Newsletter Winter 2014

Just Jake & Shamile show off their Bronze Stars

ewards! In this edition... Winter Wonderland

Careers Fair 2014

So far this term one hundred and seven students have reached the Bronze Award for collecting more than one hundred House Points. Photographed here are some of the top twenty points earners (as of 8th December). Sirazul, Hassan, Bilal, Naqueeba, Isha, Adreece, Suleman, Naqia, Sabrina, Nimra, Zaynab, Paulina, Ayden, Jake and Shamile (inset) were amongst the students invited to this month’s Red Carpet event. Congratulations to everyone who has received House Points this term. More about our Red Carpet Event on page 2.

Scientists Strike Gold

Fundraiser of the Year

Aspiration, Respect, Equality

Welcome…. Dear Parent/Carer, As always this has been a busy term full of different events and activities as you will see from the pages of this newsletter. It has been fantastic to see so many of you at our parents evenings and community events such as the Winter Fair. Our term has culminated in the Red Carpet event which celebrates all of the achievements of students across this term and it is fantastic to see so many of our students being rewarded for their efforts. Congratulations to those students who have already achieved their Bronze star awards and to all those were invited to the Red Carpet event. The diversity of our school is what makes it such a wonderful place to be and we are committed to celebrating key events with our community. This year we have held our first Winter Fair to celebrate the festive season and it was wonderful to see so many of you here to celebrate with us. See page 5 for a full report. It always a pleasure to welcome the wider community into the school and we were very pleased to host the Exceed School Pantomime here for the second year, in conjunction with many of the local primary schools. We look forward to continuing to work closely with you in the New Year, in order to ensure that all Grange students achieve to the best of their ability and fulfil their aspirations. I hope that you will have a very restful holiday and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Finally, let me wish Happy Christmas to all who are celebrating it. Best wishes,

CONTENTS 3-4 Read All About it! It’s the News Nick Bell - Headteacher

News

5

Winter Wonderland

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Top Scientists Strike Gold

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Fundraising Award

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Notices and Dates for the Diary

Rolling out the Red Carpet! On the evening of Thursday 18th December, we celebrated the achievements of our top House Point and Rising Stars earners with an evening of five-star entertainment. The print deadline for this newsletter was too early to give a full report on the event with photographs, but students will see more around school after the Winter break. One hundred and fifty students

were invited to attend school to receive VIP treatment as reward for their outstanding behaviour, attitude, progress and achievement so far this academic year. This was the first event of its kind since our recent review of reward systems, and was hotly anticipated by the staff and students involved. Guests walked the red carpet , enjoyed professional event

photography, refreshments, food and entertainment in the sports hall, which had been transformed into a high-end venue. Congratulations to everyone who attended, it was just reward for fulfilling our school values and making good progress. We hope you enjoyed it. For those who didn’t make it this time, there will be another event at the end of next term — you know what to do!

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7 Staff, 3 Peaks On Sunday 7th December a group of 7 staff took on a sponsored winter assault on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in support of the Lord Mayor`s Appeal (all proceeds go to Marie Curie Cancer Care). An already difficult task was made even more challenging by snow blizzards and poor light. The challenge was dedicated to our valued ex colleagues, Martha Tarver and Viv Renton, who contributed so much to the school over

The team on top of Pen-y-ghent

many years of service, but who have sadly lost their battles against cancer recently. An estimate in excess of £400 was raised. Grange Technology College is the only school in Bradford to sit on the Lord Mayor’s Appeal committee and we have been involved in a number of related fundraising activities on its behalf. This year, six students joined Mr Radcliffe as members of the committee. This is one of many activities available for students to gain invaluable extracurricular experience.

New School Website

As a campus, we are in the process of redesigning our school websites. Both Southfield and Grange have undertaken

a review of our existing sites and decided that it is time to refresh things and create websites which better serve each school. The new site will provide regular news and information with more photographs and video content to tell our community about who we are, how we work and all the fantastic things that happen here. The site will have a clearer structure, a search function and be more ‘user-friendly’. Two weeks before half term we welcomed a professional

The Great Wall During the October half term, Mrs Williams and Ms Backhouse set out on an adventure to walk the Great Wall of China to raise money for children’s charity, the NSPCC. Earlier in the year, they were joined by a host of colleagues for a fund raising training walk in the Lake District, before leaving for China the day after school broke up for half term. Joining a team of 30, they found the expedition hard work, but it was well worth the effort as they conquered the Great Wall and in doing so, raised £3,400. Collectively, the group raised over £70,000 towards an NSPCC project which will see experienced staff getting into every primary school in the country to help enable children to have a voice to keep themselves safe.

photographer to capture a fresh set of images which show what life is like here on Campus. We will, of course, respect photographic permissions policies when using the images in public. We are aiming for a launch around February half term in 2015 and will bring parents / carers further news closer to the time. In the meantime, we will continue to use the current website as usual:

www.southfieldgrange.org.uk

Introducing….

