Front Cover by India Burroughs Thompson, Year 11, GCSE Photography

OSA

TODAYSpring Edition 2016

ONSLOW ST. AUDREY’SHATFIELD’S BUSINESS & ENTERPRISE ACADEMY

HEADLINES

Greetings,

It has been a busy and challenging term and I would like to put on record my heartfelt gratitude to the students and staff that have carried us through, relatively unscathed.

This term has seen progress at the school moving on apace. The windows are now complete and make the school look much smarter and feel warmer in significant parts of the school. Breaking news just in is that we have secured another £1.4 million to complete the rest of the refurbishment of the windows and improve the heating around the school. Further fantastic investment in our young people.

Despite significant staff illnesses, accidents and operations, pupil achievement is being reported to be meeting targets from a number of angles which is pleasing. The use of the online interactive websites – Show My Homework and Parent Portal - have both shown significant increases in usage.

Parents choosing the school for their year 6 child to come here is at a record high at 173 for September 2016. We have set up formal links with both a school in China and Swidnik in Poland, supported by the Mayor. The building programme has also moved forward with initial plans being agreed. Our Football Academy were the proud winners of the Hertfordshire Schools District Cup and we have seen wonderful performances and achievements in Dance, Music, the CCF and Dragons Den. It is wonderful to see the students working hard, achieving their goals and realising their dreams.

My heartfelt thanks to the staff at the school for all their support and hard work. My thanks also to the parents, carers and guardians of our young people for your continued faith in the school and the love and support you provide for your children.

I hope and expect Year 11.12 and 13 to be completing at least 3 hours of revision each day during the holidays in preparation for their exams after the holidays. A large holiday is waiting for them after the exams!

I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable Easter break.

Mike Harpham

HMD Don't Stand By

Each year Onslow St Audrey's a�end the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in Ha�ield, and are invited to exhibit students' art work.

This year's theme was 'Don't Stand By', which we used to theme the GCSE coursework. Last summer the students visited the Imperial War Museum where students took part in a Holocaust workshop and went to the Holocaust exhibi�on. This visit allowed the students to gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and WWII in general.

Their final pieces were mature, crea�ve and sensi�ve responses to the theme. The guests at the ceremony were extremely complimentary of the work and of the way the students conducted themselves.

The art work can now be seen on display outside of the main school hall.

OSA Awarded CommunicatingExcellence Award 2015

We were delighted to receive the 'Communicating Excellence Award, 2015' from Isabella Donnelly and Kim Bowyer (pictured) from education marketing specialists, Grebot Donnelly this month. This was in recognition of our highly successful marketing strategy and follows being voted “Secondary School of the Year” in the Welwyn and Hatfield Times' Schools Awards.

W e h a v e i m p r o v e d engagement with local primary schools, raised our profile locally, nationally and internationally and have increased coverage in the local media.

This has paid considerable dividends, significantly increasing confidence in the school and raising student numbers, resulting in additional revenue for investment in the school.

Headteacher, Michael Harpham, commented: “Our work with Grebot Donnelly has provided my team with the tools, knowledge and confidence to more effectively promote Onslow St Audrey's. We have seen rapid improvements and successes over the past year and our students, parents and the local community are engaged and excited to be part of our journey.”

It is an exciting time for us. We have ambitious plans for the future which highlight how we are committed to investing in our students' future, our students' learning and development and our community.

OSA's journey to International Accreditation continues apace!

We were delighted to receive our Intermediate International School

Award from the British Council, and the highly positive feedback about our

global education policies and endeavours. We would like to thank the

British Council for their continued support.

Our formal accreditation plan has also received official British Council

approval. We have excellent links with two schools in France, one in Spain,

our official partnership with Yangzhou No.1 Middle School in China, as well

as our International Government initiatives with the MOD. We are

confident that our students' international education is second to none.

We are proud of the Global Citizenship skills our students are acquiring, as

well as the multiple international opportunities we make available to

them, ensuring our students are truly prepared for a 21st Century

globalised economy, marketplace and inter-cultural society.

We have been hosting exciting sessions on

Computer Science, where Year 5 and 6 were

g i v e n t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o ex p l o r e

programming and make games. Oak View,

Howe Dell, St Phillip Howard and The Ryde are

the latest schools that have visited us this year

and many other local primary schools will have

the opportunity in the new year.

Year 5 and 6 have benefitted from this project

because they have been given an insight into

Computer Science and experienced life in a

secondary school. The Year 5 and 6 students

got to explore block programming and Scratch.

They managed to create a maze game where

the character moved around the maze

collecting prizes. They felt a tremendous sense

of achievement when they managed to code it

all themselves!

We are proud of our year 7, 8 and 9 students

who supported and lead the sessions. They

received a Computer Science leader badge

and certificate in full school assembly.

Intermediate International Award

Local primary schools

explore Computer Science at

Onslow St Audrey's School

Years 12, 10 and 9 benefited from a fantastic MOD Employability Workshop delivered by our friend at the Ministry, Mr Gillman. Students were shown why almost half of all applications submitted for vacant positions are not even considered and they also participated in a valuable networking and 'what's good about me' exercise.The students then participated in an interview activity which gave them the opportunity to see the interview from both sides of the table, both as an applicant and as a member of the interview panel which really demonstrated the attractive professional behaviour which is necessary to succeed. Once again we offer our sincere thanks to Mr Gillman for adding to our student's pathways to success.

We were absolutely thrilled when our friend at the Ministry of Defence, Mr Andy Gillman, returned to host a fantastic International Crisis workshop for our Year 10 students. Mr Gillman has devised a comprehensive programme to graphically illustrate the components of government and how they work together to solve a world crisis. The workshop further illustrates the value of effective diplomacy and how escalation of a conflict can have global consequences.Our Year 10 students worked in teams to fulfil crucial ministerial positions such as Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary etc. and evaluated the detailed information gathered about the crisis to formulate plans of action which they presented to 'the press'. They also answered some difficult questions about the content of their plans.The students performed exceptionally well and all received a Ministry of Defence certificate. Congratulations are in order for the winning team of Xander Peveri, Alfie Godwin, Harley-Anna Tillotson, Esmeralda Kurti, Cerys Brady and Chloe Harrington who will progress to represent the school in the MOD Inter-School Challenge. We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to the marvellous Mr Gillman for this all his initiatives which our students benefit from. We look forward to welcoming him back to our school in May.

Ministry of DefenceEmployability Workshop

Ministry of Defence

International

Crisis Workshop

Year 10 World of Workand Employability Event

Throughout the day students attended a series of workshops led by a range of staff and external agencies including the University of Hertfordshire, The Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce and self-acclaimed international/national speaker, professional actor, writer, performer, comedian and presenter (and one of the few educators to have been in both Coronation Street and EastEnders) Dave Keeling.

Work experience is often key in helping decide futures and may lead to opportunities for part time work. It is important that students are well prepared and make the most of this experience and this bespoke day set them in good stead for their future career.

Students attended the day wearing smart business dress as would be appropriate for attending an interview and Luiza Hogea and Charlie Broux won first prize for Best Dressed Boy and Girl.

On Thursday 11 February all year 10 students were invited to participate in a World of Work and Employability Event. The foci for the event was for students to plan and prepare for their work experience placement giving them the skills to make a business call, attend an interview and understand business dress standards in the workplace.

Switched on to Switching Off

Eight Sixth Form students participated in a ten week 'Switch On To Switching Off' (SOTTO) programme run by Groundwork East. Representing Onslow St Audrey's school in the local community as Energy Ambassadors, they attended training to acquire the skills and knowledge to run a programme of energy awareness workshops with a group of primary school children.Each Ambassador was allocated a local primary school, where their responsibility was to work alongside the staff, to run a weekly 1-hour workshop over a period of 10 weeks. During these workshops, they supported the group to monitor the school's energy consumption, ran a whole school energy saving campaign and analysed the final results.As always our Sixth Form students were a credit to our school and we are very proud of their involvement in this programme. We would also like to congratulate each of the primary schools who took part, (Howe Dell, Green Lanes, Oakview, St Philip Howard, Ryde and North Mymms, St Marys). The children worked very hard on their projects and showed a natural flair for the task at hand; we very much look forward to them joining our school in the near future.

The Woodland Trust

A group of six students and three staff were invited by the Woodland Trust to plant as many trees as they could at Hertswood Forest. We succeeded in planting 61 saplings in just under an hour. Our students certainly did us proud as the Woodland Trust thought we would only manage 30. It was cold and muddy but we were all kitted out in our welly boots and warm clothes and soon they were so engrossed in their digging that they forgot about the weather (at least it didn't snow!) The students thoroughly enjoyed the event and their behaviour was superb. The men who were there to support the students were very impressed.

As well as other academics and collections experts, the students worked with King's Archivist, Peter Monteith and gained access to Brooke's original letters, poems and photographs. The event developed and enhanced valuable research skills and demonstrated how the students could broaden their lines of enquiry.The students were certainly inspired and Robyn said of the event, 'It was a really great experience. At times it was challenging but it actually showed us that we can hold our own at that level'. Georgina agreed, 'It's made me more determined than ever to aim for Cambridge as my first choice University. I can't wait for the second half of the experience at the Fitzwilliam Museum'.Well done girls! As with all of our students, we will support your future aspirations all the way!.

OSA students work at King's College,University of Cambridge

We were absolutely thrilled when four of our Year 11 G&T students won places to participate in a two-day archive event offered by King's College, University of Cambridge and the Fitzwilliam Museum. Robyn Harvey-Smith, Ellie Rastall, Amy Smith and Georgina Spelman-Bates spent the first day at King's College during half term and undertook a case study of renowned war poet, Rupert Brooke.

Some of our Year 10 students attended a marvellous Oxbridge Head Start event with other G&T students from

consortium schools recently. The day began with a presentation from the University of Cambridge on what entry

to Oxford or Cambridge requires and how studying there could benefit the students.

Chloe Harrington told us, 'It was really useful to do the exercises about thinking like a university student and it

came very naturally. Most exciting for me however, was working with other academic students from different

schools. We were sort of dreading it when we got split up but it was a great experience and I think it's helped us all

to be less insular'.

We would like to thank Tom Norwood from the University of Cambridge and Mr Pearce who organised the event

on behalf of the consortium. It proved to be a lively and entertaining way of showing all the students who

participated that Oxbridge is entirely accessible for anyone prepared to work hard enough; a lesson our gifted

Year 10s certainly took to heart.

A group of our talented Year 9 and 10 historians

undertook a valuable workshop with Sarah Lloyd

from the University of Hertfordshire's Heritage

Hub. The Hub has possession of a young boy's

1917 diary as well as a young girl's account book

from the same year and Mrs Lloyd, along with

Mrs Marcham & Mrs Llewellyn, worked with the

students to extract information from these

artefacts, as well as compare them with our own

1917 diary from sapper Edwin Payne.

The students identified that the UH diary hardly

mentioned the war but concentrated on details

about local life, work and self-improvement,

fascinating information given that many of the

participating students were the same age as the

author. Mrs Lloyd also introduced the students to

the 'Every Day Lives in War' research initiative

and our students identified some interesting

research topics as a result. We would like to

thank Mrs Lloyd for this development

opportunity and look forward to celebrating our

student's ongoing research successes.

Year 10 G&T Oxbridge

Head Start Event

History Workshop with

University of Hertfordshire

25 Year 7 students had a fantastic G&T visit to Mitsubishi and their award

winning educational workshop with Mrs Marcham and Mrs Younger. They

started with a short seminar about renewable energy and began to

complete their workbooks. After being given some fruit at break time, the

students delivered their food waste to Mitsubishi's wormery and learned

about the compost it created to feed the orchard. The students then

divided into three groups and each visited a different ecology workstation.

Each group conducted transferable energy experiments and plotted the

results, they made bird feeders to take home out of their break-time cup

and they conducted solar energy circuit experiments which were a hit with

each group.

The students also received certificates and were impeccably behaved,

exactly what we expect from Onslow St Audrey's students! We would like

to thank the Mitsubishi professionals who donate their time to deliver the

workshop and Mitsubishi Electric for providing such a fabulous resource.

Our fabulous Science Department hosted another

fabulous Astronomy Evening for a class of delightful

Year 5 students from The Ryde and their teachers.

Ms Hare delivered a tour de force seminar on space,

planets and space technology, followed by Mr Poore

leading an exercise on the phases of the moon.

The group then toasted marshmallows to have with

their hot chocolate and used our high powered

telescopes to examine the full moon. Mr Poore also

showed the group how to identify the different

constellations and we were blessed with a

beautifully clear sky so the students could really

appreciate the stars. Staff and students were

absolutely thrilled with the event and The Ryde have

already reserved their place for the next after-school

Science workshop in April.

We would also like to thank Year 9 Astronomy expert,

Craig Walker, for volunteering to assist at the event,

he was invaluable and has received some well-

deserved gold stars from Head of Science, Ms Davis.

Well done to all those involved and we look forward

to the next event!

Year 7 G&T Mitsubishi Science & Ecology Workshop

Another SpectacularNight of Scienceunder the Stars!

This term our Year 7 students were lucky enough to have been selected to participate in a mini film festival. This exciting opportunity has been afforded to them by a company called INTO Film.INTO Film run clubs nationwide, and seek to put film at the heart of children and young people's learning, contributing to their cultural, creative and personal development.Alfie Rafferty, Vienna Tillotson, Ricardo Coehlo, Aarian Cooper-Patel, Sydney Neale, William Scull, Sam Woodgate and Harrison Newman have been working tirelessly on this project and the result is a short film they have called Bully Bodyguard.Aarian said it has been “so much fun” producing Bully Bodyguard, and most students are keen to get involved in their own film projects. The film is entirely original, the students came up with the concept themselves, they created the script, and with a little guidance from Ms. McEwan, they shot and edited all the scenes themselves.

Dragons' Quiz 'n Chip Success

OSA Film Festival

It was an amazing night and everyone that attended really enjoyed the event, Parent Lisa Bailey said 'Well done everyone, and thank you for organising the quiz night, it was such good fun.'We would like to thank everyone that has supported our events, whether through attendance, donations or general help. We could not have raised the amount we did without you.

Our final Dragon's event was held on 5th February, and what an event to finish on! Over 120 people including the Mayor and her family, the Resolve Charity, staff, friends and parents of OSA came to support us.As with every event we supported Resolve Charity by making it non-alcoholic and were able to supply soft drinks kindly donated by Grace Foods.The evening could not have gone better, having already raised £1700 from the sale of quiz and raffle tickets, we went on to raise a further £800 from our auction.Thanks to the massive talents of Auctioneer Neville Collman, who drove the crowds to up their bids for a week's stay in the Lake District which was kindly donated by our very own Headteacher Mr Harpham.

Year 12 students Brice Adusei and Alex McIntyre had an

absolutely fantastic time during their three-day residential

placement at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge,

participating in the innovative Medicine Shadowing Scheme.

Supported by current under-graduates, they were given a full

experience of life as a Cambridge Medicine student.

Brice found the experience entirely inspirational, 'We had the

opportunity to attend lectures, talks, workshops and

supervisions. We were given an interview experience and were

included in social activities such as movie night and a last night

party. It was absolutely fantastic.

Alex was equally inspired, 'Everyone we met was incredibly

welcoming and experiences such as the mock interview have

really helped to demystify the application process. The

questions were difficult and entirely science based but that's

what you'd expect. The Caius under-graduates made it clear

that the answer wasn't the most important element, it's that

you show how your mind works and how you would tackle

difficult questions. Most of the under-graduates were from

state schools like us, including Luke, the president of the

medical society, and it was very reassuring.

We would also like to thank all of the students and staff at Caius

College who were involved in making this commendable and

valuable opportunity available for our students and for making

them feel so welcome. We look forward to more of our students

returning to the University of Cambridge!

Year 11 student Georgina Spelman-Bates said, 'We've all told Mrs

Marcham that we want to return to both Oxford and Cambridge in

Year 12. Where we aim to study is a really important decision and

these visits are a great help'. Potential Archaeology and Anthropology

Year 11 student Amy Smith told us: 'It was a really valuable visit. I

especially took notice when our host told us not to worry about

facilitating subjects unless we were assured we could earn A grades in

them.'

We would like to thank Kate and Zoe from Balliol College, Oxford and

also to congratulate all of the students who attended for making the

mature decision to give up their INSET day to invest in their futures.

Further visits to Oxbridge for all senior year groups are a part of our

regular enrichment plans.

G&T University of Cambridge Visit

University ofOxford Visit

Several of our talented Year 10 and 11 students enjoyed an instructive visit to Balliol College, University of Oxford during our

last INSET day. The day started with comprehensive presentation about which university to choose, how important A Level

subject choices are, and the various courses available and the requirements for them. The presentation also included

information about the specific benefits of studying at Oxbridge and the uncompromising message that students would

need to achieve A grades to access them.

OSA Heritage Society ResearchVisit

On Wednesday 13th January 2016 a group of 25 Year 9 Students went to the Guardian Newspaper for a workshop on World War I.The ability to access the paper's archives and design and complete a replica WWI newspaper was an exciting opportunity. The students worked with a qualified teacher and journalist to help prepare the broadsheet to a tight deadline.The skills they had to pick up quickly were story editing, picture editing and proof reading, together with speed reading and working as a team.Luckily, we had covered much of WWI so their historical skills were put to good use and enhanced the experience.

Mrs Llewellyn

Our Heritage Society were delighted to be asked to assist The Welwyn Garden City Heritage Trust with their latest project. The Trust are exploring the origins of WGC as one of the first 'new towns' and have already completed two successful HLF projects on this theme called, 'Who do you think we are?' and 'Where do you think we worked?'. OSA were delighted to assist with research for the latter project and to be credited in their excellent book and we are now hard art work on their new project, 'Where do you think we played?'The focus of the research concerns the many clubs and societies in which residents of the brand new town spent their leisure hours and bonded as citizens in the 1920s. Heritage Society Committee members, Robyn Harvey-Smith, Ellie Rastall and Georgina Spelman-Bates met WGC Heritage Trust research expert Vanessa Godfrey in the Local Studies section of WGC Library and investigated copies of the Welwyn News and The Pilot from the early 1920s. Our Year 11 Committee members will feed back to the rest of the OSA Heritage Society and we look forward to continuing our work with the WGC Heritage Trust and uncovering more fascinating local research. We would like to thank Vanessa Godfrey for working with our students. Any students who are interested in joining the Heritage Society should contact Mrs Marcham. jmarcham@onslow.herts.sch.uk

Visit to GuardianNewspaper

CCF at the Mayor's Mul�-Faith Service

Our hard-working cadets were delighted to support Welwyn & Ha�ield Mayor, Lynne Sparks at her ground-breaking mul�-faith service. Cadets Greenaway, Ramsay and Folds helped over 200 guests with their parking needs whilst Corporal Murphy and Lance Corporal Bailey led cadets Hoult-Allen and Hart in a carpet guard for the dis�nguished arrivals and helped with sea�ng.It was a wonderful service featuring representa�ves from many diverse faiths including a Catholic Bishop, local Chris�an churches, Judaism, Hinduism, the Muslim community and the Baha'i community. Our own Headteacher, Mr Harpham not only wrote the introduc�on for the programme but also beau�fully played the piano during the service and school governor and local Pastor Heather Dyce gave an address.Whilst the Mayor's guests enjoyed a wonderful buffet, our CCF cadets took round collec�on �ns for the Mayor's chosen charity, Resolve, and over £165 was raised for the deserving cause. This was a joyous occasion which OSA were proud to host and the CCF cadets were proud to serve.

During a CCF training weekend 20 cadets undertook a full day of First Aid training with Lawrie Symons, learning about breaks, sprains, burns, resuscitation, bandaging, use of a defibrillator and much more. The cadets all earned certificates and a First Aid badge to add to their brassards. Mr Symons contacted our Headteacher, Mr Harpham to say, 'Needed to let you know how well your students in the CCF did on Saturday. They were a real joy to train, they were focused throughout the day and a credit to you and the school. Also a credit to the CCF officers who run the unit'.The next day the cadets braved the freezing conditions to practice drill in the snow with Sgt Eyre from the ATC, for which they were commended by The Combined Cadet Force on Twitter, 'Now that is commitment! Keep up the good work'. They also undertook command tasks and once again exhibited exemplary behaviour and dedication. Well done to all of the cadets who attended.

CCF TrainingWeekend

Student Plays Interna�onal Football

Year 10 student Tiernan Parker was called up to play for Northern Ireland Under 15s last weekend.Tiernan, who currently plays for Luton Town Academy as their under 15 goalkeeper, went up against Glasgow Rangers on Sunday.We caught up with Tiernan to find out how it was to play his first International game...

How did playing for Northern Ireland come about?'My friend who plays for Arsenal under 15s put my name forward, but they had already heard of me as my Nan is Irish.'What team would you ultimately like to play for?'I really don't know, but I support Arsenal.'How did it feel to play for Northern Ireland?'Natural, I didn't really feel under any pressure.'Did you win?'No, unfortunately we lost 1-0.'

Everybody at Onslow St Audrey's would like toextend their congratulations to Tiernan.

Year 7 + 8 BasketballWell done to all of those boys who have played in the Basketball teams this term. We have had some great successes in the District League but the main success came in the District Rally which is a mini Competition run on a League basis. Our Year 7 students won our group with 4 wins and a draw against Mt Grace, Chancellors, Owens, Stanborough and Sir Fredric Osborn. This put us through to the final where we played Chancellors – we were 2 – 0 with 1 minute to play when we scored a basket but it was called for travelling, and literally on the final whistle we scored again only for travelling again. A great performance from the boysThe Year 8 students also performed exceptionally well and we were able to enter 2 teams, we didn't get to the final but all of the boys were a credit to the school.Squads for the season have been:

PE Update

Year 10 Volleyball

9/11/15 Barclay -County Cup L 0 - 3h14/11/15Monks WalkW 6 - 3Harvey Field 3, Lennon Baker, Finlay Wheeler, Alfie Rastallh21/11/15SheredesW 3 - 2Finlay Wheeler, Alfie Rastall, Lennon Baker

In the recent Mid Herts Volleyball Competition, we entered a team for both the Year 10 boys and girlsThe boys acquitted themselves well having success against Sir Frederic Osborn school and finished 4th. The girls performed even better and played fantastically well as a team to finish 2nd with a pulsating game against Stanborough which we won 25 – 24. This meant that the girls finished 2nd.Squads for the Competition were:

Leadership ActivityAgain its been a busy time for our Sports Leaders this half term.The Year 9s have been active supporting Mr Willis, our School Sport Co-odinator for Primary Schools.1. The following students helped out a speedstacking competition in January:Radek Jurus, Daniel Joo, Georgianna Dabica, Ioanna Enache.2. In February there was an Onslow family Sports Hall Athletics competition at Hatfield Leisure Centre and these students helped to make it a really successful event:Attila Bertelan, Chloe Boyce, George Cooke, Daniel Greenaway, Megan Harvey-Smith, Aaron McCarthy, Daniel Oraegbuna from Year 9.Nicole Mountford, Jake Harrington, Sam Eastwood, Oscar Cork, Kieran Baugh from Year 12/13.3. On February 25th Kallum Cornish and Cameron Oakaby-Wright from Year 12 refereed Oak View and Green Lanes Primaries in an after school Tag Rugby match. They both showed great maturity in ensuring that the younger students had a wonderful experience.

The Girls Volleyball Team

Extended Learning Days

We held our 3rd Extended Learning Day of the Year to try and encourage to engage in new challenges.

Year 7 – Had a Tudor day spending the afternoon with King Henry VIII at Hatfield House.

Year 8 – Went through a Carousel of activity during the day studying:Financial AffairsRepairing Plugs / Changing Bike Tyres with Mr Hutchings and Mr Jackson.Get Set Community – this involved groups developing an idea to encourage either a greater emphasis on fitness or an activity involving Community Groups – ideas included a sponsored walk.Get Set Fresh – a session run by Mr Benson which was trying to get the students to think more carefully about what they eat, hopefully becoming healthier in the process.Magic Tricks – something different to show students it is possible to perform magic tricks.

Year 9-11 – focused more on coursework and exam study activities.

ELDBen PowellYear 11 PhotographyRetro photo shoot with ageing effects