Issuu

Issue 2

Trust Newsletter

July 2023

A message from our Chief Executive There have been so many highlights this term, but for me, our TeachMeet and NCL Trust Showcase stood out as a reminder of how fantastic the staff and students in our community of schools are. Events like this only happen because staff in our schools offer their time and expertise to make them happen, constantly seeking opportunities for improvement and providing opportunities for our students to shine beyond the classroom. I also wish to congratulate 69 of our ECTs who have successfully completed their induction period this year. There is much to look forward to in the year ahead; at this point, however, I would simply like to thank our dedicated headteachers, teachers, and staff members. Your commitment to providing an exceptional education, fostering a safe and inclusive environment, and supporting our students' growth is truly commendable. If you have any suggestions for this newsletter or anything else you’d like to raise with me, just email me at anthony.wilson@newhamcommunitylearning.org. We wish all our staff and community a restful and happy summer holiday! Best wishes Anthony Wilson, CEO of NCL

NCL Trust Showcase Last week we had the pleasure of hosting our first ever ‘Newham Community Learning Trust Showcase.’ It was a fantastic way to round off the academic year, and our Trustees, Governors, and others really enjoyed the opportunity to see the range of different activities taking place across the Trust. Thank you to all of the staff and students who were involved and to Portway for hosting us.

TeachMeet June 2023 Theme: "Community of Learners: Sharing Teaching Practices" On June 21st, over 300 staff from across the whole Trust came together for our first NCL TeachMeet. A TeachMeet is an organised but informal meeting for teachers to share good practice, practical innovations, and personal insights in teaching. 28 teachers, from ECTs to Headteachers, volunteered to demonstrate good practice they've delivered over the past year or discuss a product that enhances classroom practice. Presentations included “How does Portway's 'Memory Pathway' build stronger mental models?”, “Speak like Socrates: How to embed oracy strategies to empower all learners” and “Developing automaticity in reading and checking for understanding for EAL students: instructions and concepts”.

Staff feedback from the TeachMeet event I was delivering - doing so helped boost my confidence in sharing good practice and leading CPD.

The coming together of all the trust schools. The ability to choose sessions relevant to our own teaching and what we wanted to learn more about and/or develop. Short sessions that didn't drag out meaning there were focused objectives and key takeaways to implement in lessons.

Short, snappy, easy to digest CPD!

I think these sessions were very helpful. In a very short period of time I gained lots of insight and a range of strategies. I think having them more than once a year will be helpful Brilliant afternoon. Great welcome. Nice to have something so uplifting at the end of the year. Thanks to those who organised.

Yes. Again, the refreshing perspectives on old ideas from new teachers made it beneficial.

Welcome to new staff in the central team Please join us in saying a warm welcome to Claire Stewart - our new Interim Trust Director of Safeguarding. ‘’I am very pleased to introduce myself as your newly appointed Interim Trust Director of Safeguarding. Before embarking on this new role, I worked at Selwyn Primary School for 12 years as their Executive Deputy Head teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead. I started my teaching career as an NQT in Newham 20 years ago! I am looking forward to collaborating with you to ensure that all schools within the Trust have the systems and processes in place to keep all children and young people safe. Please feel free to reach out and introduce yourself.’’

Please join us in saying a warm welcome to Alice Clay- our new Interim Executive Leader for Quality of Education . Alice Clay is an experienced senior leader who has previously worked at Lister and, for the last two years, as an HMI at Ofsted and has led both primary and secondary inspections. Alice will be joining the central team full-time in September.

Snippets on some of our other activity this term: ●

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Our SENDCOs network and collaboration are growing stronger, with additional support from our adviser from the Learning in Harmony Trust. The ECT programme has had very positive feedback from participants. Subject experts from primary and secondary schools have met to share practice in english, science, music, geography, history, and PE. We have also had behaviour and math reviews and developed practice in subject-specific deep dives. We held our first SEND Parent forum. The new building and play area (right) at Lister has now opened. Staff and students are thoroughly enjoying the new facilities.

