Frederick Bremer News December 2017 We are now at the end of another successful term at Frederick Bremer School. As you will see from this bumper edition, it has been an incredibly busy term with a huge number of amazing events. Our pupils are living the school vision every day, and we can see them striving to ‘be the best you can be’. We know as a school that we are ambitious to ensure that this vision becomes a reality, and that we become an outstanding provider of community education. Our visitors to the school speak highly of their experiences here, and how courteous and interesting our pupils are. In a recent Challenge Partners visit, our review team stated that it was clear that the school was on an ambitious journey of school improvement and the vision and values of the school were deeply embedded. This is also mirrored in our school results, with achievement and progress above national average and we believe that this is continuing to improve. As a result of recent visits, we have consolidated all of the information about how the school works onto one page and you can see this on our school website and in this newsletter. Well done to all pupils for all of their hard work in recent exams, and Year 11 in particular are working very hard in preparation for their final exams. Pupils need to make sure that they get a good rest and relax over the holiday, and come back to school ready to continue with their hard work. Great things come from perseverance and commitment, so they need to be ready for the next learning challenge in January. When we return from the break, I will be talking to pupils in assembly about how we model our values. In particular, we will be reflecting on the quote from Michelle Obama who stated ‘when they go low, we go high’. In the light of the hostile political environment, and the pressures on our communities at the moment, it is imperative that we all ensure that we strive ‘to be the best we can be’ and do not let others lower our standards. It is also important that we spend time at this time of year reflecting on those less fortunate than us. There are too many in our community who will struggle for shelter, food or warmth at this time of year or whom will be on their own. As a community, we support those in need, so it was heartening to see so much being donated to food banks and money being raised to help London children at the end of this term. I hope you all have a wonderful break, and I look forward to seeing you all in 2018. Goodbyes – Sadly we will be saying goodbye to the following members of staff at the end of this term. We thank them for their hard work and wish them all the best of luck for their futures. Antony Frate (Science Teacher), Pallabi Sengupta (Maths Teacher) and Mehjabeen Mohammed (Teaching Assistant) Ms Smith Follow us on twitter: @FBSchoolE17 Facebook @frederickbremerschool Website: www.bremer.org.uk A Guide to Frederick Bremer– on a page We are an 11-16 Community School for 900 pupils in Walthamstow London We believe ‘Everyone should be the very best you can be’ in our values of Respect, Responsibility and Integrity that every child matters learning should be interesting, relevant and fun We organise our curriculum so that every pupil is in mixed ability classes across the school, with the exception of Maths and Science (at KS4 only) experiences a broad and balanced curriculum built around EBacc subjects and enhanced by the Creativity curriculum has the opportunity to study a rigorous GCSE curriculum of up to 10 GCSEs We innovate our curriculum by offering a two year Key Stage 3 curriculum in Years 7 and 8 all pupils the opportunity to study and own a classical instrument (Violin, Viola or Flute in Y7and Y8) as part of the MiSST programme project based Creativity Curriculum in Y7 and 8 which focuses on the explicit teaching of creative learning skills alongside Philosophy for Children in Y7 an exciting bridging curriculum in Y9, with the skills of GCSE being explicitly taught in the Ebacc subjects and an We believe every pupil is a mainstream pupil so we make sure every member of staff understands pupils learning needs we have a highly specialist SEN team to support pupils within the Autistic Provision, and with other SEND needs, in lessons we ensure that our building and our classrooms are fully inclusive to all We ensure every pupil is challenged to succeed in lessons by making sure every lesson makes use of data to plan for pupils needs ensuring that teachers have seating plans showing how they are catering for pupils We use powerful use of data to track progress by using KS2 data to set flightpaths for potential pupil progress based on 4 levels of progress for most pupils and continually review pupils’ progress against these measures We use feedback as a tool to support learning so you will see in books, lots of peer and self-assessment in books, pupils responding to this feedback and making improvements in books, teachers mark diagnostically selected pieces (they do not mark everything in books) Celebrating 5 years with Simmons and Simmons On Wednesday 13th December, pupils, ex-pupils and staff gathered with colleagues from Simmons & Simmons to celebrate 5 years of working together on the Young Talent programme. 74 pupils from Frederick Bremer School have now participated in the 4 year mentoring programme with Simmons & Simmons, and the 1st cohort are now in their final year of their degrees at University. Simmons & Simmons are a top international legal firm, and every year they support 12 pupils who are chosen for the Young Talent programme. This involves our pupils spending time over the 4 years shadowing within the company and receiving specialist advice and support on work skills, careers advice and UCAS applications. Our pupils also receive mentoring from Simmons & Simmons staff. It was wonderful to see so many ex pupils, and participants from all 6 cohorts. Rebecca Rumble and Stanley Soulsby both spoke about the difference the scheme made to them, and they are both now in their third year at University. Stanley is studying Chemical Engineering at Bath and Rebecca is studying Psychology at Kent. They were the first pupils to receive a bursary from Simmons & Simmons for £5000 per year to support them at University. We now have 6 ex pupils at University, supported with the bursary. All participants spoke really highly of the programme, and how the support helped them make informed choices about future careers. As Dilan said ‘the programme helped me realise that someone like me can succeed in a business like this’. You can see more about their experiences here https://simmons- simmons.wistia.com/medias/p8z9tacw77 The application process for cohort 7 for Year 10 pupils will open next term. It is always very competitive, and pupils will have to submit a formal application and be interviewed by partners from Simmons & Simmons. It is great opportunity for anyone who may seeking a career in any aspect of the corporate sector in the future. Go for it! Ms Smith Follow us on twitter: @FBSchoolE17 Facebook @frederickbremerschool Website: www.bremer.org.uk TfL STARS We are so pleased to receive our bronze accreditation through the TFL STARS (Sustainable Travel: Active, Responsible, Safe) accreditation scheme. STARS inspires young Londoners to travel to school sustainably, actively, responsibly and safely by championing walking, scooting and cycling. STARS supports pupils' wellbeing, helps to reduce congestion at the school gates and improve road safety and air quality. During the last 12 months a number of our pupils have completed Cycle Safety Training which has better equipped them for cycling to and from school safely and confidently. Bethan and Freddie in Year 8 went to collect the award and participate in an exciting day of workshops to start the development of our travel plans. There were inspirational presentations from silver and gold schools, which have given us some great ideas on how we can enhance road safety outside the school and beyond. Table Tennis Equipment We were delighted to receive two weather-resistant table tennis tables from Jack Petchey Foundation and Table Tennis England. These tables provide a safe and fun environment for our pupils and look great in our playground. The school is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff and these awards are a great step in the right direction. Healthy Streets School Travel Awards 2017 Before the summer our Finance Manager, Sue Hall, applied for the Active Travel Design award being provided by Waltham Forest Council. We were so delighted upon hearing that we had won this award, which will provide £5,000 worth of cycle equipment to the school. We went to the Town Hall with Rafe, who also won an award for designing a bike hangar wrap, to collect our award from Councillor Loakes. Follow us on twitter: @FBSchoolE17 Facebook @frederickbremerschool Website: www.bremer.org.uk Student Leadership News We have had a busy term with over two hundred students being successfully appointed to one of our many fantastic student leadership opportunities Prefects; Bremer Student Parliament; Sports Leaders and Peer mentors. This is in addition to our LGBTQ Pride Society; Youth Health Champions and Duke of Edinburgh Award. Bremer’s new Student Parliament We are very proud of our new Student Parliament, which opened with its first meeting on Wednesday 24th November.