Welcome back to Spring Term 2 at School 21! Here at School 21 we are celebrating the fantastic news that the School 21 Music Department have been named ‘Outstanding School Music Department’ at the Music & Drama Education Awards 2024! Read all about it HERE.
We have lots coming up over the next few weeks. Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the upcoming School 21 musical ‘West Side Story’ (28th Feb, 29th Feb & 1st March), opening next week! Read on for infomation about exciting upcoming events, including World Book Day (7th March) and School 21 Spring Exhibition 2024 (27th March). Keen bakers are invited to apply for Junior Bakeoff! Scroll towards the end of our Community Newsletter to access our 'Steps to Success' updates (countdown to the March Mocks) booklet for Year 11 and Year 13.
Our Headteacher Mr Dickson has recently published a blog ‘Empowering educators’, exploring a holistic approach to professional development in schools, as part of the Next Big 10 with the Big Education Trust:
“As educators, our commitment to lifelong learning – I believe – is not only a personal endeavour but also a professional responsibility. Professional development in schools plays a pivotal role in enhancing our teaching skills, staying abreast of educational trends, and ultimately, contributing to the success of our students.”
Enjoy the full blog HERE.
LATEST NEWS AT SCHOOL 21:
WORLD BOOK DAY
World Book Day is taking place on Thursday 7th March. We have lots of exciting activities planned for students and staff!
For Primary:
- Sticker competition – Primary students are invited to design a sticker for the teachers to use to celebrate reading. The winners will win a trip to Stratford library to take part in an author event.
- Students will be able to, if they wish, come in dressed as their favourite book character. Please do not buy any new costumes – we will have a costume swap shop on Friday 1st March (see poster below!).
- Reception and Year 1 – We invite you to come into your child’s class when you drop them off to join in with our celebrations.
- Year 2 – Year 6 – At 2:40pm on World Book Day, we invite you to come into your child’s class and join in with our celebrations.
- On World Book Day we will be holding a Reading Café in the Primary Hall after school between 3:15pm– 4:00pm. During this time, you are invited to come in with your child to enjoy reading for pleasure.
For Whole School:
- Peer reading – secondary and sixth form students enjoying reading together with students from primary.
- Staff will be dressing up as fictional characters from a variety of their favourite books.
- Look out for the orange lanyards that staff will be wearing, which will have the first line of their favourite book displayed on them – stop them and ask them about it, and why they would recommend that book!
- ‘Help Yourself To A Book’ stalls will be set up in and around the school for students, parents and staff to browse through and take any books they would like to read, or read with others.
Primary Costume Swap Shop
On Friday 1st March 2024, the Primary team will be holding a costume swap outside B7 prior to World Book Day. Please bring any donated costumes in a plastic bag and pass these to your class teacher or Ms Donnelly-Symes (B7). If you don’t want to swap, but would still like to donate an old costume you are more than welcome!
Please note only Primary will be dressing up for World Book Day, not Y7 and up.
Primary World Book Day competition
Can you help design a reading sticker that the teachers can give out to amazing readers in their class? You could win a visit to Stratford Library on World Book Day to take part in an event with an author:
- Year 1 and Year 2 – Niall Moorjani
- Year 3 – Year 6 – Laura Sampson
Your child/children will be bringing home a competiton slip to design their sticker. Please bring this slip back to Ms Donnelly-Symes by Friday 1st March. Good luck!
SCHOOL 21 PRESENTS… WEST SIDE STORY!
We are excited to present our 2024 school musical, ‘West Side Story’! Join us on Wednesday 28th Feb, Thursday 29th Feb, or Friday 1st March (6pm start) for an amazing show featuring students in Year 5 – Year 13.
Tickets are available to all members of the community via Reach More Parents (Weduc) now!
Sign up to the 'Friends of the Music Department' membership scheme via the link here and you can also get 2 free tickets to either the first or second night of the show!
SPRING EXHIBITION 2024
You are warmly invited to join us at School 21 on Wednesday 27th March for our Spring Exhibition 2024! Arrive from 3:45pm to explore performances, displays and fun activities around the school. All are welcome to attend.
JUNIOR BAKE OFF!
If you are a student (9-12 years of age) and are passionate about baking then there is an amazing opportunity to apply for Junior Bake Off!, a Channel 4 program where the young bakers compete for a final win. Please find attached a flyer with information on how to apply. The application closes on 17th March 2024, Sunday and the filming of the shortlisted participants will take place in July 2024.
If you are interested in applying and would like to discuss this opportunity with a member of staff in the school, then please get in touch with Mrs. Gumbeer [email protected]
Girls Empowerment Meetings (GEM) – Secondary & Sixth Form
“I am filled with immense pride as I share the journey of our newly launched Girls Empowerment Meetings (G.E.M). It all began when Surya approached me with the idea of revitalising the girl empowerment club last term. Surya not only proposed the idea but also collaborated with an international girl coaching organization, which will be adding significant value to our initiative.
