Welcome to this week's newsletter
Please, if you can, watch or listen (in the car) to the videos which accompany this letter to get the more personable version of the explanations and information below.
Dear families,
Welcome back to half term 2. The clocks have gone back, the season has changed and we are looking forward to an enjoyable time leading into the season of good will.
One of the pleasures and privileges of working amongst young people is the joy they bring and the energy they have and share everyday at Manor School. They are also capable of the most wonderful acts of kindness, a quality you instill in them at home and we compliment at school through our REACH values. An example of this came from the kind actions in the community by Mason in Year 12, his brother Alex and friends James, Jash and Karan - all the boys involved will be given a Principal’s Commendation. Please read the lovely email below sent in by the member of the public who received their kindness and care.
Good afternoon, I hope you don’t mind me messaging today.
I just wanted to comment on a situation that happened late afternoon in Lidl, Rushden (near the lakes) on the 23rd October 2023.
I had just finished loading and paying for my shopping. As I walk with a crutch I moved my things across to the edge of the store to get sorted before leaving. A young man approached me and asked if I would like help with my bag, taking it to the car. I was taken aback and accepted his help, thanking him for his kindness.
I chatted with him to the car and asked him where he went to school and he told me Manor School. I told him I knew it well, as many years ago I had attended the school myself. I also told him how grateful I was and that I didn’t think young men like him existed anymore.
He was so kind, polite and respectful, so much so that the situation almost made me cry. The fact that he was with a large group of friends and neither he or his friends thought it was odd that he helped was truly a blessing in this world we live in.
I know this may seem like a small thing and you may wonder why I have messaged, but I really wanted to let the school know that this group and especially this young man, whose name I didn’t get, are a real credit to the school and their parents. It is so rare to have anyone offer to help and the fact that this was a young man, still at school, really impressed me and absolutely made my day.
I know that it isn’t possible to personally tell him I messaged, but I just felt that sometimes it’s just nice to hear something positive that's happened, that really did change someone else’s day.
This really epitomises what it is to be a Manor student - it is who we are. This week in assemblies the email has been read out to the whole school community as a model of how to be. I have asked the student body to use this as an encouragement to be especially kind and to show empathy and humanity within our community, helping where they can.
Also in assembly this week we launched our new resilience programme, Bounce Forward. We are delighted to be part of this in collaboration with the Harry Kane Foundation, as one of only a handful of schools who won the opportunity to be part of the select pilot. We must thank Amy Bradshaw as our Trust-wide Lead for Mental Health and Wellbeing for developing and making this programme available for our Manor community.
Resilience is one of our values and such an important life skill to learn and develop. We know that more resilient people:
- have greater ambition
- feel more hopeful and optimistic
- find it easier to maintain emotional stability
- be more resourceful
- feel more connected to others in their personal life and the world as a whole
- have greater satisfaction with life overall
- develop mechanisms to support their own positive mental health
Why is deliberately teaching resilience so important?
- The Children’s Society has identified that 1 in 6 children are likely to have mental health or wellbeing problem at some point
- 50% of all mental health problems start by the age of 14
- The number of students who are unhappy with their school has increased significantly to 1 in 9 (The Good Childhood Report 14)
This means there must be an imperative to support young people to build mental resilience and emotional wellbeing so they can thrive in education and beyond. This is why we are so pleased to be part of the Bounce Forward programme.
Over the next 5 weeks your child will follow the programme during form time with the core purpose of teaching positive psychology focusing on:
- building strengths rather than attacking weaknesses
- what is worth doing rather than on what to avoid
If you would like to know more, please watch the following video.
We have already begun to put this as a key aim of this term by adjusting the focus of our Humanity recognition and reward slips to now be Resilience slips. These are in our Bounce Forward Manor orange, a suitably connected and positive colour. Please encourage your child to show Resilience as much as possible and gain these slips as a recognition. All previous Humanity slips are still valid in the weekly prize draw.
Our Raunds community, alongside many others in the country, will next weekend be recognising the sacrifice many have made and continue to make in the endeavour for freedom and peace.
If your child is a member of a group or association such as the Scouts or Cadets and would like to wear their uniform to school on Friday 10 November please encourage them to do so. The whole school will perform a respectful remembrance on that day.
In addition, myself and representatives from the student body will take part in a flag raising ceremony on Saturday 11 November and a procession and wreath laying ceremony on Sunday 12 November in Raunds. We will be doing so alongside representatives of the other Nene Education Trust schools and central team.
Have a lovely weekend.
Dr Newman and the Manor School family
Harry Kane Foundation x Bounce Forward project
We are delighted to share that Manor School has been selected to be part of an incredible project with The Harry Kane Foundation and Bounce Forward, a children's mental health charity. We are one of only a few schools across the nine regions of England to be part of this groundbreaking pilot project, teaching resilience in schools. Harry Kane approached the charity earlier this year as his foundation - set up a year ago to improve mental health and wellbeing of young people - were keen to fund the charity to bring their work into schools to directly help children and young people.
Hear from Harry here about the project:
All year groups will be participating in sessions as part of their tutor time programme across this term. Staff received professional development training on Monday this week to deliver the content and be able to use and apply the learning across the curriculum to build resilience.
For more information about the curriculum and charity partnership, please visit the Bounce Forward website. Alternatively, please visit our website for further details of our involvement.
Year 7 setting
Students in Year 7 have now completed their first round of in-class assessments, as well as CAT tests and Progress Tests in the core subjects. This, alongside getting to know them as individuals, means that we are in a position to now rearrange the groups for maths and science teaching from mixed ability. Arranging groups in these subjects has proven important to ensure that the learning experience can begin to be slightly tailored and enhanced towards the knowledge and skills required for final assessments in these areas. Regardless of the teaching group, all students continue to be entitled to the same curriculum, while the pace or level of challenge of individual topics may differ.
Owing to the way that the school timetable must be organised, these groups will also apply to their computer science lessons and their culture & ethics lessons. No other lessons will be affected but the day that they have maths, science, computer science and culture & ethics may change - please see your child's new timetable on Arbor. We recognise that some students will find a potential change of room or teacher worrying, so we would encourage them to talk to their tutor on Monday morning if unsure.
If you have any further questions about groups changes, please feel free to get in touch via email:
- Mr Turner (gturner@manor.school) – science
- Mr Brown (cbrown@manor.school) – maths
Mathematicians of the Month
Congratulations to the following students who have all been chosen by the maths department as 'Mathematicians of the Month' for October.
- Year 7: Emily M, Hollie T, Halle D
- Year 8: Kane C, Evie M, Zac W
- Year 9: Amy C, Alanna B, Scarlett B
- Year 10: Sophie H, Brooke C, Connie S-W
- Year 11: Luke C, Ellis H, Miles B-T
- Year 12: Katie H, Charley M G, Alannah D
- Year 13: Ruby C, Alexander W, Amelia J
Tassomai engagement
We are pleased to say that Manor School was in the top 22% of schools nationally for student engagement on Tassomai last term. As a reminder, Tassomai is a knowledge retrieval quizzing app and is part of your child’s homework every week; they must log in and complete their weekly goals in English, maths and science.
There are two additional features of Tassomai that we would like to bring your attention to. The first is their AI chatbot, Mai. This can support students’ understanding of a concept or topic and help them secure their knowledge. The second is that Tassomai offer free online lessons after school to support learning, with interaction through quizzes and Q&A. The schedule and back-catalogue of lessons can be found via the link below.
GCSEPod for KS4 STEM subjects
We have been given a period of free access to a platform called GCSEPod in order to access revision materials for science, maths, technology and computer science subjects. This package is not forming a compulsory part of our provision, but it is an optional activity for students in these GCSE subjects. Students may wish to watch the onboarding video below and then log in with their username and password (provided via form tutors) which will need resetting on first use.
Singing workshop
The music department are very excited to welcome the Voices Foundation to Manor School on Friday 10 November, where all Year 7 students will engage in a one hour singing workshop. To celebrate their wonderful work from the day, we will have a 15 minute showcase at 3pm in the Main Hall. Please email Miss Barron (mbarron@manor.school) if you wish to attend the showcase.
Careers information for families
Please see the following careers information documents for families.
Sixth Form Open Evening
We are pleased to invite Year 11 students and their parents/carers to our Sixth Form Open Evening on Thursday 16 November. The sixth form at Manor School has benefited from significant investment in leadership and facilities over the past few years, and we are extremely proud of the rapidly improving outcomes and destinations.
There will be two presentations - one starting at 4:45pm and the second starting at 6:00pm. Following this, you will be able to visit the subject information fair where members of staff and current sixth form students will be on hand to answer any questions you might have. Please click here to book your place.
Information about the subjects we offer will be available on the evening, via the subject stands, as well as via the school website.
Sixth form entry requirements
To study in the sixth form, students need to achieve a minimum of 5 GCSE or BTEC qualifications at grade 4 or higher. We also expect students to achieve at least a grade 4 in English and maths.
Application timeline
The application form will be available on the school website from Monday 13 November. In students’ Work.World.Wellness lessons, staff have been supporting them to make decisions and applications where appropriate. The deadline for applications is not until January 12 to ensure students can make informed decisions following their trial examinations.
We hope you find the subject information events useful and give you an insight into what students can expect in the sixth form. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sports fixtures
We have a number of upcoming sports fixtures across basketball, sports hall athletics and dodgeball that students are invited to participate in - interested students should speak to a member of the PE department.
Basketball
- Tuesday 7 November – Year 9 @ Manor
- Thursday 9 November – Year 8 @ Manor
- Tuesday 14 November – Year 7 @ Manor
- Thursday 16 November – finals @ Weavers (if qualify)
Sports hall athletics
- Tuesday 5 December – Year 7 @ Manor
- Tuesday 12 December – Year 8 @ Manor
Dodgeball
- Wednesday 6 December – U13 Boys @ Weavers (Year 7 & 8)
- Wednesday 13 December – U13 Girls @ Weavers (Year 7 & 8)
There are also two ‘have a go’ events happening this term - interested students should speak to a member of the PE department:
- Wednesday 22 November – volleyball @ Huxlow
- Thursday 30 November – inclusive sitting volleyball @ Rushden
The team selection for cross country on Wednesday 8 November has been sent out and is on the PE notice board. Thank you to everyone that showed an interest in participating – it was a record number of volunteers!
Please can the selected students go to the PE changing rooms after break, remembering to bring appropriate warm clothing, refreshments and a change of footwear as it is likely to be muddy and cold. They will be back at school before the end of the normal school day.
Extra-curricular timetable
Please note that there are no clubs taking place in the Sports Hall at lunch this term. There will also be no badminton club on Thursday 9 November due to basketball fixtures taking place.
Vaccinations
Public Health West Northamptonshire are encouraging parents of secondary school children to check their child’s immunisation status, to ensure they are up to date with their vaccinations.
Recommended vaccinations as part of the National Immunisation Programme will boost your child’s immune system and protect them against the complications of vaccine preventable infections. Coming into the winter months, we will be mixing and moving more indoors which will lead to an increase in the spread of bacteria and viruses.
When your child is eligible, they will be invited to take up the vaccination offer which will take place at their school. The vaccinations include:
- Year 8 pupils: HPV vaccine to protect against the development of Cervical cancer caused by the Human Papillomavirus
- Year 9 and 10 pupils: Men ACWY vaccine protects against meningococcal groups A, C W, and Y causing meningitis and septicaemia
- Year 9: Three in one booster offered to protect against Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Polio (DTaP)
Many young people are missing receiving their routine vaccinations which means they are at an increased risk of catching these avoidable infections. For some children these infections could lead to complications requiring hospitalisation.
Dr Annapurna Sen, Consultant for Health Protection in Public Health West Northamptonshire says: “Across West Northamptonshire we have seen a decline in the uptake of Childhood vaccinations. I am urging parents to ensure their child is fully protected this school year by checking their vaccination status. When your child is invited for their vaccination, please take up the offer without delay, and if they have missed any of these vaccinations contact your GP to discuss further.”
For further detail regarding vaccinations, please visit West Northamptonshire Council Immunisations webpage.