Insight 36

Half-termly news from Highgate Wood School Issue No 36 May 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF GOVERNORS

MADFEST APPEAL FROM THE PSA

Chris Tully writes: At this time of year our thoughts turn to those students in Year 11 and the Sixth Form who are now sitting public exams. Anyone who has been through that experience will remember how stressful it can be, and how much hard work is involved. I wish each and everyone of the students very best of luck and all our good wishes. I know how much time and effort your teachers have put in to preparing you for the experience and I am absolutely confident that you will do us proud.

In a few weeks it will all be over. Year 11s will be attending the Celebration Evening that marks the end of their exams whilst our Sixth Formers will be enjoying a boat trip to signal the completion of theirs. For all the remaining students in the school there are many other events to look forward to, not least Sports Day and the evening’s MADFest on 30th June.

MADFest is invariably a fantastic event, but having returned to its original evening slot it seems to have got even better. Last year it provided an extraordinary showcase of the creative talent at Highgate Wood School and I am sure this year will be no different. It is also the major fundraising event for the school's PSA which in today's financial climate is vitally important to so many of the extracurricular and enrichment activities in the school. I do hope you will be able to attend.

Tickets are already available on-line.

In the meantime I wish you a peaceful but productive half term break and a very successful remainder of this academic year.

The MADfest raffle has always been a key fundraiser and this year we are also planning on running an online Silent Auction to raise more funds for the school, for more equipment, trips, clubs and further improve the school environment.

We need your help. We’d be grateful for big, small, weird and wonderful donations. If you are able to donate or have any questions, please email donations@hwsmadfest.co.uk with details and someone on the MADfest team will be in touch.

HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY Chair of Governors: Chris Tully LA Governor: Cllr Eddie Griffith Parent Governors: Manjeet Bains • Mark Harber • Mano Manoharan Craig Perry • Sally Watson Co-opted Governors: Oli Blackaby • Phil Cavendish • Phil Cocksedge • Joe Demetriou • Phil Dileo • Violet Hazelwood-Henry • Elizabeth Hess • Chris Parr • Imogen Pennell • Charles Wright 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

Front cover: The last day of the half-term was Dress Up Day for Year 11.

It was a fantastic atmosphere, helped not just be the good weather but also by the creativity and energy of the extraordinary Class of 2017.

More of their crazy costumes can be seen on-line and later in the pages of this issue of Insight.

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MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER It’s June already!

Welcome to the June edition of Insight (slightly later than usual). As always you will find this edition full of information highlighting many of the achievements of our incredible students over the last few months. We hope that you will get a sense of the amazing range of activities and opportunities that our students benefit from at Highgate Wood School thanks to our dedicated staff. As ever, this is a very exciting time to be part of the HWS Community.

Post 16 Applications & Places Offered – An Update We are delighted with the very high number of offers that we have been able to make for places in the 6th form. We have offered a high number of places for students both from Highgate Wood and from other schools. I am particularly impressed by the number and profile of those students who have applied from other schools this year. This confirms our feeling that HWS continues to be more popular both within and beyond Highgate Wood than in years gone by and that more and more we are achieving one of our key aims of being the local school of choice. When Ofsted came they commented very positively about the quality of our post 16 provision. We are very proud of this and we are confident that in an increasingly competitive world of post 16 provision, Highgate Wood Sixth Form will continue to be up there competing with the best.

Importantly, and similar to the last few years, in order to deal with the high demand for places at the start of the autumn term, we will be holding our first day of enrolment on Thursday 24th August – the day of the GCSE results. This will give HWS year 11s the first opportunity to secure places onto their choice of courses.

We are very proud of our Year 11s, we have every faith in their ability to do well in their exams and we look forward to seeing a large number of them thriving in the 6th form from this September.

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Progress of Our Year 11 Students – Good News!

The information in the table below show you our current predictions for our headline attainment figures, but it breaks them down into the key cohorts consistent with the DfE identified groups.

This data is important in helping us to look at any achievement gaps that exist between any groups and exploring what can be done to reduce these.

For useful reference I have included last year’s actual outcomes for the whole cohort in square brackets.

Whole cohort

Boys

Girls

231

137

94

96

40

5+ A*-C (EM) 4+

[69%] 70%

70%

70%

53%

55%

5+ A*-C (EM) 5+

[N/A] 49%

51%

46%

33%

28%

English 4+

[85%] 78%

74%

84%

71%

58%

Maths 4+

[75%] 78%

80%

76%

62%

60%

1 Science A* - C

[82%] 83%

81%

85%

74%

63%

2 Sciences A* - C

[68%] 82%

80%

85%

73%

63%

3 Sciences A* - C

[88%] 86%

81%

94%

71%

83%

MFL

[83%] 93%

90%

96%

86%

50%

4.9

4.8

5

4.1

4.0

(C-)

(C-)

(C)

(D)

(D)

Attainment

Number of students

Attainment 8

PP/ Disadv.

SEN

PLEASE NOTE: All advice and guidance has indicated that comparisons between this year and last year are unreliable (due to the changes in the assessment framework and curricula being delivered) hence I include them for illustrative and contextual purposes rather than as a way of making solid comparisons.

All of this data is a simply that… data. What is more important is what the information is showing us; namely that the incredible hard work of our students and our staff is paying off. We pride ourselves on making a positive difference to the lives of our students and securing exceptional academic progress is just one of the key ways in which we do this.

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Kirkland Rowell Survey Thank you to those of you who participated in the Kirkland Rowell survey to give us some feedback about how you feel the school is doing and how we can best work with you as parents/carers. We have recently received the feedback from Kirkland Rowell. There is more detail about this later on in this edition of Insight.

However, in short, the good news is that the results are very positive and confirms that parents and carers recognise the very good work that we do and appreciate the positive difference that we make to the learning and experience of your children.

Parents and carers have overwhelmingly expressed a view that their children learn well at Highgate Wood and that they have a wonderful and enriching experience at the school. One particularly pleasing aspect of the feedback is the continued positive response to our homework policy and the information that we share with parents and carers on Show My Homework. Homework was traditionally a thorny issue at HWS in the past, so it is really good to hear from you that things have moved forward (last year) and are being sustained (this year). As always though, there are some learning points as well and we will take on board moving forward. Some of these include thinking very carefully about some of the ways in which we might communicate even better with parents/ carers.

Uniform Rules – 2nd Half of the Summer Term Due to the very warm temperatures anticipated for the second half of the summer term, in accordance with previous years we are going to allow blazers to be optional with immediate effect.

As a reminder, the specific rule is  Blazers no longer need to be worn or brought to school. However, no other non-uniform top is allowed to be worn over the shirt – i.e. no replacement cardigans, jumpers, jackets or coats. If they are worn they should be confiscated.  All other uniform expectations remain the same.

We would very much appreciate it if all parents/ carers could reinforce this expectation with their children and support the school’s stance. ... And Finally – Thank you for your support!

I would like to thank you all again for your valued and continued support.

Regards

Patrick Cozier Headteacher

MADFEST—30th JUNE 2017 6:30—9:00PM

Remember to get your ticket for MADFEST. Buy them online from www.hwsmadfest.co.uk Email donations@hwsmadfest.co.uk if you can help with the raffle or silent auction.

