30th September Discover 2016

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1 @BlackfenSchool 30th September 2016 Discover 2016 Dear Parents/Carers, The summer seems to be going on and on this year. I hope that you have made the most of the sunny opportunities over the last 2 weeks before we move into Autumn. It has been a very productive and busy first four weeks of the new term. Following our successful open evening last week we welcomed families of year 6 students to the school this week for the first of our open mornings. These continue next week and there is a further open morning later in October. I would like to congratulate all the students for their work for open evening. Well done to all year 8 and year 12 students who showed our visitors around the school. On Thursday evening we rolled out the red carpet for our annual Oscars event where we share in the celebration of success of many of our young people. Well done to all those who were nominated and to all those who won an award. A huge thank you to all those involved in making this such a successful and enjoyable event. Our Year 7 Core Awareness evening took place on Wednesday and it was good to welcome parents/carers of year 7 students. During the evening all parents sampled three separate lessons English, Mathematics and Science. We made sure that they all worked hard and had some fun.and we sent them home with some homework to do! DA15 9NU Tel: NEXT ISSUE: 21/10/2016

2 Within the next 2 weeks we welcome members of our local community to our annual Harvest Tea celebration. We look forward to receiving food goods from students during the next week. Please send in as many items as you can to support this event. Parent Governor The Governing Body play a key role in determining the strategic direction of the school. We have a vacancy for a parent Governor to join the Governing Body. There is a separate letter attached to this Newsletter providing more details of how to put your name forward for this role. As last year, to ensure that all staff are updated on policies, procedures, current thinking and future planning we will be holding half termly staff meetings. The date for this is Tuesday 1 st November. On this date, students should be in school by 8.40 for lesson 1 to begin at Best wishes, Matthew Brown, Headteacher Governors Message The new Academic Year is now in full swing and as always the Autumn Term will be a busy one for the Governing Body. The Governing Body has already held its new School year Business Meeting, where the Chair and Vice Chairs were elected for the coming year. The two Vice Chairs are Carol Townsend and Janet Phelps who will be ably assisting me during the year. At this meeting plans for the new School year were finalised which included the linking of governors to different departments. The results of these visits will be reported to future Governing Body meetings. There are some important activities taking place during the next week which governors will be attending. These include Open Days and guests visiting from a German School - Oberschule Rechenberg-Bienenmühle. These and subsequent meetings, events and visits will be reported upon in future newsletters. We all look forward to a successful year for the School. Stuart Fitz-Gerald, Chair of Governors DA15 9NU Tel:

3 New Website Launch The New School Website has been launched. Please check it out,. We also have a new school app which will also be available to download from ITunes or android app stores. For details on how to do this please go to our website. Ms J Heather, Social Media and Marketing Officer Year 11 Flightpath Visas are ready for collection! As we explained at the Year 11 Departure Lounge evening, the school is pleased to invite Year 11 parents and carers to the Visa 1 assemblies on 18th 21st October, running from 10.30am 10.55am, as follows: Tuesday 18th October: Green and Blue Community Wednesday 19th October: Red Community Thursday 20th October: Yellow Community Friday 21st October: Purple Community A Visa enables a traveller to enter a specific country, for a specific length of time, to take specific action, such as tour or study or work. The specific purpose of Visa 1 is to enable students and families to make the Year 11 Pre-Public Examinations (PPEs) in December an effective practice event for the actual GCSE examinations which begin after the Easter holidays. The Year 11 PPE results are used to measure students current progress and to estimate their final GCSE grades, so it s important that students get every help to meet the challenge of sitting formal examinations and to achieve the results they deserve. Their PPE results will be discussed at the Year 11 Parents Evening on 12th January 2017 and will help students and their families apply for Sixth Form courses in January and February. Experience has shown us that families who use the Year 11 PPEs to practise home routines that make revision effective are building the foundations of success in the actual GCSE examinations in May and June. The Year 11 PPE timetable is published at the October half term, and students revise for their examinations during November and December. They need adult encouragement; a calm learning environment; effective time management that fits family schedules and practical support, such as being tested on memorised information or being timed to complete written tests. These are the exact elements that will make students successful in their Summer GCSE examinations. Visa 1 will introduce students and parents to the Examinations team and to the routines of formal examinations, as well as to Sixth Form students and staff who will explain practical advice about making revision effective. DA15 9NU Tel:

4 Year 11 parents and carers are warmly invited to attend the same assembly as their daughter or to choose a different day that is more convenient. We are unable to accommodate babies or young children on this occasion and latecomers will not be admitted. Parents and carers do not need to book seats in advance but must arrive in the main School Reception by 10.15am, so that the assembly can start on time. See you soon! Ms F Minnis Assistant Headteacher Literacy Learning at Blackfen School for Girls Literacy Leaders are currently preparing the scripts they will use for their performances which will form a part of the Blackfen School for Girls Harvest Festival Tea. The students have chosen to focus on poetry about food and have been working on how to link this to a message of food poverty. The literacy leaders are also awaiting feedback from all of the school s community groups regarding the contents for the next edition of Blackfen Buzz. In community time students have been focusing on literacy based games to help support vocabulary development and oracy skills. Several literacy leaders helped to represent the school at our recent open evening by reflecting on their first impressions of the school whilst other literacy leaders helped prospective parents and carers view our literacy display which documented all of the key projects from the academic year including World Book Day and the Carnegie competition. Both of these events will run again in school during this academic year and more information will follow nearer the time. Rebecca Hunt, Literacy Co-ordinator rhu@blackfen.bexley.sch.uk Pabulum Catering News Our partner catering company Pabulum have created an app that can be downloaded to your smartphone or tablet (see attached flyer). This app will ensure you are kept up to date with the school's menus, events, and recipes where they source their food and many other interesting facts, you can also connect to the school website through this app. We pride ourselves at the school in offering a well-balanced nutritious menu following the Department for Education guidelines but are seeing a lot of students bringing in crisps, chocolate, sweets and other items that are not considered nutritious. Where it is your prerogative to send your daughter in with these items it may be that you are giving them money that they are spending before they get into school. To ensure that they are eating a nutritious meal we would advise you to add money to their WisePay account where you will have the ability to view what your daughter has been eating and with the knowledge that they can only use this money to purchase food at the school. You can access the WisePay DA15 9NU Tel:

5 application via the school website, if you need assistance in connecting please call the school on ext or Mr G Morgan, Business Manager Advice from year 11 to KS3 students in Mathematics This is the advice we would give our year 7 students in their mathematics lessons-: If you got stuck do not stress. Go and ask the teacher or another student for help Always bring your mathematics equipment to all lessons Always write your examples clearly in your mathematics note book (A4) Do your homework when you get it, if you get stuck you have time to go and ask for help Use your brain, then look in your note book, ask another student for help and then ask for help from a teacher Always give yourself enough time to revise for assessments, don t leave it until the night before When you revise for mathematics you have to practice questions, don t just read your notes or re write them. Useful websites to use are mymaths; maths is fun, BBC bitesize. Written by Louise Symes and Sheniz Akin, Year 11 students DA15 9NU Tel:

6 Dates for your Diary Please see below for those calendared school events known so far Monday 3 rd October Tuesday 4 th October Thursday 6 th & Friday 7 th October Thursday 13 th October Monday 17 th October Wednesday 19 th October Open Morning Tours at 9am & 11.30am only Open Morning Tours at 9am & 11.30am only A Level Geography Trip Harvest Tea Open Morning Tours at 9am & 11.30am only Sixth form Open Evening 24 th 27 th October Half Term Tuesday 1 st November Thursday 3 rd November Thursday 10 th November Black History Month Year 13 Parents Evening Friday 11 th November Challenge Day 1 14 th 17 th November Year 10 Trip to Rome 23 rd November Showcase Performance (matinee and evening performances) School choir performing at The Woodville Halls Thursday 24 th November Year 10 Parents Evening Tuesday 6 th December Wednesday 7 th December Wednesday 21 st December 22 nd December to Monday 2 nd January 2017 Tuesday 3 rd January 2017 Thursday 12 th January Tuesday 17 th January Christmas Carol Performance Sports Awards Evening Last day of term school finishes at 12.50pm Christmas Holidays Spring Term begins 8.30am Year 11 Parents Evening DA15 9NU Tel:

7 Wednesday 1 st February Challenge Day 2 Thursday 2 nd February Year 12 Parents Evening 6 th 10 th February Year 13 Trip to Berlin Wednesday 8 th February Year 9 Options Evening 13 th 17 th February Half Term 20 th 24 th February Music Trip to Barcelona Thursday 23 rd February Tuesday 28 th February Wednesday 1 st March Thursday 2 nd March Tuesday 7 th March Wednesday 8 th March Year 9 Parents Evening for Blue, Green and Red 1-4 communities Sixth Form University Evening Year 9 Parents Evening for Yellow, Purple and Red 5-9 communities Careers Evening Dance Festival Performance Monday 13 th March Challenge Day 3 Tuesday 14 th March Wednesday 15 th March Tuesday 28 th March Wednesday 29th & Thursday 30th March Friday 31 st March AS Geography Trip to London Year 11 PFS Afternoon Easter Recital Year 10 Geography Field Trip Last Day of Term early finish 12.50pm 3 rd - 17 th April Easter Holidays Tuesday 18 th April Tuesday 25 th April Thursday 27 th April Thursday 4 th May Wednesday 24 th May Summer Term begins 8.30am Year 7 Parents Evening Year 8 Parents Evening Sixth Form Oscars 29 th May 2 nd June Half Term DA15 9NU Tel:

8 Tuesday 6 th June Wednesday 21 st June Thursday 22 nd and Friday 23 rd June Tuesday 25 th April Wednesday 28 th June Musical Performance (Matinee and evening performances) Musical Performance (evening performance) 8.15am Literacy Show & Tell Event 3 rd, 5 th 6 th, 7 th & 10th July Celebration Presentations Monday 3 rd Friday 14 th July Tuesday 4 th July Tuesday 11 th July Wednesday 12 th & Thursday 13 th July Friday 14 th July Year 10 - Work Experience Year 6 Induction Day & Parents Evening Sports Day Discover Days Last day of term school finishes at 12.50pm DA15 9NU Tel: