John Ferneley Newsletter Inside this issue:

Mrs Stansfield’s Article 1

Miriam’s Fundraising 1

Library News 2

What’s on at the Regal

Cinema?

3

Work it Wednesdays 3

Disco Inferno Review! 4

Term Dates 4

Miriam’s Fundraising

Continued

4

Montage of Disco

Inferno photos!

5

Creative Writing

Workshops

6

Spring 1 2015

Designed and edited

by Amy Healey and

Miriam Culy

The importance of imagination

One of the most exciting events this

week, was a Year 7 creative writing

workshop, involving around ten of

our most talented, budding writers.

Topics discussed included how to

construct a plot; various alternative

narrative structures; plot twists and

cliff hangers. The students got going

on starting stories, sharing ideas and

developing exciting twists in existing

plots. The creativity and imagination

required for the ideas and discussion

that took place is ever so slightly

breath-taking!!Even though I'm an

English teacher, I find creative writing

about the hardest thing to do. I used

to love it as a child but I think it gets

tougher as we get older. Maybe we

suppress our imagination as grown

ups; maybe we get out of practise.

I'm planning to do a health check on

mine over half term - it's absolutely

essential to have a lively imagination

if you work in Education - I'll do some

reading and thinking about unicorns!!

Term Dates 2016 – 17

Parents have ben enquiring about

term dates for the next academic

year. These are available on our web-

site and will differ from the Leicester-

shire County Council term dates. All

schools within the Mowbray Educa-

tion Trust will be following the same

pattern.

Fantastic fundraising At Christmas we had a pop-up fair

and cake sales.

The events team were busy in the last

week of the Autumn Term taking a

travelling pop-up fair of ‘guess how

many baubles in the tub?’, ‘balance

the 20p on the orange’ and a more

traditional student-friendly raffle.

Thanks must go to the army of cake

bakers that provided us with plentiful

supplies that were sold at break

times. All monies raised were collated

for the college charity, Cystic Fibrosis

Trust, and a grand total of £142.12

was collected.

Mrs Stansfield’s Article

Miriam Culy loses her locks for charity!

On 23rd January Miriam

Culy, in Year 9, cut 14

inches off her hair to

raise funds for the Little

Princess Trust! I was

aiming to raise around

£200 but so far I have

raised an incredible

£626.80 and that is not

including gift aid! It is a

really good way to do-

nate to charity and I

everyone has been real-

ly supportive of me. I

want to say thank you to

everyone who has spon-

sored me; friends, family

and staff. The Little Prin-

cess Trust is such an

amazing charity. The

Little Princess provides

real hair wigs, free of

charge, to boys and girls

across the UK and Ire-

land that have lost their

own hair through cancer

treatment. The Little

Princess Trust was set

up in memory of Hannah

Tarplee, a little girl from

Hereford who

Continue reading on

page 4

Page 2

Scholastic Business School Competi-

tion.

Here’s the team of students who took

part in the national competition based

around the Scholastic Book Fair. Each

year a team of Year 8 students volun-

teer to take part in the Scholastic Busi-

ness School Competition.

This year’s team consisting of Amy

Healey, Ellen Clark, Rebecca Matthews,

Ben Robson, and Ben Thompson, with

Alexia Agrafioti helping out, did really

well. They reached the finalist stage

with just six other schools and were

chosen to be Highly Commended. The

judges commented that the standard

of entries far exceeded their expecta-

tions and that they had all been hugely

impressed by the level of commitment

and entrepreneurism. They said our

team of students’ understanding and

representation of finances was particu-

larly impressive, and the handwritten

notes and planning clearly portrayed

the students’ individual initiative.

Well done!!!

First Story Competition

Three girls from JFC entered the First

Story Competition, this is a national

competition and this year “Echoes”

was the subject to write a story or po-

em on. Millie Clay, Cerys Chaplar and

Anne-Marie Hopkins entered a story or

a poem and each of them received

from the organisers of the competition

cash of £10 for being the chosen sub-

mitted entries from JFC. We have yet

to find out the final result of this com-

petition. Next year will you write a sto-

ry?

Year 9 Book Talking

On Monday 25th January Jo Sennitt

from Library Services for Education

came in to talk to all

our Year 9 students during their English

lessons. Jo read extracts from a variety

of books and talked about a number of

other books during each session. A

number of different genres were cov-

ered to try to cater for all tastes. We

are trying to inspire the students to

read for pleasure and try a different

genre from their normal one. Jo read a

few “cliff hanger passages” to whet the

students appetites. All the books are

stocked in the college library and after

the sessions we had students rushing

to take the books out so they could be

the first to read them.

Creative Writing Workshops

We have organised a few creative

writing workshops for a selection of

students – updates will follow on page

6.

Library Reading Group

Harriet Parker with the assistance of

Mrs Newman is starting a book reading

group for Year 7 students on Tuesdays

straight after school until 4.15. We

have some spare places so if any Year 7

students are interested and would like

to join in pop into the Library and

speak to Mrs Newman.

The competition team

The book talking

Library News

Page 3

Friday 12th February

Our Brand Is Crisis (15) 6.00pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

8.30pm

Saturday 13th February

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

2.45pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

5.45pm

Our Brand Is Crisis (15) 8.45pm

Sunday 14th February

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

2.00pm

When Harry Met Sally (15) 5.00pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

7.15pm

Monday 15th February

Snoopy And Charlie Brown (U) 3.45pm

Our Brand Is Crisis (15) 6.00pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

8.30pm

Tuesday 16th February

Snoopy And Charlie Brown (U) 2.45pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

5.00pm

The Danish Girl (15) 8.00pm

Wednesday 17th February

Snoopy And Charlie Brown (U) 3.45pm

The Danish Girl (15) 6.00pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

8.45pm

Thursday 18th February

Snoopy And Charlie Brown (U) 3.45pm

The Danish Girl (15) 6.00pm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

8.45pm

Friday 19th February

Snoopy And Charlie Brown (U) 3.45pm

Spotlight (15) 6.00pm

The Revenant (15) 8.30pm

Saturday 20th February

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

2.15pm

The Revenant (15) 5.15pm

Spotlight (15) 8.30pm

Sunday 21st February

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12A)

2.00pm

Spotlight (15) 5.00pm

The Revenant (15) 7.45pm

Work it Wednesday

Come down to Work it Wednesdays all

lunch every Wednesday in the sports

hall. No need to bring any kit, just

come in your uniform. This term’s ac-

tivity is Zumba. Have some fun with

your friends and get fit at the same

time.

What’s on at the Regal Cinema?

Page 4

The cast for Disco Inferno worked incredibly hard

last term, rehearsing for the 1970’s inspired show

Disco Inferno! There was energy and enthusiasm

every single night and each night brought a great

reaction from the audience. The high standard of

the show reigned on with the singing, dancing and

enthusiasm from this year’s performance. Disco In-

ferno was the show all about soul, featuring a devil-

ish plot, but with all the glam from the 1970’s. Fea-

turing songs such as ‘Celebration’, ‘Crocodile Rock’,

‘Play that funky music’ and of course ‘Disco Inferno’

everybody was ‘Burn baby burning’ and we surely

made it ‘A night to remember’. By the finale perfor-

mance even the audience were up on their feet do-

ing ‘YMCA’. There was not a single person in the

cast or back stage crew who didn’t work hard and

everybody should feel proud of themselves for the

standard the show brought back. Personally, I have

heard so much positive feedback, one of my teach-

ers even described it as ‘probably the best school

production that I have seen,’ and she says she

doesn’t like musicals!

“Once again John Ferneley students stepped up and

delivered an outstanding performance of Disco In-

ferno. Their commitment, passion and enthusiasm

makes putting on the show very easy. Every single

cast member gave their all on show nights and I am

extremely proud of every single one of them! Roll

on next year’s show!” – Mrs Richards.

Photo montage and article by Miriam Culy, Year 9,

Disco Inferno cast member, Student leadership Pub-

licity Team.

Uniform

As you may know, over the last few months we

have been seeking feedback on our school uniform.

Thank you so much for all the responses we have

had. Interestingly, views are very varied and lots of

issues have been raised that need to be carefully

worked through to ensure that we do not

compromise on either our vision or standards.

We are therefore not planning changes for this

September and please be reassured that we will be

seeking full involvement from all stakeholders as we

consider future changes.

Miriam’s Fundraising Continued

sadly lost a short battle with cancer in June 2005.

Her parents found it difficult to obtain a suitable wig

in a child’s size – they had one specially made for

Hannah but it was very expensive. After Hannah

died, with the modest amount of money donated

from friends and family, her parents chose to set up

a charity with support of the school and her friends.

This was so that as many children as possible who

needed help would benefit and receive a real hair

wig free of charge. What myself and others who cut

their hair for The Little Princess Trust is really appre-

ciated. If you want to find out more about the chari-

ty, or donating your hair, there is information and

videos on their website; http://

www.littleprincesses.org.uk. If you wanted to spon-

sor me, go on my webpage which is open until 23rd

February

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/miriamculy1 .

If you do something for charity before next half

term email me at jfcstudentpublicity@gmail.com

and you could be in the next School newsletter.

Miriam Culy, Year 9,

Student Leadership Publicity Team.

Disco Inferno Review

Miriam’s Haircut

Page 5

Page 6

On Monday 1st February, Jo Sennitt from

Leicestershire Service for Education came

into JFC to lead Creative Writing Work-

shops for selected students in years 7 and

9.

Her main aim was to encourage students

to immerse themselves into storytelling

and develop their own creative writing

skills. Jo bought in various props as inspi-

ration with the first exhibit, please see

below, generating lots of interest and

amazing story ideas.

After the introductory session, the stu-

dents moved on to focus on the essentials

of plot and character. It was a fun and

very creative day with fantastic feedback

from those who took part. One student

commented, ‘I really liked it, better than I

thought, I loved all the activities and

would love to do it again.’

Students in year 7 valued the experience

and said it had helped to develop their

creative skills; believing their writing to

benefit in the long term.

Feedback from our year 9 students was

equally as positive, many found the ses-

sion to be inspiring offering great tips and

advice on how to develop their own story

ideas.

“The random story generator was

BRILLIANT!!!”

“Educational but FUN”

“We learnt stuff”

“Would have liked it to last all day”

“Can’t wait to do it again”

“I was intrigued the whole way

through”

“My only disappointment was we did-

n’t have time to finish the story”

More workshops are arranged next

month.

Mrs Newman, Librarian

Creative Writing Workshop

at JFC

The workshop

Planning our stories