Issue 41

Working together to promote & celebrate achievement

17 July 2015 Name & Tutor Group:

Headlines by Rachel McGowan

Staff News

During this half-term, Mrs Mary Ward, a member of our reception team, retired from the school having served our school community for 21 years. Whilst not everyone in our community will have met Mrs Ward face-to-face, by the nature of her job many of you will have spoken to her over the phone. Throughout her service to the school, Mrs Ward has been a consummate professional in all her dealings with youngsters, families, visitors and staff and is much missed as she commences a very well earned retirement. On behalf of our whole school community can I thank her for her outstanding contribution to the school and wish her a long and happy retirement.

A number of staff will be leaving us at the end of this academic year, most notably Mrs Sue Rosner, who has been a teacher here at since 1980 and Assistant Headteacher since 1997. Mrs Rosner has served the school with great distinction throughout this period holding a wide range of different responsibilities. As well as being a fantastic contributor to the leadership of our whole school she has worked closely with a number of different Cohorts as their senior line manager. As a teacher of Drama she has consistently demanded the highest possible standards from students in her own classes, and the quality of teaching she has demonstrated has been an inspiration to less experienced members of staff who will miss her wise counsel.

Given her role, I’ve worked more closely with Mrs Rosner than I do with many other colleagues employed at the school. I cannot state highly enough my respect for her contribution to our school and our community. For more than 35 years she has made an unrivalled difference to the lives of our young women; on behalf of everyone whose life she has influenced so positively can I thank her for her magnificent contribution and wish her a long and enjoyable retirement.

Finishing Off & Forward Planning

To help families with their planning I would like to detail the arrangements for the end of this academic year next Wednesday and the beginning of the new school year in September.

Wednesday 22nd July is the last day of this school year. During the morning students will have normal lesson 1 followed by break and then form time and assemblies. School will end at 12.35pm. Lunch will not be provided on this day and therefore any student entitled to a free school meal will be able to collect this at break. Our final day of the year is a designated non-uniform day where each student pays £1 to our school charity for the opportunity to wear clothes of their choice. Each year this allows us to raise in- excess of £3,000 for ‘A Thousand Schools for A Thousand Girls’ who support girl’s education around the world.

Our new school year begins for students on Wednesday September 2nd. To help our new Year 7 settle in, all other students will not be required at school until 10.15 am.

To help families plan holidays for the next year, and thus avoid taking their daughters out of school during term time, can I remind you of the school holiday dates for 2015/16.

Headlines by Rachel McGowan cont’d

Holiday dates (all are inclusive) for 2015/16

Autumn Half-term: Saturday 24th October – Sunday 1st November Christmas Holiday: Saturday 19th December 2015 – Sunday 3rd January Spring Half-term: Saturday 13th February – Sunday 21st February Easter Holiday: Friday 25th March – Monday 11th April Whitsun Half-term: Saturday 28th May – Sunday 5th June Summer Holiday 2016: Friday 22nd July – Sunday 4th September

School will also be closed on the following dates, either for staff training, national bank holidays or holidays as designated in conjunction with the local authority and governing body:

· Tuesday 1st September 2015 - Staff Training Day 1 · Wednesday 23rd September – Eid-Ul-Adha · Thursday 19th November 2015 – Staff Training Day 2 · Friday 20th November 2015 – Staff Training Day 3 · Monday 11th April 2016 – Staff Training Day 4 · Monday 2nd May 2016 – Bank Holiday · Thursday 7th July 2016 – Eid-Ul-Fitr · Friday 22nd July – Staff Training Day 5

Finally, families will be aware that in 2013 the Government changed the Education Regulations from their original wording as set out in 2006. This meant that the previous situation where Headteachers were allowed to grant leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday during term time of up to ten school days leave per year changed. All references to family holidays and extended leave as well as the previous statutory threshold of ten school days were removed from the regulations. The amendments made clear that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Summer in Newham 2015

Newham council have provided each student with a copy of their “Summer in Newham” 87 page guide. This magazine is full of free activities for children and young people to enjoy. Please do make sure your daughter has bought her copy home for you to see as I am sure it will prove useful in keeping your daughter occupied during her 41 days of school holiday!

Plashet Uniform

At this time as many families will be purchasing uniform for the new academic year I would like to remind parents that our school uniform consists of the following items.

 Dark Navy blue school jumper or school cardigan (these have our logo already embroidered)  White revere collar blouse  Dark Navy blue Shalwar Kameez  Dark Navy blue Jilbab (ankle length)  Dark Navy blue full length school trousers  Dark Navy blue school skirt (knee length or longer)  Dark Navy blue headscarf - to be purchased from school  Black school shoes, no trainers, no plimsoles, high heels, no open toes, no backless shoes, no fabric slippers.

Plashet PE kit is as follows:

 Light Blue PE polo shirt with Plashet logo

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Headlines by Rachel McGowan cont’d

 Black Plashet PE trousers  Black Plashet PE jacket with logo  Sports socks  Trainers

A coat or jacket is needed to wear to and from school. The coat or jacket should not be denim or leather or be made from denim-like or leather-like material, nor have large logos on it.

Students are allowed to wear small studs or sleepers, a wristwatch and one bangle or chain of religious significance. There is no school insurance to cover the loss of valuable items brought to school.

Students should not be wearing bandanas in their hair. All hair clips or bands should be unobtrusive and of a dark colour, ideally navy blue.

We advise that all uniform should have name tags to aid it being returned to students if they mislay any items during the school day.

We appreciate parents’ support in ensuring the students come to school in the correct uniform. Smartly dressed young women demonstrate respect for both themselves and their school.

Plashet School uniform can be purchased from the following school outfitters:

Ian Howard School Wear Fashion Stop 409 Barking Road 138 High Street North

East Ham London E6 2JT E6

Tel: 020 8552 3200 Tel: 020 8472 1729

And Finally

I'd like to send my very best wishes to everyone observing the holy month of Ramadan. During this time family and friends have been coming together, in contemplation and in fasting and we at Plashet have been reminded of our shared values of community, family, charity and working for a fairer society. As families and communities come together over the coming long weekend for Eid-Ul-Fitr I hope we can all reflect on the universal values that Ramadan represents and the contribution British Muslims make to our country. On behalf of all at I wish you Eid Mubarak.

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BBC MicroBit

On Wednesday 24th June 2015 a group of Year 7 STEM girls were invited to be a part of a filming and testing session at the Google UK offices in Central London. The BBC Producer (Josie Verghese) was very impressed with the BBC School Report that the STEM Club girls had made in March this year and stated that; “the girls were brilliant, charismatic and engaged.”

When we arrived at the venue we were given a tour of the building then a quick introduction into the programme for the afternoon. We learnt that the ‘BBC Make it Digital’ team were completing a testing and filming session of the new ‘BBC MicroBit’ (a mini stripped-down computer similar to a Raspberry Pi) aimed at 11-12 year olds. Plashet STEM Club girls were very privileged to be involved in the filming which will ultimately form part of a launch video that will be shown to schools across the country. The names of the girls who attended the filming event were:

 Noshin Sadia 7N  Gull Noor Jan 7G  Fatema Bushra 7N  Shobana Satchithananthan 7N

The girls had the opportunity to use the MicroBit -with instruction- and Noshin and Fatema cleverly used the new device to create their own programme. The BBC Make It Digital Producer, Olivia Lockyer was so impressed that the girls were awarded a special prize. This was a fantastic opportunity for the girls they really had a great time. Ms English, Science Dept.

I was one of the girls selected to go on the Microsoft trip for a recording session on the Microbit (a small computer like device that will be given to all the Year 7’s next year). There was another school there as well and the engineers showed us what the micro-bit could do. For example, automatically watering a plant and controlling the direction of a toy car. After the introduction, we played “heads up“ against the other school. We won by two points and our prize were some tasty biscuits. At the end, we had to do a mini animation on the micro-bit. The producers were really impressed with our work and even gave us a second interview! What a day! Fatema Bushra 7N

On Wednesday 24th June we went on an amazing trip to the Google Offices as apart on the Microbit project. The Microbit is a chip to help educate Year 7 in programming. We had to travel on the tube to Victoria. When we arrived at the Microsoft Office we were escorted to a room called “the Showcase Classroom”. In that room were many friendly people who were responsible for the project that we were going to participate in. We met students from another school and throughout the day we completed a lot of activities, each experimenting with the different functions on the Microbit. While we were doing the activities, a camera crew was filming all that we were doing. Later that footage is going to be used as a video to educate the future Year 7 about the functions of the Microbit. Overall, I found the trip educational. I feel that experience has given me memories that I will not forget in a long time. I found it very fascinating that such a small chip could have so many uses. The part I found the most exciting was programming animations to transfer onto the Microbit. I enjoyed this part because I got to learn a lot of new techniques about programming. I feel fortunate to be given such an amazing opportunity and I hope I get more chances like this. Noshin Sadia 7N

A group of us from STEM Club were invited to the Google Office in London because of the hard work we put into our BBC School Report. When we got to the building it looked like a big slide from outside. I had never seen a building designed like that before; it was not made of bricks, it was made of glass. As soon as we got in we started filming. All the people there were very friendly and nice. At times we had to repeat things for the filming. I learnt a lot about Microbit and Coding. This was one of the best trips that I have been on. If I had another chance I would be sure to go there again. Shobana Satchithananthan 7N

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Jack Petchey Foundation Awards Ceremony

Monday 29th June was a very important date for the nine students who were nominated and presented a Jack Petchey Award for their efforts during the 2015-16 academic year. Each of the students congregated in the Newham Town Hall along the Barking Road, East Ham and waited in eager anticipation to receive their award.

Whilst, Mariyam Abdul–Mukith 9G, Faizah Ismail 10G, Naqeebah Naseem 11N, Sahana Navaneethan 9E, Deepali Patel 9G, Tasfia Rahman 10H, Rattan Saggu 8P, Arundhathi Roy 7L and Ishrat Tahrin 8S had all celebrated their success with peers in an assembly at school, the packed out venue full of excited family members really made the occasion.

In its fifteenth year, the Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards are going from strength to strength and the tagline of ‘Inspire, Motivate, Achieve’ was something that clearly each of the 143 Award winners from Brampton Manor , , , , Community School, John F Kennedy School, , Newham College of , Newham Centre, New Directions, , , St Angela’s Ursuline School, St Bonaventure’s School, The Community School and Tunmarsh School felt. There was something quite magical watching each of our students collect their award and have their citation read aloud to the packed out hall and I was immensely proud of all their achievements.

Along with the student award winners, there were Leader Awards presented to ten members of staff from the different schools, but most importantly, Mrs Rosner received the Award for Plashet School. Mrs Morgan’s Tutor Group, 10G had nominated Mrs Rosner for her kindness and expertise as their Drama teacher and she was very touched by the presentation. It came at a pertinent point in the academic year, as of course you will recall, Mrs Rosner is retiring from the school where she has worked tirelessly for some 35 years!

Newham resident, Jack Petchey has donated in excess of £100 million to his Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme over the past 15 years, meaning that as a man who was considered unsuitable for a management post early in his career, he has been incredibly successful in a range of car, taxi and sales related businesses. Our hope is that the Achievement Award scheme continues to capture the imagination of our students and that we find nine worthy candidates to receive the award who embody the same level of resilience.

Miss L Sanderson Assistant Headteacher

Plashet Students with Mrs Rosner, far right

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Year 6 Induction Days

On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th June, we welcomed a very excited group of girls to our learning community. Our new Year 7 students assembled in their Tutor groups on the North playground and as their parents and carers wished them luck, they started their Plashet School journey together.

The two days were jam packed with opportunities for relationships to be made with both staff and students. The Year 7 students were eager and willing to commit to all of the challenges that were set – even practising the Plashet ‘Moving on’ song overnight for a rapturous performance during Friday’s assembly! It was wonderful to see the girls grow in confidence as the two days progressed and there was a sense of community as they learnt, ate and mingled together as a year group.

The challenges in Tutor time and throughout their Taster lessons revolved around our six Plashet Practices and the girls began to consider how important the mastery of core skills; communication, independence, initiative, leadership, organisation and resilience, is to their progression. They embraced the challenge of moving between the familiar building and community of their respective Primary Schools into the strange and new of Plashet School. Everyone showed a great deal of growth in their enthusiasm and energy.

We are hopeful that Wednesday 2nd September 2015 will be a much more enjoyable day as a result of the two days and we would like to remind our whole school community to ensure that they have lots of sleep, eat well and stay active this summer in preparation for all the learning opportunities ahead in 2015/16!

Miss L Sanderson Assistant Headteacher

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GCSE Art Exhibition 2015

The GCSE Art exhibition opened on Tuesday 16th June. We were pleased to welcome students and their families to celebrate their achievements and all the hard work they have put in over the course of two years. This year’s Art exam theme ‘Apart and Together,’ saw some imaginative interpretations many of which were inspired by the Saturday visit to the Wallace Collection. From paper costumes, to chandeliers, the variety of work and the media used was exciting, diverse and full of energy and passion.

The Art teachers are extremely proud of all our students and their achievements. The exhibition has been a delight and an inspiration to our Year 10 Art students and lower school students too.

A number of students will be going to study Art at higher education. We wish all our students the very best in their future endeavours.

Ms A Oozeer Head of Art/Lead Practitioner Creativity Across the Curriculum

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Music Gizzard Recording Studio Visit - Recording Plashet’s First Album 18 of us were lucky enough to get the chance to record our own original songs at a professional recording studio. A song writing competition was set and the following bands and solo artists were chosen to record: Crescent Trap (Year 11), Trouble Makers (10N) and Don’t Ask (8L), soloist Sanjana Walia 10P and a Year 8 duo Fahmida and Nahida from 8E. We travelled to Mile End by train and then took a bus to Fish Island, where, unfortunately, there were no fish.

When we saw all of the recording equipment, we fell in love. It was a musician’s dream.

“I’m in love with the bass!” were Radayah Uzma’s (8L) very words. She’s the bass player of Don’t Ask. The only thing Sanjana could look at was the acoustic guitar, which was a classic Billy Fury Hoyen.

The studio itself wasn’t very big, but it had a very mysterious air. The lights were turned down low, and looked epic. We were all really excited. First up were Crescent Trap, with their song, ‘Worst Advice’. They recorded their song and once the first take was finished, everyone gathered in the equipment area and listened to it. It sounded amazing! You can listen to all of the songs we recorded on Plashet’s Music Blog, on the Sound Cloud tab at the top of the page.

Don’t Ask: Recording our song in the Gizzard Recording Studio was the best experience we have ever had. It was enjoyable, new and we had a great time. When we went there we recorded our song called ‘Trouble Maker’ and it sounded really professional. Overall, we had a great time and we would love to come here again. Thank you Miss Carne for taking us to this trip and helping.

Crescent Trap – Worst Advice, this is our original song, we recorded at Gizzard Studio. We have been in a band for around 2 years. This was an awesome experience and we all learnt a lot about the recording and studio life! Samiya, Shamila, Latifah, Jasmina, Muqqadas, Archana, Priyanka, Corolina and Priya

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Classorama Steel Band Competition

On Friday 3rd July 2015, Plashet Steel Band performed in the prestigious Classorama steel band competition. The girls: Hanna Iqbal, Nahidah Rahman, Fahmida Rahman, Fatma Torbas, Hansah Waseem, Leanne James and Rattan Saggu were very excited to be taking part, and it was the first time they had seen other steel pan bands perform. All the schools were very impressive and some even danced as they performed! Finally the announcer called for Plashet School to take to the stage. After a month of rehearsing, the band was up and raring to go!

The girls gave a beautiful rendition of “Fallin’” by Kes, and were given a rapturous applause at the end. Then the band were whisked away to give a quick interview and photoshoot. Afterwards, everyone returned to the main hall to find out who had won.

Plashet School were not named the winners this year, but the girls all performed tremendously well. Everyone learnt a lot from the experience and the band have been inspired by the other schools and performances. Well done!

” The trip was amazing and the venue was spectacular. The competition itself was very impressive, even though it was our first time performing to the public we were all very pleased that we had the chance to take part.” Hanna Iqbal 8E

By Hanna Iqbal 8E and Mr Wong Forest School Academic Challenge Day - Plashet win First Prize

On Wednesday 1st July three Year 10 students Pakeeza Aslam, Urooj Fatima and Aroosa Hussain, attended the Forest School Academic Challenge Day. It was a really enjoyable experience and we had lots of fun. There were many other students attending from different secondary schools.

We had four morning sessions in preparation for the MUN style debate later that afternoon. These were on Philosophy, Geography, Economics and Debating skills. They were informative and effective in preparing us for the afternoon. It was also really interesting to see A Level teaching in practice.

In the afternoon we had an MUN style debate. The topic of this was Renewable Fuels versus Fossil Fuels. We were each assigned a different country, Urooj and Pakeeza were delegates for Iceland, and Aroosa was a delegate for the USA. We had to form blocs with other countries who had similar views to our delegation and together submitted a resolution paper which passed. We debated and attacked other countries’ resolutions and defended our own so we were very happy it passed. At the end of the day there was prize giving for delegates who stood out and we won first prize! This was a portable solar charger for each of us which we have found incredibly useful and really tied in with the topic we were debating.

By Pakeeza Aslam and Urooj Fatima

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Altmore Juniors/St Stephens Primary RE Teaching

As part of this Year’s Re Matters project 10 students from Year 9 took part in a project where they were teaching RE lessons to Primary School students. This year the RE Matters group have been preparing these lessons, this involved interviewing primary students to find out how they like to learn, attending a workshop on how to be a good teacher, and preparing their resources on for their RE lesson. Last Wednesday, our RE Matters group taught RE lessons to two Year 1 classes at Altmore Infants School.

The RE Matter’s Group outside Altmore infants School: Juma Rahman 9L, Csarina Gentles 9S, Leala Rahman 9S, Anisha Islam, Zainab Naqvi 9A, Maahum Ibrar 9A, Eman Khalid 9A, Hanaa Mohamed 9A, Zainab Hussain 9A, Anika Khari 9L.

The girls received lots of praise and feedback from the teachers some of their comments are below;

“I thought the girls from Plashet did really well and taught an excellent lesson. I thought it was great and received positive feedback from the other Year One teacher as well. Thank you for giving Altmore the opportunity to participate.”

They taught similar lessons at St Stephen’s Primary School, where one group taught a Year 1 class and the other group taught a Year 6 class.

Comments from Stephen’s school were also really positive teachers; Zainab Naqvi 9A the elected Chair of RE Matters teachers Year 1 at St Stephens. “We were very impressed with the girls, their planning and their lessons. I think both lessons were very successful, particularly the Year 1 lesson, where the girls spread themselves around the room. The children responded well, enjoyed the lesson and learnt something new.”

Our students really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the younger students and use the different teaching strategies they had been taught. Ms Kamal and I attended the lesson at Altmore and St Stephen’s and our girls were a credit to Plashet, we are very proud of them.

Ms Still, Head of Philosophy, Religion and Ethics

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Plashet Student’s present at the Arieac Conference (A National RE Advisors Conference)

Zainab Naqvi 9A (our Chair of the RE Matters group) and Leala Rahman 9S, presented at the national conference for RE advisors this Monday. There were four students in total from the RE Matters group, our two Plashet Students, and students from St Angela’s and Stratford Academy.

Together they prepared and presented a presentation/ workshop on the importance of RE, the purpose and impact of the RE Matters group, and a vision for the future of Religious Education in Secondary Schools. To say that the girls presented well is an understatement! Claire Clinton, the RE advisor for Newham said “They were the talk of the Claire Clinton, Leala Rahman 9S, Zainab Naqvi 9A, and students from conference”. They were asked if they would St Angela’s and Stratford Academy. consider becoming RE Ambassadors in a nationwide programme that has previously lobbied parliament for RE to be included in the Ebacc.

Zainab Naqvi, the Chair of the Newham RE Matters group, did a speech to the conference, and was articulate, informed and visionary. She definitely impressed the crowd!

We were caught by the paparazzi as we were leaving!

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Year 8 Science Natural History Visits

I know it sounds weird but the NHM is filled with awe-inspiring Science stuff as well. We eagerly set off on our journey on the tube to Central London. We entered the massive hall and were greeted by the gigantic dinosaur skeleton. It was impressive. From there we made our way to the Human Biology section where we encountered a larger than life size model of a growing foetus. We watched a short video presentation on how we develop inside the womb and learnt about the molecule of life ‘DNA’. What was hilarious was looking at how body shapes changed and became distorted in some funny mirrors.

We made our way to the Dinosaur Section and saw an animated model of a T-Rex which looked so alive, it was scary. Our favourite bit was the Vault were we saw some of nature’s most valuable treasures ever found, a crystalized gold nugget from Australia, one of the biggest and most richly colored emeralds, the largest Martian meteorite in the Museum's collection, the infamous cursed amethyst and a diamond-encrusted snuff box. It was a tiring but enjoyable day out.

Written by Year 8 students

Ruth Miskin Literacy

This academic year, 41 students attended the English language intervention - RML. We focused on improving students’ reading and comprehension skills. We had one Year 8 and two Year 7 groups. Not only have all three groups made rapid progress but they also achieved best results in seven years of teaching RML! All students were rewarded with a book in Year 7 assembly. In addition, students who have shown real commitment and made exceptional progress received a Certificate. Well done girls and keep it up!

Mrs J Chamasova RML Lead Teacher

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Year 10 New Designers Visits (Di Yeo)

On Thursday 25th June Year 10 Textiles students made their way to the New Designers Exhibition in the Business Design Centre located in Islington. This trip was organised in order to inspire the Textiles students and help them with their garment designs. As we made our way through the entrance we were amazed by the scale of the event. There were three floors filled with fabrics and colours of all kinds in every direction. The designers were standing proudly next to their creations listening to our comments on their work as we walked by. Part of a booklet we filled in asked us to interview a designer of our choice. I interviewed a knitter and weaver called Nicola Costello who, like many of the Textiles students, used nature to inspire her work. She told me how she loved Textiles and how “for the past 4 years Textiles has been one of the most important thing to me and I don’t see that changing”. The passion the designers had for their work was very inspiring. As we walked around the exhibition we all pointed out our favourites, for many people the third floor was the most impressive as many flamboyant and interesting dresses were presented. After lunch we all set to work on our first dress designs, using the inspiration we had found in the exhibition. It was a great day which no doubt will have a great influence on the garments we will be making for the Plashet 2016 fashion show. All the Textiles students would like to thank all the teachers who made this trip happen.

By Inayah Hussain 10A

Message from Miss Yeo, Miss Athanasiou, Miss Siviour and Miss Meechan: We were very proud to be a part of Plashet School on Thursday as our Year 10 Textiles students were beacons of perfect behaviour on the day. They approached the exhibits with interest and have produced some superb design ideas as a result. We look forward to a productive 2016 with this cohort of students. Thank you for making the day such a success.

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Newham Secondary Drama Festival - A Power Lesson!

On Wednesday 24th June, Drama students from 9N and 9S gave an amazing performance at the Newham Secondary Schools Drama Festival: ‘Classix-in-the-Mix’. The challenge for this year’s festival was for Key Stage 3 students to adapt a classic piece of literature into a contemporary re-working of the story and present a 10 minute dramatic interpretation to be presented on the main stage at . Eight secondary schools took part taking inspiration from great plays and novels such as George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’, Brecht’s ‘Caucasian Chalk Circle’ and William Golding’s ‘Lord of The Flies’. Our piece was based on the CLASSIX-IN-THE-MIX morality play, ‘Dr Faustus’ by Christopher Marlowe.

We took the concept of feeling powerless, as Faustus does, and explored what young people would give in order to become powerful. In the original, Dr. Faustus ‘sold his soul’ to the devil in order to be able to have ultimate control over whatever he likes – but only for 24 years. In our version, young ‘Faustina’ (played by Mustaneer Fatima) is tempted by a different kind of devil – The Internet! (played by Israt Rahman). In return, The Internet wants her identity. Using the power she is given by signing up to ultimatecontrol.com, she seeks revenge on those whom she feels are controlling her and although she enjoys the power for a short time, she realises, too late, that she will eventually disappear – forever!

The festival’s project director was our very own Mr. Dowell who working closely with the education team at Stratford Circus and with Rachel Bradbear, the Creative Producer, managed to secure funding for the event from Newham council. This enabled us to recruit the skills of an artist-in-residence, actress Naomi Cortes, who visited each of the schools and ran workshops to help with the devising process and was a fantastic inspiration for all the students involved.

During the week of the festival, all the participating schools had the opportunity to experience a technical rehearsal and witness the backstage workings of a professional theatre space. The afternoon of the 24th June involved a full dress-rehearsal and then just before the start of the show, all 100 performers were packed onto the stage for a warm-up – led by Ms. Ali, who even took her high heels off!

All eight pieces of theatre were of a superb standard but what was even more amazing was the celebratory atmosphere, with all the young performers encouraging and supporting each other – truly a festival, not a competition.

I would like to thank all the staff that supported our involvement with the festival and especially I want to say a huge ‘Well Done!’ to our very talented Year 9 cast: Mahveen Alam, Sanjana Akter, Tahsin Arabi, Maya Badal, Mustaneer Fatima, Anmol Hussain, Anisha Islam, Ayesha Kamran, Harleen Kaur, Israt Rahman, Shalini Sajeev, Zara Sajid, Kainat Shabaz, Vanshika Soni, Varsha Uthayachandran, Maryam Zahid.

Mr C Dowell Curriculum Leader Expressive Arts/Head of Drama

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Newham Secondary Drama Festival - A Power Lesson! Cont’d

Teenagers vent their frustration at being ‘powerless’.

The Internet tempts Faustina to give up her identity.

Faustina is swallowed up by the web

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Language Department SOS PenPal

There are so many great things about learning a foreign language. You can use your speaking skills to translate directions to tourists, you can recognise phrases when others are having a conversation on the train, you can read and understand a restaurant menu as well as other things.

One of the benefits of being able to write in another language is that you can communicate and make new friends around the world. This is exactly what our Year 10 Urdu classes have been doing through our Pen Pal scheme and have been using their letter writing skills to form a special type of friendship.

SOS Children’s Villages is a charity which provides care and education for orphans and abandoned children in over 125 countries. Our students have had the opportunity to write letters in Urdu to orphans in Lahore, Pakistan. This was a priceless experience because they were able to develop their Urdu writing skills for a real life purpose and communicate with others across the globe.

“I enjoyed writing these letters. It brought together different topics such as our favourite school subjects, colours and our local area.” - Hifza Mahmood, 10S

“We had to be very sensitive about what we should include. It was useful because we were taught how to write for a certain audience as the orphans were mainly children who are less privileged than us.”- Humairaa Toliya, 10P Ms N Akhtar

LAE Year 10 Physics Masterclass

On 29th June, a group of Year 10 Triple Science students went to the London Academy of Excellence to experience what ‘A’ Level Physics would be like. In our masterclass, with Dr Justin Palfreyman, we got a small insight into what Physics is really like at college as well as a few topics that we would study. We began with a quick quiz, designed to test our knowledge on Physics.

He began the session by opening us up to the world of pendulums and the importance of them. We discussed the factors that may change the rate of the pendulum swinging only to have our ideas disproved. Once we found out that the factor that affects the rate is the length, we were asked to carry out our own experiment to measure the effects of changing the length. We used a pendulum experiment to calculate gravitational acceleration and then the mass of the Earth. He showed us applications of pendulums in Ancient China and how they were used to find the epicentre of an Earthquake and also how in Modern Taipei a building is designed with a pendulum to make it Earthquake proof. By the end of the session we all found pendulums a lot more interesting than we originally thought. That is what is so fascinating about Physics. Its taking every day, seemingly normal things and looking at them in a totally different light.

A big thank you to Dr Palfreyman for this amazing experience and Ms Uddin for organising the trip.

Meera Trivedi 10G

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Lee Valley White Water Rafting Centre

It was a great opportunity for all of us to visit the Lee Valley White Water Rafting Centre. We were the only school selected out of the borough to attend the Schools Festival. At first we registered our school in at the main reception and we went to a cabin where we sat to eat and prepare while we waited for our lesson with our instructor.

We all queued up for our wet suits, helmets, shoes and life jackets that we had to wear. After that we all went outside and met our instructor Adam. He gave us all a safety briefing and went through the instructions and rules about the rafting.

Once the briefing was completed we started our rafting experience we all went to one of the rapids to complete a swim test. To complete the test you had to jump out into the middle of the water, lie on your back and go down the rapid feet first and then swim into the current to safety. Suada from Year 10 jumped in first and showed everyone how to do it, she did very well. When it was my turn, my heart was thumping so fast and I was quite scared but it turned out well and everyone passed the swim test.

Once we all completed this section of the day we started to do the rafting. We all were quite scared when the boat was going side to side and bumping into the water and going through the swirling rapids. It was a very exciting experience and we completed the course several times and luckily no one fell out.

There were lots of different activities set up for us to have a go on, we played tennis and we had a bike race. We went on to the wipe out inflatable and we had lots of fun. Ms Banks and Ms Humphreys had a race and Ms Humphreys fell off the wipe out inflatable and splashed into the water.

Overall this was the best trip we ever had in the whole of year 9. By Safa Ayub, 9A

Year 10 GCSE Geography visit to the Naze

On 22nd, 23rd and 24th June, Year 10 GCSE Geography students visited the Naze in Essex as part of their investigation into coastal processes. The Naze cliffs are eroding at a rate of 2 metres a year, and in the next 20-30 years it is predicted important areas of land use such as homes and a Grade II listed historic tower could be lost to the sea.

Whilst there, students were given the opportunity to see the processes for themselves, including a large section of collapsed cliff. They also explored ways in which the local council is trying to prevent erosion, considering the implications it has for other areas of the coast.

The visit is a vital part of students work and the visit did a lot to increase their understanding. It is hoped that students will review their learning over the summer holidays.

Ms Forshaw Associate Curriculum Leader for Humanities

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Should the RE GCSE be compulsory in ?

Currently in our school every student has to do a RE GCSE. Should the RE GCSE be compulsory in England? The government has said that RE should be taught to pupils in schools, however doing the Full course GCSE is not compulsory. I believe the RE GCSE should be compulsory in all schools. Many people do not see Religious Education as important as subjects like Maths and English and there are no jobs advertised that specifically say “knowledge of religion required!” (except being a Vicar or an Imam maybe!). However RE helps us in so many ways. Firstly, results of a I visited a Buddhist temple as part of RE Matters survey taken on the 8th March 2015 show that many pupils think that studying RE helps ‘spread the understanding and tolerance of all religions’. This is extremely important because if young people understand and appreciate the importance of religious tolerance at a young age then society will benefit. RE allows young people in a diverse society to understand the views and opinions of people whose beliefs differ from their own, making them closer to their communities. RE provides a space for young people to reflect upon their own ideas and develop their thoughts about questions of meaning and ethics.

The RE GCSE allows us to expand on our debating and communicative skills which can easily be applied to other subjects such as English. There have been some issues with politicians who believe that RE should not be in the curriculum. Interestingly our current prime minister has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I strongly believe it should because it helps young people understand and know other points of view, beliefs and how to use dialogue to avoid conflict. RE is an extremely important part of our school lives as we can express our own views, religion and beliefs.

Overall, even though there was a majority of survey respondents in favour of compulsory RE GCSE, I believe that this issue should be debated further on a national scale in order to reach a more satisfactory conclusion or at least a better understanding, with the ideas and opinions of more students taken into account. Let’s bring this debate into the open. Do you think RE should continue to be compulsory? You can get involved by writing your views on this topic and handing them in to Ms Still in room 603. Let me know what you think.

By Syeda Zainab Naqvi 9A

Figure 1: Me with the Head teacher and Head of RE Department at Kingsford School to discuss the importance of RE.

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The Learning Mentors’ Symposium

On Tuesday 16th June 2015, Plashet School’s award winning Coaching and Mentoring Department (Times Educational Supplement - Support Staff of the Year 2013) held their first Learning Mentor Symposium; aimed at sharing best practice with other Learning Mentors and Pastoral Staff Nationwide for better outcomes.

We had 15 delegates in attendance from various types of education settings, including local and national schools and Pupil Referral Units. The Symposium focused on:

 What is mentoring and how to make it work in educational settings?  The Mentoring Process – including entrance and exit procedures  The importance of data, record keeping and effective tracking and monitoring of student progress

One of the most well received sessions was the session around data. This concentrated on assessment, target setting and action planning with the purpose of removing barriers to learning. Examples and resources were provided to support the necessity of the evidence trail needed to document students’ progress. Other aspects included accreditation, effective partnership work, feedback and evaluation.

The Coaching and Mentoring Department (CMD) thanked all the delegates that attended and assisted in making the symposium a success. Andy Watson our visiting Counsellor, provided an engaging session around self-reflection and awareness.

Feedback was extremely positive. Below are a few comments from delegates:

“I Really enjoyed learning new ways of working. Will take back assessment resources and ideas on how to make our mentoring more effective” “What an inspirational, helpful team. The expertise and resources were awesome. Thank you! - And lunch too!! ““Very practical tips and guidance that we can use; also valuable resources” “This will allow me to support the students and hopefully remove their barriers to learning” “Will help me to be more successful in my work with children and other team member” “Showed me the need to work in a more structured way” “I will be hoping to pilot the things I have learnt today relating to data, evidence etc” “Regular Symposiums to inform and develop, please”

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Malayalee girls win prestigious Alchemy Yuva dance competition held at Royal Albert Hall in Southbank

LONDON May 27: Three Malayalee girls, who set out for the prestigious Alchemy Yuva dance competition, held at Royal Albert Hall in Southbank, were already elated in being able to be participating in it. Their parents wished them good luck and thus they set on the journey on their own.

The international ambience and crowd did not bother them as they never had high aims as their pride was just in performing for this high profile event.

The three girls - Sruthi Sreekumar, Sitara Salim and Katelin Dharmajan - showcased one of their best performances of their life losing all inhibitions and submerging into the tala, laya and bhavam of the Bhartanatyam kritis.

The girls left the podium with grace to a rupturous cheer but they never knew that they just performed one of the best performances which may become a career enhancing day in their life.

When the results were announced the Malayalee trio were adjudged not the third, not the second but the best performers of the competition!

This is the first time ever a Malayalee group has won a Bharatanatyam dance competition at such a big stage.

Alchemy Yuva dance competition was held at Royal Albert Hall at the Southbank centre on Monday 25th May. Alchemy festival is a 10 day festival of various programmes performed by world renowned artists such as Zakhir Hussain , Shreya Ghoshal, Meera Syal etc.

Our very own Katelin Dharmajan started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 5 and was a student of Shiju Menon. We are so very proud of her accomplishment, having a Plashet student win such an award is fantastic.

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Newham Debating Final/Debate Mate Finals

On the 30th June the Plashet debating team met up at and went to UEL to take part in the Newham Debating Finals. We participated in three rounds, all of which we won which was very exciting. Based on these three debates our team managed to get 224 points and were ranked the highest out of all the other schools. We went through to the finals against St Angela’s and after a very competitive round, sadly the victory went to St Angela’s. Inspite of this, it was a great opportunity for us because we managed to attract the attention of some judges who offered us debating opportunities outside of school, for example a new programme being launched towards the end of this year, and we received very detailed feedback to help us improve our speaking skills.

We were told at the end of this event that we had won a Debate League cup after participating in three rounds at Lister School a couple of weeks earlier. We are very proud of this achievement and look forward to winning more debating competitions in the future.

Hridhini Kaysath 10N, Aroosa Hussain 10N, Maisha Ahmed, 10N

9A/9L Stratford Picture House Hunger Games Visit

Two years ago, when both 7L and 7A (as they were then) studied Suzanne Collins’ fantastic novel, The Hunger Games, in their English lessons, the students developed a strong interest in the fortunes of the novels’ heroine, Katniss Everdeen. This interest has continued right across Key Stage 3.

Nothing compliments reading an excellent book as well as going to see the film version of it, so we have made a point of taking these students to see all of the films so that we can continue to discuss Katniss’ challenges and adventures.

Last Monday we set out to view the third in the excellent series of films- “Mockingjay,” where we saw Katniss becoming the lead figure in a campaign to defeat the cruel and violent dictator of Panem, President Snow. We were really lucky to have the whole auditorium to ourselves for this private screening and many of the students have said how much they enjoyed the experience, with several of them making a trip to the library in the same week to take out the next instalment to read!

Ms S Morgan and Ms S Moseley

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Year 9 Enrichment Programme

On Wednesday 8th July as part of the year 9 Enrichment Programme at Plashet, the German Society visited the Goethe Institut, South Kensington, to watch the film screening of “Cinderella” (Aschenputtel) in German. This was a good opportunity for students to hear more of the language and learn more about the German culture.

“This trip really tested us on how much German we know. I could recognise some words that we have been taught in school. It was a really entertaining trip” – Tay-yibah Shabbir, 9G

“The trip has motivated me to carry on learning German and to take it to an in-depth level” – Humaira Ali 9G

“I enjoyed the trip and hopefully will learn how to speak fluent German one day” – Aisha Jazab, 9H

Our students who have been attending the Enrichment club have learnt to express themselves in German on many topics. These include favourite colours, days of the week, countries, pets, school subjects and many more. They have enjoyed exploring German food, culture, music and media as well as being taught how to read, write and speak in German.

Ms N Akhtar

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Maths Poetry With Year 7 (By Joshua Seigal, Poet in Residence)

Over the last few weeks I have been teaching Maths lessons. Having not studied Maths for well over a decade this was a fairly daunting proposition. However, these were no ordinary Maths lessons. The aim of the lessons was to incorporate poetry, and to explore the ways in which mathematical language and concepts can be used in order creatively to explore issues of personal identity. I would like to present a selection of poems produced by girls in Year 7. I supplied some templates in order to inspire them, but the students were very much encouraged to use their imaginations and go wherever they want with their ideas.

Equation Poem by Farzana Begum 7P

Blue + Yellow = a blooming flower Me – You = an abandoned soul silently drowning in a sky of grey Dog + Cat = screeches of hate Teacher + Failed homework = clammy hands and beating heart Love x Emptiness = a calamity caused by untouched feelings

Summing Me Up by Khadija Mirza 7L The inverse of me is a Business Assistant A fraction of me is talking nonstop If I was a shape I would be a circle, because a circle doesn’t end, so for me that means I can talk nonstop! If I was rounded up I would be the youngest mayor of Newham If I was rounded down I would be the most arrogant and unsuccessful person If I was the colour white then my grandma would be the colour black because our opinions don’t match.

Summing Me Up by Sathana Navaneethan 7P Me + sister = enemies Me – Chinese takeaway = nothing Me x twelve = me Me + vanilla cheesecake = heaven Me = getting whatever I want = OMG

Me – sister = friends Me + Chinese takeaway = something important Me – vanilla cheesecake = hell Me ÷ 12 = foetus Me – getting whatever I want = what on earth is going on?!

(Special mention must also go to Thanha Rahman in 7L, who came up with the line “the probability of me and Maths being good friends is just as likely as a zombie apocalypse happening in 5 minutes time.”

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Library News - Summer Reading

From Monday 13th July, those students who have no fines or late books will be allowed to borrow as many books as you would like to read during the summer holidays. But with thousands of books in the libraries, how will you decide which titles to take home? Here are some suggestions from regular visitors to Plashet school libraries:

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks “It’s a really good book and was Carnegie shortlisted. It’s really interesting to read and once you start reading you won’t put the book down.” Supaira Syed Abdul Rahim 10H

Every Day by David Levithan “It’s a unique story and it make you think a lot about what it would be like if it were you in that position.” Parita Patel 9S

Wonder by R. J. Palacio “I didn’t know how it would feel to be like August [the main character]. When I read the book it made me realise you shouldn’t care about how you look but who you are really inside.” Janusiya Jeyaganesh 8E

The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare “It’s epic! The detail in the books is never boring and allows you to see what’s going on – it’s like you’re actually there!” Bushra Patel 9N

Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera “It’s an autobiography about a woman’s struggle to stop her parents forcing her into a marriage. It’s also about her yearning for family and about inequality between boys and girls.” Thushikka Maharajah 10T

Why The Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo “It’s adventurous and inspiring. It’s a book about something different.” Hajera Khanom 8T

The Death Note series by Tsugumi Ohba “It’s got mystery and a really well thought out plot, with no plot holes, and it’s hard to put down. A battle of wits between the world’s best detective, whose true identity no one knows, and a student who finds a notebook that kills all who have their name written in it.” Bhavya Sanjeev 9N

Ms A Clifford-Smith Librarian

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