Half Term Newsletter - May 2023

Welcome

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we come to the end of another wonderful week at ESS, the sun shining brightly on Green Park and Piccadilly just in time for half-term. This half-term has been an exciting one, full of positivity, purpose and fun.

We ended this half-term with International Week, which has been utterly fantastic. We have been celebrating our multi-cultural diversity all week and it was punctuated with an amazing breakfast this morning where all the students brought in an array of traditional food from their cultures. We were also enlightened and educated by many students yesterday during our whole school assembly about the importance of the multicultural dialogue to build an inclusive and flourishing world.

In turn, volunteers spoke eloquently about their native lands and what made them so distinct. It was one of the best assemblies we have had at ESS and provided all of us with a deep appreciation that we are such a vibrant and diverse community. As I have mentioned in previous letters, this is one of the aspects of ESS that I cherish the most.

As you will read in this newsletter, there is so much that has gone on this half-term, from the Kings Coronation celebrations, our trips to the US, the Land and Wave trip to Dorset, and the Year 12 Geography Fieldwork to Southend on Sea, as well as our art students’ success at the 2023 Young Art Exhibition held at the Royal College of Art. I would also be remiss not to mention our monumental cricket win over Wetherby School earlier this week!

Moving forwards into the last half of this Summer term, I look forward to continuing to lay the foundations for an exceptional start to the new academic year. I am excited about continuing to build a positive culture at ESS and to achieving our immediate strategic priorities, especially in relationship to developing academic rigour, establishing a sense of positive behaviour at school, and ensuring our school values (POISE) underpin everything that we do.

With that in mind, you will have received a survey today asking you about your views on our pastoral care (which we think is outstanding but we obviously do not want to rest on our laurels!), PE Kit, and the use of mobile phones in school. I would very much like to hear your thoughts about these issues but also more generally about how we might be able to improve further, so thank you in advance for your feedback.

We have now come to the end of recruitment season and I will be sending a bespoke staffing letter after the half-term break introducing you to the new staff we have joining our team in September. We have some amazing educators joining us and, more importantly, they are amazing individuals who are passionate about teaching and young people. They are also all committed to working alongside our existing wonderful staff in the mission to take ESS to the next level. I am very excited…

The last half of the term will fly by, as always. I look forward to meeting with all of you at our Prizegiving Ceremony in June. In the meantime, I wish you and your families an excellent half-term break, full of love and laughter and happiness.

With best wishes,

Dr Adrian Rainbow

Academic Maths

Celebration of Maths Week

At the start of this term, we held a live mathematics debate between students in Yrs 10 & 11. The topic of the debate was: ‘Whether mathematics should be studied by students until the age of 18 as proposed by Rishi Sunak.’

Students also discussed in form classes if they thought mathematics had been invented or discovered. However the most popular event of the week was our logical puzzle competition between students and teachers. It was so great to see the students and staff compete against each other. Congratulations to the #winning teams!

Study Skills Week

Study Skills Week - Preparing for the GCSE Exams

The 8th – 12th May was Study Skills week. This saw the school participate in a range of tutor time activities and assemblies focused on helping students best maximise their learning potential. Students learnt about optimum learning environments and then designed their own study spaces. Students were advised in different ways to manage stress and who to ask for support if needed. A range of study styles were introduced with students encouraged to trial different ones to find what suits them best.

The end of Study Skills week marked the beginning of the GCSE examinations. Year 11 students have been working hard over the past two years to acquire the skills and knowledge need to undertake these national assessments. Everyone as Eaton Square School wishes the students well as they undertake their GCSEs. Keep working hard, the end is in sight!

Academic Science

GCSE Physics

As part of GCSE Physics, we had so much fun exploring the mechanics of a lightning strike. To this end, we used a Van der Graaff generator as a classic way to demonstrate the production of static electricity and its effects. To test the effects, we had some of the students volunteer. As demonstrated in the pictures below, the students were delighted to see the results as soon as their hair began to stand up.

