NewsletterJuly 2014

Learning today: leading tomorrow

On Tuesday 1st July 2014, Veera Bakhai and Sharanya Gajapathy from Year 9 were invited with the Head of History, Miss Murray, to a reception at 10 Downing Street, hosted by the Prime Minister as part of the First World War Centenary. The girls had taken part in the pilot tour, funded by the government and run by the Institute of Education and the School Travel Group, which offers students and teachers from every maintained school in England the opportunity to visit the World War 1 Battlefields. In October 2013 the girls visited key sites around Ypres and the Somme, including the Tyne Cot Cemetery near Passchendaele, the Langemark Cemetery, the Thiepval Memorial and experienced the Ceremony of the Last Post at the Menin Gate in Ypres. Little did they realise having returned from this trip that they would also get the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister!

The experience started a few weeks ago when envelopes addressed to us arrived at school. Each envelope had ‘10 Downing Street’ stamped on the back – offering a glimmer of what was inside. The invitation informed us that the Prime Minister ‘requested the pleasure of our company’ at 10 Downing Street. So on Tuesday 1st July, we made our way by tube to Westminster. We arrived at Downing Street to see hordes of tourists at the gate that cuts off entry to No. 10, taking photos of this national landmark. We felt very special, but also a little nervous when, having shown our invitations we were allowed to walk through this gate. We then waited with other invited guests outside the big black door of number 10. At 12.15pm the butler came out to invite us in and we walked into a large

hall area. In one corner was a shelf unit where we were told to leave our mobile phones – so we would not be allowed to take any photographs. We then walked through to the back of the house, down some stairs and out into the garden, passing by lots of pictures of previous Prime Ministers and cabinet members. The gardens were beautiful with lots of lovely flowers, including a bed of poppies that had been planted earlier in the year by primary school children. A drinks table was laid out with orange and apple juice and there was an ice-cream trolley with a man serving the most delicious ice-cream cones – we both had one! We then watched as other visitors arrived, including some Chelsea pensioners in their bright red coats. (continued on page 2)

History students invited to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime MinisterWritten by Veera Bakhai and Sharaniya Gajapathy 9YB

Bentley Wood High School is one of the best in the country for student progress and achievement at GCSE.

Bentley Wood High School has received national recognition for the value it adds to enable students’ high achievement at GCSE.

A recent in-depth analysis of Department for Education data on all state-funded schools in England by SSAT, the national schools’ membership organisation for improvement and collaboration, identified Bentley Wood High School’s success.

The school has qualified for two SSAT Educational Outcomes Awards by being in the top 20% of schools nationally for progress made by pupils between key stage 2 results at primary school and GCSE results at age 16, and in the top 20% nationally for high attainment.

The school has been invited to receive their award at a regional celebration ceremony hosted by SSAT at The St Marylebone

Church of England School in London on 6 May.

Sue Williamson, Chief Executive of SSAT said: “Bentley Wood High School should be congratulated for their exceptional achievement. They have proved themselves to be leading the field in improving GCSE outcomes for their students. There is so much good practice that this school could share, and I hope many schools will join us at the celebration ceremony for the chance to network and share strategies with award-winning schools.”

“These results are testament to the commitment and hard work of the students, teachers and leadership team at Bentley Wood High School, and show what can be achieved when skilled teachers have high expectations and ambition for every young person. I am proud that this school is a member of the SSAT network.”

Bentley Wood High School receives another two awards for being in the top 20% of schools in the country

Message from Headteacher

We are delighted to finish the summer term on such a high

note; our girls continue to impress us with their enthusiasm

for learning.This time of year is always busy but this year

particularly so with the approval of exciting plans for a new

three-storey building with new classrooms including a Science

laboratory and Art studio. Building work also starts for a brand

new Sports hall. Both buildings will be open and ready for use

in September 2015.

Our students have collaborated with the Prime Minister over

the First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme,

have attended meetings with wide-ranging leaders in the

fields of Philosophy, Engineering and Physics. Other girls

have attended conferences meeting scientists, politicians and

advocates in climate change and welcomed industry-leading

figures to talk to our pupils about their own career paths, all of

which is included in this issue of our newsletter.

We also congratulate one of our Year 10 students who has been

selected by National Theatre to produce a play and another

who has been chosen as one of sixteen finalists out of 18,000

pupils trained for a national speaking award. For further details

you can read more on our website http://www.bentleywood.

harrow.sch.uk

We are proud of all our achievements this year which reflect the

School’s ongoing commitment to excellence. We are looking

forward to welcoming our new Year 7 students. Equally we are

excited about the continuing growth of our 6th Form and the

impressive range of destination universities that was achieved

by our class of 2014.

We wish you all a relaxing summer.

Janice Howkins Head teacher

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A number of visitors came to ask us about our trip to the battlefields including Baroness Flather who was the first Asian person to receive a peerage.

At 1.00pm David Cameron arrived and started to mingle with the guests. We were invited to go forward with Miss Murray to meet him. We had prepared a photograph album of the places we had visited on our trip to the battlefields and invited him to have a look at it. He handed his drink to Sharanya to hold and took the album from us. He then went through all the photos asking us questions about the places we had seen. He was particularly interested in the Cloth Hall in the centre of Ypres which is now a museum called ‘Flanders Fields’ because he had only visited it himself a couple of days previously. When he got to the end of the book Veera asked him if he would sign it, which he did.

