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Malaysia 2014

34 students and six staff from the JRCS spent the last two years fundraising and preparing their fitness for their exciting World Challenge expedition to Malaysia on the 14th July 2014.

The first challenge in the country upon landing was to source/book food, accommodation and transport for their two week expedition. The students spent their first night in Kuala Lumpur and then split into two teams for their community project in central Malaysia: One team worked in a school for young people with profound and multiple disabilities and created an everlasting bond with the staff and students.

“This experience was the best I have ever done. I will never forget the school and how much of a difference a group of young people from across the globe can make in such a small time”. Paige Cooney (16).

The other team worked in Kuala Ganda Elephant Sanctuary repairing fences, preparing food for the elephants and even got to wash a young elephant in the river.

“It was pretty cool to get up close and personal with such beautiful animals”. Abby Briggs (16).

Both teams lived with local families for this phase of the project and got to experience the language, culture and food of that region. The other challenge was very much more physical, involving a four-day jungle trek in the Cameron Highlands.

“This expedition has made me really look at myself and understand that I am so much more capable than I first gave myself credit for. I never knew how strong I was and I certainly never realised that I could cope with landing in another country without knowing where I was going, where I was going to sleep/eat that night, but we did it and we did it as a team. An awesome team of young people who rock! I have grown physically, mentally and more importantly emotionally. I will appreciate all that I have and all that I can offer beyond my own tiny world. I cannot thank the teachers enough for giving us this opportunity and I hope that you continue to run trips like this to make all young people aware of their OWN potential”. Michelle Swart (18).

Miss Boller Trip Leader

Giant Jellyfish Invade JRCS Playground! As part of ‘Unity Day’ for the Year 7 induction programme, I had the pleasure of working with each form in Year 7 in the second week of this term, with a focus on co-operation and team work. All the Year 7 classes took part in parachute activities, helping to learn each other’s names and achieve a task as a whole group. The task was to create a giant jellyfish using the parachute and move it around the playground. This could only be achieved if everyone worked together. Many forms were really impressive as you can see from these photos.

I had a great time working with our new students, and I hope they will continue to build on their team work and co-operation in each form group, right through to Year 11!

Ms Montague OSHL Co-ordinator

Year 7 - The Island Day As an introduction to JRCS and to develop some essential learning skills, all Year 7 students participated in a special day themed around a fictional island. They took part in three different subject sessions, reflected on their performance and focused on the skills they needed to further develop. All students then set themselves a target to work towards between now and the first SPRD (Student Performance Review Day) on 12th November.

Abi Riley in 7B wrote the following about the day: I discovered when you’re in a group and you need to decide on an answer, debating is a good way to adjudicate. If you debate, everybody is happy because it is a fair way to make decisions. As everyone agreed, we didn’t need an adult to help us so that made the group more independent.

I can apply this in school when I have to do group work. Group work can be hard especially to all agree on the same thing. However, by using this method you can get the job done without arguing. It can also prepare you for future team work exercises, including work and school, which you may have to face later in life.

I enjoyed Geography the most. The reason for this was the lesson was explained well, therefore my group and I knew exactly what to do and got it done. Another reason is, we had fun picking our roles and acting in those roles while we debated the issues. Everyone contributed which made it easier to make a decision.

In conclusion, I found the day useful and enjoyable so thank you to everyone who organised the day.

Mr Pointon Head of Maths

Breakfast Club Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and is vital in ensuring our students start each day focused and ready to perform well in their lessons. We would like to inform all parents and students that a healthy breakfast is sold in the school canteen each morning between 7:45am - 8:20am. Students can purchase a range of healthy breakfast items using their Streetbase card.

Mr Smith Assistant Headteacher

Celebrating Success

We were very proud of our Year 11 results this year, gaining the best results that the school has ever had. On the evening of Wednesday 24th September we were privileged to have the opportunity to celebrate the successes of some individual students who had been particularly successful in their own right. These students worked very hard, showed determination and perseverance and never lost sight of their goal of being successful and being able to progress to Sixth Form with the best grades possible. Mabel Olonisaye-Collins, Nilson Alia, Princy Biju and Atalia Del Rio joined Miss Howe and Miss Duncan at Central Hall in Westminster for the PiXL Celebrating of Success Award Evening. It was a great evening where they had the opportunity to celebrate with other high achieving students across the country and listen to the inspirational words of double Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder in all sprint distances in the T34 category. Congratulations on your GCSE success and very good luck in you’re a-level studies. Miss Duncan Head of Year 11 Miss Howe Assistant Headteacher

JRCS Clubs Fair 2014

On Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th September, the first JRCS Clubs Fair took place in Boothroyd Hall at lunchtime. This was an event similar to a university ‘Freshers Fair’, but aimed at our students in order to promote the variety of clubs and extra-curricular activities on offer. Staff and students already involved in clubs set up stalls around Boothroyd Hall, and at lunchtime students were encouraged to visit the Hall and collect stickers for the clubs that they were interested in. The clubs represented were JRCS Buddies, Literacy Leaders, Lego Mindstorms, Maths Games, Smarties Science, Arabic Club, Dance Clubs, PE Clubs, Photography Club, D of E, Boccia and Kurling, Reading Reps, Astromony, Cooking club, Cake Club, Science Club, Year 9 and 19 Engineering.

A huge thank you to all the staff and students involved who gave up two lunch times to share their passion for their clubs and activities with the whole school. There was a fantastic buzz of activity at this event, and we hope to make it a firm fixture in the school calendar. Ms Montague OSHL Co-ordinator

Raised Voices A number of our students have been taking part in Arc Theatre’s leadership programme for girls. Their performance, Raised Voices, has been touring schools in Barking and Dagenham youth centres and other organisations. The performance addresses hard hitting issues such as self-harm, domestic violence and exploitation. As well as touring, the performance has been captured on DVD and will be used in a number of education programmes.

Well done to the girls involved: Megan Mukuna 8C, Shelize Boochoon 8H, Tasnim Rahman 8B, Yewande Oginni 8B, Racheal Kesinro 8C, Nancy Edgeler-Ash 8H, Beautiful Ayogu 8H Sabrina Asrafova 9C, Cherry-Kandi Hazelwood-Tennant 11B, Ewura Esi Simpson 11C and Makuriya Camara 11H.

