Alfriston Parent Governor Required
What are we looking for?
Alfriston’s Governing Body is made up of Governors from all walks of life who have come to the school through a variety of routes and with a range of different backgrounds, skills and experiences, but they are all volunteers who work together for the benefit of the school and are one of the links between the school and the community it serves.
We want you –
We are currently looking for new Parent Governors and would be delighted to hear from anyone who has:
• an interest in the performance of the school.
• a desire to contribute to and represent the parent community.
• an open and enquiring mind
• the ability to look at issues objectively
• the confidence to ask questions and join in debate.
• a willingness to listen and make informed judgements
• the ability to work well with others
• time to spare
• a daughter (or daughters) currently attending the school
If you match the above description, you may be the very person to become a Governor at Alfriston. Everyone has something to offer and we want people from as many backgrounds and with as wide a range of interests as possible.
What can we offer?
• A chance to develop skills in strategic management
• The opportunity to work with our team of governors and senior staff in improving Alfriston
• A sense of achievement in making a difference to the pupils at Alfriston
• The pleasure of helping our pupils reach their potential
What is the Governing Body’s Role?
The Governing Body at Alfriston plays a key role in:
• ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• monitoring progress towards achieving the strategic priorities.
• supporting and challenging the performance of the headteacher and senior leadership team
• deciding policy and future development plans for the school
As well as attending full governing body meetings (4 per year), governors will also be a member of one of the committees (currently resources, teaching & learning and personnel) and will be linked to a particular subject to enable them to become more familiar with aspects of the school and the teaching within it. To help support governors, everyone has access to further training to help build on existing skills or to develop new ones.
If you are interested, please send an email with a brief description about yourself and why you would like to join the governing body, and return this to Angela Marchant, Clerk to Governing Body (angela.marchant@alfristonschool.com).
Depending on the number of applications there may be an election process. If so, we will notify all candidates in due course and may ask for a brief election statement from you.
Heather McCallum
Chair of Governors
Message from the Headteacher
Dear parents,
Happy Easter!
The Spring term is coming to an end, and it has been good to see the girls out and about again, learning and having fun. It has also been good to see more parents in school in person, for annual reviews and other occasions.
Many of our older girls are practising for the Duke of Edinburgh award and preparing for their assessed expedition. The tents are out, and rucksacks filled with snacks and maps. We wish them good luck (and good weather!) for their mission.
We have enjoyed some fun events this term, as well as some more thoughtful occasions. I have been impressed with the compassion shown by the girls towards helping others, especially with regard to the Ukranian situation. Thank you to everyone who supported them in raising money to provide aid.
You can read about some of our events in this newsletter, which is only a small sample of the great achievements that our girls make on a regular basis.
Wishing you all a very happy holiday,
Jinna Male
Garden Open Day – ‘Grow it, Eat it, Caddy it, Compost it’
The ‘Grow it, Eat it, Caddy it and Compost it’ block have worked very hard this term to get our garden growing. Working closely with Grow Together has given us all the opportunity to get dug in!
We had a lovely Open Day for the block girls to celebrate and show off their hard work. Thank you to all those who supported us. We even met some neighbours who came to buy plants and enjoy a slice of cake.
Friends of Alfriston Bingo Night
Friends of Alfriston were proud to host the Bingo night on Saturday 12th March in the Performing Arts Space & had even greater pleasure in welcoming all of you that could attend the evening. Your attendance (there were around 120 of you) meant we were packed to the rafters, for those of you that came along we hope you had a lovely time.
You have helped make a whopping profit £994.88 – that’s a record! All proceeds are used to buy items for the school to benefit our pupils.
Below are a few photos of the evening, we hope you can spot yourself in at least one!
Lastly, for those that couldn’t come along we will be hosting another Bingo Night on Saturday 14th May 2022 so please save the date.
Written by Jo & Maggie – FOA
Friends of Alfriston 100 Club Results
The Friends of Alfriston 100 Club results are:
JANUARY 2022
£25 number 55 J. Wildman
£15 number 13 A. Jing Bai
£10 number 47 R. Shorrocks
FEBRUARY 2022
£25 number 8 H. Denham
£15 number 99 B. Johnson
£10 number 90 J. Coles
MARCH 2022
£25 number 84 A. Bell
£15 number 17 S. Valentine
£10 number 21 M. West
Local Events
SEND Young Inspectors aged 12-25 years
Young Inspectors are trained to participate and review local group and activities. We have a bank of activities and groups ready to be inspected. Young people will receive Amazon vouchers for every inspection they do and an AQA accreditation. We have training coming up on Wednesday 20th April 10-12:30pm at Buckinghamshire County Offices, Aylesbury.
Shout Out For SEND monthly group for young people aged 11 – 16 years
This fun social group runs in Aylesbury, Amersham and High Wycombe. At these sessions we work on building confidence, self esteem and social skills. As well as this we create opportunities for the young people to get their voice heard and make positive changes to the lives of other young people with SEND. These sessions are on Mondays 4:30pm – 6:30pm.
Shout Out Reps aged 12-25 years
Shout Out Reps represent their school, college or community by meeting virtually once a month. Our Reps create videos to present to Buckinghamshire’s Integrated Services Board, which is a meeting of senior decision-makers in the Council – you can watch an example of one that was made on co-production here: Tips on involving children and young people with SEND – YouTube . Everyone receives a welcome pack when they join as well as Amazon vouchers and an accreditation after their third meeting.
To join and for more information on these opportunities please contact shoutoutforSEND@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
Maths Department
Such a fun term for the Maths department as we have been learning about a few different topics including word problems, shapes, symmetry and direction! The students have once again been brilliant and have really engaged in their learning. We have really seen them grow over these last two terms and can’t wait for the Summer term where (if the weather stays nice) we will have loads of outdoor activities!
Year 9
Year 9 calculating division word problems with Numicon proving that you are never too old to have concrete resources to hand!
Year 8
Year 8 have been learning about money again and recognizing coins . Because they really enjoy Numicon we thought, why not combine the two?! Lots of practical activities continuing for this class as well. We have also worked with the Occupational Therapy department to implement gross and fine motor skills activities that complement the Maths curriculum. Activities such as building Lego animals and weird creatures by following instructions were a lot of fun!
Year 7
Year 7 working on 3D models here to understand the names and properties of cubes and cuboids. Their hard work and effort is up and to be admired if you ever want to pop down to the Maths department!
Pastoral Afternoon – 29th March
Year 9
9J enjoyed a spa afternoon at school.
Pupils were greeted with goody bags courtesy of Mulberry in Old Beaconsfield and Belmont Dental in Gerrards Cross. Miss Merison has visited both donors to show our appreciation and gave thank you letters from the pupils.
The pupils had a splash and swim, relaxing face masks and pamper, followed by a chocolate fountain and fizz.
Mufti Day – Ukraine Appeal
On Thursday 7th April we organised a mufti day to raise money and show our support for Ukraine. We asked everyone to come in yellow and blue as these are the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
So far we have raised £472.20 which is a fantastic amount for such an important cause.
Here is the link if you would still like to donate.
School Council – Scavenger Hunt & Science Activities
This term we have had a lot of fun with all the activities organised by the School Council. We had 2 Teams calls, one was a Scavenger hunt and the other was hosted by Mr. Waterman where the students could participate in some Science activities. We will be holding more calls, so keep a look out for the information.
We appreciate all of your support and look forward to all the upcoming events next term.
Mrs. Bentley and the School Council.
Comic Relief – 18th March 2022
Comic Relief – On Friday 18th March we had a pyjama day and coffee morning to raise money for Comic Relief. We had lots of parents come and enjoy a cup of coffee and a cake. They enjoyed seeing the pupils and teachers in their pyjamas. We raised £303.99 which is AMAZING. We had a great day and look forward to doing it again in the future.
Ravina and Jeni (Year 11 School Council Reps)
