School Newsletter | December 2016 | Student name:_______________ AspireAspire BelieveBelieve AchieveAchieve InIn thisthis issue….issue…. LealandsLealands RemembersRemembers StudentStudent VoiceVoice YearYear 99 BlueBlue PerisPeris TripTrip PlusPlus muchmuch more...more... Lealands High School, Sundon Park, Luton, LU33AL Tel: 01582 611600 Fax: 01582 612227 Email: [email protected] www.lealands.luton.sch.uk @Lealandshighschool @LealandsHigh InIn ThisThis Issue….Issue…. Content Page Introduction from Headteacher Mr Burridge 3-4 Dates for your Diary 5 How to Get Updates from Lealands 6 Reception Opening Hours 7 Value of the Month 8 Christmas Jumper Day 9 Medical Information 10-11 Accelerated Reader Update 12-13 Lexia Reading 14 E-Cadets 15 Lealands Remembers 16 In the World of Maths 17 Sports News 18-19 Student Voice 20-23 Christmas Toy Appeal 24 Are You A Former Lealands Student? 25 Games Maker Conference 26 Year 7 Science 27 ‘Griffins Den’ 28 Young Enterprise 29 Blue Peris 30-31 2 Introduction from Headteacher Mr Burridge Dear Parents/Carers, Welcome to the last newsletter of 2016. We have had such a busy and productive first term of this academic year. September seems a long time ago now – when we welcomed all of our new students into Year 7 and the school was more full than it had ever been. Year 7 students have settled in really well and are already making good progress in their learning. There have been many highlights this half term for you to read about in this edition. We were all particularly proud of the entire school on Remembrance Day – always a stunningly moving occasion at Lealands and this year was no exception as the whole school observed two minutes silence together with perfect respectful behaviour from everyone. It has also been fantastic to see so much that our students have been taking responsibility for. Year 11s arranged and ran a fantastic disco for Year 7 students to raise money for their Prom. And our very enterprising Year 11 students have had great success in their Young Enterprise work. Our student voice teams have really been getting active and showing great initiative. In addition to all this, there has also been some very adventurous activity with a group of Year 9s visiting Blue Peris, in North Wales, for a week. It also feels like Lealands has been on a winning streak with so many sports team wins. We have some very talented and dedicated students who have worked hard and enabled us all to join in celebrating their successes. Our very strong focus on reading and literacy continues as the key to successful learning throughout the curriculum. Not only is the Accelerated Reader programme continuing so well, we also have a wide range of support and interventions to enhance the reading of all our students. Peer readers are doing a fantastic job, every week, of supporting their fellow students lower down the school. If you are following us on Twitter or Facebook, you will be aware that there is so much going on all the time as we do our very best to enhance the educational experience for all our students. As we come towards the end of term, we are looking forward to the Christmas Concerts and I hope we will see many of you there. You will also be able to see the 5 Christmas trees we have in the Atrium this year. There is one for each year group and they are 3 Headteacher’sHeadteacher’s IntroductionIntroduction ~~ ContinuedContinued covered in our students’ Christmas wishes. May I take this opportunity to wish you and your family an enjoyable Christmas time and Happy New year from everyone at Lealands. Mr J Burridge Headteacher ParentParent GovernorGovernor ElectionElection ResultResult Following elections for a new parent governor, I would like to inform you that Mrs Angela Herbert has been elected following a count of the ballot on Tuesday 6th December. A large number of ballot papers were received in this election and I would like to thank, on behalf of the Governing Body, both candidates for their interest and application for this important role. Thank you to all those who voted and for your continued support of our school. Mr J Burridge (Headteacher) SuccessSuccess InIn ComputingComputing Congratulations to the following students for their success in computing: Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Derycka Reid Jamie Harvey Jevean Davin Mistry Alex Browne 71DZ 82MW Barryclough 108VA 116KH 95DW Hannah Jeans Ciara Paul- Abraham Otitoju 75HS Joseph Kacper Kurylowicz 103KA 82MW 92DW 4 DatesDates ForFor YourYour DiaryDiary Year 9 Parents’ Evening - Wednesday 25th January 2017 Year 10 Work Experience - Monday 30th January 2017 - Friday 10th February 2017 Year 7 Parents’ Evening - Wednesday 22nd February 2017 Dance Show - Wednesday 1st March 2017 Year 9 Options Evening - Wednesday 15th March 2017 Term Dates School will be closing on Friday 16th December 2016 at 12.30pm for the Christmas period and starts again on Thursday 5th January 2017. Staff Training Day: Wednesday 4th January 2017 Spring Term: Thursday 5th January 2017 - Friday 31st March 2017 Half-Term: Monday 13th February 2017 - Friday 17th February 2017 Training Days Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th December 2016 Wednesday 4th January 2017 ££ ££ ££ OnlineOnline PaymentsPayments Don’t forget you can pay online using the ‘Parents’ Payment’ link which now appears as a £ sign on the slideshow of our website: www.lealands.luton.sch.uk. If you do not have your link code to login, please contact the school Finance Office on 01582 611600. The following is currently available for payment online: Voluntary Contributions Events, Trips and Visits Other Technology Years 7,8,9 Music Lessons Textiles Year 10 and 11 Resistant Materials Year 10 and 11 Food Contribution Year 10 The school also prefers for all school meals to be paid for online. This gives you the flexibility to top up your child’s account at home using a debit or credit card rather than having to use cash or cheque. Further details and an online payments instruction manual can be found on our website: www.lealands.luton.sch.uk under the ‘Parents’ Information’ section. 5 HowHow toto GetGet UpdatesUpdates FromFrom LealandsLealands There are now even more ways to keep up to date with what is going on at Lealands High School. As well as this half-termly newsletter, we have our redesigned website, the School News App, Facebook Page and now we are also on Twitter. Website Visit our redesigned website at www.lealands.luton.sch.uk for all the information you need about Lealands, including: Latest News, upcoming events on the School Calendar, general school information in Our School, online links to Parents Payments, Show My Homework, Accelerated Reader etc. School News App The School News App can be downloaded for free from the iOS and Google Play App Stores. The app is linked directly to our website and will notify you of updates to Lealands’ latest news, calendar events and gallery photos. For full details about the app and how to use it, please visit the website. Facebook and Twitter Lealands has active Facebook and Twitter pages which are used as a resource to connect with our community: sharing news, achievements, information, updates and photographs. We would encourage parents/carers and students to ‘like’ our Facebook page and ‘follow’ us on Twitter as we use it as a tool for communication, sometimes at short notice. @lealandshighschool @LealandsHigh Text and Email Lealands uses text and email to send reminders, updates and letters, sometimes which might be at short notice. Please ensure the school has an up to date mobile telephone number and email address for you so this information is not missed. Letters Many important letters which are sent home are available to download from the ‘Letters to Parents’ page of our website, www.lealands.luton.sch.uk/letters. 6 SchoolSchool ReceptionReception OpeningOpening HoursHours The school reception is open between the hours of 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday. We have an answerphone service that will be checked each morning. If you are waiting to collect a student after school please ensure these arrangements are set in advance as they will need to wait outside of the school gate for collection. To ensure students’ safety, we politely ask that parents do not park in the visitors parking area unless previously agreed due to safety/mobility reasons. Students are not allowed to wait in the school reception before or after school hours due to the variety of visitors that may be in the area at any time. Again, please ensure collection times are arranged in advance for outside of the school’s main gates. Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs Goslin, School Business Manager OutstandingOutstanding AchievementsAchievements Year 9 student William, plays Cricket for Caddington Cricket Club Under 14s. This season he was selected to play a number of games for the senior team. William managed to take one wicket in each of his first two games. He would have had three wickets in his second game but there were two dropped catches! William was awarded this trophy in recognition of his bowling achievements this season. Congratulations on an outstanding achievement! 7 ValueValue ofof thethe MonthMonth 8 ChristmasChristmas JumperJumper DayDay InternationalInternational SchoolsSchools AwardAward ~~ UpdateUpdate On Monday 14th November, Mr Slatter went to the British Council's offices in London to receive our re- accreditation of the International Schools Award for 2016-19. The award was presented by Sir Ciaran Devane - Chief Executive of the British Council. 9 MedicalMedical InformationInformation GUIDELINES FOR VISITS TO THE MEDICAL ROOM Our trained Medical Officer can administer minor first aid and will contact parents/ medical services for more serious cases.