“Through hard work, inspiration, mutual respect and enjoyment, we will achieve success together.”

MAY 2016 NEWS FROM THE HEADTEACHER

In this issue: News from the Headteacher English Literature Quiz Rock Climbing Wall Yr 10 Product Design Trip 6th Form News Scholars Programme Achievement Tie

May signifies the start of the external exam season and I know that everyone linked to the school will want to join me in wishing each Year 11, 12 and 13 student good luck. Every student is pushing themselves academically and this will lead to success. We are sadly saying farewell to Mrs Weaver our SEND Manager. Mrs Weaver joined us eighteen months ago during our reorganisation of Special Needs Provision and she has helped to develop the department working alongside Mrs Bond, SENCO. We wish her well in her new position. We have a change of Safeguarding Lead and Head of HR. Mrs Manvell, who held this post left us this term and Mrs Knott has joined us.

Science Chicks

Internal changes from June 2016

Spelling Bee Race for Life

Miss Wilkinson will become Head of Year 9 as Miss Miller is stepping down to focus on Drama.

Barcelona Trip

Mrs Richardson will become the Acting SEND Manager until the end of this term.

Science Seeds

English Literature Quiz 2016 On the 3 of May me, (Em), Issie , Isobel, Jenny, and Daisy were picked to proceed into the final round of the 2016 English Literacy quiz. Our team was named the Rising Stars and luckily we were a confident and passionate team! This quiz consisted of different rounds about different elements of English literature, for example: Poetry, Harry Potter, Fictional Lands and Mythical Creatures! We found this quiz challenging but worth the effort as we won a trophy to treasure in our form room (7S) forever. There were many other brilliant teams, one from each form, who also took part in this event. They are all still winners due to them achieving the highest score out of their form. All the teams represented their form very well. Finally we would like to say thank you to Mrs House for organising this quiz this year. Written by Em, Isobel, Daisy, Issie and Jenny. Rock Climbing Wall Rock Climbing was good because it was nice to have a break from normal lessons as a reward. There were three walls and one was the more challenging than the others. Students commented:“Doing rock climbing was really fun. It was nice to do an activity that we wouldn’t normally do in GCSE P.E.” “I enjoyed rock climbing and it was a great experience.“ “I enjoyed rock climbing because it was fun and interesting.“ “Rock climbing was enjoyable and challenging, I loved it at the end when we did races and would love to do it again.” Tom, Lucy, Sophie, Fawwaz, Shannon, Caiden. Yr 9

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The Colet Chronicle

Year 10 Product Design Trip - Renault F1 Factory On Monday 9 May all of the students from the Year 10 Product Design class were taken on a trip to the Renault F1 Garage just outside Oxford. The second we walked in the door everyone was very impressed with the large array of trophies on display in the front entrance. We were surprised by just how many trophies there were varying from; winner’s trophies, race win trophies and leader board trophies awarded at the end of each season. This was a very impressing start to the trip.

As we walked through the factory we were amazed by all the heavy machinery and the level of planning required to create a formula one car, as well as all the amazing materials and equipment which are used to make the car. The thing that astonished most students was the sheer weight of the materials used on the car and how this multimillion pound car can be made so safe by using these light materials. After going through all the designing and factory levels we were all introduced to the actual F1 cars, and again everyone was amazed at how seemingly flimsy the material was. But these cars were extreme pieces of engineering and all of the Year 10 class had felt privileged to see them. Some took it in their stride more than others. I can speak on behalf of all the Product Design students- this was a very enjoyable trip showing us how product design can be used in the real world. By Luke Year 10 ——————————————————————————————————————————————— 6th Form News Before Easter the Year 13 Communication and Culture students attended a study day for their course at Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury. The day was organised by Mrs Ellershaw and Sarah Dewberry, the Education Officer at the Manor, and focused on their study of Objects of Desire in relation to culture. The students were some of the first to see the house ready for the new season and were thrilled to have such special access to the treasures it held. It has provided them with case studies which they will be able to refer to in their exam this June.

The Colet Chronicle

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The Scholar’s Programme: Year 10 Graduation On the 19 of May all 12 of the Scholar’s Programmeparticipants were invited to Pembroke College, Oxford for our graduation. Over the past 2 months we took part in 1 hour sessions with our tutor on the topic of Shale gas and ‘The Journey of Petroleum Oil’. By the end of this period of time everyone who took part had to submit a 2000 word final assignment on the topic. On the 10 of May our final meeting with our tutor took place in HU7. At the end of the session we were given our results on a very professional looking piece of paper. None of us failed or got a 3rd and the highest anyone got was Sam (M) and he got a 1st with 92%! After this last meeting occurred we were all very excited for our graduation ceremony. On the morning of the trip to Pembroke College we were told to meet by the minibus halfway through period 1. It took us about an hour to get there and when we did arrive we were greeted by the pretty views in and around the campus. We were then led to the auditorium for an introduction and were led for a tour by an undergraduate student. She showed us what an average day would be like as an undergraduate. We visited the student halls of residence, the common room, the 400 year old chapel, the library and the beautiful grass quad areas where students can study and play croquet. Although we were told that certain grass areas cannot be walked on because it is believed that monks are buried We then took part in a ‘question and answer’ session with some undergraduates from Pembroke College and we were able to talk with the students who currently study the topics we might be interested in. Lots of us from John Colet spoke with the languages student, but some asked questions to the physics and politics students. Our day was split by a very nice lunch in the impressive dining room! After lunch we experienced the study skills session which was designed to help us be more effective in our learning and think about how to study effectively for university. This was followed by what everyone was waiting for, THE GRADUATION! Everyone was very proud of their achievements, Emma (C) and Sam (M) also earned themselves a distinction for their hard work and exceptional grades. The experience has helped us to gain an understanding of two very different universities and gain an understanding of university life at some of England’s top institutions. As a group we would like to thank Mrs Abslom for offering this opportunity to us, our tutor who told us the information we needed and finally Mr Elliott for driving the minibus. Charlea 10C

