Newsletter 27.03.2025 - Manor High School

Headteacher’s Update

Dear Families

As we reach the end of what has been a relatively short but busy term, this newsletter shares with you the diverse range of activities that have taken place across school this term.

One of the aspects we are most proud of this term has been the proactive engagement of our Student Leadership Team, who have come forward with a series of thoughtful and creative suggestions for enriching school life. These proposals have resulted in a number of successful initiatives that have captured the imagination and participation of our students, staff and also parents. A book swap has provided students with the opportunity to exchange and discover new reading material, whilst a talent contest has showcased the range of abilities and interests of our students. Additionally, a staff quiz organised by students has provided an engaging platform for friendly competition and interaction between staff (won by our Maths department!) fostering a sense of community and mutual respect.

This week has seen the culmination of these efforts in our whole school Spirit week, which has been particularly successful in promoting connection and understanding across the school. The week has been structured to allow for deeper engagement between students and staff, with students having the opportunity to discover more about their teachers through suggested activities. Our tutor sessions have been focused on encouraging students to reflect upon and articulate what they are proud of, promoting positive self-reflection and recognition of achievement. The week has also featured a student-led bake sale and student-led tutor times, which have empowered our students to take ownership of their school experience and contribute actively to the life of the school. Tutor time finished today with rewards sessions held during tutor time, recognising and celebrating the contributions and achievements of our students throughout the week.

This morning we have gathered all of our students that have have shown exceptional commitment to their attendance to our Study Centre. We have rewarded those who have achieved 100% attendance so far this year with an Easter egg. This recognition acknowledges the dedication of these students, who have been, quite simply, eggcellent (!) in their approach to attendance and their commitment to their education.

We don’t stop entirely next week though, and have a series of sessions running for Year 11 during the Easter break. The relevant students and parents have been notified of required attendance separately to this correspondence.

We hope your children have a restful break and we look forward to seeing all students back at the usual time on Monday 13^th April.

Happy Easter

Mr S Greiff

Department Highlights from Last Term

MFL

In the spring term, all students in Year 7 have experienced Spanish taster lessons and have been asked to carefully consider their language option for Year 8. Thank you to all who have completed the language survey in order for us to timetable language options for the academic year 2026/27.

This term, the Modern Languages department was delighted to host a fabulous performance of Un Ensayo Desastroso by @onattiprodsltd for 270 Year 8 and 9 Spanish students. Two native-speaking Spanish actors performed for our students in this tale of a disastrous theatre rehearsal of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet! There was some incredible audience participation by our wonderful students and everyone was engaged throughout and given the opportunity to use their language skills in a real-life context. Next half term, @onattiprodsltd will return to Manor High School when two French actors will perform for our students in Years 8 and 9.

Preparations for the Manor High School Barcelona trip 2026 are well underway and we look forward to sharing this experience with students in Years 9 and 10 in the summer term! Mrs Rodríguez politely requests that all paperwork is returned to school reception to aid the smooth running of the trip as soon as possible.

This year, Year 11 GCSE French & Spanish speaking examinations are taking place from 23^rd April to 1^st May. Before students begin their Easter break they will have been given their individual dates and times for their face-to-face examination with their class teacher. This is the first GCSE examination of the 2026 exam series and is worth 25% of students’ overall GCSE grades, so it is crucial that students prepare thoroughly using their speaking revision guide that the department has produced for them. Bonne chance! ¡Buena suerte! Good luck!

Maths

It has been another busy and successful term in the Maths Department, with students across all year groups demonstrating commitment, resilience, and enthusiasm for their learning. We are delighted to share some of the highlights with you.

Year 11 Students of the Term

Congratulations to Malachi H, Fatima G and Kylan P, who were crowned our Year 11 Maths Students of the Term in January. Each student received an Amazon voucher in recognition of their hard work and dedication throughout the winter term.

We look forward to celebrating our Spring Term winners after the Easter break.

UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge

Well done to our Year 10 students who were selected to take part in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge in February. This national competition encourages mathematical reasoning, precision, and problem-solving skills, challenging students to think beyond the standard curriculum.

We are incredibly proud of all students who participated, and especially those who achieved certificates:

Gold Certificates: Quaresma D., Aarun G., Zacharia P., Zeainab S., Anna S., Samin U.
Silver Certificates: Muhammed A., Martin C., Amelia D., Safaa G., James H., Sara H., Yusuf I., Ria M., Sukhmani N., Keir O., Zara P., Anushka R., Nafisa S., Noah S., Isa V.
Bronze Certificates: Arthur B., Simran G., Eleri H., Safiya I., Maryam M., Shauna P., Ishaan S., Balraj S., Henry Z.
Participation Certificates: Aaliyah A., Aleena K., Yousuf A., Marcy K., Yusif A., Katharine M., Amal A., Yusuf M., Isa A., Ahmed M., Joel B., Khadijah M., Akaal B., Faria M., Yusuf B., Amalia N., Archie C., Maariyah O., Yusuf D., Aleisha P., Shreya D., Ahmed P., Jack D., Muhammad R. R., Hawa G., Taran S., Isaac G., Vinaya S., Zahra J., Ruhama U., Taran K., Milly W., Amal K.

Special Congratulations – Pink Kangaroo Qualifiers

A remarkable achievement goes to Quaresma D., Aarun G., Zacharia P., and Zeainab S., who qualified for the prestigious Pink Kangaroo follow-on round. This places them among the top performers nationally—an outstanding accomplishment.

UKMT Team Maths Challenge

In March, Mr Gurugi took a team of Year 8 and 9 students to Leicester Grammar School to compete in the UKMT Team Maths Challenge. This exciting event involves rounds focused on teamwork, cross-number puzzles, and mathematical relays, requiring students to apply logic, communication, and problem-solving under pressure.

Our students represented the school brilliantly, showing excellent collaboration and resilience throughout the competition.

Maths Club

Our weekly Maths Club continues to be well attended, providing students with valuable support and enrichment opportunities.

When: Every Wednesday, 3:15pm – 4:00pm
Where: Sports Centre Room 1
Led by: Mr Clothier

All students are welcome to attend, whether they are looking for help with homework or aiming to stretch their mathematical thinking further.

Year 11 Maths and Statistics PPEs

Year 11 students have recently completed their Maths and Statistics PPEs and have received detailed feedback. These assessments are an important milestone, helping students identify strengths and areas for development as they prepare for their final examinations in May and June.

We encourage students to act on this feedback and continue their focused revision in the weeks ahead.

Sparx Maths

We are delighted to see so many students engaging consistently with Sparx Maths. Numerous certificates and reward points have been awarded to both individuals and tutor groups who continue to excel.

Please look out for mentions in the weekly parent email celebrating students with the highest completion rates—your support in encouraging regular practice at home makes a significant difference.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support of the Maths Department.

English & Media

This spring term, students across Years 7-11 have shown fantastic engagement, creativity, and progress in both English and Media.

In Year 7, students have built strong foundations through their exploration of an introduction to Shakespeare, developing confidence in understanding language, character, and performance. Year 8 have expanded their cultural awareness through studying poetry from around the world, producing thoughtful and creative responses to a diverse range of voices and perspectives.

Year 9 students have shown great enthusiasm in their study of Blood Brothers, demonstrating empathy and analytical skill in exploring themes such as social class and fate. In Year 10, students have tackled the start of their study of Macbeth, developing increasingly sophisticated interpretations and honing their essay-writing skills. Year 11 students have worked diligently in their continued revision in the lead-up to their GCSEs, showing resilience and determination as they prepare for their final examinations.

In Media, Year 10 students have made an excellent start to their NEA coursework this term. They have begun developing advertising campaigns, either promoting a new social realism film (inspired by those of Ken Loach) or creating an upmarket travel campaign designed to attract visitors to Leicester. Their work has already shown creativity, planning skills, and a strong understanding of audience and purpose.

Year 11 Media students have successfully completed their NEA coursework this spring term, producing engaging and imaginative gossip magazines. These projects highlight their technical skills, creativity, and ability to apply media conventions effectively.

This term also saw a fantastic celebration of World Book Day, with students taking part in an inspiring author visit and engaging creative writing workshops. These events encouraged a love of reading and writing across the school, giving students the opportunity to explore their creativity and gain insight into the writing process from a professional perspective. As part of the day, students also created alternative book covers across Years 7-10 and some of these examples were outstanding!

We are incredibly proud of all students for their hard work and achievements this term. Their commitment and enthusiasm continue to make English and Media vibrant and successful subjects across the school.

Science

In January we welcomed Zoolab to school, bringing an extraordinary array of creatures that captivated our students. Imagine the excitement as groups encountered tarantulas, cockroaches, and snakes!

Our recent science and geography field trip to Iceland in early March proved to be an unforgettable experience combining spectacular landscapes with hands-on learning about geology, energy, and Icelandic culture. It built student character, and we hope to provide more opportunities for students to enrich their lives, and provided long lasting positive memories.

During British Science Week, KS3 students have took part in a series of web chats with real scientists! The topics included STEM careers, Robotics and Aerospace engineering. Discussions ranged from which A levels the scientists had chosen, favourite subjects at school and best aspects of their current role. We thank Mrs Jenkin for organising these events and giving up her time.

Our eco club has been busy has revamping the school’s Greenhouse, and busy growing plants from seeds, ready to grow at the school to enhance our schools’ environment.

SEND Art Competitions

The SEND art competition winners this year have produced a range of different creative projects including a panel from a Manga, a giraffe breaking free from the page and a K-pop idol. The final pieces showcased the many types of artistic styles and talents that our SEND students possess and have been really impressive overall.

Students have been using their imagination and artistic abilities in the Hives Creature Creator Competition. This current competition has required students to draw a picture of their creature, create a suitable name and habitat as well as identifying what special features they have for their environment. Students have also had a chance to witness Mr Hings’ amazing drawing skills!! We look forward to announcing the winner next term!

SEND Reading Challenge

Students have been documenting their reading minutes using the Mario reading minutes tracker display in the Hive. Currently the student who has logged the most time read is sitting at 10 hours and 23 minutes! Mr Hings has also been logging his reading minutes for students to follow and has clocked up hours reading The Pirates Code which is not at all like his favourite movie Pirates of the Caribbean! Congratulations to all students who immerse themselves in the world of literature. It can have a positive impact on both academic and creative success as well as overall wellbeing.

Cognition and Learning Interventions

Students took part in many small starter activities to get their brains engaged during their Cognition and Learning interventions. There have been some outstanding examples of hard work and learning, such as the Timetables Standoff in which students had to channel their inner cowboys/cowgirls in order to beat the other with the quickest answer. Another stand out session was that of the Broken Calculator during which students had to press buttons from Mr Hings’ oversized calculator. The catch was, they were unable to use certain buttons such as the plus button or some of the numbers this meant they had to think of various ways to formulate the correct answer. Some really creative routes were explored!

We are delighted to announce that Poppy (Year 8) has won the Young Writers Competition for Her poem, My Home, has been published in the anthology “I Have a Dream” a fantastic achievement!

Please join us in congratulating Poppy and celebrating her outstanding writing success!

Social Emotional Mental Health Support

We have been incredibly proud of the dedication, resilience and progress shown by our students across all years during our SEMH intervention sessions. These targeted support sessions have provided valuable opportunities for students to strengthen key skills, build confidence and resilience, maintain long lasting friendships and to articulate their feelings and emotions. What has stood out most is the positive attitude students have brought to each session. They have engaged thoughtfully, supported one another, and embraced challenges with determination.

Some key moments that we are extremely proud of are our Year 8’s who are part of the Smart Moves- Resilience Intervention. The focus has been on ‘worries and stress’ and in exploring these, they have enjoyed taking part in a variety of active tasks to deepen understanding. A recent activity involved a student carrying the heavy bags of all the other students, each bag representing a worry. With the help of a second student, bags were taken off and carried between the two of them, signifying how sharing worries can reduce the load or burden one can feel. They were able to explain the significance of the task linked to sharing and lightening worries and identified what they would do to help each other with ‘worries and stress’ to enhance their resilience. A fantastically mature approach was shown by all!

Our Year 9’s have excelled in our Connect & Thrive Friendship Intervention and demonstrated sound knowledge of what ’empathy’ means. They took part in various activities and explored scenarios where empathy would need to be shown. They furthered their learning through identifying ways in which they could demonstrate empathy and were able to communicate this through creative ways, such as using comic strips to bring these scenarios to life.

