St Marylebone School Newsletter - February 2014

The St Marylebone School Newsletter February 2014 Welcome to the first St Marylebone Newsletter of 2014. It really is a privilege for me to be leading this extraordinary school – and nothing could have been as inspiring a reminder of this as the Dance Show, “Bound By Choice” this week. The audience was mesmerised by the poise, professionalism, skill and energy of the performers from every year group. “I’ve paid to see professional productions far less impressive,” commented one parent. And “I can’t believe that’s the work of a state school; it was terrific - I’m spellbound,” commented another on the way out. It just goes to show what high standards can be reached with vision, commitment and hard work.

Meantime, the activity of the Aspiration and Challenge and the Business and Careers teams has been especially enlightening – despite the January darkness. The theme of many of these events this year is “resilience” and “learning for life”. Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, addressed a large Bright Ideas audience of students from KS4 and KS5 about “Why women can (and should!) enjoy science.”

This was especially inspiring for our aspiring chemists, medics and bio-engineers.

And “Why law?”. Why indeed, queried Tim Clarke, formerly Senior Partner at Slaughter and May, in another well-attended Bright Ideas talk The talk was especially well-timed as Year 9 students approach KS4 Options, Year 11s are considering their post-16 choices and Year 12 are thinking ahead to UCAS … We invite all students to attend Bright Ideas talks – and if you’d like to host one, please do get in touch!

In the world of art, one of our leading Year 12 artists, Anna, overcame fierce competition at the ARTiculation Prize at the Whitechapel Gallery. Anna was commended by the British Council judge for her excellent research and personal and intellectual touch. Anna will represent St. Marylebone in the national heats at Clare College Cambridge this Spring.

And PE has much to celebrate already in 2014: our KS3 and 4 Badminton Teams won the Westminster tournament; our Football Teams are currently training with some of the QPR coaching staff, leading to the Year 7, 9 and 10 team triumphs in the Westminster Championship.

So, as ever, life and learning at St Marylebone has been dynamic and industrious. We wish all our students courage and zeal as they approach important decisions, coursework deadlines and public examinations. And many thanks to the parents and supporters in our community who continue to enrich the life of the School.

Here’s to the Marylebone-green shoots of Spring!

Kathryn Pugh Headteacher.

Farewell Mrs Phillips This December, one of the most influential and successful headteachers in modern education retires from her post as Executive Headteacher of the St Marylebone CE School in Westminster.

Mrs Elizabeth Phillips has served as Headteacher at St Marylebone for twenty years. In this time, the School has risen to being one of the most successful and thriving state schools in the country: the best non-selective school nationally according to DfE tables. The School’s most recent results place it way above the national average, with 92% of students gaining five or more GCSE grades at A* - C, including English and Maths. In 2013, an impressive 51% of these grades were A or A*.

The Church mission – education for all – is what has driven Mrs. Phillips since she took up post at St Marylebone in 1993. Her vision is one of uncompromising high standards: there should be no limits to what is achievable. “A young person’s social, ethnic or economic background is no excuse for not working hard and being successful,” she says. “Our pupils know that school is about being the best you can be; we want them to develop into creative, independent, spiritually-enriched people – who can share company and conversation and compete with the best of their generation.”

Mrs Phillips is a champion for the Performing Arts – and is zealous about the valuable place of drama, music and dance in a truly rigorous academic curriculum. The School became a Specialist Arts College in 1998 and Mrs Phillips puts much of the School’s success down to the impact of this. “The best creative minds will be the leaders of tomorrow – whether that’s in politics, business, arts or industry. We cannot create tomorrow’s entrepreneurs by schooling them away from the arts; quite the opposite.”

No pupil or group of pupils misses out under Mrs Phillips’ watch. The School has gained further specialist status in Maths, ICT and Computing (2005) and in the “Interaction and Communication” thread of Special Educational Needs (2009). Ofsted and the SSAT (Specialist Schools and Academies Trust) have used the School as an example in several high profile case studies including its “Making Marking Matter” initiative, dyslexia training and

Mrs Phillips has dedicated herself to the achievements of the School in order for it to stand as an example of what is possible. She has seized every opportunity in state education to promote the School’s success. In addition to its specialisms, in 2011 the school was one of the first schools nationally to gain Teaching School status, leading an alliance of schools in best practice teaching and educational improvement.

Again, this marries with Mrs Phillips’ approach to Church education: schools must grow, develop excellence and then share that practice with others. St Marylebone is also a Woodard School, connecting it with a family of strong state and independent Church schools nationally which prioritise pastoral care alongside academic excellence. In September 2011, the School converted to being an Academy under the Government’s “Outstanding Academies” programme – without changing the name or ethos of the School. And in September 2013, to fill a gap in local provision, Mrs Phillips opened an affiliated Free Special School: the St Marylebone Bridge School, for pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in Speech, Language and Communication.

In 2003 Mrs Phillips was awarded the OBE for her services to education. The award recognised her work in School and beyond it, including her being Chair and founder member of the Secondary Heads and College Principals Group, being the ins piratio n be hi nd t he Westminster 6F Consortium, serving as a co-opted member of Westminster Council’s Education Committee and sitting on the National SSAT SEN Advisory Board.

Dr. Margaret Mountford, Chairman of St Marylebone’s Governing Body, remarks: “Mrs Phillips’ legacy will stand as an example to the entire education community; she is a visionary head teacher and extraordinary role model for women.” The Governing Body and the School will be marking her retirement, to express their thanks, admiration and appreciation for her unswerving service and inspirational leadership in the end of term Christmas services in St Marylebone Parish Church. From 1st January 2014, the new Headteacher of the St Marylebone CE School will be Ms Kathryn Pugh, who joined the School as a teacher of English in 2005 and became a member of the Senior Leadership Team in 2008.

A great deal more detail about the history of the School and Mrs Phillips’ remarkable role in this is told in a forthcoming book on the history of the School, with a foreword by Dr. Mountford. “The St Marylebone School: A History”, by Dr. Graham Gardner and Jacqueline Mitchell, will be published by Shire Publications in December both as a tribute to Mrs Phillips and as testament to the significance of Church education in central London

Mrs Phillip’s Farewell

Confirmation 2014 Eight girls were confirmed by Bishop Ladd after having confirmation lessons with Chaplain Father Ed Thornley

P E Department The PE Department have had a very successful academic year so far with excellent attendance at clubs and a number of students have been involved in our sporting achievements. Our Key Stage 3 and 4 Badminton Teams won the Westminster tournament and therefore have qualified for the next round of the Centre Parcs Badminton Competition where they will be representing Westminster.

They are busily preparing for the next tournament coming up soon.

Our Football Teams continue to shine and are currently training with some of the QPR coaching staff. Our Year 7 team in particular have really worked hard in training and have won every match they have played and are Westminster Champions. Due to their success I have entered them for the Premier League Schools Competition in March where the winners have the chance of playing at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. Year 9/10 have also played well and won their Westminster competition. The Year 8 team came up against some strong opposition and were unlucky to only come third.

Our Netball teams have been involved in an ongoing Westminster league, where teams are playing most weeks and are all are doing very well. There is a high chance that most of the teams will be involved in the Finals Day at the end of February.

Our Indoor Athletics Team competed in January with pleasing success. The Year 7 team had their first piece of action and came in 3 rd place but our Year 8 team for the second year running won their competition and will go on to represent Westminster at the follow on competition in March in Harrow. At that same competition our Young Leaders are going to be officiating. Students from our Leadership Academy were highly commended at the Primary School Event that they officiated at for their efforts and professionalism. They were put forward by Westminster Sports Unit and selected by Games Force to lead at this higher level competition.

Cross Country season is also now underway with students training hard for the Mini Marathon Trials and the London Schools Cross Country Event. We are very confident that some of our students will do very well at these events.

The St Marylebone Sixth Form Boys Football Team

The Sixth Form boys football team have enjoyed great success this season in the Westminster League. St Marylebone won a hugely impressive final match against bitter rivals Paddington Academy 3-0 to secure the title. The boys in green averaged over four goals a game over the course of the season, playing an excellent brand of football.

Well done to the team, backroom staff for all their hard work this year and thank you to our fantastic spectators who have supported us every step of the way.

Coach Dilliway.

Flanders Fields Memorial Garden Project Between 9 and 11 November 2013 my dad and I were in Belgium, taking part in a special ceremony to remember the First World War. The event was part of a bigger project to build a Memorial Garden ‘Flanders Fields 1914–2014’, which will be located at Wellington Barracks alongside the Guards Chapel, next to Buckingham Palace, and the first of a series of events which will happen between now and 2018.

Soil from the Flanders Fields battlefields has been allowed to leave Belgium for the first time ever, and will be laid in a specially designed bed in the new garden, which will have the words of the poem, In Flanders Fields, engraved around the edge. The garden will be finished in time for next year’s events to commemorate the outbreak of WWI. It is hoped that those unable to travel to the Continent to view the battlefields, particularly school children, will visit the London garden.

Me, Kaat, Tom and Irène Inmans, the coordinator at Middenschool Heilig Hartinstituut.

One of the great things about this project is that it has forged links between schools and children in Belgium and the UK. We stayed with the Paredis family – Tom, Lieve and their three children Kaat (13), Tuur (12) and Klaas (8) – in Bree, a small town near the Dutch border. Kaat and I got on really well, although she only started learning English in this school and I don’t speak Flemish, so communication was a little tricky. We got to see a bit of the country with Tom and Kaat, including a mining museum, and to try lots of traditional Belgian food. On the way to Bree, Irène Indemans from Kaat’s school (the Middenschool Heilig Hartinstituut, or Sacred Heart School in Bree) took us to see the tomb of Father Damien, who died looking after lepers in Hawaii in the nineteenth century and has since been made a saint, in Leuven.

On Monday 11 November, we got up at 4 o’clock in the morning and travelled from Bree to Ypres.

When we got there, we went to learn more about the famous city, which was levelled to the ground during the First World War. Firstly, we went to the In Flanders Fields museum, where we learnt about the battles in the area and the effects of the war in Belgium. Then we had a guided tour around the city, visiting some of the landmarks, including St George’s Church – built by the English who came over after their relatives were in the war; The Cloth Hall – which was the centre of the city and rebuilt after the First World War; and the Cathedral, which was similarly rebuilt.

The 150 mile journey across Belgium early in the morning of 11 November 2013, changing trains at Brussels. Nightmare!

Ypres after the First World War (left and now (right).

After a break for lunch, we headed over to the Menin Gate for the ceremony. We lined up in pairs, one Belgian pupil and one British. A representative soldier from each of the Guards regiments entered, and then came the Duke of Edinburgh, Belgian Prince Laurent and the Flemish President. We heard the Last Post and observed a minute’s silence, before each pair of children helped a soldier load one of 70 bags of “sacred soil” onto a gun carriage with a first world war gun, pulled by four horses. The gun carriage was then pulled to the port, to be shipped back to London.

We then headed back for hot chocolate and a snack before returning home on the Eurostar.

The ‘sacred soil’ will be arriving in London on 29 November, sailing up the Thames in a Belgian navy ship and being unloaded on to HMS Belfast the next day, before being incorporated into the Memorial Garden. Next November, 100 years after the start of the First World War, the garden will officially open in London. The best news is that Tom and Kaat will be coming over to take part in the ceremony too!

Kaat and I accompanying a soldier to lay a bag of “sacred soil” on the gun carriage beneath the Menin Gate.

Katherine Year 9

Photography trip to Westminster University, Harrow.

By Pearl Year 12 On the 22nd November, our media class visited one of Westminster University’s campuses in Harrow which specialises in photography. This was a fantastic opportunity for our class to learn more about this area in more detail and we were able to use and were taught about equipment much more advanced than the resources in school.

Firstly we were welcomed by students and staff from the university with an excellent presentation explaining to us and the other media or photography students who were visiting from schools all over the city, we were then split into groups of around ten or eleven and these were the groups we completed the tasks in.

The first activity on the agenda was a trip to the science department to have a look at microscopic photography. This was extremely interesting as it gave us all a closer look, literally. A microscopic camera was hooked up to a projector and the professor who was leading the activity placed a piece of paper with some writing printed on it underneath the microscope. The ink used on this page appeared to us as black but looking under the microscope we were able to see that the ink was in fact not black, but a combination of magenta (pink), cyan (blue) and yellow ink that appear black when layered on top of each other. The microscope was able to zoom in far enough to show us the separate blotches which were present on the paper.

