Global Learning from the Heart of our Community

PRINCIPAL’S WELCOME

The Elizabeth Woodville School NEWSLetter Issue 31

News featuring in this issue:

Year 7 Longtown Trip page 2

Science Trip to CERN page 3

Community News page 4

Important Dates page 8

Sports News page 9

I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of Y7 students on a trip to Longtown earlier this term, which you will read about on the next page. This was one of several activities described in this newsletter, all of which are focused on supporting student achievement and broadening their personal and collective learning and development. We are currently right in the middle of the exam season. Our students have been conducting themselves very well, and are working hard. This year there are new specifications in many A level subjects and in English and maths at GCSE. The new GCSE grades in these subjects are explained here. The content and assessment methods for all these exams have also changed, which means that it will be impossible to draw direct comparisons between this year’s results and last year’s. We will send out more information about the changes later in the term. You will also have noticed increased concern about the national funding picture for education as we head towards the election. This is a concern for all headteachers I speak to, and I would encourage you to raise the issue with parliamentary candidates if you meet them this week. Finally, I would like to remind you that from Monday 5 June mobile phones will not be allowed in school. Thank you to those parents who contacted me about this. Your

responses have been overwhelmingly positive.

A

First Grade News

Second Grade News

“To catch the

reader’s

attention, place

an interesting

sentence or quote

from the story

here.”

Caption describing

picture or graphic.

Year 7 Longtown Adventures page 2

During the week 24th – 28th April, over 100 Year 7 Students and 8 members of staff visited the Longtown Outdoor Learning Centre in Herefordshire, for a few

days of outdoor challenges and team building activities.

My favourite part about Longtown

would have to be the caving. I was

nervous at first, but when I got into

the cave I was really excited. When

we were in the cave we had to

complete challenges. Our first

challenge was the letterbox. It was

so tight we had to push each other

through the gap. We completed

other challenges too including small

spaces. It was really good fun and I

would definitely to it again.

Lily Brown 7RP

The best part about Longtown was the

caving. Some parts of the caves were low,

and we had to crawl and go on our

stomachs. The best bit about caving was

the letterbox. You had to go in as far as you

could, then the people behind you grabbed

hold of your legs and pushed you through. I

also liked our rooms and the staff made sure

we were always happy in the rooms.

Chloe Harris 7RP

My favourite part about Longtown was gorge walking. I really liked it because it was a new experience.

I really enjoyed caving too it was fun and a bit creepy! Longtown was a very exciting experience and I

will definitely do it again. We did lots of new things and we also did trust building activities at night.

They were fun activities that I had never done before. Evie Evans 7RP

Science Trip to CERN page 3

On 31st March 2017, 29 physics students from Year 11, 12 and 13 visited CERN

in Geneva for a tour of the site and viewing of the exhibitions. CERN is one of

the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Staff and

students were amazed by the complexity of the work carried out in this incredible place and got to

view some of the instruments that are in place in the detectors and particle accelerators across the

site. After the visit staff discussed with students what they felt about the visit – “seeing the

magnitude of technology used to explore particle physics was incredible” and “it was amazing to

find out the amount of money donated to CERN to work out how our universe began.”

The 3 day visit to Switzerland also included a tour of the United Nations and visits to the Natural

History Museum, History of Science Museum and the Jet D’Eau. Students particularly enjoyed using

Geneva’s public transport system which is extremely efficient.

Many thanks to Mrs Dehnel and Mr Lane for coming along. A great time was had by all who

attended.

Mrs Dunkley

Community News page 4

page 4

If you have any Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers that you would like to donate to school, please send them in by 30th June. The vouchers can be exchanged for PE and Cooking equipment for

use in lessons, so we are very grateful for any vouchers that you donate.

Volunteer Trumpet Player needed!

The Deanshanger Branch of the Royal British Legion are looking for a

bugle/trumpet player to take part in ceremonies, such as

Remembrance Day, at the Holy Trinity Church. This is a great

opportunity for any boy or girl to both practice their music and get

involved with a very enthusiastic group of people committed to a

national day of remembrance. If you are interested please speak to Mr

Foreman at EWS, or Barbara Langton of the Deanshanger British Legion

Branch, for further information.

Air Ambulance Fund Raising update

Our recent non uniform day raised £894.77 for our

charity of the year, bringing the amount raised so

far since September to over £1700.

Thank you to all staff and students that have

donated.

Teacher Training opportunities with the GUTP

page 5

page 5

TEACHER TRAINING

OPPORTUNITIES

Train to teach Secondary, English, History, Biology,

Chemistry, Physics, Business Studies, Computer Science or

Primary (General) http://www.gutp.co.uk

The Grand Union Training Partnership has been successfully training teachers for almost 20

years in SWAN Alliance schools. Our graduates are highly sought after within local schools

and beyond. We are currently recruiting for our 2017/18 PGCE course, which is validated by

the University of Leicester.

