Weekly Update #31, 15 May 2020

Wishing all the best to our Year 11 students who are taking their final exams online next week. The circumstances may be a little unusual, but we are happy that you still have the opportunity to demonstrate all that you have learned over the past 2 years of IGCSE study. Here is the exam timetable for the week. We look forward to receiving your fantastic results in August!

Next week will see the reintroduction of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) returning to the KS3 Secondary timetable. As the period of online learning continues, the well-being of the students is of paramount importance and we will be using the PSHE lesson as an opportunity to work with small groups of students to have discussions about how they are coping, their challenges and the positives they are drawing from this experience. A range of activities such as Resilience, Healthy Coping Strategies and The Importance of Sleep will also be worked on each week. In addition, each PSHE lesson will be supported by a member of the Student Support Services team to provide additional guidance and help where it is required.

Please encourage your son/daughter to participate in these discussions and should they feel they would like to speak to anyone individually, they can contact the Student Support Team at [email protected].

You can find the updated Secondary KS3 timetables HERE. In Term 3 Art, Music, Design and Technology and PSHE have all returned to the timetable as taught lessons meaning that students are now completing a near-full timetable as they would follow in school.

Email [email protected] if you have any questions.

During CAPA lessons we introduced a worldwide challenge that the Getty Art Museum presented at the beginning of lockdown to encourage people to get creative in their homes. The huge gallery in Los Angeles asked people from across the globe to recreate famous paintings using themselves, household items and even their pets and some of the outcomes which can be seen on their website or on social media using the hashtag #gettyartchallenge are fantastic. HeadStart students had a go at this and we received some fabulous entries but now as part of CAPA week we would like to open the challenge up to the wider school community. If you and your family fancy getting creative then please send us your photographs of you recreating your most favourite artworks! -Ms Samantha Gill

The children in Reception have made us super proud beginning their first live sessions this week. Yesterday, we read the story “Wacky Wednesdays” by Dr. Seuss. This is about a boy who wakes up and discovers everything has turned completely wacky! There was a palm tree in the toilet, a pig with chicken legs, shoes on the ceiling, and even a teacher wearing rollerblades!

The children’s task was to become a character from the book and do something wacky! The children loved the story and enjoyed transforming themselves for our own take on Wacky Wednesday! We have enjoyed seeing their creativity even through our distant learning! Well done Reception, we are very proud of you. Keep up the good work! -Ms Keeley & Ms Milly Click on photos to expand.

This week, Year 1 White have been telling each other, and writing, about their favourite book. Today they had to choose their favourite part of their book and then recreate it. Children sent in amazing videos, pictures and puppets but here are just a few examples. Well done children! A great way to end a lovely week! -Mr Williams

Year 7 Austen have been thoroughly enjoying their new Travel Unit! The five-week scheme has allowed students to ‘travel’ to five different continents. Each continent has focused on a particular country or location and has allowed students to practise developing their travel writing skills, focusing closely on different audiences and purposes. Our latest stop was Florida and, of course, we had to stop at Disney World! Once students had researched Disney World, they then watched a short commercial and were given the task of creating their own voice-over scripts. Check out India Smuthkochorn’s brilliant creation below; it definitely captures the magic of Disney World! **-Mr Ashley Paice **

I have been teaching year 7 the topic Earth and Beyond and last week we were talking about observing the Universe so I showed them some of my astronomical pictures, including photos of a partial solar eclipse and the Moon from Phuket. -Mr Patrick Brown