The Netherhall School and

Sixth Form Centre July 2015

Arrangements for the

start of term 2015

Tuesday 1 September Staff Training Day

Wednesday 2 September Yr 7 - to arrive at school at 8.30am Yr 12 - Starting at 9.30am

Thursday 3 September All years to be in school at 8.35am ready for registration at 8.40am

No College for Yr 12

Yr 13 start at 9.30am in Tutor groups, then normal lessons pds 3 - 5.

Friday 4 September All Years in School - normal timetable Year 12 Lessons commence Registration at 8.40am

A Level Results

Thursday 13th August

2015

Year 13 results available for collection from 8.00am onwards

Year 12 results available for collection from 10.00am onwards

GCSE Results

Thursday 20th August

2015

Year 11 results available for collection from 9.00am - 11.00am

Year 10 results available for collection from 11.00am - 12.00 noon

All uncollected results will be posted at the end of the day.

Dear Parents / Carers,

It’s hard to believe but we’ve arrived at the end of another year. There is no doubt that it’s been a period of change and challenge for all at Netherhall but I have no doubt that we are emerging stronger and more unified than ever. Some highlights:

● A full review of the school curriculum will lead to smaller KS3 class sizes in September and an increase in the focus given to the core skills of literacy and numeracy. To some this might sound concerning, however…

● The new Performance and Arts faculties will ensure there is no reduction in opportunities for students to develop their creative sides

● A new team of Heads of Faculty has been appointed with a core commitment to enhancing the learning experiences for all students

Additionally the school infrastructure has seen significant investments. These include:

● New servers and the installation of the SIMs school management system

● The introduction of a new data system which is on track to be released to parents in September along with a brand new remote access solution. The latter will significantly enhance student access to school software and their work. This will be complemented by the new school website which is due to launch from 20

th July

● The installation of Interactive Whiteboard technologies into Science to provide a new stimulus to learning in this crucial area.

Continuing this theme, the summer is going to be a flurry of activity across the campus. Dining facilities will be upgraded with a £80,000 investment from our catering providers, Chartwells. This will include the refreshing of our dining hall, provision of new serving units, a queuing system and a new external kiosk from which students will be able to purchase hot food. This, along with an extension to our morning breaktime by 5 minutes will further enhance the dining experience.

Whilst all of this has been going on in the background, the rich life of students at the school has continued: We enjoyed a magnificent evening of entertainment at the Arts Festival; Netherhall students broke records in sports day and the Jubilee Cup whilst Year 8 enjoyed a trip to the Isle of Wight. Work experience was a resounding success for Year 10 and the Year 11 and 13 proms showcased our students in all their sartorial elegance! A personal highlight was watching Mrs Parker and Mr Carlson dancing to Grease at the prom – you had to be there!!!

It was also great to see Netherhall appear in a list of the 10 best secondary schools in the region whilst Patrick Deloughery and Chris Boak collected first prize in the Cambridge Evening News community awards. Last, and by no means least, our Year 7 team beat all comers to win the inaugural Marshalls Launch Pad event – a wonderful result.

The year ended with a visit from John Daniel (HMI) from OfSTED. In his feedback to governors he said, ‘This is a completely different school from the one I visited in October. There are still many challenges ahead but the school has made many improvements.’

Of course, it goes without saying that none of this would have been possible without the amazing commitment and resilience shown by our teaching and support staff, parent body, governors and students. The Netherhall community is one of which we are justifiably proud of and we look forward to continuing on our journey together in September.

Wishing you all a peaceful summer holiday,

Chris Tooley

Acting Principal

Dear Parent / Carer,

I am writing with respect to the timings of the school day and to share the outcome of a recent consultation process involving all staff at Netherhall. Earlier this term governors of the school supported a consultation process regarding the pattern and timings of the school day. Several different models were scrutinised in detail and comparisons made with other secondary schools in the area. The outcome of the consultation indicated that a radical re-structuring of the school day is not, at present, the best option. It was, however, concluded that time could be used more efficiently in two respects.

1. The three current 5-minute movement times will be removed: this will enable the more efficient and effective use of time and is in line with the majority of local secondary schools.

2. Morning break will be extended from 20 to 25 minutes: this will enable more students to use the canteen at this time should they wish to do so.

The combined effect of these two small changes is to bring forward the end of the school day by 10 minutes. The start of the day will remain unchanged. A slightly earlier finish time will allow more time for extra-curricular activities in general with more time, in particular, for sporting activities during the winter months. It will also reduce congestion at the end of the day on Gunhild Way and at the entrance to Queen Emma Primary School.

Richard Wilson, Deputy Principal

Timings of the School Day

8.40am – 8.40am Registration/ Form Period

9.00am – 10.00am Lesson 1

10.00am – 11.00am Lesson 2

11.00am – 11.25am Morning

11.25am – 12.25pm Lesson 3

12.25pm – 13.35pm Lesson 4

13.25pm – 14.05pm Lunchtime

14.05pm – 15.05pm Lesson 5

It's been a very busy year for the Netherhall Governors, the team of volunteers whose role is given by the

Department of Education to "...conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational

achievement". In addition, "Governing bodies are the key strategic decision-making body of every school.

It is their role to set the school’s strategic framework and to ensure all statutory duties are met."*

The last 12 months or so began with a Requires Improvement Ofsted report - which has been the spur to

many actions from the Governing Body including the invitation to Kate Evans and Chris Tooley of Bottisham

Village College to come and offer leadership. This came at a difficult time, including dealing with budget

challenges, as well as the many teaching changes required to implement the new national curriculum.

We're delighted that, during all this, the focus has remained firmly on improving education for our students.

The restructuring of the school into faculties and the introduction of the new data system both strongly

support this.

Confirmation that things are on an improving upward trend at Netherhall came from a recent informal

inspection by John Daniel of Ofsted, who commented very positively on what he had seen, and on how we'd

improved since previous visits. This was a great way to round off the school year, and sets us up very well to

continue raising the standards at Netherhall into the next year and beyond.

As mentioned at the start, we are a team of volunteers, with a mix coming from parents, staff, the

community, the local authority and the school senior leadership team. For more information - including

contact details - please see http://www.netherhall.org/about/governors/ .

The Governors

Netherhall School and Sixth Form Centre *from the Department for Education's Governors Handbook, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/

uploads/attachment_data/file/395789/Governors_Handbook.pdf

Netherhall Governors

SUMMER 2015 EXAMINATION RESULTS

GCE results issued - Thursday 13 August 2015

Year 13 - 8.00am onwards

Year 12 - 10.00am onwards

GCSE results issued - Thursday 20 August 2015

Year 11 - 9.00 - 11.00am

Year 10 - 11.00 - 12.00 noon

Term Dates 2015 – 2016

2015

Tuesday 1 September Training Day

Wednesday 2 September Years 7 & 12 only in school

Thursday 3 September Autumn Term Opens (all years except Year 12)

Friday 4 September All years in school

Thursday 8 October Training Day

26 – 30 October Half Term

Monday 30 November Training Day

Wednesday 16 December Autumn Term Closes ( Lunchtime )

2016

Monday 4 January Training Day

Tuesday 5 January Spring Term Opens

15 – 19 February Half Term

Thursday 24 March Spring Term Closes ( Lunchtime )

Monday 11 April Summer Term Opens

Monday 2 May May Bank Holiday

30 May – 3 June Half Term

Thursday 21 July Summer Term Closes ( Lunchtime )

Friday 22 July Training Day

November series 3 - 13 November 2015

(GCSE Maths and English resits only)

Results issued 7 January 2016

Summer series 16 May - 29 June 2016

(GCSE and GCE examinations)

Results issued

GCE Thursday 18 August 2016

GCSE Thursday 25 August 2016

Resit request deadline for GCE exams

taken in June 2014 1 February 2016

PUBLIC EXAMINATION DATES FOR 2015 - 2016

INTERNAL EXAMINATION DATES FOR 2015 - 2016

Year 11 examinations 2 - 6 November 2015

Year 12 and 13 examinations 5 - 8 January 2016

Year 10 examinations - To be confirmed

Years 7, 8 and 9 assessments/exams will take place towards the end of the summer term.

The Netherhall Year 10 Foundation Learning group recently won the Cambridge News Education Award for contribution to the local community. The group showed dedication and great organisational skills when they raised over £2,100 for Great Ormond Street Hospital with a sponsored football marathon. The project was inspired by the son of Mr Crick, who underwent open heart surgery last year, and saw the students arrange for Cambridge United's Robbie Simpson to join them on the day. The Year 10 students were able to use the experience towards their BTEC project, giving them valuable experience, and a boost to their self-esteem. The school's assistant head Nikky Parker said: "We brought two of the group to the awards, and they were very proud to win. "I think they were quite humbled in a way. Sometimes because of the nature of the group they don't always find learning very easy, so we try to do things in a lot of practical ways, and it gives them the opportunity to do something very positive. "There were nine boys in this year's group, and we are al-ready making plans for next year's. "It was a really, really nice evening, and such a good experience for them."

Contribution to the local community - Year 10 Foundation Learning Group

Dear Parent or Carer

As part of the changes creating a new ethos at Netherhall, from September, we will be tightening up on

school uniform. Mrs Parker has delivered an assembly to all Year Groups in the school outlining our

expectations of uniform, our reasons for maintaining good standards of uniform and the consequences for

those students who do not comply.

Since that assembly, it has been noted that a number of students are not wearing the correct

uniform. Please see the full list of the Netherhall uniform for ease of reference. Please make sure your

child is wearing the appropriate uniform by the beginning of the Autumn Term in September.

Thank you in advance for your support in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Wilders/Mr Carlson

Directors of Key Stage 3 and 4

Netherhall School Uniform

Skirt Black; plain fabric, not denim or denim look; conventional school uniform style, approximately knee length.

Trousers Black; plain conventional style and fabric. Full length (no ankles to be seen) No Leggings/jeggings or demin. As a ‘rule of thumb’ a golf ball should be able to travel freely inside from waist to ankle.

Polo Shirt Plain white with school crest.

Sweatshirt Plain black, v-necked with school crest.

Cardigan Black with school crest.

Girls Tights Black or natural; un-patterned.

Shoes Black shoes, with backs. All shoes must be either flat or with a low heel for reasons of safety. Trainers must be all black including sole with black laces. No logos.

Scarves Muslim girls wishing to wear a headscarf must ensure that it is plain black or navy with no patterns or frills.

Year 11 In Year 11, as a privilege, pupils wear the Year 11 sweatshirt, the colour of which is decided by the in-coming Year 11 pupils

School reserves the right to make a judgement as to whether the uniform worn by a student is appropriate.

Outdoor coats and jackets must be removed in classrooms.

● Hats are not allowed to be worn in school.

● No jewellery may be worn except stud earrings.

● The wearing of nose-studs, tongue studs or any other face piercing is strictly forbidden.

● Hair colouring to be of natural colours

● Make up should be subtle and flesh toned. Students wearing excess make up will be asked to remove it.

● No nail varnish should be worn.

Equipment

● All students are expected to have a pen, pencil, ruler, rubber and calculator.

● Netherhall has a very simple policy on mobile phones and other devices. These should be switched off and out of sight between 8.40am – 3.05pm. This includes break and lunchtime. Students not conforming to this policy should expect the equipment to be confiscated. Devices can be collected from the Student Services Office at the end of the day. However, non- compliance will result in the device not being returned until it is collected by a parent.

Over 50 Netherhall leaders helped make the annual Cambridge School Sports Partnership Youth

Games a resounding success. Over 800 young people from local primary schools took part in a range of

sporting competitions and tasters at Cambridge’s Abbey Complex on 23rd June.

23 schools were represented at the event for Year 3 and 4 children within the Cambridge School Sports

Partnership, which included competitions in football, rugby, swimming, tennis and hockey and taster

sessions in boccia, goalball, volleyball, jump rope, multi-skills, athletics, rounders, cheerleading and

ultimate Frisbee.

The event was based around the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with schools wearing t-shirts in the colours of

competing teams thanks to the generous sponsorship from GLL. The t-shirt included a winning design

by Year 4 student Olivia Greenhill from Sancton Wood school, who won the design a logo competition.

Each child also received a bottle of water, courtesy of Cambridge Water.

The event was supported by coaches, teachers and volunteers from within the Cambridge Partnership,

as well as young sports leaders from Netherhall, and other local schools.

Youth Games Organiser, Gary Crick stated “It was a fantastic event that the 800 young people seemed

to enjoy immensely. The standard of competition was high and everyone enjoyed the activities on offer,

with many trying out new sports that they had not tried before.”

“The day was a huge success and the participants should be proud of their achievements. The staff and

volunteers from schools played their part and the young leaders from the local secondary schools were

exceptional, leading activities and officiating competitions”.

Cambridge Deputy Mayor, Councillor Jeremy Benstead attended the event, touring the afternoon

activities and presenting the winning schools with their medals and trophies.

COMPETITION WINNERS:

Swimming: 1st Newnham Croft 6 - 2nd Ridgefield 1

Hockey: 1st Abbey Meadows 2 2nd William Westley 1

Football 1st Great & Little Shelford 3 2nd St Philips 1

Tennis: 1st Sancton Wood 2 2nd Newnham Croft 5

Rugby: 1st Abbey Meadows 3 2nd Newnham Croft 4

YOUTH GAMES A RESOUNDING SUCCESS

On Wednesday the 24th June several schools met to compete at the annual Jubilee cup athletics event held at Wilberforce road. This is the culminating event at the end of the athletics season where all school present compete for the Jubilee cup.

Netherhall had a successful set of fixtures in the build up to the event with many pupils achieving personal bests both in lessons and at extra-curricular clubs and fixtures. Netherhall pupils competed well in all events enabling us to finish fifth place overall. There were however, some stand out performances with many pupils either winning or finishing in the top three in their events. Well done to all pupils that took part. Also over the course of the athletics season several records were broken, with some records standing for over 30 years. Well done to all record breakers on an outstanding achievement.

New record holders’ year 7

High Jump- Ella Coldron 1.40m Javelin – Ellis Desborough 31.84m

New record holders’ year 8

300m- Olivia Asplen 53.53 seconds 800m- Jasmine Rapley 2.28.84 / Marcel Lewis – 2.23.12 New Record Holders year 9 / High Jump - Tyrese Baker 1.65m

Jubilee Cup

The Netherhall leadership academy gives incredible opportunities to young students who have the

potential to be outstanding. They help organize and help with the running of many events. And even

though sometimes it is extremely hard work and requires them having to adjust to last minute changes,

I believe everybody involved at the end of the day has had a great time. There are many bonuses

included to reward all the commitment and time put in to make sure that each event is a success.

At the beginning of this year we all had to apply with a letter explaining why we should be a silver

ambassador. There were four people selected to become the silver ambassadors, with this we were

entrusted with more responsibilities. The first thing we had to do was attend a silver ambassador train-

ing event in Cambourne. Here we met some amazing and inspiring athletes such as Ian Rose who gave

us some motivational words and advice to help us throughout this journey we were just beginning.

The applications were sorted and the best twelve were chosen to become the Netherhall Leadership

Academy. As a team we thrived in high pressure situations such as when an extra school turned up to

take part in the mini Olympics and therefore we needed to create an extra station within ten minutes.

As a result of the leadership skills the group has learnt we managed to deal with the situation and have

an amazing day.

The young leaders were also required in events outside of school with the Cambridge Schools Sports

Partnership at events such as the Abbey Complex. This was personally my favourite event to help run

as we had more independence and were trusted to make sure everything ran smoothly. There were a

huge range of events on that day ranging from Football and Rugby to Boccia and Cheerleading. For this

event we took over forty students, it was a great experience for everyone whether taking part or helping

lead.

The Leadership Academy is amazing in helping develop vital leadership skills and everyone involved

takes something from it. We are fortunate for all the inspirational people we have been introduced to

and places we have been. Everyone involved with the Leadership Academy is very honoured and proud

to be part of this wonderful organization.

