HARRIS MESSENGERFebruary 2013

PSHE DAY London Science Museum On the 9th January 2013 Year 7 students took part in an exciting PSHE day where they explored

possible career opportunities in science and exploration. Students headed to the London Science museum where they were able to see hands on

what scientist do and what amazing different inventions have been developed throughout time to make our world what it is today.

Students had a fantastic time on their first Harris Morden excursion. Many were inspired to consider a future career in

science, with lots of students expressing a particular interest in space! We hope that the next PSHE day is equally as successful for our Year 7 students.

Year 8 and 9 Healthy Eating ProjectYear 8 and 9 took part in a PSHE healthy eating project for their PSHE day on the 9th January. The students were placed into groups and their task was to design, advertise and pitch a new and exciting healthy eating snack for teenagers

to enjoy. The students produced some amazing work and showed their impressive enterprise skills. They were creative, confident and took time to consider what type

of product would be suitable for the brief they had been given. The finalists presented to their peers and the standard of the pitches was extremely high. It was an excellent day and the students worked hard to develop skills of communication, independence, confidence, team work and leadership, which are all essential for their future success in the work place.

COURAGE, CHALLENGE, SUCCESS

to enhance their progress and are now looking forward to demonstrating their knowledge in the examination.

A new initiative in January this term was the entry of a small group of Year 11 students for the International GCSE in Mathematics. This is part of our drive to ensure all students are entered for appropriate examinations and we will be reviewing these results carefully in March.

Our after school provision is growing this term, with over 60 students from Year 7 – 10 being invited to join our support clubs after school. The aim is to ensure all students are given the opportunity to achieve their target in Mathematics. This is in addition to existing Maths clubs that offer further extension and challenge to our gifted students.

MATHEMATICS This first Spring half term has been an enjoyable and exciting time for the Maths department. We have welcomed new colleagues to our team of highly experienced specialist teachers and our students continue to take a leading role in interesting and challenging lessons.

In KS3, students are highly motivated and working hard in lessons. This effort is being rewarded by visible progress across all levels. In KS4, Year 11 students have been working extremely hard

in preparation for their GCSE examination in February and March. Those students needing some additional support have been given small group tutoring

MUSIC‘The Journey’ featuring Year 9 and Year 10 singers reaches its culmination with a performance at The Royal Albert Hall on 22nd April along with over a thousand children from Merton.

Would you like your singing voice trained? Would you like to learn to shred a guitar? Or even learn the clarinet? We are launching Instrument and Voice lessons through Merton Music Foundation after the Easter holidays. Further details to follow in a special newsletter!

The Inter-Faculty choir challenge will take place the first week back after half term with a choice of two songs – Rhianna – ‘Unfaithful’ and The Kings of Leon ‘Use Somebody’

Year 9 have been composing music for films this half term, some very strong and confident compositions from both Aaron Steltner and Lauren Deutrom.

Outstanding StudentsYear 7 - Karim Berrada. A student with a great mathematical mind who loves to solve a problem. Year 8 - Danielle Vella. A quiet student who always gives her very best in every lesson.Year 9 - Tiberiu Tapliga. A student who shows great enthusiasm. A talented mathematician!

Year 10 - Victoria Daka. A gifted mathematician who can intelligently apply her knowledge to solve challenging problems.Year 11 - Nida Aslam. A student who shows ability and commitment. She strives to achieve her very best in all lessons.

ENGLISHThe English Department has put down its Christmas pud and pushed on through the snow with plenty of poetry practice and a plethora of prolific pen-wielding pupils, producing precocious plots to please the senses!

In KS3 Year 7 students have been delving into the world of war poetry. Getting to grips with the verse and imagery of Sassoon, Pope and Tennyson, no less. Their final assessment consisting of having to write a strongly worded letter from Sassoon to Pope, a minefield of political debate!

Year 8, ironically have been exploring the theme of love in poetry with our Poet Laureate Carol Anne Duffy’s poem Valentine coming under close scrutiny. Enough to make your eyes water.

