DearParentsThis is thehalf-termwhen majorexternal

examinations begin. Year 11are on their revision pro-gramme making final prepa-rations for important GCSEexaminations. Year 12 and13 also start importantexaminations at AS and A2level. The InternationalBaccalaureate students havetaken their mock examina-tions and remain in full-timestudy until the end of term.External examinations will contin-ue well into June and, althoughnot required by law, Year 9 (andsome Year 8 students) will formal-ly take SATs in English (only Year9), Mathematics and Scienceunder full examination condi-tions. Parents of Year 9 students(and relevant Year 8) will receiveteacher assessments later thisterm. We wish all the above stu-dents every success!

Those of you who have visitedTrent Reception will have seen ourresident blackbirds nesting aboveour entrance doors. I am pleasedto report that despite all thenoise etc of a busy college thefour chicks and proud parentshave now flown the nest. A caseof ‘Bye Bye Blackbird!’

Enjoy the break!

principal@deferrers

M A YorkPrincipal

deFerrers.COMmuniquédeFerrers.COMmuniquéNumber 046 Summer Half Term 2009

COMMUNICATING THROUGHOUT DE FERRERS SPECIALIST TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

W E B S I T E N E W S F E E D S - S E E P A G E 3

TO

COMING SOON –THE 9th ANNUALTECHNOLOGY SHOW,OUR SHOWCASE OFTECHNOLOGYCOLLEGE STATUSThe theme this time isInternational Mindedness.This year sees the return ofthe popular Staff-StudentCooking Competition, AssaultEvents, Catwalk Show andhands-on science experi-ments. There will be robots,ICT movie-making, TVweather reports, an MFLavatar workshop, high techsports science and muchmore. Highlights will be onthe website during the week.Details will be sent out soonabout Masterclasses forstudents and parents and theʻBring a parent to collegeʼ Day.Watch out too for some excit-ing online competitions.The Technology Show Weekruns from 22nd June to26th June 2009

Qwerty was crowned the best of over seven hundred student entrepreneurs running oversixty companies across Staffordshire at JCB Headquarters in Rocester in the County Finalsof the Young Enterprise Company Innovation Competition 2009. They will now go on to rep-resent Staffordshire at the West Midlands Regional Finals at Aston University on 18th June.

Ninth Annual TechnologyShow

22.06.09 - 26.06.09

AAWWAARRDD WWIINNNNIINNGG SSTTAAFFFFOORRDDSSHHIIRREE YYOOUUNNGG EENNTTEERRPPRRIISSEE CCOOMMPPAANNYY

Chair of the judging panel, IanCarlier, Director of BusinessEnterprise Support, said “The busi-ness acumen and entrepreneurialskills displayed by young peopletaking part in the Young EnterpriseCompany Programme just keepsgetting better and better! This canonly bode well for future economicsuccess of Staffordshire”

Six teams of students aged fourteento nineteen who had already beendeemed the best at area finals com-petitions last month came along toJCB on the 6th May to compete. Theteams have to run their own realbusiness for an academic year. Aspart of their year in business, notonly do they design and producetheir own product or service andlearn about how a real businessworks, they also take part in theYoung Enterprise Competition. Thisincludes taking part in a judgedTrade Fair along with student teamsfrom other schools, putting togeth-er a company report including theirfinancial accounts and finally theyhave to present their business jour-ney to a panel of judges and apacked theatre of guests.

Award winning company “Qwerty,”and their quirky elastic band whichkeeps your work papers and penorganised, scooped most of theawards.

GGoolldd AAwwaarrddBest Company

SSiillvveerr AAwwaarrddssBest Company Report and CorporateGovernance Award Innovation Award Most Entrepreneurial Company

Sue Mills, Programme Executive forStaffordshire and the Black Country,praised the students. “These fantas-tic young people will join our grow-ing alumni of achievers who, inde-pendent research has shown, aremore likely to be ready for the worldof work, more likely to get involvedin community projects and have abetter understanding of the impor-tance of lifelong learning than theirpeers. Well done to all our achievers,who have learned by doing!”

Young Enterprise needs the supportof the local business community topass on their expertise and skills tothese young people. Learning out-side the classroom is crucial inenriching and embedding the learn-ing inside the classroom and prepar-ing young people for the future.Volunteers and businesses also gainby the development of skills gainedby mentoring and supporting theprogramme. One volunteer businessadvisor said “I am really proud of theteam members and feel supportingthe students through their successesand challenges has inspired me too.”

www.deferrers.com

QWERTY MEAN BUSINESS!

Communiqué

Fifteen Year 12 students attended an Insignia Visit as part of theirGeneral Studies course, where they had studied a module on poli-tics. They were given a talk by the Mayor, Liz Staples, explainingthe history of the building and also how local government oper-ates. It was an enjoyable afternoon for all.

