Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

Sunday was the Kirkbymoorside 10K run and at least three people closely associated with Lady Lumley’s School took part (I will update this if I find out there were more).  Assistant Head, Brian Davis finished the run in a great time and, If I counted right, was in the first 10 finishers.  Sociology teacher, Julie Heyes also completed the run and looked very fresh at the end and William Oxley, one of our school Governors, also managed the full 10,000 metres.  Very impressive performances by these three and by all the runners who took part.

Richard Bramley

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE INTERVIEWS

As part of their careers advice and guidance, every Year 10 student has been offered a mock interview with a local employer.  Organised by NYBEP's Laura Meade, twelve local employers came into school for the whole of Monday to interview the Year 10 students in preparation for their work experience later this term.  For most Year 10 students this was their first formal interview and they found the experience really worthwhile, all receiving very useful feedback and pointers for similar occasions in the future.

Richard Bramley

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

When I speak to groups at the school, whether students or parents and carers, I often say what a privilege it is to be the Headteacher of such a good school as Lady Lumley’s. On Thursday night, I felt even more privileged than normal, because I was in the audience for a really special A2 drama production by Year 13 students Rhiannon Williams and Jessica Hebron.  Rhiannon and Jessica brought to life the anguish of a mother having lost her daughter as a missing person.  In just over 15 minutes, the two actors told a complicated and intense story,  and we, as the audience, were completely taken along on their journey.  It was beautifully acted with great use of props, scenery and sound.   Rhiannon and Jessica also researched and devised the piece.   A special mention to Jessica, as only Rhiannon was being examined last night and Jess had worked with her throughout the process to enable Rhiannon to perform in the two person play. Well done also to the technical crew and the staff (Mrs Pearson and Mrs Strachan) who made all this possible.

Richard Bramley

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

The final version of school examination results were published yesterday.  The students at Lady Lumley’s did themselves and the school proud in 2012, with, as I said at the time, record-breaking results.   It is nice to be able to speak from a position of strength, and so I feel it is safe to say I really do not like league tables and massive collections of raw data.   The statistics and the way the numbers can be manipulated can easily mislead.  What is important is how well each student achieved, in other words how well they did compared to similar children nationally.     At Lady Lumley’s we still give our students free choice of subjects they wish to study at Year 10 and Year 12 and then build the school timetable around their choices.  We don’t play games with numbers entering examinations, or how many times students sit examinations.  And, with no gimmicks whatsoever, our results are still excellent and our students achieve well.  If you want to know how good a school is, visit it, see it an action and talk to the students already there.

 

In terms of numbers, we were very pleased with the performance of our students at both GCSE and A level last year and the school continues to go from strength to strength.   At GCSE our 5 A* to C pass rate and the percentage of students gaining the English Baccalaureate was our highest ever. Our 5 A* - C pass rate including English and Mathematics has remained consistent despite the controversy which surrounded last summer’s English results and the percentage of pupils making expected progress in both English and Mathematics is significantly above National averages.  Our A level results were excellent and demonstrate the achievements of all our students.  We are a genuine comprehensive school with a fully inclusive intake policy and students at Lady Lumley’s make significant progress, whatever their academic starting point.  We are really pleased that the published league tables show that we are the highest performing comprehensive school in the county in terms of the number of students achieving the all important 3 A levels.  The sixth form students’ contribution to the school community is remarkable and their individual examination successes demonstrate of their drive and commitment to achieve their very best.

Richard Bramley

WEATHER UPDATE

Tuesday 22nd January 2013  7:30 a.m.

School open as normal.

Weather Update

4:00 p.m.  Been a little snow here but not much.  We will see what the night brings, but school should be open as normal tomorrow. 

As always, regular updates on this site.  Hope everyone has a safe and not too slow journey home.

Richard Bramley

 

9:20 a.m. We didn't get buses from Rosedale, Whitby/Dalby, Levisham, Newton-on-Rawcliffe and Stape. 

We are keeping our eye on the weather situation and in contact with the bus companies.

Rest of the school operating as normal.  Very light (nearly non-existent) snow here.

Lockton/Levisham bus not running tonight.

 

Monday 21st January 2013 7:30 a.m.

School open.

Car park has been cleared by bulldozer.

So far we have staff already travelled in from Kirkby and Thorton Dale.  A170 near here appears OK. 

7:48 a.m. Staff from York arriving - appears a bit worse in the west but nothing too bad.

 

 

Any students with external examinations (see below) need to be in school if at all possble under any circumstances - the examinations cannot be rescheduled.

 

Monday 21st January

Psychology A: Unit 2 (AS re-sit) 1hr 30m (7)

Geography: Unit 2 (AS re-sit) 1hr (8) Travel & Tourism Development 2hr (A2) (4)

 

Weather Update

 

Monday 21st January 2013 6:55 a.m.  Not as snowy as expected.

 

School will be open on Monday as normal.

Sunday 20th January 2013 11:00 p.m. No new snow.

School will be open on Monday unless major deteriotation in the weather.

Any students with external examinations (see below) need to be in school if at all possble under any circumstances - the examinations cannot be rescheduled.

 

Monday 21st January

Psychology A: Unit 2                 (AS re-sit) 1hr 30m (7)

Geography: Unit 2                             (AS re-sit) 1hr (8) Travel & Tourism Development 2hr (A2) (4)

Please keep an eye on this site

Sunday 20th January 2013 9:00 p.m  At the moment - school will be open on Monday.

Weather forecasting is clearly not an exact science.  It is supposed to be snowing here, now, but the clouds missed that instruction.  No new snow yet.

 

There are external examinations on Monday and we will make every effort to allow these exams to take place. If school has to close, the students affected must contact the school for advice.  01751 472846

 

 

 

Monday 21st January

Psychology A: Unit 2                 (AS re-sit) 1hr 30m (7)

Geography: Unit 2                             (AS re-sit) 1hr (8) Travel & Tourism Development 2hr (A2) (4)

Sunday 20th January 2013 8:00 p.m.  At the moment - school will be open on Monday.

The weather forecast doesn't look too promising, but the default position is that school will be open and operating as normal unless the weather is extremely poor. 

