Key Dates New website Children in Need
Term 2: 2nd Nov-17th Dec Our brand new website has Due to the current restrictions, we Winter break: 18th Dec-4th Jan launched! were unable to go all out this year, Term 3: 5th Jan-12th Feb We are very excited to have like usual, but we did do a ‘Come Half term: 15th Feb-19th Feb moved to our new site and you as yourself’-themed mufti day to Term 4: 22nd Feb-1st Apr can find all the information you celebrate and promote everyone need about Tor Bridge High at the feeling confident and happy! 11th December: Students can same address: collect their GCSE certificates A huge well done goes to the from the main school Admin office www.torbridge.net whole of Tor Bridge High for raising £911.63! Christmas in a box! Tor Bridge High students and staff have done themselves proud once again. This Christmas 70 boxes equalling over 700kgs of food and drink has been donated into the North Plymouth Food bank. During October tutor groups have been collecting specific items to make up a Christmas themed food box to donate to the foodbank so families around Plymouth can enjoy a few extras during this festive period. The students were fabulous, and the generosity of the donations by themselves and families was incredible. Once all the boxes were complete they were loaded onto the mini bus ready for the next stage in their journey to a home. Mr Riley was assisted by Liam and Maisie (from tutor group 7NEL who donated 7 boxes alone), delivered the boxes to the North Plymouth Foodbank who could not thank the kindness of the donations enough. Every box was weighed in combining to a total of 714 kgs, a truly amazing amount. Well done to all the Tor Bridge High community and we cannot wait to do it all again next year. A message from the Headteacher
As I write this short introduction to our first curriculum area. Many of newsletter of the 2020-21 academic year, I realise which outline how each subject that this is the latest of many communications that I has responded to the significant challenges have had with you over the last nine months or so. of delivering a high quality curriculum with the The good news this time is that the message is not restrictions of keeping everyone as safe as in response to an issue or matter that has arisen possible and moving on from the months where due to the Coronavirus COVID19 pandemic. students were not in school. As has been the case throughout the COVID crisis, we are still This year for all of us, has been a year like no receiving updates from organisations such as the other and when I reflect on the calendar year I am Department for Education and the exams regulator blown away by how fantastic the students, staff, ‘Ofqual’. Later on in this newsletter, there is an governors and parents/carers have been during this article about the changes to exams and the way time. Over the last two terms since we have been that grades will be calculated, as we know it at back, since our return in September, we have had the time of writing. As with all of the matters linked to make many changes to the way that we operate with how we operate and COVID19, we will keep but what hasn’t changed is the core structure of communicating with you as parents and carers. our day and what is happening in the lessons Your support in these ever-changing times in that are taking place. The reading programme response to the crisis is very welcome, thank you. in tutorial is still exposing students to a range of texts, ideas and vocabulary that most would not Moving away from the virus, as I have mentioned, have experienced. Lessons are starting with a Low we have been able to keep an awful lot still going Stakes Test to review core knowledge and prepare on in school although often in a different way, with students for their learning. Teachers are still being much of this, although not everything is covered clear with instruction, and students have a chance in this newsletter. While our number one priority to put this into practice in the challenging tasks has been, and still is, safely supporting students to that are set. These are all established routines recover from the lost time before the summer, much which have meant that while there is much turmoil has still been happening in school that showcases all around us, the core learning that will enable what excellent young people the students of TBH students to succeed is continuing. It is brilliant are. A real highlight was the ‘Box for Christmas when I and my senior team walk around and visit appeal’ which, only last week, saw a massive lessons to see this happening in every lesson, amount of specifically identified food items being every day. collected to be distributed in the local community. This is just one example of the TBH community Obviously there have been many challenges and thinking beyond oneself for the benefit of others. It when driving into school each morning I never was a truly fabulous achievement and thanks must quite know what news I am going to get regarding go to everyone. positive cases in school. While it is very regrettable that we have had to have students self-isolating, Finally, it leaves me to finish by wishing everyone the number of cases has been relatively low in involved with Tor Bridge High a wonderful school and we have been able to keep disruption to Christmas break and a fantastic and exciting New a minimum. This is due to the effective process we Year ahead. have employed based on the government advice. I am sure that you will share my eager anticipation Graham Roser of the roll out of a vaccine but we are not yet in a position to change any of our systems that are in place to minimise the risks and disruption.
In this edition of our newsletter, unlike previous editions, there are short articles from each Remembrance Day On 11th November we joined the nation by We acknowledge innocent civilians who have lost remembering and honouring those who served to their lives in conflict and acts of terrorism. defend our democratic freedoms and way of life. We unite across faiths, cultures and backgrounds Remembrance does not glorify war and its symbol. to remember the service and sacrifice of the The red poppy is a sign of both remembrance and Armed Forces community from Britain and the hope for a peaceful future. Commonwealth. We will remember. We remember the sacrifice of the Armed Forces A special thank you to one of our students, James, community. who played The Last Post very eloquently and was We pay tribute to the special contribution of families joined by three other cadets from all three forces – and of the emergency services. Navy, Army and RAF.
