Finham Park 2 News Summer Term Issue 20

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1 Finham Park 2 News Summer Term Issue 20 Message from the Headteacher, Russell Plester Welcome to our final edition of Finham Park 2 News for this academic year, and what another fantastic year it has been! September seems a very long time ago though the year has gone in a flash, which must mean we have been having fun! At the end of the school year I like to reflect on what we ve achieved as a school. Back in September 2015 Finham Park 2 opened in the Geography block at Finham Park School, Green Lane with 113 students. By half term we had moved into our new home - creatively named T block! When I visit Finham Park now, T Block seems so small yet was perfect for our first year. It is now occupied by Finham Park s 6 th Form, who love it! Regarding student numbers we are completely full (120) in both years 7 & 8 and received almost 200 first choice applications for 120 places for our new year 7 (over 500 in total!). Our students have also had a huge number of opportunities to learn (and have fun) outside of the classroom. We believe that trips and visits are a key element of a well-rounded education and have certainly offered a wide variety this year. A few to mention are: Shanghai, Covent Garden Opera House, Oxford and Cambridge University, Warwick Castle, Chester and of course Kibblestone. FP2 Staff have worked exceptionally hard this year to ensure that students have had the time of their lives as well as make excellent progress. This is borne out in the extremely positive feedback we ve had from both parents and students throughout the year, as well as information from tests and assessments. Students have really grown and matured and are ready, willing and able to take repsonsibility to support our new year 7s when they start in September. Several of our students have already receieved the World Class Award with a larger number having received the Diamond badge. I would like to thank parents for their continued support and in trusting their child s education to us. Also a huge thank you to Friends of Finham Park 2 who have continued to develop and grow our fantastic PTA and through hard work and dedication are having such a positive impact on the school. And finally thank you to our governors who support the school so well. May I wish you all a happy and restful summer break and I look forward to working with you, and especially your children, in September. With best wishes, Russell Plester

2 Meet our new staff! Bonjour, Hola!, 你好, こんにちは. My name is Amanda Lee and I am really looking forward to joining the MFL department at Finham Park 2 in September. I will be teaching French, Spanish, Mandarin enrichment and Japanese during OOSHL. I studied Business Studies with languages at the University of Central Lancashire (a few years ago!), and have a post-graduate qualification in Japanese language from Sheffield University. More recently I studied Mandarin, Spanish, linguistics and more French through the Open University, after which I completed my PGCE at the University of Warwick. Originally from Wales, I now live in Warwick with my family. After teaching languages to adults for many years in the UK and abroad, I am now delighted to be able to share my love of languages with FP2. Apart from languages and travelling, I also love cycling, canoeing and gardening. À bientôt hasta luego! Hello, I m Rebecca O Donnell and I teach Drama. I am very passionate about performing and have been actively involved in various shows and competitions since the age of two. In addition to drama, I have a strong love for dance- ballet, jazz, acrobatics, tap and contemporary in particular. I am very active and like to follow and participate in many sporting events. I am excited to share my enthusiasm for performing with FP2 and cannot wait to start working with the talented FP2 students. Hi, I m Sammy Bown, and I m the new Design, Engineering and Technology teacher at FP2. I am super excited to get started! I love everything to do with Design and Engineering, how things work and are made and am (so I ve been told) a very creative person- I m looking forward to share this with our students. My other passion lies in anything music related. I ve played instruments all my life and now I collect and DJ with vinyl records. Hi, I m Rebecca Diaz and will be the new SENCO at FP2. I ve been teaching English in Solihull for that last 13 years and became a SENCO 6 years ago. My passion for supporting young people to achieve their best, despite various (and often numerous) barriers, has led me to gain additional qualifications in SEN coordination, Psychometric testing, TEFL and various other areas of need. I have two young children of my own and truly value the input both families and children can (and should) have during the educational journey our young people embark upon. I m really looking forward to joining the FP2 family in September and meeting you all in person during the Autumn term. Hi, I m Natalie Parkhouse and I am starting as a Science teacher at Finham Park 2 in September. I love Science- especially Biology and the human body. My favourite things to do are playing football and reading a good crime thriller. I can t wait to meet you all properly in September! I am Liz Alton, Assistant Headteacher at Finham Park 2 from September I am really excited about joining the Finham Park family and working with the brilliant staff and students at FP2. I am passionate about education and the importance of giving all students the opportunity to achieve and be the best they can be. I teach Design and Technology and have an interest in all things creative. I am also a self-confessed gadget geek. Originally a Brummie, I now live in North Warwickshire with my husband, daughter and son. I love music, stationary, shoes, tea, travel and supporting Walsall Football Club.

