NewsG U M L E Y H O U S EE a s t e r 2 0 11

Project India20 Sixth Form (Years 12-13) students are feverishly fundraising to cover the cost of this community led project this summer, where they will be supporting children in local community schools in Southern India. They have been very innovative and already achieved some amazing goals, from cake sales & working at local community fairs to

sponsorship & bag packing at weekends in one of the local Tesco supermarkets. More news will follow post their journey with plenty of photos too!

Sixth Form Curriculum Extension DaysLanguage was the focus of the Curriculum extension day for all Sixth Form Year 12 students this year to focus on a journey through time. This began with a visit to the “Evolving English” exhibition at the British Library, documenting the history of the English language and how it has developed to the present day. Then the students excitedly proceeded to the Coliseum to see the English National Ballet’s production of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, gaining the chance to see and hear language in a truly creative context.

Gumley Sixth Form Students create their own cakes & Mother’s Day gifts to fundraise at the Isleworth Fair

French ExchangeAt the end of March French Exchange students from Issy Les Moulineaux joined our Year 9 and 10 girls for one week, giving both groups of students an opportunity to practice their language skills as well as creating new friendships. In the next newsletter students will be writing all about their experiences.

Global Young Leaders Conference – New York & WashingtonCongratulations to Sixth Form Year 12 student Helen Scott who has won the coveted place for this 2 week conference. Her presentation addressing the question “How should schools and learning in classrooms change if all students are to have the opportunity to be global entrepreneurs?” was judged the winner.

Y8 take up the University College, London Tourist Challenge & Win! How to welcome international visitors to London? This was the challenge taken up by a group of our Y8 students currently learning Spanish. Congratulations to the winning team: Monica Garcia-Suarez ,Sophia Jacobson, Natalie Barroso, Natalia Marzec, Natasha Linton, Kiera Madden, Alicia Williams-Smith, Aeysha Robinson Faith Nandy, Eimer O’Sullivan, Kalifa Okezie & Jennifer Sealey. The judge commended all the entries from Gumley House saying “the entrants had clearly put a great deal of effort and creativity into their work and recognised that using another language can be fun. This was very encouraging to see”. The winners have been invited to a prize giving ceremony at University College, London.

Slide from the winning presentation explaining the importance of the River Thames

Your Future In Europe ConferenceEach year Sr. Brenda takes a group of Sixth Form students to this event: here is an extract from student Helen Scott’s account:“Ten lucky Sixth From Year 12 students spent a weekend in Paris in February, joining hundreds of other students who were eager to learn about Britain’s position within modern Europe.The conference, encompassed topics as diverse as human rights, the banking crisis and climate change & the speakers included high-profile political figures, such as Tessa Jowell MP, Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty and Tim Harford ‘Hidden Economist’ of the FT.

The experience was undoubtedly extremely beneficial to the students involved. In addition to broadening their awareness of the workings of the European Community and the implications of this for them as modern Europeans, it has encouraged them to pursue their studies so as to enable them to be advocates for causes which they are passionate about. As Peter Luff remarked, the future of Europe now lies in the hands of today’s students and the way in which Europe continues to evolve is dependent upon their attitude towards it”.

Brentford Design Company Octink hosts Gumley Sixth FormersMike Freely, Managing Director of Octink invited a group of Sixth Form students interested in art, architecture and design to an “Industry Induction Day”. The students met Octink employees who talked about their roles as well as their education and training backgrounds. A tour of the factory and offices was also included followed by a session from Mike Freely and H.R. Manager Mary Samarwickrama on CV writing and interview techniques. Student Michaela Yearwood-Dan says “I was very interested to find out how Octink worked and found the induction session very inspirational as it opened my eyes to what I wanted to study at university”

Y13s Go To CourtY13 Sociology students had an amazing opportunity to meet with Her Honour Judge Kent at the Isleworth Crown Court in March. This group of sociology students were able to learn how the judicial process works, as well as gaining a further insight into the scope of careers in this field. They were given time to ask questions and were able to develop their sociological knowledge specifically in relation to the criminal justice system. An invitation to sit in on court proceedings for the whole morning was very gratefully taken up and to round off their experience they were also given a tour of the court by the clerk, Steven Fletcher.

Year 12 / 13 attend a range of Master Class opportunitiesUp to 25 Year 12 /13 students have attended a range of Master Class opportunities in subjects such as Forensic Science, Psychology, Sociology & Law at Oxford University and a host of London Universities.

