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Magazine

InLINE

Little Ilford School News & Events Winter 2019 - Issue 28

In this edition: The Scholars’ Club Black History Month Christmas collections for the Food Bank Youth Travel Ambassadors Debating success School play

Courage Commitment Compassion

Dear Parents, Welcome to the latest addition of Inline. Season’s greetings to you all!

The academic year started well when we received the GCSE exam results. Whilst the year group were more challenging than the previous year, we are still adding a 5th of a grade in value for our students according to national figures. 76% of our students gained a 9-4 grade in English literature and 65% of students gained a 9-7 grade in physics. Our Citizenship results were very strong, with 71% of our students gaining 9-5 grades. Media studies results were in the top 5% in the country. This year’s year 11 look set to gain the highest results we have had under the new exam system.

Our governing body have agreed to the borough’s proposal to expand the school to 12 forms of entry. This means that the school will have 1800 students by 2026. This is a mark of the esteem in which the school is held by the borough. The proposal will allow us to improve many areas of the current site and will allow many more children from our local area to attend rather than having to cross the borough to gain a school place.

As we write, we have just come out of the drama department’s production of Grimms, a play that was based on Grimms’ Fairy Tales. As always, we were thrilled with the standard of the performance and the fact that the students had generated much of the material themselves. In other news, we confirmed our status as a top school for debating when we came 2nd in the recent Pinsent Mason debating competition.

Our attendance remains above 96%, which is well above the national average. Lots of national research shows that excellent attendance has a direct link to results. Please strive with us to improve this figure.

We are frequently asked to approve extended holidays for a variety of reasons. However the students only have 38 weeks of education in the year and the new GCSEs have exponentially more content than the exams they replaced. Holidays during term time set our young people back as it is impossible to truly recreate a lesson by catching up at home.

The holidays are a great opportunity to encourage your child to read. Our school library has a fantastic selection of books for children and young adults. We recommend reading at least 40 minutes per day for years 7-8 and 20 minutes per day for years 9-11.

It only remains for us to thank you for all of your support during the past year and to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year Ian Wilson & Helen Marriott Co-headteachers

Our Vision:  We take ownership of our learning and aspirations so that we fulfil our unique potential;  We promote equality and respect so that we feel safe, looked after and valued;  We embrace challenge and change so that we have the confidence to broaden our horizons;  We improve and achieve through resilience and self-reflection so that we are role models within the local community and the wider world.

Black History Month This whole experience of Black History Month has been absolutely phenomenal. The journey has been incredible as we have learnt so many things about Black History that we were not even aware of. We willingly volunteered because we knew it would be a great opportunity and experience to educate others as well as ourselves and we were right, as our fellow students and us have learnt so many things and it shows! Two weeks ago we ran a quiz on general knowledge about Black History Month to every year group and had a tremendous turnout. The quiz had 10 questions, which were all multiple choice, and around 65% of students did considerably well.

However, we approached the students who did poorly and talked to them about the questions they didn’t do so well on and talked to them about the whole concept of Black History Month and its significance in our community. Two weeks later, we asked the same students what they had learnt about Black History Month and all of them were able to tell us a variety of different things; which just shows that the information we gave them was embedded into their heads and this clearly broadcasts the impact of what we have accomplished this month.

Along with this, we put together a presentation which we performed to almost every year group. The presentation consisted of a brief overview of what we believed Black History Month was about, which simply was the ideology of us all coming together as a community, as a school to help one another and to stand up against all discrimination. We wanted to further reinforce to the students that we are all equal and we all have equal rights and to stand up for what we believe in. We clearly demonstrated this through our effort to try and get the message across.

We explored and presented the theme of the ‘5 C’s’ which were: Community, Creativity, Compassion, Courage and Commitment. Overall the whole experience was a great success as the students took part in many activities such as writing poems, attempting quizzes to increase their knowledge about Black History Month, taking part in a treasure hunt, posters and many more. This has taught us much more than we were expecting, it allowed us to immerse ourselves in different creeds for all aspects of this theme, most importantly it truly allowed us to understand the quote “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now” - Martin Luther King Jr.

By Nazifa and Alima, Year 11

Donations to Food Bank reach record high This term, Little Ilford School launched the 2019 Winter Appeal to support our most disadvantaged families in the local community. Spearheaded by the 'Be The Change' Club, the appeal encouraged staff and pupils to help collect sanitary items and winter essentials for distribution. Each morning, a group of eager students braced the cold winter weather to fundraise at the school gates. The results were phenomenal! Pupils were able to fill 110 drawstring bags which were donated to Newham Food Bank for distribution. Each bag contained key items such as a toothbrush, a hot water bottle, gloves, a hat, and so forth.

The appeal shone light on the Little Ilford School spirit as staff and students pulled together to make it successful. The School Play (Grimms into the Heart of the Forest) did not charge for tickets this year and instead raised £135.46 to spend on purchases for the Winter Appeal. Furthermore, one of our KS4 pupils donated all of his Jack Petchey prize money too! Staff and pupils selflessly sacrificed their time and effort to help, resulting in a very wonderful Winter Appeal.

Ms Azam getting ready to deliver the donations

Tanzid (11.4), Masum (10.8) and Aisha (8.4) dropping off just some of the 110 packages

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Sports roundup Lycamobile Cup The Lycamobile Cup gathers young players from local secondary schools and community centres and sees them compete in a series of tournaments over the course of the season.

Earlier this month girls from Year 8, 9 and 10 participated in the launch competition. They got to meet West Ham ladies players Martha Thomas and Brooke Hendrix.

The team did very well, finishing 6th out of 9 teams, particularly considering they did not have any subs.

Tanha (10.9), Mariyah (9.3), Serina (8.10) Nia (9.10), Molly (9.5) and Shodiqat (8.3) with West Ham Womens’ players Martha Thomas and Brooke Hendrix

Little Ilford beat favourites Eastlea in intense game Despite some late changes, Little Ilford travelled to Eastlea on 31st October in the first round of the Newham Cup. The challenge seemed a daunting task with Eastlea having a strong reputation for football in the borough. The welcome at Eastlea was almost as terrifying as their feared reputation.

Everyone was clear on the task ahead, we would need to be super organised and have to work twice as hard as this team had never played together before. And don’t forget, we had no substitutes. After a quick warm-up and team talk, we were ready to kick off.

The game kicked off as the sun began to set. It was a shaky start with Eastlea going close a couple of times but we held our composure and got back into the game. Towards the end of the first half, some fine passing put us on the break deep into the Eastlea half. Osman cut the ball back and Sami curled the ball into the top corner. Against the odds we were in control of the game.

The team put in a great effort, defending as a team and attacking when the break was on. Alif and Razat made it very tough for the Eastlea forwards whilst Alvi and Adam kept possession well to keep us in control of the game.

The sun had set over the cold, muddy pitch and it was becoming ever more difficult to tell the players apart. The referee kept playing on and we just continued to defend every ball that came our way.

The final whistle blew and we knew we had done it! The celebrations continued on the mini-bus and all the way back to Manor Park. It was a great afternoon of football and the newly formed 11 had achieved the shock result of the round.

U13 & U16 Jack Petchey Foundation Table Tennis tournament The U13s won their group and got to the semi finals of the competition. Unfortunately they lost to the winners.

The U16s performed admirably in the group stages but were unfortunate in the end, however it was a wonderful performance from these boys; they really did the school proud.

Mosan (11.9), Ahmed (11.7), Imrul (10.4), and Ziyad (9.6)

Ali (8.7), Nirjon (8.10), Shindeed (8.2), and Jadyen (8.6).

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Library News Non-Fiction November

To familiarise students with the Dewey Decimal system, which is the world’s most widely used way to organize library collections, Ms Showunmi, our school librarian, organised a competition to find a non-fiction book in the library using clues to the title and Dewey Decimal reference codes. Every participant who found the clues and was able to locate the correct book on the shelf won a small prize.

However, the overall winner of the competition was Constantin in 8.6 who got the star prize.

Well done!

Top Ten Readers of the Month of November 1.

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Sayema, 7.10 Yousuf, 10.2 Li Lin, 8.5 Ayman, 7.8 Ibraheem, 10.2 Saira, 8.4 Grace, 10.6 Tasin, 7.9 9. Umaima, 7.5 10. Andzhelina, 7.4

Upcoming events in the Library January: Role Model Days February: National Storytelling week March: World Book Week & World Book Day

Top ten most popular books of the month of November 1.

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Noughts & crosses by Malorie Blackman Little liar by Julia Gray Wonder by R. J Palacio Harry Potter and the Philosopher`s Stone by J. K. Rowling Old School by Jeff Kinney Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling Invisible Girl by Kate Maryon Dork Diaries by Rachel Renée Russell Smile by Raina Telgemeier Crush Catastrophe by Rachel Renée, Nikki & Erin Russell

Youth Travel Ambassadors receive Student Leadership Accreditation Congratulations to our Youth Travel Ambassadors on achieving their Bronze Level Student Leadership Accreditations.

The YTA’s have worked tirelessly throughout the year in conjunction with Transport for London, delivering Active Travel initiatives such as Cycle to School days, Bike Kit Sales, a Sponsored Bike Ride, Disco / Smoothie Bikes and campaigns to promote Road Safety Awareness.

The YTA’s have also worked hard to promote Healthy Active Lifestyles, healthier eating awareness and to facilitate behavioural within the school community through various other YTA events.

Ahmed (9.10), Alicia (9.1), Shaika (9.10), Momina (9.8), Sana (9.2), Well done to you all, a great achievement.

Mazar (9.7), Nawaal (9.10)

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Scholars’ Club The Scholars’ Club is a prestigious programme of scholarly workshops, activities and tasks open to all students in Years 7 to 10. These are designed to support students in building a profile of high academic achievement and excellence to help students in their academic achievement and expose them to new ideas and fields beyond what they would ordinarily learn at school. It is also an excellent addition for students’ CVs and college applications.

In order to achieve the Scholars’ award, students need to have participated in activities from each strand:  For Bronze, students will need to participate in 1 activity from 3 strands of their choice.  For Silver, students will need to participate in 1 activity from all 4 strands.  For Gold, students will need to participate in 2 activities from each strand, with the exception of strand 5 for which they will complete at least 1 activity.

Strand 1: An aspiring member of the school community

Strand 2: High aspirations beyond the curriculum Strand 3: Reading for pleasure Strand 4: An independent learner

Duke of Edinburgh Award

SSAT Student Leadership award

Attendance to academic workshops

Participation in Debate Mate and related activities for one academic year

School/ Borough/ National sporting representation for one academic year

Participation in at least one school theatrical production (to include direction and design).

Attendance to university lectures (internal or external)

To complete the reading bingo challenge or Complete the Carnegie Award LIS Academic Independent Research Project of choice Demonstration of Independent Learning skills in subject areas (to include the use of wider reading and resources, independent visits etc.)

Ms Hickling-Moore, who runs the Scholars’ Club commented: “I'm excited about the new challenges and opportunities that the Scholars' Club will be offering this year. It's not too late to get involved!”

Recently graduated members of the Scholars’ Club at their award ceremony

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Imperial Sutton Scholars Imperial Sutton Scholars is a two-and-a-half year programme for highattaining KS3 students. Launched in spring 2017, the programme aims to inspire students to study STEM subjects by learning about coding, programming and the application of these skills in the sciences and engineering. Back in year 7 fifteen of us applied to take part in this programme and 6 of us were selected. Luckily I was fortunate enough to be one of them.

Throughout year 7 we attended four sessions where we learnt how to code block. In year 8 we learnt about how to use JavaScript. All in all it was great fun and this year is our last year.

In September we had a residential stay at Imperial College London where we got to live the life of a university student. On the Friday we did a few pastoral activities where we got to know each other and we had to make a bridge as a team building exercise. Then we were given our room cards, met our roommates and were escorted to the halls for the night.

The next morning after breakfast we did coding for a competition for the rest of the day. At 4 o’clock we went back to halls until 4:30 and left for Central London. We ate at Pizza Express and went on the London Eye and didn't get back till 10:30!

On Sunday morning we finished off our codes and robots, tested them and held a big competition. Our parents came and we did a show and tell. Then they announced the winners ‌. all the teams were really good but only one could win. And I'm really happy and proud that it was my team!

I really enjoyed the weekend and feel that this was a program well worth doing. We have five more sessions before we take part in the graduation ceremony.

Soha, 9.8

Debaters reach final The year 10 students listed below spent an intense Friday debating at Pinsent Masons law firm. They won their heats (as a result of their commitment to planning and prepping) and progressed to the final where they took part in an unseen motion with an hour to prepare: 'The fusion of technology with the human body for non-medical reasons should be prohibited' and were awarded runner-up. It is the first time as a school we have progressed to the final, which was judged by the CEO of the company, a Peer from the House of Lords and the CEO of ELBA. The students did very well to get to this point and will hopefully be applying the skills they have gained in public speaking, planning and making sustained supported judgments to their learning across the school.

Qasim (10.6), Zain (10.3), Tara (10.9), Marjanah (10.1), Narmin (10.2) Nusrat (10.4), Tyrell, 10.5 with Ms Hakim.

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European Week of Languages To mark European Week of Languages and our cultural diversity at Little Ilford, various events were arranged:  Assemblies were given about the value of languages to all year groups  Y8-9 students taught their home languages in Y7 registration  There was a language treasure hunt around the school  A song in a different European language was played each day for the school bell  Language Lunches were given in the school canteen  Quotes about the value of languages were displayed in the MFL corridor  Greetings slides in different languages were shown in registration

Jack Petchey The winners of the Jack Petchey awards attended a ceremony to celebrate their achievements on the evening of Monday 23rd September with their families/carers.

The winners last year were Ibrahim (11.6), Shouvik (10.7), Keli (9.5), Vladislav (11.5), Enrika (11.2), Brooklyn (8.7), Rahmani (11.4) and Shahid (8.9). Each winner was awarded £250 by the Jack Petchey Foundation to spend within the school. The students chose to spend their grant on various initiatives ranging from extra decorations for the school prom, anti bullying equipment, musical instruments, resources for the SEN department and help for fellow students facing hardship.

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The Drama department, together with staff from Music, DT and Art all worked together with students to put on an innovative and entertaining school play this term. Audiences were invited to enter “into the dark heart of the forest� and move between two performance spaces to view an interpretation of Grimms Fairy Tales with a twist. The play was a great success and testament to all the hard work put in by staff and students alike.

There are five easy ways to keep in touch!

Our website: www.littleilford.newham.sch.uk Email: info@littleilford.org Download our app via MyEd through the I-store/Google Play Follow us on Twitter @littleilfordsch 8