Welcome to Issue 2 of Woodhouse College’s Newsletter. I am delighted to have been asked to write the

welcome to this Issue and I hope you enjoy the articles contained within.

In my previous ‘Welcome from the Principal’ I wrote about the many ‘firsts’ that we introduced during the

course of the last year. Although I am now moving into my second cycle, the desire to continue to improve

what we offer our students and the steady flow of educational initiatives from Government means that the

College will undoubtedly be involved in creating many more ‘firsts’. These, I am sure, will form part of

future Newsletters.

Many of the initiatives I wrote about in the Autumn Newsletter are now maturing nicely and we are all

reaping the rewards. The extension to the student Social Area came in on budget and some three weeks

ahead of schedule. This has significantly helped to reduce overcrowding at peak times and has allowed us

to improve access to the ‘Coffee Kart’ by moving it from the Canteen to the Social Area. Five Lower Sixth

students have been elected by their peers to the College Council joining the five Upper Sixth students who

were elected last year. Shayan Moftizadeh and Yacine Sekkoum have completed their term of office as

Student Governors on the Board of Governors and have been replaced by Rumare Gilbertt-Dillon and

Brook Hewitt. My very sincere thanks go to both Shayan and Yacine for their excellent and positive con-

tributions throughout the last year. I have enjoyed further bouts of ‘interrogation’ by the elected Tutor

Group Representatives at both a Lower Sixth and a second Upper Sixth Principal’s Question Time.

The Autumn Newsletter highlighted some of the new enrichment opportunities that were being made avail-

able to students at the College. A number of the articles in this Spring Issue describe how these have de-

veloped over the last three months and give an insight into the marvellous contribution that many of our

students are making to their community.

I hope you would agree that this Newsletter paints a picture of a vibrant College, a College which offers its

students much more than just excellent examination results by enabling them to engage in a wide range of

exciting activities which provide them with a broad and rounded education. As I have now mentioned ex-

aminations, please do read the article on the Extended Project as we are very proud of the students’ ingenu-

ity and achievements.

I hope you enjoy reading this Newsletter.

Keith Murdoch

Principal

Welcome from the Principal

February 2009 Issue 2

Newsletter

All Lower Sixth students were introduced to Work Experience and Volunteering at a tutorial in November,

and have been told to update or create a CV and cover letter in class.

If students want to do an official Work Experience, the final deadline for return of the ‘Student Placement

Details’ forms is Friday 27 February 2009. I will then obtain and process all the relevant documentation,

including Health & Safety Assessments and Parental Consent forms.

Work Experience forms are on the student VLE (under My Career) and copies are also in the Careers Area.

Students should put their completed form in Joanna Greatwich’s wooden tray marked ‘CAREERS’, or

email it to her at jgreatwich@woodhouse.ac.uk

Forms received after 27 February will be counted as ‘voluntary work or unofficial’ Work Experience. This

means that parents will be responsible for the safety of the student at this time rather than the College.

Joanna Greatwich

Lower Sixth Students Work Experience — Official Scheme

European Work Experience

A number of AS Modern Languages students are participating in a European Work Experience Exchange

Programme jointly run with several Barnet schools. Students who are involved in this exciting opportunity

will be spending a week in March in either Belgium or Germany where they will be staying with families,

and undertaking work experience. The programme also offers placements in Spain. We are hoping to in-

crease the number of participants next year. Students should see Mrs Pari for more details.

Page 2

Issue 2

Staffing News

We have had more than our fair share of bad luck this year, what with four staff with broken bones last

term and three off with major illnesses or operations. It is harder to cover for absent teachers in a sixth-

from College than in a school: we aim to put a specialist subject teacher into the classroom and not simply

a babysitter, and this sometimes is not easy. Nonetheless, we have covered more or less satisfactorily for

all absences this year. Miss Oswin, our much loved head of Chemistry, will be back soon and we will then

be back to full strength (as long as no-one goes and breaks their leg skiing this half-term!).

We have lost 2.5% of teaching time owing to illness (although most of those lessons were in fact covered

by other colleagues) compared with a 3.6% rate given by the CIPD for the Education Sector generally.

