Insight 27

Half-termly news from Highgate Wood School CONSIDERATION COOPERATION COURTESY CONTRIBUTION

Issue No 28

December 2015

ALL GOOD WISHES FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR

GOVERNING BODY UPDATE Charles Wright, our Chair of Governors, writes: I was pleased recently to attend Haringey’s Outstanding for All awards event at Ally Pally, celebrating achievement across the borough’s schools, and to see Hezal Yasar from Highgate Wood pick up the Overcoming Adversity award. Well done Hezal!

With recognition for students, teachers, volunteers and governors, the event embraced the whole school community in Haringey, and was a reminder that achievement comes in many forms, and all should be celebrated.

As I’ve said before, it’s not all about exams, although it is worth noting that London – and Haringey – schools continue to be among the best in the country and our own latest value added scores put Highgate Wood in the top 17 per cent of secondary schools in the country.

These results depend both on healthy competition but also on a strong spirit of collaboration and cooperation between our schools. In a changing landscape, I think it is all the more important to emphasise the values of working together, and working for all the young people in our area, as community, comprehensive schools – and that will be a significant challenge for all schools going forward.

We are currently refreshing the governing body, as various members’ terms come to an end, and that includes elections for three new parent governors (not two as originally notified). See elsewhere in Insight for details, and there will be more information in the New Year.

Finally, I hope everyone has a great and relaxing Christmas and New Year break.

Cover picture: Pictures from our Winter Concert © Empire Productions A more extensive set of photographs of the Winter Concert will be published on the school website in the new year.

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Thanks to everyone who has used easyfundraising for their on-line shopping, but there still is time to make use of the site for those last-minute Christmas purchases. Dozens of major retailers are involved, and it is really easy to use. Every pound that you spend online through the site will provide a donation towards school funds - at no cost to you. The School Council has requested that we raise some funds for playground cover—and every little helps!

Please also sign up for the PSA School lottery. It costs just £1 a month and it can bring you great prizes!

For details of how to sign up for Easy Fundraising follow the link below. For the lottery email us on hwslottery@me.com.

Don’t forget easyfundraising.org.uk. Visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/hwspsa

HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY Chair of Governors: Charles Wright (Co-opted Governor) LA Governor: Cllr Eddie Griffith Parent Governors: Elizabeth Hess • Diana Brown • Phil Cavendish • Rob White • Chris Tully • Julia Chalfen • Paul Bennett Co-opted Governors: Phil Cocksedge • Violet Hazelwood-Henry • Chris Parr • Charles Wright • Imogen Pennell • Oli Blackaby • Brenda Allan • Joe Demetriou Headteacher Governor: Patrick Cozier Staff Governors: Emily Ford If you wish to contact the Governing Body please write to the Chair of Governors, c/o Mrs K Ozturk, Highgate Wood School, Montenotte Road, London N8 8RN Or email: governors@hws.haringey.sch.uk

Issue 27

December 2015

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER Welcome to the last Insight of 2015. Much has happened since I last wrote to you in October as you will see when you read through this edition. What you will see is that the achievements of our students, supported by my excellent staff continue to create magical moments and positive experiences that really sum up what Highgate Wood School is all about.

We also had very recent confirmation from the Department for Education (DfE), in the form of their latest data release that we are continuing to do really well as a school. The data shows that our students are making better progress in their learning than ever. I explain this in more detail later.

However, our evaluation of how we are doing does not begin and end with the likes of the DfE and Ofsted. Your views are also critically important to us, and having recently conducted our 5th annual survey of parents/carers’ views, we are excited to see what you have told us. Unfortunately, the outcomes have not yet been analysed, so I will need to feed back to you in the next edition of Insight in the spring. We take great heart from your honesty with us about the things that we can and should improve. We will never be complacent and, as always, we will take on board your comments when reviewing your valued and valuable feedback.

Post 16 Open Evening – the natural route from Year 11 into the 6th Form We held our Post 16 Open Evening earlier this term for all current year 11 students (and some year 10s) and their parents to come and view the school and find out more about what we do in the Sixth Form. Like the previous four years, I was thrilled with the number of people that attended the event – particularly the mix between students Issue 27

December 2015

who currently attend Highgate Wood School and students from across Haringey (and beyond). This is a testament to our growing reputation locally. I am proud that more and more Highgate Wood School is being considered by our community as the local school of choice.

We are keen as ever to have as many of our Year 11 students remaining here as possible as we believe that it represents a very good and positive decision for them to do so based upon... 

Our belief in the seven year commitment that the school has to all of its students that tracks their education, growth and progress from Year 7 to Year 13 – we see Post 16 as a natural continuation of the learning that takes place in Key Stage 4



The benefits or remaining at a school that students know, but more importantly a school that knows them; where their teachers know their strengths and how to build upon them; where their teachers are aware of their areas for development and will not allow these to be overlooked or left unchallenged – our standards and expectations of our 6th form students are high



Remaining at a school where they have made good progress, knowing that progress in the 6th form is further accelerated according to all national benchmarks and measures



The knowledge that teaching in the 6th from is of a high quality



The wide (and growing) range of opportunities available to our students at Post 16 to experience leadership roles and responsibilities and to ‘give something back’ to the school community that has helped develop them



A belief that our Year 11s are very much a part of HWS and HWS a part of them... a partnership and relationship that is beneficial to all during A level study at Post 16



Knowing that at HWS, our students benefit from teachers who really do care about them and will go the extra mile to support them throughout their studies 3

One of the most important things to emerge out of the evening is the clarity that our Year 11s now have about the expectations of them in terms of securing a place in the 6th Form. For every student that wishes to secure their place they must...

1. Work really hard between now and the summer exams to secure the very challenging grades necessary to gain access to our Post 16 courses – for many students there is now a realisation of just what it will take to secure their place 2. Understand that not everyone will automatically be offered a place. The days of Highgate Wood Sixth Form being a ‘reserve option’ are long gone – a number of students missed out on places on courses that they wanted to enrol on because they had us as a back-up offer 3. Be committed to doing their absolute best in the Sixth Form which includes taking full responsibility for their learning, making learning their first priority and ensuring excellent attendance and punctuality to all lessons/study sessions 4. Ensure that they continue to make a positive contribution to HWS as a positive reference from their tutor or their head of house is also a pre-requisite for entry We will have, early in the New Year, a whole series of activities for year 11 students which are designed to give them all a taste of what to expect in the Sixth Form and to aid the choices that they will have to make. I look forward to yet again being involved in the interview process and look forward to seeing our very successful Year 11s here in August 2016 at enrolment.

Impressive Exam Results and Students Making Excellent Progress!

At Post 16…

We are pleased with the improvement levels of attainment at Post 16 that we have seen at HWS. You can see from the following table that we have improved every year over the last few years, and 4

we are confident that this coming year we can do even better!

YEAR

A* - E

A* - C

A* - B

2011

98%

78%

43%

2012

99.5%

79%

45%

2013

100%

83%

53%

2014

100%

83%

55%

2015

100%

85%

56%

Not just doing well:  Making outstanding progress between GCSE and A Level  All our students making excellent progress  Hitting the highest grades across the curriculum  Taking A level pathways that enable access to the

most demanding university courses

In addition, we also know that the progress that our students make from the end of GCSE to the end of post 16 study compares very favourably with most of the local alternative providers.

