Welcome to this week's newsletter
We have definitely started our step into Christmas this week at Manor, with a range of events that have made it feel a bit more Christmassy. We hosted the Nene Education Trust Christmas Concert on Monday evening, where younger students from our partner schools joined together with Manor students to sing a range of Christmas tunes. The organisation from Mrs Jarvis and Mr Currell from St Peter's and Park Infants meant that the evening ran smoothly - the whole audience joining in with the 12 days of Christmas was a great sight to see, supported by the students who were all in fine voice. The Manor choir had a second run out at the Raunds Mayor's Carol Concert on Wednesday, where they represented Manor brilliantly.
Thursday was a great day, where a variety of Christmas jumpers were on show. We were able to raise £300 as a school for Save the Children as part of the national Christmas Jumper Day. We selected a group of winners for the most impressive selection, but to be honest our students who got involved all joined in the spirit of the day, with bells on.
It was wonderful to meet a range of parents and carers at the Year 10 Consultation Evening on Thursday. The mature and detailed conversations that students were having with their teachers and parents/carers was great to see. Year 10 is a tough year, making the change between KS3 and KS4 as well as getting their head around exam specifications and the demands that come with them. It was great to speak to parents/carers and hear their feedback on the autumn term. We know we are making steps in the right direction, but there is still work to do to carry on our improvement journey. As always, I welcome the opportunity to speak to parents and carers about their feedback. Thank you to those who completed the parent/carer survey that was sent out. I am analysing the feedback to help inform some of our next steps. I am aware that communication is still an area for improvement that we need to address, so that all of our stakeholders are informed of what is happening at Manor.
Finally, in the last week of term, I am looking forward to rewarding our consistent and hardest working students. Next Friday each year group will have a rewards assembly, where prize draws will be made for students who have high attendance, no sanctions, high numbers of REACH points and no late marks. The more consistent the student, the more chances of winning a big prize they have. Our top prizes for each Key Stage are tablets, alongside Amazon vouchers and Christmas selection boxes. I will also be having breakfast with the top students from each year group on Thursday to say well done for being great Manor students - Ready, Respectful and Responsible.
Have a relaxing weekend, ready for a great week next week.
Adam Crawte, Interim Principal
Seneca Learning
Seneca Learning is an online platform where teachers can set assignments to students, with self-marking questions. Manor School uses this platform for some subjects, so you may see work being set on Arbor that directs your child to Seneca Learning. So that you can better support your child in completing work on this platform, you should receive an invite from one of your child’s class teachers, or from Mr Turner. The invitation email should look like this:
From the link, you can sign up for a parent account by clicking here:
Please note that Seneca Learning does not replace Arbor as the platform on which homework is set. Arbor continues to be the place to check if your child has been set homework. If you have any questions about homework being set, you should initially contact the classroom teacher.
In the new year there will be exciting news about English and maths homework, so be sure to read our newsletter next term.
Football result
This week, our U13 boys’ football team faced Corby Technical School in the quarter-finals of the county cup.
Unfortunately, it was one of those afternoons where we dominated the game but missed several clear chances. We then conceded a penalty, which they converted, leading to our defeat. Their teacher even admitted that they snatched the victory.
Hopefully our boys can learn from their two county cup games as we look forward to the district fixtures after the February half-term break.
Christmas lunch update
Due to popular demand, we have had to add an additional day of Christmas lunches next week. The new dates are as follows:
- Tuesday: Years 7 and 9
- Wednesday: Year 8
- Thursday: Years 10, 11, 12 and 13
Christmas lunch will be served in the restaurant at the front of school during the lunch times above. Please ensure that sufficient funds are available on your child's Wisepay account (free for free school meals recipients).
All remaining students not attending Christmas lunch will be able to purchase a normal lunch from the canteen and food shack on these days.
FutureChef competition
On Wednesday 11 December, Year 10 students Charley S and Mia P travelled with Mr Isaacs and Miss Armitage to the FutureChef competition. This was being held at a catering college in Mansfield and aims to inspire the next generation of chefs.
Work over the previous weeks both after school and at home had given Mia and Charley the chance to perfect their dishes and refine them. They had to create a meal for two people with a budget of just £5 that reflected something about their personality or life.
Mia chose to make a dish reflecting her Italian heritage by making Arancini with an arrabiata sauce. This involved her making a rich and creamy risotto, before encasing mozzarella cheese in the risotto, shaping it into balls, breadcrumbing and deep frying it. The arancini has to have deliciously melted mozzarella in the middle, which the chefs congratulated her on achieving!
Charley deshelled and deveined prawns, made her own pasta and then rolled it into tortellini filled with the prawns. She served it with balsamic glazed tomatoes, sauteed asparagus and carbonara sauce to reflect her happy memories of cooking carbonara with her mum.
Miss Armitage and Mr Isaacs spent a tense 90 minutes in a different room whilst Mia and Charley cooked in a commercial grade kitchen before being called back through for the results.
Competition was very stiff, with just one person going through to the semi-final at Loughborough. Charley came a very respectable second, with the winner taking first place by just one point with a mussel paella, and Mia was just 2 points behind Charley.
Congratulation to both students, who are both keen to go back next year!
Credits:
Created with an image by wavebreak3 - "Close-up of soccer ball on playing field"