NEWSLETTER Issue 9 Friday 30th January 2015 Message from Adrian Price, Principal Well done to all the superb musicians who have achieved fantastic grades. The names of pupils and their awards are listed on the reverse side of this newsletter, wonderful achievements from a talented bunch of young people! Brilliant! Another huge well done to the pupils in years 7, 8 and 9 who have made great strides with their reading of late. The Accelerated Reading Scheme is really paying dividends. Thanks to their hard work Beth Smith, Harry Morgan, Ben Everall and Isobel Robey have all improved their reading ages by two years. Publishers cannot print books quick enough to keep up with the insatiable appetite for reading from Ethan Wilson, Max Gunther, Lisa Greening, Freya Jones, Louisa McCrann and William Wassink who lead the way with the number of words read! I would like to thank all those from our community who came and conducted mock interviews with our Year 11s yesterday. The day was an enormous success and our pupils enjoyed the valuable experience of real life interviews! The DfE published their performance tables today and I urge everyone to go on-line and give them a look. We are very happy with the performance of our pupils compared to elsewhere and previously. There is so much to be proud of: our headline figure of 58% 5 GCSEs (only) A*-C including English and Maths is really good, progress in Science is the best regionally and nationally, expected progress in English is one of the best figures in Worcestershire, value added scores in the English Baccalaureate subjects are high and we are one of the top schools for attendance. In an age when education is under so much scrutiny and there is such a plethora of data by which to measure school effectiveness we are really pleased that it paints such a wonderful picture of our school. No surprise that we have been asked to feature as a case study in the annual parliamentary review of best practice in education! As always many thanks for all your support! Worcestershire Schools Games THOA was lucky enough to host the Worcestershire West School Games event on Wednesday 28th January. Adrian Taylor and the PE Team worked with our own Year 10 Young Leaders to run this fantastic indoor athletics event providing activities for over 300 children from 3 high schools and 10 primary schools from all around the county. The children thoroughly enjoyed the competition as well as the use of the specialist indoor athletics equipment for which THOA thanks Kingspan Insulation Community Trust. We are very grateful to the following organisations for sponsoring the Buzz - thank you G H BOWKETT LTD Supermarket & Catering Butchers Market Street, Tenbury Wells T: 01584 810351 DH COMMERCIALS (LEASING) LTD Specialist in quality used commercial vehicles Station Park, Station Road, Hartlebury, DY11 7YJ T: 01299 251087 M: 07831 570117 E: [email protected] www.dhcommercials.co.uk MR PAUL HARRIS Local Locksmith in Tenbury Wells No call out charge – free quotes and estimates T: 01584 819963 M : 07805 233196 IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Friday 13th February 2015 Friday 13th February 2015 Monday 16th March 2015 Friday 27th Mar – Fri 10th Apr Tuesday 28th April 2015 Tuesday 5th May 2015 Year 11 Parents’ Evening - 3.45 pm PTFA Disco (Pupils please complete the surveys!!) **Break up for Half Term Holiday** Year 9 exams start **Easter Holidays** Year 8 Parents’ Evening Year 7 Parents’ Evening Mr Price’s Snow Message – It is always our intention to open school as long as it is safe to do so. Please check the Worcestershire CC website, BBC H&W and our Facebook page if the weather is bad. Thank you Well done Ms Howells!! Year 10 Photography Competition Theme: Autumn/Winter Winning Photograph by: Sophie Griffiths A lovely picture, capturing autumn in a creative way Ms Howells is raising money for the mental health charity MIND by running the London Marathon in April. The school plans to hold a non-uniform day to raise money for this charity; however additional donations can be made on Ms Howells’ fund raising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JudeHowells THOA Equestrian Team Events  nd 2 was Kim Roach with a lovely winter landscape. **CONGRATULATIONS**   Team Meeting with Miss Browett rd on 3 February st NSEA Dressage 1 March at Kings th NSEA Show Jumping 15 March at Kings Congratulations to the following THOA pupils who have achieved a graded music exam in 2014. Fran Parker Tom Ward Grade 8 Saxophone Hebe Garbutt Grade 4 Flute Hannah Evans Grade 5 Saxophone Grade 8 Clarinet Archie Auger Grade 6 Flute Eleanor Griffiths Grade 3 Flute Sam Read Grade 3 Piano Sophie Griffiths Grade 3 Clarinet Eleanor Comley Grade 4 Piano Up-to-date information can be found on the PE Blog www.tenburype.blogspot.co.uk PE FIXTURES PTFA UPDATE: Bags to School raised £112 which is great. The PFTA would be grateful if pupils would complete the survey which has been compiled by some Y11 pupils. The aim is to get the thoughts on future discos. There is a collection box in reception for completed responses. A copy of the survey has also been put on the PTFA facebook page and copies can be obtained by emailing [email protected]. The PTFA would love to hear from anyone who is interested in becoming secretary and the AGM minutes will be published shortly.  Friday 13th February 2015 – PTFA Disco  Minibus Lottery- There are balls still available - £4 per month. All proceeds to towards running and maintaining the minibuses. For information please contact: Katie Powis 07711 388831 or Lisa Whitney 07805 375677 E: [email protected] Confidential Advice from your School Nurse Drop in and see the school nurse every other Wednesday lunch time in the Apex or Conference Room T: Text: E: NSPCC Contact Numbers 0800 800500 0800 056056 [email protected] Childline Contact Numbers T: 0800 1111 Text: 0800 400222 Local Police: 101 Safeguarding (Child Protection Information) Designated member of staff responsible for safeguarding: Mrs J Herschy Deputy: Mr A Price T: 01584 810304 Governor: Mrs C Wallace - 07867468908