newsletter
The Urswick School
Greater success
The term is now well underway and
I am delighted at how successfully
the vast majority of students are
working. Having celebrated the
achievements of the class of
2012 in the last newsletter we are
all now focussed on achieving
even greater success in 2013 and
beyond.
Issue 9 – October 2012
Mind the Gap
Primary to secondary school transition project
¡Viva Balcelona!
Student report on trip to capital of Catalonia
Out of hours sports clubs
88 sports clubs held since start of term
Year 7 Activity Day
Lucas Kocurek tries his hand at abseiling
It is a rare achievement for a school to achieve four consecutive years of improved
results, but we are all confident that given hard work and support from their families,
Ms Blake’s year group can make it five record breaking years. During 2012/13 the
school will probably be inspected by Ofsted. Under new regulations, we are given
only a few hours notice of the inspection.
Parents may recall previously being given a questionnaire to be completed for
Ofsted. They no longer do this. The school will report to them the responses of the
questionnaires parents complete at Progress Days. I have always been grateful for
the support of families in the four and a half years I have been Head here. If you
have any views you would like me to pass onto Ofsted please email headteacher@
theurswickschool.co.uk. In 2009 the school was graded ‘satisfactory and improving’.
We have improved massively and I very much expect Ofsted to reflect this in their
next report.
You may be aware that the Government’s ‘Pupil Premium’ Policy benefits the school
financially - we are given additional funding to raise achievement, especially for
students on Free School Meals. The trip to Barcelona featured in this newsletter was
partly funded by the Pupil Premium. We have additional staff in the school library
and have introduced small literacy classes in Year 10, again funded by the Pupil
Premium. This funding is making a difference to our school. I urge parents again to
apply for Free School Meals if you are eligible to do so, Find out more on our website:
www.theurswickschool.co.uk/19/free-school-meals.
The school continues to ensure we have the best quality teachers. These include
Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs) - the gold standard teaching qualification which is
only given to the very best. Congratulations to Karima Fekih (Head of Spanish) who
has passed her AST assessment this month. She joins our team of ASTs: Ms Kelly (PE),
Ms Di-Bellonia (Science), Mr Khokhar (Maths), Mr Mason (Maths) and Ms Conway
(Drama).
Great Teaching + Hard Work + Excellent Attendance = Record Results!
Believe and Achieve,
Richard Brown
Headteacher
Last month, every student in Year 7
went on a trip to Stubbers Activity and
Adventure Centre in Essex. Mia Meade
7LYH, has written this report:
“Before I went to Stubbers, I was nervous
about abseiling or attempting things from
a height. I had to really push myself when
we did crate-stacking because I was up
quite high and I am afraid of heights.
My group helped me as they built the
crates for me to climb up and they really
encouraged me. This was my favourite
activity because we got to hang on the
harness at the end and it was fun! Overall,
Stubbers was a great experience and I
hope to go there again.”
Read all about it
Look out for the next edition
of our newsletter on Monday
17th December 2012.
A Message from Father Rob,
Rector of Hackney
Student Report:
Mind the Gap
I have been really struck recently as to how, on
several occasions in the Gospels, Jesus uses the
example of how we treat children to say some
pretty heavyweight things. Of course in his culture,
children were not the centre of family, cultural nor
economic life and were fairly unimportant in any
given societal or political setting.
If you were a young man from the right family,
then all was OK, but if not, you had a pretty difficult experience.
Both the Old and New Testaments have clear examples of when
such a hierarchy was overturned. This is important for us, as we are
reminded in the Bible that all children should and need to have a
voice - especially those who are silenced by the shouting of others
around them.
There are many in our society who believe that children should just
be seen and not heard, but this viewpoint is not supported in the
Bible. Indeed, one of the things that I love about the Urswick School
is that we take children’s voices seriously. We actively enable
children to play as full a part as possible in the life of the school - to
both affect their education and the education of the others around
them. I hope and pray this term that you may use your voices
wisely that you may be heard.
With love for this term, Fr Rob
School Scarf
on sale at
School scarf is now
The official Urswick
ar a scarf
we
student wishes to
reception for £7. If a
nts will be
de
Stu
.
a school scarf
to school it should be
; non school
ns
so
les
in
ir scarves off
expected to take the
at the end of
scated and returned
scarves will be confi
the day.
d t-shirts to raise
The students designe
ef
Reli
rts
Spo
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ney
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Last summer, nine students were picked to be a part of the
Mind The Gap project. In case you don’t know what this is, it is a
programme designed by Inspire for people like you and me. It gave
us support during our transition from primary to secondary school.
It also helped us to learn skills on how to make more friends, this will
last a lifetime.
We have been going on trips throughout the year to different
businesses, to get advice on how to set up our own project. These
companies helped us in organising and taking part in a fun run
for the charity Sports Relief, whom we raised over £100 pounds for.
A big thank you to Jon, Sophie and Miss Ahmed who helped and
supported us during our first year at The Urswick School.
Abraham Sholanke and Raja Ashraf, Year 8
Student report:
¡Viv
Jeans for Genes Day
elo
GCSE Spanish students visit Barc
Sixth Form Academy students sported jeans for the day to raise money for charity
On Friday 5th October, the Urswick Sixth Form Academy students
took part in Jeans for Genes Day, a national event to raise money to
change the lives of children with genetic disorders.
We feel very honoured to have been the only year group to have
been selected to participate in the Jeans for Genes Day and were
glad that we had an opportunity to help put a smile on the faces of
some of the people who are suffering with genetic disorders.
Our special thanks to Mr. Szlosarek who collected money from staff
and Sixth Form students.
Aminat Abdulkareem and Luana Pinto, Year 12
Last month we visited Barcelona as part of our GCSE Spanish
course. After a two hour flight from London Gatwick to Barcelona,
we checked into our youth hostel and headed straight to Casa
Mila, a collection of houses designed by Gaudi. We then went to
‘La Sagrada Familia’, a very famous cathedral also designed by
Gaudi. It was beautiful; on the outside of the cathedral it showed
very detailed statues which told the story of Jesus. After visiting the
cathedral we went to a buffet restaurant where we had our first
Spanish meal.
On day two, we went to an outdoor centre called ‘Bosc Vertical’
where we were literally swinging from trees. After all the monkey
business, we decided to return to the buffet as the food was so
good. During the next two days we had some time to relax and
le
b
ta
e
m
ti
g
in
rn
a
Le
rs
u
o
H
f
o
t
u
O
Monday
07:30-08:00
Cricket
08:00-08:20
Library
Lunch
Wednesday
Thursday
Table Tennis
Badminton
Cricket
Library
Library
Tuesday
Basketball
Volleyball
Basketball
Football
Football
Football
Football
Library
Library
Art
- starts 12/11/12
Table Tennis
Football
Library
Library
Reading Club (Year 7)
Technology (KS3)
ICT Coursework
Surgery (KS4)
Science (Years 7 & 8)
Debating Club (KS3)
14:50-15:45
Football (Y7 & 8)
A Level PE/BTEC Sport
Cricket Tech**
14:45-16:00
Girls’ Football
Library
Basketball (Y7, 8 & 9)
Netball
Football (Y9)
Choir
Homework Club
Handball (KS3)
Table Tennis
Practical
Homework Club
Athletics
Hockey
Library
Library
A Level PE/BTEC Sport
Practical
Trampolining (KS3)
Homework Club
Library
Spanish Film Club (last
Wednesday of the month)
15:00-16:30
Football (Y10)
16:00-17:00
Basketball (KS4 & 5)
Handball (KS4)
Table Tennis (KS4 & 5)
Trampolining (KS4 & 5)
va Balcelona!
have fun; we went shopping and then enjoyed an hour long
walk along the beach. We ate the famous Tapas and headed to
the theme park, Port Adventura, where we rode the tallest roller
coaster in Europe! We were truly on top of the world as we saw the
whole of beautiful Barcelona below. On the final day of our trip
we visited a different restaurant for our last Spanish meal. We tried
sushi and noodles as well as some local dishes including snails!
We had a fantastic trip, spoke quite a lot of Spanish and really
didn’t want to leave. ¡Viva Barcelona!
Football (Y11)
Volleyball (KS4 & 5)
s only:
* Cricket Tech on following date
r
20th November, 11th Decembe
Cashless Catering
The Urswick School operates a cashless
catering service; every student in the school has an ID card
which they can credit with money to buy school dinners
and break time snacks. A number of students have recently
been attempting to obtain meals without their card. From
the 5th November we will be imposing a strict policy of
no card = no meal. The student ID card is part of the school
uniform and should be carried at all times. Any student who
n
has lost their ID card can buy a replacement from receptio
£3.
for
Shalise Defreitas and May Luu, Year 10
MFL Dictionaries
Most students are no
w studying French or
Spanish in KS3
and some are taking
GCSE French or Span
ish in KS4. It
is a really good idea
for students to have
a dictionary at
home which they ca
n refer to in order to
help them to
improve their languag
e skills.
We recommend the
Collins Easy Learning
Dictionary
which is available in
bookshops at £9.99
and through
Amazon at £5.99. It
is a really valuable aid
to
learning which would
enhance your child’s
homework and be an
excellent tool in prepa
ring for
future exams. Dictiona
ries are also availab
le in the
reference section of
the library.
Art Corner
ona
Library
ICT Games Club:
Programming (KS3)
Drama (KS3)
14:45-15:45
Basketball
Library
Table Tennis
Library
Friday
Year 8 Portrai
ture by Tanv
ir Ahmed, 8S
AM
The Urswick School sportsnews
Student of the month
Tel Robinson,Year 7
Congratulations to Tel for becoming
the first PE student of the month for
this academic year. Tel has attended
an incredible 25 sports clubs this
half term, showing outstanding
dedication and commitment to
improve.
Tel said: “I attend so many clubs
because as well as helping my
fitness, it helps my brain to focus
and learn. I have also met lots of
new people in the clubs that have
encouraged me to keep attending”.
Who will be the next student of the month?
Year 7 Football update
The Year 7 football team continued their recent progress with a
5-2 victory over Stepney Green School in the Inner London Cup.
The game was played in harsh conditions, but some scintillating
football was still produced by the developing players.
Noticeable performances
came from man of the
match and captain, Ebube
Egwuonwu, with two goals
each scored by Latimer
Richardson and Lavve
Augustine.
All students participating in school teams
have now completed their player contracts.
This is an agreement which upholds the
standards expected from all students
participating in sports teams. Good luck to
all teams!
ER’SS CONTRACT
PLAYER
I agree to behave appropriately when representing The Urswick
out of hour clubs and fixtures. This includes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
School in
Following the rules of the game.
Turning up to all training on time in kit.
Respecting my team mates.
Respecting the other team and their school.
Respecting and following the referees decision.
Wearing my seatbelt when in the mini bus.
ability. By behaving
Above all represent myself in school to the best of my ability
appropriately and leading by example.
to
I understand that if I do not follow these rules I will be unable
represent The Urswick School until I attend a disciplinary meeting.
…………
Signed ……...............… Name …………………….. Date ……………
Out of hours sports clubs
Out of hours sports clubs
have been exceptionally
well attended so far this
term. From the 88 clubs
that have run, 698 places
have been taken. Particular
favourites have been
the trampoline club and
Zumba classes, while Miss
Scott is also developing
some promising netball
teams.
The team now go on to play
the winners of the match
between Harris Academy
and Conisborough College
in the second round.
Matthew Williams 2 i/c PE
Department
Player
contracts
Members of the Yea
r 7 football team
Jumping high at
trampolining club
Well done if you are
someone who has
participated in a club and
remember that there’s
always room for more and
everyone is welcome!
Important Dates
er
29 October - Friday 2 Novemb
•Autumn Half Term: Monday
Support Days:
• Year 10 and 11 Coursework
17 November
rday
Satu
er
emb
Nov
15
y
Thursda
)
(normal lessons for Year 12 only
hs, RE and Science: Thursday
• Year 9 Exams in English, Mat
Friday 16 November
15 &
sday 22 November, 5pm-7pm
•Year 8 Subject Evening: Thur
Monday 10 - Wednesday 19
• Year 11 & 12 Mock Exams:
December
uary
21 December - Monday 7 Jan
• Christmas Holidays: Friday
and Friday
ry Monday, Tuesday
Table tennis club: eve