Newsletter – March 2013 special Building developments at CCS We are commissioning changes and improvements to our buildings over summer. Now that the public library has gone, the old library space is used by Sixth Form students. We are improving the new Sixth Form area and extending the café. We will also create a new library in the space left vacant by the Sixth Form. The new library will offer multimedia resources and will cater for a range of learning activities for primary and secondary children. Entrance area / breakout space We need more space for drama so we plan to build a new drama studio close to building A. At present our fitness suite is in Building C and occupies a space the size of two classrooms. We will build a new fitness suite alongside the new drama studio and use the freed-up space for classrooms. The new drama studio and fitness suite are shown in the sketch below. They will be built to a modular design and we expect completion by September of this year. The new building will mean we can hold all our drama lessons in purpose-built spaces. The new fitness suite is nearer to our PE base. We will use the space left vacant in building C for additional classrooms. Drama Studio Fitness suite
Transcript
Newsletter – March 2013 special
Building developments at CCS We are commissioning changes and improvements to our buildings over summer. Now that the public library has gone, the old library space is used by Sixth Form students. We are improving the new Sixth Form area and extending the café. We will also create a new library in the space left vacant by the Sixth Form. The new library will offer multimedia resources and will cater for a range of learning activities for primary and secondary children.
Entrance
area /
breakout
space
We need more space for drama so we plan to build a new drama studio close to building A. At present our fitness suite is in Building C and occupies a space the size of two classrooms. We will build a new fitness suite alongside the new drama studio and use the freed-up space for classrooms.
The new drama studio and fitness suite are shown in the sketch below. They will be built to a modular design and we expect completion by September of this year. The new building will mean we can hold all our drama lessons in purpose-built spaces. The new fitness suite is nearer to our PE base. We will use the space left vacant in building C for additional classrooms.
Drama Studio Fitness suite
Opportunities for Gifted and Talented Students
We are launching 5 new opportunities for gifted and talented students in Years 7 to 10:
Archaeology Detectives
We aim to build on students’ understanding of the medieval period, and develop higher order thinking skills by using archaeological knowledge and skills. Students will be creating their own research project based on a local deserted medieval village. All students participating in this project will learn how to analyse archaeological artefacts, such as pottery and bone and will learn how to use archaeological equipment such as a dumpy level.
By the end of the project, students will be able to carry out basic archaeological tasks, both on site and in post-excavation, as well as using complex historical sources.
CCS International Language Award
We take great pride in the ability of many of our students to speak another language at home. In this project, the idea is to have groups of students educating each other about the languages they speak with the aim of:
Broadening students’ awareness of languages
Improving students’ prospects of gaining entry into Higher Education or employment.
Generating enthusiasm for studying another language.
The first languages to be offered will be Gujarati and Cantonese. Gujarati will mainly be aimed at current speakers who would like to improve their knowledge of the language. Cantonese is aimed at all students wishing to learn another language in years 7-10.
Art Gifted and Talented project
Students who have an aptitude for art, been working hard in lessons, and shown an enthusiasm for the subject have been offered the opportunity to extend and develop their skills in an Art Club within mixed groups of year 8 and 9 students. There will be a high level of support and guidance at each session, and significant progress will be seen by the end of the course. Students will explore the works of the Great Masters, and will contrast this by looking at modern artists who have been inspired by the same techniques.
Students will showcase their work in a group exhibition at the Serendipity Gallery in lower E block, curated by our sixth form; where friends, family, and members of the public will be invited along to a private view of their work.
Real Business Challenge
The Real Business Challenge project will offer Year 10 students the opportunity to form their very own businesses and compete against each other in the development of a healthy and sustainable soft drink. The project will run with weekly sessions. Students will develop their business and brand identity, before developing their product.
Students will get to experience first-hand the highs and lows of running a business enabling them to demonstrate enterprise skills and to develop teamwork, problem-solving, creative thinking, leadership, financial capability and business acumen.
The Book Blog
Launching after Easter, this project will encourage students in Years 7 to 10 to make the transition to the next level in their reading. Young people often stop reading at age 11, when they grow out of Roald Dahl and JK Rowling. Children will be invited to take a step up in the level of reading challenge and add their reading experiences to a blog on the school website.
Sixth Form Opportunities
All subjects offer students a chance to extend their learning beyond A Level. Details on our website.
FOCUS 12 is the group of more able Year 12 students, identified as a result of their GCSE point score. These students have the potential to go to Oxford/Cambridge/Russell Group universities. The challenges on offer take many forms, some are subject specific, others are cross-curricular.
