Lady Manners School

We are very proud of our extra-curricular activities at Lady Manners School. We run more than 80 clubs and our annual survey indicates that 83% of our students benefitted by taking part in one or more of them this year. The clubs and activities on offer include all manner of music groups such as choirs for all ages, bands, ensembles and full and jazz orchestras. Our sporting teams and clubs range from hockey and football to rugby and our Equestrian Team and everything in between. In addition, this year we have offered many more unusual clubs such as Zoo Keepers Club, First Lego League Competition Club, Chess Club, History Club, SkRaP (where students can chill out to the sounds of ska, reggae and punk music). Of course, none of this would be possible without the staff who run and support the clubs. We thank them for the efforts and time they invest in providing our students with these extra-curricular opportunities. Full details of what has been on offer are available at www.ladymanners.net/clubs. Work has started on our offering for 2018-19 and details will be launched at the start of the Autumn Term.

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark by the British Dyslexia Association. The accreditation is rare in mainstream secondary schools with Lady Manners School joining only a handful of UK secondary schools in this achievement. It has involved two years of work led by the school's Learning Support Department, and embraced by all teaching and support staff in the school. The British Dyslexia Association assessor, who visited us last week, was impressed at the extent to which staff work to improve learning for all of our students. Find out more about our provision for students our Dyslexia Friendly Quality Award at www.ladymanners.derbyshire.sch.uk/news/?pid=73&nid=2&storyid=271

Months of careful tending by the Gardening and Horticulture Club have paid off as all students now benefit from a lovely display in the Anniversary Garden, between the Main Hall and the Languages Corridor. This area itself is due for some careful tending over the summer holidays, as our premises team repair some weather-damaged brickwork and seating. In the meantime, it is still a rather nice sun-trap for students to enjoy during the lunch break, improved by the efforts of our green-fingered students.

As we approach the end of the Summer Term, our Year 9 students are preparing to start their studies for GCSE and life in Upper School. We mark this progression with Year 9 Transition Week in which students take part in activities designed to ease their move from Lower to Upper School. Today, the final day of Transition Week involved all Year 9 students in team-building activities. The students rose to the challenge and worked well together to solve tactical problems – with a lot of laughter along the way!

Lady Manners School rounders teams have had a great year! Our Year 9 Team, having won their district competition earlier this month, competed this week in a School Games County Tournament. Nine schools – all district winners – competed for overall first place. Our team played five matches and were unbeaten as they claimed the title. The event was organised by the Lady Manners School PE Department, and provided a further opportunity for our Sports Leaders from Years 9, 10 and 12 to umpire and gain experience of the delivery of a tournament. Further success came last week with our Year 7 and Year 10 teams also winning their county tournaments, with Year 8 claiming the runners up spot in their competition. The Year 7, 9, and 10 rounders teams are all unbeaten this year. Well done to all for the excellent effort and dedication to their training sessions and matches that have led to such deserved success!