Welcome to the second edition of The Buckingham Bulletin. There has been anincredible range of activities and learning which have taken place within our schoolcommunity.The CFE Open Evening was extremely positive. The range of courses offered were wellreceived by both our Year 11 students and external visitors. The CFE continues to growand is a real strength of the school. A* - B grades at A Level rose 12% to 41% in 2015.Presently, our data shows that we are 10% higher at this point compared to last year, sowe can predict another year of improved results for 2016. Already our students have thisyear received training on employability skills from local businesses, they have visiteduniversities and had individual support on writing their university applications. Also,many students have engaged in a question and answer session on political andparliamentary processes with Lord Borwick.Links to local businesses and apprenticeship opportunities are stronger than ever before,67% of students went on to university in 2015 and the percentage of applications for2016 have risen yet again.Each student is supported in a nurturing learning environment to be successful and togain their desired pathway to employability, training or high education. It is wonderful tosee that the commitment and dedication of all staff working as part of the CFE hasimpacted so positively on our students lives and future opportunities.I hope by reading our regular Bulletins, you gain a greater understanding of thewonderful work and opportunities we deliver within our school – I am truly proud of theachievements, attitudes and commitment of our students.

Yours sincerely

Miss A P WellsHeadteacher

The Buckingham BulletinNew Issue 2November 2015

www.buckinghamschool.com

Words on the photo

Dear All

Success for all through Achievement, Challenge & Enjoyment

Success for all through Achievement, Challenge & Enjoyment

CFE (Sixth Form) students in their dedicated study room

Computer Science Department

Year 10 students will be taking a trip to Duxford for the annual Think ComputerScience event - hosted by Microsoft Research Cambridge. Students will get theopportunity to run through a programme of exciting talks, demonstrations andworkshops - all designed to inspire students about the fantastic opportunitiesavailable for them in the field of computing.In addition to inspiring our GCSE students, the Computing Department currentlyruns a Key Stage 3 after school club on Tuesdays. The students are currently in themiddle of competing in a National Animation Contest - Animation16. After the roundof initial submissions the club will be working on student led projects that connectComputer Science to their other classes, using everything from Design andTechnology to the School’s brand new 3D printer.To really top it off, planning has already started for Computer Science Week, whichtakes place during the week of 7-13 December. During this week, the ComputingDepartment will be holding events in the computing suites. There is going to be aLego Robotics competition with prizes for the winners; a film festival planned by thecomputing club, a how-to on the 3D printer and lots more!

Ms Lacey TownesComputer Science Teacher

Meet the Teacher: Mr RobertsAssistant Headteacher & PE Teacher

My name is Peter Roberts and inSeptember of this year I joined TheBuckingham School as AssistantHeadteacher for Data, Assessment,Reporting and Recording. I havespent the last 9 years of my teachingcareer in Luton where I have hadvarious roles; Head of Year, Head ofHouse before progressing on to amore senior role as AssistantPrincipal. I am a PE teacher and mymain sports are football, golf andtennis. I have also taughtIT/Computing and History as myadditional subjects. In 2010, Ienjoyed a sabbatical year from myprevious post where I travelled toAustralia, New Zealand and HongKong. I was lucky enough toexperience teaching for two monthsacross two schools in Brisbane,Australia. I particularly enjoyedlearning to surf and being able toteach new sports, such as AussieRules and Ultimate Frisbee.

My spare time over the years hasmainly been spent playing sport. Irepresented my County in a numberof sports as a junior and competedin golf nationally against the likes ofJustin Rose and Nick Doherty. Myevenings and weekends are nowspent with my wife and 15 monthold daughter, Ayra. Between themthey definitely keep me on my toesand fairly fit and healthy!I look forward to becoming part ofthe community here at TheBuckingham School and hope tomeet many of you soon.

