Longdean Link
Headlines
Edition 10– 19 July 2016
Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
It has been an exciting fortnight at Longdean. Two weeks ago we held our annual Sports Day and Charity Walk
Day. Sports Day, as always, brought with it a high level of participation and competition from the four Houses.
Virtually every student in the school represented their House in either a field or track event and numerous
school records were broken. The overall winners of the day were once again Pascal House, congratulations to
them.
This event was then followed by our Charity Walk Day. This year the event had a slightly different start with
the school taking part in a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest reading lesson. Our 800 students
joined with students from 75 other schools to set a new world record. The students then set off on the 8 mile
course around Dacorum raising large sums for the students’ chosen charities.
The charities chosen by each House are as follows: Hector’s House - Da Vinci, Woodfield School - Gates, SANDS
Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society - Franklin and Guide Dogs for the Blind - Pascal.
The World Record attempt was also important to us as a school as it was a great way to introduce students to
one of our two school priorities for next year. In 2016 – 2017 we will have a major whole school focus on
literacy especially reading and writing. We have reorganised our school day from September and stopped
sending students in Year 7 and 8 home early on Tuesday afternoon to support this. From September students
and staff will spend fifteen minutes each day reading in a programme called DEAR (Drop Everything And Read).
This programme will be supported by staff being trained in teaching reading and writing strategies that they
can use to support students and also by giving clearer guidance to students about how to use the library to
choose age appropriate books in order to develop their reading. We will also, over time, introduce
assessments to indicate a student’s reading age and outline strategies they can follow to develop their own
reading.
Our other school priority is to develop leadership at all levels in the school including developing the leadership
opportunities available to students both in and out of the classroom. We will be developing our coaching
programme to support this and we will also be training some students as coaches in order to enable them to
mentor other students.
Last week was STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) week at Longdean. During this
week students undertook activities across the curriculum that were linked to these subject areas. The
activities ranged from building and testing battery powered cars and space exploration to investigating plane
crashes and how to survive them. Whilst this was going on in school every Year 10 student was on work
experience and the feedback we have received from the employers was overwhelmingly positive. Year 11
students who are returning to our Sixth Form in September also undertook their induction.
This week we have returned to normal with all students beginning their new timetable and moving up a year
group. For KS3 students this progression was based on them successfully graduating and I congratulate all the
students in Year 7 and 8 who have graduated.
G Cunningham
Headteacher
Numeracy
VERY IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY!
Dear Parents/Guardians
Your child will have his/her End of year test on the dates shown below.
Year 11:
20 July: periods 3 and 4 NON CALCULATOR, 1 hour 45 minutes
21 July: periods 1 and 2 CALCULATOR, 1 hour 45 minutes
Year 10:
19 July periods 3 and 4 CALCULATOR (ALLOWED), 1 hour 30 minutes
Please support and encourage your child to do extra revision at home as the latter might
impact on his/her Maths sets.
Students, please make sure you bring your Maths set with you including a scientific
calculator, otherwise you will be turned away and will need sit your test during allocated
detention time.…

Good luck!
Mr El Amine - Maths’ Teacher and Numeracy Coordinator
Answer to last week’s quiz: 8.57am
GCE AND GCSE Results Day
Dear Parents and Students
Please note the confirmed results days are as follows:
GCE - AS/A Level - Thursday 18 August at 10.00am B Hall/TLC
GCSE - Btec Level - Thursday 25 August
Years 11, 12 and 13 at 10.00am - B Hall/TLC
Years 9 and 10 at 11.00am - B Hall/TLC
Please also note that Students leaving Longdean in 2016 may leave a stamped addressed
envelope suitable for receiving A4 certificates with staff on results day if they are unable to
collect them from the school by the end of November 2016.
As we are moving site in November if there are any past students who have not collected their
certificates from the school - please contact us as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Mrs W Barton
Examination Office
Year 8 History Trip to Ypres and The Somme—March 2017
Just a reminder that the deposit of £35 is due by 22 July for theYear 8 History Trip to Ypres and The Somme in
March 2017. The total Cost is £135.
