Wildern School 90th Banner Strawberry Flowers in the 90th Design of light green and red

Parent Bulletin Friday 4th October 2024

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

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 Behaviours for Learning system. 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 us 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.

Attendance Raffle

We are excited to announce our first set of winners in our attendance raffle. This is our new attendance reward system, “Every Moment Counts: Skip the queue for lunch!”

10 students were picked at random from all the students who had 100% attendance yesterday, including being on time to every lesson.

Winners received a skip-the-queue pass for themselves and a friend (who also has 100% attendance and no lates that day) for today's lunchtime.

We look forward to celebrating and rewarding more students for making every moment count in the next attendance raffle draw coming soon. You have to be in to win!

Parent Handbooks

There are available here on our website for 2024/25.

Please see the links for each year group's parent handbook.

In this issue...

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Whole School

Monday 7 October Week B

Monday 7 October Open morning 9:45-10:45am

Friday 11 October INSET day, school closed to students

Saturday 12 October Quiz & Chips event

Monday 14 October Week A

Thursday 17 October Athena Awards

Friday 18 October Non-uniform day

Monday 21 October Week B

Wednesday 23-Friday 25 October Legally Blonde Performances

Monday 28 October - Friday 1 November Half term

Year 7, 8 and 9

No key dates

Year 10

Friday 11 - Monday 14 October Battlefields History trip

Friday 25 - Monday 28 October Iceland Geography trip

Year 11

Monday 7 - Friday 11 October Art & Photography practice exams

Thursday 10 October Parent's Evening : 4-8pm, virtual

Friday 18 - Saturday 19 October DoE expedition (catch up)

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Whole School

RAISE Education Trust Admissions Consultation
Consultation on admission arrangements for 2026/2027 and onwards for Boorley Park Primary School, Deer Par Secondary School and Wildern School. This consultation will run for 6 weeks from 1st October to 15th November 2024. Please see the letter for oversubscription criteria and the proposed changes.

Letter here

Kings Copse Avenue Speed Reduction Petition
A petition has been set up to ask for the local authority to assess and amend the speed along Kings Copse Avenue to 30mph. This is due to many factors and this road features in many of our community's lives.

More information is available here.

Year 7

No letters/reminders for Year 7

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Year 8

Geography Trip to Argoed Lwyd Outdoor Centre
The Geography Department is thrilled to announce that we will be running a 3 night residential trip to Argoed Lwyd Outdoor Education Centre located in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, on Friday 23 May - Monday 26 May 2025. This is an exciting opportunity for your child to experience a range of outdoor geographical activities such as climbing, waterfall and gorge walking.

Letter here

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Year 9

French & Art trip to Nice, France, Friday 27 – Monday 30 June 2025
The Modern Foreign Language and Art Departments are delighted to offer a school trip to Nice for your child. The four day residential, educational and cultural trip to Nice, France, will take place from Friday 27 – Monday 30 June 2025 inclusive. Nice offers the possibility to explore a different culture and visit places like the famous “La promenade des Anglais” and the Galimard Perfumery, and practise their French around the city. This trip
is aimed at year 9 and 10 students currently studying GCSE French and Year 9 students taking art.

Letter here

Geography students - Iceland, March 2026 - Expression of Interest
I am writing to you about an exciting opportunity for your child to participate in a 3 night residential trip to Iceland during the Easter Holidays of 2026, when your child is in Year 10. This will take place from Friday 27 - Monday 30 March 2026. There will be 40 spaces available. Before officially launching the trip, we would like to gauge interest to see if the trip will be financially viable.

Letter here

German Exchange to Kornwestheim Spring 2024
For the first time we are offering the German exchange to all year 9 and 10 students who are learning a language for GCSE. This unique experience offers an unmatched opportunity to broaden your child’s horizons and experience life in another country. The chance to experience another culture will motivate and demonstrate the relevance of language learning for their future, regardless of the language. More information is available here. For more information, please speak to Mr Russell.

Art GCSE resource pack
I am writing to you as your child has opted to study GCSE Art. I wanted to let you know about the materials and equipment that are required as well as those that would be useful for the GCSE course.

Letter here

Photography GCSE resource pack
I am writing to you as your child has opted to study GCSE Photography. I wanted to let you know about the materials and equipment that are required as well as those that would be useful for the GCSE course.

