Almanac 2018-19

“Together We Achieve”

Almanac 2018-19 al▪ma▪nac n.

1.

2.

A register of the days, weeks and months of the year, with events, anniversaries, etc, published annually.

An annual publication containing a variety of factual information.

Head Teacher’s Introduction Welcome to this year’s Almanac. This is our eighth edition and once again we are delighted to share with you some of our accomplishments and incredible endeavours.

I’ve always believed it is important that our vision ‘Together We Achieve’ is more than just words: At Hove Park School and Sixth Form, we believe every student is entitled to a ‘whole education’ that includes great teaching, the development of wider skills and the opportunity to see, hear and do amazing things.

The ‘OurProm’ fund and ‘Together at Christmas’ event highlighted the value we also place on kindness and care. Our inclusion in the BBC programme ‘Nadiya: Anxiety and Me’ provided an opportunity to celebrate and share this commitment.

I hope you enjoy reading through our journey over the last year and take collective pride in what we’ve achieved.

Jim Roberts Head Teacher

Contents News

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Hove Park School

3 - 29

Primary Partnerships

30 - 31

Literacy

32 - 35

Drama & Music

36 - 41

Languages

42 - 47

PE

48 - 59

Digital Fluency

60 - 63

Art

64 - 67

Sixth Form

68 - 71

GCSE Achievement All the staff at Hove Park School would like to congratulate students on their GCSE results this summer.

We had another year of improved outcomes across a number of key measures, including a rise in the proportion of students gaining a strong pass grade in both English and maths.

The proportion of students who achieved a pass in the EBACC (gaining GCSEs in English, maths, 2 x sciences, a humanity and a language) is once again significantly above the national average. At Hove Park, 35% of our students achieved a pass grade for the EBACC compared with the national average of 24%. Our students’ success here once again demonstrates our commitment to a broad curriculum where the majority of students continue to study a language at GCSE. For the second year running, the school’s Mandarin Excellence Programme continues to flourish and this year’s Chinese results reflect our continuing strength in this area with a 100% strong pass rate.

There were also many individual success stories to celebrate, including an increased number of students achieving the top grade 9 in at least one of their subjects. Well done to: Mohammed, Ava, Lorena, Jacob, Luca, Lyla, Alfie, Varsha, Harry, Milly, Tyler, Maisie, Edwyn, Patrick, Eleni, Farah, George, Grace, Veronica, Vale, Alessandro, Andro, Will, Milo, Antonio, Zach, Hidayet, Fidel.

Jim Roberts (Head Teacher) said: “Once again our Year 11 students have demonstrated what hard work and determination can achieve. These results show the school continues to grow, develop and support student success. I am very proud of their achievements and wish them all the very best for the future.”

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A-Level Achievement Hove Park is delighted that so many of our A-Level students have deservedly done so well. They have worked hard and their accomplishments will allow students to move forwards onto the next step of their career pathway be that university, apprenticeship or straight into the world of work.

In Year 13, the Sixth Form had excellent results in Product Design, Graphic Communications, Photography, English Literature, Geography, History, Italian, Core Maths, and Portuguese with all of these subjects producing a positive value added score, meaning that they did better than the national average.

Other successes come from Maths, English Literature, Chemistry, Physics, Arabic, Graphic Design, Product Design, Photography, Art and Design and Geography, all achieving 100% success rates. This is testament to the hard work put in not only by the students but also by Hove Park staff.

This year’s results came at an exciting time as Hove Park Sixth Form relocate to the Valley Campus from September 2019. Our new programmes of study are designed to ensure that every student experiences a career driven pathway enriched with additional opportunities linked to developing both personal and employment specific skills and attributes.

Individual success stories for this year include: • Sky who achieved B,B,C grades in English Literature, History and Sociology. Sky will take up a place at Sussex University to read History.

• Syeda who achieved, A*, Distinction and Merit in Tourism, Business and ICT. Syeda goes on to Chichester University to study 3D animation and visual effects.

• Amjad, who joined at the beginning of Year 10 with English as an additional language, achieved an A* in Arabic, and a pass in ICT and Business BTEC. He now goes to University to study Digital Media.

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Students Grill Peter Kyle MP & John Howarth MEP Year 11 students were treated to a unique form of political engagement this year, taking part in two ‘digital surgeries’ with their MP, Peter Kyle and John Howarth MEP.

Later in the year our students also grilled John Howarth MEP, discussing a wide range of topics including how he became an MEP, Brexit & what exactly does an MEP do.

The first video conference brought Peter Kyle directly into their classroom where students discussed topics as wide ranging as what inspired Peter to be an MP, his lifelong struggles with dyslexia, and his views on Brexit.

Mr Hunting had this to say about this great experience:

Digital surgeries are one hour video conferences between politicians and their student constituents, and are a key component of social enterprise The Politics Project’s Digital Surgeries programme.

The Digital Surgeries programme is a political literacy initiative run in schools across the UK that equips students with knowledge, skills and confidence to engage in politics and in their local communities.The programme is designed to build trust between young people and politicians, through letting them cut through the noise and have direct conversations about issues that matter.

“We had the second of our Digital Surgeries with a Year 11 philosophy, religion and ethics class, where we have been exploring democracy and values over several sessions. The inspiring organisation the Politics Project organised a live video link with the MEP for South East England, John Howarth. The students researched John’s role and life and asked a number of questions about being an MEP, whether the job was inspiring, his life before becoming an MEP and what he will do next, as well as questions on Brexit. John Howarth also asked the students what they thought of Brexit. A big thank you to Josh and Harriet at the Politics Project for setting it up and to John Howarth MEP for giving up his precious time.”

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Nadiya: Anxiety & Me Just before Christmas, TV’s Nadiya Hussain visited Hove Park School to talk to students and staff about issues regarding mental health. Nadiya has lived with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks since childhood and, along with Hove Park, featured in BBC One’s Mental Health season in May. Hove Park is heavily invested in the emotional wellbeing and mental health of all our young people. The work we do to identify mental health needs and the packages of support on offer has resulted in local and national recognition.

Within Brighton and Hove we are considered leaders in this area with our strategies rolled out to other schools. Hove Park was chosen to take part in Department of Education’s Mental Health Champions Project. Our tiered response to mental health, pastoral teams and fully integrated counselling service was praised and published as a case study of good practice.

Having mental health and emotional wellbeing embedded as a priority across school has reduced the stigma around mental health, ensured shorter waiting times for counselling and created a team of staff who are supported, skilled and have an increased confidence in offering emotional support to students.

Robotic Challenge Eight Key Stage 3 students recently took part in the Antweight Robotic Challenge at the University of Brighton. Our students had to design, build and test their own robot, and compete against 16 teams from across Sussex. The robot had to be robust, include 2 servos and be aesthetically pleasing, with students designing their own robot decals.

The robots were then tested to the max by overcoming a number of challenges. Hove Park’s robot got all the way to the finals in 2 areas, Football and Sumo, where it finished up second in both. The students were brilliant and stood up to the challenge amazingly!

Big Lemon Saturday Social On Saturday, 13th October, Social Enterprise UK hosted a Social Saturday and invited a select few Hove Park students to join them. Our lucky pupils boarded the Brighton Big Lemon Bus, the UK’s first solar-powered bus, with zero emissions, and travelled on an exclusive tour to find out more about Brighton’s unique social enterprises.

Starting at HISBE Food, The Rebel Supermarket, we explored how supermarkets can provide fair pay to staff, local produce to its customers and address the issues of packaging in the fight against plastic. Wherever possible HISBE uses produce from the local countryside. It’s priced as fairly as possible to ensure that producers receive a fair return and the profits are put back into the company, to aid growth.

The final stop was The Bevy, The Bevendean Community Pub, which is not just a pub but a hub for the local community to come together. There you will see the likes of the Dementia Club, Park Runs and Christmas dinners for those that live alone, plus training opportunities for chefs of the future, who have become ostracised from the traditional education system.

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Hove Park Does Comic Relief!

The Hove Park PE department again ran an epic Comic Relief Week which took place in every Valley Campus PE lesson. The Comic Relief Week ran from Monday 11th to Friday 15th March.

The PE department ran the sessions for a full week so that every student had the opportunity to take part in the activities in their timetabled Key Stage 3 PE lesson.

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Students were given a presentation on this year’s Comic Relief focus, highlighting the importance of this charity and the work they do. The PE lesson then involved fun and enjoyable challenges, including an obstacle course in the gymnasium.

Over the last five years, we have managed to raise over £1500 for the charity, helping change people’s lives for the better.

School Building Works Having secured significant capital investment, it is great to see the work starting to actually happen.

Planning permission was granted in August 2019 for our new canteen on the Nevill Campus. Work started at the beginning of September with a completion date scheduled for February 2020.

The new Drama Studio on the Nevill Campus is absolutely stunning. A huge purpose built space that the students are already enjoying and making the most out of. The same applies to the photography and graphics room. The creative work being produced by our students is incredible.

As part of the school’s new structure, we opened our new Sixth Form Centre on the Valley Campus in September. With a beautiful mezzanine, work spaces and common room it is the perfect place for our Sixth Form students to focus on their work or relax with their friends.

With a number of other refurbishments and additions, including the new solar panels, the investment is already starting to make a real difference. The next phase of development will include further improvement to our sports and science facilities. Exciting times ahead!

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Together at Christmas Christmas for most people is about a time to rest, relax and catch up with family and friends. But, for many older adults in our community, Christmas only reinforces the feeling of loneliness and isolation. The impact of being on their own without the opportunity to meet and talk to others can often be damaging both in terms of their mental, physical and emotional health.

I said when I became the Head Teacher of Hove Park that I wanted it to be ‘more than just a place where students come to learn.’ I want us to be an integral part of the community we serve.

So last year the staff at Hove Park decided to do Christmas a different way. We wanted to make a difference to the people in our community. So we came up with the idea that we would open up on Christmas Day and serve Christmas lunch to those that would otherwise be on their own.

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Our planning started by meeting Emily Kenward (founder and CEO of Time to Talk Befriending).

Listening to her and the incredible work the charity does, we knew this would be a vital source of help and support. Through Emily we were able to secure the services of a professional chef to prepare and cook the food. We then began writing and e-mailing local businesses. Within a matter of hours, we had offers to supply cutlery, catering equipment, tables & chairs, crackers and wine.

The local business community have risen to the occasion and their generosity has been amazing.

The offers of help and support were overwhelming and shows what can be achieved when a school and community comes together. I would especially like to thank all our parents and carers for their generous donations.

Jim Roberts - Head Teacher

It Started With Our Christmas Market To raise much needed funds for Together at Christmas, Hove Park and local charity, Time To Talk Befriending, hosted a Christmas Market. It was a delightful community evening, with plenty of festive cheer.

Many thanks to all those who helped organise the market, to the sellers and your amazing stalls, and the local community who came to support us and grabbed a bargain or two!

Emily Kenward, CEO of Time To Talk Befriending, had this to say: “It was amazing to see such a huge turnout at the Hove Park Together at Christmas Event and it is a privilege to partner with them on this and hopefully more intergenerational projects in the future.”

Our Christmas Market was so popular that it gained a lot of media attention. Channel 5 prime time news featured a great report promoting the market and subsequent Christmas Day charity event which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/DGJiJiOa-Uo

Hamper Making All members of our community contributed to our plans. Each year group provided items for the Christmas hampers, 60 in all, one for each of our guests to take home and enjoy. In addition, students were responsible for writing a Christmas card to each of our guests with the sentiment ‘Thinking of you at Christmas’.

Special thanks must go to The Works, Worthing, who heavily discounted all the hamper baskets.

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OurProm The 2019 Prom was a glorious event held at the stunning location of Pangdean Barn. The sun was beaming down throughout the evening and created a beautiful backdrop for all.

Prom always marks the culmination of the Year 11 students’ time at Hove Park; an amazing event put together to celebrate their time with us and all of their achievements.

This year saw the launch of OurProm, where Year 11 students were tasked with raising money to ensure all students were able to attend prom and allow families to access the fund to help pay for additional extras (suit/ dress, hair, makeup and transport). This was hugely supported by our students, parents/carers, staff and members of the local community. With the funds raised, it not only ensured that prom was accessible to all, it allowed Year 11 students to make the evening a personalised experience. OurProm gained a lot of media praise; an ITV news report about it can be viewed here https://youtu.be/GmxjxFWYW3k This year we were also lucky to have the event filmed. A drone was flying high to capture the students’ arrival. A copy of the film can be viewed on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/KbQdKqlwy5k

An open top bus, vintage cars, and even a police car transported students to Pangdean, where they were greeted by staff. Students looked amazing in their suits and prom dresses, creating a magical picture of colour and glitter.

Inside the venue the amazing atmosphere continued. Students danced the night away, only taking breaks to enjoy the lovely food or to have some fun with the magic photo mirror, which created lasting fun memories not only for the students but staff as well.

As the evening came to a close, the farewells started with mixed emotions. The students had been a very close year group and the realisation that some were taking completely different paths in the next chapter of their education was apparent. Students took time to thank members of staff who had supported them throughout their time at Hove Park.

This was a truly amazing way to end a journey with such fantastic students.

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Awards Evening 2019 Hove Park’s annual Awards Evening was held in April and was a very special event. This wonderful evening showcased and celebrated Hove Park student successes through out the year, and was also a great way to highlight some incredible student performances.

Over 140 students shone at Hove Park School and Sixth Form’s annual Awards Evening at The Old Market Theatre on Thursday, 4th April.

Students across all year groups and all faculties received awards for outstanding achievements and progress in learning, as well as for leadership and contribution to the school and wider community.

Awards were presented by special guest Paul Samuels, Hove Park Alumnus and Executive Vice Principal of AEG Europe, the world leading sports and entertainment provider.

Stunning individual and group performances saw the wealth of Hove Park’s creative talent on show including reprisals of Dance At The Dome and Legally Blonde.

We’re already looking forward to celebrating with over 100 new winners at our 2020 Awards.

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Year 7 Big Camp On Friday, 28th June 2019, the second Hove Park Big Camp got underway.

Like last year, the weather was bright and sunny.

The Year 7 students descended excitedly onto the Nevill Campus for an experience they would not forget, covering a range of activities and to camp overnight on the school football pitch.

Hove Park students had the opportunity to take part in a variety of activities, including; natural fire lighting, team building, shelter building, full size planetarium and East Sussex Fire Brigade teaching vital emergency lifesaving skills.

Once again the Hove Park students excelled and joined in all the activities. After a busy day of activities, students sat down to enjoy a mini music festival, whilst the external catering company was creating a festival style feast. Students sat and ate a wide range of foods in glorious sun watching some very talented students performing.

There was little time for rest though as the evening activities got underway. The great obstacle course, which is now a Big Camp favourite, capture the flag and a football match. It was an exhausting but enjoyable day for all the students and staff.

Night time was just as exciting with sixty tents set up across the field, as students got ready for bed and settled down after an exhausting day.

The first morning voices were heard at around 4am, so with less than a couple of hours rest and with bleary eyes we enjoyed the sunrise on another fine June day. The morning was a chilled out time as students emerged from their tents some having spent their first night under canvas and some their first night away from home.

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It was an amazing experience for all involved.

Special thank you to East Sussex Fire Brigade for giving their time to the school community. A big thank you to all of the many staff who helped on the day to make it so successful, the students who embraced the opportunity and engaged in the day and those that spent many an hour planning and organising the event to make it the success it was.

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Be The Change Programme A group of Year 9 students attended a conference at the AMEX Community Stadium, for Be the Change programme, organised by LoveLocalJobs.com.

This programme of events is aimed at raising future aspirations and overcoming barriers in young people.

The start-up conference was a great experience for our students and we are looking forward to other exciting events which are included in this programme.

We also welcomed local business mentors into school for 1:1 student mentoring.

Other events include Stepping Up Conference at Brighton Racecourse, further in-school 1:1 sessions, workplace visits and finally an Awards Celebration at i360, Brighton.

Inspirational Talk Ex-Hove Park pupil, Paul Samuels, visited Hove Park to speak to students about their life choices, and the decisions in his life that have led him to where he is now. Paul is currently Executive Vice President of AEG, the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. AEG promote global music tours with the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber, as well as produce some of the biggest festivals such as Coachella in the US, and BST in Hyde Park. They also own and operate some of the best arenas in the world, including The 02 in London, and various sports teams such as the LA Lakers & LA Galaxy.

Paul is part of a project from the charity, Speakers for Schools, (www.speakers4schools.org) which connect inspirational speakers and leaders of today to state schools throughout the UK.

Paul said, “I wanted to give back to my old school, Hove Park, which gave me a good grounding for my future.”

Head Teacher, Mr Roberts, said of Paul’s inspirational talk: “It was great to welcome Paul back to his former school and for students to hear him talk of his journey since leaving us. He talked about commitment, perseverance and resilience, as characteristics that helped him get to where he is today. Students were completely captivated and asked lots of interesting questions. Hearing and seeing someone who used to sit in the same assembly hall as them, reinforces the message that anything is possible with hard work.”

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Urban Planning And Development Workshop Year 9 pupils from Hove Park took part in an interactive urban planning and development workshop, working with industry experts, The Urban Land Institute.

They were tasked with regenerating a hypothetical town. This involved decision making, challenging financial, social and design issues, and then presenting their plans to an expert panel. Hove Park is one of only 6 schools across the UK chosen to take part in Urban Plan.

Houses Of Parliament Visit Mr Hunting, Ms Schofield, Ms Ahmed and Ms Gale accompanied a group of forty-four Year 9 students on the 18th June to the Houses of Parliament for their PRE course in Civic Values.

