marden newssmartfile.s3.amazonaws.com/.../2020/02/marden-news... · marden high school is one of...

MARDEN NEWS Spr ing Edition Febr uar y 2020

Design & Technology

(inc DT Clubs and STEM)

Business Studies

Music

Geography

RE

Message from the Head Teacher

Valentine's poetr y competi tion

NEW Geography Club

Photography Club competi tion w inners

YMCA Windermere Lakeside Challenge

Featuring this Half Term

Key Subjects:-Special Highlights:-

YMCA Windermere Lakeside Challenge

Year 7 Wellbeing Day -

Tr y Something Different

Languages Event - Newcastle Univer si ty

Marden High School Newsletter February 2020

Com m unit y Individualit y Possibil i t y

Fr iday 14th Februar y 2020

Dear All ,

I hope that in this half-termly newsletter you can see what an enjoyable and busy half

term i t has been w ith lots of excellent learning and extr a-cur r icular activi ties going on.

We know that general ly our students and staff enjoy coming to school, and that they feel

they belong to the Marden family, and i t is always good to see when this is r ef lected in

feedback from our r egular sur veys.

In our latest student sur vey we found that an increasing propor tion of students felt the

school provided them w ith oppor tuni ties to contr ibute to the community, which r ef lects

the development of the PTA summer fayre, and of the char i ty work we par take in as well

as the l inks we have w ith local spor ts clubs and the police cadets. 92% of students felt that

school teaches them about r espect for people of al l r aces, backgrounds and rel igions,

r ef lecting the work we have done w ith Show Racism The Red Card, something which gives

us hope for a more peaceful and posi tive future, w i th our students leading the way in

show ing respect and kindness for other s. The major i ty of students feel they have someone

to talk to about their mental healthiness, and this w i l l be enhanced by our work in

achieving the Bronze Mental Health Award in 2019. 93% of students feel that the level of

challenge is r ight w ith homework. A signi f icant propor tion felt that they enjoyed lessons

and were making progress, whi lst a greater propor tion than ever before stated that they

felt they had a say in school decisions. This development in r esi l ience, belonging,

enjoyment and student leadership is a r ef lection of the work we continue to do around

school and we look for ward to the outcomes of the Spr ing student sur vey next half term.



Our staff are our most precious r esource. We know that in order to meet our core purpose,

to provide the best educational exper iences for our chi ldren, i t works best when our staff

are happy and fulf i l led in their work, so we have a keen focus on well being throughout the

school. The Valued Worker Scheme, which Marden has now joined, seeks to r einfor ce this

ethos, and we are ver y much looking for ward to br inging together a group of staff from

across the school dur ing the coming weeks to see how we can fur ther enhance the well

being, and enjoyment at work for our staff .

Marden High school is one of the ear ly adopter schools who are pi loting the new statutor y

r elationships and sex education cur r iculum. As of September 2020 al l schools in the countr y

w i l l be expected to deliver lessons on par ticular aspects of r elationship and sex education.

This means that as a school we w i l l be compliant w ith the new government r egulations

ahead of time and also that we have the oppor tuni ty to feed our exper iences into the

Depar tment for Education through research work. There is also a strong l ink between the

safeguarding of students and the new statutor y r equir ements. I f anyone is interested in

looking at the new Personal Development cur r iculum you can f ind the information on the

school websi te.

We have an exci ting House competi tion coming up after the half term holiday. As you know ,

not al l plastic is r ecyclable, and constr ucting Eco Br icks is a way to make use of these

plastics. Of course, whi le we should al l str ive to use less, this novel use of waste plastic is

cer tainly a step in the r ight dir ection for our planet, w i ldl i fe and communities. Eco Br icks

are made from plastic bottles packed w ith used, clean and dr y plastic to create a bui lding

block that can be used over and over again, and the competi tion w i l l be to see which House

col lects the most Eco Br icks. These w i l l then be used on our school si te in creating an area

decided upon by the School Cabinet, for example, a walled garden. Best of luck to ever yone

in this competi tion, and star t saving your plastics now.

I hope al l our students and staff have a r estful half term break and we look for ward to

seeing each other again on Monday 24th Februar y. Thank you for your continued suppor t.

Mr M. Snape

Head Teacher



Our M:10 students organised and held our f i r st Y7 Disco on Thursday night which was a great success.

The student leadership show n in the organising, planning and running of the event was evident throughout and helped them raise over £250 for the visi t to Mexico next summer.

Follow ing the ver y posi tive feedback from those who attended and the great agency show n dur ing the planning stages, by the student, there is hope that a future disco, for Y8 w i l l take place as our tr adi tion of school discos begins.



