NEWSLETTER

Important Dates & Upcoming Events

Issue 16 Wednesday 19 July 2017

STUDENT ABSENCE LINE 01384 817186

Follow us on Twitter @LeasowesHigh for information on after school activities, revision sessions, school closures and much more #dontforget

ASPIRE AND ACHIEVE

FRIDAY 21 JULY – END OF TERM

STUDENTS RETURN

TUESDAY 5 SEPTEMBER

Well, it’s that time again. The end of the school year and the start of summer, and what a great

year it’s been for Games Club! This year saw much change at Games Club, including having

three ambassadors to represent the club; many new games and, of course, expanding to a

lunchtime club as well as after school on Fridays. We have seen a boom in popularity this year,

likely due to the introduction of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and we even hosted a

tournament for the game in late 2016!

As I write this, I am recalling many fond memories, including remembering the first ever Games

Club sessions back in 2015, just a couple of people playing one game. We could never have

become as large as we have without you, and I would like to say, on behalf of Mr Gillespie and

our ambassadors, Daniel Norman, Jack Sullivan and myself: thank you. And may we have an

even better year starting in September.

Sean Temple, Games Club Ambassador

Leasowes Design & Technology students selected for STAAR 2017

2017 STAAR (Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency) Programme

Leasowes High school have been selected as one of five schools to participate in this year’s

STAAR (Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency) programme. This unique residential STEM educational outreach programme is offered to the Design & Technology students by the RAF Museum and Northrop Grumman, with the support of the Northrop Grumman Foundation,

and in partnership with Royal Air Force Cosford. The programme is a fully funded residential course, over five days and four nights, from 17 - 21 July 2017, based at RAF Cosford and the

RAF Museum Cosford, in Staffordshire.

STAAR Recruits will learn about advanced aerospace systems concepts: how the need for solutions to achieve an air mission shapes the way engineers and scientists design aerospace systems. Recruits will be introduced to historical missions and aircraft design at the RAF

Museum and, with the guidance of aerospace engineers and teaching professionals, the STAAR Recruits will be taught about concepts such as wing design, hypersonics, power generation,

how payloads affect weight and balance, innovative new materials and technologies and the capabilities an aerospace system requires to achieve the mission and its overall objectives. They will also explore current threat environments and potential future scenarios. With their new

knowledge and skills, the recruits will be set a challenge of their own – to work through their team’s mission and design their very own advanced aerospace systems solutions.

On the final day, 21 July 2017, the STAAR Recruit teams will be given an opportunity to present their mission solutions to dignitaries, family members, school representatives and

STAAR partners. Hosted by the RAF Museum Cosford, in the National Cold War Exhibition, guests will be invited for a buffet lunch from 1.00 pm and to attend the presentations at 2.00

pm in RAF Museum Lecture Theatre. This will be followed by the Graduation Ceremony to celebrate the participation and achievements of the STAAR Recruits.

The five year 10 Design & Technology students selected for this exciting opportunity are: 1. Zainab Fatima 3. Becky Pearce 5. Gurpal Singh

2. David Teplitski 4. Yanis Hussain

ARTS DEPARTMENT

The Summer Term has been a really busy time for the Arts Department. During the Easter

Holidays, a number of students attended the two day Easter Music School, working with

musicians from other year groups to create performances and form new friendships

Lower school students have been working really hard towards their ABRSM Music Theory

examinations, and they sat the exam on Saturday 17th June. We are still waiting for their results.

Friday morning sessions will continue in September, so please see Miss Chapman if you are

interested in this.

Four Year 9 students performed at ‘Fred Fest’ at the River Rooms in Stourbridge on the late May

Bank Holiday.

Arts Fest ‘17 took place last week and nearly 500 primary students from Lapal, Howley Grange,

Hurst Green and Olive Hill attended with their parents and grandparents to participate in a variety

of sessions run by teachers and subject ambassadors across the school. A joint choir performed

in the Arts Fest Concert on Wednesday 12th July and some very talented soloists and ensembles

from Leasowes.

Miss McCollom took a group of Art students to King Edwards College in Stourbridge to

participate in an Art Taster Day and Year 10 Arts Students are currently on their way to London

for 2 days to see ‘Les Mis’ and visit art galleries.

Leasowes Choir and Band performed at Kinver Music Festival on Sunday 16th July, together with

the other schools within the Invictus Trust. It was a great day, and it was really nice meeting

music students from the other schools. We look forward to more Invictus collaboration in 2017/18

Sports Ambassadors 2017-18

Congratulations to the successful students on becoming sports ambassadors for 2017-18.

We look forward to meeting with you in September.

The Arts Team are looking forward to another busy year in 2017-18, where we bring our

version of ‘Peter Pan’ to life.

Instrumental lessons will continue, and spaces are available for singing, drum kit, guitar,

keyboard, woodwind, brass & strings.

We will also be offering the following clubs:

Monday – Lunch – School Choir

Tuesday – 3.15 – 4.15 – Chamber Choir (by audition)

Wednesday – Lunch – Folk Band (Woodwind & Strings)

Thursday – Lunch – Jazz band (Brass & Woodwind)

Thursday – 3.15 – 4.30 – Peter Pan Rehearsals

Friday 7.45 – 8.25 – Music Theory

If you would like more information about these activities or instrumental lessons, please see

Miss Chapman.

Year 9

J Clarke

T Wallen

A Bennett-Jones

M Hewston

M Cannings

K Field

E Bolton

T Hobbs

Year 8

F Owen

J Mtetwa

M Willetts

F Harvey

J Scott

A Barton

L Hawthorne

M Lambert

J Brass

T Turley

K Andrews

A McDonald

Year 11

M Stone

C Barton

H Green

Greenhill Presentation Evening

An audience of around 60 students, parents,

carers and professionals packed the

Greenhill Hall to see pupils receive awards.

On Monday 10th July the centre hosted it’s

first presentation evening to celebrate the

achievements and success of the some 40

students who have passed through the

doors in the 2016/17 academic year.

The presentation began with a warm

welcome from Mr Bennett, Director of

Alternative Learning, followed by an

emotional speech from Ibi Njie in year 10.

He described his educational journey from

experiencing serial permanent exclusions to

being a fully-fledged Greenhill student. He

described the impact the centre had had on

his outcomes including a huge 46.7% rise in

attendance, a more academic programme of

study and a change in behaviour traits.

Certificates for completion of

ASDAN short courses, The

ECDL qualification and Duke

of Edinburgh Awards were

handed in out making parents

and students very proud.

Our pupils, both past and

present, were an absolute

credit to the Centre and plans

are already afoot for the

presentation evening in 2018.

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DofE Bronze Success

The past 12 months has seen scores of students volunteering in the community, mastering new skills and taking part in physical activity to achieve the Bronze standard Duke of Edinburgh Award.

35 Leasowes students from years 9 and 10 have completed all 3 sections prior to going on a training expedition in Blackwell, Bromsgrove. Students performed well demonstrating great camp craft and navigation skills allowing them to progress to the qualifier.

On Friday 30th June, students were full of anticipation as the minibuses set off to The Long Mynd in Shropshire. Students arrived at the Cardingmill Valley where they set off in small teams on their 6 hour jaunt to the finish point. The weather was very wet and made the first day a real challenge for all those navigating across the terrain.

All students followed their routes leading to Brow Farm Camp Site in Ratlinghope. It was here a Leasowes tented village soon formed and students took the opportunity for some warm food, rest and recuperation.

By 7:30am the following day the campsite was teeming with activity, routes were being clarified, tents were down and morale was high. The assessor from Navigation Education made clear the desire to observe high standards, excellent map reading skills and a real team ethic. Leasowes groups rose to the challenge completing their 6 hour journeys effectively, leaving ample time to enjoy the glorious sunshine before travelling home.

Mr Wilkes and Mr Bennett would like to congratulate all students for their hard work and can confirm all candidates passed at Bronze. A huge thank you should be extended to Mr Taylor, Mr Abley, Miss Davis, Mr Houghton, Miss Jamieson and Mr Mitchell for supporting the expeditions.

Silver and Bronze groups will commence in September !!

Year 10 - GCSE Geography Fieldwork

For our Geography GCSE course we went down to Leasowes Park to study the river. We did this

because in our course we have been learning about river landscapes. We have learnt about how rivers

form, river processes, erosion landforms and deposition landforms. On our venture down to Leasowes

Park we had a starting point, with one group starting at the source of the river and the other group

starting at the mouth. As we moved along the river we collected data about the width of the river,

depth, the wetting perimeter (the length of contact between the flowing water and the channel),

pebble sizes and shape, float measurements (the velocity of the river), the gradient (steepness) and

finally a site description. After this we created a field sketch of each site. There were a total of 6 sites

we had to go to so that we have enough data to compare to geographical theory. It was good to apply

what we have learnt in the classroom to a real and local environment.

By Yanis Hussain, Gurjpal Singh and Ali Budai

F1 in Schools: James Moore (D&T Ambassador) Five Design & Technology students James Moore, Daniel Norman, Ali Malik, Jack Sullivan and Cameron Zarelli competing in the f1 in schools competition, have gained a £200 sponsorship from Sandvik. This money is going to be used to develop the team, “We would like to say a massive thankyou to Sandvik for their kind donation and support. We will use the money wisely to try and win the competition.”

The leisure/informal shoe styles below

will not

be accepted at Leasowes in September

2017.

The formal shoe styles (or similar) shown below

are the expected footwear for September 2017.

Please do not make expensive purchases that

need to be rectified later.