BSFG Summer Highlights 2019

Artwork by Flaviya Halpage Brentford Art and Design Student

Brentford school for girls

brentford 6 form th

summer highlights 2019

IMAGINE THE FUTURE BRENTFORD GIRL... she thrives on challenge and has a desire to fulfil her learning potential. she is able to think independently and is confident in her social and academic capability. she is emotionally aware and emotionally intelligent. she is capable and dependable. she is resourceful and inquisitive. she embraces the technological world as a global village and is ready to interact with others in the local and worldwide community. she accepts the welfare of others as her responsibility. she understands the need for sustainable living both locally and globally. she is ready for life in the future - whatever that may be.

She is the centre of our vision and will remain the very core of our being and purpose.

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Head teacher’s welcome

Chair of Governors’ Message

Dear Parents/Carers,

Dear Parents/Carers and Staff,

As we come to the end of another busy year, I can hardly believe how quickly this year has gone. The year as always has been ‘packed’ full with various events, day trips, residential trips, speakers visiting the school, arts events, careers activities, proms, assemblies, parents evenings, academic review days, dance shows as well as the day to day learning that takes place in every lesson, every day! Schools are busy places and I am proud to say that our school is more than ‘just’ a school, it is a community, where we celebrate our differences, respect one another, and share the fun and ‘tears’ at times! As parents and carers, I would like to thank you for your contribution to our school, and your commitment to your daughters’ education. We continue to have almost 100% attendance at our parent’s evenings; you support our events, be they the Christmas concert, the school play or the art exhibition and most importantly you support us in supporting your daughters to achieve and behave well in school.

Another busy year at Brentford is almost over and the summer holidays will soon be here. As ever, it has been another busy term, and I am always surprised at how many activities are organised for the students to get involved in.

Most recently was the annual art exhibition; I never fail to be impressed with the variety and imagination on display. This year’s art, photography and textiles students produced an incredible selection of work as evidence of all of their hard work and talent. All together it made a fantastic display to look at, whilst also enjoying background music provided by two more of our students on the harp and the piano.

The public exams at both GCSE and A-Level are now finished for another year. I am sure all of the hard work the students put in will be rewarded when the results come out in August. It is great that so many of Year 11 are staying on to join the 6th form but to those that aren’t, and to the year 13s who are also leaving us, I wish you all the very best for the future.

This term we have been working hard at school to review our achievements and set our priorities for the next academic year. Across the school, we have been reviewing what students are taught in lessons and how they are taught.

Our focus next year will be on supporting students to build ‘long term memory’ so that they are well prepared for GCSE and A level examinations and develop this as a strength in adult life. We will also be continuing to focus on building the students resilience and will be taking part in two new pilot projects both focusing on improving mental health in teenagers. You will be hearing more about the projects next term.

I am writing this while looking forward to the prom. This has now become an annual event on the Brentford calendar and is a brilliant opportunity for all of the girls and staff to relax after all of their hard work this year. I know that a lot of work has gone into organising it, by both staff and students, and it is wonderful seeing all of the girls dressed up and ready to celebrate as they move on to the next stage of their lives.

I will close by wishing you all a relaxed and happy summer break. I look forward to seeing you all at many of the events that I know are already being planned for next year.

Most of our staff will remain the same in September, but we do say goodbye to a few members of staff this term. Ms Ashworth, Head of PE will be moving to a school closer to home and Ms Cornwell will be leaving us also to move onto new pastures. On behalf of the school, I would like to thank them for their support and contribution to the school.

Terri George Chair of Governors

The final term is always a special time of year at school. I hope that you will be able to see through this magazine the variety of activities which students have been involved in. Students have been working together in ‘house’ groups across the year and it is always so lovely to see how girls from different year groups work so well together. On behalf of myself, the governors and staff at the school, I would like to thank the girls for their contributions and for embracing the opportunities the school has to offer and for making it a really special place to work in.

Wishing you all a fantastic summer break.

Best wishes,

Marais Leenders 3

worple primary school I am delighted to inform you that we will be working in partnership with one of our local primary schools next year.

Worple Primary School, a one form entry primary school in Isleworth, is very similar in ethos and profile to our own school community. Worple is a school with strong values and a real desire to develop the whole child, much like our own. There is an incredibly committed and dedicated staff who work at the school, strong parental links and a real community spirit.

From September, I will be working across both schools, continuing my role at Brentford and supporting the senior leadership team at Worple, as Headteacher there also. I am sure that you will be aware that schools across the country are looking at different structures of school leadership, particularly when recruitment of Headteachers is very difficult.

We are in a strong position at Brentford as we have a very experienced and able school leadership team, a strong set of results behind us and a well-established school community.

The partnership we hope will create new opportunities for both staff and students across the two schools.

I look forward to keeping you up to date with how things are progressing next term.

Ms M Leenders

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year 11 farewell year 11 muck up day Year 11 Muck up day was a great send-off for the students within the year group. There were lots of laughs and some tears, but everyone was fantastic and said goodbye in a really mature manner. We wish you the very best of luck for the future ladies!

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year 11 record of achievement The Record of Achievement on Friday 24th May was the final farewell for the year group and was filled with speeches, songs and heart felt comments to both staff and other students. You have been a fantastic year group year 11 and I, as your Head of Year, wish you all the very best of luck for the future.

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year 11 prom The year 11 Prom took place on Friday 28th June and was a celebration of 5 years at Brentford.

The girls were dressed to the nines and it was a night of pure celebration. It took place at the Holiday Inn, Brentford from 6-11pm and was a fantastic night to celebrate.

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year 10 gcse geography field trip

a-level drama trip

On Wednesday 8th May, A-Level Drama students went to see Ghost Stories at the Hammersmith Lyric theatre. The students loved the performance, with the highlight being the special effects that helped create an eerie mood and atmosphere. Students will be writing about this in their A-Level examination.

In May, 81 students had the chance to visit Swanage as part of their geography GCSE. During the course of three days, students went for a coastal walk, created beach profiles and collected sediment data as well as questionnaires and land use surveys. This data and the opportunity to collect their own primary data is vital for students for the field work section of their paper 3 exam. After all that hard work students enjoyed their down time playing tennis, football and even a karaoke!

sociology/psychology conference

In preparation for their upcoming public exams, the Sociology and Psychology department took students to a revision conference in Vue Cinema in Westfield. The aim of the conference was to maximise student’s achievement in the new A-Level specification. The conference was a great opportunity for students in the department to develop their exam skills; revise the content on the course and provide them with important insights drawn from national exam reports and key developments in the new AQA A-Level specification. The conference was delivered by Tutor2U’s experienced psychology team and students received a resource pack with activities and resources to take home.

All students commented on the usefulness of the conference and have since used the strategies from the conference to support their revision and consolidation of the course.

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Careers to success paving the way

Year 10 mock interviews On 29th April, students in Year 10 attended a mock interview with a local professional from a range of well-known organisations such as BSI, Hounslow Council, Regan & Dean and NPL (The National Physical Laboratory).

Several of our parents and alumni also joined us. The employers, who gave students individual feedback about their interview performance, were impressed with how polite and confident students were throughout and how seriously they took this valuable opportunity. Mock interviews are a great way for students to reflect on their skills, abilities and experiences and see how these relate to the real world of work and the soft skills employers are looking for.

When asked for their feedback, students’ comments reflected the value of this experience to their work-related learning, as these two examples show; “I’ve increased my awareness of competition in the working world” and “I understand more clearly what I am good at and what needs improvement.”

If you know anyone who would like to support our ongoing careers programme, please ask them to get in touch as we are always keen to hear from industry professionals.

‘so you want to be a...’ talk The last lunch-time careers talk in this year’s programme, was delivered by our Student Art Teacher, Amy Priechenfried.

Before training as an Art Teacher, Amy worked for several years in the city, as a Recruitment Consultant. Securing her first position at Selby Jennings, a global recruitment organisation focused on servicing the Banking and Financial Services industry, Amy was soon promoted to Senior Recruitment Consultant. Amy then moved to Phaidon International, a global STEM Recruitment Specialist as a Client Relations Executive. Amy gave students an insight into this varied and interesting career and detailed some of the skills and attributes needed, regardless of degree subject studied. Of particular importance, Amy noted the need for communication

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skills, relationship building skills, marketing skills and a goalorientated approach to work in order to succeed in this fastpaced industry. For more information on this career see: www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/recruitment-consultant

year 13 leavers The Year 13 leavers’ assembly took place on Friday 28th June at 3.30pm in the theatre. Form Tutors and staff were in attendance and gave our wonderful Year 13’s the sendoff that they deserved. They enjoyed listening to music and having snacks during and after the event. We wish you the best of luck for the future!

film premiere 2019 This year’s ‘Film Studies Premiere’ was a small affair for GCSE and A-Level Film Studies students. It was nevertheless quite well attended by an enthusiastic audience of Year 11s and Year 13s who watched the short films and filmed extracts with great concentration and appreciation of the effort and skill involved with their making.

The GCSE film extracts were universally dark crime thrillers except for one light musical by Emily Horrix from the ASD unit which lightened the tone at the start. The A-Level films were similarly dark and serious in tone dealing with complex issues including self-harm and depression, schizophrenia and psychological murder. Each short film was highly accomplished and showed excellent control of film making techniques.

Next year we hope to be able to run a school-wide film making competition open not only to Film Studies students but to any students interested in making their own film or filmed extract.

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summer Gallery

year 6 workshops

geography field trip

year 8 rounders tournament Then and now...5 years on

year 11 prom

gym and dance show 11

year 11 record of achievement

year 7 borough tournament

prefects

maths challenge winners

year 13 leavers

staff vs students football 12

Duke of Edinburgh evening

Sports at BSFG

On Wednesday 8th May 2019, BSFG hosted an awards evening for last year’s students who completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. It was a lovely evening with help from Dot Hasler and Nerimen from the London Office presenting awards. This was the first cohort to achieve 100% completion rate so well done to every single one of them.

gym and dance show The ‘Gym and Dance’ Show was the first of its kind at BSFG with a spectacle of gymnastics and dance ability shown across the year groups. There were 25 performers involved in the show and they have put in some real hard work over the last 7 months. The show was a real success and the girls demonstrated a professional skill level and were a real asset to me and the school. Looking forward to next next year’s show.

duke of edinburgh weekend The Duke of Edinburgh assessment weekend took place between 13th – 14th July, where the girls demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of navigating as well as camp craft skills in which they were assessed in order to complete the expedition of their Bronze award.

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art exhibition The annual school Art, Photography, Textiles and Film Exhibition took place on 20th June 2019.

The exhibition was a huge success and speaker Nicki Rolls from Redlees Studio gave an enthusiastic address to students and encouraged them to invest in their creativity.

The work displayed was lively and imaginative and at times extremely sophisticated and conceptual.

We were particularly fortunate as Alma Kowalsky Refievna and Nira Hussain were two Year 12 students who played the harp and piano throughout this spectacular event.

Well done to all exhibitors, thank you to all of the students and staff who helped to make the exhibition a great evening. Good luck to all of the students and to those who are embarking on creative pathways and remember that ‘resilience’ is essential in the world of art.

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year 9 history trip On Tuesday 4th June, the Year 9 History students visited The Old Operating theatre in London. As part of their GCSE course they study health and the people in Britain from the year 1000-present day. Significant themes within this course are surgery and public health. The trip started with a look in the Old Operating Theatre Museum, where lots of interesting surgical equipment was held. This was then followed by a talk in the surgical theatre itself, where one lucky student was chosen to have their leg amputated! Many students said it was a really fun and interactive experience which helped to bring to life what we had learnt about this year. The surgical talk was followed by a walking tour around certain hotspots in London which had been affected by severe cholera outbreaks in the 19th Century, this links into the public health theme.

Despite the typical British weather we experienced whilst being out in London, it was a really fun and informative day.

One student said that she “liked how it was visual and loved how we went around London and were informed about History that happened where we were standing.�

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year 7 and 8 maths challenge 2019 Over 270,000 pupils across the UK sat the Junior Maths Challenge this year. The Maths Challenges provide material to provoke students’ mathematical thinking and test their problem-solving skills.