Page 3

Newsletter

Who is Jack Petchey?Who is Jack Petchey?Who is Jack Petchey?Who is Jack Petchey?

Jack Petchey is one of the UK's most successful businessmen. Born in East London in

July 1925, Jack came from a working class background with very few advantages. From

an early age he showed the entrepreneurial skills that have aided his success.

In 1937 a 12-year-old Jack was prosecuted at East Ham Magistrates Court for working

under age. The prosecution evidence was that Jack was carrying vegetables, ie tomatoes,

the defence being that tomatoes were a fruit - not a vegetable. The case was dismissed!

Having left school at 14 Jack worked as an office boy before joining the Fleet Air Arm in 1943. At the end

of the Second World War Jack left the Navy and became a clerk. He applied for a management position but

was told by the personnel officer of his firm: "you'll never make a businessman"!

So Jack Petchey decided to go it alone. With £60 to his name, he bought a motor car and founded his first

Car Hire business. From there a thriving Car Sales business was formed. Jack eventually branched into

property and in 1969 was introduced to the idea of a holiday complex in the Algarve, Portugal, which he

still runs to this day.

Having just celebrated his 83rd birthday, there is no sign of Jack Petchey slowing down. He currently man-

ages Petchey Holdings Plc and Petchey Leisure, a management company for several holiday resorts in

Spain, Portugal and the UK.

In 1999, he set up the Jack Petchey Foundation as he wanted to give opportunities to

young people in London. Over the last nine years he has donated over £50 million to

schools, clubs and projects which benefit young people in London. In 2004 Jack was

awarded an OBE at Buckingham Palace, by Her Majesty The Queen.

Jack Petchey Awards

The College is now part of the Jack Petchey Award scheme. Our first three winners were Edwina Lau,

Anish Patel and Rashique Siddique. Each of these students was recognised for their outstanding contribu-

tions to the College community and for their work in charity fund-raising.

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Issue 2

FIRST AID AT WOODHOUSE FIRST AID AT WOODHOUSE FIRST AID AT WOODHOUSE FIRST AID AT WOODHOUSE –––– 100% passed! 100% passed! 100% passed! 100% passed!

At the Enrichment Fair in September there was an overwhelming amount of interest to the course we proposed run-

ning, offering students a Youth First Aid qualification from St. John’s Ambulance. The response was so great that,

having initially offered one course for a set of twelve people, we had to offer three groups and open up the sets to

thirteen students each. This qualification clearly interested many students but mostly those Lower Sixth students

who are aspiring medics.

The three members of staff drafted in to run the course – Diane Dimmoline, Maeveen Maenpaa and me (Julia Ste-

vens) – had all completed First Aid Training and had to get to grips with delivering a course using a manual from St.

John’s Ambulance containing DVDs, powerpoints and worksheets. The six sessions that we had were great fun with

many students lying on the floor, pretending to roll around in pain and inventing horrendous injuries in very strange

situations for their partners to deal with professionally (without laughing!). We also learned a lot from some of the

students’ previous experiences with such things as bee stings, asthma attacks and fainting. We also had a great deal

of fun with ‘Woodie’, our resuscitation dummy, and he did almost become a real person.

On the day of the assessment, four assessors from St. John’s turned up promptly and the production line began. We

borrowed the PE classroom and the students all waited their turn to act as a casualty whilst other students were

closely questioned on how they would deal with the scenarios they were presented with. We found our weak area –

how to use bandages to make a sling – but the students responded fantastically well and the assessors were impressed

by their common sense and their performance in general. Incidentally, they were also impressed by how respectful

and intelligent our students were compared to other schools and colleges they visit.

So congratulations all round to those 37 who took the test and worked so hard. Their diligence paid off and all the

students passed, and the College and the wider community now have the benefit of competent young people who can

deal with an emergency situation. So popular was the course that we are considering running another more intense

course at the end of the Summer term. Congratulations to all!

Attendance Matters!

There is a lot of research showing attendance to be one of the key factors that influence student

achievement. In a nutshell, poor attendance equals poor exams results.

The College’s overall attendance for this academic year, since the beginning of September, is around 92%.

