N E W S L E T T E R

Autumn 2017

What’s Inside

Halloween makeup

Charity Club

Book Fair

Restart A Heart Day

And more…………..

Aldworth School

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Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter. As always the autumn

term is a long and busy one as we head rapidly towards

the Christmas break. Our Year 7 cohort have settled into

l i fe at Aldworth and we had 208 starting back in

September, which is the largest number of students we

have ever had on roll in a year group!

We welcomed back the Year 11 ‘Class of 2017’ to our

annual Certif icate Presentation Evening back in

November. We were delighted to welcome Paralympic gold

medal winner Graham Edmunds as our Guest of Honour.

Graham also official ly opened the Flexi-Pod (The Aldworth

Learning Centre) which is part of an init iative to provide

bespoke support to students within the school day.

Message from the Headteacher

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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Staff Changes

We wil l be saying goodbye to a small number of staff at the end of this term. Miss Mbofana

(ICT, Computing and Business Studies) leaves us to take up a new role in Birmingham. Mr

Osborne (PE and Science) leaves us to take up a position in another school. Miss Crocker

(Music and Drama) leaves to take up a posit ion in another Hampshire School. Mr Stafford

( ICT, Computing, Business and Technology), Mrs Weight (Leading Practit ioner: English), Mrs

Mison (English) and Mr Farrar (Mathematics) are also leaving.

Joining the school are; Dr Yorke (Science, joined us after half term) Miss Jones (ICT,

Computing and Business). Mrs King and Mr Maltman are teaching within the Mathematics

Department. Mr Phil l ips, who has been working within PE on a temporary basis, wil l be

remaining for the rest of the academic year and PE are also joined by Miss Harris in

January. We are also welcoming two teachers to the English Department: Mr Watters

(Leading Practit ioner) and Dr Velica. Ms Seaward is joining the Drama Department.

Have a Super Holiday

Congratulations to the 60 students in Years 8-11 who have been awarded 100%

attendance certif icates for 2016-2017!

Thank you to all staff, students and governors who are continuing to work hard and thank

you as parents and carers for supporting the school. On behalf of the staff and governors,

have a happy Christmas and peaceful new year.

Denis McCabe - Headteacher

Through my education, I didn't just develop skil ls, I

didn't just develop the abil ity to learn, I also

developed confidence. Michelle Obama

Aldworth School

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Messages from the Deputy Headteachers When we return from the Christmas break Year 11 wil l already only be 15 school weeks

away from their GCSE examinations which begin in May 2018. With that thought in mind I

have attached some good tips for Year 11 students to take on board over the holiday. They

begin their f inal GCSE practice papers the week beginning 15 January 2018.

Of course these simple t ips and organisation ideas are not just for Year 11 students. Al l

students can benefit from using simple changes to their daily routine to improve their

overall knowledge and understanding and keep it in their long term memory.

Please take a moment to have a look at the ideas and revision methods and consider

which would be valuable to use but also, perhaps to adopt some of these all the time!

Have a great Christmas break and come back ready and focused.

Mr Bramwell - Deputy Headteacher

Create a revision plan

Little and often is best

Start early – 2-4 months ahead

Work out the best revision methods for you and use them

Remove distractions like T.V, mobiles and loud music

Take planned breaks to keep your engagement. Work for 30-60 mins then change topic or have a short break

Eat properly – junk food means imbalanced blood sugars and poor concentration

Drink lots of water

Plenty of sleep - 8 hours minimum

A balance of social and work life works best over time but be prepared to really put some hard work in as you approach your exams

Keep a positive mind set

Revision Basics - Top Tips ORGANISATION Organised students usually do really well in their exams. It ’s not a coincidence. Simple things can change how effective you are at learning and remembering and lower your daily levels of stress.

Things like; keeping your bedroom tidy, packing your bag the night before school, checking what enhancements you have and making arrangements to attend them will definitely be a start.

Getting up early enough to eat some breakfast will help keep your focus in lessons. Also drinking water will 100% improve your concentration levels.