During the rest of the afternoon David Cameron gave a speech thanking everyone for attending and stressing the importance of encouraging students to visit the battlefields. We then listened to an excellent singer perform a WW1 song ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning.’ David Cameron then surprised us all by introducing Joey the horse from the stage play of War Horse. The horse is controlled by three men, two of whom are inside the bamboo construction moving the legs and tail and a third man to move the neck and head. An actor walked with the horse and gave it instructions as if it was real, even offering it imaginary sugar lumps from his pocket. It was truly amazing; it moved and sounded just like a real horse. It came forward towards us and we got the opportunity to stroke its nose. It made a ‘whiney’ sound and its ears flicked, just like a real horse. With the other groups of school children we were then encouraged to talk to the horse and, as a group, instruct it to stand on its hind legs, which it eventually did. The men controlling it were really brilliant. The afternoon ended with us chatting to some of the other students who were on our trip and enjoying the beautiful weather and surroundings at Number 10. In fact it was hard to leave at 2.30pm when the reception ended and we had to make our way back up the stairs and through the shiny black door and back into ‘the real world’. We did stop though to take some photos outside the famous black door.

It was a really enjoyable day and we all felt really special and privileged to take part in this reception. It was also really interesting to meet and talk to the Prime Minister and all the other guests at this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity.

History Student Invited to 10 Downing Street to Meet the Prime Minister (continued from Page 1)

The Italian Watermark Trip 2014Millie Flashman and Lauryn Tyson 10MM

On 15th May 2014 at 5.00am seven students and two teachers piled in a mini bus to drive to Gatwick airport so we could catch a flight to Rome! This was all possible because of an international project, The Comenius Watermark Project, which our school joined in 2012. The aim is to investigate the ways water is cleaned and protected and to share information on water that we had surveyed in our local area. We did this with schools from four other European countries; Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. After arrival in Rome at about 8 o clock, we took a coach to Piano di Sorrento which was the town where we were staying. The coach trip lasted nearly six hours!

At Piano di Sorrento the coach was met in the town square by all the friends, family and teachers of those from the Italian school that were taking part in the project. It was amazing to meet the families that we would be staying with for the next few days. After a welcoming ceremony at the town hall we were all taken to a local restaurant for our first proper pizzas, which we all loved.

Over the next few days of our trip we got to know people from other schools involved in the project. While we were staying in Piano di Sorrento the school had organised for us to visit sites of local interest such as the beautiful island of Capri and the historic ruins of Pompeii. We also later saw the Colosseum and Roman Forum when we visited Rome on our last day in Italy.

Everyone that went on this trip enjoyed the experience and made lots of new friends. It was interesting to share our knowledge of each other’s languages and to collect information for the Watermark Project. We have all kept in touch with the families we stayed with and the friends we made. The school should do more of these kind of trips as it was a once in a lifetime experience!

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Exciting new teaching environments planned for September 2015

Bentley Wood is delighted to announce that work begins this

summer on two new buildings. These include a new three-

storey teaching building together with a brand new Sports

Hall. This extension to our newly-completed Sixth Form

together with recent science extension represents Bentley

Wood’s commitment to excellence in our pupils’ learning and

to strengthening wider community links.

The new building will include a new art classroom, science

laboratory, specialist areas and 9 teaching rooms. The

Student Council have been included in talks about the plans

and the increased number of Year 7 pupils who will go into

8 tutor groups instead of the usual 6. The work should be

completed by September 2015.

Furthermore, the Clamp Hill entrance will be redeveloped

to improve the flow of traffic at drop off times and improve

accessibility for pupils and visitors to the school. The School

looks forward to sharing progress reports with parents for

the new buildings as work proceeds.

Year 12 students attended a Philosophy Conference a short while ago. We spent a day learning about various aspects of Epistemology, the branch of philosophy that studies what knowledge is, whether we can achieve any, and if so, how. It is sometimes a technical and difficult branch of philosophy and requires very careful, logical thinking. However, it is fascinating and profound, and arguably, one of the most important things a person can study. We had the opportunity to meet other philosophy students from schools, public and private, from all over London and the South-East. The conference was delivered by Dr Michael Lacewing, from Heythorp College (part of UCL). He was an excellent speaker. Some of us were a little awestruck, as Dr Lacewing is the author of our A-level philosophy textbooks and so, a few of us mustered up the courage to ask him for an autograph! We will treasure these for many years.

It was a great revision experience and was very enriching. It not only stretched our mental muscles, and helped us prepare even more for the exams, but it gave us a little sense of what university life would be like, when we will have to attend lectures and take copious notes. Of course, we have fabulous philosophy teachers, Mr O’Sullivan and Ms Burridge, who

prepared us for the day, and who teach us philosophy, the ‘Queen of the Sciences’, with passion and rigour. We would like to thank Mr O’Sullivan for arranging the trip and for looking after us on the day.

New Views Finalist

Bentley Wood High School student, Lisa

Malki ( 14 ), has fought off competition

from over 200 young writers to be

shortlisted in the National Theatre’s New

Views Playwriting Competition.

New Views is the National Theatre’s

annual playwriting competition. Each

year hundreds of students from across

the UK and beyond, learn about

playwriting from some of the finest

writers in the business and write their

own short plays, with one play chosen to

be staged at the NT with a professional

cast.

Lisa travelled to London on 8th July

where she was given the opportunity to

work with professional actors and see

her play staged as a rehearsed reading

in front of an audience.

“It has been a privilege to see Lisa work

with such creativity and imagination

in her writing. Her play is a powerful

monologue and a mature reflection on

the theme of alienation and isolation in

modern society”, commented Debbie

Ferrer, English teacher and New Views

Co-ordinator at Bentley Wood High

School.

Lisa, who was selected for her play

‘Sugar’ which is about a young American

student Michael, who has done something

terrible. Sitting on the roof of his school,

he takes himself on an introspective

journey looking at the reasons behind

the act and what he plans to do in the

time that follows.

Lisa reflecting on her New Views

experiences stated, “Writing has been

one of my passions from a very young

age. New Views has introduced me to

the world of playwriting, and for that I

am very grateful.”

