Wheatley Park School
Headteacher's Message By the time you are reading this, many of you will be aware of my decision that after over 11 years of Headship it is time for me to make a change and leave Wheatley Park. I have given Governors notice that I intend to leave at the end of December 2016. It has not been an easy decision; I love working at this school, and always come to work feeling a sense of anticipation and interest. The students are a joy to work with and it is a huge privilege to see them growing from children to adulthood, becoming responsible and committed learners with bright futures. And you all know how exceptional the staff are at Wheatley Park. I have a team of deeply committed and skillful senior colleagues and a wider team that is full of warmth, intelligence and a generosity of spirit that is second to none. As a body of parents and carers you, too, have been great partners in your child’s learning and a real source of strength for the school. I will miss all of these people. I am confident that the school has strong foundations and a bright future, and that this is an important moment. We are entering into a strong and open partnership in River Learning Trust; alongside The Cherwell School and the other member schools, our community will be able to contribute and to share great benefits. My successor will enjoy the support of this strong network as well as having the chance to work with an excellent and capable Governing Body at WPS. It will be a platform for excellence. You may be wondering why I am leaving and what I will do next. I have no fixed plans yet, but want to make a change while I have professional energy and curiosity, and to regain a balance in my life. I hope to have more time for my family, for travel and for pursuing a range of interests. I feel that the time is right for me and for the school. The Governors are already preparing the recruitment process to find a new Headteacher. In the meantime I remain utterly committed to my work and look forward to the next six months, a time which I shall relish. Class of 2016 all set for success Before we know it, our purple zone learners have become exam candidates! The exam season is upon us and we are doing all we can to train, encourage and support our brain athletes, so that on the big day they can put in a top performance and walk away from the exam room with pride. From Curry on Revising to Saturday Learning, to Dawn French, there are a thousand ways in which we have worked collaboratively to give our students the best possible chances in the exam season. I want to recognise the fantastic attitudes shown by the students in all years.... exam halls this summer have so far been calm, well organised and so focused that you can almost hear the brains humming. Many parents tell me how much they appreciate the extraordinary lengths that staff go to to ensure success; we are proud of what we do, and in turn we salute the parents for their patience and partnership. We are hopeful of some very impressive results, but whatever the results in August, we are proud of the collective efforts of all at Wheatley Park. A spirited school: running, singing and travelling. Any sensible person knows that exam results are important (very important) but that a school is so much more than the sum of its exam scores. Wheatley Park has been full of spirited activity recently, which you will read about inside this newsletter. Our Year 9 students were praised for their dignity and respect when visiting the World War 1 Battlefields recently, in what was an unforgettable experience for them; our cricketers and athletes have been competing all around the county; our Glee Choir performed beautifully for new parents; and our Soul Band are preparing to entertain the villagers in June. Most spirited of all was our huge team of well over 70 runners in the Oxford Town and Gown 10K run, which took place in bright sunshine on May 15th. The Sixth Formers learned how to be fit, how to seek a challenge and complete it and how to support a team... and in the process we raised over £1000 for MDUK. Ms Kate Curtis Headteacher
Term 5 Bulletin May 2016
We went to Lulworth to complete our GCSE Geography fieldwork. We got to practice the skills we had been learning in class to collect data on the economic impacts of tourism on Lulworth Cove. We looked at the shops and how they sell some items for more money because it has lots of tourists. We looked at how much traffic there was in the area and the good things about this, like more people means more money would be spent in Lulworth; but the bad things about it was that there was not much space to park. We looked at other things like what jobs people are able to do in the area and the house prices. We stayed at a youth hostel and had lots of fun with our friends during the evening. We are now writing up our findings in class and going on the trip has helped me to improve my geographical skills. Year 10 Geography Student
GEOGRAPHY Trip to Lulworth 2016
HISTORY - BELGIUM BATTLEFIELDS TRIP 22nd -24th April