Training with friends in The Lake District

Climbing ‘The Great Wall’

Congratulations to Year 13 students Sibtul Shah and Heather Barrass on their appointments as Head Boy and Head Girl. As well as being senior ambassadors for the school, it is their role to head up the Student Leadership Team this year, which consists of Deputy Student Leaders (one per House) who are supported by a team of Senior Ambassadors and House Captains who represent each form group across the school. For more information about student leadership, contact Mr Radcliffe.

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Careers Fair On Tuesday 23rd September over 1000 students from both Southfield School and Grange Technology College visited the Careers Fair which was held in the Sports Hall. The students were able to visit stalls held by around 50 organisations including employers, further education establishments and training / apprenticeship providers. This was a great opportunity for our students to find out about the different options available to them and speak to professionals from a range of organisations. We hope it will help students when thinking about their career intentions by developing knowledge and understanding about different career pathways. We would like to thank the staff who contributed to making the event a success and to all the organisations who attended.

“We are proud of our student’s sensible mature behaviour. The visitors were impressed with the respect shown to them the quality of the conversations that place. A very busy but informative productive morning!”

and very and took and

Maria Howarth, Director of CEIAG

Finding Solutions for the Planet On 14th and 15th October, students in Year 8 spent a day looking for the answers to some big

Taqi and Creddy show off their ‘Big Idea’

questions as a national Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) project, Solutions for the Planet, visited the school. The group worked in teams to explore ideas which can improve society, the economy and the environment. The activities were designed to explore sustainability problems and to design a ‘Big Idea’ which innovates to address a specific

problem (e.g. plastic litter, deforestation or pollution) through social change and enterprise. The teams researched their chosen topic and created displays about causes and consequences before coming up with innovative solutions around which they could build a business plan. The teams finished the day by presenting their ideas to the rest of the group.

“This was an exciting opportunity for our students to look at actual global issues and consider their role in society as future leaders and ambassadors of change. Kristina Fielding, Science Teacher and event organisor

Exciting Times Ahead for Catering Service We are delighted to announce some major changes and exciting developments within our catering and food service which will take place in the New Year. Following a period of review and consultation, in January, our catering provision will be taken over by Mellors Catering Service. Mellors will be

working with our current Kitchen staff to improve the hot lunches, snacks and refreshments on offer to our students, staff and visitors. Menus will be available in January and we look forward to seeing an improvement in what we offer our students with greater choice.

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Winter Wonderland! Winter Fair As a Campus we are committed to respecting and celebrating with our community, the diversity which makes it such a fantastic place to live and work. On Saturday 6th December we opened our doors to the community for an afternoon of festive family fun at our Winter Fair. The event featured Christmas themed stalls and activities including face painting, DJ, arts, crafts, games, prizes, sweets & treats, carol singing by St Oswald’s Primary School Choir, Gypsy dancing and much more. There was a Santa’s Grotto for the children and some live, exclusive performances featuring excerpts from the school Pantomime ‘Snow White’ which took place the following week. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who was able to come along and to all the staff, students, businesses and organisations who volunteered time, effort and resources to make the event a success. Happy Christmas to all who are celebrating it!

Decking the halls!

Pantomime On Thursday 12th December we hosted the Exceed School Pantomime, which featured students from a number of local primary schools performing ‘Snow White’ in our Performance Space. Weeks of regular rehearsals run by our staff using the Campus facilities paid off in front of a busy audience of proud parents / carers, relatives and members of the local community. The event came after the print deadline for this newsletter so no photos are available. However, we would like to thank the staff who contributed to the event and everyone who performed and attended. The Winter Fair and the Pantomime were created in association with Exceed Extended Services, a partnership of eight Extended Primary Schools in the BD7/8 area who provide a range of services and activities, often beyond the school day to help meet the needs of its students, families and communities We are proud of our association with Exceed and thank them for their support on a range of projects.

