NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2018 Headteacher’S Welcome Activate Learning Education Trust
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NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2018 Headteacher’s welcome Activate Learning Education Trust Dear parents and students, ALET Teaching and Learning Conference In January, Activate Learning Education Trust (ALET) schools will all take part in our first annual Teaching and It has been a fantastic term with much to celebrate at The Bicester School. Learning Conference being held on our joint INSET day of 7th January. Over 250 teachers from across the Trust will descend on UTC Oxfordshire in Didcot. During the morning, we will share good practice in teaching and learning in Year 11 have just finished their mocks and these results will be revealed in a special assembly on the first day back a number of rapid-fire presentations from teachers from all seven ALET schools. In the afternoon, subject clusters on Tuesday 8th January. Our sixth form are taking their mock exams in January so we wish them well. from all schools will meet to work together on embedding this good practice and working out how best to work together collaboratively. In our second joint INSET day in April, we will plan to focus our efforts on business support Year 7 have settled brilliantly into the school, having made a superb transition from primary school to secondary staff from across our schools. I am really looking forward to the January conference and hope that this will be a school. They are already a remarkable year group and almost all of them received end of term reports showing great start to 2019. Look out for the second ALET newsletter available from 10th December that will be dedicated to great academic progress and effort = ‘1’ across the board, which is a remarkable achievement. the January Teaching and Learning Conference. Our students across the school have earned the highest number of merits seen in recent years, with more than 90% of the school on track to earn the 1,000 points needed for a bronze award. Over 50% are on track for a silver or a My learning walk in The Bicester School gold award. Again, a tremendous achievement. This term I have visited all ALET schools to carry out an extended learning walk, visiting classes and talking to staff and students. Over a two-week period, this has been a fascinating ‘snap shot’ of the great education practice that is On the sporting front, our Year 9 and 10 students are still dominating our headlines, with both teams reaching cup happening in a lot of different ways in our ALET schools. Over this period I have seen some great teaching; ob- finals in recent weeks. The Year 9 rugby team continues to stand out and sweep aside all opposition before them. A served some fantastic assessment and project work; seen how students are driving their own independent learning, word of congratulations to Fabio Lopes as well at this point, who has now signed his first professional contract with taking charge of their time and how they spend it; and seen some great project work with employers helping build Oxford United. This is a great spur and encouragement to a number of other students, who are currently in acade- strong employability skills. I will be sharing this feedback openly with Headteachers before Christmas, so that we my teams and looking to play professionally in the next 2-3 years. can all learn from each school. Specifically at The Bicester School, based on feedback from staff and students and by observing classes: Year 9 have matured greatly over the last term, academically, and are now looking forward to making their options • Students enjoy their time at The Bicester School. They value the enthusiasm of teachers and their efforts to choices when they return in January. It has been marvellous to see them develop so well over the last few years make learning participative and engaging. They value the extra-curricular activities, particularly in sport under Mr Hume’s excellent leadership. • Lessons are well planned and the atmosphere in lessons is orderly and purposeful. I saw no disruption to learning in any of the lessons I visited On the staffing front, Mrs Whitley is taking on the role of Head of English from January as Ms ollardP is leaving the • Students clearly take pride in their work and I got a strong sense that they are proud to be a part of The school to work abroad in Sri Lanka. We wish Ms Pollard well and hope that she will return to us in the future after her Bicester School travels abroad. She has been an excellent Head of Department and will be greatly missed. We welcome Sarah Mo- • A significant strength is the pride students take in their workbooks. I noticed clear rules of engagement fol- rey to the school in January as a lead Practitioner for English who joins us after spending many years in a London lowed by teachers and students. A good example of this is the effective use of the grey and yellow books in maths school as Head of English. lessons. We do wish all of our students, staff and parents, a well-deserved break at Christmas after a long term. We will see you after the holiday when we can take up once again our commitment to helping you to achieve your goals and Closer working with Bicester Technology Studio potential. A small group are currently working on how The Bicester School and Bicester Technology Studio can work more closely together to establish a complementary curriculum offer, by closer integrated working across subjects and Regards, support areas. The point of difference should remain that The Bicester School continues to develop along its strong Tony Rushworth path of being an academic school, with a good A-level-based Sixth Form offer, whilst the Bicester Technology Stu- dio focusses on strong applied BTEC learning with a strong link into work experience, employment and apprentice- Students celebrate non-uniform day on ships. The two schools, working together for the benefit of our learners, have a unique offer Friday for the larger number of students coming out of the school’s expanded Key Stage 3. The ability to offer two very strong routes and to work with students through Key Stage 3 gives us a unique offer in Bicester and Oxfordshire. A really exciting proposition if we It was yet another moment to celebrate on Friday 14th December as The Bicester get it right with a place at both schools being coveted as a means of getting to a good School (TBS) students gave great support to the non-uniform day with the majori- university or a good apprenticeship. ty choosing the Christmas Jumper option in support of charity. And finally... The Christmas jumper is a big favourite with staff and much favoured especially by our older students in the school, notably the sixth form. Happy Christmas! Of the 1,000 plus students at TBS, more than 1,000 of them came to school in I hope everybody is looking forward to a well-earned break this Christmas. It has non-uniform on the day, with a number choosing the Christmas jumper option. been a tough term, but it really seems to have flown by too! Happy Christmas and have a healthy and successful 2019. Tony Rushworth Lee Nicholls Headteacher Executive Director, Activate Learning CEO, Activate Learning Education Trust The Duke of Edinburgh Award 2017/18 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Award Presentation It has been a very busy year with a record number of students On Tuesday 27th November, there was yet again another well-deserved Duke of Edin- signing up to do the award at all three levels. burgh Award evening filled with joyous smiles and laughter from both the Bronze and Silver Award participants and their parents. The participants began their journey this time last year deciding which activities they would like to pursue in the different sections The Lecture Theatre was filled to the brim with delighted parents and the participants of volunteering, physical skills and in the case of the gold group, who had taken time and effort out of school hours to complete this distinguished award. a five day residential too. Those who completed this received The badges and certificates were presented by our DofE Operation Officer south-east their award at our Presentation Evening in November. region, Alison Moor, our school’s DofE manager, Mrs Brady and one of our DofE asses- sors, Jim. On receiving the award each of us said what our lasting memory of the Duke As in previous years, after-school sessions were held to support, of Edinburgh’s award was and it was clear that many of us had the expeditions high on enthuse and also prepare for our expeditions. Due to our num- our list. bers being higher than usual at Bronze, we split into two groups with each getting together on alternate Mondays. The expedi- Alison said a few heart-warming words about the commitment, persistence and personal tions also needed to be split over two weekends and I would like development that we as students have demonstrated along our journey. to thank our trainers and assessors for giving up those week- ends in June for the practice in the Hill End area of Oxford and Our Assistant Head Mrs Claire Shepherd, who also spoke, recognised that we were leading ourselves towards a further two in September for the qualifier near Lechlade. All of having successful lives in the future. which were great fun! Mrs Brady was surprised and delighted when she was presented with an inscribed glass vase as thanks for the 15 We ran our Silver practice over three days in April in the most years she has been running the award at The Bicester School.