Stony Dean Schoolstonydean.bucks.sch.uk › wp-content › uploads › 2018 › 06 › ... · 2018-06-21 · Stony Dean School Working to Inspire Orchard End Avenue, Pineapple Road,

Stony Dean School Working to Inspire

Orchard End Avenue, Pineapple Road, Amersham, HP7 9JW Tel: 01494 762538 Fax: 01494 765631 www.stonydean.bucks.sch.uk

Dear parents and carers, I would like to introduce and welcome you to this terms bulletin and update about school life. The school takes great pride and effort in bringing you a document that gives you information on our school and a snippet of all the most excellent things that take place here. We do hope that you find it informative and interesting and are always happy to take feedback and ideas about the content. I would like to again draw your attention to the fact that the Governing body of the school is still looking for another parent governor to help oversee the strategic direction of the school. If you are interested in having a chat about this role please email [email protected] to arrange a meeting with me for more information. We would genuinely love to have another parent representative on the school governing body and, as such, I welcome any interest. I would also like to draw your attention to the Parents and Friends Association (PFA) of Stony Dean School. This body of volunteer parents have worked tirelessly over the last few years to bring you the end of term events we have in the school. The PFA always welcome help in anyway shape or form; if you would like to enquire about becoming involved in the PFA please email [email protected]. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the out-going chair Hilary Horne for all her hard work and commitment to the school; she has been a loyal friend whether that was the governing body or the PFA, her absence in the school will be missed and the staff will most certainly miss her scrummy cakes! The school is currently working hard to improve the quality of our physical resources and the opportunities that we bring our pupils; we are constantly trying to create more exciting options for our curriculum to enrich your child’s experience in the school. This is our overriding challenge and our direction is in line with our school development plan. This plan focuses on how we can improve our provision and curriculum to expand our remit of improving our pupils’ communication and interaction, employability skills and independence. We have recently run a school election that was very successful and now the elected pupils have areas of responsibility across the school, from the environment to available technology, our pupils are exploring how they can improve our setting with their efforts. I would like to draw your attention to a recent performance I saw at the Wycombe Swan by the pupils of our school. Our pupils were truly amazing and as such I would suggest that you look at the video on our Twitter account. The staff, pupils and parents involved must be so proud and it was the highlight of my term seeing them perform. We are also looking to create a small golf course that we are trying to build for pupils who don’t always enjoy team sports. If you would like to make a donation to support the development of this project it would be most welcome (https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stonydeangolf). Once this project is up and running we will be fundraising to organise an area of the school where we can run a small farm to help deliver

Stony Dean School Bulletin: 21st May 2018

mailto:[email protected]




employability projects and therapeutic interventions for our pupils across the school. If anyone is interested in helping us to fund raise or if you have any suggestions for how the school can best create this vision, please do get in contact with [email protected]. With the summer exams in the next month it’s important that pupils take attention to look after their own needs and identify relaxation techniques that help lower their anxiety. In school we will be working on activities that help pupils focus and better manage their anxiety. Attendance is a really important part of any young person’s schooling experience. As always, the school seeks to understand why pupils’ attendance can vary. Please do continue to communicate with the school if there are barriers to high levels of attendance, we are always happy to talk and see what can be done to sustain high levels of attendance at school. As a school we always welcome feedback and if there are ever serious concerns there are systems and processes in place to manage this (please see the webpage for contact details, policies or any other information). Good news is always welcomed as well; we strive to constantly to deliver positive messages of growth and improvement with the pupils, so if there is anything that you are particularly happy with please do feedback this to us also. On the last day of term 24th July 2018 I would like to invite all the parents to school for our end of term event to celebrate our 50 years of existence and the end of term. As in previous years we will have an assembly at 10:00am and then this will be followed by a summer fayre. It would be great to see as many parents as possible at this event. I would also like to challenge parents if they have not already please follow our handle on Twitter @StonyDean and our Vimeo account https://vimeo.com/stonydeanschool. There are some interesting videos we have made about managing anxiety and e-safety. Mr. Strain Head Teacher

Term dates 2017/2018




STONY DEAN’S 50th ANNIVERSAY CELEBRATION & SUMMER

FAYRE 2018

24th July 2018

10am Assembly to celebrate 50 years of Stony Dean

11-12:30 School Fayre (Raffle draw at 12)

Obstacle Course Amazing Raffle

Egg & spoon Race Tombola

Lucky Dip Apple bobbing

BBQ Human Fruit Machine

£1 Lottery game Hoopla

Bric-a-brac Throw wet sponges at The Staff!

Car Wash Tea Room (cream teas & home-made cakes & Spicy Delights!)

Beat the Goalie Hook a duck

Paper Plane Toss Guess the name of the Giant White Bear

BRING YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, AND LOTS OF CHANGE PLEASE!

(Most games are 30p or 50p

Any bric-a-brac/prizes donations welcomed! Please leave at

reception after half term.

CAN YOU HELP US RUN ANY OF THESE STALLS? IF SO, PLEASE CONTACT

RECEPTION OR CALL 07858784686 (Jojo)



Here at Stony Dean School we have a team of dedicated staff who are committed to the development and education of our pupils. As part of the school bulletin, we thought it would be fun to gain a little insight into our staff and who they are by asking them a few questions created by our pupils. Each newsletter we will feature a different member of staff to help you get to know our team!

1. How long have you worked at Stony Dean School? I have been working at Stony Dean since September 2016.

2. What do you like most about working here? There are many great things about working at Stony Dean, such as witnessing the daily victories and progress made by pupils in overcoming the challenges they face. However, I must say that I particularly enjoy working with members of staff all around the school as a team. Through teamwork we are able to create an environment that is safe, fun and enjoyable to learn and experience life in.

3. What was the first job you ever had? I was a sandwich maker (not the appliance!). The reason I took this job was to earn enough money for a new bicycle. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there; I’m still in touch was the shop owners and made friends with some of the people I worked with. My favourite sandwich to make was bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. However, I tried to stay away from smelly eggs.

4. What would be your dream job and why? My dream job has always been to be a pilot! Pilots get to travel to many destinations around the world to experience different cultures, foods and sights. I am still fascinated by aeroplanes and I believe it is one of the greatest human inventions ever.

5. Do you have any hobbies? Most people who know me would say I am a football fanatic; however I also enjoy watching musicals (including Disney musicals), working out and reading comics.

Getting to know our staff

Mr Tutu

Name: Mr Tutu Job role: Speech and Language Therapist



6. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? I would probably want to visit a south pacific island near New Zealand, similar to the ones seen in the Disney animation, Moana. The film is one of my daughter’s favourites and we have all enjoyed it as a family. I have done some research and the islands look incredibly beautiful with white sandy beaches and crystal clear seas. The region is 9,550 miles from the UK – that’s far!

7. Who is your favourite superhero?

I love the recent Black Panther movies and his role in the latest Infinity War films, but Spider-man has always been my favourite super hero and still is. Spider-man is someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously and has always got a sense of humour, amongst the other senses. On balance, he also has a strong sense of duty to his family and loved ones and takes his responsibilities seriously. I believe I share some of these characteristics or at least I aspire to help others by always having a smile on my face. (Besides, who wouldn’t want to be able to climb walls and web sling?).

Mr Tutu



Year 11 and 6th form Exams Exam season is upon us at again at Stony Dean. Pupils from year 11 and 6th form having been working exceptionally hard and preparing for this and we understand that it can be a stressful and difficult time for your child. Over the next month pupils from Year 11 and 6th form will be sitting a variety of exams over different subject areas. It is vitally important that we are all working together to ensure that we are making it as calm and helpful as we possibly can.

Ensure that you sit down with your child and go through their exam timetable with them. Highlighting the timings, rooms and day it is on.

Reward pupils when they have revised or completed an exam as pupils will need to be able to relax and switch off. This could be watching a film, going on laptop/computer, read a book or play a board game.

Ensure that pupils are getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night, have clear boundaries to ensure that these are followed.

Ensure you are communicating with your child about the exams they have completed (If they want to) and try to get involved as much as you can.

Ensure that your child is completing some sort of physical exercise to relieve stress. This could be done by going for a walk, run or playing football.

EXAM

STRESS



Mathematics

This half-term has been a busy one for our pupils, Year 10s through to 13 preparing for exams, and the rest of the year groups getting on with their learning. As a department, we are very proud of how are pupils are working and the progress that they are making. We would like to wish all our pupils in Year 11, 12 and 13 who are taking their Functional Maths Level 1 or Level 2 exam this Wednesday good luck. Just do your best and remember although it is important to take your exams seriously they do not determine everything in your future and they do not change who you are as a person. Bar Modelling This term, as a school we are rolling a method of learning called Bar Modelling and our pupils are responding really well to it – this method moves away from using concrete materials to a pictorial method of applying mathematical concepts such as the four number operations, fractions, ratio and algebra. It allows pupils to draw and visualise mathematical concepts to solve problems and is an essential strategy to maths mastery.

As a team we are meeting regularly to explore and develop the use of Bar Modelling with our pupils and to monitor how this strategy is impacting their learning. It is early days but our pupils really seem to like this method, as can be seen above with some pictures showing some of our Foundation pupils in action.



Taking maths into the outside The maths team often takes maths outside of the classroom and, just recently, a Year 8 group has been undertaking geometry work outside. In one lesson they had to use their angle measurer to find as many angles as they could in everyday 3D objects.

In another lesson, to prove that a circle was made up of an infinite number of straight lines they were given some rulers and asked to work as a team to make a circle.

Starting small........................ getting bigger....... the final circle.



Maths Skills for Life (MSfL) This half term in Key Stage Three (Years 7, 8 and 9) our focus is money. Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11) and Key Stage 5 (Sixth Form) learn about different aspects of money through the academic pathway they are on and the related examinations they are preparing for. Ways that you can help your child become more confident when dealing with money are asking them to:

recognise the different coins and discussing their value count out a handful of change give change from certain amounts such as £1.00, £2.00 and so on look at prices of everyday items in shops so that they begin to understand what can be bought with

different amounts of money look in local newspapers and costs of renting or buying a flat/home or car. You can also have discussions about bills that have to be paid and how to save money.

Maths Games The maths teams loves using games to support teaching and learning, indeed there is a quote from Einstein that sums up our approach to the use of games - ‘Play is the highest form of research.’

As part of the maths section on the school website there is now an area specifically related to games and ideas for games will regularly be added to it. Please find attached to the school bulletin a game called Boxes that can be found on the school website. Contacting the Maths Department If you have any questions or concerns regarding the teaching and learning of Mathematics at Stony Dean please contact the school office and leave a message for Sue Keith, Head of Department (HOD) of Mathematics.



English Well done to all of Yr10 who have just completed their OCR Entry Level work. Coursework results should be back before we break up for the holidays confirming assessments. Most students in Yr11 have also completed their Functional Skills coursework assessments and results will be confirmed at the end of July. There are still some Functional Skills and GCSE exams taking place in June so please be supportive and reassure students taking these that they are to rest, revise and relax. Emotional well-being is very supportive at this time so please be aware that changes in routine may unsettle students more than usual. It is important to take exams seriously and do your best but they should be viewed as a checkpoint of where you are at on the day. They do not determine everything in your future!

Foundation

This term’s topic focused on learning all about pirates – their ships, life on board, the crew, treasure and famous pirates. In English the students have been studying “Treasure Island“ by Robert Louis Stevenson. They learnt how to use adjectives and Colourful Semantics to describe items. Students will now be writing their own pirate adventure stories and will study sea shanties.



In Science students are learning all about “Forces”. They have been exploring the push, pull and twist forces and how we use different forces in our day to day life. Also we will investigate, design and build our own race cars!



Panathalon Regional Finals - Joint Winners!!

NG2 and NG3 visited Stoke Mandeville Stadium to take part in the Regional Finals in the Panathalon against a school from Swindon and a school from Oxfordshire. The team took part in a variety of sports including:

Boccia - first place!

curling - second place

indoor javelin - first place!

Beanbag throw – third place!

Relay races – first place in every race!!

Table cricket

Polybat All of the pupils showed excellent sportsmanship towards each other and the other teams and were commended on their team working. The pupils had a great day.



Fundraising for 6th Form residential trip

Dear parents and carers,

I did it! After months of training, I finally completed the Paris marathon on Sunday. In what was a very hot day, I completed the race in under 6 hours. I just want to say a massive thank you to all who donated, it is very much appreciated! I also want to thank those who offered kind words of encouragement and those who helped me in my training. We have now raised just over £1000, including all cash donations. This has been a fantastic response and will help the boys hugely towards their fundraising target. www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mrevisonmarathon Many thanks James Evison Head of Year 9

http://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mrevisonmarathon



Wycombe Wanderers

As a school we've been very fortunate to have Wycombe Wanderers tickets donated to us throughout the season; nearly 100 of our pupils have attended at least 1 game, along with their family members! It's been a great opportunity for pupils and their families to have a day out and participate in events in the local community. We were even welcomed onto the pitch at half time for one game; our job was to wave large Wycombe Wanderer flags whilst doing a lap around the pitch in front of all of the fans. Thank you to Wycombe Wanderers for allowing us this opportunity and huge congratulations to the team for gaining promotion this season! Hopefully we will be able to watch them again in League 1 next season.



Clay Pigeon Shooting The Year 13’s have been experiencing an entirely new discipline on a Friday afternoon. Through our new partnership with Valley View Sporting Gun Club, Great Missenden, students have been fortunate enough to take up clay pigeon shooting, which has proved extremely popular with the boys. Adam Lund, who runs the club, is keen to develop community links and has been very impressed with the enthusiasm shown by those taking part. Students have learned all about the safety aspects of gun handling along with receiving expert tuition in shooting at moving targets from Pet Easton, who has shot for Great Britain. We hope to continue shooting at Valley View throughout the summer term, as well as for Activity days at the end of the year.

Skiing The last group of Year 11 and some Year 10 pupils have started their 10 week skiing lessons with Snowbility funded by the Snowsport Foundation at the Hemel Ski Centre. After 4 lessons our boys are being pushed and are responding really well to the challenges. All the pupils skied (with support) from the top of the beginners slope, using the travellator and the snow plow they had learnt in the previous weeks to control their speed.



