Year 7 News

Year 7 have made a fantastic start at Chew Valley School. I have been so impressed at the level of commitment to school work and extra-curricular activities so far, making it a joy to spend time with the year group on a daily basis. Here are a few snippets of what the year group have been getting up to: Sporting Activities The uptake at sport clubs has been impressive this year. Practices at lunchtime have been very well attended, from Netball and Rugby to Street Dance, Gymnastics and Squash. With house points on offer for every club attended in the week, many students have been filling every lunchtime with a sport, keeping themselves fit, making new friends and having fun all at the same time! Y7 Netball The Netball season has just come to an end, and what an enjoyable season it has been! We have had over 30 year 7’s attend Netball club, which has made it incredibly difficult to select a team of just 7 each week. The team has enjoyed excellent wins over Writhlington (6-2) Broadlands (13-1) and Ralph Allen (3-2).The season ended last week with the BANES tournament, and whilst we didn’t challenge for the top spots, the girls were constantly smiling, gracious, and kept trying until the last whistle which was fantastic to see. Player of the Match nominations have included Chloe Bryant, Aimee Sherwood and Jenny Heath but Ellie Sweet was nominated 7 times. Well done!

Y7 Rugby The boys have had a great season on the Rugby field. There have been high numbers attending Rugby practice, which has allowed us to have

an A and B team to compete against other schools. The boys have had some wins, some losses, but always stayed committed to training and improving as a squad. The A team have had some excellent results; notably a 45-0 win over Norton Hill and a 44-0 win over Writhlington. The B team’s best result came over local rivals Wellsway beating them 19-14. There have been many nominations for player of the match including James Molyneux, Josh Davis, Fergus Blyth, Henry Marshall, but special mention must go to Cameron Rowlands who has been nominated 4 times! Well done!

Y7 Football and Hockey Football and Hockey matches will begin after Christmas, and judging by the numbers turning up for practices over the past 12 weeks, we should be fielding some strong teams!

Basketball Basketball club continues to be one of the most popular lunchtime clubs, with Y7 to 13 joining in together. The combined Y7 and Y8 Basketball team have had a couple of friendly matches so far. Callum Morgan 7V has been nominated player of the match – well done! Other Extra-Curricular Clubs Well done to everyone who has joined a new club this year, I hope it continues in January. Please remember it is never too late and all clubs/teams will be welcoming new faces in

CHEW VALLEY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2014

January! It has been excellent to see Y7’s making a difference to the life of the school; from students in the Chicken Team to those involved in the equalities and fundraising teams. Please keep it up! South West School Bouldering Competition Mimi Hasoon, Lauren Thomas and Grace Horsman from 7A pulled some amazing shapes and showed some great agility and teamwork to compete in round 2 of the competition. They were up against members of the British bouldering team, but still held their own and retreated to a slice of chocolate flapjack after the event! Well done! Spelling Bee Back in October, the annual spelling bee took place throughout year 7 English lessons. The final was held in the library, and was a tense affair! Mrs Clayton Jones was incredibly impressed by the strength of the finalists, who stood firm until the latter rounds before faltering on some very tricky words! The overall winner was Sydney Davis of 7A, followed by 2nd place Caitlin Vear of 7V and 3rd place Kory Cook of 7L. Congratulations!

Languages Day 6 local primary schools came to join us for a celebration of language learning across all ages. All schools and all Chew Valley tutor groups prepared a short presentation to showcase what they have been doing in languages lessons. We saw Spanish songs and dance routines, animated class story presentations and a variety of drama pieces all demonstrating the versatility and creativity involved in all language lessons. We rounded off the morning with a combined singsong and dance routine to end the session in style!

