WELCOME

SHOEBOXESCuddly toys, crayons, warm socks and sweet treats were just some of the gifts packed into colourfully wrapped boxes by staff and students of Neatherd as they once again support the Samaritans Purse Shoebox Appeal. “This is already the fourth year that we have supported this fantastic project”, says Sonia Walker, Associate Headteacher, “this year we launched it as an inter-house competition – Cavell house contributed 53 alone and therefore were awarded with 1000 house points”.Six International Prefects delivered the boxes to the Dereham Community Hub where all the shoebox donations from the local area are collected, checked and sealed before they go on their long

journey. The Neatherd pupils were able to help processing the boxes and to gain an insight into the operation. “It was really good to get involved in such a good cause and I loved seeing all the different presents for the Romanian children”, says Caitlin Bedingfield.

Dear ReadersWhat a fantastic level of industry there has been this term; I am so proud of what your children have achieved . Thank you so much for all the support parents and carers have given. The school feels happy, purposeful and calm and needless to say, I am beaming! We have also seen a significant rise in our intake figures for next year which I hope is a reflection of what we think we have to offer and that increasing numbers of prospective parents can see in our current students the potential for their children. I have seen all our new staff teach and it has been, without exception, a real privilege to see such talented teachers helping students learn.We hope you like the new style Neatherd Hi!, please let us know. As you will see inside this edition the school has indeed been a busy, buzzing place. It is always difficult to pick out highlights but for me two proud moments stand out. The first was watching three of our boys dancing on stage at the Theatre Royal in a professional production of the Lord of the Flies – standing ovations at every performance. The second was the opening of the 3G arena – a project which was only a twinkle in our eyes this time last year and is now in full use during the day and available for

the local community in the evening, even now under its own hashtag: #teamneatherd!One final reflection is on the way children have responded so warmly and compassionately to the Christmas shoebox appeal. This has made Christmas that little bit happier for 140 children. What a fantastic thing to do and something that reminds us of what Christmas is all about. So a final thank you to our students that have fully embraced our school community values – back to me beaming again! So, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and all the very best for a great 2015.Peter Devonish, Headteacher

NEW STAFF

FESTIVAL OF LITERATUREIn November we were lucky enough to hold the Neatherd Festival of Literature, which was organised by the English department and lasted for a week. We were fortunate to be able to enjoy assemblies and workshops lead by famous writers. Alexander Gordon-Smith came in to do a workshop with Year 7 pupils. He captivated the audience who were impressed to meet the person who has written the well-loved “Furnace” Series. Not only the boys got excited when the author Robert Rigby talked to pupils in assembly about his book. His series “Goal” is well known by a lot of teenagers.Plus, outside of the canteen saw teachers and students joining in with the book swap shop which involved swapping used books, completely free of charge!There was something for all year groups, including taking part in a poetry workshop during an English lesson with the famous poet Tim Clare. The hour was spent using creative skills to come up with unique and

inventive poems, before the poet took lines from everybody and combined them to make a long, but hilarious class poem.Furthermore, each day the bell went 15 minutes early so that every student could

read their own book. This was to remind and encourage students that reading is important, and is a skill we use every day. It was also a nice way to end the day, as well as celebrate the festival. Overall the week was a success, and we look forward

to what will come next year. “We organise this Festival of Literature every year in order to remind our students that English is really about the love of reading”, says Miss Dixon from the English department, “if we have managed to spark this fire and interest for books, we know that we have done our job properly”.

ELLEN HODGES

On top of the extensive list of new teachers welcomed to Neatherd featured in the last issue, there are even more new faces at the school.

Joining the Geography team is Miss Powell-Bowns. After attending university in Leeds, she began a long career in education, ranging from Cromer and Wymondham to Tanzania. Miss Powell-Bowns has settled into Neatherd well,

and feels privileged to be at such a good school “full of receptive pupils”. With aims to further improve confidence and prompt aspirations, we are very pleased

to welcome this new member of staff.Joining the Photography team this year is Miss McDonald-Bell. Following several years of teaching and workshops, and an education in Norwich, this teacher’s love of photography, illustration and film led her to work at Neatherd. After a great start at the school, McDonald-Bell is enjoying the “lovely environment”, finding the students to be creative and friendly. We hope she settles in well as another passionate member of staff at Neatherd.

