Website and ELE News

The school blog and Facebook pages have undergone a major transformation this month to celebrate four years of digital news, with new themes, logo and page image created using Microsoft’s AutoCollage software. The new image features a photography student’s time lapse photo of breaking glass, photos of R Block and the entrance to S Block, Head Teacher spray graffiti in the style of Banksy, Girl with a Pearl Earring, by a Year 10 student in the style of Vermeer, Geography Home Site animation, 6th Form leaving party with Common Room in the background and the student ELE animation, from a picture by Leonardo Da Vinci. The Blog has also been moved onto a new domain to make it easier to find on the web. You can now type in thecorshamschoolblog.com and you will be redirected to the new site.

The School’s Facebook page has undergone a cosmetic overhaul,  due to the introduction of Facebook’s new Timeline Page and the logo has been reshaped to fit Facebook’s standard size.

There is a new student page on ELE, called Learning Skills, which has lots of useful information about improving the skills needed for learning. The page includes documents and videos, created by students, and also incorporates a spinning woman, to test out if students are left or right brain dominant. Why not have a go yourself?

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

Our five intrepid explorers set out on a cold March morning to complete their practice expedition, walking a distance of 60km over four days, in preparation for the gold award in the Brecon Beacons in July.  Off to Exmoor they went, rucksacks brimming, with great enthusiasm and humour.  Little were they to know at that stage that the elements were not on their side. During the Saturday and Sunday they battled through high winds, rain and hail storms. Did this dent their enthusiasm?  I think not!  As we tracked their progress we were always able to hear their arrival long before we saw their approach, as the witty banter, lively chatter and cheery singing heralded their appearance.  It was not all plain sailing, and there were times when the route they walked was not entirely consistent with the one they had planned.  Our bubbly quintet did not let this get them down and the motto of the excursion soon became “When it’s boring you know you’re going the right way”.

The bitter cold lingered and Monday morning saw our group emerging from frost covered tents into a world of white.  However, it turned into four seasons in one trip, and by the end of Tuesday more than one member of the expedition was sporting a healthy glow from the sun.  The debriefing highlighted the memories of the trip that will feature in many a reminiscence, and the wild pig horse of Exmoor, the green bath and the bog are amongst the many – a wonderful trip which heralds a glorious success for the main expedition in July.  Well done to Tabatha Craig, Meg Thorne, Ellie Daniels, Georgina Rawlings and Harry Rawlings.

GCSE Drama Students perform for Corsham Regis

This term Year 10 GCSE students have been busy working on their Theatre-in-Education Project. They have been rehearsing extracts from two plays- ‘Gargling with Jelly’ and ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’ for their Primary School audience.
The project included our students visiting Corsham Regis Primary School and performing for Year 3 & 4 students and their Year 6 students visiting our Drama Studios for a performance. The experience was enjoyed thoroughly by students from both schools.

Exams Office Notice

The summer written exam period runs from 14 May to 28 June. All exam students will have received their individual exam timetables from their tutors.  Students must keep their timetables in a safe place as they will need to refer to them throughout the exam period.  Any queries regarding the timetables should be directed to the Exams Office as soon as possible.  Students must arrive for their exams no later than 10 minutes before the start time indicated on their timetables. 

Results can be collected from school from 10:00am on the following dates:

GCE A Level: 16 August  

GCSE:           23 August      Any uncollected results will be sent out on Results Day by first-class post

 National Cross Country Championships.  Ilton, Somerset 17 March

Jacob Payne and Kirsty Stanley both qualified for this huge event. Each age group attracts fields of over 300 of the best runners from each county in England and the standard is very high.
Jacob finished 173rd out of 291 finishers and Kirsty was 100th out of 330 who crossed the line. Kirsty was a year younger than most of the runners, so will be looking forward to next year ! Congratulations to both!

Sport Relief

Year 8 students have raised approximately £650 for Sports Relief.

Elliot Wilson and Jacob Bacon raised £450 of this with a sponsored Bath to Bristol unicycle ride and Tom Branagh raised £35.

Very well done

The Pig & Jig

Due to unforeseen circumstances the Date for the ‘Pig and Jig’ has now been changed to Saturday 14 July 2012 at 7pm,
The committee are still looking for volunteers for the event.  Anyone interested in helping out or who would like more information about the event are very welcome to attend a committee meeting on Tuesday 1 May at 7.30, in The Quarrymans pub, Box.
All proceeds raised from this event go to teams within The Corsham School and local charities.

February in the Making Room

The build up to summer has started with a design project for Corsham in Bloom. The council have requested crown shape planters, so our ‘Crafty Saturday’ produced a series of designs that went on display in the ES Electrical shop in town.

Local artist Clare Baker judged the best and the best for purpose (they can be seen at The Pound currently). We will begin the making process in earnest, very soon!

Also on display at The Pound is a scene reminiscent of The Little Shop of Horrors. Some truly amazing plants were made at the weekend, well worth a look.

Mazy Bartlett, the Outreach artist, has a group of Year 7 students designing new flags for our flagpoles. We are hoping to re-create something along the lines of Angus Watt’s silk flags, very abstract and colourful.

Manga club has moved into the Making Room for this term. Some really beautiful artwork is appearing. The school has been offered use of a publishing company’s facilities – this is an amazing opportunity and if anyone has an interest or an idea, please email Chris or Mazy in the Making Room.MBartlett@corsham.wilts.sch.uk

This is a good time to remind all that Art Surgery will recommence after the Easter holidays, but this time on the second Wednesday back (25 April).

We have our first 3 applications for Vivo reward sessions here in The Making Room.

I can’t wait to see what appears!

Maths

On 20 March, 15 top Year 10 mathematicians went to an enrichment day at Hardenhuish School. They learnt about the history of numbers and had a group competition with students from other schools. Corsham students were in the top three teams!

Well done to Isaac Sellens and Will Hughes (1st place), Dan Dipper and Joe Stone (2nd place) and Bobbi Lang and Molly Iacano (3rd place).

 May Day Jazz

Wiltshire Music Service is running a Jazz Workshop on 7 May 2012 (Bank Holiday Monday).  It will take place at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon and is open to any young musicians (age 10 – 18, Grade 3 and over) who would like to attend.  The cost of the course is £15 and will end with a concert at 4pm.  If you like further information, please contact Lesley Meredith on 01225 713871, or collect an application form from the music department.

 Instrumental Practice Platform

We heard a variety of performances on Wednesday, 29 February in our Instrumental Practice Platform.  This was an informal opportunity for anyone who plays an instrument or sings to come and play a piece of music that they have been learning.  Well done to Kira Wrintmore (Y7), Darcy Thomas (Y8), Jess Maggs (Y8), Abi Grylls (Y8), Charlie Basley (Y8) and Dan Reed (Y13). 

The next Practice Platform will take place on Wednesday 13 June.  Look out for details. 

GCSE /A Level Recital Evening

All of our GCSE and A Level musicians performed to a small audience on Wednesday 14 March.  All of the performances were recorded as part of their Performance Coursework.  Many congratulations to all involved – it was a super evening!

The Corsham School Young Musician of the Year      

The Music team are on the lookout for this year’s most talented performer from

Years 9-13 in a competition to find our Young Musician of the Year 2012.  Have you got what it takes? If there is anyone still wanting to audition please email us as soon as possible with your name and instrument.  Auditions will be held as follows

Vocal                                                                                                         Monday 20 April 3pm

Strings including acoustic / electric guitar and brass          Monday 23 April 3pm

Woodwind                                                                                               Wednesday 25 April 3pm

Piano / keyboard                                                                                 Thursday 26 April 3pm

Percussion                                                                                              Friday 27 April 1pm

Successful preliminary auditions will result in the opportunity to perform in the final on Thursday 5 July, 7.30pm in S Block Hall.  The final will be judged by Mrs Bond, Mrs Francis plus an independent visiting professional musician.  Will it be your name on the first ‘The Corsham School Young Musician of the Year’ trophy?  Further details to follow. 

 VIVO News

We have now launched direct parent access to students’ Vivo accounts so that you can keep a close eye on your child’s account and join in with this fantastic motivational tool. You will have received your introduction letter and log in details via your child.

