The West Bridgford Post

The West Bridgford Post
Issue No.
61
A comment from…..
Mr Deans
The school has undertaken a systematic effort in recent years to
provide more information for parents via web services such as Moodle, the school website, Parents
Consultation Booking, Agora payments and Go4Schools. All these
platforms have provided parents
with an increasingly diverse range
of information which we hope has
been progressively more useful to
you.
However, a shift has occurred in
recent years in how we access the
internet. A recent national survey
showed that more than 75% of
adults now access the internet on
their mobile phone in preference
to computers. We are certain this
figure is even higher in the Rushcliffe area. To respond to this, the
school strategy will increasingly
shift to providing ‘mobile friendly’
platforms for school services. The
first of these is launched today –
‘The West Bridgford School App’,
available for iOS and Android,
downloaded directly from the App
and Play stores (more detail on
page 2). Please download it to
your phone and as it develops
over the coming months please
feedback to us how you feel it has
aided you in finding out more
about the school.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
24 Mar .. Y11 Progress Reports issued
25-28 Mar .. BANK HOLIDAY
30 Mar .. Return to School
31 Mar .. Bridfgstock Show
1 Apr .. Y12/Y13 Progress Reports
issued
1 Apr .. Year 9 Enterprise Day
1 Apr .. Bridgstock Show
4-15 Apr .. EASTER HOLIDAYS
18 Apr .. Return to School
24th March 2016
Parent Newsletter
EU REFERENDUM WEEK – THE WEEK’S GREAT DEBATE
“Remain in EU” side win Landslide Victory in EU Referendum
Throughout the week West Bridgford School
pupils have been listening to assemblies presented to them by the Sixth Form and pupils
from their own year group, on the case for staying or leaving the EU. View the assembly by
clicking here.
Then after continued discussions in form time,
Wednesday 23rd March saw the arrival of the big
decision day – the vote to decide ‘In’ or ‘Out’.
Pupil turnout was excellent over lunchtime, far
exceeding the normal national turnout for elections! The Student Council President,
Robert Gadsby, delivers the results:
“The Remain side have emphatically won the West Bridgford
School’s referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union by a landslide. After counting up the votes following
the lunch time ballot on Wednesday 23rd March, the team
campaigning to keep Britain within the European Union led by
Amy Forbes from Year 12 has firmly beaten Leon Hughes (also
Year 12) and his campaign for Britain to Leave the EU. There
was a very large margin of victory with the Remain side receiving 735 of the votes cast and the Leave side only receiving 167
of the votes cast”.
With a turnout of 67%, this referendum has thoroughly captivated the whole school. Turnout was particularly high in Year
8 and 7, with Tutor Group 7C having the highest turnout –
97% casting their vote. One member in 7C said that he
“enjoyed getting the opportunity to get involved even though I don’t actually have a
vote”. Another member of 7C said that he felt it was really professional and thought that
the assembly where students learnt about the whole debate was “inspiring”.
Amy Forbes said that she was over the moon to have won. Leon was disappointed but
said that it was all about putting the case to the school. Amy also said it was worth doing,
because they both thought it was important to help to inform a whole group of people
about an absolutely crucial issue. In fact, this is why the School Council was so desperate
to hold this whole school debate. This is a vital moment in our history, and it's very important that although the vast majority of students don't have a vote, this historic moment doesn’t pass without the student body learning more about it.
As the Student Council, we’d encourage you to talk to your child
about it at home in order to find
out what their views are. In four
months time, the rest of the
country will be able to vote on
whether Britain should be a member or not and then we’ll find out
what the whole country thinks!
THE WEST BRIDGFORD
SCHOOL APP
(Beta Version)

Now available on the
iOS App Store (iPhone)
and the Google Play
Store (Android).

Would you like the
latest information
about West Bridgford
School on your phone?
Receive messages and
notifications direct to
your mobile device.
The school now has an
app for that!