By Duncan Cooper

Netherhall Leadership Academy

Sports Day

2015

Sports Day

2015

Year 7 Girls Rounders Tournament

On the 30th June the Year 7 girls rounders team travelled to Sawston Village College for their annual district

tournament. Netherhall were in a pool with Comberton, Melbourn and Linton and successfully beat all three

teams to win their category. All the girls were a credit to the team displaying an excellent knowledge of the

rules, tactics and techniques when fielding and batting. Netherhall went through to play off for 1st and 2nd

place but were beaten by Sawston 6 ½ rounders to 4 ½ to come 2nd overall. The students were deter-

mined and upbeat in every game they played, supporting each other throughout the tournament.

Year 8 Girls Rounders Tournament

On the 9th June the Year 8 girls rounders teams took

part in the district tournament hosted at Bottisham

Village College. Rounders has been a very popular

club this year which has resulted in year 8 being able

to field two teams

of students.

Both teams did

brilliantly and

demonstrated

an excellent

level of play as

well as showing

exceptional

sportsmanship to other teams and players.

Both the A and B team came 2nd overall in their

competitions, with the A team qualifying for the

Level 3 District School Games to be hosted at St

Ives Sports Complex. A fantastic afternoon of

rounders!

Level 3 School Games (Rounders)

The Year 8 A rounders team successfully

qualified for the School Games in the district

tournament by coming second to Sawston Village

College in a very close match. The students

travelled by coach to St Ives Sports Complex where

a huge number of primary and secondary school

students were to compete in a variety of different

sports. The girls played in a pool with three other

schools from Huntingdon, South Cambridgeshire

and Peterborough winning two matches and

narrowly losing one. The standard of play was

incredibly high with the Netherhall students raising

their game to successfully outplay others in their

pool. Eventually the girls played off for 7th and 8th

place, where they came 8th overall. The students

were a credit to the school and the PE department

and should be very impressed with their result.

Wimbledon

On the 6th July Miss Swift and Mr Millar travelled to Wimbledon with a group of lucky Year 9 leadership

academy students to enjoy a day of professional tennis at the famous All England Club. It was a beautiful

day and the grounds were buzzing with activity. The students were taken on a short tour of the club,

stopping off to watch a few minutes of doubles and girls tennis on the smaller courts, taking in the

atmosphere. We even got to see Andy Murray warming up on the practice courts! Having received tickets

for court number 1 we took our seats, ready to watch the three

scheduled matches which included famous players Sharapova,

Wawrinka and Djokovic at varying points in the day.

The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience, cheering on

different players and applauding incredible play throughout the

day. The students were a pleasure to take on such an exciting

trip and we’re sure they enjoyed the experience.

PE News

Table Tennis School Games 2015 Report

On the 25th of June, 2015, the Netherhall table tennis team

travelled to St. Neots Table Tennis Club for the School Games

Finals. But Netherhall didn’t get a fast pass to St. Neots…

Qualifying:

About 3 months prior to the event, the qualifying round took

place for the Netherhall A and B team. They had some tricky

matches and only one team could go through.

The B team battled hard, but were just piped to the post by the

A team. This was helped by a respectable “unbeaten” run from

1st and 2

nd seed for the A team: Daniel Hearne-Potton (captain);

and Alex Wei.

So with qualifying out of the way, could the Netherhall team go

all the way to become county champions?

The big day:

The big day had arrived, and the team

were raring the get the games started.

The team was made up of Milo

Davidson (4th seed); Jonny Risdon

(3rd seed); Alex Wei (2

nd seed); and

captain, Daniel Hearne-Potton

(1st seed).

After a quick opening ceremony with

all school from around the region,

everyone split off into their assigned

sports, and the games began!

Match Play:

After Netherhall had gotten kitted up

and had a quick warm up, they were

ready to go!

The first match was underway, and Netherhall were off to a

pounding lead. They won their first match easily at 5-3, with a

3-1 victory from first and second, coupled with a consistent 2-2

draw for third and fourth seed.

After the first couple of games, the flood gates started to open.

Netherhall were unbeaten for the first 4 games and looked to be

in good shape to contend for the trophy. But just as things were

looking up, Abbey College approached the playing table... they

were almost definitely our main rivals- game on!

The first match was Netherhall’s captain: Daniel Hearne-Potton,

against one of the best players at the whole event. Both Daniel

and his opponent (Matthew) had played each other at open

tournaments and the games had been tight, so they were both

giving it their all. Matthew had a high attacking game, where he

would hit the smash at any given opportunity. Whereas Daniel

had a defensive game, where he had practised his defence on

many occasions and was very used to dealing with high top spin

and speed. This made out to be the match of the whole tourna-

ment!

