NEWSLETTER - Cherwell School

Year Group News
Year 7
Year 7 will soon be Year 8 and that first day at secondary school seems
an awful long time ago. They have continued their fantastic start to their
Cherwell School careers. The number of class teachers that regularly take
time out to comment on how enthusiastic, hard working and committed
the tutor groups are is unbelievable.
Since taking over the temporary leadership reins from Miss Harris
just before the Easter break, I have been taken aback by the effort,
determination and fantastic team spirit within each and every tutor group.
Whenever I have a chance to walk through the year group’s lessons, I
am truly amazed by the quality, and the pride that each student takes in
completing their best work possible; from Science to Art to English, in
every classroom Year 7s are producing some outstanding work.
There have been many individual and collective achievements; far too
many to mention but I will attempt to list a few that spring to my mind.
Sporting achievements have come thick and fast with successful boys
and girls football teams, and individual success in the County Athletics
Championships. We have also had the first batch of future GB rowers go
through a five week training programme with Hinksey Sculing School; it
was just great to see the progress from unbalanced and uncoordinated to
students racing each other in their boats.
Singing and performing have also been at the forefront of many students’
minds with some fantastic CGT prize winners, all of which did the year
group proud. As well as these achievements members of the year group
were key players in the successful Gospel Choir.
Lots of students have had a whole host of opportunities that they have
snapped up with both hands including both coarse and fly fishing trips
which were just superb.
Time should be spent this summer reflecting upon what has been a great
1st year at The Cherwell School but also looking forward to what I am
sure will be an even better Year 8. Well done!
Year 8
Neil Busby & Fiona Boland
This has been an excellent time for Year 8. On an almost daily basis we
are receiving emails from staff informing us of excellent behaviour and
learning in lessons.
During the last two terms the year group have been inundated with
opportunities and the vast majority have taken advantage of these. Several
students were dance leaders for Year 6 pupils at a recent festival, a large
number of Year 8s are in the Gospel Choir and another group of students
are hard at work rehearsing for the Singer of the Year competition. Our
Base students are currently preparing an exhibition and open day for
their parents. Arts Evening saw Year 8s involved both through music and
performances from the Year 8 Commedia drama club.
In addition to this, a large number have excelled in numerous sporting
events. They are a brilliant year group and we have thoroughly enjoyed
working with them.
Year 9
Year 9 have had a busy time over the past two terms. In May they sat their
end of Key Stage 3 Exams in Maths, English and Science. These exams
replaced the old SATs papers and were of the same style, providing
a good indication of progress over the Key Stage. Students received
their results in a ‘results day’ type format – a very exciting foretaste of
the GCSE results in the years to come. Other subjects have completed
assessments in lessons and a full report is being produced for the start of
July.
We have, once again, had great success in sport, most notably in football
where our boys and girls teams both won the County Final. Students
have shown a huge amount of commitment to competing for the school
in cricket, basketball, cycling, athletics, and many other sports, and we
congratulate them all on their successes.
Forty-two students were selected for their consistently excellent effort
to go away on a weekend of adventure activities in Wales: climbing,
kayaking, archery and the zip wire were all fantastic, but a real highlight
was the hike through the Welsh hills with Mr Davies! We are proud of all
our students who try hard consistently in school, and it was great to be
able to reward some of them in this way.
The end of term will continue to be busy, with our end of Key Stage trip
to Thorpe Park for the whole year group, drama workshops in PSHE, and
GCSE courses which have already started in some subjects. We are really
proud of the way Year 9 have conducted themselves this year and look
forward to taking them over to North Site in September.
Key Stage 4
Martha Hawes and Kim Young
Despite the relentless examination process that is now Key Stage 4 we
have been impressed with our students’ ability to cope with the stresses
of examinations and yet still be enthusiastic participants in a myriad
of events both in and outside of school. This flies in the face of the
stereotypical image of disaffected ‘hoodies’ reported by the press. So,
congratulations to all our Key Stage 4 students, you are a credit to the
school and should be justifiably proud of all your achievements this year.
Year 10
The year has flown by for Year 10 in a flash – busy, busy, busy! The
emphasis has definitely been on exams this year and they have now
successfully completed many GCSE exams, including ISAs in Science,
modules in Maths and Short Course Citizenship to mention but a few.
Students have behaved sensibly and maturely through this busy year
and it has been a pleasure to see them blossom and thrive, despite the
pressures and stresses exams can bring. We look forward to their results
in August.
We have had many individual and group successes throughout the year,
both in and out of school. For example, Endurance, our male dance group
were joint winners of our CGT back in March; many congratulations to
them. We have had the pleasure of watching them perform in assembly
Jacqui Cheetham and Jacqui Wells