Keeping in Touch
Lees Brook Community School’s Newsletter for Parents
A Founding Member of the Northworthy Trust May 2017 Dear Parent Keeping in Touch I am writing to inform you that Governors have agreed that, from September, the school will no longer have an early finish on a Monday every other week. At the moment the hour on a Monday is used by staff for Continuing Professional Development, however I feel that this time should be used to teach the students, especially with the growing demands of the new GCSE specifications that are being introduced. Therefore from September, the school will finish at 3.10pm every day. This additional time will positively impact on outcomes for the students and improve the grades they achieve. This has allowed us to review and develop the curriculum in order to ensure that our students have the best opportunity to achieve in the future. In Years 7 and 8, I have given the additional lesson to English to continue to improve literacy skills. In Year 9 the additional lesson has been given to the Modern Foreign Languages faculty. The main developments will be at Key Stage 4. In Year 10 I have increased the amount of time given to each option block subject so that students have the time to study the increased amount of content that is now in all of the new GCSE specifications. In September we will be teaching Philosophy and Ethics, in which students will be able to achieve an additional GCSE qualification. The additional lesson will also allow all Year 11 students to receive a specific careers information and guidance lesson in order to help them plan for life after Lees Brook. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, there were changes to the Autumn term dates, Governors agreed that I could make an amendment to the start and finish of the Autumn Term 2017. The official term start date was moved to Monday 4th September 2017 and students were to start back on Tuesday 5th September. As some parents have expressed concern as they have holidays already booked on the Tuesday, I have decided to add an additional INSET day on Tuesday 5th September. Students will now return to school on Wednesday 6th September. This is now in line with the original dates published on the Derby City Council website. This will still mean that the school will break up for the Christmas holiday on Friday 15th December, instead of Tuesday 19th December. Can I also remind you that there are 2 INSET DAYS COMING UP: Friday 23rd June and Monday 26 June. Please remember to go to our website, www.leesbrook.co.uk and follow our twitter feed @LeesBrookSchool for all the latest information on what is happening in school. Dates for your Diary: Break up for half term Y11 GCSE exams Return to school Y11 Prom Y10 Trial Exam Results issued Y10 Evening for Post 16 Options Key Stage 3 Trial Exams INSET DAY 4 INSET DAY 5 Y6 Induction Evenings School Sports Day Y6 Induction Days Summer Fair Yr 10 (X band) Work Experience Week Yr 10 (Y band) Work Experience Week Y7‐10 Form Tutor Evening Y7‐10 Progess Reports Issued Break up for the Summer Break Best Wishes Friday 26th May Tuesday 16th May ‐ Thursday 22nd June Monday 5th June Friday 9th June Monday 12th June Wednesday 14th June Thursday 15th June ‐ Thursday 29th June Friday 23rd June Monday 26th June Tuesday 27th June & Wednesday 28th June Friday 30th June Tuesday 4th July & Wednesday 5th July Friday 7th July Week commencing Monday 3rd July Week commencing Monday 10th July Monday 17th July Monday 17th July Wednesday 26th July (term ends 1.45pm) Zoe House Headteacher Please find below details of events that have been happening in school. Gymnastics World Cup This was a very successful trip to the O2 arena in London to watch the World Cup of gymnastics on Saturday 8th April. Mrs Harris and Mrs Flinders took 13 gymnasts from Year 8 and Year 7 by minibus and enjoyed a very pleasant day out and saw some incredible gymnasts including Max Whitlock perform on the pommel horse! Faraday Challenge The IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) Faraday Challenge Days are held at schools and other venues around the UK. The IET is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. The Faraday Challenge Days give students the opportunity to research, design and make solutions to genuinely tough engineering problems, set up and run by a team of STEM professionals. Each IET Faraday Challenge Day involves six school teams, each made up of six 12‐13 year olds, ideally students who are interested in Science, Design & Technology, Mathematics or Engineering. Our youngsters participated in one of 135 events around the UK at Derby University, Britannia Mill. Their challenge was to plan, design, develop and present a digital device for the Land Rover Bar yacht using BBC Microbits. The six youngsters collaborated relentlessly all day as a professional team. They tackled the problem set with dedication and determination which resulted in them forcing the judge to award