Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page

Headteacher’s Message

I am delighted to inform you that following a two day interview process, the Governing Body of Sir Frederic Osborn School has invited me to become the permanent Headteacher. It was without hesitation that I accepted their offer. Since joining the school in September, my belief in the potential for our school to be outstanding has never wavered. I feel extremely honoured and privileged to be given this opportunity. My mission for the school is to ensure that all the needs of our students are met in every area of school life and that each student is given a wealth of experiences and opportunities to succeed. There is much to celebrate at our school and I am excited to lead Sir Frederic Osborn School into its next stage of development ensuring that every student has a happy, fulfilling and successful time here. Working together we can ensure that students enjoy their time here, make exceptional progress and develop into responsible, mature young people who are ready to make their contribution to society and their communities. I am thrilled at what lies ahead for us and will begin working immediately to deliver on my mission above. Regards Jed Whelan Headteacher

Issue 78

December 2015

Week 1

Message from Chair of

Governors - Lin Keen The governors are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Jed Whelan as permanent Headteacher. The school has been through a period of change and uncertainty but now we have stability. We are confident that the school will flourish under Jed’s enthusiastic and committed leadership. Until the permanent appointment takes effect, Jed will continue in his role as Headteacher at Sir Frederic Osborn School under his existing short term contract. Lin Keen

Chair of Governors

Page 1

Sharing the detail and the bigger picture with our Community

Word of the Week

Anomaly - peculiar, irregular or abnormal

Christmas Dinner

Reminder Christmas Dinner on

Wednesday 9th December. It will be served as meal of the day at the cost

of £2.00.

Mrs K Humphris

Catering Manager

Maths Congratulations

Many congratulations to Shelbie Fisher Year 13 and Huw Christianson Year 12 for achieving a Bronze Certificate in the National Senior Maths challenge. Miss L Paraskeva Maths Subject Leader

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 2

Headteacher Awards w/e 26th November

Year 7 Emma Brassett 7R Efforts in Cross Country Freya Bye 7R Efforts in Cross Country Eddie Corbit 7R Efforts in Cross Country Charlotte Cox 7B Efforts in Cross Country Lilly Gibbons 7F Efforts in Cross Country Emily Nicolson 7R Efforts in Cross Country Kieron Packard 7S Efforts in Cross Country Owen Pilborough 7S Efforts in Cross Country Amy Rolfe 7R Brilliant model cells in Science Joshua Stevens 7F Efforts in Cross Country Natasha Warner 7R Brilliant model cells in Science

Year 8 Rebecca Edge 8S Efforts in Cross Country James Elliot 8F Efforts in Cross Country Callum Nicholson 8R Efforts in Cross Country Byron Tindling 8S Efforts in Cross Country

Year 9 Dylan Batson 9F Working hard & wanting to achieve good results in French & Spanish Waseem Bendahane 9F Working incredibly hard in Spanish Dean Carmichael 9F Working hard & being determined to improve skills in English Jamie Fisher 9R Great effort in French & Spanish Jay Fitzsimons 9R Efforts in Cross Country Alex Harris 9R Always pushing himself to be the best that he can be in French & Spanish Natasha Hughes 9F Working hard to improve English grades Courtney Marney 9F Always producing work of a high standard & consistently good quality in French and Spanish Andre Palmer 9B Efforts in Cross Country Tobi Sowemimo 9S Efforts in Cross Country Nikki Spicer 9R Efforts in Cross Country Claudia Wilk Outstanding Effort all of the time in French & Spanish

Year 10 Andre Aguilar 10R Excellent response to Science marking Trisha Ajesh 10F Outstanding work towards French oral mock exam Trisha Ajesh 10F Excellent response to Science marking Matthew Cachin 10R Effort in Philosophy & Ethics Regan Carolan 10S Outstanding commitment to Sports Leaders Anna Fuller 10F Excellent Science test result Anna Fuller 10F Outstanding work towards French oral mock exam Rebecca Hedley 10E Working extra hard in English Tanisha Kamaly 10S Consistently working hard in Science Tanisha Kamaly 10S Outstanding work towards French oral mock exam Thomas Langham 10R Progress in Philosophy & Ethics Frankie O’Shea 10B Consistently working hard in English & Film Studies Ben Schechner 10R Efforts in Cross Country

