27th June At the hythe ImperIAl hotel

£40 ticket includes hot buffet sit down supper, photographer and DJ.

letters of permission from mrs Crisp or mr J norman TO

WER

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March 2012

Message fROm ThE heAdteACher

Welcome to the Spring Newsletter. I hope you have been keeping up with

the new school website and the news on the home page of all the events and

achievements taking place at the school. Detail of some of these are contained in

this publication.

Sadly I had to talk to the school for a second time this school year about the death

of a member of staff. Richard Austen has been our DT Technician since October

2006. Following medical treatment in the first half of 2011, we were pleased to

have him back working with us from September, but in recent weeks his health had

deteriorated. He was well-known by the students and a valued colleague on the

staff. Our thoughts are with the family, and particularly his wife Sue, our ‘Mrs

B-A’, who in her own right is an important and well-respected member of staff.

We continue to make changes in a number of areas of school life. Between Mr

Gove and Ofsted, demands on schools are greater than ever. We welcome this

at Towers, since you do not do better if you carry on doing the same things. The

school is now working with 2 organisations so that we can network nationally with

other schools so that we can improve our curriculum and our lessons in order for

students to achieve more. The building of our new Art block is proceeding well,

and I hope to tell you of its completion in June. We have a new opportunity to

bid from the government’s academy buildings programme. The Trust Board have

prioritised a new ‘Learning Zone’, and new windows for most of our buildings.

Governors have ratified the change in the timing of lunch and the end of the school

day. A letter is enclosed with details which come into effect on Monday 16 April

2012.

Two members of staff move on at the end of this term, both to teach nearer home.

Mr Dickinson joins the Isle of Sheppey Academy, and Mr Varley goes to Oxted

School. We are appointing 2 temporary teachers to take their place.

Please note that the end of this term is Friday 30 March, which will be a full,

normal day.

Smoking CeSSation ServiCeThe Towers school is currently supporting the Quit Smoking campaign. We have two fully trained Quit Smoking advisors, who will be available for staff, parents and students age 12 years and above. This is a confidential programme although we will encourage young people to discuss this with their parent/carers, prior to us issuing any nicotine replacement therapies. If you require any information regarding this service please

contact 01233634171 ext. 234.

DatesfOR yOuR dIaRy

Fri 30 mar

LaSt DaYoF term 4

2 - 13 apr

eaSterHoLiDaY

mon 16 apr

FirSt DaY oF term

thu 31 may

Year 7 ParentSevening

thur 19 apr

Year 12 ParentS evening

thur 26 april

Year 10 ParentS evening

mon 7 may

Bank HoLiDaY

Fri 1 Jun

LaSt DaYoF term 5

ChArIty dAy On friday 10th february, all at Towers School came together to raise money for worthy causes in the annual Learning Communities Charity day. Each learning community took over a section of the school and staged various money making events. There were inflatable assault courses, gunging of a teacher, and Towers’ versions of TV shows “Take Me Out” and “The Cube”. For full details and pictures of the activities each Learning Community page on the school website. mr davey, deputy Head, commented “The day was a fantastic success, both in terms of the creativity the students displayed organising unique events, and the sheer amount of money we raised for deserving charities” In total, the current amount raised stands at approximately £3194.49, with money still to be collected for a few events. The Charities that will benefit from the students amazing efforts are macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research uK, Water aid and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

sCIenCe gIftOn friday 3rd february, Towers School Science department were delighted to receive officially the gift of a telescope from mrs anne Bennett-Winograd whose husband allan Chapman, a keen amateur astronomer, sadly passed away recently. The 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector telescope will be used by the current GCSE astronomy classes to assist students with their observational coursework, this year the topic being the Sun. mr davis is currently running the GCSE astronomy course with some year 11 students who have already passed their triple science exams. The course will also be running as a Sixth form option from September. In addition mrs Bennett-Winograd also gave the school several fantastic books and other items of astronomy equipment such as a solar filter and several different eyepieces, used to alter the magnification of the image. mr davis and the students are also hoping to hold a star party later in the year and hopes to start an after school astronomy club soon. Students who are interested should see mr davis in the Sixth form.

