December 2020 www.whitefield.org.uk WhitefieldNews
Whitefield Academy Trust
TRUST NEWS A Message from our Chief Executive Whilst this term - my first at Whitefield Academy Trust - has been unlike any other, it is abundantly clear that I have joined a warm, vibrant and inclusive community of which I am incredibly proud to be a part. I am delighted with the way we have been able to adapt and innovate over the past months and, as this newsletter shows, we have continued to deliver a range of superb learning and extracurricular activities across our schools. It is excellent to see that despite the challenges of Covid-19, our pupils have continued to receive an engaging and rewarding school experience designed around their needs. Likewise, I am pleased to report that pupil attendance has been high this term, with our children demonstrating their resilience and love of learning each and every day. It has been wonderful to see so many of our new and existing pupils benefiting from classroom learning once again and immersing themselves in all of the extracurricular opportunities we have to offer. Despite challenges this term, our professional development centre has continued to provide training and development for schools across the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Enfield and Barking and Dagenham. This is a significant achievement. It has enabled teachers and pupils in those schools to receive the specialist support and advice from our team.
In the coming months, it is likely that Covid-19 will continue to play a large part in all our lives. Ensuring the health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff will remain our utmost priority. We have been working hard to implement all the necessary social distancing and cleaning measures so that our school environments remain as safe and secure as possible for all. We are very grateful for the assistance of families as we continue to do so. It is with the ongoing support of the Whitefield community that we have had such a positive start to this academic year. I would like to thank all our pupils, parents, staff and Board of Directors for everything they have done this term, as well as our partners in Local Authorities, the NHS and social care. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year after what I hope has been a restful and enjoyable break. Best wishes, Kirstie Fulthorpe Chief Executive Officer
In this edition... • • • •
Student Council Update Updates from our Schools Research and Development Project Search
• British Council International School Award • Creative Arts • Stay Safe with Technology this Christmas
Student Council Update
Feyza is in Key Stage 3 in NCS and has been a member of the student council for three years. Below, Feyza explains why the student council has been so important to her and her friends. Student council is important because we get to help our school! At the moment we are talking about how we can recycle more and make Whitefield greener. Our staff are thinking about this too. Secondly, students get to talk about what is important and every one gets listened to because its fair. Thirdly you get to listen to new ideas
and you get to learn things you don’t know. Also, student council is important because you get to improve the school and change things and the teacher listens to you. Finally, you get to wear cool and shiny badges! If you want to change something in our school you should speak to your student council member.
Joseph Clarke School
We were thrilled to welcome our pupils back to the classroom this academic year and give them the chance to enjoy the wide range of opportunities we offer at Joseph Clarke School. Looking back over the term, I have been most impressed with how pupils, staff and parents have been working together to keep everyone as safe as possible and to achieve our aim of Enjoyment, Achievement and Wellbeing for all. The attitude in school from our pupils has been very positive – everyone has shown resilience and worked well as part of a team. We have been extremely busy this term ensuring we have filled in any gaps in our pupils’ learning and helping to support them in learning from home. As part of this, we have launched Google Classroom, a new learning platform and many of our classes have already practised submitting their homework online. To ensure our pupils are safe online and able to make strong progress on the platform, we completed two Quality Reviews focused on safeguarding and the curriculum.
This term has been incredibly exciting as the new school minibus was delivered at the start of November. The top-of-the-range vehicle will allow pupils and staff to travel in comfort and for wheelchairs to be easily loaded. Our thanks to the Joseph Clarke School Trust who arranged this donation, to the Lords Taverners for providing the minibus and to the Jaspar Foundation in Stanmore for their very generous donation of £5,000. It has been a great term with lots of fun and rewarding learning activities for the pupils to take part in and contribute to. I am incredibly proud of their achievements and the way they constantly challenge themselves in new and inspiring ways. I’m looking forward to the New Year where I hope we will continue to build on everything we have achieved this term. Chadia Filali-Moutei Headteacher of Joseph Clarke School
Whitefield Schools
After six months away from the classroom, it was brilliant to see our children and young people return in September. From the first day they came back to school, the majority of pupils have been calm, cheerful and ready to learn. I know that parents will join with me in thanking our hard-working and committed staff for the way they have supported our young people and worked around the ever-changing guidance. Whilst we have tried to make the school day as familiar as possible, to keep within our ‘bubbles’ and ensure the safety of our pupils and staff, we have had to make some changes to the curriculum, particularly when it comes to off-site trips. Although we have not been able to go on as many as usual, we have still been making the most of our new minibuses to visit the many interesting, outdoor spaces around Waltham Forest. Despite the challenges presented by Covid, we have remained focused on meeting the key objectives in our School Improvement Plan for 2020-21: Curriculum – we are currently completing a review of the school curriculum to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of all our young people. We plan to arrange some workshops for parents in the Spring Term to explain how we teach the core subjects of communication, English, maths and science and to consult with you on our revised curriculum for PSHE which includes Relationship and Sex Education. Assessment – some of you came to a workshop last year on the new progress ‘milestones’ for communication and you will now see references to these ‘milestones’ for
