Welcome from the Headteacher

Dear Parents

What a year this has been at The Burgate! At the start of it, we celebrated our excellentGCSE and A level results, which we later discovered had placed us as the third bestperforming school in the whole of Hampshire. More recently, we had an Ofsted inspec-tion with three of the five categories rating the school as ‘Outstanding’ and the other twoa strong ‘Good’. This is a much fairer appraisal, than the previous Ofsted, of our schooland all that we have achieved together. I must also take this opportunity to tell you justhow brilliant our students were throughout the inspection and beyond – whenever theyrepresent their school, they are such a credit to us all. There are so many positive studentfocused statements in the report that it is really difficult to pick out just one, but if I hadto it would be, “Students are proud of their school.”

Throughout this newsletter I hope you will enjoy reading about and seeing pictures ofmany of the varied activities, events and achievements Burgate students have beeninvolved in over the past academic year. Whilst the start of the Autumn Term seems sovery long ago now, there is so very much we crammed in at every opportunity – where didall the time and energy come from? My own personal highlights include the exceptional,student led production of ‘A Christmas Carol’, a trip to the British Library with Year 11 andSixth Form English Language students, our Sports Day – which had a really festive atmos-phere and great participation, undertaking ‘Community Service’ in Fordingbridge duringEnrichment Week, as well as The Creative Arts Evening which always impresses with thesheer quality of the students’ wonderful work.

Looking forward, we are eagerly anticipating our external examination results this sum-mer and, thereafter, to welcoming back Year 11 students into our highly successful sixthform as well as congratulating students who are graduating from our college, many ofwhom are destined to take up places at prestigious universities. The end of an academicyear is also a time for farewells to staff and students who are moving on to new places –I wish them all very well.

Please do take the trouble to share with us the achievements and accolades of yourchildren so that we can share them widely in future editions of our newsletter and on theschool website. I’m sure you’ll look out to see if you can spot your child or someone youknow in the following pages.

Hopefully the sunshine will continue long into the summer holidays and you will enjoymuch deserved days with your families and friends.

I wish you all a lovely summer!

David Pover

Message from the Trustees

Another school year is nearly over, and what a year it has been! When I reflect back onthe achievements of the year I must of course mention the Ofsted inspection. Theoutcome and report findings were such a joy to read because they recognised the hugeamount of work and the extraordinary commitment of the staff, particularly over the lasttwo years. As Trustees we see that endeavour every time we visit the school, talk to staffand students and hear about the achievements made. At our Trustee meeting today wewere discussing the school plans for the next few years to move the school “from goodto great” and build further on the strong foundations. I’m sure you will be hearing moreabout those next term.

One of the many challenges for schools, and Burgate is no exception, is trying to juggle adwindling budget and make the developments we need. Funding is based on the numberof children on roll and we are already seeing glimpses of the positive impact the Ofstedrating is having on student numbers. Whilst this will not alleviate all our challenges itmight make some of the decisions we need to make slightly easier.

The School Trustees continues to monitor the embedding of the school vision andmission in the day to day business of the school. With a school motto of “Learning forLife” we are clear that great academic performance is not the only priority for the school.We aim to provide a broad curriculum and a creative approach to learning that inspirescuriosity, builds collaboration, helps develop resilience and encourages flexibility ofthought. Many of these qualities were evident in the creative arts evening that many ofyou will have attended recently. I am always overwhelmed by the creative talent on showand the variety of ways this is displayed.

You will all have received the consultation email and article in the local paper about ourproposal to sell a small, unused, pocket of land to a developer. The Trustees believe thatthe benefits to the school will be worth the sacrifice and eventually help us deliverimprovements to sports facilities. In light of the comments we received in response tothe consultation we have decided to move ahead with that plan and have submitted arequest to the Department of Education to that effect. We await their response.

This year we have been meeting with representatives of the Town Council, New ForestDistrict Council and Hampshire County Council to discuss the implications for the schoolof the local housing developments. We will continue to develop that dialogue so that wecan try to contribute to local discussions and importantly enable our students to helpshape their locality for the future.

I wish you all a very happy and relaxing summer holidays and look forward to meetingwith some of you during the next academic year.

Jenny Hair

Chair of Trustees

A taste of Burgate 2018-2019It really is hard to believe we have drawn yet another year to a close. Within the followingpages....a taste of life at The Burgate 2018-2019 - of the achievements, adventures, experi-

ences, opportunities, lessons, trips and charities we have supported...there has been somuch more but we couldn’t squeeze it all in!

Students in our Sixth Form took part in an independent travel adventure to the Cote d'Azurin the South of France, led by Dr Hill. They packed a huge amount into their adventure andstudents had a taste of hostel life, using public transport abroad and managing a budget.They visited Nice, Cannes, Menton and Monaco, as well as crossing the border for anevening in Italy. For Molly the sunset dinner in Ventamiglia was a high point: "The goldenhour, watching the sun go down and then sitting at a long white table with a view of themountains was magical."

'El Dia De Los Muertos!'

In November a few freaky faces walked the school corri-dors as Miss Leahy’s Spanish class were dressing up for‘El Dia De Los Muertos’ (the day of the dead).

Shoe Boxes for Christmas AppealAs a school, we collected 104 shoe boxes that were sent toBulgaria and Serbia. Well done to 9EO and 9FB for organis-ing and for raising awareness of this appeal within schooland reminding us all to remember those less fortunatethan ourselves, especially at times like Christmas.

STEM Trip to IBM's Hursley HouseA team of ten Burgate pioneers enjoyed a day ofawe-inspiring activities at IBM’s Hursley House

where they had been invited as part of IBM’s 60th

birthday celebrations.

The Burgate’s A Christmas CarolFrom 11-14 December, full houses at The Burgate School for an original adaptation of theDickens classic, A Christmas Carol. It was yet another spectacular production and creativetriumph for Head of Drama, Mrs Mutimer, Mr Cakebread and all the students involved.This year, audience members also brought along a non-perishable food contribution whichresulted in a donation of nearly 200 kilogrammes of food to our local foodbank as a resultof the 4 night run.

GCSE Presentation Evening 2018Towards the end of Autumn term we welcomed back the record breaking Class of2018 to Main School to celebrate their incredible academic achievements at GCSEPresentation Evening. Many are now studying in the Sixth Form, and it was still lovelyfor everyone to be together again. Fantastic too, to welcome back David Cakebreadas our guest speaker. David, a former Head Boy and Oxford graduate, is now workingfor a major law firm in London.

The Annual Lions International Peace Poster Competition- KINDNESS MATTERS.Our Year 7 students once again took part in this competition. 150 beautiful posters werecreated after 6 weeks of preparation in lesson time. Year 7 learnt about the power andimportance of Art and the use of graphic design, colour and symbols to create a visualmessage. The overall winner was Lucy and poster were exhibited in Lunn’s, Ringwood.

A-Level Presentation EveningWe also welcomed back the A Level Class of 2018. Yet another record breaking cohortand particular source of pride, as the first group of students to go through seven years atthe school and college with Mr Pover as Headteacher. This cohort had the highest overallgrade average for 5 years of a C+. With another successive year in rising grades thisplaced the college in the top 25% of all 16-18 providers nationally. Guest speaker wasJane Walker MBE, Founder of the Purple Community Fund. Later you will read about agroup of our students who travelled to Manila to join a fantastic project led by thecharity.

Christmas Community LunchThe end of term saw our traditional Christmas visit from some of themore elderly members of our local community. Our guests weretreated to a fabulous lunch, followed by dessert, coffee and cake, allof which was prepared by our fabulous catering team and served bythe waiters and waitresses of 8GH. Dr Hobbs’s tutor group had madehandmade decorations and a gift for every visitor to take home. Asever, musical entertainment was brought by Mrs Ross and a selec-tion of the school choir, who combined with other solo instrumental-ists to give our guests a real treat.