Ms Salih Assistant Headteacher

ACHIEVE Days The photographs below are of our recent ACHIEVE Days. On 22nd and 23rd October we completed our first phase of the ACHIEVE Days programme, which took our students both abroad and to a number of local museums, exhibitions and experiences.

One of the key principles that underpins the work we do at JRCS is to offer our students as many possibilities to extend their learning outside the classroom as possible. Some of the locations visited by students were as far afield as the WWI battlefields of Belgium and Colchester Zoo. New this year was a Year 8 trip to the Science Museum, organised by Miss Hunnisett, where students were able to engage in the exciting world of rocket technology and the more personal interactive activities in the ‘Who am I?’ area.

Ms Keane Acting Headteacher

Aspiration Cohort – Gliding Trip

Ten students who had completed a challenge card or excelled in their aspiration cohort projects were taken gliding as a reward. The students were all praised by their instructors for their flying skills as they were all good enough to be allowed to fly the plane!

Well done to them for earning this reward and look on the aspiration cohort board for this year’s challenges! Get a card from Ms Moody and get filling it in – you also get an LOC and a pop rock!

Ms Moody Accelerated Learning Co-ordinator

Anti-bullying Week

During the week of Monday 17th – Friday 21st November JRCS joined hundreds of schools across the country in actively supporting Anti-bullying Week. We are totally committed to zero tolerance of bullying at JRCS and I am delighted that we are again supporting this national week of action and raising awareness.

See Something. Say Something. This is our anti-bullying slogan. At JRCS we want everyone to feel that they are able to talk to someone if they see or hear anyone being the victim of bullying. Quite often we know but do nothing, either by standing and watching or just walking away. Next time, don’t just walk by, turn away or ignore it; make sure you tell someone.

United we can make a difference! The photograph above shows our anti-bullying wrist bands which were on sale for £1 during the week in Main Street. They are a visible symbol that we can all wear to show our rejection of all forms of bullying and intimidation. There are five colours to choose from and students could wear as many bands as they wished during that week only.

Mrs Richardson Senior Lead Mentor

Year 11 Celebration Evening It was lovely to see so many of last year’s Year 11 students for their celebration event on the evening of Monday 17th November. I really enjoyed catching up and hearing about how they had settled in Sixth Form, college or in their new careers!

Ms Keane Deputy Headteacher

See Something. Say Something. Anti-bullying Week 17th – 21st November

Local school cooks step up to the plate Three local primary school cooks went head to head in the first heats to find Britain’s best. The annual School Chef of the Year (SCOTY) contest, organised by the Local Authority Catering Association (LACA), puts the preparation, cooking, creativity, technical ability and presentation skills of school chefs to the test with each entrant required to produce, in just one and a half hours, a healthy balanced two- course meal that would appeal to Year 6 pupils. Judges included Maureen Lowes (Catering Manager, LBBD) and Jo Richardson Year 10 student Morgan O’Connell - LBBD’s Secondary School Chef of the Year 2014.

First place went to Lisa Morris of Manor Longbridge School, closely followed by Michelle Boddy (Ripple Primary School) and Coral Knockton (St Joseph’s Catholic School, Barking) Lisa’s menu of rosemary-infused chicken breast in a southern-fried crunch followed by spicy pineapple crumble in vanilla sauce will now go forward to the regional finals

Morgan described Lisa’s menu as “an absolutely delicious and healthy meal that would really appeal to students”. Maureen Lowes added: “given the standard of the menus and quality of service, it was an exceptionally tough call”.

Mr Agius - Business Development Manager - LBBD Year 8 Conflict Resolution On Wednesday 26th November, Year 8 students were involved in our annual conflict resolution day. The aims of the day were to help students develop an understanding of different forms of conflict and strategies for avoiding and dealing positively with conflict. Members of the Arc Theatre Group, Shabazz Nelson, Dave McQueen and Lilian Zacharia, taught the students the difference between being assertive rather than aggressive when dealing with difficult situations and helped them realise how their behaviour can affect others through a range of interactive drama based activities. Judging by all the smiles and laughter, the Year 8 students had an enjoyable day.

Mr Donovan - Assistant Headteacher Jack Petchey Leadership Award We are delighted to announce that Mr Hargreaves is the proud recipient of the Jack Petchey Leadership Award.

Mr Hargreaves has been honoured for his tireless work with the Duke Of Edinburgh Award scheme at JRCS, his invaluable contribution to the work in building a primary school in Rumruti in central Kenya and inspiring over 40 students to join the venture over six years. This summer he escorted 34 of our students in a World Challenge expedition in Malaysia that was a huge success and he freely gives of his time in and out of school helping students achieve their full potential. He is a true inspiration, a true leader and a role model for many of us at JRCS.

Ms Keane - Deputy Headteacher Aspiration Cohort Careers Evening

On Tuesday 25th November we saw the launch of the inaugural JRCS Aspiration Cohort Careers Evening with many professionals showing up in order to have in depth discussions with our students. Feedback from students and staff was very positive about the quality of the speakers and this is an event we will definitely be hosting again. Get into the Aspiration Cohort now by becoming a Gold or Platinum student! The speakers were very encouraging about our students making a point to thank us for hosting them and saying how committed, focussed and interesting they found them. Well done!

Ms Moody - Aspiration Co-Ordinator

JRCS Entrepreneurs Congratulations to Tosin Lepe 11F, Ayobami Salami 10A, Carla Da Silva 10G and Favour Amechi 10F our latest entrepreneurs. The girls were involved with a group in designing and producing an innovative social media app called “Silent Secrets” which allows students to share their inner most thoughts and emotions without fear of being judged. The app was launched by Barking Social Enterprise ‘Brighter Steppings’ on Thursday 4th December. This is a fantastic achievement, - well done girls!

Ms Keane Deputy Headteacher

Year 8 girls do us proud! Beautiful Ayogu, Nancy Edgeler-Ash and Emily Chrysanthou from Year 8 who have been working with the ARC Theatre Company making a film about FGM with other girls in the borough were asked to present their film at the London Safeguarding Children's Board annual conference at the QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster.

