This week

This week, the main assembly started with Mr Cook and some of our Sixth Form Science students sharing why Science is such an amazing and important subject. We are very grateful to our Head of Science, to Harry for his incredible chemistry demonstration, and to Millie, Lucy and Samaira for their inspiring speeches.

The assembly then continued with this week’s theme of “Where’s the End?” Students were challenged to think hard about what this means by Mrs Hodgson, our SENCO, who, as previously shared with parents/carers, is herself coming towards the end of her time with us at Darrick Wood as she is moving on to a new and exciting role. This aptly demonstrates that however good something is, all things come to an end eventually, and that we should appreciate them whilst we have them. In Mrs Hodgson’s case we are absolutely clear that she has transformed the School’s SEND provision which is now being placed in the very capable hands of our SENCO-designate, Mr Johnson.

Sports Day on Wednesday was highly successful again. The weather just about held out, the early rain clearing to leave a mostly dry day, and for once it was not too hot and sunny. We are incredibly proud of our students who conducted themselves very well. Their behaviour, engagement and physical endeavour throughout was brilliant. We are very grateful to our dedicated staff in the PE Department and right across the School who worked extremely hard to ensure the day was an enjoyable one for all. The results will be shared with Form Groups next week.

The Dance Production on Tuesday was another highlight this week. “Now That’s What I Call Dance” was a  demonstration of talent, skill, dedication, creativity and teamwork. We were all so impressed by each and every one of the dancers. Well done to all who took part and thank you to the Dance Department staff and others who made this possible.

On Thursday, we held a mock General Election where students from all year groups were able to vote at lunchtime in our own mock polling station in the Main Hall. We are very grateful to our Sixth Form students and Humanities Staff for arranging this opportunity to experience democracy in action. There was a good turnout and it will be fascinating to see how the results compare to those nationally.

Merger of Academy Trusts

Your attention is drawn to the email sent on Friday, 5th July about our plans to merge Darrick Wood School Academy Trust with Impact Multi Academy Trust. Further information can be found on our website here.

ARC (the Attachment Research Community) Award

We are proud to announce that Darrick Wood School is the first school in Bromley to achieve the ARC Bronze Award for trauma informed practice. We know how hard we have worked as a school to educate ourselves and to use this in our daily interactions and decision making. We continue to strive to do even better in the future but this award is testament to the inclusive nature of our school as recognised in our recent Ofsted inspection.

Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) Conference

Students who attended this had a superb day. Having joined this scheme this year, it was decided that two projects would run both under the umbrella of “Cosmic Mining”.  One research group of three students (two in Year 8 and one in Year 9) and another group of three from Year 12 took part.  Both groups have met weekly at lunch time to gain the background knowledge about spectra and life cycles of stars which enabled them to start understanding patterns in infrared radiation from the Spitzer space telescope. The culmination of this was the students producing a scientific poster which was displayed at this conference. Our students were a credit to our school at the Conference which was dominated by grammar school students. The day was inspiring and they stood proudly by their posters, fielding questions from other students and then asking other students about their field of research.  We plan to create a presentation of their posters in Reception and build on the success of this project for further students next year.

Culturally Speaking 

Darrick Wood School was invited to participate in the London-wide Culturally Speaking programme for the first time this year. It is a public speaking project run by The Speakers Trust and Kusuma Trust. The first step was a trip with twenty-eight Year Nine students and teachers from the English Department to the Charles Dickens Museum in London on Wednesday, 12^th June. The students were given a hands-on tour of the building including seeing Charles Dickens’ desk where he wrote his famous novel, Oliver Twist – as well as some rather more disturbing objects like a stuffed raven, Dickens’ death mask and even a lock of his hair! Students used the visit to learn more about this iconic British writer and life in London at this time. The second part of this project (which took place the following Monday, 17^th June) was a full day of public speaking training in school with a professional trainer. By the end of the day, students had learnt public speaking skills and given speeches inspired by their visit to the Museum – very impressively, using no notes! Three speakers from the training day – Joe, Ella and Eira – then performed their speeches in an assembly to Year 7 last Wednesday. All three speakers were excellent. We have just heard that Ella has gone through and will be part of the prestigious Showcase Event in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey. Two of our talented Year 10 musicians, Zachary and Guillermo have also been invited to perform as a duo at the event. Well done to them all!

