Featherstone NewsJuly 2017

FHS

Featherstone High School 11 Montague Waye, UB2 5HF

020 8843 0984 info@featherstonehigh.ealing.sch.uk www.featherstonehigh.ealing.sch.uk

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As part of Featherstone’s continued work with Woodlands Academy (as part of The Grand Union Multi Academy Trust), Mr Shillito’s Year 9 class adopted the role of target audience for the final piece of creative writing produced by Year 6. Our students read through the

Greetings from Iceland

What did the students think?

‘Thank you for the amazing opportunity and for helping us to take one step closer to travelling the world.’

‘I truly will never forget it.’

‘Best experience ever. I’ve made new friends and tried new things.’

‘I’d love to go back!’

‘The trip was awesome!”

Featherstone Bake Off students were asked to support a national, Age UK event designed to bring communities together and tackle the issue of loneliness. The event was to mark the one year anniversary of the death of MP Jo Cox who was working to raise awareness for this issue. Bake off students combined their support for Age UK Ealing with another national initiative, Healthy Eating Week. Students wowed the crowds who were willing

Thirty-two Year 9, 10 and 11s joined four members of staff for an amazing 4 day trip to

Iceland at the end of June.

Organised by the Geography department, it is the first trip of its kind run by Featherstone High. Students were able to experience the wonders of Iceland from waterfalls, volcanos and

geysers to learning about renewable thermal energy.

Staff and students were amazed that it doesn’t get dark in Iceland at this time of year due to its latitude.

Trip highlights included: walking behind the plummeting Seljalandsfoss waterfall; watching the Stokkur Geyser errupt every 10 mins; and swimming in the thermal pools at the Blue Lagoon.

Thank you to everyone involved and look out for more exciting trips!

to pay for the cakes and treats made with a variety of vegetables and healthy alternatives to sugar. The event was a great success in part to the hard work of the students and Food Technology Department who were congratulated by the Major of Ealing who also attended the event.

Collaboration with Woodlands Primary

stories and offered written feedback and guidance to the younger students to help them develop their writing skills, while also having the opportunity to reflect on their literacy journeys. It was a thought-provoking lesson, one that will be developed in the next academic year.

The Great Get Together

Headteacher’s Message to Parents/Carers As another academic year reaches a close, looking back there is once more so much to celebrate.

On the academic front, in January we heard that we were once again placed in the top 4% of schools in the country for progress students make between their GCSE years and A levels. Our latest predictions suggest that this success will continue when the current academic year’s results are marked and analysed. I have stated in previous newsletters that there has been enormous change to the curriculum and examinations system this year and I would like to pay tribute to staff and students for coping so well with this.

At the time of writing we have recently completed our Summer Curriculum Enrichment Week and on a daily basis students in all year groups were enjoying a very wide variety of curriculum enrichment opportunities and some very exciting

residential experiences. All Year 7 and 8 students enjoyed trips to a range of venues including Kew Gardens, River Pang, London Zoo and local places of worship. In Year 7 and 8 we also began the process of getting students to think about their future careers through our Careers Workshops. 40 Year 9 students had a fantastic time during their PGL activity trip to the Liddington Adventure Centre near Swindon where both staff and students tested their nerve and skills through a range of activities including abseiling, canoeing and archery to name just a few. Thirty-two Year 9-11students enjoyed an amazing sightseeing trip to Iceland and have taken away some life long memories. We have recently evaluated this programme and both staff and students have been very positive about its impact. I am very grateful to the staff for the additional efforts involved in arranging and supervising this very complex programme of activities and allowing students to have such enjoyable experiences they many might not otherwise have.

I will be writing to you shortly to advise of some of the many changes that we are implementing in September to. The letter

will be on the website and a text or email will sent to you asking you to read the letter on our website.

Please note that staff will be in school in the holiday period when the public examination results are published to support students in finalising their university application or sixth form application. Year 13/A2 students can pick up their results from the sixth form atrium from 8.30am until 9.30am on Thursday 17th August, and Year 12/AS students from 9.30am until 10.30am. Mr Thorley, Director of Sixth Form, will be available to provide further support on the 18th. GCSE results will be available from the Sixth Form Atrium on Thursday 24th August 2015 from 9.30am until 10.30am. Staff will carry out interviews with all students to confirm sixth form choices or offer alternative pathways. Do feel free to contact us if you are at all concerned about your son/daughter’s next steps.

Thank you, as always, on behalf of all the staff for your important on-going support and we wish you all a very enjoyable summer break.

Mr Wadwa, Headteacher

The Year 11 Monte Carlo prom took place on Friday 7th July. The school hall was transformed and students had a great time celebrating. Steve Fernandes was crowned Prom King and Darcy McClaggon was crowned Prom Queen.

Thank you to everyone who helped in making it such a success and also to Sydia Wint and the 2 Year 9 students Hardeep Virdi and Jaspreet who made 165 themed cupcakes for the students - they were absolutely delicious.

FHS Year 11 Prom 2017

Many congratulations to the Year 11, 12 and 13 cohorts of 2017 for successfully completing their Art and Design courses.

They explored many ideas through their work including identity, emotions, politics and personal interests. They also had the opportunity to attend trips and gallery visits to extend their learning,

Refreshments will be provided.

Featherstone High School Art Department – Annual Art ExhibitionFHS12th July 2017 4pm - 6pm Rooms A1, A3 & A4 Showcasing A Level, AS Level and GCSE work.

Annual Art Exhibition

raise their aspirations and help with their achievement.

The students work was showcased in an end of year Art and Design Exhibition. This included many interesting outcomes ranging from clay vessels, mixed media, oil painting, drawing, print-making and textiles. Examples of work will be available to view on Firefly.

On the 14th June 10 students from Years 7-10 visited the Cambridge Theatre to watch a performance of ‘Matilda the Musical’. This was part of a one year project entitled: ‘Influential people overcoming adversity’. All the students started the experience by watching street performers in Covent Garden, before heading to the theatre. One student felt that the experience will: “help me in English and drama, as I now have a better understanding of how to express a characters feelings” whilst another exclaimed: “It was absolutely brilliant, the best trip I have ever been on”. Business Ambassadors from a range of

London based employers visited Year 7 students during their PSHE lesson in July. Volunteers from the travel, construction, and finance sectors, plus an osteopath and local businessman worked with classes to explore the skills and qualities that students need to develop in preparation for a successful career after leaving Featherstone. The initiative is part of the Careers Lab project delivered to Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 during PSHE . If you would be interested in volunteering in future events from September 2017 please e mail AWebb@featherstonehigh.ealing.sch.uk for further details.

River Pang: (Pictured) In and out of the water the Year 7s had fantastic day trips discovering some of the beauty of nature!

Swanage: Beautiful scenery along the South coast of England as the Year 10 Geographers set about collecting their data in an effort to explain how it all happened!?

On 8th June, to coincide with the general election, we held a school wide mock election. This event was incredibly well received with almost 500 votes cast. Students were introduced to the policies of the main political parties during PSHE and form time. They were shown the correct way of casting a vote and the importance of the secret ballot. As was clearly shown in the general election itself, when young people are provided with the opportunity to make their voice heard, they do so in large numbers. The Labour Party won the mock election with over 60% of the votes cast.

Year 7 and 8 students have been taking part in Accelerated Reader this year. In total they have read 116 million words and passed over 4000 quizzes. Lots of students have made an outstanding effort and have earned points and prizes, while improving their reading skills, and enjoying some great books at the same time. The Star Reader this year is Samira Ravimohan in 7Curie who has read over 100 books and 4 million words!!! Well done to her and to everyone else who took part.

Students and teachers enjoyed a “Tales and Teapots” party in the Library in June, sharing cakes and chatting about their favourite books. The event was in aid of The National Literacy Trust (a charity which supports people of all ages with reading and writing). Amy Grilli, who works for the Trust, wrote to us and thanked us saying: “Your generous donations will help us to give children and young people the literacy skills they need to reach their potential”, praising the event as a “fantastic job”. Well done to all involved!

The Maths department ran a Maths Workshop for year 9 students and it proved to be a great success. Students had the chance to test their intellect by doing a range of different activities that required lateral thinking. We got feedback such as:

...I really liked the part when we had to do marshmallows and spaghetti towers. I also enjoyed doing the shape game. I think the problems at the first were a bit difficult. I would like to do this type of competition more often. I ENJOYED IT A LOT!!! Bushra

Tales and Teapots

Nine students took part in a dance audition for Step Live on Monday 19th June and made it through to the finals, performed at the Southbank in London on Monday 17th July. The girls (Varinder, Mehak, Sabeena, Anjala, Julie-Ann, Lakhvinder, Sancy, Shumaila and Merrily) have been working hard rehearsing all year and their hard work has paid off!

Step Live Matilda the Musical

Maths Workshop

Business Ambassadors

Geography Trips

FHS Mock Election

Dates for the DiaryStaff Training Days: Mon 4th & Tuesday 5th Sep

Pupil Induction Day: Wed 6th Sep (for Years 7, 12 & 13)

Normal timetable for all students: Thu 7th Sep

Celebratory / Awards’ Evening: Thu 14th Sep

Open Evening: Thu 5th Oct 2017

Staff Training Day (co-incident with Diwali): Thu 19th Oct

Occasional Day: Fri 20th Oct

Half Term: Mon 23rd to Fri 27th Oct

We are collecting used & unwanted, good condition prescription eye glasses for charity. The collection box is located in the school reception.

Eye Glass Collection

Thirty Year 7&8 students travelled to Perivale Athletics Track to compete against all other schools in the Borough. Well done to Zarifah Fatematuz who finished 2nd in Javelin and Shakira Crosby who finished 4th in the 100m.

After a very successful season, the final against Elthorne was by far our most difficult team.

The Elthorne team were very impressive in both their bowling and fielding with seven bowlers showing us their various bowling techniques. However, this, our batters, in both Adnan and Ekveer, combined to reach a total of 66 together before Ekveer was caught. Rohit replaced Ekveer and was solid in helping Adnan reach a half century 53 not out. With our eventual target 107 in 15 overs the target set was challenging but possible with just over 7 runs needed per over.

After a good discussion at the changeover everyone was well aware of what they needed to do and how important their individual performance would be in stopping the other team. However, nerves were clearly visible at the start of the innings but the team pulled together which was great to see. In the end, the team had performed well having restricted Elthorne to 70 runs which meant we won by 37 runs.

Well done to the Featherstone Year 7 Cricket team, it’s been a pleasure being part of your success.

Pupils in Year 10 will have tests at the start of Year 11 based on work their teachers will ask them to complete over the Summer Holidays. It is important that pupils get into the habit of learning, revising and memorising the key knowledge, skills and concepts covered in each of their subjects. The reason for this is that the way GCSEs are examined has changed. Coursework has been removed from most subjects and pupils will be judged on the basis of what they know, remember and can do in final exams taken at the end of Year 11. Details of the topics to be revised can be found on Firefly.

The Year 8 Boys won their Borough Cricket Final on Tuesday 4th July, retaining their title from last year. The boys played very well in what was an exciting final.

In a thrilling final over, Featherstone needed 7 from 6 balls and, having lost two quick wickets, it seemed the game was beyond them.

In came Thanus Balakumar however and hit two 4s off his three deliveries to ensure Featherstone were again Borough Champions. Well done to all the team.

Corrosive, flabbergasting, scorching, I’m in dismay. Looking up at my loved ones, They’re all in flames.

2 minutes of silence isn’t enough, 6 hours of flames and they turn to dust.

Saddened, crushed, confused, bruised We all stand in unity, To help them with our purity, Scorching hot fire, we were devastated by the blaze, Mothers, fathers and children dead from all shades.

We are degraded by failure, Misguided by hatred, One small mistake, And we see missing faces.

Mortification brushes my head, Blistering hot fire and they’re still in bed, I’m battered by this tragedy, The community demands integrity, Grenfell, we salute you!

Silence by Abdirahman Dalla

Assessment Information

Poem for Grenfell: SilenceNational School Sports Week

Years 7,8,9,10 and 12 all took part in National School Sports week with a variety of events taking place. The week ran with a first come first served theme aimed at getting as many pupils to participate as possible. Headlines included dodgeball, trampolining, frisbee, cycling, zumba dancing and many more. We were also fortunate to be invited to Southall Street Sports Festival held at Spikes Bridge. Fun was had by all throughout the week and we are already looking forward to next year for more exciting activities.

Borough Athletics Competition

Year 7 Cricket

Breakfast and last minute help for Year 11 GCSE students: see you at results day - 24th August, 9.30am.

Year 8 Cricket