The Darrick Wood Way
Parent Bulletin

“Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know”

– Daniel J Boorstin –

Message from the Head Teacher

The final few weeks of term are always very busy and this term has been no exception, culminating with the superb Christmas Concert on Thursday evening, hosted by our amazing Music Department. The students and staff worked incredibly hard to entertain and set us all up for the festive period to come. It was very well supported by parents, friends and family and a fitting way to welcome the end of term.

I have had the pleasure of presenting certificates in Achievement Assemblies in assemblies this week. Due to their mock examinations over past two weeks, the assembly for Year 13 will take place in the New Year, but I have been delighted to present certificates for Subject Awards to students in all other year groups. Whilst not everyone can receive a Subject Award, many were nominated and there were Bronze and Silver House Point Awards for many. By the end of the year it is anticipated that all students will receive a Bronze or Silver, if not Gold, or even Platinum Awards. We also receive nominations for the Head Teacher’s Award and select two from each year group. These students have either done something really exceptional, or have demonstrated our core values and contributed greatly to their Forms and Year Groups, or to the School in general. Congratulations to those who received awards of any kind this term.

On Thursday afternoon, following a special assembly, Year 11 collected their mock examination results. As mentioned previously, they conducted themselves very well during their exams and worked hard towards their results. No doubt there will be a mix of results at this stage but they all deserve a good break now and we will support them as well as we possibly can on our return. Year 13 have now completed their mocks and await their results. Again, they deserve a good rest after what will have been a challenging time. 

Looking ahead

We return from for the spring term on Monday, 6th January 2025. Students should be on their playgrounds before 8.35am. When we return from the Christmas holiday we will want to continue to our push for consistently high standards in all aspects of school life. This starts starting with attending well, being punctual, wearing the uniform smartly, bringing the correct equipment and then on to how students conduct themselves around the School, in their interactions with others, and how they attend to their learning. We are very appreciative of the support we receive from parents/carers with these matters. It makes such a difference to the smooth running of the School and allows teachers to focus on enabling the highest quality of teaching, learning and pastoral care we can provide.

With all this in mind, not very exciting unless you love stationery (!), but I would suggest some ideas for stocking fillers:

  • Purple and red pens (for peer and self marking, teachers use green).
  • Black or blue pens for writing
  • Glue sticks
  • Colouring pencils
  • Scientific calculator
  • Blank flash cards
  • Pencils, sharpener, rubber, ruler
  • Whiteboard pen and rubber
Finally
On behalf of the staff and governors of Darrick Wood School, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and look forward to welcoming all our students back on 6th January.

Attendance Focus

94.1%

Form Attendance

Well done to the 207 students from Years 7-11  that have been commended for excellent attendance ad punctuality this term.

Reading Recommendations

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Previous Bulletins

Upcoming Events

06/01/2025 – First day of Spring Term

08/01/2025 – Young Chef Competition

09/01/2025 – Year 11 Parents’ Evening – 4pm to 7pm

The Creative Writing Club has re-started on Tuesdays in En6 from 1:30. All students with an interest in writing are welcome. Mentored by Year 12 Shubhan and hosted by Ms Vos.

Useful Links

Highlights of the fortnight

FESTIVE WEEK

Last week the Student Leadership Council led ‘Festive Week’ in the School.  This was an idea they had to both celebrate Christmas and join as a school community in many events:

Jellybean Jar

All week we had the ‘Jellybean jar’ guess in the Dining Hall where students and staff tried to work out how many there were. The winner of the jar and closest guess was Yvie in Year 10 with the guess of 777.  There were 775 in the jar! Thank you to Wesley and Zara from Year 9 for running this activity.

Christmas Film

Year 11 were in charge of the Christmas movie and organised ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’ over two lunchtimes.  We had over 40 students across the year groups all settle down to watch this classic film in the theatre. Thank you to Casey, Lulu, Millie, Izza, Amber, Sanvi and Aniska from Year 11 for running this event.

Christmas Cake Sale

The Christmas bake sale was a huge success and a big thank you to the whole of Year 10 for their contribution of cakes, both bought and homemade. Thanks go to Vihaan, Macenzie and Tobie from the Leadership Council for selling these at break and lunchtime.

Christmas Jumper Day

On Thursday students and staff were all invited to wear a Christmas jumper or item of festive wear and we would like to thank all of those students who joined in.  The winning Form with the most amount of students taking part was 7YD who received a lovely tub of chocolates to share. The winning House with the most participants in the School was FRY.  We even managed to capture a few staff members before the day was finished.

Christmas Decoration Competition

The festive decoration competition had several entries, and we would like to thank all of those who sent in their designs.  The winning design goes to Heer in Year 8 who made a lovely Christmas scene of the School using lots of craft items.

Christmas Jingle Competition

Thank you to those who entered the jingle competition.  The winning jingle chosen for its originality and catchy lyrics went to Michael in Year 8. Please see his lyrics below – he will now record this for the school radio.

Tutor Groups had great fun playing ‘Who is behind the Santa Disguise’ where 30 staff had all hidden themselves behind a hat and beard. Congratulations to 12PCO who managed to find all 30 and hand their answers in first.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all of those students from the Student Leadership Council who helped and took part in the activities and to the students who joined in the fun.  In total we have raised £762 as a school for Save the Children which is a massive amount of money and will go a long way to help others this Christmas time.

Art Club students pooled their creative skills and festive flair this half term to create a Christmas gift for Dr Airey and the school community. Art Club members worked diligently week after week, shaping holly leaves from wire, manipulating tissue paper, and spray painting letters and berries. It now on display in the school reception, reminding us all of the school values of “Respect, Responsibility, and Honesty” and of course to wish a Merry Christmas to all.

BFI Southbank visit 12th December

In the grey mid-December mizzle, Y12 boarded a train from Orpington to Waterloo East and thence to the BFI Southbank. Joining a number of German A-level students from other schools, they had the opportunity to view, analyse and comment on four German A-level films- exclusively in German! The films were the ‘ostalgic’ Sonnenallee, a comedy set in late 1970s Berlin, the nail-biting Ballon, based on the true escape story of two families from East to West Germany in a home-made balloon and then Das Leben der Anderen, the gritty and emotional examination of humanity in the East Berlin of the 1980s. Our students were invited to examine cinematic techniques and plot details in the target language. The fourth film which they watched not in excerpts but rather as a full-length film was the tragi-comic Goodbye Lenin.

A short walk in a dusking London with Christmas lights starting to twinkle and then a short tube hop to Kings Cross, took us to the German Gymnasium, an authentic German restaurant in the heart of London. Nestled directly underneath the restaurant’s gigantic Christmas tree, festooned with head-sized baubles, Y12 munched their way through Schinkenknacker, Nürnberger Rostbratwürste, Käsekrainer and even a genuine German Hamburger. Slightly heavier, they returned to Orpington station after a full day.

Model United Nations conference

The Politics A level Department has been running a Model United Nations (MUN) club for Sixth Form students since January of this year. MUN is a globally-recognized educational simulation of the United Nations where students role-play delegates of UN member states, engage in global issues, write, debate and vote on UN-style international agreements known as resolutions. Students gain an enriching opportunity to learn about different cultural and geo-political perspectives, whilst learning the valuable art of diplomacy.  

Thirteen of our students were invited to attend our first conference hosted by Bullers Wood Girls’ School on Thursday 28th November where they were able to put their public-speaking skills to the test. The conference was well attended by local schools including Newstead Wood, St. Olave’s, Bullers Wood Boys and Bromley High. Committees were established on global issues such as water pollution, the sustainability of music tours and democracy in Hong Kong to name a few. Our delegates were well prepared and highly articulate, voicing their allocated country’s perspectives confidently and negotiating with other states in their committees to achieve the all-important goal of international cooperation. After the delegates’ committees, they were summoned to the General Assembly where a crisis had emerged! A (fictional) cyberattack against the USA by Russia forced all countries to come together, improvise and agree an emergency plan to ensure international security and agree the necessary sanctions.  

We were particularly proud that three of our students were awarded the competitive ‘best delegate’ award for their individual committees. Congratulations to Tommy Velvick for his deftness in the Security Council, Poppy Savine and Toby Witherspoon for their outstanding participation in the Sustainability in Music Tours and Space Debris committees respectively. It is a tremendous achievement for our Darrick Wood students, and I would personally like to take the opportunity to congratulate all those that took part for their commitment and enthusiasm. It was a pleasure to accompany them and watch them thrive in a completely new environment.  

Jack Petchey Leader Award

We recently asked staff at the school to vote for someone who they felt deserved the Jack Petchey Leader Award.  This is given to a member of staff who goes above and beyond in their role and is always contributing and supporting the life of the School. There were six nominations, all of which were very worthy of this award.  The list of six were then given to the Student Leadership Council who were able to vote with their reasons for who they felt deserved to win.  We are delighted to say that Mrs Honeysett has been the winner of the award this year.  She has been at the School for 30 years and was recognised for all her work with transitions, constant support of staff and students and complete dedication to driving the School forward.  She is an asset to our staff and we congratulate her on this success.

Main Assemblies

The Main Assembly this week was led by the Year 7 Girls Vocal Group.  They sang us an amazing version of ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ and gave everyone something to smile about for the rest of the day!  A big thank you to Annelie, Evie, Alice, Phoebe, Abigail, Irene, Polly, Emily, Lizzy, Alice, Devu, Sonichukwu, Avika and Amirah for their performances.

