may newsletter 2009

Arnold Middle School

Name: …………………….. Form: ……………………..

May Newsletter 2009

Dear Parents/ Carers It has been an exceptionally busy time at school. With our success as a Science and Mathematics status school we have been focused on ensuring that the plans we submitted to the DCSF are now put into action. This includes working with Ramsey Manor, Silsoe and Westoning Lower Schools to support resource opportunities and, next academic year, outreach work. Obviously this has to be put into the school timetable so that we don’t need to ‘cover’ lessons at Arnold when the teachers are working with our colleagues at our partner schools. We have appointed an additional teacher to help with this and Miss Kate Middleton will be joining the science department in September. Mrs Linda Sides will continue to lead the science department for us next year and build on the good work that our team has put in place.

Other teachers have also been appointed for September too: Mr John Shaw; Mr Spencer Rudkin and Mr Nigel Pollard at Key Stage Two; Mrs Rachel Ward as Leader of Key Stage Three; Mr Chris Cadd as Leader of Music and finally,

Mrs Kelly Boreham as Leader of English. As we ‘go to press’ we are about to interview and hopefully appoint a Leader of Autism for our Chiltern Class as Mrs Rachel Hunter will be joining Sunnyside Special School in September. Finally, Mrs Helen Elliott, Leader of Drama, has decided not to return in September 2009. I am very pleased to report that Miss Clare McCrow will be joining us as a permanent member of the Arnold Staff Team. As you can see our ‘recruitment drive’ has been most successful but I am sorry to write that Mrs Lori Khan is still very unwell. I have been keeping parents updated about this situation and am very grateful to Mrs Carol Gray for her commitment to 5LK since Christmas.

Additional thanks go to the teaching staff who have taken on additional teaching commitments to make sure that any learning disruption is kept to a minimum. We have

secured long term supply staff for the positions vacated by Mr Ricketts and Miss Clark.

ARNOLD MIDDLE SCHOOL PAGE 3


It is the balance of academic excellence and a broad range of other studies that makes our work in middle schools so exciting! Children do tend to learn a lot from the Enrichment Weeks and will remember them for a very long time.

Obviously our children benefit enormously from the dedication of our staff in organising extra-curricular opportunities to enhance their learning. This term there are so many trips and activities taking place that I barely know where to begin! There are residential trips for science – a night sleeping on HMS Belfast followed by a trip on the London Eye and work at the Tower of London; three day trips to the National Gallery for Year Seven pupils; a week at PGL for Year Six pupils; opportunities for learning from visiting artists in pottery, drawing, painting and dance… lots of chances to really get the most from our young people. Before the half-term break there are going to be a number of pirates in Year 5 & 6; our Year Seven and Eight children will be ‘recreating’ the Great Fire of London and then rebuilding it! There will be a group of Year Eight children trying golf and fitness equipment at Bedford Athletic Track and others testing their skills in archery and wakeboarding!

My personal thanks to all the people involved in organising these activities and to the children for their hard work too.

On the subject of success: I am thrilled to report that our Year Five football team are County Champions! Well done! We are all very proud. It is a great shame that the local newspapers do not seem very accommodating in celebrating this success with us.

I do try hard to keep you in touch with new developments in education and our Bedford Borough colleagues are concerned about the revisit to the, so called, ‘three-tier’ debate in the Bedford area. There is a copy of their newsletter (number one) on the back of this edition of the AMS Newsletter and details about the middle school website that they have opened. Included in the website are a number of articles about middle schools along with a ‘Number 10’ voting mechanism to express support for the middle schools in the Bedford area. Do take a moment to look at the website so that you are fully informed. In 2006 the parents and local community were instrumental in revising the views of local counsellors. The original debate was around the Key Stage Four standards at some Upper Schools in Bedfordshire. Naturally, we should all be doing our utmost to make certain that we consistently aim to raise, maintain and further stretch challenging academic targets. Many areas of the country have three transfer points for children in the form of Infant, Junior and Secondary schools too. Another argument is that the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) funding from the government is linked to the

structures of schooling. I know that other education areas are able to get BSF money to reconstruct and improve learning facilities without changing the actual school learning structures. In the Harlington Area of Schools we are fortunate in having high standards. You will know already that a vast amount of money has been spent on upgrading the resources at Arnold Middle School in the last few years. In Central Bedfordshire there will be discussions about BSF funding so that a submission can

be made for the government’s consideration. An open and honest debate, when it is ready, has been promised. I will keep you informed at all stages when the discussions commence.


