Chipping Sodbury School CS2 Newsletter Volume 6, Issue 8 April 2010 Online at: www.chippingsodburyschool.com INSIDE THIS ISSUE: English Faculty News 2 MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD Year 7 Celebration 2 For this month’s CS2 I thought that I would spend some time reflecting on just a few of the good Assembly news stories coming out of Chipping Sodbury School. What follows is a random sample. Student Absence 2 We have recently celebrated the achievements of a large number of Year 11 students Library News 3 who have participated in a very positive Paired Reading initiative. These students have worked hard over the past school year, giving willingly of their time, with younger Tesco/Sainsbury 3 students in Years 7 and 8. It has made a significant difference to engaging students in Vouchers reading. Y11 Paired Reading 3 At the end of March, a large number of parents and students in Year 11 participated in a Ten Tors News 4 Revision Skills workshop. This was followed up in school with all Year 11 students re- ceiving training in practical revision strategies. The aim has been to provide students and ICT/Business 4 parents alike with techniques to assist with revision during this important time. Faculty News The examination period has now started for all Year 11 students with orals for Modern Expressive Arts 5 Foreign Language subjects taking place this week. We wish all students who are taking Faculty News exams the very best. PE Faculty News 6 The assembly programme this week has introduced all students to the Chipping Sodbury A Training 7 School House system which will be launched in September 2010. Opportunity for Adults Congratulations to a group of Year 7 students who successfully completed a ‘Survival SWFfL Internet 7 Skills’ course over 7 weeks working with staff from the Local Authority. Safety for Parents 23 students have passed an online level 2 (GCSE level) in ALAN (Adult Literacy and Nu- MFL Faculty News 8/9 meracy). Medical Room 9 400 Year 5 pupils will attend a Chipping Sodbury School Summer Science Fair. School Uniform & 9 There have been 120 applications to the 2010 Sixth Form representing over 80% of the Lost Property year group. Teenage Pregnancy 10 52 Sixth Form students are studying the Extended Project Qualification for the first time Wills Davis Atwell 10 this year and they’re seeking opportunities to link with local businesses. If you’d like to Charity Grant Aid find out some more or can support us in any way in respect to business contacts in the community, then please contact Gill Hilleard our Head of Sixth Form. Connexions News 11 Celebration of 11 Year 7 have started dreaming about their aspirations and what they want to do when they Achievement Reply are older. In due course we will display all our students’ aspirations in one of the school slip corridors to be called ‘Aspiration Alley’. Dates for your Diary 12 Enjoy the rest of CS2. School Term Dates 12 2009/2010 P. Lidstone Head INSET DAYS for 12 2009/2010 “Committed to learning” Useful contacts 12 English Faculty News Year 11 – GCSE examinations The final exams are very close now and revision is well underway. Please encourage your sons/daughters to revise carefully. Useful revision activities include going over notes from lessons, practising planning essays and identifying key quotations from texts. It is also recommended that students re-read their exam texts several times. Furthermore, the BBC Bitesize website contains some useful revision tips and activities. Students should make sure they are proactive in speaking to their English teacher if there is anything they are unsure about. It is essential that students who study English Literature bring their copy of the novel Of Mice and Men to the English Literature exam. Media students should check with their teacher to make sure they are aware of the equipment they need to bring to the exam. Mr M Sayers Head of English Year 7 Celebration Assembly Term 4 Award/prize winners Basics Ben Perrett £5 SEAL Sasha King £5 Positive Points Tommy Rees-Bacchus, Ben Leighton Consistently high performance for netball: (badge awarded) Sasha King Milly Westcott Grace Rumble Georgia James Flo Langridge Milly Woods Jess Ganley Lauren England Beth Adams Danielle Mason Gold Commendation Raffle – prize winners Chelsea Breddy Brittany Reynolds Emma Davis Jodie Hood Ben Perrett Mirelle Olszewska Sophie Gideon Jasmine Rogers Alex Liddiat Lauren England Mrs Broad & Mrs Strange Student Absence To report a student absence please call the Attendance Officer on 01454 862952 on the first day of absence and leave the following information: Student name and Tutor Group Reason for Absence and expected day of return Your name and relationship to student 2 Library News Well done to Madison Halladay who was recently