Winter Newsletter January 2014
Transcription
Winter Newsletter January 2014
Winter Newsletter January 2014 Contents 03 Headmaster 27 04 House Media Reps 28-29 05 Forthcoming Events 29 06 Facilities 30-31 Sports Celebration 07 Work Experience 2013 32-33 Rugby Maintains High Standards 08 Noadswood supports Movember 09 Pupils using Strength and Conditioning Suite 33 34-35 36 10-11 New Members of the Knightwood team 12 European Day of Languages 13 Interview with Brian Evans-Jones 14-15 Awards Evening 16-19 Sefoloko What Sunk the Mary Rose Prom Christmas Tree Sailing Awards Anderwood Wilverley Mr A. Bernard Welcome to our Winter Newsletter where once again you can read about some of the activities in which our pupils have been involved. At the very end of the summer term I was privileged to join the group which visited our partner school in South Africa. By any measure it is an extraordinary experience to spend some time with inspirational people; both pupils and teachers. We are really looking forward to welcoming a group from Sefoloko when they come on a reciprocal visit in July. 20-21 Site Development 22 Thorpe Park 23 Student Voice 23 New Student’s Open Evening 24 Year 8 Paris Trip 25 Naomi House 26 Fabulous Fundraising 03 House Media Reps Forthcoming events Anderwood Wilverley Deerleap Knightwood Willow Allen Bradley Hurrion Amy Carr Zoe Farrant Ben Fenton Brooke Kingdon Charlotte Miller Frankie Cater Lewis Simmonds Lucy Simmonds Joel Barnes Adam Woodhouse Maddison McGowan Brett Keable Seren Quinn Sam Ross Tom Kennedy Hannah Preston Ellen Cole-Bailey 06 Jan 15 Jan 20 Jan 28 Jan 30 Jan Spring 1st Half Term Yr 9 Parents Evening Yr 7 Open Mornings Yr 11 Photographs Yr 11 Parents Evening 14 Feb 17 Feb - 21 Feb Inset Closure Day - School Closed Half Term Front Cover: Key Learning Points displayed in the library and various images from the newsletter. Editorial Team: Mr J. Gammon, Mrs J. Lancaster, Miss A. Humphries, Mrs A. Gardiner. Please Note: If you would like a hard copy of this Newsletter you can go to School Reception and order one which will subsequently be printed and given to your child. 05 Work Experience 2013 Facilities Since becoming a Sports College Noadswood’s site has been continually developed, redeveloped and improved providing our pupils with access to state of the art facilities. We are keen to share our site with our local community so they too can benefit from our high standard of sporting facilities. Our state of the art 60 x 40m 3G STP is new and offers a high quality all weather playing surface all year round. The facility allows the use of both the full size junior pitch or can be divided into two 5-a-side pitches across the pitch. Our sports hall is an outstanding multi use indoor facility that offers a number of different options. The facility’s main use is basketball with its electric backboards and rubberised floor. The facility has also been fitted with double lane cricket nets and the use of a bowling machine capable of bowling up to 90mph! Our courts have received a upgrade and now boast a superb non slip surface and floodlighting so you can continue to play even after dark! The whole facility is fully enclosed and can be set up for netball, tennis or just used a multi use games area. This is a a fully fitted out Gynasium with the majority of facilities for doing gymnastics. It is suitable for displays, and has a viewing gallery. Our year 10 students successfully took part in their Work Experience in June 2013. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the local businesses and schools who took one or more of our students for their work experience. It is impossible to name all of the placements who offered to take our students but particular thanks to Exxon Mobil and our local primary schools Orchard Junior, Orchard Infants, Wildground Infants/Juniors, Hythe Primary and Waterside Primary. Some students were successful in securing part –time jobs due to their hard work, effort and reliability whilst at their work placement. Others were encouraged to contact businesses in the near future, to attend Open Evenings for Trainee Apprenticeships. November 19th from 6.05 – 8.00pm. It will also help them to prepare for their applications for college, full time jobs and apprenticeship placements. Now, in year 11 students need to take that next big step into thinking and organising what they are going to do when they leave school. Students should be applying for their college courses and the interviews for these will take place in school with the local colleges in the Spring term. If there are any students in the meantime who would like to have some help and guidance they then students can contact our Careers Adviser, Caroline Millman at any time to arrange an appointment. These students will now hopefully use this experience and the skills they acquired to help them to take part in their ‘ mock interview ‘ on Tuesday 07 Pupils using Strength and Conditioning Suite Noadswood elite performers are training in Totton College’s Strength and Conditioning Suite to improve their ability to make the big stage. Totton College have given Noadswood high performance pupils their brand new strength and condition suite to use during PE lessons. These sessions are fundamental to becoming high level sports performers in the future and it’s a wonderful opportunity for the Noadswood pupils to experience. Director of Sport Andy Daish said, “it’s a privilege to be able to offer such a great opportunity to the sports stars of tomorrow, especially from local schools such as Noadswood. If we can improve the functional movements of these athletes whilst they are at school and inspire them to do the best they can in all aspects of their lives, then they stand a fantastic chance of reaching their true potential in the future.” Noadswood Supports Movember Throughout the month of November, most male staff and some Year 11 boys at Noadswood are supporting Movember. They are joining men around the globe growing moustaches to raise funds and awareness of male specific cancers – “changing the face of men’s health”. Every year we have a theme for Movember – this year it’s Super Heroes – “THE MOVENGERS”, being heroic in fighting cancer! Being a part of this fundraising initiative enables the pupils to participate in the wider aspect of charity involvement and for boys, in particular, to think about their wellbeing. The moustaches have been a spring-board for conversations and discussions about health issues and have also been a bit of fun. This year we will have a day where fake moustaches will be auctioned to pupils with funds going to the Movember cause. Here at Noadswood we have been supporting Movember for the last three years and during that time the school has raised approximately £3000. Terry Shearsmith, Noadswood Head of PE says ‘I simply can’t believe that Noadswood pupils have this opportunity at, what can only be described as a world class facility, to train for their sport. Being trained by experienced strength and conditioning experts at Totton College accompanied by undergraduates from Solent University, and training alongside young international athletes is an opportunity not to be missed and is testament to the forward thinking sports academy staff at Totton College.’ Strength and Conditioning gyms are not like the gyms that we go to at our local leisure centres. These gyms are only built for elite performers and are integral to professional sports teams to work on movement patterns for their sport and give them an advantage over competitors. It is unique for Noadswood pupils to be given this opportunity to improve their sport in this gym environment. 09 New Members of the Knightwood Team Knightwood has had many teachers join and leave over the years, but this term we have been lucky enough to gain three new members to the Knightwood team. Recently, members of the media rep team interviewed these new teachers, so if you are a new student at Noadswood, or just reaching the deep end at year eleven, hopefully this article will help you to know a little bit more about them. So if you see them around the school, be sure to give them a warm welcome to the school! We asked each of the new teachers to give us a small statement to tell you who they are, and what they do in the school, and asked them a few more general questions for them related to their experiences of Noadswood so far. Miss Fowler “I teach music in H17, it is the subject I teach most, with the only other being IT.” What are your opinions on the school so far? “Everyone has been so welcoming to me so far, and it has been a lot of fun. I also really like the house system, because I think it brings a lot of friendly competition between students.” What do you think about being a tutor? “I have really enjoyed being a tutor, I love my tutor group, and I’m very happy, as we’re winning the tutor group quizzes right now!” Can you tell us one thing about yourself that others may not know? “I have a passion for music, which actually led to me being a backing singer for Will Young.” Mr Stamp “I’ve just joined the history department at Noadswood, and so far, it’s been fantastic. I teach history, and sometimes Navig8, so you will see me a lot around the M block.” What are your opinions on the school so far? “It feels like a very friendly school to join, the students and other staff have been very welcoming, and it feels great being a part of the house system, and being in Knightwood feels like the right place to be for me.” What do you think about being a tutor? “I really like the vertical tutoring system, in previous experiences as a tutor I have only ever had a group from one year group, but I think that having vertical tutoring helps the school year groups have less age segregation.” Can you tell us one thing about yourself that others may not know? “Well, I once won five oranges from an Australian orange farmer who offered them to me, if I could juggle them.” Miss Blurton “I am a French teacher by trade, so that’s the main subject I teach, but I occasionally also teach Ethics and citizenship. I have always loved languages, and I really enjoy teaching French. ” What are your opinions on the school so far? “In my opinion, Noadswood has a really warm feel to it, and everyone is pleasant, they always say hello with a smile, and it always feels like there is a positive atmosphere around the school.” What do you think about being a tutor? “Similarly to Mr Stamp, I have only ever been a tutor for groups of one age, but the vertical tutoring gives the tutor more of a ‘family feel’ to it. I am very competitive, so I love being part of a house system where I get to compete against other houses.” Can you tell us one thing about yourself that others may not know? “I completed my French degree in Swansea (Which is in South Wales), and I am now an avid rugby fan because of my time there.” 11 European Day of Languages Interview with Brian Evans-Jones Bonjour! ¡Hola! That was what came from all the tutor rooms on the 25th September, European Day of Languages. All the pupils were encouraged to answer the register in another Language and each group did a quiz on the origins of words. But the fun didn’t stop after tutor! Several teachers wore badges with a famous foreign person on and you had to go around the school and find them all. The Canteen also served foreign food which completed the day and made it a day to remember It was great to see Brian Evans-Jones again. I had previously met him last year when he did a poetry event for parents and their child. Jacob Eyres – Language Leader His grandmother got him into poetry because she wrote a lot. When he was about five or six they wrote a special poem together. As well as his grandmother’s encouragement he got support from a teacher at his junior school in years five and six. One of Brian’s main inspirational people is Thomas Hardy, author of “A Dream or No”. After reading some of his novels Brian EvansJones discovered his poetry and felt something magical happen. He felt he could relate to Hardy’s poetry because he had written about general things like life experiences. As a child between the age of ten and fifteen (secondary school age) he was shy with people he didn’t know very well. He took life and school very seriously as he realised how important it was and how much of your future it dictates depending on your grades. In his spare time he read a lot as well as playing lots of sport and games especially rugby, cycling and cricket; but the one sport he was never able to get to grips with was hockey. By Aaliyah Isaak 13 Awards Evening On Wednesday 2nd October, Noadswood held its annual Awards Evening which celebrates pupils from each house who have shown outstanding levels of effort throughout their previous year in progress reports and subject lessons. During the evening special awards were presented to a small number of pupils for excelling in a particular field and those pupils were awarded with shields or trophies to further enhance the acknowledgement of their achievements. school excursions and the STEM week in June. The feedback was extremely positive, highlighting the exemplary behaviour of all pupils involved and that, overall, Noadswood had been represented with a sense of pride and enthusiasm. The whole evening was a great success and was enjoyed and endorsed by all involved. A special mention must go to Mr Pain, who took photographs throughout the evening and for the vast majority of the time was forced to sit in an extremely uncomfortable position! By Katie Butler In attendance were the House Leaders; Mr Rowling, Mrs Banasik, Mr Fenton and Miss Rawlinson. In addition, they were accompanied by Head Teacher, Mr Bernard and representatives of the Governing body. At the beginning of the evening, those in attendance were entertained by students from the Music Department singing a selection of songs, which was very enjoyable for all. “What a lovely start to a lovely evening – the singers were amazing. It was wonderful that parents could see just how talented not only their children are, but many others to and many have photographic evidence of the celebration.” Following introductory speeches, each House Leader took turns to introduce their recipients of the awards for each year. It was noticeable from the outset that there was a certain level of rivalry between the House Leaders, concerning the number of award winners within each house! In between each year’s award presentations, information and feedback was provided, regarding “It was fantastic to see such a lovely group of young people celebrating their hard work and aiming to make the most of their opportunities.” Mrs Banasik – Deerleap House Leader Mr Fenton – Knightwood House Leader “The whole evening brought a long smile to my face. It was lovely to see such a collection of amazing pupils who thoroughly deserve their recognition. Well done to them all!” “It was wonderful to hear about all the amazing opportunities pupils had been involved with over the last year and see them celebrate their achievements.” Mr Rowling – Anderwood House Leader Miss Rawlinson – Wilverley House Leader Sefoloko Trip When I first heard about the Sefoloko trip I knew that I wanted to go. The idea of an once-in-a-lifetime trip to meet people you would probably hardly ever see again and to experience things most people dream of caught my attention. We heard about the previous trip in an assembly and the things people had taken from the experience. Unlike most trips where you pick up a letter and pay a deposit you had to earn your place since the spaces on this trip were limited. You had to start by writing a letter saying why you want to go, why you should go and what you would do to fundraise money as the trip cost a lot of money. Following that you were put through team building activities after school in groups with people you had maybe never spoken to, to see how well you could get along with people you didn’t know. As you progressed through each ‘stage’ you always had a feeling that you were getting closer and you could be turned away at any point. The number of pupils on the trip was raised to 24 as many pupils had applied. That final meeting, where you were told whether you were going, was the most nervous thing I’ve ever sat through. A list of names was being called out to say they were going, everybody just sat and waited to hear their name. Once you found out you were on the trip to South Africa there was a lot to do. Fundraising the £1800, deciding on Hoodie designs and getting emotionally prepared and even getting the necessary injections and tablets. The fundraising was fun as many people did this in groups doing various activities and every pupil joined in a bag packing day at Tesco to help raise money which was then split for each pupil going. The months leading up to the departure date for Africa flew by. Everyone had paid, we all had our hoodies with our nicknames and everything was ready to go. It didn’t seem real that I was actually flying to Africa until we had landed. The flight out was calm, everybody was left to their movies and I think no-one knew what was planned for the trip ahead of us. The first day in Africa, everybody was tired; planes aren’t the most comfortable things to sleep on! We had settled into our hotel rooms and freshened up before meeting the Head teacher of Sefoloko High School and their equivalent to Head Boy at a reptile centre. Everybody seemed to have perked up and were having a lot of fun trying to get the parrots to speak and do weird dance moves! sleep so we had to be especially quick getting ready so it was handy that we had things ready the night before! The coach was very quiet on the way to the school and it wasn’t until we got closer that we noticed school children walking down a long dusty road. The roads were filled with children in different shades of blue and laughing and talking as they made their way to school. When we arrived at the school we had to wait in a group as the pupils at the school had to get ready for assembly which is where they crowd round (standing up) in the courtyard between school buildings facing a small platform where the Head teacher would stand. We were all told to walk onto this platform and stand in a line which was very nerve racking as the pupils all screamed and yelled like we were some sort of celebrities! Their assemblies are very different from ours. They stand the whole time outside in the cold singing songs; it’s definitely something I will never forget. After the assembly, we had to wait for the pupils of Sefoloko high school to come up to us and take us to their lessons so we were literally being dragged and wanted in all different corners and places. I was taken by these 3 girls who were a year older than me and they were very funny, but my ‘buddy’ from the... ...school was a girl who said her We had to get to bed early as we had to be up really early to leave for the high school, but as South Africa is an hour ahead, it was like waking up even earlier which wasn’t very fun! The teachers came round to each room and gave us a wake-up call but the first day my room missed the wake up call and got an extra 17 Sefoloko Trip name was something really long but shortened it to make it simpler for me, so I called her Kate! All the pupils at the school were so friendly and wanted to talk to you, ask you questions and give you things like a badge or a pencil if they had one spare, maybe even a bracelet. We sat in a few of their lessons until around lunch time. Their classrooms were small and un-decorated, the windows were broken and yet all the pupils didn’t mind, they had written quotes all over the