Janice Howkins, Headteacher at Bentley

Wood High School says, ‘Lisa is a very

able student. She has many talents and

in particular has outstanding writing and

performance skills. We are proud of Lisa

and all of our students who consistently

achieve their very best.’

For more information please go to the National Theatre website

http://www.new-views.tv/

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Year 12 Philosophy Trip March 2014Mr O’Sullivan RS / Philosophy Department

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Bentley Wood girls attend the first ever National Women in Engineering Day at Imperial College

Mr Avwenagh Science Department

The First ‘National Women in Engineering Day’ was held at Imperial College, University of London on 23rd June, and 15 of our students in Year 9 were especially selected to attend the event, which will run annually. The aim of the day is to celebrate the contribution of women to the field of engineering and material science and to encourage girls to study subjects such as physics, mathematics, engineering and chemistry at university.

The students carried out a range of chemistry and physics practical investigations in high-tech laboratories, developing their knowledge of the wonders of material science.

To end the day, the girls were given the opportunity to ask female post-doctorates and PhD science students about university life, careers in science and entrance requirements to study at Imperial College. Imperial College is the only university in the United Kingdom to focus exclusively on science, medicine and engineering at undergraduate level.

Amina Amouri said, ‘The day was brilliant and I really enjoyed doing the experiments in the modern labs’. Cherise Jarrett added, ‘I did not know that there are so many branches in engineering. I especially liked learning about material science and would be interested in studying it at university’.

Primary Links – Year 9 Students became Spanish Teachers for a DayBy Satvika Byrishetty 9YB

On Wednesday 11th June, 11 students from Year 9 went to Stanburn Primary School to teach Year 5 pupils Spanish. The students involved were Satvika, Seleena, Iman M., Iman S., Lul, Nudara, Manahil, Tara, Hana, Laila and Noor. We split up into groups of 2-3 people and had to create a 9 minute lesson for 3 different classes. The classes in the primary school were split into four groups and we each took turns teaching the pupils. We taught them about days and months, animals, numbers and colours.

We had a lot of fun and learnt what it was like to be a teacher (Let’s just say we don’t want to be working with children any time soon!) At the beginning we were very nervous, wondering what if we made a mistake or said the wrong answer, but we quickly got used to teaching.

It was fun after a while, watching the pupils learn how to say the Spanish words. Some children already knew how to speak Spanish, while others were just beginning. They were very competitive and enthusiastic children. I have to say that the boys were trying to win and so were the girls. It was a very tense atmosphere but overall we had a great time and so did the children. The children learnt Spanish while we learnt how hard being a teacher actually is. We would love to have another opportunity to teach Spanish again.

Industry-leading figures give talks at Bentley WoodMs Jones RS / Philosophy Department

The Summer term has seen The Minervans Society go from strength to strength. The feminist society invites inspirational, industry-leading figures into Bentley Wood to talk to pupils about their own career paths in the hope of raising aspirations and encouraging confidence in girls. The programme of speakers for this term has been very impressive: the Cambridge University Lecturer, Caroline Vout, explained Why History needs Art, the Director of Opera from the Royal Opera House, Kasper Holten, demystified Opera, the creator of the Multi-Story Music Project, Kate Whitley, discussed her vision of making classical music accessible to all and Michael Liebreich, successful entrepreneur, reminded the pupils of the importance of failure. This term’s programme will be rounded off by Mike Baker, who has overseen the marketing of commercial media for television (Thames TV) and national newspapers.

The society works to bridge the gap between state and private education, allowing pupils to access ‘cultural capital’.

Ms Jones, the society’s founder and organiser says, “I want the pupils to meet very successful people so that they feel that the top universities and jobs are not unattainable but rather things that people they have met have done; I’m hoping that the girls become more ambitious thanks to these talks.”

We look forward to announcing future inspirational speakers soon.

Earlier this year, a group of Year 9 students, keen to learn

more about planets outside our solar system, took part in

the Exoplanets Physics Project organised by the Institute of

Physics.

This is a national project in which schools take part in team

activities geared towards learning astronomy and learning

how to think like a scientist. With Mr McAleer as our teacher,

we learnt about the transit method of discovering planets, the

habitable zone, surface conditions, gravity and much more

over eight sessions after school on Wednesdays. In my opinion,

the most exciting session was the one where we got to build

our own spectroscope. We built spectroscopes because the

gaps in the spectra can tell us about the different chemicals

in a planet’s atmosphere. It was pretty amazing getting to

see a spectrum using a spectroscope that we had made, and

I thought it was even more fascinating how we could use

that to see which chemical elements are present in a planet’s

atmosphere.

We kept an online blog throughout the project and used an

online forum to discuss things such as whether we thought

there could be life on other planets or not. We also had an

advisor (an A-Level student in another school) who we could

ask for help.

Finally, we had to use our newly acquired skills to identify a

planet that was capable of holding liquid water and being home

to intelligent life. We had to create our proposal summarising

what we learnt so far and why our chosen planet could possibly

be habitable. In the end, our hard work paid off and we won!

We each won a £15 iTunes voucher and a video camera for

the Physics Department. Congratulations to Satvika Byrishetty,

Yalda Janebdar, Yashvi Desai, Kaneez Hisbani, Elani Jeyagugan,

Veera Bakhai, Thaniya Tharmakulasingam, Sharanya Gajapathy,

Shayma Bettayeb, Misbah Bhamani and Aisah Alam.

Geography Field Trip to London’s South BankMr Kane, Head of Geography.

As part of their GCSE geography coursework, 75 Year 10 students visited London’s South Bank to conduct a day of primary research. The South Bank, home to London’s most visited tourist attraction, the London Eye, is an ideal site to investigate the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism. Over 3.7 million people visit the area each year, and as our students discovered on the day, many travel from places as far away as China, Mexico and Australia.