UK Parliament WeekSixth Form students celebrated 100 years since the votewas extended to some women in 1918. In tutor time andPDL sessions, all sixth form students debated and dis-cussed arguments for and against lowering the voting ageto 16 and held their own referendum. They also chattedwith Mr Letts in the science department who ran for theSouthampton Itchen seat in the 2017 General Election andnarrowly missed out on being elected by 31 votes.

Burgate School - Lego League Regional Winners 2019 - Burgatetook two teams to the Regional First Lego League competition at Winchester ScienceCentre in January. Each year Burgate teams make a strong showing and in four out of thelast five years we have managed to win at least one of the main categories. This year, withneither Burgate team having won any individual category and fearing the worst, the headjudge announced that one of our teams were the overall winners! Students jumped for joyand we collected our super size Lego trophy! We are so proud of all the students that tookpart in this fantastic challenge and gave it their all.

Remembrance at The Burgate9SG hosted an assembly and got the rest of theyear group to to remember the fallen.

Students wrotemessages tocreate a giantpoppy includingquotes, memorialsand hopes for thefuture.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Snowmaggedon on the front field!

Both students and staff alike enjoyeda battle of the snow balls before weall retreated home until the thaw!

The Bank Of England at Burgate

In March, Sixth Form students had a talk from Andrew Holderfrom the Bank of England.

He spoke to Year 12 and 13 Business and Economics studentsabout the main roles and functions of the Bank of England andthe UK economy, including recent UK economic trends, Bank ofEngland strategies and gave some careers information aboutworking at the Bank of England.

Cluster Cross-Country Races 2019In January also, many children from Years 5 and 6, as wellas Year 3 and 4 from our Cluster Schools, ran in a series ofCross-Country races here at Burgate School. With almost200 runners involved in the event, it certainly was a greatturnout.

Burgate Cluster HockeyFestival

60 children from our local ClusterSchools took part in a Hockey CoachingWorkshop led by our fantastic Burgate

Sports Leaders.

Upper Sixth Criminology ConferenceOur Upper Sixth social scientists went to a CriminologyConference which included a range of guest speakersfrom a former high ranking police officer, to prominentacademics and a reformed criminal, Noel “Razor” Smith.

Lower Sixth InstagramBreakfast Challenge.

Each tutor group weregiven £20 to spend oncreating an Instagram

worthy breakfast. L6KOsmashed it!

9FB's Morgan was se-lected for Hampshire

Under 14s CricketSquad

A fantastic achievement tobe selected for the Hamp-shire U14 squad as only 15boys across Hampshire are

selected.

New Forest Badminton ChampionsThis year, Ethan, Morgan, Paul and Josh battled their

way past every team in the New Forest to be crownedtournament Champions in a thrilling final against

Noadswood School.

Former BurgateStudent Orban

Wallacefilm debut

Young British director and ex-Burgate student, Orban Wallace’sfeature-length work engages the

European refugee crisis.

MDL Awards

Year 10 students Lizzieand Mia both

received MDL sailtraining awards which

were presented byLord Iliffe. Both girlstook part in the MDLsail training last year,

and unusually for a firstvoyage, both qualified

for their competentcrew certificates.

Morality and Philosophy in Law Workshop

Mr E Bailey, the school's Most Able Gifted and Talent-ed Coordinator organised for a busy practicing solici-tor from London to come to our school and run athree hour workshop giving students an insight intothe moral and philosophical aspects underpinning a

genuine legal case. Mr Luke Gittos generously gave up his time as part of a pilot schemeof which The Burgate School and Sixth Form was only the second school to take part, thefirst being a large London school.

More Able Gifted and TalentedAcademy Conference in Oxford

Another Mr E Bailey trip was to the AcademyConferences Gifted and Talented Conferencein the glorious surrounding of Oxford TownHall.

A full coach of 48 students from Years 10 toU6 were lucky enough to hear lectures fromtop academics on topics such as, ‘WhatDreams May Come?’ ‘Rock in 11 Dimensions:Where Physics and Guitars Collide’ and ‘ThePsychology of Outstanding Achievement.’

Following this there was a debate on themonarchy where students were invited tostep up and take the microphone in front ofhundreds of their peers. Very bravely, Oliverfrom Year 10 stepped up and confidentlyshared his opinions with the hall.

The Rotary Inter-School Photography Competition!Many congratulations to our all of our finalists, Adam, Ella, Hettie, Sam and Torey.

A particular well done to Ella and Hettie who won their categories.

Summer Term Sporting Success

After a really disrupted season with cancellations and postponements, two of our Round-ers teams managed to place in the top 3 at their New Forest Rounders tournaments. Year8 girls finished in 3rd place while the Year 10 team went one better to finish as runners up.

Golf - The Burgate team finished runners up in the Hampshire schools team competitionand qualified for the English schools finals at Woodhall Spa Golf Club.

Tennis - Our Year 7 and Year 8 Burgate teams are in the quarter finals of the Hampshire Cupand are awaiting their next opponents. The next match will take place in the autumn term.Good luck to the team and keep practising over the summer holidays.

Athletics - At the New Forest Athletics Championships The Burgate was well representedin all competitions achieving some great results. The Year 7 Boys team finished in 3rd place.The Year 7 Girls team came runners up and the Year 10 Boys team were New Forestchampions. The Year 10 Boys team also retained their own relay title and were only 2tenths of a second from breaking the championship record which has stood since 1988.We had thirteen 3rd place finishes, eight 2nd place finishes and eight 1st place finishes. Thismeant that 23 students from Burgate were selected to represent the New Forest at theHampshire championships.

A special mention should go to the following students who are now New Forest Champions:Aiobh B 600m/Harry J 600m/Neve E 1500m/Isaac F Discus/Matt K 300m/Josh G200m/Max T Long Jump.

Also, an extra mention to Will B in Year 7 who didn’t win the New Forest championshipsbut went considerably better to become the Hampshire Javelin Champion instead.

Rugby - As part of our “All Schools” programme we have had successful mixed touch nightswhere students of all ages have been playing touch rugby to keep up their fitness and skillsover the summer months.

Football - The coaches from Simon Francis Football Academy have been visiting every weekmuch in the same way as the RFU rugby coaches and have been working hard to furtherdevelop the footballing skills of our lower school students in the off season.

Leavers Breakfast - How time flies. We said good-bye to the class of 2019 over bacon butties andcups of tea and wished all our Year 13 students allthe very best for the future.

Year 11 Prom 2019 - Abeautiful sunny evening,

not sure who had the bestentrance this year but the

mobility scooters weredefinitely up there...

The Burgate Nature Garden

You may not know but we have had a nature gardenon site for many years. It’s fair to say that with regretthis area has been lacking some TLC for some time butall that has now changed.

During enrichment week 2019, led by Miss Wilson, agroup Year 9 students worked tirelessly to clear andrevamp this area.

The new bug hotel, pond and other accommodationoptions are already home to hundreds of new Burgateresidents enjoying the newly developed facilities!

Boys English Schools Golf

Cam Y, Charlie B and Paul D went to Woodhall Spa inLincoln to represent Burgate at the English Golf SchoolsTeam Finals. A fantastic achievement as there are ap-proximately 7000 institutions that could have qualifiedfor the finals. They finished an impressive 23rd. This resultis even more remarkable as it is an U19 event so the boyspotentially have 4 more years as a team. Well done to all3 of them on such a remarkable achievement.

Burgate Art andDesign 2018-2019

Year 8 and Year 9 Trip to ParisBy Kathryn P

 On Monday the 8th, we arrived at school at 5:45 am to leave for Paris at 6. We travelledto France by Euro tunnel, which took a fair few hours to reach, however, the crossing wasremarkably quick, taking about half an hour. Once in France, we drove for another houror so and stopped at some services for lunch. After lunch, we drove to our hotel. Thehotel itself was quite a modest building, small rooms of a fairly low quality, but it wasserviceable, and we weren’t planning on spending any time there. After some free time,we walked across to a crêperie for dinner (which was pizza).