classroom walls and always seemed upbeat and positive. During the lessons I was participating in their work and at some point they wanted me to write in their books so they would always have my handwriting. At lunchtimes we would always leave the High School with some of the older students and the head teacher and head to these lodges to look around and have food. It was a time to talk to the pupils and have fun, relax and eat some very tasty cake! The next few days followed on like the first, participating in lessons and going out after lunch although the teachers (from Noadswood) began to make us get off the bus and walk with the high school students to school as the teachers stayed on the bus and waited for us in the warm while we walked in the cold. We began to visit lower year schools, like primary and nurseries. Each younger class would recite a poem to us in English to ‘show off’ their English language skills. Whenever we were waiting for something the children would literally mob us and wait for high fives or photos or hugs. You couldn’t escape, but it made them happy and it also caused many more to join the little mob you had around you! We always had to have a teacher watching to make sure we were okay, and at first it was scary but you got used to it pretty quick! During the last few days at the high school we spent most of our time taking photos with the students and sharing ways to keep in touch. If you said yes to have a photo with one person, loads of others would gather around to get one too. I tried to stay close to my friends so I wouldn’t lose them in the crowd! We also got a presentation about each different culture in that area and were given some facts about the flag and their language which everyone I spoke to had been taught a bit. During this presentation there was a large ‘dance off’ type thing where the students of the school would dance then students from Noadswood would dance, it was very entertaining and even the teachers joined in! The very last day at the school was on their sports day. Everybody left the school and walked to a nearby open stadium. The majority of the school sat in the stands and others were dressed in colourful tops on the fields. Some of the Noadswood students were chosen to participate in an aerobic/dance which we had learnt 5 minutes before, which we then had to perform to the whole school and teachers watching! We spent one evening in a local shopping centre with some of the pupils from Sefoloko High School, and saying goodbye to them was hard. We had all become so close and realising that we might never see them again was tough. There were a lot of tears that night and a lot of goodbyes which took a very long time to actually finish. Even though our time at the school had finished we still had the safari! We moved hotels so we were closer to Kruger National Park. As we were on our way to the second hotel we stopped off at a few places to break up the journey and had a look round some stalls of local women selling stuff which was a good opportunity to buy something as a souvenir. The second hotel was my favourite as the bathroom was huge, we had a lot more TV channels and the beds were so comfy! We were allowed to have a bit more sleep the next morning and relaxed breakfast which was so nice! We then had to meet the teachers by the safari jeeps to get ready to go and see some animals. We had three jeeps and each one had blankets so we could stay warm. Kruger National Park was a breath-taking experience. Being able to drive around and see wild animals such as giraffes, elephants, lions and rhinos living as they please was truly amazing. I don’t think my camera was ever put down during the whole ride and I caught some amazing images. The evening before we left to return home the teachers told us that the Sefoloko staff had spent their school budget on T-Shirts for us. They were the High School’s school shirts but with Noadswood’s logo added on. These shirts were worn home the next day as they were big and baggy and comfortable to wear! The day we had to leave was a depressing day. I personally had enjoyed the trip so much I wanted to stay longer and wait before I had to go home. I could tell everybody had enjoyed the trip immensely and didn’t want to leave but I don’t think I would have appreciated the trip as much if we were out there longer. The trip to South Africa has changed me as a person. I have become more confident, and more thankful for the things I have and the things I can do. The experiences I have been able to have I will never be able to do again and I will never be able to forget them. I have made new friends from Noadswood through this trip, come closer to others, and made friends with people around my age on the other side of the world who I still keep in contact with. It’s one of those trips where you can’t explain how emotional and meaningful it was without experiencing it yourself. By Erin Kingdon 19 Last year we decided it was time for a makeover! We started by looking at the school logo and considered a radical change but decided to keep the Noadswood shield and modernise it. Now that we have a strong set of branding tools we have produced new stationery, posters, signs and even mugs, pens and umbrellas! We also updated the house logos and they are now seen all around the school on house flags, plaques and even on the new minibus. In the summer term we had a new prospectus and school film produced which showcase life at Noadswood. Almost every pupil featured in the film at some point and they were proud to Site Development show off their school. The year 7’s were involved in creating a magazine called Clued Up which tells primary school children everything they need to know about coming up to Noadswood. Over the summer a number of projects were started to improve the facilities at Noadswood. We put directional signage all around the school. On the first day of term in September all the new year 7’s were given a map of the site and using the signs around the school could easily find their way round. The Learning Resources Centre has been totally refurbished over the summer and is now a focal point for the school. The space now has a large reading area with comfy seating and ipad stations for pupils to use during lesson time for quick access to the internet. These have proved very popular! The room is now lighter and brighter and is a wonderful open and flexible space for learning. From the windows in the Learning Resources Centre you will get a great view of the landscaping which has been planned and designed with the help of the student voice group. The hardstanding between the main block and tennis courts has a beautiful design based on a clockwork effect with plenty of space for house flower beds. We plan to install a 9 meter umbrella canopy under which we can hold outdoor classes and performances. The soil we removed from the site has been used to create an amphitheatre outside the drama studio. This will have tiered seating cut into the mound and will be covered with grass and surrounded by trees. This space will be used for drama classes, performances and maybe even assemblies. We are constantly striving to improve the facilities and the environment of the school and encourage all pupils to get involved by giving their ideas to their house captains or to make a difference through joining the pupil voice group. Student Voice I’m Ben Fenton. Chloe de Mornay and I, as Head Boy and Head Girl are planning to make some changes to the way that Student Voice is run. Over the past year, Student Voice has made some significant changes to the school already. We have had a new water fountain built just outside the sports hall, helpful after PE sessions. There is also a new cash machine, where you can add money to your Canteen account. However, the biggest impact of them all is the new landscaping project. This is the most expensive investment since the astro turf. It will provide a place of shade and seating arrangements at break and lunchtimes. You may have seen it being built, between the courts and the main block. The land that has been Thorpe Park On the 5th October Noadswood selected all the pupils who were a leading student all year round, to go along to a reward trip to Thorpe Park. This is a trip people look forward to all year round, so when it came along again, people just couldn’t wait! Early in the morning, four buses took off from the school, all the way to Thorpe Park in Surrey for a full day of fun high-sky rollercoasters and attractions! We arrived late morning, after a two hour coach ride, with many excited, raring-to-go students, buzzing to get into the park. As we finally entered the gates we had 7 hours of fun to go on as many rides as we wanted, varying from massive roller coasters to smaller rides. We were lucky enough to go when the sun was shining and it was warm all day. We were also lucky enough to go when they created a new twist to the popular ride, Swarm, they had just created a new version where as well as going forward throughout it you could now go backwards and experience it completely different from beforehand. As we visited near to Halloween, at mid-afternoon they opened a few of the Fright Night Mazes where you could face your fears and enter if you dare, and if that wasn’t scary enough they had workers dressed up in frightening costumes, scaring people around the park. There are over 30 rides at the park so every student had a selection to go on whatever they felt confident on, whether it was Stealth or Saw for the dare devils looking for an extreme thrills, or maybe the wild water raft ride - Rumba Rapids for people looking for something thrilling yet fun. After the fun packed day we left late afternoon so we could get home before it got too dark. So all in all, the day was a success with people chattering on the coach home, boasting about the rides they went on, and showing off the pictures they bought. We will DEFINITELY be going back. By Amy Carr dug up is being reused to build an outdoor amphitheatre, just outside drama block. This will be used for dramatic al fresco performances! Recently, we had our first student voice meeting. We gained a lot of feedback from students of all ages about what they would like done within the school. An upcoming project is to renovate the area between the maths and science blocks, and many opinions were recorded about what would be good, bad or ugly. In the near future there should hopefully be more house art, renovated benches, and eco bins. We are very excited about what student voice can and will do over the next year and we hope the enthusiastic student response will continue! New Students Open Evening On Thursday 26th September, Noadswood held their annual Open Evening for prospective students. Once again, hundreds of Year 6 children from the local area came to look around our school and get a feel of Noadswood life. Many of Noadswood’s current students, including Year 7 pupils who had only been at the school for a few weeks, helped out. Each subject area was alive with people from; the science department who provided slime, glow in the dark chemicals, secret writing and loads of other fun experiments, the food tech department who provided delicious pizza and fruit salad (always popular judging by the crowds of people queued out of the door), the PE department who put on a gym and dance display, the art department who gave children a chance to paint part of a larger work of art, the languages department who gave out free cakes to children who could ask for it in a foreign language, the maths department who provided mind-bending puzzles and all the other departments who showcased the amazing work they do. Many of the children would have happily spent the whole evening taking part in all the activities and are obviously looking forward to coming here in the near future. Overall, the evening was a great success. Well done to all the staff and students who put on such an amazing evening! 23 Year 8 Paris Trip Naomi House By Lucy Simmonds. As you might have heard, some of the year 8’s went to Paris for a week. It was so much fun and there were so many things to see. We travelled overnight on Tuesday and had a fun-packed day on the Wednesday. The ferry crossing on the way there was quite calm which made it easier for us to get a little sleep for the next day. On Wednesday, we saw one of Paris’s well known tourist attractions which was the Eiffel Tower. We took lots of pictures and then made our way back to the coach to see the Arc de Triomphe. After lunch, we went to see the Notre Dame cathedral and went souvenir shopping. Then we ate a meal at the Auberge du Pere Louis and on the way to the hotel, we saw the Eiffel tower by night. The Hotel we stayed in was called the Hotel Campanile and it was really nice with comfortable beds and great breakfasts. On Thursday, we went for a boat trip on River Seine which was really nice seeing lots of sights while we glided along the well-known river. Then we ate our lunch and went to see the Montmartre and then were allowed to do a bit more souvenir shopping before we made our way back to the Auberge du Pere Louis for dinner. After dinner, we went up to the very top of Montparnasse Tower which was 56 floors up and approximately 200-300 metres high. Once we got to the top, the view was breath-taking. Kind of cool!! Then we made our way down and got back on the coaches to head back to the hotel. On Friday, we went to Disneyland Paris!! There were so many rides to go and, things to see and things to do. Once we had checked with our group leader we were allowed to go off in groups around Disneyland. I went on loads of fun rides but one of my favourites was Space Mountain. It was exhilaratingly fun. We got given a meal voucher for a three course meal which was really yummy. After a really busy and fun day in Disneyland, we all headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. On Saturday, it was time to go home. On the way home we stopped at a hyper market and then caught the ferry back to England. The ferry crossing was very rocky and rough but we made it home and all gave our families a huge hug. Abseiling the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, July 2013. Be careful what you volunteer for? In July 2013 Mr Banasik, in order to raise funds for Naomi House, decided to abseil down the Spinnaker Tower. It was a very courageous thing to do, Mr Banasik commented by saying “a chance remark made around the Christmas dinner table last year, then led to a journey into the unknown. I am not a novice in abseiling or charity events, but this was quite a challenge. Firstly asking for donations put me out of my comfort zone, but the plan came together and with the help of staff and some amazing pupils we managed to raise £400 for Naomi house. This was a great achievement for Noadswood and everyone involved.” How did we do it? Well firstly we sold raffle tickets to the students with the chance of winning a Nintendo Wii with guitar hero and other games. The raffle tickets were sold throughout the last half term with great success. On Sports day we ran a water slide where pupils could have fun but cool themselves down at the same time. Staff also played a big part in giving donations, to help support this event staff tried to guess the time of the descent. Everything came together in the last week of term and a big thanks to everyone who made donations. Mr Banasik , Lewis Simmonds and Jack Watton Some of the highlights would be singing happy birthday in French to Mrs Sullivan, having a great time in Disneyland, seeing some of the best tourist attractions in Paris, learning to speak French a little more and staying in a lovely hotel. Overall, Paris was a HUGE success and I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone. 25 Fabulous Fundraising On the 21st – 25th of October, Deerleap contributed to raising money for the Rainbow Trust. There were several events that helped raise some funds. D-PSm and D-JWy fought a strong battle playing Benchball against each other but somebody had to win and the obvious victors were D-JWy. Everybody that contributed to this event should be very proud of themselves as they too contributed to making other people’s lives better. Also a cake sale was held every day for the entire week. There were lots of cakes all ready to be eaten by Noadswood students and funnily enough at the end of each sale there were no cakes, or sweet treats for that matter, left at all. so therefore what Deerleap achieved is very beneficial for children just like you and me. I am proud to say we managed to send off 21 shoeboxes to give to children less fortunate than ourselves. These donations will make sure that the children will at least have one Christmas present this year. I would like to say thank you to the Deerleap prefects who monitored the Bench ball Tournament and every teacher that contributed in any way, shape or form. One last big thank you to everybody that brought cakes into school to sell this was an amazing help to everyone. In the future I hope that we can raise even more money to support the Rainbow Trust as every little donation helps. By Maddison McGowan We will all get some Christmas presents this year but sadly there are some children in the world who will not Deerleap raises over £200 for the Rainbow Trust! What sunk the Mary Rose? This was the question posed to 26 year 7 Noadswood pupils on Wednesday 4th December, when they went on a trip to Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. Here, they experienced a two hour History and Science workshop. They grappled with the issues surrounding the mystery of the sinking. Was it caused by French gunfire? Was the ship overloaded? Or were the crew to blame? surrounding this ship. This involved pupils working with scale models to assess the stability and load bearing capacity of the ship. They then used their scientific knowledge to pass judgement of the quality of design of the ship. This was an outstanding opportunity for cross-curricular, learning beyond the classroom. They were then allowed access to the Mary Rose Museum which really brought their learning to life. Students worked with experts to weigh up the evidence of historical sources and to discuss the reliability of these. They also got the opportunity to gather their own scientific evidence to help support or refute the many theories 27 Prom 2013 At the end of the summer term the year 11 prom took place and it was better than ever. Everybody that went looked absolutely stunning which matched the atmosphere. Everyone had a great time (including the teachers) and it was an amazing evening and a memorable goodbye for the students who have now moved on to college. George Brooks said, “ It was such a great evening. Everyone had so much fun and I couldn’t have wished for a better send off from an amazing five years at Noadswood.” Jade Masterton said, “Prom was one of the best experiences in my school life, if not the best. Everyone was both looking and feeling their best. The atmosphere was magic, and knowing that I had the part of helping create it was just amazing. I’d do anything to go back and do it again!” Harry Benham said,” After a packed year of revision and exams, I think Prom was the perfect way to end our school life.The venue we went to was amazing and the atmosphere was so chilled. Everyone was just enjoying themselves and it gave us all a chance to relax. I think the best part of the night was right at the end, as you could tell everyone was having a good time, as well as watching all the teachers show off their dance moves! Overall, the night was the best part of the year 