Langley School News [18/07/14]

LANGLEY SCHOOL A SPECIALIST COLLEGE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, LANGUAGES AND TRAINING Tel: 0121 706 9771 WEBSITE: www.langley-sec.solihull.sch.uk

Friday 18 July 2014 Langley School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all its staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Dear Parents and Care Givers GCSE examination results Students from Year 11 can collect their GCSE results on Thursday 21st August between 10.00 – 12.00 midday. Students who are unable to come into school in person may request a relative to collect them on their behalf, providing they have some ID and a signed letter of authorisation from the student.

Arrangements for return to school - Wednesday 3 September School will re-open to students on Wednesday 3 September. Students joining Langley School in Year 7 are asked to report to the Sandwich Hall at 8.35am, whilst Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 are asked to report at 10.45am for registration at 10.50am.

Preparation for September - Uniform & Equipment Many thanks for your continued support in helping us to maintain our high expectations regarding uniform. In order to ensure that all are fully prepared for the return to school in September, please ensure that: • All students wear black leather shoes – not canvas or ‘trainer’ styles • Girls’ skirts are a suitable length, ie no shorter than just above the knee [and not made of stretch lycra] • Only the school grey v-neck jumper is worn • Blazers have a Langley School badge In terms of equipment for school, please ensure that students have the following items as a minimum: • Pen • Pencil • Ruler A supply of replacement items at home may be a good idea.

Checks on all of the above will be made on the first day back. Any students not meeting our standards will be asked to rectify the situation immediately. Thank you for your support. Wishing you a great summer!

Mr Evans, Deputy Headteacher 40th Birthday Celebrations – memorabilia plea Langley School opened in September 1974 and we celebrate its 40th Birthday this September. We know that some of our current parents were former Langley students – if you have any photographs or other memorabilia from the school’s opening in 1974, we would very much like to borrow them for a display…..

Staffing Changes at Langley School As you may well be aware, we have several members of staff who are either marrying or leaving Langley this summer: We send our congratulations and best wishes to our Art Teacher, Miss O’Doherty, and Food Teacher, Mr Hartshorn, who will marry in the summer. [Miss O’Doherty wishes to be known as ‘Mrs Hartshorn’ on her return]. We also congratulate Mr McEvilly, our English SEN teacher who will also get married during the summer holidays. Finally, we congratulate Mr Scholey, Head of Music, who is getting married and leaving Langley this summer - to move up to the north of England!

We wish Miss Chagger, D&T teacher, Miss Garcha, ICT teacher and Miss Kay, RE teacher every success in their new work outside the borough. We would like to thank Mrs J Mytton, Office Receptionist this term and Miss G Reilly, who has been our Apprentice Librarian for the last 12 months.

Finally, we say “Au Revoir” to the following members of staff, who begin their welldeserved retirement this summer: Mr A Buchan Mrs C Coleman Mrs E Coley Mr G Crooks Mrs K Howden We are not quite sure how we will manage without them, but we do wish you all a very long, happy and healthy retirement – and please come back and visit us from time to time!

We would like to say a huge “Thank You” to all the above-mentioned staff for the dedication, energy and commitment they have brought to Langley School and the way in which they have supported Langley students and staff.

[We will introduce you to the new staff joining us in September in our first newsletter of the next academic year.]

Sponsorship Request Cameron Dixon in Y7 and Bradley Addison, a current Y6 student who will be joining Langley in September, are both doing something amazing this summer! Both Bradley and Cameron have a form of the muscle-wasting condition Muscular Dystrophy, but they are bravely tackling the Move-A-Mile for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. The challenge takes place at the Ackers Trust on 17 August and Cameron and Bradley will be travelling their mile alongside 8 other children who are skiing, zip-wiring and canoeing – all to help raise money to help find a cure for this condition. Details of how you might support and sponsor these boys can be found at http://www.musculardystrophy.org/yourstories/7692_birmingham_boys_mile_to_keep_others_moving Good luck for August, boys - we look forward to hearing how you got on!

Book Fair Thank you to everybody who supported the school Book Fair through the purchase of books for themselves or friends last week. You enabled us to purchase £70 worth of books for our school Library – thank you very much!

Mrs K Beck, Librarian

Year 7 Success Congratulations to the following students in Year 7, who will be awarded the End of Year Prize of a book voucher from Waterstones, for reading and reviewing over 15 different types of fiction genre: Adam Turner 7O Kate Hill 7U Iona Atkins 7L Georgia Rowe 7L Jay Lester 7S Poppy Storrar 7L Charlotte Smith 7O Hannah Goodban 7L Hannah Rogers 7O Rhianna Robertson 7K Surjeet Kaur 7K Caitlin Hussain 7K Class of 2014 There are 6 2014 Yearbooks available priced @ £10 as they produce spares off the run of copies. Please contact before 22nd September to secure your copy!!

Mrs S Robson-Smith, Textiles Teacher Careers Information: Year 10 - Work Experience Year 10 students have just completed a highly successful week of Work Experience. We have lost count of the number of Work Experience students who have been described by employers as “wonderful”, “reliable” and “punctual”. In particular one local employer, Solihull MBC said, “An absolute pleasure to have three students with us this week on work placement, a credit to the School”. What a fantastic advertisement for Langley School!

Year 10 - Careers Days Students who remained in school took part in Careers Days and were involved in small group mentoring sessions working with Mrs Christian, Careers Advisor and Mr Olllier, (Langley’s ex Careers Manager) which were very focussed and intensive.

Students looked in depth at their own strengths and interests, at ‘Top Tips’ to get their careers off the ground, at some of the Careers Resources available to them and at the Local Labour Market. Mr Ollier was impressed by the positive attitude of all students.

