From the Head Teacher Dear Parents and Carers As one gets older not only do police officers appear younger but also the school year goes faster. It is difficult to accept that we only have one half‐term left of this academic year. Nevertheless, it will be a very eventful period, which will culminate in our Activities Week – “Days at the Circus”. Staff during this half‐
term will be busy preparing for the new academic year and especially for our new Tiering arrangement in Years 7 and 8. We welcome Jonathan Taylor, our new Deputy Head – Student Welfare, who will take over from Joan Marchant from the start of the next academic year. We wish him every success and happiness in this demanding post. June is our major examination season. We have been very pleased to see the dedication demonstrated by the majority of our students in preparation for their major GCSE and College assessments. This follows a very successful week of SATs for Year 9, whose attendance throughout their exam week was 100%. Examination achievement is the over‐riding priority of the school, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my teaching staff for all the extra time and support they have given our students to ensure their best possible chance of success, and parents and carers for their welcome support. Best wishes to every student for a successful half‐term of achievement. Yours sincerely John Tomasevic The Reception Team The Reception team are the front line of the school. In this very busy department some of their many duties include student and phone enquiries, pupil welfare, liaison between parents/teachers and greeting any visitors to school. The team from left to right are Linda Brown, Josie Boulton, and Maria O’Reilly. The Pastoral Admin Support Team Gill Stewart, Gina Godfrey, Siobhan Gallagher and Julie Smith are the pastoral admin support team. Our duties cover administrative support for the Assistant Headteacher (Pastoral), Heads of Year, and general support for all teachers and the Learning Support Unit. As well as the above, other duties include assistance with the Work Experience Programme, attendance, all admissions and leavers, and the general inputting of all pupil contact information. The Finance Team Jeni Barker and Jenny Packard . We are the schools Finance Team, responsible for all aspects of Finance including budgeting, procurement, invoicing, school trip payments, managing school funds in general and providing overall financial support/advice to the Head Teacher, Governors and all teaching staff. Personnel and Heads PA Karen Kelly (pictured on the right) is the personnel officer and has a very busy role co‐ordinating the staffing to enable that all lessons be covered due to absence. She also has the demanding task of recruiting new staff as efficiently and effortlessly as possible into the school. Pictured alongside her is Susy Edyvean who is the Head’s PA. Pupil Welfare Team Our job title is Pupil Welfare Officer, and we are Krista Millett and Sheila Weston, we are mainly responsible for First Aid and this takes up LOADS of time as the kids are finding new and innovative ways to hurt themselves!!! We are responsible for monitoring the attendance of the children and trying to ensure a speedy transition between lessons! (Not always easy!!) Sometimes, I feel like the child catcher from Chitty chitty bang bang!! We also organise the lunchtime supervisors that help out in the dining room and year areas!! In our spare time, we catch up on paperwork and hopefully building good relationships with the kids, who know where to come when they need us!! Site Team Leader Simone Ingram is the Site Manager, she leads her busy team of Ted Turns ‐ Head Site Technician, Rolly Cook and Simon Allan. This dedicated and knowledgeable team provides 7 day a week maintenance and upkeep of the site. They are also are responsible for the development and refurbishment of the school and help to secure a safe and healthy environment. Post 16 Support Hello, I’m Val Bird. During the last five years I have had the most rewarding experience of seeing the transformation of your children into adults. My office is based in the Beach Hut and I can be found there regularly shouting at the boys and eating bacon cobs! But on the more serious side, my job title is Post 16 Support and that’s what I hope I achieve. I have a dual role with Toot Hill in that I also advise on Health & Safety issues and work closely alongside our site team to ensure that Toot Hill is a safe working environment for staff and students. Catering Team Toot Hill School took their catering service in‐house in September 2005, and within a very short period, achieved the Healthy School’s Award for Healthy Eating. The catering team continue to strive for excellence in their service and quality of food. In February 2007, the catering service was audited by a Nottinghamshire County Council Catering Adviser and, the following comments were made in their report: ‘Wendy (catering manager) and the team provided a quality catering service for the school.’ ‘The menu meets the Governments Food Based Standards.’ ‘The quality of the food was to a high standard.’ ‘The service provides excellent value for money for customers.’ ‘All the management systems in the kitchen are up to date and accurate’ ‘With a continuing whole school approach to the catering service it can only go from strength to strength here at Toot Hill School.’ As catering manager, I would like to whole‐heartedly thank the head teacher, governors, my team, staff and students for continuing to support the catering operation – without you we would not be where we are today! Have Fun with the Family and Take to two Wheels Year 9 Set an Unbeatable Record Center Parcs is holding a charity bike ride on Sunday 17th June in a bid to raise money for two chosen charities. The charities are SPARKS, a children’s medical research charity, and the national Byway Trust, which is responsible for maintaining 4,000 miles of cycle routes around Britain. Starting and finishing on Sherwood Center Parcs Village, there will be a 10‐mile run ride with a more challenging 50‐mile route: something for all ages and abilities. The bike rides are simply open to anyone: just register your entry at: www.pedalwiththeparcs.co.uk NB please note that any children under the age of 10 will need parents to sign a waiver for insurance purposes. For the first time at Toot Hill, every pupil sat all their SATs examinations over the four days. This is an excellent achievement especially as some pupils came in despite being not fully fit. The hard work that had been put in from pupils, staff and parents has led to this super commitment. As a consequence of this superb effort, a great day was enjoyed at Alton Towers to celebrate the end of SATs. We now all wiat with great expectation that the results will reflect the effort put in by all the youngsters. Rising Sun Beadwork Enterprise project with St Peters Primary School In November we held a first meeting with St. Peters Primary school, East Bridgeford to develop our fair trade enterprise project. Four Toot Hill students, Emma Woodward and Charlie Crowson in year 12, both of whom went to visit Little Flower School, South Africa last year, together with Lorna West and Chloe Curtis‐Hopkinson in year 10 have been working with a group of 8 year 6 pupils from St. Peters Primary School. Their enterprise project is called Rising Sun Beadwork. A great thank you must be extended to Mr Madison, Head Teacher of St. Peters for all of his enthusiasm and vision for the project. However, we felt that as far as practical the pupils themselves should take as much control over their project as possible. In the spirit of young enterprise, it was to be learning by doing. Mr Madison easily identified the pupils to become involved. On our very first meeting, it was amazing to see the enthusiasm and energy of the pupils. We quickly had to realise just how much initiative and drive they had for the project. Every body was so eager to voice their opinion and ideas for the project. All the pupils were aware of fair trade products on sale in the UK, the logo that identifies them and the reason behind it. They were keen to promote fair trade in their enterprise project as a way of being enterprising for a purpose. They were inquisitive about link with Little Flower School in South Africa and the beadwork we had brought back with us in order to sell. Little Flower School, South Africa is in such a remote setting in the Eastern Cape that very few people visit them. They are certainly not on the tourist route. This means that all of the beadwork and other craft items that have been produced are simply left unsold. These highly individual items that have taken months to produce by hand are beyond the means of many local people. It was obvious to us that these kind of craft items would be appreciated by our school communities in East Bridgeford and Bingham. The proceeds from any sale could then be fairly distributed back to the original supplier, Ikhwezi Lokusa Rehabilitation Society, South Africa, We discussed our supply chain and realised that we should also branch out into other craft products, to give a wider product range, and not be over reliant on just the supplies from South Africa. One idea we developed successfully was greeting cards. Pupils worked hard to develop good designs, hand produce a complete range and identify sales opportunities such as Easter. There was such a great level of determination to get things done. The students from Toot Hill played a great role in focussing the ideas and enthusiasm of the St. Peters Primary School pupils, who simply wanted to do everything now. However, there is always much to sort out in any business project, that we quickly realised regular meetings would be needed. With everyone’s other commitments to fit in we decided on fortnightly meetings, alternating the venue between St. Peters and Toot Hill. The project is still under development. We have learnt a lot along the way. It is important to reflect on what has been achieved and learn the lessons for next time, so that there is even greater success next time around. We are now putting together a mini enterprise start up guide and resources to help similar projects run smoothly next term and will be looking to involve other Toot Hill School pupils and other primary schools. Hopefully then we can sustain similar projects over many years to come because we have pupils of all ages determined to be enterprising. Race for Life Sunday 3 June @2.30. Kath Parkin, Linda Brown, Josie Boulton, Simone Ingram, Krista Millet, Jenny Packard, Gina Godfrey, Julie Smith, Gilly Stewart, Jane Stewart, Kathryn Godfrey (15), Emily Ingram (11), Alice Ingram (10), Emma Baker( 9). All walked the 5 km within 1 hour. Parenting Classes Update The first six week program of parenting support has come to an end. These sessions were led by the school nurse and there were guest speakers on drug and alcohol issues. The evaluation of these sessions by those who attended was extremely positive and the meetings which were scheduled to end by 8pm frequently went on until 9pm! Following the success of this pilot program a further six week session will be run in the Autumn term, so look out for details in future editions of Contact. Karen Strachan Book Review by Ollie (Oliver) Morris (7.4) Digital Fortress, written by Dan Brown David Becker is a University language teacher who finds himself decrypting a message for the government. He is transported to the NSA (National Security Agency) to break codes. His wife Susan Fletcher finds herself trying to save her husband and a 3 billion dollar code machine. I think this is a fantastic book. You will have to tear yourself away from it. It is a gripping thrilling book. Pure genius. Almost the perfect book. Mind Boggling. My Rating: 9.5 / 10 Toot Hill Reprographics
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Learning Support Monthly Review Meetings Does your son or daughter have special educational needs or are you concerned about the possibility that they may have some difficulties with learning? The Learning Support Department hold informal monthly meetings for parents or carers to come and discuss any concerns they may have, the support arrangements for their son or daughter or to share information. These meetings are now held on the last Tuesday of every month in the Learning Support Department. Please ring the school office to make an appointment with Mrs Nelson, the Inclusion Co‐ordinator. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 26th June. Toot Hill Arts Academy Launches Summer School For All Ages Toot Hill School’s Arts Academy in Bingham is a pioneering a brand new initiative of a Summer School for the week 23rd ‐ 27th July 2007 which will be opened by the Mayor of Rushcliffe! Young and old alike are invited to challenge themselves, with exciting creative courses ranging from West African Drumming to Drawing & Painting, from Cooking for Foodies to 3D Installation Art. The High Flyers Academy for 8‐16 year olds will give youngsters the opportunity to try their hand at making films, and to work with professional fashion designers and dancers. Budding artists will also get the chance to try out a contemporary mix of installation, projection, performance, text, and digital arts; while the 21st Century Scientist course involves Crime Scene Investigation and forensic science processes. For the younger children there is also a Mini Academy aimed at 4‐7year olds which aims to inspire the imagination of young children through art and play. All courses will be held during the first week of the school holidays. Ann Price, Arts Academy Director at Toot Hill comments: “All of the team at the Toot Hill Academy are very excited about the launch of the Summer School. It is our aim for people of all ages to have great fun doing something they enjoy with friends. “This is a unique opportunity to learn new creative skills and it’s for everyone – busy mothers can come along to work on their painting skills with a professional artist, while leaving their children to be artistic at the same time!” Family Art Day Over the half term holiday, a number of parents and children came to Toot Hill School to take part in a creative day together. The