Caludon Update Spring 2016

March 2016

Headteacher’s Letter Year Group News Student Successes Clubs

Trips & Visits Library News Key Dates Sports

Photograph: Hospitality students at the Head’s Tea Party

Headteacher’s Letter

“I am so proud of their achievements” our students, as shown by this example below:

Dear Parents and Carers, Over 40 students have attended the ‘Head’s Tea Party’ this term in recognition of their commitment to outstanding learning. I am so proud of their achievements and we were privileged to have the catering provided by our students who are studying Hospitality.

In this newsletter, you will read about the range of activities that so many of your children have experienced. We continue to receive praise from outside organisations in respect of the behaviour and performance of

“Dear Mrs Marr - I would like to tell you how impressed I was by the behaviour, attitude and ability of your Year 10 students who visited us today to work with us in our laboratories. They made paracetamol and aspirin and were tutored by PhD students.

Your students were a real pleasure to spend time with polite, appreciative, bright and interested people.” University of Warwick, Chemistry trip We continue to provide excellent careers advice and guidance to equip students with the knowledge to make informed option choices.

The examination season is already in full swing with our Year 11 students already completing English speaking assessments, PE practicals, Music and Drama performances, French and Spanish oral examinations and Catering practical exams. Other subjects are completing

controlled assessments and preparing for their practicals immediately after the Easter break (Art, for example).

Similarly, our sixth form students are juggling the demands of completing coursework, ongoing homework and revision simultaneously!

After Easter, the first major written examination for our Year 11 students is English on Tuesday 3 May. Other key dates for next term are: Monday 18 April – Year 10 mock exam week Tuesday 19 April – Year 11 parents’ information evening – preparing for GCSE exams Thursday 21 April – Year 9 and 10 parents’ evening for the most able Thursday 19 May – Year 10 subject evening Kind regards, Mrs Michele Marr

Year Team Updates

Well done, Chloe!

In February Chloe Pettitt brought cakes into school to sell to raise money for the air ambulance. On this occasion she raised £42 to add to other money she has raised earlier in the year.

Ms Thompson, Appeals Co-ordinator Charity fund-raising Tamsyn McQuillan led a small group of year 10 students in

a sponsored silence to raise £133 for Macmillam Cancer Support.

The students took on this venture themselves and the year 10 team are very proud of their achievement in raising this money.

have chosen their GCSE and BTEC courses that will give them their first level of qualifications.

Options

Year 9 students have been having a taste of what is to come, within their Citizenship and ECDL courses this year.

Both will lead to GCSE level qualifications, and we wish the students success in their exams this summer.

Year 8 and 9 students have just completed their options process, choosing their subjects for next year. Year 8 have had the opportunity to choose a more personalised curriculum, spending more time on the subjects they enjoy most. Year 9

Citizenship and ECDL

Year Leaders

Uganda Night

In what has now become a familiar part of our school’s actvitiy, a group of students will be travelling to Uganda this summer to work with our partner, the Family Primary School. In previous years we have raised money to build the school a much-needed water tank, and to provide books, sports equipment and mosquito nets. As part of this year’s fund-raising push, the Uganda team ran a quiz night in school, raising over £500.

Miss Hammersley, Team Uganda

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Skiing Trip

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In February half term, 40 students and 5 staff set out on a 22-hour coach journey to Austria, to reach the beautiful slopes of Alpendorf, Salzburg.

They spent 5 hours a day for 5 days finding their ski legs, experiencing the elements and immersing themselves in a different culture.

Their experiences are described by two year 10 students, Jamie Williams and James-Dean Sawbridge.

the teachers). I know I didn’t because of the anticipation of making it there.’

‘On the coach there was a great buzz, a bit of banter here and there between everyone. This was because we were all so excited, it was a great way to kick-start a fantastic trip. I honestly thought the 22-hour coach journey was not going to go as quickly as it did. I don’t think many people got as much sleep as they expected (even

‘I got off to a not-so-brilliant start but as the days went on, I was progressing massively and achieving what I wanted - to be able to parallel turn instead of snow plough - which really hurts your legs! Our instructor, Leigh, was a great instructor, he taught us everything and made it look easy for us to get the hang of.

