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The Year 13 Leavers’ Assembly and Ball were held last Friday. These events give students the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate a key milestone in their education to date. For most, they are coming to an emotional end to seven years of study at Darrick Wood School. For others, who joined the School in the Sixth Form, it was no doubt still a major marker in their educational journey and we are so proud of and excited for all our Year 13 students who are about to embark on the next chapter of their lives. They have the examinations to complete and the results to come, but we know that the opportunities they have had at Darrick Wood will have enabled them to develop and grow into amazing young adults. We are especially grateful to all students who have given their time to provide service to the School community, be that through mentoring, prefect duties, establishing clubs and societies, charity fund raising or the many other ways they have demonstrated the schools values of Respect, Responsibility and Honesty. We wish them all every success in their examinations and future endeavours.

Year 11 have also now embarked on study leave which means that during the school day, when they do not have an examination, they should use their time for revision at home or in school (should they prefer to be with their teachers). We do not always give study leave as early as we have this year but we know that with so many examinations in the first two weeks of the examination period, they will make the most of this opportunity to follow their personal revision programmes. For both Year 11 and Year 13, their teachers remain available to them in school in accordance with their usual timetable. Year 11 will also have a Leavers’ Assembly and prom once their examinations are finished. We have been very impressed with their conduct so far with the public examinations and we hope they are pleased to have at least reached the end of this very busy first week.

A Darrick Wood education

Hopefully parents/carers have had a chance to look through our newly designed website. If not, then please do take a look and provide us with feedback (the good and the even better if!) The website aims to ensure all in our community, and those further afield, can find the information they need easily. It also highlights all the things we do very well as a school but do not always celebrate enough. For example, our curriculum really is ambitious for all students. It provides a breadth and balance not matched in all schools through our delivery of every national curriculum subject in specialist facilities and then through the increasing choice offered in Key Stage 4 and then the Sixth Form. We offer opportunities well beyond the usual lessons through an ever expanding extra-curricular offer. We have also been introducing what we call the DWS life learning skills into our taught curriculum. Next year we aim to provide additional structure to our personal development curriculum, linking what happens in PSHE with our form time and assemblies, our extra-curricular offer and much more. It is therefore no surprise that we remain so popular and over-subscribed.

We are a school which thrives because of the traditions, structures and routines that have served us so well over so many years. An example of this is the fact that most year groups have at least two assemblies per week where consistent messages can be given. Poor behaviour is not tolerated and good behaviour is celebrated and rewarded. We have stable leadership and governance, we are open and honest and live by our school values, listening to feedback, never claiming to do everything perfectly, but ensuring that at the heart of all that what we do is our overall mission to provide the very best experience of teaching and learning for every single student.  A major strength, especially in these difficult times for teacher recruitment and retention, is that we continue to benefit from specialist teaching staff in every subject, subject leaders who are well established and knowledgeable, an SEN team who are increasingly gaining a reputation for excellence and associate staff across the School who add value to the School in so many ways.

On the busiest days in school we can sometimes forget what a difference we make to the future lives of our students and the overwhelming amount of support we receive from our parents/carers. Thank you for this – it is much appreciated.

Uniform reminders

Expectations of high standards are a key feature of a Darrick Wood education, something which is underpinned and outlined very clearly by our insistence on school uniform being worn appropriately and smartly at all times. Items that are not part of the school uniform may be confiscated (especially items such as jewellery). Students who have a need to wear something temporarily (e.g. trainers instead of school shoes due to a medical issue) must have a note in their planner from their parent which is then shown to their Form Tutor and Achievement Coordinator.

On occasions there is a need to remind all in our community about the uniform policy. It can be found on our website here. It is also necessary to clarify some aspects when we see some students departing from what is expected.

The additional guidance below is to ensure everyone is treated fairly and consistently. For example, boots are not allowed to be worn as part of our school uniform. Kicker boots are therefore not allowed, but Kicker shoes are allowed. Some students have been wearing Kicker boots, and we would appreciate parental support in ensuring these are not purchased next time footwear for school is needed. The guidance below also references items which sometimes need further clarification. We hope parents find this useful and will bear it in mind when making purchases in time for the new school year.

The PSFA will be holding another second hand uniform sale on 5th July. We will receive gratefully any donations of uniform (washed and in good condition). This should be handed to reception.

Charity at Darrick Wood

Students and staff have raised over £6000 for charities so far this year. Thank you to all who have been involved in this fantastic achievement. The money raised for the Chordoma Foundation was the result of donations for the non-uniform day. This is possibly the most ever raised for by a non-uniform day.

Event	Date	Money raised
Macmillan Coffee Morning	30.09.2022	254.95
Wear it pink day – BCN	14.10.2022	1183
Poppy Appeal	11.11.2022	433.59
Children In Need	18.11.2022	904.51
Xmas jumper day Save the Children	08.12.2022	597
Valentines cards	10.02.2023	92.56
Sports relief	17.03.2023	138.49
Chordoma Foundation UK	31.03.23	2341.35
RNLI	01.05.23	56.36
	TOTAL	6001.81

There is a bake sale being arranged for Wednesday, 24th May to raise money to buy items for our new garden area. Developing these outdoor spaces and providing opportunities for students to take responsibility for the environment at school is one key priority of our school development plan. Payments will be by cash. We hope that lots is raised and we can get the garden up and running in the weeks ahead.

Gold for Oscar

Congratulations to Oscar, who competed with his partner in the Youth National Acro British Gymnastics Championships last weekend and came 1^st to achieve a gold medal for the second year in a row.

English Schools Athletics Cup 

Our Junior Boys Athletics team (Years 7 and 8) competed in Round 1 of the English Schools Athletics Cup competition, held at Norman Park on Tuesday, 16^th May.

We are very proud to announce that as a result of some determined performances our team won the competition ahead of all our local competitors including Bullers Wood Boys, Langley Park Boys and St Olave’s. This was an incredible achievement.

The team has now qualified for the South East England Regional ‘A’ Final, featuring the best school teams from Kent, Surrey and Sussex having scored an extremely respectable total of 393 points!

Highlights of the competition include:

Anthony winning the 1500m in 4:46.4s, the second fastest in our school’s history and also winning the discus with over 24m! Anthony accrued 44 points over his 2 events, the highest individual total of the team!

Alex winning the Javelin with a huge personal best of 29.85m!

Vlad running 2:26.5 for a huge personal best in the 800m, closely followed by Lee Lewis in 2:29!

Patrick running 13.80s in his first ever 80m Hurdles race!

Logan jumping 1.47m in the High Jump event!

Credit must go to all the athletes in the team including Zac, James, Seth, Joseph, Andreas, Oscar, Luke and Lawrence.

The Regional Final will be held on 15^th June. The team is aiming to exceed the 400pts benchmark and we look forward to reporting back on their success!

Visiting speakers

Bank of England

On Tuesday, we welcomed Annabel Williamson, a Climate Analyst Degree Apprentice, from Bank of England to school. Year 8 pupils attended an assembly focussing on Careers in Finance which enabled them to begin considering their own post-16 and 18 pathways more generally. Annabel also led sessions with our Year 12 Business and Economics students, providing an insight in to role of the Bank of England within the economy as well as her own degree apprenticeship journey with the Bank of England.

Bank of America

On Wednesday, twenty of our Year 12 LIBF Financial Studies students were invited to attend an insight day at Bank of America in Bromley. The event was hosted by Education and Employers who work with organisations and employers to provide young people with the inspiration, motivation, knowledge, skills and opportunities they need to help them achieve their potential. Students had the opportunity to explore the diverse range of roles available at the Bank of America and participated in a speed networking session with Bank of America professionals where they were able to gain an insight in to pathways and qualifications needed in finance, investment banking and technical roles. Both organisations noted the professionalism demonstrated by our students throughout the course of the event.  

Year 10 PSHE Health Days

This week we had the School of Sexuality with us for two days to give seminars and workshops on Sex and Relationships education for Year 10.  The X half had 5 sessions on Tuesday and the Y half had 5 sessions on Wednesday.  Topics taught included Consent, Sexuality and Gender, Sex and the Media and Sexual Health. As daunting as some of these topics are they are now statutory requirements from the government. The students were engaged throughout their day and had lots to think about after the sessions which will now be carried into their PSHE lessons.  Many staff gave up their time to support this event. The feedback we have received has been very positive both about the students’ engagement and contributions and the content and delivery of the topics.  We are looking to bringing the company back in for Sixth Form early next year.

PSFA Quiz Night

Back by popular demand! The PSFA are organising another Quiz Night on Friday, 14^th July 7pm-10pm. Please come along and join in the fun. 

There is a maximum of 8 people per team. Each team can be a combination of parents, family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, etc. Smaller numbers can be put together on the night if needed so that everyone gets to participate.

This event is strictly for those aged 18 and over. Tickets are £6 per person. Please bring your own drink and nibbles. It will be held in the Main Hall at School, with parking available on site.

Please book your tickets here: Darrick Wood School PSFA Darrick Wood Summer Quiz Night!

Book early to avoid disappointment as this event sold out last time!

If you have any enquiries please contact us at darrickwoodpsfa@outlook.com

We would also like to ask for any donations of unwanted, good quality gifts or items that would be suitable for our raffle. This could be anything from a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates or even donated tickets to an event if anyone is lucky enough to have such links! Any unwanted baskets or similar would also be much appreciated so we can make up raffle prizes from our donations.

Please mark your donation FAO PSFA and drop into reception. Any donations large or small would be very much appreciated. 

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you there!