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Charleigh ,Kieron,Emma,Jacob,Teigan,Alex,Daisy,Tamanna,Grace,Georgia,Ross,Moin, Corey, Frances, Sam, Rebecca, Zaina, Rachel, Stephanie.

Awarded to the students above for having an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ attitude to learning AND being on track to achieve their aspirational targets *********************************************************************************************************************** Science Chicks The Science department would like to remind you all that the Year 8 Living Eggs project will be running again between June 13 and June 23 . The project is aimed at gifted and talented pupils and those selected will receive an invite shortly. However, anyone is welcome to come and visit the eggs and baby chicks in Sc1 at break time and lunch times. Please also monitor the progress of the eggs and chicks with our live feed – yes all action will be online through the school website. Make sure you tell your friends and family. For further information, please see Miss Harling or check out the notice board next to Sc1 and Sc2. I look forward to seeing you soon. Miss Harling – Science department.

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SPELLING BEE Bumble Bee, spell, it. Hah, did I fool you? Probably not. I’m not that good at jokes. A Spelling Bee is when people compete to prove themselves as the best speller. They go through several stages and at the end there is only one winner left. The first stage was in our form groups. We went into groups and tested the competitors. Our form, 7C, had many winners so we went into a tie breaker. In this tie breaker some unpractised words were thrown in, this stumped many of us. After all the forms have chosen representatives, we sent our winners to the hall were they would be told a word to spell and they would have to spell it out to the entire year! This event took place on the 27 April 2016. The competitors were: Catlin 7B, Daniel 7B, Rosie 7C, Malachi 7C, Will 7D, Laura 7D, Matthew 7G, Thomas 7G, Antonio 7H, Ella 7H, Alicia 7S, William 7S Everyone was really brave to step forward and compete. It must have been scary to stand up in front of everyone and spell. However, there was no booing or hissing or even laughing when the competitors were sent out. In fact, there was so much clapping and cheering that the teachers had to stop us. I heard a comment from one of the spellers “I’m still shaking”. This was after the competition. Despite everyone trying their best, there had to be one winner. The winner of the spelling bee competition was Rosie from 7C. All of the winners got a prize which was a bag of chocolate. The overall winner got a £15 voucher for amazon. So if you want a chance at winning these prizes and you think you are a good speller, join in when the next one buzzes around. Thank you to Ms Simpson and all the other for tutors that supported the spellers. Amie 7C

Race for life On the 15 of May 2016, I did a five kilometre run for Cancer Research UK with my best friends: Emma and Zara (7S). Together we were sponsored over £350. Thank you everyone for your sponsorship and support. All that money will go to help someone with cancer. We met each other at Waddesdon Manor at 10:30 to start our race for life. We did a fun warm up with over 3000 walkers, runners and joggers and even cart wheelers (Me!), to get us warmed up for the 3 miles ahead of us. We were covered in every pink accessory we owned and had smothered ourselves in sun cream as it was a lovely day. The canons of pink confetti popped as we started the race! We completed the race in under 40 minutes. It was a great experience and we had so much fun, the atmosphere was great and the only colour we saw all morning was PINK! Once again, thank you everyone who sponsored us, we had an amazing day. We are planning to do it again next year, as we had so much fun and we raised so much money for an amazing charity. Race for life is on next year, so get out your pink trainers, get your game faces on and join the pink army! We will beat cancer sooner. Thank you, Alicia 7S.

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Barcelona trip 18-22 April It was a sunny Sunday evening when we embarked on our journey to Barcelona. An hour into our expedition we started to wish we had taken a plane, even though we were only in Beaconsfield!! By the time we had stopped at 2am for the coach drivers to swap over, the tiredness had really started to kick in. We then stopped again in a French service station at 4am but as we sipped on hot chocolate we were becoming more and more excited to reach our destination. We arrived in Calella, a seaside town 40 minutes outside Barcelona, 12 hours later and were all happy to see the hotel and get some rest! In the afternoon we explored the main shopping strip, then took to the beach before dinner. Our first full day on our Spanish adventure, we visited the historical La Sagrada Familia, which was designed by Gaudi. We then went to the famous Barcelona shopping strip, Las Ramblas and the Boqueria Food Market. On our final full day in Barcelona, we visited Camp Nou, the impressive home of Barcelona FC, where we had a full tour of the whole stadium and grounds. After that, we stopped at the beautiful marina for a few hours shopping. Our last stop on our trip to Barcelona was Park Guell, the landscaped park was Guadi’s final projects and is certainly one of the most famous. Sadly on Thursday morning it was time to leave, we packed our suitcases and prepared ourselves for the 22 hour coach journey home, but before the journey home we had the morning to look round Calella, just enough time to buy last minute souvenirs. Siobhan & Lauren 10G

Term Autumn

Spring

Summer

Open 8:30 on morning of

Close at time indicated

Monday 5 September 2016

Friday 21 October 2016

2:55pm

Monday 31 October 2016

Tuesday 20 December 2016 12:15pm

Thursday 5 January 2017

Friday 10 February 2017

2:55pm

Monday 20 February 2017

Friday 31 March 2017

2:55pm

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Friday 26 May 2017

2:55pm

Monday 5 June 2017

Friday 21 July 2017

12:15pm

INSET days: Thursday 1 and Friday 2 September 2016 and Wednesday 4 January 2017 The additional 2 INSET days will be on Monday 3 October 2016 and Friday 28 April 2017 School will also be closed on Monday 1 May 2017

The Colet Chronicle

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Dear Blue Peter, At our school in Bucks, we applied for two packets of rocket seeds. We were lucky enough to get some. One of our students has recently watched your demonstration of you planting the seeds, and we wanted to let you know how ours are getting on, and also to compare our results. When we heard that there was opportunity at our school to join in with a national experiment, we couldn’t say no. It is amazing to know that we could have touched seeds that have been around the world and up in to space with Tim Peak. First, we made tags out of milk bottles. We had to make 200 of them!! 100 blue and 100 red. Then we made holes with a measured pencil and sewed one seed into each hole. Once every other day, a group of us stayed back after school to water them. Staying back after school may sound boring but we have so much fun. Our teacher lets us take pictures of the growing seeds and we talked about what seeds we think have been in the International Space Station. We have also kept a good count of the seeds growing and the measurement of water. This event hasn’t only had a chance of making history but it has brought us closer as friends. We have got to know our science teacher out of the classroom and enjoy the science lab in a fun way. We thank the Royal Horticultural Society and the UK Space Agency who worked together to send these seeds out. We can’t wait to find out which seeds went up into space. From Sophie, Amie, Freya, Bea, Gemma, Jude, Alicia, Eden, Adam and Rosie.

Lost Property Matron has many items of unclaimed property that have been handed in. If your child has lost something, please check that they have been to Matron to check whether she has it.

Items that are named and end up with Matron, are returned to the student, but there are many items that come into school unnamed. Please ensure that ALL clothing, shoes, trainers and equipment are clearly named. Thank you.

If you have a business or an event you would like to advertise in the John Colet Newsletter we would be delighted to help. We ask for a small fee of £5.00 per advertisement which is paid into the John Colet School Fund and used to help purchase much needed equipment for the school. If you are interested in this facility please contact the school office on 01296 623348 or E Mail: office@john colet.co.uk

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TEXT BOOKS WANTING TO RETURN ALL THOSE TEXT BOOKS YOU HAVE NOW FINISHED WITH, THEN HERE IS HOW YOU DO IT.

AFTER YOUR EXAMS HAVE FINISHED, IF YOU GET A CHANCE TO HAND YOUR TEXT BOOKS BACK TO YOUR TEACHER THAT WOULD BE GREAT!

IF HOWEVER YOU KEEP FORGETTING THEN WE HAVE SET ASIDE A MORNING WHEN YOU CAN COME BACK TO SCHOOL AND DROP THEM OFF. IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO DO THIS THEN YOU CAN SEND SOMEONE ON YOUR BEHALF, AS LONG AS WE GET THE BOOKS BACK THAT IS MOST IMPORTANT.

YET ANOTHER DATE FOR YOUR DIARY THURSDAY 30TH JUNE 2016 10AM – 12 NOON EXAMS OFFICE MRS TIPPING WILL BE AVAILABLE TO RECEIVE ALL YOUR TEXT BOOKS BACK FOR VARIOUS SUBJECTS. YOU WILL JUST NEED TO DROP THEM OFF AT HER OFFICE AND A NOTE OF YOUR NAME WILL BE TAKEN TO INFORM TEACHERS THAT THEY HAVE BEEN RETURNED.

PLEASE UTILISE THIS TIME AS IT WILL SAVE YOUR TEACHERS A LOT OF TIME AND MORE IMPORTANLY SAVE YOU MONEY IN THE LONG RUN, AS I AM SURE YOU HAVE BETTER THINGS TO SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THAN RECEIVING A BILL FOR TEXT BOOKS!!!

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The Colet Chronicle

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The school would like to thank all the advertisers, although John Colet School cannot endorse or accept liability for goods or services advertised.