all subjects in your child’s progress reports. Your child’s teacher will explain the ‘milestones’ at the next PCR. Staff Wellbeing – we are continuing to look at programmes for the training and development of our staff, including how we can further support their wellbeing. Green projects – next year, we will be focusing on how we can look after our local and global communities by encouraging our young people to participate in projects on the allotment and around the school. We would very much encourage you to join in with this work by taking part in any similar activities at home. Home learning provision – we are developing ways to ensure our children can continue to access a full curriculum from home should they need to do so. Please do contact the Family Support Team or join one of their online workshops if you have any questions about this. To mark the end of term, we held a very special event for all our young people where we celebrated their hard work and successes over the past few months. Laura Pease Principal of Whitefield Schools
Whitefield
Research and Development Centre At the Professional Development Centre we are deeply committed to making a positive contribution to the wider education sectors and are proud to share our experience and expertise with others. As such, when we went into lockdown in March, we knew that we had to adapt quickly to ensure that we could continue to deliver all our courses and contracts. From March, all our courses moved to online delivery and we worked closely with our tutors to make sure they could deliver their teaching appropriately. I am pleased to report that every student who took part in one of our courses passed, including in City & Guilds courses, Foundation Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas and Initial Teacher Training courses – a truly impressive achievement. Alongside this, we were able to continue all our usual contractual work remotely, notably our outreach services to four London boroughs. Any and all challenges were met with creativity and resilience.
University of Greenwich. Supporting Teaching and Learning is a theme that runs through not only our Foundation Degree but also the City & Guilds Levels 2 & 3 courses. We would particularly welcome applicants for the latter courses. Participants can start in January 2021 and build up some experience and knowledge of this vital subject area. The pathways for development will then extend onwards. If you are interested in having a chat about any course, please contact us on 0208 531 3426 and ask for Louise Langsworthy who will be happy to help.
This year, we are continuing to develop our courses and have started a new Foundation Degree with the
Anne Drury Head of Research and Professional Development
Peter Turner Primary Margaret Brearley School
School
We were delighted to welcome our pupils back to school in September. Our children were clearly happy to be back and quickly returned to their routines and adapted well to our new bubble system. Thank you to parents and carers for your support in making our return to school as smooth as possible.
This term pupils and staff have worked hard to continue accessing interesting, fun and meaningful activities. Following the extended period away from school, we have used this term to reconnect, supporting pupils both emotionally and academically.
Although there have been some changes to the dayto-day running of the school and how we interact across the school community, we remain committed to providing the very best education for all our pupils. Our children continue to access activities that they enjoy and that support their development and progress. We have also been holding whole-school assemblies via Zoom so that pupils are able to see and interact with friends in a different bubble. It is clear from the smiles on their faces how happy they are to be back at school and how much they’re enjoying their learning. ‘Going out’ activities have continued to take place with pupils going for walks to the forest and our allotment. Likewise, PE and school sport activities have continued in our playground. We are also excited to start several virtual projects with schools from different countries through our e-Twinning platform. The colourful displays that line our corridors show just how hard our pupils have been working this term and we were pleased to celebrate all their achievements with some exciting events. Whilst our traditional end-of-term concerts took on a slightly different format, it was a pleasure to see so many of our parents and carers join us virtually. Lastly, I would like to thank my team for their dedication and attentiveness throughout this term. Paulo da Silva Miguel Head of Peter Turner Primary School
Our recovery curriculum has enabled pupils to re-establish routines, consolidate skills and reaffirm relationships with peers and staff within a flexible and supportive environment. For some pupils being back at school has been more difficult and at times not possible. However, thanks to the ongoing support of our parents, as well as the hard work and commitment of our teachers, I am pleased to say that our home learning programme has enabled these pupils to continue to learn remotely and connect with their peers through online platforms such as Zoom. We have really enjoyed this term’s topic ‘People who help us’ which has introduced us to the many different roles and jobs people have both in and outside of school. Learning about these important roles has helped us feel as safe and supported as possible. Pupils have dressed up as their favourite service personnel and we have had numerous ‘doctors’, ‘nurses’ and ‘policemen’ ensuring that their friends are looked after during ‘Learning through Play’ activities. As the days grew darker, our corridors began to fill with the whispers of Christmas. Decorations were put up and our pupils excitedly prepared for a very different Christmas assembly. Classes celebrated Christingle, took part in carol singing, told the Christmas story and, of course, enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner within their small ‘bubbles’. From all of us at Margaret Brearley School, I wish you and your family a safe Christmas holiday. We look forward to welcoming you back at the start of 2021. Marize Lawson Head of Margaret Brearley School
