D : 2 OCT

PARENTS’ NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER ISSUE
Dear Parents/Carers,
As we approach the end of September, I am delighted
to be writing to you to update you on life at St Mark's
School.
MEET THE HEAD EVENT
Thank you to those of you who attended the Meet the
Head event. It was so nice to meet some of you and
hear your views on the school. We are so lucky to
have a parent body so supportive
and passionate about St Mark's School. What made
me feel so positive was to hear that the biggest
negative of the evening was in relation to St Mark's
'not being more popular with local families.I also loved
that catch phrase about St Mark's being labelled as,
"Bath's best kept secret!" Thank you, once again, to
those who visited.
BUILDING LINKS WITH LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Over the past few weeks I have met some of the
Headteachers of our closest Primary schools. I have
visited St Saviours Infant's School and met with Mr Ed
Harker and some of the pupils and staff; visited St
Saviour's Junior School and met Mr Kevin O'Shea
and some of the staff; and hosted visits from Ms
Louise Kripps, Headteacher of Swainswick School
and from Mr Matt Stone, Headteacher of Bathford
School. The students at St Mark‟s were absolutely
delighted to see their respective Primary
Headteachers from Swainswick and Bathford visiting
St Mark‟s and it was wonderful to host these visits.
On Monday 15th September 2014 we welcomed 120
pupils from St Stephen's, St Saviour's Junior School
and Swainswick School. The pupils had a wonderful
day at St Mark's where they participated in a range of
interesting and exciting activities.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:
2 OCT
GCSE Parents‟ Evening
8 OCT
Y11 Trip to New Sixth
9 OCT
Y6 Open Morning
11 OCT
Y6 Open Morning (Saturday)
16 OCT
Geography Field Trip
20 OCT
Y7 Parents‟ Social Evening
22 OCT
Reports home
23 OCT
New Sixth Open Evening (6-9pm)
24 OCT
Last day of Term 1
3 NOV
First day of Term 2
5-7 NOV
Kilve Court Trip
SAINSBURY VOUCHERS
Many thanks to all students, staff and parents who
kindly collected their Sainsbury's Active Kids vouchers
for St Mark's School.
We totalled over 3000 vouchers furnishing us with a
great deal to spend on new resources for the school.
For the first time both the
PE and the Food
Technology Departments
will benefit from this with
resources including new
woks and PE bibs. This has made Mrs Balfre and Mrs
Griffin very happy!
Mrs Balfre and Mrs Griffin
ST MARK'S SCHOOL ASSOCIATION (SMSA)
The St Marks's SMSA has been doing a tremendous job of supporting the school during our September open
events. I am so grateful to the members who have given up their precious time to help support the school.
Should any parents wish to join the PTA in supporting the school and raising funds for the school, then please
do not hesitate to contact Nadia Cachia through the school.
Thank you for your continued support of St Mark‟s School and helping us to ensure that we are able to offer the
very best provision to our wonderful students.
With best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Barnaby Ash
TOUR OF BRITAIN
CHANGING THE GAME PROJECT
On Friday 12th September the 'Tour of Britain' came to
Bath, which is the biggest cycle event to hit the city in its
history.
Girls and Physical Activity –
Parent Survey
This was an exciting opportunity to witness top level
sportsmen and our GCSE PE students took full
advantage of this.
Dear Parents,
With Sir Bradley Wiggins leading the field our students
took a very keen interest in the event, with the hope that
it has inspired some to jump on a bike in the near future.
One of our students, Laurie Maylor,
had the honour of leading the peloton
out and this is an experience he will
cherish forever.
Overall an excellent day was had!
Mr Leonard
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
Pet Club runs every Tuesday lunchtime
and is well attended, as is the Science
Film Club on Wednesday lunchtimes.
The students are really enjoying their chosen clubs.
The Year 11 mentoring programme has now started. Staff
look forward to supporting our students through their
GCSE exam year to help them achieve their full potential.
„SCHOOL MONEY’ our new online payment
system s being trialled this term. Should you prefer
to pay in this way please contact Mrs Hunter on
01225 326604.
Here at St Mark‟s we are taking part
in a nationwide scheme that aims to
improve the quality of our girls‟ PE
experience whilst developing emotional and social
concepts such as self-esteem and future
aspirations.
We are working in conjunction with the Women‟s
Sport and Fitness Foundation who have conducted
a study that has shown some worrying statistics.
