End of Term
Highlights Spring 2022
Welcome Dear Parents, Students and Staff I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the start of the Easter break. It has certainly been a busy six weeks and this half term’s newsletter showcases all of the wonderful highlights of this half term. Please do take a few minutes to enjoy reading about what the students have been up to. A special mention and well done to all students in Year 10 and 11 who have completed their Duke of Edinburgh expedition last week – a fantastic achievement. Whilst the Easter holiday is a chance for many within our school community to have a well-deserved rest, it continues to be busy at 106 Piccadilly. We fully believe in investing in the building to ensure our students have the best learning environment possible. Over the next fortnight, new glass doors are being installed in our Lounge area, a collaborative learning space which is mostly used for Computer Science and IT skills lessons. This will further increase the versatility of this wonderful space. Work has also commenced on our outdoor wellbeing space, The Terrace, which should be completed early in the start of the Summer Term. This will provide a wonderful space for all members of our school community to enjoy as the days become brighter and warmer. We hope you have a chance to come see it shortly into the new term. Finally the music room is relocating from the top floor to the basement to provide extra space for lessons and storage of musical equipment. The Summer Term calender is already full with lots to look forward to. A reminder that you can access this via the Parent Portal so you are able to save key dates to your personal diaries. Please do make a note of our annual Prize Giving which will, after being online for the past two years, take place at Chelsea Old Town Hall at 2.00pm on Tuesday 5 July. We very much hope parents will be able to attend and an invitation will be sent to you early next term. We wish Year 11 the very best over the Easter break with their revision and hope that all swimmers attending the Tenerife Swimming Trip have a wonderful time! I look forward to seeing you soon. Best wishes Mrs Townshend (Headmistress)
Academic Maths Intermediate Maths Challenge - 2 February 2022 Ten students from Year 10 and 11 took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, and we are very proud to say that we attained 8 certificates out of 10. Jack (Year 11), Vladimir and Alan (Year 10) received Gold and qualified for Pink Kangaroo. THE NEXT ROUND Ahmet (Year 11) received Silver. Daniel (Year 11) Kairo, Salimbek and Olivia (Year 10) each received Bronze.
Pi Day Each year Pi day is celebrated on 14 Mar 2022. Thirty five students from Year 7 and 8 took part. The competitors have to memorise Pi digits and recite these in front of the whole class. Mimi from Year 7 was able to recite 100 digits.
Academic Science Monday 14 March marked the start of Science Week at Eaton Square Senior School which coincided with British Science Week.
The theme of this week was growth! This started with every student being given a seedling, with a challenge to grow the tallest seed by the end of the week. On Tuesday we had a presentation from little beast expert, Nick. Year 7, 8 and 9 were shown some weird and wonderful insects that exist across the planet, and even given the opportunity to hold stick insects, beetles and giant snails. Don't worry! No insects escaped during these sessions! The next interesting task which all students took part in was a dissection. Students got to observe as our expert Science teachers carefully and skilLfully dissected lab grown rats, an unforgettable experience! This led into the eye dissection where students got hands on experience of the different parts of the eye. To round out the week, we measured the tallest seedlings and prizes are incoming to the winner of each year group. We hope that students got a taste of how amazing Science can be!
To coincide with the British Science Week 2022. Year 8 students have been learning about the structure and function of the human digestive system. We kick-started the topic by watching a short documentary about the day-to-day life of a teenage girl, who as a result of an accident in a swimming pool involving a defective suction pump, lost most of her digestive system. Students discussed how taking daily liquid supplements due to the absence of a fully-functioning digestive system contributed to stunted growth in the teenage girl. After a few lessons, students were asked to produce a 3D model of the human digestive system. Some excellent work was submitted and students really showed their creative streak by using various materials such as wool, felt, different types of pasta, sweets, a vacuum hose, a can of cola, papiermâché, play-doh and rice amongst others.
