Year 9

During Year 9 I have noticed that a lot of confidence has been building up inside of me every day. I have always been the shy and quiet one at the back of the classroom, hardly saying anything in lessons and terrified of giving speeches to a group of people. However, this year I wanted to do something different. So I decided to book myself an assembly slot and talk about water; how important it is to us and for our survival on earth. The initial idea of the assembly came from the charity that I volunteer at (Oxfam), as they requested me to be the ambassador at my school. I promised them that I would try to raise awareness by doing an assembly and raise a little bit of money from an event too. At first I was a little nervous to talk in front of hundreds of people who were watching me as I spoke. I thought they would find it boring, but as I progressed through the presentation, I became more and more confident. Later, when it was over, everyone thought I did a great job and lots of people told me that they would be petrified to do such a thing. After informing my charity about the assembly, the area manager of Oxfam sent me a card thanking me for representing the charity at school and telling me to keep up the hard work. I am really glad I did the presentation, as it was a great experience and one not to regret. Also, on sports day I collected money from Year 7-10 for the staff relay. I am going to hand over the cheque to my manager at Oxfam, and this donation will be used to provide clean, safe-drinking water for water vulnerable people in the world. Fabeha Shafaat 9C

PAFE

The Parents’ Association Future Entrepreneurs (PAFE) challenged Year 9 to come up with a product to help Year 6 pupils’ transition to secondary school, with a focus on mental health and improving resilience. In just one day and working in small groups, they brainstormed ideas; decided on products, company names and logos; talked to a focus group of Year 6 Junior Girls and used their input to improve their concepts; consulted a team of experts; and wrote three-minute pitches selling their products, which they then presented to the panel of judges. Flash and Co., Hack, Speak Up and Youture made it through to the PAFE Final in July, which was won by Flash and Co.

Show Racism the Red Card

A piece of art created by Manahil Masood in 9C was the overall winner in the national Show Racism the Red Card School Competition! Thousands of pupils across the country submitted art, creative writing and multi-media entries featuring their own antiracism messages. At the awards ceremony hosted by Stoke City Football Club, Manahil discovered that she had won not only first place in the Year 7-9 Artwork category, but also won overall across the eight categories of the competition! The judges were extremely impressed with her piece and complimented her on the quality of both the artwork and the message.