de Stafford School Newsletter - Autumn Term 2 - December 2019

News and updates from de Stafford School

Autumn Term 2 - 2019-20

www.destafford.org.uk

- LETTER FROM THE HEADTEACHER - CHRISTMAS LUNCH & JUMPER DAY

- REMEMBRANCE DAY EVENTS - NEWS FROM THE JENKINS CENTRE

- SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS - ROTARY YOUNG CHEF COMPETITION - “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” PERFORMANCE - WORD MILLIONAIRES - P.E. UPDATES

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 18 DEC 2019

LAST DAY OF TERM - 1:40PM FINISH

6 JAN 2020

RETURN TO SCHOOL - FIRST DAY OF TERM

7 JAN 2020

YEAR 11 SCHOOL PHOTOS

13 JAN 2020

YEAR 8 EXAMS COMMENCE

15 JAN 2020

YEAR 8 OPTIONS EVENING

29 JAN 2020

YEAR 11 PARENTS’ EVENING

5 FEB 2020

YEAR 9 PARENTS’ EVENING

6 FEB 2020

YEAR 10 STUDY SKILLS EVENING

6 FEB 2020

YEAR 9 FINAL BOOSTER VACCINATION

13 & 14 FEB 2020

LEGALLY BLONDE SHOW DATES

17 -21 FEB 2020

HALF TERM HOLIDAY

EDITION 2

- ART GALLERY

AUTUMN TERM

IN THIS ISSUE

FROM THE HEADTEACHER’S DESK Dear Parents/Carers As the end of another year draws to a close, it is lovely to look back with a sense of pride on everything that has been achieved over the last 12 months by the school community.

We recently held our ‘Class of 2019 Celebration Evening’; an opportunity to recognise and acknowledge a cohort who contributed so much and achieved such success during their five years at the school. This time last year they were in the midst of their mock examinations aware that there was six months of hard work ahead in the build up to their GCSEs. The current Year 11 cohort have just completed their prepublic examinations and we hope that they will experience a similar journey of success, so that we are celebrating their outstanding achievements this time next year. We were fortunate to welcome Anne Usher, Paralympic Gold Medallist from Rio, as our guest of honour for the evening. She delivered an engaging speech about her inspirational life and it was clear that her message of overcoming fear and adopting a growth mindset resonated with the audience.

Whilst exam results are vitally important and every student must be pushed to reach their full potential, we also recognise our responsibility as a school to ensure students grow in terms of their personal development. It has been encouraging to see so many students take advantage of the breadth of opportunities available here at de Stafford. In terms of sport, despite having a smaller pool of students to choose from we are proud to compete with other local schools in a range of fixtures and we were delighted to receive external validation of our PE provision earlier this term when awarded the Silver Games Mark. On the performing arts side, rehearsals for our school production, Legally Blonde, are in full swing; I do hope you are able to come and see the show on February 13th or 14th. The number of students who successfully applied to undertake the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award is our largest cohort yet with over 50 students involved. In addition to the well-established clubs and activities on offer, this half-term saw the launch of our Go-Kart Club, a project we are undertaking in conjunction with some students from Sunnydown School to assemble and then race a kit car. I do hope your child is making the most of the opportunities available to them, wherever their interests lie.

I hope you enjoy reading about the various events and activities that have taken place within the de Stafford community this half-term and wish you all a very happy, safe and enjoyable Christmas break.

Jeremy Garner Headteacher

COMING SOON de Stafford School presents

Legally Blonde the Musical The cast have been working tirelessly in preparation for the shows on 13 & 14 February.

Ticket sales will be announced in January. We look forward to seeing you all there!

What’s the story?

Elle Woods appears to have it all. However, her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Warner dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law. Determined to get him back, Elle ingeniously charms her way into the prestigious law school.

While there, she struggles with peers, professors and her ex.

With the support of some new friends, though, Elle quickly realises her potential and sets out to prove herself to the world.

Cast members Liliana (Elle)

and Leo (Bruiser)

Our art students are enjoying designing the set

CHRISTMAS CARD DESIGN WINNER - KIARA KASPERSEN Thank you to all the students who entered this year’s Christmas Card Competition.

Our winning design (pictured left) was created by Kiara Kaspersen (Y7).

Christmas Lunch & Jumper Day

REMEMBRANCE DAY Each November, representatives from de Stafford School lay wreaths in Remembrance and assemblies are held to mark this poignant and pertinent time of reflection. Our SAM themes this half term have explored Remembrance, Tolerance and ‘fake news’ encouraging our students to become reflective and informed members of society.

