1. education
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t: 01794 502 502
Whitenap Lane Romsey Hampshire SO51 5SY
f: 01794 502 501
e: info@mountbatten.hants.sch.uk
w: www.mountbatten.hants.sch.uk
Founder Patron: Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Executive Headteacher: Heather McIlroy
Head of School: Christopher Cox
Patron: The Hon. Alexandra Knatchbull
Spring 2015 Newsletter
Beauty and the Beast
Everyone loves a fairy tale and students at The Mountbatten School certainly staged a brilliant production of Beauty and the
Beast. The show told the story of Belle, an independent girl who was dissatisfied with life in a small, provincial French town,
constantly trying to fight off the misplaced affections of conceited Gaston. Fleeing from home she winds up in the Beast’s
enchanted castle where the furniture and crockery come to life.
Around 90 students were involved in the show, either as cast members or as technical crew. Mr Whiteside and Miss Gould
said, ‘The students worked tirelessly to bring the show together with stunning effect. The show featured toe-tapping
musical numbers against a magnificent set, topped off with dazzling costumes.’
Letter from the Executive Headteacher
Dear Parents
Our Music Academy, launched in September 2014, is going
from strength to strength. The Carol Service was – and
plenty of good judges agree with this view – the best
ever. The beautiful Romsey Abbey, which has seen many
lovely and historic events in its 900 year history, was full to
capacity. Indeed, the school had to provide 300 additional
chairs. Student choirs, our staff choir, our community
choir, our orchestras and our readers each played their
parts to perfection. The Expressive Arts faculty have
followed up this triumph with a stunning performance of
Beauty and the Beast with memorable performances by all
cast members, particularly our two leads, Freya Burnside
and Daanyaal Khan. The Music Department will again be
competing in the National Festival of Music. The regional
heats are coming up shortly and we hope our students
secure their place in the national finals once again. We
have seen a much greater take up in the number of
students taking musical instrument lessons, with many
student learning more than one instrument. We
encourage every student to do this; it is life-enriching and,
thanks to the Music Academy, we have the capacity for
more students to take part. Contact Mr Marchant if you
would like more information.
Our fabulous third generation football pitch opened last
term. It has been in intense demand and is already close
to its booking capacity; even England’s youth squad have
played upon it. To maintain its fabulous surface, everyone
using it must use studded boots; if students wish to use it
at lunchtime, they will need to have appropriate foot
wear.
Year 9 have completed their options process and Mr Cox
and Mr Taylor have been meeting with students to finalise
their choices. We know that this year group will face
tougher GCSE examinations with more rigorous questions,
and responses will require higher literacy skills. Last year
we made some significant changes to our curriculum and
school organisation. The greater literacy demands (e.g.
longer free text answers) in Year 10 and Year 11 (and at Alevel) has required a careful and planned response from
our subject areas in Years 7 to 9. All subjects are expected
to have a greater literacy and oracy focus in Lower
School. Parents can support this process by talking more
at home about school work, and asking students to frame
their responses in sophisticated language and full
sentences (as they would in an examination). We also
know that students will make more progress in school if
there is stimulating reading material at home. Young
people who read a daily newspaper will have a particular
advantage in job interviews and other business/industryrelated situations.
We have completely changed our approach to the Year 11
examination countdown period. There is now a fixed point
when all Year 11 Controlled Assessments should be
completed. My senior colleagues have been terrier-like in
ensuring all students have completed this work. I would
like to thank parents for their support; this will enable
students (and teachers) to totally concentrate on the final
examination preparation. We have also moved the Year 11
mock examinations from December to February. Feedback
from parents, teachers and - above all - students suggests
that this was a good decision; students have taken their
mocks much more seriously than in previous years, and the
revision they have done will stay with them for the real
exams.
The next few weeks are absolutely
crucial. Students should take advantage of the revision
opportunities
being
offered
by
their
subjects. Mathematics have a particularly effective
programme known as ‘30-4-10’ which is a programme of
30 minutes of intensive revision work over ten days. This
will be really useful Easter revision. However, students
must not exclusively rely on the revision provided by the
school; they must do their own and have a carefully
planned revision programme.
