BiddenhamNEWS Christmas Edition

www.biddenham.beds.sch.uk twitter@BiddenhamIntSch

Consider yourself entertainedBiddenham students took to the stage thismonth, with 30 of them performing or acting asstage crew in the school’s musical productionof Oliver. The performances were a great success withmore than 300 audience members coming to support the show which, featured students of alllevels of experience, with some students, including our lead, Rose Davison (year 7), makingtheir musical debut.The students worked incredibly hard over the pastthree months to put on the production and theirwork paid off in the quality of their performances.All of those involved are already looking forward toworking on next year’s musical projects.

School breaks up for Christmas on Friday 21st December

at 11.50 amlunch will be served

until 12.30pmand students return on

Monday 7th January 2019

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

A message from the HeadTeacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our ‘bumper’ Christmas newsletter, which documents a lot of our activities since September.

This term has seen a lot of good work taking place in theschool and I hope your son/daughter has been involved in atleast one activity that has taken place within or outside theschool day. As you can see there has been a lot going on.

Recently, the Chief Inspector for Schools stated that schools cannot be responsible for solving all of society’s problemsand named obesity and knife crime as two points in case,but - as you may have seen if you watched the BBC2programme ‘School’ - schools and teachers have a wideremit when young people enter their buildings. Yes we educate them, but we also look to teach them how to begood citizens, we feed them, we take them on trips andovernight stays, we check on their wellbeing and we attemptto give them a platform for a happy, successful and secure future life.

We really are in loco parentis (their parents when they are atschool) and to extend the analogy, to attempt to be a community that is a family. As in families this can be toughat times, but our teachers work hard to ensure all thosetasks are completed on a daily basis. It is a big job, hugelydemanding but hugely rewarding, so as we go into theChristmas break, I would like to thank all parents and carersfor their commitment to the school and all you do for yourchildren and to thank all the staff team for the same two reasons.

May you have a happy, restful and family oriented break.

Many thanks,

David Bailey

Student parliament for Biddenham

Students, staff, parents andspecial guests gathered atthe school for the partner-ship launch of two exciting

projects.

The first was the launch of theschool’s £1.1m fundraising appeal to create a ‘Student Parliament and Citizenship Centre’. The second was tolaunch the Biddenham Parliamentary Society, which isbeing developed during the current academic year in advance of the grand opening ofthe new building in September of2019.

The event was opened by Shannon Hussain, ex-head girlat Biddenham and recent 1stclass honours graduate fromUniversity of Bedfordshire.

Bill Rammell, the University’sVice Chancellor and Alistair BurtMP were among the guests.

Mike Berrill, ExecutivePrincipal at the school and Project Manager for this new initiative said the students them-selves had been the inspirationfor this development, “The creation of the Student Forum atthe school in 2012 had adopteda new ‘open’ approach todeveloping the ‘student voice’and democracy in education withthem winning the national‘Speaker’s School Action Award’earlier this year.

For more information on theproject, visit ‘help-build-our-school-parlia-ment.uk’ or call 01234 342521and ask for a brochure.

Churchill Public Speaking Competition

A scratch team, thrown together at 24 hours notice, held its ownagainst polished public school performances at Bedford School onthe evening of Monday 24th November.

They were given the controversial and challenging proposition, ‘The legalisation of cannabiscould lead to an economic boom’ either to argue for or against. Bravely, the team of EmmanuelAsare, Natasha Aitchinson and Leo Telford chose to argue ‘for’.

They team put together a compelling rationale for taking cannabis supply, out of the hands ofcriminal gangs, regulating its quality and, as with tobacco and alcohol, taxing it to raise revenueboth for the NHS treatment and to set up a National Investment Fund. Under cross questioningthey successfully defended the view that the 50 year ‘War on Drugs’ had failed to make any impact on supply and distribution, and that it was time to take a different and potentially contro-versial new approach. They cited evidence of the impact of such changes in Ecuador, and eightstates in the USA, including Wisconsin where the tax revenues raised in the first yearamounted to $176m. They concluded with the view that the estimated tax revenue in UK wouldbe in excess of £1 billion, which could contribute greatly to investment in entrepreneurialismand new business start-ups.