Letter here

Science Trip to France - Futuroscope
To promote a curiosity and passion for science and engineering in students early in their GCSE course we are offering a school trip to visit Futuroscope, France on Friday 14 February to Sunday 16 February 2025. Futuroscope is a unique European theme park in France with over 40 attractions drawing on different educational STEM themes.

Letter here

Education for Life Trip - Mrs Doubtfire and Covent Garden
The Education for Life Department are offering Year 9 students the fantastic opportunity to explore Covent Gardens followed by a performance of ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ the musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. On Wednesday 15th January 2025. Please sign up on ParentPay by Friday 11th October.

Letter here

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Year 10

French trip to Nice, France, Friday 27 – Monday 30 June 2025
The Modern Foreign Language and Art Departments are delighted to offer a school trip to Nice for your child. The four day residential, educational and cultural trip to Nice, France, will take place from Friday 27 – Monday 30 June 2025 inclusive. Nice offers the possibility to explore a different culture and visit places like the famous “La promenade des Anglais” and the Galimard Perfumery, and practise their French around the city. This trip
is aimed at year 9 and 10 students currently studying GCSE French and Year 9 students taking art.

Letter here

English
We would like to make all students and parents aware that on Tuesday 22nd October there is a student-centred performances of Macbeth at the Point Theatre in Eastleigh. This is a key GCSE text that English Literature students need to know. View a trailer and Book tickets here:
Shakespeare in a Suitcase - Macbeth

English
It was lovely to see so many parents for the ‘Preparing for exams’ information evening on Thursday. For anyone who was unable to attend, please see below for information on our revision guides and top tips to revise English.

Science Interventions
You would have been contacted if your child is to attend.
Start Date: Monday 7th October Days: Monday and Wednesday
Time: AM Registration (8.30am) Room 318

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Year 11

Year 11 Virtual Parents Evening Thursday 10 October 2024 4pm - 8pm
Parents’ Evenings are an opportunity to talk about your child's engagement and progress with their subject teachers. As usual, staff will be available for discussion by appointment. These appointments will be 5 minutes long and you can make appointments via the school INSIGHT parent website.

Letter here

Exams Booklet
Enclosed is the Wildern School Exam Booklet 2025, which will guide you through all aspects of the summer examinations your child will sit. Please take the time to read through this booklet and keep safe for any questions that may arise closer to the exam period in May/June 2025.

Practice Exams timetable has been shared here.

Booklet & Letter here

Year 11 Newsletter - October
Welcome to issue one of the Year 11 Prepare to Perform Newsletter. Every
month we are going to share with you a snippet of what has been happening at Wildern with a focus on supporting Year 11 students as they prepare for their GCSE exams.

Letter here

Science Interventions
You would have been contacted if your child is to attend.
Start Date: Tuesday 8th October Days: Tuesday and Friday
Time: AM Registration (8.30am) Room 318

Geography
Please ensure all students have a green CPG revision guide to support their revision at home. These can be purchased from finance for £3.50 which is heavily discounted. Please also be aware students have been shared resources to support them with their revision ahead of their practice exams. This can be found on Google Classroom under ‘Revision Resources’. If you have any queries please email wildern@wildern.org.

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Wildern wins at the School Olympics!

Huge congratulations to our year 9 students who took part in the School Olympics in Germany last week. They competed across athletics, swimming, handball, basketball and football. There were some exceptional individual performances, but the results show that they performed far better as a team, with silver medals in two swimming relays, 4x100m sprint, basketball and football. The level of sport from all of the 7 schools from 5 countries that took part was very high, but our students worked together to show great sportsmanship, determination and pride in their team. Well done!

Mr Russell and Mr Sutherland

Christmas Shoebox Appeal

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Navy leadership training

Last week the 60 strong Prefect team were joined by the House Captain team for some excellent leadership training with the Navy. The sessions included some classroom-based activities focussed around what leadership is and what makes a good leader, and then some physical activities requiring leadership, team work and communication. This is the second time the Navy have given time to invest in our student leaders and we are hugely grateful for this, their generosity and expertise. It’s superb to help potential become reality!

