Grange Newsletter Summer 2014

Newsletter
Summer 2014
Time for Kick Off!
In this edition...
Year 8 are inspired!
Summer Mela Kicks
Off!
Arsenal Double Club
Welcome….
Dear Parents/carers,
As we approach the summer holiday may I take this opportunity to thank you all for your support throughout this
school year. Our partnership with you is vital to ensuring students make the best possible progress whilst they
are with us at the school.
As you will see from this newsletter, this has been another busy term with a wide range of trips, activities and
community events, involving many parents and carers. I would particularly like to mention the students who
were commended for their work as part of the Stand up, Speak out, Make A Difference campaign (see page
7). This is important work which coincided with us hosting the Anne Frank exhibition in school.
We wish all students and staff who are leaving us this year a
successful future and look forward to welcoming our new
Year 7’s to our community in September. We look forward to
working with you all in the coming year. We would like to
wish you a restful summer and Eid Mubarak to those families
who are celebrating Eid.
Nick Bell
You can now follow us on...
@GrangeTech
As a school we are keen to engage with our stakeholders in as
many ways as possible. We understand the fast pace with
which technology affects the ways we communicate, and
have taken the decision to embrace social media by opening a
school Twitter account. You can follow the school Twitter
feed @GrangeTech where we will post regular updates about
what is happening in school. This will include any stories from
the school, notices about things that are going on and news
about student and staff achievements. Our aim is for Twitter
to complement the other forms of communication we use
and will in no way replace them. Signing up to Twitter is easy,
simply visit www.twitter.com. We are also looking into the
possibility of rebuilding our school website in order to
support the way we get information out to our community.
Watch out in future communications for more information. If
you have any comments or questions about how we
communicate with you, please contact David Jowle, Campus
Communication & Marketing Officer
[email protected]
Immersion Week
At time of writing, Year 9 are taking part in a
week-long special programme of activities
aimed at developing understanding and
appreciation of different cultures.
The
Immersion Week culminates in a performance
to showcase the work completed in subjects.
This includes videos, photos and presentations
by the students. A full write up with photos
will follow on the news pages of the school
website in due course.
CONTENTS
2-3 News
4 Arsenal Trip
5 Year 8 Inspired!
6-7 Summer Mela
7 Award Winners
8 Saying Thanks
2
World Refugee Week
A group of students was involved in a city-wide event in June to raise
awareness of the plight of refugees overseas. The students took part in
the creation of a canvas, made up of 1,000 drawings based on the
concept of ‘home’ and created by local children and young refugees from
Syria, who were visited in Jordan by relief workers from the Bradford
based charity Human Relief Foundation (HRF). The culmination of this
project was a celebratory event at Kala Sangam on 16th June which was
attended by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Mike Gibbons and where one of our
students spoke about her experiences as a refugee in Somalia.
The World of Work
In order to help our students make their options
and future career choices we are holding our
annual Careers Fair on Tuesday 23rd September
2014. This is an excellent opportunity for our
students to get an insight into the world of work.
We would like to take this opportunity to appeal to
our community, and in particular to parents who
are in business, to have a stall at the fare or to
offer work placements to our students. Many
students have family connections to local
businesses and we would like to tap into this
resource in a way which is mutually beneficial. If
you or someone you know would like to discuss
either opportunity, please get in touch:
Careers Fair: Mrs Nazmin Din
[email protected].
Work Experience: Mr Paul McLoughlin
[email protected]
Want to get involved?
We run a programme of events, educational opportunities
and meetings where parents can engage with the school,
meet socially, share opinions and
access training
opportunities. Co-ordinated by our Community Development
Manager, Nazmin Din, opportunities include:
Parent Nurturing Programme
Children are rewarding, stimulating and fun, but looking after
them can be stressful and challenging. This programme helps
deal with those challenges so as parents/carers you have a
calmer, happier family life. A tried and tested programme, it
helps us think about what we do, why we do it and how it makes
us feel.
English for
Speakers of Other
Languages (ESOL)
We recognise that language can be a barrier and want to support
parents in communicating with us.
Parent Coffee Mornings
Moving up: Transition
Fortnightly on Thursdays this is an informal social event for
parents, particularly those who are new to the school to come in
to talk to us and each other.
Wednesday 2nd July saw children from our feeder
schools visit the Campus for their ‘transition day’.
This is a feature of our extensive transition
programme. The day was a great success with
children experiencing Science, ICT and PE lessons
as well as Integrated Learning. We are looking
forward to welcoming our new Year 7 students to
our community in September 2014 where their
journey at secondary school begins.