The audience were prominent leaders from London and they thanked them for their outstanding work on this project! The venue was huge and the girls presented on stage taking it in their stride, demonstrating real skill at public speaking and presenting. Everyone loved the film and one lady admitted to the girls after that it had made her cry.

Well done to our three stars.

Ms Boller Student Communication Manager Readathon 2014 We are part of Miss Higgins’ reading club and each week we get together to discuss books and ways to engage students. We decided that as part of the ‘Read more, learn more’ campaign we could raise awareness of the importance of literacy for JRCS students. So we came up with the READATHON.

We decided that all money raised should be donated towards our library, we want to invest in YOU! We read in total for six hours and raised over £210 for our school.

We were so proud to take part and above all we were so pleased to have so many of you involved too. Thank you for your support.

Don’t forget, reading is learning, take some time to invest in you!

Reading Club

Christmas Jumper Day On Friday 12th December many JRCS students chose to help raised money for ‘Save the Children’ by donning their favourite Christmas jumpers and donating £1 to the charity.

Ms Keane Acting Headteacher

Team London Volunteer Awards On the evening of Wednesday 17th September, Jo Richardson Community School students attended the Team London Volunteer Awards at City Hall. The students met with Mayor Boris Johnson, Paralympian and 7/7 survivor Martine Wright and Barbara Windsor who presented the awards to the winners and nominees.

The school was nominated in two categories: Team London Young Ambassadors Schools Programme and Team London Individual Student Volunteer of the Year. Emma Halahan 13F was the recipient of the Team London individual award for the work she has done with young people in Haringey and Barking and Dagenham. Over the last few months Emma has been helping to plan and run training events for primary school children encouraging them to get involved in volunteering and projects to improve their local communities. She has been the driving force behind these events, coming up with the theme, activities and format, as well as providing boundless energy and enthusiasm.

These awards recognise how school students are making a positive contribution to the city through volunteering, as Team London promotes volunteering across London schools and businesses. At Jo Richardson over 50% of our young people are actively involved in volunteering projects in and out of school.

“Social action for change is an integral aspect of school philosophy too and I am so proud that our hard work is acknowledged at such an important event as this. Young people have a voice and want to make a difference at Jo Richardson, they care so much and are so proactive” – Ms Boller

“The Awards were a chance to celebrate not only the excellence and importance of volunteers, but the amazing things young people can accomplish when we work together to make London the best city it can be” - Emma Halahan 13F

London City Volunteering Conference On Friday 10th October myself, Abigail Hall, Niranjana Unni, Mary Abrahams- Sams, Kerri Edwards Kelsey Symes and Emma Halahan attended the second London City Volunteering Conference as guests of honour.

The students were asked to speak on the Mayoral stage in City Hall in front of 250 delegates and celebrities.

Marc Kielberger, founder of Free the Children, spoke to the girls about their projects and was hugely impressed with the work our school does in terms of social action projects.

The girls spoke very eloquently about their recent ‘We are Silent’ and ‘We scare Hunger’ campaigns and Emma was invited onto the panel for questioning from the deleges.

On another exciting note, the school has been asked to take our ‘We are Silent’ project onto a much larger scale – City Hall, London. This is an exciting opportunity and one which we will relish as we can raise awareness of local, national and global issues facing young people in our society.

Ms Boller Student Communication Manager

Outstanding Evening of Dance Congratulations to the Year 13 Dance Students Josh, Dominque and Katherine, who presented an outstanding evening of Dance. They were joined in performance by our two dance companies ‘Epidemik’ and ‘Detonate Boys’, Year 10 GCSE and Year 11 GCSE Dance. Also making their debut were our excellent Primary School Dance Company ‘Upsurge’ who rocked with their highly energetic African Performance.

It was a privilege to see the progression of performance skills and professionalism, especially from the Year 11 and Year 13. Their conduct backstage and onstage was faultless and they modelled the highest standards of technique.

We look forward to welcoming you to our next Showcase Assessment Evening which will be the Year 11 Unit 4B Choreography Show on Tuesday 20th January 2015 at 5.30pm in Boothroyd Hall.

The Dance Department

We are The Smarties Science Club. We would like to invite you to visit our blog http://smartiesjrcs.blogspot.co.uk/ where we will be keeping you up-to-date about our work.

Our scientific journey has links in Poland as we are working together with the Volcano Science Club from Gimnazjum no 4 in Stargard Szczeciński. Our current project is “Chemistry around us” in which we are going to explore how chemistry affects us in everyday life.

Miss Ochwat Science Department CERN Trip Before the Summer holidays, Mr Tizzard and Mrs Clift-Matthews went with eight students from the AS Physics class (as well as 30 students and five staff from other consortium schools) to visit the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, Switzerland.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It first started up on 10th September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. The LHC has made many major discoveries since it was built including the Higg’s Boson which helps explain why gravity exists.

We arrived at Geneva airport on Monday 14th July in the morning, dropped our bags at the hotel and went straight to CERN; to begin our tour. The tour began with a lecture from a computer analyst who works at CERN, we were then taken to see one of the major detector control rooms, followed by a 3-D movie of the detector. The detector (called ATLAS) is about four times bigger than Boothroyd Hall! Our next tour guide was a particle physics professor from Peking University. He showed us the facilities that test the magnets that are used to force the particles round the accelerator. The magnets are used in temperatures colder than anywhere in the universe!

Mr Tizzard Head of Physics

DNA Model Greetings fellow Scientists! After hours of work, our DNA model is finally ready! Four dedicated students: Alfie Brown 8G, Alvin Costa-Odou 8G, Amandeep Channa 8G and Brandon Filbert 8H were working extremely hard at lunchtimes and after school on this project. They were involved not only in making the model but also in collecting recyclable materials to make it.

Visit The Smarties Science Club website http://smartiesjrcs.blogspot.co.uk/ to see more pictures.

We would like to say a massive thank you to the Castle Green cleaning team for helping us collect bottles and cans for our project as well as to Mr Darkins and Mr Maily who put the model up in SC3. Your help was absolutely priceless!

Miss Ochwat Science Department

Half-term visit to the partner school

Over the half-term I had the pleasure of visiting our partner school Gimnazjum no 4 in Stargard Szczeciński. Visit The Smarties Science Club website http://smartiesjrcs.blogspot.co.uk/ to find out what we were doing.

