Name & Tutor Group:

Issue 59

Headlines by Rachel McGowan

6th December 2016

Working together to promote & celebrate achievement

End of Term Arrangements

I wanted to provide students and parents with an overview of our run-up to the Christmas holidays. Our first festive event takes place after school on Thursday 15th December between 4.30 and 6.30pm. Everyone is cordially invited to our ‘Dorothy in Wonderland’ production taking place in the South Hall. Tickets are available from all the Drama teachers, Ms Dawson, Ms Ali & Mr Wilson and cost £2.50. On Monday 19th December we will hold our Christmas Bazaar in the South Hall at lunchtime. This is being led by Year 11 and will have an array of stalls. Students please make sure you bring your pocket money to spend on small gifts and activities. Student Christmas Lunch is on Tuesday 20th December and costs £2.40. Tickets are on sale now in the North Foyer every day until 14th December between 1.00-1.25pm. You must have a ticket to enjoy Christmas lunch and these must be bought or collected beforehand by 14th December. No other food will be available at lunchtime on Tuesday 20th December. Sandwiches must be purchased at break. The menu and timings are as follows. Students wishing to eat their packed lunch will be able to do so in the South Hall.

Tuesday 20th December 2016 Festive Lunch

Years 11, 8 & 7 12.15 – 13.00

Years 9 & 10 13.00 – 13.35

2

Roast Norfolk Halal Turkey served with

sage & onion stuffing, Halal Chicken sausage & cranberry compote

or

Vegetable Lasagne

with

Roast Potatoes Carrots, peas and sweetcorn medley

Followed by

Festive Dessert

Finally, on Wednesday 21st December we have our festive non-uniform day and a great day to wear a festive jumper! Students donate £1 and each year group decides which charity their money will go to. Students must pay their money to their Pastoral Prefect during form time in the week before we break-up. On Wednesday 21st December school finishes at 12.35pm.

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Reading, Reading, Reading

I’d like to pose a question to you all: How many books do you have in your home? Three in ten children live in households that do not contain a single book according to The National Literacy Trust. Children who live in households where there are no books are two-and-a-half times more likely to fall below the expected standard for their age. This in turn means they are likely to underperform in their examinations. The research also found that 40% of children aged 8 to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books even though 81% own a mobile phone. At Plashet we believe reading is really important. At the end of last year, I led an assembly with all year groups about the importance of reading. As a reminder and for parents as well, here are Mrs McGowan’s Top Ten Reasons for Reading. 1. Girls who read often (every day) and read widely (lots of different texts) get better at reading and

all other subjects more quickly. 2. Reading exercises our brains because reading is a much more complex task than watching the TV,

and reading strengthens brain connections and actually builds new connections. 3. Reading also improves concentration and we all need to be able to do this for longer periods

especially as GCSE examinations are getting longer and there will be more of them. 4. Reading teaches us about the world around us. It exposes us to new ways of life, ideas and beliefs

about the world that might be different to those that surround us. This is important as it builds our background knowledge and understanding.

5. Reading improves our vocabulary and leads to more highly developed language skills. 6. Reading develops our imagination because as we read our brains translate the descriptions we read

of people, places and things into pictures. We are engaged in the story and we can see the characters in our mind’s eye and imagine how we might feel.

7. Reading helps us develop empathy and identify with characters. 8. People who read do better at school. 9. Reading is a great form of entertainment and you can do it almost anywhere. 10. Reading relaxes the body and calms the mind. It is important that we all should practice how to

relax and be silent. The constant interruptions and fast pace of life that bombard our senses all day everyday are actually quite stressful for our brains. When we read in silence the black and white print is much less stressful for our eyes and brains.

