Latest News

Did you know that two of our catering team, Mrs Flay and Mrs Foster both work tirelessly to support premature babies?

The ‘Octopus for a Preemie‘ charity first started in Denmark and then extended to Spain, Ukraine and continued in Poland, UK and more recently Austria.

Mrs Flay and Mrs Foster give up their spare time after work, to crotchet tiny octopuses that make babies, and their parents feel calmer and safer. The babies play with their tentacles as if it is their mother’s umbilical cord.

Here are some of Mrs Flays latest creations:

For more creations, have a look here: https://octopusforapreemie.com/photo-gallery/

Mrs Wakefield and a group of Year 11 pupils took part in a thoughtful and heartwarming activity this week: ‘Postcards of Kindness’. Pupils created, wrote and delivered seasonal wishes to over 15 care homes in South Warwickshire.

The concept is to support those who might be feeling lonely at this time of year and our Y11s wrote postcards and Christmas cards, for local residents in care homes within the local community.

To find out more:

Postcards of Kindness

Thursday 12th December saw Studley High School’s annual Christmas Concert take place to a sell out audience of over 200 families, school staff and friends from our local community.

The evening opened with a welcome from the host, Year 11 pupil, Jarrad H who introduced our new brass group conducted by brass teacher Mrs Hattersley who played an opening Fanfare and then ‘Rudolph’. Following this rousing start, were soloists on vocals and the piano, drama group performances depicting Christmas scenes and our brand new ukulele club led by guitar teacher Mr Davies. Jarrad chose to perform ‘Winter Wonderland’, complete with tap-dancing and just before the interval we heard our fifty-strong choir led by Miss Wheeler who bought the first half to a close with a challenging a capella arrangement of ‘Carol of the Bells’.

The interval saw a Christmas market and festive refreshments provided by our fundraising Camps International pupils.

Rockschool opened the second half off with a very different version of ‘All I Want for Christmas’ and then the mood changed with Taylor’s beautiful solo of ‘Defying Gravity’ accompanied by Em W on the piano. More drama groups followed, along with a duet from the ‘Stanway Sisters’ and a song from the musical Nativity performed by our Performing Arts club.

The orchestra was the final act on stage who accompanying all for carol singing and then brought the evening to a close with ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’.

85 students from all year groups took part in the concert, giving a well rehearsed and professional performance. Our thanks to our peripatetic music teachers (Mr Jennings, Mrs Dolby, Mrs Hattersley, Miss Wheeler, Mr Hobbs and Mr Davies), school staff for helping out backstage, the local community and Arrow Valley Brass Band who continue to support us.

Pupils in Year 7 took part in the annual ‘Cells Competition’, in which pupils were tasked to create an animal or plant cell of their choice in the form of a model.

Pupils were challenged to be as creative as possible, and the entries didn’t disappoint. We had some fabulous cakes, lego models and lots of marvelous structures.

This year, 168 students entered, with everyone in the science department impressed at the pupil’s efforts. Due to this, we decided it was impossible to choose a 3rd, 2nd or 1st winner. So we choose to award winners for the wide variety of competition categories, including:

• Best 3D model
• Most scientific
• Most colourful
• Most detailed

This year we introduced a class competition that ran alongside the individual competition the two categories were:

• Class with the highest participation
• Class with the highest average score

All entries were displayed during the Year 7 Parents Evening. Last Friday during an assembly, the prizes were handed out to pupils and the classes that won the class competition received chocolate for their class.

A massive well done to Year 7, who made this years competition a fantastic event and one that was exceptionally difficult to judge!

Em W in Year 9 has recently passed her Grade 8 Drum exam!

This is a fantastic achievement and a very difficult exam to pass, as it’s for candidates who have mastered advanced technical control and have a thorough grasp of extended stylistic techniques.

At Grade 8 this is shown through mature stylistic conviction, consummate execution of rhythmic complexity, mature and creative stylistic solo and improvisation work as well as a commanding sense of communication and performance.

(Rock School, https://www.rslawards.com/rockschool/graded-exams/drums/grade-8/ 2019)

Em started drum lessons in Year 6, after picking up some drumsticks at friends house, and amazing everyone with her natural ability on their electric drum kit.

In Year 7 she started playing with the younger Worcestershire Youth Jazz Orchestra (WYJO2), and will be joining the older group, WYJO, in January – as one of their youngest members.  At WYJO2, she has been helping coach younger drummers, and will, in turn, be coached further by older drummers in WYJO.

She is considering a future in music, so watch this space!

We are delighted to announce that three of our more able Year 8 pupils who applied to be part of the Warwick Scholars Programme, were successful! Studley High School was one of 28 schools in the West Midlands to apply, and these three pupils were amongst 100 applications of eligible applicants!

Harrison M, Charlie D and Jacob T start the 18 month programme in Spring Term 2020. It is designed to raise confidence and self-esteem, develop team working and communication skills, increase educational resilience, build on their current skills, raise aspirations and provide them with unique opportunities not widely available to other students.

The programme will attend academic sessions at weekends, exposing them to a variety of new subject areas. The University are aiming to fuel and nurture students, encouraging them to push themselves in a supportive environment.

The students will work with University staff, student mentors, PhD students and departmental ambassador students.

Watch this space for more news on their progress, next term.

Young Person’s Guide to University

Year 9 Photography group recently visited Hanbury Hall for inspiration on a project ‘Nature’.

They’re currently studying the work of Andy Goldsworthy notorius for his studies of nature through his artwork and photography.

Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit.

Andy Goldsworthy

This year we are supporting young adults who have been in care up to the age of 16 and then leave children’s home/foster families and live independently, which can lead to them feeling very vulnerable.

The charity is called Brum Chistmas DInner and provides Christmas Dinner, on Christmas Day: a day when the young care-leaver might otherwise be sat alone in a bedsit, sofa-surfing or even on the streets. They aim to provide an enjoyable, memorable Christmas experience with food, friendship, entertainment, decorations and meaningful gifts, in a safe and caring environment.

The dinner is planned and run entirely by volunteers. They raise the funds, arrange the guests, buy and wrap the presents, cook and serve the dinner… so every penny raised goes into organising the day.

On Friday 20th December, pupils are invited to wear a Christmas jumper along with their usual uniform and shoes. We do not expect pupils to buy a specific jumper for the day, they can decorate an existing one with tinsel.

We would like to collect £1 from every pupil, whether they come in a jumper or not, as this is such a worthwhile cause and a time of year to think of others less fortunate than ourselves.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/brum-xmas-dinner

Thank you for your support!