Pupi ls focus on ?Wellbeing?

On the 31st of Februar y Marden High School launched i ts f i r st ever ?Wellbeing day? for Year 7 pupi ls. This was fol low ing the success of two ver y well-r eceived staff ?Wellbeing days? over the previous two years.

The theme for the day was to ?Tr y Something Different.?

Mrs Robson said, ?at Marden we strongly bel ieve that in order to thr ive i t is impor tant that pupi ls know how to look after their ow n well being and create balance in their l ives between their academic studies and their developing interests.?

?The thinking behind this day was to give Year 7 pupi ls an oppor tuni ty to take par t in activi ties that they might not have considered before w ith other pupi ls that they might not usually mix w ith.?

Ahead of the day i tself pupi ls were asked to pick two activi ties from a l ist including: ceramics - making clay sculptures; music - where pupi ls got to play steel pans and tr y their hand at Samba drumming; drama, consisting of masks, mime and movement and a session of musical theatre; food, where pupi ls made pinata cupcakes; si lent f i lm making in media; making a photo fr ame in design and technology and enter ing the ?Dragon?s Den? w ith their ow n enterpr ise ideas.



Alongside the activi ties, al l pupi ls took par t in a session led by Dar yl Mckinley from ?The Tree of Know ledge? where they took par t in activi ties that explored the six behaviours of posi tive psychology: zest, optimism, grati tude, gr i t, self-control and emotional / social intel l igence. Mr Snape remarked, ?there was a r eal buzz around the school and I was impressed w ith how engaged the pupi ls were w ith the activi ties and how w i l l ing they were to ?tr y something di f ferent.?

The evaluation from the pupi ls was extr emely posi tive w ith comments such as, ?I would l ike to have another day l ike this in the future. I t was amazing!? and ?I enjoyed the day, as I got to do new things (playing the steel drums) and learnt other things in the Tree of Know ledge session.?

Mrs Robson summed up the end of the day by congratulating the pupi ls on their engagement and expressing how well pupi ls had tr ied something new and displayed zest, optimism, grati tude, gr i t, self-control and emotional / social intel l igence across the day.

Mrs Robson



Tr y Something Different Day

As well as continuing to offer extr a-cur r icular oppor tuni ties after school w ith Mrs Rae?s Cooker y Club, Mrs Green?s UpCycling Group and Miss Nicholls? CREST Award students, Technology also offered sessions as par t of Year 7?s ?Tr y Something Different? day.

Students worked w ith great independence and care w ith Miss Nicholls to produce photo fr ames in the workshop. With only two hours, the outcomes were fantastic w ith al l students creating their ow n fr ame from scratch using tools and machiner y in the workshop.

In both cases students were trying skills that were brand new and did a fabulous job, the frames looked great and the cakes smelled delicious!

In the food room Mrs Rae made hidden sweet cupcakes. Again, students worked quickly and careful ly to produce their ow n design of cupcakes f i l led

w ith sweets.

Ms Nicholls



Design & Technology

The Spr ing Term has seen a lot of change happening w ithin Technology w ith many projects coming to an end ready for the next rotation to star t. Year 9 in par ticular have been putting their design and practical ski l ls to the test creating their ow n aluminium bottle openers in the engineer ing room and uti l ising the workshop to produce lamps inspir ed by the 1927 classic Anglepoise (more commonly r ecognised now as the Pixar lamp).

Ms Nicholls



Year 7 STEM

With STEM lessons, Year 7 have been designing the per fect bal loon powered car s.

Testing their understanding of aerodynamics, students worked creatively in teams to produce their ow n car design and race them against one another in competi tion to see who could tr avel the fur thest and quickest.

In more r ecent lessons students are tr ying out their ski l ls as str uctural engineers and ar chi tects, using their maths and science know ledge to develop their ow n paper str aw towers in hope of having the tal lest and strongest str ucture.

Ms Nicholls



YMCA Lakeside Challenge

Last weekend, a selected group of students attended the YMCA centre in Windermere for the Lakeside Challenge, an intense outward bounds activi ty competi tion, involving schools from around the countr y and taking place over a number of weekends in Februar y.

The students worked ver y hard late into Fr iday night and r ight through to Sunday lunchtime, learning new ski l ls and representing the school to the highest standard.



Mr Pr ytherch and Mr Topping

They were a credit to the school ? well done to all who took part!