Our Year 7 and 8 top set pupils sat the Maths Challenge in April this year.

We have just had the results and are very proud to announce our winners: As a school, Brentford School for Girls achieved 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 9 Bronze Certificates.

Congratulations to the Best in the year groups; Emily Lumsden (Year 8) and Tasbiha Jaffrey (Year 7).

Special mentions go to Emily Lumsden and Agrima Sharma, who achieved gold certificates (which only 6% of students who take part in the challenge achieve). Emily was also the best in the school. Well done Emily and Agrima!

Well done to the following Silver Certificate winners: Year 7 Romilly Willis Tasbiha Jaffrey

Year 8 Sally Moslemazar Sara Atta Anya Brucal

Well done to the following Bronze Certificate winners: Year 7 Matilda Oakley Syeda Naqvi Maryam Hussain Chae-min You

Year 8 Aiyla Rana Shadee Ochana Aleeha Iftikhar Bhavna Koneru Larissa Vaz

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house successes 2018 - 2019 From September until the May half term, I believe one of our biggest success has been celebrating inclusivity and interaction across the year groups and encouraging everyone to take part in one of the many competitions we have had this year. However, we still have Sports Day to come so let the battle begin to see who will end the year as the Champion.

The Ambitious House Captains have worked really, really hard, in all sorts of ways to make this year a huge success for all students in Ambitious House. Well done ladies!

ambitious house It has been a mixture of great success and great participation for Ambitious this year. We made an incredibly strong start leading on the ‘house point’s leader board’. The yellow flag was waving high and proud for a good portion of the autumn term. This success continued with the first competition of the year, which showcased some of the amazing talent that we have in Ambitious with many pupils submitting really creative ideas for our photography competition.

Ms Partington - Ambitious House Leader

The amazing ‘House Captains’ have been fundamental in creating a sense of team spirit within Ambitious House. They helped to organise and run the stall we had at the Christmas Fayre. Ambitious managed to raise £55.87 to go towards an overall total of £248.54 raised by the school’s house system for Winston’s Wish charity. Overall it was a lovely atmosphere and the challenge for most of the customers became very competitive throughout the event. Another event that I think is worth mentioning is the success of the cake sale. As soon as you walked into the hall there were Ambitious House Captains and other students trying to encourage everyone to come to the Ambitious stall to buy some of the wonderful cakes that had been made and donated. My personal favourite was the Ambitious ‘bee cupcakes’ that were made.

confident house This year Confident house has gone above and beyond.

Last year we only managed to reach a paltry 20000 house points. This was nowhere near the amount required to top the list, however this year we have achieved an amazing 32388 house points! I am so proud of all the hard work put in by each and every student in the house which has helped us reach this amazing milestone. Our success has been displayed visually by our beautiful purple flag being flown for the whole of the summer term.

If the fabulous triumph of the house points is our bread and butter in Confident house, then our fundraising work is the icing on the cake. Thanks to the generous donations and skilled baking talents of our Confident House students we raised a massive £91.02 for the Pink Friday cake sale to raise awareness of breast cancer. A special shout out to our amazing Confident House captains including Liya Syeda 11CN who was a baker fantastique. Following on from that sweet treat we topped the list again raising a humongous £229.48 during the Christmas fayre. All sorts of delicious treats were managed by Confident house captains and 8CN students; popcorn, hot chocolate (sooo good), strawberries and our extremely popular lucky dip.

The Instagram competition has to be addressed. I am still thoroughly gutted that right at the last minute this was taken from Ambitious. I also think it is really important that the reasoning behind this competition and the value that having things that create a healthy sense of competition to encourage positivity in the lives of students is vital. This allowed our competition to be taken to another platform but overall in terms of providing more for students, this helped to create an outlet and brought a relatable new competition to the fore front of the system.

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Reflective (Blue) Flexible (Green) Inquisitive (Red) Confident (Purple) Ambitious (Yellow)

Following on from there, Confident house got involved in the mental health awareness Instagram competition and we also ran our own treasure hunt around the school, in which all participants enjoyed and got a chance to know the school a bit better.

Our next big challenge is sports day, and new house captains providing us with fresh legs to see us over the line. Make sure you go and watch Confident house’s cruising victory.

Mr Garner – Confident House Leader

flexible house Wow! What a busy year it has been so far for all students in Flexible house!

There have been various competitions across a range of different interesting areas with many of the students participating. After some excellent competition, Flexible were declared the winner of the bench ball competition! There was also the inter-house quiz, which was won by Ambitious, and the treasure hunt which was led by Confident House. Sadly, we also didn’t win the Instagram competition or the Year 7 photography competition, but we fought a valiant fight! There were also two Science competitions – one entitled “Journey,” and the other was to write about a favourite chemical element. Both competitions had a good number of entrants from across all the houses, and Nidaa Sagar-Ouriaghli from 8 Flexible was the overall winner, gaining 100 house points in the process! Well done to Nidaa.

Speaking of house points, students in Flexible have collected a fantastic number of points so far this year - currently sitting in 4th place in the competition, but the gap between Flexible and second place isn’t that big.

Students can work hard to close this gap and end the year on a real high. House points from participating in house activities, being on time and in school 100% of the time, getting journals signed and from school year will be the best yet for Flexible house!

With Sports Day coming up it is still possible for students to show the rest of the school how competitive Flexible house are!

House points are rewarded for participation, as well as winning events.

Mr Jack - Flexible House Leader

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Inquisitive house

In terms of House points, Inquisitive students have been working extremely hard within lessons which meant that our house topped the house points board from January to April this year. Unfortunately, we have now fallen slightly behind Reflective house but hope to be back up at the top of the leader board by the end of term!

It has been an exciting and successful year for the best house in the school (AKA Inquisitive house) and it has been great to see the girls working so well together as a team. I have been very proud to see the achievements and amazing talents of our students.

In May our lovely Year 11 Inquisitive House Captains; Darci, Zahuur, Alicia and Mehbooba began their study leave. They did a great job assisting with all things ‘Inquisitive House’ this year and we are so thankful for all of their hard work. I was delighted with the number of Year 9 and Year 10 students who applied to become the new house captains in May, as well as with the quality of their assembly ‘auditions’. The chosen six House Captains (Amani, Vithusini, Greta, Violet, Nimrah and Saranka) have made a fantastic start to their roles and I really look forward to working with them for the remainder of the term and into next academic year.

The first competition of the year was the Year 7 photography competition and we were blown away by the excellent standard of the Inquisitive entries.

Continuing this positive streak, Inquisitive were crowned ‘best bakers’ within the Friday Bake Sale, in which we raised an impressive £87.20 for our school’s chosen charity, Winston’s Wish. At the end of the term, Inquisitive also won 1st place in the song competition, with each tutor group having learnt and performed a Disney song of their choice. Shout out to my own tutor group, 9 Inquisitive who performed a moving rendition of Moana’s ‘How far I’ll go’.

Well done to all students in Inquisitive House for a fantastic year – have a great summer and see you in September!

Following on from the song competition was the school Christmas Fayre, which allowed us to raise further funds for Winston’s Wish. Prior to the fayre, Year 7 and Year 8 Inquisitive students made hot chocolate reindeers which were sold on our stall, and our House Captains ran a ‘Guess which baby is which Teacher’ competition as well as a red tombola.

Ms Miller – Inquisitive House Leader

Sporting-wise, Inquisitive showed off their bench ball skills in our house competition in April, coming 2nd to Reflective house. Outside of house competitions, it has been great to see Inquisitive students getting fully involved in the various sport clubs the school offers, including netball, football, climbing and athletics.

Inquisitive students also got fully involved in the Instagram competition and it was lovely to see pupils of all ages engaging with our house page and the positive mental health posts, messages and discussions that were posted by our House Captains.

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Reflective house This year has been a huge success for Reflective House, as each half term we have seen victories both big and small.

The blue flag has been seen waving high twice over the school year so far and we are hoping for another triumph at the end of this year.

Our five fantastic House Captains that were appointed were instrumental in developing a sense of team spirit and healthy competition within Reflective House. They helped to organise and run the stall we had at the Christmas Fayre. Reflective raised lots of money to go towards a total of £248.54 raised by the school’s house system for Winston’s Wish charity.