In April we took 30 Year 9 students to the Belgian Battlefields. The trip, eagerly anticipated by both students and staff, runs regularly and follows on from the students learning of World War 1 at the beginning of Year 9. The first day was mainly travelling, which included a three hour stop due to a flat tyre! We arrived at our accommodation, an education centre called the ‘Peace Village’ which focuses on providing accommodation and resources for school groups who come to visit the battlefields from around the world. The students had the night to settle in, play football and pool before going to bed ready for an early start the next day. After a restful Sunday, we began our tour of the Battlefields, and on Monday focussed on the Somme area in Northern France. Having studied this in detail during lesson time it was a good opportunity for students to experience and witness for themselves the horrific conditions the soldiers lived in. We began by visiting a Canadian Centre and battlefield near their war memorial, Vimy Ridge. Here students were able to walk round preserved trenches to get a feel of the environment soldiers would have been fighting in. We also had the opportunity for a guided tour through some communication tunnels, which would have linked different trenches together to help soldiers travel safely. After this we visited the War Memorial that commemorates all of the known and unknown Canadian soldiers that died in battle. Designed with figures that represent peace, fallen soldiers and Canada it is a moving focal point against the backdrop of the trenches and forests behind. Following this we went on to Thiepval, a memorial for British and South African Forces that died in the Battle of the Somme. The memorial has over 70,000 names of missing soldiers engraved into the red and white brick, and behind has gravestones for bodies and known soldiers. In preparation for the centenary remembrance services for the Battle of the Somme, the memorial was being renovated and so we weren’t able to see it up close, however, it gave us a chance to look round the museum which contained artefacts and pictures from the Battle. Near to this, and our next visit, was Lochnagar Crater, which is the biggest man made crater from World War 1. This crater was made when a mine went off to signal the start of the Battle of the Somme, and the blast was reportedly heard in London. Just as it began to rain we headed to Newfoundland Park, another Canadian War Centre which was one of the first sights to encounter gas attacks in the War. This visit brought home the international impact of the war as countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and two Scottish regiments are remembered through individual gravestones and larger dedicated memorials such as the Caribou that sits near the entrance to the park. In the evening we headed into Ypres centre and the Menin Gate, where every night at 8pm the last post is played in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in the war. We didn’t realise that the Monday was Anzac Day, a day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand soldiers and their families. We joined a large crowd to take part in the service, and four students were chosen to partake in the service by laying wreath of remembrance. The service was moving and included national anthems from both countries, and singers from both cultures sang as the wreaths were being laid. The service ended with a haka, performed by soldiers and officials of the New Zealand army; something that none of us were expecting or will probably ever forget! The following day, we spent more time in Belgium and the Ypres area, and began the day by visiting Sanctuary Wood. This had a collection of personal items, pictures and weapons on display in a small museum and then trenches which have been left in nearly the same condition as when the war ended. We were able to walk round the trenches, through the tunnels and have a more first hand experience of what life would have been like. The site gained its name as being a relatively quiet spot of the frontline until one particularly brutal battle, and visitors can now lay poppies at shelled tree in remembrance of those that died there. We then visited the In Flanders Field Museum in Ypres centre. The museum was interactive, with different videos, personal stories and artefacts on display to engage us and take us through the different aspects and stages of the war. Before moving onto our final two historical sites, we stopped by the much anticipated chocolate shop! The owners were waiting for us with deals and bargains galore, and students left with their hands full of treats for family and friends back home. Our penultimate site was the Tyne Cot Cemetery near Passchendale. The memorial alone has the names of over 30,000 missing troops engraved on the white stone, and the cemetery has gravestones for around 20,000 named and unnamed soldiers from the Battle of Passchendale. Here the students had the opportunity to look for names of relatives and some were able to find the names of presumed or known relatives. In complete contrast to this, we finished with a trip to Langemarck German Cemetery. Here soldiers didn’t have their own gravestone and in total the cemetery has over 40,000 bodies buried, the majority in a mass grave. Students were struck by the difference between the two cemeteries, and many felt that the German graves were like those of criminals. This was our last visit of the trip and from there we made our way back to the ferry. The students that came were impeccably behaved the entire time we were away, and demonstrated a mature and respectful attitude in all of our visits. The trip was a memorable one, and something that students will hopefully remember for many years to come. Miss L Ette History Teacher
Images from Millie Gill (9CNU) and Joe Watson (9RLA)
YOUNG ENTERPRISE
Harriet Kimber-Nickelson (who won Third Prize overall) with her winning entry.
After competing in the Young Enterprise City & Central Final, our two Young Enterprise teams (Nova and Ignite) are now officially closing their companies. Both teams have done amazingly well to reach this stage of the competition and we are incredibly proud of them. Since November they have secured investment from shareholders and then chosen, manufactured, marketed and sold products or services at Trade Fairs across the county. Our two teams reached the Area Final on Wednesday 20th May. Up against teams from 9 other teams from Cherwell School, The Oxford Academy and 5 Oxfordshire independent schools. Our teams had to present their products one final time to the judges and then deliver a presentation to an audience of about 150 people telling the story of their journey. While our teams didn’t make it to the County Final on this evening they did scoop 3 of the special awards and were the only state funded school to win any: Nova, led by Managing Director Matthew Ashley, walked away with the award for ‘Most Innovative Product/Service’. Ignite, led by Managing Director Sophie Newell were thrilled to win ‘Best Presentation’. And perhaps most notably Ignite’s IT Director, Oscar Lindenbaum, was awarded the award for ‘Outstanding Personal Contribution to the Young Enterprise Programme’. This award is given each year to the student who has been on an outstanding journey and whose contribution has been recognised by judges and Young Enterprise Staff. I’d like to thank Mr George and Dr Ferguson for their help with this year’s programme and our Business Advisor, Mandy Best of Best Financials, for all of their help. Thank you to both of the teams involved and remember - there is still a wild card for the County Finals! Mr Bateman Head of Technology and Enterprise
YOUNG ART AT OXFORD
Congratulations to Year 9 art student Harriet Kimber-Nickelson, Scarlet Thomas, Keziah Whittingham and Nikisha Garrett who all had their artworks selected for the Young Art Oxford Exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in May. The theme of this year's exhibition, held in aid of Cancer Research UK, was 'What Makes Me Laugh'. Young Art Oxford is an annual art exhibition open to all Oxfordshire schools with children from any year group from Reception to Year 9. It is a wonderful opportunity for young aspiring artists to have their work judged by well known professionals and artists and to exhibit at the prestigious Ashmolean Museum.
Please scroll through the gallery online (5 photos)
Old Holton House Conference afternoon and William Crotch Painting Presentation On an unseasonably hot Saturday at the beginning of May we welcomed over 70 invited guests and ‘Friends’ to the Holton Park Archive for the afternoon to celebrate a considerable donation that was being given to the collection by Mr Mark Hassall, formerly of Wheatley Manor. Before that happened there were talks about the ‘Bromes of Holton’ by Marilyn Yurdan , and ‘Jane Whorwood’ by John Fox (both on the right), great friends of the school and the archive. The house that once stood on the island can be seen from its north or main entrance in this print from 1787. You have to imagine you are standing opposite the stables and looking across the island to this view. Our current’ Old House’ is today situated behind this house on the other side of the moat in what was the old kitchen garden of the medieval house on the island. The new view of the rear of the house on the island can be seen here in this newly discovered painting by William Crotch painted in 1803, and as Crotch says, ‘shortly before demolition’. This wonderful painting of the medieval rear of the house was the highlight of the afternoon. Mark Hassall pictured here is shown handing over the painting to me during the afternoon. Mark found the painting in a catalogue , a week after I had first discovered it online, and within that time span he had decided to buy the painting for the school archive and give it to us. This