11 and I will never forget it.” Overall it was an incredible evening and one that the year 11s that have just left will remember for many years to come and we wish them all the best in their new colleges. By Zoe Farrant and Brooke Kingdon Christmas Tree Noadswood School was invited for the fourth year running to participate in the St John’s Church Christmas Tree Festival. On 21st November Miss Humphries and I left school after 3pm with a Christmas tree and a parcel of baubles and lights. It was very cold, there was a bitter wind and the light was failing. As we entered the church we set our eyes on the trees already decorated and lit, it was beautiful and we felt quite excited about being able to decorate our school’s contribution. From the outset our trees have been decorated to a theme, either the school house colours or the uniform colours. This year we chose a selection of pastel shades and coloured lights which created an unusual effect but equally stunning. The festival in the church took place on Saturday 23rd November when all trees were lit and the church lights lowered. It was a magical scene in a beautiful setting. Trees were auctioned to raise funds for local charities. Again Miss Humphries and I had great pleasure and pride in participating in this festive activity on behalf of Noadswood School. It provided a great opportunity to for Noadswood to contribute to a community event. Mrs A Gardiner 29 Rock Challenge and Basketball engaging over 60% of the school. There were over 175 girls and boys who performed in the annual Gym and Dance Show. In addition to these brilliant practical achievements over 90% of pupils have achieved A*-C in GCSE PE, GCSE Dance and BTEC Sport over the past 4 years! The Sports Celebration evening was the perfect opportunity to recognise these achievements and congratulate the pupils. Along with these victories each year group within each sport got awarded a manager’s player of the season, there were 8 ‘Commitment to PE’ awards, 2 ‘Young Sports Sports Celebration On Thursday 4th July 2013 Noadswood held their annual Sports Celebration Evening at St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton. We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank ExxonMobil Fawley for their generous sponsorship allowing this event to be such as success. Over 500 pupils and their families attended this evening along with Jo Tessem, ex-Saints and Norwegian Footballer and Nigel Burt the Community Affairs Manager from ExxonMobil Fawley. The evening started with opportunities to view the football pitch and an inspirational talk from Jo Tessem. He captured the audience by speaking about his career with a focus on the importance of education. This concluded with our Sports Ambassadors in Year 10 asking some questions that the pupils of Noadswood had previously created. Great Britain had a fantastic year of sport in 2012 and the pupils at Noadswood have matched this! There have been many outstanding achievements that demonstrate the tremendous commitment from the pupils and the endless opportunities offered by the school. The pupils have won over 10 District and County titles this year in Athletics, Football, Rugby, Personality’ awards and finally the 2 ‘Sports Personality’ awards. We would like to thank a number of our community sports clubs and businesses for sponsoring these awards. The pupils were presented with certificates, vouchers, medals and trophies. We at Noadswood only believe that these achievements will continue and grow next year. Finally the Noadswood PE Department would like to congratulate all of our sporting performers for this year and wish them the best of luck for next year! Rugby Maintains High Standards Once again Noadswood had a very successful rugby season playing in a multitude of tournaments against other New Forest Schools between September and October half term. There are many opportunities for pupils to get involved in sport at Noadswood and this year we had 4 rugby teams attend the New Forest Schools tournaments. The year 7 team attended two tournaments, both at New Milton RFC and played incredibly well. We have some fantastic players in the year 7 team which enabled us to win the first tournament with clever tactics. The second tournament we went to we were out-foxed by a clever Priestlands team but ended up in second place in the New Forest. It’s great for Noadswood to have such talented players playing in our team who will develop into fantastic players. The Year 8 team went into their tournament with a degree of apprehension after a fruitless season as a Year 7 team. The initial fears continued in the first game as they lost to a strong Ringwood team. Despite the early set-back they regrouped and put in two magnificent performances to beat Arnewood and Burgate scoring six tries along the way with more than doubled the number of tries scored for the whole of the season in Year 7! The team showed great character and unearthed a number of upcoming players who, together with the experienced members of the team, will be looking to build on the success of this tournament in the future. We have a wonderfully talented crop of rugby players in year 9 and they continue to do Noadswood proud in the tournaments they attend. In the two New Forest Tournaments that they played in they played incredibly structured and powerful rugby which is testament to the amount of games they play at club level at the weekends. The second tournament we played allowed us to include boys who have never played rugby for the school but played incredibly well during the tournament and it was a pleasure to take enthusiastic rugby players and give them a wonderful opportunity to play this fierce team game. The year 9 team also attended the County Rugby Tournament which was held at Trojans RFC. We are a strong team and its always interesting to see how well we play against schools outside of the New Forest. We were up against some big and talented teams but we played well in our pool, coming second on tries scored. In the knock out stages we went for it and played some of the best rugby I’ve ever seen from a Noadswood school team and came runners up in the plate competitors, an incredibly satisfying result! The senior Noadswood players have really benefitted from working with Budge Poutney, previously head coach of the premiership club Northampton, and also an ex-captain of the Scotland team.. The players have been challenged to think about the game in a very different way that has really revolutionised their approach to the game, which has seen a big impact on our results. In the first tournament we were delighted to be in the top seeded group and faced very tough opposition. With our new expansive approach to the game we really started to take advantage of the space that our quick ball was creating which resulted in some excellent tries. After a very close final game we overcame Burgate to clinch second place! Our new professional approach to training led to a rock solid defence designed by Budge himself which was the difference between us and other schools. With our key try scorers targeted by other schools we really had to rely on the organisation and tough tackling to stop other teams getting over our try line. After some hard fought games and very close scores we repeated our previous excellent result and cemented our position as the second Sailing Awards Archie Halls – stage 1 Sean Miller – stage 1 Marco Magaglio – stage 1 & stage 2 Hope Maynard – stage 2 Dexter Maynard – stage 2 Zoe Farrant – stage 2 Ed Uglow – stage 2 Luke Broomfield – stage 4 George Ashworth – stage 4 Alex Hall – stage 4 Josh Wadey – Adult level 3 placed team in the New Forest! Well done to all the players new and old for making such a great commitment this year. As usual, Noadswood sailing club went on and we all had a great time. It was full of fun, laughter and falling in the water a lot. Some pupils did incredibly well and managed to achieve the rya sailing awards that they were aiming for. The following pupils are those who achieved their level and listed next ti their name is what level they achieved: These people worked really hard and have now progressed their sailing skills a lot further than when they started this year. It was the best year yet for the sailing club and hopefully there will be many more amazing years to come. By Zoe Farrant 27 Anderwood House Cup & Sports Day A fantastic sports day for Anderwood. Before the summer holidays Noadswood held its annual Sports Day. Fortunately, the weather was stunning and the sun shone down on Noadswood throughout the day. Although the highlight of the sporting events was Sports Day, Anderwood pupils gave vast amounts of effort during the many exciting events the previous week as well. For example, our year ten students (current year elevens) participated in events such as high jump, shot put and javelin inter-house competitions, with great success. We cheered on the countless victories, from tug of war to track events, also gaining vital points from just getting involved and participation. We had an enjoyable time earning lots of money in the happy hour, earning more money for the Piam Brown Ward than ever before. Participating, through the rowing competition, the beat the keeper competition and the sit up competition we had fun and raised money for a great cause. Some of our athletes that had previously aced their sports day events that day were then surprised to have been beaten by an unexpected Josh Wadey at rowing and sit-ups for year eleven. Anderwood smashed the other houses, winning prizes in all of the years and, unsurprisingly, the overall Sports Day trophy. It was a great sense of achievement to see so many of Anderwood’s athletes doing so well, and our well-deserved red ribbons on the trophy. The huge contribution of Sports Day (alongside a massive effort in academic subjects and trying hard in all aspects of school life) brought back our red flame in the torch making it another red year. Thank you for all your effort. What a great Anderwood end to the year. It has set the bar high and I am sure Anderwood will rise to the challenge again next term! Welcome to Anderwood Year 7’s Hello and welcome not just to Noadswood but Anderwood! We are definitely privileged to have you all part of our own community, a community which takes pride in having students that work hard, are enthusiastic and most of all have fun when learning something new; whether it be creating a masterpiece of a poem in English or glueing a model of the next big skyscraper in DT. Anderwood would also like to congratulate you on having a superb start to the year! Sometimes it can be a bit daunting stepping up to the ‘big school’ where everything is new: Teachers, lessons, timetables, expectations and above all people. Usually when moving up it can be difficult to find or make new friends, but in your case, looking around all Anderwood can see is new students making different friends every day and getting involved. However we believe that if anyone feels they need help, support or just someone to talk to then pop along to ‘House Leaders’ (Guidance) and have a chat. Mr Rowling (House Leader) has a few words for you all… “Come on all you Anderwoodians, we only have half a term now to rise to the top of the points and keep the red flame burning bright in the House Torch! You can earn points for Anderwood by doing lots of things from good progress reports to the number of times you attend a club so get involved!” skills then get stuck in on the vast range of after school activities made available by many teachers across the school. Here’s a few to get you thinking: • ‘Science Club’ on Wednesday’s at 3-4pm in A14 • ‘English Creative Writing’ on Fridays at 3-4pm in Library • ‘Tech Club’ on Thursdays at 3-4pm in T14 • ‘Art Club’ on Tuesdays at 3-4pm in T21 • ‘Show Choir’ Tuesdays at 3-4.30pm in H17 • ‘Multi Sports’ Tuesdays at 3-4pm in M17 • ‘Netball’ Mondays at 3-4pm The List is endless and we encourage everyone especially in Anderwood to take part and give something new a try. Finally, we want you to have fun! Enjoy school and your years to come and remember: “Be the best you can be…” Phoebe Croton, Anderwood, Media Captain. If you want to step out of your comfort zone or extend your passion for knowledge and 35 Wilverley New Recruits Recently Wilverley have been recruiting various new members within various different areas in order to strengthen many different areas of the Wilverley team. Even though they have only recently joined the school we also have year 7 reps : Jack Connor, Jordan James and Chloe Sheppard One of the areas which we have been strengthening is our media team. As a media team we feel very confident that Wilverley can excel within many areas to do with media including the Wilverley page and other articles. Firstly we have our media Captains: Lewis Simmonds and Josh Wadey Then we have our new year 9 media reps: Brooke Kingdon Charlotte Millar Amy Carr and Zoe Farrant We have also strengthened our year 8 media team: Lucy Simmonds and Frankie Cater Regards Miss Rawlinson, Lewis Simmonds and Josh Wadey