News from Highgate Wood School arts college

CONSIDERATION COOPERATION COURTESY CONTRIBUTION Issue No 15 December 2013

December 2013

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Don’t forget to use spendandraise when shopping on-line. It is the easiest and completely cost free way to raise money for the school! If you do any shopping online please visit

the sites you want through: www.spendandraise.com/hwspsa

The Chair of Governors, Charles

Wright, writes: As a long term ends

and we approach the welcome

Christmas and New Year break, it's

worth looking back at what has been

another successful year for Highgate

Wood School.

Our Sixth Form continues to do well, and I’m

delighted that more and more current students are

staying on rather than moving elsewhere.

And we continue to be oversubscribed, fulfilling our

role as the community comprehensive school of

choice for our area.

The governing body has also been looking closely at

two other aspects of the past year. Firstly, the

move to a house system, which is bedding down

well. We will continue to monitor the system to

make sure that it is delivering the increased focus

on all students, academically and pastorally, which

is its intention.

Secondly, our GCSE results, where we have started

to look at detailed data. As well as maintaining

performance overall, the good news is that we

continue to “add value”, doing well by all our

students, and that our results in maths and science

are particularly strong – in the top 8 and 15 per

cent respectively of comparable schools across the

country.

Credit is due to all our students, staff and parents,

as well as to my fellow governors, so well done all!

Governors will be looking closely at performance to

make sure that we maintain and improve our

performance over the coming year.

Finally, can I welcome our new parent governors,

Julia Chalfen and Paul Bennett

Wishing everyone a restful and enjoyable holiday,

and a peaceful and successful New Year.

Charles Wright

HWS Chair of Governors

Cover picture: The cover features images from the Winter Concert. A total of 145 students took part in the production which ran over three days in the last week of term. Photographs from our Official Photographer will be available on the website very soon.

Chair of Governors:

Charles Wright (Community Governor)

Vice Chair:

Imogen Pennell (Representative Governor)

Representative Governors:

Cllr Eddie Griffith • Oliver Blackaby • Brenda Allan

Parent Governors:

Diana Brown • Philip Cavendish • Elizabeth Hess • Chris

Tully • Rob White • Julia Chalfen • Paul Bennett

Community Governors:

Phil Cocksedge • Caroline Conlon • Violet Hazelwood-

Henry • Chris Parr •

Headteacher Governor:

Patrick Cozier

Staff Governors:

Audra Daws-Knowles • Emily Ford • Joe Demetriou

If you wish to contact the Governing Body please write to the

Chair of Governors, c/o Mrs K Ozturk, Highgate Wood School,

Montenotte Road, London N8 8RN (koz@hws.haringey.sch.uk)

HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY

GOVERNING BODY UPDATE

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN GOVERNANCE AT THE

PROPOSED NEW PRIMARY FREE SCHOOL IN HARINGEY?

MTO Primary Free School is planning to open in Crouch

End and has asked us to publicise the fact they have

Governor positions available.

If you are interested please visit their website

www.mtoprimary.org or email info@mtoprimary.org

December 2013

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Welcome to the last Insight

of 2013!

Much has happened since I

last wrote to you in October

as you will see when you

read through this edition.

What you will see is that the

achievements of our

students, supported by my

excellent staff continue to create magical moments

and positive experiences that really sum up what

Highgate Wood School is all about.

We also had very recent confirmation from the

Department for Education (DfE), in the form of their

latest data release, that we are continuing to do well

as a school. The data shows that our students are

making better progress in their learning than ever,

and the exciting news is that we know that we can

still improve a whole lot more! There is more on this

later in my message.

However, our evaluation of how we are doing does

not begin and end with the likes of the DfE and

Ofsted. Your views are also critically important to us,

and having recently conducted our 3rd annual survey

of parents/carers’ views, we have very good reason

to be pleased with your responses. They show that

overwhelmingly you are very happy with how the

school is doing and about the way that your child is

being supported to engage fully, learn well and get a

valuable and positive experience. We are very proud

of this.

We also take great heart from your honesty with us

about the things that we can and should improve. We

will never be complacent and, as always, we will take

on board your comments when reviewing how well

we are doing in giving the very best to our students

and your children.

Thank you as always for your very valued and

valuable feedback.

Post 16 Open Evening – the natural route from Year

11 into the 6th Form

We held our Post 16 Open Evening on Thursday 19th

December for all current year 11 students (and some

year 10s) and their parents to come and view the

school and find out more about what we do in the

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER sixth form. Like the previous two years, I was thrilled

with the number of people who attended the event –

particularly the mix between students who currently

attend HWS and students from across Haringey (and

beyond). This is a testament to our growing

reputation locally. I am proud that more and more we

are being considered by our community as the local

school of choice for A levels too.

This autumn, the number of students who chose to

stay at (or join) HWS was the highest ever. There was

a significant increase in the number of Year 11s who

stayed on and a record number of places offered to

and taken up by external students who were keen to

join us. The trend is illustrated by the table below.

Consequently, we had the unfortunate situation at

the start of September of having to let down a

number of disappointed students and parents for

whom we did not have sufficient places on courses,

or where students did not achieve the grades

required for their chosen courses.

We are keen to continue this trend of as many of our

Year 11 students remaining here as possible as we

believe that it represents a very good and positive

decision for them to do so based upon...

Our belief in the 7 year commitment that the

school has to all of its students that tracks their

education, growth and progress from Year 7 to

Year 13 – we see Post 16 as a natural continuation

of the learning that takes place in Key Stage 4

The benefits or remaining at a school that students

know, but more importantly a school that knows

them; where their teachers know their strengths

and how to build upon them; where their teachers

are aware of their areas for development and will

not allow these to be overlooked or left

unchallenged – our standards and expectations of

our 6th form students are high

December 2013

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Remaining at a school where they have made good

progress, knowing that progress in the 6th form is

further accelerated according to all national

benchmarks and measures

The knowledge that teaching in the 6th from is of a

high quality

The wide (and growing) range of opportunities

available to our students at Post 16 to experience

leadership roles and responsibilities and to ‘give

something back’ to the school community that has

helped develop them

A belief that our Year 11s are very much a part of

HWS and HWS a part of them... a partnership and

relationship that is beneficial to all during A’ level

study at Post 16

Knowing that at HWS, our students benefit from

teachers who really do care about them and will go

the extra mile to support them throughout their

studies

One of the most important things to emerge out of

the evening is the clarity that our Year 11s now have

about the expectations of them in terms of securing a

place in the 6th Form. For every student that wishes

to secure their place they must...