FOCUS 12 GROUP: PROGRAMME 2012-13
Thinking and Analytical Skills – identifying and application of different types of argument
Discussion/Presentation Skills
Introducing Mentoring/Leadership Opportunities
Off site visits
Visiting speakers
Developing the profile of a prospective undergraduate
Introducing opportunities for Oxbridge conferences/Summer Schools – How to apply
Discussion of university admission requirements
The benefits of University Open Days and Summer School; presentation by a previous successful applicant at CCS
Visits to Oxford/Cambridge for prospective applicants
Interview preparation
Guidance re: Gap Year Opportunities/Work Shadowing
Support from current undergraduates at Oxford/Cambridge/Russell Group universities
Study skills: ‘Re-sits: the implications‘
Series of short lectures delivered by a team of Post 16 teaching staff. This broad based experience focuses on a range of areas embracing politics, Law, History, Literature, The Arts, Science, Economics, IT, Philosophy and Ethics, Sport and Psychology.
Although we identify groups of students as suitable for these activities, students can also self-select and parents can recommend. For more information about programmes and activities for gifted and talented students please visit our website and search ‘gifted and talented’. You will find full details there of the opportunities summarised here.
Mrs Harle has been appointed as Gifted & Talented Provision Leader in the primary phase this term and will be building on current G&T provision for Year 5 & 6 mathematicians and key stage two artists. More about G&T development in the primary phase in the summer term newsletter.
National Science & Engineering Week shines the spotlight on how the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics relate to our everyday lives, and help to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers through fun and participative activities and events. This year, students throughout CCS took part in a variety of activities ranging from investigating scientific discoveries to programming robots, the highlight of which was the STEM fair where students demonstrated their understanding of key principles in their independently designed experiments and displays. Primary students also joined in the fun by exhibiting their learning from the week. Three young mathematicians exhibited their learning about proportion through making scale models of ‘London Landmarks’ and ‘Flying to the
Moon’ won best primary investigation display.
In addition to the STEM fair stands, entries into the ‘What a Waste’ competition were also on display. Visitors were asked to judge the posters and decide which would be sent forward to compete in the National competition—winners to be announced!
Secondary phase students exhibited a range of intriguing investigations and demonstrations including the ‘Raspberry Pi’ and ‘Lance Armstrong and the Science of Drugs’. Individual student winners who impressed the judges this year were Tya Raikundalia with her work on ‘Is Your Taste Influenced By Your Smell?’- and Ash Venkatakrishnan with her ‘Surface Area to Volume Ratio Using NaOH Jelly Cubes’ investigation. The People’s Choice Award went to ‘Walking on Custard’ by Hannah Mowbray, Jacy Senior, Josh Thorman, Anaiya Shah and Conor Preston and ‘Where Did All The Stars Go?’ exhibited by Soren & Ethan Luxton and Leah Ribano. Staff also joined in by ‘becoming’ Scientists or scientific elements for the week and running
a competition for students to name them all.
A week previously, last year’s winners, Sixth Form Team The Germ Busters, were exhibitors at The Big Bang National Fair at the Excel Centre in London. Congratulations to Shiva Joshi, Hannah Mitchell, Lydia Wright, Leonie Schultz-Bye and Cara Ward. Their project involved swabbing particular locations in school and growing cultures to find out which places had the most germs! They then suggested ways to improve hygiene and combat the risk from germs. We were proud that they were able to represent CCS at the national finals.
Proud young poets celebrate their success!
Earlier in the academic year, children in Year 2 set to work using their senses to write some tasty, salad inspired poetry which was then entered in to the ‘Sense Poetry’ Competition.
Similarly, Year 4 and Year 6 children took part in the ‘Poetry Detectives’ Competition where the challenge was to explore different techniques and new ways of writing poems. Successful poems were selected on the basis of imagination, expression, interpretation of poetry, use of language and description.
We are delighted to announce that many of our poems were selected as winners and have just been published in two brand new poetry compilations.
Young Poets’ Work Is Published
Parents of older students will know that CCS was part of a national legal challenge against Ofqual and the exam boards, following changes in the grade boundaries of last year’s GCSE English results. The judge agreed that there had been unfairness but ruled that Ofqual and the exam board were acting within their rights.
In the meantime, 43 of our students improved their grades in English in the free re-sit exam in November; this included 20 students who achieved grade C. There was also disquiet about the marking of our GCSE Geography coursework; the exam board made significant changes to the original marks. School challenged this and the exam board eventually climbed down, moving all the students’ marks upwards. So our final GCSE results were better than the figures originally published, though still short of where we expected them to be.
Changes this year – we have selected new exam boards for GCSE English (starting with Year 10) and for GCSE Geography (immediate change). We have also introduced a new double award Maths course for Year 10 students and developed a different strategy for exam entry in Maths for Year 11. For the first time, we entered Year 11 students for a full GCSE in Maths in January. This has just given us our best ever GCSE Maths results! 79% of students have achieved grade A*-C and those not there yet can try again in summer.
In September, we are offering two new GCSE courses: GCSE Law and GCSE Leisure and Tourism. Details of these can be found in our online course guide, available on the website.
