Christmas Newsletter 2009

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ARNOLD MIDDLE SCHOOL PAGE 2

Don’t forget School returns on

Tuesday 5th January 2010

SITUATIONS VACANT SITUATIONS VACANT SITUATIONS VACA

MID DAY SUPERVISOR

PLEASE CONTACT

WENDY SIMPSON ON 01582 616400

SITUATIONS VACANT SITUATIONS VACANT SITUATIONS VACA

Dear Parents and Carers Thank you, once again, for all your support and encouragement with the many and various activities that we manage to ‘cram’ in to our days at Arnold. We have had a most fantastic half term with Global Citizenship for two days and Learning Futures afternoon recently, to name but two.

In our citizenship work I was completely overwhelmed by the work that the staff and children put into their learning. I found Year Five pupils carrying out surveys of our school site to see if we are energy efficient; others building group models of new homes with key features that would help us conserve energy and save money. Year Six used recycled materials to complete a most fetching fashion parade from plastic carrier bags. Year Seven were busy looking at how they could raise money for charity: their entrepreneurial skills were outstanding with many groups checking with friends as to whether their fund-raising ideas were going to work and altering them to make them even more successful. On the Friday afternoon pupils (with some parents and governors who had spare time) set up their stalls and raised over £1,200 for their chosen charities. I was so proud of all of them – the stall hold-ers and the way in which the children spent their money; behaved so well with each other and were so supportive (definitely a tingle factor moment). Year Eight children were very busy working in teams when I visited them to produce a piece of art work on calico that would depict the Commonwealth countries. They were very successful and are being put together as a wall hanging for one of the long walls at school. I hope the person sewing them together has a lot of patience as there are a lot of fine rectangles of joint art work to connect together!

As part of our Trust work we planned, for some time, to engage with our partner lower schools and Year Seven children from Arnold and Parkfields (alongside Harlington Upper Year Nine students) to produce a project using team, communication and ICT skills. The logistics of it was quite something; with numerous

coaches taking children from lower schools to other schools whilst some of our children went to Harlington Upper and others appeared in our hall on Friday 4th December. They had to appraise each others’ work and feedback on what they had achieved. I know that Mrs Lyman, Miss Truscott and Mrs Dye were particularly impressed with the efforts of our young people. Further aspects of the project will continue to develop during the rest of the year.

Our school continues to be a place of learning for us all (as reflective practitioners) as well as sharing our good practice with other schools who want to learn about our work. We had a visit from Holmemead Middle School’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to review our Autistic Spectrum Disorder Provision; a member of the SLT from Brewer’s Hill Middle School came to plan a series of sessions looking at how we prepare our curriculum and timetables as well as review our budgeting; the Bedfordshire Middle School head teachers all came to our school for an afternoon to talk about School Evaluation Forms (Ofsted forms have been changed from September 2009 along with the

grading systems – more about this towards the end of the letter) and all were very complimentary about our school and especially about the fantastic children (some helped with guiding the head teachers to the venue and others served teas/coffees and biscuits). Two staff visited Robert Bloomfield Middle School to talk to their kitchen staff about

the improvements that they have made to their lunch facilities. After Christmas we have a visit from two staff from Lincroft Middle School coming to look at our Pastoral and Learning Mentor Centre (PALM) as it is clearly a very successful provision for our children – it has been seen as particularly effective by the Local Authority Inclusion Officers as they have been recommending us to other schools. We have had four external verifications of our high quality work from various groups: firstly, the Local Authority were asked to come in to review our Inclusion and I was thrilled to find that four out of five areas were deemed to be ‘outstanding’ including the Autistic Provision, PALM Centre and provision for children with additional needs (the fifth area was deemed ‘good’). The review has been used to inform future improvements and we have already sent out questionnaires to staff and a group of pupils to evaluate how we can get our high quality practice even better. The responses from the children were really helpful and action has already been taken to put their ideas into place. Secondly, we had an LA Consultant in to school to assess the school community’s emotional health and well-being (do ask your child about this – they thought of some very interesting explanations for what EHWB might stand for!) I have included snippets from the report for your perusal:

“I was given a full school tour by the Chair and Treasurer of the School Council. They were clearly proud of their school and the achievements of the School Council. They enjoyed school and

were appreciative of the extra curricula activities and the opportunities there are for taking responsibility. They also told me how well they were cared for when they joined the school.

Good quality displays are evident throughout the school. All classrooms have a Values Board and a balance of information

and pupil’s work is displayed.

Classrooms provide positive learning environments, objectives and outcomes are made clear and the pupils are thoroughly engaged in their learning. The staff are upbeat and positive.

Throughout the day, all members of staff who I came across were warm and welcoming.

Relationships This is a real strength of the school. Staff and pupils are

respectful to each other. Pupils hold doors open for staff and are polite. Staff relationships are warm and the staffroom has a friendly relaxed feel about it. Communal tea and coffee help

a visitor feel welcome. Pupils generally get along well together and there is a calm atmosphere throughout the school.

Conclusion Overall, I found the school to be an emotionally healthy

institution with the well-being of both staff and pupils being well catered for. The pupils like the school, enjoy being there and

value the efforts of the staff. The staff seem a contented group who enjoy working at the school. Certainly the convivial

atmosphere in the staffroom suggests that they get along well as a group.”


Finally, we had two external visits for our Values Education Mark assessment and a review of our provision for our Disability Equality Scheme (DES), which is statutory. Our Values Education Assessor was very pleased to award our school with the Mark and has responded recently to say that our school will be the Editorial section of the next Values

Newsletter, a truly international paper! We were particularly proud to find that the editor wanted to put a photograph of our Values in Science display on the front page, as it was brilliantly produced by some of our children (do ask your child what section they helped contribute to in their Form Classroom). Special

thanks to Miss Rachel Truscott for getting together the evidence for the assessment. The visit, from Teachers4Teachers, to look at our DES showed much good practice in supporting children with additional needs, including those with disabilities. I was

especially moved by the report’s findings about inclusion for children with challenges:

“This is a really good school. Pupils demonstrated very good attitudes and behaviour. Staff really care about the pupils. Pupils with needs access the National Curriculum. Learning Support staff make a valuable contribution to pupils learning. Links with the local community have developed well. They benefit pupils both inside and outside the classroom and give them a sense of identity and pride in their community. Teachers 4 Teachers were impressed with the facilities at Arnold Middle School and their wholly inclusive approach. The school ethos is “to ensure respect for others and the wider community through our values based education”. All the pupils receive an educational provision which makes them better prepared to meet the next stages of education after Arnold Middle school. There are a few specific recommendations for improvement that we can make. Our main recommendation is: To maintain the excellent work, whilst at the same time striving to make improvements to the practices in place.”

The scheme for Disability Equality has to be published (currently it is in the form of our Disability Statement and Action Plan). It will be received by the Governing Body in the Spring Term and then included in our Policies Section of our School Website. For parents new to our school this year: you may well receive a ‘Well Done’ postcard about your child before Christmas. This is something that we put in place six years ago when I started as headteacher at Arnold (September 2003) and is awarded to children for good work on a termly basis. I particularly want to commend this to you as several teachers have to ‘recommend’ your child for the award. I know that other schools have now adopted our system to let parents know how pleased we are with their child. If you receive a card do please spend some time going through what a great effort your child has done to get it and, if they didn’t get one this time… to keep trying hard and aim to get one at the end of next term!

Do take an opportunity to look at your child’s books. They are encouraged to bring home their books at least half termly for parents to sign and, if they wish, comment on. I know that children really love showing off their work! At a recent meeting of head teachers, I was reminded of the enormous influence that parents have on their children’s learning. One particular enquiry resulted in the following table of facts:

Sacker et al (2002)

Charles Desforges (Exeter University) explained that parents contribute to their children’s ambitions; help set the boundaries and act as role models. Those of you have used your addition skills will note that the totals do not come to a hundred. This is ‘unknown’ but some academics speculate that the missing amounts could be due to ‘social class’.