Students who work hard over the next few weeks and
months will be rewarded in August. We wish Year 11 well.
Heather McIlroy
Technology Tournament
On Wednesday 4 March, 3 teams, each of 4 Year 9 students, attended this year’s Technology Tournament at the Crossfield Hall in Romsey. It was an exciting day that involved students designing and building a powered cable car to travel
across a gap carrying a pay load, safely deliver it and return. Competition was tough with lots of varied ideas on how best
to solve the problem. All students enjoyed the day, their behaviour and commitment were a real credit to the school.
One of our teams did particularly well, earning 3rd place.
‘Bright Sparks’ IBM STEM Challenge
Six Year 8 Technology students recently attended an all-day event at IBM Hursley. They were competing in ‘Bright Sparks’,
a challenging STEM project. During the day they made excellent use of their IT and computer programming skills to solve
various problems. Students attending took on board all that IBM could throw at them and performed exceptionally well.
Students to be commended are: Ryan Pollard, Fraser Henderson, Charlotte White, Grace Nesbit, William Poulter and
Athenya Hardy.
PE Department
Artur Veeck, a Year 10 student, represented Hampshire at table tennis in the Cadets County Championship. This
is a team event involving 3 boys and 2 girls from each county. Hampshire did extremely well and finished as runners up of the County Premier 2015.
Having started table tennis at the age of 9, Artur has progressed well with the guidance of his coach, Adam
Proszko, at Waterside Table Tennis Club. His training and dedication to the game have led to great opportunities
such as taking part in his first international table tennis tournament - the Portuguese Youth Open in December.
As the only delegate from England, Artur had the opportunity to train with delegates from France, Luxemburg,
Spain, Japan, Netherlands and Portugal, teaming up with a Portuguese delegate to take part in the team events,
finishing in 6th place (out of 18 teams).
The Mountbatten School’s U14 Basketball team had a very strong first season together, reaching the Hampshire Schools’ Plate Final. For many of the
boys in the team, this was their first time playing competitive basketball.
They were matched against St George's, who were tough opponents when
they faced off in the league, with Mountbatten winning by only 2 points!
The game started slowly and was very close after the first quarter, with the
score 15-10 to Mountbatten. Mountbatten then stepped it up a gear and
began to dominate the game. The score ended up 79-36 to Mountbatten.
Marcus Peach top scored with 26 points, ending the game with 33 rebounds!! Everyone involved played superbly every second they were on
the court, and the team thoroughly deserved their victory.
Zac Booth was awarded MVP for the final with a defensive master class and
Marcus Peach was awarded MVP for the season for putting up fantastic
numbers in every game he played. Ben Nelson was 'Surprise of the Season'. Ben deserved this award for his outstanding commitment to both the
lunchtime and after school sessions, his support and encouragement for his
teammates at every game he was in the team, and his progression and development on the court throughout the season, culminating in scoring the
final basket in the Plate Final itself!
The Mountbatten School’s U15 Rugby team travelled to Cams Hill School, Portsmouth to play in their first ever
Hampshire County RFU Bowl Final.
The squad of 22 players, was made up of 13 students from Year 10 and 9 students from Year 9. It was a tough
match with plenty of huge hits and big tackles. The set piece was dominated by the strong Mountbatten forwards pack, exceptionally marshalled by Year 10 Captain Finn Goodridge.
There was a great atmosphere with a large crowd of parents, staff and friends. The match was very close, with
no more than 7 points dividing the teams throughout the entire match. Tries were scored by Charlie Good, Year
9, Matt Scrase, Year 9 and exceptional in their play were speedsters Nick Comer and Theo Wolfarth, with some
brute strength from forwards James Sidhu, Ethan Hunt, Graham Bovis and Rafel Moran. However, the winning
try was scored by Theo Wolfarth, Year 10, who out sprinted three opposition players on the wing to score under the posts, giving an easy kick to Nick Comer, Year 10. The final score was 19-12.