theme of the day was “Recycled Art”. The group looked at what they could make with household waste, and decided on creating an island full of imaginative creatures, castles, vehicles and plants. Much fun was had by parents and children alike, and artists Rachel Scanlon and Sian Watson involved in the session felt the group would be collecting their household recyclables and making mini‐islands in the weeks to come! Junior Academy Trip Children from the 11 Primary Schools involved in the Junior Academy are off on a trip to the international Children’s Theatre Festival next week at Lakeside Arts Centre. They will see 2 performances; The Italian Garden and Whispering Dragons and take part in a creative workshop with professional practitioners during the day. Community Mural You may have seen members of the Junior and Senior Art Academy in some local papers as they have been working together to create a giant mural for the shelter at Aslockton Train Station. Children were photographed by Bingham Advertiser and Bingham Diary during their making sessions, and have been interviewed by BBC Radio Nottingham about the project. Mrs Yates‐Linnel, the Head at Archbishop Cranmer Primary School, and the Aslockton Community Association approached the Academy with the initial idea, and are extremely pleased with the reception the project has had so far. Business Academy Fiona Farmer joined the Academy team in March as the Business and Community Links Co‐ordinator. Fiona has been developing the following courses with tutors which will be on offer from September 2007 onwards: • How to start your own Business • What’s new – Microsoft 2007 • Web design • CV writing and interviewing skills • Introduction to French A meeting has taken place with the East Midlands Development Agency and the Academy is recruiting a Business Champion. The Champion works in a business environment and will work voluntarily advising Fiona and the Academy team on how to develop the Business Academy and expand the Arts Academy further. The Academy is interested in developing links with local businesses and to get people from business into school, therefore if you have any ideas or comments please contact Fiona on 01949 863044 or e‐mail [email protected]. Adult Academy There are a number of evening classes running this term on Wednesdays from 7 – 9pm including Graffiti art for young people, and Willow Sculpture, Creative Textiles and Painting with Pastels for those aged16 and upwards. Frances Ashton is currently working on providing more creative sessions in the evenings for the next academic year, so if you have any ideas of a skill you would like to learn then let us know! If you would like to be on the mailing list for a copy of our new brochure then contact us. You can contact us directly regarding anything related to The Academy on 01949 863044 or email [email protected] Book Review by Gemma Wilkinson (8.3) Doll, written by Singer Nicky. Rating: 8 / 10 This book is brilliant! It is full of adventure and mystery! You never know what is going to happen next and it keeps you going. It is a split narrative between the two main characters Tilly and Jan. These two people have never met before but they are from the same "world" as they say, because they both day dream and think a lot. Jan is a boy who moved to England when he was little and was adopted because his poor mother could not afford to look after him. He never calls his adoptive mother, mother or mum he calls her "his English mother." Jan is very quiet as he is forever daydreaming, he feels like he is psychic as he see things in his dreams that very often come true. He often sees a girl who he does not know but he feels a connection with her. He knows that she is his soul mate, his life, yet he isn't sure she is even real. He soon finds out she is real and that her name is Tilly. Tilly has had a very difficult life, her father left when she was young and she only sees him occasionally at weekends. She lives with her grandmother as her mum is forever in and out of the hospital or "the sin bin" as they call it because her mother is an alcoholic. Mercedes or Mercy used to be her best friend at school but since Mercy became friends with Charlie she has been unkind to Tilly. The worst happens and Tilly's mum tries to commit suicide but fails and ends up in hospital once again. Tilly mum gives her a doll which Tilly hears talking to her and she does what the doll says. Tilly meets this guy named Jan that she sees everywhere. But as you read on in the book the stories Tilly tells about her mother and the doll aren't actually 100% true… USERS GUIDE FOR WEBSITE
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LRC Competition Winners Summer Term, Suggest a Book for Our Shelves I am pleased to report that the following students are winners! They have been drawn from the 50+ entries submitted by students in the LRC Summer Term ‘Suggest a Book for Our Shelves’ competition. Thanks to all students who posted suggestions, we shall endeavour to purchase these books soon. Do check the display tables in the LRC for your suggestions! Fiction Suggestions– (1) Jack Barnard 7.1. (2) Toby Johnson 7.1 & (3) Charlotte Pettifor 7.2. Non‐Fiction Suggestions– (1) Cameron Good 7.1. (2) Joe Grange 7.1 & (3) Jay Johnson 7.1 Smallpeice Engineering at Nottingham University Book Review by Nicole Swingler (8.2) I had been invited to Nottingham University after I won a place at an Engineering Masterclass at Dayncourt School. The aim of the course was to teach us more about engineering and also give us an insight into student life. We spent three days at the University, staying in a student Hall of Residence. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, written by JK Rowling We were split into teams and then assigned to a Company. I was placed with the RAF but the other Companies were Corus, Carillion and Rolls Royce. As teams we were given a brief to create a parachute to safely transport an egg. It was a task that sound easy but proved hard. I had lots of fun and during the whole experience I made lots of friends and learnt lots about student life and engineering. By Ashleigh Dabell 9.6 This is Harry Potters 4th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Harry gets into a lot of trouble this year when he is selected to take part in the tri‐wizard tournament. Harry is given help by Mad‐ Eye‐ Moody (the defence against the dark arts teacher).Harry has to complete 3 tasks to win the tournament,but during the 3rd task he meets an old enemy, Lord Voldermort who kills another competitor.Voldermort trys to kills Harry as well and it is very exciting. Rating: 10 / 10 Ashleigh was one of a number of Year 9 pupils who attended the residential masterclass at Nottingham University. The project was generously funded by Aimhigher, Nottinghamshire. Book Review by Sam (Samuel) Blackmore (7.5) I was a Teenage Worrier, written by Ros Asquith “I was a teenage worrier” was written by Ros Asquith! The book is fiction and a comedy (well it made me laugh). The book is about teenagers going through their teenage years and what they experience along the way! In my opinion I think that this book is ok.I enjoyed it. It also seems quiet popular with everyone else! I would recommend it to other people my age because it would probably make them laugh, and they would enjoy it because I did. The book is really good; I could read it over and over again! Rating: 7 / 10 London to Brighton Bike Ride On Sunday 17th June a handful of staff will take part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. Since it started in 1980 the event has managed to raise over £35m for the Charity and around 27,000 cyclists are expected this year. If you would like to make a donation please complete the sponsorship form below and send it to into school in an envelope marked for my attention. Cheques should be made payable to the British Heart Foundation. Your support would be greatly appreciated. Paul Bowes www.bhf.co.uk June & July dates w/b Monday w/b Monday Wednesday w/b Monday Saturday 4th June Year 7 & 8 Assessment Week th
Year 7 & 8 Assessment Week th
Arts Academy th
Whole School Work Audit rd
Year 11 Prom th‐ 11 June 13 June 18 June 23 June W/b Monday 25 29th June Athletics Heats Week Monday 25th June Year 11 Clearance Toot Hill College Induction Tuesday 26th June Athletics Heats Wednesday Friday th
Arts Academy th
College Ball 27 June 29 June rd
Tuesday 3 July Year 6 Induction Day Year 7 & 8 Intervention Evening Wednesday 4th July Year 6 Parents’ Evening Thursday w/b Monday w/b Monday th
Sports Day th
Year 9 Enterprise Week 5 July 9 July th
Biology Field Course th
16 July w/b Monday 16 July Activities Week – ‘Days at the Circus’ Thursday 19th July Toot Hill Summer Festival 6 – 8 pm Travel Plan Update—June 07 The travel plan has passed the first stage of quality assurance and the school will be notified about details of the grant in July. The steering group recently met with Councillor John Eagles representing Bingham Town Council to discuss common issues. The Town Council have put forward a proposal for a 20mph speed limit along The Banks and will keep the school informed of progress in this area. When details of the funding are ratified the steering group will meet to implement the actions identified in the plan. If you require further information about the travel plan please do not hesitate to contact the school and many thanks to the steering group for their hard work and time commitment. Karen Strachan (Assistant Head – Specialist and Extended Schools)