Engineer Education Scheme
The Engineer Education Scheme (EES) is a six-month long project organised by EDT that enables 6th form students to experience and undertake an engineering project linked with a partner company. This year our team’s company was Collins Aerospace who supported the team with mentors and advice. The project was to design a semi-autonomous life vest delivery system in the form of a glider that could drop a life vest. Even with the onset of Covid in March, the team persevered and was able to develop a design to deliver the life vest. Due to their hard work they graduated the scheme and have been achieved an Industrial Cadet Gold Award. Congratulations gentlemen and good luck with your future careers! Year 7 complete their Cognitive Abilities Tests At Tor Bridge High, we wish to assess all of our teachers to plan appropriately for future learning students to ascertain what their needs are and how episodes and activities. we can best help them to learn and achieve. As part of this process we administered the Cognitive I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our Abilities Test (CAT) to all of our students in Year 7 wonderful Year 7 students for the exemplary way this term. in which they approached the tests. Entering an exam hall can be a daunting experience for anyone CAT is made up of a series of short tests which especially students who have only been in the assess a student’s reasoning (thinking) abilities in school for a short period! key areas that support educational development and academic attainment. CAT has many uses and Mr Winstone for us its primary purpose is to help your child’s Deputy Headteacher
Staff farewells
Mr Perry - Deputy Head of Cade, Subject Lead for Geography At the end of this term, we say a fond farewell to Mr Sambells-Perry as he embarks on his new role as Assistant Principal at Saltash.net. Mr Sambells-Perry joined Tor Bridge High in 2010 as a Geography teacher and has since had several very important roles within the school such as leader for the international theme, Head of Geography and Deputy Head of Cade. Mr Sambells-Perry has made a lasting impact on many students both past and present and we wish him the best of luck in his new job!
Miss Emberson - Teacher of Science Miss Emberson will be missed by many staff and students at Tor Bridge High. She has been an NQT mentor for Exeter trainees and has represented the school at an Italian university as well as presenting to Plymouth university undergraduates about teaching. She ran the Explosive science club with great success and has inspired many students with her enthusiasm and love for the subject. She has been a great teacher at Tor Bridge High for four years and now leaves us to start a new job at Ysgol Bryn Alyn school North Wales. We all wish her good luck. Mrs J Sheppard - Teacher of English Mrs Sheppard joined our English department in 2014. During her time with us she has involved herself with a range of activities including supporting Mrs Bowles with the Carnegie Award. Always full of energy, she is now moving on to new ventures, having taken retirement. Undoubtably, we will see her pounding the pavements with her early morning runs! I know that she will relish the opportunity and time to spend with her family and we wish her all the best for the future. Mrs Tully - Science Technician Mrs Tully worked as a science technician here at Tor Bridge High for about 30 years before retiring this year. She helped deliver exciting and inspiring Physics practical lessons throughout her time here. Her knowledge and enthusiasm for Physics will be missed greatly as will her keen mind and sense of humour. She was always there to listen to people’s problems and offer good sage advice. She will now have more time to follow her other passions such as Traveling, Gardening and spending time with her grandchildren. Tor Bridge High will miss her dearly. We also say farewell to Mrs Norster (Maths Tutor), Mr Ogden (Teacher of Maths), and Miss Lillicrap (Learning Support Assistant). We wish them a warm hearted farewell and best wishes for their future!
We welcome Mrs Winstone (Teacher of English), Mr Snaddon (Teacher of Maths) and Ms Natkaniec (Cleaner). Welcome to the Tor Bridge High family! Bronze Award Expedition
Huge congratulations to Isabella, Alex Maisy Andrew, Freya, James, Lily, who completed their two-day Bronze Duke of Edinburgh assessed expedition in September and passed with flying colours! It is always a challenge, but this year was especially difficult as our students had not done a great deal of navigational training since the lockdown in March. On one day alone they covered 16km all by themselves and did not get lost – they also managed to put up a tent and cook a hot meal. Everyone kept in high spirits throughout; happy smiling faces and true determination – wow, they are amazing!
Silver Award Expedition
Congratulations to Isabel, Jack, Carys, Katy, Emma, Leah and Millie for passing their assessed expedition over the October half term break!
This took part on Dartmoor and they had every kind of weather over the three days. But that did not deter them, they carried on regardless with very high spirits and great teamwork – they are an absolute credit to themselves, their families and to Tor Bridge High. Fantastic! Art Since the beginning of September we have made every effort to ensure that our students continue to enjoy the full range of art, design and photography that we can offer atTor Bridge High. The majority of lessons are still happening in specialist art studios, so our students have had the opportunity to work with an incredible range of equipment and materials.