Buckingham Music Centre Now Open!We are delighted to announce that ournew satellite centre is now fully open. Weare running Junior Concert Band,Buckingham Strings and Guitar Groupfrom Buckingham Primary School onThursday afternoons. Lessons in mostinstruments are also available. FromJanuary we will also be running TootyFlutey – our new flute choir for flautistswho’ve been playing for two terms ormore – it’s not just for beginners though,come along whatever grade you are. Youcould come and watch our ChristmasConcert at The Ugland Auditorium, StoweSchool on 10 December or just comealong one Thursday and meet us all. Formore information contact Fay atfhayhurst@learningtrust.net

Mrs AldertonMusic Teacher

The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 www.buckinghamschool.com

Centre of Further Education Dream Big Dreams

New Head Boy and GirlStudent Voice are extremely pleasedto announce the successful candidatesfor Head Boy and Head Girl are JoshStacey and Jocelyn Ayers. Ellie Shortand George Samways are the newdeputies. Good luck to all in your newroles.Student Voice

The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 www.buckinghamschool.com

I am hoping to go to University next year tostudy Biomedical Science. Miss Jardine(Curriculum Leader-Science) is reallysupportive of my aspiration to studyBiomedical Science and is providingguidance and support. When I received anemail regarding a fantastic opportunity togo to India to gain work experience in ahospital, I was immediately interested andbegan to look into it. I contacted acompany called Medical Projects; I wasdelighted to find out that I had a placeconfirmed. I’m looking forward to going toIndia for a week in February 2016 whichwill involve working in a hospital to seewhat hospital life is truly like. I am alsointrigued to find out about India as acountry and their culture.

The Buckingham School’s Centre ofFurther Education (CFE) offers a widevariety of both academic and vocationalqualifications in Years 12 and 13. It israre in today’s education system for aschool to offer such a mix of theoreticaland practical learning, but we feel itenables students to study a breadth ofcourses, opening up their progressionpathways in a flexible and successfulway. Our course options include ALevels in Business Studies, Psychology,English Literature, History, Media,Photography and Biology, and BTECs inLaw, Travel & Tourism and Sport, (fulllist available on our website).Alongside the broad range of subjectcourses available in the CFE, we alsohave a number of enrichment activitiesincluding Media Make Up, Enterprise &Entrepreneurship and SportsLeadership. These additional coursesreally help our students to stand outwhen it comes to writing their personalstatement for UCAS or their CV forpotential employers. This autumn,more than 60% of last year’s Year 13students progressed to universities tostudy high quality degree courses. Weaim to build on this, year on year.

We recently held a CFE OpenEvening for the School’s currentYear 11 students and for localexternal young people who arelooking into their options for thenext academic year. We had over90 people attend. They were ableto speak to subject teachers abouthow each course is delivered andassessed, and talk to existingstudents about life in the CFE. Oneparent who attended the eventsaid, “It was very useful to getclarity on the options available”.For those who were unable to bethere, information can beobtained from the CFE and we willbe running a number of follow upactivities to help young peopledecide if our CFE is the right nextstep for them post-GCSE. Theseactivities will include theopportunity to observe Year 12and 13 lessons, a furtherinformation evening andindividual meetings with theDirector or Head of CFE to discusspreferred subjects and their entrycriteria.

By being able to study A Levels andBTECs in the CFE, our students gainqualifications to facilitate progresstowards their career ambitions in away that suits their learning styles. In2014-15, our students achieved a 12%increase in A Level grades A*-B and a15% increase in BTECs at Distinction*-Distinction. These results demonstratethe School’s ongoing commitment topost-16 education for our students.In the CFE, we offer our students asupportive learning environmentwhich encourages them to grow asindividuals, as well as to achieve andprogress into successful careers. Formore information, please contact theCFE on 01280 812206 ext. 282 or visitour website:www.buckinghamschool.com

Year 11 Students…Get a copy of our CFE Prospectus and course information for next year now!

My University Aspiration by Phoebe Browes, Year 13, CFE Student

Safe Drive, Stay AliveOn Friday 6 November, our Year 12students attended ‘Safe Drive StayAlive’. This is a hard-hittingpresentation organised by BucksCounty Council and Thames ValleyPolice, designed to highlight the oftendevastating consequences of roadaccidents.Last year over 2,000 people wereinjured on roads in Thames Valley andHampshire and an average of 4 youngpeople per week were killed orseriously injured. Young drivers aremuch more likely to be involved in acrash on the roads, often due toinexperience and a lack of knowledgeof the risks. Around 1 in 4 deaths onthe road is aged 17-24.Members of the emergency servicesdescribed what their roles involvewhen they are at the scene of roadtraffic accidents and afterwards.

We also heard from two parents wholost children in car accidents and fromtwo survivors; one had suffered life-changing injuries and one was a videointerview with a young man who iscurrently in prison having been foundguilty of causing death by dangerousdriving.“It made me realise how quickly yourlife can be changed or even be overwith a silly mistake while driving.” saidAmy Fenables. All the speeches weredelivered with a lot of courage andbravery. Many of the students weremoved, particularly by the parents of

road accident victims. Faye Barnes said,“It opens your eyes and makes you a lotmore aware.”At The Buckingham School we feel thisis an important awareness raising eventand we will continue to take our Year12 students to it each year.

Student Finance

Parent BridgeParent Bridge is a database of parentswho are willing to get involved in TheBuckingham School in whichever waythey feel they can make a difference.It is not a typical PTA or ‘Friends of’where the emphasis is on fundraising,although if that is what you love to dothen the school is often looking forfinancial support for specific projects toenrich the student experiences andlearning. Whether you have halfan hour once a month or an hour oncea year, there are many ways in whichyou can support the school.Parent Bridge meet immediately after our half term Parent Forum gatherings, but please if you feel you can contribute to our school please contactJulie Barnard at parentbridge@bucksgfl.org.uk

Safe Drive, Stay Alive!

On 19 October, Emily Blake from Events MS visited The Buckingham School todeliver a Student Finance Talk to our Year 12 and 13 students on behalf of theDepartment for Business Innovation and Skills.She explained how the new tuition fees work, what they can be used for and howand when the repayments are made. She also highlighted that many universitiesoffer additional bursaries that can be applied for. She strongly recommended thatall those people wanting to go university research all of their options and claim allof the financial support they are eligible for.At The Buckingham School, we have formed a relationship with The LillingstoneTrust. They are offering scholarships to encourage pupils from lower incomebackgrounds who are deterred by financial constraints from continuing intohigher education. Their scholarships will have a maximum value of £4,000, withpayments spread over the first 3 years of the Degree course. Further details,including the application form, can be found on the notice boards in the CFE studyroom and common room, as well as on our website.

Remembrance ServiceOn 8 November, I went as arepresentative of The BuckinghamSchool with Ellie Short and MrMandel to Buckingham’sRemembrance Day Parade. I havenever been before and it was reallytouching to see so many people fromclubs like the Cadets and Brownies, aswell as people from Buckingham andthe surrounding villages, cometogether to remember the fallenservice men and women. Wefollowed the parade to the churchand laid a wreath on behalf of theSchool on the war memorial duringthe service.

Jocelyn AyresHead Girl

Year 11 GCSE Geography CAT catch-up sessions every Tuesday lunchtime in H6. Have your draft work checked and get advice.Mrs SangherraSubject Leader Geography

The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 www.buckinghamschool.com

English Department Literacy leads the way

English revision sessions Wednesdays 3.30 p.m. in E6

Year 10 Students have been exploring the genre of horror and how writers use linguistic techniques and structuraldevices to create tension for the reader. They were challenged to use some of these techniques in only 250 words.

The Devil InsideI fall deeper and deeper into a horrifyingly hopeless sleep.Surrounding me were leafy, green and tall trees. I felt trapped. Thenight was as black and dark as the devil’s soul. Bang! The skysuddenly lit up like fireworks, which was followed by a deepsounding roar. Lightning had struck in the air. Pacing my waythrough the forest, I stumbled and fell to the ground.I lifted my head upwards to see a short and stubble figure. Both ofour eyes met but his were red, dead and colourless eyes. Graduallythis old looking figure’s mouth opened, chanting the words “GOTO HELL. GO TO HELL!...”Here I was. Hell. I was transported within seconds to a place filledwith walls of death which spookily surrounded me. Only onecolour was visible in this land of death. Red.I was enclosed in hell. Soon strange figures surrounded me,chanting in the highest pitch their voice boxes could produce. Ilifted from the ground very slowly, going upwards and upwards.Bang! My head hit against the headboard on the bed. I slowlywoke up to find out this terrifying story didn't exist.

