Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of the Wildern Weekly. My name is Mrs Wade and I am one of the Assistant Headteachers here at Wildern School.

 

I have had the privilege of working at Wildern School for 23 years, working first as a teacher in the Science Department then as Director of Learning for Science before joining the Senior Leadership Team.

 

My main responsibilities are Assessment and Exams. This means that as soon as our students start their transition to Wildern during Year 6 I will be getting to know them! I work with a team to ensure we receive as much information as possible from their primary schools to aid that smooth transition. I then oversee all aspects of a child’s assessment of progress and Behaviours for Learning, working closely with all the DOPAs (Director of Progress and Achievement) and DOLs (Directors of Learning). Together we track students throughout their Wildern journey.

GCSE Results Day has to be one of the absolute high-lights of the school calendar for me. Seeing every student achieve their very best whatever that may be for them is an absolute joy. However, witnessing the journey students undertake while they are with us at Wildern, developing into responsible well rounded citizens is the most rewarding part of being involved with every year group.  

 

A key tool for tracking this development is our new Behaviours for Learning system introduced last year, following parental feedback on our reporting and assessment systems. Please see the spotlight in next week's Wildern Weekly for updates for this coming year. The Behaviours for Learning system continues to develop through feedback from staff, students and parents. It is also a vital method of communication between home and school. Please contact Mr Knight if you do not have access to INSIGHT where you will find WAD (Wildern Assessment Data) and Reports after they have been emailed to you.

Wildern Weekly feedback

We have been sending out the Wildern Weekly parent bulletin since the start of June and would love to hear some feedback from parents on this. It was created as a result of parent feedback to streamline our communication, reduce the number of emails being sent to parents and keep you updated on upcoming events and opportunities.

 

As a parent, has the wildern weekly improved the information you have received? 

Please click on the icon or link below to record your response to this question

EU Code Week: 8-23 October 2022

‘EU Code Week is a grass-roots movement that celebrates creativity, problem solving and collaboration through programming and other tech activities. The idea is to make programming more visible, to show young, adults and elderly how you bring ideas to life with code, to demystify these skills and bring motivated people together to learn.’ 

 

Coding isn’t just about sitting in front of a computer or hacking into the government systems. Coding is about problem solving, creativity and innovation, which we want to fully encourage throughout the school. 

 

EU Code week is important to help build less fear and misunderstanding around coding and inspire our young people (and older) into learning more about the types of careers in the Computing world and beyond. Here at Wildern we are celebrating EU code week in a number of ways.

Through the tutor programme the students will be looking at digital wellbeing and a direct introduction to code week with some activities that can be done at home with the family. See the link here for more information with access to videos and fun challenges.

 

To celebrate Code Week, Year 7 and 8 students will be completing a lesson linked to code week and challenging them to further their understanding and knowledge of computing skills. In Year 9, Computer Science students are beginning their first GCSE lessons of how to code in Python, starting their journey towards their programming exam in Year 11. Years 10 & 11 Computer Science classes will be looking at some specific coding challenges, learning new skills, whilst testing their current knowledge.

 

Extra opportunities are also available if students enjoy coding. In Years 10 & 11 The Perse Code Challenge will be advertised in January; We have had great success in the past with this and hope to have even more this year. More details on this Competition is available here.

 

A new competition we are getting involved with is CyberFirst Girls Competition 2023. It is open to Year 8 students that identify as female. Teams of up to 4 students can complete challenges created by The National Cyber Security Centre. We are looking for teams now to compete in the qualifiers round during the week of 21st - 30th November 2022. Students can talk to Miss Applegate via email or by visiting room 676. Find out more about this competition here.

Behaviours for Learning

We use colours to indicate whether students are likely to achieve their target band in different subjects or to indicate their level of engagement in our Education for Life Programme, Other Tutor Time activities and Core PE programme.

 

We would really like to encourage all parents to have a conversation with their child on receipt of the WAD report via email and available on INSIGHT. Year group specific videos will be updated and sent out again this year with the WAD reports to help with these conversations. They will also be linked into this WIldern Weekly when appropriate.

 

Here are our Behaviour for Learning Colours:

As previously mentioned it may be that these are awarded for engagement in the non-examined elements of our curriculum. These are just as important.  ’YELLOW’  engagement in, for example, our Education for Life programme will result in a greater understanding of the wider world, the challenges our young people face on a day to day basis and how they can navigate through them.

 

For our exam based subjects, if students are awarded a Turquoise or Blue, teachers are required to indicate the particular Behaviour for Learning that student needs to work on as a priority. The Behaviour for Learning statements below are hierarchical which means if students are showing all the ones at the beginning of the alphabet they then just need to focus on some subject area ‘tweaks’ to help them reach their targets. As a result lots of students will receive a ‘TURQUOISE’ because there are often small adjustments that can still be made.

 

Some of the statements at the beginning of the alphabet should cause more concern and really need to be discussed at home as these are the fundamentals of appropriate behaviour and effective learning. Staff will sometimes award a ‘YELLOW’ but give an h,i or j code because a student is working extremely hard on that aspect of their learning already and that just needs to continue.

 

Here are our Behaviour for Learning Statements from September 2022:

 

Successful Wildern Students will be demonstrating the following behaviours for learning:

a) Being respectful to teachers and other learners in the classroom at all times

b1) Being punctual to lessons to maximise learning

b2) Attending all lessons to maximise learning

c) Being always appropriately equipped and ready to learn

d) Being fully engaged in lessons, listening carefully and following instructions

e) Completing all class work or Non-Examined Assessment (NEA) to a required standard

f) Completing all self-study on time and to a required standard

g) Working independently and actively seeking out appropriate opportunities to maximise your potential

h) Understanding and acting on feedback

i) Preparing appropriately for assessments or Non-Examined Assessments (NEA)

j) Using appropriate subject specific vocabulary and skills

 

Any queries about WAD Reports should be directed to your child’s subject teachers or tutor in the first instance. Parents evenings are a vital way to have these discussions but please do get in contact if you have any questions.

Parking Plea

We have a park and stride arrangement with both the carpark at the top of Wildern Lane (on the corner of Lower Northern Road) and B&Q and would encourage use of this to help ease congestion in the area at peak times at the start and end of the school day. 

 

We have been made aware that some parents have been parking in local roads whilst waiting for their child to finish school. For any parent not using the park and stride facility and opting to do this, we would ask that they are considerate and polite to our local residents and they do not park in restricted parking areas or block driveways.

Calling all Alumni!

You may have seen the alumni posters around the school and on the electronic screens when you have visited Wildern.

We are always looking to hear from ex-students and add to our collection of Alumni posters to inspire the next generation.

If you have anyone at home, know of any ex-Wildern students, or are indeed one yourself, then please forward this form to them so we can get in touch and celebrate whatever they have gone on to do! 

Wildern Alumni Form

Thank you!

Mr Fenner

Many different clubs, focus groups and activities are available for students outside of their lessons.  More details can be found on our website. Students are expected to communicate with parents/carers when attending an extra curricular club to inform them that they are staying in school. On occasion, we may have to cancel a club at late notice due to staffing.

 

The library is always available to students after school as well. If students have a prearranged lift for after a club that is then cancelled, they can wait in the Library after school for their lift which may be preferable to rearranging plans. 

What Parents Need to Know about FIFA 23

 

FIFA 23, like its many predecessors, is a massively popular football simulator featuring lifelike recreations of thousands of real-world players, drawn from teams around the globe. While the gameplay is subtly improved year on year, the publisher EA’s focus remains firmly on FIFA Ultimate Team – a mode in the game that can tempt players of all ages to spend actual money on recruiting better players for their side. With each new release of FIFA comes a host of new players to unlock – meaning that youngsters can feel pressured to keep buying to compete with their friends. 

 

In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as age-inappropriate chat, scammers and addiction.