As an example, our photography students have not only been able to continue experimenting with the latest digital technology, they have also had fun exploring traditional (and non-traditional!) wet photography. We have safely managed to explore darkroom processing and many have taken advantage of the nicer weather to create lumen prints and pinhole images outside. The experimental nature of this work is really exciting!
Our wonderful Year 7s have really embraced the broad range of art practices on offer, producing clay heads inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, mixed-media textiles, digital graphic design, architecture and watercolour painting; whilst our Year 8s have been able to pick up where they left off in March, completing their carousel of activities.
To ensure that GCSE and Post-16 students can continue to aim for the highest grades, we have also extended the studio hours after school, with many enjoying the additional time to push the limits of their creativity.
There is a real buzz in the art department and some amazing art and design work is being produced at all ages. Whilst I cannot pretend that it hasn’t been tough, the smiles on the faces of students who have achieved something they can be proud of makes it all worthwhile!!
I would particularly like to say thank you to all of the staff and students who have made it possible.
Mr Lyon Curriculum Leader of Art and Design English As a Head of English, words don’t often fail, learning platform ‘Bedrock’. It is widely recognised and you should certainly be able to throw out a that a broad vocabulary is crucial to our students’ synonym or two to avoid repetition and cliché, but success, not only in their examinations but also the adjective ‘strange’, bandied around the media in their future endeavours beyond the classroom. since last March, is definitely the most apt for this Led by Mrs Davison, students have the amazing time. opportunity to develop a vocabulary that will enable However, the English department has worked to grow more in confidence as communicators. incredibly hard to ensure that students are Thank you to all parents and carers for your help receiving the very best experience in and out of and support in our delivery of English and I hope the classroom during these ‘strange’ times and are you have a wonderful Christmas break. being stretched and challenged across all areas of the curriculum. Our new Year 7s were greeted by Mr Langmead the study of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of Curriculum Leader of English the Dog in the Nighttime. The students impressed us with their ability to empathise with very difficult and complex issues, producing some wonderful Maths work as a result of this. Year 8 commenced in a rather spooky fashion Well what a journey we have been on this term. In with Gothic writing before moving quickly on to Mathematics we have introduced a new scheme studying Orwell’s Animal Farm and exploring ideas of learning for years 7, 8 and 9 which ensures of leadership and power. It was most refreshing the knowledge students have in Mathematics to see young people discussing the importance of is revisited and is built upon over the three moral leadership and the importance of wielding years. It has been well received by the students power responsibly to the backdrop of the American and teachers are developing an energetic and election. challenging curriculum which focusses not only on With our Year 9s, we certainly raised the bar the mathematics but on the application of these studying Harper Lee’s powerful novel To Kill A skills enabling them to succeed not only during Mockingbird. Students showed a growing maturity their time at Tor Bridge High but also in their future in handling discussions of a very sensitive nature careers. and exhibited a real spirit of inquiry questioning Hegarty Mathematics, our online home learning how such things could occur in a supposedly platform, has been well received by the students civilized world before making the links to events in and has added another dimension to their learning, that were broadcast over the summer regarding the the work set allows students to access and recall killing of George Floyd. previous learning, which in turn enables them to You might have seen in the news that any anti- progress with their current studies by underpinning capitalism resources for certain subjects in England their knowledge and retention through a medium was not allowed. Thankfully, English was not one of they are all comfortable with. those subjects otherwise our yearly festival study Many of our students have taken part in the of A Christmas Carol with Year 10 would have had Mathematics Challenge this term with success in to be put on hold! Instead, they are being treated to all quarters. This is a national challenge where an early gift of studying Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, students from across the country take part in wonderful, timely allegory extolling the virtues of mathematics questions which are written to not only generosity and kind-heartedness highlighting the ascertain their mathematical knowledge, but their importance that compassion, benevolence, and ability to apply their knowledge to some demanding altruism have over the self-serving accumulation questions. The Junior Challenge, undertaken of wealth… a message that is ever so important through lockdown, saw year 7 and year 8 students during these times. achieving bronze certificates and a gold one too. Our Year 11s are most deserving of a lot of praise. Our Intermediate Challenge involving year 10 Having come back from a very uncertain time, they and 11 students saw students achieving bronze, are really working hard to ensure that they are silver and gold certificates. The Senior Challenge exam ready for the summer. They have been most involving year 12 and 13 A Level, saw students focused in the classroom revising Literature content achieving bronze and silver awards. What a from Year 10 as well as preparing for the English fantastic achievement by all involved. Well done. Language exam. Lastly, all of KS3 have had training on a new Miss Allen Curriculum Leader of Maths Performing Arts
