring that they are in school every day, as far as possible. Families will be issued with a fixed penalty notice and could be prosecuted by Hertfordshire County Council for their child's non- attendance at school this academic year.

Sept July Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11

Nothing is more critical to attainment than consistent attendance. Well done to all of the students who achieved 100% so far this academic year.

Research suggests that for every 17 MISSED SCHOOL DAYS, a student’s achievement will drop by ONE GRADE when they sit their GCSEs Information

Independent Learning and Homework at Longdean

Please remember to discuss your child’s Independent Learning and Homework set on Show My Homework using the app or the website: https://longdean.showmyhomework.co.uk/school/homeworks/calendar where you can find the entire school’s homework and filter by subject, teacher or class without logging in. For specific details about your child’s homework, please log in to this website or the app. We recommend half an hour a night, Monday through Thursday, on sites such as GCSE Pod, BBC Bitesize, Mathswatch, Tassomai, Educake, MyMaths and others as advised by the departments.

www.mymaths.co.uk — students have an individual username and password from their Maths Teacher.

Mr R Muskett Assistant Headteacher

Reporting Absences from School - Contact Numbers

If, for any reason, your child is absent from school or needs to be collected for an appointment, please contact one of the following numbers as soon as possible. Any messages will be picked up at the beginning of the school day. Please call each day your child will be absent.

Da Vinci: 01442 205706 Franklin: 01442 205707 Gates: 01442 205760 Pascal: 01442 205703 Sixth Form: 01442 205720 Recent Communication

Recent communication

sent home:

Friday 29th of November is the final day for locker Social media expectations and best practice reminder payments. Unpaid lockers to be re allocated to stu- letter dents on the waiting list.

On Friday 20 December 2019 – the final day of term – Years 7-11 will be having a Xmas-themed non- uniform day. All money raised from the day will be donated to The Alzheimer’s society

Attendance

Pascal 94.99%

Gates 93.86 %

Franklin 93.3%

Da Vinci 93.8%

94.04% 0% 100%

Whole School:

Link Dates The Longdean Link is published every two weeks, via the Schoolcomms e-mail system to all those for whom we have an e-mail address, and on the LLP. Next issue: Friday 29 November 2019