End of autumn term

As we reach the end of this first term we have been looking back over the term and reflecting on our students’ many successes and achievements. Achievement assemblies have been held for all year groups apart from Year 13 (currently completing mock examinations). Our assemblies each began with a Christmas themed performance by our KS3 Drama group, facilitated by our Sixth Form drama students. They did incredibly well performing from the stage in front of all year groups.

It has been absolutely fantastic to award such a high volume of certificates demonstrating how hard our students are working across the curriculum. Apart from the subject award winners, what has also been particularly impressive is the high number of Bronze Awards at this early stage of the year, far higher than the number last year. Some students have also achieved their Silver Award already and no doubt will go on to collect the Gold or even Platinum Awards by this academic year.

Our annual Christmas Concert was held on Thursday evening. Students from all year groups performed to an audience of parents and carers, staff, friends, family and governors. Their hard work over the last few weeks, supported by our brilliant music and performing arts staff was evident for all to see. The singing and music was of a very high standard and there was the opportunity for audience participation as the evening rounded off with two traditional much loved carols – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and then O Come, All Ye Faithful. Well done to all involved.

We wish all our students, parents/carers and staff a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Playground improvements

There’s going to be a new look to the Year 7 playground and work has already begun. This is being funded by the PSFA so thank you to all parents/carers who have supported the PSFA over the past year. Already a new fence has been installed, along with a container for sports equipment. Soon we will be installing sail shades to provide shelter from the rain and shade in the summer.

Catering Changes

Over the Christmas break work will be completed to create the new café in the Sixth Form Centre along with the collaborative learning space next door. Our new caters, Aspens, will also be installing new equipment and designs in our other serveries. We will have new tills and a new queuing system in main dining hall. As we have said previously, there are bound to be a few teething problems in the first few days as we all get used to different queues, new menus etc but we think overall everyone will be pleased with what we have planned. Please remember to top up your child’s ParentPay account after Christmas.

Mock examinations

Years 11 and most of Year 13 have now completed their mock examinations. Year 11 received their results in a special ceremony on Thursday afternoon. After advice from the Head Teacher and their Achievement Coordinator, they then went through to the Dining Hall to pick up an envelope containing their results from their tutors. Many seemed very pleased with the outcome and whilst some will be disappointed, we hope the experience overall will be used positively by them all and enable them to focus their attention on their studies after a decent break over the holiday period. Year 13 will receive their results when we return in January.

Sporting update

Well done to all students in Years 7 and 8 who have been undertaking Christmas themed fun runs during their PE lessons. It has been quite a term of sport culminating in lots of football fixtures this week. Results can be seen on our website here. We are so proud of all our teams but must highlight the tremendous achievement of the U14 girls who despite previously losing in the Kent Cup Quarter Final, on Monday this week they beat Varndean School (Brighton) 7-3 to reach the last 16 of the English Schools Cup. Well done all!

Year 9 Rewards 

In addition to the Achievement Assembly, held jointly with Year 10, Year 9 also had an additional Rewards Assembly with a focus on students who are consistently upholding the school values of Respect, Responsibility and Honesty. We were incredibly grateful that the rewards were presented by ‘Gary the Elf’ (who sounded very much like Mr Timmins!) Each form tutor rewarded someone from Santa’s ‘nice list’ with each receiving a selection box. Well done to 9XF for winning the highest attendance award, and to 9YM for achieving the most achievement points award.

Festive Bake Sale

On Wednesday 13^th December, members of 12MLO organised a festive bake sale. They sold home-made cookies, cupcakes, mince pies, chocolate mini rolls and much more. The iced donuts were a particular success and sold out within the firs t10 minutes! The students worked hard to organise the sale and showed real teamwork and dedication to this task. It was a huge success. They raised a total of £52.10 which is being donated to the Save the Children charity.

Reminders

Over the weeks when we come back we will be focusing on the basics for successful learning, starting with a focus on having the right equipment. As mentioned in the Parent Bulletin of 01/12/23, all of our students must arrive at school with the correct equipment. We will be asking Form Tutors in the first two weeks of spring term to check this in particular and issue sanctions to those who do not have what is required. Stationery would be an excellent stocking filler for some we think!