He was a right banterlope who

‘The views were beyond amazing! The first day was the best, seeing the slopes from the distance and seeing everyone ski for the first time. It took around 40 minutes to get to the slopes and the views were absolutely breath-taking as we were going up to the slopes on the lift.’

cracked some jokes!’

‘My favourite night was the karaoke, where Mr Frankish, Mr McKee, Mr Moffatt and Miss James performed! It was a brilliant night playing pool and singing songs at the tops of our voices. I would love to do it again. We also went to a swimming pool one night where they had slides and a whirl pool.

Bum-boarding was one of our after skiing activities where you throw yourself down a small slope on what is similar to a round bin lid. It was hilarious but very tiring.’

‘The next three days were the best experiences. We were taken on to the blue and red slopes, these were a real challenge on the third day. After that the experience was just getting better and better as the

days went on.’

‘When it came to the last day I was sad that we were going home and scared I wasn’t going to be able to get everything in my case, but I was excited we were going to have a full day of skiing before our journey home. I have to say this trip has been one of the best experiences of my life and I will cherish it forever.’

‘The entertainment from the teachers was amazing and they were very supportive when they saw you struggling.

I can’t wait to ski again and hope to have the same teachers, and have such a great time as we did. Thank

you for my award. All I can say is thanks for a life experience, and seeing such outstanding views, with great entertainment - what a holiday! Cheers!’

Whilst on the mountain in Alpendorf, we were joined for a day by Sarah Atkins the Deputy Head of Outdoor Education for Coventry and Warwickshire Council. In her report on the trip she makes reference to the, “consistent camaraderie among students and staff,” and closes with, “This was a well led visit with staff pulling together and working hard. Staff need commending for the time that they have given to organise and run this visit as it is such a fantastic opportunity for the children involved”.

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Student Successes Headteacher’s Tea Party Headteacher’s Tea Party nominatons were given to the following KS3 students in March: Charlie Childs Amy Hall Alice Scanlon Charlie Roberts Ben Walmsley Anthony Bosworth Daniel Erison Christie Horrillo Chloe Lawson Finn Holland Corrie Hobley-Flitcroft Christian Mason Haaris Ahmed Daniel Cook Hollie Curtlin Joe Harrison

Harvey Billing Kieran Holden Lewis Johnson John Jenkins Luke Glenn Madison Scrimshaw Lauren McConnachie Robert Livingstone Sophie Reyes Shaan Rana Xanthe Hives And to the following KS4 students in January: Adom Agyapong Aidan Docker Blake Fuller Catherine Kenny Emily Allsopp Erin Forbes

Mathematics Challenge Many of our students participated in the UKMT Intermediate Challenge on Thursday 4th February. On this occasion about 180 students took part across years 9, 10 and 11.

Kieron Tyler -Doyle Joseph Mcfadden Brindan Tharmaseelan

Other successes:

Bronze Certificate Luke Sayers Fatema Begum Elise Pierson Joshua Griffin Luke Thomson Domonkos Marek Thomas Single Michae l Prentice Chloe Watson Rachel Ward Catherine Kenny Luke Kennedy Ramandev Marva

Silver Certificate Rian Fox

Ms Ludgate, Mathematics

Anthony Nghiem acheived a Gold Certificate and got through to the next round which took place on Thursday 17th March.

Jack Young in year 11 also did really weli, achieving the Gold Certificate, but didn’t qualify for the next round.

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J-D Sawbridge Katie Gilchrist Lewis Clamp Mckenzie Carroll Megan Stanley Michael Prentice Neve Plumb Abigail Allman Abigail Frost Arun Marva Dan Cooper Hima Shaju Jay Cranston Jazz Rattanavichai John Buckham Jonathan Letts Lily Phillips Myah Berek Olivia Helliwell Rhys Harteveld

Self-initiated Home learning – Building a Bird House I decided to make a birdhouse at home with the help of my dad. The homework on mosaics inspired me to think about making something at home.

I had to get long pieces of plywood and measure the base, sides, bottom and top using a ruler on a spirit level.

We used a stain to finish the birdhouse to make it weatherproof and camouflage it when hung on a tree.

I really enjoyed making the birdhouse, I learned that I had to be patient when making something that I am proud of.

Freddie Smith, year 7

I had to get the measurement for the bird hole from the internet. It was 25mm in diameter.