Training takes place either in our purpose built training suite based at Sponne School or in

our partnership schools in Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes. The vast majority of our

trainers are practicing teachers experts in their specialisms. All trainees are supported by a

dedicated School Based Tutor to guide them through their training year and a specialist

course leader who oversees their training and progress.

We offer a tried and tested route into teaching for the local community. Our trainees are

career changers, return to work parents as well as recent graduates. Our graduate

employment record is 100% for the past two years with an average of 84% of recruits taking

up their first teaching post in local schools. Statistics that are well above the national

average.

Depending on your subject and degree classification you could be entitled to a tax-free

bursary of up to £25,000.

To find out more contact us:

The GUTP, Sponne School, Towcester,

Northants, NN12 6DJ

Website: www.gutp.co.uk

Tel: 01327 350284 ext. 253

Email: gutprecruitment@sponne.org.uk

Library News

page 6 page 6

Summer Reading Challenge 2017

The Reading Agency, in association with our local libraries, are looking for volunteers to help with this summer’s reading challenge. If you are aged between 13 – 25 and would like to get involved please see the website www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/src for more details. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain some work experience, especially if you love reading and/or want to work with children in the future. The closing date for applications is Monday 26th June 2017.

We are planning to celebrate our students efforts in taking part in this years BBC 500 Words competition, and would like to include students that submitted an entry outside of school, as well as those that entered through the school. If you submitted a story at home and would like your child to be included in our celebrations, please contact the school librarian. Emma.Pitson@ewsacademy.org.uk

Library Books During the summer holidays I will be doing the annual school library stock check. I would be very grateful if everyone could check to see if they have any school library books at home, and bring them back before the end of the summer term. Thank you.

Mrs Pitson, Librarian

Being in school at least 97% of the time 180 to

190 days

Which leaves 175 non-school days a year for holiday appointments and other family activities

180 Days

171 Days

161 Days

152 Days

190 Days

100 % 95%

Attendance Attendance

BEST CHANCE OF

ACHIEVING GOALS

90%

Attendance

POOR

ATTENDANCE

LESS CHANCE OF

ACHIEVING

GOALS

85% 80%

Attendance Attendance

VERY POOR

ATTENDANCE SERIOUS

IMPACT ON YOUR

GOALS

What’s your

attendance?

EWS Important Dates page 8

June 2017

5th June – A level exams begin 8th & 15th June – Yr 7,9,10 Goal setting review evening

19th – 23rd June – Yr 8 internal exams 26th - 30th June – Yr 10 & Yr 12 internal exams

28th June – Final GCSE exam 27th – 28th June Post 16 Induction days

July 2017 10th & 11th Yr 6 Induction Days

18th July – Sports Day South Campus 20th July – Sports Day North Campus

Friday 21st – Last day of term

Academic year 2017 to 2018

Term Training Days Open to pupils on the morning of

Closed at the end of the afternoon on

Term 1 Friday 1

st

September 2017 Monday 4

th

September 2017 Friday 20 October 2017

Term 2 Monday 30

October 2017 Friday 15

th

December 2017

Term 3 Tuesday 2

nd

January 2018 Wednesday 3 January 2018

Friday 9 February 2018

Term 4 Monday 19

February 2018 Thursday 29 March 2018

Term 5 Monday 16 April

2018 Friday 25 May 2018

Term 6 Monday 2

nd July

2018 Monday 4 June 2018

Friday 20 July 2018

EWS Upcoming Events page 12

EWS Sports News

page 9

EWS Student wins Gymnastic Gold Medal Huge Congratulations go to Megan Goram, Yr 8 North, who won the Gold Medal on 14th May 2017 at Lings Forum Northampton. Megan is part of the recreational gymnastic group, and works hard to achieve the highest standards in floor, beam, bar and vault. Megan certainly deserves her first place finish and we wish her every success in her future competitions. T Cotter

Head of PE

QUICK STICKS PRIMARY HOCKEY FESTIVALS - NORTH AND SOUTH CAMPUS: A huge well done and thank you to our excellent Sports Leaders,

who together with Mrs Green and Miss Simpson, ran two Primary Quick sticks festivals this term. On Thursday 27th April EWS North hosted the annual Quick Sticks festival for year 3 and 4 primary school children. Sports Leaders

from Yr 9 organised and led an excellent competition which resulted in the following winners: 1st Blishworth, 2nd John Hellins, 3rd Hackleton, 4th Yardley Gobion, 5th Deanshanger, 6th Ashton 7th Hardingstone and 8th Cosgrove. A great time was had by all and the young students played

some outstanding hockey resulting in a close competition!

