EBS News Issue 269 – 2nd December 2011

Tel: 020 8440 4162

www.eastbarnet.barnet.sch.uk

The EBS community is just wonderful!

During the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of meeting up with a very large number of former students for a variety of reasons.

I have met a few at social functions, others have come into school seeking advice about careers, and some have just popped in to say

hello and to see the new school building. All of them remembered their old school very fondly and many offered to help in a variety

of ways. On Sunday, I came to the Christmas Fair, which was organised by our fantastic PTA, and saw a large number of people from

our current school community mixing with local residents and other visitors. As I walked around, several people stopped me to say

things like: ‘this is an amazing school’, ‘the artwork here is better than in some of the galleries’, ‘what a lovely atmosphere’, ‘you can

sense the wonderful spirit of this school from events like this’, and ‘you must be very proud’. The job of a Headteacher is extremely

challenging and stressful, but when I see the wonderful people that our school produces, and the amazing efforts that our parents,

students, staff and Governors put in to make our school so great, I find myself thinking that I must have the best job in the world.

N. Christou, Headteacher

Keeping Students ‘E- Safe’:

A Presentation for Parents Technology is a fantastic but

slightly scary thing. It changes so

fast and so unpredictably that it’s

hard to keep up and, like it or not

we can’t avoid it. In order to keep

you briefed about what’s out there

and how best to keep your children safe, myself

and Mrs Christou, our Head of I.T., are holding a

presentation on Thursday 8th December at

7.00pm; it will last approximately 45 minutes. It is

essentially for the parents of years 7 and 8,

although, of course, everyone is welcome. An invite

is being sent to parents of year 7 and 8 with a

return slip so we have an idea of numbers.

RJ Wilson, Deputy Headteacher

CHRISTMAS DINNER STUDENTS WILL HAVE A SCHOOL CHRISTMAS DINNER ON THURSDAY 15TH DECEMBER. IT WILL COST £2.50 AND FREE SCHOOL MEAL ALLOWANCES WILL BE ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY.

Waitrose Tokens for EBS Waitrose have kindly agreed to include EBS Charities to benefit from the “Community Matters” green tokens they issue at the Spires

branch in High Barnet. The number of tokens dropped into the EBS Charities box will determine how much the school charities (Starlight, Great Ormond St, NSPCC and Cancer Research UK) will benefit from the £1000 pound that they distribute. Please, if you get the chance, drop your tokens into the EBS box. To steal a phrase from another supermarket, “Every little helps”. Big thanks, RJ Wilson - Deputy Headteacher

Pathways to Law When I was asked to write this I thought to myself, where do I begin? The amount of information I received in the first informational session I went to and previously through my application process was a lot more than I could ever fit in a small article. I am

lucky enough to be able to write a few articles following the entire journey, so to speak, of me finding what Law really is about through the two years Pathway to law Programme held at UCL. When I applied all I knew was that I had an interest in studying Law and that I wanted to apply and see where that would lead. Little did I know that I was about to make one of the best decisions of my life so far. I applied through the school and got a conditional offer based on my GCSE predictions and personal statement, which I filled in on the application form. Once my GCSE results were released, I received my final acceptance letter with the date and time of the induction. I knew roughly that the Pathways to Law programme will be my way of understanding Law to the fullest through a series of Saturday workshops covering the legal system, criminal law and presentations from field experts, but when arriving at the event and listening to the teachers, mentors and former students, I realised it was so much more than that. I am fortunate enough to attend Inner Temple meetings and do Law work experience at one of the most well known and respectable law firms on the market at the moment which will not only expand my knowledge and understanding of the field of Law, but also introduce me to well known firms. As if the above isn’t exciting enough I will also be able to attend a 3 days Law Annual Residential Conference at Warwick University in which I will listen to field experts discussing the main advantages and disadvantages in the Law profession and the pressing problems in the legal world at the time. Also I will be attending a formal dinner with the top lawyers and judges in the country as part of the conference. Exciting? Thought so. Now, the most obvious question out of this is how learning so much will affect my current ‘A’ Levels. The Law programme isn’t every Saturday but links in with my school schedule avoiding exam weeks and study leaves. There is a significant amount of independent learning involved, however I have the aid of a mentor allocated to me through the programme with whom I am constantly in contact (and will remain after the termination of the programme), and who can help me by answering any questions I have in regards to the seminars and Law in general. Also this is a 2 year programme in which I have enough time to develop my understanding to the fullest and therefore be better prepared for university and the Law profession if deciding that it is the right choice for me. To be continued... (Within the next three months) Bianca Caravtov, Year 12

Student Coaching Day Success Thank you to all parents and students who attended our

annual Student Coaching Day on Friday. All students

were encouraged to participate in a 15 minute coaching

conversation in which achievements were discussed and

‘Next Steps’ in learning identified. It is our intention at

EBS to develop our students as independent learners, and participation in

such a day contributes significantly to this. It is appreciated that many

parents took time off work to attend the appointment. It was excellent to

see so much active support for many of our students.

Many students and parents purchased Christmas presents from the book

sale and made use of our ePortal, Fronter and SAM Learning support

workshops, which ran throughout the day. Attendance overall was

excellent. Twelve form groups achieved 100% attendance and across all

year groups (7 -11) at least 90% of students attended the day. The total

attendance figure was 95%, reflecting the positive attitude towards

learning.

On the day, only 50 families were able to complete the survey, but your

feedback is still really important to us and informs any changes we make to

improve the processes and systems that support your children. The

feedback we had was very positive but the more we have the better. If you

did not have the opportunity to complete the survey on the day but would

like to, we would welcome your opinions. Please ask your child to log onto

Fronter (our Virtual Learning Environment) and follow the links on the

home page. The survey requires responses from both student and parent

and is a great way to actively discuss your child’s school experience. Your

feedback helps us to continue working together as a community to help

transform our ‘outstanding’ school into one that is recognised by all as

‘amazing’.

If your child has any issues logging in please contact Mr Sadler by phone

or email. Alternatively your child could see Mr Sadler during the school day

for support.

Mrs Hurst, Associate Deputy Headteacher

LIBRARY NEWS

Our visit to Imperial Medical College was

stupendous and highly informative. The day

started off with several medical based lectures.

Topics included: what is medicine, the road to

medical school, life at medical school and life as a

junior doctor. These talks gave us a good insight

into medicine. After lunch there were fun engaging practical

sessions where we learnt how to assess patients, how to read an

electrocardiogram and more. The whole day was organised by

medical students studying at Imperial and doctors; we felt it was

a great success and strongly recommend people to go next year if

they want a career in medicine.

By Nimil Shah and Nicholas Zertalis, 10F

Well done!

Mrs Mistry/Careers

EBS Dance Group The East Barnet Dance Group took the Christmas Fair by

storm. They put together a Christmas themed piece especially

for the occasion. The group had quite a few new additions to

the group who learnt new choreography in the styles of street

dance, jazz and ballet. The fair was also treated to the GCSE

dance group’s performance of Impulse. This is the set study

piece produced by the examination board and plays a major part

in their exam. Please congratulate the students if you see them

around the school, their names are listed below.

Christmas number performed by the dance club:

‘Impulse’ performed by the GCSE Dance group:

Amber Manvell 10D

Bea Gallaghur 8B

Ella Connick 8H

Finally, if you see any of the following students, please

congratulate them on their accomplishments outside the school

in their Christmas Pantomimes and shows: Hannah Nixon,

Chloe Fisher, Zac Harry and Rory Widger.

For students wishing to join the dance club we will re-open the

group in January on our return after the Christmas period. The

group will be open for two weeks before we start to get ready

for our new piece ‘Dancing Around the World’. This will be

performed at the Barnet Dance Festival.

Miss Buczman

Experimental Chemistry Club – Years 7 and 8

(Room 400)

Every Wednesday at 1.40pm (bring in

your lunch).

For students interested in playing with

chemicals and making exciting experiments.

Visit to Beaumont Nursing Home

As part of our Health and Social Care course, we are working

with residents at a local nursing home. Each one of us got

paired up with an elderly member from the nursing home,

male or female, and they told us a bit about their life story so

we can build up a case study for our GCSE Unit 2. When I got

paired up with Lesley Harding, he took me to the reading

room so he could answer a few of my questions. Despite his

physical impairments, he looks after himself so well!

Considering his difficulties, I felt very proud to be part of his

life and to work with him. Being at the nursing home and

seeing how happy Lesley and the other fantastic residents

were was a big experience for me.

Tamara Turner, 10A

I got paired up with a lady called Anna Carter, who showed

me around and then answered a few of my questions. Being at

the nursing home makes you realize you shouldn’t take things

for granted, because it’s quite sad when you are no longer

able to move around as much and need other people’s help to

do your personal things.

Jess Payne, 10A

Hannah Nixon 8E

Nicole Murray 8H

Bea Gallagher 8B

Amy Balducci 8E

Hannah Nixon 8E

Lizzie Oakley 8G

Bella Sauchella-Tice 8G

Phoebe Hancock 8G

Lisa Gibbons 7A

Elika Golestanch 7A

Asmeda Hyseni 7A

Edie Ireton 7G

Natasha Michael 7H

Olivia Irish 7H

Jodie Kelly 8H

Ella Connick 8H

Joanna Foley 8H