SBS News Spring Term 2019

SBSNews Spring Term 2019

Inside this issue...

World Book Day / Drama Productions / STEM Trips International Women’s Day / Scholarship news / Plus much more 1

Sarah Bonnell School

Headteacher’s Welcome Sarah Bonnell’s curriculum is broad, balanced and brilliant!

In preparation for next year Sarah Bonnell’s Leadership Team have been reflecting on Ofsted’s renewed focus on the curriculum regarding the three ‘I’s’ of the curriculum – Intent, Implementation and Impact. I know the Sarah Bonnell curriculum measures up well to this new guidance. It is broad enough for all students to learn a range of different subjects, balanced enough to ensure students have the right access

2

Sarah Bonnell School

to pathways that secure the appropriate next steps in further education, training or work and brilliant because it is engaging, enriching and effective.

Our curriculum is so much more than just the subjects taught on the time-table. As John Dunford said it is ‘the whole experience of school’ including clubs, educational visits, professional relationships between students and staff and the development of character through form time, school council and other leadership roles.

This school year has been jam-packed with examples of this ‘broad, balanced and brilliant’ curriculum and this edition of SBS News highlights this well. You will enjoy reading about all the different opportunities Sarah Bonnell students have had to develop their curiosity, creativity and commitment in and out of lessons.

Be Proud Rae Potter, Headteacher

Head Girl 2018/19 Some ‘Motivate Me Monthly’s’, mentoring, assemblies, conferences, open evenings, speeches, events, workshops, more speeches and loads more as well as my year as Head Girl has come to an end.

Whilst I begin to reflect on my year as Head Girl, I do so with a huge smile on my face.

A great sense of pleasure and pride fills me as I recall all of the experiences, opportunities and most importantly the challenges I have conquered.

This year, I believe we have successfully completed all my desired goals and more. I believe I can proudly say my campaign -‘One vision, One team, One voice’ - has played a huge part of the development of positive changes at Sarah Bonnell over the past year. Students and staff have brilliantly engaged with this motto; embracing it in every way possible.

I am most grateful for everybody’s involvement with my campaign. Thank you to the entire Sarah Bonnell community - you are all wonderful. I have had the best experience representing the school as Head Girl and it is something I will forever cherish.

An even bigger thank you to my amazing prefect team!

They have been phenomenal over the course of this year and have been my right hand during the process of making everything I intended to put forward be as great and meaningful as I wanted. I look forward to recognising and celebrating our achievements at our prefect graduation dinner.

Now, with only a few weeks left for me in my role, I start to prepare myself for my GCSEs and handover to the new prefect team and incredible Israa, our new Head Girl 2019/20. I wish them all the very best in their roles. I have no doubt they will all achieve some remarkable goals.

Aliyah Irabor-York

Head Girl 2019/20 At Sarah Bonnell school we make sure to take pride in everything we do and work together in unity to follow the school motto.

As the next Head Girl, I truly am excited to lead a community in which everyone has a say and in which teachers, students and parents alike work together to make the school environment the best that it possibly can be.

Sarah Bonnell school is made up of smart, sophisticated and superb young ladies. We have a fantastic school where a fun and healthy environment is created, with equal opportunities, where students can excel academically and mature socially.

All students are pushed outside their comfort zones to try new things, which enables them to experience incredible opportunities as well as helping them engage and become more confident.

As a cohort we love inspiring those around, to do better, to be better. We make sure everyone has a voice, enabling students to express their views on life within the school environment.

Our aim, is to get everyone involved, striving to help every individual blossom into amazing young women, capable of doing the impossible.

In the next academic year, I hope to represent the school, whether that be through my Head Girl duties, as a digital leader, or my time outside of the school grounds. The spirit this school has is undoubtedly welcoming and comforting and that is what makes it a pleasure to attend every day.

Israa Ibrahim

Spring Newsletter

3

Sarah Bonnell Celebrates International Women’s Day 2019 This year International Women’s Day took place on Friday 8th March. The theme this year was focused on balance and we are entering an exciting period of time where everyone has a part to play in building a gender-balanced world. From grassroots activism to worldwide action, we are entering an exciting period of history where the world expects balance.

This year’s International Women’s Day intends to notice its absence and celebrate its presence.

Balance drives a better working world. International Women’s Day is the start of a yearlong campaign to ensure we all help create a #BalanceforBetter.

Sarah Bonnell students celebrated the day with a range of activities which allowed them to develop their own voice on the theme #BalanceforBetter. Sarah Bonnell students were inspired by politicians, dancers, engineers, rocket cars, rugby players, activists, entrepreneurs, spoken word poets, public speaking experts, lawyers, accountants, actors and jazz musicians in a wonderful day of celebration.

120 students in year 8 attended Stubbers to develop their team building skills and build their resilience through a range of outdoor and adventurous activities. The remaining 150 students worked with six actors to develop ‘A Play in a Day’ using the inspirational film’ Hidden Figures’ as their stimuli.