It was there that Isobel H and I spotted two boys with a young kitten outside. We watchedthem wander around with it and then proceed to dump it in a ditch. Fortunately, it wasthe end of the meal and Isobel told Mr Mallace-Goulbourne immediately. The two ofthem rescued the kitten who was named Mini-Chat by Miss Bédard. Miss Bédard andIsobel took Mini-Chat to the local pharmacy for food, but he was adopted by a Frenchfamily (which was very lucky as we could not have kept him).

On Tuesday, we woke up at 7 am to have breakfast at 8. The boat tour was incrediblybeautiful, allowing us to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, MuseéD’Orsay and other beautiful places. Scacré-Cœur was also beautiful, though we had to bevery respectful and quiet as it is a church. We had lunch in Montmartre before going toScacré-Cœur. After Scacré-Cœur, we had dinner at the Monte Carlo restaurant. We weregiven a buffet style meal which was very nice. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel andwent to bed.

On Wednesday we once again woke up at 7 am to have breakfast at 8. We were planningon going to the Eiffel Tower and Museé D’Orsay.  Things went smoothly at the EiffelTower, though one boy was tricked into giving some money away by some womenpretending to be part of a charity. At Museé D’Orsay, we looked around for about an hourand a half and had to choose our favourite painting and buy a postcard of it for a display.After Museé D’Orsay we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner, which was superb. It wasthen back to the hotel where we had a quiz, which the group I was in won.

On Thursday we woke up at 7 am to have breakfast at 8 yet again. We then drove half anhour to Parc Astérix (we drove everywhere from the hotel). At Parc Astérix we were givenplenty of free time, though we had to stay in groups of at least three and had toperiodically check in with Miss Leahy. Parc Astérix was a really good place to visit – therides were spectacular; the food was surprisingly good and it had a fun atmosphere. Italso helped that the queues were surprisingly short, the longest being forty-five minutes.I, being a bit of a scaredy-cat, only went on four different rides, although one was veryextreme – Le Cheval de Troie – which I would not recommend.

After Parc Astérix, we went to the most French restaurant in the world (aside from theHard Rock Café), Pizza hut! We then drove back to the hotel, soaked through and in-credibly happy.

Just to spice things up, on Friday, we got up at 6 and had breakfast at 7 (it was also so wehad time to spend some time in Paris). We journeyed to the catacombs, though we hadto go in three different groups. The group I was in had a drink at a café before going in. Ihad a Chocolat Viennois, which unlike Le Cheval de Troie, I highly recommend. Thecatacombs were fantastic and spooky. At first, there isn’t a bone in sight and thensuddenly, the whole walls are made of bones. It was eerie and creepy, so naturally I loved,though not everyone was so keen on the tight corridors.

After the catacombs, we split into our three groups and had lunch. My group went to aMoroccan Café which was amazingly good. The chicken kebabs were the best meal of thewhole trip (and perhaps my whole life). We then drove to the ferry, which took aboutthree run-throughs of Shrek the Third to get to. We had dinner on the ferry and drovehome. We arrived at Burgate at exactly 23:00, the time we said we’d be there, which wasa minor miracle.

Overall, this trip was the best I’d ever been on. I’d rate it 12 out of 10 on Trip Advisor andyou would have to restrain me to stop me from doing it again!

Watersports Trip 2019

Last week 53 students in Year 9 had the opportunity to travel to Arcachon in the Aquitaineregion of France (south of the  Royan  river and north of Biarritz), to participate ina  week-long  watersports  adventure holiday. The trip was organised by Head of Music(and secret wind-surfing champion!) Mrs Ross,  in conjunction withRockley Watersports of Poole. Travelling over-night, the journey from Burgate to La Rivetook over nineteen hours, including ferry travel from Dover to Calais. The super-luxurydouble-decker Watts coach was driven expertly by Omar and Gregg who were full of funand, thankfully, had an extensive Disney DVD collection to while the hours and keep MrWhitehead entertained.