Their „Changing the Game‟ report published in May
2012 identifies that girls in the UK are not getting
enough exercise. Official figures show that just 12%
of 14 year old girls are reaching the recommended
levels of physical activity - half the number of boys
at the same age. This is despite three quarters
(74%) of girls saying they would like to be more
active.
St Mark‟s project – „Changing Our Game‟ has been
launched this year with an online survey that allows
students the opportunity to anonymously give their
opinions on school sport and the way they feel
about themselves.
In due course the WSFF will come into school to
feedback the findings and provide us with a „toolkit‟
to make improvements.
We believe that this is an opportunity for us to work
together in improving health, fitness and enjoyment
of physical activity in our girls.
The WSFF have an online survey that is
accessible to parents that will provide us with
feedback on what you think. If you have a female
student at the school please take a few
moments to complete the quick online survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/
s/StMarksBathparent
For further information about
the work the WSFF do
please visit their website at:
http://www.wsff.org.uk/
If you are interested in
getting involved in the
project please contact Mrs
Griffin.
A SUMMER PARTY TO WELCOME NEW HEADTEACHER TO ST MARK’S SCHOOL
Families from St Mark‟s School came together on Friday 5th September to welcome new Headteacher,
Barnaby Ash, to the school community in style.
The event was organised by staff and parents from the PTA and Governing Body to mark the start of an
exciting year for the school as it continues with its mission to become the school of choice for local
families.
The rain held off and a balmy summer‟s evening barbeque ensued with parents and students taking the
opportunity to meet Mr Ash and hear of his vision and ambitions for the future.
Supporting the event were the Headteachers from „The Valley Schools‟ as they performed the live
music for the evening. St Mark‟s School works in a unique collaboration called the Valley Schools, a
cluster located in the east of Bath, including St Stephen‟s Primary, St Saviour‟s Infants and Juniors and
Swainswick Primary. The aim of the partnership is to improve the links between primary and secondary
and enrich the life of the community through shared learning and experiences.
Headteacher at St Saviour‟s Church of England
Juniors, Kevin O‟Shea, commented, “It was lovely
to be able to welcome Barnaby to the family of
local schools. We hope that local families will
share in this opportunity to see St Mark‟s
continue to grow and firmly stake it‟s place
amongst secondary provision in the city of Bath.”
Congratulations to the Year 8 students who completed the
Summer Reading Challenge! They are:
Ed Harker, Headteacher at St Saviour‟s C of E
Infants and Nursery added, “It was a great
chance to meet Mr Ash, and so many St Mark‟s
parents who had clearly enjoyed hearing about
his vision for the school.”
Each of them will receive an Odeon cinema voucher, so a
big well done to all of you.
“We‟re meeting again very soon when we‟ll be
planning a range of collaborations between our
schools, including a second run of the very
popular Christmas Cake Factory for the Genesis
Project using the St Mark‟s food technology
resources.”
Mrs Hawkins
SUMMER READING
CHALLENGE 2014
Estelle Stevens
Tom Stone
Ciaran Bayliss
Andrea Garrido
Eliza Whitehead
Ella Short
Donna Jimmy
Alicia Ward
Maria Nunez
Ismael Gonzalez
Students really enjoyed the challenge and it was fantastic to
hear so many enthusiastic comments.
There were lots of other students who completed the
challenge but forgot to bring in their certificates.
The SMSA has
generously supported this
project by funding the
cinema vouchers; a huge
thanks to our wonderful
SMSA for their backing.
Mrs Martin
TOUR OF BRITAIN
Congratulations to Laurie Maylor, one of our Year 11
students, who took part in the Tour of Britain on
Wednesday 10th September.
He rode for his cycling club, the „Sulis Scorpions‟ in
the Italian Pursuit race as part of the tour. He won his
classification with a time of 140.6 and was 7 seconds
clear of the nearest rival.
WELL DONE LAURIE!
On 15th of September we had 125 Year 6 pupils from
the above three primary schools for the day to taste the
experience being in secondary school.
They did three activities that gave them an experience
what it is like being at St Mark‟s. We had great
comments from pupils and visiting staff on the day.
They experienced French, Technology, Art, Science
and PE.
Thank you to 8A, Ms Balfre, Mrs Carrington, Ms Colin,
Mr Leonard and Mrs Wilson for all your hard work.
Also thank you to Mr Parr and Mrs Packer for serving
the refreshments on the day.
FRENCH : Madame Colin
organised a Pictionary activity
for the pupils. They had to
learn the French for the
different animals and then they
had to test the other teams by
drawing the animal and the
teams must give the animal‟s
name in French.
