DET Trust Newsletter issue 4

DUNRAVEN EDUCATIONAL TRUST

Spotlight

December 2023 / Issue 4

WELCOME TO OUR WINTER ISSUE Dear Families I’m delighted to welcome you to the latest edition of ’Spotlight’, our Trust newsletter. Its aim remains to give you a flavour of the many things that our students have been involved in over the course of this term. I hope that you find it interesting. I’d be grateful for any suggestions that you might have to make it more useful along with things that you’d like to hear about in the future. A reminder that you can see more of what the students have been involved in via the ‘twitter’ (now called X) feeds for each school including the Reverse Advent Calendar (where you put something in each day rather than take it out) in support of our local foodbank. Donations are very welcome.

I continue to be impressed and inspired by the range of opportunities that the schools offer our young people. I am humbled by the number of times that our staff teams will go above and beyond what’s expected of them to ensure that students have the best experience of school possible.

It’s been another extraordinary and very busy year. Dunraven School’s successful inspection in the spring term means that just Rosendale awaits the ‘call’ from Ofsted. The school continues to perform very well and so can face the prospect of such a visit with a sense of confidence. Students across the Trust went on a wide range of visits, residential trips and took part in sports, arts and all the other experiences that make up such a key part of a balanced education. Some Year 10 students from The Elmgreen School travelled the furthest visiting the USA as part of a project comparing school life in two very different parts of the western world.

We’ll share more details of this exciting experience in the spring term.

The Trust team continues to work alongside school leaders to support and develop what we can offer to our young people.

This includes a range of things from working with subject leaders to develop curriculum provision; supporting improvements to school sites (like the refurbishment of The Elmgreen School’s astroturf pitch); ensuring that school budgets are well looked after to provide even better value for our families and communities.

The end of the autumn term brings the usual flurry of activities: dance shows, music concerts, nativity performances, winter fairs, Christmas lunches (with crackers!). And of course, lots of learning. We’ll continue to offer all we can to make sure that our young people are ready and well prepared for the next stage of their educational journey.

I’d like to thank our DET team for all that they do on behalf of the children and young people in our schools: our talented school staff along with the school leaders, Governors and Trustees. Thank you for your support too. We couldn’t do it without you.

With very best wishes for a safe, restful and happy Christmas break.

David Boyle CBE CEO vector credit Vecteezy.com

Arts Matter: Platinum Artsmark Award We are delighted to announce that Dunraven has retained its Artsmark Platinum award. This is awarded by the Arts Council of England. This is the most prestigious Artsmark award. To achieve platinum status is extremely rare and speaks to the quality of Arts provision at Dunraven and its impact on both the taught curriculum and wider enrichment offer.

The Arts have always mattered at Dunraven and are of real importance to staff, students and families. We are acutely aware that life is an infinitely richer experience with an appreciation of Arts and the joy and opportunity to experience the sublime that they bring; as well as understanding the hard work and rigour that goes into creating something beautiful.

We are very proud of this achievement but even more proud of the work that happens day to day at school: whether with the upcoming Dance show, Christmas Concert, School Musical or the impact of projects like Innovate with the Young Vic on teaching and learning across the school.

So a thank you to all our teachers of the Arts and to the whole school community. While Platinum is the highest accolade we are determined to do better even still in the future.

Spotlight

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Blooming Marvellous Dunraven’s super Secret Garden is now officially an award winner! Sophie Chapman, one of the ‘Friends of Dunraven’ parents association and a regular at our Big Digs, nominated the garden for the Incredible Edible Lambeth Awards 2023.

Rosendale’s Young Leaders All pupils in Year 5 and 6 at Rosendale can apply to be part of our Young Leader Scheme.

There are now over 70 pupils who volunteer every week in the school. Their leadership support is invaluable right across the school but especially in supporting their peers in both the Early Years and KS1.

Their duties include buddy reading with our youngest children; helping with the endless task of reuniting peers with their lost property and uniform; exercising and feeding our pet tortoise Tiny (who is now hibernating for the winter); making sure all iPads and Chromebooks are fully charged and returned to the IT trolley; maintaining our school library and checking out books; reading and making book recommendations to our younger children; running craft activities with our early years after school club children.

Spotlight

Sophie and staff member Ms Springer attended the ceremony and were very excited to receive the award on behalf of the school. Dunraven won Highly Commended in the Best School Garden in Bloom category. This couldn’t have been achieved without all the fantastic hard work and enthusiasm by the children and their families; nor without the amazing support and votes from the Dunraven community.

A great big thank you for your support and a huge well done to all of us!

Today’s helpers, tomorrow’s leaders. We are very proud that they want to support their school and make a positive difference.

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Saluting our Sisters Students at The Elmgreen School researched notable black women who have lived, or spent a significant amount of time in the UK. This work was inspired by Black History Month, under the national campaign of ‘Saluting our Sisters’. The aim of this project, organised by Mr McLoughlin, the school’s Head of History, was to put forward one nomination for the Blue Plaque scheme to commemorate an individual’s life achievements.

Students put forward a number of worthy candidates. Through hustings in assemblies and subsequent student polling, the list of individuals was reduced to five: Olive Morris, Lilian Bader, Margaret Busby, Una Marsan and Katherine Johnson. Student presentations for the five finalists were then made to the school’s Senior Team and the panel agreed on Lilian Bader as the school’s nomination.

The students’ presentations were thoroughly researched and gave excellent justifications for their chosen nominee. They were able to provide well thought out responses to the questions from the Senior Team. This experience emphasised not only the power of democracy to our young people but also gave them the opportunity to develop their oracy, debating and public speaking skills.

The school has written to English Heritage, the custodians of the Blue Plaque scheme, to start the application process of securing a plaque for Lilian. English Heritage were delighted to receive our request and to hear a recording of the students’ presentation making the case for this award. They have asked for some further information which the school is collating in that hope that our application may be considered next year. Watch this space.

Spotlight

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Did you see us at the Summer School Fair?

Phoenix Lettings attended the Dunraven, Goldfinch and Van Gogh Summer School fairs as an opportunity to speak with families and the wider community about the range of facilities each school has available to hire.

Sing Loud for Equality Year 6 at Van Gogh Primary had the opportunity to participate in local author Lee Lawrence’s ‘The Louder I Will Sing’ programme. This explores the difficult events that his family endured in Brixton in the 1980s and encourages children to use their voices, speak out against injustice and be an advocate for their community. The children had lots of questions and reflected on the possible difference they could make in the world.

Lee Lawrence was very pleased to visit the school and commented on how much it had changed from when he attended as a child (it was called Mostyn Primary School back then). He spoke about how nurturing the environment was and felt overwhelmed with joy when he saw a display celebrating the powerful work he has accomplished so far.

You can help to support your school by continuing to spread the word! We already have a number of charitable and local businesses using our premises.

Hiring our school facilities enables them to access the wider community and equally the lettings benefit our schools.

At the start of this academic year students at The Elmgreen School returned to a fully refurbished 3G astro turf pitch. This is a great resource that will benefit both the students and the community already belonging to existing football clubs using the pitch.

Phoenix Lettings are proud to be supporting and promoting these organisations in being able to provide a range of activities to our local communities. These include tuition, fitness & heath, religious activities and more.

If you would like to enquire or know someone who might be interested in hiring our facilities, please do get in touch via our website CONTACT US page.

For all Phoenix Lettings enquiries please visit www.phoenixfs.org.uk E: phoenix@det.org.uk T: 020 7959 4126

Spotlight

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Powerful History Scores Year 6 and the Year 5 girls’ football team from Goldfinch Primary were invited to be part of ‘Making History Workshop’ that took place at Chelsea FC’s Cobham training ground.

The children had the opportunity to engage in workshops looking to educate and inspire young people on the importance of Black History.

They were challenging the children to empower others by celebrating someone significant of black origin who is making history everyday.

The children had a tour of the grounds and got to meet three of the players from Chelsea Women’s Football team. The children said they were inspired by the players and the teachers said it was the most special and memorable experience.

A powerful day was topped off when Chelsea and England player, Raheem Sterling came to say goodbye to the children as they left.

TRUST TERM DATES Friday 22 Dec - Fri 5 Jan Christmas Holiday Spring Term 2024 Monday 8 January Students in Y7-13 return.

Primary Professional Development Day (staff only - no primary students in school) Tuesday 9 January Nursery-Y6 students return Friday 9 February Last day of half term Mon 12 – Fri 16 Febraury Half Term Holiday Monday 19 February All Students Return Thursday 28 March Last Day of Term Fri 29 March – Fri 12 April Easter Holiday (29 March Good Friday/1 April Easter Monday) Upcoming term dates for 2024-25 can be found on the trust website: www.det.org.uk

Spotlight

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Governance Recruitment Governors are volunteers who play a critical role in supporting schools to be the very best that they can be. We are always on the lookout for people who can bring useful skills and/or perspectives to our local boards.

Story of a Trainee Teacher

We were delighted to welcome a number of new governors to our schools this term. They joined from a variety of backgrounds including recruitment, education, the NHS, governance and publishing. Our new governors joined their first meetings in the autumn term, including our whole Trust governance session in October.

We also look forward to welcoming newly elected parent governors to The Elmgreen School and Rosendale Primary for their first meetings in the spring term 2024.

I am the youngest of four sons. We all attended Dunraven School and I remember my time there (and my former teachers) with real fondness.

When the opportunity arose to train to be a teacher through Dunraven, I jumped at the chance.

I am currently on the School Direct training programme and based at Rosendale Primary School. I have worked there for the past 5 years as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant after previously working as a bus driver in South East London. I opted for a career change as I have always enjoyed working with young people and felt a strong calling to the primary education system, which I felt needed more positive Black role models, especially in South London.

So 5 years and a lot of classroom experience later, here I am embarking on this journey into teaching with an institution I know well. Some would call it luck, I prefer to think of it as fate. Training with Dunraven’s Sharing Excellence Partnership is great! It’s intense, rewarding, and it stretches you. But more importantly, it’s based on research and flooded with incredible teachers and practitioners who genuinely care about our children, and it prepares you for your life as a teacher.

So get involved, get into teaching: the Sharing Excellence Partnership is a great place to start.

Darel Risden, School Direct Teacher, Rosendale Primary School

Spotlight

Thinking of Training to Teach in South London?

The Sharing Excellence Partnership, led by Dunraven School, is a Lead PGCE Partner with University of Roehampton. We offer training placements leading to PGCE and QTS in vibrant urban primary and secondary schools in Lambeth, Wandsworth and Croydon.

For all enquiries please visit www.sharingexcellence.org.uk Or email teachertraining@ sharingexcellence.org.uk

Our boards have also given their thanks to those governors whose terms of office came to an end in the autumn term. We are incredibly grateful to all who volunteer their time to provide both support and challenge and who play a vital role as the link between the Trust, the school and their community.

If you, or anyone you know, would like to know more about becoming involved in governance with our Trust, we would love to hear from you for an informal conversation. You do not need to have a knowledge of, or experience in, governance and education. You will have a keen interest in our schools and community and be prepared to commit the time needed to play an active part in supporting the work that we do. If you would like to find out more, please contact Kylie Burgess, Governance & Compliance Manager at governance@det.org.uk

Follow us @DunEdTrust contact us: info@det.org.uk www.det.org.uk