According to the Met Office, it should start snowing (light snow) at 9.00 p.m.  This turns into heavy snow at midnight and it carries on all Monday, becomng light snow in the early evening.

NYCC seems to be doing a very good job keeping roads clear.

We will keep in touch with the bus companies and I will keep this site updated.

R Bramley

 

Friday 18th January 1: 21 p.m.

Sorry again - snowing noticeably here, but only a shower.  Weather forecast has been downgraded to light snow.  Bus companies say no reason to come early, so normal school closure time.

 

Friday 18th January 12:10 p.m.

Sorry this is late - nothing more to say.  Clear here and school still open  Will update at 1:00 p.m.

 

Friday 18th January 10:40 a.m.

Snow in Scarborough at the moment and schools in Scarborough are closing early today.

We are keeping an eye on the weather and maintaining contact with the bus companies.  We will update this post in an hour.

Absolutely fine in Pickering. Snow is forecast this afternoon. If it snows heavily we may have to close early, so please keep an eye on this site.

R Bramley

 

Wednesday 7:45 a.m. 16th January

 

Very cold.  School open and roads seem clear.

 

Year 10 Consultation evening for parents and students is on as normal tonight

 Richard Bramley

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

On Tuesday we had a whole school curriculum day where the normal timetable is suspended. One aspect of the day was Internet Safety and this is such an important topic that I have devoted the rest of this blog to allow you to read more. Year 7 were the year group involved, but all parents should read this.

Richard Bramley

“Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E”

This was the title for the Year 7 eSafety morning/afternoon as part of the recent Whole School Curriculum day.

It gave a unique opportunity for the following:

All the year 7 students

the Year 7 Pastoral team – Mrs Willett (Head of Year 7) and Mrs Rose

and myself - Mr Sharples (Head of ICT)

to work together to

Agree (students/teachers/parents) what to do to prevent

Bullying

Computer Failure

Dangerous websites and people to enable us to

Enjoy Information and Collaboration Technologies (ICTs)

 

ICTs include social networking sites, instant messaging, mobile phones etc. We spent an enjoyable starter with all the teams adding to a survey of all the fun ICTs that they use – E for Enjoy.

One of the highlights was one team talking to another online using a Fronter forum. They shared some personal interests, and some personal information…

Imagine the ‘home’ team, pictured at the front, meeting the ’11 yr old girl’ at the end of the discussion. It was actually Mr Lech, my ICT colleague, who had been working in the next door room… and I hope it made a memorable point that D stands for Danger and dangerous people on the web who pretend to be someone else – called Masquerading. A very hard hitting video “Claire thought she knew” is on our VLE Fronter as well to reinforce the point - Do not give out personal information to possible strangers.

All these resources, including the key points, videos, survey and forum results are on Fronter, with all Year 7s able to access this, their own email, and of course, all their home learning in every subject. Their next ICT lesson will reinforce the points made, and there is a competition with prizes for the best 3 presentations.

IMPORTANT PLEA - Please could every Year 7 student have a conversation with a responsible adult at home about this topic. Please have them show you the key points on Fronter, the videos, and explain the competition that they are doing in their next ICT lessons - closing date Monday 21st January. There is some very important advice on backing up memory sticks and hard drives! Please could you ensure your Y7 student has a named memory stick and backs it up weekly.

The point of the day is that there is an enormous number of benefits to the Internet and mobile phones. Although only 1 in 100 students may have contact with a stranger via one of the new technologies, we want every student to know how to Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E!

Mr Sharples and the Year 7 team, January 2013

TUESDAY 15th January 7:55 a.m.

School open as normal.

Cold but no more snow overnight and main roads seem OK.

 

Richard Bramley

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

On Tuesday we had a whole school curriculum day where the normal timetable is suspended. One aspect of the day was Internet Safety and this is such an important topic that I have devoted the rest of this blog to allow you to read more. Year 7 were the year group involved, but all parents should read this.

Richard Bramley

“Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E”

This was the title for the Year 7 eSafety morning/afternoon as part of the recent Whole School Curriculum day.

It gave a unique opportunity for the following:

All the year 7 students

the Year 7 Pastoral team – Mrs Willett (Head of Year 7) and Mrs Rose

and myself - Mr Sharples (Head of ICT)

to work together to

Agree (students/teachers/parents) what to do to prevent

Bullying

Computer Failure

Dangerous websites and people to enable us to

Enjoy Information and Collaboration Technologies (ICTs)

 

ICTs include social networking sites, instant messaging, mobile phones etc. We spent an enjoyable starter with all the teams adding to a survey of all the fun ICTs that they use – E for Enjoy.

One of the highlights was one team talking to another online using a Fronter forum. They shared some personal interests, and some personal information…

Imagine the ‘home’ team, pictured at the front, meeting the ’11 yr old girl’ at the end of the discussion. It was actually Mr Lech, my ICT colleague, who had been working in the next door room… and I hope it made a memorable point that D stands for Danger and dangerous people on the web who pretend to be someone else – called Masquerading. A very hard hitting video “Claire thought she knew” is on our VLE Fronter as well to reinforce the point - Do not give out personal information to possible strangers.

All these resources, including the key points, videos, survey and forum results are on Fronter, with all Year 7s able to access this, their own email, and of course, all their home learning in every subject. Their next ICT lesson will reinforce the points made, and there is a competition with prizes for the best 3 presentations.

IMPORTANT PLEA - Please could every Year 7 student have a conversation with a responsible adult at home about this topic. Please have them show you the key points on Fronter, the videos, and explain the competition that they are doing in their next ICT lessons - closing date Monday 21st January. There is some very important advice on backing up memory sticks and hard drives! Please could you ensure your Y7 student has a named memory stick and backs it up weekly.

The point of the day is that there is an enormous number of benefits to the Internet and mobile phones. Although only 1 in 100 students may have contact with a stranger via one of the new technologies, we want every student to know how to Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E!

Mr Sharples and the Year 7 team, January 2013

TUESDAY 15th January  7:55 a.m.

School open as normal.

Cold but no more snow overnight and main roads seem OK.

 

Richard Bramley

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

On Tuesday we had a whole school curriculum day where the normal timetable is suspended. One aspect of the day was Internet Safety and this is such an important topic that I have devoted the rest of this blog to allow you to read more. Year 7 were the year group involved, but all parents should read this.

Richard Bramley

“Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E”

This was the title for the Year 7 eSafety morning/afternoon as part of the recent Whole School Curriculum day.

It gave a unique opportunity for the following:

All the year 7 students

the Year 7 Pastoral team – Mrs Willett (Head of Year 7) and Mrs Rose

and myself - Mr Sharples (Head of ICT)

to work together to

Agree (students/teachers/parents) what to do to prevent

Bullying

Computer Failure

Dangerous websites and people to enable us to

Enjoy Information and Collaboration Technologies (ICTs)

 

ICTs include social networking sites, instant messaging, mobile phones etc. We spent an enjoyable starter with all the teams adding to a survey of all the fun ICTs that they use – E for Enjoy.

One of the highlights was one team talking to another online using a Fronter forum. They shared some personal interests, and some personal information…

Imagine the ‘home’ team, pictured at the front, meeting the ’11 yr old girl’ at the end of the discussion. It was actually Mr Lech, my ICT colleague, who had been working in the next door room… and I hope it made a memorable point that D stands for Danger and dangerous people on the web who pretend to be someone else – called Masquerading. A very hard hitting video “Claire thought she knew” is on our VLE Fronter as well to reinforce the point - Do not give out personal information to possible strangers.

All these resources, including the key points, videos, survey and forum results are on Fronter, with all Year 7s able to access this, their own email, and of course, all their home learning in every subject. Their next ICT lesson will reinforce the points made, and there is a competition with prizes for the best 3 presentations.

IMPORTANT PLEA - Please could every Year 7 student have a conversation with a responsible adult at home about this topic. Please have them show you the key points on Fronter, the videos, and explain the competition that they are doing in their next ICT lessons - closing date Monday 21st January. There is some very important advice on backing up memory sticks and hard drives! Please could you ensure your Y7 student has a named memory stick and backs it up weekly.

The point of the day is that there is an enormous number of benefits to the Internet and mobile phones. Although only 1 in 100 students may have contact with a stranger via one of the new technologies, we want every student to know how to Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E!

Mr Sharples and the Year 7 team, January 2013

WEATHER ALERTS - PLEASE KEEP AN EYE ON THIS PAGE.

School Open.  Snowing at the moment.  12:40 Monday January 14th 2013 

12:42 The Whitby Bus is coming early - will leave school around 1:45 p.m.  Now gone.

13:25  The Rosedale bus will be coming early - no timescale yet.

13:32  Rosedale buses leaving school around 2:05 p.m.  Rest of school operating as normal.  Awaiting information on Stape.  Rosedale buses gone.

13:50  Newton and Rawcliffe and Stape buses are coming here in about 20 minutes - 2:10 p.m. Now gone.

14:05 Lockton and Levisham buses will be coming if we can contact the bus company.  110 coming at about 2:20 p.m., awaiting news about 112, may be leaving at normal time.

Snowfall very light here now.

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends 

On Tuesday we had a whole school curriculum day where the normal timetable is suspended.  One aspect of the day was Internet Safety and this is such an important topic that I have devoted the rest of this blog to allow you to read more.  Year 7 were the year group involved, but all parents should read this.

Richard Bramley

“Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E”

This was the title for the Year 7 eSafety  morning/afternoon as part of the recent Whole School Curriculum day.

It gave a unique opportunity for the following:

          All the year 7 students

          the Year 7 Pastoral team – Mrs Willett (Head of Year 7) and Mrs Rose

          and myself  - Mr Sharples (Head of ICT)

to work together to

Agree (students/teachers/parents) what to do to prevent

Bullying

Computer Failure

Dangerous websites and people to enable us to 

Enjoy Information and Collaboration Technologies (ICTs)

 

ICTs include social networking sites, instant messaging, mobile phones etc.  We spent an enjoyable starter with all the teams adding to a survey of all the fun ICTs that they use – E for Enjoy.

One of the highlights was one team talking to another online using a Fronter forum.  They shared some personal interests, and some personal information…

Imagine the ‘home’ team, pictured at the front, meeting the ’11 yr old girl’ at the end of the discussion. It was actually Mr Lech, my ICT colleague, who had been working in the next door room… and I hope it made a memorable point that D stands for Danger and dangerous people on the web who pretend to be someone else – called Masquerading.  A very hard hitting video “Claire thought she knew” is on our VLE Fronter as well to reinforce the point - Do not give out  personal information to possible strangers.

All these resources, including the key points,  videos,  survey and forum results are on Fronter, with all Year 7s able to access this, their own email, and of course, all their home learning in every subject.  Their next ICT lesson will reinforce the points made, and there is a competition with prizes for the best 3 presentations.

IMPORTANT PLEA - Please could every Year 7 student have a conversation with a responsible adult at home about this topic.  Please have them show you the key points on Fronter, the videos, and explain the competition that they are doing in their next ICT lessons - closing date Monday 21st January.  There is some very important advice on backing up memory sticks and hard drives!  Please could you ensure your Y7 student has a named memory stick and backs it up weekly.

The point of the day is that there is an enormous number of benefits to the Internet and mobile phones. Although only 1 in 100 students may have contact with a stranger via one of the new technologies, we want every student to know how to Be Safe + ICTs using ABCD 2 E!

Mr Sharples and the Year 7 team, January 2013

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

An update following the German language trip to Austria.

I have been told off by the Language Department for using Google Translate.  You will see why below!

I hope everyone has a good Christmas and is looking forward to an exciting New Year.

Richard Bramley

P.S. As the world didn't end today, school starts on Monday 7th January 2013.

 

 

According to Google translate, the first part of the article goes like this:

Exchange with a personal background

Andrea Mark from York worked as a native speaker in Köflach. As a teacher, she initiated a student exchange with the BG / BRG Weiz.
Yes, in Austria they speak German. And. Weiz also And also in western Styria. This experience allowed just 16 students from the Lady Lumley's School in Pickering (England) make. As part of an exchange program, they spend a week in Styria - and while not random. Ten years ago, the Englishwoman Andrea Mark spent one year as part of their teacher training as Native Speaker in Köflach. Now it is even active as a teacher and responsible for a year for foreign language at the school in the North East of England near York. "I really enjoyed my time in West Styria so," she says.

