The River Newsletter – Issue 37 - 20th July 2012
BBC Schools Question Time Year 10 Citizenship and Year 12 Law and Politics students took part in a live Question Time event this week. The panellists included Nigel Farage (Leader of UKIP), Jo Swinson MP (Liberal Democrats) as well as writer Lisa Nandy MP (Labour) and Owen Jones (Writer of the book “The Demonization of the Working Class” and columnist for The Guardian). Students enjoyed listening to the debates on topics such as whether bankers should receive large bonus pay outs, proposals for reform of the House of Lords and replacing GCSE’s with O Level and CSE qualifications. Particular note must go to Hamza Saed who was lucky enough to have his comment read out live on air. You can watch a re-run of the show on BBC Parliament channel (Freeview: channel 81) at 1800 on Sunday 16th July.
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In this issue: • Trip to St.Paul’s Cathedral • S4S attend Anti-bullying Presentation • Spelling Bee Contest/Mulberry Model UN
Exciting Year for History! It has been a fantastic year for the history department. This year’s intake into GCSE and A-level was the largest ever and we have had over 250 pupils studying history after Key Stage 3. This included our first cohort of Year 9 GCSE students who have enjoyed a new expanded curriculum looking at Russia and USA in 19th and 20th century. Building on the successes of last year, results have continued to improve and we are set to achieve a third year over the national average. History students in all years have enjoyed lots of different history excursions including trips to the Imperial War museum, LSE archives, Cabinet War Rooms and two conferences. The highlight, however, was the trip to Berlin where 40 students spent three days exploring one of the most fascinating cities in the world. It included visits to the Berlin Wall, Hitler’s bunker, Reichstag, Holocaust museum and much more. With lots of students again choosing to study History we are ready for another exciting year in the department!
A selection of the comment that Rivers students blogged on the BBC site can be read below: Topic: Should GCSE’s be scrapped and replaced with O-Levels? Comment from Josh Leon - Year 10 Why make it more complicated. If you think children are cheating they will find a way to cheat O-levels. If they are smart they will still get good grades. No need for change there? Topic: Should Bob Diamond get his bonus? Comment From Maleki Burke - Year 10 He has done a bad job. People need to earn bonuses or they are not deserved. Comment From Peter Jackson - Year 13 Surely we should live within a meritocracy and the extent of commercial viability that Barclays have produced for themselves through sponsorship is to an extent acceptable, be this extent almost nonexistent it is still evidence of his worth in the industry. However I do not agree at all with the amount. Comment From Matthew Meades - Year 10 Of course not, we’re making cuts in essential areas, e.g. the NHS and Army, while the bankers receive millions for causing this mess.
Students for Solutions Team meet famous actress Five students from the Students for Solutions Team attended an anti-bullying conference in Central London this week. Leonie Meades, Tionnie Godfrey Smith, Kayleigh Fryer, Regan Farren and Courtney Knowles attended the event hosted by the Diana Award and were able to tell others about the work they’d been doing with American schools to battle bullying in Rivers Academy. The conference was led by lifelong anti-bullying campaigner, Alex Holmes, who gave the students lots of ideas about how they could take their work to the next level. The group also had the chance to meet the actress/ celebrity Gabriella who has appeared on the TV Show “Made in Chelsea” and other music videos. All students are now officially trained as Anti Bullying Ambassadors and have great plans to ensure Rivers is a bully free school.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
St Pauls Cathedral Year 10 RE trip The St Pauls trip was great! It was fun, energetic and interesting. The trip was educational whilst allowing us to have a laugh and to explore London. We climbed the stairs and reached the top from where we had views over all of London. We saw a lot of great things both in the cathedral and out. I found the day amazing and I know that I’m not the only one. I would definitely recommend the trip to anybody else! Maleki Burke
Health and Social Care
Languages
The Health and Social Care department has had another very successful year with Year 11 and 13 achieving truly outstanding results.
Congratulations to all languages students who worked hard and attended revision sessions.
Particular congratulations should go to the following students for their exemplary portfolios of coursework:Year 11 Mary Vu Marisa Harman Ayan Mohamed Year 13 Katie-Sue Hoban Toyah Grimes Amy Upton Sammy Sherwood Sian King Antonia Light
You need to revise for the Speaking Controlled Assignment Tests over the summer holidays to prepare you for the exams in the Autumn Term. Well done to the Year 7 and Year 8 students who studied hard for their end of year assessments in the hall Bonnes Vacances Buenas Vacaciones Enjoy the holidays!
The Languages Department
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
PE – Some Highlights from the Year! Rugby Rugby continues to develop with more fixtures and success year on year and our Year 8 side achieving much success with M Najib and J Richardson outstanding throughout. • Year 8 Rugby League Runners up in the borough • Year 8 Rugby Union Borough Champions beating Heathlands 30-0 in the final • Year 8 Rugby Union 4th best team in Middlesex beating Gunnersbury, Isleworth and Syon, Twyford and Chiswick Girls Football • Girls under 16 reaching quarter finals of Middlesex Cup football • Year 8/9 girls football came 3rd in league • Senior girls football team came 2nd in league Boys Football • 1st XI football had a positive season, reaching the semi-finals of the county cup, losing to the eventual winners. The team contained a large number of year 10 and 11 boys which bodes well for next season. • Mark Smith, Martin Herdman and Reece Cox all continue to make excellent progress at QPR and have been instrumental in the team’s success. • Yr 7s lost in the Finals of their Borough competition Athletics • Borough Champions: Jordan Richardson (Discus and Hammer), Mahboob Najib (Shot Put), Afrim Ahmetaj (100m), Reece Cox (High Jump), Marco Dos Santos (200m), Katie Knight (Shot Put, Discus, 1,500m) Luke Mountain (Discus) NETBALL Netball has become the most participated girls sports club at Rivers Academy. We forged strong links with Grasshoppers Netball which improved the standard of performance for all girls involved. Year 9a, 9b and senior teams won all their leagues. To further this success Rivers Academy student’s helped run a ‘high 5’ tournament for our local primary schools, continuing our work on building strong relationships with the community.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
Exciting Maths Experiences… coming soon! Next school year, the Maths department are going to be running some exciting news clubs and activities for Rivers Academy students to get involved in…
World Multiplication Day – 28th September 2012
KS3 students will find themselves practising their times tables through fun games and starter activities at the start of next school year in preparation for World Multiplication Day on September 28th. On the day of the event the best students will be testing other students, teachers and parents on their times tables, and handing out certificates and prizes to any “Masters of Multiplication”. Watch this space for more information on how to get involved nearer the time and contact Miss Okereke or Miss Ogden if you would like to know more!
Rubik’s Cube and Puzzle Club
Do you love solving problems and puzzles? Would you like to learn an impressive new skill that you can show off to your friends and family? This new club starting in September will be a fun way to try out your talents. The Rubik’s cube is a puzzle that most of us find too difficult to solve, but there is a simple method that you can learn that means you can always solve a Rubik’s cube. At Puzzle Club you will get a Rubik’s cube, learn how to solve it, practise your skills and maybe get the opportunity to go on a trip to a world record attempt at the O2 in November for the most people solving Rubik’s cubes at once! Look out for more information at the beginning of the year and speak to Miss Johal if you want to know more. Get involved and remember… Maths can be FUN!!!
BBC Workshops for YEAR 10 This Monday we had Kymberlie Andrew from the BBC come in and deliver a workshop to a group of Year 10 students, on spoken communication. The workshop focused on key skills for having confidence when speaking publicly and it was great to see the students flourish over the course of the day. At the beginning, we had very few students who were confident with speaking and by the time the workshop was over, all students had given a strong and lengthy speech. It was a thoroughly useful and interesting day led by an inspiring individual, Kym Andrew. Miss Cornford
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
Trips and Exchanges
Modern Foreign Languages at Rivers Academy This academic year has seen a dramatic rise in the popularity of MFL at Rivers Academy, partly due to the English Baccalaureate. We currently have: • 150 studying a Language in Year 9 (French and Spanish) • 130 studying a Language in Year 10 (French and Spanish) • 70 studying a Language in Year 11 (French and Spanish)
We now have a link with a school in Malaga and 19 of our students will be spending their February half term with their pen-pals. The Academy also has a link with a school in Aix-en-Provence and 75 students will start to correspond via e-mail with their pen-pals over the next couple of weeks.
Additionally we offer Italian OCR Business Language course in the Sixth Form and about 20 students have chosen this popular new course.
Results 2010/11 Congratulations to last year’s Year 11 Languages students who did themselves proud by achieving 92% A*-C in French and 85% A*-C in Spanish.
Year 10 and 11 Languages Revision and Support Students are advised to attend after academy sessions provided by the Languages Department. We are very flexible and available to help most lunch times and after academy hours. We are also extremely fortunate to have foreign language assistants for both French and Spanish. Language revision guides are available from Mrs Ash for £2.75 or a more comprehensive guide including CDROM for £7.50. These are extremely useful for revision and homework.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
School trip to Málaga In February half-term 17 pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 went on a school trip to Málaga in the south of Spain with Miss Hall, Miss Miller, Mr Arthur and Miss Cripps. The main reason for the trip was to visit our exchange school, Colegio Salesianos, who the students had been emailing prior to the trip. In addition to this we visited a zoo, had a guided tour of Malaga including a visit to Picasso’s birth place, went for tapas and ‘churros’ (Spanish doughnuts) and even went to the beach and had a paddle! The weather was fantastic and lots of Spanish was spoken by everyone, even Mr Arthur! We hope to continue the exchange and return to visit Malaga very soon.
Miss Hall
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
YR 11 Graduation Event
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
Family Trip to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe ‘On Monday evening I went with Ms Cook and nine pupils to see The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe at Kensington Gardens. The production was fantastic and the lighting and sound effects superb. This is a production worth seeing for both adults and children alike. I must also say the pupils were very well behaved and could not stop talking about the show all the way home on the train.’ - Pam White RADA Workshop and Performance of As You Like It A drama practitioner worked with fifteen students from Years 8 – 11 who had shown that they had worked particularly hard this year. Working with Daniel from RADA the students got to grips with some of the key themes from the Shakespearean play and showed how creative they could be. Daniel said that he was very impressed by the way the students worked confidently together to create fresh interpretations of the text. Watch out for the Shakespeare Schools Festival in November where Rivers Academy will be performing Taming of the Shrew at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. ‘I don’t believe in ghosts!’ Year 10 GCSE drama students challenged what they thought a ‘scary play’ would be when they went to see The Woman in Black! If you thought a live performance couldn’t be scary, then think again. ‘I can’t believe I screamed!’ said one student, I saw plenty of students sinking into their seats as the powerful story of the Woman in Black was told. On the way back we even stopped at Waterloo Bridge to watch the laser show to mark the completion of The Shard. It was a great night out and the students have plenty to write about for their theatre critique coursework. PTA Trip to Billy Elliott The PTA requested a trip for parents and teachers only, so leaving the children behind we went out for a fantastic toe-tapping night! The dances in Billy Elliott were performed with such passion and emotion that it portrayed the heart-felt situation of communities in the 1980’s. It was a really good opportunity to meet other people, get into London and make the most of the community that we have in our Academy. What will the next trip be? You decide! Music GCSE Trip to We Will Rock You The iconic music of Queen was brought to life through the musical written by Ben Elton that got students at teachers rocking to the beat. It was a powerful demonstration of how music can tell a story and included themes about the importance of individuality and creativity. Queen is on the GCSE music syllabus and there is no better way of understanding it than seeing a live performance. Well done to… Lydia Walmsley for passing her grade 3 piano exam with a Merit. Ryan Tilley for auditioning and getting the part of Shylock in a production of The Merchant of Venice. Josh Edwards, Katie Knight, Mariella Davis, Rasandeep Sagoo, Kiran Manan & Phoebe Ginger for busking at Fantasma and raising money for charity.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
Mulberry Model United Nations Trip With the absence of Years 11 and 13, Rivers Academy took a very young team to this year’s Model United Nations meeting at Mulberry School on the 12th and 13th July, but still managed to perform outstandingly well. Seven out of our team of eight had never competed in Model United Nations before and four of those were in Year 7. Despite this the participants, all representing the nation of India, were incredibly impressive and none of the judges had any idea of just how inexperienced Rivers were as a delegation. Indeed, on three separate occasions the chairpersons commented that they couldn’t believe some of our students were in Year 7. Dorsa Mojtahed-Zadeh, Willow Rolls and Samiha Begum (all Year 7) stuck to their country’s position well throughout the debates, and Rasandeep Sagoo and Ryan Tilley (both year 9) were instrumental in the negotiations within their committees. Ben Lagha, dominated the difficult Disarmament and International Security committee with his unrivalled understanding of India’s nuclear politics and received an honourable mention award. Special congratulations must go, however, to Owen Luff (Year 12) who was voted outstanding delegate in the Security Council (which is tantamount to winning best overall delegate of the entire meeting) and Srihitha Konreddy (Year 7) who also won an outstanding delegate award despite being the youngest person in her committee room which included members of a sixth form team that had travelled all the way from Israel to take part.
School Spelling Bee On the 19th July, Rivers completed its first whole school Spelling Bee which included teams from all four houses, the sixth form and indeed the staff. All the competitors performed brilliantly, despite the nerve wracking experience of having to spell in front of not only the rest of the school, but also Mrs Kenning, who was competing for the staff team! Longford and Northumberland were the first two teams to be eliminated after the “quick-fire round”, leaving just Colne and Crane to take on the staff and sixth form in the “buzzer round”. Both teams were unfortunate to be up against Mr. “lightning fingers” Ash, who dominated the round to such an extent that compere Mr. Bird resorted to “unfairly” docking him points. The round nearly descended into a chaos with a mishearing of the word “heinous” but eventually Colne and Crane were eliminated. The staff then sent up their champion speller Mrs. Kenning to compete against the sixth form’s champion Zoe Lindsey in the head-to-head round. It went right down to the wire but Mrs. Kenning eventually won 3-2 for the staff with the words “mnemonic”, “seismograph” and “kindergarten”.
Aspiration • Ambition • Achievement
