THE CLAPTON REVIEW JUNE 2017
STUDENTS CELEBRATE EQUALITY WITH
LGBT BAKE OFF STUDENTS MEET VALENTINA TERESHKOVA AT EXCLUSIVE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION SIXTH FORMERS PERFORM AT THE ALMEIDA THEATRE
HITTING THE SLOPES ON THE ANNUAL
SKI TRIP
TO AUSTRIA 1
THE SPRING TERM 1
Oxford Bound
Congratulations went to three of our sixth form students who were accepted on to the prestigious Pembroke programme at Oxford University.
WELCOME
FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Welcome to the latest edition of the Clapton Review. In this issue we take you all the way back to the start of the spring term for a retrospective celebration of our many student and staff achievements.
I hope you enjoy sharing in the many achievements of our talented students and staff.
Anna Feltham Headteacher
Life Drawing Sixth form students headed to The Wallace Collection which is home to one of Europe’s finest collections of works of art, paintings, furniture, armour and porcelain. After observing the artworks on display they took part in a life drawing class where they learned techniques and gained experience of drawing from a live model. The Wallace Collection is free admission and is open 7 days a week, 10am - 5pm. Visit their website for more information: www.wallacecollection.org
Hwan-Yeong! In January, the maths department hosted nine student maths teachers from Sung Kyun Kwan University in South Korea. They chose Clapton Girls’ Academy as their only British stop off on their self-funded European tour of maths departments to observe the differences between Korean and western teaching methods.
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They said: “It has been really interesting observing lessons at Clapton Girls’ Academy. It has been very enjoyable and everyone has been very welcoming.” 2
Cambridge Bound We were very proud to hear the fantastic news that one of our sixth formers had received an offer from Cambridge University to study economics.
WHEN I AM
QUEEN
As part of the sixth form enrichment programme, Year 12 students worked together to create a new piece of devised theatre: ‘When I am Queen’, inspired by Mary Stuart and performed at the Almeida Theatre in January.
‘When I am Queen’ was their response, a theatrical journey through an imagined modern day princess’ life as she prepares to be crowned Queen, surrounded by public pressure, paparazzi and a host of palace advisors.
In weekly rehearsals, the cast shared stories of powerful women who have fought for change in society. They acted out excerpts from Friedrich Schiller’s original text Mary Stuart and developed characters using images of powerful women as a starting point. They also explored how clothing can be a symbol of power. The cast grappled with timely questions such as: What makes someone powerful? How is power given to and taken away from leaders? What responsibilities come with being in power?
Director Elayce Ismail said: “Against the backdrop of similar questions hitting the front pages both here and abroad, it was a privilege to work with such a thoughtful, creative and social-minded group of actors. Their compassion shone through most keenly when each performer brought into rehearsals their own manifesto for the type of leader they would be. These manifestos became the backbone of ‘When I am Queen’, and present an inspiring snapshot of young women today.”
Knitting Club Help Homeless Back in January, the Year 8 knitting club took it upon themselves to knit scarves and hats for homeless people in and around Hackney. Eliza Eaton started the knitting club, sharing her knitting skills with other students which proved popular enough to become a weekly club of 15 members. Local shop ‘Wild and Woolly’ donated wool to the students in return for their knitted wares which are then given out to homeless people.
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Eliza said: “It’s nice that we have all got together and used our time to help others less fortunate than us.” 3
Slam Dunk CGA under 14 basketball team took the win at the London Youth games! Congratulations!
FUTURE
LEADERS
Sixth form politics students enjoyed a tour of Parliament and the Supreme Court. They attended a debate in the House of Lords and observed from the public gallery. They undertook a workshop on political participation which included designing their own pressure group campaigns on refugees, starting school later and bridging the gender pay gap. Diane Abbott (Shadow Home Secretary) even paid a visit and was subjected to some rigorous questioning from our girls on Labour’s Brexit policies. Students enhanced their understanding of the workings of Parliament and the Supreme Court and were inspired to become future politicians and judges!
THE POWER OF
PERSUASION
ECM Day As part of ECM day Year 10 students took part in activities such as yoga, drumming and a team-building workshop.
In January, CGA hosted a debating competition organised by Oxford University. This was a large event with about 40 teams and 100 students from around London. The students who represented our academy were fantastic. They impressed other schools and judges with the quality of their debating and were complimented on how lovely, friendly and helpful they were. Year 11 students Billie Williams and Tahia Ahmed made the finals of the debating competition. In other debating news, a group of KS3 students attended the Debate Mate Urban Debating League competition, held at Deloitte HQ. The girls performed amazingly, showing great debating skills and confidence and won all of their debates!
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The Apprentice CGA graduate Humayra Khanom secured an amazing apprenticeship at global law firm Linklaters.
Stop Motion Year 7 students got creative with plasticine and made their own short animation. In teams they used a storyboard to come up with a short scene for a ‘Minion’ character which they then sculpted out of plasticine. Using iPads and some very creative set design they brought their storyboard to life using painstaking stop motion animation (the type used for Wallace & Gromit)!
Lessons in Branding A branding agency visited CGA for a day workshop with Year 8s to teach them the importance of branding in business for budding entrepreneurs. They were tasked to come up with a brand, design and make a t-shirt and tote bag and then pitch their brand and products to a panel of judges.
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Business Women Year 10 students had an inspirational visit to EY, one of the largest accounting firms. They met top female executives and witnessed first hand the workings of a multinational company.
SPORTING
TALENT
Huge congratulations to Year 10 student, Jade Guidolin Duncan, who won the Bronze Sports Aid grant for her basketballing excellence and Ms Van Staeyen who was recognised for her voluntary coaching of the CGA running club at the Hackney Councils’ Youth Sport Awards. Clapton Girls’ Academy took home the prestigious ‘Contribution to the London School Games’ award with the largest number of students participating in the London School Games at elite level. Coaches Fe and Jamie were also nominated for the ‘Coach of the Year’ award amongst a very tough group, for their outstanding coaching of the basketball and tennis teams over the past year.
LGBT
BAKE OFF
CGA hosted the ‘Great Rainbow BakeOff’ as part of a celebration of LGBT+ history month. 11 schools from across the country battled it out in a cooking competition designed to celebrate equality. It was organised by Educate and Celebrate, a charity that aims to help schools become LGBT+ friendly by creating inclusive environments and eradicating homophobia, bi-phobia and transphobia in communities. Four CGA Year 8 students baked the winning cake which featured an edible disabled Superman holding hands with Captain America. In support of this celebration, throughout February, students learnt about gender identity and sexual orientation in assemblies.
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No Grind, No Glory Year 9 students were treated to a morning of motivational speaking and exercises, emphasising the need to work hard for success.
SKI
AUSTRIA
Over the February half term, 36 students and five staff spent 8 days hurtling down picturesque Austrian mountains on the annual CGA ski trip. Everyone had a fabulous time and made amazing progress with their skiing. From complete beginners ending the week on a slalom run, to the advanced skiers doing 7
vertical drops and synchronised skiing! The girls were a credit to the academy during the week and enjoyed the opportunity to make new friends with students from other year groups.
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Animal Care Year 10 students had the opportunity to visit Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to find out more about all the hard work that goes into caring for the animals.
BE
BOLD FOR CHANGE
We had lots of activities going on for International Women’s Day on the 8th March. Year 7 students went to the Olympic Park and met female athletes for a day of inspiring talks and fun activities. Students received a mentoring session with paralympic star Laura Sugar! Year 9 students Katia Bennamane and Kitty Love-Jones were invited to take part in a debate in front of an illustrious panel of guests at the Wolsley Cafe, Piccadilly. These included the CEO of Coutts bank and HSBC’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. They successfully opposed the motion: ‘this house would introduce a 30% quota for women on executive boards”. Both girls spoke with great eloquence to persuade many in the audience to change their original stance on the motion. Activities happening in school on the day included the Faraday challenge, organised by the Institute of Engineering and Technology. The Faraday Challenge is a one day STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) activity where teams get to research, design and make prototype solutions to tough engineering problems using BBC Microbit sensors. They used
their coding skills to make a prototype of the product, presenting their finished pieces to the Faraday team of judges. There were also student led presentations in form classes about the history of International Women’s Day, women’s rights and empowerment.
“This House would ban all forms of animal research.” Year 9 students joined in The Big Animal Research Debate, a national event where universities and schools across the country take part in debating the use of animals in medical research. The students got really involved in what is a difficult subject that invokes a lot of emotions. We had very passionate and insightful arguments both for and against the motion.
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Wellbeing Evening In March we held our first Wellbeing Information Evening for parents. The event introduced parents to experts from agencies and provided helpful information for supporting young people.
Boulonge
BUY! SELL! Things got heated on the trading floor as our sixth formers took part in the Stock Market Challenge! Working in teams, they acted like stock brokers, buying and selling shares whilst reacting to the markets’ fluctuating share prices.
Sur-Mer
Year 7 and 10 students went on a day trip to France as part of their French curriculum. They visited the WW2 evacuation site at Dunkirk as well as the aquarium in the city of Boulonge. Thea Bryant, 7O said: “I really enjoyed visiting France! I miss it already! The Aquarium was amazing, we saw so many types of fish, some people even touched the rays! It was fantastic being able to communicate with all the shopkeepers in French and put what we’ve learnt in lessons into practice.”
Students prepare for
DofE Expedition Students were in training for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition.
ROBOTICS Year 9 students got to exercise their coding skills in a robotics workshop as part of our second ECM day in March.
They prepared by making themselves familiar with the route, practised putting up tents and learnt how to use camping stoves to cook a meal.
Working in teams, the girls built the robots then coded them to manoeuvre around a series of obstacles!
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Cambridge Women Year 13 student Yasmin attended the Cambridge University King’s College annual Women’s Dinner with CGA governor and Cambridge alumnus, Ms Sarah Khan.
WOMEN IN SPACE Six CGA students were specially invited to the Science Museum on the 15th March for a unique evening ‘The Legend of Valentina’ honouring Dr. Valentina Tereshkova on the occasion of her 80th birthday. Dr. Tereshkova is a legendary figure who helped launch the space age by becoming the first woman and civilian in space. Today she remains the only woman to have travelled solo in space. Her achievements as an inspirational woman are celebrated and recognised at CGA by the naming of one of our buildings, Tereshkova, where students study technology subjects. The event included a screening of a specially commissioned film about the life of Valentina Tereshkova and was accompanied by The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and acclaimed virtuoso violinist Dmitri Kogan.
Dr. Tereshkova felt extremely honoured to have a building in our academy named after her and was proud that her achievements were being used to inspire young women. She also wished the students good luck in their upcoming exams and ambitions. Staff and students were awe struck and felt very inspired to have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Tereshkova. A level physics student Maysa Chunra was so inspired by meeting Dr. Tereshkova said she wanted “to be the first hijabi that goes into space.” Physics teacher Ms Miah who accompanied the students said of the event: “We all had an amazing time. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was such a great experience for the students to meet such an inspirational woman in the field of science.”
STEM CHALLENGE In March a group of Year 8 students became one of only six teams nationally to reach the final of BP’s Ultimate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Challenge at the Science Museum. They were excellent ambassadors for the academy and received the judges’ special commendation for their teamwork! The national competition, launched in September 2016 by BP, STEM Learning and the Science Museum, challenges students’ STEM skills as they 10
are tasked with tackling realworld energy problems. This year, students were invited to use their creativity to design an energy efficient solution to one of three real-world challenges: Rescue Rockets, Future Flight or Auto Arms. The students developed their best ideas for the Rescue Rockets Challenge. They came up with an energy efficient design for a waterpowered rocket that reduces air resistance in order to reach maximum altitude and stay in the sky for the longest period of time.