1. Work really hard between now and the summer

exams to secure the very challenging grades

necessary to gain access to our Post 16 courses –

for many students there is now a realisation of just

what it will take to secure their place

2. Understand that not everyone will automatically be

offered a place. The days of Highgate Wood sixth

form being a ‘reserve option’ are long gone – a

number of students missed out on places on

courses that they wanted to enrol on through using

us as a back-up offer

3. Be committed to doing their absolute best in the

sixth form which includes taking full responsibility

for their learning, making learning their first

priority and ensuring excellent attendance and

punctuality to all lessons/study sessions

4. Ensure that they continue to make a positive

contribution to HWS as a positive reference from

their tutor or their head of house is also a pre-

requisite for entry

We will have, early in the New Year, a whole series of

activities for Year 11 students which are designed to

give them all a taste of what to expect in the sixth

form and to aid the choices that they will have to

make. I look forward to yet again being involved in

the interview process and look forward to seeing our

very successful Year 11s here in August 2014 at

enrolment.

HWS students make better progress than ever!

The new statistics released by the DfE recently

suggest that Highgate Wood is now among the top

schools in the country according to the progress that

students make. The unvalidated RAISEonline1 data

that we have received is based upon last year’s Year

11 (summer 2013).

What is also pleasing from our perspective is although

the 5+ A*-C (with English and Maths) figure fell

slightly from 72% (2012) to 68% (2013); the actual

progress made by the Year 11s in 2013 was better –

i.e. they started from a lower starting base than the

2012 cohort, but made up ground; they have made

better than expected progress and in terms of

comparisons with national norms, significantly so. The

table below shares some of the highlights.

1 RAISE stands for Reporting and Analysis for Improvement

through school Self-Evaluation

Category

Value Added Figure

Commentary

Progress in

Best 8 GCSEs

studied 1013.9

HWS students progress is in the top 26% of schools nationally.

Progress in

maths 1003.0

Student progress in maths is in the top 8% of schools nationally

Progress in

Science 1002.6

Student progress in science is in the top 15% of schools nationally

Progress of

students on

FSM 1002.6

Free School Meals students progress significantly better than other schools

Note: A RAISE value of 1000 indicates expected progress.

Anything over 1000 is better than expected. Anything less than

1000 is less than expected

December 2013

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In addition, the proportion of students making

expected (or better than expected) progress in

English and Maths at Highgate Wood are shown in

the table below in comparison to the national

averages.

The above tables are just some of the highlights, and

the detailed analysis points to many other very

positive areas of the performance of Highgate Wood

Students. I would like to take this opportunity to

congratulate my students from last year’s Year 11 on

their achievements and to publically thank my very

skilled and dedicated team of teachers for their

excellent contribution to these impressive results.

Moving back to a September timetable roll for 2014

For the last few years at Highgate Wood we have

rolled our timetable in June, meaning that each year

group has progressed to their new year prior to the

summer break. We will not be doing this anymore

with immediate effect. This means that all students

will continue with their current timetables and

teachers until the end of the summer term and will

begin their new classes in September.

We believe that rolling the timetable early was a

good strategy and certainly has helped our students

(particularly in Key Stage 4) achieve better grades

through having more time allocated to their GCSE

courses. However, in response to a number of

national changes and having considered some of the

difficulties presented by the early timetable roll, we

have decided that it is time to move to a September

start.

However, this move is not a move backwards to

what we had before. Along with a change in the

timetable roll, we are also making some changes to

the curriculum time being given to our option

subjects at GCSE. We will increase the time

allocated to GCSE option subjects (such as

geography, history, business studies, art, music,

drama, media studies, economics, etc.). Over the

two years of GCSE study, this will more than

compensate for the time that would have been lost

by moving the start of GCSE back by half a term.

Core subjects like maths, English and science will be

unaffected by this change as they will be able to

begin GCSE teaching as and when they think it is

most appropriate. This is still to be determined.

This decision to change particularly affects those

students who are in Year 9 in terms of the impact on

the process of choosing their options and starting

their GCSEs. We will be writing specially to those

parents to explain the implications.

Highgate Wood remains oversubscribed for

September 2014

The local authority have recently released figures

showing the number of preferences expressed by

parents of children in Year 6 for secondary schools

for the coming September. I am very pleased to

report that for the second year running we have

been able to attract over 1000 parental preferences.

Only Fortismere and Alexandra Park schools have

matched this overall level of popularity in Haringey.

This means that yet again, we will be oversubscribed

in Year 7. I am humbled and enthused by the

support that we continue to receive locally from our

parents/carers and our community. It is pleasing to

know that this (along with other indicators referred

to earlier in this message) demonstrates that we are

achieving our aim of being the school of local

choice.

Expected Progress

% at HWS making expected progress

% nationally making expected

progress

+/- national average

English 74% 69% +5

Maths 86% 70% +16

Better than Expected Progress

% at HWS making better than

expected progress

% nationally making better than expected

+/- national average

English 43% 30% +13

Maths 59% 32% +27

% Making better than expected progress

% Making expected progress

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 PAN

995 967 879 1009 1001 243

Total Preferences

December 2013

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House system working well so far…

The new house system is working really well so far. As

you know, the houses have been named (da Vinci,

Seacole and Edison), the Vivo rewards system is in full

swing, and the school council have been selected and

is active.

The next phase of developing our House identities has

been the adoption of House charities. Each House has

been asked to nominate a local charity that is focused

on helping people who are less fortunate than

themselves. Later on in this issue of Insight we reveal

which charities have been chosen by our students.

In addition, the new House groups are engaged in a

range of inter-house tournaments and competitions in

PE. Thank you for supporting the school by purchasing

the new PE kits. They are smart and the students look

great in them – and I think it adds to that sense of

pride and identity with their new Houses. I hope that

the concessions that we put in place for the new kits

(especially for those families who needed it and for the

year 10 GCSE students) helped to cushion the financial

burden on families.