Sam Ward-Butler

Miss StepneyCurriculum Leader for English and Media

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.On Thursday 5 November, Year 10, 11 and 12were accompanied by Mrs Field, Miss Checkleyand Morris to Milton Keynes Theatre to have aone hour workshop with the director and actorsfrom The Curious Incident of The Dog in theNight, followed by a viewing of the fullperformance of the show.As part of their GCSE and A-Level course whichrequires them to review a live theatre show, TheBuckingham School students were privileged to awealth of information from the director andactors alike, including participation in ademonstration of physical theatre by FranticAssemble, which our students were veryknowledgeable in and were able to answer somedifficult questions posed from the director,outshining another similar school.The performance itself was completely andutterly emotively captivating and brought aWorld of Autism to life and made somethingwhich appears on the surface as a complex area,understandable and relatable to all ages. It is,without doubt, a must see theatre show.

The ShackShe approached the woods swiftly while thetrees surrounded her as she got deeper anddeeper. The rain fell heavily, which created aloud ‘thumping’ sound as it hit the cold,corroded wooden path. She was cold and wet;it forced her to look for shelter. She followedthe path into the depths of the woods. Itbegan to get darker and darker before shewas greeted by an old shack. It lookedforgotten and corroded. She slowly andcautiously approached it. The shack barelyshowed any of its own skin as it was coveredby bushes.

The Cabin in the WoodsSlowly slumbering into the woods, he felt a coldbreeze shoot past him. The owls were howling,howling like a wolf calling for its pack. He tooktwo steps and suddenly the sky grew extremelydark and the breeze became as bitter as ice. Hewalked forward slowly only to find an old cabinin the distance. The thunder began followed bythe rain, not thinking he dashed inside closingthe door behind him.He turned around and saw a crackling fire in thedistance, the only thing lighting up the room.Suddenly the door flung open by the windblowing out the fire as well. He tried to find alight switch with his hands pressed up againstthe walls! He felt a slight breeze on his hands,followed by a tight grip around his neck whichwas getting tighter and tighter by the second. Asmall whimper came from his mouth but beforehe could finish he dropped to the floor. Dead.

Emily Honor

Mrs Field Teacher of English

The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 www.buckinghamschool.com

The door edged open with pace, the screech echoed in the enclosedwalls. She stepped in, shouting out to see if there was any type of life.Nothing. But she did notice a lonely rusted metal boy in the middle ofthe room. She swayed towards it. Suddenly, the door slammed withsuch force that nothing but darkness filled the room. She ran for thedoor, ignoring everything around her. A piece floorboard caused herto fall. This was before she felt a tight wrapping around her neck. Afaint, unknown, clue groan came from above her. “Hell”. “Home”. Shecould feel the blackness slowly starting to overcome her causing herto lose consciousness. A shadow staggered out of the shack after her.Her body was found with symbols scarred on her neck and withsunken eyes but what was found next to her sent a shiver down myspine…

Lewis Hall

Hair & BeautySchool Show – ‘Joseph’ Rehearsal Times

Rehearsals for the new schoolshow Joseph and The AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat will beheld every Wednesday from3.30pm to 5.30pm in thePerforming Arts department.

Do you have any items of schooluniform your child no longerneeds We are in great need forany school blazers that are nolonger needed, please do dropthem in at Student Receptionwhen convenient.

A Lord’s Visit

The Buckingham School hosted a talk froma member of the House of Lords on Friday16 October to encourage students tobecome more engaged with the politicaland parliamentary process. Lord Borwickmet with Centre of Further Education(Years 12 and 13) students for an hour totalk about the work and role of the Houseof Lords. This was followed by a questionand answer session on various aspects ofthe parliamentary process and life atWestminster generally.

Angela Wells, Head teacher said“this was a fantastic opportunity forour students to interact withsomeone who knows theparliamentary system inside out, asit can sometimes seem far removedfrom their daily lives”.The visit was arranged through theLord Speaker’s “Peers in Schools”programme, which has been runningacross the UK since 2007 and has sofar involved around 75,000 youngpeople. This continuing outreachprogramme sends members of theHouse of Lords intoschools/academies and collegesacross the country to give talks insupport of the citizenshipcurriculum.

