Continued on Page 2

Showcasing the talents of our young artists

Congratulations go to Northgate High School art

students Joanne Fu, for winning the prestigious Key Arts Award for Innovation, and Sophie Rennison for ‘runner-up’ in The Anna Airy Award 2018. The exhibition was organised by the Ipswich Art Society and hosted at the UCS Waterfront Gallery overlooking Neptune Quay. The long-established exhibition is renowned for showcasing the talents of young artists aged 16-20 from all around the county. Indeed, all the Northgate entries that were submitted were short-listed from a huge entry of student work from

the Ipswich area and beyond. This year’s adjudicator was

artist Graham Crowley, former professor of painting at the Royal College of Art. Winner of the Innovation Award went to Joanne (main picture), for her sculptural installation ‘Takeaway’, a series of recycled takeaway cartons. Mr Crowley said: 'This is an intelligent and witty piece – a decidedly contemporary take on upcycling and transformation.' Sophie Rennison’s portrait, ‘Beckah’ (right), also came in for praise: 'It’s

2 The Anna Airey Award

dramatic and powerful with an intelligent use of photography. It straddles the boundary of photography and painting.'

Mr Beattie, Head of Art, offered his congratulations to all other Northgate art students who

contributed towards the exhibition and notably Hannah Hall, former Year 13 student whose work was awarded a commendation certificate. All the work looked stunning within the space and was admired by fellow students,

family, teachers and artists of all ages. The open exhibition was well-attended by the Ipswich community and the work was on show to the public for a further two weeks.

From Page 1

Our leadership and pastoral structure

Northgate Review February 2019 Northgate Review February 2019 Headteacher's Page 3

an intelligent and witty piece –

a decidedly contemporary take on upcycling and transformation Artwork: Top, Blythe Hawkins; above,

Eve Bull; right, Alice Birch; and below, Hannah Hall

Miss R MackieHeadteacher

Mr D EmeryAssistant

Headteacher

Mrs S AsherAssistant

Headteacher

Mrs A HopeAssistant

Headteacher

Mr R GraingerAssistant

Headteacher

Mr J AlexanderHead of

Sixth Form

Mr D BanhamDeputy Headteacher

Mr J TunaleyDeputy Headteacher

Mr J Baalham Year 7

ProgressDirector

Mr S Songhurst Year 8

Progress Director

Mr A Pettitt Year 9

Progress Director

Mrs S CookYear 10Progress Director

Mr M Gaffney Year 11Progress Director

Mr J WatsonAssistant Head of

Sixth Form

Miss D FowlerAssistant Head of

Sixth Form

Mrs C PilsworthYear 7

Pastoral Officer

Mrs M NaseriYear 8

Pastoral Officer

Mrs L DorsetYears 9 & 11

Pastoral Officer

Mr A ForbesYear 10 & 11

Pastoral Officer

Mrs J Elmy and Mrs S O’Donnell Student Support

Officers

Following the retirement of Mr Hutton as Headteacher at the

end of the Autumn Term, I feel that it is prudent to reintroduce the leadership and pastoral structure here at Northgate High School.

Mr Banham remains as our Deputy Headteacher with oversight of teaching and learning and Sixth Form recruitment.

Mr Tunaley joins us from Farlingaye High School and he adds to our strong leadership team, overseeing pupil wellbeing and behaviour, and serving as our Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Four Assistant Headteachers bring a full range of expertise and skill to Northgate:

Mrs Asher has overall responsibility for Learning Support and Inclusion. She is also our Special Needs Coordinator and leads a very significant team specialising in supporting all pupils and students with additional needs and coordinating their provision.

Mr Emery focuses on pastoral issues. He leads a range of areas including transition from primary to secondary school, rewards, behaviour and more recently, along with Mrs Naseri, oversees the training of our Pupil Support Ambassadors who are supporting our younger pupils.

Mrs Hope has oversight and responsibility for whole school improvement, reporting and assessment. Futhermore, she oversees school trips.

Mr Grainger is our most recently appointed Assistant Head and leads on pupil progress. He is developing our systems around monitoring pupil progress, planning and managing a range of interventions and leading new ways of engaging with parents.

All of our Assistant Headteachers have been trained to support the safeguarding needs of our pupils and students as Alternate Safeguarding Leads.

Our Pastoral Team in the school is very strong, with every year group led by a Progress Director in each of Years 7 to 11. Our Progress Directors work to assist all pupils in their year group with the guidance of form tutors.

Our Progress Directors are helped by our highly committed Pastoral Officers, who work tirelessly to support the full range of needs for our pupils. Year 7: Mr Baalham, Mrs Pilsworth Year 8: Mr Songhurst, Mrs Naseri Year 9: Mr Pettitt, Mrs Dorset Year 10: Mrs Cook, Mr Forbes

Year 11: Mr Gaffney, Mrs Dorset & Mr Forbes

The Sixth Form continues to progress under the leadership of our Head of Sixth Form, Mr Alexander. We have a similar pastoral and progress structure in the Sixth Form.

Two Assistant Heads of Sixth Form: Mr Watson and Miss Fowler

Student Support Officers: Mrs Elmy and Mrs O’Donnell

At Northgate, the leadership and pastoral teams work together, along with subject leaders and the wider staff, aiming to ensure that each young person feels fully supported and can realise their full potential.

Northgate Review February 2019 Northgate Review February 20194 Book Week Northgate Alumni 5

Pupils celebrate the 'graphic book'November’s Library Book Week

celebrated the ‘graphic book’. There are many different styles to this format both in fiction and non-fiction. We are lucky to stock a variety of books, but possibly the most popular with our pupils are the Manga novels. During lunch time pupils enjoyed drawing and colouring using the many Manga art books we have in our library.

During the week pupils were invited to take part in a graphic quiz, and our congratulations go to Jasper Raines for winning 1st prize.

Throughout October, the Art Department ran a competition to design a graphic novel and this culminated during Book Week. The standard was incredibly high and it was a very difficult task for our art teachers to decide which would be the winning pieces. All pupils whose work can be seen on display in the library received Highly Commended. However, congratulations go to Daniel Baxter Year 7, Adam Smith Year 8 and Jasmine Driver Year 9, for being the overall winners for their year. Also many thanks to Mrs Hornett, Teacher of Art, and the Art Department for all the hard work in organising a really successful competition.

During Wednesday lunch time Mr Snowden, Head of Physics, and the Science Club ran a ‘Do Try This At Home’ extravaganza. Pupils joined in the fun as they had a try at various science experiments based

on the super graphic book Milo and Marvin’s Adventures in Science. Flying oranges, bouncing balls, water everywhere and lots of laughter! Even Big Ted joined in.

As is usual during Book Week Primary and Year 7 Mastermind competitions took place. A huge thank you to Mrs Haken, teacher of English, for all her hard work in organising it and to the English teachers for running the heats during lesson time. Sidegate Primary School won this year;

however, all the Year 6 pupils were amazing; it is a very nerve racking

experience for them. Sam Noir who represented 7.2 was our Year 7 winner and again all

nine pupils deserve a massive well done for taking part.

Northgate High School Book Week is a

wonderful way to celebrate our school library; it is a

fine resource for all our pupils and students and is much used. It continues to be a buzzing place at lunch time.

Alumni chef helps to inspire Year 11 pupilsIn January, we were delighted

to welcome Brian Powlett to Northgate High School. Brian is the Head Chef at The Greyhound in Ipswich and a former pupil at the school who had signed up to the Northgate Alumni. Brian spent some time in school meeting our twenty-five Year 11 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition pupils. Our pupils were inspired by his talents and skills in the kitchen and learnt how to present food on the plate.

Our Year 11 pupils have to complete a three hour practical exam which is worth 35% of their final GCSE grade. They have already designed and made three low calorie food products of their choice. Brian helped them to think about ways to present certain dishes and gave them inspiration on how to plate up a variety of sweet and savoury dishes. He demonstrated how to turn basic vegetables into something more spectacular on the plate.

Pupils also got involved in piping skills, whisking, chopping and got to taste some edible flowers and herbs which are used to garnish dishes.

All pupils in this group have gained the benefit of Brian’s clever creative ideas. His key

advice was 'less is more'.

Q To find out more about the Northgate Alumni, please visit our website: www.northgate.suffolk.sch.uk/about-northgate/northgate-alumni/

Northgate February 2019 Northgate Review February 20196 Wellbeing Week Thrive 7

Raising awareness and boosting wellbeingDuring the Autumn term, we were

fortunate to bring interested and active partners together to raise awareness of the issues surrounding wellbeing.

Wellbeing Week, which began on the 26 November, offered young people strategies and early help to boost wellbeing and to identify potential support networks.

Support for the mental health and wellbeing of young people in our community is our concern and staff and providers ran lunchtime opportunities: hand massage, mindfulness, yoga, reflective journals, keep fit and karate, play-doh therapy and healthy eating.

Each morning, whole year groups

Thursday 14 February 2019 .............................................................. Year 11 Parents' EveningFriday 15 - Friday 22 February 2019 ................................................ Half TermMonday 4 March 2019 ..................................................................... GCSE Drama Sharing to ParentsTuesday 12 March 2019 ................................................................... Spring ConcertWednesday 13 March 2019 ............................................................. Year 12 Higher Education EveningThursday 21 March 2019 .................................................................. Year 12 Parents' EveningSaturday 23 March 2019 .................................................................. PTA Team Trivia QuizWednesday 27 March 2019 ............................................................. Year 11 Revision Advice EveningThursday 28 March 2019 .................................................................. A Level Dance sharing to parentsMonday 1 April 2019 ........................................................................ Year 11 GCSE Dance sharing to parentsThursday 4 April 2019 ....................................................................... Year 10 Parents' EveningFriday 5 April 2019 ............................................................................ End of TermThursday 11 April 2019 ..................................................................... School Show rehearsalWednesday 24 April 2019 ................................................................ Summer Term starts

Dates for your diary

Thriving resilience and self-esteemThe ‘Thrive Approach' aims to

develop and nuture the social skills and emotional literacy of young people. Using the Thrive Online Program, we are able to identify those that we feel will benefit from greater resilience and self-esteem.

The Thrive Team have been operating within the Learning Support Department at Northgate since September 2018. It is made up of Mr McIntyre and a dedicated band of Teaching Assistants who give additional support that promotes social and emotional development.

The team is based in the Thrive Room, which is a calm, happy and safe place where pupils can develop their skills. Lessons and interventions enable pupils to take pride in their achievements and boost their self-esteem. Pupils learn to manage their feelings and develop the skills to enjoy and participate in school life. Thrive pupils have already enjoyed enriching activities provided by teachers from the Design Technology and Science departments, and we are forging

further links across the school as Thrive grows and matures.

We currently work with a small group of Year 7 and Year 8 pupils, who all receive a bespoke package of teaching and support that

extends before and after the regular school day. The Thrive approach ultimately recognises that all children learn best when they feel valued and understood, and in time we hope to be able to extend our support so that a greater number of pupils can access it.

Q For more information visit: www.thriveapproach.com/

took part in the Northgate mile, running or walking for 15 minutes before lessons with many telling us how much they enjoyed being active and getting ready to learn in this way.

The week culminated in a Wellbeing Fair, with contributors including: Healthwatch Suffolk, Suffolk Mind, Volunteering Matters, 4YP, Suffolk Yoga and OneLife Suffolk. Young people were at the heart of the event, talking about the peer support and mental health ambassador training they had received during the week and providing an insight into the work

they had done with One Life Suffolk over the Autumn term.

Thank you to all those who helped us during the week.

Northgate will be contributing to the whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing being piloted in Suffolk schools over the coming year.

Q Sources of support for parents and young people:

Q www.annafreud.org/what-we-do/schools-in-mind/

Q infolink.suffolk.gov.uk/kb5/suffolk/infolink/infolink.page?infolinkchannel=2-1-1

Thrive pupils even enjoy occasional visits from Rolo the French Bulldog!

Northgate Review February 20198 GCSEPod

From left to right, Oscar, Daisy, Chloe and Maddie with their GCSEPod Student Expert certificates.

We have subscribed to this award-winning online service

thanks to the generosity of the PTA. Every pupil at Northgate High

School is able to access over 5,000 teacher-written, audio-visual podcasts, tailored to each exam board for many subjects. The pods are about four minutes long and can be viewed on mobiles, tablets and PCs.

Last year, pupils used the pods extensively, with over 37,000 pods watched in total. There was a correlation between the number of pods watched by Y11 pupils and their Progress 8 score at GCSE. We cannot say that GCSEPod definitely caused this improvement, but it certainly seems to have helped!

This year, we are encouraging pupils to use GCSEPod really effectively and take responsibility for their learning. They could start to use this flow chart (far right) to help them to decide what to do first.

Pupils who have been doing this really effectively this term have been recognised with a Student Expert Certificate and a GCSEPod pen.

Oscar was nominated by his

Nearly 17,000 pods have been streamed so far this school year (compared to other schools our size, which have watched an average of about 6,000 pods)

Q 78% of Year 9 have activated their accounts

Q 98% of Year 10 have activated their accounts

Q 99% of Year 11 have activated their accounts

Northgate GCSEPod Stats

geography teacher for his use of the pods. He commented that, 'The information is displayed in an easy to see and understandable way. It is condensed so you don’t feel like you’re writing too much'.

Chloe’s work in English was also recognised with a certificate. She said, 'I find it useful. The information is only stuff that is necessary and this can be used to make revision stuff, eg. mind maps and flash cards'.

Maddie had the following advice for using the pods, 'Just stick with it and make revision resources. It is also good if you’re going on a long journey or something so instead of listening to music you can listen to GCSEPod'.

This advice is particularly relevant for our Year 11s, who will be working hard following their mock examinations in January. Daisy likes using GCSEPod because, 'It has all the information

we need condensed, meaning you don’t have to pick out the important information from paragraphs'.

Congratulations to all of our GCSEPod Student Experts.

– A great resource for Independent Learning

Identify a topic to learn

What do I know so far?TEST YOURSELF

Test yourself with an exam

question

Write down key facts and how they link

together

Answer questions on flash cards

What am I still unsure on?

Find a GCSEPod video on the tricky parts

Go to Pods, choose your Department,

Subject, Topic, Titlesand click on the Pod

Go to My Courses, choose the Subject,

View Playlist and click on the Pod

Feeling more confident?TEST YOURSELF

Wait a few days

Step 3: How to use GCSEPod to be responsible for your own learning.