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...Inspiring Learners For Their Future April 2022 Issue 173 All the latest news from The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form www.ridgewayschool.com
A word from the... Principal I am delighted to welcome you to our April edition of The Ridgeway News. We have had a busy two terms since Christmas with the students applying themselves with high levels of focus and determination. As the country has attempted to resemble life before Covid-19, we have started to have more opportunities for students outside of lessons and you will see many examples of this throughout this newsletter. Our community really is special and I would like to thank all of our staff, students and parents for really working together so that we can provide a quality education. I am incredibly proud of the efforts and achievements of a significant number of students these past two terms and I’m very confident that the Year 11 and 13 students will be well prepared for the exams next term if they listen to the advice of my colleagues and work as hard as they can. Please remind your child to attend the Easter School revision if they have been requested to attend as this is very important to them. I would like to close by wishing you a peaceful and happy time together as families over the Easter break. Stay safe. Christopher Belli Principal www.ridgewayschool.com 3
YEAR 9 OPTIONS, CAREERS AND CHOICES DAY... On Thursday 13th Jan 2022 we held our Year 9s – Options, Careers & Choices Day. Careers / Personal Development News... It was an interactive day for our Year 9s, who were off time timetable from the usual lessons to understand Options, Choice and career pathways and included:- An assembly learning about making good choices and Year 9 options processes. Business Insight session, run by EBP showcasing with employers across departments from Schoosmiths and McGinley. Engaging subject taster sessions; enabling students to get a feel for what the option subjects can offer. Exploring career pathways, routes and multiple job opportunities live with employers across various industry sectors including:- HM Forces, Wiltshire Police, NHS, I care Careers, Sunny Days Nurseries, The Calcot Collection, Prime Theatre and Capita. R6 INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL SESSION... On 19th January we had an interactive virtual session for our R6 Art, Textiles, Graphics and Photography students with JCA; a talk and tour of the fantastic world of fashion with Jimmy Choo, meeting the team behind the successful brand. VIRTUAL WORK EXPERIENCE... Last week our Year 10s started their programme of virtual work experience in mentoring with youth employment UK; introducing them to the word of work, learning all about industry sectors. Youth Employment UK is the leading youth organisation dedicated to tackling youth unemployment in the UK. They bring together young people, employers and policy in an innovative way that creates real impact to young people. Check out what’s on offer for you and your child https:// www.youthemployment.org.uk/ 4 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
YEAR 7 & 8 - TRIP TO KIDZANIA ..... On 9th and 10th March, Miss Hill and Miss Tranter, along with the support of other staff members, took a selection of our Year 7 and 8 students to Kidzania for the specialist Careers Festival workplace experiences week. An early start at school, lunch bags loaded, we heading off on Barnes Coach for our journey to Kensington. On both days there was lots of excitement as we past Windsor Castle and Heathrow Airport. On arrival, we entered the simulated airport experience, scanned our safety trackers to embark on our Careers Festival. Here is what some of the students had to say about Students experienced an immersive range of it:- activities and met with a wide range of industry “I learnt about the paramedic career the most, I professionals including; British Airways, Global learnt that there are many different responses to Radio, London Fire Brigade and London emergency if someone calls 999.” Ambulance Service to name a few. The students Kenan, Year 8 explored a range of real life professions; from pilot to air conditioning engineer, hotelier to news reporter, and some roles they never knew existed. “I leant that if you work in vents you have to wear helmets just in case something breaks above you.” During the visit, students were encouraged to earn Isabell, Year 7 their KidZos (the currency at Kidzania) by visiting professionals and engaging with the specialists, and once that money was earned, they were able “ The best part of it was getting to experience to treat themselves