Tutor Group Competitions ‘Tutor group of the term’ is won by gaining the most positive behaviour points – including green slips, commendations and house points. The first term was very close but Mr Hooper’s delightful 7H walked away with the trophy and a nice stash of chocolate! We also run a ‘Tutor group competition of the term’. Term 1 saw competitive streaks run high (including from the tutors) with the Bridge Building contest. Bridges were made from paper and paper clips and the sturdiest bridge won. Even though 7H feel they were robbed of the prizes, 7C and 7W were joint winners; we couldn’t break their bridges which was impressive! Term 2 winners are yet to be announced … House Matches – Netball and Rugby The first year 7 house matches took place in the penultimate week of term. Everyone was excited and there was lots of house spirit to be seen! In the Netball, Moreton were eventual winners and in the Rugby, Hautville were victorious! Well done to everyone involved.

What a fantastic two terms it has been! I wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas holidays! Miss Butcher

Year 8 News

Inspired by the life and fundraising of the late Stephen Sutton, 8V have been working hard on their own ‘Stephen Sutton pledges’. They are each making a list of ways in which they can pledge to improve the lives of others. They will be presenting these pledges to the rest of the year group in the New Year. Enrichment this term focussed on financial matters with a focus on budgeting. Hopefully this will be good news for parents as the students will now spend their ‘hard-earned’ pocket money with greater care. Y8 Rugby It has been another encouraging year for the year 8 rugby team as they built on the success of last year. They managed to win all league matches apart from an away fixture at Wellsway and also progressed to the semi-finals of the BANES Cup losing to a strong Beechen Cliff side. Y8 Netball The girl’s netball team took part in the BANES tournament but unfortunately only managed to win one of their matches. Other News Individually in the world of swimming Nick Scadding (8A) achieved his Competitive start award and Lily Burgess (8E) is competing in the Gloucestershire county finals. Henry Knight (8V) has been selected for county trials in cricket and back on the water Will Stone (8V) has achieved his level two RYA award in sailing. We wish Hannah Bishop (8E) all the best as she travels to Olympia in the near future to compete at the Horse of the year show. In the world of performing arts the year 8 dancers have picked up a number of awards. Carys Thomas (8C) passed her Grade 3 modern dance exam and Frya Harding (8C) gained a Silver in her Jazz dance exam. One of the musical stars of the year Jonny Streatfield-James (8A) is now a grade 5 pianist and special; mention to Chloe Butler (8C) who starred at the Bristol Hippodrome and a young Fiona in ‘Shrek the musical’.

Year 9 News

Comedy of Errors – Shakespeare Schools Festival This term I had the pleasure of watching the Year 9 Drama Club perform at the Tobacco Factory theatre, Mr Conway (Head of Performing Arts and 9V Tutor) writes: 'Be not afraid of greatness' On Tuesday 4th November, thirty Year 9 students took part in this year's Shakespeare Schools Festival, performing 'The Comedy of Errors' to a sold out audience at The Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol.

It was a real honour to be asked to take part in the festival and, from the outset, we knew that this group of students would rise to the challenge of performing such a complicated play on a professional stage. Their commitment during the preparation process was superb - even giving up a day of half term to rehearse. After their first workshop at the theatre, the festival co-ordinator commented that he had never worked with such a professional and hard-working group of young people. These comments were then echoed after the final performance when special praise was given to the way that our fantastic cast and crew worked together to bring the play to life. This was a fantastic experience for all of the students and staff involved. Special thanks must also go to Chew Valley School's 'Creativity Fund' for allowing us to participate. Mr S Conway

Kudos to you – Important planning for the future December 4th saw Year 9 working with the CASCAiD Kudos computer package to explore the incredibly diverse world of careers that could await them in the future. It is aimed at students aged 13-19, and allows them to compile a profile about their interests using a detailed survey and matches this to their academic ambitions. Once the profile is complete the programme presents a list of most ideal jobs and students can consider career prospects and where more information may be available. The excitement was tangible as students explored a diverse range of opportunities, from Veterinary Surgeon to Dental Nurse, from RAF Pilot to Chef, from Outdoor events management to Beautician, and many more! All students have their profile saved and can access this information at any time in the future (at home they can search for CASCAiD Kudos via Google). Why not speak to your son or daughter about this activity as it may support them in thinking about their studies in Year 10 and beyond. Thank you to Mr N Hammett (Head of Careers) for helping to organise this invaluable session. Pictured are Billy Thompson (9H) researching the requirements to become a Chef, Dede Perkins (9E) finding out about Veterinary Science, and Joe Sidwick (9E) with his completed research about being an armed forces pilot.

Year 9 B&NES Health Panel Congratulations to Archie Smith, Aidan Parker and Louisa Hill (9E), Zach Kavanagh and Flo Harper (9A), Kian Hutchinson and Anya McGauley (9C), and Freya Meacham (9W) who have all been selected to work with Kate Murphy from Bath and North East Somerset Council’s School Improvement & Achievement Service. The Year 9 students will form part of an important decision making panel to help design future health surveys. The group will need to listen to presentations from a range of service providers and choose a company that they feel could create, distribute and collate data from bi-annual school surveys. Well done! Dancing their way into the New Year! Huge congratulations to Mia Barlow, Hannah Vince, and Lizzie Counsell (9C), Kitty Lunness (9H), Flora Mackie (9W) and Katie Riches (9E) who have worked incredibly hard this term to choreograph dance pieces and successfully audition for the 2014 Chew Valley School Dance Festival in February. The girls have

developed a mixture of solo and duet pieces. Make sure you get yourself a ticket when they are released in the New Year, it will be well worth it! Recognising Outstanding Sporting Efforts For their commitment and dedication to their respective fields, a huge well done to Hannah Cole (9W) and Murray Scott (9H) this term. Hannah has recently gained a placement at a Team GB Archery Academy and attends regular residential training camps to maximise her development and potential in the sport, with opportunities to progress to European and World events in the future. Murray is a member of the Royal Yachting Association UK Youth/Junior Squad, an achievement which recognises the potential to progress to UK Youth Selection and ultimately Olympic Development programmes, and affords him the opportunity to represent Great Britain at major events in the coming years. Both should be very proud of their fantastic efforts that have made these achievements possible! Year 9 in a Buzz! Shane Todd, Kieran Joyce, Harrison Scriven (9A), Fletcher O'Hara (9L), Sam Hunt (9V) and Matthew Jones (Y8) have been working closely with the Blagdon and Clevedon Beekeepers Association. This term they donned their bee suits and braved the Blagdon and Clevedon Apiary which contains twenty six hives. They learned all about how to look after bees and the dangers wasps can pose to a bee hive. Having thoroughly enjoyed looking after a borrowed hive last summer, the students are now keen to get one of their own. They have been working hard on sourcing funds for this themselves and so far have bought bee suits, and raised £50 of the £350 total needed. Well done all!

The gift of giving from 9V Mr Conway and 9V organised their annual 'Secret Santa' to treat each other to surprise gifts this December. In a lovely turn of events they decided to reduce their budget and from the money raised they were able to make a donation to Oxfam Unwrapped (www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped/). With the money they raised they were able to purchase a Goat couple that Oxfam will provide to a family in poverty. Oxfam goats have been a lifeline for nomadic grazing communities in Niger over a number of years. A couple of goats is a great gift providing fertiliser, milk and, within 12 months or so, some kids – ideal for improving a herder’s lot. A previous recipient, Hadiza Dazao, was enthusiastic about the scheme: “I cannot thank Oxfam enough for giving my family this chance. It will make a difference for us to have these goats." Well done to 9V for being so charitable! Merry Christmas all and a Happy New Year!

Year 10 News

GCSEs start! Well done to Year 10 for starting their KS4 curriculum so positively. The ‘black jumper’ effect has resulted in nearly 3000 positive behaviour points for the year group and largely great settling in reports. Remember that Study Club runs every Tuesday in the library from 3.45 to 5pm. Strong study habits will pay off! World Challenge 22 Year 10 students have signed up for the World Challenge expedition in 2016. The trip offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to trek through Tanzania, including Zanzibar and will allow students to take part in a volunteer project with a school and a lengthy mountain

trek. Students are expected to raise at least part of the finance themselves and so fund raising events have already started. Last week’s cake sale raised £125. Well done to Josh Vivian and Joe Moss for showing ‘Apprentice’ style initiative at the Chew Magna fete, raising nearly £200 each through Tombola and quizzes. Year 10 Rugby It’s been a successful season for the Year 10 rugby squad. In the Natwest Vase, the team were in impressive form, beating Downside 51-7 with Ben Carfield and Danny Ridding men of the match. Plagued by injuries, the team then lost 19-17 v Wells Blue School in the same tournament. Paul Stevens was voted man of the match for his two minute performance coming to an abrupt end with a cut to the head that required stitches. Training has been outstanding with an average of over 20 students each week. Mr Jones reports that the seriousness of the weekly Wales v England touch match has definitely been stepped up a notch!

Year 10 Hockey The Year 10 Hockey girls have also been in impressive form this term, averaging 25 players in training each week. There have been some superb matches and great wins, notably against Norton Hill 3-1. Tug of War What a great way to start the day! In Year 7, it was 7H who were victorious so it seemed like a good idea to see if their strength and grit had endured in three years. First up were 10C versus 10W where not even the might of Mr Walfords’ wolves could take the immense pressure of Mr Joyce’s army. Mr Cordle’s crew crumbled against H and in a shock defeat, Mr

James’ well drilled rugby boys tumbled like a pack of cards against 10A. A great team effort from 10L who heaved to victory against A but then lost all power to 10C meant that teams were evenly pitched in the semis. Previous winners 10H didn’t make it through against 10C even though Rees Tamlin pulled like a man possessed. Lenny ‘the power’ Montague helped 10W sail past 10A to face first round opponents 10W in the final. In a terrific team contest and with one apiece the final was painstakingly close. 10C were superbly competitive but just couldn’t sustain the pulling power of the awesome 10W. Well done to every participant and for the brilliant year group support.

Those were the days! 7H as they were….

One..two..three..HEAVE 10L!

10E- ‘You’ve let the school down, yourselves down but most importantly, you’ve nearly let the hedge down!’

So close! 10C – deserved runners up!

The winning squad – 10W Have a deserved good break, Year 10 and a very Merry Christmas!

6th Form News

A valuable addition to the busy autumn schedule in the Sixth Form has been a series of lunchtime talks from former students to sixth-formers about their studies and careers since leaving Chew. The first of these this term was from James Wibberley, who now works as a commercial and employment barrister at Guildhall Chambers in Bristol. James discussed his route into the Law following his studies in the Sixth Form here and presented a very illuminating review of the large number of career opportunities available within the legal world. We also welcomed back Dr Helen Campbell, consultant at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, and former Chew Valley student who spoke to students on the topic of 'Life as a Doctor, and How to Get into Medical School'. This was a great opportunity for students interested in applying for medicine or medicine-related careers in the NHS to find out more from a senior doctor about the realities of modern

healthcare, and as with James’s visit, students had a wealth of questions to ask. Finally, earlier this month former student Tom Milsom returned to Chew. Having studied sports technology at university Tom founded his own company, Ayrtek, which manufactures a wide range of cricket equipment including helmets and he has just signed a major contract with Adidas in which they have licensed his innovative and market-leading helmet. Students with interests in sport, design technology and business learned a huge amount through the course of his presentation. Very many thanks to James, Helen and Tom for taking time out of their extremely busy schedules to share their experiences with current students! Plenty of trips have been taking place as well. Art and Photography students enjoyed a fantastic visit to Amsterdam over half-term, Year 12 Geography students had a great time during their fieldwork trip to Skern Lodge in Devon, our Philosophy and Religion students were praised for their wonderful contributions to a study weekend on the topic of Buddhism, while our chemists learnt more about the career opportunities the subject opens up in a fantastic Chemistry masterclass at the University of Bristol. Our Envision team in Year 12 won £300 at a recent ‘Dragons Den’ style Pitch-for Change event in Bristol for their Be Body Confident project. On the sporting front our students kept up their incredibly high level of performance in the county cross-country championships in November. The girls’ team of Becky Fenn, Laura Finch, Jess Harding, Holly Williams, Kate Austins and Vicky Vipond won their competition and are now BANES champions, while the boys’ team of Charlie McDonald, Joe Clark, James Heron, Connor Madden, Luke Moysey, Tyler Wiltshire and Guy Lawson-Johns also did really well to finish second overall. In terms of football the season is progressing well, with a recent victory over Wells Blue School in the county cup. Languages News On Tuesday 25th November 2014 we went to Bishop Sutton Primary School to help out with the Spanish themed day for the Bishop Sutton and Stanton Drew pupils. We did a

presentation for the Year 6 class on different Hispanic festivals, helped them to produce musical instruments, and made ‘Día de los Muertos’ face masks. We then helped the Year 1 class to create a performance, including a song about counting to 10, which we presented with them during the whole school assembly at the end of the day. We felt the day was very successful and the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves as well as commenting on how much they had learnt. Ollie Croucher, Shannon Jones and Helena Turner (Y13)

Poetry by Heart Final

Chew Valley held its first Poetry by Heart final on Wednesday evening this week. Poetry By Heart is a pioneering national competition designed to encourage pupils aged 14-18 and at school and college in England to learn and to recite poems by heart. Six of our students have been working incredibly hard to prepare recitations of two poems, one modern poem and one written before 1914.

All of the recitations were brimming with confidence, poise and emotion. Ruth Emery, struggling with illness, pulled off a comic and engaging version of Benjamin Zephaniah's "It's Work", whilst Polly Denny managed to entertain and chill the audience with Peter

Porter's blackly comic "Your Attention Please". Charlie Ellis's performances of poems by R.L. Stevenson and Basil Bunting showed great skill and fluency, and Corinne Bowen commanded the stage with a mesmerising performances of "There is no God" by Arthur

Hugh Clough and "How to kill" by Keith Douglas.

The event was judged by Mr Mallett (Headteacher), Mr Conway (Head of Performing Arts), Mr Hack (previous Deputy Headteacher and Governor of the school) and Head Judge Julie Nicholson, whose expertise in the performing arts and poetry was invaluable. She commented that runner-up Jocelyn Barker's performance of "Envy" by Adelaide Ann Proctor moved her to tears, whilst her second performance (of Wendy Cope's "Proverbial Ballad") showed versatility with a deadpan comic turn.

The length of the judges' deliberations showed that the competition was incredibly close, but the eventual winner was Lucy Reynolds, whose stillness was praised by the judging panel. It allowed her to communicate the complexities of two difficult poems by Charlotte Smith and Grace Nichols with great poise, connecting the audience directly with the meaning of the words and "inhabiting" the poems. Lucy now goes forward to represent Chew Valley in the regional final at the Egg Theatre in Bath in February.

Deputy Headteacher Chris Hildrew commented on twitter: "amazing, moving evening at the Poetry by Heart final. Great competition; great competitors. Bring on the regionals!" whilst Steve Conway wrote "What a fantastic @poetrybyheart evening. Thank you so much to all those who performed such wonderful poems."

Explosions, nappies and frozen fruit

Sixth form chemists had an early taste of higher education in the School of Chemistry at

Bristol University. Having survived Mr Brown’s dodgy parking, they trooped down Woodland Road and entered the modern and impressive building. The lecture theatre was packed with 250 students from across the region.

We were addressed by eminent research scientists. Professor Wass spoke about how chemical catalysts earned more for the UK than the entire financial sector (but chemists do not receive bonuses!) There are so many future career openings for our youngsters, especially regarding the future fuel for our cars.

Following a fascinating insight into the chemistry of fragrances (another big money spinner), we were let loose on festive mince pies. We were then treated to a lecture showing the flashes and bangs of Chemistry by Nick Barker of Warwick University. From exploding hydrogen balloons to liquid nitrogen we were entertained royally whilst also picking up some tips to help our A-Level studies. Nick also graphically showed how the hydrogel in a nappy manages to soak up all of that liquid!

