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Our Manor 3-6 May 2022

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Since the last time of writing we have had the opportunity to watch Year 11 and 13 performances as part of the examination process for their courses. It was great to see so many students in other year groups in supporting roles during these performances. It was a timely reminder of the commitment, dedication and hard work that is required from young people in order to be successful in GCSE and A Level courses. The quality of the performances have been exceptional and really inspiring. This does not come without high quality teaching and I am grateful to have such talented staff in our school.

This week I attended the Raunds Town Assembly along with a number of other colleagues from the school and across the Trust. There were many great performances throughout the evening from all of the schools, not least from our trio of singers. It was a pleasure to also see two of our own students receive the Mayor’s Citizen's Award, alongside others in the community for their contributions to Raunds and surrounding villages. I spoke to the audience about the significance of our extra-curricular provision and the role that has to play in creating long lasting memories of school life for our young people. Now that COVID no longer restricts us and extra-curricular opportunities have returned with a vengeance, we aim to grow and enhance our offer even further. As a prospective parent as well as the Head of School, I for one am really excited by opportunities my own children will be exposed to when they start Manor School.

Have a restful weekend.

Lee Towers, Head of School

Meet the Head

We continue to offer parents/carers and members of the community the opportunity to meet the Head of School. This is an opportunity for people to share with us their thoughts and feelings about the school and wider community, whether they be positive or recommendations on how we can be better.

To make an appointment please contact Sandra Rodway, PA to the Head of School, at srodway@manor.school.

Thank you to those of you who we have seen and spoken to in recent weeks.

Head Students

One of the highlights of the academic year is the appointment of our new Head Students. We believe that all our sixth formers are role models for the younger year groups; the most visible role models are our Head Students.

Over the past week, nine incredible candidates battled it out to win the votes of the entire school community. They were set a gruelling list of challenges that all followed each other in quick succession. Task one was to prepare a video to be shown in Work. World. Wellness. lessons. Task two required candidates to prepare a presentation, outlining their 'manifesto for change' and deliver this in a meeting to the Senior Leadership Team. Finally, task three was to prepare a speech to deliver in front of the sixth form community. The speeches were delivered on Wednesday afternoon and students in all year groups were asked to vote straight after.

Our dedicated team of Year 13 counters ensured all votes were accurately counted and processed by 3pm. At 3:05pm, our outgoing Head students George, Alex and Aimee announced to the school community in a live Teams call that our new Head Students were Hannah I, Lewis M, and Thomas T.

We now look forward to holding the lower school parliament elections and seeing the impact that they can have, led by our new Head Students. Next week, we will formally thank our outgoing Head Students for the incredible contribution they have made over the past year.

Year 11 dance performance review

Year 11 dance students have been working over the past eight weeks on the brief of ‘Better Together’ to create a dance performance. On Friday 29 April their final performance exam took place. Performing Arts journalist Ruby C (Year 11) came to support and review the show.

The Mad Hatters Tea Party

I was immediately enthralled by the Year 11 GCSE dance showcase!

The level of talent shown by the girls was amazing, and the resilience to act so calmly in their exam was incredible - a testament to the work they’ve put in.

They engaged the audience with such ease and reflected the brief they were given to such an extent that you could tell exactly which mental illness each character represented, even with them never speaking.

Speaking to audience members after the show, it was clear to see the profound effect the showcase had on the guests, stunned by the talent shown.

Well done girls!

English house competition

Next week's house competition is hosted by the English department. Students have been set the challenge to produce a short story or piece of original writing that's no more than 1000 words long.

Further details of the task and how to enter can be downloaded below.

T20 Cricket

We have 12 tickets to watch the T20 Cricket at the Northants County Ground for Wednesday 22 June in a match versus Birmingham Bears. Tickets are £8.60 which include the ticket price and transport from and to Manor by minibus.

We will leave school at 5:30pm to arrive for the start of the match at 6:30pm. The match should finish between 9:00-9:30pm, meaning we will arrive back to school no later than 10:00pm. Two members of staff will be attending.

If you would like to secure one of these tickets, please go to your Wisepay account and purchase the ticket. These will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The deadline to pay is Friday 13 May.

Grafham Water trip

Our Year 9 trip to Grafham Water is now fully booked. Thank you to everyone who expressed their interest in the trip.

Mental health support

We are now linked with an NHS Mental Health Support Team - the video below explains how they work with schools in our area.

As part of the audit process the team would like to gather your opinions too. Click on the link below to complete their short questionnaire.

Free exam stress webinar

Rachel, EEDI's Educational Psychology Lead, is back with another free webinar aimed at GCSE students.

The focus is on exam stress, and will give tips and techniques for keeping last-minute nerves at bay and performing at your best. In the session, Rachel will discuss do's and don't's for last minute revision, tips for keeping your cool during the exam and ways to kickstart your motivation in this final stretch.

This session is aimed at GCSE students, but parents/carers are welcome to join.

The free webinar takes place on Wednesday 11 May at 7:30pm. You can sign up via the link below.

Year 11 exam timetable

Every Friday we'll be sharing the Year 11 exam timetable for the following week - both in this newsletter and on social media - so that students know what is coming up. If students have any queries about the sessions or exams, they should speak to their subject teachers as soon as possible. For any parent/carer queries relating to anything concerning examinations, please contact exams@manor.school in the first instance.

Click to enlarge, or click here to download

PE notices

Please could students who have been selected to play in the upcoming School Games hockey competitions on Monday 16 May attend an after-school practice on Friday 13 May. If other students wish to attend they are free to do so, but this is predominantly for those playing in the tournament on the 16th. The team sheets are on the PE notice board just in case students aren’t sure if they have been selected or not.

We have a number of events coming up in rounders, softball and athletics, particularly where we would like to make sure we enter a team. If students would like to represent the school in these competitions, please try to get to the after school clubs as shown on the timetable below. When exams start on the Monday 16 May, the use of the sports hall will be impacted for lunchtime clubs and some after school activities. Where possible we will move the club after school to outside, rather than cancel altogether.

Click to enlarge

We have been working with Northumbria University to help one of their lecturers compile research on the importance of grouping effectively in PE. Schools around the country have given their views based on a teacher perspective and the research is now looking for data from a student perspective. Please could we ask you to encourage students to click the following link which will take them to the survey. It should take 10 minutes maximum to complete. Remember, this is to gain students' opinions on the way groups are set in PE. This is not compulsory, but we do get a copy of the anonymous data which may help us as a school moving forward too.

Finally, a polite reminder that in order for us to teach PE lessons and lead clubs and activities, we need our equipment. If students happen to find a piece of equipment please could we ask that it is returned to the PE office. It is also important that equipment is used respectfully and correctly during lessons. We appreciate the support of parents/carers in sharing this message with students.

Rushden Junior Parkrun