BENTON PARK SCHOOL
CREATING A CLIMATE FOR GREAT LEARNING,
SUCCESS AND OPPORTUNITY
JULY NEWSLETTER
Headteachers’ Column
Starting our new academic year on Monday 27th June
has once again been very successful for both
students and staff and I would like to thank all those
parents that have contacted us regarding the positivity
of these calendar changes.
As we reach the official end of another academic year
we would like to thank you for your continued support
in ensuring your child is ready and prepared for their
learning. Once again we have had a very successful
year and I am very proud of the achievements of both
our staff and students over the last twelve months.
Everyone has worked very hard in school to ensure
all our students are in the best position to reach their
full potential. In all aspects of school life. Our
students, and you as parents and carers have worked
exceptionally hard with us to ensure an excellent
approach to school life. With more opportunities for
our students to be involved in all aspects of school
life, including life beyond the classroom, the school
continues to create an excellent climate for great
learning, success and opportunity for all.
We know you will fully enjoy reading this newsletter
as it illustrates some of the many different activities
we are ensuring are available for your child to
experience both in school and beyond the classroom.
This is a key aspect of school life we continuing to
improve and develop to ensure all students are able
to experience a range of enrichment opportunities.
We would like to thank all staff for their involvement in
all aspects of enrichment beyond the classroom.
As you are well aware, we continue to work hard to
improve the Learning Environment in which our
students work. The work on the school and gym roofs
has already started and will be completed for our
return in September. All this work has been funded by
the Local Authority, who continue to work closely with
us to ensure we develop our school environment.
We would like to say goodbye to staff who are leaving
us this summer and a big thank you for all the hard
work they have done for the students of our school.
We wish them every success in their new venture,
whether that be retirement, promotion or a relocation
across the globe.
Just a reminder for those parents and students that
have taken exams this summer the results days are:
Exam Results Days:
Thursday 18th August – A level and AS: Year 13
9.30am and Year 12 10.30am
Thursday 25th August – GCSE
We look forward to celebrating your child’s success
with you during this time.
Just a few reminders
Friday 22nd July – School closes at 12.30pm
Monday 5th September is a school Training Day
for staff only.
Tuesday 6th September - Students return to school
at the following times:
Years 7 and 12 – 8.30am
Years 8 -11 – 11.30am
I hope you all have a relaxing and safe summer
break.
Miss Martin
Headteacher
Key Stage 3 News
44 Year 9 students and 5 members of staff
travelled to Ypres, Belgium in June. Four
days were spent travelling around the key
battlefield sites of World War One, including
Passchendaele, Thiepval and Beaumont
Hamel. The students took part in the Menin
Gate ceremony and placed a wreath of
poppies on behalf of Benton Park School.
Many comments were made by the students
throughout the battlefields that showed
shock at the numbers lost and the horror that
the brave young men must have gone
through.
Each evening was a time to
socialise whilst visiting local restaurants and
skills were certainly varied at the bowling
alley during our final night. Our students
were fantastic ambassadors to the school
throughout the four day trip and a wonderful
time was had by all!
marking art works with layered imagery and
paper sculpture.
The Art department has had some really
interesting work happening and exhibited
recently. We had work shown in the
Horsforth Walk of Art Exhibition which took
place over the weekend of the 1st July.
Connected to the Walk of Art we received a
visit from artist Michael Borkowsky—a
sensory artist who makes portraits as
perfumes! Some good art and lovely smells
were produced!
Adam Davenport
Director of Creative Art
Year 8 and 9 came up with some great
responses to the Battle of the Somme in a
commemorative art lesson—these are now
displayed on the screen in the schools foyer.
Students looked at contemporary artists
responses to the battle and explored
Key Stage 3 News
In May, our three Book Clubs were lucky
enough to be awarded tickets to attend the
Leeds Book Awards. Students from Year 7-9
got the opportunity to attend the ceremony at
Pudsey Civic Hall. Students read the short
list of books in their own time over this
academic year and then got the chance to
vote for their favourite. It was a great
opportunity for our keen readers to meet the
authors, ask them questions about their
books and get their autographs. A lovely
afternoon was had by all!
Lynn Wearing
Director of English
12 Year 8 students attended a STEM
science challenge day at Leeds Beckett
university.
During the day they had 3
challenges to complete and they were scored
on their planning skills, teamwork and
performance.
6 other schools were in
attendance.
In the E-fit
challenge - Sam Milne and
Tyler Black came first. In
the motor vehicle building
and race—Bethany Cauldwell and Tegan
Binks came first. But the overall winners
were Cayden Sands and Kira Wheble,
alongside two other team members from another school, as they performed outstanding
in all three tasks.
Amy English
Teacher of Science
Following
students
success
in
the
intermediate and senior UKMT Maths
Challenges earlier this year, students
performed fantastically in the Junior Maths
Challenge (for years 7 and 8) in April.
Around 250,000 students take part in the
challenge nationally
with the top 21%
receiving a bronze certificate, top 13% silver
and top 6% gold. We got a total of 28
Bronze, 13 Silver and 5 Gold certificates with
two students from year 8 Ewan Cooper and
Jason Bakes, qualifying for the follow-up
‘Junior Kangaroo’ round in which they did
incredibly well, narrowly missing out on a
Merit for finishing in the top 25%.
Congratulations to all involved!
Miles Davies
Acting Assistant Head—Progress Learning
Key Stage 4 News
Just a little more than 12 months ago, a group of
very committed intrepid students signed up to an
educational trip of a lifetime.
Since then, the
group of 15 students from Year 11 and Year 12
have been tirelessly raising money to fund their
month long volunteer
expedition to Malawi.
During the Summer
holiday, along with their
teachers, Miss Garvie and Miss Boyd, they will fly
to one of the poorest countries of the world to
work
alongside
village
communities
on
sustainable projects. They will be presented with
many new opportunities to deepen their global
and cultural awareness, culminating in a physical
challenge of an ascent of Malawi’s highest peak,
Mount Mulanje. We would like to thank The
Friends of Benton Park whose support raised
funds to cover our coach fares to the airport.
Karen Garvie & Sophie Boyd
Teachers of Geography & History
Year 11 Photography students enjoyed a trip out
to Undercliffe cemetery, the Impressions Gallery
and the Media Museum in Bradford this week.
Students used the atmospheric location of
Undercliffe to capture interesting source material
for their coursework projects. They then saw an
exhibition called Rock Against Racism before
visiting the Media
Museum and having a
personal guide take us around the archives. An
inspirational day and – as always – our students
represented the school brilliantly.
Adam Davenport
Director of Creative Art
Students in Year 10 enjoyed visiting the Alhambra
Theatre in May to see a National Theatre
production of their English Literature set text ‘An
Inspector Calls’
Lynn Wearing
Director of English
Three bands from Benton Park, from across KS4
and 5, were entered into a competition against
local schools. Clarication were placed second and
the 757s won the
competition. Both bands get to play
at Guiseley
festival next
year and the 757s get a recording session as part of their
prize.
Over fifty students from across all KS’s performed
a range of music pieces that they have being
rehearsing this term for the Music Summer
Concert. They were supported on and offstage
by various staff
members.
This
event
was
particularly
positive as we had
many first time
performers
who
really gave it their
all.
David
Pritchard
Curriculum
Leader in Music
We have successfully auditioned and appointed
new performers to our school theatre
company. We have 27 in the main company and
due to the sheer talent an understudy group of 7
students is also in place. We have named the
theatre
company Pulse in memory of those
who lost their lives in the Orlando night club
shooting – The nightclub was called Pulse, and
we believe that we are ‘the theatrical heartbeat of
Benton Park School’ J!!! (cheesy I know). The
first piece will be performed on 1st November at
the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds, Romeo and
Juliet as part of the Shakespeare School’s
Festival.
Vicki Galloway-Place
Director of Performing Art
Key Stage 4 News
I am delighted to inform you of the huge success
of the Duke of Edinburgh Award at Benton Park.
This year was our first year as a standalone
Licensed Organisation, and with this has come a
great sense of pride and achievement.
We have seen the Award grow in its popularity
and success over the last couple of years, with
record numbers of students participating across
Bronze, Silver and Gold. We have had over 80
students complete their Bronze expeditions, 26
achieve Silver and 9 students are in the process
of completing their prestigious Gold Award
expeditions, with completion over the summer
holiday. The students have learnt some great new
life skills, experienced a range of emotions and
formed new friendships throughout this process. It
is always a pleasure to go out on expedition and
to be a part of a positive experience for so many
of our students; the school would like to thank the
staff that kindly gave up their weekends to help
with this.
Across the remaining three sections, there has
been an extensive variety of activities and all
students involved have shown great maturity and
commitment to developing new skills and abilities,
including baking, cooking, music and art in the
skills section. In the physical section, we have
increased numbers of students attending
extra-curricular clubs and an influx of students
taking to the surrounding areas in a bid to walk
and run for fun. The final, and arguably the most
important section, is volunteering. This offers so
much for the students; they meet new people of
all ages and backgrounds and develop vital
communication skills that are essential for later
life. This year we have had students helping at
brownies, various charity shops, trampolining club
as sports leaders and many more.
2016 was also the first year for our Duke of
Edinburgh Award Evening. This was a fantastic
evening with guest speaker, Rhiannon Thomson,
demonstrating the impact of being involved and
completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award and
how that led her to tackle some of the most
remarkable walks and climbs in the world. We
had 67 students receive their Awards that
evening, one of whom was Jessica Holmes
who has completed her Gold Award and awaits
an invitation to Saint James’ Palace to receive
her
certificate.
All in all, it has been a great year for the Duke of
Edinburgh Award at Benton Park, and we look
forward to continuing at the same level of
participation and success in the coming academic
year. We wish each student who has participated
in all levels of the award all the best in their future
endeavours and hope to see them continue to
achieve at the next level of the award.
Danny Metcalfe
Leader of Sport
Key Stage 5 News
On Thursday 16th June Benton Park launched
the first of what promises to be an exciting night
of celebration at the end of every academic
school year. The first of its kind, our
inaugural Arts Celebration Night brought together
the many and diverse talents that our students
have to offer in all areas of the Arts, giving them
an opportunity to showcase their skills and share
their enjoyment and achievements with others..
The night was opened by an inspiring and
entertaining talk by local author Jack Sheffield,
author of the 'Teacher, Teacher!' series, giving an
insight into the route to
success in the literary
world. It was a wonderful opportunity for
students to pick up tips, ideas and speak
one-to-one with someone who has experience in
achieving their ambitions in the art world.
Guests were entertained by thought-provoking
presentations
from
Year
13
Art
students, impressive art displays by students from
all key stages, a range of market stalls including
interactive art stalls (where you could make your
own poly print designs), as well as musical
performances by our talented soloists and
resident award-winning bands! There was also a
delicious home-made cake stall, with cakes made
by our students, to accompany the platters of
food and wine being served throughout the night.
It was a fantastic night, an uplifting feel-good
celebration of the hard work and effort our
students put in to their artistic pursuits and a great
opportunity to have fun whilst being inspired. The
next one proves to be even bigger and even
better...see you there!!
Sarah Linley
Teacher of English
On Thursday 21st July the Red Kite Alliance will
again host its annual Art and Design exhibition at
Harewood House. The exhibition showcases the
best of the schools Art, Design and Technology
work from years 12 and 13. This year includes a
wide and diverse range of work by our students
that will be representing Benton Park with their
creativity and
technical
skill.
The work has been
packed and sent off and looks
fantastic – we are all really
excited to see students,
parents and staff celebrate the work in the
sumptuous surroundings of Harewood!
Adam Davenport
Teacher of Art & Design
Students in Year 12 took the English Speaking
Board exam this term and the results have been
amazing! We are really pleased with them and
highlight the effort the students put in with their
preparation and
performances on the day. All
11 candidates achieved the top two levels of
grading (out of seven levels) with 7 achieving a
Distinction, the highest. Absolutely fantastic
achievement! Well done!
In May Year’s 12 and 13 A Level English
students saw a vividly memorable production of
King Lear at Manchester’s Royal Exchange prior
to their exam.
In addition, Year 13 Literature students travelled
to Stratford with their peers from Horsforth School
to see a fantastic production of their exam text, Dr
Faustus.
Lynn Wearing
Director of English
Key Stage 5 News
Monday 13th and Wednesday 15th June saw
Benton Park have its second annual
Presentation Evening with students from years
seven, eight, nine and ten. These
evenings
hosted by Mr Wood, Mr Ross and Miss Martin
were put in place to recognise the
achievements of an exceptional cohort of
students. All students were selected by
subject teachers for their excellence, progress
and attitude over the past year making it truly
prestigious, with students also highlighted for
their overall achievement, leadership and
Attitude to Learning ranking position when
examining the full year group.
Students
arrived at the event not knowing what award
they were due to receive, only realising that
they had won after the description of why they
were receiving the award had been
presented, which only added to the anticipation.
Both evenings served to highlight what a
special cohort of students Benton Park has;
something demonstrated when speaking to
departments about the conversations that had
taken place as to who should be the beneficiary
– with some getting quite heated apparently!
A huge congratulations to everyone involved
and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we
did!
Andy Feeny, Mark Ross &
Richard Wood
Key Stage
Leaders
38 students took part in a
fantastic
science
trip
to
Switzerland. Whilst there, students
had the opportunity to visit a
plasma research laboratory which included
cutting edge technology. Students were also
lucky enough to enjoy a guided tour of the
United Nations building, sitting in the same
rooms which have seen world changing
decision being made. On the second day,
students enjoyed an absolutely brilliant your of
CERN. Here they were able to appreciate the
sheer size of the particle detectors, learn about
particle physics and even travel 92m
underground into the shafts connected to the
particle detectors. Finally, students enjoyed a
tour of the Olympic museum, fitting due to the
closeness of the Rio games.
Ryan Scott
Teacher of Science
Dates for your Diary
Monday 5th September 2016

Staff Training Day
Thursday 15th September 2016

Parent Forum
Thursday 22nd September 2016

KS5 Ready Evening
Tuesday 20th September 2016

Year 11 Raising Attainment Evening
Thursday 29th September 2016

Year 7 Disco
Wednesday 5th October 2016

Open Evening
w/c 24th October

October Half Term