Effects of parents/ effect of schools

Achievement Parent effect School effect

Age 7 29% 5%

Age 11 27% 21%

Age 16 14% 51%

Our art works, completed as part of our 50th Birthday celebrations a year ago, are now available for viewing on the gallery section of the school website. The ‘Relatively Artistic’ show, in early November was a great success where some of us shared the talents of our relatives. These ranged from drawings to photographs, from pottery bowls to jewellery. Thanks to all relatives for lending their precious works of art and to Mrs Baker for organising it all. We look forward to getting feedback about our Arts Mark application in May 2010. There were over 1700 applications from schools for the assessment this round. We

have applied for ‘Silver Arts Mark’. I wrote, earlier in my letter, that I would let you know about the changes to the Ofsted Inspection criteria. Our School Improvement Partners (people employed by the Local Authority (LA) to check that we are doing a good job) suggested that all schools write to parents to outline these changes because Ofsted have made it a little more tricky to

‘get the ticks in the boxes’ to be deemed ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. The LA grades schools from ‘dark green’ (light touch) to ‘red’ (causing concern) and Arnold is deemed to be a dark green school. The new grading system for observing teaching and learning has been taken very seriously at Arnold: we used one of our Training Days to ensure that all our Subject Leaders are confident observing teaching and learning as well as knowing what the criteria are to be judged ‘outstanding’. As the Ofsted Inspection guidance has changed several times in recent years it is always a challenge, as a parent, to keep abreast of the work the inspectors are viewing. The majority of the inspections are now spent exploring those issues which are important in the school (see our School Development Plan on our School Website). Attention will focus on whether particular groups of pupils are achieving as well as they should, including those in the most vulnerable circumstances and the most able (again, information about our school results at both Key Stages are available in our previous newsletters and on the website). Inspectors will specifically judge how well the school fulfils its duties in terms of equalities, safeguarding and community cohesion. They will also seek

evidence of, and make judgements about, outcomes in relation to the well-being of all learners. This means that inspectors are likely to spend more time in the classrooms, inspecting the quality of teaching and the impact it is having on the quality of learning (and that is only right and proper). They discuss with children and young people what they know, understand and can do, how well they have mastered the basic skills, and judge whether they are becoming independent learners.

Most importantly, parents still have an opportunity to complete the Ofsted questionnaire and feed back to the inspectors about the good things that are happening at school. School Council representatives and all children are given an opportunity to talk to the inspectors and a sample of children, selected by inspectors, complete a pupil questionnaire. Don’t hesitate to

contact me if you want to know any more about the changes to inspections (there is guidance on our school website under ‘downloads for parents’). The school annually sends out an ‘Ofsted style’ questionnaire to parents in the Spring Term so we would appreciate your feedback when you are sent the document as we are always striving to be even better than we already are. Remember that we have two events coming up for parents to talk to the Senior Leadership team: Parents’ Awareness Raising Evening (PARE): Tuesday 23rd February (our Virtual Learning Environment – VLE). Find out what your children can access to help learning both in school and at home. Parents’ Forum Session 2: Thursday 11th March 2010. Talk to us about our school: rewards and behaviour is the subject focus. Year Six Parents:- SATs Preparation Evening: Wednesday 13th January 2010 (Key Stage Two Parents). Find out about what we are doing in mathematics, English and Science and how you can help your child. Have a very happy Christmas Break.

Best wishes Ann Payne


Dear Head Teacher You will be aware that Bedfordshire Borough Council recently voted in favour of a two-tier system. I am writing to reassure schools, parents and their children that we will be monitoring the implementation of this decision and are working closely at Officer and Member level with col-leagues in Bedfordshire Borough Council to better understand the impact it may have on our school. At present as part of our Learning Transformation Programme, we are developing our own vision for learning. As you know we are currently consulting with Head Teachers and Chairs of Governors and considering how together we raise aspirations and standards in our schools. We anticipate that the Vision for Learning will be published by February 2010. If you wish to find out more about the process, or Learning Transformation in general, please contact our Communicat ions Manager, Andrew Cooper at [email protected] Kind regards Cllr. Mrs Anita Lewis Portfolio Holder—Children’s Services

Arnies’s News

New ideas for Arnies in January.

At break time we now sell :

Cheese on toast 60p Bacon rolls 60p Ham, cheese, Tuna rolls 40p Apple or Orange Juice 40p Milkshakes 50p

More information on school meals is available at www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/fsm We are joining the ‘Bedfordshire Eat Well Together’ School Meals Competition and School Meals Week from 8-12 February 2010. We are hoping that you will be able to join us one day that week for lunch and see how much the food has improved since your days at school. We hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

K Moroney (Kitchen Manager)

At lunch time children can now buy :

Sandwiches 99p - £1.10 Filled Rolls 40p Apple or Orange Juice 40p Milkshakes 50p Desserts 50p Carbohydrate i.e. pasta, potatoes 50p

Children will have to pay cash for these in the kitchen.

Theme Days

American day - January 13th Hot dogs, hamburgers and fries

English Day - January 27th

Bangers & Mash, Fish & Chips

Italian Day - February 2nd

Indian Day - March 3rd Chinese Day - March 17th

Kitchen Garden Club

Kitchen Garden Club has been running since half term and currently includes 18 children from Year 5 and Year 6. New members are welcome from all year groups. We meet Friday lunchtimes during the winter and will move to after school as

soon as it’s light enough. We have discovered that our soil is healthily neutral and (of course) clay, we designed our plot and set up the compost bins. Hav-ing agreed on the shape (designed by Taylor Hagger) the next step was to do the groundwork. On Saturday 5th December a group of children, parents and staff came to school and we worked our socks off. The turf stripper we hired made the task achievable and by 4.00pm all the beds were bordered with wood and some of the soil had even been dug over. Kitchen Garden Club would like to thank all the people who came along. We know that it was a busy Saturday and lots more people would have come if they could. These are the people who were available and get our special thanks: Miss Douglas with Jamie Lousvet and Chloe-Louise Bromley-Derry who came especially to keep us in refreshments; Mr Roe and Matthew, Mr Bulmer and Elena, Mrs Govier and Aimee, Mrs Martin and Issy, Taylor Hagger and Mrs Peacock. Thank you all. Sustainability is what everyone wants to achieve, so before we go and buy new equipment, it would be great if we could ’re-use’. If anyone is clearing out their shed and would like to give a good home to any of the following, please let us know:


spades forks rakes tool store well-rotted manure wheel barrow water butt water butt connection pieces water butt stand seeds watering cans plant labels garden cane pea sticks carrot fly barriers onion and garlic sets draw hoes trowels cold frame cloche yard broom Mrs Wood and the Kitchen Garden Club


Calling on all

Arnold Middle School families,

please send in to school

unwanted Mobile phones,

toner/ink jet cartridges

for re-cycling.

Grafham Water

In October AMS organised an extra-curricular visit to Grafham Water Centre near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The weekend visit was offered to Key Stage 3 Gifted and Talented pupils to encourage them to try water sports and was considered an adventure with huge social values. Activities included windsurfing, raft building, kayaking, orienteering, sailing and climbing. This is what the children had to say:

I think that Grafham Water was fun. Firstly, the coach trip was quick and we didn’t have to wait long. It was much quicker than I expected. Next, we went to our dorms. They were clean but we had to make our own beds which was a bit of a struggle. Then we had lunch which was nice and filled me up. The dinner was just as nice! The activities were exciting and I learnt lots of skills and values. My favourite activity was sailing. Me and James Ephgrave went

on a funboat and sailed out. The funniest bit was when James fell out! Overall, I thought the trip was fun and exciting and I would definitely go again. By Sam Sun 8LB At Grafham we had loads of fun and the sailing was great, which probably the best activity, in my opinion anyway. The Friday morning we went to the coach and settled down. The journey was funny, people were singing, sharing food, we all got on so well. Once we got there we were told which room we would be in. I was with Joshua Wilson, Alex Ev-ans and Aran Yates. We had a laugh then we were called to the next activity.


