The Beaconsfield School Newsletter

March 2016

Dear Parent / Carer How do you tell if your school is doing well? Some go by Ofsted and this certainly provides an external, reasonably objective view. However, it only tells one tiny bit of the whole story, as anyone involved in schools will confirm. Others go by exam results and these are without doubt the single most important external criterion for judging a school. We cannot avoid that and nor would as we are extremely proud of the progress our students make. Others go by the range of successes in extra-curricular activities. Here, I think we punch well above our weight in almost every area. Our sporting teams are doing extremely well; the Year 9 rugby team have had a particularly successful season having won the county plate competition and remain unbeaten in the league. Our boys U17 gymnastic team once again made the national finals with some excellent individual performances. We won our heat in the IZB wheelchair basketball league and will go on to the final. The U18 football team made the semi final of the county cup. Other teams are developing in to strong effective groups that I am sure will be successful in the coming seasons. Extra-curricular activities away from the sporting field are also very strong, all of you who attended the excellent performance of Bugsy could clearly see and hear the acting and musical talent we have in school. Academic extra curricular clubs are extremely strong, The Brilliant Club is in its second year and encouraging students to take major pieces of research in their own time with support from PhD students. The Falcon project in conjunction with Cox Green and Sir William Borlase School is developing very well and the STEM club is at a very exciting stage just about to launch the Crest Awards for the members. We also have a small group of Year 9 students taking part in a national debating competition. The list goes on! Others judge a school by its popularity – if people want to join you, you must be doing something right. We are oversubscribed and have a waiting list. Applications for sixth form entry reached yet another record level, with more internal and external applications this year – than we have ever had. These are all good ways of judging a school. What’s mine? I ask the students. For example, over the past two weeks we have met with all of the current Year 9, to talk about the current and future plans – GCSEs and beyond. It is wonderful to hear just how excited most of them are about their School activities: @BeaconsfieldSch work, and about their future plans. So many of them already know Sporting activities: @TBS_Sport what they want to do for a career. Discovering the potential in all

I spend a lot of time talking to students about school and I’m constantly amazed by how much enthusiasm they bring to bear on their school life. That is a great testimony to our school. Staff changes: It is regret that we have to inform you that two members of staff will be leaving us at Easter. Mr Marco Velez, one of the school site staff, has retired after eight years’ service at the school. Marco was responsible for making and putting up all the bird boxes and ensuring that a busy site of over 1000 people a day was kept clean and tidy. We wish him well in his retirement as he travels the UK and Europe and enjoys his beloved classical music and opera. We are also saying goodbye to Ms Gemma Ali, PE, who leaves us after five years to a promoted position in a school closer to her home. Ms Ali has worked extremely hard in PE helping to establishing strong girls‘ football and netball teams as well as acting as a House Leader. Miss Ali has certainly helped students discover a love of physical education and fostered a dedication to teamwork and a group ethos. We wish her well in her new position. We welcome two new members of staff to school after Easter Ms Helen Staunton (Drama) and Ms Katrina Clark (PE). I am sure you will join us in welcoming them to the TBS community. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a fantastic resource for parents from Vodafone called Digital Parenting. The magazine gives fantastic hints and tips in helping to keep your son or daughter safe in a digital world. I hope everyone has a restful and happy Easter break Mr J. C. Fletcher Headteacher

We Welcome Your Views! Parent View gives you the chance to tell Ofsted what you think about your child’s school. You will be asked about twelve aspects of the school from quality of teaching to how we deal with bullying and poor behaviour. Please click on the link to give your views: http:// www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk

Wall of Excellence - Updated Name

Year Nominated by

Lizzie Cottrell

9

Isabel Lanning

11

Catriona Thomson

9

Charlotte Head

8

Ellie Godsell-Tagg

9

Reason

For a really creative way of demonstrating 'Old Harry' a coastal erosion feature made from chocolate! She has worked extremely hard Imogen Walbank so far this year in Geography and this is just one piece of homework I have been extremely impressed with. Isabel has a sophisticated approach to design work and has used Amanda Kelly Adobe Illustrator to communicate her colourway ideas for her for her final product as part of her GCSE controlled assessment. This is an excellent piece of work. Catriona created her own character of an astronaut. Using Illustrator she “image traced” and “live painted” both the astronaut and the box net in order to produce a Lisa Martin professional and eye catching product which would not need much improvement to be “shop ready”. This work shows a good understanding of proportion, use of colour, visual communication and working to a high standard. A good understanding of what the soldiers faced in WW1, as well as Jan Pemberton-Bates excellent use of rhyme and structure