Having conducted a series of environmental surveys, pedestrian counts, questionnaires and land use maps, the girls made the short journey back to Stanmore full of excitement about their discoveries. Sweena and Thuraya in Year 10 both said how much they enjoyed the day – “it was an experience we won’t forget”, said Sweena. Thuraya said, “It opened our eyes to the issue of tourism”. Now the hard task of writing up their findings in a 2000 word report begins.

Bentley Wood win the Year 9 Exoplanets Physics ProjectWritten by Yalda Janebda

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BWHS 6th Formers attend Webcast with Leonardo Dicaprio and US Secretary of State, John Kerry at US Embassy – 17th June 2014Mr Avwenagh Science Department

On 17th June, politicians, scientists, oceanographers and advocates in climate change policy met with school pupils, medical students and Hollywood movie stars at the US Embassy in London to collaborate on the subject of Ocean Acidification, the term given to the reduction in pH of seawater caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Year 12 pupils Sugra, Kayathrie, Shifa, Venera and Zahra represented Bentley Wood, attending to gather lessons learned and to share best scientific practice on how we can protect our oceans for future generations.

Whilst many of us are familiar with the term ‘Climate Change’, fewer of us have heard of ‘Ocean Acidification’, a process where the oceans are becoming more acidic due to the increased amount of carbon dioxide being dissolved in these waters. The chemistry of the oceans is changing faster than at any other time in the past 50 million years, making it more difficult for living organisms to survive in the new conditions. Leonardo DiCaprio, an avid scuba diver said, ‘What once had looked like an endless underwater Utopia is now full of bleached coral reefs and massive dead zones’. DeCaprio is so concerned with the causes of Ocean Acidification that he announced at the conference a pledge of $7 million dollars to support meaningful ocean conservation projects over the next two years.

The oceans are critical to maintaining life on earth. Oceans regulate our climate and weather, as well as contributing significantly to the livelihoods of millions.

One of the highlights of the conference was when US Ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzan took questions from the audiences. Our students asked him probing and intelligent questions ranging from ethics in science to a complicated question on the chemistry of carbon dioxide.

Kayathrie said ‘Attending the conference was a valuable and insightful learning experience. I was able to see scientists, politicians and celebrities working together to help find solutions to important issues such as Climate Change and Ocean Acidification. It made me realise just how science, economics and politics are entwined in reality’.

Bentley Wood wins Recognition of Commitment from the United Nations Convention on Children’s RightsMiss Vyas - Maths Department

Bentley Wood has won the Recognition of Commitment from the Rights Respecting Schools Award by UNICEF.

The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning, policies, practice and ethos. A rights-respecting school not only teaches about children’s rights, but also models rights and respect in all its relationships between adults, teachers and pupils.

It also means that we are one step closer to attaining the ‘Level 1’ Award. The next step is an external assessment to confirm that our pupils are fully conversant with the universal nature of children’s rights and is included in our schemes of work in a variety of subject areas. The school has undertaken to create a School Charter where all teachers and pupils agree to the way that we want to build relationships with each other.

Well done to everyone who helped make this successful and do make sure you see the lovely displays around school that show off the work we have done!

Mathematics Masterclass Celebration at the Royal Institute of Great BritainYalda Janebdar 9NW

This year two of Bentley Wood’s best performing students in the UKMT Intermediate Challenge were invited to attend a celebration event at the Royal Institute. Yalda Janebdar and Rihab El-Hussain (both Year 9) were asked to go. The day was a huge inspiration as Yalda reports…

‘Recently Rihab and I were invited to a Mathematics Masterclass celebration by the UKMT at the Royal Institute. This was a great opportunity for us to discover how mathematics is used in research and design.

The day took place in the famous Faraday Theatre and included a talk by Alan Davies (Professor of Mathematics at the University of Hertfordshire) who spoke about the Ancient Greeks’ way of thinking and their experimentations. The Greeks could solve the same problems as we do but used very different methods and formulas; for example, they would find the area of a triangle without using the simple formula we use.

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Kayathrie, Sugra, Venera, Zarah and Shifa outside the US Embassy, Mayfair, 17th June.

PGL Trip 9th-13th June 2014

Students from Year 7 & 8 went on a 5 day residential adventure trip to PGL Liddlington in Wiltshire, where they took part in lots of fun activities including: abseiling, canoeing, rock-climbing, giant swing, trapeze and zip wire.

On our first day at PGL we had an early start before splitting into 2 groups: one group went off to do the Crate Challenge and the other group the Tunnel Trail. The Crate Challenge involved wearing a safety harness and hard hat. Working in groups of 3 the aim was to build the highest tower of plastic crates and then stand on top of this tower! Our group managed to get the tower to be 9 crates high, which meant we were standing about 4 metres in the air. The fun bit was when we had to jump off our crate tower and were then suspended in the air by our safety ropes.

After this activity we got to do the tunnel trail activity which meant crawling through underground tunnels which were, dark, damp and muddy. This was a challenge because we were in pitch black darkness with no torches. It was great to finally get out into the sunshine!

In the afternoon of the first day we got to do the best activity of the whole week: giant swing. Again we had to put on our safety harness and hard hat and then we were attached to a metal bar in pairs. The rest of our team had to pull us up so the metal bar was suspended about 10 metres above the ground. When ready we had to pull on a thin rope which released us so we could swing. Let’s just say, most people screamed!