Award winning poet Siana Bangura, writer, blogger, public speaker and freelance journalist hailing from South East London worked with a group of year 11 students to develop their spoken word. They were presented with a stimulus of George Bush and created a piece around their interpretation of the image.

Seyi Akiwowo, former student at Sarah Bonnell, founder and Chief Executive of Glitch, also worked with year 11 to develop their Digital Resilience and equip them with the skills required to navigate social media platform with confidence and integrity.

Year 10 were able to create a ‘Dance in a Day’ with Kelechi Okafor, who is a Black-British actress, director and public speaker born in Nigeria and raised in London. The students were put through their paces for the entire day and worked incredibly hard to be able to perform at our evening event.

Year 7 were building rocket cars with the Royal Navy as part of our annual Blood Hound event. Students were able to use their STEM skills to develop their own rocket cars which will be raced later in the year.

Year 9 had a range of activities that included developing time lines: past, present and future. They were supported by a range of volunteers from Pinsent Masons who really encouraged the students to think about their role in creating a #BalanceforBetter world. Students were wonderfully engaged throughout the day and impressed our guests with their knowledge of feminism and how they would like to have an impact on the world in the future. Another group of year 9 students were inspired by Rochelle Clarke, the most capped international women’s player of all time. They were then treated to a Rugby master class with her.

4

Sarah Bonnell School

A number of students were invited to take part in a jazz musician workshop led by three amazing jazz musicians: Rosie Turton, Shelia Maurice Grey and Chelsea Carmichael.

The workshop really showcased the #BalanceforBetter theme as the musicians were able to talk to the girls about being interested in a range of musical tastes to support their enthusiasm and passion for music.

The jazz band then performed a lunchtime concert and at the evening event, which was a lovely way to celebrate their achievements form the day.

In addition to the many activities and events on site, students also experienced a range of off-site visits.

During the course of the day we had approximately 540 students at a visit or event across London. They included: the Women of the World conference at the Royal Festival Hall, an International Women’s Day conference hosted by Pinsent Masons, a STEM International Women’s Day event, a visit to Facebook HQ, 120 year 10 students at four career insight visits to learn about women in the work place and a visit to the Houses of Parliament. All of the activities, events and visits were planned with the theme #BalanceforBetter in mind.

Sarah Bonnell truly tried to capture the essence of #BalanceforBetter to allow all students to think about what the hashtag meant to them.

Spring Newsletter

5

World Book Day @ The Learning Hub The Learning Hub rolled out the red carpet and celebrated World Book Day with The Great Gatsby as the theme.

Staff and students looked fabulous dressed up as Oliver Twist (Oliver Twist), Tōshirō Hitsugaya (Manga – Bleach), Violet Beauregarde (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), The Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland), Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby) and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet).

The Learning Hub was transformed and this year became New York in the Roaring Twenties. Ms Du Cran and I dressed up as Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker from The Great Gatsby for the day. In keeping with our theme, we organised lessons where our Year 7 Art girls researched Art Deco designs on various topics such as fashion and architecture, from books as well as the internet. They then created cards using the information sourced. Year 8 English students had a huge amount of fun writing scripts for silent movies while a Year 9 History class came down to research and create newspaper articles on given subjects including Harlem Renaissance, Crime and Order and the Financial Boom. This created a great cross curricular and literacy buzz. Our Year 11 Rowling Pathway students, loved creating 1920s fashion accessories and were each given a copy of the 1920s Fashion Historical Sticker book and a feathery pen to take home. The sessions were thoroughly enjoyed and students were rewarded with prizes and every student took away specially designed Roaring Twenties bookmarks as a memento of the day.

World Book Day would have not been celebrated in true Learning Hub style without a lunchtime extravaganza, which was put on to showcase 1920s New York complete with costumes, scenery and props.

To add to the atmosphere, 1920s jazz music was played throughout the event which helped to create the hustle and bustle of the era. Our Year 10 Drama students delivered an outstanding performance of a scene from the book, The Great Gatsby on ‘Broadway’.

Year 10 Photography students set up a photo booth in ‘Bloomingdales’ complete with accessories. Wall Street was created and a competition to make the most

6

Sarah Bonnell School

money on the stock exchange took place. Students from Years 7, 8 and 9 headed the ‘New York Public Library’ where a 1920s phrases game was played and ‘The Strand Bookstore’, hosted a charades activity based on books, films and plays from the 1920s.

A treasure hunt competition was again held where students had to hunt around the school to collect and decipher a number of riddles based on authors.

A most wanted member of staff competition also ran and prizes were awarded at the end of term.

It was a magnificent day that brought the school together to celebrate the world of books and literature, and which educated students on the high life in New York in the 1920s.

Ms P Kaur Learning Hub Manager

World Book Day Celebrations To celebrate one of the most phenomenal days of the year, we at Sarah Bonnell, decided to hold activities throughout the week and wanted as many subjects, staff members and students involved as possible!

Whilst we shared suspense-filled parts of the story of ‘The Lady with the Emerald Ring’ in form time, we also had some exciting fun lined up for lunchtimes.