Once at La Rive, the instructors wasted no time getting the students out on the lake. Formany this meant "Dart Blasting": sailing a catamaran at high speed along a linear courseand back again. This proved to be an excellent taster for what was to come and, after aday of wet and wild thrills, all pupils appreciated the hearty supper prepared by the campstaff before heading off for bed in one of the six-person tents.

As the week progressed, the students adhered to a demanding program of activities thatincluded kayaking, mountain biking and windsurfing, not to mention both Dart and Picosailing. Sanguinet Lake is, of course, an ideal place for learning to sail: steady winds andan absence of tide make it a safe playground for beginners and fun for the more experi-enced. Separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a wide Holocene coastal dune system, thetriangular-shaped lake has a surface of 5,800 hectares. The tepid water and shallow depthmake it particularly ideal for those pupils who were less confident swimmers.

In addition to messing about on the lake, students also had the opportunity to practicetheir language skills on an evening excursion to the seaside resort of Biscarosse La Plage.Packed with gift shops and ice-cream parlours, the town itself is fairly ordinary; however,its westerly aspect gives it a spectacular view of the sun setting over the Atlantic surf.With an accompanying soundtrack provided by street performers, the nightfall provideda poignant moment of reflection and respite from the all action back at the lake.

Mornings began early for many with Maths teacher Mrs Cordell leading yoga classes onthe beach. It was certainly a site to behold, with students and staff (from both Burgateand Rockley) watching the sun rise over the lake while performing a series of downwarddogs and sun salutations. A reciprocal gesture from the students saw staff Miss William-son, Mr Hill (Junior) and Mrs Cordell having their hair braided each evening before bed.Mrs Williamson’s frizz is now the stuff of legend; and Mr Hill's top knot will not so easilybe unpicked.

Another day out was to the Dune Pyla, which is the largest sand dune in Europe. Locatedat La  Teste-de-Buch  area, at the entrance to the  Bassin  d'Arcachon, the dune has avolume of 60,000,000 m³ and rises to 108 meters above sea level at its highest point. Thedune is said to be moving inland, encroaching upon forest and  houses; however, thisdidn't stop Burgate pupils exhausting themselves by running up the mound and backdown again in a series of longed-legged jumps that to an onlooker seemed to defy gravity.

Evening events at the campsite were no less varied than the daytime activities. In particularthe "French Affair" food tasting gave pupils the opportunity to sample "moules marinière”(mussels), and, everyone's favourite, "escargot" or snails. Dave the chef was an absolutelegend: his Boeuf Bourguignon brought tears to Mr Whitehead’s eyes, with Dr Hill (Senior)texting his mum to advise her that the family recipe had now been superseded. Teambuilding was also an important part of the regime, with the beach games, raft-building andsand-tunnelling forming important sections of the now infamous "La Rive Challenge".

Of course, a watersports trip would not be complete without the obligatory trip to a waterpark! And so it came to pass that, once again, this year's Burgate cohort got the opportunityto visit the renowned Aqualand Bassin d'Arcachon. Famous for being the biggest water parkin France, popular rides include the "Black Hole" water-flume and the "Colorado River"rapids, not to mention the terrifying "Wave" half-pipe.

After six fun-packed days away, it was not surprising that few people found it difficult tosleep on the journey home. Departing after an impressive final feast, the over-night drivethrough France to Calais enabled pupils to gather their thoughts after an exhilarating weekof adventure. As always the majority of students were fantastic ambassadors for the schooland the Rockley staff were tireless in their determination to give the students an unforget-table experience.

Our thanks go out to Mrs Ross not just for all the paper work that goes into organising sucha fantastic tip, but remaining upbeat and cheerful for 192 hours on duty!

Mrs D Garrett (Humanities Teacher)

Mr S Carey (Sports Teacher)

Mrs J Roche (Business Teacher)

Miss R Mutimer (Cover Supervisor)

Mr T Hill (Cover Supervisor)

Mrs L Harris (Science Teacher)

Miss A George (Science Teacher)

Mrs H Barratt (Science Teacher)

Mr P Cakebread (Maths Teacher)

Mr N Brown (Grounds Supervisor)