By Mia Last, Kelly Gogic, Tara Prendiville and Katie Lynch 8GP

Our first activity was Survivor where we acted as if we were marooned on an island and had to learn how to survive with limited resources. We had to build a shelter, filter water and light a fire using a flint and steel. Our next activity was Vertical Challenge where, having put on our safety equipment we had to climb up a series of obstacles, first a moving ladder, then 4 giant tyres, a climbing wall and finally a gridded net. In the afternoon we went canoeing which was great because it was a really hot day! We learnt some basic moves, such as how to change direction and then played a game where one canoe

acted as a zombie and had to chase the other canoes to make them zombies too! After canoeing we did trapeze, where we had to climb up a giant pole about 8 metres high and then, attached by our safety harness, take a leap of faith to reach the trapeze, which was very scary!

By Lucy North 8GCA and Sophie Rahim 7ZM.

We had to climb up a large wall with only small hand and foot holds to grab onto. This was hard but really fun and most people got all the way to the top where we rang a bell. After this we did orienteering where we had to learn to use maps to find certain points around the PGL site. After lunch we did problem solving where we had to do various challenges including balancing the group evenly on a wobbly plank, fitting the whole group through a small tyre as quickly as possible and using a pulley system to try and get objects stacked on top of each other. After this we went on to the zip wire where we had to jump off a really tall building and ‘zip-wire’ down to the group. The hardest part of this was standing at the top of the tower and building up the courage to just jump off.

Overall, this was a fantastic trip. We had fantastic weather and got to do lots of challenging, but fun activities that are so different to what we do at school. We even had activities in the evening such as Robot Wars. We had to dress one of our team as a robot using cardboard and bits of plastic, blindfold them and then send them around a course trying to beat other robots. This activity involved lots of water and we were all soaked by the time we had finished! Sophie, our team leader from PGL, who looked after us all week was really good fun. We also had mammoth Uno competitions with Mrs. Hyland, Miss Lark and Miss Murray every evening, as well as teaching our teachers how to make rainbow loom bracelets.

By Tanushka Agrawal 8RCM

If you are interested in going on PGL next year and are currently in Year 7 or are about to start at Bentley Wood in September, please see Miss Murray for more information and a letter.

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Shadow Secretary of State for Education (Tristram Hunt MP) visits Bentley Wood

On Monday 12th May, we were delighted to welcome Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Tristram Hunt MP, to Bentley Wood High School. Tristram spoke to staff and Sixth Form pupils about his role and the importance placed on education by Labour, followed by a Q and A session. Students asked him questions about the future of schools in the UK.

Tristram was joined by Uma Kumaran, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Harrow East and former pupil of Bentley Wood High School, who spoke about the importance of involving young people in politics.

Please read the thank you letter from Tristram Hunt and Uma Kumaran on our website.

Student Council

We have held meetings throughout this year and are finally

getting to see the results of our efforts. We have been

successful in many areas and will be coming into assemblies

to tell you all about it later this term. We have 6 Student

Impact Groups and Miss Pretty has finally got round to

ordering us badges.

STEM

Our goal is to encourage and raise awareness for STEM

(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and the

role of women in these areas. This year we helped to promote

STEM Week in January, which was very successful. Miss

Worthey has recruited STEM leaders and Mr Kane has also

nominated Numeracy Leaders who are helping to promote

STEM subjects. We have had speakers visit as part of the

Watermark Project to talk to Year 10 about careers in water

companies and the Environment Agency. Students have also

been on many trips and met some very impressive scientists.

Plans for the future:

• Get STEM advocates, specifically women, to come into

school and speak to students – jointly with Minervan

Society

• Hold workshop/career days, centred around speaking to

students at university and creating CVs

• Subject days after school, i.e. Top 10 science experiments,

mathematics and ICT challenges, with teacher leadership

Aamna 7KD, Aseela 8CW, Thaniya 9YB, Shiromi, 10NR, Shara 12BMO, Shifa 12 AEG - Ms Worthey.

Eco-Warriors

This year a group of students have worked with Mr Flanagan

to improve our efforts on recycling in the School. We made

a good start but students need to remember to put the right

things in the right bins.

Plans for the future:

• Work out how to expand Woody’s to cater for more

students

• Reduce congestion of students at lockers between

lessons

• Modernise the ICT rooms

Inaya 7ZM, Mia 8GP, Anisa 9NB, Sarita 10JF - Ms Lark

Stanburn Primary School TripBy Rishana Thayaparan and Metha Muthukumar Y9LBA

A few weeks ago a group of about 10 students got the wonderful opportunity to teach Year 5 students at Stanburn Primary School. We got to teach the groups that were allocated to us the basics of French cuisine. We also were allowed to prepare resources and competitions which was enjoyable. What we enjoyed the most by far, was watching the kids enjoy our lessons and learn.

It was fantastic, and we gained many useful skills as well as spending a fun afternoon teaching French. These types of trips should definitely be organised frequently.

By Rhab, Mariam and Tahera

We were quite nervous at the start when we arrived but as we got to know the Year 5 students better, it was a lot of fun!

After this experience we now know how it feels to be in a teacher’s shoes. Overall it was a memorable experience and we thank Ms Townley for giving us this opportunity.

By Rishana Thayaparan and Metha Muthukumar Y9LBA

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(Continued on next page)

Summer Concert June 2014

By Shreddha Patel 9LBA

On Thursday 5th June,

Bentley Wood High

School held its annual

Summer Concert. This

concert was completely

different because it

included pupils taking

lessons and performing a

piece that they had been

learning. The categories

included Woodwind,

Drums, Strings, Vocals,

Guitars and Piano.

One of the highlights

included both choirs

and the whole orchestra

singing and playing. This

was the first time that we

have done this and it was

amazing.

‘I think that this concert was brilliant the audience were very

enthusiastic! Well done to everyone who took part!’

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Restorative Justice GroupRestorative justice in schools aims to:

• reduce bullying

• reduce victimisation

• manage conflict

• improve attendance in schools

Where are we now?