Year 11 Ian Alonzo 11S Good Effort at school & at home with Spanish Ronan Byrne 11B Top work ethic in Science Cheryl Crashaw 11R Effort in Philosophy & Ethics Abisola Fabunmi 11N Effort in Philosophy & Ethics Rachel Golder 11R Efforts in Cross Country Leah James 11N Effort in Philosophy & Ethics Emma Lowe 11S Consistent hard work in Science Lillith Nelhans 11N Excellent work commitment to Spanish studies Leah Rice 11N Producing excellent work and always striving to achieve more in Spanish Francesca Tozer 11R Efforts in Cross Country Francesca Tozer 11R Efforts in Philosophy & Ethics Ellie Wood 11S Producing excellent work & commitment to Spanish studies

Year 12 Joshua Aylott 12B Efforts in Cross Country Vinnie Bradshaw 12A Efforts in Cross Country Aaron Forman 12B Efforts in Cross Country Matt Westcott 12A Efforts in Cross Country

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 3

Year 11 Drama Performance

On the 24th and 25th of November 2015, we saw the Year 11 Drama performance called “I Remember When” based on the lives of those in World War Two. All of the drama classes are using the Second World War as a stimulus to create a performance, and the Year 11 actors have done this to a high standard. The audience were treated to three exciting scenes which took place all around the school; a factory; an air raid shelter; and a VE Day Parade. The actors were suited and booted in authentic period costume, creating a realistic atmosphere to the piece, and immersing the audience into an unforgettable night of drama.

Miss Standage’s grandparents Ellen and Ronald Altria were extremely inspiring as they came in to talk to the students about their memories of the Second World War.

A special mention to all of those who helped out and donated their time to the performance, and a big well done to all of the Year 11s!

Miss Standage would like to thank all the team of staff, parents and students that worked together to make this event happen.

Upcoming Events Year 10 Drama Performance ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ Monday 7th and Wednesday 9th December at 6pm in E1. Tickets on sale now £2. Year 11, 12 & 13 Drama theatre trip to Rada Studios on 10th December to see Splendid Productions adaptation of ‘Odyssey’. Students to meet in E1 at 4.45pm we need to leave promptly at 5pm. Drama, Dance and Music present our ‘Christmas Extravaganza’ on Monday 14th December at 6pm in Osborn Hall. Tickets now on sale. Year 12 & 13 performance of ‘Teens Those Days’ based on The Land Girls and Anne Frank has been moved to Monday 11th January at 6pm and Tuesday 12th January at 3.30pm.

Please come and support us. Miss S Standage Drama Subject Leader

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 4

Art News

Year 10 have made excellent progress with their self-portraits and produced some high quality results exploring tone and texture to create an illusion of depth in their outcomes. Students used the 'grid method' to push their ability to look closely at smaller sections, assessing the distance between lines and the contrast in tones; breaking down that barrier of drawing what we 'think' we see. Great resilience and perseverance demonstrated by the students who are well on their way to becoming outstanding artists!

“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that

wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” ~Robert Henri

Reminder Open studio KS4 is Wednesday

Lunchtimes and afterschool 3 - 4pm.

Mrs H Brown

Art Subject Leader

SFO Dragons News

The Dragons apprentice group would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been helping us and contributing to our challenge in raising money for Family Lives you have all made a big difference. On the 19th November the SFO Dragons had a stall at the Welwyn Garden City lights switch on. We sold tea, coffee, biscuits, sweetie cones and Christmas decorations, we raised a grand total of £200. We also held a non uniform on the 20th November and on the same day we held a doughnut sale at break time, from this we raised £520.58. Overall we have almost raised £1000 and still have many events planned. Thank you again and please stay up to date with our upcoming events as we couldn’t do this without the great support.

Thank you especially to Morrison’s bakery who supplied our doughnuts, Vanessa Moore for making sweetie cones and the Headteacher of Lakeside school, Judith Chamberlain for supplying an urn and other resources and thank you to everyone who gave their time to help us. The SFO Dragons

Parent/Carer Reminder

Please return the Data Collection sheet and Annual Medical Consent Form to Reception as soon as possible to ensure that we have the most up to date contact details. Thank you

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 5

District Cross Country

On Wednesday 18th November Sir Frederic Osborn students attended the District Cross Country at Queenswood School. Despite the fact we had runners for all age ranges we only had teams of 4 for Year 7 boys, girls and Senior boys, this meant that all other runners were running for individual places. The course comprised of field , dirt track and forest and as can be seen students were entered in various categories: Year 7 boys - 2.2km Year 7 girls - 1.5km Year 8 boys - 2.68km Year 8 girls - 2.2km Year 9 boys - 3.3km Year 9 girls - 2.68km Year 10 boys - 3.78km Senior boys - 4.4km Senior girls-3.3km The weather on the day made running not ideal having hurricane ‘Barney’ only come through the day before meant that conditions were muddy and heavy going for all competitors the rain which came later meant the field became even more difficult to race on. Despite this all the students competed superbly, noticeable mentions should go to Charlotte Cox who came third in the Year 7 Girls and Callum Nicolson winning his Year 8 Boys event. Overall out of 12 schools that entered the Year 7 girls came 5th and the Year 7 boys 8th and Senior Boys 6th overall. Special mention should also be made to the other runners who raced despite not being able to score on the overall team results. Well done to all and thanks to all the staff who attended despite the wind and the rain it was much appreciated by all. Mr J Chappell

PE Teacher

Year 9 Badminton

On 1st of December four Year 9 Sir students took part in a badminton tournament at the University of Hertfordshire. This was a county tournament with some of the best badminton players in Hertfordshire competing.

The players that took part were, Sam Edge, Alex Harris, Fyn Jordan and Charlie Montague. Sam started off the day with the first game but it was a rocky start against Hitchin and their player was a strong opponent beating Sam. Next Fyn and Charlie played a doubles match, starting the game off with the score of 2-2 however, after a few points Hitchin started to gain the lead and the final score was an 11-5 loss. The boys played 3 more matches against this school. After losing their first 5 matches, SFO felt a little downhearted and Mrs J Spence gave them some encouraging advice. Next to play was John Warner School, starting to play with a new team gave the boys some enthusiasm. Sam played first, losing 11-3 to John Warner’s excellent team player. Sam was then followed by Fyn and Charlie who started off losing; however they managed to pull themselves together and get SFO a win with a score of 11-5. Then Alex played and lost with a score of 11-9 followed by Fyn/Sam then Alex/Charlie, who both won with a score of 11-7. At this point they had lost against one team and won against the other so all hope was restored.

Our next match was against Verulam and Sam started playing the best that he had done but his best wasn’t quite enough and he unfortunately lost his match with a score of 11-4. Shortly after Sam, Fyn and Charlie played again and they played amazingly well throughout the game. The score got to a tie at 10-10 and each team had to get 2 clear points to win. This went on for a while but the final score was 17-15 to SFO. As they came off of the court Mrs Spence was very proud of them both, especially Fyn who she said made some excellent serves. After this amazing game, it was followed by Alex who lost 11-6 then Fyn/Sam who won 11-4 then Alex/Charlie who won 11-3.

The final team that they played against was Parmiters who were outstanding beating Sam 11-4 then Fyn/Charlie 12-10. Sir Frederic Osborn overall won against 2 schools and lost against 2, it meant that if Alex couldn’t pull off a win then they were out of the competition. Alex tried his hardest and did very well but unfortunately the final score was 11-6. This meant that SFO were out of the competition, but with a smile the 4 boys played the last 2 matches for pride.

So overall Sir Frederic Osborn came 3rd out of 5 schools in their category which was rather good considering how tough the opposition was.

