Message from the Headteacher, Ms A. Sharma:
We held out second Eco day today and it was great to see many students and staff travelling to school by sustainable means – car sharing, walking, cycling, etc. Students learnt about sustainable travel in lessons, they also participated in various activities during lunchtime. A huge thank you to Let’s Go Southall for donating two bikes for our raffle, as well as running workshops on bicycle proficiency and safety.
Please note that next week there will be two further strike days on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th March, the arrangements will be similar to the previous strike days. The school will be open for Year 11, 12 and 13 students, as well as any vulnerable keyworkers’ children. Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be expected to do online learning on these two days. Thank you for your support in this matter and apologies in advance for any inconvenience caused. We will implement catch-up strategies for students in the coming weeks.
Have a good weekend.
Taekwondo Bulgaria Open 2023
A massive congratulations to Lamise 7E who competed in the Bulgarian Open over the weekend in Sofia, Bulgaria. In what was her first international of the year, she point gapped her Greek opponent in the quarter-final and then went on to have a nail biting semi-final against a girl from Ukraine, just narrowly losing out to securing a place in the final. She returned home with a well-deserved bronze medal. It is a very busy month for her as this weekend she will be competing in the Dutch Open and then off to the Belgium Open the week after. We wish her the best of luck in her upcoming tournaments.
Deloitte – Cyber Intelligence Centre
Ansh 12I attended a virtual day of learning with the cyber team at Deloitte – a leading global provider of audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax, and related services. He had the opportunity to meet and have a dedicated Q&A session with a senior Cyber Consultant working with the company. Ansh also took part in the Crypto Challenge, which he won and earned himself a free domain name of his choice for a year!
A-Level Biology Trip to Kew Wakehurst
Year 12 & 13 biology students visited the seed bank at Kew Wakehurst. The Year 12 pupils had the opportunity to sample species in a meadow and coppiced woodland, whilst the Year 13 students conducted a DNA electrophoresis experiment in the laboratory.
Beaconsfield Primary School Visit
To warm up and welcome science week, sixty Year 5 students visited the science department to take part in various chemistry practicals. The students enjoyed separating metals from a mixture using magnets and a sieve to separate objects of various sizes. Students carried out filtration and finally switched on Bunsen burners to carry out crystallisation. Students commented that they could not wait to join Villiers.
Cooking Club
In this week’s Cooking Club students made plain cookies and demonstrated skills including egg cracking, whisking, shaping, sanitising, and turning the oven on. They also made tomato pasta and showcased skills such as cross chopping, peeling, cutting (bridge method) and seasoning.
Creative story writing competition
Over 100 students from Year 7 – 10 participated in the English Department Creative Story writing competition. The received entries were innovative, imaginative and showcased the enthusiasm of our students. The top five winners received a star achievement certificate, book token, bookmark, a book and a trophy.
Launching the Big Villiers Read Challenge 2023
After the successful launch of Big Villiers Read (BVR) Challenge in 2021 and its continued success in 2022, this year’s Big Villiers Read challenge will be bigger and better and what better way to launch this, then on World Book Day! Students who complete six books will be awarded a range of prizes! Students can speak to their English teacher for further information.
The Sher Jung Foundation Creative Writing Competition
The Sher Jung Foundation is a charity recently formed in loving memory of Sher Jung, a well renowned Punjabi author who died in 1996 aged fifty-nine. Its premise is based on the values that were so dear to him and whose legacy can now flourish embedded within the core aims of the charity. Sher Jung was not only a published author of thirteen books in Punjabi and Hindi, but also a teacher and Headmaster in India. His passions were writing and education, and he was focused on ensuring this was provided to everyone regardless of their means. He taught many students for free. His dream was to become a full-time writer, but this was not financially viable for many Punjabi authors who had emigrated to the U.K. for economic reasons. This charity is therefore holding and carrying this flame in providing and promoting education and literacy, and aims to provide aspiring writers support through various means. Although the charity has a bias to South Asian writers, it is not limited to that alone and would support any writer.
NFL Flag Training Session
Twelve Year 9 students attended the first all-girl NFL flag training session. They were able to meet players from the New York Jets and Chicago Bears. During the Q&A session Villiers received their playing kit for the tournament and shortly after began their first training session. The girls are extremely excited for this opportunity and are looking forward to the next training sessions.
World Book Day and Spelling Bee for Languages Celebrations
Mr Jones awarded Year 7 students certificates for the successful completion of their Spelling Bee for Languages competition. Students have put effort and pride into their work. They have worked tenaciously in class and independently, to achieve this success. Their aspirations, tenacity and resilience are exemplified with these certificates. These awards are particularly relevant on World Book Day, as students have been reading avidly for enjoyment, to understand the world and to broaden their horizons. Congratulations to Hafsa 7I, Maninder 7S and Bahra 7L, who are our school foreign language Spelling Bee champions. They were able to say and spell more words in French or Spanish in one minute than anyone else in Year 7. They will now go through to represent the school in the London Regional Spelling Bee competition on Thursday 30th March, which is stage 3 of the competition.
