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Our Manor 17-21 October 2022

Welcome to this week's newsletter

I wanted to start with an apology for the inconvenience caused by the unavailability of food at lunchtime on Thursday and the short notice we had to give to families. We are pleased to report that the leak to one of the gas pipes supplying the school was immediately made safe and has since been repaired by the gas board. We appreciate that not providing food provision to students (with the exception of free school meals) presents challenges to families that frankly they could do without. We are grateful and thank you for your understanding and support in this unforeseen circumstance.

The end of term presents me with an opportunity to award Head of School commendations to those students who have been nominated for demonstrating excellence and going above and beyond in demonstrating our REACH values. This term we have had two nominations. The first goes to Leah M for demonstrating the value of aspiration. Leah was nominated by various members of the staff and members of the community. She represented team GB in the field of wakeboarding in Denmark and is jetting off to Thailand this week for the World Championships. Mr Hill, CEO of Nene Education Trust, awarded Leah with her certificate on Friday last week.

The second goes to Jessica K for demonstrating excellence in learning during Work.World.Wellness on Curriculum Day. Mrs Oakey nominated Jessica because her work was of an exceptional standard and she acts as a great role model for others. Mrs Oakey was there to present Jessica with her award this week alongside Mr Bateman.

A huge well done to both students and to every one of our students, all of whom have demonstrated our values in abundance this half term.

Enjoy the half term. Please note, students return back to school on Tuesday 1 November.

Lee Towers, Head of School

Curriculum Day

Year 7: Wellness – A celebration of me

There are always lots of introductions to be made when joining Year 7, with the forming of friendships often influenced by what students have in common with each other. The first Curriculum Day of their Manor journey was therefore the ideal opportunity for students to get to know each other even better, with the day’s theme being ‘A Celebration of Me’.

Students began the day with an introductory assembly which included Amy Bradhsaw (NET Wellbeing and Mental Health Lead) talking about emotional regulation and grounding strategies. This was followed by a session on boundaries that they and others may have concerning their bodies.

The subsequent session saw students thinking about the characteristics they have that make them who they are, and recognising that they should be free to be themselves without the fear of ridicule or discrimination. This involved learning about the characteristics and identities that are protected by law. Students then took on the roles of policy makers by coming up with ideas on how we can increase awareness of these protected characteristics so that they are at the forefront of how we treat each other.

In their next session, students prepared a short verbal presentation about something that makes them who they are such as a characteristic, hobby, achievement, talent or general interest. After working on their speeches, presentations were delivered within their classes, with some students putting their name forward for the afternoon’s ‘big share’ event in the main hall.

Year 8: Work – Enterprise

Developing an entrepreneurial spirit is a core component of our curriculum. Year 8 students therefore spent the day participating in a variety of activities inspired by Young Enterprise’s Launch Pad challenge. As well as building business skills, the day’s tasks also provided the opportunity for students to improve their time management and teamwork skills.

The first activity required each group of students within their class to decide which business they would buy from a list of twelve existing companies. These included a bike and scooter shop, photography studio, fitness centre, and mobile food stall.

Once their new company names were approved by their teacher, classes rotated around six workshops to help them develop their business ideas:

  • Market research – competition, reviews, unique selling points
  • Branding – logo, uniforms, colour schemes
  • Advertising – leaflet design, promotional materials, placement
  • Perfecting a pitch – writing a script, presentation skills, rehearsing
  • Making a profit – revenue, running costs, projections
  • Future growth – customer retention and growth, mission statement

Students completed a work booklet as they moved around the workshops so that they had a record of their designs, research and finance calculations to assist them with preparing their pitches.

During the afternoon, students went head to head within their classes to pitch their companies, with awards given by their teacher for best pitch and best business.

Year 9: World – Prison Me No Way

Year 9 students attended a series of workshops themed around making good life choices in relation to crime, as part of our curriculum’s endeavour to provide students with the understanding, skills and values needed to cooperate in a global society. The day’s activities were organised by Prison Me No Way, a charity that aims to increase awareness amongst young people about the causes, consequences, penalties and impact of crime.

  • Choices and consequences – in this session, students heard about the experiences of someone who had been in prison, discovering how poor decisions can stack up until they result in something much worse than originally intended
  • County lines – students learnt how criminals can manipulate children into drug dealing, looking at a number of case studies to find out how easy it can be to get caught up in illegal behaviour
  • Domestic abuse – in addition to discussing what signs to look out for in potential abuse victims, students watched a dramatised scenario that looked at inappropriate behaviour and consent
  • Red Cross – students were given first aid tips on how simple actions can help to save someone’s life
  • Prison – as well as being taught about the prison system, students had the opportunity to experience what it is like to be kept in jail by visiting a mobile prison cell
  • Gangs and knives – looking at real life cases, students found out about jail terms for those involved in gang violence and how not to be drawn into joining one

Year 10: World – Faiths

A central strand within our curriculum is recognising, celebrating and encouraging diversity. Year 10 students therefore developed their understanding of different worldviews and religious perspectives by hearing from representatives of various faiths throughout the day.

Students began by completing a spirituality quiz which aimed to show students that while some of them may not be what is considered as conventionally religious, they will have a certain degree of spiritualism.

They then attended a series of talks from guest speakers about Quakerism, Paganism, Hinduism, Christianity, Humanism and Islam. During these they heard about each religion’s history, deities, places of worship and core beliefs. There was also the opportunity for students to ask questions such as how they pray and how important their faith is to them as individuals.

They finished off the day by discussing and creating displays showing the similarities and differences between the religions, as well as sharing what they personally believe based on all that they have seen during the day’s talks.

Year 11: World – How can we build a better community?

At Manor we want our students to be pro-active, positive members of their local, regional and global communities to enable them to have the capacity to make a difference. For that reason, Year 11 students spent the day learning about government and democracy, with a focus on discovering more about political parties.

After an introductory session on political concepts and brainstorming questions they may wish to ask the guest speakers, students heard from representatives from the Green Party, Liberal Democrats, Labour, and the Conservative Party.

The guests spoke about their party’s priorities and how they as individuals are involved. There was also the opportunity for students to ask them questions such as their opinions on the cost of living crisis and the current state of the government.

Students also participated in sessions on political affects and effective democracy, including how voting works in the UK and discovering where they fit as individuals on the political spectrum.

After lunch, students were tasked with creating their own political party, complete with manifesto. They then had to give a short speech to the rest of their class, with the selected best party going on to compete against other classes in a virtual hustings. Finally, students voted for the best overall party, with the results to be announced in the next Year 11 assembly.

Key Stage 5: Work – Applying for a job

Sixth form students took on the roles of potential employers and employees for the day as they learnt everything that is involved when it comes to job applications.

Year 12 students began the day learning about the importance of CVs and how to write them, as well as developing their interview skills and exploring the job application process. After researching the different job roles on offer, they went on to write a CV and apply for the role they were most interested in.

Whilst they also received tips on CVs and interviews, Year 13 students created job adverts and spent time putting together questions and tasks for the Year 12’s to experience in their interviews.

Following a jobs fair in the LRC and a 12:30pm application deadline, interviews for the roles took place in the afternoon, with Year 13 students acting as the employer and Year 12 students as the job applicants.

Mathematics department

With a change to the leadership of the mathematics department effective from September this year, our new Co-Curriculum Leads have written a letter to introduce themselves, as well as share their vision as a team.

Paris trip, July 2023

The Modern Languages Department is excited to announce the return of the Key Stage 3 trip to Paris! The trip is open to students studying French in Years 7 and 8 and is designed to give students an opportunity to experience a range of cultural attractions in and outside of Paris and extend their knowledge of the French language.

The itinerary includes visits to: the Astérix Theme Park, Vimy Ridge, the Stade de France, the Science Museum, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and Sacré Coeur, a river cruise along the Seine, a tour of Paris by night as well as a visit to a chocolate factory. The proposed dates for this trip are Monday 3 July to Friday 7 July 2023 inclusive.

Please see the letter below for further details. If your child is in Year 7 or Year 8 and is interested in this trip, please give consent on WisePay before the end of Thursday 3 November. No payments are required at this stage.

Mrs M Thompson, Curriculum Lead (KS3 MFL)

Modern Foreign Languages Speaking booklet

Below is a short video guide for students in Years 10 and 11 and their parents/carers explaining about the Modern Foreign Languages Speaking booklet, and is an introduction as to how this booklet will help students prepare for their Year 11 GCSE Speaking exam.

The information is applicable to students studying for French, German or Spanish.

If you have any questions regarding the format of the exam or require further information once you have viewed the video, please email mbrooks@manor.school.

Student survey

We would really appreciate it if students could complete the following short survey which focuses on mental health and wellbeing. Please read the instructions at the top carefully.

Mrs Bradshaw, NET Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead

Restart a Heart Day

Restart A Heart Day takes place every October, and sees organisations across the country encouraging individuals to learn CPR and help save a life if the time comes. A cardiac arrest is when someone’s heart stops beating normally; they become unconscious and stop breathing. It can happen to anyone, at any age and comes about suddenly.

The video below features a survivor sharing their story:

To learn CPR for yourself, watch:

On behalf of East Northants First Responders

Halloween and Bonfire Night advice

The East Northants Neighbourhood Policing Team have written a letter about around the celebrations of Halloween and Bonfire Night and what constitutes acceptable behaviour at this time of year. You can download it via the link below.

Routines and expectations

We are really pleased with how our new routines and expectations have impacted on our school by helping it to feel a calmer and more purposeful environment.

Students are overwhelmingly positive in reporting to us that duty staff wearing high visibility jackets is a step forward. Students feel the significant presence around school where they did not before. Through student voice, Year 7 students have told us that has really supported them on transition, not least, helping them navigating their way around school. As staff we have noticed an increasing number of parents/carers and members of the community engaging with us on gate duty before and after school, which has been a welcome bonus of the implementation of the jackets.

#ManorWatch also continues to be utilised to support in the reporting of concerns or incidents. Not only does it give families and young people the chance to report things discreetly but it also provides a quick means of reporting, which gives the appropriate member of staff the information quicker and therefore the chance to act fast. Again, through student voice, they have told us that it is an effective addition to the school.

We launched our Safer Toilet plan this half term in response to the feedback from students and families. Year 7 now have their own toilet block along the maths and English corridor, Year 8 and 9 share the toilets by the main hall, and Year 10 and 11 use the toilets in technology. Sixth Form have always had their own toilets in their study centre. Students use these toilets at break and lunchtime but also if they need to go during lesson time. This has arguably made the biggest difference to helping students feel less intimidated as we have rationalised the number of students using any one block. We have worked hard to ensure students stick to this to maintain the positive impact. In relation to using the toilets during lesson time, whilst we encourage students to go at break, lunch and in between lessons, we have also introduced a yellow lanyard system to support students being out of lesson. Also, we record the frequency of requests to use the toilets during lessons to help identify those who might need additional support.

We will continue to keep you updated with the progress in these matters.

Arbor

We'd like to thank all parents/carers for their patience with any teething issues, and really helpful feedback about the use of the Arbor platform for students, parents and carers. We are migrating many of our systems and platforms to Arbor over the course of this academic year, to ensure that there is one single source of information for all parties. We are currently using Arbor to show information for parents/carers and their children about:

  • Attendance
  • REACH and Enrichment points
  • Homework (known as assignments)
  • Timetable
  • Consultation evening booking (Year 11 currently open)

Over the coming months we are looking to add some behaviour information and investigating how we can use the Arbor platform for greater communication and notifications of key information. We'll publish information in this newsletter as it becomes available.

Finally, we wanted to clarify a couple of key points around Arbor and homework:

  • All homework is being set on Arbor.
  • Where a task requires a feature only available in another platform (Seneca, Tassomai, Quizziz, Microsoft Teams), the Arbor homework task will provide a link to this feature.
  • Any tasks set on other platforms that are not on Arbor should be viewed as work that is to be completed in class.
  • Where other platforms are used for homework tasks, the submission status that is used for internal analysis and tracking of homework completion is Arbor.
  • Teachers have been asked to mark off homework submission within 3 days of the deadline for homework.
  • We have provided feedback to the developers at Arbor and asked them to consider adding a button for students that allows them to mark homework as 'submitted for teacher check'.

Year 12 & 13 Consultation Evening

Our Year 12 & 13 Parent/Carer Consultation Evening will take place on Thursday 10 November as a face-to-face event in school. Bookings for meetings with teaching staff must be made using the Arbor app or online portal by following the link to the Consultation Evening on the dashboard. You will be able to start making the appointments at 9:00am on Monday 24 October and the system will close to new appointments at 11:59pm on Tuesday 8 November.

If you have not already done so, the simplest way to register is to sign into the parent portal - please visit https://login.arbor.sc/ and select 'Forgotten password'. You will then be sent an email containing further instructions. Once you have registered, you can download the app from Google Play or the App Store and log in with your details.

Free swimming during half term

Don't forget that you can access your child's student details, attendance, REACH points and homework tasks via the Arbor parent portal app.

House points as of 21 October

Credits:

Created with an image by dizain - "OLA (Hello Greeting in Portuguese) word cloud in different languages of the world with marker"