Many thanks to Bristol University for hosting such a positive event. It will certainly help our students to make up their minds about whether Chemistry is their choice at university level.

YouTube Day

Chew Valley was thrilled to welcome film makers Jack Howard, Dean Dobbs, and ex-Chew Valley student Poppy Dodgson for our first YouTube Day. Between them they have nearly 400,000 subscribers and over 22 million video views to their channels Jack and Dean

and poppylikesyou and they gave up their time to speak to Media Studies students and meet their fans. They shared some of their video making experience, talking about the creative ideas behind their films and some of the technical tricks of the trade. In the afternoon, they helped A level students by looking at their current work on music videos and film openings and offering advice and critique. The highlight for many of the students was a chance to meet-and-greet with the YouTubers at lunchtime - the size of the queue showed the popularity of the platform!

Thanks so much to the film makers for giving up their time and expertise so willingly. We look forward to the next YouTube day!

Clothes Show Trip

The Textiles department went on a trip to the Clothes Show at the NEC with students from year 9 to year 12. The Clothes Show is the biggest fashion event in the UK, with catwalk shows, fashion and careers advice and the opportunity to experience some of the world’s most prestigious fashion, live on the runway. The day started with the Designer Catwalk presented by Hilary Alexander, followed by the Image Catwalk and then the Graduate Catwalk showing students work from the top Fashion and Textiles courses in the country, with lots of outrageous and imaginative designs. The students then went onto the College and University Forum to see the work of graduates from over thirty Fashion and Textile establishments and find out about courses and entry requirements, then on to the Urban Village with Vintage and Retro clothes and a little shopping before the main event in the Fashion Theatre. The main event is the 45 minute Fashion Show which is a catwalk

spectacular with designer collections, choreography, dancing, celebrities and a performance by the StereoKicks! It was a great day, with all students being well behaved and returning to the coach feeling very weary, with their many purchases, but very excited with lots to talk about from their visit and lots of ideas to bring back to the classroom.

Amsterdam Art and Photography Trip 2014

In October, 30 Artsy people went to Amsterdam for a life-altering, inspirational trip of fun and creativity. We had 12 hours on a coach either way (not much fun!) but some

great trips to places like The Van Gogh Museum, The Stedelijk Museum, The Foam Galley, The Ann Frank House and The Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market). I particularly enjoyed the abstract 3D art pieces in the Stedelijk Museum and the emotional impact and admiration I felt during the tour of the Ann Frank House. We had an amazing night tour of Amsterdam, seeing street art graffiti and the beauty of Amsterdam’s architecture under the Christmas lights. We also stayed in a lovely cosy hostel with really nice pillows! Despite the fact that we only stayed in Amsterdam for two days, we all had a really great time (I want to go again!!!).

Heather Uppington

Cardiff

Not to be outdone a smaller more select group of artists and photographers travelled across the water to darkest Wales to view the creativity and sample the delights of New Tiger Bay. Students enjoyed the National Gallery and took many images of people and places to support and enhance their A level studies.

Home contact information

Please remember to keep school up-to-date with your contact details via the Parent Portal in case we need to contact you during the school day.

Casual Catering Staff Required

We have a very busy and hard-working catering department, and occasionally need extra staff to cover for busy periods or staff absences. If you are interested in joining the friendly catering team on a casual basis, and earning £8 an hour, please complete an application form available on the school website. If you would like to find out more then please talk to Jocelyn Nichols, Finance Manager, Chew Valley School

T: 01275 332272.

Help the school with your Christmas /New Year Sales shopping!

The School Society is using Easyfundraising.org.uk to help raise money to support the school. It couldn't be easier - register at the website, select "Chew Valley School Society", and then any online purchases you make at Amazon, Tesco, John Lewis, Sainsbury's and more will generate a donation to the School Society - and it won't cost you a penny!