At GCSE… The new statistics released by the DFE recently confirmed that Highgate Wood has remained among the top schools in the country according to the progress that students make at GCSE. The unvalidated RAISEonline data that we have received is based upon last year’s Year 11 (summer 2015). The value added for this year was 1023.7 which is the school’s best ever and consolidates consistent good performance over the last 4 years.

I am also proud that our value added ranking placed Highgate Wood School in the top 17% of schools in the country for student progress. Our progress 8 score is 0.27. Both of these figures are new highs for our school.

In addition, the proportion of students making expected (or better than expected) progress in English and maths at Highgate Wood School overleaf in comparison to the national averages are shown in the next table.

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Value Added 1023.7

Category: Progress in Best 8 GCSEs studies

Comment: Highgate Wood School student progress is in the top 17% of schools nationally.

Value Added 1002.0

Category: Progress in Maths

Comment: Student progress in maths is in the top 20% of schools nationally.

Value Added 1005.8

Category: Progress in Languages

Comment: Student progress in languages is in the top 6% of schools nationally.

Value Added 1009.3

Category: Progress of disadvantaged students

Comment: Significantly better progress than other schools nationally (975.9). Our disadvantaged young people are doing much better than their peers in other schools.

Value Added 1030.3

Category: Progress of girls

Comment: Compared to the National Average progress for girls (1009.0) our girls make outstanding progress.

Value Added 1017.8

Category: Progress of boys

Comment: Compared to the National Average progress for boys (991.2) our boys make outstanding progress.

Value Added 1050.6

Category: Progress of SEN students with support

Comment: Highgate Wood School student progress is in the top 17% of schools nationally.

Note: A RAISE value of 1000 indicates expected progress. Anything over 1000 is better than expected. Anything less than 1000 is less than expected.

% making expected progress at HWS

+/-

Nationally

National Average

English

76%

75%

+1

Maths

78%

71%

+7

% making better than expected progress

+/-

at HWS

Nationally

National Average

English

41%

39%

+2

Maths

47%

45%

+2

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The tables are just some of the highlights, and the detailed analysis points to many other very positive areas of the performance of Highgate Wood Students. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my students from last year’s year 11 and year 13 on their achievements and to publically thank my very skilled and dedicated team of teachers for their excellent contribution to these impressive results. We are proud that we truly do make a positive difference to our students at Highgate Wood School.

Highgate Wood School remains oversubscribed for September 2015 The local authority have recently released figures showing the number of preferences expressed by parents of children in year 6 for secondary schools for the coming September.

I am very pleased to report that we have again attracted a high number of parents who wish to send their children to HWS. Only Fortismere and Alexandra Park schools have also achieved this overall level of popularity in Haringey.

Highgate Wood School

Pupil Admission Number 2016 Available

Total Preferences First Choices

Requested

962 243 214

This means that for September 2016 yet again, we will be oversubscribed in year 7. I continue to be humbled and enthused by the support that we continue to receive locally from our parents/carers and our community. It is pleasing to know that this (along with other indicators referred to earlier in this message) demonstrates that we are achieving our aim of being the school of local choice.

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New Behaviour Policy in January at Highgate Wood School

real difference. I know that students and staff alike will miss his presence in the school.

At Highgate Wood School virtually all of our students behave really well virtually all of the time.

However, in order to maintain and improve this, reviewing current practice is critical, as it is in all things.

We also have a number of staff who have been with us for a term, who will be moving on. Ms E. Ratcliffe (Science Teacher), Mr D. Asan (Maths Teacher), Ms M. Smaill (PE & Citizenship Teacher), and Mr E. Leye (Pastoral Care Mentor – Edison House). Even though they have only been here for such a short time, we are ever grateful for the positive contribution that they have made to the education and experiences of our students.

In view of this, and following some internal consultation, we will be launching a new behaviour policy in January. The detail will follow so that parents and carers are kept fully informed. The new policy makes the school’s stance clear for all in relation to expectations

 In the classroom, including promoting excellent learning habits and being appropriately equipped for lessons  Around school at social times and lesson changeover  On the way to and from school  In terms of uniform presentation, mobile phones usage, etc Our new policy also reiterates our zero-tolerance approach to the possession of any illegal substances or weapons as we seek to continue our exemplary record of keeping students and staff safe from harm.

Lastly, the policy re-looks at the Vivo rewards systems that we have for encouraging positive behaviours and further clarifying sanctions and detentions. I thank you all in advance for your support of the school in promoting the positive behaviours we expect from our students.

Last (but certainly not least), I would like to give a mention to Ms V. Parchet (Arts and Display Technician) who left us earlier this term after just under three years of wonderful service to the school. Quiet and unassuming in person, but delightfully visible across the school in the work that she did to make the school environment a pleasant one with great displays of student work and other extra-curricular endeavours. I know that she is specifically missed by the Art department.

We thank all of those staff who are leaving, and we wish them all the very best for the future! ... And Finally At the end of another successful and busy year, I thank you all for your continued support. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, have a good Christmas! For those of you who don’t, please enjoy the break. I wish you all good health for the holiday period and the very best for the New Year ahead.

Regards

Unfortunately we will be losing some members of staff at the end of this term

Patrick Cozier Headteacher

We have some members of staff who will be leaving us at the end of this term. The longest serving is Mr Joe Taylor who has been with us on and off for over a year as a Pastoral Care Mentor and a Learning Support Advisor within our Learning Support Department. Mr Taylor has been a real asset to the school and has worked with some of our most disadvantaged students and has made a 6

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December 2015

HARINGEY AWARDS Many congratulations to Hezal Yasar, formerly of 11D, who received the Overcoming Adversity Award at Haringey’s Outstanding For All Awards at Alexandra Palace earlier this month.

Hezal, who had been nominated by Meltem Erbil, won the trophy in recognition of how she overcame a whole range of personal challenges to achieve success at school. For all those who know Hezal you will agree that the award is very well deserved.

The achievements of other members of our school were also celebrated during the evening. Two of our sixth form students, Berivan Korkmaz and Rowan Juneman, were commended for Outstanding Academic Achievement whilst Learning Support Assistant, Mr Joel Augustus was shortlisted for the Support Staff of the Year Award. Mr Mitchell was shortlisted for the prestigious Councillor Egan Lifetime Achievement Award that recognises the exceptional leadership of an individual in the field of education in Haringey.

This was the third year of the OFA Awards and we were represented not only by nominees and award winners but also by Mr Cozier who presented the School Mentor Award to two students from Heartlands High School.

HOUSE LEAGUE TABLES

The best way to predict the future is to invent it

From caring comes courage

Success comes from perseverance

24,603

24,912

24,487

so far this year

so far this year

so far this year

Top Vivo Earners Halil Ekinci (Yr 11) Anastasia Abramchuk (Yr 10) Isabel Pountney (Yr 9) Yusro Abdi Aweys (Yr 8) Katya Dickson (Yr 7)

Top Vivo Earners Oscar Dutton (Yr 11) Rami Ataya (Yr 10) Rory Butler (Yr 9) Hugo Clague (Yr 8) Rosie Boardman (Yr 7)

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Top Vivo Earners Jordan Brown (Yr 11) Tugba Oguz (Yr 10) Sam Beach (Yr 9) Zandile Mathebula-Jonah (Yr 8) Lily Bacon Barwin (Yr 7) 7

GOVERNOR VACANCIES

Ms Burniston, Mr Key and Mr Rowlands write: We are delight to confirm that we will be making some very important announcements about our new student leaders early in the New Year.

