FBA Weekly Update

As December begins, our thoughts naturally move towards Christmas. We are really looking forward to the Christmas Concert that will take place this Wednesday at 6pm. Tickets can be purchased via ParentPay. There will be a number of events and activities at the end of term and we look forward to sharing details with you very soon.

Although we are looking forward, we are not slowing down. The lessons over the next three weeks are still very important and we expect our students to keep working hard and remain focused in class.

We would like to congratulate our Year 11 and Year 13 students for completing their mock examinations. They have worked very hard in preparation for the exams and showed great determination throughout the period. There are still some speaking exams and Art exams taking place over the next couple of weeks and we wish the very best of luck to everyone taking part.

Please find below some of the key dates for the second half term

• Wednesday 3rd December - Christmas Concert
• Thursday 4th December - Careers Fair
• Monday 8th December - Year 7 Celebration Evening online- Invite only
• Tuesday 9th December - Year 8 Celebration Evening online - invite only
• Wednesday 10th December - Year 8 Parents' Evening
• Thursday 11th December - Year 9 Celebration Evening online- Invite only
• Monday 15th December - Year 10 & 11 Celebration Evening online- Invite only
• Tuesday 16th December - Christmas lunch
• Wednesday 17th December - 6th form panto and Year 8 Talent Show
• Thursday 18th December - Last day of term (early finish)
• Friday 19th December - Disaggregated INSET day

We are sharing details of an excellent resource that we can promote to the parents and carers within our community: Free Online Courses provided by Creative Education. These resources offer simple, practical ways for parents and carers to directly support their child's wellbeing and learning at home.

What the Courses Offer - This initiative provides parents and carers with access to a library of short, expert-led courses. The key benefit is that participants can learn at their own pace, making it flexible for busy family schedules.

Each course offers clear, practical ideas designed to help parents:

• Understand their child's needs.
• Build their child's confidence and wellbeing.
• Strengthen learning at home.

How to Access the Courses: You can get started today by:

• Scanning the QR Code provided on the attached document.
• Visiting the dedicated webpage: creativeeducation.co.uk/haveringparents

This is a valuable, no-cost opportunity to build confidence and enhance parental understanding of their child's needs.

What is Early Help?
Early Help is a voluntary support service for children, young people and families. It offers practical and emotional help as soon as challenges arise, rather than waiting until problems grow.

What support is available?

Early Help can offer:

• Parenting advice and courses

• Support with your child’s development, behaviour or school readiness

• Help with family wellbeing, routines, relationships or stressful situations

• Access to a Family Practitioner who can work with you to create a plan tailored to your needs

Why might the school refer to Early Help?
Sometimes families benefit from extra support, and Early Help can make a real difference early on. If we notice a child or family may need some additional guidance or help, we may suggest an Early Help referral — always with your consent.

How can you access it?
If you feel Early Help could support your family, please speak to your daughter Head of Year or Progress Managers and we can guide you through the referral process and make a referral for you.

As part of our She Is Studious study programme, Year 7 students are learning how to use mind maps—a powerful technique that supports memory, revision, and independent learning. We are sharing this summary so you understand the approach and can support your child at home.

What Is a Mind Map?

A mind map is a simple visual diagram that helps students:

• Get information out of their heads, not just read over notes
• Organise ideas clearly
• Build stronger memory through active recall

Students learn that we naturally forget a large amount of new information unless we revisit it soon after learning. In fact, we forget almost 50% within an hour if we don’t review it . Mind maps help students combat this forgetting by encouraging them to retrieve what they remember and then check for gaps.

What Your Daughter Has Learned about Creating a Mind Map

Students are taught a simple step-by-step method to create an effective mind map:

1. Write the main topic in the centre.
2. Add subtopics branching out like a spider web.
3. Use short words or phrases, not long sentences.
4. Add simple drawings to strengthen memory.
5. Final step: Put everything away and try to redraw the mind map from memory later—not on the same day—to support long-term retention
6. After creating the mind map, students compare it to their notes to spot anything they have missed. This helps them become more confident, independent learners.

How You Can Support at Home

• Encourage your daughter to create a mind map after finishing a topic or revision session.
• Ask them to redraw it from memory after some time has passed.
• Talk through any gaps they notice when they compare it with their notes.
• Praise effort and reminding them that mistakes help them learn.
• Support the upcoming weekly review routine, where mind maps play an important role.

These small habits, repeated over time, help students become more resilient, organised, and confident learners.

As part of our She Is Studious programme, Year 8 students are learning how to revise more effectively. Session 2 introduces them to graphic organisers—simple visual tools that help students understand and remember what they learn in school.

What Are Graphic Organisers? They are diagrams that help students lay out information clearly. They might look like a spider diagram, a flow chart, a Venn diagram or a concept map.

What Students Learned in This Session

1. The difference between active and passive revision.

• Passive revision (reading, highlighting, rewriting notes) doesn’t help memory very much.
• Active revision (summarising, quizzing, explaining, diagramming) leads to stronger understanding.

2. Graphic organisers were introduced as an active revision method that helps students think deeply about content.

3. Students learned that graphic organisers:

• present information visually,
• simplify complex topics,
• make it easier to identify gaps in their knowledge,
• help ideas stay in long-term memory by encouraging active processing.

4. How to use different types of graphic organisers

• Venn diagrams (for comparing ideas),
• Concept maps (for showing how ideas connect),
• Flow charts/timelines (for sequences or processes),
• Frayer Model (for exploring one topic in depth).

How You Can Support at Home

• recreate a topic from memory using a spider diagram,
• summarise their notes as a concept map,
• compare two ideas using a Venn diagram,
• create a flow chart for scientific or historical processes

Let’s Move! (NHS Winter Activity Campaign)

As the weather gets colder and days get darker, many of us naturally stay indoors more – and that often means our daily activity levels drop. The NHS and Sport England are encouraging young people to take part in the Let’s Move campaign, which focuses on simple, fun ways to stay active indoors or outdoors throughout winter. Children and young people aged 5–18 are recommended by the UK Chief Medical Officers to get at least 60 minutes of activity a day, and the campaign is all about helping you reach that in easy, realistic ways.

Why this NHS campaign is helpful for you:

• You don’t need to do “sport” to stay active – any movement counts, including dance videos, quick home circuits, skipping, stretching, or active games and you can find many ideas for these activities on the Let’s move site.
• Short bursts of movement add up to your 60 minutes and can boost your mood, energy, and focus during school and revision.
• Indoor activity ideas make it easier to stay active even when it’s raining or freezing outside.
• Movement helps with better sleep, stronger bones and muscles, and reduces stress – especially useful during busy school months.

If you want some more ideas of how to stay active, the NHS has a list of simple activities you can try at home: https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/activities/indoor-activities-for-kids/

36 students from year 12 attended the Elephant Access Launch Event at Senate House, UoL on Monday 24th November.

The conference included talks from Exeter University about going to a top 3rd university, SOAS about how to chose your course, and Oxford University about the importance of super curriculars to your application. The event ended with a panel consisting of ex-students, current students and admissions staff for a Q&A.

If you want to know more about the Elephant Group please click on the link below.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce the outstanding success of 10 of our students in the recent French LanguageNut November 25 Competition!

These students demonstrated exceptional dedication, skill, and knowledge in the French language, achieving the highest scores among all participants from our school. Their hard work and enthusiasm are truly inspiring, and we are incredibly proud of their accomplishment.

A big congratulations to all of our top scorers! (see table below) Your commitment to language learning is commendable. We look forward to seeing what other great things our linguists will achieve in the future!

Our inspirational woman of the week is Viola Smith as nominated by Nicola A in 9B.

Smith was a pioneering American drummer known as “the fastest girl drummer in the world,” active from the 1930s through the 1970s. She gained fame for her powerful playing, especially her signature use of multiple tom-toms. At a time when women in professional music were often marginalized, she publicly advocated for female musicians to be given equal opportunities. Her success in major bands and on national stages proved that women could excel in roles traditionally dominated by men. Smith’s career continues to inspire young women to pursue music confidently and without limitations

During another happy and busy week at the FBA farm, we have seen the weather turn wintry, so it is essential that we adjust care accordingly for our animals during the colder months. Despite their small size, our miniature Shetlands, Rocky and Nugget are actually very hardy, and are fine to be outside in the rain and wind. As ponies are mammals, they maintain their internal body temperature at around 38oC through a mechanism known as ‘thermoregulation’. Ponies grow a thicker, longer coat in winter, and the hair is covered in natural grease which, along with the longer hair for rain to run down and off, repels water and helps prevent the skin from becoming wet. Ponies also use fat reserves to help keep them warm in the colder months. So this time of year, even as temperatures start to drop, is fine for Rocky and Nugget to live happily outdoors, with access to their stable when it is rainy.

Come and visit our ponies, and all our other birds and animals; the farm is open every day from Monday to Thursday at break and lunchtime, after school until 4pm on Thursday, plus every Friday break and first lunch; second lunch break farm session is for Year 10 and 11 only.

Thank you to all our students for their amazing effort, we received so many entries ! It was hard to pick a winner but it can only be one.

Congratulations to the Overall winner is Prisha S.