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Trust School Status | Print |

As you will know from the letters sent home in the first week of term we are in the process of consulting over Trust Status for The Warriner School.  There is an evening meeting today and a daytime meeting on Wednesday 10th to which all stakeholders are invited.  If you are unable to attend any of these the questionnaire that prompts your response can be found on the website under "Recent Letters Home".  (There is a glitch with the link at the moment but this will be fixed tomorrow.)

Trust Status is an initiative launched a few years ago by the Department for Children Schools and Families and is aimed at developing partnership working across the public and private sectors and between different sectors in the economy.  All this effort is planned to make a difference to young peoples' educational experience and improve their life chances.  Working with partners schools are able to develop their curriculum, staff training, access to inductry, etc.  The Trust ensures, also, that there is a long term relationship between a school and a number of other partners.  It is a relationship between two, or more, organisations; not a relationship between two individuals.  However, there is a need for personal relationships to be developed for trust among the Trust partners to develop and for the joint working to lead to deep and meaningful collaboration.

It is very clearly not an attempt for schools to boost their funding through sponsorship. I have always made it very claer to our partners that we are not coming along with a begging bowl, we are looking to work in areas that bring mutual benefit.

We are proud and excited to have secured the agreement from our four partner organisations.  In the letter I say a little about these partners but I would add that their websites say more about their work and areas of expertise and these would be a good source of information for those of you who would like to know more.

The contribution from each can be significant.  The link with Franklin Cover, who are publishers and trainers, will have acrued tangible benefits over the next 15 months as we roll out the "7Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers" programme across the school.  You will hear more about this as the year progresses and implementation looms.  All I will say here is that I firmly believe this will bring about clear changes to the way in which students manage themselves and make a major contribution to the ethos of The Warriner School.

Last week I met with the Local Authority about our 6th Form plans and left feeling that there is a genuine will from the County for this to happen.  the economic climate and the "Building Schools for the Future" programme complicate any clear timeline.  However, there next step is to come back to me with a time frame in which we can then start to add detailed planning.  This is relevant to Trust Status in that one of our key partners in support of this bid, OCVC, will be able to assist us with staff training, curriculum planning and, through facility sharing, enhancing the experiences of many young adults in the North of the County.

Kraft have already assisted with one Enterprise Day and are already involved in the planning for another in the summer.  In addition to this they have a significant contribution to make to our Design Technology curriculum and will be able to feed into the planning for a new Design Technology building which looks likely to start some time in 2011-12.

Finally RM Education, a major player in the educational hardware and software market offer huge synergies with our ICT department and also with advice and guidance about our ICT infrastructure and future investments.  thei understanding fromt he cutting edge of educational technology could prove to be invaluable.

There is a good deal of background information about Trust Status on the SSAT (Specialist Schools and Academies) website.

All in all an exciting time and a significant investment into the futures of those young people at this school.

Nick Hindmarsh

 
Haiti Earthquake appeal | Print |

Many thanks to all of you who have supported us in raising money for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.  Following the non-uniform day last week we expect to have rasied in excess of £2000, a tremendous effort by all involved.

For those of you who have read th elletr sent home last week you will know that we are passing this money onto the charity Habitat ofr Humanity, who have their UK base in Banbury.  (See below for more details.)

While it was amusing to see a male "Little Bo Peep" and a cow walking around the playground, closely followed by "The Village People" and Superman I am gald I didn't have to teach them during the afternoon. 

Habitat for Humanity
 
Ten Points Worth Knowing
 
  1. The Organisation was founded in 1976 with the sole aim of tackling poverty housing.
  2. They believe everyone has the right live in a safe and decent home.
  3. 30 years later it is working in over 90 countries world wide.
  4. Every 10 minutes a family is helped with housing needs and in 2007 49,000 families benefited from a Habitat project.
  5. Habitat work in tandem with homepartners, volunteers and supporters.
  6. Homepartner families are local people who will own their own home and pay for it through a low cost, non profit mortgage that will see the money recycled back into the local community and so stimulate the building of further homes in that community.
  7. A Habitat for Humanity home is a hand up, not a hand out.
  8. Habitat for Humanity has been working in Haiti for 30 years and has now helped over 600 families to move into safe homes.
  9. On January 12th 2010 not one Habitat built home was destroyed in the Earthquake.
  10. In Haiti costs £1350 to build a home designed for the conditions found in Haiti, this includes all materials and labour costs
 
 
                      
 
For more information please visit our website where you will find the short video about Haiti shown to all of our students in school www.thewarrinerschool.co.uk
 
The website for Habitat for Humanity is: www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk

 

Last Updated on Friday, 26 February 2010 15:47
 
Haiti efforts | Print |

Last week saw the culmination of the students efforts to rasie money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.  In total with the non-uniform day on Friday we will have raised over £2000.  As you will have seen from the letter home the money we have raised will be going to the charity Habitat for Humanity, a worldwid charity with its UK base in Banbury. 

While it was amusing to see the efforts many Year 11s went to in order to raise the profile of the day I am not sure I would have enjoyed teaching them; a male "Little Bo-peep" and a cow sitting in the room would often prove a distraction.  Having said this the atmosphere around the school and in lessons was calm and much in line with the morm here.

Last Updated on Monday, 08 February 2010 11:17
 
European Union | Print |

 

Currently I am involved in a European Union project involving The Warriner School and four other schools in the EU.  This has meant I have been away from school since Wednesday and been unable to update my blog until today.  I understand that the weather is allowing something similar to normal operations to recommence which will be a great relief to all in our community.

 

You will have noticed that the website has been undergoing some changes this week which has meant it has been down for some of the past few days.  The aim of this is to make it more reliable at those times when we all most need to gain access.  Inevitably the snow created a massive increase in the traffic we normally experience and the old web host was unable to manage this.  The move will assist us in providing a more reliable service but will not protect us entirely against similar situations in the future.

 

We will be evaluating the manner in which we responded to the snowy conditions of early 2010 and this will include looking at longer term solutions to the website issue.  In addition any comments you may have made, or wish to make will be taken into consideration.

 

Thank you all for working so closely with us since the start of this year.

 

Nick HIndmarsh

 
The school will remain closed until Monday 11th January | Print |

We have spent time today assessing the situation and speaking with the bus companies about their routes into and out of school.  The advice from OCC according to one of the bus companies is that it would be unsafe for them to operate.

 

Even if the buses were to run there is no safe access for them onto and off the site at present.  This also applies to any vehicle as we have only one entrance available, the exit gate direct onto the A361.

 

This time around the snow is presenting different and more difficult challenges to us.  The lack of a daytime thaw means that unless we do something the site will remain covered in snow and ice for some time to come.  As I say below in yesterday's blog we will do all that we can to re-open.

 

Tomorrow the farm staff and a specialist contractor will be on-site to clear routes between buildings, side roads and the bus arrival and departure area.  Staff who can make the journey to school safely will be assisting with this clear up operation. 

 

The aim is to re-open on Monday but this is clearly subject to the weather over the weekend.  Like many others our supplies of salt and grit are running low and, unless we can obtain more supplies, we only have enough for one days spreading.  Therefore after clearing routes tomorrow we will leave it until Sunday afternoon before deploying the salt and grit.



Thursday morning around The Warriner School


Last Updated on Thursday, 07 January 2010 15:32
 
The school is closed Thursday 7th Jan | Print |

Thursday 7th January - we will be posting our plans for Friday by 4.00 p.m.

Wednesday 6th January - heavy snow overnight has made the site unsafe and many of the roads servicing the catchment are unsuitable for school buses and parents to use. Access to the site from the A361 is also dangerous at present.

During the course of today, Wednesday, I have been speaking with the Estate team on site and to other local schools about the state of play on the ground.

With so many access roads being impassable, or only passable with great care, transport to and from school will be difficult.  As the pictures below indicate gaining access to Bloxham Grove itself would be a challenge  Added to this the safety of students and staff on site needs to be considered.  The forecast is for a severe frost overnight which will not help the communication networks or the state of the school site.

In addition to these factors I also need to consider how staff will get to and from school so that we have enough colleagues present to ensure students' safety in these conditions.

This weather it is a major inconvenience to all of us, whether or not we like snow.  Please rest assured that we will do all that we can to re-open the school to students at the earliest possible opportunity.

HourWeatherTemp
(°C°F)
Wind
Direction and Speed(mphkm/h)
Humidity Pressure Visibility 
15:00 Sunset
16:10
Light Snow Shower

Light Snow Shower

0°C 32°F North North Easterly 17mph 27km/h 83% 1005mB Excellent
18:00
Clear Sky

Clear Sky

-3°C 27°F Northerly 15mph 24km/h 82% 1007mB Very good
21:00
Clear Sky

Clear Sky

-4°C 25°F Northerly 14mph 23km/h 89% 1008mB Good
00:00
(Thu)
Clear Sky

Clear Sky

-4°C 25°F Northerly 14mph 23km/h 94% 1009mB Good
03:00
(Thu)
Clear Sky

Clear Sky

-4°C 25°F North North Westerly 14mph 23km/h 92% 1009mB Very good
06:00
(Thu) Sunrise
08:11
Clear Sky

Clear Sky

-4°C 25°F North North Westerly 13mph 21km/h 91% 1009mB Good
09:00
(Thu)
Sunny

Sunny

-4°C 25°F North North Westerly 9mph 14km/h 88% 1011mB Very good
  •  The School at 13:30 :
  • The first picture is of the front of school where the buses drop off and pick up and the final two pictures are the view up Bloxham Grove from the A361 as it enters Bloxham.


  • Last Updated on Thursday, 07 January 2010 14:03
     
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