PREPARING FOR WINTER Ms Copley writes: As winter approaches please ensure you come to school prepared for the ‘cold’ season bringing plenty of tissues and any medication you may need to take during the school day.

Please also be reminded of the following:  Students are expected to come to school and stay in school the whole day even if they have head colds, allergies, headaches, period pains or any other mild ailments.

Due to a number of our governors reaching the end of their term the Governing Body of Highgate Wood School now has three vacancies for Parent Governors.

Being a school governor is an important role, and at Highgate Wood School we are fortunate in having always had an extremely dedicated and supportive group of governors.

We are mindful of trying to ensure that the Governing Body of Highgate Wood School reflects the school population as a whole, and will particularly welcome new parents and carers.

Information on the role of a school governor is available on the Haringey website, (http://bit.do/ hwsgb) and also from the National Governors Association (http://bit.do/hwsgovs) as well as on the school website (under the Governors tab.)

If you are interested in finding out more please email governors@hws.haringey.sch.uk. You can find the nomination form at the bottom of the Governor page on the school website, or you may request one by email at the address above.

 It is the student’s responsibility to come to school prepared with any medications or supplies they may require during the day.  Students should go to the treatment room to take any medication brought in from home.  We are unable to store or administer any medication for students unless it is accompanied by a GP’s prescription detailing the dosage and timings.  Following an injury students can have their dressings changed at school but only as long as the necessary dressings are brought in.

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Mr Hartley writes: Congratulations and well done to Year 11 for their excellent behaviour and focus during the mock exams.

The results from these exams will be available on Mock Results Day, Thursday 14th January, and this will be followed by Year 11 Parents’ Evening.

Whatever the outcome of your mocks I do hope you will be able to use it as a starting point for your preparation for the main exams in the summer.

Past experience has shown us that the students who learn the most lessons from their mocks are the ones who do best in their final exams.

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POST 16 OPEN EVENING

APPLICATIONS TO UNIVERSITY

Mr Charlesworth writes: Highgate Wood School Sixth Form experienced its busiest ever Open Evening in November when more than a hundred visitors from other schools joined our own Key Stage 4 students to find out about the post 16 pathways that are available and to get some idea of why and how our sixth form provision is so successful.

We had another good year last year, where again the progress of our students was well above national averages and, as a result, our Year 13 students are now on the degree courses of their choice at the universities they wanted to attend.

We have every confidence we will enjoy the same success this year.

The Open Evening was only the first part of the process of getting used to being sixth form students. On Wednesday 6th January our Year 11s will be having a day of Key Stage 5 taster lessons so they can get a real taste of Highgate Wood School Sixth Form.

Subsequently we will be providing all Year 11 students with advice and guidance sessions to help ensure that they are on track to get to where they wish to be in September 2016. We will also be running events in the summer, after the exams, to help make sure all our new students will have a great start to their sixth form careers.

More information is available at www.hws6.com Issue 27

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Mr Charlesworth writes: As the year draws to its end so does the annual UCAS round of applications to university.

This year we expect to send more than 110 university applications from students in Year 13 and in February another 10 to 15 will apply for Art Foundation Degree programmes directly to colleges and schools of Art. As in previous years the range of destinations and subject choices is remarkable. As well as a record number of applications we have two other notable firsts for 2016 entry. This year we have a record number of students applying for either Oxford or Cambridge University for a range of courses including Natural Sciences, Human, Social and Political Sciences, History, English Literature, Maths and Philosophy. Making an application is not the same as gaining a place and we will have to see whether our students receive grade offers in the New Year, but to be called for interview is an achievement in itself and is testament to the strength of application that these and other students have put together. The second first for this UCAS round comes to a group of students taking more vocational BTEC options and in particular BTEC Business Studies. Over the last three years students taking BTEC options have been encouraged to apply for the best university options just as those taking A levels have been and in 2015 there were a group of students with BTEC Business Studies and ICT qualifications who won places at Russell Group Universities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

With offers already in for many students this trend has continued with students receiving offers to study at University College London (UCL).

One student with such an offer only arrived at Highgate Wood aged 14 from Moldova speaking almost no English and now has the chance of studying at one of the UKs leading Universities having done so well on his BTEC course.

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£50 RAISED FOR WORLD AIDS DAY

Mr Grimmett writes: Thank you to all staff and students who supported World AIDS Day 2015. We raised £50 through the sale of red ribbons in school which will be passed to the National AIDS Trust to help continue their good work. Perhaps more importantly many students engaged in conversation about HIV/AIDS which not only raised awareness and understanding but also cleared up some misconceptions.

For more information on this topic please visit http://www.hivaware.org.uk/ or speak to your teacher.

KEEP HYDRATED - BUT KEEP LEARNING TOO

INTEL EDUCATION SUMMIT DELEGATES

Mr Talbert writes: In December, Intel delegates from around the world visited Highgate Wood School to see the work that St Aiden’s primary school pupils have done with Intel’s Galileo board as part of the Digital Schoolhouse programme and Intel’s education summit.

Two weeks prior to the event St Aiden’s primary pupils had been creating their interactive shoe box robots which used different sensors to make their robots move ranging from touch, sound and moisture.

The event took place in the school’s LRC with delegates from the USA, South Africa and Turkey.

The event was so impressive it has led to a future collaboration with Doğa School in Turkey.

CHRISMAS SHOWS AT BARGAIN PRICES

Mr Hewitt writes: We know how important it is to keep hydrated so all students are encouraged to bring a bottle of water to school every day. You will be allowed to drink it in most lessons (except when close to electrical equipment). However, students should not be late for class because they are filling up their bottle, or ask to leave class because they wish to get water from the fountain.

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Ms Morgan of the PSA writes: There is a new offer on tickets4schools for The Lorax at the Old Vic between 17th and 26th December. The best tickets (up to £60 each) are just £15.00 (includes the standard £5.00 donation to the school). The previous offer for Charlie & the Chocolate Factory has been extended and includes performances in January and February. Both would make perfect Christmas presents! http://tickets4schools.com/highgate-wood-school So far this year we have raised well over £500 for the school using tickets4schools.

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DIGITAL SAFETY AND SAFER INTERNET DAY 2016

Mr Ashman writes: The constant developments in mobile technology has brought a whole range of benefits to education and life in general.

With a modern smart phone you can do pick up your homework and check your Vivos, research your latest project or send an email from your school account to your teacher to ask for help.

But smartphones have also created big challenges.

All across the world young people are putting themselves at risk because they have not understood how public they really are when they are online, and how much their behaviour online can impact on others.

Few youngsters pay much attention to the age restrictions placed on most social media networks.

But they are there for a reason. It is not that something magical happens when people turn 13, but putting that age restriction in place does acknowledge that people must have a certain maturity to use them properly. Some are mature enough before they are 13. Others take a lot longer than thirteen years to develop those skills.

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Tuesday 9th February 2016 is Safer Internet Day and we will be running another Parent Information Evening to help parents and carers support their children in keeping them safe on-line.

In advance of that parents, carers and students are requested to visit the e-safety pages on the school website. Here you will find some information and advice that might help. This area of the website will be developed over the next few weeks and will be part of a wider safeguarding section.

You may also be interested in some new Apps that can help young people protect themselves on-line.

Shieldbully is an app that allows you to block app downloads and monitor use of social media. It includes a location-mapping tool, a picture scanner, and an internet usage alert, as well as logging hours spent online. www.shieldbully.com Selfiecop monitors every picture your child takes by sending a copy to you, and also warns your child to think before sharing. www.selfiecop.com Mobileminder allows parents to monitor text messages, photos, and browser history, and to block apps or sites. There’s a ‘help me’ function, and you can enable GPS so that you know where your child is at all times. www.mobileminder.com Secure Teen is designed for older children— it restricts access to adult sites, blocks apps and monitors activity. www.secureteen.com Screen Time is all about managing your child’s time online. The app allows you to set limits — for example, no Facebook access after 7pm. You and your child can agree times in advance, and avoid a nightly argument. www.screentimelabs.com Not all these apps work for iphones as well as android phones, nor do they necessarily provide a better level of safety or control than what may already be available on the standard phone contract, but they may be worth exploring to see if they could meet a need.

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THE GREAT BAKE OFF

A TRIP TO WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Ms Went writes: Winner of the first Year Nine Bake Off and clear winner with a total of 3 best bakes and two clear wins out of a possible 6. With her Swiss Roll, Ginger Bread Cake and Shortbread biscuits our first Master Baker is Mathilda Horton.

Phoebe Collins writes: On Friday 28th November, Year 13 Literature students saw a production of Wuthering Heights at the Ambassadors Theatre.

The reworking of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights provides a contemporary twist on the classic novel and helped evoke a deeper understanding amongst the audience.

The young cast includes not one, but five Cathys and Heathcliffs and their performances conveyed the passion and vengefulness that is so prevalent within the story. Not only did the 21st century dialect and explicit language portray comic aspects at first, the physical representation and movement of characters set a much darker tone, reflecting the sinister and underlying themes within the novel. We were in agreement that the production succeeded with staging a complex novel.

THE GREAT BAKE OFF - SERIES TWO!

A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY Don’t forget that Highgate Wood School will be hosting the North London Model UN Conference on Saturday 12th March 2016. The theme is A Place Called Home: refuge and migration.

It’s your turn next!

We are currently booking the places for the first Y8 Bake Off, starting after Christmas. Only 10 places are available and they are filling up quickly!!! See the poster for details and call in to W1 to book your place. First come first served.

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MICROSOFT’S DIGIGIRLZ 2015

WORLD CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER

Mr Talbert writes: In November, sixteen Year 8 female students attended Microsoft’s annual DigiGirlz event at Microsoft’s UK headquarters in Reading. The event was aimed at giving female students an insight into working at a large enterprise organisation like Microsoft, whilst challenging female stereotypes of the high-tech industry.

Ethan Fraser writes: Thanks to all those brilliant Year 7 students who made the Halloween Disco before the half-term holiday such a triumph - and also such a fantastic spectacle of ghoulish costumes, monster make up and general horror!

Your contributions have helped raise more than £400 for our World Challenge fundraiser—and will help us for our collection for Morocco this year and also preparing for the planned World Challenge journey to Swaziland in 2017.

The students had the opportunity to interact with Microsoft employees and gained exposure to careers in business and technology, and had an inside look at what it’s like to work at Microsoft.

The girls really enjoyed themselves working in teams to come up with an idea for a new mobile phone app.

Anya Seymour (8E) and Sabine Kikuchi-House (8W) both said that they found the experience enjoyable and fun but also educational as they got a detailed insight to how a technology business works.

Highlight of the day was Sibylla Baron (8E) tearing up the dance floor in a dance off with students from other schools playing Dance Central on the Xbox One. Although the girls’ mobile app ideas did not win on the day the girls are working hard on entering their ideas into the Apps for Good competition so lets hope they succeed there.

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YEAR 11 GCSE MOCKS - TRIUMPH OF HARD WORK. Ms Zwicky writes: At the end of November the year 11 cohort kicked off their exam season with a 10 hour art exam. The students have worked incredibly hard preparing for this exam and as a result have managed to rise to the challenge to produce exciting, challenging and beautiful work over the given time.

As usual our students created a wide range of work, from engaging installations (Ella Pollak Fleming, Ruby Neale) to portrait paintings (Laura Gibbons, Aoife Allen, Annie Stanford) as well as 3d work like the incredible hand sculpture by Stephanie Durand and the engaging piece inspired by the refugee crisis by Amy Townsend-Lowcock.

Ella Pollak Fleming

The current art cohort have really shown what they are capable of, and we wish them all the best for their exam unit starting in January, which will be intensive as well as demanding for them.

Aoife Allen

Laura Gibbons Kai Castello 14

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Alex Maclaren

Annie Stanford Issue 27

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INTENSIVE LEARNING IN VALENCIA

Ms Gomez writes: At the end of October, 42 students studying Spanish in Year 11 (and four in Year 13) went to Valencia for a week on a programme of total language and cultural immersion.

The students' feedback could not have been more positive. They all expressed their gratitude for organising this trip, and said how well they were treated and cared for. They praised the very tasty food and how much they felt their Spanish had improved!

Our students were kept busy every hour of the day with lessons, adventure activities and educational games, and even though it was both challenging and fully packed with activities, and even when physically and mentally tired, they made us proud.

The teachers and monitors at the Educational Complex were very impressed with our students’ character, behaviour and abilities. They were great ambassadors for our school.

Sina Nafissi writes: We spent an amazing week in Valencia, Spain. All of us got the opportunity to speak to other young people in Spanish. We also did adventure activities during our trip... Including zip-wiring, rock climbing and rafting.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip, we learnt lots of Spanish and had an excellent time.

Thank you for making it happen.

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December 2015

MICROSOFT RESEARCH: THINK CS

Mr Brown writes: In December, thirteen Year 9 students attended Microsoft Research’s annual Think Computer Science event at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford Cambridge. it was a great opportunity for the students to experience many exciting new technologies, concepts and software. They got to test the latest computer games, virtual reality devices and learnt about hacking, vintage computers and many more marvellous ways that computer science helps us.

They attended workshops which were focussed on the fantastic new BBC project called micro:bit, a handheld, fully programmable computer that can be used for all sorts of creations, from robots to musical instruments Owen (9G) says “The Microsoft trip was amazing!

We had many interesting activities to attend. My interest in Computer Science is now bigger than ever before!!”

Issue 27

December 2015

AN INSPECTOR CALLS

Ms Ford writes: On 28th November, the English Department took a group of Year 10 and Year 11 students to see An Inspector Calls at the New Wimbledon Theatre. The play is being studied for GCSE English Literature, and so the trip was both good revision as well as good entertainment!

Students and staff alike were impressed by the visual elements of the production: the Birling house was suspended like a disintegrating dolls' house above the stage, which gave rise to discussions around symbolism and dramatic effect. Many of the Year 10 students were experiencing the play for the first time, and found the unfolding mystery thrilling. It's important to acknowledge the importance of seeing plays in live performance for the fullest understanding of the text.

Further theatre trips led by the English Department are planned for 2016 - further details will be circulated to parents in the new year.

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LEARNING MANDARIN

Ms Lacroix writes: I would like to congratulate the 35 students from our school who attended the Mandarin taster on 3rd November 2015. The survey feedback revealed that the experience was 100% enjoyable and positive. We have therefore decided to arrange six further sessions of Mandarin. They will run between 1:15pm and 1:50pm in A34 every Tuesday from 19th January, with the exception of 16th February.

