december 2010 newsletter - kimberley school

8
a Foundation School a Foundation School December 2010 Issue 20# HEAD'S LINES HEAD'S LINES Nottinghamshire Inspectors praise Kimberley students Local Authority Inspectors have just completed an inspection of our school and were quick to recognise the extremely positive relationships between students and staff as well as between students. They also identified the many strengths that characterise a Kimberley School lesson features such as “an effective climate for learning,” “good behaviour of students,” “a variety of teaching and learning strategies across lessons/subjects” and “lessons started promptly.” The inspection has endorsed our view that we need to develop further opportunities for our students to play a really active role in lessons, contributing to discussions, explaining their thinking and supporting each other in their learning. I am delighted they recognised the improvements that have been made to our Sixth Form with its strong work ethic. “Leadership is on the case and knows about the progress students are making; their weaknesses, their strengths and their support needs.” Much of the evidence came from the students themselves and they should know! It is a credit to students and parents that our high attendance rate throughout the school was also praised. Whilst travelling from a meeting in the north of the county this week, I was amused to see that the fake snow at the Centre Parks entrance had been buried by the real stuff. The snow has brought a lot of fun but we all know it has also presented challenges. It was with great reluctance that I was forced to close the school for one day because, despite the fantastic work of the site team, several inches of snow had covered the gritted paths. It is my firm belief that school really matters and the opportuni- ties offered change lives for the better. That‟s why we strive to stay open and why staff struggle to get here. During the worst affected week, we did our best to deliver normal lessons and a lot of important work was covered, although inevitably it would be wrong to claim it was business as usual. Well done to all those students who made it in and my thanks go to their parents for their support. It was disappointing to have to postpone the Christmas Concert because of the Christmassy weather, but it‟s something to look forward to in the New Year. I‟d like to take this opportunity to wish all those in our community and with connections to our school, a very happy, peaceful and safe Christmas. Chris Teal Headteacher Kimberley Shoe Box Donation Kimberley Shoe Box Donation For the past few weeks, The Kimberley School has asked the pupils to bring in shoe boxes full of toys. The boxes can include dolls, colouring or puzzle books, crayons, certain clothing including hats, gloves, scarves and sunglasses. All the donations will go to less fortunate children in Africa and Europe. Thousands of children in Africa either live in slums or out on the streets. Many do not go to school and are working to help their parents or looking after younger brothers or sisters. Unlike us they barely get any presents any year, let alone at Christmas. But this year, The Kimberley School has tried to make a difference. We have had many shoeboxes brought in this year and we are very grateful. If you didn't do one this year, maybe you could have a go next time. It is as simple as finding an old shoebox or small box, wrapping it up in Christmas paper and adding inside old toys (in good condition) or buying new. Cheap pencils, books or toothbrushes would do because every child deserves something. All the shoe- boxes that have been done this year will be sent off to poor countries in Europe or Africa. Children are delighted to be given a number of presents off someone they don't even know. You could change a child's life just be creating one of the shoeboxes. By Rosie Howe Year 7 (7BDT) 1 st Boot House 2271 2 nd Clough House 1989 3 rd Lawrence House 1714 4 th Nightingale House 1714 The Kimberley School re-opens on Wednesday 5 th January (Week B)

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a Foundation Schoola Foundation School December 2010 Issue 20#

HEAD'S LINESHEAD'S LINES

Nottinghamshire Inspectors praise Kimberley students

Local Authority Inspectors have just completed an inspection of our school and were quick to recognise the extremely positive relationships between students and staff as well as between students. They also identified the many strengths that characterise a Kimberley School lesson – features such as “an effective climate for learning,” “good behaviour of students,” “a variety of teaching and learning strategies across lessons/subjects” and “lessons started promptly.” The inspection has endorsed our view that we need to develop further opportunities for our students to play a really active role in lessons, contributing to discussions, explaining their thinking and supporting each other in their learning. I am delighted they recognised the improvements that have been made to our Sixth Form with its strong work ethic. “Leadership is on the case and knows about the progress students are making; their weaknesses, their strengths and their support needs.” Much of the evidence came from the students themselves and they should know! It is a credit to students and parents that our high attendance rate throughout the school was also praised.

