Year 11 Maths Mock 20th April!

As we get closer to the GCSE exam period, teachers and pupils of year 11 will appreciate a clear picture of exactly where they stand in terms of their achievement in Maths. This will be best done by completing a full fledged mock exam on the first day back. There will be an exam briefing at 8:30 AM on 20th April followed by the calculator exam that encompasses the full content of GCSE Maths syllabus. Students will complete this under exam conditions and it is compulsory for them to attend. Students must bring the appropriate equipment including a calculator on the first day back. The non-calculator exam will be completed in lessons during the week.

24 Hour Volleyball

On 10th March, 20 Year 13 students took part in our third 24 hour volleyball marathon. After last year we said we would never do it again, but with the pressure from Neil and Mark we finally gave in and decided to take part in the volleyball marathon again for our last year at Hayes. With the help from the Year 9 parents at Parents Evening and our individual sponsor forms we managed to raise a substantial amount.

We would all like to thank, Lesley Farley, Mrs Boyden, Miss Allman and Miss Parsons for staying and supporting us through the night. We would also like to thank Mr Osborne for coming in at 5.30am to play and Mr Scott and Miss Moss for bringing us breakfast and all the support given over the 24 hours.

By Katie Wall

Change of Caterers

Regrettably our contract for the catering facilities with Aramark is being terminated with effect from next month. However, following a thorough and detailed tender process we have, with the assistance of a recommendation from an independent consultant, appointed a company Wilson Jones Ltd, to take over the catering facilities. This will happen over the Easter break, and they will be up and running when we return on the 20th April. This will have no effect on the students’ canteen ‘accounts’, and all credit accumulated will, of course, be retained in their accounts.

After Easter, cheques will need to be made payable to Wilson Jones. We will send a reminder about this requirement at the end of term and beginning of next term.

Easter Concert - Tuesday 31st March

The Easter Concert will take place on Tuesday 31st March at 7.00pm at St Mark’s Church, Westmoreland Road, Bromley (opposite the Churchill Insurance building near Bromley South station). It will include performances from all our larger music groups including the Jazz Band, Concert Band, Choir, Orchestra, Chamber Choir, Wind Band, Samba Group and Keyboard Club.

It is always a terrific event and we would love to see you there! Tickets are £4 (concessions £3) including refreshments, and are available from the Music Department.

New School Motto

You may recall we wrote to you last term concerning our School Motto. We conducted a vote amongst all staff, governors, students and parents to establish whether or not it was felt that the motto should be changed. The results showed that a majority of stakeholders at school felt that the motto should be changed.

At the same time we invited all parties to suggest new mottos to us. Over 120 were suggested. These were discussed by the School Council who reduced this list down to approximately 10. These were then discussed by the Senior Leadership Team and the list was reduced down to 5 possible new mottos for Hayes School.

The 5 suggested new mottos are:

• Learning today for a better tomorrow
• Our school, our learning, our future
• Living to learn, learning for life
• Excellence through endeavour
• Opportunity through education
  
  In recent weeks we have surveyed all staff and governors again to ask them to vote for their preferred new motto. Later this term we will be contacting all students (through the Student Council) to ask them to vote for one of these five alternatives, but now we would like to hear from you, our parents.
  
  I would be very grateful if you would let me have your vote on our new motto; which of these five do you prefer? Please either write to me at school or e-mail at l.preston@hayes.bromley.sch.uk and let me know your preference by Friday 27th March. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mr L Preston, Assistant Head KS4

Girls Football Weekend

We left school at 10:45am and walked to the station. Afterwards we battled with our suitcases getting them on and off tubes and trains. We finally got off the coach and arrived at Caythorpe PGL Centre about 3:30pm. We had a tour and saw our rooms (complete luxury compared to last year), unpacked and we played some team games. After dinner we played football and ambush. In the morning we had an early start, the teachers seemed happy with this. For the activities we did archery, abseiling, aeroball and the scary vertical challenge. In the evening we played football, it was a close game and the score ended 2-2. Another evening of games and fun, including some acting games and then finishing with a catwalk, showing our unique talents at making clothes out of paper.

On Sunday, yet more activities with the climbing wall, where most of us made it to the top and rang the bell, and the challenge course in the morning. Then the rain and hail arrived, but no sitting in our rooms for us, up on to the high ropes course, 30 feet in the air jumping from tyre to rope swing. Unfortunately we couldn’t do the giant swing as it was too windy, so instead we went on a sensory trail, where we were blindfolded and had to find our way round, through and over some obstacles. We were all a bit sad to leave as we had enjoyed ourselves so much. Having changed into dry clothes we were on our way home and after a coach, train, tube and train we were back at Hayes station.

Thank you to Mrs Parsons and Mrs Boyden for making the trip so enjoyable.

Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair will take place in the Study Centre from Thursday 26th March – Thursday 2nd April. Books can be viewed at break, lunch and after school until 3.30pm.The books are mostly fiction and are aimed at younger readers (Years 7-9). As well as books to buy there will be a range of pens, pencils, notebooks for sale. £1 World Book Day tokens are accepted against a book purchase. There will be a display of books for older readers, but these will be for borrowing from the library.

Ms J Guiver, Study Centre Manager