Year 9 Artists working with Global Partnerships

The River
Newsletter - Issue 18 - 14th February 2014
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Year 9 Artists working with
Global Partnerships
In this issue:
• Global Partnerships in Art!
• YPI & The Hounslow Youth Conference
• EAL visit Victoria Albert Museum
On 21st and 22nd January I took two Gifted and Talented
Year 9 pupils, Frohar Faheem and Michael Donkar, to work
on a special project incorporating ‘student voice’ in
London. We teamed up with Sue Parkinson
and two Year 9 students from our Banbury
Academy to work as ‘artists in residence’ at
a global educational conference.
The project was part of an event called
‘New Pedagogies for Deep Learning: A
Global Partnership’. The partnership brings
together educational experts from 10 different countries, representing over 1000
schools. They are looking at different kinds
of learning that they would like to see
happening in schools to engage students and prepare
them for the global community.
To incorporate ‘student voice’ in their program, we were
invited to create a collaborative piece of student artwork creating and designing a painting on the theme of transforming learning over the course of two days. Both Michael
and Frohar worked with confidence, developing their
ideas, working as a team, talking to the conference
guests, discussing their thoughts and feelings about how to
make learning more engaging. The conference organisers were extremely impressed with the professional approach of our students and the creative painting that they
produced. The paintings we produced are on loan to the
school and can be seen hanging in the dining room. It
was a fantastic opportunity to see creativity in action and I
am very proud to have been involved with the project.
Miss Sumner, Head of Art
(Above) Year 9 students, Michael and
Frohar take a photo with Dr. Russ Quaglia
and two students from Banbury Academy
in front of the Artwork.
Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI)
All Year 9 students are currently taking part in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) in their PSHCEE
lessons. YPI is an international initiative designed to support young people in developing community
awareness. Pupils are taught about philanthropy and charity through an experience of giving that highlights the positive impact they can have in their community.
Students have worked in groups to research the needs of their community
and have identified a local charity that they believe is best placed to make a
positive change. They are now contacting their charities by telephone to ask permission to represent
them in the competition. After half term, students will be preparing a presentation about their charity which should be as informed and creative as possible. Following skills training in advocacy and
public speaking, students will present their research to their PSHCEE class and House Leader who will
then judge the winning group. The eight winning teams (one from each PSHCEE class) will go forward
to a grand final (more details to follow) and the team judged to have made the most compelling
presentation will be awarded a grant of £3000 to donate to their charity. During the whole process,
pupils develop skills in research, analysis, presentation and communication, which all contribute to a
pupil’s growth and confidence.
As part of the research process it is recommended that groups visit their chosen charity after-school
or during the half term holiday. We are making all students aware that they must ask permission from
parents or carers before making any plans or arrangements. A letter explaining more about the YPI
project will be sent home with the students in their next PSHCEE lesson. A copy of the letter is also attached to this newsletter and will be posted on the Academy website.
We are excited to be one of the schools participating in YPI and hope that you will fully support and
encourage your son or daughter in researching and visiting local charities.
Hounslow Youth Crime Conference 2014
On Friday 7th February, nine Year 9 GCSE Citizenship and Law students
represented Rivers Academy at the Hounslow Youth Crime Conference at
the Lampton Park Conference Centre (Hounslow Civic Centre). The all-day
event gave students the opportunity to investigate Citizenship issues relating to law and order in the local community. During the day there were many workshops about
important issues including internet safety, hate crime, gang crime, knife crime and stop & search.
The students were excellent ambassadors for the Academy and contributed well to the discussions.
Matthew Crème participated particularly well and was selected to receive the evaluation award congratulations! The students who attended the conference have had the opportunity to feedback
what they learnt to their classes during their work on Law and Order this module. They all reported
that they enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with the police and community support officers.
We are all very grateful to Hounslow Metropolitan Police for organising such a fantastic event and
look forward to working more closely with them in the future and participating in the conference next
year. Many thanks to Miss Franklin for accompanying the students on this trip.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
Fairtrade Fortnight – 24th February to 9th March 2014
Each year the Fairtrade Foundation organises a Fairtrade Fortnight to draw attention to Fairtrade
products and to encourage consumers to make responsible purchases. Fairtrade is about better
prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers
in the developing world.
