Interested in a career in teaching?
If you are thinking about getting into primary or secondary teaching, Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT (NTS) could be for you.
At NTS, we are committed to making a difference to young people’s lives. As a teacher, you’ll play a key role in ensuring the best education for children and young people, maximising their opportunities for great life choices and well-being.
As a School Centred Initial Teacher Training provider, we are your teachers, enabling you to realise your potential and use it to change lives through excellent education.
As part of Nova Education Trust, we can offer you the chance to train in an excellent variety of city and county schools across the East Midlands. As a trainee with the NTS, you will have access to everything that our trust and SCITT’s expertise and resource can offer you in the earliest stages of your career, as well as potential pathways for the rest of your teaching career.
We work closely with the University of Nottingham to ensure our trainees achieve QTS, PGCE and be rewarded with 60 Masters credits.
Subject to application and interview, you could also get the chance to teach in Europe as part of the Teaching Together in Europe programme – a five-week teaching placement in Brussels, Rome or Prague.
You will experience exceptional levels of support both within NTS and within placement schools. As part of the programme enrolment, all trainees will receive additional benefits such as Westfield Health care, Chartered College of Teaching membership and career support.
The Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT pathway offers an unrivalled package of support and professional development to all trainees that we have called ‘The Big Seven’. It’s your passport to a societally vital, influential and highly rewarding career.
To find out more about Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT, visit our website:
www.teachnottinghamshire.co.uk
Family Life | May school holiday fun | Amazing foster carers | Fab competition and more!
Please follow this link to the Nottinghamshire County Council to school holiday events and inspiration
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Twitter: @SuthersSchool
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I would like to thank you all for your continued support and outline some of the memories of this half term in this newsletter and provide you with dates for specific events next half term.
It was Thank a Teacher Day on May 26th and it is important to recognise every staff member within our school community.
I am extremely proud of the care and support our students receive, from the moment they arrive through the door in the morning to the moment they leave in the afternoon.
Our first Year 11 cohort sat some of their exams this half term and they have been incredible. Every student is an absolute credit to our school.
Our staff have worked tirelessly within their curriculum areas to ensure all students have the knowledge and skills to feel positive and confident when in the classroom which has then been replicated in the exam room. Our students have shown tenacity, resilience and respect to all staff for the support they have been given over the past few weeks, months and years. We all wish Year 11 the best of luck for their exams after the half term break.
Another proud moment this week was witnessing our Year 10 PE students take their first official exam. They were nervous (of course) but they showed a real sense of care about their work with the drive and desire to do themselves proud. We all wish Year 10 iMedia and Child Development students the best of luck after half term.
Every one of our Suthers team has a crucial role to play to help support the character development and academic achievement of every student within our Academy and their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.
Our students are fabulous! They are appreciative of staff expertise, staff encouragement and staff care. They know where to go when they need support which is what is so special about our Suthers team!
I have mentioned Year 10 and 11 in particular within this message as it is a milestone for the Suthers School. However, please continue to read the rest of the newsletter as it outlines many of the projects, home learning and lessons which have taken place over the last six weeks.
I wish all of our staff, students and their families, a fabulous half term break and I really hope this warm weather continues.
Best wishes,
Nic Watkin
Headteacher
Road Safety
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for helping to keep our roads safe.
The Suthers School is growing in size and we want to ensure that every pupil is able to leave the school safely at the end of the day. Over the last few weeks we’ve successfully introduced new traffic calming measures outside of the school to keep the children safe. These have included more staff on duty in Hi-Viz vests and staff responding to parent / carer feedback by asking cars parked on the double yellow lines outside of the school to park at the top end of the road near the turning circle, please remember to not block the turning area.The support we asked for and have received included:
Cars 
Driving at 20mph on the roads near the school. Parking in the appropriate bays in the school car park. Disabled bays are for parents who display a disabled parking badge.
Bikes
Asking your child to dismount from their bike as they approach the closest roundabout to the school. Students repeat this rule when leaving at the end of the school day.
Mobile phones
Reminding your child not to walk across a road whilst listening to music through ear pods or whilst looking at their smart phone.
Culture for Learning
Our Culture for Learning sets the highest of expectations here at The Suthers School. Our teachers are proud to share their expertise with our students so they know more and remember more. It is evident by some of the amazing work produced by our students that they grasp every opportunity they are faced with and enjoy their experiences. During recent student voice, students have commented that they feel safe in school and many feel supported in lessons and know they can get support from teachers when they need it.
Our recent survey results share that over 80% of our students know they make the right choices every day in lessons and during unstructured times and this is what we aspire for all of our students to grow in character and realise their true potential through character development and academic success. It is important to recognise that 262 students in our school have never received a C2 or a C3 since September – 62% of our school community. Alongside this, it is fantastic to see the number of reward points has risen by nearly 4000 points across the school this half term which is detriment to the hard work and commitment of our students.
The results of our Pupil Learning Experience and Wellbeing Survey also showed that students acknowledged our expectations for behaviour are very clear. However, some students still think there is a variance to the way some staff deal with behaviour in the classroom. To address the report of low-level disruption in some of our classes in school, we have created a behaviour working party to discuss the behaviour pathway to ensure no learning is lost due to low level disruption within the classroom. Low-level disruption is when students are talking when the teacher is talking, turning around, showing a lack of respect to others within the learning environment and not focusing on the task in hand. We will continue to review this next half term by speaking to students and asking for their thoughts on the removal of a consequence layer, later in the year, so we build on our Culture for Learning. This will mean that a current C2 will be a removal from lesson so we have zero tolerance for low-level disruption.
We have an extremely strong curriculum across the school and therefore we endeavour for all students to be engaged in their learning at all times.
Lateness
Nearly all of our students arrive to school on time and the majority of students are punctual to lessons every day. We have reviewed our recording system for the minority of our students who are late to lessons. It is pleasing to see the late report cards have decreased the amount of minutes some of our students who are late to lessons. Students who are placed on report have this signed by staff each lesson and minutes late to lesson are recorded. Parents and carers will be contacted if their child has been placed on late report. Students then have to make up any time late that week. If students are late to lesson it has an impact on the learning of others so this is another strategy we have deployed to ensure there is no lost learning time. We have also started a text messaging system to inform parents and carers if your child has been late to a number of lessons; we appreciate all the feedback we have received on the introduction to this system.
School Visits
We welcome any parents and carers to come and tour the school and meet with the Senior Leadership Team. This will give you the opportunity to tour our brand-new building but also to capture the fabulous work of our students and staff. We will be holding tours during week commencing 13th June and week commencing 4th July. Please contact our main reception on contact@suthersschool.co.uk if you wish to come and join us for a school tour.
Pastoral Team
Our pastoral team is growing and we are pleased to announce that we have recruited an experienced Senior Pastoral Leader, Wendy Redmond, who will start with us on 27th June. This appointment will strengthen the proactive nature of our team. Our Pastoral Leaders do an incredible job to ensure our students’ needs are dealt with swiftly and we pride ourselves on the daily care we provide. Our Pastoral Leaders meet with students first thing in the morning and have mentor meetings throughout the day, where necessary, to make sure our students are ready to learn and can grasp the opportunities provided for them in the classroom. Our pastoral team have a proactive timetable where they visit students and classrooms regularly, particularly those where we might have temporary staff to cover staff absence.
In addition, to ensure all of our temporary teachers who come into our academy are fully supported to deal with any low-level disruption, we induct them on their first day into school. The behaviour system is shared with them so they understand the system in place. Temporary teachers are placed on our Hot-Spot timetable to provide additional support from SLT. Our On Call rota is also in place which means staff are in and out of classrooms each lesson to ensure learning time is not lost.
Standing Briefings
To share important messages with our students, we have introduced standing briefings. Standing briefings are approximately 3 minutes long, held first thing in the morning to reinforce our key expectations and consistent messages. During this briefing, as well as tutor time, uniform is checked. If incorrect uniform is worn and a note hasn’t been provided, from parents or carers, we will make immediate contact home to rectify this. We now have a range of skirts in different sizes which can be purchased through ParentPay but we will also allocate these to ensure all students are wearing the correct uniform.
There have been some students who have grown out of their shoes towards the end of this year and we are grateful to parents and carers who have contacted us to let us know new shoes have been ordered; this communication prevents all teachers challenging students unnecessarily.
Rewards
We continue to listen to students to find out how our rewards system can be improved. Students said they would like to keep their bronze, silver and gold badges so they can see them build over time on their blazer lapel which we have now actioned. In addition, students would like to see further rewards which they can opt for once they have achieved a certain amount of points including their bronze, silver and gold badge. This is currently being reviewed so we can support the changes for September.
Staff Professional Learning
At The Suthers School our curriculum design and classroom practice is underpinned by research. Everyone within our school community has the drive and desire to do their very best.
We are pleased to have started to build our professional learning library for staff. All staff members will be able to sign out any of the books and return them to the professional library. We encourage all of our teachers to read and learn about new strategies and methods which will strengthen their classroom practice.
Year 7
Digital literacy – E-safety 
Social Media Investigated – Media Navigator
Students are understanding how to navigate through social media successfully and boundaries that we set ourselves to stay safe. They will be using resources from Bounce Forward and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre).
Year 8
The Power to Influence – Social Action and Volunteering with WE Schools 
Students will individually identify a social action to create change and impact, in partnership with WE Schools. They will be organising awareness and be a change maker in this exciting student led project.
In addition to this project students will also have a visit from HSBC to talk through ‘Guarding Against Fraud’ Understanding the different types of fraud and ways to stay safe online.
Year 9
Influences Gangs and Violence
Students will explore the exploitations in young people, build on their understanding of Hate Crimes, learn about County Lines and how to stay safe and where to access help. They will also learn about knife and gun crime and criminal behaviours.
Money Management - Saving, Borrowing, Spending, Credit, Debt
In preparation for KS4 students will explore positive financial choices and behaviours impacting on their future self through Barclaycard Life Skills and Martin Lewis Money management programme for schools.
Year 10
Staying Safe (Part 2)
During term 6 students will build on knowledge from their unit of work about staying safe in relationships by looking at the practical elements of staying safe in society. They will explore practical tips related to personal safety when out locally, nationally and abroad. They will also take part in a workshop lesson with resources Counter Terrorism Weapons Attack and Radicalisation.
Pride month – 1st June -Thursday 20th June 2022 – a month dedicated to celebrating LGBT+ communities all around the world. Pride month is about acceptance, equality and raising awareness of issues affecting the LGBT+ community. We will be educating our students through assemblies and our Active Tutor Programme this month.
If any parent or carer is aware of any of the topics which may affect their child then please contact the office contact@suthersschool.co.uk
Year 8 History
Year 8 Students have been studying the events of WW1 in History this term, with a focus on the causes of war but also what life was like for soldiers and those back home. They were given a focused project to create their own trench, either by a model, essay, informative poster, or a cake. We have had some phenomenal pieces that have really reflected all of their incredible hard work this half term.
Well done Year 8
Enrichment Cooking Club
This term saw the launch of the enrichment cooking club in the technology department making French toast ("eggy bread") week one followed by cheese scones and shortbreads week 2 and 3. Students were also able to make themselves a "proper brew" with tea and coffee available for them to socialise and enjoy the nibbles.
Year 9 have made rhubarb lattice pie with homemade shortcrust pastry and a seasonal spring Fritatta with peas and learnt about the different classifications of eggs available in supermarkets.
A new rotation of year 7 and 8 students had their first practical cookery classes starting with knife skills and seasonal watercress and pea soup.
After the June half term year 7 and 8 will be learning how to make fresh bread and a seasonal stir fry with noodles.
Thank you to those parents who have been in touch with the offer of surplus produce from their allotments. We have been donated lots of rhubarb which we can use within the curriculum as our recipes are all adaptable due to be seasonal.
Congratulations to all our students who have achieved their gold, silver and bronze stars!
Year 9 visited The University of Nottingham, exploring student finance, career opportunities, accommodation and student life.
As part of our commitment to character development, we are really proud to be able to offer all students the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
From Year 9 onwards, the DofE Award, gives students the opportunity to try new challenges, develop leadership skills and further enhance the character strengths of Tenacity, Optimism, respect, curiosity and Hard work (TORCH)
Mental Health Awareness week.
Students wore green in support of raising awareness for mental health. We have explored growth and fixed mindset in Personal Development lessons, looked at the relationship between gaming and our mental health and the changes we can implement.
On Friday, 27th May 2022 we celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. 
As a school we raised £226 that will go to one of the many charities that the Queen is a patriot for. The charity we chose was Seashell Trust, a charity for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. It is a charity dedicated to providing a happy, creative and secure environment for children with advanced needs to develop their own independence and build confidence.
Across the two lunches we had some amazing activities happening around the quad that students could all get involved with. The final of the inter house rounders took place along with Toad in the Hole, a huge thank you to our talented DT team, Mr Smith(Head of DT) and Mrs Beresford(DT Technician) for building the first of many games we hope to build and use with fund raising events. We also held a Chess competition, organised by Mr Highley named 'Who can Reign the Longest.'Inside we had a British lunch from the Aspens catering team which included fish and chips, cupcakes and English breakfast cobs during morning break. Thank you to all the students who entered the "Cake Fit For a Queen" competition, which were all amazing and we clearly have some very talented bakers! The cakes were then sold on the cake sale stall, where everything went down a treat with students and staff!
Thank you to everyone who volunteered, took part and organised the event! It was a lovely day to celebrate the Jubilee but also to raise money for a good cause, The press came to do a story, so keep an eye out for the event making it in to the Newark Advertiser!
The Suthers School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT