Manor High School

Newsletter 2016-2017 | Summer Term May/June 2017

End of an era for Manor High with our last KS2 SATs exams

This historic moment coincides with the run up to our school reaching its 50th birthday next year. Built in 1968 as an 11-14 school and extending to become 10-14 in 1981, Manor High received full approval to provide an 11-16 education from 2017 onwards.

For our students and families this means an unbroken education with continuity and stability in a focused setting. We are delighted that you are able to join us on this journey to examination success in our happy school.

As C.S. Lewis once said, “There are far

better things ahead than any we leave

behind.” For Manor High this is certainly

true as we move away from Key Stage 2

towards GCSEs.

We are now well into the examination season and our last ever Year 6 SATs exams were taken by our final Year 6 cohort in May.

Once again, the students were well supported with a series of events across the year for both children and parents. They received free breakfasts on each of the days of the examinations and had been prepared thoroughly with mocks and coaching sessions in the weeks before.

Year 6 Celebrations Our Year 6’s were rewarded for all their amazing hard work this year with an afternoon of fun. Although they had more rain than shine, it did not stop them enjoying free time on numerous inflatables, including a bouncy slide and sumo wrestling, and some truly fantastic looking ice creams. Well deserved Year 6!

Thank you very much for your feedback in our recent parental survey. Our school’s strengths were recognised and there were helpful suggestions regarding how we could make further improvements.

The survey was based upon a standard set of questions used by school inspectors with the additional opportunity to provide comments about the schools strengths and areas where we could make further improvements.

Parents said they liked:

“The inclusive feel at Manor and feel the tutor groups including children from all year groups helps in breaking down barriers between the children within the school.”

“I have been really impressed with my contact with the House Managers and their ability to take a more pastoral role with the students is a great bonus. There has been regular feedback from the school regarding my child (and his achievements etc.) and this has been very helpful.”

“The energy and enthusiasm of the head teacher, good and enthusiastic teaching, wide ranging extra curricular activities and charity fundraising projects, which promote an interest in others and an understanding of the world outside the classroom.”

“Strong sense of moral values for pupils, pupil confidence and motivated staff.”

“Headteacher strength in leadership and parent voice, parent-school communication and varied activities for student engagement.”

There was praise for our systems and for our commitment to excellence in all areas, plus suggestions for how we can continue to improve.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 2

Feedback from Parental Voice

SUGGESTIONS: ACTIONS:

Parents would like more notice for some of the homework so that the students can manage their time more effectively outside school.

We are pleased that homework is set frequently and have addressed occasions when a lot of homework is set with insufficient notice. Show My Homework also helps keep parents informed. Thank you to parents who alert us to this.

Rewards are an area in which more recognition is needed. They should be more relevant to the students.

We have set up a focus group to look at options for this. Parental suggestions for meaningful, relevant and motivating rewards are welcome.

A wider range of structured after school activities.

This is a valid point. Our intention is to have these up and running from the start of the year with a good range of activities. Our new Study Centre is very popular before and after school.

Staffing and teaching: Where there have been changes in staff in mid-year.

We have brought in staff with recent GCSE and A Level expertise who now make up the vast majority of our teaching staff. We are delighted to be fully staffed for the next academic year, which is in contrast to most secondary schools.

Food and serving areas. We have made huge improvements in this area with four additional serving points. This has led to more meals being served. This is again under review. As school numbers even out over the next two years, this will become easier to manage.

Parking and transport. We have led a multimedia campaign with the police to support safe parking which was highly praised. We are planning buses and their routes to commence in the autumn.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 3

At the end of April we were focussing on road safety with our students. A number of events and initiatives were planned across two days, which attracted a lot of media interest, including BBC East Midlands, Smooth Radio, Gem and BBC Radio Leicester.

On Thursday 27 April our Year 7 students received a talk from John Budulis, the Road Safety Co-Ordinator for Leicestershire Police. He reiterated the importance of being vigilant while travelling to and from school and highlighted common dangers and mishaps that happen on the road.

On the Friday, our students, along with youngsters from Brookside Primary and our local PCSO, leafleted parents before and after school to highlight unsafe drop offs and pick ups. We have found this to be one of the most effective ways to emphasise to parents how selfish and unsafe their actions can be.

