The new and the old(ish)

The "old": Saturday 28 November saw over 250 people celebrating their link with Shene School. The event was originally organised by Julie Wade Burgess, who was one of the class of '83. This group was the first year cohort of the school as a comprehensive. As news of the event spread, people from other cohorts signed up as well, to meet with old friends and see their teachers. Dr Rinne - now Deputy Head - was there, as was Mr Newham (ex Technology teacher who retired this year but is still back one day per week replacing Ms Alexis in the Food room). Apologies were given from two more Shene colleagues who had been around then, Mr Hudson and Mr Tribe. Many happy memories were shared and it was clear there was a huge fondness for the time spent at Shene School.  People came from a variety of locations - Switzerland, Scotland, Birmingham, for example - and their careers ranged hugely. There were decorators, accountants, lawyers,  teachers, film directors.... one of the latter has directed Kiera Knightley (another ex LBRUT resident) in two of her films. We were delighted to be able to host such an event and hope that such events will be more regular.
"The new": We had an Ofsted monitoring visit on Thursday. Ofsted  is always a time-consuming and slightly anxious time for staff, but we were ready, even though we had not expected to be visited, since Academy status is moving apace. We were pleased with the outcome especially since they judged our capacity for sustained improvement to be 'Good'. Students were wonderful and they commented on the maturity and reflective nature of the responses given by children they spoke to as rivalling and even exceeding those of many post 16 students they had interviewed.
Finally, and still part of the "new", we are still waiting to hear from the Minister about his signing off the initial Expression of Interest about the academy. It is in his 'box' and we are told it will be moved on this week.

Shene Alumnus

Welcome to the Shene School blog.  We decided that parents, carers and the wider public might be interested in hearing some of the many, many things which go in Shene School, and we hope to record these regularly on the blog. The Shene News will continue to be published bi-monthly.
 Today (Monday 23rd) we hosted a visit of an ex Shene student. Tom Chesshyre is now the Travel Editor of the Times Newspaper, following a career with the Independent, Sky Sports and the Telegraph. On leaving Shene, he went to Richmond College where he studied A Levels in English, Politics and Economics, as well as a 'sub-Baccalaureat' and 'S' Level English. He then went to Bristol to read Politics, joined the student newspaper and went on to develop his journalistic skills first as a news reporter and more latterly as a Travel journalist.  Tom's job is a dream job: he has visited more than 80 countries, and feels privileged to have seen what he has. He is also the author of two books (the latest is due out shortly) and is currently preparing a 3rd one.
Tom is still a local resident and contacted me because he felt inspired to return to his old school and work with some of our students. After a tour of the school, he met with Ms Blease, our Gifted and Talented Coordinator, and Ms Durling, Director of the Communications Faculty. A range of exciting projects was agreed and we look forward to working with Tom and supporting our aspiring journalists.