Half-Term Newsletter

February 2016

In this Newsletter

News - in Brief

On the Website

Forthcoming events

Important arrangements and dates for the half term ahead

Future Newsletters…

In order to reduce costs and to be more environmentally friendly, all newsletters will be posted on the school

website. Newsletters will be published on a half-termly basis.

School Communications

Please do get used to using our forms of online communication, listed here. They are the best way to keep up-

to-date with the daily life of the school. It is also far more efficient to access information via the website or

Twitter account, rather than by telephone.

Website: www.isleworthsyon.org Email: school@isleworthsyon.org

Twitter: twitter.com/IsleworthSyon Telephone: 020 8568 5791

Facebook: facebook.com/IsleworthSyon Fax: 020 8568 1939

Parent Portal: parent.isleworthsyon.com

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News – In Brief

Charity Campaign Raises Nearly £1,500!

At the end of the Autumn Term, the school organised a charity campaign in support of Save the Children, a

charity which aims to tackle child poverty both at home and abroad. One of the campaigns that they have run

involved buying gifts (costing from £5.00) for children and communities around the world. We ran an inter-

house fundraising event, where each form group could decide which gift they would try to buy for a child or

family in need.

We were delighted that students from across the school raised an outstanding £1,497.35 for Save the

Children. Shackleton raised the most with a fantastic £673.55. In second place was Turner with £385.66, while

bringing up the rear was Brunel with a still-impressive £327.33. The top-performing form was 7E, who raised

an unbelievable £164.39. With the money that we have raised, we have been able to purchase a number of

gifts, including water filters, midwife training, bicycles, survival kits, winter clothes for a child, and health care

for a child for a year, amongst others!

Year 7 and 8 Online Safety Evening

On Tuesday 26 January, the Isleworth Association (PTA) hosted an Online Safety Evening, inviting students

from Years 7 and 8 along with their parents/carers. The evening was hosted by our Safer Schools Police

Officers, PC Beal and PC Weston, and was well-attended. Those present were given important information

about keeping children safe online, and it was an extremely worthwhile evening.

Jack Petchey Speak Out! Challenge

This year, the school has once again taken part in the Jack

Petchey Speak Out! Challenge, offering our Year 10 Gifted

& Talented students the opportunity to refine and hone their

public speaking skills.

It began in the Autumn Term, with a day-long workshop,

which then led to the school competition. Six boys took part

in the school final, speaking for 2-3 minutes on a variety of

engaging topics. The overall winner was Mateeullah Kakar

(10A) (left), and he progressed to the regional stage of the

competition.

This took place at Chiswick School on Monday 25 January, and brought together fifteen students from schools

across the borough, competing for the right to progress to the national finals. Mateeullah spoke dynamically

about the environment, an extremely pertinent topic. Although he didn’t make it through this very competitive

stage, he certainly did the school proud with the quality of his speaking. Well done, Mateeullah!

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Poetry by Heart - Zack Taylor

Following the success of the school Poetry by Heart competition (see December 2015 newsletter), Zack Taylor

(11C) competed in the West London Final just before the end of the half term. The event took place on

Saturday 6 February at the Paul Robeson Theatre, Hounslow. Zack expertly recited Ozymandias by Percy

Bysshe Shelley and The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats. Although he narrowly missed out on qualifying for the

national finals, the judges were immensely impressed with Zack’s performance.

Miss Hannon said afterwards, “Zack recited one of my favourite poems, Shelley's Ozymandias, with precision,

confidence and energy. Mrs Clayton and I had a lovely afternoon listening to the readings and were very proud

of Zack's achievements in the competition. Poetry by Heart is a wonderful initiative which gets young people

thinking about the power of poetry and of language; we would love to see more students getting involved next

year!”

Zack Taylor (third from left), along with the other competitors.

Also pictured (fourth from left) is Head Judge and former Isleworth & Syon teacher Paul McLoughlin.

Urban Debate League

The school hosted the first round of the Urban Debate League on Wednesday 29 January, with

students from Villiers School, Ealing, competing against our boys in the competition. Our

students were immensely successful in last year’s competition, placing 11 th in the whole country.

This year’s cohort introduces some new blood into the ranks, but you wouldn’t have known it

based on their performances on the evening.

Our four teams took part in eight debates, winning six in total. They discussed issues such as education and

advertising, and were a credit to the school. At the time of writing, we are waiting to hear whether we progress

to the next stage. Well done to all of the boys involved!

Theatre Visits

This half term, several groups of students have been given the opportunity to broaden their learning outside of

the classroom through the experience of live theatre.

This has included:

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On Thursday 7 January, Miss Phillips took four Year 12 music students to Her Majesty’s Theatre for a

captivating performance of the classic Les Misérables. The four students were treated to a sensory

feast, with the live orchestra contributing to their understanding of music in performance.

The afternoon of Wednesday 20 January saw Mr McDonnell taking his GCSE Drama group to see Lord

of the Flies (below) at Richmond Theatre. The following day, he took the Year 9 cohort to see the same

production. Students commented that it was illuminating to see the text come to life on stage.

On the last day of half term, Friday 12 February, Miss Cox took over fifty Year 10 students for a

performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. The students are studying

the text as part of their GCSE course, and so this was a fantastic way to increase their understanding of

Shakespeare’s themes.

Valentine’s Disco – Thursday 11 February

One of the highlights of the school calendar is the Valentine’s Disco, an opportunity at the end of the half term

for students in Years 7-9 to let their hair down. The school once again teamed up with the Green School for

this very successful event, with over 200 boys and girls attending in total! The energy (and noise!) levels in the

hall were raised to the maximum, and everyone present had an absolutely fantastic time. Look out for a gallery

of photographs to be posted on to the website next half term.

The disco saw plenty of exuberant dancing from all involved,

including this spirited rendition of Silentó’s ‘Whip/Nae Nae’!

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Medic Club

Our Year 12 Medic Club has been in full swing this half term. Ten selected students have taken part in a

variety of activities to prepare them for the possible study of a science at university level. The activities have

been wide-ranging and varied, engaging students in all manner of ways. The above photograph shows

students taking part in a dissection of a mammal eye – it was great to see students getting so stuck in! This was

followed by a trip to Specsavers the following week, discussing what an ophthalmologist looks for in an eye

examination and getting a first-hand look at the equipment involved.

Other sessions have focused on teeth and diet and the history of surgery; the latter involved a visit to a

Victorian operating theatre in St Thomas Street, London, to discuss the history of operating tools. It has been a

real eye-opener (no pun intended) for the boys, with the scheme set to continue for the rest of the term.

Year 12 Students Visit Auschwitz

On Thursday 4 February, Miss Cox took Danyal Naidu and Gus Fontaine (both Year 12) on a very sobering

visit to Auschwitz. Organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust, the students were able to experience the

Auschwitz I and Birkenau concentration camps, finding out first-hand about some of the atrocities committed

there during World War II.

It was a very poignant experience for both boys; afterwards, Danyal said, “It has been an amazing and eye

opening experience to witness these events first hand and has really educated me when learning about the

Holocaust.” You can see a couple of Danyal’s photographs from the trip below.

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Sports Report

It’s certainly been a busy half term for our sportsmen. Some of the highlights have included:

Both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 badminton teams finished second in the West London finals. The

boys missed out on a place in the next stage by only a few points, and were a credit to the school.

Our Year 8 athletics team (pictured below) stormed through the borough indoor athletics competition,

winning all but one event! A fantastic effort from the boys.

Mr Adams and Haris Abad (Year 13) visited Twickenham Stadium to watch an England open rugby

session. It was a great experience watching the professionals being put through their paces!

The department launched a drive for the Rowing Club, taking place on Monday and Wednesday

mornings (7.30 – 8.30am) in the school gym. This is a great opportunity for students to get fit, or even to

enter to the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championship – the largest indoor rowing event in the world!

Year 13 sports students (below) took part in an RFU Junior Referee’s Award, spending two days

learning how to be a rugby referee and picking up a qualification at the end of it. The boys worked really

hard over the course of the programme, with the external trainer very impressed with their effort.

Brilliant Club

The school has continued with the Brilliant Club programme this year, offering our

Gifted & Talented students the opportunity to develop skills and build confidence.

This half term, students in Years 7 and 8 took part in six weeks of tutorials with PhD

students from leading UK universities, with half the group focusing on

arts/humanities, and the other half on STEM.

The boys produced some outstanding essays, with eleven students gaining a First!

A special well done to those boys: Waleed Aldillami, Nathaniel Buendia, Elliott

Culling, Jude Maddock-Youngs, Samuel Nixon, Armaan Sachdeva, Raul Shah,

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Mohammed Sheiknoor, Jack Shiels, Josiah Wilson Kepple and Lars-Leander Volle.

The Year 9 and 10 cohort headed to Somerville College, Oxford on Friday 12 February for their launch trip.

Look out for more information on their progress in the next newsletter.

NCS Challenge – Year 11

During this half term, representatives from NCS visited Year 11 students in assembly to talk about the NCS

Challenge scheme, open to Year 11 students this summer. This is a fantastic opportunity for students that

gives them the chance to build skills and confidence through a part-residential summer programme. This

scheme is government-funded and therefore asks for only a small contribution.

Check out the letter on the website for more information: www.isleworthsyon.org/?p=641307.

