Haggerston Recorder

Open House at Haggerston on 21 September was a great successSteve Fitzwilliam, one of our parents and an architect himself, conducted the tours with other members of the Haggerston School Association (H S A) helping.

The visitors were shown around our unique grade II listed building, celebrating the work of Erno Goldfinger and the sympathetic refurbishments done by Avanti as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Newsletter of

Issue 001_November 2013

Dear Parents and CarersYou may be aware of the huge number of changes that are currently and rapidly being made by the government to the national qualifications framework, that is mainly GCSE and A level and BTEC qualifications. Some of these changes are being introduced so rapidly that they affect students who are already on courses leading to those qualifications affected, some even in the final year of studying those courses. I mention this because it is something that all of us involved in secondary schools are needing to focus on very intensely, for the students we teach now to not be adversely affected by the changes. Our present year 11, 12 and 13 students are responding well to this focus, with year 11 students working hard for their mock exams this month; year 12 working hard in the first term of their advanced courses, and year 13 planning their next step beyond the sixth form, many of them preparing their UCAS applications to university.

In this challenging educational climate, it is therefore a pleasure to be able to be reminded via this edition of the Recorder of so many of the other dimensions of this school that we also focus on, and to celebrate some of our students’ successes and achievements. It is an enlarged edition of the Recorder in order to publish as many as we can of those achievements from the first half term of the year.

Best wishes, Dr Jane Keeley - Headteacher

Diary Dates23 December - 3 January Christmas Holiday6 January Spring term begins9 January Y7 parents’ evening23 January Y11 parents’ evening5 February PSHCE day (3)13 February Y12 and Y13 parents’ evening17 - 21 February Half term20 March Y8 Parents evening7 - 21 April Easter Holiday

School production of Macbeth.Performances on the 10th ,11th and 12th of December at 7pm in the South Studio. Tickets will go on sale every lunchtime in the atrium and cost £3 each.

School Calendars will be on sale from December and can be purchased from Reception for £5.

Haggerston Art Department working in partnership with University of Arts London Our Y13 students have a unique opportunity to take part in CCW (Chelsea, Camberwell & Wimbledon- University of The Arts) Saturday school. The Saturday School gives students a practical experience of what art school is like and and enables them to find out more about the many opportunities that working in the Creative Industries can offer.

Check Five! Literacy NewsRaising everyone’s literacy standards at Haggerston School is very high on the list of the school’s priorities. Since the start of term, staff and students have been involved in several literacy activities. Mrs Matthews, the Literacy Co-ordinator, has launched the “Check Five” initiative. This whole school initiative reminds everyone what to check for when they write. Writing is our literacy focus for 2013-2014. “Check Five” posters are displayed in all classrooms and there is a lively display about “Check Five” in the Atrium. Thank you to Ms Ramos- Virley and the art department for this. Parents and carers can find a copy of “Check Five” in student planners. One area of literacy weakness that has been identified is using punctuation accurately. Every Wednesday morning, for the past six weeks, the school staff have been attending training sessions about supporting students’ use of punctuation. We have focused on apostrophes, semi-colons and commas.

Whilst writing is this year’s literacy focus at Haggerston, the importance of reading has not lost its momentum. Ms Venables and Ms Bartle in the library celebrated National Poetry Day on 3rd October with displays and students’ poems about reading. The library has some new members of staff: seven student librarians! Student librarians are being trained on the new computerised system MLS (Micro Librarian System) and they have plans to produce a monthly library magazine full of book reviews, competitions and news. Haggerston library is open: before school; at break times; at lunchtime (with a pass) and after school.

Ms Eastman, the Reading Co-ordinator, has been busy this term setting up a buddy reading scheme with Year 10 Seniors supporting younger students and their reading. After half term the Accelerated Reading Programme for the lower school will be up and running. Wednesday morning registration is now firmly established at Haggerston as our reading morning. The whole school stops to read. Finally, Ms Bartle, from the administration team, has been asking staff to tell her what they have been reading recently. Next half term these recommended reads will be on doors and displays around the building. Look out for them!

The Artsmark Gold StatusIn September Haggerston School was nationally recognised for it’s outstanding contribution to arts and cultural education.

Artsmark Gold status has been awarded to Haggerston School for its commitment to, and excellence in, arts and cultural education. To achieve Artsmark we had to undergo a rigorous application process, followed by a validation visit from a professional arts consultant. We were assessed on many areas of our provision including arts in the curriculum, extra-curricular arts activities, how we work with artists and arts organisations and how well our arts provision impacts on staff development and the wider community. Our partnership working with the different curriculum areas (English, Media, Design and Technology) across the school and external partners was a key component in securing this prestigious award.

Achieving Artsmark Gold status demonstrates that Haggerston School has a number of very special qualities. It demonstrates that we:

• have an excellent arts and cultural offer• are forward thinking and open to development• are committed to investing in our staff and young people• are committed to listening to our students and providing opportunities

for our community• have an effective approach to building sustainable relationships with arts

and cultural organisations• value the arts and culture through a broad and balanced curriculum

Artsmark is the Arts Council England’s flagship programme to enable schools and other organisations to evaluate, strengthen and celebrate their arts and cultural provision. Artsmark also contributes to the cultural aspect of Ofsted’s requirement that a school promotes students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (S.M.S.C).

We are one of only three schools in the borough of Hackney to achieve Artsmark Gold status. Nationally only 13% of school hold Artsmark status with even fewer achieving Artsmark gold status.

Special thanks to Ms Ray – Choudhuri and Ms Powell for all their hard work and commitment in acquiring Artmark Gold status.

New members of the Senior Leadership TeamBrian Lynch: Assistant Headteacher, Head of Middle School and in charge of behaviour. I have been working in education within London for 10 years teaching English and worked as part of the leadership team at a local Tower Hamlets school immediately before joining Haggerston School. I am excited about my new role and the opportunity to work with Year 9 and Year 10 so that they can make fantastic progress

Donna Moran: Assistant Headteacher, Head of Lower School and in charge of Attendance. I have been teaching for 11 years and my specialist subject is Physical Education. I joined Haggerston School this September, after working for eight years at Warren Comprehensive School in Barking and Dagenham, where I held pastoral and curriculum focused middle leadership roles for 7 years. I am passionate about education and I am very pleased to be joining the Senior Leadership Team here at Haggerston School.

Justine Collie: Assistant Headteacher, Head of Upper School and in charge of Assessment Recording and Reporting. I joined Haggerston School as part of the Future Leaders Programme, having worked previously for Morgan Stanley and the Army as a Captain in the Royal Logistics Corps. My specialism is teaching History and Government and Politics. I am really looking forward to ensuring our Year 11 students achieve excellent outcomes.

GCSE Media StudiesIn September, GCSE Media Studies students visited the Eurogamer exhibition at Earls Court. This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to gain a real insight into how the industry creates awareness and loyalty towards their products. The queues outside were enormous and the event was totally sold out. The students understandably took great delight in being able to walk straight in, just one of the benefits of being a school student!

Once inside students could play on nearly every new game that was set for release in the 2013/14 cycle including the new xbox one and PS4 which are still yet to be released. This was also a huge opportunity to interview members of the video game industry and collect information that will be incredibly useful for the orthcoming Media Studies exam which is based around the computer games industry.

The students were able to talk with independent games producers and the people who work in marketing and promoting the games around the world and this will provide them with extremely useful real world examples that the students can use in their exam preparation. Students collected many free gifts and posters. Furthermore, two of the students - Amina and Shampane, were also selected to compete against each other on stage in a brand new game. All students came away with a memorable experience which will allow them to approach their exam topic with enthusiasm and success.

David Almond workshop celebrating 25 years of SkelligOn Thursday 12th September our year 7 students and local primary school pupils were totally captivated by David Almond, the renowned author, talking about his childhood, his love of books and how he became a writer.

A lively session followed, in which children shared their favourite authors with David, and asked questions on a wide range of topics – from what inspired him to write each novel, to what he had wanted to be when he grew up! Students and staff also had an opportunity to buy signed copies of his books.

Haggerston Recorder November 2013

Year 10 after school artist workshops & trip to the Anjin 1600: Space Odysseys exhibitionIn October a group of year 10 GCSE art students went on trip to the Anjin 1600: Space Odysseys exhibition and had a private tour of the exhibition with the artist David Blandy.

David Blandy is working with Year 10 GCSE Art students in an after school club to create a new animation that re-tells the participant’s familial history as an epic space adventure. Students are creating an epic adventure told as an animation from its initial planning stage through to final composition.

An evening with AC Grayling On 9th October, Ms Pomphrey took a group of Year 13 to ‘an evening with AC Grayling’, which was a question and answer session on ‘Philosophy and the meaning of life’. The girls were truly inspired and left passionate for learning and reading. Two girls, Sevgi Firat Shorifa Begum, were so enthused that they now intend to apply to his New College Of Humanities.

Barbican Skype ProjectThe Music and Media Departments recently joined forces as part of a pioneering initiative with the Barbican Centre. Preparations for an on- going partnership using Skype began in room 112, as students taking GCSE music prepared with an intriguing array of questions for folk supremo Eliza Carthy, and waited with bated breath for the video call to begin.

We are the first school in the country to take part in this project that, if successful, will be rolled out to schools across London. Haggerston will have the opportunity to engage in conversations with a range of influential actors, musicians, writers, designers, film makers and visual artists. We are currently in discussion with the Barbican to develop our own ideas that include; creative industry professionals setting briefs for our students creating a video archive for future use, and developing a creative industry careers platform. Eventually we hope to be able to link up with other school in London and an International school in Leipzig. This will be through the Barbicans partnership with the Gewhandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, who will be our next Skype call.

Enrichment in DramaSince September, Haggerston students have had numerous enrichment opportunities in Drama including theatre visits and specialist workshops with professional practitioners.

In a cross curricular initiative, Year 12 AS Drama and Maths students went to see ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’ at the Apollo Theatre. Year 12 AS Drama students also went to see ‘The Light Princess’ at the National Theatre. In addition, students in year 8 and 9 who have made good progress in their Drama lessons were rewarded with a trip to see ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ at the Theatre Royal. One student said, “It’s great to take drama outside of the classroom, to experience and enjoy live theatre.”

Most recently, Neil Bettles from Frantic Assembly and Thick Skin also came in to deliver a 6 hour workshop with GCSE and A Level Drama students. They spent the day learning new physical techniques to create Innovative, challenging and creative pieces.

Maths MasteryHere at Haggerston we believe that Maths is a subject which all students can achieve a high level.

To help students get the most out of Maths we have joined the Maths Mastery Programme, created by educational charity, the ARK Schools network. The ARK schools network designed and implemented the Maths Mastery Programme using research and evidence as well as drawing on bestpractice nationally and internationally.

The key principles of the programme are:

• Students study fewer topics in greater depth

• Mastery for all students• Number sense and place value

come first• Problem solving is central

The vision of the Mathematics Mastery network is:

“Mathematics education should be so much more than just passing exams and Mathematics Mastery will help us achieve this. We want every child not just to pass GCSE mathematics but pass with top grades and to leave school with a love of mathematics.”

In short, we are working to ensure that all students have a strong foundation in Mathematics, with no student left behind through this exciting new curriculum.

The present year 7 students have already embarked on this curriculum.

Haggerston Recorder November 2013

Year 11 D&T V&A tripIn September all of year 11 Textiles, Resistant Materials and Graphics students went to the Victoria & Albert museum for their primary research day. The RM students were able to look at a range of jewellery that spanned from contemporary design all the way back to 150BC, and included gold, diamonds, plastic and newspaper. Textiles were able to study fashions from many different countries and even try some on! Graphics students looked at the way that graphics and branding are used in the gallery, took inspiration from the vast collection of prints and patterns and admired the products in the shop.

They were all able to look at thousands of exhibits and they will use the ideas they gathered to inspire their own designing for their GCSE controlled assessment.

Year 7 Cooking ClubYear 7 cooking club has started and studentsare developing a variety of cooking skills such as basic preparation, chopping, frying and baking as well as basic food hygiene and the importance of eating well. It has been great fun and so far students have made cupcakes and pizza.

Textiles ClubStudents have successfully learned how to thread up and safely use the sewing machines and have started their first project, which is a fleece hat.

Year 9 Geffrye Museum visitAs part of their design history project a class of year 9 D&T pupils went on a very successful visit to the Geffrye Museum. The students used various technologies to gather information which they then turned into a report about the development and influences upon design.

Designer TalkKS4 textiles students had a workshop run by the very successful designer Stuart Trevor of Bolongaro-Trevor design house. He inspired students with his presentation, discussing his career path and the different professions that are within the fashion industry. Students had an opportunity to see and try on a selection of his latest designs as well as see at close hand, the skills used to produce them.

Stuart Trevor is a parent and part of the Haggerston School Association (HSA). The Haggerston School Association is endeavouring to compile a parent skills bank in order to harness the skills and talents of our parent body. Please contact Cathy de Monchaux at cathydemonchaux@hotmail.com if you would like to be part of the Skills bank. Remember every kind of skill and life experience is relevant and potentially useful for inspiring and broaden horizons for the students at the school.

Year 12 and 13 History visit to the Houses of Parliament

A very interesting and enlightening trip, as we are currently learning about the history of British democracy. We learnt many facts that we had previously not known, the setup of parliament and the rules of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Each wall held hundreds of years of history and each stained glass told a different story. It was a truly insightful experience as not only an important element of our history, but also playing a very important role in the current development of our society. Sevgi Firat Y13.

Haggerston Recorder November 2013

Sporting News AthleticsHaggerston School Athletics opened its campaign for the year with a debut attendance at the Hackney Sportshall Athletics League.

The Year 7 Athletics Squad travelled to Cardinal Pole School for the opening fixture of the competition attended by schools across Hackney. Haggerston fielded both a boys’ team and girls’ team in the 1st of 4 fixtures of the year, with outstanding performances by Akim Bangura and Kerry Searle. Akim triumphed in the Vertical Jump and 2 Lap Race, winning both events. Akim was later part of the 8 Lap Paarluf Team, with Daniel Akinsanya that came a close 2nd. Kerry Searle competed well in the gruelling 6 Lap Race as well as running an astounding two legs in the girls’ relay team. The Athletics Squad travelled back to Haggerston School with accomplished performances that can only excite followers for the potential of the squad. All eyes from Haggerston Athletics are also looking to the new year, when the Year 8’s and Year 9’s will be competing in the anticipated Lee Valley Indoor Cup in an exciting calendar of athletics.

NetballHaggerston Netball Team visited Wembley Arena on the 25th September to watch England play South Africa.

The girls enjoyed the event, especially as England won the match easily with a 51-33 score. This match inspired them for their first game of the season against Stoke Newington on the 30th September which they won by 6 goals to 4. They have been training hard since and many more fixtures are on the way.

FootballHaggerston School football has already been a huge success this year. In addition to the usual friendly and cup fixtures, many teams are participating in the Hackney and Tower Hamlets Schools Saturday League for the very first time.

All teams have made significant strides since the start of the year as a result of players showing excellent dedication to team training. Year 7 are improving every game with more accomplished performances. Year 8 have made an excellent start to the season by winning most games. And yr 9 are certainly the team to watch winning all their games bar one, which ended as a draw. Both yr 8 and 9 have also progressed to the second round of the Inner London School Cup. If you are interested in playing school football, feel free to attend your year’s training session on the relevant day of the week. If you have any questions about this, please see Mr Foolchand in PE.

Haggerston Recorder November 2013

ContactWeymouth Terrace, London E2 8LS P 020 7739 7324 - F 020 7739 8603www.haggerston.hackney.sch.uk

Look at the Enrichment ScheduleThe latest copy of the enrichment. programme can be found on the school website. There are many new clubs to get involved in.

Fencing at HaggerstonAs a reward for excellent standards of achievement, attendance and behaviour, twelve year 9 students were rewarded with the opportunity to take part in fencing lessons.