March 2013 March 2013
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
March 2013 March 2013 Dear Parents and Carers, This has been another excellent term. The Spring edition of the Mitre celebrates many of the outstanding achievements of our students during the term. At TBSHS the development of good character is at the heart of all we do. Our focus on character seeks to open students’ hearts and open their minds. I have been very pleased to see our students developing their leadership skills: supporting departmental events, house competitions, in a supervisory role as prefects, representatives on the school and sixth form councils, and as leaders of sports, drama, music, debating, MUN, Amnesty International, Interact, young enterprise and the BBC report team . Whatever leadership role the students have undertaken, with or without a title, they have made a significant contribution to the life of the school, leading with kindness and respect. We are very proud of them and cherish their contribution to the life of our school. The heart of our Teaching and Learning strategy is centred on what we must do for every single student in the classroom to enable them all to make progress in their learning each and every day. Our staff work very hard to enable students to succeed providing guidance, patience and expertise. I am sure that you will wish to join me in congratulating them for supporting your son/daughter for their outstanding commitment this term. I am indebted to those parents (344 questionnaires were returned) who completed the Kirkland Rowell perception survey. Our journey to become a truly engaged school requires us to open ourselves to constructive criticism, embrace it and learn accordingly. Feedback of this nature is vital to strengthen the community of the School. You gave an excellent overall performance score for the school (82%), while among the parents whose children were not in their first year at the school 22% said the school had improved over the last year while only 5% thought the school’s performance was worse. Of the parents of new pupils, only 5% felt that the school had not lived up to their expectations while 30% said the school was better than they had expected it to be. You provided significantly higher scores than last year for improvements in school communications, celebrating and rewarding achievement, and school security. Your top priority for improvement is school facilities. Mindful of the issues regarding the school facilities, the Mitre team are currently discussing how we can address this situation and we will be in contact with you soon with an initiative to address some of these concerns. Members of the Parent Teacher Friends Association, Parents Sports Association and The Mitre Team, please may I thank you for your generosity of spirit and hard work in enriching the life of our School. May I take this opportunity to draw attention to the sterling work of the BBC report team who participated in this national initiative on the 21st March. It was a hugely enjoyable day and the Year 11's all worked incredibly hard to produce their written articles and a filmed news programme of 22 minutes. The leadership shown by Year 12's was fantastic - all were really positive, supportive and encouraging. They all worked tirelessly throughout the whole day. Congratulations to: Dan Betts, Hayden Brown, Robin Franklin, Ryan Gold, Drew Gregg, Charlie Jonas, Taylor Sharpe, Jack Tulloch, Jacob Westlake, Lily Boulter, Alice Leadon and Meghan Ridout. The film is available on the website: http://www.tbshs.org/stu_life/Pages/bbc_news_report.aspx 2 At the time of writing, preparations are well underway for our Easter services at St Michael’s Church, Bishop’s Stortford. In addition to the annual service for the Lower School, this year we have introduced a further service for the Middle and Senior Schools. The Easter break is an excellent opportunity for everyone to re-charge, reflect on the last Term and to prepare for the Summer Term. In particular, Year 11, 12 and 13 students need to make sure they prioritise quality time over the break to continue their learning at home. The external examinations are almost upon us, and the weeks leading up to them should be spent wisely. Finally, may I wish you all a happy and healthy Easter Holiday and look forward to seeing you again, refreshed and restored in the summer term. Paul Noble Acting Headteacher Term Dates 2013 April 15th - INSET (Staff Only) April 16th – Start of Term May 26th – 30th Half Term July 24th End of Term – Early Closure - 1.15pm ---- 2nd September - INSET (Staff Only) 3rd September - Year 7 + Year 12 only 4th September - Rest of the School return. 3 News from the TBSHS Parent, Teacher & Friends Association It seems astonishing that the Easter holidays are almost here already and another term is over. However it has been another successful few months of fund raising for the PTFA. In February, we held our ever popular Annual Black & Gold Quiz Night. Once again the winning trophy was passed to The Maths Department team. Several other teams from the staff and 12 parental teams were unable to break their grip on the lead. However there is always next year! Many thanks to all who came along, as this event raised over £1,500 In March we held our annual Students-Only event which was a disco for pupils in Years 7, 8, 9 from TBSHS and Herts & Essex High School. The pupils all seemed to have a good time; for the girls - flat shoes are definitely ‘in’ at the moment and over on the sweet stall, the Sherbet Lemons sold out in the first hour of the evening! Our role as the PTFA is to raise funds for the benefit of our children at TBSHS and help build the relationship between parents, teachers and friends. With raised funds the PTFA have recently placed an order to buy four outdoor table tennis tables at a cost of £7,000 to go in the playground for the pupils to enjoy at lunch and break times. They are due to be delivered after Easter and we are all looking forward to seeing the students enjoying using them. Let’s hope for some much needed sunshine! With our children in secondary school it is not always as easy to meet other parents and carers as it is in junior school. If you would like a chance to meet other TBSHS parents and carers then pop along to Costa Coffee at Tesco’s Bishop’s Park on Wednesday 17th April 9am ~ 10.30am. TBSHS parents and PTFA members, Janice and Corinne, will be there, so why not join them for a chat with coffee and cake!! Now running for a third academic year, the PTFA raise money through selling Privilege Cards to parents, pupils, staff and friends of the school; cardholders can then use the card at a range of local businesses who offer exclusive discounts to cardholders on production of a valid card. The cards are available to purchase for just £5, either from school reception or via Parentpay. Full details can be found on the Privilege Card Website at https://sites.google.com/site/tbshsprivilegecard/ On behalf of the PTFA I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and to wish you a very Happy Easter. Debbie Landers Chair, 2012-2013 TBSHS PTFA 4 Oxbridge Successes Six High School Students win Places at Oxbridge Staff and students at The Bishop’s Stortford High School are delighted to learn that six Year 13 students have received offers of places at Cambridge and Oxford Universities to start in October this year. Harriet Cantrell Harriet Cantrell (2012 leaver) has a deferred offer to study Linguistics at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, Annie Loveday has an offer to study History at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge Katherine Cowles has an offer to study English and French at St Edmund Hall College, Oxford. Tom Kitchen holds an offer to study Mathematics at Queens’ College, Cambridge Emma Langley-Jones has an offer to study Economics at St John’s College, Cambridge Katie Lewis has an offer for Geography at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge The achievements of this talented group of students are not only academic: Emma Langley-Jones is Head Girl at the London Road secondary and Katherine Cowles and Katie Lewis are both Deputy Head Girls. Annie Loveday achieved the highest History AS-level mark in the school and Tom Kitchen has already gained an A* for A2 Mathematics, having taken it a year early. Mark Brunker, TBSHS Oxbridge Co-ordinator commented, “The students have worked exceptionally hard to gain these offers and have been well supported by staff and external speakers who have provided many enrichment opportunities to develop their academic ability. We are very proud of these achievements and the school continues to go from strength to strength with four students last year gaining places at Oxbridge and six holding offers this year. We wish our students all the best in obtaining the required grades to secure their places” Tom Capewell, Head of Sixth Form, said, “These offers are a fitting reward for the hard work and dedication these students have shown from the very start of their Sixth Form careers, ably supported by excellent teaching. Subject staff are now supporting them fully as they strive to meet the conditions of their offers to study at such prestigious universities. ” Helen Haines 5 The Arts Faculty HOF Arts/PE report, Spring Term, 2013. I will start my HOF Mitre comments with this from Mark Brunker, because it inspired me and because it sums up, admirably, the spirit that we engender at TBSHS.