The Main Assembly student led item week commencing 9th December was by our amazing Brass Band who gave us a great version of ‘All About That Base.’  This was the perfect way to start the day and we thank Alex, Adam, Vincent, Eira, Elizabeth, Matthew, Alice, Matty, Finn, James, Joseph and Kseniya for their outstanding performance.  Thank you to Mr Rees for all his work with this group and playing himself in the piece.

Year 9 Christmas Baking

On Monday 16th December, selected Year 9 students were invited to do some Christmas baking in the Food Technology department. Under the guidance of Mr Sobieszynski and Mrs Sabir Ali, students baked mince pies and gingerbread with Miss Bargeron and Mrs Hemming on hand for taste testing. All students got stuck in and worked well with their partners to produce some amazing festive treats!

Eco Schools Green Flag Award

The Eco reps met for their second meeting this week and started collaboratively working on improving the environmental review focus areas of; school grounds, litter and energy. The year group Eco reps have continued with weekly litter picks and during these have been educated on the impact of litter on the environment and on the biodiversity of our wonderful school site. The aim is that we become a litter free site and this is only possible if every member of the community takes ownership and responsibility for their own litter. It was noted that the majority of litter seen and collected was from packets bought onto the school site. This raises the question as to whether food bought into school could have less or reusable packaging moving forwards?

Thank you to all of the families that took part in the ‘Cut your Carbon’ challenges during November. We hope you may wish to continue with them. We have conducted a student survey and over 1100 actions took place across the six challenges. It was evident that ‘turning off non-essential electrical devices’ was seemingly the most common action that students took part in.

We wish to promote an environmentally friendly Christmas and wish to signpost families into using recyclable and reusable products throughout the festive period.

Curriculum Showcase

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Our Hubs have been getting Christmassy this week with Christmas decorations, craft activities and even a Secret Santa. On Thursday, students took part in a Christmas party at break time and a Christmas quiz at lunchtime. Thank you to all the hub staff for organising these events, and to the students for joining in and bringing the Christmas cheer.

Sports and PE News

Safety & Awareness

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Wellbeing

ZIP OYSTER CARD INFORMATION

If your child’s Zip Oyster Card has already expired or is due to expire before the  31 December, it is vital that is now renewed.

Applications for all Oyster photocards are now open. If your child has an expired 5-10 or 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard you can now apply for a new Zip Oyster photocard. 

Please apply as early as possible to ensure that you receive your new photocard before 31 December 2024.  Expired photocards will not be accepted for travel on TfL or train operating company services from 1 January 2025You can apply for a new photocard via the TFL website  

The online application process only takes around ten minutes to complete, and you will need:                                                                                                  

  • A clear digital photo of your child  
  • Your child’s valid machine-readable passport
  • A debit or credit card to pay the £15 administration fee

If your child doesn’t have a valid, machine-readable passport, start your application online and you will be prompted to download and print a letter to take to the Post Office to complete your application. 

We are sorry for the inconvenience this incident may have caused and thank you for your patience. Once your child has received their new Zip Oyster photocard, they should start using it straight away.  Full details about the application process are available on the TFL website.  

Anti Bullying – Respect Challenge

During the month of November, in support of Anti Bullying, students took part in the ‘Respect’ challenge and encouraged all students to earn as many ‘Respect’ positive points as possible throughout the month of November. Respect is a Darrick Wood core value and we would expect all of our students to demonstrate respect on a daily basis. This week we have been celebrating with selected students in each year group who have been rewarded with Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Well done to everyone involved.

You can now book your child on to the Holiday activities and food programme this Winter 2024. There are several exciting activities available, including nutritious meals. The offer is free to all children who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals. Each provision will offer eligible children the opportunity to enjoy fun activities that will enable them to develop new skills, build confidence and meet new friends outside of term time.

Do feel free to visit Bromley Council’s website at Holiday activities and food programme – London Borough of Bromley and book directly with the provider of your choosing. Please book this as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Student Leadership

A couple of weeks ago we invited Year 7 to apply to become part of the Student Leadership Council.  This is a very important part of our school and they are often involved in the big decisions that are made and part of running events across the school community.  We would normally only accept around 10 from the Year group but were so impressed with the application letters it was impossible to choose so they have all been invited to join and we look forward to working closely with them.  Congratulations go to Phoebe, Isaiah, Ellie, Jake, Zehira, Shayla, Esme, Mia, Irene, Miki, Tabetha, Joe, Millie, Rejoice, Lola, Sophia, Arthur, Tamara, Zekia, Jemima, Alice, Thomas, Jack and Evie.

Work Related Learning

Monthly Parent and Carer Guide to Apprenticeships

As a school, we work closely with Amazing Apprenticeships who are a leading organisation in the education sector, working with schools, colleges and employers, tackling misconceptions and promoting the benefits of apprenticeships. Please find attached the December edition of the parent and carer guide to apprenticeships with lots of useful content to support your child with post-16 and post-18 pathway options.

December 2024 – Choices

 

Trips and Visits Round-up: September - November 2024