ST GREGORY’S CATHOLIC SCIENCE COLLEGE

Donnington Road Kenton Harrow Middlesex HA3 0NB Phone: 020 8907 8828 Fax: 020 8909 1161 Email: [email protected]. sch.uk

We’re on the web www.stgregorys.harrow.sch.uk

Inside this issue:

2 & 3

Primary Science

5

Success in Science 6

Sience Exam Dates & Revision Tips

7

Community News 8

Science College Newsletter Issue 26

Autumn 2016

St Gregory’s Catholic Science College is 60 On 29th September, St Gregory’s pupils, staff and governors, along with guests including past teachers and the Mayor of Brent, took part in a special Mass to celebrate the 60th anniversary of St Gregory’s Catholic Science College. Mass was celebrated by Bishop John Sherrington and Fr Dermot O’Neill, with uplifting music provided by St Gregory’s Maranatha Choir, directed by our inspirational Chaplain, Michael Coughlan. St Gregory’s first opened on 4th September 1956 with 218 pupils and 11 staff, in addition to the Headteacher. The school was in a partially finished condition, with only nine teaching rooms ready and no playgrounds available until after Christmas. In 1956, the school’s objectives were to educate pupils and improve their life chances. The school has continued on that same enriching path, through all of the decades since; as we have endeavoured to live out, on a daily basis, our mission statement: Headteacher, Andrew Prindiville Pro Deo—For God, the best and the greatest! with the Mayor and the Bishop

St Gregory’s Eco Garden wins national competition St Gregory’s Catholic Science College has won “Best School Garden” in a national garden competition run by TV gardener David Domoney’s Cultivation Street – a campaign to promote and support community and school garden projects. St Gregory’s Garden not only supports our pupils’ learning across many aspects of the school curriculum; it has become a source of learning and inspiration for other local schools and has been influential in helping us to build partnerships with local community groups. This fantastic achievement reflects the hard work of our dedicated staff and pupils and the wonderful support we have received from our local community. David Domoney said: “This school has made their big ideas a reality. The teachers and supporters have created something special for both the children and the community.” Andrew Prindiville, Headteacher St Gregory’s Eco Garden Pupils and Mrs Hovey with David Domoney

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Eco Committee Recycling Centre Visit On 7th June, the Y9 Eco Committee visited Southwark Recycling Centre. When we arrived, we were surprised to find a nature reserve growing up around disused gas tanks and rubbish trucks. Sharon Ellis, our guide from Veolia, explained that the recycling centre was built upon an old gas-works site. Much effort had been taken to “green up” the space by planting wildflower borders along the entrance road and by growing plants on top of a Y9 Eco Committee with Mrs Campbell, Mrs Hovey and Veolia’s Sharon Ellis, outside Southwark flat roof. There were even bee hives! Recycling Centre We received a tour of the massive recycling facility. I would never have believed that the contents of our household recycling bins could embark upon such a journey. We followed the waste through a series of processes involving magnets, blowers, sorters and compressors—at times smelly; at times dusty and always noisy! All in all, a very educational and enjoyable trip. Joseph Frawley 10H

Recent Eco Committee Initiatives The Y9 Eco Committee lobbied Governors and Senior Staff for funding to revamp a tired flower border outside the Library and School Hall. In June, the Eco Committee planted up the area with help from Mr Hayward, the school grounds contractor. Supported by Mrs McAree, the Eco Committee encouraged pupils and staff to clear out their cupboards at the end of last Two Y9 Eco Committee Representatives term and donate unwanted books to a charity which sends planting up the flower border outside the school library used books to schools in Africa. Over 750 books were collected. Well done everyone! Miss McAree’s Form, 11J, has inspired the Eco Committee to provide easier facilities for pupils to recycle plastic bottles. Recycling bins for plastic bottles are already provided around the school grounds and paper recycling boxes are placed in each classroom. 11J place plastic bottles into a clear sack in their Form Room throughout the week, then they take the full sack to the bottle recycling bins outside the school Canteen. The Eco Committee has purchased clear plastic sacks which will be distributed to all Form Rooms after half term, so that all Forms can follow this excellent example. Mrs Campbell, Deputy Headteacher

Eco Committee 2016 On 14th October our new Y9 Eco Committee for this academic year held their first meeting with Y11 Eco Prefects and Eco Governors. The Committee have a very busy year ahead as they prepare to apply to renew our Eco Schools Green Flag in March 2017. The Committee will begin with a whole school Environmental Review to identify all the Eco Activities which are working well at St Gregory’s and to identify areas on which the school could focus even further. Welcome to this year’s Eco Committee team: Amelia Sowik 9A, Miguel Cofie 9A, Sofia Magpuyo 9B, Sebastian Raval 9B, Martyna Kostecka 9H, Fabrizio Lucci 9H, Martyna Wrona 9J, Harun Sohomow 9J, Julia Herman 9L, Kieran Williams-Dover 9L, Tayden Mouro 9M, Siobhan McConnon 9M. Y11 Prefects: Richard Figah 11J, Micaela Jaramillo 11H. Eco Governors: Mrs Allen, Councillor Colwill. Mrs Campbell, Deputy Headteacher

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Science College Newsletter

RHS Christmas Card Competition Congratulations to Daniel Hurley, Zuzanna Wojkowska and Clefy D’Sa who were all shortlisted in the Royal Horticultural Society’s competition for school pupils to create a design for this year’s official RHS Christmas card. The RHS sent a packet of seeds to each of the pupils, which they planted in St Gregory’s Eco Garden. Mrs Northam, Head of Physics & Science Eco Garden Lead

Christmas card designs from left to right by Clefy D’Sa, Daniel Hurley and Zuzanna Wojkowska

Eco Garden Club The Eco Garden Club has enjoyed a bumper harvest once again. During the summer term they harvested potatoes, strawberries, beans, onions, garlic, radishes, lettuce and lots more. The Eco Garden Club would like to thank Mr Mandalia, Director of Blue Ginger and Blue Zenzer Restaurants, who encouraged friends and colleagues to donate £2000 to St Gregory’s Eco Garden. Mr Mandalia raised the funds in order for the Eco Garden Club to purchase new raised beds to replace those which, after six years of constant use, were in need of replacement. The first three raised beds have been purchased and were built Eco Garden Club pupils enthusiastically filling one of their over the summer holidays, ready for pupils to fill new raised beds with soil. with soil and plant up in the first weeks of the autumn term. They look great and we are looking forward to replacing the other raised beds in the spring term. The Eco Garden Club would also like to thank St Gregory’s Site Supervisor, Mr Breakspear for his help in erecting the new raised beds. A small group of pupils from St Gregory’s Eco Garden Club are taking part in the Green Plan It Challenge; an exiting opportunity, led and supported by the RHS, for Year 8/9 pupils to engage in a ten-week project to design a new green space, using a range of materials and media to bring their ideas to life. St Gregory’s pupils are competing against other secondary schools throughout the London area. On 30th October, Pupils visited Capel Manor Horticultural Eco Garden Pupils in the Japanese Garden at Capel Manor College College in Enfield for the launch day of the Challenge. They received an inspiring presentation from TV gardener David Domoney; completed a workshop designed to provide an insight into Horticulture and Ecology and they were given a tour of Capel Manor College gardens, in order to gain inspiration for their own garden design ideas. Pupils will work on their design over the coming weeks, in time for final assessment at Capel Manor on 9th December. Mrs Northam, Head of Physics & Mrs Hovey, Science College Project Manager

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Science College Newsletter

NUT ALLERGY REMINDER TO ALL PARENTS There are students in the school who have a severe, life-threatening allergy to peanuts, nuts, peanut butter and peanut products. The allergic reaction may occur not only by eating nuts, or nut products, but if the student comes into contact with these foods or with someone who has recently eaten them, or even simply touched them. These students may be in the same class as your child or may come into contact with your child during the day. The Canteen does not serve these foods. Please DO NOT send any food to school with your child containing nuts, peanuts or peanut butter. Please discuss with your child the importance of not bringing these foods into school. Please ask your child to notify the school if they bring these foods into school accidentally. This is a Life threatening situation and your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. Mrs Camangon, Medical Welfare

Cycle Training Well done to the Year 7 pupils who took part in this year’s cycle training course, run by Cycling Instructor Ltd. Pupils learnt off road bicycle handling techniques before completing on-road cycle training. Congratulations to: Emillie Driscoll-Mooney, Patrick Wilson, Branden D’Souza, Oliwier Luczynski, Donell Claircin, Andrew Jayasinghe, Sean Pender, Neill Myers, Aidan Moylette, Michel Vanie, Marcel Ardeli. Mrs Campbell, Deputy Headteacher

Brilliant Club I was selected to participate in The Brilliant Club Scholars programme, which involved taking part in university-style seminars and small group tutorials, delivered by an English Literature PhD student. My course was based on Arts and Humanities and revolved around short stories and how different authors use formal qualities to shape the reader’s St Gregory’s Brilliant Club Scholars at their experience of a narrative. graduation ceremony at Oxford University During each tutorial we studied a range of short stories depicting layers of meanings, in order to gain a deeper understanding. This allowed me to develop my analytical skills through researching authors such as Ernest Hemingway. The task for the final assignment was to create a short story and dissertation based on how formal qualities shape the reader’s experience of the narrative. I enjoyed the opportunity to be creative, improve on my writing, analytical and research skills. Jordayna Batchelor 13L The course I studied through the Brilliant Club was "The Biology of Ageing: How and Why We Age". The tutorials focused on the biological mechanisms behind the process of growing older and how they might be altered, so that the ageing process can be hindered for our benefit. Using this new knowledge about the basics of genetics as well as the structure of DNA, students were required to complete a review article for our final assignment, summarising all we had learnt. The Brilliant Club helped expand my extended writing techniques; my use of analysis and helped me learn how to carry out the most efficient research. Martin Johnston 13J

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Primary Science On Tuesday 7th June, two teachers from St Gregory's came to visit Year 5 at St Joseph’s, to teach us about Space for Science Week. We were very excited about their arrival and couldn’t wait to find out what they had in store for us. The first activity we did was to make craters in the sand by dropping a marble from different heights. We then investigated how wide and deep the craters were. We discovered that the higher we dropped the marble, the Mrs Northam, St Gregory’s Head of Physics, deeper and wider the crater would be. We also recorded our helps St Joseph’s pupils measure their craters results on a table and shared them with the rest of the class. Our second activity was to make rockets. We had to make them from card and we also had templates. After we made them, we went outside to see which rocket would fly the furthest. Unfortunately, my rocket didn’t fly very far –but lots of them were absolutely amazing! We all had an amazing experience with the teachers from St. Gregory’s. We learnt a lot of things that we did not know before and we would love to have them come in again to teach us some more about Science. Thank you for giving up your time to come and teach us. By Gisela, Y6 St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Harrow

Science Summer School In July 2016, a group of pupils from St Bernadette’s attended St Gregory’s Science Summer school along with pupils from other local primary schools. On the first day of summer school we had fun with puzzles and Chromatography. During lunch break we played football, netball, table tennis and basketball. On Tuesday we did Biology with bugs and small transparent insects. We used microscopes to see the transparent fish. On Wednesday we went to the Science Museum in London. At the science museum we went to a show about bridges. We had to sit on a chair with 100 nails in it! Everyone was scared but nobody was hurt, because we learnt that when we sat down the pressure of our weight was evenly spread across the nails so they didn’t stick into us. On Thursday we made some water ROCKETS!!! Everyone there enjoyed this. We designed and personalized a water rocket. We used old plastic bottles and other accessories to make our own rocket. It was fun because we used pressure pumps to launch our rockets into ORBIT! (not literally) We all got our rockets back except for one person whose rocket landed on the roof. The Caretaker had to climb up and get it. That was one of the best days. On Friday we did a murder mystery in the Science lab using a method called Chromatography. Finally we prepared a presentation to our parents on everything we had learnt during St Gregory’s Science Summer School week. That week was an amazing week full of fun and Science. By Matthew, Filip and Zarah, Y6 at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School

Primary Science and Mathematics Miss Oughton and I recently met with Maths and Science colleagues from our six primary partner schools to set up this year’s programme of events. In Maths, Y6 pupils from each school will receive a Maths tutorial in a range of subjects including fractions and graphs. In Science, the Y6 pupils will explore either Electricity in Circuits or Forces and Data Logging. Y4 pupils have been invited into St Gregory’s Eco Garden to undertake pond dipping sessions and exploration of our school’s award-winning Eco Garden. Mr Knights, Head of Science

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Success in Science Public Examinations 2016 St Gregory’s Year 10 Scientists scored 81% A*-C in their Core Science examinations. Even more impressively, they attained 58% A*-B and 30% A*-A!! Our Year 10 Triple Scientists also sat their Additional Science GCSE examinations a year early, resulting in a formidable 90% A*-A and 100% A*-B! The Year 11’s were not to be outdone, earning 83% A*-C in their Additional Science examinations with 55% at A*-B. The Year 11 Triple Scientists also fared well, earning 100% A*-C and 74% A*-A in their Further Additional Science examinations. At A-level, students achieved 100% A*-D. Many of these candidates have now begun studying Science-related degrees at prestigious universities such as Imperial and UCL. The Year 12’s also fared very well with their AS examinations, foreshadowing what should, hopefully, prove to be another stellar year of A-level success. Well done to all our hard working pupils and staff. Mr T Knights, Head of Science

School Physicist of the Year Awards I was nominated for the Ogden’s Trust School Physicist of the Year, an award that celebrates the achievements and enthusiasm of student Physicists in the area. The awards evening was held at Imperial College and I had the chance to talk to a current PhD student about her research at the University, before a short taster lecture about polarisation. It was a fun and interesting evening and everyone who was nominated received a certificate and a book voucher worth £25. Liliana Aranos 13B

Physics Research for Queen Mary’s University of London St Gregory’sY12 Physics students took part in a research project for St Mary’s University. Dr Martin Archer presented us with a set of data collected by satellites orbiting earth. The satellites had measured fluctuations in the earth’s magnetosphere over an 8 year period and had converted this data into audible sounds. Our task was to take these audio files and use a program called “audacity” to look for any anomalies. The files had been compressed from 8 years’ worth of data into 5 minutes of sound. So, instead of analysing 8 years of data, we decided to analyse 1 year, which meant finding the equivalent of 1 year on the 5 minute audio file. The sounds were also displayed on a varying amplitude and pitch graph, which we manipulated in order to more easily identify peaks and troughs. The peaks were displayed as red zones and the troughs as short blue zones. We found a few unusual blue and red zones, which also sounded peculiar. Our main hypothesis was that these discrepancies were caused by variation in solar activity; an example of which is Colonial Mass Ejections (CMEs). After analysing this data, we put our findings and research onto a poster which we exhibited at Queen Mary’s University of London. There, we discussed our findings with students from other schools, teachers and researchers. Dr Archer will use our ideas in his research. Year 12 Physicists

A Level Biology Field Trip On 26th September we left St Gregory’s for an Ecology field trip at the Field Studies Council Education Centre in Amersham. During the course we were given training in fieldwork techniques in a variety of terrestrial ecosystems. The work was demanding and very informative. This trip was an excellent learning experience equipping us all with greater confidence in ecological concepts. Year 13 Biologists

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Science College Newsletter

Provisional Science Exam Dates 2017 Year 9 SATS Week of April 24th GCSE Additional Science (Year 11S2-11S7 only) B2 Friday June 9th (AM) C2 Wednesday June 14th (AM) (AM)

P2 Friday June 16th

GCSE Further Additional Science (Year 11S1 only) B3 Monday June 19th (AM) C3 Wednesday June 21st (AM) (AM)

P3 Friday June 23rd

AS Exams Unit 1 Biology Thursday May 25th (PM) Unit 1 Chemistry Friday May 26th (AM) Unit 1 Physics Tuesday May 23rd (AM) Unit 2 Biology Tuesday June 6th (PM) Unit 2 Chemistry Friday June 9th (PM) Unit 2 Physics Thursday June 8th (PM)

A2 Exams Paper 1 Biology Monday June 12th (PM) Paper 1 Chemistry Tuesday June 13th (PM) Paper 1 Physics Thursday June 15th (AM) Paper 2 Biology Tuesday June 20th (AM) Paper 2 Chemistry Monday June 19th (AM) Paper 2 Physics Wednesday June 21st (AM) Paper 3 Biology Monday June 26th (AM) Paper 3 Chemistry Tuesday June 27th (AM) Paper 3 Physics Thursday June 29th (AM)

Year 11 Additional and Further Additional Science 2016-2017 Revision Support  Science revision slot Tuesday after school (Week A and Week B)  Mock exams right before Christmas (to determine entry status)  Morning revision 8am onwards in S7 daily  GCSE Pod and other websites useful (remember we are EDEXCEL)  Revision guides and workbooks have been issued – see  Mr Knights as soon as possible if you can’t find yours! Other Useful Information  Important to maximise attainment on controlled assessment – to be completed by February ½ term!  Good attendance / punctuality to lessons essential  Bring revision guide, correct equipment, positive attitude to each lesson  Catch up on any work missed and inform teachers ahead of time of impending absences

Science A-level at St Gregory’s

Please see the school website for further detail on the courses we offer or displays around the Science Department. Mr Knights, Head of Science

Science College Newsletter

Autumn 2016

Gardening for the Community St Gregory’s Eco Garden pupils are helping to maintain a flower bed at the entrance to Woodcock Park along Donnington Road. The Friends of Woodcock Park worked with Brent Council to create the flower bed and, after hearing that the Friends needed help with the upkeep of the bed, St Gregory’s Eco Garden pupils volunteered to help with the maintenance. Mrs Hovey, Science College Project Manager St Gregory’s pupils weeding the community flower bed

Mural Installation at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School Following the successful installation by St Gregory’s Art Department of a large mural in Woodcock Park, David O’Farrell, Headteacher at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School asked if St Gregory’s Art team would help with a similar project at St Bernadette’s. St Gregory’s A Level Art students worked with Positive Arts, a professional graffiti art company, to create a stunning mural in the playground at St Bernadette’s school. The mural was unveiled on 19th October to the delight of staff and pupils. St Gregory’s Art Department

KATA Works to Improve Kenton The Kenton Area Traders Association held its AGM on 22nd June at which it was reported that the KATA now has 21 paying members; has forged strong links with the Kenton Safer Neighbourhood Teams for Brent and Harrow and has worked successfully with Brent and Harrow Councillors to install flower baskets along Kenton Road and festive lights between Salter McGuinness and Blue Ginger. The KATA is working hard to maintain both of these projects and hopes to be able to raise funds to extend the festive lighting scheme in future years. This year, the lights will be switched on earlier, in order to celebrate the different religious festivals over the winter period. The switch on ceremony will take place on 20th October, in time for Diwali. It recently came to the notice of the KATA that Brent Highways Department proposed the removal of pedestrian guard rails on both sides of Kenton Road between Upton Gardens and Nash Way. Supported by Cllr Reg Colwill, the KATA met with representatives from Brent Highways department to discuss concerns with the idea, both in terms of pedestrian safety and because removal of the railings would mean removal of the flower baskets. The KATA was successful in its petition. Not only will the pedestrian guard rails and flower baskets remain, damaged railings will be replaced! Mr K Mandalia, Chairperson, KATA