Welcome
Welcome to the fifth edition of The Wilnecote Warbler and the second of the Spring Term. I am Simon Adams, the Senior Deputy Headteacher at The Wilnecote School.
My role sees me involved in the overall strategic decision making at the school with Mrs Hartle, our Headteacher, and how we can support and empower staff at all levels to continue to improve the student experience at The Wilnecote School. I work closely with all of our Senior Leadership Team and support them in their individual roles, but more of my time is directed towards supporting colleagues with responsibilities including safeguarding, ethos and values, behaviour, student standards and inclusion. The best parts of my day are when I am engaging with students at school, whether this be in corridors, on the playground or at the gate. Speaking with students to make sure that all is well and supporting them to get the most out of their time with us, is central to what I enjoy and why I chose this career. I still love teaching when able, although many students still seem surprised that I teach music - they generally seem to think I would more likely teach PE or Maths!
Being a parent to two children who have now finished their compulsory education, I am acutely aware of the trust you place in the school to look after your children when they are with us. With this in mind and having been asked to step up into the role of Interim Headteacher during the summer term, I want to reassure you that we will all continue to do the upmost to ensure your children are safe, happy and confident when they come into school and are under our care. They are a fantastic group of young people and we should be proud of how the vast majority of them represent themselves and their families every day when with us.
Speaking of representing themselves and making us proud, please read on and enjoy a range of stories and articles that demonstrate many of the qualities our students possess, including determination, teamwork, resilience and a strong set of values. By all of us working together to support and reinforce the development of these aspects of their character, we will not only help our young people be successful throughout their lives as they are better equipped to tackle the inevitable challenges that life will throw at them, but will also make our community a stronger and more united one.
Thank you for your ongoing support and have a safe and enjoyable half term break when it arrives,
Simon Adams
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Ski Trip 2023 - Aprica
40 students from The Wilnecote School recently embarked on a thrilling ski trip to the picturesque mountains of Aprica. The trip, organised by Mr Croydon, Head of PE and Outdoor Education, provided an opportunity for the students to test their skiing skills while enjoying the breath-taking views of the Italian mountains.
On Saturday 21st January the trip left The Wilnecote School at 4am to make the trip up to Manchester Airport for the two-hour flight to Milan Airport. During the flight, students took in the breath-taking view of the Alps as we travelled over France into Italy.
Sunday morning was the first day on the slopes and for most of the students their first day on skis! The students were accompanied by local experienced ski instructors from Full Sky Aprica Ski School who helped them refine their techniques and conquer the slopes with confidence. Despite the challenges posed by the mountain terrain, the students displayed a remarkable level of determination and camaraderie, cheering each other on and pushing themselves to new heights. By day five all students had made it to the top of the mountain and the week was rounded off with a session of night skiing, which brought everything they had learnt over the week and all students completed the 5KM trail from the top of the mountain back into the village of Aprica.
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The trip proved to be an unforgettable experience for the students, offering a unique blend of adventure, learning, and personal growth.
"This trip was a great opportunity for our students to challenge themselves and step out of their comfort zones," said Mr Croydon, Mrs Ager Assistant headteacher added. "We are proud of their hard work and look forward to organising more such trips in the future."
Sophie in year 8 commented “It was great to ski for four hours a day, it definitely taught me to persevere and I gained lots of confidence.“ Lewis, one of our year 10 students on the trip added “This was a fantastic opportunity to explore the skiing life and the instructors were amazing and very patient with us all.“
The students have returned home with new friendships, unforgettable memories, and a newfound appreciation for the wonders of the mountain and ski world.
World Book Day 2023
We are excited to inform you that Thursday 2nd March 2023 is World Book Day. The theme for World Book Day this year is reading for pleasure and here at The Wilnecote School we will be celebrating World Book Day in a variety of ways.
Staff and Year 11 students have the opportunity to dress up as a character from a book and students will be able to enter a competition to guess which characters everyone is dressed up as. There will also be a ‘guess the teachers favourite book’ competition which students can enter. Value points are available for students who enter these competitions.
There will also be a staff reading chair where students can see various members of staff reading throughout the day and students may well have the opportunity to engage with members of staff regarding what they are reading.
Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will also be given a QR code which allows them to access a £1 book token. Students and parents/carers can then use this token towards a book which students can read and enjoy.
Here at The Wilnecote School we value reading, including reading for pleasure, and want to take this opportunity to promote reading across the school. Not only is reading an enjoyable pastime but research has shown that reading for pleasure has a positive impact on mental health, helps improve students' literacy skills and supports academic achievement. These are amongst the many reasons we view reading for pleasure as a vital part of your child's education and we really hope that World Book Day will encourage students to read for pleasure and develop their love of reading.
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World Book Day
2nd March 2023
Design a shoebox scene for a chapter from your favourite book or design a book cover for your favourite book.
VPs will be awarded for all entries.
Entries should be given to Mrs Glover in the library.
Deadline: Thursday 2nd March
Headteacher's Update
Dear Parents & Carers,
It is with sadness that I wish to let you know that I will be leaving The Wilnecote School at Easter this academic year to move to a role in the executive team of a multi-academy trust. Whilst I am professionally excited to be making the move to this new and challenging role, I am aware of what I will be leaving behind - a great community school with the most wonderful staff and students and a place where governors, parents/carers and the wider community have made me feel so at home. I will reflect more on my departure in further communication but wanted you to know about the change as I understand that you are heavily invested in every aspect of our work. The great news is that Simon Adams, our Senior Deputy Headteacher, who many of you know well and who has been instrumental in our school improvement journey, will be acting as interim Headteacher when the school returns for the summer term. The Community Academies Trust will lead on the recruitment of a permanent headteacher to Wilnecote and anticipate the recruitment to be complete by the end of April.
Please be reassured that I will be working ceaselessly until my departure to ensure that standards continue to improve and the strong trajectory the school is on remains my absolute commitment.
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Last Day of Half Term
Friday 17th February 14:40pm
Term Starts
Monday 27th February 8:30am
Parents' Evening
Year 10 - Thursday 2nd March,
Year 8 - Thursday 16th March,
Year 7 - Thursday 30th March
read the full
Headteacher's update
Girls District Badminton Champions
Badminton is a pretty massive deal at The Wilnecote School; nearly 100 students play regularly at the extra-curricular clubs dedicating their time to improving their skills and tactics and enjoying the social skills that come from regularly participating in a sport as part of a club.
Over the last few months the KS3 girls have been battling for the opportunity to represent The Wilnecote School at the Tamworth District Championships. With just 5 places available and many girls eligible for a place the competition was fierce and came down to the final week of practice.
Miley, Daisy, Sophie, Natalia and Ellie were successful in making the team and set off nervously to their first competitive tournament knowing that whilst they may be able to beat those in the training squad this would be the first real test of their ability.
Arriving in good time, the girls were able to get straight onto the court and enjoy the chance to warm up fully before the tournament started.
Playing as number one seeds Daisy and Miley had the hardest challenge as they faced the best player from each high school. Despite their nerves they both smashed it, literally, winning all their games with some magnificent smash shots which their opponents simply couldn’t get near.
Sophie faced the number two seeds from each school and demonstrated that linking shots together gave her the tactical advantage over every one of her opponents, winning every one of her games convincingly leaving her opponents shocked at the power she was able to generate.
Natalia and Ellie competed in the doubles section of the tournament where a good understanding of tactics gives the team a tactical advantage. Both players communicated superbly, linking shots together forcing their opponents into the furthest parts of the court and leaving them unable to return the shuttle over the net. Another clean sweep for Wilnecote!
Knowing that The Wilnecote School had not lost a game; Daisy and Natalia faced the challenge of winning the final game to make it a clean sweep… to add to the pressure the last match was also the last game that would be played. All the other matches had finished leaving the two Wilnecote players facing Rawlett with everyone else watching them play.
With a nervous few opening rallies, the girls were ahead, but only just…
These girls have practised a lot, they want to win… and win they did! Having managed their emotions their communication became stronger and as they hit the final winning return their relief could be felt by everyone.
What a start to their intra-school badminton journey… a clean sweep with many of their opponents only being able to get a few points of them.
The girls are only in year 8 and have another year to compete for the KS3 District Championship crown… I really can’t wait to see what they can do next year.
They should be so proud of their success, as individuals and as a team.
To win the District title is a huge achievement, to do it without losing a game is an incredible feat.
Outstanding effort girls, and to think most of your opponents were in Year 9!
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Mr Farrell
Head of Humanities
Focus on Humanities
Welcome to the Humanities Faculty.
In Geography Year 7 students are currently studying Iceland, with a focus on plate tectonics, whilst Year 8 students are studying Australia, looking at the characteristics of different biomes. Issues of migration are covered in the year 9 focus on USA. In History year 7 are studying a unit on Crime over time with a focus on the witchcraze in the Tudor period. Year 8 are looking at aspects of the Industrial Revolution and are currently finishing a unit on the slave trade before moving on to Jack the Ripper. Year 9 are learning about life in Nazi Germany which gives a background context for the last Year 9 RE topic on the Holocaust which students will be moving on to once they have finished the current unit on Good and Evil. Year 7 RE students are analysing who they think was the best religious leader and in year 8 RE students are comparing Hinduism and Islam in Britain today. At GCSE all our year 10 classes are finishing off units (on Islam, Medicine through Time and Living World) that will mean they have covered at least a quarter of their GCSE course.
Clearly a key focus for us at the moment is Year 11. With their GCSE exams fast approaching, we are all completing the final units. For the historians, this is the unit on Black Civil Rights and the Vietnam War, both topics covered extensively in feature films. Though films need to be used cautiously as they are fictional, there are many based on true stories that can provide a useful “feel” for the period. For Civil Rights, both Mississippi Burning and Selma cover events in the 1960s and the film Till (out in the cinemas this January) covers the horrific events in the Emmett Till case. Platoon is an excellent introduction to the Vietnam War. The Geographers are covering the Hazards topic last and they can gain useful insights by watching the news for recent examples, such as the earthquake last week in Turkey/Syria. The news can also be of great use to those doing RE as it will help them to develop opinions on current ethical issues, such as medical ethics in the Religion and Life topic.
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For all year 11 students, it is essential that they now start their revision programme, if they have not already done so, as regular revision is far more effective (and considerably less stressful) than last minute cramming. To this end, all 3 Humanities subjects have provided the students with a range of revision materials, that will help both with revising the main content knowledge but also with practising past questions. These materials are available on Teams and/or on the revision boards in the Humanities rooms.
Finally if you fancy a bit of healthy competition, why not pit your wits against the rest of your family with the quiz below. The questions are all based on topics studied recently in Key Stage 3. So how good is your Humanities knowledge? And who knows more – parents/carers or the kids!
1. What is the capital of Australia?
2. What US city (famous for its casinos) is in the Mojave desert?
3. By how many centimetres is Iceland growing each year?
4. On what day in 1066 was William the Conqueror crowned as king of England?
5. What was the name of the slave ship from which 133 sick slaves were thrown overboard in 1781?
6. Who was the First World War British General who was given the name “the Butcher of the Somme”?
7. Which religious leader was born in Nepal and left his life of luxury in the royal palace to experience the world outside?
8. What is the name for a Muslim place of worship?
9. In which country was genocide committed against the minority Tutsi population by the Hutus?
The Wilnecote School is hosting a careers fair for the first time on Wednesday 22nd March 2023.
We are looking for any higher or further education providers, apprenticeship or training providers, businesses, companies and individuals to host a table at the fair.
This is a great opportunity for students to find out about career & job opportunities, facts about the industry you work in or to tell them about your experiences in the world of work.
It is also an opportunity to promote your company or business & any services that you offer. We hope that students will learn about what is available locally and outside the Tamworth area.
If you would like to participate or able to help, please Email: careers@wilnecotehighschool.org
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Are you interested in recycling?
Do you care for the environment?
We need you.
The Wilnecote School is proud to launch “The Eco Team”. The club is student led and will focus on improving recycling within school and the local community, with a little bit of wholesome house competition thrown in too.
Speak to Mrs Glover in the school library if you wish to join the team and take part in your first recycling challenge.
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Go4Schools
The vast majority of parents/carers have now downloaded and are using the Go4Schools App to view VPs and behavioural events.
In school we have also encouraged students to download the app, it will be the students and the parents/carers responsibility to ensure that students attend their detentions preventing any further consequences. Students must check the app before leaving at the end of the school day, keeping in line with our Mobile Phone Policy.
If you are having trouble downloading/logging into Go4Schools then please contact the school via office@wilnecotehighschool.org.
School links
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This Week in History
On 15th February 1956, the Kansas City A’s cancelled an exhibition baseball match against the Pittsburgh Pirates that was due to be played in Birmingham, Alabama. The reason was that black players were banned from playing against white players by the Jim Crow Laws that segregated Americans in the Deep South.
Birmingham was, in fact, one of the most segregated towns in the Southern States and it was to become the scene of one of the pivotal events of the Black Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. In 1963 Martin Luther King led a civil rights march in the town, knowing that the local chief of police (Bull Connor) would use violence against it. This was part of a Civil Rights tactic called Campaign C. The violence used against the peaceful campaigners shocked many and sparked international outrage. It forced President Kennedy to intervene and, as a result, Birmingham became officially desegregated.
The Civil Rights movement is studied in Year 11 History.
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