House bake-off

On Thursday, our Equality Club held a House bake-off. The overall winners were Holly M in Year 7 and Kayla C in Year 8. Miss Pain took the staff prize for her magnificent cat cake! They all receive 500 points for their house. The cakes were available to purchase at lunchtime and were very well received.

Zero Heroes

This half term, we have had an amazing 177 students who received no points – our Zero Heroes. This means they were on time every day, completed every piece of homework, wore their uniform perfectly every day and conducted themselves brilliantly at all times, in and out of the classroom. They were rewarded with a round of applause and a giant muffin at line up yesterday. Well done!

Brilliant Club

Year 7 students on our Excellence Pathway had their Brilliant Club launch on Tuesday. This year the students will be working with a PhD student from University College, London. This is a brilliant opportunity for our students who will experience university-style learning. The course title this year is Mission Possible: Solving world problems with computer science.

Greenshaw Learning Trust visit

On Monday, Greenshaw Learning Trust carried out their SEF (School Evaluation Framework) review of Orchard Park. It involved five members of GLT (including headteachers and senior leaders from other schools) looking at curriculum, teaching and learning, behaviour and personal development. 35 children were involved in pupil voice groups. The feedback commented on the ‘exemplary community feel’ and the ‘strong sense of academic expectation and character development’. Thank you to all staff and students who participated. More importantly, for their commitment and excellence every single day.

Year 7 food technology

This term, our Year 7 students have been getting hands-on as part of their food technology taster lessons. They have enjoyed learning a variety of basic cooking skills while creating some delicious dishes. Amongst the highlights, students have made vibrant fruit salads, a selection of tasty dips including garlic and herb, Greek, and sweet chilli, paired with freshly prepared crudités. They also had fun making a microwave chocolate cake – a quick and easy treat Students have been focusing on key skills such as knife techniques, including the bridge and claw methods, as well as learning how to accurately measure and weigh ingredients. These foundation skills are essential for safe and effective food preparation, and we are proud of how well Year 7 has embraced this new learning experience.

Sports fixtures

Sports fixtures are now in place, providing great opportunities for our students to play against other schools. Please find below a Match report from Mr Headley:

Thursday was the Year 11 football cup game. It was a very well fought game with us taking the lead following a brilliant strike from Caleb. Unfortunately, we were robbed of a penalty decision for a foul committed on Year 7 debutant Trey, who has recently been selected for the Croydon School District Team. With referee decisions not going our way, a penalty was given against us. Logan was very close but it just snuck into the far corner out of reach. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Both schools decided to finish with a penalty shoot out (winner takes all). The heroics of Logan were called upon again as he successfully saved three penalties. However, our finishing let us down as we missed our deciding penalties. This was a great learning moment for the boys as they were able to play under pressure and with a hostile crowd. They can leave with their heads held up high – they showed  great integrity in defeat. Other matches this week included Year 8 vs Shirley High (1-1), goal scorer – Caleb, and Year 11 cup vs Harris Invictus (4-0 win) goal scorers: Zach, Joe and Ahmed.