23rd January 2012 - Issue 14

Chiswick Community School, Burlington Lane, London W4 3UN. Telephone 0208 747 0031

Also available online atwww.chiswick.hounslow.sch.uk

Student Services Direct Line 020 8747 6655 to report your child ill or late.

PARENTSYour Weekly Newsletter

C H I S W I C K C O M M U N I T Y S C H O O L

Diar y Dates

The PTA would like to encourage you to attend the monthly Car Boot Sales held on the school site every first Sunday in the month, except in January when there is no sale. You can come either as a seller or a shopper.Entrance – Cars £15Cars - side on £30 Vans (transit & people carriers) £30 Large vans and lorries £35 Walk in Sellers £10Shoppers 50p Car Parking before 9am (includes occupants)£5Disabled parking (includes occupants) £3Tables can be hired at £5 each with a deposit of £25. Sellers are let in from 7am. The sale hours are from 8am to 1pm.Note: Chiswick students may sell their own possessions at the sale as ‘walkers-in’ and will not be charged but if a student is accompanied by a parent with a car, normal rates apply. They can rent a table at no charge using their School Diary as a deposit, but if the items for sale belong to the parents, the normal hire fee applies. The PTA would also welcome hearing from any parent(s) interested in helping at these sales. Please contact Chris Race: gate@talktalk.net

YOUR SCHOOL NEEDS YOU!

JANUARYMon 16th - Fri 27th

Sixth Form Interviews

Thu 26th JanYear 9 Parents/Curriculum Information

Evening

Fri 27th - Mon 30thAS Geography Field Trip

Mon 30th - Fri 10th FebYear 9 Pathways Interviews

FEBRUARYSun 5th

Car Boot Sale

Tue 7thSchool Musical Matinee

Year 7s Girls Make Engineering FinalLast Monday some year 7 students were selected to attend an EDT curriculum en-richment day. Through the First Edition programme, EDT (a Trust devoted to pro-moting science, engineering and mathemat-ics) has been able to offer engaging hands on days focussed on stimulating interest in young people towards science, maths, engi-neering and potential career pathways.

The events have been designed to encour-age creativity and innovation through prac-tical team based activities. During the day, the students took part in challenges design-ing and building models. There was a mix of schools at the event and although they were competing with each other, they also had an opportunity to work in mixed groups for some of the smaller challenges which were focussed on designing a car using force, friction and mass.

The event was held up in London at Glazier Hall, and the 19 girls were accompanied by Ms Dyment and Ms Nisco. Ms Dyment said 'It was a great experience for all the girls. They really stood out amongst the other

schools, with three of the four finalists from Chiswick.'

Two of the girls who were in the final, Donya Shirazi and Tilly Mould, described it as an exciting day., They learnt a lot spe-cifically about science but also design tech-nology. The final challenge was to make a model car that would go the straightest and furthest down a ramp. The 3 girls com-peting did extremely well but they were pipped to the post by the other competitors from St Pauls Girls School.

Congratulations to the girls for being final-ists and for being such great ambassadors for Chiswick. By NiNa Pryce

Hamda is a Year 13 student who recently realised that she could make a difference to people's lives, so she did something about it. London Care is one of the UK’s largest and most successful home care, personal assistance and individual support providers. Their services help people of all ages and abilities to enjoy the benefits of living in-dependently in their homes and local com-munities.

Hamda applied for a care worker job for the company in November and soon was accepted. Having come to England only 3 years earlier with English as her third lan-guage, she had gained enough qualifications to be able to supply care for the elderly and is currently working on her Level 3 BTEC, which is equivalent to 3 A levels.

It works on a rotary system, so at weekends she visits people’s houses and currently shadows a carer but soon will be doing the visits on her own. Enjoying the work plays a key role in why she applied for the job in the first place.

Hamda said 'I look after my Grandma at home so I realised I can do this. With en-couragement from my friends I applied and got it. It's not about the money, I really enjoy helping someone who can't help themselves and making a difference' Having worked with children for work experience, Hamda is planning on next year taking a course at university on child care. Although she loves helping the elderly her heart is in it for the children.

All her teachers are very supportive and unsurprisingly Ms Mills said 'We’re very proud of her and she should be proud of herself.'

CHISWICK ACHIEVERSHamda, A Proud

Carer

By NiNa Pryce

After decisions to change the status and name of the school, it was decided that a new look for the school uniform could be brought in too. These changes are still in their earliest stages but a survey was sent round the year groups to find out what the students wanted.

Students could vote for whether they want-ed traditional shirts instead of the polo shirts that are part of the present uniform. They were asked whether they would like blazers and ties; a different uniform for summer and winter was also suggested.

Once the surveys were returned the figures were counted up and the popularity of each suggestion was analysed. Blazers seemed to be more popular with Year 8 where 47% were in support; Year 9 also had 44% of the year group wanting blazers to be intro-duced. A V-neck sweatshirt was most popu-lar with Year 10 where almost half were in favour of them. As for switching polo shirts with traditional shirts, Year 9 and 10 were in support of the latter, whereas Year 7 and 8 preferred keeping the polo shirts.

Another idea was to have ties that were dif-ferent for pupils in Key Stage 3 and 4, with one type of tie for Years 7, 8 and 9 and an-

Uniform Consultation other type for Years 10 and 11.

All these results and ideas will be presented and discussed by staff, the PTA, our Head teacher, school governors and others before they even start to go-ahead. However, even this early on we can see that students are re-ally interested in changing the current uni-form. All in all, the move towards Acad-emy status, coupled with the possibility of a change in the way we dress for school, makes for exciting times ahead!

By Laura reid

Students Compete to Redesign School LogoAs of March 1st, Chiswick School will of-ficially become an academy. Along with the school changing its name to Chiswick School, it has been decided also to change the school logo and Mr Ryan is giving stu-dents the opportunity to design it.

If students are interested in designing a new logo for the school, they can find all the de-tails via your school email address. Year 10 students, Owen Crote and Marcus Lezard, told me that they will definitely be entering their own designs.

‘It’s good that the school is listening to the students, like they did with the uniform’, Marcus said.

Entries for the competition must be handed in to Student Services by 3.30 on the 31st January. The winner will receive £50.00 and his/her logo will be professionally ed-ited and subsequently printed on every fu-ture uniform, letter, signage and stationery. There will also be two £25.00 rewards for the runners up.

So, it’s time for students to get creative and good luck.

By JacoB dorriNgtoN

ChiswickCommunity School

Hamda Mahamoud Haji, Year 13

Little Shop of Horrors

Feb 8th-9thComing Soon!