We are hopeful that part of the third phase of building work will be a ‘school managed project’ and Mr Dale Childs and I are currently developing

the project with a local architect and the newly-formed Central Bedfordshire. The governors are also investigating an extension of our science rooms (to add a third one) and the P.E. changing areas and stores (to aid community lettings). Our ASD Provision is increasingly in need of a permanent home and we are starting work with the Inclusion Officer at Central Bedfordshire to explore our options to ensure that we have an inclusive provision. Do take a look at the final half-term’s calendar of events and in particular the revised date of the music concert of the year 1

st July 2009.

This will be Mrs Steph Madden’s final concert at Arnold Middle School and I know you will want to support her last event. Best wishes Ann Payne


Barton 10K & 5K Runs

Sunday 14th June

11.00am

Barton Recreation Ground

www.barton10k.org.uk

GET TO KNOW THE GOVERNOR

Greg Forder Hi, I’ve been a parent governor at Arnold Middle School since September 2007. I also took on the role of chair of the resources committee in February 2008. The role of chair of the resources committee encompasses a wide area within the school. I also lead the governing body on matters relating to vulnerable children within the school. I am keen to be involved within the school as much as I can and will be taking part in this years PGL activity week for year 6 pupils. I’ve worked as a Civil Servant in Luton for the past 6 years, before that I worked in the accountancy profession since leaving school in 1988. I’m married with 2 children, one who is currently a pupil at Arnold. I remember back to when I was a pupil at Arnold Middle School (from 1979 to 1983) and things have changed considerably since then! However, a few teachers who taught me are still at Arnold, which is very strange now I attend as a parent and governor!


SCIENCE DEPARTMENT UPDATE Since Miss Clark’s departure in March we have been working hard to ensure all KS3 children continue to enjoy the benefits of the accelerated curriculum working towards achieving the personal targets set last year. A few KS2 children have been affected but again changes to the staff teaching schedules have been made to ensure all of our children keep on track with the curriculum. We were most fortunate to secure Miss Dawson and Mr Malik, both of whom are science specialists to replace Miss Clark, Mr Malik will be working full time from June 1

st to July.

Mrs Linda Sides has been leader of the department since April.

SPECIALIST STATUS – what’s happening? We are currently developing a programme to work in closer collaboration with three Lower schools, whereby resources are shared. The expertise of our science technician, Mr Will Sides, will further enable specific aspects of ICT, specifically data logging to enhance the enjoyment and skills of the children. Plans are afoot to raise the profile of National Science Week in March 2010 and one of the first events will be a ‘Science Fair’. More news will be shared on developments in future Newsletters. There will be major changes to the approach taken to teaching science starting in Sept 2009 for KS3 Y7 pupils, whereby the blocks of teaching specific areas of science will be reduced with a more spiral curriculum being introduced. As this develops we will share the changes via our website. Other specialist activities are still being planned and will be shared as soon as we have more information.


Being Special

Arnold Middle School now has ‘Science and Maths Specialist Status’. Congratulations must be given to Mrs Payne and her staff in the science and maths departments on their fantastic achievement. At a recent parent’s awareness evening, Miss Clark explained what specialist schools are, what they had to do to prepare the bid for this status and how our children and local communities will benefit. So, just how will this affect our children? The aim of specialist schools is to raise standards in schools. Arnold has identified and secured partner schools (Westoning, Silsoe and Ramsey Lower Schools, and Woodland Middle School) and community groups (Brownie and Scout groups and the National Soil Research Institute). These partnerships will enhance opportunities for all involved.

