Our Great B & E Launch Easter Egg Challenge

As you will know, Thames-view has recently been awarded spe-cialist school’s status in Busi-

ness and Enterprise. To mark this great

achievement we held a Business and Enterprise Launch Event which all

students across the school took part in.

In teams of five, students had to design,

make and promote a new Easter-egg package in competition

Thamesview School with Bus iness & Enter pr i se Sta tus Spr ing Term 4

March 2009

THAMES V IEWS

Special points of interest:-

Ofsted News 40th Anniversery Yr 7 & 8 Construction Club Self-Defence Training Fishing Exam

•

Inside the Issue:

Headteacher’s letter 2

Community Points 11

Enterprise Community 4

Challenger Community 6-7

Endeavour Community 5

Discovery Community 8-9

Important Dates 10

Win, win, win…

Kodak Easy Share Digital Frame! - see front page.

Office staff get into the spirit of Red Nose Day

and “do something

funny for money!”

with one another. Four Com-munity shops were set up and students were allocated a budget with which to buy all the items they needed. The ‘Easter-Egg Challenge’ was a great success and the stu-dents took part with great in-terest and enthusiasm. There were loads of amazing and unique designs. Well done to the winning teams from each community and to everyone who took part. Look out for more events like this as we develop and grow as a Business and Enterprise School.

Andy Burgess & Jo Ryan

The winners from each Community celebrate together!

OFSTED Say We Are Now “Good”! Read all the details in Headteacher’s Letter on

Page 2.

BSF New School Launch Nine lucky students joined Miss Hughes and Miss Dance as Thames-view’s top ambassadors at the recent Building Schools for the Future (BSF) launch event held at Maidstone Town Hall. The students were able to see all the new school designs for all 10 schools in the

current wave of BSF. They also were able to try out some of the new funky furniture being designed for our new school;

this includes a cylindrical sound-proof pod, where small groups of students can work and read quietly in a cave space all to themselves. Many of our students were in-terviewed for Kent TV and we all had photos taken to promote our school design in national publica-

tions. The futuristic event was rounded off with a social lunch in town together; it was an honour to take such superb students out!

Jack Crabtree wins last Term’s I-Pod, Well done Jack! Remember:

If you aren’t in it, you can’t win it!

This Term we are looking for poems about being a Business & Enterprise Specialist School; your poem needs to include a range of business and enterprise related words, so look at the display boards near & in Rooms 15 & 16 for help! Your poem must be at least 10 lines in length.

Dear Parents, Carers, Governors, Teach-ers, Students and Friends What fantastic news we have to share again; this time not only are we saying how well Thamesview is working, but Ofsted, Office for Standards in Education, has come and inspected our school and now moved our rating from a Division 1 side, of ‘Satisfactory’ to a Premiership side, of ‘Good’! This is quite an achievement for a High School in a selective system. Ofsted recognise all the innovative structures and processes we have put into place, and see that this is still only part of the longer term journey for us to really transform teaching and learning in readiness for our new school. We are in the top 10% in the country for our contextual value added (CVA); this is the data to show how we move students above and beyond their expected level of attainment by the time they complete their KS4 schooling at Thamesview. We are ranked 13th out of 102 secondary schools in Kent for our CVA (please see www.bbc.co.uk for this break down). I am particularly pleased that we also were awarded a ‘1’ ‘Outstanding’ for our partnership work-ing, which is a strength of our school; working with all Gravesham schools, NWK College and our business partners. This ties in well with our recently achieved Business & Enterprise status. Our vocational centre is also making a big difference to the attain-

ment of students and the high levels of motivation and engagement of our KS4 cohort. I spoke to all the students the day before the inspectors came, so that they were informed about the process, and my message was clear; in order to get a school promotion to ‘good’, we needed to work together to achieve that, and together we did! There are many areas that have significantly improved in the last 5-6 years at Thamesview (please compare the last two—three Ofsted Reports). Our Report can be found on the Ofsted Website: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/; just type in Thamesview School in the ‘Search’ box. The new school continues to develop as we can clearly see the Learning Com-munity shapes with concrete nearly finished ready for brickwork. Unfortu-nately, a few students are causing a hazard to the builders, throwing stones and even golf balls at them as they work; I will make an example of these students as they are caught. Please help us stress the safety of everyone around our school, as I do not want anyone (builders or otherwise), being hurt by someone else; this is not in keeping with our highly rated ‘caring community’! I do hope you can come and join us for the many events in the calendar where parents can actively engage with Thamesview; lunch invitation, sponsored walk, Parents’ Forum and our special 40th Anniversary celebrations (see below)!

