from the international theme this half term and...

News @ The Dixie Spring Half Term 2015

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From the Headmaster

Dear Parents and Friends of the School,

he last half term has been the shortest of the academic year so far, but the level of involvement and range of achievement has been spectacular. I can only give a

flavour of the life of the school in this newsletter, but our new website, facebook and twitter feeds are updated daily. If you are not following us on social media, I invite you to please do so: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.dixie.grammar Twitter @DixieGrammar

The term started for staff with a whole school meeting at the Junior School and from this have come many exciting cross-school initiatives. Reception class have had an ‘International’ theme this half term and the nine students who travelled to Zambia last summer working on an Art & Culture project spent a day at the Junior School last week.

All nine Sixth Formers talked to the group about

different aspects of the project such as working with

lions, having breakfast at the top of The Victoria Falls

and the African Drumming and Braai. They brought in

artefacts they purchased from Zambia to talk about

and went on to create 2D animal heads paper

sculpture.

T

https://www.facebook.com/the.dixie.grammar


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From the Headmaster

Photographs taken by the students on their African photographic safari are now on

display in the Senior School office. Please take a look!

Also coming from the meetings were plans for a Joint Senior/Junior School Sports Day

on Tuesday 30 June. This promises to be a fantastic event and a fitting culmination of

the sporting year.

Swimming has featured highly on the agenda this half term, with the ISA National Finals in the Olympic Pool in London, the Hinckley and Bosworth Swimming Gala and our very own Years 6-9 Gala. At the National Finals, our eight swimmers scooped 14 medals – 8 Gold, 5 Silver and 1 Bronze and led the Midlands team to victory. Many congratulations to Olly Crane, Eleanor Partridge, Ed Dyer, Rhys Chiles, Ryan Gordon, Joe Robertson, Joe Grainger and Daniel Kennedy.

Ryan Gordon returned in January from Australia where he competed as part of of a seven strong team at the International Children’s Games at Lake Macquarie. Ryan competed in 50m, 100m and 200m fly, together with the 50m free, achieved personal bests and made the A finals in all of these events. The competition was very strong, he was delighted to place 4th in the 200m fly, narrowly missing out on a medal position.

Our stars on the national and international stage featured heavily in the

‘Hinckley & Bosworth Four School Swimming Gala’ in which we narrowly missed

out on the trophy, but also in our own Swimming Gala. The level of

participation and enthusiasm for swimming was wonderful to witness and the

‘give it a go’ attitude was really appreciated by staff and parents alike.

Particular congratulations go to Olly Crane (above) who set a new school record

in all four strokes! The final points standings from the gala were:

York 505, Lancaster 435 – well done to York!

One of the many advantages of life as a Sixth Former here is the leadership opportunities they get by being in a 3-18 school. Our Sports Leaders at the Senior School thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Junior School to take a year 2 and 4 PE lesson!

Olly Crane rules supreme in the pool!

ISA National Swimming Finalists


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From the Headmaster

The opportunities in sport and the level of participation in various events is really encouraging and this was highlighted in the recent Leicestershire Cross Country races. We had over 35 competitiors running and special mention goes to Jared Cutler (pictured left) who finished 11, 19, 14, 21 in the four races and overall was awarded 14th place in the County. This is a tremendous achievement for Jared and one that he should be very proud of considering that he competed against boys up to a whole school year older than him. Congratualtions to George Jackson who will run in the Nation Final on 28 February. The full breakdown of our sports results are shown at the end of this newsletter – well done to all who have represented the school this half term. We are always looking to increase the opportunity for involvement in sport but I am delighted that our fantastic facilities at Barton Road are used so widely by our students.

Back to the International theme and our Year 6 students received letters from a Christian school in Burundi and have written back to them in their PSHCE lessons. Our Head Girl Megan Clews instigated the exchange as her friend is a teacher at the King’s School in Burundi. The other news from Mrs Malde is that DixieCast, our roving radio programme production team is now a regular fortnightly fixture and all broadcasts are available on the Dixie Hub. If you would like to be involved, please see Mrs Malde.

