POLY PERSPECTIVE SUMMER 2015
Photo Credit: Ricky Skeels 13L1
Contents Welcome..............................................................................2 Key Stage 3 News.........................................................................3 Drama..............................................................................4 Student Council............................................................................4 Author Visit...................................................................................4 Science News................................................................................5 Grammar School Intake..............................................................6 Key Stage 4 News.........................................................................7 Sports @ the Poly..........................................................................8 Sixth Form News........................................................................10 New Building Update.................................................................12
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arent View
Calling all Parents and Carers, at Woolwich Poly we are always interested to find out parents’ views on how we are doing; your opinions are important to us. Ofsted have developed a website where you are able to answer questions on the school, which allows us to shape our future priorities. We kindly ask that you spare a few minutes to complete the form found at the following website address: http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/ Please contact the school office for more details.
Keeping your child safe from outside influences Your child’s life is very different today to that experienced by most of us at their age. It is an age of social media and technology that is ever changing. These ‘new’ ways of communicating mean that as parents and carers even more monitoring is required to keep them safe. One of the most important things that you can do is talk to your son/daughter and share and explain your values with them, particularly in regards to the news and current affairs. Gangs are most common in areas of poverty in London. A student once described how difficult they are to avoid: ‘Miss, it just takes for me to come out of my house; once, after a row with my mum, they asked me if I want to sell.’ It is the same with extremist groups, they know when children are unhappy, rebelling or looking for a different opinion. Extremist groups include those that endorse the use of violence in supporting political, religious or ideological values - they do this by inciting fear and hatred to promote their beliefs.
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elcome
Dear Parents Once again the end of the school year is nearly upon us and it’s been extremely busy. The Year 11 students have worked tirelessly and we are sure that their results will reflect their endeavours. Yet again we say farewell to our Year 13 students as they move on to the next stage of their careers. We are hopeful that they will achieve the results they deserve and be able to attend the top universities that they have chosen. We are looking forward to welcoming our Year 7s who will begin to forge lifetime friendships at the Transitional Summer School taking place over the first two weeks of the holiday. This year group will be amongst the first students to experience our Grammar School Intake and we look forward to a curriculum that is tailored to suit all students. For the second time, we were runner up in the TES Secondary School of the Year Award– a national and highly prestigious competition. Next year we hope to go one step further as we recruit our first cohort of university undergraduates onto our Maths BSc (Hons) with QTS degree – the first school in the country to achieve this feat. We are delighted that we are bringing university education to Thamesmead. We are also working towards something that parents have long been asking for – to open a Woolwich Poly Girls’ School in Thamesmead on a separate but nearby site. Greenwich Local Authority have given us support to pursue this dream and we are currently preparing a proposal for the Department Of Education and seeking to secure a site through our partner developers, Peabody . There is a long way to go and no guarantee of success but watch this space! We would like to thank our staff whose tireless efforts make the Poly truly special. And finally, thanks to our parents and carers for your continued support of our school.
Tim Plumb Byron Parker
All children go through changes in their teenage years, it is, however, important to ensure you know who your son/ daughter is communicating with and how. Changes in their behaviour can include staying out late, changes in friendship groups, not interacting with the family and being secretive. Please speak to the school if you notice any of these changes or other behaviour that causes you concern. Also, if there are any events at home that are having an impact, including family break ups and deaths, please also let the school know so that we can keep an eye on your child. Social media sites include: Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, Twitter, Ask.fm, amongst others. In addition, access can be gained through computer games. This is not an exhaustive list. Ensure that your child’s use of these sites has boundaries, for example not allowing access to these sites on their phone, but only on laptops, etc. that are used in the home and where you can filter inappropriate sites. If you have any concerns or wish to discuss any matter relating to the content of this letter then please contact the school for advice.
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ey Stage 3 News
Year 7 News We have had an exciting and successful year. The first term was very busy. We had our usual day trip in paired tutor groups to Wrotham (an outdoor pursuits centre) where there were opportunities to build friendships and ease transition. In the first term we also had our Parents Information Evenings where parents had the opportunity to meet their boys form tutors and co-tutors. It also gave us the opportunity to inform parents about the Key Stage 3 curriculum to ensure that they knew what to expect from the year and to enable them to better support their sons at home. In the spring term we had the LEPRA charity come into school to encourage the boys to raise money for people around the world suffering “raised £661.15 the plight of leprosy. in two weeks” The boys
Year 8 News It has been a very eventful and successful term for Year 8. We took 40 boys on an adventure residential visit to Kingswood in Ashford. The trip was a huge success, the boys had a brilliant time climbing, completing rope courses, having a go on a giant swing, crawling through dirt and shooting lasers! A big thank you to all of the staff that came along to help out. We recently took almost 100 boys on a reward visit to Thorpe Park. The boys were all impeccably behaved and showed the Poly off at its best. They really enjoyed the day, especially when they got to laugh at the staff screaming on the rides. Thank you to all of the boys for being so brilliant and well done for earning the opportunity to come along.
“impeccably behaved”
were expected to raise money in their own time and managed to raise a staggering £661.15 in only two weeks, which is really impressive!!! I must give Rikaz in B2 a special mention as he raised £157 all on his own. The summer term has been unbelievably busy. We have had Activities Week for the second year running, but “very on a much enriching grander scale this year. This experience” gave the boys the chance to experience a range of activities and educational visits from visiting museums to seeing birds of prey displays in the Kent countryside. The boys clearly had a very enriching experience and have learnt so much and in addition had lots of fun. We have also had exam week in which the boys were required to sit exams in an exam setting and under exam conditions. Most boys coped admirably with this very
The options process for choosing GCSEs has been a complete success with more boys than ever choosing to follow the EBacc route which will hopefully one day lead them on to university. The boys are eager and ready to start their courses before we break up for the summer holidays.
“more boys choosing EBacc”
new situation “better prepared and are now for GCSE’s” better prepared for their GCSEs in the future. Throughout the year we have continued to have weekly RAP meetings in which we have reviewed the progress of varying cohorts of boys to ensure that they are making the required progress and are not coasting their way through Year 7. These meetings led by Ms Williams have been hugely successful as a means of ensuring that boys are monitored closely and that they achieve their potential . So another year has nearly come to an end and many varied experiences and learning opportunities have been had on the boys journey to academic and personal success. Ms Franklin Head of Year 7
I hope you all have a fun but safe summer break and look forward to seeing you all neat and tidy in September. Ms Smith Head of Year 8
A huge well done goes to Jaspal Sembhi and Elliott John who have both been given Jack Petchey awards for outstanding achievement and contribution to the school. Finally I’d like to thank all of the tutors for all of their hard work this year and I’d also like to take the opportunity to wish those staff that are leaving the tutor team well with their new ventures, good luck! Also a huge thank you and congratulations to Ms Stamp – she has been a fantastic Deputy Head of Year this year and she will be promoted to Head of Year 7 from September, we wish her all the best in her new role.
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ACTIVITIES WEEK DRAMA Y7 Stage Combat 80 Year 7s took part in a stage combat workshop with trained fighting instructors from the world of film and theatre during Activities Week. They learned basic stage combat that looks real and effective on stage but is completely safe and looks worse than it really is. The boys responded fantastically to the training and prepared a short choreographed routine at the end of the day to showcase their new skills. It was a tiring day for all due to the intensity and physical nature of the day but the instructors were so impressed with the knowledge showcased that they asked us if they could come back next year.
STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS The Student Council have been very busy this year. We started the year by being invited to City Hall where we were presented with a special recognition award for the work we had done on our road safety campaign ‘Don’t Risk It On The Roads, as we were at the top of City Hall we were also lucky enough to get a prime location to see the poppy display at the Tower of London.
YEAR 10 GEOGRAPHY 88 Year 10 students have been at the coast this week to collect data for their controlled assessment. Over two days we have travelled to Reculver in Kent to find out what processes are at work to shape the coastline. Examples of the data collected were: beach profiles, cave measurements and long shore drift measurements as well as making a field sketch and taking photos. Apart from the attack if the mini black flies we had a very successful trip. The photo shows some of the students at work collecting their data.
LIBRARY NEWS Marcus Alexander made a welcome return to the Poly last week! Marcus is the author of the popular series ‘Keeper of the Realms’ and his visit coincided with the release of his third book in the series Blood and Fire. He enthralled the Year 7 students with his stories from his travels. He engaged the Year 8 students with pictures of his culinary delights! And impressed the Year 9s with his quick witted, fast moving, unique way of writing a creative piece. All in all his visit was fantastic a real treat for the Poly. Marcus last visited the Poly two years ago after writing his first book. His third book has just been released, and coincided with his visit last week. We like to book an author each year to promote reading for pleasure, and Marcus has a strong reputation for promoting literacy to students.
