Half-termly news from Highgate Wood School

Issue No 29 March 2016

Issue 29 March 2016

2

Charles Wright, our Chair of

Governors writes:

As many of you will have seen, the

Government is now planning huge

changes in the state education

system, which will mean, if all goes

to the Government plan, schools

like Highgate Wood becoming academies.

The preferred Department for Education model, it

seems, is the Multi-Academy Trust – several schools

brought together under the control of a single trust.

If you want to know more about these sort of

arrangements, I can recommend an article by

educationalist Mike Cameron:

http://tinyurl.com/MATblogcomment

There are arguments on both sides, and the

governing body will be thinking hard about the way

forward, and seeking the views of parents in due

course . From my point of view, I think what is

important is that we maintain the character of

Highgate Wood as an inclusive, comprehensive,

community school for our area, constantly looking

to do the very best for local young people , in

partnership (formal or otherwise) with other local

primary and secondary schools.

On that note, I can confirm that, after five years

service, I will be standing down as chair of the

governing body at our next meeting in May. The

demands of the role have increased significantly

over recent years, and with my current

commitments as a local authority councillor it is

time to hand over.

I’m immensely proud of the school’s achievements,

and I’m sure that with a strong group of governors

in place, including a number of new faces, Highgate

Wood will continue to go from strength to strength.

Happy Easter, and good luck with the exams all who

are taking them!

Chair of Governors:

Charles Wright (Co-opted Governor)

LA Governor:

Cllr Eddie Griffith

Parent Governors:

Julia Chalfen • Dr Torun Dewan • Mark Harber • Mano

Manoharan • Chris Tully

Co-opted Governors:

Brenda Allen • Oli Blackaby • Phil Cavendish • Phil

Cocksedge • Joe Demetriou • Phil Dileo • Violet

Hazelwood-Henry • Elizabeth Hess • Chris Parr •

Imogen Pennell • Jack Samler • Charles Wright

Headteacher Governor:

Patrick Cozier

Staff Governors:

Emily Ford

If you wish to contact the Governing Body please write to the

Chair of Governors, c/o Mrs K Ozturk, Highgate Wood School,

Montenotte Road, London N8 8RN

HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY

GOVERNING BODY UPDATE

Don’t forget easyfundraising.org.uk. Visit

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/hwspsa

Cover picture: World Book Day 2016

For World Book Day on 3rd March staff and students from years 7 and 8 came to school dressed as their favourite characters from a book. There were some fantastic costumes, and it was an incredible day. A wide selection of photographs are now available online at http://bit.do/hwswbd2016

SATURDAY 9th JULY

Many thanks to all the parents, staff and students who completed the recent MADFest survey. Your comments have really helped us to think about how we can make things even better this year and make MADFest 2016 an event to remember. Lots more information will be coming out during the coming term.

2016 MADFest Committee

Issue 29 March 2016

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The Spring Term is already

behind us

This has been the shortest

half term in memory, but

as always another very

busy one at Highgate

Wood. It’s been another

very successful term. Many

positive achievements

(which you will see reflected in this edition if

Insight) have occurred, and as you would expect,

lots of hard work and diligent effort from staff and

students to continue the high quality of learning

that takes place across the school.

Our Year 11s and Post 16 students are only a

matter of weeks away from taking their exams so

they are preparing quite intensely at the moment,

and I know that many of them will be coming in

over the Easter break to continue these

preparations. Do spare a thought for them and

their hard working teachers over the next couple

of weeks.

During the course of this term I have had the

genuine pleasure of attending a range of events

that have showcased the talents of our students

and demonstrated some of what is special about

Highgate Wood. We have good reason to be

proud, and when I watch our amazing young

people in action, it is exactly that sense of pride

that I feel. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough

hours in the day for me to attend all of the events

that happen, but I feel just as proud of our

students when I hear of their success if I can’t

witness it directly.

The highlights for me have been;

Attending the final night of the musical

production Our House. The exceptional talent of

our students both in the acting and the musical

disciplines were a joy and great entertainment

for those who attended

Seeing our students impress in the annual North

London Model United Nations Conference. They

really do look and sound the part during the

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER very mature and sensible discussions that take

place on the day, trying to solve real world

problems. I want to mention in particular Beth

Gosschalk for making an inspired speech to

launch the conference, and also draw attention

to our year 8 students who participated for the

first time and did so well

Post 16 at Highgate Wood

Following on from my message in the last Insight, in

the last few weeks I have had the joy of

interviewing some of our year 11 students

following their applications for places in the 6th

form. It is always fascinating getting the

opportunity to listen to them talk about themselves

as learners and to hear about how much thought

and care they are putting into their decision making

about their future.

What has been really pleasing for staff is listening

to them explain why they have applied to the

Highgate Wood 6th form. Students have talked

about

The enjoyment that they have experienced at

Highgate Wood over the years and that they see

Post 16 as a natural continuation of the learning

that is taking place in Key Stage 4

The benefits or remaining at a school that they

know, but more importantly a school that knows

them; where their teachers know their

strengths and how to build upon them; where

their teachers are aware of their areas for

development

The good progress that they are currently

making, and a belief that this will continue in the

6th form

The trust that they have (and the evidence that

they have seen and heard) that teaching in the

6th form is of a high quality

The wide (and growing) range of opportunities

available to them at Post 16 to embrace extra-

curricular opportunities

Knowing that at HWS, they benefit from

teachers who really do care about them and will

go the extra mile to support them throughout

Issue 29 March 2016

4

their studies to achieve their potential and go on

to the very best universities

It is heart warming to know that they are so proud

of their school and that they want to stay because

they feel that they belong and where they know

they will do well. A record number of HWS

students have applied which demonstrates their

commitment to doing well at this school. I am

proud of them all and want them to remain here at

‘home’ at HWS. I am looking forward to having

another excellent Year 12 cohort in September.

Progress 8

You will now probably be aware that the

accountability measures that are used to inform

parents how well their child’s school is doing is

changing this summer for GCSEs. The current Year

11 will be the first one whose results will be

reported according to the new measures.

The new measure is called: Progress 8 (a measure

of how much progress students make according to

their best 8 GCSEs)

For our 2014/15 Year 11 cohort, the progress 8

measure is 0.26 which is a very good score. A score

of zero would indicate progress in line with the

national average. A score of less than zero would

indicate progress being poorer that the average

progress of students nationally. Our Progress 8

score means that students at HWS are making

better progress than peers nationally.

The other value added figure that is used by Ofsted

to judge the progress being made by schools is

produced on a dataset called RAISEonline.

RAISEonline is based on an average of 1000, where

above 1000 means better than national average

progress and less than 1000 means less than

national average progress. Below is a table that

shows this figure for HWS over the last three years.

