Bushey Meads News - 13 October 2017

Bushey Meads News

Issue 122

13 October 2017

9 MAPLE MANIFESTS ‘A MIND TO BE KIND’ BY GIVING BACK Miss Buck – Teacher of English

9 Maple and I decided to do the shoebox appeal together as a class group to ensure that, if each person in the form brought in something small, then together we would have enough to fill a box. Together we voted and agreed that each person would donate 2 small items so that hopefully we would have enough to donate boxes to 2 children. 9 Maple is an amazing form who are eager to give back. It is a pleasure to teach them and help them with this cause!

I would however like to mention and bring special attention to Francesca who donated 11 gifts this week (small and BIG) for the appeal. Francesca said she 'wanted to give back to the less fortunate children' which is why she felt it important to donate as much as she could. I think this is the best act of kindness I have seen at BMS yet especially as she was very quiet about her donations, not wanting to make a fuss or draw any attention, just wanting to give back and be kind.

Thanks to the donations of all students in 9 Maple we already have enough to fill 2.5 boxes and the donations are still coming in! Go 9 Maple!

Dates for the diary

Tues 17th October Base Convert

Weds 18th October Year 11 Revision Techniques Evening

th Weds 18 October Year 12 Geography Trip

th Fri 20 October Year 7 Trip to Kidzania

rd Mon 23 – Fri 27th October Half Term

Mon 30th October Staff Development Day

Tues 31st October Year 11 Consultation Evening

st Weds 1 November Year 11 Geography Trip

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS OF STAFF MRS CRAYDEN – Pastoral Administration Officer for Sixth Form

Mrs Crayden has worked in education for the last 14 years, coming from Francis Combe Academy. She was struck by the friendliness of all staff during her interview and in, particular, found the staff room very welcoming.

She is beginning to settle into her new role - although her sense of direction is not so good therefore please point her in the right direction if you see her looking lost!

Mrs Crayden has three (nearly) adult children so is hoping this will put her in good stead to support the Sixth Form students here at Bushey Meads. She looks forward to getting to know the students and staff alike.

MISS SPAIN – ENGLISH TEACHER Miss Spain has joined us from Westfield Academy - where she completed my SD training year. She chose Bushey Meads as she had heard wonderful things about the school and staff and when she came for her interview it seemed like a perfect fit.

She’s really enjoyed her experience so far, the staff are so kind, encouraging and welcoming and the students are a dream to teach.

Miss Spain has a passion for cars and anything car related so her past time of choice would be Go-Karting or track days - her dream car to drive would be the Koenigsegg Agera R.

MRS HUGHES – TEACHING ASSISTANT Mrs Hughes has joined Bushey Meads school in her first role within education as a TA in the SEN department. For the past 20 years, she has been working with adults with learning disabilities, in various settings.

She chose to join the team at Bushey Meads, as she wanted to work with a diverse group of students with differing needs and abilities. When she came for her interview, she found everyone to be so welcoming and knew then, that this was the right place for her. She has built up good working relationships with students she supports, and the team have been very supportive.

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK KEY STAGE 3 Y STAGE 3

Alfie (8 Sycamore) This week's student of the week for Key Stage 3 has been nominated by the Senior Pastoral Manager, Miss Dhanecha. In keeping with our new school mantra "this school has a mind to be kind" Alfie - 8 Sycamore, has been considered deserving of this accolade for a wonderful act of kindness. Alfie found what looked like a brand new mobile phone and handed it straight in to a member of staff. Whilst I am confident that all of our students have this level of integrity, I wanted to publicly acknowledge Alfie for acting in a way that makes Bushey Meads School staff so proud of our students. Thank you Alfie, the owner of the mobile phone you handed in was very grateful!

KEY STAGE 4

Isa (10 Maple) This weeks KS4 student of the week is Isa - 10 Maple for making an excellent start to this academic year! Isa is in the top ten for most achievement point in year 10 with over 50 points and no consequence points! He has 100% attendance and has a brilliant work ethic in all his lessons and has shown a very positive attitude to learning. Well done for having this mature approach to the beginning of your GCSE journey, keep it up and no doubt you will reach your potential.

KEY STAGE 5

Rukkma (13 Willow) Rukkma has been busy this week finalising her application for dentistry at University. She has shown a passion for science in her time here at Bushey Meads and is looking forward to being able to specialise in dentistry next year. She can be very proud of her hard work so far this year.

AN AMAZING ‘HOUR IN THE LIFE’ OF A BMS STUDENT Mr Turner – Executive Principal

One of the privileges of being a Headteacher is having the opportunity to walk around the school and see the amazing work that students and staff are completing each and every hour of the day. Last week I decided to visit every classroom and learning environment in the school to capture just some of the superb practice and oustanding achievement of the young people in our wonderful school.

This exercise took me just over three hours but it was the best three hours of my time last week – inspiring, encouraging, engaging and very much reminding me how lucky we all are to have such fantastic teachers and teaching assistants in our school community.

