Articles include: Headteacher News Key Stage News PE and Health Faculty News Faraday Challenge Day Stoke Mandeville Games

Autumn 2012 Issue 8

In Touch

An Early Christmas present for Bushey Meads School Welcome to our Autumn edition of ‘In Touch.’ As we approach the end of the year, and I look back over the events of 2012, I realise what a remarkable year it has been in so many ways. One of the biggest highlights for the country, of course, was the Olympics and we are very proud that we had five of our current and former students and staff carrying the Olympic Flame. Also, a former teacher from many years ago - Margaret Maughan – first ever female paralympian to win a gold— lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony. And of course Martin Cross, former coxed-four Olympic gold medallist, was the guest speaker at our Rewards Evening back in July. To keep the winning theme running, just last week Bushey Meads was awarded another Variety Bus in recognition of the great work we do with our Physically and Neurologically Impaired students. This is a great example of schools and businesses working in partnership together. Variety, the children’s charity, provided sponsorship through C.A.E. Technology, the Friends of Bushey Meads raised £9000 and the school contributed £4000 towards the cost of the bus which was in excess of £30,000. I was delighted on behalf of all the students, staff and parents to receive this new minibus. We travelled to The Big Top at Bloomsbury to be formally presented with the bus. Not only did we receive the beautiful new vehicle but, much to the delight of the students, Joe McElderry, winner of X-Factor 2009, was rehearsing for a performance later in the day. All the students were delighted to get his autograph.

This new bus will make a great difference for the physically and neurologically impaired students in the school – it will provide them with the opportunity to continue to visit Stoke Mandeville and participate in events off the school site which, without the bus, would not be possible. Thank you to Variety, the children’s charity and our Sponsors, C.A.E. Technology, who became involved through the support of a parent, Mr Chauchan, who is the Chief Finance Officer of this organisation based in Watford. In this picture left to right of the students are: Keith Andrews, Head of Variety, the children’s charity Mr Chauhan, parent of student at Bushey Meads Kevin Hyland, former student of Bushey Meads

Finally, I wish you all a very restful Christmas break with family and friends.

Mr Douglas

Year 12/13 Debating Society

A society with a difference. This year the members of the group, under the leadership of chairperson Louise Williams, have prepared their own structure and independent culture. Meetings are held weekly in H2 on a Monday lunchtime. Each month, a debate is organised and students in years 11, 12 and 13 are invited to attend. Topics are varied, from humorous to serious, from current affairs to ethical dilemmas. Exciting times lie ahead and we look forward to the challenges that will be provoked and the decisions that will be made on the topics.

E Pinkus: Debating Society

To many, the election of note this Autumn was the one to decide the President of America, but for those in the know, the real campaign lay much closer to home in the fight to become Head Boy and Head Girl of Bushey Meads Sixth Form. The campaign had none of the slurs and personal attacks of the Presidential election – it was fought purely on good, honest values. The Head Boy and Girl positions have become an institution in Bushey Meads Sixth Form. The positions call for candidates to be excellent role models

to both older and younger students, to have a proven record of academic excellence, to be well organised, committed and reliable and to be able to speak in public to peers and parents. Candidates for the positions were Simon Raynor, Chris Scott and Rob Walsh for the boys and Tyrah Sanchez, Katie Waite and Fiona Ryder for the girls. In a close fought contest Tyrah Sanchez and Rob Walsh emerged as winners and will shortly be meeting with me to begin their work. I wish them the very best for the next year and look forward to working with them. Mr Young

Tyrah and Robert

Community Service at Highwood School

Every two weeks I get the exciting opportunity to visit Highwood Primary School to help the children enjoy their lunch break as much as possible. As a former student of the school, it is a great chance to see the improvements that have been made to the school and playground. On a regular lunch duty I will play various games with the kids including Chess, Duck Duck Goose and Hide and Seek. It is a real joy to join in with playtime with all the lovely children; it takes me back to my days at primary school and away from the stress of A Levels. The school has recently been refurbished, much to the delight of the pupils. The playground has many facilities, including large instruments,

dressing up costumes and a climbing frame and activity set. Part of my responsibility as a lunch monitor is to set a good example to the children and support them if they are in need. They come to me with problems and I help to resolve them. I also give the Year 6 students advice on their transition up to Secondary School, as I know it can be a daunting experience. By Yasmin Krishna-Das

Sixth Form Enrichment Over 40 year 12 and 13 students enjoyed decorating cupcakes as part of the Sixth Form enrichment program. They used a variety of cake decoration techniques to produce different cupcake designs ranging from owls with eyes made from chocolate buttons or mini Oreo biscuits, a range of colourful creatures using spaghetti icing techniques and blue cookie monsters with

marshmallow eyes and actual cookies in their mouths. They also made giant pandas made out of muffins, fairy cakes, icing and large Oreo cookies, peacocks with wafer tails and snowmen covered in desiccated coconut complete with hats and chocolate drop mouths. Mrs Hoskins

Year 13 Drama students have been working in groups on their final devised pieces. Working with the broad theme of travel, they all had to explore this idea and research various topics that interested them, to give them direction and context. Building from this research they developed scenes and stories influenced by various drama practitioners, then furthered theses stories and ideas with yet more research and experimentation. The creative process is a long but rewarding one, all three groups having produced three distinct plays; the unique ways in which they’ve all interpreted this theme is engaging to say the least. The mock exam took place on 4th December, and was an opportunity for all to see how their own work affected an audience. Final performances took place on the 11th December. Good luck to these budding, young performers!

Also exciting is the work that the drama extension class have been doing. Working towards their street theatre performance, the age eclectic troupe has created a variety of scenes and scenarios to engage and entertain the public, some as

a whole and some in groups. The class have also recently taken part in a clown skills workshop, learning how to spin plates and juggle, among other things!

The group enjoyed it immensely, and picked up a few skills a long the way, some of which were used when performing in Watford in early December. The school play “We Will Rock You” is also well under way, going over dances for several songs and

rehearsing many a scene. A cast member commented:

How are you enjoying rehearsing? I’m enjoying it a lot. I find doing this really inspirational as it feels really quite professional. It’s a fun, versatile piece of drama to work with! What’s your favourite part of rehearsing? I don’t really have a favourite part; I enjoy all of it really! I love the love scenes between Galileo and Scaramouche, I find them really sweet and find the story between the two really cute. There are a lot of emotive, slow songs too, not just rock songs, which I really like; there’s a lot of variety there. There’s also a really awkward scene between two characters which is very entertaining. How would you recommend this to our readers? It’s just a really varied play for everyone, of any age or gender. If you want a fun filled, exciting and awesome time, come and see this play! It’s got great music; I mean it’s Queen! Come on! So that should appeal to a lot of people. You’ll have a really good time. So take your friends, your family and enjoy it!

DRAMA

GROUP

O n 29th November, my team and

myself held a quiz night at school.

My team are named the EntrepreNerds and we are taking place in The Dragons’ Apprentice 2012/2012.

The aim of this challenge is to ‘turn £100 into £1000’ but our target is £5,000; with the help of Freedom Communications we hope to raise that amount of money for Watford Sports and Community Trust. We previously held a cake sale for the students and our second event was our ‘Best of British’ quiz night. There was a great turnout of a mixture of parents, teachers and people from the local community. Throughout the night we sold raffle tickets for our raffle and wristbands which will be available at school on the last two days of term! Overall, including entrance fees we raised just over £1200!

This was a great achievement for us and has really helped us in reaching our target. A big thank you to everyone who came, anyone who donated prizes for the

EnterpreNerds team: Ryan Gardner, Louis Evans, Jaimee Ahmed, Grace Brooks and Holly

raffle and anyone who helped make the night happen. But of course we’re not stopping there; we will be attending Watford matches and holding fun activities there in order to raise more money so be sure to get your tickets to upcoming games! We will also be holding a big event in The Harlequin centre, an all singing, all dancing event on 22nd December 2012 during 10am-4pm, be sure to attend and buy a wristband for your chance of winning an iPad. Hope to see wristbands on all of your wrists soon!

Holly Davies - Year 12

YEAR 12

DRAGONS’ APPRENTICE

Year 11 ASPIRATION DAY

ENRICHMENT DAY YEAR 11 – FRIDAY 9TH NOVEMBER 2012 All Year 11 students were off timetable for the whole day to complete their Career Planning and Exploration Certificate which included writing their CVs and Personal Statements. We started off in the hall with a talk from Mrs McIldowie about the aims of the day. This included a short DVD `Go- Johnny- Go` designed to help young people make the most of what they have to offer, find out how to best communicate this and, in doing so, maximise their potential to get the job they want.

Students were then split into groups and set off to work on their CVs and Personal Statements. Each group was supported by two members of staff offering direction and reading through every completed document.

K ey Stage 4 sees our students go through a very important time in

their education. GCSEs are the culmination of years of hard work and, so very often, students become fearful of failure and can get anxious. This can lead to them shutting down, lacking motivation and not performing at their best. On Aspiration Day, two members of Action Jackson’s fix up team came in to school to motivate our Year 11 students to step up the pace in the marathon of GCSEs! Through inspiring them to focus on their strengths and talents, the fix up team encouraged our Year 11s to aim high and never give up when things get tough. They reminded our Year 11s of the bigger picture, and that the efforts they put into their work now will contribute to their success in the future. The boys enjoyed putting into practice some good methods for memorising information for exams, whilst the girls had a chance to show off some of their own talents- whether it was singing or dancing.

The day was a great boost for the motivation of our Year 11 students and it came at the ideal time, with mocks just around the corner.

Each student was reminded that they have a unique set of skills and abilities and that, if they set their mind to it, aim high and act now, there is no limit to what they can achieve. The fix up team told our students, “You are who you are… believe in yourself!” There was lots of laughter and fun, but there was also a serious message to take away from the day; our education is a privilege and a unique opportunity that should be grasped with both hands. Rather than worry about what could go wrong, we should always look for the positives and keep our future goals at the front of our mind. Then, together with dedication and hard work, the sky is the limit!

The groups were then introduced to KUDOS, an online search engine which can match an individual to potential careers. Anyone who had the time at the end of the day could also access a number of other helpful websites. Each student was handed a Bushey Meads presentation folder into which they can place all school and any external certificates in preparation for the interviews they will be involved in for either Sixth

Form, vocational college courses or a national apprenticeship scheme. The day was a great success with all of the students fully engaged in producing the best CV and Personal Statement they could. Feedback from pupils was that they felt far more confident and prepared for interviews than they had before the day.

Book Fair I n October we ran our annual Book Fair in the library. The Book Fair is always very popular, especially among

the students in Years 7 and 8. There was a great collection of books, posters and stationery for sale and we were very busy every day, with students coming to browse or buy before school, at break, lunchtime and at Homework Club after school. Thank you to everyone who came and supported the Book Fair. As a result of our fantastic sales the library has earned new books to the value of £300! Everyone who bought from the Fair was entered into a draw and the following students each won a book . Jessica Smith 7EL, Maya Parmar 7EL, Roxanne Olcott 7EL, Jamie Rogerson 8PK & Marek Tancak 8KN

Ten Lucky Students Serve up a Treat for Showcase Event. Earlier this term, ten students from Yr 8 and Yr 9 were picked, by means of a draw, to train as young chefs over a period of eight weeks. The aim was to be able to serve up a three course meal, fit for the Hilton. Over the following weeks, under the expert guidance of chef, Tony, from ABM Caterers, the students learnt how to chop and prepare food safely and attractively, with the speed, dexterity, flair and style that is a pre-requisite in any top hotel kitchen. The trainee chefs were dedicated and passionate about the food dishes they were cooking and very exited about the prospect of cooking various courses to serve their parents and guests in the BMS hospitality suite on 29 November. Every week the 'Ten' gave up Thursday evenings to perfect the two starters, main courses and desserts that they would cook and serve up at the showcase event - and what an event it turned out to be! The hospitality suite became a

hotel dining room, with a BMS green and yellow colour theme, background music and a slide show demonstrating the astounding progress that the students had made. Invited guests

included, parents, Deputy Head, Hilary Morawska; Heather Hawkins from the Chamber of Commerce; GM Mike Sutcliffe from ABM catering and Neil Shears and Gary Chapman, the GM and head chef from The Hilton, Watford.

The showcase evening proved to be a resounding success. The young chefs managed to work skilfully in the hot and hectic kitchen and their completed dishes

looked extremely appetising and professional. The guests could not wait to sample the food and they were not to be disappointed. At the end of the evening, whilst the mound of washing up was draining, certificates were presented to the students by Tony - one each for passing a Hygiene and Safety in the Kitchen test and the other for completion of the course. They were also given a Jamie Oliver recipe book, signed by Tony, which delighted them.

After clearing up, ten weary but elated students went home, these students had shown themselves to be a real asset to Bushey Meads School. They had worked very hard over the weeks and they had

all benefitted tremendously from the experience. One or two were even a little sorry that it had come to an end and, despite the hard work, another three are determined to become chefs.

STUDENTS INVOLVED Josh Crowther, Jamie Rogerson, Andrew Powell, Theo Harriott, Louis Smart, Evie Hewitt, Katie Sherwood, Chloe Barry, Sarah Badry, Daisy Wardell

Year 9 STEM Day: Faraday Challenge On Thursday 15th November, 48 highly able Year 9 students were invited to compete in a STEM (that’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Challenge. The students were selected on the basis of their ability and performance in D&T and Science. The STEM challenge was to work in teams to design and make a ‘mechanical’ arm capable of picking up and placing objects. To give the challenge context, the students would have to carry out a heart and kidney transplant operation on our very own Ms Morawska. Throughout the challenge, the teams scored points towards the grand total for the day. Each team had to show they could: produce design drawings, work in a team, make a presentation to judges and build and operate the mechanical arm. All the teams worked really hard throughout the day, but there could only be one winner. The team that consistently scored well through all the stages, and crowned STEM Champions 2012 was ‘Team Badger’. Team Badger were; George Payne, Alex Garvey, Jamie Boarder, Joe Robinson-Miners and Cydney Barber. A massive well done to everyone that took part. It was reassuring to see that many students at Bushey Meads School have the all round skills required to give a bright future for design and engineering based careers. Mr Chalkley.

Attendees Michael Pope, Charlie Baker, Katie Burke, Reece Gardiner, Jamie Addison, Jessie Bhatti-Ram, Lola Chappell, Chloe King, Grace Bonner, Meesha Kanani, Ben Lawson, Jasmine Frost, Lee Keogh, Megan Hughes, Hannah Spriggs

At the beginning of October, Base students and staff visited the National Junior Games at Stoke Mandeville.

Our 15 students took part in a wide variety of different sporting activities: field and track events, badminton, table tennis, boccia, bowls, pool and snooker, tennis and archery were just some on offer. They enjoyed the experiences of have-a-go sessions as well as competitions (many of them reaching the semi-finals and finals) and some managed to find time for a swim too! All the students received medals for participating; the presentation of certificates will be taking place during the last week of term.

Charlie Baker was highlighted as having great potential as a future paralympian in badminton, having already been recognised to have similar potential in power lifting! Charlie also battled his way to the finals of the pool competition…and won!

Katie Burke played brilliantly in her boccia matches, reaching the semi-finals – a fantastic achievement for her first trip! BMS performed strongly in the bowls competitions with some excellent shots from Lola Chappell, Meesha Kanani and Ben Lawson.

Stoke Mandeville National Junior Games

2nd – 5th October 2012

It has been another very busy term for the PE and Health Faculty with competitive fixtures in football, basketball, netball, cross-country, table tennis and basketball. This, in addition to the range of extra-curricular clubs which have also included dance, cheerleading, boccia, hockey, gymnastic trampettes, trampolining and basketball.