Dougald Tidswell

Simran Saran

10

Dougald Tidswell

Devante Radi

8

Imogen Walbank

Dalton Clayton

8

Imogen Walbank

Jess Moore

11

Gemma Stanesby

Beatriz Poyton & Sophie Senator

7

Nicola Hodgson

Many students had a go at the GCSE Christmas Card Puzzle, and many did get a complete solution. Simran and Ellie went one step further having spotted that the solution was a QR code, they re-did it without their working marks getting in the way so they could test if it scanned correctly Many students had a go at the GCSE Christmas Card Puzzle, and many did get a complete solution. Simran and Ellie went one step further having spotted that the solution was a QR code, they re-did it without their working marks getting in the way so they could test if it scanned correctly For an excellent biome shoebox project that he completed as a piece of homework this term. I have been really impressed with his perseverance in Geography lessons. His hard work is definitely paying off. He has made a huge amount of progress since the beginning of the year in Geography and this is definitely demonstrated in his biome shoebox he created this term. For an excellent biome shoebox project that he completed as a piece of homework this term. Really inventive and creative! Super effort! As part of a termly homework project, Year 11 students had to design a new poster for a pre-existing film. Jess chose Insurgent and has showed the two sides of the fight in the film by having the main characters facing inward. The slogan she has created gives the audience a clue about what the film is about which will attract a wider audience. Also, the colours that Jess has used shows that the film has a serious plot but, with the light shining on the characters faces, there are people that are fighting for good to win. Jess has thought very carefully about her target audience for the film and the poster is a huge success, well done Both these students produced an anti bullying video –the video is very well thought out and is very thought provoking tackling a very emotive subject. The video is already on the Year 7 section of the school website. It has also earned them both a Blue Peter Badge!

School Governing Body – Election of Parent Governor There is currently a vacancy for one governor directly elected by the parents and I am therefore writing to invite nominations. No formal qualifications are required; you just need common sense, time, enthusiasm and a commitment to working as part of a team to make a difference for all the children at our School. Research shows that being a school governor can provide an opportunity to develop a wide range of personal skills. As a guide, being a school governor would take up 6 - 8 hours a month of your time. The term of office is four years. A parent whose child leaves the school may continue as a parent governor until the end of their term of office, if he or she so wishes. We are keen to recruit parents and carers coming from ‘all walks of life’ and representing all groups in our School community. You can find out more about the role by contacting the Headteacher, the Chair of Governors or by contacting the School Office by email [email protected]. Parents who are nominated for election must be proposed and seconded in writing, with nominations being signed by the proposer and seconder; the person nominated must also state in writing that he or she is willing to stand for election. Those eligible to stand are the parents or carers of students who are currently registered students at this school. The proposer and seconder must also have a child currently in attendance at the school. Nominations should be sent to me within the next two weeks, that is, before the closing date for nominations which is 8 April 2016. If there is only one parent nominated, they will of course be elected unopposed, but if there are more candidates than vacancies, a postal ballot will be held. The ballot will be entirely secret and a further letter about the arrangements will be sent to you. All parents whose child/children attend this school will be entitled to vote in the postal ballot and voting will be on the basis of one vote per parent/carer per place available. Before the ballot takes place we will circulate information from the candidates to all parents, for the benefit of the parents who may be unable to attend this meeting. If it proves impossible to fill the vacancy, the Governing Body has the right to make an appointment in order to fill the required number of parent governor places on the Governing Body. If the need to do this arises, the Governing Body would first of all consider appointing a parent who has a child on roll at the school, but if it could not make an appointment, the Governing Body would consider a person who was a parent of a school-aged child, but not necessarily a registered student at this school. Please note that governors are required to produce evidence of identity and will be asked to complete a DBS (disclosure and barring service), this took over from CRB. Parents may be interested in the overall constitution of the Governing Body, which is as follows: 7 nominated governors, 6 parent governors, 4 staff governors, 1 Headteacher Total = 18 A full list of the names of the school governors will be available as soon as the appointment has been finalised. A letter has already been emailed to whole school which included a tear-off slip for use in the nominating procedure for parent governors which parents may find useful, but a separate nomination letter is just as acceptable. Please return the slip or letter by 8 April 2016. Mr J Fletcher, Headteacher

Attendance The following students have achieved 100% attendance for the Autumn/ Winter term and for the Spring term. They will each be rewarded with a 100 Vivos.

Year 7 Michael Agass, Daryl Cox, Dougie Evans, Kimberley Felstead, Lucy Hartshorn, Aaron Hodson, George Keogh, Tamara Lunn, Olivia Marks, Will Martin, William Page, Ben Peapell, Hannah Trotter, Katie Webb, Ellie Williams.

Year 8 Bill Ali, Jacob Brown, Ryan Dobson, Molly Gowers, Alfie Hatton, Joshua Hinds, Freya Matthews, Hannah Quinell, Christopher Robinson, Isabela Santana, Priya Saran, Serena Sokhi.

Year 9 Saphina Anders, Jasmine Brown, Beth Chaplin, Harley Clarke, Jonathon Douglas, Robert Hartshorn, Jay Hodson, Lorna Judge, Milly King, Hilary Osei-Tutu, Monia Sadia, Freya Smith, Zoe Smith, Catriona Thomson, Alex Upward, Corey Wood.