We were then taken into another room where there were many computers around the edges of the room. Each computer had a different image on the screen. After looking for a bit longer at each screen we were then able to identify the fact that each image was moving. This was done on purpose by the co-ordinators as they wanted to show us some of the work produced by the students. After questioning the team leaders about these images we then established the fact that these were stop motion images. These stop motion images were part of a project that the university students had just finished working on. Some of the images looked like they were a lot of hard work and the definitely sounded it. .

One of the images that we looked at was a stop motion image created by a second year student and it featured the buildings of Canary Wharf at certain times throughout a twenty four hour day. The student would take photos of the sky lines from the other side of the river every ten minutes to capture the activity of the sky throughout the day in a way that we never get to view it. Over all the image consisted of 144 images lasting around half a second each and the final product of this was a stop motion image of the sky over canary wharf last 77 seconds and featuring the whole cycle of the sky line. This was interesting for us to see as we don’t get to make that sort of image in our media course and this was a great opportunity for the students and teachers to find out more about a completely different type of photography. The session we had learning about stop motion photography was beneficial for all of us and it widened our understanding of this new and exciting form of photography We then took part in a session where we had a closer look at 3D imagery. Our whole class and teachers (who were mistaken for students) were made to sit on or stand around a big arm chair in the middle of the room. There were two cameras directed at us; one was on the left and one was on the right. They both took photos at the same time and the students from the university then layered these images on photo shop and with the use of 3D glasses we were able to see our image come alive in 3D. Finally we were shown around the dark rooms. These are the rooms which are used to manually print images. The rooms are kept dark so that the image is not damaged in the printing process. The images were printed on high quality paper and went through the process of being suspended in a liquid concentrate to help develop the image. The images are then put in another pool of liquid called stop bath to wash off the developer and finally the image sits in a final pool of liquid called hypo clear to give the image a professional finish.

Rotary Young Chef Competition Each year the D&T Food Department enters two students to enter the Rotary Young Chef competition. On the 28th January two year 10 students headed up to QK to take part. The Rotary Young Chef is a competition that encourages and develops the creativity in young people and that includes creativity in the kitchen Cooking amongst young people is a growing interest and a valuable life skill. Schools seem to agree and the RIBI Young Chef competition, in association with leading olive oil company Filippo Berio, goes from strength to strength each year producing some superb quality cooking from young people aged 11 to 17 This year was an extremely well represented by all Schools in Westminster, and the standard was extremely high.

I am pleased to announce that one of our students, Ffion , came second which meant that she went onto to represent St Marylebone and Westminster on the 7th February 2014. Ffion gained such a valuable experience. Working in a professional kitchen was a particular highlight. Ffion had to cook a two course meal in only two hours, and had a budget of £10.

Ffion’s dish from QK round on January 27th

Her finished dishes on 7th February

Ffion receiving her prize which included a chef’s jacket and a recipe book.

The District Finals of Rotary Chef 2014 was a great experience for me. I wish I could say I won, sadly I didn’t but I had an excellent day and learned some important cookery tips in the process.

The first thing that surprised, and scared me, was the size of the kitchen. It was industrial, all shiny stainless steel counters and the most intimidating looking cooker ever. I wasn’t even sure how I’d know how to set the temperature.

Well, I didn’t have to worry too much because I had it all figured out pretty quick. Once I’d unpacked all my ingredients and laid out all my knives and equipment I was feeling quite confident to get started.

With a total of 2.5 hours of cooking time I decided to get started on my dessert first. Pink French macaroons with fresh cream and raspberry filling. After whipping, beating and blending - eggs, sugar and almond flour - they were in the oven and it was time to move on to the main.

More chopping – onions, peppers, garlic and ginger. A quick look around to the next work station told me that Rebecca’s handmade pasta wasn’t coming off the work surface very well and Jeremy seemed to be having difficulty with his rough puff pastry. Oh well, my recipe was going to plan.

Time to get the macaroons out of the oven but oh no, I don’t think I got the temperature right after all.

Not quite as puffy and glossy as I hoped. A little thin and crumbly to be honest. But never mind, in goes the filling and a raspberry to garnish.

It’s time to dish up the meal. I serve it up onto my new fancy white plates and make a quick check for no splashes or smudges. My Poached Wild Pacific Salmon with Sesame and Ginger Vegetables with a side of New Jersey Potatoes is carried to the judge’s table for the grand tasting. It looks really nice and I’m super proud. I even add a bottle of pink champagne because it is almost Valentine's Day. The results are in. Cole wins the Rotary Chef competition with his duck a l’orange dish. We all receive certificates, a Moroccan cookbook, congratulations and many good memories.

Ffion Year 10

Behind the Brand In January, as part of its ‘Behind the Brand’ initiative, the Careers Team took a group of Year 9 girls on a trip to spend the day with the production team of ‘Holby City’ at Elstree Studios. This was part of a new initiative by BBC Outreach named – “Film-maker for a Day” - the aim of which “…is to connect BBC programmes with young people who might not ordinarily consider careers at the BBC. It is a one-day workshop where a group of teenagers meet the producers of a BBC programme, learn how it is made and then create a 5 minute video in the style of that programme”.

On a wet-and-windy January morning 14 Y9s set off to travel to Borehamwood only to find that all trains to the station had been cancelled for the day. With the ‘orienteering’ powers of Ms Innes aided by her trusty iPhone and the willingness of the girls to quick-march through the wind and rain, the group managed to arrive at Elstree Studios only half-an-hour late.

Here they were met by Mark Egan who runs the ‘Film-maker for a Day’ project and he guided everyone to the Holby City set which in fact is a fully functioning office building with three fully equipped hospital wards.

First the girls were welcomed by the Series Producer Simon Harper and members of his team who enthusiastically gave an over-view of the process of producing a top-rated TV series with audiences all over the world. After a Q&A session the girls were taken onto a ‘live set’ to watch a scene of Holby being shot and meet the Actors and Director. This was a real eye-opener as Noura said, “It made me realise how much effort goes into producing just 1 episode of Holby City, let alone a series (this goes for every program) and how many jobs/roles are needed”.

The girls were then all given some scenes from a shooting script and after a short readthrough they were shown how those scenes actually appeared in an episode. Then to everyone’s surprise the girls were kitted out in costumes and taken up to a spare Holby ward where Mr Egan took charge as Director and with a small film-crew set them the challenge to make their own version of the scenes.

The girls rose to the occasion brilliantly - so much so that the crew-members of Holby City thought they were from an acting school. Cassia C played the character with a serious heartcondition with pallid solemnity, Bethany scarily convinced us as the ‘defibrillator’-wielding Doctor as, in the back-ground, Amina groaned into her oxygen mask for Great Britain (and St Marylebone) with two giggling Nurses (Josephine and Vesa) in constant attendance; Francesca rushed about wild eyed as the anxious Mother and Ornella as the calm Consultant delivered her medical diagnosis with aplomb. The rest of the group (Alyssa, Libby, Amami, Georgia, Noura, Stella and Renee) made the back-ground action come alive with zest and invention.

To quote Mr Egan “They were a real pleasure to work with and made the day a fun experience for everyone involved”. When the editing is completed he will be sending out the result to be seen on a TV/computer screen near you! Despite having to walk back in the wind and rain all the girls agreed it was “the best trip ever…” and “Fun..” Fun…” Fun…!” and now they all want to be film-makers and work in TV! Thank you Mr Egan and the BBC!

THE CUT MAGAZINE On Wednesday 29th January our year 12 media class visited ‘The Cut’ magazine’s headquarters. We started by getting to know the founders of the magazine, Nina Manandhar and Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky. They told us about the way the magazine was run and we got to ask them a range of questions. The charity magazine is released bi-annually and has featured the likes of Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Tinchy Stryder on the front cover. We found out that the magazine is made by a number of young Londoners who at first would be mentored by industry professionals such as, a photographer or a journalist.

However, once more experienced they could be responsible for setting up photo shoots and interviews by themselves. The magazine relies on young people as they want to keep up-todate with the latest fashion trends, musicians and social media platforms. Once we had asked all our questions, we got to be involved in a shoot with three different up-and-coming artists. We were allowed to take photos of the artists with the magazine’s professional cameras and could also interact with the artists. We were asked to take photos on our phones which could then be uploaded onto Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, which reinforces the magazine’s main objective to stay current among young people.

