Caludon Update Winter 2014

December 2014

Headteacher’s Letter AIM Year Group News Student Successes Clubs Home Learning

Student Leaders Trips Events Key Dates Sports Wizard of Oz

Photograph: Year 9 students deliver presents to UHCW

Headteacher’s Letter

“Amazed at the confidence our students displayed.”

Dear Parents/ Carers, I have been very impressed with our students this term.

On December 4th, nine head teachers from a range of good and outstanding schools across the Midlands visited our school. During their tour, they were amazed at the confidence and the

engagement in learning that our students displayed. We continue to offer enrichment opportunities outside the classroom and you will see in this newsletter some of the many events and opportunities that have been so successful.

We have introduced a new format for reporting the achievements of your children which we hope you find helpful. At the beginning of each term you will receive a summary of your child’s progress.

If you wish to see the home learning set for your child and, also, reports about your child’s attendance and progress, then please remember to register your email address with firefly@

caludoncastle.co.uk

This year is special for us as it is the school’s 60th anniversary. To mark this occasion, each student will receive an anniversary pen.

Throughout this year we will be celebrating through a number of events. This week, past students have visited the school and heard tunes from the cast of our Wizard of Oz Christmas production.

Thank you as ever for the support you give to the school. I wish you all a very happy Christmas holiday and restful New Year. Term starts, as normal, on Mon 5th Jan 2015.

Best Wishes, Michele Marr

AIM

The Able and Inspired Minds (AIM) Programme at Caludon has been devised to ensure that students who have shown the potential to achieve highly at secondary school are clearly identified, monitored and offered additional opportunities and support to make outstanding progress and secure high levels/ grades.

All students at Caludon, however, regardless of starting point, are offered opportunities to ‘Take It Further’ (TIF) both in and outside of lessons. This may take many forms, such as higher level questioning, an additional activity or an alternative approach.

Mrs A. Oldroyd TIF is all about ‘Taking It Further’. Students are pushed to take their learning even further, and to think deeply about different ideas, perhaps looking at different perspectives.

TIF is used all over school; it is used in classrooms and lessons, where TIF activities are available to students, to further extend their knowledge and learning.

This can include AIM/TIF boxes, with TIF challenge cards inside

them. These challenges can include things like designing a starter for the next lesson, writing from the perspective of a different person, or adding more difficulty and layers to a question. In most classroom activities, there is a TIF question to make students think with more depth and interest.

‘Abe’ is our TIF marksman.

Every time you see Abe, it means that there is an opportunity to TIF! In nearly every classroom, there is a TIF wall display, which gives students the chance to see outstanding work, tips or challenges.

For those who don’t know, there is a TIF Zone! This is an area for students to drop in to, and perhaps have a place to do home learning, or do extra research. The laptops available mean that doing research is easy, and we will also have revision guides, textbooks and magazine articles, to aid research and revision. Each subject will also have a TIF box, with resources and TIF questions, to further develop ideas.

Year 9 Update

Year 9 students will very soon be making their options choices for their GCSE and BTEC qualifications.

There will be a Progress Evening on Thursday 15 January where parents and students will have an opportunity to talk to tutors and mentors about progress in learning so far this year. The following week, on Wednesday 21 January, we will have our Year 9 Options Evening where students and their parents can find out about the courses being offered for study in year 10 and year 11.

After Christmas, we hope that the TIF Zone will really take off, as it will be available to students as often as possible. Also, we might start having a ‘Priority Days’ system, so that a certain year group can have priority on a certain day. This doesn’t mean that students will be turned away if possible though! Please come and use the brilliant facilities of our TIF Zone, in the Year 10 hub, opposite the Music corridor.

Jonathan Letts, Year 10.

As well as the subjects students are used to already, there will be a range of new subjects. Every student in year 9 will receive a booklet outlining all of the courses available, but the Options Evening will give an opportunity to discuss these courses with teachers and with students who are already studying them. In addition, year 9 leaders and other senior staff will be on hand to answer questions, for example queries about the mix of subjects specific students might want to take.

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Post-16 News Children in Need The sixth form did a great job this year and managed to raise over £1300! As well as wearing some wonderful fancy dress costumes themselves, they collected from all the other students who enjoyed a day of wearing casual clothes and not school uniform. There was also a cake sale and a great home-made Pudsey cake, all contributing to the final total. A raffle and chess tournament also orchestrated by the sixth form topped off a wonderfully fun-filled day and continued the traditional support of Children in Need by Caludon and its sixth form.

UCAS Applications to university are well under way with many of our students applying to a range of universities and courses including medicine, history, maths, genetics, engineering, nursing, sports managements and many others. Offers are coming in thick and fast!

Enrichment Many of our year 12 students

are fully engaged in enrichment activities. This voluntary work includes mentoring our younger students, helping at the local hospital, assisting in primary schools and a range of other interesting activities. Not only does this often contribute significantly to others, but it is helping our students develop a sense of confidence and responsibility, which aids them in their move to being employable and wellrounded young people.

Year 11 into 12 open evening This was significantly well attended this year. All subjects offering A Level and BTEC

courses were well represented and parents were able to ask questions to help in the decisionmaking process for the next steps of our year 11 students.

We were particularly proud again of our sixth form students who spent the evening discussing individual subjects with parents and students and giving them an ‘insider’ view of sixth form study. Special thanks go to Kamini Mistry, Oskar Cudny and Kurt Burzynski, who were brave enough to talk to a hall full of parents about their experiences.

Oskar’s ‘I had a dream’ speech will be long remembered! Even the car park marshals comprised of sixth form student volunteers, who were particularly motivated by the high visibility jackets provided!

Sixth form mock examinations Sixth formers are now working hard in preparation for the mock examinations after Christmas. Lots of revision, planning and time management are in place and our students are engaging with this in anticipation of successful results!

Student Successes The following students have all been selected to play for sports teams in the local region, and we congratulate them on their well-deserved success.

Year 7 Harvey Billing - Coventry City FC Academy Year 8 Luke Kennedy, Nathan Allen, Jay Kelly, Brandon Tierney – Coventry Schools Football Year 9 Riley Davoile – Chesterfield FC Academy; Bradley West – Wolves FC Academy Year10 Tom Seedhouse – West Midlands County Schools FA; John Bucham - Coventry Schools Football.

Year 11 Tom Hopkins – West Midlands Cross Country.

FutureChef 2014-15 This competition was open for all year 9, 10 and 11 Food technology and Catering students to enter. The students had to plan a main course meal for two costing less than £5.

They then had one hour to prepare, cook and serve their meal.

The competition took place on Tuesday 21st October. The competition was fierce and the atmosphere was tense as the students worked hard to produce their meals.

Mrs Marr and the leadership team were the judges and agreed that the standard was

very high.

After some deliberation the winner was announced. Grace Tranter was the overall winner producing a delicious chicken and vegetable pie.

Grace went on to represent the school at the local final at Henley College on the 4th December.

Grace performed brilliantly as you can see in the picture below.

There were only a couple of marks between Grace and the overall winner on the day so very well done to Grace!

Mrs Ruddy, Food Technology

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Student Clubs

Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars meet in G13 every Thursday from 3.15 to 4.15pm, to make films. The current club members are mostly in year 9 and year 10, but the club is open to all students. Shooting Stars work on their own projects, ranging from Lego animations, through 3D CGI animation to live action fiction films created in the school buildings and grounds.

Every year, Shooting Stars have the opportunity to enter their films into the annual CRaFTAs event (Caudon Radio, Film and Television Awards) competing against the best GCSE and A Level students - they usually come away with at least one coveted trophy between them. For more information, see Ms Hutchinson in Visual Arts.

History Detectives So far this term, the Caludon History Detectives have been focusing on two different aspects. The enthusiastic and committed group carried out independent research into the topic of their choice in order to share their passion for History with the rest of the group.

One eager detective said, ‘I have really enjoyed being a part of the History detectives. We meet on Thurs-

day lunchtimes and can share what we like about History with each other.’

Following on from this, the students have focused on conspiracy theories and a heated debate took place on whether the moon landing of 1969 actually happened.

Students were required to research the topic and prepare their side of the debate. Another detective declares, ‘We put a lot of work

into this debate and although I don’t like talking in front of the class, this was fun.’

Now as we head into the festive period, the History detectives aim to create their own Tudor Christmas. They are researching games that families would indulge in and the food that would have been enjoyed. Henry VIII would have been proud.

For more information about the History Detectives, see Mr Faulkner in the History Department.

Labrats!

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In September, the Science department started running a year 7 science club – the Labrats!

