Denmark Road High School

 

 

 

Our School, Our Week

 

Picture of the Week:

In the edition this week:

• Picture of the Week
• Anti-bullying awareness
• We are here for you.  Launch of the Peer Supporter group
• Year 7 and 8 Debate club – The Importance of Oracy
• ‘Hirameki Draw What You See by Peng and Hu’ Tutor Challenge
• Year 7 and 8 News
• Year 9 News
• Year 10 News
• Year 11 and 12 News
• Sixth Form News
• Follow me @DenmarkRoad365 
• Future Look

 

Picture of the week

The U16 girls came runner’s up in the County Netball Tournament on Tuesday 12th November.  Held at Cheltenham Ladies College, our outstanding team beat Farmors, Kings Gloucester and Dean Close on their way to the final. The big match was closely contested against Pates, our valiant team eventually coming out on the wrong side of 12-10 scoreline despite their fine performance. We now progress to the Regional Competition in Bournemouth in January 2020.  A  wonderful outcome for a group of highly committed players.  Well done ladies.

 

Anti-bullying awareness

Well done to all the students and staff who took part in the anti-bullying 'Odd Socks Day' on Tuesday 12 November. It is so important that we are all valued and loved for the individuals that we are. The world would be a very dull place if we were all the same.  It is fantastic that our school community celebrates our differences and challenge those who try to put us down.

 

We are here for you-  Launch of Peer Supporter group

We are proud to let you know that next week is the launch of our Peer Supporter Group led by our team of Year 13 Peer Supporters.  This group of students have been trained to support students who are finding school challenging whether it be with friendship issues or organisation.  They have had training in anti-bullying and safeguarding.  The Peer Supporter group will be available to work with students of all ages to help wherever they can. They will be based in SF4 every lunch time from 1.40 - 2.15p.m. and are open to students of all ages. 

Year 7 and 8 Debate Club: The Importance of Oracy

Eshaah Shakoor (Year 12) has set up our first Year 7 and Year 8 Debate Club.  Eshaah has long realised the benefit of oracy and its life changing impact. She writes:  

An exciting new opportunity for lower school students is here! A debate club has been set up for Year 7 and 8. The aim of the club is to give young students a taste of the fun of debating along with helping them develop their opinions on important current issues. The weekly debates are held on a range of topics from the impacts of junk food on students to more controversial issues such as abortion and gun control. Additionally, students are encouraged to research both sides of the argument beforehand so that they can argue and respond to points. The importance of debating with evidence using statistics and relevant quotations is also emphasised. Along with the development of speaking skills, self-confidence and general knowledge the students are learning new research skills. All these skills will no doubt prove invaluable when these students move to GCSE and Sixth Form.  

As part of our leadership programme in the Sixth Form we encourage Year 12 and 13 students to run clubs and societies.  These are for a variety of year groups and are based around areas that students are passionate about.  We are looking forward to seeing the success of this club in the coming years.

‘Hirameki Draw What You See by Peng and Hu’ Tutor Challenge

Year 9 and Year 10 undertook a tutor group challenge to create a ‘Hirameki Draw What You See by Peng and Hu’ last week. The image was projected onto the whiteboard and then they doodled away. Here was my favourite from 9K:  

 

Here was my favourite from Year 10 produced by 10K:

 

Follow me @DenmarkRoad365

We are always looking at ways to improve communications, so here I am joining the realm of Twitter and Instagram! I will be posting regularly to give parents a snapshot into DenmarkRoad365 and the life of a Headteacher at one of the most amazing schools in the country.  Also follow me on Instagram by searching for "drhshead" 

 

Year Group News

Year 7 and 8 News

It was fantastic to see two of our Year 8 girls feature in the Cheltenham Harriers Celebration and Awards evening:

 

Emily Brown won the U13 G Best All Round Athlete Award for the season.  This emcompassed her performances across hurdles, sprints, discus and long jump.

Flo Hampton won three Awards; U13 G Field Award, Under 13 Athlete of the year and Record Breaker Award.  During the season she jumped a remarkable 1.46m in the High Jump - setting a new club age group record.  The jump left her ranking an amazing 17th in the UK age group rankings.

 

 

Year 9 News

Nikita Kulkarni in 9BE won the overall House Art competition for her modern day twist on “Girl with a 

Pearl Earring” by Vermeer.

 

Mrs Cordall from the LRC would like to thank Sophie Green (9K) and Lauren Mitchell (9M) for their support in tidying and shelving books throughout most of the week.  They have earned the Library Monitor badges which will be awarded to them this term.

Betsy Mangan and Olivia Brock have both been selected to play U17 County Cricket for Gloucestershire.  Many congratulations!
 

 

Year 10 News

A big week for Year 10 with the German Exchange in school with us this.  The German visitors experienced British family life and activities, building lasting friendships with our girls.  On the last day all the students enjoyed a day out to the Link Centre in Swindon together.  It was great to get active on their trampolines and the ice rink.   Our girls are already looking forward to our return visit in June. 

 

Year 11 and 12 News

We had a great day with Year 11 and 12 at the Maths Inspiration lectures in Birmingham on Tuesday. They started with bits of maths we all know and love and took them into exciting new areas from dubious statistics in the media, how to beat an AI take over and putting the ratio in rational numbers to create beautiful fractals.

 

Great session and some of us even managed a cheeky Wagamama’s too!

 

 

Sixth Form News

Year 12

Mrs Cordall, from the LRC, would like to thank the dedicated Library Prefect Team.  These dedicated students are restoring some order from the chaos, moving books around, putting them in the correct places, labelling shelves and shelving books every day of the week.  Library Prefect badges are on their way for this super groups of students.

Thank you to Amy Griffin who has volunteered to mentor a younger student with her Science.

 

Year 13

Year 13 Mock Interview Practice Day

This interview day was with local employers from many professions including Science, Medicine, Engineering, Recruitment, Aerospace, Finance as well as Oxbridge graduates and Denmark Road alumni.  All Year 13 students received an interview and feedback in preparation for their university and apprenticeship applications in the future. Huge thanks to all involved with special recognition to Mrs Harvey for orgnising.  We are always looking for other professionals to help us with interview practice, careers talks or mentoring so if you are interested please email harveyl@denmarkroad.org

Feedback from our interviewers couldn’t have been more positive. Our students really did impress, to share one comment:

"If I had been half as decent as these students, I think I would be ruling the world by now".

 

Finally, Mrs Cordall would like to thank members of last year’s library prefect team, who continue to help and support the LRC by calling in to put books away and tidy up whenever they get the opportunity. 

 

 

Forward Look – dates for your diaries:

Monday 18 November            

Week 1

Year 11 Mock Orals this week

 

Wednesday 20 November       

STEP UP for Year 11 and Year 12

                                                     

Swiss Exchange Parents’ Meeting – 6.00-7.00 pm

 

Thursday 21 November           

KS4/5 Securing Excellence Evening – 4.30-7.30 pm

 

Sunday 24 November               

Trip to Tutankhamun Exhibition

 

Monday 25 November             

Week 2

Year 8 and 9 – Chelsea’s Choice

Year 11 Mocks

 

Wednesday 27 November        

Governors’ Business Management – 6.00 pm

 

Friday 29 November              

School closed for Staff Training

 

Monday 2 December              

Week 1

Year 11 Mocks

 

Wednesday 4 December         

Full Governors’ Board Meeting – 6.00 pm

 

Friday 6 December                  

PTA Christmas Fair – 6.00 – 8.00 pm

Year 7 and Year 8 Christmas Disco at Sir Thomas Rich’s – 7.00-9.00 pm

 

Monday 9 December              

Week 2

Wednesday 11 December       

Early finish for students at 2.20 pm

Year 8 Parents’ Afternoon and Evening – 2.30-7.30 pm

 

Thursday 12 December           

INVEST Day 2 – House Music

 

Friday 13 December                

Christmas Jumper Day for ‘Save the Children’

 

Monday 16 December            

Week 1

Tuesday 17 December             

Christmas lunch

 

Wednesday 18 December       

Christmas lunch

 

Thursday 19 December           

Carol Service rehearsals in the Cathedral

 

Friday 20 December                

Carol Service in Gloucester Cathedral – 10.00 am

End of Term at 2.20 pm

 

Monday 23 December – Friday 3 January – Christmas Holiday

Need to look further forward? The school calendar is available on our website calendar and academic calendar.