Chestnut NewsDate: 3 Nov 2017 Issue No: 60

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER

Welcome backI hope you all had an enjoyable half-term break. We were delighted to welcome all of the students back on Monday for what is one of the busiest half terms of the year with mock exams for Year 11 and the Sixth Form, end of term assessments for all other years and, of course, all of the festivities that go with preparing for Christmas. We are now well and truly settled into our new building and have established a new way of working which is much more focused and purposeful. I am delighted with how well the students continue to respond to our new facilities and am certain that the school will go from strength to strength. We are expecting the demolition of the old building to commence in the next couple of weeks, but hope that disruption will be kept to a minimum.

Save the date!Presentation Evening is on Thursday 23rd November at 6.15pm. The parents of students who have won prizes were notified last half term. I look forward to seeing you all.Our annual carol concert will take place at St Mary’s Church in Balham on Thursday 7th December. More details to follow shortly.The Christmas Concert – the first one in our new building – will take place on Monday 18th December. More details to follow shortly.

Wandle Learning TrustOn Thursday 18th October, the governors unanimously agreed to convert Chestnut Grove into a multi-academy trust (MAT). This was the final stage in the formal process of the conversion and we are anticipating converting on 1st December. Chesterton Primary School will also be a founding member of the Trust and they are in the process of converting into an academy. Chestnut Grove has a long and established relationship with Chesterton Primary School and we look forward to developing the MAT over the coming years so we can maximise the opportunities for our students. I will continue to keep you updated on developments, but for the most part it will be business as usual.

Christian KingsleyHeadteacher

FRIENDS OF CHESTNUT GROVE

14th November 2017 -Annual General Meeting (AGM):

Please do come along to find out more about our fundraising as well as putting forward any of your own ideas for future events/fundraising. The AGM will be held in the canteen in the South Block at 6.30pm – there will also be a tour of the new school buildings from 5.45pm, so come along if you would like to take a look at the new buildings! We would like to invite applicants for the post of chair and committee members. If you are interested in the position as chair or committee member, please write a short paragraph about yourself and your interest in joining the committee and/or wanting to become chair. Please email current chair, Dawn Thomas at thomasp4@sky.com for more information. Nomination forms available on the night.

Thursday 7th December 2017 - Community Christmas Carol Concert at St Mary and St John the Divine Church:

A fundraiser event held at St Mary and St John the Divine Church here in Balham which is open to all parents/carers/family and the wider community. Details for follow in the next newsletter.

AVIVA COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING - WE NEED YOUR VOTES!

The Friends of Chestnut Grove have applied to the Aviva Community Fund for funding to host an International Day in 2018. This would be to recognise and celebrate the diversity of Chestnut Grove, and to encourage families to get involved by showcasing their cooking, cultures, dancing or anything else that fits.

We have got through to the voting stage and the first 200 projects to get 1,000 votes will get the funding (£1,000). As of 31st October, we have 677 votes, so we are getting there. Thank you very much if you have already voted, but if not you can find out project by following this link: https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/17-2219 (This link is also on our Facebook page).

You will need to register, but then you can vote 10 times! Please share to anyone else you think would have the time to vote for us! Thank you in advance!

Voting continues until the 24th November.......

Raffles - we are still looking for raffle prizes for our Winter Raffle. If you are ablew to help with a prize donation (maybe through your workplace or family/personal contacts), please email friendsofchestnutgrove@gmail.com

General emails to friendsofchestnutgrove@gmail.com Join us on our Facebook page Friends of Chestnut Grove or follow us on Twitter (@FriendsofCGA)

Year 13 art students have been exploring the theme of how artists communicate texture within their paintings. Students began exploring the work of Rembrandt and Van Gogh and will now respond to the work of Chuck Close, a more contemporary portrait artist. The art students have used a variety of media and materials such as oil paint, acrylic, oil pastels but then mixing these materials with items such as grass and sand and then painting onto sand paper and wire to create exciting textural outcomes. The outcomes are extremely skilful and experimental.

Ms C KeebleHead of Art

ART DEPARTMENT

CHESTNUT21

ANOTHER £5,000 TOWARDS THE NEW SCHOOL GROUNDS!

We are delighted that we have received another grant towards the greening and improvement of the new grounds following the demolition of the old buildings! This is from the Garfield Weston Foundation who also funded us last year to refurbish the art pavilions. Once again, the funds raised through parent donation and sponsorship was match funded, which is essential in gaining a lot of these grants.

COULD YOU DO YOUR BIT TO HELP US GET OUR NEXT GRANT?

We have submitted a large grant to the Mayor’s Greener City Grant for the grounds, and as matched funding we are looking to raise funds though the sponsored brick scheme. You can have a brick engraved for £40 or £75 and this will be on display on the walls of the new building for years to come. The funding from this will raise matched funding for the mayor’s application. So far we have had a good response, and we need more. We hope to have the first lot of bricks up on display in time for the Christmas concerts at school.

You can pay via parent pay, and the form to fill in is downloadable from the website http://www.chestnutgrove.wandsworth.sch.uk/Chestnut-21

As always, any questions, ideas or anything that you think may be of interest to our fundraising efforts, please do contact me on snoble@chestnutgrove.wandsworth.sch.uk

ROYAL AIR FORCE ROADSHOW

On Wednesday 1st November Year 7 and Year 8 watched the Royal Air Force education roadshow. We learnt all about how the aircraft are made and what jobs there are in the RAF. Most of the jobs link to engineering but there are loads of jobs and if you work for the RAF you get lots of extras, such as a free pass to go to the gym and you can travel around the world. They brought jet engines that are used for wing propellers which made a really loud noise (so they kept them half outside the theatre). They also showed us a drone and had a camera on it which everyone wanted to see themselves on. The people from the RAF were really interesting. The man had looked after the whole of the engineering team and the woman had had to disarm guns and bombs so they didn’t blow up. At the end we got to ask lots of questions. Overall it was a really fun experience.

Charlie Summer 7 Kapoor

UNICEF RIGHTS AND RESPECTING SCHOOL

What is a UNICEF Rights-Respecting School?UNICEF awards schools for their human rights work. A rights-respecting school is one where students and staff know about the items listed on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, where students and staff speak to one another with respect, and where everyone campaigns for human rights locally and globally.

What are some of the items on the Convention?Many of the rights are shared between adults and young people. These include the right to life, to safety, to live free from discrimination and to shelter. Other rights are unique to children, including the right to live free from war.

What does it mean to say someone is an advocate of human rights?All of us can be advocates of human rights by treating people with respect and listening to what they have to say. In school, every child and adult has rights. Where people do not respect these rights, such as the right for a child to be educated, they are said to be violating their rights. Sanctions exist to prevent people from breaking the human rights of others.

Being an advocate is also about campaigning. Below you can see examples of some of the campaigns created by students in 7 Kahlo this week. All of the students have shown real passion when it comes to human rights!

How can people get more involved?At Chestnut Grove, we have a thriving student leadership team. Students can become a Head or Deputy Head of Year as part of the Student Council, a Subject Ambassador, an Inclusion Ambassador, an EAL Ambassador or an Equality and Human Rights Ambassador. They should let their tutor know if they are interested. Anyone can also create a campaign.

UNICEF RIGHTS AND RESPECTING SCHOOL

Work presented by:

Cora WhiteEliza GoulbornHolly HawkinsBethia TurnerWill HackwellMaria De La LamaRafferty HoareThea Kern

VACANCIES

LUNCHTIME SUPERVISORS - Required as soon as possible

Monday-Friday, term time only (38 weeks a year) – 7.5 hrs per weekActual salary MSW point 8: £3,270 p.a.

We are looking for mature, responsible people to assist the school in supervising 11 to 16 year old students during their lunch break (Mon 10.55am-12.25pm and Tues-Fri 12.45pm-2.15pm), helping to ensure a safe and stimulating environment.

Candidates will need to be confident, calm and patient, and use positive behaviour policies to ensure students are following school procedures. Supervision may be needed internally or externally on the school site.

Further information and an application pack is available from the school’s website: www.chestnutgrove.wandsworth.sch.uk, or by contacting Sheila Payen on 0208 673 8737 CLOSING DATE: Friday 3rd November, 2017 at noon

ALL POSTS SUBJECT TO DBS CHECKSChestnut Grove is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

BILINGUAL DEPARTMENT

1. EAL becomes Bilingual After discussions with outside agencies (including an ex EAL-specialist OFSTED inspector), the senior leadership team at Chestnut Grove, and a variety of forms of student voice, it has been agreed that we will be rebranding the EAL department as the Bilingual Department. In case you are unaware EAL stands for English as an Additional Language and refers to any students whose first spoken language was not English. The department is in charge of supporting these students across the school (whether they are new to English or fluent in it). The reason for the rebrand is to reframe student, teacher and parent perspectives on, and perceptions of, students who have English as an additional language. We want to embrace the thriving bilingual community that is Chestnut Grove and make students, teachers and parents aware just how amazing it is to speak two (or more) languages. We want to be positive and PROUD when speaking about our bilingual students! Read on to see the first of many new initiatives designed to promote bilingualism and a love of languages. 2. Extraordinary English Etymology Every week the bilingual department will bring you the etymology (history) of a word or phrase. See this week’s below:

Back to square oneThis is a saying which dates back to the nineteen thirties when football matches were broadcast on the radio. A plan of the pitch was published in the newspaper all marked out into squares. After each move on the pitch, the commentator gave the number of the square so that the listener knew exactly where the action was. Square one was the goalkeeper’s square so when the ball was passed back to the goalkeeper, it was back to square one. Do you know the interesting origin of a word or phrase? Then get in touch! We’d love to share your knowledge with the Chestnut Grove Community (we’ll obviously give you credit for your contribution!). Just email info@chestnutgrove.wandsworth.sch.uk and write in the body of the email ‘for the attention of the Bilingual Department/Mr Sharpe’

SCIENCE

In AS Chemistry the students have been using their new knowledge to convert a chemical recipe into something we could all follow, in order to make very tasty lemonade in our new cooking lab. I can confirm it tasted delicious!

KS3 Science club runs on a Monday after school and is hosted by three of our AS science students Elizabete, Artor and Casey. This week the students lead a session on making volcanoes.

Ms CollisterHead of Science

PERFORMING ARTS

Last half term ended on a big high for us in the performing arts department, with the annual Year 7 Interhouse Performing Arts Competition. Well done to everyone involved; the level of performance this year was extremely high and we had some excellent singing and fantastic dancing. Congratulations to 7 Da Vinci for becoming victors this year! Their song Shine had the audience grinning ear to ear! Not only have they got the certificate to prove it, but they also received 200 Proud Points for the house!

We also had special guests in the form of the Year 7 dance club who performed a sensational dance with some extraordinary acrobatics! Thank you to all those that attended; it was great to have so many of you in our new theatre to create a lovely atmosphere.

This is a busy term for team performing arts. We will be at Trinity St. Mary’s for our Carol Concert on 7th December and our big final end-of-term Winter Concert is on 18th December, it would be fantastic to see as many of you there as possible. More details will follow.

We are extremely pleased to welcome Noel Tierney to the staff of Chestnut Grove Academy as our new independent careers advisor.

I’m delighted to be working in Chestnut Grove Academy as your careers advisor. I’ve been working in Wandsworth for the past eight years, supporting young people into education, employment and training. In an ever changing world it’s important to enable students to make sense of the different pathways and choices open to them. Developing the skills, knowledge and experience for this ‎are all key to informed decision making and the resilience to manage change throughout their career journey. I look forward to working with students, parents/carers and colleagues. If you have any questions or ideas on how to support our careers offer for students please e-mail me at: ntierney.212@lgflmail.org

Calling all budding drummers and brass players!

We are currently on the lookout for any budding musicians who would like to play these instruments, please get in contact with Mr Burstow or Mr Mills in the music department to register your interest.

NEW CAREERS ADVISOR

YEAR TEAMS

YEAR 7

Congratulations to Year 7 for completing a spectacular first half term at secondary school. I’ve been so impressed with the determination and positivity of the year group. They have demonstrated this in how they have thrown themselves into our extra-curricular clubs, adding to our school community, and their dedication in their studies is shown in every lesson. It was fitting that we ended the half term with such a successful interhouse competition. Well done to all students involved, the performing arts department and especially Da Vinci as our winners!

Looking ahead, I would like to remind parents to add the winter concert to your diaries on the 18th December where Year 7 will be performing a song as a year group!

Mr O’KeeffeRaising Standards Leader Year 7

YEAR 8

Welcome back to the new half term Year 8! The days are getting darker and the temperature is dropping, and on this note I want to remind all students and parents that coats should be plain black with minimal logos and other colours. This is not a major issue within Year 8 but it is worth highlighting our uniform policy to avoid any issues. Year 8 are working very hard in all of their subjects and I am seeing a huge increase in the number of

PROUD points being issued. Last half term we were slightly behind the other year groups but with a little more focus we have seen a great improvement. I am extremely happy with progress of the whole and look forward to our first set of Year 8 data towards the end of the year.

Mr StokesRaising Standards Leader Year 8

YEAR 9

Welcome back Year 9! I enjoyed a visit to Ms Jackson’s class this week where Year 9 have been working on their Ethiopia assessments and I was delighted to see a room of pure focus and outstanding work ethic. It really made me PROUD of these brilliant young minds. Isn’t Geography just amazing...?!

Rugby club! Year 9 can’t get enough competitive Autumnal outdoor fun with tough Rugby, thanks to Mr Thomason. I was so impressed to witness the level of engagement and sheer joy these Year 9 legends are getting from Rugby. In particular, Tie, Joseph, Jagoda and Larry were excellent! Well done guys!

Joshua, Daniel and Jamal are about to get biological with this Lamb heart.

Mr Wilson and Mr Gordon enthralling year 9 with the inner most secrets of the lamb, while Jade, Che and Maisy and Jo (especially Ellie) Look on aghast at the biology!

Mr McCarthyRaising Standards Leader Year 9

YEAR 10 As we welcome the students back to school I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of two key dates coming this half term. Firstly, the students will have an assessment week starting on 13th November. Secondly, parents evening is on Wednesday 6th December. Last year’s parents evening saw the best ever attendance in the history of the Academy, with a turnout of 93% of parents. Parents’ evening is a vital line of communication between parents and teachers and one of the best opportunities for us to give you feedback and set targets for your child. As students are at the start of their GCSE and BTEC journey, it is important that teachers have the chance to speak to you about any potential issues before they become embedded. I would like to build on your excellent participation from last year and look forward to seeing you then.

Ms StriesowRaising Standards Leader Year 10

YEAR 11 Welcome back, I trust students had a half term holiday that was a mixture of rest, relaxation and revision!

Year 11 are looking at revision techniques both in subject areas (pictures in the previous newsletter) and in tutor time - Ms Sweeny’s 11 Kahlo designing a revision timetable (see photos below). In the last assembly before half term, students received a copy of the mock timetable and a full subject revision guide. All revision materials can be found on the academy website under curriculum. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s tutor or myself with any questions or concerns.

I can not stress enough the importance of excellent attendance to reach the best academic outcome. In addition to lessons, many interventions are taking place during tutor time, lunchtimes and after the school day which will be of huge benefit to the students.

Ms Fletcher Raising Standards Leader Year 11

SIXTH FORM

Five sixth formers were invited to attend a work experience celebration evening hosted by BEST. Michal Marciniak, Klaidi Palluqi, Serena Richards, Kai Olding and Chloe Powell were all nominated by the sixth form team in recognition of their excellent work experience which they completed in June whilst in Year 12. The three students who were able to attend enjoyed food and refreshments on the evening before being presented with certificates by Liz Rayment-Pickard, Assistant Director, Wandsworth Children Services.

Mr TaylorAssistant Head/Head of Sixth Form