Each point was very similar. Both players would serve, and with

Matthew’s first 3 shots he would have broken into smashes.

Daniel had gotten used to this so he had retreated back right to

the edge of the playing area and would be leaping to almost

every ball.

Now all table tennis games are played to 11, and when it reaches

10 all, you must win by two clear points, e.g. 12-10, or 13-11. But

this thrilling match got so close that after the first set, Daniel was

leading 1-0 with an astonishing set won at 16-14!! This was going

to be the match of the tournament!

The second set got underway and it was much the same thing:

endless smashes from Matthew and endless returns from Daniel-

you just couldn’t foresee was the end result would be. But to

Netherhall’s amazement, Daniel held his nerve and finished off

the game with an incredibly close 14-12 2nd set victory!

Then it was Alex Wei’s turn to face Matthew. Our 2nd seed had a

different game style compared to Daniel: he was more attacking

and would stay close to the table a lot more.

This tactic surprised everyone as Alex clinched the first set 11-9

and had the lead! Sadly, it was

not to be. Matthew managed to

claw two sets back to defeat

the Netherhall 2nd seed. But

Netherhall still ended up beat-

ing Abbey College in another

5-3 match; we were almost at

the end of the day!

The final match of the day was

crucial. We had one 7 out of 7

prior to that but we still knew

that we needed the full house

to make certain of our victory.

But thankfully, the build up to

the match was not fulfilled.

Jonny Risdon and Milo Davidson played their matches against

St. Ives and cruised past, winning all pf their games. It was just

up to Daniel and Alex to finish off the job.

Alex easily won his two games meaning that only Daniel had to

finish off his games to win the trophy- and boy did he finish it

off!

His first match was a simple game against an inexperienced

player, Daniel stormed through the match winning 11-1 11-0,

conceding only 1 point in two games.

But his final match was the special one. He didn’t need any fan-

cy trick of incredible defence, he just had to play his game, and

that’s what he did. The last match of the day for Daniel was an

amazing 11-0, 11-0 victory. That totals to a ratio of: for every

point that Daniel lost, he won 44! This meant that the Netherhall

captain had played 10 matches, and had won everyone without

even dropping a set.

So Netherhall had done it! They were the table tennis champi-

ons 2015 and had earnt the trophy that brought home!

That day’s events truly showed the PRIDE values and that

Netherhall will never give up!

Written by Daniel Hearne-Potton

The trip was a reward to the hard work and efforts put in by the Year 9’s over the course of the year working in The Leadership Academy. Throughout the day the students were excellently behaved and really enjoyed watching world class athletes performing at the highest sporting level. We were lucky enough to received 10 court 1 tickets in the school’s ballot. The court 1 tickets allowed us to watch Novak Dyokovic. Overall it was a fantastic day that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Netherhall Race for Life 2015 took place on Thursday 9th July

This year was a wonderful opportunity for everyone involved during the course of the year.

We stated off with a qualifying round for the county finals. Due to strong bowling and prolific batting we found ourselves joint top of the 4-team group after 2 games, the only team between us and the county finals being St Bedes who were in the same position as us. We just edge through a very tough game, but the fast batting from Noah and Adam gave us high hopes for the finals. Obviously the focal point was on that game, but the aftermath showed that the key game for our success was a win against Parkside by a 1-run margin.

The county finals proved to be more challenging than we expected, with a format of two 3-team groups with the top two teams from each group going into a semi-final, it was always going to be a challenge. We won the first game with a good variety of batting and bowling, so we had high hopes for the games to come but in the second game we faced a talented Linton Village College team and some poor fielding and lapses of concentration lost us the game. We didn’t drop our heads because other results had secured us a semi-final spot.

The semi’s started with us in bat, we had a good innings with a handful of fours it made our opponent, Sawston Village College have to work hard to take the lead … they did, and after an even first half game they stormed ahead and took the final spot, there was still hope for us in the 3rd place playoff against Witchford. We played well and secured the pride of 3rd place. Reflecting back on the season I think that there are many positives to take from

it and I hope that Netherhall continues to succeed at Cricket. Freddie Owers

Wimbledon 6th

July 2015

On Monday 6th July Mr Millar and Miss Swift took 8 Year 9’s to Wimbledon for the day

Year 7 Cricket

On Thursday 25th June schools from across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough competed in the Sainsbury’s

School Games Level 3 Summer Festival for the 2014/15 academic year. The Games act as the county finals for

school sport. The five School Sports Partnerships competing were – Cambridge, Hunts, Peterborough, South

Cambs and Witchford. The event started with an Opening Ceremony taking place at One Leisure St Ives

Outdoor for 1,000 young people. An inspiring and motivational story from Sporting Champion Lesley Owusu

was accompanied by further performances from various schools before the Games were officially opened.

Lesley has represented Great Britain at the European, World and Commonwealth levels. As an exceptionally

talented junior athlete Lesley won three English Schools Championships in the 200m, 300m and 400m, three

national championships, and was a Silver medallist at the European Youth Olympics before earning a

scholarship to the University of Nebraska, USA in 1997 where success continued during her intercollegiate

athletics career. At senior level the star ran the second fastest time in history over 600 yards, and most

recently became World Masters Indoor 400m champion in 2014; also helping team GB set a world record in

the Over-35s 4x200m relay. Following the Opening Ceremony schools dispersed to the respective venues for

their events. One Leisure St Ives Outdoor, which is where we were based as leaders, accommodated most of

the Games events which included nine competitions in the seven sports of Archery, Athletics, Cricket,

Football, Hockey, Netball and Rounders covering children aged from 7 to 14 years old.

As well trained and good young leaders from Netherhall, we joined with a few other leaders from different

schools to create a workforce, which was a major part of the day running smoothly. 10 of us Netherhall

leaders were put on athletics; the boys doing the 80m sprints and the girls on the 600m races. Our job was to

hand out the position cards as the year 5/6 athletes came through the finish line and encourage them

throughout the event. It was very stressful at times when 5 or 6 young athletes all crossed the line at near

enough the same time, but we managed to stay calm and everything ran smoothly. I think we can all agree it

was a very good experience, learning curve and an enjoyable day out of the classroom! Some of us may have

also been able to sneak our way onto BBC Look East as there were reporters from the news at the event!

Jasmine

Thursday 25th June - Sainsburys School Games @ St Ives

Year 7 Trip to Pleasurewood Hills

On the Tuesday 14th July 3 coaches of Year 7 students made the journey to Pleasure-wood Hills theme park located between Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.

It was a good day out and the students enjoyed all the rides.

Everyone was well behaved and it was a great thing to do at the end of Year 7.

On a lovely sunny morning in June, 3 coaches headed off to the Isle of Wight

with 103 students and 9 teachers for a four day adventure. The M25

behaved itself and all went according to schedule. The ferry trip was smooth

and sunny and after winding our way across the island we arrived at

Bembridge at 3pm. The centre is on a cliff top and spreads over many acres.

We were allocated Ruskin house which accommodated all of us with small

dormitories and teacher rooms.

Over the weekend the students were

provided with a variety of activities,

both on land and in the water. To

quote “There was not one bad thing

about the trip and I hope all the other

one hundred and one students that

went enjoyed it as much as I did. The

best part of the trip was the wide range of activities we did, including

fencing, climbing, quad-biking, archery and lots more, plus the skills we

learned on them as well. I never knew that I could climb up a

telephone wire tower and jump off it so easily "

The food was particularly impressive, good hot meals

available each session together with a salad bar and fruit

to suit all tastes.

The weather was just about right - not too hot (no

sunstroke concerns) and not too wet.

This was our ninth Year 8 activity trip and the students

were so good and so enthusiastic it was a pleasure to

spend a few days away with them.

Year 8 Trip to the Isle of Wight 2015

Royal Institution of Great Britain - 26th June 2015

Four Year 8 students from Netherhall attended the mathematics masterclasses were invited to visit the Royal Institution

in London. The students were Lewis Bushen, Fabio Schwandt, Benjamin Wilson and Samuel Kelly. This was a fantastic

opportunity for the students to participate in and listen to some great mathematics in a beautiful and a historic setting.

This was the same building that is televised for the Christmas lectures. They listened and participated in lectures given

by physicists, scientists and mathematicians who use mathematics and problem solving skills in the 'Real World'.

Our students thoroughly enjoyed the day and found it extremely inspirational experience.

Art – Katherine Chisham Business Studies – Alex Yang Catering – Jessica Peters Dance (BTEC) – Bethan Siddaway Drama – Farah Khokhar Economics – Rimpy Roy Electronics – Jakub Hajdus English (achievement) – Hanna Aragona English (effort and progress) – Rhys Birkin-Flory EAL – Venkat Vadday French – Helen Fincham Geography – Sian Rose German – Ben Fraser Graphics – Dhyan Barot Health & Social Care – Charmaine Wood History – Edward Crampton ICT (MOS) – Ceara Haddu-Walters ICT (OCR Nationals) – Deep Rao Mathematics (achievement) – Kaicong Wang Mathematics (effort and progress) – Wiktoria Jedrzejewska Media Studies – Alex Madej Music – Victoria Hughes PE (Boys’) – Joshua Parkin PE (BTEC) – Lucy Constable PE (GCSE) – Casey Durning PE (Girls’) – Sophia Pearson PE (Leadership) – Hannah Lally Religious Education – Anna Chastney Resistant Materials – Charlie O’Rourke Science (Additional) – Lauren Scullion Science (Biology) – Lewis Cooper Science (Chemistry) – Nico Schwandt Science (Physics) – Ursula Morris Spanish – Mikey King Travel & Tourism – Luke Dell Exceptional Determination – Liam Halls The Edward Branscombe Memorial Prize for Progress – Michael Forde The Ian Parker Memorial Prize for Progress – Jeff Nguyen The Principal’s Prize for Excellence – Poppy Moncaster-Bridgeman

Year 11 Subject Prizes (2014-2015)

The Netherhall team won the regional

Warhammer School League Battle

Competition for the second year running

and are Cambridge champions.

In the national semi-final, they placed

11th out of 28 schools. There were some

notable victories, Jamie Shorey won each

of his matches and Daniel Dace won an

award for the Best Painted Army on the

day. Each team member did very well

and contributed to what was a positive,

hard-fought and rewarding day.

Special thanks needs to go to the parents

who attended on the day, it was excellent

to have such a collegiate and supportive

aspect to the event!

Every year the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP) awards the Carnegie Award to the best book for young adults published in the UK during the previous 12 months.

For a number of years Netherhall has run a shadowing group where students read all the titles on the short list and join other schools on Awards’ Day to debate and vote on their choice of winner. The students rarely agree with the Librarians’ choice! This year, Netherhall welcomed students and staff from the Perse School, The Leys and Chesterton Community College for a morning of debate and discussion. Students were asked to judge the books on the standard of writing, the characterization, and the plot and to mark each title on its overall appeal. And each title had its supporters. Everyone enjoyed the debate – and the refreshments and waited for the result to be streamed from the Awards’ Lunch. The winner, chosen by the librarians, was Buffalo Soldiers – which wasn’t our students’ choice. But it was a fascinating morning with Netherhall students enjoying the opportunity to meet students from the other schools and to argue for their choice of winner. Mrs Dickinson and Mrs Barker

The victorious Buffalo Soldiers

Hello everyone

I take part in many sporting events but I have chosen a 'big one' in order to hopefully raise lots of money through sponsorship.

I visited South Africa last summer. Part of the trip involved spending some time in a township school in Alicedale. I met the Headteacher Elaine. She was such an inspirational lady. She is doing her best to educate her students on 20p per day per student. As a result of this trip I am now talking 30 students to South Africa next year. Part of the time will be spent in this school where we hope to volunteer and try to make a small difference. Netherhall students will be fundraising but I wanted to do my bit too. I hope you will consider sponsoring me to complete the Marlow Half Ironman event in two weeks time. Training is going well but it will certainly be a very hard race. I can't use justgiving so please email me if you wish to sponsor me - I have opened a new bank account to put money sponsored into.

Thank you in advance for your help in raising money.

Miss Toley