Candy DNA

The world consists of many different types of living things... our Year 8 students have been exploring how the organisms that exist today have evolved, how scientists are trying to prevent further species from becoming extinct and how to preserve biodiversity.

As part of this topic they have also been studying how we inherit characteristics from our parents though genetic material. The students did their own research on the discovery and structure of the molecule of inheritance, DNA. They were able to illustrate the complex structure of the molecule using various candies such as gummy bears, gum drops and Twizzlers, as well as toothpicks to make a model for a short section of DNA.

Lily Dissection

We have been studying Ecosystems this term and Year 7 students have been exploring how we share our environment with many different types of plants and animals.

The topic life cycle of a flowering plant requires that students learn about the detailed structure of a flower and about the crucial role flowers and bees play in pollination and feeding the world.

As burgeoning scientists, the students have to refine their ability to accurately observe, dissect and record the different structures of living organisms.

The students dissected lily flowers to separate, identify and describe the roles of the various structures in pollination.

A-Level Psychology

Our A-level Psychology students were set the task of reproducing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a key concept within humanistic psychology, as part of their homework. This could be in the form of a poster, drawing, or if they were feeling super creative a 3D model!

Students generally went out of their way when completing this homework, with two students in particular producing these wonderful models! Both spent 6 hours each working on their respective models, and as you can see from the end result these are pretty spectacular.

Being creative with their homework is one way students can consolidate their in-class learning, with many studies finding that greater creativity leads to greater consolidation of knowledge. Given this was the first homework I have set for my new students, I am already excited to see what the next round of homework will bring!

Mr Oliver Read

Year 11 Art Exam

We are pleased to congratulate Gabriel Pino and Sharaf Al Sharif in Year 9, as they were both selected to have a piece of artwork displayed at the 2023 Young Art Exhibition, held at the Royal College of Art.

This is in aid of research into childhood cancers at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Congratulations to Youmna (Yr 10, who’s wonderful picture received a bid for £45 which will be donated to Great Ormand Street.

GCSE Art

Congratulations to our Yr 11 Fine Art students, who have just completed their practical examination. We were very impressed with some of the stunning artwork created.

• Andrey produced a mixed media charcoal work on paper

• Hind created a relief print using water colours

• Varvara worked with acrylic paints on canvas

A-Level Fine Art

A couple of our Year 12 Fine Art students have been working extremely hard on their final projects and have created some really beautiful pieces.

Haya looked at society and skin within the theme "change and or instability" focusing specifically on creating portraits of people.

To work towards a final piece celebrating female empowerment and diversity.

Alessia was also looking at the theme “change and/or stability.”

Her current project is based on freedom, Alessia’s focus is on fantastical motifs such as wings to demonstrate the idea of freedom and flying away to escape problems.

We are looking forward to seeing Haya’s and Alessia’s final pieces (paintings) after the end of year exam, this will feature in the next newsletter.

iSaw Workshop Art & Wellbeing

Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students took part in a Wellbeing and Art workshop. iSaw is an amazing immersive experience which allows students to enter a creative space and freely work with selected materials to produce ever-changing artworks that only exist in the space. Students felt power and a sense of freedom as they entered the space and allowed their creativity to flow without any inhabitation. Students were inspired and encouraged to think about sustainable art as all students created artwork from reusable objects.

GCSE Geography

GCSE Geography Field Trip

Year 10 GCSE Geography students went on a trip to the River Chess, in both Chesham and Rickmansworth (West of London). Their investigations were based around the changes in discharge, shape, and velocity as they went downstream, along the river.

This was a fun day as students got to go in the river at two different sites with their wellington boots and explore in their teams the depth of water, the channel width and analyse velocity changes. Tape measures, buckets, metre rulers, wet wipes, ‘hydroprops’ and clipboards for field-sketching were an essential part of the equipment required on the day to conduct the investigations. Although the journey to and from the River Chess was rather long, it was very worthwhile as students enjoyed being in a more rural setting as opposed to the imposing skyscape of Central London and gained valuable experience and information in preparation for Paper 3 of their GCSE exam.