Preparing for UniversityIn March a range of speakers was provided for all our Year 12 students to help them better prepare for the next stage in their education. Jane Marshall, Widening Participation Manager from Imperial College, London & Rachel Trippitt, Recruitment Officer from St. Mary’s University College, Twickenham gavecritical advice on issues from personal statement tips to the benefits of a university education. Melissa Forrester, an Accountant with BPP highlighted the do’s and don’ts of money management and 3 ex Gumley students now in their 1st year at St. Mary’s and City of London universities and Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design offered an insight into their current experiences of university life. Another ex Gumley girl on her gap year spoke about her travels. Additionally, Gumley staff addressed a number of sessions on how to manage the university process & course choices.The following week parents were invited to an evening so they too could receive information and support on higher education planning

Sixth Form update:

Sixth Form Y12 Young Enterprise Company students attend ParliamentOn 20th January 3 of our Sixth Form Year 12 students who are launching a company as part of their YE Company programme in enrichment, attended a talk provided by the House of Commons Business Select Committee. This is part of the Parliament outreach service which is keen to speak to young student entrepreneurs.

The Mulberry Centre is awarded £3kFor the 3rd consecutive year, During PSHEE & Citizenship lessons in the autumn term all of our Year 9 students have been participating in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative, (YPI). YPI is an international programme designed to support young people in developing both community awareness and important employability skills. Students are taught about philanthropy and charity through a hands-on experience of giving that highlights the positive impact they can have on the community. After some very impressive presentations from the 6 finalists, The judges chose the Mulberry student team - Olivia Ferrary, Francheska Rama, Erlinda Dedgjonaj, Stephanie Casey, Sarah Seear & Lauren Sullivan Bruce who were excited to be told that they had come first and The Mulberry Centre’s Gail Brammer & Joan McIntyre received the £3000 cheque on behalf of their charity

Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Mothers of Invention ConferenceIn mid March a group of Sixth Form Year 12 students and women in the local community that Gumley is supporting with business advice & skills attended a conference and workshop featuring Sian Sutherland co-founded Mama Mio skincare, Sara Murray founder of the Price Comparison website & Confused.com, Vanessa Heywood who createdTiny Mites Music & Shazia Awan the founder of Peachy Pink, a ladies shaping brand that launched in Debenhams in 2009. The evening event was moderated by Former BBC and Channel Five broadcaster, Natasha Kaplinsky .

Year 11 students sign up for The Challenge Network31 students have already booked their places on this exciting summer community programme which connects young people from different backgrounds across London, builds confidence and inspires them to make a positive impact in their local area. This 3 week programme is open exclusively to Year 11s which takes place in the summer after GCSEs.

PSHEE & Citizenship

Hounslow Youth Crime Conference & Prize Giving CeremonyIn February 6 Year 9 students participated in the Youth Crime Conference with students from other local Hounslow schools. They worked in their school teams to discuss a range of issues and were then asked to create a poster caption raising awareness of domestic violence. Gumley students were awarded 2nd prize and invited to a specially created ceremony headed by the local Major & the Partnership Chief Inspector for Hounslow. Congratulations to: Y9 students Gaynel Barry; Blossom Boothroyd; Colette Furr; Saphina Khokhar; Sarah Krajewski & Joanna Matovu

Eton Summer School: Congratulations to Katrina Doyle, Helen Scott & Alicia Recuerda for successfully achieving placements at Eton for this very exciting & challenging two week programme.

Gong xi fa cai! Happy Chinese New Year for Thursday 3 February! To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Year 9 students studying Mandarin went for lunch at Mann’s Beijing Restaurant in Isleworth. The girls got to eat some delicious food and also to practise speaking Mandarin with the waiters there.

Smaart Skills and Careers 2011

Skills, Education, Careers and TrainingOn Wednesday 16th February a group of Year 10 and Year 12 students headed to the Bobby Moore Room at Wembley Stadium to attend the SMAART Skills and Careers Fair.

The fair was the first organised by the Smaart Publishing group and gave the students the opportunity to meet representatives from a wide range of organizations – from universities to a cookery school - and to quiz them on possible career opportunities. They also built up an impressive “goody” bag as they moved around the exhibitors.

Two of our Year 10 students entered a competition to make an Eton Mess – shown – and although they did not win were able to eat their competition entry on the way back to school!

On Wednesday, 2 February 2011, Gumley School was honoured for its outstanding commitment to supporting enterprise education as part of the Young Enterprise London Centres of Excellence Award Ceremony. Over 80 London schools were commended for this outstanding achievement at the Guildhall.Young Enterprise, the UK’s leading enterprise education charity says: “There are a special number

of schools who demonstrate an outstanding commitment to the promotion of enterprise and entrepreneurship education for their young people. These schools have worked very hard over the years to provide on-going enterprise experiences to their young people in order to develop their employability and entrepreneurship skills”. Young Enterprise places great value on

these partnerships and initiated this new national award scheme to honour and showcase these schools as well as to present them as

exemplars to other schools.

“A strong partnership with education is essential to Young Enterprise’s work. We are delighted to recognise and thank these inspirational schools for their dedication and commitment to bringing enterprise alive for their young people and helping to inspire the next generation with the skills and attitudes to succeed,” John May, Chief Executive,

Young Enterprise

Accenture & Young EnterpriseIn January, all Year 10 students took part in Personal Economics, a Young Enterprise Programme designed to develop financial capability. The students learned about financial risk management and decision making through a range of credit, debit and career focussed games. Eight volunteer personnel from Accenture supported the students for the day.

Accenture – Changing the Future...In February, Project Management Consultant James Eardley, Technical Architect Stephen Wooley & Analysts Briony Sutcliffe and Anthony Sharrock spent another full day at Gumley, giving 3 separate career talks to Year 10, 11 and Sixth Form students. Students were able to increase their understanding of the management consultancy function through examples of Accenture’s client work. Talks also covered their roles, education backgrounds plus the training opportunities that exist within the organisation.

Stella Ojideh (on left) and Chantelle Duff working on their Eton Mess!

Business & Enterprise & Languages: Preparing students for the commercial & globalised worldGumley House School honoured for its commitment to promoting the entrepreneurs of the future

Young Enterprise London’s Centres of Excellence Award Ceremony

Headteacher Sr. Brenda & Director of Specialisms Loredana Roberts receive Gumley’s award

The Gumley debaters go from strength to strength!Yesterday, the first round of the Hounslow Borough Debates took place at Lampton School where Year 7 and Year 8 teams from four schools competed for places in the finals. Our teams debated on the motions “This house would cancel the 2012 Olympics because of the recession” and “This house would bring back capital punishment to

Britain”. I have to say, without bias, our girls were absolutely fantastic!! For some of our Year 7s, it was their first experience of debating but you would not have guessed that, such was their confidence and poise.

It was most inspiring to see so many students giving up their evenings and supporting their team members by being chair and timekeepers for the debates.

Can I take this opportunity to thank our two sixth formers, Helen Scott and Michaela Yearwood-Dan, who help without fail on Tuesdays with the debating

club, and who gave up their lunch times to train up the teams. Thank you also to the visiting English teachers, Chrysso Koutas and Claire Griffin, as well as Vanessa Mathews and Helen Warden for their help on the day. Geraldine Donnelly’s help was invaluable, as always. Well done everyone!

Enrichment – Les Miserables As part of the Hounslow gifted and talented program, nine students from Year 12 attended a performance of Les Miserables in the West End. It was an enriching experience that supported their interest in History, English and Drama.

Extended Project Qualification Congratulations to our Year 13 students who completed their EPQ. They achieved outstanding results including 2 x A* and an A grade. Well done to participating students and staff!

Hounslow Teen Read A group of Yr 9 & 10 students attended the Hounslow Teen Read award ceremony at the Paul Robeson Theatre. They all had to read a shortlist of 5 books and then vote for their top 3. The winner of this year’s award was The Enemy by Charlie Higson. The girls were very pleased as they had voted this book as their favourite too. The announcement was made by Rachel Ward the author of Numbers, who also gave a very interesting and inspirational talk about her career and her journey to become a published author. At the end the girls were able to talk with her, ask questions and buy signed copies of her books.

News Bites

Year 8:

Charlotte Doyle

Maria Gabriel

Sara Martin

Ghislaine Johnson-Thomas

Year 7 finalists:

Lucy Evans

Caitlin Hogan

Lydia Childs

Izzy Tollan

Year 8 finalists:

Ellie Hier

Jacqui Harrington

Stefanie Lawrynowicz

Emily Watson

Year 7 finalists:

Kaija Trend

Roisin Culligan-Hughes

Emma Eastmond

Chair/timekeepers

Precious Colquhoun-Mills

Ciara O’Leary

Clare Harrison

Imperial College “Insight Into Business” CourseIn March, 20 Year 9 students achieved

a unique opportunity to attend Imperial College’s Business Centre with 2 teams competing in a final presentation. The girls were given a brief to launch a beauty product, they had to come up with the concept and then present a comprehensive launch strategy with SWOT analysis, profit margins, etc in a designated time frame.

