World of Woodland Issue 37

This month's value is: FREEDOM

Spring has sprung and with March comes our new monthly focus on a value, freedom. Our generation, our parents and our children have lived through a peaceful time and freedom is taken for granted. This month we will discuss what freedom means and how hard it was fought for.

One of our freedoms is, of course, the right to vote. Our pupils have voted for a new school parliament recently using our ballot boxes and booths. Our new school parliament, with Mrs Payne, will help the senior leadership team with ideas for school improvement. Our local MP, Nadine Dorries, retweeted our Twitter announcement of the vote with a ‘love it’ endorsement.

Yesterday was a busy day in school with our Y7 pupils all participating in an Indonesian Gamelan workshop. The sounds of Balinese music were drifting down the corridors all day!

Thank you to the PTA for funding this experience, only possible by the generosity of our community. 

Our next PTA event is a Quiz Night on March 17. Invitations have been sent home but an electronic copy is emailed with this edition too. Please sign up a team (of up to 6) to take part. The cost includes fish and chips and waitress service from our licensed bar. The quiz starts at 7pm.

Our pupils and staff celebrated World Book Day this week by dressing up as Roald Dahl characters— from Willy Wonka to The Twits, the BFG to The Witches, we really had fun remembering our favourite novels!

A group of our environmentalists raised over £150 by holding a cake sale for the Marston Forest this week and spent a morning helping to plant trees there. Well done to all the pupils and to Ms
Shearer and Mrs Bavister for fulfilling a promise made back on the 2016 Values Day. It is hoped that another group of pupils will return later this year for more tree planting.

During this week a text was sent home with an announcement about the 2017-18 term dates. Woodland and all our feeder lower schools have agreed to alter the published terms dates (by Central Beds). The changes are made for educational, childcare and preference reasons. The new school year will commence (for pupils) on 6.9.2017, with school open for staff and enquiries on 4.9.2017 and 5.9.2017. The later start to the term will be ‘repaid’ by cancelling two training days and opening for pupils on 16.4.2018 and 4.6.2018. Please update your diaries and plan future holidays accordingly. Redborne Upper School’s dates differ slightly so please ensure you check their website if you need to.

Next week our first (of two) trips to Normandy depart. Mr Matias is leading this cultural experience, which includes time at the D-day beaches, war cemeteries, historical Bayeaux and a local produce factory—bon voyage!

Before our next edition we will also host Y4 (our next cohort) for their first transition event, ‘Animal Capers’ - we really look forward to meeting our new pupils!

LOST ITEM
Pale blue/green Fitbit Alta. Please hand in to the office if found. 

Gymnastics Competition held on Sunday 5 Feb
Six pupils represented Woodland Academy in the Eastern Regional School Acrobatics Championships in Luton on
Sunday:

Daisy Tyler, Ellie Manfredi, Sophie Williams, Chloe Lavelle, Charlotte Gibbard & Niamh Brown.

They performed a group routine in the Under 14 section, containing partner balances and gymnastics skills, gaining a Bronze medal competing against 7 other groups from across the Eastern Region.

Charlotte and Chloe also competed in the Under 11 pairs and were unlucky not to receive a medal due to a technical error so were placed 7th instead of 3rd.

All girls performed brilliantly despite nerves and did the school proud.

Elliot Bierton 8SRA
Elliot attended his first camp at RAF Wittering during half term as a member of 1985 (Flitwick) Air Training Corps. Whilst on the camp he was lucky enough to meet the Duchess of Cambridge as part
of her visit to the station for her role as Honorary Commandant of the Air Training Corps. She joined in some of the team building exercises that Elliot was enjoying with other new members of cadets from around Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. His photograph has since appeared in The Times, Telegraph and Mirror along with Hello and
OK magazines. He appeared on both BBC and ITV local news and was interviewed for Forces TV.

Elliot joined the cadets in September and since then has taken part in many activities including leader- ship and citizenship, shooting,
sports, and first aid.

REMINDER
Online safety workshop on 8 March at 3.30pm.

Attachments:
World of Woodland Issue 37.pdf

Online Safety Workshop.pdf