Well done to all the Year 10 students who worked so hard and with great enthusiasm during this day - Mr Lobo.

Geography Week

At the end of April, to coincide with Earth Day, the Geography department decided to focus on ‘sustainability’ and highlight the UN Sustainable Development goals. Mr Lee started the week by explaining the role and purpose of the goals in a whole school assembly and this was followed later in the week with a ‘student led’ assembly by the Year 10 Geography GCSE students who decided to focus on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 on ‘Responsible Consumption and Production.’

The students took a close look at the food waste in the school and delivered a fantastic assembly that included interviews with the canteen staff and students whilst also testing and exploring the ‘Too Good to Go’ Food Waste app.

Later in the week, as tutorial activities, students explored and calculated their carbon footprint using the link WWF Footprint Calculator (you may want to explore your own footprint!) and compare it to Mr. Lobo’s! This will be an annual event so that students can look to see whether their lifestyle patterns have changed ‘year on year’ and a collage display will be made in both school sites, reflecting the outcomes.

Students also looked at some of the most sustainable schools on the planet and came up with feasible ways in which Eaton Square Senior School could become more sustainable – some of the ideas the school will explore further, later on in the summer term.

Physical Education

PE Week 2023

PE Week 2023 was a huge success which left all teachers very impressed with the efforts of the students throughout the duration of the week. The PE Team set a whole school challenge of reaching 1000miles by the end of the week, students could do this through running, swimming, cycling, walking, sports etc.

The students were tasked to complete some miles outside of school and during school including:

• The Morning Raffle Run – where students walked or ran laps to accumulate raffle tickets

• The Big London Run – where students ran all over London taking in the sites and adding miles to the 1000mile challenge.

During registration the Y10 GCSE PE students put together an excellent presentation about the social, physical and mental effect of physical activity, as well as some workout ideas that got everyone’s heart rate up during registration.

We are delighted to inform you that the whole school surpassed their target and reached 1244miles!!

U14 Cricket

Our U14 cricket team had a superb start to the season, beating Wetherby by 7 runs in our first game as a team. The boys started well, with Nikolas and Jay helping the team score a respectable 71 runs from 15 overs for Wetherby to chase. The whole team contributed to a fantastic fielding performance, bowling their opponents out for 64, with some incredible pieces of fielding by Benny, Mohammad and Max.

A special shout out to Jay (Yr 7) for captaining the team so well and Max (Yr 8) for taking the winning wicket!

Here’s a short clip of the winning wicket.

Football

Our U15 football team completed their season against Fairley House. It’s been a successful season for the boys, where they have shown great improvement throughout. The main highlights were an excellent penalty shoot out win against Fulham School and a superb goal of the season strike from Mohammad in the final game. Well done everyone!

Tennis

This term Years 7-9 have been playing tennis at Finsbury Park/Hyde Park during games, to make the most of the sunshine! They’re both great facilities with a good number of courts so every student gets the chance to play some singles and some doubles. They’re also closer than Acton so we get a longer Games session than normal, giving us the chance to spend the time properly going through the basics with both group drills as well as some 1-to-1 time with those students who are new to the sport.

We then usually then finish the sessions with fun games like King of the Court or Rackets. The students have been so enthusiastic all term, and the progress they’ve made has been really impressive. We even took a team to play Wetherby Senior School a few weeks ago and, though the boys unfortunately lost that match, but it hasn’t dampened their spirit, and they’ve still been enjoying every minute. Looking forward to taking the Year 10s to join them next half term!

Volleyball

The Summer term has welcomed volleyball to the PE curriculum, with the Year 7s having an excellent opportunity to develop their skills on a Friday afternoon at Marlborough Sports Garden. The students have been learning the basic skills which they are now able to apply to competitive games, where they have progressed superbly in recent weeks.

Volleyball has also been a popular choice in the after-school sports programme, with Years 8-10 refining their skills. Students have been training well ahead of the eagerly anticipated students v staff match at the end of the term!

