The Compton Newsletter April 2014
Transcription
The Compton Newsletter April 2014
THE COMPTON SCHOOL National Teaching School National Teaching School “Outstanding” Ofsted Newsletter April 2014 Issue 2 INSIDE: Message from the Headteacher * Message from the Chair of Governors * Expansion Update * Celebrating Achievement * Charity News * Departmental News * Trips and Visits * Sports The cultural diversity of The Compton School community is represented in a colourful ‘Cultural Diversi-tree’ sculpture, created by students in Years 7, 8 and 9 Visit the school website on www.thecompton.org.uk The school website is updated regularly. Please visit for the most up to date information. Information from the Headteacher Dear Parents and Students Incredibly we have reached week 25 of the school year and so much has happened in another highly eventful school term. Celebrating success As you know we had a wonderful start to 2014 receiving a letter from David Laws, Minister of State for Education, congratulating the school on being one of the top 100 non selective secondary schools in the UK. This is wonderful news and we are very proud of the achievements of our students. A big thank you to staff and parents for the hard work and support provided to make this so. This good news was followed in February by our accreditation from the Department for Education to run our own teacher training programme – training new teachers from start to finish at the school. We are one of only a few London Schools to have been approved to deliver this important training. The first cohort of our trainees will start a year-long programme in September 2014 during which time they will be tutored by some of our highly experienced and outstanding teachers. This term we also hosted a one day review by Peter Gale, who, until recently, was an HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspector of schools) working for OFSTED. Peter observed lessons, met students and spoke to heads of department, senior staff and governors. Amongst the many positive statements he made about the school he commented that “achievement is remarkable – with all key subjects in the top 10% for achievement”, that students are very positive about their experiences at school and that Governors are “impressive and knowledgeable”. This Message from the School Governors Dear Parents Following the parent governor elections, we welcomed two new parent governors this term. If you think that you’d like to be part of our team of governors in the future, please keep an eye out for future vacancies on the website. As part of our review of the 2013 exam results, Ms Mulkerins gave a presentation to the governing body on the DfE performance tables (http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/) which highlight the school’s excellent performance as further noted in the letter received from David Laws MP, which was circulated to parents earlier in the term. As you are probably aware, the school has regular visits from representatives of all sorts of national education bodies. I am delighted to say that the feedback from these is invariably excellent. One benefit of such visits is that they serve as a means of keeping the school in continued readiness for a potential Ofsted inspection. As a governing body we also need to be ready for Ofsted and this term some of us took part in an informal review by a former Ofsted inspector. This was very useful and gave us some good guidance in the event of a formal inspection. On behalf of the Governing Body, I hope you all enjoy the Easter holiday. Sebastian Wood, Chair of Governors [email protected] final comment was a timely observation as we received news this term that Sebastian Wood, our Chair of Governors, had been designated a National Leader of Governance. Congratulations to Sebastian who joins an elite group of Chairs of Governors, all from schools with an Ofsted grading of Outstanding for Leadership and Management. Sebastian has been trained by the National College to offer support and advice to other Chairs of Governors in schools where leadership is not as strong. Expansion building work The torrential rainfall and storms of early January have unfortunately caused a slight delay to the building programme, but I am pleased to report that we are getting back on track. With the steel frame for the building in place we can now see what the outline of the new block will be like. Stop frame video footage and regular bulletins on the building progress can be found on the school website. Hello and farewell This term saw the arrival of baby Finlay for Mr McDonnell and his wife but sadly we also bid farewell to Ms Hatton from Science who is moving out of London to return to teach in her former school in Manchester. Thank you to Ms Hatton for all she has done for the school and best wishes for her future career. We also say goodbye to one of our cleaning staff, Mr Debra who is moving out of the area. Finally I would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Easter. Teresa Tunnadine EXPANSION UPDATE Weather Doesn’t Stop Steel Skeleton Taking Shape Despite the very wet winter months, work continued to press ahead with the construction of the new building. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of 2 excitement and interest as the steel framework has been taking shape. This part of the project is due to be completed by the time we break for the holiday and the next stage will be the construction of the roof ready for walls to be put in place when we will really begin to get a feel for how the building will look on completion. We continue to develop our educational partnership with our construction company, Morgan Sindall, who loaned us their Site Manager for the day to take part in Year 11 Interview Skills Day. Students in Year 8 have been working on designs for a sculpture which will be displayed near the front entrance when the building opens in the autumn and Year 8 are also embarking on a project using the steel framework of the building as a stimulus for an art project. Other exciting plans include the History Department involving students in putting together a Time Capsule to be buried in the foundations to the entrance. Denise Beardshaw Associate Headteacher AWARDS AND WINNERS Celebrating the Achievers of Autumn 2013 Headteacher’s Award Winners - Year 7 7C - Meena Azim, Szyman Sokolowski 7O - Devika Dabasia, Samuel Cahill whose efforts and hard work last 7M - Krina Ruparel, Nicholas Surtees 7P - Damini Depala, Amirali Monshizadehm Autumn have been recognised through 7T - Scarlett Birdi, Rio Ajayi 7N - Fatima Addo, Joseph Ellis 7S - Poppy Halksworth, Mathimakan Nadarajah The Compton School’s Award system 7H - Megan Mulligan, Gent Gashi Headteacher’s Award Winners - Year 8 Headteacher’s Award Winners - Year 9 8C - Faizel Nuamah, Arjan Arenas 9C - Louis O’Shea,Karishma Chauhan 8O - Katerina Sandamas, Matthew Chadder-Manchego-Humphrey 9O - Farah Fahad, Amir Razak 8M - Jillian Tus-Ling Cheng Jaymin Shah 9M - Iman Abdulahi Siyad, Tawheed Ghafoori 8P - Georgia Hennessy, Billy Ephgrave 9P - Stanley Martin, Mariqua Keshi-Clunis 8T - Doaa Ahmed, Amaan Kaleem 9T - George Charalambous, Bethan Davies 8N - Rheana Buffonge-Crawley, Gamos Havolli 9N - William Lloyd, Shanaz Hosany 8S - Nikola Petkov, Athena Poyiadjis 8H - Hannah Gasasira, Louis Udeh 9S - Sahand Lali, Chhaya Ganda Headteacher’s Award Winners - Year 10 Headteacher’s Award Winners - Year 11 Jason Cheng, Clara Therese Lescano Bhavnisha Karamshi, Emma Lloyd Ravi Nakrani, Zaynab Chowdhury Elena Bozova, Micha Claydon Asmaa Ali, Kaynath Rahman, Khadijah Sufi Sasha Reechaye, Padina Amininavaei Leanne Drury, Gabriel Musker, Yashil Gopee Alisha Gohil, Samaradynee Kolas Natasha Joseph, Ambereen Razak, Mohamed Kassim Maryam Muhktar, Umika Patel Anya Mallerman-Bristow, Ryunosuke Yamazaki Julia Karpa, Aneri Damodar Chloe Jakharia, Emina Pignatelli Georgie Ephgrave, Jack Judd-Robinson Avni Master, Youcef Sedaoui Congratulations to all these students Celebrating Cultural Diversity Cultural Art Project This term has seen the introduction of a new project to celebrate the cultural diversity of the school. A group of 30 students from Years 7, 8 and 9 worked with Ms Crivellaro and Ms Odjida on a sculpture which is on display in the concourse. The sculpture is of a tree, representing The Compton community. The students took part in research about what we mean by culture, different religions and human rights before focusing on their own backgrounds and those of the other students in their group. They then produced leaves for the trees, using images and words, each one representing their culture and background in some way. The sculpture is a visual display of our diverse school community and of our pride in this aspect of our school. As the students change and the community evolves, so can the sculpture as new students can take part in the project, producing their own leaves. Students who took part in the workshops said that this project had given them time to learn about their own culture and the cultures of others and that this helped them to understand other people. Tia and Abbie, Year 7, said, “We learnt a lot about different cultures, religions and how people show respect. We enjoyed making the leaves for the artwork and thought it was a creative and enjoyable experience." A huge thanks goes to Ms Crivellaro and Ms Odjida for all of their hard work on the sculpture and well done to all of the students who took part. The tree sculpture has taken its place in the concourse and can be enjoyed by students, staff and visitors, as well making an important statement about our commitment to celebrating diversity. Ms Oakley, Cultural Diversity Co-ordinator, Cate Mandell, Cultural Ambassador and Iman Abdulahi-Siyad, Literacy Leader 2014: The Year of the Horse The Cultural Ambassadors at The Compton have been busy working behind the scenes carrying out research, writing news articles for The Compton News, and creating resources for Personal Development Time and about different cultural events. In January, the school celebrated Chinese New Year which, this year, is The Year of the Horse. Did you know the horse sign symbolises prosperity through fortitude and hard work? Apparently, those who are born in the Year of the Horse are good at communicating, always want to be in the limelight and like entertainment and large crowds. The date of Chinese New Year changes each year as it is based on the lunar calendar. This year it was on Friday 31st January. Students learnt about different traditions in celebrating Chinese New Year and how to say ‘Happy New Year’ in Chinese. We also enjoyed Chinese food in the café and Chinese traditional music in the concourse. Other events that the Cultural Ambassadors have been preparing resources for are Iranian New Year, St George’s Day, Passover, Ramadan and Eid, reflecting the wide range of cultures in our school. Xīn Nián Kuà i Lè ! Ms Oakley Cultural Diversity Co-ordinator 3 CHARITY FOCUS AND UPDATES A Helping Hand for Those In Need Looking Out for One of Our Own More than £3200 was raised at our second charity event of the spring term which took place on Friday, 14th March. One of our Year 8 students has been very ill with leukaemia and requires a special operation. The family have set a target to reach in order to pay for the operation. Some of her Year 8 friends along with Charity Leaders thought it would be a great idea to devote our fund raising efforts to help this appeal. Charity Leaders and Year 8 students quickly got to work to ensure that we were able to raise plenty of money to support her cause. One of her friends prepared a power point to be used by all Year 8 tutors with their groups during a PDT session. This informed the whole school about the need to raise money to pay for the operation. A group of friends planned and presented an assembly to Year 8 students. Volunteer bakers were recruited to prepare cakes for the traditional cake sale. There was also a ‘knock the cans down’ competition which added to the fun and the school day had been designated a non-school uniform day with students donating £1 to wear non-school uniform. We were all amazed at the generosity of The Compton School community and their families - the response was overwhelming and all parts of the fundraising event were a great success. This record-breaking effort was a result of the hard work of fundraisers and the generosity of parents and students. Thank you all very much indeed. Homeless Action in Barnet In February, Year 10 students organised their Charity Event. It was decided that a local charity would be a great one to do - one that helped people going through particular difficulties. After research and discussion, it was agreed that we would like to support Homeless Action in Barnet. This charity is based on Woodhouse Road and is a day care centre providing support and guidance for local homeless people. Year 10 Charity Leaders visited the centre and met the manager and were very impressed with the excellent work the Charity is doing. Several weeks later one of the Trustees of the Charity, John Bier, visited the school to meet Charity Leaders and provide more information about their work. John also agreed to give an assembly to Year 8 students who had recently been studying the topic of homelessness in their English lessons. The assembly provided a valuable insight into the Charity and students were involved in a question and answer session. On 7th February, we held our fund raising event. Students paid £1 or more to attend school in non-school uniform on that day. There was a cake sale and hundreds of cakes were sold all produced by some exceptional student bakers and, in some cases, their parents. The event raised £1275 to help the Homeless Action In Barnet continue its excellent work. Disasters Emergency Committee At the time of publishing the last newsletter, students were in the middle of preparing their charity event to help victims of the Hurricane in the Philippines. You will remember that there were thousands of victims who lost lives, family, home and livelihoods. Students investigated how best to help these victims and over £1200 was raised by students at The Compton School to help the international relief programme. In our small way, students were able to reach out to the victims and help survivors to rebuild their shattered lives. The Disasters Emergency Committee has written to the school and thanked us for our fund raising efforts and told us how the money will support people in desperate need of direct help as well as our thoughts. Thank you to all involved. 4 by Michael Barrett SMSC Coordinator My Role as Charity Leader A Student’s View This leadership role has allowed me to collaborate with my peers and develop my group work skills, take responsibility and be punctual, build confidence and public speaking skills. Furthermore, I have taken part in several big opportunities correlating with this role, including presenting numerous times in assembly, visiting local charities whilst representing our school and taking lead roles in organising charity days. Lastly, I have expanded my knowledge on my local community and have become active in supporting local charities and tackling issues they may face. This fantastic role will benefit me in the future when group work and public speaking will become more dominant. Emina Pignatelli Charity Leader, Year 10 Art & Photography by Hayley Durkin Head of Art Workshop at the Royal College of Art On Monday, 17th March, Year 10 Art students were given the exciting opportunity to take part in a workshop at the Royal College of Art. The workshop coincided with the college's RCA Secret exhibition, which was