I feel so privileged that at this time when live performances have been a challenge for artists, theatres are shut and live music can only happen outdoors I get to see live music and theatre every day! In Music students from Year 7 and 8 have been developing their keyboard skills, they have been composing and then learning to play famous songs like ‘Ode to Joy’ by Beethoven and the James Bond theme tune… we may branch out and try our new skill with some Christmas tunes before the term is up. KS4 Music have been working hard preparing for their live performance exams and learning how important effective rehearsal is. We have seen some outstanding performances this term from our bands and solo artists getting our feet tapping. The students are tasked with putting on a music event, creating and performing their own set within it, from lighting, to stage layout style and image, gaining real experience of what it is like to be a performer. In Drama the Year 7s begin exploring what bullying is, how it makes you feel and how to tackle it through the use of thought tracking, still image and montage, developing our skills in empathy and putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes. In Year 8 the focus has been some Shakespeare, understanding the plot of the play a Midsummer Night’s Dream through performance with Miss Hunt, as well as working on their comedy skills with Miss Davey. KS4 learners have been performing texts during their lessons, this term I have had the pleasure of seeing some highly skilled extracts from Blood Brothers, An Inspector Calls and Macbeth, all the greats! Within the Level 3 Creative and Performing Arts course is where we’ve really been treated to some incredible work, the students have performed soliloquys from the Elizabethan era during this term and as part of their community drama unit have really been learning the value of Drama and the impact it can have on other people. As part of this project we researched the Loneliness campaign, each of the students were given a contact in a local residential setting where people have felt the impact of the pandemic through reduced visiting. The Year 13s have made phone calls to the tenants and chatted to them about how they are, but also about happy memories they have form the past, they have agreed that we can use these memories to prepare a performance for them, which we will stream virtually to them, an exciting project!
Mrs Stockdale Curriculum Leader of Performing Arts (Above) Lewis taking part in Drama Humanities The start of the Autumn term saw the Humanities out about the battlefields and trench conditions department grow, yet again, with two wonderful new that soldiers from all sides faced during the Great arrivals in Mrs Davis (Subject Lead for Cultures & War. They studied the decisions that led to the War Values) and Miss Renyard (Teacher of Humanities) commencing and also evaluated the decisions that and the return, from maternity leave, of the fab Miss the British Generals made. Palmer. One of the key learning aspects of all topics is for Topics that the students have learned about since students to have an understanding of how their the return from the first Lockdown have included learning can link to careers and employment. One Mayflower 400 (yr7), World War I (Year 8 History) topic that is explicit in that is the Location, Location and Location, Location (Year 9 Geography). The unit in Year 9 Geography. Here, students understand Mayflower 400 unit is to enable all Year 7s to how urban areas develop and how space is utilised understand how a major event led to Plymouth in towns and cities. The topic ends with the students becoming a globally important city. The unit having to play the role of an estate agent and be focuses not just on the journey of the ship and able to justify the value of a property in the city, its passengers but also the political and religious based on its features and how its locality can affect upheaval in the preceding years that resulted in 102 its price. pilgrims setting sail in 1620 in order to be able to worship the way they wished to worship. Mr Goldsmith November is always a poignant year in the calendar, Curriculum Leader of Humanities with Remembrance Sunday, and our students found Social Sciences
The subjects the students learn about in social investigating officer to decide who is responsible sciences are health and social care (KS4/5) and for the crime. The programme ends on Dec 14th, at sociology and law (KS5). Students in health and this time students will have a lecture with a senior social care have been working hard at ensuring criminology lecturer at the university and they will their coursework is ready for internal verification and unpick all the evidence and have explanations from revising for their exams which take place in January the lecturer as to how the process works in real life. and February. We have had to adapt the course in It is a fantastic opportunity for all of the students light of COVID-19. In most years we have visited involved. residential homes to complete assessed practical Back in the classroom, all students in health and activities. This has had to be cancelled and students social care, sociology, law and psychology have are writing reports and presentations instead. been learning skills around essay writing and In A Level sociology, psychology and law courses applying real life cases and examples to exam the specification has remained very much the same, questions. but teachers have been reteaching parts of the If your child studies A Level sociology or psychology course that may not have been studied in as much there are low cost revision/catch up classes depth due to lockdown. This term students have that they could access in addition to the what is been learning about a range of sociological theory, happening in school. This can be viewed on this link crime and deviance, families and households and https://www.tutor2u.net/. research methods. Students have also had the option to study Ms Golding psychology this year and they have been learning Curriculum Leader of Social Science about the different sociological approaches and memory (a very useful topic, that helps students to learn effect revision techniques). Social sciences students have been completing a forensic event with Plymouth University. It is a fascinating six week project. Students have been given a crime scene, all the forensic evidence and they have had to build a case as a senior
