This week

The arrival of snow on Sunday night meant too many staff were unable to reach the School on Monday morning and we had to close to all but three year groups. Our site staff had put grit down in anticipation the week before and this ensured they were able to clear paths and roads around the site on Monday morning. They worked incredibly hard and with the whole school back in on Tuesday they continued gritting as the temperature plummeted each night. The snow made for some very pretty scenes in the surrounding woods, but we would have preferred it to wait until the Christmas holidays!

Despite all the disruption our usual end of term events went ahead. Achievement assemblies have been held for all year groups with the exception of Year 13 who were on study leave. They have now completed their mock examinations and will have an achievement assembly in the first week back in January.

Bronze Awards have been given to those achieving the relevant threshold of positive House Points related to our Vision for Learning and Core Values. We also gave Silver Awards to a few students who had already reached this next level of achievement. Students in all year groups were also selected for individual Subject Awards and there were Head Teacher Awards for two students in each year group. Additionally, three students achieve Jack Petchey Awards. All pupils were asked to reflect on the past term, their achievements, their disappointments and were encouraged to learn from both success and failure to develop and grow in time.

On Wednesday afternoon, students in Year 11 received their mock examination results.  We wish Year 11 and Year 13 a well deserved restful Christmas break.

As we are all aware, there is one student missing from the Year 11 cohort. Our biggest sadness this term was the loss of Year 11 student Aleksandra Celic. Year 11 held a special remembrance assembly for Aleksandra today – she was an inspiration to all who knew her and will be missed by so many.

Years 7 and 8 sponsored Christmas Fun Run

Over the last two weeks classes in Years 7 and 8 have been taking part in inter-house sporting activities, culminating in a Christmas fun run for their last PE lesson of 2022.

The 3G pitch was out of action, so they braved the weather and completed the fun run around the middle field. With snow still on the ground it made for a wonderful festive environment and the students really enjoyed themselves. Not only did they get some much needed exercise in before the Christmas break, they raised a huge amount of money for Darrick Wood School sport.

This sponsorship money along with recent voluntary donations from some generous parents has meant we will be in a strong position to increase our sporting provision here at Darrick Wood over the coming years. Whether it be new equipment, more coaches and new clubs or new and improved sporting facilities we will be sure to use this money to provide more opportunities for our superb students to enjoy school sport in the future.

The PE Department would like to take this opportunity to thank the students and parents who have helped raise these funds, and we will be sure to share how it is being used in future bulletins and sports reports. Merry Christmas!

News from Music

Congratulations to all students who recently passed a music examinations. We have students who have achieved their initial grade and others who have achieved grades 1 or 2 on drums and piano and then there are four who have achieved grades 4, 5 or 6 at violin, saxophone, singing or drums. Finally there are two who have now made grade 7 in flute and grade 8 in clarinet. These and many others contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas Concert in the Main Hall on Thursday evening. It was an extensive mix of festive and other songs performed by students from all year groups, supported by our excellent Music Department staff. There was even time for four traditional carols at the end and a chance for audience participation!

If you would like your son/daughter to take up instrumental lessons please ask them to collect a form from the Music Department.

Congratulations in particular to Abigail and Rebecca who have reached the final of the  BYMT Advanced Singer of the Year Competition. The final will be held Sunday, 29^th January and tickets are available through the BYMT website.  The evening will be amazing and we wish both students good luck in their performances.

PSFA

The PSFA would like to thank everyone that bought a Christmas tree from them this year. Together we have raised £606.16 for good causes around the School. Your ongoing support has been much appreciated and we will be sending out a newsletter in the New Year detailing where all the money raised has gone. The School itself looked very festive having bought three of the trees. Thank you to students and staff who helped decorate them.

New term

The new term starts on Tuesday, 3rd January. All students should be on site by 8.35am.

As the autumn term progressed, we noticed an increased number of students who have either lost or damaged their lanyards. These are essential for easy identification of all on the school site. We will be re-enforcing our high expectations on the return in January. Please ensure your child has all the correct uniform (or correct dress code in Sixth Form) and a full set of equipment, pencil case, reading book, planner and lanyard. Please remember that bags should be plain, should not have large logos on and should be large enough to carry an A4 folder. Handbags and similar bags should not be brought to school.

We are currently redesigning our website with the aim to re-launch during the next term. If there are particular aspects of our school website as a parent/carer you would like us to include that are not already included in the current site, please let us know by emailing the office.

Vape detectors and CCTV

As reported in last week’s Bulletin, we are installing vape detectors in our toilets. When senior staff are alerted to a vape being used, those using the room at the time are asked to consent to a safety and wellbeing search. Students are not allowed to possess a vape and even those who are in the company of those vaping are given a sanction. Corridor CCTV camera footage may be used to check who has entered and exited the area if we are uncertain. The detectors are also alarmed and the alarm will go off if they are tampered with. Parents are alerted through the Bromcom MyChildAtSchool app if a search has been necessary. We will contact parents directly if anything is found in their child’s possession that must not be brought to school, including vapes. To re-iterate a point made in previous Bulletins, vaping is not a safe alternative to smoking for young people. Vapes contain, amongst other things, nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance.

The vape detector is just one way staff are able to monitor this issue. As has always been the case, staff enter these areas whenever there is any sign of a potential problem (e.g. noise, or an inappropriately large group using the space at the same time). We also look for patterns of behaviour over time. We have a very small number of students with a medical condition who need to use the toilets more regularly than most. This is perfectly fine and are issued with a toilet pass. However, we have a small number students who persistently visit the toilets throughout the day, delaying going to their lessons and sometimes leading to vandalism. If this persists we will have to consider CCTV being installed in the basin areas (not the cubicles!) and/or arrange for a re-design, which could be very expensive. We do want to invest in these areas to make them as pleasant and safe as possible for all who use them. However, they need to be looked after by everyone. As stated last week, we will do all we can to ensure the safety of all students in these areas. Please support us by talking to your child about the issues and ensure they understand what is expected.

Merry Christmas

We wish all our students, parents/carers and staff a very merry Christmas and look forward to what we are sure will be a very successful 2023.

Dates for the diary

Tuesday, 3rd January	First day of spring term. Students must arrive by 8.35am.
Tuesday, 3rd January for two weeks	Year 12 assessments
Thursday, 5th January, 4-7pm on School Cloud	Year 11 parents’ evening
Thursday, 19th January, 4-7pm on School Cloud	Year 13 parents’ evening
Monday, 13th February to Friday 17th February	HALF TERM