Newsletters

NEWSLETTER 3 - 24th September

Dear all,

I hope you have all had a good week. It’s been a real privilege this week to spend a lot of time in and out of classrooms to see the students really engaging in their learning. If at any stage you want to engage more with your children about their learning and understanding what themes and topics they are studying do have a look at our curriculum pages on the school website as well as look at their knowledge organisers. The latter half of my week has been with all the other Secondary Headteachers at a conference in Bath, with a focus on ‘social inclusion’ and ‘building back stronger’ as we start to emerge from the Pandemic.

This week in morning welcome we have discussed the importance of using our ‘time’ effectively, we have also had the Police in delivering assemblies about Hate Crime. I am really pleased that half of our Year 7 have had a such a good time away on their residential and I know Year 8 are now very much looking forward to their turn next week. Also, next week we have our open evening on Thursday 30^th September, starting at 6:00pm. In addition to this newsletter I have also written to all parents with some additional updates, including updates about the up and coming vaccines.

With thanks,

Paul Skipp

Headteacher

24 Sep 2021

Book of the Week

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Year 8 First Group PGL Residential

All Day

From 27 Sep until 29 Sep

September

Week 1

All Day

September

OPEN EVENING

6:00pm – 8:30pm

September

News from the Music Department

Year 7 – Homemade Instruments

In Music the students are currently learning about the Elements of Music. For homework the students had to design their own musical instrument and bring it in to be used in lessons. The students were put in to groups, and they had to compose their own piece using at least 2 of the elements of music. They all performed to their class and the class audience had to work out which elements they had used. It was great to see the students designs, there were some unique ideas. We now have many of the instruments on display around the music department.

Year 8 – Calypso Music

In Year 8 this term the students are learning all about Calypso Music. Recently the Music department were able to invest in a set of steel drums. Steel drums are used in many Calypso songs, so we have been able to start learning this terms piece of music on the steel drums. It has been great watching some students try out all the different size drums and start to learn their piece, and we can’t wait for all the year 8 groups to come and try them out.

Extra-curricular Rehearsals

It has been wonderful to restart all the different groups this week. Lovely to see familiar faces back but also wonderful to welcome new students. There have been many highlights this week including seeing our students start to use our new Steel Drum set!

We hope to see more of our students get involved next week. For many of the groups no prior experience is needed, just the enthusiasm to have a go! Below is an updated timetable of what is going on across the whole Expressive Arts Faculty.

Duke of Edinburgh Award 2021

Letters regarding this year's enrolment on to the Duke of Edinburgh Award will be coming out shortly - we are just awaiting confirmation of dates. This year's Bronze DofE will be open to years 9 & 10, plus those that previously started in other year groups. If you have already started taking part in volunteering, physical or skill activities then your enrolment day can be rolled back to the start of September 2021. So please do start some of your activities if you can so that you are on your way to completing the Award sections. If you have any questions, please see Mr Bilsdon via e-mail abilsdon@jogschool.org

There will be times throughout the year when your child may not be unable to attend school. If this is the case, I would like to remind you that your child is able to access remote learning for every subject they study, in-line with their Learning Cycles that they follow in school.

Please refer to our website and then click on the following icons in the order below:

Yellow circle with lines inside, at the top right of the page
Students
Resources
Links for student independent work - Term X

Links to DfE backed Oak Academy podcasts and lesson material along with other resources can be accessed through the hyperlinks on the relevant year group spreadsheet.

Please do contact the school if you are unsure of how to access the work.

Mr Rhodes

Supporting Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance at JoG

The Careers and Next Steps Fair is coming……

Next month, on Wednesday 13^th October our Careers and Next Steps Fair is back and in person!

This will be an opportunity for students in years 9-13 to come and talk to a range of employers, local colleges and universities to get them thinking about life beyond school.

Some of those already confirmed include; the NHS, RSPCA, Amey, Selwood Housing, Armed Forces, Goughs Solicitors, Dorothy House, Dragon Capital, Butterfly Care, Swansea University, Portsmouth University, Plymouth University, Winchester University, Wiltshire College, Bath College.

We would always welcome more:

If you are an employer or work for a company that would like the opportunity to have an exhibition stand please contact the school careers adviser alynch@jogschool.org to find out more and book your space.

Qualified and experienced careers advisers from the CareerPilot Team will be running two, free, live online sessions for parents, carers and young people on post 16 options this term.

Wednesday Oct 13th and Wednesday Nov 24th 6-7pm on Teams

Find out more and register for a place by clicking here: https://parentschoicesaftey11.eventbrite.co.uk