Niels Niels Chapman Chapman Secondary School School
Following a successful return to school, during the first half of term, we followed a recovery curriculum to help address any gaps in our students’ learning and give them time to adjust to some of the changes we have implemented around school. Students are now following a rolling programme of stimulating and interesting topics. The RGC classes, which are following the Stepping On curriculum, have a weekly makeshift market hall in our RGC hall. There, we sell all kinds of fruits, vegetables, crisps, sweets and drinks. Our students enjoy these sessions as they learn to exchange money for products they like. The RGC classes have also organised a weekly art and craft activity which is fast becoming a favourite with our students who enjoy the sensory aspect of using paint, glue and other art materials. Our Climbing Up classes are learning about what it is like to have a job through weekly interviews with friends and family of staff who have a range of interesting occupations. So far, via Zoom, we’ve interviewed a mounted police officer, a GP, a financial analyst and a landscape gardener. Likewise, as part of the World of Work strand of the curriculum, students have been thinking about what it’s like to wear a uniform, work in different environments and with the public. This is enabling more focused discussions with students about
their own aspirations and the kind of work that interests them. Students have enjoyed speaking with new people and the feedback from our interviewees has been wholly positive. In fact, they have commented on how much they have gained from the experience themselves! As part of the World of Work strand of the post-16 curriculum, students have volunteered to take part in the Great British September Clean, helping to tidy in and around the school. With a range of equipment kindly given to us by Waltham Forest Greenspace Volunteers, our young people took to the local community to improve the environment for ourselves and our neighbours. Students were shocked at the range of items they found and the experience reinforced their views on the importance of using litter bins. They worked incredibly hard and are keen to sign up for more activities so they can do their part in the local area. Nikos Tzenas Head of Niels Chapman Secondary School
The North East London branch of DFN Project SEARCH – a collaboration between Whitefield Academy Trust and Barts NHS Trust – got off to a flying start this term. DFN Project SEARCH provides an internship programme that provides real-world job experience, support to find full-time paid work and then subsequent support for both ex-students and employers once they are in work. Thanks to tremendous support from Whipps Cross Hospital, and the adaptability and hard work of the interns and job coaches, the Project has recruited a full set of interns and is one of the few in the UK which is still running a full programme. At the same time, Whipps Cross Hospital has received an award from DFN Project SEARCH nationally for achieving excellence and employment outcomes of over 70%. Usually the Project SEARCH office, next to Whipps’ café, is a hive of bustling activity, with training sessions, job coaching and oneto-one mentoring. This year, however, only eight people can be in the office to maintain distancing. Interns have been split into two separate ‘bubbles’ and Whipps Cross has made a second room available during the induction period as well as extending access to its hospital lecture theatre. Employability teaching sessions are being duplicated in the morning and afternoon with each group. Interns rotate through three job placements in different hospital departments during the year-long Project SEARCH programme. This year sees midwifery added to the roster of departments they can work in. Between March and July, interns worked from home and had daily Zoom calls with their job coaches and tutors to ensure that they were keeping on track with the programme retaining a sense of community, routine and normality. Job coaches and tutors used the time to cover all the employability work that could be done remotely – looking at how to create CVs, job interview techniques and building ‘job portfolios’ for each intern.
We are thrilled that Whitefield Schools has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. One of Whitefield’s joint projects – Oceans SOS – has also been given the European Quality Label for excellence – recognition at the highest European level, and has been shortlisted by the British Council as one of the UK’s best e-Twinning projects of the last year. The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life and work in today’s world. Whitefield has a long history of international work. The Oceans SOS e-Twinning project saw it partner with The Brook in Haringey and schools in Cyprus and Greece under the European Union’s Erasmus and e-Twinning programme. The project aimed to raise awareness about the plastic waste and pollution in oceans through role play and creativity and the end result was a collaboratively written, edited and produced film. Whitefield Schools currently has three other international collaborations underway: •
A new e-Twinning project ‘Wikibrain for Mixtalent Students’ with The Brook, the Special Gymnasium Lyceum of Athens in Greece, and Agios Spyridonas in Larnaka, Cyprus. The programme, which follows the UNESCO Directive on 21st Century Education, will run over two years and see primary and secondary students become Wikipedia authors by collaborating with authors from other online encyclopedias.
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A two-year Erasmus+ project with partner schools from Romania, Greece, Spain and Portugal that aims to combine best practice from special and mainstream schools to create integrated methods of teaching that allow young people of all abilities to learn together in inclusive classrooms. The project builds on the experience of sports and PE lessons – that showed how pupils of different abilities can work together – and aims to extend these approaches across the rest of the curriculum.
