Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!

See you in 2020!

Introduction

Autumn 2019

Cheltenham & Tewkesbury

Alternative Provision School

Important Dates:

Wed 11th Dec

Parents Evening

Wed 18th Dec

Christmas Dinner

Fri 20th Dec

End of term

Tues 8th Jan

School opens to pupils

The latest updates from

primary on page 2

Remembering those we

have lost on p5

Raising money for charity

on pages 7 & 8

Inside this issue:

Primary 2

Bridge Training

3

Year 11 Exam Results 3

BTEC’s 4

The Rock 4

Thrive 5

Remembrance Day 5

Schoolbeat 6

Macmillan Coffee

Morning 7

Children in Need 8

RE Day

8

Outreach 9

Calendar’s 10/

11

Dear Parents/Carers, What a busy term it has been! Students arrived in September to find a few changes had been made around the school. We now have a brand new enclosed kitchen, which is far more fit for purpose, as I'm sure our chef Sherralyn will agree! The students have adapted well to this and as a result the dining area has a lovely feel to it at lunchtime. The second big change has been the arrival of our new Key Stage 3 classroom. Last year, Key Stage 3 students and staff were situated over in the Sea Cadets building, which did not provide the ideal set up, to say the least. It’s wonderful that the students now have a space to call their own, which seems to have had a very positive im-pact.

I would like to take this oppor-tunity to thank parents/carers for their support. Parental engage-ment has shown a huge increase and I would like this to continue. Please contact us if you ever have a concern or issue, as we are al-ways happy to meet with you to help. On behalf of all the staff at St George’s, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Best Wishes, Sam Headteacher

In Topic this term we have

been focussing on inven-

tions. This has also been the

focus in other areas of the

curriculum such as English

and Science. We even man-

aged a school trip to ‘We

the curious’, in Bristol, to

look at the many inventions

there and participated in a

workshop where they suc-

cessfully managed to lift Mr

Ellyatt through the use of

pivots and also successfully

fed the Furbies before they

got out of hand!

We have been really fortu-

nate to have had visits from

Dave at Cheltenham Sci-

ence. He has managed to

continue the theme of in-

ventions within his lessons

by making slime using dif-

ferent materials. He also

continued working scientifi-

cally with many other sci-

ence experiments, keeping

the pupils entertained whilst

also teaching them valuable

science skills.

Mrs Snasdell has been busy

teaching the pupils Ukulele

in the past few weeks, so

apologies if they ask for one

for Christmas :-).

We have also grown in

number in the past few

weeks and are beginning to

expand the work we do with

primary schools through

outreach and partnership

work. This has also meant

that we have been able to

expand our teaching team,

widening the expertise

within the primary depart-

ment.

We would like to take this

opportunity to thank you all

for your daily communica-

tions and wish you all a

very Merry Christmas!

Page 2

Check out Riley’s too!

Jamie busy experi-menting in science

What have primary been up to?...

Blake looks pleased with his slime

Primary

Riley working hard on his place value

I wonder if it will smash if I drop it?

It wasn't me of-ficer McDowell, I'm a man of the law!

Riley getting ‘arrested’ More fun in science Blake making slime

Calendar 2020-21

Calendar 2019-20

We continue our partner-ship with Bridge Training in Gloucester, where a new group of students have been given the op-portunity to take part in either the Construction or Motor Vehicle course. Students are given the chance to achieve a rec-ognised Certificate quali-

fication which has been designed to help learners understand aspects of the industry and the skills required to work success-fully in the trade. The aim is to enable stu-dents to visualise that the qualification can lead to further study or career opportunities.

The students who are cur-rently working towards their qualification have demonstrated great skill and commitment so far. Most of the boys involved in the construction have passed their bricklaying and are now working to-wards their plastering, so well done and keep it up!

End of

term

visit to

Page 3

Bridge Training

Year 11 exam Results

Construction

Motor Vehicle

Congratulations to all

year 11’s who sat their

exams in the summer

term and achieved a

qualification.

There were a number of

passes in English and

Art GCSE, and there

was success in gaining

Functional Skills Eng-

lish and maths.

There was also a 100

per cent pass rate

for those students who

completed a BTEC

qualification - good

job!

These qualifications are

increasingly important

in helping successful

applications gain access

to further College cours-

es or apprenticeships

and we are pleased to

say several of our stu-

dents have enrolled on a

college course this Sep-

tember.

Well done to all pupils who had a really good

go!

BTECS

Page 4

This academic year we are delivering 5 BTEC Qualifications. These are: Construction Hair and Beauty Home Cooking

Skills Travel and Tour-

ism Sport and active

Leisure BTEC specialist quali-

fications are work relat-ed qualifications availa-ble from Entry, to Lev-el 3, in a range of sec-tors. They give learners the knowledge, understand-ing and skills they need to prepare for further education or employ-ment in a specific occu-pational area of work. The Pearson BTEC En-

try Level and Level 1 Award/Certificate, have been developed to give learners the opportunity to engage in learning, which is relevant to them and will provide opportu-nities to develop a range of skills and techniques, personal skills and attributes, essential for successful performance in work-ing life.

Travel and Tourism Trip to Alton Towers

Hair and Beauty

Home Cooking Skills

Construction

Page 9

me is that all religions are equally important and that we all worship the same God, just in different ways. Another important lesson was that we must try our hardest to make the right choices in life; whether you are a Mus-lim, a Christian or an atheist.

tians. He demonstrated to us multiple copies of the Qur’an, mainly in Arabic, however some of them were translated into English. It startled me to see the difference in the thick-ness of the Qur’an, some be-ing hand-sized and others not capable of fitting into your backpack! Afterwards, Ri-shad’s acquaintance offered us tea and coffee. I questioned why it took so long to make 3 cups of coffee but to my sur-prise, when we sat down to have a cup of tea - there was a feast of apples, dates, mixed nuts, tea and coffee! I couldn’t begin to imagine what the celebration of Eid al-Fitr (the end of the Ramadan) would be like! To participate in Ramadan, means to really have your will power tested for a duration of a whole month. Every Mus-lim, who is healthy and isn’t eldery, is to abstain from eat-ing and drinking between the sunrise and sunset. Could you imagine being starved for an entire day? It’s all for a good purpose because during the Ramadan, Muslims consider how tough the life must be like for the poorest Muslims, who have no access to food and water. It has been an enlightening experience to learn more about the culture and beliefs of their God (Allah): the only God Muslims believe in. The les-son that this visit has taught

Outreach Team

Cheltenham Mosque Visit

On Wednesday 13th November 2019, Two Outreach students (Ben Green and Jaydon New) had a chance to participate is an exciting RE trip to Chelten-ham mosque (AKA Chelten-ham Bangladeshi Community Centre). This was in order to learn more about the religion of Islam, which we’ve recently studied in our RE lesson, with a particular focus on the Five Pillars of Islam. This next extract was written by Ben Green, one of the out-reach students Ben, Jaydon, Katja, Barbara and Paula have arrived at the Mosque and were greeted by the main prayer leader Rishad, who welcomed us into the building, informing us that our shoes must be removed and placed into a shoe rack, located by the front door. To our sur-prise, the Cheltenham Mosque is built over two floors. On the bottom floor was the main prayer room, with a capacity of up to 95 people in one room. When full -it would be very crowded, but in a place of wor-ship everyone is welcome! As we proceeded to look around, we found out that there were two main rooms; the other be-ing the room for the Mosque keeper. Having started our tour up-stairs, Rishad had shown us Qur’an Studies Room, where he teaches Islamic lessons, just like the priest does in the Church to his fellow Chris-

Children in Need

Page 8

St Georges decided to do their bit this year, by holding a non-uniform day, in which students and staff all contributed a pound. Thank you to Blake for making the lovely Pud-sey bunting that was dis-played around the school and Pudsey would like to thank all those involved in raising money for this excellent cause.

Children in Need has been the BBC’s UK charity since 1980 and has raised over £600 million for disadvan-taged children and young people in the UK.

RE Day

Key stages 3 and 4 took part in an RE morning, learning about the 5 pil-lars of Islam. They spent the morning learning about the different pillars, which make up the funda-mental elements of the Islamic faith and had some fantastic discus-sions and produced some fabulous work.

All the students engaged really positively with the morning, as you can see from the pictures below. Well done everyone.

As mentioned back in the summer term, we are now a Thrive school. The approach draws on insights from recent ad-vances in neuroscience, attachment theory and child development, to provide a powerful way of working with children and young people that supports optimal social and emotional develop-ment.

In addition, the approach equips us to work in a targeted way with chil-dren and young people who may have struggled

with difficult life events to help them re-engage with life and learning.

Kim Cole our leading practitioner for primary, continues to do some fantastic work with our young pupils. As you can see from the pic-tures, art and creativity is key to Thrives way of working and they thor-oughly enjoy the interac-tive sessions.

From the January term, Kate Betteridge will be our fully licensed practi-tioner for secondary.

Page 5

Thrive

Remembrance Day

On Monday 11th November stu-dents from took part in the Act of Remembrance at St Peters Church. A big thank you to the Rock for hosting this poignant occasion. A special well done to Blake and Dylan who stood with Brin while he read out the names of some of the fallen Gloucestershire Soldiers at the ceremony, who have sacri-ficed themselves to secure and protect our freedom. They then each placed a wreath on the Ceno-taph, one of which was made by Blake himself, before having a two minute silence in honour of all our Armed Forces community, the British and Commonwealth veter-ans, the Allies that fought along-side us and the civilian servicemen and women involved in the two World Wars and later conflicts.

Parents/Carers

If we feel Thrive would be helpful for your child/young person, they will each get an individ-ual assessment plan. We would get in touch with you, the parent/carer to discuss this fully and answer any questions you may have.

Whether you are a par-ent, carer or profession-al, the Thrive Approach can show you what to do, and how to be, with young people. Together,

lets give children and young people the tools to make the most of life’s opportunities.

Gloucestershire Con-

stabulary have intro-

duced a new pro-

gramme which enables

dedicated officers to

work with schools

across the county, St

Georges being one of

them. The programme

will be taking place in

conjunction with

Gloucestershire

Healthy Living &

Learning and the

Gloucestershire Person-

al Social Health Educa-

tion (PSHE) curricu-

lum.

We had our first visit

from Officer Dowell

Page 6

Schoolbeat: Gloucestershire’s Police Unit

in term 2 and she talked

to our students about

how to protect them-

selves online. Internet

safety is a key aim of

the Safer Cyber PCC

priority.

Other topics include

sexting, drugs/alcohol,

exploitation, domestic

abuse, grooming, online

relationships, hate

crime, ASB, bullying

and county lines drug

dealing.

One aim of the pro-

gramme is to support a

reduction in the number

of young people in the

criminal justice system,

by building important

relationships, carrying

out restorative practice

and ensuring that effi-

cient information is

shared at an early stage

with partner agencies.

In addition to deliver-

ing these essential les-

sons to students, the

programme aims to

break down barriers

and to build strong re-

lationships and trust

between the police and

the young people of

Gloucestershire. It's

important our young

people are able to form

a positive relationship

with the police from an

early age and projects

like Schoolbeat will

provide the perfect op-

portunity to build

bridges and offer sup-

port where necessary.

We are excited about

this new partnership

and look forward to our

The Schoolbeat Team

next visit from Officer

Dowell and seeing new

positive relationships

being built with our stu-

dents.

Officer Fiona McDowell

P R I

M A R Y

Page 7

providing the delicious chocolate cake, that he kindly baked at home. There was a fantastic atmosphere, everyone was chatting and hav-ing a nice time. It was a great opportunity to raise money for charity and a truly ‘tea-riffic’ occasion was had by all!

through it alone. The money will help go to-wards things like; pay-ing for nurses for cancer patients, respite time for families and specialist support groups. A massive thank you to our chef Sherralyn who baked all of the yummy cakes for us to enjoy and to Blake Morris, for

Macmillan Coffee Morning

On the 26th September, we hosted our own Macmillan Coffee Morning to raise money for all those facing can-cer. Shockingly, one in two of us will face cancer, and it’s nice to know that the money we raised will help make sure no one has to go