D Pieroni—History Department
Independent Learning and Homework at Longdean
Please remember to discuss your child’s Independent Learning and sign their Independent Learning Planner. Students record an overview of
their homework set in their Independent Learning Planner. Students are supported in taking responsibility for their own study,
supplementing study set with e-learning – We recommend half an hour a night, Monday through Thursday, on sites such as Sam Learning,
GCSE Pod, BBC Bitesize, Linguascope and MyMaths. Links to these sites can be found on the Exam Support and Homework sections of the
LLP.
Mr R Muskett - Assistant Headteacher
http://www.gcsepod.com/parents for a parent's guide
www.samlearning.com Centre ID: HP3LS Username and password are in the
format: DDMMYYII, for example Mr Muskett's would be 050582RM.
www.mymaths.co.uk - students have an individual username and password from
their Maths teacher
MFL—Ask your Teacher for the username and password for Linguascope.
Further e-learning links can be found at: https://moodle.longdean.herts.sch.uk/mod/tab/view.php?id=8888
Book of the
Week
Book of the Week…..
Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
Michelle Magorian's novel Goodnight Mister Tom is a moving tale of an
eight-year-old boy, William Beech who is evacuated from London's
Deptford area to go and live in a village called Little Weirwold shortly
before the Second World War breaks out.
Longdean School Supports
New Build Prize Draw
Every student has now received a book of raffle tickets. Just a reminder to return any ticket stubs and money (or unsold
books of tickets) to Finance please. Thank you for your support thus far and good luck!
The Committee—Longdean School Association
[email protected]
Longdean School Vacancy
Assistant Site Team Operative
37 hours per week
Salary H3 (£16804-£17945)
A practical person with an NVQ Level 2 (or equivalent), is required
who can show initiative and will take pride in the upkeep and
appearance of our school. You will assist in the maintenance and
security of the school premises and site, ensuring a safe working
environment. You will be expected to participate in an ‘out of hours
on call rota’ system and lettings schedule.
For further details, including a Job Description, Person Specification
and Application Forms please visit our website
www.longdean.herts.sch.uk
Or, contact Mrs Lyn Butler, Personnel Manager at
[email protected]
Application is made by completing the application form and the
person specification form, together with a covering letter addressed
to the Headteacher, Mr G P Cunningham.
Closing Date: Wednesday 27 July, 2016 at 12noon
Interviews will take place soon after
Design and Technology Trip to the
Emirates Aviation Experience
The Design and Technology Department went on a trip to the Emirates Aviation Experience in
London in June to celebrate Women in Engineering day. Students spoke with Rolls-Royce
engineers and learned about career opportunities for women in engineering. Students were given
the chance to fly in simulators which are computerised cockpits of A380 or B777 aircrafts. They
flew in different major cities across the world, during different times of the day and through
different weather. Students were also able to experience a variety of activities and experiments
and a great day was had by all!
Miss Williams
Design and Technology Department
Artwork of the
Month
Shannon Prior-Mckenzie - Yr 12 BTEC Fashion Student
This month’s Artwork formed part of Shannon’s tattoo project. Shannon is in F14 and receives a certificate and set of pastels
as a reward for her hard work. The work will be on display in B site café until the end of term.
J Sonnier - Director of Learning Art
Important Dates
Tuesday 12 July
Residents’ Meeting
Wednesday 27 July
School finishes at 3.20pm
Friday 2 September
School Starts for Students
Letters that have been sent
home recently, via Schoolcomms where appropriate:
Bring It On - The School Musical
GCSE Students - Games T-Shirt
Yr 8 History Trip to Ypres
Strike Action Tuesday 5 July
Attendance
Pascal
Franklin
97.7%
96.9%
Da Vinci
96.7%
Gates
96.4%
0%
100%
Overall Attendance since 3 September 2015 is 94.3%
Would you like to add something to the next Link? Let us know using our email address:
[email protected]
Longdean School, Rumballs Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP3 8JB
Website Address: https://moodle.longdean.herts.sch.uk
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01442 217277 Fax: 01442 233098 Absence Line: 01442 205760
Link Dates
The Longdean Link is published every two weeks, via the Schoolcomms e-mail system to all those for whom we have an e-mail address, and on the LLP. Next issue: 22 July 2016