Academic IT & Computing GCSE trip to the National Museum of Computing On 14 March 2022 Year 10 and 11 computer science students had the exciting opportunity to learn about World War II Code-breaking and Modern Electronic Computing, as part of their visit to the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley. Home to the world’s largest collection of working historic computers, students were able to take a guided tour of the Museum’s key exhibits including the World War II Code-breaking machines, The Bombe, Tunny and Colossus; First Generation Computers; personal computers and retro games. Providing valuable Key Stage 4 curricular links to Computer Science, the Museum’s Learning Programme also enabled students to explore the areas of Computer Programming and Artificial Intelligence through a series of interactive workshops, and to participate in group challenges to reinforce their understanding of computer technologies.
Academic GCSE Drama 23 March 2022 The Year 10 and 11 Drama students took part in a performance evening which showcased what the students have been learning and preparing throughout the course. The Year 10 students performed a range of scenes from their set text, ‘Blood Brothers,’ and the Year 11's will performed monologues from plays such as 'Colder Than Here,' 'Tomorrow's Wish' and 'Teechers.'
Academic Climate Change
Geography Our Year 9 students studied Climate Change this term We have been having lively discussions about the impacts of human activity globally and how we could change our behaviours to influence the lives of others now and in the future. Some of the more nuanced debate has come when thinking about the fairness of the consequences global warming, and how there might be advantages to some areas such as a growth of tourism in Brighton and the development of vineyards in Kent whilst swathes of central Africa are experience a new phenomenon of environmental refugees due to extreme water scarcity.
Music Year 10 GCSE Music Hans Zimmer Concert - 18 March 2022 Our Year 10 Music students were treated to a magical evening of iconic film music by Hans Zimmer performed by a strong quarter by candle light, and had a wonderful time. The concert was held at the beautiful Westminster Central Hall and gave the pupils an invaluable opportunity to hear the music and ensembles they study for their exam live and in the flesh.
Beano Exhibition
Art
The Year 8 pupils recently went to Somerset House to see the Beano exhibition as they have started to study animation.
Pippa is a contemporary figurative realism artist working primarily with oils and digital drawings. While she trained as an Architect, throughout her life she has continued to paint and draw.
Art Appreciation Society Presentation Careers Interior Design
Pippa worked with the Year 10 pupils to help them create an oil painting based on coursework studies.
Eaton Square Senior School welcomed Krista Hoffman from Krista Hoffman Design. Krists presented to pupils her personal journey on becoming an Interior Designer along with sharing projects she has worked on around the world.
Modern Foreign Languages “Carpe Poem” Poetry Recital Competition
Year 8 and 9 participated in the “Carpe Poem” poetry recital competition in the MFL department this half term. They enjoyed learning a poem in the target language and some of them shone in their performances in class! The class votes together with Mr Lees and Miss Corisco decided on the shortlisted finalists who were set another poem to learn. The final has taken place at break on 15th and 16th March, and, as our fantastic Year 11 judges said, it has been a fierce one! All the finalists have all worked really hard and put an incredible amount of effort into learning the poems and performing them for their audience!
Y8 FRENCH
Runners-up: Daniel Song & Alexander Tyukhtin WINNER: Savannah Story
Y9 FRENCH
Runners-up: Amina Arkalleya & Kenza Guessous WINNER: Talia Edrees
Y8 SPANISH
Runners-up: Michael (Misha) Prokopenya & Alkakhkhar Kaliyev WINNER: Adam Rauf
Y9 SPANISH
Runners-up: Wajeh Altanger & Matteo Acquaviva WINNER: Jesper Dane
Our fantastic Y11 judges: French: Daniel Gamlin & Isabella Zhang Spanish: Viktor Bulatovic & Dilara Ongan
Sports Football It was a fantastic half term of Football at Eaton Square with successful fixtures against the likes of Emanuel, Hampton & Latymer. In our latest fixture against Emanuel school, our U14’s team delivered the performance of the season in a 4-0 victory. It was a great display at both ends of the pitch, Gerrard Del Paz Rio scored a brilliant hattrick at one end, and our defence held firm at the other, despite a great deal of second half pressure. A brilliant team effort and reward for a term of hard work.
Visual Illusions
Visual Illusions
Psychology
The GCSE psychology students have been studying visual illusions. Try this for yourself! Stare at the white dot in between the green and red squares. After a minute, quickly look at the dot in between the two hills. This demonstrates how flexible our perceptual system is; how it is constantly changing and responding to cues in the environment. The students explored this further by discussing the relative contributions of nature and nurture to our perception of the external world. This discussion went beyond the visual world. We discussed how perception shapes our understanding of our own world-views in the broader sense too. Psychology combines philosophy and science in order to try and understand the human condition.
Mock Exams In the two weeks after half term the Year 11 students sat their GCSE mock examinations, the final practice before the real exams in the summer. Notwithstanding a tube strike, the session went very smoothly, the students applied themselves very well indeed. It was clear from the results that their efforts since the November assessments had helped them to make significant progress, many improving subjects by as much as a grade. We hope that they will continue to prepare with focus and energy, and wish them all good luck for the real thing!
Preparation for Life How does making paper sunglasses and switching the hand that one brushes their teeth with prepare us for life? This week in KS4 Preparation for Life, students explored the work of Professor Karen Pine, co-founder of "Do Something Different" Flex (dsd.me). By doing something very simple like making some origami sunglasses, or changing the wrist that we wear our watch on, we can instigate behavioural change by hacking into our autopilot. The students learnt how small, simple changes can increase our behavioural repertoire in surprising ways. As a tool for the future, being able to access different behaviours for different challenges and being flexible will certainly give our students the edge over other candidates in the world of work and when applying for university. So this week, the students were charged with a simple "do something different" to discuss next week. Emmet said he is going to switch hands when he brushes his teeth. We look forward to seeing how them get on!
Body Positivity Week In February we celebrated body positivity at Eaton Square, by dedicating a whole week of assemblies and form times to it. A particular highlight was an assembly by Mr Mackenzie, discussing exercise and body positivity with the Year 8 & 9 pupils. Pupils were also encouraged to use positive affirmations throughout the week, to encourage a body positive attitude in our community.
Since there was a focus on positive messaging, our Year 7 students were challenged to do something that would reinforce this positivity. The work produced ranged from positive messages on post it notes which are still on display around the form room, posters about why their bodies are fabulous and poems about the values of their bodies. The support within the year was lovely, with the students happy to read out their work in front of each other reflecting the supportive nature in the community around potentially sensitive issues.
House News Chess Tournament
Four of our students represented Eaton Square Senior School at the inaugural Eaton House the Manor chess tournament. Year 8 - Alexander Tyukhtin, Misha Prokopenya & Nikolas Latypov, Year 7 - Adiyat Ualikhan They put on an excellent performance and had a great time meeting other like-minded chess enthusiasts. At the presentation ceremony, it was announced that our team achieved joint first place with the hosts, based on number of rounds won. Sadly, to pick a winner, the organisers decided to use points as the criterion, ultimately leaving us with a hard-fought second place finish.
Guest Speaker Westminster Safer Schools Unit On 15 March, the Year 9, 10 and 11 students engaged in a presentation delivered by PC Liz Waudby and Constable Alan Sinclair from the Westminster Safer Schools Unit. The talk was about street safety and online safety; informing students of the laws and actively engaging students in discussing and exploring a case study.
Creative Arts Week This week we are celebrating Creative Arts across the school in assemblies, form time activities and lunchtime workshops. Each year the Creative Arts Faculty choose to focus on a key theme and this year's theme is 'Community.’
The Activities included: Music - Create your own super-band | Tour the Albert Hall Sign and sing Art - Virtual gallery visit Drama - Tour Shakespeare’s globe | Tour 11 theatres from around the world | • Write a monologue Lunchtime Workshops - Drumming workshop | Calligraphy House Competition - Play in a day Year 7 drumming workshop delivered by Mr Levett as part of the Creative Arts Week
Calligraphy Workshop Our Calligraphy workshop was led by Farah Rauf, one of our Year 8 students parent. Farah also works as an independent calligrapher and has worked for the likes of the Royal family, Royal Opera House, Game of Thrones and Houses of Parliament.
A nurturing, co-educational day school in the heart of our capital. Headmistress, Caroline Townshend
Eaton Square Senior School 106 Picadilly London W1J 7NL 020 7491 7393 office@eatonsquareschools.com eatonsquareschools.com