This week

This week’s assemblies began with Vlad sharing his inspirational story of how he came to the UK showing great courage and resilience at the time, qualities he then utilised hugely in helping those of us fortunate not to have had to leave their home to have greater understanding of the impact this can have on a young person. It was an emotional listen but we all felt better informed and able to fully understand why we were marking Refugee Week in this way.

The assembly was then led by Mr Guest and Sixth Form Politics students launching our Mock General Election to be held on 4th July at school. Students learned a little about each of the main parties but were also encouraged to find out more about each one before the day itself when we will see how well the Darrick Wood School student population mock general election result matches the result in Orpington and the wider country. The mock election is designed to engage students in thinking about democracy and that, when they are 18, being able to have a say in how their country is governed.

On Thursday, it was Book Return Day for Years 11 and 13 and where we formally marked the end of Year 11’s time with us at a Leavers’ Ceremony in the morning. The ceremony was opened and closed by the Head Teacher with additional speeches by members of the pastoral team. We were all very proud of them having reached the end of their GCSE examinations. They conducted themselves so well that they were treated to a film created by staff right across the School, but masterminded by their Achievement Coordinator, Mr Rees who led the dance moves. Many staff then joined Year 11 for their prom, where again we were so proud of how well they conducted themselves. They have so much potential and deserve very good results in the summer. Mr Rees is now already preparing to welcome new pupils into Year 7 in September but we will all look forward to seeing Year 11 again on results day in August.

Subject Ambassadors

This year, Head of Personal Development, Mrs Iddiols-Bunclark, launched a new initiative to promote and celebrate our broad curriculum and to support students’ leadership and other personal development skills. This has been very successful and has included many of our Subject Ambassadors helping at school events but also leading assemblies. We are very proud of them all. We are now recruiting ambassadors for 2024/25. The details below have been shared with Form Groups and we encourage all who are interested to apply by the deadline of 21st June.

Eco-Schools Green Flag Award with Distinction 2023-24

We are pleased to publicly share that we have achieved the Eco-Schools Green Flag award with Distinction! This is the highest level award we could have achieved. This is testament to the hard work of dedicated staff and students in making an impactful and sustainable set of changes throughout the academic year.

As a school we chose to focus on three key areas and each of the changes made have been summarised;

School Grounds – to develop our site to encourage greater student led free play

• Y7, 8, 9 and 10 playgrounds have all had metal equipment storage containers erected.
• Y7, 8, 9 and 10 playgrounds have additional equipment to encourage student led free play.
• Y9 playground has had 4 new Basketball hoops installed.
• Y10 playground has had 1 new table tennis table and 1 new basketball hoop installed.
• Y9 and Y10 playgrounds have had amendments to the seating arrangements to increase socialisation.
• Y10 and Y11 playgrounds have had some bench refurbishment.
• Y8 playground has had 2 new picnic areas developed (Summer 2023).
• Y7 playground has had a new picnic area developed.

Litter – to reduce the amount of litter on our site and encourage student responsibility

• The bins have been moved to encourage student use and to reduce the amount of dropped litter.
• 35 litter pickers were purchased and distributed across the pastoral teams in a drive to ensure students are accountable for their environment. Staff also on a daily basis model litter picking to help promote a litter free site.
• Key stage 3 year groups have litter picking rotas to encourage all students to take responsibility for the school environment.
• Initial contact has been made with idVerde and Friends of Tugmutton Common to have a working partnership with litter patrol/picking in the local community.

Biodiversity – to encourage greater biodiversity on our site

• A Y9 gardening club was established and is running on a weekly basis. The students have been responsible for building bug hotels in the school garden, Y7 and Y8 playgrounds. The have also been developing their gardening skills around the school site.

In September we will continue to develop each of these areas to build upon the excellent work achieved this year. We welcome new students to join the Eco Committee.

EV Charging Points installed

Thanks to a government grant we now have 12 EV charging points available for staff and the plan is to make these available in the evenings for visitors / sports centre users.

A competition has been launched by the student Eco Committee to design signs for display promoting the use of these by those who have or may soon use electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles. We hope lots of our students will enter the competition. Click on the link below for details.

New minibus

Students travelling to sports fixtures and other trips can now travel in much greater comfort in the first of our two new ULEZ compliant minibuses which arrived this week.

Year 7 – Big Foot Arts Education

This week, students in Year 7 were lucky to have Big Foot Arts Education present a piece called ‘Powerful Choices’. This looked at the importance of the decisions we make and how those decisions can effect ourselves and others. The session was excellent and the whole year group were talking about it for the rest of the day. This will now lead into tutor discussions and PSHE lessons.