to gifts in the shop. different types of jobs that you can apply for and Some of our Year 7s found being a Costa Barista getting to spend it with my friends. “ Keira, Year 8 was right up their street (as well as finding it highly amusing to drink costa in the adults only section), Our staff said:- while others enjoyed the more physical role “…it was a very fun and worthwhile day introducing climbing through the structural maze as air students to lots of careers they might one day want conditioning engineer roles! to pursue.” “It was fantastic to see them independently enjoying The feedback from the professionals was amazing themselves” – a representative from LFB (London Fire Brigade) A fantastic experience, with a fantastic group of said “The Students of The Ridgeway School were students. Thanks for having us Kidzania. fantastic; engaged, sensible and a real credit to you Miss C Tranter all” www.ridgewayschool.com 5
ACADEMY OF ARTS YOUNG ARTISTS’ EXHIBITION... A massive congratulations to those who submitted entries for the Royal Academy of Arts Young Artists’ Exhibition. We have had some incredible entries this year (31 to be exact) for our first year as a school submitting work to the RA. We would like to share some of their entries with ART News... you all, to show you just how talented our ‘RidgeArtists’ are! Mr J Cowling MY HERO - 11 WORLD OF YOUR IMAGINATION, YR 7 GREEN WITH ENVY, YR 7 DIGITALISED MEMORIES, YR 12 PETALS OF PUTIN’S WAR, YR 10 FRUITS, YR 8 POUND IT BRO, YR 9 6 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
SUPERCEPTION, YR 11 ART News... 23.02.2020, YR 10 SUNSET AT COATE, YR 9 PERCEPTION, YR 11 IN THE MOMENT, YR 12 WHO ARE YOU?, YR 12 www.ridgewayschool.com 7
World Book Week News... WORLD BOOK WEEK 2022... The whole school community celebrated everything bookish with a week-long celebration of reading for pleasure; our very own World Book Week with a murder mystery theme. Activities included a Cluedo style cross country in PE, Year 7 and 8 Science students used their chromatography skills to explore the poisons of Agatha Christie, discovering who committed the heinous crime of murdering Mr Evans, our Chief Science Technician, and the LRC was transformed into a CSI Ridgeway crime scene to promote our wide selection of murder, mystery and true crime books which are definitely student favourites at the minute. Mentor groups battled it out with The Ridgeway School’s Masked Reader, and Waterstones came into school, setting up a pop-up shop in the LRC allowing students to redeem their World Book Day tokens on-site. Over 500 free books were issued and we are extremely grateful to Waterstones for their support. Our Lit in Colour mini-library was officially opened by the Deputy Mayor Cllr Amin, with the launch event attended by Mrs Alison Tarrant, Chief Executive of the School Library Association, as well as selected students who have embraced this wonderful collection of diverse texts written by writers of colour. All week a whole school competition took place with students tracking down 55 members of staff wearing badges detailing their favourite book when they were at school – some fabulous titles, leading to fabulous bookish conversations! Mrs S Day 8 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
LIT IN COLOUR LAUNCH PARTY... Midday on Thursday 31st March marked the official launch of Lit LRC News... in Colour at Ridgeway. Teachers of English, the Principal, and thirty excited pupils attended alongside our special guest, the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Abdul Amin, who opened the LRC’s Lit in Colour mini-library. Lit in Colour is a project initiated by Penguin to increase and diversify the number of books school pupils read written by writers of colour. As they say, “It’s vital that the books we read in our formative years reflect the rich diversity of the society we live in.” However, while 34.4% of pupils are pupils of colour, only 0.7% of pupils study a book written by a writer of colour at GCSE and only 0.1% of pupils study a book by a woman of colour at GCSE. Lit in Colour was designed to do something about that. So, Ridgeway applied to be a Lit in Colour Pioneer and was selected as 1 of 100 schools in the country to take part. As such, we were very generously gifted over 300 books written by writers of colour. There was an energetic, refreshed and dynamic atmosphere as pupils, staff and guests alike enjoyed a very special Lit in Colour cake while exploring the mini-library and recommending to each other the books that they had been reading. As the half term rapidly approaches, we will be looking at how we can sustain and develop the evident interest that Ridgeway pupils have in diversifying their reading choices and expanding their horizons. Mr D Lam www.ridgewayschool.com 9
Silver Block News... ASC DISH UP SOME TREATS… One of the most popular and effective practical activities in Silver Block is food preparation. Autism is associated with a reluctance to embrace change, and some sensory experiences that non-autistic people take in their stride or ignore are huge obstacles for some of our students. Imagine what your day would be like if you could feel the texture of your socks or shirt collar all the SILVER BLOCKS GOT TALENT… time you wore them, or hear the constant Silver Block held its own little talent show! A buzz of strip lights and the hum of the poster appeared on the ASC noticeboard and heating system; imagine if every smell or there was a definite air of excitement as the sound hit you with a distracting force that students immediately started planning what they dumps all your other thoughts out of your were going to present. A strong indicator of head. It’s no wonder that, for some, the autism is an obsessively deep interest in a sensory load supplied by a varied diet is subject, particular objects or a skill. As these rejected in favour of a few favourite flavours obsessions don’t always match the school and textures, leading to a potentially curriculum, Silver Block created its own, ‘in- unhealthy, limited diet. Teaching our house’ talent show so that our students could students to prepare meals, snacks and celebrate the things they love doing most. treats from a wide variety of ingredients with Those who are typically reluctant to speak found different tastes, textures and smells helps their voice as they expressed, without notes, them to invest in their efforts to the extent deep knowledge of their subject. We were that they are willing to taste what they have treated to music, song and dance, acting and prepared, and celebrate it by offering insight into an entire world of flora and fauna samples around to students and staff. Food that exist only in one student’s imagination (and preparation also gives staff the opportunity occasionally on our whiteboards). We expect to work alongside the students in a chatty, more participants next time as those who were open way, allowing conversation/small talk reluctant on this occasion gain confidence from that helps them really get to know the the warm applause of both staff and students. students. These activities are confidence- Mrs J Georgiou building as well as helping ensure healthy future eating habits and, for some, pave the way to develop their catering skills as a post- 16 option. Mrs J Georgiou 10 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
SILVER BLOCK SILVER BLOCK EASTER ASC KS3 TRIP TO ACTIVITIES... LYDIARD PARK... Spring has sprung and Easter is on its way! The Ridgeway School’s ASC SRP Children love nothing has made an early start with our Year 7s more than to be given and 8s learning kitchen skills; melting some coins to buy a few chocolate to make rice crispy Easter egg treats from a shop; an treats. Meanwhile, the other half of the excellent beginning to year groups decorated plant pots ready to social interaction and receive sunflower seeds. Of course, an finance training. important part of any activity is learning However, the parents how to clean up after yourself and, to this and carers of many end, the students who weren’t loading the young autistic children dishwasher commandeered the help of would have had to deal Henry the Hoover. Valuable teamwork with a noisy 'melt-down' and organisation skills are developed in the shop if they made throughout these activities; there will be a any move to encourage sunflower update later in the school year. this. Mrs J Georgiou In Silver Block, our students have built strong relationships with each other, as well as their key workers, providing them with peer support and encouragement when facing challenges. This meant that, with a bit of prompting, all the students were able to make a transaction with the patient lady in the Lydiard Park Cafe. It took around five minutes to get the first student to approach the counter. However, once he had done so, the others followed more quickly. The first then announced "I didn't get a drink!" and returned to the counter confidently, with no need for further encouragement. There were a few minutes remaining to let off a bit of steam in the play park. The images show that our students lack no courage, which only goes to demonstrate just how big the challenge of social interaction can be. Mrs J Georgiou www.ridgewayschool.com 11
The Super-Curricular Programme is a set of talks delivered by external Silver Block News... speakers which are designed to engage and inspire our students. They cover a huge variety of topics that develop an awareness of the ever- changing world and the experiences and opportunities available to young people. Thanks to some amazing volunteers, we have a fantastic programme of talks scheduled covering a range of inspirational subjects. These talks are delivered on a Monday morning during mentoring time and students of every year group are welcome to attend. All that is required is a ticket - which can be collected by any individual from the LRC on the Wednesday before the talk. Students can also be nominated for a Golden Ticket by a teacher, their mentor or their head of year. Gold Tickets are awarded by teachers for students that are showing exceptional effort or commitment – or to those who may have a particular interest in the u- coming talk. HEDGEHOG RESCUE... We encourage all students to get involved During a walk around the school field, Silver in this programme and a list of topics for Block staff and students discovered what they the remainder of the academic year can be thought was a dead hedgehog entangled in the accessed via mentors. cricket netting. They disentangled it and brought it back to Silver Block where it began to show signs of life, and what looked like being a INSPIRING TALK FROM funerary event turned into rescue and ENGLAND CRICKTER JOS resuscitation. BUTTLER. As part of our Super-Curricular With staff help, Connor and Lewis built a programme, we were very excited to makeshift nest from boxes and towelling; they welcome Jos Buttler into school on then researched what it might like to eat. The Monday 14th March. Jos is a professional nest was darkened with another towel so the Cricket player who was on the England recovering animal didn’t get too stressed. World Cup Winning team in 2019. Students and staff were enthralled listening to Jos talk about his career and how to remain The hedgehog showed good signs of recovery focussed and resilient when facing but it was decided that the school field probably challenges. It was a fascinating morning wasn’t the safest place for it, so Ms Gray and over 100 students were able to contacted Oak and Furrows Wildlife Rescue capture photographs with and an who took it in for further recuperation and, autograph from this sporting legend. Thank eventually, release back into the wild. you so much to Jos for coming in and Mrs J Georgiou taking the time to inspire our young people. The Super-Curricular programme of talks 12 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
Super Curricular Talks News... takes place every Monday morning and covers a huge variety of topics. All students are welcome to attend – and tickets for each talk are available from the LRC from the Wednesday of the previous week. Please ask mentors for more information. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST... The Super-Curricular talk on Monday 21st March gave students a real insight into the daily life of an Occupational Therapist. We were really grateful and happy to welcome Natalie Clark to deliver a talk on the career and impact of an Occupational Therapist. We were all fascinated to see some of the equipment used to help and assist those who need it in the community and even had the privilege of seeing a new Chair Raizer tool which is being launched to help those who have fallen and are unable to raise themselves – with the intention of occupational therapists in the community being able to help rather than calling on the paramedics. Mrs R Jankinson www.ridgewayschool.com 13
Cultural Appreciation Day... CULTURAL APPRECIATION DAY… What an great day was had by all! It was wonderful to see everyone sharing each other’s cultures and showing your support for Ukraine. The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form joined together on this day to celebrate and appreciate the different cultures within our school. It was a delight to see the effort you made to dress in your cultural attire and the pride you have in who you are and where you are from. Students and staff shared food from a variety of cultures, developed language skills to improve communication, shared stories and history and experienced art, theatre music and film. The Sixth Form have celebrated this event for a number of years, but this year wanted the school to join together to appreciate what makes us all unique and what binds us together as a community to support those in need. An amazing £1077.38 was raised and was donated to the British Red Cross for the Ukraine Crisis appeal. Thank you to the R6 team for 14 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College organising.
