The Park Issue 23 February 2020

Associate Principal’s Message

A huge thank you to the students, staff and parents for all your efforts throughout what has been an extremely busy half term. Although the concept of a short half term often looks appealing; in reality it often means that a considerable amount of work is condensed into a smaller amount of time. I am pleased to say this has very much been the case this module with an extensive range of events, trips and opportunities provided to all students in addition to the excellent work that takes place on a day to day basis at the Academy.

A particular thank you in advance to all those that are giving up their time during the half term break to support the Year 11 students as they prepare for their summer examinations. A reminder that we return on Monday 24th February and would like to wish you all a safe and restful half term.

Mr C McNab Associate Principal

If you want to be updated regularly about events and news at Ditton Park Academy please do join our Twitter account @DPASlough. Upcoming Dates and Events

Date Event 8:40am Term starts back for students after 24 February 2020 Half Term break 26 February & Year 11 Food Prep & Nutrition Practical Exams 27 February 2020 27 February 2020 Year 10 MFL trip

Year 8 GCSE Options Evening 6:00pm - 7:30pm

28 to 30 February 2020 Netball PGL weekend

2 March 2020 Student Progress Review Day (8:00am – 3:00pm) 5 March 2020 English Showcase Evening (5.30pm) 11 March 2020 Personal Development Day 4 Year 7 Big Bang Science Trip 13 March 2020 Deadline for Year 8 GCSE Options forms 18 March 2020 INSET Day (academy closed to students)

19 March 2020 Year 9 Parents Evening (4:00pm - 7:00pm)

26 and 27 March 2020 School Production (7:00pm - 9:00pm)

30 March 2020 PE GCSE Practical Moderation

End of Term 3 April 2020 (Academy closes to students at 12:40pm)

6 to 17 April 2020 Easter Holidays Sports Results Football

Date Year Group Opponent Result Fixture

8 January 2020 7 Lost : 1 - 3 League

County Cup 14 January 2020 7 Won : 2 - 1 Round 1

The Windsor 20 January 2020 11 Lost : 5 - 0 League Boys' School County Cup 20 January 2020 8 Lost : 0 - 4 Pre-Round

Burnham Grammar 27 January 2020 7 Won : 4 - 2 League School

30 January 2020 11 Wexham School Lost : 1 - 5 League

Burnham Grammar 3 February 2020 8 Won : 7 - 2 League School

County Cup 4 February 2020 9 Sandhurst School Won : 3 - 0 Round 1

Churchmead C of E 5 February 2020 7 Won : 6 - 1 League School

Football (ladies)

Date Year Group Opponent Result Fixture

Bohunt School County Cup 14 January 2020 7 and 8 Lost : 0 - 3 Wokingham Round 1 and Eton Tournament 21 January 2020 9 and 10 Won : 12 - 2 CofE School 1st Leg Slough and Eton Tournament 28 January 2020 9 and 10 Won : 0 - 0 CofE School 2nd Leg Sports Results Netball

Date Year Group Opponent Result Fixture

20 January 2020 10A Won : 15 - 3 Friendly

20 January 2020 9A Long Close School Won : 15 - 3 Friendly

Herschel 23 January 2020 10A Lost : 3 - 14 League Grammar School Herschel 23 January 2020 9A Lost : 4 - 9 League Grammar School House Cup The House Cup has continued to be as competitive as ever, with the competitions this half term including the Art and PE departments.

The results at the moment; 4th Place: Magna 3rd Place: Cliveden 2nd Place: Windsor 1st Place: Eton

Every house competition matters, so please make sure if you are interested, students must speak to their House Leader. Children's Mental Health Week Ditton Park Academy supported Children’s Mental Health Week, which took place during the week of 3rd February. This year’s theme was 'Find your Brave', and students were asked to think about what makes them feel brave. Bravery can be about sharing worries and asking for help, trying something new or pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Finding your Brave can build confidence, self-esteem and make you feel good about yourself.

Ditton Park Academy students learnt about different strategies to help them find their brave and what a difference it can make to their lives.

The week’s Academic Mentor News Review was dedicated to listening to news stories where some celebrities spoke about 'Mental Health and Bravery'. During Ditton Park Academies Reads, students read a passage from the book 'The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas and discussed how the story depicted bravery.

Photographs of Children's Mental Health Week and a presentation from Mr Batten. Power League The two week Power league tournament at Slough and Eton was a huge success.

Week 1 of the tournament, the team came first in their group. Week 2 saw the team win four games and draw two, making it into the finals. The final was against St Bernard’s. Unfortunately, the team lost 2-0, however the effort and determination shown throughout the two weeks was fantastic.

Well done to all involved!

Food Bank Donation A donation for Slough Food Bank was made by the Academy on the 20th January. Students and Staff made huge contributions collectively. More Able Masterclass

On the 14th January, More Able students (Year 9 to 12) at Ditton Park Academy had an excellent opportunity to attend the masterclass held with our liaison officer Joe Organ from Oxford University. Students were given information regarding university life, range of courses, criteria to these courses and the application and selection process.

Bee Netball Festival On the 20th January 2020, 14 of our female sports leaders helped umpired, officiate, organise and lead a primary school event aimed at years 3 and 4 in Netball.

All involved had fantastic feedback and were praised by the children, teachers and sports partnership coordinators for their passion, hard work and knowledge of the game! The skills learnt in these events will help the sports leaders to design, build and lead their own events at the end of the year so this experience is invaluable. Well done to all our Year 12 students, names are below!

Tanveer, Jardae, Sara, Ria, Ala, Hayley, Tadi, Paris, Grace, Ava, Maya, Amber, Ria, and Eeman. Bodyworld Exhibition On the 29th January 2020, 60 Year 9 GCSE PE students enjoyed a trip to London to visit the Body Worlds exhibition to see what they are learning in their theory lessons applies to the human body! All students were a credit to the school and their behaviour was impeccable!

All students took away a better understanding of the human body and ready for Paper 1: Human anatomy and physiology.

Breaking Boundaries On the 18th January 2020, 10 students gave up their Saturday to attend the Breaking Boundaries training in order to apply for a grant to host an event intended to bring communities together using cricket. The students participated alongside other community champions from a number of other charity organisations in a number of sessions aimed at teaching the relevant skills needed to plan and lead their own event.

Thank you to all guest speakers! Dylan, Ollie, Amber, Maddie, Ala, Ayah, Louise, Tadi, Poppy, and Ria.

Since the event they have attended a number of training sessions to secure their grant funding for the Breaking Boundaries Cricket inspired event! Athletics On the 27th January, 14 Year 8 students attended the SSSN partnership sportshall athletics event at . These students were selected for their dedication and sporting ability from last years summer athletics after school sessions. We competed in a new format with the addition of Reversaboards, which was very well received by the students.

The girls team performed well and took a respectable 5th place out of 12 other schools and our boys team smashed both the track and field events placing 1st out of 12 teams securing their place to compete at the Sportshall athletics county finals!

All students tried their hardest and made Ditton Park Academy very proud!

Kiyan, Jayden, Krishna, James, Liam, Rehmone, Addison, Jess, Tanisha, Shafika, Hafsa, Faith, and Sargun. Work Experience

Year 10 Work Experience is not optional. All year 10 students are expected to attend their placement for the week. Parents must ensure their child is able to get to their employers in a timely fashion, as 'traffic' is not an excuse for lateness. In the unlikely event your child is unwell, then contact should be made with both the employer and Ditton Park Academy giving a reason for absence. Extended absence will need a medical note. Students, for whatever reason, who cannot complete their work experience will be in school attached to Ditton Park Academy’s Premises team. Students should have their employer complete the green sheet in their log book and hand into Mrs McKay after the summer holidays. Boccia Tournament

On the 22nd January 2020 Mr Munro & Mrs Shamti took nine students from SEN and GTC to a Boccia tournament at Wexham Secondary School in Slough. Despite the fact that it was an Inset-day, the students gave up their time to represent the school and show their dedication by competing with various teams from other schools. Strategy and patience was vital and the students independently chose their teams. Students’ implemented teamwork despite the fact it was a first attempt for most and sportsmanship was in full swing.

