get hyped

Welcome to my weekly blog - I hope you and your families are well and have had a good week. 

Following the successful launch of our brand new college system last year and due to the continuing growth of our school community and student number, we have added TWO new colleges! In addition to Midland and Central college, Mercia and Westerly are our two new additions.

I am sure many of you will have fond memories of being associated with a 'House' or 'College' during your time at secondary school. If so, you will also remember the competitions that would run throughout the school year where you would come face-to-face with the opposing team to win points for your House or College.

The LBS College system operates in exactly the same way. Students will have the opportunity to earn points for their College in a variety of different ways:

• 1. Weekly Attendance - At the end of each week, the Literacy groups will be ranked based on their attendance percentage that week. The literacy group in 1st place will receive top points. The Literacy group in last place will receive the lowest points.

  2. Weekly Punctuality - At the end of each week, any student that has arrived late to school on any one day will loose a point per late mark towards his College weekly total.

  3. LBS Decathlon - Similar to that of a traditional decathlon, the LBS Decathlon is made up of ten events across the school year, one per month. These events range from Sporting events that take place on one day, to E-Sports events that take place over a whole month, to individual activities where students compete in 'knock-out' Tournaments. Each event is different and each event promotes inclusivity. Therefore, some events are athletic related, some are intellectual related and some are community related.

Students will be given a pin badge to wear on their blazer representing the college they are part of.

NOS Updates - 24 November 2023

The National Online Safety programme publishes a weekly #wakeupwednesday update for parents/carers. This weeks update relates to 'BLACK FRIDAY'. 

After a lengthy gestation period, the UK Government’s wide-ranging changes to the legislation around digital safeguarding have become enshrined in law as the Online Safety Act. The first of its kind in Britain, the act aims to improve protection for children online and clamp down on illegal material. Regulated by Ofcom, it will primarily impact social media platforms and companies which host user-generated content.

The new legislation, however, also carries implications for schools and parents and their staff. Although further developments are expected, the #WakeUpWednesday guide summarises the main points of the act that schools and parents need to be aware of so far – outlining some specific areas that the new laws address and what effect, in practical terms, this will have on education providers.

I hope your find this information useful.

12 Days of Christmas 2023

Parents and carers with son/s in year 8, 9, 10 and 11 will remember that we introduced a '12 Days of Christmas' event last year. The event provided students (and staff) the chance to participate in festive activities and general merriment throughout the final 12 school days of the year.

I am delighted to inform you that the '12 Days of Christmas' event will be returning again this year, starting on Thursday 7 December. Keep an eye on our social media channels to see what is behind each door of the calendar.

Sport fixtures and training schedules for week beginning 4 December 2023

Year 9 Football - West Midlands Cup

Our Year 9 Football Team hosted West Coventry Academy on Friday afternoon in a West Midlands Cup 2nd Round Fixture. The away side took an early lead, but the LBS team stayed positive and soaked up a lot of pressure in an attempt to stay in the game against a very good opponent. Ten minutes before the final whistle, LBS grabbed an equaliser to set up a tense finish. West Coventry then scored two late goals to secure the victory, the effort put in from the LBS team was monumental. Player of the Match - Ara Khalid.

Year 9 Basketball - National Cup

The Year 9 Basketball Team visited Nunnery Wood On Thursday afternoon for a National Cup Fixture. The boys lost 50-32, they led the game after the first two quarters but Nunnery delivered an excellent come back.

Thank you to Mr Noble for coaching and taking the team. See his match summary below:

It was a pleasure to take the Year 9 Basketball Team to an away fixture at Nunnery Wood School in Worcester.

Despite facing a much taller and more experienced team, the boys played with great focus and effort. Playing zone defence for the first time, they managed to negate the height difference and were excellent on the fast break. At half time, we were only 6 points behind. Eventually the experience and offensive rebounds enabled Nunnery Wood to build a substantial lead in the second half, but the lads carried on battling and made every point difficult for Nunnery Wood. The final score was 59-35, with new student Shubur Akinade leading our team with 10 points.

The lads represented the school with perfect manners and behaviour from the start to the end and were complimented by the referees and opposing coach. A great experience for our lads and they will only improve moving forward.

TUNING IN PROJECT

Today has been a busy day in the music department. The second workshop has taken place of our Tuning In project. This is our collaborative project with Birmingham Academy of Contemporary Arts. A group of fifteen students from years 8 to 11 are composing a piece of music which reflects our school.

Students will record their completed piece in a studio on Friday 15th December.

PRACTICE ROOM SPACES

We are busy developing our current practice room spaces. Each room is already now equipped with brand new high quality instruments. 

PRACTICE ROOM BOOKINGS

Please note that we will have launched our new practice room booking system this week. Students will be informed of times when the practice rooms will be available to book and will sign up on a sheet located each of the practice room doors.

This will be monitored by the music staff and ambassadors.

Once students have booked their room, they must inform staff if they are unable to attend so that the room can be made available to other students.

Music staff will be on duty to assist with practice room use and instruments.

NEW SYNTHESISERS

We are now the proud owners of a range of brand new Juno and Roland synthesisers, Our students have really enjoyed exploring these during the week by finding out the wonderful sounds which these instruments can produce.

YEAR 7 CHOIRMAKER

Today, thirty Year 7 students have attended a Choirmaker Vocal Workshop event in collaboration with Ex Cathedra. This was a rewards trip for students who have demonstrated high standards and good progress in music classroom lessons and our clubs.

I would like to personally thank Mrs McKeon, Miss Lea, Mr Noble and Mr Atallah for supporting this trip today.

LION KING

This week, our LBS showband launched and we started working on Circle of Life.

Congratulations to our staff and students who took part in our first rehearsal. Students played piano, keyboard, trumpet, clarinet, guitar, drum kit and violin. 

I look forward to the next group of students joining us on tenor horn, trumpet and violin next week.