Science The science department are thrilled to be back We are very proud of our Year 11 students who are teaching our students face to face following the engaging well with period 6 lessons and meeting unique period of the lockdown. Our technicians the demands of their final year of secondary school have been working hard to facilitate the varied head on. Students have been proactive in their experiments across the school and year group learning during isolation periods, using the online bubbles in a safe and COVID-19 appropriate platform Google Classroom to access their work and manner. We have raised to the challenge of ask their teachers for support, who are available conducting experiments, where possible, with during their normal lesson times. We are fortunate classes following social distancing rules and that the Year 11 bubble is in the science department in normal classrooms rather than the usual so our Year 11s are able to experience and engage laboratories allowing our students to experience a with the required practicals as part of their GCSE vital part of the subject – experimentation. examinations. We are impressed at how well the Year 7s have We are very happy to be able to continue offering settled into school and have embraced Science teacher training this year and have three trainees in the unusual setting of a normal classroom. This working with us from a variety of providers including has not stopped them investigating the impact of Plymouth University, Exeter University and Plymouth salt on the freezing point of water and looking at Marjon University. microscopes. Each year group has been following a bespoke plan to support the catch up and Mrs Meech reinforcing the learning they experienced during the Curriculum Leader of Science lockdown period. Modern Languages ¡Hola! and Bonjour! From the Modern Languages department! We have had an exciting first term and we celebrated European Week of Languages virtually this year! Students were invited to a Google Classroom and they took part in google quizzes and virtual escape rooms, all with the mission of finding out as much as they can about European Languages. We held our Great European Bake off virtually as well this year, with students baking cakes at home and posting photos to the classroom. Students were able to comment on other bakes and get some inspiration for their own. The star baker award went to Skye Jeffery in Year 7 and Dylan Graham-Jones in Year 8 was our winner of the European Languages escape room and quizzes. We also participated in the Routes into Language National competition in which students created a poster to advertise their favourite European Country. Rhianna Haaz in Year 7 produced a fantastic poster about Sweden! We have also launched a new Language Learning platform this year called The Language Gym. There are lots of different games and activities to help students maximise their learning potential and students have been really engaged in the Language Gym this term. We will look to run termly completions in the future to complete assignments and accumulate points. Furthermore, we have all students working really hard on their Google Quizzes and Google classroom so we can support home learning and online learning really well. Students have been fantastic in their language lessons this term and we look forward to sharing more of our news with you in the future!
Mrs Pugh Second Curriculum Leader of Modern Languages
After school sports clubs From Monday the 7th December the after school sports club have been back on for both boys and girls.
Each year has a different day of the week where they will have the opportunity to engage in a sports club from 15:00 to 16:00.
Mondays – Year 11 Sports covered:
Tuesdays – Year 7 Basketball Tag Rugby Netball
Wednesdays – Year 9 Football Cricket Badminton
Thursdays – Year 8 Handball Tchoukball Volleyball
Fridays – Year 10 Technology Autumn term for the Technology department has workshops and changing our procedures we have seen us having to overcome problems we had ensured that our KS3 groups on these rotations never imagined before. The wide range of subjects have been able to undertake practical work. Our that we teach all require the use of specialised year 9 Engineering students have been introduced equipment and we are incredibly proud of how to a wide range of machinery and processes and we have responded to the challenges both as a will continue to develop throughout the year. The department and as a school. We feel very strongly year 10 Engineers have, since the start of term, that the range of experiences in our department been tackling the first (and largest) practical-based must continue wherever possible as it is important coursework unit which will go towards their final both for the academic achievement of our students grade. Our year 11 Engineers are busy preparing for and also their well-being. their final exam unit in January.
Our Hospitality and Catering team have adapted Our Computer Science and iMedia lessons have their schemes of learning and hygiene procedures largely continued to be taught in our ICT suites. to ensure that all year groups are able to continue With a mixture of sanitisation and plastic screens with the practical element of the course, albeit at a between facing desks, our students have been able slightly reduced capacity. Sanitisation of equipment, to fully engage in our subjects at a time when many staff protective equipment and adapted scheduling schools are struggling to offer this experience. Our have ensured that our students receive the best year 11 iMedia students are working towards the possible experience. We have seen some fantastic deadline for their final coursework and preparing meals prepared by students in all year groups for their final exam in January. Computer Science and we are really looking forward to our Year 11s students in all years of KS4 this term have been creating their final dishes for their coursework. developing both their programming skills and the theory content of the course. In our Engineering and Design & Technology lessons, practical equipment is key to a student’s Mr Irvine engagement and understanding. By adapting our Co-Curriculum Leader of Technology
PE This term we have seen students grow and develop in a range of skills and attributes during their PE lessons. Whilst the students have been physical active, we have seen them develop their teamwork, tactical and resilience skills during a variety of activities. The year’s first intra school competition starting off with Year 7 football begins on Tuesday 8th December and will roll out across all other years after the Christmas break. The points collected will go towards the summers sports day where all the points will be added up and the winning school being awarded the School Cup. Those students who had to isolate have produced some excellent circuits that can be completed at home, with some very creative use of house hold items such as tins of beans and bottles of water, being used as weights. A number of circuits will no doubt give Joe Wicks some ideas for his online PE sessions. After school activities have now resumed following the second lockdown and these take place after school Monday to Friday 3pm to 4pm. The 8th December saw the first of the year intra school competition with the year 7 football.There was excellent commitment throughout from all the players. Each of whom were a credit to their school. The results of the match’s were, Tenzing 2 - Austen 4, Faraday 4 - Tenzing 0, Austen 1 - Faraday 0. It was great to see all the students active and back enjoying their school sport. More events will be happening throughout the year. It has been great to see the students active and engaged, and learning how to stay active during this current situation.
Mr S Williams Curriculum Leader of PE Library Perhaps, now more than ever, we are beginning On their allocated Library day, students can visit to appreciate the value of books since reading, to the School Library at break time and/or lunchtime quote Mason Cooley, ‘gives us a place to go, when to borrow/return/renew library books and have we have to stay where we are.’ access to the Library facilities. It will be great to see the Library full of students again and we can’t Despite an unusual start to the School year, the wait to share all of the fantastic new books we have Library has succeeded in supporting all Year 7 available for them. students to visit the Library for their Library Induction and to choose books on a regular basis. As well We are also pleased to announce that the Tor as providing Year 7 with essential library skills, Bridge High Library Google Classroom is now up they have also been able to participate in our and running. This means that all students are able annual celebration of poetry, the Tor Bridge High to request books online which means that students Poetry Week in October, and in our Winter Writing have daily access to our wonderful array of library Competition (November). books every day, albeit virtually in the current climate. Books ordered via the Library Google Oliver, our Library dog, has been in school every Classroom will be delivered to students via their Wednesday to work with two Year 7 classes as Tutor(s). well as being very popular during break times and lunchtimes with rest of the Year 7 year group. Here he is helping a group of students to create book hedgehogs (with old books!).
During the month of November, the Library Watch this space for two more Library competitions promoted all things non-fiction. This was the fifth this year: ‘All I Want For Christmas – Books Yule year the Tor Bridge High Library had participated Love To Read!’ and ‘Secret Santa’. in the national campaign and our aim was to encourage students to utilise the great non-fiction resources Tor Bridge High has to offer. All Year 8 students benefitted from a timetabled Library lesson and discovered fascinating facts about the planet we share. As well as this, all students were encouraged to take part in the non-fiction November activities on their scheduled Library days at break time and lunchtime and all students who borrowed non-fiction texts throughout the month of November were rewarded with achievement points.
We are delighted to announce that the Library is now open to all year groups on their allocated day:
• Monday: Year 11 • Tuesday: Year 10 • Wednesday: Year 7 • Thursday: Year 8 • Friday: Year 9 Tutorial Reading Programme At Tor Bridge High, we are extremely proud of our Tutorial Reading Programme. Following the positive impact the Programme had last year, every year group across the School now participates in the Tutorial Reading Programme and we are certain that the energy and commitment invested by each member of staff in delivering the daily reading will continue to reap huge gains for our students, both on an academic and a pastoral level too. The texts, both fiction and non fiction, within the Tor Bridge High Tutorial Reading Programme have been selected to ensure that the range of narratives available address a range of themes and experiences of the world in which we live as well as offering a high level of challenge too. eW are dedicated to ensuring that progress is made at every stage of your child’s learning journey, and are sure that Tutorial Reading Programme will continue to provide endless opportunities for that.
Here is a reminder of the key details linked to our Tutorial Reading Programme: When? Every day during Tutorial time (8:40am – 9.10am). Where? In Tutor bases. How? Trained Tutors read to their tutees, who track the text with a ruler. Which texts? See our School website for the books allocated to each year group. Why? There is growing evidence in the field of education to suggest that the act of reading is one of the best ways in which you can improve academic performance in the long-term.
Key benefits of reading together: 1. A social experience that builds a sense of community and belonging; 2. Regular modelling of fluent, passionate reading delivered by Tutors; 3. Exposure to countless words and phrases not found in everyday dialogue; 4. Coverage of a wealth of themes and concepts valuable for personal development and culture capital; 5. On-going improvement in independent reading skills.
As well as reading at school, we encourage all students to be reading at home. Students can borrow books, fiction and non-fiction, for study or for pleasure, from our School Library by visiting the Library on their year group’s allocated Library day or by placing book orders via theTor Bridge High Library Google Classroom which is now up and running.
Strategies for supporting your child at home:
Be interested: Ask about the book daily (e.g. plot, characters, themes, predictions etc). Be sensitive: Ensure students have chance to discuss delicate themes that arise. Be aware: Feel free to purchase and read the book that your child is reading (as long as they don’t jump ahead in the book beyond their peers!). Be relaxed: Offer a calm, stress-free environment that cultivates enthusiasm. Be an example: Let your child see you reading for pleasure on a regular basis at home. Bedrock Vocabulary We were pleased to launch the new online programme, Bedrock Vocabulary, at Tor Bridge High for all students in Years 7, 8 and 9 (Key Stage 3) at the start of November. Now, as we approach the end of our first half term of having had the Bedrock Vocabulary Programme, we are pleased that more and more students are engaging with the Bedrock programme as part of their weekly home-learning with some students even completing extra Bedrock sessions showing great commitment to their school studies. What is more, from early feedback, Bedrock’s positive impact is already evident with students achieving pleasing progress scores in the post topic tests.
Bedrock Vocabulary is an online programme that helps students to learn new tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary skills. At Tor Bridge High, we understand the importance of students having a good vocabulary repertoire of tier 2 and 3 words as well as the skills and confidence to employ them both orally and in their writing, and the Bedrock Vocabulary programme is another approach alongside the many strategies we employ at our School to broaden our students’ vocabulary knowledge so that they are highly skilled and confident communicators. Further benefits of the Bedrock Vocabulary programme are that it develops students’ reading skills and broadens students’ awareness of the world in which they live (culture capital).
The Bedrock Vocabulary programme can be accessed via any electronic device with internet access. All students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have their Bedrock usernames and passwords (a label including this information has been stuck in the inside cover of their Knowledge Organiser folder). For further information and a demonstration of the programme, please click on the link: https://youtu.be/ ngk4seipOZo
All students are expected to complete two Bedrock Vocabulary lessons per week as part of their weekly Home Learning:
Thank you to Parents/Carers for supporting our School with ensuring that your child completes their Bedrock home-learning each week. In the new year you will receive further Bedrock communication from us detailing your own parent/carer Bedrock access code so you can monitor your child’s Bedrock activity from home. Our Bedrock Stars this term are: Anti-bullying Week The theme of Anti-Bullying Week 2020, was ‘United Against Bullying’. We know that anti-bullying as a cause is a year-long project not just one week. At Tor Bridge High, this is our commitment every week.
So far students have had an anti-bulling assembly led by Mr Lee, where he explained that we often have traditional ideas about a ‘bully’ and their target, however, he explained it is much more complex than that. We have also launched a poster competition ‘United Against Bullying’ and prize winners will have their work displayed.
After Christmas an Anti-Bullying Contract will be launched for everyone to commit to work towards Anti- Bullying Behaviours. At Tor Bridge High we recognise that bullying is an antisocial, unpleasant behaviour that we do not want/desire in our school community. We know that bullying in schools is complex and that it often involves a social group being involved. We also know that the majority of people do not accept/ support bullying and that we all have the power to stand against bullying and reduce the psychological or physical harm this causes to those who are either victims or witnesses of bullying.
We will also be working with students to help them improve their social skills and understand the difference between falling out with friends and bullying. We will also be teaching students some assertiveness techniques so that they can share their feelings in a non-aggressive way.
It is usual for students to say that there’s no point doing anything because “nothing ever gets done”. We urge parents to challenge this with their child. School offices, especially Deputy Head/Assistant Head of Schools, work really hard to resolve bullying.
Teachers, parents and families can all play their part in teaching students, reminding students to be patient, they can also model kindness and challenge any racist, sexist, homophobic or ableist behaviours that impact on people who come from protected characteristics (any group of people covered by the Equality Act 2010). Ex-students can collect their A level certificates by contacting Mrs Lyon via email on: [email protected]
Sixth Form update We are delighted to welcome Mrs Luxford to the sixth form team as our study mentor. Mrs Luxford is supervising study time, supporting students with revision and study techniques and is running our after school study café from 3-4.30pm each day to support students with their work. This term we have also launched our post 16 guided reading programme with students focusing on novels such as ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ alongside non-fiction books such as ‘The Science of Self-discipline’ and ‘How to Build a Memory Palace’. This programme is helping our students to develop their cultural awareness and build their vocabulary.
Year 11 - Next steps Our year 11 students have been completing enrichment sessions focusing on their next steps. They have been looking at vocational, A level and Btec options as well as apprenticeships. After the Christmas holidays we will explore these options further with Sixth Form Open Evening and applications launching on 27th January. Following the application deadline of 12th February, students will then begin to have their post 16 interviews to start to confirm their options for next academic year.