Great turnout and fun experience for the students! Hyde Park Trip On the 23rd January, a small group of Year 10 students participated in a workshop focussing on using the camera on manual mode in London. Students had a fantastic day and were able to take beautiful photographs on location that challenged their photography skills and expanded their experience of photoshoots on location. Students tackled the changing lighting and requirements of the camera to take creative and dynamic images – particularly of the wildlife.

Articulation Round Year 12 Students participated in the Internal Heat of the annual Articulation Competition after school on the 14th January. Students had worked to prepare a 5-10 minute presentation on an artwork of their choice. Articulation is a national competition for 16-19 year olds to encourage young people to talk about Art. All students that participated created thorough and well researched talks and spoke thoughtfully about their chosen pieces. It was an incredibly tough competition and students should all be very proud of their efforts. Finley will go on to the regional heat at Milton Keynes Gallery in February with his talk on Jack Stauber’s video piece “View”

1st Place: Finley 2nd Place: Sara 3rd Place: Tanisha Highly Commended Cianna Reading Recommendations Article from our Patron of Reading, Stephen Davies

I so enjoyed visiting your school in December and running reading workshops with student groups from years eight, nine and ten. To those who attended, thank you for being willing to open up to a newcomer about your taste in books, and for coming up with your own story ideas as well. In those sessions I recommended some recently published thrillers in the YA (Young Adult) genre, and asked you which ones you would be most interested in trying out.

Many of you went for 'RUN, RIOT by Nikesh Shukla' or 'WHITEOUT by Gabriel Dylan'. Both books are now in your library - I’ve pasted the blurbs below. You are so lucky at Ditton Park Academy. You have a knowledgeable, approachable librarian, enthusiastic student librarians and SUCH a great selection of books, including lots of titles that only came out in the last year or two. If you have not visited the library very much recently, why not drop in sometime this week?

RUN, RIOT by Nikesh Shukla Aspiring MC Taran and her twin brother Hari live in a tower block called Firestone House. When they start noticing boarded-up flats and glossy flyers for expensive apartments, they don't think much of it - until Hari is caught up in a tragedy, and they are forced to go on the run. It's up to these teenagers to uncover the sinister truth behind what's going on in Firestone House, before it blows their world apart.

WHITEOUT by Gabriel Dylan Charlie hopes that the school ski trip will be an escape from his unhappy home life. But there is something wrong with the remote ski village of Kaldgellan. Something is out there, something ancient and evil, among the pines and the deep untracked drifts, watching and waiting, and when the storms blow in, Charlie and his schoolmates wake to find the resort deserted. Cut off from the rest of the world far below, the few left alive on the snowbound mountain will wish they were somewhere, anywhere else.

Wait, I nearly forgot! My own new Young Adult novel 'CHESSBOXER' is in the library, too. I really hope you like it.

Warm wishes, Steve Metacognition Staff at Ditton Park Academy are constantly reflecting on how to improve the teaching and learning for our students. Metacognition strategies are being implemented across the school and when used in the right way this can really boost pupil’s attainment.

Metacognition is getting students to think about how they learn best and how they can boost their learning-power. One strategy that can be used at home is the ‘Leitner Model'' revision questioning. This little and often approach has been proven to have huge success in students recall of knowledge. Have a look at the strategy in the video found at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C20EvKtdJwQ

Keep an eye out for more strategies in future newsletters. Twitter

Here is some our Ditton Park Academy's Twitter moment for this 2nd academic term. Parent View

Parent View gives you the chance to tell Ofsted what you think about your child’s school, from the quality of teaching to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. The survey can be completed at any time; you don’t have to wait until the school is being inspected. https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk