Our Manor 5-8 November 2024

Welcome to this week's newsletter

The first week back has flown by. It is good to see that students and staff have had an opportunity to recharge and there is a renewed buzz around the place. Our staff development day on Monday was a chance to rethink and refocus for another big term. I have been into lots of lessons, seeing strong teaching and students focused and learning. Lessons are purposeful, productive and calm, and we are making the incremental improvements that I have promised to staff, students and families throughout Term 1. This has been a real positive of the first week. We still have some hard yards to put in to continue our journey, but the green shoots of the great community that Manor is are breaking through, once again.

This week I have been privileged to lead assemblies on the theme of Remembrance and why the next week is so important to everyone in our community. On Monday in a rare opportunity, we will come together as a whole school to remember those who have paid the ultimate price so that other members of a community can benefit. We are also sending representatives to local ceremonies in Raunds on Sunday and Monday, to come together at what is an important time.

Another exciting part of the last week has been visiting some of our partner primary schools in the Nene Education Trust. Prior to the half-term break I met Year 6s at St Peter's Academy and this week I spoke to Year 6s at Newton Road Primary, to talk about secondary school and what the big differences are. They had great questions, and I am looking forward to making return visits later in the year to answer more questions and see many of our new Year 7s, before they even get to us.

We have recently been visited by some of our Trustees and national education specialists to feedback on our progress since the Ofsted inspection. They concur with the leadership team and I that we are making the right changes and progress can be seen. They have loved speaking to our students and finding out what they think.

Finally, I was involved in a very positive evening in our Manor Together event on Wednesday. To speak to a group of parents and carers, alongside representatives of the Nene Education Trust, about our first term and the plans for this academic year was a great event to have. To be supported by my Primary Principal counterparts was great and I thank them for their support. The one-to-one conversations I had with different parents/carers (especially those of Year 11 students) about the changes that they have seen and to hear that students are coming home and talking about was very heartening. We still have much work to do, and in Term 2 we go again as a community that is committed to making Manor the great school that Raunds deserves.

Have a superb weekend, pausing for thought and remembrance where you can.

Adam Crawte, Interim Principal

Remembrance Day

If students are part of a uniformed organisation (Cadets, Scouts, Guides etc) and have permission from their leader, they may come to school wearing their uniform on Monday 11 November, ready for the school's Remembrance Service during lesson two.

Work experience webinar

A webinar about how to find work experience opportunities is taking place on Tuesday 12 November. Whilst the session is aimed at Year 12 students, younger students and parents/carers may also find the content useful too.

For more information and to register, please click here.

Careers talks

We have a number of careers talks this term where students are invited to hear from industry experts about their job role and experiences. The talks are open to students in Years 11-13, with Year 10 also invited if numbers allow. Any students interested in these sessions need to email Miss Smedley on lsmedley@manor.school.

Monday 11 November: Apprenticeships

Any students considering an apprenticeship should attend this session. This workshop will be interactive and is designed to assist students in setting up personal accounts to be able to view available apprenticeships and then apply at the appropriate time. Students will also be able to ask any questions they have about apprenticeships.

Tuesday 12 November: Medical careers

We have a doctor whose specialty is in emergency medicine coming into the school to discuss with students attributes medical schools look for on application, a little bit about life at medical school and what life as a resident doctor is like. Places will be issued on a first come first served basis.

Thursday 14 November: Construction careers

We have a visitor coming into the school who completed a 3-year apprenticeship in carpentry and joinery obtaining NVQ 1, 2 and 3 and spent twenty years on the tools. He then went into site management and gained an NVQ Level 6 in construction site management, becoming a senior site manager running construction sites varying in size. If you are interested in construction careers, from working with tools through to management, please book your space in this talk.

Monday 9 December: Apprenticeship and career opportunities with a local employer

Greatwell Homes is a local housing association where their vision, mission and promise drive everything that they do. They offer apprenticeships at Greatwell Homes which they would like to give an overview of, and would also like to talk to students about their own personal career journeys that began as apprentices and the life skills that being an apprentice has given them. As a local employer, they would also like to talk about the career opportunities that they can provide to local people.

Sports results

Year 7 girls football

Our Year 7 girls had their first game as a team on Thursday in the second round of the county cup. Their opposition were Northampton School for Girls and despite a valiant effort from everyone, lost the game 2-0 and so do not progress to the next round.

Isabelle P put in a great performance in goal and made a lot of vital saves, with Ettie Y and Indie W working hard in defence to keep their strong players quiet. Amelia I and Emily C worked hard in the middle trying to move the ball forwards where we had Chloe P and Sofia M running their socks off to try and get into space and win the ball back.

We are really proud of all the girls and for many of them they have only played in a couple of games ever, and yet every single one of them gave their absolute best and that is all we can ask! Not one of the girls let their heads drop and kept playing until the final whistle.

The full squad playing were: Isabelle P, Ettie Y, Indie W, Willow K, Maria D, Amelia I, Emily C, Sofia M, Cara J, Daisy R, Chloe P, Shannon S.

Another big shout out to the girls who stepped in to officiate the game - Alanna B, Darcy C and Mia B. All three did a great job being fair and professional.

U13 boys football

On Thursday our U13 boys travelled over to Kingsthorpe and won with an impressive final score of 6-2. The Manor team did the majority of the work with an outstanding display in the first half, coming into the break 5-0 up. They managed to control the game throughout by playing some impressive football.

Goals were split across the team, with Ronnie E getting a hat-trick and Tommy N, Jayden A and Maxwell H all chipping in as well. A special mention goes to Harley F who pulled off some quality saves as well.

The next round will hopefully be played before Christmas.

U14 boys football

Our U14 boys travelled to Lodge Park on Wednesday and put in a battling performance, winning the game on penalties after the score was level at 2-2 at the end of normal time.

With the score 0-0 at half time, Locke A opened things up in the second half with the ball going into the far corner. However, after a mistake at the back, Lodge Park equalized. Shortly after, Bobby L took a poacher's chance to get on the end of a cross to score past their keeper. Unfortunately another error meant we conceded in the final few minutes of the game, meaning we were going to penalties. We came out on top and won 2-1 and so are in the next round, hopefully to be played before Christmas.

U14 girls football

The team started their county cup campaign this week with a 7-0 win over Bishop Stopford. Having had a bye for round one, this was their first game and the girls did not disappoint, despite only having the bare 11 players on the pitch.

The first goal came as Olivia M drove down the right wing and hit the ball across the keeper's box for it to ricochet off one of their players into the goal. Summer S (who was also the captain for the game) scored the second with a well-struck long range shot from outside the 18-yard box, with Olivia M adding 2 more goals before the half-time break.

The girls kept the pressure up with Amelie B, Isla R, Poppie E and Erin U continuing to press forward alongside Olivia, and soon enough Amelie scored another 2 goals herself. A final goal came again from an own goal which was forced by Poppie.

A special mention to Monay GT who stepped in last minute to ensure we had 11 players on the pitch and a huge well done to Emily M who was the only Year 8 student to play and did a great job in goal. Kimberly L played in the centre of midfield and did a grand job of shielding the defence, with Darcie B and Lillie K ensuring that anything that did break through was dealt with quickly.

The third round will now be a home game against Moulton School and is due to take place before the Christmas break.

Extra-curricular timetable

The first full-cast rehearsal for our production of High School Musical will take place after school on Tuesday 12 November.

Click to enlarge

Community opportunities

Apprenticeships webinar

Raunds Christmas Market

Christmas Craft Fair

Dates for your diary

House points

As of 7 November

Credits:

Created with images by • Victor Moussa - Remembrance day in the UK and salute to veterans of the armed forces concept with a close up on a group of Remembrance poppies and one poppy in the center of the image • Pixel-Shot - Female IT designer working in office