School Newsletter - Bishop Luffa School

Bishop Luffa School
NEWSLETTER 5
March 2013
Dear Parents and carers
Last Friday’s Fancy Dress demonstrated pupils’ impressive resourcefulness and creativity.
While Mr Lego and the Addams Family won the prizes, very many individuals and groups
had serious fun designing, building and parading their outfits – so many, in fact, that the
Bartlett Hall could hardly fit them all in. The day came at the end of a successful Charity
Week organised and run by the enterprising Sixth Form: congratulations to them. If they
can translate the same energy, imagination and hard work into their preparations for
forthcoming exams, their results will exceed even their expectations.
Earlier this month the Governing Body voted to propose that the School become an
academy. You will find attached to this newsletter a document, ‘Consultation on Academy
status’. This explains the reasons why Governors and I believe that the move will benefit
pupils’ education and welfare. You are also invited to take part in the formal consultation
by completing the survey at www.bishopluffa.org.uk/consultation link. The consultation
period ends on 7 May.
Charity Week
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ishop Luffa enjoyed another successful Charity Week last week. Sixth Form students
designed and a variety of events, aimed at entertaining the school during the lunchtime
whilst raising as much money as possible for our key Sixth Form charities: Grassroots, Hope
and Homes for Children and the Snowdrop Trust.
Monday’s Teachers’ Rap Battle got the week off to a flying start, with our resident MCs certainly
looking the part! Tuesday’s version of Strictly Come Dancing allowed some staff to display their
dancing talents. Mrs Williams and Mr Jackson were the eventual winners of the Glitterball trophy –
though the judges commended the efforts of Mr de Trafford and Mrs Fribbens, whose rendition of
‘Gangnam Style’ almost topped the original.
Wednesday moved to a kitchen theme, with Sixth Form students competing for the Masterchef title,
battling it out for the best chicken goujon , while the food theme continued on Thursday in the form
of Luffa Tucker trials - along with a healthy heap of cornflour, mud, and straw. The stalwart event of
Charity Week, the Battle of the Bands Final, finished off the lunchtime events in style, with the
Variety Show on the Friday evening bringing Charity Week to a close with a showcase of the
outstanding performing talent of Bishop Luffa students. Sixth Form Committee member and Charity
Week organiser, Esme Ash said, ‘Overall, the week was a fantastic success, raising money for charity
whilst allowing the whole school to get involved in some great events - and showcasing some original
costumes on the final dress up day! It was great to see everyone pull together and help make a real
difference.’
Science Open Day
On Thursday 14 March the Science Faculty ran our very first open day, where parents were invited
into class to observe a variety of lessons. The aims of the day were to demonstrate how science
teaching has changed since parents were at school, identify ways in which parents are able to
support their children’s science learning and to highlight the excellent practice taking place within
the faculty. A group of parents observed lessons ranging from
Year 7 Chemistry through to Year 13 Biology and Physics. A
particularly exciting moment was when Year 8 calculated the
speed of sound on the playing field! We have received some
very encouraging feedback, including the following:
“It was excellent, as a parent, to be able to see the science
teaching at work and the engaged learning of the pupils in all
the year groups. I was able to get a great feel of the high
standards of teaching and interaction in the department.
“The behaviour of the pupils and the excellent care of us by the
Sixth Form pupils shows the high level of mutual respect
generated by the school.
“It was a privilege to be able to observe the great science
learning that takes place at Bishop Luffa. I received a warm
welcome from staff and pupils alike and the 6th form students who looked after me are a credit to the
school. Thank you for all the hard work in organising today.”
If you were not able to take the opportunity to visit, but would be interested in doing so, we will be
running this day again next year. Details will be published in future newsletters.
Mr Graham King, Head of Science Faculty
Year 8 Geography fieldwork
On 20 March Year 8 visited Gunwharf Quays for a Geography field trip. The idea was to learn about
the redevelopment and environmental impact on the area. When we arrived we split up into our
teaching groups and were registered again. During the day we had four tasks to do.
Our first task was to follow the Millennium promenade that led us to seven different sites. We used a
score grid to grade the different sites, for example building quality, seating areas and lighting. The
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Spinnaker Tower and Spice Island were the best in my view and the Ferry was the worst place. At
Spice Island we stayed for lunch.
Next, we went to the entrance and exit of Gunwharf car park and carried out a traffic count. There
were at least 44 cars and 3 vans that went in and out during five minutes. This evidence showed that
Gunwharf is a very busy place.