On Saturday I capsized with Alex Evans on the sailing boat. The water was so cold I was shivering on the boat. The water had goose droppings in it! Once that was all over and done with everyone hurried back to the warehouse and took off our wet suits, showered and relaxed. On Sunday we did rock climbing and high ropes. It was scary. I would like to go there again to do the high ropes, raft building and sailing. I think that everyone enjoyed it but they probably didn’t enjoy the cold weather! By Ben Copperwheat 7PS On the 2nd to 4th of October we went to Grafham Water Centre. Whilst we were there we took part in many activities, including kayaking, canoeing, raft building, high ropes, sailing and rock climbing. Sailing was our favourite it was really funny when James fell off the boat into the lake. Holly Richards and Megan Burns

We are pleased to announce that Ms Creed and Mrs Yates have taken over the reins of Arnold Novelties since Mrs Madden’s retirement in July. We now ask you to complete the order form overleaf and return it to Ms Creed with the money, cash or cheques; made payable to Arnold Novelties in a sealed envelope. The order will be delivered to your child within a couple of days. The children have access to additional order forms in their classroom. We have had a very busy time with Arnold Christmas Novelties and thank you for your support as any profit made will be used to provide additional equipment for the children. We have recently provided the wood required for the new school garden and intend to make a contribution towards the Trim Trail. We aim to make some changes to the stock and have something in mind for Mother’s Day so keep your eyes open and have a rummage in the bottom of your child’s bag for fliers which we will send home in due course.

Alison Creed Key Stage Leaders Administrator

Article Quantity Price per Item Total

*Berol Handwriting Pen £1.00

Berol Fountain Pen £1.20

15 Ink Cartridges £1.00

*Rubber Tipped Pencil .20p

*12 Colouring Pencils £2.00

*Arnold 30cm Ruler £1.00

*Pencil Sharpener .50p

*Eraser .30p

*Glue Stick £2.00

*Scissors £1.00

Large Pencil Case £2.50

*Spiral Bound Note-Book .75p

Clear Plastic Book Cover £1.00

Large Plastic Book Cover £1.50

Arnold Calculator £4.00

Arnold PE Bag £6.50

Arnold Book Bag £6.50

Arnold Book Bag complete with items marked with asterisk

£10.00

Grand Total

Arnold Novelties Order Form

Name: ……………………Form: ………


PALM CENTRE UPDATE September – December 2009 What a busy start to the year we have enjoyed in PALM. Mr Sides and Mrs Yates have achieved a very successful transition taking over from Mrs Chesters-Lewis and keeping the PALM centre as an effective additional support mechanism for all our children. In order to further their skills and knowledge Mr Sides and Mrs Yates have managed to incorporate valuable training into their busy schedule. Mr Sides has completed Leadership and Management training, Mrs Yates has completed bereavement training and both have completed specific training for supporting and safeguarding children – the CAF (common assessment form). The ‘Retracking’ programme is becoming quite popular and some of our older children who are working with this have shared with their friends the positives they achieve from the programme; this has led to individuals asking to work with the programme themselves. This is a fantastic example of self motivation and we encourage their participation. Every pupil in year 5 will shortly have completed a six session, small group activity on social speaking techniques in the PALM centre, part of this programme was to ensure they all know the facility is their for their needs and feel comfortable approaching the centre for support. Plans for specific group and 1 – 1 work are currently being prepared to smooth out transition and alleviate fears and concerns. During the Spring term the work will begin with additional visits to HUS and for key staff to meet with our pupils at AMS. PALM will be closely involved, as much of the work is planned, organised and led by our Learning Mentors. If any parent would like additional support for their son / daughter do not hesitate to contact Mr Sides or Mrs Yates, confidentiality will be assured. REWARDS In the October newsletter we shared with you the fact we are looking into the rewards structure at school. Mrs Nolan has carried out a detailed survey with many KS3 pupils to ascertain their perspective on the whole rewards structure. Some pupils will be asked to share the findings with staff at our next BSG (Behaviour Support Group) meeting; changes will then be finalised and incorporated into our behaviour policy at the next policy review later this year. If any parent/carer would like to comment please contact school either by emailing or in writing; your contribution is welcomed. Please be aware however that funding is an area we have to be mindful of. Thanking you in anticipation of suggestions.

SCIENCE SPECIALIST STATUS – LATEST

Our specialist teaching assistant Vicky Robinson has been very active since joining us in September, the plans for specific small group support for KS3 pupils working at or towards the higher levels, i.e. L 6 and 7 in Science have been implemented and many of our pupils are gaining benefit from this targeted activity work. We will be inviting additional pupils to have the opportunity to access this support in the new year. Nominated pupils will be identified by their subject teacher as having the potential to achieve high levels; the sessions are not about teaching content but about teaching skills through reinforcement of taught aspects of science. As previously described this work will involve developing their PLTS (Personal Learning and Thinking Skills) as well as advising on how to find and master the study techniques that suit each individual pupil to further enhance their learning. Parental permission is always sought prior to any pupil participation. The February newsletter will share further the work of the science department, specifically plans for us to recognise and engage with National science week. If any parent/ carer would like to get involved with the science department; Do you have a background in science or work in the field of science? Would you like to share your experiences or link them with our taught curriculum? Please contact L Sides who would love to speak with you.

ANTI BULLYING CHAMPIONS (ABC)

All forms have at least one anti bullying champion to support our determination to remove the issues of bullying that all establishments unfortunately have. Our values work sets the ethos of positive approaches to everything we say, think or do, but sadly a very small minority of individuals do at time engage in behaviours that are contrary to these taught values. In most circumstances when a child states they have been bullied, investigation by staff usually reveals it as a one off ‘unkindness’ rather than as defined in our Anti Bullying and Harassment policy (updated 2009). Bullying is deliberately hurtful, aggressive or insulting behaviour by an individual or group, repeated over a period of time with intent to cause emotional or physical pain and distress to the target’. When the issue of any form of bullying is identified then immediate action will be implemented to support both the target and the bully.

Should it be discovered that the behaviours exhibited by the bully have been ongoing for several months and there has been no prior indication then it takes a lot of intervention to stop the learnt behaviour. It is extremely hard for any parent/carer to be told their child has been targeting another child but without their full support we cannot ever eradicate bullying. Most targets of bullying are reluctant to share with an adult of fear it being made worse, but without their voice then the situation will never change. Parents should always be the child’s first point of contact but we know this is not always so, because of this our Anti Bullying Champions are doing all they can to raise awareness that it is OK to tell. SEE SOMETHING – SAY SOMETHING.

IMPORTANT REMINDER about attendance Applications for holidays must be made 4 weeks in advance, using the agreed proforma (available from school and the website). There is no automatic entitlement for pupils to be authorised leave of absence during term time. Parents / carers must provide specific additional information (confidentiality is assured) outlining why the time off must be taken during term time, this application will then be considered carefully based on the permitted criteria, prior high attendance is not a consideration. Should your application not be authorised and the holiday is taken then the Education Welfare Service will issue a fixed penalty warning letter. Any subsequent unauthorised holidays taken whilst your child is at Arnold Middle school could then trigger the fixed penalty being issued.

Summary of Arnold Middle School Attendance Policy Arnold School believes that regular attendance is vital for effective learning and we are committed to maximising attendance for all pupils to enable them to benefit fully from their education. Partnership with the family and external agencies is essential in promoting positive behaviour and attendance.

Attendance

• Pupils are expected to attend school regularly; it is the responsibility of parents to ensure their child attends school regularly and punctually;

• The Home–School partnership agreement clearly informs parent and pupil of this responsibility;

• School staff will encourage good attendance and punctuality through personal example.

Absence The school actively discourages family holidays in term time

• Requests for leave of absence are only authorised under exceptional circumstances. Holiday requests for September, April or May, when important testing takes place will not be authorised under any circumstance;

• Fixed penalty notices will be issued if 10 or more sessions of unauthor-ised absence are taken in any ten week period;

• Requests for leave of absence must be applied for at least four weeks before the date of the holiday using the form available from the school office. If a request form is not completed the holiday will automatically be unauthorised.

Action

• Parents are expected to contact schools on the first and each subse-quent day of absence;

• Upon return to school after an absence parents will provide a written reason for absence;

• Office staff will telephone parents if no contact has been made by 10.00am on the first and each subsequent day of absence;

• The form tutor will initiate contact with parents if concern is raised about attendance;

• In cases of extended absence due to illness the form tutor will liaise with parents to ensure the pupil has sufficient work at home in order to be kept up with the class;

• In cases of extended or regular absence the EWO will be contacted by school;

• A Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued when a pupil has taken more than 10 days of holiday which has not been authorised by the school during their time at Arnold Middle School.

• Letters of congratulations will be posted home termly to celebrate those pupils who have achieved 100% attendance.

Attendance September 1st – December 10th 2009 Despite a time of year when illness and flu are a main contributing factor to attendance rates we have 94 pupils who have achieved 100% attendance. Many congratulations to all pupils named below for the amazing achievement of 100% attendance this term. All pupils will receive a certificate in assembly and a letter home.

Giacomo Allen 7LGK Danielle Annes 8JH Isaac Anstee 8GD Millie Anstee 7JCK Niall Barnaville 8JH Zak Barnaville 6SR Georgina Barton 5AW James Bavister 7PS Albert Bishop 5VW Debbie Boland 7CMC Louis Brandham 5JS Alysa Brown 6SR Nathan Bryant 5NP Elena Bulmer 5JS Kate Busby 6CH Daisy Callanan 7LGK Emily Carter 5VW Lauren Cook 7JCK Ciaran Corcoran 5VW Aimee Dimmock 7JCK Samuel Edmunds 5NP Joshua Ferguson 8CHIL Michaela Finn 6DP Lara Fitzgerald 7KT Lydia Flack 6SR Rachel Forder 7LGK Harry Foulkes 6CH Sonny Foulkes 6DP Taylor Fowler 6DP Harry Frost 6CH Callum Giles 8MW Leah Giles 6KM Daian Graham 6KM Will Hart 8CHIL Charlotte Hewitt 8MW Billy Higgs 8SD Mia Holder 6CH Cara Howard 6KM Lexie Huseyin 8JH Lana Jefcoate 5ST Jessica Jones 6KM Emily Kehoe 6KM

Ellie Kevan 6SR Sarah Kilby 5ST Ellie King 5ST Abigail Lugg 6KM James Mackey 8GD Joe Marney 5NP Sara Marshall 6SR Sylvie Masala 5VW Alana Mckenna 7LGK Theo McLaren 8MW Kieran McMahon 5ST Charlotte Miles 6DD Amber Miller 6DP Louise Miller 5NP Rowan Mott 5VW Amber Murphy 7LGK Bella Nardi 5ST Conor Naylor 6DP Chloe Neill 7PS George Nicholls 5AW Kieran Norman 6SR Sophie Northall 6KM Megan O’Rourke 5JS Ellis Orsborn 8LB Adam Osborn 8GD Benjamin Parkes 7JCK Amie Pedder 5NP Jamie Pepper 7LGK Jessica Percival 8GD Jessica Pitts 6DP Samuel Pointing 7KT Oliver Randall 5AW Joel Riddaway 8MW Andrew Round 6KM Matthew Rowe 6CH Ellie Sands 5AW Aaron Sandy 6KM Carl Silk 5NP Izzy Sims 6KM Ted Skerman 5NP Daniel Smith 5AW NathanSmith 5VW

Rebekah Smith 6KM Lucy Steele 6DP Samuel Sun 8LB Gabriel Swain 5ST Joshua Tredwell 5JS Jade White 5VW James Wildey 8SD Katherine Wildey 8MW James Wright 5ST Danielle Yates 6DD

Who to contact - an update Please don’t let concern or issue build up; an early contact is always best. The table below identifies who to contact in the first instance. Please remember you may always contact the school office staff who are always helpful and will point you in the right direction. We are happy to receive contact by e-mail, telephone or letter.

Possible area of concern

First contact Follow-up contact if required

Welfare Attendance

Bullying

Miss Reeve (Year 5 & 6) Mrs Moss (Year 7& 8)

Mrs Sides

Homework Subject teacher Mrs Lyman

Progress in a specific subject

Form tutor, who will inform the Subject teacher

Subject Leader or Mrs Lyman

Special educational needs Mrs McKenna

Mrs Jones

Mrs Payne

PALM centre support Mr Sides Mrs Sides

School meals Mrs Moroney (Kitchen manager)

Miss Truscott

Off-site visits including

organisation and costs of visits

Teacher in charge of visit Mrs Lyman

Health and safety Mr Childs (Site manager) Mrs Payne

General day-to-day arrangements

Miss Reeve (Year 5&6) Mrs Moss (Year 7&8)

Mrs Sides

School policies Mrs Payne Mr Chesters-Lewis

Individual member of staff Mrs Payne Mr Chesters-Lewis

Headteacher Mr Chesters-Lewis

(Chair of Governors)

* Leader of Values and Life Skills †first aiders

Arnold Middle School Staff

Senior Leader-ship Team

Mrs Ann Payne

Mrs Linda Sides

Mrs Lyn Lyman

Miss Rachel Truscott*

Pastoral Leaders

Miss Caroline Reeve [Key Stage Two]

Mrs Rachel Moss [Key Stage Three]

Subject Leaders

Mrs Kelly Boreham [English]

Mrs Jane Hawkins [Maths]

Mrs Linda Sides [Science]

Mrs Lynne Baker [Art]

Mrs Gail Gunter [Assistant Leader of Science – Specialist Status]

Mrs Victoria Wright [Assistant Leader of English – Literacy Across the Curriculum]

Mr Peter Salamon [Design technol-ogy]

Miss Clare McCrow [Drama]

Mr Mark Williams [Modern Foreign Lan-guages]

Mr Greg Davis [Geography and Gifted & Talented Pupils Co-ordinator]

Miss Rachel Truscott [History]

Mrs Sue Dye [Information technology]

Mr Chris Cadd [Music]

Miss Rachel Truscott* [Personal, social, health, citizenship education & Religious Education]

Miss Jessica Cooke [Physical education]

†first aiders

Learning Support Team

Mrs Tracy Jones [Lead Teaching Assistant – special responsibility for Key Stage Three pupils with Special Needs]

Annalisa McKenna [Lead Teaching Assistant – special responsibility for Key Stage Two pupils with Special Needs]

Mr William Sides and Mrs Sarah Yates [Pastoral and Learning Mentors – covering maternity leave]

Mrs June Buckingham

Mrs Susan Buttigieg

Mrs Pam Hazel†

Miss Lucy Hubble

Mrs Emma Jackson

Mrs Lisa Nolan

Mrs Helen Payne

Mrs Wendy Riedel

Mrs Linda Rooke

Mrs Jackie Vaughan

Miss Sarah Young

Year Teams

Year Five Mr Nigel Pollard

Mr John Shaw

Mrs Sue Tredwell

Mrs Alison Wood

Mrs Victoria Wright

Year Six Mrs Denise Douglas [D.T.]