JAMES CLARKE

NEATHERD’S GOT TALENTFriends of Neatherd High School hosted the school’s annual talent show on 13th November. The audience was treated to an array of singing, dancing and musical talent from the 12 acts so that the show was packed with talent, ingenuity, integrity and fun. Head Girl and talent show judge Charlie Bunting, said, “I always knew that there are lots of talented children at Neatherd, but it’s great to see so many of them performing together”.

In addition to Charlie, the judges for the evening included Mr Devonish, Mrs Williamson, and cheesy pun-meisters Mr O’Brien and Ollie Engler. Their

close-called vote went to Zac Fisher (Year 11) who presented a slick magic card trick act that astounded all - including Zac himself who was still getting his tricks wrong an hour before the show! Zac, being the true performer that he is, was assured, sharp, professional and exuberant in his delivery. He thoroughly deserved his prize.The audience had the opportunity to vote for their favourite act. Their vote went to an ensemble of Year 9 musicians: Hannah Bavage - vocals and guitar, Cerys Blake - vocals and keyboard, Ellie Jackman -flute and Jess Irving - vocals and keyboard. The girls were fantastic and pretty darned faultless as they performed the 4 Chord Song - a medley of bits of songs in the same 4 chords.All of the acts produced thoroughly

enjoyable and well-rehearsed performances. Notable near-winners were Alice Bridges (Year 8 singer),

Nathan Codling on acoustic guitar accompanying an exuberant Lucy Kirk, (both Year 9 students). Jamie Salter, Jess Bradley and Holly Grant, Year 8 and Alex Sidney, Year 7, played keyboard , Emily Gibson and Alicia Randall (Year 9) performed an a-cappella medley of songs from Wicked. Mallory Bush (Year 9) performed a solo dance. Year 7 was well represented with Damien Brett – a very promising singer and the astounding rock guitarist - George Crisp; George didn’t smile once but played SOOOOO well! Technical support for the evening was provided by Mr Walden, Mr Moore and Harry Sutton (Year 9) and Finlay Reid (Year 8). Not forgetting the expert compering skills of Mr Mayhew and Mr Dunn, holding the evening together like glue.The Friends of Dereham Neatherd High School ensured that the evening ran smoothly. They provided delicious, home-baked refreshments and a chocolate and treat filled raffle. The Friends intend that profits from the evening will help pay for various projects in school.

At 7.15am, Johnny and myself arrived at a freezing cold Norwich train station. We met Mr Clennell and Head Chef Graeme there, and Mr C gave us our tickets. When we arrived, we then walked across to 15 Hatfields at 11.30. We got given name badges upon arrival and then got shown to the cloakroom, before being lead to our table. We chatted in the large social room at the end of the corridor and had drinks. Jeanette Orrey MBE (The Dinner Lady) came in and chatted to us, complimenting our ties! After Jeanette had introduced herself and the event, Brian Turner CBE (he has appeared on BBC’s Ready Steady Cook) came on to the stage. He talked for a while about the Food For Life organisation, then the awards started.

First, the Bronze Award schools, then the Silver Schools. Then there was lunch break. We chose from Leek & Ham Pie

with mash, Squash & Aubergine Tagine with Cous Cous and Steak & Mint Stew with dumplings, all served with fresh veg, to choose from! For dessert, there was yet again a choice! You could choose Pear Tart or Caramelised Banana Bread & Butter Pudding with homemade custard.

Then, once we had eaten, we returned back to our table for our award. We got called up, after Jeanette had introduced us, and Johnny and myself spoke on stage. I think we both did quite well! Brian Turner gave us our award and we had our photo taken with him before returning to our seats. We all returned home after a VERY tiring, yet fun, day.

EMILY JESSOP

FOOD FOR LIFE

FIESTA MEXICANAFiesta Mexicana was the name of the Cook off which was organised by the Neatherd SNAG group in October. 9 teams, made up of students, teachers, parents and community members, took to the kitchen to come up with their Mexican creations. Any combination of sweet / savoury dishes was allowed. After tasting all the fantastic dishes produced, the judges Mr Clennell, Miss Hiscoke, Mr Smith, Miss Powell-Bowles, Mr Fisher and

Mr Mayhew declared the team made up of Mrs Barker, Hannah Norwood and Cooper Hopcroft (both Yr10) as winners. Second came Emily Jessop who competed with her mum.

ICELAND TRIPIn the October half-term 60 year 10s from Neatherd and Northgate travelled by coach and plane to the beautiful country

of Iceland. We arrived in Neatherd car park ready to leave at 6:00, we

put hold luggage away and hopped on ready for our journey to Gatwick airport. Although we had a minor hold-up trying to put our luggage into the hold we made it through security in one piece then onto the plane, and although 2 suitcases and 1 passport were missing when we got off the plane we eventually made it onto the Hopbilar coach and rode to the Blue Lagoon for our first swim. It was very unusual as there are Icelandic policies we don’t have in Britain. It was lots of fun but odd as it was cold air and really warm to boiling water, after a few hours we rode to the Skalinn Centre where we were greeted with our first meal.Over the days we climbed 2 volcanoes, walked in a Fischer which is a tear in a plate, and some other cool activities. Climbing the volcano of Eldfell on Heimaey Island took the whole day, but was definitely worth the time. We took a ferry to Heimaey then walked up the lava flow, we climbed the shoulder of the

volcano before reaching the high, narrow and windy cone. At the top of Eldfell we ate our picnic lunch - we found some heated patches of rock and some people melted their plastic bottles. When we arrived back at the Skalinn centre we were tired and in much need of a night’s sleep.The other volcano we climbed (just the

next day) was nowhere near as high but still quite steep, we climbed and took some photographs from the top. On our way down we passed another school on their way up, a few of

us called out encouragements to the passersby. Whilst we were there we visited a few waterfalls, the largest was called Gulfoss meaning “Golden Water” or “Golden

Waterfall” it was massive and we could see right across to the other side from where we stood. Also we visited the glacier and an exhibition about Eyjafjallajokull, also we went to see Stokkur Geyser which erupts on average

every 8 minutes. Throughout our week away our guide Sheila provided us with lots of information about all the things we saw, such as how what we saw was created and how it may go onto evolve. We appreciate the time

and effort that was put into this trip happening from all the teachers and other people who also helped.

BETHAN BATES

On the 13th of November 16 of Year 11s brightest students made their way to one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in all the world: Cambridge. “I was blown away by the College: it was amazing and unforgettable being there,” said Bryn Hughes, Kett’s deputy house captain. With the original title being ‘the College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist, and the Glorious Virgin Saint Radegund’, this college was built around an old convent, dating from the 12th century. Then, taking a moment to take in their magnificent surroundings, the Year elevens met with several Year twelve students from Dereham Sixth Form, and were welcomed by ex-neatherd student Ed Penn, who graduated from Cambridge last year and is now working as a School Liaison Officer at the University. Students were talked through the different aspects of Cambridge University which make it different - and arguably better - than other universities in the country; Mr Penn also talked about how the University is split into separate Colleges, Life at Jesus College and why they should apply for one of England’s top universities. “The information helped me understand more about Cambridge,” said Jess Bales, “ it only inspired me more to apply.”

After a short break, students were introduced to four of Cambridge’s undergraduate students who are living at Jesus College. They were able to answer any questions that were asked and could give a first-hand point of view of their application experiences. Maddie Palmer, Carter’s house captain, said “it was great to talk to real students and ask questions

that I wouldn’t normally be able to get answered.” Splitting into four groups, students were taken on a tour around the College, being shown the common room, the vast and impressive library and getting a taste of what life at Jesus College would be like. After an exquisite lunch, which was worthy of a Masterchef

semi-final, pupils were given a taster lecture in Chemical engineering by Dr Stuart Clark, a very upbeat and intelligent professor of Chemistry at the University. “I loved the taster lecture! It was very interesting and gave me a great idea of how courses would be taught at Cambridge”, said Eben Cunningham.

Thereafter, students were led through the iconic city centre and were able to see the distinguished Kings College, as well as an endless amount of bicycles which far outweighed the number of cars spotted in the city centre. Accompanied by Ed Penn, students were given a tour around yet another captivating College. Founded in 1348, Caius College (pronounced ‘keys’) is one of the largest Colleges at Cambridge, with 160 new undergraduates admitted every year. Although all of this college was enticingly captivating, what charmed me personally about this College was its incredible library. As well as housing over 100,00 books and journals, since 1996 it has been housed in the imposing Cockerell Building, a Grade 1 listed nineteenth-century premises. This provides a stimulating and inspiring environment for readers and visitors alike. After looking around this college, students walked back to Jesus College and sadly had to say goodbye to the stunning city.