We are always coming up with new ways to earn and redeem Vivos for example by choosing the Healthy Eating option of the day in the dining hall students can earn 10 Vivos and for purchasing a piece of fruit 2 Vivos. Students can now redeem Vivos to spend either at the snack shack or in the dining hall and purchase 2012 Olympic Goodies in the VShop!

Vivo charity donations
So far students have donated 7670 Vivos to their nominated year group charities. We have also added Sport relief for all year groups to donate to so a big thank you to everyone who has already made a Vivo donation to Sport Relief.

500 Vivos could buy new clothes for a child living and working on the streets of Nepal.

1000 Vivos will help give expert advice and guidance to a person living with dementia in the UK and their carer to improve their quality of life.

2000 Vivos would cover the cost of vital medicine for 16 children in Uganda who have severe malaria. The medicine would help them survive the long journey to hospital..

Dates for the Diary

March 30                   Term 4 ends

March 30-April 13      School Holiday

March 31-April 7        Ski trip

April 16                      Term 5 begins

April 16                       7.00pm Y10 & Y11 Focus evening

Dance Concert

The Corsham School Dance Concert took place this year on 15th and 16th May in the Dance Studio.  Over 200 people came along to watch 60 dancers from years 7 to 13 perform. There was a full range of work from Key Stage 3 Dance Club Members as well as GCSE, AS and A2 dances.
There were penquins, a zebra and a monkey along with Demons and performers doing the Hand-Jive and Tango.

There was a fantastic atmosphere on both evenings and spectators and dancers all thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Governor News

A new Clerk to Governors, Graham Chivers is now in post from March 2012 so all future Governor enquiries can be to be addressed to Graham . Graham has been attending the relevant training courses to ensure he’s up to speed.

A range of Governor activities have occured over March and April with individual governors (Jennie Hartless, Charlie Parsons, Nick Loake, Russell Cole, Niall Smiddy) being involved in staff interviews, attending training courses/OFSTED briefings. Additionally Governors have been visiting the school for a range of purposes.  Anne Turrell met Alan Bolter for a 6th form visit, Peter Robson had a meeting with the school Business Manager in his role as Responsible officer. Mike Large has received visits from 2 music students and their teacher at his studios. And 4 other Governor school visits have been arranged for the summer term for specific subjects .Governors are also regularly attending the School Council and continue to be impressed with the students’ commitment and ideas.

Business as usual has continued with good attendance at the Full Governing Body meetings the most recent one being on 2 May 2012. The other Governor meetings have also all been busy reviewing and commenting on key policy and performance documents for the school.

The Governors wish all students taking exams this term every success with their studies

French Exchange   Georgia Bozas,  Roz Coombe  Year 10

After an early start at Springfield, the 40 students arrived in Bordeaux airport, where we were welcomed by some gorgeous French sunshine.  We were all excited to meet the host families. The weekend ahead of us was spent getting to know the families through activities like visiting the beach, zoo, and going to Laser Quest. The school week began with two days spent at Collège Samuel Dumenieu in  Montendre, split into two groups we  spent time participating in lessons like Science, Handball, Drama, Music and visiting English lessons.

On Wednesday a trip for all involved in the exchange took place in La Rochelle, where we visited a range of museums and an exquisite aquarium. The next day we were lucky enough to have the privilege to meet the Mayor of Montendre for cake. Before this we roamed around their traditional Farmers Market. The school kindly organised an orienteering course, which covered a vast amount of Montendre.

On our last full day in France the English students returned to Bordeaux for a chance to shop in one of Europe’s largest shopping locations with a visit to a World War 2 museum, and a climb up a very large steeple, with amazing views of the beautiful city of Bordeaux.

We were all very sad to depart on Saturday after having spent such a lovely week with the families.

 Pop video award ceremony

A day that started off with a mad dash though pouring rain and gridlocked traffic to catch our (early!) train , ended in glorious triumph for our year 12 French A-level class.

 As you probably know, the six of us have been working tirelessly over recent weeks to create and promote our French Music Video; “Diversité et Égalité,” for entry into a national competition.  Having been shortlisted down to the last 4, we were very excited to attend the award   ceremony at the University of Exeter last Friday to find out the results.

The event itself was highly enjoyable, if a bit nerve racking.  Held by the government funded “Routes into Languages” program, designed to increase the uptake of languages in school; it is now a highlight of their annual calendar, being culmination of several prestigious competitions.  Anxiously, the six of us sat through the ceremony, watching some entertaining foreign language presentations being given by students for another competition that day.  After what seemed like an eternity; the time finally arrived.  Nervously we glanced and laughed at each other as a 30 second clip of our video was shown. Then the announcement came.  Our eyes homed in on the presenters lips, waiting for those magical words; “And the winner of the Routes into Languages best foreign language video as voted for by Online viewers is… “Diversité et Égalité.”  Sharing another glance of joy mingled with relief, we descended to collect our prize.  Soon after that, we ambled out of the lecture theatre, carefully holding a shimmering glass trophy and a cheque worth £100.  With a little bit of time left, we took in some of the sights of Exeter, before embarking on our train journey home.

 And it is the people at home – you guys – that we really have to thank for this magnificent success. For it is  because of your vast amount of votes and unending support that we won.  So thank you so much for watching our video and voting for us.  And if you still haven’t seen the video – it’s still available on Youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYw0lyAnEYo&list=PLBFABCE5F059A2C41&index=2&feature=plpp_video

or  just type in “Diversité et Égalité.” 

 Julius, Paddy, Alex, Heidi, Mariana, and Vaughan of the Year 12 French A-level class

Media

Two of our Year 10 Media students, Charlie Dewing and Peter Watts, attended a Film Making residential course at Kilve Court in early April. Here’s what they said about it:

Charlie “One of our tasks was to recreate a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, shot by shot, which we managed to do very well. I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to follow a Film or Media career path as it really was very helpful.”

Peter “One of the best things about this course is that we had complete freedom to film anywhere and we did not have the boundaries of having to stay in one place. I would recommend this course to anybody who’s interested in film making and to people who just want to have a go at making a film. ”

If you are interested in attending a residential course to enhance your learning, have a look at http://www.kilvecourt.co.uk

Year 7 Readathon              

All Year 7s were encouraged to participate in a Readathon last term (organised by Miss Terry), with lots of Vivos on offer as prizes. The Readathon was launched on World Book Day (1^st March) and ran for a whole month. During that time, pupils had to read as many books as they could. Every pupil who took part received 5 Vivos, and there were also ‘Top 3’ prizes awarded to the three pupils who read the most books in their English class.

The pupils who won First Prize (25 Vivos!) from each class were:

James Garrett

Jack May

Holly Trippe

Tyler Willcox

Hazel Luff

Emma Ingledew

Charlotte Beard

Abigail Rylance

Sasha Nugara

Libby Forsyth

Alex Cornfield

Cearn-Regan McDonnell

Jamie Le Cornu

Well done to all Year 7s who took part, and keep up your reading!

Sport Relief

Three girls Eloise Copping,Josie Hansford Holt and Holly Moxham in Year 8 raised £103 for sports relief running 3 miles in Victoria Park dressed as 3 little pigs.

Music

Key Stage 3 Music Finale

There will be a variety of performances from our Key Stage 3 musicians on Thursday 31 May starting at 7pm in S Block Hall.  Tickets are £2 and will be available on the door. 

The Corsham School Young Musician Final

Following our recent Instrumental Rounds we are pleased to announce the line-up for the Final. 

They are:

Rachel Lamerton                       Clarinet

Bobbi Lang                                  Flute

William Hughes                          Piano

Ed Cross                                      Piano

Kyle Krishnamma – Hillier      Drums

Abigail Finch                              Voice

Charlotte Parker                       Voice

Gareth Dinsdale                         Voice

Congratulations to everyone that auditioned.  We thoroughly enjoyed listening to everyone.  There will be a presentation for all participants along with commendations at The Final. 

The Final is on Thursday 5 July at 7.30pm in S Block Hall.  Tickets will be on sale nearer the time. 

Music Exam Success

Congratulations to the following students who have recently passed instrumental music exams.  If you have taken an exam and your name is not listed below, we would really like to know of your success.  Huge congratulations to everyone. 

Year 7:

Martha Stringer                  Grade 5 Clarinet (Jazz)                  Distinction
Harry Truelove                   Grade 3 Trumpet                            Distinction
Will Matthews                   Grade 2 Piano
Charlotte Beard                  Grade 1 Flute
Izzy Ledbury                       Grade 2 Sax (Jazz)
Abi Chapman                     Grade 4 Oboe                                   Merit

Year 8:

Nat Holt                             Grade 1 Piano
Grace Alexander                Grade 2 Sax                                      Distinction
Tiana James                      Grade 1 K/Board                               Distinction
Holly Moxham                   Grade 4 Clarinet                               Distinction
Holly Leake                       Grade 1 Piano                                   Distinction
Jack Chapman                   Grade 6 Trombone                            Merit
Amber Parsons                 Grade 3 Singing                                 Merit

Year 9:

Caitlin Mitchell                 Grade 4 Flute                    
Bonnie Twine                    Grade 1 A. Guitar                             Distinction

Year 10:

Ben Candlin                       Grade 5 Sax                                       
Lily Fossett                        Grade 5 Violin                                   
Hannah Lias                       Grade 5 Flue                                   Merit

PE

Some excellent results at the Area Athletics Trials at Bath University on May 16^th

 All the above selected to compete in the County Championships at Salisbury on 16 June 2012.

Good Luck!

Dates for the Diary

June 1          Term 5 ends

June 4-8      School Holiday

June 11        Term 6 begins

June 11        Year 12 return

June 13       4pm Music Instrumental Practice Platform –H29

June 26      1pm Olympics Sports day

Click to view slideshow.

Congratulations to everyone who was involved in this year’s school production The Wizard of Oz. Every night was sold out and all who came to see the performance were impressed with the talent on display. A Special mention to our Dorothys (Millie Bolt and Izzy Ingledew) who did a superb job. A wonderful time was had by all involved. Huge thanks to all that supported this production.

GCSE Drama Physical Theatre Workshop

This term Year 10 GCSE Drama Students were very lucky to participate in a physical theatre workshop led by Maggi & Tiago from The Pound Arts Centre. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience:

‘I enjoyed the energy that they brought to the group.  They made us just forget about getting embarrassed and gave us all more confidence I thought.’

‘Tiago and Maggi’s class was very active and brilliant!  The workshop was interesting and highly interactive!  I would love to do it again.  Brilliant!’

‘I, Cinna’

On Monday 2nd July, twenty-five Drama and Theatre Studies students from Years Ten and Twelve participated alongside eight thousand other young people in classrooms across the nation for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s inaugural live and interactive theatre webcast of new play ‘I, Cinna’, written by Tim Crouch.  The play is currently in rep at Stratford upon Avon as part of the World Shakespeare Festival; helping to celebrate the works and characters of our most famous playwright as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. 

Cinna is traditionally a bit-part, innocent, character within Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’; often overlooked.  During the play he is brutally torn to pieces by the Roman mob, who confuses our Cinna, a Poet, with another man named Cinna; the latter being a treacherous conspirator who helped to execute Caesar, their leader, and so might justly be punished.   ‘I, Cinna’ uniquely explores the events of Shakespeare’s play from the Poet’s perspective, giving voice to the oppressed whilst also demanding that its audience becomes actively participant in the theatrical experience, breaking down the traditional barriers between actors and audience.  Students explored the themes of citizenship, dictatorship, democracy, vengeance and justice prior to the performance; identifying links between the plot of ‘Julius Caesar’ and recent events such as the London Riots and the Arab Spring.

During the performance itself, all students followed prompts from the Poet, played by Jude Owusu, and generated their own original and complete poetry in response to his story.  This was a fantastic experience which explored the common ground between English, ICT, Drama and People and Community Studies curricula.  Resulting poetry by our students can be found published on the RSC’s microsite at: http://icinna.org.uk/poem-log/ .  With many thanks to all colleagues who enabled this event to happen within a busy school day in a very busy term.

Year 7 Challenge Days 

PE Department goes wireless!

There has been an ICT revolution in the PE department with the introduction of their new iPads. Thanks to the introduction of an external wireless network, covering the schools outdoor spaces, the iPads can be used to take electronic registers on the fields. The signal is so strong that it also reaches across the car park and into the Springfield Centre swimming pool. The attendance data can then be viewed by parents/carers through the Parent Portal ‘Detailed Attendance’ page. Students also have access to their personal attendance record via ELE. Specific apps can be downloaded onto the iPads from the Apple Apps Store for use in PE lessons. They can also be used to take photos and video footage of the students and then play it back to them in order to improve performance. The possibilities are endless!

@CorshamPE leads the way…

The PE department has set up The Corsham Schools inaugural Twitter Account, @CorshamPE. The account can be followed by all students at the school but is particularly useful for those taking examinations at GCSE and Advanced Level. The Twitter page is used as a notice board to remind students of extra-curricular fixtures, examinations, results and links to important and topical websites and debates in the world of Physical Education. The account already has around 60 followers, including the Mid Wilts School Sports Partnership, the Netball Development officer for Wiltshire, England Netball and Paralympian and former student Stephanie Millward.

Exams office notice

GCSE maths exams are taking place as follows:

Unit 1 on 28th February

Unit 2 on 4 March

Unit 3 on 6 March

The generic timetable can be viewed on the parent portal and individual timetables will be issued to all exam students on Monday 4th February via their tutor groups.

The exams office is currently processing entries for the main summer exam series. All students will receive a provisional statement of entry in February. Although this statement will detail exam dates it is NOT a final timetable. Students will receive their final individual and personal written exam timetables during the week after the Easter holidays. They are advised not to make any personal arrangement that may affect school attendance until they have received these final timetables.

Centre timetabled assessment dates are set by subject leaders and communicated directly to students in class time. However, a schedule of confirmed and final dates for these can be found on the student noticeboard and the parent portal.

The exams office is closed during half term but if you have an urgent query please email Mrs Whittingham at examsofficer@corsham.wilts.sch.uk and a response will be sent as soon as possible.

Snow Photo Competition

Many thanks to all the students who entered the Snow Photo Competition. There were some excellent entries from all the year groups. Congratulations go to Katie James, from Year 9, for her Lego-inspired entry. All the judges agreed unanimously that the composition was set up and executed to an extremely high standard. Katie won 500 Vivos to spend in our virtual shop. You can see all the entries on the Information Point page of the School website.

Key Stage 3 Music Festival

This year the Key Stage 3 Music Festival Day is on Thursday 14 March during the school day. It is a music competition open to all Year 7, 8 and 9 instrumentalists and singers who would like to perform a solo or ensemble piece. A winner along with some high commended performances for each category will be announced during the afternoon and they will be invited to perform in the Finale at 7.00pm, the same evening. Entry forms are now available from the Music Team or can be downloaded from the Student Bulletin. The closing date for entries is Thursday 7 February.

Outreach Artist

In the Making Room it is Groundhog Day. All the carol singing logs have been returned from Corsham Town Hall and are having a makeover ready to go on display in the school grounds.

Several other projects are also under way. Corsham Primary Broadwood school students have been coming after school to painting lessons.

The Pound Arts Centre has offered our students the opportunity to work with a graphic novel illustrator (contact mbartlett@corsham.wilts.sch.uk) and these sessions will start after February holiday.

Mr Peecock has been running bat-making sessions with visiting year 6 students.

Art Surgery has re-commenced on Thursdays 3pm-4.30pm. All are welcome.

Also, we would like to put out a plea for simple healthy recipes, as the Friday Art group would like to illustrate and collate a whole fresh bunch of downloadable recipe cards for ELE, as apparently the old ones have proved popular. Anyone wishing to contribute can email to the above address or leave a copy at Main Reception.

Media

On 13 December 2012, Mrs Basley and Mrs Everson took AS and A2 Media students to the Media Magazine Conference in London. It was a hugely successful day, thoroughly enjoyed by all. The day consisted of lectures from industry professionals.

Here are some of the topics that were covered:

How to Create Brilliant Production Work

From A Levels to Industry

Global Media Culture – Identity and Childhood

News Reporting and Social Media

Directing Music Video

Some of our students have been so inspired by the day that they are now working on independent moving image projects to enter into the 2013 Media Magazine Video Production Competition. Shortlisted entrants will be informed by email by Wednesday, 1 May 2013. There will be a special Awards Ceremony and Reception for the shortlisted entrants and their families at BFI Southbank in July. The final winners will be published in September’s MediaMag 45, and all shortlisted entries will appear online at the same time. The very best of luck to all those involved.

Pupil Reception

Y10 Immunisations – Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio booster

These will be taking place in school on Monday 4 Feb 2013. If you did not return the consent for your child and would like them to have the injection, please send the consent form to Pupil Reception before this date. This is an important booster, completing the course that started when they were babies.

Lost Property / Nearly New Uniform shop

Following the start-up of this new venture, we will be stocking the shop with unnamed/unclaimed lost uniform and unwanted items donated by parents. Please be aware that if your child’s uniform is unnamed and not collected within 6 weeks, it will be given to Mrs Wheeler for the shop. Coats will be kept for longer but not exceeding 6 months. If you ever have any spare uniform that you would like to donate, please bring it to Pupil Reception or Main Reception. Thank you.

Nearly New Uniform Shop will be on Monday 4th February in S Block Hall from 3-4pm.

Dates for the diary

February 4 Y10 Polio/Diphtheria/Tetanus injections

February 7 Y12 reports home

February 8 Ski trip departs

February 8 Term 3 ends & Teacher Development Day

February 15 Ski trip returns

February 17 Y9 to Pencelli

February 18 Term 4 begins

February 21 7.00pm KS4 Focus Evening

February 22 Y9 Pencelli trip returns

PE Team
Corsham Paralympian
On Saturday 2 March hundreds of people turned out in Corsham to watch and celebrate Stephanie Millward receiving the freedom of the town. The Year 9 Young Leaders at The Corsham School were given the opportunity by the Town Council to arrange and perform an opening ceremony for the event. The Young Leaders worked with 7 different Primary Schools to help make the occasion special and to get as many young people as possible inspired. The ceremony was a celebration of sport with a theme of Olympic/Paralympic values. The schools performed various sporting activities representing courage, opportunity, responsibility, sportsmanship, honour, achievement and MILLWARD! It was a day when many young people were inspired and excited about meeting an iconic Paralympian and being immensely proud to be part of her special celebration.

Link to read article in National Press

Senior Netball
So far the senior netball team is undefeated! We have had two very close fixtures against Hardenhuish and Grittleton and on both occasions the girls have won by one goal! Congratulations to all the girls involved and let’s hope we win our next match as well!

Year 9 boys on the hunt for trophies
The Year 9 football team are continuing to build upon an impressive start to the season with a further two wins in the Mid-Wilts league. An away trip to Devizes resulted in a 9-1 mauling of the opposition, with striker Damon Hayes bagging himself a 4 goal haul, the ammunition supplied by Shaun Paradise’s wand of a right foot. This was followed by an extremely impressive 3-2 away win at Hardenhuish courtesy of a late winner by captain Jon Bazley. The team are now hunting for silverware on two fronts after a 5-0 win over Lydiard Park sent the boys into the last 8 of the County Cup competition. These are exciting times indeed for the success-hungry Year 9s!

Ladies Cricket (Under 13 and Under 15 Lady Taverners indoor cricket competitions)
We took a squad to each of these competitions. The under 15 team failed to qualify for the county final but played well! The under 13 team which consisted of year 7 and 8 students won the Mid Wilts competition beating Sheldon and Matravers comfortably. Notable performances came from Freya Bollen (batting) and Emma James (bowling). They then went on to represent Mid Wilts in the county competition. There were 5 teams entered in total. The girls lost to Sheldon and narrowly to Hardenhuish (the eventual winners) but beat St Augustines and South Wilts Grammar to finish third overall. Well done and thank you to all those who played .Year 7 – Cerys James and Anouska Adam. Year 8 – Freya Bollen (captain) Emma James, Niamh Godley, Jade Day, Melissa Story, Libby Forsyth and Sasha Nugara .

Ski Trip
41 students enjoyed a fabulous week of skiing at Flaine in South west, France. There were copious amounts of snow, excellent tuition and super accommodation which led to a successful week. Significant progress was made by all participants from beginners to more experienced skiers. We stayed at the UCPA Altair, which is equivalent to a youth hostel in this country. The staff at the centre commented on the superb behaviour and politeness of all our students.

Link to view Ski Trip photo gallery

Drama Team

Rumble in the Jungle!

Work is now well underway in preparation for this year’s whole-school summer production, based on ‘The Lion King’. A hundred and fifty excited students from Years 7 to 10 are currently dedicating extra-curricular time towards different pre-rehearsal aspects of staging the show – from creating graphics and work on areas of stage design to making masks and shadow puppets and learning rousing songs as part of the ensemble chorus of performers.

The show is designed for a family audience and will be performed in S-Block Hall in the week commencing Monday 8 July 2013. We look forward to casting main roles from within the ensemble chorus in the next few weeks and really hope you can come along to see the work-in-action!

Our process is being hugely facilitated by lots of generous people – some very talented Sixth-Formers, staff in the Making Room and from the advice, ideas and perspective of our ICT team.

Please do subscribe to our ‘Performance Blog’ to find out more about the ongoing process, to see some of our previous work and to receive regular updates:

http://corshamschoolperformance.wordpress.com/

With thanks from the Drama team.

Theatre visit
A Level Drama & English students have visited Bristol Old Vic theatre on Monday 4 March to see their new and exciting production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Having last worked together on the internationally acclaimed War Horse, Bristol Old Vic’s Artistic Director Tom Morris and Cape Town’s Handspring Puppet Company reunited to tell Shakespeare’s inexhaustible tale. Trees, objects and tools all pulse and tingle with the possibility of existence in a world that, thanks to the magic of Handspring, are granted the right to life.

Foreign Languages Team
Mandarin Class
Mrs Chan has kindly offered to come into the school each Thursday afternoon to give students the opportunity to learn some Mandarin Chinese. The course started on 7 February, for Chinese New Year, and students have been learning how to count and greet each other in this difficult new language. There are still some places available for anyone else who would like to join. The sessions run from 3.30 to 4.30pm in H7a.

Printer Cartridges
The Corsham School has contributed to Green Source Solutions, raising £25,964 for charity through our continued support of environmentally friendly purchasing and recycling of printer cartridges.

History Team

This is Connor McCarron (year 12) and Jamie Basham (year 13) with Mrs Bartlett and Mrs Sloan’s ‘hero historian’ John Guy.

On Monday, 18 March, 32 A2 and AS History students attended a conference led by eminent Tudor historians. There were 4 lectures in total, each covering different aspects of the reign of Elizabeth I. It provided students with an excellent taster of university style learning and most were amazed at how many pages of notes they had taken! The students were a real credit to the school and some of them managed to construct some very good questions for the panel at the end of the day.

Maths Team

On 6 March a team of 4 of our strongest mathematicians in Years 8 and 9 represented our school at the Regional Finals of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Team Maths Challenge at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy. It was very closely fought through all four rounds with only 10 marks separating the top third of the teams. After the head to head third round, our team of James Phillips, Nat Holt, Holly Trippe and Jack Liddiard had lost only 15 points. The final relay race relied on speed and strategy as well as mathematical prowess. Our wonder team dropped only 4 of the 60 marks available. Overall we ended up 8^th out of 24! All four should rightly be proud of themselves. However, we have vowed to go back stronger and better next year and take the title of ‘Maths Team Champions’!

Have a go at the type of questions they had to do under the pressure of competition…

Dynamic Dan walks up and over a hill walking 8km at an average of 3km an hour. Lazy Lou walks round the hill at the same average speed and arrives 10 minutes later than Dan. How far did Lou walk?

ABCD is a square and BCGFE is a regular pentagon, not overlapping the square. AB and BE are adjacent sides of a regular polygon. How many sides does this polygon have?

Geography Team
The Geography team have bought many new books for the library. There is a lot of material about global warming, international development and globalisation and there are multiple copies of some titles so that you don’t have to wait for books to be returned.

Pig & Jig
The Pig and Jig committee would like to thank everyone who supported last year’s very wet musical event. All the monies raised have been allocated to well-deserved departments within the school and also two very deserving local charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care and also Dorothy House Hospice Care.
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This year’s event will take place on Saturday 6 July on Box Common.

If you would like to volunteer, we are always in need of help. 

Dates for the diary

22 March Term 4 ends – Easter holidays begin

8 April Term 5 begins

24 April 7.00pm Y0 Focus Evening

26 April Y8 HPV 3/3 in S Block Hall

Governors
The Governing Body welcome Sarah Truelove as a new parent governor, and Kerry Everson as a new staff governor, and hope they will have a rewarding time with us. There are vacancies on the Governing Body for co-opted governors, and we are especially keen to find someone with a legal background to join us, replacing Nick Davis, a local solicitor who served the Governing Body for a little over 20 years. So, if you are interested in filling this vacancy or know anyone who may be interested, please refer them to any member of the Governing Body.

The Personnel, Finance and Premises committee have reviewed the budgets, and the income and expenditure records for both The Corsham School and Corsham Regis School.

Having considered any requested changes, the Governors were happy that both schools were within their budgets at this stage of the year.

The Curriculum, Assessment and Learning committee reviewed last year’s GCSE results and have looked at ways to improve our results, particularly in English and Maths, for those students on the C/D borderline. The projected number of sixth form students for next year is particularly pleasing.

Details of your Governing Body can be found on ELE.

Peer Mentoring
This academic year’s Peer Mentoring scheme comes to an end this term after a very successful year. Over 70 students were involved in the scheme which sees 6th form students mentor Y7 students with a view to supporting them with the transition from Primary to Secondary school.

Thank you to both 6th form and Y7 students for being so proactively involved. It is clear that both groups learnt a lot from the experience.

Year 11 GCSE Drama Exam Performances
After many months of practising our plays, the day finally came when ‘the lady under the lamp’ (AKA the Examiner) arrived. Despite our collective nerves, the performances ran smoothly. There were great responses from our audiences, consisting of students from Y7-10 who seemed to enjoy the wide assortment of plays from ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’, to ’4.48 Psychosis’, to devised work.

At the start it was really hard to come to terms with our characters because they felt quite alien to us. But after many rehearsals it became second nature to adopt the mannerisms and poise of our ‘alter egos’. It’s strange to have completed the course after the intensity of the last few months and it has become apparent how much we’ll miss the Drama department as it has become our extended family.

By Year 11 Drama Students.

School Sports Co-ordination news
The Corsham Primary Cluster has benefitted from Sporting opportunities provided by The Corsham School. The return of Central Venue has seen winners in both the Netball and TAG Rugby (Pound Pill and Colerne respectively). With summer approaching the Primary cricket league has got off to a brilliant start with all the primaries getting involved and high praise for the young officials from The Corsham School for their leadership, coaching and umpiring skills. The start of the Half-Term week saw all primaries undertake the Corsham Cluster Challenge. All schools were challenged to get involved in sport throughout the day, and Mr Waterhouse (SSCo) ran between all the participating schools’ sites. This was part of promoting the Olympic Legacy and training leading to The London Marathon for The Footprints Foundation.

The School Sport profile has been lifted once again by the introduction of Inter-Tutor Group Sport. Group Stage matches were held in PE lessons with the semi-finals, final and 3rd/4th play-off taking part at lunch times. The girls’ Inter-Tutor sport was hockey and the boys’ sport was football. There were some fantastic and exciting games and a penalty shoot out to decide the winner of quite a few closely-contested finals. The winners have had trophies presented in assemblies and each tutor group will receive points between 1-8 depending on their rank for points for sports day this year. The winners were:
Year 7: Girls A Boys W
Year 8: Girls O Boys A
Year 9: Girls R Boys C

French Exchange
Leaving early in the morning on 16
March and returning on 23 March, 23 English students from The Corsham School went to spend a week in the French town of Montendre. We all had a great time and went on lots of exciting trips ranging from golf and baseball lessons to treasure hunts, shopping and fairground rides! Whilst it was quite cold at the beginning of the week, the sun came out for our last day in Bordeaux. On the last evening the French students arranged a party which we could all attend. I certainly had a fantastic time and am pretty sure that everyone else did too! We’re now all looking forward to hosting the French students in May!

Joy Wingrave Year 10

Year 7 Boulogne Trip Friday 28 June 2013
Thanks to all parents who have paid the £25 instalment due on April 26. The final £25 payment is due on Friday 24 May. Please order your child’s EHIC card now if you do not already have one. These MUST be in school on 4 June (C7, O7, S7) and 6 June (R7). Thank you.

Dates for the diary

May 2 7.00pm KS4 Focus evening

May 3 Teacher Development Day

May 10 Y11 & Y12 study leaves begins

May 15 7.00pm Y7 Focus Evening

May 17 Y13 study leave

May 21-24 Y7 History day trips to Caerphilly

May 24 Term 5 ends

May 25-31 School Holiday        

Summer Exam Arrangements
AS and A2 exam results will be issued to Sixth Form students from 10:00am on Thursday 15 August and GCSE results will be issued to Y11 students, again from 10:00am, on Thursday 22 August.

Y10 GCSE unit results will be issued to students when school starts again in September.

A big thank you to all those students who have donated their Vivos to Charity this year

RE Team
Duncan Hames, MP, visited the school again on a hot Friday afternoon, period 5 to find out more about how Mindfulness is being taught in schools. Two Year 9 classes are being taught an 8-week Mindfulness ‘pilot’ programme through PSHEE this term, in order to improve mental and emotional health and well-being.

Mindfulness involves learning to direct attention to our experience as it happens, moment by moment, rather than getting caught up in the past or the future. Students told Mr Hames that the programme has helped them to ‘step back from difficult thoughts’ (Amy), and ‘a way to relax and follow the mind and body’ (Ant). Others explained how ‘I used to get really stressed about things but this helps me to stay calm now’ (Jon).

Thank you to all of the 9y class and the students who spoke to him; our MP thought they were Year 11s because of their maturity and mindfulness!

“….I later joined a mindfulness class at The Corsham School. It was wonderful to see children learning techniques that can help them find calm and be more attentive, as well as maintain their mental health and wellbeing later in life. The maturity of this group of 13 and 14 year olds was particularly striking.”

Mandarin Class
Thank you to Mrs Chan who gave up her time, after school, to teach some of our students Mandarin this term. All the students thoroughly enjoyed the experience of learning such a culturally diverse language.

These are some of the topics that were covered:

Greetings ：你好  您好 你早 您早 再见 早上好 下午好 晚上好 老师好 新年快乐  恭喜发财  大吉大利  红包   鞭炮

Animals： 鼠 牛 虎  兔 龙 蛇 马 样 猴 鸡 狗 猪 猫 鱼

Food ：面包 大米 大米饭   炒饭  蔬菜   水果  蛋炒饭 肉 饺子 Things to buy and sell.

Numbers ： 一二三四五六七八九十  to one hundred

Clothes ： 帽子  围巾  上衣  裤子  鞋子  手套   连衣裙

Colours  :红色 绿色 黄色 白色  黑色 蓝色 紫色 咖啡色 彩虹色

Date : the 1st to 31st

Days : 昨天   今天  明天 星期天  星期一  星期二   星期三   星期四  星期五   星期六

Months： 一月  二月 三月 四月 五月 六月 七月 八月 九月 十月 十一月 十二月

Body parts： 头  肩膀  膝盖  脚指头 眼镜  耳朵  嘴巴 鼻子 拍拍手

Antonym : 上面 下面 左边  右边 里面 外面 前面 后面

Psychology Students In Action
This week Year 12 Psychology students took part in the University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology research project. The project was led by Jessica Hodgson an ex student of the Corsham School who is now a doctoral research student.

The research project is focussed on investigating speech centres in the brain using a method called Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography. This measures the speed of blood flow to the left and right sides of the brain whilst doing different tasks.

Jessica was specifically measuring brain activity in the left and right hemispheres in areas thought to be important in language. She is carrying out a longitudinal study on children of all ages to further understand the development of language and the brain centres involved in this. Year 12 students volunteered to take part in the project over two days.

Seth Lavington (pictured) commented on how interesting he found the experience of participating in the research and how this will help him in conducting his own Psychology research later this term.

A big thank you from all our A’level Psychology students to the Lincoln University Psychology department for a fascinating insight into psychology research.

Mrs Utton
Head of A’Level Psychology

Pride

Thanks to students, parents, colleagues and friends for supporting our production of ‘Pride’ and many congratulations to the 100+ participants from Years 7 to 14 whose enthusiasm, dedication, talent and creativity have fuelled the project since January. Over four nights the audience crammed into the balmy Hall to join us on an African lion-cub’s journey through loss, injustice, friendship and retribution. The sense of teamship involved was truly inspiring, and not least for the impact of experienced sixth-formers dedicating their post-exam time to returning to school and training the talents of younger students. Combined skills in singing, acting, mask-work, making, design, lighting, sound, puppetry and pyrotechnics were an imaginative feat to behold! We look forward very much to welcoming audience members and participants alike when working on our next whole-school project.

Email and Mobile contact details for the new School Gateway
Please can you ensure that we have the latest addresses/numbers for you on your child’s records, which will enable the school to send you important messages via email or text. Any updates or changes should be given to Pupil Reception via pupilreception@corsham.wilts.sch.uk or 01249 713284.

Information about The School Gateway which is now live and ready for you to register and use.

The school is now providing parents with the ability to pay for school items online. This means you can pay whenever it’s convenient for you, without having to find the exact change, or having to send a cheque into school. You can also give permission for trips online, saving you the need to fill out permission slips. Features include

• See the payment requests for all your children on one screen
  
• Choose which payments to settle and use a debit or credit card
  
• Track your payment history and items still outstanding
  
• Receive important text messages from school
  
• Better communication from staff with direct email to parents/carers
  

Login to the Parent Portal, select My Space > School Gateway and follow the 3 steps to activate your account.

There is also a convenient, free School Gateway App that you can download, onto your mobile smartphone, from either the Android Play or Apple Store.

Kitemark
The Sainsbury’s School Games Kitemark is a Government-led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Schools in England are able to assess themselves across bronze, silver and gold levels of the Kitemark. The Corsham School has applied for the 2012/2013 award and achieved the Silver Kitemark – we school narrowly missed out on Gold which we are striving to achieve in the 2013/2014 academic year. This Kitemark is a symbol of the progression of Sport in Corsham and its fundamental partnerships with local clubs and the community.

Dates for the Diary

July 24^th Term 6 ends Summer Holidays

September 2^nd     Term 1 begins –Teacher Development Day

September 3^rd        First day for students and Y13 enrolment

September 4^th       Y12 enrolment

September 9^th         7.00pm Y10 Curriculum Evening for parents

September 10^th    7.00pmY13 Applying to University evening for parents

September 12^th     7.00pm Y9 History trip to Ypres- information for parents

September 16^th     7.00pm Y7 Curriculum Evening for parents

September 19^th     6.00pm Open Evening.

September 23^rd     7.00pm Y9 Curriculum Evening for parents

September 24^th     7.00pm Y12 Making a success of 6^th Form evening for parents

September 30^th     7.00pm Y11 Curriculum Evening for parents

Record Breaking GCSE and A Level Exam Results

GCSE Results

Well done and congratulations to all Y11 students and their teachers for our best ever GCSE results. You worked hard and deserve all of this success.

68% of our students reached the threshold of 5 higher passes including English and Maths.

• 81% of Y11 students gained at least 5 Higher GCSEs (C or above) which also represents a record high for the school.
• The average aggregated point score per student reached a record 428 points which equates to an average of 8 grade C passes and 2 grade A passes per student.
• The proportion of A* and A grades rose to 28% which represents another record high for the school.
• Nearly all students gained at least entry level qualifications or equivalent and 98% of students gained at least 5 GCSEs (grade G or above).
• A record 35% of students gained 3 or more A* or A grades.
• 72% of students made 3 levels of progress in Maths from KS2 and 73% of students made 3 levels of progress in English from Key Stage 2.
• The Average capped score (best 8 including English and Maths) rose from 342 points last year to 349, which is yet another record high for the school.
• 12% achieved the English Baccalaureate.
  

A Level Results 

• A-E pass rate was a perfect 100%
• Proportion of A*A grades rose to 27%
• Grade A*- B pass rate increased to 58% (national 52.7)
• Average point score per student after 2 years of 6th form remains high at 806 points.

Many of the Year 13 students secured places at universities and colleges across the country some of which are ranked as the best in the world. Some of the students also received bursary payments as their A Level results were so good. The universities who will be admitting The Corsham School sixth formers this week include Oxford, Imperial, Warwick, Exeter, Bristol and Bath. The subjects taken up were also very wide ranging including Medicine, Mathematics, Aeronautical Engineering, Architecture, Criminology, Zoology, Pharmacology, Journalism, French and Russian.

Year 7 Challenge Days
Over the last two weeks, our Year 7 students have been involved in a series of Tutor Group ‘Challenge Days’. This is an important part of our induction programme and has proved (yet again) to be a great success with all students really throwing themselves into the activities.

Led by our own Outdoor Learning expert, Mr Josh Coombs, each group had a whole day of challenging activities out on the field in and around our new marquee. They were also able to spend a session in our renowned ‘Making Room’ with Chris Peecock working on creative ideas related to the day.

The idea of our ‘Challenge Days’ is to encourage the students to get to know each other and their tutor really well and begin to understand the key themes which we promote at The Corsham School such as Teamship, Audienceship and Citizenship. This is done by getting them to work together on some team building challenges and activities including orienteering, problem solving and even outdoor cooking! Time in the Making Room enabled them to start work on some high quality visual records of the things they have learned about themselves and each other

Governors
The governors would like to welcome all new parents to the school and congratulate the staff on a great set of exam results this year.

We had our first meeting on 10 September at which Niall Smiddy was re-elected as Chair and Mike Large as Vice Chair and we welcomed Rebecca Stevens as a new governor.

Chris Lynch resigned as a governor after 8 years, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his work as a governor and also with the Young Enterprise scheme.

Just a note to remind you that details of all the governors can be found on the Parent Portal.

IT Upgrade
The School’s IT department have worked tirelessly through the Summer to upgrade all the schools computers to the Windows 7 operating system. This is due to Microsoft and other software providers’ withdrawal of support for Windows XP next year. The School’s broadband provider has also been changed and our speed increased to provide a better service across the school.

ClickView
The School is leading the way again with a centralised media storage and distribution system, called ClickView, that will allow us to stream media across the school network. It has the added benefit of allowing us to stream videos for the first time on different mobile devices. The first application of ClickView can be seen on the exciting new 6^th Form Digital Prospectus found on our School Website. Many thanks to Toby Mott, one of our 6^th Form leavers, who worked through the Summer to complete the videos prior to starting at Cardiff University this September.

Parent Portal
New Parents/ Carers should receive their personalised parent portal login details through the post early next week. Please ensure that you keep the letters safe because you will need to login in order to pay for school trips using our School Gateway system.

Language Department
The Corsham School is proud to announce that we have been awarded International School status (intermediate level) by the British Council.

This is recognition of the school’s commitment to working to instil a global dimension into the learning experience of all children and young people. It is reflected by an international ethos embedded throughout the school. In practice this means:

• the majority of pupils within the school are impacted by and involved in international work,
• collaborative curriculum-based work with a number of international partner schools,
• a global element to curriculum-based work across a range of subjects
• year round international activity.
  

On 26 September we once again celebrated the European Day of Languages. Alongside our normal array of lessons across the curriculum delivered partially in various languages other than English and foreign language lessons with a focus on the variety of languages across the world, several of our students volunteered to design and lead lessons or parts of lessons with this theme.

Many thanks to them for their enthusiasm, interesting ideas and hard work.

Mrs Wharf, International School coordinator

Drama
 Our new Drama Club launched last week with great success. The Sixth Formers leading activities were very impressed with the energy and enthusiasm displayed by well over fifty youngsters. Sessions are free to attend and run from 3.00-4.00pm every Wednesday. All students at KS3 are welcome to join, so if you’d like to have some fun and make new friends then do pop along to the Drama Studios!

Year 12 students performed in the ‘Theatre Uncut’ initiative on 19 September, presenting rehearsed readings of brand new plays, by professional playwrights, for a public audience. This scheme is now in its defiant third year and its aim is to celebrate the UK theatre industry’s continued creativity on an international platform, with work generated in spite of the vast arts cuts many companies face. The performances were a real credit to all involved and visitors commented on the maturity and independent spirits displayed by the actors.

New GCSE Drama students are busy preparing for their ‘Museum of Monologues’ performance in S-Block Hall on Thursday 17 October. The promenade performance will begin at 6.30pm and all are very welcome to attend, with tickets available on the door. We hope to see you there!.

School Shop
The Corsham School has launched a School Shop, this is open every day at breaktime for students to buy essential school equipment. The shop will also sell Nearly New School Uniform which will be open on the first Monday each month.

Dates for the Diary
September 30     7.00pm Y11 Curriculum Evening for parent
October 2             Y8 girls’ HPV
October 2            7.00pm Transition Evening for Y6 parents
October 3            Open Working Morning
October 4            Y7 & Y9 photographs
October 7             3.00pm Nearly New Shop (SBH)
October 7             Y8 Curriculum Evening
October 9             Y10 Geography fieldwork
October 9             7.00pm Y7 Focus evening
October 10/11      Y9 CORS History to Ypres
October 12/13      Duke of Edinburgh Expedition
October 14-17      AS Geography field trip
October 16           7.00pm KS4 Focus evening
October 17            6.30pm GCSE Drama evening
October 23           7.00pm Awards evening
October 24/25      Y9 HAMW History to Ypres
October 25           Teacher Development Day, Term 1 ends.

NB: All parents should now have received a copy of our high quality school calendar for display at home. If you have not received this yet, please contact the school

Art Department
Nat Faulkner (left last year) has had a painting selected to be exhibited in the Mall Galleries London in March next year as part of the British Society of Artists student exhibition.

Foreign Language Department
French Exchange 29 March – 5 April: There may still be some places left for students doing French in Y8 (CORS), Year 9 and Year 10. Please email Ms Hawkins- shawkins@corsham.wilts.sch.uk if you are interested.

We are delighted to announce that the winning tutor group of the European Day of Languages music quiz is A7, with C7 coming a close second. Well done and thank you for your entries.

Drama – Museum of Monologues
Our Monologue performance on 15th October was an amalgamation of the 2 GCSE Drama groups who, although they were very nervous before the performance, were supportive of each other.

We were pleased to have a healthy-sized audience who were interested in our work and added to the excited yet collected atmosphere.

The evening was a brilliant opportunity for us students to showcase and present our first area of work in the GCSE course. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended – both audience and actors.

Overall it was a great evening.

Duke of Edinburgh’s award group
Lily De Malpas-Player and Holly Leake completed their Bronze expeditions successfully over the Marlborough Downs on 28 to 29 September 2013.

Many congratulations.

Pig & Jig
The Pig and a Jig Committee would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped to support this year’s event. The event was well attended and raised a staggering £4000.
£1000 was donated to 4 local charities: Wiltshire air ambulance, Dorothy House, Swift Medics and St Johns Ambulance, the rest was distributed amongst a selection of departments within the school including both the D Of E and Careers.
So if you have some time to spare and would like to get involve in next year’s event, please get in touch with Mrs N Evans at The Corsham School. Volunteers are always appreciated.

The Pig and a Jig Committee meeting is at 7.30 pm in the Quarrymans pub, on Monday 10 February

The next Summer Event is 7pm 5 July 2014 on Box Common.

Outside speakers enriching teaching

The Science department were excited to welcome Sue Briggs, a volunteer speaker from Diabetes UK, to talk to both Year 12 and Year 11 students about the impact of Diabetes on patients and their families. Both groups were able to benefit from Sue’s extensive knowledge on the subject and were involved in modelling, mind mapping and question and answer sessions that greatly advanced their knowledge and understanding of the subject. Both the staff and the students that were involved would like to thank Sue for all the hard work she put into the sessions and we hope to build on these experiences for future classes.
 

Student Reception - LOST PROPERTY / UNNAMED ITEMS
Politely reminding parents/carers to name their children’s belongings. We have little hope of reuniting items with their owners unless items are named. Fabric marker pens can be purchased fairly cheaply at most supermarkets and are a simple way of marking a student’s uniform, PE kit and coat with their name.

Dance Clubs
Year 9 Dance Club  – Tuesday 3 to 4 pm in the Dance Studio

Year 7 Dance Club – Tuesday 3 to 4 pm in H Block Gym (run by 2 AS Dance Students - Jade Wilson & Ashleigh Hayes)

Both clubs are open to boys & girls and start on the 1st Tues back after half term on November 12th.

Children in Need
Sixth form students at The Corsham School discovered the sweet taste of success for Children in Need, by raising more than £1,700 for the charity appeal. Year 12 and 13 students organised a charity auction on Friday, which easily surpassed all their targets. Eighteen-year-old Nancy Lewendon helped organise the auction. She said: “It all went really well, we had a lot of help from people around Corsham who donated items, and one of the boys in Year 13 raised about £50 by having his very long hair shaved off in front of everyone.

“In the auction we had a Pudsey Bear cake, which went for £85.That was probably the most popular.

“We were hoping for £1,000 so we raised much more than we expected, people seemed to be very generous this year.”

Drama
Scene Productions’ ‘Fear and Misery of the Third Reich’ By Connor Macleod, Rohan Wolsey and Chris Day

On 14 November, we were treated to Scene Productions’ original adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play, hosted in our very own drama studios. We thoroughly enjoyed the satirical commentary on Germany under the Nazi regime; an insight into the lives of German people which proved both humorous and illuminating.

Viewing this piece of theatre was useful as a source of inspiration for our A2 Unit 3 Devised piece. Scene’s use of Brechtian techniques prompted us to adopt similar ideas for our own performance: such as changing costumes on stage and the utilisation of placards to announce scenes; to mechanically change the scene through narrator characters.

Chris, who attended another Scene Productions’ performance last year, and is using this visit as the basis for an assessed Theatre Review, adds, ‘Typically, Scene Productions was pushing the boundaries of audience and actor relationships: encouraging members of the audience to take an active role in the performance. The cast thrives on the shrieks and laughs of the viewer. This experience gave me an altogether better depth of background understanding about a theatre practitioner, hopefully helping me to complete a thorough essay as well as support my Unit 2 practice.’

Many thanks to parents and carers for supporting us in enabling all KS4 and 5 Drama students to attend the evening.

We very much hope that some of you will be able to join us for festive frolics next month, when Sixth Formers present EPQ student Alex Lewis’ brand new play, ‘Santa Claus’s Year Off’. Performances will be in the Drama Studios, lasting about an hour, and will start with mince pies at 7.00pm on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 December.

English

On Thursday 28 November the English department took 30 Y12 students to the Theatre Royal in Bath to see Propeller’s production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Propeller is an all-male Shakespeare company and their show was both funny and enchanting. Not only was the evening entertaining, but it will prove to be a really useful starting point for studying the play in lessons. The students were a pleasure to be with.

History

Year 9 have been studying World War One since September, and as part of their work have been handling artefacts which have been kindly loaned to the school from Richard Broadhead (wiltshiresholdiers.co.uk) and also from the Swindon and Wilts Learning Resources Centre in Trowbridge.

Amongst the items was a Princess Mary Gift Tin, given to the soldiers who were fighting overseas at Christmas in 1914, and a set of embroidered postcards. Working with the artefacts has enabled students to literally “touch the past”. As one student said, it has provided a real link to the lives of the soldiers who are no longer with us.

In addition, annually since 2004, students from Year 9 pay a visit to Ypres in Belgium, to see for themselves the sites of The Great War. This year, thanks to Richard Broadhead, we located the names of the Corsham men who fought at Ypres and never returned home, on The Menin Gate and also at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Students laid flower wreaths, provided by Theodora’s Florist in Corsham, at The Last Post Ceremony in remembrance.

PE

PE Gifted & Talented Triathlon Coaching Session

On November 13, Age Group Triathlete and coach, John Wood took 21 gifted and talented students from PE with a particular strength of cardiovascular fitness and endurance sports for a swimming and running session. During the 45 minute swim and run sessions the students were put through their paces and showed great progress as they picked up ‘world class’ coaching tips. Many of the students went on to great success at the Mid Wilts Cross Country Championships and there may be a level 2 triathlon competition coming up soon.