Art and Textiles Exhibition

You are formally invited to the GCSE and A level Art and Textiles Exhibition on Tuesday, 25th June at 4.00pm-6.00pm in DT1 and DT6.  This exhibition will be showcasing the amazing work that the GCSE and A level students have produced over the last two years.  We do hope that you will be able to attend and celebrate the excellent work that the students have created.  The Art and Textiles Departments look forward to seeing you at the Exhibition.

PSFA Update

As we approach the end of the academic year, the PSFA will be reflecting on what went well and what could have been better so that we can plan events for 2024–2025. 

This year we have elected new committee members, we have sold Christmas trees, thrown a fabulous Christmas party for year 7, hosted a great family event ‘Show time’, ran pre-loved uniform events, and sold refreshments at various evenings in the school calendar. All of this has contributed to a fundraising total of just over £7.5k, which shows that a little effort here and there can raise a huge amount for the school. This money is all invested in facilities at the school to enrich our children’s experience at Darrick Wood. 

Before we announce our year-end total, we have just 3 more times to raise some funds for the school, and each one is only about an hour or so: 

• 2nd July to sell refreshments at the school dance production
• 10th July to sell refreshments and sell uniforms at the new starters evening and
• 11th of July to sell refreshments at the summer concert

Please sign up here if you can help. DW volunteers sign up

Pre-loved uniform:

The next pre-loved uniform sale is on Wednesday, July 10th, in the Dining Hall. Donations of good-quality uniforms are welcome, especially PE kits. Please drop off any donations in a bag marked for the PSFA’s attention at the main office between now and July 10th. If you are able to help set up (5–6 p.m.) or help sell uniforms at the event (6-7 p.m.), please sign up at DW Volunteer Sign Up. All help is really appreciated, and those helping will be able to purchase items before the sale opens. 

After the summer concert, we will hang up our PSFA hats to enjoy the summer with our family and friends so that we are refreshed and ready to bring more events to our Darrick Wood community in 2024/2025, including the ever-popular quiz night. We understand that people are sometimes scared to commit to joining the PTA, but as you have seen over the past year, the PSFA tries to only deliver events we can manage as a small team, so the time commitment is relatively small. If you think you can free up a little time to join our team, please do get in touch. New members are always welcome! 

Joanne 

PSFA Chair

Bromley Summer HAF Programme 2024

This programme offers free holiday club places, including activities and healthy meals for families with children who are in receipt of benefit related Free School Meals (FSM) or residing in Bromley as a refugee.

The programme will run from Monday, 22nd July – Friday, 30th August 2024 (excluding weekends) and the schedule of activities include film-making workshops, bushcraft activities, electric race car driving, STEM activities, creative fun, tennis, football and so much more!

You can obtain further information here: Holiday activities and food programme (bromley.gov.uk) and by clicking the link below:

Reminder

From our website and uniform policy:

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.

As warmer weather takes hold and as we move towards the final few weeks of this academic year we have noticed some students are not reaching our usual expectations regarding uniform. Increasingly skirts are being rolled which does not then mean it is being worn appropriately or smartly as per the policy. We will have to introduce more severe sanctions regarding this, especially for those who repeatedly break this rule and do not follow staff instructions. There is a choice between Uniform A and Uniform B and Uniform B can be worn with trousers. Students have this choice, but whatever choice they make, they must wear the uniform appropriately and smartly at all times, including to and from school.

If your child has started to grow out of their uniform this year and you want to pick up a bargain then the next PSFA Pre-loved Uniform Sale is advertised elsewhere in this bulletin.

We know that most parents support our ethos of high standards and expectations with uniform, behaviour, attendance and punctuality and of course learning. We are grateful for this as it means we are able ensure expectations are clear, understood and followed by students.

Dates for the diary

Date	Event	Notes
Monday, 24th June	Year 12 examinations
Tuesday, 25th June	Art and Textiles Exhibition	4-6pm
Tuesday, 2nd July	Dance Production
Wednesday, 3rd July	Sports Day – Years 7-9	Norman Park Athletics Arena
Wednesday, 10th July	PSFA Pre-loved uniform sale	6-7pm
Thursday, 11th July	Summer Concert
Monday, 15th July	Year 8 Sayers Croft trip	Half Mon-Wed, half Wed-Fri
Wednesday, 24th July	Last day of term