BTEC Art & DesignBTEC First Diploma Art andDesign students put on theirfinal exhibition of work on May6th 2009. Parents, friends, contacts andteachers all came to view. Itwas a great success. They havebeen asked to hold a publicexhibition in July at RollestonChurch. A big congratulations toall students as they have nowall passed the course.

COMING SOON– OUR NEW VLEde Ferrers SpecialistTechnology Collegewill soonbe gettingthe nextgenerationlearningplatform –FROG. There will be far more for youto do as students and par-ents, with news feeds, accessto timetables, revisionresources, a virtual plannerand lots more.

We would like to know yourviews: � What would you like tohave on the new VLE?� What features do you thinkyou need to push your learn-ing forward?

You can e-mail suggestionsto: frog@deferrers.mg4l.net

PSFADO NOT READ THIS!The Humanities CurriculumArea excitedly announces thecreation of the “SocialSciences.” This newCurriculum Area brings togeth-er Psychology, Sociology,Health and Social Care andChild Development. Specialist Social Science teach-ers make up a dedicated teamwith a focus on developing stu-dent pathways to achievement.Social Sciences lead the way forstudents who are interested inhuman society and the manner inwhich people behave and theimpact on the world around us.We look forward to this vibrantarea of study developing evenmore programmes and we willkeep you posted on the develop-ments! We are confident thatstudents joining us will enjoygaining knowledge that will servethem well throughout life.Why did you read the above?The answer to this and manyother questions lie in the SocialSciences!THE SOCIAL SCIENCE TEAM

Reading QuizThe English Curriculum Areahas started interactivequizzes to encourage stu-dents to read and test theirknowledge and understand-ing for fun and a chance ofwinning a prize. This year wehave held quizzes on TomBeckerʼs ʻNightrapʼ, DerekLandyʼs ʻSkulduggeryPleasant ̓and StephanieMeyerʼs ʻTwilight. ̓ Thequizzes are growing in popu-larity and the next readingquiz will be on ʻBreakingDawn ̓also by StephanieMeyer.Elina Baker reviewed the quiz:The ʻTwilightʼ quiz took place onMonday 27th April; at the quizthere was a range of studentsfrom all year groups. For thequiz we used the Quizdomhandsets which meant you hadto answer the questions asquickly as possible. The quizconsisted of thirty multiplechoice questions. Some of thequestions were easy and somewere difficult, so you had tohave read the novel closely. I found the quiz fun and enjoy-able.Copies of ʻBreaking Dawnʼ canbe borrowed from the LearningCentre.

Key Stage 4 BurtonCollege BridalCompetition- Year 10 winnerGeorgina BoothmanYear 10 and Year 11 KeyStage 4 Salon Services tookpart in a Bridal Competition atBurton College on 6th May toshow off their creative skillswith long hair. Students hadthirty minutes in which to cre-ate a bridal hair put up. All stu-dents demonstrated high lev-els of dexterity and creativityto such a standard that it isthe intention for students to beentered into regional competi-tions next year.

What does the PSFA actuallydo? You may well ask.Our primary, but not exclusive,purpose is to raise funds.Every penny of profit that we makesooner or later is used to purchaseitems for the college. Every time youattend an event, not only are youhaving a good time but the moneyyou spend will go towards somethingwhich most likely will benefit yourson or daughter at some stage dur-ing their time at de Ferrers. Do theysit on the benches and tables out-side at Dove? We bought them. Dothey play rugby at the Year 7-9Rugby Club at Dove? We boughttraining vests, rugby balls and tacklebag. Do they attend Geography fieldtrips? We bought flow meters forthem to use. Are they involved indrama or music? We have con-tributed towards the cost of extrastaging and amplifiers. Do they usethe new fitness suite in the SportsHall at Trent? We donated £10,000towards purchase of equipment. How do we do this? Well, we run thebar at college events such as theAutumn Concert and the Evening ofthe Arts. We organise bingo nights,quiz nights and the occasional fash-ion show. We run the Christmas Fairat, yes youʼve guessed it, atChristmas time! Occasionally weeven run celebrity football match-es…..The committee members give theirtime and energy freely and have alot of fun in the process. We havesons and daughters in most yearsfrom Year 7 right through to the SixthForm so share a lot of informationand experience when we get togeth-er. If you would like to find out moreabout what we do give me a call orleave your name and contact num-ber at either Trent or Dove recep-tions and I will call you. Donʼt forget to check out our web-page in the Parents section of deFerrers website:http://www.deferrers.com/page_viewer.asp?page=PSFA&pid=24

Anita McLeanChair01283 568201

PS Duck Race results:Winning numbers: 1st: - 829 2nd - 830 3rd - 135

Website NewsfeedsYou can now get all of the latest deFerrers news sent straight to yourphone or computer, as an RSS feed.Click on the hotbox at the top of our

website homepage to find out what to do.Also, you will soon be able to watch information channelsabout the college on www.deferrerstv.com. There will berevision clips, student movies and projects, pathwaysinformation and a lot more.

