It would be an under statement to say we have had a busy week.  With continuing to deliver lessons in school as well as providing online resources for students isolating, continuing to run our lateral flow testing programme, shutting down our Year 10 bubble due to several positive Covid - 19 tests; we then received an Ofsted call on Wednesday morning.  They informed us that we were going to have a section 8 monitoring inspection the following day.  

I am very proud of how our school community responded to this news.  I would like to thank you as parents for your comments that you provided on the surveys.  It proved to Ofsted how pleased you are with the school.  I would also like to give a huge public thanks to all of the staff, Governors and partners; particulary those directly involved.  

As this is a section 8 inspection, unfortunately they are unable to change the overall Ofsted grading of our school.  However the feedback was exceptionally positive and a testoment to everything we have been doing over the past few years.  We await a letter outlining this over the coming weeks. 

This week we have had several articles published in Marlborough News about opportunities for our school and its students including both the fantastic work completed by the PTFA and Doreen King Foundation.  Please click on the liinks for more information:

https://marlborough.news/news/pewsey-vale-school-is-raising-money-for-an-outdoor-shelter-can-you-help/

https://marlborough.news/news/doreen-king-foundation-offers-pewsey-vale-pupils-past-and-present-financial-support/

Looking forward to next week, I would like to wish Yr 11 the best of luck in their mock exams/assessments.

We will also be welcoming the return of some of our Year 10 students.

I hope that you all have a great weekend and get some rest.  As always, stay safe and take care.

Mr Pritchard

World Book Day Competition

Thank you for all the entries to the world book day competition.  Mrs Furness was very pleased to be the judge, reading through some very interesting short stories that all started with ‘I couldn’t stop. I just could not stop myself from….’

Drum roll for the winners please….

In 1^st place – Congratulations to Lawrence G – Yr 10

In 2^nd place – A great story from Sidney P – Yr 10

In 3^rd place – Well done to Kymani-Jaye W – Yr 7

Congratulations to everyone who entered for your fantastic stories and well done to Lawrence who has won a £20 Blackwell’s voucher. 

English

Year 8 have been learning to write persuasive speeches and this week they demonstrated their learning by writing powerfully about the impact of deforestation in the Amazon.

Students conducted research into the impact of deforestation on the indigenous population, the loss of habitat for wildlife, and the potential environmental cost of removing forests. Their speeches were hopeful, acknowledging the positive impact being made by new green technologies. 

Our students left us feeling that we should see the challenges of today as the opportunities of the future.

We look forward to sharing some of the student's final speeches with you all later in the term.

Year 7 Resistant Materials – Mrs Wassel 

Year 7 have really enjoyed being back in the workshop, learning how to use the machines safely to produce their designs to as high a standard as possible. Many of them have tried out the Hegner saw which is a mechanical jigsaw where the saw stays in the same place and the material has to be moved or pushed in order to cut it.

This can be a bit scary for a novice with the noise of the motor. 

Congratulations to Esmay S, Harley L, Mckenzie L and Aaron C (all Yr 7) for showing real progress with this.

Charlie B, Lily M and Drew H (all Yr 7)  cut out their figures using coping saws by hand. This takes a bit longer and requires a lot more patience and persistence!!

The other machine used was the sanding disc to smooth away some of the rougher edges.

We will post some photographs when we have some finished items to show you.

Health and Social Care Trainer and Practitioner Interview

On Tuesday 18^th March our Yr 10 Health and Social Care class had the opportunity to virtually meet a care practitioner.  Both students in class and those isolating at home were given the opportunity to ask questions about Leilla’s career allowing them a real insight into her job.  

Leilla explained how she had gone to university and was a fully qualified nurse, and that in recent years she had become both a care practitioner and trainer. Leilla went on to explain what she enjoys about her job and how she finds it really rewarding.  This was really informative for the students as it directly relates to the current coursework they are completing. All students got the opportunity to ask their own personalised questions which resulted in a fantastic learning experience for all.  

MFL – Mr Hewitt

Mr Hewitt has been chuckling to himself all day on his funny jokes in support of Red Nose Day.  Unfortunately, most of his students haven’t found him as amusing as he had hoped.  

One of my Year 8 groaned at my new teacher joke today which I found amusing...

I asked them “What does ‘un morceau de gâteau’ mean?”

Food Technology – Mrs Key

Please feast your eyes on some recent Key Stage 4 work.   I am really proud of what they are producing…

History – Ms Tomsett

We have had a great couple of weeks in the History Department after welcoming students back to school. It has been fantastic discussing key Historical concepts and ideas with students and see the fantastic work students have been producing. Well done History students!

Music – Mrs Du Toit

I would just like to share some amazing musical compositions that were completed by some Yr 9 students during lockdown. In our live lessons, we have explored The Planets by Holst; especially how he creates mood to 'paint' the characters of the planets/Roman gods.

The task was to choose a planet and write your own music to represent that planet and especially the god's character.

Liam B (Yr 9) wrote a piece representing Pluto; God of the underworld. I was absolutely astounded at his creativity especially the way he used letters in the sequencing program (1930 was when Pluto was first discovered, it has 3 moons and is the 9th planet from the sun!) To listen follow the link: https://onlinesequencer.net/1876219

Jack W (also Yr 9) definitely created a very ominous mood with Mars; the God of war in his composition: https://onlinesequencer.net/1875900 while Adam B (Yr 9) captured a flying Mercury quite effectively! https://onlinesequencer.net/1891095

Amazing work Boys!

PE Students of the Week 

These students have particularly impressed the PE department this week:

Yr 9 

JSP - Holly M

EJO - Reece H

LSh - Elizabeth B

Yr 8

JSP - Jett F

OBA - Sarah H

EJO - Oliver K

Yr 7

JSP - Tevez S

EJO - Oscar W

OBA - Ellenor M

Careers – Virtual Employer Talks – Miss Dean

In the absence of our annual careers fair due to current COVID restrictions, we have been thinking of ways to ensure that our students do not miss out.  This week we saw a big focus on careers with our virtual employer talks.

A huge thank you to all of the employers who joined us ‘virtually’ from far and wide this week.  We were able to provide meaningful experiences for pupils in all year groups with employers from a wide range of sectors.  Feedback from students and staff has been very positive and my favourite quote from a member of staff was, “That is the most interesting thing I have heard, the talk was brilliant and I didn’t want the session to end.  I could have asked questions all day.”  

We will be looking to share more information about the talks on our website in the near future to enable students, parents and guardians to find out more.

PTFA update 

Please see attached the PTFA newsletter for all the hard work that they are completing for the school.

EduKit – Mrs Konynenburg

Following the request for students to sign up to do work experience for Edukit.  We had some students sign up for the following roles;

• Product Testing and Support – Alex B (Yr 8)

This involved product testing their new mental health support app, scrutinising the app and providing feedback and writing support guides for other users. 

• PR/Marketing – Molly S (Yr 8) and Lawrence G (Yr 10)

This involved writing press releases about the new app, using the internet to find statistics about mental health amongst young people, creating marketing brochures for other students to help promote and navigate the app.

Emma Freitas at Edukit wanted to forward her praise and thanks to these individuals as she said “They were all great and very engaged throughout the experience.” She also wanted to give Alexander a special mention as she said that he worked particularly hard in all of the tasks that he was set.

Well done to these students for their hard work and dedication.

Red Nose Day

Thank to you all of the students/families who donated money towards Red Nose Day 2021 by joining in with our non-school uniform day.

Speakers for schools

WEEK STARTING MONDAY 22^ND MARCH

HOW TO JOIN THE LIVE BROADCASTS

• Join 10 minutes before the broadcast to be ready
• You can join without needing an account – Watch how here
• For full speaker descriptions visit the Broadcast Schedule here

LIVE BROADCASTS LIBRARY & MORE

• Watch pre-recorded broadcasts from our library here