NEWSLETTER
George Green’s School
Five great years at George Green’s - thank you and goodbye By Mr Claxton - Guest Editor of the Principal’s Newsletter Ms Baker has given me the privilege of editing the Principal’s Newsletter this week. It’s a bit of a mixed blessing to be honest - it’s a huge privilege, but when you realise that Ms Baker is an English teacher, you will understand that there’s quite a lot of pressure to make sure the writing is of a high enough standard. So - if there’s an apostrophe in the wrong place - or an “I” not dotted or a “t” not crossed - you know who to blame! Many of you know already that I am leaving George Green’s at the end of this term. I am starting a new job in January - I will explain more later and although I am sad to be leaving George Green’s, I will be taking many happy memories with me. I started working at George Green’s in September 2008. I was appointed at the same time as Ms Whiting - with whom I have worked very closely as a Deputy Head. I was really excited to come to work at George Green’s - it has a fantastic reputation across the country - and even across the world - as an amazing inclusive school. I was also very happy to be able to work with Mrs Frederick, who retired earlier this year, and was a truly inspirational Principal. Since 2008 it’s been a real rollercoaster ride - with more “ups” than “downs” (I even got to spend the day on real rollercoaster rides with our Sixth Form recently - I won’t forget “Stealth” in a hurry!). One of the real highlights was our Ofsted inspection earlier this year - our “good” judgement was the culmination of years of hard work by every member of the George Green’s community. When I am asked what I will miss most about George Green’s, it is without a doubt the people. George Green’s has an incredibly dedicated and devoted team of staff - too many to list - but every single one is utterly committed to making a difference to the lives of our young people. It’s not surprising - our young people are lovely - I will really miss the pupils - especially the banter - so please do come and say goodbye. I’ve had to promise Ms Baker that I won’t try and take the pupils and staff with me to my new school. In January, I start my new job as Principal Designate at Oasis Academy Silvertown. It’s a brand new secondary school - still in the docks, so not a million miles away from George Green’s. It’s a really exciting opportunity for me - you don’t often get the chance to start a school from scratch, and I’m really looking forward to the challenge of creating a fantastic school for the community in Silvertown. I will miss you all. I will definitely keep in touch - and I will be waiting for my invitation to the “George Green’s is Outstanding” party! Be good. Work hard. Thank you for five wonderful years. Mr Claxton
Issue 13 - November 29th 2013
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MFL Mentions
Top Merit Scorers this week in MFL Samia Islam(8M) Overall –By year group Fathiha Al-Rahman(7R) Samia Islam(8M) Sakaria Abdulkadir(9P) Camila Consolmagno(10I) Miss Di Fraia would like to mention the whole Spanish Option 4 class for showing fantastic enthusiasm in Spanish culture and history lessons. They are all inquisitive and critical, just like an IB learner (you are beyond GCSE standards!). Well done! Miss O’Malley would like to mention Halima Begum for her excellent contributions to whole class work, George Harrison for his excellent attempt at catching up with mixed work, Riyaad Uddin for his on going effort and Robbie Carter for effort. Miss Hurley would like to mention Kirsty Goodwin 8H for her amazing work on the past tense over the last 2 weeks.
We have had a great response to our request for Parent Governors and now have four new Parents to take the reins of this most important and worthwhile role. Our New Parent Governors are Mrs Suzannah Wade, Ms Stacey Brown, Ms Muna Muhammed and Ms Debbie Cicalese Congratulations to all four – it is great to have you on board. Pat Jones
Girls’ and Young Women’s Group News Calling all George Green’s School Girls and Young Women Girls’ And Young Women’s Consultation Event Wednesday 4th December Canteen 3.30-5pm Come to this fun event on Wednesday to share your ideas about activities that you would like to see happen in our new Girls’ Group starting in the New Year. The following Year 11 girls have been doing a really brilliant job organising this event; Zahra Al-Aza, Lutfa Begum, Jaheeda Khatun, Hafiza Begum, Fulmodina Saleh, Samia Mohammed, Sabia Khatun and Katrina Kavallierou. Please come and support them, have your say and get involved. It’s going to be awesome!
Miss Abdi would like to mention Jason Naunay(8I) for displaying brilliant enthusiasm for language learning! And class FR7.5 for showing excellent interest in French grammar! Fantastic!
SCIENCE SPECIAL MENTIONS
Sc9.2.1 I would like to congratulate the following pupils for their OUTSTANDING efforts in Sceince. Ashia Aziz, Tasmia Begum, Tanzim Kamali, Mahira Khanom, Abida Syeda, Sabbir Ahmed, Asad Ali and Hamza Mohammed. SC8.1 I would like to congratulate the following pupils for 100% positive behaviour in Science lessons for NEVER getting a frownie and ALWAYS trying their best. Ekram, Cynthia, Jason, Alamin, Jason and Emad. Well done!
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My sociology girls spent Monday’s double lesson (as part of the inequality module) learning about what happened to the food they donated to the foodbank by visiting the warehouse. They also then spent about half an hour sorting out some of the food - they worked so hard and were so enthusiastic that I had one of those ‘teary teachery’ moments! I cannot express how proud I am of them and how much they are putting the sociology they are learning into action. Well done Ms Bowman
LRC CORNER
This week we have received some lovely book reviews. These will be printed on card and dotted around the Library, so look out for them, they may help you to decide your next choice of book. Next week we will choose one to be printed in the Newsletter This week’s special mentions are:Mr Harris’s 8.4 Accelerated Reading class:- LABONNA ALI and RIMA KHATUN, – These two pupils have each quizzed during this last week. MOHIMA BEGUM and MIZAN MOHAMMED - are now neck and neck – 22 quizzes passed each – Well Done! Ms Dann’s 8.6 Accelerated Reading class:- JANA FAJARDO GONZALEZ, MAHIMA YEASMIN and THE AMAZING JASON LAM – These pupils have all quizzed during this last week. Jason is out quizzing everyone – we are so proud of you keep going! My Special, Special Mention has to go this week to MILLY WADE, one of the most reluctant readers I have ever met, but not any more, Milly has just taken out her FOURTH book since Tuesday and done a quiz and brought back long over due books AND actually given me a list of books she wants to read – WOW, WOW and WOW again. We are so proud of you Milly – keep it up and soon you will be on quizzing par with Jason! Ms Trevaskus’s 8.2 Accelerated Reading class:- WAFA MOHBUBUL, ANJUMA SHIKDAR and NISHITHA TAHSIN These pupils have all quizzed during this week. Ms Begum’s 8.3 Accelerated Reading class – A special mention must go to LUKAS – Martine says: ‘Lukus is a credit to his class. Week after week he is focused and completely engrossed in his reading’. Well Done to you all. That is it for this week. Have a lovely weekend and remember…..…read, read, read Pat, Martine and Syed
Horsham 2 star Table Tennis
Horsham 2 star was held on Saturday 23rd November. 8 young people (Nayeem Kibria, Jay Arlain, Leon La, Vincent Chu, Tanvir Chowdhury, Shubo Ahmed, Jason Nunuay) from George Green’s represented Greenhouse Table Tennis Club. All players played well in the group stages and qualified to the next round. Players were then split up into different bands. The finals games were played in the afternoon, where Jason Nunuay won band 4 and Leon La finished runner up in band 2. Congratulations to all of you for making last weekend a successful weekend. I am proud of you and I am looking forward to National Cadet and Junior League this weekend. If you would like to join the table tennis club, below are available sessions. BREAKFAST CLUBMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday . Times: 8AM- 8:40 AM, Place Sports Hall. All welcome. AFTER SCHOOL Monday & Tuesday, Time: 3-5pm Place- Lansbury Room Thursday: Time: 3-5pm. Place- Sports Hall
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A Tribute to Teaching Assistants In school we have many people who support our young people and make sure they are as successful as possible. One particular group of people I want to draw attention to are Teaching Assistants. As their name implies, they assist teachers – but they do much more than this! Many of our pupils could not be as successful as they are without the support of our dedicated group of teaching assistants. They help make the curriculum accessible by using different resources; they offer emotional support and encouragement; they deal with the behaviour of pupils; they teach classes on their own for literacy; they work one to one to enable pupils to take part in whole group lessons and so much more. The value of their work is currently being questioned by government so we wanted to make a big statement about how valued they are at George Green’s School. We wanted to celebrate their commitment and dedication to the pupils. On Wednesday we held a coffee and cakes celebration at breaktime. All the teaching assistants were invited and we had special cupcakes made. It is only a small gesture but I wanted to make sure that they know how much we all appreciate them. Thank you so much, you are a FANTASTIC bunch! Jill Baker Principal
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All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
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PREFECT CORNER: There’s a performance on Thursday 5th December. If you are interested please go to this event and it’s about drugs... you will learn a lot
DAG Performing Arts Pupils perform an informative and entertaining look at Drugs, Alcohol and Gangs. T4 Thursday 5th Dec 4 pm
Cast Actors: Dean Bowman Charlie McElligott Bailey Pryce Alvaro Sadowski Lighting: Kieran Wall Sound: Teddy Simpson Set design: Molly Rayner Clodagh Poulton - Hoare Touhid Chowdhury Lizzi Bellinger Stage managers: Lily Jeffrey Naomi Ojomo
The Prefects would just like to say well done to James Reason for taking part in the Jack Petchey speak out challenge and managing to get to the finals… well done and keep the hard work up.. Upcoming event: On the 4th December there is a girls’ and young women’s event for any girls interested. Please attend this event. It starts @ 3:30-5pm. This is a great opportunity for you as this gives you a chance to have your say and you will be planning activities for our girls’ and young women’s group. Girls’ Football: If any girl is interested in playing football please take part in the girls’ football club as they are recruiting new members. Please go to the PE department after school on a Monday. Yr11 prom: Yr11 as you may know that we need to start thinking of ideas about how we are going to raise money for prom. If you have any ideas please see Miss Honeysett. Revision sessions: (dates for your diary) Monday (science) Tuesday (maths) Wednesday (English) Thursday (Option Subjects) Friday (Homework ICT Catch up Saturdays for yr11 (speak to your teacher if you need to attend) Please do attend these as there are a number of mocks coming up especially for yr9 - yr11. Get ready and revising Vote for 16: If you are interested in the vote for 16s please go and see Dannilea and Sindy Wade 11T... it’s very interesting to see young people getting involved and making a change.
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All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
CITIZENSHIP NEWS On Community Day a group of Year 9 pupils chose to campaign against homophobia in Tower Hamlets. They presented to Peter Golds (Tower Hamlets Councillor) and he was so impressed that they were invited to present their petition to the Tower Hamlets Council Meeting last night. They did an amazing job and impressed the Mayor and Councillors. When asked questions they thought on their feet and gave some excellent answers. They spoke with confidence and passion and earned many rounds of applause from everyone watching. A number of the councillors were so moved that they have agreed to work with the pupils to combat homophobia. The councillor responsible for education said that he was keen to come in and meet with them to look at ways to address it in schools in the borough and the councillor responsible for housing said that she was going to put their petition into practice to ensure that there is no discrimination when it comes to housing. They are Sami Mohammed Abdus, Nawal Abdi, Tanzin Kamali and Hannah Truong Ms Gainey Yesterday a group of year 9 pupils (Tanzin Kamali 9G, Hannah Truong 9H, Nawal Abdi 9A and Mohammed Sami Abdus) went to a Tower Hamlets Meeting and they presented a petition of homophobia to a room full of councillors people. They were very confident, bold and courageous. The councillors were very impressed by the amount of knowledge and courage they had when presenting. George Green’s is proud to have such amazing pupils who have represented the school very well. We hope that everybody can take their example and interpret it in their life. They believe that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people are humans too so why shouldn’t they be treated equally. They have the same human rights and we have a responsibility to protect their rights no matter what sexual orientation they are. We are proud of the year 9 pupils for standing up and raising awareness in Tower Hamlets. Well Done!
Tanzin Kamali
Spanish cooking!
In order to develop their team work skills students from year 11-13 cooked up a storm on PSHE day! “Spanish croquettes” were on the menu from a homemade recipe courtesy of John Martinez! The group worked well together, prepping the vegetables, mixing up the herbs, rolling the croquettes in flour before deep frying them. They even made a vegetarian version for Miss Moore. Big thanks go to Mr Fincham and Pat for the cooking session, John for the delicious recipe and Ms Hughes for letting us use her cooking room! Miss Moore & Mr Orton.
All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
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Year 7 Form of the week
I couldn’t decide from 2 forms this week so this week’s forms of the week are 7 Bengal Tiger and 7 Bottlenose Dolphin. 7T managed to equal 7S’s 100% attendance from Monday to Friday and will therefore get a non-school uniform day on Monday. A big congratulations to 7T. Well Done! 7D has had an amazing week with merits and have come 2nd this week. Maybe they could win the merit cup if they keep up the great work. The Merits Cup We definitely have our front runners in the merit cup now. Will 7H, 7R and 7P manage to keep up the good work? Will another form be able to have a push in the last 3 weeks? Well done 7R for being first this week. Well done to 7H for your merits so far this term. Results for the week (21.11.13 to 27.11.13) 1st 7R 2nd 7D 3rd 7H Results for the half term so far 1st 7H 2nd 7R 3rd 7P Attendance Cup A little bit of a disappointment this week. We are aiming for 97% attendance in year 7 and it has dropped for the 3rd week in a row. Our attendance has dropped to 95.52%. I thought we almost got it when we had 96.99% but we have dropped back again. Can we have a big attendance push for the last 3 weeks of half term? I hope so. A big round of applause for 7P and 7O who are doing their best to keep us above 97% a huge well done to 7P for being top this week. Year 7 Attendance 96.99% 7th November to 13th November 96.21% 14th November to 20th November 95.52% 21st November to 27th November Year 7 form’s attendance (21.11.13 to 27.11.13) 1st 7P 97.6% 2nd 7O 97.01% 3rd 7O 96.53% Special mentions 7 Black Rhino (7R) Miss McLeggan and Mrs Selby would like to congratulate: Alfie B 7R had a great week and now 7R are gaining more merit points! 7R have also been great with their positivity regarding the Wednesday morning internationalism and are becoming real global citizens with an interest in the world. Keep up the good work 7 Bottlenose Dolphin (7D) Miss Akthar and Ms Di Fraia would like to nominate Ben Preston for being caring and helpful, Adam Collins for being polite and cheerful with everybody, Hanifa and Nishat for being mature and responsible. We are very proud of you all, 7D!
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All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
Year 8 TRIUMPHS
Overall Top Merit Scorers of the week is Annila Abbas 8H. Well done. Number of positive merit slips for the last 7 days Total Average per pupil Top Merit Scorer Lates Attendance 8T 1351 56 Rokshana Ali 6 94% 8R 1426 57 Fang Ling Zheng 11 97% 8I 1328 55 Rezwana Uddin 6 90% 8U 728 29 Elizabeth Musset 9 95 % 8M 1063 44 Ibrahim Yusuf 14 98% 8P 2220 96 Luiza De Almeida 6 98% 8H 1573 65 Fathia Begum 5 96% Which form will have the highest average by Friday ? Results will be announced in assembly next week. Year 8 motto - “A dream will always triumph over reality, once it is given the chance.” Stanislaw Lem Special Mentions this week Miss Kotum and Mr Karim 8P Would like to say well done to Hannah for her amazing contributions in the class discussions on PSHE day. Miss Ahmad and Miss Begum 8I Would like to mention Rezwana and Sakil for always doing the right thing and helping during tutor time. Miss Short and Miss Begum 8U Would like to mention Rafi for his improved behaviour and Habib, Mohammed, Maisha and Rima for getting 0 incidents and for always being punctual. Miss Dann and Mr Sliti 8M Would like to Umar for being greatly improved and all of those pupils in 8M who are receiving lots of merits, especially Samia Islam. Miss Bramley and Miss Dalling 8R Would like to mention Jade Hanmore for being supportive of others pupils in her form class. Mr Remita and Mr Rashid 8H Would like to mention Lauren Lamb for always being punctual. Ms Hoblyn Would like to mention Emad Uddin 8P for his amazing work and progress. We would like to say a big thank-you to all the parent/ carers who attended our Cyber-Bullying Coffee Mornings last Thursday/Friday. We really appreciate your support, especially with a subject like this. As a school, we think it’s really important that parent/carers are made aware of the different types of bullying and the ways it can affect your child, also the possible ways of detecting a problem, so thank-you!