The staff had to work extremely hard in their preparations for the bid. They had just three weeks in which to prepare the 60 paged bid document.

Arnold launched their specialism status in National Science Week with some exciting events for the children. “Sir Isaac Newton” visited. There was also a live webcast lesson by Dr Rob Farr, (The Energy MC). Arnold also plans to improve the schools science and maths website areas, hold an annual science week and maths day, establish science and maths clubs and organize a maths challenge day. Finally, a plea to parents from the science and maths teams….have you any ideas on how you could get involved? Could you come into school to share your experiences or knowledge to help promote a future in science or maths? Could you support or run a club or activity day in the holiday using school facilities? I’m sure the science and maths teams would welcome your ideas. Year 5 parent


REWARDS AWARDS An incredible number of pupils are achieving rewards for their effort and work at school, due to modified arrangements for assemblies during SATs and enrichment week, pupils will be presented with their reward in June after the half term break. A special mention must go to the following pupils for their amazing personal achievements to date. Many thanks to FASA for their continued support providing these rewards.

HEALTHY EATING WORKING GROUP We tried to set up a small group of interested parties to review our Nutritional Standards policy documentation but unfortunately there was

insufficient support. We believe that it is significant to move forward with this important aspect of Healthy Schools and will work with a group of pupils to update our policy. Our first step will be taken immediately after half term. We will carry out an in-school lunch box and hot meal survey of pupil selection, to enable us to prepare class activities to support improving nutritional choices.


50 Merits Lucy Steele

Oliver Almassy Wade Ria Pachnanda

Amy Craig Eloise Pickard

Amy Cross Jessica Pitts

Sonny Foulkes Hannah Underwood

Jessica Jones Danielle Yates

Sara Marshall

Mark Miller 75 Merits

Tony Miller Amy Cross

Conor Naylor Conor Naylor

An issue of concern to all of us……. We are fully mindful of the need to provide high quality toilet facilities and are regularly refurbishing and redecorating the toilets to provide a clean and healthy environment. The lack of soap is often mentioned by parents, however the cleaning staff frequently monitor and maintain an appropriate level of soap in the dispensers. Unfortunately, a small number of individuals abuse these facilities and create difficulties for

the rest. The most recent was when the Site Manager was called to view the girls’ toilets in the new block as the soap dispensers had been deliberately emptied, soap was spilling all over the wash basin, the surface and even on the floor. A few children are the cause of the problem identified; monitoring of toilets by adults is naturally a sensitive issue and as such we rely on all children to respect the facilities and use them for the intended purpose.


Westoning Disco

Friday 19th June 7-9pm

Westoning Village Hall

Years 5-8 only

£3.50 Refreshments available

SPONSORED HAIRCUT

On Saturday 23rd May 2009

Ian Lisle, our ICT Manager will be having his first haircut

in 16 years!

This will take place at the Royal Oak in Barton

at 6pm

All money raised will be donated to:

And Ian’s hair will be donated to:

If you would like to help raise vital funds then please visit

http://www.justgiving.com/baldyeti

Please feel free to attend the event and show Ian your support. Thank you for your generosity.


to Jamie Pepper

who achieved

2nd place for

Young Sports Team 2008

in the recent Luton Sports Awards.

This was awarded

for the Gold medal

that he won for his

Team Kumite in the

JKSA World Championships in

Manchester last August for his karate.


School Council News

Our school council continues to go from strength to strength. Our pupils are involved in a number of whole school initiatives including pupil led learning walks; interviewing potential staff and giving guided tours to many of our visitors. Recently we have decided to expand our work outside the school and decided to launch our very own blog page giving people the opportunity to follow our activities. Already we have had positive feedback from our link school in Northern Ireland and we hope to build on this initial excitement. Please take the time to have a look and even leave a comment at http://AMSschoolcouncil.blogspot.com AMS School Council


A massive thank you to everyone who has supported our fund raising efforts. Here you can see our pupils enjoying the canopies we raised money for last year. They really are fantastic and give our pupils a quiet area to relax in during break times.