You can see from the table that our results in 2015

place us in the top 18% of schools nationally in

terms of the progress that our students make. The

Sig + row demonstrates that the gap between the

progress that HWS students make compared to

national average progress rates is significant, i.e.

that we can draw the conclusion that students

make better than expected progress at HWS.

We are proud of what this data shows and both

indicators are further indication of the incredible

dedication and consistent efforts of my staff and

students. I would like to congratulate them all.

Year 11 and post 16 students – Preparation for

exams

As referred to earlier, Year 11 and Post 16 students

are now entering into that final stage of

preparation leading up to their exams, hence the

range of exam preparation sessions available over

the Easter Holidays. Students are encouraged to

make full use of these and to follow the guidance

that they have been given by their teachers in

terms of revision and preparation. We are

confident that they will all do fantastically well –

but they have to put in the hard work to make

sure!

New Homework Policy at HWS; what’s your view?

As you will be aware, we have been implementing a

new homework policy for some time. One of the

aims of the policy was to increase the consistency

with which homework is set across all departments.

Another key aim was to make homework more

frequent and challenging for our students in Key

Stage 3 – preparing them more adequately for the

demands of GCSE and Post 16 study.

Value Added Figure

Significance

Position compared to

other schools nationally

1014.1

Sig +

Top 25% of schools nationally

2013

1014.6

Sig +

Top 29% of schools nationally

2014

1022.7

Sig +

Top 18% of schools nationally

2015

Issue 29 March 2016

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We have some very positive feedback form

parents, but there have also been some concerns

raised about some aspects of the policy.

As a consequence, we have recently sent out a

survey to parents in Years 7—9 via survey monkey

so that we can gather your views prior to any

amendments or adaptations that we may decide to

make to the policy for September. In the

meantime, if you have any comments or queries

please send an e-mail for the attention of Mr

Mansfield on admin@hws.haringey.sch.uk.

Kirkland Rowell Surveys for Parents/Carers

As above, your views are really important to us. A

few weeks ago we sent home a survey via your

child to seek your views on a wide range of matters

to do with HWS. The deadline for getting these

back has passed, however we will still accept them

if you can get them back to us by the first week

back after Easter. If you have any queries about

this then please e-mail the school for the attention

of Mr Hewitt on admin@hws.haringey.sch.uk.

Uniform Issues

The issue of school uniform is one that changes

throughout the year, mostly depending on the

overriding temperature. With the anticipation of

warmer months ahead and would like to reminder

parents/carers and students that:

Blazers are compulsory (and must be worn at all

times – other than in lessons and at lunch time),

but jumpers/cardigans are not – hence if

students do not wish to wear two layers on top

of their shirts, it’s the jumpers/cardigans that

should not be worn. After May half term blazers

will no longer be compulsory the rest of the

academic year

If at some stage the weather is very hot before

May half term, then we will relax the need to

wear a blazer at all times – however, we will

inform you and the students if and when this

happens

No other alternative to the school jumper/

cardigan (with the HWS Blue trim) can be worn.

If they are they will be confiscated

Short sleeve shirts are a perfectly acceptable

alternative to long sleeve shirts for girls and

boys

As always, we ask for your support in ensuring that

not only is the correct uniform is worn by all of our

students, but that it is worn appropriately, smartly

and with pride. This means that

Shirts must always be tucked inside trousers and

skirts

Ties must always be worn with the knot high and

at least five stripes being visible on the wide part

of the tie

Skirts work unrolled with four buttons visible

... And Finally – Thank you for your support!

I would like to thank you all again for your valued

and continued support.

I wish you and your families a pleasant Easter

break.

Please remember, we return on Monday 11th April

at the later start time of 10.50am.

Regards

Patrick Cozier

Headteacher

Issue 29 March 2016

6

Ms Gribble writes:

Congratulations to Rory Butler, Tia Dyett and Caleb Wycoff-Smith. Following recommendation by the

School Council and approval by the Houses they are all recipients of Jack Petchey Awards.

JACK PETCHEY WINNERS

Ms Jago writes:

Over the last few months Highgate Wood School has been restructuring and developing a new and exciting

approach to mentoring.

The school has a strong belief that everyone matters and, as well as celebrating every individual’s unique

qualities, we recognise that all of our students have their own personal needs and as a school want to

provide the support and guidance required for everyone to reach their full potential and achieve their

personal goals. Through our newly developed whole school-mentoring programme Highgate Wood School

will ensure that students are able to receive additional individual support, where necessary, to achieve

their goals and reach their potential.

The Pastoral Care Mentors that were once attached to House teams are now working with students across

all Houses and all year groups and with the new programme will provide a mixture of group work and one

to one mentoring sessions. All mentoring programmes will have a beginning and end and will run for 10

weeks, during school time. Referrals for mentoring will be made by Heads/Deputy Heads of House to the

Mentoring Coordinator. Students who are allocated for mentoring will, in conjunction with teaching staff,

have their needs assessed so that mentors are able to focus on bespoke programmes and can effectively

evidence and measure student progress. Once students are referred to a mentoring programme, parents

will be contacted by the Mentoring Coordinator to inform them of the referral and request consent; the

Pastoral Care Mentoring Team will update parents as to the progress of the student during and following

their cycle.

The new structure of the Pastoral Care Mentoring Team is as follows:

MENTORING AT HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL

Lynda Jago

Mentoring Co-ordinator

We are looking forward to providing our students with the support they deserve and require to flourish as

individuals, and to working more closely with parents to ensure your child can get the best out of their time

at Highgate Wood School.

Those who have already experienced mentoring have seen a number of improvements from the additional

support that it offers. Whether the benefits are academic, social or emotional, mentoring at Highgate

Wood will always strive to help students to become all they can be.

Mentoring, alongside good teaching and learning, is a key element to supporting student attainment and

progress and allows students to get the most out of their education and achieve personal results to be

proud of.

If you would like further information on mentoring at Highgate Wood School please feel free to contact the

Mentoring Coordinator on: 0208-348-7970 ext.245 or alternately via email lja@hws.haringey.sch.uk

Jackie Smith

Pastoral Care Mentor

Leon Mitchell

Pastoral Care Mentor

Dayna Byfield-Grant

Pastoral Care Mentor

Adam Sturdy

Pastoral Care Mentor

Issue 29 March 2016

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Mr Hartley writes:

The exams are nearly upon us and as many of you will know they are earlier than ever.

We believe that revision is most effective when students have access to expert professional input from

teachers. That is why we offer revision sessions in school during the holiday, at weekends and after

school. It is also why some parents invest to further support their child with private home tutoring.

