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Every year it gets harder and harder to top the previous

school play. So this year I decided to go for a change.

I’ve done the big musicals and well known storylines so

I looked elsewhere. ‘Wyrd Sisters’ was suggested to me

by a colleague and as I read it I really enjoyed the

characters and situations. However, I knew it might be

a risk as the storyline is quite complicated and it did not

have a lot of parts for extras. However, after consulting

a panel of pupils it came out as the favourite.

Casting the play was difficult, as always, as everyone

wanted to be the Duchess (including some boys).

However, I convinced three fantastic performers that

they could be the lead witches and I was right.

Charlotte, Jade and Alice were a joy to work with. It was

particularly pleasing to give these vital lead roles to two

of the girls who have been given much smaller roles in

previous school plays. They were committed, focused

and really took to their parts. The rest of the

cast are equally strong and I feel so lucky to

have so much talent to choose from at Test

Valley.

I was just as impressed with the enthusiasm of

the younger pupils who participated. A

downside to this play was that it had fewer

opportunities for adding in extras. However, I

was determined not to be beaten by this

problem and set to work finding moments to

expand as I know how thrilling it is to be

involved in a school play, no matter what the

part. To their credit, the Year 7 and 8 pupils

were so eager to get involved and relished any

opportunity to do so. I hope they continue to

participate every year as they are my stars of future

productions.

If you came to see us we hope you enjoyed the

production. It was really fun to rehearse, finding the

humour in the script and adding in moments of our

own. We even made up a backstory for one of the

witches and her parentage.

As always it was a hugely enjoyable, albeit stressful,

experience. I feel so fortunate to be working in a school

where Drama is valued for the amazing subject it is and

for what it offers to so many pupils of all abilities. I

would also like to thank my amazing colleagues who

every year support me in so many ways, without which

a school production would not be possible.

Mrs C Stubbs, Head of Drama

Spring Term

2017

www.testvalley.hants.sch.uk

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School Production — Wyrd Sisters

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Dear Parent

I hope you enjoy our Spring newsletter and the opportunity to read more about the wide variety of activities and

events our pupils and staff have been involved in this term, both in and outside the classroom. Even I am

surprised and delighted by just how much is going on!

It continues to be a challenging time in education with so many changes to be worked through in schools – this

includes the new GCSE courses, the introduction of GCSE number grades and ‘life after levels’ in Key Stage 3 with

the introduction of a new assessment system to replace the old level grades. We are also having to face, in

common with so many schools, significant funding challenges whilst striving to uphold the broad and balanced

curriculum we believe our pupils should have.

This term we were also inspected by Ofsted in February and very pleased to be judged as still a ‘Good’ school.

This is an important achievement for the school and a recognition of the hard work already in place. You can

read the full report on our school website.

I send our Year 11 pupils very best wishes for their forthcoming GCSE examinations next term. We hope many

will join us for the Easter workshops as part of their revision programme and make full use of

the GCSEpod, the online revision service all pupils can access.

Finally I thank you for all your support throughout this term and look forward to the Summer

Term getting underway.

Miss L Hiscock Headteacher.

Headteacher’s Message

News from the School Governors

What a busy and really successful last few months the School has had. To continue to be assessed as "Good" by Ofsted during the recent inspection is a tremendous achievement. I would like to thank everyone involved who at short notice supported the school fully. As governors it is very pleasing to see all the hard work our pupils and staff deliver being rewarded by an independent body. Going forward the governing body, senior leadership team and staff have a number of challenges facing us: the changes in the proposed funding by central government which has recently been in the news, the escalating costs of running the school, right the way down to BREXIT. As Chair of Governors I am really pleased to welcome three new parent governors to Test Valley as a result

of our recent elections. Often working behind the scenes governors attend early evening meetings, discussing strategic direction, listening and deciding on the schools policies, working with staff to deliver the best for all pupils. The role of a governor allows a unique mix of being able to see the day to day school activities and then seeing all the hard work behind the scenes. I am very proud of the great curriculum and enrichment activities available to pupils. Helping to ensure that all pupils have the greatest opportunity to excel is at the heart of great governance. I hope you will continue to support us in our mission.

Simon Port - Chairman of Test Valley Governors

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Hampshire Youth Speaks Competition

This year we had two teams speaking in the local round of the Rotary Youth Speaks Competition held at Harrow Way School, Andover on Tuesday 17th January. The competition aims to offer young people the opportunity to speak on a public platform as a member of a team. The roles within each team are clearly defined and the main speaker speaks for six minutes on a topic of their choice; a daunting task for many adults, let alone Year 9 and Year 11 pupils. Our Year 9 team consisting of Abbey Barton (main speaker), Sam Hunt (chairperson) and Issy Henry’s (vote of thanks) spoke about the value of reading for pleasure. In a passionate speech entitled “The Great Escape” Abbey encouraged her audience to put down their iPads and iPhones and use their eyes to read instead. Abbey took us on a reading journey and was full of praise for our own well used library here at Test Valley. Our Year 11 team consisting of Charlotte Thorpe (main speaker), Callum Giles (chairperson) and Laura Keane (vote of thanks) spoke about our seeming obsession with mobile phones. Charlotte introduced us to the idea of nomophobia: the fear of being without our phones: yes, it really exists. Charlotte encouraged us to engage with the real world instead of living our lives online and spoke about the impact that our mobile phones can have on our mental health. Both teams delivered well-constructed speeches with confidence. They clearly engaged their audience and gave us all something to think about. The Senior Team were awarded trophies for Best Chairperson, Best Speaker, Best Proposer of the Vote of Thanks and Overall Winning Team.