Or, in much better English

Austrian Exchange Born From Personal Experience

Andrea Mark was an English foreign language assistant in Köflach. Now, as a teacher, she has organised a student exchange visit with the Weiz area.

Yes it’s true they do speak German in Austria and in Köflach! And in the Weststeiermark too! Currently 16 students from Lady Lumley’s School in Pickering are experiencing this first hand on a week long visit to the Weststeiermark. This has not come about through coincidence. Ten years ago Englishwomen Andrea Mark spent a year as an english foreign language assistant in Köflach as part of her preparation for teacher training. Now she is a teacher herself and from this year in charge of MFL at the school in northeast England near York. ‚ I enjoyed my time in Weststeiermark so much‘ she said. ‚ I therefore championed the idea that our school, that had previously only visited Germany, visited Austria for once‘.  

The original

Andrea Mark aus York war als Native Speaker in Köflach tätig. Als Lehrerin initiierte sie einen Schüleraustausch mit dem BG/BRG Weiz.

Ja, auch in Österreich spricht man Deutsch. Und in Weiz auch . Und in der Weststeiermark auch. Diese Erfahrung dürfen gerade 16 Schüler aus der Lady Lumley's School in Pickering (England) machen. Im Rahmen eines Austauschprogramms verbringen sie eine Woche in der Steiermark - und zwar nicht zufällig. Vor zehn Jahren verbrachte die Engländerin Andrea Mark ein Jahr lang im Rahmen ihrer Lehrerausbildung als Native Speaker in Köflach. Jetzt ist sie selbst als Lehrerin aktiv und seit einem Jahr für die Fremdsprache an der Schule im Nordosten Englands in der Nähe von York zuständig. "Ich habe die Zeit in der Weststeiermark so genossen", sagt sie. "Deshalb habe ich mich dafür eingesetzt, dass unsere Schüler, die immer nur in Deutschland waren, auch einmal nach Österreich kommen."

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

 

The German exchange has just let me know that Lady Lumley's is big in Styria, Austria.  Follow the link below to see the Austrian website.

http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/weiz/3193711/austausch-persoenlichem-hintergrund.story

Students and staff are having a really good time. Thank you so much to our Austrian hosts.

Richard Bramley

 

 

According to Google translate, the first part of the article goes like this:

Exchange with a personal background

Andrea Mark from York worked as a native speaker in Köflach. As a teacher, she initiated a student exchange with the BG / BRG Weiz.
Yes, in Austria they speak German. And. Weiz also And also in western Styria. This experience allowed just 16 students from the Lady Lumley's School in Pickering (England) make. As part of an exchange program, they spend a week in Styria - and while not random. Ten years ago, the Englishwoman Andrea Mark spent one year as part of their teacher training as Native Speaker in Köflach. Now it is even active as a teacher and responsible for a year for foreign language at the school in the North East of England near York. "I really enjoyed my time in West Styria so," she says.

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

If you are interested in education – and you must be because you are reading a headteacher's blog on a school website – then you will be interested in this.

 http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit

This is a link to the website where the Sutton Trust have published their Teaching and Learning Toolkit.

The Sutton Trust-EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit is an accessible summary of educational research. It tries to take the hard work out of researching many educational topics.

As parents, carers, teachers and anybody else with an interest in the future, we need to become more familiar with educational research. When we make, or influence, or argue about, decisions which affect the lives of young people we should be basing our arguments on fact not opinion; on evidence not hearsay.

The research currently covers 21 topics, each summarised in terms of their potential impact on attainment, the strength of the evidence supporting them, their cost, and their applicability.

To quote the Toolkit: “Just as doctors would not be expected to prescribe treatments without access to medical research, we believe that teachers should be supported with information about what has worked – and, just as important, what has not – in England and around the world.”

The Toolkit highlights, and rates, research which can help identify which ways of spending time and money are likely to lead to the biggest possible increases in pupils’ learning.

To paraphrase the back cover of some paperbacks “if you only read one piece of educational research this year, make it this one”

Richard Bramley

Sixth Form Open Evening

Thursday 6th December 2012

Tonight (Thursday) was an absolutely fantastic evening.  The hall was choc-a-block for the talk (well done James Ambrose, Ellen, Tom and Jess) and the school was busy all the way to 9-0-clock.  Thank you to all the parents, carers, Year 11 students, staff and sixth form students who came out on such a cold and wet (but not snowy) evening and made the occasion so special.

As Mr Ambrose said in his talk, for the students, choosing where you study for your A levels is probably the most important decision you have yet had to make.  We hope that tonight has helped.

If you couldn’t make it to the school tonight, or if you want any more information or help, please feel free to contact Lady Lumley’s sixth form team.

Richard Bramley

UPDATE Thursday 6th December 15:45 p.m.

No snow, no rain.  95% chance of heavy rain at 9.00 p.m. but we will be home or close by then.  Clearly superstitions have their value.  

See you tonight.

 

SIXTH FORM OPEN EVENING

THURSDAY 6^th DECEMBER 2012 6:45 pm

This is an important (and enjoyable) evening for all Year 11 students in the Ryedale area and their parents.

Lady Lumley’s School is proud of its increasingly successful sixth form and the evening is a great opportunity to see the school, meet the teachers of the subjects you are interested in, talk to current students and generally get as much information as you can about sixth form life.

The evening starts at 6:45 p.m. with a 30 minute talk in the assembly hall led by the sixth form students and James Ambrose, our head of sixth form.   Parents and students are then free to visit subject areas throughout the school, meet staff and students and get a feel of the excellent facilities we offer the sixth form at Lady Lumley’s.

At any time during the evening, senior staff will be available to answer any questions you may have, whether they are about courses, entry requirements, transport, future careers or anything else.

Richard Bramley

 

SKI TRIP Wednesday 5th December 12:45 p.m.

Due to snow (somewhat ironically) the school ski-trip meeting (due to be held tonight, Wednesday) has been re-scheduled to Thursday 13th December at 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow's (Thursday's) Open Evening is still going ahead.

UPDATE Wednesday 5th December 4:45 p.m.

The weather forecast is for light snow followed by heavy rain.  Considering this is December in North Yorkshire, that seems reasonable.  I will continue to monitor the weather and keep this site updated.  If the forecast is right, then Open Evening is on as normal and hope to see you there. 

SIXTH FORM OPEN EVENING

THURSDAY 6^th DECEMBER 2012 6:45 pm

 This is an important (and enjoyable) evening for all students who are in schools in Year 11 and their parents.

Lady Lumley’s School is proud of its increasingly successful sixth form and the evening is a great opportunity to see the school, meet the teachers of the subjects you are interested in, talk to current students and generally get as much information as you can about sixth form life.

The evening starts at 6:45 p.m. with a 30 minute talk in the assembly hall led by the sixth form students and James Ambrose, our head of sixth form.   Parents and students are then free to visit subject areas throughout the school, meet staff and students and get a feel of the excellent facilities we offer the sixth form at Lady Lumley’s.

At any time during the evening, senior staff will be available to answer any questions you may have, whether they are about courses, entry requirements, transport, future careers or anything else.

 

Richard Bramley

 

 

Dear Parents, carers and Friends

Opportunity Knocks 2012

Today was an extraordinary day at Lady Lumley’s School.  We hosted the Ryedale District Council Opportunity Knocks 2012 event, held in conjunction with NYBEP and Derwent Training.   The event aimed to bring together young people and employers from across the Ryedale area, helping to establish good relationships, understanding and communication links.  The event attracted a large number of employers and training associations with interests in everything from deepwater remote-operated-vehicles to nuclear powerplant  decommissioning through to food production and printing.  The local secondary schools were invited and students from Malton and Ryedale Schools joined a large number of students from the host, Lady Lumley’s School, to talk to the exhibitors during the day.  The event was busy from opening time at 10 in the morning all the way through to the evening session where parents were able to attend with their children.  Closing at 7 p.m., the employers said it was the best event of this kind they had attended.

Huge thanks to the staff at Ryedale District Council, NYBEP and Derwent Training for their work in organising the event and to the staff at Lady Lumley’s who made today so special.  And not forgetting the Year 9 students who acted as guides and ambassadors for the school.  Well done to all involved and roll on Opportunity Knocks 2013.

Richard Bramley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 STOP PRESS

Nathan Bates in Year 10 beat stiff competition to be named the Red Tractor beef and lamb Make it with Mince Challenge Regional Winner 2012 at Harrogate yesterday (Monday).  Nathan now goes into a national final against five other young people.   There is a great article on this, with pictures, in the Harrogate News - click the URL below.

http://www.harrogate-news.co.uk/2012/11/12/james-martin-crowns-young-reginal-chef-for-red-tractor-challenge/

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

The last day of half-term, Friday 26th, was the date of our biennial sponsored walk.  This is a great event and, since it is held every other year, this was the first time students in Years 7 and 8 experienced it.

The day started off with the traditional steam train ride to Levisham station.  Although most of the students come from the Pickering area, for many this is the only time they get to ride the train - an adventure in itself!   Years 9 to 13 caught the early train at 9:15 ready for the 10 mile walk whilst Years 7 and 8 were on the later train as they only walk 7 miles this time.  The walk started off in glorious autumn sunshine, and by the time we met up at the Ken Ather centre for lunch, many of us had stripped off to tee-shirts and shorts.

The photographs tell the story well.  The sunshine suddenly disappeared, grey clouds rolled in and it began to snow.  We had anticipated (and sort of hoped for) a few flakes, but this was more blizzard than flurry.  The students and staff were marvellous in the conditions, packed up their belongings and carried on with the walk.  Luckily, the weather cheered up and by the time we were back to school it was dry and relatively mild.   And the snow gave us something to brag about to those who missed out on this brilliant day.

The sponsored walk is the school’s big event for raising money to buy equipment that would never be financed elsewhere.  In previous years we have used the money for the fantastic audio-visual equipment in the hall and for lockers for the students around the school.  We hope this year will be a bumper year and I thank everyone who has sponsored our students.

Richard Bramley

  

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

This is breaking new ground for the blog and I would appreciate your feedback  Below is a video I made from the recent open evening for new year 6 students.  Let me know what you think.

Richard Bramley

You are here: Videos > Headteacher

Open Evening (vimeo)

Open Evening

Videos: Headteacher

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

A fantastic night last night (Wednesday 3^rd October) with the Year 6 to 7 Open Evening.  Despite the rain, we had another great turn-out of Year 6 and Year 5 pupils with their families, all interested in finding out more about Lady Lumley’s School.   The format of the evening followed the familiar pattern which has proved such a success over the years.  I gave a talk in the hall twice during the evening and either side of this our current Year 7 students showed families around the school and staff and older students put on displays in each of the subject areas.

On the basis a picture speaks a thousand words, here are a few thousand words more on the Open Evening..

Richard Bramley

P.S.  The cut is stage make-up!

A new vacancy has opened up at Lady Lumley's School:

Academic Manager for Sixth Form - 37 hours per week.

Visit our Vacancies page to download the application pack!

Dear visitors,

Sincerest of apologies in delays regarding website updates.

The following pages have been updated today (2nd October):

• Calendar "as is" 1st Oct. - Provisional "as is" academic year calendar uploaded
• Term Dates - Updated for the 2012-2013 year, and training days added. 
• Staff List - Updated

We welcome any feedback, positive or negative, about our website. If you do have anything you'd like to suggest or feed back about, please use the contact form on the contact page.

Thank you,

Mr R. Makinson

Dear Parent, Carers and Friends

On Friday 14^th September, over 110 new Year 12 students spent a great day at the Ken Ather centre in Stape, superbly aided by members of the sixth form team and staff from North Yorkshire Outdoor Education Service, Bewerley Park.  The students in the sixth form were involved in a range of team-building activities, from having to navigate a three mile walk to crossing a (pretend) chasm using only oil barrels and planks of wood.  The weather, whilst not wonderful, was mainly dry and fresh (where ‘fresh’ means really strong winds) and the students had a great time working with each other to solve a range of challenges.

Great fun and well done. 

Richard Bramley

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

As the school summer holidays draw to a close, I thought I would give you a brief update on what’s been happening at school over the last few weeks.  

The expedition to Iceland arrived safely back in the first week of the holidays, with tales of heroism in a force 12 hurricane.  Our students, caught in this extreme weather event, not only put down their own tents, but then went onto help other campers with their equipment as the fierce winds blew.  Only when everyone was sorted out did the Lady Lumley’s team enter the safety of the storm shelter.  The whole expedition sounded amazing and great credit goes to all involved.

On a less exotic scale, the site supervisors have also been facing their own challenges this summer and behaving heroically in overcoming them.  The link corridor toilets, long an unsightly wart on the pleasant face of Lady Lumley’s School, have been tackled in an extensive refurbishment mainly carried out by our internal team of Sallie, Terry, Colin, David and Mark.  I have included a few pictures of the work so far but the pictures cannot do justice to the difficulty of the task nor the transformation that has taken place.  When you are next in school, please take a look, especially if you are an ex-student and can remember the “before picture.”

Derek in ICT has also been asked to perform a Herculean task, and has successfully installed over 50 new computers around the school for student use.  These new machines represent the importance we place on the use of information technology at Lady Lumley’s and how we will always be prepared to invest to ensure the students have access to the best equipment available.  We are also having the rest of the main corridor re-roofed to complete the job started two years ago and the reception area has been remodelled.

Last week we received the A level results and tomorrow the GCSE results.  You may have read about the A level results in the local press.  We were really pleased with how well the students performed and even more pleased that the vast majority have been able to progress on their chosen career path.   I will update you on the GCSE results as soon as I am able.

I hope everyone got the last school newsletter as it was posted home.  The newsletter contained important information about the planner, uniform, Fronter and the timings of the new term.  Just in case, here are the key dates again:

Year 7 come to school at 12 noon on Tuesday 4^th September.

Years 12 and 13, surnames A to M, register for courses Tuesday between 1:15 and 2:15.

Years 12 and 13, surnames N to Z, register for courses Tuesday between 2:15 and 3:15.

All students start on Wednesday 5^th September as normal (i.e. 8:55 prompt for registration).

Enjoy the rest of the holiday.

Richard Bramley

Examinations information for exam re-marking deadlines and result dates have been uploaded to the Examinations page.

Tuesday 17th July 2012

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

Today (Tuesday 17^th July 2012) is a red letter day for Lady Lumley’s School.  As storm clouds gathered over the playing fields and rain threatened to put a stop to the rescheduled sports day, the assembled crowd of students and staff were astonished and amazed to see the male staff team beat the students in the 4 by 100 metres relay.  This is the first time in living memory (if you are under 30) that a staff team has won the final sports day event. The first straight leg was run by Andy Park who passed on to Steve Varey, running the difficult inside track.  Using all his years of experience, Steve ran a fantastic leg and handed on to Dominic Wilson, whose blistering 100m opened up a gap on the other teams.  The baton was passed to Matthew Smith and he had a clear lead as he entered the final straight.  The crowd sensed they were witnessing something they would be telling their grandchildren, but, for one heart-stopping moment, Matthew stumbled 10 metres from the line.  Heroically, he recovered and crossed the line in first place.  Staff hearts restarted, and although a heavy cloudburst tried to cut short the celebrations,  this day will be remembered for many a year to come.

Richard Bramley

 

 

 

Sunday 17th June 2012

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

I apologise for the typographical mistakes on the front page of the newsletter this week – I put it down to excitement over the Olympic Torch and the fact I am absolutely appalling at typing. As I type this, four words in the last line have red squiggly lines under them!  And yes, I should have proofread the article before I submitted it – sorry. 

This does bring up an important point about schools and the way they are organised.  We talk a lot at school (but still possibly not enough) about the work of Carol Dweck and closed and open mindsets.  I referred you to the Radio 4 podcast by Matthew Syed on the same topic.  We must get away from the idea of ‘ability’ and people being ‘able’ to do things or not.   Obviously it helps to be tall to play basketball, but there are very few examples where ‘natural talent’ is, in any way, as significant a factor as effort and attitude.  The reason I am poor at typing is nothing to do with my hands, my genes, my socio-economic status or how much sleep I got last night.  It is because I put no effort into learning to type. 

All (and I mean ALL) the evidence is that focussed effort and proper practice means we get better at doing things.  I spend about 2 to 3 hours a day at a computer keyboard, yet I get no better at typing as I continue to do the same things (more red squiggly lines) (Or, as I typed it ‘more red squiggky klines’).   Proper practice makes us all better at any task and all of us are capable of doing almost anything.  The evidence is overwhelming, yet we continue to allow young (and older) people to say “I can’t do …..”. . “I’m no good at …..”.  

All of us, parents, teachers and students, need to know, and say, that everyone can improve, everyone can do better.  We must not put ceilings on people’s almost limitless potential.

The reason I can’t type is because I don’t use the help available to me learn to type. I could, if I wanted, and there was someone there to help me.  The great thing about schools is that they are full of people who want to help.

 

Richard Bramley

The deadline for this position has passed.

A file for the attention of Year 10 work experience students has been uploaded to the Letters to Parents page.

The deadline for this vacancy has passed.

We have three new posts available in our learning support department.

For details please visit the Vacancies page.

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

I received this update on the progress of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh expeditions in Snowdonia from David Gwillam tonight. 

In Mr Gwillam’s words:

12 students from Year 12, 8 male, 4 female

Tuesday: 2 groups traversing the Moelwyns, renowned as one of the most challenging navigation areas in the UK, without direct support, and carrying all their equipment.
1 group training in the same areas with Mrs Wilmore (supported by Mrs Farrell)

Wednesday: 3 groups facing a 1000m climb with kit to the summit of Snowdon, before traversing the mountain to camp.  