Here are just a few snapshots of what I saw. I am sure you would agree that the curriculum offer and the standard of education that we provide for all our students reflects a real breadth of opportunity, is of the highest quality and really sets them up for the best possible start in life beyond our school.

Year 10 GCSE Dancers were learning a complex motif as the basis for an ensemble trio performance piece

Year 12 geographers writing up their research project and preparing for their A level field trip to the Lake District later this month

A Year 7 poetry lesson where students were analysing poetic structure and language, changing creole into ‘standard English’

A Year 12 English A level lesson – great higher order questioning and thinking

Sixth Form students studying Level 3 Food Science and Nutrition (making cottage pie and practising their piping skills)

Year 9 student Ryan using Mathswatch to practise questions related to working out averages and mean times from a frequency table

Accurately measuring and marking out the money box template design in technology lessons

Year 13 biology students studying nerves and neurons

Year 13 scientists testing for macro nutrients in food, including starch, protein and fats

Year 7 science students studying energy transfer

Year 13 biologists testing their knowledge and exam skills on the subject of respiration

Year 7 students Djani and Thomas working on number sequences and patterns

Year 12 Mathematicians discussing in small groups how to solve complex Maths problems displayed on the Interactive Whiteboard

David practising his slam dunking at lunchtime Whiteboard

Ishmael, Harry and Arun

Louis with his book review

Dissolving salt in water and measuring the change in mass

Nieka 7W

Writing up the results

Off to the football lesson!

Football and developing leadership and team building skills in PE lessons

Examples of teacher and self-assessment feedback in Key Stage 3 science

GCSE textiles student Lily preparing to conduct detailed fabric tests to determine what products to use for her dress making assessment task

An excellent engaging starter activity as an introduction to Mr Lester’s English lesson

A really fun plenary to end a great French lesson with clear instructions and expectations provided for a differentiated home learning task, with built in stretch and challenge.

Student quote about the lesson from Akhil: “I enjoyed learning about different tenses, giving opinions and seeing common features between our languages.�

A focused plenary at the end of a Year 7 netball lesson, recapping on the learning from the lesson

Excellent analysis and annotations of poetry by Nathan and Leona in their Year 10 English lesson

Superb, varied examples of assessment for learning: green pen marking from the teacher and purple pen response from the student Ben Haley and also effective use of a magpie wall in Ms Bowe’s English class

Year 12 Maths students working through examples related to the topic of interpolation – covered by the teacher earlier in the lesson

Year 13 Drama A level students devising an original piece to be performed in two months’ time – no pressure!

For GCSE Art here you can see Hannah and Isa’s work where they have been, along with all the students in their class, looking at the artist Ian McArthur – exploring his work by taking a picture of themselves and extending it in his style

There was lots of experimenting taking place in Year 7 art lessons with students trying our different clay techniques by making a tile with their initials on it and also mixing colours using powder paint and identifying which shades would be used for which purpose

Table tennis and dance aerobics, taking the lead from the big screen, was the order of the day in core PE lessons on Friday afternoon – a great way of keeping the body and mind fit!

Year 8 Spanish students were really engaged with an interactive film shown on the IWB where they had to recall and speak out the key language phrases appropriate to move on to the next clip of the film

In a Year 13 psychology lesson students were really engaged in a great starter activity using mini whiteboards to complete a sorting task to match key psychological terms with the right definition

Year 10 GCSE psychology students were up out of their seats completing a treasure hunt type task to identify and learn about complex biological aspects of criminal psychology

ALL IN ALL IT WAS A GREAT LEARNING WALK THROUGH OUR SUPER SCHOOL!

THEME OF THE WEEK – EQUALITY AND RIGHTS Mrs Wright – Assistant Headteacher

This week we studied Equality and Rights during our theme of the week tutor sessions. Students were asked to consider whether or not they have prejudices. They were asked to consider why they might gravitate towards certain people in social settings. Do we look for similarities or differences in our friends for example?

Through the ‘stare challenge’ students were encouraged to see old things through a fresh set of eyes. What would the world look like if we were seeing it for the first time. Would we approach people with a renewed sense of wonder?

As we discussed Black History Month we wondered…’was the next Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks sitting in the assembly hall?’ Why did these amazing characters just have to be influences from the past. We can all create a better and brighter future starting with the students at Bushey Meads School.

It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s what you see

A MIND TO BE KIND Bushey Meads School constantly and explicitly promotes relationships that focus students on learning behaviours and progress. Everyday our students celebrate their differences by living without harm, acting with kindness and showing respect for one another.

As a school community and as individuals we have ‘A mind to be kind’ following the three principles:

§ Live without HARMING others § Do Acts of KINDNESS § Show RESPECT for others

What to do if you feel you or a friend are being bullied

Tell somebody about it. You can: ü Report it via the STUDENT WATCH area on the school website

ü Report it via the CONFIDE button on school computers ü Email or speak to an Anti-Bullying Coordinator (ABC) ü Speak to a student ANTI-BULLYING AMBASSADOR ü Email or speak to your form tutor, a teacher or a pastoral manager

HOUSE CUP UPDATE Mrs Ash – Deputy Headteacher

House Points 2017-2018 3500

ELM BEECH ASH OAK WILLOW SYCAMORE MAPLE

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 ASH

BEECH

ELM

MAPLE

OAK

SYCAMORE WILLOW

2893 2782 2739 2674 2626 2612 2468

YC HERTFORDSHIRE DATA PROTECTION FAIR PROCESSING NOTICE TO ALL PARENTS Mrs D McIldowie – Head of Work Related Learning and Deputy DSP

For all year groups we are required to pass on certain information to YC Hertfordshire services. YC Hertfordshire are the local government’s information and advice service for young people.

Data Protection – if any parent is not happy about information being held on their son/daughter by any of the YC Hertfordshire support agencies, they need to let the school know in writing as soon as possible.

Parents can ask that no information beyond name and address be passed to YC Hertfordshire. Please inform the school within a week of receiving this notice if you wish to opt out of this arrangement. For more information about YC Hertfordshire please contact the Local Authority.

At the initial meeting with their Personal Adviser, young people should have the YC Hertfordshire privacy policy explained to them and be given a copy of the leaflet providing written details of the YC Hertfordshire privacy notice and collecting their consent to the sharing of information about themselves.

FURTHER EDUCATION COLLEGE OPEN DAYS 2017

Mrs D McIldowie – Head of Work Related Learning and Deputy DSP

The local colleges hold open days for Year 11 students to find out about the different courses they offer.

These will start in November and then again in February/March time.

If anyone would like any guidance and advice regarding their post 16 options please come and see Mrs McIldowie for an appointment.

College

Stanmore West Herts – Dacorum West Herts – Kings Langley West Herts – Watford Oaklands – St Albans Harrow

Date 2nd November 4th November 4th November 11th November 11th November 15th November

A GREAT START TO BMS! Mr Turner – Executive Principal

It has been really pleasing to see how well our new Year 7 students have settled in to our learning community. The following images capture some of the moments that have taken place during the first few weeks of this term and the start of an exciting seven year journey at the school.

WORD OF THE WEEK (WOW) Ms Bowe – Lead Practitioner for English and Whole school Literacy

Language is empowering

MATHS CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK Mr Akram - Lead Practitioner for Maths

SCIENTIST OF THE WEEK Mrs Razavi – Senior Science Technician

PASTORAL NOTICES

Mobile Phones – Please note that the use of mobile phones for KS3 and KS4 students is strictly prohibited during the course of the school day. All phones need to be switched off and should not be seen at all by staff.

Any violation of this rule is subject to confiscation for up to two weeks depending on the circumstances.

Lateness – Please remember that if you are late to school after tutor time, you MUST sign in at the student window before going to your lesson.

Lost Property – All lost items that have been handed into the student window will be available at break and lunchtime for students to collect. If students have lost anything over the last half-term they are strongly encouraged to come and have a look for them. After half-term all remaining items will be donated to charity.

Road Safety – It's really great to see so many of our students riding their bikes to school and it fits perfectly with our Healthy Schools status. We'd be even happier to see them all wearing helmets in the interests of their own personal safety! Take care of yourselves and be safe please!

PE Kits – It is very common to mistakenly pick up someone else’s PE Kit, either from the changing rooms

or the racks outside the canteen. If you have accidently picked up someone’s kit please can you bring it to the student window. Please check any kit you have at home to ensure it is yours.

MEET OUR NEWLY APPOINTED STUDENT LEADERSHIP TEAM Mrs Wright – Assistant Headteacher

Head Boy – Rikesh

Head Girls – Amira and Isabella

Deputy Head Boy – Nathaniel

Deputy Head Girl – Victoria

The team will be hosting our first student parliament meeting of the year on Wednesday 18th October, during period 5. This year we will have themed Student Parliament meetings. In the first meeting the students will be discussing The School Environment. All of our newly appointed form representatives and House Captains will attend this student voice event.

Mr Turner – Executive Principal

This week the Department for Education published performance tables for secondary schools across the country. Based on figures provided by the DfE the tables show how every school and college in England performed at GCSE, A-level and other academic and vocational qualifications in summer 2017.

This year again a ‘Progress 8 indicator’ shows how a school is performing nationally in terms of seeing students' progress in eight core subjects from primary school to secondary.

Whilst the process of calculating Progress 8 is rather complex, the main thing as parents you need to know is that a minus score (below 0) means the school is performing below the national average, a neutral score (0) means the school is performing at the national average, and a positive score (above 0) means the school is performing above the national average. The higher or lower the score, the better or worse your child's school is performing.

We are delighted that our published Progress 8 Score for our Key Stage 4 GCSE results is 0.11 and higher

than last year’s measure of 0.02. Whilst we will continue to work hard to improve this measure further

this positive score places us just below the top 30% of schools nationally and is something again to be very proud of.

For all other key measures related to attainment, performance in English and Maths and student destinations beyond Key Stage 4, our results place us above Hertfordshire and also above the national measures.

