CONTACT. 20th - 31st Mar 2017

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1 CONTACT 20th - 31st Mar 2017 Imberhorne School Compassion Achievement Respect Endeavour The cornerstones of our learning community We have just said goodbye to our Tanzanian visitors who have been with us for the last two weeks, our link with Minaki School in Tanzania is a strong and longstanding partnership. During their visit we held a quiz night which was really well attended. What struck me about the event was the realisation that the link we have with Minaki school stretches beyond Imberhorne and into the heart of our wider community. Students and families who have previously been involved continue to support the partnership in a way that is strikingly warm and welcoming. It feels as though the two different communities are increasingly woven together by this shared experience. At Imberhorne, we passionately believe in the value of our international links, in a world where some may encourage us to be inward looking and insular we embrace diversity and wish to reach out to others. It is really important that our young people develop a truly international perspective and have an appetite to help shape the world for the future. The Easter holidays marks a welcome rest for students and staff. As we approach the exam period an incredible amount of hard work is being undertaken by all. Our revision coaches from the Life Skills Company recently ran extremely successful workshops with our Year 11 students and then again for their parents! Techniques such as Post-it, Map-it, Flip-it and Sing-it should all make perfect sense to them now! I encourage all students approaching exams to use the holidays for some intensive revision. However, the holidays are also a time when families come together and I therefore wish all parents and families a restful break and look forward to seeing all our students back again at the start of the Summer Term. Enterprising Endeavour Imberhorne students have brought home the Best Overall Company prize for the second year in a row after the area finals were held on 21st March in Burgess Hill. Our Year 12 Young Enterprise team RIPPS Revision triumphed under the guidance of Ms McCarthy and Mr Moore. They gave an outstanding performance when they presented their revision guide to the panel and came away not only with Best Company but also Best Trade Stand Best Presentation and Most Innovative Product. The team go through to the county finals in Brighton on 3rd May. For more information on their product please via Facebook and Twitter.

2 BEHAVIOUR Mr D Jones, Assistant Headteacher Last weekend there was a headline in a newspaper which said Behaviour is a national problem in schools in England, review finds. We know that behaviour is an incredibly emotive issue. It is an extremely important factor for parents when deciding the right school for their child. Similarly, it can be a cause of stress and worry for teachers, often cited as one of the reasons why it can be difficult to recruit new entrants to the profession. From my experience of working at other schools, as well as close collaboration with colleagues at other West Sussex schools I am firmly of the opinion that the standard of student behaviour at Imberhorne is very high. In fact, visitors to the school always comment on the high standards of behaviour and the calm and purposeful atmosphere across both sites. That is not to say that it is perfect by any means and it is something that we continue to work hard on day in, day out. For me, the factor which underpins our approach to behaviour at Imberhorne is the quality of relationships both between staff and students. This was summed up to me recently when I was speaking to a student in Year 10 who said that she felt that teachers were really on her side. We work hard to promote the key cornerstones of respect and compassion. Staff do this by modelling good behaviour and we make it clear to students what our expectations are. One thing you notice at break and lunchtime is that teachers are out and about not merely supervising the students but talking to and interacting with them. Students enjoy their lessons and there is a real sense that they recognise how friendly and approachable their teachers are. Of course, like every school we have incidents of poor behaviour. What is important is that we have clear policies and procedures in place to deal with these. In practice there are a range of sanctions from detentions to time spent working in isolation and even fixed-term exclusions. But while sanctions are important, perhaps more significant is the work we do to improve behaviour. This involves recognising when students have particular behavioural or emotional needs and putting in place appropriate support. In such circumstances we always work really closely with parents, emphasising the importance of working in partnership. Imberhorne School has an extremely experienced and skilled pastoral team in the form of heads of year and form tutors which is at the core of the work we do to provide support for students and in many cases their families. In addition, we have learning mentors, counsellors, an inclusion manager, a school nurse as well as access to external agencies who can provide more focused, targeted and specialised support. I love working at Imberhorne and the opportunity it gives me to work with a whole range of different students. Students (and staff!) will not always get things right. What is important is that our young people have the freedom not just to make mistakes, but to learn from them as they make their journey towards adulthood. Pupils are engaged, take pride in their work and show exemplary behaviour and cooperation Maria Roberts West Sussex Advisory Visit March 2017

3 VOICE IN A MILLION Our fantastic 'Imberhorne Singers' who performed at Wembley Arena earlier this year, recorded their song for the VIAM 2017 album on Friday 31st March at Lower School. The library was cleverly transformed into a recording studio big enough to fit all our eager choir members. Once the CD has been produced, VIAM will be in contact to let us know how to purchase copies. How very exciting. This is an Imberhorne first!

4 A great time was had by our Year 7 Scientists at the Herstmonceux Science Centre on 28th March. A full trip report to follow in the next edition. Students in 7BWE visited Ashurstwood Primary on 27th Mar to support Year 6 with SATs papers. We are extremely proud of our many links with local Primary schools.

5 BRITISH OLYMPIAD SUCCESS AGAIN! With the support of Miss Singleton, our Leader of Physics at Imberhorne, ten of our Physics A Level students sat the British Physics Olympiad paper on Friday 10th March. Taken under strict exam conditions, this paper isn't for the faint hearted. It's demanding and doesn t appear on any syllabus which allows students to stretch and challenge their thinking outside of the course. All our students were awarded commendations which is very impressive as only 50% of students nationwide receive this. Dominic Herd excelled and did fantastically well, receiving a Bronze award! Our Non Uniform Day in aid of Comic Relief on 24th March raised an impressive An extra special thank you to all the students who made an effort to wear something red on the day to secure an extra 50 staff donation to the worthy charity. Our students show compassion in abundance!

6 Governors News This term, governors have focused on several important aspects of learning, including student progress, safeguarding and pastoral care. Financial matters have also been to the forefront as we manage the current West Sussex funding shortfall in education. Newly introduced methods of assessment and measuring pupil progress have involved us in training masterclasses enabling us to better interpret our school data. Most students at Imberhorne make very good progress and governors are confident that new methods of assessment including the new learning flightpaths, recently introduced in Year 7, will maintain and strengthen further improvement for students. A number of governors have participated in learning walks in school. They have been visiting classrooms and enjoying a generous, if curious welcome from students and staff. These visits improve our knowledge of how the school functions day to day. On every occasion we have been particularly pleased to comment on the good behaviour, politeness and welcome received from students. Safeguarding of students is a vital responsibility for governors. We received reports and undertook safeguard training in January. Following this, governors have agreed to specialise specifically on safeguarding matters and report regularly to meetings. The education funding crisis in West Sussex schools reaches a climax this year. The predicament results from delayed fairer National Funding aggravated by frozen WSCC budgets (since 2010) as well as significant imposed increases in unfunded costs. The governors and especially the Finance Committee have been exercised to manage reduced resources whilst attempting to minimise the impact on school life. In January Imberhorne Governors decided to actively engage with the Worth Less campaign. The campaign is demanding emergency transitional funding for West Sussex schools and a better deal for schools than on offer in future national funding. We have corresponded with local MPs and the Secretary of State, and are considering direct actions to raise awareness of inadequacy and unfairness of funding affecting West Sussex. Success is important for the future of West Sussex schools. Governors hope to have the support of parents in this and encourage them to be engaged in protest and letter writing wherever they can. As trustees of Imberlink/school fund, Governors have made grants to several projects this term including better technology for drama and dance, materials for students pursuing CoPE(Certificate of Personal Effectiveness) and further supporting the science department s popular beekeeping project. The additional funding the school receives from Imberlink/school fund has never been more important. It provides additional resources for students immensely enhancing their learning experience. Governors recognise families face many financial pressures at this time but at 25 per annum, per family, we ask parents to be generous and continue to contribute through Parent Pay. On behalf of all governors I wish you a very happy Easter break. Bob Darvill, Chair of Governors

7 We said farewell to our Tanzanian friends this week after an amazing visit. We have a very special bond with our partner school in Minaki

8 Fixture Results U18 Basketball - 23rd March Imberhorne 32 v Michael Hall 29 Player of the Match - Matias Jurok It was a very close game, but we narrowly won - well done boys Mr Ibrahim U16 Football - 28th March Imberhorne 4 v Sackville 0 Player of the Match - Luke Hedges Out with a bang, on a tough surface the Year 11s played their last game together against a stubborn Sackville team. We dominated the first half and then a header from Edwards broke the deadlock to leave it 1-0 at half time. We were back to playing fluid football in the second half and were soon rewarded with goals from Campbell, Hedges and Remfry. It has been a pleasure to coach such a wonderful set of boys Mr Collyer

9 Fixture Results U12 Rugby-30th March Imberhorne 35 v Tunbridge Wells Grammar 15 Player of the Match: Iain Galbraith Great win for Imberhorne. Well done to all who played but particularly Sven Buss, Leo Low- Foon, Iain Galbraith and Harry Goswell who all had superb games. Mr Byrne

10 Dates for your Diary. Mon 3rd Tue 4th Wed 5th Thu 6th Fri 7th Wed 19th Sun 23rd Mon 24th Tue 25th Wed 26th Thu 27th Fri 28th I Dance - Chequer Mead I Dance - Chequer Mead Primary Italian Tasters Senior Students Election Drama trip School of Rock LAST DAY OF TERM D of E Gold training Iceland Trip leaves Iceland Trip returns START OF TERM Y9 Assessment fortnight GCSE Dance Moderation GCSE PE Moderation Young Enterprise Mid Sussex Area Finals Y10 Reports home KS3 Musician of the Year INSET DAY Notices. Do you live in East Grinstead or the surrounding area? Are you happy to help us promote our summer festival, I-Fest? Would you be happy to have a Mansell McTaggart board in your front garden for 4 weeks prior to I-Fest on 14 th July to promote the event and raise funds? If the answer is yes to all the above, firstly, thank you, and secondly, please phattam@imberhorne.co.uk to be added to the list. Proceeds from I-Fest go to our Tanzanian Exchange Programme. Let s make 2017 even bigger and better than last year! NB Mansell McTaggart Estate Agents design, print, place and remove all the boards after the event. CONGRATULATIONS, THANKS OR GOOD LUCK TO...Jayden Lewis in Year 7 and Jonathon Velasco-Surtees in Year 9 for winning a recent KS3 Maths Puzzle of the Week competition....alice Durrant, Daisy Herriott and Zoe Smith in Year 9 who are the first students to hit 200 achievement points and will be rewarded with their Platinum achievement award in assembly....georgia Pollard in Year 7 who sung on stage with singing quartet G4 on Tuesday 21st March during their concert. A very special event to be involved in!