dJembe Workshop Towers School Performing arts department welcomed ‘Rewards Projects’ to the school for the final Djembe Workshop on Wednesday 22nd February. Djembe is african drumming, performed on drums carved of hardwood and a drumhead made of rawhide. The Djembe drums used by the students were purchased from funds awarded by Kent County Council after a successful bid to the ashford and Shepway KS2-KS3 Transitional Project to increase the breadth of music covered within the curriculum. Rewards Projects have been teaching the year 10 and 12 students studying BTEC Music how to deliver Djembe Workshops to primary school children; the students will be soon be visiting local primary schools teaching younger students the skills and techniques surrounding African Djembe Drumming.

herstmonCeuxThe two top year 10 Triple science groups went along by invitation to herstmonceux Observatory in Sussex for a microbiology workshop on Tuesday 6th march. This involved two lecturers from The Wellcome Trust, who delivered a series of seminars on Bacterial evolution, enzyme restriction, micropipetting and electrogel phoresis all housed under one of the huge telescopes at the observatory. This practical work gave our students the opportunity to use state of the art equipment normally only found in hospitals and forensic labs as well as giving them an insight in to the skilled work of microbiology. The main theme of the day was to identify a potentially very dangerous strain of bacteria which they managed to do and as a result probably saved the world!

Sandra Voss, Manager of Herstmonceux said ‘I just wanted to say what a delightful group of students you brought to the Centre yesterday, a credit to you and your school. We really enjoyed the workshop; your students were a joy to teach. From their evaluations it seemed like they had a good time too. All in all I think a successful day.’

neW york 2012at the end of february mr Leddington and ms Northwood led a school trip to New york. The students, who were a mix of 6th form and other years, had a fantastic opportunity to learn about the history and culture of this great city over this 3 night visit. In this time they were able to visit all of the great sights including Times Square, 5th avenue, Broadway, Central Park and the Ny yankees stadium. furthermore, they were able to re-trace the steps of immigrants entering New York for the first time with visits to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and a Tenement museum. This gave them a fantastic insight into this social history, as well as the political & economic development of the united States – which included a visit to the site of the Twin Towers. finally, throughout this trip the students also had some time for shopping – which they obviously enjoyed!! The students all said they had a wonderful time and, though tired at the end, also said they would recommend the trip to anyone. We are hoping to be running the same trip in 2014!

young Interpreter WInneryear 8 student konrad mizera recently won a national Interpreters picture Competition.

Konrad, who is fluent in Polish, is part of the Towers young Interpreters. They are a group of students who speak other languages alongside English and are a key contact in foreign students’ daily school life until they themselves have a better grasp of the English language and the routine of their new school. The competition was run by the national young Interpreters Newsletter and was looking for a piece of art representing the values of equality and friendship between languages and communities to publish on the Services new postcard. Konrad’s picture was printed in the latest newsletter and he received a £10 iTunes voucher.

Congratulations to Konrad!

Team (Right to left): James Watson, James Vidler, Daniel Hall, Mitchell Barrett, Cameron Lumsden, James Haylock Ashdown, Libert Chanyawu

toWers students meet dAme kellyOn friday 9 march the year 8 Indoor athletics team had the opportunity to meet Kelly holmes. The gold medallist at both 800m and 1500m in the 2004 Olympics in athens welcomed the team to the Kent School Games Sports hall athletics final held at the Stour centre. The Year 8 boys were representing the ashford district at the games, having won the regional heat against several schools in the area. This achievement in itself was a first for Towers pupils who dominated both indoor track and field events at the preliminary heat. Wearing the Ashford orange jersey the boys showed similar resilience and character winning several events but were to finish 6th overall in the county, a great achievement.

Well done to all the boys that represented Ashford District at these County finals.

CAreers fAIrThis is the second year we have held this event and it was bigger and better than before (nearly twice as big in fact). Over 40 local and national employers plus ambassadors from two universities were in attendance. Students from year 11 and all of the 6th form attended the exhibition, and the 6th formers were then able to sign up to three workshops. These workshops ranged from talks about university life, student finance and how to decide which university to pick, to other topics such as how to write an effective CV, how to manage money and how to prepare for interviews.

members of staff were also on hand to discuss opportunities in their particular field (including teaching of course) and in addition members of the Sixth form Senior Student Team were also available to discuss options with year 11 pupils.

It was great to see students using their time to talk not only to the employers from the areas they were interested in, but also having the initiative to speak with other exhibitors to find out if there are opportunities on offer that they had not considered; several students discovered that there were in fact opportunities they had not even thought about, with companies that they would never have normally considered. This highlights the value of these events and underlines the importance of questioning as many exhibitors as possible.

lIonheArt ChAllengeOn Monday 12th March, Towers held the first qualifying round for the Lionheart Challenge. This is a national enterprise competition for schools, groups of students design, compile and present a business case aimed towards a specific topic; this year the brief was to create a product to prevent crime. The aim is to expose young people to the world of business, while raising their self-awareness and self-confidence, equipping them to become entrepreneurs of the future. Towers year 10 students worked together in their groups with assistance from Lionheart mentors, inventing ingenious creations and formulating professional business plans which they then presented to each other. Team 16 were the winners of the day, consisting of aaron Taylor, James hopwood, Louise Lilley, Kaycem Bodman and Candice Shorter, who designed a range of stab proof clothing. Commenting on the team’s performance, the judges said “They had an excellent financial plan and gave an exceptional presentation which made everyone laugh as well as being well thought out and informative”. They will go on to represent Towers in the Lionheart South East Regional Qualifiers.

Transatlantic Poetry WorkshopOne of my objectives for my year teaching in Georgia was to provide opportunities for Towers and Screven County high School pupils to interact. I was keen for them not only to meet to discuss the differences between life in ashford and life in Georgia, but also to share learning experiences. To this end, miss atkinson and I organised a unique educational experience for

our respective year 12 Literature pupils: We initially held a Skype session so that the pupils could get to know each other; they each sent PowerPoint presentations about their lives and we discussed the key differences between Britain and america. Lovey Sheppard, a pupil at Screven County High School, commented ‘It was amazing to be able to talk to students in a different country’ whilst Sam Shannon ensured he was ready for the discussion by wearing an English football shirt with a Union Jack hat whilst flying the British flag!

With this session such a success, each class then studied two poems about the Twin Tower attacks in New york in 2001, one from a British perspective and another from an american perspective, and we met two weeks later to discuss them. my pupils entered this with some trepidation: as Corbin Thurman admitted ‘9/11 poems are very moving and sombre to us; it will be interesting to discover what the British students feel about them’. However, it proved to be a great success. The pupils learnt a great deal about the other’s perspectives and also learnt to share their ideas with tact and sensitivity. This proved to be excellent practice for both sets of pupils; it improved not only their poetry reading and discussion skills but also their life skills. For many it was the first time they had spoken in depth to someone from another country and we hope that it will be an English Literature experience they will always remember.

bteC dAnCeMarch 1st saw the first performance in the new Drama studio since the opening of the Ramsey Performing arts Centre in September. The dance evening allowed BTEC students to showcase their dance choreography and technique whilst our talented KS3 dancers were able to perform. Students demonstrated a range of dance styles from Street and Jazz to Contemporary. It was a really successful evening with many of our BTEC students gaining merits and distinctions for their coursework, well done! We are very proud of our dance students and hope you are able to come to see them perform again

in the Summer.

Mrs Carter, Miss Harverson & Miss Dodsworth

five days at skern lodge Activity Centre, on the north coast of devon with the first two nights camping by the sea

then the old farmhouse. Highlights included: surfing in the wide atlantic breakers, kayaking under Bideford Bridge, exploring a network of tunnels and traps, hiking and abseiling the cliffs at hartland Point.

Like coastal adventure and camping out?

Then get your name down for the next trip:

Mountain AdventureSnowdoniaNorth Devon

Outdoor Adventure Education

TOWERS SCHOOL

4 – 8 May 2012

Outdoor Adventure Education

Outdoor Adventure Education

TOWERS SCHOOL

SNOWDONIA Mountain Adventure

SNOWDONIA Mountain Adventure

BOYSyeArs 8 - 10

24 Feb - 2 mar 2013

Outdoor Adventure Education

TOWERS SCHOOL

GirlsyeArs 8 - 10

11-17 nov 2012

SNOWDONIA Mountain Adventure SNOWDONIA Mountain Adventure

Apply now to join us at Skern Lodge or SnowdoniaContact William Barham t: 01233 634171 ex 239

e: barhamw@towers.kent.sch.uk

TECHSTARS D&T Club

Every Wednesday

3:30 - 4:30 Food – T6

Jewellery – T5

Product Design – T9

A week of discovery and adventure in the high wilderness of snowdonia national park staying at kent mountain Centre.

for girls in years 8 to 10: 11-17 november 2012

for boys in years 8 to 10: 27 feb - 2 march 2013Financial assistance remains available to enable anyone to benefit from Towers School Outdoor adventure Education opportunities. please apply.

4 - 8 may 2012

Miss Taylor on her exchange

in the US

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