Head’s Welcome and Comments Since Christmas, 8 students have joined us. I hope you have settled in and are enjoying Court

Fields.

Below you will see the results of our Year 11 parent questionnaire which captures parent

perception of how our school is doing. Changes that we have made are clearly making a very

positive difference. We are currently reviewing a number of our policies and practices in order

to secure over 90% satisfaction for parents such as our behaviour policy and strategies for

Teaching and Learning.

Our recent Parent Forum indicated that they would like to see a change to our half termly

Newsletter which they felt to be too irregular and too big in its content. Parents asked that the

Newsletter is more frequent (every 2-3 weeks) and takes the form of a bulletin paying particular

attention to ‘dates for the diary’. We intend to email this new bulletin out to all parents as well

as have it posted on our website. Do let me know if you have a view. We intend to start this

after half term.

Thank you to all parents and students for their time at Academic Monitoring. I will collate all

the feedback that we have gathered which will support us in continuing to improve our school to

provide your children with an outstanding education.

Ms Rachael Bennett

Headteacher

Question % increase

2014 to 2015

Current: 2015

% Agree

My child is happy at this school 3% 98%

My child feels safe at this school 3% 98%

My child makes good progress at this school 2% 90%

My child is well looked after at this school 6% 96%

My child is taught well at this school 2% 92%

My child receives appropriate homework for their age 14% 92%

The school ensures the pupils are well behaved 24% 85%

The school deals effectively with bullying 26% 87%

The school is well led and managed 24% 92%

The school responds well to any concern I raise 14% 87%

I receive valuable information from the school about

my child's progress

14% 90%

I would recommend this school to another parent 36% 94%

Court Fields School

Achieve | Belong | Participate February 2015

Friends of Court Fields School

The Friends of Court Fields are moving forward with the proposed improvements to the school

site. The school have been working with groups of students who have discussed ideas and put

together an initial layout of the site. The Friends are now taking this to the next level and are in

consultation with various bodies, including the Royal Horticultural Society, to make sure that we

make the best out of the space.

'Gardening is a great way to boost the development of young people. It teaches life skills, makes people healthier and happier and encourages them to produce their own home grown food. I'm really excited to be working with Court Fields School and we have some great projects to work on, including the development of a new garden area and the house veg beds.'

Merryn Preece, South West Regional Advisor—Schools, Royal Horticultural Society

With this in mind we are looking at raising funds for this exciting new project.

Look out for details at school and in the local press.

As part of the school’s ongoing project to improve the look and use of the school site raised flower

beds have been made and will be looked after and maintained by the

students. Each raised bed will represent a school House and prizes will be

awarded during the year for effort, initiative, commitment etc.

The Friends are asking for donations of small tools which will help greatly.

If you have any unwanted gardening tools or would like to buy new and

donate them to the school, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions regarding any of the above or you would like to help with any of our

ongoing projects please call the school on 01823 664201.

Mrs Stephanie Colman

Chair of the Friends of Court Fields

Comic Relief is on Friday 13th March. As that is an In-Service Training day

for us, we will have a non-uniform day on Thursday 12th March and students

should bring in £1 for the privilege of not having to wear uniform. Other

activities such as cake sales take place so students should ensure they bring in

enough money to take part if they wish.

The Friends are holding a family Bingo Night on

Thursday February 26th in the School Hall.

7 - 9 pm

We have great prizes to win as well as a raffle, which includes a £50 Waitrose

voucher up for grabs!! Tea and coffee will be on sale. It looks to be a fun filled

night, so grab a friend, relative or neighbour and come along and support your

school.

Careers / Work Experience Information

Parents / students may have already noticed, and looked at, the information entitled “Life Beyond

Court Fields” on the school website. If not, please do have a look. It may answer some questions you

already have. Its purpose is to provide both students and parents with general careers information.

Please speak to Mr Cowling if the answer or information you are looking for is not there.

Any careers relevant information / news will be posted onto the school’s website - go to curriculum,

then careers, so do keep an eye on it.

YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE

All Year 10 students now have their work experience packs, plus their pin number, which will enable

them to search the database of employers they may wish to contact in order to obtain a placement.

Indeed, a number of students have already secured a placement for next July. If your son /

daughter has not started this process yet, then please encourage them to do so now. July may seem

a long way off, but the closing date to secure a placement is Easter and the process of obtaining a

placement can sometimes take quite a while.

Work experience provides a tremendous opportunity for students to experience the world of work,

and to try out a job that may be of interest to them in the future. Most importantly it allows

students, whatever placement they get, to gain first-hand knowledge and experience of working in a

real, adult environment, acquiring much sought after work related skills. It is for these reasons that

employers, colleges and training providers look very favourably at those young people who have

completed a work experience placement. Students should not waste this valuable opportunity.

YEAR 11

Applications for full time college courses: Most students have now completed college application

forms, which have been sent off to colleges. The colleges have now started the interview process.

Richard Huish College have made a video called “interview preparation”. Students hoping to attend

Richard Huish may want to look at this beforehand – go to their website – and you will find it under

the heading “video case studies”.

All local colleges will be offering further open days / evenings from January 2015 onwards.

Please look at individual college websites for details of when these will be taking place or speak to Mr

Cowling.

CHANGES TO AS /A LEVELS

There are important changes to AS and A levels from September 2015. In short, AS levels will

become a “stand alone qualification” worth only 40% of an A level at the end of Year 12, and which

cannot be “coupled” up with the second year of study to become a full A level as has been the case. A

levels on the other hand, will be those subjects that have to be chosen right from the beginning of

Year 12 and which will continue in Year 13 as well. In other words, students will have to make firm A

level choices from the beginning of Year 12 and see them right through until the end of Year 13. In

short A levels are a two year course.

The situation has been made slightly more complicated in that the model / approach to A levels

adopted by Bridgwater College is not the same as that adopted by Richard Huish. Students who have

applied to either one or both colleges for an A level course will be made aware of the model being

adopted when they have their interview. Both colleges have put some information about their A level

programme onto their websites.

APPRENTICESHIPS

For those students who are particularly interested in finding an apprenticeship rather than a full

time college course, please book yourself an appointment to see Mr Cowling who will be able to give

advice on what to do. There are more apprenticeships available than in recent years, so it has

become a real option.

Any student who is still unsure at this stage as to what their next step should be and would like some

careers advice and guidance, should also ask for an appointment to see Mr Cowling.

Parents may have heard or read about the National Careers Service. It provides careers information

and a telephone helpline to young people aged between 13 and 19. The service can be used in addition

to the careers information, advice and guidance provided through the school.

Go to Google and type in National Careers Service.

VISIT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH – 24/3/15

We are currently in the process of organising a trip to the University of Plymouth. This will provide

an opportunity for those students considering higher education to find out more about university,

university life, finance, courses, and student life in general, including a tour of campus facilities.

Details will be available shortly.

Mr Cowling—Careers / Work Experience Co-ordinator

Pantomimes

On Thursday 11th December Court Fields Year

10 GCSE Drama students put on a production of

“Jack and the Beanstalk meets Snow White and

the Seven Auditionees”. They worked extremely

hard in preparation for the performance, which

was also assessed as part of their practical

performance controlled assessment.

This is the school’s first student pantomime and

it proved really popular with performers and

audience alike. It was so successful that we

have decided to make this an annual event so

watch this space for information on next year’s production!

Not to be outdone, staff performed “Cinderella” in

front of students at the end of term. Students

were highly delighted to see Miss Swannack as

Cinderella and Mr Selway as the Prince, with Mr

Nicholls as Buttons, Mrs Mayer as the Wicked

Stepmother and the (very) Ugly Sisters were Mr

Latchford, Mr Seaton and Mr Woodward. Other

notable performances included Ms Bennett as the

King, Mr Alfano as the Queen, and Miss Clarbull,

Mrs Hopkins, Mrs Routley and Mrs Willson as the

mice. Students cheered and jeered in all the right

places and left saying it was the best thing they

had ever seen! Well done to Mrs Cummins who

wrote, directed and also performed and danced in the pantomime.

Learning Support

Year 10 College Students get into decorating

Some of our Year 10 students attend Somerset College on a Tuesday and on Friday

to do vocational studies, including Hair and Beauty, Construction and Motor

Vehicles.

Below is a photograph of four of the construction students displaying their painting

and decorating skills. For this session they had been producing a wood finish, cloth

finish and using a stencil.

From Left to right:

Glen Windsor, Joseph Jordan, Jordan Bryant, Simon Hollis

D Edmondson (SENCo)

Sainsburys Vouchers

We are once again taking part in the Sainsburys Vouchers for Schools

scheme so, if you shop in Sainsburys, please would you collect the

vouchers and give to your son/daughter to bring to school and put into

the collection box in the LRC.

In recent years, vouchers have been used obtain items for the DT Food & Textiles department, PE

equipment, as well as a two-way radio for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award for use in their expeditions.

Sporting News

A packed half term on the sporting front. Despite the best efforts of the weather, all Years

have managed to enjoy a busy fixtures list. Year 7's have progressed to the next round of

the football district cup after beating Kingsmead. They will face Taunton Academy in the

next round. They have also played really well in their basketball tournaments and just missed

out on a Millfield slot in the area futsal tournament. Year 8's have also

been involved in basketball and football fixtures but were unlucky to lose

to Kingsmead in their cup fixture. The boys are currently preparing for

their remaining league fixtures. Year 9' s have been playing some

excellent football with a thrilling win over Heathfield which secures their

place in the next round of the cup. They have also shown good

commitment to basketball with good numbers training at lunch times.

They were unfortunate to lose a really close game to Taunton Academy in

a match that really could have gone either way. The upper Years are also well into their

football fixtures with the Year 10's showing early promise with a recent victory over Taunton

Academy. More fixtures will have been played by the time this goes to press so keep an eye

on the website for regular updates.

The girls’ teams have been busy taking part in practices and fixtures, showing

commitment from all teams. The Year 7 and 8 Netball teams have played their

first Netball fixture against Kingsmead and showed some promising play. We

are looking forward to all teams playing some more fixtures against Heathfield

soon and we have the Central Venue League Netball tournaments after half

term. Girls’ basketball continues to be popular with all teams playing well in the

Central Venue League Tournaments. The Year 10 team secured a win over

Castle in their most recent League fixture after a very close game. Girls’

Football for Year 7 & 8 continues on a Monday after school with numbers growing and the

feedback from the FA coaches has been really positive - new players always welcome.

Basketball has been the focus for the inter house competitions. From Years 7-

11 the games have been very close with often only 1 basket being the difference

between teams. At the time of writing Ruby are leading the way but this could

well have changed by the time this is published.

Off the back of the annual Cross Country Championship and Fun Run. A selected Court Fields

Cross Country Team have performed well within the Taunton Schools Area Trials. As a result

5 students were selected to represented the Taunton Area in the Somerset Championships

held in Yeovil. The next event for the Cross Country Team is The Somerset Junior

Championship held at Kings College Taunton in were we will be taking students from Year 7 & 8

to compete in both the team and individual events.

After the break students will have opportunity to not only carry on with the traditional

fixtures but we will also be providing opportunity for other sports such as handball. The inter

-house focus will be 5-a-side football with separate competitions for boys and girls. The main

house event of this term will be the Biathlon so start getting those training programmes

under-way for this tough event. There will be a team competition as well as an individual race.

Well done if you have been involved in either representing your school or house or simply

turning out to an after school club. If not, make this next half term your time to get involved.

Mr J Nicholls

Head of PE

PHILOSOPHY & BELIEFS

It has been an extremely busy and messy few weeks for Years 7 and 8 in PB. We started the term

off looking at life’s journeys and the Muslim requirement for going on the Hajj (pilgrimage). We

took a virtual bus tour to some of the major places Muslims visit and learnt the importance of the

different rituals undertaken on the 4 day event.

We then went on to an ‘Apprentice’ type challenge of making a 3D board game suitable for teaching

Years 5 and 6 about the Hajj. The time and effort put in by students has produced amazing re-

sults as the photos below show, as well as being great fun to play when evaluating them:

Year 9 and 10 have been focusing on War and Peace and considering the impact of the recent

shootings in Paris and how this tragic event impacted on the Muslim community world- wide and how

the actions of a few, influence our perceptions of a whole religion. They are creating a magazine

article on a conflict of their choice explaining why it happened, who are the countries or groups

involved and how the rules of the Geneva Convention, a Just war or Lesser Jihad are being applied

to the conflict. By being able to discuss current world events in PB, it promote knowledge and un-

derstanding of people, their environments, and cultural traditions and beliefs, which are the key to

enabling our students to grow into informed, tolerant and caring young people.

Year 11 are now into the count-down period for their GCSE exam and are revising and doing lots of

practice exam style questions. They are really putting in a huge amount of effort and hopefully

results will reflect their dedication and commitment.

Mrs L Hopkins

PB Teacher

IMPORTANT NOTICES

EXTREME WEATHER

We have been very fortunate with the weather so far, but just in case we wake up one

morning to snow or floods, this is a reminder of how to find out if the school is closed or not.

Once it has been confirmed that it is not safe for us to open, a notice will be put on our

website as early as possible in the morning.

Local radio will make regular announcements—either BBC Somerset or Heart FM

The Somerset County Council website will have a list of schools that are closed

Please be aware that I will only authorise closure of the school if circumstances mean it is

unsafe for your child to get to school or to remain in school. These circumstances include not

enough staff being able to get to school to be able to teach or look after the students, or

Health & Safety issues.

If students are in school and weather conditions worsen, it may be necessary to close the

school to ensure everyone can get home safely. Under these circumstances, parents would be

contacted before students are sent home.

Berrys Coaches will contact all bus student families if they are unable to run the bus.

DROPPING OFF/COLLECTING CHILDREN

I would like once again to remind parents that it is not safe to drop your child off at the top

of the school driveway in the morning. Staff are trying to park their cars and walk to the

school buildings. Every morning I see parents rushing to drop their child off and I am

seriously concerned that there will be an accident one day. If you feel your child needs to be

dropped off on the school site, please contact their Head of House.

Please drop your child off and/or collect at the Youth Centre. It is a short walk along the

public pathway to access/leave the school site.

KEEPING STUDENT RECORDS UP TO DATE

Thank you to those parents who have provided e-mail addresses so that we can in future e-

mail out the newsletter to parents. However, we realise that not all homes have internet

access, so please let the School Office know if you need a paper copy, rather than an e-mail.

If you make any changes, from mobile telephone numbers to people who can be contacted if

your child is unwell, please remember to inform the School Office so that our records can be

kept up to date.

Thank you for your support.

Diary 16-20 February Half Term—Return to School on 23 February

24 February Exmoor Challenge Map Reading Workshop 3.15-4.15 pm

25 February Year 10 GCSE Art Trip

26 February Friends of Court Fields School Bingo 7-9 pm

8 March All day rehearsal for “We Will Rock You”

Exmoor Challenge Practice Walk 11 am

12 March Non-Uniform Day for Comic Relief

Team Biathlon

Year 7 Curiosity Club

Year 8 Parents’ Evening 4-8 pm

13 March In-Service Training Day—students do not attend

15 March Duke of Edinburgh’s Award day walk

17 March All day rehearsal for “We Will Rock You”

Exmoor Challenge Map Reading Workshop 3.15-4.15 pm

18 March “We Will Rock You” performance 6 pm

19 March Individual Biathlon

We Will Rock You” performance 6 pm

22 March Exmoor Challenge Practice Walk 10 am

24 March Parent Forum 6 pm

Year 11 Trip to Plymouth University

25 March Year 10 GCSE Art Trip

Year 7 Parents’ Evening 4-8 pm

30 March-10 April Easter Holidays—Return to School on 13 April

16 April Year 10 Parents’ Evening 4-8 pm

18 April Exmoor Challenge Practice Walk 8.30 am

22 April Court Fields Literature Festival

Madagascar Talent Show 3.30 pm

23 April Year 7 Curiosity Club

24 April Walk for Madagascar 3.30 pm

25 April Duke of Edinburgh’s Award practice weekend

2 May Exmoor Challenge Walk

Other In-service Training Days during this academic year:

26 June

20 July