End of academic year 

Head Boy and Head Girl:

Our new Head Boy and Head Girl have been announced!

Congratulations to Alex and Tanzika, pictured below. There were nine candidates this year. All candidates posted a video application that was shared with students and staff, who were then able to vote for who they felt was best placed for the role of Head Boy and Head Girl. 

Our candidates also spoke to our students in assemblies and campaigned across the school to gain support before voting. 

In his video campaign, Alex said 'I want to make sure that I contribute to the effort of improving our school for everybody.'

Tanzika highlighted her passion for cultural education throughout the school. 'We have so much culture and diversity in our school, and we have a real chance to celebrate this!'

All nine candidates worked extremely hard and should be so proud of their campaign. 

From September 2024, Alex and Tanzika will be supported by their peers and candidates who have formed a Sixth Form Leadership Team. 

Sixth Form Leadership Team:

Supporting Alex and Tanzika in their new roles, are our seven candidates; Lily-Ann, Megan, Freddie, Andy, Alice, Harlen and John. This is a new initiative and one the Denefield Senior Leadership Team and our Sixth Form Leadership are very excited about. 

Our nine Sixth Form students will support each other in the thought process, planning and delivery of their new ideas. We can't wait to share updates with you in the new academic year!

 

Our Sixth Form Senior Leadership team, pictured above - Megan and John were unable to join. 

VIP Breakfast:

All students who have 300 House Points and above were invited to a VIP breakfast on Monday 15 July. This was a great opportunity to celebrate the success of so many students.

The breakfast was hosted by Mr Towill, the Senior Leadership Team and the Head of House team.   

Another fantastic spread by our catering team, in celebration of our students!

Headteacher afternoon tea:

On Monday 15 July, 12 students were invited to join Headteacher, Mr Towill and the House teams for Afternoon Tea. The students invited to this event have received over 500 House achievement points as of 1 July 2024. 

What an amazing achievement. Well done to everyone invited and also a massive thank you and well done to our catering team for such a lovely spread. 

Work Experience:

From Monday 1 to Friday 5 July, Denefield Year 12 students swapped their school timetable for a weeks work experience. 

Work experience provides students the opportunity to explore the types of job they might enjoy, and develop their CV.

We know it can be one of the most transformational experiences young people have during their education.

Thank you to the employers like JL lighting, Rygor Commercials, Huntswood Consulting, Reading Borough Council, Parkers Estate Agency, Nettlebed Creamery, Qwerty as well as a number of our local primary schools and nurseries and many more for enlightening our students. 

If your work place is one that can support with future placements for our students, please contact careers@denefield.org.uk .

 

Caitlin and Harrison, above were on the Transition team in Year 7 and spent part of their work experience week supporting our new Year 7 cohort on their transition day.

Sports awards:

On Monday 15 July, our PE Department ran Their annual awards ceremony, to find out morem scroll down to our Events section. 

Maths Challenge:

The UK Maths Trust runs many competitions over the year and 59 Year 7 Denefield students took part in the Junior Maths challenge in April. 

The students sat a paper consisting of some very challenging questions such as the ones below. 

It is a national competition and achieving a bronze certificate, let alone silver or gold, is a feat. 

'I am very proud of all of the participants for giving it a go and congratulations to the students who achieved a certificate, well done!' Says Head of Maths, Mrs Gibson. 

Congratulations to all that took part and very well done to the following students that received the recognition below. 

Bronze certificate:

Alex Brewton, Phoebe Clayton, Logan Goddard, Joshua Gonzalez, Elizabeth Haggard-Somerville, Albert Heath, Morgan Jones, Karina Kelly, Jessica Latcham, Jake Neale, Kayla Nortey, Lukas Robinson, Kiran Shrestha-Martin, Albie Wallis, Isla Willis and Adam Wilson.

Silver certificate:

Davide Isufi and Ellie Lonsdale.

Gold certificate:

Ivan Mihalciuc.

Duke of Edinburgh:

^Wow! what an achievement from the Duke of Edinburgh team. The certificate above was published in June, and we are immensely proud of the staff and students involved. 

Hot off the heels of receiving this certificate, the Duke of Edinburgh team headed off on their next expedition.

Bronze award:

On Thursday 6 June and Friday 7 June, 44 Year 9 students completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition, walking from Denefield to Rushall Farm, camping overnight and walking back to Denefield the next day.

Silver award:

On Wednesday 26 June, our Denefield Duke of Edinburgh group set off for Earleywood Scout campsite. On arrival, students set up camp and did some re-familiarisation and basic recap training.

After camping overnight, the group walked just over 6 miles from Crowthorne Station to Bagshot station and, on the final day, walked another 6 miles from Horseshoe Lake to Arborfield.

All students participated and achieved the practice section and now their next expedition is the Silver Qualifying, which is in the New Forest.

Silver Qualifying:

20 Denefield students completed their Silver qualifying expedition over the last two weeks in the New Forest.

They walked from check point to checkpoint over three days in the New Forest around the Brockenhurst area, navigating heath and moor land and the forest, the weather was great and the students got to experience the horses and wonderful natures of the forest.

Well done to all students and staff that joined the expedition. 

Combined Cadets Forces, Pangbourne opportunity:

From Monday 8^th July to Saturday 13 July six Denefield Cadet students travelled to Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The group had what can only be described as an exhilarating week. Abseiling, paintballing and caving in Wales.

Below, Denefield Year 11 and year 10 students who have taken part in a CCF opportunity.

Chess Championships 2024:

Denefield students went head to head with other schools in the 2024 Chess Championships. 

Denefield came fourth in the Inter-School Chess Tournament, with outstanding play from Nathan McGee and Ivan Mihalciuc. Denefield were singled out by the Deputy Headteacher of Blessed Hugh Farringdon as the most disciplined and polite school.

A message from Head of PE, Miss Colbourne:

This year, we took part in 151 fixtures, including football, basketball, handball, netball, badminton, athletics, rounders, and cricket. We reached 7 finals, with 5 athletes representing West Berkshire and 2 athletes representing Berkshire.

We also ran a successful sports tour to Holland, where the students enjoyed fixtures against other schools, training with Norwich City, and a day at a theme park. Next year, we are taking a year off to allow for the ski trip, but look out for the 2026 tour.

The Sixth Form Virtu football program had a successful season in the tactics league, finishing 5th. It has been brilliant to see them playing, and we look forward to building on this success next year.

Athletics achievements:

Year 10 student Lola, pictured below, recently came 3rd in the triple jump at the Berkshire Schools athletics competition with a best jump of 9m08. Congratulations Lola!

Year 12 student, Andy, pictured below, will be competing at the ​English Schools Athletics Championship after qualifying in the 400m hurdles for Berkshire. Well done Andy! 

Mr Peacock, Head of Sixth Form says 'We are really proud of Andy C in Year 12, who has been selected to represent Berkshire Schools in the English Schools’ Athletic Championships in Birmingham on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 July 2024. This is an excellent achievement, and we are very proud of him. Best of luck, Andy!'

Year 9 student, Ash finished 2^nd in the 100m at the Berkshire Schools Athletics in a time of 11.6 seconds. 

What amazing achievements in athletics this term!

Year 7 Athletics competition:

On Friday 7 June the PE department took a group of Year 7 students to Palmer Park for the Town Championships to compete against a wide range of schools from all over West Berkshire.

Our students competed in events such as the 75m and 150m sprint, as well as long jump and javelin.

 

'Every single student tried their absolute best and were a pleasure to spend the day with. They represented themselves and the school very well and should be proud of their efforts.' Says Mr Clare.

The winner of the House Cup 2024:

The winner of this year's House Cup and competition is NORCOT!!

Well done to Norcot students and staff, fantastic team effort!

Euros doors competition:

At the beginning of the Euros competition, our Tutors were given the challenge to see who could 'best dress' their door to reflect their chosen Euros team. 

Mrs Aris Martin says 'Can I first say thank you to everyone getting involved in this inter-house competition. It was such a pleasure coming around and seeing all the doors being decorated, it really showed the amount of effort that was put in by every tutor group. 

1^st - Kentwood

2^nd - Norcot

3^rd - Langley

4^th - Sulham

Winning door, Kentwood:

Katching Kite:

Isabelle, Lucas and Callie  won a tutor competition, inventing the game 'Katching Kite' Watch our videocast to find out the rules of play!

Numeracy Challenge:

The 4 students who got through to the final were:

Sulham: Alicia Hoang

Norcot: Lucas Flynn

Kentwood: Phoebe Clayton ( the overall winner)

Langley: Samaria Crerar

The questions were tough and even the Maths teachers would struggle to do those questions when put on the spot.

Well done to everyone who took part, well done for your courage and thank you for representing your House so well.

Sports day:

Please see our events section for more images and information on track and field events. 

Denefield staff are vital to the success of our school. We are so proud to have such a fantastic team of teachers and support staff at Denefield and at the end of this term we have celebrated a number of milestones in our team. 

Your support and commitment to Denefield school has been exemplary. Thank you. 

Silver award, 20 years:

Congratulations to Mrs Nay, Mrs Shaw, Miss Yates, Mr Nicholls, Mrs Keen, Mrs Holley, Mrs Savery and Mrs Jeffries - 20(+) years working in our community. We are so proud to have you. 

Gold award, 30 years:

Mr Shaw and Mrs Tarrant have celebrated 30 years working at Denefield. What an amazing milestone. We are so proud to have you as part of our fantastic team. Thank you for your hard work, commitment and support. 

 

Year 7 residential:

Denefield students and staff had a packed agenda for their residential earlier this month. Full details can be found in School News and Events below. 

Life Coaching through boxing:

Denefield students who have taken part in the “Life coaching through boxing” programme at Denefield spent the day at Fitzpatrick’s Boxing Gym earlier this term. 

Students met commonwealth champion Lewis “El Gordito” Roberts, trained with “the champ”, and took part in a group session on the importance of forgiveness in life – both being forgiven for our mistakes and forgiving others for theirs.

An excellent day was had by all involved and a massive thank you to The Fitzpatrick’s team for this opportunity for our young people.

Environmental awareness workshop:

On Friday 14 June our environmentally conscious Sixth Form students, together with four neighbouring schools in the Chilterns AONB (Area of Outstanding National Beauty), have taken part in the project that will allow Denefield School to take action around sustainability and climate.

Hardwick Festival took place at Hardwick Estate in the Chilterns AONB, where students met with peers from other local secondary schools, and learned more about important aspects of nature recovery and the AONB landscape. Experts and professionals at the Hardwick Estate gave interactive demonstrations on different landscape management techniques and students explored nature within the Hardwick estate. During this visit and the upcoming in-school days the students will learn more about key environmental issues and will be supported to come up with project ideas to bring tangible and community-centred environmental change to our school.

The Visionary Schools Lab will help to secure £15,000 for Denefield School from Mend The Gap to bring students’ chosen project ideas to life. We are very proud of our eco worriers!

We would love to hear more from our Alumni students. If you are and ex student, or know any past Denefield students that would be interested in sharing their experiences after leaving our school,  please email hsg@denefield.org.uk

Alumni student, Adam:

Adam joined Denefield from Westwood Farm back in 2012. During the Summer after his first year at Denefield, at the age of 12, Adam flew his first experience flight in a 4-seater PA28 Warrior and he took to flying like a duck to water, after 'flying' that same aircraft on his Microsoft simulator on his home PC. His goal of becoming a commercial pilot was set, and he continued flying through his teens.

Despite several false starts during very hot weather, he eventually completed his qualifying cross-country, aged 16, flying 300 miles solo in a triangle, landing at two other airfields, before returning to base. He then achieved his Private Pilot's Licence and Night Rating aged 17, after having had to study for nine ground exams in subjects such as Air Law, Human Performance and Meteorology, alongside his A-Levels; he achieved a 100% score in all 9 flight exams.

Adam left Denefield in 2019 and went to read 'Aviation Management with Commercial Pilot's Licence' at the University of West London; his A-Levels of Maths, Physics and Computer Science at Denefield proved to be the perfect choices for his degree course, in which he scored First Class Honours.

He completed his dissertation from his bedroom during Covid lock-down. As part of his degree course he obtained his Commercial Pilot's Licence with the Leading Edge Flight Academy at Oxford Airport, before recently securing employment with EasyJet. He has recently completed his Type Rating for the Airbus A320 and is scheduled to fly his first passengers from Luton to Malaga in Spain.

Well done Adam, thank you so much for sharing your experience and journey with us!

We were awarded a significant sum of money to provide much needed ventilation and cooling to the upstairs of the Aristotle and Comenius buildings. This summer, preliminary upgrades to the electrical infrastructure will be carried out to allow the new systems to be integrated as and when they are installed. The air conditioning and ventilation installation process will be spread across the next academic year, concentrated in the holidays to minimise the impact on learning. There may be some inevitable consequences of the schedule, such as short term room closures, to make sure the work is completed before next year’s hot weather, but any planned work will be communicated well in advance.

A refurbishment of the courtyard toilets will also be carried out this summer. 

Denefield Calm Room:

Next year we are going to trial having a calm room one lunch time a week.

This will be a room that any student can visit and spend lunchtime in. The room will be silent apart from some quiet, calm music and this will allow students a space to sit quietly, read a book, eat lunch without having to talk, relax in a peaceful setting and to generally have a tranquil, calm space during the school day.

We will provide more details in September, so that students are aware of the day of the week and the room to be used.

West Bekshire Food Bank, support for Denefield families:

Mrs Wilcox led a truly inspiring mission this term. Mrs Wilcox, our Support Learning Programme Coordinator, regularly works with the West Berkshire Food Bank and this term has provided 35 boxes of store food groceries to 13 Denefield families. 

'I love to be able to give and support our families, it is such a rewarding part of my job'. Mrs Wilcox and helpers set out the donations in the school hall and bagged them up ready for collection or delivery. 

Thank you West Berkshire Food Bank and thank you Mrs Wilcox, for your ongoing support.

Kids College:

Once again this term, we have hosted five weeks of Kids College for our local Year 5 and 6 children. Pupils opted for lessons in Science, Cooking or Pottery.

They learnt an array of new skills including using a microscope to look inside a leaf, baking shortbread or creating and decorating their own clay pot. Students got to meet and work with others from different primary schools, they also met staff and became more familiar with the school site, which will, hopefully, ease their transition into secondary school.  As always, it was a pleasure to meet and work with them all.

Year 6 transition day:

It is an exciting time of year for us as we prepare for the arrival of our new Year 7 students in September. 

It is so important for us to ensure our new community of Year 7's feel confident, educated and happy about their up-and-coming arrival in September. 

The Year 7 transition day is an opportunity for our new starters to get a insight into what a normal day here at Denefield is like. Year 6 students spend the day together, attend a few lessons and get to understand the use of our canteen and facilities. 

On Tuesday 16 July, they will join us once more to meet their House Teams and Tutors. 

Denefield staff are always willing to answer any questions you have on transitioning into Year 7. Please feel free to get in touch. 

Above, Denefield students were excited to help and support our visitors on the day, 

Year 5 tours:

In addition to welcoming our new starters, we have also been busy showing Year 5 pupils around our school as they begin to think about where they see themselves studying for secondary education. 

Mrs Jackson, Transition and Careers Lead, did a fantasdtic job organising visits from our local primary schools. Thank you to all of our students who volunteered to lead school tours. 

'It was a great experience, I really enjoyed answering any questions our visitors had'. Our student tour guides found they knew more than they thought and enjoyed meeting potential new members of our community. 

Olu Odeniyi assembly:

On Monday 1 July, our Year 9 and 10 students had a fantastic guest speaker, Olu Odeniyi sharing his journey to academic and professional success.

Olu spoke of the importance of giving back to society, inspiring our students to link their commitment and resilience now with their future achievements.

Stay safe at Reading festival:

Please find below, helpful information regarding keeping yourself safe at Reading Festival 2024 which has been prepared by Brighter Futures for Children and Festival Republic.

It is a helpful guide as to how you can plan your weekend.

Wellbeing Hub Summer term content line-up:

The Wellbeing Hub have a brilliant line-up of content across the Summer Term, covering a range of topics including Self-esteem, Transitions, Sleep and Sex Education – more details on what we’re covering can be found here. 

 

To announce that the South Lake Angling Society, Annual Olly Stephens Memorial Fishing Event 2024 will be held @ the Waterside Pub, Fairwater Drive, Woodley RG5 3EZ, on Saturday 31st August from 10am to late.

 We will be forever thankful to the South Lake Angling Society who have helped us to raise donations matching over £30,000 through this annual event for the charities, allowing over 100 children to fish for the first time.