Year 9 have been using poetry as a starting point for their own pieces of creative writing. The poems they have analysed

are poems from different cultures, including “Blessing” prompting stories about water shortages and how people cope.

In KS4 Year 10 have also been perfecting their

prose through Mr Gardner’s scheme on creative writing, this time using pictures as an inspirational starting point. Students have identified whether they are “free-fall” or “constipated” writers, and practicing ways to loosen up or tighten their prose, depending on what is best for them. Tricky business.Year 11 have either been rummaging through the Clashes and Collisions section of their unseen poetry anthologies or analysing the presentation of desires in Macbeth. Both sets of students have been working very hard across the board to get to grips with some tricky language and muddling metaphors. Well done Year 11

For those Year 7 and 8 students who have missed out the chance to put pen to paper creatively, worry not. BBC Radio 2 are repeating their 500 word story compilation competition. The competition ends on the 22nd February so all students up to the age of 13 can submit their ideas and teachers will be guiding and supporting them in their ideas in the final stages of this half term. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/500words/2012/

Outstanding StudentsYear 7 - Kyla Pritchard – nominated by Miss Dewhirst for excellent effort and attainment.Year 8 - Savannah Macridis – nominated by Mr Cooper for serious amounts of effort put in and a fantastic attitude.Year 9 - Anna Marie-Hakim – nominated by Miss Harrison for excellent effort and attitudeYear 10 -Viktoria Daka – nominated by Mr Gardner for being amazing!Year 11 - Ivet Angelova – nominated by Mr Cooper for unbelievable poetry analysis.

ARTThe Art Department has had a great start to the new year. Our students have been creating a superb range work which is looking fantastic on display in our new Corridor of Art.

In KS3 Year 7 have been studying the colourful paintings of Carolee Clarke and producing large collaborative pieces, in groups of four, based on her bold artwork.

Year 8 have been looking into the challenging subject of Cubism, and creating interesting collages and paintings based on this theme.

In Year 9 students are working towards a 3D piece of ceramic art and have been exploring the sculptural work of Barbara Hepworth through collage. They have also created mixed media pieces of art based on bird silhouettes which now look impressive on display throughout the department. In KS4 Year 10 have been studying the theme of ‘Landscape’, and looking at the artist Peter Doig.

They have created 3D reef sea-scapes, sculpted in tissue and Mod-Roc, and painted with acrylic to evoke certain moods or atmospheres.

Year 11 have all worked incredibly hard this half term, creating their artwork based on Self Portrait in a range of mediums and techniques, and developing their own individual styles. Their coursework is looking very impressive with many outstanding pieces which we are looking forward to exhibiting around the school.

Our Art Blog is currently under construction and will be live on our web-site next half term. This is going to be a fantastic showcase for our artwork and it will also enable students and parents to keep up-to-date with all our news and events.

Congratualations to Shezreen Khawaja and Taufeeque Ahmad on being select to represent HAMD at the federation Art exhibition.

Outstanding StudentsYear 7 - Sutharsan ShanmuganathanYear 8 - Brandon O’Sullivan Year 9 - Lea EbanksYear 10 - Kate VasiljevaYear 11- Tasnim Khan

On Friday the 25th of January, eight of our year 10 students were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate in a clinical skills day at St.George’s Hospital in Tooting. We were joined by three other Harris Academies for a skills taster in medicine, radiography, physiotherapy and prosthetics amongst other things. The students got to see first-hand how members of the medical profession work and deal with patients with many hands on activities including; learning how to perform a range of health tests, diagnosis of injury and illness and making their very own prosthetic finger. The students were fantastic and seemed enthusiastic to explore the possibilities of further study in these areas. We may have a few young budding doctors on the way!

Clinical Skills Taster Day

SCIENCE

Science continued

Students in KS3 had a chance to complete their Spring 1 assessment and are busy working towards their challenging end of year targets. All students underperforming were given intervention packs to help them catch up and achieve their expected progress. Some class sizes were also reduced for the students’ benefit and

they now have a golden opportunity to attain very high level.

As always the students in KS4 had a very focused term as they started to complete some of the GCSE Science Units. The students all started with their 3 week controlled assessments at the end of January and we are very pleased with their effort during this time and their results are truly pleasing.

The school also ran an intensive revision day for students in the run up to the January exams. The year 10’s were lucky to be taught by experts from the Harris Federation who assisted in delivering a fantastic program that all students had high praise for.

Outstanding Students

Congratulations to the many other students who were nominated by their teachers this term!

Year 7 - Anjeela Thapa. A student with a brilliant mind and inquisitive nature reaching the heady heights of a Level 7. Year 8 - Antoinette Vassell. A student who shows real commitment and loves the challenges posed to her in Science. Year 9 - Julia Bywalec. A student that proves that hard work, resilience and dedication will bring success.

Year 10 - Menushan Herald. A real scientist in the making exploring and questioning problems posed in the lessons.

Year 11 - Pratik Rai. A dedicated student who works hard and deserves every praise there is for an excellent half term.

Student Referral CentreThe inaugural course of the MET-TRACK programme at HAMD commenced on January 15th 2013. The nine week course for targeted students is approved by the Metropolitan Police and uses a mix of discussion based and sporting activities to build life skills including teamwork, leadership skills, self discipline and self esteem.

The lead facilitator (Aidan Syers) is a fully qualified sports coach and GB athlete; he delivers the course with assistance from an ex-offender and a member of our behaviour support team. Topics covered to date include the effects of crime and gang membership, resisting peer pressure, the effects that your actions have on you and others and safeguarding yourself.

All students attending the course have engaged enthusiastically with all activities and have been a credit to themselves, the Academy and their parents / guardians. The course will continue to run until the Easter vacation.

MET-TRACK Programme

We are pleased to announce that we will be starting a Peer Mentoring Scheme after the half term break.

The chief aim of the scheme is to provide students suffering from social, emotional, behavioural and educational problems with a peer mentor able to offer support and guidance. There are two main objectives; for the mentees to overcome their problems and

Peer Mentoring Scheme

Nine students attended our second four week in-house course which builds confidence and esteem through individual and team activities focusing on individual’s strengths, teamwork and leadership. All participants showed a measurable increase in their confidence levels by the end of it. The average increase was a very pleasing 54%. Following this success the course will run again in the Summer Term.

Self - Esteem Course

to achieve academic and personal success, and for the mentors to gain an accredited mentor status qualification which can be taken into further education and the workplace.

Our first group of mentors have been recruited, via an application and interview process. They will be attending an intensive one day training course on 14th February to equip them with the skills and knowledge to perform the role effectively and safely.

HUMANITIESIt has been another busy half term in the Humanities department. The students have been studying a wide variety of different topics in all the Humanities subjects and they have been working hard to reach their target grades in their half term assessments.

In KS3 History Year 7, 8 and 9 students have been developing their source skills. Students in Year 7 have been focusing on the Norman Invasion, Year 8 students have been studying changes to power during 1700-1900 focusing on the French Revolution and the Industrial

Revolution. Finally, students in Year 9 have show great

enthusiasm and interest in their study of World War One as they have explored what life was really like for the

men who fought in the Trenches.

In KS4, students have been continuing to work through their courses in preparation for their GCSE exams. The Year 11 RE, Geography, History and Sociology students have been completing the

final units for their courses so that they can quickly move onto revision. Students in Geography will be completing their field study trip after half term so they need to make sure they are fully prepared for this and we look forward to hearing about their investigations when they get back.

Clubs Similar to last term, we have been running a variety of Humanities clubs to help students at Key Stage 3 and 4 improve in their studies. We have also been running additional booster sessions during the week before assessment week so that students are given the opportunity to get the advice and tips they need to

be successful in their end of term assessments.

Next half term is one to look forward to. The Humanities department will be running a History and Geography

day on Monday 25th March 2013. This will be a day when many of our students will get to experience History and Geography outside the classroom. Year 11 will have a busy time making the final preparations for their exams that will begin after Easter.