The students visited the 1000 year old Westminster Hall, viewed debates from the public galleries of the Houses of Lords and Commons and had the chance to create their own party manifesto, vote and elect MPs and a Prime Minister in a mock election. This took place in seminars in the Education Centre. Peter Kyle then joined the students for a Q&A where he shared his own political and family background, took questions on Brexit and the changes he would make to the style of government, if given the chance.

One student said: “It was really inspiring to listen to Mr Kyle. Inside Parliament is intimidating but very beautiful. I feel I’m more politically aware now”.

Maths At Sainsbury’s In May, a group of Year 8 mathematicians had their maths lesson in Sainsbury’s! They completed six short activities involving finding 3D shaped packaging, compared the prices of similar items, looked at liquid measurements and converted them, asked the staff and customers questions about average amounts of money being spent and number of hours worked, conducted a survey of popular package colours and found out ways that products are stacked. Clearly engaging them all in number, shape and space, fractions, algebra, data handling and problem solving!

The students conducted themselves in an exemplary way and were a credit to the school.

They were all treated to drinks and snacks at the end of a very exciting and real life maths lesson! Who knew there was so much maths in a supermarket?!

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It’s Alright To Be Different Oscar joined Hove Park as a new Year 7 from St Andrew’s Primary School and is quite unique. He wanted to share his unique story with his fellow students. Here’s Oscar’s story.

Oscar loves acting, drama, cricket and parkour so is always on the move! He is currently in the middle of filming a short film called ‘Gang Buster’ and is keen to do lots more. His passion lies in parkour and he’s a regular member of Urban Arts Academy in Hove doing flips and tricks!

One day Oscar came home from a local parkour club before the summer holidays and told his parents that some boys had been asking him why he was so small and laughing at his size. He said to his parents “I think when I start secondary school, I’d like to tell everyone in one go about me and my life, then I won’t get asked all the time”.

They thought it was a great idea and really brave of him, and obviously were super proud of him.

Oscar has a very rare condition called Ring 5 Chromosome which is a deletion of his number 5 chromosomes. This affects his growth and means he has to inject growth hormone every day into his leg to help him grow. He won’t grow as tall as his dad (6.1ft), like most boys would, but hopefully he will be as tall as his mum at 5.4ft.

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The condition Oscar has is so rare that there are only 2 other known diagnosed cases in the world!

One of those is a young lady in Devon (who he has met with his parents) and the other is a boy in Texas!

Hettie, Oscar’s younger cousin, suggested he make a film to explain how unique he is, as this would be easier to show his fellow classmates and the idea grew from there.

Oscar showed his film, ‘It’s Alright To Be Different’, during the Years 7, 8 and 9 assemblies.

Working in television, his mum mentioned Oscar’s plans to a few celebrities, who all wanted to be involved! The film was so captivating that many celebrities sent him videos back in support.

From Lorraine Kelly to Stacey Solomon, Michael McIntyre to Phillip Schofield, all agreed that Oscar is amazing and that we are all unique!

Oscar’s film has been so inspiring that the Anti-Bullying Alliance has asked him to be an ambassador for their charity’s ‘Odd Socks Day’, and for him to record an anti-bullying song with Andy Day!

Oscar On ITV’s Loose Women & Visits Houses Of Parliament Year 7 student, Oscar, whose recent ‘It’s Alright To Be Different’ video touched so many people, and was shown on BBC news, has been busy again. He appeared on the ITV programme Loose Women, and visited the Houses of Parliament. Below is a thank you message from his mum, Donna.

“Having worked on Loose Women for 15 years it was an absolute joy to see my son, Oscar, sitting on the panel being interviewed by the presenters who have known Oscar since he was born.

Oscar’s whole family are immensely proud of the message Oscar has promoted, ‘It’s alright to be different’, and for the fact that he has had so much attention surrounding his video. We know that it has touched a lot of buttons for other people in similar situations.

The feedback and comments we, as a family, have received have been overwhelming and nothing but positive.

Without realising it, Oscar seems to be helping others stand tall (no pun intended!) and own it.

Massive thanks to all those who have shared his message on social media and helped spread the word!”

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Junior STEM Club Jr STEM launched in November 2018, a new weekly after school club designed exclusively for our new Year 7 students. The aim was to increase student confidence, enrich their experiences and develop key skills in problem solving, teamwork and lateral thinking.

Each week followed a similar format, with an introduction, demonstration and a team challenge.

Some of the highlights included balloon rockets, marshmallow catapults, making slime, egg drop challenge, making lava lamps, designing stress balls, building loudspeakers, constructing marble runs, investigating the Venus fly trap and introducing some Madagascan hissing cockroaches into our new biOrb, a fully automated terrarium that creates a perfect micro-climate for tropical plants and creatures.

Students also experienced a fun packed day of STEM activities at the Big Bang event at Plumpton College. The day included a workshop from iRed, one of the leading experts in drone deployment technologies, a visit to the equine centre and a metal workshop.

In February, we were successful in applying for a grant to fund the completion of a CREST Award through Jr. STEM club. CREST is the British Science Association’s scheme for STEM project work, that inspires young people to think and behave like scientists and engineers. The projects are nationally recognised and are student led.

We decided to complete a Bronze Award called ‘Bath Bomb Challenge’. Staff from our local ‘Lush’ store in Brighton came in to talk to students about the company, its ethos and how they make their products. The students were really engaged as they learnt how Lush products are handmade, 100% vegetarian and how they fight against animal testing. Students then went on to research about homemade bath bombs, order ingredients, test, adapt, retest and package their own bath bombs.

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Children In Need On Friday 16th November, fifteen Year 11 Hove Park students gave up their evening to visit nearby Legal & General offices, where they supported Legal & General, Children in Need, call centre staff.

The students offered a carousel of activities such as Bean Bag Toss and Pictionary to keep call centre staff alert during their shift.

The students were fantastic representatives of our school and they even received a guided tour of the offices by Pudsey Bear himself, or possibly the Head of Operations!

Varndean Women In STEM Varndean Women in STEM, the STEM department at Varndean College, invited us to an enrichment opportunity. The aim of the day was to reach out to girls who are perhaps drawn more towards other subjects, but who could be incredibly successful at STEM subjects.

Our physics group spent the morning with a representative from the UK Space Agency and were spending the afternoon designing and making a Thermal Heatshield. We were up against three other local schools. The Computer Science/ Think Maths group created programs to challenge and overcome everyday issues. Hove Park doing themselves proud of course!

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Greenpower A group of 13 students took our electric race car to Goodwood to race other schools and colleges. It was the biggest event we have been to yet.

Although we hadn’t made any alterations to the car this year we still came two thirds of the way down the leader board at 49th place. Super teamwork was shown by the students working together to make sure everyone got to drive at least a lap.

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Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award 2018-9 saw the Duke of Edinburgh Award continue to develop at Hove Park. One of the highlights was the awards evening in March. This was our first and we hope it will be an annual occasion. Many of the large number from Years 9 and 10 who completed their Bronze in 2017-8 were able to receive their award at the evening.

Many also came back to the school from other Sixth Form colleges, to receive the award they had gained at Hove Park, since the school became a DoE provider. It was heartening to hear that some of these students are currently undertaking Gold.

The Lord Lieutenant of Sussex presented the awards to the candidates in front of their parents and carers, family members and others from the school community. Also presenting the awards alongside the Lord Lieutenant was our guest speaker Tristan Gooley, the founder of Natural Navigation and author of several books on the topic, which is about how to use signs in nature and the stars to find your way. He gave us an introduction to this fascinating skill and illustrated his talk with slides of examples from his travels, as well as many local ones. Several students showed off their skills and physical achievements from the programme. Evie showed her fantastic dancing skills, and videos made by the groups were shown too. Jo Ireland from DoE South East, who has done so much to support the DoE at Hove Park, was also present.

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As a result of the large cohort from Years 9 and 10 undertaking Bronze in 2017-8 we were able to expand Silver in 2019-20 to around forty. The candidates were made up of many who had completed Bronze and some who were direct entrants to Silver, inspired by other students. All went on a two-day practice expedition in the Ashdown Forest in September 2018. They camped in different places both nights and had to navigate in the challenging terrain of the forest.

For the Silver assessed expedition, we decided to be more ambitious so this was held in the New Forest. After a coach journey there, Hove Park staff supervised the expedition over the three days and two nights involved. Six groups navigated their way successfully across the forest terrain, camping in different sites to finish in Lyndhurst.

With many students in Year 11, it had to be held in late March to avoid the exam season. Thankfully, the weather was kind to us!

In 2018-9 Bronze was limited to Year 9 and we had a strong group of over 40 candidates who entered for the award. They undertook their practice expedition on the South Downs near Ditchling and then their assessed one on the South Downs from Worthing to Brighton. Our Bronze expedition was run very successfully by Bright Expedition with pastoral support from Hove Park staff. Some

students have now finished their Bronze award and are already looking forward to undertaking Silver this year.

We have re-arranged the Silver programme so that it is just open to anyone in Year 10. This means the practice will now be held in April 2020 and the assessed expedition will be held in late September 2020 near the beginning of Year 11, away from examinations.

Another new development is that we are now offering the Gold DoE award in HP6, the Sixth Form now on the Valley Campus. There will be plenty of opportunities for sixth formers to volunteer in the school with younger students to help achieve this very special award.

One reason the DoE Award is valuable is because it gives the students the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors and beautiful country on our doorstep and further afield. In this way we are able to contribute towards an enriched and broad curriculum. However, the DoE Awards are also one of the most widely respected qualifications for employers, universities and colleges because it tests the qualities which they are looking for in carrying out the other sections. It is essential to pay tribute to the persistence and resilience of the students in completing all the sections of the award. Each section (physical, skill and volunteering) is assessed and their assessors, whether a coach, teacher or supervisor or family friend have testified to the amazing achievements of the students, whether trying something different or developing an existing skill or practice. In volunteering, candidates especially show the ability to be punctual, carry out a regular commitment, work with others they do not know and serve the local community, while the skills section means candidates try out new skills or develop existing ones they already practise regularly. By doing this they show the ability to set goals in dialogue with others, pursue excellence and achieve what they set out to do, whatever that skill may be.

A very big thank you to all the staff at Hove Park who have helped generously from their time to make this happen, by being administrators, helping with training sessions, being assessors of the skills, or giving up their free time on expeditions and for their immense patience. The staff at Hove Park have been amazing.

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Another Amazing Year For Our Peer Tutors The Peer Tutors have had another amazing year with lots of amazing trips and projects with our local primary schools. They have visited Goldstone Primary School throughout the year and have worked with Years 1,3 and 4. The Year 9s worked with Year 1, planning Maths activities using ‘Thinking Hard’ strategies. They were trained in-house with Mrs Hunt and Mr Whiteman and had time to prepare teaching and learning resources.

The teachers at Goldstone were very impressed with the students and asked them to come back and run an IT project on programming the Bebot robots. The Year 9s enjoyed taking the robots home to learn how to use them!

We have an ongoing system here at Hove Park where older Peer Tutors go into the younger years and support in Learning for Life. This worked really well as an in-school support and some of the pupils who were supported in Year 7 became Peer Tutors themselves at the end of the year!

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We have also visited The Bilingual Primary School for a project where Year 10 Peer Tutors trained up a group of six Year 5 students to be Peer Tutors themselves and start a mini Peer Tutor project in their school. The Year 10s took the Year 5s down to Reception Class and helped the Year 5s to Peer Tutor them. It was delightful!

Some of the Peer Tutors have been using their work as a Peer Tutor as evidence for their Duke of Edinburgh Award this year which is currently thriving in the school - what an amazing in-school partnership!

We have also enjoyed visiting Iford and Kingston Primary School near Lewes again this year. We took a group of Year 8 Peer Tutors there and they presented talks on the diversity of cultures we have here at Hove Park. We had presentations on Poland, Being a Muslim, Hungary, Latvia, Jamaica and Italy!

Primary Schools’ Racket Festival Year 9 Hove Park School Sports Leaders supported Active Sussex at the Primary School’s Racket Festival at Withdean. They led more than 250 Years 3 and 4 children from 28 schools across Brighton and Hove.

For some, this was their first experience of Sports Leadership and all performed exceptionally.

They were well organised and led sessions independently. Teamwork and cooperation were key in their success and all demonstrated outstanding core values of respect, resilience, equality and inclusion.

The leaders were enthusiastic throughout and encouraged the young performers to develop multiskills in fun and competitive activities, adapting and using great initiative when needed.

They have received great feedback from other coaches and teachers, and have been a real credit to Hove Park.

Workshop At The Spanish Bilingual school On Wednesday, 27th of March, nine Year 11 students participated in a speaking workshop at the Spanish Bilingual Primary School. This was a great opportunity for both our students and the Year 6 students to practise their speaking skills in preparation for their exam. The Year 6 teacher was very grateful for our students’ help, and commented on how nice and polite they were. We are hoping to renew the experience again at a later date.

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World Book Day Celebrations To celebrate World Book Day, Hove Park was taken over by over 20 teachers on both campuses acting very strangely... For one day only, they ‘became’ books such as: Noughts and Crosses, The Wizard of Oz and The Great Gatsby! Students whizzed around the school to complete the Book Title Quest to win a ‘booky’ prize.

Year 7 participated in a successful spelling bee during assembly led by Mrs Ruggles. Over 15 students entered the ‘500 words’ short story competition with a chance to win two theatre tickets to see Malorie Blackman’s ‘Noughts and Crosses’ at the Theatre Royal. All entries were entered into the BBC Radio 2 story competition.

All students were given a free book voucher by their English teachers and around 200 books were swapped in the LRC at lunch time. Finally, a movie showing of The Great Gatsby was shown in the library at Nevill with popcorn and 1920s mocktails on sale to raise money for OurProm. A lucky student found the winning golden ticket inside his popcorn and won a Nando’s gift card. Dreams can come true!

Young Writers Poetry Competition Winners!

26 students have had their winning poems published in a book called Poetry Escape Poets from the South East. Young Writers is an organisation which aims to encourage young people to engage in creative writing. They have worked with schools, parents and young writers since 1991. Well done to you all!

Stratford Upon Avon Trip On Thursday, 2nd May 2019, the English department took fifty Year 9 students on an overnight trip to Stratford Upon Avon.

We arrived at our Youth Hostel to a hearty dinner of bangers and mash. Then we made our way to the RSC Theatre for the evening performance of Taming of the Shrew; it was hilarious! Being upgraded to stalls made it even better! The next day we visited Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Mary Arden’s Farm and Ann Hathaway’s Cottage.

The students were a real credit to the school throughout the two day trip. We were particularly proud to see them in their gladrags for the theatre. We were even more delighted when some students, when selected by actors in the gardens of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, got up and carried out an impromptu performance of Romeo and Juliet. They were incredible! It was a memorable trip and as one parent pointed out, “it was the highlight of my daughter’s year”.

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Death Of A Salesman Theatre Trip On Wednesday, 12th June, the A-Level English Literature class, accompanied by Miss Caudle and Ms Schofield, travelled to London by train to see Arthur Miller’s play, ‘Death of a Salesman’ at the Young Vic theatre.

This was a great chance to see one of our exam texts in performance. The production had been receiving five star reviews and certainly didn’t disappoint! The acting was brilliant and we all agreed that it was a cleverly directed, powerful and memorable experience. Despite the rain, which drove us into the South Bank Centre for our picnic lunch, we had a really good day out.

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BBC 500 Words The English department has been encouraging students to get involved in national creative writing competitions over the last few months and we have had some great results! Firstly, Year 7 student Isaac’s story got through to the second round of the BBC 500 Words Competition. There were thousands of entries, so this is a fantastic achievement.

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Legally Blonde Is A Smash Hit!

By Student Reporter, Mia, Head Girl “Omigod you guys!” From the opening number, students of Hove Park got its audience in the pink with their vibrant, all-singing, all-dancing infectious production of the musical “Legally Blonde”.

The show, which played to a packed house for three nights, tells the story of a college sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods (Keira). When her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Ollie), dumps her for someone more ‘serious’, she follows him to Harvard Law School to win him back. While at Harvard, she realises she has her own interests and intelligence and is an impressive and very capable person in her own right.

The musical opens on a high note with the irresistible and sassy sorority sisters (Alicia, Grace, Francesca, Sofia) sashaying around the stage singing the catchy number “Omigod you guys!”

Keira plays an engaging, bubbly Elle Woods, whose strikingly powerful vocals bring depth and quality to the role. It is her ability, however, to convince the audience of Elle’s transformation from a ditsy airhead to a formidable lawyer that shows the extraordinary quality of her acting ability.

Alfie’s excellent comic timing is well cast as Emmett Forrest the quirky, sensitive law student who takes Elle under his wing. Daisy as Paulette, the funny owner of the local “Hair Affair”, gave a polished performance and was able to belt out a powerful rendition of ‘Ireland’ which matched her personality. Ollie has the charm and charisma needed for the role of Warner Huntington III. Mai is an assured and strong intellectually driven stuckup, wealthy law student Vivienne Kensington.

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There were many other outstanding individual performances too. Ronan who is aptly cast as the handsome Kyle B. O’Boyle, the smooth-talking, Irish dancing, hunk of a UPS deliveryman. Toby, a very believable pompous and manipulative Professor Callahan, who is able to turn from charismatic academic to a shark in a flash. Aimie is dynamic in her role as Brooke Wyndham, leading a clear voiced energetic troop of skipping prisoners in an aerobic tour de force.

The Geek Chorus, Delta Nus, Harvard Gang and the People of Boston ensured that the staged buzzed with energy and colour.