Golden Moment Competition

Bucks County Museum hosted an art exhibition for the Art Society; the theme for the show was ‘My Golden Moment’. The Art Society involves young people in the arts through bursaries, school projects, art exhibitions and competitions. The Art Society, formerly NADFAS, have organised an art fest competition for young people in this area to celebrate its golden jubilee in 2018. Stony Dean was invited to enter an artwork recording their Golden Moment where Jerome, William and Jo were specially commended. Alex, Adam, Amaad and Nitin also received certificates for taking part. The photos above are of one of our year 10 pupils, Jo, who was awarded a certificate from the High Sheriff for his fantastic art work. Thank you very much to the Art society for making generous donations to Stony Dean to buy equipment for the art room. Mr Renouf



Building Links with Dr Challoner’s School

During the course of the last year, five Year 12 students from DCGS participated in a number of events with Year 11 students from Stony Dean School. The scheme is a national programme organised by The Linking Network, which brings together two nearby schools that have different backgrounds and address different educational needs. In doing so, it removes misconceptions and supports students from both schools to undertake activities collectively, collaboratively and cohesively.

Day One

We met at Amersham Town Council. At first we felt a little nervous, but we quickly got to know each other. We did some teambuilding games where we paired up and we had to find out as much as we could about our partner, and then report back to the group. We made tea and coffee, and shared biscuits, stories and jokes. We discussed our hopes for the future and our plans for work and careers. We found that we got along well and it wasn’t nearly as awkward as we expected.

After lunch we went to the High Street to plant some bulbs and flowers for the local community. We had planned out some patterns for planting the bulbs, and now can’t wait to see them in full bloom. It was interesting to try something different, even if it was freezing cold and wet and we’ll credit our success to the hot chocolate break that kept our hands warm!

Written by Esmé and Tom

Day Two

We started at Stony Dean with a tour given by the students. From both perspectives, we were unsure as to what to expect from each other and we may have appeared a little apprehensive. However, as the day continued, we realised we had a lot in common and our attitude quickly turned to one of communication and cooperation.

From a group discussion about where we were from, what our future prospects were and how our communities could become more sustainable spaces, we moved into the active part of the day where we built paper towers. Despite our group’s attempt at a tower failing abysmally, the harmonious spirit coupled with a good level of communication ensured that we had fun, regardless of the outcome.

http://challoners.com/pages/news/march-2018/30ba3ac21830929868e7744ef17c3c4c.jpg



Day Three

The day began by giving the Stony Dean students tours around DCGS. We followed this with some refreshments and discussion of plans for the rest of the day. At this point, we were all comfortable with talking and interacting with each other.

Next, we went to the Sports Hall for some rock climbing. The Stony Dean students were excited by the facilities and everyone got involved. Teamwork was essential, and we developed our climbing skills in addition to overcoming the challenges. This was a valuable and enjoyable experience for us, which we followed by filming some clips around the school for a video about the project. We ended the day by ordering pizzas for everyone; we were all extremely happy with our efforts over the course of the day and it was a great way to finish the Schools Link Project.

Written by Jamie and Amiytha

Learning

Our experience of the Schools Link Project enabled us to meet new people and to develop our social skills. We learnt how to work well together in a team in outdoor activities, which also helped us to understand what is involved in some of the tasks that the Council undertakes. Lastly, and importantly, we made new friendships, had fun and enjoyed ourselves very much.

Written by Georgia, Tyler and Jack

A huge vote of thanks must go to Mr Spenceley (DCGS) and Mr Brameld (Stony Dean) who were the lead teachers for the three days throughout the year over which the project took place!

After lunch, we began our trek down to the nature reserve for tree planting, but along the way we came across some horses in a field, which we admired and petted for a while. In groups of three, we planted trees for the rest of the afternoon and, at the end of the day, we could certainly say that we had an immense amount of fun.

Written by Marshall, Mo and Lillie

http://challoners.com/pages/news/march-2018/a60df43652d984fb808e15466a37992e.jpg

http://challoners.com/pages/news/march-2018/a7eaf01bd3bfb3035b48df82618fb6cc.jpg



Amazing comic strips, created by Tyler in Year 11



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We’re on Twitter! Make sure you are following us (@StonyDean) for up-to-date school news and e-safety advice/tips and tricks.

Stony Dean School has a Vimeo account! You can download Vimeo on Google Play and iTunes. It can also be accessed via the internet; www.vimeo.com. The Stony Dean School channel is https://vimeo.com/stonydeanschool; password: stonydean

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Stony Dean Schoolstonydean.bucks.sch.uk › wp-content › uploads › 2018 › 06 › ... · 2018-06-21 · Stony Dean School Working to Inspire Orchard End Avenue, Pineapple Road,