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V O L U M E 3 . I S S U E 3 . 1 4 t h F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 .

FORTHCOMING EVENTS Friday 14th February: School closes for

Half Term. Monday 24th February: School reopens

after Half Term. Wednesday February 26th: Years 11, 12

and 13 photos. Wednesday 26th, Thursday 27th and Fri-

day 28th February: ‘Bugsy Malone’ the musical.

Tuesday March 4th: Year 11 ‘Stepping up’ evening.

Thursday March 13th: Years 12 and 13 Parents’ evening.

Wednesday 19th March: The Pyramid music concert.

Wednesday 26th March: Year 9 Parents’ evening.

Thursday 10th April: School closes for the Easter holidays.

(Friday 11th April is a TED day. School is closed for students.)

Monday 28th April: School reopens.

Wolverley CE Secondary School Blakeshall Lane Wolverley Kidderminster. DY11 5XQ School website: www.wolverley.worcs.sch.uk

Reception: 01562 859800

reception@wolverley.worcs.sch.uk

The history competition to create a com-memoration of the centenary of the start of the First World War was judged by Pe-ter Dunn, Secretary of the Kidderminster branch of the Royal British Legion. It was won by Connor Rook, P4. He wrote a thought provoking poem which will be made into a permanent display in Sebright foyer next to the memorial plaques. In second place, with his poem, was Harry Adams, E5. Joshua Jolly, L8, came third. He also wrote a poem. Victoria Deakin, D3, came fourth with a design for a garden. Special mention is given to Oliver Far-quharson, L3, who made a video.

WW1 competition winner

It gives me great pleasure to an-nounce that Bryn Thomas has been appointed by the Governing Body to succeed Richard North as Headteacher of Wolverley CE Sec-ondary School from Easter 2014. Mr Thomas is currently Deputy Headteacher at Wheelers Lane Technology College in Birming-ham and is very much looking

forward to working at Wolverley. He is a local man who is married with three children and is thrilled that he has been appointed to a school where he feels he can make a real difference. As a parent with teenagers he understands only too well, the vital role which parents play in the success of their children at school. Mr Thomas has been part of a team in his current school that has seen year on year improvements in ex-amination results and has a track record of success. He believes Wolverley’s unique rural setting, strong Chris-tian ethos and high expectations are key to its future success. He is a keen sportsman and enjoys a variety of active outdoor hobbies. He believes that every young person should have a diverse and engaging education both in-side and outside the classroom and that education is the key to a better future for young people. Please join me in welcoming Mr Thomas to our school. As you will be aware Mark Pollard is doing an excellent job in the role of Acting Headteacher, for which we are very grateful. Mr Pollard is already working with Mr Thomas so that when he takes up the Headteacher’s post, there will be a smooth and supported transition. Whilst writing, I would like to extend my thanks to all who helped in the selection process which includes stu-dents, parents, staff and governors as well as advisers from the local authority and Diocese.

David Baldwin, Chair of Governors.

Welcome to our new Headteacher

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Well done and a huge thank you from the Prom Committee and Mrs Rose for the success of the prom fund raising events so far. All students and staff who participated in the ‘Fun Tie Day’ raised £121.67!! A ‘Prom pamper evening was held on Wednes-day 12th February. All year 11 girls were invit-ed to come along and get in the prom mood by trying on dresses and experimenting with hair-styles and make up. The winners of the prom prize draw were Oliv-ia Crannage, Victoria MacAskill, Holly Scrivens, Kathryn Craik, Alice Conway, Christopher Guest, Eilidh Shakespeare, Kayleigh Scott, Jade Mills, Elim Silveira and Alex Sparks. They won vouchers towards the cost of their prom ticket.

These books have made it on to the shortlist for the Worcester-shire Teen Book Awards 2013. We now have copies available in school. They are: ‘Russian Roulette’ by Anthony Horwitz ‘Downside Up’ by Hayley Long ‘More Than This’ by Patrick Ness ‘Ketchup Clouds’ by Annabel Pitcher. ‘The Screaming Staircase’ by Jonathan Stroud ‘The 5th Wave’ by Rick Yancy. There is a Worcestershire Teen Book Award Review Competi-tion. Once you have finished reading one of the WTBA books, write your review, and hand it to Miss Griffiths by Monday 10th March. 12 students can go to the WTBA presentation event at the Worcester Council Chamber on Thursday 27th March. The best 4

book review writers will be chosen to take part in the WTBA quiz.

The WTBA shortlist books are now in the library

Prom events update

STUDENT VOICE: Your chance to have your say. What do you want to change? Learning, social time and spaces, school image, rewards and sanctions? There will be two different opportu-nities to take part either as Student Governors or as College Forum members. Each tutor group will have two representatives in the College Forum. These meetings start after half term. The Student Governors will be elected by their College and this will start after Easter.

Have a Student voice YEAR 11 ‘MEMORY WALL.’ Please leave your memories of your last 5 years at Wolverley and they will go into your Leavers Book at the end of the year. You can find the memory wall on the Dash: More – KS4- Year 11- Memory Wall. Please be sensible about what you write! This is a keep sake for yourselves so make it memorable. Thank you, Mr Moulam.

