Senior Citizen Party

27th November 2014Miss T GAUGHAN

Hello all,

The year 12 students from St. Joan of Arc’s ARC group (Active Roman Catholics) are raising awareness to organise a Senior citizens party this Christmas. This will take place at St Joan of Arc’s Hall on the 5th December. As Roman Catholics, Jesus taught us to love thy neighbour and by organising a Senior citizens part we are following the teachings of Jesus. We hope that the Senior Citizens enjoy the spread that we have put on and that they are reminded that there are people in society who think of them and they are not isolated nor neglected.

Photos of the event will be posted shortly.

Year 12 A.R.C Media group

 

Lessons for Life!

8th September 2014Mrs H WALKER

As Food becomes part of the National Curriculum again, it is time to celebrate and recognise the reasons why it is so important for our pupils. I have quoted from an article in Waitrose Kitchen, which sums it up nicely:
‘Food brings people together – literally. Just as families benefit from sitting down to break bread every day, so do schools.
Teaching children about food – how to grow, harvest and cook it – doesn’t just set them up with healthy eating habits, it also gives them practical insights into many traditional academic subjects.
There are also broader social benefits. The problems caused by bad diet and the loss of cooking skills are finally being recognised in government. Obesity, asthma, sleep apnoea, hypertension and type 2 diabetics cost the NHS £6bn a year. One in ten children are obese when they start primary school.
So from this month, all pupils will – in the words of the new curriculum – ‘be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating’. By the age of 14 they should be able to ‘cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes so that they are able to feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet’.
If we, as a country, can succeed in making this happen, we will not only reduce the burden on the NHS, but we will create a generation of children who are healthier, achieve more and experience the great pleasure that can come from cooking’.

I am looking forward to being a key part of your food education (I hope you show off your new skills at home!)
See you in Food and Nutrition.

Mrs Walker

Watford Observer Chess Cup Review

24th March 2014Richard Kelly

Watford Observer

Hat-trick hero Clewley helps Rickmansworth School regain Chess Cup

Captain Dom Clewley led from the front as Rickmansworth School beat St Joan of Arc 25-21 in dramatic fashion to regain the Chess Cup.

Wednesday saw the ninth annual rugby match between the two schools, with St Joan of Arc going into the clash as defending champions after their 12-10 win 12 months ago to claim the trophy for a fourth time since the inaugural contest in 2006.

Rickmansworth started positively, scoring an early penalty and try to take 10-0 lead.

Rickmansworth’s pressure continued, with Clewley scoring his first of three tries, to make the score 15-0.

Not deterred, St Joan of Arc came roaring back from the kick off. A quickly-taken penalty saw Joan of Arc dart in under the posts to reduce the deficit to 15-7.

With half-time close though, their opponents scored a slightly fortuitous try to make the score 20-7 at the interval.

Two converted tries in the second half saw a turnaround in momentum and on the scoreboard, with Joan of Arc leading 21-20.

But in one final twist, Rickmansworth retook the lead late on with Clewley completing his hat-trick to secure a 25-21 win.

Clewley was rightly named man-of-the-match for Rickmansworth, with Conor Hewitt-Coleman picking up the same accolade for Joan of Arc.

Rickmansworth’s coach Sam Perry said afterwards: “The Chess Cup is such a fantastic event for both schools, demonstrated by the amount of supporters here today. Today’s game was of a superb standard and credit to both teams.”

© Copyright 2001-2014 Newsquest Media Group

Drama Department

11th March 2014Richard Kelly

The Drama department at St Joan of Arc produces a wide range of vibrant and engaging work and offers students across the school the opportunity to be expressive and creative and the platform to perform.  We currently have four members of teaching staff with a total of 40 years teaching experience between us and we are all passionate about Drama in Education

Drama at St Joan of Arc is a practically focused subject, enabling our students to explore, create and develop in a way that complements academic skills. A purpose-built Drama facility comprising two practical classrooms or one black-box performance space has been in use for 6 years now; furnished with professional-standard lighting, sound and AV equipment, this facility enhances all of ur performance work for GCSE and GCE examinations.

Teaching and Learning is pupil-centred with the focus very much being learning through a creative and experimental process. Drama at St Joan of Arc allows students an element of freedom and ownership which boosts their confidence across all subject areas nurturing communication, leadership and teamwork skills. Assessment for learning is evident through the regular setting of SMART targets, both in a formal and informal capacity.

At Key Stage 3 pupils are taught Drama in Year 8 for one lesson per week.  The course covers both basic drama skills and transferable group skills including collaboration/ team work, use of script/ text in performance, devising, exploration of text, response to stimuli and written/ verbal evaluation.  We look at both modern and classic drama texts with students as well as giving our Year 8 students the opportunity to view the performance work of GCSE and AS students and to attend a ‘rewards’ trip for high achieving ATLs which in 2014 will be “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.  In Year 9, we also offer students the opportunity to take part in a ‘taster’ GCSE session in order to assist them in making an informed option choice as they progress into Year 10.

At Key Stage 4, pupils follow the Edexcel GCSE Drama course and pupils build on the skills and knowledge put in place at KS3 . Historically, the department has consistently achieved very positive results, both in comparison with other subjects in the school and in comparison with national figures; it is clear from data analysis that we ‘add value’ as a department. We have also developed a tradition of entering students as Performance Support (Set / Costume / Sound/ Lighting/ Make-up design) candidates. This has proved to be a challenging venture for the department and an excellent opportunity for those students targeted.  Live Theatre is an important part of the course and in 2013/14,  GCSE students have attended performances of “The Curious Incident of the Dog  in the Night-time”,  “The Canterbury Tales” and “The Woman in Black”.

At Key Stage 5, pupils follow the Edexcel GCE Drama and Theatre Studies course for which two members of the department are experienced examiners. Again results are consistently well above the national average and were among the highest results in the school. The curriculum is also reviewed regularly to raise achievement and maintain challenge and play-texts studied are changed regularly to fit each cohort and to keep the teaching of these units fresh, practically-focused and highly engaging.  Live Theatre is an important part of the GCE course even more so than at GCSE and in 2013/14,  A level students have attended performances of “1984”,  “Antigone” and “Ghosts”.

We also run a number of well-attended Drama Clubs for students across Years 7-11 supported by our sixth form Drama students.. In recent years students have performed in local as well as staging performances within school.  Our 2013 production “Eliza” was very well attended across three nights of performance last February; our abridged version of “Twelfth Night” performed on the professional stage at Watersmeet Theatre as part of the nationwide Shakespeare School’s Festival in October 2013 and was highly commended by the festival organisers.  In 2014 so far, we have collaborated with the English and RE/ ARC departments, as well as Watford Palace Theatre and the charity Special Connections to run workshops where Drama is used to support AGT achievement and to offer our students the opportunity to support SEN students from other schools, boosting achievement through extra-curricular enrichment.