Parent Forum
We are always keen to hear your views about our school and
welcome the opportunity to work closely with you to ensure
your views influence our school improvement planning. We meet
once every half term.
Later this year we will be launching Aromatherapy and Family
Learning courses which could potentially lead to parents gaining
qualifications. If you would like to find out more about any of
these
opportunities,
please
contact
Nazmin
Din: [email protected], by calling 01274 779662
3
Arsenal Double Club
On Tuesday 10th June, a team of budding
linguists visited Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in
London, where they took part in footballing
activities and a prize giving ceremony. The team
were invited after the work they submitted to a
national languages competition was selected by
the organisers of the latest Arsenal Double Club
challenge, an innovative education and football
programme which teaches a range of languages
combined with football coaching. With the FIFA
World Cup 2014 on the horizon, the entire Year 8
worked in groups on a 3 week project which gave
them the opportunity to learn some Portuguese,
the first language of host nation Brazil.
“The best thing about this project
was working together as a team. It
was also good to learn another new
language
for
a
change
from
French and I feel even more enthusiastic about languages now.
It
was a bit of a shock finding out
that we have been invited to the
Emirates Stadium.”
Student, Zain Hassan Majid
From left to right: Sameer Ali, Sameer Tasadaq, Mohammed AlHabib Miah, Saqib Mahmood, Hassan Zain Majid.
As the only winning team from the North and one of eighty five entered nationally, the students revelled in the
opportunity which included meeting multi-lingual Sky Sports presenter Kate Abdo. The students also got the
chance to see and be photographed with the FA Cup, which Arsenal won back in May. On the day, Kate Abdo
talked to the students about how speaking four languages had helped her in her career and given her a better
chance at a higher earning job. She invited questions from the floor and there was great interest in the
footballing stars whom she had interviewed, including Zinedine Zidane. In total, five languages were covered
through the activities including German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. All the students were then
presented with a certificate, a football and an Arsenal T-shirt before making the long journey home.
4
Year 8 Inspired!
On Friday 27th June, Year 8 were treated to
one of the most inspirational days the school
has ever seen. The day was arranged by Year
Director, Mrs Wallace-Laher who engaged a
group of inspirational figures to provide an
alternative to traditional end of year reward
activities. Retired Headteacher and well
known
motivational
speaker
Ralph
Henderson, M.B.E. led an assembly which
helped relate theory to practice and there
were cameo performances by Colin Nell (a
freestyle footballer whose football skills are
sensational), Tarryn Algar (a world class
basketball freestyler) and Connor Stringer
(one of the world’s most iconic PARKOUR
performers and free-runners). The high
tempo, action packed assembly was
preceded and followed by workshops and
coaching sessions led by the three world
stars.
From left to right freestyle footballer Colin Nell, freerunner & PARKOUR
performer Connor Stringer, Ralph Henderson M.B.E. and freestyle
basketballer Tarryn Algar.
“From the moment of our arrival we appreciated what a special place Grange is
with a wonderful ambience and purpose. It was a real privilege to attend today
and receive such a splendid reception. It was certainly a very memorable occasion.” Ralph Henderson, M.B.E.
Important Notices: Academic Year 2014 –15
From September 2014 Grange Technology College will run a full vertical tutoring system. Our house system
means students will be placed in one of the following six houses: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue or Purple.
Each house has a House Director. Grange has a team of Pastoral Managers who will help, along with other staff,
new students settle into school. If there are any problems or questions students should see their Tutor in the
first instance. Wherever possible, students will have the same tutor all the way through to Year 13. Parents and
carers should also contact their child’s tutor as a ‘first point of contact’ if they wish to discuss anything.
Students will have their form tutors e-mail address and this type of contact is welcomed.
You may be aware September 2014 marks the start of a new National Curriculum in England. We believe this
presents us with a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the curriculum we offer and ensure our students are fully
prepared to take the next steps into an exciting and fulfilled life, beyond Grange.
We hope you will take the time to look at our many different subjects, which are detailed on our website to see
how students will be developing their understanding and skills, and we would encourage you to read how we
will be assessing students, setting targets and then communicating and reporting to parents/carers.
5
Time to Celebrate...
On Saturday 14th June we hosted a number of international stars who performed on stage for our students and
families as part of our annual Mela.
All smiles as Zain Bhikha warms up
Dawud Khalil Ismail and Dawud Wharnsby
Beats!
