This week

As we head into this historic long weekend and celebrate the coronation of King Charles III it seems an appropriate time to pause and reflect on how schools have changed over the years since the last coronation on 2nd June 1953.

In the 1950s children had to attend school until 15. They went to secondary modern, technical or grammar schools. This was the first real national school system and was designed to prepare children for a new world of work after World War 2. Even those of us who went to school in the latter part of the 20th century will recognise features of school life now that have not changed in decades – the requirement to wear a school uniform, the emphasis on attendance and punctuality, the movement from one classroom to another at the sound of a bell, the sitting of public examinations, the importance of structure, rules and routines etc. However, so much has also changed, hopefully for the better. There is now a requirement that young people stay in some form of education or employment with training until the age of 18. Perhaps more revolutionary has been the impact of technology both on teachers and on students. At Darrick Wood, all teachers have laptops, all classrooms have newly installed interactive screens and students in the Sixth Form are encouraged to bring in their own devices to support independent study.

The first comprehensive schools were introduced in the 1940s, but became more widespread during the mid-1960s. Comprehensive schools are not allowed to select children on ability or testing. In fact, schools such as Darrick Wood pride themselves on inclusivity and emphasise the importance of all achieving highly, no matter what the starting point or the additional needs a child may have. They have a curriculum which all children have an entitlement to access. For more on the curriculum we offer at Darrick Wood School please see the Faculties and Subjects area on our website.

Teaching and learning has changed significantly in the last few years in particular. The latest research has highlighted flaws in previously held beliefs in how children learn. At Darrick Wood our staff have been focusing on applying the latest research to support learning in the classroom. In particular, we use techniques in class to support the movement of newly acquired knowledge from the short term memory and into the longer term memory banks. Our student learning bulletin has emphasised the importance of applying these skills in all their lessons and home learning opportunities. Students will refer to having had opportunities for “retrieval practice” and other techniques to support better learning. They know that good learning does not happen just because they sit with their notes and highlight key words, they need to practise recalling information on a regular basis so that it becomes more readily available in an exam situation. Just like learning to ride a bike or drive car, it takes practice, it means learning from mistakes and it takes hard work, until it become almost second nature.

Assemblies this week and next are being given by our newly selected Senior Prefects. This allows all students to see who the Senior Prefects are and what they hope to achieve for the School in the coming year. Dr Airey also presents them with their badges and speaks about why the School has a prefect system. The outgoing Senior Prefect team are thanked for their service. The new team this year is looking to develop student voice through the use of Suggestions Boxes in form rooms, to lead on charity fund raising, to establish a Cultural Day to celebrate diversity and different cultures, to raise awareness of mental health issues and to develop improved understanding across the School of Special Educational Needs.

PSFA fund raising

The School has used funds donated from the PSFA to install the first of three new water dispensers, shown below. All students are expected to support the School’s aims to be more environmentally friendly by bringing in their own reusable drinks bottles to be filled from these dispensers.

The other two dispensers have now been delivered and are in the process of being installed.

We have also used the PSFA donations to support developments in our outside space. This is very much a work in progress, but we are very proud that the garden area near the Year 9 playground is finally starting to take shape. We have lots of exciting plans for this area now that summer is approaching.

We are also impressed with how quickly our site staff have cleared the brambles off the side of the Year 8 playground to prepare it for wood chip, picnic tables etc. This improvement was based on ideas from the current Year 8 students themselves. We will publish further images of the final look of the area once ready.

DSM Foundation

On Wednesday evening we hosted a Drugs Awareness evening for parents/carers which was run by the Daniel Spargo Mabbs Foundation.  The event was attended by over 50 parents/carers from across all year groups and was extremely useful and thought provoking.  It was nice to get so many of the Darrick Wood community together and discuss the issues and concerns parents have. The evening was run by Fiona Spargo-Mabbs who lost her son to drugs and has set up the DSMF charity to enable schools to educate students more on the issues. To hear her first-hand experience and speak so openly and honestly was very emotional but helpful in showing how we can all play our part.

Thank you to those of you who attended the evening. A recording of the presentation will be available on our website in case you were not able to attend.

DWS Dance Company

On Thursday, 4^th May DWS Dance Company opened Darrick Wood Infant School’s Country Dance Day. They performed two contrasting numbers to a large audience of pupils and parents. The company performed beautifully and were a credit to the School. They hopefully inspired a future generation to ‘keep dancing!’

Year 9 PSHE Day

On Friday, all Year 9 students attended a one-hour session on ‘Self Esteem’ from a charity company called ‘Jenup.’  They are a new charity who are going into schools to promote more awareness of low self-esteem amongst young people and to share strategies we can use to feel good about ourselves and help each other feel positive. The focus of the talk was healthy eating and looking at eating disorders to educate us more on this topic. The day was well received by Year 9 and they all took something away from the event.

We are now hoping to run a parent/carer workshop on the same topic. Please look out for details on this.

Later in June we will welcome a company to work with Year 10 on health issues across two days of workshops and presentations.

Bromley Y webinars

Bromley Y have been in touch to promote opportunities for parents and carers: 

Helping Children with Anxiety –– various dates for parents/carers with primary/secondary school aged children

Emotionally based School Avoidance – for all parents and carers

Changing from Primary to Secondary School – for parents/carers of Year 6 pupils

Webinar dates

Foodbank collection

The Student Leadership Council are arranging a collection for Bromley Borough Foodbank. The Foodbank urgently needs to replenish some of their fast depleting essential items and they have asked Darrick Wood for help. If you can spare a tin or long-life carton of tomatoes, cold meat, cooking sauce or fruit juice, please could you send it in to school between Tuesday, 9^th to Friday, 12^th May. All donations should be taken to form rooms. If however your child’s form room is in a science laboratory, donations should be delivered to the Sixth Form Centre.

Bike Ability

Those involved with this are required to sign in at Pupil Reception as soon as they get to School on the day of their Bike Ability course. Pupil Reception is situated on the driveway into the School. They should then lock their bikes in the bike sheds, and if the Bike Ability staff are not already waiting for them they should wait near the main entrance of the School, leading into Main Reception. Bike Ability staff will collect those involved from here to then commence the course. Students will not need to go to registration or their playgrounds at the start of school day as usual, because they would have already signed in at Pupil Reception to get their attendance marks.    

Dates for the diary

Week beginning 15th May	Public examinations start
Monday, 29th May to Friday, 2nd June	Half-term break
Tuesday, 11th July	Sports Day (Years 7-9) – Norman Park