Autumn 2018

MESSAGE FROM TIM O’BYRNE, CHAIR OF GOVERNORS

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

It is with particular pleasure that I am writing to you today to

inform you of the appointment of the new Head Teacher at the

Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School.

After attracting a very strong field of applicants for the vacancy

and then two days of rigorous and widely ranging interview and

assessments, the governors are pleased to announce the

appointment of Mr Martin Henton who will take on the substantive

leadership of the school with immediate effect. The governors

and staff offer him their unequivocal support as he begins the

challenging task of developing and improving our school. I am

sure you will want to join with me in offering him congratulations

on his appointment and in wishing him every good fortune as he

commences his new and exciting role.

Yours faithfully,

Tim O’Byrne

Chair of Governors

MESSAGE FROM MARTIN HENTON, HEADTEACHER

Following my success in the interview process, it was a privilege to accept the

position as the new Head Teacher at Bishop’s. I have always been proud and

passionate about the foundations of BHBS as an inclusive Church of England school

and worked hard to promote the many successes of our students in all of my

leadership roles. I would like to say thank you for the many words of encouragement

and kind wishes that I have received since my appointment. I am really looking

forward to working with everybody in our school community to provide opportunities

for our students to flourish and excel in everything that they do.

We have been exceptionally busy this half term in a variety of activities and events.

The PFSA, staff and students have raised large sums of money from the Year 7 school

disco, Autumn Fayre and Saturday morning bag packing in Marks & Spencers for our

nominated charities which was recently reported in the Hereford Times. This was

followed up by Paddy Nugent, the Community Fundraising Manager from St

Michael’s Hospice talking to students in House assemblies on the work that they do

and how important the donated money is to them. He explained that the donation

from Bishop’s was the largest single donation from a school they have received in

many years. The Year 7 disco was particularly successful in both the amount of

money raised, but also the large numbers of parents/carers that supported the event

as seen on the selfie photograph on our facebook page.

We have had an incredibly successful Open evening and Open mornings this month

with many families attending and very positive feedback about the opportunities we

offer at Bishop’s but more importantly the high standards set by our students in

activities, lessons and as tour guides. This was followed by our annual Careers evening

hosted in collaboration with St Marys High RC High School which was supported by

many businesses, colleges and professions to offer advice and guidance to students

in years 9,10 and 11.

To add to the success of our Duke of Edinburgh (DoE) Bronze award programme,

Mr Nicholas and Mrs Chapman recently students away to prepare for their DoE Silver

medal award which is not offered by many secondary schools. Last week I was very

proud to attend the inauguration of Hereford’s NMite University at Hereford

Cathedral with two students and Mrs Jinks one of our parent governors. It was an hon-

our to attend the event which will see a significant expansion to educational provi-

sion in the county and was attended by many other schools.

Have a restful and peaceful half term.

Please follow more regular news updates on;

Henton@HeadteacherBHBS (Twitter)

Bhbs Bishop’s Hereford (facebook)

(This can now be ‘liked’ to follow more easily)

Students Sofia Griffith Walker, Mia Eacock and Mr Henton presented cheques

to Susan Brace from Hereford Young Carers for £2500 and to Paddy Nugent

from St Michael's Hospice for £3,000.

Bishop's students, staff and Parents, Friends and Supporters Association (PFSA)

have worked hard to raise the money following bag packs, fayres, cake sales

and a golf day at Burghill. We commit fundraising for two different local and

national charities every year.

Mr Henton said 'It is a great privilege to support charities which improve the

opportunities and quality of life for other people. As a Church School, it shows

the commitment of everyone in our community in helping others'.

This year the school will be supporting Children with Cancer and The Little

Princess Trust

Held annually in association with St Mary’s RC High School, the careers

event has become the largest of its kind in the county.

Alongside Hereford Sixth Form, Hereford, Ludlow College and Hereford

College of Arts, the Cathedral School, also in attendance were; Malvern

St James, Hartpury, Worcester University, Corpus Christi College from

Cambridge University, Lucton, Ellesmere, Haberdashers’ Monmouth, Christ

College Brecon and Llandovery College. All enjoyed a busy evening with

a great deal of interest from students and families from both Bishop’s and

St.Mary’s.