The three Heads of House feel that Pastoral matters

are more manageable than before due to having

proportionately more members of staff assigned to

supporting students. They are pleased with how the

development of the House identities is going. They

talk very positively of the work of the Deputy Heads of

House and the team of Pastoral Care Mentors and just

what a positive difference they are making. I would

like to thank them all for their hard work in making a

very new system work so well during this term.

Our students’ commitment to making a contribution

On the theme of charities touched on above, it is also

worth noting that our students have donated over

6000 of their hard-earned Vivos to the very worthy

cause of the people in the Philippines. I also need to

make a special mention of Ms Diego-Garcia and her

tutor group 8I for raising an impressive £141 for the

same cause through a cake sale! As we already knew,

our students have a strong moral conscience, and it is

very pleasing to see it in operation.

Staffing

Unfortunately we will be losing two members of staff

at the end of this term.

Our Learning Resource Centre (LRC) Manager (and

English Teacher) Richard Lamb has departed. Richard

has only been with us for a year, but in that time he

has made a very positive contribution in the LRC. His

impact, in terms of the events that he has organised

(e.g. Debate Mate) and a range of speakers that he

has invited into the school, has been significant.

Katarina Roberts one of our two Pastoral Care

Mentors for da Vinci House has also left the school.

She has been such a positive presence in the school

and has been able to demonstrate great skill,

personable qualities, empathy and patience in

supporting some of our most vulnerable students. We

will miss her tremendously.

We wish them both the very best for the future!

Other Staffing Issues for your attention

Unfortunately we currently have a couple of members

of staff who are absent on long term sickness.

• Hope Hastings (Head of Business)

• John Howley (Maths Teacher)

We are hopeful that both members of staff will be

back to work shortly.

... And Finally

At the end of another successful and busy year, I

thank you all for your continued support. I am tired,

as we all are, but also fulfilled with the sense of

reward that comes with leading such a wonderful

school.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, have a

good Christmas! For those of you who don’t, please

enjoy the break. I wish you all good health for the

holiday period and the very best for the New Year

ahead.

Regards

Patrick Cozier

Headteacher

December 2013

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Year 7 H: Kieron Matthews Anna Jevons I: Alasdair Ellis Mya Josiah G: Jamie Mutaba Rebecca Manoharan Year 8 H: Zoe Pavey Gabriel Bazzarelli dos Santos I: Darius Ju Pierre Holly Hart G: Luke Gosling Ashley Forde Year 9 H: Andreas Bevilacqua Hannah Ramsden I: Margarita Cimatti Joshua Rodney G: Jahibul Hussein Maddie Stott Year 10 H: Amin Adan Louise Johnson I: Berivan Korkmaz George Tonkinson G: Oakley Koumbas Elisabeth Jahn-Morrissey Year 11 H: Cansu Gunal Carsel Ryan-Small I : Sacha Morris Harvey Clements G: Freya Everest Toby Buchan

Year 7 A: Bruno Jakupi Lydia Sheppard. T: Alexander Harris Rugul Ozdemir E: Billy Tibballs Ellie Starky Year 8 A: Hope Peacock Jason Jordan-Rose T: Isobel Crompton Finn Lilburn E: Cassius Shanahan Jasmine Bell

Year 7 W: Emer Stevens Jasvinder Kumar D: Stephan Avramov Trulie Mynott. S: Charlotte Whelan Toby Wyckoff-Smith Year 8 W: Elle-Mae Netherton Joe Williams D: Thorn Myers Briar Brunner S: Sian Leigh-Moore Max Cowie Year 9 W: Gabe Watson Phoebe Bennett D: Joachin Harris Kesanna Bryan S: Burcin Garip Herbie Lee-Bramble Year 10 W: Fred Linhart Isabella Considine D: Florence Penfold Barney Terrington S: Aaron Pettitt Hamdi Dalmar Year 11 W: Sushilla Ghose-Coveney Innes Peacock D: Adyna Moseley Oscar Clements S: Jordan Briscoe Cassandra Penfold

SIXTH FORM OPEN EVENING Year 9 A: Talvinder Baines Ayca Kose T: Frankie Foster Amber Mckenzie E: Annie Stanford Sina Nafissi Year 10 A: Pablo Oliver Amy Haynes T: Imogen sheppard Tariq Jogee E: Eden Diffley Reece Osborne Year 11 A: Abdullahi Hashi Tess Eva Johnstone T: Alex Whitlock Felix Brown E: Tomer Raphael Kazinethi Lungah

Da Vinci House Council

Edison House Council

Seacole House Council

Mr Charlesworth writes:

We had a steady stream of

visitors to the 6th Form Open

Evening on Thursday 12th

December, with a noticeable

increase in the numbers of

from outside our school as

well as our own Year 11 and

Year 10 students.

So many of our post 16

students helped with the

occasion, but I would like to

say a special thank you to

Barney Mort and Gabriel

Neophytou who showed such

talent as public speakers.

The deadline for first

application is 24th January so

please ensure you have your

application forms completed

in good time.

8I RAISES £141.20 FOR THE PHILIPPINES APPEAL

Ms Diego-Garcia

Congratulations to the amazing 8I who raised an

astonishing £141.20 for the Philippines Disaster

Fund. They are truly an inspiration to us all!

December 2013

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My child enjoys school.

The school keeps my child safe.

The school informs me about my

child’s progress.

My child is making enough

progress at school.

The teaching is good at the school.

My child is set an appropriate level

of homework.

The school helps me support my

child’s learning

The school helps my child to have a

healthy lifestyle.

The school meets my child’s

particular needs.

The school deals effectively with

unacceptable behaviour.

The school takes account of my

suggestions and concerns.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who completed our

Parental View questionnaire on Learning Review Day in November.

It is important to us to hear your views, both positive and negative,

so we can be know we are continuing to move in the right direction.

Globally the results are very encouraging, with 89% of parents and

carers either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the positive statements

in the survey. However we are also mindful that there are 6% who have

some concerns about aspects of school life. Over the coming weeks we will

be looking more carefully at the survey results and seeing where it may be possible to

address those concerns.

The school makes sure my child is

well prepared for the future.

December 2013

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In the recent Outstanding For All

Awards Highgate Wood School was

nominated as Haringey’s “Most

Inclusive School”, naming Julia Said,

Maria Diego-Garcia, Karen Harding and

Neil Robinson in particular as

Outstanding Practitioners. At the same

event Assistant Headteacher Claire

Allaway received a nomination for the

Lifetime Achievement Award. In her nomination Ms Allaway was

referred to as being “the living embodiment of an effective, dedicated

and caring teacher.”

In the end we missed out to other nominees in both categories. But

congratulations are certainly still in order.

HWS NOMINATED FOR LOCAL AWARDS

The school is led and managed

effectively.

Overall I am happy with my child’s

experience at this school.

To the best of my knowledge...

My child has never been

bullied

Has been bullied, told

someone at the school and

it was dealt with

effectively.

Has often been bullied but

never told anyone at

school.

Has been bullied, told

someone at the school and

it was not dealt with

effectively

No opinion

71%

13%

2%

2%

0%

Mr Talbert writes:

In November, Highgate Wood School had the pleasure of taking ten

Year 7 Beta Tester students to the launch of the BAFTA Young Game

Designers competition. Prior to the event students had to devise an

idea for a video game which they would further develop at the event.

The students came up with brilliant ideas and were excited not only

about going to BAFTA but also meeting HRH Prince William.

The students learnt about the process of how a video game is made

and had a fantastic and inspiring time. Maya Pennicott talked to the

Prince about her drawing of a chicken which was a funny encounter

as Prince William confessed she could draw a better chicken than he

could. Sheni Barry described it as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”

and said of the industry experts at the workshop: “They have given us

a lot of help to develop our games further”.

HWS STUDENTS MEET PRINCE WILLIAM

This survey is now

available to complete on-

line, either via the school website

(on the Parents’ Tab) or directly

through http://tinyurl.com/

hwsparentview

The results of the survey will be

monitored half-termly.

December 2013

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Nino Geliashvili writes:

Despite the fact that I

went a little early to the

disco, the moment I

walked in I knew that I

would have a brilliant

time there.

Because it was only

6pm, I knew the disco

would have started in

30minutes so I offered to help. As soon as the

lighting and the music went on, me and Mr Adams

started to decorate the room with beautiful sparkly

baubles and different coloured glowing sticks, and

wrapping paper around the room. Helping out

decorating meant the time went extremely quickly,

but once the Year 7s started to come in they had

big grins on their faces I knew it was all worth it.

Later on everyone started to dance and enjoy

themselves. There were fizzy drinks, sweets, crisps,

pizza and pretzels. There was only one word to

describe the disco and that word was amazing.

AN AMAZING CHRISTMAS PARTY

Ms O’Borne writes:

On Thursday, 12th

December five year 10

Media Studies students

took part in a practice day

for BBC School Report.

Alongside other students

across the country, the students had one day to

research, film and edit a news bulletin. Despite

having little previous experience of making video,

our reporters did a fantastic job putting together

three stories. They captured staff and student

reaction to the recent death of Nelson Mandela,

caught up with preparations for the Winter Concert

and investigated a local charity event at the

Haberdashery cafe. They also had great fun in the

process! You can watch their finished report on the

school web-site.

The five

students,

Berivan

Korkmaz, Julian

Bock, Robyn

Cowie, Hamdi

Dalmar and

Elisabeth Jahn-

Morrisey worked brilliantly as a team, managing

the day with very little help from me! We learnt a

lot about deadlines and dealing with technical

hitches and are now looking forward to the real

BBC Newsday on March 27th, when we hope to

bring you bigger and better stories.

A big thank you to all staff, students and local

residents who took part and congratulations to the

team for making great news!

BBC SCHOOL REPORT

OPERATION SHOE BOX

Ms Kemp writes:

The shoe box appeal for Operation Christmas Child

has been a great success providing gifts for

disadvantaged children around the world. We will

find out in the New Year where the boxes went.

Thanks to everyone in Seacole house and others

who joined us to collect around 25 boxes. Beth of

10T donated 2 boxes, one for a boy and one for a

girl.

December 2013

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Mr Russell writes:

Our partner schools

from Belgium and

Germany. Regina

Caelilyceum and Marie Curie Worbis joined us for

three days in November to complete the My World,

Your World, Our Environment project which

focused on the similarities and differences of

working and learning in Europe in the 21st century.

The aim of the project was to develop lifelong

learning skills and competences in different fields

such as environmental sustainability, mathematics

and science, ICT and foreign languages.

Initially, students and staff discussed ideas ranging

from the significance of our own identity, daily

routines and cultural norms. We then advanced to

creating heritage maps which celebrated the

variety of cultural backgrounds of those on the

project. Our guests were also lucky enough to

experience some Highgate Wood School teaching

by sampling lessons such as: Spanish, Art, Maths,

Science and ICT – many thanks to those staff

involved!

Another valuable experience occurred when the

Form Representatives in Year Nine were asked to

accompany our guests on a tour of the City of

London. The trip included visiting many famous

landmarks and was an exciting chance for our

students to inform our guests about their capital

city. Highlights included the London Eye and a

fabulous boat cruise along the River Thames. The

day ended with the majority of Form

Representatives inviting a guest home for an

evening meal – many thanks to those parents

involved!

The Project ended on Saturday with a historical visit

to The Tower of London. After seeing the Crown

COMENIUS PROJECT jewels, chatting to Beefeaters and avoiding the

mischievous ravens, we headed to Covent Garden

for lunch before boarding an open-top bus to tour

of the City.

The project encouraged participants to consider

the lives of those whom they had previous thought

of as different. Burcin Garip’s comment on the top

deck of the open-top bus best summarises what

this year’s project taught us – ‘At the end of three

days we have more in common with them than we

first thought.’

Many thanks to all the staff, parents and form

representatives involved in hosting what was a very

successful project.

Ms Christodoulou writes: Planning and preparation

has begun for the next phase of the Comenius partnership work. Almost 40 Year 9 students

have applied for the opportunity to participate in a

school linking visit to Worbis, Germany in February 2014. Competition was fierce and Mr Russell and I were

extremely impressed by the high quality of the

applications. Eight lucky students have been selected to go on the

trip. They are fully aware of the hard work they will need to do before they go, during the visit and on their return. The focus of the visit will be on ‘safer use of social networks’.

YEAR 9 WORBIS VISIT

December 2013

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Ms Pinnick writes:

On 13th December, Ms Daws-Knowles and Ms

Pinnick accompanied thirty-five Media Studies

students to the Post 16 Media Magazine

Conference at London University’s Institute of

Education.

The keynote speech from Professor David

Buckingham analysed the relationship between the

media, marketing and young people. This was

followed by a masterclass from film-maker Robert

McKillop, focusing on direction and editing. He

showed extracts from his graduation film Strays and

talked us through several extracts from A Young

Doctor’s Notebook, featuring Jon Hamm and Daniel

Radcliffe.

Dr Laura Harvey, a

researcher at Brunel

University, then

presented aspects of her

research on celebrity

culture before the

highlight of the afternoon: a presentation by David

Brindley on the issues and challenges of his role as

Producer and Director of Channel 4’s Educating

Yorkshire. We learned some interesting facts such

as:

the production team spent 9 months in the

school before filming started to get to know the

teachers and students

there were 64 cameras rigged up in the school,

though the production team could only use

three of these at a time to record footage

they shot 22, 000 hours of film in the school.

Our students came away with a much better

understanding of current issues in the media plus a

fascinating insight into the construction of media

texts.

MEDIA MAGAZINE STUDENT CONFERENCE

Ms Roberts writes:

In October a group of Year 11 and 12 students

visited the Royal Veterinary College in Camden to

find out about some of their courses. They were

given a tour of the University's facilities, including

the dissection room, anatomy museum and the

stables where the University's horses are kept!

Our students found out what life is like for a

biological research scientist and did their own

research into each other's blood pressure under

different conditions. Current undergraduates were

on hand to offer advice on how to successfully gain

a place at the University and what student life is

really like.

They had a closer look at some of the specimens in

the anatomy museum and at x-rays from a range

of domestic and exotic animals.

Giorgia Chianello-

Bent says "I really

want to be a vet

so it was a great

opportunity to go

around the

campus and find

out what needs to

be done to get a place on the course. The students

we met emphasised the importance of gaining lots

of different work experience, one of them said

she'd worked in an abattoir which is something I

wouldn't have thought about before. I don't like

the sight of blood which I know I need to get over

to be a vet but having seen the dogs which had

been dissected it wasn't as bad as I was expecting

it to be!”

ROYAL VETINARY COLLEGE VISIT

December 2013

13

Mr Talbert writes:

Year 7 Beta Testers is a new lunchtime club for

students interested or new to the world of

Computing. The aim of the club is to give Year 7

students the ability to both learn and develop their

skills in computing and get an advance preview of

what they will be learning in Key Stage 3. The beta

testers have tested out programming software like

Kodu and Stencyl. They also tested Minecraft

before its introduction to other students. Rebecca

Manoharan one of the club's founding members

said "I really enjoy the club, it gives me a chance to

get a head start exploring programs that I never

used before, and become an expert and be able to

help others in my class."

YEAR 7 BETA TESTERS

Mr Talbert writes:

Yes the hit game has now launched as lunchtime

and after school clubs. Minecraft is the hit survival

world building exploration game that has taken the

world by storm. After extensive testing by the Year

7 Beta testers the launch was a success with the

club being oversubscribed .

Due to its success some students are now exploring

ways in which it can be incorporated in other

subjects like Geography and Maths. Lead student

and Year 7 Beta Tester Max says "I'm really pleased

that we have Minecraft in school I suggested

getting it in to Mr Talbert and I'm glad I did as it is

one of the highlights of the week."

MINECRAFT COMES TO HWS

Mr Talbert writes:

In November, sixteen Year 9 students travelled to

Reading for the annual DigiGirlz event at Microsoft’s

UK headquarters. The event was aimed at giving

girls an insight into working at a large enterprise

organisation like Microsoft, whilst challenging

female stereotypes of the high-tech industry.

Students had an inside look at what it’s like to work

at Microsoft and the opportunity to interact with

Microsoft employees and gained exposure to

careers in business and technology.

DIGIGIRLZ 2013 AT MICROSOFT

The girls took part in fun

and interactive activities

with Angelica Udenweze winning a prize for getting

a health and safety question correct. The students

really enjoyed themselves working in teams to

come up with an idea for a new mobile phone app.

Bryony Hillman and Leila Kikuchi-House both said

that they found the experience enjoyable and fun

but also educational as they got a detailed insight to

how a technology business works. Highlight of the

day was Neve Maher tearing up the dance floor in a

dance off with students from other schools playing

Just Dance on the Xbox One. Neve won and now

goes by the title “Dancing Queen”.

Although the girls mobile app idea did not win on

the day the girls are considering entering their idea

into the Apps for Good competition so let’s hope

they succeed there.

December 2013

14

YEAR 11 ART & DESIGN REVOLUTION

Ms Zwicky writes:

Recently the Year11 Art & Design cohort

completed a 10 hour exam, where they created

their vision and final idea in response to the theme

Revolution. As usual the responses and outcomes

varied widely in discipline. The responses included

women's rights activists’ work, as well an

ambitious installation based on the conflict in

Palestine. There was also work around the

revolution of the gaming industry, animal rights,

and intricate Portrait studies. The Art department

is very proud of the entire cohort, as to how well

they were able to focus throughout. The ability to

work in an autonomous way will be of huge benefit

in the upcoming time when students will be

working on the exam unit, where the ideas are

developed independently from the beginning.

The work will be on display in the GCSE exhibition

in May, date is to be confirmed.

Maya Schamroth Rossade

Alexander Ahern

Juan Pablo Ferro Paredes

Maddie Spragg Day

December 2013

15

Berfin Celik

Tilly Aldhous

Tilly Aldhous

SAFETY ON THE ROADS

Mr Hewitt writes:

In the last few weeks we have

had a number of incidents on

Montenotte Road that could

have been very serious. In one a

student was actually knocked

over by a car.

Can I urge parents and carers to

show consideration when they

are driving down Montenotte

Road.

Outside the school gates is not a

safe place for either stopping or

attempting a three-point turn.

The police have been informed of

our concerns and will be keeping

an eye on the area. Can students

also be similarly mindful of the

dangers of the road, and pay full

attention to the traffic. There is a

particular danger to students

listening to music through

headphones, as was highlighted

in a Mayor of London campaign.

Please do not

attempt a 3-point

turn outside the

school gates.

December 2013

16

Ms O’Borne write:

Year 7 have been writing poetry during the course

of this term. The quality has been extraordinarily

high. Here are a few of the poems that are

particularly impressive. Congratulations to all our

Red By Eamer Stevens

Red is the colour pulsing through my veins Red is the phone ringing, it drives me insane. Red is the anger when people do not hear my voice, Red is the danger that lingers in choice. Red is the adrenaline when I drive off a cliff, Red is the annoyance when I fall or trip. Red is the confusion, no where else to go, Red is the colour of my hair Iikes to show. Red is the loudness of a shout or a scream, Red is the dance in the fire and the sea. Red is the colour I see is true, Red is the colour I feel for you. Red is the daytime, red is the night Red is the strength I need in a fight. Red is the beauty of a star that has shone, Red is the confidence I always have on.

Flower By Mia Cambell Fiawoo

Like tissue paper Delicate summer petals Blooming this season

The Fox By Alper Ibili

Walking towards the prey, Silent and careful, But fierce, too, His deep red fur And long whiskers Glowing , He runs across the moonlight.

A Dog By Grace Heron

I wag my tail enthusiastically, I sprint across the field at full pelt. I can feel the morning dew wetting my paws, I can smell the world. I can hear the leaves falling and the birds tweeting I bark at the air, but it doesn’t reply - I am a dog .

Summer By James Berkmann

The rush of the sea, The whirl of the wind, The call of the seagulls, The long cliff walks, The beautiful skyline, The sumptuous barbecues, The lovely ice-creams, The awesome surfing, The warm sand, This remains in my heart with me.

Ms Fikret writes:

Handwriting Workshop are coming in

the New Year. Some Year 7 students will

be invited to attend after school sessions.

More details to follow from your English teachers.

IMPROVE YOUR HANDWRITING

POETRY

December 2013

17

Ms Pinnick writes:

Ms Pinnick and Mr Russell's Year

10 English groups have been

studying Othello this half-term for

their Shakespeare controlled

assessment.

The focus of the essay is on the causes of effects of

jealousy within the play. The students participated

in a two hour workshop run by Shakespeare4kidz.

The facilitators engaged the students (and

teachers!) in sword fights, speaking key lines from

the play and analysis of the language.

OTHELLO FOR REAL

Mr Brown writes: This was the 14th year that Highgate Wood School has taken students to the Clothes Show at the NEC. This year the Clothes Show was celebrating its 25 anniversary with a spectacular Catwalk Show in the Fashion Theatre. Along with Key Stage 3 and 4 students, we also took eleven 6th Formers who have started the A-Level Textiles, one of the new subjects being offered in the sixth form this year. As ever, the students had a fantastic time. Throughout the day there was a non-stop parade of catwalks and fashion shows, with the college show and people’s catwalk, make overs and designer brands all on display.

THE CLOTHES SHOW

Melisa Kaplan writes about the A Level Gothic

Literature Conference

The conference proved useful in exploring ‘Gothic’

literature through a series of lectures explaining

how this genre came about. It also focused on the

novels and plays that we will be examined on:. The

Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, Dr Faustus by

Christopher Marlowe and Wuthering Heights by

Emily Brontë. A few other texts such as Macbeth

and Frankenstein were also referenced in the

lectures. One lecturer also made many references

to how the recent film, The Hunger Games, has

developed the female Gothic protagonist.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and interesting day to

learn about why and how the Gothic genre has

been so influential.

GOTHIC WRITING CONFERENCE DESIGN A CHRISTMAS CARD FOR 2013

Ms El-Damanawi writes:

The Prince’s Teaching Institute

is looking for designs for their

Christmas cards for next year!

If you are interested please contact me. It can be a

drawing, painting or a photograph. The only

requirements are that the artwork needs to be

winter or Christmas related. The deadline is the

end of January.

Mr Ashman writes:

I am delighted that 27% of our students

are now active home users of SamLearning. This

means they are using it of their own accord, with-

out being asked to do so for homework or revision.

We have been rather slow in linking SamLearning

hours with Vivorewards. But that will definitely

happen over the holidays. Our SAMLearners will be

rewarded!

SAMLEARNING AND VIVOS

1. 1.

December 2013

18

Mr Talbert writes:

Four Year 10 students had the pleasure of attending

the launch of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week which

was held at Facebook in central London.

At the event students did some programming and

met the Business Secretary Vince Cable and Jo

Swinson MP.

Muna Sharif was the star at the event being

interviewed by Radio One Newsbeat. The students

also appeared on ITV News.

BAFTA AND BBC COMPUTER SCIENCE FILMS

Mr Talbert writes:

In December, five Year 10 students had the

opportunity to appear in a BBC Learning Film. The

film’s aim is to inspire the next generation of coders,

and prominent British programmers who use coding

technology to create innovative products from

fashion, music, games, live art and apps. The film will

be broadcast on BBC 2 and iPlayer and will be a

useful tool for teachers across the UK to illustrate

the importance of computer science at GCSE level.

Filming took place at BAFTA headquarters in central

London. At the filming the students met one BAFTA’s

breakthrough Brits, Mitu Khandaker and had the

pleasure of playing her new video game Red Shirt an

intergalactic take on social media. It was a fun

packed evening which the students enjoyed.

TOMORROW’S ENGINEERS

Robert Merriman and Kwame Sisulu write

A few weeks ago students from the Psychology AS

course went to Cambridge University to attend

lectures on Psychology. It was an valuable

experience as it allowed us to consolidate some of

what we already knew and see what we may be

doing in the future.

The lectures were longer than your average lesson

and there was no note-taking, but the lecturers

managed to keep us interested in the topics by the

speakers showing some of the research they have

conducted and adding their own expert thoughts

and opinions. Throughout the lecture at the

debating hall at Cambridge Student Union we were

free to ask questions or ask the speakers to

elaborate. They covered therapies for anxiety and

depression in adolescents, Memory, Attachment

theory and research methods all of which were

engaging topic areas.

Someone who had never studied Psychology

would have had a lot to learn and pick up but

people who were more experienced would have

been able to invoke conversation with the speaker

and get a lot out of it too. It was easy to see that

Highgate Wood was of course, the most involved

and engaged group there. We were confident,

asked most of the questions and brought up many

points which the speakers said were interesting

and thoughtful

We would definitely recommend this trip if you

ever get the chance to go. We learnt a good deal

about Psychology, enjoyed visiting Cambridge and,

most importantly, had a lot of fun on a day away

from school.

