A very warm welcome to this edition of the Wilnecote Warbler.

The summer term has always been my favourite at school, right since I was a student myself. I've always felt it is a time of year where there is a lot of excitement and things to look forward to. This summer term there is so much planned for students and staff outside of the engaging lessons that take place each day; year 11 prom, Duke of Edinburgh 12 hour challenge and then the Bronze and Silver expeditions, bikeability, year 10 work experience & world of work week, sport's day and the end of year rewards activities to name but a few. There is also the prospect of completing another year, celebrating the end of five years of education and memories with year 11 as they finish their time here at The Wilnecote School before getting ready to welcome a whole new group at the start of their journey with us. It really is an exciting time to be a part of The Wilnecote School and we enjoy sharing it all with our wider community.

The Warbler is a celebration of all things Wilnecote and the students who make this such a wonderful school that I am proud to be a part of. Enjoy seeing what we have been up to so far before enjoying a summer of fun.

Over the last four years, the careers team here at The Wilnecote School have worked hard to improve the quality and variety of careers based education and experience that we offer for all students. On Wednesday 22nd March we hosted our first Careers Fair with over 50 visitors taking up a stand and talking to our students across all five year groups.

We had people from Sixth Forms, universities and local businesses as well as apprenticeship providers, the armed forces, public services and nationwide companies such as Santander, Fed Ex and Network Rail. Volkswagon bought along a brand new VW Campervan Cornwall which the students were able to sit in and explore. Drayton Manor, Tamworth Coop Funeral Services, Lichfield FC and The Belfrey all offered year 10 students work experience places. Staffordshire Fire & Rescue offered the opportunity to try a specific equipment on, and many of the stands bought little take away items such as pens, badges and sweets.

Each year group was given one hour to explore all of the stands. They were also given an activity sheet to complete which was tailored both to each year group and specific to the visitors that we had in school. This sheet was a starting point for our students to have conversations with the different adults as well as a place to record some of the huge amount of information they received that day. Students got to learn about skills and qualifications needed for different jobs, the range of options available once they leave high school and some of the experiences university offers.

They also were given information on how and where to apply for apprenticeships as well as the different kinds available. The Polesworth School did a great job of explaining T-levels to students in years 10 and 11, giving many of them food for thought. There was also opportunity to discuss salary expectations, working patterns, uniform requirements and what happens on a daily basis in different jobs. There really was something for everyone.

There has been an overwhelming positive response to the whole event from staff, students and the visitors. Many students have asked if there will be another one next year which shows how much of a positive impact it had. All of the visitors praised our students for their high level of politeness and interaction after the initial shyness had subsided. Many of the visitors really liked the activity sheet that students had as they felt it helped to focus conversations and give the students confidence to ask questions. The careers team are already looking at making this an annual event with a view to vary the companies and universities that are represented to keep it fresh and interesting for all students. So many adults are in jobs and careers they had not even heard of when at school. The Wilnecote School strives to expand the awareness of our students to the opportunities available to them to allow them to make more informed choices, to be aspirational and to be the workforce of tomorrow that we are proud of.

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.

For the last 35 years, March see’s the UK “do something funny for money” and host a range of charity events for Comic Relief, also known as Red Nose Day.

Here at The Wilnecote School, we include this annual event in our school calendar and this year was no exception. Even in a time of financial uncertainty, the Wilnecote School community pulled together and we raised over £1000. Thank you to all the families who gave generously. We raised this money through a combination of a non-school uniform day, a tutor group sweepstake and, arguably the highlight of the week, a staff dart’s tournament.

If you want to do something funny, ask for staff to volunteer to take part in a darts match! Over four days, 22 members of staff took part in the knockout stages with eight of them making it through to the final on Red Nose Day itself, Friday 17th March. Students were able to purchase tickets to come and watch their favourites. Staff played in pairings of their choice and took part in a match of 301 against the other teams. The rules stated that to win, a player needed to finish on a double. This proved a little too technical for almost all teams and we ended all but one match with a one dart, closest to the bullseye shot!!!!

Our teachers of the deaf, Mrs Williams and Mrs Turford, were the first to go through to the final beating Mr Faulds and Mrs Gillett.

The second knockout round saw the best entrance of the week from Mr Meer on his bike to join his arrows partner, Mrs Day. They competed against the very confident Vegemite duo, Mr Stevenson and Mr Croydon. Sadly their confidence gave way to pressure in the live match and saw the A-Team of Mrs Duffy and Mrs Smith not only take victory but also be the only team to finish on a double all week.

Day three was the turn of Mr Herbert and Miss Brolan vs Mr Simpson and Miss Dickins vs Mrs Whiffin and Mrs O’Connor. Of all the matches, this one felt the most risky. There were a number of darts that didn’t even land in the board and almost hit Mrs Ager whilst she was doing the scoring! The crowd got behind all teams before cheering Mr Herbert and Miss Brolan through to the final.

The last day of knockouts was no less entertaining. Mr Beck, partnered with Mr Garland, were a firm favourite with the crowd. It appeared that Mr Beck had a defined fan club that day which saw them through to victory and a place in the final. They took on the PE teachers that are Mr Doyle and Mrs Abbott as well as Mrs Marsland and Mr Savage. If we were giving out awards for the most creative and dramatic throws, it would most certainly go to Mrs Marsland. She launched those darts at the Board in the most interesting of ways, at one time using a run up, another time she balanced on one leg. She most certainly understood the assignment to do something funny for money!!!!

The final was therefore a four-way match between Mrs Williams and Mrs Turford vs Mrs Duffy and Mrs Smith vs Mr Herbert and Miss Brolan vs Mr Beck and Mr Garland. With full support from the crowd for all teams, lots of cheering, some high scoring darts and what felt like an eternity waiting for three of the four teams to finish on the double they needed, Mrs Willaims and Mrs Turford came back from very far behind to win the whole tournament with one dart in a closest to the bull decider.

Well done to the winning duo. They are now reigning champions and maybe we will make this an annual event for our staff giving them a chance to defend their title! The crowds of cheering students made it a great event and by buying their tickets, they added to the amount we raised for the number of people supported by Comic Relief.

Welcome to the Computing and IT department.

One of the big Computing stories of 2023 so far has been the rise of Artificial Intelligence, or AI. The sudden appearance of services such as ChatGPT and Midjourney have revolutionised the way people communicate with computers and generate text and image content for both personal and professional use. But in reality AI has been part of our lives for much longer than these services might suggest. Throughout Key Stage 3 and 4 students learn about a range of topics related to the ethical side of Computing, forming a large part of the Issues and Impact section of the Computer Science GCSE. In doing so, we look at both the good and bad sides of AI, and as time goes on the line between the two sides are becoming more and more hazy.

Despite the immense promise of newer AI technology, reliance on AI carries its own risks. I recently read a quote that sums up the current state of AI perfectly: “As we continue to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence, we must be mindful of the potential consequences of our actions. While the prospect of creating machines that surpass our own intelligence is exciting, it also carries a significant risk. We must approach this technology with caution, carefully considering its ethical implications and ensuring that we have the means to control it. Only then can we fully realise its potential to enhance and improve our lives."

And indeed, while it’s fun to be able to ask a computer to generate any picture you can imagine, or write entire pages of text on any topic you choose, there is a real risk that AI might end up being too intelligent for us to deal with. Facebook and Microsoft have both recently partly shut down their AI chat services over fears that it was getting out of control and forming its own opinions. AI has the potential to be extremely dangerous if not carefully monitored and controlled, but successfully balancing these risks with the ability to extract the more useful areas of the technology could lead to life changing breakthroughs.

Many of you will already have experienced AI in action. Some modern cars have AI-enhanced safety features, alerting drivers if a car is approaching from an awkward angle, or maintaining a safe distance to the vehicle in front. Self-driving cars are getting closer to reality, and you may be lucky enough to have been in a vehicle which reverses into a parking space for you. Smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home can learn what your voice sounds like and respond to you accordingly, and there are smart heating systems which can learn when you tend to leave the house and get home to tweak the heating automatically. Even coffee machines are getting in on the act, working out what time you tend to make your drinks in the morning and automatically preparing your morning caffeine intake. In the future this might lead to medical breakthroughs, improved transport efficiency and any number of time saving opportunities.

On the other side however is the growing list of concerns. A German artist recently won a world photography competition by entering an amazing photo that stunned the judges, only to later refuse the prize and admit he used an AI image generator to produce the photo. Artists and photographers are becoming more concerned with these programs reusing their images without permission, seemingly ignoring any idea of copyright in order to produce the required results. Writers are concerned that AI can produce perfectly readable stories, guides and technical texts. It can be incredibly hard to tell the difference sometimes, and if you needed any proof of that there’s an easy example right within this article: that quote I included earlier? It was totally made up by the ChatGPT AI program; I simply asked it to give me a made up quote about the risks of AI.