Best wishes to all for a happy holiday,

Rhiannon Hughes Headteacher

Page 2 Spring Term 4

Britain’s Next Big Artist

On 14th March the Young Brits Art Competition took place in Gravesend Youth Centre. This competition is a part of the project run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Children from Thailand, Poland, Cambodia, Russia, South Africa, Lithuania and Zimbabwe took part in the workshop. Maria Kravcenko and Neil Thanasinkasetchai represented Thamesview School. They had to cre-ate a picture to express their thoughts and feelings about living in Britain today. They also had to write a short paragraph to describe the work and explain what inspired it. “It is a great opportunity for us to show our works and a chance to ex-hibit them”, said Maria. “I have also enjoyed a friendly atmosphere of the competition and have made new friends.”

The art works will be displayed in the Gravesham Council Halls. To find

out more about the project visit: http://

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/projects/yba/pages/youngbritsatart.aspx

T Prigozhaya, EAL teacher

Thamesview School’s 40th Anniversary

Headteacher,Rhiannon Hughes invites all past and present students, staff, governors and friends to

celebrate the 40th anniversary of

Thamesview School on

Saturday 27th June 2009 from 1.00pm - 5.00pm.

Come along and see the “old” school before it makes way for the new buildings. Catch up with classmates

and teachers - see who you can recognise from the old photos! Refreshments served from 2.30pm.

Please RSVP to Miss M Lehany on 01474 566552 (Ext. 276) or email m.lehany@thamesview.kent.sch.uk by Monday, 8th June.

But What Do They Mean?

PLTS— Personal Learning and Thinking Skills SEN—Special Educational Needs SENCo—Special Educ. Needs Coordinator KCC—Kent County Council BSF—Building Schools for the Future PSHE—Personal, Social, & Health Education B & E—Business & Enterprise ICT—Information, Computer Technology CVA—contextual value added Ofsted—Office for Standards in Education KS—Key Stage

Page 3 Thames Views

Art Success

Congratulations to the Year 11 students who have provisionally gained places on art courses next year. Jemma Johnson Emma Louise Huckstepp Laura Turner Tori Ashworth-Quinn Shannen Coyne Genevieve Davis These students will be

attending the University of Crea-tive Arts and West Kent College to follow BTEC National Diplomas in Art and 3D Design in September.

Mr R Curtis

The Eco Team are delighted to an-nounce that their com-posting program is

now up and run-ning. Food scraps

from the staffroom are being composted

and flower beds are under construction, courtesy of our won-derful technology as-

sistant, Richard. In the coming

months we shall be planting flowers and

vegetables that will be com-pletely organic. Volunteers will be required to help tend the flower beds and vegetable plots.

They’re Hooked—Fishing as an Exam!

If you are inter-ested please see Miss Dugmore or Ms Dean. If you have any seeds or cuttings that you would like to donate, please bring them along and we shall be most grateful. The community mobile phone challenge is going strong; the results are as follows: Endeavour 23 Challenger 9 Discovery 3 Enterprise 3 The winners will be able to adopt an endangered animal for their community. Closing date will be the end of June so get those phones in! Miss Dean

Parents Are Invited to Join us!

On 28th May you are invited to join

us to sample the school’s lunch menu and experience the lunchtime atmosphere. If you are interested in joining us the cost is £2.40, which includes the main meal and a pudding. Please call Tina Brown, Catering Manager to reserve your place on 01474 566552 ext 241 by 14th May. We look forward to seeing you there! Tina Brown, Catering Manager

The Year 10 Construc-tion and Hair students con-tinue to work in partnership with Industry to help them obtain their Young Appren-ticeship (YA) qualification. All 16 students spend one day a week in the work-place on real projects. They are treated as members of staff and play a vital part in many businesses. Some of the pro-jects include working at SEC Gravesend, Ashley

Gardens and Sessions House in Maidstone, which is the home of Kent County Council (KCC).