Breakfast Club
The Mountbatten School’s Breakfast Club celebrated its 1st Birthday on Tuesday 3 February with an abundance of
pancakes, sugar, lemon and strawberries! Every year, people strive to make the perfect pancake, but The Mountbatten School’s Breakfast Club has been a recipe for success from the start!
Studies have shown that little or no breakfast can lead to poor concentration and behaviour and, with people leading
such busy lives, some students were arriving at school not having had time for breakfast. As word spread, the original 8 students have become 28, all enjoying a variety of cereals, fruit, toast and yoghurt with the eagerly awaited,
‘Sausage and Bacon Friday!’
The club, started by Theresa Knight and Nikki Godwin, is funded in a variety of ways including two recently awarded
grants. The grants from Radio Solent’s Community Chest and Aster Communities afforded the students a Christmas
party, which was thoroughly enjoyed, with the rest going towards the purchase of a hot drinks maker and other necessary items. The Radio Solent Community Chest grant also led to a spot on the new Solent TV channel, highlighting
the success of the club.
Year 10 Muffin Bake-Off
Year 10 boys proved beyond all doubt that when it
comes to baking and making delicious festive
muffins, Mountbatten boys take some beating!
Cocoa powder was weighed, eggs broken, and
much powerful spoon-stirring was completed by
Year 10 boys, and teams battled it out with each
other in a grand Bake-Off final of English students
cross-curricular food marketing project.
They even tidied up after themselves as well.
Their mothers would be proud!
Number Day
In December, the Mathematics department ran their annual
Number Day for Year 8 students. Across the year group, students worked together in teams to solve a variety of open
ended maths based Christmas problems. Successful groups
demonstrated excellent teamwork and presented all their
assumptions and calculations to the Year 10 judges. A senior
member of staff commented, ‘All the students really enjoyed
the challenge and asked insightful questions, which showed
the depth of thought demonstrated in the students’ solutions. It was a great way to incorporate Christmas into
Teaching and Learning in a way that all the students
enjoyed.’
The Mountbatten School Music Academy
On Sunday 22 March, The Mountbatten Big Band performed in the Turner Sims Concert Hall. The evening was fantastic,
with performances from primary school students in the Mountbatten Music Academy ensembles.
Everyone performed really well and special congratulations go to the Wellow School KS2 Choir, Rownhams Trumpets,
North Baddesley Band and Halterworth Woodwind Ensemble! .
World Book Day and Hampshire Book Award
The Cat in the Hat, Where’s Wally, Sherlock Holmes, The Mad Hatter, The Woman in Black, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and The Ghost of Jacob Marley were among the book characters welcoming 47 hugely excited Year 7 students to our
wonderful library on World Book Day on 5 March 2015. It was heart-warming to see the Year 7s’ enthusiasm, love of
reading and impeccable behaviour, as they enjoyed quizzes and competitions, proof, if it was needed, that reading is hungry work - a well-earned pizzathon which saw over 30 pizzas devoured and demolished in record time. The event drew to
a chilling close in the twilight, with a spine-tingling tale read by the great detective of 221A Baker Street himself, cunningly
disguised as Mr Dunn!
The biggest reading event of the year has started in the library where 70 keen readers are shadowing the 2015 Hampshire
Book Award. The Hampshire Book Award is judged entirely by students and our avid readers from Years 7 to 10, will read
the shortlisted books and chose a worthy winner. The announcement of the shortlist is eagerly anticipated by staff and
students alike and several months of heated debate will follow as students voice their opinions on the six books.
Students Become BBC Journalists
18 Mountbatten students rose to the challenge of becoming BBC school reporters for the day on Thursday 19
March. Across the country, over 30,000 students took part in the BBC’s annual School Report Day. Our students
spent the day writing, reporting and filming, with former student Tom Bell assisting with the production and
editing of the broadcast. Students turned one English classroom into a Newsroom for the day.
