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 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 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 to gain some experience of University life and look at the facilities they offer. They all attended a trip to 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.

We will be spending the next few weeks preparing for entering Year 8 as well as enjoying reward trips, special assemblies and sports day.

BEFORE In recent weeks the Year 7 team have been preparing for our new intake of pupils. We hosted the Year 6 transfer day on Wednesday, 5th July (pictured below) and have been visiting our feeder schools to get to know all of those joining the Woodlands family in September.

and AFTER!!

Library News

Looking for a good read in the holidays? These are the nominations for The Favourite Book Award which is organised annually by the Southampton School Library Service. They are proving hugely popular and there is still time to read and register your vote until Friday, 21st July 2017 at 5:00pm.

https://www.southampton.gov.uk/libraries-museums/your-library/ favourite_book_award_2017.aspx

Don’t forget that you can borrow books from the School Library for the summer holidays and you can also register at your local Library which are open most days but check online http://www.southampton.gov.uk/libraries-museums Borrow books and keep reading!

Again this year our students have benefitted from visits by the Rotary and Soroptomist Club members and other volunteers. These friends of the school come on a regular basis to hear readers and encourage our students through questioning and discussion. We know that many students have found this extra help really useful and rewarding and they have enjoyed the relationships that have grown over the weeks. Thank you also to ex-students: Sophie Ruddell, George Castle and Shane Thompson for offering to come back and help in the Library at the end of this term. We are indebted to all our visitors for giving so generously of their time. Our industrious team of Student Librarians and Class Monitors have also been invaluable in the day to day running of the Library throughout the year. Issuing and returning books, shelving, and preparing displays are just a few of the many tasks that they undertake routinely. What excellent skills and knowledge you are all acquiring. Well done team!

Star Readers This year 345 students have between them passed 5,342 quizzes with an average pass rate of 88.5%. Some of our most enthusiastic readers have quizzed on books containing over a million words this year!

Reading Millionaires: Layeq Ahmad, Olivia Ayles, Thomas Bate, Letisha Heath, Caitlin John-Kreft, Shannon Kenny, Ruby Kill, Daniel Kimbley, Lilianna Kujawa, Kyle Morrison, Keiran Rahman, Harley Raquet, Kally Reed, Daniel Sherred and Hariet Summers.

Multi-Millionaires: Liam Baker, Harmony Islam, Martin McInnes and James Parker have read over 2 million words; Abdul Mutasim over 3 million words; and Connor Knight over 4 million words!

Each millionaire appears on our display board and receives a badge in recognition of their outstanding achievement.

Here are just a few things students have been saying about their reading: “I like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid because it’s funny and easy to read”…Billy Bowers “My favourite book is Maggot Moon for its crazy ideas as well as horror and tension and for making me think”…Thomas Bate “My favourite is The Hunger Games because it is an adventure and it brings my imagination to life”…Tyrique Massey “I enjoyed the ‘Dragon Orb’ series by Mark Robson because it is thrilling and shows mystery and adventure”…Olivia Ayles “My favourite book this term was Dark Lord by Jamie Johnson because it is like Harry Potter crossed with Lord of the Rings: an adventure! But I still love Beetle Boy and Cirque du Freak as they were epic as well!”…Liam Baker “The best book was Feather and Fang by Ali Sparkes because it was different to other Shapeshifter books”…Connor Knight

Goodbye and Good Luck Finally, we would like to say goodbye to Mrs Anderson, as she retires at the end of term. We would like to thank her for all of her hard work in the library over the past few years, which has included producing our newsletter articles! We wish her well in her retirement.