Miss Ochwat Science Department

European Day of Languages

Friday 26th September Our annual Languages Speed Dating Event in Boothroyd Hall was another big success. Students from all year groups and staff came to learn a few introductory phrases in a variety of different languages from German to Japanese. Many thanks to all the teachers and students who helped teach languages and who made the event such a massive success.

Miss Duncan Teacher of MFL

Netball Success The Year 8 Netball Team played their first netball match on Thursday 18th September against Barking Abbey A and B teams. They played the A team first and were leading 2 – 0 by half time. Barking Abbey came back strong and with five minutes to go it was 4-4. JRCS then picked up their passing skills and the shooters took their chances taking the final score to 7-5.

They played the B team and beat them easily 3-0, even on tired legs having already played 30 minutes of netball. The team played so well that the player of the match was a three way tie: Glory Nzengo 8G, Rachael Kesinro 8C and Kathleen Sheehy 8D.

Ms Wilkinson Girls PE Teacher

Year 7 and 8 Girls Football The Girls’ Football Team convincingly won their first friendly game of the season against Riverside 5-0 at Home. There were some fantastic performances and goals were scored by: Kiarah Fanning 8C (2), Megan Mimms 8C, Laveda Ogbebor 7D and Medi Tietie 7D.

The girls’ winning streak continued with a convincing win against Robert Clack. The girls were drawing 1-1 at half time but we made some tactical changes and scored two great goals to snatch the victory 2-1. Well done to all the girls, particularly Kiarah Fanning 8C and Medi Tietie 7D for scoring the goals.

Miss Boulton Head of PE

Jo Richardson has ‘wonderful’ Sports Leaders

On Thursday 2nd October, Miss Boulton and I and 30 Year 10 Sports Leaders were involved in helping to organise and run the Borough Primary Cross Country event in Mayesbrook Park. As part of the Sports Leaders Award, students have to act as officials and, following a rehearsal on our own school field, the students acted as Course Marshals, Hare and Sweep, (running at the front and behind the racers to keep them on track), finish officials and results officials.

It was a very busy afternoon for everyone, especially those handling the results. Our students did an amazing job and were described by Elaine Burgess (one of the event organisers) as ‘wonderful leaders’.

Very well done to the following students for representing the school in such a positive way: Oreoluwa Olayinka, Pamela Dicko, Malcom Ennin, Kelechi Ogbonna, Aydin Phillips, Chris Randall, Sarah Singleton, all 10E, Kerri Edwards, Mahtab Kailey, William Sach all 10F, Ella Brookes, Lilly Cooper, Maisie Edmead, Safia Essa, Leanna Garrett, Oritsetimeyin Jaconmi, Maisie Edmead, Louise Toms, Danica Wells, all 10G, and Marien Balla, Annie-Marie Gullefer, Jack Knight, Laia-Louise Marsden, Jessica O’Rourke, Oliver O’Sullivan, Tamikka-Lee Padmore, Maddie Ramsey, Ellie Sanderson, Moyin Adetoye and Lewis Smith, all 10H.

Thanks also goes to Miss Boulton who did a fantastic job with the results table team!

Ms Montague PE Teacher

Year 7 Netball News The Year 7 netball team have had their first taste of competition. Their first match was against Warren School on Thursday 25th September. They were losing after the first quarter, but then worked well as a team and pulled level by half time. Then they won each quarter after that and stopped Warren from scoring any further goals. The final score was JRCS 4 - Warren 2. A great effort by all team members.

Players of the match: Danielle Nnadi 7F, Ire Ajola 7F and Silvia Martin 7E.

On Monday 6th October they played Barking Abbey, a close fought game, which was always within one goal, but another strong five minutes in the second half meant JRCS forged ahead with three minutes to go, and the final score being 6-4. Player of this match was Joy Osayiwu 7F.

The Year 7 netball team continued their excellent start to the season with a win against local rivals Sydney Russell. Outside in the fading light the team started nervously, and although had lots of opportunities to score, only managed to be leading 1-0 at the first and second break. The third quarter was our best and the team started to play with more confidence and skill and were leading 3-1. Sydney Russell came back fighting and drew level with one minute to go, but an excellent set of passes from the centre straight to goal meant Ire Ajala 7F scored with two seconds to go and won us the game. Player of the match was Ire Ajala 7F for her amazing shooting.

Miss Wilkinson PE Department

Year 8 Netball News The Year 8 Netball team were entered into an Essex U14 cup competition after their great start to the season. This means playing teams who are mainly Year 9. However, the team were short of players for their cup match Monday night, so some keen Year 7s stepped in to help increase the numbers. Passmores Academy from Harlow in Essex came over with their Year 9 teams. The team started well, but with the new players settling in, JRCS didn’t create as many attacks as they needed to and were down by eight goals by the break. The second quarter saw JRCS play much better and only lost this by 2 goals, an excellent effort.

Unfortunately, the Year 9 experience of Passmores’ girls was too much for our younger team and JRCS lost the match. However, the team should be proud of their efforts. Players of the match were: Rachel Kesinro 8C, Orsilda Lleshi 8E , Gerren Ntiri 7G, Elizabeth Ogunyanwo, 7G and Silvia Martin 7E. Again lots of different votes showing what a team effort it was.

Miss Wilkinson PE Department

Borough Badminton Championships

A group of KS3 students entered the Borough Badminton Championships on Tuesday 18th

November. The event consisted of a round robin format against five other schools in the borough, including a series of singles and doubles matches. The boys did fantastically well and came second, narrowly being beaten by Robert Clack School in the final.

Considering the other schools had teams made up of mostly Year 9 students, this makes the achievement extra special. The students involved were: Alan Tu 7H, Ifeanyi Ogbonna 7G, Sameer Shaikh 8D and Luckman Juma 9E.

Mr Howard Acting Head of PE

Netball News

We were lucky enough to have England netballer Lindsay Keable come in to coach our netballers on Wednesday 19th November. The groups were split into Years 7 and 8 before lunch and Years 9 and 11 during and after. The girls were lead through a thorough warm up before focusing on their ball handling, movement and defending skills through various practices and coaching from Lindsay. The girls were excellently behaved and worked very hard. The Year 11 team even played their best netball match ever after school when they lost by just two goals to arch rivals Robert Clack but were so close to winning.

