Issue 6 May 2010 Newsletter

Welcome from the Principal

Welcome to this Summer 2010 Issue of ’s Newsletter. Now that you have started read- ing, I hope you will persevere as this Newsletter contains both very important and timely information for parents and lots of articles which celebrate the successes of many of our students and give a flavour of ac- tivities, sometimes unsung and unpublicised, which makes the College what it is - an outstanding educa- tional institution.

I am delighted to be able to inform you that I was invited by the Prime Minister to attend a reception at Downing Street in March to celebrate the achievements of the highest performing and most quickly im- proving colleges in . Staff and students should be very proud of their achievements which have made it possible for the College to be recognised as one of the highest performing in the country.

In the Spring 2010 Newsletter I notified you that from the 1 st April 2010 the College would become a Designated Sixth Form College and be part of a new distinct sector of Sixth Form Colleges. Despite being April Fools’ Day the transition passed without incident and the Chair of Governors and I attended a very enjoyable event, later in the month, at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre to celebrate the launch of the new sector of some 100 sixth form colleges.

To those of you who are 6U students, I do hope you have both enjoyed and feel you have benefited from your two years at Woodhouse College. I also hope you have positive memories of your time at the College and that you have made many lasting friendships. I wish you all every success in the future and hope that you will come back to visit us.

To all students, I wish you every success in your forthcoming examinations.

I hope you enjoy reading this Newsletter.

Keith Murdoch

Exams

Students have all been given their personal exam timetables, and they are also available on Woodle (our virtual learning environment). Morning exams start at 9.00 and afternoon exams at 1.30, and students must aim to get there at least 30 minutes before the start. Every year we have students who miss a morning exam thinking it is in the afternoon. Please encourage your son/daughter to check their timetable carefully! If a student is late for an exam, they should try to come in as soon as possible. We can often let them take the exam in full and then report any circumstances to the exam board. We ask students not to bring mobile devices with them to exam rooms. Even if left in a bag, a mobile could disqualify a student from the exam. It happens every year! Issue 6

Important Dates

Lower Sixth Study Leave begins : 17 May Upper Sixth Study Leave begins : 24 May Parent HE Information Evening : 8 June AS students return from Study Leave : 16 June Upper Sixth Prom : 2 July End of Term : 8 July Work Experience Week : 12-16July AS/A2 Results : 19 August GCSE Results : 24 August A2 Enrolment : 24-26 August A2 Teaching Begins : 2 September

What will AS students be doing after their exams?

A2 Work

We will be starting A2 work in all subjects. Students will be expected to continue with all four subjects since they often change their minds about which to continue with once they see their exam results. We will not be repeating this work in the autumn, so we will expect students to take it seriously!

University Applications

Students will also be working on their university applications through the UCAS process. There will be tutorials to support this and a special day in which speakers from various universities will come in to talk with students. Ideally, this is the time when students make up their mind about what course to apply for and which universities. Many university open days take place in the summer, and we encourage students to attend these. There will be a parents’ meeting on 8 June to find out more about the process of applying to university.

Extended Projects

Finally, some students will be starting work on an Extended Project . The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is a new one, just two years old, and worth half an A Level. Some of the top universities have told us that they really value the EPQ, and it gives students something to write about in their applications and talk about at interviews. But it is a very tough qualification and requires a lot of independent study over the summer.

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Careers Information

Student Finance applications for 2010 (6U): Just a note to say that Joanna in Careers is the contact for any problems with student finance applications. The main point being to sort this out sooner rather than later! The deadline for parental-income assessed applications is 25th June 2010.

Joanna is available for one-to-one help on any Careers issue. Students can ask for help by either: ♦ emailing Joanna Greatwich: [email protected] , ♦ booking a Careers appointment with Joanna or Antonia ( Connexions) by writing their name on the Careers Office door appointments list ♦ coming to a drop-in at Careers (usually 12 — 12.30pm Monday and 10 — 10.30am Tues — Friday)

Teacher News

We are sad to say farewell to the following teachers:

Aisha Rabbani has left to become head of ICT at a school. Her lessons are for the moment being ably covered by Mr Moss and Mr Alavi.

Steven Deane is returning to Merseyside where he will be able to witness at first hand the further decline of his beloved Liverpool FC. He is being replaced by James Campbell, currently at .

Anne Thompstone is sadly returning to New Zealand. We are currently in the process of appointing a new Head of Maths.

Binnaz Harris has had a baby boy. She is planning to return in October.

Equality Policy — Consultation

The College has written a new Equality Policy. This updates our old policies into a single document and takes into account new laws. It is currently in draft form, and we are consulting staff and students for their views. If you would like to read it and give us some feedback, it is on our website at www.woodhouse.ac.uk under About Us/Equal Opportunities. We would be very grateful for any views from parents.

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Duke of Edinburgh Update

Forty six L6 students will be going out on expeditions on 28 June and 12 July as part of their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award.

After a year of working hard on developing new skills, sports and voluntary service, the students will be braving the elements and heading for the hills armed with their navigation skills and compasses.

Watch this space to find out how they get on (and keeping your fingers crossed for good weather would be much appreciated!)

There will be a meeting for parents on the evening of Tuesday 22 June for more information.

Election Debate

21 April 2010 — Woodhouse College was host to a hustings of the three main parliamentary candidates for Finchley and Golders Green (one of the most marginal constituencies in Britain).

Students gathered to ask searching questions, probing the candidates on their policies and record. Mike Freer, the Conservative candidate, was questioned about his record as Leader of the Council and was subject to robust examination of his 'easy-council' idea and money lost to Icelandic banks. Alison Moore, the Labour candidate, was questioned about her party leadership and whether she expected third place for Labour, and the Lib Dems were questioned about their plans to scrap Trident. The debate was at times stimulating and rigorous albeit a little contrived.

A special mention to Arlinda Bala who organised the speakers and Brook Hewett who chaired it su- perbly.

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“A Great Ending to a Successful Programme”

With these words Tola Olaoke summed up the experience of her first graduation ceremony on 29 April.

Alongside her classmates Tola was part of the first cohort of Woodhouse students to graduate from the College’s Career Academy in Business. With parents, business mentors, employ- ers and dignitaries watching, our Academy members were among the 289 students to graduate at a formal ceremony held at London University.

The event marks the culmination of an intensive two year programme aimed at preparing students for careers in business. All the students have studied for a full A Level programme including a double A Level in Ap- plied Business and have completed internships, visits and a mentoring programme. Their programme has included guidance from representa- tives of major companies such as Waitrose, HSBC and Pentland who have volunteered to help build the next generation of business leaders. Two of the mentors who attended the event, Irenie Ekkashis of The Traveller and Chloe Agathangelou of Deutsche Bank (pictured), were proud to wit- ness the students reach this milestone.

Nataneal Diaz pictured receiving his graduation certificate from Frederic Drevon (SEO Moody’s), commented that, “the ceremony was a very enjoyable evening that I am going to remember for a long time”.

Internships? All of the students pictured completed six week internships last summer. Most pick this as a highlight of their two years at Woodhouse having experienced working at Tesco, Halifax, Barnet Homes, the LSC, Hiremech and Abbey. We are always on the look out for business support – particularly for internships and recognise that the business environment has had a challenging time. If you, or someone you know, might be in a position to offer a placement to this year’s cohort please get in touch by contacting Ian Hooper, Director of Curriculum, via email [email protected] or telephone on 020 8492 8270 for more in- formation.

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Psychology Trip to the Bethlem Royal Hospital

A group of Upper Sixth Psychology students were lucky enough to go on an excellent visit to the Bethlem Royal Hospital. The day involved a full programme including seeing the original case notes of patients admitted in the 1800s. It seems the reasons that patients were admitted then have not changed. We read about one man who at 24 thought he was related to the Royal Family and had been working very hard for exams, and a young woman who did not believe that her husband and child had anything to do with her. Since we study dissociative identity disorder and psychotic disorders this was highly relevant. We were fortunate to have a guided tour of the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder unit given by the head of the unit, who showed us treatment programmes on helping patients with intrusive thoughts devel- oped by psychologists, and talked with us about diagnosis and prognosis of this very troubling disorder. We also visited the Museum where they have some wonderful art work done by such people as Richard Dadd, Louis Wain and Wil- liam Kurelek. The staff we met were informative and highly knowledgeable and we all learnt a lot. It confirmed to the students that they had made the right choice to study psychology further at University and I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the Museum which is open to the public by appointment http://www.bethlemheritage.org.uk

Woodhouse Students get Orphans’ Charity on the Web

Educate for Change: Changing the future for Ugandan orphans

Woodhouse students Vilian Admadzhov and Noorie Jalil have given a huge boost to charity ‘Educate for Change’ by building a fantastic website which has helped the charity raise £5000.

‘Educate for Change’ is a charity run by Miss Stanton that raises school fees for orphans in a rural part of Uganda to go to school. As school isn’t free and their parents have died from HIV, these children would not be able to go to school if ‘Educate for Change’ didn’t pay for their fees.

Miss Stanton put the web address on an invitation to a recent fundraising event, and because people were able to see pictures of the children and read more about the charity’s work, thousands of pounds of dona- tions came in. This will help us keep many children in school and send more orphaned children to school who are currently unable to go.

If you want to see the site they built go to www.educateforchange.org.uk . If anyone is interested in fund- raising for ‘Educate for Change’ please email Miss Stanton.

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Barnet One Voice Gala Concert at the Royal Albert Hall

On Thursday 29 April, Barnet A Level Music Centre Chorus (based at Woodhouse) participated in the ‘Barnet One Voice’ concert at the Royal Albert Hall. They joined English Pocket Opera Company, Barnet Youth Orchestra and a massed chorus in Barnet’s own version of Carmen by Bizet.

