Inline Mag Spring 2020 Issue 29

Magazine

InLINE

Little Ilford School News & Events Spring 2020 - Issue 29

In this edition: Record donations to the Foodbank World Book Day Coding Workshop from Accenture Scholars’ Club

Courage Commitment Compassion

Dear Parents/Carers, This is the most unusual end-of-term message we’ve ever had to send out as head teachers! It has been such a challenge for all of us to respond to the ever-changing national situation. We want to take this opportunity to thank you for the work you’ve done in ensuring that the education of our young people moves forward as much as possible. It can’t have been easy to keep them focused when many of you have your own jobs to attend to and multiple children in the home. Quite a number of you have had to cope with the illness yourselves and/or look after others who have fallen unwell. We salute you!

As we write, we are coming to the end of the three-weeks-worth of work that is up on the website. We will be setting more work for the period after the holiday which will be posted by the 27th April. As we’re sure you can appreciate, the monitoring of all this work is impossible when many of our staff are facing the same issues at home that we’ve listed above. We will be focusing our efforts on supporting the students that the government class as ‘disadvantaged’. However, if you need our support in accessing the work, please let us know via the info@littleilford.org email address. In following government guidance on school attendance, we are unable to provide a telephone service at present. The national guidance that we are receiving now clearly states that we should not be setting and marking exam work for year 11s as, of course, the provenance of the work could not be verified.

It’s important to note that work isn’t everything. We hope that you’ll have a chance to do relationshipbuilding things at home with your young people, such as cooking and games. The Newham Library Service allows for the downloading of free ebooks and audiobooks using the BorrowBox service, which can help to keep our young people improving their literacy. https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Services/eBooks-eMagazines-audiobooks.aspx

RSHE As you probably know, we are obliged by law to teach Newham’s new Relationships, Sex and Health Education policy from September. The policy has now been released. Our plan is to teach the content through our form tutors, using single sex groups when it is strictly necessary. We would have held parental consultation meetings in school (we have already had one meeting before the policy was published) but this will be impossible until the current situation changes. We are looking to do some online consultation next term, so watch this space.

FSM We are sending out free school meal vouchers for qualifying families. Please do let us know if you are eligible and you don’t receive them.

There are four easy ways to keep in touch!

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

The council have asked us to pass on the following messages:

Council tax If you are having difficulty paying your Council Tax due to the Coronavirus pandemic please contact Council Tax and Benefits on 020 8430 2000. If your income has changed you may well be eligible for Council Tax Support which will pay up to 90% of your Council Tax. If you already claim Council Tax support please tell us about the change using the online change of circumstances found on the Council’s website. If you do not currently have a claim for Council Tax support you can make a claim online. If you need help with making a claim or advice, our staff will quickly help you make a claim for this and can discuss payment holidays or even hardship grants towards outstanding Council Tax. Please don’t wait for your account to go into arrears before contacting us. We want to help support you in these difficult times.

Rent payments If you are having difficulty paying your rent due to the Coronavirus pandemic please visit the Making a Benefit Claim pages on the Council’s website. This will help direct you to the right agency to deal with your claim. If you have an existing claim for Housing Benefit and your income has changed please visit the Benefits – Tell us about a Change page and complete the online change of circumstances form. If you need help or advice please contact Council Tax and Benefits on 020 8430 2000 and our staff will be able to help you. https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/Coronavirus-(Covid-19).aspx#Advice It simply remains for us to wish you and your families well.

Ian Wilson & Helen Marriott Co-Headteachers

Foodbank donations exceed all expectations Our whole school charity appeal in December asked for donations of essentials for the Newham Foodbank.

We were astounded by the generosity of students, their families and staff, and needed the school minibus to transport all the bags of sanitary items and winter essentials to help support our most disadvantaged families in the local community. Pictured opposite are Tanzid, Masum and Aisha handing over some of the 110 packages to the Food Bank.

Youth Travel Ambassadors go far Congratulations to our Youth Travel Ambassadors on achieving their Bronze Level Student Leadership Accreditations.

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

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Sports roundup The Y7 girls played a very good game of football between the two year 7 squads recently. The team from Brampton Manor Academy took the lead in the first half and then doubled their lead. LIS managed to score 2 goals on the second half but unfortunately lost the game 4-2.

Macy in 7.9 scored the two goals and the player of the match was Chandra in 7.2.

Another great game was played by the boys against Royal Docks Academy: LIS were 5-2 down with 10 minutes to play. Great perseverance and courage was shown by the year 8 boys to bring back the score to 5-5. A hat trick was scored by Muhamed in 8.3, Saleh in 8.7 scored an absolute screamer from outside the box, and Yasir in 8.3 scored a solo goal through some astonishing wing play.

Table Tennis On Sunday the 2nd of February a group of LIS boys competed in an individual table tennis tournament: U13’s & U16’s: Imrul in 10.4, Ziyad, 9.6, Shazil in 9.10, Jayden in 8.6 and Ali in 10.8. The boys did really well finishing high in the group stages. Jayden and Ziyad did especially well and managed to make it to the quarter finals of the competition.

Girls’ football v Brampton: The Year 7 girls’ football team played Brampton and were 2-0 up but Brampton managed to make a come back, and the end result was a respectable 2 -2 draw.

Netball The year 7 Netball Team have been busy over the past couple of weeks, with numerous games played and many successes.

On Tuesday 3rd March, they comfortably beat Plashet School 6-0.

They also competed in the Newham Borough Netball Tournament, winning or drawing 6 of their 8 matches. They narrowly missed out on third place by two points, but managed a very respectable 4th place overall; Little Ilford's best placing at this tournament.

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Healthy Schools Week This year our Healthy Schools Week focus was to promote cycling and walking to school and to fundraise for new bikes for the girls’ Cycle Club which has been going from strength to strength. The girls who attend are totally dedicated and turn up every week full of energy no matter what the weather.

As we currently only have 8 bikes between 15-20 girls, we wanted to raise funds to buy some more bikes for the Club.

Throughout the week staff and students were encouraged to donate and participate in a range of lunchtime activities such as Guess the Fruit, fruit and veg sampling, Staff vs Staff and Staff vs Students sports competitions, in order to raise some money towards the £300 target. Staff also got involved as Mr Brahim organized a Staff vs Staff volleyball session.

Many thanks go out to the Juniper Catering team for all their hard work throughout the week providing a special Healthy Schools Week Menu, a range of exotic fruit and some tasty vegan burgers for everyone to sample. The smoothie bike as always went down a treat, with our students putting in maximum pedal power to produce the delicious Hidden Veg and Tutti Frutti Smoothies.

Girls Only activities were set up on the MUGA by Miss Clark and were a huge hit. KS3 girls had the opportunity to take part in a range of fun games and sports during lunchtime, burning energy, keeping active and having fun as well.

Highlights of the week were the cycling initiatives Cycle Confident training delivered by Jeremy from Sustrans and Mr Broadbent in the playground.

Attendance was amazing with both boys and girls enthusiastically completing the LIS Basic Cycle Proficiency Course.

Finally, the Sponsored Ride to Little Ilford Park took place on Friday, which was a great success. As many as 16 students took to their bikes to complete sponsored laps in the park to raise funds. Students braved the cold and muddy conditions with some completing as many as 20 laps for the cause. We managed to raise half our target of £300.

Complex Needs & British Values Day For British Values Day we did some activities that we would like to share: The message we learned is : Our British values include inclusivity and diversity for every one of our students. We have learnt that we have the right to learn and to grow in confidence, and to treat everybody equally.

Ms Keser & the Complex Needs Group

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Library news Although World Book Day was on the 5th March, at Little Ilford we celebrated all week.

On Monday, author Nikki Sheehan visited and held creative writing sessions. She also very generously stayed behind to chat to the students and sign their exercise books.

On the 5th March, we were lucky enough to be visited by the Book Bus, which gave Year 7 and 8 students the opportunity to climb aboard, sample some books and even buy a few. A ‘Reading Grotto’ was also set up in the library where students took turns to retreat to the quiet grotto to read, which proved very Students aboard the Book Bus popular with all year groups.

Also, as part of World Book Day activities, Little Ilford students and staff raised £83.21p for Book Aid Visiting author Nikki Sheehan International; this charity provides books to children affected by conflict around the world. Thank you to all our students and members of staff who contributed to this good cause, but especially Hannah in 7.8 who raised £35 through her readathon. Well done Hannah!

The highlight of the week was Friday when many staff dressed up as book characters. The students got Just some of the teachers in their costumes into the spirit of the day by The Reading Grotto trying to guess the who the teachers’ characters were.

While we are closed: •

Please help to keep all borrowed school library books in a safe place so that you can find them and return them when school reopens. Thank you

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Join a local library here to read audio or e-books for free https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Joining-a-library.aspx?l1=100003&l2=200062 https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/leisure_and_culture/libraries/libraries.aspx https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/libraries-and-local-history

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Once you have joined any of these libraries on line, you can start to use the online resources such as e-books immediately with your temporary registration number and password until the corona virus is over, then you can go into a local library (with the required proof of identity) to collect your membership card.

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Some useful websites: https://stories.audible.com/discovery https://www.infotopia.info https://www.kidtopia.info https://www.infotrek.info Recommended Books to Read These books can be borrowed in audio or pdf format from local libraries and can be read on your mobile app or through your computer, Ipad, Kindle or Tablet:

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Scholars’ Fortnight, by Iqra in 7.3 What is Scholars’ Fortnight?

Scholars’ Fortnight is an extracurricular activity organised by Ms Moore to expand students’ horizons.This includes many workshops that take place for over two weeks from 27th January.These workshops take place across the school and every student is welcome!

Scholars’ Club is an inclusive club that inspires students to take part in different activities and makes students determined to achieve more than they think they can.

Why does Scholars’ Fortnight take place?

