Blog week ending 31st March

This week all year groups enjoyed a day out of the classroom, travelling to a range of destinations all chosen to provide our students with stimulating and fun adventures to enjoy with their peers.  Students took in famous London attractions, a country park and a castle!  I believe it’s our duty to give students the widest range of experiences possible so that they all have the chance to discover a new interest or to help find ‘their thing’.  Whilst trips with direct links to the curriculum are fantastic, helping students to enjoy and engage with the world can be one of the most important things we teach them.  A trip doesn’t always have to have an academic learning objective to have value.  Of equal value is the opportunity to build memories, provide new perspectives and support wellbeing!

Year 7 students visited London, either visiting the Science Museum or the London Eye and a River Cruise.  As you can see from the below photos the trips were a whirlwind of sightseeing and (managed!) explosions at the science museum!  Students at the science museum attended a Crash, Bang, Wallop session with experiments, bangs and fire to demonstrate why things burn; the fire triangle.

Our Year 8 students visited Trosley Country Park … and got hands on in a series of forestry challenges!  Park Rangers led students in the techniques to build a den, make and light a campfire and rustic pencil making!

Year 9 travelled to historic Leeds Castle for a day of historical exploration.  Students got lost in the maze(!), completed a picture challenge, visited the birds of prey and toured the castle.   

Our Year 10 students were on work experience, which forms part of their Careers Programme and provides them with valuable work-place experience in a range of settings to support their future pathways planning.

Feedback from companies was very positive and they enjoyed having the opportunity to work with our students. Some students have managed to secure follow up placements that will certainly help with apprenticeships.  Students worked on developing their employability skills during the day - they focussed on their communication, time management, punctuality, working in a team, using their initiative, being organised and problem solving. These all build upon the RIDES values that we support students to have in school.

Students unable to access work placements had the opportunity to hear talks from Group M (media company) and Coniston (construction company) to understand these industries as well as the routes into employment and hear from current apprentices so they could see what this might entail.

A huge well done to all Year 10.

Year 12 had a great time at the panic rooms!!  Students were in three teams at Enigma. Loop and Overload.

All teams showed great spirit in working together to solve problems and it was great to see the camaraderie among the group. It was a real pleasure to spend time with them - so well done Year 12!

Mrs Ogunlana, Head of Mathematics led a series of quizzes and maths games to celebrate World Maths Day.  Every year, World Maths Day is observed to motivate children all over the world to improve their arithmetic and problem-solving abilities.  The first World Maths Day was held on 14th March (3.14, or "Pi Day") 2007, and almost 300,000 students from 98 different countries participated in online competitive games centred around mental maths problems.  On World Maths Day in 2010, the World Record for the largest maths tournament was achieved, with 1,204,766 competitors from 235 nations around the world.

Our students took part in a range of interactive and tricky puzzles and calculations!  House points were awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Students were also nominated individual students for prizes for perseverance, engagement & good teamwork.

Our Year 7 Food Preparation and Nutrition students have been honing their baking skills!  Students have been learning about ‘aeration’ when cooking – the process of adding very tiny pockets of gas. In this case, students whisked the eggs and sugar to incorporate air which makes them lighter, and then folded in flour for an even mix.  The ‘Take it Further’ task challenges students to use their learned techniques and progress the recipe to create Jaffa cakes or produce a patterned Swiss roll.

Click here for strawberry & custard Jaffa cakes Liam Charles's Strawberry & Custard Jaffa Cakes - The Great British Bake Off | The Great British Bake Off

Click here for a polka dot Swiss roll! How to make a Rainbow Polka Dot Swiss Roll | Cupcake Jemma - YouTube

Congratulations to all students who won the Form Tutor Award and attended an achievements breakfast with myself and Assistant Head Teacher, Mrs Tiddy.  Every Year group was the given the opportunity to celebrate all they enjoy about Stone Lodge and provide feed-back and suggestions on potential improvements.

Comment from Year 8 – “In breakfast we talked about the positives and negatives of Stone Lodge School. We shared our thoughts and opinions of how we and others feel towards the school, thoughts such as homework, school periods, warning systems and the food. Mr Barnett shared his ways of helping our problems and all the positives. Me and the others enjoyed getting an opportunity to share our opinions and thoughts on our school environment.”

We were delighted to welcome Megan from Hochtief Murphy joint venture who spoke to Year 8 about the current Tennell project that is under way – the £1bn project will see the construction of a 32.5km tunnel to house electricity cables 30m underground stretching from Wimbledon to Crayford!  Megan gave an exciting account of the role of the engineers on the project and the many other roles and opportunities this and other construction industry projects offer.

Megan also delivered a bespoke session with Year 12 Engineers who were able to relate to the wide range of job roles that were possible in this industry.

She will be returning on 17^th April to talk with Year 9 and 10 to outline the range of apprenticeship routes that are possible. Students were really interested and engaged with the presentation.

PTFA Update.  New Event, Save the date!  Inflatables Fun Day at Brands Hatch Saturday 20th May.  Join us for a Sponsored Inflatable 5K obstacle course challenge!  All sponsorship monies go to support PTFA schemes in school benefiting our children’s learning experience!  For more details and to sponsor, Fundraiser by Marwa El-damanawi : The Stone Lodge School PTFA 5K Inflatables - 2023 (gofundme.com)

We would like to invite all parents and carers to a drug and alcohol awareness workshop by drug education charity the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation. This will be held on Thursday 27^th April 6.00-7.30pm and led by the Foundation’s Founder and Director - Fiona Spargo-Mabbs.

The world for young people is a very different place than it was for their parents, including in their vulnerability to risk from drugs and alcohol, and this workshop provides a great opportunity for you as a parent or carer to become more aware of what issues face your children, and what you can do to help them stay safe. 

The workshop will involve finding out about:
 

• levels of young people’s exposure to drugs and alcohol – what, where, when and how
• what young people, and their parents and carers, need to know about the risks of drugs and alcohol
• factors that affect young people’s decisions about drugs and alcohol, including teenage brain development
• how to have effective conversations with your child, and practical suggestions for what you can do to support them to stay safe
• where to go for more information and support.

The DSM Foundation was set up by Fiona and Tim Spargo-Mabbs in 2014 after the tragic death of their 16-year-old son Daniel as a result of taking ecstasy (www.dsmfoundation.org.uk). The aim of the charity is to support young people to make safe choices about drugs, and they work with students, teachers, parents/carers and professionals in schools, colleges and community organisations across the UK.

Fiona has become a leading UK expert on drug education, including how parents can best support their children. She has spoken to parents and carers across the UK and internationally and is regularly asked to speak by the media.  You can see her on Channel 5 news here talking about her book for parents ‘I Wish I’d Known’ (Sheldon Press) available via the DSM Foundation’s website, Amazon or other retailers.

She is author of two books for parents, ‘I Wish I’d Known – Young People, Drugs and Decisions’ (Sheldon Press, 2021) and ‘Talking the Tough Stuff with Teens’ (Sheldon Press, 2022)

Play Place will be delivering two HAF programmes over Easter providing a range of activities, food and fun. The programme is designed for young people in years six and above for young people who are currently accessing free school meals. Parents who wish to sign up for their child will receive a voucher code from your school and information about how to sign up.  For more information email info@playplace.org 

Forthcoming Dates

Start of Term 5 – Monday 17^th April

Vaccinations Year 9 plus Year 10 catch-up – Wednesday 26^th and Thursday 27^th April

May Bank Holiday – Monday 1^st May

Year 10 Trip to Berlin, History & Engineering – Tuesday 2^nd May-Thursday 4^th May

May Bank Holiday for Coronation of King Charles – Monday 8^th May

Last Day of Term – Friday 26^th May

 

Best wishes,

 

Gavin Barnett

Head Teacher