We expect students to attend school up until the half term holiday so that the study at home or in the

library in the evening and at weekends is enhanced by expert input in the classroom.

For the same reason that parents and students value extra school sessions, we know that revision at school

during this period is extremely important. However we also know that attending normal lessons in the

morning (for example) when there is an exam to sit in the afternoon can be counterproductive. Students,

rightly, would like to spend the time revising for that exam. So, in order to assist students to have the

expert help of their teachers prior to their exams we have designed a bespoke timetable for year 11s for

the weeks prior to the half term. Students will, where appropriate, get specialist teachers to help in their

revision on many occasions in accordance with the timetable shown. For example students who have a

biology exam in the afternoon will be taught biology on the morning of that exam by a specialist biology

teacher.

We have designed this timetable very carefully so it is important that Year 11s attend school as usual right

up until the half term break (during which there will be many more revision classes available also). We will

not authorise absence for revision – we believe that students and parents will trust that the school has

designed the best system to help ensure all students do as well as they can possibly can.

YEAR 11 - REVISION TIMETABLE

Issue 29 March 2016

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Mr Ashman writes:

Year 11 students should now be fully engaged in

preparing for the summer exams. Information

about revision sessions happening at school are

available under the Learning Tab on the school

website, and you will also find lots of other

resources here to help you revise.

During the Easter break we will be putting

information packs for some of your subjects on the

Exam Preparation pages and you will also be able to

find details of the exam timetables under the Exams

link.

All students at Highgate Wood School have access to

SAMLearning which has proved to be an extremely

valuable resource as part of your revision routine.

Our Centre ID for SAMLearning is N8HW and it is

easy to work out your username and password. They

are both the same and are a combination of your

initials and your date of birth. If your birthday is

24th April 2001 and your name is Alex Patel then

your username is 240401AP - and your password is

the same.

With SAMLearning, as with all school login details

(Show My Homework, e-praise, MathsWatch etc.)

you can contact me on data@hws.haringey.sch.uk

if you have problems logging in.

SAMLearning also have a direct helpline. Call

08451304160 or email: support@samlearning.com

Over the past few years we have succeeded in

getting a donation from the PSA to reward those

students who make best use of SAMLearning with

free tickets for Celebration Evening. We hope to be

able to the same this year.

DADS & ASD Coffee morning: Friday 6th May 9:30 —11:00am

Haringey PDC,

Downhills Park Road, N17 6AR

Haringey Language and Autism Team and

Educational Psychology Service are hosting a

coffee morning aimed to give fathers\carers of

children with a diagnosis of autism the

opportunity to share experiences and ideas as

part of an informal support network.

For more information contact:

Email: tim.oconnor@haringey.gov.uk

Tel: 020 8389 1408

ONLINE RESOURCES

Issue 29 March 2016

9

Ms Birnie writes:

During February half term, 32 Year 13 students,

from History, Art and Photography went to Berlin

accompanied by myself, Ms Harding and Mr

Holmes.

Rosa Tully comments on her experience

“The Berlin Trip was a great experience and I’m very

happy that I was lucky enough to go. We had a very

packed schedule but there was a great balance

between fun and serious activities. We learnt all

about the significance of the Berlin Wall, life under

the Nazi’s and were able to explore Berlin a city.

VISIT TO BERLIN

The most striking thing for me was how upfront

Germany are with their past, despite the horror and

sensitivity of it. Unlike in Britain where we rarely talk

about the wrongs of our past, Berlin has memorials

and museums all over, meaning that the legacy of

those who died lives on and the legacy of those who

wronged can never be repeated.

The teachers were great and supportive and it made

the trip even more enjoyable, especially as we all

went out in the evenings for meals as a group. I

would definitely encourage other students to take

this opportunity next year as it was hugely enriching

and great fun. A big thanks to the teachers that

came with us and made it such a memorable trip”.

Ms Ugboma writes:

On the last Tuesday of

term we staged our

first Spring Chamber

Concert. It was a

lovely evening of

classical and

popular music -

everything from

Bach to The

Beatles.

All the

students worked

hard to bring it together in

such a short time.

HIGHGATE WOOD SPRING CHAMBER CONCERT

Well done to all the performers!

Kathleen Archbold, Cassia Begg, Eden Cavendish,

Matilda Heath, Rosie Hegarty-Morrish, Kate

Jevons, Izzy McBroom, Tamsin Orford-Williams,

Elsa Pountney and Scala Tromans from Year 7.

Faber Bell, Maya Culverwell, Tia Ezer-Ahern, Max

Hanson, Sophia Urumova, Leah Whittaker and

Thea Wilson from Year 8.

Amy Davis, Iola Elson, Maddy McBroom, ,Sian

Walker-Evans and Eleanor Wetherall from Year 9.

Issue 29 March 2016

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Mr Brown writes:

I am delighted and proud of all those involved in

our school musical at the beginning of this term.

The designers, musicians, cast and crew had

worked very hard to put together a memorable

performance and we were pretty confident that it

was going to be good - but you never really know

until the day of performance.

As it turned outalmost everything went according

to plan and the team put on two spectacular

shows to incredibly appreciative audiences.

But it wasn’t just the final performances that

made it so worthwhile. Throughout the period of

rehearsals it was a pleasure to see students

working together, supporting each other

and helping each other to be the best

that they can be. They worked

together as a team, and managed to

achieve more as a group than they

could have dreamt of as individuals.

There are lots of people who need to

be thanked for their help in the

production. I would like to take

this opportunity to express my

gratitude to all my colleagues in

the drama, music, art and DT

departments, without whom it

simply could never have

happened.

I hope everyone is looking forward

to the next school production next

year!

Issue 29 March 2016

11

YOUNG WRITERS’ POETRY TRIALS

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

The Cast

Joe Casey: Max Cowie &

Fraser Frengley

Sarah: Zoe Hutchings

Casey’s Dad: James Courtney

Lewis: Celine Gyamfi

Reecey: Jayden Bevan

Emmo: CJ McCarthy

Billie: Phoebe Bennett

Angie: Frankie Shand

Kathy Casey: Lucy Whelan

The Band

Musical Director: Ed Harlow

Sax, Clarinet & Flute: Esi

Ugboma

Guitar: Ping Lee

Keyboards: Maddy Baron

Bass: Ethan Fraser

Drums: Noah Stoneman

Trumpet: Lucy Newbold &

Gabe Brown

Trombones: Patrick Hegarty-

Morrish

Artistic Director: Luke Brown Costume Design: Eileen James

Lighting: James Ramsden

Photography:

Empire Productions

Set Construction & Props

Milou-Mai Law

Romilly Gosling

Ramneet Bains

Maya Koski-Wood

Colette Rogers

Anna Keating

Sibylla Baron

Maya Koski-Wood

Edan Silbiger

Vuk Winrow

Eleanor Bolton

Sabine Kikuchi-House

Lila-Rose Marcuson

Aoife Davey-Gunn

Camilo Chapman

Roxanne Norbert

Tatiyana Thomas

Gabrielle Percival

Staff

Neale Marriott

Michelle Mastericks

Katty Zwicky

Charlotte Angove

Wendy Bardsley

Mrs Monaghan writes:

The English Department recently entered Young

Writers' The Poetry Trials competition. We are

delighted to announce that 67 students from Years

7, 8 and 9 have been successful and now have the

opportunity to be published within a special

anthology.

Students work appears in The Poetry Trials - London

and Middlesex and will be available in the British

Library and a copy will be available in our school

library after publication on the 30th June.

Ms Sen writes:

To enrich and support the AS English Literature

curriculum and their study of the exam text 'A

Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennessee Williams,

Year 12 students attended a series of lectures at

Euston given by university professors from all over

the country who gave them an insight into some of

the key ideas of the play.

The day enabled the students to become more

confident in their understanding of the text and,

moreover, how to crack what can be the most

challenging assessment objective of them all:

context! The day went well and we all felt we were

richer for the shared perspectives on the play.

Hopefully, these lectures coupled with the hard

work and determination of students and teachers

alike will enable the current Year 12 students of

English Literature to succeed in their exams.

THANKS SET TEAM!

Maya Koski-Wood writes:

At set club, we painted the backdrop for Our House

- but it wasn’t just painting it was laughing and

chatting too.

I really enjoyed it, and despite the few of us we

managed to create a great set after a lot of work

and effort.

Thanks to everyone involved.

Issue 29 March 2016

12

Caleb Wyckoff-Smith writes

As Ms Eisa says, there were a huge range of

different placements for Year 10 work experience.

Some of us worked in hair salons, others in banks,

but five of us were given the opportunity to work

somewhere really special at ‘UsTwo’ a digital studio

in Shoreditch.

There we were tasked with our project for that

week: to create an application as a solution to an

everyday problem.

We started with a few teambuilding exercises

before beginning the brainstorming process finding

problems and narrowing down which one we want

to solve. Then, we researched our competitors and

worked with some designers to develop our apps

look and feel before pitching our idea to a board of

developers and managers.

It was a great time and we learnt valuable skills.

Ms Eisa writes:

On February 29th Students from Year 10 embarked

on a week of Work Experience. They were

prepared with their health and safety guidance and

logbooks and sent out into the world of work.

Students travelled all over London and some even

ventured out of the city as far as Pendarren.

There were a wide variety of placements, from the

British Film Institute to Marks and Spencer, and

from the Metropolitan Police to the London Fire

Brigade. All students were faced with brand new

experiences and gained new skills that will stay with

them for the rest of their lives. Each student was

visited by a teacher at some point in the week and

we were met with brilliant feedback from both

employers and students.

Work Experience is often just as much about finding

out what you don’t want to do as it is finding out

what you do want to do in the future. Our students

were an absolute testament to us working hard

wherever their work placement was.

There really is no bad work experience, if students

work hard they gain skills, experience and in many

cases this year, fantastic references!

WORK EXPERIENCE A few students who really do deserve special

mention for their exceptional work during the week

are:

Dolcie Robertson who has been asked to come

back and help out during holidays at her placement.

Tyreece Facey-White who completed training at

London Fire Brigade and is now interested in

becoming a Fire Person

Lucas Bolton and Berdel Omur whose employer

said they were the most hardworking and sensible

work experience students he’d ever had work for

him.

Remi Haastrup-Baptiste received one of the most

glowing references from UCL that I have ever seen.

A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF WORK EXPERIENCE

Issue 29 March 2016

13

Mr Gowan writes:

The English Department have been working with

the First Story charity to encourage numerous

students to write creatively outside of the

classroom.

We have recently enjoyed an engaging visit to UCL,

where we were able to visit the lecture theatre and

museums of the campus, and experience the

atmosphere of a University day.

Our stories and poetry are currently at the final

stage of manuscript; we'll be announcing a launch

date for our published work in the new term.

FIRST STORY PROGRESS Freya Dougan and Madeleine McBroom write:

Highgate Wood School invited Dr Andrew Szydlo,

from Highgate School to give a Chemistry lecture

during British Science Week. Dr Szydlo explained

some “magical” changes that take place during

chemical reactions, to our Year 9s.

All of the students found this very exciting especially

the explosions. Here is what two of the students

wrote about their experience.

“As a subject that comes up in daily life, Science is

extremely important and through this lecture, the

audience had the opportunity to learn and also

enjoy watching.

Sometimes science can come across as a heavy

subject and somehow the scientist made the lecture

exciting. It was surprising how many people were

engaged and interested in what was being said. It is

important for students to experience things like this

up close rather than just on TV and videos.

Overall we both really enjoyed this experience and

in the future would definitely be interested in

watching and listening to more similar lectures.”

AS IF BY MAGIC

Issue 29 March 2016

14

Ms Sayer writes:

On Thursday 3rd March, a group

of 18 students represented the

Highgate Wood School English

Department at the second round of

the Debate Mate Urban Debate League at Bishop

Douglass School. They came up against formidable

competition from a range of schools, including

Archer Academy and Parliament Hill.

The first of the afternoon’s debates had been

prepared in advance. Students had prepared

arguments both for and against ‘This House would

ban the emergency services from striking’. The

second motion was announced just 15 minutes

before the debate started. The motion ‘This House

would ban the use of child actors’ proved very

interesting, with discussions around accurate

representation, the sanctity of childhood and the

impact of violent scenes on minors.

The Highgate Wood teams performed incredibly

well, winning three of their four debates (and only

losing by one mark!) We are currently awaiting the

aggregate scores of both rounds, which will decide

who goes to the final at the House of Lords!

DEBATE MATE SUCCESS THEATRE OUTING

Caleb Wyckoff-Smith writes:

Earlier this term a group of Year 8, 9, 10 and 11 stu-

dents were invited to visit the theatre to see the play

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.”

The play follows the story of a 15 year old boy who

sets out to solve the mystery of who murdered his

neighbour's dog. However, in the course of investi-

gating he uncovers a secret that could change his life

forever.

All of the students thoroughly enjoyed the show and

we all had a great time. Some of the highlights were

the amazing set and sound design and, most of all,

the choreography of the actors.

I would recommend this play to everyone, whether

you go to the theatre every week of you have never

been.

Ventisislav Dobrev writes:

The spectroscopy in a suitcase workshop from the

PhD and undergraduate students at Imperial

College gave me and my fellow students an insight

into the complexities and also the intricacies of

spectroscopy.

The workshop began with one of the university

students giving us a presentation on the theories of

various spectroscopic methods including proton

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), carbon NMR,

IR and mass spectrometry. This was followed by us

being given opportunities to run our own IR and

NMR on simple and complex organic molecules.

It was a highly insightful experience and directly

related to our A-level chemistry specification. I

truly recommend this workshop to any future A-

level chemists!

SPECTROSCOPY IN A SUITCASE

Issue 29 March 2016

15

CASTLE COMPETITION GEOGRAPHY FIELD TRIP TO DEVON

Mr Thomas writes:

The Year 12 Geography

class visited Slapton

Ley in Devon for the

Coastal and Urban field

studies.

The group stayed in the

lovely FSC field centre

and completed field work along the beautiful Start

Bay coastline, Torquay, Plymouth and the local

villages. The students worked with great enthusiasm

and impressed the instructors with their

geographical understanding.

A variety of new methods were taught, including the

use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in the

field; iPads are indeed the new clipboards.

This is a valuable support for the second unit of the

course and students significantly developed their

skills and levels of analysis, while enjoying the local

geography, as well as being smoothly chauffeured in

the school minibus.

Ms Harding writes:

Year 7 history students were invited to take part in

our model castle building competition. The castles

could be made from any materials, for example

cardboard, clay, Lego, matchsticks, and even edible

castles!

We had a great amount of fantastic entries, and it

was extremely difficult for the history department

to choose the winners. After much deliberating, I

have pleasure in announcing the following winners.

Joint first place:

Felix Andrew & Gabriel Cahill-Coady.

Also Nancy Moule & Latisha Rankin

Joint second place:

Kalem Bumford-Fouad & Alice Jenkins

Third place: Mimae James

Fourth place: Gareth Davies

Best edible castle: Rosie Hegarty-Morrish

I would like to thank every student that took part.

Issue 29 March 2016

16

WHAT IS MODEL UN?

Our delegates write:

Highgate Wood took a delegation of twelve Year 11

and Year 12 students to the London International

Model United Nations held at Imperial College,

London between 26th-28th February. With more

than 1600 delegates, this is the largest university-

level Model UN in Europe and the second-largest

worldwide.

Highgate Wood's delegation comprised a group of

15-17 year olds, and we were one of the only

schools to send sixth form students and year eleven

students. We were able to do this because of the

dedication of our delegates, who gladly gave up

their weekend to take part, and the support of our

teacher, namely Mr Robertson.

The conference consisted of a simulation of UN

organs and other forums of international affairs. Our

delegates assumed the mantles of national

ambassadors, and discussed complicated issues on

the international agenda, from the empowerment

of adolescent girls and the reduction of teenage

pregnancy, to preventing an arms race in outer

space. Engaging with such topics at the highest level

breeds mediation, analytical

and leadership skills, while

stressing the

interdependence of the

modern world.

The standard of debate was extremely high.

Highgate Wood School students were pitted against

university students studying international relations

or politics at BA or masters level, yet they rose to

the challenge admirably. All our delegates were

involved in the resolution process and played an

important part in debate, helping to craft the

international community's response to their

committee's particular area of concern.

Highgate Wood hopes to continue its impressive

tradition of sending its experienced delegates to this

prestigious event.

Students who took part:

LONDON MODEL UN

Colette Rogers

Emmy Budis

Imogen Sheppard

Ruby Neal

Jake Canton-Perry

Martha White

Faye Heron

Laura Moss

Gabriel Brown

Rosa Elson

Sina Nafissi

Patrick Hegarty Morrish

Ion Elson writes:

Model United Nations is a conference where young

people can go to discuss and debate real life topics.

Each person is assigned a country and a committee

and during the day you debate in the position of

your country and as a committee you try to come

to a resolution on the topic. It is a place where you

can learn skills in a formal environment to debate

and compromise with others in order to overcome

current crises in the world.

You meet with new people from other schools, and

who you have to work with as your countries are

allies in the global community. You learn the skill to

work with others in order to reach a positive

outcome.

NORTH LONDON MODEL UN CONFERENCE AT

HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL

Highgate Wood School hosted

this year’s NLMUN conference.

On the following pages you will

find some information and

images from the event.

Issue 29 March 2016

17

REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL

THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE TOPIC

Beth Gosschalk writes:

Hopefully the MUN conference on the 12th March

was an inspiring and enriching experience for

everyone as much as it was for me. The amount of

talent was immense, with so many confident and

articulate delegates making very well thought out

points. I was particularly impressed by the Highgate

Wood delegates who were key figures in all of the

committees, especially considering that this was, for

many, their first time.

The day ran very smoothly, thanks to the chairs and

directors who successfully moderated the

committees. They ensured that all debates were

engaging and fast paced, which allowed the

delegates to get as much from the day as possible.

Committee sessions were also made this successful

due to the help of the fantastic rapporteurs who,

despite being a bit nervous at the beginning of the

day, made sure that delegates knew exactly how

long they could speak for and so on.

Another vital part of the conference was the

teachers. The conference would have been a lot

more difficult without teachers so willing to give up

their Saturdays to accompany students to it,

however it would have been impossible without a

handful of Highgate Wood teachers. Mr Robertson

dedicated three months of his life to helping us

organise the conference, Mrs Sayer made sure all of

our delegates were well-prepared and knew exactly

what to do and Ms Angove trained the rapporteurs

and helped with the organisation on the day.

It was a very successful day, and I hope that my

enthusiasm is shared by everyone else who

participated.

Madeleine McBroom writes:

This year's conference was on refuge and migration,

a current topic being discussed frequently by

politicians and in the media. I think that this is an

important topic to debate because it makes you

think about and empathise with people who are

less fortunate than you. When you are in your

different committees and talking about specific

topics you understand how big the refugee crisis is

and how many obstacles need to be overcome to

provide shelter for those who have lost their

homes. I believe that discussing a topic that is

currently being discussed in Parliament today

makes you feel more responsible, and this makes

writing a resolution seem even more important.

Issue 29 March 2016

18

Ella Phillips writes:

I would recommend Model UN to friends as it is very

interesting. I think it enables us as students to

understand other opinions about global issues. It

also enables us to develop our knowledge of the

world and world issues. I know that many students

are frustrated about most governments' reactions to

many world crises and I would recommend MUN to

them.

MUN also allows us to get an understanding of why

countries have done what they have done and

create a resolution to the problem that is often

better than what the current government is doing.

Model UN gives us an opportunity to release this

frustration in a positive way.

WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF MODEL UN? HOW DOES THE CONFERENCE WORK?

Sian Evans writes:

The Opening Ceremony at the beginning of the day

introduced the Secretary General, Beth Gosschalk

and Under-Secretary General, Imogen Sheppard.

There was also a speech form Mr Cozier and our

guest speaker Catherine West, MP for Hornsey and

Wood Green. After the speech we were taken to the

committee rooms to discuss our individual topics.

At the beginning, the committee starts to get to

know each others' countries and positions, but as

the day goes on you start to form blocks, which is

where countries with similar positions work

together to discuss solutions to the crisis.

Freya Dougan writes:

Firstly, Model UN is a great way to learn about

particular issues that are relevant to today. This

year I have learnt a lot about the refugee crisis and

the various conflicts that have a huge impact on the

refugee numbers. If I was not a part of this

conference I would be unaware about problems in

other parts of the world.

Another benefit of doing Model UN is that it can

improve a person's confidence in speaking in front

of an audience. By choosing when you want to

speak, you can prepare and be confident when it is

your turn. First time delegates were given training

so that they felt ready for the conference. If I had

not participated in Model UN I would not be ready

for speaking out in similar events in the future.

Lastly, Model UN is a very good opportunity to get

used to researching and becoming better at writing

to a deadline. These skills are necessary in future

jobs and I know I will use them again. I will definitely

be interested in participating in future conferences.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND MODEL UN?

WHAT DID I ENJOY ABOUT THE DAY?

Eleanor Wetherall writes:

Overall, Model UN was a highly enjoyable experience

that exposes you to a formal yet communal

environment. Model UN gives you the opportunity to

work alongside other schools to each attain certain

goals. You can work together in order to address and

find resolutions to real life situations and problems.

It also gives you the opportunity to expand your

knowledge on world situations and hear other

countries' views.

Another enjoyable and exciting element of Model UN

is winning prizes such as Best Delegate, Distinguished

Delegate and Honourable Mention, which are

presented to you in the closing ceremony. The whole

day produces an energetic, enthusiastic and

communal atmosphere.

A gallery of photographs from the

Model UN Conference 2016 is

available on the school website.

Issue 29 March 2016

19

47,806 so far this year

Top Merit Earners Joel Olatunji (Yr 11)

Anastasia Abramchuk (Yr 10) Isabel Pountney (Yr 9) Lotte Ezer-Ahern (Yr 8)

Ava Todd (Yr 7)

47,378 so far this year

Top Merit Earners Maddy Baron (Yr 11) Ismaili Daniela (Yr 10)

Rory Butler (Yr 9) Hugo Clague (Yr 8) Alice Jenkins (Yr 7)

43,998 so far this year

Top Merit Earners Janice Makambu (Yr 11)

Melisa Biner (Yr 10) Sam Beach (Yr 9)

Macy White (Yr 8) Zoe Street (Yr 7)

From caring comes courage

The best way to predict the future is to invent it

Success comes from perseverance

Thanks to all the parents\carers who have logged into e-praise, and for your positive comments. If you still need an account for the system please email data@hws.haringey.sch.uk with your child’s name.

Mr Talbert writes:

Belinda Parmar of Lady Geek visited Highgate Wood

School in March to speak to Year 8 students about

technology and careers in technology.

It’s part of her research for the United Nations and

she is keen to get the views of our students as well

as providing them with useful information.

While visiting the school, Belinda launched a

competition to promote International Women’s

Day. For the competition students were asked to

design a computer wallpaper to promote

International Women’s Day.

Out of all of the entries, Ramneet Bains’ entry stood

out and he was awarded the honour of appearing as

the computer wallpaper for all of the computers in

the school. Ramneet also received a Raspberry Pi 3

as first price.

Congratulations also to runners up Owen Rice, Ollie

Freeman, Jem Clift and Daisy Daman Underwood for

their excellent entries.

LADY GEEK AND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY WALLPAPER

Issue 29 March 2016

20

BUTTONS, NEEDLES AND THREAD SWEDISH VISITORS AT HWS

Students whose buttons break on their skirts or trousers are now able to have emergency repairs completed. Spare buttons, needles and thread are now available in the House office and at the Wren Reception.

FRENCH OR SPANISH TEEN FICTION REQUEST

Ms Lacroix writes:

The Modern Languages Department are in

desperate need of fiction for native speakers as well

as learners of French and Spanish. Cahiers de

vacances as well.

If you do have any books available please donate

them to the school. They can be left at Wren

reception.

Mr Grimmett writes:

On the 18th March, seven teachers from De

Geergymnasiet school in Norrköping, Sweden came

to see Highgate Wood School in action and visited

6th form lessons in Art, Photography, English,

Media, Science and Sociology.

They were very impressed with what they saw. In

particular they commented on:

The great relationships students have with staff

and the positive working environment this

created.

How focussed students were on their courses

and how well their work showed progression.

How interesting our assessment methods are;

they have taken many hints and tips away with

them to use in their own lessons.

They liked the display work produced by the

art, media and design departments.

They also mentioned how nice it was that

students held doors open for them as they

passed through corridors and that when they

said hello to students of all ages everyone was

polite to them.

A special thanks to Buse Kiran and Sam Marks from

8T for giving them a tour of the school and being so

nice and informative. Additional thanks to Ella

Bullard and Tia Ezer-Ahern from 8T for helping to

collect our visitors from classrooms which really

helped me out.

EXAM INVIGILATORS WANTED

Highgate Wood School will need to recruit

invigilators for the upcoming exams.

If you are interested please apply on-line on

the school website.

We are also looking for individuals who are

fluent in English and one of the following

languages:

Arabic, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin,

Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian

to help the languages department in

conducting oral exams in those languages.

Please contact Mr Demetriou for details:

jde@hws.haringey.sch.uk

The school is committed to paying Invigilators the London Living Wage

Issue 29 March 2016

21

BBC SCHOOL REPORT

Ms Wildman writes:

On Thursday 10th March, twelve Year 10 students

had the day off timetable in order to create

Highgate Wood School's BBC School News Report.

This event runs annually , and around 30,000

students from more than 1,000 schools up and

down the United Kingdom and beyond took part

this year in what was the BBC School Report's 10th

annual News Day. This project enables students to

get into role as the production team for a news

broadcast and it thus gives them a sense of how it

feels to research news stories, film and then edit

them.

Prior to the day, the reporters committed a large

amount of their lunchtimes to filming news stories.

This involved contacting interviewees, considering

the shot types they would like to use and

attempting to consider the location in which to film.

They discovered that there was a lot more to an

interview than sitting and asking questions! Sammy

especially became an expert in "the nods", which is

when you film a reporter nodding to show interest

in what an interviewee is saying.

