Newsletter

Learning Together : Succeeding Together Edition 69 Monday 4th December 2017

In This Issue • Musicians in action

• Y7 Girls Football

• PiXL Maths App Leaderboard

• Hillside Primary Visit

• Winter Illness

• Badminton Club

• Duke of Edinburgh

• School Council

• Sporting Success

Musicians in Action It has been great to see our Emmbrook musicians ‘in action’ again over the past couple of weeks in a range of ways. Year 11 GCSE Music students have been busy completing their compositions, some by working with a range of instrumentalists and singers to create live performance recordings of their pieces, whilst others have been putting the finishing touches to their compositions using music technology. Some year 7 instrumentalists have performed solos to their classmates, providing a fantastic opportunity to discover more about unfamiliar

instruments. Some of the peer questioning has been really impressive, leading to insightful responses and discussion by all involved. Leo Steliaros played the tuba to his class; Erin Prowse played ‘Romance’ on her clarinet; Ella Wolfram delighted her group with a rendition of Michael Jackson’s ‘ABC’, and Ben Poole played ‘Train Ride’ on the piano. I am really looking forward to further solos, duets and small group performances by our year 7 musicians, as the year progresses.

On Wednesday 29th November, two performances were given as part of the annual Y11 certificate presentation evening. It was fantastic to have last year’s year 11 students and their families back with us again, and super to see so many ‘old’ GCSE Music faces. Year 10 student, Alfie Rigg, sang ‘Jar of Hearts’ as an opening musical number – what huge vocal potential this young man has! We were also thrilled that Katie-

Jane Sollars and Donatas Mikolaitis, who have both gone on to study music at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guilford, could be with us. They performed their arrangement of ‘Feeling Good’ for solo voice and acoustic guitar – wonderful to see how they are continuing to develop their performance skills.

Finally, a reminder that our school ‘band’ will meet again for Wednesday rehearsals between 3.00 – 4.00 pm for all instrumentalists from Grade 1 upwards starting on Wednesday 6th December. I look forward to seeing as many students there as possible; everyone is encouraged to be part of this group – a great way to develop musical skills, but also to meet new people and make new friends! Instruments can be brought into the department first thing in the morning, and left there during the day to avoid anyone having to carry them around. I look forward to seeing many musicians there … and to lots of great music-making in and around the department during the coming weeks! Mrs. Wellman Curriculum Leader for Music

Y7 Girls Football Well done to our Y7 girls football team who finished 4th in the Wokingham Schools SWIFT football tournament held at Goals on Wednesday 29th November. We drew 1-1 against Piggott and Maiden Erlegh whilst narrowly losing against Bohunt and St Crispins. Congratulations to Mia Davies who Miss Nabarro and Miss Matthews have nominated as player of the tournament for her excellent goal keeping. A fantastic effort from all the girls. They are a credit to the PE department and are already looking forward to lots more fixtures next term. If you are interested in playing for the team, training is on Fridays from 3-4pm and is run by coach, Georgia Graham, from Reading Football Club. Miss Matthews Teacher of PE

PiXL Maths App Leaderboard At the end of the first week (Sunday 3rd Dec) the participation in the Arithmetic Challenge has been fantastic. Already 39% of all year 8s and 9s have logged in to start their challenge which is brilliant. We already have ten finishers! Ashely Cable was first across the line on Wednesday evening with Mr Marshall barely able to refresh his page quick enough to keep up with Ashley’s progress. In a very close second was Cameron Kristensen and then Matthew Keaney completed the 9x1 clean sweep for the top three. All ten will receive a small prize and certificate showing all of the mathematics skills they have mastered. The PIXL app is open to explore and any mathematics outside of the arithmetic challenge contributes to our year leader boards for engagement which students and staff have enjoyed viewing over the first week with so many amazing demonstrations of effort and determination.

Our year 11 students are also using the app for their revision to great effect and it was also introduced to our year 10s over the weekend. Well done to everyone who has already logged in, take your time and let’s see how many of our fantastic and determined Emmbrook mathematicians can complete this challenge. Good Luck! Mr. Marshall Teacher of Maths

Hillside Primary Visit Mrs Hodgson spent a pleasant afternoon visiting Hillside Primary School to talk to the year 6 students about preparing for Secondary School and how to help themselves make transition easier. The discussion was then opened up to year 5 parents at the end of the school day with a presentation from Mrs Hodgson and time for a question and answer session at the end. She said: “It was lovely to meet the year 6 students and then year 5 with their parents to talk about transition and to put some young (and not so young) minds at rest. I am looking forward to meeting them again in the near future once places for Secondary schools have been allocated.”

