PRAISE FOR MARLWOOD STUDENTS

It is testament not only to our students’ amazing array of talent, but also to the dedication of the staff that I have had the pleasure of writing over 250 letters to students, commending them on their commitment and attitude to learning, and also thanking them for their hard work in supporting school events. Working together for excellence at its very best!

HOUSE CHAMPIONSHIP DAY

We are holding our first House Championship Day on Tuesday 14th July. Students should come to school in either their House colours or PE kit. At the end of the day the winners will be announced and will have a letter of invitation and permission to attend the Awards event on the following day. It is particularly close between two of the Houses and there is all to play for!

END OF TERM 6 – FRIDAY 17TH JULY

Just a reminder that school closes at 12.30pm on Friday. The buses will be here as usual. Term 1 begins on Tuesday 1st September with an INSET day; students return to school on Wednesday 2nd September.

WORK EXPERIENCE


Whilst our younger students are on Enrichment Days, our Year 10 students are gaining first hand experience of the world of work and taking up placements within the wider community. Many are working in areas to support their career choices further down the line, whilst others are exploring new skills and ideas which may inform their subject choices later. We are very grateful to our business partners who invest their time and experience in our students. 

ENRICHMENT DAYS


This week sees us broadening the curriculum with trips and activities for all our Years 7, 8 and 9 students. Our Modern Foreign Language trips are also taking place with 62 students safely and happily returned from Paris, despite an all-time high record of temperature and threatened ferry strikes. The Barcelona trip departed on Tuesday and we look forward to hearing about their activities next week.

THORNBURY SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2015


The school, and in particular our Science Faculty, work closely with the organisers of the Thornbury Science Festival to provide exciting and challenging activities for our students. For more information, please follow the link below:

SUCCESS FOR MARLWOOD STUDENTS


The Performing Arts Department put on a stunning display of student talent for our Summer Sessions evening. It was a full programme with an impressive array of skills, enthusiasm and commitment – from the performers, to the back stage support and, of course, the Let’s Get Cooking Club with their mouth-watering refreshments! The feedback from parents, guests, governors, staff and students is that it was a splendid evening enjoyed by everyone. Well done to all those involved, with special thanks to Mrs Ferguson and Mr Humphries for showcasing their students’ talents so entertainingly.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRIPS


Our students and staff returned safely from Paris, despite the ferry problems at Calais. We did have four back up plans in case of emergency, but in the end it was plain sailing for the Paris party. Students visited the Eiffel Tower, L’Arc du Triomphe, Louvre Museum amongst many other places – with the hottest day ever recorded for Paris mid way through their visit! We are looking forward to the write up for the newsletter at the end of term.

The Barcelona trip departs next week and we wish them an equally successful experience.

STUDENTS WATCH TRI-SERVICES DISPLAYS AT MARLWOOD


We collapsed the school timetable for one period on Monday in order that all our students could watch the exciting displays put on by the Tri-Services, including police dog handling, simulated car chase and crash, and ambulance attending. This session was followed by a dedicated PSHCE programme to reinforce the messages delivered by the TriServices. The feedback from students was that they felt it really useful. Please see link below for editorial and photos from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

 

ABOVE ALL, DON’T JUST ATTEND MARLWOOD… EXPERIENCE IT!


Just one of an array of the quotes from the heart from our House Captains’ address to the Founders’ Day Service held on Wednesday. To read their full address and learn more about the ‘Marlwood Experience’, follow the link below.


TRANSITION DAY


We welcomed our incoming Year 7 students to the school for a day of activity and familiarisation with their new school. Suddenly our current Year 7s seem to have grown inches! Marlwood Rangers (students with their first responsibility as leaders) provided tours and buddy-up moments for the young learners. Many other students and staff joined in through the day to make it memorable for our latest recruits. We are looking forward to seeing them in September, bright eyed, bushy tailed and very smart in their new uniforms!

THANKS TO THE FOUNDERS’ DAY PERFORMERS


Our thanks to our Year 7 students, Matthew Quilt and Alicia Ozmen who gave readings and to Jack Williamson who gave a moving rendition of ‘The Sky’s The Limit’. Thanks also to our Year 13 students who so ably and beautifully performed for our guests: Peter Stace on the flugelhorn, Chloe Dawes soloist and Esmae Wood on the violin.  

PARENTAL UPDATES


Letters have been uploaded on to the web site and sent home by email to parents giving them an update on key developments within CSET and the school.  The links below will take you to the full scripts.
 
 

PARENTS’ FORUM


Our Parents’ Forum met for the third and final time this school year. The group looked at the new measures for recording and reporting attainment, proposals for the Sixth Form to join part time in the Vertical Tutor Groups and how we, as a school, communicate with parents. We are very grateful to those parents who come to these meetings and give us valuable feedback. The dates for next year’s meetings will be confirmed in Term 1 of the new academic year.

FRINGE FESTIVAL MONDAY




The school plays host to the TriServices (Police, Fire and Ambulance) events on Monday morning 29th June. The whole school will be watching the events and supported by a dedicated programme of lessons which draw on the students’ experiences to explore PSHCE issues.

FAREWELL TO OUR YEAR 11s


Today was the last day for our Year 11s. We celebrated their time at Marlwood with them during a special assembly and then with meetings between their tutors and teachers. They received their Yearbooks and gifts were presented to the staff. There were many, many photos and selfies taken, crying and laughter filled the Quad. They were finally waved off site by students and staff, many of them into their stretch limousines to continue their celebrations. We will see them again next week at the School Prom.

THANKS TO THORNBURY LIONS


The Thornbury Lions Club have made a generous donation which enables the school to continue to collaborate with New Siblands School and The English National Touring Opera Company. These projects provide enormous benefit to all the students involved and thoroughly enjoyed by all who take part. We are immensely grateful that we can continue with this wonderful collaboration.

RASPBERRY PI





A group of our Year 8s and Year 9s were joined by Mr Pearce from the Gloucestershire Initiative Teachers Education Partnership this week and they have been building motorised robots, full of sensors. Today they were working out how to move the robots – lots of good ideas coming through for their uses!

RACING CARS PRESENTATION


Today we celebrated the success of the various car races which have taken place over the season. MRCA presented the trophies to the House which won the most number of races. Holt were the cup winners, with Berkeley in second place, Witton in third and Kingsley bringing up the rear.

YEAR 6 TO YEAR 7 TRANSITION STUDENTS


This week we welcomed parents of current Year 6 students to come in and meet our staff and to understand how their children’s learning patterns will change as they graduate into secondary school. We have Open Day for the Year 6 students themselves on Thursday 25th June, with many exciting activities planned for them and a chance to ‘buddy up’ with new friends in their House groups.

PARENTS’ FORUM


Our third Parent’s Forum will be taking place on Wednesday 24th June at 6.30pm in the Learning Resource Centre. This initiative has proved an invaluable source of feedback and information between parents and the school. If you would like to come along and join those parents who have been helping us with school development projects, please contact the school for further details.

FOUNDERS’ DAY SERVICE


The school will be holding its annual Founders’ Day Service at St Mary’s Church in Thornbury on Wednesday 24th June at 1.30pm. This service celebrates the school’s long history and brings together our Year 7 and Year 13 students – the youngest and the oldest in school, together with local dignitaries, parents and governors. Several of our students will be giving readings and soloist musical performance which we look forward to sharing with our school community.

THORNBURY CARNIVAL FESTIVAL FRINGE


We are delighted to be hosting the TriServices on Monday 29th June as part of the Festival Fringe ongoing summer programme. Students and visitors will have the opportunity to observe displays from the ambulance, police and fire services and to enjoy demonstrations of skill from these vital public services.

SUCCESS FOR MARLWOOD STUDENT

Congratulations to Claire Thomas (Y9) who has been selected to take part in the BBC Music Day Concert at the Colston Hall. It will be broadcast on 5th June between 3-4pm on 4 local BBC radio stations and Radio 3 and filmed for a piece for Points West on BBC1 and possibly the One Show. It will feature the Para-orchestra, Bristol Youth Choirs and City of Bristol Choir. Well done Claire!

TERM 6


Welcome back to all our students and staff after the half term. The examinations are now fully upon us and students are using their revision sessions to consolidate their learning over the past year. There is a full term of events planned, from the Year 7s trip to Morfa Bay, to three Enrichment Days and a Curriculum Focus Day held this week.

CURRICULUM FOCUS DAY


Our third and final Curriculum Focus Day took place on 3rd June. Walking around the school site there was a real sense of vibrancy emanating from the different events: Year 8 took part in samba drums, capoeihra and Drama workshops; Technology hosted a robot competition;. Years 9 and 10 received PSHCE input relating to Drugs and Alcohol, and Sex and Relationships. Meanwhile, Year 7 took part in a Modern Languages afternoon where they learnt Zumba, Flamenco and participated in a cookery class.

