You will by now have received a letter sent to all parents with the devastating news that most of the building projects planned under BSF, including ours, have been stopped. There will now be a review of the national school building programme. We expect further announcements in the Autumn. We have no way of knowing, of course, what will come out of this review.

There was an emergency meeting of the Trust Board and the Governing Body on Tuesday 13th July to discuss ways in which we could influence the outcome of this review. It was agreed to ask all pupils and parents to write to the Secretary of State for Education about Buxton School and to ask him to consider Buxton School in the planned review so that we could still have our new building.

We urge you, therefore, to support us by writing as suggested. The details of a letter and where to send it on are on our website – www.buxtonschool.org.uk

Please write!

In the meantime, everything else continues as normal. We are still one all–through school. We are still Buxton School with all that goes with it including our new uniform.

We strongly believe that this is an opportunity to transform the learning of generations of children by having the full age range of children on one site led by staff and supported by a community who share common values, learning and curriculum aims, policies and practices in an all through school – with or without a new building!

This term the Drama department has been very busy with theatre trips. The Year 10’s went to the Almeida Theatre to see ‘The Door Never Closes’ a play specially commissioned for young people. They also went to Sir George Monoux College to see the BTEC level 3 students performing their final devised piece as part of their Creative Media week.

The Year 9’s who will be starting GCSE Drama in September spent the day at the Old Vic Theatre finding out about how a play gets from page to stage.

They had the opportunity to get up and present their ideas on the famous West End stage, which of course they did and did brilliantly! They ended the day watching Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It”.

Some Year 9’s will be treated to another theatrical adventure before the end of term when Stratford’s Young People’s Company will be in school performing their play “Brood” followed by a workshop. The term will finish with the Year 7

Shakespeare festival an English and Drama collaboration where each form will be presentingtheir version of Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello and Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Next term watch out for the Drama Stars Rewards Trip when this year’s top Drama students get treated to a trip to the theatre

.

Music Mode is formed by a group of very experienced instrumental teachers determined to ensure the highest quality of the learning experience. Our Guitar lessons are based in small groups where each pupil has an opportunity to be engaged in musical and fun activities and at the same time to learn different skills on the instruments.

If you want to secure a place for your child to start lessons from September 2010 please fill in the enrolment form in the school office and enclose payment of £55 (for the whole term) in an envelope. Also upon enrolment you will also receive a discount voucher to purchase your instrument at a discount of over 25% at our partner retail stores!

For more information please visit the website:

Reception had a fantastic trip to the Pirate park. We climbed the rigging, scrubbed the decks and fired the cannons. It had a really positive impact on the children’s work, in particular their writing.
We would like to thank the parents and staff who came with us as this would not have been possible without them.

Last month a group of Year 10 pupils went to see a performance of ‘The Crucible’ at Regents Park Open Air Theatre. ‘The Crucible’, by Arthur Miller, is a play about justice and intolerance and the role of the individual in society.

Although the play is set in 1692, these ideas are still relevant in today’s world. The Year 10’s have studied the play for their GCSE English Literature coursework so this was a fantastic opportunity to see a professional production.

The outdoor setting created a dramatic atmosphere for the play particularly as the park got darker along with the events of the play. The pupils were on the edge of their seats as the play reached its thrilling climax and had to stop themselves from cheering out loud at

John Proctor’s passionate declaration, ‘BECAUSE IT IS MY NAME!!!’. The trip was funded by Jack Petchey Award money, won by

Dan Nyamekye

Year 8 and their tutors are currently battling for the ‘Best Tutor Group’ Trophy. Over the last two terms, groups have been taking place in various activities to gain points. The Design Technology Department hosts three of these events: Dragon’s Den, MasterChef and The Great Buggie Race. For Dragon’s Den, the teams were asked to recreate a famous structure using recycled paper, masking tape, nuts and bolts. The teams had a few hours to build the structures, and then present their outcomes to their peers and a carefully selected panel of judges.

The votes from the panel were unanimous for 8.5 as they demonstrated excellent team spirit and a fantastic display of determination. Their attention to detail was also commended. All their hard work and preparation to recreate the O2 Arena did not go unnoticed.
The competition is now in it’s final stages; this week the students cooked up a storm in the kitchens for MasterChef.

The challenge is to cook a dish inspired by the countries competing in the 2010 World Cup. As this is a popular event, Year 9’swere also invited to take part. After nearly three hours of preparation, presentation and tasting, the carefully selected panel of judges announced the winners.

The results in Year 8, Miss McKintosh and her tutor group 8.5 took the crown again with a delicious spread inspired by Nigeria. In Year 9, Mr Dickson and his masterchefs from 9.5 took first place for their tasty dishes from Italy.

Because the standard was exceptionally high this year the judges awarded two additional winning places for the best dishes.
These were given to 8.3 for their Rollitos de Pollo en Salsa de Chilli (Chicken Rolls in Chilli Sauce), which originates from

Chile. Again, 9.5 were praised for their Pollo alla Diavola (Devilled Chicken).The Great Buggie Race will take place next week, this is also the last event of the competition.
The selected teams will have 5 days to design and build a small car powered by compressed air! All cars will race on the last Friday of term.

The Technology department would like to congratulate all those who took part for their creativity and hard work.
This has been the most successful year with pupils and their tutors getting involved.

In June a group of Year 9 pupils were lucky enough to take part in the Thames Festival, Rivers of the World Art Project. Pupils visited the Docklands Museum in Canary Wharfand researched the history of the Docklands to develop ideas for a collaborative artwork.

Working on the theme of packaging, students explored the trade that took place during the Victorian era pupils completed a two day workshop to create their artwork with fantastic results. Pupil’s artwork will be on display in the Oxo gallery on the South Bank in September during the festival. You will also be able to see pupil’s artwork on banners all down the Thames alongside the artwork from our link school

Asagi Dudullu Primary school in Istanbul. This is a fantastic achievement and we would like to congratulate all pupils who took part. They all worked extremely hard to create such a high standard of work.

We look forward to seeing the unveiling of their artwork in the gallery, Well done!

Well done to all the students who represented Buxton School at the Waltham Forest Secondary Schools Athletics Championships on Friday 2nd July 2010. Everyone was a credit to the school and showed Buxton in a really good light at the first big sports meeting as the new school. Especially well done to all the students who won medals.

Buxton School organised a School Council Conference with the Change For Children’s Team at the Assembly Hall in Walthamstow.

The School Council helped run the event and led workshops on learning and the curriculum.

They all did an excellent job, especially Year 5’s, in representing our school in their new Buxton t-shirts!

Check out our new Summer activities @ Buxton School

http://buxtonschool.org.uk/index.php/community/buxton-extra

For more information please contact the Buxton School Extended School Project Manager, Miss Carol Moloney on 020 8519 7148 or Miss Sarah Edwards on 0208 534 3563