Congratulations to the winning team: Alona Bonifacio, Maria Bright, Julia Fernandez-Cuervo, Joanna Lada & Kimberley Ubendran who were judged to have demonstrated a good understanding of the launch process as well as great innovation for their idea. Imperial’s judging panel made up of: Jenny Miller Career Consultant, Mary Goudge Information Manager, Alison Ahearn Tutor for Student Led Projects & Mark Cobett from SIFE UK commented on the high skill level of both teams of students and the Imperial College undergraduates expressed how impressed they were with all 20 students that had participated in the programme. This presentation was the climax of a 4 week course created and implemented by Imperial’s 2nd year undergraduates with the aim of raising financial capability and enterprise skills.

Drama Spring Round-up“Theatre during a time of austerity, as it does during a time of plenty, offers us the opportunity to come together and share stories. Stories are a primary way we make sense of our world; they help us understand each other and our own experiences”These words from David Jubb and David Micklem, directors of the Battersea Arts Centre, ring so true for the Drama department at Gumley House School. We firmly believe in the enriching and educative power of theatre to transform and transport children’s lives for the better. To this end, we have taken more young people to the theatre this term than ever before to see and experience a diverse range of London theatre.

‘Anansi’ at the Southwark Playhouse On a dark and snowy January night, we transported our Year 7 and 8 Drama club to the subterranean Southwark Playhouse and their magical production of ‘Anansi’. We soon forgot the trains rattling overhead as we were captivated by the talented cast and their vibrant physical re-telling of the tales of the tricksy spider.

‘The Trial’ at Greenwich Theatre Again in January, a brave dozen Year 11 and Year 13 Drama students trekked across London to Greenwich to see Splendid theatre company’s very Brechtian take on Kafka’s “The Trial”. We were by turns chilled and delighted by this tale of bureaucracy and the justice system gone mad as the main protagonist weaves his way through a nightmare world that resonated familiarity.

Frantic Assembly at Gumley Frantic Assembly theatre company came to Gumley on the last day of January to run a two hour workshop with our Drama sixth form and staff, sharing their frantic physical style with us. We were exhausted and exhilarated by the end, coming away with lots of new creative ideas and skills.

‘The Red Shoes’ at the BAC March has proved a bumper month for taking trips to the theatre. It began with the theatrical delight that is Kneehigh’s ‘The Red Shoes’, an acclaimed production on its final revival. The sixth form students were inspired by its visceral storytelling style, and have since been strongly influenced in the creation of their devised and scripted pieces for their forthcoming practical exams.

‘Vernon God Little’ at The Young Vic With Year 11 we went to The Young Vic to see the highly satirical ‘Vernon God Little’. With its mix of music, mayhem and murder, the show proved a hit with our students and provoked much discussion about its provocative style.

The Geography/Drama Trip How’s this for cross-curricular learning? On 16th March a group of twenty Year 10 and 11 Geography and Drama students went to the Waterman’s Arts Centre to see Theatre Centre’s moving and thought provoking production of ‘The Day the Water’s Came’. The play handles the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the wholly inadequate response of the US government who treated the citizens like human flotsam and jetsam, to be cleared up and shipped out.

Go Greased Lightning! Not to be left out, Year 9 had their annual trip to a West End show on 22nd March. A packed coach of fifty students and five staff headed for the Piccadilly Theatre and the ever-pink ‘Grease’. Despite arriving late, the girls were immediately drawn into that brash, sugar-coated fifties world of song, dance, high school heartache and high jinks. They loved it!

‘The Witches’ at Gumley And finally, the main event of the Drama calendar is about to get underway with our school production of Roald Dahl’s best loved (and feared) ‘The Witches’. We have a splendid production logo designed by Louise Stevenson of 8R, who won the logo design competition. Gabriella Kitto of 8M was runner up. Auditions have been held and we have our cast, eager to begin rehearsals through summer term. We have been inspired by several excellent productions we have seen this year that used puppetry to delightful and powerful effect, such as War Horse, and we plan to feature puppets in this year’s show. To this end, we have a team of student puppeteers who will be given specialist training for their roles.

An exciting time is ahead and we very much look forward to welcoming you as audience to ‘The Witches’ for its three night run from 14th to 16th July. Thank you for your continuing support of Drama at Gumley.

Madeleine Casey, Head of Drama

Vernon God Little

The Red Shoes

Anansi

It was a great pleasure to welcome so many parents and students to the Music Festival Gala Concert 2011. It was the climax of the festival

which began the week before half-term: involving over 70 pupils as performers and more than 200 audience members.

There were many fine performances and the evening was a chance to hear just a few of the high-lights. As ever the emphasis was on celebrating and sharing the musical talents which abound within our school community.

We were delighted to welcome our guest for the evening, Loulla Gorman a long standing friend of the department in Gumley. We are also indebted to those who adjudicated the heats: Harvey Eagles, Sherlyn Sylveste and Ian Judson.

Many thanks to Miss Robertshaw for all her support, and particularly to Mrs Farr for co-ordinating the administration for the festival.

Thank you for your support of the festival and we look forward to seeing you at a future event.Richard Lake, Head of Music

Music festival Gala Concert 2011

Performance Poet Ebele supports Gumley’s Annual Poetry Festival:The poet Ebele performed at Gumley’s annual poetry festival on Thursday 10th March, to an audience of parents, staff and students.

30 students from year 7 to year 11 were shortlisted to read their own poetry creations; with 3 poet’s choice award winners from different year groups judged by Ebele they are: Eleanor Duce, Katherine Newman & Julie

Mason with the Poet Laureate award going to Claudia Wilkes-Brough.

Kate Graham, Head of English explains: “This is one of the key events in the school’s calendar and Ebele’s involvement really impacted on the evening”

Ebele’s first collection of poetry, ‘Poetry is a Woman’, was published in August 2004. She has performed her own work to wide ranging audiences including Black Magic Woman festival in Amsterdam, at the Tate Britain for Black History Month, Glastonbury festival, and also on Radio BBC3.

World Book Day

Sophie McKenzie author of “Blood Ties” & “Girl Missing” meets students:To celebrate World Book Day Sally Richardson, Gumley’s librarian, invited the well known children’s author Sophie McKenzie to join us. She spoke with all Year 7 and Year 8 students about her love of writing and how she develops the ideas for her stories. These visits encourage more students to read for pleasure. Her books are very popular with our students who on the day bought 200 copies at a specially discounted price. Sophie was very impressed with the questions that the girls asked her and the day was enjoyed by students and staff.

Gumley House Convent SchoolSt John’s Road, Isleworth Middlesex TW7 6XFTel: 020 8568 8692 Fax: 020 8758 2674Email: general@gumley.hounslow.sch.uk www.gumley.hounslow.sch.uk

Indoor Athletics The year 7 and 8 teams both made it through to the West London finals from the borough round. Excellent team performances will now see them take on the rest of the London region at the end of this term. Year 8 team- Alex Fraser, Ellie Hier, Jaqui Harrington, Nicole Adeleye, Aeysha Robinson, Francesca Foley, Emma Grant. Year 7 team- Haibatu Seyboe-Tejan, Maeve Lane, Anne Omotola, Beth Clarke, Orla Kavanagh, Emilia Kowalaska, Miah Robinson.

PE Department Sports’ Results

Cheerleading Gumley cheerleading squad have had a successful start to their competitions. After a warm up performance at Twickenham Rugby Stadium for the Borough celebration of sport evening they went into the competition in Guildford well prepared. The girls performed amazingly on the day and finished 2nd overall against many teams who have attended lots of competitions. We wish them luck in the next competition in July.

Rebecca Killip 9M Well done to Rebecca who won a gold medal at the European championships, competing for the British National Canoe Team in the 2000m race with competitors from France, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kiev and Romania.

Alana Pearson 11T Congratulations to Alana who won the all Ireland Irish dancing championships last month. We wish her all the best for the upcoming world championships.

Middlesex Cross-Country This year we had 16 girls represent the borough at the Middlesex championships, with some great results. Rebecca Killip 9M- 1st, Rachel Walsh yr12 9th (both these girls will represent Middlesex at the English Schools competition. Other runners Maeve Lane 7J, Orla Kavanagh 7C, Orlaith Tully 7J, Niamh O’Donoghue 9J, Alex Fraser 8R, Ellie Hier 8T, Jaqui Harrington 8M, Emma Eastmond 8T, Christina Paish 10T, Aoife Tully 10J, Joanna Paish 10F, Susan Fraser 10R, Mari Johnson 10M, Amanda Paish yr12.

Netball Leagues Results Year 7- 2nd, Year 8- 3rd, Year 9- 6th, Year 10- 3rd, Seniors- 1st.

Badminton The KS4 badminton team made it through to the West London finals from the borough round. An excellent team performance saw them finish 2nd over all. The team- Amy Owens 11F, Maria Leonard 11T, Emma Jones11C, Bethany Lawlor 11C