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We have followed this up with many activities in school one being our Soup Competition which we will resume running in September where students get to come up with a recipe for a soup and if they win they will see their soup on the menu. We will also be opening up our bike loan scheme for the rising Year 7s and a few Year 8s. The Student Council identified riding to school not only as a cheap and quicker alternative to getting buses but also a way to encourage a healthier lifestyle. For a small deposit students will be able to rent a bike and safety equipment to help them ride into school.
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Science Club
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The KS3 Science Club had another successful year with an abundance of students looking to come and try the cool experiments we had going this year.
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Poly Farm and Garden Club
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We practised physics, chemistry and biology with topics/projects including; building rockets, making a rainbow and of course one of the favourites…holding fire.
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This summer a new and exciting project is taking place at the Poly. For some years, a small (rather overgrown) patch of land has been crying out to be developed. Last year during Activities Week, the DT staff along with a group of students worked hard to turn it into an attractive garden, with space for growing plants and herbs as well as a pond and areas for displaying crafts such as stained glass tree decorations. Since then, we have been thinking of ways the garden could be developed even further and thanks to a lot of hard work by some of the science technicians and premises team, we have now started work on the new Poly Farm and Garden. This new venture will see the staff and students collaborating to constantly nurture and care for not only the garden but a selection of animals. We are proud to welcome 5 new members to the Poly family. We are now the proud ‘parents’ of 4 guinea pigs and a rabbit. This brings the school total menagerie to 2 ducks, 4 guinea pigs, 2 rabbits, 1 terrapin and a fish. We also hope to have chickens in the near future! Research studies have shown many benefits of outdoor learning. The physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of students can be encouraged through interaction with animals. General handling develops motor skills, feeding encourages responsibility building self-esteem, social gaps can be bridged through interaction and general animal care can spark a desire for more in depth learning. There will be hands on opportunities for the students to help out with the general health and well-being of all the animals, which will include feeding, cleaning and nurturing. For students that are perhaps not so confident around animals there will be an open animal petting club held weekly whereby students are given the chance to build their confidence slowly over a longer period of time in a smaller group setting. All students who move through the school will at some point during their science lessons be cover habitats, food chains and genetic inheritance. Our animals add an extra dynamic to these lessons by giving real life, real time experiences. We hope to see the space being used by departments across the school to extend students learning as well as creating extra-curricular opportunities through the PFG Club. We also hope to grow more of our own produce which can be sold to raise money as well as teaching students the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. All help is greatly appreciated so if you think you may be able to offer your services or donate unwanted plants, pots, animal feed etc… then please get in touch.
Woolwich Poly MedSoc MedSoc is a society for year 11 and 12 students who are keen to pursue a career in medicine or related fields. This year we’ve been on trips to the Hunterian Surgery Museum; attended a conference at the Tate Modern for students looking to apply for Medicine; as well as debating medical ethics.
Big Bang 2015
Students have been supported in their personal statement writing, preparation for UKCAT entrance exams and have been hard at work to achieve the very best grades in their AS levels. MedSoc is all about bringing together the keenest students to support each other in what is a very challenging university choice. This is a society run largely by the students themselves.
This year the Big Bang Fair was held at Stanmore College in north London.
This year, MedSoc ran an assembly to the sixth form encouraging people to become Dementia Friends. This is to raise awareness of dementia and what people can do to support people with it. Next year we will look to expand the group even further, giving students from year 10 and above the opportunity to discuss the big issues in Medicine, find out more about it as a degree and career as well as improving their Science along the way!
Astronomy Club The students in Astronomy Club are nearing the end of a successful year learning about the evolution of the universe. We have covered many topics including star life cycles, cosmic background radiation and supernovae explosions. We spent the last term looking at constellations and creative ways we can represent the stars in the night sky. The students made constellations using string and foil, they made candle constellation lanterns and LED light boxes. The students are looking forward to next year where we will be looking at asteroids, meteors and making our very own impact craters.
The purpose of the visit was to develop students understanding of science and how it is used outside school in the wider world and also includes career advice. The exhibition showcased many different organisations/ universities/institutions displaying a variety of STEM activities they are involved in. They provided opportunities for students to interact with these and hopefully motivate and inspire them to continue to work on STEM subjects. The G&T students from Year 9 and 10 were selected to go and take part in the various activities offered at the college. It was a great day out where students actively participated in the event. Student comments: Gurman Atwal: ‘I think it was a useful to me because I was really interested in drones and different type of technology’. Tai Lee: ‘I thought the Big Bang Fair was inspiring as it showed me what people are doing in the world with respects to science and engineering and how they were applied to the real world’. Reece Morgan: ‘In my opinion the trip was fascinating, I learnt new scientific facts which has strengthened my knowledge. Also the workshops were good and I couldn’t have asked for a better trip’.
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WOOLWICH POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL GRAMMAR SCHOOL INTAKE 2015 Starting in September 2015, Woolwich Polytechnic will be offering an education tailored to meet the needs of the more able pupils based on a grammar schoool approach to teaching and learning, They will be offered specialist maths and literacy lessons in small classes with similarly able pupils. In addition to the regular curriculum they will receive enrichment activities such as Latin and music tuition. On Tuesday 7th July 2015 a taster day aimed specifically at these pupils was held. They were able to experience the learning environment they will be immersed in as part of the grammar school by engaging in a variety of challenging activities in maths, English, science, IT and music.
MUSIC DEPARTMENT NEWS Another busy term for the music department! Highlights include our gospel and barbershop choirs performing at the Royal Festival Hall on 2 July as part of a Greenwich-wide singing spectacular. The boys performed material that they had been rehearsing for a number of weeks and the evening was a great success (see photos). Ben Jones, a Year 13 music technology student, wrote a song which won a competition. The prize was for his band (which includes former students James Hyam and Jacob Statter) to play at the O2 supporting the boy band Rixton. Again, this was a great success and Ben’s band got a superb reception from the large audience.
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YEAR 11 NEWS On 11th June 2015, Woolwich Polytechnic School had to say good bye to another group of incredible young men. Led by the samba band, the Class of 2015 showed up in style, processing into the sports hall packed to capacity with family and friends. The celebration, expertly led by our own Joseph Okuboyejo and Kacem Hassana, included various performances by the year group as well as videos and speeches from each form. It was a beautiful day that displayed the true character of the year group. It is with a heavy heart that we let them go…we are so proud of you: the Class of 2015. Mr Boothe and Ms Principe
YEAR 10 NEWS In the past few weeks the Year 10s have been involved in…. An Aspire evening which was for the white British students and their parents led by Mr Lawrence. The information was to help the students and parents understand the importance of interventions and attendance and how they play a significant impact on their grades. A High Achiever’s event was also held on the evening of Tuesday 30 June this was for students and their parents. This was led by Mr Hodges and the Heads of English/ Maths and the science department. Both events were very successful and students and parents left the events feeling encouraged. The Year 10 boys have enjoyed trips out to Hastings and Thorpe Park in the last term. The trips out were very enjoyable and were also a chance to reward the boys for their behaviour this year. We were also pleased with the success of the boys at the Greenwich Athletics Championships. There were some really good efforts made to help the boys achieve 1st place in the competition. Mr Haslam
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GSPORTS @ THE POLY OING ON & GOING OUT
Cricket
Year 7
On Thursday 9 July, the under-15 cricket team made the journey to Springfield Cricket Club to represent Kent and to compete in the South East England Final of the ECB ‘Chance to Shine’ competition.
The athletics team performed really well this year and qualified for the London Schools indoor finals at Lea Valley, finishing 4th. This, combined with the 3rd place finish in the Greenwich championships, gives them a real springboard to go on and achieve success next season. Special mention must go to Emmanuel Bamidele for his 200m successes, Tobi Bawala for his 800m performances and to the shot-putt and discus champion, Ashton McKay-Sarr.
After a long discussion between captain Bashir Popalzai and bowler Ashoqullah Sultankhil, the field was set and a place at Edgbaston was going to be decided in the next ball. The batsman attempted to hit the ball away for a winning single, but top-edged the ball towards a lone leg-side fielder. With hearts in mouths, Akther Shirzad reached out and secured a memorable catch, crowning Woolwich Poly as south-east England champions!
Year 8 Athletics 2 years of solid training, up to twice a week and competing at weekends around Kent and London, has paid off! The Year 8 team have been preparing for the English Schools finals since their first lesson in Year 7. A squad of 18 boys have progress through the stages of the English Schools, finishing first in London and runners up in the whole of South East England. It has been a privilege this season to take such a talented team this far in the competitions. These boys are exceptional and have the right mind-set to do well in both sport and exams. The attitude is second to none and these boys will have many successful years competing for the school, clubs and county. Well done. Year 9
The National Theatre
Having won through their group, The Poly were drawn to play against Glyn School from Surrey in the final, with a place in the national final at Edgbaston, Birmingham up for grabs for the winners. Batting first, The Poly posted a modest 60-5 from their 7 overs which was considerably lower than their previous efforts. In response The Glyn School found themselves needing 8 runs off the final over; and then with one ball to go only a single run.
We retained the Greenwich Cross-Country championship for a 3rd straight year, and a very successful U15 cricket team, tabletennis going from strength to strength under captain and sports leader Mason Arnold and again a range of athletics successes with another sports leader Clinton Thomas being the highlight. Having been selected for the district team in 200m, Clinton won the race at the London Games and can now boost to be the quickest 14 year old over 200m in the whole of London and the South-East. Bring on the Nationals, Clinton! Athletics Another fantastic year on the track and field! We won the Year 10 overall trophy at the ‘Greenwich and Lewisham Borough Championships,’ and finished in 2nd place for both Year 8 and 9 and 3rd in Year 7 which shows great consistency across the board but we are hopeful of improving on this for next year. The team are currently ranked 5th in the country and are the only state school to have qualified for the English Schools final in 2015. This final took place on Saturday 4th July, at the International Athletics Stadium in Bedford. The team performed brilliantly to finish second in the South East of England championships and also competed in the Greenwich championships, on the 2 July.
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As a final word, it is an absolute pleasure to be ‘Coach’ for the Year 9 teams and being able to celebrate the successes from my two Year 9 GCSE groups in the classroom, all the way to London Schools finals and beyond. Year 10 Congratulations to the Year10 athletics team in their last ever athletics event at the Greenwich Championships. They have finished on a high. Special mention to Fabrice Baptiste who has captained the team and led by example. His exceptional performances in 300, 400 and shot putt have catipulted this team to be one of the best in the country. This is an end of an era it like the Year 8s, they too have reached the national finals. We wish the team the very best of luck as many of these boys have set school records such as Afeez Jacob in the pole vault.
Cross Country
Year 9
Another successful year of cross country at the Poly.
Once again our Year 9 pupils lead the school as our outstanding sports stars.
Starting off with the annual school cross country event from this we choose the best runners to represent the school at the Greenwich championships which took place in November with the Poly winning in 2 year groups. The following boys took part in the English schools in February reaching the second round. Mustafa Abdi, Mathieu Adebowale, Abraham Banguru, Kevin Ntoya, Bashir Papolzai Handball
Following from last year’s highlights of being district football champions, regional athletics champions and national schools handball champions the boys have continued with their winning ways. I have to start with football squad who can now boast to be the most successful team in over 100 years of Poly history by not only retaining their District cup for a record 3rd year in a row, but crucially putting last year’s double London Cup final disappointments to rest by winning the Outer London cup 2-1.
The junior team (under - 13’s) trained really hard this year but unfortunately could not repeat the success of last year’s team who were national champions. They finished runners-up in the south London final.
This now means the boys have reached 7 major finals in 3 seasons winning both Inner and Outer London Schools Cups as well as the already mentioned three District titles. The 5 times champions also reached the last 16 of the National Schools cup this year.
Congratulations to Misimi Alaka, Segun Dada and Dimitris Nikitopoulos for being selected to represent the England under-16 handball team in Denmark this summer.
It is hard to pick out a player of the season as the reason we are a success is because we are a team but the 50 goals from Dimeji Adeniran (another school record) has certainly helped.
