Parent Update
Focus School Stoke Poges Campus
Week Ending: 13th November 2015
Head’s Comment
Developments in Self Directed Learning
This week we were pleased to invite Jake Whiteside into school to work with staff on our
development towards the effective implementation of SDL in school. He spent the day working
with and training staff on Lesson Recorder. This will mean staff can prepare their own learning
videos to upload on the Moodle platform enabling students to access lessons anytime anywhere.
This work will help us progress developing SDL assignments for learning. We can now deliver
content outside of the traditional classroom setting, allowing more time to work with students on
an individual basis. Jen Caudrelier, Shameem Akhtar, Rose Brereton and Pamela Chimutwi will be
the school’s SDL champions and will be trialing this new development over the next term.
The CMT team have also been very busy clarifying future plans for our new learning centre to support the SDL program
and I would particularly like to thank Cyril Parsons and Graham Robertson for all their hard work. I look forward to
sharing more SDL updates over the term.
*** STOP PRESS***
You may recall that Greg Bodman was our KS4 Gold Award
winner at our prize giving celebration last Friday. Greg has
won the prestigious Double Gold Award for the West
Region and collected his prize at a ceremony at Exchange
Place yesterday. Congratulations to Greg Bodman from all
at Stoke Poges Campus.
‘Tenner Tycoon’
This week saw the launch
of our business enterprise
competition and our
teams spent the morning
brainstorming their ideas
for products, marketing
strategies, financial
planning etc.
“As part of an Enterprise challenge the entire school has been divided into 8 different groups and
have been given a maximum of £10 to come up with a business idea. It is not like the usual
Enterprise event that takes place every year. We actually have to produce and sell the idea we
come up with. Another change in this year’s Enterprise event is that there are going to be three
awards handed out; the group that makes the most profit, the group with the most creative idea
and the group whose idea has the greatest social impact. All of the groups have been given until
the 9th February to make this happen. So watch this space and invest wisely. Daniel Stevenson
Parent Update: week ending 13th November 2015
2
Literacy across the curriculum, Subject vocabulary
This week students in KS3 and KS4 will have received a copy of key vocabulary for Maths. The booklets are
quite substantial but the expectation is that students will use these to support their learning throughout the
course. Reading a little at a time is better than trying to learn everything all at once. Sue Dickinson
British Citizenship
This week we celebrated Bev Birks, Head of English, formally becoming a
British Citizen.
The final step on the journey to becoming a British citizen, for most people,
is to swear or affirm an oath of allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen at a
citizenship ceremony.
The ceremonies are a time for celebration and provide an opportunity to
officially welcome new citizens as full members of their local community and
to this nation. The two most important pieces of criteria to becoming a
British citizen are ‘being of good character and to have an excellent
knowledge of English’; two things Mrs. Birks has in abundance.
Mr & Mrs Birks
We feel immensely honored to have Mrs. Birks as a member of staff at Stoke
Poges and wish to offer our congratulations and best wishes for her future in
the United Kingdom.
Merit awards
Congratulations go to June Taylor and Lydia Tennent on achieving the bronze award
for merits. The efforts they place in their studies will pay dividend. Keep up the good
work. I look forward to celebrating other students in the very near future.
The Christmas Bake Off is coming…….
The format for the Bake Off will be a little different this year. Year 7 and Y8
will be holding an individual class competition and there will be a winner
from each class. Years 9-13 will make up the ‘Upper School’ competition
and first, second and third places will be awarded.
Students may bake one or more cakes independently at home and bring
them to school on their specified day. The cakes this year should reflect the
theme of Christmas – however each individual chooses to interpret it.
Please can I take this opportunity to remind parents and students that all
entries must be nut free.
As in previous years the cakes will be sliced and available for sale on the day
for 50p per slice. (Students please take note that IOU’s will not be accepted).
The upper school competition coincides with Y9 to Y13 parents’ consultation
and students and parents will be able to enjoy tea or coffee with a slice of
cake for £1.00. The money raised will be donated to a charity chosen by the
winner of the Upper School competition.
Year 7 will be judged on Monday 14th December
Year 8 will be judged on Tuesday 15th December
Upper School will be judged on Wednesday 16th December.
Parent Update: week ending 13th November
3
We had some exceptional cakes at the last Bake Off and I think my waist line has just about recovered! So I
am looking forward to seeing what we can produce this year. Mrs. Caudrelier
Student of the week.
Lower School: Jemima Brown for her consistent efforts in all aspects of her learning.
Upper School: Toby Humphreys for his commitment to publishing the first edition of the Learning
Update and Brandon Abernethie, for his leadership qualities as Head Boy in supporting school
management.
Future dates for the diary
 Assessment Reports w/e 20th November
 Y12 and Y13 Trip to Mini plant, Cowley – Wednesday 25th November
 Y10 and Y11 GCSE French Conference – London
 Y7 Bake Off Final – Monday 14th December
 Y8 Bake Off Final – Tuesday 15th December
 Y9-Y13 Bake Off Final – Wednesday 16th December
 Winter Sports Event, Brunel – Friday 18th December
 Final of the ‘Young Enterprise Challenge’ – Tuesday 9th February
Wishing you a warm and happy weekend with your family and friends.
Sarah Hutt
Headteacher