Mrs Callie Hewitt [English]

Mrs Kate Middleton [Science]

Miss Dana Paranihi

Mr Spencer Rudkin

Year Seven

Miss Jessica Cooke

Mrs Lucy Gorick [Maths]

Miss Clare McCrow

Mr Peter Salamon

Mr Karim Tfifha [P.E.]

Year Eight Mrs Lynne Baker

Mr Greg Davis

Mrs Sue Dye

Mrs Jane Hawkins/Mrs Donna Conquest [Modern Foreign Languages]

Mr Chris Cadd/ Mrs Gail Gunter

Mr Mark Williams

Chiltern Class

Mrs Susan Wilson Mrs Wendy Baldwin Mrs Linda Stamp

Subject Teachers/ Form Tutor link

Mrs Anne Pibworth [P.E.] [KS3]

Miss Caitlin Boarder [English, drama and History] [KS2]

Mrs Doreen Thakoordin [English and drama] [KS3]

Cover Supervisor

Mrs Elinor Brown Miss Nicola McMahon

Administrative and Technical Support Team

Mrs Wendy Simpson [Office Manager]

Mrs Beverley Jones† [Admissions Administrator and Lead First Aider]

Mrs Dawn Peacock [Attendance Administrator]

Mrs Kirsty Little [Assessment Manager and Learning Support Administration]

Mrs Linda Bassill [Librarian]

Mrs Sarah Yates† [Reprographics technician] Acting Technician: Mrs Lorraine Horan

Miss Victoria Robinson [Teaching Assistant for Science and Mathematics Specialist Status]

Ms Julia Chippendale† [resistant materials technology technician]

Mrs Jenny Plain [food & fabric technology technician]

Mrs Sue Roberts† [art technician]

Mr William Sides [science technician] Acting Technician: Charlotte Lack

Mrs Alison Creed [Clerical Assistant to Key Stage Leaders & Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator + display support]

Mrs Tracy Tait [Clerical Assistant to Core Subject Leaders]

Mrs Karen Wildey [Business Manager]

Ms Rachel Carter [Finance As-sistant]

Mr Ian Lisle [Information Technology Manager]

Mr Adam Davis [ICT technician]

Cleaning and Catering Team

Mrs Kathy Moroney [Kitchen Manager]

Mrs Mandy Vincent [Cook]

Mrs Judy Dodd Peggy Stevens Mrs Leigh Horvat

Mrs Mandy White

Mrs Sue Roberts†

Mrs Pat Porter Mrs Belinda Rogers

Mrs Alison Creed

Mr Dale Childs [Site Manager] Mr Clive Littler [Assistant Site Agent]

Mrs Gloria Billington

Mr Derrick Bunker

Mrs Susan Buttigieg

Mrs Tracey Childs

Miss Melissa Cole

Miss Imogen Fieldsend

Mrs June Rees Ms Jade Burraway

REWARDS & RECOGNITION

VALUES AWARDS This term has seen a continued rise in the number of pupils receiving Values awards in recognition of their positive approach in supporting Values Education. All Values tokens are entered into a draw the winners of which may choose from a range of small gifts. The awards will be presented in the final celebrations assembly on Friday 18th December. The winners of the Values awards this term are:

HOUSE MERITS Individually pupils have achieved 5564 merits this term for exceptional effort with class or homework. This fantastic effort is celebrated continuously with awards and certificates being presented in year assemblies.

Thanks to all their efforts the House totals are:

The winning House for the Autumn term 2009 - 2010 is GREY.

BRUCE CONQUEST GREY St JOHN

Francesca Powell

Alysa Brown Amber Miller Eleanor Kevan

Oliver Malczyk Summer Bailey Emily Wishart Amy Cushen

Jamie Pepper Chloe Malvern Sara Shah Mark Miller

Megan Schneider

Harrison Wright Jason Furr Nicholas McTaggart

Millie Jennings Nicole Lumley Kenny Chambers Emily Kehoe

Congratulations to you all and keep up the brilliant attitude.

BRUCE CONQUEST St JOHN GREY

Y5 281 344 333 327

Y6 401 459 532 633

Y7 455 275 244 305

Y8 246 271 228 230

TOTAL 1383 1349 1337 1495

Music Department

AUTUMN CONCERT On 24th November the school held its first concert of the year. This was well received by a packed audience who were very appreciative of the wide variety of items on the programme. All the newly formed extra-curricular groups were performing. The Young Singers sang very enthusiastically some songs by “Abba” and the “Boyz Only” group, they wowed the audience with their per-formance of “Radio Ga Ga”. The newly formed Orchestra started and ended the concert which featured many solo and ensemble items. At the end Mr Cadd even got the audience involved by leading them in a song. The next concert will be on 31st March.

CAROL SERVICE The music department held a Carol Service on Wednesday 16th December. This was held at St Nicholas church Barton Le Clay by kind permission of Reverend Newton. This event was open to anyone who wishes to come and sing carols and listen to readings and choir items.

BLAST OFF During the penultimate week of term Mr Cadd and Ms McCrow auditioned 50 pupils who wanted to try out for solo parts in the school show “Blast Off”. The auditions followed a very well attended meeting the previous week when pupils were told all about the show and taught one of the songs. Formal rehearsals will start in January with the performances scheduled for May. C. D. Cadd Subject Leader for Music

SchoolCouncilSchoolCouncilSchoolCouncilSchoolCouncilSchool

Another busy term draws to a close and I think that everyone on school council will probably be glad of a rest! Our Year 8 ‘hit squad’ of Jack Dimery (Chair), Charlotte Cruise (Treasurer) and James Andrews (Secretary) continue to do a fantastic job and special mention needs to go to Brad Wishart who has shown himself to be an active and reliable member of the team. As promised previously, here are the outcomes from the recent pupil-led learning walk: • The inclusion of Values and Form notice boards has made a difference

within classrooms. All staff need to remember to have the current ‘Value’ on display.

• EHWB (Emotional Health and Well-being) was evident to an extent across the school. This is an area that school council have asked the staff to further develop.

• The majority of teaching rooms reflect the subjects taught within them. This can be tricky when many subjects are taught in one room but school council were pleased with the breadth of work on display: they would now like to see even more pupil work being celebrated.

Next term will see another pupil-led learning walk taking place. The purpose of this walk will be checking the environment for access from the point of view of someone with limited mobility. School Council have worked hard this half term raising money for our new ‘Adventure Trail’ also called ‘Trim Trail’. A massive thank you to all those who have supported us in this endeavour…..read all about it further on in the news letter!

Global Citizenship Days 20th—21st November

Last month saw the whole school participate in a two day enrichment event looking at Global Citizenship. Each year group had a theme that they explored over the two days:

Year 5—Global Warming Year 6—Our Local Community/Recycling Year 7—Charity Fair ‘09 Year 8—Positive impact of the Empire/Commonwealth on the UK

The days were an amazing success and culminated in our first ever Charity Fair where Year 7 ran their own stalls raising money for one of four charities: Age Concern Bedfordshire; Cancer Research UK, Oxfam and Unicef. The afternoon was brilliant (although I may have eaten too many cakes!) and it was lovely to see so many parents and carers.

The total amount raised during the fair was £1201, I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a fantastic total and shows how hard our Year 7’s worked to ensure the event was a success. Our children said: “I think designing the eco-friendly house went really well because we learnt how to work in teams and we found out what we could do to make the world a better place.” - Year 5 “Listening to the woman from Oxfam was interesting because we found out about global warming and what we can do to help stop climate change.” - Year 5

“I enjoyed talking about Global Citizenship because it was an effective way to find out information and a good way to introduce the two days.” - Year 6

Many thanks to Mr Treacher and HSBC for match funding the money raised on a stall.

