Message from the Headteacher, Ms A. Sharma:
We held our annual Christmas concert on Thursday evening. We were delighted and full of pride at the amazing performance of our students. Well done to all those students who participated and staff who helped to organise it. A special thanks to members of our amazing Music department, Ms S. Krenca, Mr. E. Houlihan-Jong and Mr C. Lucas for their hard work and commitment to getting the students to perform at such high standards.
Please note that the last day of the term is Friday 16th December and the school will finish at 12:30pm. There will be no lunches served in the canteen at 12:30pm but there will be an extended break at which time, students will be able to purchase any hot snacks.
I would like to thank Mrs Elizabeth Mee, the chair of Governors, for all her hard work and support given to Villiers for over ten years. She has decided to step down as the Chair of the governing body but will remain as a governor for the remainder of this academic year. During her tenure, Mrs. Mee has worked with three different Headteachers and has overseen a very successful period for the school, including a significant expansion to student numbers and facilities, many positive Ofsted inspections culminating in an ‘Outstanding’ outcome from the last inspection in 2019.
Throughout her leadership, Mrs. Mee has not only shown an unrelenting commitment to improving the quality of education at Villiers but also, having led as SEND Governor for some time, the expansion of provision and support for the students in this school. Over the last four years, Mrs. Mee has been instrumental in helping the school not just meet the ever-changing needs of running a school under Covid-19 regulations but has supported the drive towards getting the replacement for the ‘N’ block, attending numerous meetings with the local authority, the contractors, and other stakeholders. She has visited the school weekly and has always made herself available for guidance, monitoring and discussions for any concerns or issues. Mrs. Mee is highly respected by all and she has dealt with potentially some very difficult matters fairly, diplomatically and with a calm composure. We cannot thank her enough for all the support and care she has shown over the last six years. She has made a tremendous difference to the school and I am grateful to have worked closely and learned so much from her. We will miss her support and guidance but I also understand her wish to spend more time to pursue her hobbies. We wish her all the best.
Have a great weekend.
Year 13- science trip
The Year 13 BTEC Applied Science class had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Medicines Compliance laboratory in Teddington. This is the British government chemical laboratory that has the sole responsibility of quality assurance of all the medicines and food products consumed in this country. The students were treated to presentations on how high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography machines are used to test samples of medicines and food substance to check their safety by determining level of impurities. The laboratory uses the most advanced equipment, which our students would not have had the opportunity to see in operation without this worthwhile visit.
Medicine Society
The Medicine Society at VHS, was founded by a few Year 13 students and is currently run by; Muhammad 13E, Kiran 13V, Aiswariya 13L and Maheshwari 13L. This student-led club has offered their time to work with Year 12 students to help prepare their applications to study medicine, dentistry or to apply for admission into Oxbridge. They have supported them in becoming distinguished candidates for these prestigious courses and institutions.
MFL competition
Rida 9H has been teaching a Year 7 Spanish class and sharing her strategies for memorising & spelling fifty words in Spanish. All students in Year 7 to 9 will be participating in class competitions for French and Spanish next week, with a chance to represent the school next year. Please do support your child at home by testing them. You do not need to know the language to do so.
Brunel STEM Masterclass
On week four of the STEM Masterclasses, Jathushigah and Rida explored how to collect data about peoples’ preferences accurately. They were given drink A (Pepsi) & B (Coke) and had to investigate which drink people preferred. The overall results showed that all participants agreed that Pepsi was much sweeter than Coke. In the afternoon, they experimented with paper and card helicopters and found that card helicopters went down quicker than paper ones due to card being heavier than paper. They then worked in groups to customise a bigger helicopter and competed to see which one went down the fastest. On week five of the masterclass, they learnt about space and made an invention, which blocked communication signals from the phone using as few recyclable materials as possible. They worked in teams and attempted to cover a phone with an aluminium container, then put an empty crisp packet over it. In the testing process they had to call the covered phone. If the phone made a ringing sound, this would mean that they did not meet the criteria. Their team successfully managed to complete the challenge.
Year 7 & 8- British Museum trip
Twenty pupils were selected from Year 7 & 8 to attend the British Museum trip for their outstanding achievement in history this term. They went on a fifteen-object trail around the museum exploring objects such as the Rosetta Stone, which was used to decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics to the Sutton-Hoo ship burial from Anglo-Saxon England. Students were tasked with becoming critical museum visitors, questioning the objects, their origins and placement in the British Museum.
DEI in science- Islamophobia Awareness Month
November celebrated Ibn Al Haytham, a Muslim scientist who did phenomenal work in studying optics. The science department had a difficult time selecting the top three from a huge volume of entries. Congratulations to Siya 8L, Avneet 7V & Dhruv 10S for their winning entries. Students have been awarded a certificate and an exciting book prize.
Debate Mate
Students from Debate Mate met with professionals from Euromoney to learn about adult lives of work and the path that these individuals had taken to get to their current profession. Students then created a pitch for a new product to combat the cost-of-living crisis. They were also reassured to learn more about “choices in life” and how “paths towards things are not final” but there is lots of flexibility in choices for jobs and life pathways.
Jack Petchey speak out challenge
Well done to all Jack Petchey speak out challenge semi-finalists who spoke in Year 8 assembly. A huge congratulations to Arpan 10I who has been put through to the regional finals taking place at the beginning of January. Arpan has been tenacious, ambitious and professional.
Christmas charity day at Villiers
For our Christmas charity day at Villiers, teachers and 6th Formers wore Christmas jumpers and Year 7 to 11 students wore Christmas socks and donated £1 to support ‘Kids Cancer Charity’. The student leadership team sold cakes and Christmas accessories at lunch time in order to raise money for the cause. The accessories will continue to be sold by the leadership team over the coming week and the final amount raised will be published in our next bulletin.
Villiers baking contest
As part of the Christmas charity day, the student leadership team held a baking contest in the 6th Form centre. Students baked some delicious entries! Ms. Qadri, Ms. Tuac, Ms. Boliya, Ms. Malik and Mr. Hudson had the difficult task of choosing a winner. Ultimately Jiya 13E was crowned star baker and the cakes were sold to raise money for ‘Kids Cancer Charity’ at lunch. The bake sale alone raised more than £250. Well done to the charity leads, Jiya 13E, Nikisha 13E and Heli 12E for putting together the successful event and the rest of the charity reps and leadership team for their support.
Stretch and challenge
Fifty Year 10 & 11 students were taken on a reward trip to Poetry Live at the Dominion Theatre. It was an excellent day out and the students were given the opportunity to see some of the poets from their GCSE anthology perform their poems live, followed by a Q&A. Farjin 10E reflected on the trip saying “I found the poetry trip really helpful, as I was able to add contextual details for some of the poems that I had already studied. It was interesting listening to the poets talk about their experiences and I was intrigued by some of their other poems. My favourite poet is John Agard: he was really fun to listen to.”
Year 8- Junior NBA Basketball
The Year 8 Junior NBA Basketball team scored an impressive victory over Twickenham school. The players went out and performed exceptionally well and showed great character to get the win.
Reading list
Please see the links below to the 100 best children’s books and other recommended reads for gift ideas over this Christmas term. Each link has a section for different age groups:
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-recommendations/100-best-books/
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2022/03/best-childrens-books-stories
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-recommendations/best-new-books/
25 Best Science Fiction Books for Kids
30 Great LGBTQIA+ Books for Kids and Teens
Christmas dinner menu
Group A Strep/ Scarlet Fever
Please take the time to read the following information regarding Group A Strep/ Scarlet Fever.
Young People’s Centre
Please read more to find out about the local and free, amazing services available to to students outside of school hours. This is an opportunity for students to gain many key skills, qualifications or just the chance to meet up with friends.
Christmas holiday supermarket vouchers to support families
Please click on the link below for further information regarding Christmas holiday supermarket vouchers to support families:
Allergy form
Please ensure you inform the school of any new information relating to your child’s allergies by completing the following Microsoft Form by Friday 16th December:
Mental Health article
Please click on the link below the access top tips on how to talk to your children about their feelings:
https://cloud.brandmaster.com/shared/assets/9711206c67008fa6f009
Message to parents of Year 11 – 13 students
Students sitting any exams next summer need to be available for the full exam period. They cannot book holidays until Thursday 29th June onwards.
They will not know their summer exam timetable until next year, as some exams are still being moved due to clashes. However, regardless of when their last exam is, they must be available up until Wednesday 28th June, as this is the contingency day, alongside two contingency afternoons on Thursday 8th and Thursday 15th June.
Contingency dates are added in case there is a national or local emergency and an exam has to be moved and students must be available for this.
School production
We have officially started rehearsals for this year’s production of ‘Arabian Nights’. We are very excited for you to see it! Please be aware that rehearsals run through the majority of the Winter term and do not finish until 5pm. With the dark nights drawing in, please make plans for your child to get home safely whether that involves picking them up or arranging for them to walk home with an older student in the cast. They are working very hard and we would like all of them to continue attending.
Photographs
School photographs day took place on Friday 21st October and the company has planted a tree on behalf of Villiers High School. All orders placed will be sent direct to parent’s home addresses within 10 working days of ordering.
Please note all images are still available for parents to order, however there will now be an increased charge of £3.99 for the delivery.
Sustainability updates
STARS project
As part of our STARS project, Villiers’ choir and band recorded a beautiful version of ‘Walkin’ an’ Wheelin’ in a Winter Wonderland’. This remix of a classic Christmas song encourages people to keep walking, cycling and scooting to school even over the colder Winter months – and gets people in the Christmas spirit! Please listen here: https://youtu.be/gFefW0IMe1o
Let’s Go Southall
Villiers is pleased to be working with Let’s Go Southall, a community organisation that aims to get Southall more physically active. Let’s Go Southall prioritises change from within communities, and they want to hear your views about travel barriers in Southall. Please complete their survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSch4KG3uhEZS7_0Bj6DhBGXQBFr6cB2nQlHpgooPJuB2v81mw/viewform
Let’s Go Southall also holds weekly bike rides that offer free training, group rides and an excellent atmosphere. Please see the timetable attached.
Key forthcoming dates
Get in touch
If you have any suggestions on how to improve the school further or any concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch via email: info@villiers.ealing.sch.uk