Hello and a very warm welcome to this week’s edition of the Wildern Weekly.

 

I’m Helen Duncombe, Director of Learning for Creative Arts. I trained at Wildern in 2006 and have been fortunate enough to lead an incredible team of Art, Dance, Drama and Music teachers in my current role as Director of Learning for the past 4 years. At Wildern the Arts are central to our students' school experience; the D@rt and block 2 are awash with clubs, rehearsals and extra curricular activities as well as the many timetabled lessons that take place every day.

 

We are incredibly lucky to have wonderful facilities for the Arts at Wildern, the pinnacle of which is The Berry Theatre where we hold numerous showcases and concerts every year. These, coupled with a dedicated team of passionate subject specialists, mean that Wildern students are afforded high quality Arts teaching and professional standard resources. As a faculty, we aim to ensure that our students leave Wildern with an appreciation of how the Arts benefit us as individuals and as a society, as well as the confidence to give them a go!

This week we’ve been busy auditioning for the annual school show, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. Rehearsals will begin in June and will culminate in a four show run in October. I am always so impressed by the talent that we have at Wildern and our students’ willingness to get involved. It has been a genuine pleasure to watch our students sing, dance and act their way through the auditions. This year the show will feel even more special as it will be the first time in four years that we will have a live Pit Band following the hiatus caused by Covid. The production promises to be an exciting fusion of all the Creative Arts disciplines. If you would like to find out more about Creative Arts at Wildern, the best way is to come and see what we do! There are numerous exhibitions, showcases, concerts and performances throughout the year. We'd love to see you in the audience at one (or all!) of them. 

 

Wishing you all a wonderful half term holiday. 

  In this issue...  

  All Years  

Cost of fuel: You may be able to get help of £147 with the cost of fuel - see here

 

Summer Dance Showcase

 

WINK: Using Challenge to Learn (face to face) - 8 June

 

WINK (virtual) - Relationships Sex Education - Watch here. Please answer this 3 question survey after watching the WINK

Science: All lessons can be accessed here: https://sites.google.com/wildern.org/science/home - great for revision and catch up!

 

  Year 7  

History trip: The Mary Rose Museum

  Year 8  

Education for Life: All Year 8 Students will be watching a virtual performance of the play ‘Human’ by Solomons Theatre that explores the issues and pressures of social media. This will take place on 13 June - more information can be found here.

 

Chromebook Scheme: This is open to current Year 8 parents until Monday 5 June @ 10pm.

Chromebook Portal: https://edutechchoices.zone/employees

Whether you plan on providing your own Chromebook for the scheme, have placed an order through the portal or do not want to take part, please fill in this form.

If you have an issue with the ordering portal, you can request help by clicking here

  Year 9  

Year 9 Parents Evening - Thursday 15 June

 

Science classes for September

 

Science: Booster sessions will be taking place during tutor time after half term. They will be running on Monday’s and Friday’s in room 318. You will have received a letter if your child is invited to attend. 

 

Geography Iceland trip October 23: Please note all letters have now gone home. Please return these forms to the finance office.

 

English: A reminder that Year 9 Power and Conflict poetry support sessions begin after half term. Please see the timetable here.

  Year 10  

Science: Booster sessions will be taking place during tutor time after half term. They will be running on Wednesday’s in room 318. You will have received a letter if your child is invited to attend. 

 

Science Separate to Combined sessions with Mrs Penney - These are sessions to focus on motivation, as well as exam technique and revision. Sessions are planned in the WAVE for the following AM registrations:

• Wednesday 7 June
• Wednesday 21 June
• Wednesday 5 July
• Wednesday 19 July

Geography Year 10 Field Trips - please complete parent pay for the trip to Hengistbury Head and Christchurch. Your child will either be going Tuesday 27 June or Monday 3 July. 

 

English study sessions: We are running study sessions on Tuesdays after school for Year 10 students to help support them with their knowledge of ‘Macbeth’, one of their core Literature texts. These will run in room 913 from 3-4pm. The timetable of sessions can be found here.

  Year 11  

The Diana Award

You will be delighted to know Wildern School and the Anti Bullying Ambassadors have been awarded The Diana Award 'Respect' Badge. This is testament to all the hard work and dedication from our students and staff to make Wildern a happy safe place for all our community. To receive the badge we had to submit and evidence about the campaigns and actions that champion diversity and inclusion and promote equal rights for the nine protected characteristics.

We had a film crew and representatives for the Diana award visit us in school this week. It was a pleasure to be able to show them:

• Our Welcome Wall which was created during a Day to Create which shows the importance of an inclusive school where everyone is valued, recognised and welcomed to the school.

• The fantastic work across the curriculum during Black History Month and how this was supported and promoted around the school. It was a time for continued action to tackle racism and ensure that all students are represented and celebrated all year round. Each department embedded the experiences , contributions and achievements of black people into their curriculums. Raising awareness and promoting respect.

• Our #itsnotok campaign which was launched this year across the year groups to raise awareness of the issues and concerns we wanted to address. For example: It's not ok to make racial slurs towards others. It's not okay to make slurs about gender, race, culture , identity. All our students have the right to feel safe in school and it is important that all students are aware of when someone is being inappropriate towards them. This hashtag has been used throughout the school and is visible in many forms. Student voice has been instrumental in the development and launch of this campaign.

