Dear Families, Friends, Students and Staff.
This week has been a whirlwind of activity, as you will see from this week's newsletter! We were delighted to welcome visitors from the Breck Foundation who delivered an important message to both our students about online safety. This timely presentation provided valuable insights and guidance for both our students and their families.
School spirit was high as we all rallied behind our respective houses for the exciting Spanish-themed house competition. The energy was electric as students battled it out in 3 Blooket quizzes.
Academically, our Year 11 and 13 students will have received their reports this week. These reports hopefully provide valuable feedback to them on their progress and areas for development before they embark on their public exams this summer.
Finally, myself and the rest of the Senior Leadership Team spent time engaged in strategic planning for the next academic year (where does the time go?!). This crucial process ensures that we continue to provide the best possible education and experiences for all our students.
We look forward to another productive week ahead!
Mrs Rich
Students of the week
Year 7
Ella for her contributions during class discussion in the Wellbeing lesson.
Brooke for her consistent effort in PSHE.
Mr. Stables praised Year 7 for their excellent work in Science this week, where they focused on the topic of Forces.
Year 8
Well done Danai for working so hard in literacy 1:1, Mrs Daggett thoroughly enjoyed your insightful reading of ‘Dracula’ this week, fabulous accents!
Well done Alex for great effort in History this week.
Sophia M for outstanding work in the Group with Ms Chorazyczewska.
Well done to Lexi and Eloise for working excellently in their Thursday split Maths lesson.
Amazing electricity circuits completed by all of Year 8 in Science.
Olivia for kindly explaining how to play a game to her classmates in Social Group. Fantastic demonstration of our school value 'Inclusive'.
Elizabeth for her excellent writing in literacy 1:1 session with Mrs Cowlam.
Year 9
Well done to the Year 9 Steinbeck group for some extremely thoughtful group work on Poetry from Other Cultures - fantastic analysis of ‘Nothing’s Changed!'
Carl for always helping Ms Lansdell with tech issues!
Harry for his focused work and effort in the 1:1 sessions. Excellent way to demonstrate 'achieving' - one of our school values.
Excellent thinking by Eric, Mason, Lysander, Benjamin, Alfie and Remi when considering compound appreciation and depreciation in Maths this week.
Marley for showing constantly good effort in his studies across all subjects.
Well done to Issy and Harry for presenting the presentation on the new drug development. You both smashed it!!
Everyone for fantastic teamwork demonstrated in the survival game challenge in Social Group this week.
Year 10
Great work on ‘Macbeth’ from Francesca this week!
Well done Rory for great effort in GCSE History this week in the work on the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.
Great team work from Bethany and Sophie whilst solving Volume and Surface Area Problems in Maths. Fantastic way to show our school value of being 'Supportive'.
Well done to Finn to balance the equations in Chemistry
Well done to Francesca, Lloyd and Mani for their accurate and detailed descriptions about their best friends in Spanish.
Year 11
Excellent work from Judah on the Anthology poetry in English Lit this week - well done!
Logan for excellent progression with his football skills in the matches this week.
Excellent work from Archie in History GCSE.
Excellent work on advanced trigonometry from Matt, Morgan, William, Josh, Eliot and Brendan in Maths this week. Well done!
Well done Reenie for acing her recent Science test.
Reenie and Morgan for drumming up enthusiasm amongst students for the upcoming Canbury Talent Show - watch this space!
Sixth Form
Great work on ‘Macbeth’ from Frankie this week!
Dates for the diary
SATRO Business and Enterprise Day - Tuesday 28th January 2025: Lessons 3 to 6 for Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and 6th Form plus Yr11 Business students.
Yr 8 Progress Check Evening ONLINE - Thursday 6 February at 17:00 – 19:00
If you would like to 'add' the school event calendar and never miss an up-coming event, please follow this link
Online Safety
The Breck Foundation
This week, we have had the privilege to welcome representatives from The Breck Foundation into the school to work with students and their families on raising awareness of how to stay safe online.
This morning Key Stage 3 (Year 7, 8 and 9) and then KS4 and 5 (Yr10, 11 and 6th Form) had a very powerful talk from The Breck Foundation. They learned about Breck, how he was groomed online, and how to stay safe online themselves. Following this, we had a whole school assembly where students were given the opportunity to ask questions which a number did, and what excellent and thoughtful questions they were.
The foundation also hosted for us a parent and carer online training session on Thursday evening. We are so pleased that so many of you were able to attend and have fed back to us how useful you found it. If you were unable to attend, the foundation will be sharing a recording of the session with us shortly, and we will be sharing this with all parents and carers, so please watch out for this email from reception.
Below are a couple of slides from the parent and carer presentation. Please click these images to see them fully. If you wish to find out more, please go to: https://www.breckfoundation.org/
Sporting updates
This week saw the first football fixtures for all our school teams this half-term against local rivals St Phillips.