Attainment 8 Score

Achieiving Grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs

At Key Stage 5 our A level results are even more impressive and the DfE have placed Bushey Meads School

top 12%

in the of schools nationally with a very positive score of +0.29

For our excellent Sixth Form Vocational Courses at Key Stage 5 the DfE have ranked Bushey Meads School in

top 4%

the with a hugely positive score of +1.1.

Clearly the national data indicates that all teachers and teaching assistants are contributing massively to ensuring that each and every student at Bushey Meads is achieving beyond expectations and above their potential, based on their prior attainment.

This places our school well above the majority of the 3000 maintained schools in the country for adding value to children’s education.

As parents and carers you can be very pleased that your children are clearly in the right school in an increasingly inspiring learning environment, supported by hard working successful staff who, on a daily basis, go the extra mile to ensure they are happy, safe and achieving at the highest level.

This is obviously something to be very proud of.

Thank you for the hugely important part that you all as parents and carers play to make Bushey Meads School such a great school – it is much appreciated by us all.

ELM HOUSE

Mrs Waring – Head of Elm House

A new school year and a new set of House Representatives. We have already met as a group this week to judge the entries for the House Logo and Mascot competition. During the meeting I was really impressed by the mature and thoughtful reasoning being used by the reps to argue for their favourite entries.

For Y7 we have Laksan who is enjoying his start at BMS and looks forward to all his lessons.

Fergus is our new representative in Y8 and says he’s proud to be a member of Elm house and he enjoys school.

Both Bonnie and Hayat are representing Y9 as the form could not decide between them. They always seem focussed and ready for anything BMS can throw at them.

This year Arash in Y10 has switched from being Charity representative to Form representative and is looking forward to the different challenges this role brings.

In Y11 we have Thomas taking on the role of spokesperson for his form. Studying hard at his GCSE subjects this year Thomas is a lovely and organised student.

Natalia has just started Y12 and is taking on the representative position as she wants to help shape the positive future of Elm and BMS. She is looking forward to her studies and she knows it will take a lot of work.

Chloe has also moved from Charity rep to full Form representative and despite the heavy workload of Y13 she is excited to be participating in the dialogue of Students to Staff.

As I am going on maternity leave at Half term to have my first child, I am leaving Elm

house in the capable hands of Miss Pattni. Miss Pattni is a talented Design and Technology teacher and is excited about her new role. Her hobbies include patchwork

quilting and last summer she made a 'Very Hungry caterpillar' Quilt. She loves travelling and is a qualified scuba diver!

She said “The thing I most looking forward to this year is being part of the school house events and getting to know students across the year groups!” I know I’m leaving Elm to the right person. COME ON ELM!

KAVYA MEETS LEGENDARY ASTRONAUTS! Mr Turner – Executive Principal

Last Thursday one of our top year 8 students, Kavya - 8 Willow, attended a very special event which took place at the Excel Centre in London, attended by many hundreds of young people interested in all aspects of space related Science and Technology.

During the event Kavya had the unique opportunity to hear from and meet no less than three top astronauts: 1. Tim Peake who was the first British European Space Agency astronaut who spent 185 days on the International Space Station from 2015-2016.

2. Helen Sharman - the first Briton in space (she visited the Soviet Mir space station in 1991) 3. Al Worden - the pilot of NASA’s Apollo 15, which landed on the moon in 1971 (he holds the world record for being the most isolated human in history.)

This was a unique opportunity and the three astronauts had never appeared together on stage before. It was a great chance to ask them questions about space travel, and hear first-hand about their time in space. Tim Peake, Al Worden and Helen Sharman were scheduled to give their interview on the main stage where only VIP tickets holders were allowed access. As a member of ‘Society of Popular Astronomy’, Kavya was fortunate enough to receive a free ticket!

When he reached the event he was able to get a seat on the middle of the fourth row; from here he had a great view of the stage. The interview started at 11:30 am and lasted for an hour. During the interview, the astronauts shared how they felt about going to space, how it felt when they came back to Earth and felt the gravity again. The most interesting thing he found during the interview was when they were talking about going to Mars. Tim spent over 15 minutes talking about the changes in his body and how his eyesight became very poor. Al Worden talked about the difficulties and risks of going to the Moon and riding the first lunar rover. Helen Sharman explained the beautiful view of the Earth from the ISS.

After the interview, Kavya was granted permission to meet the astronauts; he was able to get an autograph from Al Worden and special wishes from Tim Peake and Helen Sharman. It was a really wonderful day and he received some fantastic guidance from them, towards his dream.

During, the rest of the day he learnt about the nature of acids, programmed a robot car and much more. But his most favourite activity was when he tried docking the Soyuz craft in the ISS and the moon capsule; he even received a certificate of accomplishment for this. The machines were an exact copy of the actual Soyuz craft.

All in all it was an amazing day!

YEAR 7 ENRICHMENT DAY WITH SOCIAL SCIENCES Mrs Knowles – Head of Social Sciences

The Social Sciences faculty hosted the whole of year 7 on Friday 29th September for an exciting enrichment day providing students with a taster of key stage 4 and 5 subjects. Altogether the faculty ran seven workshops and each student had the opportunity to take part in three.