Whilst travelling from a meeting in the north of the county this week, I was amused to see that the fake snow at the Centre Parks entrance had been buried by the real stuff. The snow has brought a lot of fun but we all know it has also presented challenges. It was with great reluctance that I was forced to close the school for one day because, despite the fantastic work of the site team, several inches of snow had covered the gritted paths. It is my firm belief that school really matters and the opportuni-ties offered change lives for the better. That‟s why we strive to stay open and why staff struggle to get here. During the worst affected week, we did our best to deliver normal lessons and a lot of important work was covered, although inevitably it would be wrong to claim it was business as usual. Well done to all those students who made it in and my thanks go to their parents for their support.

It was disappointing to have to postpone the Christmas Concert because of the Christmassy weather, but it‟s something to look forward to in the New Year. I‟d like to take this opportunity to wish all those in our community and with connections to our school, a very happy, peaceful and safe Christmas.

Chris Teal Headteacher

Kimberley Shoe Box DonationKimberley Shoe Box Donation

For the past few weeks, The Kimberley School has asked the pupils to bring in shoe boxes full of toys. The boxes can include dolls, colouring or puzzle books, crayons, certain clothing including hats, gloves, scarves and sunglasses. All the donations will go to less fortunate children in Africa and Europe.

Thousands of children in Africa either live in slums or out on the streets. Many do not go to school and are working to help their parents or looking after younger brothers or sisters. Unlike us they barely get any presents any year, let alone at Christmas. But this year, The Kimberley School has tried to make a difference.

We have had many shoeboxes brought in this year and we are very grateful. If you didn't do one this year, maybe you could have a go next time. It is as simple as finding an old shoebox or small box, wrapping it up in Christmas paper and adding inside old toys (in good condition) or buying new. Cheap pencils, books or toothbrushes would do because every child deserves something. All the shoe-boxes that have been done this year will be sent off to poor countries in Europe or Africa. Children are delighted to be given a number of presents off someone they don't even know. You could change a child's life just be creating one of the shoeboxes.

By Rosie Howe Year 7 (7BDT)

1st Boot House 2271

2nd Clough House 1989

3rd Lawrence House 1714

4th Nightingale House 1714

The Kimberley School re-opens on Wednesday 5th January (Week B)

Key Stage 3 students are invited to take part in and accept the challenge of

reading the 6 shortlisted books, before voting for their favourite in March. The books are The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 by Harriet Goodwin, Crawlers by Sam Enthoven, Desperate Measures by Laura Summers, Fightback by Steve Voake, Now by Maurice Gleitzman and The Vampire Blog by Pete Johnson.

Copies of these books are available in the LRC – come and borrow one for the holidays! We encourage anyone who reads one of these books to write a review on the website: http://brilliantbookaward.nottinghamshire.

gov.uk/bba-schoollogin.

User ID: kimb01. Password: frog143

Author Alan Gibbons Visit

Alan Gibbons, the famous author, will be visiting The Kimberley School on February 16 and 17 to

work with students from Year 8 and Year 9. There will also be an evening presentation for Parents of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 students, with a focus on encouraging boys to read more. Refreshments will be available, and there will be an opportunity to purchase books.

February 16 2011. 6.30-8.30pm in The Kimberley School Hall.

To order tickets, please email: [email protected]

A Scholastic Book Fair will be held in the LRC from 16 -18 February. All books will be £1 off the marked price, using World Book Day vouchers.

Last Day of Term ArrangementsLast Day of Term Arrangements

The school will close at the end of Period 3 (12:20pm) on the last day of this term, Wednesday 22nd December. Buses have been arranged to pick up those students who would normally travel home by bus. A lunchtime service will be provided by the catering staff for those students who wish to remain on site for lunch. However, the school is unable to provide supervision arrangements for students after this time.

Rescheduled EventsRescheduled Events

- The re-scheduled Christmas Concert will now take place on Tuesday 18th January.

- Year 9 Parents Consultation Evening has been re-scheduled for January 26th 2011 (4-7pm).

