On Friday 15th October 2010, 40 members of Student Voice went on a residential visit to Stainsacre Hall Whitby. The aim of the visit was to team build with new members that had applied and joined Student Voice this academic year, as well as discussing the new projects that we would like to tackle and deal with as Student Voice.

The main theme of the trip was ‘Hands On’ and thus the activities that we participated in had this central theme. We discussed what our hands mean to us, played team building games involving just our hands, and we even made a plaster cast of our hands! On the Friday night we had a bonfire in the grounds of the Hall, sang songs and had a really good time!

On the Saturday we had a session with Mr. Butcher, involving an activity where we had to sell a mobile phone. The eventual point of that exercise will be to see if we can introduce new technologies into lessons, e.g. mobile phones, to improve and better our learning.

After the session we played rounder’s and then had a trip to Whitby. The fish and chips were excellent and we bought Mrs Ball a lucky duck! We had a really amazing time and can’t wait for the next residential! (We may get a bit more sleep next year though?!) Thank you to Student Voice and Mrs Ball for making it such a great time!
Luke

The Student Voice residential at Stainsacre Hall was truly an experience to remember. There was something for everyone with a mixture of team games, project discussions and the chance to relax and socialise around the bonfire. The facilities were excellent with lots of space for our games and activites and thankfully, the fish and chips were up to scratch! It gave new members a chance to get to know the rest of the group and provided lasting memories for some of the older members about to leave. The staff were great from Mr. Watson’s rounders game to Mrs Ball’s plasterciene hand creations!
All in all, the weekend was an unforgetable experience and has left everyone looking forward to the next one!
Connor

For more images from this years trip to Stainsacre Hall – see the Photo Gallery located here: Student Voice Residential – October 2010 : Photo Gallery : Students – Nunthorpe School

What a journey we have all made to even get to here! Jake Anderson (lead student) and Madame Hellaoui travelled to Uganda last year with ODEF to scope out the school trip for this year and over the last two years, enormous amounts of time, work and effort have been put in to ensure we have all the funds and resources to travel, aswell as raising an extra £4900 to fund the internet cafe, as we enter a different culture, different landscape and meet different people. We have a wonderful trip planned with many exciting places to go and people to meet. This includes visiting projects such as AOET (http://www.aoet.org) and Uganda Hands for Hope (http://www.onlinehope.org), meeting Mr Norman, the District Education Officer but also visiting the local community of Bushenyi and Ndekye School, teaching students about life in the UK.

We have a positive outlook for our visit and have plans to make a lasting difference. It is a chance to see the positive impact we can make to the children of Ndekye, Uganda and we hope it will be a life changing experience. We will be posting updates where possible during the Uganda 2010 trip. For all the news, please visit the trip updates page on www.essanyu.co.uk.tt.

Jake Anderson
TJST

There is currently a vacancy for a parent governor on the governing body of your child’s school. Parents or carers of students attending the school (including the sixth form) are invited to apply. This includes any person who is not a parent of a child but who has parental responsibility for him/her or who has care of the child.

What do School Governors do?

Governors play an important part, in conjunction with the Head Teacher and staff in the running of the school. Becoming a Parent Governor would allow you to have input into the work of the school and bring a parent’s view to the discussions. The Governing Body:-

• Is accountable for the performance of the school.
• Appoints the Head Teacher and Deputy Head Teacher.
• Is involved in deciding on the aims, ethos and future direction of the school.
• Make decisions on the school’s budget and staffing.
• Is responsible for ensuring that the National Curriculum is taught.
• Determines policies on matters such as discipline, sex education and religious education.

Do I need to be an expert?

No, you don’t need to be an expert or have any special qualifications to become a School Governor, although you do need to be aged 18 or over. More importantly, we are looking for people who are enthusiastic, interested in the education of children, willing to learn and prepared to commit some time to the important, interesting and rewarding task of governing a school. The important thing to remember is that you would not be making decisions in isolation, but would be working as part of a team.

Would there be any training available?

There is an expectation that new governors will attend induction training and that they should also have an ongoing commitment to attend other development courses during their term of office. All training is paid for by the school. There will be no charge to individual governors. New governors are also provided with a welcome pack, including useful information and resources to assist them in their role.

How much time would I be expected to give?

Nunthorpe’s full governing body meets six times a year. There may sometimes be additional special meetings of the governing body and you will also be expected to be a member of at least one or two smaller committees that meet regularly. Governors are also encouraged to get to know the school in more informal ways and to occasionally visit during the school day. The average monthly commitment for a governor is estimated as 6-8 hours.

Who else is on the Governing Body?

There are 19 governors in total at Nunthorpe School, made up as follows:-

6 parent governors
3 governors appointed by the Local Authority.
3 staff governors (including the Head Teacher).
5 community governors (appointed by the governing body)
2 partnership governors (appointed by the governing body)

How long would my appointment last?

Your appointment would be for a period of four years. After that time, the nomination process takes place again and existing parent governors may apply for a further term of office if they are eligible. If a child of a Parent Governor leaves the school, the governor can complete the term of office, unless he/she chooses to resign.

So how do I become a Parent Governor?

If you want to become a Parent Governor, you should contact Laura Buckell at the school on 01642 310561. She will be able to send you a nomination form by post or e-mail. Your nomination needs the backing of two other parents/carers from different families.

YOUR SIGNED FORM SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE SCHOOL IN A SEALED ENVELOPE MARKED “NOMINATION OF PARENT GOVERNOR” NO LATER THAN FRIDAY 15 OCTOBER 2010.

If there is more than one applicant a ballot will be held and all parents will be sent a ballot paper. If only one person applies, he/she will automatically be elected.

Disqualifications and Checks

There are certain circumstances, which would disqualify a person from becoming a governor. These are given in detail on the back of the nomination form and you should read these and sign the declaration, which also gives permission for us to check your details against the Independent Safeguarding Authority’s Children’s Barred List (the list of people barred from working with children and young people). The successful candidate will also be asked to complete an application form for an enhanced disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau.

Further details

If you have further queries, which have not been answered, please contact either the school or the School Governor Support Service on the telephone number shown above.

• PDF – 164kb
  

  Parent Governor – September 2010

What a journey we have all made to even get to here! Jake Anderson (lead student) and Madame Hellaoui travelled to Uganda last year with ODEF to scope out the school trip for this year and over the last two years, enormous amounts of time, work and effort have been put in to ensure we have all the funds and resources to travel, aswell as raising an extra £4900 to fund the internet cafe, as we enter a different culture, different landscape and meet different people. We have a wonderful trip planned with many exciting places to go and people to meet. This includes visiting projects such as AOET (http://www.aoet.org) and Uganda Hands for Hope (http://www.onlinehope.org), meeting Mr Norman, the District Education Officer but also visiting the local community of Bushenyi and Ndekye School, teaching students about life in the UK.

We have a positive outlook for our visit and have plans to make a lasting difference. It is a chance to see the positive impact we can make to the children of Ndekye, Uganda and we hope it will be a life changing experience. We will be posting updates where possible during the Uganda 2010 trip. For all the news, please visit the trip updates page on www.essanyu.co.uk.tt

Jake Anderson
TJST

As former house captains, we were selected for an interview after a letter of application to Ms Clinton and Mrs Smith. We were successful in securing this important role because of our enthusiasm and ideas for improvements to make the school “Outstanding.”

Our main personal project will be on teaching and learning and we will work closely with teachers in the planning and assessment of lessons, to make those five hours better for every member of our school community.

Over the next academic year, our two aims will be to make our school an “Outstanding” environment and to make the students proud to be a part of our school. We will do this through close communications with you and trying to make lessons more enjoyable and productive for everyone, students and staff alike, by building the community spirit and competitive vibe within the school.

Hopefully by this time next year we will have clearly achieved these goals and left our mark on Nunthorpe School.

We’ll see you around school so feel free to stop and talk to us about anything, your ideas will be valued.

Anyone who has any ideas to drive the school to outstanding, please feel free to post your ideas here in this blog or you can email us at jharris6088@nunthorpe.co.uk

From Joe and Emma

Every Thursday a group of around 12 Student Voice volunteers stay back after school in order to empty the bins and re-line them. The scheme has been a great success, backed by many students and teachers; it is so effective that the amount of recyclable rubbish being collected is jaw dropping.

That is nearly all the rubbish recycled in a week. Imagine we wasted 52 times that every year for so long!

Please leave a comment on how you think the scheme is going and how it could be improved!

Thank you,

Temi, Student Voice.

Many school websites are out of date, difficult to access, not student centred and all round dull. Our new web site is none of those things. It now has a fantastic new look and has lots of new, interesting and relevant content.

I am one member of a team of fantastic, hard working prefects in school. We take part in house duties, helping out the PDLs and APDLs with tasks in house areas and tutor groups, and helping the house to benefit from the decisions and contributions that we make. We also take part in one early morning duty, one break duty and one lunch duty per week, alongside a member of staff. This makes us visible and approachable in the school community, and along with our own ties, matching our house colour, makes us instantly recognisable. As a group, we have a positive influence and consider ourselves to be a helpful role model to all the students.

I hope that this blog post in the new student section of our website will be the first of many and hopefully will make students feel part of the site, encouraging them to participate and get more involved with the content posted online.

Jake Anderson
Year 11 TJST