Newsle er Issue 43

December 13th

INSPIRING LEARNING; ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE INSPIRING LEARNING; ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE

It is a real pleasure to write the final newsletter of 2013 and feedback on what has been a very positive term. IMPORTANT DATES FOR Olympic Medallist Visiting RPHS: On Monday 16th December we have our annual awards evening for 2013 in IMPORTANT FOR YOURDATES DIARY: which we recognise the achievements of our top performing students in attainment and achievement from YOUR DIARY: Summer 2013. Our guest speaker will be Debbie Flood, a three time Olympian Rower, and two time silver medallist. She will award the students with their prizes and share a message of inspiration. I look forward to Dec 7th: House Plays seeing many of you there. 7.30am every morning Dec 7th: Years 7 & 8 Breakfast Club Fulham FC Girls Football Attendance: Students’ attendance has improved significantly this term. It currently averages just below 95%, with many year groups significantly above this level. This is a crucial indicator of students likely success. It is Tournament Dec 12th: Year 9 essential all student are at school for a minimum of 95% of the time if they are to achieve their potential. I would Dec 16th: Awards like to thank the many families who have made such an effort to support their children in attending school. Geography Gifted and Evening, Debbie Flood Talented Workshop guest speaker Year 11 Mid Year Exams and Interventions: I have been particularly impressed with the focus and intensity of Dec 12th: Newsoms trip Year 11 students during their mid year exams. They have arrived early for revision sessions and their behaviour Dec 17th: Parents’ and to ShrekForum, the Musical Carers’ 6pm ‐ and attitude has been exemplary in and around the school and exam hall. The feedback from these exams is 7.30pm Dec 13th: Years 12 & 13 crucial in enabling students to improve further. We look forward to sharing the exam results with students on Parents Dec 17th:Evening Disco for Key Wednesday 8th January in their Results Assembly. Families will be given copies of the results and will have a Stage 3 students Dec 13th: Christmas further opportunity to discuss these at Parents Evening on Thursday 23rd January. 6.30pm Lunch ‐ 8pm Years 7 & 8 We have had nearly 200 applications for the sixth form in September and we will be running taster sessions on 8.15pm ‐ 9pm Year 9 Dec 13th: Year 8 English Friday 20th December to enable Year 11 to gain a better understanding of their course options and Dec 18th: Access Enrichment Trip,Centre evening requirements. only Christmas Trip Dec 18th: 14th: Christmas Year 12 Dec Contemporary Theatre Concert, 7pm ‐ 9.30pm Production Dec 20th: Sixth Form Dec 19th: Certificates Taster Morning for Evening 5-7pm current Year 11s Dec 20th: 20th: Christmas Dec School ends Concert 12.50pm

The number of clubs, activities and extra-curricular opportunities available at RPHS has grown significantly over the past year. I would like to publicly thank the many staff who give up their time to run such constructive activities for students before and after school, as well as throughout lunchtimes to further enrich student experience. A particular highlight has been the cookery club run on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Their end of term finale on Thursday saw a large number of families attend to sample some of their dishes. Particular thanks to Ms Milton and her team for their work this term.

The Saturday school interventions have been very well attended this term. Students from all year groups have Dec 21st: School ends attended on Saturday mornings to gain further support in enabling them to achieve their potential. Thank you to Jan 6th: First day of term, lunchtime, 12.50 pm staff for runing these and the families who have supported by encouraging their children along. students arrive 10.30am Jan 7th: First day of We take an innovative approach to RE and Citizenship at RPHS. The Personal Development Deep Learning term, Lesson 1- 8.40am Days for Year 10 were a highlight last week. Year 10 students had the opportunity to reflect on their views on ‘life a and death’ from a Christian, Muslim and Secular perspective. It was great to see Christian and Muslim speakers sharing a session together, enabling students to ask and discuss these key issues with students. Year 10 students also had the opportunity to spend a day planning their future careers and work experience opportunities as well as ‘speed dating’ with a range of potential employers in the main hall. End of term: We look forward to celebrating the success of the last term in our whole school assembly on Friday. Students across the school will have their achievements recognised and celebrated. Students finish at 12.40 on Friday 20th December. We have informed the bus companies and they will be adjusting their services accordingly.

@officialRPHS  

Ofsted Visit, Tuesday 17th December: We will be welcoming Ofsted to RPHS   on Tuesday as part of their monitoring visits to see the progress we are making as a school. We would be grateful if you will complete the ‘parent view’ survey http://www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk to provide them with feedback on the performance of RPHS. We look forward to providing you with their report in due course. I would like to end by wishing you all a restful Christmas break and I look forward to seeing all students back and ready to learn on Monday 6th January at 10.30am. Mr Wheatley - Headteacher

Attendance M Target attendance for all students should be 100% attendance and we expect all parents and carers to support us towards this target. Every student who has attended school every day this half term (30 days) will have their name placed in raffle in order to win a Samsung Laptop!

Why do we bother – other than it is the law? Statistically a student who has poor attendance does not make their expected progress or achieve their potential. This is proven every year in end of KS3 results and GCSE exams. This lack of progress hinders their success both in school and also their life chances when they are older. No parent or carer wants their child to fail but by allowing them to stay at home, you become a contributing factor towards this outcome. A   % 

Number   of days  absent 

No of  weeks  absent 

Equivalent of number of  months 

And this many  number of  lessons! 

Impact 

90%  80% 

19 days`  38 days 

4 weeks  8 weeks 

1 month  2 months 

100 lessons  200 lessons 

Poor habits forming  Name placed on safeguarding  register and other agencies  becoming involved 

70% 

57 days 

11 ½ weeks 

Nearly 3 months  – over 1/3 of their school year including holidays!

290 lessons 

KS3: will not reach benchmark  for GCSE choices  KS4:  will not achieve criteria  for L3 choices and may have  to  retake Year 11 core op ons  again 

Attendance which falls below 90% will be recorded as unauthorised (except in extreme circumstances) unless there is medical evidence to support the absence. Fast tracking of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) has been introduced and will be issued. Any student whose attendance falls below 85% is categorised as Persistent Absentee (PA) and will have their name placed on our school safeguarding register which is shared with the local authority. Please ensure your child does not fall into this category. We are making arrangements to pick up any student who is consistently not attending school on time. The appropriate Head of House will contact you if your child falls into this category. Please ensure you support this process as it will illustrate your efforts to improve your child’s attendance. Punctuality All students need to be in school by 8.30am ready to start their learning, sitting in lessons at 8.40am. Students arriving late will be kept by their tutor for 20 minutes at the end of the day. In addition they will receive a Head of House detention if late twice in one week. If they are late on three occasions you will be invited in for a meeting and a Saturday detention may be issued.

It is legally up to you as parents/carers to ensure your child a ends school, on me, every day.   If you have any questions please contact your Head of House or Learning Mentor. Miss Finan - Assistant Headteacher

Literacy at RPHS   Life is ‘all-write’ in the RPHS literacy world thanks to a number of exciting developments over the past eight weeks.

 

First and foremost, our Year 7s have now almost completed the ‘Write up There!’ unit, where they have been consolidating the skill of writing for different purposes and audiences with a Raynes Park High Twist. They have been learning and applying our in-house marking code as well as doing some creative tasks such as narrative writing based on a short film called ‘La Lune et L’autre,’ which you can watch too on youtube.com. Hopefully, you might even be able to read some of their creations in the next edition of the newsletter. It is also worth mentioning that most Key Stage 3 students have begun studying Raynes Park High School’s very own vocabulary programme. The scheme ‘Va-va-vocab!’ is designed to widen the breadth and depth of word choices which our students can draw upon. We also test spelling alongside the words and definitions, so all students should have spellings to learn at home at least once per fortnight. Before we glance forward to what you can expect in 2014, I have to mention the highlight of this term’s focus on reading and writing: our very first ‘Drop Everything and Read’ day - or D.E.A.R day. On Monday 21st October at five-past-ten in the morning, the whole school stopped everything they were doing – from science experiments to solving I.T. problems – and read a book of personal choice for ten minutes. Teachers, students and support staff alike spent ten minutes engrossed in a reading book. It was a popular initiative, with both students and teachers enquiring as to whether we could repeat this every Monday. However, whilst another D.E.A.R day is on the horizon, next term’s pressing matter is going to be the continued recruitment and training of our Raynes Park High Literacy Champions. Our Literacy Champions will be in charge of deciding which books our library stocks, the book groups we should run, as well as the management and marketing of the Learning Recourse Centre here at Raynes Park High School. Applications from all students of all abilities are welcome and the only criteria is that you must be interested in at least one of these areas: books (fiction and/or non-fiction), comics, films and on-line publications (such as blogs, on-line comics or magazines). Students who wish to apply should email me their name, tutor group and the name of any character (from a book, film or comic) who they would be and why. For students who do not have access to email, tutors or parents may send their applications on behalf of the student. Email: [email protected]. Finally, thank you to all of the Extreme Readers. Your photo is coming to a wall in an English classroom near you… or F17, to be more precise. The competition is still open. Send more pictures to the above email address, please. The literacy team wishes a merry Christmas and a happy new year, to you, one and all, and sends a special festive message to all students: remember to always carry a reading book in your bag. Mrs Hutchinson - Literacy Co-ordinator

ICT Department We are experiencing exciting times in the ICT department. Many computing topics have been introduced for Year 9 students. Topics include Programming and a look at how computers actually work. We run a computing club on a Thursday and cover topics such as robotics and DIY touch screens.

 

Currently we are looking into developing Mobile Apps for teaching and teaching students how to create them. "In a digital world we all rely on technology for communications and everyday tasks. But many of us can't read and write code the language of computers." Will.i.am 2013 Watch this space for news of further developments. Mr Priddle - Head of ICT, Computing and Programming

Newsoms Z At the end of a very busy term, this is a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the year so far. As a new member of staff I have been impressed with the strong sense of community at the school; both staff and students have been very welcoming and supportive. I am certain that   Raynes Park High is the best school to work at and the students are the best young people around. Over the last few weeks I have been privileged to meet many parents who work so closely with the school to ensure our students achieve well and enjoy their time at Raynes Park High. Thank you for your continuing support. It is a busy time in the Head of House office, writing certificates and postcards to commend those students who have excelled in this first term. In Newsoms Z house we are particularly impressed with Aaron Traynor, Alma Hadzihasani and Sophia Lucas who have achieved over 300 APs so far this year. These are some of the students who make a positive contribution to life at Raynes Park and are an inspiration to others; these are just a few of the students who will be treated to a cinema visit at the end of term. Aaron Traynor  

 

 

 

Sophia Lucas  

Alma Hadzihasani  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We constantly try to encourage all students to realise their potential and recognise the efforts made by certain individuals even if they do not always attain a high number of APs. For this reason, at the end of this term, each House will nominate a student to receive a laptop computer in recognition of the efforts they have made over the past term. I have found this task very difficult as I am very proud and impressed by many students in Newsom Z. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded in recognition of commitment to school and study at the end of term assembly. Now, last but not least, all staff at the school are working on a special Christmas treat for students, we hope it will bring a smile to everyone’s face and get everyone in the Christmas mood. The hard work continues until the end of term but everyone at Raynes Park High is in festive form. Miss Daly - Newsoms Z Head of House

Geography Conference on Hazards  

Geography A Level Students attend Conference on Hazards Our Year 12 geographers attended a Hazards Conference at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster, Central London with approximately 500 other A Level students.

 

They heard from eminent geographers in the field of Hazard management on Volcanic and Earthquake disasters – Professor David Petley, Professor Fiona Tweed and the famous Professor Iain Stewart (see photo - he presents BBC TV documentaries such as ‘The Rise of the Continents’ – worth a look!). They discussed future potential disasters along the Himalayan Arc in Nepal, in Naples in Italy from Vesuvius and the Campi Flegrei among others.  

Careers in Disaster Risk Reduction Dr Kate Crowley from CAFOD also talked to students about future careers in Hazard Management and Disaster Risk Reduction Work with charities, governments and international organisation. Anyone interested in working with communities around the world in reducing risk from disasters should visit the following excellent websites: www.redr.org.uk (go to ‘become and aid worker’) www.preventionweb.net. Dr Cabral - Head of Geography

Geography / Art Child Soldier Competition This year, Global Learning Week's theme was based on 'Child Soldiers'. To support this and raise awareness of the issue, the art department created a 'one off' lesson and competition for Year 9 students to take part in. Students watched a YouTube clip highlighting the impact of war in Uganda and were asked to respond to this using photomontage and text to create a powerful propaganda poster. There were some fantastic entries and the students were extremely mature in their responses. Each winner received a wonderful art pack including a wide selection of media and equipment. Ms Scoging - Art Teacher               Winner 2 - Beck Hipson

Winner 1 - Charlotte Weller  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Runner up 1: Julfa Begum 

Runner up 2: Phoebe Brooks

Runner Up 3: Chloe Daly

Runner up 4: Danielle Campbell

 

English Department  

The Autumn term has been an exceedingly busy one for the English, Media and Literacy Faculty. On the English side of things we have welcomed three new members of staff who have made a real impact already. Ms Cook, as our resident English as an additional language (EAL) expert, has improved the learning experience of a huge number of our students who do not speak English at home. We now   have dedicated EAL groups and support for those students who struggle around the school. Miss Mistry and Miss Hearn have made positive starts and are already having an impact with their handwriting club, Year 7 intervention and Year 9 intervention respectively. Additionally, Year 8 intervention takes place once a week at lunchtime, run by Mr Clooke. Mr Mba's energy and enthusiasm has made him a wonderful addition to the faculty and he runs numerous clubs for media students (Adobe Youth Voices / Mentoring / Film Club). Also a Year 7 reward trip went out to see Monsters’ University in order to give younger students an opportunity to experience an area of the media. Very soon all departments across the school will receive literacy mats to help with their English Skills across the curriculum. Mrs Morse organised a ‘drop everything and read day’ which was impeccably observed. For all Year 10 and 11 students coursework catch-up sessions take place at the following times: Monday:

Miss Taybi (Top set focus) / Mr Clooke / Mrs Valmarana / Mr Naylor

Tuesday:

None

Wednesday: Miss Taybi / Mr Naylor Thursday:

Mr Naylor / Mr Liyanage

Friday:

Mr Barnicott

Finally, we are delighted to announce that two more teachers (Mr Prado and Mrs Lach) will be joining the department, as well as a second EAL expert. Have a wonderful Christmas break from the English, Media and Literacy Faculty. Mr Naylor - Head of the English, Media and Literacy Faculty

Staff Leavers     I would like wish Ms Akhtar well as she goes on maternity leave in January. We are all very excited for her and the experience she has ahead; she will be greatly missed. We also say good bye to Mrs Thomas our attendance officer who is relocating areas after working at RPHS since 2002. Her care and support for students will be missed. We wish her well for the future. Finally we will be saying goodbye to Mrs Turko, Miltons House learning mentor, who has been at the school since 2007. She is going to work for Merton as School Inclusions Co-ordinator. Although we will still have contact with her she will missed by students and staff Mr Wheatley - Headteacher

Girls’ Football   The Year 7 and 8 girls have made a fantastic start to the season and are proving not only that they are committed, but also very talented players.

 

So far the girls have represented Raynes Park High School in the AFC Wimbledon tournament, FFC tournament and the Merton 6 –a –side tournament. They are currently ranked 2nd in the Borough. The teams have been extremely motivated, reliable and enthusiastic, and have been a pleasure to train. They have represented RPHS in a positive light in all their outings and have been excellent role models to other students. The girls will now join up with the Year 9 squad to play in the South London Schools League. The current line up is: From Year 7 Savannah Bazelya, Netallia Bedford, Katarina Cabral, Emily Cook, Daizi Cocum, Lily Dusting, Katie Evans, Ellen Fewtrell, Kiera Hayles, Olivia Horsford, Cachel Mann, Precious Robinson, Cheree Samuel, Georgia Tremayne From Year 8 Elisha Arjoon, Lauren Carder, Rebecca Halford, Ayana Prentice, Jemima Yeboah.  

Girls football training for all years takes place on Thursdays a er school, 3.30pm‐ 4.45pm. Ms McGullion ‐ PE Teacher