Inside this issue

Creativity Day events ................. 2-3

Term dates ……………………… 4

Y9 Languages Day ....................... 4

School Council News .................. 4

Y11 Prom fundraising event........ 5

“Switch it off” Campaign ............ 5

Coming soon ! ............................ 6

Special points of interest

Practice-athon!…………………4

Exam success ………………… 5

Hexagon Concert ………….. 6

Book Amnesty ……………… 6

Forthcoming Theatre visit 6

School counsellor ………….. 6

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER

Space, Samba and Skiing—just another term at Langtree! One of the many highlights of an extremely busy term was our Creativity Day on Thursday 30th January.

The bells were turned off, the timetable was suspended and text books were put aside while creativity

and imagination ran wild! Please see inside for reports of the wonderful activities which took place.

During the day, our Y10 Historians took part in a trip to the British Museum to support studies in Ancient

History, while their classmates back at school had an extended GCSE Science day. Our Y11 students were

put through their paces in a series of mock job interviews run by a wide range of visitors from business

and commerce. This was followed - by their own request – with a day of study skills and revision tech-

niques in preparation for the GCSE examination season led by Dr Andy Love from Highdown School.

Creativity Days are a unique feature of learning at Langtree School, allowing teachers to plan extended

activities – in or out of school – often with visiting experts, which support the school curriculum in a very

different way from a series of conventional lessons. The activities allow the students to take control, to

use their imaginations, creativity and natural spirit of enquiry to explore curriculum topics over extend-

ed periods of time. The days also help to develop team work, collaboration and self-confidence as stu-

dents often work in teams to achieve their objectives. Look out for our next Creativity Day, scheduled

for 20th March 2014.

We were very sorry to say farewell to two members of the Langtree team this term. Rosemary Humphris

resigned her post as Teaching Assistant, and Sarah Rushbrooke moved on from her role as Art Techni-

cian to devote time to developing her own business. We wish both colleagues every success in the fu-

ture, with many thanks for all they have done in their time at Langtree.

Our Year 11 students completed their mock examinations in January, and the analysis of results indicate

that the Class of 2014 has the potential to secure some of the best results ever at Langtree School. How-

ever, there is a great deal of work to do yet to turn these predications into reality, and staff are working

hard with the students to get GCSE revision under way. On behalf of all staff, I would like to wish every

single Year 11 student every success in 2014.

Mary Taylor Lane, our Community Co-ordinator, organised the latest lecture in our series of lectures for

Gifted and Talented students across our secondary partnership.

The lecture at Icknield Community College on Cancer Research

was given by a Jo McGuiness from Cancer Research, and was

attended by representatives from Langtree’s Year 11. Look out for

details of the next lecture in term 4, which will be hosted on home

soil at Langtree.

In the meantime – good luck to all our Year 10 skiers over the

February break, who will be enjoying the sun and snow on the

slopes of the Alps. I hope that all members of our community

manage to enjoy a break from school routines – wherever they

may be over the coming week!

February 2014

School closes on Friday 14 February and re-opens on Monday 24 February 2014

SCHOOL CLOSURE PROCEDURES

In extreme weather conditions clo-

sures will be announced on local

radio stations and our website will

be regularly updated with news.

Parents are asked to listen in to

these stations from 7.00am on-

wards on the day to receive confir-

mation. In addition a GROUPCALL

text message will be sent to all par-

ents who have registered a mobile

number with the school.

If you have changed your mobile or

email address—please update your

details by emailing to

parents@langtreeschool.com

Thank you.

Code breaking!

On Thursday 30th January, 40 Y9 students

went to Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park was

once Britain’s best kept secret; today it is

an intriguing tourist attraction. The Park

was used during WWII as Britain’s main

code breaking and deciphering centre. It is

famous for breaking the Enigma code and

Hitler’s code. This was done by using

several intelligent mathematicians and

code breakers to intercept transmissions by

the Germans and Italians, and decipher

them.

We toured around the grounds, looking at

the small concrete huts used by the code

breakers, and then went into the museum

where we saw the very first computer –

Collosus. It was as big as the room with

flashing lights and it was very loud. Our

guide told us not to touch it because we

could get an electric shock and die! We

were very impressed by how complicated it

was and how long it took them to build it.

