Today we had a leaders conference. At first, we came to Hollick hall and David Hanson introduced the plan of the day.  Then we listened to Tom Judd (ex Sponne student and Sports Leader) tell us about his experience as a sports leader and how it gave him the inspiration to go on and become a Swimming teacher and Tennis Coach.

We got split into 4 groups and went to take part in the different session activities. My group went outside to come up with different warm up exercises to do with primary school children. “I loved doing all the different warm ups and coming up with all different ideas.”

After that, we went into T1 and did a workshop about behaviour, We learnt what to do if a child has challenging behaviour and we had to come up with reasons why they might be doing this. “Mind blowing experience if you have the chance, take it”

After lunch, we went to the first aid workshop where we talked about how to help someone if they get hurt and even how to save someone’s life!  After that we looked at some pictures of people that have hurt themselves and what to do if that situation occurred. ”I liked the first aid especially seeing the pictures of broken bones!”

Next, we went back into Hollick hall and Tony, the lady that works with David, talked to us about people with disabilities and her friend that has a disability. We then played boccia and allocated different disabilities to different people to see how we would adapt it for people with disabilities. Tony was very pleased when my small group mentioned mental health because it is the most unseen disability. “I love the part where we learnt how to include people with disabilities!”

Everyone had a great day and we all learnt a lot about being a young leader and it has been an amazing experience. You don’t learn how to deal with realistic situations very often and taking part in the conference has made situations you wouldn’t normally think of as a big thing, into something maybe bigger than you would have expected. Everyone left with a smiling face and knowing a lot more than what they walked in knowing. ”It was a new side to sport I hadn’t even thought about before.” We all now can’t wait for our first event as Sponne Sports Leaders!

By Mia Black & Lucy Brown 8STW

Year 11 Mock exam timetable is now available for the forthcoming exams being held from Monday 18th November until 4th December. For more information, please view the exams information page.

Thursday 10th October - 15 yr11,12 & 13 girls were invited to attend the #Now's the Time 2 medical conference at Northampton High School. They attended talks on personal statement writing, applying to uni and the admissions and interview process for medicine and heard the personal experiences of GP's, Consultants and junior Doctors. Some even had the opportunity to dissect the heart and lungs of a sheep. An informative and enjoyable day was had by all.

Thank you to everyone who voted for the fitness suite through the Tesco Bags of Help Scheme.We are pleased to announce that we won the first prize of £4000 and are presently sourcing the equipment to enable the upgrade. We are looking forward to using the fitness suite to  inspire our students to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.

On Wednesday the 25th September we are fortunate to have Team GB sprinter Diani Walker coming to Sponne to deliver a fitness challenge and inspirational talk to the year 7s. The year 7s have each been given a sponsorship form as part of the Sport for Champions event, as their efforts will go towards raising funds for unsponsored Team GB athletes and Sponne PE equipment and opportunities.  

BBC1's hit show 'Eat Well For Less?' is BACK and looking for households to take part!

Eat Well For Less? is on the hunt for families / households looking to save money on their food shop!

Is the cost of your weekly food shop spiralling out of control?

Perhaps you're desperate to save but under pressure to keep providing the household favourites?

Or do your health requirements affect your diet? Are you in need of some new inspiration?

Maybe you need help adjusting to a new financial situation?

Or are you just bored of buying and cooking the same foods every week?

... Masterchef's Gregg Wallace & award winning grocer Chris Bavin are on a mission to prove that it is possible for families to save money on their food budget without scrimping on taste and nutrition. They hope that by analysing the shopping habits of UK families, they can help to show where we can source the best and cheapest quality food.

We’re currently on the hunt for families / households to take part in our new series – so get in touch with the team TODAY!

Email: eatwell@rdftelevision.com or Call: 0117 970 7682

*Any information which you give us will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice, a copy of which is available on request*

A Level Examination Results 2019

Students and staff at Sponne School in Towcester are celebrating another excellent set of A Level results this year with many individuals achieving outstanding grades. Despite new specifications and a return to the two year A Level programme, results have remained very similar to previous years and most students continue to achieve the highest grades available. Just under 50% of students gained the very highest A*-B grades with almost all students passing. Students did particularly well with the very highest grades of A* and A grade with more than a third of all students achieving at least one of these.

Amongst the many delighted students today were two who achieved A*’s in all 3 of their subjects, Olivia Adams, who will be studying Biomedical Sciences at Oxford University and Ellie Massey who will be studying Biological Sciences at Durham University in the new academic year. Tim Fung achieved 1 A* and 3A’s, while Issy Grant gained 2 A*’s and 1 A grade. George Coombs, Will Ferreira Dyke and Lauren Flower all achieved an A* alongside other high grades whilst Rhiannon Barnby, Carl Davidson, Beth Dolman, Tom Heron, Jess Hornsey, Becky Jenkins, Jared Kent, Alfie Long and Annabel Purdy all achieved multiple A grades. Many other students gained at least 1 A grade in their set of results.

Headteacher Mr Iain Massey said: “We are really proud of our students who have done so well in gaining these excellent results. It is reassuring that the grades reflect the hard work that students put in and the outstanding teaching and support provided by the staff at Sponne School. Well done to all our students, including those who have secured their first choice university places.”

Miss Victoria Austin, Head of Sixth Form from Sponne, said: “I am always amazed by the high standards our students achieve and want to congratulate them on their excellent results. I am so pleased for them and wish them all the best in the future”.

 {gallery}A Level Results 19{/gallery}

On the 15^th July our Year 8 students took part in a Business Enterprise Day. The day was based loosely around the TV format ‘Dragons Den’.

Working in groups they were asked to come up with a product that would somehow ‘Save the Planet’.

They had to prepare a presentation about their chosen idea which included designs and how the product would be produced. They had to work out the finances, how much it would cost to make and what it would sell for. Marketing and Advertising was also considered – some groups made TV adverts, as well as posters, slogans and logos.

They then had to make their ‘pitch’ to some Business Dragons (Business people invited in from the local area).  The ‘Dragons’ had been helping the students during the course of the morning to help them with their research, give advice and to ask them some difficult questions!

There were some wonderful ideas – including a robotic ‘whale’ that sucked up plastic from the sea, ‘service stations’ for bees, solar panelled cases for phones, computer gaming consoles powered by static bikes, phone apps that helped with recycling to name but a few.

The students worked really well, it was great to see them negotiating within their teams and it was especially lovely to see students getting up and making their pitch to the whole year group – such a challenging thing to do.

Well done to A Salkend, H Kirby, F Brown and E Akrill from 8LC for being the team chosen by the Dragons as the company they would most likely invest in for their ‘Supreme, Green ‘n’ Clean’ wooden shampoo dispenser!

And a big thankyou to our Business Dragons for taking time out of their businesses to inspire future generations!

H Turton

This year saw a slightly different format to Sports day, with Year 10’s being on work experience and therefore competing against each other, during their final week at school. This saw some outstanding performances from a number of incredibly talented students and with this, came some new school records……

Congratulations to the following students!
10IP – Mixed relay (Beat the time held since 2014)
10SC – Boys 4 x 100m relay (Beat the time held since 1992!)
300m – Archie Tattersall (Beat the time held since 2015)
Shot put – Anna Woodman (Beat the distance held since 2014)
Discus – Annabelle Luntz (Beat the distance held since 2001!)
Hurdles – Lachlan Buchanan (Beat the time held since 2016)
300m – Georgia Corcoran (Beat the time held since 2014)

On Monday 8th July, Year 7-9 students participated in their annual sports day, taking to the field to represent their tutor groups in a variety of athletics events. The sun was shining and spirits were high, as plenty of tunes were being played by our resident DJ, Mr Moinet. Students demonstrated a real team spirit and embraced the day whilst cheering on their peers. Others were highly competitive and were out from the start to try and break a few school records. When the scores came in, the results were closer than ever before……