So what should you read? May be you could work your way through these! Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner Animal Farm by George Orwell Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono Treasure Island by R. L Stevenson Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle People Might Hear You by Robin Klein Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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More Poetry Success For Plashet Students

I am delighted to announce that ELEVEN of our students are continuing what is becoming a fine tradition of success in poetry competitions. The following students have had their poems selected for publication in the ‘Busta Rhyme’ anthology, put together by the ‘Young Writers’ organisation: Noor Waseem 10L Samiyah Ahmed 10G Mooskan Gul 10G Vanishna Vairaiah 10G Akeefa Islam 10H Precious Ezeama 8G Imman Fatima 8L Amna Fairoze 8L Fatima Qayum 7E Zulekha Mahmed 7T Alesha Khan 7E All of these students are now in with a chance of scooping the £1,000 grand prize! (I will keep everyone posted on this.) I hope everyone will join me in congratulating our students on their success, and I hope everyone uses this as inspiration to dig out their pens and notepads and get creative. Mr J Seigal Poet-in-Residence

Netball Success

The Year 8 and senior netball team played Forest Gate on 24th November. All of the students worked hard and represented Plashet in excellent fashion. The Year 8 team won 6-1 and the senior team won 15-6. These are both fantastic results. The following students played in the Year 8 team: Nidhi Ben 8E Misbah Hussain 8G Kulsom Jan 8N Fatima Noor 8G Farah Rekada 8A Nila Shajan 8G Gauri Shaji 8E The following students played in the senior team: Ibtisam Abdulla 11S Nevane Elancheliyan 11S Zeeniya Ilyas 11L Eman Khalid 11A Nana Afia Sarpong 11H Sumeya Sheikh 10T Fatma Torbas 10E Well done girls! Miss S Lee and Miss N Boland PE Department

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Year 8 ‘A Christmas Carol’ performance

On Wednesday 16th November, Year 8 were very lucky to be paid a visit from a professional theatre company. They acted out Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ and really spread festive cheer and magic. The story is all about Ebenezer Scrooge, the mean, bitter, bad – tempered man who thinks Christmas is a waste of time. After being visited from the

three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, Scrooge is shown what Christmas really means to everyone and shows him what people think of him – not successful, rich and powerful, but cruel, disliked and harsh. After the ghosts show him the true meaning of Christmas, however, he is soon running through the streets shouting ‘Merry Christmas!’ to everyone and everything! The acting was wonderful and the singing very beautiful. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and everyone enjoyed themselves watching ‘A Christmas Carol’ come to life. Zainab Rashid 8E

Junior Citizen Scheme - 7th November to 25th November 2016

From the 7th to 25th November, 12 Year 9 students have been developing their skills as outstanding local citizens by attending the Junior Citizen Scheme. The scheme is run by the Metropolitan Police in conjunction with organisations such as the London Fire Brigade, the RNLI and St John’s Ambulance. Plashet students were chosen yet again by the Police to help run the event. Students are tasked with spending a week at the Tate & Lyle Factory in Silvertown, delivering a number of sessions to Newham primary school students to increase their awareness of a number of health and safety issues such as stranger danger, the importance of smoke detectors and the danger of belonging to a gang. This gave students the opportunity to develop a number of their Plashet Practices such as communication, organisation and leadership. They returned to school brimming with pride about their role in the event and had the following to say: “We were quite nervous about taking part in the scheme but it was fantastic and we were made to feel like adults by all the professionals attending the scheme. We helped the Police dog handler and many more of the professionals to deliver awareness about the dangers of things that could happen to young children. What we enjoyed the most was being able to deliver the drugs awareness demonstration by ourselves (we had training first). Overall, the week was really great for us and gave us so much confidence, teaching us how to engage in successful team work.” Gloriya Vijayan 9H, Samina Haque 9H, Arya Pillai 9E & Shana Leacataly 9G

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“This has been an amazing experience for me. I taught about RNLI lifeboats, teaching what to do if at risk of drowning and explained safety boards and flags on the beach. On the third day of training it was a VIP day! Many head teachers and senior police and fire brigade officers came to visit and we dressed professionally on that day. At the end of the day we were awarded a medal by the police!” Arooj Ubaid 9S “Taking part in JCS is something that I will always remember because it was a blast! In the beginning, I was quite shy but my confidence grew throughout the week and by the end, I was very upset to leave! It was a wonderful week and I thoroughly encourage future year 9s to take part in it.” Noor Hussain 9T “JCS was a great experience for me. It enabled me to develop my leadership and communication skills, as I was able to lead children and liaise with professional adults. I would love to do it again.” Raeesah Abdul-Ahad 9H A huge thank you to Mrs Gibney in the North Office for all of her hard work in ensuring the event ran so smoothly! Miss A Forshaw Curriculum Leader for Geography and History with whole-school responsibility for Citizenship and Social, Moral and Political Education

Youth Development Music Career Workshop

On Thursday 17th November, Year 8 and 9 students had the opportunity to attend a Youth Development Music Career Workshop held by Arfa Butt and Jasmin Sehra. Ms Butt is a Music and Talent Director for MTV and has worked with a pool of international and local talent including up and coming artists. Ms Sehra is a London based artist passionate about the arts, fashion and Hip Hop whose work specifically focuses on portraiture and music. The workshop focussed on career opportunities and why women should consider a career in music. The areas covered in the workshop included roles in artist support and how to use existing and traditional music to create new music. The students were also introduced to how to promote themselves in the media industries by creating their own blogs and how to put their own videos on YouTube. The workshop was summed up by Precious Ezeama (8G) who described it as “fun and imaginative because it teaches us about careers in music apart from singing and dancing and how not only men can be musicians.” Mr R Demianiuk Subject Leader Music

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Sociology Lecture

On the 29th November 2016 Jo Sell, a researcher at The Institute of Education took time out to deliver a lecture on Research methods. Some Year 11 Sociology students and Year 10 Geography students were given the opportunity to sit in on the lecture as well as take part in the question and answer session. Jo Sell was asked to present to the most able students and therefore taught to A level and degree level in regards to paradigms, content analysis, funding and sampling techniques. In addition, she taught students about live research that is currently taking place to aid remote island communities. Bath University is working with the government and businesses to find new ways to give these communities electricity.

Jo Sell is also working on research right now with regards to Religion and sex education. She is hoping to complete this research in a year’s time and is hoping to be published. The students and I, would like to say thank you to Jo for taking the time out of her busy schedule to teach and enlighten us. We also want to give her credit for providing some resources to help those students to revise at a later date. Miss Z Teles Subject Leader for Sociology

England v Jamaica Netball Match

On Tuesday 29th November 50 students attended the International Netball match between England and Jamaica at the Queen Elizabeth copper box. A fantastic time was had by all. Thank you to Ms Boland and Ms Lee for organising and leading the visit and to Ms Neeves, Ms Knowles and Mr Coombes for attending. “It was a very interesting and exciting match between England and Jamaica. We learnt a lot of techniques during the game and enjoyed ourselves. The game really inspired us not to give up because winners never quit and quitters never win.” Minaal Meer 8H Miss R Harrison Curriculum Leader for PE and Dance

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Attendance and Appointments

We have recently received a high number of parents requesting to take their daughter out of school because parents themselves have personal appointments. Please note students will not be permitted to leave school for this reason and will have to remain in school. Please ensure suitable arrangements have been made for your daughter to go home if you are unable to collect her due to your personal appointment. In addition, please ensure student appointments for the GP and Dentist take place after school and/or during school holidays. There have been a high number of students with appointments this term and to succeed in their learning they must be in school. The school procedure for students to leave for appointments are: 1. Student must bring in a medical letter/ note from parent which confirms the time the student should be leaving and signed. 2. The form tutor will sign the letter and students may leave for their appointment. If a student does not have a note they will not be able to leave the school for the appointment. * If the teacher is uncertain that the note is authentic the attendance officer will call home. Mrs Jamal Attendance Officer

Scholastic Book Fair

Dear Parents/ Guardians, To further enhance your child’s enjoyment of reading, the Library (South) is holding a Scholastic Book Fair we would love to see your child there! There will be over 200 great titles prices starting from £2.99 aimed at all year groups (7-11) from over 50 publishers and stationery items for purchase, from Monday 5th December 2016 until Monday12th December 2016. Your child will be able to buy books at the fair, and each purchase you make helps to raise money for the school to spend on new books. Last year we raised a fantastic £500 so let’s see if we can beat that total this year. Your child will be bringing home a leaflet showing you some of the books available - the full list is available on the Scholastic website www.bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk. Alongside the event we are running a Library Competition. Your child will have the opportunity to enter, Vouchers will be awarded to the winners to use at the fair. Remember ‘A book is a gift you can open again and again!’ Let’s make sure we give all our students the gift of a good book at this Scholastic Book Fair. Mrs Y Sohail Librarian Resource Manager