The week started with some popping paint splashing across Tote bags that Year 7s hand made themselves – writing inspiring words of wisdom about reading! The Art department brought out the paint and stencils and the minds of our bright, young girls lit up with ideas of quotes. We all excitedly chose our colours and got our hands messy whilst exchanging funny stories about our quotes.

The cherry on top of the cake was being able to take home our self-printed bags ready to proudly show everyone how much we love reading!

On Tuesday we explored the world with the Geography department taking the lead to celebrate reading and mixing it with superior geographical skills and knowledge! It was fantastic to see such an interest in the competition and many of our students realised how much of an impact reading truly has in each aspect of their school life.

By Wednesday we had Ms Badar taking the helm with her talented group of EAL students - who presented stories and poems that they loved in their home language. The amazing result was the dramatisation and translation of their beloved tales so that the rest of us could join them in their love of their favourite literature. We even had some costume changes and lighting used for an amazing atmosphere!

Ms R Alfreedi Literacy Lead

Spring Newsletter

7

French Pop Competition During ELD, we participated in the French Pop Competition with Mr Rudland, Mr Slater and our French assistant Delphine.

It was very enjoyable and we were able to gain more knowledge of French culture and their language.

The day was filled with educational and fun learning. We wrote a few rhyming lyrics in French, which was one of the main aspects we enjoyed and then we recorded ourselves singing or playing the trumpet to make the final track. Overall, we feel the day was successful, we gained a great deal of knowledge and are proud of the song we wrote.

Nasra, Nadira, Yasmin and Aya - Year 8

Japanese Culture Day On12 February 2019, a Language ELD took place.

It was an extremely exciting event that broadened our horizons about other cultures, food, traditional clothing and music. The Japanese course, which so many people signed up for that spaces ran out, was led by Ms Saenz and Ms Servini. The lucky students had many interesting activities to expand their knowledge about the amazing country that is Japan. They participated in: • Origami (the very precise folding art of only paper) • A teaching session on the fundamentals and basics of the Japanese language • Drawing manga and colouring pictures • Watching an episode of the anime Your Lie in April • Making tissue paper koinobori (carp streamer) fish Adiba – Year 8

8

Sarah Bonnell School

ay was y for ELD d njoyed the a D e s e n a “Jap eople e o many p S ! nd the g in z a am in teams a y!” d e y la p e karaoke, w ed a Japanese cand ceiv winner re ar 8 Ijlaal – Ye

Young Interpreter Scheme This fantastic opportunity is for students to become an Interpreter to show their multilingual abilities.

Students will use their language skills to help other students, parents and visitors to Sarah Bonnell who speak another language.

Congratulations to: Katalin Z - year 8, Valentina - year 9, Fizza and Madiha - year 10, Tasnim and Bilkis - year 11 for their successful applications. Currently, they are taking part in training for which they will achieve a certificate, this will allow them to become a young Interpreter at SBS.

Anime Club Anime club runs every Tuesday lunch time in C03, where you learn about Anime in a very fun way! You watch anime in Japanese with English subtitles, which helps you learn the language. For example, in my own time I watched Au Haru Ride (Japanese) and Spiritpact (Mandarin). They are really good anime and thanks to watching them, I learnt how to say: 勉強するのは本当にうれしいです (Benkyō suru no wa hontōni ureshīdesu), which means ‘it’s really good to study’.

Damaris – Year 8

French and Spanish PiXL Conference at The Oval On 11 February, 30 Year 11 students had the opportunity to attend the French and Spanish PiXL Conference at the emblematic cricket stadium, The Oval, in South London. Nearly 1000 students from different schools within London and the Home Counties were at the venue: the morning for students studying French and the afternoon for those who study Spanish.

The high figures of attendees talk about how popular and well recognised this event and organisation are in the UK. Students had a unique opportunity to focus on exam key questions as well as powerful strategies to assure great success in the upcoming summer exams. A highquality team of professionals conducted a dynamic and entertaining conference that everyone valued as powerful.

As the activities developed in the conference, every one of the students were given a valuable book with resources and ideas that Sarah Bonnell students will be using and sharing with the peers who were not able to attend the event.

As usual our students were an example of commitment and maturity during the event. The high work ethos of our students was, as always, noticed by speakers and other attendees alike. Every minute matters for the summer exams and SB languages students are working as hard as always, as they demonstrated during this conference at The Oval.

Mr C Munoz World Languages Deputy Curriculum Leader

Spring Newsletter

9

ART in SteAm As part of SteAm week, the Art Department created a camera obscura, so students could enter and understand how a camera works inside.

Students really enjoyed the immediate results, and were amazed by what they could see inside the camera.

A camera obscura is Latin for “dark chamber.” It is the name given to a simple device used to produce images that would lead to the invention of photography. The English word for today’s photographic devices is merely a shortening of this name to “camera”. At its most basic, the camera obscura is a simple box (which may be room-sized) with a small hole in one side. Light from only one part of a scene will pass through the hole and strike a specific part of the back wall.

(The projection can be made on paper on which an artist can copy the image.) As the pinhole is made smaller, the image gets sharper, but the light-sensitivity decreases. With this simple apparatus, the image is always upside-down.

