This week

This week Zachary from Year 10 played a lively and fun piece on the piano at the start of our main assembly.  It was a lovely way to start each morning and we were all very impressed. The theme of this week’s assembly was a very important one entitled “Freedom from Injustice” and largely focusing on the struggle for equality over time by various groups who have faced discrimination throughout history. The work of our school’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group, and the introduction of Culture Week earlier this year are small steps towards promoting EDI across our school community. The assembly called on all those present to play a part in calling out discrimination and celebrating the amazing diversity of our students and staff, underpinned by agreement to our agreed values of Respect, Responsibility and Honesty.

Work Related Learning Reminders

Year 10 Work Shadowing Day: Wednesday, 3^rd July

On Wednesday, 3^rd July, all Year 10 students are invited to take part in a work shadowing day where they can accompany a parent/carer or nominated trusted adult to their workplace in order to gain an insight into the world of work.

A reminder about arrangements for the day was sent to parents/carers earlier this week.

The link to the form to confirm arrangements for your child can be found here.

The form must be completed by Friday, 21^st June in order for your child to participate in the day.

Students not participating in the day will attend school as normal and further details regarding arrangements for students onsite will be sent out next half term.

Year 12 Work Experience: Monday, 8^th July – Friday, 12^th July

Our Year 12 Work Experience Programme is taking place from Monday, 8^th July – Friday, 12^th July. This week is hugely successful for our Year 12 students who are able to use the opportunity to develop their employability skills before considering their post-18 pathways.

Students have been reminded regularly this half term about the importance of ensuring that they have submitted information about their placements on Unifrog.

If your child is at the School Permission stage on Unifrog, Mrs Collier is currently conducting pre placement checks to approve placements. This will continue into the early part of next half term as part of our normal procedures.

If there are any outstanding forms to be submitted including the Employer Initial Form and Parent/Guardian Agreement, your child’s placement cannot be approved until this information is received.

If your child has a placement but has not submitted any information on Unifrog, they must urgently submit the Student Initial Form on Unifrog to begin the process securing their placement.

These steps must be followed even if your child is attending a workplace of a parent/carer, relative or friend as part of our work experience and safeguarding procedures and to authorise their absence throughout the week.

Students have been asked to ensure that these forms are completed over half term.

Darrick Wood Involvement in the UKMT Maths Challenges 2024

In January, 130 students from Years 9 and 10 took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, with the best student in each year group qualifying for the follow-up Grey and Pink Kangaroo competition. Congratulations Eira and Mykhailo!

In April, 130 students from Years 7 and 8 took part in the Junior Maths Challenge, with the best student in each year group qualifying for the follow-up Junior Kangaroo competition. Congratulations Daniel and Harrison!

In May, four students from Years 8 and Year 9 were selected for the Team Maths Challenge, held at St Olave’s School. They represented the School superbly, having an enjoyable and ‘challenging’ day full of maths tasks and teamwork skills. They did very well and held their own against grammar and independent schools. Eira, Max, Megan and Ryan were a real credit to Darrick Wood School, well done!

“I found the Maths Challenge fun as we got to try new maths and meet new people from different schools.”

“It was nice to do a subject I enjoy for the whole day.”

“The Junior Maths Challenge was tricky at some points and pushed my maths abilities. However, I enjoyed learning new harder topics and working as a team with peers from another year group. I had a great day.”

“I found that the Maths Challenge was interesting. I learnt new stuff like how to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle, a² + b² = c², which has been very helpful.”

Eco Committee Meeting 5

The meeting this half-term involved students actively participating in working toward two of our Eco Green Flag Awards criteria:

Biodiversity – students worked in the school garden and built a bug hotel in the Year 8 playground.

Litter – students were provided with litter pickers and completed a litter pick across the school site.

We have also now submitted our application to become recognised as an Eco School with the Green Flag Award. We look forward to updating you on the outcome of our application in due course.

English Schools’ Track and Field Cup Round 1

Our Inter girls game 3^rd out of 9 teams with 333 points, only 1 point behind 2^nd place Walthamstow Hall with 334.  We had to field a team of 14 athletes which were a mix of Years 9 and 10. They all performed to their best including:

Alice who scored 41 points in the high jump and 300m and will be competing at the Kent Schools in a couple of weeks.

Annie who scored 39 points in the 100m and long jump.

Annabelle who scored 33 points in the 200m and long jump.

Imani who scoring 32 points in the 100m and triple jump.

Asia who scored 30 points in the 200m and javelin.

Other students who took park were Abigail, Isabella, Aniela, Isabelle, Sophia, Lucia, Hannah, Mia and Lucy.

An amazing team effort!

Our Junior girls came 5^th overall out of 8 teams. They had some great performances and just needed some more practice time. The best performances of the day came from Izzy (37 points), Poppy (35), Mojola (33) and Holly (34), but well done to the whole team including Heidi, Leeyah, Lillian, Sadie, Frieda, Ivy, Ellie and Mila.

Reminders

Please use the half-term break to ensure your child has all the correct equipment required for successful learning at school as well as a the full Darrick Wood School uniform, including appropriate school shoes.

Dates for the diary

Date	Event	Notes
Monday, 27th May	Half-term break
Monday, 3rd June	Return from half-term break Years7-9 assessments for next two weeks
Monday, 24th June	Year 12 examinations
Wednesday, 3rd July	Sports Day – Years 7-9	Norman Park Athletics Arena
Monday, 15th July	Year 8 Sayers Croft trip	Half Mon-Wed, half Wed-Fri
Wednesday, 24th July	Last day of term