The leaflets produced were part of a school competition to design a leaflet or flyer with the slogan ‘Park Safe Stay Safe’. The competition awarded the winning entries with house points and the chance for their leaflet to be produced and distributed. Winners were:

1st (400 HP): Misha Asim

2nd (300 HP): Ishali Ruparelia

3rd (200 HP): Paige Uppal

4th (100 HP): Libby Carruthers

The day coincided with the release of the road safety videos produced by our students and Leicestershire Police. These videos can be viewed on our YouTube channel or by following these links:

Dramatisation: https://youtu.be/CijCkxMULsU

Student Interviews: https://youtu.be/-M4dmyHoaF8

“Park Safe, Stay Safe” Road Safety Campaign

New MHS Bus Service We are pleased to announce that we are providing buses for students who live in the areas further away from our school from August 2017.

Two bus routes have been identified: one takes in the areas around the north of Leicester and the other goes around the south.

The cost for a non-profit annual bus pass will be £500 per child. We will offer parents the option to make payment in full or to pay by termly instalments in advance. Full details of routes and costs have been emailed to parents to assess interest.

To ensure our plans meet parental needs as much as possible, we are seeking expressions of interest by Friday 9 June. Please complete the online form https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MHSBus.

Uniform Reminder Our students take great pride in their uniform and they represent the school well with their appearance. However, we have recently found a few individuals have been deviating from the expected uniform standards.

It is easy to check what is permitted on our website: www.manorhigh.leics.sch.uk/Uniform. There are some items of clothing that are not permitted, for example: black skinny jeans, short skirts, hoodies, trainers or shoes that feature logos.

We have high expectations of our students in many areas and we expect them to wear the correct items at all times. Students who don’t respect our uniform standards may be sanctioned accordingly.

Thank you for your support.

Kwik Cricket Competition Eight Manor High students took part in the Year 6 Kwik Cricket competition held at Narborough and Littlethorpe Cricket Club on 24 May.

The team of Kavir, Muhammad, Areeb, Dawood, Kailan, Sukhraj, Raahi and Abishai, were brilliant and conducted themselves in a perfect manner. They were in a group of four teams along with Brockshill, Launde and Glenmere Primaries.

The boys beat Brockshill by 50 runs, beat Launde by 45 runs and Glenmere by 70 runs.

They progressed into the final against the winner of the other group, which turned out to be Woodland Grange.

The boys played great cricket and didn’t get out once during their batting innings and took seven wickets during their bowling innings during the final.

The boys won by 37 runs and were crowned Oadby & Wigston Champions. They will progress to the Summer Games Finals along with the Year 6 Hockey Team from a few months ago.

Mr Burbidge stated, “I am very proud of the Year 6’s this year and they have achieved so much.”

Well done on another great sporting success.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term

Duke of Edinburgh Expedition As part of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award all of the students have now completed their Practice Expedition.

The students spent two days trekking with their laden packs through some of the beautiful Leicestershire countryside. They started out in Tur Langton and navigated their way to camp in Medbourne, during the day.

As well as having to carry all their kit, tent included, on arrival the students needed to pitch up and then cook their evening meal on a trangia.

All the students did brilliantly, and although there were some wrong turns and a few concerns over livestock in the fields, they all completed the task with a smile.

We now move our focus on to the Final Expedition which is due to take place on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 June. This is based around Bradgate Park and Swithland, with camp at Beaumanor Hall.

Happily, the students are on track to succeed but, as the final expedition is nearing, all students need to complete their Volunteering, Physical and Skill sections to ensure they can take part in the final expedition.

4

Howzat?! Cricket Coaching a Hit at Manor High Cricket has always been incredibly popular with our students, and this year is no exception.

As well as the many opportunities both in lessons and after-school clubs to play, we recently had the pleasure of welcoming some high quality cricket coaches here at Manor High.

The coaches offered four sessions for our students over the course of a day.

Overall, nearly 100 students took part in a fun day of cricket activities and games.

The coaching was organised by Billesdon Cricket Club, who are looking for players to join their juniors section. For anyone interested please see Mr Flax for details or visit them online at: billesdon.play-cricket.com

Leicestershire Area Athletics Manor High Students did brilliantly at the recent area athletics competition.

We took around 65 students to Saffron Lane stadium to compete against seven other local schools.

The students behaviour was impeccable and their attitudes were spot on throughout the day, which is commendable considering that we were there for hours and individuals only compete for a matter of minutes!

Lots of students were competing for the first time and had a go despite not having much practice or being involved in athletics outside school. Mr Flax said, “I am so pleased for all of our students that competed and it was a massive success for all of them.”

Well done to everyone who took part, there are too many of you to name! However, below are those who finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their event, which is a fantastic achievement:

YEAR 7

1st Place:

William Harrison – Shot Putt (County Record) Muhammed Farid – Javelin Ben Fleetwood – 800m Princess Atanda – 100m Ned Davis – 1500m

3rd Place:

Jonathon Betts – 70m Hurdles Hardy Lee – High Jump Margaux Towers – High Jump William Blood – 300m Sam Pinder – 200m

YEAR 8

1st Place:

Musa Murad – 1500m Tanatswa Dirikwe – Shot Putt Rosie Pearman – 100m Yuvraj Bhuhi – 800m Layla Omar-Davies – 200m

2nd Place:

Dillon Rajdev – Long Jump William Moggridge – Shot Putt Asher Spain – 100m Skye Sharman – 800m Boys Relay team Girls Relay team

3rd Place:

Charlotte Turner – 75m Hurdles Karishma Nathwani – Javelin

YEAR 9

1st Place:

Naveed Azam – Triple Jump Joshua Leavesley – Javelin Jaynell Martinson – Javelin

2nd Place:

Bright Ankama – 100m Eniola Shittu – 100m Lulu Chipara – Shot Putt

3rd Place:

Maha Malik – 1500m Pajhan Jaffari – High Jump Jasleen Kaur – Discus

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 5

Summer Term Sports Clubs Hockey Club WHO: All year groups, boys and girls WHEN: Wednesdays, 3:05-4:20pm WHAT: Normal PE kit, trainers and shin pads (we also recommend a gum shield)

You don't have to be a club hockey player, just come along and enjoy it. SEE: Mr Flax or Mr Tara

Cricket Club WHO: All year groups, boys and girls WHEN: Wednesdays, 3:05-4:20pm WHAT: Normal PE kit, cricket pads and pat if you have them (don't worry if you don't) SEE: Mr Flax

Softball Club WHO: Boys and girls in Year 8 and 9 WHEN: Thursday, 3:05-4:20pm WHAT: Normal PE kit and trainers SEE: Mr Flax

Athletics Club WHO: All boys and girls in Year 6 WHEN: Tuesday and Thursday, 3:05 -4:20pm WHAT: Normal PE kit and trainers SEE: Mr Flax or Mr Burbidge

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 6

Humanities Our Exciting New Team The Humanities department is excited to welcome new members of staff to its already experienced team. All of the new members of staff have built their careers to date on providing ‘outstanding’ Humanities lessons and outcomes to 11-16 year olds in Leicester City Schools.

Mr Cross has been appointed Head of Humanities, with Mr Sloneczny taking the role of second in department.

Furthermore, the department have recruited two expert History teachers, Mrs Smith and Mr Allen, who have years of experience teaching GCSE History and are former heads of department, who will help deliver these vital sessions.

In Geography, Mrs Acton-Slaney has joined our team and has lots of experience and expertise in teaching high quality GCSE Geography and will be using all of this know how to put together Geography intervention and revision sessions next year. While Mrs Long, our SENCO is a former head of RE and has started to bring in exciting new resources that will provide students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in GCSE Philosophy and Ethics.

With the impetus provided by the talented new Humanities recruits, added to the experience and excellence provided by two of our senior leaders, Mr Greiff and Mrs Jenkins, the students Humanities education is in safe hands.

Vision for the Future With new leadership in place comes a bold and ambitious vision for the department.

We have some very talented students at Manor High School, and to get the most out of them, the department will ensure the curriculum is filled with inspiration, challenge, academic rigour and exciting extra-curricular opportunities.

In the last term, the department has been working tirelessly to ensure that they achieve this vision. With end of year exams on the horizon the department has invited student’s to lunchtime intervention sessions in order to provide opportunities for the students to top up their knowledge, understanding and skills for GCSE exam based questions. This is something the department will roll out regularly next year.

Extra-Curricular Opportunities While academic excellence will be at the forefront of the Humanities curriculum, the department will be providing students with inspirational extra-curricular opportunities.

We are excited about the prospect of a cross curricular trip to France organised in conjunction with the MFL department. Students will have the opportunity to put their Geography field work skills to the test by examining the coast of France. History will be providing Year 7 students with the opportunity to visit Warwick Castle and there are plans for an overseas trip for GCSE History students over the next two years.

Humanities Leadership

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: MR CROSS

Mr Cross, who has taught at Manor High School for over two years, and has a proven track record at GCSE and A Level, has been appointed as the Head of Humanities. His specialism is in History, a subject which he is passionate about. Mr Cross has been pro-active in forming a close relationship with the OCR exam board, so as to provide the best possible GCSE experience for our students.

SECOND IN DEPARTMENT: MR SLONECZNY

Mr Sloneczny has joined the team and brings a wealth of GCSE Geography and RE experience as the new second in department. He was previously Head of Geography and also leads the Leicester City Geography Teachers’ Network across all Leicester City schools; this has involved communicating with Heads of Geography across the City providing support for the new GCSE.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term

The Humanities department launched this thought provoking competition before half term. Students have been asked to think about what the world would be like if an event in History went differently. For example, what if the Allies lost WW2 or the Roman Empire

never fell? What if women didn’t get the vote or man hadn’t landed on the moon?

Students need to pick an event in History and briefly explain what actually did happen. They then need to describe how the event might have happened differently and what the effect is.

The students can present their scenario in a variety of creative ways such an

extended piece of creative writing, creating a PowerPoint or produce a video.

This is a great chance for them to use their imagination and develop creative skills as well learning about an event in history.

Each alternative entry will be judged on both creativity and detail. The winning entries will win up to 400 house points for their house. The individual with the most detailed and well thought out scenario will win a £20 amazon voucher.

Closing date for entries is Friday 9 June and they should be handed to their History Teacher.

‘What if...?’ Historical Competition

7

Competitions and More With the aim of pushing our able students the Humanities department will be providing students with regular competitions, so they can use their skills in a more creative way.

To this end, the ‘What if?’ History competition was launched last month (see above). The possibilities are literally endless.

Geography are planning a travel writing competition for the students over the summer holidays. Why not make your holiday into an educational visit?

The department are also excited to announce its new YouTube Channel (@ManorHumanities). This channel will provide students with lots of revision videos made by our expert teachers. Through the hard work of Mr Cross, Mr Armstrong and Mr McIntosh two revision videos have been uploaded showing students how to make mind maps that will help them to learn the content of the new GCSE. There are plans for many more video’s to be made by both staff and students.

Prepared for Success Mr Cross is delighted with the way the department is moving forward, “The department are extremely excited by all of the plans we have, as I hope you are. We expect students to continue to excel in Humanities, but the challenge is to inspire them onto even greater success.

The current Year 9’s are already benefiting from starting their three year GCSE courses this year, by the time they sit their exams they will be prepared for success”.

Mr Sloneczny knows what it takes for students to deliver at GCSE and says, “Manor High students will have everything they need to be successful in Humanities. With the expert teaching, inspirational resources and extra-curricular opportunities provided by us, all that the students need to bring is the hard work”.

Rocket School 2017 At the start of the year, eight Year 8 students were selected to attend Rocket School at Manor High School. Rocket school is run by Dr Stephen Booth, who has over 14 years experience of working with students to design, build and launch their own rockets.

The students spent an initial four weeks at ‘Novice’ level where they built their own small rocket, which they then launched. Over the year they have progressed through the ‘Intermediate’ and ‘Advanced’ rocket school stages to reach the ‘Graduate’ level.

Once they reach Graduate level, students construct a scratch-built, 4 X D motor design. The rockets have a 75mm diameter body tube and are over a metre tall. They are designed to fly over 400 meters in four seconds. The rockets are also electronically tracked to

measure their trajectory, and to make recovery easier!

The students hard work and enthusiasm culminated in an impressive rocket launch on 10 May, which members of staff and parents attended.

All of the rockets launched successfully and we have shared photos and videos on our Twitter account (@MHS_Science) for anyone who wishes to see them. Dr Booth will be running Rocket School again next year for selected Year 8 students.

International Women in Engineering Day at Caterpillar – Friday 23 June As part of its continuing support of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, Caterpillar is hosting a fantastic day for girls to experience the real world of manufacturing and engineering.

Working with the DTA department, the science department will be taking a group of four Year 9 girls to this evening where they will get to try out a range of activities and sessions designed to stimulate, excite and develop an understanding of the career opportunities the industry offers. Their action packed day will include a factory tour, team based manufacturing challenges, an opportunity to operate Caterpillar machines and a 'meet the expert' session - a chance for our students to meet engineers and hear their stories.

GCSE Preparations Continue with Staff Radiation Training Our already experienced and skilled science staff are now trained to handle radioactive sources in a well-managed way ensuring sources are handled and disposed of safely and legally. This will allow GCSE radiation lessons to be delivered from a theoretical as well as a practical approach since many schools are hesitant to deliver lessons with radioactive sources present.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 8

Science News

Salters Chemistry Festival On Tuesday 6 June, six Year 9 students were invited to attend the Salters Chemistry Festival at the University of Nottingham.

Students experienced exciting hands-on practical Chemistry challenges that involved team work and independent problem solving. Students saw amazing chemical demonstrations and prizes were be awarded to winning schools. It was truly an inspiring day!

Primary Science Liaison So far this year in science, we have been working closely with the primary schools to inspire students to be excited and interested in science. With the help of our science leaders, we invited eight primary school’s to visit Manor High to complete a session about “building materials.”

Students pretended they were working for David Wilson Homes, where they had to separate different materials from each other that would be useful for building such as sand and salt. They then produced alloys by melting different metals, to give them ideas about how we could make stronger building equipment to use on site.

Year 9 Super Physics Competition Eight Year 9s have been selected to represent Manor High School in an event sponsored by the Institute of Physics. Our students will be acting as two separate teams and will encounter a range of practical experiments with the latest high spec equipment. Students will then collaborate in their teams and discuss and prepare the best way to explain various physics concepts using the equipment to an audience of judges. They will be competing in July against schools from all over the midlands.

Medical Mavericks Day Our Ogden Trust partnership school, Roundhill Community College, have kindly offered to host a Medical Mavericks event on Tuesday 20 June.

Industries such as GSK, NHS and the University of Leicester will be bringing representatives and interactive demonstrations to inspire our students into careers in medicine.

Students will have the opportunity to carry out endoscopies on model patients, x-rays and dental scans as well as many more interactive challenges. Students will also have the chance to ask representatives any questions they may have regarding entry into these careers.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 9

Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition On Monday 3 July, Dr Kellett will be leading a trip for 20 Year 8 and 9 students down to the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition.

This is an impressive exhibition, that Manor High School students will get to experience before the doors open to the general public on Tuesday 4 July.

The exhibition is made up of 22 exhibits featuring cutting edge science and research being done right now across the UK. The scientists will be on their stands ready to share discoveries, showcase their amazing technologies and give students the chance to try things for themselves with innovative hands-on activities.

From mosquitoes to antimatter, surgical robots, diamonds and space, there will be something to discover for everyone. If you are interested in visiting yourself, more information can be found here: https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2017/summer-science-exhibition/

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 10

PlayStation Schools Cup As part of the PlayStation collaboration with Manor High, Raj and Elijah

represented the school at the PlayStation Schools Cup Finals Day at Pride Park on the 16 May.

The PlayStation Schools’ Cup is an exciting grassroots football partnership between PlayStation and the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA). The tournaments are open to girls and boys throughout England.

Both boys were a credit to the school and Elijah finished second in the virtual tournament. They had a great day having their photo taken with the Champions League trophy and the legend that is Peter Crouch. Elijah has now set his sights on leading the school football team to the finals next year after seeing the finals today.

Code Breaking at Bletchley Park At the end of April, 15 Year 8 students visited Bletchley Park where the German Enigma machine codes were broken during WW2.

Students were challenged about how they kept safe online and how to spot fraudulent websites to avoid being scammed. They were also introduced to the Enigma machine and how it works. They all had a chance to have a go and learn about the complexity and human flaws which helped to crack the codes. The final part of the taught session was to crack a variety of codes which the students did successfully.

They visited various huts including the location of the bombe machine, which broke the German codes, and Alan Turing's office, which had on display his diary, typewriter and coat. The final part of the day was a guided walk.

Students were tested on the knowledge gained from the morning session. They were also given an insight into how Bletchley Park was created and its national significance towards intelligence and Computer Science. The tour guide praised Manor High students and remarked on how impressed he was with their questioning and answering.

Loughborough University On Wednesday 24 May, Loughborough University came to Manor High to speak to those Year 8 students who have expressed an interest in Business, Architecture and Sports Science.

The talks consisted of an overall talk about expectations from GCSE to A Level, course selection, finance and independence. It also focussed on student ambassadors talking about their subjects and expectations and workload of the course.

The talks gave students an insight into both university life and courses on offer. It also got our Year 8 students thinking about their GCSE choices.

Study Centre Going Strong Our Study Centre is quickly becoming the focal point of the school, with many events being held there to enhance our students experience and knowledge.

Here is just a taste of the opportunities arranged by Mrs Rajput recently and those that are coming up to support the children in the run up to their exams.

Study Skills Workshops A series of workshops will run for students to aid their study skills.

Students are able to volunteer for these or can be referred by their teachers.

Workshops will cover the following:

Planning and time management

Organisation

Reading

Note taking

Revision techniques

Avoiding procrastination

Better handwriting for better grades

Planning a timetable for revision

Organising your revision notes

Revision Techniques Workshop Students have signed up to or been referred by teachers for the revision techniques workshop. Students explored numerous revision techniques in order to find the right one for them.

SATs Preparations There were various activities in the Study Centre to help our Year 6 students with their SATs revision. Students were able to test their knowledge with long and short questions. Those who attended said the extra help gave them the added confidence when they were in their exams.

Year 9 Exam Preparation With the Year 9 end of year exams approaching, the Year 9 students have had access to exam questions, topic lists, short answer activities and more in the Study Centre both during and after school.

Creative Writing Workshop Year 7 and 8 took part in a Creative Writing Workshop to develop their confidence in writing for pleasure. The sessions focussed on generating ideas, introducing a plot and characterisation.

Book Club Year 9 Book Club runs every Friday. Students come together after reading five chapters of a nominated book to discuss questions about characters, the plot, writing styles and more.

Big Win from Big Bang! Well done to Toby, who won the competition from the Society for Radiological Protection after visiting their stand at the Big Bang Fair in March. A great honour!

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term

Drama Awards Four students have been awarded by Mrs Thompson for the excellence in Drama during the spring term.

The students, Keshal, Tom, Emily and Alfie were presented with a badge and certificate. Well done to all!

11

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 12

PiXL Edge Update

Student Celebration We are thrilled to announce that Manor High School have been chosen to host one of four PiXL Edge (LORIC) Student Celebration events on 12 July 2017.

We believe passionately that celebrating students’ success can be a powerful tool in boosting confidence and motivation, as well as sustaining engagement.

Students from schools in the Heart of England will be presented with an extra-special limited edition certificate on stage, and will be treated to an inspirational speaker as well as performances from the host school.

There are also a series of special awards for students who have excelled (or are excelling) in specific areas of the Edge: Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication. Also the student who has championed the

importance of health and wellbeing in their school or community through their Edge activities, and finally the student who has excelled across all five attributes at Apprentice level.

At each Celebration, a Regional Winner will be announced. From these regional winners, an overall National Winner will be invited to the PiXL Student Celebration in October.

They promise to be a great opportunity to come together as a network of schools, and applaud the hard work that staff and students have put in to the scheme.

Vanessa Mehta, Deputy Head Teacher at Manor High School, has been asked to support other schools in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Suffolk, Warwickshire and Worcestershire as a Regional Edge Coordinator.

Vanessa also spoke about PiXL Edge at the National PiXL conference in May.

Up for Debate After making it through to the national finals for the PiXL Edge Up for Debate competition, the eight qualifying teams were invited to take part in a debating Masterclass in London on Saturday 13 May, where over a focused two days they were given intensive debate training by champion debaters as well as the co-coach for the English debating team.

The quality of training was exceptional and the Manor High team (Henrietta, Paige and Ishali) developed their skills significantly over the two days. On the Saturday they took part in two practice debates, arguing against curfews for under-16s and in favour of the dismantling of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, winning both.

It wasn’t all work though; on the Friday night the students were treated to buffet meal and then a surprise trip to see Wicked on the West End.

Preparations will soon begin for the final, which will take place at Harrow in early July. After the Masterclass, the Manor High School team are in a very good position.

National Student Competition There is an exciting opportunity for one of our students to interview Sports Broadcaster (and Strictly Come Dancing Champion), Ore Oduba!

The lucky winner will be invited to London on 15 June to interview Ore at the O2 Academy, where he is attending the PiXL Primary Celebration as their special guest. This will be a brilliant test of their initiative and communication skills. The interview will be professionally filmed and made available to all Edge schools as a teaching resource.

The closing date was 21 May. Good luck to all our students who entered.

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 13

Silver CREST Award This week, Ishali, in Year 9, received her Silver CREST award this week.

The CREST Awards scheme is the British Science Association’s flagship

programme for young people and is the only nationally recognised accreditation scheme for project work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Silver awards are typically completed by GCSE students and require around 30 hours of project work. They aim to stretch students and enrich their studies.

For her project, Ishali chose to research into whether mosquitoes should be eradicated, due to the detrimental effect their ability to spread diseases to humans.

The assessor was very impressed with the standard of her project work and Mr Powell was very pleased to present Ishali with her certificate earlier this week.

Art and Design London Trip On Thursday 11 May some of our Year 8 students set off bright and early to spend the day in London.

First on the itinerary was art appreciation and culture at the British Museum where are students were wowed by New York’s finest pop artists. The original pop art is on loan from New York and are pieces that the Year 8 students have been studying in the Fine Art rotation.

After enjoying a spot of lunch in central London the students had the chance to

see the thrilling play School of Rock in the West End. Based on the hit film, the students loved this hilarious musical which features amazing sets and numerous classic songs. They were really impressed that all the music featured was played live by the children in the musical.

