Bushey Meads News - 26 February 2016

Bushey Meads News

Issue 60

26th February 2016

Oliver!

Mr Turner – Executive Principal

We were very pleased to receive this email of congratulations from the parents of one of our performers in the recent school production of Oliver and thought it would be good to share it with the BMS community: Dear Mr Turner, Please pass on our congratulations to all the performers of this year’s production of Oliver. They gave an amazing performance and should all be really proud of themselves, Bushey Meads really has some great talent.

Please pass on our appreciation to all the staff involved for also giving up their time especially Miss Brown who has put so much work into The Band. Our son who is in Year 8 played the trumpet in the band and has told us what a great experience it has been as he has never played in a band before and he is sad it is now over, although he is looking forward to a huge lie in on Saturday!!!

Looking forward to next year’s production already!

Yours sincerely, (Parents of student)

27th February Y7/11 Stoke Mandeville Sports Camp 28th February Antiques Fair 29th February – 4th March Year 10 Work Experience week 2nd March F1 schools event - Year 7, 8, 9 Wednesday 9th March Marking and moderation – school finishes at 1.20pm for students 14th – 18th March Fitness week 15th March Raising achievement evening 6.30-7.30

16th March UCAS convention Year 12 Year 9 Options Evening 17th March French conference – Year 9 and 10

KEY STAGE 3 KEY STAGE 4

KEY STAGE 5

This week’s Key Stage 3 student of the week is Jessica in 8Beech. Jessica has the most achievement points in the whole of KS3! With nearly 200 reward points and 0 consequence points. Jessica is a great example to the rest of Bushey Meads School. Keep up the good work and no doubt you will reach your potential.

This week's Student of the Week has been nominated by the Senior Pastoral Manager, Miss Dhanecha. Ella in Year 10 Sycamore has been nominated because of the fantastic work she has put into organising her revision timetables well in advance of the exams in May. Ella has made incredible efforts since starting Year 10 to ensure her success at Key Stage 4. Very well done Ella!

Keep up the great work!

Dan 12Sycamore Our KS5 student of the week is Dan who is in year 12. He has been given the award for his superb contribution to the drama department with his leadership of the technical theatre group. Dan is currently studying graphic design, ICT, media studies and photography.

Danielle Bowe - Lead Practitioner for English and Whole school Literacy Language is empowering This week at Bushey Meads we are thinking about the word transparent and how it can describe the ability to see through an object and the concept of secrecy.

Y7 Student Receptionists of the Term Spring 2016 Year 7 student receptionists have continued with their amazing work during the first half of this term and have all been so fantastic that we really do not feel we can choose just one student as our receptionist of the term.

For this reason, this half term we are awarding the following students with 10 achievement points and a certificate of acknowledgement. These students have all been a pleasure to work with and they most certainly went the extra mile during their time on reception and we both feel thoroughly deserve a special mention:     

Lia Flanagan 7Maple Eric Hinkley 7Maple Virat Sangasinha 7Maple Nehal Pabari 7Oak Brandon Trickett 7Oak Taylor Bees 7Sycamore

Thank you all so much and well done. Thank you also to all Y7 students who have been student receptionists this term, we really would be lost without you.

Mrs Nealon and Mrs Biggerstaff

Debating Society: Wednesday 10th February 2016

by Elodie Mayo (year 13) To coincide with the well-known occasion on Sunday 14th February, the last debate before half term focused on differing standpoints towards Valentine’s Day. The event was heralded sublime by Huda Farooqi (8_) and Zarmina Galmne (10W) who argued that it reinforces the appreciation of, as well as amending of, relationships. It is a day where love is celebrated and dates back to ancient times long before the legend of St Valentine.

Conversely, this ‘celebration’ was disregarded as ridiculous by Elodie Mayo (13E) and Cyntheiah Siva (12A), who stressed that the event has become not only a manipulative business ploy encouraging the large sales of merchandise but also a pressure exerted by social media through its public interface. Indeed a statistic of an average couple’s spending was approximately £100 and it has been found that the statistic for suicide rates increase on that day.

The audience was delighted and fired numerous questions to both pairs of speakers. Do we oppose it on the grounds of personal jealousies? Should we not celebrate close relationships throughout the year and not just on a particular date? It was finally held that Valentine’s Day is ridiculous. So, many apologies to those who busily wrote their Valentine cards!

There will be more exhilarating debates fortnightly on Wednesdays in H2 as per usual. New members are always accepted.

Stakeholder Surveys and Questionnaires At Bushey Meads School we listen carefully to all members of the school community and work together to improve the school. Every year we conduct a number of surveys involving all of our key stakeholders (students, staff, parents and governors) and feed the information obtained into our ongoing school improvement planning.

All parents are being encouraged to use the online Parent View Questionnaire. If you haven’t yet completed this questionnaire, please do click on the link below to access it and enter your opinions of our school.

https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/login?destination=give-your-views

By Mr Turner, Executive Principal

It was real delight to see so many hard working Year 11 and Sixth Form students attend the many and varied focussed revision and coursework catch-up sessions arranged during the recent half term holiday.

The certainly sessions enabled students to put in those few extra hours that will undoubtedly make the key difference between those all-important grade boundaries and help them secure their true potential in the forthcoming examinations.

I would like to thank all the hard working staff who made the sessions possible and are continuing to support all the students in their studies at this crucial time.

Year 9 STEM Enrichment Day Mr Chalkley – Head of D&T faculty

The enduring question "Is there life on Mars?" gave year 9 students something to think about as they took on the challenge of designing and making a Mars Rover vehicle.

Working in house teams, they researched, sketched, prototyped and tested their vehicles to carry valuable Mars eggs down a testing track containing hidden obstacles.

Over the day, about 50 teams took on the challenge and more than half managed to build a fully working vehicle that completed a successful test run.

ECDL NEWS (European Computer Driving Licence - GCSE level course) Mr Fisher – Assistant Headteacher Over the half term break a number of year 11 students came in on Monday, and others came in on the INSET day too, to complete their ECDL course. The picture shows Kerrie, who already completed to an A* grade, coming along as an ECDL ambassador for the day to support her colleagues.

As a result we have 33 more students now enrolled and started than in my report from two weeks ago, and 21 more top grades achieved.

We are now up to:  104 year 11 students enrolled  69 students fully completed: o 59 to an A* grade o 9 to an A grade o 1 to a B grade  33 students on the way to completion, also to high grades.

Watch this space as more students go the extra mile and aspire to achieve with ECDL

SPORTS NEWS External Extra-Curricular clubs at Bushey Meads week beginning 1st March Trampolining Sessions with High Springers Trampoline club Monday’s in the gym - check the extranet and noticeboards for details or contact Charlotte:highspringers@outlook.com

Zumba - Tuesday’s in the gym 3.15 - 4.15, all welcome Arsenal Ladies Football Coaching - Tuesday’s after school, all welcome Athletics with Watford Harriers Athletics club is on Tuesday’s Bring kit and meet in the sportshall at 3.05 Sessions will continue throughout the Summer term on Tuesday evenings.

Gymnastics Club - Wednesday and Thursday after school Boxercise - Thursday’s after school, all welcome

Hertfordshire Warriors Basketball Coaching with Hertfordshire warriors takes place on Fridays.

Open to ALL students from 3.05 - 4.30 Students MUST be in kit

High Achiever Awards – first half of Spring Term 2016 As many of you are aware last year the school introduced a special new award for students called a High Achiever Award.

Throughout the year, every half term, each faculty is asked to nominate one student from each year group to receive a High Achiever Award based on the student’s work, effort, attitude and achievements made throughout the previous half term.

Each student who receives a High Achiever Award will have their name published in the weekly newsletter, and a copy of their certificate displayed on High Achiever noticeboards which are placed in prominent places around the school site. They will also will receive a letter of recognition from the school and their certificate is posted home to their parents.

I am delighted that the following students all received a High Achiever Award for their work during the first half of the spring term. We congratulate them all for their recent success.

COMPUTING AND FUTURE SKILLS Franchesca Boselli Elaine Chiu Anas Djahnit Oswald Fernandes Harry Eagell Emily Wray Keshava Krishna-Das

7B 8B 9S 10E 11S 12W 13M

Excellent computer control work Developing a great understanding of databases Excellent achievement programming using Python Creating a wonderful Web Banner for his controlled assessment Being the first Student in BMS to complete the ECDL course Effort, commitment and achievement in ICT Excellent Computer Science PPE result

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY Hannah Barry Lorel Barchieri George Hinkley Keeley Geraghty Somer-Lily Blakey Jade Booth Olamide Oshisanya

7E 8O 9M 10M 11W 12A 13B

Excellent attitude and determination to produce high quality work Outstanding quality of work and a growth mindset Superb problem solving skills and a great helper of others Fantastic skill development and high quality product manufacture Presenting her food to excellent standard & producing high quality written report Being a talented designer producing fantastic sketches for her designs Dedication to producing an innovative product & supporting younger students

7S 8B 9E 10E 11S 12B 13M

a fantastic attitude to learning, often completing extension tasks voluntarily Submitting work early and for having an outstanding neat exercise book Working hard in every lesson Being a focused and enthusiastic student For insightful contributions in class and a consistently high attitude to learning Good progress and effort; using independent study to develop learning Mature, focused and reliable in all aspects of his study

7M 8E 9O 10B 11B 12A 13M

Fantastic attitude and effort in History Superb effort and wonderful work in R.E. Excellent participation and hard work in Geography Superb effort in History and outstanding organisation skills in leading ‘So Last Era’ team Excellent attitude and commitment in GCSE R.S. Excellent attitude and improved effort in AS Geography Continued dedication and hard work in A level History

7M 8W 9E 10W 11M

Continual high motivation and fantastic attitude Being fantastic in the school production and improved effort in English Excellent attitude (fun) in afterschool SEN PE Being, without a doubt, one of the hardest working charity fundraisers Persistent hard work and displaying a positive attitude

ENGLISH Bobbi-Rose Brindley Elaine Chiu Jessica Storey Megan Marks Neil Shah Molly Thomas-Irving James Kumru

HUMANITIES Zeal Rathod Zuzanna Pawlaczyk Marie Hofer Tillyer Victoria Woolmer Tungvidya Samaji Giuseppe Lourenco Olivia Waites

LEARNING SUPPORT Francesca Martin Asher Reuben Sarthak Kanel Max Sheehan Archie Arthur

MATHS Tejas Aiyar Lakshaa Srishankar Rafi Izhar Karan Mavji Elin Bonyadi Noah Malancinas Joseph Marks

7E 8S 9E 10E 11S 12W 13A

Scoring an astonishing 90% in his Half Term 2 Test Scoring an astonishing 93% in her Half Term 2 Test Scoring an astonishing 95% in his Half Term 2 Test Scoring an outstanding 100% in his Half Term 2 Test Achieving an A* (94%), which was the highest PPE result in her year group Scoring an outstanding 100% in his AS Maths PPE Achieving an outstanding A* result in his A2 PPEs

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Amani Wahabdeen Charlotte Barnett Gita Dyjecinska Luca Castello Thimeshi Kulasinghe Deborah Gosden Shriya Pandya

7O 8E 9S 10B 11B 12E 13W

Constantly striving to succeed Working independently and striving to do her best Constant effort and positive attitude For trying until he succeeds Constantly striving for improvements For taking a part of the lesson and for always trying to improve Excellent commitment to written work

7A 8B 9M 10B 11E 12E

Excellent attitude in all aspects of PE Excellent attitude in all aspects of PE Extra attitude and effort in all aspects of curricular and extra-curricular PE Attending extra-curricular clubs and representing the school for the first time Making an excellent start to the GCSE PE revision programme Continuing hard work and attainment on AS PE course

PE AND HEALTH Luke Robinson Jessica Enevoldson Megan Sjollema Maya Parmar Ben Thomas Tommy O'Sullivan

PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS Millie Ashford Jessica Enevoldson Aidan Angold Devan Parmar Georgie Collings Laura McKenzie Matt Hale

7B 8B 9O 10S 11O 12O 13S

For always trying her best and thinking outside the box in Art Excellent sketchbook and class work in art Most improved attitude to learning in dance Excellent written work and participation in Oliver Excellent and committed performance in Oliver For consistent work rate and always pushing the boundaries in AS level fine art Hard work and commitment to A2 level photography

SCIENCE Csenge Szabo 7A Levi Haughton 8A Louise Dwyer 9M Sajeethan Kanesamoorthy 10W Jadd Jalkhi 11M Giuseppe Lourenco 12A Sophia Colville 13M

Consistent hard work and enthusiasm in science Positive attitude and engagement in lessons Outstanding effort, focus and excellent engagement in activities Outstanding achievement and focus in science Hugely improved levels of focus and engagement in science Full participation and engagement in AS Biology Persistence at Hardy-Weinberg calculations until she could do them!

SOCIAL SCIENCES Dena Nunes Thimeshi Kulasinghe Molly Thomas-Irving Andra Dumitrache

10M 11B 12B 13S

Her assistance with another student and her continued patience in Childcare Demonstrating hard work and resilience in order to exceed her Psychology target Work ethic and achievement in Business Studies Continued effort and achievement in her Law PPE

7O 8M 9O 10S 11S 12S 13E

Excellent attitude to learning across all STEM subjects Excellent attitude to learning across all STEM subjects Excellent attitude to learning across all STEM subjects Excellent attitude to learning across all STEM subjects Achieving an excellent EDCL result Excellent attitude to learning in Science and Computing Applying consistently high effort in Physics and Chemistry

STEM Zara Naghibi Kara McMahon Marie Hofer Tillyer Ella Ward Elin Bonyadi Luke Hemmings Andrew Taylor

Mrs Ash, Assistant Headteacher

House Points 2015-2016 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 ASH

BEECH

ELM

MAPLE

OAK

SYCAMORE WILLOW

Cheques no longer accepted

By Finance Department

Please note from effect of the 1st March 2016 we will no longer be accepting cheques.

All payments are to be made online, using your Tucasi secure scopay.com log-in details which have been recently sent to you.

If you are unable to set up an online account or require your Tucasi secure scopay.com login details, please contact finance on finance@busheymeads.org.uk.

Thank you in advance for your co-operation