Congratulations to the 32 students with 100% attendance:

Pooja Depala Triona Dove Yi - Han Yu Han Chan

Hejal Kara Lauren Bennett Jonelle Jones-Alleyne Christos Agathangelou

Abdoul Bamba Dimple Khatri Dexter Matthew Kathleen Regan

Emine Kemal Yianni Kokoropoulos Hishaam Sheikh Ceylan Barut

Simone Charles Deniz Fahri Malik Fahad Ugur Ozturk

Daniella Harris Kay-Ann Kan Tejal Gajjar Omar Karmali

Sabine Fox Joseph Edwards Cansu Huseyin Naomi Adjei

Zoe Orphanou Monique Todd Michelle Boahene Elizabeth Price

Page 5

Newsletter

College Council News...

The College Council has had another busy couple of months at Woodhouse College…

October was witness to the Lower Sixth Tutor Group Rep and Council elections, in which the following Lower Sixth

students were elected by their Tutor Groups to act as their representatives: Thai Nguyen; Louis Marlow; Matthew

Simpson; Madeleine Alexander-Finch; Pippa Case; Eve Bidmead; Tamara Lawn; Holly Ashdown; Abdoul Bamba

Balinder (Billy) Minhas Nancy Nwaka; Rumare Gilbert-Dillon; Simon Metin; Jennifer McGeever Sil-Sun Lau; Zak

Arden; Renos Christou; Farzaneh Ebrahimi; Nosa Emumwen; Annalisa Cleland- Awity; Cassandra Pinneh; Joel

Sarid; Monjurul Hoque; Ridhi Majithia; James Chowen; Brook Hewett; Olivia Izzet; Melissa Pan; Rory McCraiuiu;

Nueka Okoye and Joe Edwards.

Of the Tutor Reps, the following Lower Sixth students, after a

fiercely contested hustings, were elected to sit on the College Coun-

cil: Renos Christou; Rumare Gilbert-Dillon, Brook Hewitt, Gene-

vieve Boetang and Monjurul Hoque who now join the Upper Sixth

students Yacine Sekkoum, Shayan, Julia Pakpoor, Alice Esuola, and

Phillip Hopkins in representing the student voice at Woodhouse.

Congratulations to all involved!

Another highlight of last term was the Anti-Slavery campaign which

ran from 10 to 31 November. Over the three weeks the Tutor Reps

and Council were involved in organising events that ranged from a

sponsored leg waxing (!!) and Krispy Crème donut sales to basketball

matches and staff car washes. There were also a series of awareness

raising activities including a visiting speaker from Anti-Slavery International and a tutorial written and delivered by

students explaining the tragedy and extent of modern day slavery.

Thanks to all the hard work, dedication and generosity of the student body an incredible £2087.72 was raised during

the campaign. That money, in addition to stationery materials collected by Tutor Representatives, will be used to

support five primary schools in Niger that have been established over the past year for children of slaves to help them

break away from the bondage of slavery. Michaela, a representative from Anti Slavery (and incidentally one of

Woodhouse’s alumni) wrote to the College Council saying “We really are very grateful for the funds that the stu-

dents raised and the difference it will make to the running of the schools, but also the fact that they have become

more aware and were moved enough to take action.” Certainly it was a fantastic couple of weeks in which the whole

College really was able to make a difference.

To find out more about the work of Anti-Slavery International visit http://www.antislavery.org/. If you would like

to support our fundraising why not sponsor the Vice Principal in the London Marathon by visiting http://

www.justgiving.com/johnrubinstein.

December was thankfully a bit quieter, but planning is now underway for Valentine’s Week which will be another

whole College fundraiser, this time for the Red Cross (and, of course, an opportunity to spread the love!), an Envi-

ronmental awareness week and the Leaver’s Prom in June. Looks like it’ll be another busy term…!

Page 6

Newsletter

Extended Project — New exam sees Woodhouse students making the grade.

Twenty students at Woodhouse College were delighted with the excellent results received in a brand new

examination – the Extended Project. This new qualification is unique because it allows students to choose

what they want to study and how they want to present it.

