Lytchett Minster School | Newsletter March 2020 elcome to the March edition of Wthe Newsletter! It was great to see so many parents attending the recent KS3 production, Alice in Wonderland, in the school Dance Studio on Wednesday 12th February. It was a fabulous evening. We clearly have an extraordinary amount of talent in years 7, 8 and 9. A number of the young performers on stage will no doubt be taking on lead roles in future whole school productions. My thanks go to the team of Year 13 students who directed and produced this show, giving our younger students an opportunity to show off their singing, dancing and acting abilities to a suitably appreciative audience. Whether it was in a face to face meeting at one of our Parents Evenings or via one of our termly Progress Reports, our teachers have recently been giving feedback to parents about their child's attitude to learning and their progress. The progress grades and thresholds may be what parents consider to be the most important part of the overall picture, but I would suggest it is the attendance record and the behaviour for learning scores that tell us the most about how a student is likely to progress in the future. We expect all students to have an attendance figure of 97% or better, and we expect Behaviour for Learning scores to be 1s and 2s (on a 4 point scale). Where students are not attending lessons as often as they should and/or are not applying themselves or fully engaging in their learning, they are unlikely to achieve the outcomes of which they are capable. The vast majority of Lytchett students are attentive, well-behaved and conscientious, and they will assuredly enjoy great success. Where there are issues on the attendance or ‘behaviour for learning’ front, I would urge parents to work closely with the school (via House teams) to address the problem and bring about a positive change. Some of you may have seen the Lytchett Minster School Learning Centre feature on BBC South Today on Friday 14th February. This was in connection with a recent report on the increase in permanent exclusions across Dorset schools (secondary and primary). Our Learning Centre was included in the programme to show the lengths that some schools are going to avoid permanently excluding students who struggle in mainstream education. You can read more on this story on page 5. I hope you enjoy reading this month’s Newsletter! 01202 622413 • www.lytchett.org.uk • /lytchettminsterschool 1 Student of the Month Congratulations to the following students who were nominated as February’s Student of the Month: English Biology LIBRARY Music Photo not available Emily Campbell-Montgomery Molly Seal Kaylin Loveless Paul Stevens Year 11 Sixth Form Year 8 Year 9 Graphics Psychology PE Art Photo not Photo not Photo not available available available Tristan Cooke Aila Osborg-Schmitz Amber Henshaw Riley Conner Year 11 Year 12 Year 11 Year 7 PRE FOOD History CHEMISTRY Photo not Photo not available available Adam Watkins Martha Wilson Lauren Hawkins Connor Redpath Year 9 Year 8 Year 11 Year 12 D & T Media Connor Girdler Bethany Buyers Year 11 Year 10 2 DRAMA FRENCH Dance PHYSICS Isabelle Garvey Olivia Robinson Lucie Etches Tom Cluett Year 11 Year 11 Year 10 Year 11 Geography Geography Photo not available Amiee Legg Emily Cuff Year 8 Year 8 Purbeck Portland Sixth Form Photo not available Thomas Marshall Georgia Reynolds Scott Povey Year 10 Year 11 Sixth Form Agglestone Gault Spike Knight Mia Whitehall Year 7 Year 7 3 KS3 Limitless Production: Alice in Wonderland Congratulations to all the KS3 students involved in the production of Alice in Wonderland, and to the fantastic 6th form team (led by Ben Parkinson and Rosie Painter) who put the whole show together. It was a most entertaining and enjoyable evening. Head of Drama, Mrs Midworth writes: On Wednesday 12th February, the Drama Department proudly welcomed over 140 people to the Dance Studio for a wonderful performance of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. After the main school production (Into the Woods), back in October, I was approached by Ben Parkinson and Rosie Painter from our 6th form and asked if they could re-launch, direct and produce a performance for the ‘Limitless’ programme. This is a gifted and talented programme which they were a part of when they were in KS3. The programme allows 6th formers to mentor and produce a production with our KS3 G+T students. Since December, Ella Wilson (costume), Alistair McGregor (sound), Emilie Waldie and Kieren Nisbett (choreographers) in addition to those aforementioned created an audition programme, rehearsal schedule, acquired scripts and produced a fantastic production to allow our KS3 stars to shine! Over 40 students participated in the performance and the audiences were amazed by the talent presented. The commitment, creativity and characterization exhibited on stage highlighted how much talent we have coming through the school. There was so much talent that the 6th form team producing the show had to be a little creative casting three Alices played by the talented Lucy Wilson, Arizona Stroulger and Lily Taylor. 