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5 April 2019
Dear all,
It seems almost inconceivable that another term has flown by. There has, yet again, so much for us to celebrate as our students continue to flourish and enjoy the wider opportunities that school life has to offer them. Only last evening Mr Wardle, Miss Branson and myself had the honour of judging "Buckingham's Got Talent!". It was a fantastic event, run by our wonderful Performing Arts team and supported by so many other members of staff. The overall winners were Tatyana Muzondo and Amy Taylor of Silverstone House, who performed an Ed Sheeran song. Second place and winner of "Unique Performer" was Leo Maskou with a combination of juggling and Cossack dancing. Joint third were Kit Jarvis, the "Best Entertainer" and Macie Vaughan and Scarlett Baldry, "Best Dancers".
Another star of the term was Tom Hardy of Year 13. At our Duke of Edinburgh Awards Evening, I had the honour of presenting Tom with his Gold Award badge, the school's first ever. He will be off to Buckingham Palace this summer to collect his actual award.
There is so much else to celebrate and look forward to. Our first Enrichment Week for many years runs next term (see below), and students will have the opportunity to choose from a huge variety of activities. They can take part in things they already love, or try something new. I congratulate my colleagues for putting together such a fantastic portfolio of opportunities.
As a school, we belong to our community. As the community's school, my colleagues and I are very mindful and hugely respectful of the privilege and responsibility that brings. Our reputation is rippling outwards and we are becoming known as a school community that strives to continuously improve, and a model of best practice in certain key areas of school life. We can't rest until "Success for ALL" becomes a genuine reality, and I thank in advance the many teaching colleagues giving of their time at Easter to support our Year 11 and Year 13 students in their final preparations for public examinations. Good luck to all our students.
With best wishes,
Mr A McGinnes
Headteacher
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Enrichment Week 2019
We are excited to share our plans for Enrichment Week 2019!
During the final week of this academic year, The Buckingham School is organising an Enrichment Week for students in Years 7-10. This week will provide students with the opportunity to take part in an activity/range of activities outside of the normal curriculum and will allow students to develop new skills, improve existing skills, build new and existing relationships and develop team building skills which is an integral part of our wider SMSC and PSHE curriculum.
To view the guide to the activities on offer, click here
Further information regarding how to make your activity selection and details of the centralised booking system will follow after the Easter break.
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Year 12 Rotarian Interviews & Enrichment Day at Buckingham University
On Tuesday, 2 April and Wednesday, 3 April 2019, Year 12 students took part in Rotarian interviews. The interviews were held at Buckingham University, in the newly built Vinson Centre. In preparation for the interviews, students prepared a CV and an application for a ‘dream job’ that they are considering a career pathway into.
The students have been coached on how to produce the most effective CV/letter of application and the whole enrichment experience is key to our young people preparing for one week of work experience in July, and for future employment beyond the Sixth Form.
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The Buckingham University also hosted all of our Year 12s on Tuesday, 2 April 2019, for a full Enrichment day. Students were given a tour of the facilities and attended a talk about what university life is like and things to consider when applying for universities in the coming months. They also took part in debates facilitated by the Humanities faculty.
Thank you Buckingham University for such an inspiring and engaging day!
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Buckingham School Sixth Form getting involved in politics as shown through an event recently attended by Tom and Lucy.
Being politically aware is something that is always encouraged in Sixth Form as our students approach voting age and it is important they have an understanding of what they are voting for.
Both are pictured here giving Theresa May some clear considered advice, hopefully we'll be just fine now!
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Sixth Form at The Buckingham SchoolAre you considering your Post 16 education options or know a young person in Year 11 who is talking about their next education pathway? If so, have a read of our Sixth Form Options Guide for September 2019 and see what we have on offer. If you wish to speak with our Director of Sixth Form regarding Sixth Form, Mrs Pykett can be contacted by emailing spykett@buckinghamschool.org or telephone 01280 812206 ext: 263. |
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To find out what you need to do to apply for a place in our Sixth Form for next year, please click here. Our Admissions Officer, Claire Hubner is available to guide you through the application process. chubner@buckinghamschool.org Telephone 01280 812206 ext:282. |
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County Sales Challenge @ Pinewood StudiosA team of Buckingham School Sixth Form students went through to the final of this year's County Sales Challenge which was held at Pinewood Studios recently. The team had to present to a large audience in one of the theatres at the location. They worked incredibly well together and Mr Cunningham was justifiably proud. The day proved to be a valuable experience for all and will be a useful asset for future university and job applications. Alex Harwood was chosen as one of the best presenters and has been invited to participate in the creation of a podcast produced by a major sales firm. Amazing work, Alex! |
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MK Magistrates Competition Buckingham School students aged between 12 and 14 took on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, magistrates, court staff and a defendant and reached the regional final of a national mock trial competition, competing against teams of students from other Buckinghamshire schools as well as from Northampton, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes. Our students and a team representing our good neighbours at The Royal Latin School finished as the top two teams! Our own Eve Braddock won best prosecution lawyer. The aims of the competition are to enable students to learn about all aspects of the criminal justice system - the law, procedures, consequences and the staff – and to develop confidence in personal skills such as public speaking, analysis techniques and working as a team. The regional finals will be held in May before the national final at the Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham in June. We are understandably proud of all of our students who took part, most of whom are pictured here. Mr J Mandel, PSHE Lead |
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Linking Subjects with Careers Have you seen the Success at School information guides on our website? Success at School is a national careers website for students aged 11-19 and they have published a series of brochures linking subjects with careers. We aim to provide our students with access to independent information and guidance about the range of options open to them once they leave us. These include academic, vocational and apprenticeship options supporting our desire to help create well rounded citizens who can achieve whatever they hope for to succeed in their lives. Linking Subjects with Careers Guides |
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Intermediate Maths Challenge Oliver, Year 9, pictured here with Mr McGinnes, represented the school at the UK Mathematics Trust Regional Final. He was awarded Best in School (with a higher score than any of his year or year above) in the Intermediate Maths Challenge. Oliver also previously attended the Bletchley Park (Royal Institution / Open University) Masterclasses on Saturdays during the Autumn term. Congratulations, Oliver, for your exceptional performance, and congratulations to all of The Buckingham School team for participating and representing our school so brilliantly! Mr B Waine, Assistant Curriculum Leader, Maths |
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Student Leadership TeamEarlier in the term, we held interviews for Head Boy and Head Girl. This was a great opportunity for all students involved to gain experience of a formal interview and all presented themselves in a very professional manner. All students who did the interview have a role in the new Student Leadership Team. As a result, I am pleased to inform you that our new Head Boy is Luis Abreu and our Head Girl is Natasha Goodwin. The Student Leadership Team is made up of the following students who are each taking on specific lead roles: Hannah Walker - Student Mentor Lead, Evan Walters - Student Mentor, Lavinia Robertson - Student Mentor, Jessica Herron - Student Mentor, Community Links, Louis Howitt - Prefects, Polly Batt-Rowe - Student Council and Student Mentor, Lauren Scott - Community Links, Molly Aldersley - Student Mentor, Liam Whale - Student Mentor and Rugile Rimeikate - Community Links. We will update you in the coming months with how their roles are progressing and the projects they will be running. Mrs A Wallace, Student Voice Co-ordinator |
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Race for the Line - Regional Final Competition Congratulations to the team of three students (Hannah, Kaitlyn and Will) who represented The Buckingham School at the Race for the Line Project regional final competition held at RAF Benson on Wednesday 3 April. The students worked hard to win The Buckingham School's own race day earlier in the week by designing and building the fastest car. Sadly, the regional final was very fierce (only a range of 7 milliseconds between all the competitors) and we failed to take the top spot. However, not all was lost as our students were awarded the Best Design of the competition for their car. We are very much looking forward to running the project again next year, and taking what we've learned to improve our designs even further - with our three winning students acting as mentors for our next set of students. All Students worked extremely hard building foam rocket cars and as you can see from the pictures, launching them from the school's MUGA. This is a fantastic STEM initiative - inspiring tomorrow's engineers and scientists today! Miss L Townes, STEM Leader |
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The Science department showcased dissections during one lunchtime session. Staff led students in dissecting sardines, a heart, lungs and this enormous tongue as shown by Head of Science, Mr Dunckley! |
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Stowe Fruit Tree Planting ProjectAt the beginning of term, our Year 9 and 10 ASDAN students planted 29 trees for the Stowe fruit tree planting project. Working with the National Trust at Stowe, this community project aimed to improve the overflow car park for visitors and schools. All of our students worked incredibly hard and were a real credit to the school. To plant each tree, they needed to remove turf, dig a hole, plant in the tree and a supporting stake, fill the hole back in and add a stake and tree guard. The National Trust kindly took the time afterwards to write to us to let us know how grateful they were for the students' involvement. |
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They also sent us photos to show just how much the planting has already transformed this space, our students' legacy to Stowe was to plant a tenth of these trees which aim to improve the area to become an attractive and accessible space for wildlife, visitors and groups for many years to come. |
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Governor Elections Following recent parent governor elections and the requirement to secure co-opted governors, we are pleased to confirm the following have been successfully appointed. Co-Opted Governors - Mr Andrew Homer and Mrs Jo Wells Parent Governor - Mrs Alison Combe The school truly values the work and commitment made by the governing body and we very much look forward in to welcoming on board the new members. |
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We always like to celebrate our students successes, and Harry, one of our Year 7s in Stowe house, competed in the Open Junior Agility Championship recently. He won the 12s & under Jumping on Saturday, the 12s & under Agility on Sunday and the overall champion for his age group.Well done, Harry! |
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Red Nose Day - Staff Cake SaleMany thanks to Margie, Jenny, Mandy and Liz for baking delicious cakes and raising £70 for Comic Relief. Sorry, no photos....the cakes were obviously so yummy that they didn't last long enough for us to take any photos! |
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We are recruiting!Would you like to be a Cover Supervisor?We are looking for you, if you are a reliable, enthusiastic and highly motivated Lesson Cover Supervisor, with a real passion for inspiring learning! Have a look at the advertisement on our website, here: https://www.buckinghamschool.org/page/… |
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Dodgeball County FinalsOur Year 8 male and female Dodgeball teams took part in the Sainsbury's School Games Level 3 County Finals on Thursday 21 March 2019. The teams faced competition from across the county and managed to win every single game, crowning them the Male County Dodgeball winners and the Female County Dodgeball winners! As a PE department, we are so proud of every player in this event, with all showing true team work and commitment throughout the competition. Well done to you all. |
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School's Police Officer Thames Valley Police Schools Officers have recently started a newsletter designed to support parents of school age children in online safety, the law and any other subjects relevant at the time of writing. Click here to have a read of the newsletter and online safety guidance sheet. Further information regarding online safety can be found on the school's website. click here. |
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Summer 2019 Examinations Click on the link here to see the Examination timetables for all exams. |
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Thank you. We have been donated a TV screen by Year 8 parent, Mrs Bosley. The TV screen is up and running in the Humanities block, ready for our in-school message board to be launched, straight after the Easter break. Thank you so much, your kind donation is much appreciated. T Kings Associates, our uniform supplier and promotional merchandise supplier, has provided the school with a new large TV screen for our Reception area. We can now run messages, videos, newsfeeds and so much more with the digital signage project. Thank you, T Kings Associates. |
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We are still on the look out for further TV screens.Do you own a TV you no longer need? We have a communications project on the go at the moment and we are going to be in need of ten television screens to make it happen. They don’t have to be smart TV or anything fancy at all; as long as they have an HDMI connection, or something similar, then they will be perfect for us. So, if you have an old TV that you no longer use or need, that you would be happy to donate to us, we would be enormously grateful. (And if you could ask family and friends on our behalf too, that would be amazing!) |
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14 Feb 2019
If you wish to report bullying, click here antibullying@buckinghamschool.org
Procedures for Reporting Bullying:
A student can report bullying in person to a member of staff or an older student.
A student can make a written report, and place it in one of the anti-bullying boxes (outside...
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Anti-Bullying Posters around schoolWe have been fortunate to have a set of graphics designed for our Anti-Bullying Initiative and you will now be able to see these posters in classrooms, in common areas such as the LRC and Canteen and also in offices. Information including the school's Anti-Bullying policy can be found throughout the school website, click here to take you directly to one of the web-pages. |
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facebook: www.facebook.com/thebuckinghamschool Instagram: @thebuckinghamschool Twitter: https://twitter.com/TBS_Information Success for All through Achievement, Challenge & Enjoyment The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 Email office@buckinghamschool.org www.buckinghamschool.org |
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