So far we have been trained and we have come into your assemblies to introduce this scheme. We have organised a room (meeting room 1 – near 214) in which to hold our sessions. Furthermore, we have established those members who want to continue being involved in the project. We have agreed to support students after a restorative meeting and work with them to ensure there are no further issues. We hope to educate the school more about our project, so we are considering doing some PSCHE lessons for all years on Restorative Justice.

Zahra 7AJ, Salma 8RWI, Betul 9LBA, Aisha 10MM, Kayathrie 12BMO, Thurshana 13JT - Mr Gunzi

Healthy SchoolsWe have changed the school catering company which has made more food options available. Pasta is now available every day. All home-baked items are part of our 5 a day. We have created a questionnaire to find out what students think about the new menus and we have met with their staff to give them our feedback.

Plans for the future

• Encourage more students to walk to school

• Promote extra-curricular activities

• We also plan to look into how much it costs to get outdoor gym equipment. This however, cannot be achieved this year

Shree 7RV, Hasna 8RCM, Maryam 9NW, Tanzeelah 10JK, Sana 12CS - Mr Jowers

Children’s Rights

This year we have been working on raising awareness about children’s rights. We have worked with Ms Vyas and have been applying for the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award. We have written articles in the School Newsletter and we have been raising awareness by putting posters around school.

Plans for the future:

• Taking control of the Wise Thoughts for a week and talking about children’s rights. Each person will have a different section to write

• We will prepare a video that will be shown at the end of school assemblies. It will be about the rights of children and how some do not have rights in other countries

• We will be holding a poster competition, open to all year groups, based on children’s rights. Everyone who enters will receive a postcard, however, first place will receive £30, second place £15 and third place £5

Kelly 7AMA, Amenah 8GCA, Zarina 9PN, Lisa 10PL, Premela 12AEG - Ms Vyas

Student Council (continued)

Junior Maths Challenge Success 2014

5 June 2014

Pupils at Bentley Wood High School achieved 1 Gold, 9 Silver and 22 Bronze Awards in this year’s UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. Over 240,000 pupils from across the UK sat the Junior Maths Challenge. The top 1200 students are now invited to sit the follow-on competition: the Junior Mathematical Olympiad Round.

Well done to the following winners!

The Best in School Award: Palwasha Basharat

The Best in Year 8: Palwasha Basharat

The Best in Year 7: Safa Allizay

Gold Award: Palwasha Basharat

Silver Award:

Anoushka Chopra

Tabassum Bhanji

Amenah Ahmadi

Vani Ananthakumar

Kavithira Amalanikethan

Aayushi Jhaveri

Sua Youn

Hannah Wood

Bronze Award:

Maria Ahmed

Shreya Sunwar

Jassnee Gobinath

Maria Rahman

Zainab Habib

Zainab Mir

Noorah Djeridi

Saraniya Thiyagarajah

Hemlata Regami

Sarah Rashidi

Zaynab Zarghoune

Amal Sidow

Zainab Nachett

Luxshaagini Sivakumaran

Shree Khandelwal

Hanna Massood

Allycia Haria

Nadiyah Mohamedakram

Sumayyah Ahmed

Sanna Hamid

Arini Rajes

Ahilya Tilakumaran

The Junior Maths Challenge is run by the UK MathematicsTrust and aimed at those in Years 7 and 8 and is sat in schools. We hope this success continues in to next year!

A sample question:

1. What is (999-99+9) / 9 ?

A. 91, B. 99, C. 100, D. 101, E. 109

(Answer on back page)

Numeracy Leader Puzzle

Can you attempt these challenging numeracy puzzles?

Numeracy Leader Puzzle

Can you attempt these challenging numeracy puzzles?

Answers will be in the next edition – or why not ask a numeracy leader for help? Answer will be in the next edition - or why not ask a numeracy leader for help?

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold ExpeditionTejal Navnit Year 12

Recently the Year 12 students that are taking part in the

Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award went on their practice

expedition to the High Peak area of the Peak District. It was

an exhausting journey but the experience gave us times of

laughter, arguments, joy and frustration along the way.

We started on Tuesday 24th June at a campsite on the

outskirts of Oldham called Well-i-hole Farm. It was the day of

the football but no World Cup for us as we were training for

our 4 day expedition. We went up a nearby hill and visited

an obelisk, which was also a memorial to soldiers in the world

wars. We camped for 4 nights and walked over 15 km each

day, very seldom getting lost but often getting very tired

and by the end, we had bonded better as a team, improved

leadership skills, acquired a lighter rucksack and a mind full

of great memories!

Doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is something very

beneficial for everyone as it is something universities and

employers love to see you do. At the same time you learn

multiple skills, which help shape you into a better person. The

teams that went on the expedition said that:

“The expedition has allowed our team to form a stronger

bond; although there were times we wanted to give up,

we all motivated each other to keep going”,

“This has been a very challenging yet a joyous experience,

which everyone should do. Overall it was really fun”,

Page 11

Sports Day

Miss Lark, Head of PE

Congratulations to all the girls that participated in Sports Day. The behaviour and commitment from the students was excellent and made the day a great success. Below is the points table for each house. Congratulations to the Pink Team who won overall!

Sports Day Results 2014SPORTS DAY RESULTS 2014

Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

Red 5th (114) 1st (146) 5th (129) 5th (116)

Yellow 1st (154) 3rd (126) 4th (140) 1st (159)

Blue 3rd (119) 5th (107) 6th (99) 3rd (137)

Pink 4th (116) 3rd (126) 2nd (158) 3rd (137)

Purple 2nd (120) 6th (99) 3rd (141) 2nd (157)

Orange 6th (99) 2nd (140) 1st (173) 6th (95)

Page 12

Race for Life

Miss Lark, Head of PE

One Tuesday 1st July, the teachers and students embarked on a 5 km race for an excellent cause. Students faced extremely warm conditions while running around the large field 10 times (5 km). We are extremely proud of all the teachers and students for completing the race and their hard work in raising sponsorship money. A particular well done goes to Mr Flanagan for winning the teachers’ race and Alexandra Gavrila and Anamaria Grijincu for winning the students’ competition.