Communiqué

The winners of the Twilight competition wereHannah Lewis, Dara Laughlin, Georgie Deaville and Laura Moss. Competition devised by Hannah Snelling.

Project Tanzania 2010Since the last term newsletter, the team hasmade some significant progress in reachingits Tanzania Grand Total!

Grub andGruesome!There have been somestrange goings-on in theHumanities rooms onDove this last month:porridge and portraits,swords and stew, castlesand cake, along with lotsof blood-curdling execu-tion scenes, bloodiedaxes and heads withoutbodies.Yes, it has been the Year 8Civil War History Challengeand this yearʼs entries havebeen particularly detailed,especially in the food and exe-cution departments. Studentshave researched their topicsso well the realism has beenastounding. So much so thatJudge Mrs. Wakelin was over-come with the vapours whenshe saw the winning artefactentry. It was a grisly reproduc-tion of Oliver Cromwellʼs sev-ered head, complete with

bones and ʻfood tubeʼ, meticu-lously recreated by ElliotCollins of 8C2.Mrs Wakelin was equallymoved by the winning projectentry, a Civil War diary writtenby Alex Bird of 8P1. The styl-ish and poetic replica showedgreat warmth and attention todetail. A wonderful and worthywinner.Runners-up include AdamWoodward, Edward Hardiman,Liam Farrell, Liam Chapman,Isobel Wood, Isabelle Fisher,Daniel Lee, Josh Rutland andHarry Daisley.

The Soul Evening was a greatsuccess, a night thoroughlyenjoyed by all with well over£1000 raised for the project, afantastic boost to the teamsavings. Weʻd like to say ahuge thank you to all who sup-ported us on the night! Taking every opportunity pos-sible to bag pack in our localsupermarkets, the teambooked more places inSainsburyʼs and Marks andSpencerʼs. Both of theseevents were highly profitable,raising us nearly £900 for thetwo days.Taking a role in the DoveValley Community Projectʼsannual Hatton festival along-side the de Ferrers PSFA, theteam helped sell the thousandDuck Race tickets and alongwith the tombala on the day,the students were able to takehome £374. With betweenapproximately 2000 peopleattending, it was a very popu-lar event!The next ten week term of theʻTanzania 200 clubʼ is alsoabout to begin. The first roundpaid out £500 to the lucky win-ners and helped us raise£1500 for the team total! Ifyou would like to take part orhelp out in some other way,send an e-mail totanzania@deferrers.staffs.sch.uk.The next big event to put onyour calendars is the RaceNight, being held in Trent Hallon Saturday 27th June.Tickets will soon be available

from the college offices, pricedat £2. With a licensed bar andfood available, it is set to be afun-filled night for both stu-dents and adults. You canplace bets on tote races onyour own or as a group andeven buy a horse prior to theevent and sample the cham-pagne lifestyle in the ownersʼenclosure. Finally, in Coopers Square carpark on Saturday 5th June,the team has organised acharity Car Wash. Throughoutthe day they will be there towash your cars whilst yourelax and shop! They hope tosee you there!

Visit to Limousin At the beginning of May, agroup of Year 9 Linguistswent to the beautiful Frenchregion of Limousin wherethey spent a week immersedin the French language andculture.All of the students took part in anumber of language classesand an excursion to Oradour-sur-Glane which was devastat-ed during the Second World

War. This enabled them to usethe new skills and confidencethat they gained. De Ferrers also won the Inter-School Rounders Tournament.(Which was a miracle consider-ing that Mr Martin played too!)All in all, the group enjoyed theweek in Limoges and havegained a lot from the experience.Well done and congratulations tothe students on their positive atti-tude and hard work!

Communiqué

Trent CampusSt Mary’s DriveBurton upon TrentDE13 0LLTelephone: 01283 239936Fax: 01283 239950

e-mail: office@deferrers.staffs.sch.uk www.deferrers.com

Dove CampusHarehedge LaneBurton upon TrentDE13 0ASTelephone: 01283 239961Fax: 01283 239971

de FerrersSpecialist Technology CollegePrincipal: Mr M A York BA (Hons) BEd MBA

SPORT

Music Notes

NetballU16 Burton and District Netball League ChampionsThe team was undefeated all season. All played extremely well and teamspirit was excellent. The captaincy was shared around giving all anopportunity to lead. An excellent season! Well done, girls.