Dear Kayleigh, Ruth, Lee, Simeon

& all at Arnold Middle School

Many thanks for your letter of support that you sent us in March as part of your ‘Save the World Day.’

We are always delighted to hear from people who support ParalympicsGB, particularly young people who we hope

will be inspired by our sportsmen and women.

We are also pleased to hear from people who would like to see more Paralympic sport.

Unfortunately we do not control the level of television

coverage given to the Paralympics, so we cannot promise the situation will change in time for 2012, as you wish.

We hope, however, that you will continue to support

ParalympicsGB as we move towards the Winter Paralympic Games in 2010 in Vancouver and the

Summer Paralympic Games in 2012 in London.

With best wishes

From all at ParalympicsGB


NEWS FROM FASA

100 CLUB Only 2 more draws remaining for the 100 Club this term. The winners so far are: Jane Heley Karen Brown – won twice! Claire Hutchings Carole Hettel Stephanie Madden Joanne Keenan Linda Benjamin Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who is taking part in the 100 club

MASQUERADE BALL The annual AMS black tie ball took place in April. The theme this year was ‘Masquerade’. Over 80 people enjoyed the evening and raised £1500 for the school. Our sincere thanks go to Sarah Large who works for HSBC Bank and Phil Cook who works for Barclays who persuaded their employers to

match fund the event.

BARTON 5K AND 10K FUN RUN – JUNE 14TH

2009 The annual Barton fun run takes place shortly. We are very proud of this event which is organised with professionalism and enthusiasm and represents the village and the school to the highest standard. We need your help this year by either taking part – run or walk - or by providing your services as a volunteer on the day. For further information contact Adele

Godin on 01525 862029.

JOIN FASA FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 2009-10 The end of this school year sees the existing FASA committee standing down having spent almost 8 years in their posts and raising over £70,000 for the school. We would like to pass the mantle on to like minded people who will set up a new committee and continue to work to provide money for the extras for our children for which the school budget does not allow. If you are interested in FASA please contact Janette Murphy 01582 883145 for further information.


PE Newsletter

It has once again been a hectic and eventful term within the PE Department. During this term the children have thoroughly enjoyed the competitive summer sports being provided.

With our major focus on athletics, rounders and cricket, there is as always a heavy lunchtime practice schedule. Competition for squad places has been fantastic with so many children showing great dedication and performance during these valuable sessions.

However, we will begin by discussing the fantastic success of our Year 5 Football team. Qualifying for the County finals having won the district 7-a-side without conceding a goal in any of their matches, the boys were looking forward to this highly competitive event. Facing fellow team winners from other areas, the boys played four highly competitive fixtures, and performed to a very high standard in each, drawing one and winning two. This subsequently meant that it went down to the last game of the tournament, with 2 teams requiring convincing wins to claim the cup. Whilst Lincroft drew their fixture, our team went on to play fantastically and claimed a dominant 3-0 win. This resulted in our boys winning the County Cup and extending their unbeaten competitive run. Well done to all of the following squad for your determination, attitude and performance. Sonny Foulkes Niall Palmer Andrew Round George Goodall Conner Penning Niall Abraham Sam McClleland Darien Graham

This term has also seen the Year 7 and 8 Athletics season begin. Having competed in 2 of their 3 highly competitive fixtures, the team has certainly enjoyed and benefited from the experience that participating brings.

Our first fixture saw us travel over to Daubeney Middle School in Kempston to face Daubeney and Henlow. After an evening of fierce


competition, the boys were confirmed as overall winners, whilst the girls finished second.

Our second fixture saw us compete against St Gregory’s and Margaret Beaufort. This again was extremely competitive, and saw us finish second in the boys and third in the girls. Huge congratulations to all those participants, and good luck in your last fixture. Our Year 5 and 6 squad have their fixtures to look forward to after half term and also the district athletics heats for Years 6,

7&8 will take place on the 9th June at Sandy Upper School.

With rounders practices in full swing the girls are also look-ing forward to the beginning of their season, which will commence in the second part of the term.