In addition an exciting A Level Music and Dance collaboration entitled Balearic Island was also per- formed. Three student compositions were chosen, composed by Wendy Addo (Woodhouse College), Ryan O'Riordan (Woodhouse College) and Yusuf Narcin (Barnet College). Their pieces were choreo- graphed by dancers from Copthall School, County High School and St Michael's Grammar School. Their compositions have now been forwarded to A Level examiners as part of their coursework submission with the added inscription ‘ premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, 2010’.

Yusuf Narcin, Wendy Addo, Ryan O'Riordan Barnet One Voice Gala concert

Play the Critic

For the second year running, 20 Music students took part in an exciting workshop organised by Mousetrap Theatre projects in the Spring Term 2010. The project aims to help sixth form students develop their critical thinking and writing skills under the guidance of professional music critics. Students went to see two live performances of opera and attended a full day masterclass with Neil Fisher, opera critic of The Times and Warwick Thompson of Metro.

The first opera visit was to Prokofiev’s The Gambler at the Royal Opera House. Following this, students arranged their own visit from a shortlist of operas which included: Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro , Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (all English Touring Opera productions at Sadler’s Wells), and ENO’s productions of The Elixir of Love and Katya Kabonova at the Coliseum . After this opera performance, students had 24 hours to write their reviews on the performance – imitating professional critics who often have just a few hours to meet a deadline.

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Homeless MD

One of our Envision (active citizenship) groups collected food and provisions from students for the homeless shelter up the road. Here is a pic- ture of them presenting their collection at the shelter.

CRE8

The CRE8 Envision group has been extraordinarily active. Their main focus was to cheer up Londoners. First they mounted a campaign of high fives in central London. More recently, they turned their attention to brightening up London’s parks. They managed to secure a meeting with the head of Islington’s environ- mental services and secured his agreement to paint a series of park benches. They raised money through cake sales, staff car washes and a successful bid to the big lottery fund. They would like to take this chance to thank everyone who donated money through the cake sale and car wash — they raised over £260 during the events.

Here they are with one of their completed benches in Woodfall Road Park. They used bright colours and attractive designs to entice local residents and passers by to spend more time together as a community in open spaces. They will be painting three more benches later on in the summer. To find out more information see: http:// www.envision.org.uk/ teams/720353954

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Recent Events in College

Charity Last month at Woodhouse, we raised over £300 for Sports Relief through an array of events and sponsored activities. Some of the highlights included Remi Adekunle who raised over £40 by running a mile for charity in College, Steven Savva who won the strongest man competition and the girls beat the boys in a fiercely competitive tug-of-war!

Other events included the Battle of the Titans Table Tennis Match between me (Richie) and Steve Deane in which Steve reigned victo- rious. Well done Steve!

I would like to thank all who helped during the week and to all stu- dents and staff who contributed to this very worthwhile charity!

The College group of Skydivers who raised over £2000 for the Anti Slavery campaign have unfortunately had their Skydive in Cambridge postponed for the second time due to ‘poor’ weather! Well done to the Skydivers for raising their money!! Pictures of the jump to follow…

Sport Congratulations to our 2 nd Eleven College Football team who comprehensively beat Harefield Sports Acad- emy in the Barnet Cup Final in Copthall Stadium this week. Most notable, after the score line, were the performances of centre back pairing Kingsley Osuigwe and Emifaye Adebayo! The lads lost the league final on penalties last month but Mike Schools worked to help them finish the year in style. Well done to the entire squad and coaching staff involved.

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Anna Finn — Record Breaker!

Maths teacher, Anna Finn, recently became the youngest woman ever to complete 100 marathons!

Now she is running the famous 10 in 10 this year in the Lake District. Ten mara- thons in ten consecutive days!

Sponsor Anna for the 10 in 10 at www.justgiving.com/annafinn10in10 .

Weatherproof Woodhouse Runners

When Sunday 28 February dawned with my favourite running weather (persistent rain), I admit I doubted that many of the Enrichment Group would actually show up for the 10K race in Wimbledon. I should not have underestimated the resilience and commitment of Woodhouse students (or Woodhouse VPs). All 17 of us that had entered were there to complete the run.

There were impressive performances throughout, with Matt Godfrey at the fast end in 41 minutes 17 sec- onds, hotly pursued by Joel, Jess and Tabitha close behind, then the teachers (both taking it easy as training for a marathon or two) right through to those who spent over an hour out in the cold rain, determined to finish (in one case despite blisters from 4K onwards). The students raised funds for various charities of their choice.

Those taking part were: Matthew Godfrey, Joel Mitchell, Jessica McCormick, Tabitha Bryant, Edward O'Garro-Priddie, Navin Bundhoo, Muhammad Nanjiani, Hinlong Pang, Mohammed Ali, Khadijah Naeem, Amit Rawal, Morenike Famodun, Nali Moftizadeh and Syedul Miah along with staff John Rubinstein and Anna Finn.

A COPY OF THIS NEWSLETTER, IN COLOUR, CAN BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.WOODHOUSE.AC.UK

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