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WHY EXCELLENT BEHAVIOUR IS IMPORTANT

Good behaviour strongly correlates with positive experiences and outcomes for students.

When behaviour is good:  students feel safe and secure  students achieve more academically and socially  time is reclaimed for better and more learning  staff satisfaction improves, retention is higher, recruitment is less problematic Therefore for us here at HWS achieving consistently good behaviour is central to our mission statement of: ‘Having the highest expectations, making a positive difference and inspiring self-belief’.

Good behaviour also underpins our core values as expressed in the 4 Cs: Courtesy Consideration Cooperation Contribution Furthermore, as a growth mindset school we believe that all our students can behave well and even those that find this difficult can work at it and improve.

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This is all represented in the principles of our behaviour policy:  The consistent promotion of excellent behaviour – we hold genuinely high expectations and insist on the very best conduct from all of our students without exception  A belief that all students can consistently display excellent behaviour and achieve the best possible outcomes  All students can achieve outstanding outcomes and contribute positively to the life of the school  Poor behaviour is never accepted  Highgate Wood School values apply to all students and all members of the school community.  Rewards feature more prominently than sanctions on a day to day basis for the overwhelming majority of students  The values that our behaviour policy seeks to uphold are Highgate Wood School values and are applied consistently by all members of staff  These aspirations are reflected through all of our expectations and recognised through rewards and celebrations.

Since the launch of the new behaviour policy we have seen a significant improvement in behaviour in the school. However, we still want to improve it further and to this end have been discussing improvements with various groups of staff and students with a view to bringing in improvements

by September.

Our aim is that Highgate Wood School will nurture and educate our students to be learners who are:  Happy and full of enjoyment  Independent and autonomous  Well-rounded and open minded  Resourceful  Reflective  Engaged and passionate about learning  Ambitious and competitive  Solution focused  Bold risk takers 5

In order to achieve this we need our students to relate well to one another and play an active role in developing a supportive and inclusive community in which all of our students:  Behave towards each other and all members of the community with good manners, courtesy and consideration  Are proactively choosing to and making a positive contribution to the school community  Understand the high expectations that we place on them and co-operate fully without needing to be asked  Are kind and empathetic to others  Show respect and display honesty  Model excellent social skills Is expecting good behaviour oppressive?

When we talk about having high expectations this is sometimes misrepresented as being overly strict or pedantic about rules and having a negative impact on students. We would argue that having high expectations ( and if these are to really mean anything then there must be some kind of consequence when they are not met) are crucial for a safe, well-ordered learning environment where all students can thrive. This point is tackled by the government’s behaviour ‘Czar’ Tom Bennett in his recent report:

The importance of parental support Getting the support of parents for our very high expectations (and the sanctions we have to apply when students occasionally fail to meet these) is crucial.

The key things you can do to help are:  Ensure your child arrives to school on time, equipped and in the correct uniform  Check they have completed their homework, this should be recorded in their journal and is also available on Show My Homework  Look at their merits and demerits on ePraise and praise them for successes and talk through how they can improve less desirable behaviours  Reinforce school expectations, particularly the student contract which you have signed up to which can be found in their planner Perhaps the most crucial thing you can do is to always support the school when an issue is raised regarding your child. Try to reserve judgement until you have heard the school’s view of the issue as students often give a very skewed interpretation of events (ie one in which they are innocent, justified, a victim themselves, etc.). If you still feel unhappy about a situation please have that conversation with the appropriate member of staff rather than giving your child the impression you are siding with them against the school.

‘It is the duty of every adult to help create in students the habit of self-restraint or self-regulation.

This must be mastered before students can consider Overall we believe behaviour at the school is good themselves to be truly free. To be in control of one’s and gives the students the positive climate in which own immediate inclinations or desires and fancies, is they achieve great results but as with all aspects of a liberty far more valuable than the absence of the school we are constantly striving to improve restraint. Once obtained, students can then be further. supported into true autonomy and independence, where they reliably and consciously make wise and civil decisions without supervision or restraint. This process closely mirrors the broader model of human maturation, in which schools have a part to play.”

To add a bit more context it is worth knowing that the vast majority of our students pick up very few demerits, are not given detentions and have few difficulties meeting our expectations.

Teachers at Highgate Wood School give out If you need help logging onto e-praise or Show My approximately twice as many merits as demerits Homework please email: each week, our focus whenever possible is on data@hws.haringey.sch.uk praising students for doing ‘the right thing’.

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Mr Ashman writes: As we mentioned in the last issue of Insight we are hoping that most families will be happy to read Insight online rather than receive printed copies.

There are a number of reasons for this. The first is to save money. You will be aware of the current financial climate for schools and the need we have to economise wherever possible. We are also well aware of the environmental impact of printing tens of thousands of sheets of paper every half-term.

Again, anything we can do to reduce our carbon footprint is something we should do.

There is also the concern that not every printed copy of Insight got back to households intact.

Some were dropped by students, others languished at the bottom of school bags for weeks. We are aware that the vast majority of families have easy internet access so reading Insight online is a very straightforward alternative.

It also gives us the opportunity to move the deadlines. For this issue, for example, we are able to include the Year 11 Dress Up Day on the last day of the half term. This is something we have never been able to do before.

We will continue to print a few copies of Insight, and these will be available in the LRC and from the school reception.

If you find the on-line system unusable or inconvenient, do please contact the school and we will have a rethink. You can email your comments to: data@hws.haringey.sch.uk.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it

From caring comes courage

80,185

80,734

82,068

so far this year

so far this year

so far this year

Top Merit Earners Hussain Mahjaben (Yr 11) Mert Albayrak (Yr 10) Nevra Koral-Boyraz (Yr 9) Eden Cavendish (Yr 8) Bethan Coomber (Yr 7)

Top Merit Earners Maya Eagles (Yr 11) Mehmet Aslan (Yr 10) Jermaine Brown (Yr 9) Manon Elliott (Yr 8) Talia Hendry (Yr 7)

Success comes from perseverance

Top Merit Earners CJ McCarthy (Yr 11) Day Robinson-McKenzie (Yr 10) Daniel McCormick (Yr 9) Kathleen Archibold (Yr 8) Lola Goldfinch Betts (Yr 7)

Many parents have found e-praise to be very helpful in keeping informed of their child’s behaviour and achievements at school. If you still need an account for the system please email data@hws.haringey.sch.uk with your child’s name.

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YEAR 11 DESTINATIONS

RAMADAN

Each year local authorities carry out a survey of all the young people who have completed Year 11. The purpose of this is to find out whether students have been able to secure a place in further education, apprenticeship, training or employment.

Last year over 94% of our Year 11 cohort had secured places in sixth forms and colleges, many of them continuing their studies in Highgate Wood School Sixth Form. Of the remainder the majority had secured places in training or employment with training. Unfortunately there were a few students who did not complete the survey or provide the relevant information.

This year we have provided all Year 11 students with an additional questionnaire that allows them to arrange an appointment with Mr Kennington, the school’s careers adviser. This has gone to the students’ school email accounts.

Could all Year 11s please ensure that this survey is completed?