Music

A talented group of Year 9 musicians have been invi ted to par ticipate in TICE (This is Creative Enterpr ise) Music Industr y this year. On 21st of Januar y they completed the Insight Day of the program which involved a whole day workshop in school w ith professional musicians. They learnt about di f ferent career options in the industr y and w rote their ow n songs to a music industr y br ief. The next stage of the process cal led ?Explore? w i l l see them visi ting var ious venues to investigate di f ferent careers as well as prepar ing music for another creative br ief.

TICE Insight Day

School Production of We Wil l Rock You

Staff and students of the drama and music depar tment have been busy r ehearsing away for the annual school production and this year i t is We Wil l Rock You. Lines are being learnt, songs rehearsed, and scenes are being put together for what promises to be a great show on the 4th and 5th March. Tickets w i l l be on sale after Februar y half term from LRC and are £5.00 for adults and £3.00 for concessions. There are two casts this year due to the large number of students involved so be sure to double check which night you would l ike to see as there w i l l be di f ferent pupi ls per forming on each night.

Ms Gibbings



Business Studies

Once again, Marden High School GCSE Business students have had a busy half term.

Y11 continue to fever ishly work towards their GCSE exams in summer by acquir ing the last few bi ts of new know ledge before diving head f i r st into ful l r evision mode to sol idi fy that content to the best of their abi l i t ies using a r ange of di f ferent r evision str ategies.

In Y10, students have not only been learning about the theoretical underpinnings of business, but for one week in mid Januar y, have been able to w itness business in action f i r st hand. By under taking a week long work exper ience placement, Y10 students, as Y11 did twelve months pr ior , have had the chance to put their theor y into practice, and w itness that what they see in textbooks and lessons really is what happens in the w ider business wor ld.

We look for ward to welcoming back Y10 and hear ing al l about their work exper ience and how they can apply what they?ve seen to what they?ve been studying. Work exper ience is often the f i r st chance to begin to form an answer to the age-long question of ?what do you want to do when you?re older??. We?re sure Y10 w i l l have found work exper ience as enjoyable as they did enlightening.



Mr Yarde

The Marden Dragon?s Den Enterpr ise Club w itnessed a roar ing tr ade over the Chr istmas per iod. Between them, the 5 groups that took par t managed to generate a stagger ing £315 in r evenue thanks to some incredibly suppor tive customers, both in and out of school.

As al l keen business people are, the groups are chomping at the bi t to keep the momentum going and are alr eady consider ing their next product launch.

A new year , a new decade, and a new chance for new students to join Marden Dragon?s Den Enterpr ise Club star ts now ! As par t of the next task, we?re asking students, both existing and new members, to under take the Tenner Challenge. With not a penny more than £10 avai lable to spend, just how much revenue can our budding entr epreneurs make? Only time w i l l tel l . Which side of the business fence do you want to be on, the buyer or the sel ler?

Whether you have a group or not, come along to Marden Dragon?s Den Enterpr ise Club that r uns on a Thursday lunchtime (week B) to see what al l the fuss is about!



Languages Event - Newcastle Univer si ty

Ever y year , Whitley Bay High MFL depar tment invi tes Marden High students to attend a great event suppor ted by the Univer si ty of Newcastle. PGCE and language degree students come along to suppor t the students in improving their l inguistic abi l i t ies and speaking ski l ls.

Having a go at learning di f ferent languages: Arabic, Spanish, Catalan, I tal ian, Chinese, Por tuguese.

Fir stly they are introduced to a var iety of di f ferent languages, having a go at pronunciation and also learning cultural aspects.

Our Marden MFL group.



In groups they then prepare shop based conversations and shopping l ists to go and buy a var iety of i tems in their target language.

Tr ying out shop conversations.

Making the shopping l ist in French and German.

Now i t is time for shopping and practising those speaking

ski l ls.

Ms Mellor

The students worked ver y well together w ith those from Whitley Bay High and were a credi t to the school, w inning some of the best student pr izes nominated by the Univer si ty Ambassadors.



Galette des Rois

On Januar y 6, in thousands of French homes ? and hundreds of English ones ? a f laky cake know n as a galette des rois (kings? tar t) is ser ved.

Tradi tion has i t that i f you f ind a tiny f igure in your sl ice, you are king or queen for the night, and you?re given a golden crow n.

Our French speaking assistant, Nathalie, kindly brought in one of the fr angipane tar ts to share w ith the Year 11 French class last week. The youngest student in the class (Emma) cal led out names and Nathalie ser ved the sl ices of galette to the class as they were named.

Sophie was crow ned queen for the day after f inding the ?fève? in her sl ice of tar t and this may be the star t of a new tr adi tion in KS4 lessons.