Drama News... NATIONAL THEATRE CONNECTIONS 2022 – SUPERGLUE The Drama Department has had the fantastic opportunity to be involved in National Theatre Connections 2022. Every year, The National Theatre commissions ten new plays from some of the most exciting UK playwrights for young people to perform. In November, we cast sixteen Year 9 and 10 Drama students in Superglue by Tim Crouch, a play that tells the story of a group of climate activists gathering at a woodland burial site to say goodbye to their friend who died during a protest. We also invited three students to work on the technical aspects of the production. Since then, all have been hard at work in rehearsal, developing our version of Superglue, a play that will also be performed by a number of other schools and Youth Drama groups across the country. On Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th March, our cast performed Superglue to a sold out home audience of family, friends, and members of staff. On Wednesday evening, we welcomed Director, Stephanie Kempson, from National Theatre Connections, as well as Abigail Walton and Clive Stephenson from our partner theatre, The North Wall Arts Centre in Oxford. This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to show their work to industry professionals, and also to engage in discussion about the play during a Q&A with Stephanie. Our visitors were so impressed by our students’ ability, passion, knowledge, and discipline, and were interested to learn about their process of translating Tim Crouch’s work from page to stage. On Friday 29th April, we will be performing Superglue at The North Wall as part of its Connections Festival weekend. This will be a public performance, and tickets are available through The North Wall website. During their time at The North Wall, our students will watch other Connections performances, engage and connect with young people with similar interests and passions, and will also be taking part in workshops which will introduce them to new skills and types of theatre. We are so incredibly proud of our students. They have grown as performers and as individuals, developed strong relationships that transcend Year and friendship group, and we are delighted that they have been able to benefit from such an enriching experience, especially as their experience of Drama and the world of theatre has been so adversely effected by COVID. We very much look forward to performing at The North Wall in a month’s time, and to being involved in National Theatre Connections again in the future. Dr J Lloyd https://www.thenorthwall.com/whats-on/ national-theatre-connections-2022/ www.ridgewayschool.com 15
MFL News... The Ridgeway News... YEAR 5 LANGUAGES DAY AT RIDGEWAY - TUESDAY 29TH MARCH We hosted over 150 Year 5 students from local primary schools at The Ridgeway School for our annual Language Learning Skills Day. The children learned to speak a little bit of Swedish, Italian, Czech and French in the lessons they had, as well as taking part in several other quizzes and challenges throughout the day. In the afternoon, the children worked together in small groups to present what they had learned in a creative poster designing challenge, with prizes awarded for the best work. The Year 9 Language Leaders worked hard all day to help with the organisation of the event and were a real credit to themselves and to the school. Mr J Robertson 16 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
WELL DONE TO AYLA... Ayla, Year 13, was selected last year to be part of the British Biathlon Development Squad. Biathlon is the winter sport which consists of shooting and cross- country skiing and Ayla spent 10 days in January in PE News... Ruhpolding, Germany. Until a week before, this was to participate in the British Championships which were, disappointingly, cancelled with very little notice. However, the team went anyway to train and this is Ayla’s description: “Although it was disappointing for the British Champs, the intended purpose of going to Germany, to be canceled, the camp didn't disappoint. We trained in the IBU World cup stadium alongside some of the German Olympic team, around some beautiful scenic lakes, in Ruhpolding local tracks and the racecourse. We raced in a regional German nordic race. The first race for all of us. It was such a good experience: learning how to prepare for the day, learn the optimum warm up, how a race functions, crossing the finish line to a cup warm fruity tea and getting a cheeky little trophy for second place. 6.6km on a relatively flat course meant it was 23 minutes of all out effort. There wasn't really any place to tuck and recover, but equally the hills were skate2able. There are 3 skates and they are like gears in a car. Skate 1 is like 1st gear, skate 2 is the midrange cruiser and skate 3 is for the downhills or really fast sections. So essentially the hills were hard but cruisable. Just because you can get up the hill in 3rd gear, doesn't mean you don't need to floor the gas pedal. The race was tough but my personal highlight.” BASKETBALL FINAL… We then found ourselves 4 pts adrift with 1 Year 9 Swindon Schools Basketball Final was minute to go! But true to the spirit of the side held at Bradon Forest School v Commonweal we pulled it back to 2pts and with the final 20 School. (Ned Drummond, Ben Waite, Sam seconds defended brilliantly to regain Boachie, Sam Woodhead, Matthew