Afterwards, we split up into groups of three to five pupils to ask people in the shopping mall how they
felt about the environmental impact and
redevelopment of Gunwharf. We questioned at least
13 people of various ages in our group. At first it was
nerve racking but after the first person I got the hang
of it and enjoyed myself.
Finally, we went back to Spinnaker Tower and sat on a
set of steps to do our last task, which was a field
sketch. It was difficult to sketch this area because it
was full of different objects like restaurants. However, in the end my drawing turned out to be really
good.
Most of us enjoyed the day despite it being very cold and windy. We were allowed to go to a shop and
buy hot drinks to warm us up before we set off on our journey home.
All the information we gathered helped us with our assessment involving two tasks. The first one was
to copy our sketches onto an A3 piece of paper, labelling and giving a description. The other task was
to choose two out of the traffic count, the environmental impact and the questionnaire and make bar
charts to show our results.
Matt Bacon 9 Bell
World Book Day Week in the Library
The Library held a week of activities to celebrate World Book Day on 7 March 2013. The ‘Make Your
Own Journal’ session on Tuesday was well attended, so much so that a second session is being held
next week for the pupils to finish making their books! The Library was turned into a cinema on
Wednesday where pupils watched the award-winning animation film “The Fantastic Flying Books of
Mr Morris Lessmore” – tissues were on hand! World Book Day itself
started with a 15 minute ‘Silent Read In’ during Registration and at
lunchtime the Library was transformed into a life raft with four teachers
in “the sea”. They each took on the persona of a book character and
tried to convince us that they deserved the last place on our life raft!
The winner was Sherlock Holmes aka Mr Barnett. My thanks also go to
Mr Goldsmith (Severus Snape), Mr Green (Atticus Finch) and Mrs Rogers
(Katniss Everdene from The Hunger Games) who sadly weren’t saved!
On Friday lunchtime we held a Storyteller Café where Mr Collins told a
story by Leo Tolstoy whilst pupils ate their lunch. A competition was held
throughout the week for pupils to spot teachers wearing a badge with
the name of one of a pair of book characters. There were 14 pairs to find
and the winners who found them all and received a book token were Ethan May 7 Story, Ben
Goacher 7 Ridgeway, and Bruno Tome Freire 7 Bell & Oliver Howley 7 Wilson who shared their prize.
Mrs Margaret Bone, School Librarian
Debating Team goes from strength to strength!
The Bishop Luffa debating team has been busy in the last few days, but has been a credit to the
school. On Saturday 2 March they were entered for the University College of London Schools
Debating Cup. Here they faced four rigorous debates against a range of state and private schools.
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Despite being new to the format of debate used, and being pitted against teams that were often
older and more experienced, they conducted themselves with maturity, skill and energy, developing
their debating and teamwork skills very rapidly.
The team are keen to enter in 2014, where they
will be able to approach the debates with this
year’s experience to help them!
On Tuesday 5 March they continued their
involvement in the West Sussex Schools
Debating Competition. Having defeated The
Regis School in the last round they were again
successful, this time defeating Chatsmore School
from Worthing in the daunting surroundings of
the Council Chamber at County Hall. Three
intense debates again saw the team performing
very effectively. They now progress to the final,
in April, against Angmering School.
The team – Lizzie Galloway 11 Story, Hannah Jones 11 Otter, Jemma Wilson 11 King, Emma Maynard
11 Story, Rosie Leeming 11 Wilson, Holly Van Driel 11 Sherborne, Annabel Smith 11 King, and Laura
Holden 11 Ridgeway – are an absolute credit to the school, and are to be congratulated on their
progress, which requires a substantial extra commitment in terms of planning, and then involvement
in the debates.
Mr Justin Barnett, Head of Humanities Faculty
GCSEpod
We are delighted to announce, following consultation
with pupils and teachers, that the school has now signed
up to GCSEpod. GCSE pod provides over 185 hours of
GCSE revision across 15 subjects, in the form of high
quality audio-visual podcasts.
The resource is available to any Year 10 and Year 11 pupil
following a GCSE course, but Year 9 pupils and Sixth Form
students can also use this resource.
Full details on how to register are available under the pupils/resources section of the school website.
In addition letters and flyers have been sent out to parents of all Year 10 and 11 pupils.
We believe that this resource will prove a valuable aid to your children’s preparation for GCSE exams
and would ask that you please encourage them to use it.
Mr Stuart White, Assistant Headteacher
Midsummer Night’s Dream
On 5, 6 and 7 March pupils took to the stage in
this years’ production of Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production
used a fusion of music, dance and Shakespeare’s
rich text to take audiences on a journey into the
magical and sometimes hectic world of this
classic play. More than 40 students ranging
from Years 7-12 were involved in this exciting
production, and the positive feedback from
audiences was testament to the students’
talent. The performance was the culmination of
months of hard work from both the students
and teachers involved. From costume-making to
line-learning the production has proved
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challenging yet extremely rewarding and would not have been possible without the commitment and
enthusiasm of the entire company. Thank you to everyone who came to support the production and
we look forward to seeing you at the next one!
Mrs Cheryl Williams, Team Leader Drama
Morgan helps create the missing panel of the Bayeaux tapestry
A lady called Kate Russell is the Alderney Tapestry
leader. It was her idea to create the missing final panel
of the Bayeux tapestry. No one knows what was on the
final panel, but it seems likely that it would include the
crowning of KIng WIlliam in Westminster Abbey on
Christmas Day 1066, and William ordering the building
of the Tower of London.
These two images are included in the Alderney Tapestry.
It took a year to do the research, planning and drawing
of the images and it has taken a year to complete the
work.
The people of Alderney along with visitors to the island all put stitches in. Prince Charles and the
Duchess of Cornwall visited the Island last summer having heard about the tapestry and asked if they
too could add their stitches. In total over 400 people put stitches in to the tapestry. The work is now
complete, and will be launched on 5April of this year. It is hoped that the Mayor of Bayeux will attend
the launc.
Morgan Greaves 7 Story
Visit from Lycée Marceau, Chartres
Along with the craziness of fancy dress day
on Friday 22 March, our Sixth Form French
students also played host to a group of 18
Sixth Formers from Chartres.
The visitors may have been expecting to see
people in school uniform, but what they
actually saw was probably far more
entertaining! As part of a project they are
doing on health in the UK, they attended
talks given by our school nurse and canteen
manager, and a talk on PE provision given by Mr Brown.
A few of them were even brave enough to ask questions! They also delivered a presentation about
their own school in English, and our Year 13 students reciprocated with a presentation in French
about Bishop Luffa. The time spent in small groups and with our Sixth Form guides was very useful
for all concerned, with the chance for a less formal exchange of information.
My thanks to everyone who helped make this a successful visit, on an already very busy day.
Mrs Sue Todd, Languages Faculty
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Counting the steps for charity
Pupils of Wilson House have recently completed ‘The Mombasa Walk’ to raise over £1,900 for
charity. The pupils were challenged collectively to walk 7,588 miles – the distance from Chichester to
Mombasa – in just two weeks. Pupils had just two weeks to complete their individual shares, some
150,000 steps each.
The money raised will be donated to the Victory Freretown Junior & Primary School in Mombasa,
Kenya. Shona Charge, Acting Head of Wilson House said, “I am so proud that so many pupils from
Wilson House took up the challenge
and I am overwhelmed at the amazing
amount of money they have managed
to raise.”
The money will be used in various
ways. Previous funds raised by Bishop
Luffa pupils have been used to
provide equipment such as books and
medical supplies, electricity, building
new classrooms, medical and feeding
programmes and the construction of a
well for the local community around
the Victory Freretwon Junior &
Primary School.
Our thanks to Graham the Plumbers’ Merchants for providing the pedometers our pupils needed to
complete ‘The Mombasa Walk’.
Mrs Shona Charge, Acting Head of Wilson House
Valuable advice for job interviews
Students in years 11, 12 and 13 were fortunate to have Beth Huxley, Director, City Research
Company, available to offer advice on job interviews, CVs and university and college applications.
Beth ran two workshops this half term during lunch-time on 28 February and 25 March. There were a
variety of questions put to Beth mainly concerned with the financial services sector and investment
banking in particular. Students benefitted from having a senior member of the sector available for
these workshops in a small group environment and we are most grateful to Beth for giving up her
time for the benefit of our students.
Mr Rick West, Team Leader Economics
It’s Quiz time again!
Our PFA are asking you and all of the family to come
along to their Family Quiz Evening, where children
aged 11+ can take part as well as the adults. Friends
from outside the school are also more than welcome to
take part in this fun evening.
The evening takes place on Saturday 11 May and starts
6pm to 6.30pm. There will be a hog roast and salad
(with a vegetarian option) priced at £10 per person.
Closing date for entries is Thursday 9 May. So hurry and
book your team table of 4-6. If you would be interested in entering a team please contact Simon
Tooley [email protected].
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Key dateas ahead
For a complete list of events, please consult the calendar available on our school website.
http://www.bishopluffa.org.uk/calendar-of-events/.
First half of the Summer Term
Monday 22 to Friday 26 April
Year 9 Science Tests
Thursday 25 April
Year 7 & 8 Maths Challenge
Friday 26 April
Year 7 Eucharist
Friday 26 April
Year 10 examinations commence
Tuesday 7 May
Year 7 visit to the Planetarium
Tuesday 7 May to Friday 10 May
French Trip to Normandy
Wednesday 8 May
Leavers Eucharist
Thursday 9 May
Year 11 Record of Achievement Evening
Monday 13 May
Year 12 Study Leave starts
Monday 13 May
GCSE/AS exams start
Wednesday 15 May
Years 8-13 Senior Athletics
Monday 20 May to Friday 24 May
Spanish Trip to Santander, Bilbao
Friday 24 May
Last day for Year 13 students
With best wishes for a happy Easter
Yours sincerely
Nick Taunt
Headteacher
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Bishop Luffa School Parents and Friends Association
The PFA would like to say a huge thank you to parents for making the time and effort to attend PFA
events over the last two terms. We also thought it would be useful for parents to see how much
money you have contributed in support of your children through attending PFA events and your Gift
Aid contributions. More importantly, you may wish to see how that money is spent and what benefit
it brings to the children.
Currently, there are approximately 5% of Bishop Luffa parents contributing regular, tax efficient Gift
Aid contributions. This sum is extremely beneficial and sincerely appreciated. Should anyone else
(including grandparents?) wish to join this merry band of parents wisely retrieving money from the
Tax Man for the benefit of their children, the forms are attached for ease of completion.
In the Autumn Term the PFA:
 Organised a wine and cheese reception at the Year 7 parents’ Information evening in September
 Made a contribution of £35,000 towards the cost of refurbishing the Bartlett Hall and some
classrooms
 Ran the annual PFA draw which raised £3,589
 Ran a quiz night for parents which raised £774
In the Spring Term the PFA :
 Has organised the Burn’s Night Banquet for parents to raise funds
 Is helping with the planning of the Jubilee celebrations to occur later this year to mark 50 years
since the school was founded
 Organised the Year 7 & 8 Disco in March
On-going PFA commitments:
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Supplying the school library with the main daily newspapers
Paying 50% of the cost of hiring two minibuses for School trips and extra-curricular activities
Running the Second Hand School uniform shop to help parents and raise funds
Funding of a counsellor service for students
Organising refreshments for parents’ consultation evenings and other events including the school
plays
If you would like to get involved with the PFA, do contact the PFA Secretary Suzanna Troy on
01243 778320 or via [email protected] .
If you would like to make a regular or once off contribution to support the school via the PFA by Gift
Aiding, please complete the Gift Aid form attached and return to the school, or contact David Gibson
(PFA Gift Aid Secretary) on 01243 779432.
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I wish to make a donation to the Bishop Luffa School Fund
I enclose: Cheque made payable to Bishop Luffa School Fund for the sum of:
 £25
 £50
 £100
 £150
 Other £ ______


I want this donation to be a Gift Aid Donation.
I confirm that I have paid or will have paid an amount of Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax for the
current tax year that is at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities to which I have
made donations in the year will reclaim on my gifts (currently 25p for every £1 donated).
Title:
Forenames:
Surname:
Address
House name/number:
Area/village:
Street:
County:
Postcode:
Pupil’s Name:
Year and House (if known):
Signature:
Date:
Postal Town:
HMRC Gift Aid Scheme
Using Gift Aid means that for every pound you give, we get an extra 25 pence from Her Majesty's
Revenue and Customs, helping your donation go further.
This means that £10 can be turned into £12.50 just so long as donations are made through Gift Aid.
It does make a difference and it doesn’t cost you a thing. So if you want your donation to go further,
Gift Aid it. Just tick the box above and send the form back to:
The Finance Office, Bishop Luffa School, Bishop Luffa Close, Chichester, PO19 3LT.
Thank you for your contribution to the School Fund
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