Miss Wilkinson PE Department

Hockey Trip to watch a National League Match in Chigwell

On Sunday 23rd November, Miss Wilkinson took a group of students to Luxborough Lane to watch a live hockey match. Even though it was horrible conditions, both teams gave it their all but there could only be one winner and that was Old Loughtonians Men. The home team finished most chances delivered to them but overall, Chichester looked the most impressive. They created numerous chances but couldn’t

deliver them and consequently lost 6-1. As the captain, I looked intently for any techniques that my team could use as an advantage and after getting autographs for mementos, we as a team are more confident.

Logan Grain 7G

Rugby Reward Trip On the evening of Saturday 22nd November a group of students selected by the PE Department were rewarded for their efforts and focus in class, by travelling to the home of English Rugby to watch England Vs Samoa in the Autumn International series. England were triumphant throughout the thrilling match winning 28-9.

Mr Cole PE Department

Hockey News

JRCS played their first hockey match of the season on Wednesday 26th November against Sacred Heart from Upminster. We fielded two teams which was an excellent start with hockey being a new sport to many of our students.

Team 1 had a great first half dominating attack but not able to convert their shots past a strong goal keeper. They then unfortunately had a lot of pressure from the opposition in the second

half and let two goals in, meaning they lost their match which is a shame as they showed some of the best hockey of the evening, passing it wide and creating space. Team 2 had a great first half with the midfield dominating, Ledion Rama 7D scoring a great goal from a pass out of defence. After half time they continued their strengths all over the pitch and scored again winning 2-0.

So 2-2 aggregate from the two matches is a great result for the first hockey ever played by these students. Players of the match: Team 1 : Luke Craigie 7H and Laveda-Dione Ogbebor 7D Team 2: Ledion Rama 7D and Vanessa De Gouveia 7A

Netball News The Year 7 team had their first Essex Cup match away at the Olympic Site against Chobham School. The team started really well, and dominated from the start leading 5-0 at the first break. I then let players try different positions whilst we had the chance to dominate and with the changes were still leading 8-1 by half time. There was some excellent play by the two shooters, Ire Ajala 7F and Esther Harvest 7E as they are getting used to playing together. More changes in the last two quarters, and Chobham even brought on some Year 8s to help their team pass the ball. The final score was 14-4 to JRCS and players of the match were Daniella Nnadi 7F and Elizabeth Ogunyanwo 7G.

Miss Wilkinson PE Department

Year 8 London Borough Netball Runners Up!! The Year 8 girls went to Redbridge to play in the London Schools Netball rally. It was a long night as the matches didn’t start until 4.45pm, but the team were in a buoyant mood and played really well from the start. The girls beat Robert Clack 4-2, Connaught 2-0 and Beal 3-2. Losing close games due to some lost concentration in the shooting circle, 1-4 to Robert Clack A and 1-3 to Woodbridge meant we finished 2nd in the tournament, which was a great effort as the girls had no subs to give them a break. An excellent effort all round-player of the tournament went to Antonia Anorh.

Miss Wilkinson PE Department

Another triumph for JRCS Wolves Cheer Leaders

On Friday 5th December I had the pleasure of accompanying the JRCS Wolves to the first Cheer and Dance Showcase of this academic year. The showcase was held at Excel and saw cheerleaders from schools across East London competing for the title of ‘Grand Champions’ in each category. JRCS Wolves were competing in the senior category against Lister, St Angela’s, Cumberland and Robert Clack.

The Wolves had been set a difficult challenge by Coach Sammie Bromley with some challenging pyramid formations that they had not used before, not forgetting that the team contained nine Year 7 students who had not yet performed with the team. However, despite these difficulties, the team overcame stiff competition to be crowned ‘Grand Champions’ for this term.

Well done to all involved: from Year 7: Joana Balla, Charlotte Turner, Leyla Demetriou, Medi Tietie, Bella O’Brien, Callie Cooper, Rhian Davis, Sally Turner and Elizabeth Ogunyanwo, from Year 8: Nicky Dikongue, Rachael Kesinro, Blayne Baker from Year 9: Lillie Fox, Karolina Derlukiewicz, Summer Green, Angel Churchward, Sade Akinyeni, Maria Oyenuga, Nambuwa Akafumba, Hanan Abdulhamid and from Year 10: Amirat Odofin, Ibukun Aluko, Oliwia Husak, Isioma Uwajeh, Jessica Idahosa, Isata Sesay, Anisha Gohil and Oritsetimeyin Jacdonmi.

Many thanks also to the staff who helped to make this success possible; Miss Wright, Miss Campbell, who helped with the mini bus transport, and Cheer Leading Coach Sammie Bromley from the Ascension Eagles. We are looking forward to next term when hopefully two groups will be competing from JRCS, the Thursday group and the Tuesday group!

Ms Montague OSHL Co-ordinator

Year 8 Indoor Athletics

Congratulations to the Year 8 boys indoor athletics team who took part in the borough championships on Tuesday 9th December. The boys did fantastically well to finish 2nd in the whole borough and narrowly missed out on the chance to win the event. Well done to everyone who took part: Clawnton Wetshi, Baqiu Odofin, Emmanuel Jegede, Eri Beitja, Rimmon Daley, Davaughn Smith and Temitope Oluwole.

Mr Howard Acting Head of PE

Essex netball Cup Triumph The Year 7 netballers played their second and third matches in the Essex Cup this week. Monday 10th December saw us host local rivals Robert Clack, but with a slow start we were losing 3-1 at half time. A strong third quarter saw the girls play some of their best netball and we were drawing 4-4. Unfortunately, a few mistakes more than Robert Clack in the final quarter meant we lost by 1 goal, but a great effort and mind-set shown not to give up.

Tuesday 11th December saw us host Wanstead from London, and from the first whistle the result was never in question. We were leading 9-1 by half time after some exceptional shooting by Ire Ajala 7F and brilliant defending by Hannah-Queren Mbomba 7E and Dannie Ihezuo-Nnadi 7F. We moved some players around in the second half to try different formations but still easily won the match 11-3. The girls have one last match in their group on Monday 15th December against City Academy. If they win they will qualify for the quarter finals and be one of the top 16 teams in Essex. Wish them luck.

Players of the match: Ire Ajala 7F and Dannie Ihezuo-Nnadi 7F on Monday and Ire Arjala 7F Tuesday.

Miss Wilkinson PE Department

Winter Concert 2014 The Winter Concert, held on 2nd December, showcased a wide range of musical talent, with over 100 students performing in various groups to a public audience. There were debut performances from our newly formed Guitar Ensemble as well as our numerous Year 7s, some of which featured in Wind Band with the solo line for ‘Over the Rainbow’. The String Club, seen above in rehearsals, also made its first appearance in a number of years with their jazzy rendition of ‘Night Swing’. All of the students involved impressed us immensely with their focus, attitude, enthusiasm and musicality.

The Music Department

Sixth Form Get Adventurous Year 12 and Year 13 ran out of the classroom confines on Wednesday 10th September to take on the challenges of two activity centres.

Year 12 had a shock of an early morning leave at 7:00am to get to Blackland Farm in East Grinstead. Having negotiated the M25 successfully, their first adventure was getting the coach stuck down a narrow lane on the way! Thankfully a rescue with a land rover, a tree and a lot of rope was possible!

Once at the centre, students mixed into teams with other students from the consortium and set about achieving points and mastering challenges; some of them mind-challenging, others physical, and a few took the whole student to be successful. Students had to climb up poles in the woods to stand on the small square of wood at the top and then fit another three people on. They had to empty water buckets without touching the bucket and also make their way across mine fields without touching the floor.

If this was not enough, the final challenge was to create a construction from paper and string to safely see their egg dropped from the top of a climbing wall to be unbroken when it landed. Honestly, this was no yolk! An amazing day showing off the range of skills that our students possess.

Year 13 on the other hand knew that the water awaited them at Stubbers! Firstly they had to overcome the heights of the climbing walls or the high wire activity. Not only did they manage this impressively, but they also managed to pose for photos part way up, and even race around the very top level of the high wire area.

Then came the rafting! The care taken to strap in the barrels, making sure buoyancy and balance were top priority of the raft was amusing to see no-one wanted to fall in!

Once all rafts were ready, then it was race time and suddenly water was their friend, at least enough to be paddle splashed over the opposing rafts/rafters! Marvin was first to get onto the platoon but soon found himself treading water as Shane pushed him off! Once each team had someone on the platoon it was time to paddle back. Ed decided they were not paddling fast enough and swam back, Chelsea decided to swim and tow the raft back and after all the care of not getting wet at least two teams had a team “jump into the lake”!

Year 13 were great company, got to know others in Year 13 better. Some of them found they had talents they did not know and strength to conquer things that at first seemed daunting.

Well done to all students who took part; now take that determination into your studies!!

Miss Campbell Deputy Director of Sixth Form

London Culture What do you get if you give 86 Year 12 students a travel card, a tube map, some road maps and a sheet of iconic London Sights? The Year 12 Achieve London Culture Day!!

Setting off from Becontree on the morning of Wednesday 22nd October, most found it a little unusual not to be in a family group with a member of staff. However, this sense of trust and “freedom” proved to be the start of a great day of adventure and fun.

Students were given the task of navigating the group to a set of iconic London venues/sights including London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Golden Hind, Black Taxi Cab, Red Telephone Box and Big Ben. They had also been discussing alternative venues in form such as Borough and Portobello Market. Some had come focused to get to Platform 9¾ Kings Cross to find Harry (Potter that is!) Groups had to make sure they got pictorial evidence of having been to the various places.

The whole venture is designed to show our students just how close they are to London for trips of fun and looking to the future as a place of employment.

Volunteering The Thursday of the ACHIEVE Days (23rd October) saw a change of focus as three outside charities came in to discuss the importance of volunteering and the effect it has on the volunteer and also those volunteered for.

Free The Children kicked off the day with an introduction and also a separate presentation talking about WE Day and an amazing travel option for those that are volunteering. Little Havens Children Hospice were once again at our day to bring home to our students the effect that their time can have on others. Being based in Essex it brought home how volunteering in the community is so important and enables so many.

Daneford Trust spoke about the possibility of volunteering in a gap year type opportunity. This does not need to be a full year, could be a few weeks. The student would get the chance to work in a community in another country and see amazing effects on themselves as well as others.

Our current Year 12 have an amazing number of students who already do a lot of volunteering both in and out of school. Hopefully this highlighted to them that their time is so well spent and to those that are thinking about volunteering, it gave them a thousand reasons why they should.

Miss Campbell Deputy Director of Sixth Form

Consortium Bowling Club JRCS Sixth Form students took to the alleys to try and defeat the other consortium schools over 10 frames of bowling. The pins were tumbling at a good rate, particularly on Josh Bolton’s lane who achieved the highest individual score of the evening, ably supported by Charlie Rogers who got 3rd highest score overall. However, a few too many pins were being avoided by some of our other bowlers!!

After gaining energy from the provided refreshments the charge was on and the pins went flying. This gallant attempt defeated many but in the end was not quite enough for the cup. A hard fought second was secured with the promise to take the crown next year!

Congratulations to all our bowlers. Here’s to next year’s win!!

Miss Campbell Deputy Director of Sixth Form

Lighting up a life

On Tuesday 18th November the BTEC Health and Social Care students visited Little Havens Hospice in Essex. Little Havens is a charity that offers respite care and support for families with terminally ill children. Each year Little Havens needs to raise £2 million to be able to provide this support to families for free. Whilst on the trip we were able to gain an insight into some of the amazing facilities that are offered to terminally ill children and their families. It is important to mention that they offer opportunities that children may not have ever been able to do due to their condition, such as ride a bike or lay in a swimming pool. This links to a key aim of Little Havens which is to encourage independence as much as possible.

There are many facilities that make Little Havens special. In particular, we were amazed to see that the bedrooms were designed to make the children feel comfortable by tailoring to their needs. Furthermore, there was an astounding sensory room which had a beanbag that was connected to speakers so that when music played children were able to feel the vibration underneath it. Finally, there was a huge garden that had swings in it that were accessible for children in wheelchairs.

Visiting Little Havens has made a massive impact on the way we view life by appreciating the small things that are often taken for granted. We aim to support Little Havens by fundraising in order to enable them to be able to continue to have a positive impact on families in need.