Specialist Sports Week InstructorsMs R Robinson, PE Teacher

The PE department organised a number of professionals to come in and give our girls insight and experience of sports activities which are not usually on their timetable. Our students were treated to session Choi Kwang Do, Martial Arts and Kick Boxing, whereby they learned about what they could do to protect themselves in a vulnerable situation or circumstance. The girls of also had the opportunity to experience Goalball, Boccia and Zumba.

“Everyone participated and enjoyed the sessions. The experience gave us confidence and life skills and having a female instructor made us feel inspired and motivated.”

Safiya Hassan, Selma Osmani and Toyosi Idris (7AMa)

Sports Week

Drew Daly, PE teacher

During School Sports Week the PE Department organised some inflatable equipment to be put up on to the school field. Everyone was able to use their tokens which they had collected beforehand through attending extra-curricular clubs. The inflatables laser tag, human table football, and gladiators were a great success.

Athletics League Taijah Hoskins 8RWi

Throughout the last term the athletics team have been practising after school and during lunch times in order to learn new techniques and prepare for the Athletics League. The Athletics League Tournaments included throwing, jumping, sprints, middle and long distance running events. The Athletics League Tournaments were exciting to be part of and Bentley Wood was very successful in achieving 4th place out of 11 schools! In my opinion, joining the athletics team was a new and challenging experience. It was also fun being able to show other schools what we can do at Bentley Wood.

Rounders Young Leaders QualificationMiss Bannon, Head of Year/PE teacher

As National School Sports Week draws to a close, we would like to congratulate the Rounders Young Leaders who successfully completed their qualification this year.

In celebration of sport, the Year 9 and Year 10 GCSE PE classes took part in a whole day’s training to become Rounders Young Leaders and successfully passed their tests and assessments. The day involved working in groups to create coaching drills and practices to improve performance in rounders. It also involved the girls teaching an entire class of Year 8 students for their PE lesson and umpiring rounders games during competitions.

The PE Department were very impressed with the girls and were really proud to see them coaching their younger peers so confidently and maturely. It is this type of achievement that demonstrates our school motto; our students are learning today in order to lead tomorrow.

Well done girls! Keep up the good work.

Page 13

International Food Day started approximately 10 years

ago, with a small number of students sharing the cuisine

from their different cultures to raise money for charity and

in acknowledgement of Refugee Week. It has grown from

strength to strength each year – a spectacle of clashing colour,

costumes and the aroma of different regional dishes.

We divide the world into four regions: Europe, Asia, Africa/

Caribbean and Middle East. Students and staff bring homemade

dishes which are then shared with all the school community. We

also wear national costumes to celebrate our diverse cultures.

Students are awarded for their best costume and tutor groups

receive a prize for the best classroom display. Best costume

2014 to be decided.

Best classroom display 2014 – Year 7, 7ZM: Year 8 8JOR and

Ravina Sardar Muhamad 8CW (sole entry): Year 9, 9NB and

Aish Phillips 9LB (sole entry).

In the morning students brought their dishes in to school. From

8.00am onwards the food was constantly being delivered – we

couldn’t believe it!

All morning a team of teachers and students prepared the food

and at 12:00pm the first group of students went into the hall

to fill a tray with sumptuous food from all the corners of the

globe. The hall was decked with displays, posters and flags to

represent our cultural diversity.

The students and staff wore their national costume and looked

resplendent in their colourful outfits.

Student comments:

• “What I enjoyed the most was tasting different types of food from all over the world”

• “I loved sharing my culture with the rest of the school”

• “This was a brilliant opportunity to share where we are from”

• “I was really happy because I was able to see clothes from different countries”

• “It was a great multicultural day which put smiles on everyone’s faces”

• “I can’t wait for next year!”

The day is named after Heather Murgett, a much loved teacher

who for many years was responsible for organising International

Food and Costume Day. Heather passed away two years ago,

a few weeks before the event. Her husband Derrick and son

Andrew, joined us on the day. They shared with us Heather’s

memories and the contribution she made to the school.

The event was attended by Councillor Jean Lammiman and

Councillor John Hinkley as representatives of the Mayor.

Thank you to all parents, students and staff for the generous

contributions and support on the day; to the Technology

Department for the use of their facilities; to staff at Woody’s

for their contribution; to Mrs Pauline Teer; Matthew Morrison

and the staff of the Inclusion and Innovation Department.

A special thank you to local companies for their continued support of this event :-

• Bakkavor Pizzas, Harrow - for their donation of 40 pizzas.

• Atlantis Fish Bar, Stanmore - for the Halal sausages and chips

• Skip Jacks Fish and Chip restaurant - for the Greek salad, fish and chips

The Heather Murgett International Food and Costume Day

Page 14

Mr Byfield Computing IT Department

Since the introduction of computer programming into the school curriculum students have the opportunity at a young age to gain an insight into what computing is about and get a taster of what can be further explored at university. The vast majority of people see computer programming as “tough” and “time consuming”. Although, it does require you to study from tutorials and self-learn, it is no different from being taught how to ride a bicycle. While getting on the bicycle alone you are saying to yourself, “This is something I want to achieve”.

