Trips - St. George`s Catholic School

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Headteacher’s Letter
Dear Parent/Carer,
The Spring term is probably the most hardworking one of the year. I am very pleased with
the progress that we continue to make and we
are determined that our public exam results at
both GCSE and A level will be the best that we
have ever achieved. I am confident that all the
extra efforts that we have been making in
terms of Saturday, after-school and holiday revision will result in very high value-added and
we are praying that the extra push now being
made will bring our students the results that
they deserve.
As a school I have no doubt that we give a really good service to our pupils and their parents. So many of our teachers and nonteaching staff give up their time on a Saturday
and after school to provide extra support for
your children. I am especially grateful to Ms A
Thomas and Mr Martin who are here on Saturday mornings to organise our revision classes.
My thanks also go to Mrs Wendy Kamel who
ensures that both students and staff attending
Saturday morning revision are well fed. I hope
that parents understand that a lot of the extras
that we put on are not available in other state
funded schools.
I can understand that the recent teachers one
day strike may have inconvenienced some parents, however it is also important that those in
the public sector are not overlooked now that
the economy is beginning to recover.
There are several things I would like to highlight in this bumper addition of The Dragon.
Our Prize Giving Ceremony on Monday 24th
March was a memorable occasion. We were
extremely grateful to Karen Buck, MP, for attending and her kind words to staff and students. I am always pleased to read about the
visits to Higher Education; so many of our students are applying for Russell Group Universities and are on track for achieving the high
grades they need to gain a place.
World Book Day was a joyful occasion with
staff and students entering into the spirit of the
day.
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Science Week in March seemed to involve a
lot of exciting scientific activities, including a
visit from a travelling zoo, helping to raise, yet
again, the profile of an outstanding department.
You may well have heard that the Cardinal
Hume Academies Trust have been asked by
the Diocese of Westminster to support Bishop
Douglass School in Finchley as they have not
appointed a substantive Headteacher, I have
agreed to support them on a part-time basis,
but am confident that this can be achieved
without affecting my time and work at St
George’s School.
The recent Parents’ Forum was a wonderful
opportunity for me to hear the parents views on
the school and the areas in which we need to
improve. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. As a result of the last Parents’ Forum
we have introduced a new parent email address, parentcontact@stgeorgesrc.org, to
stream line parent communication and ensure
quicker response times.
In our efforts to ensure a continued improvement in the quality of homework setting and
marking we are currently rolling out, in a
phased way, the ‘Show My Homework’ system
so parents are able to see on line what homework their son or daughter has been set.
Our Lenten Reflections have capped off our
wonderful term and have served to remind us
of our Catholic mission and the opportunity to
renew ourselves that Easter brings.
Martin Tissot
Executive Headteacher
Note from the Editor
Happy Easter! This has been another jampacked term full of activities, trips and continuing academic improvements. As Mr Tissot has
mentioned, our after-school and Saturday revision timetable is making sure that all our exam
classes will achieve the very best results that
they are capable of. Good luck to all of those
taking GCSEs, AS and A2s next term!
The Music Department has been particularly
busy this term, with many of our Year 7s taking
part in a World-Record-Breaking Samba band
(and delighting the rest of the school with their
practise each Thursday morning).
As always, I am amazed by the range and level
of talent that we have here at St George’s and
in this edition we interview two individuals who
have achieved some great things this term. I
would love to hear about other students who
are excelling in areas both within and outside
of school so that we can celebrate their
achievements as a community.
Enjoy your break (and the chocolate eggs!) JB
Department Stars
MFL:
KS3: Yaseen Alkhazali
In each edition a few departments will be
asked to name their current ‘Department
Stars’.
KS4: Zakaa Khaled
KS5: Ruben Almeida
SCIENCE:
KS3: Sinead Stenson
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KS4: Anson Lo
KS5: Klara Albeir
PTA News
Friends of St George’s
The objective of the PTA is to strengthen links
between teachers, parents, students and the
local community through social activities and
to raise funds for facilities not normally provided by the Local Authority.
The committee meets monthly to arrange
events. Our events have included Christmas
and summer fayres, international days, film
nights for the students and a parent, teacher
and student quiz.
If you are interested in joining us we would
love to hear from you. If you are unable to
commit to monthly meetings we are always
looking for people to help out at specific
events.
You can contact the PTA via
o.pta@stgeorgesrc.org or by speaking to Mrs
Greensmith.
Alternatively, join us for a meeting. They occur
on the first Monday of every month and will be
as follow:
Monday 12th May
Monday 2nd June
Monday 30th June (additional meeting in preparation for the World Cup/ Summer Fayre)
Monday 7th July
We look forward to hearing from you or meeting
you at one of our events.
Save the date… Saturday 12th July 2014 St
George’s Summer Carnival! Fete and Football Tournament
Term Dates
N.B: All dates are correct at time of going to press. They are ALL subject to change.