In their first term, the Labrats have made marshmallow catapults, designed polar bear blubber and looked at their own cells. We’ve also had fun making pop rockets, electromagnet cranes and batteries made from fruit. Next term we will be having more scientific fun! If any year 7s would still like to join Labrats, we run on a Tuesday afternoon in F22, from 3.15 to 4pm. For more information, see Mrs Mach in the Science Department.

Student Clubs

STEM Club

It has been yet another busy start to the year for Caludon STEM Club as we welcomed back members old and new in September. The Club continues to expand its reach, with the core membership constituting Years 8 and 9, as well as a dedicated group of Year 10 and Year 11 students who mentor and support the younger members of the club. Our Year 12 and 13 members have also returned as part of the Sixth Form Enrichment Programme to lead on STEM based projects and activities.

The autumn term sees the return of the popular First Lego League competition, which takes place on Thursday 8 January at Birmingham University. The students are busy preparing for the competition, with our Year 9 STEM mentors providing support and coaching for the robot programming. This is the seventh consecutive year that Caludon

Castle has entered the event and this year we are fielding two teams.

The focus of this year’s competition is learning.

Students have been asked to choose a topic that they are passionate about or have always wanted to learn. They will need to create an innovative solution that improves the learning experience and adds value to society, which they will present to a panel of experts at the regional competition.

In addition to the research and presentation part of the competition, the students have built and programmed a Lego robot to complete a set number of obstacles.

We will travel to the competition with a team from Shrubland Street Primary School STEM Club in Leamington Spa. Our STEM Club has worked with the children from Shrubland

Street on a number of joint projects in the past and we are looking forward to them joining us on the day.

Other STEM events to watch out for in 2015 include the return of Thomas Killestein’s popular talk on Exoplanets. The evening presentation will incorporate a lecture followed by some stargazing and a tour of the night sky.

Our Y9 STEM members will also compete in the second regional VEX robot competition in February.

The club is expanding year on year enabling us to take on exciting new projects, to have a wider impact across the curriculum and to enthuse and inspire Caludon students about all things STEM! We would like to take this opportunity to thank all students and staff involved in STEM this year and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mrs Miller and the STEM team

Book Fair News At the time of going to press we accumulated sales of more than £500 from our Scholastic Book Fair Thank you to all those who supported our event as we do generate free books for our library from Scholastic publishers.

Many thanks, Miss Barton

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Interested in teaching?

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Home Learning The most significant change to home learning this year has been the introduction of the Firefly VLE both for students and staff, and now for parents. A teacher can now set a home learning assignment in class and then use Firefly to create a written record for students and parents/carers to refer to later.

Firefly is developing at quite a pace, improving communication with home and providing helpful details about courses, including revision aids. In the new year we are hoping to launch the Firefly app for parents so that they can access the VLE on their Smartphones, tablets

and other mobile devices.

At the parental engagement evening in November we looked at Firefly and the new reporting system. The feedback on those evenings, from 100% of the parents who filled in a questionnaire, was that: - ‘Firefly will help me to support my child’s home learning’ - ‘Firefly will improve the communication between school and home’

Other comments made about how Firefly helped with

home learning included: - Keeps the parent in the loop - Being able to see my child’s progress against targets and monitor home learning - Able to work with school at home and support home learning

Home learning is a vital part of the learning process for a child and we depend on home support to make it happen. A big thank you to parents for all the support you given us so far.

The Headteacher’s Tea Party is now a regular feature of GCSE Hospitality lessons for year 10 students to plan and carry out the catering for Mrs Marr’s tea party that happens every month to reward outstanding students.

Every month the standard of the food produced and the service seems to get better….

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Student Leaders Throughout the course of this term, student leadership has played a big part in everyday school life, with improved integration with the AIM (Able and Inspired Minds) initiative. Some of the busiest events in the student leadership calendar were in fact over this term, with the year 6 into year 7 Open Day and Evening.

Throughout this day and evening, students toured guests around the school, helped in specific faculty areas and held presentations to future students and parents alike. This was all backed up by weeks of planning and meetings between staff and student leaders. During the Open Evening, student leaders were busy in reception ready to greet, and others were hosting sporting activities, scientific experiments, musical demonstrations and much more!

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lesson and Eleanor Kenny and Lucy Malpass (year 11) observed a Maths lesson.

These students went on to create a presentation about their findings which was presented to members of staff, including Mrs. Marr and other members of teaching and leadership staff.

Another area several students have participated in this term has been lesson observations – these students are formally known as Student Researchers. These students are faculty specific and have watched lessons to observe the effect the TIF (Take It Further) initiative has had and how the students are challenged to excel in their learning. Arnold Selimoviq and Vismaya Jose (year 9 students) observed a Citizenship lesson; James Dunn, Ella Dalton and Corrie Hobley-Flitcroft (year 7 students) observed a Science

Another event in which student leaders participated was a student interview panel.

Myself (James Cousins) and fellow student Jonathan Letts headed up the panel with Year 7 , 8 and 9 students interviewing two Science teacher candidates.

In conclusion, this term has been a big one for Student Leadership and hopefully there will be many more terms like this.

James Cousins (Year 9) and Jonathan Letts (Year 10)

History Trips and Visits Year 12 - Bosworth Field - 7 October 2014 Year 12 AS Historians adventured to Bosworth Field in early October to retrace the steps of Richard III and Henry Tudor.

Twenty five students enjoyed a tour of the battle site, trying on armour in the interactive museum and practising battle formation with pike.

Special praise goes to the girls who valiantly defeated the boys at pike training during the Les Routiers session!

Miss Beasley, History Dept

Year 8 - Hampton Court - 10 and 12 Nov

The year 8s thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Hampton Court.

We started off with a tour of the magnificent Palace; the students explored the different floors learning how the food was prepared down in the kitchens before discovering the vast banquet halls and master bedrooms of the old Kings and Queens of England.

We then had a learning session with a specialist historian who was even dressed for the part.

Students said, “The trip was fun and we learnt a lot about the Tudors”. Another stated, “We learnt how the palace changed over time”. All students enjoyed themselves and one commented that the best part of the trip was “seeing all the grand bedrooms”.

Mrs Marriette, History Dept

When History and Art collide Students from Years 9, 10 and 11 had a thought provoking and immersive experience, becoming recruits and observers of the First World War at The Memorial Park in Remembrance Week. Led by two actors from ‘The Phileas Fogg Theatre Company’, students were engaged in an interactive theatre workshop where they took on a variety of roles through quick costume changes becoming, amongst other things, soldiers signing up and going to war, the community left behind, and medical orderlies, as well as creating group voices of key War Poets from the time. The piece culminated with an emotive rendition of ‘The Last Post’ with one soldier left standing to attention in No Man’s Land.

One student said of the day: “No history book prepared me for really imagining what it must have been like to be a soldier in World War I.” The History Dept

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Aladdin, 27 Nov

Drama Trips

The Drama department took 50 Year 7 students to see the Christmas Pantomime, ‘Aladdin’ at the Belgrade Theatre on Thursday 27th November. Staff hair will return to usual non-grey colours after Christmas! Year 7 students have been learning about Pantomimes in their Drama lessons and can now relate their work in class to a professional performance. The students all had a brilliant time and made sure that the actors were not disappointed with the level of audience interaction. Only one school shouted louder and they had three times the number of students. Everyone was up on their feet singing, dancing and shouting, particularly the teachers! Students commented on the beautiful and bright costumes and set, and were inspired to create their own versions of pantomimes in class with great success.

‘The panto was amazing and the costumes were bold and unique. My favourite part was when they did the washing machine scene and the teacher who went up on stage got splattered with foam! There was nothing I would improve.’ Zoe Brock Turner, 7.2

Blood Brothers, 20 Oct

53 year 10 Drama students went to The Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre on Monday 20th October 2014 to watch ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell. This legendary production tells the captivating and moving tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. The superb score includes Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally charged hit Tell Me It’s Not True. Few musicals have received quite such acclaim as the multi-award winning Blood Brothers, and Bill Kenwright’s production continues to enjoy standing ovations at every devastating performance. “When we watched Blood Brothers it was a joy to watch someone be able to change how they acted so massively from comical to really serious. From 7 year old, to teenager to adult. The songs were a nice twist to a musical which added depth to the whole performance.”

Michael Clapham Year 10 GCSE Drama student

One Man, Two Guvnors, 8 Oct

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Our year 11 GCSE Drama Students went to see the National Theatre’s award-winning comedy ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’, as it embarks on its biggest-ever tour of the UK and Ireland. The play originally starred James Corden who rose to fame as ‘Smithy’ in Gavin and Stacey. Now seen by over 1 million people worldwide, this internationally acclaimed smash-hit is a glorious celebration of British comedy – a unique, laughout-loud mix of satire, songs, slapstick and glittering one-liners. It surprised the students when one hapless member of the audience was involved in the action and ended up covered in pie but this was, actually, all part of the play! “One man two guvnors is a play set in the late 1920s in Brighton and is about a man named Francis and how he ends up dealing with two jobs at the same time. This play was mainly based around the original Commedia dell arte style of performance that we covered in year 10. As we watched the first half of the performance we could not stop laughing. It brought tears to our eyes.” Nicholas Bennett and Ryan Stanley Year 11 GCSE Drama students

and Visits Othello, 29 Oct For their exam in June, Year 13 students write a comparison between a modern production of a Shakespeare play and the way the same play would have been performed in Shakespeare’s era.

If there is one theatre company that epitomises contemporary and modern theatre it is Frantic Assembly. They create highly physical, almost dance-like sequences, within the story-telling.

Setting Othello in a run down, rough pub, in the middle of a rough estate, the play became a gang story of violence and power.

The company’s style is highly energetic and tiring. Miss Pender, Miss Allcock and Mr De Groot attended a teachers’ workshop with the company during half term and the method of working has already been shared with year

10 and year 11 students.

“Frantic Assembly did an incredible job of modernising an out-of-date story. By changing the setting and characters, they were able to bring a Shakespearean story to a modern audience. In contrast to the old language, which stayed

mainly the same, they added an authentic feeling to the performance. Overall it was an excellent experience and a gripping story performed beautifully by Frantic Assembly.”

Calum Rowe and Kai Sandon, Year 13 Theatre Studies students.

Chamber Piece, 20 Nov Year 12 Theatre Studies students went to see Lyric Hammersmith: Secret Theatre Company present a pitch-black comedy called Chamber Piece from up-andcoming writer Caroline Bird. The play was about power, lethal injection and the desperate need for a Twix. When an execution goes horribly wrong and the prisoner regains consciousness with no memory of his crimes the ruthlessly ambitious governor has 24-hours to prove his sanity before her death warrant expires.

Enlisting the help of a reluctant doctor, her incompetent staff and an egotistical spiritual advisor, the governor scrambles to get her house in order.

“The production was very

successful, it clearly presented the storyline and plot and nothing was left un-answered.

I really enjoyed it because it was so unusual and was unlike anything I have seen before.

The performance created loads of different emotions for the audience and this made it really enjoyable to watch.”

Bethany Whale Year 12 Theatre Studies student

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Anti-Bullying Week During Anti-Bullying week all students participated in activities that focused on the Anti-Bullying Alliance theme of ‘Let’s Stop Bullying for All’, considering why members of our society who have special educational needs or physical disability can experience prejudice within society and the harm this can cause.

During this week our students also worked together to explore: • Staying Safe in Cyber Space • Celebrating difference and diversity within our school community • The negative effects bullying can have in a community, focusing on homophobic bullying in Years 9, 10 and 11.

Students received BEN (Bullying Ends Now) Cards to remind each one of the support mechanisms within our school that they can use if they feel uncomfortable or unhappy.

We also launched out 2014/15 Staying Safe Charter.

Another Great Anti-Bullying Week at Caludon It started a few weeks ago I was on my way to school They came out of the bushes They made me look like a fool I hoped it was just a one off Hoped it would not happen again But it just kept on happening Each day, then again and again

Year 7 designed posters of their ‘Anti Bullying Super Hero’, the standard of all the entries was amazing, especially all the entries from 7.5. After a lot of deliberation: The over all winner – Emily Reid 7.5 for ‘Ms Helper’ Runners up With a Special Mention Kayleigh Johnson for the Designers of ‘Ben Jessie Ryan the Bully Destroyer’ from Emily Reid 7.7: Presious Abu Caitlin Murray Ashlie Rattigan Olivia Michelle Menzies Amelie Widdowson Johnetta Okyere Sam Bestard Chyanne Stanley Niamh Mumford Zebrzuski Angelia Miles Ewan Stubbs Owen Joyce

Mrs Edwards, Leader of Year 9

Everyday it would happen I just want to be free Whether they sent me a message online Or they came to see me Ben Craston, 7.5 It was also a great pleasure to work with members of year 8 who have joined the student voice ‘Staying Safe Group’. During our first session we reviewed resources, tutor programme and assemblies completed during Anti Bullying Week 2014. The group also had some wonderful new ideas to support and enhance our Staying Safe project at the school. I am really looking forward to working with these inspirational young people over the next year.