“This qualification has shown what students can do when encouraged to follow their interests” explained

Ian Hooper, Director of Curriculum at Woodhouse College. “We are very proud of their achievements.”

There was a huge range of projects which varied from fibre optic technology to the design of a dress.

Some projects were very personal investigations. One student went to the Balkans to study post-war iden-

tity in her Kosovan hometown and another drew an artistic response to a house in Barcelona built by archi-

tect Antonio Gaudi.

Students took advantage of their choice about the format for their Projects as the work included essays,

DVDs, plays, poetry anthologies and inventions. Students were supported in developing their Projects by

individual supervision lessons. As part of the exam, students kept a log of their work and the project ended

with each student presenting their work to staff and their classmates.

85% of students scored A*-B grades and all candidates passed.

“We were delighted that four of our students achieved the new

A* grade as this was the first time it has been awarded for an Ad-

vanced qualification.” said Ian Hooper. Two students have been

chosen as finalists in a National Science Competition to be held

in London in March having finished projects on stem cell re-

search and treatments for Parkinson’s Disease.

A sample of the projects is detailed below:

Fore-name

Sur-name

Project Title Format Supervisor Out-come

Georgia Caton The contributions of class, race, gender and culture to the identity of two generations of West Indian women.

Written report Ian Hooper B

Zana Ajvazi The evolution of women's fashion and chang-ing views of the body with a particular focus on the bra and its historical influence.

Garment, video, creative log and report.

Jo Bower A*

Jina Pakpoor How far will the magic seeds of science trans-form medicine? The potential of stem cell research.

Written report Wendy Oswin A*

Mitesh Hathira-mani

Develop a fibre optic telecommunications link. Physical invention of a de-vice and written commen-tary.

Philip Wilson A*

Joshua Kuforiji The modern relevance of the Hippocratic Oath.

Written report Amanda Forshaw A

Page 7

Issue 2

Maths Competition

130 students this year entered the fiendishly difficult UK Senior Maths Challenge. Overall, five students

achieved Gold, nine Silver and thirty eight Bronze, which was a pretty good effort if not quite a vintage

year.

Here’s a sample question for you to have a go at. It’s one of the medium difficulty ones, but remember: no

calculators allowed.

“Andy and his younger cousin Alice both have their birthdays today (6 November 2008). Remarkably,

Andy is now the same age as the sum of the digits of the year of his birth and the same is true of Alice.

How many years older than Alice is Andy?”

(Requests for clues should be addressed to the Head of Maths!)

One team of four (2U and 2L students) competed in the London Heats of the UK Team Challenge. Last

year’s team got to the National Finals. This year's team competed strongly but narrowly missed getting in

to the finals.

WOODHOUSE DEBATING SOCIETY: Competition News

As part of the Enrichment Course in Debating, run by Margery Gretton and Mary Channon, the College

was represented by Ben Dixon, Joseph Edwards, Alice Esuola and Brook Hewett, with Anjuli Douglas and

Eve Simmons lending support, at the Qualifying Round of the Institute of Ideas and Pfizer Debating Mat-

ters Competition held at the Queens Park Community School on 13 November 2008.

Alice and Ben opposed Alexandra Park School in debating the motion that ‘Student Unions are justified in

retaining ‘No Platform’ policies’. As they won their debate, Joe and Brook went on to oppose Camden

School for Girls in debating the motion that ‘Animal Experimentation cannot be justified’. As they, too,

won their debate, Woodhouse College won the round and will be going on to the Regional Final at the Na-

tional Theatre on 16 March 2009.

Three debating teams from the College will also be taking part in the regional round of the Oxford Schools’

Debating Competition at the John Lyon School on the afternoon of Monday 9 February 2009.

Joseph Juzl, first year Computing student, recently took part in the 2009 British Informatics Olympiad

(BIO). The BIO is an annual national competition in computer programming, sponsored this year by

Lionhead Studios (widely regarded as the leading video game developer in the UK). Joseph has now com-

pleted round two of the competition, which involved a problem solving examination and the development

of programming code.

The top fifteen contestants from the competition will be invited to the final round at the end of March when

they will have the opportunity to compete to represent Great Britain in the 2009 International Olympiad in

Informatics.