We say farewell to Tirath Rathour from Year 13 who has been instrumental in helping handball to become so popular at the school. Tirath captained the under-16 handball team at the European championships and we have high hopes to see him competing for the full England squad soon. Table Tennis Table tennis continues to grow in popularity. This year we had both the senior (under -15) and junior (under -13) teams take part in both the London finals for individuals and for teams, for the first time. Special thanks to Darius Knight for mentoring and visiting the pupils this year and am sure they are inspired by his rise to success. Football Year 7 The Year 7 team had a frustrating season this year which will be ammunition to achieve success in Year 8. They got to the quarter finals of the district competition a. Special mention should go to David Simmons who captained the team from the heart of defence, Aaron Komagum ‘the pocket rocket’ and to vice-captain, Ovie Ejeheri, who is the current under - 13 Arsenal goalkeeper. Year 8 The best team in London! In terms of progress it has been exceptional for this team and they reached the London Cup final including London’s outer counties this year. Congratulations to Isaa Mpenga who, in the final, was awarded player of the tournament. Daniel Lumu was also the top goal-scorer in the competition.
Year 10 The Year 10s fought a good campaign but unfortunately underperformed this year in both the Inner London Cup and Outer London Cup. The squad had some tough games and came close in many, only losing by 1 or 2 goals. All the team performed really well but a special mention must go out to Nikhil and Hassan who were the anchor within the team, always motivating the squad and giving some inspiring team talks! We wish them all the best for next year. Dance Woolwich Polytechnic has had a fantastic year of dance, with it being the first year every year 7 student has had a halfterm course of workshops with Miss Bryant, developing their technique, co-ordination, rhythm, freestyle and creativity through ‘Hip Hop Dance.’ Royal Rebelz Dance Crew was born in September 2014 and for their first year together they have achieved so much and continue to go from strength to strength. Some highlights of events they have participated in include; The Capital Groups Day Run charity performance, competing at ‘Step into Battle’ and making it through to the semi-finals, performing at Wimbledon Theatre for ‘The Great Big Dance Off’ and placing 6th out of 32 London schools. Lastly, a few special mentions. A big congratulations to Ibrahim Bangura for gaining the spot as the crews’ dance captain and for continuing to lead, inspire and motivate the group. Well done to Amari Bygrave who auditioned and made it through the first stage of getting into the Step into Dance Youth Company and received dance training at The Royal Academy of Dance. Lastly a huge well done to Sonny Johnson, Ibrahim Bangura, Ayomide Ahmed, Amari Bygrave and Divon Ball for being selected to take part in a semi-professional dance project for the creation of a brand new show called ‘The Little Ghost’ in association with The Palace Theatre.
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SIXTH FORM NEWS
Beyond the Poly week This year we started Beyond the Poly week with a visit to Goldsmith’s higher education fair on Thursday 2 July. There were representatives from over 100 universities from across the country and it was a wonderful opportunity for our students to research their future directions. On Monday 3 July we went to the University of Greenwich for a day of workshops designed to prepare our students for applying to university. A day of dynamic and exciting activities were delivered which enabled the whole year group to start their UCAS applications and the all-important personal statements back in school on Tuesday. Later that evening parents were invited to attend a UCAS information evening with a guest speaker from student finance. This year we held our life-skills conference at the prestigious King’s College University in Camberwell. All students developed their skills in public speaking, interview technique, first aid and image projection. A very successful week was had by all and we look forward to welcoming our Year 13s back in September.
Work experience All Year 12 students took part in two weeks of work experience from the 22 June – 3 July. This year we had many prestigious placements in medicine, engineering and law. From observing a neurosurgeon in theatre, designing artificial organs for 3D printing to planning a celebrity gala our students have gained valuable insights into their future professions. A heartfelt thank you must go out to all the employers who gave our students these wonderful opportunities.
Comic Relief For Comic Relief 2015, all the females in our sixth form, including the staff, wanted to do something a little different from the rest of the school. Rather than the usual wearing red outfits or red noses, we came up with the idea of dressing as boys, so we all donated money to take part. We also had a special lunch where we took lots of selfies in our suits, shirts and ties. We looked so much cooler in our suits than any of the boys. It was a great day and we all had a good laugh while doing some good for charity. We raised over £100. Omolade Taiwo – Year 13
Springboard Another opportunity for our Sixth Form to “shout from the hilltops” about our many successes and achievements. We opened our doors to the new Year 12 cohort, allowing the students to experience, first hand, not only the family ethos of our school but the academic challenges of Level 3. This enables our students to ensure they are making informed decisions, regarding their future, most importantly regarding course choices but alsoto find out if this is the right sixth form for them.
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We started the week with external students only; we do this to ease the students in to their new environment. Day 2 we invited our “Poly boys” back and, as expected, they performed beyond expectations. It was overwhelming to see the transformation, in just a few short weeks, for some of the students: somehow beyond childhood and adolescence, our boys had launched into adulthood. We were also joined by Lloyds Bank, who offer a range of opportunities to our students, and our guest speaker, Lucy Masoud. Lucy is currently a firefighter; she once appeared on the TV show
“Shipwrecked”; she has already completed 3 post-graduate degrees and is now onto her fourth; an avid traveller, and finally, what I believe appealed to the students the most, voluntary work that she conducts in Palestine.
unrecognisable. There were balloon arches, beautifully laid tables with crisp white linen, plumes of feathers in the centre of each table, black and silver chairs, fairy lights and crystals, a mocktail bar, a selfie booth… What can I say? Simply wow!
After two weeks of hard work the students earned the chance to attend an educational trip including a visit to The Globe, various museums, and a live viewing of ‘The Wright Stuff’.
The girls were glamorous, the boys were smart and the staff “scrubbed up alright”
Overall, a productive week and a promising start.
University applications Out of our class of 2015 leavers approximately 90% are going onto university, with at least 20% of students being predicted to go onto Russell Group universities this year.
Year 13 Graduation This was a very sophisticated affair. For the first time in the Poly’s history, we held a graduation ceremony for our Year 13 leavers. The dress code was evening wear. Upon arrival, students and staff could not believe the sports hall’s transformation. The seating plan was on display next to the Mocktail Bar and our Year 12 students did a fantastic job of serving the food and drinks all evening.
too: we all looked and felt a million dollars.
We put on a three course meal for students and staff, cooked by the school’s chef; it was superb and would not have been out of place in a stylish, high class restaurant. Mr Rob Beckett was our celebrity guest. It was a fabulous celebration for our class of 2015: a night they will always remember.
We were then sat at our tables, where we were expertly served by Year 12 students, a delicious three course meal. Melon fantail with a tropical dressing to start, followed by chicken vinaigrette, fondant potatoes and vegetables, finished off with burnt cream with fresh raspberries and spiced shortbread There was entertainment from students, speeches from the staff and a special guest appearance from the comedian Rob Beckett. All in all, it was a spectacular event, thoroughly enjoyed by us all. A fitting and unforgettable way to say goodbye to Woolwich Poly Sixth Form. Christian Eneramadu Year 13 It was truly a night to remember as the entertainment was marvellous, the food was lovely and none of it would have been possible if it wasn’t for the remarkable efforts of our own sixth form team and for that I thank them from the bottom of my heart. The entertainment was truly magical, and I don’t mean there was a magician, but the atmosphere was alive and kicking. Our special celebrity guest, although the proud owner of a Nissan Micra, was actually a celebrity so we were truly surprised. Woolwich Poly “did good!” The singers were equally amazing, showcasing our Sixth Form’s true talent. Leon Saunders received a well-deserved standing ovation for a voice that he had hidden from us for seven years! A night I will never forget.
Graduation: The Students’ Views Well. What can I say? When we first walked into the sports hall, it was virtually
Jason Bennett Year 13
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NEW BUILDING UPDATE We are pleased to announce that Phase 2 of our building project is now complete. The work started in January and has taken longer than originally predicted. Lessons will commence in the new block from September for our Sixth Form students. There are six classrooms on the first floor that have been designed especially with the older students in mind and the ground floor is one large room dedicated to Sixth Form study. This study area will be equipped with state-of-the-art computer facilities and will allow for both private and small group study. Head of Sixth Form, Ms Bassi said “We cannot wait for our students to have access to these fantastic new facilities.� As Phase 2 draws to its conclusion we are excited at the prospect of the commencement of works on Phase 3. This last phase will join the left-hand side of Phase 1 and will provide the school with eight additional classrooms. There will also be access into Phase 1 which means this will become one large connected building. This last phase will be ready for occupation after the Easter break in April 2016. There will be a lift in this last phase so everyone will be able to access the first floor. It has not been decided which department will move into the new block ,but it looks like it will be a fiercely fought battle.
Woolwich Polytechnic School Hutchins Road Thamesmead LONDON SE28 8AT
Email: enquiries@woolwichpoly.co.uk Website: www.woolwichpoly.greenwich.sch.uk Telephone: 0208 310 7000