I have already received many invitation slips back for this wonderful opportunity, however I am happy to accept students who did not come to the Mandarin taster on the 3rd November.

If you want to attend the next 6 sessions and are really keen to learn Mandarin, please see me .

“I enjoyed the Mandarin taster session. It was made fun and showed me how important it is. I definitely want to join the club.” Felix Andrew “I found it very enjoyable and fascinating. I really enjoy learning languages. I think that Mandarin would also be very useful to know” Katya Dickson “I really liked the Mandarin lesson. They teach the language really well.” Camilo Chapman First Mandarin students: Brian Li (7W), Camilo Chapman (7G), Katya Dickson (7G), Tulsi Vaithilingam (7I), Orgena Kola (7I), Felix Andrew (7G), Ruby Renner-Gomez (8T), Louise Roberts (8G), Ramneet Bains (8G), Romilly Gosling (8G), Clara Klein-French (8I), Hugo Clague (8H), William Carmichael (8I), Jem Cliff (9E), Victoria Stogdon-Culbert (9E), Arishma Baig (9T), Natalie Manoharan (9E), Billie-Jo Hayden (9D), Claire Schumann (9S), Rebecca Manoharan (9G), Tia Dyett (9G), Aweys Abdi (9I), Max Murphy (9I), Ollie Freeman (9I), Owen Rice (9G), Toby Wyckoff-Smith (9S), Joseph Ferando (9W), Jordan Kennedy (11H), Callum Escayg (11I),

THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY Mr Grimmett writes: The International Society is a group of students who are working together to set up links between our school and others . Currently we are working with a school in Kuurne, Belgium, and we are chatting to each other online via the eTwinning platform. Our next steps will be to try Belgian cuisine, compare our schools by creating a video documentary and finally, to have a trip into London city centre to compare our local urban environments. We will also be looking at who else we can partner with.

If you want to join the project, have any ideas or know of schools in other countries who may wish to work with our society please get in touch.

A big thanks to the following Year 8 and 9 students who have worked hard on this project: Ainara Igesias Gonzalez, Anna Jevons, Brandon Durand, 18

Cheyenne Sloane , Day Robinson, Eliya Panayiotou, Grace Heron, Hugo Clague, Iola Elson, Isabel Poutney, Lara Juneman, Lebin Abdi, Yasmin Walton and Zainab Khan.

Issue 27

December 2015

CZECH TEACHERS VISIT HIGHGATE WOOD

FUN FRENCH CLUB

Ms Clyne writes: Eliane Brochu, the languages assistant, is currently running a French club for year 9 students. It is an opportunity to develop confidence in speaking French and to learn spontaneous language in a fun environment.

Eliane has done some work with the Year 9 group on her homeland Quebec, as well as on fashion and will also be talking about Christmas in Canada.

MFL WORKING SPACE Ms Mayer writes: For the last half term language students have been benefitting from having a lunchtime space to work on their language skills using ICT. The sessions run as follows for invited students: Wednesday lunchtimes (alternate weeks -KS3/ KS4) in A35 – check the posters in the MFL corridor to find out the correct week.

GAME OF LIFE Ms Kemp writes: Congratulations to all the Year 7s who have completed their Hindu board games in ECS. The games are designed to illustrate the key elements of Hindu philosophy.

They were all so good and I hope you achieve Moksha as well as have a lovely Christmas.

Mr Grimmett writes: Between the 9th and 13th November two teachers from Olomouc in the Czech Republic visited lessons in our wonderful Science, PE and Geography departments. They came to find out and learn different teaching and assessment methods from our teachers and to observe how our school works.

They were very happy with what they saw saying that the lessons they saw were excellent, in particular: 

They were impressed with how smart our students were and they said they were going to recommend, to their head teacher, that they also adopt a uniform policy.



They liked how well behaved and respectful students were towards each other and staff.



They liked how we use different colour pens for self, peer and teacher assessment and how students reply to teacher comments. They said it seemed useful for students.

They thank everyone they came into contact with for being so nice, welcoming and friendly to them despite there being a language barrier sometimes.

Well done to everyone for proving that our school is such a great place to both learn and work in!

EXAM INVIGILATORS WANTED Highgate Wood School will need to recruit invigilators for the upcoming spring and summer exams.

If you are interested please apply on-line on the school website.

The school is committed to paying Invigilators the London Living Wage

Issue 27

December 2015

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POST 16 TRIP TO AUSHCWITZ AMD BERGEN BELSEN

Beth Gosschalk writes: It's only possible to understand how incredible the Poland trip is once you've been and experienced it for yourself. The main feature of the trip was the visit to Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen.

It was absolutely heart-breaking to visit a camp where over one million people were exterminated and put through experiences that no human should ever have to experience. It all felt very surreal and inevitably was a very emotional day. Besides the visit to Auschwitz, we went to various museums, spoke to a very inspiring Holocaust survivor, went out for dinners in and around the city. The trip was absolutely jam packed with activities and experiences, but it was 100% worth going on.

Thank you!

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Faye Heron writes: I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Auschwitz Poland trip, but having spent the weekend visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, walking round several museums, and meeting a Holocaust survivor, I would recommend the trip to anyone that has the chance to go.

Beforehand, we were all aware that over one million people were exterminated at the camp, but it’s impossible to comprehend the enormous scale of the Holocaust, and the awful experiences of the prisoners until you actually walk around the camp and see the evidence for yourself. And, once we listened to the survivor –who had been sent to Birkenau aged three, yet still had vivid memories of her experiences and an identification tattoo –we got a chance to listen to a personal story, and learnt that even though the camp was liberated 70 years ago, the effects are still felt today.

Unsurprisingly the trip was very emotional, however it was also an enjoyable experience that I will not forget, as we got the chance to listen to a traditional Jewish music concert, to meet some truly inspirational people and to taste several Polish dishes.

Issue 27

December 2015

FOOTBALL SUCCESSES

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN PE

Mr Bomani writes: YEAR 7 The Year 7 football team have made a great start to the Haringey League and currently sit top of the table as we start our winter break. Notable performances include a 6-9 win over Heartlands School and a well fought 2-1 win over St Thomas More.

Well done to all involved and we look forward to the league restarting in February YEAR 9 Well done to the Year 9 football team for going the furthest (along with Year 10) in their debut entry into the English Schools FA Cup. Our Year 9 team saw victories against Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire schools 10-0 and 10-3 respectively but the John Henry Newman School were one step too far!

Well done to all involved.

CROSS COUNTRY NEWS

MONDAY LUNCHTIME

Year 7—11 Girls Football

Astroturf

LUNCHTIME

Year 8—9 Trampolining

Sports Hall

AFTER SCHOOL

KS3 & KS4 Netball Training

Back PGrnd

AFTER SCHOOL

Year 7—8 Basketball

Sports Hall

TUESDAY LUNCHTIME

Year 7 Boys Football

Astroturf

LUNCHTIME

Year 7 Trampolining

Sports Hall

AFTER SCHOOL

Tennis—Highgate Tennis Club

School Tennis

AFTER SCHOOL

Year 7—9 Rugby training

Astroturf

WEDNESDAY LUNCHTIME

Year 8 Boys Football

Astroturf

LUNCHTIME

KS3 Indoor Athletics

Sports Hall

AFTER SCHOOL

All Years Badminton

Sports Hall

AFTER SCHOOL

Year 11 Football

Astroturf

THURSDAY

Mr Pedlar and Mr Thomas write: The Cross Country Club entered the Haringey Championship held at the New River Recreation Ground on a rather windy day at the end of November.

