Celebrating Denefield Friday 2 July 2021
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Celebrating Denefield Friday 2 July 2021
Celebrating Denefield
After a long period of Covid-influenced restrictions, I am delighted that extra-
curricular and cross-curricular events are taking place once more. In
particular, over the next fortnight, we have two significant events. The first is
our CHARACTER days next Thursday and Friday, 8 and 9 July. All students
will be off-timetable and will be involved in an exciting series of activities
that will take them beyond their normal curriculum, and enable them to
develop their CHARACTER skills – confidence, happiness, articulacy,
resilience, ambition, courage, tolerance, empathy and respect. These
activities include raising money for Cancer Research through Race for Life,
problem solving events, activities on changing the course of history, escape
rooms, an Eco Site activity, PE and games events and a Dragons Den
activity. These events will necessarily take place in year groups. Then on
the following week, on Monday 12 and Wednesday 14 July, we have our Sports Days, again taking
place in year groups. Sandwiched in between these, on Tuesday 13 July, we have our CHARACTER
Awards, where we reward those students who had demonstrated CHARACTER values most
consistently over the past year. In normal times, this would be an after school event, with parents/carers
invited. Because of Covid restrictions, we will be doing this during the school day, with awards
presented to one year group at a time.
All schools are awaiting an announcement from the Secretary of State regarding September reopening,
and what Covid measures the government expects schools to put in place. I am very conscious of the
incidence of Covid-19 nationally. I am pleased that for two weeks there have been no new infections in
Denefield, and that all students and staff are now back in school. I am also conscious that, despite the
fact that Year 7 and Year 10 had to move to remote learning three weeks ago for a short period of time,
Denefield has been far less affected by Covid than other schools locally or nationally. Nevertheless,
record numbers of students in other schools are being sent home to self-isolate, and nationally the rate
of Covid infections is high. One thing we do know, is that the government has asked schools to prepare
for on-site Covid testing of all students before they return to school, and that schools should expect to
stagger the return of students over the first week to enable that. I await further details of this, but it
suggests that our current return dates – Thursday 2 September for Year 7 and 12 and Friday 3
September for all other year groups – may yet change and some if not all students may return to school
later than this. I will share full information and details with you as soon as they are available.
Finally, and quite separately, cyclists to school will have noticed that we now have a new, covered
bicycle shed, which doubles our capacity. Thank you to West Berkshire Council for funding this. May I
remind all cyclists to lock their bikes, not just in school, but wherever they leave them unattended.
With best wishes for the weekend.
Mr E Towill MA (Oxon), Headteacher
Diary dates – academic year 2020 – 2021
Thursday 1 – Sunday 4 July DofE Silver assessed/Gold practice expedition
Thursday 8 July and Friday 9 July CHARACTER days
Friday 9 July Race for Life and non-uniform day
Monday 12 July Sports day – field events
Monday 12 – Friday 15 July New parent/carer meeting and Year 6 students
meet their House Team
Tuesday 13 July CHARACTER Awards
Wednesday 14 July Sports day – track events
Tuesday 20 July End of term
Celebrating our
Celebrating our curriculum…
curriculum…
This edition’s subject area is…
Get to know us
We asked our maths department the most important and revealing question…. What is your favourite
mathematical formula?
Name: Mrs Gibson – Head of Department
About me: I have a degree from Birmingham University.
My hobbies are reading, running, gaming and painting.
My favourite formula: The Sine Rule
Name: Mr Robinson – KS4 Leader
About me: I have a degree from Leeds
University. My hobbies are fitness!
My favourite formula: The Volume of a Sphere
Name: Miss Bennett – KS3 Leader
About me: I have a degree from University
College of the Caribbean. My hobbies
include cooking, travelling and hiking.
My favourite formula: The Cosine Rule
Name Miss Pullen-Clarke
About me: I have a degree from Hertfordshire
University. My hobbies include travelling,
football, puzzles and reading.
My favourite formula: The Quadratic Formula
Name: Mrs Breakenridge
About me: I have a degree from Dundee University. My
hobbies include painting, paddleboarding and playing piano.
My favourite formula: The Compound Interest Formula
Name: Miss Fallahi – KS5 Leader
About me: I have a degree from Toronto
University. My hobbies are cooking, reading and
staring at my pet dragon Milo
My favourite formula: The Binomial Expansion
Name: Mrs Donald-Onuama
About me: I have a degree from Nnamdi Azikwe University.
My hobbies include cooking, table tennis and travelling
My favourite formula: SOHCAHTOA.
Celebrating our
Celebrating our curriculum…
curriculum…
Maths Superstars
We have our stars of the term on our Geometree, pictured below, which is displayed in the Maths
corridor. The Geometree is used to celebrate student successes! Well done everyone!
Maths Masterclass Tutorials
Simon Singh MBE is a science author, theoretical and particle physicist. He has written books and
produced tv shows specialising in maths and science.
His latest book is The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets.
If you are interested in coding then he has his own website which teaches a variety of Cryptograms.
We have been very fortunate to be able to nominate some of our Year 9 students to have the chance to
participate in The Maths Masterclass Tutorials with Simon Singh. This is a programme of online
tutorials designed to stretch and challenge young mathematicians. We are proud to say that three of
our Denefield students have passed the first round which was a set of problems to solve within 25
minutes!
We wish Tanzika, Belle and Sasha lots of luck.
Celebrating our
Celebrating our curriculum…
curriculum…
Maths Careers
Maths can open so many more career paths than you realise. It isn’t just a degree or A Level that you
take if you want to become a Maths teacher or an Accountant!