Our Year 11 Youth Speaks team (Charlotte Thorpe, Callum Giles and Laura Keane) took part in the second round of the Rotary Public Speaking Competition on Wednesday, 8th February. The team delivered a speech entitled ‘Not so Smart’, and posed the question: are we all guilty of spending too much time on our smartphones? The team were up against stiff competition facing a Sixth Form team from Bishop Wordsworth School and a team from Romsey School. Romsey School, who delivered a speech examining the hidden side of disability, were judged the winners on the night.

We were not deflated as we received some excellent feedback from the judges who said that our team were confident and business-like. They praised Charlotte’s logical and well developed speech. The judges liked that our team spoke about their own personal experience and related it to the topic. Well done to the team who despite rehearsals, fixtures and revision managed to find time to fit in this competition too!

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The Year 8 Young Sports Leaders organised the Inter-Tutor New Age Kurling event for the

Year 7s as part of their course assessment.

Leaders were involved in the planning organising and running of the event.

The event was close between the 5 tutor groups with some excellent Kurling scores.

Two tutor groups were joint first and two were joint 4th as the

points were the same. However a decision had to made

regarding 1st and 2nd place so the Young Leaders had to look at

the ‘for and against’ points scored. Consequently the final

results were:

1st 7A 2nd 7S 3rd 7D joint 4th 7G & 7N

Team talk to focus on the event

The New Age Kurling competition is used as an

introduction to the Year 7 Young Sports Leaders

Course which takes place over the summer and

autumn terms.

The course takes place every Tuesday lunchtime in

the gym @ 1-30pm. It is based on the Sports

Leaders UK award and involves Year 7 pupils with

the seven local catchment schools helping to

organise and run events with Mrs Smith the School

Sports Co-ordinator. Any Year 7 pupil can take part

in the award but must be committed to attend

every week to gain the qualification.

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World Book Day — 2nd March 2017

World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

This is the 20th year there has been a World Book Day and on 2nd March 2017 children of all ages came together to appreciate reading—very loudly and very happily. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading.

On this day Test Valley School Library held activities at lunchtime to celebrate. With the help of Sam Hunt - Pupil Librarian - there was an organised Quiz where 10 teams took part in the answering book related questions and the winners received a box of sweets. There were also colouring sheets, origami bookworm making and new book displays.

Library News by Miss Needs –Librarian

Hampshire Schools Literature Quiz Miss Needs took a team of pupils to the Hampshire Schools Literature Quiz which took place on Wednesday 1st March at Romsey School. The hosts were brilliant and our pupils really enjoyed their time there. The quiz helped to promote the enjoyment of reading and was also an opportunity for them to demonstrate their breadth of knowledge across all areas of children's fiction. We did not win but it was good fun and each pupil got a free book and certificate to bring home. The winning team were Henry Beaufort School who will attend the County Final at Winchester Discovery Centre on 22nd March.

Cody Marsh Cerys Hotchkiss Olivia Rolfe and Miss Needs

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Over the past month or so, my group in D.T have been developing, designing, and

constructing bird feeders. These bird feeders are made out of plywood, as well as

wire mesh, to hold the nuts or other type of solid bird feed.

We started by drawing out a template in our folders using an isometric grid.

Isometric grids allow us to draw 3D diagrams easily, and are named after their

triangular grid pattern. The template was comprised of a 6cm wide, 6cm deep, 12cm

high box. We then thought of a shape for the plywood ends of the birdfeeder and

drew it onto the front of the birdfeeder.

Next we erased the extra parts of the template that we did not need and drew our

design onto the back side of the birdfeeder. After this we could remove the

remaining parts of the template.

From there, we then made the plywood ends look 3D by adding diagonal lines heading NE to all the corners on

the right hand side of plywood ends and added in the wire mesh. To do this we first drew more diagonal lines

from one plywood end to the other with a slight offset, and then later added vertical lines to give the appearance

of a mesh between the two ends.

Lastly, we added a feeding hole or roof to our design. We made several of these designs.

After we had made these designs we created a design for the plywood ends on a program called 2D

Design. 2D Design allows us to create a digital design, which can be latter manufactured by various

machines. In this case, we used the CAM machine (Computer Aided Manufacture).

We first started by opening the template and designing one of the plywood ends. It was a lot easier

to do this than on paper, as the program allowed us to created curved lines and arcs. There was also

not the problem of having to project out design onto a diagonal. We then printed off our designs.

Next, we added a green outline 2mm away from edge of our design by using the contour tool. This

tells the CAM machine to cut a 4mm wide, 12mm deep groove out in the wood. Since the wood is 12mm thick

and the cutting die is 4mm wide, it ends up cutting the design out with exact

measurements. We also added a blue line 8mm away from the edge, but instead on

the inside. This tells the machine to cut a 6mm deep groove for the wire mesh, and

since the die is 4mm wide, the groove for the wire mesh ends up being 4mm away

from the outside. Lastly, we then added a red line to show where the machine needed

to cut out parts such as the feeding hole, or holes for dowels to hold the two ends

together. This needed to be a different line colour so that the CAM machine knew

which order to cut the pieces in.