Year 7 Assembly – Raising Awareness for LGBTQ+
Great Britain is fiercely proud to be an inclusive country that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community. Ms Welsford’s Year 7 assembly educated students on the enormous achievements and strides that have occurred in the U.K. regarding the LGBTQ+ community.
This year marks twenty years since Section 28, the law that banned “promotion of homosexuality” in the U.K., was repealed. It is fifty-one years since the first Pride was held in 1972 in London. Ms Welsford spoke about Pride and the UK’s LGBTQ+ peoples.
In the 1990s the World Health Organisation declassified same-sex attraction as a mental illness. Since then legislation has been passed that has led to enormous changes that makes the U.K. and Northern Ireland an inclusive nation.
One can join the army, can adopt children, have same-sex marriages and live as loving couples. LGBTQ+ persons have equal access to goods, facilities, services, education and public functions regardless of their sexual orientation. The assembly raised awareness of historical milestones and the continuing achievements of LGBTQ+ peoples.
Year 13 Chemists
Students have been busy completing their Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC), which are mapped against the specification criteria. Students have become self critical learners and gained confidence in their practical work. The CPAC-PAGs allow experiments to be truly experimental, with room for learning from mistakes. Our Year 13 students are working safely together as scientists, paying attention to detail, and gathering data to get reliable and accurate results.
Science Club
Sustainability – solar panels and plants: Science Club students carried out comparisons between solar panels and plants, as both are able to absorb light energy. Can the school grow more plants? Can the new buildings be made more sustainable? These questions were their aims. KS3 students enjoyed carrying out the investigations and working with one another during their lunchtimes.
Lost Property
Advance warning for students’ lost property, which will be placed on the stage in the school hall on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st March.
Multi-Cultural Evening
Students have been rehearsing for Multi-Cultural Evening and we would love for parents to attend on Tuesday 21st March at 6:00pm. Tickets are available to purchase for £5 on ParentPay.
Welfare and Medical Updates
The School Aged Immunisation Team will soon be visiting Villiers to deliver the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination for Year 8. Electronic consent forms have been sent to you via email, this must be completed as soon as possible, even if you do not consent, please select ‘no’. Please read the letter sent out for further details, and if you have any questions you may contact the Welfare Officer.
A reminder that students should not be carrying any medication, unless it has been prescribed by the doctor to take in school and a medication consent form has been filled in for safety purposes. Due to this cold weather lots of viral infections have been going around and students are getting sick. Please encourage your child to keep warm, have a good breakfast and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. Students are not allowed to call home for sickness, as this disrupts the school. If students are feeling unwell, they must got to welfare and parents/carers will be contacted if necessary.
Medical Tracker App
Please read the letter attached for further information about the new medical app the school will be using.
Attendance and Punctuality
Please make sure your child attends school everyday and on time (by 8:30am at the very latest but we encourage students be here by 8:20am), so they are able to get to their form class. As we know, having good attendance is vital and research suggests that students that have the best attendance are more likely to feel happier and have a greater sense of belonging. Please do not book any holidays before or after the Easter holidays. The school will not be authorising any holiday leave requests during term time and any families still taking unauthorised holiday leave may be fined. For any emergency situations, please visit the school to complete a leave of absence form explaining the emergency.
Message to Parents of Year 11 – 13 Students
Students sitting any exams this summer need to be available for the full exam period. They cannot book holidays until Thursday 29th June 2023 onwards.
They will not know their summer exam timetable until later this 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 2023, as this is the contingency day, alongside two contingency afternoons on Thursday 8th and Thursday 15th June 2023.
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.
Community Wellbeing Café
The Wellbeing Café is a social initiative to meet the needs of the community. Open on the last Friday of each month from 10:30am – 12:30pm at Hanwell Community Library. It is a place to meet new people, seek support on emotional health, engage in taster workshops around parenting and family relationships, and a chance to try homemade refreshments, teas & coffees from around the world in a safe space. Whatever the reason, come along to the Wellbeing Café just to have a talk!
- When: 31st March 2023 from 10:30am – 12:30pm
- Where: Hanwell Community Library [Address: Cherington Road, London W7 3HL]
- How to register? Please click here to complete the form
Ealing’s Spring Holiday Activity and Food (HAP) Programme
The HAF Programme provides free holiday provision, including healthy food and enriching activities for children and young people in school from Reception to Y11 who reside in, or attend school in Ealing and are in receipt of benefits-related free school meals (FSM) or who are vulnerable and would benefit from a HAF place.
Please take 70 seconds to watch the YouTube video and see what our children and young people get up to in their HAF programmes. Ealing’s Spring HAF Programme will run from Monday 3rd to Friday 14th April 2023.
Throughout the borough, HAF provisions will be offering a wide range of free activities as well as a healthy meal. Eligible children and young people can attend for a maximum of 4 days over the Easter school holiday, with any number of our HAF providers. For your information, please visit Ealing Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme | Ealing Directory (ealingfamiliesdirectory.org.uk)
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