On Thursday 14th September, Acton High School students hit the TV screens in their first ever broadcast from Sky Studios. As part of the BTEC Creative and Media Diploma, a group of Sixth Formers travelled to Sky Studios in Osterley. Students had the opportunity to take a tour of the vast studios and to produce an innovative and imaginative news broadcast on celebrity culture and the internet. One student remarked: "This was a really great experience. Not only did we learn how to produce and present high quality television, we also learnt how Sky operated as a multinational company." Another student added: "It was a really good chance to express our views in a different way. Presenting to camera requires lots of skills that you would not use if your just wrote an essay." The BTEC Creative and Media Diploma is in its second year at Acton High School Sixth Form. Course Leader, Sarah Hoyle, explained: ―Our course is about real experiences. We encourage our students to experiment with

different technologies and try new things. Trips and visits are an essential part of how we deliver the course."

Visit the school website for a full photo gallery of the trip and to view Acton High School’s News Broadcast.

Autumn Half-Term 2013

Breaking News with

Sky TV

1

Headteacher’s Award

for Year 7s

2

Year 7 Archaeology Dig 2

Cadbury World 2

Samba Club 2

Great Pink Bake Off 3

German Trip 3

Silver Singers 3

Recording Club 3

Bronze Duke of

Edinburgh Trip

3

Sports News 4

Coming Up 4

Inside this issue:

KEY DATES:

Monday 11th November

Remembrance Day Service (9.45 — 11.15am) Tuesday 12th November - Friday 15th November My Child At School Coffee Morning drop-in sessions (9.15 — 9.45am) Thursday 14th November

Year 11 Parents’ Evening

(4—7pm)

Wednesday 27th November

Sixth Form Open Evening

(6.15 — 8pm)

For updates, follow @ActonHigh on Twitter

Headteacher’s Message

The first half-term of this school year has been another exciting time for all of us at Acton High School. It was great to see our brand new Sixth Form building fully functional. It has proved to be a fantastic facility and the Sixth Form students are making the most of what it has to offer, including the refreshments from our very own Costa Coffee. We have also been delighted by the focus and energy shown by our new Year 7 students. They have consistently impressed staff with their enthusiasm and strong academic progress. It was hugely encouraging for me to hear from a new Year 7 student yesterday that he is ―loving Science – it’s so much fun‖, and this is just one of many positive comments that I have heard from this very promising year group. Overall, the whole student body have started

their studies positively this year, and I have the highest expectations of them for the months ahead. There have been many exciting developments at Acton High School already this year, including the many and varied activities as part of our Black History Month celebrations. Just one example was the enticing Caribbean Cookery session held on Tuesday 15th October, which saw Food Technology packed out with students and staff sharing the opportunity to learn and practice their skills. The outcomes were, by all accounts, delicious and well worth working for. We have also seen our clubs programme swinging into action with students enjoying themselves through involvement in a wide range of act iv it ies, learning about teamwork and the value of community. One lovely example of this combination has been the

work of our School Choir with the Bakers House sheltered housing complex. This has resulted in many rousing singalongs, with students and residents joining together in harmony. We do, of course, have another challenging year ahead of us, as we continue to operate in a national educational context where rapid and dramatic change is constant, but we will do everything that we can to continue to move the school forward and create opportunities for our students. Your support is vital to us, and we thank you for it. Dr. Andy Sievewright PhD Headteacher

Breaking News with Sky TV

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Samba Club Following the success of the Year 9 Gifted and Talented Samba project for International Day and the Acton Carnival, a new project has been launched in conjunction with students from the University of West London, London College of Music BLOCO group. The rehearsals run every Monday after school in Music Studio 1 and are open to any student in the school. The project is led by Jez Wiles, a tutor at the London Col-lege of Music, who also delivered a workshop for staff in the bor-ough earlier this term.

Forty BTEC Business and Applied ICT students from Year 11, 12 and 13 enjoyed a trip to Cadbury World on 24th September to find out about the business processes involved in the production of chocolate. Cadbury is also a great example of how ICT has been applied suc-cessfully within the business. Students even got to taste the chocolate!

Cadbury World On Wednesday 2nd October, 30 Year 7 students attended an archaeological dig at Gunnersbury Park run by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). Students were able to dig in a live trench and helped to uncover signs of a Roman drainage system. The group also got to sort and date items which had been discovered in other digs. There were lots of interesting items including Roman pots, china, clay pipes and Bellarmine jugs. The last part of the day was spent looking at landscape archaeology. Students had to navigate round the park on the discovery trail. They were sent looking for clues to uncover the history of the park and were able to successfully find remains of the 17th century mansion!

Year 7 Archaeology Dig

During last year’s summer term, our Year 6 students visited Acton High School to see what their new school might be like. As part of this they were all given a Summer Independent Learning Project to complete over their six week break. It contained a whole range of creative tasks including a reading log, an exercise journal, designing a comic book and even learning a new language! The students responded to their Independent Learning Projects

incredibly positively, and some truly outstanding work was produced. The Year 7 tutors were so impressed with their student’s efforts that they nominated two of their best independent learners to receive one of Acton High School’s top accolades: The Headteacher’s Award. On Friday 4th October these students met with Headteacher, Dr Sievewright, to show him their work. In the Year 7 assembly on M o n d a y 7 t h O c t o b e r , Headteacher, Dr Sievewright,

then presented each student with a special certificate and trophy to celebrate their outstanding achievements. We are very proud of our fifteen super stars and look forward to seeing what they, and the rest of the year group, produce for their next Independent Learning Project. Visit the school website for a full photo gallery.

Headteacher’s Award for Year 7s Year 7 Only Zone

For any Year 7’s that are still not aware, there are some areas that are for the exclusive use of Year 7s at certain times. We encourage the use of these areas so students have their own place to play. This is the small media play-ground at lunchtimes and the sports field every Monday for foot-ball. This Year 7 zone is very popular as you can see from the below photo!

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Great Pink Bake Off

For one week in October, students and staff put their baking skills to the test with Acton High School’s first ever Great Pink Bake Off to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Everyone was invited to take part in baking delicious treats, ranging from Spooky Cookies to a Pink Showpiece. All baked goods were judged and sold to their hungry friends and colleagues, raising lots of dough for charity. Thank you to everyone who took part and contributed to a fantastic week of fundraising. We raised £308.15 all together!

Spooky Cookies 1st place: Marius Maillefaud 7T Joint 2nd place: Mia Cinamon Nair 7A Aaliyah Tillie-Aire Mclean 7H 3rd place: Faris Mahdi 7G

Afternoon Tea and Scones 1st place: Nivatha Balakrishnan 8G 2nd place: Raquel Esteves 7G Joint 3rd place: Nithuja Balakrishnan 8N Francisca Cruz Esteves 8N

Pink Showpiece 1st place: Melikah Chaba 7H 2nd place: Ellesse Smith 11N2 Joint 3rd place: Mia Cinamon Nair 7A

In July and September of this year, we took a collective of some 45 ear 11 students into the wilds of deepest Dorset to complete the expedition component of the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. For the students this involved hiking for miles over the

undulating landscape of Purbeck. Along the way, we scaled the walls of Corfe Castle, traversed treacherous coastal pathways, and cooked basic carbohydrate laden meals. While the staff was sympathetic, they were not sufficiently full of

pity to resist the pull of the local takeaways. Things started peacefully enough, with a barbecue on the Friday evening, with the D-of-E-ers attempting to stuff as much food inside them as possible before expedition proper the next day. For the expedition, the students are left entirely to their own devices, relying on their map-reading skills (and their wits!) to navigate the countryside, taking in all the glorious flora and fauna that this wonderful region of the country has to offer. After the completion of day one, students are required to cook a hot meal. A great variety of dishes were created, with a recurring theme of pasta. Day two was more of the same, and our tired charges were bundled into the minibus on completion to make their weary way back to London, and to enjoy the luxuries of a meal cooked by their parents, a sofa and a soft mattress.