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Prima Ballerina Year 7s were lucky enough to take part in a fantastic PE trip to Sadler’s Wells to watch the English National Ballet.
AMBASSADORS Junior NBA Finals In March our new Year 7 Ambassadors were chosen! 66 students applied to become an ambassador and had interviews with Ms Warner, Year 7 Head of Progress and Ms Meyer, Deputy Headteacher. They all performed brilliantly in the formal interview and have now completed their ambassador training. This challenging leadership role will help students in building their confidence and will allow them to gain valuable skills. The ambassadors will be responsible for showing new families around the academy and mentoring new students in September as they settle into secondary school life.
On 28th March, Coach Fe took the Year 7 basketball team to the Junior NBA finals in Leicester, a competition that takes place in 16 countries across the world. The team represent the Memphis Grizzlies, an NBA team, and wear their jerseys on game days. Students performed brilliantly on what was a very challenging day and finished in 2nd place out of over 40 teams. A huge congratulations to our Grizzlies and thanks to Coach Fe for her superb coaching!
Live Shakespeare Actors from The Globe Theatre came in to CGA to give a live performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Year 10 students.
DEBATE MATE Year 11 students Billie Williams and Tahia Ahmed took part in the finals for the Oxford Debating Competition at Oxford University. This is the biggest national debating competition, and was an achievement in just getting to the finals! Billie and Tahia had an intense day of four back to back debates against top schools such as Westminster, Eton, Harrow and St Pauls. They held their own and were a credit to the academy. Although not making it to the final debate, the girls were fantastic and an inspiration to other students. 11
Marathon Run We’re very proud of our inspirational Deputy Headteacher, Ms Meyer, who completed the London Marathon in an amazing time of 04:17:57 in aid of the East End Community Foundation.
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CGA raises over £6,500 to re-home a Syrian refugee family in Hackney On the 26th April, CGA hosted a Refugees Welcome event to celebrate the academy’s recent fundraising efforts. As a school we raised £6828.66, smashing our initial goal of £5,000. This will be used to re-home a Syrian refugee family in Hackney who will be arriving in July.
There was a very moving moment on the night when a Syrian refugee family who have recently been housed in Hackney thanked Hackney council and the British government for welcoming them and providing a school place for their child.
The event was well attended by many members of the local community with speakers including Maurice Wren (Chief Executive at the Refugee Council), Revd. Graham Stevenson (St Matthews Church) and Roni Tabick (Masorti Synagogue), all of whom emphasised the need for compassion, empathy and openness as a community.
CGA runners
The idea for the campaign began as part of the sixth form enrichment offer at CGA. Back in February, a group of Year 12 students decided that enough wasn’t being done for refugees in the borough and through the academy’s student leadership programme they started on a campaign to raise £5,000 to help resettle a family of Syrian refugees in Hackney.
Huge congratulations to our inspirational staff team who ran the Hackney Half marathon on Sunday 30th April. Staff raised £1,700 for Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest, a local mental health charity that works with young people. Lots of students and staff came to support the runners along the route.
The students worked in association with CitizensUK to support Community Sponsorship, an official government scheme which enables communities to come together and welcome Syrian families.
Runner and Catering Manager Ms Grant said: “We couldn’t have done it without all the support from staff and students cheering us on along the route. I felt so proud to be part of CGA. It was an amazing experience.”
Upcoming dates Jun 12
Y7 Enrolment Meetings
Jun 29
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Y11 Achievement Evening
Jul 6
Y7 Taster Day
Jul 7
Y13 Graduation
Jul 12
CGA Old Girls Reunion event
Jul 13
Summer Arts Festival
Jul 20
End of Summer Term
Aug 24
Aug A-Level Results Day 17
Please visit our website for a full calendar of events and holiday dates. www.clapton.hackney.sch.uk/news-events/calendar
GCSE Results Day
Aug Sixth Form 24 Enrolment
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