There were a wide range of businesses, apprenticeships and careers

which presented a huge range of career paths. As usual, the services,

RAF, Army, Navy and Police attracted a lot of attention but the growth in

apprenticeship opportunities including the prospect of Degree

Apprenticeships meant that a large number of students were attracted to

Hereford Group Training, Western Power, Welsh Water, KGD, Special

Metals Wiggin, Wyevale Nurseries, Balfour Beatty, Avara Foods, Hoople,

Beech House Nursery , Nova Training and particularly Heineken who

brought a large display unit which was erected by one of our former

students. The fact that this student was female also attracted more girls to

the prospect of working in Engineering which has greatly helped widening

the vision of our students and their parents to career opportunities in this

area.

Other sectors such as Brookfield Vets, T. A. Matthews law firm, Thorne

Widgery accountancy, Wye Valley NHS Trust, Allpay and Hereford Hair

Studio also attracted huge attention.

The delegates universally praised the enthusiasm and interest of our

students and all agreed to come back again next year , when , hopefully,

we will have another crop of alumni to enthuse our current students.

Year 11 Exam Information Evening

This term sees our annual examinations information evening on

15th November at 7.00pm. With the appointment of a new

examinations officer, Mrs Bond , it is an opportunity for you to

find out about the procedures relating to examinations. The

evening will cover key dates in year 11, revision sessions and

when they are on offer, procedures relating to exams and the

upcoming mock examination in December. After the event all

the details will also be on our school website.

BHBS Autumn Concert 20 November 2018 - 7.00pm

Year 11 Presentation Evening 29 November 2018 - 7.00pm

Film Club has started on Thursday lunchtimes where students

come with their lunches to spend 30 minutes watching a film

they've selected democratically.

This term, we began with 'Shrek: The Final Chapter'. We are

currently watching 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', chosen by

students in remembrance of those who have lost their lives in

wars and conflicts. We currently have 35-40 regular members

but we are always welcoming to new film fanatics.

Please do feel free to come along and join us from 1.20pm in

Last year we introduced a system of ‘Prom Points’ to encourage

year 11 students to make the best use of the opportunities

available in their final year. This resulted in a significant increase

in the number of students attending revision sessions and a

massive increase in the number of rewards they achieved. In

many cases this initiative benefited lots of our students and it

helped them to achieve their target grades.

Following this success we will be starting a similar system after

the half term break. We have increased the tariff for

attendance and revision and feel that everyone who follows our

school expectations will reach their target comfortably and

attend the Leavers Prom. It is our hope that all students will try

and significantly exceed the total.

The inaugural service for the New Model in Technology and

Engineering (NMiTE) included speeches, oaths of commitment,

uplifting music, prayers and blessings led by the Very Reverend

Michael Tavinor, Dean of Hereford on the 19th October 2018.

Mr Martin Henton, two students and Mrs Jinks (Governor)

attended to represent the school.

The DofE continues to be very popular at Bishops. Nearly a

quarter of our current year 11 were involved in the Bronze

award last academic year and a large number have already

completed the Award and have received their certificate. 21 of

these students have chosen to continue with the Silver Award

and we have already completed the Training expedition. The

conditions were certainly challenging, with lashing rain on

Friday night and ice on the tents during Sunday morning. We

also had lovely sunshine and outstanding views, so it was real

mix of conditions.

The students didn't complain once and just kept going. Their

stoicism, teamwork, humour and sense of adventure was a real

credit to the school. We are now looking forward to the final

expedition which will be in the Shropshire Hills, after their GCSE

exams.

Following the kind donation from the

Bluecoat Trust, work was completed on our

conservation area to improve the habitat

and biodiversity.

Three new seating benches

have also been installed next

to the conservation area

We are delighted in KS3 to have begun the year with brand new,

modern text books and online materials for our students. We are

using the Pearson Dynamo/Studio books for French, Stimmt for

German and Viva for Spanish.