Simon Says - Child Bereavement Support

Simon Says is a Hampshire-based childhood bereavement charity supporting children and young people under 18 years who have had someone close to them die.

They run Support Groups throughout Hampshire and a helpline. They are pleased to share that they have recently opened a new monthly Support Group in our area (it is actually based at Oasis Mayfield) and it is now open for registration. Support Groups are free to attend.

Simon Says is based in Romsey but was set up in Hamble 23 years ago. More information on this charity can be seen on their website www.simonsays.org.uk or social media pages.

Parents and carers can call the Helpline on 023 8064 7550 for more information and/or to register their child/children.

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Here is our Autumn term Co-Curricular timetable of activities including our Autumn PE menu. Clubs start in the week. Please look at what is on offer to your child and discuss this with them as their might be something that they would like to get involved with. Full details are available in the Student Wildern Weekly and from that subject area.

NB: No Art Club on Monday 7th October due to Year 11 Art and Photography practice exams

Timetable here

Legally Blonde Rehearsal Schedule 2024 Autumn Term

Please be aware that rehearsals are subject to change depending on the progress of blocking and availability of students. A reminder to all cast members that our LB Sunday rehearsals are going to be on the 13th and 20th October. These rehearsals are from 9.30 until 4pm but the meeting/ registration time is 9.10am.

Week Beginning October 7th - 11th

Week Beginning October 14th - 18th

Monday 30th September

Senior Girls Football won 3-1 against Thornden (National Cup R1)

Tuesday 1st October

Year 10 Boys Football won 4-0 against Upper Shirley High

Year 11A Boys Football won 1-0 against Horndean (County Cup R1)

Year 11B Boys Football lost against Upper Shirley High

Friday 4th October

Year 8 Boys football Vs Swanmore- County Cup (Home)

Senior Girls Football Vs Hamble - (League) (Away)

Monday 7th October

Senior Girls Football Vs Kings ( National Cup) (Home)

Tuesday 8th October

U13 Girls Football Vs Brookfield (County Cup) (Home)

Wednesday 9th October

Year 11A Boys Football Vs Upper Shirley High ( Away)

Year 11B Boys Football Vs Woodlands (League) (Home)

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Please see the menu for our hot food options for next week.

The main school meal deals are £3.20 which is in line with all Hampshire schools. In a meal deal, students can get one of the meal choices below with a bottle of plain water and a cookie or piece of fruit.

either of the hot meal options,
a jacket potato,
a pasta pot,
a chicken or beef burger,
a salad pot (from the salad bar)

We encourage all families to use the free school meals eligibility checker, which can be found here, to determine if they qualify for this entitlement.

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

* correct at time of sending, but may be subject to change

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Careers Fair

Students from Year 10 & 11 had the opportunity to attend the Annual Careers Fair. There they engaged with a diverse range of representatives.

The event featured delegates from colleges and universities, providing valuable insights into further education options. In addition, professionals and experts from various industries and sectors were present, offering students a broader perspective on potential career paths.

This event was an excellent opportunity for students to gather information, ask questions, and explore different career possibilities.

Due to emergency procedures being in place during one of the sessions, some students were unable to engage with the delegates for the full hour. However, we have scheduled an Evening Apprenticeship Fair in February, which will be open to both parents and students. This will feature delegates from the same industries, along with additional representatives from other sectors. We will require prior booking for this event and further details will be made available closer to the date.

Additionally, year 11 students were introduced to all the colleges through the assemblies last week. We encourage students to attend as many college open days as possible for further exploration and information.

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LMI Bulletin

Please click the link below to access the latest LMI Bulletin. Inside you will find a variety of insightful career related articles, including statistics and trends on Apprenticeships. This bulletin is a valuable resource for anyone looking to stay informed about current labour market information and explore new opportunities in various industries.

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What Parents need to know about Group Chats

Occurring through messaging apps, on social media and in online games, group chats are among the most popular ways that young people engage with their peers online. Involving, by definition, three or more individuals, these groups allow users to send messages, images and videos to everyone in one place.

While they are useful for helping friends, people with shared interests or members of a club to communicate and coordinate activities, they can also leave young people feeling excluded and bullied – as well as providing opportunities for inappropriate content to be shared and viewed.

In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as bullying, inappropriate content and unknown members.