Search ‘The West
Bridgford School’ in
either the App Store or
the Play Store and you
can download the app
for FREE!
Attach the app to your
Twitter or Facebook
account and any
school messages will
appear in your Social
Media feed.
A CHANCE FOR PARENTS TO HAVE A SCHOOL ART LESSON!
The Art & Design department gave Year 7 parents/carers an insight into
how Art is taught at the West Bridgford School and an opportunity to
celebrate their own creativity. It was a very informal and fun event with
parents trying their hand at continuous line drawing, wire drawing and
small sculptures. There were some excellent results and some discovered they had quite a talent for the subject! Thanks to all those who
took part.
PRODUCT DESIGN PRESENTATION with ROSS KEMP
A brilliant group of students from all year groups filled the Theatre last
Thursday to watch a fantastic and inspirational presentation with an
award winning designer and entrepreneur. Ross told the story of how
he took his product from just an idea to an award winning business
with help from Richard Branson.
The product in the picture is his ASAP Watercraft, designed to help Lifeguards rescue people in
the water. Students said: ‘it was great listening to Ross talk about the risks he took’, ‘opened
my eyes to what I could achieve’ and ‘it was funny how he had to work in a tent for three
months!’ Ross emailed to say he was really impressed with all of the great ideas that the students expressed in the Q&A session afterwards.
MOUTH-WATERING FOOD DELIGHTS!
The theme for the AS food project this year was luxury desserts. After a
four hour food examination the pupils came up with an excellent range of
desserts displaying a wide range of skills and techniques to a very high
standard.
Well done to all the pupils involved on the quality of their practical work
and a big thank you to all the parents for their support. Also a special
thank you to Miss Nahal who had to help taste and assess them all!
YEAR 8 TRIP TO THE GALLERIES OF JUSTICE (by Katherine Clough, Lois Dunne, Sully Shah 8G)
On the 17th of March we visited the Galleries of Justice to learn
about how the law around cyber bullying affects young people.
We began the day acting out a mock trial in the youth court.
We were given the opportunity to act out all the different characters, including: magistrates, clerks, defence solicitors, prosecution, the police and witnesses. This was really good fun and
everybody enjoyed acting out and getting into character. As a
group we were asked to consider and put forward our views on
both the verdict and the punishment that should be given. We were told afterwards that this
was based on a real case. We enjoyed the day because it allowed us to explore and understand the serious consequences of internet use in a really fun way. The afternoon was spent
doing roleplay we were asked to give our interpretation of a number of situations all of us
could quite easily find ourselves in. We were able to relate and identify with the scenarios
presented to us which helped us to really explore and understand the seriousness of something that we, as young people think is no big deal! Click here for more student reviews.
KS3 READING SUGGESTIONS
Our KS3 parents regularly ask us 'what good books can I buy my child? Can you recommend
any?' In response to this the English Department have collated their own experiences, as well
as consulting with Year 7 and 8 students, to produce a selection of suggested 'Good Reads',
that might be bought, the next time Book Vouchers arrive for a birthday. Click here for ideas.
YEAR 9 ENTERPRISE DAY – FRIDAY 1ST APRIL
All year 9s will be off timetable this day and taking part in an exciting ‘Enterprise Challenge
Event’ within their forms. Pupils will be involved in creating, designing and producing an
“innovative, state-of-the-art, unusual product”, where the theme will be revealed on the day
to everyone. More information and pictures to follow after the event!
SPORTS RELIEF SPECIAL
SPORT RELIEF 2016 – BIGGEST EVER AMOUNT RAISED…£3,225 and counting!!
Last week the PE Dept put on a variety of
sporting based activities to raise money for the
charity Sport Relief. This is a charity that works
with organisations in the UK and abroad to help
alleviate some of the serious challenges that
people, including many children, face on a daily
basis. We believe very strongly as a department
that we can use sport as a vehicle for raising
money and awareness for this charity and urged
pupils to challenge themselves by taking part in
a mile run to show their support.
In the week of March 16th – 18th every student took part in the Sport Relief Mile and in addition we had a Swimathon, Sports Memorabilia Raffle, Cake Sale, Sponge Throwing and
Zumbathon so all students had a wide range of opportunities to get involved. A number of
staff got involved by taking part in one of the mile runs or sponsored swim, being targets in
the sponge throwing (many thanks), making cakes or taking part in the charity football match.
In 2014 we raised a massive £2,640 (which made us one of the Top 100 Sport Relief fundraising schools in the country) but so far this year we are at an absolutely incredible £3,225 and
sponsor money is still coming in! A huge well done to everyone involved in any of the events
that took place last week. Without your continued support, raising such a huge amount of
money would not be possible. A short Sport Relief Video has been created to give everyone a
flavour of exactly what last week was all about…..
CYCLING DAY – A GREAT SUCCESS
Monday 21 March was ‘Cycling Day’. The event was organised by Student Council to promote safer cycling with a focus on helmet wearing
and cycling skills.
Mr Kemp organised a ‘Slow Race’ and ‘Obstacle Course’, 2 mechanics
from Halfords carried out basic repairs near the bike sheds and gave out
advice on keeping your bike safely maintained while Ms Toms supervised ‘How far
can you cycle in 30 seconds’ sessions on 2 ‘Wattbikes’ loaned to
the school by local firm ‘Wattbike’ who supply the same equipment to Team GB and many pro-cycling squads.
It was great to see so many students on their bikes, safely wearing
their cycle helmets.