NEWSLETTER Monthly News Updates | November 2019 | www.spwt.net | @StPaulsWayTrust

SPWT is part of the University Schools Trust

St Paul’s Way Education Foundation Trust

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Executive Headteacher’s Message

Dear Parents/Carers,

This month has been another busy period for St Paul’s Way Trust School as we continue to build on the successes we had during first half term. There has been a truly exceptional range of opportunities with increasing numbers of students taking part in extra-curricular clubs, competitions and curriculum visits. Please do continue to encourage your son/daughter to participate.

Away from the classroom, our Parents Evenings for Year 8 and Year 9 were really well attended and we would like to thank parents/carers for their feedback. Although the feedback was very positive, we are constantly seeking ways to improve our student experience (Future parents evening dates are on the back of this newsletter). It is also worth mentioning our sporting success for both boys and girls where we have won a number of competitions against other Tower Hamlets schools, reaching the latter stages of any ongoing tournaments. In addition, we would like to commend our students for their fundraising efforts for various good causes, highlighting the global citizens we want our student to become. Lastly, we are very fortunate to have been selected to partner with National Youth Orchestra (NYO) of Great Britain, this will mean greater opportunities for our students in Music for the foreseeable future.

We would like to wish our Year 11 and Year 13 students the best of luck for their upcoming Mock exams.

Thank you for continued support.

Kindest regards

Phil Akerman Raza Ali

Executive Headteacher Associate Headteacher

Maths Off Piste Event—Building a Partnership with Forest School

An article written by: Sakibur Rahman and Fahim Faisal, Year 13 The talk by Ben Sparks at Forest School regarding the origin of numbers was enlightening as we took an in depth look into all alternative views on maths and answering whether or not we discovered numbers or created them. It was for all ages with topics at degree level which were well explained to allow all members of the audience to understand topics such as fractals.

Attending the talk has inspired us. We feel able to view maths in ways we wouldn’t have previously imagined and have a new perspective on what it means to be a mathematician. Ben’s talk also touched upon the maths and further maths curriculum such as, the roots of negative numbers and how they are used as imaginary numbers.

Collectively, Ben’s talk was highly beneficial for both young mathematicians and the public, as it gave a useful insight to what it means to study Mathematics at a degree level and how it’s integrated in day-to-day life.

Global Citizens, Global Awareness; Year 10 Special Lecture - Genocide

On Tuesday 29th October, Year 10 students at SPWT received a visit from Dr Thomas MacManus - a Lecturer in State Crime from Queen Mary University of London and Director of the International State Crime Initiative. The focus of the assembly was around the Rohingya genocide and human rights. Dr Thomas explained research findings around the processes of genocides, drawing parallels between the Holocaust and the Rohingya crisis, and his involvement in writing to the government of Myanmar in early 2012.

This was very powerful for our students, helping them widen their understanding of global issues. Dr Thomas enlightened our students with his experiences in Myanmar, specifically with his involvement in political discussions with government officials as well as his experiences of the Rohingya refugee camps.

Feedback from students and staff highlighted what an interesting and stimulating experience this was.

Wash Out Hate Campaigners Trip to Olympic Park

“SPWT students engaged with the from Mile End Spotlight Centre were invited to the Leopold & Burdett

Resident Board BBQ to meet Dr Paul Brickell (Chair of Poplar HARCA Board) to talk about the recent success of their 'Wash Out Hate' campaign. Paul, who is an Executive Director at London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), was so impressed by the young people’s hard work that he helped Spotlight's Youth & Community Engagement Manager, Nahim Ahmed to coordinate a tour of UCL and Plexal at the Olympic Park, to help broaden the young people’s knowledge of engineering—a subject he found out they were interested through conversations with them.”

Steve Camden, Author Visit to St Paul’s Way Trust School

A review written by: Samuel, Yasir, Aqeel, Ziyad, Tanjeel, Ishak, Ishfaq and Ms Jeffrey

We really enjoyed meeting the author Steve Camden on Tuesday, 29th October 2019. Steve talked about how he writes his books and stories and we had the opportunity to try his way of developing a story. Our story about Ishak the hotdog seller developed into him being a billionaire superhero fighting Dr Maniac Miscellaneous.

There was much laughter as we decided on our own superhero names and powers. We are looking forward to writing our own superhero stories using our characters in our English lessons.

Steve was very funny and made a lot of jokes that made us laugh. Thank you for spending time with us.

Debate Mate Launch

On Tuesday, 5th November 30 students from Year 7 and Year 8 attended the Debate Mate Launch which was held at the Emmanuel Centre. The students watched a show debate on the motion: This House would lower the voting age to 16. The students left the event feeling enthused and ready to learn the art of debating and the range of skills it encompasses.

The Debate Mate Programme began in our school from Tuesday 11th November. This will provide opportunities for students to become independent thoughtful learners who communicate well with each other, engage in the curriculum and the world around them in a meaningful way.

National Youth Jazz Orchestra

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra performed to our Year 7 to Year 10 instrumentalists on 4th November

This is the beginning of a new partnership with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and some students will be working with them closely this academic year!

Deaf Support Base Shape Arts Award 2019

We are very proud of some the DSB students that took part in the Shape Arts Project. The students worked extremely hard to achieve the Arts Discover Award by Trinity College London. This was a unique opportunity and is a recognised formal qualification. The theme was “in circles” and encapsulates the challenges/frustrations that many deaf people encounter.

Science Club: 7th November

The launch of the KS3 Science Club has been a huge success with budding young scientists keen to participate in a range of exciting experiments. These would not typically have been done in their normal science lessons.

Students were inspired by Halloween to make ghosts and pumpkins with potassium iodide, starch, bleach and hydrochloric acid. The week was themed around Guy Fawke’s Night and the evening went down with lots of colours, whooshes and bangs. Students experimented with sparklers and explored the chemistry of how they work. Students also carried out flame tests to show what salts produce the different colours in fireworks and investigated propulsion as bottles flew across the classroom showing what causes rockets to fly into the air.

Charity Food Sale: In Memory of Enamul Islam, Former St Paul’s Way Student

Article written by Zohrah Ahmed (13U) and Abu Sufiyan (13A) On Friday the 8th of November, Year 13 students organised a charity bake sale in remembrance of our dear friend Enamul Islam who sadly passed away recently. Enam was a kind hearted, bright individual who positively impacted on all our lives in different ways. In his honour, the Year 13 students baked cakes, made samosas and came together to sell over a thousand tasty treats. From the sale and additional donations, Year 13 have managed to raise over £1300 for Human Aid. The funds raised will go towards building and resourcing an education centre, as well as constructing water wells in lesser developed countries. Both of these causes were close to Enam’s heart.

Football was Enam’s passion. On Friday 28th November a commemorative charity football match was hosted at SPWT against Atlee, his former college was played, more funds were raised in our dear friend’s honour.

Dragon’s Den at the Prince’s Trust

Our Year 10 Golden Group students were invited to attend a Dragon's Den workshop at the Prince’s Trust on Thursday, 14th November. The students were accompanied by Jabon Nahar, Saumya Partheepan and Thasmin Siddique. Our students were placed in two teams; and worked alongside professional business mentors to create an innovative product, develop a business plan and deliver a pitch for ‘Dragons’. The students competed with two other schools and unanimously took first and second place.

Team ‘B-Tech Notebook’ consisting of Abdirahman Muse, Fahema Mohammed and Abu Talhah won first place with their amazing idea of an electronic notebook which could merge all your exercise books and notebooks into one unit. They impressed the Dragons convincing them how this would save the environment by reducing paper wastage and also save students from carrying multiple exercise books around.

Team ‘Cakes Express Online’ consisted of Zaynab Begum, Oliur Rahman Karim, Saidul Islam and Tayubur Rahman. Their online cake delivery service won the Dragons over with their idea of having different bakers at hand to bake any request and delivering it on time.

Both teams had to think about costing and functionality of their products, and work as a team to allocate different roles in their business. All our students showed immense leadership skills and teamwork. Their behaviour were excellent and represented St Pauls Way Trust School exceptionally well.

DSB Pentathlon Ten Pin Bowling

On Tuesday 12th November, the DSB students took part in an inter-borough Ten Pin Bowling competition. The teams consisted of a variety of students from across Tower Hamlets. The day was packed with energy and excitement as the secondary students battled it out in Westfield’s All-Stars bowling alley.

It is with great pleasure to say that SPWT students managed to get the 1st prize trophy and secured individual medals. Most notably, Sabir Uddin 10P received the prize for the highest points in the competition and Tanyo Eugene 10P for achieving the highest number of strikes.

Careers and Higher Education

During the week beginning 18th November guests from Queen Mary, University of London, including their head of Widening Participation, delivered assemblies on higher education to all years. These assemblies were designed to introduce and expand on students' knowledge of higher education. QMUL Ambassadors also supported during the Sixth Form Open Evening. This engagement represents the importance of the relationship between SPWT and QMUL-a lead Trust partner, and will be followed, in the coming months, with further workshops and skills sessions, including mentoring for Year 10 and 11 pupils.

Kwame Alexander - NY Times Bestselling Author

On Thursday 14th November, SPWT welcomed NY Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander. It was an incredible opportunity for our students. Kwame gave a talk to Year 9 and a few other students from across the school. Students were sitting at the edge of their seats; their smiles filled the theatre as they engaged with Kwame from beginning to end.

Deloitte Year 10 Mentoring Programme

The week beginning 18th November also saw the launch of an exciting Year 10 mentoring programme, run by Deloitte. This programme will see a quarter of the Year 10 cohort mentored by volunteers from Deloitte for the next two years, who will support students through with careers development and ‘pathway’ choices. Students will have a session once a month between now and the end of their GCSEs. This mentoring is possible due to SPWT being one of only 8 Deloitte Access Schools in the country and is part of a wider careers programme of engagement ranging from entrepreneurial challenges in KS3 to apprenticeships and masterclasses in KS5.

TATA Consultancy Service STEM Workshop

On Tuesday 26th November, 60 Year 10 students participated in a workshop facilitated by Digital Technology experts TATA Consultancy Service on the influence of digital technology in society.

The students were introduced to the 4th industrial revolution of business (Artificial Intelligence). The students were challenged with the tough moral questions around AI technology such as; Who should be blamed in a collision between two driver-less vehicles?

Finally, the students were given a group task in which they had to come up with a technology based, AI solution for a problem occurring in industry. It was great to see how engaged the students were, with some real innovative solutions coming forth.

Senior Team Maths Challenge

Mohamed Said trained four of the highest achievers in KS4/KS5 to take part in a national competition, the Senior Team Maths Challenge at London Academy of Excellence. Updates on their success is to be shared soon! Thank you Mohamed Said for working with the pictured students to prepare them for the challenge.

PE Faculty Sports Fixtures

Year 7/8 Handball Result

The Year 7/8 boys handball team warmed up for the borough competition with a fixture against Sir John Cass School. It was their first handball game together and a great learning experience for all. After taking an early 4-0 lead, we were able to make lots of substitutions to allow a total of 16 different students the opportunity to participate in the game. Adam Ahmed was the driving force of the team, scoring four goals and assisting numerous others. Further goals from Riyaz Ahmed, Noah Namasosaigban and Kelechi Ozue saw us comfortably win the game 11-4 and gain lots of confidence moving forwards. The borough competition took place on Tuesday 12th November.

Year 7/8 Boys Tower Hamlets Handball Championships

Tuesday, 12th November saw the Tower Hamlets Handball Championships, held at SPWT. We welcomed a number of schools from across the borough to compete for the chance to be crowned borough champions.

Our first game was a nervous encounter against Swanlea school. In a game full of handling errors and defensive frailties, SPWT scraped a 5-3 win thanks to some outstanding offensive plays from Riyaz Ahmad. Once the team had overcome their first game nerves, the performance levels rose rapidly and we became far more solid defensively. Our next game against Canary Wharf College was a more comfortable 5-1 victory, with Noah Namasosaigban scoring twice. Next up was Sir John Cass School, who were clinically dispatched 6-0. Adam Ahmed took the plaudits this time with two superb solo strikes. That was enough to see us into the final, where our improved performance level and defensive organisation was too much for Swanlea to cope with as we beat them 5-0, thanks to a hat-trick from Niyaz Mahdi.

We now get the honour of representing Tower Hamlets in the last 32 of the London Youth Games.

Year 9/10 Girls Handball

The Year 9/10 girls handball team continue their preparations for the upcoming borough competitions. In total 20 girls attended 08:00 am practise on a Friday morning with Mr Ayerh. This shows great commitment from the girls and hopefully gives them a good chance of performing strongly at the upcoming competition. Many thanks to Mr Ayerh for his dedication also.

Year 7 Football

The Year 7 football team continued their season with a league match against Stepney Green school. After a tight game which included Stepney Green going ahead thanks to a goal that would have benefitted from a VAR review, the team battled hard and eventually got their reward. In the final minute of the game, Matthew Hutchinson-Pugh scored with a thunderous strike from the half way line to rescue a point for SPWT school.

Year 7 Boys Football Competitions

The Year 7 football team played a league fixture against Bow school on Monday, 11th November. In a very tight and high quality game, SPWT came out 3-2 winners. They scored early through Mohamadou Sillah, but were pegged back by Bow, who made it 1-1 by half time. It was again a very even affair in the second half, which SPWT just pipped, thanks to a brace from striker, Arnes Shala.

Year 7 Boys Football

The Year 7 boys continued their impressive unbeaten streak with a confident 7-0 victory against London Enterprise Academy in the Tower Hamlets League. The goals were shared out between Arnes Shala, Zakeriya Farah, Kelechi Ozue (2), Lahirie Wundeh, Daud Mohamed and Anik Rahman. Well done to the Year 7s.

Year 8 Boys Football Competitions

A busy week for the Year 8 sports teams culminated in a 5-0 victory against Oaklands school in the Tower Hamlets League. Despite a number of changes to the starting XI, SPWT were entirely dominant throughout, putting in a fierce attacking display. An early double from Riyaz Ahmad and a goal from Al-Amin Hussain saw us 3-0 up at half time. The second half saw Al-Amin score early before Omar Sheikh rounded the goalkeeper sublimely to complete the rout in style. Noticeable performances came from two individuals who made their first starts for the team, Shahriar Khan and Abdurrahman Abduljabir.

Year 8 Boys Football

The Year 8 boys football team showed further signs of their impressive development with a 10-1 win against London Enterprise Academy. After falling behind early on through unfortunate circumstances, they came back strongly.

There were goals from Al-Amin Hussain (2), Adam Ahmed (2), Abdi Farah an own goal, a first goal for the impressive Shahriar Khan and a hat trick for Yusuf Kamaly, on his first appearance as a striker.

Special mention must also go to Omar Sheikh, who did not score, but provided the outstanding basis to our attacking play. His man of the match performance was secured with the way he carried the ball forwards with astonishing fluency which LEA could not cope with.

Year 9 Football: SPWT vs STEPNEY GREEN

The Year 9 Football team came up against, a very tough and well organised, Stepney Green on Tuesday, 29th October in what was their 2nd league game of the campaign. After coming off the back of a win against Sir John Cass, they were looking to continue their good run of form.

The game started with both teams playing high quality football and keeping possession very well ensuring neither team could get a hold of the game. The first half finished 0-0 and going into the 2nd half there was always going to be a push from both sides.

The 2nd half started with both teams in search for that opening goal. 2 minutes into the 2nd half, a ball over the top beat the SPWT defence and Stepney Green’s number 10 finished it into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 SG. This required a fight back from the team and a couple of substitutions were made to give the team an attacking edge. Ikraam Ali in the centre of the field started to pull the strings and with a couple of excellent searching balls he released Yusuf Mohammed and Sidraat open on goal, only to be denied by the legs of the keeper on both occasions. Then, on the 3rd occasion Yusuf broke free and slotted the ball into the corner to make it 1-1 and give the team that well deserved breakthrough. 5 minutes before the End Ikraam Ali, with a free kick, struck the ball with conviction into the top corner of the net, giving the outreaching keeper no chance. Then, 2 minutes from the end Yusuf Mohammed shifted the ball onto his right foot 30 yards out and fired the ball into the top left hand corner to seal the win and give the boys their 2nd league win and complete a great comeback from 1-0 down. Extends out unbeaten run to 24 games!

Indoor Cricket Year 7/8 Boys

On Monday, 11th November the Year 7/8 boys competed in the Borough indoor cricket competition at UEL docks. This was the first time for all the students taking part in an indoor competition.

The B team played 4 games sadly losing all four but progressed as the tournament went on, with outstanding performances from Safwan Ahmed, Inshad and Yasir.

The A team had to battle hard in the competition with some good results against some very strong teams. They were very dominant with the bat and ball throughout the whole tournament. In the first game Qaasim Malik picked up 3 wickets to secure a win against LEA, whilst in the 2nd game Saim Ahmed showed his class with the bat to drive the team to victory against our B team.

In the 3rd game the whole team pulled together and Riyaz ahmed shone with the bat and ball to guide them to a win against Swanlea. Then, during the final game against Stepney, every player played a vital role in securing

the 100% record and winning off the very last ball of the game! Big congrats to Riyaz Ahmed, Saim Ali, Abdul Al-Ayoubi,Lahirie Wundeh, Humayd Choudhury and Qaasim malik.

The A team played all 4 matches and came out of the competition with 100% record winning all 4 games. They were outstanding throughout the competition and progressed through to the finals day which is on the 12th December.

Indoor Cricket Year 7/8 Girls

On Friday 9th November the Year 7/8 Girls competed in the Borough indoor cricket competition at UEL docks.

The girls were in different groups. The B team played 4 games losing 3 but winning one and improved as the tournament went on with some great performances by Sidra and Qorsho. They finished 4th in their group respectively.

The A team played 3 games winning 2 and losing one, this included one of the biggest scores ever produced in Isha Ali, Hannah, Tanisha, Amira, Aisha, Sahla and Rachel.

They progressed through to the semi finals where they came up against Canary Wharf college and produced an outstanding performance keeping them to a score of 49 runs and then chasing the runs in 3 overs!

In the final they came up against a strong central foundation, and after a fantastic batting display from Shuhana Begum who scored 36 runs, they set a score of 64 to win. Sadly Central foundation showed some excellent batting displays and chased the total in the last over!

The girls did exceptionally well and finished runners up in the girls indoor competition, which for a first time competing in an indoor competition, was exceptional.

Indoor Cricket Year 9/10 Boys

The Year 9/10 boys cricket squad put in a good performance at the indoor cricket championships on Friday, 1st November. With typically strong competition from across Tower Hamlets, it was going to require an excellent performance to secure a medal of any colour.

Some solid performances in the group stage saw them past Swanlea, Bow, Stepney Green B and Oaklands to qualify for the final against our frequent adversaries, Stepney Green A.

Bowling first, we managed to superbly restrict them to 58 runs from their 5 overs, leaving us in a very winnable position. Our run chase began superbly, reaching 28 runs from the first two overs, thanks in no small part to a series of sixes from the exceptional Ishaq Ameen.

A few quick wickets followed which put us behind the required run rate. The team stuck to their task diligently and continued scoring runs steadily to stay in touch. It went down to the last ball, with SPWT requiring a six off the last ball to tie the game. Going for the big shot, our final wicket fell, meaning that we took the runners up spot.

ATP World Tour Finals

On the 11th and 13th November, there were trips to the ATP World Tour Finals. Twenty-five students were able to see the top players in the world compete at the highest level including a three-set thriller between Nadal and Medvedev! Kyle and Rashif were particularly excited as they made it onto the big screen in the arena which was also shown on live TV!

Wembley Stadium Rewards Trip

Md Hamza Yusuf Uddin – 13S

‘On the 14th November, the school took us on a trip to Wembley stadium to watch England vs Montenegro. This was a very exciting opportunity and was very beneficial to sixth form students, in particular those who took this as a chance to relax from very busy A-level schedules. It gave us an opportunity to feel as part of the wider school community as we were given the chance to attend a trip with students from every year group across the school. Watching the match at the stadium was amazing; an opportunity that many of us had not experienced before; we are very grateful to the school for giving us this chance, which we will never forget and hope that many other students can also enjoy trips like this .’

‘The general office staff were given the opportunity by Aqeel Ashiq to attend the England football match, this was an offer we could not turn down! From the get go we were all in high spirits with the students, from the coach, to the stadium and even on the way home! It was an exciting atmosphere to be in and grateful we were able to experience this alongside our students. It really helped us feel part of the students’ school experience in a positive light and we were able to get to know our students on a different level. A great evening which we will not forget anytime soon.’

- The General Office Team

Charity Football Match

In Memory of Enamul Islam, Former St Paul’s Way Student

On Thursday 28th November at 03:45pm, there was a commemorative football match against Atlee, Enamul’s former college.

*The funds raised will go towards building and resourcing an education centre, as well as constructing water wells in lesser developed countries. Both of these causes were close to Enamul’s heart.

SPWT is part of the University Schools Trust

St Paul’s Way Education Foundation Trust

SPWT Newsletter | November 2019 www.spwt.net | @StPaulsWayTrust

“Providing a transformational educational opportunities for our young people”...

Key Dates and Announcements

Monday 2nd December Year 8 Vaccination

2nd December to 6th December Year 12 and Year 13 Mock Exams

9th December to 19th December

Year 11 Mock Exams

Thursday 12th December Drapers’ Den Finale

Tuesday 17th December

Christmas Concert 16:15—17:30. Parents are welcome

Thursday 19th December Last day of the Autumn term. School will finish at 12:50

Monday 6th January

First day of the Spring term. School will start at 08:50 am

7th January to 10th January Year 11 Language Speaking Mock Exams

Thursday 9th January Year 9 Pathways Event

Thursday 16th January

Sixth Form Parents Evening

Thursday 23rd January Year 11 Parents Evening

Thursday 30th January Year 10 Parents Evening