shortlisted for the Young Crime Writers Award. The ceremony took place at Yate Library, where Madison was presented with her certificate by local author C J Carver. Mrs Pickering Librarian Tesco and Sainsbury’s vouchers. We are collecting tokens from both of these companies as usual. Please send them in to the library as soon as possible. Many thanks. Year 11 Paired Reading Year 11 Students showing their certificates after the presentation on Thursday 22nd April in the Library. Well done all of you and thank you. Mrs South 3 Ten Tors News We have one more training walk on the Cotswold Way before this year’s Ten Tors event on Dartmoor taking place on the 8th and 9th May 2010. The teams have now been decided for the 35 and 45 mile routes. The weekend training on Dartmoor included some different and quite challenging terrain and weather condi- tions for the teams to overcome. The 35 mile team did especially well and were able to see Okehampton Camp, where they will be starting and finishing the actual event, for the first time. Last week half of the 35 mile team enjoyed some orienteering around Westonbirt Arboretum. Unfortunately, the café was closed when they returned so they are still waiting for their promised drinks of hot chocolate. On Sunday, the teams were back in Wales and got good use from their waterproofs on the Offa’s Dyke path. Lunch at Gospel Pass Still smiling at the finish Chipping Sodbury Lions have once again been very generous in sponsoring our teams and we will be collecting for them at the Chipping Sodbury carnival. If you would like to follow our teams during the event, then regular updates will appear on the Ten Tors website at http://www.ex.ac.uk/tentors. Ms Jarvis Ten Tors Team Manager ICT and Business Faculty News We run a drop-in session on a Wednesday after school in C1, which is available to all students. This can be used to ask questions about any ICT and Business work, catch-up on coursework or to use the computers for homework. The following students have been awarded ICT and Business “Geek” of the week for the week beginning 19th March 2010 Year 7 – Jodie Hood Year 8 – Will Mason Year 9 – Gemma Rallison Year 10 – Zoe Paraskeva Year 11 – Ayesha Davies Sixth Form – Sabina Wiltshire Well done everyone! Please come and see me for your prize if you haven’t received it yet. Ms Jarvis Head of ICT and Business Please remember to update the School Office of any changes to contact numbers especially mobile phones. 4 Expressive Arts Faculty News Samba Workshop – Wed 24th February The Hall rang to the sound of Samba on Year 7 International Day. Our students thoroughly enjoyed exploring Brazilian music under the tutelage of Andy Warn from The Crotchet Factory. South Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra – Music for Youth Well done to Bradley Parker, Year 12, who performed with the South Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra at Mu- sic for Youth in Cheltenham on Saturday March 6th. The group played a varied programme and received good feedback from the judges! Music Service Spring Festival – March 2010 We are just coming to the end of a Spring Festival organised by the Music Service. Bradley Parker, Matthew Hunter, Rebecca Woodington, Charlotte White, Christopher Marx, Peter Rogers and Jack Bateman have all participated in a range of Playing Days and showed their skills off in a Colston Hall Concert on Friday 19th March. Yate and Sodbury Schools Concert – Friday 26th March at the Colston Hall Our bi-annual locality concert involving students from right across the age and ability range took place on 26th March. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for everyone involved and the students from Chipping Sod- bury who participated were a credit to themselves! Mrs William-Jones Head of Expressive Arts Faculty 5 Physical Education Faculty News Summer Extra Curricular Clubs Monday – Tennis Coaching with Chipping Sodbury Tennis Club - Starting on Mon 17th May (20 places available £10) - Primary Club Night Tuesday – All Years Girls Rounders - All Years Boys Cricket Wednesday – Rounders & Cricket Match Night Thursday – All Years Girls Athletics (til May half term) & Open Court Tennis - Cricket Match Night PE Faculty Staff Chipping Sodbury U13 Cricket vs Winterbourne Academy The first match of the cricket season welcomed Winterbourne Academy U13 team to Chipping Sodbury. Winterbourne won the toss and chose to put Sodbury into bat. Winterbourne had a couple of very fast and ac- curate bowlers, who quickly made their mark on the game. After just two overs Sodbury found themselves on 7 for 2 wickets. Jack Thacker and Will Mason helped to halt Winterbourne’s bowlers and produced some excel- lent shots. The best partnership of the day (21) came from captain, George Walker and Ross Cox.