Weekly Message 177 – 24 February 2023
24th February 2023
House Point Averages Per Pupil for This Week
Year 7 5.04 points
Year 8 5.37 points
Year 9 4.64 points
Year 10 3.74 points
Year 11 2.77 points
Welcome back after the half-term break! Despite a cold snap this week, there is a definite feel that spring is on its way with the days getting a little longer. This week has been a busy one with HPV vaccinations, a trip to Portsmouth University, rehearsals for Dance Live! and a brilliant Year 10 Mock Interview Day. Year 11 are gearing up for their mock exams which start next week followed by in-class assessments; this week our language pupils have participated in their mock speaking tests in French and Spanish.
With our ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ agenda, we have focussed attention this week on being ‘Ready’ – for learning and for taking on the new challenges that this half-term will present. The school’s stationery shop opened this week should a pupil find that they have come to school without the necessary equipment; pupils can make payments using funds on their Scopay account.
Parents and carers will have been in receipt of a letter from Mrs Harrison-Jones (Executive Headteacher) this week about safe travel to school. We remind pupils, parents and carers of the staggered arrival and finish times for each year group which helps to reduce congestion around the school site at these busy times (Year 7 and 8 – 0830, Year 9 and 10 – 0840, Year 11 – 0845). We have also had a focus on punctuality this week; pupils are marked late to school if their arrival is more than five minutes after their expected arrival time as detailed above. We ask parents and carers to support their child/children with arriving on time for school.
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Year 10 Discover Languages Trip to University of Portsmouth
On Wednesday, Year 10 Spanish and French pupils enjoyed a day at Portsmouth University learning about where their languages could take them in the future.
They attended four sessions on translation, interpretation, studying abroad and learning Mandarin. It was a fantastic opportunity to discover languages at further and higher education and the value that possessing a second language can add to prospective employers. Well done Year 10!
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Year 10 Mock Interview Day
We had over 40 interviewers come from many different employers including Microsoft, BAE Systems, DSTL, Solent LEP, our board of governors and many more. Employers arrived before 0900 giving them a chance to network over breakfast and coffee. We then started promptly at 0910 with an incredibly positive buzz from employers mingling with the nervous energy of our pupils who were anxious but resilient throughout. Feedback from pupils has been enormously positive with an increase in their confidence and a new understanding of formal conversations and their importance. The employers were incredibly impressed with the maturity and confidence of Cams Hill’s pupils.
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UKMT Maths Challenge – Years 9-11
On 3 February, Cams Hill School pupils took part in the annual UKMT Maths Challenge, a national challenge for the most able mathematicians in Years 9 to 11 to test their skills on a series of maths problems.
We have just received the most recent Maths Challenge results and they are some of the best results we have seen; over 50% of all pupils entered received prizes for their efforts.
We had 163 pupils across all three-year groups (9-11) and the results were:
9 gold awards
21 silver awards
53 bronze awards
Five pupils were successful in getting through to the next round. Indeed, one of these pupils did so well that they qualified for the highest of two follow-on rounds, which is open to the best 600 pupils in the country”
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Grease
As promised before half term, here are some photos from our school production of Grease.
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