Our Manor 16-20 December 2024

Welcome to this week's newsletter

My first full term at Manor is at an end. We have had some great moments and the term finished off with a bang this week, with our Christmas Fair on Tuesday afternoon. This event was organised and ran by our fabulous sixth form students who dressed up and staffed the stalls with gusto. We had people dancing to Gangnam Style, playing Christmas games, listening to Christmas songs, and enjoying drinks and refreshments from the snack shack, all in aid of our two charities Kelly's Heroes and the Air Ambulance. In total, over £706.10 was raised for these charities through the hard work and effort of our students. Well done to the sixth form and all of the students who were involved, as well as our local community who supported the event. We have started to plan next year's one already, which will be bigger and better and we aim to raise even more money for charities.

The school community have also contributed to the Raunds Food Bank by providing Christmas hampers. It was a privilege to hand over these hampers to the Food Bank on Wednesday, filling three cars with contributions that will make things a little easier for members of our community when times are tough. Providing basics at this time of the year is an important thing for us all to do when we can. This embodies the key message of Christmas, which is about sharing with others and supporting our community.

Many in our school community have enjoyed Christmas dinner in the restaurant this week. This included roast turkey and all the trimmings, along with Christmas cookies and desserts. Party hats were worn and Christmas crackers were pulled, with staff and students having a great time together, including a singalong to Christmas songs. This was a heart warming moment seeing everyone enjoying themselves, celebrating Christmas in a traditional way.

I had breakfast with different groups of high performing students this week. On Wednesday I met Year 10 students with high attitude to learning scores on their recent reports and on Thursday I met students from each year group, nominated by their Progress Leaders, for being model students. All of the students I met for pastries and hot chocolate received a gold star badge, which I hope they wear with pride, as they are the kinds of students that make Manor a brilliant place to be. We should all aspire to be as focused and positive as they are.

Finally, today, the last day of term, we were able to reward more of our best students. Students with high attendance, no sanctions and no lates were entered in a prize draw in their year group and their Key Stage. The better their attendance and focus in lessons, the more chances they had to win big prizes as a reward for being what we want from students at Manor. Some students had over 50 tickets in each draw. Once again, all our students should aim to be like these students - they are what we want Manor students to be like. They put a big smile on my face, and they are an asset to our school. I am proud of those students who consistently maintain high standards, well done. Our winners were:

  • iPads: Oscar W and Olivia W
  • Android tablets: Kiara V and Robert H
  • £50 Amazon vouchers: Daisy R, Alife H, Harrison S, Jayden T, Phoenix M
  • £20 Amazon vouchers: Oliver G, Benedict J, James W, Kian N, Mihai I

I hope they enjoy the product of their sustained effort.

To all our community, I wish you a restful and relaxing break, a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Adam Crawte, Interim Principal

Bebras results

We have received the results from the 2024 Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge. This competition is challenging for all, and so we wish to extend a huge congratulations to Jessica S in Year 7 who has achieved the nigh on impossible by scoring a full 220 marks.

Top scores were also received by a record number of students this year who have performed, like Jessica, in the top 10% of all participants in the UK.

A massive well done goes to the following students:

  • Junior section (10-12 years old) - Jessica S, Jack B, Gracie C, Joey B
  • Inters section (12-14 years old) - Alex C, Toby S, Harry F, Noah S, Joseph W, Ewan L, Isabella S
  • Senior section (14-16 years old) - Brooke C, Phoenix M
  • Elite section (16-18 years old) - Mark H

We are waiting to hear about the next round of the competition and will inform all students once we know more.

Year 11 Consultation Evening

Thursday 16 January, from 4pm

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 appointments today and the system will close to new appointments at 12pm on Wednesday 15 January.

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.

If you have any queries or concerns regarding this event, please contact M. du Pille on mdupille@manor.school

Young performers needed

Year 7 and 8 students are invited to perform as a ‘Street Urchin’ in Act 2 of Puccini’s ‘La Bohème’ which Thrapston Plaza Opera will be staging during the half-term break. Show times are at 7pm on 18th (dress), 20th & 21st Feb, and at 5pm on 22nd Feb.

Students will be joining a company of 20+ adult singers/actors and whilst some singing altogether is involved, they will mostly be acting as ‘naughty urchins' in a street market scene.

As urchins are only in Act 2, the young performers can leave at the interval at 8pm (6pm on 22nd). Rehearsals (1 hour) will be most Sunday afternoons starting 5th Jan at 3pm in The Thrapston Plaza, Cosy Nook, Thrapston, NN14 4PS.

For more information and to register interest, please visit their website.

Sports news

On Tuesday we had our final sports competition of 2024 in the form of the Year 8 Sports Hall Athletics school games district qualifier, where 14 of our Year 8 students were selected and competed against five other schools.

To say that they represented the school well would be an understatement - all 14 were absolutely phenomenal! This was not only for winning their races and events, but for how supportive they were to each other and to students from other schools, for the way many of them overcame nerves to show resilience, and for the absolute joy they bought to us as the PE team with their energy and enthusiasm. It was an absolute joy to be with them all as they experienced this event.

Our girls team went on to win the overall competition and will now represent Wellingborough & East Northants at the county school games in February. The boys team came third overall and missed out on qualifying by 4 points. The students felt disappointed with this which is completely understandable, but we hope in time they appreciate just how brilliant they were and can also be proud of their efforts.

Another special mention goes to our sports leaders who yet again were commended by the teachers from the other schools and did a wonderful job of representing the school, especially considering we had a reduced team due to illness and other commitments. Without these students, these events just could not happen so as always our thanks and gratitude go to all of the students who are willing to give their time to support these events and support each other.

The extra-curricular timetable will be published when we return after Christmas, with the intention that clubs will start from Monday 13 January (the second week back).

Careers education

Year 9 apprenticeships event

Year 9 students will be having a special assembly on Thursday 23 January all about apprenticeships. We would like them to start thinking about what questions they would like to ask to the panel of apprentices who will be attending.

Medical careers opportunities

Students in Years 10-13 who are interested in studying medicine can access the following extra-curricular opportunities by signing up for a free student portal:

  • Free NHS virtual work experience
  • Free volunteering placements with the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund
  • Free national study skills E-learning
  • Free wider-reading webinars
  • Free weekly careers webinars by doctors and dentists
  • Free equality, diversity and inclusion E-learning course for healthcare professionals

Students can also further explore the wide range of extracurricular opportunities available through this link.

Year 11 students

Year 11 tutors are currently asking their students for updates on applications completed to colleges and sixth forms. Students may apply for a place in more than one sixth form or college to give them more options.

There are still opportunities for students to speak to Mr Hill to discuss their post-16 options and applications.

A guide to help students applying to Colleges of Further Education can be found here.

Year 13 students

Year 13 students continue to make their UCAS applications and are currently receiving offers of places for next year. The final deadline for all remaining UCAS applications is Wednesday 29 January 2025. Students need to be aware that once they have completed their application they need to give their tutor sufficient time to complete their UCAS reference.

The remainder of Year 13 are all currently working with their tutors on updating their CVs and making work applications.

Community opportunities

Manor Sports & Leisure

Facility lettings

SEN sport festival

Dates for your diary

House points

As of 19 December

Credits:

Created with images by Tierney - "Idea arrows with young woman looking upwards on a gray background" • vegefox.com - "communication speak bubble" • .shock - "stage"