We entered runners in the Year 6/7 events and in the Year 8/9 events. Well done to all 10 runners, with special mention to Elodie Soteriou who came second in the girls’ event and progresses to the Middlesex Race. Additionally, the Year 8 boys came 4th in the full team event.

LUNCHTIME

Year 10—11 Boys Football

Astroturf

LUNCHTIME

Year 7 + GCSE Trampolining

Sports Hall

AFTER SCHOOL

Cross country training

School to

AFTER SCHOOL

Year 9—10 Basketball

Sports Hall

FRIDAY LUNCHTIME

Year 9 Boys Football

LUNCHTIME

Year 7—8 Indoor Cricket

Astroturf

Sports Hall

Lunchtime sessions run from 1:10pm - 2:00pm After school sessions run from 3:30 pm - 5:00pm

www.immobilise.com Issue 27

December 2015

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STUDENT CONFERENCE

Over half term Zeki Jones, Lucy Sutton, Ellis Mbachu, Aiesha Shallo, Tamsin Jacobs and Kate Jevons represented the school at the Student Voice conference. They discussed many issues that affect young people and made plans to enhance student voice at Highgate Wood. (see below)

Lucy Sutton writes: I have been honoured to be given the position of National Executive for London. This means that within my school I will work to help make the student voice heard.

This aim is to build a more democratic schooling system where students have more of a say in their education and more of an impact on their environment.

I will be working closely with the rest of the Student Council over the coming months to help bring this about and to try and ensure that our thoughts and ideas are voiced and that the opinions of the student body become ever more central to life at Highgate Wood School.

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SCHOOL COUNCIL SUCCESSES

Ms Gribble writes: The School Council have been meeting regularly this term to discuss and address issues raised by their peers and staff.

These included obtaining clarification of certain rules, investigating issues surrounding equality in school, asking for cover for wet weather, requesting more rewards and recognition for students who don't accrue negative behaviour points, discussing the diversity of events in school, questioning rules concerning toilets and uniform, raising issues about the dining hall and lunch menus and generally saying sensible things and being heard.

Aiesha Shallo (Year 10) and Jace Griffiths (Year 11) are our chairs this year and have done a fantastic job. Hugo Clauge (Year 8) also deserves a special mention for minute taking skills that far surpass my own. Together with other members of the council they have made a real difference to the school community and already begun to make things happen.

Plans for wet weather covering are now being presented to the PSA and the Governing Body, whilst the school is also now looking at improving the environment and the design of the main dining hall.

The term for the current school council will be coming to an end at Christmas and a new collection of representatives will need to be appointed. The elections for the new School Council will take place in January and we hope will result in another fantastic bunch of councillors.

Issue 27

December 2015

SIXTH FORM DEBATING MATTERS

Harry Vinall-Smeeth focused on presenting data which revealed the true scale of London's housing crisis and skilfully rebutted the counter -arguments of the opposing team. At the end of the debate, Harry won the award for 'best individual performance'.

Although still relatively inexperienced in this competition, we look forward to the next London qualifying round, which will be held at the Barbican Centre in March of next year.

Mr Robertson writes: On 9th November, Highgate Wood School Sixth Form participated in the North London qualifying rounds for Debating Matters, a nationwide Debating Competition for secondary schools and Sixth Forms. This is the first time our school has entered this particular competition and is significantly different to the Model UN events we are used to; the teams are significantly smaller and the atmosphere much more challenging and adversarial.

Our first round was to debate 'compulsory vaccinations' and we won by virtue of the opposing school being unable to attend. However, Blue Weiss and Jonah Berman still gave a compelling and convincing presentation which was influenced

by John Stuart Mill's 'harm principle' in arguing that compulsory vaccinations were for the greater good. Although they were winners by default, they still dealt effectively with the counter-arguments put forward by the judging panel. The second and final round looked at whether gentrification was good for communities, and we were tasked with opposing this motion against an impressive team from Chingford Foundation School.

Our team decided to reframe 'gentrification' as 'social cleansing' and Rosa Tully made a passionate argument that it changed the character of working class neighbourhoods, priced out working people and broke up communities which had formed over generations.

Issue 27

December 2015

SPEAK OUT CHALLENGE

Ms Gribble writes: This month forty of our Year 10s have taken part in the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge and I was very impressed by all of them.

The programme involved a day’s training for two groups where the students developed their skill at public speaking by holding forth about a range of issues that they were passionate about. These included music, chocolate, football, poverty and pay inequality.

Asha Santeramo, Nasro Tahil and Noah Stoneman from the first group have all been asked to go through to the regional finals. We are still awaiting the results of the second cohort.

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HWS FEMINISTS

Meanwhile, our younger Y9 students attended a number of engaging workshops which touched upon the experiences of girls in the UK and how they can find fun and creative ways to promote positive messages about equality.

Mr Robertson writes: The HWS Feminist group is continuing to be involved in exciting projects both inside school and in the wider community.

At our weekly meetings, the group has been working on a Feminist Utopia Project and wrote short stories which described how the world would look if gender equality had been achieved. They also produced their own artwork and these have now all been collated into a booklet. We have also had meetings which looked at the gender marketing of children’s toys, the role of the media in how girls perceive themselves and how views of the roles of women vary all over the world.

We have also been fortunate to attend a number of events on the topic of gender equality. On 24th October, Ms Angove and Ms Sayer took a group of students to the annual Feminism in London conference. The event is the largest gathering of its kind in Europe, and 20 HWS students joined over 1,000 delegates to discuss topics as wide-ranging as ‘Equality & Austerity’, ‘Women in Parliament’ and the role of men in ending violence against women.

On 5th December, 14 of our students were invited to attend the launch of Plan UK’s #learnwithoutfear campaign to end violence against girls in and around school. Two of our Y13 students were asked to give some remarks at the opening of the conference, and we also hosted a workshop on the topic of ‘How We Started A Feminist Group in Our School’.

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The Feminist group is open to all female students from years 8-10 and there will also be a number of events during 2016 which boys will be encouraged to attend.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK

Mr Grimmett writes: International Education Week took place between 16th and 20th November. As we all know, knowledge and understanding of other cultures and modern foreign language skills are an essential part of our future and in preparing young people to work in an increasingly globalised economy.

As part of this week some of our Year 7 students volunteered to take part in the British Council’s homework challenge which offered a range of activities such as learning words in a different language or simply tasting food from another culture they had never had before.

Well done to everyone who took part, but particularly those listed below. They worked extra hard and completed 10 or more voluntary homeworks during that week!

Joe Chadwick (7E), Nicole Pawlikowska (7E); Gabriel Cahill Coady (7G); Layla Badalova ( 7A); Manon Elliott (7A); Tatiyana Thomas (7A), Rosie Boardman (7T), Matilda Heath (7T) and Alice Jenkins (7T) Issue 27

December 2015

GLOBAL CLASSROOMS - LMUN

KAREN McCOMBIE’S LUNCHTIME TALK

Mr Robertson writes: On Friday 27th November Ms Sayer and I took a delegation of students to the annual Global Classrooms London Model UN conference hosted by Mulberry School for Girls. This time, the topic was climate change, which was relevant and timely given the recent negotiations in Paris for a new global agreement on reducing carbon emissions.

It is my view that our students’ individual performances – and the professionalism of the delegation as a whole – could give some seasoned diplomats a run for their money. Their research was at such a high level that they drove debate from the start and stuck closely to their country’s positions – even if that proved unpopular with the other delegates in the room! They negotiated with each other maturely, showed great calmness under pressure, and contributed immensely to the resolution-writing process.

A special mention must be made of Isabel Pountney’s performance on the more challenging Crisis Committee; it is the first time we have ever asked a Year 9 student to take a seat on Crisis and the fact that she ended the day by winning Best Delegate reflects just how strongly she rose to the challenge.

As a school, we should be incredibly proud of their accomplishments, and can now look forward to our conference at Highgate Wood School in March, where we will be looking for new students who are eager to follow in their footsteps.

Issue 27

December 2015

Ms Ereira writes: Karen McCombie visited the LRC on November 19th and gave a very entertaining talk, ably assisted by her daughter and powerpoint-clicking assistant, Amelia from Year 9. Karen is an immensely popular writer and recently published her 80th book, Catching Falling Stars.

Karen is a natural storyteller and shared lots of funny stories about her life and her journey to becoming a successful author. Also some disconcerting cat anecdotes.

We heard about her bumpy start with literacy, caused by a hearing problem as a young child.

Despite her brother’s best efforts to get her reading by leaving copies of the Beano in her cot, Karen struggled when she first started school until a teacher realised that there was a problem with her hearing. Once this was resolved, Karen fell in love with reading. Her point? Even if you don’t find something easy at first, you can still succeed at it.

She revealed how she gets her ideas from her own teen diaries and from quirky incidents which she jots down in notebooks for later use. Basically, she revealed to her audience, inspiration is just nicking ideas.

This was a really funny, empowering and inspiring talk. You can find Catching Falling Stars and many other Karen McCombie books in the LRC. 25

300,000 WORDS SILVER AWARD

Ms Ereira writes: Well done to all the students in Year 7 and 8 who have made such progress with Accelerated Reader since September. The Awards that are recorded on this page demonstrate just how much work they have done.

15 QUIZZES PASSED GOLD AWARD Lily Bacon Darwin (7W) Seth Bland (7I) Rosie Boardman (7T) Reuben Braman (7E) Eliza Buckton (7T) Talia Bunting (7T) Eden Cavendish (7H) Olivia Dennis (7A) Manon Elliott (7A) Noah Gerner (7W) Ben Gibbons (7T) Max Haslam (7G) James Hastings O'shea (7I) Matilda Heath (7T) Rosie Hegarty Morrish (7T) Ellie Hutchings (7S) Alice Jenkins (7T) Zeki Jones (7T) Pia Kanani (7D) Brian Li (7AE) Migena Miftari (7W) Maya Muir (7S) Maria Tewodros (7I) Scala Tromans (7H) Tulsi Vaithilingam (7I) Anya Seymour (8E)

500,000 WORDS GOLD AWARD Felix Andrew (7G) Lily Bacon Darwin (7W) Tom Biro Sidford (7T) Amara Blair (7S) Seth Bland (7I) Rosie Boardman (7T) Shanya Braithwaite Ambrose (7A) Reuben Braman (7E) Eliza Buckton (7S) Gabriel Cahill Coady (7G) Celeste Clift (7T) Lily Corran (7A) Gareth Davies (7G) Lois Doyle (7H) Tsiona Fernandes-Tadesse (7S) Noah Gerner (7W) Jess Illari (7I) Alice Jenkins (7T) Kate Jevons (7I)

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Zeki Jones (7T) Art Jubb-Baddiel (7H) Yousaf Khan (7I) Orgena Kola (7I) Otis McAuliffe (7D) Isabelle McBroom (7H) Rory McDermid (7A) Migena Miftari (7W) Taya Miller (7D) Maya Muir (7S) Evan Shute (7S) Jessy Stoneman (7I) Ella Taylor (7W) Scala Tromans (7H) Holly Tunnicliffe (7I) Fabienne Valancogne (7T) Peter Vincent (7W) Jenasia Walker (7G) Annie Walker (7W) Shariah Wynter-Bradshaw (7S) Sude Bektas (8D) Tallulah Cox (8E) Zak Fowler (8D) Fred Perkins (8E)

10 QUIZZES PASSED SILVER AWARD Mushtaba Azizi (7S) Dior Beckford (7G) Luna Berger (7G) Tian-Xing Chaudhry (7A) Nicole Ciobanu (7W) Celeste Clift (7T) Gareth Davies (7G) Risat Hussain (7T) Ellie Hutchings (7S) Jess Illari (7I) Tamsin Jacobs (7D) Bruno Lansdown (7S) Bethany Matsuda Gaviria (7W) Taya Miller (7D) Orrin Ross (7W) Elodie Soteriou (7H) Ella Taylor (7W) Alice Tolipan (7H) Scala Tromans (7H) Louis Yule (7W) Ty Knox (8T)

Mushtaba Azizi (7S) Dior Beckford (7G) Luna Berger (7G) Eliza Buckton (7T) Talia Bunting (7T) Eden Cavendish (7H) Tian-Xing Chaudhry (7A) Nicole Ciobanu (7W) Olivia Dennis (7A) Manon Elliott (7A) Ben Gibbons (7T) James Hastings O'shea (7I) Matilda Heath (7T) Rosie Hegarty Morrish (7T) Risat Hussain (7T) Ellie Hutchings (7S) Tamsin Jacobs (7D) Pia Kanani (7D) Ainoa Kontoh (7E) Bruno Lansdown (7S) Brian Li (7AE) Daisy Murray (7G) Nicole Pawlikowska (7E) Anders Skovsende (7G) Elodie Soteriou (7H) Alice Tolipan (7H) Scala Tromans (7H) Tulsi Vaithilingam (7I) Jenasia Walker (7G) Louis Yule (7W) Sude Bektas (8D) Tallulah Cox (8E) Maya Culverwell (8H) Joe Ewbank (8D) Zak Fowler (8D) Matthew Free (8I) Camille French (8H) Clara Klein-French (8I) Fred Perkins (8E) Louise Roberts (8G)

5 QUIZZES PASSED BRONZE AWARD Abdullahi Ali (7D) Kathleen Archbold (7W) Tristan Ashworth (7AE) Aysegul Aslan (7A) Layla Badalova (7A) Ariba Baig (7A) Najibah Batanda (7S) Cassia Begg (7H) Tom Biro Sidford (7T) Amara Blair (7S) Camilo Chapman (7G) Lily Corran (7A) Daisy Daman Underwood (7E) Katya Dickson (7G) Liam Doran (7G) Katie Ewbank (7W) Jenae Feisal (7T) James Fleming (7D) Adam Foxsmith (7H) Chimey Gawa (7D)