We now await the results.

British Informatics Olympiad

Page 8

Newsletter

Envision

Envision is an extra-curricular programme, supporting 16-19 year olds to plan and implement social and

environmental projects in their schools, colleges and local communities. This year Envision is working in

75 schools in London, 25 in Birmingham and several others elsewhere in the UK. The Envision team at

Woodhouse College currently has 63 members in the Lower Sixth. The team meets each Monday lunch-

time at 12:15pm in Room 207. They are supported by two trained adult Envision volunteers from the local

community (one of which is a full-time Envision worker).

Being a large group with a diverse range of interests, the team at Woodhouse has split into smaller sub-

teams focusing on different issues. There are common themes running through the groups – health and

poverty. The teams are working on issues such as:

This term the team will be electing a Press Officer for each group who will be invited to a special training

day run by Envision in half-term. The group press officer will be trained in getting in touch with the local

media to show that “young people are doing positive things to make their community a better place”.

Woodhouse Challenge

After a successful Autumn programme of events, which included a visit to Mayor’s Question Time, a talk

from Rob Lilwall who cycled home from Siberia and a visit from Paul Greatorex, a barrister at a 4-5 Grays

Inn Chambers, this term we have already had a very successful workshop run by the Red Cross on Hu-

manitarian Law. The talk attracted a range of students from a variety of disciplines – Law, Philosophy,

Sociology and many students whose interest had been highlighted by recent events in the Middle East. The

Workshop informed the students on what International Humanitarian Law is and on the role of the Red

Cross in administering it and also allowed them to consider genuine conflict situations and how the law

might be applied. Students came away with a much greater insight into the work of the Red Cross and the

difficulty in enforcing International Humanitarian Law around the globe. Since this talk, students have be-

come interested in raising money for the Red Cross to help their work in a variety of regions and several

students have expressed an interest in volunteering for the Red Cross during gap years. We are anticipating

an equally enthusiastic response to the visit by Robert Peston, the BBC Business Editor on 6 February,

which has been organised by Bill Westgate, from the Business Department.

Future talks and workshops this term often tie in with College campaigns, for example, a workshop on

10 February on Sustainability and the Environment by Bruce Nixon, which will be part of ‘Green’ week.

As well as national campaigns: Science week this year is from 6 March to 13 March and we have organised

three major talks for the Science students: the first one delivered by Dr Brian Foster, from Oxford Univer-

sity, on String Theory, a talk which will be of use to Physics students, a second one on the 6 March by Dr

Mike Carter from the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Infections and Dr Julia Elliot, who will talk

about Science careers and careers in Forensic Science. On the 10 March, a lecturer from Queen Mary, Uni-

versity of London, will be talking about whether machines can think.

On a different subject, Ajmal Masroor, a broadcaster and regular contributor on national radio and TV pro-

grammes, will be talking to Tutor Reps and other interested students about social cohesion and dialogue

between communities. In the summer we are hoping to widen student participation in a variety of activi-

ties.

Immunisation, Homelessness, Poverty, Cancer, Environment, Child Labour, STIs

This year the Philosophy Department has teamed up with The Compton School to offer a Philosophy Club,

as part of the extra curricular activity programme. There is a movement within the Philosophy teaching

community committed to extending Philosophy to all year groups, even introducing it at primary school;

and we saw this as an opportunity to get Philosophy known to a much wider, and younger, audience.

Woodhouse Philosophy students were keen to get involved, particularly those who worked on the Year 10

Taster Days last summer and several students volunteered to give up their Wednesday afternoons to teach

and discuss Philosophy.

We set out a programme of six Philosophy sessions over the year aimed at all Compton students. We de-

cided to touch on some of the main philosophical questions that we thought would stretch the students, for

example, whether the external world exists, whether machines are persons, whether it is morally right to

kill. We were concerned that these questions might just be ‘too big’ for the students but five minutes into

the first session our fears were dispelled. Once Woodhouse students had outlined the debate, the Compton

students took it forward bringing in ideas and arguments that demonstrated real insight and imagination.

The sessions have been very well attended and the debate has been lively and far reaching.

Our next meeting is on 4 February and the discussion will be videoed so the debate can be shared with a

wider audience. A big thank you has to go to Jo Lewis at The Compton for asking us to put on the Philoso-

phy Club and to the Upper Sixth students who have given up their time, especially: Phil Hopkins,

Michael Silas, Lawrence Kirk and Sammy Curtis.

The success of the Philosophy Club experiment at The Compton has made us keen to continue to open up

Philosophy to an even wider audience and if there are any Woodhouse parents who would like to know

more about Philosophy or would like some recommendations for further reading or films to watch (other

than the Matrix!) then do feel free to get in touch with us.

Amandafor@woodhouse.ac.uk

About 60 students have volunteered and are taking part in mentoring projects with our local 11-16 Partner

Schools, The Compton and Friern Barnet. This involves a weekly meeting after school with their partner,

usually a year 11 student, and helping them with their work.

The project benefits our mentors as it develops their skills, gives them greater insights into the subject

work, and looks very good on their CV!

Philosophy Club

Mentoring Projects

Page 9

Issue 2

Page 10

Newsletter

Storyboarding & Animation Workshop

Fourteen students attended this workshop run by the BBC's digital learning centre in White City. The

workshop was led by a professional animator and brought students together with industry profession-

als. Students learned to animate their prepared storyboards using Flash software. It was an excellent oppor-

tunity for the students to gain a view of industry standards and work with software used by professionals

and taught by people in industry.

British Museum’s Schools Project

Well done to Ishtah Kadel and Jasmine Bishop (Lower Sixth) and Anna Mariya Andreeva (Upper Sixth)

who have been given a place on the British Museum’s Schools Project – where students are trained and get

taken on to do a qualification with a museum or library in London. This is done in their spare time and all

three students had to fill in an application form and go for an interview.

The English Department has begun a series of

STRETCH AND CHALLENGE SEMINARS

for students studying English Literature with seminars on

POST-MODERN TALES and THE WASTE LAND IN LITERATURE

Details of future seminars, to include POST-COLONIALISM, THE LOST GENERATION IN

TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE, VICTORIAN LITERATURE, SATIRE

and SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY, will be posted on the VLE and on the notice boards in and in

and around the English Department.

Stretch and Challenge Seminars

Page 11

Issue 2

The Lower Sixth students involved with the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme

have all now made a start on working towards achieving their Silver Award. The

students are involved in a number of activities that range from computer animation

and hip-hop dancing to beat boxing and football coaching and all seem to be mak-

ing excellent progress (although in some instances their teachers aren’t always sure

of what the activities are meant to look like!)

Meanwhile, planning for the expeditions in the summer term (18 – 21 June and

5 – 9 July) is going well, with camping trips to Surrey and Sussex now booked.

Watch this space…! (and keep your fingers crossed for good weather…)

Important Dates This Term

Staff Development Days (no lessons):

Monday 23 February

Friday 6 March (Afternoon Only)

Wednesday 18 March

Reports:

6L Assessment Reports 3 February

6U Full Reports 2 April

Term Dates:

Half-Term 16 Feb – 20 Feb

End Of Term 3 April

Geography Field Trip

9 – 13 February

Change of date!Change of date!Change of date!Change of date!

The 11 March Staff Inset Day has been moved to

18 March.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may

cause you.

11 March will now be a normal Wednesday but

there will be no lessons on 18 March.

Famed BBC Business editor comes to Woodhouse!

On Friday 6th February, one of the UK’s most famous news report-

ers, Robert Peston, came to Woodhouse College to speak to the

students about the current economic situation. Robert painted a

pretty gloomy picture of the economy but he certainly was an ex-

cellent communicator. He was able to explain very complex issues

in a way that any we could all understand. The crowd of some 400

people in the Hall appeared to be focussed on his every word -

something Robert said afterwards that he was rather impressed by!

He is certain to be on television and on radio a great deal in the

coming weeks and months, so stay tuned to the BBC to see and

hear him again. Robert went to a local north London state school,

Highgate Wood, then read PPE at Oxford before going on to fame

at the BBC, so he provides a good role model for aspiring Wood-

house students!

Newsletter