Newsletter

What an impressive half term this has been! Our CEO, Ash Rahman, visited on Thursday 11th May. His words were,

"I have had the pleasure of visiting today and I've walked around your school.  I've met loads of young people and lots of staff and I've been blown away  by what I've seen. The quality of what you've been doing in the classroom, the behaviour of our young people and just the positive energy in the school is wonderful.  

I have been associated with The Suthers School for a number of years now, I know how far you have come and I just wanted to say a big heartfelt thank you for everything that you do, what a brilliant group of staff and students. Keep up the great work and  thanks for all that you do."

Ash Rahman

CEO of the Nova Education Trust

We are extremely proud of our teachers for continuously enforcing our high standards and expectations so learning is conducive. Students are learning in calm and settled classrooms which has improved relationships between staff and students and has also raised our average AToL score.  We have seen a significant reduction in behaviour points across the school which also is an indication that our students are developing our TORCH character strengths. 

Due to our September intake of 135 year 7 students, we have been busy this half term appointing more teachers to enable us to continue to deliver an exciting curriculum for our young people. We are really looking forward to welcoming our new year 7s at the end of June for their transition days.

Curriculum:

Year 7 gave wonderful presentations in history showing a huge amount of hard work. Year 8 produced some spectacular castle models, crafted using cake, cardboard and may other materials. See our Twitter account for pictures. 

A number of Year 7 & 8  girls represented our school for the first time in a  girls Football tournament. 

Year 9 have taken part in a national competition called Enterprise Challenge with The Princes Trust. Their teamwork and problem solving skills were evident throughout the challenge. We thank the team of volunteers who worked with our students. They commented that they had never worked with a group of students who were so polite and engaged in the activity. This is further evidence of our TORCH character strengths which the year group demonstrated during the day and all parents and carers of year 9 should be extremely proud. 

Our year 10 students have been impeccable this half term. Since Easter, only 5 consequence points have been issued. As a result, year 10 all enjoyed a celebration breakfast this half term. You should be really proud of your child and we are really looking forward to seeing all their hard work pay off in the upcoming mock examinations. We look forward to seeing them as role models of the school as they become our new Year 11 students. 

Finally,  our Year 11 students have shown sheer tenacity and hard work during the exam season. A little nervous at the beginning but every single one of them has pushed that pen (or keyboard keys). They should be extremely proud of themselves. We are looking forward to celebrating with them at their Prom on 21st June and wishing them the best of luck for their future. 

With the weather warming up, please can you ensure your child has a water bottle with them each day to refill at our water stations. We recommend sun cream during the warmer weather and we will update you on any changes to uniform during any extreme conditions. 

Have a great half term.

Miss Watkin

To keep up to date with all events happening in the final half of term 6 please click this link.

Mr Uhbi:  Professional Learning National professional qualifications for Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD)

In November 2021 I began my NPQ for Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD). This evidence informed course gave me access to key research relating to the science of learning. The course enabled me to work collaboratively with other leaders at schools across the country, sharing experiences and building a network to discuss the latest developments in Teaching and Learning. The NPQ was supported with live webinars, and sessions where the impact of the strategies that we had implemented and trialled as part of the course were able to be assessed. Having now passed the NPQ, I am looking forward to applying this knowledge to further oversee and nurture staff development at the Suthers School.

In September 2023 I look forward to taking up post as Key Stage 4 Culture for Learning Lead, with a focus on Achievement and Teaching and Learning, which will run alongside my current role as Head of Maths. Attitudes to learning, as well as the carefully designed curriculum in each subject are directly related to outcomes and so as part of this role, I look forward to visiting lessons in all subjects around the school to observe classroom culture. Additionally, before the end of this Academic Year, I will be working with my fellow Curriculum Leaders to further embed the use of Pupil Progress. This tool has been successfully used this year to track data for our current Year 11 students, and will be rolled out for Year 10 following their first set of mock examinations in June.

Personal Development.

Digital Impact

Students in Year 7 have been exploring the impact of their digital footprint in PD and connecting integrity in real life to their behaviour online. They have also created posters that remind their peers of being kind and authentic. Mrs Pogue has also been teaching 7R in PD this term focusing on how our choices and mindset can help us go from average to awesome . . . with some help from Matthew Syed’s (awesome) book, ‘You are Awesome: Find your confidence and dare to be brilliant at (almost) anything’.

Students in Years 7-10 had an e-safety assembly this term exploring the importance of privacy settings. Mrs Pettit, Head of PD and Careers, explained how each student is in effect a ‘brand’. She explored how companies will protect brands they own and made the comparison with protecting our own self. This can be achieved through careful considering about what we associate ourselves with online and what we may post in the future. In the assembly students were also reminded how data is sold on the internet and how that can impact our future associations and influences.