On The Website

Home Learning

One of the school’s academic priorities for 2015-16 is Independent Learning, encouraging students to go

beyond their classroom studies through Home Learning and other independent tasks. We feel that it is

important for parents/carers to be aware of the work being set for your children; to the end, we asked each

curriculum area to produce Key Stage 3 (Year 7-9) Home Learning Sheets for each of the six half terms this

year.

These sheets have been steadily posted to the subject pages on the website; this will continue for the rest of

the year. The sheets give a general idea as to what work your son/ward should be completing at home each

week for each of his subjects.

At the time of writing, Home Learning sheets for most subject areas have been completed and uploaded for the

Spring Term. If you come across a subject page without all of the Home Learning task sheets for the Autumn

and Spring Terms, do not worry – they are in progress and will be uploaded in due course.

Extra-Curricular Activities List

You can now view the complete schedule of enrichment programmes (catch-up sessions, clubs, and societies)

available to students on the school’s website. This document will be updated on a termly basis and is designed

to provide a rough outline on the activities available to our students. There is also a document for sports

training and clubs. Head to www.isleworthsyon.org/?page_id=2533.

Please note that this data is accurate as of the start of the Spring Term 2016, and is subject to change

dependent on circumstances.

Revision Resources

As our Year 11 students get closer to their summer examinations, they should be using all the time that they

can to revise. We have a dedicated ‘Study Skills and Support’ page (www.isleworthsyon.org/?page_id=915) on

the website which contains a variety of resources. This includes blank timetables and revision guides, as well

as a subject-by-subject guide for what resources can help with the revision process.

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Reminders

Appearance Policy – Holiday Reminders

Please remember the requirements of the school with regards to appearance, in particular to hair. This is

especially pertinent over the holiday period, when students can be tempted to go for a style that does not

conform to school requirements. Our policy is clear with regard to hair, and all of our students are aware of the

requirements through repeated reminders in assemblies and in tutor time.

The extract from our Appearance Policy is included below as a reminder:

Hair should be conventional in style and in length (above the collar and no shorter than a blade 2) and

should not be artificially coloured, “spiked” or contain styling products. Excessively shaven hair (below

a blade 2/where skin on head is visible), shaved eyebrows or any shaven step/lines/patterns/fashion

trims are not acceptable.

Examples of inappropriate hairstyles can be seen below.

Hair is too short Hair is too long Two different lengths

Products in the hair Products and patterns Patterns

If, on return after the holiday period, students are not appropriately attired for school, they will be sent home

and told that they cannot return until their appearance is appropriate.

Please also remember that the Senior Leadership Team of the school are the final arbiters of the Appearance

Code.

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Basic Equipment – ‘No Excuses’

It is a simple and clear expectation that students bring “basic” school equipment to school on a daily basis,

thus enabling them to be ready for learning. Equipment includes pens, pencil, ruler, a scientific calculator,

specialist mathematics equipment and a water bottle. All of these items should be organised within a suitably-

sized school bag, which should also contain a reading book. Please ensure that your son/ward organises his

school bag the evening before a school day and is therefore ready to learn. There are ‘no excuses’ for students

not being prepared for school.

Independent Learning

An important whole school objective for 2015-2016 is for students to display greater independent learning. The

misconception is to think that this is solely about homework. In fact, parents/carers can help the school

promote independent learning by encouraging their son/ward to:

1. Make decisions (accept that effort is required in order to be successful; self-check their work, accept

advice without perceiving it as criticism and work without always seeking approval; respond to the

teacher’s written feedback)

2. Learn how to think (question the teacher about topics as well as their peers, take risks with their

learning, use initiative, be open-minded and offer solutions, re-visit activities or topics without pressure)

3. Work in a systematic and organised manner (they possess school basic equipment; they are

resourceful and manage their time effectively)

4. Read for 20 minutes every evening.

Key Stage 3 Homework Pilot

The KS3 homework pilot is being extended until the remainder of the school year. Evidence shows that the

regular and effective completion of homework contributes to an additional six months of student progress every

year. Given this, students in Years 7-9 will continue to be rewarded with Homework Positives every time a

home-learning activity is submitted which is of an "acceptable quality". An "acceptable quality" relates to both

content and presentation, and is solely at the discretion of the class teacher. Students who produce

outstanding pieces of homework will receive Homework Commendations. Many of these outstanding pieces

can be viewed on Twitter marked with the hashtag #IsleworthHomework.

Please continue to check the study diary of your son/ward for their home-learning activities; these are also

posted on the school website. Detentions for failing to submit homework have been phased out; instead,

parents/carers will be contacted by letter when students regularly fail to submit work.

Year 10 Work Experience: “Own Find” Deadline

Year 10 students have until Monday 22 February (12 noon) to identify and sign-off on their "own find" for work

experience. After this point, Year 10 students without a placement risk both failing to obtain highly prized

employability skills (profoundly valuable for any future UCAS form or employment reference) and remaining in

school for two weeks in July 2016. More information about ‘own finds’ is available from the dedicated ‘Work

Experience’ page on the school website: www.isleworthsyon.org/?page_id=6463.

