Miss Benfell has visited both Middlemarch Primary and Chetwyd Junior School this week to deliver some descriptive writing workshops. Pupils learned some new ambitious vocabulary and practised using it in their work, describing an image after the fall of Icarus. There was some fantastic writing and pupils thoroughly enjoyed the sessions.
On Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd October our Year 11 Geographers conducted a fieldwork enquiry as part of their preparation for GCSE fieldwork exam and to broaden and enhance their knowledge about Birmingham. Pupils saw the contrast between Sutton Four Oaks and Aston on their carefully planned coach route into the city centre, looking at the inequalities between different areas. Once in Birmingham city centre, students investigated to what extent they thought urban regeneration had been successful walking along a transect through Digbeth, the Bullring, Grand Central station and Brindley Place. At each site students conducted their own primary data through an environmental quality survey, people count, land use survey and field sketches. Students had a fantastic time and it gave them the opportunity to see all the place specific detail they had learned in the classroom, in real life!
On Friday 3rd October, Etone College were delighted to welcome poet Damani Dennisur to Etone College.
Damani Dennisur is a local poet based in Birmingham. He started his poetry journey aged 12, writing for black history month, nationwide poetry slams and local rap/writing competitions, within a few short years he was Birmingham's 7th Young Poet Laureate and his talent would put him in rooms he could only dream of.
Damani was so popular last year with Etone pupils that we asked him to return this year. After an exciting, interactive assembly with Year 11, Damani delivered hour long sessions to all pupils in Years 9 and 10. He performed some of his poems and talked about his authorial intent, a critical skill for English literature. There was also the opportunity for pupils to ask questions, and meet him and obtain his autograph on a specially designed bookmark to celebrate his visit.
This term has been an exciting one for the 17 staff new to Etone. With their recruitment adding capacity and depth to both subject areas and wider support.
All of our new staff received their welcome packs in the first week to help them ease into their new roles as well as joining Mr Smith and other members of the Leadership team for a welcome breakfast at the end of the first week.
In their highlights of the first week they said “how friendly and welcoming everyone is and how close the staff are.” They appreciated the “leadership presence and support,” and really enjoyed “seeing Year 7 starting to build their confidence.”
Also, within the first term our new staff have been welcomed by Sam Kibble from the Central Team at Matrix Academy Trust who outlined what was available as part of Matrix’s staff benefits and wellbeing support.
Teachers returning from maternity leave have also been welcomed back with bespoke return to school support and check ins ensuring that the transition is the best it can be.
Every year we seek to improve and develop our new staff induction support so the induction survey completed by all new staff is essential to this. Mr Smith met with new staff for a coffee and pain au chocolat at break time to support this evaluation and to thank them for their contributions to Etone so far.
As the year progresses, we will continue to check in with our new staff to ensure they have settled well, enjoy their role and can access the developmental opportunities on offer withing our school and Trust.
Etone Staff Book Club had a great first meet up on Thursday, 2nd October to discuss Suzanne Collins' 'Sunrise on the Reaping' which everyone loved! It was a great opportunity to get together to discuss character traits and the weaving of poetry and song and a lovely way for staff to spend time together outside of work activities.
Staff Book Club will select a different book each term and come together to share reflections on our reading. Etone College has a very strong culture of reading for all members of our community and staff reading together provides an excellent example to our pupils. All members of staff are welcome to attend Staff Book Club - the more the merrier!
In October, it is National Teacher Day. This week there will be treats and staff give aways to say thank you as well as cakes provided by Leadership to show how much they appreciate the hard work of the Etone staff. All staff have been asked to nominate a colleague for a very special thank you during this week too and we will be also shortly be celebrating the results of our summer staff photograph competition. Watch this space!
In September, it was National TA Day and staff and pupils said thank you to all of our wonderful teaching assistants who do so much to support our pupils at Etone each and every day. Pupils and staff both wrote thank you cards and personal messages to our teaching assistants who also received a lunch and treats throughout the week.
Anti-bullying ambassadors are a collective of students who work together with staff to make Etone College a safer, more inclusive environment where negative behaviour is not tolerated. Our main aim is to create awareness about bullying and give support where it is needed. We have regular meetings with staff where we discuss plans and activities in school such as pop-ups and events for students to enjoy, so they are educated about bullying, its different types, and its impacts on others so they can also help their friends if needed! We are put in place so students can talk to other students who can act as a listening ear for those experiencing bullying and provide support for those who may not feel they can speak up.
On Wednesday 1st October, a selected group of high achieving Y9 pupils took part in a language outreach session with GCHQ, one of the UK’s main intelligence agencies. We had two speakers who work as language analysts at GCHQ, who explained to us what they do and why languages are so important to them. We looked at the different types of crimes they help to prevent, as well as the various agencies they work with to help keep the country safe. The pupils were then tasked with a challenge to use their French skills as well as their logic and problem-solving skills to analyse intelligence to prevent a large shipment of drugs arriving in the UK. They had to understand and use the Caesar cipher to intercept a series of texts between the two drug smugglers, as well as translate the decoded messages into English to work out where and when the shipment was due to arrive. They then had to draft a report to send to the National Crime Agency, all typical of a language analyst’s day to day work. The feedback from the pupils was really positive, they described the session as “fun and interesting” and that “it made me really proud of my French that I could work out the messages”. One of them even left saying “It really made me think about job opportunities at GCHQ” so we could perhaps have the next generation of language analysts with us!
Secondary School
Leicester Road
Nuneaton
Warwickshire
CV11 6AA
T: 024 76 757300
postbox@etonecollege.co.uk
SENDCo - Mrs K Smith
Monday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Friday: 8:00 am - 3:30 pm
(Equivalent to 39.5 hours)
