Everybody Sings

Thursday,13^th October saw the return, for the first time since COVID-19, of our annual Year 7 singing competition. This was the culmination of half a term’s hard work by the Year 7 pastoral team, Music Department and of course all Year 7 pupils. The enthusiasm and commitment pupils displayed was outstanding, and the musical performances were uplifting and highly entertaining. The theme of the evening was Motown. 7XB, sang My Girl, featuring some prominent solos and backing harmonies.7XL gave us a confident, passionate rendition of Stand By Me. 7XF got into the groove and sang a funky version of Superstition. 7YH performed Wonderful World with great punchy, unison singing. 7YC were really rhythmic and confident with their performance of Lean On Me and 7YM took on the moving and ambitious song I’ll Be There. All of Year 7 came together to sing You Can’t Hurry Love. 

Judged by Ms Seeney (Head of Singing, Bromley Youth Music Trust) and Mrs Honeysett, the winning Forms were: 

Joint 3^rd place: 7XW for an engaging and enthusiastic performance of Blame It On The Boogie, and 7YD for Reach Out commended for taking on part-singing. 

2^nd place: 7XS singing Stevie Wonder’s, As for demonstrating their ability to change the mood within their performance. 

1^st place: 7YP singing Ain’t No Mountain High Enough in two clear parts with confidence and control throughout. 

The evening was supported by a band of talented Darrick Wood musicians, including Gracie Sims on drums, Rebecca Lockyer on sax, Owen Walters on bass guitar, directed by Mr Johnstone with his own arrangements of all eleven songs. 

We further celebrated the musical talent of our young people with a lively performance of two Motown tracks by our school band under the direction of Mr Muzio and featuring Mr Dowsett on tuba. 

We rounded off the evening with an extremely skilled and confident performance of Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way? by one of our self-directed student rockbands, The Last Minutes, (Owen Walters lead vocals, Daniel Adjepong lead guitar, Abigail Walters bass guitar, and Thomas Phipps drums).

Thank you to all parents who supported this important Year 7 transition event.

Well done to every pupil who took part last night.  You are to be commended for working together over your first half-term at Darrick Wood, putting on such an inspiring and fun evening of song. 

Wear It Pink Day 

Thank you to everyone who has taken part and/or made donations. Donations are still possible but judging by the amount of pink seen around school today we are hopeful of a very impressive total. Thank you so much for your support!

Black History Month Assemblies

To celebrate Black History Month, Joshua (in Year 13) and Mr Wood (Year 7 Achievement Coordinator) led assemblies encouraging reflection on the School’s values, the journey we have been on in supporting ant-racism and considering the phrase “actions speak louder than words” (but words are important too). This was a powerful message encouraging everyone in our school community to think about they can be anti-racist. This is a conscious decision not just to be “not racist” but to use words and actions to stand up to racism in our society.

PSFA Christmas Trees 2022

Last year for the first time the School was able to facilitate a Christmas tree shop and raised funds for the PSFA as a result. We are pleased to announce that this is planned again. Further information is available below. The site will go live over the weekend and orders can then be placed. The closing date for ordering will be Thursday, 24^th November and trees will be available for collection 2-4pm on Sunday, 4^th December.

PSFA Quiz Night

Thank you to everyone who came to last week’s Quiz Night. It was a really successful and enjoyable evening which sold out. Approximately £900 was raised in total, £210 of which was from the sale of raffle tickets alone! This is an amazing amount of money for good causes around the School. A final figure will be announced soon. Another quiz is being planned so please look out for the announcement of the date here soon.

Holiday Support Fund Vouchers

For those who are eligible for the supermarket vouchers from Bromley’s Holiday Support Fund over the half-term break, there has been a delay in processing these, but we are hopeful of emailing the code needed to obtain the e-vouchers early next week.

Reminders

We have seen an increase in students attending school wearing hoodies, gilets/body warmers in recent weeks. These must not be worn in place of proper coats. Please ensure your child has a plain black or plain dark brown coat in order to support our overall aim to maintain a smart appearance when wearing the Darrick Wood School uniform.

In the past week or more disappointingly we have had to sanction a number of students who have unfortunately been unable to resolve their differences without the use of physical violence. Disputes between peers can happen at school and elsewhere in life, but thankfully most do not escalate to the point where physical violence is the result. Physical violence of any kind has no place at school or indeed in society. It does, however, unfortunately happen on occasions. It remains a rare thing at this school as a result of our firm stance, clear rules and because most of our students live by our values and seek help where things are getting difficult. Please ensure your child understands that if there are any issues between them and another student there is always someone to talk to at school. We have around 200 staff to choose from. Thankfully, most students do quickly let us know when things are not going well, and we are able to provide the support needed to prevent escalation.

Of equal concern is a tendency for students to rush over as a group to see what is going on between two students and, even more worryingly, to start filming an incident on their phone. This is the opposite of what we expect and completely against our rules. We need other students to remain calm, fetch staff to help and de-escalate the situation, not cause further issues and prevent staff from helping resolve matters. The School will sanction not just those involved in a dispute of this serious nature, but also those encouraging escalation and affecting the smooth running of the School. A very small number of students would benefit from re-visiting our Rule 1 over the half-term break and applying it better on their return to school:

• Students are expected to behave sensibly and with consideration for others at all times (including when travelling to and from school).

These students might also benefit from thinking carefully about how they can better live by our three core values or Respect, Responsibility and Honesty. We ask for your full support on this matter.

On a more positive note, we have been so impressed by the vast majority of our students this term. The vast majority are dressed smartly, are punctual, have all their equipment, are working hard in lessons, attend at least one extra-curricular club and very much live out our values every day. This is evidenced by the thousands of positive points already awarded this academic year. Very soon we will start awarding certificates to the first few to achieve the Bronze level and later anticipate many achieving Silver and Gold. Some will even reach Platinum level towards the end of the year.

Please be aware of our Communications Policy as approved by the Governing Body of Darrick Wood School. It sets out expectations about how communication between parents/carers and the School is expected to be carried out. The Communications Policy can be found here.

Dates for the diary

17th – 28th October – Half-term break (return Monday, 31st October)

3rd November – Sixth Form Open Evening (for admission to the Sixth Form September 2023 – current Year 11), 7.00-8.30pm. Talks at 7pm and 8pm in Main Hall, plus a chance to meet subject representatives

15th to 17th November – School Production of Oliver

21st November to 2nd December – Year 11 mocks

24th November – Pathways careers event

5th December to 15th December – Year 13 mocks