HARRIS MESSENGER www.harrismorden.org.uk
Message from the Principal Once more we find ourselves at the end of another half term. As you may be aware the Academy had the pleasure of welcoming Ofsted to complete their Monitoring review. I am very pleased to inform parents that this went exceptionally well.
May 2013
PSHE Culture Day Friday 24th May 2013
The Academy is now making RAPID progress. The official report will be released in June, but the following will demonstrate some of the highlights from the feedback we received. • The Academy has an UNCOMPROMISING approach to improving teaching • Behaviour is TRANSFORMED and students are PROUD of their Academy • Students feel SAFE due to the calm environment • Student believe teachers are better ORGANISED and deliver more interesting and CHALLENGING lessons • An EXPLOSION of cultural opportunities has been offered • Students are making BETTER and FASTER progress than ever before It was recognised that the drive for improvement is RELENTLESS and expectations are now HIGH! We are extremely proud of the achievements this Academy has made. The progress has been extremely quick and brought about huge benefits for our students. This is the first step to Outstanding; we will take stock of our success and then begin the next stage of our journey and continue the exceptional work to date. As we are all aware, good teaching is at the forefront of our improvements. To do this you need a full complement of staff. I am pleased to inform parents that this Academy is fully staffed. We have excellent teaching and support staff, that go the ‘extra mile’, and work extremely long hours to support our students. I would like to thank all staff, students and parents who together have helped this Academy to reach such a fabulous position in record time! For Year 11 the end of their time with us is quickly approaching. Students are now deep into their examination period. As I have previously communicated to you, lessons will continue as normal until the 7th June to provide last minute revision. We wish all Year 11 students the very best of luck! Finally, I hope all members of our community have a restful half term and come back ready to work hard and achieve their end of year targets. Best wishes, Mr Mallin Principal
COURAGE, CHALLENGE, SUCCESS
Remembering Mrs Henderson Mrs Henderson our SRC Manager sadly passed away during this half term. Staff, students and parents were shocked to receive this news. All members of our community have supported each other during this extremely difficult time and I am very proud with the mature and respectful attitude our students have demonstrated. Students have come forward with lovely ideas such as a book of condolence as well as ways we can remember Mrs Henderson, such as a named bench or the planting of a tree within our gardens. After half term we will select one of the proposals with Mrs Henderson’s family. All our thoughts and prayers at this time are with Mrs Henderson’s family, a mother, wife and colleague. A prayer for a mother O God, who hast commanded us to honor our father and our mother; in Thy mercy have pity on the soul of my mother, and forgive her her trespasses; and make me to see her again in the joy of everlasting brightness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Richert, P
‘Music is for
Life’
The Royal Albert Hall provided the backdrop for an inspirational evening of music making by Merton schools and Merton Music Foundation on Monday 22 April. Our Senior Choir performed with over 1200 other young people from across the Borough of Merton. Songs included; ‘Proud’, ‘Ain’t no Mountain High Enough’ and the specially commissioned ‘The Journey’.
‘To be standing on the same stage where so many famous musicians have stood was a unique experience!’
Picture courtesy of Merton Music Foundation 2013
Design and Technology The Design and Technology department have enjoyed a fantastic start to the Summer term. The students have been working with the two new staff members Miss Hutson- Director of Technology and Mr Fortt the new Resistant Materials teacher. In year 7, 8 and 9 students have been taking part in a wide variety of design and make activities with much success and enjoyment. Students are rushing to see what they are cooking in their food lessons and have enjoyed making many dishes such as marble cake, chicken pies and fresh pizza.
Year 11 Graphics have designed and made a variety of board games and their packaging to a strong standard. Looking ahead to next term students will be able to take part in the Ready, Steady, Cook interfaculty challenge. We are especially proud of how the students’ skills have improved in just 6 weeks and we look forward to many more opportunities, next term, to produce products the students will be able to take home to show family members.
In KS3/4 students have been coming back to catch up on work and improve levels in after school clubs alongside extra revision for exams. Year 10 Resistant Materials have been working on their chairs and year 10 Textiles students producced their own stylish skirts. KS3 resistant materials are coming back to work on their spice racks, bookends, box designs with Mr Fortt and are working hard on perfecting their finishes.
Year 11 Catering students have manufactured a stunning selection of restaurant style food for their controlled assessment. Year 11 Resistant M a t e r i a l s students have manufactured a wonderful range of tables and are now preparing for the final examination. Year 11 Textiles students have completed a beautiful variety of dresses and garments from their own pattern developments and designs.