Snail — escargot
SCIENCE : Mrs Carrington first demonstrated how to
safely use a bunsen burner before the pupilscould do
the different flame tests themselves. They had the
opportunity to experience for themselves and discover
that there are different coloured flames for the different
kinds of metals/substances.
TECHNOLOGY : The pupils had to design a parachute
for an egg, using one balloon, straws, tissue paper and a
plastic bag. They had to drop the egg-parachute from the
balcony and Ms Balfre checked if the egg was still whole
and had no cracks. The students had an „eggcellent‟ time
doing this activity!
ORIENTEERING: The pupils had to follow the instructions
finding various clues that were spread around the site
completing the exercise in the time given. Mr Leonard said
that the groups of the day were the best he ever had at St.
Mark‟s for taster days.
Enrichment Programme Term 1
Lunchtime
After School
Mon
Computer Club ( IT2)
Performing Arts Club (DS)
Homework Club (IT2)
Tues
Computer Club (IT2)
Pet Club (SC2) 12:5013:10
Film Club (EN2)
Homework Club (IT2)
Trampolining (Hall)
Rock School (MU1)
L/S Rugby Y7-9 (Field)
Weds
Computer Club (IT2)
French & German Help
(LA2)
Learning2Lead (TK3)
Homework Club (IT2)
Streetdance (Hall) 15:40-16:40
Art Club (AR2)
ECDL Catch-up (IT1)
U/S Rugby Y10-11 (Field)
Badminton (Gym)
Thurs
Computer Club (IT2)
Learning2Lead (TK2)
Self Defence Club (Gym)
Woodworking Club (TK2)
Fri
Computer Club (IT2)
RUGBY
On Thursday 18th September St Mark's upper school
rugby team played their first game of the season against
Broadlands.
The game was a tight affair and a great try and
conversion from Toby Little put St Mark's up 7-5 just
before half time.
There was an injury concern which means the game will
be completed at another time (although the injured party
is 100% ok).
We look forward to the next game for both the upper and
lower school.
Mr Leonard
This year our Harvest Thanksgiving
gifts are going to Julian House and we
are still collecting so please send in dry
goods and tinned goods.
POETRY IN PERFORMANCE
Year 8 Enrichment Programme
For the last two weeks our Year 8 students have been
lucky enough to work with visiting Spoken Word artists
during their Enrichment lessons.
Hibbz, a rapper, and Rebecca Tantony, a Spoken Word
artist, have been encouraging the students to have fun
with words and poetry through a variety of different
exercises and tasks. Rhyme Wars was particularly
popular.
Teams took it in turn to give a word e.g. „situation‟ and
the other team has to respond with a rhyme such as
„mystification‟. This continues, using the same „ation‟
rhyme, until one team runs out of rhyming words.
I was very impressed with the sophisticated vocabularies
and great competitiveness that became apparent during
this exercise even if it did get a bit loud at times.
The students have also come up with some really funny
and thoughtful poems through collective writing exercises
such as weaving a poem together from different lyrics
from their favourite songs or making several verses
through „Poetry Consequences‟ when you each write a
line and then pass it on for your neighbour to continue.
Rebecca and Hibbz are visiting us as part of a project
with Bath Festivals Trust and Mentoring Plus. They will
continue to work with a small group of our students until
half-term.
This includes writing and performing a poem as part of
the Children‟s Literature Festival this Friday. The idea of
performing in the Guildhall is very exciting, if a bit
daunting, but our students are stepping up to the
challenge with great energy and enthusiasm and I am
sure they will be brilliant on the day.
Mrs Pakeman
In a verse in the Bible back in the Old
Testament God asks the farmers to
leave the fallen grain for those who
may need it - you can read that here:
"When you harvest your land, don't harvest right up to the
edges of your field or gather the gleanings from the
harvest. Don't strip your vineyard bare or go back and
pick up the fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the
needy.
While we are thankful for all we have we want
to proactively help those who are in need.
Harvest Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Lord of the Harvest
We thank you that
you sustain your
planet and Your
people with good
things.
We thank you that you give us food to keep us happy and
healthy
We thank you for those who grow and harvest crops
ready for food
We thank you for such an abundance of delicious, life
giving food
We thank you that we help others at
harvest time
Amen
Phone - 01225 312661 ext 309.
E mail - [email protected]
St Mark’s Church of England School
Bay Tree Road, Larkhall, Bath, BA1 6ND
T: 01225 312661 F: 01225 429063 E: [email protected]
If your child is absent from school, please telephone 01225 312661 or email [email protected]