Artwork by erica miller brentford art & design student
Brentford school for girls
brentford 6 form th
summer highlights 2018
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, I am delighted to present this term’s ‘Highlights’ to you, which is a reflection of what our students have been up to over the last term. As always it has been incredibly busy, with students sitting public examinations and enjoying our end of year community celebrations. This is also the term that we work to identify the school priorities for the next academic year. Our focus continues to be on improving the students’ examination results, particularly in the Sixth Form, as well as developing a mental health strategy which ensures that our students are fully prepared for their adult lives. We say goodbye, this term, to some long standing members of staff and would like to thank them for the contribution which they have made to our school community. It is not easy to appoint teachers these days, but we have secured an excellent and experienced group of teachers who will join us in September, and we welcome them to our school. This is always a special time of year at school. Activities week, Sports Day, the Art Exhibition, Summer Fair, and the numerous other activities that take place, that bring the community together and ensure that we celebrate the things that are really special about our community. Thank you to all of the students for their involvement and embracing the opportunities, they really are a fantastic group of girls. As we move into the end of the academic year, on behalf of the school, I would like to thank you for your continued support. Schools cannot work without a strong and committed parent body and that is what we have at Brentford. Wishing you all a fantastic summer break.
Dear Parents / Carers and Staff, It is hard to believe that another school year is almost over, and the students and staff alike can soon head off for a well deserved break and hopefully make the most of this amazing weather. It has been another busy term with the students embracing all the opportunities that Brentford provides for them. The Summer Fair was a great success and the weather certainly added to the atmosphere. The highlight of this term for me was the Art Exhibition. I am always impressed by the talent that our students have and the standard of the work they produce. A huge thank you to the Arts team for arranging this every year. It is a perfect showcase of the talent we have at school. Year 11 have now finished their exams and celebrated the end of year with their prom. A huge congratulations to the prom committee and Ms Stone for arranging such a fantastic night, which I am sure will be talked about for a long time. As Years 11 and 13 all await their exam results I would like to wish those students who are leaving us this year good luck for the future in whatever you choose to do; I know you’ll be great, and remember to keep in touch. I will close by wishing you all, staff, students and families a long and relaxed holiday and l Iook forward to seeing you all next year. Regards Terri George - Chair of Governors and soon to be parachutist!
Best wishes,
Ms Leenders
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Summer Fair On Saturday 30th June we celebrated summer in the sun this year with our students, their families and the community. The event was generously sponsored by Dexters, and saw an array of food and drink including the BBQ, ice cream and a Pimms bar. Students took to the stage to show off their musical talents, and we welcomed back Tony Bowen, the ‘Human Jukebox’. Bowen has performed at Glastonbury and brought with him an eclectic set of songs with anything from “James Bay to James Brown, Jack White to Jack Black, Kings of Leon to Queen to Prince.” We hosted a variety of great community stalls, including homemade bread, Neal’s Yard beauty products, and crafts including cards and jewellery. Charities attended, including Speak Out in Hounslow, who work with people with learning disabilities locally, and The Eden Eyre fairy Project, which is raising money for a 3 year old fighting Neuroblastoma. We also put on a raffle to win great prizes, with local businesses offering extraordinary support in the form of donations from Teapigs, Accor Hotels, Clayton Chiswick, The Griffin and United Living. A few unfortunate teachers were also put to the stocks and pelted with wet sponges!
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BSFG art exhibition Our annual Art Exhibition, on Thursday 21st June, was a great celebration of our students’ work this year from Art, Textiles, Photography and Media. We welcomed artist Fiona Hawthorne and actor Colin Salmon, who are a married couple and two revered members of the creative industries.
an account of her experiences in the creative field, and how their partnership and surrounding herself with positive friends has supported her career. Both speakers stressed the importance of the arts within society, and the role art education plays.
Salmon’s key message was to “never let anyone tell you that you can’t.” He encouraged students to follow their passion and not to give up. He spoke about his own experiences with dedication to craft and perseverance. Hawthorne gave
Fiona Hawthorne is one of UK’s leading digital artists, often commissioned to draw live at events with a screen projected to huge canvas, where audiences share her fast, exciting creative process as she works. Her digital portrait of Barack
Obama hangs in the Library of Congress and, at the time of writing, she has two public art exhibitions currently open in London. Colin Salmon is a highly renowned British actor, known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and appearing in the Resident Evil film series. He currently portrays General Zod on the Syfy series Krypton. As a faculty we are exceptionally proud of the amount of creative young women who go into creative degrees and secure posts in the ever changing world of mass communication. Long may talented and hard-working creative students come to Brentford to flourish both in terms of results and work! 5
Film Fest 2018 Our annual Film Festival took place this year on Thursday 26th April in the school theatre. Once again we had a full house of students, and their friends and families, dressed to the nines for a packed programme of film trailers and music videos produced by the Year 11 and Year 13 Media Studies students. The level of professionalism achieved each year is often jaw dropping, as the students test their highly developed cinematic sensibilities to the limit. Ms Leenders always says she comes away frustrated because the girls’ trailers are so good she is desperate to see the whole films! This year the outstanding contribution to Media Studies award went to Ella Faizi whose horror trailer was genuinely scary and was produced entirely by herself: a real testament to her resilience and determination to succeed. From the A level cohort, the music videos couldn’t have been more different from each other. A full range of music genres were represented and brave and innovative use of the software achieved some remarkable results. A special mention must go to Zara Parsons and Bayaan Zeab who both edited with great patience and skill and whose rewards, apart from the awards on the night, are unconditional places at Roehampton University to study Film Production. Well done to them!
There were some outstanding pieces of technical and creative work this year with prizes being awarded for editing, sound, mise-en-scene, cinematography and production. It is as always so hard for our guest award judge, this year award winning film maker and TV drama director Christiana EbuhonGreen, to pick winners but two trailers stood out for their construction, craft and attention to detail: Fixated produced by Mia Edwin, Sophie Muringu and Yohanna Pereira and Your Help produced by Aaliyah Coronado, Ariana Mihailov and Sarah Haq. Both were flawless pieces of student work which demonstrate how high students can reach.
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Parliament trip On Monday 21st May, local Year 13 students, Abigail Luwawa and Sophia Louis represented Brentford School for Girls at a Department for International Development event in the Palace of Westminster. The event was a celebration and presentation of the outstanding ways in which schools are getting involved with sustainable development and global citizenship: ways in which we in the UK can support less fortunate students across the globe in developing economies. The event was hosted by Stephen Twigg MP while the VIP guest was Harriet Baldwin, Minister of State for Africa. Also there to support our girls was Ruth Cadbury our local MP. It was noted by all present that the minister stayed a great deal longer at this event than ministers normally do, and was visibly moved by some of the presentations from students and the deep learning conversations she had about global issues. Abigail commented: “we met students from other schools and representatives of organisations who had a shared interest in learning about our global community. The influential people in attendance like Stephen Twig, Harriet Baldwin and Ruth Cadbury were very interested and impressed with our drive to promote a private members bill that is currently being discussed in parliament.”
Overall, it was an inspiring day, and one which confirmed how important our continued work in developing global learning across the school is. Next year we hope to continue the forum with two topics which are close to our hearts: ‘Racism’ and ‘Global Warming.’ They are both local and global issues and ones which could not be more important to us than at this time in history. More information on the forum to follow in the Autumn term.
Abigail and Sophia were able to showcase the work of Brentford’s two FYS (Future Youth Schools) forums on ‘People forced to flee’ and ‘Gender inequality’ and the impacts that we in Brentford want to make in our ever-expanding community. They also had the chance to network with some of the agencies we have been working closely with over the last few years including Oxfam, Global Learning Programme and British Council. But it wasn’t all work: the girls also had the chance to sit in and watch debates in both Houses of Parliament. Abigail said: “we gained a better understanding of how decisions are made and how the MPs that we elect argue our interests.” 7
Careers to success paving the way
Year 10 mock interviews On Monday 23rd April students in Year 10 were offered a mock interview by local professionals from a range of wellknown organisations such as BSI, the National Citizenship Service and NPL (the National Physical Laboratory). Several of our parents, governors and alumni also joined us. Employers, who gave students individual feedback about their performance, were impressed with how polite and confident students were throughout their interviews 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.
According to a range of surveys, the following are among the top 10 employability skills employers look for are: verbal and written communication, team work, initiative, organisation, flexibility and confidence. 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.
quality in careers standard We are delighted that on Friday 6th July we were awarded the Quality in Careers Standard, the national quality award for careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) in schools, colleges and work-based learning. The award is in recognition of the excellent careers information, advice and guidance already established in the school and our commitment to continuously monitor, evaluate and improve our provision, in order to support each student reaching their potential. For any parental questions about any aspect of the careers education programme here at Brentford, please email ebrown@brentford.hounslow.sch.uk.
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on the life of a Lawyer. We learned many skills including team work and how to speak confidently in public and in front of judges. One day involved running a mock trial, where we prepared a court case with students from other schools. Overall, it was delightful gaining this opportunity and we would definitely recommend summer schools to other students.”
‘So You Want to be a...’ talks In May, we were delighted to receive Eimear Doyle and Charlotte Ross from McAleer & Rushe construction company, who gave an informative and interesting careers talk about their roles within the construction industry. McAleer and Rushe is the company behind the local Brentford Lock West development and Eimeer is the senior site engineer there. Eimeer talked about her career journey to date encompassing: routes into Civil Engineering, her day-today tasks and the variety of roles she can progress onto as her career develops. Charlotte, an Environmental & Quality Advisor talked about her own role, based between Brentford and Scotland, as well as the drive to recruit more women into the industry. The strong growth in the infrastructure and housing sectors is driving the construction industry and it is predicted that output will grow by 1.3% a year over the next 5 years, creating 158,000 construction jobs. For careers information about Civil Engineering roles please see www. ice.org.uk
vinspired Congratulations to the following year 9 students who started volunteering as HUB Ambassadors this term. Gurjas Kaur, Flora Griffiths, Natalia Paris Correa Gomez, Artjola Baftiqi, Sydney Hayden-Fry, Sakina Khan, Shaniah Coady, Sara Escalona Briceno, Saranka Maheswaran, Shikha Dahal, Nada Noor, Maria Malhotra, Mahi Patel, Nora Ashani, Miski Abdullahi and Maddison Bevans all performed brilliantly in their interviews and are giving up their time to act as role models and to support students around the school during break and lunch times. Two students received the top award, the v100, for volunteering 100 hours of their time. A massive well done to Nabieha Ahmad in year 11 and Zenab Irshad in 6th form. The following students also received certificates:
Pathways to law
v10 Keerthi Kurapati Myra Siddiqi
Simarjit Kaur and Jashanpreet Kaur, both in year 10, took up an amazing opportunity in the May half term holiday to spend 4 days at the University of Roehampton’s ‘Pathways to Law’ summer school. On day 1, the students took part in a campus tour, a confidence building workshop as well as a law lecture and masterclass. This was followed by a debating workshop and professional networking which gave both students the opportunity to meet with various law professionals. Simarjit and Jashanpreet said “we had an outstanding experience including a visit to the Royal Courts of Justice and the Supreme Court in central London, where we gained new information
v30 Mahi Patel Nora Ashani
v50 Mab Abdelwahab v100 Nabieha Ahmad Zenab Irshad
The vInspired awards scheme is a respected way for 11 – 25 year olds to get official recognition for their volunteer activities so if you haven’t done so already and want to create an account, click on the vInspired logo on the school’s intranet or see Ms Brown in Careers for further information. 9
summer Gallery
geography field trip
summer fair
SCience week activity - CSI
rome trip
transition day
police cadet award
summer fair
‘so you want to be a...’ talk 10
HOUSE CAPTAINS
6th form graduation
prefects
year 11 headstart day
hub ambassadors
year 11 MUCK-UP 11
Sports at BSFG
rounders
Girls active programme
netball sponsorship
The Brentford teams have competed well in the rounders leagues and tournaments this year. A special shout out to the Year 7s who came third place in the borough tournament.
“Spa de Sal are delighted to be sponsoring the Brentford School for Girls’ netball team. We wish them much success during the coming year and hope they have been inspired by England’s Netball team winning gold at the Commonwealth Games recently.”
During May, 3 Year 8 students went to Cranford School to take part in the Youth Sport Trust Girls Active Event. At the event they met Danielle Waterman, who plays Rugby Union and Sevens for England. The Girls did an amazing job and created ideas to get more women involved with sport. Next year they will be trialling some of these ideas at Brentford.
Salt therapy at Spa de Sal “helps to expand lung capacity, improve muscle function, and strengthen the immune system.”
athletics
Check them out at 5 London Road, Brentford, TW8 8JB or call them at 020 8582 8971
This year the Brentford Athletics teams competed once more at the Borough Athletics Tournaments. The teams worked hard and trained every Wednesday lunchtime in preperation for the events. There were some notable performances from the Year 10 relay team, Isabel Rodgers, Zakia Mossi and Grace Whittaker in the 800m. Well done to all those who competed!
Duke of Edinburgh All of the girls working toward the award this year are in full swing for their assessment expedition on Saturday 14th July. The girls completed their practice expedition in May with some terrible weather making tents and ground alike quite soggy. Everyone has been working hard to complete maps and routes for the next expedition. Some girls have started finalising their awards in the three sections of volunteering, skills and physical. They have been working very hard getting their maps and routes up to scratch and apart from the early start they are excited to complete the expedition section of their award.
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year 11 roa On Friday 25th May, Year 11 students, friends and their family gathered to celebrate their contributions to Brentford School for Girls over the last 5 years. Students put on some fantastic performances and received subject awards for outstanding contributions to the curriculum, as well as tutor group awards and most improved awards. The highlights of the day included a video filled with plenty of memorable and nostalgic photos and a video of the Year 11s throughout their time at Brentford, with a few messages to their fellow class mates and thanks to staff.
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The trip was a huge success and Ms Storer will be going out to Nepal in October half term to see the children at the orphanage and to become a guest lecturer at Sirjana Art College.
Nepal Exhibition Nine Brentford Alumni students accompanied Ms Lynsey Storer to Nepal for the Easter holidays. Their main objectives were to visit orphanages, link with Sirjana Art College and take part in workshops. Some exhibited their artwork and others supported Ms Storer with two major exhibitions.
Members of the Alumni group have decided to sponsor girls from Bud Garden Orphanage and continue with the bonds they have developed.
The Alumni group included Hanan Abdullah, Senia Mechoureb, Ayah Arab, Aisha Rauf, Sci Sahran, Mayuri Rathod, Molly Hall and Gemma Timms. The latter students went on to study degrees in Art in London and were delighted to attend Sirjana Art College in Nepal which Ms Storer is affiliated with.
Alumni Art exhibition Miss Storer was very pleased to receive a letter from an ex-student who has just finished her degree in Graphics at Kingston University. Huda studied Art and Textiles at Brentford School for Girls and for her degree specialised within the discipline of Graphics.
They took part in workshops in orphanages, including making artwork, games of pass-the-parcel and giving out donations of clothes from people in the UK. Bud Garden Orphanage is an orphanage supported by Ms Storer; the orphanage has just 10 girls aged 4 – 13 years old. Their recent request was for her to provide them with sewing kits. Molly, Mayuri, Sci, Ms Storer and Gemma all produced and displayed work at the college. Brentford School for Girls donated Art books for the Art History Library at Sirjana Art College. Ms Storer presented a solo art exhibition at Nepal Arts Council and all proceeds were divided between the orphanage and Art College.
She created a very personal project about vision as her sister, also an ex-student of Brentford, lost her vision due to cataracts. The work was very thought provoking and conveyed the message of what you would see if you had any of the sight conditions which Huda researched and recorded.
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the Clayton Hotel Exhibition The student and staff work displayed at the Clayton Hotel Chiswick during June was very well received with plenty of positive comments from the public who were amazed that some of the work on show has been created by Year 10 Art students. Their work is displayed beside their teacher’s work, artist Lynsey Storer. The photography work has also been called “so professional that it seems to surpass the work created by an experienced hand.” Photography teacher Janette Pyke had her bright and eye-catching paintings exhibited.
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GIRLS INTO SCIENCE oxford TRIP Lucy: I greatly enjoyed the ‘Girls into Science’ residential trip held at Somerville, Oxford as it was an exciting and enlightening experience. I learnt a great deal about both the requirements and responsibilities of a science-based career, and a great deal concerning studying science in higher education facilities. We engaged in numerous activities during the two day trip, all relating to STEM subjects, such as: engineering, physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics and also attended some intriguing careers talks presented by individuals who were studying different strains of archaeology. I personally enjoyed the biology trip, held at the Oxford Natural History Museum, as I was able to handle some amazing fossils and stuffed specimens, including an elephant jaw and even a live Madagascan hissing cockroach (which I was initially quite reluctant to hold). I feel extremely privileged to have been able to attend the residential.
things throughout its duration and now aspire to take part in the UNIQ summer school in the future, and maybe even study science at an educational facility as prestigious as Oxford one day.
It was a unique experience, as we were able to interact with accomplished university professors and ask them in depth questions about their careers and passion for their subjects, whilst also learning a great deal too. We appreciated the beautiful architecture of the university (which we were able to fully experience as we were taken on a guided tour and travelled among the various colleges to attend our activities). The ambassadors (many of whom were actually science students themselves), were incredibly friendly, informative and happy to bestow advice upon the attendees about how we could improve our chances of attending such a prestigious university, based off their own application processes.
Nazanin: During the Easter half term, I was honoured, along with my classmate, to be selected to go on a two-day residential trip to Somerville College, Oxford University. I feel that this trip was incredibly insightful; it provided me with an abundance of useful information on future career courses related to science, which is a field that I am particularly interested in. By being more aware of the reality of a university lifestyle and the variety of courses available, I am able to make more informed decisions for my future career. I have a clearer understanding of where my true passion lies as I was introduced to many different and interesting backgrounds such as physics, chemistry, archaeology, engineering etc. The course also consisted of many intriguing tours of the city and the university along with a trip to the Natural History Museum. I believe that this was a truly unique and helpful experience and I am thankful for my teachers and the Somerville College for granting me this wonderful opportunity.
I felt very welcomed and entirely at ease throughout the whole trip, and it was amazingly insightful to have actually slept within the dormitories of actual university students. I would recommend anyone who has the chance to participate in the residential to do so, as I learnt some extremely valuable 16
Rome trip On Tuesday 17th April two of our students and two teachers represented the school at the Future Youth Schools Forum in Rome. This was a multiplier event, bringing together students and teachers from schools across Europe to consider world issues. Last Year we ran a forum at Brentford on ‘People Forced to Flee’ and this year it has been on ‘Gender Equality’, two major world issues affecting all of us. The culmination of this work by the girls included two of them representing the school to discuss these and other issues with their peers in Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania and Poland and to forge new international contacts. The Rome trip also built upon the webinars they have been involved with over the last
couple of years, allowing them to meet face to face with some of the students they have had a dialogue with on Skype. Miss Partis wrote: “on the first day of the trip we visited Castel Sant’Angelo: a fascinating old castle situated close to the Vatican on the Tiber river. The girls learnt a lot about the castle’s history on their way round and enjoyed an alfresco dinner and ice cream in the evening afterwards. On our second day we travelled on a ‘City Sightseeing Bus’ to take in all the major sites of the city including the Colosseum, Forum and the Fontana di Trevi. In the evening we met up with the delegates from the other European countries who would be attending the Forum. This provided a good opportunity to get to know them and what they had been doing in their countries to support this Oxfam movement. On our final day we attended the Leonardo De Vinci school where the international forum was held. The girls took part in a variety of activities to boost the idea of youth leadership. There was also an opportunity to reflect on the forums that each group of delegates had hosted in their own country. The day ended with a Skype call to a set of ‘influencers’ in which the students showed off their understanding and ideas related to youth leadership.”
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Millionaire ceremony Brentford School for Girls celebrated the outstanding ‘Accelerated Reader’ achievements on Friday 29th June by hosting the Millionaire’s Cupcake Party. Over the last year students have been reading books and taking quizzes. This year we were very proud to award books and certificates to 32 students who read over a million words each. Navya, Atiya Fathima, Salma, Ealiya, Avnin, Shanyi and Sanjo all became multimillionaires with Navya reaching an impressive milestone having read over 4.5 million words. Salma was the lucky winner of a Kindle, which was presented by Miss Evans. Girls enjoyed playing games and quizzes, eating delicious cupcakes and having fun. This is a lovely occasion for both librarians to reward students who are committed readers and who promote the love of reading to their peers.
brentford 6 form th
open evening
Thursday 1st November 6pm - 8pm External applicants welcome www.brentford.hounslow.sch.uk/6thform/application 18
brentford school for girls open evening
THURSDAY 11TH 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 19
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STUDENT TERM DATES autumn term 2018: monday 03rd September - Wednesday 19th december • 03rd & 04th September: Start of term, inset day • 05th September: year 7 induction day, mop up, 6th form enrolment • 06th September: school begins year 8-11 (staggered start) • 10th september: 6th form induction morning • 11th september: 6th form induction day • 12th september: 6th form lessons begin 8:50am • 11th october: open evening 6pm - 8:30pm • 22nd October - 30th october: half term - 31st october school returns 8:50am • 01st november: 6th form open evening 6pm - 8pm • 30th november: occasional day (school closed) • 17th december: year 7 pantomime trip • 18th december: christmas jumper day, christmas fair and concert • 19th december: last day of autumn term, school closes at 12:30pm • 20th december - 04th january: christmas holiday - 07th january: school returns 8:50am We will notify you of any changes throughout the year. These Dates can also be found on our website.
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 20