HIGHLIGHTS

Last weekend three members of the Sixth Form took part in the National Space Design competition.  This involved a complex set of tasks around designing and planning the installation of a space station to act as a midway service point between Earth and Mars.  The three students were alongside students from other schools in their team.  I am pleased to say that the three Charters students were in the winning team.  Thank you to Mr Morgan Johns for taking the students along to the event in central London.

We also had a team take part in the local magistrates' competition in Reading on Saturday, the team cross-examined their way through to the regional finals in May.  Thank you to Mrs Phipps and Ms Joel for supporting the students in their build-up and on the day.  Also thank you to one of our parents in Year 9 who is a qualified barrister who gave up their time to help in the preparation.  The regional finals will see a new ‘bundle’ arrive for a case they need to prepare for.   We wish them all the best in this case.

On Monday this week Year 7 and Year 8 watched a play designed to highlight the dangers of county lines and how criminal gangs will try to groom and entrap young people into working for them.  The play is a powerful representation of the impact and misery that this can cause to all.  If you have any concerns about the safeguarding of students in or outside of school please contact the school.

Year 10 were able to watch an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet which help with their understanding of the play and its context. The travelling theatre Global Players came in to deliver the production.  It also gave students who are considering a career in the theatre an insight into what that type of career could look like.  

This week has also been Science Week and you will have seen the various things that the students and Science Department have been involved with on our social media. 

You can read about these events and more in the News section that follows.

NEWS

Click on the images below to read this week's news stories.

See You in Court!

Taste of Mexico for Sixth Form Students

Elisa competes at British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships 

Sixth Form Student Launches Company

Year 12 success at UK Space Design Competition

Students Watch Hard-hitting Play

Henry Wins Poetry Competition

 

These are just some of the things that have taken place this week at Charters.  Take a look through our social media using these buttons to discover many more.

NOTICES

WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD VOLUNTEER POLICE CADETS

This week we received the most recent newsletter from the Windsor and Maidenhead Volunteer Police Cadets. There’s lots of interesting information here, including how to join the cadets if any of our students are interested. Please click on the link here to access the newsletter.

RECOMMENDED READING LISTS

As we make our way through Parents’ Evenings for all the year groups, one of the most common questions we are asked is: what books do you recommend our children should be reading?  Whole School Reading and Literacy Coordinator, Ms. Gilbey has outlined some useful information below.

To students in KS3, we strongly urge students to read within their ZPD Reading Range. All students have been told their reading range, but if they remain unsure, they are advised to ask their Form Tutor who should have a note of it. We hold hundreds of books in The School Library which can be found using the Access It Library Link on the school’s intranet: https://uk.accessit.online/chr22/#!dashboard

Secondly, The English Department have developed Reading Journeys that compliment their curriculum with the hope that students will find further pleasure and knowledge in spaces that link their classroom to the wider literary landscape. All recommendations for each year group can be found on The Charters English Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/chartersenglish?lang=en

Finally, if you’re looking to find a fiction or non-fiction text that’s going to put you at the heart of this year’s most exciting reads, why not consider a choice from the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Longlist for Teenagers: https://yotocarnegies.co.uk/2023-longlists-announced/

Or follow a recommendation from an A-List Celebrity from The Booker Prize collection:

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/best-translated-fiction-as-loved-by-celebrities

VACANCIES

There are the following three associate staff vacancies available within the school currently:

Estates and Grounds Assistant

Science Technician Team Leader

Teaching Assistant 

COMMUNITY

LIMITED TIME OFFER – GET FREE LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP TO FIVEDINNERS.COM

Theo Michaels is a TV chef, author and founder of a company called FiveDinners.com – online meal planning service for families.   He has started an initiative to help families struggling with the cost-of-living to eat better and take away the dreaded question of what to cook every night.  He has sent the following information to us which may be of benefit for some of our community.  

Five Dinners.com have decided to give away FREE lifetime memberships (usually £49.99 per year) to try and help you save money on food shopping. There’s no catch or restrictions, simply full access to our meal plans to make your dinnertimes a little easier and cheaper.  Every week a new meal plan is published with an automatically generated shopping list; set to your serving size so you know exactly what you need for the week ahead. It saves you time, money on food shopping and ultimately takes away the headache of deciding what to cook every night. You can even create and save your own meal plans choosing from hundreds of recipes.  For more information visit FiveDinners.com

TAKE PART IN BRAIN SCIENCE AT ROYAL HOLLOWAY! 

Message from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London

We are researchers in the N-Code Lab at Royal Holloway. We are running two studies to understand why humans enjoy learning new words while reading and whether this “buzz” can be harnessed to boost learning in children with dyslexia. Our work is funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences.

In the first study, we are looking for 11-13-year-olds with dyslexia (as well as neurotypical children) to complete an MRI study. We offer a £40 voucher and a picture of their brain. This requires coming to our MRI scanner at Royal Holloway, University of London. This is in Egham, Surrey – our postcode is TW20 0EX. We can arrange parking on campus/ cover reasonable travel costs. We are recruiting 25 children with dyslexia.

Our second study is an online study. This can be done remotely via Teams and takes about 2 hours. Children complete a set of games and reading tasks. We are looking for ~25 children with dyslexia aged 11-13. We offer a £20 voucher as a token of our thanks.

We offer appointments on weekends, evenings and school holidays. To sign up, parents can email us at ncodelab@rhul.ac.uk or visit http://ncodelab.psychologyresearch.co.uk/research/participate/

 

USEFUL INFORMATION

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

We love sharing our student successes, out-of-the ordinary lessons, fantastic opportunities and much much more with our wider school community.  So why not follow us on our Social Media platforms where you can find out about all the unusual, and not-so-unusual, events that happen here at Charters.  Join us at:

   

PARENT CURRICULUM/SUPPORT INFORMATION

      

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