The community event was held in aid of the Al Imdaad Foundation and Human Appeal charities to support their
Syria emergency appeal and orphan sponsorship programmes. Performers included singer / songwriters Zain
Bhikha, Saif Adam, Khalid Belrhouzi and Dawud Wharnsby, lyricist and vocalist Dawud Khalil Ismail, football
freestyler Colin Nell and beatboxer, Homecut.
The crowd awaits in anticipation...
The pride of Grange!
Leeds Beatboxer Homecut
Saif Adam performs
A worthy cause
Stars on stage
Alongside the ticketed music and performance event, the school opened its doors to the community and visitors
were free to browse and purchase from stalls selling items such as cup cakes, a variety of other food and sweet
treats. To complete the set, the school also hosted a five-a-side football tournament. Building on the success of
last year’s event, we welcomed back the inspirational football coach Sohail Rehman who spent part of the day
passing on his knowledge to the teams participating in the tournament.
6
As well as performing on stage, football freestyler Colin Nell ran a number of trick workshops on the Astroturf.
The tournament was yet again a great success. As well as the tournament winners, prizes were on offer to
winners of the ‘cross bar challenge’ and a ‘keepy-uppy’ competitions. In total the event raised over £800 for
charity and resulted in 23 orphans being sponsored.
...Summer Mela Kicks Off!
Colin Nell and Sohail Rehman
All eyes on the prize!
Skills
“As a school keen to engage with our local community we were delighted to host
these two fantastic events on 14th June. Both events were very successful last year
in their own rights and this success was built on in 2014. To have such internationally renowned stars performing at the school is a real coup and it was great
to see so many of our students & families enjoying themselves.”
Nick Bell, Headteacher
Stand Up , Speak Out
Following on from the article about our Anne Frank exhibition in the last newsletter, we are delighted to report
that on Tuesday 24th June, our team of peer educators attended an awards dinner to celebrate work done
across the district by young people to develop community cohesion. The team received an award in recognition
of their outstanding contributions to the project, which was presented by Councillor Ralph Berry.
The main events which led to the
award were the Anne Frank
exhibition and the Interfaith Day
which took place earlier this year.
This is an ongoing project which the
school is committed to and this
year’s achievements have laid strong
foundations for work which will
continue next year. It will be fed into
the pastoral programme in future
with our work on bullying prevention
and other important initiatives.
Congratulations
to
everyone
involved!
Our Award
Winning Team
of Peer
Educators
7
Calendar
14th August
A Level Results Day
Post 16 results will be available from
8:30am - 1:00pm. Students who
have made an application through
UCAS will need to make sure that
they log into the UCAS system so that
they are aware whether or not they
have secured the university place
that they applied for.
21st August
GCSE Results Day
GCSE and level 2 results will be
available from 8:30am - 1:00pm. All
students need to attend as early as
they can, enter school via the main
entrance and collect their results in
the atrium. Staff will be on hand to
support students should they have
any specific needs after receiving
their results.
28th August
Post 16 Enrolment
Post 16 enrolment will be on
Thursday August 28th for Year 12 and
Friday August 29th for year 13. Post
16 students will begin lessons with
the rest of the school on Tuesday
September 2nd.
2nd September
School re-opens
11th September
Year 6 Open Evening
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Parent Coffee Morning
Our Sincere Thanks...
Grange Technology College would like to give public recognition and express our gratitude to each
and every business or organisation (listed below) who have provided our students with work
placements this year. The experience that students gain is invaluable and would not be possible
without the support of the community. As a school we appreciate the effort that can result from
taking on a work placement student. However, it has been very pleasing to hear, much positive
feedback about how our young people have performed, so often to the benefit of the placement
business / organisation.
