8th March 2019
Last night one of our female students was walking home alone from school along Popes Lane in Bournville, when 3 males of school age (unknown to her) approached her from behind, physically assaulted her and stole her mobile phone.
As always, please remind your child to be extra vigilant on their journey to and from school and to keep all valuables out of sight also, to not have earphones in so that they are aware of what is going on around them.
Preparing for Exams
A Guide for Parents & Carers
This guide covers:
- How what they eat and drink affects exam performance.
- The best ways to manage stress.
- Getting them to get enough good quality sleep.
- How to manage digitial distractions (phones, video games) and how to do it for them if they aren't willing.
- How to tell if they're really revising - or just procrastinating.
World Book Week is fast approaching! Students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite literary character. If they wish, on March 7th this year. There are lots of things to get involved with over this week including a theatre visit for Years 9,10 and 11 and over 200 brand new books for all Year groups to come down and check out in the library.
We will also have the DEC Book Fair visiting from April 3rd to April 10th. This is another fantastic opportunity to celebrate reading. On the build up to this event students are handed book vouchers to enable them to get some really great deals on newly released books.
Juliana Rotich is a technologist, strategic advisor, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker. She is co-founder of BRCK Inc, a hardware and services technology company based in Kenya. BRCK was formed to realise a vision for enabling communication in low infrastructure environments by developing useful, innovative technologies. Juliana also co-founded Ushahidi Inc., a non-profit tech company, which specialises in developing free and open source software for changing how information flows in the world.
Artist: Thandiwe Tshabalala. Thandiwe is a Cape Town-based graphic artist. Her work is bold, colourful, and conceptual. Her motto as a creative is: “Communicate don’t decorate.” In 2015 she was awarded with the prestigious Mbokodo Award for South African Women in the Arts, in the Creative Design category.
Dr. Hayat Sindi was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia and is one of the world’s leading biotechnologists. She is the Founder and President of the i2 Instituteand a co-founder of Diagnostics For All. She was ranked by Arabian Business magazine as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman. Sindi has a Ph.D. in biotechnology from Newnham College, Cambridge, which she obtained in 2001; she was the first Saudi woman to be accepted at Cambridge University to study the field of biotechnology, and the first woman from any of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf to complete a doctoral degree in the field.
Artist: Lidia Tomashevskaya is a freelance illustrator from Tel Aviv, Israel. She has worked with publishing houses on book illustrations and has produced illustrations and graphic design for brands such as Hewlett Packard.
Tu Youyou is a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist and educator. She discovered artemisinin (also known as qinghaosu) and dihydroartemisinin, drugs used to treat malaria. Her discovery was a significant breakthrough in 20th-century tropical medicine, saving millions of lives around the world.
For her work, Tu received the 2011 Lasker Award in clinical medicine and the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura. She is the first Chinese Nobel Laureate in physiology or medicine, and the first female citizen of the People’s Republic of China to receive a Nobel Prize in any category. She is also the first Chinese person to receive the Lasker Award. Tu Youyou was born, educated and carried out her research exclusively in China.
Artist: Xu Hui. Xu Hui is an illustrator from Jinan, China. You can see more of her work on Behance.
Gladys West is an American mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematics underpinning GPS. Her contributions to GPS were only uncovered when a member of her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, read a short biography West had submitted for an alumni function.
Artist: Geneva B is a self-taught illustrator from North Carolina. She loves working with colours, drawing big hair, and adding whimsy with a touch of realism and happiness.
Rosalind Franklin was a pioneer of the study of molecular structures receiving recognition among scientists for her research on the molecular structure of coal, viruses, and DNA. Her X-ray diffraction images of DNA enabled the University of Cambridge’s Francis Crick and James Watson to identify the molecule’s double helix structure. For years her work on the structure went unnoticed as only Crick, Watson and Franklin’s colleague Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for the discovery in 1962. In 2003 The Royal Society established the Rosalind Franklin Award to bring attention to outstanding work of women in STEM.
Artist: Juliette Brocal is an animation student & illustrator from France who likes to draw seaside places, folk stuff and people playing music.
Mae C. Jemison is an American engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first African American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. She resigned from NASA in 1993 to found a company researching the application of technology to daily life. She has appeared on television several times, including as an actress in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is a dancer and holds nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities. She is the current principal of the 100 Year Starship organization.
Artist: Karina Perez is a Mexican American Illustrator/Designer. She’s always interested in exploring storytelling through design and colour to visually communicate the love and acceptance she receives from those around her.
Maria da Penha is a Brazilian biopharmacist and human rights defender. She advocates for women rights, particularly against domestic violence. When Maria da Penha was almost killed by her husband, there wasn’t a single police station she could go to in Brazil that specialised in violence against women. The case Maria filed languished in court for two decades, while her husband remained free. Years later, in a landmark ruling, the Court of Human Rights criticised the Brazilian government for not taking effective measures to prosecute and convict perpetrators of domestic violence. In response to this, the Brazilian government in 2006 enacted a law now known as the Maria da Penha Law on Domestic and Family Violence, which increased the severity of punishment for domestic violence against women, whenever it occurred in a domestic or family environment.
Artist: Camila Rosa. Camila is a freelance illustrator and designer from Brazil. Her work translates women from an alternative perspective: Latin-American, brave, powerful, and not fitted to mainstream beauty standards. Camila believes it’s important that her work can be used to support and educate girls and women around the world.
Dr. Cynthia Breazeal is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she founded and directs the Personal Robots Group at the Media Lab. She is also founder and Chief Scientist of Jibo, Inc. She is a pioneer of Social Robotics and Human Robot Interaction. She authored the book Designing Sociable Robots, and she has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in journals and conferences on the topics of Autonomous Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Human Robot Interaction, and Robot Learning.
Artist: Joana Neves is a digital artist from Portugal who loves drawing and started teaching herself how to digitally paint in 2014. She is driven by her longtime interest for fashion, folk tales, burlesque and animation.
It has been a brilliant first half of the season for our football teams this year with some outstanding performances – a reward for the dedication to training that many our top players demonstrate. In their debut season, the Year 7 team have shown strong team spirit to record a series of stunning victories including a 5-3 win away against Kings Heath and a 5-2 cup win against Archbishop Isley.
The boys also made it through to the 3rd round of the Birmingham cup losing 2-0 to Solihull school. The effort, commitment and professionalism the boys show is a huge compliment to the school. Their team work has been superb in each every game, playing always in a high respectful manner with superb sportsmanship to all opposition. A huge thank you also goes to our sixth form sports academy coach Jamie McGrath, who was worked with the boys weekly since September and has been taking on the coaching opportunity provided with both arms.
In comparison, the Year 8 football squad has struggled to replicate the successes of last season with training commitment a big focus for the squad during the remainder of the season. The first fixture of the year saw us battling hard against George Dixon Academy in a first round cup tie loss followed by some challenging fixtures in the league. However, often required to adapt to late squad changes the Year 8s who represented our school deserve huge praise for their commitment and endeavour in both games.
OUTSTANDING FOOTBALLERS IN AUTUMN TERM: P. Harris (Year 7), L. Carter (Year 8)
Team training has now finished during the off-season but will pick up again in the New Year in preparation for the remaining league fixtures.
Our pupils have been attempting to slam-dunk their way to success this half-term with the excitement building as the season progresses for many of our teams. Each year group have been representing Dame Elizabeth Cadbury at several school tournaments across the region.
In Year 7, the boys have taken part in 4 games so far this season, which were held so kindly by Bishop Challoner. Showing huge commitment and effort, the boys narrowly lost 3 and won 1 game that evening. The games have provided the team with an excellent opportunity to meet students in other schools and they have all conducted themselves superbly and professionally in all games at all venues. Further league games are due in the new year.
On Thursday 29th November the Year 8 basketball squad travelled to Bartley Green to compete in a brilliant league tournament. The whole squad applied themselves terrifically meaning that on the night we played 4 and won 3 (Colmers, George Dixon & Bartley Green) losing to Shenley in a closely contested game. This is an excellent start to our season and will give us a good platform to build on for the remaining games. Equally, the Year 9 team have made a strong start with a win against St Thomas Aquinas and narrowly losing to Bartley Green 12-18. All teams have been bolstered by a strong determination for success during Thursday training sessions with Mr Hanson – we have very hopes for the season ahead!
OUTSTANDING BASKETBALLERS IN AUTUMN TERM: E. Haywood (Year 8), G. Jenkins (Year 9)
Our 2018 Sixth Form Open Evening will take place on Thursday 8th November, 5:30pm – 7:30pm.
This year our Sixth Form is expanding, come and join us and get a taste for the way we work.
New A Levels will also be on offer including:
93% Average 9-4 in Biology, Chemistry & Physics
80% Average Grade 9-4 in Computer Science & Statistics
10% Achieve 3 or more grades 9-7 in GCSE qualifications
Best ever progress measure in Science & Maths
61% Grade 9-4 in English
65% Grade 9-4 in Maths
100% A*-B in Maths
100% Pass in a level product design
100% Progression to first choice university places
Woodbrooke Road, Birmingham,
West Midlands B30 1UL
Contact Number: 0121 464 4040
enquiry@decschool.co.uk
Monday - Friday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
