Lytchett Minster School | Newsletter
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Lytchett Minster School | Newsletter Christmas 2019 elcome to the Christmas edition of Wthe Newsletter! It has been a long, busy term, and staff and students alike have earned this most welcome two week break. I do hope you will have a great Christmas and a peaceful, healthy New Year! I am sure the young people will be going out of their way to give their parents a bit of a break as well over the festive period. If they are not cooking the Christmas dinner, I hope they will at least be keeping their rooms tidy and helping out with the household chores….. I am sure those of you who attended our annual Christmas Concert on Wednesday, 18th December would want to join me in thanking Mr Painter and Mr Clarke for putting on such an entertaining evening of festive music. It was great to see and hear such a variety of items and so many different ensembles. As always, the Art Exhibition which preceded the school concert was very impressive. The talent of our young artists is quite breathtaking . On Monday 2nd December we enjoyed the first screening of the films written, produced and directed by our Year 13 and 14 BTEC Media students at our Film Festival, held in the Poole Lighthouse cinema. Special congratulations goes to Tristan Head who was awarded the top prize of Best Film. Our sports teams continue to compete well against other local schools and achieve some outstanding results, none more so than our Year 11 boys footballers who beat Budmouth College 5-0 to reach the quarter finals of the County Cup. Parents’ Evenings start again after Christmas with Year 12 and Year 9 parents evenings taking place in January (16th and 23rd respectively). We look forward to meeting you to discuss your child’s progress and study habits. Please make a note of the dates in your Diary. It is so important that our young people see school and home working together in partnership. Year 9 parents are also invited to our Key Stage 4 Options Evening on Tuesday 7th January (6.00pm), where you will be informed of the different GCSE and vocational courses on offer next year. I would like to thank my teaching and support staff for all their hard work this term. We are sorry to be saying farewell to our Office Manager Mrs Linda Cox who is retiring after 24 years of loyal and exemplary service. A quick reminder that school starts again on Monday 6th January. In the meantime, have a restful break. I wish you all a very Happy Christmas! Andrew Mead Head Master 01202 622413 • www.lytchett.org.uk • /lytchettminsterschool 1 Lytchett says farewell to Mrs Cox and Mr Richings Mrs Linda Cox—Office Manager After 24 years of fantastic service to the students of Lytchett Minster School, Linda Cox is retiring from her position as Office Manager. Mrs Cox has also been our main First Aider, coming to the aid of many thousands of poorly and injured students over the years. Many parents will have met Linda Cox when picking up their sick children. She is an exceptionally caring person, and has always been prepared to go the extra mile for our students. As office manager, Mrs Cox has also provided a highly professional and efficient service to parents and other visitors arriving at main reception or phoning the main switchboard. Mrs Cox will be greatly missed. We wish her a long, healthy and well deserved retirement. Linda Cox will be replaced as Office Manager in January by Mrs Caroline Clark. Linda Cox—Office Manager Howard Richings—Governor At the end of this term we also say goodbye to Howard Richings who has served on the Governing Body for 14 years. Howard was an engineer by profession, working at The RNLI. He brought valuable industrial experience to the governing body and was Chair of the Site and Services for many years, overseeing a time of great change to the school. We would like to thank Howard for his selfless service and wish him well for the future. Governor Howard Richings with the Chair of Governors Jeanette York and Headmaster Mr Mead Governor Vacancies We currently have various vacancies on the governing body. If you would like to contribute to the life of the school in this way, please contact the Clerk to the Governors, Judith Hayward, at [email protected] by 15th January 2020. 2 Christmas Concert Congratulations to all the students (and staff!) who took part in the Christmas Concert on Wednesday 18th December. It wasa fantastic evening with an amazing range of high quality musical items and an encouragingly large number of performers. The orchestras and choirs have both grown sizeably in recent years, which augurs well for the future of music in the school. The concert included performances by the orchestra, the senior choir, the Ukeladies, the junior band, the junior choir, the jazz band, the clarinet ensemble, the staff choir, the Year 12 and 13 ensemble, the Festive quartet and the Laudamus Te ensemble, the combined quartet, the mixed choirs and steel pan band and the senior band. The evening was rounded off with students and audience joining together in a hearty rendition of the popular carol, Hark the Herald. A special thank you to Head of Music, Andrew Painter and Simon Clarke for organising the concert and for preparing the students so well. All in all, a very memorable and enjoyable evening! 3 A level Art and Photography Exhibition Congratulations to the Year 12 and 13 students for a wonderful art and photography exhibition. The quality of the work on display was quite exceptional. The exhibition provided a showcase of the extraordinary artistic and creative talent in the school. The photos below offer just a glimpse of the overall exhibition. Well done to all the A level art and photography students, and a big thank you to the art and photography department for inspiring and guiding them over the years. 4 Fast Fashion Competition This month, in the Geography department, we have been holding a Fast Fashion Competition across all key stages. This competition was linked with the University of Portsmouth. The term fast fashion was first used to describe the rapid movement of fashion trends from the catwalk to the High Street store, with clothes manufacturing becoming quick and cheap. This encourages the rapid consumption and disposal of clothes, with many garments only worn a few times before they are thrown away and replaced with the latest new trend. This is very unsustainable. Fast fashion creates social problems because many garments are made in developing countries usually by low paid workers. Fast fashion also creates environmental problems due to pollution in the production process, as well as resulting in tonnes of clothing ending up in landfill. Students were tasked with creating a solution that could address the social and/or environmental challenges posed by fast fashion. We would like to congratulate the following students who won a Fairtrade cotton bag and chocolate from the Lytchett Geography department. We will await news from the University of Portsmouth to hear of the overall winners. Lucy Wilson PD7REE – who came up with the concept of Swapsy Day: a day when people swap their unwanted clothes Evie Pryor A8DRU – who devised a range of solutions, such as promoting FairTrade Poppy Rogers PD9CON – produced a new sweatshirt from two old tops Bethany Pryor A10VEN – produced an info T-shirt about fast fashion Molly Simmonds 6SHW – made an Instagram post using salient quotes to educate people of the issues of fast fashion 5 Year 11 Geography Trip to the Eden Project On the 28th and 29th of November 2019, after a lengthy coach drive, we arrived at the Eden Project, Cornwall. Our first activity was to explore the wonders of the Mediterranean biome for around half an hour then it was straight to a talk from a spokesperson, Robbie. The talk included an insight on rainforests under threat in which we learnt about how they were under pressure, how we as a population could raise awareness and how we as individuals can combat this. Directly following this, we took a break and somewhat leisurely glided across the novelty ice rink in which almost everybody fell down at least once, thankfully with no injuries. As part of the package, a breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided all of which were delicious and dietary friendly. In the evening everyone congregated in the ‘common room’ for a series of competitive quizzes before retiring to their rooms for the night. On the 29th we kicked off the day with a land train which took us around the vast site and to our first destination; the Rainforest biome. After a brief exploration, we were shortly sent in again to complete a question booklet all of which the answers were to be found in amongst the scenery. Finally we diverted into the vast gift shop filled to the brim with eco-friendly souvenirs and products before departing back to Lytchett. Many thanks to the Geography department for organising this wonderful trip. 6 Sixth Form News Sixth Form Set their Sights on Life after Lytchett It has been a busy few months for our Year 13 students, as they make their plans for moving on at the end of their time at Lytchett. Many students have been travelling the length and breadth of the country, visiting open days at the UK’s top universities. As the final application deadline looms into view, more than 70 of our students have completed their UCAS applications.