Call of the wild

The Heathland School, Wellington Road Sowuth, Hounslow, Middx, TW4 5JD

Telephone: 020 8572 4411 Fax: 020 8569 5126 Email: admin@heathland.hounslow.sch.uk

H. S. Pattar, BSc(Econ) Headmaster

The

December 2011Heathlander

Adeel Sadar, Avinash Thakur, Ashish Singh and Joe Shafique with their prizes

Code Breakers Crack the Cheltenham Science Festival

On 21st October, on a dark and wintry morning, 26 intrepid students and 5 teachers

clambered onto the minibuses for a trip to enjoy ‘The Great Outdoors’ in Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. We set off cheerfully with our backpacks, containing tents, sleeping bags, food and clothes – all on our backs – and as we moved out into the wilderness, darkness began to fall.

We gratefully pitched our tents and fell asleep. The next day was a walk up to the top of a Welsh mountain. 8 hours later we eventually we got back to the farm, most of us with all of our legs still working! It was brilliant to see and do so much and to set ourselves challenges that we never thought we would achieve, but got through with team work and support from each other. Thanks Mr Stoten!

4 pupils took part in a code breaking computer game set up by GCHQ at the Cheltenham Science festival, they had to correctly crack the code and the time taken was recorded. Adeel and Ashish were runners up cracking the code in 38 seconds, Joe and Avinash were the winners cracking the code in 36 seconds. Not only were these four the fastest code crackers of all the visitors to the festival they also amazed staff at GCHQ by cracking the code faster than the software engineer who designed the game!

Karishma Dhawan an A2 Fashion Student from Year 13 was chosen from thousands by elite handbag designers ‘Radley’ as the winner of a competition to design an autumn limited edition special for the company. The annual ‘Radley Design Your Own Pocket Bag’ event, took place during September and invited fans of the brand to design their own piece. Karishma’s design will be manufactured by the company and sold around the country as an exclusive limited edition .

A Level Fashion Student wins national design competition

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Karishma with her winning bag

20C 100M 90Y 20C 100M 90Y 40K 100C 25M 85Y 100C 25M 85Y 50K

4 COLOUR PROCESS

FOR USE AT ROSE SIZES OF25MM HIGH AND SMALLER

The Heathland Schoolis a member of the RFU Education Partnership

Alena Baig, Rasna Jagdev, Tulsi Hansla and Iman labbaci get kitted up

Photo by Coslee Searles

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This term Year 7 explored different environments as part of their Geography

course. Pupils completed an investigation around Hounslow combining their knowledge from History, RE and Geography. Then, for a complete contrast they visited Shere, a village in Surrey. Pupils put the skills taught in the classroom to use by completing field sketches, sound maps and environmental surveys. The

Geography department were also visited by Action Aid to trial a new educational programme! The pupils designed medals, slogans and wrote persuasive messages to our local MP to encourage World leaders to meet the Millennium Goals.

It was a change to make a difference to the 89 Million children around the world who don’t have the opportunity to attend school.

ICT Robot Workshop: Driving successThis year on Thursday 27 October 2011 the students in year 8 who were nominated as Gifted and Talented pupils where given the opportunity to come out of lessons and fulfil a task, and an unexpected task at that. We were to come and programme an amazing robot and drive it round a track perfectly. We have learnt a vast array of skills in just 2 periods which include communication and problem solving. Ahsan Ahmed 8AD and Rehan Zariwala 8BA

Micha Vidot showing off her robot construction techniques.

Question Time at London University

In October a group of our most voracious political animals appeared on BBC Question

Time. After being picketed by an NHS demonstration outside the venue, Chandrika Chopra was chosen to pose a question to the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley. Ahmed Jon and Mr Labovitch (always game for a performance) also contributed to the evening’s heated debate.. November saw another outing for the sixth form. This time they were treated to a mind-bogglingly interesting lecture at the Royal Institution in London, where Professor Tara Shears described her work

at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. It appears that Einstein’s theories are now being challenged by the discovery of particles called neutrinos, which seem to go faster than the speed of light (a mere 300 million metres per second).

Sixth Formers get ready for a political debate.

Geographers get global!

September saw the greatly anticipated return of Heathland School’s Senior

Prize Giving event. A celebration of the achievements of the pupils over the last 12 months, who

were eager to receive formal recognition of their efforts.

This year’s ceremony was also notable for its speaker, Paralympic Gold Medallist Marc Woods, who delighted the audience with his rousing and motivational speech. Woods, who as a teenager lost his left

leg to cancer, spoke openly about his disability and his consequent determination to succeed, providing inspiration for all present.

Heathland School goes for gold at Senior Prize Giving

Mandeep Bariah is congratulated by Marc Woods

Sixth formers at the Royal Institution

7X2 using their field skills

Kajal Ladva, Hamza El-Awdeh, Sadaf Waseeq, Najeeb Nasiri with their designs

Hounslow Youth Speaks Competition Chandan Dhiman, Ambreen Rana and Jessica Pearce, took part in ‘Hounslow Youth Speaks competition at the Rotary Club of Hounslow. Their speeches focused around the 2012 Olympic Games, with Ambreen winning ‘Best Proposer of Thanks’.

Heathland Clubs with a difference!

Year Eleven successfully completed work experience in the week before half term, with students placed at a variety of different employers, such as Opticians, Veterinarians and Heathrow Airport. Of particular note were Harsimran Bhatia, Tayseer Malik and Mujtaba Yaqub who all received outstanding feedback from their respective employers, who were impressed by their motivation and professionalism.

A group of Year 12 pupils with an interest in Religious Studies got the opportunity to see the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, in the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha. He shared his beliefs and values on the importance of equality, hospitality and sacrifices in Christianity and linked this with Sikh beliefs. He honoured the example of Guru Tegh Bahadu, who sacrificed his life in order for Hindus to practice their faith and conjoined this with his principles for a multi-faith society.Rumaysa Baig (12 Adams) Neha Soni (12 Anderson)

Archbishop of Canterbury meets pupils

Year 11 work 9 -5 International pianist recites Lizst

Instead of their usual assembly, Heathland sixth formers were treated to an exquisite piano recital by Professor Karl Lutchmayer, who teaches music at one of Britains’s most prestigious academies. This is the bicentenary (200years) of classical musician Franz Liszt; a Hungarian, who in his day was as famous as David Beckham. After describing the composer’s colourful life, Karl thrilled us with a virtuoso performance of Listz’s piano music. Bravo maestro!

First ever Open Mic Night is a hit

Joe Shafique on stage

The music department opened its doors on an innovative new style of performing this term, with the brand new ‘Open Mic’ evening. Students were invited to take the stage and display their musical skills, with students from most year groups taking part. The night was attended by both parents and pupils, with members of local bands who had been helping with song writing techniques also attending to give their support. Opened by Joe Shafique and Daniel Trainor, the night saw around 10 acts, singing acoustically and playing a variety of instruments. The Year 8 Rock Band, joined by special guest Miss Thorne, closed the night on a high, with the final set.

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Zara Bhatti, Nimo Abdullahi, Mariam Magsi, Manpreet Sagoo, Achint Mann, and Karamjit Sekhon greet the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Gurdwara.

Chelsea Blackaby modelling clay

Datta Vemupailli, Harman Kang, Vinay Dhadria, Luke Buttolph, Azhar Siddiqi, POLICEMAN, Arun Ubhi, Mohammed Khedimi, Harsha Lankachandra, Rashed Abu, and Arashdeep Sidhu receiving completion certificates at Crown Court.

Most Heathland students benefit from attending clubs – either to support their school work, develop sporting skills, make new friends or learn something new. Two clubs attracting big numbers are the Friday Chess Club and as a complete contrast, Clay Club in the Art Department. All Heathlanders are encouraged to take part in clubs – so how about looking again at what’s on offer and try something new. Who knows, perhaps you could even challenge the Headmaster at Chess – he claims an unbeaten record!

Checkmate with Yousuf Rana and Navdeep Seira

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Racing championsThursday 6th October several students took part in the Hounslow Borough Cross Country Championships. All students put a huge amount of effort into their races and congratulations must go to the Year 7, 8 and 9 Girls, and the Year 8/9 Boys who won their respective races.

Following on from their success as Borough Champions the Year 7 girls Tag rugby team competed in a Middlesex competition. The girls played confidently and improved as each game went on. The girl’s hard work resulted in them finishing the initial stage as winners of their pool. They went on to play a very experienced school in their semi-finals, which they lost narrowly. The girls train after school on Tuesdays and new players are very welcome.

On the 20th October 2011 30 pupils in Year 9 were selected to take part in a languages/P.E session. It consisted of learning more about the sport Handball; how it’s played, where it originates from and the basic phrases used in a game. The aim was to challenge ourselves and integrate with other students. The twist? We had to do all of this in German! The icing on top of the cake was that the day that had been so much fun, educational and taught us new German vocabulary which may be really helpful in the future!Salwa Anguparu (Y9)

On the 2nd of November the P.E. Department launched the opening of the brand new netball courts. Approximately 60 students from Year 7 to 6th Form turned up to celebrate the event with a huge tournament. Before this the Netball teams had to endure flooded areas and cracked pitches with very faint lines, we now have fantastic facilities to train and play matches on. Netball club is after school on Wednesdays if you would like to join us!

Dates for your diaryTuesday 20th December: Last day of Term

(pupils finish by 1.00pm)

Thursday 5th January: Spring Term starts (all pupils in school by 8.40am)

Friday 30th March: Spring Term Finishes

Thursday 17th April: Summer Term starts

Thursday 19th July: Summer Term ends

Nice new courts for netballers

Sporting Heads

Wir spielen handball

Two former heads of PE, Mr K. Rowe and Mr M. Avoth at Senior Prize giving buffet with Mr. Nicholls. MBE (Chairman of Governors).Mr. Rowe and Mr. Avoth are now both Headteachers in Hillingdon and Wiltshire respectively.

Netballers enjoying the new courts.

Girls Tag Rugby are top scorers!

Shabazz Parchment, Yasmine Bawa, Safiya Wilson, D’Nell Spencley, Malaika Riaz, Anaiah Paul and Rebecca Udoh.

Gurveen Randhawa plays Handball in German!

Heathland Cross Country runners take a well-earned rest.