Darrick Wood Musical Instrument Donations  

The Music Department is running an instrument amnesty this half term and are looking for donations of old instruments. If you have a trumpet or guitar gathering dust at home, or a drum kit that takes up too much space, the Music Department may be able to give these instruments a new lease of life. Instruments will either be used to help further support our music curriculum or help those who wish to learn a new instrument. If you have something you would like to donate, please contact Mr W. Rees, Head of Music. Items can be dropped at school, or can be brought along to our Summer Concert on the 11^th July, tickets can be purchased at £5 via parent pay. We look forward to receiving your donations.

Darrick Wood School Carnegie Shadowing 2024

Avid readers in Year 9 have once again enjoyed participating in the Darrick Wood Carnegie Shadowing group.  Eight books, deemed to reflect the best new writing, were shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal in March 2024. The Shadowers have been meeting ever since, reading, discussing and voting for their favourite.  The Carnegie Medal 2024 was awarded to ‘The Boy Lost in the Maze’ by Joseph Coelho, much to the consternation of the group whose favourite was ‘Crossing the Line’ by Tia Fisher.

Last Friday the group produced some wonderfully creative responses to the books they had read.  Well done to Vincent who composed and recorded a piece of music inspired by the book ‘The Song Walker’.  Vincent put his IT skills to good use to re-create the sounds of tradition Australian instruments while the rest of his team who produced art work to complement it. Other creative contributions included character studies and poetry.

Arts Mark

This week we found out that all 153 Year 9 students who were entered for their Arts Award Bronze Level 1 Qualification passed. That is the fifth year we have gained 100% pass rate and we thank the Drama department for all their hard work with this. Congratulations to all of those who have been awarded this certificate. 

Year 10 Work Shadowing Day and Employability Day

On Wednesday, our Year 10 students either participated in a Work Shadowing Day where they accompanied a parent/carer or nominated adult to their place of work, or an Employability Day in school, led by Mrs Collier.

Students participating in the Work Shadowing Day were provided with a booklet to complete on the day and we have enjoyed listening to their stories of the world of work and reading feedback from organisations.

Students attending school for the Employability Day were given opportunities to consider how school prepares them for the world of work and to explore specific employability and transferrable skills that they are developing. Soni Sandhu of Talent Consulting led a session which focussed on individual career interests and interview techniques.

The session also focussed on post-16 pathway choices. We welcomed a representative from North Kent College who spoke to students about college life, courses available and the application process. Mrs Collier and Kirsty Taylor, our Independent Careers Advisor, discussed apprenticeship pathways. 

The purpose of these sessions was to help prepare our students for their future pathways in a similar way to students who gained invaluable first-hand experience of the world or work.

It is hoped that both forms of interactions will ensure that students continue to think about their options over the summer holidays ahead of the Autumn term which is a crucial term for students to make applications to post-16 pathways. Mrs Collier will continue to support students throughout their time in Year 11 by providing them with opportunities to aid their decision making. 

PSFA news

The PSFA had their final committee meeting of the year last night to reflect on this year as well as start planning for the next academic year. We are delighted to have raised £9k, which will be donated to the School to invest in outside shade for playground areas. We hope you agree that some shade or shelter is a welcome addition to the facilities for the children at break or lunch time. Thank you to you all for your support at these events, whether it be volunteering your time, coming along to events, buying a Christmas tree, or buying refreshments from the PSFA at school productions.

While we are close to the summer holidays, we are not quite there yet and need help just twice more. Wednesday, July 10th, at the new starters evening to set up and sell pre-loved uniforms (this is open to all parents from 6-7pm) and to sell refreshments. We also need help on Thursday, July 11th, for the summer concert. If you can help, please sign up here: https://volunteersignup.org/9MMDP

Regards,

Joanne – PSFA Chair and the team

Dates for the diary

Date	Event	Notes
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	Early finish – details to follow
Thursday, 15th August	A level results
Thursday, 22nd August	GCSE results
Monday, 2nd September	Professional Development Day	Only staff attend
Tuesday, 3rd September	Year 7 and Year 12 attend
Wednesday, 4th September	All year groups return