Psychology

"There's been a murder" screamed Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson....."we need a group of Forensic Psychologists to help solve this mind boggling crime!"

In the Psychology session, students took part in an action packed crime scene investigation. Student's learnt how the FBI use a 'jigsaw' approach to solving crimes. Many challenges were given to the students who developed detective skills through analysis, evaluation and close scrutiny of evidence. As students pieced together the cryptic clues, they solved the murder mystery. The psychology department was really impressed with how students paid attention to every detail showing fantastic analytical skills.

Business Studies

“Dragon’s Den challenge - who will be the next Peter Jones?”

The students took part in an exciting Dragons Den’s style challenge. They had to use their initiative, imagination, persuasion and teamwork skills to come up with a new chocolate bar, then persuade the Dragons to invest in their idea. There were some fabulous ideas and some great examples of teamwork. I am sure in the future we will see some of the years 7's as successful entrepreneurs.

Sociology

“Is society really as fair as we think it is?”

Law

In the Sociology, students learnt about the Marxist perspective of society using sweets as a means of economy. Pupils were required to work hard for their sweets whilst a select group had to decide whether they had earn’t their sweets or not. This helped to explain Karl Marx’s view of society and the class conflict between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariats that was the driving force behind the Russian Revolution.

Miss Lister was very impressed with the Year 7’s abilities to pick up keywords and all the interesting questions. Budding sociologists all around!

“Crime or not a crime? You decide”

Students learnt the different between different types of law and what makes criminal offences. They identified criminals from CCTV and finished with planning murder scenarios for the selected Tributes in the class. Ms Knowles was highly impressed at the students imaginative approach and how much student knew already. “All classes managed to deal with difficult concepts that even older students sometimes struggle with. I was most impressed!”.

Government and Politics

Bushey Meads Referendum!

The year 7s were introduced to the idea of politics within the UK by conducting a referendum, ultimately to decide whether they would prefer a shorter, four day week, running from Monday-Thursday (with additional home learning being delegated on a Thursday evening), or continue with the current five day school week. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in spite of the option to enjoy an extra lie in on a Friday morning, Bushey Meads students opted for the continuation of the five day school week! Evidently, having more free time over two days is more important for students in BMS than have three stressful days to keep on top of their studies!

The Year 7s continued to think of changes they would introduce to the education system if they had the choice, reflecting on their current experiences since joining Bushey Meads School. Students worked in groups to create their own ‘bill’ to present to the rest of the class, with some extremely controversial ideas such as banning home learning altogether and building a swimming pool, to more diligent ideas, such as introducing a lunchtime rota system for Year 7s to go first on at least one day of the week.

Needless to say the students performed immaculately, were committed to their cause, with many ‘shining’ in their public speaking and debating skills. Is it too soon to say we may have some future politicians on the horizon?

Every year the way that year 7s get completely involved in this event is outstanding. The faculty are already looking forward to teaching the budding lawyers, entrepreneurs and MPs in their later years at Bushey Meads School.

BUSHEY MEADS LINK TO HOPE SHOEBOX APPEAL Miss Budd – Head of Willow House

‘We have a mind to be kind’

Leading up to Christmas we will be collecting shoeboxes to send to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Many of these people are living in extreme poverty, with no electricity or running water. For these people any treats and presents are out of the question- when putting food on the table and keeping warm is a daily struggle- and Christmas is no different.

By sending a shoebox filled with small inexpensive gifts you can make a huge difference to somebody’s Christmas and it is very simple and easy to do; 1) Decide whether you want to fill a shoebox on your own, or join up with friends in your form.

2) Decide whether you want to make a shoebox for an elderly person or a family.

3) Find an old shoebox. (Not a boot box or a child’s shoebox. An adult shoebox is ideal.)

4) Buy small gifts to fill the box. Use the suggested items list to help you.

5) Wrap the entire box in wrapping paper.

6) Attach forms, listing all items enclosed and your details.

7) Tape one £2 coin or two £1 coins to the box.

8) Bring to school before Friday 10th November.

This is a chance to do something extremely kind for someone who has very little to look forward to this Christmas.

It is also a chance to get lots of rewards points for yourself, and your house. Students will get an R1 for each item in their box!

Forms will be distributed in form time next week. These will need to be filled in and attached to the box.

For now, here are a list of suitable items to get you started.

Family Gloves, scarfs, hats Wrapped sweets and chocolates Soap and flannel Toothbrush and toothpaste Colouring books, notebooks Pens, pencils, rubbers Small toys- skipping rope, cars, balls Teddies/ dolls/ soft toys Candles and matches DIY tools; screwdriver/ tape measure Small games; dominoes, playing cards Socks Hair accessories, brushes, combs, mirror Shampoo/ shower gel (300ml) Craft supplies, sewing kits Wind up torch Calculator

Elderly Gloves, scarfs, hats Wrapped sweets and chocolates Soap and flannel Toothbrush and toothpaste Pens and notepads Reading glasses, magnifying glass Small games; dominoes, playing cards Candles and matches Strong reusable shopping bag Candles and matches Socks Small games; dominoes, playing cards Wind up radio Nail clippers, small scissors Shampoo/ shower gel (300ml) Craft supplies, sewing kits Wind up torch

Please do not include: books, money, medicine, food, out of date/ used items, tea/ coffee

BUSHEY MEADS DOES COUNTDOWN Heads of House

The event kicked off with a Letters round where each house picked vowels and consonants until they had a total of nine letters. The signature tune and clock were on the big screen and thirty seconds was given for everyone to have a go at each of the seven sets of nine letters. One point is awarded per letter, as long as the word is spelled correctly and is not a proper noun, if the team found a nine lettered word then the points are doubled.

Unfortunately, this time no one scored higher than seven letters. There were some great answers and some questionable spellings which were sadly disallowed. After the Letters round the scores were as follows;

Round/House Ash Beech Elm Letters 1 4 5 Letters 2 4 4 Letters 3 4 5 Letters 4 3 3 Letters 5 6 6 Letters 6 5 5 Letters 7 5 4 Letters total 31 32

Maple 5 4 7 3 6 0 5 30

Oak 5 4 5 3 6 7 6 36

0 4 5 3 6 5 5 28

Sycamore Willow 5 0 6 4 5 7 0 3 6 6 0 6 5 5 27 31

The next round was the Numbers round in which each house picks up to six numbers (small or large) and use addition, subtraction, multiplication or division to turn the numbers into the random number in thirty seconds. Mr Donovan from the Maths department was on hand to check the calculations made by each team and to show the working out on the board. Points were awarded based on how close to the number they were, ten points for reaching the number exactly, seven points for being 1-5 away, five points for being 610 away. Teams scored no points for being more than 10 away, or if their calculations are flawed.

Mrs Cooper arrived to support the members of her Year 8 form who were participating for Maple and was only allowed to stay when she demonstrated that her contribution would be no help for the Numbers round. Mr Tocknell was so excited that he had worked out the maths for one of the rounds that he nearly had his team disqualified by trying to give them the answer.

Luckily Mr Donovan was able to confirm they had already got the correct answer before Mr Tocknell interfered. At the end of the numbers round the points for that round were as follows;

Round/House Ash Beech Elm Maple Oak Sycamore Willow Numbers 1 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 Numbers 2 7 10 0 10 10 7 10 Numbers 3 5 7 5 0 7 0 7 Numbers 4 5 7 0 5 7 7 0 Numbers 5 7 10 10 10 10 7 10 Numbers 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 Numbers 7 0 10 0 7 10 10 10 Numbers total 41 61 32 39 61 48 54

The last round was the Conundrum puzzle where nine letters are put up on the board and each team is given a buzzer and no time limit on working out what the nine letter word could be. We had various Conundrums ready to go depending on time and in the end we decided to use just the one so as to allow us to finish at 5pm. The letters were OSPCEDULE which Elm House buzzed in to reveal as decouples winning the ten points available for the Conundrums round. Which made me very proud.

The final points were added up and there was an overall winner.

House Points Place Beech 93 1st Oak 89 2nd Willow 85 3rd Maple 75 4th Sycamore 75 4th Ash 72 5th Elm 72 5th

As well as each participant receiving an R3 reward point, the top three houses also win extra points; 1st = 50 points, 2nd = 30 points and 3rd = 15 points. So a big well done to Beech, Oak and Willow respectively.

I think that everyone who attended will agree it was an excellent event with some serious moments and some seriously silly ones. Mr Tocknell did a brilliant job of hosting the event despite frequently not knowing the meaning of the longest words. Mr Lyley was an excellent dictionary corner finding the longest words and their meanings as well as checking spellings. Miss Budd and Miss Pattni made fantastic glamourous assistants putting the letters and numbers onto the board.

Mr Lester worked the clock and bell to great effect and Mr Donovan made sure our maths was up to scratch.

I ensured that the scores were totalled properly and took a note of participants for reward points.

The Heads of House are looking forward to a rematch next year with some pupils already vowing to brush up on their English and Maths skills in preparation.

Mrs Waring Head of Elm

As an addendum to Mrs Waring’s very kind words regarding the first successful House competition of the year, I believe I speak on behalf of everyone in saying a huge ‘thank you’ to her for organising the event. The time Mrs Waring committed to organising both the students and Heads of House was exemplary, with the event running effortlessly due to the planning she put in.

We will certainly miss you following your departure from the House team!

From all students and staff involved, thank you!

Mr Lyley Head of Sycamore

PE AND HEALTH FACULTY NEWS 2017-18 Mr Cartledge - Head of PE and Health

Boys Football News

Year 10 Boys Football v St Clement Danes (District League)

Date : Thurs 5th October Result : Won 3 - 0 Scorers : Keiran Barnard-White (2) and Billy Garvey Squad : Zachary Faulkner, Levi Haughton, James Kimber, Kai Jackman, Luke Fletcher-Gray, Nathan Angold, Jake Watt, Mohamed Djahnit, Owen O’Mahony, Billy Garvey, Pavit Sangasinha, Jamie Alexander, Avon Shrestha Commended performances : Keiran Barnard-White and James Kimber Comment : An excellent team performance by the Year 10 team. They provided more of a physical threat within the game showing their desire to want the ball. Keiran Barnard-White provided a constant threat to their defence while James Kimber organised the defence throughout the game.

Year 9 Boys Football v Bushey Academy (District League)

Date : Thurs 5th October Result : Win 5-3 Squad : Jessy Harry-Brown, Shayam Pattni, Archie Sykes, Taylor Bees, Reid Sims, Harris Plant, Ben Castello, Leo Enright, Jake Norris-Ataie, Jalen Sotomey, Luke Andrews, Zach Khan, Max Musula Commended performances : Jalen Sotomey Comment : A good performance from the team that left the opposition finding it difficult to stop the team from scoring. Able to create a number of chances, with more consistent finishing the game would have had a more definitive scoreline.

Year 9A Boys Football v Rickmansworth B (Friendly)

Date : Sat 7th October Result : Won 8-1 Scorers : Reid Sims 4, Jaden Sotomey 3, Jess Harry-Brown Squad : Jessy Harry-Brown, Shayam Pattni, Archie Sykes, Taylor Bees, Reid Sims, Harris Plant, Ben Castello, Leo Enright, Jake Norris-Ataie, Jalen Sotomey, Luke Andrews, Zach Khan, Max Musula, Pasan Kulasinghe Commended performances : Reid Sims Comment : A very dominant performance from the squad, that left the opposition finding it hard to create any good scoring chances. Despite a close first half due to poor finishing from BMS, the floodgates opened in the second half with 6 goals being scored.

Year 8A Boys Football v Rickmansworth B (Friendly)

Date : Sat 7th October Result : Won 8-4 Scorers : Max Machen 4, Nathaniel Amoako 3, og Squad : Max Machen, Ellis Anthony, Cian Lynch, Leo Feeley, Frankie Rowe, Sean Sabapathy, Tyler Pearce, Aarav Kothary, Matthew Keough, Nathaniel Amoako, Stan Booth Commended performances : Max Machen Comment : A feast of goals with some excellent finishing from Max and Nathaniel proving the difference between the 2 teams. A strong performance from the boys in the second half saw the team finish deserved winners to avenge last year’s defeat.

Year 8B Boys Football v Rickmansworth C (Friendly)

Date : Sat 7th October Result : Lost Scorers : Hammaad Khan Squad : Orhan Bayraktutan (GK), Mashrur Chowdhury, Tom Barnes, Hammaad Khan, Noah Faruque, Matthew Willett, Rayan Mohamud, Liam Fairhead, Hamza Said Dawood, Ed Boother Dominguez, Japesh Agrawal, Calum O’Shea, Agney Anoop-Kumar, Aarav Parbhoo, Dillen Thavakumar Comment : A very tough match for the Year 8B team who suffered a heavy defeat against strong opposition.

Year 7A Boys Football v Rickmansworth B (District League)

Date : Sat 7th October Result : Won 9 - 1 Scorers : Bailey Narroway (3), Finnley Spencer (2), Ronan Ismaili, Ayyan Chaudhry Shamas, Astor and Dominic Richards Squad : Christopher Gomez (GK), Louie Hill, Noah Haines, Gonzolo Gonzalez-Aller, Dominic Richards, Adam Benghrifa, Zohair Charrouf, Ronan Ismaili, Finnley Spencer, Ayyan Chaudhry Shamas, Bailey Narroway, Astor Zaghis Commended performances : Whole Team Comment : This was one of the best Year 7 performances this season. All players listened to the team instructions and played well. The constant rotation of substitutions meant the team was always fresh and this helped to provide the team with a number of goal scoring opportunities. Well done to bailey Narroway on his three goals but it was an excellent performance by the whole team.

Year 7B Boys Football v Rickmansworth C (Friendly)

Date : Sat 7th October Result : Drew 2-2 Scorers : David Tegzes, Jaden Johnson Squad : Kayan Said Dawood (GK), Jaden Johnson, Dylan Angold, Ilias Dahmani, David Tegzes, Daniel Coutts, George Baldry, Ari Ali, Evan Monahan, Djani Colakovic, Thomas Hurst, Qasim Kazmi, Maxim Sandu Nicholaescu, Karris Sivarajah Commended performances : Jaden Johnson Comment : This was a very good performance from all of the all the team. The team were able to dominate the game with lots of good passing but failed to make the most of the chances created. With Rickmansworth being more clinical in front of goal, the boys were 2-1 down for most of the game. Jaden Johnson then scored a long range strike in the last kick of the game.

Year 7A Boys Football v Croxley Danes (District League)

Date : Mon 9th October Result : Won 2-1 Scorers : Bailey Narroway (2) Squad : Christopher Gomez (GK), Louie Hill, Noah Haines, Gonzalo Gonzalez-Aller, Dominic Richards, Adam Benghrifa, Zohair Charrouf, Ronan Ismaili, Finnley Spencer, Ayyan Chaudhry Shamas, Bailey Narroway, Astor Zaghis Commended performances : Adam Benghrifa and Gonzalo-Gonzalez-Aller Comment : A game of two halves. In the first half Croxley Danes were the better team and deserved their lead going into halftime. In the second half it was a completely different Bushey Meads team with boys showing more desire to want the ball and making better decisions with their passing.

Year 9A Boys Football v Westfield (District League)

Date : Tues 10th October Result : Lost 5 - 3 Squad : Jessy Harry-Brown, Shayam Pattni, Archie Sykes, Taylor Bees, Reid Sims, Harris Plant, Ben Castello, Leo Enright, Irvine Tannor, Jake Norris-Ataie, Jalen Sotomey, Luke Andrews, Zach Khan, Max Musula Comment : A very disappointing performance from the squad as a whole. Allowing soft goals to be conceded and not working as a team to overcome what was a much weaker team.

Year 11A Boys Football v St Clement Danes (District League)

Date : Weds 11th October Result : Lost 3-0 Scorers : Squad : Connor Cameron, Anas Djahnit, Josh Williams, Ethan Fiordelisi, Jack Leech, Aidan Angold, Thanujan Tharmakulasingam, Joel Smith, Conner Atkinson, Finlay Horastead, Joe Manning, Italia David-Mcleod Commended performances : Aidan Angold Comment : Despite another battling performance the boys went down to another defeat against a strong St Clement Danes team. The boys again performed better in the first half but could not find a breakthrough before conceding late goals.

Girls Netball

Year 8 - DMC Date: 5/10/17 Opposition: St.Margarets Result: Lost 13-4 Team: E Homes, I Henry, G De-Venny, CJ Lea, M Aravindan, E Walsh, S Zambarloukas, R Hall, E Andrews Comment: This was a well fought match with progression after each quarter. In the second half , Bushey Meads began to link their passes better to gain possession.

Player of the Match : Elly Andrews for tight marking on court.

Year 9 - DMC Date: 5/10/17 Opposition: St.Margarets Result: Won 20-12 Team: S Narroway, E Rowe, J Benveniste, A Hutchison, B Patel, C Wright, A Elman, M Hayes Comment: This was another great performance by all the year 9 players. The team is demonstrating great passing down court , exceptional shooting and strong defending. A special mention to Maisie who did a great job at centre, showing stamina and determination.

Player of the Match : S Narroway for fantastic shooting and positional play.

Senior- SJC Date: 9/10/17 Opposition: Queens Result: Lost 9-10 Team: C.Baldry, J.Pickles, T.Barnard-White, V.Woolmer, R.Langhi, M.Sharif, E.Bonyadi, V.Pratt, R.Nirmalan, T.Bingham-Thaker Comment: A lovely evening of netball was spent with the year 12/13 team in a break from their studies, demonstrating the importance of exercise for a healthy body and mind. In a fast paced match the lead see-sawed back and forth, with Queens taking a last minute lead which sadly Bushey were unable to reduce.

Player of the Match : Myah Sharif for a great performance as centre.

Year 11- SJC Date: 11/10/17 Opposition: RMS b Result: Lost 10-20 Team: A.Trivedi, R.Aravindan, F.Kelly, M.Shah, M.Bonyadi, A.DeAlwis, A.Parker Comment: Against talented opposition Bushey Meads worked really hard to ‘stay in the game’. After a slow start BMS regrouped in the second half to reduce the goal difference. It was a good performance from all members of the team.

Player of the Match : Angel De Alwis, voted for by the opposition.

SPORTS CLUBS PROVIDED BY EXTERNAL COACHES Athletics Coaching - Running club Every Tuesday with Watford Harriers in the gym.

ALL Welcome

Arsenal Ladies continue their coaching with Bushey Meads students every Wednesday from 3.15 - 4.15 on the field.

ALL girls Welcome.

Herts Warriors Basketball begins Friday 29th September ALL welcome meet in the school hall suitably attired.

Finish 4.20.

For full details of the clubs, fixtures and practices students and parents need to check on the Bushey Meads School website in the PE and Health Faculty icon where you will find a full list of the extra-curricular activities. This is updated on a weekly basis to show the fixtures and practices for each week. In addition students can check the notice boards in the boys and girls changing rooms. The PE and Health Faculty also have their own Twitter account @BMSPEandHealth which includes regular updates on fixtures, match reports and details of forthcoming events.

For any parental enquiries about any aspects of PE contact the Head of PE and Health Faculty Ashley Cartledge cartledgea@busheymeads.org.uk For any specific issues related to Girls PE and girls fixtures contact Sarah Cooper coopers@busheymeads.org.uk.

VACANCIES AT BUSHEY MEADS SCHOOL We are currently advertising for the following positions: SENCO (BSJT) Physics Teacher Dance Teacher Lead Practitioner of Physics Maths Teacher Geography Teacher Economics Teacher D&T Technician Teaching Assistant

For more information please visit: http://www.busheymeads.org.uk/vacancies/