The day culminated with the chance to enjoy evening tea in Covent Garden where they could soak up the atmosphere and watch the street performers before returning to the coach via Westminster, enjoying a walk along the Thames with it’s iconic view of Parliament and the London Eye.

Spanish and French Theatre At the beginning of May our Year 9 students had the chance to get involved with a Spanish and French theatre production to aid them with their language studies.

Depending on which language they are studying, they either watched Le Café or ¿Cuántos me gusta tienes?, which was set in a hospital. Both productions were written by Onatti Productions and expertly performed by native actors.

The stories contained some audience participation, which always generates a humorous and enjoyable element to the performance.

The aim is to boost the student's confidence so they leave, having watched a play in a foreign language, been able to follow the story, recognised many words and phrases and, of course, enjoyed and related to the story.

Thank you to Onatti Productions for an entertaining performance!

Bradgate It’s been another great half term for Bradgate! We are still climbing up the achievement point scale, chasing Knighton’s tail for the top spot.

In the last six weeks of the school year, we are going to hold a tutor group competition to see which tutor group can gain the most achievement points collectively with treats for the winners!

We are very excited about going in to the final leg of the year with lots to look forward to and some more Charity fund raising events lined up as well. Let’s all keep up the hard work to the end of term, stay focused and continue being excellent!

Miss Booth, Bradgate House Manager

Clarendon The last few months have been very busy for all of us at Manor High. Well done to Year 6 for working hard for their SATs and to all years with the end of year exams coming up. Keep it up!

Currently, Clarendon are sitting in third place for the House Cup. In the last few weeks, we must all try and gain as many points as possible to try and boost our place on the leader board. We are only around 2000 points behind Bradgate, and after that, we can set about knocking Knighton off the top spot.

We have a number of charity events and competitions lined up for you all to get involved in, including; the Creative Writing competition, bake sales with C2’s recipe book, food sales, and also a movie night is being planned at the

moment! In order for us to top the tables, and to make as much money as possible for Wishes4Kids, get involved!

If you have any ideas for new Clarendon events, please speak to the Student Leadership team or Mrs Wale.

Paige Uppal, Clarendon House Captain

Knighton It’s fantastic that we are still in top position and with only another five weeks until we complete the year, I can only say Knighton House … do what you keep doing well! Your hard work in the classrooms, strong, caring tutor support, all the extra fundraising and engagement in other school activities as well as the great team ethic, will hopefully enable us to receive that House Cup for the third year running. Our total achievement points being the highest and with the lowest overall number of behaviour points I am proud of all our students, well done!

Our House Captains Muhammad Ibrahim and Henrietta Magill have embraced their roles with responsibility, commitment and enthusiasm that surpasses their years, I have been confident throughout the year to leave challenges and tasks with them and in turn they have brought the House much success through organising House competitions and our fundraising for the British Heart Foundation.

We recently raised another £540 through an inter form competition during the week before the May half term, which has brought our fundraising so far to over £1800! Students from K7 and K8 were treated to pizza as they won the inter form challenge. Carrie Seaton, BHF fundraising manager for our area received a cheque from the House Captains during our assembly this week, where Knighton students also viewed the excellent BHF promotional video that was filmed in school with our students last term.

With reference to the BHF, I am now a local volunteer for the charity where a group meets on an ad hoc basis to organise fundraising events, we would like the support of more adult

Charity Totals At Manor High school one of our core values is care. Each of our four houses has a charity that we raise money for.

The houses have raised outstanding amounts that will make a life changing difference to someone’s life. Bradgate’s amount raised for Rainbows.

£714.50 Clarendon’s amount raised for Wishes4Kids.

£619.95 Knighton’ s amount raised for the British Heart Foundation.

£1837.68 Watermead’ s amount raised for WaterAid.

£1197.24

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 14

House News

Top Achievers Congratulations to Emily in Year 6 who has taken the top spot as the highest achiever for last term. Keep up the good work everyone!

Name Total

Emily Bashota K4 1480

Zara Malik B3 1462

Dawood Ahmed B9 1458

Spencer, Robert 1455

Taha Mamsa B8 1443

Nawaf Almogbel W2 1436

Leen Bahar B4 1436

Eshan Chudasama B6 1434

Will Lord K5 1434

Talvin Rai K4 1433

volunteers, so if you are interested please do get in touch with me.

Mrs Ghani, Knighton House Manager

Watermead There has been a lot of positivity in Watermead recently with our house raising a record amount of money for WaterAid, so far this year we have nearly £1200 in the bank and more to come as we enter into the final term of the year.

I have been getting a lot of students from all the houses wanting to put on joint events. This is really nice to see students from different houses working together.

On another note I would like to spare a thought for the men women and children that lost their lives in the recent terror attacks in London and Manchester, these events prompted me to get some important messages across to our students in my assembly this week, highlighting how communities come together to support each other regardless of religion, faith or social background. I related this to the community we have here at Manor and how we should have compassion for those families who have lost in these unprecedented circumstances.

Mr King, Watermead House Manager

NEWSLETTER | Summer Term 15

Mental Health Awareness Week Coffee Morning In recognition of national Mental Health Awareness Week, we invited parents and carers to join us for a relaxing Coffee Morning on Thursday 18 May. Mental Health Awareness Week ran from Monday 8 to Friday 12 May, however, as we were supporting our Year 6 students with their SATs tests we delayed our event slightly.

We had a fantastic turnout and, as the coffee was flowing, interesting and informative discussions were taking place. Parents found out more about the key roles in our pastoral care team, Mrs Mehta and Mrs Ghani spoke about the types of support students receive and our local PCSO Nad Ikram joined us too.

We were overwhelmed with the positive support by parents who welcomed future meetings of this nature. It was great to also find out how the varying professions in the room contributed to the field of mental well-being. Parent representatives from areas related to medicine, social care and fostering contributed to the highly focused topic at hand.

We look forward to our next meetings, which will be held on Thursday 15 June and Thursday 6 July from 9.00-10.30am, and welcome further ideas where we can assist the wellbeing of students in our school.

'Pie Face' Charity event On Tuesday 23 May, during lunchtime a number of willing staff volunteered to participate in the most exciting fundraiser of the year – Staff Pie Face!

Students paid a small fee to throw a plate of whipped cream at the teachers.

Mr McIntosh and Mr Cross organised a number of staff to join in the messy fun. There was lots of laughter from students and staff alike as the pies flew.

Unsurprisingly this event drew quite a crowd, and raised valuable funds for Knighton’s house charity, British Heart Foundation. Thank you to all the staff who were involved and the students who donated their money.

Charity Fun Run On Friday 28 April 2017 Isla in C2 and Mya in W9 completed a sponsored run for cancer research UK. They decided to run 10 laps of the school track (4km) to raise money for Cancer Research UK, having been touched by the amount of young people that battle cancer each year and how they overcome it.

To promote their run, they did an as-sembly in front of their peers and ex-plained what they were doing and why. As a result of the assembly, a themed non-school uniform day was arranged and all the money made was donated to Cancer Research UK.

On the run day, they ran the whole 10 laps in 35 minutes. They said “We were incredibly proud of our achievement as not only did we complete our challenge we also raised an enormous amount of money, reaching our £500 target. We couldn't have done it without everyone who supported us along the way and sponsored us. You helped us to achieve our goal!”

16 NEWSLETTER | Summer Term

You can now follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook

BHF launch new campaign Representatives from the British Heart Foundation visited Manor High School on Thursday 9 March with a film crew and photographers as the school was chosen to be part of their next national campaign. This exclusive opportunity was a great honour for the school and reflects the amazing support our students show to the charity.

We are very excited to be able to now share the AllStar Games films with you. AllStar Games is a brand new fundraising event that gets schools and groups excited to join in an adrenaline-fuelled sports event and raise money to save lives.

The product has now launched and the BHF will use these films for marketing and fundraising. There are three videos, click the links below to view them:

Secondary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSxtI21WlQQ

Primary and Secondary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RbajCFiyUc

Signing Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RbajCFiyUc

We are currently looking for Year 8 students who would like to stand as House Captains for 2017-2018. This prestigious role will remain as a leadership opportunity for our Year 9 students in 2017-2018 academic year.

Since the inception of our House system we have offered the leadership responsibility to our oldest students. As the shape of the school changes there was the question as to who should be our House Captains going forwards?

After much consideration, it was clear that our Year 9 students are the best advocates for this role. We have great confidence in giving the Year 9’s this level of responsibility and leadership within the school. It allows all students to be able to aspire to represent their

house and ensures all students get the chance to apply.

Previous house captains have said of the role, “Being house captain has changed me in many ways. It has made me confident, allowed me to take on more responsibility and has been a great experience.“

Another stated, “I believe that the role of house captain is truly great as it teaches us as students to take responsibility for the changes that we want to see in school. It also allows us to improve upon our leadership and communication skills.“

How to apply Any students interested in applying to be a House Captain should collect an application form from their House Manager. The closing date for applications is Friday 30 June.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 3 July and the decisions will be made by the interview panel. Our new House Captains will be announced to the school during their end of year assemblies during the last week of term.

Call for 2017-2018 House Captain Applications