The CAM machine would first look for any red lines on the design and cut out those. It would then look for any

blue lines and cut the groove for the wire mesh and finally it would search for green lines and cut out the final

shape of the birdfeeder ends. This needed to be done in this order for stability reasons. If the machine started by

cutting the green line first there would no longer be anything holding the piece of wood in place and therefore it

would not cut the red and blue lines properly.

In my case I added an extra set of orange lines, which would tell the machine to cut an 8mm deep groove instead

of a 6mm deep groove. This was so that I would be able to create a sliding roof design that would not slide out

but would still provide an overhang over the rest of the birdfeeder.

(Continued on page 7)

Great Work in Design Technology by Bradley Hall

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The deeper section of the groove allows me to make the top

half of the sliding roof wider, meaning that when the wider

part of the roof hit the shallower section of the groove it

would no longer move but would still allow the remaining

thinner half of the roof to slide out. The following diagrams

show this concept in action.

Once the plywood ends had been cut out by that CAM

machine, we started by cutting off any extras the machine

had not managed to quite cut out. This usually involved getting a craft knife and carefully cutting off the thin

layer of plywood left by the CAM machine, where it had not quite cut deep enough. We then sanded down all

of the corners and edges of the plywood ends.

Plywood is a very good material to make bird feeders out of as it is made of multiple layers of wood that have

been glued together, with their grains going in opposing directions per layer. This means it is resistant to

warping, which is where wood bends as a result of the water content of the wood heating and cooling at

different rates.

We then started to build out birdfeeders by putting the dowels into the dowel holes. These are marked with red

on the CAM design. To do this we laid one of the plywood ends onto a vice, put a small amount of glue in the

hole, and carefully hammered in the dowel. We could tell when the dowel had gone all of the way in because

when we hit the dowel with the hammer again, it would bounce back with more force than if the dowel had not

gone in all the way yet.

Next we had to make the roof. We were given a long, thin sheet of wood with a width of 65mm. This was

exactly the width needed to go across birdfeeder so all we needed to do was cut it to the appropriate length. In

my case, when making the wider section I simply rotated the design my 90°, making the grain of the wood go in

the opposite direction to all of the rest of the birdfeeders. We then glued in the roof pieces to one of the

plywood ends.

The last thing we had to do before putting the other plywood end on was inserting the wire mesh. We first

started by cutting the wire mesh into the appropriate width. We made sure to cut off all the extras on the side

so it wasn’t sharp, and then we started bending it into shape by sitting it in the groove and seeing where it

needed to bend. Finally, we cut the excess off that was not necessary.

Lastly, all we had to do was put the other side of the birdfeeder on and put a piece of string through it to hang

from. This was done by laying the side with the dowels, roof and wire mesh onto a vice and placing the other

side on top. We then made sure we evenly hammered on the side, as hammering one side too much might

cause the plywood to split where the other dowel was meant to go. Some problems we encountered during this

process included the wire mesh not going into the opposite groove correctly. To solve this we made a makeshift

tool out of a short piece hard copper wire by

bending one end to make a small hook, and the

other to make a place to hold it. We then used this

tool to hook onto the wire mesh and pull it back

outwards when it had gone in too far.

To put the string on we drilled two holes, one on

either side using a pillar drill, and strung the string

through.

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It has been a busy term in the MFL

department…

On Friday 6th January 2017, The

French Department celebrated

with 7A and 7N The Epiphany or

The Twelfth Night which marks

the visit to the baby Jesus by the

three Kings. Pupils learnt about

how French families celebrate this special day. They enjoyed

tasting the traditional Kings’ pie in the hope of finding a charm

in their slice. Pupils also joined in the song “J’aime la galette”.

Oliver Argyle and Jude Whitlock were crowned Kings of 7A,

whereas Tom Gregg and Alyssa Richardson were made King and

Queen of 7N. All pupils deserved to be Kings and Queens on the

day, so each created their own paper crown and a competition

was held for the best crowns in each class. Kacey Cavill and

Harry Franklin won the contest in 7A and Grace Phelan and Luke

Findlay won in 7N.

Some pupils enjoyed the “galette” so much that they asked for

the recipe and will be making their own at the weekend to share

with their family. Here are a few pictures showing what an

enjoyable time they all had.

La galette des rois

7N King and Queen—Tom Gregg and Alyssa Richardson

On 16th of January 2017, three Year 9 MFL Leaders visited Stockbridge Primary School with the view to strengthen

the links between our two schools and to promote languages to younger pupils. Faith Marriott, Ella Milligan and

Ally Perez-Allen were responsible for organising the one-hour lesson to year 5 pupils which they headed with confi-

dence. Here is what they thought of this special

experience.

“We introduced ourselves in French and the

children enjoyed using a variety of resources

such as Linguascope, PowerPoint and the flash

cards that we made along with the multiple

games we had put together based around the

topics of family members and pets. Overall it

was a very enjoyable day for both teachers and

pupils.”

We are looking forward to our next visit to

Stockbridge Primary School in May. Faith, Ella and Ally enjoying a well-deserved hot chocolate and biscuits

after their hard work.

Modern Foreign Languages News

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Modern Foreign Languages News continued

We also had the return of the Modern Foreign Languages Film Club. Pupils are invited to take their lunch with them and enjoy the experience of watching a film in another language during their lunch break. This week was well attended as many pupils came to watch “The Pirates of the Caribbean” in French with English subtitles. Miss Williams (Subject Leader, Modern Foreign Languages) commented:

“It is always lovely to see so many pupils attend such occasions and embrace the other languages”.

Watching a film in a foreign language is a great way to improve listening skills as well as pronunciation and we highly recommend trying this out at home with your children. You could always watch it in English with French or German subtitles to develop their reading skills.

This week some of our German lessons were rather colourful, celebrating Karneval, the 'German way'. Year 10s especially enjoyed the customs, songs, dances and fun costumes while they learnt about the history of and the reasons behind this celebration madness enjoyed by most Germans in readiness for Lent. Mr Langdown popped in to the lesson and got involved too!

Jensen Hawkes thought " it was enjoyable to experience part of German culture and reflect on how their traditions are different from ours." Felix Hammer added that “it was an enjoyable

experience which gave him the chance to learn about

German culture."

Learning all about the so-called fifth season in Germany – FASCHING!

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Bronze Ambassador Day 2017

The Year 8 Young Sports Leaders from Test Valley

School helped with the Primary Schools’ Bronze

Ambassador Day by looking at the activities and

working with each school developing the

Ambassador roles and responsibilities.

The Ambassadors were given an introductory talk about their specific roles and responsibilities by Holly Mills from the Mountbatten Academy.

The roles and responsibilities of the Bronze Ambassador were described as:

A role model advocating PE and school sport.

Creating and managing a School Sport Organising Crew which will promote the ‘Spirit of the Games’ values within the school.

Increasing participation and healthy lifestyles in their school.

Assisting in the organisation and running of the Level 1 School Games programme within the school. Be the young people’s voice on PE and school sport in their school.

To publicise sporting updates through notice boards, the school website, school Twitter, school newsletters etc.

Nominated Ambassador Pupils from our 7 primary

catchment schools arrived at the school reception with

the expectation of a full and varied day. Four pupils

from each school had been selected for this day by

their primary school teachers who thought that these

pupils had the required qualities to make a good

Ambassador.

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The six ‘Spirit of the Games’ values were discussed and used throughout the day. These included: Honesty, Self Belief, Respect, Determination, Passion and Teamwork. This initiative is organised through the Youth Sports Trust which runs events across the country for young people. Specific tasks were allocated to the Ambassadors and they are to try and introduce them into their schools over the next few weeks. Some schools already had some of the tasks in place but the majority of pupils saw these as new challenges to help promote sport in their school. Five specific tasks were allocated to the Ambassadors and they were to try and introduce them into their

schools over the next few weeks. Some schools already had some of the tasks in place but the majority of

pupils saw these as new challenges to help promote sport.

TASKS

1. Set up and maintain a School Organising Crew. 2. Set up a new sports club – Change4Life Club. 3. Run a School Sport Competition. 4. Make a presentation on sporting opportunities in school. 5. Create or update a PE and School Games notice board.

Let’s hope all 5 tasks can be achieved - Good Luck!

Some of the activities proved to be a challenge

even for the Sports Leaders!

The Year 8 Leaders helped the primary

pupils develop their team work skills

and get to know each other during the

process.

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On the last day before the half term break it was PSHE Day here at Test Valley School. This is when there is no normal school timetable and pupils take part in activities based around Personal Social Health Education. Each year group had different activities and they consisted of:

PSHE Day

Year 7

Their day was focused on developing thinking and memory skills. Pupils started by making animal models out of plasticine to show how they learn. They then went on to look at certain skills for recalling information such as mind-mapping and how to memorise key words. Three volunteers from Winchester University played a 'thinking' game with them and the English department showed them how to memorise texts using music and rap.

Year 8

Dream Day - Pupils put together their ideal dream future lifestyle. This included the house they would like to live in, the car they would like to drive and all the additional luxuries they would like to go with it. These all came at a price. All pupils were then given a job at random with its own salary, qualifications and full details about the lifestyle. Pupils carried out a range of activities which included comparing their employment with others. Then came the crunch which was working out whether or not is was possible to have the chosen lifestyle based upon the current salary followed by making compromises. The second half of the day pupils engaged in planning a career of their own choice and exploring all aspects of the career including pathways into it.

Year 9

Our Enterprise Day for Year 9 pupils was called 'Change for a Tenner'. In small teams pupils were given £10 and asked to design/make a product to sell during the school's lunchtime to change their £10 into as much profit as possible. Each team had a Promotions Manager, a Team Leader, a Finance Manager and the 'workforce'. As lunchtime started there was a real 'buzz' in the school's gym which had been set up as their marketplace. There were a range of products on sale from cakes, sweets and even a fortune teller. Pupils managed to raise £320 which will be going to the Alex Lewis Trust.

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Year 10

Enterprise Day had each tutor group forming a group of 'companies' which would submit a tender to run the school's prom. Groups had to write a realistic business plan, a workable finance plan and a letter of tender to show they could provide a menu, venue, decorations and even prom dress hire if required.

Year 11

Our Year 11 pupils had a day learning how to revise and looking at different resources that they can use both on and offline. They worked closely with the English and Maths departments whilst Winchester University sent a representative to discuss revision strategies.

“PSHE day was such a success and I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work and creative activities; the pupils had a wonderful day”.

Nicky Osborne (PSHE Coordinator) commented:

PSHE Day continued

Research shows that on average people change their jobs every 4 to 5 years nowadays. What ever happened to the job for life? Technology and efficiency came along and has removed the need for many traditional jobs replacing them with different jobs. This leaves our current school pupils posing the question: What can I do for a living and how can I become qualified?

The advice I would give is: don't put all your eggs in one basket, study a broad range of GCSEs, keeping your options open. When considering a career path, ask yourself this question: "How likely is it that a computer/robot will be able to do this job for me in the future?"

These are just some of the questions and solutions going through the minds of Year 9 as they experienced their Year 9 Futures Event. Helping them through the minefield was a series of workshops which included GCSE speed dating, careers profiling, Andover

college, Winchester university and an Apprenticeships workshop.

Mapping paths through GCSE choices, college and into university, apprenticeships or the workplace is quite a challenge at fourteen years old and our Year 9 are now equipped with the knowledge and awareness of a wide range of resources to help them make decisions and choices which are right for them.

Nothing beats a good conversation with parents, their teachers and if needed guidance from the schools careers adviser to follow up on a day which has imparted so much information.

For more information or advice please contact Mr Langdown.

Year 9 Futures Day

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Year 9 Holocaust Trip

On Thursday 19th January a group of 48 Year 9 pupils

had a very early start to travel up to the Beth Shalom

Holocaust Memorial Centre in Newark. The group had

an introductory talk and video and then split into three

groups to visit the Memorial Gardens, the Holocaust

exhibition and to undertake a workshop on making

choices on how to treat others. After a quick lunch

pupils reconvened in the auditorium to hear Mala

Tribich speak about her experiences as a child under

Hitler's rule in Germany in the 1930s, her time in the

ghetto, the nightmare

of being in Bergen

Belsen and her

liberation. Our pupils

asked some excellent

and thoughtful

questions and came

away with a powerful

message against

prejudice and

discrimination.

MFL Masterclass

On Wednesday 8th February the MFL department welcomed a group of Year 5 pupils from our local primary schools for a masterclass in German and Spanish. Mrs Newland taught the pupils how to greet each other – they had conversations with puppets and sang a song. They also learned how to sing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in German. The group had a break for squash and a biscuit and then went with Mrs Dover to start the Spanish session. They learnt some numbers, colours and animals and sang Old MacDonald in Spanish! The MFL department would like to thank the staff and pupils from the primary schools for coming along to experience language learning at our school. A big thank you to the Year 9 helpers: Rebecca Ledwidge, Issy Henrys, Sam Hunt, Alejandra Perez-Allen, Issy Sinclair and Xander Taylor.

The pupils of Year 8 have once again had the opportunity to experience a range of activities both as part of the curriculum and as extra-curricular activities. Table tennis, netball, basketball and football fixtures have all been part of the sporting calendar this term. I am pleased to see many Year 8s complete the Young Leaders course with Mrs Smith too.

In other areas, we had our PSHE day in February and all the year group took part in the Year 8 Dream Day - this is where the pupils began to consider about their future. They looked at a number of careers they might pursue and thought about how their achievements at Test Valley were going to play a part in succeeding in their goals. The day also involved speaking to ex-pupils and ambassadors at Andover College to help discuss further education with the year group.

Year 8 News

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a ‘Happy Easter’ - I hope that you enjoy the break. Finally, I would like to remind you that Thursday 27th April is the Year 8 Parents Information Evening - this year’s focus will be on internet safety, revision techniques and the use of Moodle. I look forward to seeing you then.

Mr A Hill

Year 8 Coordinator

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Table Tennis Club runs under the umbrella of the PE Department, and we thank Mr Falkingham for his support.

Table Tennis Club takes place in the School Hall on Tuesday evenings after school.

We are in our 19th year and rarely miss a session but we do miss Mr Rider who was a stalwart member of the club.

Table Tennis Club is open to all years and offers Coaching, Competition and Fun.

We are proud of our history of playing in the Andover League.

Our senior team is captained by Annabel Anderson with Alex Dennis, Oliver Middle-ton and Owyn Ashcroft, all Year 10 pupils.

The team is well-respected in the all age-group League. Annabel has led the side to the final of the Andover Advertiser Handicap Cup to be played later this month- we have cautious hopes of victory against Andover's top team. All the team members have made tremendous improvement over the season with Alex Dennis having notable success in

his matches.

We congratulate Annabel for winning through the preliminary round of the Hampshire Schools' Under 16 Competition. In the Finals, Annabel won the medal for 3rd place in Hampshire Under 16 Girls- a thrilling result.

Our inspiration is Hannah Hicks who started her Table Tennis with us in her Year 7, and is now a Commonwealth Games medallist and full inter-national having represented England all over the world.

All are welcome on Tuesday evenings, we are a sport for all ages where even ancient coaches can be actively involved in competitions!

Table Tennis News by Mr Dyke

We now have some items of second hand school uniform available in exchange for a

donation to school funds. If interested please contact the

school office by email on

office@testvalley.hants.sch.uk

with what uniform items you require for your child (including size) and we will check

if there is anything suitable we can offer.

Owyn Ashcroft, Anabel Anderson, Oliver Middleton and Alex

Dennis

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On Thursday 9th February a group of pupils represented Test Valley School in the Andover Young Musician of the Year competition held in St Mary’s Church, Andover. The vocal ensemble, comprising nine Year 9 and 10 girls, performed a powerful three-part harmony version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, receiving very positive feedback from the judges and audience members. Rebecca Ledwidge (Yr9) came second in the Classical category with a confident and musically articulate flute solo and Sophie Yates gained second place in the Pop category with a convincing and moving rendition of Snow Patrol’s ‘Run’. Well done to all who took part, you did yourselves and Test Valley proud!

Andover Young Musician of the Year 2017

On 13th January 44 Year 8 pupils along with four members of staff made their way to Neasden Mandir in north-west London. The pupils were looking forward to visiting the Hindu Temple as many had never been to one before. On arrival many of the pupils were in awe of the beauty of the Mandir as the building is magnificent. A number of hours were spent learning about the history of the building and the origins, beliefs and practices associated with the Hindu religion. The pupils watched a very informative video explaining the Mandir building and how important the construction was, almost 5,000 tonnes of carved Italian marble and Bulgarian limestone were shipped between India and London and none were damaged. The pupils then had an opportunity to view the exhibition within the

Mandir, learning about the Hindu beliefs, gods and goddesses. They were very fortunate to be allowed to attend the Hindu Arti prayer service. This took place in the main prayer hall, again the beauty of this part of the Mandir was breath-taking in particular the numerous Murtis enshrined in this area. After the ceremony the pupils were invited to ask any further questions. Many of the pupils took away a vast amount of information about Hinduism. This will help them in R.E lessons, as they are just beginning to learn about this religion. The pupils were well behaved and extremely respectful during their visit to Neasdon Mandir. This was also commented on by one of the volunteers working in the Mandir, who said they are a credit to Test Valley School.

Year 8 Trip to Neasden Mandir

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School Production — Wyrd Sisters

Big thanks to Mr Hewson for his

fantastic photography and Mrs

Tucker for her wonderful

illustrations.

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School Production — Wyrd Sisters

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Cast Members

Granny Charlotte Thorpe Nanny Jade Newman Magrat Alice Woodfield Duke Felix Hammer Duchess Laura Keane Fool Ben Nightingale Vitoller Wilf Breach Mrs Vitoller Abi Jones King Verence Jensen Hawkes Demon Peter Melville Chamberlain Amelia Cairns Sergeant Harry Scobie Tomjon Sam Hunt Hwel JS Taylor Soldier 1 Bexley Oliver-Hawkins Soldier 2 Matteo Palmer Soldier 3 Amelia Ciutto Bowman Natasha Hewson Peasant 1 Rachel Butt Peasant 2 Lucy Monson Actor 1 Zac Jones Guard 1 Sophie Bushell Guard 2 Emily Cook

School Production — Wyrd Sisters

Chorus

Charlotte Bulpitt Olivia Bowman Elliot Bullis Emma Carter Kacey Cavill Samarra Cochrane Rosie Gleeson Alfie Griffiths Imogen Hammer Caspar Hawkes Jamie Hodges Shannon Hull

Katie Jeffrey Abi Langdown Joe Lovell Isabella Moriniere Izzy Mills Iris Pigott-White Freja Pike Rebekah Searle Bobby Turpin Amelie Warfvinge Annalise Wiggans Ben Varga

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Test Valley School is proud of our pastoral care and for over 15 years we have had a counsellor in school, many of the pupils benefit from a little support from our pastoral team. Mental/emotional health is no different from physical health, most people will have times in their life when they need some extra support. For some, this support will come from within the family but often young people find it extremely beneficial to talk to someone who is not involved with their day to day life. As a new feature in this newsletter our counsellor Davina Nicholson (MBACP Accred.) is going to muse on some issues that come up in the counselling room. This first musing is on anxiety.

For the past three years anxiety has been the top presenting issue in the counselling room at Test Valley School and indeed if you look at national statistics this is a common picture. So why are young people today feeling so anxious? I have some thoughts about this which I am going to share with you. First of all, we live in an anxious world: the threat of terrorism, the fear of financial insecurity, politics turning on its head, the threat of greenhouse gasses etc. Good news does not make the news. We are constantly bombarded with things to worry about and I mean constantly, with new technology we receive news immediately. When the terror attack happened in London on Wednesday 22nd March around 3pm most of us knew about it before 6pm. Our anxiety can be felt by our children.

Secondly there is huge pressure for young people to achieve at higher and higher levels. Of course we want our young people to be successful but often rather than this being a positive aspiration it becomes driven by fear. Schools are fearful of being judged for not ‘making’ it possible for their pupils to achieve the highest grades, parents are fearful of their children not achieving and pupils are fearful of not doing well and sometimes the cost is the emotional health of the young person. The fear that the job market is highly competitive is passed on from adults to children, with the message that if you do not succeed in your exams ‘you will fail in life’. There is a lot of fear passed from parents to schools, from schools to parents and ultimately all of it is put onto young people. Many of the anxious young people in the counselling room are high achievers and a few are young people who cannot achieve. Young people frequently tell me that their best is never good enough for the adults, they always want more. They tell me they constantly feel judged, by the adults in their lives and by their peers too: being judged makes you anxious.

We live in a culture of perfectionism. Following on from my last paragraph, high achievers are now expected to get the highest grades in all their subjects. Instead of being able to celebrate one, two or three GCSE A* grades they will bemoan not achieving eight. Perfectionism doesn’t stop at academic achievement. Young people post thousands of pictures of themselves on social media each year and most devices have the

facility to ‘edit’ these photos, the result is that most people look pretty fantastic in these photos and yet every young person who looks in the mirror first thing in the morning, with no makeup and possibly bad skin, feels like they have a secret, which is that, in their reality, they are ‘ugly’. The media has for many years directly and indirectly put pressure on young people to look a certain way, images of ‘perfect’ models give us all the impression that we are less attractive. This pressure is tenfold in today’s world with the explosion of media sources. Sadly, it also means that the bullying which has always existed to some degree in and out of all schools, is multiplied because young people cannot get away from it.

Social media has another huge impact on young people and anxiety in that the constant use of it means young people very often are in communication of one sort or another, most of the day, therefore they have no ‘down time’. My own, perhaps idealised, memories of getting home from school and going out on my bike with no real pressure to do anything specific or be anything or communicate with anyone, seems to be a very rare experience today. We all need ‘down time’ where we are just being rather than doing, after all we are human beings not human doings!

Finally, in the age of ‘health and safety’ we have become risk adverse. Back to me on my bike, in years gone by young people took more exercise and more frequent small physical risks, like riding down a steep hill. Small physical risks are good because they help us to see that we can survive things and build resilience. Nowadays people either take no risks at all or they go for the big adrenalin hits and too much adrenalin causes more anxiety. Much of what young people are expected to do in a normal day produces some adrenalin and that adrenalin often remains in their body, rather than being dispersed through exercise or expression. A build-up of adrenalin causes anxiety and panic attacks. For brain health we need physical health, things like exercise, the right amount of sleep and relaxation. The next issue of ‘A counsellor contemplates’ will be on ways to reduce anxiety, in the meantime have a refreshing Easter.

The Counsellor Contemplates

Davina Nicholson MBACP Accred. School Counsellor

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The Year 5 workshops were great as some Year 5 pupils got to experience what it’s like in Maths and English lessons at Test Valley. All of the Year 5 pupils were happy to ask the helpers and teachers for help when they were stuck or had a question. They all worked really hard and had all their focus on the task involved. When I was taking them back to the hall, I asked some of them what their favourite part of the day was. Most of them (other than the few who said they had enjoyed the juice and biscuits the most!) said that they could not decide what they preferred because they were both good fun. At the end morning all of the Year 5 pupils looked happy and said that they had enjoyed their visit.

By Archie Goddard 7G

On Wednesday the 22nd March I was chosen to spend the morning with Year 5 pupils! It was a wonderful experience and I recognised loads of them, I remember when that was me! The first hour was English and the children were doing imaginative writing. It was lovely to see the Year 5 making friends and sitting with pupils who do not go to their school. The children wore nametags to sort the problem of remembering names.

After English the pupils had a break and ate a biscuit (of course I had to test them before just in case they were rotten!)

After their break it was time for maths. I did not know how the teachers would make MATHS fun but somehow they did. We were focusing on alien numbers - the Year 5 were better than me! They were not afraid to ask for help but they hardly needed any. Not only the children but also I could see the adults were getting involved! The morning ended with some words from Mrs Hiscock and I was very impressed with the primary school pupils that walked to Test Valley, as the weather was not sunny. It was a privilege to be chosen alongside Imogen, Jonty and Archie. It was a wonderful morning and I would love to do it again.

By Olivia Rolfe 7G

Yesterday I had an amazing experience with Year 5. I was able to help them in Maths and learn something new too! We got to know Year 5 pupils from different schools and see how smart and intelligent they were. Despite them being very clever, we still helped them and they came to us for help. I was very proud that Mr Whatley asked me to help alongside with Olivia, Jonty and Archie.

First, we met all of the pupils and wrote their nametags to tell who was who. We then escorted them to their first lesson at Test Valley School. My group had Maths and we were learning about an alien’s language and trying to figure out what each number meant. We then made some juice and got some biscuits (which one Year 5 pupil loved!) Once Maths was over, we took the children down to the English room so they could do an hour of English.

In the English room they started off by writing a phrase on what the picture on the board looked like in their eyes. For each one Archie and I judged which one we thought was best. Once they had finished the Year 5s were given a sheet on which they needed to find someone that knew what adjective, simile and personification meant. For them, that was a hard one. We finished the lessons with a speech from Miss Hiscock. I’m hoping that I will have this opportunity again.

By Imogen Hammer 7G

Year 5 English and Mathematics Workshops

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Pupil Council Update

The Pupil Council Speak Out box has made a visit to all tutor groups, pupils have been given the opportunity to have their say. All pupils have been invited to put any suggestions they have for Test Valley School in the Speak Out box, these will be discussed at the next Pupil Council meeting.

Over the next few weeks the Pupil Council will be developing a project idea for the UK Parliament Speakers School Council Award. The concept is to develop a little idea that will have a big impact on the school community or the wider community of Stockbridge. We have lots of interesting suggestions to discuss however if you have any suggestions we would like to hear these. These can be emailed to attreea@testvalley.hants.sch.uk.

Look out for our next update in April.

Pupils and staff

supported the Red

Nose Day charity on

Friday 24th March

Total raised

£827.71

The Hampshire Book Award Launch

Test Valley School will be taking part in The Hampshire Book Award again this year. It is voted for annually by Year 8 pupils from across the county from a shortlist of novels published in English in the previous year. The shortlist is drawn up by last year's readers.

It involves the pupils (and Mrs Needs) reading six books over a couple of months, discussing them and voting amongst ourselves. The plan is to meet in the Library every other Wednesday during PSHE time to chat about the books and then to take part in the final voting day with hundreds of pupils from other schools.

Previous winners include, The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud, Hostage by Chris Bradford and last year’s winner Looking at the Stars by Jo Cotterill

The School Library Service will be coming into school to launch the 2017 Award and to deliver our books ready for reading.

It was another successful school disco for the Year 7 and Year 8 pupils on Friday 10th February. Not only did our pupils enjoy themselves on the dance floor, they also enjoyed hot chocolate and freshly baked pizzas from our kitchens where parent Sean worked incredibly hard to produce such delights. Mr Langdown, Year 7 Co-ordinator said “it was a fun and enjoyable evening, not only for the pupils, but for parents and members of staff that helped support the event thoroughly enjoyed themselves too. I would like to thank the Friends of Test Valley School and Mr Hill who ran the tuck shop and helped supervise the event”.

Year 7 and 8 Disco

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Thursday 12th January was a very wet and windy day,

nevertheless thirty-four of our Year 9 pupils visited

Sparsholt College for their 14-16 College Open Day.

There were a range of courses on offer from Equine,

Animal Management and Fisheries, to the more

technically-minded courses of Engineering, Motor

Vehicle Mechanic and Agriculture.

All pupils had a fantastic time, despite the weather,

and got to take part in riding classes, creating plant

holders, handling the animals and looking at different

aspects at the college. Pupils asked some really in

depth questions and had the opportunity to discuss

post GCSE classes as well as the 14-16 courses.

Taster Day at Sparsholt College

During the last half term Year 7 had to

complete an extended piece of

homework titled 'Life of Jesus'. The

pupils were given the opportunity to pick

their own tasks from a number of

questions.

Liam Jeans in 7N was very creative and

decided to make his very own church

model. Well done Liam this is a fantastic

piece of work!

Year 7 Life of Jesus homework

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Year 10 Geographers have been practising their fieldwork

techniques in Stockbridge this week. They have been

investigated “is Stockbridge a typical small town?”

Over the next few lessons, pupils will be deciding how to present and

analyse their fieldwork data before deciding whether Stockbridge is

indeed a typical small town.

The new Geography GCSE places a much greater emphasis on fieldwork

and data collection. There is even an exam in fieldwork techniques at

the end of the course.

We are looking forward to the next opportunity to take pupils out into

the real world to undertake some more fieldwork in the near future.

Year 10 GCSE Geography Fieldwork

Photo: Wilfred Breach and Alex Oak

producing a land use map of the High

Street.

Photo: Charlie Campion, Amelia Zeal and Amelia Cairns

(and Alpaca) surveying shoppers to investigate the sphere

of influence of Stockbridge.

Photo: Tom Blow, Charlie Hayes and George Thompson

conducting a traffic count to investigate how busy the High

Street is.

Photo: Alice Woodfield and Tally O’Farrell conducting an

environmental quality assessment.

Photo: Josh Griffiths considering the evidence he has

collected.

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It has been another busy term in the PE department with 68 fixtures taking place in a variety of sports including:

Basketball Girls U14, U13 & U16

Boys U13, U14 & U16

Rugby U12, U13, U14 & U16

Football Boys years 7, 8, 9, 10/11

Girls years 7, 8, 9 10/11

Netball Year 7, 8, 9 & 10

On top of these activities pupils took part in various cross country events with Erin Pinchbeck and Nile Batty

representing the Andover & District Sports Association (ADSSA) . Nile went even better and represented Hampshire

in the national finals held in Norwich.

Test Valley Physical Education

Basketball

The U13 Boys and girls played in the ADSSA 3v3 tournaments and the other teams took part in the Southampton &

District leagues where we played more games than any other school. The highlight was the Boys U16s reaching the

Plate final where they were beaten by a strong Kings School team in the final.

Netball

Following on from the Years 9 and 10/11 netball teams who played their league games at the beginning of the year,

the Year 7 and Year 8 girls have also played a number of fixtures in the Andover League. They have had some

difficult games but have worked really hard throughout. We do not have the final results of the league as yet but

the girls can hold their heads up high in the knowledge that they did their very best.

Football

U12 Winchester & District Plate Winning Team

We have had another busy

football season. The girls have

done really well in competing in

a number of tournaments and

were fairly successful. The U16

boys made the quarter final of

the Hampshire Cup for the third

year in a row . The U14 and U15

made the semi-finals of the

Eastleigh Winchester and

Andover Plate but the real story

of the season were the U12s who

not only reached the final of the

Eastleigh Winchester and

Andover Plate but won it 4 v 3

against Perins. Thanks to all the boys and girls who competed in football this season. All games were played

with the right spirit and were a pleasure to organise and coach. We look forward to next season.

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Rugby

It was a hard season coming up against bigger schools in the Mountbatten league, Hampshire cup and ADSSA events but the teams battled hard and developed well across the season showing a desire to perform to the maximum of their ability.

U16 Squad 2016/17

Back row: A. Appleton, E.

Stanford, K. Cleal, T. Whitehead,

H. Stevens,

B. Powell, T. Wareham,

P.McAvinue, H. Scobie

Front row: G. Lewis, C. Giles,

H. Eastham, H. Crago, B. Oliver-

Hawkins, M. Palmer, S. Slark

Absent: G. Ward, T. Adeyeye,

C. Brewis, W Samways

U16 Hampshire 7s Squad

Back row: K. Cleal, C. Brewis, H. Scobie, N. Wareham, M. Palmer

Front row: H. Crago, G. Lewis, H. Eastham, C. Giles

Test Valley Physical Education

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Once again, the world famous

Stockfest will be run on the top

field at Test Valley School on

Friday 12th May from 3.30pm.

The event will include a variety

of cake stalls and games and

the PTA shall be running the

mouth- watering BBQ.

World class entertainment will

be provided by Test Valley

School pupils with some

special guests appearing on

stage!

We look forward to seeing you

all at this year's Stockfest.