STRINGER PRESS AUTUMN TERM 2019 A message from the head teacher. Dear Parents, Carers, Staff and Governors, It’s been an exciting and very busy term at Dorothy Stringer. The school celebrated excellent outcomes in the summer and we believe that our students can achieve even more this year! The students continue to work hard, contribute to the school and wider community and generally make us very proud. Year 11s have been working tirelessly preparing for their GCSE’s and have just finished sitting their mock examinations. Their focus in the classroom and dedication to their studies is commendable. They await their results in January with anticipation and then our aim is to support them through to those GCSE exams in May/June. Year 10 have made a successful start to their GCSE subjects and are making strong progress. For Year 9, it’s been a term of reflection as they think about their future and academic achievements to inform their GCSE option choices. Year 8 continue to work hard and contribute to the life of the school both academically and through their involvement in extra-curricular activities. Having successfully made the transition from primary to secondary school, Year 7 are now well settled into school life and taking full advantage of all the opportunities on offer here. The extra-curricular life of the school continues to flourish, with the Carol Service bringing the term to a very special end. Throughout this term students have been working on the school production which is in January as well as participating in sporting teams. The school teams have had another excellent run of wins – more on this later in the newsletter. We also have record numbers participating in the Duke of Edinburgh award and we look forward to celebrating their completion later in the year. The visit of our guests from Ghana was one of the highlights of the term. We were able to share best practice and I know our staff and students are looking forward to the reciprocal visit in February half-term. I do hope that over the Christmas break students can rest and enjoy time together with friends and family and I wish you all a safe and relaxing break over the festive period and a happy and healthy 2020. Matt Hillier
1w:1www.dorothy-stringer.co.uk
t: 01273 852222
e: office@dorothy-stringer.co.uk
This Terms News... This is an interactive document, please use the contents below to go to a particular page of interest, or click on hyperlinks in the text to visit the web page. Enrichment Week Launch Le Touquet Trip Head Students Junior Leadership Team School Production - The Wooden Frock Duke of Edinburgh Award St Johns Oxford Year 7 Club Fair PE & Sports Dorothy Stringer Beach Clean Girls Network Meeting Music Students Visit Nursing Home Carol Service 2020 Author Visit: Frances Hardinge Drop Everything & Read! Poetry Live Berlin Trip Business Club Food Bank Collections Investors Challenge Future First - Alumni General Knowledge Quiz Future DJ Workshop Get Career Confident Local Senior Citizens Ghanaian School Visitors Veg City Challenge Event Environmental Science Art Department Mock Exams Art Club Graphic Design: Electric Square SMTC Maths Challenge Work Experience 2020 Social Feed Highlights Stringer Life - Autumn Term Merry Christmas Adverts & Sponsors
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Upcoming Key Dates 6 January 2020
Start of Spring Term
9 January 2020 23 January 2020
Year 9 Options Process Begins Year 9 Parents’ Evening
27 January 2020 29 January - 1 February 2020 10 - 13 February 2020 14 February 2020 27 February 2020 13 - 14 March 2020 26 March 2020 1 - 2 April 2020 3 April 2020
Inset Day - School Closed School Play DEAR Week Year 11 School Photos Year 11 Parents’ Evening Dance Show Year 7 Parents’ Evening Spring Concert End of Term/Non Uniform Day
DOROTHY STRINGER SOCIAL ACCOUNTS To keep up to date with current news please follow our social media accounts, various departments run their own accounts and celebrate good work, events and success’.
@dorothystringerschool
@dorothystringerschool
share your news We are always interested in hearing student’s achievements in and out of school, and would love to celebrate them in our termly news and on social accounts. Please share them with us by emailing communications@dorothystringer.co.uk
we would love your feedback If you have any ideas or suggestions of the type of news you would like to hear about please email us communications@dorothy-stringer.co.uk
weekly news updates Remember to keep an eye out for our weekly news update from the head teacher in your email inbox, it can also be viewed by logging onto the SLG, under ‘newsletter’.
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Enrichment Week Launch Enrichment Week 2020 launched for key stage3 3 This term we launched our Enrichment Week booklet with all students in Years 7-9 during assemblies. Enrichment Week takes place in the last full week of the academic year from Monday – Thursday and gives students in the lower school a chance to try out new activities or further develop skills they may already have. It gives students a chance to learn outside the classroom and to try a range of activities they may not have experienced before. We have over 40 activities to choose from this year, both in school and offsite, ranging from outdoor activities to baking, to creative writing activities. We will be asking students to pick three activities as we cannot guarantee they will get their top choice. Further information will be sent out via the weekly newsletters and Form Tutors will also be going over the process with students during form time - to view a copy of the Enrichment Week Booklet you can click on the following link : https://public.dorothy-stringer.co.uk/DS/Pages/enrichment_week.aspx Katie Booth, Enrichment Week Co-ordinator
Le Touquet Trip We are really looking forward to taking a group of 45, Year 8 to 11 students to Le Touquet in northern France in the second week of January. This is an exciting new residential trip that we are running in the MFL department. This trip will offer our students a wealth of culture as well as helping to develop their language skills. We have a jam packed itinerary from 6.30am on the Monday morning until our return at 11pm on the Thursday evening. We will be visiting a chocolate factory, a bakery, an artisan workshop and a fishing museum, with tours provided in French. We will be doing a scavenger hunt, going bowling, go shopping as well as completing activities with students from our French link school. Our students have already been paired up with French students and have been exchanging emails in preparation for meeting them on our arrival at the school. This is a great way to experience French life and to learn French in a real life situation and we hope to be able to offer a similar trip to Spain next year. Mrs RevĂŠreault , Heaf of MFL 3
Head Students NEWLY APPOINTED HEAD STUDENTS This term has been our 2019/20 Head Students first term. We would like to congratulate them on their appointments and on their first duty of the year - speaking at Open Evening to our prospective students and parents. If you are not familiar with our head students we would like to introduce them to you. Head Girl: Clara, Head Boy: Malachy Deputies: Milo, Aofie, Tiger and Harry, Our head students regularly meet with Mr Hillier to discuss student’s wishes and plans for the future of Dorothy Stringer School.
Junior Leadership Team Congratulations to Clara, Ellie & Nancy and their Junior Leadership Teams for a very successful start to the academic year. The teams have been busy raising money for our Ghanaian link school, the JLT have delivered assemblies to the whole school, talking about diversity and the new D-buck reward system. We celebrated Parliament Week, unfortunately a general election was called so Caroline Lucas had to postpone her visit to the school until later in the year. We are always grateful for any suggestions to reduce single use plastic in the school and hope you support this in using reusable containers in lunch boxes. Miss Poole | JLT
Clara Key Stage 4 Co Chair
Ellie Key Stage 4 Co Chair
Nancy Key Stage 4 Co Chair 4
School Production Drama Department
It’s GO GO GO in the Drama Department! This term the Drama Department and students have been extremely busy auditioning and rehearsing for this year’s school production: ‘The Wooden Frock’ A fairy-tale, but not as you know it. A happy royal kingdom thrown into turmoil and grief. A man and his pigeon. A search for a wife. A quest for a dress. A journey over the ocean. A love story? Maybe not… Her name is Mary Woodenfrock and she does what she likes. Date: Wednesday 29th January 2020 to Saturday 1st February 2020 Time: 7.30pm (Doors open at 7.10pm) Tickets: £7 (Adults) £5 (Concessions) Tickets will be available from Drama Office at break and lunchtime from Monday 13th January 2020. Look out on the website/SLG for details in the New Year! Book early to avoid disappointment. Ms Ettinger, Head of Drama
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Duke of Edinburgh DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD - CELEBRATING SUCCESS! Our current Year 10’s are now finishing off the last few bits of their sections ready for the March deadline. At the beginning of this academic year we saw 160 Year 10 students through their Duke of Edinburgh training in rural Sussex, here they developed their skills in navigation and camp craft. These skills were then put to the test in their assessed expedition that took place in late November. We are proud to say that all students who attended their assessed expeditions passed, a huge accomplishment considering the challenging cold weather. Although despite all the rain we had over October and November each weekend the students went out it was dry. Mrs DeBanks-Hirst & Ms Brice, Duke of Edinburgh Coordinators
St Johns Oxford ST JOHNS OXFORD VISIT DODORHY STRINGER On Tuesday 3 September two current St Johns undergraduate students ran an Oxbridge Advice Session for a group of our Year 11 Students. It was a brilliant opportunity for our Year 11 students who are considering Oxbridge at some stage in the future to talk to current students about studying and living as a student at Oxford. Mrs Lloyd , Assistant Head
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Year 7 Club Fair In September we ran an Extra Curricular Club Fair for our new Year 7 students Students had the chance to speak to Club Leaders and Prefects who have been involved in the clubs and ask any questions they may have. The event was a success and helped to give our Year 7 students everything they needed to sign up to the extra-curricular clubs that interested them. We hope the students have enjoyed their first term taking part in their extra-curricular clubs and have found it a great way of settling in and making new friends. It’s not too late to join a club, if you would like to see the activities we have on offer please Visit our Extra-Curricular page on our website - https://public.dorothy-stringer.co.uk/ds/Pages/ Extra_Curricular_Main.aspx Thank you to all the Prefects who ran the stalls, and to staff who continue to provide a range of extra-curricular clubs for our students.
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PE & Sports What a start to the year we have had in PE and Sport. With a number of important changes taking place to both curriculum PE and Extra-curricular sport we are really happy with everything our students have achieved in the first half term. Curriculum PE We continue to adapt and change our curriculum to meet the needs of all our students. One change that has seen great success at the start of 2019/20 has been the move to mixed gender classes. This has had a really positive impact on the levels of challenge in lessons and has made our curriculum equal to all. We are now looking towards a new scheme of work in KS3, focusing on a range of practical, but also cognitive skills, that are vitally important in life. Watch this space for 2020 when the trials of this new curriculum intent will begin. The Year 11 Withdean project has started really successfully and we are grateful of the support that parents/ carers and our sponsors Donatello have offered to ensure that the project can take place. Students have had the opportunity to take part in a range of activities that they cannot access on the school site, including; studio cycling, climbing, exercise to music classes, squash and many others.
work. Football continues to flourish with every girls’ football team and every boys’ A-team left in the Sussex FA County Cup at the Christmas break, here’s to hoping that this is still the case in May? Both the U12 and U14 girls have already progressed into the County Cup Quarter finals, both of these fixtures scheduled for January. We also have five teams left in the ESFA National Cup. Recent fixtures in the National Cup have seen the U15 Boys and the U12 Girls move into the next rounds. The U14 Boys had a hard fought test against Prospect School from Reading with Stringer running out 3 – 2 Winners overall, goals from Tom and Ezra plus a player of the match performance from Fraser ensured victory. The U12 Girls had a more emphatic win coming out 5-1 winners against Tanbridge House School. Success, in part, came down to the sturdy defence anchored by Scarlett and 3 goals from winger Rosie.
Extra-curricular PE and Sport The extra-curricular programme at Dorothy Stringer continues to thrive, the numbers participating continues to grow and with this we have had even more success in local and national competitions. So far this academic year we have entered competitions in Athletics, Football, Table Tennis, Netball, Basketball, Swimming, Rugby and others. I must take this opportunity to thank the dedicated PE department for all their commitment and hard
Rugby teams have had a great start to the year with healthy numbers at training and a number of good fixtures around the city. The U15 boys and girls rugby have had the pick of the fixtures with the U15 boys facing an incredibly strong Seaford College side in the county cup and the girls continuing their development with fixtures against Patcham and
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Newman, thank you to Miss Taylor for taking them through their paces.
All sports fixtures are published fortnightly on the Parents’ SLG in the newsletter and results can be seen via Twitter by following @DStringerPE. Dance Update Students have been working hard to develop their pieces for this year’s Dorothy Stringer Dance Show. This is due to take place on Friday 13 March and Saturday 14 March 2020 at the Dome and promises to be another incredible evening. We will look forward to inviting back our previous Sport’s Captains and celebrating Miss Sampson’s 19th Anniversary.
The Netball squads at Dorothy Stringer have had a strong start to the season. The squads are large in each year group and all squads have been training hard. The team managers have been impressed with the commitment and development shown so far this season. They have played a number of Brighton & Hove League fixtures and tournaments and this year we see the introduction of the Brighton & Hove Knock Out Cup competition. Dorothy Stringer Basketball teams have also had lots of success in the County Cup. The U15 Boys team remain unbeaten and three other sides have qualified for the next rounds of the competition. The final fours are due to be held in the New Year. The Year 7 Boys Basketball team have had their first game in the Junior NBA, where they were donated a special San Antonio Spurs kits. They have won against Warden Park and lost narrowly to Holy Trinity. Brandon has led the team well on the court with highest points tally so far.
Half Term 1 PE Awards Well done to those who picked up the PE awards in the first Half-Term; Performance Awards Izzy – For continued performances an captaining both the Year 9 netball A team and the U14 Girls Football Team Fin – for being current top try score in the Year 10 rugby team and for his work as a Sports Captain. Dance Award Cassidy – For services to Dance and supporting younger students. GCSE/ Sports Studies Award Charlie – For the work he has been doing on revision for his mocks and quality of answering questions in class. PE Effort and Determination Joe – Outstanding concentration and effort in Mr Corrigan’s PE lessons. Well done Joe.
In other events, our Swimmers narrowly missed out on qualification for the national relays event, in the end this came down to split seconds. Well done to the U16 Table tennis team who came 3rd overall at the Brighton Area Table Tennis Competition. In Athletics, we had great success at the indoor sports hall athletics competition with the Year 8 boys coming 1st and Year 8 girls coming 2nd in the city. Our Year 7s also came 2nd in their competition.
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Mr Corrigan, Head of PE & Sports
beach clean Dororthy Stringer Community Brave the Cold to Clean the Beach In response to feedback from our students who joined the Environmental Marches, to highlight the important issue of climate change we organised a second Beach Clean, this took place in September. Staff, students, family members and even dogs met just east of the Brighton Palace Pier on the beach and all helped in collecting litter from the beach. This was yet another successful beach clean with over 80 people turning up. A big thank you to everyone who helped and supported.
CLIMATE CHANGE POSTERS MADE BY YEAR 8 AND 9 STUDENTS
Girls’ Network Meeting Year 10 Girls are Matched with their Girls Network mentors On the evening of 26 November 12 of our Year 10 students were matched with their Girls Network mentors. The Girls Network is an organisation that works with young women across the UK. They aim to inspire and empower girls by matching them with professional female mentors who support students to develop a range of skills that will facilitate academic and careers pathways. The evening was a great success. Our students are now looking forward to their first individual mentoring sessions. A big thank you the Sussex Learning Network and the National Collaborative Outreach Programme for funding this programme. Mrs Lloyd, Assistant Head 10
Music Students Visit Nursing Home Our Music Department visited Caer Gwent Nursing Home in Worthing this half term to perform to residents. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, a lovely experience for all concerned. Performances included a Year 7 singing his own Christmas song, Year 8 soloists and duets and GCSE Music students performing some lovely song arrangements. Thank you to all the students for making it a memorable occasion for the residents and staff at the home and for representing Dorothy Stringer in such a professional manner.
Carol Service 2019 It is that time of year again when the Stringer Music Department begin the festivities with our annual Carol Service. Students have been rehearsing and working very hard on a variety of Christmas Music. We have a 70 plus strong choir representing all year groups and a student lead Brass Group to accompany the carols. It has always been a lovely way to end a busy term and this year will be no exception. Thank you to all staff and students involved who have worked so hard in making this another successful Stringer Music event.