The people who worked at Bletchley Park

were not allowed to talk about it in case the

enemy found out – the secret was kept for

several years!

Kit Leyland and Lawrie Aitchison (9AWL)

On Thursday 30th January, Year 8 had an

Alien Encounter’s Day. The purpose of this

day was to produce a piece of creative

writing; a story with 500 words. The stories

are for the school competition and the win-

ning entries will be entered into the 500

words competition on BBC Radio 2. During

the day the Year 8’s had three workshops to

give them ideas for their story. They were Drama, Model making and watching a bit of a

film. Also we had a 20 minute pop up planetarium experience on the topic ‘Do Aliens Exist?’

The students then went with their English teacher to start writing their story, using all of the

ideas they had thought of during the workshops. Watch out for the winning entries on the

school website and the next newsletter! At the end of the day, all their hard work paid off

as they relaxed and watched ET with popcorn from Mrs Buckley!

My view of the day? It

was the best Creativity

Day so far. I especially

enjoyed the Planetarium

experience because it

taught me a lot about the

earth and other planets. I

rate the Alien Day 10/10

and can’t wait for the next

Creativity Day in March.

By Cassie Ilsley, 8RB

Space Students in Y8 and Y9 looked into the theme of space and were involved in a range of activities including.designing habitats

for dwellings on Mars as part of the Mars One project, entering an inflatable space dome to watch 3D films about our solar

system and writing short stories on the theme of alien encounters.

Creativity Day events

Alien Encounters

Students at Langtree School enjoyed anoth-

er Creativity Day on Thursday, 30th January,

and the school was buzzing with a range of

creative activities and projects. The bells

were turned off, the timetable was suspend-

ed and imagination ran

wild!

Students were delighted

to welcome chef Paul

Burrows from The High-

wayman Inn at Exlade

Street, Checkendon

who visited school to

give a master class in

Indian cookery. Never

have school dinners

tasted so good! The

families of students

taking part will have

eaten well that

night!

2

Y10 & Y11 students

Activities for our senior students were

linked to GCSE courses. Y10 students

took part in a trip to the British Museum

to support studies in Ancient History,

while their classmates back at school

had an extended science day.

Our Y11 students were put through

their paces in a series of mock job

interviews run by a wide range of visi-

tors from business and commerce. This

was followed - by their own request -

with a day of study skills and revision

techniques in preparation for the GCSE

examination season led by Dr Andy

Love.

The London Trip

The London trip was a big success, we

had a very enjoyable day out, we did

lots of exciting things. Firstly we went to

an art museum where we saw pictures

that had been made by amazing artists

from all over the world, some of the art

was worth £5,000,000.

We then went and walked around a

very nice shop called Abercrombie &

Fitch where they had the most amazing

clothes around ever. We then went for

a little boat ride on the Thames, we

went through some main parts of Lon-

don including going under the London

Bridge.

The entire BTEC group that went on the

trip had an amazing time and a lot of

people were saying how good it was.

Paul Barrett & James Stokes

Year 7 Samba Day

3

Year 7 students took part in a Samba Day, learning all about the history and culture of the

Samba, as well as performing the dance itself and playing the rhythms in a drumming class.

The Year 7 Samba day was a great success. All students experienced a range of different activities in

Music, Dance, Languages and Art, all relating to aspects of Samba. Specialist tutors included Gavin Lom-

bos from Reading's community Samba group, Beatroots Bateria who delivered workshops on percussion

rhythms and techniques on traditional instruments. Meanwhile over in Art, students created bunting

inspired by the rhythm and sounds of samba music, inspired by the Brazilian artist Beatriz Mihazes. At

the end of the day the whole year group was entertained by a performance of samba dance and drum-

ming, given by selected students. They also enjoyed singing together a Spanish song learnt earlier on in

the language class as well as admiring the lovely art work produced during the day.

Maureen Idowu, Head of Music

Creativity Day events

On 10th January, a group of Year 9

Langtree students were given the

opportunity to visit The University

of Reading for a World of Work

Day that centred around lan-

guages. We were placed into

groups with other Year 9 students

from different schools and they all

shared our interest in languages.

