Woodlands Newsletter SPRING 2 31/03/17 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, There has been a wealth of things to celebrate this term at Woodlands. Our Rock Challenge team were exceptional at the Guildhall in February and although not winning an overall place, they won countless awards for the production. It was such a pleasure to see so many students involved in the event. In March we won the University of Southampton Year 10 Challenge. The team had to work out how to contain an outbreak of smallpox and advise the government in how best to do this. They beat teams from across Hampshire to win the top position. In February some of our students competed in an inter school philosophon, engaging in intellectual debate with other young people around current affairs and moral issues. Furthermore, our Year 10 girls took part in a Women in Business event in March to celebrate International Women’s Day. They had the opportunity to quiz business women about how they have come to be successful as well as to partake in a scrumptious cream tea. As always, our students were a credit to themselves and the school. In late March, 36 of our students went to Iceland for four days to engage in some science and geography study. Great fun was had by all despite the freezing conditions. Our Year 8 MFL students have been working with the primaries teaching the younger students some French and Spanish. And on the sporting front, our teams have gone from strength to strength this term, winning many of their matches against local schools. Last but not least, the students raised over £300 for Comic Relief last Friday. In times of money hardships, it was great to see so many students giving generously to help those less fortunate. And on the theme of money hardship, as I am sure you are aware from the news, schools across the country are facing a huge crisis as educational funding has been cut. In Southampton the situation is particularly bad and Woodlands, like other schools in the Local Authority, is hit by the changes to the funding formulas. The Governing Body and I are working hard to minimise the impact to standards within the school. We face some tough decisions in relation to what services we will need to reduce in order to manage the budget. Our aim will always be to provide the best education possible to your child but I do need to make you aware of the increasing difficulties we face in these austere times. Staffing has been a little turbulent this term. We have had some long term absence in a number of areas. We have tried to minimise impact on learning as much as possible but I am aware that some students have been affected in a number of classes. Mrs Plant, who has been off sick for quite some time, has decided to resign and will be officially leaving us at Easter. We will also be saying goodbye at May half term to Mrs Lance who is leaving us to join Crestwood School. Mr Weston is leaving us at the end of the year to set up his own business and Mrs Pearce (our Key Stage 3 intervention teacher – not Mrs Pearce Head of Key Stage 4) will be leaving us at the end of the summer term to embark upon further studies. All four of these staff will be sadly missed and we thank them for all their hard work. Pleasingly, at a time of teacher shortage across the country, we have been able to make some excellent appointments for September. We have appointed two very experienced Geography teachers who join us from Wildern School. We have appointed two new Science teachers and a new Assistant Head Teacher who will have overall responsibility for Science. We have also made further appointments in Maths. I look forward to telling you more about these staff as we move into the summer term. I wish you all a very restful Easter break. We break up on Friday, Upcoming Diary Dates 7th April at 2:40pm and return to school on Monday, 24th April at Inspiring 8:30am. The first lesson that day will be an extended tutor time. April Fashion Show Best wishes, From 6:00pm 27th Toni Sambrook May May Day Bank Holiday Challenging 1st Comic Relief May KS4 Exam Preparation Evening On Friday, 24th March 2017 Woodlands 4th From 6:00pm to 8:00pm held a non-uniform day to raise funds for Comic Relief. Thank you to all the students May Achieving and staff who participated we raised a Authors’ Day fantastic £301.31. 11th In particular a big thank you goes out to Mollie Gardner, Shelley May Wesley and Jamie-Leigh Wookey for organising a bake sale on Half Term the day. They made some delicious cakes and biscuits. 29th From Mon 29th to Fri 2nd June Woodlands has social networking accounts on Facebook, Twitter & Nextdoor **Attention Parents** Thank You Please be aware that the old style £5.00 Many of our students are involved in notes will no longer be legal tender from extra-curricular activities but massive 5th May 2017. congratulations to Shane Thompson who regularly gives up his spare time to Therefore, Woodlands will not be accepting them during volunteer for the Southampton the Summer term, the last date for them accepted in Children’s Play Association (SCPA). After th school is Friday, 7 April 2017. helping out at their successful 2016 Playday his efforts have been rewarded with an official thank you from the Association. “THANK YOU to all the organisations for all of your help and support leading up to the event and to those who provided activities on the day, SCPA Staff, SCPA Executive Committee, Volunteers, the Play Rangers Maintenance Team from Southampton City Council and all the Young Volunteers, especially Shane Thompson (pictured left) who organised the real car painting activity.” Catering News Exam success! Just before half term Year 11 completed their second Catering practical exam consisting of their two course Italian menu. The students all made a main meal, including making their own pasta and a side dish of bread and a trio of desserts. The exams were a huge success and all the Year 11 students should be very proud of what they produced. Pictured above left is the dish made by Chelsea Sparshott and below right is the dish made by Chaya Brown. Dance News The Rock Challenge team won a host of awards at this year’s competition in February with their piece called Broken Branches which depicted a woman’s struggle to balance family life career. Special congratulations go to Sophie Lacey who was awarded the John Goodhead Shield for Endeavour which is currently being displayed in reception. Harry Eaglen successfully took home the award for lighting and Shannon Heather won the award for video directing. The team also took home four other awards in the categories of positive inclusion, community support, stage crew and choreography. Congratulations to all the staff and students who again made the event such a success. Thank you also to Mrs Thomas for the wonderful artwork. The BTEC dance class successfully completed their examination solo dances this term and I am so proud of the confidence and discipline they showed on the day. The Year 9s are working hard to complete their studies on dance from around the world and it has been really fun to watch and also an eye opener into some hidden talents within the year group. Key Stage 4 News Year 11s have now completed their final set of mock exams and are hopefully starting to see the benefits of the hard work and revision that they are doing. The library will be open for revision during the second week of the Easter holiday to allow them to do some focussed revision but we also hope they take this opportunity to have a rest and return after the holiday refreshed and ready for the final push for the summer exams. I know the year group are also looking forward to their prom and final invites or information on how to apply for a lifeline will be coming home with students on the last day of term. I would like to take the opportunity to remind parents that we have been very clear about the expectations surrounding being invited to prom since September and updated students every half term as to whether they were on track or not so there should be no surprises. A group of Year 10 girls were lucky enough to be invited to attend a Women In Business networking and afternoon tea at Solent University this term as part of International Women’s Day. The students were a credit to the school and thoroughly enjoyed the event, especially the cake! The Key Stage 4 study room is still going strong and appears to have had a really positive effect on students’ progress and attendance in Year 10. This support is now being opened up to Year 9s as the Year 11s are now more focused on specific subject revision sessions. Any pupils who are absent from school will be booked into the room so they are able to catch up on any work they have missed. With Year 11s starting their final exams shortly we are now on the search for the new prefect team.