Bushey Meads News
Issue 130
15 December 2017
FAREWELL TO THE OLD… RING IN THE NEW(S) Mr Malik – Pastoral Support and Communications Manager This may not feel like a historic edition, but it is. For those of you who have sat by winter fires comforted by the Bushey Meads News, turning the pages and connecting with Bushey Meads and all it does…a change is coming into your lives. As of 5th January 2018 we are launching our exciting new online Bushey Meads News website. This will enable us to communicate with you in a dynamic and vibrant way. You will continue to receive an email giving you a sneak peak into the latest news to keep up to date with all that is happening at Bushey Meads. It has been an extremely successful term at Bushey Meads, with so many successful events, including the More Able Evening, Base Concert, House Countdown event, drama and dance shows, the list goes on! However we are excited by what we have in store for 2018! On behalf of everyone at Bushey Meads we would like to wish you a wonderful festive break and a Happy New Year!
Dates for the diary
Weds 20th December Term Ends at 12:20pm Weds 3rd January Terms Starts at 11am Thurs 11th January Drama Trip to Hound of the Baskervilles th Tues 16 January Stoke Mandeville Celebration 6pm th Weds 17 January House Arts Event
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK
KEY STAGE 3 Y STAGE 3
Nieka (7 Willow)
This week’s KS3 student of the week has been nominated ny Mr Back and Mrs Wright. Nieka has produced over 30 book reviews during her Literacy lesson in the LRC and has a very positive and hard working attitude to learning since joining Bushey Meads back in September. Well done Nieka and keep on with your fantastic story writing.
KEY STAGE 4
Georgia (11 Oak) This week’s KS4 student of the week is Georgia - 11 Oak for consistently being in the top 10 for achievement points in Year 11. Georgia has a hard working attitude and always gives her best. Keep up the excellent work we are very proud of you!
HOUSE CUP UPDATE Mrs Ash – Deputy Headteacher
ELM ASH BEECH SYCAMORE OAK MAPLE WILLOW
9000 8000 7000 6000
8497 8211 8205 7915 7692 7299 7286
5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 ASH
BEECH
ELM
MAPLE
OAK
SYCAMORE WILLOW
At the end of term 1 ELM House have maintained their strong lead. What will the New Year bring?
YEAR 7 CHRISTMAS PARTY Mr Symeou – Head of Oak House On Thursday evening, our year 7’s enjoyed their first ever Christmas celebration event at the school. The event was hugely popular with over 100 students in attendance. The event hosted by the Heads of Houses allowed students to socialise, represent their houses in various party games and enjoy an epic dance off at the end. The student’s arrived and left with big smiles on their faces as the event proved to be very popular. The evening reflected how much our year 7 students are enjoying life at Bushey Meads and it was a great way to end their first term at the school.
The image above shows the students forming a dance area . It was particularly pleasing to see how confident they were when entering the middle. There was a real friendly atmosphere and all students were encouraged to get involved. Everybody from the house team is now looking forward to the next event.
LAUNCH OF THE NEW BMS SCHOOL IMPORVEMENT PLAN 2017 – 2020 Mr Turner – Executive Principal It was two weeks ago now that our Governors hosted a champagne (non-alcoholic!) launch of our new School Improvement (SIP) Plan 2017 -2020. It was a real ‘moment in time’ to really mark the end of the previous three years and all the hard work of every single member of staff that has brought about so much significant positive change to our vibrant school community.
A number of key students, who were involved in the initial ideas generating INSET session back in September, were also invited to join the staff and governors for the occasion. Pictured here they are talking to the different stakeholders present in our newly re-vamped School Restaurant area where the welcome drinks and delicious canapés were served all provided by our excellent new caterers Caterlink and Head Chef Robin.
The new SIP has been crafted over the last two months and I would like to pay tribute to the hard work of all our Senior Leadership Team in making a clear plan which will undoubtedly take our school to greatness over the next 3 years. It wasn’t all just celebrating – staff, students and governors also completed some key exercises focussed on taking the plan and using it as a framework to embed ideas at faculty and department level. This will now be something that is worked on in teams across the school over the next few months, creating Faculty Improvement Plans or ‘FIPs’ as a result.
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. 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!
Break and Lunchtimes – students are reminded that the fields are now out of bounds due to the
weather conditions making the field very muddy. Students seen on the fields will be sanctioned in accordance with the behaviour policy. Toilets – please be aware that toilets will be closed for students during lesson times. Student are encouraged to plan toilet breaks before form time, at break and lunch or afterschool. Exceptions will be made for students with medical reasons.
THEME OF THE WEEK – SUCCESS Mr Searle – Assistant Headteacher The theme of the week has been 'Success' and therefore the school assemblies and registration time activities have followed suit. All of the staff at BMS passionately care about the success of our students - both academically and beyond the classroom - and therefore the theme was very apt. The key messages outlined in the assembly included common characteristics of successful people, the fact that the journey to success contains many obstacles along the way and the need for a positive mindset and strong work ethic. The registration time activity was tied in with the well known Christmas song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. In groups, students had to decide on twelve physical acts that they could carry out on a regular basis that would aid their journey to success. They were then encouraged to make a note of these and keep them in a safe place so that they could refer to them at regular intervals.
THE BMS DRIVE TO INCREASE SCIENCE CAPITAL Mr Turner – Executive Principal
At a recent Staff Meeting it was excellent to hear from our enthusiastic Deputy Head of Science Jey Atchuthan about our drive as a school to increase Science Capital in our students. We all have a part to play – students, staff and parents and carers to increase the science capital of all our students. Science capital itself is a measure of a person’s engagement or relationship with science; how much you value it and whether you feel it is ‘for you’ and whether it is connected to your life. It highlights the significance of what you know about science, how you think about it, what science related activities you do and your attitude and feelings about Science Technology Engineering and Maths or STEM. The more of these STEM related influences and experiences that you gather and connect with throughout your life, the more likely you are to feel at home with science and see it as something that is useful and important, both in your life and for society. Everyone’s science capital is different. The most important thing is that it is not fixed, it can change across a lifetime and the more that you bump into positive science experiences, the more potential there is over time, to impact on and grow your science capital. Let’s all support our hard working science staff at BMS and do all we can to increase our children’s engagement with STEM and increase their Science Capital.
CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY AT BUSHEY MEADS Mrs Ash – Deputy Headteacher On Friday 15th December a number of students and staff participated in the Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children. There were a wide variety of jumpers to admire across the school with a fantastic sum of money for us to donate to a worthy cause. Here are just a few of the jumpers ....
NATIONAL LEADER OF EDUCATION VISITS BMS Mr Turner – Executive Principal On Wednesday 6th December outstanding Headteacher and National Leader in Education John Cornally visited Bushey Meads School. He is the Headteacher of an outstanding school in Manchester, Blessed Thomas Holford School and he also oversees another large secondary school in the area. He really enjoyed his visit to our school and spoke to many staff and students across all curriculum areas, making many notes about all the best practice he saw. He was particularly interested in our culture and ethos and the way that we encourage students to be leaders across the school community and the impact this is having in raising standards and achievement. Speaking to Sixth Form student Rima about her work in supporting Year 11 students through the stressful examination period, along with the rest of her exam mentoring group and also Leon who runs the School Debating Club and also helps out in Economics lessons (sometimes even taking part of the lesson to aid the teacher) were some of his highlights of the day. He was also particularly impressed with the Year 11 and Sixth Form students in the Maths Faculty who support, mentor and tutor their younger peers as they prepare for their GCSE examinations and complete those all important past papers in their weekly sessions.
He was hugely impacted by the significant developments to the buildings and general infrastructure at Bushey Meads - clearly indicating that the financial investment in our school far exceeds many schools across the country and something we should be extremely grateful for in these challenging times. He thought the Sixth Form Centre and Music Block in particular were extremely impressive. His comment in our visitor’s book said it all…..
“Many thanks to all the staff and pupils I have met today. An amazing visit and so impressed with your enthusiasm for learning. Thank you.” Last week he emailed me this message: Dear Mr Turner Will you please pass on my thanks to your staff and pupils for making my visit so enjoyable today. What you are all doing is absolutely inspiring – a great atmosphere, wonderful pupils and such friendly and committed staff. And leadership across the school is the reason for all the above. I am looking forward to working with you on this programme. I emailed Sir John Rowling and Will Smith (The Directors of Partners in Excellence) tonight to say what a great school you are all creating. Kind Regards, John Cornally MBE Executive Headteacher National Leader of Education Moving forward, we are hoping to continue the links between Bushey Meads and Blessed Thomas Holford School and perhaps pilot a national project focussing on the power of students in raising achievement.
Watch this space!
LITTLE REDDINGS VISIT TO BUSHEY MEADS Alexandra Ryan – Year 13 I am in Year 13, completing the final year of the Level 3 Food Science and Nutrition course with Mrs Hanbury as my teacher. When I leave school I want to go to university, I am hoping to go to University of Hertfordshire and complete the primary education course which lasts three years and then become a primary school teacher. Over the last couple of weeks we have invited year 4 students from Little Reddings to come down to Bushey Meads to make Roman honey cakes. I was so pleased I was able to help out as it gave me a taste of what will be to come at university and further on in my life. The year 4’s were excited to do something different and intrigued to make the Roman cakes. When they saw the recipe they became very inquisitive. When everyone was ready they began reading the recipe as one big group to ensure they knew fully what they were supposed to do. They were all capable of reading the recipe in depth as well as understanding all of the terminology embedded in the recipe. Overall, they could follow the recipe, they were very independent and enjoyed figuring out any problems on their own. As a group, they didn’t need much help at all, they needed help getting the dough into the perfect texture and rolling the dough into even balls. Once the cakes came out of the oven they smelt delicious! The children in Year 4 seemed to really enjoy the experience of coming to Bushey Meads School and do something different. They were very enthusiastic about what they are making as they came in open minded and threw themselves into making the Roman honey cakes.
CHRISTMAS SCIENCE CELEBRATION ASSEMBLY Mr Fisher – Senior Assistant Headteacher
On Thursday, a special 1hr assembly for all year 11 students focused on the importance of science GCSEs, the terrific progress made by Year 11 students already this year and the new initiatives to follow. Senior Assistant Headteacher, Mr Fisher, explained that the best way to thoroughly learn science content is through repeated revision; this year's strategy of Year 11 science enrichment days, the additional exam and the 'walking talking mock', Thursday after-school sessions, and the ideas and initiatives still to come are all about keeping up the motivation to revise in different ways. Head of Science, Mr O'Brien, explained the special science practice exams to follow after Christmas. These exams have been organised by the PiXL group of 2000 high performing and ambitious schools. Data from these exams will feed into this national system and produce personalised, targeted resources for each individual student to boost their progress. To precede these exams Mr O'Brien also launched an exiting new independent learning initiative, known as PiXL Independence. When students spend a little time, most days over the break, on this new, exciting, online resource, they will be able to advance their understanding and examination preparedness for the exams after Christmas and ultimately for the crucial summer GCSEs. To support students with this independent revision we provided each student with a new, attractively presented GCSE science revision guide. These new guides, together with instructions for PiXL Independence and a multiple choice answer sheet to accompany it were given out in the science lesson following the assembly. During the assembly Mr O'Brien showed the fun way to learning science with a quiz that grabbed the enthusiasm of the whole year-group and which ended with a choice of prizes.
Deputy Head of Science, Ms Atchuthan, named all the students with the best attendance at this term's Thursday after-school revision sessions and called those students to the front to receive prizes to share at break with their fellow students. Ms Atchuthan also announced the new format to the Thursday sessions, with the option of a short topic lecture and then focused questions or independent past paper study - whichever best suits each student.
Year 11 science students have been very focused during this critical year; with their continued work ethic in lessons and independent learning in their own time we know we will be reaping the best ever results in the summer.
CHRISTMAS LUNCH AT BMS Mrs Ash – Deputy Headteacher Our annual Christmas Lunch was held on Thursday 14th December with a superb meal on offer from our caterers Caterlink. With Christmas Carols playing and Christmas Crackers to enjoy alongside the meal a truly festive atmosphere was created and enjoyed. Here are some pictures of the students (and staff) enjoying the time...
SENIOR SCHOOL LEADER FROM LUTTERWORTH COLLEGE IN LECEISTERSHIRE VISITS BMS Mr Turner – Executive Principal As a school we are constantly getting requests from senior school leaders from across the country to visit BMS and see for themselves the good work we are doing. It is not always possible to accommodate every request but last week Assistant Headteacher Viv Fuller from Lutterworth College in Leicestershire paid us a had a tour of the school and talked to key staff and students, meeting with some of our key leaders including Head Girl Isabella and Deputy Headteacher Mrs Ash.
She was particularly interested in our new mantra ‘Our School Has a Mind to be Kind’ and some of the key assemblies, tutor time and enrichment day activities that have supported us in strengthening further our kind, inclusive, caring, family ethos and culture. Her comment in our visitor’s book read…..
Thanks so much for a really enjoyable visit to your lovely school. Very informative and useful!
COME DINE WITH ME Mrs Wright – Assistant Headteacher Thank you to all the parents and carers that attended the year 7 ‘Come Dine With Me’ event on Tuesday lunchtime. It is the first time we have scheduled this to coincide with a staff development afternoon and the feedback suggests it worked well. Parents were given a tour of all the year 7 classes by our student buddies, culminating in a family lunch together in the restaurant area. The atmosphere was relaxed and sociable. We hope that the parents enjoyed the menu. Many commented that school dinners have come a long way since they were at school! The chef and his team have done a great job here!
POSITIVE FEEDBACK AND THANKS…. Mr Turner – Executive Principal After quite a difficult week weather-wise for most Headteachers in the country it has been great to get so many messages of support from various stakeholders. Here is just one such example that came in by email….
Dear Sir & Staff at Bushey Meads School,
I’m not sure if you will get this message, but I really wanted to say BIG THANK YOU to all the staff for keeping us regularly updated for information of school attendance during this adverse weather and making it safe for the children to attend. We really appreciated the level of communication, by text, email website etc. Fortunately we live nearby so our daughter able to come to school walking.
Thanks once again Kind regards,
Year 10 Parents
CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION
Mrs Ash – Deputy Headteacher In a large school it is important to know who to contact if you would like to raise a concern or provide us with information. If you have a concern you would like to share with the school regarding your son or daughter your first point of contact needs to be the subject teacher or the form tutor. They can be contacted via the school email: reception@busheymeads.org.uk, marking it for their attention, or by telephone: 020 8950 3000. EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL Mr Turner DEPUTY HEADTEACHER Mrs Ash (Yr’s 11, 12 & 13) SENIOR ASSISTANT HEADTEACHER Mr Fisher ASSISTANT HEADTEACHERS Mrs Wright (Yrs 7 & 8) Mr Searle (Yrs 9 & 10) HEAD OF FACULTY PASTORAL TEAM Mr Malik (Yrs 7 – 11) Mr O’Kelly (Yrs 12 & 13) HEAD OF DEPARTMENT FORM TUTOR SUBJECT TEACHER
PE AND HEALTH FACULTY NEWS 2017-18 Mr Cartledge - Head of PE and Health
INTER HOUSE FOOTBALL This week has seen a busy week of Inter House Football with competition taking place for Years 8,9 and 10. As the ever the competitions were played in great spirit with lots of students enjoying the challenge of some competitive indoor football.
Year 8 Winners : ELM House : 8 points
2nd OAK - 6 points 3rd SYCAMORE 5 points 4th ASH/WILLOW 4 points 5th MAPLE/BEECH 2 points Elm Squad : Ellis Anthony, Aarav Kothary, Bo Kabucho, Matt Willett, Noah Faruque, Cian Lynch Many thanks to the Year 11 Sports Leaders (James Dodwell and Joel Smith) who refereed all the matches.
Year 9 Winners : BEECH House : 12 points 2nd MAPLE - 7 points 3rd SYCAMORE/WILLOW 6 points 4th ASH 4 points 5th ELM 1 point Beech Squad : Akshayan Velautham, Reid Sims, Pasan Kulasinghe, Ebrihim Sanneh, Archie Sykes, Ben Castello, Aaron Doody Many thanks to Finlay Horastead who helped referee the tournament.
Year 10 Winners : OAK House : 13 points 2nd ASH/BEECH - 10 points 3rd WILLOW 7 points 4th= SYCAMORE, ELM and MAPLE 4 points Oak Squad : James Kimber, Zaki Imansoura, Kai Jackman, Ben Haley
Year 8 Boys DISTRICT LEAGUE Division 1 Champions Following on from the success of the Year 7 Boys team in winning the District Division 1, the Year 8 Boys were also delighted to hear that they had also won the League title for the year. Having finished narrow runners-up last year the boys won 6 out 7 games to clinch the title by 2 points. Well done to the whole squad who have worked really hard and continued to develop a passing style of football. Squad : Max Machen, Ellis Anthony, Cian Lynch, Leo Feeley, Bo Kabucho , Sean Sabapathy, Tyler Pearce, Aarav Kothary, Matthew Keough, Tom Barnes, Nathaniel Amoako, Mashrur Chaudhury, Taylor Bates, Stan Booth, Frankie Rowe
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.
PE Extra-Curricular information You may have noticed that the school website has changed. The PE extra-curricular club and practice information has also changed. To find information about weekly sports events you need to : 1) Click on the menu 2) Click on calendar 3) Click on PE Weekly extra-curricular timetable A reminder the PE and Health Faculty also have their own Twitter account which includes regular updates on fixtures, match reports and details of forthcoming events 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.
ARSENAL LADIES TICKETS As part of our ongoing link with Arsenal ladies we have been allocated 100 tickets for students and staff to use over the course of the season to watch Arsenal Ladies play their home matches at Borehamwood. If any students and their families would like to access tickets for any of the matches (see dates below) they will need to contact Mrs.Cooper in PE (coopers@busheymeads.org.uk) at least a week in advance to arrange ticket collection.
Email Mrs Cooper a week in advance if you would like free tickets to watch Arsenal ladies play: coopers@busheymeads.org.uk