Welcome to issue 7 of The Rowntree Reporter Autumn Term - December 2023

Welcome

I hope you enjoy the festive edition of the Rowntree Reporter and reading about the many activities students have been involved in. The articles give a snapshot of the work that members of staff put into giving students a broad range of opportunities, which is always greatly appreciated. Our Year 7 students have settled into school really well and it has been lovely to see them becoming so involved in school life alongside students from across the school. Best wishes - Mr Hewitt, Headteacher

It’s great to see a range of activities, from helping our local community by litter picking, to Elf The Musical JR. which involved pupils from Year 7 to the Sixth Form. I’m also pleased to see JoRo doing well across a range of sports. It's these activities that help students build for the future. Best wishes for a happy Christmas for everyone associated with The Joseph Rowntree school. - Robin Stafford, Chair of Governors

Elf The Musical JR.

Nurture talent

The stage at Joseph Rowntree School came alive with festive cheer as students delivered a captivating performance of Elf The Musical JR., leaving the audience enchanted by their talent and dedication.

Buddy the Elf was brought to life by the remarkable Will Roberts, who donned the iconic green elf costume, capturing the essence of Buddy's childlike innocence and boundless enthusiasm. Sophie Wade captivated the audience with her portrayal of Jovie, bringing depth and charm to the character. Standout performances also came from Matthew Warry as Michael Hobbs, and of course Tommy Lonsdale as Santa, 'the big man himself’.

However, it was the farewell performance of Year 13 students Bailey Smallwood and Annie Shorten that stole the spotlight. The duo celebrated their last Vaudeville show at Joseph Rowntree School with an exceptional display of their theatrical prowess. The audience was treated to a memorable performance marking the end of an era, as they bid adieu to their secondary school theatrical journey. Their dedication and skill were evident as they delivered a memorable and heartfelt show, leaving an indelible mark on the Joseph Rowntree School's Vaudeville tradition.

The school's Performing Arts department expressed pride in all the students' accomplishments and acknowledged the hard work and commitment that went into the production, from cast to tech crew alike. The audience was treated to a magical evening filled with laughter, joy, and a celebration of the arts.

As the curtains fell on Elf The Musical JR., the Joseph Rowntree School community applauded the cast and crew for a job well done, creating cherished memories that will linger long after the holiday season. The whole cast received well-deserved accolades for their contributions to the vibrant and thriving arts culture at the school.

In the spirit of gratitude, the success of Elf The Musical JR. wouldn't have been possible without the unwavering dedication and hard work of the school's talented staff, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes. The teachers and directors, along with the costume designers, set builders, and sound and lighting crews, played a crucial role in bringing the enchanting world of Buddy the Elf to life. Their countless hours of rehearsals, creative insights, and meticulous attention to detail ensured that every aspect of the performance was seamless and magical. The Joseph Rowntree School community extends its heartfelt thanks to the dedicated staff members whose passion for the arts has undoubtedly contributed to the success of this memorable production. - Mr Hill

York Christmas Tree Festival

Work together collaboratively

Throughout this half term, Year 7 and 8 students have been working hard in DT & Textiles extracurricular clubs to create decorations for our first entry into the York Christmas Tree Festival.

We selected two of the Year 7 students from the DT club, Katie Scaife & Jessica Wilkinson, to come down to York Minster and help us decorate our tree. They behaved brilliantly and were a credit to the school.

Also at the Christmas Tree festival at York Minster are contributions from The Joseph Rowntree School Show Choir and Vocal Harmony, both featuring on the York Music Hub Christmas Tree. This tree is decorated with dozens of pieces of music, which you can access via QR code baubles. Our vocal groups recorded a version of Silence in My Heart, which they also performed at our remembrance ceremony.

The festival runs from 3rd December 2023 until 5th January 2024. Entrance to the York Minster is free to York residents with proof of residence, so please pop along to see all the fantastic trees on display including our entry, which is number 20.

Students collected litter from all around New Earswick

Students continue their litter pick crusade

Respect all members of our community

This November saw students from all year groups take part in our regular annual litter pick. Litter pickers and black bags in hand, they collected a huge amount of rubbish on their route through New Earswick. There was much competition between the various year groups to collect not only the most litter, but also the most unusual items. One pair of students managed to find a large part of a car bumper!

The event was a great success, and very well received by the local residents, many of whom took the time to come over and congratulate the students.

Sixth Form Christmas Quiz

Encourage wellbeing

Joseph Rowntree Sixth Form celebrated Christmas with Mr Coleman’s final quiz. Everyone from Year 12 and 13 gathered in the Vaudeville Hall to participate in what will go down in history as the best Christmas quiz ever, and it’s all thanks to Mr Coleman’s iconic ‘fish round’ and ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!’ Christmas jumper.

The quiz began with a general knowledge round, but before that he delighted the entire Sixth Form with the funniest joke known to man - reading out his shopping list - saying how it is a tradition to begin the annual quiz with a joke. During the general knowledge quiz, he started with the ‘easiest’ question (according to Mr Coleman, who said, “Where is the Great Barrier Reef located? If you don’t know this, you’ll be kicked out of Sixth Form”). Throughout the quiz, Mr Coleman picked out students at random and asked them bonus questions such as “how many holes are in my socks?”, “Can you name a breed of dog?” and “Can you be Quiet?”.

After the general knowledge came a music round, where our local DJ Mr Coleman played us some songs that we had to guess the name of! After all this musical madness, we sat through the third and final round (Mr Coleman’s favourite), the ‘fish’ round. Mr Coleman would show us fish that he had caught and we had to guess their name. During the round he told us tales of the 50kg fish he had caught, and how one of his ‘fish pics’ ended up on the front cover of a fishing magazine!

By the end of the fish round, Mr Coleman was handed his goodbye card, signed by everyone in Sixth Form. Sixth Form president Bailey Smallwood sincerely commented how he is the ‘heart and soul of Sixth Form ... for a few more days’, and although there were tears all around for his departure, this Christmas quiz was a great way to say goodbye to Mr Coleman as the Head of Sixth Form, an amazing way for students to remember his time here, and some great Christmas fun as a united Sixth Form! Thank you Mr Coleman for your final Christmas quiz, and for all your hard work as the Head of Sixth Form. - Cate Lawson & Rauls Aleksejenko - Year 13

The Great Rowntree Bake Off

Encourage wellbeing

This half term saw the final of the Great British Bake Off and with it came our very own Great Rowntree Bake Off. In pairs, students from Years 7-10 took to the kitchen to create sensational sugar cookies and scrumptious cupcakes.

Students were given the ingredients for the base recipe and many chose to bring in additions to add some individuality and flare to their bakes. Some intricate decorations and beautiful designs were found on our sugar cookies, and some excellent buttercream sculptures on the cupcakes. Some staff favourites were the sunset gradient sugar cookies and the Grinch faces on the cupcakes! Students did much more than decorate though, with some truly wonderful bakes and possibly one of the fluffiest cupcakes we had ever tasted.

Staff also smashed the baking, with an incredible decorative feat from Miss Edens, some cute and tree themed cupcakes from Mr Bone, and some exceptionally tasty cookies, brownies, and cake from other members of staff. All members of staff were delighted to be taste testers!

Congratulations to our winners Alba Fenton, Bethan Usher, Lyv Huddleston, and Frances Langley in Year 7, and Lydia Nixon and Alyssa-Jade Vowles in Year 9. Overall, Oak won the bake-off with an outstanding 610 points.

Everyone had an amazing time, and we’re already looking forward to hosting another bake off closer to Easter! - Miss Sladen

Rowntree All-Rounder Badge Design Competition

Recognise excellence

Mrs Jones is delighted to announce Ebony Walker as the winner of the Rowntree All Rounder badge design competition. The Year 7 initiative has been launched this term as a whole year group commitment to self development and contribution to the school community. Ebony's badge design was chosen by Mr Hewitt, Mr Walker, and Mrs Clarke out of over 120 entries. Congratulations Ebony! Mrs Jones would also like to recognise Gracen Campion and Alexa Bell as the runners up!

Ebony's winning badge design!

North Yorkshire Inter-School Chess

Nurture talent

In November, the Joseph Rowntree Chess Team competed in the third annual North Yorkshire Inter-School Chess Competition. This was a very intense experience, but the team was absolutely amazing, showing incredible resilience, sportsmanship, and an eagerness to learn and improve.

The five students went up against professional players who routinely represent Yorkshire or England in competition, and their response was uniformly "Please put me back in the next match Sir, I want another crack at them!"

They all represented the school brilliantly, and they have all shown incredible improvements to their game this year. Well done to all of you! - Mr Turner

Year 9 Sport Leaders

Year 7 & 8 Girls Football Tournament

Teach and learn through inspiration

Back in October, a group of 42 Year 7 and 8 girls took part in a football tournament led by fifteen Year 9 Sports Leaders. They teamed up into houses and all played really well, showing outstanding teamwork and sportsmanship.

The results were as follows:

1st Place: Hazel

2nd Place: Willow

3rd Place: Aspen

4th Place: Oak

Star Player Awards went to: Malak B, Isla T, Sienna C, Liv W, Flora E, Izzy D and Evie S.

The Year 9 leaders took on the roles of referee, team managers, scorers, and timers, doing a brilliant job supporting the younger students. Sienna, Charlotte, and Eilidh refereed the games and did a fantastic job. Well done to all the girls involved! - Mrs Tindall

Primary School Visit

In November, our Year 9 Sport Leaders went to Wigginton Primary school and led sports sessions for Year 1 and Year 2. They were incredibly professional and a credit to the school. The younger years loved the sessions and really loved working with our students! - Mrs Tindall

Cross Country Champions

Overcome obstacles to success

Students from all year groups attended the York and District School Cross Country Competition on a wet and very muddy course at Yorks Sports Village. Students were invited to attend based on their performance in the house cross country run held in PE lessons in the previous week.

Students performed excellently in the tough conditions across all year groups, but the Year 8 and 9 Boys and Year 7 Girls won their age groups against a big field from eleven other schools. Stand out individual performances were Charlie Cammidge in Year 10, finishing 5th, and the Year 7 Girls Flora Eckert, Grace Campion, and Isobel Davies finishing 9th, 10th, and 11th respectively, clinching the title.

Drama & Performing Arts

Teach and learn through inspiration

NSPCC "It's Not Ok"

Our Drama studio has recently been filled with second Year BA Theatre students from York St John University. They have been working with our brilliant Year 10 GCSE Drama group on a project using material from the NSPCC campaign ‘It's Not Ok.’

We got some great feedback from the University on the partnership project: "I would like to say a huge thanks to you and the school for hosting York St John students with the 'It's Not Ok' campaign. It's great you want to continue developing that relationship with York St John so your students have the best opportunities, I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the future." - Mr Coates

Devising Drama

Year 11 and 13 Drama students shared their devised drama with their peers earlier this term. Both groups have been working on their AQA Component 3 projects for their studies. They were tasked with developing an engaging piece of theatre from a specific stimulus as a starting point.

We got some great feedback from the University on the partnership project: "I would like to say a huge thanks to you and the school for hosting York St John students with the 'It's Not Ok' campaign. It's great you want to continue developing that relationship with York St John so your students have the best opportunities, I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the future." - Mr Coates

An incredible view of the Hamilton Stage

Hamilton Trip

Teach and learn through inspiration

A trip to the Palace Theater in Manchester was on the cards for our performing arts students in November. A group of Year 9, 10, and 11 students were lucky enough to obtain tickets to see the touring production of Hamilton: An American Musical, which is a set work for all BTEC Performing Arts Students.

The group braved the Christmas Market traffic to get to the theatre to watch this spectacular production. To be able to see all the technical aspects and performances of this show first-hand in the audience was amazing. The students were very impressed with the whole show, from the impressive double turntable stage, to the integrated choreography of the ensemble, and the amazing performances of the cast and live band.

To be able to visit live theatre again, particularly performances of a set work within the course, will highly enhance projects and coursework for these students over the exam period.

As always, they represented our school fantastically in the theatre, and a great time was had by all!

Remembrance Day

Respect all Members of Our Community

On 10th November the school once again gathered together to pause and reflect in our annual Remembrance ceremony.

Mr Hewitt led assemblies throughout the week to all year groups, which included input from our students who had attended the recent Battlefields trip to Belgium in the half term. Our student leadership team in Year 11 also created a range of resources that were used by tutor groups across the week to raise awareness.

On Friday 10th at 11am there was a ceremony in the hub, which was live streamed to all classrooms. All representatives of our student council from each year group attended the hub ceremony, along with a number of visitors and classes. This was again led by our student leadership team with support from musicians and our vocal groups. Members of local cadet groups also wore their cadet uniforms for the day in school and attended the ceremony together.

Thank you to all the students and members of staff who were involved in this important event.

Science Club

Nurture talent

The Year 7 Science club is about encouraging the students to get excited about science, to perceive it as accessible, and to have a bit of fun! So far we've investigated buoyancy, rocketry, rainbows in chemistry, and microscopy.

We do our best to give the students hands-on experience where possible and safe, and the ones who turn up consistently really enjoy themselves! We have plans to run sessions in the new year focusing on animation, in which we are very grateful for Ms Foulger's assistance. We will also be looking at geology and more colourful chemistry. - Mr Clarkson

Belgium & France Battlefields Trip

Respect all members of our community

I was once again lucky enough to accompany a fantastic group of our students to Belgium and France for the World War One Battlefields visit in mid-October.

Despite the Menin Gate being closed for maintenance, we were still able to take full part in the regular service that took place next to the memorial. Ms Shepherd, Jake Johnson, and Oliver Wigdahl did themselves and the school proud by representing the school to lay our poppy wreath. There was also a surprise guest for us at the service, with television's Dan Snow attending to read the Exhortation.

During the trip, we visited Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park, Langemark German Cemetery, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Vimy Ridge, Hill 62, Sanctuary Wood Essex Park Dressing Station, and the Thiepval Memorial. Our students were incredibly well-behaved and respectful throughout the visit - as ever I was proud to be a part of it. Thank you to Ms Shepherd, Mrs Robinson, Mr Hatter, Mr Turner, and our ever-reliable tour guide Alana Britton, for their attendance, company, work, and support with the visit. - Mr Ireton

WeSchool Sustainability Workshop

Teach and learn through inspiration

On 14th December I was invited to do a Geography workshop. We got put into groups. In our groups, we had to discuss and answer different questions about climate change, covering different scenarios. We then got to explain our answer on the Zoom call. The main task we got assigned was to decide on the best option for making our island more sustainable. We then discussed our answers and decided on an overall class idea. After that, we had to show the people on the Zoom call our idea. We came second! This was a really fun experience, and I would definitely be up for doing something similar to this again. - Lucy Parr 9SAR

Careers Events

Overcome obstacles to success

Year 10-13 Careers Fair Evening

We would like to invite all students in Years 10-13, along with their parents/carers, to attend our careers fair on Tuesday 30th January.

The event will take place from 6 - 8pm, and will give students and their parents/carers the opportunity to find out about post 16 and post 18 pathways such as college, sixth form, university, and apprenticeships.

We will have talks on apprenticeships (including degree apprenticeships) and UCAS if you would like to find out more information about these. You will also have the opportunity to visit stands from local employers including Nestlé, Portakabin, and Network Rail, as well as local education providers.

Please use the form below to confirm your attendance and to opt into one, or both, of the talks.

Career Ready

Our Year 13 Career Ready students graduated from the programme at the end of November during a ceremony at The Grand Hotel. The students were treated to a mocktail masterclass, a cooking demonstration, and afternoon tea.

Our Year 12 cohort started their programme at the start of December during their first masterclass at Aviva.

Year 10 work experience

Year 10 work experience will take place Monday 10th - Friday 14th June. Students need to self source their placements and log them on Unifrog once confirmed. Further information about how to source and log a work placement can be found on Year 10 Google Classroom

Alumni

If you are a former Joseph Rowntree student and would like to join our Alumni, please register your interest here: https://forms.gle/VPYgd3PXt7TjNRbXA

Thank you for taking time to read the Rowntree Reporter - we look forward to sharing more fantastic stories with you in the spring term.