Monday 8th July 2019

Headteacher Mr T Carroll

Tel: 01525 636700 Fax: 01525 636701

Email: office@vandyke.cbeds.co.uk

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The Grand Opening of our new

Food/Catering Suite Special guest, former student and Michelin-starred top chef Adam Simmonds cut the ribbon on Vandyke’s new food/catering suite. Adam won the BBC’s Great British Menu and has earned a reputation as one of the country’s most exciting chefs having enjoyed success at top London restaurants. Adam got a taste for the kitchen in cookery lessons at school, worked at The Globe Inn in Leighton Buzzard washing up and making sandwiches, before moving to London where his career took off. Adam spent two hours with students on a master-class preparing and cooking sea bass and mussels, before providing a demonstration for a group of parents and then meeting town mayor Cllr David Bowater, governors, parents, staff and students to officially open the new rooms. Adam said, “I thoroughly enjoyed working with the

students whose attitude was excellent. They worked hard, brought real enthusiasm to the task and I think learned a lot. Gutting and filleting sea bass is not an easy skill and they made a very good first go at it. It was lovely to be back at Vandyke and to visit my former school and to see that a school subject as important as cooking and learning about food remains on the school curriculum.”

Headteacher, Mr Carroll said, “Our wonderful new

food classrooms have been in use for a little

while, but it was lovely to open them officially

and for Adam to spend time with us. It was a

great occasion made all the more memorable

because it featured on the local BBC news

with interviews with students and staff. I would

especially like to thank Waitrose for their

generous support of the event, and a huge

thanks to Adam for giving his time and energy to

enthuse and inspire students through such an

enjoyable experience.”

Taking Science to the

Local Lower Schools Over the last two weeks, the science team has put together bespoke sessions for three local lower schools. On Monday 17th June, we visited Hockliffe Lower School where the theme was ‘Being Healthy’. The students particularly enjoyed using the pulse meters to look at their heart rate whilst doing some exercise, as well as doing food tests on different foods to see which food group they belonged to. Here are some of the quotes from the Year 3/4 thank you letters.

On Thursday 20th June, 48 Year 4 students from Leedon Lower School visited our science labs and took part in a variety of experiments linked to a

trip to the moon. The students had an opportunity to do some flame tests and build electrical circuits using salt dough. On Wednesday 26th June, we visited Mary Bassett Lower School where 58 Year 4 students completed 4 different science experiments in the hall. The students investigated what would happen to your teeth if you had too much acid in your food and they especially enjoyed wearing the safety

goggles. The students also had the opportunity to investigate what would happen to your pulse after doing some exercise.

Mrs Hodges & Mr Grindrod

Science Department

Open Mic Showcase

‘Drop The Mic’ The Music Department hosted an open mic showcase on Tuesday 18th June called ‘Drop The Mic’, which provided an opportunity for Vandyke musicians to perform in front of an audience. Megan Jenkins kicked off the evening with an exceptional rendition of ‘If I Were A Boy’ by Beyonce, which was followed by Olly Miller, who sang an original song and accompanied himself with acoustic fingerstyle guitar; he has only been learning an instrument for nine months and this event marked only his second performance (ever!). After four years of persuasion, Natalie Odeh finally showed off her vocal talents with a beautiful cover of ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay, where she accompanied herself on piano. The first half was brought to a loud close by The Milkman’s Children, comprised of Theo Quick, Ethan Hill and Arun Hodges, who performed a brilliant interpretation of ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ by The Cure, showing that some older

bands are simply timeless. The Year 13 Commercial Music class were the head-line act and performed an array of songs, including ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ by Arctic Monkeys and ‘Xanny’ by Billie Eilish; all arranged as a full band set-up. The evening culminated in a big seven-piece band cover of Fleetwood Mac’s, ‘The Chain’, which the class kindly dedicated to Miss Beckwith, our music trainee who will be leaving us in two weeks; we wish her all the best in her new school! Despite the heavy rain and storms, the evening was well-attended by parents, carers and students who were happy to have braved the gloomy weather to enjoy some great live music.

Miss Doe Team Leader of Music

Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire

praises Vandyke’s Sixth Form

Befrienders The Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Helen Nellis CStJ, who is HM The Queen’s representative in the County of Bedfordshire, visited Carrington House care home in Leighton Buzzard in June. It is the first YOPEY Dementia Befriender scheme in the County. Teenage befrienders from Vandyke’s Sixth Form introduced Mrs Nellis to their elderly friends – some living with dementia – at the care home near the school. About 10 of Vandyke’s 20-plus Year 12s trained by YOPEY to be befrienders are still visiting the care home six months into their year of volunteering. Our leading befriender, Callum Betley, has visited Carrington House 22 times and given over 40 hours Carrington House laid on tea and cakes for more than 20 people including the Lord-Lieutenant, YOPEY Befrienders, residents and their relatives. The event was also attended by Mr Carroll, Mr Downey and a YOPEY charity trustee. Mrs Nellis said: “ I am delighted to see the work of YOPEY Dementia Befriender in action. What splendid young people we have here in Bedfordshire! It is a wonderful idea to bring the younger and older genera-tions together so that they are able to enjoy each other’s company. Well done to the students of Vandyke Upper School.” Mr Carroll said: “ As a school we encourage all our Sixth Form students to volunteer in the local community as part of their enrichment curriculum. We were delighted when we received details of YOPEY Dementia Befriender and were keen to encourage our students to get involved, which, I am pleased to say, a good number have. Observing

them working in this environment was a real privilege. It goes without saying how proud I am of our students who display such maturity and commitment to their local community.” Callum Betley said: “There was an amazing buzz in the air. The Lord-Lieutenant gave a speech which engaged with the residents - they felt a sense of pride as she complimented their home.” Hannah Gafa said: “I found the visit very moving. Seeing the residents that we now know quite well interacting with someone as important as the Lord-Lieutenant was lovely to see. The free cake was quite nice too.”

The manager of Carrington House, Alex Roberts, said: “Carrington House is very proud to be the first care home in Bedfordshire to take part in YOPEY Dementia Befriender. The young people from Vandyke Upper School are upbeat and have been an asset to the home and the residents. They have brought more laughter and energy into the home, they are a breath of fresh air”. YOPEY Befrienders do this for a year and are encouraged to put their YOPEY Befriender record on their CV and applications to higher and further education. The Vandyke group includes would-be medics, lawyers and even an astronaut!

Award Winning Physical Education We are delighted to announce that we have

achieved the School Games Gold Mark Award for the 2018/19 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government led

award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commit-ment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success. We have had a huge array of sporting achievements this year including our National Futsal Cup success. We have entered into various local/district tournaments and begun to develop our inter-school competitions. We are extremely proud of our students for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including our extensive leadership opportuni-ties, and to students and extended staff who helped to officiate making these competitions for us and a host of middle and lower schools possible. As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in

the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year. A special thanks to the PE department for their work this year and for the time they have given to all of our young people. Without their unwavering dedication to the ‘extra-curricular’ life of the school, awards such as this would not be possible.

Mr Turney Team Leader of PE

Tuesday 9th July New Year 11 Awards Evening

Wednesday 10th July New Year 10 Awards Evening

Friday 12th July Sports Festival

Monday 15th July Science Presentation Evening 4.30 - 6.30pm

Tuesday 16th July Duke of Edinburgh Awards Evening

Friday 19th July Last day of term. School finishes at 12.15pm

Thursday 15th August A Level Results Day

Thursday 22nd August GCSE Results Day

Monday 2nd September Training Day - no students in school

Tuesday 3rd September Training Day - no students in school

Wednesday 4th September School starts for Year 9,10 & 11 Year 12 in AM. Year 12 photos period 2-3

Thursday 5th September Year 13 in AM

Proud Sponsors of Vandyke

Football Team For an exclusive £500 discount, produce your copy of the Vandyke Voice during your free market appraisal.

Marcus Feinhols T:01525 261100 E:enquiries@finehomesproperty.co.uk

Last day of Term

Friday 19th July 2019

School Closes at 12.15 pm. Buses will arrive early

Exam Results: August 2019 Thursday 15 August: for AS/A2/BTEC/Finance results Year 13 students can collect their results between 8am and 11am.

Year 12 students can collect their results between 9am and 11am.

The Sixth Form team and subject teachers will be available to advise students between 8am and 3pm on Thursday and also until 1pm on Friday 16 August.

Thursday 22 August: GCSE/Cambridge National results Year 11 and Sixth Form students can collect their results between 9am and 11am.

Year 10 students can collect their results between 10am and 11am.

Subject teachers will be available on results day to give advice to students. Mrs Webb and a representative from 4YP will be available on both results days to give careers and college advice to

students in Year 11 and the Sixth Form.

If a student is unable to collect their results on either of the days above, they can leave a stamped addressed envelope with the Exams Office before the end of term and their results will be posted to them. Please note that exam results will only be given to individual students: the results belong to the student. If a student would like someone else to collect their exam results on their behalf, a permission slip must be completed and returned to the Exams Office before the end of term. Anyone collecting results on behalf of a student will need to bring the written authority from the student concerned confirming that they can collect results for that student. Details about requesting reviews of marking and copies of exam papers will be available from the Exams Office on both results days. The Exams Office will also be open for any queries in the morning on both Friday 16 and Friday 23 August from 9am.

Any other questions regarding exam results? Please contact Mrs Sharman or Miss Gibbs in the Exams Office, 01525 636706, exams@vandyke.cbeds.co.uk.

Monday 15th July 2019

Vandyke School’s Science

Presentation Evening Please come along to view a display of our

GCSE and A Level students’ work between 4.30 - 6.30pm in the Dance Studio