In the world of Computing 2023 will be remembered as the year AI woke up. The big question now is whether those behind this incredible technology can make sure we get the best out of it.

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.

Dear Parents/Carers

At The Wilnecote School, we understand that the rising cost of living is having a negative impact on the budgets of our families. We are beginning to see the impact of the crisis in the way our food provision service is used. We have every sympathy with those adversely affected by rising prices across food, petrol and energy bills, but the school is unable to sustain increased levels of debt incurred by some users of our restaurant. Simply put, if debts are incurred and not remedied it is the school budget which pays for them. This means that money which should be spent on the education of our students through the delivery of the curriculum, or to provide extracurricular activities, or to improve facilities, is used to pay for these individual debts. We are sure all parents/carers will agree that this is not acceptable or fair.

Therefore, we now have a strict DEBT policy relating to the school meal service.

Parents/carers of those children NOT in receipt of free school meals, must pay in advance for the school meals using their online Parent Pay account. Students will not routinely be allowed to access the food service if they do not have credit in their account. We understand that on rare occasions oversights can occur. Please be reassured that, if payment is genuinely forgotten, the school may grant a debt allowance of £3.00. However, this must be paid off before any further meal is provided. Whilst that debt of £3 remains, students will be unable to use the restaurant and therefore parents/carers must provide a packed lunch. In a case when the payment of the debt is not received nor a packed lunch provided, the office will phone the parent to ask them to remedy the situation by either placing credit on the account or making alternative arrangements.

For those children who are in receipt of Free School Meals, it is important to realise that students who are entitled to Free School Meals have a set daily budget of £2.41. This meal must be taken on the day. If the allowance is not used it is not rolled over to the following day. If the daily amount of £2.41 is exceeded, this becomes a debt which will need to be paid back.

If you believe your child(ren) may qualify for entitlement to Free School Meals, please contact office@wilnecotehighschool.org for more details. This allowance is a statutory right, and it is important that you use it if you qualify. We will help and support you all we can with your application. Please be aware that, although the policy will be applied from after the Easter holiday in 2023, any current outstanding debt is included within it and therefore any students with a debt on an account when they return after the Easter break will be unable to use the restaurant until all the full outstanding debt is cleared.

We believe by setting a date three months from now we are ensuring that there is enough time for all families to clear any outstanding debt, if you feel this is not the case, please contact office@wilnecotehighschool.org to arrange contact about an alternative solution.

For clarity, all current debt needs to be paid off before Monday 17th April 2023.

Any long-term debt on an account may impact upon access to and/or attendance at to other non-curricular school activities and events which have a charge. e.g., ski trip, prom etc.

We hope that by implementing this policy we are able to help our parents/carers (and students) manage their school dinner money more effectively (particularly given the current cost of living crisis) and at the same time ensure that all money in the school budget is used appropriately for the benefit of all.

If you have any concerns about how the policy will affect you or your family, please do not hesitate to contact the school using office@winecotehighschool.org.

Thank you for your co-operation in the matter and please be reassured that no student with a genuine need on any given day will be disadvantaged by this.

Yours faithfully

M Stevenson - Operations and Facilities Manager

L. Bingham - Senior Financial Manager

On the 3rd May 1942, The Nazis started to order Jews living in the Netherlands to wear a Jewish star. The Nazis had invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 and took over the country within 5 days. The Nazis had made it compulsory for Jews to wear the badge across all the countries they had occupied. It was the first step in the persecution of the Jews, making it easier to identify them. This eventually led to the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jewish people. The most famous Dutch victim of this genocide was Anne Frank. 18 years later, on May 3rd 1960, the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam was opened

On the 4th May 1961 CORE (an American Civil Rights campaign group) began the Freedom Rides from Washington DC. CORE organised people to ride on buses from the North to the South to test whether buses had been desegregated following the court judgement after the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the 1950s. In the most infamous incident, 7 black and 6 white freedom riders were attacked by the KKK when their bus reached Anniston. The KKK slashed the bus tyres, threw a firebomb into the bus and beat up the riders when they tried to escape. Over the summer there were 60 Freedom Rides. Eventually, President Kennedy said he would force states to desegregate if they did not do so. The southern states started to desegregate buses and the freedom rides ended.

And finally……on a less serious note…..for all you Toy Story fans……on May 1st 1952 the first Mr Potato Head went on sale! It was the first toy advertised on TV and cost $0.98. There was no body in the original; just the pieces (eyes, glasses etc) to push into a real potato.