Here are some careers that you may not have realised involve Maths:
Video Games Programmer
Product Engineer
Actuary
Architect
Sound Engineer
Meteorologist
Animator
Forensic Scientist
Cryptanalyst
Maths Competition
Fancy taking part in a Maths Art competition? The deadline is Friday 30 July and the winner receives an
Android tablet. Please click here for more information or speak to Mrs Gibson
Celebrating our Other news…
curriculum…
Year 8 Extracurricular Offer
Science and Social Science Faculty is offering our amazing and hard-working Year 8 students a
fantastic opportunity to study for Psychology GCSE starting next September.
Year 8 have already had an assembly presented to them this Monday (28 June) about what the course
involves, what they will be learning and how they will be assessed. This is an additional GCSE
qualification, so passion and dedication are paramount!
Mrs Kelly will run this GCSE as a two-year Psychology Club. We will meet after school once a week to
dive deep into topics of obedience, conformity, perception, memory, brain and neuropsychology, as well
as different mental health problems, such as addiction and depression.
If this sounds like something you would be interested to learn about, apply with a letter of no more than
one side of A4 explaining why you want to study Psychology and what you hope to get out of it. The
letter can be emailed to Mrs Kelly at kky@denefield.org.uk or delivered by hand to A305 by Friday 9
July.
FUN FACTS from our Department
Word of the Week:
Sitzenbleiben – repeating a school year because you didn’t do well enough
WORD OF in every subject.
THE WEEK
Quote:
"Change your language and you change your thoughts."
Karl Albrecht
Fact:
Did you know, in Germany if you don’t pass every subject you are often
made to repeat the entire school year – perhaps we should introduce that at
Denefield?!
Celebrating our Other news…
curriculum…
Inclusivity and Discrimination
It is becoming increasingly clear that schools have more work to do to address issues of inclusivity,
equality and respect. For example, you may be aware of a recent Ofsted report reviewing sexual abuse
in schools and colleges across the country following concerns about the prevalence of abusive attitudes
and behaviours between peers. Every school must act decisively to educate students and tackle any
toxic behaviour related to gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or any other group – Denefield is, of
course not, exempt from this responsibility.
A staff group consisting of Ms Fallahi, Miss Pullen-Clarke, Mr Neale, Mrs Sharman, Mr Adango and Mrs
Williams has been tasked with finding out students’ views on this important topic. They will gather views
of all students and then form focus groups to discuss in more detail what it is that they experience at
Denefield, and what we need to do next. With this in mind, each student has been asked to complete a
brief online survey to start the conversation. Please encourage your child to take part – it can either be
anonymous or, if they would like to be considered for a place on a student panel, they can provide their
name. They can access it via Satchel:one.
In the next couple of weeks a second survey for students will be sent, this time focusing on their views
on sexual harassment and abuse which will also provide a starting point for student focus groups.
These are important, challenging themes, and similar conversations will no doubt be happening across
the country as we work together to teach our children kindness, respect and boundaries in a
complicated world.
Library news
A huge "well done" to Alba and Logan for fantastic
book club sessions this week! We learned all about
Mark Walden's H.I.V.E series and tested our
knowledge on Harry Potter. Both series are
available to borrow from the library and are highly
recommended. Miss Lloyd also had the pleasure of
reading not one, but two, wonderful stories written
by Logan and Chris. Keep up the creativity!
Library books can be borrowed by visiting the library after school or by contacting
Miss Lloyd and reserving items to be delivered to your tutor trays (please browse
resources here or scan the QR code.)
All library resources will need to be returned before the summer break. Simply post items to return
in the box in main reception, or bring them to the library after school, by Friday 16 July. Overdue
letters are given to students via tutors each week. Due to a difficult year, charges will not be
enforced but please do let Miss Lloyd know if items have been lost. You can contact Miss Lloyd, the
librarian, via email on bld@denefield.org.uk.
Although books must be returned by Friday 16 July,
students will continue to have access to e-books and
audiobooks with Sora. E-books and audiobooks can
be read or listened to online or on any device by
downloading the free Sora app on Apple App or
Google Play stores. Go to Accessit for log in details, a
user video guide, and links. If you don't know your
library number or have difficulty logging in please
don't hesitate to get in touch with Miss Lloyd
Celebrating our Other news…
curriculum…
Friday 9 July
We are really excited to announce that we will be holding our own race for
life event on Friday 9 July in order to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.
This will be one of the activities taking place during our CHARACTER days.
Students from all year groups (7 to 12) will have the opportunity to run, walk,
dance, cartwheel their way around our 5km course.
Students will take part in year group events throughout the course of the day
and will be continuing to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines. Students will be
informed closer to the day of the exact timings of their event. This is intended
to be an opportunity for students to have fun, and do something really worth
while in aid of a very deserving cause.
There is no pressure for students to race, but can be choose to be as competitive as they like.
In addition, we are encouraging students to consider
fundraising for this event in the form of sponsorships, or
any other creative ways they may come up with.
However, we acknowledge it has been a difficult year
and fundraising may not be possible for all therefore
fundraising is complete voluntary. We do expect all
students to take part in the event regardless.
To further support this event, school will be hosting a ‘non-uniform’ day with a suggested minimum
contribution of £2 for the opportunity for students to wear non-school uniform. Students will be asked to
consider wearing the colours of pink or blue (the colours of race for life).
As we will not be handling physical cash in school, should your child(ren) wish not to wear their school
uniform please could all payments be made to the website provided below. All additional donations can
also be made through this site. We know that this is a subject that has touched many lives of the school
community and we thank you for your support.
Celebrating our Other news…
curriculum…
Geographical competition
Other news… Information for West Berkshire Council…
Other news… Covid-19 safety on a page
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