Outstanding Students Food and Textiles Year 7 - Luke Lavender for positivity and following information in food lessons Year 8 - Harry Stanley- Consistent improvement in practical skills. Year 9 - Szymon Kwiatkowski- Consistently producing good quality food Year 10 - Jenny Minzako- Strong class contribution to answers and design development work Year 11 - Ivet Angelova- For her outstanding controlled assessment piece and folder Resistant Materials and Graphics Year 7- Anissa Rosen- beautiful presentation and design work Year 8 – Mohammed Khan- good independent learner Year 9 – Patrycia Micek- Focused and consistent effort Year 10 – John Dye- Strong aptitude and ability within his practical work Year 11- Veronika Zidulina- working hard to catch up on work, good overall outcome
Art The Art Department has enjoyed an extremely busy and productive half term. One major event was our year 11 exam, which was spread over two days. Our students worked incredibly hard and produced some fantastic pieces of artwork. We wish them all well with the remainder of their exams! In KS3,Year 7 students have been working on a project based on Pop Art, and incorporating the bright colours and images of popular culture associated with this movement, into their own work. Year 8 have been looking at the work of Kandinsky and creating artwork based on feelings and emotions, using oil pastels and inks. Year 9 students are looking at the patterns and colours of microscopic images, and creating artwork with oil pastels on black paper which look really effective. Year 10 students are continuing with their Henry Moore studies and have been learning how to make stencils, then printing their own designs using these.
One last major event to mention is our Art department blog that is now up and running on the home page of our Academy website. On this you can browse through the students artwork, take a look at Academy displays and keep up with any news or events that take place within our department. There is also the chance to comment or ask questions about any of the work, we look forward to hearing from you!
Outstanding Students Year 7 - Tara Rousselot Year 8 - Amber Macguire Year 9 - Katie Wallder Year 10 - Daria Pietras Year 11 - Wiktoria Pohnke
Maths The summer term got off to a wonderful start. The Mathematics department welcomed its new director, Mr Whelan and Year 10 began its bespoke period of intervention and booster sessions.
mathematics GCSE. Further support and guidance is still on hand for those who are sitting the maths GCSE in the summer.
The maths department also welcomes the return of MY MATHS with all students receiving personalised log ins and training sessions. All students at Harris Morden can now access MY MATHS anywhere in the world and practise their maths skills.
A final word must go to all the Year 10 and Year 11 students who are coming in over the holidays to take part in mathematics booster sessions. All those extra sessions really do make a difference!
Year 11 is set to produce the highest pass rate ever at Harris Academy Morden in mathematics and we would like to pass on our congratulations to everyone who has completed their
Outstanding Students
Year 7: Lara Chart - A magnificent clear-thinking mathematician who makes thoughtful contributions to learning. Year 8: Charlie Harris - A creative thinker who loves to solve problems. Year 9: Tatu Brown - A talented mathematician who shows interest in all aspects of mathematics. Year 10: Courtney Avery - A student who loves a challenge and can apply knowledge to solve problems. Year 11: Ivet Angelova - An extremely hardworking and talented student who uses clever thinking to solve a range of problems. Congratulations to the many other students who were nominated by their teachers this term.
ICT What a year for the ICT and Computing Department, with even bigger stuff to come next year. The students have relished using their brand new computers on a faster network.The systems in the academy will be even faster for next academic year when we have new cabling infrastructure and servers installed over the summer. We’ll also be refreshing the software list so prepare for super fast information interchange with cutting edge software next year. Budding newscasters in Year 7 have been making broadcast quality podcasts by researching and writing their own news-story scripts
and recording themselves into a software application called Audacity. This software not only allows the digital recording of sound but also the overlaying of backing tracks and music to create really professional results. In KS3 Year 8 and 9 students have been honing their web development skills utilising the Adobe Creative Suite, namely applications such as Dreamweaver and Fireworks. They have created their own graphics such as mastheads, footers and roll over menu buttons using a theme of the Simpson family. Some of those students have written their own web content and designed many of the graphics themselves from
scratch. In KS4 Year 10 Computer Science students have further developed their knowledge of programming in Python. Students are writing their own programs, handling user input and writing to and from files.They have now embarked on the theory side of the computing course and have been working with binary and exploring recent technological advances such as the ARM processor, which has made the tablets and mobile devices we all use possible.
KS4 coursework club has been full of students in earnest on a nightly basis. Year 11 has really fulfilled its potential and can hopefully look forward to some great results in August. This will be a just reward for all their hard work so well done to them.
Outstanding Students Year 7: Kiarra Ferreira and Mia Gilmour for their efforts in the podcasting unit of work (paired work). Year 8: Bartlomiej Tomaszewski for his outstanding progress Year 9: Benjamin Tomanek for consistently producing outstanding work in lessons. Year 10 Computing: Erica Dos Santos Saraiva for her outstanding progress in a very difficult subject. Year 10 ICT: Jordan Southam-Singh, great progress, great work. Year 11: Sandra Acheampong, for her outstanding GCSE ICT coursework and contribution to the department.