PSYCHOLOGY AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

December 2013

19

Logo designed by:

William Jenner 7G

Caleb Wycoff-Smith 8I

Logo designed by:

Cassius Shanahan 8E

Logo designed by:

James Lenton 8S

Students of the term:

Tia Dyet

Imaru Lewis

Phoebie Berman

Sarah Manzeke

Nicholas Orford Williams

Students of the term:

Natalie Manoharan

Charlie Clarke

Jenny Freeman

Nina Wang

Usman Khan

Students of the term:

Amalie Heath-Born

Rory Moody

Tolga Kale

Sinead Duffus

Abdul Zoobi

House Motto:

The best way to predict the future is to invent it

House Motto:

From caring comes courage

House Motto:

Success comes from perseverance

House Charity:

Rays of Sunshine

House Charity:

Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice

House Charity:

Action for Kids

Year 11 Senior Leaders* Carsel Ryan-Small

Freya Everest

Year 11 Senior Leaders* Oscar Clements

Cassandra Penfold

Year 11 Senior Leaders* Tomer Raphael

Kazinethi Lungah

* Year 11 Senior Leaders are members of the School Council who have been recognised for their dedication to academic studies,

contribution to whole school environment and being a positive role model. These students will work with all student council members

and closely with all Year 11 representatives to create a focus group to improve daily life at Highgate Wood School.

VIVO DONORS

Congratulations to all those students

who donated Vivos to the Philippine

Disaster Appeal.. So far more than

6000 Vivos have been donated by

students at our school.

In the New Year you will also be able to donate Vivos

to your House charity

1. Khem Iglesis Barrull

2. Sadie May

3. Carolina Cimatti

4. Nathaniel Stark

5. Nikhil Dumree

6. Ceake Maddix

7. Rachel Gamble

8. Angelica Udenweze

9. Birhak Dogan

10. Elif Celik

Our top 10 donors:

34,103 this year

33,016 this year

33,605 this year

December 2013

20

MODEL UN: TACKLING GLOBAL POVERTY

BALOON BUGGIES

Ms Went writes:

7E proudly showing off the

Balloon Buggies they designed

and made.

They worked in design teams of

two, tested the buggies for how

far they could travel in a straight

line on one balloon full of air

and the raced against each

other.

An explanation by Natalya De La Motte and Beth Gosschalk: Model UN is a recreation of the 'real' United Nations. This conference

took place at the UN's International Maritime Organisation in London,

and throughout the two days, delegates tried to solve global issues

while maintaining the role of a particular country.

The focus of this particular conference was the 'Elimination of

Poverty'. Our experience of the conference was really good and we

thoroughly enjoyed it. We learnt a lot and met lots of new people who

we will keep in touch with.

Mr Robertson writes: As always, our delegates debated passionately, negotiated maturely and responded creatively to the problem of global poverty. A number of Year 11 students also chaired committees for the first time and impressed everyone with their discipline and fairness. I am really proud of all their efforts, and to be involved in a programme in the school which inspires students to become young leaders

Beth Gosschalk

Imogen Sheppard

Patrick Hegarty-Morrish

Natalya De La Motte

Phoebe Bennett

Liliana Rickets

Amber Paterson

Gabriel Brown

Sina Nafissi

Jace Griffiths

OUR DELEGATES

OUR CHAIRS

Silas Scott

Sam Tims

Fionnuala Stevens

Rosa Tully

Harry Vinall-Smeeth

OUR AWARD WINNERS

Imogen Sheppard (Distinguished Delegate)

Gabriel Brown (Distinguished Delegate)

Sina Nafissi (Best Delegate)

Jace Griffiths (Honourable Mention)

Patrick Hegarty-Morrish (Distinguished delegate)

December 2013

21

WHICH WAY ARE YOU WIRED?

Eliot Austin writes:

Have you ever wondered why girls tend to out

preform boys nationally in writing? Or why boys

are generally more thrilled when a P.E lesson is

next on their timetable? Well researchers at the

University of Pennsylvania have finally conducted a

study to analyse why this is.

An in-depth brain analysis of 1000 men and

women aged between 8 and 22 used diffusion

tensor imaging (DTI), which follows the movement

of water molecules in the brain.

The machine produced an image which shows that

in males there is a greater connectivity between

the left and right hemispheres of the cerebellum.

Brains with this feature will be more spatially

aware and will have improved hand eye

coordination. In contrast females seem to have

better connectivity within each hemisphere which

is heavily linked with being better in cognitive

processes and having better analytical skills.

This may explain the assumption that females have

better cognitive processes such as memory and

males have better physical and practical skills such

as map reading. Another important thing to come

out of this research is scientists may have to

develop slightly different treatments when it

comes to treating neurological diseases.

It is important to remember the human brain is

not ‘hard wired’ and it is made up of many

complex groups of nerves. It therefore is not fixed

and is constantly changing, due to the age range of

the sample it is not yet clear as to whether these

differences in the brain change again in later life.

Interestingly the changes in the brains between

sexes only occur after the age of 13 leaving a gap

for more research as to what happens throughout

early childhood and later life.

By Jack Coomber

Have you ever wondered

how we manage to grow

bananas? You may think

the answer could be as simple

as “seeds”, but you’d be wrong.

Open up a traditional yellow

banana and all you’ll find are

tiny little specks in the centre

where seeds used to be.

This is because you’ve been eating, most likely, the

same banana your whole entire life, as they are all

genetically identical to one another. Cuttings from

bananas have to be used to produce banana

plantations, but all can be traced back to a single

banana of the Cavendish variety. You may think this

is a recent thing too, but no, the Cavendish has

been around since the 1950’s, and before that the

Gros Michel was the banana to be found in every

household, until a single strain of fungus managed

to destroy every single one.

The scary thing is that this could happen to the

Cavendish variety too, scientists are already

isolating new types of bananas in case disaster

strikes again. So you should count yourself lucky, as

in a few years you may never taste the banana you

grew up on again.

GOING BANANAS!

December 2013

22

GIRLS FOOTBALL

Ms Howard writes:

The girls have made a fantastic start to the 2013/14

football season. The squads have been working

very hard in Wednesday lunchtime and Friday

morning training sessions (Years 9. 10 and 11)

Tuesday morning fitness sessions and in the

numerous friendly games played after school on

Wednesday.

There has been a rapid improvement in the

execution of their skills and understanding of

strategies, thereby developing both as individual

players and teams. As a result, both the U13 and

U14 teams are through to the quarter finals of the

Middlesex Cup.

The Year 7 girls team are the Haringey indoor and

outdoor 5-a-side champions. The outdoor 5 a side

team will be representing Haringey in the London

Youth Games. The Under 16 team are due to play

their Middlesex Cup game on 8th January.

We wish them the best of luck.

Joel Archer writes:

On Wednesday 27th November, the Highgate

Wood World Challenge team had a quiz night for

parents, staff, teachers and friends who created

teams of six or more with the winning team getting

a crate of wine!

A couple of weeks in the planning, Max Gerstein

and Gabriel Neophytou were our quizmasters,

whilst Yusuf Sule worked the ticket door and myself

and Callum Jackson sold food and drink.

It was a fantastically successful night enjoyed by all,

we raised just over £550. It was a combined effort

from the team who all pulled together the quiz as a

whole, we had a couple of members to create the

actual quiz questions whilst other members set up

the room and another to work all of the technical

aspects such as the screen, microphones and

lighting.

The quiz, lasting roughly 2 hours, consisted of 12

rounds on a wide variety of subjects covering

general knowledge, sport, history and others. Along

with a bonus Malaysia round!

During the quiz food and drink was sold throughout

as well as a 20 minute interval we sold crisps, pizza,

soft drinks, pretzels and sweets.

QUIZ NIGHT FOR WORLD CHALLENGE

JACK PETCHEY AWARD WINNERS

Ms Allaway writes:

Many congratulations to our Year

11 Jack Petchey Award winners:

Yunus Korkmaz (11H), Lucy

Parfitt (11A), Ellie Delamere (11A)

and Kazinethi Lungha (11E).

Ms Breed writes:

The team have worked solidly this year with

Coaches Imahni and Ms Breed Each member

demonstrated the drive to succeed. We look

forward to the season -playing local schools and

registering HWS firmly on the Haringey Basketball

map. Good luck team for next term !.

YEAR 11 BASKETBALL

December 2013

23

Mr Goldberg writes:

Very exciting times have been had this half term in

the PE department with the most enticing, in depth

and broad extra-curricular timetable offered to

students for a number of years—thanks in part to

funding from the PSA, a six strong team of PE

teachers and eagerness and enthusiasm from the

students to take part.

From rugby to trampolining, running club and cross

country to badminton and table tennis, the list

goes on. In particular basketball has been given its

first lease of life at Highgate Wood for some time

with what was a satisfyingly successful Inter-House

basketball tournament. This was the first of six

Inter-House competitions that will take place over

the year including the much anticipated swimming

gala and sports day events.

Thirty teams of eight, one boys’ and one girls’ team

for each year, were selected to represent their

respective houses Da Vinci, Seacole and Edison.

The other competitions will be football, rugby,

netball, House relays and, of course, the Swimming

Gala and Sports Day.

There are plenty of opportunities for all students to

get involved and really get into their House spirit by

representing their House across a variety of sports.

The Sports Council at Highgate Wood has begun to

formulate ideas and put into place processes to

improve extra-curricular participation across Key

Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. The first part of this was

House Colour Captains being given the

responsibility of organising their Inter-House

basketball teams. In addition, discussions about

what they would like to see introduced in school

sports have taken place and a meeting with the

Executive Committee which consists of the six

House Captains in Year 11 will take place after

Christmas.

The fitness clubs for girls on Tuesday morning and

now boys’ fitness on Thursday after school have

continued to see high numbers leading on from the

first half of term. Similarly netball has seen high

participation on a Monday after school resulting in

very high level performances on the court. Lastly,

on Friday 29th November thirty-one students

attended the Haringey cross competition of which

six members of the team qualified in 8th or better

for their age group to go through to represent

Haringey schools at the Middlesex Schools cross

country in January at Harrow School.

Those who qualified were Tom Carter (7A), Ollie

Selby (7A), Marco Reeve (7S) who finished 2nd, 3rd

and 4th respectively in the junior boys, Trulie

Mynott (7D) who finished 7th in the junior girls,

Kitty Pinder (8E) who finished 8th in the

intermediate girls and Lucy Carter (11T) who

stormed to victory with first place in the senior

girls competition.

Overall our Junior Girls finished 3rd, Junior Boys an

amazing 1st and our Intermediate Boys 2nd in their

respective age groups.

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR SPORTS

Boys Girls Total House

7 12 19 Da Vinci

10 5 15 Seacole

9 12 21 Edison

2nd

3rd

1st

HWS SPORTS COUNCIL

DaVinci

Seacole

Edison

Harry Vinall-Smeeth

Keanu Greeves

Teddy Nash

Lauren Gee

Rebecca Franks

Sushila Ghose-Coveney

YEAR 11 HOUSE CAPTAINS

The school calendar is available on-line at www.hws.uk.com

Keep informed Find out what is going on at Highgate Wood School and keep up with our news

visit us at our website www.hws.uk.com

follow us on twitter twitter.com/highgatewood

Check the school’s opening status

Call 02084087508 and give the school’s DfE code: 3094030

Insight is available on-line at www.hws.uk.com

AUTUMN 2013

Mon 2nd September

28th Oct - 1st Nov

Friday 20th Dec

Term Starts

Half term break

Term Ends

SPRING 2014

Mon 6th Jan

17th Feb– 21st Feb

Friday 4th April

Term Starts

Half term break

Term Ends

SUMMER 2014

Tues 22nd April

27th—30th May

Friday 18th July

Term Starts

Half term break

Term Ends*

Parent Consultation Evenings 2014

Year 7 Wed 14th May

Year 8 Tues 25th March

Year 10 Tues 28th Jan

Year 11 Thurs 16th Jan

Year 11 Mock Results Day Thursday 16th January

Year 11 Parents’ Evening Thursday 16th January

HWS Sixth Form Application Deadline Friday 24th January

School closes at

lunchtime for students

Year 10 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 28th January

Term Starts Monday 6th January

LAST DAY OF HALF TERM Friday 14th February

School starts again on

Monday 6th January 2014

at 10:50am

It will be Week 2

INSET AFTERNOON: Tuesday 4th February

* Term ends for students