Scholars’ Fortnight takes place in order for students who are members of Scholars’ Club to be able to complete Strand 4 of their passport,which includes completing the Summer Term Project,regarding all the workshops they have attended.It also enables teachers ,who are keen on teaching subjects that are out of the curriculum,to teach them.

Examples of Workshops: • Music in Times of Stress: Mr Wilson • You’re a poet and you don’t even know it!: Ms Kandola • Post Colonialism: Ms Jahan & Ms Begum • Writing BLOGS and Articles for the School Magazine/Website: Ms Chamberlain • P.E. Workshop:Mr Denmart • Magical Realism in Mexican Literature: Ms Moore • Non-Fiction Workshop: Ms Showummi • Can Maths Predict The World?: Mr Seagull

Reviews: George, from Yr 8: “I enjoyed the P.E. Workshop the most but I also enjoyed all the other workshops” Bobby, from Yr 8, “I enjoyed all the workshops but I enjoyed the Magical Realism in Mexican Literature workshop the most” Iqra, from Yr 7: “I enjoyed all the workshops, especially Mr Seagull’s, as it gave me a better understanding of a new way of how maths can solve real life problems.’

Keyan, from Yr 7: “My favourite workshop was the Non -Fiction Workshop as it gave me more knowledge of non-fiction books.”

Ms Moore: “I learnt many new things like post colonialism and probability and I really enjoyed all the workshops, especially teaching Mexican Literature as I don’t really get the opportunity to teach it. I would recommend all teachers hold a workshop next year’ Mr Oloyede: “I enjoyed teaching technology as an interest and not as a subject because I don’t really get the opportunity to teach technology when it isn’t exam-based.The students really enjoyed the workshop and I aim to hold a workshop for Yr 7’s and 8’s next year”

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DebateMate - a student’s perspective We started getting prepared for Debate Mate around 3.15pm. It was my first time and I was really nervous because I hadn't done anything like this, but I am glad Ms Hakim chose me because now I have experience.

There were a lot of schools like Eastbrook, St Angela’s, Langdon and Brampton. My group was made up of myself, Amisha, Fatima and Farah, and even though we hadn’t done this before, we still led our team to victory!

It was quite a challenge as the first round was really hard and the motion was: There should be an 8pm curfew for everyone under the age of 16 and we were in opposition. We had some strong points but we didn't develop them enough and did not link it back but we did use some really good reasons such as: • there should not be an 8pm curfew due to religious reasons like going to the mosque as the mosque usually ends at 7:30pm; • possible transport issues like train and traffic delays.

We were went up against Eastbrook who had really good points such as “crime is increasing and urbanisation” etc. In my opinion we needed a lot more confidence. But in the second round we redeemed ourselves. The motion was ‘THW allow students to have a vote in their education’ and we were competing against Langdon. This was a very hard motion and it took a while to understand with many POI and rebuttals but we won!

To improve further, we need more confidence, but our team used PEEL and the structure we use for essay writing in Sociology helped structure our debate points.

By Momina, 9.8

Commonwealth Choir at the Guildhall Members of the Commonwealth choir gave two performances recently; the first at the Royal College of Physicians and the second at The Guildhall in the City of London, to celebrate Commonwealth Day. The children's choir performed with the Band of the Welsh Guards, including two compositions by our very own Mr Wilson!

Here they are pictured with the former Lord Mayor of London and patron of the Commonwealth choir, Charles Bowman.

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Visit to the BETT show Year 9 and 11 computer science students went to the BETT (British Educational Training & Technology) Show in ExCel to check out the latest technology offered by 850 leading companies and 103 exciting new edtech startups from all around the world. It was a perfect environment for students to interact with technology solutions such as escape rooms; you had to code your way out, virtual reality and interactive sensor based learning games. It also gave our students the opportunity to see how technology enables them in ways that were inconceivable just a few years ago, and the technological developments of the future.

Accenture visit LIS to teach coding Employees from Accenture, a multinational professional services company which provides services in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations, visited recently to work with LIS students to deliver workshops on coding projects. They briefed students on their latest projects such as creating the passport scanning systems in UK airports and updating the BBC iPlayer.

Students met programmers, systems analysts, technical consultants, artificial intelligence engineers, data architects, software engineers and global media managers. The staff from Accenture left the school singing praises about the technical capability of the students, their positive attitude to learning and motivation levels. They had to quickly differentiate on the spot to raise the bar for some of the students. It was pleasing to see our students rise to the challenge confidently.

Women of the World Festival On Saturday 7th March to mark International Womens’ Day, Ms Probett and Ms Hakim took 8 of the girls from Girls Club and Student Council to the WOW (Women of the World) Festival at the Southbank.

It was an amazing event and the girls were incredible all day; members of the public came up to tell us how inspiring, valuable and wonderful they were.

The girls were empowered and confident enough to go up to the panellists, speak with them, invite them to our school to speak and inspire and network.

They were an absolute credit and an inspiration to Little Ilford and because of their confidence and integrity, we left with more than 5 contacts with speakers from the event who have expressed an interest in coming to our school.

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