used as a source of inspiration by the students. During the workshop, led by artist Bethan Durie, students explored monoprinting and collage techniques in their own work. "We found the day an inspirational experience! We enjoyed seeing art in different contexts and discussing our own ideas with the artist." Maria Kyriacou Students considered how artworks are curated and used drawings made in response to others' work to explore mark- making and repetition. Well done to all students involved! Sculptural Collaboration to Create Welcoming Display Students from our 'Sculpture Club' have been working on a project where they have designed a sculpture which will form part of our schools new expansion. The sculpture, which will be created by sculptor Paul Margetts, will be displayed near the entrance to the school. On Thursday 13th March, Year 8 students from the after school club had the opportunity to present their projects to senior staff and sculptor Paul Margetts. The students involved in the project demonstrated talent and enthusiasm in their work with Ms Crivellaro and presented their ideas eloquently to the judging panel. The final sculpture will be based on a design by Petar Djordjic whilst encorporating elements of designs by Catherine Moransee, Zara Alshakrey, Thanugi Thurendiran, Cosmin Avadanei and Courtney Tilley. Whist visiting the school, Paul Margetts also gave a presentation to Year 8 students detailing his impressive body of work and gave demonstrations of a variety of metalwork techniques. Zara Alshakrey, Year 8, said, "It was a great experience to be part of the Sculpture Club. I loved the work we created and we made friends. It brought us all together and we worked as a team" Order and Disorder at Tate Modern During this half term, Year 11 Art and Year 11 Photography students have visited the Tate Modern during their Art or Photography lessons. Students enjoyed walking along the Southbank in the sunshine after spending time in the gallery to research the work of contemporary artists as part of their externally set assignment whilst exploring the theme of 'Order and / or Disorder'. 5 Drama - Act I, Scene I Bronze Arts Award students pass with flying colours! Huge congratulations for the 16 Year 11 students who passed their Bronze Arts Award this term. The moderator had high praise for the students' creativity and in particular for the high quality theatre reviews that they had written as part of the award. The Bronze Award consists of four parts. Part A involved the students taking on a role within a production. These roles ranged from actor to stage manager and from lighting operator to leading on 'Front of House'. Our two school productions last year, Oliver and A Christmas Carol, provided opportunities for our students to pass this aspect of the award. Part B involved the students being an audience member. Over the year the arts award students saw six pieces of live theatre and so had a range of productions to choose from when writing their review. Part C saw the students researching their arts hero or heroine and Part D required them to share the skills they had developed with others. In order to achieve Part D, the students worked in small groups to devise a workshop for Year 7 and 8 students on a range of skills, these included use of voice on stage, characterisation skills and use of 'Physical Theatre'. Next term we will be launching our next arts award group, this will be open to all Year 10 Drama students. Zoe Merritt Senior Teacher Year 11 GCSE Performance Evenings Desperate to Understand The Truth As part of their preparations for their performance exam at the start of April, our Year 11 Drama students had to showcase their work to families and friends. Seven different plays were shown over two evenings on 24th and 25th March. The students were credited for exploring a wide range of themes and theatrical styles such as secrets, riots, poverty, racism, peer pressure, the mind and missing people. The evenings presented the short plays with a mixture of comedy and tragedy highlighting the exceptional talent amongst the students. A visiting examiner is marking their performances on 1st and 2nd April: Good luck Year 11! 25 Year 9 students have the amazing opportunity to see The Believers by Frantic Assembly (a movement and physical theatre based company) and award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery, at the Tricycle Theatre at a discounted price. This will take place in the summer term on 15th May. Synopsis: Two families are flung together on a Liana Anthony, Joint Head of Drama night of cataclysmic weather. Bruised, tired and seduced by the flow of alcohol, they wrestle with their differences until, suddenly, the unthinkable happens. Something unbelievable. As their versions of what happened begin to fall apart and their perspectives become clouded by suspicion, they turn on each other in a desperate fight to understand the truth. Sarah Tunnadine, Joint Head of Drama Advice for the Young At Heart Act Out! ‘The 39 Steps’ The collaboration of our Year 9 Drama Consultation group and current Year 10 GCSE students created a lively learning environment in January for the Act Out theatre programme. A professional actor, Robert Stephenson delivered two drama workshops exploring the performance style Farce, Film Noir and Physical Theatre through the West End’s The 39 Steps as a stimulus. Students were really impressed with just how amusing a farce can be and, for most, this was a w o n d e r f u l introduction to the original story of The 39 Steps. Students were very eager to re-enact parts of the play in their drama workshops, playing comedy duos, slapstick comedy and exaggerated stock characters. Liana Anthony Joint Head of Drama 6 On Monday, 20th January, year 9 and 10 students watched a play in the school hall called Advice for the Young at Heart. Students were asked to write a theatre review to develop literacy skills and also for practise for GCSE exams. Overall, the students were really enthused by the performance and have really engaged in this topic. “Linking in with modern day issues, the play portrays Candice as an everyday teenager: her face is strong and she seems fierce until we find out what she has been through in order for her boyfriend to become the gang member he is” Yagoda Sokolowska, Year 10 “I think the play was designed very cleverly and the actors supported the masterpiece through the choice of drama techniques and they played the subtext incredibly well.” Harry Curley, Year 9 “This influential play by Roy Williams, successfully portrays a teenage girl making the difficult choice between the person you love and your morals and how she copes with the loss of her grandad; the father-figure in her childhood filled with poverty” Cate Mandell, Year 9 Sarah Tunnadine Joint Head of Drama FOCUS ON LITERACY Book Swaps and Tokens on World Book Day 2014 World Book Day is an annual charity event to celebrate reading, books, authors and illustrators. It is celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world. This year World Book Day was on Thursday, 6th March. The Compton marked the day with a book swap, book tokens for all students in Years 7, 8 and 9 and teachers reading extracts from their favourite books at lunchtime in the LRC. The book swap offered students an opportunity to bring in books they had read and swap them for something new. Any books left over were donated to the LRC. Over 60 books were entered for the swap and lots of students were able to liven up their bookshelves with new additions. This event was such a huge success, it will be repeated. So watch this space! All students in Key Stage 3 were given a £1 book token, valid until 30th March. To use this token, students should take it to a book shop and they will receive £1 off any book (or audio book) worth £2.99 or more. Alternatively, they can swap it for a copy of The Boy in the Smoke by Maureen Johnson or Rock War by Robert Muchamore and they won’t have to pay anything at all! This is a fantastic way to encourage students to read over the Easter holidays. Many thanks go out to the teachers who volunteered to read to students from their favourite books during lunchtime on World Book Day itself. Groups of students were enthralled by Ms Merritt’s dramatic reading from one of the Harry Potter books, Ms Groves reading The Magician’s Nephew and Mr McGlynn reading The Jungle Book, amongst others. Staff also took part in a video entitled A Book that Changed My Life, which was delivered during a PDT session but which parents and students can see on the school website. Special thanks also go to Ms Thompson and Ms Doyle for all their hard work and support with organising this year’s events. To find a list of 50 books that could change your life or for games, competitions or to sign up to the World Book Day newsletter, please visit the World Book Day website (www. worldbookday.com). Happy reading! Ms Oakley Literacy Teacher MATHS DEPARTMENT The Compton Loves Maths MATHS TRIP TO HERTFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY YEAR 10 MATHS COMPETITION REGIONAL HEATS On Wednesday 15th January, some of our Year 10 students went to Hertfordshire University to take part in some maths enrichment activities. There were schools invited from all over London and even some from Barnet, such as Queen Elizabeth Boys. There were some lectures by professors and also some university style activities. They also learnt some new maths symbols such as “Zequals”. The students were firmly told that they could not use this symbol in a real exam. They then asked the teachers, Ms Chapple and Ms Lewis, if they could use it in the end of year mock. The teachers then replied with, “You heard what he said!” The students also managed to work out, ‘How long is a piece of string?’ They were then shown two pictures of string and had to decide which piece was longer, A or B. The students spent quite a bit of time working it out and realised that the answer was, ‘However long you desire’. Just before lunch, there was a workshop done on the ‘length of a coastline’. Depending on the scale you use, the coastline can be longer or shorter than it actually is. The students had to work out the coastlines of Britain and On Friday, 14th February, four Year 10 students, Gabriel, Khadijah, Jake and Avni, went to a regional heat of the Further Maths Support Programme’s team competition to take part in a series of challenges in Mathematics. Five rounds of challenges took place with simple puzzle solving to Base 6 arithmetic. Throughout, The Compton team stayed at the top of the leaderboard and won the competition with several points above the runners-up. This meant that the team is through to the final round which will be much harder than the previous. The Compton’s competitors have already started working on the matrices section of the final, a subject not usually covered until A’ Level. Shortly after winning, Gabriel said, “It was great to have this chance to study harder Maths outside of school. I think the team worked really well at dividing tasks to ensure our success. I have a lot of confidence for the final round.” Australia. They took the different measurements and applied the ‘Richardson Effect’. During lunch, the students were given a quiz that they could do. The questions were from all the topics of maths. After lunch, they learnt ‘The Maths of Games’. This was a very interesting workshop on how there is maths in every board game that you play. For example, the most visited square on Monopoly is ‘Jail’. There is a sure way of winning Chocky Soap. The next you play with someone, make sure that it is not one of our Year 10s! The Year 10 students thoroughly enjoyed the day and would “definitely” do it again if given an opportunity. Avni Masters Year 10 Jake Taylor Year 10 The Regional Final will be held on 7th May. Watch this space..... 7 Design and Technology ROTARY YOUNG CHEF COMPETITION Sparks Flies on the Taste of Success On Saturday, 15th March, Anthony Sparks, Year 10, became the Rotary Young Chef Regional Champion after winning the Regional Final that took place in Kingsway College, Westminster. Anthony wowed the judges, who included: Gary Lee, Head Chef at the Ivy restaurant; Paul Wayne, Gregory International Chocolatiers (whose clients include Microsoft, Harrods, Harvey Nicholls, to name but a few); Peter Tiley, Head of Catering at Barnet Southgate College and Geraldine Higgins, Chef Lecturer at Ealing Hammersmith and West London. Anthony is now in the final of this competition to be held up in Scotland at the end of April. We all wish him the very best. The first round was held back in November at The Compton School when Anthony and Lauren Stephens-Spence, from Year 8, were chosen to represent the school. These two students then competed at Wembley College of North West London in January against other students from North London. As runner up, Anthony was invited to enter the next round held at Kingsway College in Febuary. This round was attended by the Mayor of Westminster, Councillor Sarah Richardson. Anthony was judged on his chef abilities, presentation skills and the flavours of his dish. His dishes were salmon fillets baked in a red thai curry wrapped in a banana leaf served with steamed jasmine rice infused with lemongrass. This was followed by a lychee and lemongrass sorbet. This feast was enough for Anthony to win through to the regional final and offer a taste of flavours to come! Class of Your Own Architects for the Day Mrs Carter and Mr Hall visited one of the biggest architect/engineer companies in the world, Mott McDonald, on a fact finding mission over February half term. The purpose of the visit was to find out just what engineers do and pass that information onto our budding architects and engineers in Year 9 who are currently creating their own eco building designs in COYO (Class of Your Own). They were introduced to engineers working on such projects as the HS2 Railway and Headingly Cricket Ground. The whole ethos of the engineers was to build in the most ecologically sound and sustainable way which ties in beautifully with our own students’ designs. Year 9 Designers at The Royal Institute of Surveyors Back in January, our Year 9 Product Designers participated in an all day enterprise workshop run by 'Class of Your Own'. In teams of eight, the students had all day to plan and design an eco classroom that was the same size as the hall. Experts, including an architect, a landscape designer, a surveyor and a company director, all helped and gave every group guidance and advice. At the end of the day the students presented their work to a panel of judges and the winners and runners up were chosen. Well done to winning Team Two, George, Imogen, Ryan, Frishta, Lucy, Gregory and Tawheed and to the runners up Team 3,Lara, Amin, Keirha, Bethany, Evan, Adam, Taylor The winning team will be presenting at the Royal Institute Chartered Surveyors in front of industry professionals on March the 20th. Rachel Carter, i/c Product Design and Rob Hall, Senior D&T Technician All’s Well in the TCS Garden Club After the long, wet winter it was great to be able to get outdoors and stuck into The Compton Garden. The greenhouse has been repaired and now the garden clubbers can begin planting up the seeds that have been kindly donated. Also repaired is the compost bin so that we can turn all the veggie cuttings from the food room back into lovely compost and grow more veggies for the food room. Recycling in action! Even though the poor weather and darker nights have kept the club indoors there were still plenty of fun things to do, including making seed cakes for the birds to feast on. The bird seed cakes have been positioned 8 around the garden to tempt our feathered friends so that we can begin to use our identification skills to work out what species we have around. Once the bird table is completed and positioned outside G6, we can begin to spy on the birds feeding. Although we want to attract birds to the school we don’t necessarily want them munching on the seeds we plant so we will be making some scarecrows to keep them off the areas we want bird-free. There’s always something fun to do at the Garden Club. If you want to know more or have some ideas of your own, let us know. Rob Hall, Senior D&T Technician Ms Clifford, Head of Food Technology and Mrs O’Shea, D&T Technician/Food High Praise for Textiles Students A group of 12 Year 10 Textiles students visited the fashion department at Barnet and Southgate College on 28th February for a 'Customise a TShirt' day. The day was led by college lecturer Joanne Sutherland who stated she was amazed by the students creativity and ability to work independently. Students spent the day working on designs and then customising tshirts. A huge thank you to Joanne Sutherland, Mr Kumar and Mrs O'Shea for taking the students. Also, a ‘Well Done’ to the students who attended the visit, who were Precious Isles, Zahirah Khan, Najuma Greenwood, Eloise Monague, Brogan Church, Chandni Thakkar, Baille Scott-Nicholls, Charli Scott-Nicholls, Soraya Skinner, Victoria Pohlmann, Christopher Antoniou and Mairead Blowers. Julie Tinsley Head of D&T Textiles design Competition The Design and Technology Department are holding a competition for students to design a fashion garment or accessory made from recycled products. The competition is open to all students at The Compton School. Students should submit a design idea for their product, then they can come along after school to make their design become a reality. The competition will be in two parts; we will look for a winner for the most innovative design and a winner for best made product. So who can use everyday throw away items most creatively and effectively and come up with exciting and ingenious designs? See Ms Tinsley for an application sheet. All entries must be submitted by Monday, 28th April 2014. STEM CLUB Whizz! Flash! Bang! Bath bombs, snowflake crystals, lighthouses, snowglobes, rockets, nylon… no, it isn’t our birthday wish list, it’s all the exciting things the STEMlets have been making this term at STEM club! The STEMlets have been very busy bees, developing their teambuilding skills, meeting students from other year groups and perfecting their science techniques while having lots of fun conducting scientific experiments. There might be robots on the horizon and even a return visit from the Animal Man… Join us at 3.10pm in M9 every Monday to feed your scientific appetite. Sarah Groves and Jemi Patel, Science Teachers and Evanthia Anastasiou, Teaching Assistant Julie Tinsley Head o f MUSIC DEPARTMENT Musical Notes Handel House Opera Project The Compton School was chosen as the only Secondary School in London to work with artists from the London Handel Festival, Royal College of Music and the Composer-in-residence from Handel House, as part of an Opera project. The Year 10 Music Class was selected to participate in this wonderful opportunity. As part of the project, the students went to the Royal College of Music and listened to International Conductor, Laurence Cummings, who led a talk on Opera, including the traditions of performing and of staging a Baroque Opera. Students then watched students from the Royal College of Music perform Act 1 from Handel’s Opera Ariana in Creta, which is the stimulus for the project. On 10th March, the by Angelina Barlow students visited Handel House Museum in Bond Street, where Handel (and also Jimi Hendrix) lived. They also met and got to work with the composer-in-residence, Cevanne. The students were given a tour of the house and learnt about Handel’s life and works, whilst he lived there. The students participated in a Composition Workshop with Cevanne and put together their initial reactions and ideas for an Opera Performance. In the weeks following, Cevanne has been visiting The Compton to help and inspire the students to compose their own Opera Performance, using Handel’s Opera Ariana in Creta as the stimulus. The project will culminate in a performance and a mini film. 9 SKI TRIP 2014 Graduates of the Happy Ski School February half term saw students of The Compton School depart for the slopes for the annual school ski trip. The trip departed on Friday, 14th February 2014, in romantic mood, and headed for the Austrian ski resort of Altenmarkt. Following an excellent journey we arrived in resort at 11.00am and made ourselves at home in the fantastic Hotel Ennshof. Our first day of skiing saw us visit the local resort of Altenmarkt and Radstadt, and despite the weather being surprisingly warm for half term, all students enjoyed their first day on the slopes. In the evening all students took part in team building activities, with Merritts Marauders coming out on top! Following heavy snow overnight, day two was a powder day and saw us visit the higher resort of Zauchensee. On a perfect day for skiing great fun was had by all groups of skiers. The evening was rounded off with the annual table tennis tournament, won by Stephen Bell and Shania Hughes. We returned to Zauchensee on Tuesday for a second day of high altitude skiing. On Wednesday, we visited the action packed resort of Flachauwinkl, where the beginner group took to the mountain for the first time. Again, heavy snow in the afternoon made for some interesting skiing conditions but all students made it home safely. Our final days of skiing saw us return to the resorts of Zauchensee and Altenmarkt before we headed home on Friday, 21st February. Another safe journey saw us arrive back at school at 10.00am on the Saturday, with some tired students and staff ready for a well deserved rest. Special thanks must go to all of the staff who made the trip so enjoyable and memorable for our students, Mr Hammond, Mr Merritt, Miss Hand, Miss Groves and Miss Wray. Thanks also to our coach drivers Stuart and Sean, the Thurner Family at the Ennshof and our ski intructors from the Happy Ski School, all of whom helped to make our holiday so amazing. Toby Kirkby Assistant Headteacher INTERVIEW SKILLS DAY 2014 Students Impress in College Dress Rehearsals Year 11 students got the opportunity to practice the skills they have been learning in school to prepare them for their upcoming College and Sixth Form interviews over two afternoons during Interview Skills Days. Students were interviewed by a variety of professionals and members of the community who all shared their experiences and gave helpful tips to build confidence and improve technique during the interview process. The school was very proud of Year 11 who made sure they were very well prepared for the day by dressing appropriately and showing awards, certificates and achievements. Individual feedback from the interviewers was given to 10 “I enjoyed hearing of their ambitions and how they intended to reach their goals they all were a credit to The Compton School.” Vicky Cran Year 11 Manager students and general feedback about the day was very positive. “I had a fab day, really was blown away by the young people I had the pleasure of interviewing, what a lovely bunch! SPORTS News at The Compton School by Nikki Chodurek Another Sport-filled Term Draws to a Close Under 16s Girls’ Football It’s been another packed sporting Spring term. We have managed to secure coaches for various activities ranging from American Football to Girls Boxing. The Saracens Rugby Blast has been extremely successful, allowing students to access this sometimes elitist game. We have had numerous team and individual successes this term which are all highlighted below. It has been a busy and hectic term but we are seeing many more students participating in our ever expanding extra-curricular programme. Thanks again to: Mr N Clark, Mr K Clark (KS3 Basketball); Mr K Civan, Mr M Taylor (Table Tennis); Ms O Savage, Ms K Silva, Ms E Anastasiou (Badminton Club); Mr A McDonnell (Year 7 Football manager) Mrs K Kelly (Year 7 Football Coach), for all their hard work and commitment to the PE department. Howzat for Indoor Cricket! The Under 16 girls played extremely well this season reaching the semi-finals of the Middlesex Cup. This was a fantastic achievement. We saw an amazing turnout for the trials and two teams were selected- one for Year 7 and one for Year 8. The boys are now playing in an indoor league and are well prepared for their summer games. Representing Barnet at The London Youth Games On 6th March, the Year 7 and 8 Girls' Rugby team represented Barnet at the London Youth Games at Blackheath Rugby Club. They played against schools from all over London and were placed ninth at the end of the tournament. They should be very proud of their performances as they won two out of five games, narrowly losing the other three. Congratulations go to Josephine Chadwick, Donya Rahmani, Kalli Bargiela, Tara Haji Molla Ali Kandi, Shez Khan, Dujeta Isufaj, Quraisha Ibrahim (all Year 8), Megan Mulligan, Zoe Baker and Angel Alejo (Year 7). Top tacklers - Kalli & Shez Top Try Scorer - Angel Well done girls you were amazing! TCS Girls Just Keep On Dancing Dance is as popular as ever and the Year 9 girls have produced a GCSE piece of contemporary work this term, called ‘Ghost Dances’. As a contrast, we have Years 7 and 8 performing Street Dance. 11 SPORTS News at The Compton School by Nikki Chodurek A ter m in pictures Compton Gets a Rugby Blast - During the first half of the spring term, the Year 8 boys were enjoying specialist coaching by Saracens Rugby coaches. The weather was a little unkind but it did not spoil the learning or the fun. The girls had their lessons during the second half of the term. The Year 7 Rugby squad who competed in the Barnet Schools’ Rugby Tournament The Year 10 boys were lucky enough to experience a six week block of American Football coaching held on the 5G Pitch every Wednesday. The Year 7 and 8 Girls’ Netball teams who have had an extremely successful season culminating in both teams reaching the Barnet Schools’ Play Offs. Well done girls Barnet Team Cross Country Representatives Boxing - Girls pack a pretty punch! Top trampolinists triumph Students return to school on Wednesday, 23rd April 2014, Week 1 12
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