Since Christmas, students have been meeting with Miss Ludgate every Tuesday afternoon to hone their journalism skills. Students have previously visited Romsey town centre to practise filming on location and interviewing
the public. They have learnt about the BBC’s values, how to write a report, how to create a broadcast and how to
present to camera. On the day itself, all of these skills were required, as well as great teamwork! Students had a
BBC deadline of 2.00pm before ‘going live’ with their broadcast.
On the day itself, students were visited by Assistant Editor and Output Producer for BBC Regional news, Mr
Richard Spalding. Mr Spalding was impressed by the students’ professionalism, live reporting skills and in
particular with their makeshift autocue!
Sian Brace, one of the BBC school reporters said ‘it was a really enjoyable day and was wonderful to have Mr Spalding come in to give us advice.’ The BBC School Report team would love it if you could visit their site to watch the
full 12 minute report they created on the day. Visit www.mountbatten.hants.sch.uk/report to catch up on the
broadcast and written stories from last week.
Election Candidates ‘Question Time’
On Friday 13 March, The Mountbatten School hosted a ‘Question Time’ styled debate with the local election
candidates and 120 Year 9 students. The candidates were Caroline Nokes, Conservative, Darren Paffey, Labour, Ben
Nicholls, Liberal Democrats, Ian Callaghan, Green Party and Sandra James, UKIP.
Prior to the debate, the candidates met with Executive Headteacher, Heather McIlroy, Head of School, Chris Cox and
ex Mountbatten Student, Sam Longmore, who officially handed over the title of Member of Youth Parliament to
Year 11 student, Daanyaal Khan.
The debate was chaired by Sam Longmore and history teacher, Julie Morgan, with questions posed by Year 9
students. The questions, which were written during history lessons, were topical and specific to each party,
including a controversial question about why a party would want to legalise cannabis. This led to a lively debate
amongst the candidates, who finally had to agree to disagree! The students were especially interested to hear the
arguments for and against leaving the EU, a topic often discussed in the news, and what each party thought about
the £9000 university fees, which will obviously be of relevance to the students in the near future.
Sam Longmore commented, ‘The debate went extremely well and was enjoyed enormously by both students and
candidates. I've had lots of achievements and great fun during my term in office, and this was a great way for me to
end. I wish Daan every success for the future.’
Cardica Smart Event
On Tuesday 28 January, The Mountbatten School’s Transition and Outreach Co-ordinator, Mrs Lyn Lovell, and exstudent Sam Mangoro attended the Cardica Smart event at the House of Commons hosted by Andy Burham MP,
Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and North West Ambulance Service. Among the guests were MPs, Lords and
various other interested parties including ‘Hands on Heart’ and ‘SADs’. Mrs Lovell was invited to speak in front of
over 200 representatives from interested parties including 60 MPs.
With the help of Sam, Mrs Lovell stressed the importance of better education and access to defibrillators as in the
UK, 12 young, and seemingly fit and healthy people, die each week from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. The
event highlighted the need for screening to be made available for all children to eliminate the risk of an undiagnosed heart condition and emphasised the importance of all school leavers learning lifesaving skills, including CPR
and how to use a defibrillator, which the organisers of the event would like to see increased in number in the community.
In March 2014 Sam, who was then a student at the school, collapsed during a PE lesson after his heart
stopped. Sam’s life was saved as a result of the swift action of first aiders on site and the use of the school’s defibrillator. Whilst still in hospital, Sam had an internal defibrillator fitted to ensure that he would be safe should his
heart ever stop again. However, he wanted to make sure that other young people who may have undiagnosed
heart conditions were also safe, and so he started the ‘All Heart Campaign.’ Sam does all he can to raise awareness
of the need for defibrillators to be made compulsory in schools, as well as other issues surrounding sudden cardiac
arrests. He spoke at the SADs UK Heart to Heart Conference in October and this November he has been invited to
share his story at The Resuscitation Council (UK) Scientific Symposium in Birmingham, which will be attended by all
grades of healthcare professionals from all over the UK. Sam also raises funds to purchase defibrillators for schools
and has so far placed one in Crestwood College in Eastleigh and another in the Shoreham Academy, West Sussex.
Mrs Lovell commented, ‘The Mountbatten School is in the process of training our Year 7 students in basic CPR and
we are aiming to roll this out to the other Year groups over the coming months.’
On Thursday 26 March the school hosted an event where students aged 14 – 16 years old were given the opportunity to be screened for heart defects using a simple and non-invasive electrocardiogram procedure. It is hoped
that soon defibrillators will be in all schools and the wider community, and students learning lifesaving skills, will
UK Heart Safe Awards 2014
The Mountbatten School was recently nominated for the UK Heart Safe Awards 2014. The awards were presented at an
evening ceremony on Thursday 2 October at The Radisson Blue Edwardian Manchester Hotel.
Two of the staff who helped to resuscitate Sam Mangoro, Lyn Lovell and Janet Barratt, attended the ceremony. Nominated
for two awards, Educational Establishment of the Year and Life Saver of the Year – On Duty, they were delighted to win the
award for Life Saver of the Year – On Duty. Lyn Lovell commented, ‘We are extremely honoured to receive the award but are
pleased that it has highlighted the importance of having defibrillators in educational establishments.’
Community
The Mountbatten School Activity Club is open every school holiday
from 8.30am—5.30pm for ages from 6—10 years. Activities include: Cooking, Trampolining, ICT, Sports, Arts and Crafts and
much more.
The 11+ Activity Club is open for ages 11—16 years and offers a
variety of activities and trips.
For more information please telephone 01794 523037 or visit the
school website: www.mountbatten.hants.sch.uk and click on the
Community Link.
Year 10 Catering Competition
Year 10 Catering students recently took part in a competition at
school to win a place at the Catering Competition at Brockenhurst
College. Nick O’Halloran, Head Chef at Silks Hotel, Romsey, very
kindly came and judged the entries. The students had to make a 2
course meal, either a starter and main or main and sweet. The entries were all of an extremely high standard and Nick tasted and enjoyed every dish.
The overall winners were Lucy Cripps and Ella Mills who then went
on to perform extremely well at the competition at Brockenhurst,
with Ella winning bronze.
Key 2015 Term Dates for Your Diary
2015
Easter Holidays
Ski Trip
Monday 4 May
May half-term
Thursday 25 June
Thursday 2 July
Summer Holidays
03.04.15 - 17.04.15
03.04.15 - 11.04.15
Bank Holiday
25.05.15 - 29.05.15
Open Evening for prospective students who will start Year 7 in September 2016
Open Evening for students who will start Year 7 in September 2015
23.07.15 - 31.08.15
Training to Teach Information Events
The Hampshire
SCITT Partnership
Interested in Training to Teach?
Is your son or daughter in the final year of an undergraduate degree or a recent
graduate and considering a career in teaching? As you know, Mountbatten is a
partner school in the Hampshire LEARN SCITT Partnership, a school based initial
teacher training provider in Hampshire.
We have training places in Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English, History,
Design and Technology and Primary for 2015-2016.
As well as those people who are graduating this year or have recently
graduated, we are also interested in graduates who are considering a change
in career and thinking about training to teach.
Do look at our website: learnalliance.org.uk
It will tell you all about us, the entry requirements for teacher training and
how to apply through UCAS. You will also see a link to the new national
government campaign for teacher recruitment:
Your Future/Their Future
If you would like more information please contact:
Mrs Sian Taggart (SCITT Administrator) – 023 8024 6950 - sian.taggart@learnalliance.org.uk
Mrs Juliet Pearce (Director of SCITT) – 023 8024 6579 – juliet.pearce@learnalliance.org.uk
You can also follow us on Twitter @HantsLEARNSCITT
National Citizens Service
Places are filling fast for Summer 2015
Don’t miss out on your chance to take part!
Croyde . Gower . Falmouth
Surfing . Coasteering . Kayaking. Total Wipe Out . Power
Boating . High Ropes . Laser Quest . Much More
The Mountbatten School
‘A good school with many areas of excellence.’ - Ofsted, 2009
If you would like a personal tour of the School, or would like to meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team, please contact
Caroline O’Rourke on 01794 502502