Mr Whitehouse Assistant Headteacher

Winter Illness

As Christmas fast approaches so too do the seasonal bugs that frequent us every year. May we just remind parents that if your child has been sick or had diarrhoea that they should be kept off school until their symptoms have stopped. Children should be clear of any symptoms for at least 48 hours before they return to school which is in line with NHS guidance. Parents are also reminded that they need to call or email in on each day of their child’s absence. The following link may be useful as a point of reference: https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Yourchildatschool/Pages/Illness.aspx Mrs. Blyth Pastoral Director

Badminton Club 14 students who have been attending Badminton Club on a regular basis this term contested a Ladder Tournament during last week’s club session, challenging each other to numerous singles games throughout the session and keeping a track of their own scoring and positions. At the end of the final round of games that afternoon, the top 3 spots were being occupied by Matthew Horwood (Y9), Elliot Griffiths (Y7) and Mitchell Gomm (Y9). Great to see so many keen students attending every week to enjoy the game, develop their skills and work together in a mutually supportive manner. Equipment even gets packed away afterwards without anyone having to be asked! The club is open to all students, of all abilities every Wednesday in the Sports Hall from 3.00 to 4.00pm. Mr. Baylis Curriculum Leader for PE

Important Dates for 2017-18

4th December Start of Y11 PPE

6th December Y12 PCE (Invite Only)

18th December Last day of Y11 PPE

19th December Last day of term (Half day)

4th January 2018 Spring Term Starts

Additional details can also be found on our website

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner for students and staff will be on Wednesday 13th December. Pre-booking required with the ladies in the canteen by Wednesday 6th December. Please give any allergy advice upon booking.

The Canteen Staff

Duke of Edinburgh

The new DofE Bronze Award course is now underway! Good luck to all those pupils who are taking part this year – you are all going to have a lot of fun! We also have 3 Silver Award groups this year which is fantastic and they are already planning some exciting expeditions in the Forest of Dean and the Brecon Beacons.

Mr. McNaughton

DofE Coordinator

Bronze Silver

Luke Attryde Dylan Taylor

Thomas Barnett Luis Allwright

Daniela Bertolino Matthew Glencross

Ashley Cable Louis Jacques

Lucy Clarke Joe Loughrey

Patrick Collins Amelia Abbott

Grace Coyne Charlie Watson

Paddy Coyne Charlie MacDonald

Tazmin Cresswell Leila Pett-Ridge

Tom Eccles Jack Eagles

Annabelle Face

Alexis Giagnocovo Izzy Newson

Charlie Godwin Jonny Parker

Alexandra Harvard Ella Layley-Allwright

Matthew Horwood Harry Turpin

Orla Keogh Nellie Cooke

Connor Lawrence Alfred Robinson

Nick Melbourne Aaron Blinks

Willow Norman Jeetaditya Charterjee

Adam Palethorpe Will Randall Samuel Streafield Joeseph Taylor Hannah Tomkinson Yousaf Umair Connor Wiltshire

School Council

On Friday 10th November we held student council elections for Year 7 to 10. Students had to give a brief talk to their form as to why they wanted to be the form representative and then they were elected by secret ballot to ensure that the democratic process was adhered to. Year 11 will be voting this week so their names will be on a future edition. I would like to thank all the students who put themselves forward to represent their form and school community. The first student council meeting will be held next week to discuss this year’s key foci.

Year 7 7A: Megan Wrobel and Owen Ward 7B: Amelia Athey and Morgan Lee 7C: Amy Collins and Kieran Bazely

7D: Erin Mulvaney and Joe Morshead 7E: Alexandra Reis and Josh Fowler

Year 8 8A: Samantha Uschold and Harry Wallace 8B: Rachel Swindley and Sebastian Hope

8C: Sophie Janes and Leo Hiscock 8D: Ellie Risi and Jonathan Dodd

8E: Eve Watson and Malik Robinson Year 9

9A: Ruby Hedges and Ashley Cable 9B: Mary Pratt and Brandon Aiken

9C: Hannah Tomkinson and Connor Cole 9D: Layla-Mae Martin and Stuart Hoare 9E: Sofia Woodward and Will Simpson 9F: Emily Phillips and Daniel Robson 9G: Dani Bertolino and William Hope

Year 10 10A: Peony Lewis & David Kercso/Tom Dalton

10B: Zara Sullivan & Jack Burns 10C: Maisie Skelland & Solly Wheeler 10D: Klaudia Tyrala & Jeet Chatterjee

10E: Maddie Rawlings-Dalton & Luke Woodhead Elected council members for 10F: Ellie Kedward & Charlie Godwin

Mrs. Blyth

Pastoral Director

Sporting Success

Kristian Bell who plays for Whitegrove FC earned player of the match against Teddington FC on Saturday 25th November. Kristian was nominated by his team manager for his excellent defence as right back. Well done Kristian, keep up the good work!

On Sunday 26th Conor McNiffe fought in the World Kick Boxing Championship in Birmingham. Out of 4 fights, he won 2 and dominated the semi-final to secure at least 3rd place. In the final Conor unfortunately lost to the 5 x world champion. Well done Conor on achieving your bronze medal. A brilliant sporting achievement!!!

Well done to our fantastic Y10 Netball team who were narrowly defeated by Luckley School. All the girls have developed greatly since our first fixture a couple of months ago and their improvement is clear to see. Player of the match was awarded to Captain, Nellie Cooke. Special thanks to Abi Herridge, Grace Coyne and Chloe Fidler who stepped in to play for Y10 at short notice.

Miss Matthews

Teacher of PE