My dad told me that you need to make sure the roof slopes downwards to let the water from the rain drip away.

Instead of a hinge we used rubber and felt nails to attach the wood to the base. We glued and screwed the sides together and we used part of a branch from the garden for the birds to stand on.

Musicians having a ball Year 13 Caludon musicians performed their charity single at the MIND charity ball. They went down so well that they sold every copy of the single on the night.

Leader of post-16, Mrs Roberts, commented: “The skills they learnt from this cannot be underestimated: rehearsal, commitment, diplomacy, team work, giving to society and having to keep going and smiling even when the drummer drops a beat, or someone forgets the words!�

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Student Clubs

Labrats

In January the Science faculty restarted Labrats for year 7 students. Labrats is a great opportunity for students to use new equipment, do some alternative experiments and join other students with a fascination for science!

Since starting, students have made foam fire extinguishers by reacting chemicals together,

tested Martian soil to work out what is present on the red planet, tested the colours that different metals show in a Bunsen burner flame and made tumble wings fly using aerodynamics and other forces.

If you enjoy Science, have a natural flair, or just want to see what Labrats is about, come along next Tuesday to F22 or speak to Miss Maund or Miss Brown.

Caludon Moon We are hoping to launch a new student-led magazine, the Caludon Moon, in the Summer term. At the moment, we are set to recruit an editorial team, including editors, sub-editors, journalists, feature writers, layout designers, artists, cartoonists and photographers.

Students from all years, 7 to 13, are welcome to apply, and must be prepared to stick to high editorial standards.

There will also be opportunities for any student to submit items such as stories, articles or images for each issue.

Students who are interested should see Ms Hutchinson or Ms Prentice, or come to G13 after school on Thursdays, or the PFL room on Thursday lunchtimes.

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Student News GCSE Catering Practical Assessment Year 11 have recently completed their final practical assessment which was based on international cuisine.

The brief asked students to create a two course menu with accompaniments. People lucky

enough to taste their food all agreed that the standard was very high, many saying they would be happy to buy this food in a restaurant!

Mrs Ruddy, Technology faculty

Key Dates

Monday 11 April Summer term starts Monday 18 April Year 10 mock exam week Tuesday 19 April Year 11 parents’ information evening – preparing

for GCSE exams Thursday 21 April Year 9 and 10 parents’ evening for the most able Monday 2 May Bank Holiday - school closed Tuesday 3 May Main written GCSE exams start Thursday 19 May Year 10 subject evening Thursday 26 May CRaFTAs (Caludon Radio, Film ad Television

Awards) Sat 28 May - Sun 5 June Half-term holiday Thursday 23 June Year 7 and 8 progress evening Thursday 30 June Sensed - Visual Arts and Technology exhibition Mon 4 - Fri 8 June Caludon Experience and Arts Week Thursday 21 July Summer holiday starts

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Drama

Year 13 Drama March 2016 The Drama department were the proudest teacher-parents in the school on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd of March.

Our current Y13, as part of their practical coursework, created two devised performances that were presented on both evenings as a double bill.

The first performance, ‘Coded’, explored conspiracy theories and the paranoia and sense of entrapment we experience in the modern world. The second, ‘Missing Pieces’, tried to communicate the feelings of a person suffering from depression and mental health issues.

Despite both themes being particularly challenging, both groups totally excelled in the task. The work was exceptionally moving and emotionally engaging. Many members of the audience were moved to tears by the students’ work.

Our pride was in recognition of how inventive, independent, imaginative and creative these students were. They have studied Drama at Caludon for seven years and this truly felt like the pinnacle of their achievement as artists, creators and performers. This was the highest quality devised work any of the teaching staff have seen in any school. There were highly

“Missing Pieces” On the 2nd and 3rd of March, we performed our final devised work entitled “Missing Pieces”, for A Level drama.

We have been creating this performance since September, focussing on the theme of depression and its effect on the human brain. We were working from the stimulus of “The Red Tree” by Shaun Tan, a picture book aiming to describe depression to children.

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We thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece, with all of our group working together well from the minute we began. The final performance has been filmed and uploaded to Firefly for anyone to enjoy and we hope to perform again during Arts Week.

We are all proud of our final performance and would like to thank all the Drama department for helping us every step of the way. We would also like to thank

professional standards in terms of acting, but we also enjoyed the incredible technical elements, guided by our superb, but sadly soon-to-depart, lighting technician, Matt Whale. He will be sadly missed.

Mr DeGroot, Drama

all students and teachers who came to watch this performance, especially for their fantastic comments regarding our piece.

Joanna Gay, year 13

Congratulations, Matt!

Our former student, Matthew Whale, completed a Theatre Technician Apprenticeship with the Drama department two years ago. He made himself SO useful, in a variety of ways, that he was offered more work in the department over the past year.

“Coded�

Our piece was about the theme of conspiracies and government control.

We began to devise around the idea of hidden people in the shadows, and from this created movement pieces. After getting our basic framing device for our piece, we began to add more scenes and poems.

Along the way of creating our final piece there were problems, but as a group we overcame

these, and feedback from our performance shows us that it communicated our aims clearly.

We wanted the audience to challenge their ideologies.

We would like to say a massive thank you to all the teachers who helped in Drama and to everyone who came to watch as we took our final bow.

Harry Paton, year 13

We genuinely believe that, without Matt, the school productions, music events, drama workshares, lessons, and after-school clubs would have been far less visually and aurally engaging.

Matt has learned greatly from his time with us, and has undertaken a vast array of professional and semi-professional engagements alongside his part-time hours.

While we are extremely sad to know he will be leaving us at the end of the year, we are totally delighted that he is doing so to undertake a degree in Theatre Lighting Design at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. This course is the best in the country and competition for the small number of places is fierce.

Matt impressed the staff there so much that he has been invited to start at the beginning of year 2.

We wish Matt a fantastic experience and genuinely hope he will keep in touch with us to share his skills and experience in the future.

The Drama department

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Coventry Inspiration Book Awards Book Bout Jonathan Letts, 10.6 On Monday 8 February 2016 we once again hosted the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards Book Bout competition.

Library

5 participating schools from across the city were given a book to present on from the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards. The presentation could be a poem, a film, a piece of drama, or a song. The standard of performances was, as usual, excellent!

Congratulations to our fabulous team pictured here who won. Incidentally, this is the second consecutive year Caludon Castle have won this competition!

Dressing up as book characters World Book Day March 3 2016 (Right) A selection of our staff getting into the spirit of celebrating World Book Day. Where better to have the photo taken than the library!

(Below) Michael Smith Y7 as Charlie Bucket (Below right) Sophie Reyes Y7 as Heidi

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Pictured left to right with their prizes and certificate are: Michael Smith Y7, Christopher Roston Y9, Zoe Stubbs Y9, Fjori Dautaj Y7, Ellie Ashfield Y7 and Thomas Twamley Y7

News World Book Day Thursday 3 March 2016

At break time in the library Miss Pettipher and I organised a ‘blind date with a book’ activity.

Students were invited to choose a book not knowing the title or author. We’d wrapped up the books in paper, so the only way of deciding which book to choose was by the blurb that we’d put on the wrapped-up book.

By the end of break we’d issued almost all of the books, an activity we will definitely repeat!

(Right) Joe Griffiths from Year 7 deciding which book to choose.

Ricoh Visit On Friday 26 February 2016 a selection of Y7 students and I attended a World Book Day Roadshow. This event was held at the Ricoh Arena. We listened to authors such as Francesca Simon, who wrote the Horrid Henry series, and we heard from Alex T Smith who wrote and illustrated the Claude series of books.

Our Y7 had a great time and were really happy to be able to use their World Book Day £1 token against the cost of a book. Those who purchased a book had their book signed by the author.

Pictured are Ellie Brown, Jake Connor Chadwick, Emilio Rolli, Madison Scrimshaw and Samuel Wright. Also in attendance were Lucy –Mae Jones, Jack Owen, Karl Rowe, Joe Griffiths, Daniel Harrison and Karolina Davletsina.

Miss Barton, Library

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Trips and Visits

Health and Social Care During the Autumn term the Health and Social Care year 12 students visited Longlea Care home in Nuneaton to carry out some Christmas activities as part of their communication course work.

The residents enjoyed quizzes created by the students, cakes baked by the students and arts activities such as pom-pom making and Christmas card making.

The students all excelled in the criteria for their coursework and represented Caludon in an impeccable way.