To learn more about how to protect yourself online including settings on devices please use the link below from Internet Matters.

https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/

HSBC SMART MONEY AWARD

We are delighted to received the Smart Money award from HSBC to recognise the work we have done to support our students in the last few years with managing their finances. Students in Year 9 and 10 have completed SMART MONEY workshops and lessons exploring topics such as Household Budgeting and Tax. At The Suthers School we believe in preparing our young people for the wider world and teaching about money management is an essential strand of the Personal Development Curriculum. ‘Understanding why we pay tax and how that money is used is something I have never fully understood. Learning about it in school has opened my eyes about basic economics and in the same way governments have to budget, the principle is still the same for budgeting different parts of our lives. In the budgeting workshop with HSBC, I realised the importance of saving money and having savings. I think people are sometimes afraid to talk about money because they don’t feel confident to express concerns or just be honest if they don’t know, however these lessons definitely open your eyes to everyday problem solving and thinking ahead. My take away from the household budgeting is to think about the bigger picture when spending money’. Year 9 student.

The Princes Trust

Enterprise Challenge

There has been a buzz in PD lessons this term, all thanks to the trained volunteers from The Princes Trust. Students in Year 9 took part in The Enterprise Challenge, a school competition where young people take on a range of challenges. Working in small teams they were able to develop their confidence, make key decisions, problem solve, communicate effectively under pressure and use their core transferable skill of creative thinking.

Students in Year 9 were also able to look at success stories from The Princes Trust. ‘I was inspired by some of the stories we had read because I realised how much tenacity is involved in a start up business. I have chosen to study Marketing and Enterprise next Year as a GCSE option and this lesson gave me such a buzz. I learnt that it’s not just about making a profit but thinking about making sure employees are also happy’. Year 9 Student.

‘We were really impressed with The Suthers School. The students were very open minded and worked extremely well in their teams. Thank you to the staff at the school - it is one of the most welcoming and organised schools we have been to’. Volunteer, Princes Trust.

Thank you to the  parents and carers who regularly attend our meetings.

This terms Agenda is an open Question & Answer session around our SEND provision. All parents and carers are welcome. If you would like to attend and have any questions which you wish to ask, please send them in advance to lwallbank@suthersschool.co.uk

The next meeting will take place on Monday 10th July at 5:30pm.

Congratulations to the following students who were successful in winning this year's creative writing competition. We are looking forward to awarding them with their rewards trip next half-term. It has been fantastic to see the students tenacity through their writing! A huge well done. 

Creative writing winners: 

India, Lottie, Harry, Lily, Sofia, Anna, Douglas, Molly, Haasini, Emily, Otis, Lena, Hannah, Oliwia and Mariana. 

Part of the Nottinghamshire Youth Outreach team ran an anti-knife crime competition in the run up to Operation Sceptre. The competition was to design a poster to highlight the dangers and risks of carrying or using a weapons.

Elina, Year 9, came second place for her poster design. 

Jack Sykes-Wood, Head of PE has secured a place in this year's England Masters Team. Representing the country at the European Tournament which takes place in July at the Nottinghamshire Hockey Centre. Jack will also be playing in the Home Nations in June where the team will look to continue the momentum gained from winning the World Cup last year.

‘This has been a massive accomplishment for me and has taken many years of practice, making mistakes and staying true to my character to achieve this prestigious level. These are the same qualities and values we nurture in our PE students at the Suthers.’

Lottie Y7 and Lucas Y9 attend Tozer dance studios.

So far they have achieved:

Tap Grade 1 - both received distinction grades

Lucas Modern Grade 2 - distinction

Lucas Ballet Grade 3 (awaiting grade)

Lottie Ballet Grade 2 (awaiting grade)

Lottie will be taking Modern Grade 2 on the 11th May.

They love dance and are happy to be part of this Summer’s school performance where both of them will begin to formulate their own choreography along with other students.

Mack, Y8, has been training 3 times a week and competes for Sheffield Diving Club.  

He started training 14 months ago when he was invited on to the Talent Development Programme. Mack has made good progress  through the levels and 2 months ago moved up to a competition squad. He has now taken part in  2 regional competitions, in the North West Regional  he came 7th and qualified for the National Skills Finals which will take place in July, a fantastic achievement at the first attempt. Now he has completed the second regional competition, including the North East, where he came 4th, only 1.8 points away from a medal.

In each competition the divers have to show skills at different heights and has differing degrees of difficulty. They have to complete 4 dives from the poolside, 4 from the 1m springboard and 4 from the 3m springboard.

We look forward to seeing where these achievements will take him.

Otis won the National School Boy boxing title in Guildford. We wish him lots of luck for the European trials in June. 

Quoted from the website:

"The Neurodiversity Umbrella Project is an uplifting visual representation of all the different minds we have in the UK.

The project in Newark town centre helps to raise awareness and understanding of neurodiversity. Each display is designed to represent the one in five of us who have a neurodevelopmental condition. These conditions fall under the 'umbrella' term of neurodiversity."

The Suthers School has been accepted as one of the five schools in Newark to be part of this project and we will be creating our very own umbrella installation soon.

Here is the start to our project: