13th December 2013
Sedgehill School in partnership with Hayes School
Issue 41
Sedgehill World
Welcome to our weekly newsletter
Forthcoming
Events
19th December
Sixth form ice skating
20thDecember
End of term 12.10hrs
7th January
2014
Start of term students arrive
at 11.00hrs for 11.10hrs start.
Welcome to the last newsletter of the term and
of 2013, and what a busy and successful term it
has been. The year 7s look like they’ve been
here for ever, students throughout every year
group have been succeeding in a million
different ways both inside and outside the
classroom, we have had a massively successful
recruitment of new students for next year’s year
7 and year 12 and, this week, we had two year
13 students being interviewed for places at
Cambridge. I’d like to thank all families for all
your support this term.
One of the priorities for school this year has been to improve attendance and we have said to
all students that they must aim to have 95% attendance to school in the course of a year. In any
other walk of life 95% would be considered a really high score but in attendance terms 95%
would meaning you’ve missed 10 days of school, a lot of days in anyone’s book. I raise this as
we are moving into that time of the year when students might feel a little bit under the weather
and might try to persuade you that they should take a day off! Please can I ask all parents to
support the school in the new year by ensuring that their children are in school every day.
The last week of term sees many festive activities. Parents are invited to join the staff for a drink
and a nibble at the end of term quiz after school on Monday while everyone in school is
gearing for the dramatic event of the year—the staff panto the will be performed for the
students on the last day of term.
Thanks once again for all your support this term and have a great break and Christmas.
Mr K Mackenzie Head Teacher
SEDGEHILL’S VOCALIZE RELEASE A CHARITY SINGLE FOR GREAT ORMOND ST.
Vocalize from have released This Christmas
on iTunes, an original composition by our
students, which we are releasing as a charity
single- https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/
this-christmas-feat.-vocalize/id772110596. We
will donate 50% of the proceeds to Great Ormond Street so please support us and buy the
single.
Miss Hand Performing Arts Coordinator
for seven years and are
the first cohort of stu-
Sedgehill
Sedgehill
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World
2
Peace
Buses
meeting at Sedgehill
Literacy
matters
On Friday the first “Release the Peace Buses” meeting was held at Sedgehill School. Over 50 people attended the Release the
Peace Buses meeting, Stagecoach, Metrobus, Arriva, Abellio, Transport for London, Lewisham Police, Lewisham
Transport Police, Lewisham Young Mayor Team, Lewisham Positive Ageing Council, Second Wave, Lewisham
Talking Newspaper, Lewisham Pensioners forum, and representatives from four of the Lewisham 10,000 Hands
Schools.
WE AGREED
We were all committed to happier and safer buses.
That we as a community should take the time to get to know each other.
That over the next year we would work together to build friendships and understanding.
That we would start with the 181 and Sedgehill, but that we would involve every bus company.
That we would welcome everyone who wanted to support us.
That we would take this beyond the confines of the buses, into the communities that they serve.
THANKS NOTED
Thanks were noted - To Frankie Sulke whose idea this originally was.
Thanks were noted - To Second Wave for organising and holding the first meeting.
Thanks were noted - to the amazing Sedgehill 10,000 Hands team for organising and holding the Release the
Peace Bus Meeting.
Thanks were noted - To The Jimmy Mizen Foundation, without whom none of this would be happening.
NEXT STEPS
ONE
January 17th for the next meeting : We will meet at Segdehill School, ride a 181 (hopefully) to The Big Red Pizza
Bus in Deptford, symbolic photos and pizza and then onto Second Wave to create the 'taking heads' video.
TWO
Before 17th of January a 'flying squad' (one or two people from each of the user groups) to ride the 181 route, take a
few surveys, conduct a number of informal interviews, observations, key issues and points etc...
THREE
March 15th 2014, the one year anniversary of the 10,000 Hands Launch -& Official launch of the 'Peace Buses' with
one route from each of the other Bus companies.
FOUR
July Lewisham wide launch with every Secondary School 'adopting' their peace bus.
Simon Jones
10000 Hands, The Jimmy Mizen Foundation
Sedgehill World
Page 3
Mr Mees’s A-Z of Literacy
D – Dictionaries and Thesauruses
Now this might seem like a strange one this week – after all, everyone knows how to use a dictionary and thesaurus, right? – but there is a
terrible (yes, terrible) danger in using a thesaurus incorrectly. You see, a thesaurus simply suggests a list of words you could use in place of
the one you looked up. Note the emphasis on the word ‘could’ there. These words, as I’m sure you know, are called synonyms (from the
Greek for, well, for synonym). It’s important to remember though that synonyms are not words that mean the same, but words that mean
something similar. Let me give you some examples:
If you look up ‘walk’ in a thesaurus, you will find a list of words including amble, hike, prance, roam, saunter, shuffle, stride, stroll, toddle,
trudge and wander. All of these mean walk, of course, but suggest very different ways of walking. Now consider the following description
using a randomly allocated synonym for walk at every opportunity:
The murderer lurked in the shadows of the dimly lit alleyway, waiting for his moment. His intended victim appeared around
the corner, completely unaware of the impending danger. The murderer waited. And waited. Then he sensed his chance. He
toddled towards his victim. As he got closer, he started to shuffle, and when he was only a few feet away, he pranced up
to his victim. At the last moment, sensing the danger, his victim started to run. The murderer strolled after him, breaking
into a saunter when he feared he might get away.
None of these synonyms are appropriate. They all make sense grammatically but you don’t tend to get many toddling, shuffling, prancing
murderers. Not successful ones, anyway.
The thing to remember is that you should never use a thesaurus without a dictionary. When you find a synonym you think that you might
be able to use, stop and check it in the dictionary, which, for example, will tell you that prance means ‘to dance or move in a spirited manner’ – and that, my friends, is just one reason why Louis Spence is not a very successful murderer.
The Bellingham Golden Oldies Christmas Party
Due to their impeccable behaviour year 9 and 10 student representatives have once again been invited to the Bellingham Golden Oldies
Christmas party.
We provided a delicious array of desserts to the senior citizens of Bellingham, this year we would like
to donate the cakes/desserts along with luxury items for a food/gift hamper.
Would any culinary experts out there be prepared to make and donate a cake for this special event?
Can I also ask that if you have any unwanted ‘luxury’ items to bring them to D002 no later than Monday
16th December 2013
Mrs M Barrett
Assistant Year Leader
for seven years and are
the first cohort of stu-
Sedgehill
Sedgehill
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4
Meet
our
Parent Governors at Sedgehill
Literacy
matters
My name is Maxine Haffner and I have been a parent governor for a year at Sedgehill School. I have 3 children:
one (who after doing extremely well at GCSE and A level) is now at university and the other two in year 12 and
year 7 at Sedgehill.
I am the chairperson of the Student Welfare and Development Committee and I am on the Leadership and
Resources committees. I am also the link community governor.
I can honestly say that my experiences so far being a parent governor have all been extremely positive. The other Governors and the clerk
are all very friendly and willing to help and are on hand to assist you with any queries you may have about governance. The head teacher
and his senior leaders are also very helpful and always ask for the input from parent governors.
The Governor’s role
The main role of the governing body is to ensure that the school continues to offer the best possible education for your child. A governor is
often described as ‘a critical friend’ to the school. This means that while supporting the school in what it does a governor also has a role in:
monitoring targets for pupil achievement
critically evaluating the progress of the school improvement plan
ensuring that the school's finances are managed appropriately
making sure the curriculum is balanced and broadly based
ensuring the standard of teaching and learning is high as possible
ensuring that all students feel safe while they are at school.
We do this by reading information provided by the school, attending meetings and making group decisions about how to move forward and
improve things.
Each governor is a member of the full governing body who meet once a term at the school in the evening. Each governor is also the member
of a least one committee which will also meet once a term at the school in the evening.
We are also required to visit the school as often as possible which can involve going to performances, sports activities and exhibitions etc.
We are also encouraged to go on the many various training courses which are offered free of charge by the Lewisham Governors’Association:
these courses are in the evening or on a Saturday and are truly worth going to.
You do not need any specific qualifications to become a parent governor – just a passion to improve the school for all the pupils that attend.
You need to be able to commit to a minimum of two meetings per term and to read the information provided by the school and ask
questions and make suggestions.
The benefits of being a parent governor are plentiful.
• I feel that I am really making a difference to the education of the children at the school and to the community.
• I am one of the people who is directly involved in making important decisions.
• I have learned about the workings of the school and how the staff manages the education of all of the children.
• I have learned about how meetings are managed which may help me the future with my own career.
I get free tickets to performances!
This is what Ofsted said about the governors at Sedgehill School last month: ‘Governance is good. Governors are skilled at asking
challenging questions of school leaders, which link the quality of teaching to a rise in standards’.
Soon the school will be organising elections for two parent governor vacancies on the Governing Body. If you feel that you would like to
contribute and you would like further information about the role please email: [email protected]
Please join us and become a part of strong our governing body.
Sedgehill World Page 5
Christmas Quiz
Spend and raise
Spend and Raise is now available on our school website, every time Parents, Staff or other friends of Sedgehill shop online
with one of the Spend & Raise partner stores which include Amazon, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and many many more! Sedgehill will receive a commission; it’s simple to use and will help us to raise much needed funds for our new school minibuses. So please remember us next time you are shopping on-line.
Please follow the link below
https://www.spendandraise.com/Sedgehillschool
Mrs G Hylton Finance Manager
Sedgehill World Page 6
PE Congratulations
Congratulations to our boys ‘ year 10 football team on their
outstanding performance in their cup match again St. John Roan. The
students won 4-2. Goal scorers: Edson Oliveira (2) and Toby Ogundeji (2). Man
of the match: Ryan Hampden
..........................................................................................................................................................................
Sedgehill have done it again! For the second year in a row, our Year 7+8 girls (A) football team have won the N Power Football tournament,
hosted at Millwall. Amazing team work and performances were seen from all of
the girls! They are now going through to represent South East London in the Area
Finals, and will be presented with their trophy infront of thousands of Millwall
fans at The Den.
Our B team also did themselves proud showing great resilience and a real team
effort. They showed outstanding support for our A team in their final matches. A
real squad effort. Well done girls we are so proud of you all!
Player of the tournament A team: Elle Schafer-Nettell.
Player of the tournament B team: Annitta Oribharbor (Pic: Millwall winners - year
7+8 Millwall). Our year 7 + 8 girls football team also beat Thomas Tallis last
week, 7-1.
Goal scorers - Fiona Ogudipe (3) Ellie Schafer-Nettell (3) Hannah Watkins (1). Player of the match - Kelsie Patrice
...................................................................................................................................................................
A huge congratulations to Brooke Powell in year 9. Brooke brought home a bronze
medal after representing Great Britain at the Judo World Championships in Holland!
What an amazing achievement. Well done Brooke!
Sedgehill World Page 7
PE congratulations Continued
Congratulations to out year 9 Netball Team who played exceptionally well at
the Kent Schools Tournament. They displayed excellent team work and
outstanding performances on court. Players of the tournament: Levanna
Flanders and Yasmin Kilic-Heathfield. Special mention to Rayan Slater and
Chelsea Wright for their impressive partnership in the shooting circle.
......................................................................................................................................................................
GCSE PE
We had a great day down at Southmere boating with our GSCE students. They all worked so hard and have gained
really impressive grades for their GCSE practical in Kayaking.
Twitter at Sedgehill
We now have two twitter
accounts follow us on:
@SedgehillSch
@Sedgehill_6th
Sedgehill World Page 8
Coda PERFORM AT A NELSON MANDELA MEMORIAL SERVICE
On Tuesday 10th December Sedgehill School students will be performing
at the Lewisham Civil Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela in the
presence of the Mayor of Lewisham at St Mary’s Church (SE13 6LE).
Sedgehill’s accapella group CODA will be performing for the first time
since forming in September 2013. Sedgehill students work with our
Musician in Residence (Andy Gilbert) in the recording studio, laying
the foundations for some of the UK’s most up and coming artists- our
most notable to date being A*M*E who recently had her first UK number
one with Need U(100%).
For more information about coda or about the Performing Arts at
Sedgehill please contact Bex Hand (Performing Arts Coordinator) at
[email protected] or follow the Performing Arts team
on Twitter @Sedgehill_Parts
Miss R Hand
Performing Arts Coordinator
Thank you very much for leading CODA in such lovely singing
last night at the Nelson Mandela service. I was delighted you
were able to take part. I do hope, in future years, it will be
something the young people will remember and feel proud to
nave been part of.
My thanks to you all at Sedgehill for being able to organise
things so efficiently at such short notice.
Good luck with your forthcoming Christmas events. Peter Hayward
Head of Lewisham Music Service - Lead Partner in Lewisham
Music Hub
Sedgehill World Page 9
10000 Hands
Siobhan, Courtney, Rhonda and Charlie have
been leading the 10000 hands initiative in our
school and have spent the last few weeks
interviewing other students to join the team.
Well done to Maurisha Allen, Rose Ellen Benton, Shayon Hepburn, Lucille Jousellin, Inci Kansel, Michael Keyte, Angelina Kuznetsova, Zhane Lunan, Zhane McKenzie, Titanya Murdock and Hamoud Ziane for successfully completeing the
interview and presentation task A huge well
done also to Siobhan, Rhonda and Courtney
for organising and running the whole process
themselves-another example of the superb
student leadership at Sedgehill.
Mrs Salmon Assistant Head Teacher
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