Ms McKenzie, PSD faculty

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Visitors

GCSE Hospitality Year 10 GCSE Hospitality have just completed an assessment based on carrying out an event. They decided to run an afternoon tea party for a pensioners’ group called the Young at Heart.

The food was made in the morning and then served to the guests in the afternoon. Both students and guests really enjoyed the day with the feedback from the Young at Heart group being extremely positive in every area.

Comments from the guests included: “marvellous food” and “lovely polite students”.

Well done year 10!

Mrs Ruddy, Technology faculty

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Trips and

Moving Image: Mead Gallery Gerard Byrne: 1/125th of a second The Y12 Moving Image students visited the Mead Gallery in early March to see the video installation exhibition by Gerard Byrne. The exhibition included two sets of three monitors showing two different constructed videos, as well as a series of photographs, a slide show, and a film shot in a diorama.

The subject matter was challenging, and at times hard to understand, but students gained a real insight into the idea of video installation itself, and how the artist can manipulate the behaviour of the viewers. They

were also interested in other aspects of staging an exhibition.

Byrne had controlled the lighting in the exhibition as well as the programming of the videos and the

spacing of the monitors. All of this combined to give a complete experience.

Ms Hutchinson, Visual Arts

Drama: Propeller ‘Pocket’ Merchant “A superb summary of Shakespeare to inspire and entertain…”

On the 19th October 2015 we took our Y13 A-Level Drama and

Theatre Studies students to see Propeller’s “Pocket” production of The Merchant of Venice, so that they can discuss the contrast between a Shakespearean and a

contemporary production as part of their written exam in June.

The reason why it is called a “Pocket” play is due to the condensed narrative giving the performance its one hour running time. The minimalist production, intertwining live music and fast moving scene, involved an all male cast and a small set. Together these constituted Propeller’s penultimate touring play before they are forced to “shut-up shop” due to funding cuts.

Their parting gift was A Midsummer Night’s Dream in their “Pocket” format, which began its tour on the 1st February 2016 and closed on the 12th March 2016.

Matthew Whale Performing Arts Technician

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Visits

Applied Science: Twycross Zoo A group of 30 year 12 Applied Science students visited Twycross Zoo in order to conduct research for their unit 1 coursework.

The day began with the students completing a workshop outlining the scientific roles within the zoo.

Students then visited different enclosures and carried out an audit and risk assessment. They then shared their findings in a second workshop.

Well done to everyone for representing the school so well and for collecting some high quality research.

Ms Banwait, Science

Other Visits The following visits are amongst those that have also taken place: January 2016 Year 9 History students visited the Imperial War Museum North in January.

14 Year 10 Science students visited the Chemistry department at Warwick University to find out about university life, as well as to make common chemical compounds such as paracetamol.

war trenches of France and Belgium. This is an unforgettable experience that leaves an emotional legacy on those who attend.

project they had been undertaking.

At the time of going to press, History staff and 40 year 10 and 11 students will be in Berlin for the annual visit to this city of massive 24 STEM club members from years 8 to 10 visited the Big Bang importance in 20th Century Fair at the NEC with Ms Anderson- European history.

Ms Gallagher, Performing Arts Shore, as part of the research

March 2016 58 Year 9 students joined staff from the History department on their annual visit to the first world

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Other News BBC Visit The BBC vsited us on 16 March to film a piece about our celebrations of Shakespeare’s works and their relevance to 21st Century life, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his death. The piece was shown on Midlands Today on Monday 21 March.

RAISE Day Sports Relief On Friday 18 March, Caludon Castle took on the sports theme for a day to Raise the Awareness and Importance of Sport and Exercise.

Staff members created posters about their personal sporting idols,

which were proudly displayed on classroom and office doors.

Many KS3 lessons had a sports focus. All Year 7 students were encouraged to complete the Sport Relief mile in their PE lessons. Students were able to wear fancy dress and donated money towards the Caludon Uganda visit.

A Year 7 Inter-tutor Tug of War competition took place in the middle of the day. After school there was a Year 12 v staff 7-aside football game on the Astro.

The staff had a narrow victory.

Thank you to Mr McKee for leading this fabulous day.

Student Leaders Mr Moffat and Ms Hawkins have been running a student leadership training programme for students from KS3 and KS4.

The following students are now working with year 7 during tutor time as part of their student leadership role.

7.1 – Ben Carr and Cara Starkey 7.2 – Eesha Matharu and Zoe Lancaster 7.3 - Laura Howes 7.4 – Aleks Wroniak, Ajay Singh, Courtney Powers 7.8 – Jonathan Letts

Computing Microbit programming Some of our year 7 students are investigating the new BBC Microbit. This is a new pocketsized programmable computer that will be given to all year 7 students across the country. A handful have arrived in advance of the launch for teachers, so that they can plan Microbit lessons.

Microbit club is run every Wednesday after school in F10 for any curious buding computer scientists.

The students learning how to program the Microbit will become digital leaders in their computing lessons.

“Microbit is a new world! I think it’s agreat thing to program and

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fantastic fun!” (Lewis Johnson Y7) “I like using the Microbit because you can make your own program. I enjoyed making

the rock, paper, scissors game, because I could play this by myself against the computer.”

(Erin Mortiboys Y7) Ms Spelman, Computing

Music News Charity single We are Breaking Barriers and over the past few months we have been creating, producing and designing our Charity single song ‘Step By Step’. Our aim is to raise money for our chosen charity ‘Coventry & Warwickshire Mind’ by gaining money from CD sales, online purchases and donations.

Shivani Thakrar, year 13

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Sports News Coventry Games Swimming Gala 24 students took part in the Coventry Games swimming gala on 1st March. This was a huge success with the Y9 boys and girls, the Y8 girls and the Y7 boys making the regional finals.

Unfortunately the only team that placed in the top three were the Y9 boys finishing third. The team was made up of Ross Anderson, James Eaton, Anthony Ngheim and Christian Mason. Also special mention needs to go to Joseph McAuley for being part of the bronze-winning team and swimming up an age group.

Mr McKee Year 7 Football The Year 7 football team won 5-1 against Sidney Stringer on Tuesday 1st March, with Luke Flint scoring twice. They made it through to the semi-final of the Coventry Schools Cup, on the 22nd March, where unfortunately they lost 3-2. Ethan Beckett and Connor Mack scored the Caludon goals.

Michael Waine PE Technician / SSM Year 10 Football The year 10 football team lost 2-1 at home to Finham Park in the Coventry Cup semi-final.

Unfortunately, after playing some superb football in the earlier rounds, the team couldn’t rekindle their previous excellent form to get through to the next round after coming up against a stubborn Finham side.

Mr Herlihy, team coach

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(Above) The Year 7 Girls’ football team with Mr Holland Year 7 Girls’ Football The Caludon Castle U13s girls’ football community has continued to grow and we are now officially affiliated with the FA. Since January we have been participating in the local league and due to the popularity, we have entered two teams, the only school in Coventry and Warwickshire able to do so. As this is the first year the girls have played together, this season continues to be a transition period, with both cup and league success a realistic target for the following year.

We have recently been joined by a handful of Year 8s who have helped give the team a bit more presence, particularly against the more physical opponents. With the experience of regularly playing competitive fixtures, the entire squad continue to improve individually and as a team.

There have been plenty of stand-out performances, with Ashley Rattigan tearing up the left wing, displaying both composure and rapid pace as a Berbatov/Robben type hybrid player. Cameron Farthing continues to be the stuff of nightmares for opposition keepers,

with lethal power and accuracy part of her attack. Rhianne Buckley recently scored an absolute worldie of a goal from 25 yards out, which had similarities to the famous 1996 Eric Cantona goal, both in the finishing and the celebration. Poppy Lee appears to be a natural with the ball at her feet, often striding past several opposition players at a time.

One of the most consistent and star players has been Chloe Pettitt from 7.9 who plays exceptionally in any position on the pitch. Chloe stated, “The league has some good teams and generally we play against year 8s. It is tough but this doesn’t stop us trying our best and, most importantly, enjoying ourselves and taking part. We train on a Thursday night after school until 4pm and this is fun as it helps us work as a team and make new friends. I have always enjoyed football and hope that the girls’ team carries on for many years at Caludon! Girls’ football is fab, I would recommend it to any Year 7-8 girls to come along and give it a go!”

Mr Holland, team coach

The Sport and Leisure Faculty