Ms Mulvenney



Geography

Geography Spr ing 1

With year 9 options upon us and Year 11 consider ing their next moves we have had a focus on careers in Geography this term. We have been car r ying out decision making exercises in class which w i l l help to bui ld our students autonomy and cr i tical thinking ski l ls. Our students have car r ied out work from the perspective of disaster management author i ties in Haiti , road developers in the Peruvian Rainforest and tour ism managers in the Austral ian Deser t.

The ski l ls on show have demonstrated that our students w i l l go on to great things when they leave school and those consider ing a career in the working wor ld of geographers are well equipped to do so. We have some of the career options on display in Hu5 which should make for interesting r eading for anyone thinking of pur suing a career in a Geography related job.

Our new Geography Club got under way last term and has been ver y well attended since star ting. ?Geogglebox? is an oppor tuni ty for students to come together to watch programs which w i l l help to broaden their understanding of the concepts we learn about in Geography.

Geogglebox Geography Club

Mr Blakey

Look out for the weekly ?Geogglebox? l istings around the humanities classrooms and join us on a Thursday after school to watch one of the programs from the l ist.



RE

This term in RE Year 8 students have begun looking at the concept of human r ights and social justice. As this coincided w ith Holocaust Memor ial Day we spent some time looking at the Holocaust and how this dark event in histor y inf luenced the human r ights we have today.

Dur ing our lessons we explored the stor ies of those lucky enough to sur vive, and thought careful ly about the emotions of both victims and perpetrator s. Tr ying to analyse why people are capable of doing such ter r ible things to other s is extr emely impor tant in terms of identi fying and preventing injustice today.

We have discussed at length how dur ing this time in histor y whi le we did see the ver y worst of humanity, we also saw some of the ver y best of humanity. People who put themselves at r isk to save others demonstrates the capaci ty of humans to love.

Br i tish heroes of the Holocast such as Nicholas Winton and Frank Foley were the epi tome of this and students enjoyed ver y much learning about their stor ies.

Ms MacLeod

Holocaust Memor ial Day



WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

YEAR 7 WINNER

Libby Shaw

Libby has demonstrated some superb ski l ls in this photograph, most notably in the use of l ight and depth of f ield, and has chosen the per fect time of day.

The tr ee, bathed in the dying of the l ight, acts as a focal point, posi tioned so that the road fol lows your eye towards i t, but in choosing to focus on the cobbles which take up most of the fr ame i t subver ts the conventional sunset picture.

?A br i l l iant concept and I love the textures of the outcome.?

- Mr Snape

?I love the ti l t shi f t effect.?

- Ms Olbrecht

Two di f ferent clubs now run each week in the Media Studio; Year 7 dur ing Tuesday lunchtime and Year 8 & 9 after school on a Thursday.



This image really shows that sometimes you have to be in the r ight place at the r ight time. Zoe is not afr aid to capture as much darkness as possible in this photograph; the sun breaking through the clouds turning the sky a soft yel low colour , but i t is the r est of the dominant greys and blacks which demonstrate the w inter theme superbly.

The si lhouette of the dog walker captured in the sun?s beam makes this photograph extr a special, giving i t a grand scale and an other -wor ldly feel.


YEAR 8 WINNER

Zoe Armstrong



Mr Ranson


YEAR 9 WINNER

Adam Jones

This photograph is a technical tr iumph, per fectly fr amed to draw your eye to al l sor ts of interesting things; the sweep of the pier on the left, the off centre l i fef loat, the jagged rock face to the r ight, the log in the immediate foreground and the clean str aight l ines of the beach, sea and post.

The stormy sky and r ichly textured sand encapsulate the w inter theme. A seemingly ordinar y setting has been made more interesting by the thoughtful fr aming and moody l ight. Ver y well done!



Valentine's Poetr y Competi tion

Ms Potter

The results of the Valentine's Poetr y Competi tion are as fol lows:-

First place Esther Atonio (9E)

Second place Julie Mar tin (9E)

There were 39 entr ies altogether so a huge congratulations to al l for taking par t and for their effor ts!

Esther Atonio Julie Mar tin



Reading List

Here are some suggestions of books you might want to r ead over year 7.

(You should be tr ying to r ead at least one of these per half-term)

Reading List



- The Adventures of Sher lock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

- The Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

- The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins- After the Fir st Death - Robert Cormier - The Univer se Versus Alex Woods - Gavin

Extance- The Enemy - Charlie Higson- Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce- Car r ie?s War - Nina Bawden- The Foreshadow ing - Marcus Sedgewick- The Nor thern Lights ser ies - Philip

Pullman- Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman- Treasure Island - R.L Stevenson- Mar tyn Pig - Kevin Brooks- The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman- Small Steps - Louis Sachar- A Chi ld Called ?It? - Dave Pelzer- The Woman in Black - Susan Hill

Want a challenge?

- The Cur ious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

- Li fe of Pi - Yann Martel- The Help - Kathryn Stockett- Animal Farm - George Orwell - Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte- Lord of the Fl ies - William Golding

- The Enemy - Charlie Higson- Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce- Wonder - R.J Palacio- Treasure Island - R.L Stevenson- The Adventure Ser ies Lee Tony- The Adventure of Huckleber r y Finn

- Mark Twain- Bl i tzcat - Robert Westall- Holes - Louis Sachar- Stormbreaker - Anthony Horowitz- The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien- Madame Doubtf i r e - Anne Fine- The Edge - Alan Gibbons- Mi l l ions - Frank Cottrell Boyce- The Secret Diar y of Adr ian Mole -

Sue Townsend

Want a challenge?

- War Horse - Michael Morpurgo- Great Expectations - Charles

Dickens- The Lord of the Rings Tr i logy - JRR

Tolkien- The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak- The Adventures of Sher lock Holmes

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle



Reading List



Reading List

Here are some suggestions of books you might want to r ead over year 10 & 11.


Animal Farm - George Orwell

The Cur ious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

The Absolutely True Diar y of a Par t-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Lord of the Fl ies - William Golding

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Angel Blood John Singleton

Tip! Try to get into the habit of reading newspapers too! This will help for your English exam.

Want a challenge?

Wuther ing Heights - Emily Bronte

Junk - Melvin Burgess

1984 - George Orwell

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald

The War of the Wor lds - H.G. Wells

1984 - George Orwell

Animal Farm - George Orwell

A Room w ith a View - E.M. Forster

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Br ighton Rock - Graham Greene

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

The Cur ious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

David Copper f ield - Charles Dickens

East of Eden -John Steinbeck

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

I Know Why the Caged Bir d Sings - Maya Angelou

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Marden High School Newsletter


The LRC is open to students between 8.30am and 4.00pm, although the space is l imited.

This is a quiet area for students to r ead, r evise and complete homework before school, break, lunchtimes and after school.

There are desks and computer s avai lable to use and many new ly r eleased books and comfor table seating areas in which to r ead

February 2020

Marden's LRC

At Marden high School we suppor t students w ith a w ide r ange of medical conditions.

We?d l ike to r emind parents that students should not be car r ying any medication in school unless by pr ior agreement for those w ith asthma, diabetes and al lergies.

Where medication is absolutely necessar y for other conditions, e.g. antibiotics, pain r el ief, we have tr ained staff who w i l l make ar rangements for safe storage and administr ation of medication. Parents are r esponsible for br inging medicines into school and we requir e w r i tten consent (form avai lable from Reception); al l medicines should be in their or iginal packaging and clear ly labelled.

Any quer ies please contact Mrs Sonia Thompson, Medications Off icer.

Medication in School

Impor tant Notice

Marden High School Newsletter


REMINDER : MOBILE PHONES IN SCHOOL

Mobi le phones are not to be used by students dur ing school times, unless express permission has been given by a teacher for i t to be used for learning purposes. (8.45am - 15.15pm)

Students w i l l have their phones confiscated unti l the end of the day i f caught using them in school.

At Marden High School, we have invested in a Parent Por tal so that you can get accurate, up-to-date information about your chi ld. We provide access to Attendance, Achievement, Behaviour , Exam Dates / Results and Repor ts in r eal-time, and we also use the Parent Por tal to make Parents Evening bookings.

To access the parent por tal, you need to visi t mardenhigh.net, then cl ick on ei ther the Parent Por tal l ink on the r ight, or cl ick on Parents | Parent Por tal. Your username w i l l be your emai l address. I f you haven't given us your emai l address, you can contact off [email protected] to get your emai l address updated. I f you don't want to use

your emai l address, we can generate a username for you and provide you w ith those log on detai ls. I f you have forgotten your password, then you can use the "Don't know your password?" l ink on the Parent Por tal log on page. Passwords can also be r eset by emai l ing off [email protected]

There are some quick guides on how to use the por tal under Parents | Parent Por tal Guides.

Parent Por tal Information

February 2020

Please ensure that al l i tems of clothing are clear ly marked w ith your chi ld?s name.

We have a lost proper ty box in the General Off ice where students may search for ?lost? i tems.

The box is emptied at the end of each half term and al l i tems remaining w i l l be r ecycled.

Lost Proper ty

http://mardenhigh.net/

marden newssmartfile.s3.amazonaws.com/.../2020/02/marden-news... · marden high school is one of...

Documents