“The Fair was brilliant because it was lots of fun. It was a good way to raise money. Making clothes out of recycled materials was fun because you had to use your fashion sense and show co-operation. The fashion show was good because we got to see everyone else's ideas.” - Year 6

“Making the costumes was fun because we worked well together.” - Year 6

“Our stall was great because we were organised and worked at home as well as school. We planned ahead and decided the best way to raise money.” - Year 7

“We worked well as a group because we listened to each other. We raised a lot of money because our stall was exciting!” - Year 7

“The idea of making a banner showing the positive contribution of the Common-wealth on the UK was really good. The colours worked well and it looked awesome.” - Year 8

“Our designs look great on the material because we all trust each other and work well together.” - Year 8

Adventure Trail

Our new Adventure trail has been ordered and as we go to press we are hoping the survey should be completed within the next month. Thank you to everyone who has supported us while we raised this money; FASA, Barton Parish Council and of course all the children, parents and staff who have helped make this happen. If all goes well, the trail will be installed during the Easter holidays, meaning our Year 8’s will be able to benefit from it for the Summer term. Have a look below at some of the different apparatus that will be making up our new Adventure Trail.

Left to right: Jelly Board Parallel Bars Climbing Wall Stepping Logs Zig Zag Beams

SNAG (School Nutritional Action Group) We recently had our first meeting of SNAG, a group made up of staff, governors, parents and children! Our aim is to continue to find ways to make school dinners even better and work towards ensuring all pupils have access to a balanced diet. If you are interested in joining this group, please contact Miss Rachel Truscott at school, we’d love to have you there! Next meeting: Feb—food tasting!

Pupil Lunch Surveys Over the past weeks, we have been conducting a variety of questionnaires to find out what our pupils like about school lunches, what they’d like to see improved and how healthy our packed lunches are. Below are a selection of the results that we feel would be of interest to you: Packed lunch questionnaire

Question agree disagree

I enjoy eating healthy food in my packed lunch 85% 15%

I have at least one piece of fruit 100% 0%

I enjoy eating with friends 100% 0%

I have thought about having school dinners 35% 65%

Question agree disagree neither

I have a school lunch at least once a week 65% 30% 5%

I eat the prepared sandwiches 25% 75% 0%

I enjoy ‘pasta King’ 65% 35% 0%

I buy filled rolls at break 70% 30% 0%

I would like to have Theme Days. 100% 0% 0%

I would have more school dinners if there were theme days.

90% 10% 0%

Pupil School Lunch questionnaire

Have a very ‘Historical’ Christmas! Some members of 8MW have been finding out about the history of the Christmas card.

The first Christmas card sold to the public cost one shilling. The first Christmas stamp was released in Canada in 1898 Victorian Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering Christmas cards. In the nineteenth century, the British Post Office used to deliver cards on Christmas Day! Brad Wishart, Callum Giles & Connor Chandler

The first Christmas card was made by John Calcott Horsley in 1848. Sir Henry Cole had the idea of a card so he could send them to friends and acquaintances to wish them a ‘Merry Christmas’. The picture on the card showed a family enjoying Christmas and people helping the poor. Nowadays, the average British person sends an average of 50 Christmas cards every year. Charlotte Cruise, Natasha Wolfe & Sally McCulloch

My Family My name is Jasmine Khan. I have one brother called Nasar. My Dad is called Ajaz and my Mum is called Anna. Nasar and I go to Arnold Middle School which is a brilliant school! My Dad is a Muslim and my Mum is a Sikh. As you can see, my Mum and Dad both have dif-ferent religions. They both believe in different things. Sikhs believe in God and that Guru Nanak started Sikhism. Muslims believe in God, who they call Allah. In my family we all do things for each other. My Dad’s religion doesn’t allow him to eat pork, so therefore none of us eat pork. For my Mum, my Dad allows us to pray at the Sikh special temple called a Gurdwara. He thinks that everyone has a right to believe in their own faith.

Although there are different faiths in our house it still works really well. I enjoy having different religions as I get to experience a lot of different cultural things. Another added bonus is I get to celebrate 2 Eid’s (Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha) which are celebrated by Muslims, Divali which is celebrated by Sikhs and Hindus and finally Christmas, celebrated by Christians. This means we get lots of exciting presents all year round!

Jasmine Khan 8 CC

What Christmas means to me

I always go to Church on Christmas Day

and Christmas Eve. Christmas means to me a time to feel happy. Christmas is a time to remember Jesus being born in a stable. I always find it easier to pray and read the Bible at Christmas time and I feel closer to God. Alex Ewing 7PS

I like Christmas because you get to see your family.

I think that everyone should remember what Christmas is about with Jesus being born in a stable.

I like Christmas because we have lots of food and we all meet together for a big celebration of Jesus' birth.

I like Christmas because you get to see your family and spend time with them. You can gifts to the whole fam-ily which reminds us of the gifts given to Jesus by the 3 wise men. Bethany Rowe 7PS

Panto Visit Dec 2009 Year 5 and 6 went to the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage to see the pantomime Aladdin. The star of the show John Altman, also known as Nasty Nick from Eastenders. The pantomime Aladdin was exciting and fun! There was lots of music and dancing. The best bit was when Aladdin and Princess Jasmine got married. Aladdin was poor in China and then he was rich! The laser show was good and eye catching. They also made jokes about things they were doing. The actors and actresses interacted with the audience. The show was in Stevenage and we went on three coaches. I most enjoyed the genie in the lamp, it was surprising that the genie was a disco man named Mr. G, short for Mr. Gorgeous. All the acting, music and dancing made it excellent. There was a golden spirit who helped Aladdin as soon as he needed her. There was also an evil genie called Nasty Nick. My personal favourite character was Princess Jasmine because she was pretty, a good singer and an excellent actress. I enjoyed Aladdin and I want to go again. Also the clothes were lovely, golden suits and Chinese gowns. Shannan Ewen I liked about the pantomime was that Aladdin looked like he was actually flying and when the dame came out it was very funny. I disliked Nasty Nick because he was the evil character that kidnapped Princess Jasmin. It was so good I would recommend it. I would tell lots of people to go and see it. I would give it a 5 star rating because it was brilliant. My favourite character is Wishie Washie because he made us say “Hey Wishie eh eh eh eh! My least favourite character was Nasty Nick because he is evil and mean. I especially liked Widow Twanky because she was a dame and she kept telling old jokes. Danielle Yates

A Genie-ous Performance!