• How we celebrate diversity through the arts. As a school we understand the power of providing diversity through the arts. It is an opportunity for students to understand different cultures, faiths and beliefs through the disciplines of art, dance, drama and music. We found that introducing students to diverse styles of dance, art and music has had a greater impact on their understanding of respect than just telling them about it in a more factual manner. In Music we invited in artists to deliver African drumming sessions and gospel choir workshops to our Year 7 students. Every student in Year 7 experienced this and this has meant that from the beginning of their journey at Wildern they understand the importance of diversity and the role it has to play in not only their education but their understanding of the wider world.

• In Dance, students in Year 7 have been studying a 'World Dance' unit meaning that every lesson they learn about a different style of dance from a different country with a different history behind its origin. Students are incredibly engaged in this and relish the opportunity to move onto a new country where they will quickly be absorbing new information. They are easily able to identify how important our 'respect' attribute is when learning about new experiences.

• In Art students have been studying Henrietta Harris who focuses on portraits. They have had the opportunity to look at how effectively you can achieve different skin colours, genders and race through different portrait techniques.

• In Drama students learn about playwrights beyond Britain. They have studied the backgrounds of German Playwright, Brecht and Polish Playwright, Grotowski to begin understanding how they were influenced by where they grew up and who surrounded them.

We were awarded the Respect badge  because we had shown:

1. Our successful efforts to work with the whole school community to celebrate cultural awareness events such as Black History Month. They loved how we incorporated so many different elements involving students, teachers and sharing on social media!
2. Our commitment to raising awareness for those who have protected characteristics. We have helped the school community feel seen, heard, safe and supported by encouraging open conversations around our #itsnotokay campaign.
3. Our approach to showing openness towards different cultures within our school through the various mediums of art.
4. Our education to tackling prejudice and discrimination within Wildern through well thought out assembly presentations and including our reporting processes.
5. Our creativity and use of bold and proud statements with our Welcome Wall for our school to refer back to and the local community to see.

They loved how we were also continuing to take action beyond the Respect Badge in planning to share our recent learnings around microaggressions with the wider school community. 

 

This week we have been very fortunate to have The Diana Award and their film crew with us as part of their Respect Campaign. This was a fantastic opportunity to show Wildern at its very best. They were joined by some of our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and some members of our Diversity Focus Group who were able to showcase all we do at Wildern to celebrate cultural awareness, raising awareness of protected characteristics, showing openness towards different cultures, to tackle prejudice and discrimination and different types of bullying behaviours. We feel very honoured to be able to work with such inspirational young people who are dedicated to making a difference to Wildern School and the community.  #wearewildern

Supporting Positive Mental-Health & Wellbeing over Half Term

This link to a collection of Apps that are designed to support young people, adults and families with their mental health and well-being. Some of these do need a paid subscription to use them while others have been made freely available. There is also a huge wealth of information and support on
the Wildern Wellbeing Hub.

If over the holidays you find that you need some additional support, these contact numbers may be of help:

• For any safeguarding concerns out of hours please contact the Children's Services out of hours team on 0300 555 1373.
• Please note in an emergency call 999.
• If you are a student and need support please see below of where to go to get the support you may need
• ChatHealth 07505 332160
• Childline
• Samaritans 116123
• Police 101 or in an emergency 999
• Wellbeing Area on the Wildern Website
• CAMHS
• If you are upset and having thoughts and urges about hurting yourself, then stop, take a deep breath and read this page
• Stop Domestic Abuse

“Big Al” the stage show was performed by 170 Wildern students for 5 nights in February 1996. It told the story of Al Capone from his humble beginnings to building his great empire, prison sentence and death.

 

This week over 150 students have signed up to be part of our upcoming production of Little Shop of Horrors! We can't wait to see this in October at The Berry Theatre! 

 

Share your memories and photos with us: 90thbirthday@wildern.org 

Please remember, they can adapt the majority of meals to any dietary needs if they know in advance (your child can speak to them by visiting the kitchen before 8:30am that day). Main/grill vegetarian options are always available - just ask Dan and his team. 

If for any reason a club is cancelled, the Library is open until 5pm Monday-Wednesday, and until 4:30pm on Fridays.

Here is our Summer term extra curricular activities including our Summer PE menu. Please look at what is on offer to your child and discuss this over the holidays with them as their might be something more that they can get involved with.

10 Top Tips for Safely Using Smartwatches

 

Wearable tech is an increasingly big business. More than 170 million smartwatches were sold globally in 2022, for example, with Apple biting off the largest chunk of the market (26% - some distance ahead of Samsung, in second with 9%). That's partly because they have more than 21,000 apps available for their devices, allowing users to customise their smartwatch experience.

 

Both Apple and Samsung’s products, of course, lean towards the higher spec end of the market – usually with price tags to match. Sourcing a less expensive alternative, however, often also means inferior safety features to protect young wearers. That’s just one of the potential hazards highlighted in our guide to smartwatches. In the guide you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as location tracking, causing distractions at school and the danger of theft.