It is not just on the sports fields or in swimming pools that our students shine and you may have noticed in the local press that our chemists have been hitting the headlines. George Bacon, Christian Smaditch, Eniola Awodiya and Zach Gauhar represented the school and won the regional round of the ‘Top of the Bench’ chemistry competition. They were up against schools from the East Midlands including Loughborough Grammar, Ratcliffe, Nottingham High, Bourne Grammar and Trent College. Dixie’s team of chemists proceed to the National Finals to be held at Loughborough University in April.

We were delighted to welcome Dr Ieuan Owen, Lincoln University’s vice chancellor to the school at the end of January to give a talk on Newton’s Laws which included reference to ‘Thunderbirds’ and ‘Top Gear’. I hope our programme of academic lectures will grow and that this important part of our academic enrichment will be available to parents as well as students. Further details to follow. I am pleased to announce that from next academic year, Drama lessons will feature in the curriculum in Years 6 and 7. The lessons will take place in the pavilion and I am sure that Drama will add a great deal to our already impressive curriculum menu.


4 | P a g e

From the Headmaster

In the news last week you may have seen the head of the OECD Program of International Student Assessment (Pisa) surveys, set out the seven big myths about top-performing school systems, with myth number four being that small classes raise standards. This can’t be right, he argues, because high-performing education systems like those in East Asia focus on better teachers, not class sizes. At the Dixie, it is our focus on expert teaching and small class sizes that leads to such fantastic value-added scores. Our average group size of 12 students in Years 10 and 11 is what makes possible an average of two-thirds of a grade increase in every grade at GCSE compared to ability-based predictions. At AS and A2 our groups sizes average 7 and 5 respectively.

The Inter-House quiz was a new event this half term and they were most ably hosted by Mrs Scott. The inaugural Lower School, Middle School and Upper School House Quizzes were all won by York House. The Grand Final will take place in Whole School Assembly later this term and will feature mixed teams from every section of the school.

The undoubted musical highlight of the half term was the GCSE Musical Soiree in which all GCSE musicians performed. The audience were treated to performances on over 19 instruments, including Sam Keys’ composition for violin and accordion!

The standard of music on offer was exceptional and bodes very well for the GCSE music grades this summer. Many thanks to Mrs Ennis, Mr Hollingdale, Mr Rodgers and all the peripatetic staff who supported students during the evening.

Music continues to feature prominently in the school calendar, but also as a platform for remarkable individual success. Sophia Smaditch (Year 7) has been offered a place in the highly competitive Leicester Cathedral Senior Choir and Aaron Caton (UVI) is currently taking part in 'Project Remix' , a 7-week project involving one evening per week with 60 other advanced student musicians rehearsing a variety of Classical Rock together at the CBSO Centre. The project ends with a performance in the Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 27 March. Also on the the big stage later this month will be Lauren Nicholls, performing on 22nd February as one of the youngest players in the City of Birmingham Youth Orchestra.

We look to take learning outside the classroom whenever possible, and our Lower Sixth Business Studies groups greatly enjoyed their visit to the local Sun Cream Dairies. Mrs Rebecca Davies, Managing Director and Parent Governor treated them to some disposable overalls and hair nets, but before they left did allow them to sample some of the ice cream too!


5 | P a g e

From the Headmaster

Congratulations to Maddy Kirk, who represented the school in the Rotary International District Young Chef Competition, District Final North. It was held at Lutterworth College and of the 16 students who had each won their regional round, Maddy was placed a fantastic 3rd with her Italian themed menu which included a chicken liver parfait, followed by lasagne and a lemon cheesecake for dessert.

You will see from the list of dates to the left of this newsletter that events are coming thick and fast next half term. The school’s musical JOSEPH will be performed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the 12th-14th March and letters for tickets will be sent out shortly.

If the sounds from the Assembly Hall are anything to go by, it will be a fantastic show. Also next half term we welcome our French and Hungarian visitors, will enjoy Science week (12/3 – 18/3) with its theme ‘human space exploration’ and an International Concert on Sunday 22 March, which is also the day the remains of Richard III will be passing through town.

We are the only school in Leicestershire to be awarded ‘Confucius Classroom’ in recognition of our Mandarin teaching and our launch event on 20 April will include a Dragon dance as well as Chinese food, chopsticks and fortune cookies for all students in the school!

Later in the Summer Term and away from its traditional October slot, we will celebrate our annual Prize Giving at our Barton Road Sports Ground. This will be an opportunity for the whole school to attend, and for all to be involved and I very much look forward to a fitting end of year celebration.

And finally….

Many thanks to those of you who responded to the groundsman’s pleas for old towels. They were inundated and your response was fantastic, but all old towels are still gratefully received. Thanks also to those of you who volunteered time to be involved in school activities – your offers of help are much appreciated and again, if you would like to be involved, please email the school.

Finally, can I please remind students and parents of the need for safe drop-off and pick-up from school? Students should cross the road using the zebra-crossing and should never cross roads whilst listening to music. Parents, I know the roads around school get congested, but please avoid meeting your sons/daughters in the Market Square - the traffic outside school can be unpredictable at best.


6 | P a g e

From the Headmaster

Thurs 5 March 5pm

Year 10 Parents’

and Students’ Evening

Tues 10 March 7pm

Higher Education Evening (Yr12)

Thurs 12 March-Sat 14 March 7.30pm

JOSEPH!

Tues 17 March

6.30pm

Year 6 Inventions

Evening

Tues 24 March 5pm

Year 9 Parents’


Fri 27 March Term Ends

Thurs 16 April

Summer Term starts

Mon 20 April

Confucius Classroom

launch event

As already mentioned, the Annual Prize Giving will now be a summer event – and the

exact date for this and our PTA Summer Grand Ball are to be confirmed. Please look

out for advertisement of these in the next week or so.

With my best wishes for half term,

Day Date Year Sport Against Venue Result

Mon 15/01/2015 U12's Hockey Lough High Home L 12-0

Mon 15/01/2015 U13's Hockey Lough High Home W 5-3

Tues 20/01/2015 U13's Hockey Twycross Home W 6-2

Weds 21/01/2015 U18's Football Princethope Away W

Thurs 22/01/2015 U14's Hockey Lough High Home L 5-1

Sat 24/01/2015 U11'S X-country Desford Away

Sat 24/01/2015 All Swimming Nat Final Away

Tues 27/01/2015 U12's Netball Ratcliffe Away L 15-0

Tues 27/01/2015 U13's Netball Ratcliffe Away L 12-10

Weds 28/01/2015 U18's Rugby Lutterworth Home L 45-0

Weds 28/01/2015 U16's Football Twycross Home L 2-1

Mon 02/02/2015 U15's Hockey Twycross Home W 9-0

Weds 04/02/2015 U16's Rugby De Lisle Home L 35-7

Weds 04/02/2015 All X-country Bedstone Away

Thurs 05/02/2015 Yr 7-9 Swimming Hink&Bos Away 2nd

Fri 06/02/2015 U15's Hockey MBHS Home W 3-1

Sat 07/02/2015 U11's X-country Desford Away

Mon 09/02/2015 U11's A Boys Hockey Stoneygate Away W 7-1

Mon 09/02/2015 U11's B Boys Hockey Stoneygate Away D 1-1

Tues 10/02/2015 U14's Hockey St Margrets Away 3rd / 8 teams

Weds 11/02/2015 U12's Hockey Lough High Away L 6-0

Fri 13/02/2015 U13's Hockey Leic Gram Away 5th / 6 teams

Spring Term January - March Fixtures


7 | P a g e

From the Headmaster

Thurs 5 March 5pm

Year 10 Parents’


Tues 10 March 7pm

Higher Education Evening (Yr12)

Thurs 12 March-Sat 14 March 7.30pm

JOSEPH!

Tues 17 March

6.30pm

Year 6 Inventions

Evening

Tues 24 March 5pm

Year 9 Parents’


Fri 27 March Term Ends

Thurs 16 April

Summer Term starts

Mon 20 April

Confucius Classroom

launch event

www.dixie.org.uk

01455 292244

from the international theme this half term and...

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