Highlights from the Portugal music trip Eastlea Music Department's first trip abroad to Europe's sunniest capital city, Lisbon, Portugal was a huge success! Our students joined 110 young people from St Julian's and other local schools in Lisbon for a weekend of music creating and performing, with a concert at the end to showcase what they had made. After the concert students also enjoyed exploring Lisbon's hills, soaking up the views from the castle, cruising down the river, and a karaoke party. Thank you to Ms Brown for making it happen!

National award for our Young Science Writer Our very own Richael Forson won the Young Science Writer of the Year Award for 2023! Richael stood out for her essay ‘Cocoa farming: a story of struggle resistance and hope for change’, which shines a light on the rights, needs and challenges of cocoa farmers in her country, Ghana. Richael’s essay will be published on the BBC News website alongside the work of professional science writers. She received her award – including £1000 to help with her writing development, a year’s ABSW membership, and mentoring from a senior science writer – in front of her classmates at a special event in the Royal Institution Theatre. Avril Lansangan also won a commendation and the whole class went to the event to cheer as the students collected their prestigious awards.

Prize winning design for Saima A huge well done to Saima in year 9 who won a prize with her design as part of the Canning Town Development Project. We are looking forward to working with the architecture firm Deft Space who are going to be facilitating workshops and placement opportunities for our students.

Highlights from the American maths trip In May, year 9 and 10 students visited Boston and New York with the Math Department. Students spent two days studying at Algonquin Regional High, experiencing what being a student in an American high school was like by shadowing their buddies, whom they had been speaking to virtually before the trip. Students then visited Harvard and MIT and learned about studying at these prestigious universities. At MIT, they took part in a CSI forensic workshop and learned all about MIT hacks (Google it!). In New York, students visited the sights on an open-top bus, took a walk around Central Park, and saw the Statue of Liberty from the station island ferry. Ms Brown said, ‘Watching the students faces light up when they sat on a plane for the first time or seeing their look of amazement as they rode around the tour bus in New York is something that I will always remember, but the one thing that put the icing on the cake was listening to and reading the comments made by the students after visiting MIT. Listening to the stories from a student of the University and walking around the campus reignited for some of them a purpose and desire to learn.’

World Refugee Day written by Elizabeth Kazeem in Year 10 World Refugee Day is an international day designated to celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. We were privileged that Zahra came to Lister to share her story. After learning about Zahra’s story, Lister students were able to ask questions such as "How drastic was the change from being in Afghanistan to coming to the UK?", to which Zahra replied, saying she joined the International Rescue Committee course, which provided support in educating her about the UK, helping her find suitable accommodation, and easing the transition between different countries. Students then worked in teams to present ideas on how to use £10,000 to aid refugees like Zahra. All groups came up with thoughtful ideas, from designing schools to setting up websites where the public can donate money, to providing mental health support. We ended the day with a debate on government attitudes towards refugees. Everyone contributed different perspectives on the topic while remaining respectful of other arguments. It was a privilege to be invited to take part! A big thank you to Miss Voisey and Mr. Streeting for organising everything; we all really enjoyed participating and valued the day.

Highlights from Nethercott House trip Year 5 and 6 students took part in their first residential since the pandemic. For many of the children, the seven hour coach journey was the longest journey they had ever made away from home. Children lived and worked as young farmers for five days. Eggs were collected, cows were fed and farm tasks completed before breakfast had even begun. Children earned a two course breakfast every day after they had shown selflessness and cared for the animals and community. Throughout the week, they took it in turns to clean up after the family dining experience, building their sense of responsibility. Children foraged for their own food ingredients and prepared delicious meals such as: rhubarb crumble, pasties, Eton mess and pizza! In the evenings, they organised their dorms and had hot chocolate before settling down for the evening. Children enjoyed spending their time grooming horses, bee keeping, cow herding and mucking out the stables. Raymond from Portway shared, ‘it was so wonderful to be in the countryside all week. My favourite part of the trip was meeting Apple Jack the donkey and Eric the horse.’ Nethercott House is owned by children’s author, Michael Morpurgo. This was a truly magical trip and Portway cannot wait to return next year.

Matilda the musical! Year 6 wowed both their peers and their families with their extraordinary production - Matilda the musical! The cast worked collaboratively to deliver a nuanced and humorous performance for their audience members. A real highlight was Bruce Bogtrotter (pictured right) standing up the infamous Miss Trunchbull and then performing an outstanding solo.

Health and Wellbeing Week Now, more than ever, we recognise the importance of healthy, active bodies and minds. For us, Health and Wellbeing Week provided a great opportunity for us to educate students on the importance of protecting their health and well-being. Our students had a brilliant week, which kicked off with a successful sports day. Throughout the week students also took part in Netball, Football, Handball, Indoor hockey and Boxing facilitated by Born4Sport. Students also took part in drug and alcohol awareness workshops and mindfulness sessions delivered by Newham Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Thank you to everyone involved in making the week a success.

Rokeby students flying high!

A group of Y9 students had the wonderful opportunity to experience gliding this term. This was offered through our work with WCCSA (Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators) and Cambridge Gliding Club. The students chosen were offered this as a reward for their behaviour and effort at school over the past year. What an amazing way to end the term for them!

Outstanding achievement for Year 10 students The Teens and Toddlers programme by Power2 helps young people improve their wellbeing and school engagement in order to succeed at school and in life, through the experience of mentoring nursery children. We have had a number of Y10 students complete the 16 week course and achieve their national qualification in Interpersonal Skills (NCFE Level 1). One of our groups also won the Outstanding Group of the Year award!

Be Proud Day On July 17th, our students had a great day celebrating our school community and embracing cultural diversity and identity. It was a fantastic day filled with joy and appreciation. Thank you to everyone involved for making it so special.

Summer Showcase and Alumni Event What a fantastic end-of-term and birthday celebration for Sarah Bonnell! Attendees enjoyed musical performances, tours of the school, and opportunities for our alumni to rekindle old connections. It was a heartwarming occasion filled with cherished memories and renewed camaraderie. Thank you to everyone for making it a success!

UDL National Final 2023 Congratulations to our brilliant debating students who were crowned the champions of the Urban Debate League 2023! Throughout the competition, our students had a lot of fun meeting new people, competing with a wide variety of schools, and developing their oracy and debating skills. We are very proud of our girls.

Amara wins national competition Congratulations to Amara Khur-Yearn who won the Secondary School category of the National Reading Zone Picture Book Competition! Amara won £150 worth of books for the library and a certificate for the school. She will also receive a letter of commendation, a certificate and a book bundle as her personal prize! Click here to see her outstanding work

Summer Reading Challenge Well done to our Summer Reading Challenge winners! Temi & Sumaia won Kindle Fires and the runners up received Amazon vouchers. 7 Students who were involved in an author's Q&A project were also awarded book tokens! Congratulations to everyone involved.

London Maths Week This term, we celebrated London Maths Week and took part in lots of fun cross-curricular math activities. Y2 and Y3 designed their favourite number as a character and then wrote stories and poems featuring their number. Y4 had a great time doing lots of fun number challenges.

Success at the annual MoneyWise Challenge Children from Y5 and 6 represented the school at the annual MoneyWise challenge on June 30th at the iconic ExCel centre. Students competed against teams from other London schools, taking on a full day of game-based activities that put their financial knowledge to the test. It was a very challenging and fun day! Well done to all of our students who took part, we even managed to get into the top ten!

Day to Create We also had a lot of fun celebrating this year's ‘Day to Create.’ Nursery students loved exploring different textures and materials to create flowers. Y1 very much enjoyed creating jellyfish-inspired sculptures. Y2 worked collaboratively to create large-scale abstract sculptures inspired by artists Alexander Calder, Naum Gabo, and Frank Stella. Y3 dyed their own fabrics to create woven hanging sculptures. Y4 used their artistic skills to create beautiful paintings. Y5 used recyclable materials to design and construct masks and experiment with a ‘stop motion’ app to create short ‘gifs’ involving their models. Y6 created clay impressions using flowers and other objects from the garden. Well done to all staff and students who were involved in this jam-packed week of creation!