Upload
highgate-wood-school
View
225
Download
6
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
February 2013 issue of Insight - the Highgate Wood School Magazine
Citation preview
News from Highgate Wood School arts college
Issue No 10 February 2013 CONSIDERATION COOPERATION COURTESY CONTRIBUTION
RESTAURANTERS OF THE FUTURE
February 2013
2
Charles Wright writes: Winter is here – and nowadays that inevitably means snow, and the debate about whether to close the school or not. This is never an easy decision, and as governors we are very aware of the impact closing the school has for parents. So the starting point is always that the school should
not close if at all possible. But, as you know, we do have a large, sloping site, with steep access, and we have to take into account the welfare of our students and staff, as well as whether staff can actually get to work – and get home again, which is often some distance away. We’ve reluctantly closed on one occasion so far this winter, although we were able to open the next day after fantastic work by the site staff to make the school safe and accessible. I hope parents will understand that decision, and will be assured that we will do all we can to keep the school open if there’s more bad weather. This includes talking to the Council to make sure that Montenotte Road and pavement are gritted as top priority. Apart from braving the bad weather, the Spring term is also an extremely important time particularly for students with exams coming up. Governors have recently been looking in detail at how we are doing – not just in terms of overall results but also in terms of progress and improvement. I’m confident that we are on the right track to continue to meet our aim to be an excellent community school serving all the young people in our community. Having talked about closures, I’d like to end by mentioning attendance. It is extremely important that students are at school, and that parents and carers support us by reinforcing this message. That way we can all work together to give our students the best possible educational opportunities. I hope you all have a great half term.
Cover picture:
Ms Went writes: The Year 11 Food group have now
reached the point in their controlled assessment
project, , where they have trialled ideas for dishes that
they might develop to meet the design brief – to
produce a dish that would be suitable for sale in an
internationally themed restaurant. The students have
now identified the national cuisines for their chosen
themes and have been creating and testing fabulous
food dishes from all over the world, including dishes
from Morocco, Italy, Guyana, Greece, Jamaica, Ghana,
Iran, Turkey and China. Students featured include
Darnell John Mckenzie, Best Moshwe, Daniel Musabi,
Denise Ozeler, Jack Boone, Lizzy Gerasimou, Ashya
Broomes, Zara Ali, Luke Leone, Marianne Gerasimou
and Madi Vincent.
Chair of Governors:
Charles Wright (Community Governor)
Vice Chair:
Imogen Pennell (Representative Governor)
Representative Governors:
Cllr Eddie Griffith • Oliver Blackaby • Brenda Allan
Parent Governors:
Andrew Boardman • Diana Brown • Philip Cavendish
Caroline Conlon • Elizabeth Hess • Rob White
Community Governors:
Phil Cocksedge • Violet Hazelwood‐Henry • Chris Parr •
Carol Vincent Headteacher Governor:
Patrick Cozier
Staff Governors:
Tristan Ashman • Jack Fitzgerald • Saad Gul Mohammed
If you wish to contact the Governing Body please write to
the Chair of Governors, c/o Mrs K Ozturk, Highgate Wood
School, Montenotte Road, London N8 8RN
HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF GOVERNORS
Liz Whitlock writes:
As part of its wider remit to enrich the life of the
school, Highgate Wood School PSA is proposing
running some one‐off events to inform parents on a
variety of subjects.
We are planning a 2‐hour "Heart Start" course, run
by the London Ambulance Service, to learn some
basic life‐saving skills. Also there is the possibility of
running some self‐defence workshops. At this stage
we do not have firm details about cost or timings,
but would like to know if this is the sort of event
that parents/carers would find useful and would
attend.
If you are interested please could you reply to the
PSA email address, [email protected] stating
which events you would find useful and the
Steering Committee will make the appropriate
enquiries.
The PSA welcomes comments and feedback from
parents and carers. Please use the email address
above to contact us. The next PSA meeting is on
Tues 12th March at 7.30 pm
Congratulations to Chris Tully who has been appointed
as a new Parent Governor to the Governing Body.
February 2013
3
MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER Year 11 – Getting those grades
If you are the parent of a child in Year 11, you will be
aware that our students sat their Year 11 Mock
Exams before the Christmas break. Since we have
come back, they have received their Mock Exam
Results (you can read more about the Mock Exam
Results Day later in this edition) and as a result they
all know on an individual level how well they are
achieving – and what else they need to do to hit their
personal targets across each of their subjects. All of
our Year 11s are putting in the maximum amount of
effort and we expect to see many of them over half
term doing extra study (in addition to the after school
and weekend sessions that many currently attend. It
is also a testament to dedication of the staff
members who are making themselves available to
help support our students.
What is pleasing for us as a school is that both
individually and collectively, our Year 11s are broadly
on target to achieve and exceed what we believe they
are capable of. A reminder of our results for the last
ten years and our target for 2013 is shown below.
As can be seen, we are rightly proud that our
significant jump in 2011, was maintained and
improved on last year – and this year we expect to do
even better! We know what are students are capable
of when backed by our excellent staff and supportive
parents. Let’s ensure that we continue to work
together to help them achieve their best.
Comparisons with Other Schools
The DFE has also released the official statistics this
year for all schools GCSE performance. Below is a
table that shows the results of Highgate Wood School
in comparison to the other schools in West Haringey
(Highgate Wood, Hornsey Girls, Alexandra Park, and
Fortismere).
5 A*‐Cs (EM)
39% 40% 41% 42%47% 46%
51%46%
68%73%72%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Maths GCSE November Entries:
74% A* ‐ C Grades
76% students achieving expected levels of progress
and beyond
Welcome Back to
Successful Learning at
Highgate Wood School.
I wish to start this edition
of Insight by taking this
opportunity to wish you
all a very belated Happy
New Year! As always
however, time flies and
instead of reflecting on the festivities of Christmas
and the New Year celebrations, we have already
reached the spring half term break. This represents
the mid‐point of the academic years for schools and
as such a critical juncture for assessing progress and
ensuring that we are on track to achieve our aims –
both individually and collectively.
There are a couple of significant thank yous that I
want to announce before for events that have taken
place since the last edition.
I need to thank Mr Harlow (Head of Music), his staff
and our fantastic students for the amazing finish to
2012 with a very high quality and entertaining Winter
Concert. The standard that we set year on year is
impressive and it is very special to see our young
people demonstrating their talent and commitment
on stage. Thank you and well done to all!
In addition, I also wish to thank Ms Payton (Head of
Maths) and her team for the amazing commitment
that they have shown in preparing our Year 11
students so successfully for the November entry GCSE
Maths exams. We now have the results, and they are
very impressive – more details on this below.
This Term – The Key Focuses
A reminder that during this term our learning and
teaching focus is on the development of Literacy
across the school. Chrissie Ronay (Learning Support
Department) was appointed to the post of Literacy
Coordinator last term and she has been doing some
fantastic work and sharing good strategies with staff
to develop this aspect of our work.
February 2013
4
5 A*‐C (inc. English and Maths) GCSE Results at West
Haringey Secondary Schools from 2009 to 2012
You can see the HWS performance in red. We have
improved significantly in relation to our nearest
neighbours – and in fact have overtaken Alexandra
Park and almost matched Fortismere. Our recent
upward trajectory is testament to our belief and
conviction that we are a school that is constantly
improving.
Progress of Our students in the 6th Form are in the
top 20% in the country ‐ Official
We have received official confirmation that for the
third year running, the progress that our students
makes at Post 16 is in the top 20% of 16‐18 schools/
colleges nationally. Later in the edition, this is
explained in more detail.
For me though, the key message is that we are
consistently gaining recognition and approval for the
quality of our provision in the 6th form and the good
outcomes that our students achieve. We are proud of
our 6th form and look forward to seeing another
record number of our current year 11 students
performing excellently in the summer GCSE exams
and then progressing on to do well with the teachers
that know them best in the 6th form.
Curriculum Update – Some Changes for 2013/14
You will no doubt have picked up various stories in
the news about the Secretary of State for Education,
Michael Gove’s vision for the schools in England. One
such agenda has been the discussions around the
English Baccalaureate – not a qualification in its own
right, but a particular combination of GCSEs which
requires achieving 2 sciences (which could include
computer science), English, maths, a humanities
(history or geography) and a language.
It was announced last week that the introduction of
proposed new qualifications in the subjects
mentioned above has been abandoned, and hence
the GCSEs will remain. However, Michael Gove also
committed to reviewing those GCSEs and making it
harder to achieve the top grades in those subjects.
With this in mind we have been looking at the
curriculum offered at Highgate Wood, and
considering where we ought to respond to the
national agenda that is being set for schools.
We have made some decisions for the curriculum in
2013/14 which begin to respond to this, but which
are not in themselves, big changes.
The key changes are summarised below:
Year 7
Increase in the curriculum time offered to history,
geography, science and English
Removal of Enrichment from the core curriculum –
this will instead occur as a series of ‘drop‐down’
days once per half term and led by subject areas
Year 8
Introduction of ICT into the curriculum – we
currently teach this in year 7 and year 9, but not
year 8. We have decided that we need to offer it in
year 8 as well
Increase in the curriculum time offered to maths
Reduction of the curriculum time offered to art,
music and drama
Year 9
Redistribution of curriculum time between maths
and science; a reduction in maths and an increase
in science
Year 10
Introduction of Philosophy and Ethics GCSE Increase in the curriculum time offered to maths
Redistribution of the time available for the delivery
Highgate
Wood Scho
ol
Highgate Wood School
February 2013
5
of core Religious Education (ECS) and Citizenship –
an overall reduction shared between both
curriculum areas
Year 11
No curriculum changes
Year 12
Introduction of an ICT Vocational Qualification Some changes to the nature of the Languages offer
(enriching the experience that students receive)
Some possible changes to the nature of the
Technology offer (with an added Textiles
dimension)
Year 13
No changes
Importantly, we have taken the decision not to
enforce that any of our students in year 9 to follow an
English Baccalaureate Pathway for their GCSEs (as
other schools have). We will resist this as we do not
feel that it fits in with the spirit of free choice that we
have embraced up to now. However, we will keep the
situation under review in light of further future
developments.
Overall, we felt that it was important not to do
anything too significant at this stage, as it remains
important that Highgate Wood maintains it’s
commitment to offering a broad and balanced
curriculum to all students with a wide range of
qualifications that cater to the needs of our students.
However, some changes were necessary in line with
the level of curriculum decisions that we always make
at this time of year.
I will keep you informed of any future changes.
Staffing Update
I reported to you in the last Insight in December that
we had a number of members of staff who are on
long term absence. I am pleased to be able to update
you on the situation
Dawn Spence (Assistant Headteacher):
Mrs Spence is doing well and we are anticipating her
return some time (although not immediately) after
half term. In the meantime, Jess Canty continues to
cover her Assistant Head Role and Mary Findlow
taking on the Child Protection Liaison work.
John Howley (Head of Learning for Year 9):
We do not yet have a date for Mr Howley’s return –
but in the meantime, Di Breed has taken over as the
Acting Head of Learning for Year 9 – following Ryan
Pryor’s (the previous Acting Head of Learning)
departure
Kevin Brokenshire (Head of Learning for Year 10):
Mr Brokenshire is now back at work. However, his
Head of Learning role is currently being covered by
Anna Ryan until Easter
Leon Mitchell (Pastoral Mentor for Years 7 and 8):
We are still not able to put a date on Mr Mitchell’s
return – but in the meantime, Mohammed Hussain
Ahmed and Katarina Roberts continue to be the
Pastoral Mentors for Years 8 and 7 respectively
Deborah Wilson (English Teacher and Post Holder
within the English Department):
Ms Wilson is now back at work.
... And Finally – An Appreciation Display
A year ago, I introduced an appreciation display wall
in the main reception of the school. It is a display of
positive comments that we have received from
parents, carers and other members of the community
or visitors to the school. We regularly receive lots of
positive feedback from our community, and the
appreciation display gives us an opportunity to show
these off to those that visit us.
If you wish to say something positive that can be put
on display about your experiences of Highgate Wood,
please send comments in for the attention of the Mrs
Kiymet Ozturk, PA to the Headteacher or
alternatively, e‐mail her on [email protected]
Thank you as ever for your continued support!
Regards
Patrick Cozier
Headteacher
February 2013
6
COMENIUS NEWS
Ms Christodoulou writes:
Highgate Wood School has been involved in a British
Council sponsored ‘Connecting Classrooms’
programme that links schools in the UK with schools
in Tunisia for the last eighteen months.
To further develop the partnership, a group of eight
colleagues representing Tunisian schools, the British
Council in Tunis and the Ministry of Education will be
visiting us next month. As part of their visit to the
school they will have an opportunity to meet
students and staff, attend assembly and observe
lessons. We also hope to devise some new project
ideas that will be developed in all the schools
represented.
Ms Christodoulou writes:
We have now almost come to the end of our
Comenius supported project ‘Healthy Lifestyles:
Outside In and Inside Out’. Early next half term Mr
Contor (Head of Drama) and Ms Harris (Deputy Head
of English) are travelling to visit a partner school in
Romania. The purpose of the visit is to provide an
exciting professional development opportunity for
our staff.
Whilst they are there, Mr Contor and Ms Harris will
be delivering workshops for staff and students using
strategies and techniques that will help our partners
to further develop their practice. They will also
participate in opportunities to extend their learning
and teaching repertoire.
The penultimate activity as part of our current
Comenius partnership is a trip to Hungary for eight of
our Year 10 PE students. The visit will be led by Ms
Howard (SSCO/PE teacher) and Mr Ibrahim (Head of
PE) in late April. Students will participate in a range of
outdoor sporting activities and they will also have an
opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Budapest. A
full report of the visit will be available in Insight next
term.
Who was Comenius?
Jan Amos Comenius lived five hundred years
ago and is sometimes called the “Father of
Modern Education”. He was born in the Czech
Republic and became famous throughout
Europe because of his writing on education, including some
of the first pictures books for children. The Comenius
Project of European collaboration is named after him.
TUNISIAN PARTNER SCHOOLS TO VISIT
The Department for Education league tables, which
have just been updated with the validated exam
results from last summer, confirm Highgate Wood
School’s continuing success ‐ with 72% of our
students achieving 5 A* ‐ C (including English and
Maths) at GCSE.
The government website also contains a vast amount
of other data about the school and can be accessed
either through the school website or directly from:
http://tinyurl.com/hwsdfe2012
LEAGUE TABLES CONFIRM OUR SUCCESS
February 2013
7
The coming half‐term sees the following homework projects being set:
Year 7: ECS:‐ Religious Festivals
D & T:‐ Graphics
Year 8: Music:‐ Compilation Album
Year 9: ECS: ‐ Families in the Media
Drama:‐ Script Writing
D & T:‐ Textiles
Information to help you with these will be available on the MLE.
THE COMING TERMS KEY STAGE 3 HOMEWORK PROJECTS
Ronan O Grady Carla Wicker Hektor Rafuna
Joe Williams Oli Buchan Ronan O' Regan
Mr Maclaren writes:
Students created a portrait of themselves using American artist Chuck Close for inspiration. The portrait were
broken into squares. Within each square students created patterns that represented their Identity ‐ images in‐
cluded national flags, hobbies, games, favourite food and other cultural symbols. The results were fantastic, stu‐
dents developed skills in portraiture drawing, painting skills and knowledge of colour (and also learnt a bit more
about each other!)
YEAR 7 ARTISTS ‐ IN THE STYLE OF CHUCK CLOSE
Ms Howard writes:
If you train or play for a
school team, you can
purchase a personalised
red hooded jumper.
Please see Miss Howard
in the PE office for a letter. Form
submission deadline ‐ 8th March.
PE PERSONALISED JUMPERS
February 2013
8
Highgate Wood
School Sixth Form
has again been
recognised for our
achievements in
securing good exam
results at A Level.
Alps have placed us
in the top 20% of
schools and colleges
nationally in terms
of value added
attainment.
This means that you
are more likely to
do better at Highgate Wood School Sixth Form than
in most other Sixth Forms in the country.
SIXTH FORM TASTER DAY
ALPS AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT
Mr Charlesworth writes:
On Wednesday 6th February students in Year 11
embraced the opportunity to spend the day as 6th
Formers. Each student had selected 4 lessons from
the A Level timetable and were able to enjoy lessons
with those teaching AS Level next year. Before
deciding which subjects to choose students took part
in two activities in Citizenship designed to help them
put together an A Level pathway and understand how
universities feel about groups of subjects.
As 6th Formers for the day students were able to use
the 6th Form Common Room and Study Centre at
break and between lessons.
They were also able to see how it feels to have a
‘free’ period and were pleased to be able to use the
canteen between lessons, as 6th Form students do.
There were opportunities to experience A level
teaching in a wide range of subjects, including those
that Year 11 students had never experienced before.
In terms of the lessons staff reported enthusiastic
learners keen to understand the difference between
GCSE and A level. For some the choice of lessons
work well to confirm which they apply for while for
others they found that options changed as the
subjects chosen were not what they expected them
to be.
I was pleased to see students having a go at subjects
that they have not been doing at GCSE as often
students start on A levels that they have not really
understood.
Students are now in a better position to complete
application form and be ready to discuss choices at
interview.
A taste of Product Design A Level—an already established course
Textiles at A Level—something new for Highgate Wood.
The first round deadline for applications to the
Highgate Wood 6th Form is Friday 15th February.
February 2013
9
Pat Hegarty‐Morrish writes:
The smell of the
greasepaint, the roar of
the crowd, and most
importantly the music
of the annual Winter
Concert is something
that the performers
look forward to. The
talent of Highgate
Wood is shown in no
better way then these three nights of musical mania.
What I love about the Winter Concert is the vibe you
get from performing, and the feeling that everyone is
a team working to achieve a common goal: to
entertain. And even if you go wrong (and I did!)
everyone will still be positive. Also, what’s great is the
new friends you make who aren’t in the same year as
you; this rarely happens in school as you are with
people your own age.
It all starts with months and months of practising to
get your pieces up to scratch before the auditions.
You need to be able to play the song backwards and
with your eyes closed in order to perform in front of
the music department. This year the auditions were a
huge success. More than 60 acts tried to get in to the
concert, giving the music department a really hard
job choosing which to select, but giving them loads of
performances to choose from.
For me and Yoshiki playing guitar, the auditions came
as a surprise – they were much earlier than usual. We
had only just finished learning the piece when we had
to perform to the music department, but somehow
we still got through.
There is an easier way to get into the winter concert.
If you’re not in a band with friends or not confident
enough to audition and perform on your own, join
one of the school bands (Choir, Brass Ensemble,
Orchestra, Jazz Band or Funk Band) and then you can
get in the winter concert audition‐stress free.
(Unfortunately, you do have to wear uniform when
performing.)
The whole‐day rehearsal is another high point. It’s
pretty amazing to see how many talented people
there are at Highgate Wood School. So many people
auditioned this year, this meant we definitely got the
best line‐up we’ve had since I’ve been at Highgate
Wood.
Walking through the doors on the first night, I felt
elated. Backstage, I remembered what it was like at
my first Winter Concert in Yr 7; the first night
everyone was hyper, especially after the interval
fuelled with crisps and coke. The second night was
not quite so sugar rushed. On the final night everyone
is tired, but for me it is always the best night – sad
because it is the last night, but happy having had such
a great experience.
Walking to the stage each time you perform, I am
always trembling, and it gets worse and worse the
closer you get. The performance that I found most
nerve‐racking was my duet with Yoshiki, because
there were only the two of us and there were so
many opportunities to make mistakes.
It’s hard to describe what performing in the guitar
duet was like. Just before I start playing I feel
exhilarated and really nervous, but when I start
performing I am in a state of extreme concentration,
just blocking every other thought out of my mind and
focusing completely on playing guitar. It’s a beautiful
feeling, and everyone deserves to feel it. The other
performances I did this year were with school bands;
they weren’t as scary as I was with many more people
and the songs weren’t as hard.
Performing in the Winter Concert is one of the best
experiences you can have in Highgate Wood School.
Having access to all the wonderful equipment
available through the music department is great, and
having the chance to show off to your friends in the
rehearsal and then performing to over 2000 people
over the three nights is brilliant.
