Bevin Magazine Issue 8

ISSUE 8

BEVIN DELIVERING A BETTER FUTURE SPRING

2015 PO2 FAREWELL TO MR CHIVERS AFTER 34 YEARS PO3 CAREER PROSPECTS IMPROVED AT BEVIN PO4 TAKEOVER DAY: BEVIN BOYS HELP RUN WANDSWORTH COUNCIL FOR The DAY PO6 ELITE SPORT: WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM HARLEQUINS PO7 MINISTER OF SPORT MEETS BEVIN JUDOKA PO8 A BETTER FUTURE IN The COLLEGE SIXTH FORM

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A LEGACY OF LOOKING TO THE FUTURE NEWS

WELCOME Welcome to Bevin magazine: the focus of this issue is careers and the future prospects of our pupils.

We measure our success in the number of students who leave the college sufficiently qualified for the world of work or further education –this year 115 students secured university places.

It is no coincidence that Mr Chivers, who retired at the end of last year after 34 years at the college, said that his biggest success was developing a broad and balanced curriculum which enabled every young person, no matter what their ability, to succeed. Read our tribute to Mr Chivers on pages 2 & 3.

On pages 4 & 5, read about Takeover Day, during which a number of Bevin boys infiltrated the council at every level and were able to shadow some high-placed decision-makers for the day. The students involved tell us about their impressions of the workplace.

At Bevin we have excellent links with external sporting organisations.

Through one of these partnerships a group of students were able to watch a Harlequins rugby training session and meet players to help them understand what life as a professional sportsman entails. Read more on pages 6 & 7.

Finally we look to the future and next year’s intake of Sixth Form students, from both internal and external candidates. See the back cover for details of the better future on offer at Ernest Bevin College Sixth Form.

Rukhsana Sheikh, Principal Produced from mixed sources and the process is chlorine free.

Contact Fiona Wilkins, Ernest Bevin College, Beechcroft Road, London SW17 7DF T: 020 8772 5766 E: fwilkins@ernestbevin.wandsworth.sch.uk Photography: Adrian Pegg Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, we cannot accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form. ©Ernest Bevin College.

All rights reserved 2015.

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Jack Petchey Award Winners Eight boys from Bevin were amongst those celebrated at the annual Jack Petchey Achievement Awards in January. Callum (Year 10) was recognised for his roles on the College Council and with the Baking Group, set up to encourage boys to learn how to cook. Callum helped to organise a cake sale which raised over £100 for Trinity Hospice: “It made me think about what I have been doing and different ways I can help make college a better place for everyone,” said Callum.

After 34 years Mr Chivers has retired, but he left reminding us to look towards better life chances and to the future

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peaking at one of the assemblies given to mark his retirement after 34 years at Ernest Bevin, Mr Chivers summed up the ethos of the college, telling the boys: “My job is all about improving your life chances: I tell parents when they come to Open Days at the college that if they send us their child at age 11, they will leave at age 16, 17 or 18 with better life chances than when they started.”

It was never going to be easy to leave Bevin after so long, but Mr Chivers took his leave in the same style he had employed over his many years here: with the minimum of fuss, a smile and a quiet word or piece of advice for anyone who cared to listen.

His decision to step down – he doesn’t like the term ‘retirement’ – had not been taken lightly but the deciding factor lay in the future: “I was determined to leave the school with a good set of exam results and another good set of results in the pipeline for the next year.”

When asked what his key achievements were during his time at Ernest Bevin, he answered without hesitation that it was the development of a broad curriculum which allows everybody to be successful.

One measure of this success is the fact that last summer over 100 young people left the college to go to university, compared with the 10 or so pupils who used to get university places in the 1980s when Mr Chivers joined Bevin as a Maths teacher.

At the time, the Maths Department, like many others across the country, were making forays into teaching a new subject: computing. The school computer – there was only one – had 1K of memory and all the pupils’ work had to be stored on floppy disks. Mr Chivers found himself teaching the new subject because he had some experience working on computers in the City before joining Bevin; he could see there could be a big future in the subject. His instincts were correct, Ernest Bevin gained specialist Maths & Computing status in 2004 and the number of boys leaving with Computing or ICT qualifications continues to grow.

Other high points of his career include his role in the planning and development of the ‘new’ sports centre: facilities that are enjoyed and used both by our own pupils and by other schools and community groups.

Where other schools might have considered

PE a subject to be covered in between lessons, at Bevin it has always been seen as a discipline in itself and, by building links with organisations such as Greenhouse Sports, Harlequins FC and Tooting and Mitcham United FC, the college has developed many talented young athletes, as well as providing potential career pathways in the ever-growing sport and leisure industries.

Engineering is another of Mr Chivers’ passions (he has various vintage vehicles which he plans to rebuild in his newly gained free time) and this is another discipline that has flourished at the college, with numerous boys, and we hope a few girls, continuing their studies at university.

A number of pupils who Mr Chivers taught frequently come back and visit. Some of these old boys recently joined staff, governors and colleagues from Wandsworth at an afternoon tea in his honour. Yet in typical fashion Mr Chivers described the honour as his: “To be able to work in an environment and see all these young people develop and make a success of their lives is an absolute honour.”

So Mr Chivers has decided that 34 years of dinner duties is probably enough but he has promised to stay in touch: “I will come back as often as I am invited,” he says. He will be a welcome visitor and everyone at the college wishes him all the very best for his future, safe in the knowledge he will be keeping an eye on ours!

How does Bevin improve your life chances?

First and foremost, students at EBC have access to a top quality education and achieve excellent exam results. There is also a fully integrated programme of Careers lessons throughout Years 7, 8 & 9 which covers topics such as entry requirements, preferred learning styles, sources of information and help with Options Choices.

In Years 10 & 11, the lessons focus on skills such as CVs, interview techniques and writing letters of application.

Opportunities for enrichment and volunteering are offered via schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

In the Sixth Form, all students have a Careers lesson each week which covers UCAS, the university application process, student finance, gap years and apprenticeships; while help in completing personal statements and application forms is available on a one-to-one basis.

Students are also encouraged to take part in taster sessions at universities and get experience in their chosen discipline; for example students interested in Medicine carry out work experience in care homes or at local settings such as St George’s Hospital.

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Coach Core Apprenticeships Former pupils were amongst those recently presented with certificates by Prince Harry, Patron of The Royal Foundation, and New York Knicks’ NBA player Carmelo Anthony, for having completed apprenticeships with Coach Core, a programme funded by the Foundation and run in partnership with Greenhouse Sports and Glasgow Life in Scotland. Representing Bevin were Judo coaches Ryan Gordon and Nathan Bawuah, and volleyball coaches Rakeem Caesar and Terrell Jordan (pictured). The latter continues to coach at Bevin.

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Bevin Chefs Enjoy New Room Last autumn we celebrated the opening of our refurbished food technology room with the Bevin Bake Off competition, judged by Dhruv Baker, the winner of BBC’s Masterchef 2010 (pictured). Since then the room has seen heats for the Wandsworth Young Chef competition, baking for charity and the opening of our restaurant. A 3-course meal on Wednesdays is £10; bookings via mweatherhead@ernestbevin.wandsworth.sch.uk

FAST FACTS :: 60% EB C 6th FORMERS GO TO UNIVERSITY COMPARED W ITH 52% BOYS NATIONALLY :: THE FIGURE IS RISING -115 STUDENTS IN 2014

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Mohuddas Ali

TAKING OVER Over 20 Bevin students took over from senior councillors, department heads, police officers and other decisionmakers at Wandsworth Council on Takeover Day. This is a national event organised by the Children’s Comissioner for England which gives young people the chance to work with adults for the day in an area of career interest

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Plays hockey for a professional team but dreams of being a pilot TOOK OVER...

Richard Milton, Public Protection Portfolio: managing 50 police officers and other staff

“

We started the day at Wandsworth police station and I met the people who work there and saw where the policemen ate their meals.

We went down to the cells and even saw some people being held in them. We also sat in on a meeting with people who investigate domestic violence.

In the afternoon we were taken to Wandsworth Town Hall in the police van. They put the blue lights on when we arrived and we ‘arrested’ Richard for the photo. I really enjoyed the day and it has changed my opinion about the police. You think they are against you but I realised they are trying to protect the youth and people in general.

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Dabir Ahmad

Jallis Ali

Ronak Patira

Not sure whether he wants to be in advertising or to be a doctor

Likes Finance and Computing. Wants to be a software developer

Loves learning about financial structures. Aims to work in finance

TOOK OVER...

Dan Watkins, Conservative party candidate for Tooting (when he was younger, Dan wanted to be an entrepreneur)

“

Taking part in Takeover Day was really fun. I learnt new skills such as how to organise files and doing advertising on websites.

I had the chance to write about recommendations for websites. I also learnt about how to set up a business including VAT, tax and more about invoices.

I would have liked more practical tasks to do but overall it was a fantastic day because I learnt something new and I learnt more about advertising and business.

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Hazzan Olalemi Likes the idea of working in senior management, a position of power TOOK OVER...

Paul Martin, CEO of Wandworth Council (when he was younger, he wanted to be a journalist)

“

I sat in on an interview that the Wandsworth Council Chief Executive was doing for a magazine and then afterwards we went to Battersea for a meeting about the Power Station project. It was all about the design of the whole area and the buildings that are going to be put in there.

We also went to a meeting about the Work Match scheme which tries to help people who have been out of work for a while find a job. The day was very ‘out and about’; I thought it would be more office based.

I’m interested in Law and Politics so it was a good taste of some of the roles that these subjects might lead me to in the future.

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TOOK OVER...

Rob Persey, Head of Joint Commissioning Unit at Wandsworth Council (when younger, Rob wanted to be a tennis player)

“

We had a meeting about the facilities at a new development. I then had a briefing about what they do before going to another meeting.

At one of these meetings they were discussing information leaflets for young people and I was asked for my opinion as to which one was more appealing.

Over the day I saw how people managed money and distributed it between different sections.

Every individual does a different job. I think it’s important to find out about other jobs to discover what you really want to do.

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Hashir Rana

TOOK OVER...

Sees his future job as a doctor or a stem cell researcher TOOK OVER...

Ian Higgins, Lead Incident Investigator /Named Nurse (who once wanted to be a lorry driver)

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I have been a member of the Wandsworth Youth Council for the last three years and was keen to take part in this annual event. I started my Takeover Day at Springfield Hospital, where we saw the unit that has been designed to keep patients safe when they are brought in. We also had a go on a mock defibrillator and a dummy, which was very realistic – it even vomited!

We talked to the human resources department about how they deal with complaints from patients and their families.

We then went to the Town Hall.

The day has helped me see that there is more to medicine than just being a doctor and there are different ways you can help people in your job, if this is what you would like to do.

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Sean Dunkling, Assistant Director at Wandsworth Council with budgetary and management roles (previously wanted to be teacher)

“

I really enjoyed the meetings and discussing education budgets. I was surprised by how much money they deal with and learnt they didn’t have enough to do all they wanted to.

People are quick to complain that the council/schools don’t do enough to help them but when you look at the budgets you see they are allocating the money very well. I had to make one decision after listening to a presentation and it seemed a good idea, so I said ‘yes’ to it.

The day reinforced my desire to follow a career in finance and I hope to stay on for A levels at Bevin and then go on to university. .

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Matthew Endicott Loves psychology & public speaking but hasn’t decided on a career TOOK OVER...

Robert McCandles, Family Therapist, and Amy Wood, Clinical Therapist

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I was based at Springfield Hospital for most of the day.

We began by looking at the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) service which helps young people in Wandsworth and other neighbouring boroughs.

We also did some practical exercises: they had a very realistic dummy that is used to simulate someone who is dying.

I used the defibrillator to shock it back to life.

I have got back in touch with the people I shadowed to see about work experience and am going to do a Psychology taster day to see what it is like studying the subject at A level.

I was very interested in this area before Takeover Day and it hasn’t changed my mind.

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FAST FACTS :: 55% EBC STUDENTS ACHIEVED 5+ GCSEs INCLUDING ENGLISH AND MATHS IN 2014 :: THIS IS BETTER THAN THE NATIONAL FIGURE FOR BOYS

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PROFESSIONALS AT CLOSE QUARTERS NEWS

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Minister for Sport visits Bevin During a whistle-stop visit, Helen Grant MP, the Minister of Sport, toured our excellent sports facilities, met staff and students and saw a typical Wednesday morning of sport which included PE lessons, a Harlequins rugby session, a Primary School swimming session and judo in the dojo. The Minister revealed she was a former judo champion and let on that her favourite moves were ‘O Goshi’ for safety and success and ‘Tomoe Nage’ if she wanted to show off! The visit was arranged with the help of former pupil Peter Spearink (pictured above with the Minister and Year 8 pupils Yacoub, Suhayl and Greg). Peter was one of the first pupils to attend the newly opened Hillcroft School in the 1960s.

The group from Ernest Bevin College pictured on the day of their visit with members of Harlequin FC.

COME ON YOU A QUINS!

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Bevin’s Oscar Treadaway-Hoyte under the spotlight during his filmed interview and Ernest Bevin College boys watching a Harlequins training session, including a variety of tackle drills.

A group of Bevin PE students had a rare opportunity to watch a Harlequins FC first team training session and see at close quarters how professional sportsmen train

group of students studying A Level and GCSE PE had a fantastic opportunity to see sport at its highest level, up close on the training ground. Through Bevin’s ongoing link with Harlequins FC the group was invited to attend a first team training session.

The Bevin students arrived at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, a shared facility where Quins train, on a cold but bright January afternoon.

They were shown around by Graeme Bowerbank, Head of Rugby Operations at Quins, who described his role as looking after the players off the pitch. Graeme explained how the players benefit from the shared facilities by tapping into the expertise of other teams who train there.

“When we see one person do something different, that one person could be the 1% we are looking for to make the difference,”

Graeme told the group.

The Quins players and physios have exclusive use of the gym for two hours every day and out of this time players may continue to work on their strength and conditioning, particularly if they are recovering from injury. This is done alongside members of the public who also use the gym.

“It was quite surreal to see the players just walking around,” said Ajani Knight-Pope who plays number 8 for Bevin. “We saw Marland Yarde walking up the road and bumped into England captain Chris Robshaw in the corridor.”

Training also includes pilates, yoga and swimming which is particularly beneficial to recovery after a match. Again we learnt that any detail that could give players an edge is explored; for example, Quins asked Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies to come and teach the players how to swim properly and to

control their breathing in order to make these recovery sessions more effective.

Surprisingly only seven hours of the week’s training session is spent of the pitch, the players also spend a considerable amount of time in the classroom, analysing performance and watching the next opposition to come up with winning strategies. Technology plays a huge role: training sessions are videoed and players wear trackers which ensures that no-one can sit back and not take it seriously.

Our visit coincided with one of the pitch training sessions and we were lucky enough to walk out onto the pitch with the players.

“They were socialising and chatting but when they got to the ground they knew when it was time to switch on,” said Ajani.

The players rotated through a number of highly organised drills based around ball handling skills and speed. This is in line with the clubs’ ethos of entertaining ‘heads-up’ rugby rather than the more structured style found in some of the other clubs.

“This was a real opportunity for our young

sportsmen to see professional sport at the highest level,” said Mr Williams, who coaches Bevin’s first 15.

The other aspect of the session that the students noticed was the level of noise on the pitch as the players constantly communicated with each other. Whenever the ball wasn’t coming out quickly enough, there were at least five players calling for it to come out ‘wide’.

The players are also expected to get involved in publicity: on the day of our visit club sponsors DHL were filming interviews with players for their ‘#everystory’ features, which explain how the players got into rugby.

Sixth Former Oscar Treadaway-Hoyte was put under the interview spotlight and quizzed about his rugby highlights, which include playing for the Barbadian U19s and Battersea Ironsides as well as helping to coach the current Year 7 team. He described the experience as ‘daunting’ but as a keen Quins fan it gave him added respect for the players, who have to deal with being interviewed straight after 80 minutes of rugby.

British Judo Medallists Sixth Form Volleyball star Cameron Carrington was recently nominated for the Active Wandsworth Young Sportsperson of the Year 2014 award. Cameron, who has played for and captained England Junior Volleyball team, narrowly missed out on the top position but came runner-up. The awards were presented

by Sky Sports presenter, David Garrido and Commonwealth Gold Medallist Joe Joyce at a glitzy awards ceremony.

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London Cross Country Champion Blue Tie Mohamed Mohamud is proving himself to be a formidable long distance runner.

Last year he qualified to represent Wandsworth in the mini London Marathon. Mohamed is pictured above with Sadiq Khan MP who ran the full London Marathon on the same day.

Mohamed, who takes his inspiration from his namesake Mo Farrah, represented Wandsworth in the London Cross Country Championships in February this year and won the event to be crowned London boys’ champion.

FA S T FA C T S : : B R I T I S H J U D O C H A M P I O N S H I P S : F O U R B R O N Z E M E D A L S : : F I V E V O L L E Y B A L L E R S C A L L E D T O N A T I O N A L T R A I N I N G