All students have a login and password for pearsonactivelearn.com.

This is an online resource which enables the teachers to set

homework tasks, which are based on the work covered in class from

the text books. All students should have received their username

from their language teacher by now. If your son/daughter does not

know it, please ask them to see Mrs Greenwood. If a specific

homework task is set, the students will see the TASK at the top of their

screen. An excellent feature of this resource is that students can

easily access listening activities at home, which have previously been

more difficult to set for independent study. Four our GCSE students,

these tasks provide an opportunity to try additional exam-style

questions after they have left the classroom. The work is marked as

the student completes it, so they get instant feedback and there is a

help feature which they can access. With their login details, students

can access the resource at any time, even if a specific homework

task has not been set.

GCSE MOCK EXAMINATIONS Our year 11 students should be turning their thoughts to their mock

speaking exam, due to take place in November. They will have lists

of questions for the conversation part of this exam, for which they will

have prepared their ideal answers. All of the exam is, of course,

carried out from memory, so now is the time to devote a short while

each day to practice and learning these answers. Students may also

wish to access practise role play and photo tasks. These are

available in the L drive, year 11 in the correct language file.

Language teachers can record a student’s answers, if they would

like, as this provides them with an accurately pronounced version to

listen to.

For listening and reading practice, students can buy the Revision

Workbooks in the School Shop, use Duolingo and Get Revising.

Students can also spend 10 minutes a day on the GCSE Bitesize site.

Bishops have had a long

relationship with Oak Leaf Gates

and indeed three alumni are

currently employed there as

designers or joiners. “At Oak Leaf

Gates we are also keen to invest

in the future and we sponsor two

awards at a local school in

Design and Technology, working

with students and staff to inspire

their creativeness and instil a

passion for designing and

making in the next generation”,

said the owner and Managing

Director Richard Eccleston.

The Technology Curriculum Team

would especially like to thank

Richard and his team for their

time, all the students had a

fantastic experience and

hopefully in the not too distant

future there may be more former

BHBS students working at Oak

Leaf Gates.

Mr John Bohan, Curriculum Team

Leader: Technology

As part of the STEM (Science, Technology and Maths) activities at Bishop’s, the Technol-

ogy Curriculum Team were able to take a trip to visit a local manufacturer called Oak

Leaf Gates in October. The objective was for students gain a greater understanding of

CAD/CAM in an industrial context and to look at how technology has advanced man-

ufacturing techniques.

Over two days thirty Year 10 and Year 11 students were able to visit the factory and de-

velop their awareness of how technology in manufacturing has improved output and

quality, mixing traditional craft skills with state of the art CAD/CAM. Many thanks to Mr

Brooks and Mr Richards for taking this trip, after school.

The English Team are already offering regular lunchtime sessions for

Year 11 students keen to make a start with improving their

understanding of key texts and also their analytical technique. All

GCSE teachers are currently offering at least one lunchtime session;

students are welcome to bring their lunch and requests to work on

specific skills, or simply to join in with the teacher's chosen agenda for

the day. For those keen to get ahead of the game, there are revision

resources on the school website and student L drive in order to

prepare for next half-term's mock exams. Students can also

download and listen to some familiar voices reading our set poems

to help with learning key quotes!

Read. Write. Blog. Got a story to tell? Love reading?

We have created a forum for students to showcase their creative writ-

ing talents. They can receive comments on their work, or log on to

read other people’s writing and tell them what they think. We are now

accepting writing in the form of: short stories, flash fiction, fan fiction,

poems, and even super short stories.

If students are keen photographers or artists, we're also accepting

work to feature alongside the writing.

Contributors can send in their submissions to: blogbhbs@gmail.com, or

hand them in to Ms. Robinson.

Each month we'll set a new theme for your writing, and our first com-

petition will be accepting entries until October 31st.

The blog can be accessed via the school’s website, or by logging on

to blogbhbs.blogspot.com

Students are following our new Programmes of Study in Years 7 and 8.

They are responding in a very positive way to the challenging questions we

are exploring. In Year 7 we are exploring religious and world views on the idea

of goodness. Year 8 are unpicking the challenging topic of suffering. Students

have worked collaboratively to explore these highly complex issues. We have

been very impressed with their fabulous attitude and effort towards learning.

Year 9 have started the GCSE course. We are currently learning about

Christian beliefs and teachings. Students are responding well to the key

knowledge tests. They are quickly seeing improved results where effort is put in

to the preparation for the test. Year 10 and 11 continue to study the GCSE

Course. They have been learning about Muslim beliefs and teachings.

Revision is key to success on the Ethics GCSE course. Learning the key

knowledge will help your child to achieve great success. Please continue to

encourage your child with their revision homework. New revision guides and

workbooks to support your child with the GCSE will be available from the

school shop in November 2018. I will be in touch when they are made

available.

Thank you to all parents and carers who have followed the Ethics team on

Twitter. If you haven’t yet done this you can find us by using @EthicsBHBS.

SKILLS FOR LIFE

Students in Year 7 have done a wonderful job in completing their ‘Be Happy

Be Safe’ challenge at the start of their Skills for life course. It was a fabulous

introduction to all the important people, places and key messages that will

support your child in their time with us. Year 8 have been exploring careers in

the NHS. They have been working towards entering the national ‘Step into the

NHS’ competition. Details of which can be found at https://

www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/ they will continue to explore careers using the

new Kudos software. All students have been supplied with a log on for this

which enables them to access careers support at home. Please see https://

kudos.cascaid.co.uk/#/ for further details. Year 9 students have been learning

how to design a campaign to tackle a community issue.

The issue we have focussed on has been litter. It has been wonderful to see students

making their peers aware of the issues created when litter is left around our school

site. Our new Programmes of study have been designed in consultation with students

to ensure that issues they feel strongly about are included. I look forward to telling you

about these as the year goes on.

Student safety working party

A number of students from Years 10 and 11 have been meeting every Wednesday

lunchtime to explore how we as a school can improve feelings of safety and well-

being at the school. As a direct consequence of the work they have done all

students at the school have had the opportunity to attend an assembly on the issue

of sexual harassment. The assembly was led by the students and it raised awareness

of the issue. The help that is available to support students was highlighted. Students

were reminded about what is and is not acceptable. Our students did a wonderful

job of preparing and

delivering the assembly. Well

done to all those involved.

They have also produced a

poster to support this

message which is being

displayed in all form rooms

and in areas where students

can see it. The poster

contains information for

students sign posting them to

the support that is readily

available in school.

The group are currently

working on a student charter.

I look forward to sharing news

This has been a very busy term for PE with clubs and fixtures in a

wide range of sports. Our extra curricular activities list can be found

on the school website, under the beyond the classroom tab.

Students are always welcome to come and try the activities on offer

both before, during and after school.

A particular highlight for us this term has been our U15 Rugby team ,

who beat Fairfield School 31-10 to progress to the next round of the

National Nat West plate competition.

Successes in netball have included selection of a number of

students for county netball squads and the U12, 13 and 15 netball

teams currently unbeaten this year so far. A fantastic effort and

commitment from all!

Coming soon—the Bishop’s Super League Netball - Netball training

is stopping until Christmas. Girls have already entered their teams

and the order of play is to be published by Weds 7th November in

the PE department. Please come and support the girls on Monday

(year 9,10, and 11) and Wednesday evenings (year 7 and 8).

This term we had the 2faced Dance company visit and do a very

successful one day workshop for several students.

Should your son or daughter require a lift

key for medical reasons, we require a let-

ter confirming the reason why and a £10

deposit which will be refunded when the

key is returned.

It is our school policy that in order to prevent

the spread of sickness bugs, children should

remain at home until they have been clear of

ALL symptoms for 48 hours. Please help us to

stop the spread of this infection by not sending

students back too soon.

Sickness Virus

We have been asked by local resi-

dents to ensure parents/carers do

not park across driveways when

dropping off or collecting students.