www.testvalley.hants.sch.uk Spring Term School Production — Wyrd Sisters 2017 Every year it gets harder and harder to top the previous were so eager to get involved and relished any school play. So this year I decided to go for a change. opportunity to do so. I hope they continue to I’ve done the big musicals and well known storylines so participate every year as they are my stars of future I looked elsewhere. ‘Wyrd Sisters’ was suggested to me productions. by a colleague and as I read it I really enjoyed the If you came to see us we hope you enjoyed the characters and situations. However, I knew it might be production. It was really fun to rehearse, finding the a risk as the storyline is quite complicated and it did not humour in the script and adding in moments of our have a lot of parts for extras. However, after consulting own. We even made up a backstory for one of the a panel of pupils it came out as the favourite. witches and her parentage. Casting the play was difficult, as always, as everyone As always it was a hugely enjoyable, albeit stressful, wanted to be the Duchess (including some boys). experience. I feel so fortunate to be working in a school However, I convinced three fantastic performers that where Drama is valued for the amazing subject it is and they could be the lead witches and I was right. for what it offers to so many pupils of all abilities. I Charlotte, Jade and Alice were a joy to work with. It was would also like to thank my amazing colleagues who particularly pleasing to give these vital lead roles to two every year support me in so many ways, without which of the girls who have been given much smaller roles in a school production would not be possible. previous school plays. They were committed, focused and really took to their parts. The rest of the Mrs C Stubbs, Head of Drama cast are equally strong and I feel so lucky to have so much talent to choose from at Test Valley. I was just as impressed with the enthusiasm of the younger pupils who participated. A downside to this play was that it had fewer opportunities for adding in extras. However, I was determined not to be beaten by this problem and set to work finding moments to expand as I know how thrilling it is to be involved in a school play, no matter what the part. To their credit, the Year 7 and 8 pupils Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/testvalleysch Twitter: @testvalleysch 1 Headteacher’s Message Dear Parent I hope you enjoy our Spring newsletter and the opportunity to read more about the wide variety of activities and events our pupils and staff have been involved in this term, both in and outside the classroom. Even I am surprised and delighted by just how much is going on! It continues to be a challenging time in education with so many changes to be worked through in schools – this includes the new GCSE courses, the introduction of GCSE number grades and ‘life after levels’ in Key Stage 3 with the introduction of a new assessment system to replace the old level grades. We are also having to face, in common with so many schools, significant funding challenges whilst striving to uphold the broad and balanced curriculum we believe our pupils should have. This term we were also inspected by Ofsted in February and very pleased to be judged as still a ‘Good’ school. This is an important achievement for the school and a recognition of the hard work already in place. You can read the full report on our school website. I send our Year 11 pupils very best wishes for their forthcoming GCSE examinations next term. We hope many will join us for the Easter workshops as part of their revision programme and make full use of the GCSEpod, the online revision service all pupils can access. Finally I thank you for all your support throughout this term and look forward to the Summer Term getting underway. Miss L Hiscock Headteacher. News from the School Governors What a busy and really successful last few months the of our recent elections. Often working behind the School has had. To continue to be assessed as scenes governors attend early evening meetings, "Good" by Ofsted during the recent inspection is a discussing strategic direction, listening and deciding tremendous achievement. I would like to thank on the schools policies, working with staff to deliver everyone involved who at short notice supported the the best for all pupils. The role of a governor allows school fully. As governors it is very pleasing to see all a unique mix of being able to see the day to day the hard work our pupils and staff deliver being school activities and then seeing all the hard work rewarded by an independent body. Going forward behind the scenes. I am very proud of the great the governing body, senior leadership team and staff curriculum and enrichment activities available to have a number of challenges facing us: the changes in pupils. Helping to ensure that all pupils have the the proposed funding by central government which greatest opportunity to excel is at the heart of great has recently been in the news, the escalating costs of governance. I hope you will continue to support us in running the school, right the way down to BREXIT. As our mission. Chair of Governors I am really pleased to welcome three new parent governors to Test Valley as a result Simon Port - Chairman of Test Valley Governors 2 Hampshire Youth Speaks Competition This year we had two teams speaking in the local round of the Rotary Youth Speaks Competition held at Harrow Way School, Andover on Tuesday 17th January. The competition aims to offer young people the opportunity to speak on a public platform as a member of a team. The roles within each team are clearly defined and the main speaker speaks for six minutes on a topic of their choice; a daunting task for many adults, let alone Year 9 and Year 11 pupils. Our Year 9 team consisting of Abbey Barton (main speaker), Sam Hunt (chairperson) and Issy Henry’s (vote of thanks) spoke about the value of reading for pleasure. In a passionate speech entitled “The Great Escape” Abbey encouraged her audience to put down their iPads and iPhones and use their eyes to read instead. Abbey took us on a reading journey and was full of praise for our own well used library here at Test Valley. Our Year 11 team consisting of Charlotte Thorpe (main speaker), Callum Giles (chairperson) and Laura Keane (vote of thanks) spoke about our seeming obsession with mobile phones. Charlotte introduced us to the idea of nomophobia: the fear of being without our phones: yes, it really exists. Charlotte encouraged us to engage with the real world instead of living our lives online and spoke about the impact that our mobile phones can have on our mental health. Both teams delivered well-constructed speeches with confidence. They clearly engaged their audience and gave us all something to think about. The Senior Team were awarded trophies for Best Chairperson, Best Speaker, Best Proposer of the Vote of Thanks and Overall Winning Team. Our Year 11 Youth Speaks team (Charlotte Thorpe, Callum Giles and Laura Keane) took part in the second round of the Rotary Public Speaking Competition on Wednesday, 8th February. The team delivered a speech entitled ‘Not so Smart’, and posed the question: are we all guilty of spending too much time on our smartphones? The team were up against stiff competition facing a Sixth Form team from Bishop Wordsworth School and a team from Romsey School. Romsey School, who delivered a speech examining the hidden side of disability, were judged the winners on the night. We were not deflated as we received some excellent feedback from the judges who said that our team were confident and business-like. They praised Charlotte’s logical and well developed speech. The judges liked that our team spoke about their own personal experience and related it to the topic. Well done to the team who despite rehearsals, fixtures and revision managed to find time to fit in this competition too! 3 The Year 8 Young Sports Leaders organised the Inter-Tutor New Age Kurling event for the Year 7s as part of their course assessment. Leaders were involved in the planning organising and running of the event. The event was close between the 5 tutor groups with some excellent Kurling scores. Two tutor groups were joint first and two were joint 4th as the points were the same. However a decision had to made regarding 1st and 2nd place so the Young Leaders had to look at the ‘for and against’ points scored. Consequently the final results were: st nd rd th Team talk to focus on the event 1 7A 2 7S 3 7D joint 4 7G & 7N The New Age Kurling competition is used as an introduction to the Year 7 Young Sports Leaders Course which takes place over the summer and autumn terms. The course takes place every Tuesday lunchtime in the gym @ 1-30pm. It is based on the Sports Leaders UK award and involves Year 7 pupils with the seven local catchment schools helping to organise and run events with Mrs Smith the School Sports Co-ordinator.