Woodlands Newsletter SUMMER 2 14/07/17 At Woodlands we aim to become an outstanding school by INSPIRING and CHALLENGING our pupils so that they ACHIEVE well and are able to enjoy successful and happy futures A Message from our Head Teacher… Dear Parents, Carers and Students, As we reach the end of the academic year, I am minded to reflect on all the incredible successes we have had contributing to us being #GREATERWoodlands. Our students have engaged in a wide range of extra-curricular trips both within the country and abroad. The highlight has to be the sensational trip to Iceland in the Spring, although I suspect the Spain water sports trip at the end of this term may give it a run for its money. I am most proud of the leadership opportunities our students have engaged in this year. As always our students have stepped up to the mark and shown that students at Woodlands are resilient, responsible and respectful. Our new prefect team have shown great responsibility supporting our Year 5 and 6 in their recent days at Woodlands. Our Year 10 have been maths mentors to Year 7 and some have been mentors to our Year 8 students whose academic progress has slipped. Our Year 8 and 9 MFL students have engaged in regular teaching over at our primary schools, with real success. Our students have also worked with Southampton Football Club to achieve their Sports Leadership awards and of course our Duke of Edinburgh students have all been working towards their final expedition. These are just a few of the many leadership opportunities our students have engaged with this year. Academically our students are performing better and better each term. The end of year data for all year groups looks strong. We are particularly excited about the projected performance data for the majority of our GCSE courses this year with significant improvements in most courses. There does remain the real national uncertainty with maths and English given the new exam grading system. However, our teams have done everything possible to secure the best possible outcomes for our students for the summer. The significant improvements in academic performance in the school is partly due to the big improvements in attendance this year. We know that students who attend well perform well. Our overall attendance has improved by 1.5% this year, which is no mean achievement. I want to express my thanks to you as parents for this. We can only make these improvements by working in partnership with you . We say goodbye this term to a number of staff. In science we lose Mr Weston and Mr Vetterlein. Mr Weston is setting up his Outdoor Education business. Mr Vetterlein is heading abroad to live. I thank them both for their contributions, which have been extensive. We also say goodbye to Mrs Anderson from learning support who retires this summer. Mrs McGilloway also leaves to set up home in France. Again, I thank them for their incredible contributions. Finally, we say goodbye to Mrs Cook in maths who leaves to work in sunny climates. Mrs Wilcox and Mrs Rowlands leave us on maternity leave this term. They will both be back later next academic year. We wish Upcoming Diary Dates Inspiring them both well. July I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at Sports Day Woodlands for their hard work and commitment. I can honestly 17th say I have never worked at a school where the staff go so much July Challenging above and beyond to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our Last day of Term students. I feel honoured to work with them. 25th Break up at 12:00noon Just a final reminder that school finishes at 12:00noon on Tuesday, 25th July. September th INSET Day We return to school on Tuesday, 5 September for Year 7 1st Achieving at 8:30am and Years 8 to 11 the start time is 10:55am. September I wish you all a very restful summer and look forward to an even #GREATERWoodlands next year. INSET Day 4th Best wishes, Toni Sambrook September Back to School - Yr. 7 from 8:30am 5th Yrs. 8 to 11 from 10:55am #GREATERWoodlands Woodlands Community College Music News **The New School Day It has been a great term in music. Year 8 have been performing their 2017-2018** “Songs for Summer” in lessons to help encourage the summer weather to keep coming! Year 7 have been going from strength to strength with their “Haunted House” projects, with a few students even reaching grade 5 at assessment. Breakfast Club and Library open – 8:00am It has been sad to say goodbye to Year 11 and I would like to extend my particular thanks to George Castle who has supported Warning bell – 8:30am the department excellently throughout the year. The standard of work from Years 10 and 11 has showed real effort and growth mindset this year. Period 1 – 8:35am to 9:35am Radio Club launched their first summer Period 2 – 9:35am to 10:35am podcast to a warm reception from their fellow students. The podcast featured a blend of hit Break – 10:35am to 10:55am tracks, news, views and a charming feature from Year 7 students about what Woodlands Tutor time – 10:55am to 11:20am means to them. Period 3 – 11:20am to 12:20pm Music Munch (the lunchtime music club) has been full every day with students making music and learning new skills and the school Lunch – 12:20pm to 12:50pm band and choir, More Than Words, is preparing to perform at the end of term Period 4 – 12:50pm to 1:50pm assemblies. Period 5 – 1:50pm to 2:50pm I would actively encourage you to talk to your children about getting involved in extra-curricular music making as it is an Homework Club – 2:50pm to 3:50pm excellent way to make new friends and build self-confidence. Royal Navy Compass Challenge Dance News Four students from Year 10 completed the Royal Navy Compass Challenge with a day out at the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth. This has been a quieter term for the dance department but never During the visit they were also escorted the less there has still been a great deal of excellent work to be around HMS Dauntless by serving celebrated. Year 7 students have completed their ‘Cats’ the members of the Navy. musical performances and they came in an array of wonderful homemade costumes for this performance assessment. Year 9 dance students have completed some wonderful compositions showcasing elements from all the styles they have studied over the last three years with themes from body image to seasons. Year 10 News It has been a busy term for Year 10 with many exciting opportunities for them taking place. As a year group they all visited Solent University to gain some experience of University life and look at the facilities they offer. They all attended a trip to Itchen College where they had the opportunity to experience a number of different taster sessions in subjects they may be interested in pursuing in the future. They have taken part in careers week in school which accumulated in an interview with an industry employer to practice their interview technique; the feedback from the interviewers was exceptional with many commenting on the maturity of the students during this process. Hopefully this will set them in good stead for their college interviews next year. The prefects have been hard at work getting to grips with their new roles and have made a fantastic start. They have been involved in supporting Year 5 and 6 Transition Days, taken on the mentoring of students in Year 7 and 8 as well as supporting at many whole school events. They have also already raised over £200.00 towards next year’s prom and have many other fundraising events planned for the remainder of the term. All the pupils have now taken at least one of their qualifications and they certainly put a great deal of work into preparing for these exams. We look forward to seeing the success of these results on Thursday, 24th August. Woodlands Allotment Year 7 News Our Inclusion pupils have been working really hard to rejuvenate Many of our Year 7 pupils have been involved in a variety of the allotment, it has been fun and trips mentioned elsewhere in the newsletter. It has been a busy enjoyable and they have learned a year and one in which I trust that all have made progress in one lot along the way. way or another. Attendance has been largely excellent, attitudes very positive and lots of learning as They were helped along the way with some bargain plants from represented by the recent excellent Year a local nursery and donations from staff. We are looking 7 reports. Just this week, Year 7 took forward to harvesting our crops and will also enter the ‘Flowers part in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ competition in Bloom’ competition again next year. through their English lessons, with the When the judges for this year’s ‘Flowers in Bloom’ competition winning presentation coming from Dylan came to see our allotment (pictured above) they recognised Ramsden and Sam Davies. how much effort the pupils had put in and that they were polite and courteous. They will be back judging our allotment again A special mention should go to the next year. following pupils for 100% attendance across the whole year: Kira Farugia, Layla Hallett, Shannon Kenny, Lilianna Kujawa, James Parker, Dawid Sommerfield and Maddox Wan.