Memory wall for Year 11s

Sign up for free bass lessons We now have spaces avail-able for free Bass Guitar lessons after-school on a Monday from 3pm-4pm. These are run by a fantastic visiting tutor and new starters will begin after half term. There will be a sign up list on the Music Room door. Please add your name and tutor group if you are interested in sign-ing up! Thank you. Miss Lin-ford.

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On Wednesday 18th December, 14 of our Year 10 students and 12 Year 10 students from Baxter College took part in a joint trip to London to visit the Houses of Parliament. We left Kidderminster early and arrived over two hours later to be greeted by the breath-taking sights of the city of London. The Houses of Parliament stood proudly above the River Thames and next to the London Eye. We were taken to Portcullis House nearby where we met our tour guides, and we then made our way through the tunnels that ran underneath Parliament Square and into the Houses of Parlia-ment. In the Central Lobby, we were shown where the House of Commons and the House of Lords were. Our guide led us through to the House of Commons where she explained that the MPs inside were repre-sentatives of constituencies across the country. We then sat down as spectators to the debate that was taking place. A discussion about this followed and we then went to observe the debate in the House of Lords. The tour guide told us that the people inside the House of Lords had been selected or put for-ward because they were experts in their field of work. She also pointed out the throne that the Queen sits on when she gives the Queen’s Speech every year is made out of 24 carat gold! We returned to Portcullis House where a member of the Parliamentary Education Service delivered a workshop. We learnt about different systems of voting, formed our own political parties and devised our own policies. It was great fun! We even met our MP for Kidderminster, Mark Garnier, who gave us a talk about the importance of democracy and what it is like to be an MP. Finally, after a long and exciting day, we returned to the coach to begin the journey home. The whole experience was great and we learnt a great deal about democracy, government and how the laws of Britain are made. I would like to thank all the teachers who helped make the day so memorable. Reported by Arthur Jones, year 10.

Year 10s see democracy in action during a visit to London

On the 16th of January, 13 students went out for an evening to The Hippodrome in Birmingham to watch Snow White. There were a few famous faces: Gok Wan who played the man in the mirror, John Partridge (Christian from EastEnders) who played the prince and Stephanie Beacham who played the wicked queen. Paul Zerdin and his puppet from Britain’s Got Talent played a brilliant role as Muddles and at one point the puppet even moved on its own, taking centre stage. The pantomime was really well written with a brilliant stage set and was very funny. There was a lot of humour for both the adults and students. Throughout the pantomime the audience participated a lot with Miss Poole and Miss Tur-ton shouting the loudest! A great night was had by all of us. We would not hesitate to recommend the trip to everyone next year. By Ellie Payton & Kitty Morgan, year 9 students.

Was it a good panto?.........Oh yes it was!! Homework Timetables are there for your reference

All homework timetables for every year group can be found on our website under the head-ing of ‘Parents’ information.’ Please refer to them so that you are aware of when home-work is expected. Information is often written in-to the student planners, so please do check them to keep

up to date with events involving your child. Thank you, Heads of Col-lege.

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Students took part in Safer Internet Day on Wednes-day 11th Feb-ruary by cre-ating posters which will be displayed around the school. Organised by ‘Insafe’, which is part of the European Commission’s Safer Inter-net programme, the day aimed to pro-mote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, particularly amongst children and young people across the world. Miss Tomkins, lead teacher of IT, said, “The internet is an amazing tool that has tremendous learning benefits for the younger generation. However, there has recently been some high profile news articles that highlight the need to ensure that young people are safe online.” More information can be found by vis-iting www.safertinternet.org.

Volunteers do a great job at the Glades festival of inclusion The PE inclusion festival was held on Friday 24th January at the Glades and our students led an agility station for children of all ages with disabilities. Our volunteer lead-ers were absolutely fantastic and a great day was had by all. Here’s to more opportunities to take part in events which mean that students can be effective within the wider community. Well done and thank you. Miss New.

Bugsy Malone will be performed on Wednesday 26th, Thursday 27th or Friday 28th February at 7pm. The cast are pleased that tickets are now almost sold out! Set in a 1920s cabaret restaurant, the audience will be sat around a cocktail bar amongst waiters, gangsters and showmen, giving them a feeling that they are part of the show. Over 60 students from all year groups are involved in the musical. They have been rehearsing after school for three nights every week since the beginning of the year under the overall guidance of Head of Drama, Mr Round, accompanied by the Arts team. Mr Pollard, our acting Headteacher, said, “We are pas-sionate about encouraging our students’ ambitions,

and as the film Bugsy Malone launched the careers of some of the UK’s and Hollywood’s tops stars, we may have a future Jodie Foster performing in our show!”

Bugsy ‘molls and gangsters’ are almost ready

Badminton leaders try out their skills at Worcester University

On Wednesday 5th February, four of our pupils were invited to be leaders at the Winter School Games Badminton Festival. They received 2 hours of training on how to keep score and lead a badminton competition and then they travelled to Worcester University where they put their newly learnt skills into practice.

Stay safe on line focus