In September the ‘Programming WizKidz’ (a small group of enthusiastic Year 7 students) will be working on a number of projects from building a giant keyboard where you can step on a key and make a sound, with the aim of creating a fun activity by bringing everyone together to try and make music. Furthermore, the WizKidz will learn how to program and test code, using the application Inventor and a number of other up-to-date programs. Programming is definitely not an easy thing to do, so teaching the WizKidz whilst they are in Year 7 is a massive advantage. Hopefully by the time the Wizkidz leave Bentley Wood, they will have the skills needed to work for a top company or even better, start their own business!

Page 15

Master Classes at Brunel UniversityMiss Worthey - Maths Department

Congratulations to those who completed the series of Engineering Master Classes at Brunel University. You were such a credit to the school that we have been asked back next year. Year 8 – look out for the advertisement.

Please watch the video on our website at www.bentleywood.harrow.sch.uk

Congratulations Congratulations to Hannah Theobald who has now qualified as a Doctor at Birmingham University.She graduated from Bentley Wood 6 years ago.

Congratulation to Liamara Caesar. “Just to thank you and all the teachers for the foundation in learning my daughter received whilst at Bentley Wood. Whilst revising for her exams in March she set up LA Caesar Ltd. Four days after her final A level exam she launched her online fashion business – lacaesar.com - celebrated her end of exams, the business and her 18th Birthday on Sunday 6 July 2014 by opening a one day Pop Up Shop followed by a show giving a platform to her peers!”

Year 7 History Trip to Cressingham TempleMs Pulfer History Department

On two wet mornings at the start of June, all of Year 7 travelled back in time to experience the delights of Tudor England and Cressingham Temple.

Once we had arrived, pupils were split into four different groups and were sent off to experience Tudor life, touring a Tudor kitchen, the Tudor garden, Tudor entertainment and brutal Tudor arms and armour.

In the Tudor kitchen, pupils saw how the Tudors cooked and what they ate. They experienced the sight, taste and smell of Tudor fare in the Tudor kitchen, along with understanding the fragile nature of growing your own food. They also had the opportunity to taste some Tudor food and as you can imagine, some liked the taste and others did not.

The Tudor garden was next, with its original Tudor brick wall, and its centrepiece: a brick fountain from which trickles water along a rill to a Tudor brick-built fishpond. The wooden viewing platform (on the site of the original brick terrace) provided a vantage point from which to survey the garden.

Pupils got the opportunity to pick fennel to clean their teeth, and to see how plants can provide protection from the elements. Pupils also learnt how the Tudors used plants for food, clothes, dye, household activities and medicine.

Pupils then participated in Tudor games, which included maypole dancing, playing the Tudor version of ten pin bowling and some even wore the dunce’s cap.

The trip was rounded off by being shown how to be a knight, exploring his armour, training and study the skills of an English bowman. Pupils then participated in some archery and some arrows managed to hit the roof and remained there.

At the end of day, pupils left the Tudor Age, very much relieved that they were heading back to the 21st century!

ARTSMARK

AWARD

www.bentleywood.harrow.sch.ukAnswer to Junior Maths Challenge

sample question on page 11 is D - 101

Despite a personal tragedy, Francesca has

not let this affect her studies and she is an

amazing friend.

Francesca Bhavisi 10JF

Maisha, Deputy Head Girl, is always the first

to volunteer. She helps at ICT two retired

members of the community, is a personal

mentor to a younger student and helps Year 7

students with their reading.

Maisha Rahman 12AEG

Shreddha is a committed volunteer to the Music

department, helping with the sound and lights

during the concerts . Her form tutor describes

her as helpful and considerate.

Shreddha Patel 9LBA

Maarijah raised £500 for charity by cycling

35 miles over 16 London bridges and has

many plans for future fund-raising showing

extraordinary willpower and generosity.

Maarijah Sharjil 10NR

Delaram helps younger students as part of a

mentoring project. She is committed to the

school and has been elected as

Deputy Head Girl.

Delaram Imantalab Kordmahaleh 10MM

Safa is a volunteer for U3A helping senior

members of the local community with

computer literacy who describe her as a

good listener and they really appreciate

her help.

Safa Allizay 7KD

Year 10 pupil competes in Jack Petchey London Speak Out Final

Shama Chentouf will represent Bentley Wood in the London Jack Petchey Speak Out Final after battling against thousands of other young people from south east England. Shama is one of 16 regional finalists and she will deliver her speech at the Finals at London’s Piccadilly Theatre. It is the biggest youth speaking event of its kind in the world and this year 18,000 young people were trained in public speaking. Shama is one of the final 16. It’s an amazing achievement which Shama describes below.

“At the Harrow Speak Out Final we had to give a 3-minute speech on a subject of our choice and the judges picked 6 speakers to go through to the assembly round. To my amazement I was chosen and I performed my speech to my year group. My speech is about the journey I have been on since Year 7 and trying to believe in myself and my abilities. The aim of the speech is to reach out to people who believe themselves incapable of achieving but, in actual fact, all they need is to persevere and not let others get them down. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing because I was so nervous about speaking in front of 400 people but my family, friends and teachers came along to support me. As I walked to the stage I took a deep breath … I enjoyed every moment and didn’t want to leave the stage once I had finished!

Jack Petchey’s Speak Out Challenge has really increased my confidence that you must never give up. I would really recommend entering the competition to other pupils because I have learnt so many skills and met inspirational people along the way. Most of all, I have learnt that public speaking is not as scary as everyone thinks and just like me, you don’t have to be the most confident person in the world to do it!”

Jack Petchey Award Winners 2014

The Jack Petchey Committee, comprising previous recipients of a Jack Petchey Award, were delighted to award the following students with this prestigious award.

The award winners received a certificate and medal presented at an Awards Ceremony in January and £200 to spend on equipment for the school.

Congratulations to all the awards winners, the whole school community is very proud of your achievements.