Dates to remember, returning week of term 2 - Week B
Date
Monday 30 October
8.30am students return to school. Term 2 begins
Tuesday 31 October
Pumpkin carving competition
Thursday 2 November and Friday 3 November
Year 7 Geography/History visit to Windsor
Celebrating our students:
Year group activities and achievements.
Please click to open up the Year group you wish to read more about.
Year 7
Year 7 have reached the end of their first term at Denefield. We are immensely proud of how each and every student has all settled into a new environment and routine.
The photos below were all taken on the first day of term.
Year 7 student Kiran is the runner-up for the 'Most creative and inspiring' poster:
To celebrate European Day of Languages. Students from Year 7 to Year 9 were asked to design a poster to promote learning a foreign language. We had an amazing response and Kiran came second. Kiran's poster is below - so creative!
Year 7 Bake Off Finalists:
Ruby O and India F were both in the final of The Great Denefield Bake Off. Scroll to our extra-curricular section for more information.
Round 1 entries, jungle and chocolate theme:
Ruby's bake is the top image and India's is the bottom image. Both delivered on taste and imagination, gaining them a place in the Signature Challenge Final.
Signature Challenge Final entries:
The theme was space. Our finalists were asked to create, from scratch and bake six cupcakes on site to reflect this theme.
Ruby's six vanilla cupcakes had a surprise inside them when you cut them open - what a way to keep the judges guessing!
India continued along the chocolate theme, baking chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing- as well as two little alien additions.
Year 8
Year 8 and 9 Girls Football Team:
The team started the season with 4-1 win over Blessed Hugh Farringdon and a 3-0 win over Reading Girls School. What a brilliant start to the season. Congratulations!
Year 8 student Alicia is the winner of the 'Most creative and inspiring' poster:
To celebrate European Day of Languages. Students from Year 7 to Year 9 were asked to design a poster to promote learning a foreign language. We had an amazing response and Alicia won. Alicia's winning poster is below - so creative!
Year 8 Bake Off Finalists:
Tilly C and Lucy D were both in the final of The Great Denefield Bake Off. Scroll to our extra-curricular section for more information.
Tilly and Lucy wowed the judges with their chocolate bakes, gaining them a place in the Signature Challenge Final.
Signature Challenge Final entries:
The theme was space. Our finalists were asked to create, from scratch and bake six cupcakes on site to reflect this theme.
Above, Tilly's six confetti cupcakes were piped and decorated perfectly to match the Space theme!
Lucy used sherbet saucers on her six vanilla cupcakes, brilliant!
Year 9
Year 8 and 9 Girls Football Team:
The team started the season with 4-1 win over Blessed Hugh Farringdon and a 3-0 win over Reading Girls School. What a brilliant start to the season. Congratulations!
Year 9 student Elodie came third in designing the 'Most creative and inspiring' poster:
To celebrate European Day of Languages. Students from Year 7 to Year 9 were asked to design a poster to promote learning a foreign language. We had an amazing response and Elodie came third. Elodie's poster is below - so creative!
Year 9 Bake Off Finalist:
Layla J made it through to the final of The Great Denefield Bake Off. Scroll to our extra-curricular section for more information and to find out our winner.
Layla wowed our round one judges with her marbled cake and detailed icing leaves. Time for The Signature Challenge Final.
Signature Challenge Final entries:
The theme was space. Our finalists were asked to create, from scratch and bake on site, six cupcakes to reflect this theme.
Above, Layla added the finishing touches to her space-themed cupcakes.
Year 10
Year 10 and 11 visit to Cologne, Germany
A group of our Year 10 and 11 students will be heading back from Cologne, Germany as we speak!
The trip has a really exciting and educational agenda. Across the week, the group are visiting the Cologne Cathedral, a trip to the ancient Roman city of Koblenz, which was largely destroyed in WWI. Today the city has been beautifully restored and, not forgetting the Chocolate Museum with a chance to sample some of the chocolate - yum!
Students looking at the views.
A beautiful day in Germany!
Mrs Jackson and the students had a fantastic time on day two.
The full Germany trip photo album will shortly be available on the News and Events page of our website.
Geography trip, Rushall Farm (Year 10 and 11)
Two groups of GCSE Geography students (Year 10 and 11) visited Rushall Farm and completed a river survey, measuring the width, depth, gradient, sediment size and velocity.
Students in their waders in the River Pang.
Year 11
See Year 10 for Rushall Farm trip.
Year 11 Tate Gallery visit, London - Thursday 21 September 2023
Year 11 students spent the day at the Tate Museum, London.
Year 11 Blood Brothers trip:
Sixth Form
Sixth Form artwork is being showcased at the First Framed exhibition from 5 October until 10 November 2023 at Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury. This exhibition celebrates a rich, diverse range of two and three-dimensional artwork produced in local schools.
Mont Saint Michel by Nacho Year 12 (above)
The Raven by Lewis Year 12 (above)
Titania, Evelyn Year 12 (above)
Mr Nicholls, Head of Faculty, Creative Subjects, standing proudly with his students' work before they're delivered to Arlington Arts Centre.
Restart a Heart
On Monday 16 October, Sixth Form students were visited by the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust who ran a Restart a Heart workshop. Students learnt how to work as a team and perform CPR safely.
Taylor above, Founder and Trainer at Ignite with Taylor
Taylor, Founder and Trainer at Ignite with Taylor has used her social media platform to launch an online fitness and nutrition coaching service. She has achieved sponsorships with well-known brands in the fitness industry, as well as designing an affordable fitness app that is available on the Google Play Store and Apple Store.
Taylor gave an inspiring talk to our students, explaining everything from her career history, finding her career passion to the commitment and hard work that comes with running her own business.
Students Izzy, Nicole and Sinead said 'We really enjoyed it, it was great to hear about something current.'
Corn Exchange Newbury:
Two members of the Corn Exchange team delivered a tailored workshop to provide skills for Personal and Social Development.
Left, Jake F and Frankie B work as part of a team to build the biggest tower using only newspaper and sellotape - an activity to work on communication skills, team work and 'thinking outside the box'.
Right, Sasha, Keeley Kelsey and Amy in their team.
Newbury College, Careers Expo:
50 of our Sixth Form students attended the Careers Expo at Newbury College on Thursday 12 October.
Students were able to chat to representatives from large companies, such as John Lewis to the Fire Service, the Police and Universities, about their aspirations and any roles they were interested in.
Celebrating our students.
Extra-curricular achievements
What an achievement by our Year 10 student, Cypher, who you can see above (front rider in both photos). He competed in the British Cycling Road Inter-regional Championships at MOD Lyneham circuit on the 16 and 17 September and the track inter-regional championships at Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on 23 and 24 September.
With 7 years of experience, Year 7 student Samar, above, has already gained Taekwondo success by winning multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in sparring, patterns and special techniques categories at the UK Open, London Open, English and the Welsh Open Championships. Many of these competitions included competitors from the US, Australia and Europe.
Samar has now started training with the England Squad every month - fantastic Samar!
Berkshire football
Congratulations to the following students who have been selected to represent Berkshire for football. Freya, Year 10 Under 16 Girls, Ash, Year 9 Under 14 Boys and Wil, Year 11 Under 16 Boys.
The Great Denefield Bake Off 2023
16 students enetered the Great Denefield Bake Off 2023. Round one was a chocolate/jungle theme and the enteries were fantastic.
From tray bakes to brownies, snakes to sloths - the judges saw it all!
Six students went into the final signature challenge which was to makesix cupcakes with a theme of outer space for the decoration, students chose the flavour of the cake.
The winner of The Great Denefield Bake Off 2023 was Charlotte, Year 10. Charlotte won with her 'Saturn Cupcakes' - six galaxy-themed cakes, using her Grandma's recipe.
The judges had a tough decision with five other fantastic bakes to try. A massive well done to everyone who took part!
Two electric vehicles, designed and engineered by Denefield students raced in the Greenpower International Finals on Sunday 8 October 2023.
Vehicles 63 and 64 were raced by our students in the final at Goodwood and placed 27th and 22nd out of 50 vehicles in class.
Massive congratulations to everyone involved in Greenpower. Thank you Smartstep for your sponsorship and providing the team with communication equipment. The team commitment and hard work is in abundance and something to be very proud of.
We Will Rock You auditions
The solo auditions were well-attended and each role had several candidates. This is a testimony to the popularity of the school show but it made selection very difficult. We hope to accommodate all auditoinees in some capacity.
The final cast list is due to be confirmed very soon, so that rehearsals can start in earnest on our return.
WATCH THIS SPACE!
School News and Events, Term 1
Last years GCSE results beat all Denefield records:
On Thursday 19 October the government published school results:
A message from Mr Towill, below.
'I would like to say another congratulations to last year’s Year 11 students on their GCSE results last summer. The government has published its school comparison data today, and it shows that not only did these students beat all Denefield GCSE records but that their results were considerably above the local authority and national average. According to the government’s website, ‘Pupils here achieve up to half a grade higher in each qualification on average, compared to similar pupils across the country.’
Denefield opened its doors for prospective students and their parents/carers on Monday 18 September.
Current Denefield students led school tours and ran live demonstrations for our visitors to get a real feel for our school.
A massive thank you to all of the students that helped make Open Evening 2023 a success.
Following on from the Open Evening, we have invited Year 6 pupils and their parents/carers in for tours. They have been so popular we arranged additional dates - fantastic to see.
Headteacher's Open House - Monday 9 October
Thank you to everyone that came to our first Headteacher's Open House on Monday 9 October.
The group included our Headteacher, our Deputy Head, a Trustee and most importantly you, our students' parents/carers.
Parent/carer questions and Denefield responses from this meeting can be found on our website.
Denefield values parental partnership, and it is a great opportunity to discuss, listen and learn from each other.
The next Open House will be on Monday 27 November. A sign-up form will be shared a few weeks before - we hope to see you there.
The Autumn Recital - Tuesday 17 October
The Autum Recital, once again demonstrated the impressive musical talents of the Denefield community. Students in Years 8 -13 performed a mix of solos, duets and ensemble pieces. For some, it was their first ever public performance yet all were prepared and appreciated by the audience who enjoyed a mix of vocal and instrumental pop, rock, classical and folk numbers.
Once again, we are pleased and excited to invite children in Years 5 and 6 to choose from our range of courses in science, technology and the arts. If you're coming up to Denefield next September, why not come and make some new friends before you start?
Could you be Denefield’s next Facilities Manager? We are seeking to appoint an energetic and enthusiastic individual to this key role. This is an exciting job where no two days are the same. You will be responsible for ensuring our site is fit for purpose and looking its very best for all of our stakeholders, all of the time.
All students and staff are invited to enter the Denefield Pumpkin Carving Competition.
The categories are: Best Animal, Traditional Halloween, Best Face, Best Sixth Form entry, Best Staff entry.
To enter, please bring a photo of you holding your pumpkin, to your tutor on Tuesday 31 October.
Winners will be announced on Monday 6 November. Overall winner gets 10 house points. Best in tutor gets 5 house points. The house that wins will get 300 house points that will towards the Denefield House Cup.
Get carving!
Canteen upgrades:
There will be a new look to the canteen after half-term. This comes on top of the introduction of the facial recognition system in the canteen, which started on Thursday 19 October.
Community news
Thameside Firework Fiesta, Purley on Thames
A spectacular fireworks display. Gates open 3.30pm, display starts at 6pm.