Star Rating What a fabulous show. I like the part where the zombies were dancing to Boom, Boom, Pow Remiz, it was really different and I love the music. Some of the jokes were awful but most of them were ok. I would recommend it to my friends. My favourite character was Jasmin’s dad and one of the dancers, who was AMAZING! My worst character was Nasty Nick, I think he could have been a bit more evil. I really enjoyed the play and would definitely go again. Charlotte Miles

I liked the pantomime because they used audience participation and that was fun for us not just fun for them. For me there was nothing that I didn’t like—it was so funny and noisy that at the end of the day I had a headache. I enjoyed it so much I would encourage my friends and family to go and see it. Also if I was asked to give it a star rating I would give it 5 out of 5. My favourite character of the pantomime was the spirit because she was funny and fabulous. However, my least favourite character was Abanaza because everything something exciting or good was going to happen he had to ruin it. As least the ending turned out to be good. On the other hand my most favour-ite part was the part when Abanaza was in ancient Egypt when the mummies were doing a funky, amazing but weird dance to cool music. Overall I loved the panto and when the next one is on we should go and watch. Nadia Allen

Year 5 have been studying free verse in poetry. The following are three pieces of children’s work on the topic of Autumn

Autumn dripped

through the dull wood falling leaves float down swept ants off their feet

then falling sticks hit cars

Autumn whistled after drips of rain

flowing rivers zoom off zoomed rivers and drag plants in

after there are no leaves left

Kyle Humphries 5JS

Autumn clambered Through a cheerful cherry tree,

Flinging herself at the leaves and fruit, Made then plunged and flew

Until it was miserable and its life began to ooze

Autumn chilled the outside world

displayed her powers of wind and hail froze the animals to death with an icy flail

but disappeared without a trail

Tom Ewing 5VW

Autumn painted and swished the leaves on the trees

crushing and pulling them down stamped on the flowers and chilled the air around

but never a weird frown on his mouth

Autumn stormed through the whispering wood turning the trees into twigs

freezing the rivers and streams then runs off never to be seen

Albert Bishop 5VW

A gentle reminder… • Chewing gum is not allowed in school and this includes school trips; • Extremes of hair colour or haircut will not be accepted including unnatural

colour, shorter than number 2, shaved stripes or patches or the use of hair gel and other styling products;

• Girls’ trousers should be of the tailored type not ‘fashion’ trousers; • Boys should wear black sensible shoes, boots or trainers are not

permitted; • Girls should wear black low-heeled, sensible shoes, no pointed heels or

platforms, again boots or trainers are not permitted; • The only jewellery permitted in school is one small stud earring in each

ear lobe and a sikh bangle on religious grounds; • Badges are not allowed to be worn in school;

Values Mark @ Arnold

A massive congratulations to all staff, pupils and parents at Arnold Middle School as we have recently been awarded the 'Values Education' mark. This mark is given to schools that clearly demonstrate their commitment to Values Education as a whole school approach.

During the visit to validate our application, our pupils were praised on their mature and reflective approach towards Values Education and how they are able to discuss what values mean to them.

PE Newsletter It has been a hectic and eventful first term in the PE Department. During this term the children have thoroughly enjoyed the competitive sports being provided. With our major focus on Netball, Basketball and Rugby, 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.

Football We will begin by talking about our Year 8 Football side, the team had a very tricky county cup draw against South Barnfield Academy despite playing really well, the boys conceded 2 late goals. The great amount of time we spent training was evident as the team had a good shape and build up some lovely passing moves. Meanwhile, our year 6 Football team and current County champions continued their impressive form beating Abbey Middle School 6-0 in their opening county cup football match playing some excellent football and keeping possession impressively. We look forward to the next round towards the end of January where we meet Lincroft Middle School at home. We also look forward to the upcoming year 5 football matches on Monday December 14th 2009. These have been specially arranged to provide the year 5 boys (A and B teams) with some more competitive football, after previously playing Robert Bloomfield. We are looking forward to hosting these matches and we know the boys are very much looking forward to them.

Rugby Rugby, despite losing their four league fixtures, the year 8 boys showed great progress and should take pride in what has been a tough two years for the team. Our year 7 team has also shown great progress, narrowly losing at home to Holywell, the boys’ have since gone on to beat Woodland away. With Robert Bloomfield presenting us with a win in our 3rd league game, we played our last league game against Parkfields at home and unfortunately narrowly lost in a hard-fought encounter.


Meanwhile our year 6 team had an extremely difficult opening Rushmoor Cup game against Lincroft away. Playing against an extremely talented team of rugby players who went on to win the Rushmoor trophy, our relatively inexperienced team, including some debutants, were comprehensively beaten. Since then however there has been exceptional and remarkable progress made. Regular and intense training sessions have seen an amazing change in the team’s season. Which began in London, where the team were entered into a prestigious annual rugby tournament held at Bancrofts Private School. As the only state school in this competition our boys performed exceptionally as a team to reach the final, having beaten two other private schools on the way. The final was played against the host school, Bancrofts, who hadn’t conceded a try in the competition. Despite conceding a try our boys rallied in the second half and became the only team to score against Bancrofts in the competition. With the game all square we entered the final seconds, Bancrofts scored a last gasp try to take the trophy. A remarkable day however, that saw our team earn praise from fellow teachers, schools, and parents Well done.

The year 6 team had certainly become a force going in to the remaining two Rushmoor Cup games, we visited Goldington Middle School and Robert Bruce Middle School full of confidence, and consequently beat these two teams 35-0 and 40-0 respectively.

Subsequently, we qualified for the plate competition which was held on Saturday 5th December at Rushmoor. Despite having a side short of many regular players, we again performed amazingly, beating Henlow 56-0, and Lincroft ‘B’ 34-0, to win the Plate. This therefore means the boys’ didn’t concede a try in 4 of their 5 Rushmoor games this season.

A huge congratulations to all of the following rugby players who have played a huge part in making this season a success:

Andrew Round (captain) Luke Draper Samuel Mclelland Sam Cook Niall Abraham Govind Sandhu Niall Palmer Evan Taylor Darian Graham Will Malvern Conner Penning David Harley Matt Vale Lee Houghton Sonny Foulkes Matthew Vale Harry Foulkes George Goodall


Basketball Our Basketball season has also started with the year 8 boys competing in the league, winning their first match the boys went on to narrowly lose their next 2 league games, which meant they missed out on another league fixture by one basket difference. Well done to the commitment shown, and excellent progress made by very inexperienced players, some playing competitive basketball for the very first time. The girls have also been training hard in preparation for their first league on the 10th December and hopefully they will be able to retain their title as County Basketball Champions this year. We will keep you updated on their progress.

We look forward to our year 7 fixtures which will be played in January. The boys and girls are already in training and are practicing regularly. A special mention to all those who make the year 7 basketball practices weekly, the turnout has been enormous and very impressive.

Netball Moving onto the Netball, the season commenced with the year 7&8 teams competing in the Mid Beds League. The first match took place at Robert Bloomfield in which both the teams played Etonbury and Robert Bloomfield. The year 7s were victorious in both games winning by impressive goal differences. The year 8s played a tight game against Etonbury winning by one goal on the final whistle, unfortunately they were unable to defeat Robert Bloomfield and narrowly missed out on another victory. The following matches resulted in a similar pattern with the year 7s winning all their games and the year 8s winning some and losing some. The results are as follows: Year 7 – 1st Place finishing on 24 points Woodlands 0 – Arnold 14 Alameda 4 – Arnold 14 Henlow 0 – Arnold 12 Holywell 5 – Arnold 12 Parkfields 4 - Arnold 9 Year 8 – 5th Place finishing on 16 points Woodlands 3 - Arnold 2 Alameda 4 – Arnold 7 Henlow 1 – Arnold 6 Holywell 2 – Arnold 6

The high standard of Netball exhibited by the year 7s was truly outstanding, especially considering that the girls had only recently made the transition from high five netball. The dedication and commitment to training sessions paid of for the team as they are now the league winners and didn’t lose a game throughout the league. Following this amazing achievement the girls qualified for the county competition held at Redborne Upper school. Once again the team competed with determination, drive and a clear focus of becoming County Netball Champions. The team won all their round games and progressed to the semi-finals, again they were victorious in their efforts and after a long cold night and many games reached the finals. They played Lincroft, it was a tight game but the Arnold girls were undoubtedly worthy winners and won the game with a score line of 2-3. I would like to congratulate and give my thanks to all the girls in the team who have made training them and taking them to fixtures an absolute pleasure. A massive well done to all the team:

Year 7 Netball County Champions 2009 Holly Thompson (C) Anna Savage Debbie Bolland Amy Gillard Kelsie Cummings Alliah Edwards Lucy Wolfe Charlotte Moore Evie Newton Sophie Wilson I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Holly Thompson for all her ef-forts and time captaining the team.

Indoor Athletics November also saw the annual indoor athletics events take place. It all began with the year 5 and 6 pupils who took part in indoor track and field events. The squads were chosen from trials and 6 multi-talented boys and girls were chosen to represent the school. The year 5&6 boys finished 3rd and the girls 4th overall. Whilst the year 7&8 boys and girls both finished in 4th place overall. Congratulations to all those who took part and a special mention to Connor Clifton year 8 who finished in first position in the vertical jump event. Year 5& 6 Matt Vale Jessica Jones Andrew Round Jessica Pitts Sam Mclelland Danielle Disola Niall Abraham Sylvie Masala Darian Graham Rebecca James Connor Penning Emily Carter Year 7&8 Connor Clifton Henny Horsler James Wildey Alice Double James Yates Charlotte Moore Nasar Khan Holly Thompson Aaron Fensone Evie Newton John Gray Jordon Clifton Curriculum - Your Leaders This term the department has introduced a “Your Leaders” unit of work in Year 8 Netball lessons. ‘Your leaders’ is a student – centred curriculum model, based on Sports Education Principles, within which pupils learn to plan, man-age and run their own sports ‘season’ as part of their PE programme. This is achieved by creating a student centred learning environment where the teachers roles gradually becomes one of a facilitator rather than a director of activity, supporting students in taking on roles such as coach, leader, official, administrator and manager as well as performer. ‘Your leaders’ supports the aims of the secondary curriculum. In addition, it has the potential to develop personal learning and thinking skills.

The year 8 girls thoroughly enjoyed the unit as they had greater involvement, better ownership over learning, more responsibility to work independently and fully participated in all lessons and tasks. The pupils felt the benefits of delivering a PE unit of activity through

young leaders were as follows:

• Fewer attendance and non – doer problems • Motivation was greatly increased, particularly peer motivation • Standards in Netball performance were improved • Students enjoyed working in their teams this improved team work and

co-operation between students. • Increased responsibility over lessons

The department hopes that this will have a knock-on-affect in participation in out-of-hours activities through students assisting with coaching, officiating, scoring and judging. The administrators from each team wrote a season’s report on their teams feelings about the unit and the highs and lows that their team experienced. Season reports from “Pretty Chicks” written by Josephine Littler 8CC and Kimberley Green and Chloe Stronach 8MW from the “White Mambas” .

Season Report Pretty Chicks 8CC believed that this topic was a good opportunity for them to get to know each other, as a new form. We have learned new skills throughout the topic, and would enjoy doing the same thing with another sport, like basketball. We all liked this way of learning because we were trusted to learn our own way, given responsibility, and liked the experience of teaching others. We have learned many skills, like working as a team, to except others differences and to get on with it. This topic has given us a turn to see how to be in a real netball team, and it may encourage people to try for a team themselves one day. We all agreed that it that we grew respect for each other, and worked harder for the team, we liked the games we could play. We got to choose what we did instead. We also agreed it made us work together, because we didn’t want to let the team down, we were supportive and wanted to gain points. Everyone tried their best to learn from their peers. At the beginning some of us did not get on very well, but we grew to listen to others, and to do our very best.

“I think you will see that we all benefited, and we would enjoy doing it again.” By Josephine Littler (Sports Administrator) on behalf of Pretty Chicks 8CC.

Season Report White Mambas The White Mambas have enjoyed taking part in the Your Leaders Netball during P.E lessons and as a group have a better understanding of each other’s abilities. We focused on individual skills and strengths, and enjoyed doing different warm ups and now we work well as a team. We also enjoyed having points for the team because it motivated us to do better. We got to pick our own uniform and this was really good because our team looked different to the others, warm-ups were really fun because they were different every week. The coaches on our team were excellent at teaching us and we have really learnt a lot from them. Our team now bonds more because we’ve got to know each other as a group. As a group we are responsible for having our own roles, we’ve enjoyed our roles. We’ve been happy as a team because we work well with each other. By Chloe Stronach and Kimberley Green.

Cross Country After the Christmas break the cross country fixtures begin, so we are looking for all interested runners to attend practices Thursday lunchtimes. All are welcome and the activities in the club will all be based around fun running. We look forward to seeing many pupils there. Finally, we would like to thank all the parents for their continued support during extra curricular practices and fixtures. The PE department would also like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year. Miss J. Cooke Mr K. Tfifha

Adventure Club on Tuesdays

Climbing Club on Thursdays

from 5pm to 6.30 pm

Ages from 8—13 years old

Enjoy the challenge and excitement of rock

climbing indoors in local Kempston.

Prices:

Termly membership prices over 6 weeks = £36

Normal price £7.50

*Under 18s will need written parental consent and must be supervised by a

competent adult climber unless approved by centre staff.

If you want to enjoy the challenge and excitement of climbing

and abseiling then come along to

Kempston Climbing Club

Kempston Outdoor Centre Hillgrounds Road

Kempston Bedford

MK42 8QQ

Tel: 01234 408402

Email: [email protected]

ARNOLD SCHOOL DIARY 2009-2010

Friday 18th December Autumn Term Ends Tuesday 5th January Spring Term Commences Monday 4th January Staff Training Day Wednesday 13th January Year 6 Parents’ SATs Preparation Evening Monday 25th January Mock SATs – Key Stage 2 Tuesday 9th February Harlington Upper School Year 8 Options Evening Monday 15th February Half term week – return Monday 22nd February Tuesday 23rd February Parents’ Awareness Raising Evening (2) Mon 8th – Fri 12th March Year 7 French PGL visit Thursday 11th March Parents’ Forum Evening (2) Mon 15th – Fri 19th March National Science Week – whole school enrichment events Wednesday 24th March Arts Performances (gymnastics, dance and drama) Thursday 25th March Arts Performances (gymnastics, dance and drama) Tuesday 30th March Year 8 group and individual photos + music groups Tuesday 30th March FASA Disco Wednesday 31st March SPRING CONCERT Thursday 1st April Spring Term Ends Fri 2nd – Sat 10th April Ski Trip Monday 19th April Training Day/Reports Day } Pupils not in school – appointment times will be Tuesday 20th April Reports Day } issued to meet with Form Tutors on both days Wednesday 21st April Summer Term Commences Wednesday 28th April Yr 3 / 4 Parents of Children with Additional Needs Meeting Thursday 29th April Junior Maths Challenge Day Monday 3rd May May Day Bank Holiday – school closed Mon 10th – Fri14th May Key Stage 2 SATs Week Mon17th – Fri 21st May Year 6 PGL Activity Week Mon 17th – Fri 21st May Enrichment Week W/c Mon 24th May MUSICAL PRODUCTION Tuesday 25th May Parents’ Forum Evening (3) Mon 31st May – Fri 4th June Half Term Week – return Monday 7th June Tuesday 8th June Parents’ Awareness Raising Evening (3) Tuesday 15th June Year 4 Maths & Rounders Day Wednesday 23rd June DT G&T Afternoon for Year 4 pupils Wednesday 7th July Summer Concert Thursday 8th July Year 8 Curriculum Induction Day (Harlington Upper School) Friday 9th July All Pupils’ Induction Day (including partner lower schools) Friday 9th July Year Eight Leavers’ Disco Friday 16th July Sports Events (athletics, swimming and team events)* further details to follow! Monday 19th July Year 5 Intake Evening for parents (with children) Monday 19th July Sports Events (athletics, swimming and team events)* Tuesday 20th July Year Five French Day Tuesday 20th July Leavers’ Celebration Assembly (evening with parents) Wednesday 21st July Year 8 Day Trip - Summer Term Ends.

Christmas Newsletter 2009

Documents

Transcript of Christmas Newsletter 2009