During Ramadan some students fast from dawn until sunset, and as this year Ramadan takes place from May 27th it could mean they will be going without food and water for upwards of 19 hours. For students in Year 11 and in the Sixth Form the timing of Ramadan also coincides with the main bulk of their examinations. So clearly, this year there are some extra challenges that will need to be met.

Lots of advice will be available from families and respective authorities with regard to how best the demands of revision and of Ramadan can be met together.

As a school we will do everything we can to support all our students. We do understand that some students may feel they are missing out on the spiritual benefits of Ramadan because they don’t have time for extra prayers, Qur’an recitation or charity work because of exams. Don’t forget that revising is spiritual too! Educating yourself is an important part of religion.

Revise with good intentions: to increase your knowledge and to make your teachers and loved ones proud of you. And remember that sometimes small gestures are those most valuable. Is there any better charity than helping out your friends and classmates during this stressful time? And that applies to every one of us.

MADFEST—30th JUNE 2017 6:30—9:00PM

Remember to get your ticket for MADFEST. Buy them online from www.hwsmadfest.co.uk Email donations@hwsmadfest.co.uk if you can help with the raffle or silent auction.

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PARENT SURVEY

Mr Hewitt writes: Thank you to the parents and carers who took the time to respond to our annual survey.

We had 348 responses which give us some very useful information about your views of the school.

The responses were mostly very positive and overall 86% of respondents would recommend the school to others. This triangulates with other forms of self –evaluation including our own internal processes, our recent Ofsted inspection report and the highly successful exam outcomes students achieve. Some of the areas parents were particularly positive about included levels of homework, school security and control of bullying. The majority of subject areas received positive ratings and Year 11 parents\carers (i.e. those whose children have had the most experience of the school) gave the most positive ratings. Overall the benchmarked results confirm our own view that Highgate Wood is a very good and improving school.

However, we are keen not to rest on our laurels and whilst there were very few areas for attention raised there are a few learning points for the school, as well as some concerns from parents about inconsistencies.

Below I have provided some clarification of these and also details of actions we are taking to improve specific aspects of the school.

Low-level disruption Internal school data suggests that our new Behaviour Policy has had significant impact and behaviour that was already mostly good is getting better; for example, the numbers of students referred and given a one hour detention at the end of the day have fallen dramatically. Some improvements are taking longer to embed than others and getting them consistently right is a Issue 36

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challenge. Consequently, we have three staff working parties (with Student Council input) looking into ways to improve this area further. Members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) make regular visits to lessons and recently we have seen plenty of evidence of further improved behaviour. We were told how the introduction of e-Praise allows parents to access both merits demerits and the reasons they were awarded, and how it is helpful for parents to be able to reinforce both praise and concerns by checking your child’s records.

Supply teachers Overall we have relatively few supply teachers in school, these usually for unforeseen staff absences.

We currently employ one full time cover supervisor and we will be reviewing whether or not to increase this, although in the current financial context any increase in staffing is very difficult. All supply lessons are visited by a Pastoral Care Mentor on call and a member of SLT. Supply teachers are given photographs of students and guidance on how to follow up any instances of poor behaviour in line with our behaviour policy. We also carry out periodic evaluations of our procedures around supply lessons. It would also be very helpful if parents could emphasise the need for students to follow school rules whoever is teaching a particular lesson.

Staffing of science Our difficulties in appointing science teachers earlier this year are very much a reflection of the challenging national position in this curriculum area. We have worked very hard to address this and now have a full complement of staff and some excellent new appointees who are starting in September. It is worth noting that Science results at the school at both KS4 and 5 have been very impressive for a few years now, half of the cohort now takes ‘triple’ science at KS4. All three science subjects (biology, chemistry and physics) are very popular and successful in the sixth form. Having built this positive reputation we are determined to maintain it.

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Communication There seem to be a range of views expressed by parents on this issue. Some parents are very happy with aspects of communication such as being able to contact teachers. We now have all teacher (and most staff) email addresses on our website and this is the best way of contacting teachers, many of whom don’t have a personal phone extension. We are constantly looking for new ways to keep parents up-to-date, for example a number of year 11 parents have just signed up to receive text updates of when various GCSE exams are happening. We have also calendared many more parent information evenings e.g. at the start of Key Stage 4 and 5. However, clearly some parents feel either that we are not quite doing enough or perhaps are not getting our strategy or message quite right so we will be making this a significant aspect of the School Development Plan for the coming year.

Please look out for a survey on this specific issue that we will be emailing out next half-term to help us shape our actions.

Feedback on students work Assistant Headteacher Mr Mansfield spoke to a range of parent meetings at the start of the year to outline our new approach to assessment based on the latest research evidence. Whilst this has meant that it is no longer the case that every single piece of work is marked, it should be the case that students receive significant feedback on key

assessments and most crucially have the time to respond and use it to improve their work. The impact of this was recognised in our recent Ofsted report however we are also currently carrying out our own internal evaluation in order to ensure the policy is being consistently implemented. We are also gathering more examples of work to display on our website to enable parents to see the standards students should be aiming for.

Inconsistency of teaching quality We believe the majority of teaching is good or better, this is supported by our own internal valuation processes, confirmed by Ofsted and validated by the external results at KS4/5 which have consistently put us in the top 25% of schools nationally for student progress. Of course we are always seeking ways to raise our standards even higher and monitor teaching quality through lesson observations, learning walks and scrutiny of books as well as analysing internal progress data and seeking student feedback to deepen our understanding of performance. When departments or individuals underperform we have rigorous systems of support to swiftly improve the situation.

Again our targeted support of specific departments was praised by Ofsted as a result of swift turnarounds in outcomes. If you have a concern about the experience your child is having in a lesson please email the Head of Department who will be able to respond.

CROUCH END FESTIVAL 9th—18th JUNE 2017

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CLASS OF 2017

Mr Hartley writes: On the last day of the half term our Year 11 students showed us just how creative and amazing they are.

Having a break from exams (though they had sat their English Literature paper in the morning) and a rest from their revision schedules they dressed in all manner of weird and wonderful costumes to celebrate their last proper school day before the holidays and their study leave begins.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard work over the past weeks . I am sure these efforts will be rewarded in your exam results.

I look forward to seeing you all at Celebration Evening on Friday 23rd June and hopefully being able to welcome you back on Thursday 24th August to be members of the Highgate Wood School Sixth Form.

Celebration Evening Friday 23rd June 2017 Union Chapel Islington N1 2UN Issue 36

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GROWTH MINDSET AT HWS:

PART 4 DELIBERATE PRACTICE

SKILLS

... come from hard work and can always be improved. Skills are not fixed or something you are born with.

CHALLENGES

... should be embraced and seen as an opportunity to grow. Challenges should not be avoided or seen as things that might reveal a lack of skill. You shouldn’t give up easily.

EFFORT

... is essential on the path to mastery. It shouldn’t be seen as something you do because you are “not good enough”.

FEEDBACK

... should be seen as useful, something to learn from and help identify areas to improve, not something to be taken personally or get defensive about.

SETBACKS

... should be used as a wake-up call to work harder next time, not something that gets you discouraged or something that leads you to blame others.

Mr Hewitt writes: Growth mindset has sometimes been rather crudely misrepresented as to merely be about telling students they can ‘be anything they want to be.’ This is not the case. Nor is it true that merely spending a lot of time doing something makes you better at it (studies suggest that with many skills once we have reached a degree of competence and automacity our performance plateaus). Hence whilst students need to believe that they can get better at anything from their social skills to advanced calculus, in order to do so they need to engage in what Anders Ericsson calls ‘deliberate practice.’

The Four Essential Components of Deliberate Practice 1.

You must be motivated to attend to the task and exert effort to improve your performance.

2.

The design of the task should take into account your pre-existing knowledge so that the task can be correctly understood after a brief period of instruction.

3.

You should receive immediate informative feedback and knowledge of results of your performance.

4.

You should repeatedly perform the same or similar tasks.

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What Deliberate Practice Means for students 1. Natural ability is no excuse.

If you’re 5’5″, maybe you shouldn’t set your sights on becoming a top basketball player. Some physical limits are obvious.

However, most other “limits” are cop-outs or relics of old misunderstandings about talent, especially when it comes to academic performance. Studies now show us how malleable the brain is, if you learn more it adapts.

2. How you practice matters most.

To benefit from practice and reach your potential you have to constantly challenge yourself.

This doesn’t mean repeatedly doing what you already know how to do. This means understanding your weaknesses and inventing specific tasks in your practice to address those deficiencies. This is why attending to the feedback you receive from your teachers is so important.

3. How long you persevere determines your limits.

Becoming an expert is a marathon, not a sprint.

You cannot reach your mental and physical limits in just a few weeks or months. To grow to the top of your game, you’ll have to persevere for years, i.e. from year 7 to 11 or 13. Your practice has to be deliberate and intense, but it also has to be carefully scheduled and limited in ways to avoid burnout and long-term fatigue (both mental and physical).

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4. Motivation becomes the real constraint on expertise.

Practice isn’t always fun. It’s an investment into improving yourself, your skills and your future. In order to practice with intention for long enough to become an expert or gain useful skills, you have to find the motivation to make the investment. This is a really key message for students who often think things need to be fun for them to be able to learn, often it is the other way around, ie you enjoy things more as you master them, but this takes time and effort.

How to do it: 1. Slow Down Slowing down is really the key to get any skill under your belt. The goal is to get to the point where you can do something smoothly, not fast. By slowing down you get better control and higher precision.

2. Start with a Goal in Your Mind You need to know what you are trying to accomplish. You need to have a destination. Before you start practicing anything, try to see, hear or feel what it’s gonna be like when it’s done. Watch somebody doing it perfectly and you are much closer to your goal than you might think. Create a vision and work towards it.

6. Repeat In order to master any move or action you need to make a lot of repetitions. First you have to learn it perfectly and then you need to repeat it until you feel absolutely comfortable with it.

7. Count Good Repetitions Quite often we get trapped by thinking that putting in more hours will produce better results. By now you probably know that it is not about time, but about quality of that time. Instead of focusing your attention on minutes, try to count good repetitions.

Count anything that will tell you if you are moving forward or not.

8. Make it Harder Practicing and training under pressure might help you to gain skill faster. In your practice room everything is quite safe, but when you are on stage it is very different situation. Try to find opportunities that put some pressure on you and see how well you can adapt.

9. Find Someone Who is Better Feeling like you are good enough? Find someone who is better and see what happens. Constantly try to surround yourself with people that are better in what you are doing. Your learning will accelerate many times

3. Chunking Don’t try to learn complex skill all at once. Chunk it up. Create shorter sequences, little movements and practice them in isolation. When you are ready, connect them.

4. Practice at the Edge of Your Abilities Finding the sweet spot at the edge of your current competence is the key to learning skills fast. You don’t aim too high or too low. You need to find that place where you don’t feel comfortable but it is not so bad that you want to quit. Design every task to fit your current level.

5. Get Feedback It is almost impossible to get valuable feedback from yourself while you are fully immersed in action. A good teacher can help you immensely.

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Read more about this in Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool’s book ‘Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise’

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THE COMMENT AWARDS FROM EDITORIAL INTELLIGENCE

Ms Wildman writes: On Monday 15th May a group of seven Year Ten students attended the Editorial Intelligence Comment Conference at the Wellcome Collection, in Euston. This is hosted by Julia Hobsbawm, the director of Editorial Intelligence, who very kindly invites us every year.

Editorial Intelligence is an organisation for networking in the media. The conference is held each year to discuss current issues in the media, especially among newspaper journalists and editors who write comment pieces. The conference consists of a series of debates and lectures about current issues in the media. Many of the topics this year focused on the "fake news" and the relevance of trained journalistic comment in a digital age. Guest speakers included screenwriter Ivor Baddiel; journalist and stand up comedian Viv Groskop; Matt Haig, news presenter from Channel Four news and James Harding, Director of News and Current Affairs at the BBC. 14

It is a prestigious event and Highgate Wood School is the only school that is given an invite. Students were required to have an interest in the media and current issues, be able to confidently talk to adults and to be able to focus for long periods of time, while taking notes. All students were superb and were great ambassadors for the school. Not only that, but they were required to network during lunch. This is not an easy task but all of the students were absolutely brilliant at talking to and listening to the guests about their careers and their route there. Some asked some really insightful questions, showing a genuine interest and also showcasing excellent listening skills.

It was a long day, beginning with a visit to the British Library to view literary and historical treasures like the Magna Carta and editions of Shakespeare's sonnets from the seventeenth century. We finally left at 5.30pm. The students learned many skills that will prepare them for further education and careers, and were so impressive in how they represented the school.

The students who attended were: Assisa Adan, Leyla Osman, Ed Pettey, Ella Reynolds, Calum De La Motte, Samia Mohamoud and Liliane Vitoriano

FIRST STORY

Mr Gowen writes: The English department are proud to announce that the First Story writing anthology Word Drops Keep Falling on my Head will be published in June. The anthology will contain a range of poems, stories, and songs that have been developed with poet/rapper/ writer Adam Kammeling over the past year.

We are hoping that the successful First Story scheme will continue to run next year. Those who are interested in becoming published authors, taking part in school trips, and developing their writing skills via games and biscuits, should contact me as places are limited. Students of all ages and ability are welcome – all you need is a pen and a voice.

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ERASMUS PLUS TRIP TO ITALY

Ms Angove writes: Last month eight of our year 10 students took part in the second Erasmus trip, visiting our partner school in Bormio, Italy.

The group had a fabulous time touring Milan with students from four other European schools before taking a bus to Lake Como and onto Bormio. They experienced four seasons in one week, going from bright and sunny Milan and Lake Como to the snowy slopes of Livigno. They had the opportunity to learn about the other schools and how mentoring is used to support students in a variety of ways across

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Europe before touring the local town and discovering its history.

The group were wonderful ambassadors for the school, taking every opportunity open to them, including spending an evening with a host family and trying foods that were new to them. Well done Marwan Benamer, Lea Bute-Law, Tia Dyett, Zackhala Francis, Ollie Freeman, Nino Geliashvili, Mia Johnson and Natalie Manoharan.

I am sure you are looking forward to welcoming other students to Highgate Wood School in 2018.

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RAISING MONEY, AND HAIR, FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER Ms Angove writes: Well done Pia Kanani (8D) for your amazing fund raising activity for charity.