Sheppard, possession for our final attempt at drawing us Oliver Spurgeon and Sam Ellis) level. Unfortunately we tried and came up In the semi-final at Ridgeway v Great Western short. What a game – 56 – 58 Academy, the lads played superbly in a very I shared a handshake with Mr Staff (Head of tight game which saw the game fluctuate by 2 PE at Commonweal) and we said “that’s why points frequently throughout the first 3 we do what we do”. Thank you lads it was a quarters. Then some very calm team play great few weeks, always good company, some between boys saw us pass with much more great basketball played and effort levels fluency and consistency to stretch our lead through the roof. and to eventually win by 8 points. This was a All the lads trained and played superbly – key indicator of how the boys played all year, Matthew – fantastic layups and excellent point when they needed to pull together when the scoring consistently, Ned fantastic layups, pressure was on they did so brilliantly and Oliver – brilliant in both defence and attack, really played for each other in both defence Sam Ellis – wonderful passing and creativity, and attack. Ben – tirelessly working for the team, Sam So, into the final we went! It was great to be Boachie gaining in confidence each week, back playing in a final after the last few years cannot wait to see you next year and Sam with COVID and the game did not disappoint. Woodhead always chasing and never giving 2 very evenly matched teams played the entire up in defence! It was a pleasure to watch both game with a maximum of 8 points between the the semi-final and final, next year we have to sides. Going into the final quarter we trailed by go one better, you deserve it! Well played. 6 points and drew level with 2 minutes left! Mr McMeeking www.ridgewayschool.com 17
Tony’s Diamonds... In Term One, five Year 7 boys were selected to students had never used the software before participate in ‘Tony’s Diamonds’. This was a and were given very little instructions on how focus group, building on core communication to use it and what to do. All students excelled skills through a hands on workshop. From at the robot challenge where they starting with basic skills on pallet wood, the demonstrated problem solving, collaboration group built their skills up to create a wonderful and ingenuity. Christmas tree to take home. From a daunting start, met with some nerves and hesitancy, the Anna Bulman (Year 12) took part in the group managed to quickly overcome their workshop, “It was very interesting to see the reservations. Every student steadily developed inner workings of not just the Dyson institute focus, resilience and grew in confidence. They but also Dyson products, and I found it really also really enjoyed themselves, (as did Mr quite inspiring to program an otherwise useless Dyson!) The end results speak for object to complete a task. It certainly made me themselves...take a look! consider different options to pursue after Sixth Form more so than I had previously, especially DYSON WORKSHOP... with the institute being so close. The task was On Friday 10th December, a group of students brilliantly designed so that just about anyone from Year 11 and 12 took part in a workshop could feel like a true computer programmer, delivered by the James Dyson Foundation. coming from someone who has very little The students involved have an interest in experience in programming! Overall, I had a engineering and were hoping to find out more lot of fun and found the workshop very about degree level apprenticeships at The engaging.” Dyson Institute in Malmesbury. The interactive Mr T Dyson workshop involved a presentation about career opportunities, product design and what it is like to study and work at the Dyson Institute. They learnt about the different types of engineering required to take a product from the design stage through to testing and introduction to market. They were given the task of programming a Lego Mindstorm robot to move around obstacles in a similar way to that of the Dyson robot vacuum cleaner. Most of the 18 The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
Other News... CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE... GREASE IS THE WORD... It seems like a long time ago now but the We are delighted to be back and rehearsals Christmas Showcase 2021 was another huge are now in full swing, preparing for this year's success! Thank you so much to every single summer show extravaganza, Grease. incredible student for working so hard and We are rehearsing on Thursday after school in being so committed to excellence and the main hall and any of our students would professionalism in Ridgeway CPA. And to the like to be part of this amazing cast then please team of staff and volunteers - with their support come along and join us. Grease is the word! the students wouldn't have the opportunities. Mrs R Jankinson Next, look out... Grease is the word! YOUNG CARERS... This term, KS3 Young Carers have started to meet every Wednesday morning to work on a special Easter community project. Students are working hard on recognising and reward local hero’s! If you have any questions regarding Young Carers at Ridgeway or feel that your child is a Young Carer and you would like them to get involved then please email... Youngcarers@ridgewayschool.com Miss H Ornov www.ridgewayschool.com 19
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