May Newsletter 2016

6th Form Update

After what has felt like the longest wait ever to see some progress, staff and students were more than a little sceptical when the announcement came that the whole building would finally be in place and that the entire process would take place in under a week. During a sunny week in April, the flat and barren space set aside for the sixth form, suddenly sprang to life. There were cranes, low loaders, builders and machinery all over the site like a swarm of bees in a hive. Each morning another great section of the building would arrive, prefabricated, on the back of a low loader lorry. Carefully, these blocks were craned into place like a giant lego set and at last the plans began to take shape. Of course, now the inside bits and the various systems need to be added. We have a shell and each day, under wraps, changes are occurring. Within weeks, we will be able to make proper use of our fabulous new facilities: 8 class-rooms, a common room, a silent study area and toilets. There may even be an office or two for members of the sixth form team!! Watch this space...

Progress Week Progress week at Debden Park High school took a celebrity twist this term with the ‘Dark Destroyer’ from ITV’s ‘The Chase’ putting in a guest appearance.

Dr Shaun Wallace delivered inspirational assemblies to learners in years 7 to 12 on perseverance, facing challenge, and nurturing an eternal love of learning. He shared the details of his own journey from class clown to successful barrister, lecturer and TV personality, reminding students of the importance of self-belief

and hard work. Both students and staff were completely taken with ‘The Chaser’ and found both his story and demeanour as motivating as they were insightful. One student was heard stating “My mum is going to be so jealous” as she and many others posed for their selfies with the celebrity.

Dr Wallace’s visit left the school with a positive buzz and determination that this was going to be another successful term.

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Expressive Arts

PTA

Careers Fest

Greenwich Trip

World Book Day

Sixth Form

History

Discrimination Comp.

The Breakfast Club

Maths

PE

An Inspector Calls

Spanish Club

British Science Week

Jack Petchey Awards

Dates for your diary

S P R I N G E D I T I O N

Debden Park High School M A Y 2 0 1 6

Picture:

Dr Wallace with some of our Year 9 students.

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P A G E 2 Cinderella

A number of Year 7 students went on a trip to see Cinderella at Southend Pavillion. Their annual pantomime was a very popular choice amongst staff and students and the smiles seen on the students' faces was evidence of this. The Year 7 students who attended were exceptional and we look forward to going to the theatre to see another show in the future.

D E B D E N P A R K H I G H S C H O O L

Youth Makes Music Some of our talented musicians were asked to perform at the annual Youth Makes

Music that is organised by the local Rotary Club. A number of our students prepared

performances for the successful evening. Viktorija Tupikaite performed an impressive

piano solo followed by Eleanor Davies, Shauna Bryant and Verity Sceats singing as an

ensemble. Our set ended with Encore performing an upbeat number that proved a hit

with many of the audience members dancing along! We would like to thank the Rotary

Club for allowing us once again to showcase some of our talent and to the students for

their continued dedication and support of Music and Debden Park High School.

An Evening with Our Musicians

On Thursday 11th February we held ‘An

Evening with our Musicians’ in the main

hall to an audience of over 100 staff,

students and family. The evening was put

on to showcase the talents of all the music

teams ensembles as well as students who

have been learning a musical instrument.

The show included performances from

Encore, Voice, Key Stage 3 band, junior

choir and many soloists. The music

ambassadors ran the whole evening and it

was a huge success. A big well done to all

the students involved.

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P A G E 3


In February, 11 of our gifted and talented musicians in Years 7 to 9 were invited to

take part in the music project, ‘Music Untamed’.

Students learnt songs from all over the world, including Ghana, Brazil and Spain.

Then in March the students were invited to perform at St John’s Church in Epping.

There were 3 other schools involved and we given the honour of opening and closing

the show.

A special mention must go to Amber

Atkinson who stole the show with an

amazing performance of a song in

Portuguese which she learnt from

memory.

The students performed incredibly and

received many compliments from the

audience and all the staff involved.

Grand Union Orchestra

On Wednesday 27th January Mr Ventura took his new AS Level Theatre studies class

to watch the play Herons by Simon Stephens at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. The

students went to watch the show as part of their coursework where they are required

to write about a live production. The show was a story about a child who is tormented

and bullied by other children and featured ex-student Billy Matthews in a main role.

Not only did the Year 12s love the play but Billy also received outstanding reviews

from the National press. We are all so proud of him and are watching his career with

great interest.

