Latest Arts news, calendar dates and more

The Learning Curve

Our Creative Partnership Change School Programme has grown from strength to strength throughout this year. The success of the Curve residency in April has resulted in the Curve Creative Team, consisting of Adel Al Salloum (Associate Director),  Alex Smith (Participation and Learning Co-ordinator) and Nettie Scriven and Trevor Woolery (two Creative Practitioners) wishing to fulfil a residency at the College from Tuesday, 13 July – Thursday 15th July.

The purpose of the three days will be to facilitate an opportunity for students and their teachers to develop independent learning strategies. This is an area highlighted by Ofsted inspection teams who all too frequently fail to see students engaged in independent learning.

We hope at Guthlaxton College to address this through our partnership work with the Curve. The structure of the days will follow a similar format to our usual College day; however, students will be engaged in exploring a series of well-structured and stimulating installations as they are set to task creating a blueprint for our visitors from Whitehall! Watch this space as all will be revealed in July.

Bamboozle Residency

Thanks to the funding from “Find Your Talent” we are able to enjoy a joint Key Stage 4 week-long residency with Bamboozle Theatre Company and Birkett House.

This will take place during the week commencing 28th June and it promises to be an exciting adventure in which our Drama and Theatre Production students will work alongside professional artists to explore creatively with young people from Birkett House School. Our best wishes for a successful project.

Induction and Transfer for all Year 9 Pupils and Parents

Over the next few weeks there will be a great deal of activity in preparation for the Year 9 Induction. This takes place on Tuesday 6th, Wednesday 7th, and Thursday 8th July and promises to offer lots of opportunity for the inductees. This follows the Year 9 Parent Evening on Monday 5th July for which you will have received a letter of invitation.

The purpose of the Induction Days is to offer all prospective students the chance to familiarise themselves with the College campus, enjoy taster lessons in all their new Key Stage 4 courses and to meet up with their teachers, tutor and tutor group in preparation for their first day at the College on Thursday 2nd September.

These days are important and allow each individual the chance to meet with other students in their lessons and tutor group.

There have been a number of other induction activities over the last few months. This has included one-to-one interviews about options, the diploma and GIVE programmes, the induction half days offered by the Learning Support Department and the Gifted and Talented programme which culminates in a two day Cambridge venture on 29th and 30th June.

If there are any issues relating to induction, transfer and the new academic year please do not hesitate to contact the College.

Sainsbury’s and Tesco Vouchers

A huge thank you to all friends of Guthlaxton College who have collected the Sainsbury’s and Tesco school vouchers. The 2010 scheme has come to an end. The vouchers are currently being counted and we will let you know the grand total - watch this space!

I have received bids from Foundation Learning, Food Technology, ICT and PE for the use of these vouchers.

Your College needed you and we are able to obtain valuable equipment to support our teaching and learning.

If you have any vouchers loitering in wallets, purses, handbags, on sideboards and so on…. Please let us have these to add to our grand total.

Find Your Talent

Guthlaxton College has benefitted hugely from additional funding through Find Your Talent. This as helped us to offer a wider range of opportunities to our young people.

Two young people from the College have contributed to Find Your Talent both locally and nationally and we have been fortunate to share their experiences and adventures.

Jason Williamson (Year 13) and Safiya Paul (Year 11) have represented the Leicestershire Pathfinder at national level and have been valuable members of the Young Peoples National Development Group. They have been involved in residentials, ambassador work and contributing to a Share Your Talent event at the South Bank.

Congratulations to both Jason and Safiya for their work and support of “Find Your Talent.” If you wish to find out more information about this national scheme to engage young people and provide them with quality cultural activities please visit www.findyourtalent.org.

Calendar 2010/11 – Note for your diaries

We are currently in the process of piecing together the College Calendar for 2010/2011. The holiday dates are:

Thursday, 2 September 2010   Start of Autumn Term
Monday 18 – Friday 22 October  Half Term Break
Tuesday 21 December    End of Term

Thursday 6 January 2011   Start of Spring Term
Monday 21 – Friday 25 February  Half Term Break
Friday 15 April     End of Term

Monday 2 May     May Day Bank Holiday
Tuesday 3 May     Start of Summer Term
Monday 30 May – Friday 3 June  Half Term Break 
Friday 15 July      End of Term

Some dates for the Autumn term include:
Thursday 16 September: 7.30 pm  Student Award Evening
Thursday 23 September: 4.00 pm  Year 10 Tutor Evening
Wednesday 6 October: 6.00 pm  Opportunities Evening
Thursday 11 November: All day  Student Review Day
Monday 29 November:  4.00 pm Year 12/13 Parent Evening
Thursday 9 December:  6.00 pm Year 12/13 Parent Evening

Creative Partnership National Evaluation

The College is one of six schools and the only secondary school to participate in a national evaluation commissioned by the DfE for Creative Partnership. David Wood Consultancy has been working with staff, students, creative practitioners and creative agents at the College to assess the impact of this flagship scheme. He was in College on Wednesday 23rd June completing his final observations and interviews. The report will be published in the Autumn. The findings of which will be shared in a later edition of this newsletter.

EMI

We are fortunate to have a strong link with EMI who were one of our initial sponsors as a Performing Arts College. The strength of the partnership is that eleven years on from the start of our relationship we continue to work with them on national projects. The most recent is the Key Stage 1 Music Project in which Richard Dacey (Director of Performing Arts) and Will Smith (teacher of Music) supported by funding and human resources from EMI will work with Key Stage 1 teachers in the Wigston Primary Schools.

This programme will offer a great opportunity for our colleagues in all ten Primary Schools in the town to further develop music and musical skills in the schools. It is an exciting and challenging opportunity and our thanks to Janie Orr and her colleagues for allowing the College to be a part of the project.

Artsmark

Arts Council England has awarded Artsmark Gold to the College in recognition of our commitment to and excellence in arts education. We are one of 1676 schools recognised this year. We are delighted that we have been recognised for our dynamic arts education programme. This is a true accolade to the hard work, commitment and dedication of our teaching and associate staff, governors who have supported students, parents and our community in developing a rich arts programme.

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us achieve this award for the fourth successive time.

Redesignation

The strength of our work and success relies upon the high level of collaboration we enjoy with our three feeder High Schools. It has been a pleasure over the last three years to work closely with colleagues to embed the Specialist School Status achieved in September 2007. This opportunity has afforded the four schools Abington, Bushloe, South Wigston and Guthlaxton to work closely with their partner schools to make a difference in five key areas.

• As centres of excellence in the specialism ensuring rich provision, high take up, effective and innovative teaching, and improved outcomes
• As centres of excellence using the specialism to drive whole school improvement and systematic development of a distinct ethos of continual improvement and  success
• As centres of excellence working with partner schools to improve outcomes for young people in those schools
• As centres of excellence working with wider community groups to support community cohesion, family learning and extended services
• As outward facing centres of excellence contributing to specialism related developments at a regional and national level.

As we come towards the end of this three year period we are looking forward towards the second phase of our joint redesignation and working together to apply for Specialist School Status.

Our plans for the next three year are to be even more creative and ambitious in our work ensuring that our pupils and students benefit from this unique and unprecedented partnership which has evolved.

Arts Festival

The Wigston Federation of Schools Arts Festival has begun. This is an outstanding example of partnership working between the schools which has emerged from our Specialist School Status.

The programme contains over 60 activities and events across the schools and it is a culmination of three years work and effort. It is an excellent celebration of the arts and demonstrates our commitment to offering the community young and old the chance to enjoy and engage in a whole range of opportunities which raise the profile of the arts. Above all it has enabled the Arts Federation of Schools to share with the community the wealth and breadth of talent that exists in our school and Wigston.

Our thanks to everyone who has contributed to the arts throughout the last three years and to those involved in our inaugural festival. Our thanks also to our contributors and sponsors and to you our readers for your anticipated participation and enjoyment of the activities.

Please contact Abington, Bushloe, South Wigston or Guthlaxton for details or visit our website at www.guth@guth.org.uk

Stranger Danger on the Street and in the Home

With the hot summer weather upon us and the holidays fast approaching it is important to recognise that our streets and parks are less safe from danger than in days gone by. We frequently receive messages from the Leicestershire Constabulary regarding the need to raise awareness of the need to be vigilant.

Whatever age our young people we need to be aware of their vulnerability and this need not be outside the home but, also in their use of the internet. E-safety is incredibly important and please ensure that your son/daughter is not open to predators both in the home and beyond. If you require any advice or feel concerned please do not hesitate to contact the College.

Family Information – Parent Know How

Linking in with the above item I have received some useful information offering you a comprehensive and interactive guide to useful information and links of which I have attached a summary.

Further information can be obtained from family@leics.gov.uk, www.leics.gov.uk/family or 0116 3056545.

It is a service which offers free and impartial advice, guidance and information to families with children aged 0-19 years. Please use this very helpful link.

Finally…..on a very sad and poignant note

Sadly on Sunday 6th June 2010 Jack Low (HSB) and Carly Brown (PCV) both previous students at Guthlaxton College and 21 years old were tragically killed in a car accident as they were travelling on the A47. They were involved in a head on collision at Glaston. Jack died at the scene and Carly was air lifted to hospital in Coventry, but died later.

On Tuesday 8th June 2010 Hannah King (HDL) aged 25 years sadly passed away peacefully at LOROS after a brave fight against cancer.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of Hannah, Jack and Carly.

Sally Cox
Deputy Principal

Published on Friday 25th June 2010 at 09:00