Once again we find ourselves having to remind parents/carers not to park illegally on the yellow lines outside the School. This is now becoming a major risk to the safety of our students and causing congestion and frustration for all. We are raising the issue with the relevant authorities.

Reading Realm

‘Tis the season for reading!

Access thousands of free e-books and audiobooks on Sora using just your child’s school email and password. https://soraapp.com/welcome

In an exciting development, pupils can now also access hundreds of magazines on Sora, from sports, music, and craft magazines to educational and news magazines – there is something for everyone.

Notable magazines include National Geographic, Science Focus, New Scientist, BBC History, The Week Junior, Minecraft World and many more.

The evidence is clear: reading for pleasure improves academic outcomes as well as builds important life skills like empathy, analytical thinking, problem solving, and communication.

Reading also aids sleep, self-esteem, and research shows that just 6 minutes of reading can reduce stress and anxiety by 68% – that’s more than listening to music or watching TV! (Read for Good)

Some more good news is that we have scheduled in another Scholastic Book Fair to coincide with World Book Day in early March. This means pupils will be able to use World Book Day tokens from major bookshops and supermarkets at the Fair. More details coming in the new year!

Finally, our Y7 Reading Ambassadors had fun sharing their favourite reads when they met last week. Perhaps the resulting book recommendation could help out with those last minute Christmas gift ideas?

Happy Christmas and happy reading!

Miss Jacobs

PFSA Update

Dear parents and carers,

We hope you are feeling festive and looking forward to celebrating the holidays with family and friends. It has been a busy term for the PFSA while new committee members find their feet, but we are delighted to have raised over £1700 through the Christmas tree and refreshment sales and Year 7 Christmas Party.

We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who bought a Christmas tree through us this year. We had record sales and have raised an incredible £711.39 in total. This will go towards the improvement of the playgrounds and the community garden that the students are helping to create.

Once again we have been complimented on the quality of the trees and have had several customers who have now bought from us three years in a row! We hope you all enjoy your trees throughout the Christmas period and will look forward to offering you the same high quality trees again next year. Here are some images of trees that were purchased and how they looked at home and at the School:

We are also delighted to see the happy to help list grow, so we now have 29 parents signed up to help. Of course, the more the merrier so if you would like to sign up too here is the link: https://volunteersignup.org/74W37

Our first event back will be a preloved uniform sale in January. So as we approach the holidays, if you have an hour to spare please have a sort through your child’s uniform and donate any outgrown items to us for the sale. We accept all uniform (especially PE kit), and ask that everything is washed so that all items are in a decent and wearable condition. If you have items to donate, please ask your child to bring them to the office in the New Year. These sales do get very busy so if you can help us keep the queues down, please sign up to help here: https://volunteersignup.org/9MMDP . More details about the sale will follow in the New Year.

Also a quick reminder that one of the easiest ways to support the PFSA fundraising efforts is to sign up to Easyfundraising when you do your shopping. This won’t cost you a penny but every time you shop using Easyfundraising a donation will be made to the PSFA. There are over 3700 online retailers, including but not limited to Argos, John Lewis, Just Eat and Tesco. You can get more details and sign up here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/darrickwoodsecondaryschoolpsfa

The next committee meeting is on January 11^th, 7pm in the bungalow. All are welcome so please come along if you would like to join the team. Honestly, every little bit anyone can do does help.

That’s all for now, except to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and New Year.

Joanne Cummins

PFSA Chair

Dates for the diary 

Date	Event	Notes
Tuesday, 2nd January	Start of spring term	School starts at 8.35am as usual
Week beginning Tuesday, 2nd January	First week of Year 12 assessments	These are taking place in lessons
Wednesday, 3rd January to Friday, 5th January	Year 13 Art mock examinations
Thursday, 4th January	Year 11 Parents’ Evening (School Cloud)	4.00pm to 7.00pm