In the end the winners were Northampton High School for Girls with Bedford Modern and Bedford School coming joint second. Biddenham came joint fourth with Wootton and a secondteam from Bedford School. Mr Berrill, who accompanied the team on the day, said, ‘I was extremely proud that they had researched this challenging and controversial topic and wereable to deliver such a balanced talk with such poise and confidence. I am confident, as ouroracy and public speaking strategy works its way through the school over the next five years,that we will see teams from the school take top honours in years to come!’.

WELCOMING VISITORS FROM KAZAKHSTAN

We welcomed a group of teachers from Kazakhstan again this Autumn.They were part of a larger group of the NIS/SUPER project run by theUniversity of Cambridge. The scholars spent two weeks in schools inBedfordfordshire and Cambridgeshire after October half term.

This year all of the visiting teachers were A level Science teachers and they were verykeen to observe Sixth Form teaching of their subjects and commented upon the ways inwhich our students were encouraged to become more independent learners with accessto a range of resources.

As part of the internship at Biddenham the visiting teachers conducted their own smallscale action research to explore the ways in which our students approach the demandsof the A level Science curriculums and how they select and apply for science-based de-gree courses at university. They will use their findings to feedback to colleagues in Kaza-khstan and to adjust their classroom practice in order to better support their students whohave to study A level Sciences in English after previously using only Russian or Kazakhfor their studies!

The day before returning to Kazakhstan all teachers on the programme had to say a fewwords about the school they had visited and present the findings of their research repre-sentatives from Kazakhstan and the host schools at Homerton College, Cambridge.

Our visitors mentioned how impressed they were by the diversity of our school and howwell everybody works together and how effectively school prepares students to be selfreliant and independent adults and by the selection of Kazakh art on display in thestaffroom.

We order many books for theschool – non-fiction and fiction, forlessons and for the library from acompany called Browns Books forStudents.

BBfS offers an extensive range of productswhich can be browsed on line, but on Friday30 November BBfS came to visit us with theirspecially equipped double-decker book bus.

Groups of students from each year grouphad the opportunity to visit the bus to see thelatest books on offer and help the librarianchoose new books for the library.

Teachers were also able to browse the academic resources available.

The Year 12 WorkSkills students as part of their course undertake voluntarywork at the foodbank; on top of that this year's group decided they wanted tobe part of the 'Christmas in a Box' campaign. This scheme provides local people in a crisis at Christmas with hampers. Theypromoted the event within school, going into assemblies and getting students andstaff on board . They then wrapped 20 boxes and filled them with the donated items. The teamwere given specific requirements of what families and individuals needed andmade sure that the boxes were complete. The boxes were delivered on Tuesday11 Dec, after a lot of hard work from the students. Well done WorkSkills students and Merry Christmas to all.

CHRISTMAS IN A BOX FOR PEOPLE IN CRISIS

BIMA Digital Day ChallengeIn the BIMA challenge a group of students participated as a team in achallenge set by the FA where theyhad to promote Girls Football to girlsbetween the ages of 8-16, to encourage them to take up the game.

They decided to promote it on socialmedia because it would effectivelyreach their intended audience. Their football club name was ‘EGFC’(England Girls Football Club). Theycame up with ideas on how to engagemore young girls to sign up and thendecide where they were going to advertise, organised merchandise forfans and developed their official Appfor discounts for the club.

Charity NewsMany of you will be aware of thesad passing of one of our teachers, Mrs Venables whopassed away this year after along battle with cancer.Well done to everyone who ranand walked Biddenham’s veryown race for life raising money forCancer Research UK in her memory. They raised more than£1200 for the charity and Macmillan.

Children in NeedThe year 9 Learning Support students organised and held abake sale for Children in Need.They showed excellent teamworkto work together to plan and advertise the event and then sellcakes on the day. Their hard workpaid off to raise £47.88!

Our goal this term has been to get students in to schooland help them prepare for the work place, college or university. We have had a big drive on punctuality andwe have also been looking at students individually, encouraging them to come in to school and to take owner-ship of their own attendance. We have used the colourcoding to show an acceptable level of attendance and topromote our school policy, which is to be in school at least95% of the time. We are really pleased with the results. There are morestudents in class and on time. There is also a 15% increase of students with at least 95% attendance.

O U T A N D A B O U TThis term 12 students from Year 11 had theopportunity to visit Pembroke College at theUniversity of Cambridge to get a taste ofwhat the University is like and raise the aspirations of our students.

During the day, the students (pictured right) wereable to sample lectures, tour the College, quiz current students about University life, asked a rangeof insightful questions to learn more about the University and application process.The students came away from the experience motivated and enthused to do well in their studiesand wanting to further their education after SixthForm.

Sixth form Biddenham students recentlyattended a competition organised by the Magistrates Association.

The students were given three fictitious scenarios topresent against another school before a panel ofjudges.

This gave them the opportunity to practice legal research and advocacy, but also gain first hand experience into acting as wingers, applicants or defendants. The scenarios were examples of privatelaw proceedings of cases involving parents whohave separated and cannot agree on child arrange-ments.

The students did very well and came second in thecompetition. Ammarah Din was singled out for herperformance.

From left to right front and back rowAmmarah Din, Apreetha Hoque, Amina Begum, FahimaRahman, Jamie Colver-Wilson, Maryam Yasmin andSaman Ahmed

Ten Chemistry students from years 12and 13 went to Birmingham Universityrecently to see A level Science - Live!

The students said that the Chemistry trip was funand inspiring and a great experience that theywould definitely recommend to anyone.

Ebby Tanimola said: “It really cleared up questions about the exams as well. My favouritelecture was about Mercury and how its propertieswork!”

Year 10 Parents’ evening Tuesday 22nd January 2019

Year 11 Parents’ Evening Thursday 7th February 2019

February Half Term Monday 11th – Friday 15th February

2019

O U T A N D A B O U TA group of fourteen year 9 studentswent to the National Space Centrefor the day in November.

The students explored the centre,learning about space missions, theuniverse, stars, rockets and muchmore.

They also competed in a rocket launchchallenge, learning about streamlining,aerodynamics and also the importanceof budgeting. In the afternoon the students enjoyed watching an immersive film about Astronauts in theSir Patrick Moore Planetarium (theUK's largest domed planetarium).

They all had a very enjoyable time.

This term our year 12 BTEC level 3 Sport coursestudents went on a three day residential visit toDerby, in conjunction with the National CitizenshipService NCS. Over the course of the three daysthe students participated in a variety of sport science activities and workshops including indoortrack cycling at Derby velodrome, testing the stu-dents not only physically but mentally around the42 degree banking. This was followed by a tour ofDerby County Football Club shedding insight intohow a professional club operates and careers in

the sports industry. The next day saw the students visit St GeorgesPark, the FA National Football Centre, where theytook part in fitness testing sessions in the gymand the indoor football centre, followed by a tourof the state of the art facility. The day ended with a Q & A session with KateStalker a physiotherapist who has worked with theNew Zealand cricket team and at London 2012 .The final day of the residential saw the studentsparticipate in indoor climbing.

O U T A N D A B O U T

Last month Biddenham International Students spent a week in Copenhagen, Denmark for the Anglo-Danish Exchange.

Our colleagues at Boerneuviversitetet welcomed us with open arms, literally, and introduced the

students to some games as a way of learning about each others cultures. Time was also spent in Tivoli

Gardens amusement park as well as the Copenhagen Experimentarium Science Museum. The students

gained valuable experience in communication as well as sharing cultural practices including education

and politics.

The Danish students will be visiting in March next year and we are looking for Biddenham

students to host them. If this is something you would be interested in, please speak to Mr Smith.

Nine year 12 and 13s visited Swanage to complete Geographycoursework. The year 13s were focussing on their NEA courseworkand collecting their own data. The year 12s spent the three days exploring the surrounding areasHampshire including Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Studland Bay andBoscombe. The students thoroughlyenjoyed themselves and had the opportunity to try out different data collection methods before their returnnext year to complete their own NEAcoursework.

O U T A N D A B O U TThe Science department have organised various trips for GCSE and sixth form students

Year 7 & 8Biddenham year 7 and 8 students are involved in Mindstorms EV3 robotics challenge sponsored by theTomorrow's Engineers and will be taking part in the national challenge in March.

Year 9, 10 & 11.Year 9 and 10 students visited to National History museum at Tring and attended a workshop. Year 10 students visited the Science museum, London and attended the workshop about the Newtonian physicsBiddenham year 10 and 11 students are involved in VEX robotics challenge, sponsored by LockheedMartin and will be taking part in the regional competition in November and January. Year 11 students visited Emmanuel Centre in London for an event called Science in Action. A universityprofessor delivered lectures on their research and the topics relevant to GCSE science syllabus.

Sixth FormYear 13 chemistry went to University of Leicester to attend a work shop on analytical chemistry and gota chance to use different spectroscopy equipment to analyse organic compounds. Year 12 and 13 students attended an event called Physics in Action at University of Warwick (picturedbelow) where University professors delivered lectures on their research and the topics relevant to the Alevel Physics syllabus.

Business roundupYear 10 and year 12 business students visited Whipsnade Zoo this term to experience how a large organisation is run and how they are impacted by external factors. It was an enjoyable day for all, withlovely weather.

A group of Year 13 business students attended a Grade booster course it London in preparation for theirfinance exam in January. The course was really useful in developing exam technique and providing stu-dents with some valuable resources.

Year 12 business students attended a workshop at Highways England in Bedford. The organisation wasfantastic in arranging a presentation and tasks specifically linked to the students’ course. This was agreat success in developing our students’ knowledge and experience.

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Biddenham staff doing their bit for charity running the5k Santa run in Bedford in aid of Keech Hospice.

Sixth Form NewsThis term has had a significant focus on welcoming and settling in the newyear 12 students as well as helping the year 13 students with their career aspirations and university applications. This year we have had sixapplications submitted for the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and a further four for Medicine and Dentistry.

Alongside of all of this we have had visits from The University of Leicester torun a UCAS workshop; Futures First to look at the hidden job market; and anumber of guest speakers who have shared their wisdom about their routesto success, including Dr. Amrit Judge from the University of Nottingham. We are looking forward to our presentation evening at the end of the termand further guest speakers who will be working with our students on their employability skills and applications.

SCHOOLS OUT AFTER 39 YEARS

One of the longest serving teachers in Bedford has retired aftermore than 39 years.

Wendy Cooper had been at Biddenham School since it opened as John Howard Upperin 1979. She was one of only 16 members of staff at the brand new school, which origi-nally had just 200 students.

Wendy was appointed Head of Girls PE and worked along side former Bedford Bluespresident, Gareth Davis who was Head of Boys PE (pictured left).

“The experience of opening a new school is something I will never forget”, said Wendy. “Ihave carried out a number of different job roles over the years including Head of Year,Head of Sixth Form and Acting Deputy Head. I have also taught a number of subjectssuch as Religious Studies, Business Studies and Sociology. I became the ExaminationOfficer in 2000 and now after 19 years in that role feel it is time to retire.”

Mr Bailey, Head Teacher said: “Wendy Cooper has been a Biddenham stalwart over thepast 39 years - the like and longevity of we will never see again. Her contribution to theschool and community over that time is immeasurable and I can’t thank her enough. She and Gareth Davies went on to lay the foundations for the present day excellence insport. She will be sorely missed.”

YEAR 7 AND 8 NEWSDuring the Autumn term Mrs Fountain's art groups utilised the beautiful Embankment to complete some primary observational drawings.

They were able to make direct links to the term's topic of Tales of the Riverbank andwere fortunate enough to have beautiful weather on all the four occasions they went. There was fantastic feedback from the public about the students’ work and conduct. They were even lucky enough to have a local artist stop and talk to the students and give feedback on their work. Learning outside the classroom at its best.

Two of the sketches drawn of the Embankment by students on the visit.

Dear Biddenham School...Two of our year 7 students have written to tell us their first impressions of the school

My first day at Biddenham I felt scared,

excited, nervous and joyful but I realised it

wasn’t scary at all. It has a really nice

environment and I made some lovely friends.

We didn’t get too much homework in the first

weeks so you could get used to the teachers

and their expectations. We also started clubs in

the second week and I am now a member of

netball, rugby and football clubs.

In lessons they give you a lot of support and

make sure that if you don’t understand it then

they’ll keep going through it until you get it.

Out of all of the schools that I have been to I

feel 100% that Biddenham is the best. Every-

body that goes to this school always gets

praised for their amazing work and sometimes

they even get rewards like certificates. Overall

my experience here has been absolutely

amazing and I have learnt so many new things

that I didn’t know before.

Selina Year 7

I think Biddenham is great because it gives you

the freedom to move around and eliminates

staying in one block each day. I believe that

giving students choice helps us clear our minds

so we can focus on studying our topics.

I believe that the teachers give everyone the

same opportunities. Each student is privileged to

the same information. The wide range of sports

gives you a chance to play many sports that you

think you would like to try.

I think the bold idea of giving each a student a

Chromebook is the right way to keep each

student’s minds innovated and ready to learn

and can boost each person's mindset and

learning.

Biddenham is an amazing school and I wouldn’t

have wanted to go anywhere else .

Joe Year 7

S p o r t Water sports club Ten year 9 and 10s took part in a six week program learning how to kayak alongsideNCS and Canoe Adventures. All studentshad a fantastic time and can’t wait for thenext adventure.

Y9 Girls Active ClubA group of year 9 girls are currentlytaking part in the Youth Sports TrustGirlsActive programme. They have taken part in boxercise, outdoor adventure and aerobics andlooking forward to the next 3-4 weeksof new and exciting activities.

Basketball

The basketball has gone from strengthto strength this year. With huge numbers at training and results reflecting of that hard work and determination across all year groups. Currently the year 9 boys are unde-feated in their league and the year 8girls have qualified for the finals and theboys have won three out of four. Theyear 7s are in the middle of their leagueseason and doing very well, with lots ofstudents playing basketball for the firsttime. Well done everyone.

R o u n d U pNetball

With the season coming to an end for theY9- 6th form the girls have seen a verysuccessful year. Both with the amount ofgirls involved and the results going ourway. A great end to a fantastic year. Y7 and Y8 fixtures start after Christmas.

Football

The girls football season ended with some fan-tastic results in all age groups. The year 7 and8s enjoyed their 7-aside league and the U15and U18 girls all had successful results in their11-aside Bedford league. This year we hadrecord numbers wanting to take part in years 7and 8, it was great to see.

The boys years 7-10 football season is about toget underway and lots of teams have enjoyedfriendly games in the run up to their league inJanuary. The year 11s finished their seasonwith some great performances ending 3 yearsof football at Biddenham. Thank you year 11s.

DodgeballThe U19 boys dodgeball team (picturedleft) became county champions in therecent county competition with the U16boys finishing 2nd and the U19 girls finishing 4th. Well done to all those whotook part.

Badminton The U15 boys badminton team arethrough to the final of the Bedfordleague and will be playing Sharnbrookto decide who goes through to thecounty competition. Good luck boys.

S p o r t N e w s

Due to the amount of fixtures we take part in for all our students across all sports and forour continued development of our students as young leaders we have been awarded thehighest level on the School Games Award scheme. The platinum award! Well done andcongratulations to all those students who have been involved in physical activity outsidethe curriculum at Biddenham over the last year and a huge thank you to the never endingsupport of our parents and carers. What an achievement!

Athletes of the week thishalf term

● Zulqamain Raja● Tilly Harpur● Amir Sakhi● Zahra Hussain● Towheed Sharafuddin● Alex Balogh● Rose Davison● Cameron O’Neal● Harmony Alleyne

GCSE PE star homework winners

● Despina Marinova● Nikola Miocinovic● Tyler Albarella ● Paulina Grzadziejewska● Finlay Skilling● Louis Passfield● Antonio Filamorino ● Josh Southerden● Brennan Fox● Elise Tse● Mahira Ahmed● Rehima Utmanzai● Josh Southerden