4 KS3 Limitless Production: Alice in Wonderland (continued) There were many notable performances, far too many to mention individually, but it has to be said that the standard of performance on stage was exceptional and the audiences left with nothing but praise for both the actors on the stage and the team who put it together. What is more magnificent about this event is that the cast all voted on a chosen charity who they wanted to support with the proceeds of this performance. They chose the Rainbow Trust who look after families with seriously ill children. I am pleased to announce that they raised £126 for charity. I hope those of you who attended this performance enjoyed it as much as I did and thank you for supporting the students. One student said as they left, ‘When I get to 6th form, I want to be a mentor and give someone the memories they have given me’. Mrs Midworth BBC South Today comes to Lytchett Headmaster Andrew Mead was initially contacted by BBC South Today because of his role as Chair of the Dorset Secondary Headteachers’ Association (DASH). The programme wanted to explore the reasons why permanent exclusions in Dorset’s primary and secondary schools had shot up from 13 exclusions a year (on average between 2010 and 2016) to an incredible 74 and 103 in 2018 and 2019. During the initial phone interview, the programme makers were interested to hear about Lytchett’s own Learning Centre and decided to come to the school to carry out some filming. The film crew requested some shots of a typical lesson in the main school, an interview with the headmaster and some pictures of the Learning Centre. We chose a Year 11 Science class, taught by Mr Sherwood, for the lesson. The camera angles used by the programme ensured that no students could be identified, but Mr Sherwood and his Physics experiment did feature, as did Mr Daniels teaching our Year 8 and 9 students in the Learning Centre. It was made clear in the programme that Lytchett Minster School is doing all it can to avoid permanently excluding students, but that Dorset local authority needed to do more to increase the provision of affordable alternative provision for vulnerable students in the county. To date this year (2019-2020), Lytchett Minster School has not permanently excluded any of its students . 5 Battle of the Bands The Static, Alien-Nation and The Game provided the stand out performances at this year’s Battle of the Bands competition on Tuesday 4th February. The whole evening was put together by the outstanding Le-Ann Walters (Year 13), who provided a very professional sound and lighting display. Deputy Headteacher, Mr Kent Catchpole and former Lytchett Musician of the Year and now Teaching Assistant Mr Jake Wood contributed to the judging panel. It was great to see friends and families supporting the bands, who performed with great confidence and style. The winning band this year was The Game. Congratulations to all those who took part, and a big thank you to the new PTA team from providing the refreshments. 6 Yes Chef! Competition Four students made it through to the quarter finals of the Yes Chef competition which this year was held at Bournemouth and Poole College. All four were brilliant and an absolute credit to the school. Following this Freddie Howarth and Amelia Barber have gone through to the semi-finals. Sandwalk 2020 After consulting with students in school the Student Voice has decided to support two smaller local charities this year. We have supported CLIC Sargent before as they have been/are involved with the care provided for Lytchett students undergoing treatment for cancer. The Student Voice feels that mental health is a major issue at the moment, one that health services are struggling to cope with. Consequently they have chosen to support the Dorset Mind Your Head project. The next Student Voice (Year 10 reps) will launch this year's design competition and discuss the all Important tee shirt colour! Talk to them if you want to influence the choice of colour! SANDWALK LOGO 2020 COMPETITION This is your chance to have your design on well over 1,000 of this year’s Sandwalk tee shirts! Your design needs to include the following text: Sandwalk 2020 Lytchett Minster School Your entry should be: A4 One shade of one colour Simple designs are the best! Handed in to Mrs Biddle in Kimmeridge Closing date is Friday 6th March.