Our wonderful Year 10’s have completed their Resilience Intervention which focused on stress, peer pressure, friendships and support circles. The themes matched identified concerns for this age group and enable students to explore their common concerns and difficulties in a safe space. The honesty and maturity of individual students really helped to enrich the overall experience of others in the group. Congratulations Year 10 for working have really hard and for engaging well throughout these sessions.

Staff

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Mr Hings who has managed to get a new personal best during the 10K Run For All that he completed on Sunday 1st March 2026. He managed to complete the race in 47 minutes and 32 seconds which is a great result. Through this, Mr Hings has really embraced our core values Excellence, Inspiration and Resilience…and we Respect you for the effort you have made for a great cause. Well done Mr Hings!

After a very busy and productive term, we would like to remind you of the importance of looking after yourself and each other. Finding time to focus on wellbeing can be difficult but the impact that it can have can be huge. Some ideas that might peak your interest are as follows and may help to fill some of the days that are not spent in school.

The SEND Team wish you and your family a very restful break and look forward to welcoming you back in April.

British Science Week Poster Competition

British Science Week Poster competition: what makes children’s lives positive?

Thank you to everyone who has already submitted an entry to our poster competition – the final deadline is April 1^st so we can select entries to represent the school in the national competition!

You can send entries by email to Mrs Jenkin, kjenkin@mhs.oaktrust.org

Here are some pictures of current entries for inspiration!

Sparx Maths Student of the Week

We’re delighted to celebrate this week’s Sparx Maths Student of the Week! This recognition is awarded to Boris of 7.1 who has shown outstanding effort, determination, and commitment to their independent learning on Sparx. Their hard work not only strengthens their mathematical skills but also sets a fantastic example for their peers. Well done – we are very proud of their achievement!

Jenson Brings Home Bronze and Takes on Europe

Jenson from 10.5 has clearly not been taking it easy this half term! He threw himself (and a few opponents) in the British Schools’ Judo Championship, battled through three matches, and came away with a well-earned bronze medal—nice work! 🥉

As if that wasn’t enough, he also took his talents international, heading to Rome for a European Cup match where he faced off against another competitor. No big deal… just casually doing judo across Europe!

Brilliant effort, Jenson—keep it up!

County Finals Success for Year 7!

A huge congratulations to the Year 7 boys who qualified (before Christmas) and competed in the Leicestershire Sports hall Athletics finals in Coalville. Performing in a range of sprinting, throwing and jumping events, the boys finished in 3^rd place overall. The resilience shown by all the boys was excellent and to medal in such a high quality event is something we are all proud of here at Manor.

Attendance

Following the success of non-uniform day for our top performing tutor groups in February, we are running the same incentive in March. Make sure you are in school to try and earn your tutor group a non-uniform day.

Attendance matters – we love seeing our students in school as they are a part of our community and being in school helps them to maintain social interactions and of course progress with their knowledge and understanding in their subject areas. Students are expected to be in school for 190 days per year. Please do avoid taking your child out of school. By being in school students can:

Develop friendships further
Interact positively with peers
Interact positively with staff and learn about developing professional relationships (key future skill)
Develop key life skills (teamwork, cooperation, communication, achieving success, dealing with setbacks to name a few)
Develop and improve their knowledge and understanding in a range of different subjects areas (giving keys skills and knowledge for their future)

We have created a document around our attendance procedures which can be found on our web site here: Attendance-procedures-Manor-High-School.pdf This is located in our attendance area on the website which is here: Attendance – Manor High School – Oadby

Our attendance figures as of 3pm on Friday 20^th March were:

Year 11 – 92.7%

Year 10 – 91.2%

Year 9 – 93.4%

Year 8 – 94.5%

Year 7 – 95.6%

Alumni

We would love former students to come into Manor High School to talk to students (with staff) about their experiences of post 16 education, university, the world of work and more! If you are interested in helping please contact us!

Celebrating success stories

We endeavour to share our students’ positive stories during tutor time and where we can during assemblies. If a student has achieved or accomplished something please do share it with your tutor. Your tutor will be able to celebrate this during in tutor time and share with the relevant Standards and Progress Leader. We can then use some to celebrate with the whole year group in assembly. We have so many amazing students and we want to share as many of their positive stories as we can.