Year 10 Ashmi Bangar, JJ Burgess, Katherine Clement, William Collins, Alice Cresswell, Fin Dyer, Sam Ginger, Amber Hall, Sean Hawkins, Liam Kelly, Megan Millson, Ben Porter, Simran Saran, Danielle Solar, Zaim Uddin, Olivia Whittley, Sophie Wray.

Year 11 Oliver Ashton, Rachel Brake, Oskar Esplund-Evans, Jack Foster-Lyons, Max Green, Mollie-Jane Harding, Lucy Howson, Ellen Marsh, Jessica Moore, Louis Parker-Steele, Emily Richardson, Chloe Robinson, Ellie Smith, Becky Verhoven, Jamie Webb.

Gift Aid EXTRA fund As you are aware, from October 2015, TBS re-launched the school Gift Aid EXTRA fund – raising funds towards a fantastic new outside area for the students as well as a new school mini bus. We would encourage you to support the EXTRA fund and therefore the development of the School’s facilities and our students; making a true difference to their everyday life. Donate a one-off amount or why not set up a direct debit and see the difference you can make? All funds raised will be monitored and weekly updates posted on the school website. Please see the school website for more information, http://www.beaconsfield.bucks.sch.uk/page/? title=Fundraising&pid=774 Cecilie Gianneri, Finance Manager

Membership Club The membership club is open to staff and parents of students at this school. Membership costs £5 per month in return for which a unique number is issued and entered into a monthly draw. The current monthly prize is £100. Congratulation to our recent winner February 2016

Mrs C. Platten

If you would like more details, please contact Mrs Brown on 01494 683993

Safeguarding Corner

Holiday time means that students potentially have even longer to be online. This short video clip called Where’s Klaus from CEOPS highlights the potential dangers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IOOn2wR8bU

Begbroke Science Park, Oxford On the 16th March eight people from the STEM group went to Begbroke Science Park in Oxford to take part in a competition. When we got there, we started by having a tour round the park. We saw two labs and met the two men who worked in them. The first made things out of newly discovered metal alloys for things like helicopter engines in a very high-tech machine, which is one of the only two machines in the world! The second conducted research for different companies with different materials. They tested the outcome if a bird flew into an aeroplane engine blade and what damage would be caused. They also tested materials for race cars using a gun that can fire up to three times the speed of sound! My favourite part of the day was when we picked our ideas. We had to design a product that will recycle heat using a page of facts about a newly discovered material. We brainstormed all our ideas on post-it notes and narrowed them down to our top three. These were clothing, insulation and car engines. In the end we decided to use the car engine idea. We would put tiny capsules on the engines to absorb the heat to stop engine failure and heat the inside of the car as well. This means you wouldn’t need a cooling fan or radiator and it could save you over £4,000 in repair costs. We had 35 minutes to think of our idea and present it to ‘The Dragons’. We were given an A3 piece of paper to present our idea on and we had to answer four main categories. These included the price and customer. We were the last group to pitch our idea to ‘The Dragons’ so we had seen all the other schools do their presentations. After we had finished, there were questions from the audience and ‘The Dragons’ that we needed to answer. Once that was over we met a man who runs the company ANDY, which stands for Animal Dynamics. He gave a presentation on what he does and how he got there. Finally, The Dragons made their decisions. The school that won was Wycombe Abbey with their idea of a touch book for blind people. I think if we had a bit more time we could have used more of the facts we had researched in our presentation and explained in more detail to the judges what our product was. We all really enjoyed the day and hope that we could go back again soon. By Molly Stevenson, Year 9

Maths Feast The Maths Feast is a multi-round inter-school Maths competition that takes place over three hours every year. It is designed to challenge talented Mathematicians by presenting them with concepts they have never seen (imaginary numbers usually only crop up in Further Maths A Level, but here they were), and contexts that link multiple areas of study together. The idea of spending an entire day grappling with extremely hard Maths problems may not be everyone’s idea of a good day out, but as the eight Year 10 students from The Beaconsfield School clambered aboard the minibus to head to the competition there was a tangible tension and excitement. This may of course have been down to the fact that this was the first time Mr Tidswell had driven the minibus with any passengers inside it. Despite the unfounded fears of driver incompetence, the two teams arrived safely and quickly took an early lead in the warm up round. Once the other teams arrived though it was a much closer fought competition, but the ‘B’ team came out on top in the Dessert Round (a thorough investigation into the properties of pentominoes), and the ‘A’ team were congratulated for their strong teamwork throughout all the rounds.