Our House ethos was strengthened through a Year 7 House morning, and Year 9 took part in a House Games Challenge hosted by the PE Faculty. Year 10 were also able to benefit from focused Science revision in preparation for their examination two days later, whilst Year 10 Mathematics students took part in a high end Cryptology workshop.

GOURMET HOMEWORK CLUB


As part of our ongoing work with our Premium Partners, the Thornbury Deli have kindly donated sandwiches at the end of the day for our students who attend Homework Club. The students are very grateful for their generosity and I understand the sandwiches are delicious!

Funding for a Digital Learning Project - Help needed.

We are part of a bid in the Aviva Community Fund!  Our bid is for students to lead a digital learning project with senior citizens in our community.  This would be a significant funded project providing excellent opportunities to develop our students and support our community.

Voting is now open.  Our bid is called ‘Student Leaders – Silver Surfers’.

 It's actually quite a fairly straight-forward process, but there are a few steps so here's a guide:

 1. Follow the link https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/2875/

 2. Click on the button to 'Register and log in now to get your 10 votes'

 3. Click on the 'Register now' button

 4. Fill out your details:


First name

Last name

Email address

Confirm email address

Create a Password

Confirm your password

Select 'none of the above'

Type in the letters you can see to prove you're a human! 

Tick that you have read and accept the Terms and Conditions

Click 'Register'

 

5. You will now be sent an email to the address you provided asking you to activate your account. Click on the button to 'validate your registration and activate your account'.

6. You will now have activated your account. All you need to do now is enter your email address and password and click 'log in'.

7. Select the number of votes you want to cast for 'Student Leaders - Silver Surfers' (you can cast up to 10 votes) and click 'submit votes'.

 

Thank you, happy voting and please spread the word!

NEWSLETTER


Our Term 5 newsletter is now available via the web site. Our Press Team is working tirelessly to scout out news and to write up articles and I am pleased to say the majority of this newsletter is put together by them. You will see competition between the Houses remains intense and there is very little in it – our Heads of House are pushing students to gain points wherever they can and are encouraging good attendance awards. Link: - http://goo.gl/y5wdTr

RESPECT AND LEADERSHIP AGENDA

We are continuing to encourage our students to take on roles and responsibilities through school events. This term has continued the practice of two of our younger students addressing our weekly staff meetings to introduce the Literacy theme for the week. This is no mean feat, given they are in front of their teachers! Nevertheless, they do it with charm, grace and humour. We also thank the students who played an invaluable role by sitting on the Student Interview Panels for our recent teacher recruitments. As always, our thanks to all those students who take part in school events throughout the year

SUCCESS FOR MARLWOOD


Congratulations to the Year 10 Super 6s athletics teams. The boys were narrowly beaten into second place, the girls’ team won the event and progress to the Sainsbury’s Level 3 School Games at Bath University on 8th July. A great team effort to achieve excellence, well done! The PE Department are very proud of them.

NEW UNIFORM FOR MARLWOOD STUDENTS


After consultation with students, parents and staff and with the final say with the Student Council, I am pleased to confirm Marlwood School will have a new school uniform from September 2015. Full details and our School Uniform Brochure can be downloaded from the web site.

COMMUNITY GOVERNORS


The School currently has two vacancies for Community Governors. We are very keen for these posts to be filled by members of our local business community. If anyone would like to express an interest, and to find out more about the role, please contact theschool@marlwood.net

SUCCESS FOR MARLWOOD STUDENTS


Matthew Robertson (Year 7) was selected to tour with the South Gloucestershire Development Centre football team and has written up his experiences in Belgium and Holland for our newsletter at the end of this term.

 

Congratulations also to Joe Williams (Year 7) on being selected for the Bristol Rugby U13 Development Programme.

 

Congratulations to Charlotte Fox (Year 12) who has been selected for the South West Regional Hockey Squad.

 

Marlwood students have been selected to attend trials to represent South Gloucestershire Schools at the Avon Championships. We wish them all luck: Ellie Leather (Year 11), Calvin Preston (Year 10), Joe Leather (Year 9), Greg Madge (Year 9) and Sam Taylor (Year 7)

 

We wish them all success!

SCHOOL ‘MINISTERIAL ELECTIONS’


This was a fantastic process for the students to take part in and well done to all the students who stepped up to make a difference: Violet Feltham (the Progress Party), Louis Hoare (the Tomorrow Party), Tilly Humphries and Hannah Pickard (the Transform Party) and a special well done to our winner Katie Harper (the Vision Party). The government have now formed a coalition and will be putting their efforts into developing Katie's ideas and making the changes she championed.

AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS CLUBS

The PED Department are running Athletics Club (Tuesday), Rounders (Wednesday) and Cricket (Thursday). All abilities welcome

NEPAL APPEAL


I am delighted to report the school raised £242 for the Nepal Appeal through the cake sale from last Friday. Our thanks to all those who organised and supported the appeal.

YEAR 11


Today is our Year 11 Leavers’ Day and the staff will be joining them in the Quad Dining Room at lunchtime and at the end of the day for the traditional shirt signing. We continue to encourage our students to focus on their exams and their revision, and to work for the best results they can. The link to our revision site is below

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO NEXT YEAR’S SCHOOL CAPTAINS


The school elections are over and our School Captains have been elected for next year. They are: Miss Devini de Alwis, Miss Ella Cottle, Mr Thom Harris-Lee and Mr Dominic Webb. The Senior Team and I look forward to working closely with them next year.

SCHOOL ‘MINISTERIAL ELECTIONS’


Turn out for the election was high and we had an unexpected volume of voters which was very pleasing. There will be an announcement on the winner and their proposals next week!

WINS IN THE FINAL FOR YEAR 11!


Congratulations to the Year 11 Football team for coming from 4-1 down to win 5-4 in the Bristol and South Glos Football Trophy Final 2015 vs Downend School. 3rd time lucky and well deserved! If Steven Spielberg saw that thrilling match he would be making a movie about it!

NEPAL APPEAL






As part of the school’s association with the Save the Children Charity, we are running a cake sale in school today. Our thanks once again to Ian Curtis of the Crusty Loaf in Olveston for providing the cakes and we look forward to raising funds for this very worthwhile cause.

PARENTS’ FORUM


We continue to be grateful to all those parents who have joined us in the last two Parents’ Forums. A summary of the last meeting is now available on the web site; a link below for your convenience.

YEAR 11


Our students are working really hard, with the main exams not far away and indeed some have already started. There is lots of support for our students in school to help them achieve their very best. There is also support via the Revision Blog – link below.

 

YEAR 12 PERFORMING ARTS


Our Year 12 students are presenting the Oscar Wilde play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ , on Tuesday 5th May in the Drama Hall from 6.30pm. Tickets are £3 each and everyone is welcome. Do come along and support the hard work of our students and we look forward to seeing you on the evening.

SIXTH FORM BAND


Our very talented Sixth Form band will be performing on Saturday 2nd May at The Dolpin Pub, Oldland Common. They are supporting the professional covers band Freefall, including our drum peri Jon Green.
The gig starts at 8.30pm, so if you would like an evening out and fancy hearing some of our Sixth Form students perform covers of current music, then please come along! 

ICT


It’s that time of year again when students are transferring work in and out of school on memory sticks.  Please remind your child to make backups because if the memory stick breaks it is very unlikely our IT Department will be able to retrieve any of the work on it. 

PREMIUM PARTNERS – SUCCESS STORY FOR MARLWOOD Year 13 student


The Working Student, the brain child of Brandon Robertson, year 13 student at Marlwood, is a website for businesses to post part time vacancies for students and it is going to be developed for our Premium Partners. Brandon has welcomed the opportunity, and is working with Premium Partners to create a site that will enable all our Partners to post their apprenticeships, part time job offers and any voluntary work that would be suitable for students. To follow the link to the Premium Partners’ newsletter, click below

EXAM PREPARATION


Our focus continues to be on the teaching and learning of all our students, with particular priority for our examination students. There are many support structures in place, and students are encouraged to visit the school’s Revision Blog for help and information. The web link is given below. 

GIRLS RUBGY


Our PE Department have arranged for some of the Year 8 girls to be introduced to playing rugby this week by a visiting coach from the Eagle Project, an organisation linked to BRFU, specifically to raise the participation of girls in the game. The coaching, which will give the girls the opportunity of playing tag and full contact versions culminates in a festival of all schools involved at the beginning of July. 
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