3 Hi, I m Sam Farrall and I m a maths teacher with a back ground in automotive engineering and social housing, and a passion for making things from wood and metal. I hope to bring some of this experience to FP2, to bring maths and technology to life and hopefully encourage some girls as well as boys into the technical professions. My greatest adventure was riding a motor cycle to Pakistan and back, and I now have 2 teenaged children to keep me on my toes. My greatest achievement was setting up a community run youth group and café to support people in need in my village. I love to cook, which I compensate for running and playing netball. Hi, my name is Phil Boulton and I am the Pastoral and Behavioural Support mentor here at FP2. I am relatively new to the city of Coventry having moved here in August 2016 with my wife and 2 year old son. Previously I have worked in schools in Bedfordshire doing a variety of different roles including Pastoral support, games coach and Year 7 tutor. Alongside working in education, I am also very lucky to combine my passion with a job and for the last 10 years, I have been a professional rugby player. I played eight enjoyable seasons for Bedford Blues in the RFU Championship before securing a move to play for Coventry Rugby Club in National 1, which I am very proud to have been named captain for the 2017/18 season. When I came for my interview at FP2, one of the things that impressed me most about the school was the pride the students shown at being a part of a brand new school and how exciting it is to be able to grow with the school, paving the way for all new students and staff that come here. Hello, I m Miss Rawlins and I teach English. I started off as a cover teacher at a school in Watford, and loved it so much I decided to become an English teacher, working at Sydney Stringer before venturing to Finham Park 2. I particularly love English Literature, as I love to read- when I manage to find the time! My favourite book is The Colour Purple. In my spare time I interview celebrities and write about many different events for a London based website, including film premiers, music festivals, West End shows and comedy gigs. My other hobbies include going to the cinema and not going to the gym. Hello, I m Miss Hopkins and I teach English (the best subject). I previously taught at a school in Bedworth, but when I visited Finham Park 2 and met the friendly and enthusiastic students and staff, I knew that I wanted to be here. My favourite things are my cats, travelling, rock music and politics, so if you ever want to chat about these subjects, come and see me! I look forward to sharing my love from English with you all next year. I am Miss Johnson and I am really looking forward to coming to teach at Finham Park 2 in September. I have worked at two schools within Coventry in the last 7 years and I am excited to bring my active learning approach to FP2. Outside of teaching, I love to travel and spend time exploring. I have recently come back from a trip to the fantastic Dol Y Moch and I am looking forward to going again this year. My name is Alison Robinson and I have just joined Finham Park 2 as Operations Manager. Before that, I worked at Finham Primary School for 9 years, starting as Office Manager and them becoming the school Business Manager in I have lived in Coventry since 1993, but I am originally from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. I have two grown up children, my son 21 (who now lives in Bristol) and daughter who will be 19 this year, and they both went to Finham Park School. I would like to say thank you to everyone at Finham Park 2 for the helpful and friendly welcome I have received.

4 Competition Winner! Finham Park 2 would like to send a huge congratulations to Year 7 student Sarah Loue who was one of nine winners of nearly 100 entries for the Chiltern Railways recent competition. The competition included designing the cover of the new summer/autumn timetable, where Sarah s artwork will now be displayed from May. I wanted to show people travelling in a station- there are people on the platform and the train is going to pull away. I have used a pop art Ben-Day dots style and street art style to make it simple and bright. Sarah s winning artwork will also be temporarily featured in an exhibition at Birmingham Moor Street station for the next six months. An article featuring Sarah s work was published in the Coventry Telegraph in June. Well done Sarah, we are very proud of you! Oxford & Cambridge University Visits It was my absolute privilege to take our LEAP students to visit both Oxford and Cambridge Universities this term. As always, our students represented Finham Park 2 with distinction and pride. In a few years time, our students will be thinking about higher education, and hopefully some of them will be applying for a place at a Russell Group University. The LEAP programme will continue next year, and some of our year 7 students will have the opportunity to visit similar institutions. A fun time was had by all even after a rather elongated journey back from Cambridge! - Mr Ludgate, Leader of Humanities

