Platinum Award

Callum Dowling (7R1)

Congratulations to the first person in Rowan House to receive over 200 House Points and reach the highest accolade—the Platinum Award.
This is an amazing achievement in just over half of this school year.
For the first time since introducing the House Point badges, we will now have to consider what will be the next goal to reach for!

Well Done Callum—you are a Superstar!

Rowan House Needs You

CREATIVE HOBBIES? PUBLIC SPEAKING?

BOOK CLUB? DEBATING SKILLS?

NON-CURRICULUM LANGUAGES?

CONSTRUCTION? POETRY? BEAUTY AND HAIR?

FASHION? BUSINESS GAMES?

MEDIA?

UNUSUAL PETS?

FIRST AID?

CHESS CLUB?

PHOTOGRAPHY?

(Any ideas—let me know)

I am interested in finding out if there are any Parents, Guardians or Governors who are willing to share their skills with small groups of students in Rowan House. It is my wish for us to work together as a school and a community to offer opportunities for our young people to develop their interests through a variety of activities.
If you are able to consider giving up an hour or two to lead a small group with support from staff, then please get in touch with me —e-mail me directly at s.jarvis@woodlands.derby.sch.uk (You will be requested to complete the necessary forms for CRB checks.)

Canvas Design

I am delighted to announce the first activity of Rowan House this year. All Rowan tutor groups have been asked to design a canvas which will eventually form a mural on the wall outside Rowan office. The emphasis is on creativity and I have asked for the identity of each group to be highlighted on the canvas. I am very impressed with the ideas that are developing within each form at this stage and the high level of interest it has sparked.
The final designs will be displayed by February half term.
Mrs Jarvis – Head of Rowan House

GCSE Poetry Live!

GCSE Poetry Live is in its 11th year and is now firmly established as an integral event in the school year for many English Departments.

The majority of Woodlands Year 11 English students visited the Poetry Live! event at the Assembly Rooms in Derby on Monday 19 January 2009.

Below, John Howard (11R1) tells us all about his trip:

The day was a chance for us to hear the story behind many of the poems in the GCSE Anthology from the original poets.

The poets present on the day were Gillian Clarke, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Imtiaz Dharker, John Agard and Daljit Nagra. An observation made by many people was that a number of the poets were not as adept at performing poetry as at writing it; but there were also those who most certainly did their poems justice, each in their own individual way.

Imtiaz Dharker read her poems in a soft expressive style, while Simon Armitage read his poems in his own Yorkshire accent with injections of dry humour that pleased the audience. One of the highlights had to be Caribbean poet John Agard, who walked on stage to tumultuous applause and did not fail to deliver, with his dramatic style and tongue-in-cheek humour.

There was also a session by chief examiner Peter Buckroyd, which though some found rather boring, was helpful in pointing out that all essay questions will always include three things and therefore can be answered in a similar way.
All in all Poetry Live! helped GCSE students get the back-story to the set poems, which will allow us to add an extra degree of analysis to our answers and get better grades; and even if it fails in that, it was still a good day out.

Sports Ambassador

Since becoming an Ambassador for Derby City I have become involved in many sporting events involving younger school years.
First duty was attending a Conference at Pride Park where I spent the day with the other Ambassadors from across the country. The Conference was a great experience where I was able to improve my leadership skills. The Conference also brought me to meet many Olympians and Paralympians. They were all down to earth and keen to find out about our sporting achievements. I met Rebecca Romero (Gold medallist), Craig Heap (ex Gymnast) and many others.
I have also helped at gymnastics on Saturdays (for 2 hours). I have attended non-competitive and competitive trials for Derby West and Derby East teams where I acted as a general runner and Team Leader for Woodlands for the gymnasts competing.
I am really enjoying my role as a Sports Ambassador. Charlotte Rhodes (11R1)

Congratulations to Tom Rothwell (11R1)

Tom has gained his Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Dinghy Instructor’s Certificate at just 16 years of age — the youngest possible age at which this can be completed.
Tom is now fully qualified to teach adults, youth sailors and children on inland and coastal waters under the RYA Sailing Scheme.
To be eligible for this award Tom had to demonstrate advanced sailing competence, pass his Powerboat drivers certificate and an RYA approved First Aid Course.
The course, held at Plas Menai, the National Watersports Centre for Wales, was an intensive five day event where Tom demonstrated his sailing skills in a variety of boats, planned and ran practice teaching sessions, made presentations, and sat written examination papers. The conditions were very demanding and included hail, rain and strong winds as well as Plas Menai’s strong tides.
One third of the twelve candidates have yet to complete the award, but Tom was complimented on his confident and competent presentation skills and his teaching ability.
Initially Tom will be teaching part-time at Carsington Sailing Club.
WELL DONE TOM!