Herons Trip

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P A G E 4

IRIE Residency

For the second year we were thrilled to welcome back IRIE to run some African dance and

drumming workshops across selected classes and groups from Years 7-10. This company

is full of energy, enthusiasm and fun and it kicks off the African schemes of work across

the school. Students are always engaged and energized when in the workshops which is a

testament to the professionalism of the company. The repertoire they learn enriches their

learning and deepens their understanding so we are incredibly lucky to have them come

in.


Another year, another successful RISE Dance Festival at Debden Park High

School. Each year we host this now prestigious event and invite all the schools in

the TKAT Trust and in the surrounding area to participate. The event provides an

opportunity for students to perform on a stage to an audience of 400 which they

may otherwise not get to do. We saw some locking and popping, flipping and

dipping and even some tapping and pirouetting. Thank you to the PTA for their

support and for offering refreshments on the night and thank you to all the schools

that participated in this fabulous event.

Matilda Trip

On Tuesday 1st March Ms Russell took over 40

students from years 7 to 10 to watch the West

End production of ‘Matilda’. The musical has

won various awards including the Laurence

Olivia award for Best New Musical. The students

extremely enjoyed the show and we’re hoping to

run a similar West End trip next year.

Rise Dance Festival

P A G E 5

Neverland Launch

Earlier this year the Expressive Arts Team held auditions for this year’s school production based on Peter Pan called “Neverland”. Over 100 students auditioned and this year the quality was higher than ever. From these students around 65 students were cast in the production to dance, act and sing with music being provided by the school band, Encore. The rehearsals are now well under way and we look forward to the performances at the end.

The Year 11 BTEC Dance class have

been working hard on their production

of In2 the Tales. They devised this

from scratch having watched the live

production of Into the Hoods by the

company Zoo Nations and the film Into

the Woods. This exploration combined

with their research into fairy tale char-

acters led to the wonderful production

of In2 the Tales.

The audience were taken on a journey to

find and collect a weave from Rapunzel,

ZX Flux trainers from Cinderella and an

I-pod from Lil Red all in aid of getting

Dorothy home! We are incredibly proud

of the students as this all went towards

their Unit 2 grade. They organised

everything from the ticket sales to the

costumes Well done Year 11, what a

fantastic production.


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P A G E 6

We were delighted to be part of the Annual Careers Fest at Epping Forest College in January. This was the 6

th Annual Careers Fair to take

place . With over 60 exhibitors the evening was a great success with students and parents taking the opportunity to speak to a variety of exhibitors including national and local employers, industry experts as well as further education providers and Universities. Jaci Hammond, Careers Advisor said she was delighted to see so many students and parents visiting the Fest and taking up this wonderful opportunity to explore careers, gain up-to-date job market information and make plans for their future.


Careers Fest

The PTA has now been up and running again for a whole year!

We wanted to thank you for your support and we are really pleased to let you know that the following items for the school are being purchased with funds that have been raised over the past year:

DVDs for the Modern Languages Team

I-Pad for the Expressive Arts Team,

Arts & Crafts materials for the Science Club

Model-making materials for the Flying Club

Cajon and Headphones/splitters (whole class set) for the Music Team

Entrance fee for the National Competition for the Go Karting Team

Bibs, cones and stopwatches for the PE Team, Thank you once again if you have purchased any uniform from the PTA uniform shop, attended the quiz night or purchased refreshments from the PTA stall at any of the school events - your support is appreciated. We will be holding another Quiz Night on FRIDAY 17 JUNE. Last year’s quiz night was a great night and enjoyed by all. Please support your school and book your table! Debden Park Parent-Teacher Association Presents:

Friday 17 June. School Hall 7.30PM - 10.30ish

Open to parents, friends & staff

(Maximum team size of 8 people)

Tickets £5 per person in advance

To reserve your tickets please email: [email protected]

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P A G E 7

Trip to Greenwich

On Friday 26th February some Year 9 students went to the Royal Observatory at

Greenwich. They spent the day working out how long it would take different means of transport to reach the various planets. Using a calculator, they had to calculate how long it would take a racing driver to reach Venus. They all spent a while investigating different ways of measuring time. The planetarium show was amazing as we watched the different planets and stars moving across the sky. The sky provides so much information. The views from the top of the hill were amazing! A maths, science and geography day combined.


After a feast during the Biggest Book Show on Earth, and a school-wide storytelling by brave Year 7s, Book Week culminated in Dan Freedman's visit to his "favourite school"! A massive well done to Maddie Robinson and Jacob Ferguson from Year 7 who have their Dan Freedman stories now published on his website. Please follow the link to view their fabulous work and praise them when you see them.

http://www.danfreedman.co.uk/great-writing-from-debden-park-high-school/

http://www.danfreedman.co.uk/great-writing-from-debden-park-high-school/

Please ensure that your child’s name and year is on the back of the cheque. A whole month spend limit can be placed onto the students account to ensure they do not over-spend on a daily basis at your request. Please write the spend limit on the envelope.

Can I please remind you that payments for dinner money can be made by cheque. Please send them into school payable to . The cheques can be placed in the post box just inside the dinning hall door. DO NOT POST CASH IN THIS BOX.

Some of our Year 11 students with a Year 12 student.

P A G E 8


At the beginning of January our Year 11 students transformed themselves into Year 12 students for the day! Dressed in their smart business attire, our students followed a specially created timetable of A Level taster lessons to give them a taste of what their life will be like when they enrol as a Sixth Form student at our Sixth Form.

Each A level lesson was carefully designed to inform and inspire our students, leaving them understanding what each of the A level courses involve and what lies ahead for our A Level students. For our students, the day cemented their A Level choices and gave them a great incentive to work towards.

The day focused on our students’ futures, as we look ahead to them succeeding in their GCSEs, moving on to the challenge of A Levels and deciding on a pathway to their future and was thoroughly enjoyed by staff and students alike. Students were inspired, knowledge was gained and pathways were decided.

Following the success of this great day, the vast majority of our Year 11 students applied for a place at our Sixth Form. Students will now receive their offer letters and we wish them the very best of luck as they work towards gaining their qualifications and meeting the entry requirements of our Sixth Form.

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A Day in the Life of A Sixth Former



P A G E 9


Year 12 AS Level Geography Visit As part of the AS-Level Geography course, students are required to carry out fieldwork to investigate the Human and Physical pressures at a coastal location. So our Year 12 Geographers braved the February wind, rain, and cold temperatures to visit the coastal town of Walton-on-the-Naze. During the morning students investigated the erosional processes at the cliffs holding up the Naze Tower, measured the strength of the waves by studying their timing and how far an object would travel along the waves in a set time, and evaluated a variety of coastal management techniques.

In the afternoon students completed questionnaires and undertook shop surveys in the town centre to find out the views of the local residents and to assess how sustainable the town is. Students worked brilliantly despite the harsh conditions. However, the fish and chips lunch more than made up for this!

Psychology Trip On Wednesday 23

rd March, psychology students ventured into London to see Dr. Phillip

Zimbardo. They had been very excited for this event and been looking forward to it since they started the course back in September.

Dr. Zimbardo conducted one of the most famous experiments in the history of psychology - The Stanford Prison experiment; investigating how people conform to the roles they are assigned. He looked at the roles of prisoners and guards, and shocked America and the rest of the world when in just six days, the ‘guards’ became more and more abusive, and the ‘prisoners’ had mental breakdowns, with one even going on a hunger strike. The students were eager to see Zimbardo in the flesh, and had a great time listening to him re-tell the events of the experiment, and meeting his wife, who was responsible for terminating it. The students also heard from other speakers too, such as Dr Mark Griffiths talking about the psychology of behavioural addiction, and Phil Banyard discussing perhaps the biggest question for us all: “Who am I and how did I come to be like this?” Some seriously thought-provoking stuff! All in all it was an interesting and educational day out, and wonderful to actually meet some psychologists rather than just reading about them. We are all looking forward to meeting some more!

Year 12

Geography

Trip

Year 12

Psychology

Trip

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Engineering Workshop

Another enrichment activity was enjoyed by all of our Sixth Form students in February as

they attended a workshop delivered by Rebecca Mullens from Interserve Construction.

Rebecca spoke to the students about how to get into the construction industry and the

great benefits enjoyed by graduates working in her industry. The focus of the workshop

then turned to our students and they worked in teams to construct load bearing structures

using only 10 playing cards and tape. Our students worked brilliantly together, producing

some beautiful and clever designs, many of which withstood a 25 kg bucket of earth being

placed on them. It was fantastic to see our students engaged in an activity that focussed

them on careers in construction in such an interactive way. Students were also

encouraged to contact Rebecca to organise work experience.

Sixth Form Enrichment

As part of our Sixth Form enrichment programme our Director of Consortium, Mrs Glover,

organised an event for the whole of the consortium that was designed to keep our

students safe on the road. The day, held at Epping St John’s was a packed day of

workshops about safe driving and a practical driving session with expert instructors. The

students who attended from Debden’s Sixth Form had a fun and informative day.

For further information

as to how young people

can stay safe on the

roads, please take a

tour of the website :

http://www.essex-

roadster.co.uk/


http://www.essex-roadster.co.uk/

http://www.essex-roadster.co.uk/

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Discrimination Competition

History Trip From 12th-15th February, 35 Year 10 & 11 History students visited Berlin. The trip provided an opportunity for students to enhance their learning by visiting places of real historical significance. The group visited Berlin tourist hotspots such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Olympic Stadium and the Reichstag. They also took in numerous fascinating sites of historical interest such as the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, the Berlin Wall, the Topography of Terror and the Museum of Resistance. The group also went bowling, and on an 'interesting' night-time tour of Alexanderplatz, the old Eastern centre.

Emma Bourke, Year 10, said "The trip was amazing - we had loads of fun with our friends and also visited so many interesting sites. The 4 days were action-packed, but the students represented the school fantastically, and learnt a huge amount as well."

Here is a photo of our winners who designed a poster to go up around school highlighting Discrimination.

This followed our workshop on Race and Radicalisation.

Picture: Vincent Austin, Lucy Lewis, Gabija Bijeikyte, James, Brennan, William Sterry, Natasha Camp and Tilly Coughlin with Ms Goody, Ms Mason and Ms Kyriacou.

Edgar Guest, Holocaust Survivor Year 9 students were offered a unique and memorable learning experience in January, as a Holocaust survivor named Edgar Guest visited the school to talk about his experiences. The visit was timed to coincide with the Holocaust Memorial Day and the whole year group listened attentively as Mr Guest outlined his life under Nazi control, and the monumental changes as his family were moved to the Budapest ghetto. The students were enthused by the opportunity to learn from "someone who has experienced history actually happen" and the talk enhanced their understanding of their topic of 'How did experiences differ during the Holocaust?'

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The

Breakfast

Club

3 D Scanning and Imaging in KS3

Computing students in Year 7 and Year 8 have been finding out about how computers work as part of their module on Computing Hardware. They have used a range of different computers from the normal desktop PC to mobile phones. During the project they have used 3D imaging and scanning to recognise how input, process and output work on mobiles and transfer that knowledge to other devices.

Year 8 and 9 Computing Club The Year 8 and 9 Computing Club have under taken an ambitious project to build and program a retro games machine. Students used different programming languages to build different games from Pac Man to Space Invaders and most things in between. Students are hoping to have the machine ready to show Year 7 in after the summer and run a club with them to develop similar games.

The Breakfast Club has now been

running successfully since the

beginning of this academic year

and is going from strength to

strength.

Students attend for a number of

reasons, to complete homework,

revise or have a catch up about

the day before or to prepare

themselves for the day ahead.

Students are welcomed with

toast, croissants and tea and are

also welcome to make a sandwich

for break time. This has helped

and supported students in many

ways: punctuality, behaviour,

confidence and also with their

independent skills. The Club has

also been fully supported by many

of our prefects who mentor, sup-

port and have become experts at

toast making!


We advertised the importance of eating

breakfast to all of our students on 25 – 29

January for National Breakfast Awareness

Week. The Student Voice Leadership

Team sold fresh fruit, cereal bars and

smoothies before school every morning

and discussed with students the benefits

of eating breakfast.

This was very successful and the Student

Voice showed their commitment, passion

and dedication towards other students in

the school.

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Maths Finals Debden Park High School had a fantastic day at the regional final team maths challenge. We beat last year's position of 17th and now have a new record of 6th place out of 29 schools from across Essex and Hertfordshire.

Well done to the 4 students (pictured) who represented us: Tihomir Stefanov;, Josie Nelson; Max Bolton and Daniel Gatty.

The event consisted of 4 different events that test student ability in team work, strategy, communication skills and mathematical ability without the use of a calculator or geometry equipment. ‘What type of questions were they being asked?" I hear you cry. Here is an example of one of the ten warm up question that were given to the team on arrival.

1) Emily does not want to admit her age. She says "I'm 45 years old, if you don't count Saturdays or Sundays". What is Emily's true age?

Answer: Emily is 63 years old.

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Maths Fest In March 8 of the top mathematicians in Year 10 travelled to Jo Richardson Community School to take part in a maths competition against other schools from Essex and East London. The 'Maths Feast', which incorporates elements of top-end GCSE with A-Level subject knowledge, is a national competition aiming to give GCSE students an exposure to the A-Level Core and Further Maths courses. Over the course of 4 rounds, teams of 4 were asked to complete a series of challenges that tested their mental calculations, spatial awareness, as well as having to answers a series of questions on complex numbers, a branch of Further Maths that our Year 12s have not yet experienced. Both teams from Debden Park worked together extremely well and managed to overcome all of the rounds with skill and, most importantly, high scores.

Incredibly, one of our teams came 2nd overall, missing out on the winning spot by a single point, as well as collecting a prize for the highest team score in one of the rounds!

Congratulations goes to Danielle Carter, Ella David, Phoebe Evans-Khan, Shanice Lolomari, Megan Lyons, Jake Phillips, Chloe Sawtell, and Shwan Shawais for their

brilliant success.

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GCSE Mountain Biking Club

The GCSE Mountain Biking Club is run by the High Beech Youth Cycling Club and continues to be a great success. The students are now practicing the skills they have learned within the grounds of Epping Forest, in preparation for their upcoming GCSE exam. See @dphsPE for videos of the boys in action.

Sports Stars Corner Victoria Cuthburt and Sophie Heney two of our wonderful sports leaders have received a Jack Petchey for contribution to their athletics clubs. Well done girls.

Congratulations Ameila Peddle on her performance in the Essex County Swimming Championships. Amelia came 3rd in 50m backstroke amongst many other accolades.

Tell us about your sporting achievements @dphsPE or come and speak to the PE team

Athletics after Easter After the Easter break KS3 PE lessons are athletics. In addition athletics club will start on Mondays after school, for Years 7-11. There are multiple athletics meets booked for this year at Ashton’s Athletics track on Wednesdays against the local schools. District Sports Day will be on 8

th July at Lea Valley Athletics center.

If you are a budding athlete or one of our current athletic stars, come and join us at one of our athletics clubs where you can practice your long jump, 100m sprint, relay, javelin and all other athletics events.

In March we hosted the West Essex District Trampolining KS4 competition entering several of our own GCSE students.

Our Y11’s Verinika Banciewicz and Myles Menkenrick took home first place trophies and Phoebe Hallford took the third place trophy for their routines.

A great achievement for our students and a big well done to those who com-peted in their first ever Trampolining competition.

Picture: Veronika Banciewicz with her first place trophy.

Trampolining Competition

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DPHS is having an amazing netball sea-son. The standard of netball this season has been incredibly high and we are very proud of the commitment to training and matches these girls have.

The year 8 team are smashing their way through the District league with huge wins over the local schools including a whop-ping 47-3 against Braeside. They have one game left to play and hopefully anoth-er win will secure them a place in the playoffs against the Harlow schools.

The year 9 team continue to gain many wins and remain top of the league, one more game will secure a place in the playoffs.

The u16 team go from strength to strength and continue to win all of their games in the second round of the District league. The fight for a place in the finals is tough but with their determination they may just gain a place in the playoffs.

The u13 team have had a season of friend-lies as we build the team and develop their skills. We look forward to starting with a good team ready for next season.

The PE team cannot express how high the standard of netball is we have seen this year, and how proud we are of all of our netballers. We await the results of the league.

The ever committed and improving Year 7 Netball Team


Updates for all fixtures and PE news, go to @dphsPE

Netball

Cross Country Stars

DPHS has some fantastic cross country runners and two of our students were selected to

represent in the Essex County Championships.

Congratulations Rihanna Smith who came 11th/234 in the inter counties cross country

qualifiers running 2500m in under 11 minutes. Rihanna went on the place 52nd

in the

Inter Counties Championship held in Hampshire on the 19/03/2016

Congratulations to Wren Mclean-Jackson who came 18th/172 in the Inter Counties

Qualifier for cross country, Wren ran 3000m in under 15mins. Wren also went on to come

52nd

in the Inter Counties Championship held in Hampshire on the 19/03/2016

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DPHS once again played host to the West Essex Indoor Athletics Championships. Six

schools competed to gain a place in the county finals. Our Year 8 girls won the district

competition and went on to compete in the county finals on 18th March at Southend

Tennis and Leisure Centre. Our Year 8 boys narrowly missed out to Davenant to take 2nd

place, our Year 7s also put in a great performance again taking 2nd

place and 4th place.

Swimming Gala

On 3rd March we competed in a swimming gala at Davenant High School. 24 of our

students represented the school in this gala and they all did extremely well. The support

they were providing for each other was amazing and their behaviour and maturity

exceeded expectations. We came 2nd out of 4 schools which is a great achievement.

Our GCSE PE students were a huge help, coaching the younger students and ensuring

they touch the wall before the next swimmer left to race their length in the relays.

A special mention to Amelia Peddle and Daniel Hathaway as they swam brilliantly and

were extremely inspirational to all of the other students.

Well done to all our swimmers.

Indoor Athletics District Finals

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Out of the 3 teams we gained a joint first

with Archie Lapidge, Jordan Ismail and

Lochlan Bearman with 107 points. Our

next team, Craig Kitts, Luke Zabbar and

James Struckmyer were ranked third place

team with 106 points. This means that we

have two teams progressing to the next

stage in the competition at Buckmore Park

in Kent. The third team did superbly being

awarded ninth place with 67 points. They

were our Year 8 boys Adam MacDonnell,

Robbie Davidson and Ryan Massey. They

only started their Karting training in

January and have achieved so much in a

short space of time. Next year they will be

a force to be reckoned with.

The PE Tem have been really

pleased with the standard of

PE lessons from Year 8 this

term. Year 8 have taken part

in Trampolining, fitness and

gymnastics and they have

developed on many levels in

several areas.

Picture: A group balance from

the girls in Year 8


Updates for all fixtures and PE news, go to @dphsPE

Year 8 PE

Debden Park High School rolls through to

the next stage in British School’s Karting

Championship. After the regional heat at

Brentwood Karting Circuit we are on

course to keep our title as the British

Champions for the third year. The school

has entered 3 teams with the support of

Supergreen Racing and their Managing

Director Howard Green and Debden Park

High School’s PTA. Howard and his team

provided training and funding for the team

of 9 students to develop their skills. The

PTA supported the students with funding

needed for them to enter.

Karting PE



An Inspector Calls

All 76 tickets sold out in less than 48 hours. An anticipative cohort of Year 11s buzzed in the dining hall, and scrambled to the school entrance upon arrival of the coach. We were heading to Milton Keynes Theatre to see J.B. Priestley’s seminal drama An Inspector Calls unfold on stage.

The opening scene immediately challenged the audience’s assumptions: scampering alongside the red curtain and tantalisingly ruffling it, a young boy raised momentary doubts about which tickets we had purchased! But it was the director’s dispersed use of stage, his superfluous placement of props and actors, and the incapacious design of the Birling residence that invited such mature critiques from our students.

Whilst some favoured a production “closer to the original text”, others merited the Birlings’ gradual demise and the empowerment of the working class presented through Edna’s increased prominence. The Inspector’s monologue was debated too: some felt it lacked substance, but others argued that it provided an effective conduit for Priestley’s voice.

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‘Whatever the verdicts, the director’s alternative interpretation has provided new approaches for reading the play that the Year 11s can quote in their forthcoming English Literature examinations’

British Science Week British Science Week is an event that is celebrated across the country and the Science Team at Debden Park were no different. They celebrated with lots of events such as making telescopes, a special dissection and a crash suit competition! The teachers came out in full force fancy dress, ranging from doctors, to the elements Carbon and Helium, to famous scientists Nicholas Tesla, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

Spanish Club Since December 2 Spanish ambassadors in Year 10 (India Manetta and Ella Barns) have been regularly holding a Spanish club for Year 7 and Year 8. This takes place every Wednesday at lunch time where they organise all the resources and the Power-point for the students that attend as well as delivering the lesson. There are 4 students that have attended every single session so far and some that attend every two weeks.

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Jack Petchey Awards

The Jack Petchey Award continues to be a successful scheme for the school. The aim is to recognise the individual achievements of students and generate funds for the school. The winners of each monthly award are notified of this achievement and presented with a cheque for £250 (previously £200). During their assemblies. Winners then determine where within the school it is spent.

March and April Student Award Winners are:

MARCH – MOLLIE COCKBILL – Year 11 Mollie often stays after school to attend ‘Think Tank’ to help herself and others. She is the face of the Olympics this year for the visa debit card who is the sponsor of the Olympics. She is a caring young lady who always helps others both in and out of school and her motto is ‘Do one good deed a day’

APRIL – LUCY COLLINS – Year 11 Lucy is a volunteer at the dog rescue centre for retired greyhounds and also at the scrap gym post helping care for CATS. She has also won a young business enterprise award. She assists old people on their forest walks. She is an extremely motivated young lady with a love of pets.

Parents, students, members of the local community and our governors are all encouraged to contact Mrs Goody if they would like to nominate a student each month (or teacher each Summer Term) for a Jack Pet-chey Award. Please contact Mrs Goody via email [email protected] or visit our website for fur-ther guidance on how you can

make your nominations.


Ms Goody is currently in the process of setting up a ‘JP Winners Committee’ to help support students and staff with their nominations.

The pride that students, parents and staff feel at the rewards ceremony when our students receive their medallion and with the Leader award winner they all have a memorable photograph with the Major taken is such an outstanding event.

These students go on to receive positive points for further awards.

This has been a fantastic year for Jack Petchey as he received a much deserved knighthood. This was awarded for all of his fantastic work he has committed to over the years and how much he has donated to The Jack Petchey foundation.

They also have their names submitted through the parent bulletin and school website, along with this they have their award displayed in the noticeboard opposite pupil reception.

The benefits that Subject Teams receive when students offer their nomination of £250 to their subject area is always gratefully received.

There have been so many benefits to subjects over the years who have used such funds for curricular and extra-curricular events or equipment.

Don’t forget to

check our

website each

month for a full

list of winners

JP Winners Committee

A full school calendar is published on our website. For further information of events at the school please visit our website.

P A G E 2 0

Events For Your Calendar


Half Term Holidays 30th May to 5th June 2016 TERM SIX 6th June to 22nd July 6th June Progress Week 10th Writing Day 13th Y9 Girls HPV2 Injections 13th to 17th Y12 Academic Review Week 15th Y7 5K Run 17th Tennis Event and PTA Quiz Night 18th All Sports—All Schools Festival 20th Y10 Exams Week and Y13 Begins 21st TKAT Olympics Day 22nd Y12 UCAS Evening 7pm 23rd KS3 Science Workshop Day and Y12 UEL UCAS Trip 24th Y6 Induction Day 27th INSET DAY 28th Y7 Consultation Day and Y10 Triple Science Exam 29th KS3 Exams fortnight and Parent Be Informed 5 4th & 5th July Y7 Zoolab Workshops 5th Y7 Urban Showcase 6th & 7th School Production ‘Neverland’ 8th District Sports Day 8th to 11th Y10 Dorset Trip 11th Y9 Rewards Assembly and Y10 Controlled Assessments Week 12th Y7 and Y8 Rewards Assembly 13th Summer concert 14th Y11 Celebration Assembly and Prom 15th Sports Day 1 and Y10 Rewards Triip to Thorpe Park 18th Debdendecathlon#loveDebdenweek 18th Y10 Work Experience Week and Y9 Rewards Trip to Chessington 19th Y8 Rewards Trip to Chessington 20th Y7 Rewards Trip to Chessington 21st Reports published 22nd Sports Day 2 18th August 6th Form Exam Results Day 25th August GCSE Exam Results Day September 2016— 1st Inset Day, 2nd Year 7 and Year 12 Only and 5th All students back to school

Statutory School Appeals

Could you be a Panel Member?

Appeal Panels are convened throughout Es-sex to examine cases in which parents wish to contest either the refusal by a school’s Admis-sions Authority to admit a child, or a Governing Body’s decision to permanently exclude a child. The choices are difficult, and there may not be an obvious “right” answer, but it is vital that access to this independent process exists both for children and the schools involved. The Panels are independent of the County Council and School Governing Bodies. Essex County Council Statutory Appeals Team is currently looking for Panel members for both Admission Appeals and Exclusion Appeals.

If you have the ability to listen, be impartial without being swayed by emotion, can appreci-ate both sides of an argument and are able to make reasoned decisions, you may be just the person we are looking for. Can you spare a few days or more each year to participate in this rewarding and interesting task?

Although previous specialist knowledge of this field is not essential, we are looking for people who have both time to consider the issues properly and who believe passionately that education is worth that time. We offer full train-ing and will reimburse all travel and sub-sistence expenses. Membership of Appeal Panels is constituted in accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, some people may not be eligible to serve.

Please contact us on 03330 139899 or email [email protected]

Documents

May Newsletter 2016