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition

Six of our Year 9 pupils took part in the exchange to Heppenheim, which is a beauti-ful and historical town 40 miles away from Frankfurt. The German exchange, which is part of our multi-lateral ex-change project, took place from Monday 23rd September to Friday 27th September. The pupils stayed with German families for the week and had the opportunity to experience German food and culture. The families were very welcoming and pupils were made to feel right at home; during their visit, pupils took part in various ex-cursions and visits to places like Heidelberg and Frankfurt. They also took part in various work-shops on how to make and deliver good presentations. Finally, pupils worked in groups alongside other pupils from Germany, France, Spain and Iceland to prepare and deliver a presentation on the theme of sustainability. Overall, it was a huge success and pupils had a wonderful experience.

German Trip

Silver Singers

Recording Club Launch of a new recording club. Mr Callard, our new Music and Media Technician, has launched a new Recording Club on a Fri-day lunchtimes. Students are invited to sign up for a session to record and a mix down will be created for them to take home. See the Music Depart-ment notice board for more details.

Bakers House Sheltered Accommodation Silver Singers. We have launched a Silver Singers choir project with sheltered accommodation residents in Ealing. Morwenna Spencer (10O), Shakira Bernard (10N) and Caitlin Murphy-Page (11H) have been leading the project with Miss Hunt, teaching the residents various songs that will be performed in a joint project with the school Choir at the Residents Christmas Tea Party and in the school’s Winter Concert later this term.

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For updates, follow @ActonHigh on Twitter

Year 7 students have been punching away the stresses and strains of school life by learning the disciplined art of boxing. Students have been improving at the sport and the numbers of press ups, crunches and squats completed have improved greatly

in the few weeks that it has been going. Students get to meet and interact with other students that may be outside their friendship group, gain confidence and get themselves extremely fit at the same time.

This year we also have several Year 12 students helping with as part of their A Level PE Course. Students are encouraged to attend every Tuesday lunchtime in the PE Department and should come ready to sweat!

Sports News: Boxing Club

Year 8 Tuesday 28th September Acton High School v. Twyford Man of the match: Zakira Hersi The Year 8 football team visited our local rivals Twyford for a tense and exciting game of football at its highest quality. The boys started the game off nervously, but soon united to-gether with a great strike from Mac Gurley giving AHS a 1-0 lead. AHS continued to play some great football and a sec-ond goal came mid-way through the second half from David Longhor. As the time went on Twyford slowly clawed their way back in the game with a goal. With only ten minutes to play, Twyford scored another and levelled the game at 2-2. Although the game was drawn the Year 8 showed great skill, determination and unity. Well done boys!

Football Report

Coming Up...

As you may be aware in Year 10 students take part in a week’s work experience programme. Next year the dates are from 30th June — 4th July 2013. Placements can be found through Ms Jones, our Work Related Learning Officer. Forms will be in registers and handed out to students shortly.

If you think you may be able to find a placement for yourself, please complete the form and submit to Ms Jones as soon as possible.

Year 10 Work Experience Monday 11th November 9.45 — 11.15am Service starts at 10.15am All Year 7 parents are invited. Please RSVP to Simone Stocks sstocks@actonhigh.ealing.sch.uk 0203 110 2413

Remembrance Day Service

The Parents Association provides parents with the opportunities to meet and get to know one another through a variety of social occasions. We want to work with you to make our school more welcoming so that collectively we can support and develop the potential of every child attending Acton High School.

Every parent and carer is automatically a member of the Parents Association and is invited to attend all PA events – or even help to organise them! We believe the PA is an essential part of this school community and currently have Vice Chairperson and Secretary opportunities.

If you are interested to apply for either positions, please write an expression of interest to Ms Lok, A s s i s t a n t H e a d t e a c h e r , jlok@actonhigh.ealing.sch.uk by 25th October. Elections will begin in November. We will announce the result by 11th November.

Future PA meeting dates: 11th November 2013 20th January 2014 3rd February 2014 19th May 2014 30th June 2014 Meetings from 6.30 — 7.30pm in ICT5.

Parents Association (PA)

Wednesday 27th November 6.15—8pm Acton High School Sixth Form is hosting an open evening for potential students. For more information visit the school website.

Sixth Form Open Evening