St John’s Red Sweater Letter December 2012 Dear Parents, Yet again this has been an amazingly busy term and much has been happening as you will see from this letter. We have had outstanding sporting success, not only in traditional events but also in what some would consider as minority sports such as table – tennis in which we are now County Champions. In addition to taking part in such a vast array of sporting activities I am also delighted with the work undertaken by our Young Leaders who take such a responsible and proactive role in helping with numerous sporting events. There have been many enrichment activities taking place within the curriculum designed to enhance the children‘s learning. We have also been testing and assessing the children as we near the end of this term to ensure they are all making good progress and you will receive an interim report in the early part of the Spring Term. There has been a great deal of work going on behind the scenes with regard to our conversion to an Academy. The set date for conversion is February 1st 2013. Governors took the decision for both our school name and trading name at a meeting in November. I am sure you will be pleased to know that we will continue to be called St. John‘s Church of England Middle School and only our trading name for business purposes will contain the word ‗Academy‘. I hope you will be able to join us at our annual Christmas Carol Service on Tuesday 18th December at St. John‘s Church at 7pm and trust you all have a very enjoyable Christmas. Very best wishes, Wendy Taylor Headteacher Table Tennis On 3rd November, Nathan Buckley, Ed Groves, Dougie Bridge and Danny Swann travelled to Blackminster Middle School in Evesham to take part in the Worcestershire County Table Tennis Tournament. They played extremely well and won the competition to go through to represent Worcestershire in the Midland County Competition in January 2013 in Cirencester. Well done lads! Mr C Silvester—Head of Boys PE Netball A team of Year 8 girls had a fantastic weekend at PGL Liddington where they played a netball tournament which ran on Saturday and Sunday 9th-11th November. They faced a selection of teams from around the country and played exceptionally well in every game. The team won a place in the semi-final and played their best game of the weekend—putting into practice all the skills they had developed over that time. The final result was that the team came a respectable 4th place out of 10 teams. Well done girls! Josie Hiller—GS/GA/GK Hattie Goff-GA/WA Tammy Wilson-GA/GS Bethan Newbold-WA/WD Courtney Juggins-GK/WD Jordan Brace—WA Megan Hughes—C Saxon Pemberton-WD Izzy Quaynor—GD Miss J Stenning—Head of Girls PE District Celebration of Sport On Wednesday 7th November a group of Year 8 pupils took part in the District Celebration of Sport at the Ryland Centre. This was an indoor sports event where the students were involved in a number of multi skilled based activities. They competed against other schools and achieved lots of first places. Both our Year 8 and Year 7 Young Leaders received professional coaching and were successful in gaining their qualification. Our Year 7 Young Leaders helped out at the District Celebration of Sport and were commended for their contributions and our Year 8 Young Leaders helped out at the District Football event, running the line, refereeing and getting the equipment together. At this event our Year 8 pupils who took part were placed 3rd overall, a valiant effort. Well done to all our competitors and Young Leaders Mr M Moss—PESSCo Sleeping Beauty M & M Productions were invited into school on Wednesday 7th November and KS2 pupils were treated to a performance of Sleeping Beauty. All pupils really enjoyed it, and we look forward to welcoming them back next year! PANTOMIME TIME!! Robinson Crusoe Starring Brian Conley Birmingham Hippodrome 2013 Wednesday 23rd January Year 6 Thursday 24th January Year 7 Pupils go ‘South’ for French A selection of Year 8 pupils were invited to a ‗Gifted & Talented Languages Workshop‘ on Friday 26th October at South Bromsgrove High School. The afternoon involved our pupils participating in various activities in several different languages (including German and Mandarin!), led by SBHS 6th Form pupils. A big thank you to the chosen few, Charlie Wright, Nathan Buckley, Ed Groves, Jonty Heslop, Millie Smallwood, Becky Fieldhouse, Chloe Hargreaves and Rosie Stanley. Mrs Bourne (very proud) Head of Year 8 On Thursday 22nd November we were very excited to welcome the renowned TV illusionist and comedian John Archer. He recently appeared on the BBC show ―Help My Supply Teacher is Magic‖ and was one of only a few performers who managed to trick the American magicians on the ITV show ―Penn and Teller, Fool Us‖. He performed to all year groups and followed this with a talk on ―Seeing is Believing‖ and a question and answer session. ―John Archer did some fab magic tricks, he did some card tricks and also swallowed a long balloon! The children went crazy.