Science The Science Department has recently undergone a lot of change which the staff and students have embraced and we look forward to an exciting new future. In KS3 Year 7 and 8 students have completed their year’s work and have now moved on to the next year’s topics. Year 9s have recently completed assessments and are now practising GCSE coursework skills. In KS4 Year 10 and 11 GCSE science students are currently revising hard for their exams. We shall be extremely sad to see the Year 11s depart but we wish them every success in their future endeavours. I n our KS3 Science Club we have enjoyed investigating Smarties and M&Ms using chromatography and setting fire to jelly babies! Next term we will be completing more fun experiments. G&T Science Club are after school on Thursdays and so far we have explored what superbugs are and next we will be looking at animal behaviour.
Upcoming Science Interfaculty Competition This term’s challenge is Balloon Car Racing. Teams have now met their dedicated Science teacher helpers and are now carefully designing and collating materials for their cars ready for building next term. Race date is Wednesday 26th June.
RACE DAY - 26TH JUNE 2013!
Outstanding Students
Year 7 - Tara Rousselot, a student who shows real commitment and loves the challenges posed to her in Science. Year 8 - Dzifa Fiadonu-Adjei, who has brilliant mind and inquisitive nature with a love for everything Science Year 9 - Ashley Beatty for the highest score in the SATs paper assessment. Year 10 - Mohammed Khan, again for his drive and determination in Science which proves if you study hard you succeed Year 11- Jehen Zabir, whose questioning Scientific mind has earned her the catch phrase “but why?” Congratulations to the many other students who were nominated by their teachers this term.
PSHE Culture Day On Friday May 24th HAMD had another successful PSHE day. The programme for the day was designed to encourage our students to develop their understanding of their own cultural identity and the identity of other students within the HAMD community. At HAMD we have an unique and extremely diverse community and we wanted to explore and celebrate this together. At the beginning of the day the students were given a passport and used it to record the different range of activities that they completed throughout the day. Students were given the opportunity to gain a variety of different cultural experiences that were related to British cultural identity and the cultural identity of many of our students. Among many different activities some students got to sample food from around the world, they learnt new sports and studied their cultural importance to different nations, they had to opportunity to complete some Polish traditional craft and many created their own unique piece of art work that will be used in a school cultural display to represent the day. Students showed interest and enthusiasm throughout the day, they worked well in faculty teams to really show that our school is a thriving and diverse community that appreciates and respects each member.
Modern Foreign Languages In year 7 students have been learning about the delicious topic of chocolate. They have learnt about the history of chocolate and the importance of buying Fair Trade chocolate to support workers who are not a fortunate as we are! This term students in year 8 became fashion critics. They have worked hard to express and justify their opinions on different styles of clothing. Students have also developed their SMSC skills by discussing the tragic incident in India where the clothes factory collapsed and whether they have a moral duty to help.
Students in year 9 have been discussing different aspects of the world of business this term. They have also worked extremely hard to create their own Dragons Den and as a result, many students produced excellent persuasive presentations on a product of their choice. Students in year 10 have been working towards their third
writing Controlled Assessment on new technologies. They also enjoyed listening to an authentic song on the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook! The time has come to say ‘Au revoir and Adiós’ to our year 11s. It has been a challenging two years however, it has been a pleasure to teach you all and to see many of you become excellent linguists! Good luck and continue to work hard to achieve the success that you all deserve!
Outstanding Students SPANISH Year 7 - Loren Cox for producing excellent work this term! Year 8 - Kiera Marshall and Sarah Belair for an outstanding speaking presentation. Year 9 - Akshay Chundunsing for attending Intervention club to improve his Spanish skills. Well done for producing a good speaking presentation! Year 10 - Erica Dos Santos for consistently producing work of an excellent standard in her Spanish GCSE course. Year 11 - Well done to all French and Spanish students for completing the GCSE course! FRENCH Year 10 - Victoria Daka is always polite and helpful in lessons. She has also worked extremely hard in lessons this term and has produced some fantastic work. Saskia Ortiz for achieving the highest test results this term!v
EXTRA SUPPORT
www.hellomylo.com Register as a learner and compete against your classmates and other schools in England!
Student Referral Centre Peer Mentoring Scheme This term we launched the Peer Mentoring Scheme with great success to date. The chief aim of the scheme is to provide students suffering from social, emotional, behavioural and educational problems with a peer mentor able to offer support and guidance. There are two main objectives; for the mentees to overcome their problems and to achieve academic and personal success, and for the mentors to gain an accredited mentor status qualification which can be taken into further education and the workplace. The group of years 9 and 10 students that were recruited and intensively trained last term, have been assigned one younger mentee each, whom they meet with once per week during tutor time. The meetings have all been very positive with the mentees feeling that they can express themselves to their mentor and taking on board the sound advice and guidance given. An additional group of mentors will be recruited and trained prior to the summer vacation to enable the scheme to expand in the new academic year.
Alive ‘N’ Kicking
As part of its wider function the Student Referral Centre organises and provides extracurricular activities that are open to all Academy students. April saw the start of the 12 week Alive N Kicking programme after school on Tuesday afternoons. The programme is run by the NHS to provide students with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle and the positive impact this can have on their life. Each session begins with information giving and discussion about a specific topic followed by an exercise session led by a personal trainer. Topics include portion size, food labelling, the Eatwell plate, weight management, snacks (with the opportunity to create and eat a healthy snack), recipe suggestions and advice / ideas on how to lead a more active lifestyle. Students that attend the programme receive a weekly gym session free at The Hub. A group of year 10 boys joined the programme at the start and, they have been joined by more students each week. The facilitators have been very impressed with our students stating “The Harris boys are a joy, they are really engaged and keen”.
Physical Education The PE department have had a busy half term with 2 new members of staff joining the department. Myself and Mr Jensch look forward to getting to know the students better and working with them all in the future. Year 11 students have recently completed their final assessment for their JSLA course and led a multiskills festival for year 2 students from Malmesbury Primary School. This was a very successful event with students enjoying the opportunity to take charge. All students were outstanding on the day but Savita Paul and Krzysztof Werner demonstrated exceptional leadership skills throughout the event. Year 8 students have had the opportunity to officiate at various events this half term with boys umpiring at the quick cricket tournament in Mitcham, and the girls leading a tournament for children with special educational needs.
Outstanding Students Year 7 - Victoria Treacy for outstanding effort and attitude in all PE lessons Year 8 - Jack Salter for commitment and determination in all PE lessons Year 9 - Goda Baltunsnikaite for determination and progress in PE Year 10 - Sana Majid for consistently good BTEC work and a positive attitude Year 11- Irah Carty for exceptional commitment and performance in basketball
The senior basketball team played a great game against Raynes Park narrowly being beaten 42-41. They demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and represented the Academy well. Outstanding performances came from Irah Carty (11) and Anthony Georgiou-Shaw (8). Congratulations to year 11 students who have completed the GCSE PE course. We wish you all the best for results day in August! We have had an increasing number of students attending extra-curricular clubs, but would like to see more attending regularly. Raffle tickets are provided at each club to recognise commitment which enters students into the PE grand prize draw at the end of the year. More fixtures and tournaments are organised for after half term for tennis, rounders , basketball and athletics.
Federation Sports Day We are currently busy planning and preparing for the Federation Sports Day which will be held at Crystal Palace on July 12th. We look forward to working hard with the team of athletes selected to represent the Academy at this event.
Extra-curricular Timetable
Humanities We have enjoyed another productive half term in Humanities, probably our busiest one yet! With Year 11 working hard in the final preparations for their exams and Year 10 students completing mock Controlled Assessment tasks, it has been a very focused half term. In KS3 year 7, 8 and 9 students have been working hard to achieve their target grades for the end of the year. They have been investigating a range of interesting topics with year 7s learning about Coasts in Geography and considering how difficult life was in the Middle Ages in History.
Outstanding Students Year 7 - Anissa Rosen for the care and effort that she puts into her Humanities work . Year 8 - Emma Hennessy for continued hard work and effort in class. Year 9 - Lea Ebanks for high attainment in Religion and Philosophy. Year 10 - Abigail Koranteng for excellent preparation for her mock Controlled Assessment in History. Year 11 - Pratik Rai for continued dedication to all his Humanities subjects.
Year 8 students have been developing their understanding of Good and Evil in RP and have been fully engaged in a Historical enquiry into West Indian Migration to Britain during the 1950s. Year 9 students have considered the World’s issues with water in Geography and have been developing their sources skills in a study of World War Two in History.
Extra-curricular Clubs Booster clubs have continued as usual this half term with many students coming to boost their assessment preparation. The new History film club is now up and running and each week’s film choice is posted on the student messenger.
Year 11 students have been putting in the final preparations for their exams. Many students have now completed their Religion and Philosophy GCSE exam with full course students set to finish soon after half term. Sociology students have now completed their final exams and Geography and History exams begin promptly after the half term break.
COURAGE, CHALLENGE, SUCCESS