July 2015

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is a lovely time of year; looking back on what our students and we as a school have pursued since last September and looking ahead to both the GCSE and A Level results in August and our plans for an even better year in 2015/16. I hope my final newsletter of the year will capture some of those reflections on the past and the future. Before you read on, I wish you all a sunny, safe and restful holiday!

Year 6 Induction – 210 fresh faced Year 6s on the way… On Wednesday 1st July we welcomed our next generation of Colmers students for a packed programme of activities spread over two days. We have heard so many great things about this group of students and we were certainly not disappointed by their manners, enthusiasm and willingness to get going! They even had to put up with the hottest day of the year and the hottest most of us can remember! Welcome to each and every one of them and their families.

Trips & Visits – More Opportunities to Challenge Mind-sets

At the time of writing, our students are getting ready to embark on a series of local, national and continental visits as part of our vibrant trips and visits programme. Risk assessments, liabilities and the fear of something going wrong do not stop us putting on activities that we know students enjoy and benefit from each year. My thanks, as ever, to those staff willing to organise, lead and inspire children to see the world around them! Please keep your eye on Facebook and Twitter to find out more as the week progresses and to see the reflections of those who participated! Please read on to find out more about the most ambitious and important visit in the school’s history, planned for next year.

Visit to Poland – Visiting Auschwitz and the Oscar Schindler Factory

Following the success of the visit to the battlefields of the First World War in the Autumn Term, we shall be organising a similar experience for approximately 40 students next year. Between Sunday 20th and Wednesday 23rd March 2016, Miss Ainslie, Mr Charlett and I will be leading a group of Years 8 to 13 students to Poland. We shall fly into the town of Krakow before spending time at the Auschwitz Museum and the Oscar Schindler factory. This will be a life changing experience for us all and one that Colmers students deserve an opportunity in which to participate. Further information will be shared by Miss Ainslie in September, but for now we wish to share that the opportunity will be open to each of next year’s elected tutor group and school council representatives. Whilst the participants will be expected to pay for some of the expenses to ensure their personal commitment, the vast majority of the visit will be subsidised and paid for by the school, using additional funds we have been quietly raising all year.

New Prefects Appointed – Including Our New Head Girl and Head Boy!

Thanks again to Mr Boardman for organising this year’s prefect application process. Following a rigorous application procedure, we selected 88 current Year 10 students to become prefects and they received their ties and badges in a special assembly several weeks ago. Several students shall join them in the coming weeks or months - once outstanding attendance goals have been achieved. Congratulations in particular go to those ten students who were appointed Senior Prefects: Amy Allsop, Sean Demetre, Bethanie Harris, Rennae Harris, Tom Nicklin, Lauren Selby-Davis, Jake Vale and Daniel Whitehouse.

The two names missed off that list are our new Head Girl and Head Boy: Semra Worrall and Alex Boscott. Congratulations to them both in particular; being appointed Head Girl or Head Boy remains the most prestigious school achievement any child can take with them throughout life!

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

Farewells – and welcomes! It is that time of year when we bid farewell and welcome teaching and associate staff from and to our school community. At the end of term we say goodbye to Mr Brisco, Miss Bryan, Mr Howard, Ms Hurst, Miss Linehan, Mrs Pryor, Ms Griffin and Ms Toynbee. In addition we shall also be saying farewell to two Assistant Headteachers: Mrs Docherty is retiring, whilst Mr Hodgson will be taking up a position as Deputy Headteacher in a school in Coventry. We wish them all great success and contentment in their various new roles, careers and paths and hope Colmers will remain a place of many fond memories!

Whilst we are certainly losing very committed and highly skilled colleagues, we are also very, very excited about the new faces that shall become well known amongst you and your children. The Mathematics Department welcomes Mr Hindley, Mr Tulloch, Miss Buckley, Mr Bibb, joining Mr Burrows who arrived earlier this term. English welcome Ms Brown and Ms Fletcher, whilst the Computer Science team is expanding to welcome Miss Whitehouse. Mrs Vince is joining Science, whilst Mrs Johnson-Jones will be joining Humanities. Mrs Gerrard also joins an expanding department in Modern Foreign Languages, whilst Miss Lewis and Miss Flynn are joining our History and Art departments, respectively. Following Mr Bailey’s promotion and departure earlier this year, we have already welcomed Miss Hufton to the Geography Department. Finally, Mr Queen joins us as a member of teaching staff after completing both his university degree and teaching certificate in recent years.

Internally, Mr Brookes was promoted to Assistant Headteacher to replace Mrs Docherty, whilst Mr Charlett has become our Acting Head of Sixth Form following Ms Toynbee’s well deserved promotion to an Assistant Headship in London. Mr James was internally appointed as Assistant Headteacher, in charge of Science and other whole school responsibilities. Miss Clarke and Miss Walls were also recently appointed as the Year 7 and Year 8 Heads of Learning & Achievement, respectively.

Uniform & Equipment Reminders – If in doubt… please ask!

Uniform is available directly from our two suppliers over the summer. Please leave enough time to ensure that your son or daughter is in their correct uniform for September. Marks & Spencer uniform is available via their website: www.mandsyourschooluniform.com. Clive Mark Uniform is available via their web site: www.clivemark.co.uk. Clive Mark Uniform also sell all items from their shops in Kings Heath and Redditch.

Please direct further enquiries to Mrs Murphy in the Finance Office. We encourage all families to continue adopting the mantra… if in doubt, please ask. Don’t forget to consult our handy guide to uniform and equipment expectations by reading our revised and updated booklet. Copies will go out with all students this week and it is available on line: http://online.colmers.bham.sch.uk/parentstudent/uniform/Documents/Uniform%20Booklet.pdf We would be delighted to return in September without any of the occasional distracting

conversations with families regarding well-publicised and clear expectations on shoes, piercings and hair colour in particular. I should add that the vast majority of Colmers pupils look amazing and wear the uniform with unparalleled pride!

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE

Farewell to Our Leavers – Years 13 and 11 Talking of which, on Friday 19th June, we all gathered in the sports hall to celebrate the graduation of our first sixth formers. We learned of their personal journeys and their planned destinations and again wish them every success and happiness beyond Colmers next year. Their results come out on Thursday 13th August and they deserve enormous success for their commitment and hard work!

A typically emotional Year 11 Leavers’ Assembly sent our students off in style several weeks ago. Organised superbly by Mrs Hodgson, we heard some short and often moving words from tutors and students before enjoying a farewell video from staff performing various dance moves. I understand that one particular break dancer stood out above all others… Equally the Prom was another sell-out black tie and ball gown event celebrating a year group who have worked harder for

longer than any other before. We wish each and every one of them great success on 20th August and look forward to seeing so many more of them back with us in our sixth form next year.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

Generation Can Awards Ceremony – 9th July 2015 Thirty students have won Generation CAN Awards for their outstanding progress in one of the three core values of our school: Achieving Excellence by Belonging Together and Challenging Mind-sets. The awards ceremony was organised and led by Mrs Hannah Moloney, Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion. The awards were co-presented by three key members of the Inclusion team along with Reece Charlton (Year 13), Billie Devine (Year 11) and Daniel Whitehouse (Year 10); who have all modelled the values of achieving excellence, belonging together and challenging mind-sets within the school this year. The students who won awards were thrilled to receive recognition for their successes, not to mention their proud families.

Year 9 and 10 Examination Readiness – Study Skills Training On Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd July, Years 9 and 10 experienced a very different day. Pupils were lucky enough to attend a study workshop from the company 'Study Skills Zone'. Pupils received a two hour workshop which allowed them to focus on how their brains work, preparation for exams, explore what is meant by a 'growth mind-set', time management strategies and their organisational skills. Year 9 pupils were then provided with the opportunity to put what they had learnt into practice and create revision aides, whilst Year 10 pupils were introduced to The GAP. Parents were also given the opportunity to experience, first-hand, the techniques and strategies which their children received in the parent workshop which took place on Wednesday evening. The two days were a

tremendous success and the pupils all gained a valuable insight into practical strategies which they can utilize from the start of September to enable them all to achieve their potential at GCSE and beyond

Year 10 – Get Ready for The GAP!

As soon as our Year 10s return as Year 11s, they will be beginning their revision for the GCSE examinations in May and June 2016. I personally worked with all Year 10s on Thursday 2nd July to introduce our GAP programme and show students how to create useful revision notes and began looking at strategies to help them memorise it all ready for those exam days. We ask parents and carers of Year 10 students to help them and us make a great start to that programme – there is an obvious reason why we call it the Get Ahead Programme.

End of Year Music Concert

Well done and thank you to the following students who entertained everyone so much with their superb performances on Wednesday 8th July: Charlotte Sallis-Jones, Lillie-May Bridgen, Mollie Clissett, Chloe Stringer, Ellie Jones, Chris Finch, Thomas Davies, Nicholas Webb, Blake Larner, Kara Hughes, Kathryn Ingram, Alice Bull, James Woodward, Lauren Wilks, Paige Asbury, Jodie Burkinshaw, Tom Rushton, James Finch, Kirsten Davis, Matthew Spurrier, Louis Gadd (Compere), Louis Carnell, Danny Bartlett, Alex Boscott, Lydia Payne, Isaiah Williams, Eboni Green and Liam Brueton-Tolley.

BELONGING TOGETHER

The New House System – Dolphin, Eagle and Wolf! In September we shall be introducing a brand new house system at Colmers. Every student and member of staff will join one of three houses. The names of each house were decided by a popular vote in May 2015 – to coincide with the General Election.

Students and staff chose Wolf, Eagle and Dolphin Houses. Over time these new Houses will become an integral part of our life at Colmes and one of the ways we can achieve excellence by belonging together in new and exciting ways.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

The New House System – and

the Personal Scorecard Each term, every child will update their ‘personal scorecard’. Each scorecard will have ten ‘events’ and each child will achieve a bronze, silver or gold medal in each of those ten events. Obviously, Gold medals will be awarded for the very best achievements!

Each House will include about 350 students. Each student will contribute a maximum of 100 points towards their House. The House with the greatest number of points will be crowned House Winners!

We hope that this simple model reinforces the message that our school, our community and our society is only ever the sum of its parts.

The New House System – Why? Well, there are three main reasons why we wanted to do this and begin something that will one day become a tradition at this school. Firstly, to give students the chance to work and belong together with older and younger students. Secondly, for students to be recognised and rewarded for the things that matter most to this school. Thirdly, for students to focus on the things that will make the biggest difference in their lives.

In time many more layers will be added to the new House system until one day, what was once ‘new’ will become part of the tradition of the school. We look forward to working with the students to create those traditions in the years ahead. We envisage that in September 2016, some parts of the school uniform may be amended to reflect our new House system. This is most likely to affect PE kits and school ties. Should we make those changes, parents and carers will know many, many months in advance!

CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

Four years ago, Colmers introduced its own motto for the first time. The final part of that motto, “Challenging Mind-sets”, remains the key to everything. All over the country, people in education are talking about “growth mind-sets” – more simply, the belief that everything from intelligence to resilience is not fixed and can be changed if a person wishes to make those changes.

In assembly a few weeks ago, students (and colleagues) were invited to become yetis. By that we mean that we get used to saying ‘yet’ at the end of sentences. For example: “I don’t know it, yet.” “I don’t understand it, yet.” “I don’t know how to do it, yet.” “I haven’t been there, yet.” “I haven’t achieved it, yet.”

And so, with your child’s report now in your hands and another year of their education over, it is time to reflect on what has and has not been achieved. What has already been accomplished? What is yet to come next year?

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY…

2pm on Friday 17th July – Final day of the summer term

Thursday 13th August - AS and A2 Results Day

Thursday 20th August – GCSE Results Day

Monday 7th September 2015 – first day of term for all students. Please see the attached “Annual Handbook for Parents” for a complete breakdown of the 2015/16 calendar.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS