Latest Arts news, calendar dates and more

Summer Arts Activities
The College experienced a busy summer holidays with a number of play schemes, camps and summer schools focusing upon offering young people the opportunity to explore their talents and make new friendships. The Key Stage 4 pupils from Birkett House School enjoyed a week long residency with Bamboozle and Key Stage 4 and 5 Theatre Production and BTEC Performing Arts students. It was an incredible week in which the students worked collaboratively with practitioners to develop a Play In A Week. The Jigsaw Play scheme for Autistic children returned again to the College. This involved 20, 6-11 years involved in a huge range of creative activities including visits to the Wigston Pool, horse riding in Oadby and a visit to Twin Lakes. The Gener8 Theatre Company provided an opportunity for 33 14-22 year olds to work together to develop a breadth of performance activities. This is being developed for future years into age-specific workshops. There was a series of Dance Performance opportunities which included contemporary dance classes as well as Hairspray and West Side Story workshops.
This wealth of activity is exemplary and meets the Core Offer of Extended Services and the Every Child Matters Agenda. We are proud of the range and the participation of our staff and students. A great time was enjoyed by all.

Childreach and the Kilimanjaro Climb
Chris Mark, a former student, approached the College to support him in a chance of a lifetime. The response was excellent. The Student Council became involved and the 2010 Gutho’s Got Talent was organised to support Chris in climbing this extraordinary volcano to help Childreach. Monies were raised and the opportunity materialised. I was delighted to receive the following from Chris on his return:
“I’m writing again to thank you and the school for sponsoring me to climb Kilimanjaro for the charity Childreach International and describe how Guthlaxton's donation was spent.  Before we left for the climb we got to see the school in a town called ‘Moshi’ where the money raised would benefit directly. Education in Tanzania has just become compulsory and it’s only through money raised through charities such as Childreach that these schools manage to provide an education for such a vast number of students. The money helped provide books, equipment and contributed to the completion of the school canteen. Attached with this letter are pictures of the school, some of the children that attended and pictures of Kilimanjaro summit.
I flew to Tanzania on the 3rd July and completed the climb by the 12th. The climb took me 6 days in total to reach the 5,895 meter summit and was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done, with only 16 out of the 30 in the group managing to complete it. Although the climb itself wasn’t particularly challenging, the effects of altitude meant it took all my effort to reach the top; having not slept for 3 days and suffering from severe nausea. We left at midnight on the 5th day and in temperatures reaching -20 degrees Celsius reached the summit by around 9 in the morning.
I just want to thank the staff and students of Guthlaxton College again for their kind donation. Getting to see the benefits first hand was a real pleasure, especially seeing the appreciation shown by the children who are for the first time getting free access to an education in Tanzania. So to finish this letter on behalf of myself and the children that benefitted, I just want to once again extend my gratitude to everyone at Guthlaxton for helping me raise £2,850 which went towards a very good cause. I’m very proud to have been part of such a generous school,
Many Thanks
Chris Mark”
Our best wishes to Chris and admiration of his fulfilment of such a wonderful experience to support youngsters less fortunate than himself.

Award Evening 2009/10
The 20th Guthlaxton Annual Award Evening took place on Thursday 9th September celebrating the success of Year 11 and 13 students. Over 300 awards were presented. Miss Sarah Manton, actor and ex-student of the College, gave an uplifting and timely address to the students. This occasion is a great tribute to the hard work and commitment of the students, their teachers, associate staff and parents to be able to make so many well-deserved presentations. Well done to all.

Opportunities Evening 2010
The Guthlaxton College Opportunities Evening took place on Wednesday, 6th October. It is was an opportunity for our prospective students and parents at 14+ and 16+ to visit the College and talk to teachers and students about the variety of courses and opportunities offered by the College. In addition there were over 50 providers including local businesses, universities and colleges joining us for the occasion to offer advice and guidance regarding future opportunities. The event was well supported and many of our current students acted as excellent ambassadors for the event.

Year 9 Able and More Able Enrichment Programme
The Year 9 Able and More Able enrichment programme has commenced. Over thirty Year 9 pupils from our three feeder High Schools have a very full and entertaining programme on Wednesday evenings. The activities include Drama, Media, Library, Geography, Food Technology, Electronics, Art and Science.  This is the ninth year of this highly successful programme.

Prospectus 2010/11
The new revised Guthlaxton College prospectus is completed and will be distributed to Year 9 students via High Schools. If you require a prospectus please contact your child’s High School in the first instance. A copy of the 2010/11 prospectus will be available online, please visit www.guth.org.uk.

Artsmark Round 10
We learnt at the end of last term that we had been successful in securing Artsmark Gold for the fourth successive time (2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010). This is a national Kitemark which recognises outstanding practice in Arts education. We are proud of this achievement which reflects the hard work and commitment of all colleagues and students especially those in the Media, performing and visual Arts faculties. Well done to everyone involved.

Extended Services
Lisa Robinson has been working closely with our Primary and High Schools since October 2008. She has developed a huge range of exciting projects. Her newsletter is an exciting addition to our website and shows the good practice of collaboration. The next project is a Schools Council conference which is being led by the Guthlaxton College Creative Consultants. This is due to take place on Tuesday, 16th November at Leicester Race Course, Oadby and promises to be an exciting day building upon the strong links in the Arts.

The Mighty Creatives
We commence Year Three as part of The Creative Partnership Change School programme. The Learning Curve programme for 2009/10 culminated in an exciting three day extravaganza in July. We continue our objective which is to embed creativity in our teaching and learning to develop our students as independent learners and to seek creative ways to engage parents in learning. Last year we benefitted immensely from the talents and qualities of colleagues from the Curve. We were indebted to the hard work and creativity of Adel Al Saloum, Alex Smith, Nettie Scriven and Trevor Woolery and the support given by Di Goldsmith and Mathilda Joubert. Our Creative Consultants who worked on the programme, and continue to do so, are outstanding, full of energy, vigour and ideas. It was wonderful to witness the engagement of teaching and associate staff and students. This year we are hoping to explore other partnerships whilst embedding our work with the Curve. As parents, if you have any ideas or wish to be involved in developing this initiative please contact Sally Cox at the College.

Right to Read
Each year over 30 students participate in the LEBC Right to Read programme. This programme involves our Primary and High Schools and is sponsored by Leicestershire Cares, Walkers, Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council. It offers training for our students to work with pupils to develop reading skills and is a very worthwhile initiative. Below is our certificate which acknowledges and celebrates our involvement in the programme last year. If any parents/carers wish to learn more about the programme please visit the LEBC website.

Internet Dangers
In my role as Designated Teacher for Safeguarding I like to inform you of items of interest regarding the welfare of young people. The internet is a growing area of concern regarding Child Abuse and I am raising your awareness through the following items. Please seek advice if you have concerns.

News from Past Students
Congratulations to Niall Bruce who was awarded a Financial Mathematics degree with First Class Honours. This is a significant achievement and we are proud that Niall has attained this exemplary standard.
Congratulations to Jessica Padkin (formerly known as Jessica Padkin-Taylor) who gained a First Class BA with Honours in Game Cultures from London South Bank University. Excellent news and our best wishes to both students and the many others who have achieved success in their degrees this summer.
We always welcome updates from our former students so please forward any items for inclusion to the College.

Class of 1970
Dr John Brown-Pacey PhD MSc HRIC, ATP has contacted the College and is keen to have a reunion with his contemporaries at the College 40 years ago. Please contact me with your details and I will endeavour to facilitate a “meet up” for the Class of 1970.

Education for All – A News Update
In 2007 – 08 we supported a local charity Education for All by raising £5000 to sponsor a contract to deliver educational hardware to schools in the Eastern Cape of Africa where it continues to provide educational opportunities to several classes of children. They are now in their third year of operation and their work continues to support children in countries which are in need of aid for education. To date Education for All has supplied over 60,000 high quality educational resources to Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. Their achievements have been outstanding:
•135 schools have been cleared
•Over 220,000 children and teachers have benefitted from equipment sent overseas
•2000 tonnes of ‘waste’ has been diverted from UK landfill
•Education for All has been appointed to 2 United Nations panels to consult as specialists in the fields of emergency relief in educational planning.
We are proud to have been a partner with Education for All and to have contributed towards schools in the Eastern Cape of Africa benefitting.

Diane Award
Congratulations to Emily Brown who recently received a Diane Award for exceptional contribution to the community. Emily has transferred from Abington High School to Guthlaxton College. The award acknowledges the hard work and huge contribution she has made to the charity Heart Link. Well done Emily, you deserve this recognition.

Wishes 4 Kids
In April the Guthlaxton College Big Band visited Bagworth Village hall for their annual performance in the village. As always it was a huge success and the villagers donated money to Wishes 4 Kids.  The sum raised was used towards granting the wish of a young man – Ryan.
Ryan is nine years old and has been suffering with a brain tumour. He has undergone both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Ryan’s greatest wish was for a laptop computer in order that he could play his games and write emails to his friends. With your kind support we were able to purchase a wonderful laptop together with many accessories for him. Our thanks to our student performers and the village community at Bagworth. The wish of one young man has been met…
….Let’s hope we are able to meet the wishes of other youngsters in the near future.

Sally Cox
Deputy Principal

Published on Thursday 7th October 2010 at 09:00