Cricket, meanwhile, has also provided opportunities for our pupils. Losing a first fixture to Parkfields, and drawing an interesting game against Robert Bloomfield, our Year 7 team is gaining valuable experience in the sport. With many of the team new to competitive cricket, the progress is evident, and they will all be looking forward to their last league game against Henlow Middle.

After half term the Year 8 boy’s season will begin, whilst the Year 6 team have a cricket festival to look forward to at the end of June. With the end of term approaching, we look forward to enrichment week, which will see a number of sporting activities taking place, including two exciting PE trips for some of Year 8 pupils. PE Department Miss. J. Cooke Mr . K. Tfifha


Calendar – June and July 2009

Monday 1st June pupils return to school

Tuesday 9th June PARE Event 3# Arts Mark @ Arnold

Tuesday 16th June Year 4 maths and rounders event at Arnold School

Thursday 18th June – Governing Body afternoon meeting commencing

with school lunch (including some pupils in attendance at the meeting)

Friday 19th June to Sunday 21

st June Year 8 Mathematics G&T Residen-

tial Wednesday 24

th June DT G&T afternoon for Y4 pupils

Wednesday 1st July Summer Concert

Friday 3rd July 2009 All Pupils Induction Day

Monday 6th July Year 8 pupils to Harlington Upper School (2

nd induction

day) Friday 10

th July Sports Day (all parents welcome)

Monday 13th July Yrs 5&6 Swimming Gala (no parents – sorry)

Tuesday 14th July Yrs 7&8 Swimming Gala (no parents – sorry)

Friday 17th July Summer Holidays commence at 15.30

Important Dates for 2009/ 2010 to keep you informed:

Training Days: Tuesday 1

st September and Wednesday 2

nd September

2009 Children in school – Thursday 3

rd September

Autumn half term holiday: week commencing Monday 26th October

2009 Children in school – Tuesday 3

rd November 2009

Christmas holiday: week commencing Monday 21st December 2009

Training Day: Monday 4th January 2010

Spring half term holiday: Monday 15th February 2010

Easter holiday: Friday 2nd April 2010

Reports Days: Monday 19th April 2010 and Tuesday 20

th April 2010

Children in school: Wednesday 21st April 2010

May Bank holidays: Monday 3rd May 2010 and Monday 31

st May 2010

Summer half term holiday: Monday 31st May

Children in school: Monday 7th June 2010

Summer holiday starts: Thursday 22nd July 2010 (last day of term is

Wednesday 21st July)


Newsletter

May 2009

Issue No. 1

Middle School Supporters Action Team

SAVE

SCHOOLS

OUR

Middle schools could close in Bedford Borough and a whole generation of our children face having their education disrupted as the Middle School Debate is re-opened. All this just a few years after local parents stopped the former Bedfordshire County Council from doing the same thing.

SAVE OUR MIDDLE SCHOOLSSAVE OUR MIDDLE SCHOOLSSAVE OUR MIDDLE SCHOOLSSAVE OUR MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Contact your councillors The consultation period for the Review is due to start before the May half-term. Now is the time to contact your local candidates by letter, email, phone or when they come knocking on your door, to register your concern about this looming threat to our middle schools. A list of candidates’ contact details, together with sample letters for you to adapt or use are available on the website below:

http://saveourmiddleschools.tripod.com www.savemiddleschools.wordpress.com

We’ve done it before

In 2006, proposals to revert to a two-tier education system in Bedfordshire were overthrown following overwhelming support from parents to maintain the three-tier structure. We can do it again – but we need your help and will keep you informed with regular updates via this website. Sign the 10 Downing Street petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SaveBedsSchools/BGlvryBGU6gZESUl8tAcTKG

��

3-TIER

disruption

2-TIER

http://saveourmiddleschools.tripod.com/

www.savemiddleschools.wordpress.com

may newsletter 2009

Documents

arnold middle school

academic year

group of year

school timetable

arnold staff team

middle schools

mrs rachel hunter

mrs rachel ward