Welcome to the Spring Term edition of Planet News.

This half term has been an extremely busy one, not least because of thefire that swept through the Music Block four weeks ago.

I received a telephone call at 11pm on Sunday 26 February informing me that a fire had broken out on the premises. By the time I arrived on site at about 11.20pm, 3 fire crews were tackling the blaze and it was evident that substantial damage had been caused. The situation would have beenmuch worse but for the prompt action of a local resident who alerted our Building Site Supervisor when he sighted smoke, who then called the Emergency Services whilst tackling the blaze himself. Investigations have since confirmed that we were the victims of an arson attack and that the cost of the damage is likely to be in the region of £400,000.

The Music Block consisted of a ‘concert room’, one other classroom, 2 practice rooms for instrumental teaching and a storeroom. It was opened in March of 1980 and a series of celebratory concerts were held in the octagonal shaped room, one of which featured the considerable talents of Mrs Jervis (nee Edge), then a pupil at the school, as part of a saxophone duet.

Work has now started on rebuilding/repairing the block and I am delighted to report that the department will be rehoused in temporary accommodation provided by the Local Authority after the Easter break.

I would like to thank Ms Evans and Ms Willett for their incredible patience and resilience as, in spite of the fact that they have had to move around each lesson, have had no musical instruments and have lost many of their own teaching resources, they have continued to deliver quality music lessons and support the students in their care.

Whilst I would not have wished for such an event to occur, it has reminded me of why I am so proud to be the Headteacher of John Willmott School as staff and students alike have rallied in support of one another, demonstrating a real community spirit.

All our students have responded in a sensible and supportive manner and our recent non-uniform day saw over £400 raised for the department. The Sixth Form are donating monies raised from a football match against Plantsbrook School and their Enterprise Day to the fund and a group of students are currently planning a benefit concert so that we can purchase much needed equipment.

I look forward to updating you on our progress in the Summer Term and thank you for your continued support. Wishing you all an enjoyable and relaxing break.

Ms M L McCrohonHeadteacher

Headteacher’s Message

JUPITER

It has been another good half term for achievements within our House. In 7J Sadie Horton is competing in yet another dance show over the Easter weekend and we wish her every success. Frankie Barrett was the Year 7 Goal Keeper and managed to help the team in achieving an 8-0 victory.

In 9J Georgina Boddy, Lucy Stubbs, Leah Rudd and Joanna Whiley have recently competed in Water Day against 6 other schools doing a variety of activities to collect the most water. The girls won the challenge and received an Eco System. Many congratulations to them. Also, Georgina, Lucy, Leah and Hannah Jones participated in a school netball match against College High and were victorious with a score of 7-1.

Congratulations to 7J, 8J and 9J who all took part in the Sport Relief Mile and to all who have represented our House in many different ways. Have a good Easter holiday and let’s keep these great achievements going!

Harriet Fullagar-Bratch and Ottar Winchcombe-Suggett House Captains – Jupiter House

PLUTO

What another busy half term Pluto House is having! Top of Pluto commendations table are Charlotte Moore 7P who has amassed 160 commendations, Hollie Moyneux 8P 175, Levi Hammond 9P 63, Jodie Freeman 10P 85 commendations and top of the whole of Year 10 and Emma Buckley 11P 24 commendations.

We are currently lying 2nd overall in the league tables making good progress from last half term in our quest to be victorious this year. Well done to 11P for all taking part in the Gnome Competition and many congratulations to all those who took part from Pluto House. The results will soon be announced. We look forward to an exciting summer term, with lots of competitions taking place, including Sports Day and we also have our stall at the Summer Fayre. Please can all Plutonians come and help Mr Barnes to run this! Keep working hard and focus on TRICS in lessons to gain as many as possible for our House.