representation of the house fills a gap in our visual and architectural knowledge about the old moated house where Jane Whorwood lived, and kept arms and gold for Charles I during the English civil war, and where also, Cromwell’s daughter Bridget, was married to Henry Ireton during the last days of the siege of Oxford in 1646. The view you can see here has to be imagined from the bottom corner of moat road, just before you turn towards the drama studio, and looking along the moat towards the ‘Monet’ bridge that crosses the water now. It also shows that there was a part of the outbuildings that actually went right down to the water line, and we had no idea that this had existed before seeing this painting. It is very likely that this watercolour by Crotch had spent most of the last two hundred and thirteen years in an artist’s folder, as when it was originally sold as a ‘job lot’ in a Banbury auction in December 2014 it had been unframed. It just proves that new material can quite often come to light when you least expect it. Sam Baker (a former student - now Head of Music at Taunton Prep School) also joined us for the day and played one of Crotch's compositions as he was not only an artist, but more famously a child prodigy composer, Heather Professor of Music at Oxford and first Presidents of the Royal Academy of Music. Our next aim for the school archive and museum is to achieve a permanent home in the old pony stables and garages behind the Drama Studio. A heritage Lottery application will be ready to submit before the end of the summer term and we would like to thank especially two of our parents for doing so much work towards this project, Mr Rupert Carruthers of ‘ARK’ architects and Mr Lewis Taylor, of Taylors of Wheatley. Without their support and voluntary contributions of their valuable time and expertise we would not be at this stage. If we can achieve a permanent home for our unique and growing collection it will enable many more students to access the collection during lessons, and in our Young Archaeologists sessions after school every Tuesday. If you would like to find out more about the collection please go to www.holtonparkarchive.com and if you think you might have anything that would benefit from having a home in the archive about the park and the school please contact kheritage@wheatleypark.org. Kevin Heritage Estate and Facilities Manager
ARCHIVES OPEN DAY Saturday 7th May 2016
WEEK
END OF TERM 5, 12.15pm
Mon 06.06.16
BEGINNING OF TERM 6, WEEK 2
National GCSE, AS/A2 continue until 27.06.16
Tue 07.06.16
Full Governors Meeting, 7pm
Wed 08.06.16
Year 8 Immunisation catch up
Thu 09.06.16
Year 9 Parents' Evening, JMC, 4.30-7.30pm
Mon 13.06.16
Year 12 A2 courses begin
Tue 14.06.16
UCAS Year 12 Parents' Information Evening, SFC
Wed 15.06.16
Year 12 Futures Day
Nanoscience Begbroke Science Park Trip
Fri 17.06.16
Year 12 Reading University Open Day
Mon 20 - Wed 22.06.16
OBEA Youlbury Residential Trip
Wed 22.06.16
Theatre Goers Trip to 'Kinky Boots'
'Choose Success' Event for Parents of Year 10 Students
Thu 23.06.16
Laurie Hedges Piano Recital Students Concert, Main Hall, 6.30pm
Fri 24.06.16
Sixth Form Leavers Dinner
Tue 28.06.16
Year 6 Home School Interviews, 6-8pm, JMC
Wed 29.06.16
Wed 29 - Sat 02.07.16
Sands Theatre School Show
Year 4/5 Open Morning, 9am - 12noon
Year 11 Ball
Wed 29 - Sun 03.07.16
DoE Gold Expedition
Thu 30.06.16
Toplink Primary Sports, 8.30am - 2pm
Fri 01.07.16
Sixth Form Induction Day
Art Show, Old House, 5.30pm followed by Concert at 7.30pm
Mon 04.07.16
Year 9 GCSE Geography Field Work Visit
Tue 05.07.16
Sports Day 1
Wed 06.07.16
Sports Day 2
Thu 07.07 .16
Year 6 Transition Day 1
WPS Awards Evening, 7.30-9pm, Main Hall
Fri 08.07.16
Year 6 Transition Day 2
Mon 11 - Fri 15.07.16
Year 12 Careers/Work Experience week
Tue 12 - Thu 14.07.16
Year 7 Camp
Tue 12.07.16
Full Governors meeting
Wed 13 - 14.07.16
Big Learning Days 2 and 3
Fri 15.07.16
END OF TERM 6, 12.15pm
CALENDAR AND EVENTS