February half-term 2016
Inside this issue: Year 13 photography
2
Artwork of the half-term
2
Football success
2
Sherlock Holmes Museum visit
2
Year 8 Reps chosen
3
Frenemies!
3
Burnet News Club debates housing
3
Anne Frank guides
3
In brief
4
Duke of Edinburgh Awards
4
Basketballers win local derby match
4
Taste of France
4
Key dates next half-term
4
Headteacher’s Message As many of you will already know, I will be leaving Acton High School at the end of the current academic year, having been offered a Headship at a school outside London. While I am excited about this new opportunity, I will miss Acton High very much. This is a special place and I have enjoyed a hugely rewarding five years here. The recruitment of my successor has already begun and he or she will be in place in time for the start of the 2016–17 academic year. I know that the Governing Body will do everything in their power to ensure that the school secures an excellent leader to help take the school forward. I wish whoever takes on this opportunity every success. Although this half-term has been short, we have plenty of exciting news. As you will read below, January saw Acton High’s first-ever visit to the European Organization for Nuclear Research, at Geneva. This is one of the most important centres of scientific research in the world, and the opportunity to visit it and be among those working at the cutting edge of human understanding is a very special one. Our Sixth Form scientists have clearly been inspired by the experience.
Meanwhile, back at school, our Year 9 students have been engaged in the very important Anne Frank schools project. A key item inside this newsletter shows how the project engages young people in understanding the importance of a cohesive society and the potentially tragic consequences of intolerance. The lessons that our Year 9s have been learning are important ones, and they have been doing an excellent job of sharing these with their Year 7 counterparts in the tours they have provided. Those lessons have a particular resonance for our school and the culturally rich community of which we are a part, particularly at a time when we look around the world at events in the news and see so many instances of intolerance casting their shadow. I wish you all an enjoyable and productive half-term holiday. For Years 11, 12 and 13 in particular, this is a crucial period as they begin to prepare in earnest for their summer examinations. I look forward to welcoming students back on Monday 22nd February. Dr. Andy Sievewright Headteacher
First-ever AHS visit to European Organization for Nuclear Research January saw the first-ever Acton High visit to the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The A Level scientists heard a lecture from Dr Mario Campanelli on the basic principles of particle physics including the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, had a tour around the cryogenics facility where they learnt about the particle accelerators, and visited the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer control room where they watched
live footage of the astronauts working at the International Space Station. They also met Dr Mika Visterenen, who told the group about the creation of the World Wide Web at CERN, and Dr Lyn Evans, a member of the team that created the Large Hadron Collider. One of the group, Year 12 student Morwenna Spencer, said: “The trip was unforgettable. It was a privilege to be amongst the best physicists in the world.”
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