Well done Year 7 on another fabulous week of hard work and engagement in your first week of half term two. It has been fantastic to see you all back in school and working hard in your lessons.
As we move into the second half term, we are incredibly excited to see students starting their second language in their MFL rotation. As you can see from the photos, students have worked very hard over the last six weeks, and we are so impressed to see both the quality and quantity of your written work after such a short amount of time. Some students had never studied French before. We are so proud of your conduct and positive attitude to learning, you are a credit to Year 7.
As a reminder, Extended Study will start again next week. Students have been given a paper copy of the new timetable and this has been emailed home too. We hope you enjoy!
Keep working hard Year 7!
Head of Year 7: Miss B Marshall
Assistant Head of Year 7: Miss H Barker
This week during tutor period Year 8 have had an assembly from Mr Kelly covering standards and expectations especially focussing on lateness and the outcomes for being late to lessons, Mr Garner has also delivered an assembly covering the switch to Class Charts which is the new system for teachers/students/parents to track behaviour and homework, login details were provided before half term and we hope you have been able to access the system and see all of the positives that teachers have logged. For Wellbeing Wednesday student discussed why it is important to help others both at school and in the community, on Thursday we continued with the class reading book and as always on Friday we had the Fab Friday shout outs and awards.
During the PDC lesson on Monday Year 8 were discussing puberty and the changes that bodies can go through during this time, it certainly raised lots of interesting questions.
Attendance has been a major focus since September and the year team are delighted with our overall attendance figures, we are continually trying to reward and incentivise good or improving attendance as it has such a close link to achievement.
Well done to the girls’ basketball team who finished in joint first place in their tournament this week, a great achievement for the girls who do not necessarily train specifically for basketball but who just love sport and competing. Huge congratulations to our Year 8 Girls' Football Team who won 1-0 yesterday.
Head of Year 8: Mr D Mordue
Assistant Head of Year 8: Miss L Jordan
Well done Year 9 on a positive week back. It’s been great to welcome students back after the half term break and they have made a fantastic start back! We’ve spent time in tutor set this week reminding students of our whole school expectations and supporting them in making a positive start to their lessons. Students also listened to a whole school Assembly on Tuesday morning which was focussed on Home Learning. On Wednesday morning we focused on Wellbeing and students were introduced to our theme this half term which is ‘Give’. We have also enjoyed celebrating student achievements each week on ‘Fab Friday’. Each week we recognise students for positive points and attendance. Well done to the following students who have been the top three credit earners each week:
Positive Behaviour Points:
3rd Place – Isabella 9.1
2nd Place – Amy 9.4
1st Place – Elliot 9.5
Attendance Prize Draw Winners (100% attendance this week):
Eli 9.6
Liam 9.3
Millie 9.7
Sam 9.2
Abi 9.5
Phoebe 9.10
We are pleased with the start that Year 9 students have made to their lessons this week. Feedback from teachers has been positive and as a year group we have achieved 5000 positive points which is fantastic! When we have visited lessons we’ve seen great work in books (see photos) and high levels of engagement. It has been amazing to see the effort students are making and they have demonstrated excellent behaviour in every lesson we have visited.
Students have made a positive start to their Personal Development lesson, with their tutor. This half term we will be focusing on ‘intimate relationships’. Students showed maturity when covering ‘healthy intimate relationships’ this week. The lesson on Monday will cover ‘healthy online relationships’. We are impressed with students’ attitude, when covering important topics, in the Personal Development Period.
Extended Study starts again next week. We’ve shared the timetable during Active Tutoring and will give out paper copies of timetables next week.
Well done Year 9 for a great start back. Keep up the good work!
Head of Year 9: Miss I Sheldon
Assistant Head of Year 9: Miss A Lloyd
It has been wonderful to welcome Year 10 back to Toot Hill for half term two after what we hope was a restful and well-earned break. It is hard to believe that it has been and gone already, and before we know it, Christmas will be upon us!
Mrs Munro and Ms Thomas were able to cover some RSHE lessons this week, and introduce the brand-new topic of The Value of Life. Maybe we are both biased as R, P&E teachers, but we cannot wait to see the wonderful discussions that will be generated from this unit - thank you to Ms Docherty for her wonderful planning. If our experiences this week were anything to go by, the students will continue to impress with their in depth thinking and paired talk.
Please do not forget that a list of key dates was sent out last half term - please continue to look at this regularly to ensure our students are well prepared for the various waypoints of this half term. Furthermore, there will be more guidance sent out regarding Home Learning and GCSEPod, the platform lots of teachers will be using to share Home Learning tasks - keep those eyes peeled!
Head of Year 10: Mrs L Munro
Assistant Head of Year 10: Miss C Thomas
This week Year 11 have made a fantastic return to school, and have applied themselves brilliantly to their assessments. We are so proud of the mature attitude they have taken, and with all the hard work they have done in the run-up to these.
We are so pleased to have seen so many of our year group at the open evening last night for Toot Hill Sixth Form College, and hope that both you as parents and your child found this informative. The students are now able to apply for college on the Toot Hill Sixth Form College website. In the coming weeks Year 11 students will also be focusing on Post-16 destinations.
Next week students continue with their assessments and with this in mind, we have supported them further through to with revision techniques. We hope they share these with you at home so that you are able to support them in using the strategies as they continue to prepare for their GCSEs.
Head of Year 11: Miss L Hughes
Year 11 Achievement Leader: Mr R Wickens
2022-23 Enrolments Update
The Bronze (Year 9) and Gold (Year 12) DofE Awards are now live and applications for Silver (Year 10) are open (deadline 11th Nov @ 5pm). All students who are already enrolled should familiarise themselves with www.edofe.org, ensure they can login, and upload their skill, physical and volunteering activities, as well as details of who their independent assessor will be.
Useful DofE Links
If your child is searching for a skill, physical or volunteering activity click here for lots of useful ideas. Download a DofE log for recording activities here. Existing participants can access the DofE Assessors Report webpage page here - this is the quickest and easiest way to ask your assessor to complete an assessor's report.
Funding Opportunity - The Cam and Bear Fund for Adventure
An opportunity has arisen for pupils who may be struggling with financial difficulties to apply for a small grant to support them to participate in the DofE Award. There is a simple form to fill out which must be endorsed by an independent adult. Click here for more details.
Dates for Your Diary
November:
Deadlines:
Summer 2023:
FAQ's – see www.toothillschool.co.uk/dofe
Mr Tinsley
mtinsley@toothillschool.co.uk
It has been a busy and exciting week in the Learning Lounge with our new student librarians starting their training. Over the coming weeks we will introduce our new helpers to a variety of library tasks including shelving returned books, shelf tidying, working on the issue desk, helping to create book displays and promotions and helping other students to find a book.
Already we are impressed with our new student librarians who are proving to be reliable, enthusiastic and a great addition to the Learning Lounge team.
We had a wonderful student response to our Halloween book display, the tables rapidly emptied as students took a book to read. As we move into November we have changed the displays to include Remembrance and COP 27. We have been pleased to see interest in both topics already.
Toot Hill School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT