Issue No. 415 Friday, 17th October 2014 Dear Parents and Carers, Congratulations to Mrs Julia McAuley who received her award from the Mayor, Jules Pipe, for 25 years’ work in Hackney. She attended a special presentation ceremony at the Town Hall last week for all Hackney employees who have achieved this impressive landmark in years of service. In Julia’s case, it has been continuous service in Our Lady’s Convent High School, firstly as school secretary, then as office manager and now as Headteacher’s PA. I know I speak for all staff and students as I thank her most sincerely for her tremendous commitment to our school. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Julia and she is always willing to help – not least with the annual admissions process when many of you will have had conversations with her about baptism certificates and supplementary information forms! Welcome to Ms Amma Adjei who joins us on Monday as a new Learning Support assistant in the Inclusion department, we wish her every success in her new role. Year 11 Parents’ evening Thank you to all the parents who joined us last Thursday for this important consultation evening regarding your daughters’ progress towards their GCSE achievement. I know that staff really value this opportunity to speak with you about how students can improve in their studies. Ms Georgakakou, Head of Year 11, also provided a very useful reminder of the revision classes available, if you missed your copy, then it is posted on the website in the Information section. Charity Collection – update from Daniela Bishop, Charity prefect Thank you to everyone who contributed to our collection last week for Breast Cancer we raised the sum of £104.40. Wet weather reminder Please could you ensure that your daughter abides by our guidelines regarding umbrellas in school, they should be the telescopic variety and kept folded and away whilst inside the building. Visit to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace Tifany Sahili - Y12 AS Art and Design Textiles Going to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace for the first time made me want to go again. When you hear the word 'show' you would probably think it was an actual show but actually it's more like a market. There's a bunch of kiosks with things from textiles technology to fabrics and tutorials on how to braid and create various textiles products which really blew my mind away. I loved this experience, it gave me more ideas as to how I can improve my work as well as the confidence to just be creative and not be afraid to think 'out-side-the-box'. Our Lady’s Convent High School, 6-16 Amhurst Park, London N16 5AF Telephone: 020 8800 2158 Fax: 020 8809 8898 E-mail: officeadmin@ourladys.hackney.sch.uk Website: www.ourladys.hackney.sch.uk Headteacher : Mrs Jane Gray Marie-Lauren Appavoo - Y13 A2 Art and Design Textiles Last Wednesday we visited the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, it was a chance for us to see artist’s and textiles designer’s work and to be able to gather information about techniques, fabrics and ways of manipulating and creating our samples and final pieces. During the exhibition I was able to find direct links to my theme or a similar theme of landscapes, it gave me the opportunity to find out how create a flowing layered landscape using a techniques such as chenille and felting. This was a problem that I faced when attempting to create samples as it was just blocks of colour rather than a whole picture, but being able to talk to the artist and textile designers it enlightened me of how something so beautiful and intricate could turn out to be very simple. Year 8 Trip to the Isle of Wight – Report by Mr. Shine, Head of Year 8 The year 8’s were on a trip to the Kingswood centre on the Isle of Wight last weekend. They left on Friday morning and took part in a number of fun activities allowing them to discover their full potential in a very different environment. The activities were Abseiling, Zip wire, Carting, Climbing and Archery to list but a few and a great time was had by all. The girls gained a great deal from the activities developing their group communication skills and learning to work as part of a team. Technopop Trip – 8th October – Report by Mr. Andrews and Mr. Duffy. Year 8, 9 and 10 students attended a Technopop festival in Stratford Olympic Park. Year 10 students attended a talk about space exploration while Year 8 and 9 students competed in a robot competition where they had to design and build their own robots. On the way back from the festival we walked through the Olympic park, exploring the gardens, water fountains and engineering structures along the way. Well done to all the students who attended whose behaviour was fantastic throughout even though the festival itself was slightly disappointing. Hackney Youth Parliament election results - Report by Mrs Rose, Head of History and Citizenship Surita Boateng in year 8 was this week elected as a member of the Hackney Youth Parliament. Five girls from Our Lady’s went to witness the announcement, and also took part in a question and answer session with the Hackney mayor, the Head of Hackney's Children Services, Chief Inspector Crick from the Metropolitan Police, together with a current member of the Hackney Youth Parliament. Questions our students asked included what plans the mayor had for future developments in youth services, and what the panel planned to do with less funding coming from the government. A huge congratulations for Surita, who now has two years to try and influence change and developments in Hackney for the young. More information about the event can be found at www.younghackney.org, as well as information about local events and clubs that our students can become involved with. Black History Month year 8 workshop at Sutton House – Report by Mrs Rose, Head of History and Citizenship The History department this week took nine year 8 students to Sutton House to get involved in a local Black History Month project. The girls were given a tour and told about the history of Sutton House and the links it has to Olaudah Equiano, an anti-slavery campaigner. They then took part in drama workshops to understand how Equiano would have felt about being taken as a slave as a young boy. The girls are now designing posters to advertise a production of ‘Olaudah Equiano: the Enslaved African’, which is due to be performed during November. The posters will go on display in Sutton House, and the winner will be announced next week. Attendance and Punctuality – Information from Dr Blackwell The table below shows the Form within each year group achieving the best attendance and the form achieving the best punctuality for the week ending 10th October 2014. Congratulations to these forms and a special mention to 7P with 100% Attendance. Yours sincerely, Mrs. Jane Gray Head Teacher Attendance Punctuality Form % Form % Year 7 7P 100 7P 99.06 Year 8 8H 99.68 8J 99.33 Year 9 9J 97.19 9H 99.69 Year 10 10P 99.31 10M 98.67 Year 11 11J 97.24 11H 98.33