Prospect School Newsletter

Prospect School Newsletter Prospect School Newsletter 1 9 T H N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2 Continuous learning is is the minimum requirement for for success in in any field! any field! - Denis - Denis Waitley Waitley I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : Prospect Rugby Kit Dates for your Diary 2 22 Schools Direct 2 Year 7 Tutor Parental Survey Christmas-is-acoming Year 11 English Revision Timetable Sixth Form Open Curriculum Information Show my Homework 5 GCSEpod 6 Year 11 Mock ination Timetable 7 FOCUS FRIDAY ENTERPRISE ENTERPRISE FOCUS FRIDAY Year 9 students participated in an enterprise Focus Friday, designed to On Friday 9th November, year 9 students participated increase their in an enterprise enterprise capabilities. Focus Friday, Students worked in groups on an designed Olympic themed to increase event their whereby enterprise they had to plan the hosting of an Olympic capabilities. activity of their Students choice worked in Reading. groups Collaboratively, on an students chose a suitable Olympic sport, designed themed and event; created they had a model to plan stadium, the marketed the event through hosting the creation of an of Olympic promotional activity material of their choice and completed in a business plan for their Reading. project. Groups also wrote and performed a business pitch with the aim of being chosen as the successful deliverer of the Reading Olympic event. Collaboratively, students chose a suitable sport, designed and created a model Throughout the day of activities stadium, students marketed developed the many event skills, through principally the that of teamwork, creativity, decision creation making, of promotional innovation, material confidence and completed and risk-taking. Both students and a staff business delivering plan the for event their project. thoroughly Groups enjoyed also the day. The event took part over wrote two and Focus performed Fridays a and business the winners pitch with from the each day were: aim of being chosen as the successful deliverer of the Reading Olympic event. Day 1- Oliwia Lecka, Chloe Strange Throughout and Emily the Gillies day of activities, students Day 2-Stephanie Martindale, Emily developed Oakey, many Hollie skills; Grantham principally and Kate those Barker of teamwork, Today I learnt creativity, about business decision making, innovation, strategies and confidence got to practice and risk-taking. Both students and staff delivering graphic the event design in the leaflet and thoroughly enjoyed the day. The poster. event I took learnt part some persuasive over two Focus Fridays and the winners writing for from advertising the Olym- each day were: pic Games and had fun building the stadium. It has made me really interested in Business. Day 1- Oliwia Lecka, Chloe Strange and Emily Gillies David Totterdale Day 2-Stephanie Martindale, Emily Oakey, Below are some student comments from the day: Today, I learnt about business strategies and got to practise graphic design in the leaflet and poster. I learnt some persuasive writing for advertising the Olympic Games and had fun building the stadium. It has made me really interested in Business. David Totterdale Thank you for the brilliant Focus Friday! It was very enjoyable. I just wish I had chosen business as one of my options. I really enjoyed it and presenting the proposal was the highlight of my day. Dylan Hinde Today, I have learnt that setting up a business is harder than it seems. I have enjoyed everything today; especially making the business plan. I would like to do this again next year to see how my ideas have developed. Thanks for this day. Phelim Igoe I found today s Focus Friday fun because you could do something related to sport in another and you could work with a team on a project. It was such a good Focus Friday. My day went really well. I thought it might be boring but it wasn t. It was really exciting and was one of the best Focus Friday s I have had in a long time. I really loved making the model stadium and working with others. Beth and Tamina

Prospect Rugby Kit P A G E 2 This past week, students were invited by the RFU and Canterbury, the new England Rugby kit designers) to visit Twickenham for a day to design a new Prospect School rugby kit. We initially spent the day learning about how a rugby kit can be used to show a team s identity, history and even to intimidate the opposition. With this information on board, they got to work developing their own Prospect School rugby kits. After much debating and compromise, they were able to come up with a final design for the new Prospect rugby kit and, I for one, will be extremely proud when I see Prospect students playing in the kit next year. Mr Dorliac Dates for your Diary: 22nd November Sixth Form Open 27th November Curriculum Information 6th December Sixth Form Parents 6th December Careers 11th December Christmas Concert 12th December Keeping Safe A new generation to initial teacher training - School Direct School Direct is the new mode of initial teacher training, replacing the GTP route, which finishes at the end of August 201. School Direct is available in primary and secondary schools across England, and programmes generally last for one year. Successful completion of a School Direct course will lead to the award of qualified teacher status (QTS). In order to help tailor training to a person s skills and experience, there are two separate School Direct training options: School Direct Training Programme- available to high-quality graduates. They may be eligible for a bursary to support them while they train. School Direct Training Programme (salaried) - an employmentbased route available to high-quality graduates with at least three years work experience who will earn a salary whilst they train. To be part of this new initiative Prospect put a bid together for three salaried School Direct places for English, and Chemistry, and we have recently found out that we have been successful for all three places. This is a unique opportunity to be involved in the training process and to create the next generation of outstanding teachers. The next step is to recruit the best candidates for our positions ready to commence training in September 201. P R O S P E C T S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E R

P A G E Year 7 Tutor On Thursday 8 th November, there was an opportunity for Parents of year 7 students to meet with their child s tutor. This information event allowed parents to discuss their child s progress; find out about some of the initiatives we have in place to support their child s progress and to discuss any concerns and issues that have arisen. The evening was a great success and it was pleasing to note how many parents attended. During the course of the evening, parents were asked to complete a short questionnaire about how they felt about the school. The results can be seen below: Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don t know My Child makes good progress 25 27 5 My child is well looked after 29 27 1 My child is taught well 25 29 My child receives appropriate homework for their age 18 6 1 2 Prospect ensure its students are well behaved 27 27 Prospect deals effectively with bullying 21 21 2 2 11 Prospect is well led and managed 2 28 6 Prospect responds well to any concerns I raise 21 20 1 I receive valuable information about my child s progress 16 1 2 8 Whilst we are pleased with all of the positive feedback, we will always strive to do better. Parental Survey All students should have received an envelope, via their form tutor, which contains the parental survey that is audited by an outside agency. This is a very important exercise for the school as the information is used to improve our provision and help us ensure that we are doing the best for each child. Please take the time to fill in the survey, if you have not done so already, and send it back to the school via your child s tutor. Some of you may have more than one child at the school; we would like you to complete a survey for each child, as their experiences may vary in different year groups. Please could you return your survey by Friday 2rd November. If you have any questions about the survey, or need a replacement form then please contact Jane Olney on 01189 59066 or email jolney@prospect.reading.sch.uk. CHRISTMAS- IS-A-COMING! We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in the Music Department by having two concerts this year. Students should keep checking the What s On notice board for information and anyone wishing to perform a solo, or as a group, should see me as soon as possible. I am looking for lots of students to share their talents. Miss Clements

P A G E English - Year 11 Revision Sessions 22/11/12 29/11/12 6/12/12 1/12/12 20/12/12 Foundation and Higher tier Writing skills question 5 with Mrs Clewer & Mr Dieu in Room A6 Higher tier Reading skills language with Miss Curren in Room A26 Foundation and Higher tier Writing skills question 6 with Mrs Clewer, Miss Quinn & Miss Ray in Room A6 Higher tier Reading skills presentational features with Miss Lynch in Room A Foundation and Higher tier Writing skills - SPG with Mrs Clewer, Miss Ray, & Mr Dieu in Room A6 Foundation tier Reading skills - language with Mrs Clewer in Room A6 Foundation tier Reading skills presentational features with Mrs Clewer, Miss Quinn in Room A6 Sixth Form Open Thursday 22 nd November (18.0 21.00) Open to all Year 10 and Year 11 students. On Thursday 22 nd November, we are running our Sixth Form Open. This is your chance to find out all there is to know about the many Post-16 courses we offer; and about life in our successful Sixth Form. Don t be afraid to ask the teachers questions about their courses and our current Sixth Formers about their own experiences. Parents and relatives are more than welcome to attend this event, which starts with an introduction from the Headteacher and a short presentation from the Head of Sixth Form, in the Sports Hall. You will have the opportunity to meet with teachers and see examples of classwork and coursework. Staff will be available at any time between 7.00pm and 9.00pm. We look forward to welcoming you! Curriculum Information 2012 A presentation on the curriculum currently delivered at Prospect School Looking at future curriculum developments Tuesday 27th November KS 6pm to 7pm KS 7pm to 8pm Venue: Lower School Hall Presentation by Mr L Fuller Assistant Head Lead 1-19 Curriculum

Show My Homework P A G E 5 Show My Homework is the new service from Prospect that allows parents and students to look at any homework that has been set on a linked website. You can see: The subject and teacher The topic and work set The due date Although the student planner is still being used, Show My Homework is an additional tool to keep parents informed. You can view your child s homework by going to: http://www.showmyhomework.co.uk/prospectschool/reading You can also click on the Homework button on the new school website: You don t need to register or log-in. For more information, please contact Mr Palfrey, mpalfrey@prospect.reading.sch.uk. Use the drop down arrows to view by year, subject, teacher or class

P A G E 6 Prospect is proud to announce that it has recently subscribed to an exciting new GCSE resource: GCSEPod, for years 9, 10 and 11. GCSEPod provides podcasts which our students can watch online, or download, to play later on their ipods, iphones, Blackberry and Android devices. All podcasts are enhanced with text and images and are designed to support students in the classroom, with their homework and during exam time. All subjects are now available on the service. So many students at Prospect already have mobile technology in their pockets and we hope to harness this existing technology to engage students with their studies in an innovative way. GCSEPod has already been proven to have a significant impact on A*-C performance; we aim to make it an integral part of learning for every GCSE student studying at the school. Students can go to Fronter and click the link to GCSEPod. They don t need to register, just enter their Prospect username and the password gcsepod.

Year 11 Mock ination Timetable December 2012 Timings Mon2 10/12/12 Tue2 11/12/12 Wed2 12/12/12 Thu2 1/12/12 Fri2 1/12/12 Focus Friday Option Mon1 17/12/12 Tue1 18/12/12 Wed1 19/12/12 Thu1 20/12/12 Fri1 21/12/12 08:0 assembly tutor tutor tutor tutor assembly tutor tutor tutor Tutor Tutor 08:5 09:5 11:10 12:10 1:00 English SH English SH English SH - English or opt 5 - Biology or opt Chemistry or opt opt 1 Physics - MFL or Opt 1 L16 / L17 or L11 / L12 - Opt 5 Opt 1 - PE Opt 6 PE Opt 5 - Opt 1 Opt 2 ICT Creator exam Opt 2 C2 IT/English/ Opt1 50 History Opt 55 History Opt Opt ICT Creator exam or normal Resistant Material or opt Opt 6 MFL or Opt 1 L16 / L17 or L11 / L12 IT, PE or English - Opt 6 - English or Business Studies s and (retake) or normal Opt 6 Business Studies English/ or IT 8 Geography Opt 5 8 Geography English/ PE or IT Food Tech & ICT RE-sit Opt 2 - Graphics Opt Graphics Opt PE, Fri1 18/01/1 Art Art Art Art Art P A G E 7