Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Wildern Weekly. My name is Mrs Warner and I am the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning.  It is my pleasure to be part of the SLT curriculum team as this is something that I have been very passionate about since I began teaching.  Within my role, my responsibilities involve many aspect of our teaching and learning policies. This year my role also includes the continued development of our Metacognition programme which is a huge passion of mine given my background in History and Psychology. 

 

One of my other school responsibilities is line management of our highly successful Careers programme. This year we are looking to secure accreditation for our work and are working towards the ‘Quality in Careers’ award. We are one of very few schools in the county who have secured 100% in every category of the careers provision benchmarks. We are very proud of this as it is a significant achievement, but mostly we are proud to be doing everything that we can to help students maximise their life chances and be prepared for their next steps. 

Our Creative Arts team and the students involved in our school production of Legally Blonde are currently working incredibly hard to complete the finishing touches to this year's school production.  The time, effort and planning that goes into making this a success cannot be emphasised enough and we would like to thank all our staff involved for their tremendous dedication. Thank you also to all the parents and students for their commitment and support. As some of you may recall from your own time at school, the school production is a key aspect of school life where memories and new friends are made. School simply wouldn’t be the same without it.  We are very much looking forward to seeing it performed in The Berry next week. Good luck!

Attendance Raffle

Yesterday saw the latest draw of our “Every Moment Counts: Skip the Queue for Lunch!” attendance reward system, with over 1400 students achieving 100% attendance and punctuality yesterday and eligible to be in the draw. Thank you for your continued support in promoting daily attendance. Together, we are making every moment count!

 

Sparx Stars

This week, another group of 25 Sparx Stars has been randomly chosen from the 1500 students who completed their Sparx to 100% on time. Well done to all those who are doing this week after week - we are so impressed with all of you!

Athena Awards

Last night, we came together to celebrate the outstanding achievements of some of our Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 students at the Athena Awards. Candidates were chosen for their remarkable projects, which highlighted both creativity and determination; two of our WIldern Attributes. The Year 7 presentations featured work from the Summer Reading Challenges inspired by LOST by Ele Fountain. Year 8 tackled important global and personal issues in their project, "What's Your Problem?" where students researched and proposed solutions to significant challenges. Year 9 students explored their interests through the Curiosity Project, presenting their findings with impressive creativity.

A big congratulations to all participants; your hard work and enthusiasm truly shone through!

House Competition update

It has been a great start to our Wildern House Competition, with a strong start from Sovereign who are currently leading. Fantastic participation has been seen across many of the houses, proving it is likely to be a close competition again this year. 

Whole School

Monday 21 October Week B

Monday 21 October Open morning (9:45 - 10:45am)

Wednesday 23-Friday 25 October Legally Blonde Performances

Monday 28 October - Friday 1 November Half term

Monday 4 November Week A

Monday 11 November Week B

Thursday 14 November Parent Information Eve - Love Languages

 

Year 7

Thursday 7 November Year 7 tutor parent consultation evening

Year 8

No key dates

Year 9

Wednesday 6 November & Juliet Education for Life trip

Year 10

Friday 25 - Monday 28 October Iceland Geography trip

Wednesday 6 November & Juliet Education for Life trip

Thursday 7 November Blood Brothers Drama trip

Year 11

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

Monday 4 - Friday 15 November Practice Exams

 

‘Stories are powerful tools that shape how we understand our past, present, and future. For too long, the history of Black communities has been told through lenses that often misrepresent, oversimplify, or entirely overlook the rich and diverse experiences of those who lived it. But Black History Month 2024 UK has unveiled its compelling theme: Reclaiming Narratives.’

 

This is the theme of Black History Month UK for 2024. Its focus is to encourage young people to take ownership of the stories that define their culture and identity. It’s a call to action for Black communities across the UK to step into the role of storytellers, historians, and custodians of heritage.

 

One of the most exciting aspects of Reclaiming Narratives is its potential to inspire, educate and empower. In schools, this theme offers a fresh perspective on Black history that goes beyond the traditional focus on slavery and civil rights. It’s about celebrating Black excellence in all forms—whether in the arts, sciences, politics, or everyday life. 

 

Below is a snippet of an interview which a focus group of History students (currently in year 11) conducted with a veteran, Colonel Sue Westlake (MBE), at the end of summer term last year. The transcript is just one fantastic example of students in our community being curious about the history of people from diverse backgrounds and being empowered with the opportunity to ask meaningful questions. Col. Sue served in the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) before overseeing the integration of women into the wider forces when the WRAC disbanded in 1992.

We’ve seen photos of diverse units of the WRAC, such as the Jamaican Caribbean Company. We were wondering if your career had brought you into contact with many women from diverse backgrounds?

 

Col. Sue: Yes. When I was instructing at the WRAC College training officers before the WRAC moved to Sandhurst training. In 1980, we had six girls from Sri Lanka who came over. I’m still in contact with two of them. One of them made brigadier in the Sri Lankan Army when she went back. We trained them, and then they went back and started the Sri Lankan Army and did the jobs that we did. We showed them what to do, gave them the materials to teach and train. One of them made brigadier, which was lovely, and she married a general.

 

We had a Singaporean girl, taught her all about training women. She went back and did that, started up the Singapore women. There is diversity. If you go to Sandhurst now, both the men and the women, there’s so many different nationalities there, which is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Does that answer your question? Yes. For me, it was great, the Sri Lankan particularly, because they really went on and took off, and they’ve got a wonderful set up out there now.

The 2024 Shoebox Appeal was a great success last week! Thank you so much for joining with us. We had collected 231 shoeboxes, with an additional 7 coming in late, which was an incredible 238 in total; 16 more than last year! 

 

A special mention is needed for 7S1 and Mrs Napier who completed an outstanding 21 shoeboxes! 

 

The Rotary Club will now pack and send all these lovely boxes to children across Europe who will be delighted to receive them. Well done to everyone for lighting up other people's Christmas! 

We are very excited to be able to confirm the reopening of our fitness suite following the completion of a new mezzanine floor and a full refurbishment of the fitness equipment.

 

This additional space has allowed us to increase our offering by another 20 workout stations which includes; a new exercise rig, functional area, strength machines and self powered cardiovascular machines.

 

Feedback so far from our students and the local community has been incredibly positive. 

A reminder to all cast members that a LB Sunday rehearsal will take place on 20th October from 9.30 until 4pm with a meeting/ registration time at 9.10am.

Week Beginning October 21st - 25th

We are very much looking forward to seeing Legally Blonde and wishing all the best to the whole cast and crew involved in making this happen - Break a leg!

Here is our updated Autumn term Co-Curricular timetable of activities including our Autumn PE menu for after half term. 

Wednesday 23rd October

Year 11 Boys A football Vs Bitterne Park School

 

Thursday 24th October

U14 boys Basketball Vs St George's Catholic College

 

Friday 25th October

Year 7 Boys Football Vs Weydon School

Monday 14th October

U14 Girls Football won 2-1 against St George's Catholic College 

Year 10 Boys football won 7-3 against St George's Catholic College

 

Tuesday 15th October

U16 Girls Netball tournament - won 1, drew 2, lost 2

 

Wednesday 16th October 

Year 11 Boys A Football lost to Woodlands Community College

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

What Parents need to know about QR Code Scams

 

QR codes are a useful means by which people can quickly access online resources and other information, simply by scanning the pixelated pattern with their phone’s camera. Unfortunately, as with many other advances in technology, there are those who use QR codes to scam and defraud unsuspecting people, tricking them into providing their personal details and payment information. 

 

It can be difficult to determine when a QR code is legitimate – or where exactly you might encounter a scam of this nature – but it’s important to learn how, if you wish to avoid falling victim to such a thing. This free guide explores the most common places you may find a QR code scam and explains how best to protect yourself from this underhanded practice.

 

Every Student Matters, Every Moment Counts

 

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Wildern School

Wildern Lane

Hedge End

Southampton

Hampshire

SO30 4EJ

 

01489 783473

 

#WeAreWildern