Inside this edion of By Chris Spender Foreword 2 Jokes 13 3 English 15 PSHE 4 Pantomime 18 Royal Doulton 5 Christmas Fayre 19 Down the River 6 Christmas Fayre photos 20 Live Cooking 7 Get into Teaching 11 Belong Centre 8 Word Search 22 Conkers 9 Bridgemere 23 First Tech Challenge 10 Happy Christmas 24 Makaton 12 Foreword Welcome to the Blackfriars Academy Chronicle (The BAC) Contained within this term’s paper is all of our news about what we have been doing this autumn, particularly in the build up to Christmas. It has been an incredibly busy term with lots of trips out, including two trips to Bendrigg, the outdoor education centre in Cumbria. Our new mini-bus has had plenty of use, poor Mr Goodman, our driver, needs the Christmas holidays to have a rest! Talking of the mini-bus, we have been incredibly lucky this year to have been recipients of some very generous donations – Mrs Henderson’s gift in her will enabled us to buy our new mini bus; the Shaw Trust’s runners in the 2017-18 marathon raised £5000 for us which we are putting towards our new sensory / chill out classroom. Many of you will remember Mr Dave Marshall who served on our Governing Body for many years, his gift together with that from Nathan’s grandparents and the money raised by the Newport Ukulele Society all mean that we will be able to buy a height adjustable interactive screen to engage our students in a sensory environment. Our friends at Tesco donate £20 a week to help to support our ‘Friendly Friday Café’, the profit from which we use towards paying for the petrol for all of our trips out. We have also learned that we came 2nd in the Tesco bag appeal meaning that we won £2000. This will help us to buy a set of tablet computers for classes to use. Finally, the Rocester Football Team did a sponsored training session in our swimming pool and raised over £500 which we are using to buy accessories to use in our amazing 4D room. Together with the amazing amount raised at the Christmas Fayre (read on for the full story!) we are in a brilliant position next term to develop our school and its facilities even further. Keep a look out in the fortnightly bulletin for updates. As we end the year, we have to say goodbye to a very popular member of staff, Mr Newman. He is moving on to pastures new having taught at Blackfriars since 2013 during which time he has enthused class after class to engage in all sorts of physical activities – old and new, a particular favourite being Dodge ball! His Sports’ Days have all been a triumph – 2 enjoyed by some more than others (I was not happy to get a soaking in my 1st year!!) and our cricketers in particular have all enjoyed the opportunity to go to championships in other schools. He has been a form teacher, took on the challenge of teaching science, led the whole school in developing a better understanding of behaviour management and has led some really en- joyable Forest School sessions. We will miss you Mr Newman but send you our very best wishes for the future. We are also saying a temporary goodbye to Mrs Sally Shaw who is taking a six month break and Ms Kay Morris (Physio) who is going on maternity leave (good luck and best wishes) As the New Year begins, we welcome to Blackfriars Mrs Lorna Savage who will teach PE and Mrs Es- ther Toft who will teach Science. Many orf you will also recognise the name of Hilary Peters, our Enteral Feeding nurse. When Birmingham ended their contract for school nursing, Hilary had to leave, but we have been able to re-employ her as our school Enteral Feeding Assistant from January. Throughout the term, we have been busy trying to call to account both local government and national government for their support for young people with special needs. We have been liais- ing with MP, Paul Farrelly, meeting with local councillors, taking part in the Staffordshire Local Ar- ea Review with Ofsted and Care Quality Commission and submitting responses to Westminster. We have also been lucky enough to be asked to join an Erasmus Project working with seven Eu- ropean countries to investigate what ‘Inclusive Pedagogy’ might look like. Mrs Rawlinson and I went to the First Transnational Meeting to start work on developing a shared understanding of this. Whilst there, we heard that we have been successful in gaining the funding to take some students to Europe to see for themselves how other students learn. We will keep you posted on the project as it develops. Finally, the staff and students at Blackfriars would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas, a safe holiday and our best wishes for the New Year. We look forward to seeing all of the students ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’ on Monday 7th January 2019. Alison Parr Spot the Difference Can you find all SIX 3 PSHE This academic year we have introduced a new way of delivering Personal Health Social and Education lessons (PSHE) . We dedicate a day every half term to cover topics that are then explored further in single lessons on alternate Monday mornings in form time. To date we have covered ‘Mental Health and Resilience’ and ‘Respect for Ourselves and Others’. By teaching pupils to stay safe and healthy, and by building self-esteem, resilience and empathy, an effective PSHE programme can tackle barriers to learning, raise aspirations, and improve awareness of all pupils. Below is the scheme of work: Day 1 Autumn 1 Thursday 6th September Day 2 Autumn 2 Monday 5th November Mental Health and Resilience (Coping with Problems) Respect for Ourselves and Others Self-awareness (An-Bullying week Nov 14th-19th) Relaonships: Managing Feelings Self-care, support and safety Dove service resources Relaonships: Managing Feelings NSPCC resources Introduce Peer mentors Introduce House Captains and Prefects Overarching concept: An-Bullying Alliance resources 1. Identy (recognising their personal qualies, atudes, skills, E-safety aributes and achievements and how these make them who they are; understanding and maintaining boundaries around their per‐ Overarching concept: sonal privacy—including online) 1. Identy (recognising their personal qualies, atudes, skills, 7. Change (as something which is experienced and can be man‐ aributes and achievements and how these make them who they aged) and resilience (the skills, strategies and ‘inner resources’ to are; understanding and maintaining boundaries around their per‐ draw on when faced with challenging changes or circumstances) sonal privacy—including online) 8. Power (how it is used and encountered in a variety of contexts, including online; how it manifests through behaviours including bullying, hurul behaviour, persuasion, coercion and how it can be challenged or managed, including how and where to access support and help; that misuse of power is never their fault) st Day 3 Spring 1 Tuesday 8th Jan Day 4 Spring 2 Friday 1 March Healthy Lifestyles Carousel Caring for the Environment and Sustainability (e.g. taking risks, drugs, diet, road safety) Raising money (money management) Self-care, Support and Safety The world I live in Healthy lifestyles Self-awareness T3 (free drugs advisory service) Fair Trade stall Younger Minds Fair Trade/sustainable lunch Entrust ‘Smoking resource’ Keele sustainability hub Charitable giving/fundraising Overarching concept: 3. A healthy (physically, emoonally and socially) balanced lifestyle, Overarching concept: (including within relaonships, work- home-life, food, exercise and 9. Economic wellbeing (including careers educaon, enterprise, rest, spending and saving and lifestyle choices) employability and economic awareness), idenfying future aspira‐ 4. Risk (idenficaon, assessment and how to manage risk, rather ons and understanding the purpose of goal seng than simply the avoidance of risk, or trusng that others will take 5. Diversity and equality (in all its forms, with due regard to the responsibility for managing risk) and safety (including behaviour protected characteriscs set out in the Equality Act 2010) strategies and communicaon skills to employ in different sengs, including online) 4 Day 5 Summer 1 Thursday 2nd May Day 6 Summer 2 Wednesday 5th June Healthy Relaonships Rights and Responsibilies Relaonships: Changing and Growing (Being a Good Cizen) Relaonships and Sex Educaon The world I live in Sexpressions Self-awareness School nurse Student council presentaon Student Voice Overarching concept: Local councillor 2. Relaonships (different types and in different sengs, including online and inmate relaonships) Overarching concept: 4. Risk (idenficaon, assessment and how to manage risk, rather 6. Rights (including the noon of universal human rights; recogni‐ than simply the avoidance of risk, or trusng that others will take on and understanding of their rights), responsibilies (including responsibility for managing risk) and safety (including behaviour fairness and jusce) and consent (in a variety of contexts) strategies and communicaon skills to employ in different sengs, 5. Diversity and equality (in all its forms, with due regard to the including online) protected characteriscs set out in the Equality Act 2010) Royal Doulton Pupils in Royal Doulton went to St.Giles, the parish church of Newcastle, to decorate two trees in their annual and very popular Christmas Tree festival. The pupils decorated a tree for Blackfriars, covering it in brightly coloured pom poms made by pupils in school and topping it with a resplendent huge star. They also decorated a Fair Trade tree with the iconic blue and green colours of the logo and decorations of Fair Trade produce, such as tea bags, as well as images of the producers themselves. Many thanks to Ms.