Art Department

Ceramics - Silver Arts Award A few of our Sarah Bonnell students successfully completed their Silver Arts Award. A great achievement!

Congratulations to: Fahmida Akter Rahman, Yasmena Begum, Zehna Bodhee, Sharmin Chowdhury, Nehla Gazeeb, Jasrah Hannan, Rumaysaa Mannan, Gabija Narbutyte, Jemma Nguyen and Mariam Sharaf.

Another element of them achieving the award involved developing their leadership, teamwork and communication skills through managing an event, for which they planned and delivered a very successful exhibition and skills share event in school.

The arts award moderator was very impressed with their work!

As well as working to create these Art Department wonderful ceramic sculptures, the girls also visited the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as taking a trip to the Cockpit Arts in Holborn where they learnt about how to set up their own creative business practice. They also met and were very inspired by ceramic artist Tessa Eastman.

10

Sarah Bonnell School

SILVER

King’s College London On Wednesday 16th January, I had the opportunity, along with other Triple Science students in Year 10, to attend King’s College to experience being a Medical Student. We first began the day with a range of activities regarding the body, such as learning more about: the digestive system, the heart, how to administer CPR and how to take blood samples, which was all taught to us by current medical students.

Alongside this, we were taught how to apply to universities for healthcare courses using UCAS, and found out about the criteria required for further education in this field. We also had the chance to explore the campus and see lecture theatres.

Overall, we had a fantastic time experiencing what it is like to be a medical student and learn more about the human body.

Faizah Sultana – Year 10

London College of Fashion As part of our ELD day on 8th March, 20 year 9 students were invited to visit the London College of Fashion in Central London.

Students had a presentation, then a tour of the university, followed by lunch and a workshop led by a leading fashion designer. Students were excited to see the university and hear about all the amazing history and details as well as getting some great fashion ideas!

One of our students, Neesha, entered the Bag for Life design competition. She based her design around the theme of global warming and the judges were impressed with her final product! Neesha was awarded with a certificate and a prize of £200 to spend on school products.

This was a great opportunity for students who are considering Art Textiles GCSE as they were able to gain more of an insight as to what opportunities this course direction can open.

Students thoroughly enjoyed their day at a well-established university that specialises in the Fashion and Textiles industry.

Spring Newsletter

11

UK Mathematics Trust Challenge 140 year 9 – 11 students took part in sitting the UK Mathematics Trust challenge.

This is a challenge that has over 600,000 students taking part. We were very successful as over 30 students achieved Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates. A special well done to Naba – year 9, Zahra and Aanaya – year 10 and Tasnim – year 11, for achieving the best results in their year groups.

Huge congratulations to Tasnim, who achieved a brilliant score and is amongst the top scorers in the country and has been invited to take part in the second round of the competition!

Maths Department

Young Mathematicians Competition In November, 4 year 8 students competed in a regional ‘Young Mathematicians competition’ at a local Explore Learning Centre.

They had to solve a series of complex reasoning problems to a strict time constraint. They demonstrated their strong conceptual understanding and knowledge throughout and worked tremendously well as a team.

Maths Department

12

Sarah Bonnell School

Year 11 Maths Camp Residential In November we took 30 Year 11 students away for the weekend to Fair Play House for an intensive study weekend.

The weekend involved students taking part in high rope and caving activities taking students out of their comfort zone. Students completed 16 hours of Maths over the two and a half days – equivalent to an extra 4 weeks of school!

Maths Department

Mastery The Maths department at Sarah Bonnell are currently focusing strongly on the importance of mastery in maths and how best to deliver a mastery based pedagogy with a focus on promoting a greater depth of understanding over breadth.

Various CPD training sessions have also been delivered by the Lead Practitioners in maths including; effective use of manipulatives to promote conceptual understanding and how best to promote talk in maths. We recently visited Elmhurst Primary school, a local Mastery Hub school, to examine how they promote mastery in years 5 and 6. This partnership and exchange of practice aims to support our students who are transitioning from year 6 to year 7 and enable us to further improve our mastery curriculum.

Maths Department

Spring Newsletter

13

YE A R 9

Tenner Challenge This year we re-introduced the Tenner Challenge to year 9 students. This project enables students to experience Business as a subject – helping them decide if this is something they would like to take on for GCSE.

alongside organisation. It was vital that each form worked cohesively to ensure that we were able to get the most out of our respective £10.

All forms were given £10 to set up a business and sell their goods. Students worked in teams and were fully engaged on all business matters.

We categorized ourselves into 5 groups according to our strengths and what we felt that we are best at, they included: managing directors, a pitching team, a marketing team, a finance team, a production team and a sales team.

Year 9 managed to raise a total of £403.51; all proceeds will go to our charity UWS.

Overall this was an amazing experience and we learnt many different skills through the process.”

“Throughout our challenge, we were expected to enhance and develop entrepreneurial and team management skills.