Year 10 Work Experience: Employers Wanted!

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Year 10 students are privileged to act as school ambassadors on work experience from Monday 4 July - Friday

15 July 2016. Given this, we are continually looking to broaden our local and regional venues into which to

place

students. If any parents/carers are able to offer such a placement (five or ten days) as they are either self-

employed or work in an establishment which encourages genuine work-related-learning, then please contact

Mrs Spink via email: jspink@isleworthsyon.org. Your support in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Car Parking – Before and After School

We would be grateful if parents/carers would carefully consider whether or not their children require picking up

from school each day. The roads around school can get congested; dropping off or collecting students, at

either end of the day, does add to this congestion. It can be frustrating for our neighbours to cope with the

added traffic and sometimes the way cars are parked is illegal. The zig-zag lines outside the school gates are

in place for the safety of our students, and double yellow lines also exist to ensure better traffic flow. The Local

Authority has an Enforcement Officer who attends the school to issue fixed-penalties where required, and this

has our full support. In addition, parents/carers must not drive onto the school grounds to pick up their children,

unless there are exceptional circumstances. Walking or cycling to school is a far healthier option for your

children, so please give this option serious consideration.

Healthy Behaviours

SAFE CYCLING

A small number of boys have required a reminder

about safe cycling, especially on the way home

from school in the afternoon. All students should

have a cycle helmet as part of their cycle wear and

they must also ensure that some care is taken

when cycling down the hill to the London Road.

Again, we would ask you to discuss these matters if

your son/ward cycles to school. Thank you for your

support.

FIZZY DRINKS

We ask all parents/carers to ensure that packed

lunches do not include fizzy drinks. Such drinks are

not allowed on the school site. In addition we have

noticed some boys purchasing unhealthy drinks

and snacks (including packets of biscuits and large

packs of crisps) on the way to school. We would

ask you to discuss this with your son/ward in an

attempt to prevent such unhealthy behaviour.

Free School Meals

If you are in receipt of certain benefits then you may be able to claim for free school meals. Your children are

entitled to free school meals if you are any of the following:

in receipt of Income Support

in receipt of Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance

in receipt of an Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance

in receipt of a Child Tax Credit, but not entitled to a Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as

assessed by the Inland Revenue) of no more than £16,190 (from 6 April 2015)

being supported by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS)

in receipt of Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit.

Online applications to the London Borough of Hounslow on the link below:

https://eforms.hounslow.gov.uk/ufs/ufsmain?ebz=3_1410421727852&ebd=0. Our administrative staff are

happy to help you process your application.

Year 11 Immunisations

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The catch-up session for students who missed their immunisations this half term will take place during the next

half term. The final date will be confirmed in due course.

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Coming Soon…

Key Stage 4 Courses Evening – Thursday 3 March

The Key Stage 4 Courses Evening for current Year 9 students and parents/carers is scheduled for Thursday 3

March 2016. This is a critical event for Year 9 students to attend, as it outlines key information about the step

up to Key Stage 4.

On this date, students will be given the options booklet, which contains detailed information about the GCSE,

BTEC and vocational options open to students. More information will be circulated during the Spring Term.

PTA Literacy & Numeracy Evening – Tuesday 8 March

On Tuesday 8 March, the Isleworth Association (PTA) are running their second education event of the year: a

Literacy and Numeracy Evening. This event was a massive success last year, and will be open to

parents/carers of students in Years 7 and 8. More information will be circulated after half term.

Dates for the Diary

Spring Term 2016

MARCH

Thursday 3 Year 9 Key Stage 4 Courses Evening (6.00pm)

Tuesday 8 PTA Literacy & Numeracy Event (7.15pm)

Wednesday 9 School Council Meeting (11.00am)

Thursday 17 Year 10 Parents Evening (4.30 - 7.00pm)

Friday 18 Charitable Event – Sport Relief

Tuesday 22 Isleworth Association (PTA) Meeting (7.15pm – Library)

Wednesday 23 Football: Year 13 Leavers v Staff (4.00pm)

Thursday 24 Last Day of Term (students depart - 12.30pm)

Summer Term 2016

APRIL

Monday 11 Moderation Day (Students do not attend)

Tuesday 12 Start of Summer Term for students

Thursday 21 Year 7 Parents Evening (4.30 - 7.00pm)

Tuesday 26 Isleworth Association (PTA) Meeting (7.15pm – Library)

Thursday 28 UKMT Junior Mathematics Challenge

MAY Monday 2 Bank Holiday

Thursday 5 Year 8 Parents Evening (4.30 - 7.00pm)

Mon 9 – Fri 13 Year 9 Examinations

Mon 30 – Fri 3 June Half Term