NOWER HILL NEWS
From The Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to the first edition of Nower Hill News for this academic year, and my first edition as Headteacher. In the News you will be able to read about many of the fantastic achievements of our students and the events and opportunities that they have been participating in. There are so many wonderful opportunities here and I hope that you will enjoy reading through these snapshots with your child as they think about what they would like to join or take part in over the next year.
I would like to extend my thanks to you all for navigating a new parental communication system this half term. The school has moved to 'My Child At School' as our online application for school information and it has been wonderful to work with parents and carers to problem solve and get the best functionality from our new system. Our Year 11, 12 and 13 tracking information has all gone out through this medium this half term. You can also find your child's mock exam timetable on the app if they are in Year 11 or 13. There is a section called 'tracking and other important documents' and you will find it all there. Whilst there are no photographs or testimonials about this, it has certainly been big news, and deserves a place in our newspaper for this edition.
UPCOMING EVENTS
November 2024
6th November First day of term
7th November Careers Fair
11th November Remembrance Day
18th November Years 7-11 Flu Vaccinations
21st November Year 7 Tutor/Parent Evening (in person)
27th November Year 10 Parents’ Evening (on line)
I have absolutely loved joining this ambitious and friendly school. I have met your children, and many of you, and want to say thank you for the very warm welcome. I look forward to working with you moving forward to continue to deliver an outstanding education for all the young people in our school.
I want to wish you all a very happy and restful half term break, and happy Diwali to all those in our community who are celebrating.
Jo Skelhorne
Headteacher
Nower Hill High School
View online school calendar December 2024 2nd December Year 13 Study Leave
8th December St Luke’s Santa Dash 20th December Last day of half term January 2025
6th January First day of term
23rd January Year 13 Parents’ Evening (on line)
30th January Year 11 Parents’ Evening (on line)
NOWER HILL HIGH SCHOOL OPEN WEEK
Monday 23rd September - Friday 27th September 2024
We held our Open Week this term and we welcomed a record number of guests to come to view the school, well over 1,300 this year. We were proud to show off our school. Our students were so impressive; over 250 student leaders from Years 7, 11, 12 and 13 supported the tours, our Glee Choir performed each morning, pianists from across the school opened the event, and of course our head students, head prefects and even two Year 7 students spoke eloquently about their experience at school.
Applications for our September 2025 intake are open and prospective families can fill out the application through their local authority website. The deadline for applications is 31st October 2024.
Our biggest advocates are of course parents and carers who tell their friends and family about their child’s experience at school. Thank you, as ever, for your support.
Below are just a few of the comments received by Parents/Carers.
Mr Suthesh
Feedback from visitors to the school…..
“Staff and students are amazing! My daughter is really looking forward to joining Nower Hill”
“Students are really confident and friendly”
“Awesome arrangements and wonderful coordination. Enjoyed the tour. Nice feeling and good vibes”
“Student were amazing and well behaved. Great opportunities for the students”
NOWER HILL HOUSE NEWS
House update
This term we were delighted to appoint 12 House Captains to our House leadership team after a tough selection process. The newly appointed Year 12 students will join our Year 13 Heads of House in leading Bannister, King, Gandhi, Franklin, Nightingale and Shabazz in more than 10 competitions across the year, including House Talent, Nower Hill Masterchef and Sports Day. Our House Leaders have already led House Assemblies to the 350 students and staff in their Houses, which included a 'guess the teacher' competition and a video montage of our Houses competing at Sports Day in July. Our House leaders have also supported the first House competition of the year, the Great Humanities Quiz, and we wish all our Houses the very best of luck for the rest of the year!
Mr Bremner
School Council
We are delighted to have appointed 120 members of the Nower Hill School Council for 2024-25. Every half term, each Form will send 2 representatives to a School Council meeting, chaired by Mr Bremner, Deputy Headteacher, and supported by Year 11 Prefects, so that students can have their say on the key issues affecting the school. Last year, the School Council played a key role in planning Diversity and Culture Week, our End of Year Celebration Events and improving wellbeing at break and lunch. This year, priorities include, working with teachers to design effective movement breaks in lessons, reviewing the Ladder of Rewards and Achievement Points and publicising the trips available to each Year group in advance.