Luca Hayles (7E) Peter Hogan (7A) Seren Hurst (7W) Kesena Ivego-Amaiyo (7S) Filip Jaremek (7S) Kate Jevons (7I) William John (7T) Maya Kane (7I) Yousaf Khan (7I) Humza Khan (7G) Betty Knox (7E) Laurie Logue (7I) Daisy Mattocks (7T) Honey McCloy (7E) Leila Mentash (7D) Alfie Montgomery (7H) Joe Morgan (7I) Nancy Moule (7W) Patrick Newcombe (7S) Amaury Peguero Blazina (7AE) Finn Quartermain (7AE) Denai Riviere - Chance (7W) Sienna Santeramo (7T) Siyar Sigirtmac (7W) Jessy Stoneman (7I) Florence Stroud (7G) Ava Todd (7I) Holly Tunnicliffe (7H) Fabienne Valancogne (7T) Peter Vincent (7W) Jenasia Walker (7G) Lily Walker (7E) Annie Walker (7W) Stanley Webb (7I) Reece Wright (7W) Sude Bektas (8D) Faber Bell (8W) Tallulah Cox (8E) Maya Culverwell (8H) Joe Ewbank (8D) Zak Fowler (8D) Matthew Free (8I) Camille French (8H) Clara Klein-French (8I) Ty Knox (8T) Fred Perkins (8E) Louise Roberts (8G) Amy Tafliku (8W) Leah Whittaker (8S)

100,000 WORDS BRONZE AWARD Abdullahi Ali (7D) Kathleen Archbold (7W) Tristan Ashworth (7AE) Aysegul Aslan (7A) Lily Bacon Darwin (7W) Layla Badalova (7A) Ariba Baig (7A) Najibah Batanda (7S) Cassia Begg (7H) Luna Berger (7G) Matthew Brewer (7E) Leo Chadwick (7D) Camilo Chapman (7G)

Issue 27

December 2015

Julia Coroama (7A) Daisy Daman Underwood (7E) Gareth Davies (7G) John Dewan (7E) Katya Dickson (7G) Katie Ewbank (7W) Jenae Feisal (7T) James Fleming (7D) Max Haslam (7G) Luca Hayles (7E) Peter Hogan (7A) Seren Hurst (7W) Kesena Ivego-Amaiyo (7S) Filip Jaremek (7S) Maya Kane (7I) Humza Khan (7G) Betty Knox (7E) Laurie Logue (7I) Ella Marshall (7E) Daisy Mattocks (7T) Maya Mills (7D) Alfie Montgomery (7H) Joe Morgan (7I) Jonathan Moughton-Small (7W) Nancy Moule (7W) Patrick Newcombe (7S) Amaury Peguero Blazina (7AE) Finn Quartermain (7AE) Denai Riviere - Chance (7W) Orrin Ross (7W) Siyar Sigirtmac (7W) Zoe Street (7D) Ava Todd (7I) Lily Walker (7E) Stanley Webb (7I) Reece Wright (7W)` Rosie Allison (8D) Patrick Alwyn (8A) Sude Bektas (8D) Faber Bell (8W) Aaron Bell (8E) Zachary Chisholm (8G) Tallulah Cox (8E) Maya Culverwell (8H) Daniel Doggett-Jones (8A) Joe Ewbank (8D) Zak Fowler (8D) Matthew Free (8I) Camille French (8H) Romilly Gosling (8G) Sylvie Keen (8D) Clara Klein-French (8I) Ty Knox (8T) Maya Koski-Wood (8E) Matthew Landells (8G) Lola Neal (8D) Bell Overton Farnham (8D) Fred Perkins (8E) Louise Roberts (8G) Anya Seymour (8E) Amy Tafliku (8W) Sissily Waite (8D) Leah Whittaker (8S)

OUR PATRON OF READING working on my own drama project, adapting my book Lia’s Guide to Winning the Lottery into a musical. Who knows, maybe Highgate Wood might stage it one day!

Keren David writes: It’s nearing the end of my first term as Highgate Wood School’s Patron of Reading and I feel as though we’ve got off to a good start.

Kate Ereira and I have set up an LRC blog (which is available via the school intranet and the website), and are getting lots of comments and contributions from students and staff - and from some of the authors featured in Highgate Wood School’s very first Book Award. Reading comments like ‘This is the best book I’ve ever read’ and ‘This book changed my life,’ is fantastic. Just as we hoped, the award is sparking debate among students. I hope lots of you will be reading the books - and the blog - and leaving more comments over the holidays.

Probably the most memorable Patron of Reading moment this term came just after I’d spoken at six assemblies in October. Walking along Tottenham Lane one dreary Sunday, the crowds parted as three boys on two bikes came cycling along the pavement. The boy clinging onto the back of the second bike took one look at me and yelled: ‘I know you! You came to my school and you’re a famous author!’

I don’t know who you were - but you certainly made me feel that the Patron of Reading scheme has got noticed. Thank you (and maybe next time cycle on the road?)!

The LRC blog can be found at www.highgatewoodlrc.wordpress.com

CHRISTMAS BOOKS

I’ve met with other authors who are Patrons in local schools and we’re planning some Top Secret joint projects - more details in the new year, but I hope Highgate Wood School will play a big role.

I met the school’s two reading groups, and it was brilliant to chat about books and writing with such passionate enthusiasts. I road-tested the first chapter of my latest book with the Year 7 group then went home and rewrote it - and read the new version to the Year 8 and Year 9s the following week. Thank you for your help! Next term I hope to visit again, and also set up a group for reluctant readers, because I’m very interested to work with and hear from kids who don’t like to read, and try and suggest ways of changing that.

I know some drama classes have been working on my book When I Was Joe, and I’m excited to see what they’ve come up with. This month I’ve been Issue 27

December 2015

Ms Ereira writes: The Christmas holiday is a great time to get reading for the Highgate Wood School Book Award. Voting will open next term, both in school and online via the LRC Blog.

Our shortlisted books are: A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke One by Sarah Crossan The Door That Led To Where by Sally Gardner; Better Left Buried by Emma Haughton The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

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School begins again on Monday 4th January 2016

at 10:50 am It will be Week 2 KEY DATES PARENT EVENINGS

TERM STARTS (10:35am)

Monday 4th Jan

A Level Taster Day

Wednesday 6th Jan

GCSE Results Day and Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 14th Jan

Year 7

Tues. 26th April

Year 8

Tues. 3rd November

Year 9

Wed. 24th February

Year 10

Tues.12th April

Year 11

Thurs. 14th January

INSET AFTERNOON (2:00pm)

Tuesday 19th Jan

Year 12

Thurs. 28th January

Year 12 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 28th Feb

Year 13

Thursday 11th February

E-Safety Parent Info Evening

Tuesday 9th Feb

Half term ends

Friday 12th Feb

SPRING 2016

SUMMER 2016

AUTUMN 2016 *

Mon 4th Jan

Term Starts

Mon 11th April

Term Starts

Mon 5th Sept

Term Starts

15th Feb– 19th Feb

Half term break

30th May - 3rd June

Half term break

24th Oct– 28th Oct

Half term break

Friday 22nd July

Term Ends*

Wed 21st Dec

Term Ends

Thurs 24th March Term Ends

* Term ends for students

* 2016-17 dates not finalised

The school calendar is available on-line at www.hws.uk.com

Keep informed Find out what is going on at Highgate Wood School and keep up with our news visit us at our website www.hws.uk.com follow us on twitter twitter.com/highgatewood Check the school’s opening status Call 02084087508 and give the school’s DfE code: 3094030

Insight is available on-line at www.hws.uk.com