Year 9 Options Update 

Many thanks to all parents for completing the online Options Form.  The forms are currently being collated, and we are producing a number of models that fit the most students we can. 

Letters to confirm Option Subjects for GCSE subjects starting in Year 10 will be sent out to all parents by the end of the second week back in school after Easter.

Changes to measures and guidance for managing COVID-19 in education and childcare settings from Friday 1 April

On Tuesday 29 March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the next steps for living with COVID-19 in England from Friday 1 April.

Updated guidance advises:

Covid Booster Jabs

As we approach the Easter break, the NHS Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group is reminding all 12- 15 year-olds and those aged 16 to 17 to get their second or booster jabs. 

“As we approach the Bank Holiday and with schools breaking up, it is a great opportunity for young people to get their vaccination, especially if you are planning a break away from home” said Rebecca Neno, Director of Covid and Influenza Vaccination Programmes, NHS Lincolnshire CCG.

“It is important that we continue to vaccinate our young people to protect them from serious illness and long Covid but also because by protecting them it gives reassurance to any older family or grandparents that they may be visiting over the Easter break”

Anyone aged 16 and 17 or ‘at risk’ 12- 15 year-olds who had their second vaccination 12 weeks ago, are now eligible to book an appointment for their booster. In addition, those young people aged 12-15 who had their first vaccination 12 weeks ago, are eligible to book an appointment for their second dose. Please remember that unlike adults who can be vaccinated 4 weeks after a Covid infection, those aged 12-17 need to wait 12 weeks following a positive Covid test before vaccination. 

‘To date 66% of 12- 15 year-olds have come forward for a first vaccination in Lincolnshire but so far only 37% of those eligible have come forward for a second vaccination. To achieve maximum protection, it is important that the primary course, consisting of a first and second dose is completed’ adds Rebecca.

Appointments can be booked via the National Booking System or by calling 119, and a person that holds parental consent must accompany the 12-15 year old during their appointment.

For more information on where you can get your vaccination visit: https://lincolnshireccg.nhs.uk/grab-a-jab/

Lunchtime arrangements

Like in domestic settings school energy costs and food costs are increasing and students may see this reflected in some adjustments to prices in The Chill. From the start of Term 4 students who qualify for free school meals will be able to select from the hot food menu at the adjusted price of £2.40 which will allow them:

• Meal Deal 1 - Hot Meal of the Day with potatoes, vegetables and piece of fruit £2.40
• Sandwich and piece of fruit £2.00

Other menu items are available for all students but may incur an additional cost for those who qualify for free school meals: please help your child to choose carefully. Prices are available on the website and all food is served in packaging which is as eco-friendly as possible within reasonable price points.

Water coolers are placed around the school site including in The Chill. Students are encouraged to bring refillable bottles each day, with 5 minute movement time between lessons and breaks 1 and 2 providing a chance to refill.

Our Senior Prefect Teams 

A huge thank you to Jessamy, Matt, Alexia, Kieran, Millie and Jamie who have fulfilled their roles within the Senior Prefect Team with flying colours. It’s been a pleasure to work with them over the past year, and they have our admiration and appreciation for the work that they have done.

Congratulations to Angus (Head Boy), Meera (Head Girl), Sophie and Amelia (Deputy Head Girls), Lucas and Josh (Deputy Head Boys) and Edward and Zosia (Heads of School Council) on being appointed to the Senior Prefect Team. The students will shadow the current team before officially taking their positions in April/May.

The British Biology Olympiad (BBO) challenges and stimulates students with an interest in biology to expand and extend their talents. It enables students to demonstrate their talent and to be suitably rewarded with publicly recognised certificates.

The BBO is open to students in post-16 education studying at school or college. The competition consisted of two, 45-minute multiple choice papers taken online.

Students were presented with topics and ideas with which they are not familiar, so competed with their problem-solving skills and understanding of core principles.

All students gain participation certificate and a year’s free membership to the Royal Society of Biology BioNet, an online biology resource.

Nationally, 60% of students are awarded a Commendation or higher.  10/14 of our students (70%) achieved a commendation or higher. 

Results

Participation: Holly, Charlie, Phoebe, Molly 

Commended: Georgia 

Highly Commended: Natasha, Ami-Mai, Emma 

Bronze: Stevie, Ethan, Georgiana

Silver: Hannah, Lauren

Gold: Bethany 

 Huge Congratulations to everyone and especially to the medallists.

 Children of Courage Award

On 23 March, the Sleaford Rotary Club held their annual Children of Courage Awards Ceremony at The William Alvey School. These awards recognise students at local schools who have shown courage and resilience in the face of difficult personal or family circumstances, including illness, bereavement and many other challenges.

Seven students were nominated by their schools to receive awards and one of those was Carre’s Year 7 student William Swan-Dennis, who despite an extraordinary childhood has flourished in his first year at secondary school.

William was diagnosed with cancer when he was just a few weeks old and would later have a liver transplant. His illness has never defined William but has of course been a huge obstacle for him to overcome, yet his achievements at school and the way he has settled so quickly in his new environment have been extremely pleasing to see.

In addition, William lost his older brother Tom, himself a former Carrensian, to cancer in 2020. William has been determined to thrive at Carre’s in his brother’s memory, and he has certainly done just that so far.

Everyone at Carre’s is delighted that William has been honoured with this prestigious award.

On the Saturday 26 March 2022, Carre’s Grammar School hosted and competed in the National Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial Competition against Lincolnshire schools, Priory Witham and Haven High. We were able to enter 2 teams of Year 9 and 10 students to see if Carre’s had the best legal minds in the county!

Since November the students had been working incredibly hard to prepare for the trial of the century! Every lunchtime, we had to analyse the evidence, question the witness statements and prepare the opening and closing speeches of the lawyers - all leading to the final moment in Court on Saturday.

Each team consisted of a prosecution and defence as well as the essential court staff: the Legal Adviser, the Usher and three highly respected Magistrates. Haven High and Priory Witham had also been preparing the same case, hoping to beat our teams.

The case was centred around online harassment. A fake Instagram account had been set up, which displayed unflattering images of the victim and abusive texts and emails had also been sent to them.

In my opinion, the whole experience was fantastic. We put a lot of hard work in but had a lot of fun doing it. The adrenaline of standing up in court and being questioned as a witness (Euan) was great and something I am really proud of. As a magistrate (James), I had less to prepare in advance but a particularly busy day on trial day, as I had to take part in two trials. It felt empowering to be making such a big decision- are they guilty or not?

On the day, out of the four cases that Carre’s Grammar competed in, we won three: the prosecution and defence of Year 10, and the defence of Year 9. This didn’t necessarily mean we won the whole thing, as each individual student was judged on their own specific criteria by the volunteer solicitors, judges and magistrates who were running the competition.

Once the final scores had been added up, we were delighted to discover that Carre’s had won the scored the most points, by a mile, and therefore we were awarded the Lincolnshire Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial trophy. We are now the Lincolnshire Champions in this prestigious national competition! Now we are just looking forward to our opportunity to go into a real court and witness the events of a real trial.

We would like to thank the organisers of the competition for giving us an opportunity despite the uncertainty of Covid and the sixth formers for their help on the day and in the build-up.

Of course, we also need to thank Mrs Goymer and Mrs Angell for giving us the opportunity to experience legal life and for helping lead us to victory! 

Euan and James 10W

Volleyball Newsletter

Our Under-15 volleyball team played in their second Volleyball England Junior Grand Prix on Saturday 5 March. This one was different for a couple of notable reasons: the team was entering the top tier of competition (typically the best 8 junior teams in England!) for the first time and the trip was a slightly longer one – all the way to Wood Green in North London!

The standard was incredibly high, which we fully expected having been drawn to face established volleyball clubs from Farnborough, London and Leeds. As we arrived on site at St Thomas More Catholic School, the first match was being played, and we sat down to watch an awesome display of hitting from London Lynx, in particular. The boys (and their coach!) were a little apprehensive but excited about the challenge ahead.

Understanding that we were by some distance the least experienced team here, I set the team a target other than winning matches, to try to keep spirits and motivation high and relieve any feelings of pressure. We agreed that winning 10 points in any given set would be a fair measure of success and that if we achieved that, we could take it from there. We were pleasantly surprised, therefore, when we won the first set against Farnborough Devils, 25-21! Our opponents improved and took the second set 25-13, setting up what would be a tense decider. In an amazing third set, we had a match-point before agonisingly losing 17-15 and falling to a 2-1 defeat. Even if this had been our only match, it would already have been worth the journey.

Facing Leeds and then London was a daunting prospect, especially after having officiated the match between the two, a brilliant game that Leeds edged, 2-1. We employed Harry as a libero, allowing James some valuable court time and meaning we could share the on-court minutes around nicely elsewhere. Leeds were extremely impressive, but we easily surpassed our scoring goals as they beat us 25-14, 25-17. A moral victory?!

London Lynx versus Carre’s was the last match in a long day, but the boys were enjoying testing themselves and were beginning to bond more and more as a team unit. A strong performance of control and some energetic defence kept the first set close for most of the way, before we lost it 25-19. The second set would likely be our last of the day and the boys were determined to keep improving. The team competed for every point and played some excellent volleyball to keep it very close. As we called a time-out at 20-23 down, we realised that a good run of points here could pinch this set, never mind reaching 10 points! The boys were inspired and came back on court to win the next four points with some great serving from Charlie C and almost unbelievably we had a set-point, to take a set off the team who we had been so in awe just a few hours earlier. The neutrals in the hall were now right behind the Carre’s team. Charlie served well and London could only manage to loop a ball over the net on their third touch. The ball flew towards the baseline, and we left it and watched it bounce amazingly close to the line. The line judge signalled that the ball was out but was quickly overruled by the referee, who cut our celebrations short and determined that the ball had caught the back edge of the line! VAR, anyone?! Heartbreak followed as the lads ultimately lost out 25-27 and London took the match 2-0.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience from the first minute to the last and were a credit to the school throughout, again! The team now progress to the Finals at the National Volleyball Centre on Saturday 9 April – matches between the top 8 teams in the competition that will be streamed live online. So you can watch if you want to cheer us on! Although this team will again be the least experienced group in the event, they can’t wait to experience the NVC and test themselves against the best players in their age group.

Congratulations to Dan, Archie, Charlie G, Finn, Charlie C, Adrian, James, Harry and Sam!
 

Carre’s 2nd XI won the County Cup after beating Spalding Grammar School 2-1 after extra time in a thriller!

A goal by Alex gave us a lead which was cancelled out before Jack hit a screamer from range. Champions! 

The First X1 made it 2 trophies in 2 weeks for the U18s with a 2-0 win over King’s in the A League Cup.

A good team performance with goals in the first half from Wicks and Richardson secured the silverware.

The Year 7 Basketball Team are County Champions after beating King's School 2-14 in their final county league game.  Over 20 boys have represented the school at basketball this year! 

Mr Smith explaining the finer details of modern British politics in a requested core session for the Year 13 students, in preparation for their first opportunity to vote.

STEM Day for Year 7s.  A great opportunity for students to try new things and think outside the box.

We raised over £764 for Comic Relief and Ukrainian refugees. 

This display in the LRC features books and information to help students understand more about the current situation in Ukraine.

www.amazingapprenticeships.com - Ask Programme

Jamie Chatterton – From Lincoln to London; Dreams Do Come True!

Jamie left Carre's in 2016 after his GCSEs. Although not a natural academic, he achieved passes in a creditable 10 subjects. For many years Jamie had enjoyed performing on stage and was a member of Lincoln Academy of Theatre Arts (LATA) and Lincoln Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (LAODS), appearing in numerous stage shows in the Theatre Royal, LPAC and Drill Hall. He was also a regular performer at Carre’s music concerts throughout his time there and was always encouraged and supported by the school, particularly the Music Department. He had already expressed an interest in training professionally for a stage career when he was old enough to audition so, after some lengthy family discussions, it was agreed that rather than force him to sit A-levels, it would be more useful for him to follow a vocational route studying something related to his chosen career. He therefore undertook a BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts at Lincoln College. Whilst he didn’t find the course particularly taxing, it did expose him to other areas of the industry that he had less experience in and got him into the discipline of working independently on tutor-based assessments.

In his second year of the course, he began the stringent process of auditioning for a place at a good performing arts college with a view to doing a BA level course. His intention was to audition at Arts Educational Schools (Arts Ed) Guildford School of Acting (GSA) and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, in that order of preference. Performing arts courses are always popular and oversubscribed. To that end, every college expects auditionees to be ‘Triple Threat’ which means that they have to show a high degree of ability in singing, dance and acting.  The ability to play at least one musical instrument is an added bonus.   The audition process is different in each college but generally consists of an initial audition, where you get to show a panel your ability in the three disciplines, and then a call-back if you are lucky! As a measure of the demand, the year that Jamie auditioned, Arts Ed had nearly 3000 applicants for 50 places; they auditioned 1500 of them.  He underwent the rigours of auditions at both Arts Ed and GSA and after a lot of stress and effort he was delighted to find that he had been accepted onto the 2018 BA Musical Theatre course at Arts Ed, his first choice.

The next 3 years, as expected, proved to be extremely demanding, satisfying, frustrating, exhausting and eventually fulfilling! There was no wasted time; students had to sign in at 8.15am every morning and if they hadn’t done so by 8.30am, they were excluded for that day. A phone going off in class saw you banned from that lesson!  Every day was a full one; they did classes until about 6pm, and then often undertook additional classes to bolster weaker areas or spent time in the gym to keep their fitness levels up for the physical demands of the course. Let no one be under the misapprehension that performing arts is a soft or easy option! Jamie often joked that it would have been easier joining the military! What it did do was instil the essential self-discipline expected of performers in the theatre industry.

The third year of the course worked towards a professional production of a full-length musical theatre show. Students could expect to be in 2 shows chosen (for them by their tutors) from 4 that year. Most students could expect a lead and a supporting or ensemble role in the 2 productions but, as per the requirements of their industry, they had to audition. Jamie played the father in ‘Ragtime’ and Victor in ‘Cats’ as his two roles, the first time that parents had the opportunity to see their offspring perform in 2.5 years!

Jamie successfully graduated with a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre in September 2021. For all actors, finding a good agent is a vital stepping-stone in their professional career. Jamie was lucky enough to be spotted by a very good London agent in his performance in ‘Ragtime’ who offered to take him on even before he had completed the course. Following graduation there followed the round of auditions with their associated disappointments and all too rare successes searching for his first professional engagement. During this time Jamie worked as a porter in a large antique centre during the week and for an estate agent on Saturdays to make ends meet. The fact was, he needed to be in London to attend auditions, which were sometimes short notice, and he needed to earn to live there!

He was initially successful in being offered a supporting role in the touring production of ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ with Alexandra Burke playing the lead. Unfortunately, just as contracts were about to be signed, the show was cancelled because of COVID. To say that he was disappointed would be an understatement, his first hard lesson in the realities of the theatre. So, it was back to the round of auditions until one that he had attended on the day of his graduation (necessitating him actually running from his graduation ceremony to make it on time) bore fruit.  He was offered a lead in ‘The Osmonds: A New Musical’ playing Alan Osmond.

The show opened on the 3 February 2022 at the Leicester Curve Theatre to a week of standing ovations, before setting out on an 11-month tour of the UK and Ireland. Finally, 5 years after leaving Carre's, he is living his dream and doing what he loves; he couldn’t be happier!

(Thank you to Jamie's mum, Sarah Chatterton for this article)

https://theosmondsmusical.co.uk

Well done Jamie from everyone at Carre's!