Year 12 Our new year 12s have settled in well to life as sixth form students and are working hard on their chosen subject areas. This term they have focused on developing their study skills and widening their employability skills through our enrichment programme. Students are completing our young enterprise programme, Exeter progression, Engineering Education Scheme, Duke of Edinburgh and the extended project. All of our year 12 students have also completed the Learn to Live experience this term, completing virtual sessions with Plymouth City Council and the emergency services focusing on driving safety.
Year 13 Our Year 13 students have had a busy term settling into their studies and preapring for their next steps. Our students have been working hard on their UCAS applications and have submitted applications to a range of institutions such as Cambridge, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff Universities. eW wish them luck as they progress to the interview stages of their applications.
Student Leadership After a thorough application and appointment process our Sixth Form Head and Deputy Head students have been appointed. Congratulations to Head Students Cameron Callicott and Ellie-Mae Marris and Deputy Head Students Shanna Kellow and Ryan Read who have been appointed and are now building their wider student leadership team. Our students are already making an impressive impact and have just put together the whole school ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign alongside Youth Parliament where our students have had the opportunity to vote for matters that are important to them that they wished to be discussed at the next Youth Parliamentary sitting. The new Tor Bridge High website! I hope you have now noticed the new Tor bridge High website is up and running. The old website has been an excellent servant to the school but with the development of web security and improvements in web browsers we have updated it to allow us to better manage the content and security.
The structured menu system is much easier to use and the site now is mobile friendly and adjust to the user screen size.
Also the site now links much more closely with the school MyEd app allowing for the information to be updated simultaneously.
The content and menu structure has been kept very similar to the previous site to make sure our parents and visitors can continue to find the necessary information quickly and with the minimum amount of clicks. We are continually reviewing the site and adapting pages to better suit our community, if you have any suggestions on content then please get in touch.
Tor Bridge High Christmas Service One of the loveliest things that we have done each year is the Carol Service at Christ Church, Estover. This Year 7 tradition stretches back to the days of Estover Community College, and some of you may remember it yourselves. The day where the whole of Year 7 walks to the Church and takes part in a service led by students. When they return to school they are rewarded for a brilliant term with hot chocolates served by the leadership team.
Just like everything else, we have had to change what we do this year thanks to restrictions around COVID-19 which say that group gathering and singing should be avoided.
If Year 7 can’t go to the Church, we will bring the Church to Year 7. One representative from each tutor group will go to the church to do a reading from the Nativity Story. This will be filmed and made into a special Christmas Service that will take place during the Year 7 period 2 lessons on the last day of term.
Students will then be served hot chocolate and marshmallows at break time.
It is a shame that we can’t carry on our Year 7 tradition this year, but we are sure this adaption will be a lovely as it has always been.
Ms Golding Head of Tenzing school Exams: a brief update
At the beginning of December the exams regulator ‘Ofqual’ published an article titled ‘Exams and assessments in the months ahead’. A link to the article is: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/exams-and-assessments-in-the-months-ahead?fbclid=IwAR3ecS kad5L1Zon3z5TmTjabVuyBiVPBCv8xsbz2ZAngzso8kOe18iPHp2o
In this article Ofqual set out some of the detail around what exams will be like next summer. There is still much information to come but some of the key points are:
Exams will go ahead • “Exams allow each student to show what they know and understand from the curriculum and, importantly, everyone has the same chance to show what they know. They are asked the same questions, at the same time, and they are marked in the same way.”
Grading • “We need to be as fair to students as we can be in summer 2021… We have decided to carry forward the overall level of generosity from 2020 through to summer 2021. This is a big step that we hope recognises the disruption and lost learning caused by the pandemic at an overall, national level… this means that students in 2021 have as much chance of getting a grade A or a grade 4 as they did in 2020.”
How will they do this? • “Grading takes place after exams have been sat, and after all the students’ papers have been marked… Grade boundaries – the lowest mark needed for a particular grade - are set by senior examiners…..Next summer, we will regulate so that each exam board uses prior national key stage 2 or GCSE data to identify grade boundaries to produce overall outcomes in line with 2020. Then the final grade boundaries will be set and applied to all students.”
Adapting exams • “Some students will find the prospect of taking exams next summer daunting, and some will feel less well prepared than others because of the disruption they have experienced… We propose giving students and schools advance notice in most subjects of some of the topic areas that will come up in the exam ahead of the exam itself. This will allow revision and teaching to be more focused, without unduly undermining the validity of exams. It means students can get their heads down and use their study time as best they can. We anticipate being able to pre-announce the subjects and topics in January 2021.”
As this last point notes, information is still to be released to schools such as us here at Tor Bridge High but please rest assured that we will continue to provide students and their parents/carers relevant information as we receive it and will adapt what and how we deliver as required. While this is clearly far from ideal we are confident that we will do all we can to help our students to perform as well as they possibly can in the summer exams.