Key Stage 3 English and Mathematics AssessmentKey Stage 3 English and Mathematics Assessment

As a school we feel that, to maximise the potential of all our students, parents need to be aware of the assessment arrangements for English and Mathematics within the school.

Outlined below are details of the systems. Should you have any queries about these, please contact Mrs Smith at [email protected].

We would also like to stress the importance of full attendance at school, progress can be hampered by even the shortest amount of time away from lessons.

Assessment at Key Stage 3 English

Year 7 Literacy Test

In Year 7 all pupils complete a reading and spelling test. This gives the school information on reading and spelling ages.

Formal Assessment

Twice a year pupils complete “Rising Stars” reading and writing tests. These tests are completed under timed conditions in the classroom. The tests generate a sub-level and an analysis of how well individual pupils are doing with specific parts of the assessment criteria.

In each unit of work, every pupil will have a piece of work assessed for reading skills and a piece of work assessed for writing skills. These pieces are given sublevels, comments and targets. This work is kept in each child‟s folder, can be brought home at the end of Key Stage 3.

Informal Assessment

During lessons, teachers might set a task for pupils to complete in their drafting books. When appropriate, this is also given a sublevel, comment and target for improvement. In this type of assessment, the teacher will be marking for a particular skill (e.g. sentence structure or punctuation etc) which has been shared with the class.

Assessment at Key Stage 3 Mathematics

Twice a year, students will complete an assessed task in 2 of their timetabled maths lessons. These will highlight student strengths and weaknesses. They will help to identify students who would benefit from additional support to overcome difficulties and secure progress. These are not tests; the 2 lessons are planned to be interactive and engaging for students, with only specific parts focussed on for the formal assessment activity. The tasks generate a sublevel and indication of how much progress students are making.

In addition, students complete a half-termly assessment based on the maths skills covered in lessons that half-term. This is a formal written test.

At the end of each academic year, there is a formal exam period for all subjects.

All the assessment data on students is used to monitor students progress and, where necessary, students will be offered various types of support to ensure they do make the progress they are capable of.

If you have any wool or sewing oddments at home you no longer require, please feel free to donate them to our textiles department, where we can assure you they will be put to good use! Thank you for your support.

Miss Cooper & Mrs Harper

Welcome to the first Primary Matters section of our school newsletter. In these sections, we aim to keep parents and carers of children currently in Years 5 and 6 in our feeder primaries up to date with developments here at The Kimberley School.

The school year began for us with 243 new faces as our Year 7 intake joined us. There were plenty of worried faces as the children walked into the school on the first day, but that was just the parents and carers! Their children meanwhile were taking everything in their stride as they confidently gathered in the school hall for their first assembly. For the vast majority this was routine, as so many had joined us for the Induction Club and Induction Day in July. Others had come to us for private visits throughout last year, to help them settle in more confidently once they joined us in September. Many parents and carers reported that they were staggered and pleased at how quickly and easily their children made the transition from primary to secondary school. This is in part thanks to the efforts of staff at the primaries and here at The Kimberley School and I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those involved in making the transition so easy for the children.

We run Induction Club every year for Year 6 children who have secured a place and it is an ideal opportunity to encourage them to make new friends and to begin the process of getting to know their new school and the people who work here. Parents and carers of children currently in Year 6, who secure a place at The Kimberley School, will be sent details of how their children can join in with Induction activities next year and further details will be advertised in this newsletter nearer the time.

We know that choosing a secondary school is one of the most important decisions you will make for your child. To help you in this process, we offer the opportunity for parents and carers to visit us to see what life at The Kimberley School is like. Every September, we hold an open evening which gives parents, carers and children the opportunity to observe and even participate in sample lessons, as well as talk to our students and staff. In October, we also offer parents and carers the chance to visit us during the school day with their children and have a tour of the school with our Senior Students. Details of these events will be on our school website nearer the time and can be found in the section: www.kimberleyschool.co.uk/transition_information.html. We are also happy to accommodate visits at other times where possible, if parents and carers are unable to attend the scheduled events. Please contact us if you would like to take up this opportunity.

Primary School VisitsPrimary School Visits Every year, we work closely with our colleagues in the primary schools to arrange visits for children in all years to visit us and experience life in a secondary school. Throughout this year, we will be offering all the primary schools the opportunity to bring their children to take part in Science, DT, Maths and Drama activities.

In October, gifted and talented mathematicians came from all our primaries to participate in the first of four challenging sessions. The children tool part in a problem solving activity that was designed to focus them on thinking through mathematical processes to extend and deepen their understanding of maths even further. The next session is in January.

We also had a large number of Year 2 children visit us recently to participate in a PE multi-skills activity. You can read more about this in the PE Department‟s section in this newsletter.

Most recently, children in Year 5 at Mornington, Awsworth, Gilthill and Horsendale Primary Schools joined us to take part in an exciting chemical combustion activity. There will be more about this in our next newsletter.

Our next scheduled event is our Design and Technology day in July for children currently in Year 2 and we are currently planning a drama workshop which we aim to hold later in the summer term.

Miss Hughes Primary Liaison

Pintsize Theatre Company Pintsize Theatre Company

Last week, Year 9 saw a play performed by the Pintsize Theatre Company, informing and advising us on under-

age drinking and pregnancies. The play was followed by a question and answer session which gave everyone the

opportunity to get involved. We would like to thank the Theatre Company for coming in and Mrs. Brockway for

organising it for us as everyone really enjoyed it.

Article to follow in the next issue of NEWS@KIMBERLEY...

Cooper‟s Comments

My first term as Head of Boot House has been very eventful –

but I can honestly say I have enjoyed every minute so far, thanks to everyone who is in

our house, both staff and pupils!

In our Tutor assemblies, we have been treated to a tour of historical facts by Mr. Warrender‟s tutor group. This was followed by Mr Corbett‟s tutor group's Kimberley version of „Mock of the Week‟, (I will not comment on their „things you

will never hear teachers say!!!) Both were fantastic efforts and I am looking forward to seeing the other six tutor groups‟ versions

before we vote on our winner!

Talking of winning, a big congratulations to our Key Stage 4 team of Jack Allsop, Stephanie White,

(Year 11)Kate Dewhirst and Rebecca Chapman (Year 10) who triumphed over the other three

houses in what can only be described as a nail biting finish! Also congratulations for the valiant

effort made by our Key Stage 3 team of Luke Lee, Emily Rowland (Year 9), Jayden Kidd (Year 8),

and Adam Moore (Year 7) who came third.

The Boot in-house quiz league is currently being won by Mrs. Harper‟s group after their winning

entry in the „guess which member of staff this dog belongs to‟ competition boosted their score.

However, close on their heels are Mr. Corbett‟s group and Mr. Sinnott‟s group, whose class

entry in the „design a Boot house logo‟ competition gained them an extra star!

I can only hope next year will be as enjoyable – which I am sure it will, as let‟s face it

BOOT IS THE BEST!!!!!!!

Year 7Year 7--9 9

Maths ClubMaths Club

Come along to the

Maths Club

Tuesday and Thursday

Lunchtime 12.30-13.00

in CR1

Are you in Year 7-9?

Need help with your

Maths homework, or

just need some extra

support or guidance?

Want to go on

MyMaths to gain

some extra

understanding of

a tricky topic?

Do you want to play

Maths-based games?

See Mrs

Cumiskey for

details.

All of our Year 7’s have now taken part in

Number Day, which had to be postponed

from the actual date of Friday December 3rd

due to the weather!

This year’s task was “The Mental Maths

Birthday Challenge!” The students had to

make the numbers from 1 to 30 using the digits

in their date of birth and the mathematical

operations. The more complicated the

calculation the more points they scored!

The students were sponsored for this activity

and all the money raised will go to the NSPCC.

Look out in the next newsletter for the

final amount of money raised!

On the 19th October, a group of Year 10 D&T pupils took part in a day of STEM activities at Nottingham Trent University. The day of activities gave the group the opportunity to use Polymorph, a Smart material that becomes pliable when heated in water, to create ergonomic handles for pens and toothbrushes, as well as an introduction to the wonders of Photoshop for image manipulation, which resulted in a design competition where the winner, Ruby Persaud, won her design to be printed on a mug.

Even so, the highlight of the day has to have been the „Balloon car race‟. A simple objective, they thought, build a car in 30 minutes which will travel in a completely straight line with a single balloon used to power it, the car that travels the furthest wins they were told. The group of 10 then became 2 groups of 5 and off they went to create their own magnificent balloon powered car. Both teams worked extremely well and both had their ups and downs which were overcome. Needless to say, with the great teamwork and dedication, The Kimberley School pupils came away with a trophy as the 2nd place team, a great feat as there were another 8 teams from 4 other schools behind them.

Congratulations to Ruby Persaud, Lewis Buxton, Joel Clarke, Jasmine Baker, Francis Eyre, Simon Martin, Rebecca Adamson, Jack Eatson, Jack Smith and Lauren McDowell, for your outstanding representation of The Kimberley School.

Miss Cooper

Yet again the Year 7's have produced some fantastic Advent Calendars. Every year we have new original ideas – well done!

Mrs. Brockway

Swimming in the Wannsee, what a setting, what history, what sunshine... and, wait a minute, what‟s that floating slide thing out there in the middle? That wasn‟t there last time I came. The risk assessment for taking students swimming in a lake in the first place was the biggest essay crisis I‟d had for a decade. Now they would want to swim out to that thing. Reflection, counsel... and the realisation that with these students, and the right procedure, this would not be a problem - a word on the beach, careful deployment of qualified staff, and half an hour later they‟d had all the fun they wanted sliding into the Wannsee at several fathoms, and contented

themselves with visiting the snack bars, paddling in the shallower stuff and just hanging out on the longest inland sandy beach in Europe; as opposed to just hanging out, which is presumably what the nudists were doing just the other side of the fence! The Strandbad Wannsee is a fully operational beach resort, recently renovated and catering for all tastes, with its own lifeguards and 1.5 km of sand transported in from the Baltic coast. It was a magnificent Saturday afternoon.

During the evening meal, a student realised she had lost her purse and most probably lost it at the Wannsee. Seconds later, I had a group of boys who wanted to go back and look for it. When we got to the beach itself, it was like unleashing a team of sniffer dogs. We also went to the lost property – nothing – but got their number to try again the next day. Back at the ranch, one of the boys started a collection, everyone contributed and the girl would have more than enough money for the rest of the trip. Solidarity, generosity, even chivalry...the spirit of Kimberley came to Germany this day.

Sunday looked rather packed but we still made a short detour to see various memorials at Grunewald station, scene of countless deportations to concentration camps in World War Two. Then we stopped at the Mauerpark to see graffiti art on a makeshift wall, and even managed some time in a flea market. Our main destination this morning though was Bernauerstraße, one road which was cut in two by the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 - the buildings on the south side belonging to the East Berlin district of Mitte, the road and pavements belonging to the West Berlin district of Wedding. People jumped from East to West here (out of their apartment windows into blankets being held below), they dug tunnels, hid in the shadows of a medieval church before making a dash for the Wall. The windows were bricked up immediately, the buildings themselves later demolished, the tunnels are now a tourist attraction and the church was blown up in 1985. We went up a viewing gantry to see a preserved section of the original wall with watchtower, no man‟s land, mines etc, and called in at the visitor‟s centre. Back in the coach, we drove along East Side Gallery, the most famous wall art – again our students were there with their cameras – and past some great Soviet-style architecture on Karl-Marx-Allee, on our way to the vast Soviet Soldiers‟ Memorial Park in Treptow, where we roamed and had lunch. This was hardcore East Berlin and Joe Stalin was breathing right down our necks. Many of our students would not have known that huge numbers of Russian soldiers died in the battle of Berlin, as Germany was gradually liberated from the Nazis in 1945. I phoned the Wannsee lost property, but nothing new had been handed in since we had sniffer-dogged the beach ourselves. And finally then on to Oranienburg and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a harrowing but essential visit. We had been to many places today but one of our journeys was from the Grunewald

station to Sachsenhausen, a shuddering thought indeed. We had some guides, real experts in the history of the place, and they didn‟t hold back. What we heard and saw in Sachsenhausen really made us think.

Early evening and back at base, it was a case of lighting the barbecue; trouble was it was suspended from the ceiling in this giant wigwam thing we‟d hired...

Mr Vinter

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF NEWS@KIMBERLEY...

Year 2 Festival

The Year 2 Festival was another super event which involved our feeder schools and our Year 11 Btec pupils. The Year 11 class had worked hard to prepare different events for the Year 2 pupils to take part in. All involved seemed to enjoy the day although the Year

11 class was a little tired by the end and probably slept well that night! We have received some lovely thank-you letters from the Year 2s, one pupil said 'I loved the

activities especially with the bean bags and hoops. Please let us come again', which hopefully means they will all be keen to „have a go‟ at another festival next year!

Inter House Boccia

The Inter-House Boccia took place this term with results as follows:-

1st Boot 2nd Nightingale 3rd Clough 4th Lawrence

Very well done to all those who took part.

South Notts Year 7 Girls 5-a-side Football

Well done to the girls who reached the final knock-out stages of this event. They were unbeaten in the first week and came 4th overall.

Year 7 Girl's Football Team:

Brogan Butler Bethany Chadwick

Evie King Georgia King Georgia Kent Tegan Wright

Alicia Emmerson Billie Burton

Emma Nuthall

Kit Reminder (Especially 10B)

Can we also take this opportunity to remind pupils to continue to bring their PE kit, even in the cold weather, as we are blessed with enough indoor spaces for PE lessons to continue. Please make sure you bring proper trainers NOT plimsolls, as these can

lead to injuries. I now have a stock of PE shirts: Polos £9 Games shirts £14. Please send your children to my office (Mr Allen) if they need one.

Fixtures

Due to the snow and ice, many fixtures and events have been postponed but keep a look out on the notice board for details of new dates after Christmas.

On Friday 19th December the Sixth Form Charity Committee organised a day of fundraising in aid of Children in Need. The activities kicked off on Thursday with a Sixth Form vs. Staff football match which saw the Sixth Form hold onto their winners reputation. On Friday, the whole school took part in a non-uniform day along with the Sixth Form dressing in fancy dress as children‟s famous characters. A tuck shop and raffle were held both at break and lunchtimes, with a group of Year 8 girls also running a cake stall, which went down so well we had to rush to Sainsbury's to get more supplies. The day was topped off with 3

Sixth Form students, Daniel Aung, Daniel Coggins and Sean Dyche travelling to East Midlands Airport with our giant cheque. Thanks to the enthusiasm shown, the boys appeared talking about how we raised our money on the evening East Midlands Today show – well done boys you did us all proud. Overall we raised a fantastic total of £1586.16! The Charity Committee would like to thank all staff and students for the support shown on the day and are now planning for the next big charity event.

Student Council Information

New council attending meetings – Year 7 and house meetings going on as well – photos of all council members are up in lower school.

This year we have group representatives on the council so that they can feedback to the School Council on what they are up to – ECO REPS/CIC REPS.

ECO reps waste collections underway – also looking at renewable energy sources for the school, they have also contacted teachers/support staff about turning computers/TV‟s/laptops off at the end of the day, also to review the amount of wasted paper through photocopying.

CIC – Community Improvement Council: now setting themselves up as a registered charity – they will hopefully be able to access grants to assist with the targets they have set themselves, which include making the community greener and looking at the funding for the Chillax project.

As a council, we have reviewed the house meeting ideas for a project for the year – 2 main ideas are a school radio station and more seating/benching outside. We are looking into having a non-uniform day soon, but not this term as we are having one for „Children in Need‟. We may have to share a non-uniform day as other groups such as CIC, ECO are look to raise funds as well. We were looking at the possibility of getting some seating on the field – between the astroturfs so in the summer we have places to sit and chat whilst eating our lunch – we will need to consult with Mr Jones and the leisure centre, we believe it is a good idea as when we are not using it (out of school hours) people from the community could us it.

