Dear all,

With best wishes

Mr A McGinnes
Headteacher

INTERNATIONAL RE-START A HEART DAY

On Tuesday 16 October, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust ("SCAS") came to our school to deliver a free live-saving CPR training for ‘World Restart a Heart Day 2018’; an event taking place across the UK. They teamed up with The British Heart Foundation and Resuscitation Council UK to deliver this event.  We were one of 56 schools participating in this event

Their aim of the campaign was to train 10,000 school children on the day to train 10,000 school children in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and how to use a defibrillator.

Restart a Heart Day is designed to encourage more people learn how to do life-saving CPR (or chest compressions) should they come across someone collapsed, not breathing and potentially in cardiac arrest. 

For every minute that passes without CPR starting on a person in cardiac arrest, their chances of survival reduce by 10%.

Students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11's participated in the event - 133 Buckingham School students were trained! This is an amazing number of students learning this simple life skill, which one day could save someone's life. You should be extremely proud of yourselves!    

Nic Morecroft, Head of Operations – Community Engagement & Training at SCAS, said:  “We know that one of the big concerns members of the public have about giving first aid and chest compressions to someone who has collapsed and is not breathing is that it might harm the patient.

“Even if you aren’t an expert in giving chest compressions, it’s been shown from studies that you can at least double if not treble someone’s chances of survival by having a go at giving chest compressions. That’s why SCAS is delighted once again to be part of Restart a Heart Day which will get thousands more people trained in how to carry out effective CPR and use a defibrillator."

Thank you, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, for organising this event and showing our students how to learn this simple skill, which one day, could mean they help save someone's life! 

Award Winning and Bestselling Author

The award-winning, bestselling children’s author, Billy Bob Buttons visited our Year 7's on Wednesday 26 September.  He is the author of sixteen very popular children’s books including the bestseller, ‘I think I Murdered Miss’. Last year, this book sold over 100,000 copies in the UK alone and won the 2014 UK People’s Book Prize.

He delivered his popular literacy workshop to our Year 7's focusing on planning a story and developing characters.  Afterwards, there was an opportunity to buy a signed book.  This was the third time Billy Bob Buttons has visited the school to work with our Year 7s.

Find out more about Billy Bob Buttons and his books at www.bbbuttons.co.uk

STEM at the Buckingham School

In my role at The Buckingham School as STEM Leader, I have the pleasure of showcasing the fantastic work our teachers have done this first half term in promoting STEM subjects and supporting students in their drive for progress. Everyone has hit the ground running from day one and the wide variety of enrichment activities on offer is amazing. Showcased below is some of the opportunities that students have to select from.

Lacey Townes, STEM Leader

STEM CLUB - Tuesdays after school in IT2

Formally the Computing club, the STEM club has embraced cross curricular projects this year. Open to all students, our next project is going to be the AstroPi challenge - Mission Zero.

Mission Zero offers students and young people the chance to have their computer programs run in space on the International Space Station (ISS)! Teams write a simple program to display a message to the astronauts onboard. You will also receive a special certificate showing where exactly the ISS was when your program ran!

More information can be found at https://astro-pi.org/missions/zero/

ESports Team- Fixtures Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (as needed)

With the support of Vertigo VR (https://vertigovr.co.uk) The Buckingham School has joined the inaugural first season of the British ESports Championships. After hard fought tryouts, we’ve launched two teams each for Rocket League and Overwatch.

We are very excited to participate in this championship series as ESports have been shown (based on developing research) to:

Provide cyber and transferable skills

Improve dexterity and concentration

Positive social and communication benefits

Promote teamwork and develop communities

Decision making, reaction times and multitasking

More information can be found at http://www.britishesports.org/assets/WhatisesportsPDFOCT17V2pdf1.pdf

Science Club

The science club is a Key Stage 3 Club that allows students to explore science outside the standard curriculum. Every week the students will visit a new topic and participate in a fun experiment that cements their learning.

Want to know what this is and how to make to make it? Come to Science Club on Tuesday Lunchtimes in S4!

Science Revision - See Science Department for Timetable

To help support our Year 11 students in their quest for the top grades; The Science Department has been running weekly practical lessons after school to refresh students memories and help build student confidence in that aspect of the course specifications.

Theory Support is being offered Wednesday’s during Lunch, with a rotating rota of specialist staff members depending on the topic being covered.

Year 7 and 8 Maths Club

Students are challenged to complete a series of fun mathematical challenges, from the weekly Parallel Maths Project to the Cyber Security Challenges of Encryption. More information can be found at https://parallel.org.uk/

Year 7 and 8 Maths Club - Friday after school in M5

CHALLENGE: Can you break the following code (Hint… it’s a caesar cipher)?