Mr Bremner
JACK PETCHEY
Jack Petchey
Winners
Congratulations to our final three 2024 Jack Petchey Achievement Award Winners, Lyra, Yousuf and Alexandra. The Jack Petchey Awards recognise outstanding young people across London and Essex.
Students were nominated by students and staff for their resilience, engagement and participation in school life.
Award winners from 2024 have spent their £300 prize money on a wide range of projects, including providing every student in the school with an ice lolly for our end of year celebration events, investing in new therapeutic resources for the Daffon Centre and investing in trees and shrubs for a mini orchard.
On the 22nd and 23rd of October, the Jack Petchey foundation visited our school and conducted two workshops on public speaking and speech writing. Around 50 students were given the opportunity to hone their public speaking and speech writing skills. After all of the students delivered their speeches, which were judged on content, delivery and structure, eight were selected as assembly finalists and are now through to the next stage of the competition.
Huge congratulations to our assembly finalists and a massive well done to our numerous highly commended students. The English Faculty is delighted with the effort and confidence that Year 10 put into the construction and delivery of their speeches on both days with some fantastic topics; self-love, kindness, the impact of a book, the human spirit and many more!
Ms Michaels
Jack Petchey workshops
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
During October we have been celebrating Black History Month at Nower Hill
During Form time, students have completed a quiz on Black History Month. We have also updated our displays around the school to increase positive representation, and literature by Black authors has been displayed in the library.
Each curriculum area has shared resources with students to celebrate the achievement and successes of Black people. During Black History Month assemblies we have explored the theme of reclaiming narratives. We have also set up an Equality and Diversity Film club.
Reclaiming Narratives
If you want to explore these themes further over half-term there are some excellent exhibitions:
Global Africa Collection and the V and A Discovers untold stories, overlooked narratives and the profound historical impact of iconic figures and objects.
Ms Chaudhry
Challenging stereotypes and misrepresentations
Reclaiming narratives also involves actively challenging and dismantling stereotypes and misrepresentations in media, art, and everyday conversations. Calling out biased portrayals when they appear, advocating for more diverse representations, and supporting media that depict Black people in all their complexity.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH STEM POSTER COMPETITION
To celebrate Black History Month, the Science department hosted a KS3 STEM poster competition. Students in Year 7-8 created amazing posters that highlighted a diverse spectrum of Black leaders and inventors in the STEM industry.
All students that entered deserve praise for the work they created and the great degree of creativity they showed. All students that participated will be rewarded achievement points for their good work. Out of more than 200 plus entries, 8 winners were chosen. They will receive postcards and achievement points.
Jasmin Idris 7GN
Alexandra Keic 7NH
Alyza Karim 7NH
Goncalo Faustino 7NN
Hailey Tai 8BN
Anaya Patel 8BH
Zahabiya Darugar 8KH
Azura Hupe-Perry 8KN
Ms Tshibola
We are very proud of our Year 7 students, who have completed their first Half Term at Nower Hill!
They have settled in exceptionally well, with each student attending multiple extracurricular clubs each week and earning over 10,000 achievement points between them!
We are so pleased with the positive start that they have made.
YEAR 7
Year 7 Fun Event
One of the highlights for Year 7 this half term, was the Fun Event. They had the chance to compete against each other’s Tutor Groups in events such as; egg and spoon race, turbo javelin, sack races and the popular tug of war. The afternoon ended with a pizza and music party!
YEAR 7
Year 7 Published Author
We have a published author in Year 7! Well done to Sai Parmar 7GN who has recently had an original piece of creative writing selected for publication in a young writers anthology –Ancient Adventures - The Good Old Days!
It is always fantastic to see our students pursuing their interests outside of school. Here is an extract:
Malicious Mummy
At the bottom of a pyramid lived a mummy. That mummy was plotting an escape out of the tomb she was in. She started to unwrap her tape and then used the tape to pull the door to the tomb. She climbed out and started running, but when she looked down, there was a silhouette of a giant man. That could only mean one thing. Tutankhamun had found her! He grabbed her and put her in an underground tunnel that led to a secret jail. Could she get out there?
Year 7 Road Safety Performance
On Tuesday 8th October, The Riot Act Theatre Company visited Nower Hill, to deliver a performance about road safety.
The actors engaged our Year 7 students, with a performance to raise awareness of the danger of roadside distractions, which include; music, phones and friends. They also looked at ways students can identify and cope with peer influence and peer pressure to promote safe, responsible and positive behaviour on the roads, on public transport and whilst travelling in general.
Please do talk to your child about the importance of not crossing the road looking at their phones or listening to music. These can often lead to accidents that we all want to avoid.
Year 7 Team
YEAR 9 TfL TALKS
On Thursday 3rd October, Transport for London Project Guardians came into school to talk to our Year 9 students about personal safety on public transport, raising awareness regarding sexual harassment on public transport.
The presentation engaged students by using film clips, real stories and CCTV images, whilst also reminding students about being active bystanders and the importance of reporting. One of the biggest takeaways was reminding students to always tap in with their ZIP card when using public transport, to ensure that the journey is logged, so that the journey can easily be traced if there was ever an incident. Do remind your children about tapping in at all times, even if the bus driver lets them on!
The ‘Railway Guardian’ app was promoted with the students. This app has ways for the user to set up tracking and family alert services as well as allowing the user to upload images about unsafe streets
The students asked excellent questions during the session and the organisers were very impressed.
Year 9 Team
YEAR 10 – THE NEXT GENERATION OF ENGINEERS
This half term our Year 10 Engineering Design students had the opportunity to experience hands-on disassembly of Dyson products enabling them to bring to life the concepts of modern design manufacturing and engineering. The James Dyson Foundation provided kits for our school to explore their products along with other resources that help guide the activities and consolidate our Level 2 OCR Engineering course.
Our students worked to carefully take apart the product and then discuss and analyse the components parts. This allowed pupils real life experience in understanding the manufactured parts in terms of usability, form and function.
This has been a really positive experience for our students, who have also been learning about different engineering careers.
“Engineers are the world's problem-solvers. To find practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century, we need more of them. The James Dyson Foundation's primary mission is to inspire young people to pursue a career in engineering”
https://www.jamesdysonfoundation.co.uk/ Year 10 Team
6th FORM LEVEL 3 EXTENDED PROJECT QUALIFICATION PRESENTATIONS
On 26th September, our hall was brought to life once more with presentations by our Year 13 students. It was fantastic to see such a wonderful array of topics being discussed around the room and the pride on the students' faces as they delivered their presentations to a live audience was so lovely to
Their peers along with staff, parents/carers and governors left the hall truly inspired. A huge well done to all our EPQ students; we are very proud of you all.
Ms McNab
Thea Camps
Jeffery Kusi
Ishaaq Rather
Carissa Kumar
YEAR 10 CORE PRE
Year 10 Core PRE students are currently studying a unit of work on eradicating racism, they have completed work on unconscious bias and micro-aggressive behaviour, systemic
YEAR 11 FUTURE BIOTECHNOLOGIST LIFE SCIENCE STEM WORKSHOP
Last Wednesday, the Science department hosted an interactive STEM Life Science workshop. The event was joined by the two neighbouring schools, Hatch End High school and Pinner High school. The workshop, organised by Future Biotechnologist, brought together volunteers from local life science organisations such as scientists (Francis Crick Institute), Clinical Director (Norgine), Research associates (Concert Bio) marketing manager (Laprosurge), PhD students and many more.
The diverse panel shared insights into the various science careers, and students took part in carouselstyle activities to explore the different fields within Life Science. The event was a fantastic opportunity for our students and the volunteers were impressed by how engaging the students were and the level of questions.
Ms Tshibola
YEAR 12 FINE ART
In September, Year 12 Fine Art students had a drawing workshop from visiting artist Ella Lyons-Brown. Ella is a former Nower Hill student who is currently studying in her third year of her Fine Art-Drawing BA at Camberwell University of the Arts, London.
The drawing workshop for the students on portraiture was over a two week period. Ella spoke about her art practice with the students and gave advice on portfolio work.
Ms McGarvey
THE ALAN SENITT UPSTANDERS LEADERSHIP COURSE 2023/24
Review of the programme by Vidula, Year 11
The Alan Senitt Upstander Leadership Programme (ASULP) is the over-arching brand name for all ASULP initiatives, ASULP was established in 2008 and continues to empower students today at Nower Hill School. Launched in 2008 by Alan’s sister, Emma Sennit and brother Jaime Senitt, to honour the memory of Alan Senitt. Alan had embarked upon a very promising political career, until his life was tragically cut short in 2006.
The program takes on ten Year 10 students every year, coaching them to run workshops at partnering schools and in organising projects from the grassroot level that have a true community impact. At the core of the ASULP is to develop a culture of accountability and student leadership. Participants are encouraged to work together with their peers, to grow the skills they need, and work together to identify social issues and take action. And for our community project during 2024, we chose to tackle discrimination faced by South Asian people.
Our group crafted a thoughtful way of bringing awareness to discrimination faced by South Asian people. We sought to educate our peers about the struggles South Asian communities experience and why it is necessary that we stand in solidarity with everyone, no matter who they are.
In the programme, we ran workshops for Year 7–10 students in their Citizenship and Philosophy and Religious Education (PRE) classes. These sessions had been created to allow space for sincere conversations regarding equality and diversity and to reveal wedges between us all to facilitate more understanding and compassion between us. Not only did our workshops serve to educate, but they also acted as a catalyst for discussions and activism in our school.
We graduated from the programme on September 26th, with a graduation ceremony. We are a team of 10, and worked really closely to bring this project to life. The team consisted of Shashmy, Vidhula, Atharv, Apernah, Sarah, Iman, Aarushi, Aum, Kavin and Shreeya. Every one of us had a different set of strengths and insights we brought to the team that made our conversations rich, helping the quality of our work. We showed, together, the role of teamwork and collaboration could play in solving systemic social challenges.
THE ALAN SENITT UPSTANDERS LEADERSHIP COURSE 2023/24
The ASULP has been a life changing experience for all of us. The program has inspired us to be active citizens and break stereotypes, as well as open doors for everyone in the school and outside.
We gained skills and knowledge that will benefit us in our pursuit to do better in our communities. We understand that the road to equality and empathetic engagement is constant work to create a safe world that welcomes people with kindness.
The Alan Senitt Upstanders Leadership Programme is a key initiative in developing the next generation of leaders. The programme also helps to foster a resolute sense of compassion and social responsibility by encouraging young people to challenge attitudes and actions rooted in bigotry and prejudice. From an individual perspective, we have learned incredibly insightful lessons and honed abilities which will greatly impact our lives and the ways in which we will be able to make meaningful contributions to society.
Vidhula
Member of, Alan Senitt Upstanders Leadership Programme - 2024
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN IT SPECIALIST
This half term, we hosted a Day in the Life of an IT Specialist featuring an IBM Senior Technical Specialist Anil Shah. The speaker presented an insightful discussion about the various career opportunities in IT and at IBM, offering real-life examples and recommendations.
Our students, from Years 9-13, were extremely engaged, asking insightful questions and demonstrating great enthusiasm throughout. The speaker was very impressed by their interaction. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to explore potential future careers in IT and computing.
Ms Tshibola
GLOBE PLAYERS PERFORMANCES
On Monday 16th September, the English Department welcomed the Globe Players back to Nower Hill to perform ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for Year 9 students and ‘Macbeth’ for Year 10 students. The company gave captivating performances that absorbed the attention of students and their English teachers.
Both year groups are currently studying these texts in their English lessons, with Year 10 exploring ‘Macbeth’ as part of their Literature GCSE, so seeing the play live was excellent exam preparation and a chance to support students in understanding plot and character. Throughout both performances, the actors broke character to explain key Shakespearean context, quotations and scenes to the students which will undoubtedly support students in their future learning.
Ms Michaels
SPORTS FIXTURES
Year 7 Football Tournament
On Thursday 26th September 2024, Nower Hill hosted the first Year 7 football tournament of the year. Eight schools from across Harrow competed in the competition and Nower Hill were represented by two teams, Team 1 and 2. The standard of the tournament was excellent and the students performed exceptionally well.
Nower Hill 2 beat Hatch End 2 (3-0), but were unfortunately beaten by Pinner High (2-1) in their remaining group game, which meant they didn't progress to the semi finals.
Nower Hill 1 did win both of their group games, beating Avanti House (2-0) and Salvatorian College 2 (1-0). They played Park High in the semi-final, but were unfortunately beaten by a late goal inside the last minute of the game, to be denied a place in the final. Outstanding performances from Aaron Sutherland, Mudassir Farhat, Savannah Hodgson and Sammy Laryea. A special thank you also to the Year 11 students and 6th form helpers who gave up their time after school to help coach the teams and officiate the matches: Javinchi Lewin, Mariana Ovsyankina, Dhyan Sharma, Joshua Bantleman and Matt Brayne.
Mr Gallop
Volleyball Ranking Tournaments
On Tuesday 17th September 2024, the under-16 Volleyball team travelled to Salvatorian College to play in the Harrow Borough Volleyball Ranking Tournament. The standard of the competition was very high, and our boys performed extremely well considering they had only had one training session beforehand. They won both of their matches and qualified top of the group. The results were:
Nower Hill (25) beat Park High (17); and Nower Hill (25) beat Salvatorian College (20). Outstanding performances from Darren Stefanescu, Jack Joseph, Arthur Joseph, Dylan Collins, Rustam Kabir, George Budd, Luca Rahman, Navisan Yoganathan and Daniel Stefanescu (who played above his age group).
On Thursday 19th September 2024, the under-14 Volleyball team also travelled to Salvatorian College to play in the Harrow Borough Volleyball Ranking Tournament. Again, our boys had only a limited time to prepare for the matches, but performed exceptionally well and managed to win all three of their qualifying games. The results were:
Nower Hill (25) beat Salvatorian College A (17); Nower Hill (25) beat Park High B (17); and Nower Hill (25) beat Park High A (19). There were some fantastic performances from Daniel Stefanescu, Shay Kothary, Jayden Kothary, Eirrah Tallorin, Raul Purohit, Abdurrahman Safraz and Andrew So.
The teams will now continue to train and prepare for the group stages tournament in November.
Mr Gallop
SPORTS FIXTURES
Under 15 Girls’ Football
On Monday 7th October, our Nower Hill under-15 Girls’ Football team travelled to Queens Park Community School for their first Middlesex Cup fixture of the academic year. Playing 20 minutes each way, multiple members of the team stepped up to play out of their usual positions, a true display of great confidence and teamwork.
Although defeated, all players should feel truly proud of themselves for representing Nower Hill in such a respectable manner. We are looking forward to starting League Fixtures for KS4 after the Christmas break and KS3 in the next couple of weeks. Watch this space!
Players include; Cara Samuels, Elsie Mistry, Lea Smith, Nevaeh Rittenberg-Morris, Megan Cadman, Soufia Atek, Natasha Bass, Lena Bhandari, Lyla McCarthy, Savannah Hodgson, Chiara Anderson, Imogen Cull.
Special mentions for both Natasha Bass and Elsie Mistry for playing in goal! Also for Savannah Hodgson, Chiara Anderson and Imogen Cull for playing their first game since starting Nower Hill in September.
Ms Kidd & Ms Genower
Under 13 Girls’ Football
The under-13 team put in a great performance representing Nower Hill in the U13 Middlesex Cup. They battled hard against a difficult opposition, and demonstrated great resilience in the second half with a much improved performance. The other team eventually progressed to the next round but the Nower Hill team should be very proud of themselves - especially as it was some of our players’ first ever game of football!