Cross Country News

There were some impressive performances at the recent Area Cross Country Championships on Wednesday, November 14 at Grittleton School.

In the Minor Girls race Ella Reid finished 6th, Emily Williams 10th and Amy Richards 13th. In the Minor boys race Ethan Hall was 5th with Hal Stringer finishing in 13th place.
Jade Littlechild continued her amazing season with a win in the Junior Girls beating a close rival in an exciting finish. Following her with a strong team performance were Izzy Hawkins 8th and Sasha Nugaga 10th. Otto Copping finished 9th for the Junior Boys.In the Inter Girls Lucy Hyde came 11th.
The Inter Boys put in an exceptional team performance ;Jacob Payne 4th, Jesse Bacon 5th, Jacob Bacon 7th, Aidan Daniel 8th,Rhys Lock 9th and Tommy Lappish 11th.

Many of these athletes will go onto to run in the South West Championships on January 18th at Grittleton School.

Jade Littlechild has also taken part in the Schools Biathlon Competition and has qualified for the next round in January.

Hockey News

Congratulations to Elise Bessell in Year 8 who has been selected for the Wiltshire Under 14 Hockey squad.

The year 10 Hockey team have had a mixed season and despite playing well finished fourth out of 8 teams at their tournament which was held at Corsham School on October 10

Player of the match awards voted by opponents have included Tiana James and Josie Hansford Holt.

Girls Football

Amy Leask and Sophie Sweetlove in year 12 have started a football club for girls every Tuesday. The response has been encouraging and all age groups are still welcome to join.

1st XI Football

For the first time in a few years TCS had their very own 1st eleven football team, captained by Alex Hillier and managed by Sam Plowright. They made it into the second round after a hard fought battle which resulted in a 1-0 victory against one of the oldest state secondary schools in the country, KLB, Wotton-under-edge. Jonathan Harding with the goal. After an extraordinary minibus trip the team faced Norton Hill School of Somerset in round 3 and early goals from captain Alex, Liam Harris, Alfie Cross and an Own goal saw the side 4-0 up at half time. A second half goal from Nathan Hampson resulted in a 5-0 victory and a clean sheet for Goalkeeper Gabriel Field. Round 4 saw a trciky trip to Clevedon where the boys were undone by some terrific wing play and ruthless finishing. The team are sure to have learned from this and will be proud of making it into the last 100 teams in the country. They play New College at home on 3rd December. Mr C.Smith

Key Stage 3 Rugby

There have been almost 30 rugby fixtures already this term and the effort and application of the boys has been outstanding. Mr Evans the Director of Rugby is very happy with the progress being made and thanks also go to Alex Bilton, Duncan Wilson and Seth Lavington (From Yr13 A level PE) who have coached and managed the Year 9 team to two splendid victories over Devizes school and St Laurence, with Josh Hill scoring many tries. James Utton and Young-Soo have also progressed into the next round of Dorset and Wilts Trials, so congratulations to them both. The year 7 team are progressing nicely and their highlight was a well earned draw against Malmesbury with tries from Ethan Hill and CJ Feirn. They are set to play a 10 a side tournament in December and have already starting training for the County Cup football match. The Year 8 team have been the pick of the Key Stage 3 sides with emphatic victories against Sheldon, St Laurence and Devizes. Scott Taylor and Chris Blazey making particularly good progress under the captaincy of Ben Hansford-Holt. Players player of the match often goes to fullback Zac Tobin who makes countless tackles and breaks the line well.

Key Stage 3 Badminton

In November Matt Hughes captained Jack Stanley, Reuben Stringer and Lyndon Scott-Humphries to second in the Mid Wiltshire Level 2 Badminton Competiton at Devizes school after winning all their games on the way to the Final 5-0 then losing narrowly in the final 3-2. Congratulations on the great effort gentlemen and thanks to Mrs Hughes for the transport.

Young Leaders Nominations

This term has seen the year 9s working hard to be nominated as Young leaders. Nominations to be posted in the next newsletter. There will also be further nominations after Christmas. Good Luck!!

Christmas Concert

Our Annual Christmas Concert will take place in St Bartholomew’s Church on Thursday 19^th December at 7.30pm. This is one of the highlights of the school year where not just only our students and staff attend but anyone from the local community is also invited. There will be readings and musical performances from our students. This is a very popular evening and free limited tickets are available. The evening will end with complimentary refreshments being served. All donations will be going to The Corsham Food Bank. You are all very welcome to join us and celebrate the start of the festive season.

If you would like tickets please contact community@corsham.sch.wilts.uk.

The Corsham School Shop

Thank you to all the parents/carers who have kindly donated school uniform to the School Shop. It has been very much appreciated, and has made the School Shop a huge success. If you can ever donate good condition school uniform please bring it to Main Reception.

Students can also buy essential school equipment ranging from handwriting pens to pencils and art equipment along with PE Equipment, table tennis bat and ball and even hula hoops to play with at break times. The shop is open morning break in T Block. Please encourage your child to pop in.

The Corsham School Christmas cards are now available, the cost is £2 per pack (8 cards). These have been designed by our students. To view the Christmas Cards please go to The Corsham School Blog. If you would like to purchase any cards please email community@corsham.wilts.sch.uk

Dates for the Diary
December 2 3.00pm Nearly New Shop (SBH)
December 4 7.00pm Focus Evening
December 5 Y8 Parents Evening
December 9-19 Y11 Mock exams
December 10 & 12 5.00pm onwards Y7 Tutor Evening
December 19 7.30pm Carol Concert St Bartholomew’s Church
December 20 11.00am A’Level Certificate presentation (last year 13′s)
December 20 Term 2 ends

School Trademark

You may have noticed some changes to the school logo on the website and ELE. This is because we are now the proud owners of a registered trademark. The blue school logo is now officially our brand image and we need to use it or we’ll lose it! Many thanks to Mike Large, one of our Governors, who helped in organising this for us. Having a registered trademark gives us continuity of brand and allows us to be able to deal more effectively with online companies.

Exciting New Apps
There is a new school App called iMLS which you can download onto your smartphone. The App allows students to view our school library, reserve books and write reviews to share with other students. Our online rewarding system, Vivo, has also updated their app with additional functionality and there is the School Gateway App for parents to receive messages from school.

Many congratulations to the following students who all submitted Book Reviews, to celebrate the launch of our new library (iMLS) app. They each have won 200 Vivos plus a special MLS keyring. The first 30 entries also received an MLS sweet.

Martha Bennett
Charlotte Rumble
Elsa Bartlett
Coral Shenstone
Poppy Taylor

Charity Fund Raising
Tutor Group 012 raised £200 for The Philippines Typhoon Appeal with their map of The Philippines divided into squares. Congratulations to Niamh in M7 who won the chocolatey prize by correctly guessing the square where the treasure was buried. O12 also held a cake sale on 6 December to contribute to this very worthy cause. Well done and thank you to everyone involved!

Latest Corsham School magazine
The Winter edition of the school magazine will be distributed shortly. This high quality publication shows many more of the impressive achievements of our students both in and out of the classroom along with news of exciting school developments. Each student will bring home one copy at the start of next term . Requests for further copies should be made to the school office.

Drama
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away (DS2) there was a play called ‘Santa Claus’s Year Off’… written by a Sixth-Former named Alex Lewis for his Extended Project Qualification. This made the performance feel quite personal: it was conceived by someone we know and more of our own age than typical playwrights; and it was designed for a family audience based on research into theatre and film traditions. We had lots of fun and because it was a small committed group we got on well and really enjoyed working together. We were encouraged to be childish and this enabled us to take creative risks and be playful.

Thanks to Alex for his generosity and directing skills and also to our parents, fellow Sixth-Formers and teachers for all of their support.

Dates for the diary

December 21 to January 5 – School Holiday

January 6 Teacher Development Day

January 7 Term 3 begins

January 9 7.00pm Y9 Options Evening

January 13 3.00pm Nearly New Shop SBH

January 17 to January 24 Exchange to Germany

January 23 5.00pm Y9 Parents Evening