Megan Sharp and Louis Souvestre from Toni & Guy’s Covent Garden branch kindly agreed to cut Pia’s very long hair so she could help children suffering with cancer. Pia donated the hair itself to the Little Princess Trust (who will use it to make wigs for children with cancer) and also got people to sponsor her so she could raise money for the Promise Dreams charity that helps makes terminally ill children's last wish come true!

So far Pia has raised nearly £1,500! You can contribute to her fundraising efforts by visiting her pages on Just Giving http://bit.ly/piacharity

RAINBOW LACES PROJECT MY GIRL

Elanaz Kir writes: Project My Girl is a joint programme between Hope 4 Malawi and Fisherman’s Rest that aims to reduce the school drop-out rate in teenage girls.

Currently, 1 in 10 girls across Africa miss a week of school each month when they are on their periods.

They fall behind with their school work and many drop out altogether! We think this is outrageous and want to do our bit to help.

Project My Girl teaches local women how to make reusable sanitary towels. However, these are useless without knickers to attach them to!

We are collecting donations of new, clean, cotton pants in various sizes, suitable for girls of secondary school age. These can be brought to A26 between now and Tuesday 27th June.

We are also holding a bake sale to help raise money to cover the cost of shipping our donations to Malawi. This will take place on Monday 26th June at break time in the Wren.

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Ms Gribble writes: Rainbow Shoe Laces from Stonewall are now available to buy in school. These laces are part of a campaign to raise the profile LGBT+ issue in sport and help bring an end to homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and all gender or sexual orientation based prejudice in sports.

JACK PETCHEY AWARD WINNERS Ms Gribble writes: The Jack Petchey Award Winners for this grant period are...

Nevra Koral-Boyaz, Tara O'Regan, Charlie Newbold, Julisa Tisha, Katie Effingham and Bethan Coomber.

Massive congratulations to each of them for their contributions to our community. Details of how their grants will be used will be announced shortly.

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ART AND DESIGN AT HWS SIXTH FORM Ms Zwicky writes: Our Year 12 and 13 cohort have just completed their exams in Photography and Art & Design. Our Year 12 cohort has responded to the exam theme of Structures, and our students have pushed themselves to explore this theme in a diverse manner, we could not be prouder.

Many of our students have created challenging 3D structures from a variety of materials; Oscar Murphy created an elaborate plaster cast, whilst Ruby Neale created a large scale paper sculpture, and Amelia Kirby created a stained glass window inspired sculpture. Our textile cohort similarly impressed, with Ellen’s graffiti collar being a stand out piece of work, and Fanni's Armadillo shoulder piece showing real influence and costume design promise.

In year 13 we have been absolutely blown away by this years Photography cohort, who has risen to the challenge, by answering the brief of Environment.

Frankie Shand created 3 fabulous photo books based on iconic areas around London, capturing their character mood and vibrant nature perfectly.

Barney has created very atmospheric portraits of individuals in their environment, capturing the essence of character, and excelling his ability to put the subject at ease.

Amy Townsend Lowcock

In year 12, a few outcomes stood out, and varied from students exploring the powers of social media (Ruby Kelly), altering structures through Photoshop and creating fantastic impossible worlds (Ella Pollak Flemming).

More highlights were conceptual ideas and explorations of structures within friendships/ relationships explored by Laura Gibbons, Amy Townsend-Lowcock and Bryony Hillman through animation, 3D work, and bookmaking.

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Megan Edwards

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ART AND DESIGN AT HWS SIXTH FORM

Carla Dawson

Mia Garling created 21 stunning poster designs, showcasing her superb understanding of graphic design and composition. Ethan Wadsworth’s response to the brief explored how government changes in education impact on teachers, resulting in a series of chirascuro portraits of a cross section of staff at Highgate Wood School, again managing to capture character and each individuals' personality, simply fabulous work.

prestigious colleges such as Central St Martins, Camberwell, Chelsea, Ravensbourne, Falmouth, Bournemouth & Sheffield. Please stay in touch, and let us know how you get on with your work as you continue your studies.

Just a few of the highlights of A2 Art & Design include a large scale installation by Colette Rogers highlighting issues of inequality and exploitation of women in the media & Anna Keating's immersive plant based experience describing the life cycle.

Similarly Gabriel Clarke's work around a similar topic was very moving and poignant in his hand drawn animation and Helen Swinton has produced impressive abstract paintings.

You can of course also follow all exhibition news, artwork showcase across the year groups as well as exciting arts opportunities in the local area on our Department Twitter account @HWSArt_Photo.

If you would like to come and see all of this fantastic work in the flesh, which we of course thoroughly recommend, please join us on the 30th June for our A-Level Showcase as part of MAD fest.

It must be said that we will thoroughly miss our Year 13 cohort, they have been an outstanding year group, and they are leaving huge shoes to fill, in terms of their application and drive for excellence this year.

We wish you all the best of luck at your respective Art Foundation and university courses, with each student achieving multiple offers to choose from at Sadie Goswell (detail)

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ART AND DESIGN AT HWS SIXTH FORM

Mia Garling

Elizabeth Oliver

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YEAR 11 GCSE FOOD TECHNOLOGY Ms Went writes: The theme for this year’s GCSE is again International Cuisine and all of our Foodies have risen to the challenge of producing dishes from a vast range of cuisines to an exceptional standard. Many of the students have looked to their heritage and produced traditional dishes from recipes that have been passed down through their families and have been tried and consumer tested by their expert judges at home.

As you can see from the photos of just a few of the many dishes, the standard of cooking is extremely high (and it all tasted as good as it looks!). These are just a tiny sample of the multitude of fabulous food products that have been produced this year.

If you would like to see more of what our young Masterchefs have cooked, there will be photographs of all of the students work on display at the Art and DT GCSE Show on Friday 9th June.

Alice Tansley: Pizza Marguerite

Amy Giles: Crème Brule

Anastasia Abramchuck: Russian Christmas

Asha Santemaro: Culurgiones

Cameron Fredericks: Chicken Fajitas

Daniella Ismaili: Salmon with roasted tomatoes

Dylan Kennedy: Irish stew

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Emi Ogur: Chicken Tariyaki

Fahmida Islam: Lamb Pilau

Fiorentina Repole: Chicken skewer with mixed rice

Iona Tewelde-Oakley: American stack burger

Jasmine Bell: Profiteroles

Miya Eagles: Glazed Austrian Chocolate Torte

Mohammed Herzi: Jamaican Patties

Rachel Watson: Pork stir-fry with noodles

Zakiya Byer: Fish and Plantain

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URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE

Ms Sayer writes: Having been ranked 2nd nationally after the first two rounds of the Urban Debate League, a team of students from HWS were invited to attend the finals on Monday 22nd May at the offices of law firm Shearman and Sterling. They competed in two heats, including one in which they had to argue against nuclear disarmament.

Winning both of these earnt them the right to compete in the semi-final against Sydney Russell School. The motion was: ‘This house would give extra votes to people from lower socio-economic backgrounds’. Although they proposed very strong arguments about the values of democracy and the importance of political education, they were pipped to the post and did not progress to the Grand Final.

For many of these debaters, it was their last competition, having been part of Debate Mate for the last three years. I would like to congratulate them for all of their hard work and incredible achievements.