Special canine guests Tetley as the cute ‘Rufus’ and Ollie as adorable, beastly “Bruiser”.

Jim Roberts, Head Teacher said: “This was an amazing and uplifting performance by a talented cast and crew - and dogs - which was full of fun and a powerful reminder that ‘staying true to yourself never goes out of style’.”

The production, directed by Drama Teacher, Ms Chloe Holt, who “Whipped [the cast] in to Shape”, paid dividends on stage as the performance was tightly polished, with brilliantly slick choreographed numbers.

Full of upbeat, catchy songs, jaw-dropping dance moves and a wardrobe of vibrant costumes, backstage support, lighting and sound made this school production a real stage spectacular worthy of the West End.

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Midwinter Concert

Little Green Pig AMPLIFIED

Hove Park’s annual Midwinter Concerts took place on the Nevill and Valley Campuses. The poor weather did not dampen spirits and fantastic evenings of music and dance was seen by all. Act 1 had a range of performances from Years 10 and 11 including performances of Tears in Heaven, Bohemian Rhapsody and Perfect. All were met with cheers and applause and the first half was finished with a sneak peek of the school show Legally Blonde.

Hove Park students have been involved in a workshop and rehearsed performance with young people who are taking part in AMPLIFIED, a project run by charity Little Green Pig as part of Brighton Festival.

Not to be outdone, the second half included performances of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Blinded by Your Grace and Valerie.

The second half was finished with a sizzling performance of Shallow from “A Star is Born” and was met with a standing ovation. Let us also not forget our fantastic compere and Francis and Xavier who ran the sound and lights for the show.

We look forward to seeing you for next year’s event.

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AMPLIFIED is part TED Talk, part YouTube confessional, but ultimately a celebration of the human story.

The young people presenting spoke about their personal stories, ranging from immigration and mental health to disability, and gave a glimpse of what it means to be young today.

The performance at the Brighthelm Centre saw Year 10 student Paige perform Little Green Pig AMPLIFIED alongside other young people from local schools with much admiration and applause.

Chineke!

Foundation Hove Park were lucky to have 4 members of The Chineke! Foundation performing to some of our Years 8 and 9 students this year.

The Chineke! Foundation was established in 2015 to provide career opportunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) classical musicians in the UK and Europe. Chineke!’s motto is: ‘Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music’. The organisation aims to be a catalyst for change, realising existing diversity targets within the industry by increasing the representation of BME musicians in British and European orchestras.

Chineke! played at the Dome as part of the Brighton Festival and Hove Park was the only school performance they did in Brighton & Hove.

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Students Offered Places At BRIT School Hove Park students Alfie & Oliver have been celebrating and rightly so. Against huge competition they both secured places at the prestigious BRIT School, the UK’s leading Performing and Creative Arts school. Below are their write ups highlighting their journeys. Well done to you both!

Alfie Alfie showed an interest in performing from a young age and started attending Goldman’s Stage School every Saturday at the age of 7 to train in dance, singing and acting. At the age of 11, Alfie successfully auditioned for the role of a newsboy in a professional production of Gypsy, at Chichester Festival Theatre, starring Imelda Staunton. This was an amazing experience for Alfie and really ignited his passion for performing and his pursuit of grabbing every opportunity to get on stage.

Alfie has gone on to perform in numerous productions with Hove Park School, Apollo Productions and several professional shows at Chichester Festival Theatre.

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Alfie made the decision to apply to colleges to pursue his dream of a career in musical theatre. Alfie set his sights on The BRIT School of Performing Arts after an inspirational visit on their open day. The competition was very tough, with only 7 places out of a total 70 available to out of area applicants. Despite this, Alfie decided to go for it and apply. The audition process was fairly rigorous and nerve wracking but, on Thursday 7th March, Alfie was over the moon to receive a letter from The BRIT School offering him a place on their Musical Theatre course.

Oliver Over the last couple of years I’ve worked really hard on my singing, dancing and acting and performed in every show I possibly could. I appeared in Hairspray and Legally Blonde at Hove Park School, and Les Miserables, the History Boys, the Wizard of Oz and Rock of Ages outside of school, as well as the Secret Garden in the West End. I went to the BRIT School audition in January and had to sing two songs, perform two contemporary dances, a Shakespeare monologue and perform a devised piece from a script. I am really pleased that I have been offered place at BRIT and am thinking about going and spending time studying musical theatre, which I’m really excited about. I have other options to consider but if I do decide to go, I’m sure it would be an amazing experience and great fun.

PappyShow Hove Park students were treated to an inspiring theatre workshop with the PappyShow this year.

The PappyShow are a playful, physical and visual ensemble theatre company. They formed in January 2013 by Kane Husbands in order to provide a much needed space for actors to train in physical theatre.

Two members from the company took time out of their hit Brighton Festival show to run our students through some exciting and energetic theatre practice. The day was brilliant, and a wonderful opportunity for our students to engage and be part of the Brighton Festival.

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Not One But Two China Trips!

Chinese is at the very heart of our commitment to the 4 main world business languages. The economic growth of China and its importance to the UK as an immerging export market is a major consideration in equipping students with the skills required for the future prosperity of the country.

At Hove Park, Chinese has developed into a specialist language specialism via the Mandarin Excellence Programme and is fully integrated into our Year 7 carousel of languages. It forms a central part of the ethos behind the carousel and further languages study - an ethos of equipping our students to appreciate and value world cultures, languages and traditions.

The 2 trips to China are an important mix of experiencing the culture of China whilst deepening the language skills taught back at school. Students appreciate taking in the sights, sounds and smells of a country which is central to growing an appreciation for their studies back at home. It is the best form of cultural contextualisation and the memories from these experiences foster the aspiration to achieve more and work harder to master a very difficult language.

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MEP China Trip The Year 8 Mandarin Excellence Programme intensive learning trip, focused on learning Mandarin and Chinese culture, has been an amazing learning and cultural experience for our pupils.

While they were in China, the students were taught by teachers from Xihua University: they tasted local authentic Chinese food and got involved in a wide range of traditional cultural activities, whilst immersing themselves in many different cultural spots in China. It was full-on every day - life was too rich and interesting to get bored! There were many challenges - they had to deal with money management, time management, teamwork, problem solving, to interact with new people, public speaking and performance, to care and share, mutual respect... to name but a few!

Without a doubt the trip was a great success and this experience will help our students grow both culturally and personally. ’’Thank you so much for organising this amazing trip and making it such a success. It was a once in a life time experience and I am sure this trip will leave a strong imprint in Leon’s life. He had a wonderful time and thought it was so interesting to discover such a different country and culture.”

Eva (Leon’s mum)

Confucius Institute Trip We had an incredible two weeks in China being hosted by the Confucius Institute, whose aim is to develop understanding of Chinese culture. Our first week was spent in Beijing where we were taken to all the sites, including the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square, accompanied by a very knowledgable guide. The second week was spent in a school where we had Chinese language lessons as well as lessons in Chinese culture, such as calligraphy, tea making and Kung Fu. The greatest part of the trip has been making friends with Chinese students and teachers.

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A-Level BHASVIC Visit Around 40 of our Year 10 linguists had a great opportunity to meet some A-Level BHASVIC students this week. They learnt interesting facts about how many people speak different languages and how useful their language skills are, especially in terms of future career plans.

They worked in small groups practising GCSE style photo cards.

Spanish Buddies We have hosted two groups of Spanish buddies at Hove Park from schools near Barcelona. They followed our students’ timetables and helped out in Spanish lessons, even conducting some Year 8 Spanish speaking exams with our students.

Some firm friendships have been made and our students have enjoyed practising their Spanish with them and learning about their school.

Thank you to all the Hove Park students who volunteered to be Buddies and look after the Spanish students, and to the teachers who had our student visitors in their lessons.

German Friendships

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This year 21 Hove Park students visited Matare Gymnasium in Dusseldorf, where they enjoyed working in partnership with German students, making new friendships, improving their German, visiting KĂśln and the Haus der Geschichte museum in Bonn. Their buddies arrived in Brighton on their return visit and they had lots of activities planned for their time. The students were getting a taste of Hove Park and shadowed us in our lessons and also helped out with German lessons at Valley Campus. We went out for a meal together, ice skating and visiting the Pavilion while they were here.

Young Interpreters And Indonesian Visitors An International Education Consultant from H.E.I., along with 21 students and two teachers from Al Azhar 19 Cibubur Islamic Junior High School in Jakarta, Indonesia, visited us. The school had specifically asked to come to Hove Park because of our international specialisms. They wanted to experience life as an English school student.

Each Indonesian student was buddied up with a Young Interpreter at Hove Park School and then accompanied them to timetabled lessons.

Our fantastic Young Interpreters did a fabulous job of “buddying” with our Indonesian visitors, ensuring they felt welcome, so far away from home.

The Indonesian students learnt many things about life in an English school, however our own Young Interpreters also learnt many things about life in Indonesia. They all enjoyed sharing and learning about each other’s cultures and ways of life.

Our Young Interpreters introduced the visiting students at the Year 7 Assembly and talked about their time together. Then as a special “Thank You” to the school for hosting them, we were treated to an Indonesian dance and presentation. Firstly, the girls performed a mesmerising cultural dance from West Sumatra, wearing traditional costumes, then we were treated to a musical show with singing and music on handmade Angklung instruments.

At the end of the assembly, they very generously gifted the instruments to the school for use in music lessons. Mr. Paul, our Head of School, was presented with a gift and not forgetting their special buddies, our Young Interpreters were also given small bags of gifts.

Everyone has made new friends, learnt about new cultures and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

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Swaziland Expedition 16 students and 2 teachers from Hove Park went on an expedition to Swaziland. We started the expedition by helping to develop a Neighbourhood Care Project (NCP) in a deprived rural community.

The NCP is used for local vulnerable infants who in most cases have been affected by HIV. Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence in the world despite its small population. The team helped mix cement to build a veranda and new toilet, paint a classroom, teach the students and also help landscape to create a self-sustaining project. The work was really appreciated by the leaders of the project and the local builder celebrated this on our final evening by inviting various families to have dinner with us, as well as dancing and congratulating each other.

The second phase of the expedition was a 4 day trek through Ngwempisi Gorge. We had to carry all equipment including tents, cooking utensils and 4 days’ worth of food for 25km through various terrain. The team showed amazing resilience, determination and team work to complete the trek.

The days reached temperatures of 28 degrees and the nights dropped right down to -2. The group persevered to complete the trek, even managing to cook delicious meals on an open fire each evening.

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After the trek, we headed to Malolotja to complete the canopy tour. This included 10 zip wires and a suspension bridge over an amazing gorge. The students battled fears of heights by supporting one another down the gorge.

To complete a life changing expedition, we headed to Hlane national park to rest and relax from all of the hard work the team had put in.

We participated in 2 safaris, sunset and sunrise, with the hope of seeing the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo). We were lucky enough to see rhinos, hippos, elephants, baboons, lions and many more. We celebrated on our final evening by having our first sit down meal and not having to cook on an open fire. A buffet style dinner was much appreciated by the team and we finished by discussing our personal highlights of the expedition.

We would like to thank all of the students, Miss Daynes, Mr Whiteman and our expedition leader (Vanessa) for participating in a truly life changing expedition. The students were inspirational throughout the trip by embracing the culture and giving so much to the lives of so many.

Italian Buddies Our Year 9 and 10 Italian students (plus a few Germanists in Year 10) had a fab week buddying Italian students from southern Italy. The Italian students had a taste of life in an English school and really enjoyed seeing different lessons and meeting new people. We all went out for a farewell meal together. Close to 60 of us in a private space in the restaurant, a noisy, but yummy meal was enjoyed by us all. The students sat with their Italian buddies for the meal and the conversations around the restaurant were in a mix of both languages, lots of interaction between the two nations and even more laughter. Really lovely to see! They all had a memorable experience. Some of the friendships will doubtless continue for years to come. Our students made us proud - well mannered, great company and good representatives of Hove Park.

Visitors From Lippstadt!

25 students visited the Valley Campus to take part in a number of activities organised through the Languages team. The 50 students took part in a hot-seating question and answer session for 45 minutes, asking and fielding questions over a wide range of topics. The visitors from Germany praised our students on their communication skills and were surprised to hear they have 200% more language time on their timetables than we offer in the UK! Sehr gut HPS! Thanks go out to Herr Ernst and Miss Gray for wonderful organisation. Lots of shared experiences in school.

Talks were held of a trip being established for Year 8 students in the future to this potential new partner school. Wir drucken die Daumen!

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First, Finals And Feuds!

By student reporters Spirits were not dampened despite the rain clouds at Hove Park’s 2019 sports day! From the beginning of the day at Withdean Stadium, students were buzzing with excitement.

With 4 other houses to beat for glory, Mandela House began the day determined to reclaim their title, which was stolen in a shocking turn of events last year. Turing House snagged the win, with some of Mandela’s top athletes benched, and the question remained, would Mandela be able to redeem themselves?

They were off and running with a booming start from one of Mandela’s top athletes, Bertie. Bertie shattered the girls 800m race by slicing 9.81 seconds off of the previous record, setting Mandela, once again on track to victory.

As if this wasn’t enough of a booming start, another one of their highest achieving athletes and a household name at sports day, Ella, demolished the 200m record, despite being ill the day before. Her brother, Will, was following in his sister’s footsteps, topping the tables with his athleticism, bringing Mandela one step closer to the win.

Mandela house students fought off fierce competition throughout the day to finally reclaim top spot at Hove Park’s 2019 sports day! The event at Withdean Stadium buzzed with excitement as records were broken and personal bests achieved in a packed day of track and field events.

Mr Roberts, Head Teacher, said: “We have had another brilliant sports day. It is fantastic to see so many amazing athletes. Spirits were not dampened despite a wet start and our students showed grit and determination under difficult conditions, getting much encouragement from their lively and enthusiastic supporters.”

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During the event over £200 was raised for Martlets Hospice with the help of a team of students and staff who sold snacks and drinks to the spectators and athletes.

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Called Up For England Congratulations to Year 9 students Tommy and Finley who were selected for the U15 England, week long, Goalkeeping Development Camp.

Tommy, who plays for Brighton & Hove Albion U15s, and Finley, who has been with Fulham FC’s Academy, travelled to St. George’s Park after the Easter holiday for a week long development camp where they trained with FA coaches and other young goalkeepers from around the country.

Well done to both Finley and Tommy. Two potential England internationals from the same year group makes us all at Hove Park very proud.

Ski Trip To Folgarida

Gold In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open

The annual ski trip visited Folgarida in Italy during the Easter holidays. 60 students from Years 9 and 11 made the long journey to Italy before beginning ski school instruction. The advanced group quickly made their way up the mountain, exploring the resort, quickly followed by the intermediate group. It was fantastic to see the three beginner groups progress off the nursery slope by the end of Day 2. All students made excellent progress during the week, learning to parallel turn and some attempting the resort’s black runs.

Year 11 Student, Alfie, started at Elements Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in June. He is dedicated and trains six days a week for 2-3 hours. He received his first stripe just 6 weeks after starting and his second stripe within 4 months.

The week saw some exciting apres-ski, including the famous quiz night. A midweek trip to Verona rested weary legs, which also gave a chance to sample traditional Italian pizza from a pizzeria in the heart of the city. The trip ended with a Fancy Dress party, where all students dressed up as film or TV characters and got into the spirit things.

Despite a lengthy journey home, the trip was a huge success. Thank you to the students for being well behaved and also to staff that supported the trip. Next up is Andorra in 2020!

Saturday, 1st December 2018, was Alfie’s first competition. In his category (over 70kg) the only candidates were both of a higher grade belt than Alfie, yet he still wished to compete. He managed to win both fights, achieving 1st place and winning gold in the Sussex Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open, 2018.

Due to a medical condition, we never would have thought that Alfie would have been able to take part in Jiu Jitsu, let alone win gold, coming first in his first fight. This is such a massive achievement for Alfie and we are so proud of him.

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Sea Swimming Hove Park School booked in three consecutive days of sea swimming this year due to its popularity.

85 students relocated to Brighton Beach on Wednesday 10th July to Friday 12th July 2019.

All our students were taught vital lifesaving skills and first aid techniques by Brighton’s famous beach lifeguards. The Surf Life Saving School really promote essential lifesaving skills, inspiring many to take up open water swimming.

Hove Park students were put through their paces, trying out the latest beach rescue techniques. They also learnt how to use the lifeguard rescue boards. The experience taught the students how to save lives in and out of the water, how to be safe in the water and what dangers to look for.

Mr Lowrie, who was co-ordinating the trip said “Once again all our students have learnt some vital lifesaving skills through a fantastic learning experience. We are already looking to book in again next year. The course is run in such a fantastic way. We would again like to thank Surf Life Saving for putting on another fantastic experience for all our students. We very much look forward to working with them next year.”

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Wheelchair Basketball After winning the National Championships with Sussex Bears Basketball, Ricky Perrin made one of his final taster visits in a promotional tour for wheelchair Basketball at Hove Park this year.

180 students were given the opportunity to play throughout the day, which tipped Ricky’s total to over 5000 people trying the sport in two months.

Sessions were amazing and students throughout the day loved the opportunity to try the game, getting a real appreciation of how difficult and enjoyable the sport is.

Albion In The Community Hove Park have again been lucky enough to secure the services of Albion in the Community to deliver high quality Indoor Futsal sessions.

Ex Brighton & Hove Albion star Danny Cullip, and Development Officer, Chris Day, delivered a first class session of Futsal to our Year 10 students. The good news is that Hove Park have managed to secure more sessions with Albion in the Community, giving as many of our students as possible the opportunity to develop their skills at Futsal, led by ex-professional footballers.