Year 13 HSC Class

Business Department Cake Sale The Business Department arranged a cake sale in conjunction with the European Languages event on Friday 26th September.

Deanna Allman in 8D (pictured right) made an amazing piñata cake which took her over four hours to make. Brandon Batchelor, Lauren Simpson and Casey Margerison all from 8D also made cakes for us.

Aslihan Duyar in Year 12 and our resident JRCS entrepreneur Jordan Dunn, hand decorated over 100 cupcakes, giving up their free time to do this. Thanks also to the members of staff who supported this event, by either purchasing cakes or making some for us to sell. Lauren Brent, Aston McCoy Year 12 and Klaudia Prroni, Amy Bird, Joe Brand, Jordan Dunn and Imtithal Ali, all from Year 13, helped to sell the cakes in Boothroyd Hall.

We also had two sweepstake style competitions in the run up to this event. They were the ‘Double Coffee Shot’ and ‘Count the hundreds and thousands on the cake’ games. The winner of the coffee shot competition was Mrs Whitehead, our Systems and Data Manager. She selected the coffee with the boat shape and this was the winner. There were 4856 hundreds and thousands on the cake and Mrs Foreland, the PA to the Headteacher, was the closest with a guess of 4500. The winner of the piñata cake (which we raffled) was Aston McCoy, one of our helpers.

Miss McCormack Teacher of Business and Economics

Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge On Tuesday 18th November, a group of Year 10 students took part in the JRCS Speak Out Challenge Day. The students were put through their paces during the morning session as they learnt the importance of content, delivery and structure as the vital components of a successful speech. The budding public speakers then had some time to create their own speech which was to be read out in front of the group after lunch.

Whilst remembering what they had learnt during the day and battling with their nerves, the students produced some fantastic speeches. Tom Barrett 10D questioned the over-reliance of technology we see today, whilst Marcio Lopes 10A professed his love for music. However, it was Jay Scott 10H, speaking about teenage pregnancy who came out on top and booked his place at the regional final next year. Well done Jay! Congratulations also go to Loide Miranda 10A who spoke about her love of food and will go to the Regional final in reserve.

Paddy Maguire from the Speakers Trust said, “It was a real pleasure to spend the day with the group and I think it was very successful. The overall feedback from the class was good - Lennox Mwaura 10H said he felt much more confident. Edward Kanneh 10D said he had fun and Aniqa Sheikh 10B thought it was a great experience”. The regional final is on April 30th, so the students have plenty of time to prepare and hone their speeches. Best of luck to them both.

Mr Marks Business Studies Department

Target 2.0 Competition On Friday 21st November I had the pleasure of accompanying four Year 13 Economics students to an office of the Bank of England in Moorgate, Central London, to take part in Target 2.0, a competition between different schools across the UK for Sixth Form Economics students. Those taking part were Jack Bugeja, Alban Gashi, Emma Halahan and Winifred Michael. They were required to take on the role of the Monetary Policy Committee and assess the inflationary pressures within the economy such as commodity prices, asset prices and the labour market, coming to a conclusion regarding what level to set the interest rate at and offer “forward guidance” about future rate changes.

This is an incredibly prestigious competition and attracts some of the top achieving students from all over the country. The team spoke with extreme confidence and dealt with some extremely difficult questions with great professionalism. Overall, they should be incredibly proud, not only of the economic knowledge they exhibited, but also of the skills they demonstrated such as team work, research skills and resilience. Well done!

Mr Davies Economics Co Ordinator

Year 13 attend ‘The Business Show’ A group of Year 13 Business students travelled across London to attend The Business Show on Friday 28th November.

The sprawling London Olympia was the venue where a vast range of business owners and keynote speakers were divulging their expertise amongst the attendees. Whether students wanted to improve their negotiation technique through a ‘£10 billion negotiator’ imparting his knowledge, or gain some tips from the co-founder of Innocent Drinks on taking the plunge with a new business, students were able to attend the lectures which suited their areas of interest or development.

Jordan Dunn of 13B said, “It was a great experience, gaining knowledge of how other businesses operate. What was even better was I came away with a new business partner!”

Andre de Jesus of 13E said, “The show was an amazing experience. I heard a speech which has inspired me to improve in both my school and personal life.”

Thank you to Miss McCormack and Miss Nelson for their help on the day.

Mr Marks The Business Department

STEM Careers Morning Boothroyd Hall was the venue for the STEM Professions Careers Morning organised by Barking & Dagenham Council. Many schools from across the borough came to Jo Richardson on Thursday 4th December to hear from an array of professionals, lecturers and students delivering talks and Q & A sessions on STEM topics including: Mechanical and Medical Engineering, Architecture, Product Design and Psychology.

The students from Years 8, 9 and 10 were able to find out more information on industries they are interested in to help guide them through the important choices they will have to make in the near future regarding their education and careers.

Mr Marks The Business Department

Year 12 Business Trip

On Monday 1st December, Year 12 students Abbie Briggs, Daniel Fajinmi, Daisy Hawkes, Scarlett Hayward, Joe Morris and Nathan Mutuale went to Central London to compete in the regional heats of the ICAEW BASE competition.

Competing against 10 other schools and tasked with presenting realistic solutions to a failing business, the team worked incredibly hard on an unseen case study and wowed the judges in the presentation round. Their mentor on the day commented; “I am incredibly impressed by the hard work and unity of the team. Their proposed solutions were realistic and articulated to the judges in a confident and professional manner which surpassed their years and level of experience.”

Clare McCormack Business Studies

ARP News This December has seen our Year 7 and 8 students visiting the Transport Museum at Covent Garden. We had a great time exploring the exhibits, sitting in the driving seats of various types of buses and experiencing what it was like to travel on the tube many years ago. We finished our day with a trip to McDonalds, where our students upheld the good name of JRCS in the way they spoke to restaurant staff and members of the public.

Our next trip was our Year 9s’ visit to the Imperial War Museum which has recently been refurbished. They particularly enjoyed the World War 2 exhibition, climbing in the bunkers and learning about the world of spies! This has been of great benefit to our students as they are presently studying this topic in History.

