World Book Day

& News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015

June 2015

Bumblebee and Caterpillar Classes had lots of fun recently

dressing up for World Book Day. Everyone made a fantastic

effort. The characters included Spiderman, Pirates, Horrid

Henry, Where’s Wally, Superman, Donald Duck and Harry

Potter. A big thank you to everyone that took part, you all

looked great.

QR Codes What is a QR code?

A QR code is similar to a bar code – you can scan it with your phone or tablet

and it will take you directly to an internet address or any stored data.

How do I use it?

To use a QR code you need a phone or tablet with a camera. You will also

need to download an app which can read QR codes – in school we use a

free app called QRafter on the learner iPads . Open your app, centre the

camera over the QR code and take a picture of it. You should then be

directed straight to the information.

In this newsletter we have used the blogs as a trial of the QR codes. In future

we are hoping to develop their use across the federation for information

sharing as well as exploring other options for using them. All three blogs are

now up and running so please take a look if you haven't already!

Penrose blog Elmwood blog Jean Rees blog

Inset Days 2015/2016

The inset days for next year are as follows:

2015

Tuesday 1st September

Friday 23rd October

Friday 27th November

2016

Tuesday 3rd May

I day is yet to be advised.

Sad News We very sadly have to let you know

that a student from Penrose—

Jamelia Tchadjobo—who was in

Butterfly Class, passed away on

10th May at Bristol Children’s

Hospital. Jamelia was a little ray of

sunshine who brightened our lives

and we will miss her so much.

www.elmwood-penrose-jeanrees.org.uk

& News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015 & News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015

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Secondary Pupils Time Travel

At the start of term, students

returned to school to find that

it had been transformed.

There were aliens on the walls,

a huge delorian car in the

dining hall, a jungle had

appeared in 3E and the whole

of Earth wing had been

transformed into a diner. It

seemed our time machine had

gone haywire and split the

school into different time

zones. On Monday we

explored these different zones,

with great care and found

some great activities. There

were dinosaur bones waiting to

be pieced together, a lab set

up for making lava lamps, a

spaceship building challenge,

a robots and doughnuts art

attack, popcorn and smoothie

machines, with hand jiving

lessons, poppies to make in the

Food Technology room and a

music video to make in the

swinging 60s. Students were

thoroughly engaged and

impressed with these activities

and were ready to start their

new term on the theme of time

travel. Different classes will be

setting off to other zones and

we look forward to following

their new paths.

Class 3H have had a

fantastic ‘WOW’

week experiencing

1950’s America.

Students enjoyed

travelling back in

time by dressing up,

hanging out at the

diner and getting

behind the wheel of

a real American

Cadillac.

I am currently studying for a degree in Neuroscience (brain development and

function) and am finding the research fascinating. I wanted to share some of

it with you, in particular the research into the effects computer games have

on the brain and brain development.

It is strongly recommended that Computer Gaming should be used in schools

as a reward, because it is a strong motivator, and helps to build neural

networks that children and young people use in school to learn new things.

Using gaming at home as a way to unwind at the end of the day is beneficial

too – which is good news because as a parent of teenage boys myself I know

how difficult it is to get them off the games!

One thing that surprised me was the need to have switch off time to help

young brains to process the information, to hard wire the networks that have

been built and to benefit from the experience.

Playing games late at night stimulates the brain and makes sleeping almost

impossible. There needs to be a clear gap between the end of gaming and

sleep time. A 9pm switch off is recommended so children and young people

can get the much needed sleep they also need for healthy brain

development.

We will keep learning and will keep you informed!

Liz Hayward

Neuroscience

Congratulations On 30th May Louise Sturgess

from Class 3C gave birth to a

baby boy weighing 7lb 2oz

named Arlo. Ryan Parker-Binns’

wife Nicole also gave birth to a

10lb baby boy named Jacob

on 3rd June. We would like to

take this opportunity to

congratulate Louise and Dan

and Ryan and Nicole on their

new arrivals.

Uniform Orders

We would like to ask all parents who require

new uniform ready for September to

contact the offices on each site to place

your order.

We need to place orders as soon as

possible in time for the new academic year.

Each of the offices can be contacted on:

Penrose: 01278 411222

Elmwood: 01278 456243

The Jean Rees Centre: 01278 423660

& News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015 & News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015

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Post 16 Pupils Have Fun at Calvert Trust

Calvert Continued ...

7 pupils and 6 members of staff from The Jean Rees Centre spent a week on

their annual residential trip at the end of the last half term at The Calvert

Trust in Exmoor Activities included crate stacking, canoeing, bike riding,

horse riding, abseiling, zip wire, swimming and relaxing at the disco.

Everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable time—as can be seen from the

photos from the week.

& News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015 & News from Elmwood & Penrose Federation / June 2015

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Staff Changes

Goodbye and Farewell Mel

Due to Mel Marshall’s retirement Andrew Laurence has been appointed as

Deputy Head. Andrew, was formerly a teacher in Bumblebee Class. We

have appointed 2 new teachers at Penrose (1 to replace Andrew and 1

additional teacher due to our expanding pupil population) who are Marie

Neale and Ryan Parker-Binns. Charlotte Ennals, the teacher for class 3C,

commenced Maternity leave in May and Amy Holgate will be covering in

Charlotte’s absence. Both Louise Sturgess (3C) and Jo Briggs-White (Maple)

are also on maternity leave. Caroline Reynolds has joined us as a Welfare

Assistant (Maple).

Emily Jowett, Matt Dearsley, Connor Stockham and Tina Lye have left us. We

will be joined by Fraser Hayward, Samantha Woolacott, Holly Lowther and

Jessica Pear.

We would like to wish all our leavers a fond farewell and welcome all our new

staff.

Christine Glanville is now Admin support for the Family Team and on

occasions she may be contacting parents directly on behalf of the Family

Team to arrange meetings etc.

Mel Marshall retired at the end of last term and we

had a presentation for Mel at our end of term

celebration assembly.

Mel’s retirement will include spending more time

with her lovely family.

At the assembly Mel was presented with various

gifts including a large card signed by all the staff

and a fruit bowl which was made from the old Elm

Tree that stood on the old school site. She also

received a puzzle that included all the pupils and

staff’s fingerprints.

We would like to wish Mel all the very best in her

retirement and we look forward to her keeping in

touch.

Elmwood Excel at Exmoor

On Tuesday 4th May 9 pupils and 4 staff from Elmwood went to the Calvert

Trust, Exmoor. The weather was wet but that didn’t stop them from taking part

in activities and challenging themselves to try something new. Their activities

during the week consisted of the zip wire, abseiling, crate stacking and

archery. A fantastic time was had by all.