Cancer Support - MacMillan 

The total amount raised today from the non-uniform and the cake sale is a an amazing £1,378.78!

Thank you to everyone. The atmosphere on the MUGA was great, students were tremendous, the choir was fantastic and the money raised will make a huge difference. 

Thank you to all the staff and students who have helped with planning, setting up, baking, buying, selling, singing, cleaning, counting and supporting.

School House System

At the of the Summer term, we talked about rejuvenating the school House system.  Having a House system gives a real sense of belonging, and it allows students to develop important and personal relationships. Every student is assigned a House. The House system creates competition, promotes good work and behaviour, encourages teamwork, provides opportunities to take on responsibilities and brings everyone in the school together. 

Each House has a brief is to instil belonging and pride in the Houses, extending our House competitions far beyond the Inter-House sport that already takes place.

Link to words from Head of Houses. 

The Diana Award Anti-bullying ambassador programme

On Tuesday 18 September, nine students from different year groups took part in an anti-bullying training day delivered by the Diana Award anti-bullying ambassador programme. Together with other students from different schools, students discussed what bullying is, the impact it has and how, as a school community, we can tackle bullying. We are very proud that at The Buckingham School bullying is rare, but recognising that we live in a diverse and increasingly technologically aware society, the training day was aimed at raising awareness of bullying issues (including online) and promoting the skills needed to support others.

Our students were absolutely superb during the training day and we are very luck to have this team in place. Students have already thought about many ideas that will help celebrate our differences and make every single students at The Buckingham School feel valued and supported.  

A very special well done goes to Ed Odley (8 Swan), who was chosen by the organisers of the training day as the 'Anti-Bullying Ambassador of the Day' for his positive contribution and leadership skills shown on the day. Ed will be our student leader on anti-bullying, so we know some great projects are ahead.

A massive well done to our Anti-Bullying team: Ed Odley, Scarlette Baldry, Colby Glossy, Lucy Fox, Johnny Forward, Rihanna Yardley, Tom Hardy, Lauren McPartlane and Zoe Roberts.'

Race for the Line 2019 - in partnership with Drakewell Ltd

We have some fantastic news!  We are delighted to be supported by Drakewell Ltd, for next year's STEM initiative, Race for the Line 2019.  

Drakewell Ltd, carries out software development specifically around traffic data collection, evaluation and reporting. Drawing on many years experience, they supply UK local authorities and private companies both UK and International with manufacturer independent traffic analysis software in addition to many other software and service applications.

This will be the second year students will compete in this cross-curricular project known as “Race for the Line”, in which students are asked to design, build and test their own rocket car! The aim of the Race for the Line initiative is to inspire tomorrow’s engineers and scientists with a national rocket car racing competition involving around 70,000 Year 7 students in England, Scotland and Wales. 

Thank you, Drakewell Ltd - it's going to be another very exciting and inspirational event! 

www.drakewell.com

Arts and Crafts Club in the Learning Resource Centre

We are now running an Arts and Crafts Club at The Buckingham School. 

Students will be able to make a variety of things, as well as complete paint by numbers, silk clay modelling and foil art. All resources will be provided every lunchtime for the students. The Arts and Crafts Club is held every Monday – Thursday during lunchtime, in the Learning Resource Centre. 

The club is a fantastic way for students to make new friends, develop team work and creative skills. Students will actively develop their confidence, Arts skills and will allow the different year groups to work together. It will also allow students to take part in Arts competitions and undertake different Arts projects throughout the year.

To read the letter regarding this Club, click here. 

Also, we are keen for any unwanted lego pieces to be donated to the Learning Resource Centre, for Lego Club.  

Miss Swain, Learning Resource Centre Manager 

Enrichment Opportunities available to All Year Groups 

Our new and exciting Enrichment Opportunity Programme is available for all year groups, which centres around offering your child an opportunity to take up a new activity they have never tried before or to develop their skills in a particular area, to even learn a new language. 

There is a growing focus in education on the quality of the education provided for young people which is not just about what grades they get at the end of Year 11 or Year 13. Rather, it is about how we educate our students in all aspects of their lives, offer them opportunities to learn about different cultures and societies, broaden their view of themselves and to want to learn or develop new talents.

Click here to view the opportunities available 

Outstanding Success for A Level Business & A Level Economics students

Once again our Business Students secured places on undergraduate courses at a number of Universities and Apprenticeships. 

Dan Melluish B.A (HONS) at Portsmouth University

Hannah Heir B.Sc (HONS) in Economics at Buckingham University

Tom Downham (B.A (HONS) in Quanitity Surveying at Nottingham University

Alice Furby B.A (HONS) at Portsmouth

Ezequiel Aracenna B.Sc (HONS) Derby University

Alex Clarke Chartered Accountancy ICAEW Apprenticeship

William Edgar-Gibson Business Management & Marketing

Add words here for Alumni section.  

The Buckingham School Sports Partnership has been successful in its application to become part of The FA Girls'' Football School Partnership this academic year.

The Buckingham SSP will work closely with the Mandeville SSP, The FA and the Youth Sport Trust to increase the number of opportunities available to our young females both in primary and secondary environments. This will have a positive impact on not only our young talented footballers but also will ensure our young leaders have pathways to progress in a variety of different roles.

This is a really exciting year for all primary and secondary schools that are part of the Buckingham SSP. Watch this space for updates....#Lionesses (Miss Collie).

In a Year 7 Food Technology Lesson 

Shown here our new Year 7 students in Food Technology - using simple tools safely, and photos below are Year 9 Food Prep & Nutrition students making large pastry slices as one of their skills lessons.

Girls Football

The U16 girls football team have made a fantastic start to their season and are currently unbeaten. They beat Walton High 7-0 and Stantonbury School 3-0.

They have two fixtures next week and any support is welcomed as both games are home games.  They girls are eyeing up a second successive year at getting to the County Cup final and being champions for the second year running.

U13 Girls football team

The team have welcomed three Year 7 students to the team, Ellie Cove, Rhianne Pullen and Sophie Martin.  Special mentions go to Lucy Edwards for her sheer determination and hard work,, Holly Beacon for her strong defensive tackles and Keira Ridley for getting the ''Player of the Match'' in their first match against Walton High. 

Congratulations also goes to Sophie Martin for winning ''Opposition''s Player of the Match'' and well done to Rhianne Pullen, scoring her first ever goal for the school, and special mention to Amelie King for her strong performance in the back line,in their second County Cup outing.  Miss Collie says, "I am confident this team will do very well this season." 

National Inter-County Swimming Success

Izzy Ford and Gracie Hudson were selected for the Oxon and North Bucks County Team to compete at the weekend in the National Inter-County Championships at Sheffield.

Both girls had fantastic swims to help the team finish 9th out of 20 county teams (two places higher than last year) and helping them to remain in Division 1. Well done, girls, an awesome experience and great swimming.

Performing Arts - The James Cousins Dance Company

On 17^th October the Performing Arts team had the pleasure of hosting two dancers from The James Cousins Dance Company.  They worked with Year 9 and Year 10 GCSE dancers on exploring one of the professional works ‘Within Her Eyes’ which is performed by the company.

The students were extremely focused and were certainly challenged in their contact work.  They all achieved lifts and holds which they had first thought incredibly difficult.

Our thanks go to the two dancers, Georgina Frampton and Yieling Nah. 

Advice for Parents and Carers: Talking Mental Health with young people at secondary school

Anna Freud, National Centre for Children and Families, has provided the school, as part of their nationwide campaign, important and useful resources aimed at Years 7-9, where children are experiencing the uncertainties of adolescence and may become vulnerable to mental health problems. 

A free booklet and leaflet (see below) have been developed by the Centre''s child mental health experts, providing simple advice and guidance to parents and carers about how to make conversations about their child''s feelings part of everyday conversation.

The teenage years are both exciting and challenging to parents and carers. It can be hard to know whether your child''s feelings and behaviour are normal or becoming a problem. 

Click here to view and download the booklet and leaflet.

Arts and Crafts Club in the Learning Resource Centre

We are now running an Arts and Crafts Club at The Buckingham School. 

Students will be able to make a variety of things, as well as complete paint by numbers, silk clay modelling and foil art. All resources will be provided every lunchtime for the students. The Arts and Crafts Club is held every Monday – Thursday during lunchtime, in the Learning Resource Centre. 

The club is a fantastic way for students to make new friends, develop team work and creative skills. Students will actively develop their confidence, Arts skills and will allow the different year groups to work together. It will also allow students to take part in Arts competitions and undertake different Arts projects throughout the year.

To read the letter regarding this Club, click here. 

Also, we are keen for any unwanted lego pieces to be donated to the Learning Resource Centre, for Lego Club.  

Miss Swain, Learning Resource Centre Manager 

Suzy at Bittersweet Music provides ‘fun and fabulous’ music lessons in several local schools. She is at The Buckingham School providing singing and acoustic guitar lessons, plus leads The Buckingham Children’s Choir - open to all young singers and musicians. 

For more information about these fantastic opportunities - please email suzyasmith@aol.com or check Facebook pages. Bittersweet Music &
Buckingham Children’s Choir.

School Equestrian Team 

Add here.  

Useful links from the school website:

Calendar Events for this week, and further ahead. 

Click here.