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Sedgehill World

Issue 33

Friday 19th July 2013

Sedgehill School in partnership with Hayes School

Welcome to the last newsletter of the school year. As you can see there was no wind down at Sedgehill as the summer holidays approached! Whether they were organising the summer sizzler, the summer show, sports day, world day or any of the end of year trips, all staff kept on making sure that the students get a huge range of different opportunities to develop and learn. Thank you to all those staff for giving up their own time to make sure these activities happen, and thank you to all parents and carers for the support you also provide to make sure these events run so smoothly. As I look back over the year I can say it has been another hugely successful year for the school. Although the exam results do not come out until August we have every reason to believe that they will, again, be record-breaking. The school continues to be judged positively by the local authority, Challenge Partners, Hayes and also most recently by Ofsted. We had an HMI inspector in school looking at our use of alternative provision (when students go to college or other providers for some of their school week) and the report we received was very positive about both the area of focus and the school more generally. I have included a letter with this week’s newsletter outlining some key changes that you need to be aware of for next academic year and also a few reminders. I’d like to thank all families for the support they give to school—success at school is built on a partnership between school and home and this is something that we will continue to build on next year. I hope you all have a great summer. At last, we have some hot weather to enjoy. Let’s hope it stays. Mr K Mackenzie Head Teacher

Summer Show—Into the woods

I'm writing to say a massive WOW having been taken into the woods! It was a beautifully diverse event that showed off the range of talent at Sedgehill in a superb way. I'm sure I can speak for all the governors and say that we loved every minute of it and it was a shame it had to end! Please pass our praise and thanks to all concerned. Mr A Russell Chair of Governors Continued on page 8

for seven years and are the first cohort of stu-

Literacy matters

Sedgehill World Sedgehill World page 2

Summer Sizzler—what a sizzler

I was very happy to be a part of the

event. Everyone who I have spoken

to has commented on how well

organised everything was.

Maxine haffner

Parent Governor

Thank you for inviting us to take part in your summer fayre. We enjoyed

being there on Saturday. We were very impressed with your beautiful

school & the children were polite & very helpful.

Jeanette

Cats Protection League

We had over three thousand guests from our local

community join in the fun at the Summer Sizzler. WOW.

Sedgehill World Page 3

Summer Sizzler continued

I just wanted to say a big thank you

from everyone at Demelza for

inviting us along to your Summer

Sizzler last weekend! Both myself and

the volunteers were so impressed

with the organisation of the event

and the helpfulness of the students.

Thank you again for your

continued support.

All the best,

Claire Rogers

Community Fundraiser

Demelza House

Children’s Hospice

Sedgehill World Page 4

Summer sizzler continued

I just wanted to say thank you SO much for inviting me to your FAB

Summer sizzler.

I hope you all feel incredibly

proud of having pulled off such a

fantastic occasion - it all looked

amazing - and everyone had such

a good time. And the burgers

were delicious! (I was a vegetarian

until yesterday...!!! No regrets!!)

Days like yesterday are the kind

that kids never forget - and what

a HUGE amount of talent you

have in the school (Simon Cowell

should have been present for

some signing's-up!!)

Many congrats again. what a gem

of a school Lewisham has in their

midst, and thanks so much again

for inviting me to be part of it.

lovely What a great day! :0)

Much love,

Julie (peasgood)

Actress, presenter & writer

It was an amazing day and hopefully the first of many.

Today's helpers were a joy to work with, I rarely had to ask for help as

they were all so willing (and able) to do anything we asked of them.

Can you please pass on my thanks and complete gratitude to all the

children who helped me, in particular, Zhane Lunan & Renee Palmer both

in 10L. They showed massive initiative and worked incredibly hard - I

couldn't have pulled off the longest raffle ever known without them!

What a wonderful day - well done Sedgehill, well done.

Jillian Eastmond parent Governor

Sedgehill World Page 5

Year 7 Hastings trip

On the 9th of July, year 7 all went on an amazing trip to Hastings. We boarded the coach and were all ready to go. As we moved away, everyone was excited and my friends and I played twenty one dares on the journey. Once we arrived, we went into our groups and started our activities. We had to question the public to complete a survey in geography. We travelled on the Victorian funicular, called the West Hill Lift and heard about a mysterious ghost who allegedly haunted it! We saw the remains of one of the early stone castles erected by the Normans after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. We had our lunch at the top of the hill, gazing out at the astounding views over the sand and sea. My favourite moments were riding on the bumper cars at the fair and rolling down the big hill. The beach was great fun too! We all had a fabulous time. Spencer Moore 7F

Sedgehill World Page 6

Deaf Education Centre

June and July were significant milestones for DEC, the new title of the Hearing Impaired Unit. We hosted a successful BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf) South twilight training event in the C Block, attended by staff from London and the Home Counties. The networking of peer professionals was valuable to everyone who attended, especially in keeping up to date with assistive technology and language support for our Deaf students at school.

The annual Parents’ Day included a formal launch of Sedgehill School’s renamed Deaf Education Centre. The afternoon programme included live interviews with DEC students describing their own experiences of secondary education and DEC support. Remark Deaf Community, Deafinitely Theatre and Mousetrap gave presentations of their work with young Deaf people in London.

Launch of DEC with professionals and parents of Deaf students

Parents and professionals gave very positive feedback of their experiences that afternoon, especially with the chance to see and ask the

Presenters questions , as well as seeing their children successfully responding to interview questions worthy of a TV programme!

Sedgehill World Page 7

Deaf Education centre continued

We combined our annual trip with a visit to the launch of a national tour by young Deaf people using signed poetry – see the short film http: //www.lifeanddeaf.co.uk/film/ . Several schools were presented, both Deaf schools and Units from mainstream schools, filling out the grassy area next to the majestic Cutty Sark. We DEC Sedgehillians were delighted to meet old and new faces, both students and staff, networking in sign and speech. There was a screen showing the film with subtitles, a wonderfully looking camper-van covered with an atlas of the world used as an interac-tive IT space and along the edge of the grassy area, several stalls relating to Deaf and emotional literacy issues. The DEC students loved the photo box – a big ego feature of the day! The event was filmed by the BBC’s See Hear programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m9cb - watch it in the autumn – and visited by the Mayor of Greenwich. Ms P Beschizza Teacher of Deaf students pbeschizza@sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

Sedgehill World Page 8

SEDGEHILL INTO THE WOODS SUMMER SHOW

Congratulations to everyone involved in the Summer Show! It was a fantastic event with over 150 students performing through our atrium, agora and the theatre space. Have a look at the following photos for a sneak peak at the event! Ms R Hand Performing Arts rhand@sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

Once again the

students and staff at

Sedgehill have reached

high to produce a

inspiring Summer Show.

I am always amazed by

the dedication of both

our staff and students.

Congratulations.

Mr K Mackenzie

Head Teacher

Sedgehill World Page 9

Literacy Matters

We have finished the year with a colossal push on literacy with our Big Write week. Teachers have prepared lessons for one of their classes with a particular literacy focus. There have been a wide range of exciting activities for students to engage with such as:

Art: students were writing to explain through captions for a range of different pieces of art.

Science: following practical experiments that explored the change in concentration of magne-sium and hydrochloric acid, students wrote to inform.

Wider Skills: students listened to and then watched an extract of The Untouchables. They then had to plan and write a recount of the events from either the point of view of the mother or a passerby.

Maths: students in key stage 3 analysed two different newspapers – The Sun and The Guard-ian – exploring the word length in each. They then wrote to analyse, including pie charts and graphs in their study.

Geography: After studying the flooding in Boscastle, 2004, students wrote to inform about the causes of the flooding.

In September staff will be joining together for the next stage of our ‘Literacy Matters’ development. We will be taught how to use the literacy onion displayed below to develop students’ reading of texts and as a tool when reflecting on their writing.

Ms L Sanford Subject Coordinator English lsandford@sedgehill.lewsiahm.sch.uk

Sedgehill World Page 10

Vocalize at the BBC Prom

On Saturday 13th July Vocalize took part in a workshop at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. They had a three hour master class with Naturally 7 who are an incredible acapella group currently supporting Michael Buble on a world-wide tour. The highlights for me were seeing Trey beatbox along with the group and watching Vocalize collaborate with Naturally 7 who created an acapella vocal arrangement to Vocalize song, ‘No More’. Just magic! Aisling Roche (Learning & Audience Development Coordinator BBC Proms) commented, saying ‘Thank you all for your extraordinary contribution to the masterclass on Saturday. Vocalize are not just a very special vocal group but they are also a very special group of young people and it was an absolute pleasure to work with you and them on Saturday. We are delighted that they enjoyed it - despite the incredible heat!’ See some highlights of the day now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4aRiCGYj24 Ms R Hand Performing Arts Coordinator rhand@sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

Sedgehill World Page 11

Year 7 Excel trip to the National portrait Gallery

The trip was very interesting and enjoyable. We learnt

a lot of facts and the portraits were highly detailed

and realistic. We went to the Tudor section where we

saw portraits and paints of historical figures like

Henry the Eighth, and Queen Elizabeth the First. Plus

we went to the Stuart section and saw people like King

Charles II. Did you know an artist called Marc Quinn

used eight pints of his blood to make a replica of his

head and froze it with liquid silicone? We didn’t!