DEBATE MATE CUP Adam Foxsmith 8H and Felix Andrew 8G write: In May, Highgate Wood School went to the Debate Mate Cup 2017. We were split into an A-team and a B-team and we’re pleased to announce that both teams won all of their debates!

The event was held at the London Metropolitan University in North London. During the day there were three debates, a show-debate and the DMC final! The first motion was prepared, which means we got some time to research. This year the motion was: ‘This house would cut UK budget on space exploration’. Arguments against included the fact that money would be better spent on the NHS and the fact that private companies should be funding space exploration.

The next motion was: This house would ban music that glorifies crime. And finally, the third was: ‘That this house believes that protests are an ineffective form of communication.’ Our teams came 6th and 3rd, narrowly missing the final. Overall, the day was a huge success for Highgate Wood and we all left feeling really proud of ourselves!

Miss Sayer writes: Congratulations to all of the students who took part in the Debate Mate Cup; you were outstanding!

SIXTH FORM ENROLMENT 2017

Ms Pinnick writes: AS and A2 results will be issued on Thursday 17th August. A2 students should arrive for 9am and AS for 9.30 am. AS students will be enrolled onto A2 courses on Thursday 17th. There will be a catch up session for students who are on holiday on Thursday 31st August between 1pm and 3pm.

Enrolment for Year 11 students will take place on Thursday 24th August after the GCSE results are issued.

Enrolment will continue in the morning of Friday 25th August from 10am to 1pm.

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MY DEBATE MATE EXPERIENCE Afriyie Nyametie writes: My name is Afriyie Nyametie and I am a junior debater. I was inspired to join the debating club after watching the film The Great Debaters starring Denzel Washington!

I have been attending Debate Mate every Monday since November and have thoroughly enjoyed it!

I believe I have grown in confidence and my mum says I have better listening skills because:  I have learnt to project my voice;  I can create a good argument by listening and understanding what has been presented;  I am learning to think quickly with comebacks that show weaknesses in an arguments;  I understand that you don’t have to get angry or make it personal if you do not agree with someone’s point of view.

Since November, Debate Mate students have been working towards their first competition, which finally arrived on Thursday 26th January when we attended the first round of the Urban Debate League at Hornsey School for Girls.

At first I was a bit nervous about debating in front of different people for the first time- worried that my words might come out all jumbled up and not make any sense. However, once I let go of my fear and told myself what my mum always tells me (that I could do it and should enjoy the experience), I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed my first competition. I left feeling very proud of myself and my teammates.

I am having an awesome learning experience at Debate Mate as I feel I am growing in confidence expanding my vocabulary, improving my listening skills, being introduced to new topics of discussion and improving my social skills

WE SCHOOL

Isabel Poutney writes: As part of our work with the WeSchool's program we have started to run a correspondence project with some students from a school in Gumbi, Nigeria. It is early days, but it has already become a fascinating project - learning and sharing ideas with students living in a very different world.

If you would like to get involved with the project please speak to Ms Gribble or you can ask me directly. I am sure you will find it worth while.

Don’t forget your tickets for MADFEST. It will be the event of the summer!

Visit: www.hwsmadfest.co.uk

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FIRST GIVE

Mr Grimmett writes: Our Year 8 cohort last term were busily investigating local charities through an organisation called First Give. As part of these lessons our students learned many useful life skills such as researching, team work, empathy and learning to talk in front of audiences.

Guided by our wonderful Year 8 PHSEE teachers Mr Ashman, Mr Cousins, Ms Wallace and Ms Zwicky each form class voted for a group to represent them at the Dragon’s Den final where their knowledge and presentations were judged by a top team of judges.

The judges were our very own Student Council representative Rebecca Manoharan, our Head Teacher, Patrick Cozier and special guests Catherine West MP, Lindsey Clay, CEO of Thinkbox & Trustee of The Rank Foundation and Carolina Khouri, Director of Haringey Arts CIC. All the groups were fantastic, presenting brilliantly for their chosen charity. It really was an inspiring evening for all who came, which including family members as well students, staff and judges.

The overall winning team were 8H who were bidding for money for Alzheimer's Research UK and who were awarded £1000 for their charity. They were closely followed by 8D, Solace Women’s Aid and 8A with Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation who were each awarded £250 for their chosen charities.

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THE FIRST GIVE BIDS Alzheimers Research UK Cassia Begg, Elanaz Kir, Izzy McBroom, Alfie Montgomery, Elsa Poutney, Tamsin Orford Williams, Elodie Soteriou C Potential Jess Renton, Elise Palmer, Honey McCloy Muscular Dystrophy UK Rosie Boardman, Rosie Hegarty Morrish, Mimae James, Alice Jenkins, CJ O’Brien, Talia Bunting Muswell Soup Kitchen Annie Walker, Ella Taylor, Seren Hurst Safer London Felix Andrew, Dior Beckford, Ameera BrackoMounti, Humza Khan, Jenasia Walker, Seven Famurewa Solace Women’s Aid Chimey Gawa, Tamsin Jacobs, Leila Mentesh, Zoe Street, Saron Tariku

Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation Gabrielle Percival, Tatiyana Thomas, Sirha Djapou, Monet Jones Tourette's Society Dominic Whittaker Issue 36

May 2017

THE THEME OF UNITY

Mr Ashman writes: The theme of this year’s Crouch End Festival is Unity and students in Year 7 have contributed to this with a range of postcards designed around that theme.

The terrible events in Manchester and then in London has given a very special resonance to the idea of unity and to how important it is for us all being able to work and live together, being tolerant and understanding of different outlooks and ideas.

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You will be able to see the original Unity postcards, as well as those created by Horsey School for Girls and many of our feeder primary schools, at the Crouch End Festival exhibition at Hornsey Library.

If you or someone you know has been upset by the recent incidents you may like to know that the NSPCC has advice for talking to children about terrorism. Please follow this link: http://bit.ly/ nspccadvice

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CAREERS PROVISION AT HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL

Ms Eisa writes: This year at Highgate Wood School we have provided a whole host of Careers events and guidance for years 8-13.

Our Year 8s are about to embark on their first taste of what our Careers Programme has to offer. In registration they will get the opportunity to play Careers Top Trumps, this will allow them to talk through a variety of careers with their peers. They will be thinking about job satisfaction, pay, working hours and number of hours of education needed to get into specific careers. They will then be able to research one career that may be of interest to them and present it to their class during registration time.

In Year 9 students researched careers by using the programme Fast Tomato during PHSEE lessons.

They started by taking a careers test which generates a variety of careers that may be of interest to them. This programme also helps them to choose their GCSE options as they can begin to look at what kind of further education they need to do certain jobs. Towards the end of year 9 our students do a CV and cover letter writing workshop.

They are then encouraged to send out applications to employers of their choice to try and gain a placement for Work Experience during year 10.

In the summer term we run a Careers Fair where students get to visit 3 workshops run by professionals from a variety of industries.

Year 10 students have the opportunity at the end of February to carry out a week of Work Experience in 26

their chosen field. We encourage all students to find their own placement; however if this is not possible then we work with Haringey Business Partnership who will find them a placement in the local area. This is a real eye-opener for our students and we have found over the years that the experience really helps to mature our students into respectable young adults.

When our students reach their final year of Key Stage 4 we focus their Careers Education on the next steps they will be taking in Education. This year we have had assemblies about Apprenticeships at KS4, KS5 and degree level delivered by a company called Education and Employers. We have also had an assembly from the National Citizen Service about volunteering on various programmes to improve their chance of getting into Colleges/6th Forms and Universities. Each student in year 11 gets a 15 minute appointment with our independent Consultant Careers Advisor. Here they get the opportunity to discuss their career interests, choose A-Levels or college courses and think about their further education prospects. These meetings are tailor made for each student and their current targets and predicted grades are discussed to help them think about the most appropriate options for them. Students are also encouraged to update their Fast Tomato profile with their predicted grades as this can give them a more detailed profile of options for the future.

Our Post 16 also have access to Fast Tomato where they are able to retake the Careers test as many of their choices may have changed by this stage in Education. Most of our Careers Guidance at this point is focused on Universities and Apprenticeships. They will have an opportunity to meet again with our Consultant Careers Advisior to discuss their future. We also run a programme of Enrichment and Workshops to help them build their skills for leaving compulsory education either to move onto University or into the world of work.

Students are also required to undertake a week of focused Work Experience in a career they are interested in pursuing in the future.

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BIKEABILITY

DUKE OF EDINBURGH

Mr Grimmett writes: Bikeability was a success with all 75 students at Key Stage 3 who took part completing either Level 2 or Level 3 cycle training. This means they are now able to recognise road hazards, start and finish road journeys, pass parked vehicles, know where to ride on the road, perceive and deal with hazards and understand driver blind spots.

Many students on their return from their morning cycle were very excited, smiley and kept asking if they could have more time cycling! They seemed to most enjoy riding up to Ally Pally and then coming down because “it was really fast!”

We hope to work with ‘Cycling Instructor’ next year should funding allow it for KS3 students who did not take part this year. Those students, who live in Haringey, that missed out but would like to take lessons sooner can contact them directly via their website (www.cyclinginstructor.com) for free lessons during school holidays.

Mr Frost writes: The first stage of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award began last half term with the training which included the erecting of tents and the making of hot chocolate over camping stoves over at top field.

First impressions were very positive and the DofE team were confident that the young persons involved would be more than capable for the challenge ahead.

The Day Walk on Saturday started positively with just the one person over sleeping. Unfortunately that person was the coach driver. When he eventually arrived the DofE spirit was required when there were not enough seats and the trusty ,inibus was called into action.

A mixed weather day and a long walk saw 40 students return still eager and keen. Reports from the supervisors were very positive and they were impressed with their conduct, maturity and ability to learn navigation. Some feedback from students was they “really enjoyed the day” and in anticipation of the next stage are “Exciteddddd “.

That initial expedition was followed by the overnight trip in South Essex just before half term.

We will be writing about that in detail in the next issue of Insight— hopefully with lots of pictures too.

Suffice it to say that the students were a huge credit to themselves and to the school and we are now eagerly looking forward to the major Duke of Edinburgh challenge of the expedition on 8th and 9th July.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS HALF TERM’S ACCELERATED READERS Gold Words Award Callum Davey (7T) Silver Words Award Arlo Biddulph (7H) Suria De Peon-Lyalls (7S) Daisy Richards-Davies (7D) Milly Tailor (7I) Bronze Words Award Rosie Aslett (7T) Clara Blantz (7G)

Sophia Byron (7S) Uma Clague (7T) Bethan Coomber (7G) Evie Corney (7G) Katie Effingham (7G) Nina Fraser (7E) Lola Goldfinch Betts (7W) Isabel Gordon (7I) Lily Jones (7E) Scarlett Lloyd (7I) Felix McGill (7W) Issue 36

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Kara Metzler (7T) Gabriel Monteiro Bailey (7S) Liam O'Shea (7A) Chanel Parchment (7S) Ned Screene (7T) Zeliha Sigirtmac (7S) Ellie Tanner (7T) Bronze Quiz Award Arlo Biddulph (7H) Clara Blantz (7G)

Connor Gabriel Bradley Haag (7A) Evie Corney (7G) Callum Davey (7T) Suria De Peon-Lyalls (7S) Katie Effingham (7G) Scarlett Lloyd (7I) Noah Reed (7S) Daisy Richards-Davies (7D) Milly Tailor (7I)

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HARINGEY CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD Ms Eriera writes: For three months we have been reading and discussing the brilliant shortlist for the Haringey Children’s Book Award, wondering and debating which would win. So it was an excited Year 7 book group which set out for the third annual Haringey Children’s Book Award Ceremony on Monday 24th April.

Every year this event, hosted by Heartlands School, grows and becomes more impressive. All six of the shortlisted authors were present to speak to the 19 Haringey school groups in the audience, plus last year’s winner SF Said and other highly successful authors including Guardian Children’s Book Award winner Piers Torday and the bestselling author of the Pig books, Emer Stamp. Also in attendance were poet Paul Lyalls, our local MP Catherine West and the Deputy Mayor for London, Joanne McCartney.

The shortlisted books were:  Cogheart by Peter Bunzl  Strange Star by Emma Carroll  A Library of Lemons by Jo Cotterill  The Best Medicine by Christine Hamill  The Imaginary by AF Harrold  Catching Falling Stars by Karen McCombie Book signing with Jo Cotterill In the morning, our book group enjoyed a writing workshop with Jo Cotterill, author of A Library of Lemons. Jo, wearing a fantastic lemon-print dress and lemon jewellery, introduced the group to three different ways of inspiring writing and generated an amazing amount of creativity in just one hour.

Book signing In the afternoon, votes were cast and there was an opportunity to meet all the authors, buy books and get them signed. Some students had brought piles of books from home to be signed by their favourite authors.

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Signing session with last year’s winner, SF Said

Signing session with Emma Carroll, author of Strange Star.

Thanks to Jo Cotterill

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AND THE WINNER IS...

HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY

And then we turned to the serious business of the day. Catherine West MP spoke about her favourite children’s books, while Deputy Mayor for London Joanne McCartney talked about her love of reading and the books she has shared with her children.

Each of the six shortlisted authors was given four minutes to speak or read from their books.

The way that they chose to use this time was as varied as their books, ranging from reflections on powerful modern messages in historical novels to the thrill of having your name on the front of a book and a poem from AF Harrold about the often-asked question: ‘Where do you get your ideas from’.

SF Said, who won the award last year with his science fiction adventure Phoenix, was there to present the award to this year’s winner. He talked passionately about being a Haringey writer, writing in Haringey libraries. He pointed out that writers are ‘nothing more than readers who decided to go on and write a book themselves,’ and suggested that in years to come one of the students present might be standing in this very spot talking about their own book.

During the speeches, the votes were being counted.

There was a delighted response from the audience as SF Said announced that Christine Hamill had won the award with The Best Medicine.

This is a brilliantly funny, moving book about a young Harry Hill fan whose mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. Based on Christine Hamill’s own experiences of breast cancer, it has become a very popular read here at Highgate Wood School.

Ms Ereira writes: The LRC has a team of very committed student library assistants, who regularly give up their free time to help in the library. On the 5th May a group of five Year 8 library assistants were lucky enough to visit the House of Commons Library together with a group of student library assistants from Heartlands School.

The day began with a tour of Parliament, followed by a workshop to explain the workings of Parliament and encourage everyone to get engaged with politics.

We then heard from the Customer Services Manager from the House of Commons Library.

Because of the timing of our visit, just after the dissolution of Parliament prior to the General Election, we were able to go into the Members’ Library for a tour. Ordinarily the library is only open to MPs. The Commons Library has an international reputation as one of the finest libraries in the world.

They are there to provide research and information for MPs, and their briefing papers are used, not just in the UK, but all over the world.

The visit inspired a couple of our students to consider going into politics when they are older, and one has already signed up online to get involved in the UK Youth Parliament.

For anyone interested in the Youth Parliament, the web address is www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk

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The stand out performanc-

SPORTS NEWS YEAR 7 FOOTBALL

YEAR 10 FOOTBALL

Mr Adams writes: It has been a solid start to the Year 7s first ever season . With a regular turn out to training of roughly 40 students we had a wide range of students to choose from to start in the team. This meant we had a lot of strength and depth. The first few games of the season came with losses, but as we gradually went through the months we picked up some traction. After Christmas we managed to win nearly all of our matches comfortably. We ended with a mid-table finish, not bad for the first season. Next year we go for the title!

Players of the season are both Archie Heron and Ibrahim Albay.

Mr Bomani writes: The Year 10 football team’s season came to an end in April to an unlucky defeat to Park View on what was a difficult pitch. The result meant a mid-table finish in the league which, although a little disappointing, can’t take away the positives of a very good cup run endured over the season in the National ESFA cup competition.

The team reached round 6 of the competition, further than any Highgate Wood School team previously. The boys should be proud of their cup run and look to take those performances into the league next year.

Well done to all those who played their part.

YEAR 8 FOOTBALL

PRIMARY SPORT

Mr Sturdy writes: The year 8's have had a mixed year. They had a great couple of performances in the first half of the year, however drop outs and injuries led to some poor results against teams we would normally do better against.

In the 7-a-side tournament the team got stronger as the tournament progressed, they won 3 games in a row at the end showing tremendous fight and no little skill. Towards the end of the season we gained some new players who boosted the team, leading me to believe that next season will be a more successful season.

Well done boys see you next year!

Mr Bomani writes: Our feeder primary schools have been busy getting active at Highgate Wood School. Over the last half term Campsbourne and Weston Park School have been involved in a weekly ‘Fitness is Fun’ project.

The project has seen Year 5 students taking on and enjoying new sports, being active and learning why it is important to be active.

We’ve also recently run a Year 4 hockey festival which saw some of our Year 10 GCSE students help run coaching sessions and referee some games.

Well done to Connor Haynes, Terry Johnson, Joe Dawson, Christian Brown, CJ Williams, Trulie Mynott, Grace Brosnan and Elliot Walker for their excellent leadership and officiating skills.

YEAR 9 FOOTBALL Mr Sango-Ismael writes: It has been a very good season for our Year 9 football team. They managed to get through to the 2nd round of the ESFA Playstation Cup with a hard fought victory in the first round and came 5th in the Haringey Cup, which is a big improvement from last year as we came last!

The players who turn up for training each Tuesday lunchtime show great commitment and work incredibly well together as a team.

I hope their hard work continues throughout their time and progression at Highgate Wood School.

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BADMINTON CLUBS Mr Mitchell writes: Back in January 2017, both our boys and girls KS3 teams came 3rd in the Haringey Schools Badminton competition and we formed the Monday Lunchtime Badminton Club; Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club (07.15 - 08-15am) as well as Wednesday after school from 3.30-5.30 pm. All badminton sessions are open to all our students from Year 7 to 13.

Our mixed team of KS3 boys and girls represented us against Heartlands KS3 boys and the result was an honourable draw.

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SPORTS NEWS TRAMPOLINING SUCCESS

NETBALL NEWS

Ms Osborne writes: Thea Wilson and Otis McAuliffe have both qualified for the London Youth Games by winning the Haringey Schools Trampolining competitions in their age group. Both students will compete at Crystal Palace as part of the Haringey Team. Well done on a fantastic performance and good luck!

At the same event our Year 7 girls were placed second in the team competition with Yasmin Sollinger winning the individual Bronze medal.

Congratulations to all students who took part in the team event Ms Osborne writes: This season Netball has seen a record participation, with a total of 137 different girls from all year groups taking part.

Once again Highgate Wood School have shown their strength in netball. In the winter Haringey League we finished in the top 3 for year 7,8 and 9 and fielded a strong side in the senior competition.

Year 7 had a particularly strong season. After finishing 2nd in the league we proceeded to beat league winners Fortismere in the London youth games qualifying tournament. In the finals we represented the school extremely well but unfortunately lost to Highgate Independent School 4-2. It was a hotly contested final with both teams displaying advanced skills and extremely talented play.

I would like to extend a personal thank you to Helen Franks and Jo Stevens who dedicate so much time to our after school Netball community, in particular, their dedication to additional practice to prepare us for the London youth games, which had such an impact for the team. I know the girls really value and appreciate all your hard work.

We are very excited to announce that our netball courts will be re-surfaced ready for next season.

This will give us four new courts and the opportunity to provide more training, host tournaments and matches.

Myself, Helen and Jo look forward to seeing all the girls back and ready to go in September.

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SWIMMING GOLD

Haringey Aquatics reports: Three of our students, Max Green and Gareth Davies in Year 8 and Max Hanson in Year 9, have done exceptionally well at the London Swimming Regional Age Group Championships that were held over two days at the London Aquatic Centre and Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

Gareth Davies took silver in 200m Butterfly and bronze in the 100m. Max Hanson collected silver for 50metre breaststroke and Max Green had an extraordinary victory, winning a remarkable five gold medals.

To enable more children and youngsters in Haringey to have the chance to learn how to swim and be part of a competitive club, Haringey Aquatics is campaigning for a new swimming pool and leisure centre to be built in Wood Green as part of the planned regeneration programme.

For more information about Haringey Aquatics, visit www.haringeyaquatics.org.uk 31

Summer Term 2 begins for students on

Monday 5th June It will be Week 2 at 8:35am KEY DATES Half term starts

Monday 5th June

GCSE Art Show

Friday 9th June

Crouch End Festival

9th—18th June

Year 10 Mock exams

12th—30th June

Year 11 Celebration Evening

Friday 23rd June

Sports Day

Friday 30th June

MADFEST

Friday 30th June

Transition Parents’ Evening

Monday 3rd July

Year 6 Transition Day

Tuesday 4th July

INSET DAY (School closed to students)

Monday 10th July

End of KS3 Celebration Event

Friday 14th July

End of term

Friday 21st July

* term dates for 2017-18 are provisional

AUTUMN 2017*

SPRING 2018*

SUMMER 2018*

Monday 4th Sept

Term Starts*

Wednesday 3rd Jan

Term Starts*

Monday 16th April

Term Starts*

23rd - 27th October

Half term break

12th - 16th Feb

Half term break

28th May—1st June

Half term break

Thursday 21st Dec

Term Ends

Friday 13th April

Term Ends

Friday 20th July

Term Ends

4th & 5th September are Inset days. Term starts for students on Wednesday 6th September

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