FootballEach year group was entered intothe Annual 7-a-side FootballCompetition at Pingle High school.All year groups played in groupstages of the competition, with thetop two teams to play in anextended final. The only successful year group tomake it to the Finals was the year7 team, coached by Mr Campbell.They eventually went on to win thecompetition with a 1-0 victory inthe final. Congratulations to allinvolved this year with the football.

CricketThe cricket season has recentlystarted and fixtures are comingthrough thick and fast, with boththe Year 8 and Year 9 teams hav-ing already played two gameseach. It has been an excellentstart for the Year 8 team mem-bers, coached by Mr Lovell, whohave won both of their openingleague games, including beatingtheir arch rivals, John Taylor! Thissuccess hasnʼt been shared bythe Year 9 team, who have lostboth of their opening games.

Results:Year 8:de Ferrers (177-1) beat WilliamAllit (68-8) (16 overs)de Ferrers (54 all out) beat JohnTaylor (52-8) (16 overs)Year 9:Thomas Alleynes (82-5) beat deFerrers (72-6) (16 overs)(County Cup) Wolstanton (76-7)beat de Ferrers (58-7) (16 overs)Massive congratulations to MrS Taylor on finishing 12th outof 381 competitors in theʻFellsman 100km raceʼ! Thatʼsright, 100km! The race isacross the Yorkshire Dalesand involves using a map andcompass to navigate yourroute. Mr Taylor completed thecourse in a very respectablefourteen hours. So if any staffor students fancy having a goat this next year, or for infor-mation on similar cross country races, please see theexpert, Mr S Taylor! Welldone!

Back row - left to right - Kirsty Lane, Jenny Heathcote, Paris Hemming,Hannah Smith, Freddie FordBottom row - left to right - Hannah Ward, Elouise Freitas, Katie Robinson

BasketballThe Sixth Form Basketball Team has finally been crowned Staffordshirecounty champions after beating Blake Valley in a thrilling final 84 – 66. Well done to all the players on a super victory.

The Year 9 Basketball Team has also reached the County Final afterbeating Haywood High school 33 – 19. The final will be played in Junealong with the Year 10 team members who are also waiting to play theirfinal. A very successful year for Basketball!

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE!A recent trip to Shakespeare’sGlobe theatre in London provedextremely useful for Year 13English classes last month asthe students were invited for atour around the famous the-atre, as well as a private work-shop with an actor of the RoyalShakespeare Company. The students, currently studying‘Measure for Measure’ and ‘AWinter’s Tale,’ had the valuableopportunity to experience first-hand, how the pays would havebeen staged at the time of writingas well as in the present day, andthe chance to experiment with per-forming sections from Shakespeare’sMeasure for Measure, somethingwhich is difficult to achieve in theclassroom.

This gave students a chance to gaina better understanding of the struc-ture, rhythm and meaning of one ofthe play’s key speeches, an experi-ence which was both enjoyable anduseful for the fast approaching A2examinations. The students also vis-ited London’s Imperial War Museum,which was for many, a moving andilluminating experience allowing amore in-depth insight into variousforms of World War One literaturebeing studied as part of the currentA Level course.

Just to complete cultural activities,some of the above Year 13 studentssaw ‘A Winter’s Tale’ at theCourtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon - and that was a fantastic pro-duction too!Key Stage 4 students need not feelleft out as they will have been on atrip to see ‘An Inspector Calls’ atNottingham by the time thisnewsletter is released. We aredelighted to give students theopportunity to see high quality livetheatre performances as part of thecollege’s commitment to enrich-ment opportunities.

You may remember that inthe last newsletter item wetold you that DeFJO wereabout to participate in theRegional Festival of Musicfor Youth in Birmingham.After a superb performance,which produced many greatcomments from the adjudi-cators, we were delighted toreceive a letter inviting theband to play at the NationalFestival at the Adrian BoultHall in Birmingham on 10thJuly. This really is a fantas-

tic honour, and confirmsDeFJO as one of the topschool jazz orchestras inthe UK.The rock band D-Fused, whosemembers are all in Year 12 atde Ferrers, recently won theregional heat of theStaffordshire Rocks competitionat Thomas Alleyne's School in

Uttoxeter. They beat off stiffcompetition from other bands inthe area, winning a place in theGrand Final later in the term, aswell as a small guitar amp forthe Music Curriculum Area. Welldone, guys (and thank you)!Finally for now, rehearsals are infull swing for this year's summerproduction, ʻLittle Shop ofHorrors,ʼ which takes place inthe penultimate week of term.Tickets will be available shortlyafter half term - keep an eye outfor details.