Founded 2005 Vol 17: Issue 19 Friday 14th September 2018 Dear families, Helen Talk

On Thursday 14th September, a group of year 11 students were given the opportunity by Term is well under way and students and staff have Hogan Lovells to visit the Old Vic theatre to listen to a talk on feminism and women’s rights. settled back into school life. I The talk was given by , the great granddaughter of Emmeline have been delighted with Pankhurst and granddaughter of Pankhurst. the way that new classes have engaged with their Pankhurst talked about the campaign for the vote, the difference in pay between men and learning and there is a won- women and how society is still too preoccupied with the way women look. derful sense of purpose The question and answer session saw Year 10 student Meti Bekele and Year 11 student around the school with stu- dents working well across Sonya Miah taking a starring role. their subjects. Ms Watson Meti Bekele – I was really interested to We are now into the recruit- find out that Helen Pankhurst has been ment process for the new brought up in Ethiopia which is my home intake of EGA students, so country. When I spoke, my point was that we will be busy welcoming visitors to the school over the feminist movement seems to concen- the next couple of weeks. trate on changing external factors such as Many students will be in- male attitudes towards women, but to volved as ambassadors and move forward, women should support each as always are the best adver- other more instead of seeing each other as tisement for a school. We Emmeline and competition. will be sending out letters to parents, if your daughter has been asked to participate at any of the events. Sonya Miah – I am a strong believer that in order

A reminder that we are now to get change, you have to start at the root. I providing breakfast for all spoke about how I felt that despite there being an from 8am. Bagels have been improvement in society on the views of women’s a particularly popular choice, rights, there was no active change. For example, with over a hundred stu- only at EGA and in my own time did I learn about dents enjoying them before the struggles women went through to be treated they go in to lessons. ‘equally’ in the eyes of society, so I hope in the And finally, I will be sending near future, children from primary up to second- out a parent calendar to all ary learn about the difficulties. This means the families next week. Please change needs to start from the place children make sure you check dates learn to read, write and even count: school. and times. We hope to see Helen Pankhurst as many of you as possible at events over the year.

GREAT ART EXHIBITION The Art and Technology faculty held their annual 'Great Art Exhibition' just before the summer holi- days. On show was some stunning GCSE artwork as well as some wonderful Year 7 and 8 artwork.

Tasty treats were also available thanks to Ms De Bruin In August 2018 former Year 9 students were awarded their and her pupils. Well done and thank you to all pupils GCSE grades in French and Spanish. This was the first year of whose work was in the show. the new GCSE specification and the new style of exams, which was exciting but quite daunting for both students and A great time was had by all with lots of parents, teach- staff! ers and students visiting and commenting on the high standard of work. I am delighted to announce that all students performed ex- tremely well and our results were excellent in both French Mr Lofts and Spanish!

The Languages Faculty would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate and thank all students for their commit- ment, hard work and patience, as it was a very steep learning curve for everyone involved. We invited all Year 10 language students to a celebration on Tuesday 11th September from 3.30pm in A1 to congratulate them all in person!

Well done and thank you! The Languages Faculty

Humanities Corner We have recently received letters from Refugee Action and Women for Women International, thanking us for the Here you will find out about special and exciting events that are £360.30 we raised for both of them! We hope to do lots going on in the Humanities Faculty. You will also learn about on- more charity and fundraising events this year, so stay tuned going news that concern any of the humanities subjects and we and make sure to get involved. will also highlight important historical and religious events.

On Wednesday the 19 of September 2018, year 7 will be taking part in The Faiths and Belief Forum. This is an exciting workshop where they will learn and explore some of the main ideas around moral and ethical issues; the forum will highlight both the diversi- ty as well as the things we have in common.