24HR Recruitment (HKS Consultancy Ltd), AA Auto Electrics, Abbas & Co, ACW Garden Centre, Advanced
Digital Innovations (UK) Limited, Age UK, Albion Motors, Al-Ghani Ltd T/A Chemist 2 Patient Pharmacy, Ali &
Co Solicitors, Alif Baa Childcare, Allerton Kaye Solicitors, AR Travel & Tours, AS Auto, Ashley Simone, Av Energy
Solutions, Averroes Pharmacy, Awami Checkout Ltd, Axiom Solicitors, BAM Construction Ltd, Bankfoot Auto
Centre, Bankfoot Primary School, Barkerend Pharmacy, Barkerend Primary School, Beckside Road Dental
Practice (Dr S H Bashir), Belle Vue Girls School, Benysports, Berwicks Solicitors, Bliss Hair & Tanning Ltd, Blues
Hair Workshop, BMDC Central Production Unit, BMDC Children's Services, BMDC Dept of Regeneration &
Culture, BMDC Manningham Sports Centre, Bombay Stores, Borg Warner Automotive Turbo Systems Ltd,
Bowling Park Primary School - New Cross Street, Brackenhill Primary School, Bradford College - Teaching,
Health & Care, Bradford Combined Court Centre, Bradford Community Repaint, Bradford Paper Converters,
Brathay, BTS, Cafe Delite, Cancer Research UK, Carlton Bolling College, CEX, Childminding Business, City
Training Services, Clive Brook Volvo Bradford, Co-operative Food, Copthorne Primary School, Cross Roads
Opticians, Del Core, Dick Lane Garage Co Ltd, Dixons Allerton Academy, Dixons City Academy, Dixons Music
Primary, Do It Yourself and Plumbers Merchants, Evolve, Excel Hair Studio, Fabric / Handmade in Bradford,
Farfield Primary School, Feversham First Steps, Fountains Café, Fruit World, Glow Hair and Beauty, Good & Co
Solicitors, Good Neighbour Project, Hanson Academy, Heaton Grange Rest Home, Hollingwood Primary School,
Horton Housing, Horton Park Primary School, I Inspire Aftercare Ltd, I Wear Opticians North Ltd, Immanuel
College, Incommunities - West Office, Ingrid Dawns, Insure Smart, Joint Activities & Motor Education ServiceFagley, Just Sports Group, Karmand Community Centre, Khidmat Centre, Kids Collection, Lahore Cafe Bar Ltd
T/A My Lahore, Laisterdyke Bus & Enterprise Coll (LBEC Works), Laisterdyke Business & Enterprise College,
Learn 2 Earn Ltd, Lidget Green Primary School, Liza London, Lloyds Pharmacy, Makkah Market, Mangla
Jewellers, Manor Café, Margaret McMillan Children’s Centre, Marshfield Primary School, Midland Road
Nursery School & Children Centre, Midnight Pharmacy, Mir Solicitors LLP, Mobasher Halal Meat, Mohammed
Rizvi Accountancy Services Ltd, Mumtaz, My Lahore Ltd, Nando’s Restaurant, Natasha’s, New Look Interiors
Yorkshire Ltd, Newby Primary School, Oiltech Europe Limited, Old Road Services & MOT Centre, One Stop
Bodyshop, Ontrak (Bradford Kart Racing), Optikal Eyecare Ltd, Peel Park Primary School, Pippins Nursery, Pizza
Hut, Ponderosa Rural Therapeutic Centre, Power Start City Road Garage, Princes Soft Drinks, Pro Active Sport
(UK) Ltd, Punjab Sweet House, QED UK, Rainbow Primary School, Rapid Auto Parts Ltd, Regency Healthcare
Acorn Nursing Home, Robertsons Pharmacy, Royal Gift Centre, S & M Accountants, Sahara Pharmacy,
Sainsbury’s Local, Salter Royd Equestrian Centre, Save The Mothers Trust, Scentiments, Shoe Zone – Asda,
Short Circuit Care Club Ltd, Southmere Primary School, Specsales Eyecare, St Columba's Catholic Primary
School, Stonham Home Group Ltd, Strawberries Private Day Nursery, Studio Marta, Tesco Extra - Great Horton,
Tesco Stores Ltd - Valley Rd, The Anchor Trust, The Co-operative Group, The Impressive Look, The Little
Academy Day Nursery, Thorpe Edge Community Project -The Rockwell Centre, Tong High School, Tong
Optician, Ultra Health Ltd, Unique Car Care Centre, University of Bradford - Day Nursery, University of
Bradford – Informatics, Watan Superstore, Whitaker & Leach Ltd, Wibsey Methodist Pre – School, Wildlife
Rescue Sanctuaries, Worthinghead Primary School, Wyke Community & Childrens Centre, Yaadgaar Bakeries,
Yorkshire Design & Fabrication, Zaib Accountants.
9:15am start
6th October
Eid Ul Adha
School closed to students.
24 October
Half Term
Get in touch...
You can reach the Main Reception via any of the following methods:
Write to:
Call:
Email:
Southfield Grange Campus
01274 779662
[email protected]
Haycliffe Lane
Bradford
BD59ET
@GrangeTech
www.southfieldgrange.org.uk