Addendum to previous article

I usually prefer to devote one blog to one item and then move on.  However, today I would like to make an exception. The girls who worked with PCSO Donaldson as helpers for the Sheen Centre Art Exhibition we mounted wrote this piece, which we thought people might like to read:

On Tuesday the 6th of July 2010, I Lauren, Sinea, Courtney, Katie, Kiera, attended our school's art presentation in the Sheen Lane Centre. We were there to engage with the local community, assist and educate people about the pieces in the art gallery.



We then decided to set up a tea and coffee morning, and some tables for them to relax and drink their coffee before or after entering the gallery. Together we designed flyers advertising the event and took it in turns to distribute them around the vicinity in hopes to attract more members of the public. After handing out the flyers more people turned up at the art exhibition. During this, some members of the public were giving us feedback on the work that was produced and were telling us how impressed they were with the schools efforts and the attitude of ourselves and it was commented that we were a great asset to the school.


Sinea and Courtney visited the elderly day centre and spoke to several people, where a variety of conversations took place. From this not only did we educate them about our school and the youth of today, but we also learnt a great deal about their generation and about their hardships, also how they are losing many friends as time goes by, which make us appreciate our youth and the time that we have to experience our lives.


We feel that we benefited from this day and it was a great experience for us all. Not only did we benefit from this but it was great to see that the elderly set up their own art station outside the hall after they had viewed the art and technology exhibition.


Lauren Cox, Sinea-Rickie Fennell, Courtney Humphrey, Katie Connick, Kiera McGuirk.

Proud police officers and parents

I would like to copy an email I got from the parent of Jack T, who successfully passed a Maths exam which has meant he has been accepted by St Paul's School in Barnes to participate in their Maths Masterclasses. Jack's mother wrote: "As a mother, you wish the best for your child and since Jack started at Shene School he has achieved so much and I couldn't be more proud. It's a wonderful honour and privilege that Jack is being given the opportunity to have been accepted at St Pauls for his excellent hard work in maths... " Jack writes: "I like to push myself to the limit so I can always say that I have tried my hardest and so that I know I couldn't be any better".

We are also - of course - very proud of Jack, who is in Year 8, and which him lots of luck in the Masterclasses.  Who knows? He may be a future Pascal or John Forbes Nash.

Our wonderful PCSO, Pete Donaldson, took our Art and Technology work to the Sheen Lane Centre on Monday for public exhibition, accompanied by Ms Torres and Mr Chevous, Art and Technology Technicians and PC Marco.  They talked to local residents about the pupils work and positive aspects of our school.

The first visitor was really impressed and wanted to pass on congratulations to the pupils.

Another lady was a former deputy head commented that she was really impressed with the standard of work.

The 4 ladies in the photo were disappointed that the exhibition was there for only one day as they wanted to study the work further.

Five Year 9 pupils: Courtney, Katie, Keira , Sinea  and Lauren helped all day welcoming visitors and making teas and coffees. The displays looked fantastic and the occasion was one more which allowed us to feel so proud of our school and students.

Here are some of the quotes received by Pete and Marco given on the day and from voicemails following the event:


From a resident in Queens Road SW14 - "I was impressed by the work produced and displayed by the pupils, also by the politeness and friendliness of the female pupils assisting the art show, they displayed professional behaviour throughout. The school has come a long way in the past 5 years and was a pleasant change to the big burly lads pushing through the street."

"Impressive artwork and woodwork from a school I knew very little about, clearly!"

"A great and enjoyable experience, I particularly enjoyed a cup of tea after with my 18 month old son and having the opportunity to speak to the pupils from Shene school and get to know more about the school. They were extremely polite and interesting girls and very well presented. A complete different image to what is painted by many residents in the area, I will be quick to defend the school in the future, my eyes have been opened and thanks again for the event held."

Technology and its governor

I received an email yesterday from Paul Beaty-Pownall, parent governor. All our governors are linked to Faculties and Subject Areas, and Paul, as an architect, wanted to work with Technology. He is also hoping to work with the Academy sponsors on the plans for the new building we are expecting through the programme.  I copy below his email to me and his fellow governors about his visit to Mr Tribe and the Technology Faculty:

Dear Governors,


I would like to report on my link visit with Mr Tribe, to look at the Technologies Department

PURPOSE OF VISIT

To get a wider understanding of how the schools makes the best use of equipment and resources, and how the children respond to the environment in which they work.

THINGS I LIKED

To start with I must say it was a very positive and encouraging experience. I felt huge enthusiasm from the teachers and the children who were baking in food science and were having a lovely time, whilst cooking some delicious cookies. I felt it my duty to try one!

Resistant Materials

The teaching spaces, which although looking a little worn in places were well managed and appeared to provide an adequate environment. The equipment was well looked after and proper consideration was given to safety. There was also some impressive new equipment including a laser cutter, used for detailed cutting of decorative elements. Although I visited at a quiet time at the end of term, the quality of the teaching was evident in the quality of the work, which looked very professional.

Food Technologies

The class was alive and full of happy, but well behaved children. The main cooking area looked well equipped and there didn’t appear to be a shortage of equipment.

Art, Textiles and Photography

The quality of the work was very exciting and I am looking forward to see how the work develops. The students are encouraged to be creative and loose their inhibitions, which is producing great results.


THINGS I WOULD LIKE CLARIFIED

It’s a great shame that pottery is not available. The art teacher was particularly enthusiastic about using clay as a medium to encourage students to be creative, and I would tend to agree with her. Are we able to suggest that a kiln be considered for the future?

I just hope that the new Acadamy doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm for creativity that I experienced today.

The above comments are intended to be constructive and informative.

It’s an honour to be allowed to visit the school in action, I feel very privileged.

Thank you,


Paul Beaty-Pownall

Parent Governor

Horticulture: Stems and Stemnet, farms and weather

The Stemnet group, previously just run by Mr Morris and Miss Knapp at Shene School has expanded its remit for next year and has gained some new leaders.


The Technology Department now has a Technology Club run by Mr Tribe. This club will focus on the mechanical & electronic with such projects as model cars using various methods of propulsion and small robotic projects.

The Gifted and Talented, run by Ms Blease, has been designing and creating a School Farm. Over 200 plants have been propagated and planted. Not all survived but those that have are thriving well under the pupils’ ministrations. The pupils have also designed a rabbit hutch and various planters and benches. The rabbit hutch is almost completed (and from that we can assume we will soon have a rabbit), and the designs for the benches and planters have been approved and the wood purchased ready for building before the end of the year.

Further, spin-off projects run by Stemnet include replacing some of the dead or unhealthy plants and trees with fruiting trees and fruit bushes. Planning has been completed and discussions are under way with two nurseries regarding the actual plants.

Additionally a small "meadow" area will be created to encourage insects, bees and butterflies and a bird-box has been built/purchased with a wireless camera to generate a live feed in the spring when (hopefully) the box will be occupied.

The Princes Trust, currently run by Miss Staples, will be involved in the creation of a new pond, incorporating twin levels so that both shallow and deep plants can be accommodated. This is still in the planning stage so time lines and exact details are still vague.

The Geography department has also joined the Stemnet group and is run by Mr Richardson. The original idea was to have a weather club, but some technical issues have meant a rearrangement of priorities and the group has been focused on volcanoes and plate tectonics and has produced several, rather fun, working models of volcanoes. The weather club will now begin next year when at least one person will have learnt how to do some basic programming in XTML, which will be compatible with the with the new online learning platform being introduced to the school next year, and which staff and students have expressed a high level of excitement about as it will allow them to easily showcase their work.

Twickenham Riverside Project

Ms Jacobs, our "always deliriously happy" Head of Art and Creative and Media Diploma Lead, writes about the Twickenham Riverside Project.

The 40 Environment Trust trustees voted at their last meeting on the 5 finalist sculptures.


Today Joseph Pecorelli from the Environment Trust announced the winners of the project that he ran with the Year 10 Creative and Media Diploma pupils.

The task was to create a piece of public art to be installed on the Twickenham riverside.

It was to be inspired by the stretch of the River Thames that runs through the borough of Richmond.

The pupils drew inspiration from areas such as: the river gods and spirituality; industry; history; heritage wildlife; environment; leisure and pleasure.

The pupils had to consider the factors involved if their sculpture won and was then enlarged and made professionally as a public sculpture on the riverside at Twickenham.

After many trips, workshops, proposing of  ideas, and then constructing and finessing these, three winners were chosen:

1st: Skye Reilly


2nd Fernanda Alves De Lima


3rd: Laila Elsidawi


The pupils were all awarded with prizes such as portable solar charges and a device for monitoring how much electricity they use in their home.

Skye’s winning sculpture “River Goddess” was based on the river as she thought it chaotic and powering and therefore her goddess.

Music, Sport, Psychology and ...football

I have just returned from a lovely evening listening to our Y10 Music students singing and playing to parents and a tremendously enthusiastic and supportive audience of fellow students. We were impressed by the solo vocal performances and the courage that it takes to sing to a full house of your peers, your peers' parents, and, worse, teachers. Some of the tunes were innovatively arranged to create lovely, sweet  harmonies; and then there were the rock bands who got everyone tapping away.  Many thanks to Ms Quinn Larkin and Ms Fairbairn for their hard work in organising this, and other staff who came to support and work on the door.

Last week was a sporty one for us. Our Sports Day was held on Friday: St George's Dragons (green colours) won narrowly over Nightingale Foxes (red).  This is a time for lots of students to shine and enjoy themselves. Many also had a great time at Sheen Mount Primary School, where our sports leaders accompanied Ms Calloway to help our local Primary put on a wonderful day. Mr Hutchins, the Head, wrote a lovely letter full of compliments about how the students had helped make the event so successful.

In Psychology, which class I happened to visit today along with a parent governor and Cllr Paul Hodgins, they were conducting some research, looking at Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. They were looking for evidence to confirm  that they had reached the Formal Operation stage and were therefore capable of hypothetical thinking (could be interesting!). They  produced diaries to monitor the extent to which they think in this way throughout their school day.

Clearly, Fabio used psychchology more successfully than previously on our English team; we had a full hall this afternoon full of England fans cheering on their team. The delight expressed when we scored was a delight to witness!  Red and white faces, a few silly hats and a winner of an England football shirt made this a lovely afternoon. We have to wait now and see whether England will successfully reach the Operation stage in their next game to preempt other players scoring....

I have just read that we raised just over £100 for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Great Ormond Street Hospital (entry to hall fee going to good use!).

Primary Plaudits for our Art and Tech exhibition

I reproduce below the comments we have just received from the Year 5 teacher at East Sheen Primary School, Ms Rebekah Palmer. She writes to Ms Jacob, our Subject Leader for Art:

"Thank you for inviting us to your school to enjoy your artwork - our children were impressed with huge amounts of it and really enjoyed their visit. I asked the children to give me some feedback to pass on and here is a selection of their comments:

• I thought the drawing was outstanding and the sculptures brilliant, I loved the sketch of London with the London eye and bus
• I liked the wooden bookcase because I loved the way it was carved.
• It was good, there was really good art. My favourite piece of art was the moving model train because it had lots of features including a clock on the front that worked
• I liked the coffee table that had the Chelsea thing on it
• I liked the paintings especially the one of London. I loved the wedding cake and the dolls house with the different colours. I thought the furniture was amazing.
• The photography room was the most interesting because there was so much to see. I liked the Simpson painting
• I liked the graffiti at the top of the staircase because it was creative
• I liked the models of the sitting people and the shoe shelf
• Even though all the rooms were amazing, I liked the room with the dolls house the best. I thought the exhibition was extremely interesting and you should keep it up!
• I liked the goth picture because it had lots of good details
• My favourite piece of artwork was the pencil drawing of the centre of London with Big Ben and the London Eye
• My favourite piece of art was the wire ballet class, i liked it because if you turned it around then you could see a mini show
• It was really interesting as the drawings told stories
• I liked the sketch of the 3 skateboarders walking into somewhere, it was good because they had lots of details and it looked real
• Most of the art was really good but I liked the sculpture and the drawing rooms the best
• I liked the piece with all the faces on it and the picture of Mickey Mouse
• I liked all of it as it was really exciting to see other people's artwork
• The art at Shene school was really amazing. The most exciting room was the room with the chair and the PS3 rack

This is just a selection of the comments - the children overall were amazed at all the work they saw, please could you extend our thanks and appreciation to all the staff and the children."

The work is due to go on exhibition at the Library in Sheen Lane next month, so do try and see it.