All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
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MAT Corner On Tuesday, it was an honour to accompany George Green’s students from Y9 and Y11 on our trip to Wadham College, Oxford University. Alongside two other schools, students were selected from the top achievers in their year group to spend a day experiencing life at the university. We were treated to a tour of the college and were lucky enough to be able to quiz current students all about life at Oxford. Students particularly enjoyed the taster seminars, where we had the privilege of being taught by some of the world’s leading experts, in their particular fields. As staff, we were proud to see our students acting so maturely in this academic environment and it was very gratifying to hear so many students aspiring to further themselves. Thank you so much to all of these students for being so engaged. Thank you also to Fokrul for all of his support with the trip. If you have any questions about any issues to do with More Able and Talented provision at George Green’s please contact Miriam Wright on mwright@georgegreens.com
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All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
KS4 mocks from 9‐13 December Monday 9th December
1 2 KS4 PE Practical Exam 2 hrs KS4 Food Technology 2 hrs KS4 Resistant Materials 2 hrs KS4 Textiles 2 hrs KS4 Textiles 2 hrs KS4 Graphics 2 hrs KS4 Sociology Paper One 1hr 30mins
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Y9 Citizenship 1 hr
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Y10 RE Paper One 1hr 45mins Y11 RE Paper One 1 hr 45mins
KS4 Spanish Listening 1hr KS4 Spanish Reading 1 hr KS4 French Listening 1 hr KS4 French Reading 1 hr Tuesday 10th December
Catch up CATs tests
AS RE 1 hr
KS4 Geography 1 hr 30 mins Wednesday 11th
Y10 Maths Mock Exam Paper One 1hr 45mins
Thursday 12th
KS4 PE Theory Paper 1 hr
December
p KS4 Humanities Paper 1 hr KS4 Business Paper 1hr
FFriday 13th id 13 h December
KS4 Music 1 hr
Y10 BTEC Science 1 hr
KS4 History Paper One and Paper Two 2hrs 30 mins KS4 Sociology Paper Two 1hr 30mins KS4 Sociology Paper Two 1hr 30mins
Y11 Citizenship Paper One 1 hr
Y10 M h M k E Y10 Maths Mock Exam Paper Two 1 hr 45 mins P T 1 h 45 i
Y10 RE Paper Two 1hr 45mins Y11 RE Paper Two 1hr 45mins
Y11 ICT 1 h 30 i Y11 ICT 1 hr 30 mins
Y11 Citizenship Paper T 1h Two 1 hr
Christmas Time at Mudchute Farm! Every Thursday students are at Mudchute Farm and this week we were getting the farm ready for Christmas! The group is made up of students in year nine up to year 11 and is accompanied by Martin, Liz, Quddoos and Miss Moore or Mr Orton. This week we had to move 20 Christmas trees to the area by the small animals ready for selling to the general public. The trees were between 4ft and 6ft high and so it was thirsty work and the students got rewarded with tea and biscuits. Whilst this was going on some of the students were making sure the farm was safe for the public by clearing up the leaves and moving them to the compost heap. We couldn’t forget the horses as their stables needed cleaning out too! So it was a mucky morning for us all. Thanks to Denise and Tina for working so hard with us all year round! Mr Orton
All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow
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GCSE RE Revision Conferences Paper 1: Monday 2nd December 3.15 - 5.15 & Paper 2: Wednesday 4th December 3.15 5.15. This is to prepare you for the mock the week after and it is vital you attend.
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All different, all equal, learn today, succeed tomorrow