GRACE CHAPMAN

CAMBRIDGE TRIP

FOOTBALLFOOTBALL MATCH REPORTS

Year 7 - 13/11/2014 Neatherd V Long StrattonFinal Score: 3-2 Neatherd!Match report by Jacob Thompson.

The game started with end to end play with attacking moves being even on both sides. As Neatherd settled into the game we became the stronger side putting the Long Stratton defence under pressure to keep the ball out of their half. The score was 0-0 for a good half of the first half, until Jake passed an excellent through ball to Jacob who took a shot at goal placing the ball into the top right corner, taking the score to 1-0 Neatherd before half time.After a brief rest and team talk from our coach Mr Hood we felt strong going into the sec-ond half. The game again settled into end to end play but with Jack feeling energetic he took the ball on from a great pass from Alfie and shot at the left bottom corner of the net taking us to 2-0 up. Shortly after this one of the opposition made a great run and took on our defence crossing the ball to his team mate who slipped it past our goalie 2-1.Harry Stanfield decided not to be outdone by Jacob or Jack so positioned himself on the right hand side of Jacob, Jacob played a through ball for Harry to make a run , got his foot to the ball and made a strike into the right bottom of the net; 3-1.Minutes after later Long Stratton were awarded a corner ball as it was struck into the box Harry accidently handballed the ball which resulted in a penalty. James Wallis ended up on a one to one, making himself as large as he could he set out to save the penalty but sadly the striker was too good and put it just out of reach on the right hand side of him as he dived left; 3-2.5-10 mins later Jacob received the ball on the left wing ran down the line, came inside and passed to Harry who was waiting on the wing. Unfortunately Harry’s strike was not on target and the final whistle went.A very good performance from all boys and a promising start to the Year 7 boy’s Footy team.

Year 11 - 1/11/2014 Neatherd V Hellesdon, Final Score: 0:2 Neatherd

Our year 11’s played their second round of the Norfolk County Cup at home on the astro against the current holders Hellesdon.It was a fairly tight game with the Neatherd boys playing some extremely good football, retaining possession and at times turning the Hellesdon defence inside out. However, the

boys were unfortunately out-muscled when it came down to the key moments and ended up losing the game 2-0.I think they may have been a little tired after a long day of PE and RS exams!!

It does go to show how far they have come though……as this time last year Mr Hodges was driving them back from KES after losing 10-0! Coach Barrinhio!

RUGBY MATCH REPORTS BY COACH MILLER:

Yr9 vs NorthgateLife is full of challenges – like getting something resembling a Y9 Rugby team from 1 lunch time club a week. So off we went to play Northgate (who we usually beat.)Our Y9s expected the same result, hence at half time we were 2 tries down and not playing to our best abilities. My team talk at half time pointed this out. We eventually won 19-10 – a great second half, from both sides actually, Josh Rich-ardson and Joao Baptista having particularly good games.

Yr9 vs K.E.S.A team that beat us last year, a long drive to Kings Lynn and the opposition scored in the first 5 minutes! From that moment on we just kept working and working – we scored, evened up the game, and eventually scored the winning try, with 10 minutes remaining.

Not one moment of the game was easy – we got no 50/50 decisions (read between the lines). Tremendous effort and commitment from the boys. 12-5 to Neatherd

Yr11 vs Wymondham HighThe Y11 team, since Y7 have never beaten Wymondham High. Our players walked onto the pitch, facing certain defeat (again). That takes some guts. We started without arguably our best player, Captain and frequent man-of-the-match: James Pearce. We lost 2 other significant players so added some Y10 players.

Team talk - quite simple: “Give me 15 minutes flat out, then we’ll kick the ball over the fence and lose it”. 20 minutes later we’re winning, by a solitary try, but still a long way to go. But we score another try and it’s half time.2nd team talk - even simpler: “give me 10 minutes and then they’ll give up”.We did that and better - scoring 2 more tries. Final score 24-0. The game was raw, ugly, mostly stalemate, but the effort from both sides was immense. Not a beauti-ful, free-flowing game - but the best game this season, by a country mile.

Yr8 vs FakenhamWe had a morning fixture - so it was in daylight, not rushed, very civilised, if not a little ‘crispy’ underfoot.15 minutes of finding our way then the floodgates opened and we scored try after try after try. Unfortunately we meet Wymondham High in the next round - still, life’s full of little challenges

U16 vs ReephamWon very convincingly. Sadly semi-final is now against a very decent Northgate Rugby teamThis is the only year group we haven’t beaten. Still, if they eat all the mince pies and sit on the couch all Christmas, there is a chance - Ho Ho Ho.

RUGBY

On 4th December students from years 7-9 and I participated in a school swimming gala. Other schools took part as well, Northgate, Reepham, Litcham and Taverham High.

All of us who took part did really well. We all tried our best, which is as much as we can do. For each year, one boy and one girl had to take part in each event. The events were: 50m Front Crawl, 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly. If you came 1st, you got through to the next round. Not all of us did get through, but a few of us did. Craig Fenn, Billy Payze and I qualified for the Norfolk School Games in March. We will represent the West Norwich and Dereham Schools Sports Partnership.

Emily Jessop, Elijah Holman, Rhiannon Liu Sully, Chris Zhao and Ellena Meachen were all runners-up in their races so could get a call up!

I think, overall, the afternoon was awesome. All of us enjoyed it, and some of us saw friends from other schools. Also everyone was friendly and we cheered each other on, and sometimes, if another school was struggling, we

all cheered them on. At the end of the day, not all of us qualified, but everyone had a great day and I think we’d all want to do it again, when given the chance.

Ellie Foster

SWIMMING

On Friday 7th of November, eight Year 8 girls went to a football tournament at Carrow Park, Norwich, each school played four matches. Each match was 16 minutes long, with a half an hour break in between each one. During the breaks we were practising skills that we weren’t so good at and needed to improve on.We left school at 9:45 and got to Carrow Park at 10:30. We started with a warm up by running around the astro turf before we started to play the matches. The girls who played for Neatherd were: Ruby Ottaway, Izzy McEwen-Hull, Chloe Thorne, Louise Godin, Eli Plomer, Kiera Plumb, Sasha Boldero and Alice Hart. We played against four different schools, each five a side. All the teams were very supportive and shook our hands at the end of every match. The schools we played were: Alysham, Jane Austin,

Pakefield and Ormiston Venture.Mr Barron was very supportive and a great coach during our time playing football. All the teams that we played were very good which gave us a challenge. We won one match: the score was 1-0! Unfortunately we lost the rest but we all had a good day!

CHLOE WEST

GIRLS’ FOOTBALL

OPENING OF 3GAt the end of the summer term last year, Mr. Devonish made an announcement that a new 3G Astro Turf pitch would be opening at Neatherd in the new school year. The announcement brought excitement upon loads of people as they all wanted to play on a proper football pitch. And now, their wait ended on the 26th of November 2014, when the astro turf was finally opened. Hundreds and hundreds of people turned up to witness the opening of the pitch as well as the football match between the Year 11s and the Teachers (which ended in a 2-2 draw) The pitch was then officially opened by former Norwich City striker Dean Ashton, who as seen in the picture was enjoying the game.Now students are able to use the astro turf for any P.E lesson, whether that is football or even hockey. The new facilities will definitely bring a lot of enjoyment to all those who have waited for and we can all say that it was worth the wait.

MATTHEW SENIOR

SKIING TRIALS

On Tuesday 9th December 7 of our pupils took to the slopes again at the Norfolk Ski Club to trial to qualify for the Winter Norfolk School Games in March 2015. Sam Swales Yr 7, Arden Scott Yr 7, Ewan Lait Yr 9, Harlie Scott Yr 9, Megan Lait Yr 10, Kyle Kerr Yr 10 and Becky Swales Yr 11, joined pupils from Reepham High and Taverham Hall school. As they took to the slopes on a very chilly evening for their practice runs we were filled with excited anticipation as they looked jolly good and in some cases really, really good as they sped through their practice runs! The timed trials followed where

our skiers had to do their slalom runs as fast as they could with the best of their 3 times being put forward. The fastest 4 would then go through to the Finals competition.Huge congratulations to the following who have qualified to represent the West Norwich and Dereham Schools Sports Partnership: Key stage 3, Sam Swales (with an excellent best time of 16.75s) Key Stage 4: Kyle Kerr, Megan Lait, and Becky Swales.Well done and thank-you to all who took part!

RUGBY LEADERSOn Wednesday 29th November 16 of our Yr10’s helped to run a Primary Schools Tag Rugby Festival at Crusaders Rugby

Club, Little Melton. Mitch Rump, Richard Joisce, James Rennie, Johnny Warner, Mthobisi Khumalo, Ciaran Coupland,

Bogdan Nedkov, Charlie Goodfellow, Sam Burton, James Allen, Matthew Goodman, Keenan Grange, Liam Dearden, Owen Mustard, and Ben May were responsible for refereeing the games, checking and recording scores and time-keeping. No mean feat with over 20 teams involved. They worked brilliantly with the children, giving them lots of encouragement and showing real enthusiasm and confidence. Thank-you and well - done fellas!

GIRLS’ RUGBY“Finally, a Girl’s Rugby Club! I have asked for a rugby club for us girls since I started Neatherd and now we have one” said Leah Walthew in Year 11. Commencing Monday the 17th of November, and from there on every week, the girl’s rugby club has started with an average of 50 girls every session - and they have all enjoyed

it. The news of this fantastic club has spread so much that Mr. Fisher has had to pull in another member of staff to help with all these energetic girls loving the opportunity to learn the sport.

“It’s so nice to have the opportunity to play rugby. It makes us feel that we are equal to the boys and we have proven we are just as dedicated by the amount of us who have shown up and kept coming each week.” said Amelia Hodges in Year 8.“I love how it is not tag Rugby, it is the “Hard Core Rugby” so we get to tackle each other, it is a great stress relief”, said Grace Brooks from Year 9.To conclude, the Girl’s Rugby Club has been a great success and a worthwhile addition to the vast array of clubs we have here at Neatherd.

SOPHIA BELL

Mr Devonish, Mrs O’Grady (VI Form Director), Mr O’Brien and Mrs Walker joined Miss Harris and some parents for an amazing night out of dance at the Theatre Royal on Wednesday November 19th. As reported in our last edition, we were extremely proud that three of our students, Jack White, Qiniso Mhlanga and Tyler Brooks had been successful in auditioning for the Matthew Bourne ‘Lord of the Flies’ production.The show was simply amazing and the skills of the dancers (including some famous names – Layton Williams from Bad Education) were just incredible. While not a pleasant storyline, it was

absolutely compelling to watch. Many, many congratulations to Jack, Qiniso and Tyler – and not forgetting Miss Harris, without whom the boys would not have had the training, confidence and encouragement they needed.We had such a good time, Mr Devonish even agreed to a selfie!

LORD OF THE FLIES

CHRISTMAS JUMPERSOn 12th December Neatherd took part in the National Christmas Jumper Day for Charity. Here are some photos of staff and students embracing the festive spirit:

FLEXIBLE LEARNING DAY

The first Flexible Learning Day of this academic year has been a success. On Thursday 27th of November every year group in the school participated in different activates not normally covered by the school curriculum. Flexible Learning Days occur twice a year, they are spread out across the academic year.

This year, pupils in Year 7 studied the North Norfolk coast with the geography department, most went on a trip to Wells and Overstrand to learn about costal processes.

Year 8 learnt about school leadership and about what it takes to be a student leader with Mr O’Brien and students gifted and talented in art learnt about art and architecture and exploring the relationship between the two.

Year 9 went on a trip to the Natural History museum in London, with the science department. Others were with the R.S department studying conspiracy theories.

All Year 10 students participated in a stock market challenge, with the business department, to learn how the stock market works and what it is. Finally year 11 did their controlled English assessments.We interviewed Mr. Sinclair to find out what he thinks about Flexible Learning

Days and how they are run.

Why is it important to have Flexible Learning Days? “It shows learning in different ways and gives students the opportunity to work in groups and trips can take place

Do you feel that flexible learning days in the past have been successful?Yes, definitely. From a teacher’s perspective I have found all activities I have been involved in fun and interesting. I would be happy to do any of them again. I have even been lucky enough to take part on some of the trips. I always enjoy meeting lots of different pupils and overall, learning things I didn’t know.

If you could have chosen 1 activity to participate in what would it have been and why?If I could choose only one, it would have

been the year 7 trip to the coast because I love to study geography and find it fascinating to go out on trips to see how it works in real life. Field

work is an excellent way to improve your geography knowledge.

How do you decide what year group does what?We keep what has worked well in past years, and lots of members of staff come forward with new ideas or are willing to help with the activities which are happening at Neatherd.

Sophie Ebbage, Emily Symonds and Hannah Cummings

CHELSEA’S CHOICEOn the 3rd of December, Year 9 walked into the canteen to watch a performance about safe relationships, everyone expected it to be awkward and full of funny moments, something they couldn’t take seriously. They couldn’t have been more wrong. We sat down and waited for the play to start. The performance was about a drama project between 3 students based on exploitation and occasionally their teacher would play different roles as Tommy and Gary, it started with a young girl called Chelsea and her boyfriend, Shaun. They broke up and Chelsea started to look online for a potential boyfriend, posting very revealing pictures, she tells her best friend Laura who said it was wrong and that she didn’t know who was looking at her pictures and to be careful, meanwhile,

Tommy tells Shaun about a process his brother does to pull girls, in which he attracts her, makes her feel special and eventually, sleeps with her, when he’s had enough, he distances himself, and when the girl is feeling vulnerable, the next mate swoops in and so this cycle continues. Later Chelsea meets Gary at her bus stop, and without her knowing, pulls all

the information he needed out of her; her name, if she was getting on with mates and family and where she lived. He turned on the charm and wooed her till she was smitten. He cut her off from friends and family, got her hooked on drugs and bought her a phone which he could track her on. He then says that he’s got a money problem and that she could sleep with the man he owes money to so he wouldn’t get hurt. He never owed any money. The whole play showed us about the grooming process and how many people get exploited. After the play, the cast talked to us about changing our social media privacy settings to high and told us some true stories that had happened. They told us about the eight grooming processes and how to spot if we were at

risk. The worst shock by far was that the play they had acted out was true and that Chelsea had been shipped around the country and made to sleep with other men for years. It was horrific. There was no laughing throughout the whole play and the truth hit us, hard. Anyone of us was at risk and that we needed to look out for people who would exploit us, and for one another. The whole assembly was powerful and really helped lots of people; I know lots of people changed their privacy

settings when they got home. Everyone was made aware of who to talk to if they were being exploited. They were to tell a responsible adult who would help us to get through it. The truth was in that room and no one left joking about it, the truth leaving with them, along with a strong warning. That’s what made it powerful.

LUCY KIRK

Since introducing the new house system 4 teachers have been assigned to each of the houses, Carter, Fry, Cavell and Kett, each Head of House will organize in house events and assemblies and just genuinely make sure that everyone in their house is doing well. With Miss Cordle for Fry, Mr Foulger for Kett, Ms Cross for Cavell and Mr Dunn for Carter.

Miss Cordle said that Fry is the best house because of their excellent achievement at winning sports day shows that everyone in Fry can all work together and try their best at everything they do to come out on top. But despite winning sports day they are the lowest score in merits but Miss Cordle is determined that they are all staying positive! Miss Cordle believes she is the best Head of House because of her extravagant outfit on sports day, showing that she isn’t afraid to support her house.Mr Foulger said that Kett is the best because they all work nicely as a team and don’t leave anyone behind, and every competition that has taken place they put in a lot of effort. Mr Foulger has also noticed that everyone in Kett looks after each other like one little family, especially with the vertical tutoring mixing year 7’s to 11’s. Mr Foulger believes he is the best Head of House because of his enthusiasm he has and the great pride he has in his house. Ms Cross said that Cavell is the best house because everyone is willing to take

part in competitions and win it for their house, making sure they always put in as much effort as they can. She believes that their motto stands for something good and encourages everyone in Cavell to work as a team.Ms Cross believes she is the best Head of House because she has the best banter out of all of the other Heads of Houses. She is caring for and loves all of the people in her house, she shows this by going round to the forms at form time to make sure everyone is alright and there are no problems. And overall is very appreciative and enjoys the job she has as Head of House. Mr Dunn said that Carter is the best because everyone is individual and different thinkers from the other houses; they prefer to discover for themselves rather than follow the crowd. Also adding that they are the more elegant and classy house compared to the others. Mr Dunn believes he is the best Head of House because he brings an urban and

edgy feel that none of the other Heads of House have, also he wouldn’t be afraid to bust out some of his DJ skills if it meant winning for his house. And because of his knowledge of English he can educate his house with sophisticated language making the other houses look like primary school children.

GEORGINA STEARMAN

HEADS OF HOUSE

HARRY POTTER TRIP

During the week November 10th-14th, students being taught in Lang4 were surprised to find a gazebo and fairy lights! This was part of the national ‘Prayer Space’ initiative during which schools across the country have dedicated a place and a time for students to chill out and think about the big questions in life such as, “Does God exist?” “If God exists, why does he let bad things happen?”

At break and lunchtimes for the whole week, Lang 4 was transformed into a chilled zone and it was great to see so many students taking time out to enjoy

the Prayer Space. On hand to answer questions were Ang Fox, Gabby and Dan from Breckland Youth for Christ. Gabby and Dan come in every Tuesday lunchtime (Lang2) for “Chill, Chat and Cake” and welcome any students who want to come and relax, have some cake

and have a think about life’s big issues.

PRAYER SPACE

On Wednesday 10th December, students from Media Studies, Art, Drama and Textiles, were chosen to embark on a fantastic Harry Potter tour at Warner

Bros Studio in London. S t u d e n t s spent the whole day e x p l o r i n g t h e e l e m e n t s of how the Harry Potter series was c r e a t e d across each d i f ferent c r e a t i v e subject.The media s t u d i e s g r o u p took part

in a media workshop; they all went into a classroom away from the tour to learn about the interior of film making

and the amount of people it takes to create just one of the Harry Potter films.Whilst they were there they found out that Tom Cruise was just 200 metres away filming an action film - they were ecstatic. The students absolutely loved the trip. They thought it was a fantastic experience and they learnt a lot about how the film industry works. “The atmosphere was even was better with Christmas decorations and snow, it made it more festive”, says Rosie Ballmann.

JESSICA PEDRO

EXEMPLAR EXPERIENCE

Six students from the Czech Republic came to Dereham recently to complete two weeks of “international work experience”. The project which has already been running for four years was co-ordinated by Neatherd High School and it is funded by the Leonardo da Vinci programme which is part of the European Union’s lifelong learning programme. It supports European work placements for graduates and school leavers.The young people from Neatherd’s partner school, Business Academy Lysa nad Labem near Prague, completed their work experience at local schools and companies, getting stuck into administrative tasks as well as finding out how English businesses are run.

“It is a great project, something we love to be involved in”, says Kaleigh Garrod, Manager of the library in Dereham and Kate Clarke, Branch Manager of Barclays Bank said: “We were really happy to offer a placement to one of the Czech students, it was a pleasure to

have Jakub with us as part of our team”.

“I had such a fantastic time in Dereham”, says Matyas Elicer, one of the Czech students, “I have learned a lot which will help me in my future career”. And Anna Beznoskova commented: “It was very interesting to find out more about England and the culture –

the education system here is different to the one in the Czech Republic – lessons are much more fun here!”

“CZECHING” OUT DEREHAM

15 year old Neatherd student Joshua Ratcliffe (Year 11) was one of only 5 lucky students from the whole of Norfolk

who has been selected to take part in an exciting scheme, “The E x e m p l a r Experience” which is being organised by

the Norfolk Way in partnership with the organisation “World of Work”.The scheme offers ambitious students support and mentoring together with real project work in a variety of employment areas including Engineering, Business and Finance and Food & Agricultural Technology. Each student will have to undertake a total of four weeks of work experience and they will be coached in

preparing for their applications for future higher education, jobs or apprenticeships.“Joshua did very well with his application and came across exceptionally well at interview with stiff competition”, says Jan Cockburn from the Norwich Enterprise Centre, “we look forward to working with him”.All Exemplar Experience students will also spend time with MP George Freeman and learn about the work of a constituency MP and visit the House of Commons.“I am really excited that I was successful with my application”, says Joshua Ratcliffe. The sporty Neatherd student who likes skiing, rock climbing and shooting sees this as a good opportunity to get some experience working in the world of work, “so it doesn’t come as a big shock when you actually start working”.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone

at Neatherd High School!