Outstanding StudentsYear 7: Houshang Beigzadeh for his hard work and enthusiasm during his Humanities lessons .Year 8: Brandon O’Sullivan for an excellent approach to all his Humanities subjects.Year 9: Vinkita Dhawade for her excellent effort in RE and History.

Year 10: Marcella Silla for a dedicated approach to History and Geography and continued improvement.Year 11: Nida Aslam for her excellent effort in all her Humanities subjects.

GeographyIn KS3 Geography students, have been completing Independent Learning Projects (ILPs). An ILP comprises 6 structured homework tasks that end in the creation of a final product, linking the lessons and topics to develop deeper and more critical learning.

In Year 7, students investigated the environmental impact of the food we eat and, as a class, created a ‘sustainable recipe book’, as well as individual products ready for UK shops. A special mention goes to Karim Berrada in R7 for his excellent Carrot and Potato energy drink .

Year 8 students were given the task of designing a new regeneration project for the local area. They began by investigating a problem with urban life and then they had to create a suitable solution. They presented a pitch of the product to the class in an ‘Apprentice’ style final selection process.

In Year 9, students studied development and were set the challenge of creating their own international charity. Many students were

inspired by the task and demonstrated excellent enterprise skills through adverts, appeals and a completed business plan. The final winner of this task was Ian Wren (R4) for his outstanding research into water allocation in India.

The Geography department is proud of the students’ efforts this half term and looks forward to the next round of Independent Learning Projects as students continue to

develop a wide range of skills.

In Key Stage 4, students continue to focus on the changes currently facing the planet, such as climate change and the evolution of the high street. It is clear students are developing a love of Geography with many beginning to find areas of the subject they are passionate about. Some students have been taking extra steps to conduct further research into world events, such as the recent conflict in Mali .

Upcoming Geography Challenge: During the second half of the spring term students will be competing in a Geography challenge event as part of the Academy’s inter-faculty competition.

Outstanding StudentsYear 9 - Mollie Smith-Goodwin for making outstanding progress. Year 10 - Mosope Ominiyi for outstanding homework.

Year 11 - Jehen Zabir for excellent attendance to booster sessions.

ICTThe ICT Department has had a flying start to 2013. Our new super fast network is now embedded and the teething problems that are associated with a large technical change such as this have been ironed out. Our new machines run a myriad of cutting edge software including Office 2010 and Adobe creative suite, the industry standards. Our new courses at KS3 and KS4 are running well and we look forward to a successful year.

In KS3, Year 7 have been exploring the use of spread sheets as both virtual and financial models of real life situations. Year 8 and 9 have been using ICT creatively as they have become highly skilled in 3D modelling using Google sketchup.

They have had great success in modelling every day objects as an introduction, moving on to buildings and architecture and culminating in designs of their own “Houses of the future”.

In KS4 Year 10 Computer Science students have been working on developing a gaming scenario in the computer language of Python.

The course they are following is brand new and has been designed by AQA with the significant changes to the curriculum in 2014 in mind. KS4 Year 11 OCR National students are developing their animation skills for the final unit of their course, utilising Adobe Flash professional. We also offer the Edexcel GCSE

in ICT and Yr11 students have been working on the second activity of the Yr11 course. They have designing a spread sheet on the theme of healthy eating and are working on modelling a persons BMI (Body Mass Index) and BMR(Basal metabolic rate).

Looking ahead we envisage a very successful school year in the ICT Department.

Outstanding StudentsYear 7 - Houshang Beigzadeh – His sheer enthusiasm for ICT has inspired his class mates.Year 8 - Hollie Newman - Good effort in lesson especially during the 3D Modelling unit. Year 9 - Gemma Rosser - Persistently striving to achieve good levels in lessons. Year 10 - Jadine Rice- Outstanding Work in lesson for the AQA GCSE Unit 2.Year 11 B - GCSE - Mikolaj Brzuchalski - Consistently producing outstanding coursework for GCSE Controlled Assessment.

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGESYear 7: Students have enjoyed and actively engaged in the topic ‘Self, others and monsters’. They have worked hard to develop their writing skills in Spanish, with many achieving a level 5c!Year 8: This term students studied the topic of sport and the Olympics. The topic has enabled students to discuss the values that underpin the world of sport as well as develop their writing skills to achieve a level 6!Year 9: This term students became Spanish X Factor judges. Through the topic of music students have developed their cultural awareness of the Spanish speaking world and also expressed and justified their opinions on different genres of music.Year 10: Students have been working towards their first Speaking Controlled Assessment.

They explored and discussed reasons for and against a healthy lifestyle as well as health related problems such as obesity.Year 11: Students have been working extremely hard to prepare for their final Speaking Controlled Assessments on the theme ‘Healthy Lifestyles. ’Looking ahead: Year 10 students will complete their first Speaking Controlled Assessment on Healthy Lifestyles.. Year 11 will revisit their Written Controlled Assessments on Holidays and the Family.

Year 7: Kiarra Ferreira for being so enthusiastic about Spanish and for being so eager to help others learn.Year 8: Emma Hennessy for her hard work and positive behaviour in class.Year 9: Brandon Wilson has made an impressive start to Spanish this year. He regularly attends intervention club and as a result is on track to achieve his target level 6 before the end of the academic year!Year 10: Marcella Silla has made an impressive start to the GCSE Spanish Course. She is a good independent learner and working hard to achieve her end of year targets!Year 11: Jamie Taylor and Jehen Zabir for their outstanding GCSE coursework and contribution in lessons.

Year 10: Menushan Herald has only been learning French for 9 months and he already has achieved a grade C+! He is also a good independent worker. Year 11: Sandra Acheampong for her brilliant coursework and her enthusiasm for the French language.

Outstanding StudentsSPANISH

FRENCH

The MFL department held its first Spanish Challenge this month and the students were fantastic and a real credit to our Academy! The event involved students demonstrating their general knowledge on Hispanic culture and also topics being studied in class this half term. In each year group students showed great enthusiasm and competitiveness to win as many points as they could for their faculty. In the final round of the competition, students had to create a presentation in 6 minutes on a specific topic: Physical descriptions or Sport and Music. Although under pressure, all students produced a presentation to be proud of. It was also a great opportunity to see the progress students have made in their language skills as well as their confidence to speak aloud in public!

Inter Faculty Spanish Challenge

PEFaculty EventsCongratulations go to the BLUE Faculty for their victory in the Table Tennis Inter Faculty competition this half term. We must also congratulate Mr. Gardner who was the champion of teachers, representing the Yellow Faculty.

Enrichment After school clubs have been very well attended this half term.

Mr Clark will be in PE every day after school in addition to the PE Department staff. Activities run every day after school so please bring your PE kit and get involved! There is an extended basketball club on Monday’s after school from 4-6pm that is open to boys and girls of all ages. Clubs will continue after the half term so please check your tutor noticeboards for details.

Fixtures: Congratulations to our Year 9 boys football team who beat Rutlish School 4-1 in the Merton Football League! Due to poor weather many football fixtures have had to be postponed. However, next half term will be very busy with Basketball, Netball and Football fixtures. Remember to attend training sessions if you wish to be selected. Best of luck to you all!

Outstanding StudentsYear 7 - Derrell Abdulla and Molly CoatesYear 8 - Bradley Smith and Milena TsvetkovaYear 9 - Tiberiu Tapliga and Kyra Watkins PooleYear 10 - Nicole Ryan and Harry RoffYear 11 - Ellie Swain and Irah Carty

It has been an exciting term for students in Design Technology as students in both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 are involved in producing a range of exciting projects. Some students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have been designing exciting new packaging for mobile phones while others have been designing a new range of children’s bedroom furniture. Moreover, many students have been developing their chef skills, having a half term focusing on a range of learning how to cook a range of healthy meals.

For Year 11 it has been a very busy term as we approach the end of their courses. As is the nature of the subject, students have been manufacturing either ; a range of new savoury dishes, a new board game, a new ‘designer-label’ quality item of fashion wear or a coffee table. It is very pleasing to be able to say that many of these items are of first class quality and we look forward to being able to share pictures of the finished items with you in the summer term.

Design Technology