On Wednesday our KS4 boys and mixed girls team played, and both recorded victories. The boys won 5-1, and the girls won 4-1, with another goal controversially disallowed by the referee.
Our KS3 teams braved treacherous weather conditions on Thursday to battle out two competitive matches. One team won 8-3 and the other lost 8-4 - however, learned a lot in the process.
Well done to all those who participated.
It was also nice to receive such glowing feedback from our students who went on the PE trip to Fulham’s football ground last week. I received an email from the Fulham Foundation (who organised the trip saying) saying:
“I just wanted to touch base with you, as I have just heard from Ed our Stadium Tour Manager who let me know that the tour guide who did your tour recently specifically relayed back to him that they were so impressed with the behaviour and engagement of your group last Friday”
Science this week
Year 8 students recently conducted exciting science experiments! They delved into the fascinating world of electricity by creating simple circuits. Meanwhile, our Year 9 EL students demonstrated their scientific inquiry skills by investigating the impact of light intensity on the process of photosynthesis.
¡Trabajamos juntos!
Teamwork was the buzzword this Wednesday. There was more fun and games than usual in the Spanish room as Senora Porter launched the first Spanish House Blooket competition. 14 students gained house points for joining in, but after three games, it was a close call for the overall winner. House points were awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in each game and also to the most accurate player. Thank you to all those who participated with such enthusiasm and made the event such a success that it will definitely be repeated. The results were as follows:
Johnson = 2 points
Campbell = 13 points
Noble = 29 points
Special mention to Layla Yr12, who gained the highest accuracy prize for all three games!
Inspiration from music
Year 10 photography students created wire and paper sculptures this week for their project 'Abstract and Strange'. First, they listened to different pieces of music to do mark making exercises by responding intuitively, which they used as a reference when creating their sculptures. They will use these creations to explore light and shadow in their photography work. I look forward to seeing their photos next week! - Mrs Tank
Happy Burns' Night!
On Saturday, there will be haggis, bagpipes and poetry aplenty as people all over the world (but mainly in Scotland!) celebrate the life of Robert Burns. We aren’t marking the occasion in school this year, but we have shared the opening stanzas of Burns’ famous ‘Address to a Haggis’ below - just in case any of you fancy having a go at his wonderful Scottish dialect!
This poem is most often recited on Burns Night before the Burns Supper commences. Traditionally, when the Haggis is brought out to the table, one of the attendees of the Burns Supper will ‘address’ the Haggis using Burns’ poem.
Burns wrote the humorous poem in 1786 to celebrate his appreciation of the Haggis, and as a result, Burns and the Haggis are now forever linked.
Address to a Haggis - Robert Burns
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’ need,
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut ye up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!
Student Corner
Neve Yr7
Neve has been busy this afternoon creating a 'Spot it in the Forest' mindful activity for you all. If you are out in nature this weekend, why don't you see how many of these mini beasts you can spot. The Woodland Trust also has a 'Winter Walk Scavenger Hunt' activity here if you are interested.
Soren Yr7
Soren has been back at the drawing board this week with another piece for the newsletter. This time it's a word game based on rhyming the names of places around the world.
Some examples for you are:
Timbuktu to Peru
Greece to Nice
Spain to Ukraine
Kent to Stoke-on-Trent via Brent
Can you come up with any via rhyming places for the above three places? If so, send your ideas in to Mrs Rich at head@canburyschool.co.uk. House points for all rhyming places.
Ella Year 7
Shout out to Ella for her fantastic work today in Spanish to show her opinions of school subjects.
If a student would like to submit their work or ideas to the newsletter, drop by Mrs Rich's office before each Friday to discuss or email Head@canburyschool.co.uk
General Notices
Cricket – opportunity to play club cricket this summer
With support from Middlesex CCC and the Lords Taverners one of our parents is trying to organise the opportunity for wider access to club cricket outside school this summer. Based at Bushy Park Sports Club in Teddington, this will be an opportunity for 12-25 year olds who have not previously been able to access cricket to give it a go, with the opportunity to train and play on a regular basis throughout the season.
Typically, participants may have Autism or ADHD, and have struggled to access the game previously in conventional cricket club settings. The exact format is yet to be confirmed (i.e. hardball vs windball) and will depend on the ability of the cohort – so complete beginners will be welcome alongside those who have played before.
At the moment the organisers are just trying to ensure that there is enough interest – so if you would like to play, please email billyday143@hotmail.com
Credits:
Created with images by Nick Fox - "Quiraing mountains sunset at Isle of Skye, Scottland, United Kingdom" • Liana - "A collage of various international flags representing global unity and diversity. The image symbolizes international relations and world peace."