Contents

Date: 6 January 2017
Mr Howe, Headteacher, writes:
A very Happy 2017 to you all and I hope you had a super Christmas with your friends and
family. We had such a wonderful last few weeks leading up to the end of last term, with
personal highlights being our fabulous Celebration Evening and the truly wonderful
Christmas Concert. Both of these events were such a great showcase of the incredible
talents of our students and a testament to the dedication of our brilliant staff.
This term has started with very positive engagement by Year 11 students who have
started their Pre-Public Exams (mocks). Post 16 students PPEs begin this term also. Examinations of any kind can be
a stressful time and I would remind all parents and carers to take some time to read the information on managing
stress on our school website. This term also began with our usual ’roll call’ inspection of student uniforms to ensure
all are fully compliant with our expectations. Can I take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for ensuring
our students are properly prepared for school each day by being on time to school and with the correct uniform,
appearance and equipment. These expectations are also clearly set out in the ‘parents’ section on our school
website. As always there is much planned for the exciting term ahead, including the ever-popular Abbeywood’s
Got Talent, which will undoubtedly be another fantastic showcase of the creativity and talent at Abbeywood
Community School.
SLT Drop-in:
DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES
Term 3: Tuesday 3 January - Friday 10 February 2017
Tuesday 3 January - INSET Day
Monday 9 January:
Every Friday 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. - No Appointment Necessary
Year 11 Pre Public Exams continue
Post 16 Pre Public Exams start
Thursday 12 January: Basketball U14 & U16 Girls vs
Orchard School
Friday 13 January:
UCAS Deadlines
Monday 16 January: Key Stage 4 Pathways (Year 9)
Information Evening 6:30– 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday 7 February:
Parent Consultation
Evening 4 - 7:00 p.m. (Year 11 priority)
Contents
Headteacher Awards ………….……..2
Celebration Awards Evening……….3
Raise the bar……………………………...4
Christmas Accelerated Reader…...4
Student News Report…………………5
Attend to Achieve……………………...5
Late to lessons…………………………...5
Abbeywoods Got Talent……………..6
Visitor Car Park…………………………..6
Pre Public Exams………………………..6
PE Faculty…………………………………..7
Creative Arts……………………………...8
Zoo-Wee Mama! Competition…...9
Year 7 RAISE Day………………………10
Emergency School Closure
Procedures……………………………….10
Year 9 Pathways Information
Evening…………………………………….10
Community News……….……11 & 12
Abbeywood School@AbbeywoodSchool
1

Headteacher Awards
Always going out of your way to be polite, respectful and supportive
Sukdeep Singh
Amazing effort in Maths both in lessons and outside of school
Joshua Emery
Amazing work in Science, teaching the class independently and supporting within the lesson
Jamie Arnold & Finlay Lloyd
An outstanding result in your Olympiad Maths Challenge
Amy Thompson
Being a finalist in making the most student progress
Luke Arnold, Anna Arnold, Eva Bagatelas, Diya Barot, Riley Boyd, Ellie-Rae Carey, Charlie Chamberlain,
Ashley Clarence, Laura Coleman, Jennifer Crossley, Clara Davis, Lies Dunn, Adnan Evans, Emma Ford,
Trinaty Froom, Ben Harrison, Millie Hooper, Julia Idec, Samuel Jackson, Amelia Kovacs,
Bethan Marsden, Callum Mulley, Molly Nicholas, Emily Phelps, Aishu Putravu, Lucy Rumley,
Michela Sargent, Dominik Szewczyk, Cameron Wakefield, Kay Wiltshire & Harvey Wong
Being such a happy and supportive member of the Tutor group
Szymon Olinski
Completing your homework and revision tasks for your Maths assessment
Rhian Marsden & Chris Yalamov
Engagement and aspiration in Maths
Toby Bevan, Alisha Edwards, Ellie Field, Mathew Knight, Tom Wallington & Isobel Westlake
Excellent English IHL
Lilly Bath, Sam Cottle, Robert Davis, Sarah Dawes, Emmeline Higginson, Amelia Jeans, Aaron Lewis,
Owen Newman, Emily Phelps, Adam Pritchett, Caitlyn Rice, Emily Weymouth & Anna Williamson
Excellent reading of Shakespeare in your English class
Holly Hunt
Excellent role play in English
Benjamin Matthews, Esme McCarthy & Kaveko Simasiku
For being extra supportive of other students who were injured - great effort
Dickens Matt
For outstanding effort and contribution to the Sweeney Todd topic in Drama
Kai Laity & James Nelson
Incredible English IHL – very creative
Megan Eyres
Organising a fantastic staff 'Lip Sync Battle’
Rachel Arberry, Bethan Marsden, Sophie Ryan, Neve Shorter & Rebecca Starr
Outstanding attitude in Maths and being motivated to get good GCSE grades
Jack Harris
Outstanding English extract analysis
Sophie Ryan
Working really hard to pass the Unit 1 Financial Studies Mock Exam
Aaliyah Granger, Morgan Lawrence, Daniel O'Neill, Louie Osborne & Sara Perez Cruz
Your fantastic dedication to revision
Rachel Arberry, Joshua Emery, Charlotte Goose, Henry Laramy, Bethan Marsden, David O'Neill,
Thomas Pitt, Robbie Seward, Lauren Smith, Victoria Taylor & Amy Thompson
2

Achievement Evening took place on Tuesday 13 December. This event was for last Years Year 11, 12 and Year 13 students
to collect their exam certificates and other awards.
Award Winners
Award for Achievement in Religious Studies
Award for Achievement in History
Award for Achievement in Geography
Award for Achievement in Sociology
Award for Achievement in Psychology
Award for Achievement in Law
Award for Achievement in Business Studies
Ann Duff Award for Humanities
Award for Achievement in English Language
Award for Achievement in Film Studies
Award for Achievement in Culture & Communication
Award for Achievement in English
Award for Achievement in Music
Award for Achievement in Drama
Award for Achievement in Art
Award for Achievement in Photography
Award for Achievement in Creative Arts
Award for Achievement in Heath & Social Care
John Peplow Award for PE
Award for Achievement in Maths
Award for Achievement in Physics
Award for Achievement in Biology
Award for Achievement in Chemistry
Award for Achievement in Science
Award for Achievement in Product Design
Lou Baker Awards for Textiles
Award for Achievement in Catering
Award for Achievement in Vocational Studies
Amelia Wisloch Award for ICT
Ann Roberts Award for MFL
Debbie Sainsbury Award for Determination &
Hard Work in Y11
Highest attainment gained in Post 16 Qualifications
Most progress gained between Key Stage 4 &
Post 16 qualifications
Highest attainment gained at Key Stage 4
Most progress gained between Key Stage 3 &
Key Stage 4
Robert Wakeham Award for Citizenship
Governor Award for Progress and Challenge
Laura Fry
Ben Baker-Attwood
Chloe Bowden
Victoria Nell
Edward Daniel
Emma Bowden
James Hughes
Max Crompton
Nathan Badman
Mollie Finn
Stacey Katchi
Charlie Lambourne
Alice Rew
Holly Windows
Amy Pearce
Laura Kynaston
Chantel Taylor
Teila Howard
Jessica Mead
Neo McGill
James Franks
Jasper Coggins
Sophie Kynaston
Tasnim Chowdhury
Lorne Mulley
Sophie Kynaston
Ana Rodrigues
James Hurcombe
Tamas Varady
Elliot Grossman
Ellie May Egan
Aleksandra Wegera & Ethan Martin
Chloe Blythe & Matthew Brown
Tasnim Chowdhury & Nicholas Thorne
Jessica Mead & Finley Boyce
Daniel Smith
Katie Godfrey
Congratulations to all award winners and our Year 11, 12 and 13 students for their hard work and successes during their
time at Abbeywood Community School.
3

Throughout this academic year, all students will have a fortnightly focus in order to ‘raise the bar’.
This is in order to improve the atmosphere around the school, which will have a positive impact on
the learning of all students.
The focus for Wednesday 4 - Friday 13 January is to:
“Be punctual and prepared for lessons and then use
resources around you if you are stuck before you ask for
help.”
The focus for Monday 16 - Friday 27 January is to:
Become more reflective!
-If challenged about your behaviour, listen
carefully and respond appropriately.
-Recognise your own mistakes and be prepared
to apologise.
Congratulations to the following tutor groups - WELL DONE!
7G - most quizzes taken 28 November – 15 December
8B - most quizzes taken 28 November – 15 December
7R - highest average score on quizzes taken 28 November - 15 December
8Y - highest average score on quizzes taken 28 November - 15 December
……and congratulations to the following individual winners in each tutor group - WELL DONE!
7B – Jessica Baber
7G – Ellouise Lucas-Cockram
7Y – Ethan Burgess
7O – Rachel Taylor
7R – Harry Nicholson
7Y – Jacob Leivers
8B – Oliver Shadbolt
8G – Sannah Bouzeghoub
8I – Nina Krzywicka
8O - Jennifer Crossley
8R – Paige Adams
8Y – Martin Domsa
Watch out for the next Fortnightly Stars!
4

Music
In December, I headed to the music department to ask Mr Jones some questions about his subject and this is what
he told me;
On Monday we run a vocal group and a flute group,
On Tuesday we run a folk group and a drum group,
On Wednesday we run a guitar group
And saving the best till last…… on Thursday’s we run a …………. STAFF CHOIR - I want to hear them sing [all jokes
aside]!
Year 7 and 8 are learning Christmas calypso music,
Year 9 are learning about pop music,
Year 10 are learning about film music,
Year 11 were are learning compositions.
Mr Jones’ Star Pupils:
‘Can I choose all of my students?’ said Mr Jones
Year 7: Emily Reakes
Year 8: Alex Bishop
Year 10: Jose Ojeda Jirout
Year 11: Henry Birt
Thank you to Mr Jones!
Students who are late for school on 2 or more
Reward Incentive
The lucky winners of the fortnightly 100% attendance
draw for the fortnight 28 November - 9 December 2016
were:
Year 7 - Megan Collier
Year 8 - Rylan Fowler
Year 9 - Gemma Reed
Year 10 - Daler Singh
Year 11 - Chloe Collins
Congratulations to all of them!
They have each been awarded a
£5 Amazon voucher.
occasions in a week will have a 20 minute same
day after school detention.
As from the start of Term 3, Students that are
late to lessons twice or more in the same day
will be given a 20 minute same day detention.
An email will be sent home to inform parents.
Students are expected to be in school by 8:25
a.m. ready to start at 8:30 a.m. and should
arrive at all lessons promptly.
School Uniform - As advised in our previous newsletters, uniform
prices increased from January 2017. Please click here to visit our
uniform requirements and price list on the website.
5

Tickets prices
Adult £2
Children £1
Well done to the Post 16 Students who arranged
3 fundraising events before Christmas to raise
money for ‘The Salvation Army’.
They arranged a Cake Sale, ‘Tape the
teacher’ (which consisted of tapeing a teacher
against a wall!) and a Pizza sale.
They raised approximately £94.00! Well done
to everyone involved.
A massive thank you from the student
ambassadors and Miss Woodward for
taking part in the lip sync battle just before
the Christmas holiday.
We raised over £180 in total and had lots
of fun!
Please be aware that unless a permit is held, cars
are not permitted to park in the visitor car park at
the end of the school day to collect students.
Please use the overflow car park at the top of the
road.
Many thanks
PRE PUBLIC EXAMS 2017
Year 11 exams will take place during the period Wednesday 4 to Wednesday 18 January 2017.
Post 16 Pre Public Exams 2017 will take place during the period Monday 9 to Friday 13 January 2017.
Please click on the Year group to view the exam timetable: Year 11 Year 12 Year 13
These are available on our website along with other exam information (please click here to view).
6

Abbeywood PE Faculty
Bath Superleague Netball Match
We would like to offer our students the opportunity to watch an elite level Super
League Netball match between two of the top teams in the country; Team Bath and
Loughborough Lightening. The match will take place at Bath University on 6 March.
Both teams will also have players from the current England squad.
If you are interested in your child attending the match please ask them to see Miss
Mahoney in the PE dept. There are only 30 tickets available and will be allocated
on a first come, first served basis, however, behaviour and attendance will also be
considered before a place is allocated.
Year 10 Handball
Year 10 beat Castle school and Yate Academy in a pre-qualifying
tournament for the School Winter Games. They played exceptionally well
in their first competitive match and will go into the Winter Games with
confidence.
The team:
Joe O’Keeffe, Dexter Dawes, Michael Thatcher, Billy Murphy,
Owen Lambourne, Josh Assaghi, Daniel White, Suhayb Sharif, Aaron Jones,
Kieron Saunders, Bart Konieczny and Cam Brown.
Bristol Handball club will also form a club at Abbeywood on a Monday after
school 3:30 to 4:40 p.m. and the boys have an opportunity to represent the
county. This is a massive opportunity for our students.
The PE dept is now on
Instagram! If you
would like to keep
updated with fixture
results and pictures
please follow acs.pe.
7

ACS Christmas Concert
On Wednesday, 14 December, The Christmas Season began properly, with the annual ACS Christmas
Concert. In past years, the standard had been excellent, but this year, in what was Mr Jones’ first
Abbeywood Concert, the bar was raised again.
There were, of course, the usual Christmas songs and carols, including some fantastic audience
participation for “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” the ACS Voice’ interpretation of “All I want for
Christmas is You” and some excellent solo and duet performances. New this year was The Folk Band,
which brought together the staff and student bodies. The KS3 Drama Club performed their
interpretation of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “The Christmas Truce,” which told the true story of German
and Allied soldiers in World War One laying down their arms on December 25 1914 in order to play
football. We also welcomed the Y10 BTEC Dancers from ACS and Patchway Community College who
performed some of their excellent exam work.
Thank you to all the performers, staff and students who helped backstage and of course, the friends
and family for their support. Happy New Year from the Creative Arts Faculty – Mr Clark.
8

ZOO-WEE MAMA! Competition
Discover your inner Rowley and design your own comic strip.
The winner will receive a brand new copy of
‘The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book’
Pick up a ‘Make your own Comic’ sheet from the Library and get Creative.
Entries must be returned to Miss Swindail in the Library
by Friday 3 February.
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series are the most borrowed books in ACS Library!
9

Year 7 Raise afternoon
On Thursday 12 January, Year 7 will have a collapsed timetable to dedicate time to the new PiXL EDGE programme
which was launched this September with the Year 7 cohort.
So far this academic year, students have taken on and completed many activities and challenges to earn attribute points
towards their PiXL EDGE Apprentice award. These include charity work, leading sections of a lesson for peers,
representing school sports teams and working with primary students to name but a few.
With a New Year just starting and people making many resolutions over the holidays, the Raise day theme will be
resilience. Students will learn why this is important as well as different ways to overcome failure and continue to
persevere with challenges.
For more information regarding the PiXL Edge Programme please click on this link http://www.abbeywoodschool.com/
Parents/PiXL-Edge/
The RAISE Days and themes for the rest of this year are as follows:
20 January 2017 Year 10 Careers
21 February 2017 Year 8 Life Skills/Decision Making
10 March 2017 Year 9 tbc
5 July 2017 Year 7 PiXL Edge (Enrichment Week)
7 July 2017 Year 7 - 10 WWI
EMERGENCY SCHOOL CLOSURE
PROCEDURE
If for any reason (e.g. snow) the
school needs to close this will be
announced on BBC Radio Bristol
and Heart Radio, the school
website, Twitter, and a message
will be sent to Parents/carers. This
information will also be available
on South Gloucestershire website
found at this link.
GCSE Pathway Evening for Year 9 Students and Parents
Monday 16 January 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
On Monday 16 January we will be hosting our GCSE Pathways evening for Year
9 students. This is an informative evening for both students and parents to
discover more about the GCSE courses available to them for next year. The
evening will begin with a short talk in the hall regarding the pathways process
and the transition from Year 9 into Year 10, followed by an opportunity to visit
the “subject stalls” in order to talk to subject specific teachers regarding course
information and organisation. Please contact the school if you are unable to
attend, as we will be offering an alternative information evening later in the
year.
We do hope that you can join us on the 16th to begin planning your future!
10

Community News and Events
Southern Brooks - New Year wellbeing offering
We are available to offer free taster sessions for staff and/or parents, looking at
ways to emotional wellbeing and good mental health. The sessions can be tailored
as you see fit, and could include: stress management, mindfulness, managing
anxiety, improving self-esteem or simply setting goals to make the most of 2017.
Our co-ordinator is also able to signpost to wellbeing activities across South
Gloucestershire, including regular activities offered locally by Southern Brooks.
Please contact Clare Allen for further information, or to book a session -
clareallen@southernbrooks.org.uk / 01454 868570.
These leaflets can also be viewed by clicking here
11

Community News and Events
Weekend Lettings Caretaker
17 hours per week all year round
Required as soon as possible a Weekend Lettings Caretaker to work as part of our team to support
and develop the school as a community resource. The role requires a person who is flexible and
proactive and will be able to fit in with the demands of the site. The successful applicant will be able
to carry out a range of general maintenance duties in addition to ensuring the security of the
premises. The hours of working are Saturday and Sunday, 8.30 am to 6.00 pm.
This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
All staff and volunteers are expected to share this commitment. The successful applicant will be
subject to an enhanced DBS check.
Please contact Catherine Thompson catherine.thompson@abbeywoodschool.com for further
information.
Closing date for applications: Friday, 20 January.
Salary: Grade 12 £7056 - £7398 per annum
12