STEM Event- An address by Mr. Richard Cook (Data Scientist @ Nielsen) On the 29th February 2016, Richard Cook, data scientist at Nielsen, visited the school to talk to the STEM club about his industry. He told us about how he uses the STEM subjects in his every-day job. He uses programming, data analysis, budget planning and business management to capture the demographic data from websites as a statistic, which he provides to other companies for a cost. We learnt a lot from him about the use of statistics. We also learnt a lot about how some companies run their business. For example: The world’s largest taxi company does not own any cabs, the world’s largest accommodation provider does not own a bed. They have been able to do their business through use of data and the STEM technologies. The internet is used for a variety of things everyday meaning that most of us use the internet at least once every day even if we are not aware we are doing so. The talk overall inspired us to pursue our interest in the STEM subjects and also made it clearer on the paths that we can follow professionally using the STEM subjects. By: Josh Raine and Isabelle Hopgood, Year 9 ( STEM reporters)

Kiva Kisses The Amnesty Group had a frantic end to the last half term getting the hundred plus roses that had been ordered in the proceeding two weeks to their intended recipients. Each year the group has made improvements to their ‘back office’ systems, and this resulted in the group making their biggest profit of all the three years, raising £153.97 for the Kiva project. Kiva matches borrowers in developing world countries with lenders across the globe to finance projects that would otherwise struggle to attract finance. The Amnesty Group prioritises projects which promote education, especially for girls, and you can see their loans and support their initiatives at https://www.kiva.org/lender/ thebeaconsfieldschool

By Mr. D. Tidswell

Intermediate Maths Challenge 28 Years 9 and 10 students from The Beaconsfield School joined 200,000 other students across the UK to sit the 2016 Intermediate Maths Challenge. To get a bronze certificate you need to score in the top 20% of all participants nationally, and a silver certificate is only awarded to the top 13%. Congratulations to all the participants, but especially to our Bronze Winners: Jasmine Brown, Jay Hodson and Ben Porter and to Fynnjan Leach Verhoeven who secured the Best in School Award with his Silver Certificate. By Mr. D. Tidswell

More than 200 (declared so far) students of ours took part in the day of silence on Friday, 26th February. Some might not have finished it, but they will all remember it, we have been very consistent over the past few years. It really is the minority of schools who do as much as we do and we make LGBT diversity a whole school issue rather than a one month issue, and despite sometimes it only being lip-service, this is far better than nothing at all. Generations of teenagers were failed by this country’s system and daft laws that made teachers not want to say anything around identity. Attitudes change, demographics move on, and our students, for all their foibles fall over themselves to be cool/hip and liberal, and this is huge considering the area they are growing up in. I know teachers from London who struggle. Our school is transcendent of those barriers created in other schools, and we should all feel particularly proud of the environment we create here collectively. By: Ms A. Pryce, Leader for Health & Social Care

Year 10 GCSE Geography - River Chess Over two days, 58 students visited the River Chess to carry out fieldwork for their controlled assessment. They were investigating changes in the river discharge and sediment as it travelled downstream. All students were well behaved and the weather was kind to us. Well done to all students who went on the trip. By A. S. Woodley, Leader for Geography

Years 10 & 11 Students - don’t forget to revise!! GCSEPod provides over 2,500 high quality audio visual podcasts, across 15 subjects, with more being added all the time: Maths, English, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, History, RE, French, German, Spanish, ICT, Music, PE and D&T. Content is constantly reviewed and revised as specifications change. GCSEPod is mapped to the six main GCSE exam boards and two IGCSE exam boards which means that students know exactly what content is appropriate for them individually. Students should by now have already begun accessing the site; however, here are the instructions for logging on the first time. 1. Use the link on the school website to access GCSEPod 2. Click the pink “login” button in the top right corner 3. Click the bar that says “New here get started” 4. Input student name, date of birth and school name (you must type THE Beaconsfield School) 5. You will then be prompted to create a username and password. If you have any problems logging onto the site, please contact the mentor of your child.

Free your feet - an opportunity to engage students and increase walking rates On Friday, 18th March 2016, a special assembly by Beth Metcalf of Living Streets took place to announce the winners of our Walk to School Week.

Ellie Williams won 1st place and received £30.00 Love to Shop Vouchers.

Joseph Dunlop won 2nd place and received £20.00 Love to Shop Vouchers.

The three runner ups who received 100 Vivo points were Lemar Browne, Millie Cox and Jess Mills.

Beyond The Fence Well done to Hollie Owen, Year 7, who starred in a West End Musical recently entitled “Beyond The Fence”. The new musical is about hope, defiance, unity and love. Set in 1982 it tells the story of Mary and her daughter George who are celebrating one year living at the Greenham Common peace camp. The group of women they have joined are all committed to stopping the arrival of US Cruise missiles through non-violent protest.

Charlie Youle, Year 7, received his Grade 1 Jazz Piano Certificate from Mr. Dawson. This is a great achievement - well done Charlie!

World Book Day—3rd March 2016 To celebrate World Book Day on 3rd March 2016, the Library hosted a quiz at lunchtime for Years 7 and 8 students. Sixteen teams of two members tested there knowledge of all things book related. From Harry Potter’s house at Hogwarts to blurbs and bibliographies; students proved to be very book wise.

the

Congratulations to two teams that tied for first place, Freya Elston and Hannah Trotter – Year 7 and Jacob Brown and Ryan Campbell – Year 8. Well done also to Dalton Clayton and Alfie Hatton – Year 8 who took third place just one point behind the winners. All entrants received a certificate and chocolate for taking part.

By Mrs. Sparrowhawk, Library Officer

More News from Year 7 What have we been up to? Fairtrade Fortnight: finding out all about Fairtrade. Enjoying buying chocolate to support the movement.

7 Bussell delivered a motivational assembly on their reading books for World Book Day and Year 7 students were awarded certificates for getting involved in World Book Day Competition Quiz.

Year 7’s are still top of the Vivo league. Congratulations to Samuel Abbas and Sophie Senator who have earnt 694 and 574 Vivo’s respectively.

BBC Sport Relief Appeal Film -Jason’s Story On Thursday 4th February a small crew from BBC went to Year 11 student, Shannon Westfallen’s house to conduct interviews with members of the family regarding her brother Jason. Jason is Shannon’s younger brother and the film was made to highlight the many medical challenges Jason has faced over the years and the great work the Sebastian Action Trust charity has done in providing help and assistance to him and his family. The film aired during the live Sports Relief show on BBC1 on 18th March. Hopefully this will help to raise awareness and encourage the British public to donate money to charitable causes such as Sebastian Action Trust.

Sport Relief Week - 14th - 18th March The PE Department did a fantastic job in organising events for the whole week of Sports Relief. See dedicated article in newsletter

Mrs. Lewis won staff 1st price for Walk to School Week and received £30.00 Love to Shop Vouchers.

Sports Relief Week - 14th – 18th March Lunchtime Activities Each lunchtime the PE department organised for pupils to take part in trampolining, 5 a-side football tournaments or staff vs student dodgeball. All the activities were immensely successful and played a fundamental part in raising money for a brilliant cause. Unsurprisingly the staff vs student dodgeball went down particularly well with hundreds of students rushing down to the gym eagerly awaiting the opportunity to throw balls at their teachers with no repercussions! Fun and laughter was a continuous theme throughout the week with the staff and students working together to raise money for Sport Relief. Well done and congratulations to everybody who donated and participated! Students were also given the option to purchase a £1 wristband for Sports Relief and all 60 wristbands sold out within three days! Sports Fair On the Friday, a sports fair was hosted in the Sports Hall, gym and main hall. The fair contained a variety of stalls such as; face painting, classic fun fair games, FIFA 16 on Play station 4, table tennis, trampolining and many more. Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 roamed the school throughout the morning taking part in these activities and helping raise an incredible amount of money. Mrs Hodgson and a group of her Year 7’s also spent time the day before baking lots of cakes and selling them on a stall throughout the morning, contributing almost £80 to our final total! Well done and congratulations to them. We would like to say thank you to Sainsbury’s for kindly donating a variety of prizes for the winners of the raffle and stalls. Unfortunately they were unable to come along and run their own stall, but we hope that next time we can continue to work together to run this fantastic event. Thank you!

Sports Ambassadors Huge congratulations and well done to the Sports Ambassadors for everything they did throughout the week, especially being exclusively in charge of organising and running the Sports Fair on the Friday. They each had responsibility for decorations, money collection, setting up/packing away, designing and running their stall (s) as well as much, much more! They were also given extra help by selected Year 10 students who also demonstrated strong leadership and organisational qualities. They are: Flo Morris, Leanna Adams, Dan Hamm, Louis Curl, Fin Dyer, Beth Readings, Charlotte Callaway, Jack Anderson, David Karavitis, Sam Fletcher, Katherine Clement, Tempany Burchett, Chloe Smith, Zaim Uddin and Robert Howell. Congratulations on doing such a fantastic job!!

How much did we raise? After a week of activities and donations The Beaconsfield School have managed to raise an absolutely brilliant total of £579.56 for Sport Relief. Another £60 was raised in addition by selling the Sports Relief wristbands. Congratulations to everyone one that took part over the course of the week. Well done!

In conjunction with Sports Relief, we held a mufti day on Friday, 18th March and students paid £2 to participate. This raised £1,413.42 for our cancer charities. Thank you to all who supported us.

Sporting News - Twitter account - Username: @TBS_Sport Year 9 Rugby The Year 9 team have had a great season with good performances in their league and a win in the County plate final. The final was played at Aylesbury rugby club with TBS coming out winners in a very exciting and competitive game. Two tries were scored each from both teams, but it was in the last few moments that saw Loui Gilbert crash over for his 2nd try of the game to seal the victory beating Akeley Independent School 17-12. A well deserved win.

Gymnastics As always, the various Gymnastics teams – girls, boys and mixed – have been busy taking part in Area competitions. One of the high points in the qualification round was Ozzy being awarded a perfect score for his vault. The U16 boys’ team got through to the National Finals in Stoke –on –Trent again where they performed extremely well, coming 6th out of 13 teams. Luke scored the second highest score on the day for his vault – a great achievement. Well done to the U16 boys’ team of Ozzy Emery, Luke Allen & Sonny Forsyth and thanks to all the parents for their support, especially Mrs Emery for her time and coaching every week. Ozzy also competed in the British Gymnastics Tumbling regional qualifications, Level 5. He came away with the Gold medal. Congratulations Ozzy!

Rowing We got to go to a county rowing competition for students in Years 7 to Year 10. We had a practice at rowing and were shown how to row correctly. As a school we did quite well, the Years 9 &10 girls came 3 rd in their relay race and I came 2nd in the Year 7&8 singles race. It was a great day and I will be practicing for next year’s competition. By Liam McDonagh

B team netball We have competed in a tournament playing schools such as Burnham Grammar and some schools we have never played before. We played extremely well this season with Amy and Freya in shooting, Hannan and Immy as centre, Ella and Tiegan as wing attack and wing defence and Chyna and I in defence. We have played much better this time around against some other schools that before we would have struggled with. Thank you to Miss Ali and Miss Powell for training us and arranging our matches. By Aimie Smith, Year 8

South East Regionals - Inclusive Zone Basketball

The South East Regional IZ basketball tournament was held at Brighton University Sports Centre on Wednesday 9th March. The following four pupils made up The Beaconsfield School team; Charlie Adams, Leanna Adams (captain), Sam Fletcher and Euan Walden-Orr. A Fantastic display of teamwork was shown throughout the tournament and the team went on to win every game they played (see results below). This unbelievable demonstration of talent and hard work by all the players has resulted in them getting through to the Nationals event in Worcester on 27th April. Congratulations on a fantastic win for The Beaconsfield School wheelchair basketball team!!

Who are the Year 8, A netball team? The Year 8, A netball team is made up of seven players and two subs, supported by a team captain, Molly Gowers. There are two supportive coaches, Miss Ali and Miss Powell. Each week after school on Mondays, Years 7 and 8 meet together with the coaches in the sports hall for a netball practice. During netball practice we improve our passing, defending and attacking skills. Our teams attend many tournaments and friendly games. More recently, on the 12th March, the Year 8 attended a tournament at Kingsmead Netball Centre against eight different schools. We came 5th, just missing out on getting into the finals. Our team loves netball and it gives us the opportunity to work together as a team, exercise and most of all have fun together! By Molly Gowers

Fun Run - Friday, 29th April 2016 Date for your diary. A letter with sponsor form has been sent home to students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Please encourage your son/daughter to raise as much money as possible for this terrific event which will make a big difference to our school. Start getting your fancy dress outfit ready now. We would also welcome the help of parents to marshal the course in key areas. Please contact Mr. Maddock for [email protected]

further

information

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01494

687949

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email

House Competition CAN ROWLING BE CAUGHT? That will be the question next term. Rowling have led the tournament since November. Mr. Brannon, House Leader of Rowling, thinks it is “very unlikely” However, next term’s competitions will include the fun run. There is a huge amount of points up for grabs. Points include most sponsorship, fastest runners in each year group (boy and girl) and the fancy dress competition. We also have tennis, maths and the usual vivo, attendance and behaviour competitions. BUSSELL 313 HOCKNEY 305 MACKINTOSH 328 McCARTNEY 334 ROWLING 392

Exciting News for Year 9! There will be a special assembly on the morning of Tuesday 12 th April for Year 9. students. During this assembly, students will receive information about our exciting, upcoming Bring Your Own Device initiative launching in September 2016. Parents will soon receive a letter inviting them to an information evening on Wednesday, 27th April. Please keep the date in your diaries!

Debate Team News 2016 Team members : Lizzie Cottrell, Leigh Christie, Jonathon Douglas and Isabelle Hopgood. This month the newly founded Beaconsfield School Debate Team entered an external completion for the first time. The Regional finals were held at Alleyn’s School in Dulwich, South East London. We had a very early start and a long journey but it was well worth it. Three debates were held on the day; two that had be prepared in advance: ‘This House would ban violent video games’ – proposition stance And ‘This House believes that the use of child labour can be justified in less economically developed countries.’ – opposition stance. The team won their first challenge convincingly, losing the second on only 1 point. The third debate was an impromptu event with the team having only 15 minutes to prepare an opposition stance for the motion of ‘This House would ban junk food advertising’ Our overall position on the day was sixth out of thirty six teams in the region, which is highly commendable for a first challenge. We now need more members to join our club which will allow for more practise to take place. Debate club will be running on Thursday and Friday lunch times starting on the 21 st April 2016. All interested students are welcome. Please come and join us to discuss and debate issues that are important and relevant to you, your local community and your future. Debate club will be held in C2 from 1:45pm to 2:15 pm Thursdays and Fridays with Mrs Moharrer.