As ever, all extra-curricular sports activities remain very popular with significant numbers of students also taking part in the individual year group recreational sports clubs. In addition, the new Astroturf has proved a great success, not only during PE lessons, but also with extensive lunchtime use.

Special event : World Marathon Challenge As reported in the newsletter the whole of Year 8 competed in the World Marathon challenge in October. It was a fantastic effort by all the students with every form completing between 21 and 23 miles in the allocated 2 hour time. Later on this term we will be joined again by the Classroom Medics team for a day of Sports science testing.

P.E and Health Faculty NewsP.E and Health Faculty NewsP.E and Health Faculty News

Margaret Maughan - Former teacher and Paralympic champion

M argaret Maughan

was a Domestic Science teacher at Bushey Meads in the late 1950s. She was involved in a tragic car accident which left her paralysed from the waist down in 1959 in Malawii, and went on to inspirationally win Britain’s first ever Paralympic Gold medal. After the accident, Margaret returned to Britain where her treatment began at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, under the spinal injury unit founder and pioneer of Sport Therapy, Dr Ludwig Guttman. After joining the archery club at the hospital, her skill and determination led her to compete and win a Gold in Archery, at the very first Paralympic Games in 1960 Rome.

Margaret said in a local newspaper "There I was, treated by Dr Ludwig Guttmann, who started the whole thing off, and I was taught archery as part of my rehabilitation. Everything was an activity there, you had to be positive and think what you could do, not what you couldn't do”. Watford Observer – 30th August 2012. Margaret has been hailed as a ‘Paralympic legend’ and her success continued as she competed at a further four Games, winning a total of 4 Gold and 2 Silver, to include Dartchery (a combination of Darts and Archery, Lawn Bowls and Swimming.

Margaret was also the first English woman to win a FITA star in Archery (scoring over 1000 at a FITA event). In 1971, she won a Sports Journalists Award for the disabled sports journalist of the year and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Wheelpower in 1999.

Margaret was given the honour by Sebastian Coe this year, to light one of the petals on the cauldron to mark the start of the Paralympic Games at the opening ceremony. She told the Watford Observer "It was very emotional and impressive.”

Margaret is an inspiration to us all.

Margaret competing at the Paralympics Rome 1960

Margaret with Danielle Brown - current Paralympic Archery champion

Photo ©Paralympians’ Club

A proud moment

Photo ©Paralympians’ Club

Photo ©Paralympians’ Club

28th November 2012

Students Show Great Taste in Sandwich Design

Bushey Meads School has been declared runners up in the SUBWAY® brand’s business studies initiative

A team from Bushey Meads School has been declared runner up in an exciting challenge set by SUBWAY® franchisees and entrepreneurs, which asked pupils to design and market a new Sub. Tied into the national curriculum, the competition asked teams to compete to create the best marketing campaign and business plan around their new Sub, based on the theme of ‘freshthinking.’ In total, almost 100 teams, from across the region, entered the competition. Using a rigorous selection process, these teams were whittled down to six finalists; Bushey Meads School, Chelmer Valley High School, Milton Keynes College, Northampton College, North Hertfordshire College and Oaklands College. All six schools were invited to an exciting ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch at the University of Cambridge in front of a judging panel to win the ultimate prize. The Bushey Meads School team consists of Katie Waite, Stephanie Ganeswaran and Ellen Conway. The enterprising three came up with The Subway Mix. The Sub contains beef, turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onions, sweet corn, light mayo and BBQ sauce. The team performed extremely well in the event, but were but were just pipped to the post on the day and will receive £250 worth of Amazon Vouchers as a runner up prize. SUBWAY® entrepreneur Bob Moodliar said: “All the pupils did a brilliant job and we were extremely impressed with their pitches and the creativity of their ideas. They demonstrated a high level of innovation when devising their business plans and had obviously worked extremely hard. They should be very proud to have got so far in the competition.”