Building Schools for the Future

Issue 13
GMT
George Mitchell School
Farmer Road
Leyton
E10 5DN
Tel: 020 8539 6198
September 2007
Supporters cheer on their class at Sports Day. See pages 18 and 20 for more...
Building Schools for the Future exciting times ahead!
You have all heard that our
school is one of a number of
schools likely to benefit from
a huge amount of special
government funding either to
improve our current buildings
or even build completely new
schools!
I have already sent you the booklet
which the Local Authority have
produced asking for your views on the
early thinking about Building Schools
for the Future. I hope you were able to
respond to the document. My thanks
go to those parents, students and
staff who attended the ‘focus groups’
on Building Schools for the Future. I
think it fair to say we were the best
represented school!
Another
document
will
be
produced in October with much firmer
proposals for you to consider about
the educational provision for Waltham
Forest children over the coming
decades. I honestly don’t know what
the future holds, but I personally
think it would be wonderful if here
at George Mitchell we could have
something brand new to offer our
students – not just the buildings but a
whole new way of organising what we
teach and how we teach it. I love our
building - it is safe, full of charm and
character. However, it is really difficult
for us to offer 21st teaching in a school
built at the start of the 20th century!
Lots
more
meetings
and
conferences are planned; new ideas
will emerge. I will keep you all fully
informed.
Helen Jeffery
Headteacher
GM goes green - Page 4
Cooking up a treat in English - Page 6
Science Corner - Page 12
Voice 2007
Highlights from the Summer 2007 survey of
Students, Staff and Parents
Students
More than 75% of students said:
• I understand the aims of my lessons – 80%
• I achieve in my lessons – 80%
• I am aware of the level that I am working towards – 77%
• We are encouraged to work hard in school – 77%
Fewer than 50% of students said:
• The school rules are followed by students – 37%
• Behaviour in the classroom is good – 38%
• I am rewarded when I achieve success – 41%
• Behaviour around the school is good – 42%
• Behaviour at lunchtimes is good – 43%
• I am praised in my lessons – 45%
Staff
• Teaching for Learning is good = 89%
• Ethos and Culture are good = 86%
• Attainment and Achievement are good = 79%
• Conduct and Behaviour are good = 66%
Parents
There were 50 respondents.
• I am proud of my child’s school – 90%
• My child is encouraged to work hard in school – 86%
• My child achieves in lessons – 82%
• My child enjoys coming to school – 76%
• My child enjoys their lessons – 76%
• Behaviour is dealt with consistently – 76%
Further Learning Opportunities (alternative non-compulsory ‘homework’ system)
There was little agreement on FLOs among staff, students or parents. Some think they are a good idea and
that we should keep them instead of homework, and some think that we should revert to homework.
David Beckham Academy
Last term a minibus full of Year
9 students drove over to the David
Beckham Academy. When we got
there we took a look around. Some of
us played table football while the rest
of us were either taking pictures or
playing on an Xbox or PS2. We got to
see football shirts worn by people like
Michael Owen, Steven Gerard, Thierry
Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho
and of course Golden Balls himself.
When we got into the canteen, we
met our coach for the day, Calm, and
his assistant Scott, who was doing
2
work experience. After we broke the
ice, we were told that George Mitchell
and all the other schools would be
countries in a world cup challenge.
Lammas was Argentina & Holland,
Connaught was England, Leytonstone
was Spain and we were…Sweden.
For the first part of the day we were
split into different groups to score
points for our team. The group were 2
physiotherapists, 2 fitness coaches, 2
nutritionists and so on. We had lunch,
then in the afternoon it was time for
football!
First of all we did some drills, and
then we had a tournament with all
the other teams. Throughout the day
we were earning points in every way
possible. At the end of the day all
the points were added up and guess
what? We won!!!!
Finally we took a few more
pictures of everything and went off
to McDonalds before coming back to
school. Apart from the fact that we
didn’t see David Beckham himself, all
in all it was a great day.
Ramona Lee Hudson, Year 9
BART Day
BART - Beliefs and Religious Tolerance was a day of activities about understanding
religions and taking moral decisions.
For the first time ever students were in
mixed age groups. They then moved through a
range of activities. Experiences included playing
the Buddhist game Go; doing Islamic-inspired
artwork; visiting a Christian cathedral; exploring
the Hindu traditions within Bollywood dance;
creating mehndi patterns in a henna class led by
students from Years 7 and 9; learning about the
5 Creating mehndi patterns
Rastafarian roots of reggae; and practising Sikh
drumming. There were also discussion groups led
by local groups exploring Christian beliefs, links
between Islam and other faiths and some of the
moral questions underpinning Jewish belief.
The highlight of the day was a drama
production by Actorshop dealing with the moral
choices faced by young people around gangs
and knife crime.
Martin Spafford
Humanities Department
5 The roots of reggae...
George Mitchell School takes
very seriously its responsibility
to ensure race equality in every
aspect of school life. This year
again, it has been to the forefront of
our minds in recruiting staff, admitting
students to the school mid-term,
writing schemes of work and lesson
plans, and analysing attainment,
attendance and exclusion statistics.
We have further refined our recording
procedures to facilitate more effective
identification of potential problem
areas. The Governors naturally receive
regular updates on all aspects of the
implementation of the policy and
challenge me and the Senior Team as
appropriate on areas for concern.
Helen Jeffery
Headteacher
6 Playing Go!
Race Equality
Policy
What’s your carbon footprint?
How can we travel without harming the environment? Are
intercontinental flights destroying our future? Are there ways to get
around that don’t leave a carbon footprint?
A new book sponsored by the United Nations and translated into many
languages will bring together the ideas, writing and artwork of young people
from all over the world and two of our students - Peju Obasa and Omar
Hussain - are members of the editorial board. They spent three days at the
headquarters of Peace Child International choosing what would go into the
book and the final product will be in the bookshops soon...
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
3
‘MAKING E10 GREEN AGAIN’
In June, 12 lucky Year 7 students, also known as The Night Sky Garden Group, went away to the
Chellington Centre in Bedfordshire. Our mission was to create a project that brought a little piece of the countryside
back to the city – so it was important that we had lots of fun there to make sure that we really got to know what it was
like!
Some of our favourite activities included the treasure hunt; the camouflage army game; the photo competition;
playing football; the barbeque and just spending time together. We even had a campfire, toasted marshmallows and
told ghost stories! Hasan’s stories were really funny, and Mr Calitz tried to scare us all! In the camouflage game, we all
put paint on our faces and had to hide! Valeria won that competition! We didn’t like the flies or the cow doo-doo (look
out for the ‘squelch’ on the mural – that’s the sound your foot makes when you step in it!).
3Valeria triumphs in the camouflage game!
Abdullah captures the view for our mural 4
5Hasan, Abdullah, Emily and Valeria keep up
the good work
So, after all that fun, we had some work to do! We decided to design a mural for one of the boring walls in school,
and to plant hanging baskets outside reception, to brighten the place up. It has taken us three weeks, but we have
managed to complete these missions – have a look at the pictures, or come and visit to see our work!
The Night Sky Garden Group are: Valeria Bogdanova, Marcus Pixley, Hasan Rasool, Shirley Prichard, Emily Shoesmith,
Prince Bibbon, Ben Plaster, Karan Steadman, Irene Nabakuuma, Charlotte Read, Shanice Edwards, Abdullah Habib,
Hendri Calitz, Gill Pimm, Bill Jolliffe (army cadet helper), Pete Coghill (army cadet helper).
Head Start Robotics Day
On Wednesday 27 June, a
group of students were given the
chance to experience the robotic
world: how they’re made and
their functions. Guided by Mr Smith,
the journey to the London Imperial
University was very long and crowded
with people travelling to work early in
the morning.
When we arrived at the university,
there were three groups of secondary
school students. We were given a brief
introduction to robots and machines,
and the activities that we would do for
the day.
We compared how robots are
different to machines because they
can move on their own and be
reprogrammed,
whilst
machines
need to be controlled. We also
discussed what household appliances
or industrial machinery would be put
4
under these two headings.
Then one of the lecturers
introduced us to a robust object called
the Boe-Bot and instructed us on how
to program the robot. We enjoyed
making it move in all directions, using
sensors to program it to react to
obstacles.
Finally, to test the Boe-Bot we
programmed, one of the lecturers
created a small obstacle course for
us to test our programming skills. We
had to make our robot travel round
corners to reach a bottle in order to
complete the course. In the end, only
two groups finished it (ours included)
but overall the trip was a great
experience that enabled us to have
a basic knowledge about the courses
that the University offers.
William Man, Year 9
Social Skills Group
“This group is the best in the whole
school”
“This group is fun and cool”
These are some of the comments
from the students in the social skills
group. This group has been running
for over a year now and the students
have had the opportunity to discuss
different issues such as friendships,
favourite teachers, listed buildings
and more. The group recently put
together a role-play to be shown to
Ms Kirwin and Ms Chambers.
We meet once a fortnight and
share experiences they have faced as
well as future events they are looking
forward to. The whole group have
found it has helped with friendships,
confidence and working in a small
group.
Danielle Hay
Learning Mentor
CITIZENSHIP DAY
22 MAY 2007
– a student
at university,
someone
just starting
a new job,
u n e m p l oye d
– they were
Relationships
told
how
much
money
Year 7 looked at how to prevent
they
had
and deal with bullying behaviour;
coming
into
a board game; role play; designing
their
home
posters and bully prevention bingo.
and
how
much
Students were able to look at working
they
were
in teams; group dynamics; fair play
paying
out,
with a sprinkling of fun!
rent,
food,
Prison? Me? No Way!
entertainment
etc.
They
The Arts Block was overtaken
T-shirt designs from Y9
were
then
told
they
had
an
item
to
by the Prison Service, Fire Brigade, session of the morning watching a
Ambulance Service and many others part of the series Planet Earth with
who made it very clear to Year 8 that David Attenborough, looking at how
they needed to avoid the kinds of all of us are destroying the world
behaviour that might lead to being we live in. This led to them thinking
about how they
could pass on
their fears for the
future and how we
can do something
now!
After
researching
on
the internet, they
provided us with
some inspirational
poems and raps.
The final part of
the jigsaw was the
design of a t-shirt
using a different
Y10 at the bank
medium to get their
message
across buy, which could have been a trip to
Year 8 are put through their paces
– the poems used Australia for a sister’s wedding, a new
sent to Prison. Students were put into language and the t-shirts were very car, or an unexpected expense that
wings (just like in Prison Break!) and visual. What was produced needed to they couldn’t initially afford. Thinking
marched around. Every student had be seen to be believed – absolutely about the questions they would need
to ask, the borrowers had interviews
their turn in the mobile prison cell wonderful.
with all four sets of lenders to find out
complete with prison sounds, terrible
Credit worthy
why it is important to shop around
smells and not very much space at
when borrowing, just like you would
Year
10
students,
supported
by
all… Great prizes were awarded to
if you were buying a car, not to put
Ruth
Sullivan
our
NatWest
partner,
students who engaged well for the
yourself into a lot of debt and the
looked
at
borrowing.
They
came
whole day – difficult because they
consequences.
to
school
dressed
in
‘business-like’
were all so good. Both students and
The students looked great and
clothes,
just
as
you
would
if
you
were
staff enthused about the experience
really
supported each other through
meeting
with
your
bank
manager.
(particularly good as they were the
the
process
– a positive experience
The
students
were
either
lenders
only students in for the whole day).
(Bank, Building Society, Money Lender and a worthwhile activity.
Global Warming
or Pawnbroker) or borrowers. Working Claire Kirwin
Year 9 students spent the first in pairs they were given an identity Deputy Headteacher
Another successful Curriculum
Liberation Day – set that
timetable free…
And once again learning outside
the classroom visits George Mitchell
School and leaves its mark.
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
5
Citizenship Department involved in
Headteachers’ Conference!
A
selection
of
students
attended
the head teachers’
conference to share
what they had been
doing in citizenship –
active tasks related to
stopping gun and knife
crime as well as gang
culture in their local
community. They spoke
to head teachers from all
over the borough, and
the local MP, and featured
in the local paper!
Students engaged in
a selection of activities,
which culminated in a gun/
knife crime awareness
week, with a minute’s silence on the
last day of the week. Students raised
over £40 to donate to the local youth
centre, and taught lessons to Year 7
students to raise awareness amongst
the students.
We recently received a letter from
Leroy Harley, the senior manager of
the conference. They were
a great representation of
how fabulous our students
are.
Nathalie Chambers
Getting ready to set up for the stall
the Social Inclusion department of
the Youth and Community service
thanking us for our work. He has
been invited into the school and will
be working with Year 9s in future on
similar active citizenship projects.
I am so proud of the intelligent and
mature way the students behaved at
Some of the Year
9 citizenship students
attended
the
head
teachers’ conference, with
Miss Chambers. We were
outside on one of the stalls.
On our stall we had poems,
t-shirts and t-shirt designs,
ribbons, and posters about
gun/knife crime. We had
a great time, and lots of
teachers visited our stall
and were very interested
in what we were doing.
One of them even said we should
have gone to present inside, because
what we were doing was very important
and was a great achievement. They
also said how proud they were to see
young people who actually cared.
Amel Chergui, Year 9
English Goes Cross-Curricular!!!
It all started when Toushane
Louis said, “Miss, could we
make pizza?” and immediately, I
thought, “Well, why not?”
After several lessons of learning
about the different types of non-fiction
Kyle Coleman
6
text types, Toushane’s suggestion
seemed to be the perfect way to wrap
up the unit of work with a practical
follow-up.
So armed with a variety of
favourite toppings which ranged from
Natalie Wilson’s seasoned chicken and
Emmanuel Yombo’s garlic pepperoni
to Kyle Coleman’s juicy olives (which
he was in danger of wiping out before
the dough was ready to be topped), we
trooped down to the Food Technology
room.
Ms Fellowes was there advising,
guiding and solving crises like Bradley
Foley’s flaky dough while Ms Francis
made sure that the washing up was
getting done!
At the end of the hour, we were
really proud to go home, each one
of us armed with a pizza that would
make any Italian master-chef green
with envy!
Congratulations go to Bradley,
Luke, Jamel, Emmanuel, Kyle, Natalie
and Toushane for their enthusiasm
Natalie Wilson with Ms Chiwara
and successful end to the term!
And Toushane…thank you for the
idea!!!
Yollanda Chiwara
Curriculum Leader for English
What a tasty idea!
What do you get when you mix
Willow Brook Primary School, the
Education Business Partnership,
a dash of George Mitchell School
and stir it all with a portion of
Waltham Forest College?
That’s right: a Healthy Recipe
Cook Book project that is designed
to raise money for our Challenge
2012 programme. (If you need to be
reminded fully of what that programme
is visit www.gmschool.co.uk).
preparing
and
serving the final
chosen dishes.
A few days
later our ICT
students
(2
Year 8 and 2
Year 10) and Mr
Ball visited CPI
Design Studios
to learn layout
skills from their
Students working on the design
chief designers.
The CPI staff
welcomed
us
and
showed
the
students
what it is like to
work in an adult
environment.
The
students
suggested lots of
very good ideas
on layout for
At Waltham Forest College
the book. Then
Willow Brook Primary School and using the best of their ideas, a basic
Waltham Forest College worked for a template was put together, converted
number of weeks on recipe ideas and to PDF format and a test printout
information about healthy eating. The produced on CPI’s latest hi-tech
primary students were then asked to printer. Following a lengthy discussion
bring in some recipes and, of those, between the students and designers
40 were chosen for the book.
an improved layout template was
In July Mr Bushell and Aroosa from created. Students spent the rest of
Year 8 went along to the College and the day working individually on a
photographed the catering students section of the book each. A week later
students were released from lessons to
consider improvements and complete
the task. The designers and workers
at CPI were extremely impressed by
the ability, hard work and skill with
which the students worked.
There has now been lots of
rushing around to get the book to
the publishers to produce over the
summer holidays with an official
launch at Waltham Forest College in
September.
A big thanks to our staff at George
Mitchell, the staff and students at
Willow Brook, Waltham Forest College,
the EBP, particularly Srivati Skelton
who has managed the project from
beginning to end.
If you would like to get a copy
please contact Claire Kirwin 0208 539
6198 or in person at school.
Keith Ball
ICT Department
Making Movies (and watching them too)
We are really excited to
welcome to the staff at GM Pete
Watson, newly appointed Media
Arts Technician. Mr Watson’s exciting
role will involve him working alongside
staff AND students and helping them
explore the world of the digital media:
animation, movie-making, music
technology and much, much more.
Before too long, it won’t only be the
Media Studies classroom which gets
students behind a video camera or
staging a stopmotion cartoon; and
we also have plans to replace the
traditional ‘School Production’ with our
very own ‘SCHOOL FILM’. So watch
this space!
Also, in Mr Watson’s safe hands,
the Film Club continues to go from
strength to strength. Highlights of
this term’s schedule include the film
version of Ayub Khan Din’s ‘East is
East’; Spielberg’s World War Two
masterpiece, ‘Saving Private Ryan’;
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s
critically acclaimed ‘Todo Sobre Mi
Madre’; and Ang Lee’s groundbreaking
‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’.
Look out for all the student reviews
on gmfilmclub.blogspot.com.
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS
(3.15pm in Room 3.9)
Mondays: Music Technology
(sampling, mixing etc.)
Tuesdays: School Magazine
Wednesdays: Animation (2D
and 3D photography and
animation)
Thursdays: The George Mitchell
Film Club
Matthew Savage and Pete
Watson
English and Media Department
7
A Day in the Life of...
Louise Price
Why did you choose to come to
GM?
After working for Prudential Property
Insurance for 4 years on the Accounts
Department I thought it was time for a
change in my career. This role looked
interesting and I felt it was something
I could get into and expand on in later
life.
How easy was it for you to settle
in?
Everybody here is lovely and genuine.
Admin is a brilliant team to work for
as we work very closely with each
other and Ms Taylor is at hand for any
problems I have.
What was your first
day like?
On my first day I was so
nervous about meeting
all the students and
what the team was
going to be like. They
were all so nice to
me and settled me
in well. The students
also helped as they are
really friendly and took
to me well.
Have you made
friends?
I’ve made good friends with the people
on my team, who are always there to
lend an ear and give good advice. The
whole teaching staff are really friendly
and are there if I need help.
Could you describe a typical day
for you at GM?
A typical day for me would be to come
in and make sure the signing in sheets
are changed. I collect the students’
phones and hand out the registers
for registration. Anyone who comes
in after our second bell will come
to me and I sign them in late. Once
registration has finished, the registers
come back down and I put them on
the system, ringing the students who
are not in to find out why. I run reports
twice a week and meet with the
Educational Welfare Officer to discuss
anything that needs doing and this
has helped to bring the Attendance
Percentage up for the whole school. I
go through the system on a daily basis
and update any missing marks in the
registers. Also, during lunch I help the
midday assistants in the playground.
What was your favourite subject
at school?
My favourite subject in school was
English. I enjoy writing and my
favourite book that I studied at school
was Of Mice and Men.
What do you enjoy most about
your job?
Working as part of a good team and
working closely with the students.
GMT was talking to Louise Price,
Attendance
and
Punctuality
Officer. Watch out for another Day
in the Life in the next issue...
What’s big, green and rough all over?
Well it was our allotment
but not now – yes, you read
it, our allotment. Over the last
few months, we have leased,
cultivated and prepared an
allotment space for use not only
by George Mitchell students,
but Beaumont, Riverley and
St Joseph’s Primary Schools as
well.
We employed Gus to sweat
it out by preparing what was a
derelict site, and yes he did sweat!
Mr Smith and Mr Osborne from
the Technology Department (a big
thank you to them – in particular
Mr Smith who has spent many a
moment at the allotment itself)
have been heavily involved either
in organising Gus, checking on the
progress or designing and making
signs for the plot.
8
We will grow our own vegetables
and use them in Food Technology,
sell them and use the allotment
across curriculum areas as an
extension of our learning space with
the four walls of George Mitchell.
• Enterprise – how do we cost the
vegetables from planting to sale?
• Science – our local environment,
the soil, pollination.
• The Arts – what a lovely way to
be able to draw nature!
• Mathematics – what is the floor
space we have used?
And so it goes on…
We talk about learning outside
the classroom – well here it is!
Claire Kirwin
Deputy Headteacher
Science and Technology Challenge
14 Year 8 students went out for a whole day to get a true feel
for what college life entails. George Mitchell competed with four other
schools in the borough science and technology challenges. I am very proud to
announce that our students did our school very proud and won not only two
out of three challenges but also won the borough competition. Waltham Forest
Mayor Liaqat Sarwar presented the winners with cups, shields and certificates.
Well done!
The challenges set:
Energy for the future
Winner: Marcelo White and Jonah Braverman
Marble
Winner: Anam Riaz and Sadaf Mahmood
Overall winner (to go to the final in November
Ali Ali and Assim Mirza
Our scientists at work
ASDAN RECYCLING PROJECT
Making the recycling video
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
The Year 10 ASDAN
group have started work
on a project that will aim
to promote recycling in our
school. They started off by
trying to work out why people
often don’t recycle, and came
up with reasons including: they
can’t be bothered; there aren’t
enough special bins around;
they don’t think that they can
make a difference. The group
then went to visit the Chingford
Recycling Centre to get some
more information. They are now
using this research to create a
poster campaign to motivate
us all to recycle, as well as a
Powerpoint presentation and
a Video that could be used in
assemblies.
Well done, class! Excellent
ideas and work.
Family Learning
@
George Mitchell
29 May 2007
Over 35 family members
attended a morning of Family
Learning at George Mitchell
School on 29 May. The free drop in
session started at 10 am and finished
at 2 pm. Invitations were sent in the
form of cards and were offered to all
Year 6 students in the six local feeder
primary schools. The offer was also
extended to St. Josephs. This event
was a partnership between George
Mitchell, who provided the wonderful
Arts Block and logistical support
through an ex-student Zahid Majid,
alongside the Community Learning
and Skills Service (CLaSS) who
provided the tutors.
Family members were able to
select from a range of activities
varying from:
Tai Chi
Work out to World Music (including
Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and
Bollywood)
Making amazing paper planes
Making felt juggling balls
Making handmade soap
They could also have a go at
Henna Body Art, make a gift box
for the soap and have fun in the art
attack workshop. There was also story
telling available at the end for those
who needed a rest!
Everyone enjoyed learning new
things together as a family. The tutors
particularly enjoyed the specialist
workrooms for art and dance and the
support they were given by Zahid.
The children who came felt more
confident about their transition to
George Mitchell in September. The
parents said they welcomed the
opportunity to come into the school to
do things with their children. Everyone
was surprised how popular Tai Chi
was and how successful the young
learners had been at concentrating so
hard.
A big thank you to everyone who
attended, the tutors, CLaSS and
George Mitchell School.
Claire Kirwin
Deputy Headteacher
9
Enterprise Fair
Shortly after the Easter holidays, the Year 8 and 9 Business Studies students embarked on an eightweek long journey to become George Mitchell’s Entrepreneurs of the Year.
Each class was split up into 4-6 businesses, given £10-20 to help with their start-up costs and then had to come up
with a business idea and all the other decisions involved in running a business. As many groups found out, teamwork
was an incredibly important factor in how well a business did overall. When “Henna from Heaven” (9G) – the Year 9
Teamwork category winner was asked about the role teamwork played in the success of their business, Zoya replied
“Yes, our team did work well together because we co-operated together. We learned that if we work together we will
achieve something whereas if we don’t work together then we will achieve nothing.”
The project culminated with a Trade Fair in which each business set up a stall displaying their journey and judges
were on hand to ask them questions. The following businesses were category winners in their respective year groups:
Originality of Business Idea
Y8: Flava Shaka
(8F - Ellie, Zainab, Henna, Gamze,
Nusrat)
Y9: Anonymous
(9G – Karishma, Sian, Sophie,
Antoinette, Leigha, Aaron, Ellis,
Dennis)
AND Herbal Twist
(9G – Saamiyah and Leena)
Effectiveness of Display
Y8: Treats 4 U
(8M – Huseyin, Akram, Saniya,
Amina, Chantelle, Wai-Jane)
Y9: Anonymous (9G)
Overall Winners, Year 9 – Anonymous (9G)
Teamwork
Y8: Best Ones
(8M – Pavol, Kamil, Mansoor, Irfan)
Y9: Henna from Heaven
(9G – Zoya, Rehna, Zainab,
Maryam)
Presentation Skills/Salespersonship
Y8: Fashion Fair
(8W – Suhaila, Sadaf, Anam,
Jannat, Uumaiya)
Y9: Crystal Dusters
(9M – Afsheen, Rukya, Ayesha,
Amel)
Accurate Accounting
Y8: Beauty Parlour
(8G – Sylvia, Aysha, Cherie,
Barbora, Maryam, Mahmuda)
Y9: Pro Kings
(9F – Nafees, Melvin, Abidor,
Haider, Ahmed Y, Usamah)
And CONGRATULATIONS to the
overall winners!
Year 8 – Flava Shaka (8F)
Year 9 – Anonymous (9G)
10
Overall Winners, Year 8 – Flava Shaka (8F)
“I think that this was a thrilling experience and it gave
each of us a taste of what it is to run a business and
got us to understand how businesses are run. Also we
got to make money and spend our time and effort in
something cool and challenging.” (Yasir, 9W)
Betrayed?
I worried that they might not have
fully understood the play: “Sometimes
teachers really patronise us, you
know, Sir!” And the success of these
two theatre trips would certainly
suggest that some of our students are
perfectly capable of working at a very
high level indeed.
Their visit to see ‘Betrayal’ was
followed up by a workshop, held at
our school, by Sarah Clifford from the
Donmar Warehouse. During this, the
students explored the play in more
depth, examining
the
responsibility
of each of the
characters
in
the play for the
situation that they
are in. The quality
of the discussion
was outstanding!
Sarah is used to
working with much
older students, and
commented that our
students were more,
Our students wow the Donmar staff with their insightful comments
Williams’ ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at
London’s Apollo Theatre – equally
challenging, but equally rewarding
too. Although I shall not mention
Sabaah Saleemi by name (oops!), one
Year 8 girl took great offence when
“articulate, astute
and
emotionally
intelligent
than
most sixth formers”
that she has worked with! Praise
indeed from the professionals – and
very well earned!
Matthew Savage
English and Media Department
Student Associates
Student Associates is a scheme
that brings university graduates
who want to work with young
people into school to help as
volunteers. This year we have
had Middlesex University students
helping in Music, Maths, Science,
English and Humanities. One of the
volunteers, Cassie Auguste, organised
a competition for 8G: to research for
a presentation on History Heroes and
Heroines.
The winners were Sylvia Lim
(Siegfried Sassoon), Mohamed Habib
(Martin Luther King) and Mujahid
Abdulghaffar (Salahuddin).
Sylvia’s presentation included her
own poem about Sassoon, the First
World War poet who fought bravely
but then opposed the war:
His freedom gave him a choice of
words,
The life he always wanted, free as
a bird.
Trench by trench, he defended his
ground,
In his heart, grief he had found.
Today his longing, for us is true,
To defend this world, defending
you.
Searching for something, he could
not find,
He lost his world, he lost his mind.
May his story be remembered
today,
In a strong and mighty, in a beautiful
way…
Sylvia Lim, Year 8
Martin Spafford
Special Abilities Coordinator
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
Monday 3 September
– Wednesday 19 December
2007
Wednesday 3
October:
Dates for your diary...
On Thursday 21 June, members
of the English Workshop attended
a special student matinee of
Harold Pinter’s ‘Betrayal’ at the
Donmar Warehouse theatre in
London’s Covent Garden. Despite
the fact that all the other students
in attendance were Sixth Formers,
our group more than held their own,
several of them leading the after-show
discussion.
The
previous
month,
our
‘workshoppers’ went to see Tennessee
AUTUMN TERM
Best Practice Forum – early
finish: 12.25 pm
Friday 12 October:
School closed – Eid
Thursday 18
October:
Year 6 Open Evening:
students go home 1.25 to
allow time for preparation
AUTUMN HALF TERM:
Monday 22 – Friday 26
October
Monday 26
November:
School closed – Staff
Training Day
Monday 10
December:
Best Practice Forum – early
finish: 12.25 pm
Wednesday 19
December:
End of term – early finish:
12.25 pm
SPRING TERM 2008
Friday 4 January – Friday
4 April
Friday 4 January:
School closed – Staff
Training Day
SPRING HALF TERM:
Monday 18 – Friday 22
February
Friday 21 – Monday
24 March:
School Closed - Easter
Bank Holiday
SUMMER TERM 2008
Monday 21 April – Friday
25 July
Monday 5 May:
School closed - Bank
Holiday Monday
SUMMER HALF TERM:
Monday 26 – Friday 30
May
11
Science Corner
Mobile for the future 4
Year 9s have been studying the effects and
sources of Infra red radiation. From this very interesting
topic stemmed the mobile phone for the future competition
and presentation. Students were asked to design a mobile
phone which would have the least harmful Infrared radiation
emissions. The task involved them making a prototype
product, user manual, write up a report and present it to
a panel of judges: Ms. Kirwin and Zahid Majid. I am very
pleased to announce the winner of this competition is Jem
Tamshid, seen here standing very proud with his rather very
interesting design of the house/mobile phone for the future.
May be you could stop and ask Jem what is this SX 1236Z
latest technology mobile really all about. Well-done Jem!
3Fiery Flame test
Year 7 in science had fiery fun
testing various metal compound
samples and observing the vibrant
coloured flames produced as they
reacted. Yaqoob and Rio from 7M
did exceptionally well and thank you
Eloise for being such a great team
leader. Here are the results from the
experiment.
Red Flame – Lithium chloride
Yellow Flame – Sodium Chloride
Green Flame – Barium Sulphate
Turquoise Flame – Copper Sulphate
Explorers of George Mitchell4
Year 10 students delved into the exciting
microscopic world of cells in onion root tips, and
explored the mitotic cell division.
The students showed a keen interest and were
extremely thrilled to look at, and learn about, the
different stages of mitosis. Well done Koirul, Shahid,
Azad and the rest of the class.
3 Healthy lifestyle
Year 7s and Year 8s have been working very
hard to produce a healthy life style guide, which
they eventually want to publish and provide free
copies to our local community. As you can see
they are very proud authors of a detailed and up
to date guide on what a healthy lifestyle should
be like. So stop by and have a chat with our GM
Health Gurus.
12
Here’s what our student bloggers
have been up to on ‘wordvoodoo’...
Emma and Jerry (A Sonnet)
part of me
Jerry: Why did you say you told him yesterday?
Emma: I don’t know I was puzzled and afraid
Jerry: You were never a toy for fun and play
Emma: Then why did I feel constantly Betrayed?
Jerry: Without you my heart will completely die
Emma: Tell me, what did you ever see in me?
Jerry: I saw a gem in your small brownish eye
Emma: If I said marry me; would you agree?
Jerry: I couldn’t it just wouldn’t feel quite right
Emma: So what was all those afternoons for
part of me is accost - never pushed around
part of me is lost - looking to be found
part of me is a book - more than just a cover
part of me is took - but I ain’t no ones lover
part of me is at its prime - top of my game
part of me is mime - and not seeking fame
part of me is here - virtual and hot
part of me is near
but most of me is not
then?
part of me is musical - singing in the shower
part of me is simple - like soil to a flower
part of me is on fire - blazing shining bright
part of me wont tire - and will continue to fight
part of me is Einstein - big brains and great
mind
part of me is sunshine - obvious but hard to
find
part of me is dull - and will probably be forgot
part of me is evil
but most of me is not
Jerry: Our private afternoons? They were alright
Emma: I hate you sometimes...you typical men!
Jerry: Well at least I admitted I love you
Emma: Then how come you could never say ‘I
do’?
Teletubbiez
Adieu
Behold my heart, the dart has hit.
Your sharpened point of pain.
Your stories carried on and on,
I stared at you in vain.
The lies filled me with deja vu,
Oh those, they grew and grew!
One word shall end betrayal, so;
To you, I bid, adieu.
part of me is wasted - and not completely
useful
part of me feels hated - but I don’t want to be
cruel
part of me is tense - waiting to be sprung
part of me has sense - awaiting in my lung
part of me is hidden - deep within the itself
part of me’s a vilian - but only to myself
part of me is mental - am I losing the plot?
part of me is a temple
but most of me is not
eternity.forever
you betrayed me but I’m ok
part of me is fearless - Knievel in disguise
part of me is anxious - a belly full of flies
part of me is curious - to know what lies ahead
part of me is an old man - lying in his bed
part of me is crucial - to what I do not know
part of me is Google - whatever you need to
know
part of me dreadful - like an itching spot
but all of me is thankful
that most of me is not
you stole my heart right from my chest
told me you’d cherish it
oh how naive I must have been
for now my heart you’ve split
we used to be joined at the hip
like two peas in a pod
but now I can’t stand to be seen
with such a selfish sod
scarlet-kyuubi
Sparky
Read more ‘wordvoodoo’
@
wordvoodoo.blogspot.com
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
13
A group of Year 10 students
took part in a public speaking
workshop run by the Jack Petchey
Foundation. The students learnt how
to speak with confidence, motivate
and influence a large audience and
ultimately get their message across.
At the end of the day the students
entered a public speaking competition.
Abubakar went on to compete in
the regional finals on 19 June and
delivered a speech entitled Cherish
What You Have.
Jennifer Bradley
Jack Petchey Coordinator
Abubakar Habib receiving a certificate
from the Deputy Lord Mayor of Waltham
Forest
Public Speaking Awards
GM Cold Case Unit and Jack the Ripper
Over a few terrifying weeks
in autumn 1888 East London
was locked by a series of violent
murders of women by a killer who
was never caught. The name Jack
the Ripper was probably invented
by journalists to sell papers but the
nickname has stuck. One of the few
clues he left was at Goulston Street
near Petticoat Lane market.
It was a piece of bloodstained
clothing ripped from the fourth victim,
Catherine Eddowes, below a chalked
graffiti message which - mysteriously
- the chief police officer ordered to be
rubbed out so it couldn’t be used as
evidence. Then, a few days later, a
letter arrived enclosing half a human
kidney signed ‘Catch me if you can
Examining the scene at Goulston Street...
14
Relaxing at the London Dungeon!
... From Hell’.
Year 10 History
students have
been
doing
coursework on
the Whitechapel
m u r d e r s ,
investigating
why they caused
such a stir at the
time and why
the killer was
never
caught.
Here they are
examining
the scene at
Goulston Street.
The Ripper’s
final
victim,
Mary Kelly - killed viciously in her
own home - is buried in Leytonstone.
Shortly before her death she drank
at the Ten Bells pub. Students took
detailed notes during the walking
tour which was led by an experienced
professional guide.
Anyone interested in the case
can go to our blog at http://
gmhistory10.blogspot.com/
which is full of fascinating links.
The History exam course includes
a unit on Crime and Punishment
through time, so in the afternoon we
‘relaxed’ at the London Dungeon!
Martin Spafford
Humanities Department
Basketball rules ok! Well Done!
For the last two years David
Lavinier (sorry) Coach Lavinier
has worked tirelessly at our school
in order to promote basketball
and the social skills of fair
play, honest competition, good
sportsmanship and teamwork all
within a safe environment.
We have come to end of the
finance supported by the Big Lottery
but the ‘games’ will go on. We have to
introduce a small fee which works out
to £1 per hour – not bad for exercise
Arts Fast Track
and fun!
Most
Saturdays
during term time,
and every holiday,
you can see and
hear the bouncing of
basketballs, the voice
of the coaches and the
fun and laughter of
the students involved.
The students come
from many schools
around the borough
and their ages range
from 6 to 18.
We have been
very lucky for the
last two summers where an England
international player has been working
alongside the regular coaches. We are
going to try and organise a trip to a
professional game – see how they do
it.
If you would like to find out more
information, please contact Claire
Kirwin on 0208 539 6198.
Congratulations to the Year 10
Expressive Arts Fast Track group
who have completed their GCSE
in one year. The work produced
by these students was exceptionally
good, using a diverse range of their
talents and was easily on a par with
the Year 11 work.
These students will now be the
first class at George Mitchell to take
the new Arts Award course, which
will begin in September. The course
focuses on Arts leadership and
developing their skills.
In preparation for this course the
students put together an assembly
using their combined skills. This was
presented to the whole school and
integrated design, art, drama and
creative writing.
Hopefully they will achieve as much
as they have during Year 10, paving
the way for others in the future.
Claire Kirwin
Deputy Headteacher
Ryan Alexander
Arts Department
Cricket Trip to Lords
Twenty/20 cup match between
Middlesex and Surrey
We left school by mini bus and
it took about 45mins to arrive at
Lords cricket ground…the home
of Cricket. As we arrived at the
stadium we couldn’t believe how big
it was. It took us quite a while to find
our seats in the grandstand as we had
to walk all the way around the stadium
and it was very busy.
Unfortunately the weather was
against us as a huge thunderstorm
The Gang
delayed the start of the match
by at least half an hour. We were
all cheering for Surrey. It was
us against Mr Hamlin who was
supporting Middlesex. Surrey
made 85 runs for the loss of 5
wickets when the rain came again.
This delayed the match by another
40 minutes and when the match
started again Middlesex had been
set a target of 73 runs from just
10 overs. Middlesex never really
looked like losing the match and
achieved their target
with 2 and a half overs to
spare.
At the end of the match
it was really busy but
Suffyaan still managed to
meet most of the players
when he was waiting with
one of the stewards. He
didn’t get to shake their
hands though as he was
in a rush to get back to
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
The Media Centre at Lords
the group. Eventually we all got back
to the mini bus and back to school. It
was a trip none of us will ever forget.
Fatih, Assim, Daniyaal, Bilal,
Adnan, Fahim, Nishat (8W)
Sufyaan (8F)
Zainab (8M)
Antoinette, Karishma (9G)
Adam, Mubasher (9W)
Hassan, Raheem (7W)
Monica Haque, Marcus Hamlin
15
STUDENT
had to say about the day.
“ The students were all
very impressive and spoke
in such an informed…way
about education!”
“The professionalism with
which they approached
this was STUNNING!”
“Your students seem
MLB Consultants involved in training day
remarkably confident and
Student Voice Training Day
self-assured. Thank You!”
Throughout the year, various
schools have been hearing about the
amazing work that our MLB students
have been up to and have therefore
contacted us wanting to know more
about what we do and how we do it.
Responding to each school’s enquires
is time-consuming, so we decided
to invite all the schools to US where
they could learn about us and see
for themselves first-hand how we
work. On 6 July, four schools from
across Great Britain arrived at George
Mitchell School for our first-ever MLB
Training Day.
This is what some of the schools
So well done to some of our
very experienced consultants :
Jade Nnamani, Mark Hughes-Cook,
Eloise Hart, Jonah Braverman, Thania
Miah, Sylvia Lim, Carl Ainsworth,
Zainab Naseer, Karishma Mahomed,
William Man, Huseyin Arpalikli,
Antoinette Hallam, Jessica De Burgh,
Irfan Sadiq, Rosemon Meissner, Amina
Sheta, Sadiyah Noor
..who disseminated and shared
good practice with the delegates
from Treorcy Comprehensive
School (from Wales!), King Alfred
School, Stantonbury Campus and
Woodbridge High School.
Joint School Council
You may be wondering what
the Joint School Council (JSC) is.
It is a school council which consists
of 2 student representatives from
almost all the schools in the London
Borough of Waltham Forest including:
George Mitchell (of course!), Lammas,
Tom Hood, Leytonstone, Connaught
School for Girls and Norlington School
for Boys. From George Mitchell School
the student representatives are Zainab
Naseer (9M) and Ivan Soares-Costa
(11M). The JSC also consists of two
representatives from the organisation
EduAction named Nigel and Linda.
Every school term a meeting is
hosted by a different school and
so far we have been to Connaught,
Leytonstone,
Tom
Hood
and
Norlington. It’s not long before George
Mitchell has its turn!
In these meetings we discuss
different issues on which the council
wants to take ‘action’. A variety of
issues which affect our daily lives at
school have been discussed including
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
We started participating in
the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze
award last September. We had
weekly meetings led by a youth
leader called Darren, where we learnt
and participated in tasks that were
necessary to obtain the award,
as well as having fun.
The best part of the award
was going on trips. We went
on 2 camps during which we
were joined by other students
from Tom Hood and Pastures
Youth Centre. On the 2 day
practice camp we practised our
map reading skills on a long
walk, and had loads of fun, but
it was nothing compared to our
5 day trip.
For our 5 day trip we headed
off to Derbyshire. When we
arrived we split into 2 teams
and met some new team
leaders. Later that evening we
went shopping to buy food for
the week. It had to be food we could
cook, so variety was very limited!
16
The expedition began with a 20
mile walk. On the first day everyone
was practically drowning in the rain,
which made us feel we could not go on!
However it all changed on the second
day because we were packed with
Dinner is served!
joy and excitement and encouraged
each other throughout which got us
through. We mustn’t forget that we
survived on a rationed supply of food
and ran out of water whilst walking!
On one of days we went caving,
which was a ‘wicked experience’ and
on our last day we went to a reservoir
and were given the task
of building a raft in our
groups. Well, our team
sucked but we had so
much fun we didn’t want
to leave.
It wasn’t all about
the expedition. We all
achieved
something,
not just a well-respected
award for the future but a
lifetime of memories and
friends, not forgetting
Darren (our Mentor/
Support, also adopted as
Daddy!). It was truly the
best week of our lives and
an experience we would
highly recommend.
Farheen Owasil and Elizabeth
Underhill, Year 10
VOICE
exclusions, community issues, school
issues and student rewards. At
present there are quite a few ideas
and changes in the pipeline, so watch
out for them in September!
If you would like to get involved
with the Joint School Council or have
any suggestions for topics that you
would like to be discussed contact Mrs
Haque or Miss Jaeggi.
Zainab Naseer, Year 8
School Elections
After taking over the School
Council in March, the first thing
we decided to change was when
Tutor Group Elections were held.
Hence on Friday 6 July, each tutor
group held a secret ballot election
where each student could cast their
vote as to who they thought could
best represent their tutor group in the
Council Meetings. Congratulations to
the following students who will make
up George Mitchell’s School Council
for the 2007-08 Academic Year:
New Year 8: Luke, Mary (G),
Mark, Jade (M), Gloria, Hassan
(W), Ninet, Hasan (F)
New Year 9: Samiya, Mujahid (G),
Zainab, Jamal (M), Sabaah, Nishat
(W), Adebayo, Ellie (F)
New Year 10: Karishma, Antoinette
(G), Afsheen, Ramona (M), Naji,
Andrew (W), Alice, Abdurahmame
(F)
New Year 11: Samira, Alima (G),
Rosemon, Hannah (M), Banisha,
Abdi (W), Sadiyah, Ivan (F)
Keep your eye on this space
for Student Council-led activities
happening in the school and the
community soon!
Building Schools for the Future
- Student Consultation
Waltham Forest is currently
in the process of consulting
stakeholders in relation to the
Government’s Building Schools
for the Future programme.
With a £100+ million budget for
Waltham Forest schools EduAction
was keen to ensure that all those
with an interest in education were
consulted. Therefore a consultation
with students in Key Stages 3-4 from
across the borough is to take place
in three stages, the first
of which took place on
Monday 21 May 2007 at
the Education Centre.
Ten students from George
Mitchell participated in this consultation
event.
“The consultation showed us
different ways to look at our future
and how things have and will change.
It illustrated the changes that the
government is planning to implement
to improve our education. Building
Schools for the Future proves that
education system is reforming in a
big way. We were consulted on the
new ideas taking shape and this
provided us with an opportunity to
relay our thoughts and opinions.
The consultation provided us with an
insight on the future of education and
how plans are being made to improve
our future…” Eloise Hart, Year 7
want it. In our opinion, the best part
of the conference was the host – Rollin
G – they are a group of young people
from Waltham Forest who were just a
few years older than us and they spoke
out against gang violence amongst
other things and also entertained us
by playing music. Overall, we thought
it was a really great day as we learned
quite a few lessons especially about
communication. We really enjoyed
ourselves and would be really grateful
for another opportunity to go on an
MLB trip. Thank you!
Samiya Khan and Thania Miah,
Year 8
Awards and Rewards
We’ve been busy dishing out
awards and rewards to our MLB
consultants! At our first ever MLB
Awards Banquet, as well as a tasty feast
in recognition of their hard work and
commitment to the MLB programme,
Youth Conference
awards were given out to Eloise Hart
On
11 July, we (Samiya (MLB Newcomer of the Year), Huseyin
and Thania in 8G plus 6 other Arpalikli (MLB Contributor of the Year),
members of MLB) went to the and the Business Studies and English
Walthamstow Assembly Hall to Departments tied for MLB Department
attend a Youth Conference. There of the Year!
were about 8-10 students from every
We also recently took twelve of our
secondary school in Waltham Forest most committed and hard-working
there and the purpose was for us to all representatives to see Ocean’s 13
come together to discuss our visions and for dinner at Nando’s. Whether
through MLB, Forestflava,
Young Voice or other
advisory and consultancy
work for LBWF, there are
twelve students who have
gone beyond the bounds
of duty in their work for
Student Voice.
Congratulations and thank
you to: Jessica de Burgh,
Irfan Siddique, Zainab
Naseer, Jonah Braverman,
Marcelo
White,
Carl
Ainsworth, Amina Sheta,
Arriving at Walthamstow Assembly Hall for the Conference Indre Kusleikaite, Dawood
Antoinette
Hallam,
and expectations for the Waltham Mehmood,
Karishma
Mahomed,
Grace
Imwensi!
Forest. During the conference, we had
to choose two workshops to participate Monica Haque and Christine
in – we choose a Voting workshop Jaeggi
where we learnt about how elections
Don’t forget to have a
work and how our vote on electing an
look
at our blog - http://
MP really does count. We also choose
makinglearning
better.
the Community workshop where we
blogspot.com
and
our wiki learned about our community and how
www.makinglearningbetter.
to communicate with other members
wikispaces.com
of the public and we learned that our
comments make a big difference to
Look out for an interview with a
the borough and that our voices can
teacher from Chicago in the next
help make our borough the way we
edition of GMT!
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
17
Sports Day 2007
See page
20 for the
article and
results!
18
Year 9 Cricket Borough
The season got off to an
impressive start for the newly
promoted Year 9 team who beat
Willowfield by 11 runs.
We scored 118 of our 20 overs
with Faizan Mohammed top scoring
with 48.
Scoring 125 against Warwick
ensured an easy victory. Zeeshan
Zamurred anchored the innings.
Our third game was a much
tougher prospect. Essex cup finalists
Norlington. The game went true to
the form book and defeat was tasted
for the first time.
A place in the final could still be
achieved by beating Chingford in the
last game. After posting a score of
101 and taking 4 very early wickets
Chingford were odds on favourites.
Sufyaan Shaikh from Year 8 gave
George Mitchell real hope, however.
Scoring 49 not out in appalling weather
conditions meant that the game went
to the final ball. Unfortunately we
were 5 runs short.
On this seasons performance I
think we will enter the Essex cup
ourselves next year. You boys need to
get playing for a club over the winter
in preparation.
The Team
Faizan Mohammed
Khizar Kayani
Sufyaan Shaikh
Adam Hand
Zeeshan Zamurred
Waqar Nadeem
Ahsan Alauddin
Haider Ali
Mohammed Rehan
Abidur Rahman
Ahmed Yaqoob
Adnan Zamurred
Mr Marshall’s player of the season
… Sufyaan Shaikh.
Ian Marshall
PE Department
Athletics
The atmosphere was tense.
I was nervous. People were
practising and warming up. Year
7 and 8 had their track events
while Year 9 and 10 had their
field events.
I was up for the 100m first. I sat
in my lane waiting for the last race to
finish, then it was my turn. I walked
up to the line where I was told to ‘take
my mark’ – my heart was racing. ‘Get
set!’ I could already feel the adrenalin
rushing through my body… ’GO!’ I ran
at full speed like a train. I came fourth
but it was the final.
Ellie McIntosh, Year 8
Sports Leaders Award
This year we started to run a
new course for year 10 students.
It’s called the Sports Leaders
Course and is aimed at students
who want to improve their
Leadership and coaching skills.
This program gives the students
an opportunity to go
out into the community
to work with young kids
and develop their skills
in all sorts of sports.
Some students went
with me to the Primary
Borough Athletics at
Mayville Primary where
we worked at the event.
There were more than
13 schools present and,
believe me, organising
and moving those little
ones round is not an
easy task. But at the end
of the day we managed
it and had great fun.
On 16 July 2007 with
my help, some Sports
Leaders organised a
sports day for Syborne Infants. As part
of their practical sessions the students
did most of the organisation. We went
and hosted a great day entertaining
180 Year 1 & 2 students. We also
spotted some great talent during the
day and encouraged the kids to keep
active and train hard.
Well done to al the Sports Leaders
for your effort and hard work this
year.
Hendri Calitz
SSCO & PE Teacher
Racing at the Primary Borough Athletics, held at Mayville Primary School
Visit GM online at www.gmschool.co.uk
19
Sports Day 2007
Again Sports Day was highly
competitive day full of tension,
celebrations and disappointments
all round. We started the day with the
field events (jumping and throwing),
had the track events in the afternoon
and finished on a high with the team
events of the relay and tug of war.
Every person in a tutor group
participated in at least one event,
whether it was running, jumping,
throwing or pulling! The tutor groups
competed against the other tutor
groups in their year trying to build up
as many points as possible for their
class.
We had a running total of points
during the day and the students really
supported their class mates in the
hope that they would score ‘big points’
by coming in 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
Certificates were presented on the
day to individuals as well as a t-shirt
for the winners. The final results were
given during assembly the week after
Sports Day and the winning tutor
group were presented with a class
20
trophy.
Our congratulations go to all of the
students for their efforts and energy
in making the day a tremendous
success and our thanks go to the staff
in helping us to make it happen.
The 2007 Sports Day was the
first Sports Day I have had at
George Mitchell. It was fun but
sadly 7F did not win, even if they
might have deserved it the most.
We were only 2 points away.
The relay was my favourite race
because it is all about teamwork
and WE WON IT!!
I hope next year is the same
because we are going to win. 7W
better look out.
Henna G Rassoude, Year 7
Results for Year groups as they
were in summer 2007 - check out how
close the Year 7 and year 9 results
are!
Jo Tiddy
PE Department
Year 7
Score
1st 7W
202
2nd 7F
200
3rd 7G
197
4th 7M
194
Year 8
Score
1st 8W
204
2nd 8F
198
3rd 8M
187
4th 8G
169
Year 9
Score
1st 9M
208
2nd 9G
194
3rd 9W
190
4th 9F
182
Year 10
Score
1st 10W
217
2nd 10F
207
3rd 10M
154
4th 10G
148