Aspects that come under this bracket are things such as; time management, communication, confidence and strategy

Sabrina Safi - Year 9

STEM Wise Trip to Westfield On the 12th February 2019, 30 year 9 students enjoyed a day at Westfield’s head office. Students were engaged in workshops run by WISE. These workshops helped students understand why more women are needed in engineering careers. Students were able to understand the different roles that women play in the engineering world!

A fantastic opportunity especially for those students wanting to go down the STEM route later in their careers.

Ms Adel Associate Senior Leader - STEM Lead Curriculum Leader for Computing and Business Studies

14

Sarah Bonnell School

Safer Internet Day 2019 Safer Internet Day was celebrated at Sarah Bonnell School. Year 7 enjoyed a whole day of fun activities led by our very own Digital Leaders in school.

Our Digital Leaders were also involved in the Safer Internet Day event held at the BT centre – Israa one of our Digital Leaders actually hosted the day. External visitors and MPs attended the event and praised our students on their professionalism and knowledge on internet safety.

We ran a workshop to discuss the different types of consent we might encounter online, and then used an online interactive platform to submit how you could best respond to different scenarios.

Ms Adel Associate Senior Leader - STEM Lead Curriculum Leader for Computing and Business Studies

Digital Leaders interview the UK’s Chief Medical Officer Israa and Maariyah, Digital Leaders from Sarah Bonnell School, were invited by BBC News to interview Professor Dame Sally Davies, the UK Chief Medical Officer, about the official guidance released about children’s screen time.

Ms Adel Associate Senior Leader STEM Lead Curriculum Leader for Computing and Business Studies

Spring Newsletter

15

Digital Leaders Showcase at the Emirates Stadium for the Islington Computing Showcase I recently had the opportunity to visit the Emirates Stadium to showcase the work of the Digital Leaders and represent them.

This was an exciting opportunity in which I was able to talk to many different people and discuss with them the great things me and my fellow Digital Leaders were doing to ensure the safety of all students who use the internet. Things, which I talked about, was our visit to Parliament discussing

how social media platforms could ensure the safety of their users, annual assemblies and parent workshops that we hold and much more. All the people who saw the display were impressed with all the things we had accomplished. I also had the chance to talk to many different companies and businesses who were at the event like Google and the NSPCC. Scholarship Student and Digital Leader, Zahra - Year 10

Life Below Water Our team was selected to attend the Emirates Stadium to showcase our work for a sustainable solution to the problems facing ‘Life below water’.

We came up with an idea to combat water acidification and marine pollution.

Through going to this trip, we were able to discuss our solutions and educate people on what problems the ocean faces – which covers ¾ of Earth’s surface. At the event we met lots of influential people who shared their thoughts and listened to ours. Many of the people were impressed by our research and we gained valuable skills.

Zahra, Alisha, Bassma and Chyenne - Year 10

UN Global Goals Sustainability project The Imperial College, London launched a competition with this year’s theme focusing on the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Teams were asked to select a specific goal and to come up with a new and innovative scientific solution in response to this.

We had over 8 teams enter the competition. Two teams were then selected to showcase their ideas at the Emirates Stadium.

Miriam Remmache tells us more about her team’s ideas and inspiration for the project on the next page.

Ms Sahebdin Scholarship Co-ordinator

16

Sarah Bonnell School

Imperial College Science Competition SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME | BY MIRIAM REMMACHE The Imperial Science competition was very broad in terms of what we could submit for our entries. We had to create a 5 minute video explaining our project idea for a specific UN Global Goal. My group and I decided to find a solution for the UN Global Goal “Clean and Affordable energy”. Moreover, we then came up with an innovative idea that could revolutionise the future of transportation: salt- water powered cars that run soley on ocean water and not oil, coal or gas. It is cheap for society and sustainable for the environment. Every year, humans release 37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Large vehicle companies are known to have one of the biggest carbon footprints in history. Not only are we losing different species of animals at an alarming rate because of the loss of habitats due to melting ice caps, we are also losing 300,000 people every year due to air pollution, which negatively affects pregnant women, children and those who are more vulnerable in society.

We created a group called the Comet Shooters as we were all passionate about STEM subjects; especially science.

As part of the Scholarship programme, I had an amazing opportunity to take part in a science competition with some other students (Sadia Nasrin, Raeesa Hussain and Angel Pala).

Did you know that the average carbon dioxide emissions per passenger vehicle per year is 4.75 metric tons?

Many people develop asthma or other life-threatening diseases due to the carbon emissions of cars.

Around 75% of carbon emissions are caused by automobiles. The salt water powered car idea that we developed does not release carbon into the atmosphere as it runs on the excess ocean water from the melting ice-caps due to global warming. This means that less global warming would occur as less carbon dioxide would be emitted into our fragile atmosphere.

For our car to work, the car must have 4 key sectors that generate the electricity for the car to move.

Copper, zinc, salt water and a motor which altogether charges the battery for the car. The copper holds a positive charge and the zinc holds a negative charge. To generate the electricity, the current must flow between the two through a substance that holds electrolytes. In this case, it is the salt water. Thus it generates electricity for the car to function.

