Stop The Clock Day – Designing Our FutureYear 7

As part of their new curriculum, all of Year 7 had a “Stop the Clock” day on 16th December. With the help of visiting architecture students and designer Clare Burnett they discussed the future of the school and what features a new building might need. The students were split into 14 groups, and each group had to plan, design and build a model of their ideas.

Many great ideas were put forward, and the 14 teams competed against each other to produce the best design and model. Some designed entire schools, while others concentrated on one part of the school which they felt needed the most improvement.

Learning objectives: students proposed practical ways forward, in manageable steps. They generated their own ideas and explored possibilities, and communicated what they had learned in relevant ways to a new audience. The students collaborated with others in groups to work towards a common goal – designing a future school.

Newsletter February 2009

Students working on a design for a new block of toilets

One of the finished designs for a new school

Football pitch Swimming pool

Student Feedback

The girls really enjoyed the chance to have their say on what a new school might look like and what features they would like to see.

“I liked being able to adapt our funky ideas into models”

“We worked together and voted on everything fairly”

“I didn’t think it would be fun for architects, but it was!”

“Now we know we have to keep our own environment tidy”

Glass tubes lead between departments

The winning design for a new school!

Student Feedback

“We want to study law, dance, cheerleading, football, acting, astronomy.”

“More recycling, maybe solar lighting”

“Our building now is not suited to our learning needs”

With many thanks to Noushaba Jaffrey for student support and Angus Gulliver for technical assistance and photography throughout the dayMr Moore and Ms McCann History and Science

Moving from good to outstanding!

Following our successful OFSTED report in November 2008, part of our action plan is to develop learning and teaching and moving the standard of ‘good’ lessons to ‘outstanding’. In order to achieve this, we invited John Bayley, an educational expert to come and speak to members of staff who work in the learning and teaching committee. We met with him on 5th February 2009.

Our first session was fantastic and exciting! Staff gained many ideas and left the meeting feeling very enthused. One of the ideas we are developing across the college is sharing positive messages with students to improve relationships and the learning environment.

We have included an example of positive messages below and a photograph of the committee working with John Bayley.

http://www.jbayley.co.uk/

Thank you.

Mr McGill / Ms Shah

Assistant Principals Technology and Languages

Students’ Comments

“We want to learn Food Technology.”

“We need a new playground, and benches to eat outside; more apparatus, running track, field, climbing wall, swimming pool. More sports, tennis, football, cricket.”

“Signs in corridors so you know where you are and where to go.”

“More toilets, sensors on taps and dryers.”

“Bigger building with automatic doors.”

“Gardening club with a pond”

“Library – more books than computers.”

“Plant trees to reduce the carbon footprint.”

“We want a fun, clean, happy school. So we look forward to going to school”

Welcome sign in multiple languages

Practical block & Humanities building

Gardenhouse

Dining room

Year 8 trip to Amazonia at the Young Vic theatre

In January a group of ten Year 8 geography students accompanied by Mr McKenzie of the Modern Foreign Language department went to see the play ‘Amazonia’ at the Young Vic Theatre and to attend a theatre workshop afterwards. The tickets were generously donated by Canning House, a Latin American cultural and social non profit organisation, as part of their schools programme to promote and create awareness of issues and developments in Spain, Portugal and South America. Students in Year 8 study Brazil as part of their Geography syllabus. They look at the importance of the Amazon ecosystem, the issues surrounding its destruction and the attempts to conserve it.

The play tells the story of a period of momentous change in the lives of the villagers of ‘Todos Os Santos’, a community in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. As new destructive forces confront the villagers, the solution is to be found amongst more traditional ways being and adherence to the knowledge of indigenous peoples and their belief in the spirit world.

The students found out that the play was also inspired by the real life Brazilian people’s hero Chico Mendes. He was a rubber tapper and Brazil’s first real ecologist who brought our attention to the forest’s destruction due to greedy and exploitative practises. He was murdered by a powerful landowner for being too outspoken.

The girls enjoyed the play and patiently waited for an hour afterwards to begin the workshop. A group of Year 7 girls’ from a school in a South East London was also involved in the workshop. Our girls showed a lot of patience and good will, participating enthusiastically in all the activities.

Amazonia and Chico Mendes

Mr MacKenzie Modern Languages

Babylon Exhibition: Myth and Reality

Year 11 students participated in a curriculum enhancement afternoon which involved a trip to the British museum on Tuesday, February 10th.

The students visited the special exhibition: Babylon: Myth and Reality which gave them a basic understanding of the great civilisation of Babylon where modern Iraq stands now.

They learnt about Cuneiform writing, Babylon’s Hanging Gardens (one of the Seven Wonders of the World) and the Tower of Babylon. They also viewed a copy of the earliest map of the world devised by the Babylonians and watched a video about how the city of Babylon (situated south of Baghdad) has been destroyed over the last few decades by wars and negligence and what the international community is doing to protect it.

The students even had time to visit the Egyptian wing where they viewed real mummies and human bones but it didn’t spoil their appetite for snacks!

Ms Hemamda

Ms Hemamda and Mrs Jawad Modern Languages

John Kelly Cookbook

I would like to extend a massive thank you to all of you who have contributed recipes for the cookbook. All of them sound delicious and I look forward to trying them out. We are still in need of more recipes however, so please keep them coming in.

To celebrate the John Kelly half-centenary we intend to design and publish a John Kelly Girls’ Cookbook, with recipe contributions from staff, students, parents and carers. The intention is to have the cookbook split into sections by country, so as to celebrate the many cultures represented at the school, and to be published by July in a similar, professional way to our yearbooks are. Please donate any tried and tested recipes you would like to be included in the cookbook; they do not have to be typed or written out neatly as we will do that. Many thanks.

Mr Jayapal Maths

Year 9 Combined Cadet Force

In January John Kelly Girls' first ever combined cadet

force began their training programme. After an extensive selection process seven year 9 students were chosen after proving they were prepared to commit to the programme for a minimum of two years.

During their time in the cadets the girls will learn various skills such as, survival skills, weaponry skills, map reading, communication and leadership.

The cadet training takes place every Tuesday after school at Highgate school, where the girls are working closely with pupils from Highgate.

Well done girls and keep up the good work!

Breathing Places update

Our work on our patch of land at the side of the college is really getting underway now that spring is just around the corner. We are very keen on getting as many of our community involved as we possibly can and are looking for volunteers to help us develop plots of land, get our allotments started, plant, and prune or simply give us advice on anything to do with good gardening.

If you are interested in hearing more please contact me via email at kma_eng@jkgtc.brent.sch.uk

Ms Aylott Assistant Principal

Mosaic ‘World of Work’ visit to Lovells LLP

A group of girls from year 10 and the sixth form were given the opportunity to go to Lovells law firm. The visit was organized by Ms Mngaza and made possible by the Mosaic network group of mentors. At the law firm we were talked to by trainees and qualified lawyers. We discussed our career aspirations with them and gained a better understanding of the different paths laid out by law as a career option. After the group presentation we were given a tour around the building and we were able to talk to the lawyers and trainees one on one, and ask them questions about their lives and how and why they chose law as a career.It was a fantastic opportunity for all the girls to broaden their views about a choice of career. We also learned a variety of different aspects of law that we did not know existed. Overall it was a very worthwhile experience.

Thank you Ms Hamdi, Ms Waseem and Ms Akbar for taking us to Lovells.

Salwa Abdulrahman Sixth form

On Wednesday 11th February a group of 25 Year 10 students went to Lovell’s Law Company in Farringdon to get more experience about being a lawyer. One of the trainees gave us an introduction about studying to be a lawyer. One of the International Finance lawyers told us about the different business trips they get to go on. At first I wasn’t sure about what I was going to do in the future but after this experience I have thought long and hard about being a lawyer. The visit was extremely interesting, especially when they gave us a tour of the building and provided us with lunch. I was surprised about how much lawyers can earn even when they start. Very posh I must say!

Krishna Pindoria 10G

SAMLEARNING

It is that time of year again when revision is high on the agenda and here at John Kelly Girls’ we are trying everything we can to make that process easier and more achievable.

For the fourth year running we have invested a substantial amount of money into SAMLEARNING, this is an online revision tool and has proved very popular in the past.

All students at JKGTC have access to this resource, we are able to monitor their use and have found that many students in Year 11 are currently not using this very valuable tool. We would like to ask for your support and encourage your daughter to use the online revision for the various subjectsThe YES project

As Year Director of Learning for year 10, I was asked to select a group of thirty students to take part in a series of

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Active Tutorial lessons. During one 50 minute lesson each week students are introduced to a variety of activities, bus safety, emotional intelligence and Healthy eating are some examples of the topics covered. We have asked a number of agencies to come into college to explore aspects of our community that are not normally taught in schools. One of the most exciting Active Tutorials is the YES Project. Different units of the Police Force have come into college to encourage discussion around the serious issues that face our young people today.Here are some comments from the students involved:

Michaela“I have been to three sessions so far and I am looking forward to the next one. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the police dogs, how they are trained and the relationship between the handlers and their dogs. I learnt a lot from the ‘Fire Arms’ session, especially the long sentences given for just being in possession of a gun and about the need to licence guns. We saw real and replica guns and I can understand why the Police cannot tell the difference, we were asked if we could and seriously a replica gun cigarette lighter looked identical to the real thing.”

Alicia“It’s been interesting so far because I have learned to see things from the police point of view and I never have before. They are not being ‘dread’ on you if they stop you, they usually have a good reason and I never thought about this before. I was interested in the sniffer dogs, they are very well trained but they frightened some of our group. These dogs can sniff out guns and drugs and we were taught how this is done. We were introduced to the police dogs and given a demonstration of an attack, we were then asked to stroke the dogs. I want to continue this course and recommend that all students get this opportunity; I see the police in a different light.”

Intifaac;“I enjoy it, it’s about being safe, its educational. It’s taught me not to get involved in weapons as this gets you arrested. Its amazing how the dogs can be trained to attack a human by biting the arm and not attacking any other part of the body; they keep a person pinned down until the police come. The video clip on knives showed you that by having a knife you could end up using it and the serious consequences of this. Real crime and excellent video footage made sense to me!”

Dorontina“It was ‘sick’ in other words it was really good. I loved the police dogs, they looked vicious but were well controlled; the police officers love their dogs and do not want anything to happen to them. I have certainly learnt not to carry a knife or be with anyone who doe,s it’s just not cool. I have also learnt to move away from situations as I could be equally to blame or equally as guilty even if I was standing by.

When we saw the violent crime video what surprised me was that even the friends of stab/shooting victims do nothing to help stop the bleeding, next I think all students should learn first aid.”

Ms Nicholls (Lead Year Director of Learning)

Help John Kelly Girls’ Technology College earn prizes

Generation Green is a schools and community programme from British Gas, which encourages and supports green behaviour through a combination of green lesson plans and activities.

Each school which registers for Generation Green it is given a leaf goal and once the appropriate number of leaves have been achieved they can then be exchanged for green rewards.

Both schools and parents/carers can also receive free advice on saving energy through easy to take actions for which they will earn “Green Leaves” for their chosen school.

John Kelly Girls’ target is over 98,000 Leaves and so far we have earned 6,503. It would be great if the College could earn enough to get a reward, which can range from educational kits to the top reward of solar panels.

Please help us earn Leaves and help us reach our goal. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the British Gas Energy Savers Report which can be found under the heading “Families and Friends” on the Generation Green website on www.generationgreen.co.uk. Possibly your daughter might to improve her computer skills and complete the report for you.

You will not only be helping the College but you could also save some money on your heating bills.

Please ensure that you donate your Leaves to the Girls’ College.

Mrs M Shepherd Environment Officer

Lost Property

Since the last edition of Student News the number of items being held in lost property has increased considerably. Even though the weather has been freezing cold none of the coats or jackets we are holding have been claimed.

If your daughter has lost any items please ensure that she asks if it is being held or telephone the college on 020 8452 4842 between the hours of 10am to 3pm.

Each Form Tutor has told their Tutor Group to make sure they check as the items currently being held will be given to a local charity by the end of March.

Mrs M ShepherdEnvironment Officer

Recycling presentations in Active Tutorial lessons

Over the last few weeks Years 7, 8 and 9 have attended presentations on recycling given by Mrs Crace from Brent Council.

Mrs Crace explained both the environmental and financial implications of not recycling and how it affects each and every one of us. Many of the students were surprised to learn that every 90 minutes the Borough of Brent produces enough rubbish to fill a swimming pool and that the energy taken to produce each aluminium can from raw material is enough to run a TV for 3 hours.

In college it is very important that we all play a part in recycling, ensuring we only recycle the correct items. Cans, plastic bottles and tetra packs in the playground and canteen and white paper in the classrooms. There are many types of plastics, some of which are not recyclable and therefore we do not want plastic cups and yoghurt pots put in the bins.

If you have any used batteries from a game or camera please hand to your Form Tutor as we are now collecting these in the staff room.

Mrs M Shepherd Environment Officer

Students watching the presentation in the Hall

Year 9 Make a Mint CORRECTION

This article was printed in the last edition of the newsletter, but with the wrong photograph! With apologies to the students involved.

Ten students from Ms. Amao’s Year 9 Science class took part in an event designed to inspire young people. “Make a Mint” by NESTA took place on 20th November 2008 and required students to come up with a product and business plan, which was pitched to a team of judges just like in Dragon’s Den. The John Kelly girls ended up as the overall winners of the event, they received trophies and the Science Department will get £300 to buy new equipment. You can see a video of the event at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SxYGj5oHjcM

The girls representing JKGTC were Fariha Blaaza, Ayan Farah, Mariam Mahmoud, Colby Gnagbo, Alaa Shamsi, Ethel Fuenzalida, Asha Abdullah, Safa Haji, Yasmin Warsame and Kinga Pilarska.

“I loved the trip, it was hard work and challenging and makes you think. You will know what hard work it is in business” – Fariha Blaaza

“I think the NESTA experience was one to never forget, I totally enjoyed every moment. I was proud of myself for taking part with my classmates, and our business was very successful” – Ayan Farah

“We all learned a lot about mints, and how the products are made. I enjoyed making our own product, and wining!” – Kinga Pilarska

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Library / LRC

DIARY DATES

Wednesday 4 th March Year 9 Parents Evening 5.30 – 8.00pm

16 th – 20 th March Healthy Schools week

Thursday 26 th March Year 7 Tea Party 4.00 – 5.00pm

Tuesday 31 st March 09 Options Evening5.30 – 7.30pm

Friday 3 rd April Break up for holidays

Monday 20 th April 1st day of term

Library Catalogue (list of books)can now be found by following these links on any school computer. Departments, Library-LRC, click on the link.

Braintcroft children from year 6 are now coming to a reading club after achool and using tha Accelerated reader programme.

Don’t forget the library is open late until 6.30pm on a Tuesday if you need to revise or finish course work.We are also open from 7.45am until 8.15am daily.