Thank you to the following Year 8s who, on Sunday 10 November, participated in the commemorations of Remembrance at St Luke’s Church in Whyteleafe, and read beautifully during the service: Dana Douglas, Isabella Keen, Rhys Cleevely, Samya Kizilitas Our Head Boy, Zachary Jennings and Head Girl, Morgan Joyce, later laid a wreath in the service held at the RAF Tribute at Kenley Aerodrome.

The two laoctions are significant in that on 13 August 1940, St Luke’s became the first Church to be damaged by enemy action when a bomb landed outside the Church in Whyteleafe Hill. The War Graves Commission look after the graves in the churchyard of those killed in action during the last war. Within the church, there is a ‘Book of Remembrance’ recording the names of the R.A.F. personnel of the Battle of Britain who served at nearby R.A.F. Kenley.

We would particularly like to acknowledge the following students in KS3 and KS4 who have shown an enthusiastic attitude to the subject so far, thereby achieving the ‘Top Geographer’ award. This will continue throughout the year, so make sure you are a keen Geographer and are engaged and focussed in lessons! Good luck!

Year 7 Rosie Skeet Christian Taylor Junaid Chaudhury Jess Murtagh Michael Furley Eve Malcolm Oliver O’Toole Year 8 Michael Dean Dana Douglas Isabel Heasman Cerys Byford Bethany Frost Jess Hill Chloe E Smith Chloe M Smith Year 9 Eve Allain Ellie Jeffries Neve Jenner Harshidha Mohammed Fayas Gracia Smith Melissa Holman

Lee Randall Jake Standing Rhys Thomas Angelica Peinke Isabella de Waal Zara Foster Freya Nash Danielle Taylor Bone Year 10 Jamie Bateman Cornell Amelia Borman Katie Conway Lottie Cooper-Beirne Hannah Crutchley Sofia Gordon Katie Reilly Mikayla Tozer Year 11 Toby Cousins Tia Scott Liliana Stanzione Alana Trotter Kiara Kielkiewicz

GEOGRAPHY

It has been a very positive first term for the Geography department culminating in a successful trip to the Natural History Museum. Students have enjoyed a variety of topics so far this year ranging from a study of various ‘Fantastic Places’ around the world to an in-depth look at Globalisation in China.

Updates from the Parent/Carer Coffee Morning The Coffee Morning was a great success and was a lovely opportunity to meet with parents, whose children access our interventions and additional support.

We had an informal chat, with the welcomed addition of mince pies! These events strengthen the links between school and home, which is invaluable. A big ‘thank you’ to those who attended.

DLD Awareness Day DLD awareness day was on 18 October this year and staff in the Jenkins Centre helped to raise awareness of the diagnosis.

They showed videos of children and young people with the condition; dressed up in DLD colours; provided DLD coloured snacks; tried the DLD quiz; completed Give Me Five things that you are grateful for. Congratulations to Mr Hogg for gaining the highest score in the quiz!

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is the new term to replace Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Developmental Language Disorder is diagnosed when children fail to acquire their own language for no obvious reason. This results in children who have difficulty understanding what people say to them, and struggle to articulate their ideas and feelings. Recent research has shown that, on average, two children in every class of 30 will experience DLD severe enough to hinder academic progress.

Jenkins Centre There have been a few developments in the Jenkins Centre….

The Learning Zone The Learning Zone is a new area within the Jenkins Centre, which supports students who are finding it difficult to access learning on a particular day or over a short period of time. The emphasis is on creating a safe space where students can continue to work and make progress with their learning.

Primary Mental Health Worker As part of an initiative with Surrey County Council, we have a Primary Mental Health Worker, Vicky, who comes into school every Friday. This service is for children and parents who would like to discuss mental health difficulties with a professional in school. The aim is: 

To improve early intervention services, reducing waiting times for children and young people and demand on clinical services



Easier access to emotional wellbeing and mental health support for children and young people



Moving toward Mentally Healthy Schools

We look forward to sharing more information on this service to widen the links between school and the community.

ART GALLERY

@destaffordart

YEAR 7 LEAVES

Elizabeth Gurung

Oliver O’Toole

Summer Cormack

Toby Morse

YEAR 8 CUBISM

Amy Parker

Brianna Craig

Carys Byford

Elliot McLaggan

YEAR 9 POP ART

Antoinette Valencia

Keira Stockley

Paige Bacon

William Finch

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT WORKS The Site Team have been busy making improvements to the school for both staff and students this term. There are brand new toilets and washroom facilities for the boys, girls and staff too; new and very colourful lockers installed for students; a canopy area outside to provide additional shelter at break times and the corridors are being given a freshen up with new fire doors.

Next term, we will continue to install new doors in the main building and will be updating IT equipment in classrooms and the Learning Resource Centre.