Mr Barnes Head of Pluto

VENUS

Congratulations to years 7, 8 and 9 who took part in the ‘Sports Relief Mile’ on Friday 23rd March. Especially to: Tia Haque, Ellie Gibson, Harry Young, Jamie Page, Joshua Holder, Molly Bates, Jessica Turner, Nikita Cooper, Ben Townsend, Chloe Nicholls, Sophie Trew, all from year 7, who completed their mile run within a speedy time of under one hour!! Also to: Bobby Simmonds, Jamie Bilston, Charlie Pemberton, Shyheim Prince, Hussain Haidari, Matt Ross, James Adams, Zoot Roome, Symeon Headley, Mia Hanson, Sydnee Power, Khanyi Kona, Leah Taroni, Ailisha Doyle, Natasha Davis - all from year 8, most of whom completed their mile run covered in face paint!!

Year 9 also completed their run very quickly too and 18 people from 9V have gained an achievements trip on Tuesday 27th March. Many congratulations to you all!

Good luck to years 10 and 11 with their revision for their summer exams. Have a good Easter!

Jade Compson & Lauren Wagstaff House Captains

Ss

HOUSE NEWS

Hello Neptune

It’s been another busy half term for the brilliant students of Neptune. Congratulations to all of you who have worked hard and earned TRIC commendations. We are now in second place in the overall standings and are only just short of the top spot!

In 7N, Mya-Rae Copeland continues to excel in the world of Freestyle Disco Dance. She has been competing all over the Midlands and is shortly embarking on a trip to compete in Norway. We will let you know how she gets on. Leah Aldred now has her Orange tip belt in Karate and is working towards her full Orange. Lucy Bryan is one of the stars of the ever-improving Year 7 netball team. She plays Goal Attack and the team recently finished fourth in a regional tournament. Rhema Howell-Smith has been treading the boards as part of the Stage Two Youth Theatre. Their production of ‘Our Day Out’ was rated ‘Four Stars’ in a review. Rhema has also collected 173 TRIC commendations so far this year. She is not far behind superstar Harriet Brannigan who has 192 TRICs.

8N continue to show their talents as well. Tamara Campbell recently took part in a Gymnastics competition at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre and came away with a Gold Medal. She did this by showing exceptional skills on the beam, springboard and her favourite discipline – the floor, where Tamara is able to do an aero spring into a back flip. Dylan Higgins is part of a street dance crew who recently won a trophy after taking on a crew from Lichfield. I would also like to mention Robert Fitzpatrick who performed a great rendition of Robbie Williams’ classic ‘Let Me Entertain You’ at the Variety Show. James Ferns continues to lead the way with 8N’s TRICs. He has earned a brilliant 196 TRICs with most of them being for Independent Learning.

We have many football stars in Neptune and Ashley Ayto in 9N is one of them. Recently, Ashley took part in an ‘American Shootout’ at his club where he won a trophy. He is coached by former Blues player, Paul Devlin. 9N have also being playing their part in collecting TRIC commendations. Lela Beharami has earned 199 and Neptune’s top TRICster, Ashley Ayto, has amassed 226 so far this year.

It seems that ‘Neptune’s Got Talent’ so let’s use it!

Mr. GriceHead of Neptune House

Ss

NEPTUNE

Hello Orion!

We are now entering the best part of the year. The sun is shining and the days are getting longer. To coincide with this Orion has now made its move up the league table. After the long, cold winter we found ourselves rock bottom but like every flower we are now beginning to bloom. With one last big push I am confident we can win the whole House competition this year. Massive thanks must go out to each form for collecting so many TRICs this term. This is obviously down to all the individual pupils within Orion who are now collecting TRICs left, right and centre.

The ‘design a gnome’ competition is now upon us and I am hoping for some dazzling entries. Thanks go to Jade Heath in 7O who has already submitted a very colourful character. Also congratulations to Tommy Naylor in 7O who has recently achieved another milestone in Tae Kwon-Do.