To get this innovative idea, we researched drawbacks of petrol and questioned alternative, yet sustainable options to power cars, or potentially bigger vehicles that are more guilty of air pollution.

I found that this competition really developed our questioning and critical thinking skills, as well as collabrative team building too. As well as this, we developed our prototype building as we made a model of our idea with lego. Overall, this competition opportunity was an incredible experience that was not only great for competition and learning, but also good fun.

You could talk to other year groups about their project ideas as well as discussing Science with those who feel passionate about it too.

Furthermore, this project allowed me to build my thinking skills as well as presentation and communication skills as we had to create a video to showcase our saltwater powered car project to the judges. I would truly recommend grabbing every opportunity that you are given, especially those that concern STEM subjects!

Spring Newsletter

17

Year 7 and 8 Scholarship Students take on the Dyson Engineering Challenge at Sarah Bonnell

Dyson Engineering Challenge “Design Engineering is the fusion of design thinking, and engineering knowledge and practice within a culture of innovation and enterprise”.

Imperial College, London A group of Year 7 and 8 Scholarship students attended a Dyson Engineering Masterclass which was run by Mr Riaz from Technology last term. hey disassembled the renowned Dyson Vacuum Cleaner and analysed the key components of the design process and how it functions. Raessa and Yasmin our engineering enthusiasts from year 8 tells us more about the masterclass.

Ms Sahebdin Scholarship Co-ordinator When I heard there was an engineering masterclass I jumped at the chance of being involved and signed up. In the past many courses and masterclasses have solely focused more on the academic skills and creative areas, for example, making ice cream, creative writing, science investigations and film production to name a few, so having this offered to us, it catered for our interests in Engineering. Many of the students in the session came out with a thorough and clear understanding of the topic of engineering in itself and the design processes involved in creating a product such as the Dyson Vacuum Cleaner.

During the masterclass, most of the students, including ourselves, had never participated in anything to do with engineering until that day. We started by watching a step by step guide produced

18

Sarah Bonnell School

by the Dyson team, which gave us a simple understanding of how to take apart the vacuum and name different parts as well as how to assemble it back to its original structure. We discussed as a group the main parts of the vacuum and the key components of the ideas for the design and how it functions. We talked about the reason behind the design choices.

This masterclass was a success and we feel that there should be more opportunities like this as it can be a way to find a talent and something a student may want to pursue in the future. Moreover, as we participated in the masterclass, we gathered more knowledge in the engineering sector and have found an interest in the topic. Additionally, we have gained a thorough understanding regarding this, which has raised further questions and fascination in the concept of engineering. We hope that there are more opportunities like this for us to find out more and increase our knowledge.

Raessa and Yasmin - Year 8

Creative Writing Competition Well done to all students who entered the Creative Writing Competition. We are still awaiting results from Young Writers. However, we have gone through all the entries and picked out our top 3.

Our number 1 spot went to Sarah Bouda for her entry.

Ms Sahebdin Scholarship Co-ordinator

I entered the Mission Catastrophe creative writing competition in January of 2019. It required me to write a 100-word story about a post-apocalyptic scenario, which we had to come up with ourselves. I got the idea for my story by asking myself what would happen if everything around the earth stopped existing and we were all just sitting in an empty space waiting for the death of our planet. What would happen to the people on said planet? Once I started writing, I could not stop so the word count eventually reached over 100 words, so I had to cut unneeded sentences out and make sure the story still flowed. I had the finished product of exactly 100 words!

By Sarah Bouda - Year 9

I can’t slee

p.

It had bee

n years aft er it happe ned.

People sta rted wakin g up witho Those who ut falling a have their sleep. s a n ity hidden away. Nob themselve ody can te s locked ll whether it ’s night or I can’t forg a dream. et.

THEY ARE DISAPPEA RING was on my arm etched in threate ning charc important oal. It was , but I could n’t place w hy.

I can’t brea the.

The suffoc ating woo d of the co buried in h ffin I had b eld the pro een m is e that I wo I gazed at u my arm on ld see it ag ce more. B ain. burned wit la nk. My vein h blacken s ed blood a nd lonelin Then I fell ess. asleep.

Spring Newsletter

19

Marianne North: Not your conventional Victorian Woman!

If Marianne North did what she did today it would be amazing - but she did it all during the Victorian Age, which makes her even more remarkable. The image of Victorian women was somewhat very different to the image we have of women today. The expectation was that women were more suited to be in the domestic sphere. However there were some women who not only broke the mould but utterly smashed it. Zahra tells us a brief story of Marianne North.

Ms Sahebdin Scholarship Co-ordinator

During our visit to The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, we had the opportunity to visit a spectacular gallery of majestic artwork by Marianne North.

She was an English Victorian biologist and botanical artist, notable for her plant and landscape paintings.

She travelled across the world painting pictures in different countries of the amazing scenery. She is known best for the artwork she created and her gallery in Kew which opened in 1882. Marianne visited countries such as New Zealand, Jamaica, Canada, United States, India, Brazil, Syria, Egypt and many more. Her work showcases a variety of plants and scenery across the world, whilst achieving her passion for recording the world’s flora with her talent.

By Zahra Aslam - Year 9 Scholarship Student

d, so n’t formally traine as w th or N e nn Maria entional Did you know? are so unlike conv gs tin in pa r he hy hieve? maybe this is w hat you could ac w e in ag Im . ns io botanical illustrat

Debate Mate and What Next?

Ashanti from year 9 talks about her experience in being part of Debate Mate and how it has enabled her to articulate her points across as well as gaining some new skills. Ashanti along with other students who were part of Debate Mate will be running Debate Club at SB. Sign up to the Edmodo class below to find out more.

Ms Sahebdin Scholarship Co-Ordinator Being a part of Debate Mate is very enjoyable and advantageous. The mentoring session helped me to formally argue with valid points and statistics, which I know will benefit my fellow students and me, later in life.

always agree with the motion you have been given. It has also enabled me to express my feelings and beliefs with other students and to consider their points as well.

Whether I agreed with statements given or not, debating opened up my mind and questioned my way of thinking as it allowed me to see things from other points of view.

This is important in life, as we will learn that not everybody will feel and think the same as you do, however, this has taught us to be able to have discussions without conflict.

I am very excited to say that Debate Club will be introduced at Sarah Bonnell after the summer holidays. So if you are interested in taking part, do join our class on Edmodo for updates of where and when this will be held. code: zcg547 Ashanti Kizamba – Year 9

In addition to that, debating has helped me to articulate my words more and has improved and developed my vocabulary and had a positive effect in my English lessons, which is obviously a skill we are all going to have to take with us to the outside world.

It is a pleasure to have been given the opportunity to voice my opinions in a pretentious way in the sense that you may not

20

Sarah Bonnell School

Spring Newsletter

Romeo and Juliet at The Globe

Year 9 Theatre Trip

On 12 March 2019, over 70 Year 9 Drama students attended a trip to the world famous Globe Theatre on London’s Southbank.

A specially adapted production was created for the students, one of Shakespeare’s most well-loved plays, Romeo and Juliet, using modern costumes and props to bring the themes to life and make it more relevant to the young audience. In advance of the trip, the students had already studied the play text in their English lessons and therefore had a deeper

understanding of the language and plot. What was magical was to see the actors using the space to really engage the audience, and the feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive. Some of the highlights involved the whole cast breaking out into energetic dance routines, accompanied by a live brass band, which got toes tapping and created an unforgettable theatrical experience!

Ms Griffiths Curriculum Leader for Drama

A Christmas Carol Winter Production On 6 and 7 December 2018, Sarah Bonnell students performed in the school production: A Christmas Carol. The cast of passionate actors, musicians and dancers worked incredibly hard towards these performances by learning lines, directing their peers and collaborating effectively together. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

One spectator described the performance as: “Witty, energetic and beautiful rendition of a classic. I was captivated from start to finish and left with a

huge smile on my face. Well done to our talented superstars!”

Ms Green, Receptionist and Midday Supervisor We would like to congratulate the cast for the fantastic performance and for their commitment to the production – we are so proud of you all!

Miss Griffiths, Mr Bentley, Mr Slater and Mr Fergus

Barbican Box Project and Theatre Trip Year 9

On Friday 1 March 2019, a select group of students got to work with professional actor Endy McKay to work on the final stages of a specially devised piece of theatre to be performed at the world-renowned Barbican Theatre on Friday 15th March, as part of the ‘Barbican Box’ project.

This is the third consecutive year that Sarah Bonnell has worked in partnership with the Barbican on this fantastic project, where theatre practitioners create a special box full of items for students to work with, to create unique and original pieces of theatre. This year Theatre Company ‘Slung Low’ created the concept for this box. As outdoor theatre makers, the box was full of items with an outdoor theme including rope, a whistle, chalk and even a fire bowl. Over the weeks, students explored the contents of the box and created a dynamic piece of theatre on the positive changes that young people can make in the world.

We were very honoured to be asked by the Barbican to be involved for another year and to be included in a special film produced as a celebration and way to promote the project.

Mr Bentley and Miss Griffiths Drama Curriculum Area

Spring Newsletter

21

Sarah Bonnell Player World Book Day Performances This year the theme for World Book Day was the roaring 20s and the ‘Great Gatsby’ where selected year 10 GCSE Drama students were tasked with adding some glamour to the Learning Hub by performing an extract from the famous F Scott Fitzgerald novel.

The atmosphere in the Learning Hub was amazing and the performers had the sound effects of music from the era to help create the feel of one of Gatsby’s famous garden parties. Dressed in glamourous suits and dresses, the performers entertained and delighted students with their fun interpretation of the intrigue of the mysterious Mr Gatsby and his gossiping guests.

Ms Jim Drama Curriculum Area

International Women’s Day – Play in a Day! On Friday 8 March, half of our Year 8 cohort took part in a ‘Play in a Day’ as part of the International Women’s Day Extended Learning Day. The students explored the motion picture ‘Hidden Figures’, a film based on a biography.