At the end of the trip, we were all offered a work experience placement at the magazine where we could input our ideas for articles, photography or concepts. By going on this trip we not only got an insight into how a magazine was created, which helped us with our own AS course, as we have to create a music magazine for our final coursework. But we got given an amazing opportunity to work in an active publication

St Marylebone C.E. School Term dates 2014-15 Year Group Sept. 2014 – July 2015

Date of return for Term 1

Start time

September 2014 INSET 1st, 2nd, 3rd September 2014

7

Thursday 4th September

8.30am

8

Monday 8th September

8.30am

9

Monday 8th September

8.30am

10

Friday 5th September

8.30am

11

Monday 8th September

8.30am

12

Thursday 4th September

8.30am

13

Friday 5th September

8.30am

Term one ends

Friday 24th October

School ends at 12.30pm

Terms 2 to 6 2014-15

Start time first day back

End of term finish time

8.30am

12.30pm

8.30am

3.30pm

8.30am

12.30pm

Half-term holidays Saturday 25/10/14— Sunday 02/11/14 Term 2

Monday 3rd November – Friday 19th December 2014

Christmas Holidays: Saturday 20/12/14– Monday 05/01/15 Term 3

Tuesday 6th January 2015– Friday 13th February 15

Half-term holidays Saturday 14/02/15—Sunday 22/02/15 Term 4

Monday 23rd February – Wednesday 1st April 2015

INSET day Thursday 2nd April. Pupil Easter Holidays: Thursday 02/04/15—Sunday 19/04/15

Easter Sunday April 5th 2015

Term 5

Monday 20th April – Friday 22nd May 2015

8.30am

3.30pm

Public Holiday – May Day 4th May 2015

Half-term holidays Saturday 23/05/15—Sunday 31/05/15. (Bank Holiday 25/05/15) Term 6

Monday 1st June – Friday 18th July 2015

8.30am

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Version: 14 Feb 2014

12.30pm

DIARY DATES Dates for your diary Term Dates 2013/14

Term 4 Monday 24th February 2014 Wednesday 9th April 2013

Monday 24th February : Year 12 Parents Evening 4.00-6.30 Blandford Street Thursday 6th March: Year 9 Options and Careers Evening ??? Time Venue Monday 10th March: Year 10 Parents Evening 4.00-6.30 Blandford Street Tuesday 11th March: Academic Review Day

STAFF INSET: Thursday 10th & Friday 11th April 2014

Monday 17th March: Meet the Governors Reception 6.00-7.00 Blandford Street Monday 24th March: Year 11 Careers talk and networking 2.35-4.00 Theatre, Main Site Thursday 3rd April: Spring Concert 7.00pm Church

Term 5 Monday 28th April 2014- Friday 23rdMay 2014 NB: Public Holiday - May Day 5th May 2014 Term 6 Monday 2nd June 2014 - Thursday 17th July 2014

Tuesday 8th April: Meeting for Year 13 Parents and Carers re UCAS and exam results 5.00-6.00pm Blandford Street Wednesday 9th April: Year 11 Records of Achievement assembly Church Pupils finish at 12.30pm Thursday 10th April: Inset Day ( school closed to pupils) Wednesday 7th May: Evensong for Church Choir followed by reception in the crypt Church Friday 9th May: Year 12 Study leave starts 3.30pm Thursday 15th May: Year 11 Study leave starts 12.30 Thursday 22nd May: Year 12 & 13 Art & Textiles Exhibition 4.00-6.30pm Blandford Street Thursday 12th June: Year 12 & 13 Art & Textiles Exhibition 4.00-6.30pm Main Site Thursday 19th June: Year 9 Celebration Evening 6.00-8.00pm Church Thursday 26th June: Dance Company Showcase 7.00pm Theatre, Main Site Monday 30th June –Friday 11th July: Year 10 Work Experience Monday 7th July –Friday 11th July: Activity Week.

Wednesday 16th July: Sports Day Thursday 17th July: School finishes 12.30pm

St Marylebone School 64 Marylebone High Street London W1U 5BA Telephone: 020 7935 4704 Fax: 020 7935 4005 www.stmaryleboneschool.com