THE MESSENGER
Saint Gabriel’s College Weekly Newsletter
Friday 27th February 2015
Issue 20
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
This first week of this term has certainly started on a high note. On Tuesday and Wednesday, three members of
the Lambeth Local Education Authority conducted a thorough review of the College, following the same format as
an Ofsted inspection. I am pleased to report that SGC came through this test with flying colours!
Thanks to all members of the College community for their fantastic efforts to show what great work we are doing
with our children day in, day out. The Review Team were very impressed, judging the College to be good with outstanding features. Behaviour and Safety was particularly noted as being a strength of the school:
Behaviour and safety is outstanding. It is of an impressively high standard throughout the College. This
has been achieved through the College’s exceptionally positive ethos as clearly outlined in the recent
SIAMS report which received a thoroughly outstanding judgement. The LA team fully confirms this judgement as a core strength of the College.
The Review Team also had many positive things to say about Teaching, Achievement and Leadership. Teaching
and Achievement were judged to be ‘good’ overall with ‘consistently positive conditions for teaching supporting
good learning and progress.’ Strengths identified included:
 enthusiastic, positive and supportive lesson delivery;
 a very positive learning ethos in lessons where students are attentive, very well behaved and consistently remain on task;
 very positive teacher student relationships with very successful strategies for ensuring that all students
are fully on task;
 very positive attitudes for learning and a complete lack of any low level disruption;
 engaging teaching strategies;
 high student confidence in the quality of teaching and clear interest in learning.
Leadership also came in for praise, including:
 All evidence indicates that leadership and management at senior level is of a very high standard;
 The Principal, who has only been in post since September, has quickly made an impact and has built
effectively on the firm foundations that were laid by his predecessor ;
 Governors are a strength of the College. They articulate an appropriately ambitious vision.
This is an important milestone for the
College, which bodes very well for our
forthcoming Ofsted inspection!
Next week, we look forward to seeing
all Year 9 parents and carers at our
Year 8 options and Parent Consultation Evening from 4-6.30 pm on
Thursday 5th March during which
our new Year 9 curriculum for next
year will be unveiled.
Nick Butler
SHINE I GROW I COMMUNICATE
Meet the Team: John Conway, Graham Jackson, and Alistair Wilson
www.saintgabrielscollege.org
COLLECTIVE WORSHIP
In collective worship we are now marking Lent, the 40 days before Easter which Christians use for fasting and prayer, remembering the 40 days Jesus spent being tempted in the wilderness. In assembly we have been celebrating
student successes in the TC3 cycle. Mr Butler talked about Lent and Jesus’ time in the wilderness. He discussed
what it means for us to be tested so that we may want to give up, and how we need to overcome those temptations.
PARENT VIEW
Share your thoughts on Saint Gabriel’s College through Parent View
We welcome feedback from parents and carers about your views of Saint
Gabriel’s College. At parent and carer evenings we will be giving you the
opportunity to take part in the Ofsted Parent View survey.
When Saint Gabriel’s next has an Ofsted inspection, Ofsted will use the
information on Parent View to help the inspectors make a decision about
our school, understand what is going well and what could be improved. When we are notified of an inspection, we will let parents and
carers know and remind you about using Parent View to give your views.
If you would like to give your views on Parent View at any other time,
please register with an email address and a password at https://
parentview.ofsted.gov.uk. Once your login has been activated, it only
takes a few minutes to complete answers to 12 short questions about aspects such as bullying, the quality of teaching, level of homework, etc.
If you would like to give your views on Parent View, but you do not have
an email address or you would like some help with completing the questionnaire, please contact Mother Ellen at school.
FOODBANK
Thank you Saint Gabriel’s College.
We are continuously grateful to all the
schools in Lambeth that support our
Foodbank.
A BRIGHTER FUTURE
PANCAKE DAY
Year 11 half term revision school came to a
halt during lunch time last Tuesday. We
celebrated Shrove Tuesday in true style by
having a "pancake-off" competition during
our lunch hour. Year 11 students paired up
to make the very best pancakes to win the
ultimate title of "Best pancake makers
2015".
We got off to a slow start with many pancakes not making the cut, but we soon
turned things around and made some
beautiful creations! The ultimate winners
were: Arjeta and Onome who made their
"fruit extravaganza".
Year 11s showed true generosity of spirit
by inviting staff members to come and taste
their creations. We look forward to next
year!
SHINE I GROW I COMMUNICATE
YEAR 8 SPORTSHALL ATHLETIC LEAGUE
On Tuesday 3rd and 10th February 2015, Saint Gabriel’s College students went to St Martin’s in the Field School to
participate in the Sportshall Athletics League against the eight other secondary schools in Lambeth.
We took part in a number of events. There were relays, runs and a variety of field events including: speed bounce,
shot put, vertical jump and standing long jump.
The students who went took part in 3 track and 2 field events. Well done to the students who took part!
Girls:
Sione Burton
Maria Oyelakin
Modupe Sunmola
Elizabeth Adeleke
Amy Hackett
Emily Orena
Nashida Bendu
Boys:
Samuel Loupalo
Joshua Ojehonmon
Chandler Brunson
Favour Arabambi
Daijaun Antonio
Luca Allick- Smith
Shemare George
David Aileru
Gabriela Sandoval
and Jhoselyn Bedon
have worked very
hard to ensure that
students were ready
for their event.
A BRIGHTER FUTURE
SCIENCE
ANIMAL OF THE WEEK
This week’s Animals of the Week are our Tortoises!
Many of us would have heard of Aesop’s famous fable The Tortoise and
the Hare in which the Hare ridicules a slow-moving Tortoise, but is then
beaten by the Tortoise in a race, due to being over-confident!
Apart from being a tad slow, here are some more interesting facts about
the tortoise.
Tortoises are reptiles and have scales all over their skin. They also have a strong protective shell which they can pull
their head, legs and tail inside to avoid predators. A tortoise's shell is made up of 60 different bones all connected to
each other. The top of a tortoise's shell is called a “carapace” and the underside of the shell is called a “plastron”.
The carapace and the plastron of a tortoise’s shell is connected by what is known as a bridge.
Female tortoises are usually larger than their male counterparts. In some species of tortoises, males will compete for
females by trying to turn their opponent onto their back!
Tortoises may look like turtles to most people, but they are quite different from each other. Turtles typically live in or
near water. They like to swim, and are mainly carnivores (meat eaters). Tortoises, on the other hand, live on dry
land. While different tortoises have different diets, they are all herbivores (plant eaters). At SGC, we offer the tortoises a variety of vegetables, including lots of greens and hay!
If tortoises are well looked after and kept in the right environment, they can live for a very long time, which means it's
a very long term commitment if you keep them as pets. Some will survive to the ripe old age of 150. An Aldabran
tortoise was even reported to have lived for 250 years! However, the average age a tortoise can live to ranges from
90 to 150 years.
The giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands are famous the world over and each of the islands has its very own
species. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection was partly inspired by studying these creatures.
Pop into room 707 and see our tortoises for yourself today!
SHINE I GROW I COMMUNICATE
STEM CLUB
In Stem Club last week, students had
the exciting opportunity to make their
very own crystal gardens! This chemistry experiment offered students the
means to learn about how crystals
develop.
The formation of molten silicates
(crystals) in the Earth’s mantle involves the reaction of silicon dioxide
with metal oxides at extremely high
temperatures. In this experiment, coloured silicates were formed in the
laboratory.
In the practical, students added a few
crystals of some metal sulphates and
nitrates (e.g. copper sulphate), to an
aqueous solution of sodium silicate.
Students had to ensure that the crystals did not fall close to each other to
get the best effect. Beakers were then
covered and left overnight with great
results!
A BRIGHTER FUTURE
GREEN FINGERS CLUB
Green Fingers Club is looking forward
collaborating with Spoken Word Club on
the ’POETRY GARDEN’ project which is
due to take place during World Poetry
week, starting 17th of March 2015.
If any member of staff would like to help
us beautify the garden on Friday 13th
March, please come and see Ms Tosti in
English office.
Thank you!
Have you seen our flowers
in the school garden?
GOODBYE MS COOTE
STAR OF THE WEEK
STAFF MEMBER
Ms Coote is leaving us…
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Ms
Coote this week. Ms Coote has worked in the English
department since September and has offered invaluable support to our students, particularly our Year 11
students who are busily preparing for there GCSE exams. We wish her all the very best for the future.
MARCIA SANGUNETTI
Marcia has been our cover teacher for two and a half
years. Her specialism is RS, but she has shown that
she is enthusiastic in turning her hand to any subject,
when covering for absent colleagues at SGC.
It’s not easy being a cover teacher, but all SGC students know and respect Marcia. She combines good
humour with being firm and fair. We believe that
there is no substitute for our substitute teacher!
SHINE I GROW I COMMUNICATE
ACCELERATED READER
ADVISORIES OF THE WEEK:
13/02/2015
P4
P5
B1 B3
B5
100% OF STUDENTS HAD BOOKS AND WERE READING SILENTLY!
ADVISORY
BLUE 1
BLUE 2
BLUE 3
BLUE 4
BLUE 5
GREEN 1
GREEN 2
GREEN 3
GREEN 4
GREEN 5
PURPLE 1
PURPLE 2
PURPLE 3
PURPLE 4
PURPLE 5
STUDENTS
WITHOUT BOOKS
0
3
0
2
0
2
3
2
2
6
2
4
2
0
0
COMMUNITY OF THE WEEK IS:
BLUE
A BRIGHTER FUTURE
CELEBRATION OF FANTASTIC MR FOX
Friday 13th February saw the first anniversary celebration of the Fantastic Mr
Fox who passed away just a year ago.
In February 2014, we were celebrating
his life, having just lost him. This year,
the whole school came together to celebrate his life and to show him how far
we’d come and how hard we’d worked.
The repertoire for the afternoon concert
was extensive. We had our first ever
cello duet, Exchanging Notes, Jazz
Band, Concert Band, Steel pan bands
from across the school and some lovely
solos from our pianists and our Year 11
GCSE music students.
Our special guests for the event were Mr Fox’s family. They thoroughly enjoyed the concert, in fact so much so, that
his sons, Ruben and Misha felt compelled to join in on the congas at the end!
We continue to miss Mr Fox each day, but the performances for the Friday concert were certainly a fitting tribute to
him.
SHINE I GROW I COMMUNICATE