Krispy Kreme Doughnut sale was held on Tuesday 24 November – raising funds for the Senior Citizens Christmas party. Thank you to everyone we raised £135.00

Fundraising Event

Hair & Beauty twilight sessionsevery Tuesday in the salon from3.30 to 5.00pm £3.00 persession. For further details pleasecontact Mrs Akerman –kakerman@bucksgfl.org.uk

Hopefully our new school minibus will behere by Christmas. We have been waitingsince September to take delivery but due tofactory backlogs it was delayed until thismonth. The minibus will be out and abouton a daily bus route through local villagesand used to transport our teams to allschool fixtures in the County. We would liketo have some local sponsors to advertisewith us on the external panels and ask forall enquiries to be sent to Tracy Waumsleyby email - twaumsley@bucksgfl.org.ukThank you to those suppliers who havealready taken up this offer and to HeronSigns who will be completing the livery.

New School Minibus – Sponsors Needed

Mrs WaumsleyBusiness Manager

Nearly New School Uniform

Student Voice

Key Stage 5 Forensics

Look what happens as part of KeyStage 5 Forensics – studentsanalysing a simulated crime sceneto establish what crime wascommitted against the victim!

Sarah JardineCurriculum Leader for Science

The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 www.buckinghamschool.com

School Lottery School lottery is up and running – log on to the school website for your chance to win!

Thursday, 3 December - Year 8 Parents evening

Monday, 14 December - Senior Citizen Christmas Party

Monday, 14 December - Year 11 Berlin trip

Thursday , 17 December - Year 11, 12 & 13 Celebration evening

Friday, 18 December - Christmas Jumper Day

Friday, 18 December – End of Term

Tuesday, 5 January 2016 – Start of Term

Dates for your diary

Save the Date

2 July 2016 Fundraiser for student African charity trip

Phobia Awareness at the London Zoo!

Year 12 and 13 students visited London Zoo to attend an educationalsession on phobias. Students learnt about the causes and treatments ofphobias and how people react to phobias as part of their psychologycourse.The talk was by clinical hypnotherapist John Clifford, who talked aboutarachnophobia and the extreme behaviours this has caused in people whentrying to avoid spiders. Some examples were attempting to jump out a cargoing 70mph along the motorway because a spider crawled across thedashboard and a man who would watch television with a loaded air rifleready to shoot any spider that had the misfortune to wonder into the room.Students had the opportunity to experience hypnotherapy as a treatmentof phobias for themselves, although this didn’t work for everyone somestudents said they had gone into a hypnotic state! When we were broughtout of the hypnotic state students had the chance to hold a tarantula calledRosie to see if it had worked. Maya Kitt and Summer Howell who had beenafraid of spiders beforehand were able to hold Rosie after beinghypnotised. The best part of the day was being hypnotised and seeing theanimals; the gorillas, penguins and tigers being the most popular.

Miss SimmonsTeacher of Psychology

The Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT Tel. 01280 812206 www.buckinghamschool.com

In our next issue we look forward to featuring and reporting on all the fantastic PE achievements that have taken place during the Autumn term.

The Buckingham Bulletin is a regular news round up – if you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Claire Sherwood at csherwood@bucksgfl.org.uk

The Buckingham Schoolvisit Wembley

42 Buckingham students recently visited WembleyStadium to watch England vs France in anInternational Football Friendly on Tuesday 17November 2015.It was touch and go whether this fixture would goahead after the sad events that took place theweekend before hand in France. The atmosphereinside and outside the stadium was somewhat sadbut positive towards the French with supporters outin numbers, 71,000 people inside Wembley to showtheir support to the French players and the victims ofthe Paris shootings. The spectators at the matchbefore the whistle completed a one minute applauseand then a one minute silence took place, thestadium brought to a complete shutdown where onlya pin could be heard drop.As you can see from the picture above, the Frenchflag was created by spectators in the crowd duringboth national anthems. The game began and Englandsecured a 2-0 win with Wayne Rooney scoring andDele Alli. A fantastic game for all students to witnessand support, and a brilliant win for England on thenight. Watch out for more international footballfriendly fixtures coming up as school trips.

Miss Collie PE Teacher