Main school changing rooms work has started - toilets removed from both males/females, sinks removed from females. It‟s going to be a slow process as the work is being done in term time and the changing rooms are heavily used for PE. But we are pleased to see the work started.

India Flint (Year 11 Head Girl)

The Kimberley School

a Foundation School

Oxford was the destination for a small group of A Level students interested in reading Sciences, Psychology, Politics and English. We spent the day experiencing the special atmosphere of this most academic of cities and visiting several colleges of the university – Balliol, Queens, St Edmund Hall, Magdalen, Corpus Christi, Christ Church and Lincoln, each one boasting its own architectural charm or grandeur and bursting with famous alumni. At Teddy Hall, we were privileged to meet up with Dr Alex Lang, admissions officer, and Dr Wes Williams, Fellow and tutor for French, who took us into the Old Library and explained what it is like to study at Oxford – the tutorial system etc – and what they look for in the candidates they call for interview. You have to be good, that was clear enough, and very interested in your subject. They were not really interested in „Fach-Idioten‟, as they called them (people who can give factually correct answers to all their questions), but rather people who show potential as thinkers, who can think laterally and „outside the box‟. Alex and Wes strongly encouraged our students to apply if their grades were shaping up well this time next year; they pointed out that the odds of getting a place at Oxford are much more favourable then you would think because many people think they have no chance and do not apply. We also met development officers at Corpus Christi and Lincoln Colleges, who were similarly helpful. Even after all this, we were able to give our students some free time amongst the cafes and shops before returning home tired but inspired, and ready to dream of the spires.

Mr Vinter and Ms Woodworth

Ms Woodworth, Tom, Emma, Ella, Hannah,

Billy, Cole, Sam and

Callam outside the Buttery

(college bar) at Teddy Hall

... with Alex and

Wes in the Old Library

... and in the

cloisters of

Magdalen College

This term we had a collection for RAGTEX, we collected clothing, bedding and soft toys. It was hugely successful and we filled the school foyer with bags and bags of your donated stuff. The collectors from RAGTEX were very impressed with our efforts, so a HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to dig out some stuff for us.

We are now going to be collecting BOOKS, DVDs and old mobile phones in January, so please could you do another sort out for us and send in any of these items you no longer need.

We would like your old Christmas cards too. We are having a House Competition to see who can bring in the greatest number of Christmas cards after Christmas, so please do not dump them in a bin send them into school at the beginning of the new term.

On an extremely frosty Friday evening, a dedicated bunch of The Kimberley School Choir sang at the Toll Bar Square for the Kimberley Christmas Lights Switch-on, joined by Frosty the Snowman and a Christmas pudding! They were very well recieved and the Kimberley Town Council passed on their thanks with a letter stating "We would like to thank you and the children for singing at the event. We really appreciated you all being there."

The Choir sang:

Once in Royal David's City Silent Night Jingle Bells We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

The students involved were:

Daisy Weston, Emily Walters, Abby McCusker, Isobel Dickinson, Bethany Packer, Emily Anthony, Abbie McColl, Bethany Lowe, Ashton Lewis, Chloe Mulholland, Grace Broughton, Gemma Calder.

Miss Donson

The event gave these young talented people an opportunity to gain confidence and practise performing in public. A little encouragement goes a long way and this was a great opportunity for them to express themselves musically.

The students who were performing and collecting at the Farmers Market 2nd Oct in Toll Bar Square, Kimberley, raised £136 for the Ryan Lee Trust Fund. They were:

Caitlin Burbanks, Callum Weston, Ashley Currie, Tom Clarke, Megan Hayman Tansley, Alicia Martin Jones, Rhiannon Salisbury, Melissa Cooper, Hannah McColl, Abbie McColl, Tyla Saxton, Lara Peake, Rebecca Webster, Carolyn Bricklebank, Grace Broughton, Rose Franchi, Emily Raynor, Jade Raynor, Abbie McCusker, Isobel Dickinson, Natalie Burrows, Daisy Weston, Bethany Packer, Charis Oliver, Gemma Calder, Jenny Banton, Charlotte Draper, Olivia McGuigan, Mollie Ocheduzko, Laurie Dyche.

Mr Warrender