1 Courageous Hound Volume. 5 Issue. 7 Friday 16th December Dear Parents / Carers and Friends of Bolingbroke, It’s been an incredible half term with so much to celebrate. This bumper issue includes our debating team success going through to the second stage of the Schools Independent Debating competition, Year 7 Science Invention Convention competition, Concert by Candlelight, sporting fix- tures & today we close the autumn term with our first Staff Pantomime – Oh no we didn’t! Today we say farewell to Ms Tooman (Food Science teacher) who will be traveling to New Zealand in the new year. Ms Gann our previous food science teacher will be returning for the spring term until Mr Leath- er takes up his new post asfter Easter. Following an extended period of leave I’m delighted to welcome back Mr Smithies to the Maths team & Klein House. Ms Jay is leaving us today and Ms Maigne, a very experi- enced Spanish teacher will be taking her classes from January 2017. As we draw the term to an end we have a close eye on the start of a new term. We ask that your child is fully equipment and with perfect uniform. Tis the time to buy stocking fillers and gifts. How about a new equipment set or a new transparent pencil case? Lastly I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our incredible staff for their dedication and enthusiasm to enable our children to re- ceive an excellent education. It is a long term and I wish you, our chil- dren and Bolingbroke Academy team a very well deserved break. Ms Edis Principal BOLINGBROKE EQUIPMENT LIST FIRST DAY BACK FOR PUPILS WEDNESDAY 4TH JANUARY HAVE AN EXCELLENT BREAK! 2 x black pens 1 x green pen 1 x highlighter pen 1 x full length ruler 1 x glue stick 2 x pencils 1 x sharpener 1x rubber 1 x geometry set (compass and protractor) 1 x scientific calculator (Recommended - CASIO FX83GTPLUS-SB-UH)
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Volume. 5 Issue. 7
Friday 16th December
Dear Parents / Carers and Friends of Bolingbroke,
It’s been an incredible half term with so much to celebrate. This bumper
issue includes our debating team success going through to the second
stage of the Schools Independent Debating competition, Year 7 Science
Invention Convention competition, Concert by Candlelight, sporting fix-
tures & today we close the autumn term with our first Staff Pantomime –
Oh no we didn’t!
Today we say farewell to Ms Tooman (Food Science teacher) who will
be traveling to New Zealand in the new year. Ms Gann our previous
food science teacher will be returning for the spring term until Mr Leath-
er takes up his new post asfter Easter. Following an extended period of
leave I’m delighted to welcome back Mr Smithies to the Maths team &
Klein House. Ms Jay is leaving us today and Ms Maigne, a very experi-
enced Spanish teacher will be taking her classes from January 2017.
As we draw the term to an end we have a close eye on the start of a
new term. We ask that your child is fully equipment and with perfect
uniform. Tis the time to buy stocking fillers and gifts. How about a new
equipment set or a new transparent pencil case?
Lastly I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our incredible
staff for their dedication and enthusiasm to enable our children to re-
ceive an excellent education. It is a long term and I wish you, our chil-
dren and Bolingbroke Academy team a very well deserved break.
Ms Edis
Principal
BOLINGBROKE EQUIPMENT LIST
FIRST DAY BACK FOR PUPILS
WEDNESDAY 4TH JANUARY
HAVE AN EXCELLENT BREAK!
2 x black pens
1 x green pen
1 x highlighter pen
1 x full length ruler
1 x glue stick
2 x pencils
1 x sharpener
1x rubber
1 x geometry set
(compass and protractor)
1 x scientific calculator
(Recommended - CASIO FX83GTPLUS-SB-UH)
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THE INAUGURAL BOLINGBROKE ACADEMY
YEAR 7 INVENTION CONVENTION
By Ms Pinner
On the first day of year 7, pupils were tasked with creating a novel invention to solve a problem. Inven-
tions were created independently at home and finally displayed on December 2nd in the first ever Boling-
broke Academy Invention Convention.
The Sports Hall was transformed into a buzzing Convention Hall where every year 7 presented their in-
ventions to crowds of teachers and fellow pupils. Every year 7 demonstrated exceptional poise and spoke
passionately about their creations.
The panel of judges had a very difficult decisions to make. Awards for most creative, most kid friendly, best
gift, most useful, and the grand prize of best in convention will be awarded at the last assembly before
Christmas Break.
SCIENCE UPDATE
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CONCERT BY CANDLELIGHT
This year’s Concert by Candlelight took place on Monday 12th December. It was a
festive occasion featuring performances by Bolingbroke’s many choirs, bands and
ensembles with a number from the upcoming school musical Hairspray and an all
staff performance of George Michael’s ‘Last Christmas’.
The concert ended with a Bolingbroke version of ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’ written by winner of
Bolingbroke Christmas Carol House competition Lily Ackenhoff.
This was an exciting way to start this academic year’s concerts and is an indication of the great things to
come out of our music programs this year. Thank you to all who came and supported the pupils and our
school, and to St Michael’s Church for their continued support of our school events.
MUSIC AT BOLINGBROKE
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HOUSE COMPETITION
Congratulations to Lily Ackenhoff for writing the second two verses to this carol and winning the Christ-
mas carol House Competition. There were many great entries this year.
The Bolingbroke Xmas tree is really brightening up the foyer this season. Thanks to all the staff and pupils
for the excellent decorations!
1. We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year!
Good tidings we bring,
To you and your kin,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year!
2. We wish you a merry Christmas
Wish you fun enrichments
We wish you lots of house points
And lots of BE BOLDs!
Good homework we send
For you and your friends
We wish you a merry Christmas
at Bolingbroke school.
3. Oh, where has Figgy got to?
And what is Figgy up to?
He’s probably on Floor Two
With Humanities crew!
Good homework we send
For you and your friends
We wish you a merry Christmas
at Bolingbroke school.
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ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION
SCHOOLS’ MACE DEBATING COMPETITION
By Mrs Green
Bolingbroke enjoyed great success in the first round of English Speaking Union's School Mace debating
competition last week. We hosted the first round on Thursday 1st December, where our team were
joined by Emanuel School, Francis Holland School, Thames Christian College and Regent's Park
School. Liam Campbell Griffiths and Asante Flavius, in year 10, debated in favour of the motion 'This house
supports sports caps in professional sports.' Both pupils gave convincing speeches and the judges comment-
ed on their confident delivery and style. Liam also gave a summary speech in which he had to respond to
point made by the 'floor', pupils from other schools, only moments earlier. He even managed to weave in
some jokes about the quality of British football, which lightened the tone and were appreciated by the judg-
es. As well as participating in their own debate, Asante, Liam and Fabian Aspey Gay also participated in the
floor debate on two other motions: 'This house would lower the voting age to 16' and 'This house sup-
ports physician assisted suicide'. In this competition, it is the three highest scoring teams from the evening
overall that progress to the next round of the competition, and we are proud to announce that Boling-
broke were in the top three! We will reveal how they get on in the Spring term.
YEAR 10 GCSE GEOGRAPHY FIELDWORK TRIPS
As part of your child’s Geography GCSE studies, they need to complete two pieces of fieldwork. There
will be 2 trips going out from the 15th-19th May 2017.
Pupils taking part will spend 3 days at Nettlecombe Court in Somerset, a Field Studies Centre on the edge
of Exmoor National Park.
A letter will be sent via BolingbrokePost, please contact Ms Kaisharis for more information.
HUMANITIES NEWS
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BOLINGBROKE MASTERCHEF 2016 COMPETITION
On Wednesday 30th November the Bolingbroke MasterChef competition was held. The contestants were
given 1 1/2 hrs to cook the dish of their choice.
THE CONTESTANTS:
Halle Frimpong—Sweet and sour Chicken with Special Rice
Eleni Ghigo—Healthy Chicken Curry
Jeanne Le Bec—Victoria Sponge
Eva Turner—Steak, Roast Potatoes and Asparagus
Ms Oliver - Pavlova
The Bolingbroke Choir visited during the competi-
tion for an impromptu performance which was
well received by the competitors.
All resulting dishes were abso-
lutely delicious and after much
deliberation the winner was se-
lected.
For the elements included and different skills
required Halle Frimpong came away the
winner of Bolingbroke MasterChef 2016!
She had the teachers begging for her secret
recipe!
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AUTUMN 2 REPORTS AND ARK ASSESSMENT PLUS
Mr Speight
Well done to all pupils for their performance over assessment week. Pupils went through their Aut2 reports on the last day of
term and parents will have received these via Bolingbroke Post. This guide is to help parents and pupils make sense of their reports
and the data they contain at a time of significant change in educational assessment.
Over the last few years the government has abolished the system of National Curriculum
levels and also replaced A*-G grades at GCSE with 9-1. The chart on the right shows which
letters are equivalent to which grades and the approximate distribution of grades that will be
awarded. A useful way to understand this is that a 9 broadly equates to performance in the
top 3% of pupils nationally, a 6 in the top 30% while a 4 is in the top two-thirds and equivalent
to the ‘bottom’ of the old C grade.
Within the Ark network, we have adopted a system called Ark Assessment +, whereby pupils
in all year groups will be given grades from 9-1 at termly assessment points to indicate the
grade they are on track to achieve at the end of Year 11. Whereas in the past pupils were
expected to move us the NC levels and sub-levels as they progressed, this model is different
in that staying on the same grade at each assessment point represents expected progress, and
moving up a grade represents more than expected progress.
All pupils have baselines and target grades as before, based on their KS2 test results and oth-
er assessments they have completed. These are automatically generated by the assessment system we use, although they can be
amended where we feel a pupil needs additional challenge. As this is a new system this year, it will take some time for pupils, par-
ents and staff to become accustomed to these grades and what they mean. Targets are likely to be tweaked as the year progresses
so we can ensure that the most appropriate level of challenge is built in for every pupil in every subject.
Central to this assessment model is the idea of shared and moderated assessments, where pupils from all Ark schools do similar
assessments in each subject before staff from across the network come together (as they did last Friday) to mark and moderate
these. This allows subject teams to build an increasingly sophisticated picture of where a pupils’ performance in a particular assess-
ment, whether in Y7 or Y10, places them relative to pupils in their year group nationally, and supports really precise formative
feedback to help accelerate pupils’ progress.
The system of coloured dots we use to demonstrate progress against targets is just one indicator of how a pupil is doing. A red
dot may mean that a pupil is making insufficient progress, but equally it may indicate that they are working really well and progress-
ing at a good rate but not quite yet meeting the standards that they are capable of. It is important that effort and other perfor-
mance data is looked at and that pupils and parents do not panic if there is a lot of red on their report. In particular pupils who
performed particularly well in their KS2 SATs have very high Ark Assessment + and GCSE targets, making reds more likely but not
necessarily a sign of underachievement. Year 11 pupils may have red dots in spite of working really well and being on track for A
grades, because their targets based on their prior attainment are A*s. It is important that the data in this report is looked at in its
entirety and that pupils and parents reflect on the WWWs as well as the EBIs!
Year 10 pupils, in addition to their grades, have test percentages for each subject and the year group average to show their perfor-
mance relative to their year group. Grades and targets should be viewed with the health warning that grade boundaries for these
new courses have not been set by exam boards and all schools across the country are in the dark about exactly what they will
look like. Our membership of the Ark network is a great advantage here as it allows pupils performance across a large cohort to
be compared and best practice to be shared easily.
Each pupil has an effort score for each subject out of 10 and an overall effort score average. The effort score encompasses –
attitude to learning demonstrated in lessons
engagement and participation in class discussion
completion and quality of tasks and activities in lesson
completion and quality of homework
presentation of written work
punctuality and personal organisation
Teachers use the following descriptions to award them.
For any further information in relation to our assessment systems, please contact your child’s civitas tutor, subjects teachers or Mr
Speight.
Descriptor Report category
10 Consistently exceptional in all areas Excellent
9 Excellent
8 Very good Good
7 Consistently good
6 Generally good with occasional lapses
Requires improvement 5 Sometimes good but room for improvement
4 Requires improvement
3 Requires significant improvement
Serious cause for concern 2 Cause for concern in multiple areas
1 Serious cause for concern in multiple areas
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INFORMATION FOR YEAR 10 PUPILS
WORK EXPERIENCE
When you start year 11 in September 2017 you will all be taking part in a 1 week work experience place-
ment, this can be extended to 2 weeks if you wish.
Optional week: Tuesday 29th August to Friday 1st September
Compulsory week: Monday 4th September to Friday 8th September
Work experience gives you the opportunity for involvement in a workplace, helping you to understand
how the world of work operates and how it differs to school.
There will be support to find a work experience placement for all pupils by the school but if you want to
contact employers yourself we will be able to help you. We will expect you to find a placement outside
your immediate family network so that you broaden your career horizons and challenge yourself to meet
new people. Employers will need to be contacted before the half term so health and safety checks can be
carried out. You will all be expected to visit your work experience placement in July for a brief meeting
and complete a work experience journal throughout your placement.
MORRISBY ONLINE ASSESSMENT
In the spring term we would like to encourage year 10 pupils to take the Morrisby Online assessment
which is a combination of psychometric assessments and questionnaires to give us an idea of where your
strengths and interests lie. This is done through an online assessment which takes approximately 75
minutes. It measures your verbal, numerical and abstract aptitudes. This will be combined with a more sub-
jective snapshot of your talents, motivations and work preferences. The programme will analyze all of this
information and then present the results back to you in the form of an interactive website. You can see the
recommendations, find courses and investigate the various careers in more detail. This can all be down-
loaded in a report. For more information look here: https://www.morrisby.com/students/
This will cost £24 per pupil and more information about how to pay will follow in the New Year. Once you
have a log in to Morrisby Online it is yours for life and you can revisit the questionnaires as your situation
changes.
For more information about work experience or Morrisby Online visit the library to speak to Miss Robin-
son.
Review By Ms Jones
“JESSICA’S GHOST”
BY ANDREW NORRISS
Francis, the school loner finds his whole world transformed when Jes-
sica sits down next to him on a bench. That makes it sound like a ro-
mance novel, but oh no because Jessica is no ordinary girl, she is a
ghost! As Jessica is seen by a few others, the question arises – what do
these children have in common? Secrets come bubbling to the surface
with some surprising outcomes!
I would recommend this book to all pupils who like some action with a