I’d like to offer a big ‘well done’ to all the pupils who were involved in the recent chess competition and a special mention goes to David Walker and Tia Tomlinson for performing so well and picking up a couple of certificates.

As we enter the summer term many students will be taking their final exams. I would like to wish them all good luck (even those from other Houses!). Finally, I will soon be looking for students to represent Orion at Sports Day so expect to be roped into various events at some point or another.

Well done on a successful term! Have a good Easter!

Mr WithersHead of Orion House

Ss

ORION

A number of our students have been fortunate enough to visit the new Olympic Park to see for themselves the venue of the forthcoming Olympics.

Mrs Jervis took the ‘A’ level PE students who had a full guided tour. They were able to ask many questions of their tour guide who gave them a comprehensive history of the Olympic movement, the development of sponsorship and details about the Area Regeneration that is taking place. All of this information will be put to use in their examination studies.

The second group of students were from Years 7 to 10 and had represented the school in various sports. They were also able to view the Olympic site and had the added bonus of being part of the audience for the Diving World Championships where they watched, amongst other events, the “men’s 10 metre Synchronised Diving and witnessed the GB team win a silver medal, hopefully a foretaste of what is to come in the Olympics!

Group of Years 7 to 10 visiting Olympic Site

‘A’ Level Students visiting Olympic site

Ss Mr Roberts

OLYMPIC VISITS

RIDE YOUR BIKE TO SCHOOL

We have recently been visited by five members of the Bike North Birmingham Government-funded scheme to encourage students to cycle to school to reduce their carbon footprint and keep fit and healthy. They surveyed students across the different year groups and were very impressed with the positive attitude and enthusiasm of all the students. All the students were given the opportunity to fill in a questionnaire as to the feasibility of us taking part in this programme and it now seems certain that the scheme will go ahead at John Willmott starting with the building of a Bike shelter to accommodate the students’ bikes during the day and running Bikeability courses for the students during April, May and June.

YEAR 8’s TO THE RESCUE!

Three of our Year 8 students came to the rescue when they found a black crow trapped underneath the outside of the Maths Block. James Adams and Zoot Roome first saw the bird during their lunch break. It seemed to be missing some feathers and James, being an animal lover, checked the bird over and fed it with crumbs from their lunch (including Quavers!) Hoping that the bird would find its own way out the boys then left. The following morning before school, together with Amelia-Lee Courts, they checked to see if the bird was still there having brought food and water for it. They soon realised that not only was the bird still there but it was very distressed and needed help. James’s mum came into school with a cage and together with the caretaker they managed to rescue it and it has been taken to a bird sanctuary. The children named the bird ‘Quavers’ after their lunch!!

Ss

SCHOOL NEWS

Headteacher Awards

Congratulations to all the students nominated for the Headteacher Award

Keep up the excellent work ethic, attitude, attendance and all round

excellent behaviour

Half Term – Sept/Oct 2011

Year 7 David Walker 7O Ellie Gibson 7V Year 8   Renee Lewin 8P Mark Mann 8J Year 9   Zak Hayles 9P Hayley Edwards 9VYear 10 Charles Bonser Hunt 10P Hannah Hodkinson 10JYear 11 Lydia Aspley 11V Kojian Rasoul 11P

Half Term – Nov/Dec 2011

Year 7     Laura Hicklin 7M Tyrese Bedward-Powell 7J Year 8   George Bailey-Sparrow 8J Maya Allum-Pinnock 8PYear 9     Shehzad Hussain 9O Emily Lyall 9O Year 10 Sarah Vernon 10P Lawrence Rumney 10O Year 11   Mitchell Hampson 11J Tilly Christie-Thompson 11N

Half Term - Jan/Feb 2012

Year 7    Sadie Horton 7J Declan Whiting 7PYear 8   Matthew Calvin 8 Chloe Beard 8SYear 9 Hannah Jones 9J  Reece Johnson 9M  Year 10 Kerry Whan 10S Issa Hussen 10P Year 11   Usman Ammar 11M Omer Ammar 11V

Ss

SCHOOL NEWS

19 John Willmott Students visited Oxford University on 8 March 2012. This was our day:

07:45. We arrived at school and ate cereal bars thanks to Mrs Barnfield. The Plantsbrook students arrived in the coach (a little late).

9:30. We arrived in Oxford and the buildings were all huge and most people were on bikes. At this time most of us were really tired and needed waking up.

10:00. We entered the university into Keble College. A lady greeted us at the door and offered refreshments. She then spoke to us about the University itself and what education it could offer us.

10:30. Next we split up into two groups and had tours of Keble College and New College. The tour included some very familiar scenes - where parts of Harry Potter were filmed! We saw the common rooms, the libraries and the dining hall where we ate after the tour. For lunch we had a range of different foods such as lasagne, chips, pizza and cake.

12:30. After the meal we started the scavenger hunt. This gave us the opportunity to explore Oxford and its community. Our task (if we chose to accept it) was to take pictures of certain buildings and scenarios. For example a bike (not hard to find) in an unusual place or taking pictures of us doing something funny to our teacher!! One group even managed to get a group of students from China dancing.

13:45. We all headed back to New College and had a talk with some of the graduates about life at Oxford. They told us about the interviewing system and how life worked when on campus. They also told us about extra curriculum activities that are on offer. They love their rowing!!

14:15. At the end of the talk we found out the winners of the scavenger hunt and said our goodbyes to the students. We headed back to the coach and set off back to Sutton.

18:00. We arrived back at school. It was a very long day but it gave us all an insight into University life!!

STUDENT NEWS

WORLD WATER DAY

This event was held in Sutton Park and organised by Birmingham Metropolitan College. There were 8 schools in the competition. The students had to carry out a variety of different challenges and the school with the most water at the end of the day was declared the winner. We are delighted that our John Willmott team won this competition and our congratulations and thanks go to all our students who took part:Natalie Birch, Georgia Boddy, Alex Faulkner, Stephanie Fragakis, Brandon Rhule, Leah Rudd, Luch Stubbs, Alex Skinner, Lauren Wilcox and Joanna Whiley.

GARDENING

John Willmott School Garden has been selected as one of the good causes supported by the Waitrose Community Matters programme. Between the 6th April and 6th May, customers who make any purchases at the new Waitrose Convenience store on the High Street in Sutton Coldfield, will be given a green token. This token can then be placed into the perspex box for your chosen good cause – John Willmott!The more tokens we receive, the larger the amount of money we will win towards spending on the school garden project. This will not only benefit the school, via selling produce and hanging baskets etc at the school Summer Fayre, but will also help towards purchasing seeds for vegetables that are being donated to St Giles Hospice, as part of the 'RHS Growing to Give' campaign. So next time you’re in Sutton, please buy a drink, sandwich or snack from Waitrose and help JWS!!

We have now established links with Severn Trent water authority and they are sending in a team of staff at the end of April to organise the refurbishment of several of our gardens. We look forward to working with them as our students are very keen to make our grounds attractive while producing high quality vegetables.

If anyone has any empty hanging baskets or spare attractive garden pots which they would like to donate to the Gardening Club, the students would put them to good use to raise funds at their stall at the school Summer Fayre.

TREE PLANTING

We were recently invited by the Birmingham Trees for LifeProgramme to help plant 10 large elms with 50 hazel and oaksaplings in an area of open space between Glover Road andChurchill Road, Falcon Lodge. 10 year 7/8 students worked hard digging holes to plant the saplings and back filling the pre planted elms. The large number of worms uncoveredcaused diversion while they were found new homes!

STUDENT NEWS

John Willmott Radio Station

With JWS Radio, you can listen to what you want; when you want!

Presented by Yaseen Aslam, Joe Nolan, Adam Boustead & Callum Smith we are dedicated to create a radio station inside John Willmott, where you are in control of what we play!We need your support to make this work! You will find us on www.jwsradio.co.uk For a Shoutout or Song Request text: jws radio and your message to 07786 202820.Remember to use your ’free texts’ otherwise texts will be charged at one standard network charge.

Dance Competition

The winner of the House Dance Competition is as follows:

1st Sadie Horton 7JJoint 2nd Molly Bates 7V & Katie Gillespie 7S

Beth Chamberlain 7P & Jess Turner 7V

Congratulations to all these girls and well done to all the students who took part in this competition.

JWS Gnome Competition

This event is ongoing and we await the adjudication!

Quiz Day

The Inter-House Quiz Day is taking place on Friday 30 March. Good Luck to all those who are participating.

Environment Competition

This Inter-House event is taking place in April. Please collect your competition sheets from Reprographics Department. Remember – every entry gains commendations for your House.

Tara Seipal, Ottar Winchcombe-Suggett, Rebecca Fitzpatrick, Charlotte Birch, Katie Weetman, Gabrielle DoolanSs

STUDENT NEWS

CHESS TOURNAMENT18 students took part in an end of course Chess Tournament to put to the test the skills they had learnt. The players took part in several 6 minute matches ending in a very close final between Zhu Xi 8S and Tia Tomlinson 7O. Zhu Xi won by 1 point at the very end of the match. Special mention should be given to those in joint 3rd place: Heng Finch 7P, James Harrison 7P and Andrew Horton 8N. All the competitors received certificates from their coach, Anthony, of Ani-Mate, in Assembly and prizes were awarded. An additional prize was given to the player who could make the most moves without losing a piece to coach Anthony. This was won by David Walker 7O who achieved a massive 26 moves without losing a piece! All the players gained in confidence and it is hoped to bring coach Anthony back after Easter to run a lunchtime Chess Club to which all are welcome.

SPORTS

BasketballCongratulations to Taylor Hewson-Brown 9O and Omar Hall-Smith 9J, who have been selected to play in the Basketball National League representing the City of Birmingham!

FootballThe Year 7 Football Team played Arthur Terry School on 20 March and won 8-0. This means that they have won the League! Many congratulations to all the players who took part in League games this season, leading to this magnificent result.

Jupiter: Frankie BarrettMercury: Will Jones, Zain ThomasNeptune: Andre LawrenceOrion: Ben Caughtry, Darnell Duut, Kyion Loveridge, Will Radford, Sam Reuben,

Joe Sperry Pluto: Kyle Hudlin, Declan WhitingVenus: Ryan Cormell, Qeyrhan Coughlan-Haywood, Jake Freeman, Josh Holder, Jon McKinney, Tyrell Williamson-Greene, Harry Young

NetballYear 7 Girls took part in the Birmingham Schools Netball Tournament and came 4th out 6 in their group. All the girls played well and improved throughout the Tournament, beating Fairfax and Turves Green and losing narrowly to Sutton Girls.

Tara Seipal, Ottar Winchcombe-Suggett, Rebecca Fitzpatrick, Charlotte Birch, Katie Weetman, Gabrielle DoolanSs

STUDENT NEWS

All students in Years 7, 8 and 9 had the opportunity to ‘Run a Mile for Sports Relief’. They paid £1 to compete and battled it out in either Olympic Sportswear or Fancy Dress. The sum of over £500 was raised for this very worthwhile charity. Our thanks to the PE Department for organising such a fantastic event which was also fun for all who took part. We would also like to thank Sainsbury’s Castle Vale for their generosity in giving us balloons, posters and Sports Relief clappers! The winners were as follows:

Year 7 Boys 1st Sam Reuben Orion2nd Qeyhran Coughlan-Haywood Venus3rd Ryan Cornell Venus4th Ben Steenton Mercury5th Jamie Page Venus6th Ben Caughtry Orion7th Jake Freeman Venus

Girls1st Sade Owens Orion2nd Rita Mponzo JupiterJoint 3rd Jordan Thomas Pluto

Lucy Bryan NeptuneJessica Turner Venus

Year 8 Boys 1st Alex Reely Orion2nd Mel Jose Brown Orion3rd Alex Nevin Pluto 4th Mitchell Handsaker Mercury 5th Jamie Hall Mercury6th Sam Dewsbury Orion 7th Mark Mann Jupiter

Girls 1st Tiara Hemans Orion2nd Maddie Hudman Mercury3rd Sophie Biddle Jupiter4th Destiny Rhule Mercury5th Megan McNeilage SaturnYear 9 Boys 1st Conor Richey Mercury2nd Will Smith Neptune3rd Liam Cullinan Jupiter4th Josh McCollin Pluto5th Brad-Lee Williams Neptune Joint 6th Tayla Hewson Orion

Dhruv Naik Venus Joint 8th Callum Smith Saturn

Kalville Wiggins NeptuneGirls

1st Hannah Walker MercuryJoint 2nd Kiyomi Griffin Venus

Shanya Jeffers Saturn4th Demi Millin Jupiter5th Lauren Wilcox Saturn6th Lucy Stubbs Jupiter

Ss

SPORTS RELIEF

The PTFA Race night took place on 1 March. A disappointing number of people attended but our thanks go to them and the School radio station crew who helped with the event. Those few who took part all had a fun evening which they hoped would be repeated with more in attendance.

The next Bags 2 School collection date is 29 JUNE 2012. Please begin collecting unwanted clothes, shoes etc and check our website for more information.

The 50/50 draw is gaining more members month by month. Please get involved in this, forms are available via Mr Larkin, the school office or send an enquiry via the school website. The more who join the bigger the prize will be.

The PTFA work hard all year to raise funds. Please support them by bringing along family and friends to our events. Our main aim is to raise funds for the students at the school to help gain extra items that the curriculum / school cannot provide. The PTFA have recently granted some money for students to set up a radio station in school, we wish them well with this new venture. We welcome new ideas for fundraising and really need the support of parents and students at our events.

Our next major event will be the school Summer Fayre on Saturday 14 July. We will be looking for volunteers to help, tombola prizes, raffle prizes etc, etc! Please put the date in your diary.

Our next scheduled PTFA meeting is in school on 19 April starting at 6.30pm. It would be fantastic if we were inundated with enthusiastic new parents who are full of ideas to help us raise money to benefit all the students at John Willmott.

Paul RoweChair PTFA

Ss

PTFA NEWS

March / April / May 2012

30 March School Closes for Easter HolidaysSixth Form Enterprise DayFootball Tour to Holland begins

16 April Start of Summer Term26 April Canteen Theme Day – British27 April Staff Training Day – Students not in School

4 May Paris Trip begins 7 May May Day – School Closed 8 May Staff Training Day – Students not in School17 May Canteen Theme Day – Indian

1 June School Closes for Half Term Holiday11 June School Resumes

Advance notice:

Summer Term finishes on Friday 20 July.

* * * *STOP PRESS:

Hearts and Lungs Needed!

No not for a transplant but if we have any readers who are butchers the Science Department would like your help in providing hearts and lungs that can be dissected by our ‘A’ Level Biologists and used for demonstrations to Key Stage 3 / 4 students. Please contact Mrs D Norton, Senior Science Technician, on 0121 378 1946, or e-mail: d.norton@jws.bham.sch.uk

BOKWA Fitness is beginning at John Willmott School on Thursday 19 April 7 – 9pm. Be one of the first to try the latest fitness / dance craze. For more information contact Lucy Parkinson at bokwabirmingham@groups.facebook.com

Ss Mr Daniels remains the Guest Speaker at our forthcoming Prizegiving. FORTHCOMING EVENTS