Don’t miss any school. Statistics are clear that those who attend do better than those who are absent.

And finally, keeping your books, equipment and revision materials in order at home will really help you get started quickly and reduce the stress!

Simple things are the easiest to do.

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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I have many conversations with parents who want to offer as much academic support to

their children as possible. Sometimes there is a sense of frustration that without having

the subject knowledge it is hard to help. Other parents comment that they could help more

but they do not have enough information concerning the topics that are being studied in

the different subjects.

Parental support makes a massive

difference, but you do not need to be

a subject expert. Your support and

encouragement with organisation is a

massive factor. Making sure your

child keeps a balance between school

work and social l ife and encouraging

them to do some regular studying wil l

make a massive difference.

I have put some resources on the

Aldworth website to help. Firstly

there are PowerPoints I used at the

Parent Information Evening in section

‘Parents/Letters Home’.

Secondly, i f you look under the

‘Learning’ section there is a variety of

new information. For each subject is

a ‘Curriculum Information’ attachment

that allows you to understand what

topics are being studied at a

particular t ime.

Finally under the ‘Students’ section

there are some valuable ‘Study Skil ls’

resources which are a guide to

effective learning.

I hope this helps, have a great

Christmas!

Mr Moores - Deputy Headteacher

The Months Ahead

Thurs 4 Jan INSET Day

Fri 5 Jan INSET Day

Mon 8 Jan First Day of Spring Term

Thurs 18 Jan Review Evening

Wed 31 Jan Yr 9 Options Evening 6.00pm - 8.30pm

Mon 12 Feb - Fri 16 Feb HALF TERM HOLIDAY

Thurs 1 Mar Yr 7 Interim Reviews to Parents

Fri 2 Mar Yr 8 Interim Reviews to Parents

Fri 16 Mar Yr 11 Interim Reviews to Parents

Tues 20 Mar Yr 10 Mock Interview Day

Wed 28 Mar Yr 9 Interim Reviews to Parents

Thurs 29 Mar Yr 10 Interim Reviews to Parents

Fri 30 Mar GOOD FRIDAY

Mon 2 Apr - Fri 13 Apr EASTER HOLIDAY

Messages from the Deputy Headteachers

Aldworth School

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Over the past two terms the governing body has been organising itself into groups aligned

to the school improvement plan. This enables our monitoring activit ies to be focussed on

the areas where we can be most effective in not only holding leaders to account but

developing strategies that support school improvement.

Governors continue to meet in both committees and ful l Governing Body meetings termly

and engage with staff and pupils through a variety of other opportunit ies. This year we

have attended as many performances and extra curricular activit ies as we have been able

and wil l continue to do this next year and beyond. It is a delight to be able to engage with

our students on the occasions where learning is enriched beyond the classroom, and we

are fortunate that these opportunities continue to be embedded into the curriculum at

Aldworth. We are grateful to our skil led and knowledgeable staff for their commitment to

our varied programme of extra curricular enrichment.

It is also rewarding to be able to meet so many of you at these events, supporting al l our

students, and the school.

We have a busy but productive time ahead of us in the Spring and Summer terms where we

wil l be engaging with school leaders, staff and students as often as possible in our roles

as strategic leaders of the school.

I would l ike to take this opportunity, on behalf of al l of us on the Governing Body, to wish

you and your families a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Maureen Bax, Chair of Governors

Aldworth Governing Body

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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Charity Club Since it was re-launched in November 2017, the new

Charity Club has made a big impression at Aldworth

School raising a lot of money for worthy causes. For

instance Charity Club students planned and put on a

number of different activit ies for Children In Need on

Friday 17 November. These included holding a coin

trai l , bake sale, competit ions, a tutor group sweepstake

and a non- uniform day. Al l of these activit ies raised a very impressive £1058.32 so well

done to those students involved.

Our next fundraising activit ies took place in the run up to Christmas and included holding

a fi lm afternoon and a Christmas art and craft afternoon after school when students got

creative and made a wide range of Christmas inspired cards, decorations and edible

goodies to take home with them. A lot of fun was had by everyone and all the students

enjoyed getting into the festive spirit . Al l profits from these events went to CLIC Sargent

(Children’s Cancer Charity).

Charity Club runs every Tuesday in the Library between 3.00pm and 4.00pm and has many

fun and excit ing plans for 2018 so please keep a look out for further details.

Mr Lewis - Learning Support Assistant

Lego Club Lego Club continues to be a popular addition to the after-

school club t imetable at Aldworth School. We can be found

in Room B1.5 every Monday afternoon between 3.00pm and

4.00 pm. Lego Club students have had lots of fun designing

and creating their own models with many excellent

creations being made. Sam enjoys coming every week and

said ‘I enjoy going to Lego Club because of the fr iendly

people and the amazing models that they make’. Other than

making a wide range of models so far this year, students have also helped create an eye

catching display in Room B1.5 which showcases their models in the best possible way.

Lego Club is open to all students and we hope to see more students there next term.

Mr Lewis - Learning Support Assistant

Aldworth School

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BTEC Business Studies Year 10 Outing!

Al l Year 10 Business Studies students investigated

two local large businesses, completing a project

survey whilst at Brighton Hil l Retail Park! They had

fun learning about the features of a business

including innovation, USP, environmental trends,

and the target market of both Toys R Us and Currys

PC World, in a real world environment. This

comparison of both businesses wil l be used to

inform their assignment for BTEC Unit 1 –

‘Investigating the Business World’.

Our teachers and the managers of both businesses

were very impressed with every student that

attended in the way they conducted themselves and

their commitment to the task. We are very lucky to

have such dedicated students! In l ight of this, we wil l be asking for our students to review

their upcoming assignment targets and l ink them to their own trip ideas. We look forward

to future department trips with us going further afield!

Mrs Banga

Business Studies

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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Battle of Hastings

Over the term we have learnt about the

Battle of Hastings and how Will iam, the

Duke of Normandy, won the phenomenal

batt le that would go down in history. We

also learnt about how artefacts give

evidence and add a new piece of the j igsaw

puzzle to historians and create a labyrinth

of different paths of what might have

happened in history. We learnt about using

the evidence in our answers and we were

set homework to make our own swords and

shields for our re-enactment. Everybody

brought in their homework on Friday 10

November and they al l looked impeccable.

After a topic that made us apply hard work

and resil ience we were finally going to

become some of the greatest people in

history ourselves.

On Friday 17 November, the event that took

place on 14 October 1066 became our

reality. We split ourselves into Saxons and

Normans and then, intrigued to feel some

of the emotions they felt in the battle, we

headed out onto the field. From looking at

the Bayeux Tapestry historians state that

the battle took place on a hi l l , so we fought

on a hi l l . The Normans then charged at the

Saxons several t imes, eventually the

Saxons were beaten because Harold

Godwinson (Wil l iam Essery) fel l to the f loor

writhing in pain. Suddenly the Saxons were

beaten and they ran rapidly into the forest

before being hunted and slaughtered one

by one!

By Mason Warwick 7Y1

Aldworth School

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It’s been another busy term in the Drama department, with lots happening both in and out

of the classroom. Year 7 have settled in well to their drama lessons and have spent this

term learning basic drama skil ls and using the theme of ‘Haunted House’ to create some

spooky drama pieces! Year 8 have explored the topic of bullying through dramatic

techniques and are currently using the stimulus of the Titanic disaster to create some

thought provoking pieces of work. Year 9 have explored the issues of child labour around

the world, creating some emotive pieces of work and are currently devising their own

modernised versions of fairy tales! There have been some fabulous pieces of work created

and we look forward to seeing much more throughout the year.

Year 10 have settled well into their GCSE course and have had a busy half term with a

whistle-stop tour of the course – they have devised pieces of drama from a stimulus,

learnt and performed monologues, researched drama practit ioners and are currently

exploring the play Blood Brothers. I know there wil l be some exciting pieces of work to

come from this year group! Year 11 have completed their devised pieces of work for their

coursework and their performances were fabulous, a real credit to the hard work they have

all put in. We wish them every success as they complete their course this year.

Outside of the classroom the KS3 Drama Club continues to be really popular, with over 20

students attending every week (pictured below). Students have explored many different

drama skil ls this term and it ’s really lovely to see students who may not feel so confident

in the classroom really shine in Drama club. Many thanks to Ryan Gaul and Hayleigh

Pogmore in Year 10 for

running drama club every

week, and to Mr Attr idge for

overseeing it .

Many thanks to you all for

suppor t ing the ac t i v i t i es

w i t h i n t h e D r a m a

department and we look

f o r w a r d t o m a n y m o r e

e x c i t i n g a c t i v i t i e s a n d

opportunities in the New

Year!

Miss Crocker

News from the Drama Dept!

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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This term Aldworth has kick started Peace Jam. Students

from Year 7 to 11 come to discuss recent news events

and see how they can make a difference.

Currently we are focusing on l itter in the school and the

elderly in Basingstoke. Keep your eyes peeled as we may

be asking for your help very soon.

Daisy Hursey, Deputy Head gir l , comments that “Peace

Jam is a great opportunity to meet new people and share

your views on current affairs. It al lows me to build on fundamental skil ls for the future

and take on board other perspectives. Peace Jam allows individuals to work together as a

team to build awareness of issues that we would l ike to change in our community”.

If students wish to join this group, please feel free to come along every Thursday in S1.15

from 3.00pm to 4.00pm.

Mrs Smyth

Peace Jam

Philosophy at Aldworth Welcome back, and what a start it has been. KS4 have had a busy start to the new

academic year, with end of unit tests and mock exams.

On Wednesday 6 December, many students expanded their

knowledge by attending places of worship in London. This was a

great opportunity for them to ask believers crucial questions that

would help them in their studies. Plus the added bonus of seeing

the beautiful sights of London from the top of Saint Paul’s.

This year, we have set homework projects in KS3 and we have

received some fantastic pieces. Year 9’s have delivered Philosopher presentations in

lessons to achieve a piece of evidence for student leadership, Year 8 students have had

fun videoing alien explanations and Year 7 students have produced some amazing cakes

and models to represent their island.

I just want to take the t ime to thank the parents for their continual support in ensuring

that students are completing and handing in their homework on time.

Mrs Smyth

Aldworth School

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Library News Hampshire Book Award

Last month Mr Denning and I took a group of Year 9 students who had participated in the

Hampshire Book Award in the summer to Winchester Guildhall for the winning author,

Helen Dennis, to be presented with the award for her book, River of Ink: Genesis. Helen

gave an inspiring talk about her

early interest in writ ing and the

planning and research involved in

writ ing a novel. Students were

able to purchase books at the

event and have them signed by

Helen.

The students concerned: Max

Gatford; Al ice Masters; Rhiann

Gil lman; Briony Merriman; Luke

Chinappen; Onur Ashakhasanov;

Jessica Ludlow and Ben Pope, all

r e p r e s e n t e d t h e S c h o o l

impeccably.

Scholastic Book Fair

At the beginning of December

we held our f irst Scholastic

Book Fair. The event was

extremely successful and well

attended by both students and

s ta f f w i th sa les o f £300.

As all of the books were half

p r i c e i t w a s t h e p e r f e c t

oppor tun i t y t o buy a few

Christmas presents. We wil l

cer ta in ly be repeat ing th is

event in the future.

Mrs Paterson

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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Restart A Heart Day On Monday 16 October,

180 Year 10 students

had the chance to learn

l i f e - s a v i n g C P R

techniques, taught by

front l ine qualif ied staff

from all our Emergency

Services, as part of the

Europe-wide 'Restart a Heart ' day.

This init iative is organised in the UK by the Brit ish Heart Foundation and aims to train as

many students nationally as possible in CPR. Cardiac arrests can happen anywhere, at

any t ime, and to anyone, regardless of age - so this was a great chance for our Year 10's

to learn to be l ife-savers, practicing on mannequins to consolidate the training.

Al l 180 achieved the required level and were presented with a certif icate. It was a great

day and wonderful to see our Year 10's working closely with the emergency services, to

really get a feel for what a difference this skil l could make in an emergency.

Mrs Strokosz

Aldworth School

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Hair and Beauty - Halloween For Halloween the Year

11 Hair and Beauty

s t u d e n t s h a d a

competit ion in their

l e s s o n . T h e y w e r e

allowed to work in

pairs and given a brief

of Halloween.

Af ter producing an

inspiring mood board

with their ideas they

had a ful l double

lesson to create their

looks. The standard

w a s f a n t a s t i c a n d

every student showed

enthusiasm and added

passion to their work.

T h e w i n n e r o f t h e

completion was Hope Archer

who worked her magic on

Zoe Davis (pictured here).

Hope worked really hard

throughout the whole lesson

and was well prepared when

she arrived which resulted

in an excellent al l round

result. Hope was a worthy

winner and took home the

1st prize!

Mrs Stratton

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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Aldworth School

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Physical Education

Girls’ Football Girls’ football has seen another successful term. The gir ls experienced professional train-

ing from a member of the Reading Ladies FC team and their hard work has paid off , as the

Year 7 girls have made it to the Basingstoke finals. Numbers continue to increase at train-

ing but we would love to see even more girls attending on Tuesday evenings.

Miss Payne

Student of the Month The student of the month is given to the student who has stood out above all others in

their key stage that month. This could be for excellent attitude and behaviour, making

good progress in a specific sport, helping out with the department and being involved in

extra-curricular sports, to name a few. September’s students of the month were Bukola

Ikengboju, Ryan Parry, Jasmine Bull ion and Jake Thomson. October’s students were Betha-

ny Cook, Kean Hamilton-Jones, Katie Pierce and Ben May. The November students were

Arina Gurung, Isaac Haines, Mil ly Bryant and Ashton Cooper.

Congratulations to al l of our winners, please keep up the excellent work.

Miss Payne

Basketball Attendance at basketball club has continued to grow since half term at both U14 and U16

level with numbers averaging 25.

The U16's competed in their f irst cup game 2 weeks ago at Bohunt School. Unfortunately

they did not come out on the winning side but they were up against one of the best teams

in the county and the boys definitely learnt a lot from it. We are currently developing our

skil ls using lessons learnt from that game and I hope to get the boys some local friendlies

in the near future.

The U14's are currently developing quickly and working towards their f irst set of f ixtures

after Christmas.

It has been a joy to coach the boys since half term and I look forward to working with them

after Christmas.

Mr Voce

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

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Netball Year 11 This was the final season for the Year 11 players to represent

Aldworth and Miss Lester and I could not be more proud of

them. The gir ls trained consistently and worked as a unit

within matches, they were up against some very strong

opponents and never gave up. The resil ience and

determination they demonstrate has set a high bar for the

younger teams. The team wil l be greatly missed next year, well

done gir ls.

Team: Isabelle Bone, Jasmine Bull ion, Hannah Cole, Lucie

Poulter, Benedicta Osei Gyamfi, Prabha Rai, Grace

Shackleton, Al ice Bone, Chosen Lamont and Abinay Tyrell -

Bonsu.

(Year 11 gir ls pictured right)

Year 10 The Year 10 girls are the only year group to have managed to fi l l and maintain two teams!

The A and B team have been playing together for many netball seasons and it shows. The

camaraderie amongst the players runs through both teams and the benefit from the

support and encouragement is visible in the amount of fun they have each match. The

gir ls are a joy to watch and they conduct themselves with the highest level of integrity and

sportsmanship. The teams played some fantastic netball and, whilst achieving some great

victories, unfortunately they did not place in the f inals. Great effort gir ls, let’s see what

next year brings.

Team A: Georgia-Mae Roots, Mya Bradford, El l ie

Walker, Maisie Howard, Hannah Powers, Katie

Pierce and Mill ie Hawthorn.

Team B: Amelia Oxlade, Chloe O’Donnell , Mirabelle

Larbi, Melinder Kaur, Yasmin Spratl ing, Sarah

Barbour and Sophie Hughes.

(Year 10 gir ls pictured right)

Physical Education

Aldworth School

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Year 9 The Year 9 team have been instrumental in

supporting the progress of (the equally successful)

Year 8 girls and the bond they have is inspiring. The

team have been proactive in starting training

sessions and supporting the Year 8 team in both

their training and match fixtures. The new Year 7

gir ls have just started and again it is the Year 9

team that has supported and taken them under

their wing. The gir ls have certainly passed on their

passion for netball and this has supported their own growth within the game! The team are

highly reflective players and plan for each match, this proves to be working as they have

won all their group matches (excluding one draw against Bishop Challenor) and made it to

the semi-f inals during December! Good luck gir ls and well done for being so proactively

supportive of others.

Team: Mea Fleming, Lucy McFee, Maria Peregrino-Brimah, Sophie Ashcroft, Madison

Stranney, Grace Keane, Li ly Hutchinson, El izabeth Webster and Abigail Hugil l

(Year 9 Girls pictured right above)

Year 8 The Year 8 team were extremely keen to start the netball season and the energy they have

is infectious. Despite one loss to The Vyne, the

team have won all their group matches and made

it to the semi-f inals! Well done girls, a great effort

so far, let’s see if the new netball sweaters can

bring us any luck! Either way we are very proud of

you.

Team: Jessica Lawrence, Arina Gurung, Olivia

Mason, Michaela Wells, Kaci-Anne Hayward,

Amelia Jagged, Rosina Pettican, Eloise Durham,

Ella Garnett and Jessica Beacon.

(Year 8 Girls pictured right)

Miss Wijeratne

Physical Education

www.aldworth.hants.sch.uk

19

Physical Education

Boys Badminton KS3 Boys badminton won Basingstoke Schools’ badminton competit ion. Ryan Farr, Sam

Hubbard, Sean Rodgers and Aaron Fount won all their matches in singles and doubles.

They wil l now face Costello in a f inal el iminator. The winner of that wil l go on to compete

in the county competit ion at Westgate Badminton Centre in Winchester in the New Year.

Mr Butcher

Year 7 Boys Football Year 7 Boys football team beat The Vyne 4-0 on Thursday 23 November to finish off our

football f ixtures in 2017. The boys are currently working hard in training and preparing for

the Basingstoke league fixtures which begin in January.

Mr Butcher

Cross Country We have had district cross country events for all year groups this term. We had lots of

runners enter but our main successes came from Kean Hamilton-Jones, Ben May and Ben

White. Ben May finished 5th overall in the KS4 race, Ben White finished a very close

second in the Year 8 race, while an amazing run from Kean saw him comfortably win the

Year 9 race! Well done to all participants.

Mr Osborne

Inter House Netball This term saw the next installment of the House Cup -

House netball! We had a good turnout across most year

groups, particularly Year 7 and 8. Of the teams, Danson

has gained the most from netball, picking up 17 points,

which moves them into second place overall behind

Adams. The next inter-house event is Volleyball , taking

place the week beginning 5th February. The House

points table is displayed opposite

Mr Osborne

Are you looking for the perfect place to hold that special event? Or require a room to hold a meeting?

I f the answer is yes, then look no further! We have the ideal

venues and facil i t ies for any of the fol lowing:

We also hire out our Sports Hall , Main Hall ,

Gym and Drama Studio to regular hirers.

Please contact us if you are looking for a

regular booking and we can advise which

t imes are available.

For more details and hire rates please

contact the Finance Office on

(01256) 322691 or

michelle.f loyd@aldworth.hants.sch.uk

*Sorry but we do not accept teenage Birthday parties.

Please note that the school site is a no smoking zone.

Anniversaries

Birthday Parties*

Children’s Parties

Engagement Parties

Shows

Sports Events

Wedding Receptions

Work Do’s

Room Hire