Sports Leaders

Eaton Square have been busy helping develop their leadership, communication, and sports coaching skills by supporting at various Prep School sports events this term. We had multiple students from Years 8 & 9 helping with the swimming gala, and an additional 12 students helping with the athletics meet from Year 10.

A big thank you to everyone who got involved!

Dukes Charity Golf Day

On the 7th of May, Eaton Square entered a team into the first ever Dukes charity golf day. It was a brilliant event at the beautiful Goodwood golf course, with parents and teachers from 12 different Dukes schools brought together to raise money for the Dukes Foundation.

The Eaton Square team played some brilliant golf, dovetailing perfectly to produce a match winning performance with 40 Stapleford points. Congratulations to our teachers Mr Green & Mr Graham, and parents Alvaro and Matt!

If any parents would like to get involved next year, please contact Mr Green.

Ski Trip 2024

After the success of last years Ski Trip, we are very excited to announce that the ski trip will be returning in February Half Term 2024.

The staff have worked closely with our tour company to make this trip bigger and better than the last, in a more desirable location, more hours worth of ski lessons, and a wider range of options for Apres activities.

Please keep a close eye in Parent Comms after the half term dates

for the finer details as well as how to sign up. There are limited spaces on this trip and we will be operating on a first come first serve bases.

Gabriel and Anna, share their experience of the trip in the following short videos: https://youtu.be/LUPvy_O-ir0

https://youtu.be/QA4JGEJA3tw

GCSE Drama

Our talented bunch of thespians are currently preparing for the Creative Arts Showcase which is taking place at Eaton Square on 28 June.

Students are busily rehearsing ready to entertain audiences and showcase their artistic talents in Drama, Art and Music. We'd like to welcome the whole school community to attend from 5.30pm on Wednesday, 28 June so please save the date! More information will follow after half term.

There are also two exciting Drama trips taking place in the latter half of the term. The first being a Year 7 trip to view a new musical comedy, Mrs Doubtfire, and the second being a Year 7 and 8 trip to Shakespeare's Globe to view a Midsummer's Night Dream. Additionally, the Creative Arts Department are finalising details as they prepare to take 25 students to Paris for an artistic and cultural experience.

We look forward to many exciting events to round off the academic year!

Kings Coronation Celebrations

On 5 May, the whole school celebrated the coronation of King Charles II. From coronation chicken to scones to union jack themed clothing to bunting, there was lots of fun to be had by all. Miss Ferguson hosted an Eaton Square Bake-Off competition which saw students from all year groups nominate their bakes to be in the winning for the grand prize! Students were asked to bake a cake in the theme of the coronation or a commonwealth country. There were many wonderfully decorated and delightfully delicious cakes but there could only be one winner... well in this case three! A team of three Year 7 students, Anna, Neva and Sofiia, were awarded 1st place for their eclectic cake and another Year 7 student, Bernado was awarded 2nd place for his attention to detail.

We would love to say a special thanks to Archie’s (Yr 11 student) mum Honey for the delicious cakes and cupcakes, what an absolute treat!

Kings Coronation Street Party

To mark the Coronation of King Charles III, Eaton Square Prep School organised a street party in Eccleston Square on Friday 5 may.

All Year 12 students at the Sixth Form were involved with the running of the event including face painting, designing, and making royal crowns, cake decorating, tug of war and various other stands and games.

Despite the thunderous downpour that happened soon after opening, the event was a huge success and was enjoyed by everyone who attended, reminding us all of the fun and frivolity that can be had at this most quintessential of English traditions. A Royal Street Party!

Trips Dorset

The students in year 9 spent an action packed 3 days down in Dorset on the Land and Wave trip. On day 1 once we arrived in sunny Dorset we played a game of archery tag, where teams of students and teachers had to the last one standing in an elimination game. Then we headed down to the beach for ice creams and paddles in the sea.

The next day we started off rock climbing and abseiling. Lots of the students pushed themselves out of their comfort zones and took on their fear of heights. That afternoon the students were involved in Bushcraft activities, including how to make their own fire and they also worked on their archery skills.

The final day saw the students take on the sea on a giant paddleboard. Wet suits and helmets were on, and they were off into the cold sea! We arrived back at school on Friday afternoon feeling tired but refreshed from all the outdoor activities!

USA Culture & Sports

Seventeen Year 8, 9 and 10 students travelled to NYC and Miami with the P.E. department on a ten-day Culture and Sports trip. The P.E. department done a fantastic job organising the trip.

The students first day in NYC was a full day of sightseeing and sport, the weather was glorious with beautiful clear skies, they departed on foot to visit the 9/11 Memorial Museum and walk round the memorial pools. The afternoon led to a scenic and sunny cruise to the Liberty Island for some photographs at the Statue of Liberty. In the evening, they headed over to the Barclays Centre to attend the Brooklyn Nets vs Houston Rockets basketball game, this was an amazing experience for the students, especially as they spent the game cheering the Brooklyn Nets and were delighted when they won the game.

Another gorgeous day in NYC, as the students made their way to the Yankee Stadium, to watch NY Yankees vs San Francisco Giants MLB game. The students loved spending the day at the impressive stadium to watch NY Yankees win the game. The evening plans were to visit the Rockefeller Centre for the Top of the Rock Observation Deck, the views from the top were truly outstanding.

The last few days in NYC consisted of beautiful views of the city from the top of the Empire State Building, with the sun shining and gorgeous blue skies. Then onto some relaxing activities and football at Central Park, followed by baseball batting cages at Chelsea Piers. The evening was spent at The Broadway, where students attended Aladdin, the musical, it was an outstanding show with exceptional choreography and performances, the Genie was definitely the students’ favourite character.

The second part of the trip took the students and teachers to Miami with temperatures around 35 degrees, to relax and enjoy some of the best beaches in the world. The first day was a very sport heavy day which was fantastic, the students began the day at some ‘Intro to Basketball’ sessions, accompanied by a visit to the Miami Open ATP 1000 final with Mr Green and some relaxing games on the beach to end the day.

After some fairly active days in NYC, the students were quite happy to spend time relaxing on the beach, whilst getting together to play some beach games, volleyball was their favourite. Some students were content swimming in the sea or simply just sunbathing to soak in the sunshine.

Day four was a jam-packed day, the students and staff started their day at the Everglades Holiday Park for an airboat tour to see if they could spot alligators or other interesting wildlife. In the evening they headed to the FLA Live Arena for the NHL Game between Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabers. The students were keen for the Florida Panthers to win and were delighted when they did win, it was a close call.

The trip ended with an early start at the beach, some of the students were up bright and early to head to the beach, they were hoping to catch the sunrise and just managed to do that. Followed by a farewell lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The staff returned with a lot of positives about the trip, in particular how the three-year groups demonstrated excellent teamwork and how well behaved the students were throughout the full ten days.

Sixth Form Geography Trip

Year 12 Fieldwork to Southend on Sea

Our A Level Geography students took flight from the nation’s capital on the 17th and 18th of May and visited the seaside town of Southend on Sea.

Four students visited 3 of the beautiful Southend beaches: Shoeburyness, Thorpe Bay and Chalkwell to collect data to investigate the impact of climate change on coastal processes in this area. Changing beach characteristics along this stretch of coastline, including beach width and profile, pebble shape and size, wave type were all looked at with an attempt to investigate the social and economic impact of erosion on the coastline. It was also an opportunity to see firsthand the effectiveness of different coastal defences on beach morphology, something that has received considerable EU funding.

We had a great two days; although the tide was in (not much of a beach at Chalkwell) a lunch of fish and chips on the beach was followed by a visit to Southend pier – the longest pleasure pier in the world, so all was good!

Sixth Form Supreme Court Visit

This term our Sixth Form students visited the Supreme Court to attend a workshop about the legal system, and the work of this court in particular. As part of this the students got to participate in a mock trial which they enjoyed immensely, this allowed them an insight in to what it is like to be a barrister or judge in the Supreme Court.

The Students also got to watch a real trial in action which they thoroughly enjoyed!

Sixth Form Visitor

On Friday the 19th of May, our Sixth Form were pleased and hugely privileged to welcome Anne Welsh to the school who gave an inspiring talk to our Year 12 students as part of their cultural and social enrichment programme.

Anne Welsh is an internationally recognised author, entrepreneur and philanthropist who has recently launched her memoir, Pain-less to inspire people who, like herself, live with Sickle Cell and work hard to find a pathway to a gratifying life while living with pain. She has appeared on many radio and television spots, such as the BBC and London live, and in front of decision makers and parliamentary political leaders in the UK or in countries around the world where sickle cell is a serious health issue.

Anne is a tireless advocate for sickle cell disease and her memoir, Pain-less, was borne of her determination to raise awareness about the impact invisible diseases such as Sickle Cell can have on individuals, and to give support and advice to other sufferers and their families. Having frequently battled with depression, Anne spoke honestly and candidly to our students about how to overcome adversity and painful challenges in life; to help improve their mental and physical wellbeing and enable them to achieve a joyful and fulfilling life.

We are so grateful to Anne for taking time out of her busy schedule; only the day before she spent time at No. 10 Downing Street speaking with the Deputy Prime Minister! She was warmly received by all the students and provided much food for thought and source of discussion within the students’ body.

Farewell Year 11

Year 11 Leaver's Lunch

On 12 May, the Year 11 students celebrated their final day of formal lessons before study leave began.

The students were treated to a lunch designed by them and made by our head chef, followed by a formal assembly where they received their survival kits. The kits were designed to be used during GCSE examinations and were a token of inspiration and motivation from their Head of Year, Miss Ferguson.

Their teachers also shared words of wisdom through personalised notes.

We wish the Year 11's all the best in their GCSE examinations and look for to our celebratory trip to Thorpe Park when they have concluded.

International Week

In the last week of the half-term the school has celebrated International Week, a very participated and blissful week in our year’s calendar. The week kicked off with an Assembly highlighting the importance of the multicultural dialogue to build an inclusive and flourishing world. During form time the students had the chance to share and discuss about our unique and diverse community through a variety of activities, which led up to an inspiring assembly where many students volunteer to share their passion for their own countries.

Today we had a very popular ES International Breakfast with students sharing delicious food from all around the world and brightening up the school with their own clothes to represent their culture.

The Turkish eye is also known by the name of “Nazar” and it is a protective amulet that is presented in the form of a flat drop whose interior contains the shape of an eye.

Pictured - Yr 7 Neva holding the evil eye, which is a Turkish tradition to have it up in your house to keep away evil.

We are launching an excellent literacy support app called Read&Write, available to all students.

Read&Write is a literacy support toolbar, proven to improve students’ reading and writing. With features to support a diverse range of learners in class, at home, during revision and in exams - helping to build their confidence, understanding and engagement in learning.

To find out more, please contact learningenrichment@eatonsquareschool.com

Don’t forget to sign up to become a Dukes Club member!

Access exclusive rewards, free online parenting webinars, events for you and your child (see below a list of upcoming events), resources and expert advice on everything from potty training to gap year planning!

Visit www.thedukesclub.com to register.

Resources and Events available to Dukes Club members:

Introduction to the UCAT - experts from the Medic Portal share insights into the test and tips on how to prepare effectively - 7 June

Writing a personal statement - Alicia Luba, Director of Oxbridge Applications shares her expertise on the best approach - 28 June

UCAT Masterclass - Two hour masterclass for UCAT students taking an in depth look at the hardest questions and how to approach them effectively - 5 July

Scholarships and financial assistance for US Universities – A-List’s Rebecca Harris discusses educational financing and the funding models in the US.

DUKES STUDY CLUB OFFERINGS FROM A-LIST AND OXBRIDGE APPLICATIONS

SAT/ATC summer bootcamps (brought to you by A-List Education) Personalised University Consultations (brought to you by Oxbridge Applications)