CATERHAM ROUND TABLE DONATE £150 TO THE SCHOOL The Caterham Round Table very generously donated £150 to the school raised by ticket sales at their Fireworks Night and Beer Festival events. Thank you to our parents/carers who purchased tickets in support.

Caterham Round Table are a group of Men (18 – 45) who meet up and arrange events that raise over £50k per year and then spend the year donating the money to amazing local causes. If you are interested in joining, or would simply like further information, contact Gareth Jones on 07717 002 891.

Getting started with the SIMS Parent We will send you an activation email. Simply click on the link from your tablet, PC or smartphone to activate your account.

1. You can then login using your normal Facebook,

Twitter, Google or Microsoft username and password.

2. From your smartphone or tablet download the app from the Google Play or Apple App store - search for SIMS Parent.

From a PC or Windows phone, login online at www.sims-parent.co.uk Should you have any queries regarding your SIMS Online Services Account please contact Deborah.Blake-Thomas@destafford.org.uk.

From January 2020 you will need to register with ParentMail to able to make Parents’ Evening appointments If you’d like us to resend you a registration email please call Reception on 01883 347818 or email info@destafford.org.uk Please be assured that ParentMail is registered with the Information Commissioner and guarantees that all information you provide will be kept private and will not be passed on to any other organisation.

ROTARY CLUB YOUNG CHEF COMPETITION We were delighted to host the Caterham Rotary Club’s Young Chef Competition on Wednesday 4 December.

The Rotary Young Chef Competition is a wellestablished and successful competition organised and promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland and sponsored by Filippo Berio. It is a fourstage national competition to support and encourage development of cookery skills in young people.

We are proud to announce that our very own de Stafford student, Ammon Read (pictured below) was the Bronze Award winner! Ammon will be invited to attend the next stage of this competition which will be held in mid January. Well done Ammon!

BOOK BUDDIES

We are delighted with the success of our Literacy and Numeracy initiatives. The Year 10s have been reading mentors to the Year 7s and the Year 9s have been numeracy mentors.

We could not offer this fantastic opportunity without these amazing student role-models.

The Year 7s have been working really hard alongside their older buddies too. As a fitting reward, pizza lunches were held in the LRC during the last week of term to thank the students involved.

NUMBER BUDDIES

Year 11’s get into the festive ‘spirit’ with a performance of ‘A Christmas Carol’ (with thanks to the Quantum Theatre Group)

The Quantum Theatre Group visited de Stafford on Wednesday 11 December and put on a fantastic performance of A Christmas Carol for our Year 11 students.

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” forms one of the five sections for GCSE English Literature, so it was incredibly useful for our students to see the story brought to life.

The BBC’s new adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” is due to air at 9pm on 22 ,23,24 December 2019 - we recommend you give it a watch!

Noah, the first Year 8 to achieve Word Millionaire status this term!

Year 7 Word Millionaire, Elizabeth

Year 7 Word Millionaire, Maya

Junior Swimming Gala “Fantastic achievement by the Y7 boys swiming team who came 2nd overall in the Lower Junior Swimming Gala.

Outstanding performance from Josh Dolling who came 1st in the 25m Butterfly. They demonstrated great team spirit and supported each other throughout the gala.” Mr Horton

Y10/11 Girls Football Y10 Boys Football Well done to the Y10 Football team with a 4-3 win at Oxted for the last fixture of 2019! Congratulations to POM Josh S and goal scorers Josh, Max & Billy!

“A 5-0 win for the Y10/11 Girls against Warwick school!

Well done to players of the match Lily Edwards and Abbie Cutler! Goals scored by Brooke Bowerman, Alana Trotter, Abbie Cutler and two by Lily Edwards!”

Girls Cross Country

KS3 Table Tennis

Tournament

“I enjoyed doing Cross Country because it was a real privilege to represent the school. It was also challenging because you had to keep running and persevering to try and do well! I really enjoyed representing the school because I felt really responsible and proud; that is why it is important.” Isla Psaltis Y7 Well done to Katie Conway and Lucy Brame who have qualified for the Surrey competition!

“I really enjoyed competing at the table tennis competition as I got to represent the school and have a great time. It was challenging as I lost my first game but then I persevered and won my next three games! You should definitely go to Table Tennis Club as you have lots of fun and make new friends.” Josh Dolling, Y7

Y8 Rugby “An excellent display of team work and commitment in very poor conditions! The boys worked hard in defence and attack with one loss, one draw and one win! Well done to all who took part!”

Mr Harris

Sports Hall Court Offers Have fun as a family or get a few friends together this Christmas and take advantage of our court hire offers available between 21 December - 5 January. Choose between badminton, table tennis, basketball, 5-a-side football.

Hire a family court for £5 per hour Hire the whole hall for 5 a side football for only £30!!