Naomi & Yasmin

Year 7

Sedgehill World Page 12

Amazing Art

This Summer has had the privilege of playing host to Blake

Follen’s Opus Magnus entitled, One Idea Can Change The

World. Blake made his street art-style artwork with the

support of Irwin Edwards, Mr Fluck and a few of his friends

including Jayson Finch, Antony Brown and Davut Utkun. It

documents a series of great ideas that have had a significant

and lasting impact upon society and humanity at large.

I think you will agree that the culmination of two years’

worth of effort is a game-changing idea in itself and a feast

for the eyes. Well done to Blake and his team for creating

another shining example of the artistic skill on show at

Sedgehill.

Mr D Fisher Subject Coordinator Art dfisher@sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

Sedgehill World Page 13

Sports day

This year Sedgehill had a fantastic sports day at Crystal Palace Stadium. The sunshine came out for what can only be described as a spectacular day full of achievements. We were astounded by the number of participants who chose to represent their tutor group on the day, with nearly every tutor group represented in all events. This is something to truly celebrate, and a big congratulations to both competitors and spectators for demonstrating excellent reach and resilience. The highlights for the PE department has got to be the team work demonstrated in the relay event, the great sportsmanship between all tutor groups, and level of support by spectators. Staff and students all made the most of this day, in a true Sedgehillian spirit. Regardless of whether you were a supporter, or a competitor who came eight all your efforts on the day contributed to points for your tutor group. The results at the end of the day were: Winners of Sports Day 2013: 10J, 9H, 8M, 7F Second Place: 10I, 9K, 8I, 7H Third Place: 10G, 9J, 8J, 7L. Thank you again for all your hard work! Let's hope next year can be just as good, if not, better! Ms B Shakesheff Subject Coordinator PE bshakesheff.sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

Sedgehill World Page 14

Spelling Bee

KS3 students showed true character and readiness as they battled for the coveted accolade of Sedgehill spelling bee champion, 2013. These students had to learn almost 200 words in the space of one month and then show ultimate nerve and character by spelling some very tricky ones, indeed. Annie Woodburn came out on top as she confidently spelled her words correctly to make it to the final round. It was clear that she was well prepared for this competition. Prayer Dafithowo impressed the audience as she had to spell quite a few irregular words but kept calm and collected throughout. She came second followed by Renee Palmer who was also very well prepared. Mr Goode would like to con-gratulate all contestants once again on their valiant effort and courage. Mr D Goode English Teacher dgoode.sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

Sailing through the first round with confidence

Second prize Thirdprize

First prizeprize

Sedgehill World Page 15

Year 11 Graduation was one of the best attended events in Sedgehill’s recent history: pretty soon it was standing room only in the theatre. The evening was a celebration of everything that’s wonderful about Year 11, with sparkling performances from school band, Vocalise Members, GCSE drama students and also GCSE artwork was proudly displayed in the atrium. A number of awards were also given out on the night, with Carlie Street, Georgi Krumov and Courtney Alleyne-Samuel receiving Governors’ Awards, Ben Hussein being presented with a Jack Petchey Awards and Siobhan Prince, Joel Lewis, Oleta Haffner and Alfie Rackley among the winners of the Students’ Awards. It was an emotional evening and a fitting way to say goodbye to our year 11s. The prom the following week was another wonderful evening. More students than ever before attended the prom on a beautiful sunny evening, once again dressed in their finery to celebrate the end of an era. The fun of the evening was captured perfectly in a photobooth and the students danced the night away wearing headphones and listening to their choice of DJ sets from Mr Armstrong and Mr Mees in a silent disco: a first for Sedgehill students (and a first for some of the teachers too). It truly was the perfect end to a fantastic five years. Thanks for the memories, year 11. Alex Mees Year 11 Director of Learning amees@sedgehill.lewsisham.sch.uk

Year 11 Graduation

Sedgehill World Page 16

Taster week: The new year 12 students got off to an early start to sixth form with their taster week (1st – 3rd July). Over 200 prospective Sixth form students arrived to take part in three days of AS level and level three BTEC lessons. All students also attended a special student lead session all focused on life as a sixth form student. The three days culminated in a lunchtime BBQ which fortunately saw the start of the glorious summer weather. There were so many success stories over the course of the three days and teachers were blown away by the new students’ enthusiasm. We were also happy to welcome a large number of external students who will be joining us in September. Work Experience: current year 12 students took part in a week of work experience (1st-5th July), building on their year 10 experience, the placements varied from retail and IT to legal to medical. The week was a fantastic opportunity for students to try out a week of life in their career of choice. Many students were given excellent feedback and we look forward to awarding certificates in the new term. Boat Party: to celebrate the end of another fantastic year, sixth form students and staff partied the night away along the Thames at a fantastic summer boat party. With a mixture of year 12 and 13 students, great music and weather it was a night to remember for all.

Miss L Roberts Director of Sixth Form lroberts@sedgehill.lewisham.sch.uk

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