The Instagram competition in the spring term was rolled out whereby each house had an Instagram page which was updated weekly with images and videos linking to mental health, self-esteem and resilience.

Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive, as one student in 11RF said “The Instagram page is so good!

The posts are so positive when they come on my feed and it is a nice change from what I usually see…”

This competition ran from January to February and Reflective was the house with the most followers by the end of the competition! Feel free to follow the Instagram page and get in on the feel-good posts!

The achievements kept rolling in as March gave way to the bench ball competition. Although all Houses enjoyed success here, I am proud to say that both Year 9 and Year 10 Reflective won the battle in their year groups. Go on girls!!!

Keeping with the theme of sporting triumphs, our very own Sports Day is taking place towards the end of July. House Captains are busy organising contestants throughout Reflective to ensure that we have strong competitors throughout each of the events that are taking place. I am confident that our students will give it their all on the day and hope that we end the year as House Champions!

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A huge thank you to my Fantastic Five, who worked incredibly hard to make this year such a success for all students in Reflective House.

Ms. Williams House Leader - Reflective

poetry slam On Thursday 20th June, Ms O’Sullivan and Ms Byron took six Year 7 students to the Hounslow School’s Poetry Slam.

Our hosts were Adam Kammerling, Chloe and Kelly. They started the morning off by getting the girls to do some warmup exercises; this was a great way to introduce them to the other schools. Adam, Chloe and Kelly then performed some of their own poetry.

Now it was the students turn. Starting with a few prompts given by our hosts they were on their way to creating their very own poems. A few hours later, they had to perform their final poem to the other schools. We were up first!

A few comments from the students about the day.

“Coming into the slam, I thought we would be sitting down listening to other peoples poems, I was surprised to find that it was much more active and creative. It was a fun and new experience for me and has given me a new perspective on poems.” Niamh “We were told we had to get into groups, so I and my group merged our poem ideas together, and created a poem about ‘Our Planet’. This involved global warming, and climate change; it took us the whole afternoon to create it.” Sophie “Then we performed in front of all the other schools. Though we did not win, we all had a great time, and it certainly changed my opinion of poetry from “boring and difficult to write” to “fun and enjoyable when working in a group”. Overall, I had a very fun time, and hope that whoever goes next year manages to win the cup!” Sara As mentioned by Sara, even though we did not win,

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t was a fantastic way of getting students reading and writing poetry and we definitely have some budding performance poets here at Brentford!

brentford school for girls open evening

Tuesday 1st OCTOBER 6pm - 8:30pm (head teacher’s talk at 7pm)

“one of the top 100 non-selective state-funded schools in the country” Nick gibb, minister of state for schools (february 2016)

• • • • •

“the schools ethos that ‘every child counts’ permeates throughout the life of the school” bsfg ofsted report (february 2016 graded as a ‘good’ school) outstanding examination results at gcse and a level proven track record in supporting students to secure places at top universities fantastic student support programme a comprehensive programme of extra-curricular clubs and activities for all students excellent facilities throughout

out-of-borough applications welcome

brentford school for girls, 5 boston manor, brentford, tw8 0pg 23

FACEBOOK, TWITTER & INSTAGRAM

www.facebook.com/brentfordschoolgirls www.twitter.com/brentfordschool www.instagram.com/brentfordschool

STUDENT TERM DATES autumn term 2019: wednesday 04th September - thursday 19th december • 02nd September: Start of term, inset day • 04th September: year 7 induction day, 6th form enrolment • 05th september: school begins years 7-11 (staggered start) • 21st October - 29th october: half term - 30th october school returns 8:50am • 29th november: occasional day (school closed) • 19th december: last day of autumn term, school closes at 12:30pm • 20th december - 03rd january: christmas holiday • 06th january: school returns 8:50am

Brentford School For Girls, 5 Boston Manor Road, Brentford, TW8 0PG Tel: 020 8847 4281. Web: www.brentford.hounslow.sch.uk Email: general@brentford.hounslow.sch.uk 24