Our Year 11s have visited Redbridge College as part of our post 16 transition programme. This was a worthwhile visit as our students were able to experience up to date technology in a learning environment. Our ARP support meeting was again an enjoyable occasion especially as Mrs Davids provided us with a Christmas cake. Special thanks to Patrick Steward for his great contribution. Next meeting will be on Thursday 8th January 2015.

Lastly, we have said goodbye to Mr Armour during a farewell tea, which some of our ex-students also attended; we wish him all the best for the future.

Mrs Guise Acting ARP Manager

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award training weekend The weekend beginning Friday 10th October saw the second training weekend taking place at Danbury for the R half of Year 10. We arrived in reasonable time on Friday night and were impressed that most students had remembered their training at school and managed to successfully put up their tents. Cooking dinner followed, and with the light fading it was then that a number of students remembered that they had forgotten to pack a torch! Our next activity was a night walk through nearby Blakes Wood, which was quite muddy following the recent rain. It was a fascinating experience, especially when we heard an owl screeching at us through the trees.

Saturday dawned wet, but the rain dried up by the time we were ready to set off on our seven mile walk. Everyone completed the walk and there were some impressive map readers, leaders and team players. A special mention goes to the following students who gained an LOC this weekend: Aydin Phillips, Morgan O’Connell, Mahmoud Kayiizi, Radi Mohammed-Ali, Marin Distafa, Ore Olayinka, Ashan Moraby, Anisha Makwana, Macey Rees, Kelechi Ogbonna and Moyin Adetoye.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff who accompanied the trip and made this weekend possible: Mr Kilminster, Ms Davies, Mrs Davids and Bill Lockton (D of E volunteer); they all did a brilliant job.

Ms Montague D of E Manager

D of E Bronze Introduction trip Danbury On Friday 3th October, the Bronze D of E group did their introductory Bronze trip in the Danbury area to prepare them for the practice expedition in May 2015. All the staff were pleased with the progress that was made on Friday night; preparing camp and cooking their evening meal went well. The students completed a night exercise to prepare them for the next day’s navigation and seven mile walk. It was great to see some good teamwork going on. We then prepared for the next day; the students had a play around their tents and a chat before bedding down for a good night’s sleep.

Through the night it was really warm; the students then understood the importance of putting up your tent correctly! The next day we were up with the lark to prepare for the next leg of the expedition although the students were a little slow in breaking camp. The first group set off and then 10 minutes later off went the second group, third and fourth. Throughout the day the students made slow but good progress (they did learn from their mistakes!). Overall, it was a great start which was good preparation for your next trip, so well done to you all.

The following students took part: Adaeze Ogbonna, Emi Shabnai, Isata, Sesay,Sinead Murphy, Tolulope Oluwole, Amirat Odofin, Jessica Idahosa, Sueda Oktay, Britney-Lee Ogbebor, Charlotte Dutton, Joshua Jones, Charlotte Nicholls, Aida Marku, David Osikorobia, Ogechi Ibeh, Charlie Hunt, Ebunoluwa Ajala, Ibukunoluwa Aluko, Sarah Thomas, Ruxandra Ilie, Shantel Munroe and Ayobami Salami.

We would like to thank Mr Kirkbride, Miss Branch, Miss Moody and Mr Wylie for their invaluable help on Friday and Saturday.

Mr Hargreaves/ Mr Dignam Duke of Edinburgh Leaders

Year 9 DT Activities Day Winners During the Design Technology ACHIEVE days, students had the opportunity to understand and build structures. All students applied really good effort in their groups, but could only have one winning group in each session.

Winning Groups on Wednesday 22nd October 2014:

Danielle Searle and Maria Oyenuga.

Dishon Daley, Jordan Deeble, Deanna Hankin and Charlie Hendricks.

Limbert Stemarthe, Grace Tayo, Luckman Juma and Hayden Monk.

Bjorn Limani, Alex Thomas, Steven Hussey and Camilo Mosquero.

Lauren Levy, Jaylee Smith, Katie Chambers and Alfie Owen.

Demi Ogunti, Yasmine McKenzie, Jodie Chesney and Millie Honeywell.

Winning Groups on Thursday 23rd

October 2014:

Billy Holmes, Reeni Lawrence, Bethany Auger and Diamand Sefolli.

Smith Raul, Michael Mambuene and Sade Akinyemi.

Celine McDonald, Cameron Finley and Melbonne Jones.

Shannon Still, Sabrina Asrafova and Shannon Gilmore.

Margaret Adesunloro, Oliwia Lopaczewska, Erina Uraj and Lucy Payne.

Kayla Padulla, Nishat Islam, Cameron Welch and Georgina Brown. Well done to all! Miss Banjo Head of DT

Cake Club 2014

The following students produced a lemon cheese cake in Cooking Club, all of whom did really well, so well done on your great effort and commitment to your club. I would like to thank Ms Debono for your support with this club.

Shannon West 7H, Rhian Davis 7G, Joana Balla 7E, Rebecca Marku 7E, Ryan Murphy 7G, Chloe Tahiri 9G, Kacey Tahiri 8F, Georgina Padgett 8H, Melissa Aziz 8H, Fiona Terholli 8F, Deanna Allman 8D, Lauren Simson 8D, Aydin Phillips 10E and Morgan O’Connell 10F.

Mr Hargreaves Food and Catering Department

Cake Club 2014 The following students have started to produce a cake for Christmas Cake Club. Over the next four weeks they will have to marzipan and then add regal icing and decoration. The students have planned and created some excellent ideas. I and Mrs Moffatt have been very impressed with the effort and commitment to coming to this year’s Cake Club; we have had a very healthy 19 students take part. I would like to thank Mrs Moffatt and Mrs Gande for the support they have given to me over the past weeks.

Well done to the following students who are taking part in this year’s Cake Club:

Emily Harris 7A, Holly Dicko 7B, Lauren Simson 8D, Shannon West 7H, Chloe Power 8A, Marjana Aktar 8F, Chloe Tahiri 9G, Kacey Tahiri 8F, Bonita Umar 8F, Ellie Lapping 7F, Daisie Gaish 8D, Deanna Allman 8D, Olivia Dawkins 8A, Casey Margerison 8D, Clare Morgan 7F, Daniel Barcroft 7E, Ryley Rogers 7H, Darja Puskareva 7A and Morgan Laing 8H.

Mr Hargreaves Food and Catering Teacher