Since then, we have been actively organising meetings and exchanging emails, culminating in a successful turnout this past Wednesday. I want to thank the students from year 12, year 10, and year 7 who participated and contributed to our launch session.
Currently, our focus is on providing a safe and comfortable space for students to discuss social issues affecting women. Our aim is to collectively identify meaningful ways to address these issues within our community and catalyse positive change.
We gather every Wednesday at 1pm and eagerly anticipate the growth of this group, envisioning it as an integral part of the School 21 legacy.” – Ms Edoo
LEARNING AT SCHOOL 21:
Primary Rockstars!
On Friday 2nd March, School 21 had their first annual rockstar day! Each child had the chance to dress as a rockstar and compete in an array of mathematics challenges, testing their rockstar capabilities to become the greatest star at their times tables. As part of this day, each class had the chance to be taught by some rock star legends (our fantastic secondary school pupils). It was amazing to witness the enthusiasm, engagement and high level teaching that was being provided by our pupils. After the success of this first iteration of rockstar day, It's safe to say, the mathematics rockstars are here to stay!
Year 5
Year 5 Ellie Simmonds class enjoyed their attendance celebration trip to Pizza Express last half-term!
Year 6
Great homework produced over half term by Year 6!
Year 6 have been building clay fairy houses in art, so over the half term they have made posters explaining how clay changes in its state over time. Super in depth knowledge being built across our year 6 Art Classes!
Year 8
Miss Kyrk's year 8 science class were so excited when she showed them how alkali metals react with water to produce heat, hydrogen gas, and the corresponding metal hydroxide. The heat produced by this reaction may ignite the hydrogen or the metal itself, resulting in a fire or an explosion. The heavier alkali metals will react more violently with water.
This week, Year 8 Food Technology students prepared vegetable soup. They also learned how to use a hand blender safely.
Year 9
Year 9 Food Technology students continue to learn about dishes from around the world. This week the students made egg fried rice from the Asian continent. Next week the students will start to work on designing a dish, which they will prepare and cook in the class.
Year 10 & Year 12
RWL LOST Commission Project Update
Year 10/12 students working on their LOST (Left Over Spaces Transformed) commission visited their chosen sites as part of a site analysis assignment on Tuesday and learnt from a Brazilian architect, Tatiana Gentil Machado, about how urban and public spaces have been transformed encouraging them to think about robust and flexible uses of spaces. Next week, they visit their industry mentors at Allies & Morrison architects in Borough to complete an industry report and generate initial ideas for their space.
Year 11
Mr. Taylor's year 11 Science class, were so fascinated by building a motor, from everyday items. When you think of a motor, you may immediately think of a car, but you actually encounter motors in your home every day. If you put on clean clothes that were washed in the washing machine, ate food from the fridge, or used a computer, you used an electric motor. Energy comes in many forms. Electric energy can be converted into useful work or mechanical energy by machines calledlectric motors. Electric motors work due to electromagnetic interactions: when two magnetic fields push or pull each other to create motor rotation—one field created by a permanent magnet and one field caused by electrons flowing through a wire, creating a magnetic field around the wire.
Year 11 & Year 13
Take a look at our weekly 'Steps to Success' updates (countdown to the March Mocks) booklet HERE. The booklet includes the following:
- Year 11 Exam timetable
- Year 13 Exam timetable
- Year 11 Subject topic list
- Year 13 Subject topic list
- Tool kit for parents
- Revision tip of the week (this week's tip is mind maps)
- Candidate Exam Booklet
All students have been given a ‘Countdown to Mocks’ which provides them with the exact revision needed from each department. We are suggesting that students should be completing 3-4 blocks of 25 minutes of revision a night.
LOCAL NOTICES:
School 360 Early Years Nursery Provision
School 360 (Sugar House Lane, London, E15 2QS) wants to offer those of you who live nearby as many community services as we can.
Several parents have asked us whether we will have a nursery onsite, and so we have decided to consult you to see:
- whether you would be interested in a nursery provision for children aged 2 and over;
- when you might want to use such a provision;
- whether you would be interested in places for the full year or term time only.
Do let us know your thoughts using this very short survey. We will use this information to think about a possible nursery provision and completing the form in no way means you have to take a nursery place for your child.
Salesforce Digital Leap
Work experience opportunity| Catch 22 Digital| 18-23 year olds – not in education or employment | Starts 18 March
Digital Leap is working with Salesforce to offer a 2-week work experience program for people between the ages of 18 and 23 who do not have a university degree.
As well as the 2-week work experience, the program includes a 4-day employability upskilling course to succeed in your tech future.
During the work experience, you will have the opportunity to work on real-world projects with Salesforce. Following completion, you receive 6 months of career coaching support from a dedicated Catch22 Digital Career coach who will provide guidance on navigating the tech job market and further development of in demand tech skills.
Email the team to find out more [email protected]