Students have learnt about Fairtrade in PSHCEE lessons but there are also many opportunities for the
whole community to get involved! So why not ‘go bananas for Fairtrade’ in Fairtrade Fortnight 2014?
More information, resources and ideas can be found at www.fairtrade.org.uk.
Did you know?
• One in every three bananas sold in the UK is Fairtrade.
• Fairtrade products are now sold in more than 125 countries.
• The Fairtrade logo is the most widely-recognised ethical label globally.
Mock Trial Competition
Year 9 GCSE Law students are currently preparing for the Citizenship Foundation’s Magistrates’ Court
Mock Trial Competition. Students have been busily researching the case and rehearsing their roles
in lessons in preparation for the regional competition on Saturday 8th March at Feltham Magistrates’
Court.
Good luck to all those involved and we are confident it’s going to be a fantastic experience for all
concerned.
Key Examination Dates and Deadlines
There are some important Controlled Assessment deadlines and examination dates approaching so
please support us in ensuring that all students have completed work to the highest standard and are
well prepared for the exams. We have sent a letter and revision packs home to all Year 11 students.
Also, Year 10 students have an activity pack to help them prepare for their mock A343 exam in assessment week (week beginning 3rd March).
GCSE Examination Dates (Year 11)
A342 Exam (worth 20% of the final grade) = Wednesday 14th May 2014 (PM)
A343 Exam (worth 20% of the final grade) = Monday 19th May 2014 (AM)
If any student needs extra support with their Controlled Assessment then they should speak to their
teacher or come and see Mr. Payne in Room 113.
Revision sessions for the Summer exams will be advertised in this newsletter and around the
Academy. We also hope to run an Easter revision class for targeted students and those who feel
they need extra support with the important revision process.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
Local Addams Family production with Rivers Academy students
Former student, John Roberts (now studying at Wimbledon College of Arts) , is involved
in an exciting production of the new musical comedy ‘The Addams Family’ with Axis
Youth Productions, a Feltham-based musical theatre company for young people.
Already there are several Rivers Academy students who are involved, but they are
looking for more boys and girls aged 8-21 years old. Open auditions will be held on
the 2nd March 2014 and more details can be found at:
http://www.axisyouthproductions.co.uk/
Computer science
The government has asked all schools to offer computer science as a course to all
students at Key Stage 3. The ICT department has already been introducing this
subject, so students are learning their pseudocode from their functions!
Congratulations to Jawahar Tunuguntla who has recently completed a university
standard online course alongside his studies. Within this he created an Asteroids game
using the Python programming language. Any Year 8 students interested in gaming,
mobile technologies should try the suggested links below to enhance their knowledge
and find out if computer science could be one of their options in 2014-15.
In other news, Year 9 students have also been involved in the Apps for Good project,
while Year 10 has been working with the Cisco challenge after school. Computer
science is on the rise!
Useful links
http://www.python.org/getit/ Look at the first bullet point and download this program
http://www.pythonschool.net/ A great website with videos explaining programming techniques
https://www.khanacademy.org/cs An online site to explain computer science ideas
http://www.fronter.com/hounslow The Academy’s online learning site – see the Computer Science room on Fronter
If you should have any questions about this new and exciting subject, do get in touch
with the ICT and Computer Science department.
Mr Arda
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
EAL trip to Victoria and Albert museum
On Wednesday 11th December, some of the EAL students visited Victoria and Albert
museum. Students were excited and amazed with the wide range of cultural displays.
They saw some incredible paintings, architecture, jewellery, sculptures and furniture
from a variety of countries and got to know a bit better their own cultural heritage.
One of the temporary exhibits presented a very interesting history of fashion combined with a special display on catwalk fashion from the ‘80s. Students really enjoyed
the fashion display and were able to appreciate the craftsmanship of designers and
dressmakers.
One of our students Amina Gholam Khan (YR 8) shared her experience with us.
‘First we met in the EAL room and waited for everyone. We then walked to the bus
stop, and went to Feltham train station to get the train to South Kensington.
The journey was fun. I had an amazing time at Victoria and Albert Museum, where
I saw different cultural garments and ornaments. We took pictures and purchased
items from the gift shop. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.’
We finished the afternoon with a lovely walk around South Kensington and we stopped
to see some lights, decorations and skaters on the ice rink nearby.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement