Newsletter 23rd March 2018

Portland Place School

Weekly Buzz

Updated schedules for clubs!

Dates for your diary

23 March 2018

Academic and Sports fixtures 1

WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY Wednesday 28th March 2018

11.30am at Regent Hall 275 Oxford Street, London, W1C 2DJ

Registration, period one and break as normal.

Students to head back to form rooms for period two and begin walk over with teachers to Regent Hall.

After the assembly, all students must go back to their form rooms for final registration/dismissal.

Students can then be collected by parents at 1.00pm.

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Letter from the Headmaster Spring finally seems to have arrived bringing its usual air of hopefulness for the time to come. It is a welcome change in mood as the Easter holiday approaches and that final run to the public examinations starts for our senior students. There is a full programme of support sessions organised for them through the holiday, ones I look forward to seeing myself. Those students have had, and will continue to get, plenty of advice on using this time to best advantage.

School is about more than those examinations though, as important as they are. We will be celebrating the rich school life and the wider achievements of our students in our next whole school assembly taking place on Wednesday 28th March in the Salvation Army Hall, Oxford Street. Many have been noted in recent newsletters but it is important that we come together as a school and recognise these publically as well.

Musical performances always feature highly in such events. I was reminded again last night of the rich seam of musical talent here at Portland Place as I listened to our Year 11 Music students perform their pieces. Such an eclectic mix, from Mozart to Nirvana, from a piece from Oliver! to a film soundtrack. And all beautifully performed to a packed PP Hall.

On a personal note this marks the end of my first year at Portland Place School as Headmaster. It seems to have flown by. Portland Place is a hugely rewarding place in which to work and I am very grateful for all the support I have continued to receive from students, parents and staff. Thank you, all.

I wish you all a relaxing Easter holiday – yes, even those with revision to do, they need a break to. I look forward to welcoming our students back on 17th April.

Warmest regards, 3

Notice Board Parent Contact & Pupil Medication - Public Use of Pupil Images Elayn ONeill, Deputy Head DSL Safeguarding

Parents must alert us if they are ever away from home or out of London so that we know who the “responsible contact adult is” in case of any emergency. WE hold personal details on our Database for all pupils and if there is an emergency we work through our Contact 1 Contact 2 etc telephone numbers. It is therefore very important that we are informed of any change of contact details. If you have information of a “confidential nature” please share this with the Head of Year or myself. Otherwise for straightforward absence details email admin@portland-place.co.uk or call 020 7307 8700

Pupil Medication

Elayn ONeill, Deputy Head DSL Safeguarding

We also need to be updated on ANY MEDICAL NEEDS or medications of any pupil at all timesIf we are aware of this we can send a confidential email to staff and store medications for pupils in the school reception areas.

If there is ever an emergency and we have to send a pupil to hospital in an ambulance the first question the Medics ask us is –“ is the pupil on any kind of medication ?”

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Year 8 Trip to Iberica

Ms Picado, Miss Magniez, Miss Florea and Mr Lalande Once again our Year 8s has a fantastic time last Friday at Iberica, in Great a Portland Street. They could taste exquisite Spanish tapas as well as practice their Spanish! Muchas gracias chicos!

Intermediate Maths Challenge Over 250,000 students from more than 3,000 schools and colleges across the UK participated in the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge on 1 February. Students had 60 minutes to answer 25 varied multiple-choice mathematical problems. At Portland Place we encourage Mathematical Challenges and this year’s qualifiers are: Gold certificate : Louis Chalupa (year 11) and Emanuel Curto (year 10) Silver certificate : Mila Cronenberg (year 11) Bronze certificate : Ben Doll-Steinberg (year 11) and Audrey Hammer (year 9).

Intermediate Maths Kangaroo Qualifiers: Louis Chalupa and Emanuel Curto.

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News continued DLD Debating Competition - Second Heat Lotta Bartha, PPS Debating Society

On the 14 March 2018, Portland Place debated against DLD. The motion was, ‘This house believes that gun ownership should be legalised’ and PPS was opposing the motion. During this debate, many political, ethical and moral were brought up by both sides. After a strenuous debate, DLD did take the win, however, it was a very close call. Now the debating score is one point to each side, which makes the next match the deciding final. Hopefully, we will win the tie-breaker. So, well done DLD and until next time…

English Literature Revision Workshop Miss Hubner and Mr Burton ran a two hour workshop on Thursday morning, helping Year 11 revise for the Power and Conflict and Unseen Poetry sections of the English Literature GCSE exam. Year 11 were engaged and attentive throughout, and left the workshop with helpful resources and tips.

Happy Revising!

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News continued Phenomenal Physics!

Year 9 got to see solid carbon dioxide, initially at -85 degrees, added to water. The carbon dioxide sublimed, that is changed straight from a solid to a gas without becoming liquid. Solid carbon dioxide is often used to create fog effects at theatres.

Carnegie Books

By Miss Hubner and Mrs O’Shea The eight shortlisted Carnegie books have arrived which is very exciting! Our Book Club has eagerly set off with their new books this week and we are looking forward to their reviews and opinions next week.

Please feel free to come and join us, even just to borrow a book. We meet every Thursday at 1pm in the library.

Check out our shadowing page at: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/grouphomepages/index.php?GroupID=27550 Happy reading!

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News continued Technology Tournament On 15th March, 20 students from PPS went to South Hampstead High School as part of their STEM week to compete in a Technology Tournament organised by The Rotary Club. Students were put into teams of four, and split by Key Stage to tackle a complex brief in which they had to design and make a rocket launcher. It was a busy morning, with all teams working determinedly throughout to produce exciting launchers with a limited amount of materials, and to develop a portfolio of design ideas.

Teams were marked throughout the day on their designing skills, their team work, and their portfolios, and at the culmination of the day, the launchers were tested. South Hampstead’s KS3 team won the round in a close call; Our teams had been biting their heels in second place throughout the day but their rockets failed to reach the height of the winners. In the KS4 round, one of our teams not only beat the record height for their rocket, but it actually flew up to the next floor of the school – thus crowning them the winners! The KS5 team – aptly named Team Gold – developed a stylish and intricate mechanism which allowed the rocket to be launched, the parachute deployed, and were victorious. The students thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the challenges, and I am so proud of all that they achieved against some very tough competition!

Winning teams: KS5 Amy Evans, Joe Ahrens, Panni Lemos, George Sayles KS4 Carla Mora, Harry King, Shaan Patel, Richard Lao

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News continued Lego Bots

By Mr Sagoo As part of science week year 10 were introduced to basic robotics using Lego. Four classes were divided into three separate groups to work on designing and building robots. One class worked on building an arcade game, the second on reptile walking bot, and the third on sumo warrior bots.

Each class was introduced to using the python language to programme their bots using if/else functions as well as motor behaviour functions. Those that have grown up with Lego shared their knowledge with others and those that hadn’t, demonstrated excellent PPS spirit in having a go. The pupils did a fantastic job of producing some stunning bots as shown below:

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News continued The Bi-Annual Alpha Plus Schools Art Exhibition

By Mr Jones, Head of Art The Bi-Annual Alpha Plus Schools Art Exhibition took place this week at the A&D Gallery, 51 Chiltern Street W1.

Following on from National women's day Portland Place was represented by the brilliant artwork of some of our girls-Alicia Bickerstaff, Stella Kostomaj, Nastya Chernyakova and Cecilia La Ferla The works were selected from the girls’ GCSE portfolios and took pride of place in the exhibition. The high standard of their work does them credit and I would like to congratulate them and thank their parents who attended the private view last Saturday.

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News continued Year 11 Science Week Hats off to all of our Year 11 students who were engaged and focused on their ‘Required Practical’ work on Friday 16th March during British Science Week. They spent the majority of the day within the Science Department carrying out experiments in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. In Biology, students developed their skills in investigating the growth of bacteria around antiseptics, using common aseptic (sterile) techniques for microbiology. In Chemistry they worked hard to complete a circus of experiments to include chromatography, an exothermic reaction, rates of reactions and a titration for the triple awarders. Physics gave students a chance to test their knowledge of all required practicals, for example waves in a ripple tank and the heat capacity of metals.

The Required Practical investigations form part of the new specification for GCSE Science. They require all students to complete experimental work and develop their knowledge and understanding of skills being used. The ideas investigated will then be examined in the upcoming public written exams.

Year 11 students found the session very useful and interesting, with some even reporting that they ‘enjoyed’ themselves (who’d have thought it was possible at GCSE-level?)! Well done to all students and teachers involved and we look forward to seeing more great science skills on show in lessons!

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News continued Growth Mindset

By Daciana Florea, EAL Teacher During the assembly which took place last Friday 9th March, the Years 5 and 6 students were introduced to the concept of Growth Mindset by the EAL teacher, Daciana Florea. They learned about the difference between Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset as well as the importance of the word YET (being on a learning journey). Egor used his Growth Mindset when he took part in the "envelope experiment" and chose to take the challenge rather than pass the envelope to someone else. Over the coming weeks, the students will carry out Growth Mindset activities which will expand their knowledge on the topic and help them develop a can-do attitude across the curriculum.

Year 7 went to Daunt Bookshop in Marylebone this week.

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News continued Year 11 & Year 13 Drama Exam A huge well done to our fabulous Y11 & Y13 students who completed their final practical exams last week. The exam pieces were performed in front of a visiting examiner, friends, family and teachers.

Abigail’s Party - (Neesa Awasty, Lotta Bartha, Augustus Gibson, Bella Thornton) Confusions - (James Dean, Katy Khoroshkovska, Blake Miller, Lara Newell, Freddy Pertwee) Teechers - (Albie Marber, Lukas Roniger, Jasmine Kermoud) Who Who Cooked Her Husband - (Zac Badawi-Crook, Amy Douglas, Emily Willis) Monologue – Network (Zac Badawi-Crook) Monologue – A Streetcar Named Desire (Amy Douglas) Monologue – Apologia (Emily Willis)

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News continued Year 5 and 6 trip to the Science Museum

By Miss Campbell

On Tuesday this week, Year 5 & 6 went to the Science Museum to explore The Wonderlab. We had an amazing time experiencing over 50 mind-blowing experiments! Students had the opportunity to hang out at the Chemistry Bar, fly down the friction slides and orbit the sun in real time!

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News continued Kayla receives high merit in drum exam!

Congratulations to Kayla who received a high merit in her drum exam this week.

Year 5, 6 & 7 NSPCC Fun Run Total

By Miss Coles & Miss Boyle

In assembly on Friday 23rd, we were joined once more by Alana from the NSPCC. Donations were

collected and counted up, and we can announce that the total amount raised for the NSPCC Speak Out. Stay Safe campaign is ÂŁ940.03 A huge thank you to all the students to ran on the day and to all the people who sponsored them.

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News continued GCSE Recital Evening This week, Year 11 GCSE Music students have been recording their solo and ensemble performances for exam submission. This was showcased on Thursday 22nd March in the GCSE Recital Evening. Fantastic performances by all of our students and very well attended by parents, friends, family and staff.

Thanks to everyone for their support and particularly to the students for their hard work and practice.

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News continued Calling the Register 2.0

By Year 7

Mr Capels’ Year 7 class read a poem called “Calling the Register” which has a fictitious classroom containing big names in history misbehaving by doing what they became famous for.

Year 7 have come up with their own version...

Calling the Register 2.0 Sit down everyone ….

Trump, put your lego away And your mobile, too please Hamilton, you are driving me mad You are the pits!

Jordan! Put your ball away!

This is a classroom, not a basketball court Musk, DT lesson is over!

Darwin, stop monkeying around!

May, who said you could leave?

Edison, stop playing with the lights!

Suarez, are you chewing?

Song, one more misdemeanour and you will be sent out King, will you stop dreaming and focus!

Dwayne, put that rock down.

Geology lesson is tomorrow Newton, stop eating that apple – Lunch time is up next Getty, put your camera away Bolt stop fidgeting – you can run around at lunch time Jobs – what is that on your lap?

Adele stop humming!

And now pens out and turn to page 27.

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News continued The American Dragon

By Ronan MacCarthy

Ronan MacCarthy wrote this poem about his favourite wrestler, Daniel Bryan AKA ‘The American Dragon’.

The red roped ring is caved in with the chants of “yes”, Yet one man stands on those crimson tendons of rubber, The Dragon’s return shook the supple blue-stained stadium, “Who am I to question his judgement?” The men said through murmured moans, The tones of rule and order, When those heels leave across the border, “Who am I to question the universe’s tones, When the American Dragon has come back home?”

Launch of the PPS Awards in Leadership & Personal Development Today sees the launch of a fantastic new PPS initiative – The Awards in Leadership and Personal Development. Year 10 pupils were today given a complete introduction and brief about the nature of the programme and what they will be required to do in order to achieve the first level – the Bronze Award. The programme is designed to encourage pupils to take greater ownership over their learning experiences in school and motivate them to become more active participants in activities and events offered both in and out of school (for example, assembly presentations, open days, or to play sports and musical instruments).

The Bronze Award is the first of three awards available to pupils, with Silver and Gold Awards also available over the course of their GCSE following on from the successful completion of the Bronze Award first. Pupils will select how they achieve the requirements of the awards and will be actively encouraged to push themselves out of their comfort zones in order to try new things. Reward vouchers to the value of £30 will be available to each pupil who successfully completes the Bronze Award great incentive for them to be a part of this!

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This is a very exciting time for Year 10 pupils! Ms Nicholas, who designed and launched the Awards Programme, along with the rest of the Year 10 team, is very keen to see pupils taking the lead on their learning and especially, on meeting the necessary requirements for successful completion of the Bronze Award. Good luck to all Year 10s as they embark on this new adventure!

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Sports Rugby - Mouth Guards and Studs Jamie McLoughlin, Head of Physical Education

In the best interests of pupils’ safety, we strongly recommend that all players wear a mouth guard during any contact rugby session. It has been shown that this significantly reduces the incidence of dental injuries. Good mouldable mouth guards can be brought at most sports shops or from www.schoolblazer.com which supplies the new Portland Place PE kit. Can you ensure that pupils have RFU Approved British Standard Kite Marked studs in their football/ rugby boots as opposed to plastic football studs. If your child has rubber mouldable studded boots then that’s fine but screw in studs should be RFU approved. These will cost around £5 from any sports shop.

Athletics

Muller Anniversary Games 2018 - Top British Athletes Visit Portland Place School On Monday, British Athletics launched their promotion of the 2018 Muller Anniversary Games. It is going to be a massive event in the British Athletics Calendar as they are hosting the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham next weekend (2-4th Mar) and will be hosting the new format World Athletics Cup the week before the Games at the Olympic Park. As part of the launch, European 200m Champion & Olympic Bronze medalist Dina Asher Smith, and Paralympic 200m Gold medalist & world record holder Peter Whitehead, attended a Portland Place Sports lesson. Both athletes made a lasting impression on our pupils, offering them advice and encouragement in a fun packed morning, in between interviews with the BBC. The morning was captured and broadcast on BBC London Tonight on Monday evening and was an exciting and fantastic experience for all the pupils involved.

Swimming Swimming has commenced for the lower school during PE lessons. It takes place at the Oasis Sports Centre in Holborn and pupils will be grouped in their year groups and experience half a term of swimming each.

Swimming will take place on Monday P1 & P2 for Years 5 & 6; Monday P4 & P5 for Year 8 (Girls first half term and Boys second half term); and the Year 7 pupils will swim on Tuesdays P4 & P5 (Girls first half term/ boys second half term).

Please ensure you bring your swimming kit, as well as your normal PE kit for double lessons and check the notice boards to see which group you are in.

Girls should wear dark coloured one piece costumes and boys’ dark coloured swimming shorts or trunks.

It is advisable to bring swimming googles and swimming hats are optional.

Please Note that the groups change after half term and the boys will now be swimming in Yr 7 and Yr 8 lessons!

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Sports Rugby

U14 Portland Place Radnor House

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On Friday 23rd March PPS u14s took on Radnor House School in a enthralling, all action match.

In the first half PPS took an early lead through Alex McDonald, who ran in an excellent solo effort showing devastating pace.

Moments later Radnor equalised after a well worked move off the back of the scrum. It was a thoroughly entertaining and even contest, both teams showed good aggression and physicality at the breakdown and both sets of backs looked dangerous in attack.

Midway through the first half Alex McDonald scored his second try with another powerful break through a number of Radnor defenders but Radnor equalised quickly to bring the score to 12-12.

Moments later Eli Anderson intercepted a wide pass and ran in to touch down under the posts, taking a 17-12 lead. However, Radnor again equalised just before half time, 17-17 the score at the end of a thoroughly entertaining half of rugby.

In the second half the game continued at the same frantic pace as both teams looked to establish early dominance. The frequent breaks that occurred in the first half seemed minimal as both teams tightened up in defence. The game became a little scrappy as the half progressed with a number of penalties being given for clumsy play.

As the half progressed Radnor just started to see more success at the breakdown, as they got over the man quickly so he couldn’t release the ball. There were limited chances in the second half and PPS were extremely unlucky when Nico Blakemore through a lovely wide pass to Idir Kermoud who may have touched down but a Radnor defender ripped the ball away before the referee could see for definite that PPS had scored.

With 2 minutes remaining PPS unfortunately knocked on a punt down field from Radnor, giving them a scrum 10m from the try line. After a minute of sustained pressure and excellent defence from PPS a Radnor back picked an excellent line and jinked his way to the try line to touch down in the final minute.

Absolutely gutting for the PPS boys. PPS kicked off and tried to retain possession but the excellent Radnor centre kicked to touch to see them take a 22-17 win.

Overall, the boys put in an excellent performance in an outstanding game of rugby. It was painful to lose in the final minutes but the boys showed great determination and spirit throughout and should be proud of their performance.

Ezra Button dictated play well at fly half, the whole pack worked their socks off for the whole match and Bernardo Braga made some important tackles at full back.

Man of the match goes to Alex McDonald who scored 2 tries, was a constant threat in attack and also put in some big tackles.

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Sports Rugby

U14 Portland Place Kew House

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This was a match that PPS dominated from start to finish.

Despite the score line, Kew tackled strongly, but were unable to cope with the pace in Portland’s back line. The match was played at Chiswick Cricket club in light rain, but this did not affect PPS’s handling.

Fly half Ezra Button distributed the ball confidently to centres Eli Anderson and Alex MacDonald who scored four tries apiece. Their strength and speed were more than the Kew defence could cope with.

Hassan Nazzal also scored, giving PPS a total of nine tries. Fullback Bernardo Braga produced a superb display of kicking, completing eight of his nine conversions, several of which were from the touchline.

This was an impressive display of rugby from Portland’s Year 9’s. Josh McGregor deserves a special mention for his outstanding tackling.

Man-of-match: Jointly to Alex MacDonald and Eli Anderson.

Netball

U14 Portland Place Queens College

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Last Wednesday we played Queens College at Regents Park, it was a friendly fixture in which we played high five netball. The PPS team were dominant and linked well together, displaying free flowing netball.

Notably I would like to commend Dot Jones for her recent improvements and ability to adapt to different positions, I hope she continues to grow in confidence and produce more high quality performances in the future. All the girls, as usual were fantastically supportive of one another and showed great team spirit. Well done ladies.

Player of the match: Dot Jones

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Sports Netball

U13 Portland Place Pimlico Academy

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Portland Place girls came into this game knowing that it was going to be a challenge, however, the girls were determined and excited about the match ahead.

It was a tough match physically for our girls but they composed themselves and played some slick netball to secure a win. The whole team performed exceptionally well making numerous valuable interceptions and showing fast and efficient passing down court.

Beatrice Thompson made her debut in the U13 team, she worked exceptionally well in defence alongside, Beatrice Curto retrieving the majority of rebounds, making superb interceptions and clearing the backlines. Mid court players Cristina Carbosiero, Frida Hill and Bo Frampton continually moved into space opening up the play and moving the ball quickly down the court.

Player of the match Sumaya Al Thani, Amy Cooper and Jess Metchem Hermer shooting was superb throughout the entire match, getting almost all their rebounds and converting them into goals if they did not score first time. The girls played some flawless and exciting netball throughout, well done!

Cross Country

Tom sets another New School Record at Regents Park!

Congratulations to Tom Hallam who set a new Yr 6 Boys 2 Lap Record of 8 minutes 09 seconds. This time makes him the second fastest pupil in the Lower School (Yr 5-9) this year and means that he now holds both the 2 and 3 Lap School Records for his age group. Well done!

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Calendar and Contact

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Thanks for reading!

Look for our next issue at www.portland-place.co.uk/ @PortlandPlaceHD