‖ - Isabelle Gough 5KH ―The people in the audience had the best hour of fun‖ Sophie Birch 5KH We had a wonderful day on Friday 23rd November. All year groups followed a carousel of sporting activities ranging from heart rate investigations to building an Olympic stadium. Children also took part in a sponsored fitness circuit, and had the opportunity to meet Rhys Williams, the 400m hurdler. After their activities, the children all came together in key stages to hear about Rhys‘ inspirational journey to becoming an Olympic athlete as well as asking him questions. We would like to say a huge thank you to parents and families for supporting the event and congratulations to the children for the money raised so far. We are still counting the money raised and we will keep you informed of the grand total on our website. Rainforest Day Our Year 8 pupils have been studying Brazil and the Amazon Rainforest as part of the Geography curriculum. On Thursday 8th November 2012 Emma from Zoolab came in to deliver a series of workshops which gave the pupils a greater insight into the sustainability issues facing the future of the Amazonian Rainforest. They also saw first hand, creatures that call the rainforest their home, such as a giant snail, a tree frog, a corn snake, a giant African millipede and a cockroach. ―The atmosphere was a very excitable one. Personally my favourite animal brought in was the tree frog, called Red! ― Charlie Wright 8LL Mr. Silvester really enjoyed holding the corn snake!!!! Mr K Hirst Christmas Dinner Tuesday 18th December—Years 5 and 6 Wednesday 19th December—Years 7 and 8 Please note : . only Christmas Dinner will be available on that day . order forms will be sent out shortly and will be available on the website. If pupils do not return their order form they will not be able to have a Christmas lunch and will therefore be required to bring a packed lunch from home on that day . pupils will also be required to bring in a packed lunch on the day the other year groups will be having their Christmas Dinner Christmas Church and Carol Service Tuesday 18th December 2012: for pupils: Church Service St. John‘s Church 9:00 a.m. for pupils and Parents/Friends: Carol Service St. John‘s Church 7:00 p.m. Day of Kindness On Thursday 18th October, a group of 12 Year 5 and Year 6 pupils went into Bromsgrove Town Centre to help participate in this year’s ‘Day of Kindness’. The children wrote personal messages of kindness in their PSCHE lessons and delivered these along with chocolates, biscuits and flowers to members of the public. It was fantastic to be part of such a community driven event. Mrs C Hirons The pupils of St. John’s School raised £471.34 for Children in Need Friday 7th December 2012 7:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. Tickets £2.00 (available from Mr Ince) At the moment the school is receiving a lot of calls from parents with messages for their children. Unfortunately the school would prefer not to receive messages from parents to pupils if they are deemed non-emergency. Pupils do not return to their classrooms at the end of the day but are dismissed from their lessons. This means that office staff have to interrupt a lesson to pass on a message which can cause quite a lot of disruption. Therefore can we please ask that you contact the school with a message for your child in the case of an emergency only. Thank you for your support. ES T A D RY A I D December 2012 Tuesday 4th Yr 8 Ski Trip Meeting (parents only) Friday 7th Interhouse Cross Country Yrs 5/6 Disco—7:00p.m.—9:00 p.m. Tuesday 18th Whole school Service at St John‘s Church— 9:00 a.m.—for pupils only KS2 Christmas Lunch Carol Service at St Johns Church 7.00pm— for pupils, friends and family Wednesday 19th KS3 Christmas Lunch Thursday 20th End of Term January 2013 Term Re-starts Tuesday 8th January 2013 at 8:50 a.m. for pupils Payment on line: If you wish to make payments for your child this is how to pay: Online: use the secure Internet Payment at http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/payments4schools or via a link on the schools website www.st-johns-bromsgrove.worcs.sch.uk Internet Safety—useful contacts and links for parents: www.childnet-int.org leaflet for parents on how to use social networking sites safely www.myguide.gov.net on line safety training for parents www.thinkuknow.co.uk www.st-johns-bromsgrove.worcs.sch.uk