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A new project, organised through the British Council, that will see three SEN schools from the UK, namely The Brook, The Vale and Whitefield, work with three Nepalese mainstream schools with SEN provision. This project focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Project Manager at Whipps, Janet Wingate-Whyte, said that when the Project returned to Whipps in July, interns were “made to feel really really welcome” by all the hospital staff and she praised Barts’ “absolute commitment” to the programme. Interns, she said were made to feel “part of the fabric of the hospital.” If you would like to find out more about Project SEARCH in North East London, please visit www.projectsearch.org.uk.
Creative Arts Update
The arts at Whitefield continue to engage pupils, staff and families in a variety of forms to maintain our creative force. Since lockdown, we have been developing a Virtual Arts culture at Whitefield and have continued to work closely with local artists and arts organisations. Our usual collective arts projects moved to Zoom with our choir engaging pupils and families both in school and at home. These weekly sessions created lots of energy and helped us develop an online culture that we now use across the school.
Virtual Arts Festival As part of our Virtual Arts Festival, local artists Helen Maurer and Phil McDermott provided workshops and performances. Pupils were very responsive, enjoying the videos they made with Helen and using their own props to experience a story about going to the seaside. Likewise, pupils enjoyed taking up their own parts in a short story guided by Phil, which gave them the opportunity to develop their story-creating and acting skills. Some lively music workshops also gave pupils the chance to develop some understanding of music technology for online composition and have fun learning to DJ online from home.
Post-16 Arts Award The Post-16 Arts Award pilot is going really well, with this term’s work including the creation of our own music video using animation and live singing. If you would like to join the Arts Award team, please do get in contact with me as there are a number of levels suitable for each pupil.
Barbican Arts and London Symphony Orchestra After a terrific theatre project in The Pit at the Barbican Centre, we continued to liaise with the Barbican team every month to develop Virtual Arts projects. Throughout the term, the Barbican provided some great resources and we are currently looking into their “Blocks on the Move” project, which increases sensory awareness and encourages proactive participation in play between pupils. We also enjoyed working with the London Symphony Orchestra who zoomed into four classes across Whitefield and led some great work that engaged both pupils and staff in musical appreciation and music making. The orchestra valued our input into helping them acclimatise to special needs online projects.
With both organisations we discussed and designed worksheets, plans and video links that were used effectively in Virtual Arts week. The plans were disseminated through our Virtual Arts space online allowing staff and families to download them and access all video links, taking them through a musical experience that increased musical knowledge and awareness. We will be sharing more videos like this in due course as our next big project begins to take shape. Peter Whelan Senior Music Therapist/Expressive Arts Co-ordinator
Stay Safe
with Technology this Christmas With Christmas fast approaching, technology gifts may well be high on children’s wish lists. We would like to share our top tips for parents about how to keep your children safe if they are able to go online independently. Set clear rules for using the Internet – discuss what is reasonable if your child can join in that kind of conversation. Here are some tips to get started: • • • • •
Decide when and for how long it is acceptable for your child to use the Internet. Explain how to treat personal information (name, address, telephone, e-mail). Remind your child how to behave towards others when gaming, chatting, e-mailing or messaging. Agree what type of sites and activities are OK or not OK in your family. Follow the rules yourself! Or at least explain why the rules are different for adults.
Encourage your child to be careful when disclosing personal information A simple rule for younger children should be that the child should not give out their name, phone number or photo without your approval. Older children using social
networking sites should be selective about what personal information and photos they post to online spaces. Talk about the risks associated with meeting online “friends” in person Adults should understand that the Internet can be a positive meeting place for older children, where they can get to know other young people and make new friends. However, for safety and to avoid unpleasant experiences, it is important that children understand they must not meet strangers they have met online. Let your children show you what they like to do online To be able to guide your child with regard to Internet use, it is important to understand how children use the Internet and know what they like to do online. Let your child show you which websites they like visiting and what they do there.
Spring Term 2021
Summer Term 2021
Term starts Tuesday 5th January 2021 Half term: Monday 15th February to Friday 19th February 2021 Term ends: Thursday 1st April 2021
Term starts Tuesday 20th April Bank Holiday: Monday 3rd May 2021 Half term: Monday 31st May to 4th June 2021 Term ends: Thursday 22nd July 2021
Contacts Whitefield Schools Macdonald Road, Walthamstow London E17 4AZ Tel no. 020 8531 3426 Email: enquiries@whitefield.waltham.sch.uk Joseph Clarke School Vincent Road, Highams Park, London E4 9PP Tel no. 020 8523 4833 Email: school@josephclarke.waltham.sch.uk Safeguarding concerns Email: safeguarding@whitefield.waltham.sch.uk
Merry Christmas