The film explores the story of a number of inspirational women who worked at NASA during a time of segregation. Three brilliant African-American women at NASA - Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson - serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world.

Students took part in workshops led by professional actors throughout the day in order to develop their vocal and physical theatrical skills and performances were shared from each form at the end of the day. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Year 8 cohort for their engagement and participation in the day. You made us very proud!

The Drama Curriculum Area

22

Sarah Bonnell School

Netball News League competition

The year 8 netball team have once again enjoyed a very successful year. They have consistently shown commitment and enthusiasm to training and matches and have been a total credit to the school.

In the league, the team have performed very well and with 3 games left to play they are in with a very good shot of winning the league with only one loss so far. The results for this are shown below: Opposition

Result

Bobby Moore

Lost 8-3

Brampton Manor Academy

Won 10-5

Chobham Academy

Won 13-0

ELSS

To be played 28/3/19

Langdon

To be played 28/3/19

Lister

Won 9-6

Plashet School

Won 5-1

St Angela’s

To be played 1/4/19

Stratford Academy

Won 7-0

Year 9 Netball Well done to the Year 9 Netball team who have been successful in most of their matches so far this season.

Year 8 Borough

Netball Cham

pions

Cup competition The team attended the borough rally on Wednesday 20 March and surpassed all expectations by being undefeated for the entire tournament and becoming borough champions. This is no mean feat to be the best in Newham at netball. We played against some of the best schools in the borough, winning against, St Angela’s, Plashet, Langdon and Lister. We drew against Brampton and Bobby Moore meaning that we were undefeated and topped the leaderboard. The girls thoroughly deserve to be classed as the best in the borough as they have demonstrated such commitment to training and have made so much progress throughout the year. Well done to all of the girls involved. We are very proud of you.

Ms Emerson Progress Leader & PE Teacher

They have demonstrated excellent commitment, attitude and dedication to the sport and I have been thoroughly impressed with their behaviour at every fixture. They have been superb role models for the school.

The following students are in the Year 9 Netball team:

• Lina • Melinah • Atena

• Shaneeka • Sharlot • Grace

• Alishpa • Tahia • Tia

Well done to you all!

Ms Emerson Progress Leader & PE Teacher

Sports Hall Athletics The year 7 and 8s have had another successful year competing in the Borough Sport Hall Athletics.

They showed fantastic commitment, enthusiasm and resilience during their training sessions and in the competition. The year 7 team narrowly missed out of the final by only 10 points. The year 8 team got into the final and finished in the top 6 out of all the schools in the Borough. Congratulations to the following students for their fantastic dedication and effort.

Year 7: Keisha, Sophia, Ariana, Janiyah, Polina, Natalie, Ella, Gracie & Mauricette.

Year 8: Soraia, Aminata, Vanyza, Mia, Mija & Nebrass.

Ms May Progress Leader & PE Teacher

Spring Newsletter

23

What is ParentPay? ParentPay is an online system which allows you to make quick efficient payments for your daughter’s school lunches and other school activities, trips and visits.

What are the benefits?

ParentPay offers you the freedom to make payments whenever and wherever you like, safe in the knowledge that this website has been security checked by local authorities and has very high internet security standards. It also helps parents to keep track of their child’s spending and avoids problems from occurring if students lose their money or forget it at home.

the following link: http://www.bsfc.ac.uk/files/ParentPay%20 Userguide%20for%20Parents.pdf once you have set up your account.

ParentPay regularly updates their website and informs users via email, so it is important to always check your emails to keep up to date with their amendments.

We at Sarah Bonnell School believe that everyone will benefit considerably from the facility to pay online and this will help in our quest to become a cashless school.

How do I use ParentPay? To access the ParentPay system you need to go online at: www.parentpay.com. You will need a valid email address and a username and password, which would have been sent home in a letter from the school. If you require a copy of this letter then please contact Ms Pollard on 020 8534 6791.

Further information Please visit the ParentPay website: www.parentpay.com to find out more information on how to set up ParentPay. You can also download a user manual via

Term Dates

Summer Term 2018/19 Starts - Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Ends - Friday 19th July 2019 Half Term - Monday 27th May 2019 to Friday 31st May 2019 School Closed - May Day Bank Holiday - Monday 6th May 2019 Eid-ul-Fitr - 5 June 2019 (1 Day TBC)

Autumn Term 2019/20 Starts - Tuesday 3 September 2019 Ends - Friday 20th December 2019 Half Term- Monday 21 October to Friday 25 October 2019 School Closed - Monday 2 September 2019 (Staff Training and Development Day) School Closed - Friday 29 November 2019 (NCST Training and Development Day)

Spring Term 2019/20 Starts - Monday 6 January 2020 Ends - Friday 3 April 2020 Half Term - Monday 17 February to Friday 21 February 2020

Summer Term 2019/20 Starts - Monday 20 April 2020 Ends - Friday 17 July 2020 Half Term - Monday 25 May to Friday 29 May 2020 School Closed - May Day Bank Holiday- Monday 4 May 2020

24

Sarah Bonnell School