We had some great interviewees for our "exclusive"

stories, such as our school Reading Patron, Keren

David, and BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year

finalist, Noah Stoneman. We were very pleased to

have them on board!

Coming up with some more topical news stories

required some thought. Eventually, they settled on

an investigative news report about religious

tolerance and a report on what feminism means to

people. However, on news day they realised that

not everything you film can be used and thus the

feminism project had to be cut and the religious

tolerance project trimmed down.

News day itself was fun: we had James working

hard in the edit suite, Manel and others filming the

last part of the their project and then the rest

filming the news bulletin and the links in between.

The latter part became slightly stressful when there

was a technical breakdown with an SD card and we

had to quickly film and upload it all again. As a

result the students had a real flavour of working to

a tight deadline on news day and how you cannot

relax until all work is complete!

The report was a great success and everyone

contributed equally. They worked excellently as a

team and stayed positive throughout. Everyone

learned or enhanced their media skills, or their

teamwork skills and yet again showed how fantastic

HWS students are.

Well done Karina, Alice, Nimisha, Manel, Fiona,

Lauren, Sammy, Anoushka , Mahjaben, Isabelle,

James and Afsun. Their work can be viewed at

www.hws.haringey.sch.uk\schoolreport

Issue 29 March 2016

22

ACCELERATED READER AWARDS

Lily Bacon Darwin (7W)

Katya Dickson (7G)

Joseph Screene (8G)

Lily Bacon Darwin (7W)

Cassia Begg (7H)

Sude Bektas (8D)

Luna Berger (7G)

Gabriel Cahill Coady (7G)

Eden Cavendish (7H)

Zachary Chisholm (8G)

Aidan Dakhama (8S)

Gareth Davies (7G)

Olivia Dennis (7A)

Max Eatherden (8D)

Manon Elliott (7A)

Joe Ewbank (8D)

Lottie Ezer-Ahern (8H)

Tsiona Fernandes-Tadesse (7S)

Zak Fowler (8D)

Noah Gerner (7W)

Alice Jenkins (7T)

Pia Kanani (7D)

Nancy Moule (7W)

Daisy Murray (7G)

Bell Overton Farnham (8D)

Lucas Ramos-Thornton (7W)

Joseph Screene (8G)

Scala Tromans (7H)

Holly Tunnicliffe (7H)

Klodian Mustali (8A)

Ms Ereira writes:

Congratulations to all the AR

award winners this half-term.

We have raised the thresholds so

it is an even bigger achievement

than before.

Gold Certificate

for 800,000 words read:

Silver Certificate

for 400,000 words read:

Silver Certificate

for 15 quizzes passed

Do you read for pleasure?

How often do you read for 30 minutes or more?

How useful do you think AR lessons are in helping you improve your English?

ACCELERATED READER SURVEYS

Ms Harris writes

We have carried out some work in looking at the impact of

Accelerated Reader on the reading habits of students in Year 7 and 8

and it does look positive. Many students are now reading far more

regularly, and the majority of students say that their AR lessons have

helped improve their English.

All Year 7 and 8 students are able to access Accelerated Reader with

their regular school usernames and passwords. Parents and carers can

also access the site and see their child’s test result and progress by

logging onto the Home Connect site.

Information for how to do this is on the Accelerated Information pages

of the school website, under the Student Tab.

Issue 29 March 2016

23

Mr Hatch writes:

Following the announcement in

the last issue of Insight I am

pleased to confirm that we

have now instructed

contractors to begin Phase 1

of the project for weather

cover. This will involve

constructing a canopy on the wall

outside the school hall, where students line up for

the canteen.

This project was initiated by a request from the

School Council to provide more wet weather

covering in the school and has been entirely funded

by the PSA’s lottery fund.

It is the first phase of a plan to improve our

playground environment and make it a better place

to be, whatever the weather.

We hope the project will get underway during the

coming term— possibly too late to provide shelter

from this year’s April showers, but certainly ready

for next academic year.

WET WEATHER COVER

HWS PSA

LOTTERY

FUNDED

PROJECT

DINING HALL REDESIGN

Mr Hatch writes:

The School Council has alerted us of the need to

improve the design and the arrangement of seating

in the dining hall.

Many of the existing tables are damaged and

unsafe, as well as taking up far too much space and

making the area seem cluttered and cramped. We

will retain the best of the current

furniture so we can maintain areas

that retain a café-feel, but we are

going to supplement these with

tables that are far better designed

for our needs and also can be

folded up and stored away very

easily when we are using the

dining hall for other events, be

they parent’s evenings or school

social events.

PSA CURRY AND QUIZ NIGHT - THURSDAY 21st April

Issue 29 March 2016

24

WORKING WITH COLERIDGE PRIMARY

Ms Ereira writes:

Historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, adventure… the

Haringey Children’s Book Award shortlist is very

strong and our Year 7 book club are thoroughly

enjoying them. They’re looking forward to voting at

the awards ceremony in April, although some are

feeling very torn between their favourite titles.

The award, now in its second year, is aimed at Years

5-7 and so is a good way for secondary schools to

link up with their local primaries. On March 17th we

were visited by Coleridge Primary School’s book

group for a quiz on the shortlisted books. Teams

composed of both Highgate Wood School and

Coleridge students fought a closely-matched battle

to show the best knowledge of the five books.

Highgate Wood’s Orgena, Louisa, Ayse, Ellie and

Najibah, together with Coleridge’s Calem and Finn

won – but it was a very close thing and all five

teams were impressive. Thanks for coming,

Coleridge!

The shortlisted books are:

The Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen

Whistling in the Dark by Shirley Hughes

Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

Phoenix by SF Said

The Broken King by Philip Womack

Ms Ereira writes:

The winner of Highgate Wood School's first book

award was announced by our Patron of Reading,

Keren David, in the LRC on 4th March.

The winning book, as voted for by staff and

students, was The Art of Being Normal by Lisa

Williamson. This book has been hugely popular

here and is much borrowed from the LRC (and

surprisingly hard to get back – please return it if

you’re holding on to a copy!)

Students' comments on The Art of Being Normal on

our LRC blog pages have included: 'intriguing... I

highly recommend it', 'changed my opinion... an

amazing book' and 'it might be my favourite book I

have ever read'.

At the awards ceremony students were able to tell

Lisa Williamson themselves how much they had

enjoyed her book via a Skype call. Despite a few

technical glitches (I expect we looked better upside

-down anyway) it was great to have the chance to

tell her how much her book is appreciated.

The awards process has been a lot of fun. We've

loved reading and talking about our shortlisted

books. Students designed posters to advertise the

award, we took over the Pickled Pepper Books shop

window, and some students even recreated the

cover of shortlisted books for World Book Day.