Students also visited Solihull College and were given the opportunity to participate in taster lessons such as Animal Care, Graphic Design, Public Services and Hair & Barbering. Excellent feedback was also received from college staff, who specifically commented on the excellent behaviour and attitude of our students.

Thank you to parents for their support.

Diary Date – Year 9 – Work Experience I would encourage parents of current Year 9 students who are going into Year 10, to begin thinking about Work Experience placements for next year. The dates are as follows: Monday 6th July 2015 – Friday 10th July 2015 Please be aware that popular placements such as the Law Courts and NHS allocate places early, so do bear this in mind. If your child knows what they would like to do, then I would suggest they start to apply now to avoid disappointment.

Further details will follow in September.

Virtual Careers Library During registration time this week, some Year 10 Form Groups have been given the opportunity to use this time to look at the Post 16 resources available within school

to get ahead ready for when they go into Year 11 in September. The Virtual Careers Library can be located on the school website www.langleysec.solihull.sch.uk, you will be able to locate this in “The Curriculum” area. You will find lots of resources and we are updating/adding information on a regular basis.

Work Experience process across all JLR sites The work experience process, managed by Jaguar Land Rover’s Education Business Partnership Centres at all UK manufacturing, design and engineering sites, has changed. The new arrangements, which will be in place from July 2014 for the next academic year, are as follows: •

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Work experience placements may only be offered to young people aged 15-18 in full time education. All students aged over 18 should go to www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com for more information on undergraduate placements.

All work experience placement requests for students aged 18 and under at any of the JLR sites must come through the Education Business Partnership Centres.

No students are allowed on site unless they have followed this process as this is the only way students can be insured and covered to be on Jaguar Land Rover Premises.

Placement requests out of school term time cannot be accepted due to health and safety legislation and duty of care.

All students interested in work experience placements for the next academic year (September 2014 - July 2015) must fill out an application form which will be available from 1 July - 13 October 2014. No applications will be considered out of this period.

Applications can be requested from 1 July by emailing jlr@bmetc.ac.uk. Please state clearly which site you would like to apply for a placement at, as application forms are site specific. If you do not clearly state which site you require an application form will not be sent out.

Once the closing date has passed, applications will be reviewed and placements assigned, with preference given to students who are interested in pursuing careers in engineering, manufacturing and JLR business functions such as HR, Finance and IT. Everyone will be notified of the outcome of their application by Friday 7 November 2014.

Peak periods for work experience placements are end of June and July. As the number of places available on each site at any one time are limited, if you are flexible on your dates, please try to avoid these periods.

Please note if you require a placement in September 2014 you need to apply by 10 July 2014 so placements can be arranged before the summer holidays.

If you require any further information, please contact jlr@bmetc.ac.uk

Finally….. Good luck to those Year 10 students who have applied to the Girls’ Summer Residential Engineering Work Experience programme at RAF Cosford and also the Engineering Materials Summer School at University Of Manchester.

Mrs S Guest, Careers Progression Co-ordinator “Thank You” from the Textiles Department A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in old haberdashery items and plastic bags this year. Please be assured that every single donation has been hugely appreciated and all items have been put to excellent use.

Mrs S Robson-Smith, Textiles Teacher

Free Community Bike Maintenance: If you and/or your child require some tips on bike maintenance, you might wish to consider booking onto a full-day course on Wednesday 23 July, based at Welcome Change Community Centre and Café, Ownall Road, Shard End, B34 7AJ. Alternatively, for a bike that has a few problems [perhaps a puncture or dropped chain], you are welcome to attend the Dr Bike ‘drop –in’ session on Monday 28 July between 2-6pm at The Shard End Youth Centre, 10 Brownfield Road, Shard End, B34 7HY – part of the East Birmingham Active Families – where NO booking is required. For more information, or to book onto the Wednesday 23 July course, please contact Donna Norford Tel: 0121 –633-5500 or 07917721610 Reunion – calling all Ex-Students!

Former Langley student, Lisa Archer, is organising a 30 year reunion for those who left Langley in 1985. The date for your diary is 20th June 2015 and the venue is Langley Hall Social Club. If you would like more information, please contact Lisa on her email address: classof85@outlook.com or via her mobile telephone number, 07778 521789.

Book of the Week There is no ‘Book of the Week’ as we approach the holidays, but please continue to encourage your child to read a range of material – newspapers, magazines, reference books, comics, fiction – to ensure that they keep reading throughout the summer. Why not consider taking advantage of the excellent books and other resources at your local library? Thank you.

Shoe Box appeal - To all parents of all year groups In September we will be launching the shoe box appeal again at Langley for 'Operation Christmas Child'. If you are purchasing new shoes or trainers during the holidays, please keep the boxes – we will find a good use for them!

Mrs S Cooke & Mrs E Lynch, Year 10 Football Players WANTED! Both Boy and Girl football players are wanted for a Solihull-based U13 team for September. Interested students should please ask their parent or care giver to email Debbie.sherman71@googlemail.com for more information.

Open Day / Open Evening – September Just advance notice that the date for our usual Open Evening will be Thursday 18th September and our Open Morning is Friday 19th September. These events are for parents of current Y5 students considering which secondary school they wish their children to attend in September 2015.

Funky Friday Summer Fête Thank you to everyone who supported the Year 7 students with their Funky Friday Fête last week - whether through buying a cake, having your nails painted, guessing the number of sweets in a jar or buying some home-grown items.

I hope that you have an enjoyable, safe and peaceful summer break and I look forward to welcoming everyone back to Langley on Wednesday 3rd September.

Yours sincerely, Mr P Talbot, Headteacher