December 2017 Issue #157
The student newsletter of Green Spring Academy Shoreditch
Anti-bullying week
Winter Concert
Anti-bullying week allowed me to connect with all students and raise awareness about the seriousness of bullying.
All years had the opportunity to write a message on a scroll – this was very interesting and made us mindful that Year 8 have many concerns surrounding social media and spreading rumours. With this information, we now have a better idea of how to tackle the problem. Some of the many activities during the week included an amazing drama production, kindness cards and a spectacular cake sale. For me, the highlight of the week was seeing the balloon launch – everyone joined in and all students counted down until the balloons were released, symbolising letting go of bad memories. It was very unifying – all year groups together as one school. The week was a huge success and we have learnt a lot about how we can continue to tackle the problem of bullying. The School Council’s message to all is to always be kind, no matter what. By Iqra Amani, 12INw
GSAS Nobel Prize Awards On Tuesday 12th December, the annual GSAS Nobel Prize Award ceremony took place with students, families and members of the community in attendance. We were very proud and humble to come together to recognise our students’ hard work over the last year and reward them with our applause and a GSAS Nobel Prize. By Mr Palmer
Foodbank Campaign 2017
This year, we are collecting donations and raising money in aid of the First Love Foundation, the charity responsible for the Tower Hamlets Foodbank.
Since the start of WinterFest, Monday 4th December, Community Leaders have been collecting donations from tutor groups and staff. We aim to get 1,000 items. We believe that this is such an important cause because Tower Hamlets has a very high level of child poverty and we don’t want to keep it this way. We are keeping a tally of how much tutor groups and staff are donating so that we can recognise and reward all those who have contributed. Donate as much as you can! By Yusra Mohamed, 7TPa & Simra Chowdhury, 7SAn
During WinterFest, there were lots of excellent music performances. We had the Christmas Concert on the 14th December. This was a very exciting performance with songs from the vocal group, Year 7 choir, brass ensemble, solo songs and many more performances! The vocal group sang Rain by The Script, and Riptide by Vance Joy. The Year 7 choir sang Words by Birdy and New Soul by Yael Naim. The brass ensemble played Christmas carols. It was a huge success – well done to everyone involved! By Evani Harradine 8AHe, Shala Lazarus 8JWa & Lucia Prince 8Kho
Woman in Black
Lots of amazing drama performances have taken place this term. On 13th December year 9 GCSE students performed their first play – Women in Black. The stars of the performance were Emile Bloom, 9CKi who played Mr.Kipps and Kelly Soares 9HSi. Additionally, on Friday 15th the year 8 pantomime project performed Rapunzel II. Jibraieel Altafi, 8SWr and Marcel Somerlinck, 8JWa gave a fantastic performance as Nanny Nam. Finally, the production we’ve all been waiting for Staff Panto! This year, the Staff Panto was Rapunzel with Ms Anthony as Rapunzel and Mr Stokes as Gothel, the evil villain. It was great fun to watch and all the money from the tickets went to charity. By Evani Harradine 8AHe, Shala Lazarus 8JWa & Lucia Prince 8Kho
Year 8 Science Club testers
On Wednesday 15th November, half of the Science Club was invited to Elbow production at the Richmix to be product testers. When we got there, we were taken to a room and we completed tasks on brand new computer games – the games were fun and informative. The games are about the environment and are made for children in Saudi Arabia in order to help them understand different environments other than the desert (the only environment they’re used to). Overall, it was a delight going there - I learnt a lot and had lots of fun! By Anan Mir, 8ALa
Year 12 trip to Auschwitz
On the 7th November, myself, Priya Batra, Sumona Sumi, Halima Begum and Ms Davis went to Krakow, Poland with the Holocaust Educational Trust to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. When visiting, we were shocked by the sheer size of the camp, spanning to almost 425 acres of land. This is one of the 6 biggest death camps in Europe – it has 5 gas chambers. Crematoriums were built next to the gas chambers, which is where the victims were incinerated. All gas chambers had been destroyed as the Nazis wanted to eradicate all evidence of genocide. We were very upset by what we saw there. We aim to make others aware of the Holocaust and of other contemporary genocides that are now taking place, so that such horrific incidents do not occur again. By Tauhida Zaman, 12NHi
Remembrance week at GSAS Remembrance week at our school was from 6th – 10th November. Remembrance Day is a memorial day about the end of the First World War to remember all those who died in their line of duty. I believe remembrance week is very important because if it wasn’t for all the men and women who fought for justice, we wouldn’t be living the lives that we live today. We had interesting assemblies and activities, including writing messages on poppies. On Friday we observed a one minute silence to acknowledge the sacrifice of the fighters. By Carlotta Joffe, 9LGu
Women of The Future Awards On Wednesday 15th November, I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the Women of The Future Awards, held at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London. It was an amazing evening. It was my first time going to such a wonderful event. The evening was filled with inspirational women from backgrounds similar to my own working class and ethnic minority background. This made me feel that, with the right support, I too can achieve something extraordinary. I also enjoyed the food and dressing up! By Anisa Uddin, 12INw
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award This is my first year taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award and so far it has been a brilliant experience. This award helps countless young people develop important skills including leadership, helping others and organisation. As part of my volunteering section, I am taking part in the Voluntary Police Cadet. I enjoy the VPC very much as I get to socialise with different students from around Tower Hamlets whilst helping the community. I can’t wait for the summer because we will be taking part in a two day expedition which will test our survival and teamwork skills. By Karima Uddin, 9Hsi
The Sunday Times Female Lead event Divine and I attended the Sunday Times Event on Sunday 19th November, which advocates women empowerment. It highlighted how girls can sometimes feel intimidated, but the event helped us find a solution. Events like this are the sort you can learn from; events like these consist of morals and inspirations and have a huge impact. It can help you improve your perspective on life. I thoroughly enjoyed the day! By Umayya Rahman, 8ALa
Animal and plant cell models In science we made models of animal and plant cells over October half term for homework. I made my animal cell by rolling playdough and clay into a ball and shaping it into a cell. I painted it orange and added all the detail of the chloroplast and vacuole. It was really fun and helped me remember what animal cells are made up of. All the models look amazing all together – come and have a look at the display in Ms Msanide’s classroom! By Vita Joffe Thornton, 7AJo
BTEC Music Production GSAS’s Year 11 BTEC Music group FYSM have released their album entitled ‘London Heartbreak’. The album features cover songs from the music artists Adele, Emeli Sande and Dua Lipa. The album has been planned and produced by students Sajid Uddin 11MPr, Murat Ozturk 11MPr, Yusra Abdirahman 11MPr and Faaizah Jannat 11MPr. Have a listen - it is available on CD and also at soundcloud.com/FYSM. The Tea Band presents their brand new album ‘Underrated Covers’ as part of their BTEC Music product. Students Atik Hussain 11MBe, Shiplu Kamaly 11MBe, Chloe Pummell-Mason 11MPr, Vasilica Ardeleanu 11MPr and Ruth Sene 11MPr have arranged and recorded the album that features covers from artists such as Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. Please pick up your own copy of the CD or you can also visit our soundcloud website – www. soundcloud.com/theteaband.
Green Spring Academy Shoreditch wishes you a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year