YEAR 8 REWARD TRIP TO THORPE PARK

Congratulations!  You have achieved the relevant target of enough 5’s this term and is therefore invited to join us on a reward trip to Thorpe Park, itinerary as follows:

Activity:                           Thorpe Park

Cost:                                £32.00

Date:                            Saturday 1st July 2017

Time of Leaving:            8:30am ( Arrive at school by 8:15am)

Time of Return:               6:30pm – 7:00pm, please ensure a responsible adult is available to collect your child

The cost includes transport, and admission.  Please bring a packed lunch for your child or money to purchase food in the park.  You will be free to explore the park; however, will be expected to do so in groups and to register at regular intervals. A member of staff will be in a designated area at all times.

 Students will be allowed mobile phones and other electronic devices on the coach but please be reminded that they do so at their own risk.  The school cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to personal property including the items mentioned.

Any questions please don’t hesitate to ask in the year room.

GCSE madness

March. Mad March. The month when us yellow ties pick the dreaded GCSE’s (dun dun dunnn).

What if I have no idea what to pick!?!? Lots of you are going to be feeling like this right now, and some of you might be thinking of ways to not do them at all… Let me just clarify that WON’T happen!
We had an assembly about GCSE options, so you should know that we have a small card with not one, but TWO websites for us to use. Make good use of them. They wont give your computer a virus, I promise.

I want to pick a subject but I’m worried about the class/and or teacher, HELP!: Honestly, I would go for it. If you enjoy it and you are good at it- then do it! Nothing that small should stop you from achieving your dream career in the future, and if it does- and you’re still worried, then ask Mr Chopra (Again, he wont give your computer a virus.). I’m sure he will give you some good advice- much better than the advice you are reading right now.

What are the tests like?: Well firstly, they are not to be scared of. If you are scared (there will be some people who are!), then get some old papers and practice! The more practice you get now, the more you will be at ease when GCSE’s actually start! There will be those few who are completely inexperienced and panicked, but that’s simply because they weren’t prepared. I would suggest you don’t be that person.

Those are the most common questions to do with GCSE’s. But if you have more, feel free to pop by the year room (if they are not to busy dealing with bad behaviour) and I’m sure either member of staff there will be happy to help.
~Natalie

Icknield high vs Chalk hills

The match on the 2nd of February was held at Chalk hills academy, The building looks absolutely amazing.  Our team had really good potential and hopes were high we were going to win this. This match was part of a whole bunch of matches for a league, called the Luton league.

The team were really good at warming up, mostly by running around in circles! :-).  During the prep, by kicking footballs everywhere, Malik kicks one a bit too hard and it hits a car right on he centre of the roof. The guy in the car look scary. 8-O. 

Once the match started it was a tense moment, both teams were in the middle of the pitch, once the wind starts blowing, to our goal, we start moving, back. Chalk hill shoot but miss our goal by a finger. They try again and score to the right of our goal. Well that’s 1 to chalk hills. Charlie tries his best to defend our goal and he was pretty good. Malik helps us get near the oppositions goal, by doing one large kick and hoping for the best. Sadly we were pushed back to our goal, where one of the oppositions players kicked for our goal but our goal keeper Saqib saved it. The ball went back and forth for a long time after that. Soon we get a free kick just inside Chalk hills’ half, to which Umar stepped up. With an audacious attempt Umar  shoots and unbelievably he scores… 1-1 is now the score.

The opposition took note and pushed us back again, and we had quite a number of close calls, and they score again. They scored twice in a row, making it 3-1. Skipping a bit as they scored again 3 times. Making it 6 to Chalk hills, 1 to us. After a little ‘motivational’ speech by  Mr. Chopra, our team gets up and starts fighting back hard. With the side switch, the wind was on our side, with hopes we could win. With a little wind help we score a goal.

Our teams hopes get rejuvenated and We get a fresh hope we may win. After that for about 20 minutes nothing happened, that ball stayed in the middle of the field, both sides trying to take control of it. Chalk hills finally take control of it and keep missing our goals, but the shots were really close. They continue to get 2 goals and make it 8-2. After that we take control and head in to take the final goal, making it 8-3.

Overall it was a tough match, we did lose by 5, but we aim to beat the opposition at the next match. Mr Chopra said that the biggest issue on the day was defending corners, so make sure the team are all at training this Thursday for some serious work on corners.

There were stand out performances from a number of the boys including Charlie in the heart of defense, Saqib again not losing a 1-on-1 and Malik who did his best trying to constantly fight for the ball back in the middle of the pitch. But the man of the match was awarded to Azeem by Mr Chopra for an outstanding performance in the middle of defense and working extremely hard all over the pitch for his team.

Safety warning concerning VR

VR (virtual reality) is a great invention, its lets you feel like your part of the action. Some like the one made for the playstaion house really clear OLED displays. A recent study showed that VR goggles release too much blue light (eye damaging light) and with the addition of the screen really close, other eye damaging effects take place. So if you are using or going to use one please make sure to use it less than 1 hour.

Girls Basketball Blog

A few months ago Miss Cussen and the girls Basketball team, Kaitlin, Sophia, Sabrina, Nida, Mehtaab and the Year 7 Team played a match against Denbigh High School.  The girls were feeling energetic, confident and prepared which definitely paid off.  Showing off their talents and skills the girls (both year 7 and 8) were victorious, beating Denbigh with ease! They celebrated the win with a few short dances and a song on the way back to school.  Miss Cussen did a great job cheering on her team whilst offering good technical advice.

Recently Kaitlin, Malika, Sabrina, Sophia, Ciera, Megan, Nida and Mehtaab attended another tournament playing against the top teams in Luton.  the girls used great teamwork and tried their best but sadly lost all of their matches.  Although they did not win, they had great fun and learnt a few things to work on in the future.  They took a few group photos and headed home with their heads held high.

All in all the girls basketball experience has been good fun, hard work and they have learnt new skills.

By Sophia

Luton Schools Badminton Tournament

Let me tell you how we won our tournament… My name is Zunair. WE only had one training session and a trial before the competition. We never thought we would make the team but finally me, Qasim, Ajwad and Malik made the team. We were very excited but on the other hand we were anxious about losing as we hadn’t had much training. Mr Yirrell helped us a lot throughout training and on the day.

We arrived at the competition to find we would have to play against 5 different schools.

We lost our 1st match. Mr Yirrel observed us and he explained where we went wrong.

Me and Qasim played in our 2nd match and we won.

At this time Putteridge were winning. Putteridge had already played more matches than us.

Qasim played singles and he lost. And we talked to each other and said from now on we will have to win every match. Mr Yirrell tried everything to help us… We started winning matches.

After a teacher came to us and told us we came second. We were so proud of ourselves. We represented icknield high school, our coach, ourselves.

We will now need to put in lots of hard work at training as we have qualified for the county competition.

~ ZUNAIR AMAN

Internet Safety Assembly

If you would like any more information regarding this mornings assembly, please don’t hesitate to come to the year room and ask.

Useful websites:

http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk 

http://www.childline.org.uk/talk/Pages/Talk.aspx

https://ceop.police.uk/

For the presentation from this morning please click the following link;

Year 8 Assembly – Internet safety

Football Fixtures

The following fixtures are booked in for the Boys Football Team;

Chalk Hills vs Icknield (A) 3:30 KO – 2nd February

Icknield vs Ashcroft (H) 3:30 – 6th March

Putteridge vs Icknield (H) 3:30 KO – 8th March

Cardinal Newman vs Icknield (A) 3:30 KO – 16th March

Icknield vs Lealands (H) 3:30 KO – 23rd March

Training is on this Thursday, everyone is welcome. You will need your trainers or AstroTurf’s.

A poem for YAR

So where do I start about YAR 

Sometimes they drive me to crying in my car 

However, they are still my favourite class 

Even if sometimes they can be a pain in the…butt.

 

From Sahil to Ishrat, Ifithar to Noor 

We are all together to the core 

I’m sure they will all be successful 

Even the ones who are deemed stressful

 

Myself and Judgey have seen you grow 

To wonderful people we are happy to know

May you continue to be the best 

Clearly better than all the rest 

 

I hope you continue to develop,

Into amazing people that make me well up 

That’s enough from me 

Because I need a pee

 

Don’t forget Mrs.Hutchinson too

The French lady who carried us through

So now the attention is turned to you

My little minions the time is now!

Photo’s From YAA

IMG 3379 (1) IMG 3793 IMG 4043 IMG 4042 IMG 4041 IMG 3527 IMG 3795

A Little inspiration for YAC

By now I hope that you are developing a sense of identity as YAC.  The formation of your identity is an important part of your education.  YAC is one layer of multiple layers of identity that we acquire and develop at Icknield.  As well as being part of YAC, you are yellow ties.  In addition, you are Icknield students.  Each layer of your identity becomes more apparent to you when you are in the company of students from other tutor groups, other year groups, other schools.  It is to be hoped that your actions and choices, when representing each grouping, would make you and the other members of the group proud.  I certainly hope that when teachers come to speak to me about you as members of YAC, I can continue to be proud of you, as your tutor.  When you wear the uniform of Icknield in public, you are ambassadors for the school.  Wearing the yellow tie makes you ambassadors for Year 8.  Your conduct in lessons makes you an ambassador for your tutor group.  In addition, you are an ambassador for your family.  It is important to consider the implications of our actions for others.

School is about more that learning to answer questions and pass exams.  A good education should equip you with the skills necessary to succeed and thrive long after you leave school.  When Mrs. Illes and I stress the importance of punctuality, organisation, respect and effort, it is because these attributes will serve you well long after you have left Icknield.  Your future employers will expect you to be on time, to complete your tasks, to be able to work well with others and meet customer expectations.  Long after you have forgotten a particular rule of grammar in French or German, when Algebra seems hazy, or when who fought in a particular battle is lost from your memory, the lessons learned in how to treat yourself and others that you acquired in your time at Icknield High School will continue to serve you well, should you choose to learn them well.

I look forward to the rest of our year together and I hope you continue to make progress, in both academic and social terms.  Keep up the good work.