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World of Woodland Issue 51
This month's value is: HONESTY
Spring is starting to show some signs of starting, now that February has arrived, and our bank of daffodils to remember Mr Rowland Thomas has started to shoot. We are halfway through the school year; hard to believe for parents and staff I know!
February’s value of the month is honesty—often quoted as one of the top three personal values by staff, along with respect and tolerance. Our assemblies and form times will focus on the honesty theme and this year we have linked it to our non-uniform fundraiser (yesterday) for the mental health care charity, CHUMS, to introduce the notion of being honest with oneself.
Over the past couple of weeks we have had a few exciting events to compliment our curriculum, the main event being the Calshot Trip for Y8. Ninety nine pupils took part in adventurous activities (such as skiing, rock climbing and velodrome cycling) and learnt about the ecology of the Solent (trawling), coastal processes (on the beach) and formation of river courses (in the New Forest). I know the group had a great time away; however some pupils who expected a PGL type event were surprised how much they learnt! The visit to Portsmouth to see HMS Victory and the Mary Rose is an amazing experience.
Last week was our Harry Potter day. The library was transformed into Hogwarts, complete with potions, an owlery and even quidditch! The aim was to raise interest in literature and to fire the imagination of our pupils to read more and write too.
Our sports teams have been doing well too, with our Y5 footballers coming top in the District League this week and our Y7 girls’ handball team through to the County finals!
We have some staffing changes after half term. We are adding two additional TAs to our team, Emma Banks and Tia Blake, to support the increasing special needs in school. We also have a vacancy for an SEN Administrator to start after Easter. The details for this post are on the school website. We are looking for someone who is ideally already experienced in an SEN Department who can help lead our team of Teaching Assistants. If you require more information do email our SENDCo, Emma Gibson, on gibsone@woodlandacademy.co.uk And finally, I’d like to wish all the pupils, staff and parents a happy half term—a chance to recharge the batteries (get over the Aussie flu perhaps) and prepare for Easter,
Thomas Sutton—shining bright for CHUMS!
A reminder of the key dates for the next half term:
20 February Y8 Parents’ evening
21, 26 and 27 February Xscape ski lessons (for pupils on the ski trip)
2 March Quiz Night
6—9 March Y7 Normandy trip (1)
7 March Y8 Holocaust Survivor visit
12 and 14 March Y4 visit (animal capers)
14 March Y8 Globe Theatre trip
16 March Swimming gala
20—23 March Y7 Normandy trip (2)
26 March Pantastic rehearsal to Y4
27 and 28 March Pantastic performances
29 March End of term
3-10 April Ski trip
16 April to 20 July Summer term dates
7 May May Day Bank Holiday
28 May Half term week
Congratulations! Many congratulations to Connie Brooker 6RL, County swimming champion, who also gained silver and gold medals!
Astronomy Evening Workshops
On 2 separate evenings over the last 2 weeks, a handful of excited children observed the night sky with Miss Pearce and Mr Littler. They used the school telescope, binoculars and an iPad app called “SkyView” to find the position of neighbouring stars and planets. The sessions were a one-off experience but a repeat for next year is already being planned! Here’s what the students had to say:
“At the Astronomy Workshop we looked at different stars and we learned the name of them too. We found out that some of the planets and stars were not above the horizon sometimes. I had a really good time and I would recommend it.” - Luke Wiggett 5SKP
“On Tuesday I was selected to do an Astronomy evening. It was really fun because we got to look at the stars through the iPads on a star gazing app. We filled in a booklet and even looked through the binoculars at the moon. My favourite part was when we finally managed to see the stars as the clouds separated. Also, Mr Smith brought us all hot chocolate half way through to warm us up.” – Sophie Fowler 8JT
Science department
A New Year / A New Instrument!
We have a limited number of spaces for music lessons within school, supplied by Aspiring Music. Please see the flyers attached. If your child is interested in taking up extra music study please email Miss Dobson direct on dobsonn@woodlandacademy.co.uk We would especially like to hear from pupils who wish to take up Strings, Woodwind and Brass! Thank you.
Charity Climb
On the 17th Feb Ben will be taking part in our annual Charity 12hr climb. He will be attempting to put us all to shame by trying to climb the equivalent of Les Droites, a 4000m summit, so 400 climbs in 12 hrs.
The event is in aid of The Lucy Green Sculpture Fund/Clic Sargent in memory of Lucy https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/woodlandmiddleschool
Sports Leadership
The following pupils attended a training day at John Bunyan Centre recently where they learned skills to run small group activities in sport, put into practise these skills and will be implementing them in school. We also met Toby Garbett, Olympic Gold Medalist for Great Britain in Rowing!
Aimee Young
Stanley Patterson
Callum Beer
Varun Bandi
Wasps Netball Camps
Location: Samuel Whitbread Academy, Shefford, SG17 5QS
Date: Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th of February
Time: 10-3pm
Age: 11-16 years
Book at: https://www.waspsnetball.co.uk/netball-camps
Flitwick Dolphins
Francesca, Paige and Ruby in year 7 recently attended an awards night for Flitwick Dolphins. Francesca won the most improved individual medley, most improved long distance freestyle and first place in the U12 club championships.
Ruby won most improved butterfly.
Paige won most improved backstroke, most improved freestyle and second place in the U12 club championship.
Attachments:
World of Woodland Issue 51.pdf
Selfie slot car championship poster.jpg
Disability WWFC coaching sessions.pdf
British Cycling Muddy Monster Go Ride.docx
BEDFORDSHIRE MUSIC TRUST ORCHESTRAL JAMBOREE 2018.pdf