Welcome to this week's newsletter
The cold weather has reached Raunds, with a little bit of snow and ice covering the site at Manor this week. As the temperature drops, it is good to see students adding an extra layer of warmth with a coat or a jumper. A polite reminder that if a student wishes to wear a navy blue V-neck jumper, this must also be worn with their blazer, not instead of their blazer. Until the summer months and warm weather returns, it will always be a 'blazer day' and students should expect to be challenged if they are not wearing their blazer.
Thursday evening was our Sixth Form Open Evening. It was great to see so many of our Year 11s and their families taking an interest in what the next steps could look like. Leaving Year 11 is a scary thought for young people. It was reassuring that the students I spoke to have a reflective and open-minded view to finding out more about their options next year. The sixth form students who helped staff were a credit to the school and made us proud of their maturity and resourcefulness.
As a follow up to our Remembrance Service last week, I am proud to say that we raised £114 for the Royal British Legion from selling poppies. This contributed to the regional total of over £9,000 raised for this important charity. This is a great contribution by our school to the wider community.
Moving forward, in the unlikely event that an after-school club or event for students is cancelled, we will notify parents/carers via email, the Arbor app and social media at the earliest point possible. Normally this will be the day before the event was due to take place. If, in the unlikely event, a club or event has to be cancelled on the day it was due to be held, we will contact the students' families directly by phone. There is always a member of staff on the main school reception until 4:30pm - students can always wait here for parents/carers who are delayed in picking up so that they are supervised.
We have a number of events planned for the lead up to Christmas. I look forward to sharing details of these in the next few weeks.
Have a very relaxing weekend.
Adam Crawte, Interim Principal
Health and safety updates
Due to health and safety reasons, hot water bottles are not allowed on the school site.
Hot drinks that are purchased on the way to school need to be finished before students arrive to school in the morning, otherwise they will be directed to the restaurant to finish them.
Year 11 Prom
A polite reminder that payments for Year 11 Prom tickets need to be made by Friday 20 December - these can be purchased on Arbor. If sufficient tickets have not been purchased by this deadline then we will not be able to go ahead with the event.
Please also remember that their behaviour contract and consent forms need to be signed by students and parents/carers and returned to tutors, even if they are not planning on attending prom or purchasing a hoodie.
Student sports article
Following the announcement featured in last week's newsletter, Year 13 student Holden W has written a fantastic article about his experience with kickboxing. You can read it by clicking here.
If your child takes part in an activity outside of school and would like to share their own experiences, please send it to us as we'd love to share it in our newsletter.
Mental health parent workshop
Following the responses MHST received from the questionnaires for parents/carers, MHST have arranged a series of workshops at the Rectory Road Clinic in Rushden. Please read over the information and complete the booking form if you would like to attend.
Sports course survey
We have been asked by the University of Bedfordshire to share the following short survey aimed at students aged 16-18. It only has one question and is on the topic of sports course titles.
Christmas at Manor
Send a Christmas card
Students are able to send a Christmas card to their friends via our in-school festive postal service. See the poster below for details.
Christmas Concert
Our talented performing arts students will once be putting on a spectacular Christmas Concert on Thursday 5 December. Tickets are available to book now via TicketSource.
Christmas Jumper Day
We will be taking part in this year's Christmas Jumper Day appeal for Save the Children on Thursday 12 December. Mr Crawte has his ready to go, and will be awarding a prize for the most outrageous jumpers.
Don't have a Christmas jumper? Check out some DIY jumper ideas here.
If you have any unwanted Christmas jumpers to donate to students who don't own one, please drop off them off at main reception by 6 December.
Christmas lunch
Our catering team will be putting on a fabulous festive meal during the last week of term. Please see the poster below for the menu. You can book Christmas lunch for your child(ren) by filling in this form.
Sports results
Basketball
Our Year 8 team triumphed over Higham Ferrers in this week's district event with a close score of 8-6. However, they faced a narrow defeat against Rushden, losing 16-15 in a thrilling match.
Meanwhile, our Year 11 students took on Northampton School for Boys in a competitive game but unfortunately came up short.
Cross country
Well done to all the students who represented Manor in the district cross country event on Wednesday. All ran extremely well despite the freezing conditions, but an extra well done goes to the following students who have qualified for the county competition in January - Amelia I, Sophia M, Amelie B, Olivia M, Harry S, Maxwell H, Jack S and Jack M.
Boys football
The U15 team were unfortunately knocked out of the county cup this week against a solid team from Latimer Arts College in Kettering. On a very cold evening the team did really well to take the lead on two occasions, only to see Latimer draw level. The game finished 2-2 and therefore went straight to penalties. Penalties can always be a bit of a lottery and we went down 4-1.
Having won nearly all their games this season on a district level it was a great opportunity to go up against opposition from elsewhere. On another night it could have easily gone our way, but it was not to be on this occasion. Thanks again to the parents/carers who made the trip over to support the team.
Sports leaders
We'd like to give our sports leaders a special shout-out for their help at the primary sports hall athletics event held at Manor on Thursday. We have been passed on the following thank you message from one of the schools who attended:
I just wanted to thank you and the team of leaders for an amazing event yesterday! The leaders and your team did phenomenally, and all of our children left with a huge smile on their faces.
We also received the following message from the Strategic Lead at Northamptonshire Sport:
The leaders were really good and all just got on with it and did what was asked. It's such a hectic competition and they were getting pulled onto different events, but they adapted really well.
A massive well done and thank you to all of the sports leaders who took part.
Extra-curricular timetable
Please note that there is no badminton club taking place after school on Thursday 28 November due to an event.
Community opportunities
SEND Father Christmas Experience
Chester House Estate is offering a Santa experience specifically for SEND students. There are a selection of dates and offerings, from 23 November to 24 December.
Please follow the link below for more information and to book a place.
Job and university interviews webinar
Credits:
Created with an image by Yakobchuk Olena - "Cheerful Santa hiding gift in pouch"