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Drop Everything & Read! The whole school took part in DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) for a week during October. During the week the whole School Community stops working and reads for twenty minutes. We know the vital role that regular reading plays in developing students’ vocabulary, strengthening their empathy skills, and improving their ability to concentrate – which is why we promote reading for pleasure in form time, during DEAR week and in English lessons. It was great to see staff and students enjoying a wide-range of different texts and making good use of our fantastic school library, as well as helping themselves to the pre-loved books that you have kindly donated to us. We hope that your son/daughter made the most of the time and enjoyed the opportunity to get stuck into a good book. We look forward to our next DEAR week which takes place from 10th – 14th February; just in time for Valentine’s Day! Ms Morden, School Librarian
Author Visit: Frances Hardinge Frances Hardinge, Costa Award winning Young Adult Author of The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows and Cuckoo Song came along to school to talk about her new story Deeplight. “For centuries the gods of the Undersea ruled the islands of the Myriad through awe and terror: they were very real, and very dangerous. Sacrifices were hurled into the waters to appease them, and every boat was painted with pleading eyes to entreat their mercy. They were served, feared and adored. Then, thirty years ago, the gods rose up in madness and tore each other apart. Now, none remain. The islands have recovered and the people have patched their battered ships and moved on.” On one of these islands live Hark and his best friend Jelt. To them, the gods are nothing but a collection of valuable scraps to be scavenged from the ocean and sold. But now something is pulsing beneath the waves, calling to someone brave enough to retrieve it.” Frances spent time with the students discussing her writing and where her inspiration comes from. ‘Thank you very much for coming, I really enjoyed listening to you, you are a natural, lovely and warm writer author’ - Student ‘I read Deeplight and it was amazing. I love your style of writing. Thank you for coming to Stringer.’ - Student Ms Morden, Librarian
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Poetry Live Eighty Year 11 students enjoyed the opportunity to gain a new perspective on some of the poems they have been studying as part of their English Literature GCSE course by hearing them performed by the poets themselves. Brighton Dome hosted the ‘Poetry Live’ event where students heard the likes of Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy and Daljit Nagra bring their words to life. A superb day, which will hopefully help students be even more successful in their Literature exams next summer. Ms Hand, English Teacher
Berlin Trip
As part of History GCSE, students are studying Germany from 1918-45 so this was a brilliant opportunity to expand their knowledge and understanding of Germany’s history and also experience the city in the present day. The students visited the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate and Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. This was alongside visits to several museums that reflected life during the Cold War and living under Nazi rule. As the students walked around the city they could see the impact that all these events have had, even now. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it was a highly educational trip. Our thanks go to the staff who made the trip so successful. The History Department 13
Business Club THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT WITH BUSINESS CLUB • Fun in Action for Children • Crohns and Colitis UK Yet again, the Business Club are very proud to have made • Puffin nursery • Whoopsadaisy donations to several charities this half term. • Tree of Hope • Rise Below are the donations we have made: • Forward Facing • Starr Trust • Amaze • Ghana school • £300 to continue working with our international link school in Ghana • Rainbow Trust • Immunise dogs • £500 to a local vet to immunise homeless peoples’ dogs Last year, we were utterly excited to be invited to Brussels. • £1001 to a local charity, Starr Trust. Here we met with numerous international schools to discuss our pre-loved uniform shop and provide support on how The money has been raised with the fantastic support of our great they could implement this sustainable project too. school community in many of our different business ventures To top this of, we were thrilled to hear three of our Business last academic year; personalised gifts at Christmas, Valentines Club members had won The Argus’s “Youth in Action” award. and Easter, our Pre-loved uniform sales, as well as selling Spooky Apples at Halloween and delicious Ice-cream during summer We thank you all for your ongoing support. term Sports Day! If you would like to attend Business Club it takes place in D10 Over the years, Business Club have raised a total over £10,000! on Tuesday lunchtimes. Below are some of the other fantastic charities we have donated to: Mrs Smedley | Business Club
Food Bank Collections This year instead of giving Secret Santa presents to one another 10MKG Form Captains Joseph and Solomon decided to ask everyone to bring in an item to give to the Bevendean Food Banks. This is a wonderful idea, well done to the whole of 10 MKG! Ms Mockeridge, Form Tutor
Back in November Blu in 9LML suggested that this Christmas the form would do a collection of food items that could then be donated to a local food bank. This idea came following one of her English lessons where students were made aware of less fortunate people living in our community. The students decided on Bevendean Food bank as Meadow in the Form said that they were low on stock, The Food Bank were delighted with the donations, Well done 9LML! Ms Lamal, Form Tutor
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Investors Challenge This month our Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE Business students have been competing in the Student Investor Challenge. This is a nationwide competition organised by the London Institute of Banking and Finance with over 6,200 schools and colleges taking part. Students have two virtual portfolios of £100,000. Their aim is to apply their business knowledge and invest wisely, so as to maximise the value of their portfolios. Congratulations go to three teams in particular. From Year 10, The Pink Unicorns and The Big Buck Brothers who have made a fantastic start on their investment journeys regularly being placed in the top 200 schools and colleges. From Year 11, YTME Trading with a ranking of 68 in the nationwide league table – the highest ranking ever for one of our school teams. We wish all our teams continued success as they endeavour to qualify for the semi finals in February 2020. A top 500 ranking at the end of January will secure a place. Mrs Mockeridge, IT & Buisness Department
Future First Calling all Stringer Alumni... Your experiences since leaving could help to motivate and inspire our current students to feel more confident in making decisions about their future. We’d love you to join our alumni network and stay connected with the school. You can choose how and when you help – perhaps you could act as a career and education role model, provide work experience, become a mentor in person or online or help with donations or fundraising! It doesn’t matter when you left us, whether you’re in further education or employment, whether you still live nearby or have moved further away, there are still ways you can help and we would love to stay in touch. In order to sign up, just follow this link and fill in the online form – it will only take a couple of minutes - https://networks.futurefirst.org.uk/former-student/dorothystringer 15
General Knowledge Quiz At the beginning of this term we held the school’s annual General Knowledge Quiz. Students and staff turn up and attempt to answer general knowledge questions and identify famous faces. Prizes are awarded for the top scores in each year group so younger students are not disadvantaged. The highest scoring students are then invited to enter into the ‘Mastermind’ quiz to face it off head-to-head including questions on their ‘Specialist Subject’. Following almost a hundred students and staff taking part in this year’s annual school general knowledge quiz the following four students scored the most points from a maximum of 30 points. They have been invited to take part in the annual Dorothy Stringer Mastermind competition to be held on 14 February 2020. Thank you and well done to all everyone who took part in the quiz. The top scoring students who will be involved in Mastermind 2020 are as follows with their scores; • • • •
Moses 11SVZ 26 Points Amelie 9LMB 23 points Isla 8GRV 22 Points Misha 9CTL 21 Points
Mr Watson | Assistant Head
FUTURE DJ WORKSHOP ‘We Are Future DJ’s’ came in to school to give our Year 9 Music students a workshop demonstration This year the Music Department are offering students DJ lessons. Future DJ’s, a local company came into school to give a workshop demonstration to show students what they will learn in these lessons. The lessons are initially open to all our Year 9 Music students. The workshop was brilliant and had a great reception from the students involved, we look foward to seeing the students new skills! Mrs Flint, Head of Music
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Get Career Confident We are really pleased to announce that Get Career Confident, a new, free careers guidance programme for schools is running here at Dorothy Stringer. In school we'll be sharing information and videos providing helpful advice about college, apprenticeships and university, different career paths and going behind the scenes with local employers to look at what their jobs involve. Outside of school, Get Career Confident has a Facebook page for parents (@Get-Career-Confident) and Instagram (@getcconfident) for students where we share lots of hints, tips, reminders and videos explaining key decisions. You can also sign up for our regular email update and visit thier website www.getcareerconfident.co.uk. Year 10 will all have the opportunity to be seen by the careers adviser or careers confident team from January 2020 onwards. Mrs Chadwick | Head of PSHE
Local Senior Citizens Christmas Meal An Evening for Local Senior citizens that are cared for by the Hallifax Caring Company, owned by Ex Stringer Student Johanne Stanley. On Friday 13 December we held an evening that included the choir singing carols, a Christmas Dinner and gifts for our guests and their carers. Stringer students waited on the tables, Paula Leovold our Chef cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner, the Music department’s choir provided carols for the evening and the PE department set up the evening, decorating, putting up the tree and laying tables as well as transporting our elderly guests to and from the event. We run the event to celebrate Christmas with elderly members of our community and their carers, who do such a great job. Thank you to everyone for your hard work and support in helping put this evening together, especially our sponsors who have donated food for a second year running; Brakes of Brighton, Kent Frozen Foods and Premier Fruits of Brighton. It really was a wonderful festive time. Mr Brown, PE Department & Event Organiser
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Ghanaian Visitors During the first half of the autumn term, we had the privilege of welcoming four colleagues and eight students from Akwamuman Senior High School, Ghana. This is the school we have had a link with for the last two years and which we visit when we go to Ghana. All 12 guests were kindly hosted by Stringer families and staff and enjoyed a full cultural immersion; we would like to take this opportunity to thank our hosts for their generosity. At the welcome ceremony on the first day, our guests were keen to share their dance routines with some of our overwhelmed Year 10 students, who joined in! We tried to give our guests as much of a varied educational visit as possible. On their first full day (Saturday) we took them to the Amateur Entomologist Society Fayre. On the Sunday to a church service, followed by a car boot sale. They also enjoyed trips to London and to Brighton’s main tourist landmarks. They also met relatives and friends after their day sightseeing in the capital. Whilst at school, they took part in an eco meeting and a student voice meeting where we shared views on our respective practices. Akwamuman colleagues and students attended lessons and had a chance to collaboratively plan a lesson together with our staff, in their specialist subject; their respective lessons were then delivered on the Friday to our students, in Drama and in English. Our guests also gave an assembly to our Year 10 students and spent a day in Balfour Primary school, sharing with the school community some aspects of the Ghanaian culture. Overall it was felt the event had been a highly busy and memorable week, which delighted all who took part in the experience! Ms Lamal & Dr Danahar , Ghana Committee
Above is a picture from the tree planting ceremony we held which seals our friendship with our Ghanaian students and colleagues
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Veg City Challenge Event This term two of our Year 10 GCSE Food Technology students had the opportunity to go to the Community Kitchen and judge the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership’s Veg City Challenge. Spike and Millie (our Year 10 students) made up the panel alongside Michael Bremner, Head Chef at 64 Degrees and Murmur, Nicole Pisani, ex Head Chef at Nopi, London and leading national hospitality and catering expert, Julie Barker. Veg City Challenge is a competition that sees chefs from across the city create an innovative veg-packed on-the-go recipe. The winning recipe will then be trialled in secondary schools, including Dorothy Stringer to encourage teens to eat more veg. Follow the link below to read more about the Veg City Challenge and read the press release from the day. https://bhfood.org.uk/veg-city-challenge-to-find-winning-veg-packed-recipe-for-teens/
Environmental Science This term our Year 7 Environmental Science Classes have been busy planting trees in their lessons with Mr Sandercock and Dr Danahar. They have been planting new Hazel trees and Oak trees, below are photos from one of their lessons planting the trees in our woodland area.
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Art Department Mock Exams As we go to press Year 11 have just finished their mock examinations. This year we not only have the specialisms of Fine Art and Photography but also Textiles and Graphics. It is a privilege to watch students complete a final outcome after several months of preparation. They produce the most stunning work which you will be able to view at Stringer Open house on Saturday 16 May 2020. Ms Fahy, Head of Art
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Art Club Year 7, 8 and 9 students have had fun making ‘head sculptures’ out of recycled materials this term in Art Club. Art club meets every Wednesday in room A3. After the Christmas break Art Club will be working on ideas for the Children’s parade, which will be on Saturday 2 May 2020. We are all very excited this year as the theme is ‘The environment’. Ms Fahy, Head of Art
Graphic Design: Electric Square In October, Studio Director Jason Green and Bafta award winning Lead Artist Dan Purcell from ‘Electric Square’ came to the Art department to give a talk to our Year 10 GCSE Graphics and Photography students. ‘Electric Square’ is a Brighton based game design company who are building links with the community and inspiring students to consider careers in gaming design. This was a brilliant opportunity for our GCSE Students. Ms Shevlin, Art Department
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SMTC Maths Challenge Tisya, Jonathan, Liam and Madeleine participated in the Senior Team Maths Challenge earlier this month at Lancing College. The students worked hard answering some challenging questions in a variety of rounds. The competition was open to Year 11 to Year 13 students, with the majority of students attending being at Sixth Form. Our Year 11 team achieved well, beating a couple of other sixth form teams. We are also delighted by our recent results from the recent Senior Maths Challenge. This is a competition taken by the best A level exam students across the county, but was taken by our Year 11 Advanced Maths students on the 7 November. Fourteen students gained a certificate which puts them in the top 60% of participants. Milo and Tisya both achieved a Gold certificate and have been entered for the Senior Kangaroo follow on round. This puts them in the top 10% of Year 11 to Year 13 students entered for the competition nationally. Mr Field, Maths Department 2020 Maths Challenge Dates for your Diary Intermediate Maths Challenge
6 February 2020
Years 9 - 11
Intermediate Maths Challenge Follow on round
19 March 2020
Years 9 - 11
Junior Maths Challenge
30 April 2020
Years 7 & 8
Junior Maths Challenge Follow on round
9 June 2020
Years 7 & 8
Work Experience 2020 Can you help with a Work Experience placement? In the week commencing Monday 13 July 2020, our Year 10 students will take part in Work Experience. This introduction to work gives them an excellent opportunity to gain valuable insight into a real life working environment, to develop employable skills, and to help in planning their future career path and decisions. If you are an employer who may be willing to offer a placement to one of our students, or would like to know more, please contact the Work Experience Team by e-mail: wexp@dorothy-stringer.co.uk or by telephone on 01273 852213. Mrs Eke, Work Experince Coordinator
Social Feed Highlights #followoursocials
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Stringer Life - Autumn Term
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STRINGER FUNDRAISING VACANCY We are now looking to recruit a Fundraising Administrator to help develop fundraising opportunities for Dorothy Stringer School. This is an exciting new role supporting the Business Manager in identifying and developing relationships with grant-making organisations who may support key projects run by the school. This is a post which might suit a parent or carer interested in a part time role, term-time only, and who wants to help us achieve our goals. Thanks to Ash Gilbert, parent and Director of pebblebeach for his unwavering support of the school and his advice and guidance moving forward: www.pebblebeachfundraising.com See the vacancies section of our website for more information: https://public.dorothystringer.co.uk/ds/pages/vacancies.aspx .The closing date is Friday 10 January 2020.
THANKYOU TO BIG YELLOW FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT We would like to say a big thank you to Big Yellow Self Storage who have again donated this year to make it possible for every student in Year 7 to visit our outdoor centre in Dolawen. This means over 300 students can take part in various activities from mountain biking and canoeing, to abseiling and dry slope skiing, as well as being given the opportunity to socialise with their classmates outside of the school grounds. Next term will see the start of our Year 7 Dolawen trips. We can’t wait to hear all about them and hope the students have an amazing time! www.bigyellow.co.uk
Matt Hillier
THANK YOU TO DONATELLO’S RESTURATUNT FOR THEIR ONGOING SUPPORT AND SPONSERSHIP TO THE PE DEPARTMENT! We would like to thank Donatello for their continued support of the PE and Sport department. Their support means that we are able to offer our students more and ensures that PE and Sport at Stringer continues to thrive. Donatello would like to share their new Christmas menu with the Dorothy Stringer Community. https://www.donatello.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2019/09/Xmas_ Menu_2019.pdf
Are you a local business willing to support a local event? We are looking for sponsors for Let’s Dance 2020. Let’s Dance is the most prestigious and celebrated schools dance event in the whole of the UK and the city of Brighton and Hove celebrates this wonderful achievement with us over a four night spectacular taking place at the Brighton Dome Concert Hall in March 2020. With over 2500 young people taking to the stage from 80 schools, groups and clubs from across the city ‘LET’S DANCE’ is an event of which we should all feel proud, as we bask in the energy and vibrancy of the cities youngsters and young adults. This year we are looking for sponsors to help us continue to run this very special event. For further information please contact Katie Booth (Lets Dance Co-ordinator) on either KLB@dorothystringer.co.uk or 01273 852233 Miss Booth | Let’s Dance Coordinator
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