So a big thank you to Robert Livingstone, Megan Blake, Arvin Corotana, Zoe Stubbs, Taylor Moseley, Reece McCook, Britney Caka, Jessie Sheridan, Travis Lissaman

Art Christmas Competition The winner of the Art Christmas Competition 2014 is Abigail Ross from 9.2, she has won first place in the competition, plus a special Christmas prize!

Also in Art we will be launching our next competition in the new year which has a ‘Movies and Music’ theme.

Start thinking about your entries now. Information will be published around the school soon with more detail including the prizes on offer!

Our Gallery is now well-used

with changing exhibitions throughout the year. Parents are welcome to visit us whenever you are in school for any event.

In the New Year, look out for exciting news about our online gallery due to open soon, with the opportunity for students to sell their art work as prints, mugs, t-shirts and more.

Perhaps next Christmas we’ll be your favourite gift shop?

The Art department team

World Languages Day During the last week of September to coincide with the celebration of European Languages Day on September 26th the Languages Department hosted lots of exciting activities and events in order to inspire our linguists of the future.

Our students really enjoyed all of the activities, ranging from understanding that dogs do not say woof in French, practising sign language to contemporary songs, treating our students to French breakfast, to the latest event ... The Great International Bake Off! There were lots of delicious entries such as gooey Whoopie pies, chocolate

éclairs, homemade croissants, beautiful bread, scrumptious tiramisu and delicate Italian cookies.

A big thank you and well done to all those who took part; it was really difficult for us to decide the winners but we would like to particularly mention: Emily Allmann, Hannah Parks, Amelia Hall, Antonina Churylova and Dale Patrick-Evans, their bakes were excellent!

We look forward to more excellent contributions next year.

The Languages team 15

Dramatic Events Lighting workshop Tuesday 18th November 2014 It’s been two years since professional Lighting Designer John Watson last came to Caludon to deliver his stage lighting and technical theatre workshop. Also arriving with John this time was a 7ft high by 9ft proscenium arch stage and fly tower complete with lanterns and flyable cloths. Basically, imagine the Belgrade Theatre and all its stage effects, shrunk and put into our Drama studio.

After completing the stage and fly tower, John branched into the area of stage lighting and the

variety of effects you can achieve with different lanterns and at differing angles. This gave the students another chance to get hands on and focus lanterns, which they often cannot do at school due to safety reasons.

Over the three hours a mix of year 9s and year 11s assisted John in the building of his theatre, operated and ran cues modelling professional practice and learned first hand the terminology involved in working back stage. For the year 11 students this was a vital aspect of their coursework performance review.

For the finale, John wowed the

students with a scene change from “Phantom of the Opera”, which included motorised scenery changes and smoke effects. The finale fuelled passions and motivated students to strive towards a career in the arts.

Blood Brothers workshop Friday 14th November 2014

opportunity to understand how professional actors are directed and the demands of acting on a large stage.

The students represented the school magnificently, asking Paul all the right questions, and fully immersing themselves in the workshop. All the students involved have said how invaluable they found the experience and how much it will help them in their future Drama studies.

This term over 50 year 10 Drama students had the amazing opportunity to take part in a workshop run by an ex-cast member from the play Blood Brothers. Paul Collins played the part of Mickey over 10 years, across the world, and can be heard singing as part of the 1995 cast on the department’s soundtrack album. We have yet to confirm rumours that Mr De Groot asked him to autograph it!

The workshop included exploring the themes of the play, discussing the main characters and the chance to act out parts of the play whilst being directed

by Paul. It was a rare Ruth Tebby - Vocal workshop Ruth Tebby is a recent graduate from Goldsmiths University and has begun to study voice training for a Masters degree.

When she offered us a free workshop for sixth form students we jumped at the chance, and even managed to bring in some

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year 10 and 11 students.

Ruth has been to Edinburgh this year with her theatre company and really put us all through our paces with some challenging and enjoyable tasks.

“Even though we were scared about looking silly in the exercises, like when we had to pull silly faces, we knew we had

Matt Whale Performing Arts Technician

“Dear Tara, Thank you so much for today, it was brilliant fun and I hope the students got what you wanted from it. Please pass my thanks on to Amber and Kees and the students for today.”

Paul Collins to do it. We understood what it was about at the end and that was brilliant.” Charnel Abbott Year 11. “I liked the fact that we could see other peoples’ interpretations of the Shakespeare script as we were speaking it. It gave me different perspectives on what voice means in theatre.”

Lauren Harcourt Year 11.

Student Leaders of English Our Leaders were privileged at the end of the summer term to work with Stoneleigh Abbey and other Faculty Leaders to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of World War II. Many students from Caludon Castle entered a poetry and art competition for a chance to win a family pass to the Abbey.

The Curator of Stoneleigh Abbey was very impressed with the high standard of contributions, calling our students’ work ‘outstanding’. The work from our students has been on display and formed an integral part of an exhibition which took place at the Abbey.

Congratulations to the winners!

(Back left) Beth Collins, Lauren Wakefield, Luke Phillips (Front left) Vismaya Jose, Annie Collins, Luke Thomson It’s been a busy autumn term for the Student Leaders of English. Although they continue to encourage fellow students to unleash their creative talents by entering a range of competitions, they are also inspiring young students to switch on to reading.

They attend tutor sessions, on a rota basis, and demonstrate how reading can be fun.

However, the most exciting development for the Leaders has been their ability to initiate a Spelling Bee competition

with some tutor groups in Year 8. The Leaders have facilitated and led the sessions, organising spelling tests and mock knock out rounds. The event has been enthusiastically received by both tutors and students alike. We are very proud of our Leaders in English and hope they will continue to roll the programme out to other tutor groups in the future. Perhaps even a whole school event? Watch this space!

Library News Here are some of the comments from our students who attended the event: Today benefitted me because I learned more about how authors think and the extent they go to write a book. For example, I now know that authors really write from the heart, using past experiences to fuel their writing. I find this truly inspiring and it makes me want to read even more to widen my personal understanding of this.

Thanks so much!

Annie Collins

On Thursday 13 November 2014 we attended an Author Event at Sidney Stringer Academy.

The author Sarah Crossan was talking about her latest book

Apple and Rain: her writing and her life.

Sarah talked about the importance of reading and the influence that poetry has on our lives.

Pictured from left to right are: Rebecca Foster, Beth Collins, Vismaya Jose, Annie Collins, Miss Barton, Niamh Ennis, Abigail Allman, Hannah Curtlin, Jessie Paprotny and Naomi Reid.

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Key Dates Tues 6 Jan Y7 Literacy/Numeracy evening Thurs 15 Jan Y9 Progress evening Weds 21 Jan Y9 Options evening Tues 27 Jan Evening for parents of Y9/10 High Attainers –

WORKING IN THE STRETCH ZONE Thurs 29 Jan Y11 Subject evening Weds 4 Feb Y8 Options evening Mon 9 Feb Evening for parents of all years - INTERNET SAFETY

and SOCIAL NETWORKING Sat 14 - Sun 22 Feb HALF TERM Tues 24 Feb Evening for parents of children with diagnosed ASD Tues 1 Mar Evening for parents of children with diagnosed dyslexia Tues 24 Mar Y10 Science exam evening Fri 3 - Sun 19 April EASTER BREAK Tues 21 Apr Y11 Preparing for GCSE exams evening Thur 30 May Y9 Progress evening Tues 5 Jun Y10 Subject evening Sat 23 - Sun 31 May HALF TERM Thurs 25 Jun Y12 UCAS evening Thurs 9 Jul Y6 into Y7 transition evening Forthcoming History Visits Learning beyond the classroom activities planned for the Spring term: Year 9 6/01/15 and 14/01/15 Visit to the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. Year 9 will be experiencing the many aspects of conflict from weapons to medicine and the impact on civilians in this state of the art museum.

13/03/15-15/03/15 Visit to The Somme trenches, France and Belgium The 3 day tour includes a visit to sites that witnessed some of the worst fighting of the First World War, including; memorial sites, grave sites and actual trenches.

Year 10 and 11 31/03/15-06/04/15 Visit to Berlin, Germany The 6 day tour covers every aspect of the city in History and includes a visit to the Reichstag, the Olympic stadium as well as sites which represent some of the darker elements of German History.

Sports News 1 Netball Tournament October

The awful weather conditions did not stop our Year 11 Netball team playing with pride, passion and determination in the Coventry Schools tournament at Coundon Court on a rough Wednesday night in October.

The girls played four matches and results were as follows: v King Henry VIII – Lost 9 – 6 v Blue Coat – Won 8 – 3 v Whitley Abbey – Won 11 – 2 v Bablake – Lost 6 – 2 The girls were a credit to our school and a very well done to them all – from L to R in photo – Dayna Plumb, Amy Bostock, Neve Plumb, Olivia Whitehouse, Lucy Malpass, Tamesha Anderson, Samatha Boyce, Gabrielle Taylor-Dowson.

Sports News 2 Caludon Sports have their own website at https://caludonsports. wordpress.com Some of the following news is also available on that website, but check out the site itself for the absolute latest information.

Results Round-up December 8th 2014 Football : Coventry Schools Cup Yr7 A – Won 5-0 vs Finham Yr7 B – Lost on penalties vs President Kennedy (1-1 AET) Yr 11 – Lost on penalties vs Blue Coat (1-1 AET) Friendlies: Yr 7 B – Won 3-1 vs Stoke Park Yr10: 0 v 1 :Yr 11 Rugby: U14 – Lost 43-45 to Grace Academy Hockey: U14 Round Robin Vs KHVIII A and B Caludon A 1-1 KHVIII B Caludon A 1-3 KHVIII A Caludon B 0-3 KHVIII A Caludon B 0-2 KHVIII B Netball: U14 Caludon 3 – 5 Tile Hill Wood

Football, The Season So Far Year 7 The Year 7s started their first football season at Caludon in some fashion, winning all their games against Coventry opposition comfortably, including two league games and beating an unbeaten Finham side 5-0 in the Cup with an outstanding team performance, playing some scintillating football. They also reached the third round of ESFA Cup and travelled to Quorn to face Rawlins Academy. After dominating the game we drew 1-1 and were very unlucky to go out after a penalty shoot out.

There is still a lot to come from this young Caludon side who have high hopes to do well in the Coventry Schools Cup and League.

Year 8 The year 8s have had a mixed season so far. They have lost both of their league games, 3-4 against Blue Coat and 0-10 against Bishop Ullathorne. As with the Yr7s, they reached the 3rd round of the ESFA Cup after beating Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School 4-2 and Great Barr School 5-0, but fell to a

good Ashfield School side in Mansfield, losing 3-1. Most recently, the team have progressed through to the second round of the Coventry Schools Cup, beating Barrs Hill 9-0.

Year 10 The Yr10 team are out of the ESFA Cup, losing 5-0 at Tamworth College in the 1st round. They have played 2 league games, Losing 2-1 against Blue Coat and lost 3-2 at Bishop Ullathorne.

Year 11 The Yr11 team have played two games so far this season.

They beat the Year 10s 1-0 in a friendly and unfortunately bowed out of the Coventry Schools Cup in the first round, losing on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The team are due to face Ernesford Grange this week in the Telegraph Cup. Year 12/13 The sixth form team fell at the first hurdle in both of their competitions this year. They travelled to Great Barr and lost 6-0 and unfortunately, after a very good performance and a 2-2 draw, lost on penalties to Blue Coat School in the Coventry Schools Cup.

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The Wizard of Oz

The sweet sound of an iconic song fills the air; lights fade up to reveal many farmhands tending the land. A shrill cry of “DOROTHY!” and we are in Kansas on the brink of a twister.

Suddenly we are whisked away to a beautiful fairyland at the end of the rainbow, we are off to see the wizard …

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

This year’s school show is “The Wizard of Oz”, a timeless classic celebrating its 75th anniversary. When we first found out we would be performing this show in our school we were thrilled. Students in every year were practising for the audition over and over to get the chance to perform in this year’s production. You could hear the music down the corridors filling the air with beautiful sounds from…Munchkinland.

Rehearsals have been tough, with over 50 cast members and 14 band members all trying to play, act and dance in time with each other. Each scene has been endlessly rehearsed, each song played over and over until we couldn’t stand them any longer. Each dance wonderfully choreographed and performed with precision. We couldn’t have asked for a better cast or better crew, who have worked non-stop in order to reach perfection.

We don’t want to sugarcoat it. There have been complications and challenges;

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line learning, energy, picking up choreography in such a small amount of time. But we have ploughed on through to achieve our goal. Everyone has pulled together despite the challenges to create a magnificent show for all the family.

The Drama and Music staff have provided so much energy and support for all the cast and crew, providing direction (and pizza) to keep a bunch of dramatic teenagers in line. We’d like to thank them for their perseverance and dedication to the show.

We have watched this show grow from the first rehearsal to the final curtain. We couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved and we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Joanna Gay and Alex Kenna