Thursday 18th May saw EWS South host a Kwik Cricket festival for our feeder primary schools. We saw a high standard of batting and some excellent fielding. 1st Old Stratford, 2nd Deanshanger, joint 3rd Cosgrove and Yardley Gobion and 4th John Hellins. Well done to the Yr 9 Leaders who helped to run and organize the competition. Sports Leaders: Amy Penn, Olivia Lamb, Eloise Middleton, ramnik Chhokar, Dannie Wheeldon, Chloe Cleaver-Parry, Maia McDonald, India Abbott, Annie Skippen, Amelia Skippen and Danielle Holder.

EWS SPORTS NEWS page10

Year 7 Cycling Competition

On Monday 15th May EWS South

entered the Year 7 SSP cycling

competition at Sponne School

where they competed against 6

other schools. All individuals tried their

best and thoroughly enjoyed themselves on

the day. Well done to Max Cole, Owen Poole,

Henry Brown, Cariad Evans, Emily Dowling

and Lily Major for being selected.

Year 9 District Athletics Competition

On Thursday 18th May EWS South

competed in the annual District Athletics

Competition at the Ken Marriott Stadium

in Rugby. On a lovely spring morning EWS South

gave it their all in each of the events. Well done to

all that were selected for the events.

Special mention to Ben Roberts who came second in

the 800m with an outstanding time of 2.19 minutes

and Ben Lester for a third place finish in the 1500m

with a very competitive time of 5.07 minutes.

EWS South Squad

Tom Rowley, Toby Skinner, Aaron Laundon, Ben

Roberts, Ben Lester, Alfie Knox, Bradley Gill, Jack

Maddison, Freddie Knox, Chale Croxall, Morgan

Thompson, Tom K-Bennett and Ollie Wynne-Williams.

Kaitlin Hill, Sydnie Collins, Tayla Lowe, Ghazal Asif,

Amelia Brock, Charlotte Ward, Melissa Carr, Katie

Harris, Millie York and Kaitlin Amelia.

EWS North District Athletics

On a rare sunny morning in a week

of rain EWS North students

competed at the district athletics

competition. All students were

exceptional and a credit to

themselves and the school. A special

mention to Yr 8 Dylan Robinson who was

competing against Yr 9 boys and came

second place, hopefully this will change to

a 1st after half term when he is competing

in his own age group. Another well done to

David Abeji for a 1st in the 100m.

EWS North Squad

David Abeji, Paul McGarry, Kiitan Babatunde-Jimoh, Tyler Dennis, Paul McGarry, Dylan Robinson,

Harvey Fenton, Jamie Nixson, Mitchell Hemmings. Heather McCallum, Tilly Booth, Izzy Russo,

Kacey – Mae Tuck, Amelia Skippen, Abigail Gosling, Poppy Barnett, Chloe Collins, Olivia Lamb.

EWS Sports News Page 11

Year 7 Interschool Tournament

During the spring term EWS North and South Year 7 boys competed against one

another in an interschool 6 a-side tournament on the South Campus. Teams were

selected from the individuals who have consistently turned up for football training after school

throughout the year. It was fantastic evening of football with over 35 Year 7 boys playing

competitive football, all of which were a credit to the school. The eventual winners on the night

were Team 3. Well done boys, I am sure we will organise a similar event in the future.

Summer term extra-curricular sports events South Campus DAY Time Activity

MONDAY LUNCH TABLE TENNIS

TUESDAY LUNCH GIRLS ONLY SPORTS CLUB

WEDNESDAY AFTER SCHOOL BOYS AND GIRLS CRICKET

THURSDAY AFTER SCHOOL YRS 7 & 8 FOOTBALL TRAINING

FRIDAY LUNCH NETBALL CLUB

North Campus DAY Time Activity

MONDAY LUNCH FITNESS

MONDAY AFTER SCHOOL ATHLETICS ALL YEARS

WEDNESDAY LUNCH FITNESS

WEDNESDAY AFTER SCHOOL TENNIS

FRIDAY LUNCH FITNESS

Future Fixtures

Thursday 8th June – Year 7 and Year 8 District Athletics

Saturday 10th June – Year 9 County Athletics Championships

Monday 19th June – Y9&10 Rugby 7’s @ Daventry RFC 4-6pm

Monday July 3rd – Year 7 County Athletics Championship

Trips: Nene Valley White Water Rafting – Y7 North students

Sports Leadership Events:

Thursday 22nd June - Kwik Cricket Primary

Festival @ North Campus 1:30-4:30pm

Thursday 29th June – KS1 Foundation Festival

@ North Campus 3:30 – 5:30pm

Thursday 6th July – Summer School Games @

Moulton College – all day.

Thursday 13th July – Foundation Festival @

South Campus 9:30 – 11:30am