Well done to; Nevaeh Rittenberg-Morris, Megan Cadman, Soufia Atek, Natasha Bass, Lyla McCarthy, Savannah Hodgson, Chiara Anderson, Imogen Cull, Aneeka Shah, Desiree Sahalo Turco, Lena Bhandari, Berry Halpin, Arabella Willans, and Thana Ogunlade!
A special shoutout to great performances from Nevaeh, Lena and Savannah - with both Nevaeh and Savannah scoring a goal each.
Ms Kidd & Ms Genower
With Miss Zabaar, Wednesday Lunchtimes in H4
Using the chrome books we have also created and completed quizzes on medical ethics and Year 7/8 PRE content. This is perfect retrieval practice for your lessons!
Ms Chaudhary
In Philosophy club students have looked debated philosophical and ethical dilemmas such as:
Do we have Free will? Should Abortion be allowed? What is the meaning of life? Is torture the correct method for interrogation? Is Animal testing ethical? Are designer babies ethical?
REMEMBERANCE POPPIES
Our Head Students will be representing the school, with Ms Skelhorne at Pinner War Memorial on Sunday 10th November, and students will receive assemblies from the History department.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Digital Wellbeing (Online Safety) Workshops
As technology continues to advance, it can impact our young people both in positive and negative ways. The Harrow Early Help Team is running a virtual workshop to support parents and carers to learn practical ways to help your child manage screen time, build healthy online habits and balance technology with offline activities. If you wish to sign up, please click here.
Transition Support to Secondary
The Harrow Early Help Team are running an online workshop for parents and carers to support their child with the transition to secondary school. If your child is in Year 7 and you need some support and advice on how you can support them with the big change, please do sign up to the workshop by clicking here.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Parenting Support Discussion Groups
Each month "Brilliant Parents" offer free discussion groups on commonly encountered problems by parents. They are given tips and suggestions for dealing with their children’s challenging behaviour, looking at short video clips and sharing their thoughts with other parents. Parents and Carers are actively involved throughout the 2-hour small group format discussions. The following discussion groups are coming up;
● Getting Teenagers to Cooperate - 5th November 2024
● Coping with Teenagers emotions- 12th November 2024
● Reducing Family Conflict - 19th November 2024
● Building Teenager Survival Skills- 22nd November 2024
To find out more, visit our website where we have further information on each of these groups. To sign up please complete the registration form and survey
STUDENT WELLBEING
Remember, there is always someone at school that students can reach out to.
Students can access the Student Wellbeing Page using their Google Account. A reminder that if parents/ carers need any support, you can access a range of resources on our school website
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quiz-and-supper-night-tickets-1032795347687
OTHER INFORMATION
Hire our Facilities
Looking for a venue for your function?
Nower Hill High School is proud to offer many facilities for hire to the local community, clubs and organisations at an affordable price.
Astro Turf Pitch
Indoor Cricket Nets Hall
Dining Centre
Drama and Dance Studio Gym
Tennis / Netball Courts Classrooms
For further information on any of our facilities, including availability, please email: lettings@nowerhill.harrow.sch.uk
Did you know that you Nower Hill High School is registered with easyfundraising? which means you can raise FREE donations for the school every time you shop online. Over 7,000 brands will donate to Nower Hill when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to you.
These donations really mount up and make a big difference to the school, so we’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment to sign up and support us. It’s completely free and only takes a moment. You can find our easyfundraising page at:
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/nowe rhillhs /
Work Experience
YEAR 10
Are you able to offer one of our Year 10 students a work placement?
Year 10 go on work experience from Tuesday 6th May – Friday 9th May 2025
The placements will help our students understand the world of work, develop skills and help to motivate them at school.
YEAR 12
Are you able to offer one of our 6th Form students a work placement?
Year 12 go on work experience from Monday 23rd June to Friday 27th June 2025.
The placements will be linked to the degree course or apprenticeship they wish to study at University.
If you are able to offer a Nower Hill student an opportunity to work in a professional working environment, please contact Mrs Doshi at careers@nowerhill.harrow.sch.uk or on 0208 863 0877