Another busy and fantastic week for our Year 7 students who have been very busy in a wide variety of different lessons. In DT Year 7 have been making biscuits- we hope some of these made their way home to you to try! In music, half of our students are learning Violin and Clarinet or Trumpet and Guitar, while the other half are learning how to read music with Mr Smith and Mr Seymour. After February half term, students will swap over so that they all have the opportunity to learn an instrument and gain a deeper understanding of music theory and how to apply that. In History, Year 7 have been working hard to understand Medieval religion after finishing their topic on the Norman Conquest, exploring sub-topics from the Crusades to the advanced Islamic nation in the medieval period- we have seen some fantastic books from history this week! In Drama, Year 7 have been creating their own performance of a Grim Brothers Fairy Tale “Little Red Cap”.
We have also had a fabulous time taking a group of 50 students to a drama workshop at The Curve Theatre in Leicester with the cast of The Wizard of Oz. In the afternoon we enjoyed the performance by the cast and students were in awe of the spectacular performance. Year 7 were a credit to our school on this trip and we were so impressed by their behaviour and conduct- well done!
Many Year 7 students have also participated in rehearsals for the school production ‘We Will Rock You!’, an amazing opportunity to meet new friends and like-minded students from other year groups. In sports this week, our football A Team had a huge win 11-1 away against Hall Park School.
In our FAB Friday assembly this week, we have a new winning tutor set with 7.10 taking the Tutor Champion top spot! A massive well done, with over 1500 credits earnt this week alone.
Over the coming weeks we have lots of exciting Christmas events scheduled:
Next week, Year 7s will be doing their Maths assessment which will be held in test conditions but in the classroom supervised by their teacher. They will be assessed on the first 3 topics taught since they have been at Toot Hill - working with place value, introducing algebra and lines and angles - plus some year 6 topics such as shapes and arithmetic. In depth information about these topics can be found on Complete Maths. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child's Maths teacher.
Well done Year 7!
Head of Year 7: Miss B Marshall
Assistant Head of Year 7: Miss H Barker
This week during tutor time Year 8 have had an assembly from Mr Kelly celebrating diversity within the world and the community we live, Well-Being Wednesday is still covering the topic of Give, Thursday we continued with our class reading book and Fab Friday celebrated attendance improvements and credits.
We are continuing to collect for the reverse advent calendar and students have been amazingly generous with their contributions, tutors collect the products in the morning and we are so lucky to see such kindness.
We have some key dates coming up with Christmas dinner 7th December followed by the Christmas Concert on the evening, Christmas Jumper Day Thursday 8th December, Achievement Assembly 13th December and SLT Christmas Assembly 16th December.
Head of Year 8: Mr D Mordue
Assistant Head of Year 8: Miss L Jordan
Well done Year 9 for a positive week. During tutor time this week, we have spent time reflecting on the Attitude to Learning Scores on the 9.1 Reports. This was a positive morning and tutors enjoyed congratulating students for their hard work this term. Next week, we will be reflecting on the Home Learning scores and we will be sharing ‘top tips’ for completing Home Learning. On Tuesday, our PD lesson was delivered by a guest speaker from ‘CoppaFeel’. Students listened to key information about breast cancer awareness and were also given the opportunity to ask questions. This was an informative and important session for all students and we were impressed with the students’ engagement throughout the session.
During lessons, students are continuing to work hard. In Languages this week, students have been working on their writing and speaking skills. Students have also understood key content delivered in a video and been able to answer questions based on the key vocabulary which they have learnt. In Food Technology students have focussed on ‘meat’, and also completed a task where they have designed their own burger.
On Wednesday morning, 30 Year 9 students were involved in a STEM event. The event, which took place at Toot Hill School. The session included both practical and theory tasks where students had a challenge to create a phone charger, using items including an orange, tin foil and a paperclip. Students were asked to work in small groups to try and record the highest voltage using limited equipment. Students were excellent throughout the session and it was fantastic to see so many students involved in our STEM events. Thank you to Mr Walters for providing this opportunity to our students.
We continue to celebrate students’ achievements on Friday morning, through our ‘Fab Friday’ celebrations. We are pleased with how hard year 9 students are working and it is great to end the week recognising their positive attitudes. Well done to the following students who were recognised this week:
Positive Behaviour Points:
Home learning:
Attendance prize draw:
It is fantastic to see so many students achieving the Bronze Award. Well done to the following students who have achieved ‘Bronze Award’ for achieving 400 positive points so far this year:
We have got a lot to look forward to before the Christmas break and we’d like to draw your attention to the following key dates, which we will share with students next week:
Well done Year 9. Another great week. Keep it up!
Head of Year 9: Miss I Sheldon
Assistant Head of Year 9: Miss A Lloyd
What a treat for Year 10 and some of our College students to have a trip to the Good Food Show. We left school in good time and arrived in Birmingham by 9.45am which meant that the hall was pretty quiet. We had lots of time to browse the various stalls that were exhibiting and there was plenty of delicious food to sample. As well as the eating, some of the students saw Ainsley Harriot, there to sign copies of his latest recipe book, as well as some excellent demonstrations including one all about chocolate given by Paul A Young who also appears on Saturday Kitchen and Snack Masters. The students represented the school really well and were very grateful for the opportunity, with lots of ‘thank-yous’ as they left.
Next week, Year 10s will be doing their Maths assessment which will be held in test conditions but in the classroom supervised by their teacher. They will be assessed on the first 3 topics taught since they have been in Year 10- Proportion, Sequences and Probability calculations for more than one event. In depth information about these topics can be found on Complete Maths. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child's Maths teacher.
Head of Year 10: Mrs L Munro
Assistant Head of Year 10: Miss C Thomas
Another busy week for Year 11 who have been working hard in their GCSE lessons. Some of our students have been lucky enough as part of their food course to attend a trip to World Service in Nottingham. A fantastic opportunity as you can imagine.
In other news, we have had 185 students this half term attend Extended Study. It is a fantastic opportunity for all involved to increase their confidence in their subjects whilst gaining additional support. We hope to see a similar attendance next half term.
Few dates coming up include Christmas jumper day on the 8th of December, and Christmas dinner on the 7th of December in the canteen.
The boys football team put in a valiant effort this week and played really well.
Head of Year 11: Miss L Hughes
Year 11 Achievement Leader: Mr R Wickens
DofE Stars of the Week
There are plenty of volunteering, physical and skill activities going on this week! Congratulations to Ella A, Ellis C, Oscar C, Maggie E, Chloe S, Amy S (bronze) and Eloise A, Liliana A, Phoebus C, Merlin H, Maisey H, Alvin L, Ryan M, Beatrice M, Faye N, Niamh O, Will R, Lucas T and Flora W (silver) who have uploaded all of their activities to eDofE.
It's great to see so many making great progress! All participants, regardless of level, are strongly advised to check all activities are safely on eDofE asap. From years of experience, we know a prompt, proactive and positive start leads to greater progress and the likelihood of graduating on time. If your child needs support, please remind them to see me at the DofE help desk (Mon/Thurs lunch - DT block).
Photos of the Week
Here is an action shot of Ben F (silver) playing rugby for his physical activity, Corey J (bronze) cooking for his skill activity and George B (bronze) supporting the active participation of others through his volunteering at park run. Great work - well done to you al!
Useful DofE Links
Click for Ideas for Skill, Physical & Volunteering Activities, DofE Activity Log and DofE Assessor Report
Dates for Your Diary
FAQ's – see www.toothillschool.co.uk/dofe
Mr Tinsley
mtinsley@toothillschool.co.uk
Toot Hill School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT