HARRIS MESSENGEROctober 2012

Principal’s IntroductionOur first half term as Harris Academy Morden is now complete. This has been a wonderful start to our new journey together.There have been big changes, uniform, rules, improving behaviour alongside increasing our expectations for student progress. I am very pleased with the attitude of our students and staff toward the changes we have implemented and this is why they have been a huge success.Attendance has increased and now sits at almost 94%. This is below our target of 95% but already a 3% increase from last year moving beyond the National Average.Behaviour has greatly improved with more focus being shown in lessons. This obviously has an impact on exclusions and the need to exclude has dramatically decreased.Although all of the above are facts demonstrating impact of the new Academy, what is by far the biggest achievement to date without doubt is seeing the students embrace all of the positive opportunities provided. We have seen three marvellous inter faculty competitions take place; Sport, Spelling Bee and the Calculating Bee where hundreds of students participated. We have also seen hundreds of students take part in our weekly Assembly quiz (please see our web site for more details). In addition over two hundred students volunteered to support the Academy at our first open evening for potential new Year 7 students. This was a fantastic event where over 400 visitors attended for 180 places on offer next year. Parents were amazed by our students, demonstrating the true potential of this Academy.After the half term break Year 11 students will begin their first examination period of the year with critical exams between November 5th- 8th for Maths and Science. Please see our web site for full details.The half term break will bring a well-deserved rest for students and staff and ensure everyone is refreshed and eager to start the new term!

September marked the beginning of our Inter-Faculty Sports competitions

with the first being the Inter-Faculty Football event. Each day after school, Faculties were proudly represented out on our Astro Turf. Every student played well aiming to be the winning team in their Year group. The event was well attended and over the course of the week, there were well over 200 students which is fantastic!We would like to thank all of those students that participated and represented their faculties with pride. A very special thanks must go to our sports leaders in Year 11 who attended each afternoon and volunteered their services to help support the staff. (Year 11 Sports Leader: Charlotte Brewer, Luke Smith, Anas Shoble, Paige Smith, Julian Harvey-Agyemang and Natalie Ashen).

Congratulations go to the Green Faculty for their victory in the first sports event this half term. The Inter-Faculty sports competitions will continue to run throughout the year with basketball being our next event early next half term.

Inter-Faculty EventsFootball

We were absolutely delighted with the enthusiasm displayed by all the students who came along to the first Inter-Faculty Spelling Bee. The atmosphere was very competitive throughout the week. As you can see from the photos, staff and students alike were quite tense as we all hoped our faculty would be victorious! It was wonderful to see each and every student working so well as part of a team and encouraging their fellow faculty members.A special mention goes to Blue Faculty who performed exceptionally well, with their teams from Years 7, 8 and 9 winning thanks to a combination of hard work, focus, and strong support from staff and students.

Spelling Bee Competition

Football Spelling Bee Calculation BeeGreen Faculty Blue Faculty Yellow Faculty

This was a very exciting competition and the students participated with great enthusiasm. The spectators cheered their teams along and encouragement was given to all participants by students as well as some very competitive teachers. The event included a round where students had a limited time to answer questions and a quick fire round open to all teams.A special mention goes to Mr. Duff who was an exceptional master of ceremonies and made sure that the event was enjoyed by everyone. It was truly an outstanding event and I am sure students will enjoy the event even more next year judging by the success of it this year.The Inter-Faculty competitions will continue to run throughout the year with more competitions after half term. Watch this space for further news updates!

Calculation Bee Competition

Overall Winners

1

ICT News

www.bishopsford.

DramaThe Year 11 GCSE group will be completing the first paper of their examination: Unit 1 Drama Exploration. These pupils will also have the opportunity to visit a theatre to further broaden their experience and knowledge of the theatre industry. Drama Club is on Tuesdays for all KS3. A coursework tutorial is available on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday after school. Please see Ms Long to make an appointment.

The ICT Department has enjoyed a great start to the academic year. The students have relished using brand new computers on a faster network and delighted in undertaking the revamped ICT courses at both KS3 and KS4.

In KS3 Year 7 and 8 students have been taking a stand against cyberbullying. Understanding what it is, how it works and how to understand and deal with cyberbullies. Year 9s have been using ICT creatively as they have become highly skilled in digital photo editing using Adobe Photoshop.

In KS4 Year 10 Computer Science students have developed their knowledge of programming in Python. A student described the lessons as “exciting but challenging”. Students are focussing on the programming language and on the logical thinking behind it. Also, at KS4 Year 11 OCR National students

are developing their website creation skills by designing and creating an innovative music festival website.

KS3 ICT Club: After school on Tuesdays in B223 we have enjoyed developing our photo editing skills. Students have had the opportunity to create their own Andy Warhol style art. Next we look forward to digital photography where we can celebrate our students interests, cultures, beliefs, and challenge their thinking.

Upcoming ICT competition ICT are looking forward to hosting the Creative ICT Challenge commencing the week beginning 3/12/2012. The competition sets its sights on ICT enthusiasts who will develop 3D innovative graphics for their faculty. Looking ahead we envisage a fantastic school year in the ICT Department.

Students of the Autumn Half Term: - Year 7: Amber Taafe for her effort and positive attitude in ICT lessons.- Year 8: Romans Kuznecovs for his outstanding graphic editing in ICT Club.- Year 9: Lea Ebanks for consistently producing outstanding work in lessons.- Year 10: William Leitch for his contribution and support in ICT Club .- Year 11: Andrew Lyndon for his outstanding GCSE ICT coursework and contribution in lessons.

It has been a great start to humanities at Harris Academy Morden this Autumn half term. The Year 7 students have risen to the challenges that have been placed upon them with fresh enthusiasm and professionalism. They have been set lots of skills and enquiry activities in history and geog-raphy that have been designed to prepare them well for their future stud-ies across the humanities subjects. The Year 8s and 9s have settled in well to their new topics with the Year 8s, in history, investigating the strengths and weaknesses of the Tudor Dynasty and the Year 9s, in geography,

studying not just what tourism is like now but what it could be like in the future!Our Key Stage 4 students have made a very conscientious start to their studies and have been set high expecta-tions from their teachers. All key stage 4 students now have RE and have, therefore, been able to complete a unit towards their GCSE exams in the summer. The unit called ‘Our World’ has encouraged many thought provoking and interesting discussions amongst the students, where they have been sharing their views about the creation of our planet and our role, as humans, on it. Key Stage 4 humanities options students have also immediately focused their attentions on their exam preparation, with the Year 11s working hard to get through the last units of content before the revision begins. In humanities, we look forward to more excellent work from our students in the next half term and will continue to challenge them and help develop their understanding of the world around them.

Performing Arts

DanceThe GCSE dance groups for years 10 & 11 have the opportunity to refine their performance ability or their choreographic knowledge further by attending the GCSE course work support club after school on Tuesdays. Please speak to Mrs Adams for more details.

MusicStudents from Harris Academy Morden will be learning the music for ‘The Journey’, a groove cantata written by world renowned jazz musician and educator Pete Churchill.The piece was written for Merton Music Foundation as a special commission.

There will be two high-profile performances. The first is on Thursday 22 November, 7pm at St Paul’s Church. The second will take place on Monday 22 April, 7pm at The Royal Albert Hall.

Humanities

The year kicked off at such a great pace and it is almost unbelievable that two months have passed on the calendar year. It was a very good start for the fully staffed maths department with specialist teachers guiding students through the difficulties that maths sometimes present.

Our Year 7 students have now settled and are working hard at improving their grades and achieving their targets. The Year 11 students attended 2 intervention days where they were divided into 3 groups and given focussed revision in the run up to the November exams and the Monday during Half term will be another exciting day for them to do some final preparations.

Highlighted Students:

Mathematics EnglishThis half term has seen many changes across the school, especially in English. Both old and new members of the department have helped create an innovative learning environment for our students. Socratic discussions on the perception of slang in modern society to extended writing which explores the lives of homeless in our country, are just two examples of the diversity our curriculum offers to the students of Harris Morden.

Highlighted Students:

• Daisy-Mae Deacon (Year 7) - Excellent progress and commitment to improving her grades. A hard worker delivering work to a very high standard.• Tawabullah Safi (Year 11) - A student who is extremely eager and keen to learn. Continually looking to stretch himself. Takes full responsibility for his own learning.• Jake Chittock (Year 8) - Dedicated and exceptionally hard working student, asks intelligent questions and is always looking to further his own attainment.

• Luke Lavender (Year 7) - Excellent effort has been applied to all assignments, he has developed a strong voice in class discussions.• Vicki Barglik (Year 9) - Always makes a strong effort in class and for homework. Works very well collaboratively or on her own.

We have many other clubs including: Enterprising English with Mr Hearn; Ms Sweeney’s Homework club; Gaining a level 6 with Mr Cooper and the Yr11 homework drop-in run by both Mr Gardener and Ms Harrison, we look forward to seeing you there. Ms Dewhirst’s Creative Writing club on Thursday has been a great success. Students are currently in the process of entering a competition so watch this space!

Harris Sports UpdateEnrichment ActivitiesAfter school clubs have been very well attended this half term. Activities run every day and also on two mornings a week. These will continue after the half term so please check your tutor noticeboards for details and get involved!

Despite opening round defeats in the Surrey County Football Cup for our Year 8 and Year 10 boys as well as our lower school girls teams, we remain very optimistic for the Merton League and remaining County Cup games after half term. Next half term will be very busy with basketball, badminton, netball and football fixtures. Remember to attend training sessions if you wish to be selected. Best of luck to you all!

Fixtures

• Year 7: Kiarra Ferreira (Commitment to extra-curricular clubs and exceptional effort in lessons.)• Year 8: Hamza Shoble (Performance in lessons, commitment to extra-curricular clubs and leadership for the Sports Partnership)• Year 9: Roisin Joyce (Exceptional attendance and effort at extra-curricular clubs)• Year 10: James Callanan (Outstanding effort and contribution in lessons / Attendance at the Leadership club each Wednesday)• Year 11: Charlotte Brewer (Exceptional attitude and effort in les-sons and commitment to Sports Leadership)

PE Student of the Half Term:

Congratulations to our JSLA students and their hard work developing their skills in lessons as well as the contribution made in the Multi Skills Primary School events last week. Your efforts were recognised by the Primary School staff and the students from Year 3. Well done to you all! Also, a big thank

you must go to our Year 11 Sports Leaders and their support during the Inter-Faculty Events (see homepage for details) as well as Tariq and Hamza Shoble and Lewis Mitchell for their support at the Sports Partnership events this half term.

Sports Leadership and Volunteering

Numeracy UpdateThis half term students have not only enjoyed numeracy in their maths lessons but have experienced the application of maths and number in all subjects across the curriculum.

Faculty events for this half term finished with the calculation bee with students competing in their faculty colours to be the most accurate and fastest human calculators!

Stand out competitors in each Year group wereYear 7 – Sutharson ShanmuganathanYear 8 – Romans KuzrecorsYear 9 – Askay ChundunsingYear 10 – Connor ArnoldYear 11 – Maita Nderwere

Well done to these students and all students that took part!

Welcome to new members of the Science department: Mr Sack, Miss Pollard and Mr McGirr.Firstly the Year 7s started the term off by completing a weeks activity based on health and Safety in the lab followed by learning various topics including cells and forces and their effects. The Year 8s have now completed topics on digestion, atoms and elements and sound and hearing.The Year 9s have completed work on inheritance and selection, electricity and energy and metals.Moving on to Year 10, the students have started new GCSE courses via the AQA route and will be sitting exams in January, so this will be a big focus after half term. Some students have embarked on vocational routes including BTEC science.The Year 11s have been working very hard on both GCSEs and BTECs. It has been pleasing to see students in BTEC classes not just settling for Passes or Merit but really pushing themselves for Distinctions.

Key information:• Some Year 11 students will be retaking their Unit 1 science exams in November. • Students have been working hard, coming to after school clubs and Saturday sessions.• Year 11 GCSE groups will also be performing some controlled Assessment Units during Assessment week next term.• There will be boosters and revision lessons laid out for Year 10 students next term in order that they are ready for GCSE examinations in chemistry and physics unit 1 papers in January.

Highlighted Students

Year 7 - Anissa Rosen Year 8 – Savannah Macridis Year 9 - Jade Smith Year 10 - Connor Arnold Year 11 - Jehen Zabir

Science

Modern Foreign LanguagesThis term Year 7 have learnt how to introduce themselves in the target language. They have also written their own comparative poem using colours and nouns. The Year 8 Students became art critics! They studied different forms of body art and expressed their points of view.Year 9 students have explored the theme of the family and reflected upon their own family relationships.Year 10 students have worked extremely hard to produce grade B minimum controlled assessments on their school experience and future plans.Finally Year 11 students explored different environmental issues and are now more conscious of what they must do to become more environmentally friendly.

Year 7: Anjeela Thapa achieved the highest level in the assessment this term!Year 8: Qasim Shahzad has greatly improved his level this year and produced a good piece of homework on body art!Year 9: Julia Bywalec has worked extremely well to learn Spanish this year. She has set herself an aspirational target of level 5!Year 10: Sana Majid has made an impressive start to the GCSE Spanish course. She is a good independent learner and never misses after school club!Year 11: Luke Smith is a Spanish perfectionist! He enjoys being challenged in order to achieve the highest possible mark!

Lord Harris visits Harris Academy MordenOn Wednesday 26th September the Academy was delighted to welcome Lord Harris for his first visit.Lord Harris toured the Academy with the Principal and visited many lessons and talked with as many of our students as possible.During the visit Lord Harris amazed us all. Firstly by informing us that the Harris Sports Day will be held in the Olympic Stadium in 2014 (this is when students travel to the stadium and compete or support their Academy against all the other Harris Academies) and secondly pulling out a London 2012 Olympic Gold medal!Obviously the students were delighted with both, especially those that had the opportunity to hold the Gold Medal.During the visit Lord Harris was extremely impressed with the students and how quickly they are adapting to the new Academy ethos and expectations.

We look forward to our next visit after half term.

Highlighted Students: SpanishYear 7 : Kiarra Ferreira - she is very enthusiastic and willing to support others in their learning.Year 8: Saskia Somanah - her presentation of work is exemplary and she is a good role model to others.Year 9: Reshaun Anthony-Cornwall actively engages in lessons and asks mature and relevant questions in order to progress further in French.Year 10: Natasha Coldwell is a keen linguist and works extremely hard to produce high quality accounts in French.Year 11: Melisa Oprica is a creative linguist. Her writing also captures the attention of the reader!

Highlighted Students: French