University students also worked

with our groups and we were able

to find out about university life

which is only five years away. We

worked in these groups for the day

and attended a variety of work-

shops, including: BBC Monitoring,

EU interpreting and translating,

The Goethe Institut and a taster

session – a chance to try either

Mandarin or Arabic.

It was interesting to see how much

languages matter in most jobs and

how by having a language, you can

go further in your career.

I really enjoyed the day and found

it inspiring. You can go a long way

with languages and the day at The

University of Reading made me

realise that.

Mia Gainsford 9AWL

Term 4 dates

The School Council has been work-

ing hard to apply their action plans

set back in October. The Environ-

ment Committee led the school in

EDF’s Switch it off Fortnight cam-

paign to reduce the school’s Carbon

Footprint. The committee has also

been working to make the school an even more pleasant and ‘green’ community by creating the

Gardening Club to improve the courtyard and pond area. The Student Voice Committee have

produced the ‘Slippery Fish’ suggestion file for tutor groups and conducted surveys to gather

opinions and issues raised by students. They have implemented this information by notifying

other committees in order to help inform their action plans. Like always, the fundraising com-

mittee have been particularly active this year. So far, they have organised the Children in Need

Fundraising Day in November which raised £830.03 and, more recently, the Helen and Douglas

House Non-School Uniform Day. They plan to continue their work by fundraising for Sports Relief

and Cancer Research through similar events in the future. The Teaching and Learning Committee

have been conducting an investigation into the use of technology in lessons and how this can be

developed. They are also in the process of producing a revision programme to help students in

KS3 with their understanding of revision techniques. The Performing Arts Committee are current-

ly preparing for an upcoming ‘Band Night’ and a KS4 production for the summer.

Kate Procter, 11Wi

Monday 24 February Term 4 begins for all staff and students

Wednesday 26 February 12.30-1.30pm Year 7 County Rugby Oxford

Thursday 27 February Y11 Targeted consultation evening for parents

Friday 28 February 12pm-3pm Y7 Athletics at Icknield School

Monday 3 March 1pm-3pm School Production, “West Side Story” (Matinee)

7.30-9.30pm School Production, “West Side Story”

Tuesday 4 March 7.30-9.30pm School Production, “West Side Story”

Wednesday 5 March 7.30-9.30pm School Production, “West Side Story”

Thursday 6 March Staff INSET day—no students in school

7.00-9.00pm Y9 Options Evening for parents

Monday 10 March Y10 Mock examination week (Monday—Friday inclusive)

EDF Waste week

Tuesday 11 March 7pm Governors Community sub committee meeting

Wednesday 12 March 7pm Governors Curriculum sub committee meeting

Thursday 13 March “Science into Schools” collection day

Tuesday 18 March 7pm GCSE Performance Evening

Thursday 20 March Creativity Day 3 (amended date)

7pm Governors Finance sub committee meeting

Wednesday 26 March KS3 Inter tutor netball/boys football

Monday 31 March Yenworthy trip (Monday—Friday inclusive)

Wednesday 2 April 7pm Full Governing Body meeting

Friday 4 April Term ends (school closes at normal time, 3.30pm).

Easter Holiday date: Monday 7 April—Monday 21 April 2014

Tuesday 22 April Start of Term 5 for all staff and students

4

School Council News

PRACTICE-ATHON !! Lottie Whatmore in Year 7 managed to

raise £50 towards Macmillan Cancer

care by taking part in their Sponsored

Practice-athon which meant she had to

practise every day for two weeks.

Please pay on line for trips & visits rather than by cash or cheque. If you do not

have your unique pupil code please call Sue Tamnee on 01491 683392 or email

her in the finance office at stamnee@langtreeschool.com

Auditions for this event will begin in the next few weeks. It is not just a dance

competition but that is the main focus. Anyone interested should contact Mrs

Bryson at school.

The Talent Show will be performed on TUESDAY 1 APRIL - All proceeds will go

towards the Year 11 Prom night.

After a successful Switch it off campaign run

by the Langtree Student Council Eco Com-

mittee in December they will lead the school

in the EDF Waste Week Monday 10th March

to Friday 14th March.

Waste Week is a time for everyone at school

to focus on reducing, reusing and recycling

waste. Amongst the many activities students

will take part in during this week are

Lunchtime crunchtime where they will en-

deavour to reduce the amount of food wasted

in Langtree each day and the Reuse Challenge

in which they will use all their creative power

to make something new and beautiful from

rubbish.

We will be increasing our recycling bins and

Grundons will be visiting to deliver an assem-

bly on waste and recycling.

In the same week the Eco Committee will be

holding our second collection day for Science

into Schools, Thursday 13th March, which will

enable us to collect and swap unwanted tex-

tiles for fantastic new science equipment. We

are asking everybody to look deep into their

wardrobes for unwanted items they can do-

nate to our project. The more we collect the

more new science equipment we can get.

The textiles are 63% reused with 75% going to

Africa, 19% to Pakistan, 5% to Eastern Europe

and 1 % to UK. 37% is recycled (due to stains

or ripped etc.).

By joining the scheme we not only have the

opportunity to teach our students about the

importance of reducing, reusing and recycling

but also to inspire them to get interested in

science and engineering with some fasci-

nating new science equipment and resources

Our first collection in May 2013 amounted to

364kg of unwanted textiles being donated,

saving a whopping 2,184 kg of CO2.

We would be grateful to receive any unwant-

ed textiles, bags will be sent home with stu-

dents or can be collected from Langtree. For

further details please see the Langtree School

website or email

cthatcher@langtreeschool.com

Dr Cindy Thatcher

5

Year 11 Prom fundraising event

“Switch it off” Campaign/Recycle for schools Please pass all mobiles or gadg-

ets to Mrs Childs or hand in

to reception.

Exam success

Congratulations to three Langtree stu-

dents who all recently passed their Grade

6 Flute exam: Lucy Cheng, Jessica Rains-

den and Rachael Lyons (who gained a

distinction).

Tickets available on

Monday 24th

February from the

school office.

Production dates:

Monday 3rd,

Tuesday 4th and

Wednesday 5th March

at 7.30pm-9.30pm

Coming soon ………. LANGTREE PRESENTS

School Counsellor

DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM?

WOULD YOU LIKE TO CHAT TO SOMEONE?

ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT SOMETHING OR SOMEONE?

Mrs Belcher, our school counsellor is available at any time, ei-

ther on a one-to-one basis or in a group. If you would like to

pop in and see her you’ll find her in the Heads of School office at

the end of the corridor past the staffroom. All meetings are

held in strict confidence.

Hexagon Concert

On a cold, wet and windy Friday night in

January, thirty musically talented Lang-

tree students from Years 7 -11 visited

the Hexagon to see a concert given by

the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Or-

chestra.

This was an excellent opportunity for

them to hear one of the country's top

orchestras, conducted by the flamboy-

ant and enthusiastic Russian Vassily

Petrenko.

All students had a wonderful time

listening to some of the great classics by

Mozart, Brahms and Elgar and had an

excellent view of the players from the

Dress Circle.

Mrs Idowu , Director of Music

and Anna Barnes-Gray and Rosie Toolin

The Langtree School Academy Trust Company, a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales, company registration number

07980335. Registered office: Langtree School, Woodcote, Reading, Berkshire, RG8 0RA

Blind Summit’s ‘The Table’ On Wednesday 12th March a group of upper school students

are going to The South Street Theatre in Reading to see ‘The

Table’. The show opened the London International Mime Festi-

val in 2013, and is just back from a sell-out tour of the USA, the

team behind the 90 foot Volemort in the London Olympic Open-

ing Ceremony, brings you a 2 foot high puppet in an unforgetta-

bly unique show. The Telegraph described the show as

‘astonishingly accomplished; ****’; The Guardian said ‘Blind

Summit prove once again that when you’re working in minia-

ture you don’t have to think small; ****’. This will be an ideal

opportunity for GCSE students to gain ideas and inspiration for

their own devising process, as South Street’s studio space re-

quires theatre companies to use simple yet innovative tech-

niques to communicate.

Gill Pimm, Head of Drama

English department Book Amnesty Have you class reading books and English text books lurking in your room? Help

us keep our cost down and please return our books. We are looking for KS3

readers in particular. Hand them to your English teacher, no questions asked

and receive a small reward! Mrs Holroyd, Head of English

6