5 Castle Reward Trip - Chester On Monday 3 July, it was my absolute pleasure to take 30 of our students to the historic city of Chester. This was a reward for the best efforts in the castle project which all Year 7 students completed earlier on in the year: Both staff and students trained as Roman soldiers, patrolled the city and visited a medieval medicine museum. Everybody had a great time- particularly the teachers! As always, student behaviour was perfect, and each student represented FP2 with pride and responsibility. - Mr Ludgate, Leader of Humanities Warwick Castle We started the day by climbing the castle walls and walking round the towards- the view of the courtyard was amazing! Next, we looked around Kings Creation which shows a typical day in the life of differently ranked medieval people. Despite them being wax figures, they looked very realistic. After that most of Year 7 re-grouped to listen to a talk all about the trebuchet. Despite not seeing it fire, the talk was still interesting. After lunch, two groups explored around the massive house. To end the day, all of the groups watched a bird show. First there was an owl called Ernie, next a baby vulture who hadn t worked as a show bird for very long. There was also a small section with two bald eagles dancing around despite the rain. To finish the amazing display, 8 red kites gracefully swooped between the crowd showing off their beautiful white and red feathers. Libby Windsor, NG02 I enjoyed the Castle trip because it was an opportunity to learn about Warwick s history. I mostly enjoyed going on top of the highest point of the Archer Tower. I loved the trip but I also wish we had gotten to see the dungeons! Overall, I would definitely recommended the trip to the new year 7 s! Henry Heales, NG02

6 Children s University News! We are proud to have been one of the few secondary schools in the country to offer the Children s University to our students. The graduation ceremonies that have taken place have been both hugely positive and inspiring. Unfortunately, the Central Children s University Trust, who support and plan the Children s University offer, will cease to exist from August Following this, we therefore will not continue with the Children s University after that current academic year. We will of course continue to inspire students by offering university and other aspirational trips and opportunities for our students. Thank you to Kerri Coltman, our Children s University Co-ordinator Student Leadership After receiving a fantastic number of applications, we had the difficult decision of narrowing down the field for formal interviews. The students who came to interview were incredible, answering the questions confidently and giving many examples of leadership roles they already had undertaken. They talked about the pride they have in being part of Finham Park 2 and how they would help our school become even more amazing in the future. Following further long and detailed deliberation, were able to select out new Head Girl and Head Boy, and decided that due to the very high calibre of applicants we would have two deputies for each post. We are therefore very pleased to announce that Lilly-Mae Smith will be our new Head Girl and Kacie Thornett and Issy Potter will be Deputy Head Girls. Our new Head Boy will be Zak Mills and Sam King and Krishn Cholera will be our Deputy Head Boys. Several of the candidates that were interviewed were so impressive that will be offered roles in our new Junior Leadership Team. Festival of Sport This week the Physical Education department hosted our first Festival of Sport at our brand new school. This day was divided into two halves where the students participated in running, throwing and alternative events at Templars Primary School in the morning. After lunch, all students competed in five inter-gate competitions (Dodgeball, How far can you run, How far can you jump, Basketball Hoop Challenge and Cross-bar challenge) back at our school. Throughout the day, each student had the opportunity to win points for their College to try and win the coveted Festival of Sport shield. The eventual winners of this award was Eastgate with 440 points. Well done to all Eastgaters! On a personal note, I would like to thank all staff who helped to create an amazing atmosphere during the day and the students themselves- I was blown away by their team spirit, supportive natures and willingness to push themselves to try and win the shield. Thank you staff and students, you proudly lived up to the title of FP2 Legend that day. - Mr Hudson, Leader of KS3 PE & OOSHL Co-ordinator

7 Library News Coventry Inspiration Awards It has been a lovely end to the year at Finham Park 2 Library, with lots of chance to celebrate successes and plan for the future. In June, we were invited to attend the Coventry Inspiration Award Ceremony at the Ricoh Arena. Students selected to attend were those that had taken part in the Coventry Inspiration Awards this year and Finham Park 2 s Library Leaders. It was a star studded event, with no less than 5 authors in attendance. We also had the hour of presenting one of the awards to the winner of the Rapid Reads category: Mary Hooper. We were chosen to present the award because we had championed the winning book in our school and have on the of the books biggest fans here at Finham Park 2! - Summer Jones in Year 7. Summer, alongside Demi McAlister and Darcy Payne, put together a brilliant video about why we loved the book, which was shown at the event (and is on the Library FROG subject page if you would like to view it), and then presented the award to Mary Hooper. We also had the honour of having Mary sit at our table for the whole event! It was a great celebration of amazing books. We had a brilliant time taking part this year and cannot wait for next year s event that starts in October. If you want to read any of the books from this years awards then you can find them all at We highly recommend A Dark Trade by Mary Hooper and Dreamcatcher by Abi Elphinstone. I was also very proud to be asked to be a part of the selection panel for next year s Coventry Inspiration Awards. Together with other school librarians, we have chosen a fantastic short list for the Hooked on Books, Simply the Book and Rapid Reads category. It was a tough task with so many fabulous books to choose from, but also a very rewarding on, and I believe we have made some great choices! We all cannot wait for the official launch in the new academic year, when we can share all the amazing titles with our students. New Books We have been putting together a fabulous order with Usborne Books for lots of lovely new reads. The books have been purchased by money raised by Friends of Finham 2, students on World Book Day and an extra 60% back from Usborne Books. Thank you to everyone who has helped out in the library. Watch this space for new fund-raising ideas next year! Congratulations! I am very pleased to congratulate four of our Library Leaders who have passed their Bronze Awards and have earnt their Student Librarian badges. Well done to Sophie Print, Demi McAlister, Kizzy Ayland and Kiara Ronan. A huge thank you to all my Library Leaders this year, and everyone who has helped out in the library- I couldn t have done it without you! I hope everyone is planning lots of reading for pleasure over the holidays. I am looking forward to catching up on lots of reading myself. If you fancy a challenge, then why not sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge at all public libraries. Join in the fun and earn yourself a fabulous certificate and medal. Anyone who shows me a challenge medal in September will be rewarded with lots of fabulous stickers to start off the new school year! For more information, visit - Mrs Randall, School Librarian

8 Mentor Groups As the school expands there is a need for there to be changed in mentor groups to accommodate new students. Students will remain in their colleges, but may be assigned new mentors. Enrichment Choices for Year 7 & 8 Enrichment is taught as part of the normal timetable during the school say and is 1 hour s study per week. It is an opportunity for students to sample subjects that they may not have yet experienced. When choosing your subject, consider the following: 1. Consider your first and second choices and provides two reserve choices. 2. One of your 3 terms next year will be used to study Mandarin so you are making choices for the other 2 terms. The deadline for all options is Wednesday 4 August After this ate, your options will be chosen for you. An has also been sent to all parents/carers of new Year 7 s and 8 s with this information, and you can also find the links on the Finham Park 2 website. We will do our best to accommodate your first and second choices, but in some cases we will have to use reserve choices to complete your enrichment programme. All students starting Year 7 in September 2017 (except students on the Mandarin Excellence Programme*) should use this form (found by pressing the below link) to make your choices for the Year 8 Enrichment programme *Students on the MEP will use enrichment time to study Mandarin. New Year 7 s Year 7 Enrichment Choices 2017 to 18 All students starting Year 8 in September 2017 should use this form (found by pressing the below link) to make their choices for the Year 8 Enrichment programme New Year 8 s - Year 8 Enrichment Choices 2017 to 18 Parking & Road Safety Thank you to parents who have followed our request to not park on the pavement on Torrington Avenue this academic year- it really does make the roads much safer for students when leaving school. If you do need to collect your child from school, please can you do so with care and consideration for others. The safety of our students as well as parents/carers and small children from the nursery is paramount. Following on from this, please make sure your child has the correct gear for cycling including a suitable and safe helmet alongside reflective clothing and lights for when the days get shorter.

9 Equipment- being ready for learning This half term is an ideal time to stock up on equipment for school. Please can parents help their children ensure they have all the necessary equipment for learning. We expect a minimum of: pen, pencil, (it s better to have a few of each), ruler, eraser, pencil sharpener, calculator, reading book, planner, and Children s University Passport. If students don t have the necessary equipment it can disturb valuable learning time. Important dates for next half term Start dates for the new academic year 4 September Staff Training Day School closed to students 5 September First Day of Autumn Term - 8:40am Year 7 arrive and go straight to The Refectory 10:05am Year 8 & 9 arrive and go to mentor rooms. 27 September Open Evening School closes to students at 1:25pm 11 October Year 7 Study Skills and Meet the Mentor Evening 20 October End of Autumn half term 1 Important dates for the complete year can be found on our school calendar. Free School Meals- are you entitled? If parents wish to apply for school meals or want to check if you are eligible please go to the following website Alternatively, parents can visit the Contact Centre in the city centre (next to River Island) where you can make an application. If you need any support or guidance with this, please contact the school office.

10 Attendance- advice to parents Our minimum expectation is 96% attendance If your child is ill, please don t send them If they have a minor ailment please send them in We do not approve any holidays taken in school time Please contact the school straight away to let us know if your child is absent If there are ongoing medical problems, please keep us informed If you have any questions or suggestions, please get in touch via or : Finham Park Also have a look at our Baraza Blog and see what the students are suggesting to imporve our school.