PE News -

With the summer holidays just around the corner, the U13s cricket season has come to an end. The team started the cricket season by competing in the U13s County Cup where they were successful in making it into the second round (Quarter Finals), but losing out to Churchers College, a very experienced and well drilled side. Now that the Cup fixtures had finished, the team turned their attention to the Southampton School Cricket League. Unfortunately, the team started off on a losing streak, firstly by losing to a very experienced and well drilled St. George’s side. The following week, Woodlands hosted Cantell in their second fixture. Woodlands lost the toss and ended up first which was something that they did not what to do. However, this did not phase the team as they got off to a flying start and before they knew it, were up to 30 runs. After the final over Woodlands hadbuilt up a respectable score of 55 runs. It was now Cantell’s turn to bat and they started off scoring some very easy runs through some sloppy bowling from Woodlands. This unfortunately continued throughout Cantell’s batting innings with Woodlands giving away 48 runs via wide and no balls. This proved to be vital as Woodlands fell short by 2 runs and suffered their second defeat on the bounce in the league. The following week the team showed great resilience in wanting to put what had gone wrong right which was to have an impact in the remaining games. The team then decided to step it up a gear in their next fixture against Park. They finally got the victory they deserved through some fantastic batting from Jake Curtis, who was made to retire after scoring too many runs, and Faisal Malakyar who managed to take five . The following week, they faced Oasis Mayfield full of confidence with a win behind them, again setting a respectable target of 58 for Oasis Mayfield to chase. Kieran James opened the bowling for Woodlands and shocked their opening batter through his fast and aggressive bowling. Oasis still managed to build a score with some clever batting however this was not enough as Woodlands managed to bowl every player out. Their final game was upon them versus and the team chose to bowl first. Greggs opening batters seemed to be experienced by hitting a few fours and ticking their run tally along nicely. However, after an encouraging “let’s send those stumps to the dumps” chant from one of Woodlands fielding palters, Woodlands started to take some much needed wickets through some accurate bowling from Callum, Faisal and Kieran, along with some fantastic catches by Aiden and Arshdeep. It was now Woodlands turn to bat and things did not start well with four wickets being taken in quick succession. Harvir then came into bat and made a huge impact, one shot in particular going for six which is believed to still be in orbit. Harvir saw the game out along with Patryk Cwiklinski giving Woodlands another well-deserved win. Woodlands managed to secure two more vital walk over wins from other schools not being able to field a side, finishing the season with five wins and two loses. This means that Woodlands have finish 2nd in the U13s Southampton Schools Cricket League behind St George’s who did not lose a game. The team should be extremely proud of their achievement this year and have shown great resilience throughout the season.

In light of the teams fantastic efforts this year, every player in the team who managed to take a by either, bowl, catch, run out or stumping, was placed into a draw to win a signed Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club shirt signed by professional cricket player Jake Libby. With over 30 wickets being taken by the whole Woodlands team, Faisal Malakyar (pictured right) was the well-deserved winner.

Saints Level 1 Leadership Day

A small group of students were selected as a reward to take part in the Level 1 Leadership course with Southampton Football Club on Friday, 7th July . The pupils planned and delivered sessions to peers throughout the day. The course leaders from Southampton Football Club said the delivery was “engaging and mature, a really lovely bunch of students, you should be proud”. Well done guys, let’s put that leadership qualification to good use next year.

Maths News

As we approach the summer holidays, Key Stage 3 are still improving on their Numeracy Ninja scores. There are now more than 160 pupils who have achieved the legendary Black Belt status.

Every Wednesday, pupils across the school have been learning about how Maths is used outside of the classroom through DEAN. In the latest DEAN sessions, pupils have learnt about the Maths behind Morse code; the scoring system used in tennis; the General Election and how Maths explains why computer cables always end up in a knot.

This half term 12 Year 5 pupils from Kanes Hill and Hightown schools have been coming to Woodlands for Maths Master Classes. They have shown great enthusiasm and resilience as we have tackled advanced algebra and geometry topics. It’s been a pleasure teaching them and we look forward to seeing them in the future.

Miss Leavesley, Mr Barber and Mrs Venn took a group of Year 9 pupils to Woodmill Activity Centre for a day of outdoor Maths activities. The pupils combined Maths with archery, raft building and crate stacking and everyone had a fantastic day. Weare hoping to run this trip again in the near future.

“Not all of the rafts were a complete success…”

“Eye on the target…” “When you stack the crates too high.”

As mentioned in the last newsletter, at the beginning of term, 20 pupils from Years 7 and 8 took part in the UK Junior Mathematical Challenge. We have had the results and we are very proud to announce that Leah Ballard, Corban Edmond, Shannon Kenny and Rimi Mathew were all awarded Bronze Certificates. Shannon also won a certificate for Best in School.

We also printed this problem which came from the Junior Maths Challenge:

“In the window of Bradley’s Bicycle Bazaar there are some unicycles, some bicycles and some tricycles. Laura sees that there are seven saddles in total, thirteen wheels in total and more bicycles than tricycles. How many unicycles are in the window?”

Here’s the solution: 2, because…

“A unicycle has one saddle and one wheel, a bicycle has one saddle and two wheels, and a tricycle has one saddle and three wheels. Therefore, as Laura sees seven saddles there were seven cycles in the window. She saw thirteen wheels. This is six extra wheels, that is, wheels greater than the number of cycles. Each bicycle contributes one extra wheel, and each tricycle two extra wheels. Because the number of extra wheels is even, the number of bicycles must be even. If there were as many as six bicycles, there would be no tricycles. Therefore, there are either two bicycles or four bicycles. If there were two bicycles, four of the extra wheels would have been on the tricycles. Hence there would also have been two tricycles. This would contradict the information that there were more bicycles than tricycles. We, therefore, deduce that there were four bicycles, and hence one tricycle. Because there were seven cycles in total, it follows that there were two unicycles.”

We are now extending the Maths Challenges to our feeder schools. In the last week of term, teams from the local primary schools are coming up to Woodlands to compete in a Primary Team Maths Challenge where they will be working together to solve some tricky Maths problems in the hope of winning the trophy. We will announce the results in the next newsletter.

Interesting Maths fact: 40 when written "forty" is the only number with letters in alphabetical order, while "one" is the only one with letters in reverse order.

Drama News

On Saturday, 8th July, pupils from Years 7 to 10 at Woodlands and Year 6 at Beechwood came together to perform their version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as part of this year’s Streetspeare Schools Project. The performance, in Woodlands’ courtyard on our outdoor stage, was a great success. The students have been working on the project in weekly sessions for six months with director Josh Dixon from Fluid Motion Theatre Company, so this was the culmination of a lot of hard work! Woodlands’ Prefect team were also in attendance, selling yummy homemade cakes and refreshments to the crowd to raise money for their prom. Thank you to everyone who came and watched the show in the glorious July sunshine! Well done to the pupils from Beechwood, and their Woodlands colleagues: Dylan Horeman, Callum Hurst, Floyd Jenkins, Eryn Kenny, Shannon Kenny, Harriet Summers and Luke Webster.

PE News - City Athletics

PE News - On Tuesday, 4th July saw the annual Southampton Schools City Athletics Rounders

Championships where 25 students

represented Woodlands Community

College in a variety of track a field

events. Each and every student did the school proud by giving everything they had in their events and cheering one another on when watching others compete. Unfortunately, the official final Girls rounder’s has sadly come to end for another year but what results have not been sent out to schools yet however here are a year it has been. The under 15’s girls stepped up their game a few of #TeamWoodlands results gathered on the day; and finished 3rd in the Southampton league. Due to their Year 10 continued commitment and team spirit the girls were selected to represent Southampton in the Hampshire school games on Ryan Garrahan – 2nd in Javelin Friday, 30th June. They played a variety of schools from around the Hampshire area and the girls gave it everything they had Phillip Gilbert – 2nd in 200m final from start to finish. The girls finished 4th and were recognised as Adam Mason, Lewis Head, Phillip Gilbert and Kajale Ceesay – the politest and most dedicated team. Well done girls you have 3rd in 4 x 100m relay final done us proud. Bring on next year. Adam Mason – 4th in 100m final Josh Dacre – 4th in 800m final Jamie Sharples – 4th in Shot Put Sasha Jambaya, Canada Knox, Molly Pinnick and Aimee Lowe – 5th in 4 x 100m relay final. Year 9 Harry Chivers – 3rd in 1500m final Year 8 Brooke Johnson – 4th in 200m final Year 7 James Parker – 3rd in 80m final Fascinating Facts - Subject: PE

Fishing is the biggest participant in the world. Yes! Even more people take part in fishing than in football. Why not give it a try?

English News

We have had a packed and exciting half term in the English department. Year 7 have been completing their unit on ‘Advertising’, where they have learnt how to develop and market their own products. They have been involved in writing and giving their ‘Dragon’s Den’ pitches within class, with the winners going forward to a whole year group competition to be judged by three ‘dragons’, including Mrs Sambrook! Some classes were also given the opportunity to make their products. This included heading to the Food Tech rooms to make chocolate creations! Year 8 have been enjoying their study of ‘Maggot Moon’. This has given them the opportunity to explore features of dystopian fiction and to learn more about the history of the Second World War. In class they have written an analysis of how a sense of oppression is created, as well as an evaluation of the use of dystopian features. For homework, they have created their own propaganda posters for the world in which the novel is set. Year 9 have been exploring the characterisation of villains in their unit ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Read’. They have written a comparison of Shakespeare’s presentation of Lady Macbeth and Richard III, which has meant studying two Shakespeare plays, using extracts. This has served as solid preparation for starting their GCSE Shakespeare text in September. Following the Shakespeare, the unit moved on to investigate both modern and traditional poetry containing ‘villains’. Examples included: ‘Education for Leisure’ and ‘Salome’ by Carol Ann Duffy; and ‘The Laboratory’ and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ by Robert Browning. The students have found the voices within these poems both engaging and challenging. Finally, Year 10 have continued to work hard on Macbeth and have recently sat challenging Poetry and Language GCSE Mock exams.