Now many of the performers are looking forward to
the amazing Lake Garda Italy Tour. (My friend is
already making his ‘Italy playlist’ for the journey.) And
of course, sights are also set on MADfest and Winter
Concert 2013.
THE WINTER CONCERT ‐ an insider’s view
A whole gallery of pictures from the 2012 Winter
Concert are now available on the school website.
February 2013
10
February 2013
11
February 2013
12
Ms Allaway writes:
On the Monday
before half‐term
Highgate Wood
School hosted the
regional final for the
Jack Petchey Speak
Out Challenge: the
London and South
East wide competition
in public speaking.
Lucy Newbold and Tomer Raphael were selected
from the fifty five Highgate Wood students who
trained for the challenge and they represented the
school. Other of our Year 10 students helped in the
organisation and running of the event.
Lucy and Tomer performed brilliantly. Tomer
achieved third place in the final and his speech has
been recorded and posted on YouTube.
The Jack Petchey event coordinators were incredibly
impressed with the quality of the performances given
in the competition
and were also full of
praise for the other
students who
assisted in the
smooth running of
the event.
They passed on their
gratitude to Mr
Cozier for giving the
opening speech for
the event, they said
his was the best head
teachers speech they
had heard in a long
time!
Lily Owen 10I and Ellie Delamere 10A write:
We began by discussing
the different elements
of certain toys and how
these would help the
baby’s development
such as how mirrors
help the baby discover
its own reflection and numbers and letters help
develop the baby’s understanding. We also discussed
how sounds and textures
would affect the
educational value of our
toy. We then put
together our design brief.
We set out to design a
new innovative nursery/
cot toy aimed at children
aged between 0‐18
months. The toy should be safe to use, support
learning and development and be fun and colourful
to look at. The toy should expand sensory and
experiential feelings, and should be eye catching. The
cost should be competitive and fall within the normal
retail range’.
The making process began
by coming up with a range
of ideas which we drew on
a grid. Eventually we chose
our final design and created
a pattern to match.
We chose our material; it
had to be appropriate for
young children as well as comfortable and fun.
Gradually our cot toys
began to form. There
were quite a few
obstacles but they were
overcome and cot toys
were produced.
The cot toys were fun to
make and we all felt a
great sense of achievement at the end when we
realised we had created these toys entirely from
scratch and completely by ourselves (with help from
Mr Brown and Miss Robertson).
HOW TO DESIGN A NURSERY TOY! JACK PETCHEY’S “SPEAK OUT” CHALLENGE
February 2013
13
YEAR 11s ‐ ON THEIR WAY TO GLORY!
Ms Payton writes:
I am delighted that so many of you did so well in your
Maths exam in November. I want to say particular
congratulations to the following students:
Zak Benefetouha who attended lots of extra sessions
and got a C which was well above his target grade.
Mabast Amin who attended every single revision
session and also got his C.
Several students achieved higher than their targets
including Amiira Dookhy, Cemal Yucel, Sam Cassells,
Ella Krikler, Jack Horsfall, Conrad Lee and Ciara
Mahon.
Jack Coomber, Nicole Cheung, and Chi Chim who
had targets of Bs but got A*s
Miranda Ziemann and Rukiye Tas who got the best
marks in the whole school and A* .
The next Maths exam is February 28th and students
should be attending revision sessions regularly to
help achieve the same success.
Frames from the Year 11 Maths results video
Ms McConville writes:
This has been an eventful half term for Year 11. It has
given many students a real sense of optimism and
excitement for the future. For others it has given
them the opportunity to take stock of what they now
need to do.
Amongst those who took their Maths exam in
November we have had some great success stories,
with many students meeting and exceeding their
MTGs. The mock results received on Mock Results
day in January also gave many students cause for
pride and celebration.
Those students who have done well should now have
confidence and certainty that continued hard work
will bring even more rewards. However, those who
have not had such success, or whose results on Mock
Results Day and discussions at Parents Evening gave
rise to concern, will now know they must put that
extra effort in to turn things around. This is a really
critical time in Year 11, and all the school will be
wishing you every success.
Teachers are working hard to provide opportunities
to help students prepare, revise and catch up with
the work that is needed. Some students have been
assigned their own mentor who will guide them
through the next few weeks on the Aspire , Believe,
Commit programme which has been specifically
designed for this intervention group. But every single
student in Year 11 will be able to benefit from the
extracurricular opportunities for study that we will be
providing.
Mr Ashman has been busy putting material on the
school website ‐ in the P.A.S.S. Section under the
Learning tab, as well on the MLE, to help with
revision.
Here are five quick revision tips to get you started.
1. Start your revision early. You should be spending
some time revising for your exams even now.
2. Short bursts of revision (30 to 40 minutes) are
most the effective. Your concentration lapses after
about an hour and you need to take a short break
(5 to 10 minutes).
3. Find a quiet place to revise and don’t be
interrupted or distracted.
4. Make sure you don't just revise the subjects and
topics you like. Work on your weaker ones as well.
5. Believe in yourself and be positive. If you think you
can succeed you will; if you convince yourself that
you will fail, that's what will probably happen.
SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS
February 2013
14
Ms Burniston writes:
Beth Gosschalk, Amber Patterson and Ruth
Ollier represented the school in a Holocaust
memorial public speaking competition.
The students presented a speech regarding ‘Progress within Humanity’.
The students were outstanding, and proved to be an asset to the school.
Well done, and thank you for all your hard work.
Michael Bull’s inventive ice cream
sculpture ‐ created from wax and
sand ‐ as part of the Year 10 Art
exam.
Congratulations to Alex Carter‐Johns passed his Grade 3 Trinity Exam on
Drums with Distinction.
Well Done!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALEX CARTER‐JOHNS
Congratulations to Joe Stoneman for achieving a Merit for his Grade 7
Double Bass. Joe has also just been accepted into the London Schools
Symphony Orchestra. A major achievement!
CONGRATULATIONS TO JOE STONEMAN
Mr Lamb writes:
It has just been revealed that
Highgate Wood School ranks joint
6th Nationally and 5th in London
in the Debate Mate 2013 Artemis
Urban Debate League.
Congratulations to all involved!
Artemis Urban
Debate League
BREAKING NEWS
WAX ICE CREAM PROGRESS WITH HUMANITY
Ms Pinnick writes:
I have been really
impressed by how
efficiently Year 9
have engaged
with the Options
process. Almost
everyone handed in
their form on time, and clearly all
students have put a lot of thought
into deciding their choices.
Over the next few weeks Mrs
Breed and I will be speaking to
those students who may need to
rethink their Option choices.
If you do not hear from me you
should assume that you will be
able to start your chosen options
for Key Stage 4 in June
YEAR 9 AND OPTIONS
Mr Lamb writes:
Caitlin Davies, the author of the Ghost of Lily Painter, ran one writing workshop in the lead up to World Book Day on 7th March.
To celebrate the day Andy Robb, author of “Geekhood: Close Encounters of the Girl Kind”, will be giving a talk and signing his
books during lunchtime.
World Book Day £1 book tokens will be available to all students. You will be able to use them to get £1 off a book of your choice. But it is probably better to spend them on one of the special £1 books that will be available in bookshops as part of the event.
The LRC are also running the
Young Writer's Ghost Story
competition! Even more prizes are
up for grabs for those students
who submit book reviews on the
LRC's page on the MLE!
February 2013
15
Ms Jones writes:
Year 10 and Year 11
BTec students have
now embarked on a
really exciting
international project
with a partner school
in San Francisco.
They are sharing their
ideas, work and
results of a photography
workshop on‐line with their
partner students in America
through an intitiative called
Shutterfly ‐ 10 Days Project.
We will update you on their
progress as the project
unfolds.
Ms Dawes Knowles writes:
This half‐term all Year 11 Media Studies students
attended a GCSE Study Day at the BFI in the
Southbank.
The students listened attentively to a number of
presentations on TV Advertising including one from a
Creative Director based at AMV BBDO the agency
that produced the Paralympic Superhumans Advert
for Channel 4. They also enjoyed a Q&A session with
the Client Manager for the recent Maryland biscuit
campaign.
Ms DK and Mr Mallen were very impressed with the
maturity, knowledge and enthusiasm of their
students and would like to thank Doug Park, Alex
Williams and Adrian Hartley for their support during
the trip
Mr O’Connor writes:
The 2013 Model UN Conference is fast approaching
and will see two hundred and forty delegates discuss
the key issue of global development.
Sixty Highgate Wood School students from Years 9
and 10 have already been selected to take part, plus
our 6th formers for the Crisis Committee.
There will be a Secretariat of 30 (20 from Highgate
Wood School), plus rapporteurs from our Year 8, and
a press team.
Claire Melamed, who is currently Head
of the Growth, Poverty and Inequality
Programme at Overseas Development
Institute and was previously Head of
Policy at Action Aid will
be the key speaker at the Opening
Ceremony.
The Closing Ceremony will welcome
our local MP and a minister in the
Department for International
Development, Lynne Featherstone.
A VISIT TO THE BFI
MODEL UN CONFERENCE ‐ 6th MARCH
TEN DAYS PROJECT
SEX FM—exploring issues.
Ms Breed writes:
All students in Year 9 had
the opportunity to take part
in a drama performance
that explored the pressures
that sometimes come into
play within relationships, the dangers of STIs and the
risks of pregnancy.
It was an excellent and thought provoking production
and the students behaved with great maturity and
common sense.
I was extremely proud of their conduct.
February 2013
16
LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE Open: every school day at 8:00 am
every break time
every lunchtime
and... every school day after school:
until 5:00 pm Monday to Wednesday
until 4:00 pm on Thursday and Friday
HWS CHESS CLUB
Mr Lamb writes:
Chess Club has started in the LRC. It takes place after
school on Thursdays. The school is building up a team
to hopefully compete next term. The current rankings
are as follows:
1st Madeleine Baron (8A)
2nd Abel Kent (8G)
3rd Scarlett Monaighan (8A)
4th Imaru Lewis (7I)
5th Khalidullah Sahebzada (9S)
Mr Lamb writes:
Highgate Wood fielded four teams in Round 1 of the
Urban Debate League held at Parliament Hill on 23rd
January. The teams argued with other schools about
allowing extremist parties to be televised and if
gambling should be illegal. At times the debates were
quite heated!
With three losses and five wins the teams performed
exceptionally well. They demonstrated their
commitment, team work and preparation whilst also
developing their speaking and critical thinking skills.
Well done to the teams!
DEBATE MATE
Natalya de la Motte (9S)
Faye Heron (9I)
Beth Gosschalk (9T)
Martha Berkmann (9E)
Ruth Ollier (9T)
Amber Paterson (9T)
Imogen Shepperd (9T)
Rosa Elson (9H)
Max Berkman (9T)
George Tollinson (9A)
Max Aref‐Adib (9D)
Liliana Ricketts (9D)
Robin Cowie (9D)
Conrad Pope (7E)
Joe Trainer (7E)
Trevaughn Jackson (8A)
Damien Del Curto (8H)
Joshua Rodney (8I)
Jace Griffiths (8T)
Amanda Williams (7A
Troy Nya (7A)
Kerena Thompson‐Cox (7A)
Savannah Mundle (7A)
Lucy Sutton (7H)
Talvinder Bains (8A)
Joe Vinall‐Smeeth (8G)
Jonah Macintyre (8G)
Nat Stark (8H)
Harry Ghose Coveney (8H)
Jake Canton Perry (8I)
Cali Nice (8I)
Sinead Duffus (9W)
DEBATE MATE—TEAM LINE‐UP
Ms Taylor writes:
KS3 Science club is still running on Monday lunchtime
1:10 ‐ 1:40 in P8. Fun practicals and exciting science
every week with help from our sixth form Science
Club coordinators!
SCIENCE CLUB REMINDER!
February 2013
17
Mr Ashman writes:
This year’s Safer Internet Day
coincided with the ICT enrichment
which meant that Year 7 were
able to spend the day exploring
and discussing issues of e‐safety.
As well as looking at the main
issues of keeping safe on the
internet, and what they might do
if they have any causes for
concern, they also looked at
issues of bias, trust and reliability
on the internet.
Students designed their own web
pages for spoof websites, and
fraudulent ones too. Their ideas
were brilliant!
Juber Miah came up with a
phishing site for Halifax Bank,
whilst Levi Nice and Kerena
Thompson‐Cox both design fake
concert ticket pages. Kayne Parara
had perhaps the cleverest idea of
all. He design a website called
Presents for Noth’n. “Just give me
a phone number, address and
your credit card details and I’ll
give you anything you want for
free” he wrote.
The day followed an early PSA
presentation on e‐safety,
reminding everyone of the e‐
safety resources on the school
website and the useful “Think U
Know” website, through which
you can report concerns about on‐
line safety directly to
the police. www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Ms Stephens writes:
Kate Owen in 7I went abroad to
Australia during the Christmas
holidays and was set an extra task
by her art teacher. She created a
sketchbook of drawings and
collages based on her travels.
Ms Stephens was so impressed by
her drawing of Tauranga Zoo in
Sydney that she showed them to
year 12 who are currently creating
sculptures based on animals.
AUSTRALIAN IMAGES DIFFERENT SURFACE
Ms Masters writes:
This is Blue Weiss’ outstanding
piece of work produced in the
Year 10 “Surfaces” exam.
E‐SAFETY ENRICHMENT
If you need the details to top‐up
your lunch card account online
please email Mr Ashman at:
Ms Gunes writes:
Year 7 have been studying weather
and climate this term in Geography,
learning how to draw and interpret
climate graphs. We have teamed up
with the ICT department where
students have learnt to manipulate
weather data and produce climate
graphs in their ICT lessons.
The collaboration has meant
students fully understand how a
climate graph works and should be
interpreted. The strong links with
maths has meant that students got
to practice reading graphs and
using key vocabulary.
Well done year 7s!
Excellent effort...
CLIMATE GRAPHS
Sonny B
ailey 7T
February 2013
18
Dear Parents,
I have been the Education Welfare Officer at Highgate W
ood School for over a year and so
I thought I should tell you how I do my job and why it is so important to your child.
Every fortnight I discuss students whose attendance is
less than a certain minimum
amount with each Head of Learning and contact parents a
bout their children’s
attendance. If attendance is less than 95% it will result
in a lower grade in ALL subjects!
The options we have available are:
A meeting at school to discuss the reasons for absence
A home visit
A medical enquiry to you GP
To reflect the responsibility that we share for our child
ren’s education sometimes we are forced to
undertake legal proceedings when a child’s attendance
remains below certain prescribed minimum
specially where there are no medically endorsed reasons.
I would like to point out that there is a very clear statist
ical link between attendance and achievement.
There is also a very clear link between achievement at school and income and quality of life as an ad
ult.
Persistent absentees, particularly those lower than 95%
, are three times as likely not to be in education,
employment or training at age of 18 when compared to good attenders.
Highgate Wood School overall has good attendance; however, we d
o have a significantly larger number
of absentees reporting illness as a reason for absence c
ompared to the Haringey’s average. This statistic
might indicate that absence is sometimes overlooked and possibly
too readily endorsed by some
parents.
There are various ways in which you can help your child
achieve their best:
Read your child’s journal every day ‐ there should be ho
mework regularly set
Discuss homework and help with it where possible
Ensure your child is fully equipped for lessons – PE kit,
pens, spare pens, pencils, rubber, ruler, etc
Ensure after reading your child’s journal that homework has been completed effectively.
Ensure your child has a good night of sleep with no late
night disturbances from TV, mobile
phones and/or computers in their bedrooms
Contact us early if your child becomes ill or if
attendance falls for any reason
Try and arrange doctor and dentist appointments
outside school hours
Do not arrange family holidays during term time: it is
illegal to do so without first seeking permission from
the Headteacher and such applications are most likely
to be declined.
Attendance of less than 95% will adversely affect your c
hild’s
grades and future prospects.
Please help support us in maximising your child’s potential!
Yours sincerely
Roger Worth
Education Welfare Officer
A MESSAGE FROM OUR EDUCATION WELFARE OFFICER
February 2013
19
SCHOOL MUSICAL
Spendandraise ‐ which you can
access through the school
website ‐ allows you to buy on‐
line from a huge range of retailers,
including John Lewis, Halfords,
Currys, Habitat, Evans Cycles, Play.com and Asda.
There are no charges for using it, but every purchase
through www.spendandraise.com/hwspsa provides
extra funds for the Highgate Wood School PSA.
Mr Brown writes:
Countdown has begun for Return to the Forbidden
Planet which will be staged in the first week of our
return to school.
It is a fantastic production and tickets are already
selling well. Ticket Prices are £5 for adults and £3 for
concessions.
The cast is as follows:
Alice Goss (Year 13) ‐ Newscaster
Shakrah Siffre‐Banerji (Year 12) ‐ Captain Tempest
Joshua Riley (Year 11) ‐ Doctor Prospero
Neena Afua‐Nsafoah (Year 12) ‐ Miranda
Max Gerstein (Year 12) ‐ Ariel
Kika Adamou (Year 13) ‐ Gloria
Fionnuala Stevens (Year 11) ‐ Cookie
Maya Kally (Year 11) ‐ Bosun
Hannah Dalgliesh (Year 11) Navigation Officer
MAIN CHORUS:
Alaine Demosthenous, Ellie Phillips, Ellie Whitlock,
Ruby Cowan, Chloe Petmezas‐Walker, Holly Stott,
Imogen Marks, Elsie White, Eliza King‐Lassman, Emma
Atkinson, Akiha Kuniyoshi, Ashya Broomes, Isobel
Agnew, Mia Clifford, Alexandra Burgess, Zoe
Hutchings, and Phoebe Bennett.
RAISING MONEY FOR THE HWS PSA
STUDENT SICKNESS
Mrs King writes:
If your child is off‐sick could
you please call every day
that they are unable to
come into school.
Please phone
0208 342 7970
Could parents and
carers also please
ensure that the school has emergency contact
numbers should your child become ill at school and
we need to contact you.
Do you need Maths Tuition?
I am an A‐Level student studying maths and I can help you get the best GCSE grades at a reasonable price
(£15 an hour) Email Gabriel at:
MATHS TUITION AVAILABLE
GIVING NEWS TO THE SCHOOL
If students, parents, carers or
friends want to alert the school
of an achievement or any good
news that could be shared please
contact us by email at:
We also have an email address for those who wish to
make a complaint or raise a concern.
Email: [email protected]
The school calendar is now available on‐line at www.hws.uk.com
(the exams timetable is available on the exams page of the site)
Keep informed Find out what is going on at Highgate Wood School and keep up with our news
visit us at our website www.hws.uk.com
follow us on twitter twitter.com/highgatewood
Insight is available on‐line at www.hws.uk.com Give us your news at: [email protected]
AUTUMN 2012 Wed 5th September
29th Oct ‐ 2nd Nov
Friday 21st Dec
Term Starts *
Half term break
Term Ends
SPRING 2013 Mon 7th Jan
18th Feb– 22nd Feb
Thurs 28th March
Term Starts
Half term break
Term Ends
SUMMER 2013 Mon 15th April
27th—31st May
Wed 24th July
Term Starts
Half term break
Term Ends
School starts again on Monday 25th February
It will be Week Two. Lessons will start at 8:35
Thursday 15th November 2012 Year 9
Wednesday 28th November 2012 Year 12 & 13
Tuesday 29th January 2013 Year 10
Thursday 17th January 2013 Year 11
Wednesday 6th March 2013 Year 8
Tuesday 7th May 2013 Year 7
Parent Consultation Evenings INSET DAYS and INSET AFTERNOONS
Inset afternoon Monday 18th March
Inset afternoon Tuesday 23rd May
INSET DAY Monday 3rd June
Monday 25th February HALF TERM BEGINS
School OpenCheck To see if the school is open normally
0208408 7508 and giving the school’s DfE code 3094030
We will also always endeavour to update our website, twitter feed and send text messages to keep parents informed if school is disrupted for any reason
27th—28th Feb/ 1st March SCHOOL MUSICAL
Wednesday 6th March YEAR 8 PARENTS EVENING
7th March WORLD BOOK DAY (Late start following Parents’ Evening)
18th March School closed early for Staff training