Longdean Linklongdeanschool.co.uk/.../Longdean-Link-14-29-Mar-2018.pdf2018/03/29  · Headlines Edition 14 29 March 2018 Longdean Link Important dates Term Ends – Thursday 29 March—School

Dear Parents, Guardians and Neighbours

A busy term draws to a close this week but there is still so much going on. Last Friday the Longdean dance club, comprised of students in Years 7 - 11 took place in the Dacorum dance competition. Dancing to the song 'this is me', they finished a creditable third. Also last Friday 73 GCSE History students visited the Imperial War Museum, to study the war and medicine exhibition. Over the weekend I also had the pleasure of accompanying the silver Duke of Edinburgh group on their practice expedition. Despite the damp and cold it was a great event. Well done to all and thanks to the staff who run these events.

Trips and additional experiences such as these are integral to what Longdean offers all students but they must not come at the expense of qualifications. It was a pleasure to share Year 11 students’ preliminary examination results with them and to see how much they had improved since January. The students are well placed and there is still 6 - 8 weeks until exams start in earnest. It is vital that students in Years 9 - 13, who have exams this summer utilise the Easter break to carry out some detailed and quality revision every day. I would advise using the timings of the school day to structure timings and to use student timetables to give an indication of which subjects to study. Year 11 students with access to Tassomai should aim to complete 16% of this excellent revision tool over the Easter period.

When we return in the summer we will as always revisit our high standards over uniform. I have written to parents separately this week outlining our requirements and I would ask all parents to support their children by ensuring they arrive in correct uniform everyday with correct jewellery and no additional piercings. I would ask all parents to go through the letter with their children like we have in school this week.

Also in the letter was a section on social media and mobile devices. I would again encourage parents to talk to their children about the school expectations around these devices and to also talk about safe and appropriate social media use.

I am sure that if we work together on these areas the next term will be as successful as this one has been.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Mr G Cunningham

Headteacher

Edition 14 29 March 2018 Headlines

Longdean Link

Important dates

Term Ends – Thursday 29 March—School Finishes at

1.30pm

Monday 16 April—Inset Day

Tuesday 17 April—Summer Term Begins

Thursday 19 April—Year 9 Parents’ Evening

Tuesday 24 April—Year 7 Parents’ Evening

Saturday 28 April—Saturday Study Session

Numeracy

Last issue’s answer:

8

A bug fell down a hole 2 metres

deep. Every day it would climb ½

metre, but at night it would slide

down ¼ of a metre.

At this rate, how long (days) would it

take the bug to climb out of the

hole?

Numeracy

GradientA measure of the slope of a line.

To find the gradient of a line, divide the “vertical

distance” between two points on the line by the

“horizontal distance” between those points”

A line sloping upwards from left to right has a positive

gradient

A line sloping downwards from left to right has a negative

gradient

The Romans used small peddles on

a counting machine called “an

abacus” to help them with

calculations.

The world “calculate” comes from

the Latin word “calculus”, which

means “small pebble”.

Since the start of a new initiative to recognise and reward students who go above and beyond in different areas within our school environment, here is a list of those who received a Longdean Super Star Certificate in March.

Congratulations to you all….

Longdean Superstars

Jessica Lloyd - Year 7

Kamaliyah Fullam - Year 7

Precious Mandevere - Year 7

Aidan Martin - Year 7

Ben Humphreys - Year 7

Callum Brown - Year7

Dan Payne - Year 7

Dax Druce - Year 7

Emanuel Alabi - Year 7

Ember Hagan - Year 7

Erin Neill - Year 7

Harrison Riley - Year 7

Harry Walker - Year 7

Ilyas Salman - Year 7

Jack Dodd - Year 7

Jacob McKerrell - Year 7

Jawad Ahmed - Year 7

Luca Wyart - Year 7

Rhys Sutton Hicks - Year 7

Tom Fung - Year 7

Will Isaacs - Year7

William Wilson - Year 7

Pheobe Cave - Year 9

Alexandria Hobday - Year 9

Brooke Darke - Year 9

Ella Chamberlain - Year 9

Evie Hood - Year 9

Madison Ingram - Year 9

Maisy Burr - Year 9

Mya Trivedi - Year 9

Spriha Shrestha - Year 9

Lewis Clark - Year 10

Luis Hoxha - Year 10

Milli Carroll - Year 10

Billie-Mae Cartwright - Year 11

Jamie Tobin - Year 11

Maddie Venn - Year 11

Manuela Yeboah - Year 11

Rimsha Mehboob - Year 11

Sophie Murray Year 11

Andrew Agyeman - Year 11

On Friday 16 March 2018, Longdean dance students attended the annual dance convention 'Move it' at the London ExCel Centre.

Students had the opportunity to watch professional performances and all students took part in a commercial jazz workshop led by the prestigious MADD college for performing arts. They

demonstrated both professionalism and an extremely high level of skill. Evie Hood, year 9, was even selected out of the 100 students taking part to perform on stage.

Well done to all students involved for their efforts and exemplary behaviour throughout the day.

Miss H Plumb

Dance Teacher

On Friday 23 March 2018 The Longdean Dance Group entered the Dacorum Dance competition with their piece titled ‘The Ring Master’ based on this years theme or ‘circus’.

They received 3rd place in the secondary schools category.

Well done to all students involved.

‘Move It’ Dance Trip

Dacorum Dance Competition

After arriving at Katowice Airport it was an hour and 45 minute coach journey to our hotel in Krakow. In the

afternoon we visited Schindler’s Factory. We were given a tour around the museum by a guide who informed us of

his own story, the things Oscar Schindler did for the Jewish people during World War 2 and what his

accomplishments meant for Poland as a country.

On day two we went to Auschwitz I – Auschwitz II Birkenau concentration and death camps. The guide, who walked

us around the whole of the camps, explained everything that happened. We saw the horror of the conditions

people endured. The mounds of shoes, combs, plates and dishes collected from Jewish people and the piles of hair

shaved off the people sent there. Birkenau was where about one million people were exterminated and we saw

the industrial sale of the horror it was absolutely terrible and showed the reality of it all.

After this very emotional visit we enjoyed a great typical Polish meal which consisted of soup, pork and dumplings

and a plum pastry pudding.

On day three we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines it is known as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines. As

you walk around you can lick the walls to taste the salt that it is made of! Fun fact, if you put a torch against the

floor of the mines, you can see the purity of the salt up close. Everything there including many monuments and

statues is all made of 100% salt.

After lunch we had a tour around the Jewish Quarter with a rich history of the city and the religious backgrounds of

the Jewish culture. We visited a Synagogue and a variety of memorials such as a Jewish grave yard, the Jewish

Ghetto walls and the Ghetto Heroes Square with its 33 chairs in memory of the Polish Jews who died in the Ghetto

or in a death camp.

We finished the trip off with a Jewish meal in the Quarter with live

Jewish music which was very entertaining and everyone on the trip got

involved.

Finally we flew back exhausted but having had a great life experience

that none of us would have missed.

Rebecca Tyson and Chloe Avis Year 13

Poland Trip

The Science of Psychopathy and Criminal Profiling with Dr Liam Satchell UWL

On Wednesday 21 March 2018 students and staff were invited to an engaging seminar on the science behind psychopathy and

criminal profiling. The seminar was run by Dr Liam Satchell, a criminal psychologist from the University of West London.

His talk covered a range of different topics, including what Forensic psychology is and how it applies to every day life, he

shared interesting pieces of research into the mindset of criminals and how professionals work to catch and punish those who

break the law. Dr Liam even had a go a profiling Longdean Students! Students were taught about the important links between

statistics and research, linking their current learning in topics like psychology and sociology to the real world.

Students said the talk was very fascinating and it completely changed their misconceptions of modern criminal psychology!

Criminal Profiling Talk

Change of Details?

Literacy Link and World Book Day In the run up to Literacy Week we asked students to bring in donations of books for a

World Book Day ‘Book Drive’. We collected a fantastic amount of pre-loved reads so firstly

thank you to everyone that donated a book (or many!).

Mrs Rogers got creative in the library with an Alice in Wonderland inspired arch!

The English Department got into the true spirit of the event and dressed up as characters

from Alice in Wonderland! A really great effort made by the staff.

Down in the English corridor the team set up a Mad Hatter's tea party 'selfie area', they hosted Croquet in the corridor, and set up a Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee photo opportunity!

In English lessons the students looked at the Jabberwocky and had to produce their own

nonsense poem in the same style as Lewis Carroll or produce annotated posters of their

own creatures giving them nonsensical names and features. £10 Amazon vouchers were

awarded to Kai Taylor-Hibberd (year 7) Mahnoor Fazal (year 8), Tegan Swindells (year 9)

and Tammi Cole (year 8) for their excellent work. This will be on display around the

English department!

We laid the donations out in the library and at lunch time on World Book Day, the students

were able to come, browse and choose a book to keep. It was fantastic to see so many of

our students getting involved, rummaging through the books on show and choosing one or

two for themselves to take away. In fact, by the end of the week all of the donated books

had found their way to new homes! We hope that the books are enjoyed.

Each house compiled a piece of fiction in the run up to literacy week, they were given a

genre and forms added chapters along the way to complete the books. This proved for

some interesting reading! Well done to all involved!

Book Drive

Literacy Week House Books

Five parents have been fined by Hertfordshire County Council for their child's non-attendance at school this academic year. Please support your child by ensuring that they are in school every day, as far as possible.

Nothing is more critical to attainment than consistent attendance.

Well done to all of the students who achieved 100% so far this academic year.

Sept July

Y7

Y8

Y9

Y10

Y11

Research suggests that for every

17 MISSED SCHOOL DAYS,

a student’s achievement will drop by

ONE GRADE when they sit their GCSEs

Growth Mindset

Attendance

Independent Learning and Homework at Longdean Please remember to discuss your child’s Independent Learning and Homework set on Show My Homework using the app or the website https://longdean.showmyhomework.co.uk/school/homeworks/calendar where you can find the entire school’s homework and filter by subject, teacher, or class without logging in. For specific details about your child’s homework, please log in to this website or the app. We recommend half an hour a night, Monday through Thursday, on sites such as Sam Learning, GCSE Pod, BBC Bitesize, Linguascope and MyMaths. Links to these sites can be found on the Exam Support and Homework sections of the LLP.

Mr R Muskett - Assistant Headteacher http://www.gcsepod.com/parents for a parent's guide. www.samlearning.com Centre ID: HP3LS Username and password are in the format: DDMMYYII, for example Mr Muskett's would be 050582RM. www.mymaths.co.uk - students have an individual username and password from their

Maths Teacher. MFL—Ask your Teacher for the username and password for Linguascope. Further e-learning links can be found at: https://moodle.longdean.herts.sch.uk/mod/tab/view.php?id=8888

Information

Reporting Absences from School - Contact Numbers

If, for any reason, your child is absent from school, please contact one of the following numbers as soon as possible. Any messages will be picked up at the beginning of the school day.

Da Vinci: 01442 205706

Franklin: 01442 205707

Gates: 01442 205760

Pascal: 01442 205703

Sixth Form: 01442 205720

Link Dates The Longdean Link is published every two weeks, via the Schoolcomms e-mail system to all those for whom we have an e-mail address, and on the LLP. Next issue: 27 April 2018

Recent Communication

Attendance

Franklin

94.8% Pascal

Gates

92.8% Da Vinci

0% 100

Whole School: 93.3%

93.5%

Letters that have been sent home recently:

All Years—Sport relief non uniform reminder

All Years—Uniform Letter

Year 9—Parents Evening Information

Year 11— Key Dates

Sixth Form—Key Dates

94.5%