Insight Issue 2

News from Highgate Wood School arts college

CONSIDERATION

COOPERATION

COURTESY

CONTRIBUTION

Issue No 2

October 2011

Maya Schamroth Rossade

Charis Entwisle

Freya Everest

Our Year Nine students have really excelled themselves with some great homeworks this term. The three students whose work is shown here are representative of some of the super drawings we've had from the year group on the theme of 'My Self Portrait'. It's not easy to draw yourself, so well done to all the students who are handing their homework in on time and at such high standards.

Mr M Astrop Head of Art

Message from the Headteacher Welcome to the second edition of Insight. To those who are new to us as parents/carers of Year 7 students, simply... welcome! As this is my first time of writing to you all I will take this opportunity to express my hope that you have all had an enjoyable summer.

However that is a long way past now and we are approaching the end of the first half term. I hope very much that your child has had a good and positive beginning to the new school year.

Great Exam results!!

Let’s start with some fantastic news! Last summer I wrote to you expressing my optimism about the exam results that our students would achieve. I am thrilled to say that my optimism was entirely justified. Our students achieving record results at both GCSE and A’ Level.

Below is a summary of some of the headline figures...

Result 68%

5 A*-C (including English and Maths) 5 A*-C

76%

5 A*-G

95%

1 A*-G

100%

English Baccalaureate

23%

Boys achieved 61% 5A*-Cs (including English and Maths) compared to 39% last year Girls achieved 74% 5A*-Cs ((including English and Maths) compared to 57% last year GCSE trends over the years

And at A Level

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

%A­C

56%

61%

66%

71%

71%

77%

%A­E

93%

94%

97%

97%

98%

98%

I would like to congratulate the students from last year’s Year 11s and Year 13s on these amazing results. I would also like to thank my brilliant staff who worked so hard and with such passion and commitment to ensure that our students were supported to do their best. A good effort all round!

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October 2011

Some of our successful students on GCSE exam results day

New Staff (and existing staff promoted) Last summer we recruited to a number of key positions across the school. I have shown the new members of staff in the table below.

Department Science

New Staff (Responsibility)

Design and Technology

Mr S. McDonagh (Head of Department) Ms C. Angove

Art

Mr D. Maclaren Ms C-J Eng (Part-time)

Maths

Mr S. Gul Mohammed

ICT

Ms B. Awoyemi

History

Mr J. Fitzgerald

Social Sciences

Ms M. McGurk

English

Mr T. Russell

Learning Resource Centre Manager

Ms E. Green (also teacher of English)

School Business Manager

Mr S. Hatch

Exams Assistant

Ms J. Boston

Ms M. Patel (Advanced Skills Teacher) Mr J. Rowlands (Responsibility Post) Ms S. Roberts Ms I. Taylor Mr J. Croasdale (Part-time)

Below is a list of staff who are not new to the school but have been promoted to new roles...

Department

New Staff (Responsibility)

Maths

Mr D. Mitchell (2nd In Charge)

ICT

Mr B. Odei (Acting Head of Department)

Art

Ms K. Zwicky (Acting 2nd in Charge)

I am confident in the quality of the staff that we have recruited and promoted, and I have no doubt that through your children’s experience of them during this first half term, you will have very positive stories about the impact that they are already starting to make. I wish them long and successful careers here at Highgate Wood School.

October 2011

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Open Evenings and Mornings – A Positive Start to the Year We held our Open Evening on Wednesday 5th October and followed this up with three Open Mornings last week (11th, 12th and 13th October) for all prospective Year 6 students and their parents to come and view the school. I was really pleased with the number of people that attended each event and even more so with the very positive feedback that we received. The popularity of Highgate Wood School has steadily grown over the last few years, and I am proud that we are being considered more and more by our community as the local school of choice.

The best element of the feedback that I received were comments about our staff and students. The number of people who fed back positively about the good vibe of the school was heartening. They noted the incredible keenness of our students who contributed positively on the evenings and mornings by being tour guides or helping out in departments – and the pride that they showed in their school. They paid tribute to the helpful, accommodating and pleasant nature of our staff. The comment below is indicative of many others that I have received following these events...

‘Dear HWS, I just wanted to send a quick note to Mr Cozier and the staff to say thanks for the open evening - you inspired us and our son who is now very excited about secondary school. Special mention to the science department and students who put on a great show!

Many thanks’ I would like to echo that and give thanks to all members of the community who demonstrated collectively to our visitors what a special place Highgate Wood School is.

Uniform Highgate Wood School has been a uniform school for just over two years now. As always, I ask that as parents and carers you fully support the school in its efforts to ensure that students come to school dressed appropriately, whilst thanking the overwhelming majority of you for doing so.

One specific issue that we have had to address is related to girls’ skirts, both in relation to their choice of skirts and also the length at which they are worn. We have discussed this within the school and particularly with the School Council.

Following these discussions we reached a compromise with the girls that they would have this term to demonstrate their ability to adhere to the school’s expectations of skirt wear. We agreed that if they were unable to do this the school would introduce a new regulation school skirt in the Spring Term.

It is my sincere hope that we do not need to do this. I would be very grateful if you have a daughter at the school if you could support us in making sure that she is wearing a skirt according to the uniform code i.e.

‘Plain black or pleated, knee length (or just above) – NO LYCRA CONTENT FITTED SKIRTS.’ I will keep you informed of any future development on this.

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October 2011

The Year Ahead – The Key Focuses At the end of last term I promised to let you know a little more about our priorities for development across the coming school year. You may recall that I said last summer that the school development plan had three main priorities, namely • • •

Learning and Progress Ethos and Vision Financial Sustainability

Below is a termly breakdown of the specific focuses under the Learning and Progress strand of the plan.

STRAND

Learning and Progress

AUTUMN

Ensuring high quality, regular and consistent formative marking and feedback for students

SPRING

SUMMER

Ensure that homework (and extended/home learning on the Managed Learning Environment) is consistently set and always marked

Develop the accuracy and use of student data in lesson planning and for targeted intervention of students in all key stages Develop the quality of the use of questioning to access higher level thinking

Underpinning Theme for 2011/12: Ensuring that all learning and teaching is designed to meet the needs of all students.

I would like to thank our parents and carers for your consistent feedback throughout the year. Much of what you say is included in our review at the end of each year and usually forms part of the plans for improvement in the following year.

... And Finally As always, the autumn term is very busy and you will find lots of information in this issue of Insight to give you a flavour of some of the things that have been happening at Highgate Wood School as well as some useful prompts for events that are on the horizon. Amongst other things you will find in this edition is an introduction from our new Chair of Governors, Charles Wright. I wish Charles all the best in his new role, whilst at the same time thanking Imogen Pennell (the outgoing Chair) for her tireless work and fantastic support over the last four years.

I would also like to thank you for your continued support – it is very much valued.

Regards

Patrick Cozier Headteacher

October 2011

5

A message from the Chair of Governors Charles Wright, the new Chair of Governors, has served on the school’s governing body as parent governor and then community governor for almost five years. He was also a parent governor at Weston Park School.

“Highgate Wood is a fantastic school with fantastic students.

I’m looking forward to working with Patrick Cozier the Headteacher, fellow governors and the whole school community so that we consolidate our achievements and do our best for all our students.

“We have a clear focus this year, on continuing to improve learning and teaching, further developing a strong positive ethos and values across the school, and managing our resources efficiently and effectively.

“I would also like to pay tribute to Imogen Pennell who has been the Chair of Governors for the last four years. She has shown tremendous commitment during that time and I am delighted that she has agreed to take up the position of Vice-Chair for the coming year.”

Vacancies for Parent Governors We currently have three vacancies for parent governors at Highgate Wood School. The school welcomes applicants from all our parents. We are keen that the make-up of the Governing Body reflects the whole school community and particularly encourage parents from different parts of our community to consider standing for election If you are interested in becoming a parent governor to Highgate Wood School please contact Kiymet Ozturk at koz@hws.haringey.sch.uk by Friday 3rd November 2011 Message from Highgate Wood School PSA The PSA encourages all parents and carers to be involved in order to improve the life of all students at the school. Join our email list by contacting Terri Kinnison at thrsknnsn@googlemail.com and receive information about meeting dates, forthcoming events and minutes of what has been discussed.

International School Award In early September we learned that our second application for the International School Award had been successful and we had been accredited with this prestigious award for a further three years.

The ISA is presented to schools in recognition of curriculumbased international work. The award gives acknowledgement for the work of teachers and their schools in instilling a global dimension into the learning experience of all students. Many departments have now formed links with colleagues in schools across the world. One of the newest initiatives involves the History and Modern Foreign Languages Departments linking with Tunisian partners in a British Council funded programme called ‘Connecting Classrooms’.

Healthy Lifestyles across Europe .

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In October we hosted 15 teachers from six European partner schools when the inaugural meeting of a new European Union Funded programme was held at the school.

Along with our visitors from Spain, Hungary, Estonia, Rumania, Belgium and Denmark we were able to plan a two year programme of joint curricular projects and opportunities for students and staff to visit each other.

This Comenius project will focus on developing Healthy Lifestyles and hopes to include (amongst others) those studying D&T, PE, Social Sciences and Media Studies.

October 2011

The Audition Box is now open – Closing Date is 3rd November Auditions will be 7th,8th & 9th November.

The Winter Concert will be 13th, 14th & 15th December

The Highgate Wood Film Festival is taking place soon.

Do you want to make a short film for the festival?

The finished film should be any length up to 15 minutes, made using a digital camera, edited and transferred to DVD. The closing date for finished films is Monday November 14.

For more details as well as help and guidance speak to Mr Astrop at break time or after school.

You can find him in room W22 or email him at mas@hws.haringey.sch.uk

First story continues this year…

Interested authors in Years 9, 10 and 11 should look out for information from Mr Barker.

Meetings take place on Mondays in A23

TICKETS will go on sale from 28th November.

Media Students at the BBC Fikriye Kiazim, Greg Bushell, Audrey King Lassman, Conrad Lee and Chrystal Udenweze have been chosen to participate in the creation of a training video for BBC Class Clips.

They will be working alongside professional photographers, editors, and producers interviewing Para-Olympic hopefuls at the Lee Valley Training Centre and will be editing their films at the British Film Institute on the South Bank with Mosaic Films.

Stall for All in Crouch End

Posters for the Whittington BTECH Land-Based Studies Students have been making Black Heritage Posters for the Whittington Hospital Children’s Ward. These will be displayed on the ward and in corridors for all the public to see.

This is a gift from our students to the hospital who requested it after their staff met with the students in Crouch End at the Stall for All event in September Students will be gaining valuable skills such as: working as a team and planning, organisation and communication skills as well as providing a real service to our local community and to local children.

Congratulations to all new form reps. The school council will be available on the school website shortly.

Ancient Greek Drama for the School Play This year’s production is based on Lysistrata by Aristophanes, but it won’t be the original Greek play.

Instead it will be a risqué version of the famous story, set in prohibition-era America, with the roles reversed: boys playing girls and girls playing boys.

Auditions for the school play have taken place and the cast has now been selected. Congratulations to them all.

The cast will include Lester Ransley-Buxton, Josh Riley, Max Gerstein, Jack Tully, Niall Kennedy, Jonah Richert, Fionnuala Stevens, Kika Adamou, Malik Regy, Sam Cassells, Korrie Powell, Dimitri, Gianluca, Ventsi, Dimi, Malik, Matthew Mulcahy, Sam C, Korrie, Mimi, Maddy G, Alysha, Eloise, Miya Kelly, Holly Cassidy, Alice Goss, Ellie Whitlock, Georgia Taylor, Grace Ludlow, Ashya Broomes, Ruby Cowan, Lily Kelly, Caitlin Bowan, Lucy Carter, Hannah Dalgleish, Alex Whitlock, Caitlin Akass, Jessica Wagg, Issy Agnew, Megan Saunders and Alaine Demosthenous Lysistrata will run from Wed 22nd to Fri 24th February 2012 October 2011

7

The Highgate Wood School Hope Board It is inspired by the Peckham Peace Board where post-it notes spontaneously appeared on a boarded up shop that had been damaged in the riots the night before.

Our students discussed the August riots during their Citizenship lessons. They then composed their own post-it messages for our own Hope Board.

These messages show what young people think about the riots and the issues that might have been behind them. They wrote about the need for understanding, for opportunities and hope. Many commented on the importance of youth services and youth clubs. Lots think we should expect more and believe in a better future.

One of the many striking messages reads “It’s your community. Respect it!”

Every year hundreds of people are injured by fireworks. With Bonfire Night coming up please make sure you are sensible and careful. Remember that it is illegal to sell fireworks to anyone under 18, and it is also illegal for anyone under 18 to be carrying fireworks.

Under no circumstances should fireworks of any sort ever be brought onto the school grounds.

Highgate Wood School is currently involved in the Ecoschools initiative with the aim of making our school more sustainable. So far students have audited the school looking at issues such as waste, biodiversity and healthy lifestyles. With the help of the UN sponsored charity, 'Global Action Plan' they audited school bins to see what and how much we throw away.

Over the course of two terms the school has successfully reduced the amount of landfill waste produced. We have also secured free recycling bins for all classrooms and are now involved in a food recycling initiative with help from Veolia Environmental Services and Wilson Jones Catering Ltd. With a new academic year comes a new eco-team and we hope to achieve much more in the future.

8

Model UN Conference 9-10th December 2011 “The Human Impact of Climate Change” Following on from five years of successful participation in Model UN, Highgate Wood students are chairing and sending delegates to the London International MUN Conference at the IMO. There has been a huge demand for places, with many enthusiastic new and experienced delegates disappointed.

Head of Citizenship Mr O'Connor is trying to secure more places, but in the meantime has assured students there will be a greater chance of participation in the March 2012 conference.

October 2011

LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE Open:

Author Visit – Ali Lewis

every school day at 8:00 am every break time every lunchtime and every school day after school: until 5:00 pm Monday to Wednesday until 4:00 pm on Thursday and Friday

A group of twenty Year Seven students came to meet author Ali Lewis in September. Ali has just released her first novel ‘Everybody Jam’ which is set in the Australian outback. She talked about her inspiration for the novel, where it is set, and the characters she chose to write about. She read some exciting extracts from her book and answered lots of interesting questions that students asked. Everyone who attended enjoyed listening to an author talking about her work and those who’ve decided to read the novel are enjoying it.

Author Visit – Catherine Johnson Students, selected by their English teachers for showing a flair for creativity, took part in creative writing workshops with author Catherine Johnson (‘A Nest of Vipers’, ‘The Dying Game’, ‘Arctic Hero’, ‘The Nightmare Card) in October.

Catherine was amazed by the exciting and imaginative work the students were able to produce and was very impressed with the students’ gripping story openings. Several students have since expressed interest in becoming writers themselves and have taken away their writing from the workshop to create their own novels and short stories. Catherine described our students as “super” and has offered to read any stories they write as a result of their creative writing workshop.

Actress Visit – Jodie Whittaker (‘Attack the Block’) Jodie Whittaker (‘Attack the Block’, ‘One Day’, ‘St Trinian’s’, ‘Venus’, ‘Good’) came to the LRC in the last week of half term for a Q & A session with A-Level Media Studies students who are currently studying the film ‘Attack the Block’. Students were busy analysing the filming techniques used and evaluating the film’s moral implications before meeting the actress to ask questions about the making of the movie.

Starting in November, students in year 8 and 9 will be invited to attend a weekly debating club through a national organisation called Debate Mate.

Students will be trained by champion debaters who currently attend top universities and will have the opportunity to compete against other schools in four annual debating competitions.

October 2011

The LRC have been promoting a poetry competition in celebration of National Poetry Day on 6th October. The school with the best set of entries will receive £1,000 and six runner-up schools will receive cash prizes. Our students have the chance to win over £1,000 in book tokens and get their poems published in an anthology of poetry by young people! We’ve seen some fantastic entries so far.

Students have been entering a national competition to win the chance of meeting the author Cathy Cassidy as well as a signed copy of her new book and a box set of her published ones.

The competition involves designing a chocolate bar.

Designs entered so far including ‘Milky Munch’, ‘Smile Bar’ and ‘Chocalicious’ look colourful, imaginative and delicious!

Send your entries along with your name, age and school address to: Marshmallow Skye Competition, Scholastic Book Fairs, Euston House 24 Eversholt Street London NW1 1DB

Or bring them to the LRC. Closing date is 30th December 2011

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Data Protection

Feeling sick in school?

You will be aware that the school’s information systems contain a large amount of personal data about our students and their families. Under the Data Protection Act we have a legal duty to ensure that this data is accurate and up-to-date.

More importantly we also have a duty of care to ensure that the information we have is correct.

As part of Academic Review Day we are asking all parents and carers to check that the information the school has about them and their child is accurate and current and to let us know of any changes or corrections we need to make so that parents/carers or other emergency contacts can be contacted if necessary..

We also ask as a matter of routine that you let us know promptly if you move house, change your land line or mobile phone number, get a new email address or have a change of circumstance that means we should update our records in order to contact you easily and keep our information

Since September, and in common with many other schools, we no longer have a ‘medical room’ or a single person employed to deal with sickness.

Ordinarily students who are unwell are expected either to remain in their lessons or be sent home.

However, we do now have a Treatment Room (situated in the Adams Office), and a number of first aid qualified staff who can administer first aid when necessary. But this is for first aid treatment only. If a student is unwell a member of staff will be called to come to the lesson and speak to the student. A decision will be made as to whether or not the student stays in the lessons or goes home.

It is important that the school has up-to-date emergency contacts so parents, carers or another responsible adult can be called if necessary

On Academic Review Day students and parents focus on looking at the start your child has made to this academic year, particularly looking at their current attitude towards their learning. But target-setting should not be restricted to one event. One way of helping to ensure you keep making good progress is to always work in terms of targets and goals.

SMART targets can be particularly helpful.

S M A R T

PECIFIC:

EASURABLE:

TTAINABLE:

10

Pick something in particular to work on. “Work harder” is too general.

“Hand in next homework on time” , “read for 15 minutes a day” or “use more shading when drawing” are all good. It should be about how to get better.

You should be able to look back and see what you achieved. “Contribute one answer in each lesson,” “improve vocabulary test marks”, “always get to the classroom before the bell goes at Period 1” are all measurable.

You need to be able to meet your targets, and it is better to have several small targets than one huge one. Not everyone will be able to attain 100%, but everybody can increase their scores by 1%.

EALISTIC:

Be realistic about your targets. And make sure they are relevant too.

They should be about the steps that you can take now to improve things like your attendance, behaviour, effort and achievement. Be honest about where you are, and realistic about your next steps.

IME­RELATED:

Put a date down by when you will meet your targets. It is fine to have long term goals, but your targets need to be more immediate. 2-4 weeks is okay. Next term or next year is too far ahead for you to keep your targets in mind and keep them relevant.

October 2011

Sports News

Year 11 Football star Kevin Kwarteng fires another cross into the 18 yard box.

Kevin’s talent and hard work has led to him being scouted by professional Football Club Leyton Orient.

RESULTS NEWS

Year 11 Football star Jordan Blakemore Rose taking a corner. This corner was sensationally headed in by hat-trick hero Jake Hutchings.

RESULTS

NEWS RESULTS NEWS

GIRLS 5-a-side indoor l YEAR 9,10 + 11 FINAL LEAGUE TABLE

Goal Keeper, Joshua Gamble, made a critical first half save, diving to his right, to help the Year 11’s to victory over Northumberland Park School in Round 1 of the Haringey League

RESULTS

NEWS RESULTS

KS3 League Table - Haringey Girls

P

W

L

D

F

A

PTS

HIGHGATE WOOD FORTISMERE

5 5

5 4

0 1

0 0

12 25

3 9

15 12

ALEXANDRA PARK GLADESMORE HORNSEY GIRLS GREIG CITY ACADEMY

5 5 5 5

2 2 1 1

3 3 4 4

0 0 0 0

21 10 9 8

9 19 20 25

6 6 3 3

1. Highgate Wood School 2. Fortismere School 3. Greig City Academy 4. Hornsey School for Girls The HWS KS3 Girls team have one final game to play this week against Greig City Academy but will most certainly go through into the Haringey finals to play the top team from the west side of the borough. If they can win they will be crowned the Haringey League Winners for 2011.

Boys Football HARINGEY LEAGUE CURRENT PLACING Year Group

Played

Won

Goals For

Goals Against

Current Placing

Year 7

2

2

11

1

3rd

Year 8

3

2

14

9

3rd

Year9

2

0

3

11

8th

Year 11

3

2

15

2

3rd

Total

10

6

43

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Netball 2011 Netball has started off fantastically at Highgate Wood School with both the senior and Year 9 teams being undefeated so far in the Haringey competitions. Both are currently sitting on top of the ladder in both competitions and look to finish both in a strong position.

A big thanks needs to go to Helen Franks and Jo Stevens who have given up their time to volunteer to coach both teams.

The girls’ triumph in the Haringey 5-aside indoor league has set the scene for what promises to be an excellent season for Highgate Wood School Football. The boys teams have achieved great placings early on, and though we need to keep working on our defence, the attack has been brilliant. Keep up the commitment. We can do this!

Mr Pryor. Director of Football

Highgate Wood School has been officially welcomed into London 2012’s Get Set network. This is in recognition of our school’s commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic Values.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) awarded the school a plaque and certificate to acknowledge our involvement in the London 2012 education programme.

We now join schools across the UK as members of the a special London 2012 community and will receive access to exclusive competitions and 2012 Games related opportunities over the coming years.

October 2011

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KEY DATES 24th –28th October

HALF TERM

Thursday 3rd November

Academic Review Day for Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11

Thursday 10th November

16:30 Year 9 Parents’ Evening

Friday 11th November

Late start for school (9:35 am)

Thursday 24th November

School closed to students in the afternoon for staff training

Fri 25th & Sat 26th November

HWS Film Festival

28th Nov - 9th December

Year 11 Mock exams

Tuesday 29th November

19:30 HWS Parent Staff Association meeting at school

Wednesday 30th November

16:30 Post 16 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 1st December

Full Governing Body Meeting

Thursday 8th December

18:00 Sixth Form Open Evening

Tuesday 13th December

19:30 Winter Concert (continues Wednesday and Thursday)

Friday 16th December

End of term. School finishes at 12:25pm

SPRING TERM 2012

SUMMER TERM 2012

Tues 3rd Jan

10:50 Spring Term Starts

Mon 16th April

10:50 Summer Term Starts

Thurs 12th Jan

16:30 Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Tues 8th May

16:30 Year 7 Parents’ Evening

Friday 13th Jan

INSET - school closed to students Wed 9th May

Late start for school (9:35 am)

Tues 31st Jan

16:30 Year 10 Parents’ Evening

Wed 1st Feb

Late start for school (9:35 am)

Thurs 17th May

Full Governing Body Meeting

Tues 7th Feb

School closed in the afternoon for staff training

Thurs 24th May

School closed in the afternoon for staff training

13th –17th Feb

HALF TERM

Thurs 31st May

End of Key Stage 3 celebration

Wed 22nd Feb

19:00 School play (continues Thursday and Friday)

4th—8th June

HALF TERM

Thurs 1st March

Full Governing Body Meeting

Mon 11th June

New Timetable Starts

Wed 7th March

16:30 Year 8 Parents’ Evening Fri 22nd June

Year 11 Celebration Evening

Thurs 8th March.

Late start for school (9:35 am)

Mon19th March

School closed in the afternoon for staff training

Thurs 12th July

Full Governing Body Meeting

Friday 20th July

End of term Early finish @12:25

Friday 30th March End of term School finishes @12:25pm

The school calendar is now available on-line at www.hws.uk.com

Keep informed Find out what is going on at Highgate Wood School and keep up with our news through the HWS twitter feed, website and news blog. visit us at our website www.hws.uk.com follow us on twitter twitter.com/highgatewood read our news on hwsnewsweekly.blogspot.com If you would like to be on the mailing list for news please email news@hws.haringey.sch.uk