These students are doing jobs and then take the knowledge they have learnt and transfer these skills onto their school work. Our present Year 11 students have nearly completed their two year course and are looking forward to the formal presentation on the 21st May at Twickenham Stadium,

London. Watch this space for the photos and full report!

Pauline Blayney

Outstanding Partnerships

The following students have completed a short course in Fishing which is recognised as a GCSE equivalent:

Laura Hatcher Victoria Bourne Michael Newstead Metin Humphrey

Colin Owen Ross Pilkington Tom Hussey Tony Shenton-Phelps

Not only did they spend time inside the classroom learning about the environment, the countryside and other scientific

information, they also had to spend two days put-ting what they learnt into practice. This was the first time we have done this exercise and it was a great success. The students are to be congratu-lated on their achievement .

Diploma Students Work at Lullingstone Villa Due to their high level skills and attitude to work we were approached by Keep Active to provide a team of Higher Diploma students to work at Lullingstone Villa on a project. The students were asked to create steps on the em-bankment for visitors, create a fenced-off area and make safe other areas of the Park. However, how they were to do

this was left to them. After a pre-visit and planning session, the students got to work on this very exciting project. Although not fully completed yet, they have made major headway and the area looks great. Well done gentleman, a job well done!

Ms Blayney

Page 4 Spring Term 4

Welcome to another Enterprise Community update. There have been some changes in the Enterprise Community for both staff and students. I really should introduce myself at this point. I am Mr Paul Belsey, the new Learning Stage Leader for Enterprise. I am here to make sure that students progress and achieve their full potential., and also to ensure that Enterprise becomes the No 1 community in Thamesview’s Inter-community competitions. I will be working with Dr. Bell (Assistant Head Teacher– Leader of Enterprise) and Mr. Robinson (Learning Director) to ensure that this happens. I have launched a new logo for the community (unless one of you budding graphic designers out there can come up with something better), to give the community it’s own unique identity. Please let me know your thoughts on this and anything else in our new ‘Enterprise Suggestions Box’, which will be making it’s way round form rooms from Monday. We are also introducing some competition between forms in our community, this will be judged on attendance, organisation, having an updated and signed planner and completed extended learning activities. I hope that this will encourage students to go the extra mile and really take pride in punctuality, appearance and of course school work. School should be a place where learning is enjoyed, lets work together to make this happen. Paul Belsey, Learning Stage Leader

1 2 3 4 5

Can you work out these famous phrases?

Name ………………………………………..……………….Form………………………………… Tie Breaker: How many beans are in a tin of baked beans? Winner announced in the final assembly in the term.

Community Competitions With 4 terms down and 2 to go, the challenge is on for Enterprise to take the lead and win the Community competition. We narrowed the gap on Discovery to just three points with a stunning victory in the Community Quiz.

Proving that we are not only the best looking community

(Look at the picture left) but also the one with the most brains!

Comic Relief Dr Bell did his bit for Comic

Relief, letting students throw wet sponges at

him…..for a small charge!!!!!!!!!

Wanted

Want to be a journalist? Mr Belsey

wants you for a new project!

Hi my name is Lewis Gibbins, I swim for the City of Rochester and my Coach has picked me as part of his squad to swim in France in April. I have worked hard to achieve this, swimming over five hours a week. The pictures shows just a few of the medals I have won.

Enterprise has some very talented students we know all about what they can do in school and now we are finding out more about what they have achieved out of school. We love to hear about the achievements of our students it makes us proud and really gives us a great insight into our students full range of abilities. I have included some information and photos about two of our students who have had success outside of school.

Josh Blackwell - champion darts player (see back page for full report!)

Will it be 2012 Lewis?

Thames Views Page 5

Do you see yourself as a good organiser? Are you able to work as part of a team? Are you willing to give up some free time to help organise our charity event to make it extra special? IF THAT IS YOU, SEE MRS GORDON.

Endeavour has got off to a flying start with their extended learning project. Everybody within the community has shown a keen interest in our project which is ‘Raising Money for a Charity Event’. The students are eagerly planning our own charity event which will be a:

THAMESVIEW RACE FOR LIFE A 5km walk or run which we will be holding on Friday 15th May 2009 over at the dip, from 2.00pm onwards. Come along and join in! The whole community will be involved. There will be prizes for the best fancy dress, the fastest runner, amongst others. We are anticipating that it will be a very special event and a first for Thamesview. Hope to see you there! Mrs Gordon, Learning Director

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends It is time again to reflect on a very busy time. Endeavour have continued to grow as a Community and make progress in all sorts of ways. We have won ourselves competitions and we are in a

respectable position compared to the others. The spirit is strong within the community and I know people want to do well. Some changes have taken place. Mrs Gordon has been appointed as our Learning Director and already her energy and creativity are much in evidence. She is leading the way on our extended learning project, which is focused on planning a charity event. The highlight will be a 5km “Thamesview Race for Life” in May, which will be a fantastic event. As a Community we are hoping to enjoy an evening out on Monday 30th March. This is an opportunity to reward the lovely people who turn up to school every day and just do their best without any problem. It should be a fun Evening! G Morrell Assistant Headteacher

Well done to all of the Year 11s in Endeavour. I hope that everyone has enjoyed their final year at Thamesview. It has been hard work but I hope that it

pays off and we all get the results we deserve. Congratulations and I wish you the best of luck in the future! Louise Church Head Senior Student, Endeavour

Page 6 Spring Term 4

Message from Mr Hodges Head of Learning Community It has been another busy term for Challenger community, with so much happening and many students showing real skill and talent in different areas. After receiving our Business and Enterprise status, two students from Challenger showed they had already taken on board many of the enterprise skills the school is developing in our students: Laura White-head and Katie Harding put on a fantastic talent show which they planned, organised and ran on their own with no help from staff at all. They managed to raise over

£50 for our charity NSPCC and even managed to secure sponsorship for the event. The acts that took part were brilliant, and some of the sing-ing was superb. My eyes are now open to the talent we have in our school, and particularly in our Community. Well done girls!!

Three members of the community were involved in a competition with the builders of the new school, and the ICT company who are working alongside them. Michael Bruford, Ben Rush and Josie Baldwin visited the BETT show in January, but then had to present to three VIPs includ-ing members of the Local Education Katie Harding and Laura Whitehead

Authority. The presentation was about the technology the team had seen at the BETT show and how they could use it in the new school. Although the team did not win the judges commented on how well they had presented, the confi-dence they had shown and the creative ideas they put forward, especially as our team were from Year 7 and the other school mem-bers were from Year 9. Well done to Ben, Michael and Josie, you represented the school exceptionally well.

Friday the 13th March was Comic Re-lief Day, and Challenger made a signifi-cant contribution to the school challenge- £2009 for 2009. A huge well done goes to Mrs Fishenden who raised over £250 with her sponsored weight loss. We have also just had the year 11

spring mock examinations, and we are in the process of ana-lysing the results. The community team and I will be speaking to the Year 11 students about the results and helping them plan their next steps such as revision time-tables and exam techniques. Miss Howe did some work with the stu-dents around these issues on Friday 13th March, but they now need to be fresh in everyone’s mind. The extended learning in the community seems to be set-tling well. The conversations I have had with parents have all been positive, and they welcome the information available to them on the school website, where they can see exactly what the students should be doing every week. Students have also commented that they are enjoying applying their skills to some real life examples, and seeing how their learning can fit into everyday life. The Community points are not going our way at the moment, and most of the issues seem to be around students not wanting to stay after school to participate in the events. It would be really good to see more participants and spectators at the community events and get Challenger back where it should be - at number one!! Some fantastic events are put on

nightly for students to engage in after school. Finally, don’t forget that information about Chal-lenger Community can be found at:

www.challengercommunity.wikispaces.com On our wiki space you can see attendance figures, tutor group discussions, competitions and what is happening within

I took over CGB at the beginning of this term, after Miss Banens had returned to Australia. I feel very privileged to have taken over such a fantastic tutor group. The students' enthusiasm and willingness to cooperate in everything we do is a true testament to

Miss Banen's influence and encouragement and I thank her wholeheartedly for leaving me such a great group. Miss Phillips

NEW PUZZLE: Just say what you see!!

Family puzzle; What on earth is this? (phrase or saying): ANSWER from last newsletter:

Cross roads

Thames Views

Challenger’s International focus on Europe has continued with the students looking at France and Ireland. Challengers have looked at each destination’s history, language and traditions. Each week students have the opportunity to complete a weekly challenge which sets them 10 areas to research about each place. Some of the questions for Ireland include: 1. What three colours feature on the Irish flag? 2. Name one famous landmark in Dublin? 3. Name two famous Irish celebrities. 4. What currency is used in Ireland? 5. What is Ireland’s approximate population? Furthermore, the winning groups for the Spain projects have now presented in assembly and these were judged by Ms Hughes and Mrs

Dawson. Five groups presented and all received prizes for their efforts and participation. The first, second and third prizes went to: 1. Katie Harding and Becky White - CBE 2. Beth Collins, Courtney King, Oriana Bevan & Rianna Plumb - CSFI 3. Laura Whitehead and Helen Turner– CJC

Congratulations to you all! Our next area of study in Europe will be Italy, where we will be focusing on its culture and traditions. I know some are enlisting the expertise of our own Italian, Mr Razzack! Keep your eye on the notice board for on-going competitions. You never know you could be the winner! Miss Howe

Page 7

Challenger Extended Learning so far……. Challenger’s Extended Learning has got off to a great start. Our project is entitled ‘Cinema’. Students have the opportunity to cover a wide variety of subjects in tutor time through this one topic. Some of the activities include: Planning a trip to the cinema; taking into account route, availability and cost. Investigating films that show historical events. Creating ‘your life in film’. Writing a film review. Exploring film advertising and designing publicity material. The shapes hold some of the initial comments made by KS3 students in Challenger:

CKH — Moving on Up! What was CPD is now CKH as Miss Hud-son is the new Form Tutor to the form. We have been very busy this term working through the International Focus, Extended Learning and Mentoring our super clever fast-track students (students who enter exams early). To finish off our Spain focus; Lucy, Kirsty and Alex presented a poster on behalf of the form at our Learning Community Assembly. Well done girls and thank you for representing the form so confidently. We looked at the major landmarks in France and also explored our favourite aspects

of French cuisine on Danny’s birthday with croissants and jam! We have been working on Ireland for the last couple of weeks; look-ing at all things green, making Shamrocks and learning the truth about Leprechauns. Red Nose Day was a huge success for the students in CKH, with three individuals raising almost the whole Challenger target. Alex and Kirsty were sponsored for a pyjama day and are still counting their ever mounting pennies, last count was around £50. Joe Degnin sought sponsorship all over Gravesend for a run he completed at school in lunch time. Joe was also still collecting, however he had raised about £80 at last count. Thank you to those

Students, as well as the others in the form, who sponsored them. CKH is a very successful form as we already have two students who have jumped from Year 8 to Year 10 and three more have been selected to jump next year. It is great to see the strong work ethic emanating through form time as we see some excellent projects being developed for Extended Learning. Thanks for letting me become a part of your form CKH, it is a lovely place to be first thing in the morning! Miss Hudson

Comic Relief—Every Little Helps! On national Comic Relief Day in March, the whole country was doing its bit to raise money for children both here in the UK and in Africa. CRF was not left out of the effort to raise money. We had refresh-ments, music from Charlie and Chin, who played guitars and Kirsty Drynan painted nails! EvJCO were our guests (they paid to come, of course!) We raised about £12, and as they say, ”It was all in a good cause.” Lots of fun was had by all — who knows, our little effort may have helped to make this the most successful Comic Relief ever!

‘”I think it’s a good idea and every week it’s exciting finding out what we have got to do next’ Amy Niblett CKH

‘”I think it’s very good when all the subjects are put to-gether in the same piece of work.” Lucy Dallimore CKH

‘”I think that it is very good and it keeps me working but I must make sure I keep up.”

Kayne Steele CIT

‘”I think it is fun and helpful!” Josie Baldwin CGB

“Extended learning is better than normal homework because it’s more fun.” Alexandra Terry CKH

Discovery Learning Community continue to lead the way in the Inter-Community Competition. Having had the lead all year, our students continue to show those in the other Communities how to aim high. The com-petition does not only include sports and quizzes, but points are also awarded for weekly attendance. We have seen off the challenge from Challenger Commu-nity and now Enterprise Community are nipping at our heels. So, as long as we keep our attendance high and continue to get teams out for competitions, I am sure we will see off this latest challenge! The competition scores as of Friday 20th March are:

Discovery 188 Points Enterprise 185 Points Endeavour 178 Points Challenger 151 Points

Page 8 Spring Term 4

As you will be aware, Key Stage 3 students have been working on an Extended Learning project. This has involved students completing tasks based around our theme of ‘Discovery’, both in tutor time and at home. I am so proud to say that most students have been producing some excellent work and are developing their Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS). All of the activities have been designed to get students to improve their ability to be independent enquirers, creative thinkers, effective participators and so on. One of the more creative tasks students have completed so far has been to make a model of the solar system. Tutors gave students a set of instructions and models were made at home. A selection of models pro-duced by students in DRC and DLH are shown. Well done to all students for their work so far.

Page 9 Thames Views

Joshua Balne, Toby Boyd, Harry Bunce, Danny Gildea, Arthur Harrison-Burbridge, Ben Hopson, Barney Kurek, Jez McCann, Connor Mould, Matthew Nourse, Lewis Raine, Ben Weir and Ryan Wells. A special mention must go to Ben Hopson for his outstanding goalkeeping heroics...an England keeper of the future. Well done!

Charlotte Hall Year 7 Highest Overall Tracking

Score = 4.86

Harry Cook Year 7 Most Improved Overall Tracking Score

Below are the names of our HEROES from Term 4. These are students (and staff) who have displayed exceptional effort, produced outstanding work, demonstrated a talent, shown real community spirit or have been excellent ambassadors for Discovery.

Outstanding Tracking Reports for Year 7

Students in Year 7 have now received their second tracking report of this academic year. I am so pleased, and proud, to report that even more students have achieved an average tracking score of four or above this time around! 95% of students scored 4 or more. 87% of all students regardless of their overall score improved on their previous report. So WELL DONE to all in Year 7! They are an example for us all.

Students achieving 4 or more: Megan Ayley Heather Ball Jack Barham Lauren Boswell Carlie Bowden Natasha Braham Alfie Chambers Harry Clark Hannah Cox James Davies George Drynan Zak Ford Lewis Foreman Charlotte Hall Kay Hanna Bret Hill Kyle Hoban Daniel Large Katie Mancini Wade Manville Siobhan McCollum Charlie Neal Phoebie Norris Libbi Orange Katie Raine Aaron Rayner Anthony Rice David Shenton-Phelps Jade Smith Ryan Stunt Blake Taylor James Taylor Zehra Terlemez Nicola Thompson Kieran Treleaven

Discovery Learning Community is blessed with having a fantastic Learning Mentor; her name is Tina Weedon and I know that a lot of students and parents are thankful for the work she does. Tina always puts the students first and does whatever she can to help them out. This includes continuing her own learning. I am so proud to announce that she has become one of only a few people in the whole country to achieve the National Occupation Standard for Working With Children. This is a new initiative introduced by the Government and Tina is certainly leading the way! Well done Tina.

2nd in the Year 8 Five-a-Side Football Competition

Page 10 Spring Term 4

Term Dates 5 20th April—22nd May 2008

6 1st June—17th July 2008 at 12.30pm

2009/10

1 3rd September—23rd October 2009

Thamesview School

Thong Lane Gravesend Kent DA12 4LF

Phone: 01474 566552 Headteacher Miss R Hughes

Years 7 - 8 have had the opportunity to take part in a martial arts club after school. Self-defence training not only teaches how to physi-cally defend against attack, but also includes personal safety tips and techniques that increase awareness and improves the ability to avoid confrontation and potential dangers. Rob Gill comes in to help students to learn various forms of self-defence. It has proved very popular, so if you would like to join those learning how to kick, punch and put people on the floor in a controlled environ-ment, then come along to a the gym on Thursdays after school! Miss R Rogers, PE Department

Guardian Reports on the Progress of Advanced Diploma Students

On the 12th March, Construction Skills and the Guardian Newspaper, came to Thamesview Vocational Centre to interview our Advanced Level Diploma students studying Construction and the Built Environment. Ms Lucinda Jensen gave the students an insight into the world of being a Construction Manager, which was then followed by photographs and interviews. Bernice Waghorn, our one female in construction at this level, was praised for her attitude and approach on this course and was recognised as being ‘a woman on a mission’. So watch out construction firms!

Pauline Blayney

Construction Students Invited to Dubai Again For the second year running, Young Apprentice Construction students have been invited to work in Dubai from the 18th May – 22nd May. They will attend the official opening of the new rail link and visit various projects. The spon-sors, EMAR Construction and Emirates Airways, have placed the group in the new Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island. Not only have they been invited but also the Advanced Diploma students on the 26th June – 4th July. These stu-dents will be working with national businesses on projects already started. Watch this space for the re-ports and photos.

Pauline Blayney

YEAR 10 CAREERS DAY All students took part in a Careers Day which involved a range of fun and interactive activities designed to develop students’ understanding of the workplace and the options available to them after Year 11. The students also created a C.V, which they can use and adapt in the future when applying for College, Sixth Form or jobs. The day ended with an excellent and funny performance by the Rah Rah Theatre Company about work experience.

A. Burgess, Aim Higher Mentor

Date for your Diary

Parents Forum Thursday 11th June at 7pm

Community Name

Points

Challenger 151

Discovery 188

Endeavour 178

Enterprise 185

Safety First! Congratulations to the following staff that recently passed their mini bus test. The examiner Mr Keith Wheetly said, ‘These staff are exceptional drivers and it was good to see that students are in safe hands’: Mr George

Morrell, Mrs Helen Goodwin, Mrs Sheila Dance and Ms Pauline Blayney.

Thames Views Page 11

The following meetings are open to all parents and carers. The Talking Directory gives valuable information on numerous subjects and many are connected to the caring of children, education and support groups.

Gravesham Parent Forum 2009 Calendar

Term 5 WEDNESDAY 6TH MAY from 9.30am – 12:30pm

(including lunch) at The Community Hall, Westcourt Primary School

WEDNESDAY 6TH MAY from 7.00pm – 9pm (including a light supper) at The Community Hall,

Westcourt Primary School

Term 6 WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY from 9.30am – 12:30pm

(including lunch) at The Community Hall, Westcourt Primary School

WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY from 7.00pm – 9pm (including a light supper) at The Community Hall, Westcourt Primary School

PLEASE check the talking directory website or with your school to ensure there has been no change to the date and venue. The Talking Directory website: www.thetalkingdirectory.com Provides local information to schools, partners, parents and young people on: Childcare; Local Activities and Clubs for Children and Young People; Parenting Informa-tion and Support; Community Events and Quick and Easy Links to Specialist Services.

Please Support our School

Tesco launched their Schools & Clubs Scheme in all stores on March 2nd. We are registered! Our target is to collect 5,000 vouchers Please support us in our endeavours by collecting your vouchers when you go shopping and sending them into school with your child. Encourage friends and family members to collect the vouchers and donate them as well. There is a collection box in the main office ready to receive your donations, just send them in with your child, it couldn’t be easier! Many thanks and kind regards.

June Dean

Quality school wear at

affordable prices.

Construction Club A four-week course in construc-tion is being held on Thursday nights for Years 7, 8 and 9 from 3pm – 5pm. During this time stu-dents get an introduction to various disciplines in construction. Great fun has been had by all, especially the wearing of the lovely blue over-

alls? The next construction course is due to start after Easter, so watch this space and our Clubs Noticebaord. Other courses in Motor Mechanics and Hair will also start soon.

www.candh-services.com

For all your kitchen and bathroom needs!

Professional and friendly advice, call us on:

01474 338706

Page 12 Spring Term 4

Video Conference Thamesview School had its first video conference with Riverview Juniors primary school. The video conference was extremely successful in terms of meeting the aim of the session. The key aim of the conference was to assist the transition process of pupils from primary to secondary school. The Video Confer-ence gave pupils in Riverview School a fantastic platform to interact with our current year 7 students (former Riverview stu-dents). The pupils from Riverview asked a range of questions that addressed their concerns of secondary school, and our year 7’s successfully answered all questions and also clarified many misconceptions about secondary school. The video conference lasted for about 20 minutes and at the end I asked for their opinions. The pupils were very excited about using the equipment. The pupils liked it because you could see who you were speaking to; they thought it was a new and interesting way of talking to someone else. They were also able to see what their former school, teachers and friends looked like." Mr Rahman

“HEALTHY LIVING” DAYS

Safety Success! Over 321 students sat the British Safety Council Entry Level 3 Award in Safety and Passed. This was the first time students had been entered for this award and we were extremely proud of the students. This exam is recognised by industry and some students will now progress to the next level. Well done! Ms Blayney

Three Healthy Living days have taken place recently. Year 11 had a day on 13th March concentrating on sex and rela-tionship education. Before that, Year 9 had a general healthy living day on 10th March and Year 8 had a conference day on 6th February. This last day was a particularly successful event. We had a guest speaker from the Fire Service and some of our own lively young staff like Mr Franks and Miss Beaumont led ses-sions on the importance of exercise. Mr Frame led his now legendary session on Outdoor Education earning himself the nickname “Ray Mears”. We also had a guest visitor from the catering and hospital-ity industry. A young chef called James Morrell (Mr Morrell’s

son) spent his day off from the Ritz Hotel to demonstrate how to produce a tasty healthy meal. Healthy food need not be boring! With excellent support from the Technology Depart-ment (Mr Cooper and colleagues) he inspired the Year 8 students to pro-duce their own pastas and smoothies and hopefully make some more at home. Students evaluation sheets

indicate that our youngsters were delighted with their day. G Morrell

Kent County Youth Darts Players

Josh Payne (Endeavour) and Josh Blackwell (Enterprise), both play for Kent County Youth Darts and are members of the British Darts Organisation. A sport that is growing in popularity, it requires skill, good co-ordination and quick thinking maths (that will please their teachers!) Both Josh’s follow in the footsteps of their parents with both dads also playing for County, although now Josh Blackwell has more to aim for as his dad has also been selected for England! The Kent Youth team are

“Stage Not Age” Learning

The new primary and secondary curriculums provide an ideal opportunity for schools to create a coordi-nated approach to learning using the built environment. Thamesview Vocational Level 3 Diploma students and students from Riverview Primary School along with their Headteacher, Mrs Dymond, spent Tuesday 24th march at the Victoria & Albert Museum presenting their findings on providing a new environment for the existing library at Riverview Park. They presented their findings in a fantastic presen-tation to 200 people including

Rt. Hon Andy Burnham MP and Sir John Sorrell. The work they did and the way they presented their ideas were outstanding. They then spent the rest of networking at a drinks reception and exhibition answering questions. Well done to Anne Schuster, Bernice Waghorn and Steven Baxter.

second in Division 2 of the League and are hoping to move forward next year to the 1st Division (fingers crossed). The team play every month either a home game (Tonbridge) or away to a differ-ent County. This month (March) we played away to Essex, losing 10-7. Unfortu-nately, Josh Blackwell played reserve this weekend but Josh Payne played winning 2-1. Well done Josh! There are only 4 more games left this season so here’s to next month when we face London!

Abbie & Lauren proudly show off their certificates.