Charity Football Match The Year 8s did an amazing job this year in raising awareness for homelessness in Brighton and Hove, with a charity football match to raise money and awareness for the cause. Jasper and Tom were both instrumental in the organisation and planning of the event. Congratulations to them for what was a really successful afternoon played in great spirit.

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Let’s Dance 2019 Hove Park students performed at the week long dance festival, Let’s Dance, at the Dome.

They were performing to the song ‘In My Mind’ and, initially, Terri Johnson (former Hove Park student) had created some choreography that was developed by Miss Satterly and the dancers.

The dancers produced an incredibly polished performance and were a credit to the school.

Swimming Gala Hove Park took a full swimming team to the Brighton & Hove Swimming Gala Championship at Prince Regent swimming pool.

There were many outstanding individual and team performances across all of our year groups, with many receiving medals.

Hove Park competed in all 48 races and were competitive in all of them.

A huge thanks to all the Hove Park parents and carers who were there supporting the team in the stands.

National Training Programme Year 9 student, Isabella, is one of a dozen young gymnasts from Brighton, Hove and Shoreham who has been talent-spotted by Team GB and given a place on a national training programme.

Isabella was invited to join the British Gymnastics’ National Talent Development Programme and, over the coming months, national coaches will work intensively with her to prepare her to represent Great Britain at international competitions in Hungary and Bulgaria!

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Student Ranked 96 In England In December 2017, Hove Park student Deniz started playing table tennis at school in sessions put on by the Brighton Table Tennis Club.

Deniz, loved table tennis so much she started going to the Brighton Table Tennis Club in Kemptown at weekends and was soon invited to their junior invitation sessions. She now trains three times a week and has won all of her matches in the local league against adults and competing for Sussex Under 15s.

Deniz has a great attitude and is a much valued member of the club. She is currently ranked 96 in the country for her age, which is remarkable for someone that has been playing for such a short amount of time.

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Annual 5k Race In April, 200 students, staff and Primary School pupils chased the frozen hail away by running the incredible, now annual, school event: the Hove Park School 5k Race.

It was an amazing display of the community spirit we have here at Hove Park, at the same time as supporting The Hangleton and Knoll Project, a local charity linked directly to our school. Hove Park students, Year 6 children from Goldstone Primary, St Paul’s Primary and staff made the event a community collaboration.

Staff at Hove Park School, Legal & General employees and local business donations made the whole thing possible.

There were super happy students at the end as they received a specially designed 5k finisher medal and a goodie bag! Mr Roberts shook every single runner’s hand at the finish and presented them with their bespoke medal.

This event is getting bigger each year as we have risen from 100 participants in the first year, 160 last year and now a complete sell out of 200!

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Mrs Hunt says she was inundated with last minute requests for students to join in and thinks she could have sold at least another 30 places at the last minute!

It was just incredible to see the huge number of entrants brave the hail and finish in glorious unseasonal sunshine. Students were able to relax after the race with their friends and tuck into their goodie bags on the school field. Some even got a raffle ticket on the way round for good sportsmanship and won themselves an Easter Egg! Final total for sponsorship money to be donated to The Hangleton and Knoll Project is yet to be calculated so watch this space!

Nina from Hangleton and Knoll Project said: “Many thanks again for raising funds for the project – the money will benefit the local community and it was so lovely to see and speak to some of the young people we are working with, and so nice they came to say Hi!” A Year 9 student said: “Thank you SO MUCH for the race today - it was sooooooooooo much fun!

I can’t wait for next year already, and I also won 3 Easter eggs!”

Sussex Sharks Trip

National Champions!

50 students took part in a trip to the County Ground Schools Day as part of the PE department rewards programme. A lovely afternoon was had by all, watching some great cricket played by Sussex in bat on route to their 347 total. Thanks to Gary Wallis Tayler and Sussex cricket for running the schools afternoon.

Year 11 student Bence has been playing highlevel basketball for some time now and all his hard work is paying off! He and his brothers are members of the Sussex Storm Basketball Club, and Bence, along with his U16 team, recently became the National Champions. After winning the National Cup in January 2019, finally, they won the National League too.

Below are some season highlights. Amazing playing!

• U16 National Cup and National Champions • U18 Final four in National Cup, 3rd in the National Championship • U16 Team II won the South Conference and got to the Play-Off • U14 where Bence’s twin brothers are playing got to the Play-Off

Basketball Champions In March, Hove Park took part in the Year 8 Brighton & Hove Basketball Championship held at Dorothy Stringer.

In the Sussex Local League: • U18 with Bence become Runner up • U14 with Botond and Balint become Runner up • U13 with Botond and Balint Sussex Champions

Hove Park played some fantastic basketball throughout the tournament. They played some strong teams from across the city. Impressively they managed to win all of their group games against Dorothy Stringer, Longhill and Patcham.

This meant that Hove Park qualified for the final against Kings School.

Hove Park were crowned champions winning a closely contested final 14-10.

This is a fantastic achievement and what’s more impressive is that this side won the Year 7 tournament last year.

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Rockley Year 8 students travelled to Biscarrosse, South West France with Rockley Adventure.

Students spent the week trying out a number of activities such as Pico Sailing, Dart Sailing, Kayaking, Paddle Boarding and Windsurfing. They also visited a nearby town, Arcachon, where they were able to try out their language skills and experience the French culture. We also visited the Dune De Pilat which is the largest sand dune in Europe. It stands at 110 metres above sea level, measuring around 500m wide from east to west and 2.7 km in length from north to south. The students enjoyed running, rolling and cartwheeling down the dune after the gruelling climb to the top.

All of the students demonstrated an exceptional attitude throughout the week and were a real credit to the school.

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Albion In The Community Nine Year 7 Hove Park School digital leaders took part in ‘Tech Girls’ – an initiative in partnership with ‘Albion in the Community’ at the American Express Community Stadium on 19th June 2019.

The programme has been developed to inspire girls to explore further the role technology plays in the world around them and help them discover the varying career paths available to them.

As an Apple Distinguished School, digital leaders have taken part in guided workshops focused around 1:1 digital technology, over the course of the Spring and Summer terms. Our workshops aimed to build on their implicit skills and improve their understanding and knowledge of the digital tools available to them. Hove Park School has had success in delivering opportunities to girls in digital fluency, particularly in recent years with coding.

At the event, our students learnt about the skills and knowledge that they need to follow a curriculum pathway in technology. Our digital leaders took part in challenges and a series of fun interactive tasks that stretched their imagination, to enable them to see the possibilities that are available to them in their careers.

Using teamwork, critical thinking and leadership, the digital leaders dismantled and re-built a computer, programmed a 16MHz computer to produce different colours with three RBG LED’s using ultrasonic sound waves, stress tested different metals to see how ductile they are and finally programmed robots using coding, to take a particular pathway through a maze.

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Hove Park Wins An Edtech Oscar!

Ms Prentice (Senior Deputy Head Teacher) and Mr Roberts travelled to the House of Lords to attend a celebration event organised by The Education Foundation. Hove Park School won a National Award, highlighting the 50 schools from across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland that are pioneering in the use of education technology to make the greatest difference to pupils, staff and parents/ carers.

These ‘Edtech Oscars’, supported by Intel, were chosen by an independent judging panel made up of educators and Edtech experts.

Hove Park was named as part of the prestigious Edtech 50 awards and features in a national publication that showcases imaginative uses of technology to support teaching and learning across the UK. The Edtech 50 report includes details of the school’s work and has contributions from Ministers of Education from Wales, Scotland and England.

Edtech 50 Schools is organised by the Education Foundation and CEO & Founder, Ty Goddard, said: “I would like to congratulate the Edtech 50 schools. The power of education technology provides significant support to help students learn, reduce teachers’ workload and save money. There is great potential for Edtech to help make a difference but it needs to be the right technology, implemented effectively, and with support for staff.

The Edtech 50 shines a spotlight on the schools leading the way, which we hope can inspire other schools across the UK.” Intel, Edtech UK, JISC, Chartered College of Teaching, Net Support and the Independent Schools Council Digital Strategy Group are supporting Edtech 50 Schools.

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Apple Distinguished School This year Hove Park School gained Apple Distinguished School status 2019-2022. This accolade is in recognition of our success as an innovative and compelling learning environment that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic accomplishment. We have demonstrated our commitment to digital learning by having a strategy that continuously stretches, challenges and influences learning for the whole school community.

Brighton & Hove is part of a national digital hub and it is our goal to ensure that our students leave Hove Park School & Sixth Form with the skills they need to work in our city, and to upscale those skills, enabling them to work nationally and globally with the confidence that they are digitally prepared for the challenges that face them.

“A school is more than just a place where students come to learn. It is also a place where a community develops and thrives. It is a place where we come together to support each other achieve. Our digital strategy has been an enabling factor in making this happen. I have been fortunate enough to have been part of this journey since we started in 2013, and have seen our digital strategy continue to impact on pedagogy and practice and become part of the

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everyday experience for all students. Having established this foundation we have now begun the most exciting phase of innovation through student engagement and leadership. I am clear that students will also leave us with 21st Century learner skills including problem solving, leadership, communication, team working and resilience. It is no coincidence that student confidence in these areas has grown as a result of us embracing the use of technology. Our students go into the communities they live in and the wider world ready and able to make a positive contribution.” - Jim Roberts, Head Teacher.

Over the last academic year we have focused on staff development and student leadership. We have always taken a student-centred approach to learning with technology, and we recognise that students have a role to play in supporting our teachers. We created a peer-based coaching and mentoring process to ensure retention of students, the result being a sustainable network of leaders that coach other students, support teachers and participate in a range of enrichment opportunities.

Our focus going forward is very much centered around digital collaboration and we aim to foster creativity amongst our students and staff and learning technologies with ‘Our iPad’.

Our school vision is ‘Together We Achieve’ and there is a continual drive to maintain this throughout all of the school. Our 1:1 iPad strategy is at the core of delivering this vision and our goal is to ensure the strategy remains sustainable, relevant and innovative in the years to come, evidencing our journey.

Dragons’ Den At Legal & General Pupils from Hove Park got involved in a Dragons’ Den style event hosted by Legal & General.

The pupils were tasked with coming up with an idea using robotics and artificial intelligence (Al) and creating a business plan for it.

After initially pitching their plans to teachers, five groups of pupils were shortlisted to take part in the event at L&G’s offices in Hove this year.

The panel included two robotics experts, Paul Buckle and Mark Wilkinson, and a learning and development consultant, Gary Shewan, from L&G, Tom Druitt, CEO and founder of The Big Lemon, and Jenny Day, owner of business Body Happy.

The winner was ‘Snooze u Looze’, an alarm clock which will not turn off until a puzzle is completed, to prevent people from hitting the snooze button. The idea uses Al technology because the level of the puzzle is determined by how the user gets on with the puzzle daily, adjusting its difficulty.

The team consisted of four students, Alice, Maddie, Maddie and Isabella.

The Dragons’ Den event was organised as part of the community partnership between Hove Park School and L&G. Alice, from the winning team, said: “We’re really pleased to win and also grateful for this opportunity.

We worked very hard as a team but all the teams did well.”

Lead Practitioner for Digital Fluency, Phil Sumner, added: “The Dragons’ Den challenge has given our students the opportunity to demonstrate their leadership skills, creativity and critical thinking.

Seeing Year 9 students confidently pitch their ideas to the dragons shows how talented they are.”

Lucy Pearce, Colleague and Community Engagement Manager for L&G, said: “It has been fantastic working with Hove Park School in recent months and we look forward to offering more opportunities like this in the future.

For this event, the pupils came up with some really creative ideas which was great to see and so it was hard for our dragons to choose a winner.”

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Summer Exhibition The art exhibition this year revealed the many creative outcomes and talents of our students, who have worked hard during their time in school to develop their skills and practices in art. The exhibition highlighted how students have been challenged to observe the world around them.

A large body of the work was informed by the exam board starting points, where students were encouraged to create pieces around themes such as; The human figure, telling stories, making connections, and looking at things in a different way. Some work was informed and observational, other pieces expressionist or abstract. There were sculptures, paintings, printmaking, photography, and much more. The highlight of the show was our very own Hove Park snail, a project that KS3 students were involved in to raise money for the Martlets. This is currently being exhibited in Brighton.

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Cass Foundation Sculpture Park and Pallent House Art Gallery Hove Park Photography Department took A-Level and GCSE photography students to Cass Foundation Sculpture Park and Pallent House Art Gallery.

Students wandered around the grounds of a beautiful wooded area and photographed an incredible diverse range of sculptures. Students explored the use of natural light, composition shape, form and texture to capture the day. We then continued to Pallent House Art Gallery where students looked at work to inspire photography installation and contextual research.

Art In Amsterdam!

40 students from Years 9, 10 & 11 set off for a 3 day visit to Amsterdam.

After an 11 hour coach journey they started with a guided tour of The Van Gogh Museum, which features the world’s largest collection of works by Van Gogh. Some of the highlights included the masterpieces ‘Sunflowers’ and ‘The Potato Eaters’.

Additionally, students got to discover what inspired Van Gogh in his art through an interesting exposition about his life. A cruise through Amsterdam’s beautiful canals, to admire the city from a splendidly unique perspective, rounded up the end of a very long first day!

From here we went back to Amsterdam to visit Anne Frank’s House. This was a truly memorable and profound experience to have!

The trip ended with a visit to the Rijksmuseum.

The museum focuses on history and art from the Middle Ages to present day, and its impressive collection includes many masterpieces by worldrenowned painters, such as ‘The Night Watch’ by Rembrandt and ‘The Milk Maid’ by Vermeer.

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Student Success - Joe Fairbrother We received some wonderful news about the achievements of former student Joe Fairbrother. Joe left us in 2016 and has just achieved a 1st Class Batchelor’s Degree at Oriel College, Oxford in Maths and Computer Science.

Joe studied at Hove Park in Years 7-9 before moving to a different school. He then returned to Hove Park to study his A-Levels where he studied Maths, Physics, Computer Science and Further Maths.

He achieved A*,A,A and a B for his subjects and then gained entrance to Oxford University. Joe will now continue for a further year to get his Masters in Maths and Computer Science. Congratulations to Joe. He really has shown incredible determination and resilience in addition to his academic abilities.

We are all very proud of his achievements.

Student Success - Sky McLean This year’s A-Level exam results saw some fantastic results and Sky McLean was smiling away on results day as she achieved 2 B’s and a C in her A-Levels.

She got a B in History, a B in English Literature and a C in Sociology. Not only were these an excellent set of results, but it also secured Sky a place at Sussex University to read History as an undergraduate. Sky joined Hove Park at the beginning of her GCSE’s and after 2 years of study achieved B’s and C’s in all of her subjects at GCSE. Sky decided to stay on at Hove Park Sixth Form because of the support she received from the staff she already knew, knowing this support would continue to ensure she would be successful in her A-Level studies.

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Student Success -Syeda Begum Syeda joined Hove Park in September 2012 and after 7 years of study with us she leaves as a well-educated, successful young woman, ready to move onto the next stage of her journey.

Syeda achieved B’s and C’s across a range of GCSE subjects and chose to carry on her studies at Hove Park Sixth Form due to the smaller class sizes and tailored experienced at Hove Park Sixth Form. After her final two years of study, Syeda left Hove Park Sixth Form with an A in Tourism, a Distinction in Business Btec and a Merit in ICT Btec. She now goes to Sussex University to study Business and Management.

New Sixth Form And Website On 16th September 2019 the Valley Campus opened its doors to its newest members - the Sixth Form. Taking residence in what used to be the staff room, Sixth Form have settled in well to their new home and Sixth Form have their own self-contained area, along with teaching spaces accessible only to Sixth Form students.

Being at the Valley Campus opens up numerous opportunities for Sixth Form students to embellish their CV and UCAS application with numerous leadership opportunities working with Years 7 and 8. This has already been seen in lessons across the school with Sixth Form students helping Year 8 with their volleyball and basketball skills as recent examples.

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University Destinations 2019 Name

Destination

Course

Hasina Ahmadi

BRIGHTON

Biomedical Science

Sayid Ahmed

EAST LONDON

Psychology

Ayah Akasha-Ali

KING’S COLLEGE

Biomedical Science (Foundation)

Syeda Begum

SUSSEX

Business and Management Studies

Chloe Dakin

SUSSEX

Biology

Daniella Fikri

CHICHESTER

Early Childhood Studies

Daniel Girgis

BRIGHTON

Law (with Integrated Foundation Year)

Stephanie Gorgi

CHICHESTER

Education (with Integrated Foundation Year)

Karim Hattabi

CHICHESTER

3D Animation and Visual Effects

Agabi Kairlas

PORTSMOUTH

Interior Architecture and Design

Mark Magaryous

BRISTOL

Mechanical Engineering (with Foundation Year)

Sky McLean

SUSSEX

History

Taaseen Misson

LONDON SOUTH

Business Management

Marina Nazim

PORTSMOUTH

Law

Daisy O’Donoghue

BRIGHTON

Fine Art Printmaking

Irini Rezk Gobrail

BRIGHTON

Criminology and Sociology

Jessica Salasil

BRIGHTON

Interior Architecture

Sally Touray

ESSEX

Politics and International Relations

Angelika Wilinska

WESTMINSTER

Criminology

Amjad Yabroudi

BRIGHTON

Digital Media

George Youssef Fariz

BRIGHTON

Computer Science

Bryony de Lacy

BRIGHTON

Primary Education 5-11 with QTS

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