Super Genes Day at Oxford University Year 12 and 13 Biologists attended a Super Genes Day co-ordinated by Museum of Natural History in Oxford on Friday, 18th March. There were 6th formers from all over Buckinghamshire present and it was a most interesting day. The students enjoyed a presentation from Alison Woollard, an Oxford University lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, on the subject of the genetics of Aging. There were further fascinating talks on the ‘Use of Gene Therapy to Treat Sight Loss’ by a Moorfield Specialist Registrar, ‘Unlocking the Past using Ancient DNA’ and the ‘battle between plants and pests to survive’. After lunch there were activities including making DNA ‘gene’ bracelets and seeing nematode worms that had been injected with a gene that doubled their life expectancy. Many of these activities touched on topics that we study during A level biology, so it was a useful and relevant day out. And to cap it all Chloe Squires won a prize for correctly predicting the movement of animals across Europe, using gene mapping. The picture shows Ella Rayner finding out about honey bees! By: Mrs J O’Donnell

Year 12 Students - Swanage Geography trip Our 6th form Geography group made a residential visit to Swanage to conduct fieldwork for the topics of Crowded Coasts and Rebranding Places. It was a successful trip that will help them greatly with the forthcoming exams in May.

By Mr A. S. Woodley, Leader for Geography

July Enrichment Days These days are fast approaching and we would respectively remind you that payments for all trips should now have been made.

School Transport Summer Timeline Amey Client Transport has now published the dates for all transport renewals and the application periods for the 2016/17 academic year. These can be found on the Bucks County Council website at: http:www.buckscc.gov.uk/education/schools/schoo-transport/paid-for-school-transport-(discretionary)/ how-places-are-allocated/. The costs for the 2016/17 year can also be viewed there. Key dates to note are: The School Transport Waiting List for 2016/17 year opens on 2nd March 2016 and applications must be made by 19th June in order to be considered in the first round of allocations.  Renewals must be paid for by 19th June otherwise pupils will lose their place for 2016/17 year. (Renewal reminder letters will be sent 25th May 2016).

Simon Sluys, Bucks County Council [email protected] — 07894 806819

PTFA Forthcoming Events The Beaconsfield Art & Craft Fair: Friday, 13th May - 7.00 pm - 9.30 pm Saturday, 14th May - 10.00 am - 4.00 pm FREE admission, all welcome. Refreshments available. Included at the exhibition will be a diverse range of hanging artwork, ceramics and sculptures; featuring pieces by locally and nationally known artists as well as live demonstrations and workshops led by our artists and crafters throughout Saturday. Complementing the art will be a wide selection of quality, local, handmade crafts on sale. Please come and support us and bring your friends! The Beaconsfield School Summer Ball - Saturday, 11th June The PTFA invite you to an evening of sumptuous food, live music, grand auction and to celebrate the success of our school. See flyer at back of newsletter for more details.

SUMMER TERM 2016 - EXTRA CURRICULAR CLUBS Day &Time

Name

For Whom

Room

MONDAYS 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm

Football Indoor Cricket Year 7 Tennis Club Comic Book Club Choir

All welcome All welcome Year 7 All welcome All welcome

Playing field Sports Hall Tennis Courts C3 C5

3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.30 – 4.30 pm

Rounders Club Tennis Squad

Years 7 & 8 Squad

Playing Field Tennis Courts

3.20 – 4.00 pm

GCSE ICT Drop In

Year 11

B12

3.20 – 4.20 pm

Design & Technology Catch up Session

Years 11, 12 & 13

D6

3.20 – 4.15 pm

Homework Club

All welcome

The Learning Pod

3.20 – 4.00 pm 3.20 – 4.20 pm

Technology Coursework Catch-up Library open for reading/research & general use

Years 10 & 11 All welcome

D5 LRC

3.30 – 4.15 pm

Maths Clinic

All welcome

B12

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Kaleidoscope Orchestra

C5

1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm

Football Year 8 Tennis Club Indoor Cricket Club

String, Wind & Brass Players All welcome Year 8 All welcome

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Film Club

All welcome

B4

1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm

Ecuador Expedition – fortnightly GCSE Music Theory Club

Expedition Participants Years 10 & 11

B3 C5

3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.20 pm 3.20 – 4.20 pm 3.20 – 4.20 pm

All Years TBC Year 11 All welcome

Playing Field TBC Various LRC

3.20 – 4.15 pm

Athletics Club Cricket Club & Fixtures Year 11 Intervention Library open for reading/research & general use Homework Club

All welcome

The Learning Pod

3.20 – 4.00 pm 3.30 – 4.20 pm 3.30 – 4.20 pm 3.30 – 4.30 pm 3.30 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.30 – 4.30 pm

GCSE ICT Drop in Media Revision Music GCSE Catch up & Revision Art Club Photography Jewellery Club Spanish Club KS4`

Year 11 Years 10 - 13 Years 10 & 11 Years 10 & 11 Year 11 By application Years 10 & 11

B12 B4 C5 D3 D2 TBA A5

TUESDAYS

1

Playing Field Tennis Courts Sports Hall

Day & Time

Name

For Whom

Room

WEDNESDAYS 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.40 – 2.10 pm

Football Club Indoor Cricket Club Year 9 Tennis Club Coding Club Debate Club STEM Club GCSE Music Catch up & Revision Aces High Club

All welcome All welcome Year 9 Years 7 & 8 All welcome G & T students Years 10 & 11 All welcome

Playing Field Sports Hall Tennis Courts B12 C2 B8 B5 B3

3.20 – 4.20 pm 3.20 – 4.30pm 3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.15 pm

Library open for reading/research & general use Rounders Club Intermediate/Advanced Dance (pre-paid) Club Squash (pre-paid) Club Girls Tennis (external coach) Homework Club

All welcome Years 9 & 10 Years 7 – 11 Years 7 – 9 Years 7 - 10 All welcome

LRC Playing Field Gym Squash Club

3.30 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.20 pm

GCSE Drama Revision Session A Level ICT Study Session

Year 11 Years 12 & 13

Drama Studio B12

1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.35 – 2.10 pm 1.45 – 2.10 pm

Football Club Indoor Cricket Club Year 10 Tennis Club Debate Club Amnesty Human Rights Group Spanish Club

All welcome All welcome Year 10 All welcome All welcome Years 7 & 8

Playing field Sports Hall Tennis Courts C2 B3 A5

3.20 – 4.50 pm

Cookery Club (starting again after May)

Years 7, 8 & 9 (by application)

D9

3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.20 – 4.20 pm

Tennis Club & Fixtures Cricket Club Library open for reading/research & general use

TBC TBC All welcome

TBC TBC LRC

3.20 – 4.15 pm 3.20 - 4.00 pm 3.20 – 4.30 pm 3.30 - 4.30 pm

Homework Club GCSE ICT Drop In Basketball Fixtures TBS Soul & Jazz Band

All welcome Year 11 All Years Grade 3 minimum

The Learning Pod B12 Playing Field E4

3.20 – 4.30 pm

Art/Photography Support GCSE and A Level

Years 11, 12 and 13

D3

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Squad Badminton Club

Years 7 - 10

Sports Hall

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Football Club

All welcome

Playing field

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Tennis Club

All welcome

Tennis courts

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Guitar Club

All welcome

C5

1.35 – 2.10 pm

Globetrotters Club

All Years

A6

1.45 – 2.10 pm

Geography Club

All welcome

E1

3.20 – 4.00 pm

ICT Homework Club

Years 7 & 9

B12

3.30 – 4.30 pm

Beginners Dance (pre-paid) Club

Years 7 -11

Gym

3.20 – 4.20 pm

Library open for reading/research & general use

All welcome

LRC

The Learning Pod

THURSDAYS

FRIDAYS

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Day Monday Tuesday

Date 11/04/2016 12/04/2016

Time

Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

13/04/2016 16.30-19.00 14/04/2016 15/04/2016 16/04/2016 17/04/2016 18/04/2016 19.00

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

19/04/2016 20/04/2016 21/04/2016 22/04/2016

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

25/04/2016 09.00-12.00 26/04/2016 27/04/2016 28/04/2016 29/04/2016

Monday Tuesday

02/05/2016 03/05/2016

Wednesday 04/05/2016 Thursday 05/05/2016 Friday 06/05/2016 Tuesday 10/05/2016 Wednesday 11/05/2016 16.30-19.00 Monday

16/05/2016

Wednesday 18/05/2016 Thursday 19/05/2016 Friday 20/05/2016

Monday

23/05/2016

Tuesday Friday

24/05/2016 27/05/2016 15.20

Event Staff inset - School closed to students School re-opens New prefect team starts Parents' evening Year 13 Exit Interviews Ecuador Expedition Training weekend Ecuador Expedition Training weekend Ecuador Expedition Training weekend PTFA Meeting, The Hub, TBS Year 9 exams Year 9 exams Year 9 exams Year 9 exams Year 9 exams

Year

Girls HPV vaccinations 2nd Head Boy/Girl, DH Boy/Girl applications due

8 12

Junior Maths Challenge Fun Run

9/10

10 10 13

9 9 9 9 9

Bank Holiday Parents' evening software available for parents Head Boy/Girl interviews IGCSE English Exam Head Boy/Girl interviews Head Boy/Girl interviews IGCSE English Exam

8 12 11 12 12 11

UCAS Convention Parents' evening

12 8

Main External Exams Start School Colours nominations open National Dementia Awareness Week National Dementia Awareness Week National Dementia Awareness Week KS3 Play (tbc)

11-13

Parents' evening software available for parents National Dementia Awareness Week National Dementia Awareness Week Year 13 last day School closes for Half Term

7 7 7

7 7 7 7-9