Menu

• Headteacher's Statement
• News Items
• Newsletters
• Vacancies
• About Us
• Contact Us
• Community
• Extended Services
• Prospectus

The Manor School Website

February Half Term Activities

For information about fun activities that are on over half-term, go to the 'Varied Activities' page of the Extended Services section. There is information about a variety of activities, some of which are free of charge! ..

Year 8 and Year 9 Information Evenings

Over the next few weeks all Year 8 & 9 students will be informed of the courses available to them in Years 9 & 10, as they enter Key Stage 4. We would like to invite all parent/carers of Years 8 & 9 students to an information evening.

Year 8 Information Evening is to be held on Tuesday 23rd February at 7.00pm in Manor Hall.

Year 9 Information Evening is to be held on Wednesday 24th February at 7.00pm in Manor Hall.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Keele Survey

Students are happy at school, think learning is important and have good relationships with their teachers, according to our latest survey. Their parents support them well and they get on with each other, too.

This year 298 students from randomly selected classes took part in the annual Keele Survey, a national survey run by Keele University. In it our school's results are compared annually with those of thousands of students from all over the UK. Once again the findings are extremely encouraging, with yet more improvements on last year's results.

"At Manor, the overall pattern of pupil response is more positive than average for schools…particularly in respect to pupil teacher relationships and overall pupil satisfaction," says the summary.

Once again 95% of Manor students say they are happy at school compared with 88% nationally, with 83% saying it is a good school (72% nationally). 75% say the school's rules are fair - that's 17% higher than the national average.

Manor students have a positive attitude to the work they do with 91% saying work is important to them (87% nationally), 84% (77% nationally) saying they work as hard as they can and 59% (54%) saying they sometimes get so interested in their work that they don't want to stop. 85% (74% nationally) say they have opportunities for extra learning support and study sessions outside school time, and an impressive 91% (76% nationally) say that there are lots of activities like sport and drama to take part in at lunchtime and after school.

Students have good relationships with their teachers with 76% (70% nationally) saying they enjoy most of their teaching. 82% (69%) say teachers really listen to what they have to say. 62% (54%) say teachers are prepared to take the time to discuss progress with individual students and show them how to improve their work.

Parental support is extremely positive, with 84% (78%) saying parents ask about school and 93% (87%) saying parents help and advise about school work - though slightly fewer than the national average say their parents attend Parents' Evenings.

Peer group influence, which was an area for development last year, is looking much healthier this year: with fewer students than nationally saying lessons are disrupted; fewer claiming that children make fun of hard working students; and only half the national average (4% compared with 8% nationally) feeling bullying is a regular problem - though of course we all want to see these figures reduced still further. 79% of students (74%) say they rarely or never behave badly at school.

An area needing further development is homework , which students perceive as being set less regularly than the national average, though 76% (64% nationally) say they have their homework regularly marked by their teachers. We continue to implement plans to tackle this issue.

We never stop trying to improve our students' and parents' experience of school, and we'd be the last to rest on our laurels. Nevertheless there's no denying that once again the survey paints an optimistic picture of students who are happy, hard-working and enjoy the opportunities they have at school.

Paris Visit

A party of 40 Year 10 gifted and talented students and 4 members of staff braved the ice and snow and departed for a 4-day Mathematics trip to Disneyland Paris at 6am on Sunday 10th January 2010, travelling by coach and Eurotunnel. The roads were eerily quiet and despite the snow they arrived at Hotel Cheyenne in Disneyland resort late afternoon. After an evening meal in the hotel, the party visited Disney Village where they had time to look around the shops and cafes.

On the Monday students (and staff!) spent free time in Disneyland Theme Park enjoying the rides and collecting information for their project. Monday was a 'Magic Hour' day in Disney, where guests staying at Disney hotels could enter the park at 8am - 2 hours before the park opened to the public. Needless to say full advantage was taken of this! During the morning they attended a seminar in the Gaumont cinema complex entitled 'Maths in Action' which explored the use of Mathematics in rollercoaster design, with the afternoon spent back on the rides. After a busy day the group returned to the hotel for an evening meal and some chill-out time!

Tuesday was spent in the Disney Studios Theme Park, enjoying yet more rides. The party left the Park to attend a lunchtime seminar on 'Architecture and Theme Park Operations' looking at how Maths is used in relation to park design, returning to Disney Studios for the afternoon where most of the group watched a stunt show whilst others took advantage of the shorter queue rides. After the park closed the students had a meal in Disney Village with Planet Hollywood proving to be the restaurant of choice for the majority, before attending the third and final seminar on 'Finance & Market Research' in the evening.

Snow fell overnight and Paris was a blanket of white on Wednesday morning when the party once again braved the weather and departed for Calais, arriving at the Eurotunnel terminal for an earlier crossing than planned. Luckily, due to the weather, the roads were quiet and they all arrived safely back in Mansfield Woodhouse at 6.30pm.

"I'm No Hero" by Tangere Arts

Winding Wheel

"Their pit, their lives, your memory, our wheel."

Charlotte's tribute wins Sherwood Colliery memorial slogan competition.

Sixty Year 8 students entered the competition, organised by the Mansfield Woodhouse Community Development group and Mansfield District Council, to write a slogan for the new pit half-wheel on Sherwood Rise, which commemorates all those who worked and died at Sherwood Colliery. The winner, Charlotte Crowson, and three runners-up, Bethany Boulton, Jack Hannant and Connor Green, were all from The Manor School.

Mr Hickman commented. "In the discussion and writing inspired by the competition, the Year 8 students showed their sense of community, their respect for the miners and their families who helped to build it, empathy with their suffering and admiration of their loyalty and strength. Many students spoke of family members who had, or still have, links with the mining industry. Their sense of connection with their history was strong and it was a moving experience to read their slogans."

Dr Bill Pearce and representatives of the Council and the Community Development group, made a presentation to all the entrants, who received a certificate. Charlotte also won £100 in High Street vouchers. She will be invited to an official opening of the half-wheel in spring, and her name will be displayed on a plaque on the brickwork.

We are proud that Charlotte's tribute, representing the young people of the community, will appear on the wheel. Congratulations to her, to the runners-up, and to everyone who took part.