New Drive for Student Wellbeing Our Wellbeing Team have recently relocated to their new office in the LRC. The team’s role is to reinforce existing support structures to help students deal with a range of issues which affect them in and outside school so that they achieve to the best of their ability. Issues such as online safety,

bereavement, health, citizenship, bullying and relationships can all lead to additional stress and pressure when students are juggling coursework deadlines, exam revision and decisions which can have a real impact on their futures. During the week beginning 8th December, the team presented at

assemblies to introduce their service to students in all age groups. They are also working to create a Wellbeing Library of materials to raise awareness and understanding of issues which can affect students at any given time. For more information, contact Ms Backhouse, Wellbeing Manager.

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Scientists Strike Gold! On Monday 10th November, Year 13 students Mohammed Tayyab Khan, Hafsah Khan, Sibtul Shah and Abdul Baasit Tahir attended an event hosted by the Nuffield Foundation at the University of Bradford to celebrate the completion of their British Science Association Gold Crest Award.

Over the summer, courtesy of the Nuffield Foundation, the students, all of whom are studying Science and Mathematics at A Level, spent a four week long work placement working alongside senior scientists, engineers and researchers at top Universities across the region. The students gave up holidays or changed their summer plans in favour of the work placements, where they were supporting research projects investigating areas which included the effect of aircraft design on passenger comfort, the effect of hair dye on hair and innovations in forensic science through the use of ear prints to link criminals to burglaries. Part of the Gold Crest Award required each student to create a report about their area of research. There was a serious side to the celebration as they were questioned about their reports

“This was a great opportunity for me to gain experience in a professional environment and to learn about an area of science which I knew very little about. Hard work and dedication are two fundamentals that lead to success but without experience you are limited. This was a really interesting experience which enabled me to use and learn about new scientific equipment and methods. Most importantly, it has helped me develop skills which will prepare me for university such as research and report writing techniques.” Sibtul Shah

and experiences. This project was a key element of the Gold Crest Award, which they were all successful in achieving. The Nuffield Foundation was conceived by Lord Morris – who was the inventor of the 1950’s icon, The Morris Miner Car. The Nuffield Foundation aims to influence education policy and practice,

ensuring all young people develop the understanding and skills required to play an informed role in society. They also support the development and progression of young scientists and social scientists. We would like to say a public thank you to Nuffield and their partners for making this possible.

“It is always a proud moment as a teacher to celebrate the success of any of our young people. They have put in a great deal of work and completed their placements in such exemplary fashion. They all enjoyed the challenge and worked hard throughout to complete their Gold Crest awards.

All four are a credit to

themselves and the school and we are delighted to be able to offer another four placements in 2015.” Ms Dubickas, Raising Standards Leader.

@GrangeTech Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com)

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Fundraiser of the Year 2014 has been a very busy year for Grange student and all round ambassador Mohammed Usman, a year which culminated in his recognition as Fundraiser of the Year at the Yorkshire Young Children of Courage Awards on 10th October at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Mohammed has been an active fundraiser and charity worker for years. He most recently spent the summer holidays in India working for Free the Children, a charity and educational

partner working both domestically and internationally to empower and enable youth to be agents of change (visit www.freethechildren.com for more information). Mohammed joined a team of twenty nine young people to take part in the project, which involved village based building projects to help provide education, food, water and housing to families in impoverished areas. Mohammed, now in Year 13 at Grange, said the trip really opened his eyes to the types of issues faced by

Award Winner!

“I was blown away by the level of poverty and the way people

live their lives, we should be thankful for everything we have whether it be education, food, clean water, a roof over our heads or even a bed to sleep on because some people aren't so lucky in life.” Mohammed Usman

Charity work in India

people living in poverty and how different life can be. In addition to his charity work Mohammed has been involved in Barclays LifeSkills, a free national programme which is aimed at getting young people ready for work, and in turn, helps them to achieve their goals in life (visit www.barclayslifeskills.com for more information). Through his involvement, Mohammed has spoken at Wembley Indoor Arena to a live audience of 12,000 people on ”We Day” an event

organised by Free the Children which featured guests including Prince Harry, Malala Yousafzai, Al Gore, Ellie Gouding and Dizzee Rascal. Following his notable success with Free the Children and LifeSkills, he has been involved in rolling the programme out in school. Mohammed holds the position in school of Senior Ambassador, part of the Student Leadership Structure. To find out more about Student Leadership at Grange, please contact Derek Radcliffe.

“We are really proud of Mohammed’s achievements. He is an ambitious young man who is always on the lookout for ways to better himself , help others and broaden his experiences. His attitude epitomises our school values of aspiration, respect and equality.”

Nick Bell, Headteacher

Linguists Compete Internationally! In November, forty eight Year 10/11 students took part in the 2014 Language Perfect Northern Championships, an international competition which featured over 100 schools from across the Northern Hemisphere. Over a period of ten days, and often in their own time, the students were tested on their language skills, including reading, writing, listening and dictation. Grange was the only school in Bradford to enter the

competition and one of only a handful from the North of England. 84th out of 112 schools overall was an unfair reflection on the group, who were up against schools who had entered significantly more students. The group punched above their weight in individual languages however, coming 23rd out of 49 schools in Europe at French, 4th out of 29 schools in Europe at Arabic and 22nd out of 73 overall in Arabic.

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‘Never let lack of finances stop you from achieving your dreams’ This year a cohort of students have been involved in the SHINE project, run by Ms Dubickas. One of the students, Fatima, was inspired to write the following piece about her experience of the project after a recent visit to York University to learn about higher education.

this world a better place. It is a project that is run by the University of York and it actuates young people around the country by urging them to pursue with their studies by going to University in order to shape them into the good leaders of tomorrow. We visited York University on the 25th of November and not only did the experience prove to be “The SHINE project inspires you to live the very interesting but very educational too highest quality of life obtainable, and because we learnt about the different motivates you to join efforts in making loans that are offered by the government

so that students should all be able to attend University. We had a chance to associate with other students and together we learnt about the different things associated with University and why going into further education is important. SHINE also made us realise that being in a diverse society not only gives you a chance to learn about other cultures and ethnicities but it also prepares you for the world itself.” More about SHINE in future issues.

Calendar

Ready for Winter

5th January

With the Winter season upon us, we would like to clarify arrangements for closure during extreme weather conditions. The education of our students is important and we hope that it will not be necessary to close the school. However, there are occasions when the decision to close or partially close may be taken in the interests of the health & safety of our students and staff. As soon as a decision has been taken to close the school either fully or partially several actions will be taken:

Back to School School will be back open at the usual time. Happy New Year!

w/b 5th January Mock Examinations Years 11 (and Year 12/13 GCSE students who are resitting GCSE English & Maths) will be taking their mock examinations in preparation for the real thing in the summer term. Timetables were circulated in November and seating plans will be on the wall in the PE corridor the day before each exam.

21st January Year 9 Options Evening Come and find out what courses are on offer at GCSE. An opportunity for students and parents / carers to learn about the options process and speak to staff about the different courses on offer.

22nd January Year 11 Options Evening

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Local radio stations will be informed (BBC Radio Leeds, Pulse Radio, Sunrise Radio & Fresh Radio) The home page of the school website will be updated with closure information A text message will be sent to parent’s / carer’s mobile phones if we have your number If possible, a message will be put on the school's main phone line If possible, we will tweet up to date information on our Twitter feed (@GrangeTech)

BBC Leeds & West Yorkshire website carries a list of closed schools: www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/ It is important that as many people as possible use these means to find out about whether school is open. It is equally important that we have up to date contact information so that we can keep in touch with you should we need to. To inform us of a change of mobile number, please email us your name, mobile number, your child's name and tutor group and we will verify and update your details as soon as possible.

Come and find out what courses are on offer at AS / A2 Level and BTEC. An opportunity for students and parents / carers to learn about the options process and speak to staff about the different courses on offer.

Here at Grange Technology College we are committed to ensuring a consistent and organised approach to setting homework. Across the school we use the ‘Show My Homework’ system to set work for students. All students have access to the system, which can be viewed on a range of

5th February Fashion Fusion A student organised enterprise event showcasing local fashion products. Proceeds will go to a chosen charity. (3:30—5:30)

Get in touch…

Write to:

devices either in school or at home. The ease-of-use and accessibility of Show My Homework gives students a clear picture, allowing them to prioritise their workload and stay organised using their personalised calendar, to-do list and email reminders. If you have any queries about homework, please contact your child’s Form Tutor in the first instance. Call:

Southfield Grange Campus 01274 779662 Haycliffe Lane www.southfieldgrange.org.uk Bradford BD59ET

Email: [email protected] @GrangeTech