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www.ridgewayschool.com - All the latest news from The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form
...Inspiring Learners For Their Future

                                                                       April 2022

                                                                       Issue 173

All the latest news from The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form
            www.ridgewayschool.com
www.ridgewayschool.com - All the latest news from The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form
2   The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
www.ridgewayschool.com - All the latest news from The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form
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

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

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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
Avebury   Kennet   Barbury   Silbury
House Notices - Term 4...

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