All students are pushing themselves way beyond their own comfort zone,  gaining confidence in teams and self-reliance. Many WOW moments for all involved.

Thanks to Mrs Farrell, Mr Gwillam, Mr Mann and Mrs Wilmore for giving up time to support Lady Lumley's students reach new heights

The picture shows Kenny Inman approaching the summit of Snowdon.  Glaslyn in the background with the infamous Moelwyns beyond.

 

 

Meanwhile, for those of us left back in Pickering, the builiding work in reception goes on apace.  The room is now plastered and nearly rewired  (my photograph not up to Mr Gwillam's standard I'm afraid).

Richard Bramley

Dear parents and carers,

As part of preparations for the upcoming Bewerley Park trip, the medical consent form, code of conduct and final departure information letter have been uploaded to the letters for parents page for your viewing.

Thanks,

R. Makinson
Website Administrator 

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

Over half-term, the remodelling of the school's reception area was started.  The picture below shows the wall above the toilet and store cupboard being demolished.  There is still quite lot of work to do, although we hope all the really messy jobs will be competed before school opens for students on Monday 11th June.

Richard Bramley

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

Queen’s Jubilee celebration.

With only 60 years’ warning, we have noticed the Queen’s Jubilee is practically among us.  To mark this auspicious occasion, we have arranged something a little different for Friday afternoon before we break up for half-term. The final arrangements for the Jubilee celebrations on Friday are as follows:

The day will be a non-uniform day and we would like everyone to wear something red, white or blue (or, even better, a combination).  Since this is an extra  non-uniform day there will no collection for charity.

All the students in Years 7, 8 and 9 and any Year 10 and 12 students not involved in controlled assessments will take part in a picnic on the school field.  We have asked students to bring a small amount of food suitable for a Jubilee Picnic and there will be a special seating plan to celebrate the 60 years reign of Queen Elizabeth.

If your child is in Year 10 and involved in lessons in the afternoon, there will be a special morning break in the common room with a Jubilee Cake as a consolation.

Richard Bramley

Dear visitors,

A few documents have been updated on the website.

You can now find an updated list of clubs and activities from the Clubs and Activities List link for 2012.

There have also been two documents added to our Examinations page, these are a "Permission to Collect Results" and a "Permission to Post Results" form.

Thanks,

R. Makinson 

This application period has closed.

Dear visitors,

I'm pleased to report that the majority of curriculum pages have been uploaded to the website. You can find them under the "Curriculum" heading, under "Information". They're split into Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 groups. Key Stage 3 information is to follow in due course.

There are still a few more pages to come. If you notice any errors, wish for something that isn't available or have general feedback about the website, please do not hesistate to contact me via the contact form and use "Website Administrator" as the recipient.

I hope that this new website design will be the centre of information for Lady Lumley's.

R. Makinson
Website Admin.

Dear Parents, Friends and Carers

Copenhagen Girls’ Choir

We have been really privileged to host the Copenhagen Girls’ Choir as part of their tour of the UK.  The choir of around 130 girls comes from the Sankt Annæ Gymnasium, which is the Copenhagen Municipality’s official choir school.  The choir have sung in extremely famous places on this tour:  Durham Cathedral, St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. Great St Mary’s in Cambridge and St Katharine’s in London.  After such grand venues, they also performed at St Peter’s and St Paul’s in Pickeringand Lady Lumley’s school hall.  It was almost magical to hear their voices floating along the corridors of the school on Tuesday morning.  Our staff and students have been hosting the girls and their teachers and they found the experience of staying in real English houses rather than hotels one of the high spots of their time here.  Thanks to Clive Wass for his involvement in bringing the choir to Pickering and to all those who helped and hosted our visitors.  We have an invitation back to Copenhagen to experience the hospitality of the Danish families and we hope to be able to take then up on this generous offer.

 

And closer to home, Martin Higham took a group of 11 Year 8 students to Ryedale Folk Museum to present to the museum bird and owl boxes.  These boxes had been made by the students when in Year 7 during a Whole School Curriculum Day.  The directior of the museum, Kevin Sims, hopes the boxes will help attract wildlife around the museum.  Kevin has kindly invited students back to the museum to survey the site and see the effectiveness of the boxes and hopes that future students wil be able to make more of these boxes to add to the site.

Richard Bramley

P.S.  Hope everyone has a good Easter.

Youth Speaks Regional Final

 On Sunday 25^th March our intrepid team of public speakers:  Holly Duddel, Cameron Shannon and Anna Ward-Gow set off on a lovely sunny day to Scarborough College, venue for the Youth Speaks regional final.  Ably led and coached by Chris Grace, our trainee teacher from York University who had been working with colleagues in the English department at Lady Lumley’s, the team were in good spirits entering the competition.  The team were pleased to draw Number 4 in the speaking order, and we were able to enjoy the first three sets of speakers.  Now it was our turn.  Holly eloquently introduced the topic “Olympics. all good?” and Callum launched into his heartfelt, thought-provoking and appropriately amusing speech about whether the London Olympics was the best way to spend £9 billion.  Anna concluded our team’s proceedings in a professional manner and all that remained was to listen to the next two teams and await the results.  Teams 5 and 6 came from Northampton and Lincolnshire.  In the previous round, the team from Northampton High School had beaten the team from Bourne Grammar School, with both teams now through to the final.  This time, the positions were reversed with Bourne Grammar School the winners on the day.  Holly, Callum and Anna came a very creditable 3^rd in the competition and acquitted themselves really well.  All of us who were there were very proud of their achievements, making it through two tough rounds before doing so well at the regional final.  And none of us really wanted to undertake the journey to Wrexham had we won this round! 

Holly, Callum and Anna have volunteered to repeat their speeches in assemblies next term so everyone can enjoy the experience of public speaking.  Being able to make an argument that persuades others is an important and useful skill for all members of a civilised society.  These three are superb examples of young people willing to take risks and step outside their comfort zone and they are excellent role models for the school as a whole.

Dear parents and carers,

On Friday the website was updated to add a parents' forum link, this can be found under the "Parents" section of the navigation bar. This page currently contains the latest minutes from the last parents' forum meeting, and will contain future minutes and files relating to these events.

I am currently working on curriculum details across the key stages to make them accessible via the website. We were due to keep this current design as a transition until another design was created. This is now not taking place and this design will remain. Consequently, content is not quite finalised and will be made available as soon as possible.

If you do have any questions or queries, or you'd like to see something on the website that isn't here, please use the form on the contact page and select "Website Administrator" as the recipient.

I also hope that all Year 7 parents were successful in finding and downloading the consultation evening appointment sheet. We will be using this e-mail feature and the download page for future correspondance where a whole year group is concerned. If you have any feedback about this system, again I would be pleased to hear it, both positive and negative.

Thank you for your patience.

R. Makinson
Website Administrator.

Wednesday 21^st March 2012

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

Tonight I was privileged to attend the Creative and Media event at school where the current Year 11 students were able to showcase some of the outstanding work they have created over the past two years.  The Creative and Media diploma has allowed students unique opportunities to pursue their interests and develop their strengths, something much harder to do in the more constrained conventional subjects.  

On my trip to China last year I was asked to give my thoughts on the lessons which I saw.  I compared the teaching there to a funnel, where the wide part represented all the students with their individual hopes, aptitudes and interests and the narrow part being the end product – an homogenous group who had been fed the same diet and were expected to meet the same targets.   Unfortunately, with the emphasis on the subjects which count towards the English Baccalaureate, the denigration of vocational subjects and the demise of diplomas, the English education system is moving dangerously closer to the Chinese one.  The joy of the Creative and Media course is that students can succeed by being themselves.  Tonight I experienced a magic and mentalism show, a 30 second trailer for a horror movie, a video of a Quaker summer school and the way computer boxing games have changed over the last 10 years.  More than that, I experienced young people proudly displaying their work and achievements and their parents, grandparents, friends and colleagues celebrating their success with them.  I loved this evening, thank you to the students and staff who made it possible.

Richard Bramley

Thursday 15th March 2012

 Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

Today was a Whole School Curriculum Day (WSCD) where the timetable is collapsed allowing staff and students to do new and different activities, or spend extended periods of time on particular areas of their schoolwork.

I was involved with a Year 9 group who were working on supporting Pickering in Bloom.  Whilst the rest of the group worked with Mr Emmerson and Mrs Blakley, from the Pickering in Bloom committee, I had a sub-group of 8 students with a special mission.   We went to Pickering Infants School to look at their wildlife garden as they had asked us to think about designs for this special area of their school. After spending an hour there, interviewing four children from their school council and taking many measurements and photographs, we returned to Lady Lumley’s to try out some ideas (and eat a lot of cake!).

Thanks to Emily, Bekah, Pheobe, Amber, Elliot, Danny, Alex and Sam for their help and hard work today and Mrs Lockwood for making us so welcome at the Infants School.  The group would also like to thank the CDT department for their donation of bird and bat boxes for use in the wildlife garden.

 Richard Bramley

Jane Lovering, who works as a Science Technician at Lady Lumley’s School came back from London this week with a smile on her face and an award in her hand.  Jane won the title of Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year for her novel ‘Please Don’t Stop the Music’, the tale of a jewellery designer and a musician who keep secrets from each other and the world.  The title was awarded by the Romantic Novelists’ Association during a champagne reception in a central London hotel. 

Please Don’t Stop the Music now goes forward to the Romantic Novel of the Year competition, which is influenced by public vote, so to support Jane go to www.rna-awards.com.  Jane’s novel is also a triumph for her publisher, Choc Lit, who won two awards - the only publisher at the event to take more than one prize.

Jane, who lives at Great Edstone near Kirkbymoorside, has a new novel released in August this year, a vampire comedy set, as are all her novels, in the historic city of York.

Jane also runs a personal website and blog over at: http://www.janelovering.co.uk/ . Well worth a read!

Lady Lumley's School now has three vacancies available;

1. Head of Drama.

2. Teacher of Mathematics

3. Teacher of Physical Education

Deadline for all applicants is 14th March.

Please visit the vacancies page to download the application packs!

Friday 10th February 2012 7:30 am

School is open.  Roads seem clear and forecast is for improved weather during the day.  

It was a bit scary last night as the snow began to fall at the end of the school day, and many of us thought we might be having a slightly longer break over half-term.

The site supervisors have continued to do an excellent job on the car parks and paths around the school.  We will have to keeps students in at lunchtime and breaktime as what appears to be snow is now mainly ice.  Whilst snowballing is great fun, ice-balling is just dangerous! 

Richard Bramley

 

Momday 6th February 2012 9.00 p.m.

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

As expected, school was open as normal today and public transport coped well with the conditions.  The site supervisors coped magnificently with the snow and, with a little help from our friends with a bulldozer, the school site was cleared before students and most staff arrived.   Please keep an eye on this site for updates – not just about the weather but also all the exciting things happening in the school.

Richard Bramley

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends

It seems a while since I’ve written on this forum.  As you will have noticed, the website has changed and it is due to change again, so keep an eye on us for the next developments.

On the subject of change, the school is currently discussing the best ways to provide the very highest quality education for the students of Lady Lumley’s School.  You and I know we are doing a good job here, but we do not want to rest on our laurels and we would like to be even better.   There are three areas we are considering at the moment:  a change to lesson length, our setting arrangements and even a change to the school day.   If you cast your mind back a year, you will remember we considered academy status and decided (absolutely rightly as it turned out) not to go down this route.   That process involved a genuine consultation with all interested parties, and so does this.

I am currently consulting with staff about the possible changes and have meetings with all staff on Monday 30th January.  I also have a meeting with the Parents’ Forum on Tuesday night to discuss, amongst other items, setting arrangements in the school. I am trying to keep everyone as informed as possible, and if you go to the Information tab above and click on Curriculum Review, there are some documents you may find interesting to read.  I cannot guarantee that my messages will be as frequent as they were during last year’s snow, but I will keep you posted on the progress of the consultations.  As always, any views, comments or suggestions are welcome.

Richard Bramley

Lady Lumley's School is seeking experienced contractors for provision of grounds maintenance.

Please see the attached PDF document below:

Grounds Maintenance