a joint first with Derby Grammar School even after tie breaking questions. I would like to congratulate Annabelle Stone, Cavan Brady, Dylan Seaman, Henry Cracknell, Sam Gaskill and Taylor Maxwell on their achievement. Coffee Shop Branding Ideas Year 9 Graphics students have pitched Coffee Shop Branding ideas to a panel of judges including Katherine Pryor, the owner at Katherine's Gift and Coffee Bar, Chaddesden Lane, Chaddesden. The Year 9 students did a fantastic job at presenting their ideas and concepts. Congratulations to Annabelle Jones/Megan Devlin and Ella Cooper‐May/Alistair Taylor for their winning pitches and huge thanks to Katherine and the judges for their input, feedback and time. Chess Challenge May 2017 Seven students from Lees Brook qualified for the Area Megafinal of the UK Chess Challenge. On the day only four of them managed to get to the venue. This was held at Eccleshall C of E Junior School in Sheffield on Saturday 29th April. The Four pupils who attended were Bartlomiej Dlugosz 7WAA Andrew Bridgewood 7HAS Alex Wills 7HAS Dominik Sygnowski 7WAA Of the four, Dominik played well but did not manage to gain any points and Alex scored 2 out of a possible 5. Bartek and Andrew were tying on 2½ points each when in the final game, they had to play each other. The result was that Bartek won and has now qualified for the National Gigafinal to be held on Saturday 5th July. Well done to all the qualifiers and good luck to Bartek for the Gigafinal. This will mean Bartek will be competing against the whole of the North of England! Congratulations to the Year 7 Indoor Sports Hall Athletics Team On Tuesday 28th March at Queen’s Park Leisure Centre in Chesterfield the Year 7 Athletics team represented Lees Brook with great success. The girls’ team came in 4th position and the boys team came in 1st position. This made the boys’ team successful winners and Derbyshire County Champions for 2017. Well done! Bloodhound ‘Race for The Line’ Rocket Car Competition Year 7 have recently been taking part in the national BLOODHOUND 'Race For The Line' rocket car competition. The students' challenge was to build a model rocket car to compete against other schools across the country with the aim of achieving the fastest race time. Students learned about aerodynamics and mathematical calculations to help with the design of their cars. Students thoroughly enjoyed watching the cars being raced. On the race day six of our teams made it through to the regional finals in Peterborough. At the regional finals, teams were tasked to build a new rocket car from scratch, under timed conditions. Cars were then raced, with the fastest going through to the National finals. Our students worked exceptionally hard and we are pleased to announce that one of our teams won the secondary school race and are through to the national finals in June. This team will also have their team name added to bodywork of the real BLOODHOUND land speed rocket car. The first prize at the national finals is £1000 for the school and a trip to South Africa to watch the real BLOODHOUND rocket car attempt the land speed record. We wish our team the best of luck! Craft Club Craft Club meets every Tuesday after school. Students have completed various projects but since March we have been learning how to do cross stitch with some fantastic results as shown in the photos. Knit and Natter Knit and Natter meets on Wednesday from 12.30pm to 1.15pm. Some students who did not know how to knit at the start of the year are now able to follow a pattern and have knitted things like a Christmas bauble, a heart and various types of scarves. Lees Brook Year 10 Football team celebrate another success Lees Brook’s Year 10 footballers are celebrating what has been another outstanding football season, winning both the Derby City Cup and Derby City league. The team have only drawn one game this season. The City Cup was played on Wednesday 10th May at Derby County’s Moor Farm training complex; the opposition were West Park School. The final was an excellent match with both teams playing good football throughout. The Lees Brook team showed great character and determination having to come from a goal down to eventually win 4‐1, after extra time. Lees Brook Year 9 Football team Lees Brook’s Year 9 footballers have also had a successful season finishing 3rd place in the league and runners up in the Derby City Cup. The Derby City Schools cup final was played on Monday 8th May at Derby County’s Moor Farm training complex against Chellaston Academy. Another excellent match and the Lees Brook team showed great tenacity and resilience having been 3‐0 down to pull the score line back to 3‐2. The students representing the Year 9 team should be proud of their success this year. National Civil War Centre, Newark Year 8 students recently went on a trip to the National Civil War Centre in Newark to find out how the English Civil War had an impact on local people and learn more about the civil war through active history. The students had great fun learning how to load and shoot muskets, how to use a pike against the enemy cavalry and dressing up in and experimenting with the different types of armour used. They also took part in a walk around Newark, accompanied by a character from the time, looking at the impact the civil war had, as well as analysing some gruesome wounds caused by the civil war battles and the methods used to treat them. British Schools Sports Acro Championships Mille Flewitt and Rosie Smith (Year 8) represented Lees Brook and East Midlands at the British Schools Sports Acro Championships on Saturday 6th May at Fenton Manor. They were East Midlands champions in March.They finished in 10th place. A very big well done to both girls and thanks to Niamh Abbott and Lauren Presbury (Year 10) for helping to coach and support the girls. Visit from Simon Winston, Holocaust Survivor On Monday 15th May, Year 9 and Year 10 students had the privilege of meeting Holocaust survivor Simon Winston. Simon was born in 1938 to Jewish parents in a small town called Radzivillov. It was a town in eastern Poland (now in the Ukraine) with a population of some 20,000 people. About 7,000 of the population were ethnic Jews. When the Nazis arrived in Simon’s town in 1941, they set out to terrorise, dispossess, brutalise and dehumanise all the Jews there in the most barbaric way possible. Simon and his family survived the ghettos that were set up with the aim of starving the Jewish people and, thanks to his father’s decision to sell belongings to obtain gold, they managed to pay a guard to let them escape. Following their escape from the ghetto, the family took refuge on different farms, living under barns and in cellars to avoid capture by the Nazis. When Europe was finally liberated in 1945, they found that they could not return home as their home now belonged to a different family. As refugees, they moved to England in 1947. Simon talked to the students about his experiences, and his life since arriving in England, and then the students took the opportunity to ask some questions that they had prepared during their History and Philosophy & Ethics lessons. During the day, Sharon Sipple from the Holocaust Education Trust also worked with GCSE History students. They took part in a workshop about the experiences of Holocaust survivor Zigi Shipper, who arrived in England as a refugee. Taking part in the workshop enabled students to see the differences in the experiences of the survivors and think about how it would feel to arrive in England as a refugee. This led them to consider modern day examples, such as the plight of Syrian refugees. We are very grateful to Simon and Sharon for giving their time to come into school to speak to students, and look forward to working with the Holocaust Education Trust again in the future. The Year 11 Record of Achievement Ceremony – A Personal Thanks from Mr Dunn (Head of Year 11) The Year 11 Record of Achievement Ceremony this year was a wonderful event. It has been a privilege watching the students grow from children in to young adults and to celebrate their successes. This Year 11 group have participated fully in the life of the school, represented the school in sporting events, drama and dance productions, school trips, competitions, school fairs and open evenings throughout their 5 years here. In Year 11 they have shown commitment to their studies by attending after school and lunchtime study support sessions and attending revision sessions in school during holiday periods. Lees Brook is not just about academic achievement and we strive to prepare young people for college, apprenticeships, A levels, university and the world of work. It was a special event; some students cried and so did some of their form tutors. The atmosphere was lovely, with every student receiving a rousing clap and treating each other with respect. Many parents remained behind to get that treasured photo. Thank you Year 11 and good luck. School Council Many thanks to the students who have managed the School Council this year, Jakob Marshall (Chair), Elliot Bestwick (Vice Chair) and Connor Blount (Secretary). They have done a fantastic job and have given our students an important voice in school. Congratulations to Katie Lindsey (Chair), Rebecca Green (Vice Chair) and Cara McCormack (Secretary) who have been voted into their new positions to lead the School Council next year. Lees Brook School Council Visits Derby City Council House On Tuesday 16th May, 11 students representing Lees Brook's School Council were invited by Sara Bolton, the Chaddesden Ward Councillor to visit the Derby City Council House. Students were given a rare guided tour of the building; where they learnt about the history of Derby, saw precious silverware, learnt how the City is managed and also were able to see where important meetings take place. Finally, students were privileged enough to enter the Mayor’s chambers.