We were also lucky enough to host talks by two of

our shortlisted authors.

Let’s do it again next year!

HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL BOOK AWARD

Issue 29 March 2016

25

Ms Ereira writes:

The Art of Being Normal was shortlisted for the HWS

Book Award, but of course we didn’t know at this

point that we were meeting the author of the

winning book.

Lisa talked about her childhood and teenage years

growing up in Nottingham. A desperately shy child,

she decided at the age of nine that she wanted to

be an actress – but was too shy to tell anyone. As a

teenager she found Nottingham very boring.

Without mobile phones or computers, she was

forced through sheer boredom to develop a great

imagination. She was also a keen reader, but felt

that none of the books in the library reflected her

life or experiences. All that has changed now, and

there are now plenty of books being published for

teenagers in which they can recognise themselves.

The Art of Being Normal is a part of this.

Lisa did go on to have a career as an actress, but

between jobs she would work in offices. While

doing some office work, she began to write a novel.

The book was quite autobiographical, about an

actress. When it was finished, she sent it to literary

agents but it was rejected by all of them. Having

written this first semi-autobiographical book, Lisa

now decided that she wanted to write about

someone completely different to herself.

While looking for acting work she took a job as an

administrator doing secretarial work at the

Tavistock Centre in the Gender Identity

Development Service. This service supports under-

18s who are struggling with their gender identity.

Lisa typed up session notes and found the stories

very moving. She also observed group sessions with

transgender young people. She found that on top of

their struggles with gender identity, they had the

same concerns as every teenager: fancying people,

exams, peer pressure and so on. Lisa decided that

she wanted to write not only about gender identity,

but about all of these other things too. The result

was The Art of Being Normal, a story about being a

transgender teenager.

At the end of the talk, the students asked many

interesting questions, including whether Lisa had

worried about causing offence by writing about this

subject. She told us that she did worry about

whether she had the right to tell the story, because

she is not transgender herself. And in fact while she

was waiting for the book to be published she

became so anxious about it that her eyebrows fell

out. She does feel however that a writer’s job is to

tell stories about people different from themselves,

and that it is more interesting than simply relating

one’s own experiences.

Lisa had some good life advice: Don’t be too set on a

particular path in life. Let fate do its thing. She

wanted to act, but if she hadn’t needed to find work

between acting jobs, she would never have written

The Art of Being Normal. She also says everyone

should learn to touch type!

LISA WILLIAMSON VISITS THE LRC

Issue 29 March 2016

26

Ms Ereira writes:

We saw a lot of Keren David, our brilliant and

committed Patron of Reading, during the week of

World Book Day.

Keren spoke at three assemblies. She talked about

the author Louise Rennison, and how her book

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging had turned

one Year 7 girl into a keen reader. Louise Rennison's

books are extremely funny, and her death last week

was a terrible loss to the world of books. Keren

talked about how you only need to fall in love with

one book to become hooked on reading, and shared

the impressive research showing that the influence

of reading for pleasure counteracts differences in

social background. Reading for pleasure - real

pleasure, not the kind of reading you think you're

supposed to do but don't really want to - massively

increases your chances of success in all sorts of

areas in later life.

Keren also spent two full days running creative

writing workshops for all of the Year 7 classes. They

played with plot and post-its, and created

characters to drive stories. The second of these two

days fell on World Book Day itself, so we saw some

fabulous combinations of book characters

collaborating on their story ideas – the Cat in the

Hat working with Batman while Cleopatra worked

with Red Riding Hood. The workshops were a lot of

WORLD BOOK DAY CELEBRATIONS AND OUR PATRON OF READING

fun and, to my absolute delight, I have just been

handed the first draft of a story which was inspired

by the workshop.

And finally, the day after World Book Day, Keren

was back again to announce the winner of our first

ever Highgate Wood School Book Award.

We are all very grateful to Keren for her energy,

ideas and passion. She is doing wonderful things to

inspire a generation of readers and writers here at

Highgate Wood, and World Book Day is the perfect

focus for this.

I very much hope that everyone will use their World

Book Day tokens and visit their local bookshop to

find that book which hooks them on reading. We've

got a display here in the LRC to show the special

edition £1 books which you can have in exchange

for your token, but if you prefer, you can use the

token to have £1 off the price of any other book.

Happy reading!

Issue 29 March 2016

27

WORLD BOOK DAY COSTUMES

This year’s World Book Day costumes were better than ever, with both Year 7 and Year 8 dressing up this

time – not to mention some impressive efforts from the staff. It was a seriously difficult decision, but the

overall winners of Best Costume were as follows:

Year 7:

• Zeki Jones 7T (Winnie the Pooh)

Year 8:

Joint winners – four girls all working together as various Alice in Wonderland characters:

• Aoife Davey Gunn 8W

• Sabine Kikuchi-House 8W

• Edan Silbiger 8E

• Sibylla Baron 8E

A LEVEL ART TRIUMPH

Mr Marriott writes:

The Year 12 AS Art group got to

grips with their Art exam in the

final week before Easter

producing some outstanding

examples of skill and creativity

over the 10 hour 2 day exam.

Most had decided to explore

forms of portraiture, but each

completed in a range of scales

and using a great variety of

materials including examples

of painting, drawing, stencil

paper cutting and photography.

Pictured here in progress are

Anna Keating and Helen Swinton.

The school calendar is available on-line at www.hws.uk.com

Keep informed Find out what is going on at Highgate Wood School and keep up with our news

visit us at our website www.hws.uk.com

follow us on twitter twitter.com/highgatewood

Check the school’s opening status

Call 02084087508 and give the school’s DfE code: 3094030

Insight is available on-line at www.hws.uk.com

School begins again on

Monday 11th April 2016

at 10:50 am

It will be Week 1

* Term ends for students

SUMMER 2016

Mon 11th April

30th May - 3rd June

Thurs 21st July

Term Starts

Half term break

Term Ends*

KEY DATES

Year 11 Celebration Eve Friday 27th May

Year 11 Alternative Timetable Monday 16th May

Summer term ends Thursday 21st July

Year 10 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 12th April

Year 7 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 26th April

End of Half term Friday 27th May

AUTUMN 2016

Mon 5th Sept

24th Oct– 28th Oct

Wed 21st Dec

Term Starts

Half term break

Term Ends

* 2016-17 dates not finalised

Bank Holiday Monday 2nd May

Thursday 18th August A Level Results Day

Thursday 25th August GCSE Results Day

Thursday 25th August Sixth Form Enrolment

Year 6 Transition Day Tuesday 5th July

MADFest Saturday 9th July