th

Issue No: 787

Date: 16 October 2015

Sixth Form Open Evening Thank you to all parents, carers and students who came to visit our Open Evening on Wednesday 14th October. We do hope that you found the evening beneficial and that it has helped you to clarify how we can help you to get the most out of the incredibly important years of Sixth Form education between the ages of 16-19. The next steps for applicants are:  Apply before 27th November  Choose three or four subjects  Apply online or use the paper application in our prospectus  Full details of our offer for students is available on our website We very much look forward to hearing from you.| Mr White Enrichment Excellence at Wellsway School As we rapidly approach the end of a very busy first term, I wanted to thank all colleagues and students who have led and contributed to our outstanding extracurricular enrichment programme this term. This week we will celebrate, in particular, the efforts of the Performing & Visual Art and PE teams. Our new leader for music, Ms I Mclean, is reinvigorating the music department with extra-curricular groups and clubs is throughout the week. Please see an edition of the Ammonite from earlier this month where Ms Mclean outlines the current enrichment offer for students (). During lunchtime our music practice rooms are full and peripatetic music lessons have increased. It was my pleasure to witness over sixty-five students and staff taking part in the whole school choir this week at Thursday lunchtime. Details of a song writing competition will be announced soon. In Drama, the team have led theatre visits for Years 10, 11, 12 and 13, offering opportunities to see a broad range of styles and genres with well over one hundred students involved so far this term. Into the future, the Performing & Visual Art team will be leading a Year 9 cultural visit to London to visit the National Gallery and to see a matinee of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in mid-November with over one hundred and twenty students involved. Those students who do not attend will be involved in a day of enrichment activities related to the arts here at school. More details on this will be available in next week's Ammonite. Key Stage Three Drama Club will be launched in Term 2 and will be led by our superb Sixth Form Drama Ambassadors. Future editions of the Ammonite will contain more information on this. Our Year 13 students have embarked on rehearsals for the National Theatre Connections project with a performance at The Bristol Old Vic in November as a pre-cursor to a possible performance at The National Theatre in London. We are also planning a combined venture with Music, Drama and the wider Sixth Form, to take some outreach work to two local care homes which will involve some of our very able Key Stage Three students. On Tuesday after school, we hold our weekly Art Club as well as having very busy Art Rooms at lunchtimes for all year groups. Life Drawing classes for Sixth Form are also well underway this term. The picture is equally healthy in our PE team who will have played approximately forty fixtures against a range of state and independent schools by the end of Term 1. These fixtures have included boys and girls matches across a range of sports (rugby, football, netball and hockey primarily) and have varied from friendly matches and local tournaments to English Schools’ Football competitions . All age groups have had fixtures from 7 to 13 and a great deal of enjoyment has been had by all. This week we also held our school cross country event which was open to all students.| Mr White

Meeting of the Parent Carer Forum Thursday 22nd October 2015 6.30-8.00pm in the Sixth Form Centre Please attend if you would like to offer feedback on or find out more about any of the following:  Insight Parent Portal & Sleuth Behaviour Tracking Software  Attitude to Learning grades as displayed on reports/reviews this year  Changes at GCSE: The move from numbers to grades  What do we do on Training days and benefits to schools | Mr White Dates for the Diary Parent/Carer and Student ‘Need to Know’ Dates Year

Activity

Date

Venue and Start Time

All Year Groups

Parent/Carer Forum (1)

22/10

6.30pm Sixth Form Common Room

Last Day of Term 1

23/10

Term Ends at 2.45pm

Inset Day

2/11

First Day of Term 2

3/11

PTA Craft & Gift Fair

8/11

12.00-4.00pm

HPV Vaccinations HPV Vaccinations

21/10 21/10

Old Gym Studio, 9.00am-12.05pm

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Year 8 and 9 HPV Immunisations On Wednesday 21st October, all Year 8 girls are being offered the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). All Year 9 girls are being offered their second HPV immunisation (or first if they did not receive it in Year 8). Please will all parents/carers ensure they have completed the consent forms and returned them as soon as possible. The return date was Friday 9th October. It is essential that a form is received for every girl regardless of whether you wish to consent or decline. Please ensure that the girls wear vest tops or T-shirts under their school shirts and eat a good breakfast prior to their immunisations. If you have any questions about the immunisation or your daughter is anxious, then please contact Reception at Wellsway School and they will take a message and forward this to me. Thank you | Mrs F McGlynn, Specialist School Nurse Year 11 GCSE Maths – Extra Support There is now an additional support session available after school for any students wishing to get some extra help with their GCSE maths. Foundation tier students can get extra help on a Tuesday (room 23) Higher tier students can get the extra help on a Wednesday (rom23) Hope to see as many there as possible… | Mr Ewins KeynshamNow Address Bullying On Tuesday 13th October three Wellsway students who are members of KeynshamNow (Keynsham's Youth Council) met with the Deputy Headteacher at Chandag School to discuss issues of bullying when they were in their Primary Schools. Alanya Ryles, Mitch Hamer and Bryn Allen shared memories of how bullying was dealt with in their Primary Schools and made some recommendations about how they thought bullying should be dealt with in Primary Schools. The members of KeynshamNow plan to visit other Keynsham Primary Schools to play an active part in Anti-Bullying Week which starts on Monday 16th November. Congratulations to Alayna, Mitch and Bryn for representing the school on this Youth Council and we wish them success in their continued roles. | Mrs Riddoch Music Department Exciting News: We are delighted that our application to receive a grant from EMI Sound Foundation was successful. We have put this money towards the purchase of a set of Brazilian Samba Drums. We will be launching a club in the near future (once the drums have arrived) for KS3. No drumming experience necessary, just a willingness to hit a drum, and join in the fun! Our Soul/Funk band is going from strength to strength. It’s lovely to be welcoming students who have never been part of the Music Department extra-curricular activities before. We’ve been particularly impressed with the way students are learning pieces by ear. In our rehearsal this week the drummers got to play on the brand new drum kit which is superb! Both our Year 7 choir

(Monday lunchtimes) and whole school choir (Thursday lunchtimes) continue to grow. My thanks to everyone who has been attending – new members are still welcome! Dates for your diary – The Christmas Concert will be on Monday 14th December and Tuesday 15th December. If anyone wants to be involved in this concert, do make sure you attend extra-curricular clubs now! It will also feature the winner of the House Song Writing Competition. Practice Rooms – The Practice Rooms are open for all musicians at break and lunch. There is a sign up (every Friday for the following week) sheet to ensure everyone who wants to use them has a chance. GCSE Musicians – don’t forget to use this as extra practice time. Piano Lessons – Please note that our piano teacher is now teaching on a Friday, instead of a Monday. The new timetable is in Student Support and near the Music Office. And finally, the BBC has just launched a national music education film called Ten Pieces. It introduces ten classical pieces, including a piece for DJ and turntable. Every KS3 class will be watching this film and creating some music inspired by the performances. We’re really looking forward to hearing our students get creative! | Miss McLean Inter-House Song Writing Competition Attention all budding song writers!!! Here is your opportunity to show your skills by entering the brand new Inter-House Song Writing Competition. There will be five House Competition points awarded to all good quality entries and prizes and additional points for the best KS3 and KS4 entries. The theme for the competition is Winter/Christmas. All songs must be recorded on mp3 and e-mailed to [email protected]. The deadline for entries is Monday 20th November. If you require any additional information about the competition please talk to Ms McLean or Mr Mills. Good Luck! | Mrs Riddoch

SPORTS SECTION Regional Biathlon Well done to Ellie and Georgia Gussey again this week who competed last weekend at Millfield in the Regional Biathlon representing Wellsway School. Georgia achievede 5th overall in her age group with a PB in the run. This has secured Georgia a place in the National Biathlon at Solihull, as well as the National Schools’ Biathlon to be held at Crystal Palace next March. Ellie finished 8th overall in her age group. She also achieved a PB in the run and managed to knock an amazing twenty seconds off of her time from her run last week. Ellie is waiting to hear if she has qualified for a place in the National Biathlon. Well done girls – we are very proud of your continued success! | Miss Mitchell Under 16 Rugby v Chew Valley On Thursday 8th October the Year 11 rugby team played their second game of the season against Chew Valley School. This was always going to be a difficult encounter, with both teams having the potential to score a lot of points. It was the away team who took a lead of 12-0 into half-time. The second half was very competitive although again it was Chew Valley who increased their score. Final Score Wellsway 0 – 31 Chew Valley. Both teams where highly competitive throughout. A number of players provided a good performance including Ollie Yarde and Ben Fleming; the Man of the Match award went to Charlie Harris. | Mr Evans Year 8/Under 13 Rugby Wellsway v St Gregory's Wellsway U13s continued their fine form scoring eight unanswered tries against a brave St Gregory’s side. Harvey Baker grabbed the first try with a trademark jinking run, with Charlie Hodges scoring the extras with the first of five conversions in the game. Wellsway continued to press and despite valiant defending from St Gregory’s were able to score three more tries before half time through Oli O’Sullivan, Max Seward and Charlie Morris. Half time score 0 -28. Wellsway tried to spread the ball wider in the second half but found it hard against a committed defence, several strong carries from player of the match Joss Crang set up a platform for Isaac Palmer to score. Joss then scored a well-deserved try of his own busting through several tackles from two metres out. The final play saw Charlie Morris carrying multiple defenders with him to score his second of the game. Final score St Gregory's 0 - 45 Wellsway. Wellsway U13s play Oldfield in the B&NES Cup on Tuesday 20th October at home before travelling to Chew Valley on Thursday. | Mr Ive Year 9/Under 14 Rugby Wellsway v St Gregory's After three defeats, but with a squad that is nearing full strength after a string of injuries, Wellsway Year 9 Rugby team got their season up and running with a comprehensive 21-7 victory against St. Gregory’s. In a game which Wellsway always had control of, they played with excellent continuity and kept possession of the ball with an effective support and offloading game. The forwards Anderson Hunt, Dan Fletcher, Joe Wright, Tom Gould, Zak Greatorex, Charlie Cushing, Ollie Golding and James Davis worked tirelessly around the park to ensure Wellsway had quick ball at the breakdown. This provided a great platform for Wellsway to unleash their runners in the backline. Archie Terry and Tom Campbell pulled the strings from half backs, to put Ben Clarke, Joe Vaughan, Sam Bishop, Olly Baxter and Josh Blackmore into space and over the gain line. This great attack play was rewarded with three great team tries finished off by Archie Terry and Sam Bishop x2, conversions came from Tom Campbell x 2 and Joe Vaughan. A great team performance lads! We welcome Oldfield to Wellsway on Tuesday. | Mr Ive Under 16 Rugby v St Gregory's The Year 11 rugby team returned to action on Thursday 15th October and were clearly determined to get back to winning ways. Learning from previous mistakes, Wellsway took control of the game and scored a try through Lewis Britton, converted by Ben Whiteman. The home team heaped the pressure on the St Gregory's defence and were rewarded in the first half with trys from Ryan Down, a second for Lewis Britton, and Ben Whiteman. Ben also adding a further two conversions. The second half saw Wellsway increase the creativity and intensity and added further tries from Ben Whiteman, Ben Fleming (2) and Charlie Harris. Ben Whiteman and Ben Fleming providing the team with a conversion each. An excellent performance from the Year 11 team, who

demonstrated strong teamwork and the determination to keep improving. Final score Wellsway 50 - 0 St Gregory's. Man of the Match: Ben Fleming. | Mr Evans U14 Netball v King Edward’s School On Monday evening we travelled to King Edward's School in Bath, knowing we were going to come up against one of the strongest teams in the area. KES were dominant in the first quarter and pulled away further by half time. The Wellsway team however went from strength to strength and pulled back to a very respectable score of 9-16. Meg Stratton was exceptional in the defence, consistently intercepting passes and putting huge pressure on their shooters. Congratulations also to Dionne Oliver who was voted Player of the Match by the opposition. | Mrs Riddoch Netball at King Edward’s School The U18 and U16 netball squads also travelled to King Edward’s School this week to play against exceptionally strong opposition ahead of the District Tournaments coming up in the next few weeks. The U18 team put on a tremendous performance against a very successful KES team and although we were defeated, were delighted with the final score of 10-12. The U16s managed to secure a 12-8 win even though the opposition were significantly stronger than most local teams. Congratulations to Millie Stanford who was deservedly voted Player of the Match by the opposition. | Mrs Riddoch Netball Success for Junior Teams Tuesday evening saw another clean sweep of victories for Wellsway teams against Writhlington School. All three teams put in excellent performances and it is a real pleasure to see them develop as the season is progressing. The results and Players of the Match were as follows: Year 9 Won 15-7 (Meg Stratton) Year 8 Won 18-3 (Addy Newbury) Year 7 Won 20-5 (Grace Warren) | Mrs Riddoch U16 Girls’ Hockey v Writhlington School Well done to the U16 girls’ hockey team this week. Another excellent game which resulted in a 0-0 draw against another strong opposition. With a strong turnout to this fixture I am so impressed with the commitment and the improvements we are making. Our Players of the Match were Freya Money and Ellie Martin. Well done to all involved! | Miss Mitchell Under 13 Football v Gillingham School (National Schools’ Cup) On Monday 12th October, the Year 8 football team travelled to Gillingham School in Dorset for their second round game in the National Schools’ Cup. Wellsway started the better of the two teams, with Patrick Elliot scoring after ten minutes. This seemed to motivate the home team who scored three quick goals before half time to lead 1-3. A change of formation and improved focus saw Wellsway quickly add a second goal through Patrick Elliott and with only a couple of minutes remaining, Charlie Morris scored the equaliser. A very hard fought extra time saw both teams come close, but the score remained 3-3. Penalties decided the result and it was the home team who won 3-2, with Henry Shortridge and Emile Henry scoring for Wellsway and Ben Ewins making many good saves throughout the game. Man of the Match: Henry Shortridge. | Mr Evans