By Melissa Aylott Sports Reporter

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 6

Sports Centre News Free Dance Session We are running a free Dance taster sessions with the hope to run them on a weekly basis in the New Year. A session ran on Wednesday 2nd December for 7-10 year olds and the next one will be on Wednesday 9th December (11-15 year olds). Both of these sessions will run from 5.45-6.45pm. Email Paige at leisure.assistant@sfosborn.herts.sch.uk to book your place. Book quickly as places are limited. Toy Collection We are delighted to announce we will be collecting and distributing toys at Christmas to some very special children. Please feel free to donate a toy to us, we will then distribute this to one of the several local venues we are in discussion with. All toys must be new (nothing second hand) and ideally wrapped. If you can make a note of the age and gender the gift is suitable for also, this will help us to allocate gifts to the right children.

RUNNING CLUB Mr S Harte and Miss G Ward re-launched an SFO Running Club last week on the AWP. Students from Year 9 & 10 were put through their paces with some short burst drills working over short and medium distances in the first week. This will run every Friday lunchtime, you can sign up for this outside Mr S Harte’s office. Mr S Harte

Sports Centre Manager

Student Sporting Success On Sunday 29th November 2015 I represented Sir Frederic Osborn at the Eastern Schools’ Regional Trampolining Competition. I train on a Friday and Saturday at Levitation Trampoline Club who supported and accompanied me on the day and throughout my training. On the day I competed two routines a compulsory category that everyone performed and a voluntary which could be adapted to show off some different skills. The judges gave me a score of 21.37 on my first routine and 23.53 for the second, which is the highest I have ever been given. This gave me more confidence and belief in myself. Thank you to Mrs M Salter, Mrs S Mitcherson and Mr Whelan for supporting me through the competition. By Kayleigh Plumb 11E

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 7

Pupil Premium was introduced by the Government in April 2011. It was designed to give additional money to support in raising the attainment of students:- Who receive free school meals (FSM) Who have received free school meals at any time in the last six years (FSM Ever 6) Whose parents are service personnel Who are children looked after (CLA) It has been identified nationally that these students under-perform in comparison with students from less disadvantaged backgrounds. The purpose of the Pupil Premium is to help schools to provide targeted support for these students. We decide how to use the funding and our efforts are focused on supporting the learning of targeted students. The Government does not prescribe how we use the funding. For more details on the Pupil Premium please visit:- www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings

Therefore are you entitled to apply for free school meals? If you think you child is entitled to free school meals, you will need to apply online or fill in an application form supplied by Hertfordshire Council. If you are applying for free school meals for the first time, the quickest and easiest way is to apply online. Go to the hertsdirect website: http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/edlearn/canhelp/howtoapply/ You are welcome to arrange to come in and use our school computers to make your application. If you think your child is entitled to free school meals, why not apply? Any questions please speak to:-

Mrs Simmonds Pupil Premium Co-ordinator 01707 351350 Ext 358

Sir Frederic Osborn School Insight Newsletter 4th December 2015 Page 8

Diary Dates 2015/2016

Autumn Term 2015

Mon 30th - 11th Dec Year 11 Mock Exams in Osborn Hall Wed 9th Dec Christmas Dinner Monday 14th Dec Christmas Extravaganza Tues 15th Dec Upper School Presentation Evening 6pm Wed 16th Dec PA Christmas Disco in Attimore Hall Fri 18th Dec End of Term (Time tbc)

Spring Term 2016

Mon 4th Jan 2016 Inset Day - School Closed

Tues 5th Jan Spring Term Begins Tues 5th - 8th Jan Post 16 Exams Thurs 7th Jan Year 9 Options Evening Thurs 14th Jan PA Meeting in K1 at 6.30pm Thurs 21st Jan Year 11 Parents Evening Thurs 28th Jan Year 12 Parents Consultation Evening Thurs 4th Feb Year 13 Parents Consultation Thurs 11th Feb Year 9 Parents Evening

Fri 12th Feb Inset Day - School Closed Mon 15th - 19th Feb Half Term Fri 25th March Good Friday Mon 28th March Easter Monday Fri 1st April End of Term Mon 4th - 15th April Easter Break

Summer Term 2016

Mon 18th April Summer Term Starts Mon 2nd May Bank Holiday Mon 30th - 3rd June Half Term Fri 22nd July End of Term

Mon 25th July Inset Day - School Closed