Latest news

Last week’s assemblies started with a fascinating account from Marcus and Shubhan of the Year 11 trip before Christmas to Cologne, Germany. The long journey was more than made up for by what Cologne had to offer and they ensured we all wished we had had the chance to go.

In an assembly led predominantly by students, we then heard from some of our amazing eco representatives across all year groups – Aerin, Chelsea, Shreya, Scott, Shubhan, Olivia, Israel, Marcus, Oscar, Ansastacia, Zara, Elizabeth and Amelie – who shared with us how they and others were working to improve the environment of the School and in particular the outdoor spaces. This project supports one of our whole school objectives –  To encourage students to take greater responsibility for themselves, their community and the environment. We are very proud of what has been achieved in a short period of time and of their contribution to the assembly.

This week, the assemblies started with Marcus, Thomas, Luca,  Imogen, Kathleyah and Sofia from KS3 Cooking Club who shared with all year groups how much they enjoyed this club and photographs of the very appetising food they have been cooking recently. We then heard about Darrick Wood’s long association with the Jack Petchey Award. Jack Petchey is 99 years old, but has long supported young people through his foundation. As a school we have benefited in so many ways, including the Speak Out Challenge and our regular nominations for the Jack Petchey Award. When a student is nominated by their peers or staff for an achievement award of this kind, the Student Leadership Council meets to decide who should receive the award. The winner receives a certificate from the Foundation and the School receives £300. The winner gets to decide how the money should be spent. In addition, there is an annual awards ceremony, held recently at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley where medals are presented by the Mayor of Bromley. We would like to congratulate all our award winners but also encourage our school community to nominate students who they feel has gone the extra mile for others, or achieved something special that is deserving of recognition.

Year 8 Parents’ Information Evening

Thank you to parents/carers of students in Year 8 who attended the Information Evening held at the School yesterday evening. From the feedback we received on the night the evening was very much appreciated. We will email copies of the main presentation and resources from the various workshops that followed.

Year 7 Parent Survey

Thank you to all who responded to the survey. The survey has now closed and we are reviewing the results. We really appreciate the feedback and will always use this to improve our educational provision.

Reading Realm

This week, we have been delivering library support sessions to support KS3 pupils with a dyslexia diagnosis to access our reading resources. These are taking place in the Reading Realm during form time.

The first session has focussed on where to find dyslexia friendly books, how to choose a book, and how to use dyslexia tools such as reading rulers to access reading.

Dyslexia is common, affecting 10% of the population. People with dyslexia can have strengths in creativity, communication and problem solving, and may have difficulty with spelling, reading and access to information.

Our goal through these sessions is to build the confidence of dyslexic readers and inform them of the dyslexia support available at school.

Next week, the final session will focus on accessing e-books, audiobooks, and magazines through Sora www.soraapp.com. Pupils will have the opportunity to log in to Sora, learn to adjust formats and fonts and use search filters.

Year 9 drugs awareness talk

This week we were lucky enough to have Wizard Theatre Company in for our Year 9 students and perform I love you mum; I promise I won’t die, a performance written by Mark Wheeler and Fiona Spargo Mabbs.  Fiona lost her son 10 years ago when he was on a night out with his friends and took some Ecstasy.  She has set up the DSM Foundation as a charity to help educate schools and students on the issues with drugs.  The performance was very hard hitting and informative and was followed by a Q and A session in which the whole year group got to take part in a true or false quiz.  The year group were very fortunate to have this opportunity and learn about such an important issue.

New extracurricular club

Does your child imaginative writing? The Creative Writing Club is restarting after half-term and will be open to all students. The club will include writing prompts and time to develop work over the course of the year.

Day: Every Thursday

Time: 1:30-2pm (students may bring their packed lunch)

Where: En2

Who: All years

Hosts: Mrs Djafer and Ms Vos

Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Week 2024 takes place from 5^th – 12^th February and this year’s theme is ‘My Voice Matters’. My Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing the tools that they need to express themselves. When we feel empowered, this can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Children and young people who feel that their voices are heard and can make a difference have a greater sense of community and self-esteem. During Children’s Mental Health Week we want all children and young people, regardless of their age, background or ability, to be able to say – and believe- “My Voice Matters”.

Place2Be have produced a number of resources to help support conversations around mental health at home. The full document can be accessed here Top Tips for Families but the key points are included below.

Place2Be also have a parenting support page which provides advice and guidance which may be useful when addressing a whole range of mental health topics with your young people Place2Be: Parenting Smart. If you have any concerns about your child’s mental health please contact your GP who is best placed to advise you. Alternatively, please contact your child’s form tutor who will be able to offer some more general guidance.  

Kent Schools Cross Country

Recently the Kent schools cross country was held and Bromley as a district was very successful in winning team medals in all age groups and first place in the Year 7 boys and girls, junior boys and girls and inter boys and girls.  The seniors came second for the boys and third for the girls.

Well done in particular to Anthony from Darrick Wood School who finished ninth in the junior boys and was part of the winning Bromley team. We expect he will be competing for Kent in an upcoming inter-counties competition.

Well done also to Poppy who came 25^th in the junior girls and Holly who came a very credible 19^th in the Year 7 race and gained a bronze medal in the team event for Bromley.

U13 Girls Kent Cup Semi final

Tomorrow, Saturday, 3^rd February, our U13 girls (Years 7 and 8) are playing Bullers Wood School for Girls in the Kent Schools Semi-Final. This is a big local derby in a huge game that would potentially see us reach our first Kent Cup final in over ten years!

The girls would appreciate any friendly faces on the day to support should you live locally and want to spectate. The game is kicking off at 10.15am and being played in Bullers Boys school grounds (BR1 2NW). Please park on Pines Road and use the side entrance to the field should you attend.

Hope to see you there!

First Team Rugby – special feature length report!

All winning runs must eventually come to an end and so it was with ours…110 days since we last tasted defeat – what a ride it’s been (we did only play once in those 110 days, but who’s counting?). With SJWMS fielding a B team, we travelled down with an A/B team due to injuries and social commitments. However, a squad of 17 made the journey to the other side of the Medway and took to the very windy pitch to do battle with our longest named opponent of the season (who presumably are all good at maths – we saw some Year 7s doing integration).

After Chris won the toss and wisely decided to play with the wind in the first half, we came out of the blocks strongly, gaining territorial advantage, even if we were somewhat loose in possession, with conditions and panic leading to too many dropped balls. This resulted in a possession advantage for SJWMS needing some big tackling from Darrick defenders to repel their hard running. Chris and Alex both made notable big hits, whilst we were able to generate some turnovers, one of which saw a blind-side, sniping Daniel bundled into touch just a yard short from their line. However, much of our first half work was defensive and as SJWMS made their way up the pitch it took Hayden to step in to deny them a clear overlap, shortly followed  by a try-saving tackle from Chris, dislodging the ball from SJWMS hands just a yard out. Eventually, their pressure had to pay, but frustratingly SJWMS’s first score came from that awful sight – a forward attempting to kick. Henry’s effort was charged down and a SJWMS player pounced on the loose ball to score – 5-0 to the home side. Darrick were fired into action and after a super trundling (no sidestep involved) run from Alex led to us finally putting a few phases together, Hayden was able to touch down to even the scores, with Dan unlucky to hit the post with his conversion.

As the first half wore on, Darrick’s inferior fitness and squad size started to tell and our defensive line came out that little bit more slowly (well, just remained static actually) giving SJWMS the chance to gain momentum and they scored their second just before half time. With brave debutant Steve relived by Michael at half time, SJWMS rung the changes too, bringing on their human bowling ball, who predictably, started the second half by being given the ball 15 yards out, brushing aside several Darrick tacklers who were going in too high and stretching SJWMS’s lead to 17-5. We did then learn to tackle him low and he was subbed off about 5 minutes later, meanwhile, Darrick had begun to apply the gameplan – of putting together phases of play to pressurise SJWMS’s defence out of shape, and after a passage of play which must have seen at least 15 phases (well done those forward tireless runners Rowan, Eza, Kian, Seb and Connor) Chris was on hand with a trademark slice between defenders to score, which, with Daniel’s conversion brought the score to 17-12. Back roared SJWMS, with more fresh legs on, to stretch their lead back to 10 points with another try, but Darrick kept fighting, despite losing Chris to a flare up of his leg injury – giving Brandon the chance to make his debut, with Nathan S playing about five different positions as our key utility dude.

With Nathan J in at fly half and orchestrating things nicely, we marched up the field once more, putting phases together with the continuity that had been lacking in the first half, and another Daniel blindside sneak was close to the line before he was bundled into touch. However, Rowan stole the ensuing lineout and as the ball came down the line Hayden was on hand to score his second of the day, narrowing the gap to just one score – 22-17 to SJWMS.

With ten minutes left we were still in the game and battling hard, however, injuries began to take their toll. Daniel was forced off with a groin muscle issue, Rohan was forced off with a groin squashed issue, so Steve went back on and one-legged Chris returned. However, those last ten minutes were ten minutes too far, and saw two more SJWMS tries against a physically flagging, yet hugely courageous Darrick team – with Malachi and Kian still operating like infinite tackling machines offering some final defiance. The final whistle eventually came and we retired to the minibus, defeated, yet in justifiably high spirits after a super performance from the lads.

Squad: Ezra M, Alex I, Rowan B, Connor P, Rohan G, Henry H, Seb K, Kian T, Daniel S, Chris B, Nathan S, Nathan J, Malachi O, Steve C, Brandon A, Michael T, Hayden ‘two tries’ T

PSFA

The PSFA would like to ask for any donations of unwanted, good quality gifts or items that would be suitable for raffles we intend to hold at our upcoming events this year. 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 at one of our events soon!

The PSFA would also like to remind everyone that the Bed Post is still offering a 10% discount as an ongoing offer for our school community. You just need to quote the name of our school when ordering. They will then generously match the discount and give it to the PSFA as a donation. 

This is an easy way to raise extra funds for the PSFA and save yourself some money as well. So please do spread the word  to anyone who might be considering a new bed, bedroom furniture or even just a new pillow over the coming months.

Initial Teacher Training with Bromley Schools’ Collegiate

Do you want to find out more about stepping into teacher training with us in September 2024?

Are you looking for a local provider with guaranteed placements in excellent local schools?

We are currently booking 1:1 discussions with potential candidates that wish to join our Sept 24 intake of trainee teachers. Book your slot via email administrator@gradteach.uk with a copy of your CV, dates/times available and your preferred subject or age range that you wish to teach.

Dates for the diary

Date	Event	Notes
Thursday, 8th February	Early close for Collegiate CPD for staff	1.10pm for Sixth Form 2pm for Years 7-11
12th – 16th February	HALF TERM
Thursday, 29th February	Year 10 Parents’ Evening	SchoolCloud
Wednesday, 6th March	Year 9 Options Evening	At the School
Wednesday, 27th March	Year 8 Parents’ Evening	SchoolCloud
Thursday, 28th March	Last day of spring term (Friday is a Bank Holiday)