SUMMER TERM:
First Day: Tuesday 22nd April
Half Term: Monday 26th May - Friday 30th May
Last Day: Thursday 17th July
Key Dates
1st May: Year 10 Parents’ Evening
7th May: Year 13 Mass of Thanksgiving.
17th Jun: Careers Fair.
25th Jun: Year 13 Farewell Celebration.
3rd July: Year 7 Parents’ Evening.
12th July: St George’s Summer Carnival.
15th August - AS and A2 results.
22ndAugust - GCSE results and Sixth Form enrolment.
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From the Library
Entangled by Cat Clark
The book I was reading was Entangled by Cat
Clarke. At times this book made me laugh and
at times it made me cry. It is an amazing story
which I think people could find funny as well as
slightly depressing. I liked the story because it
is written from a teenager’s point of view.
This book is about a girl called Grace, who is
17 years old. The story is about what happens
to Grace after she wakes up in a completely
white room not knowing what has happened to
her or even why she was brought there. The
day she was taken she was on her way to kill
herself and while in that room she is writing
about what led her to that point. I know that it
may be sounds depressing but it is really funny. The story unravels as you learn more about
her best friend Sal and her boyfriend Nat, you
learn a lot about Grace and her thoughts and
why she wanted to take her own life.
I recommend this book to people who like dangerous secrets, intense friendship and electrifying attraction.
Amira Jabang Mullins, 9T
The Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
This is a story about a life of a young boy
called Conner whose mum had cancer and
then he had to live with his grandma when she
had treatments. Before Conner moved to his
grandma’s, a mysterious creature, the Monster, came and told the boy three stories and
the boy had to tell the fourth one.
In this story my favourite character is the Monster because he is old and wild; he wants
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something from Conor which is to make the
boy to tell the truth.
Mysteriously the
Monster thought
that the word “truth”
is actually dangerous. However, all
he wants is his attention.
I would recommend
this book to my
friends because it
has features of two
types of stories together. For example, it is a very realistic story because Conner’s mum suffers and
dies from cancer and that can happen to anybody. Also it has a mystery character in the
Monster, which makes this story a fantasy. It
is also very sad and moving story.
Marco Moreira, 7C
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
This extraordinary, nail biting adventure follows
16-year-old Cassie Sullivan as she tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of alien invasion that have already decimated the
population and knocked mankind back to the
Stone Age. As one of Earth's last survivors,
Cassie is left with just her herself and her
promise to get back to her baby brother. All
she has left is his teddy bear.
This book has delivered an amazing story and
brought me alive in it. This was one of the best
books I have ever read and is why I gave it a
definite 5 stars!
This book has many twists and turns and certainly has an unpredictable ending which you
will never forget! If you’re into Sci-fi, action and
adventure all in one then I highly recommend
this book for YOU!
Sam Barroso, 7A
In School
Year 7 have been studying the digestive
system in Science lessons this term…
My Journey through the Digestive System
I have been selected by the Human. Me, out of
twelve of us. Me, a feeble slice of BBQ pizza. Me, a
combination of carbohydrates and proteins. Soon, I
would be passed through the human digestive system and be excreted through the anus.
I can see their teeth all pearly white, ready to
chomp me, churn me, crush me and mould me into
tiny pieces of food. I can feel myself being mechanically digested by the molars and being chomped
and chewed by the incisors. The amylase is bathing
me now, moistening me
and enabling the digestion process to begin.
I am sliding down the
Oesophagus waterslide.
This is it now. This is the
beginning of my end, the
beginning of me going
down… down… down…
Feeling myself being
digested, or at least the first stage of it!
It is burning me! The acidic pit of fury, the Human
Stomach. The burning pit of hell. The Hydrochloric
acid with its pH of 1 comes rushing in and begins to
separate me from my beloved toppings. I can see
my chicken in one corner of this muscular bag and
my sauce in the other. We are also being flooded
with protease and lipase. Oh my God, it is burning
so horribly, however I feel a weird sensation of
pleasure rushing over me as I complete this phase
of the digestion process.
The small intestines are my next destination, where
the pleasure takes on a new form. I am infused with
bile from the pancreas which turns me to a neutral
pH, so that I do not burn the intestines. I can feel
myself being drained of my nutrients and my excess water so I just become a lump of mush, nothing like a slice of innocent pizza should be.
I finally come to the end of my journey, to the end
of my existence. I am approaching the rectum,
where I can see a queue of innocent foods just like
myself waiting to be excreted from the anus. I meet
a very lovely chicken wing whilst I am waiting in the
rectum. While I have this opportunity I wanted to
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say: Dad, thank you for everything you have ever
done for me and Mum, I lo…
I am whooshed out of the anus and into the toilet
bowl with a splash and am overwhelmed with the
fear of knowing that I will not ever see my loved
ones again.
Liliana Goss, 7A
Digestion story
I start my journey in a warm pizza box as a Margarita Pizza. Suddenly the box opens and I am manhandled by a grubby human hand. Why me, I ask,
out of all ten pizza slices why choose me?
I can see a gaping dark hole called the mouth. I am
yanked in and as I do I brush the bottom of the top
incisors. The mouth closes and I am chopped,
grinded and separated from my cheesy toppings
by the pre-molars and the molars. Saliva is squirted on top of me and I can’t breathe. The saliva is
used to soften and moisten me into a small ball to
fit into the oesophagus. The enzymes burn and
sting me. This concoction is called amylase which
turns my starch into sugar.
Then I am hurled into the oesophagus where I see
a trap door called the epiglottis close which stops
me from going to the lungs. I move down using a
method called peristalsis.
When I finally reach the end of the tunnel I don’t
see light, I see a dark, acidic pit of doom. I can
smell the sizzling hydrochloric acid which will bring
me to PH 1. Thud. I hit the bottom. I am swished
and thrown about, acid covers me and breaks me
down into soluble, small molecules. I am kept here
for 3-4 hours. When I finally start to move again I
pass the liver. On the way I am attacked by more
chemicals. The liver makes bile which covers me. I
am covered in thick green goo, no chance of escape. When the bile mixes with me it breaks down
my fat into tiny droplets.
Then I
am passed into the pancreas which adds carbohydrase and lipase which breaks down carbohydrates and proteins.
Then as my horrible journey continues I am stuffed
into the small intestine. This long tube is 18 feet
long! As I am squeezed through, my painful journey continues with thousands of tiny finger-like
hairs called villi covered in capillaries which can
absorb the tiny nutrients and molecules and send
them off into the blood stream.
After that I am put into the large intestine. This part
of the digestive system sucks the water out of the
food, leaving me dehydrated. The water then is put
into the blood stream.
In School
The rectum stores me for as long as needed before
I am finally excreted through the anus. I have a free
-fall of about half a second before I am put into a
white thing. From a delicious cheese pizza, to this,
a smelly brown thing left dehydrated and weak…
Flush, a new journey begins.
Adam Abdel-Shakour, 7A
Climate Change Week
idea that we could use cube sensors to monitor
noise and use double glazing windows to insulate heat- which would have meant that people
will use less heat which was basically what our
task was. ‘Get us out of hot water.’
It was enjoyable and even though our idea didn’t get chosen- the year 8 idea of an Energy
journal was chosen by the judges (Mr Pearson,
Ms Jarman and Ms Tucker) it was great doing
something so creative as this and hopefully our
school’s idea actually do get used.
Sandra Mayele, 9A
Growing Against Gang Violence Workshop
Climate Week commenced on the 3rd March
and ended on the 9th March 2014 this year. It is
one of Britain’s biggest anti climate change
campaigns, inspiring new waves of action to
create a sustainable future, and it is something
so big and important that each year, half a million people attend 3,000 events that it has to
offer. It was fun taking part in this Climate
Week due to the fact I had never done so before, so getting a chance to be part of it was
something new to experience in school.
There were 2 groups of year 7s consisting of 5
people, 2 groups of year 8s and of course seeing as we are the intelligent ones, the year 9s
had one group. In our groups we had to come
up with an idea to help combat climate change,
an idea that could reduce carbon emissions
from heating hot water and keeping buildings
warm. We were given guides about what to do
by Ms Tucker; it either had to be a completely
new idea, an improvement of something that
already existed, an invention (such as a machine) or a way of persuading people. We, the
group representing year 9, came up with an
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On Wednesday 15th January we met a team
from GAGV, including Michael, who came to
tell us about the dangers of being involved with
a street gang.
They warned us of the negative influence that
gangs have and about becoming members,
hanging out with them and the problems of indulging in crime. The gang leaders gain new
members by making them think that they are
their real friends and giving them the wrong
ideas about friendship and loyalty. A street
gang tries to attract members from broken
homes or unhappy families who look to the
gang for protection and acceptance.
Michael told us about the consequences of being in a street gang and told us that better
choices can be made. He showed us that academic achievement, doing our best in school
and working hard are more valuable than being
in a gang.
I thought that Michael and the GAGV team
were very inspirational, knowledgeable and
helped me to be aware of the dangers and
consequences of gang membership.
Year 7
Musical Musings
World’s Largest Samba Band
played. We had smashed the previous world
record by over 500 people!
1675 students aged between 7 – 16 were
playing Samba to raise awareness of the
plight of street children around the world and
the StreetChild World Cup happening in Brazil
during March. Our world record was featured
on a special episode of Blue Peter on Thursday 27th March as well as lots of local and national newspapers.
Fifty-five Year 7 students from St George’s arrived at the Royal Albert Hall on 3rd March
2014 and gazed at the vast gathering of
schools from across London and beyond. After 7 weeks of rehearsals we were stood inside
this historic building and could feel the tension
building up – even before we picked up our instruments. Were we going to break the world
record for the World’s Largest Samba band?
After a pretty warming warm up, we began to
play for real. I could feel the blood coursing
through my body. The sound, I couldn’t describe. This was due mostly to the fact that we
were wearing heavy duty ear plugs. However,
I can say that it was beyond amazing. It was
magnificent!
It was an amazing day. A day to remember.
Now, came the
moment of
truth. Did we
beat the record? The air was
thick with worry. The atmosphere was electrifying. The tension had reached its peak.
The GCSE Music and AS Music classes took
part in an Opera Squad workshop by the English National Opera on 17th March. The workshop, at Chelsea Academy, gave us the opportunity to see a live orchestra up close and
personal. Ali Salim was even lucky enough to
sit in amongst the orchestra as they played.
The singers, who were performing extracts
from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart were
only a very short distance away and sometimes standing right next to us. Their voices
were amazing and they were impressively
loud!
It was a brilliant experience and we were inspired to serenade the teachers in the minibus
on the way back with excerpts from The Magic
Flute and The Messiah by Handel, which we
have been looking at in lessons. We can’t
wait to see The Magic Flute when it is performed by the ENO later in the year.
The official judge from Guinness World Records, Jack Brockbank, spoke. “The current
record set in Brazil in 2011 stands at
1038. Playing in your samba band today at the
Royal Albert Hall is 1675.”
The Royal Albert Hall erupted in celebration. The cheers and whistles were at least 10
times louder than the music we had just
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Dmytro Georgiyenko 7A
To see our students, go on BBC iplayer and
search for Blue Peter from Thursday 27th
March.
ENO Opera Squad Workshop
Musical Musings
Music for Youth Regional Festival
Journey’s Spoken Word Project
th
On 24 February the St George’s School Choir
performed at the Royal Festival Hall as part of
a Music for Youth Regional Festival. The festival was part of a nationwide series of events
which give groups the opportunities to perform
at iconic venues and receive feedback and tips
from professional musicians.
We had
worked really hard to
perfect our
two songs –
‘Counting
Stars’ by
One Republic and ‘Give
Me Love’ by Ed Sheeran. As we took to the
stage in front of the other schools, parents and
members of the public, everyone had butterflies. It was really scary, but fun, to perform in
front of so many people and we sang better
than we had in any of the rehearsals.
The spoken word project was an exciting music project where we worked with Lucie Burns,
a music producer and performer. The project
was part of the One Big Gig initiative across
the country and our focus was ‘journeys’.
First in small groups we thought about the
word ‘journeys’ and the words and themes
were then incorporated into our lyrics and
demonstrated the journey through words. We
then began to compose the music for a backing track before recording our lyrics onto the
track.
Our compositions were then used as the inspiration for a community music piece composed
by composer Kieran Nagi. The piece was performed as part of a community music showcase at Westminster Reference Library on
Saturday 22nd March.
This was an amazing experience as I learnt
how to make and structure a track and in the
end, our tracks all sounded really good.
Our feedback from the music mentors was all
really positive and its given us things to work
on for the future. They even said we should
incorporate some movement although whether
Ms Savage lets us break into a full dance routine I don’t know! It was a fantastic experience
and I can’t wait to do it again.
Venesa Fazlija, 8A and Bradley O’Brien, 8T
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Climate Change Week
Year 8 spent some of Climate Change Week
writing poems based on the world’s changing environment.
At Christmas time in 2013,
there were floods in England like I’ve never
seen.
Many cars, homes and farms were lost,
all because of the melting frost.
The ice caps are melting in the north and south
poles,
causing crazy weather for many poor souls.
The danger is to humans and animals as well,
leaving polar bears and penguins in a living
hell.
They are losing their homes and their children
too;
the poor things just don’t know what to do.
They cannot find food;
they have no-where else to go.
We need to help now and bring back their
snow.
Despite the hurricanes, hail and gale force
winds,
time continues and the world still spins.
But we cannot go on like this forever;
we really need to control our weather.
So when you leave a room, please turn off
your light.
Don’t leave the water running as you brush
your teeth at night.
But hurry, be quick,
this really is a race.
If we all make small changes,
we can make the world a better place.
Lili Bircham, 8P
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I don’t want my family and friends to see the
Earth die
Without fish to swim and birds to fly
With no air for breathing, no water to drink,
When global condition will make the land sink.
I don’t want carbon dioxide to fill the air
To fill our lungs and spread everywhere
To cause global warming slumbering the land
To stop all mess, we need to lend a hand.
The nature is dying together with us
We couldn’t exist here for the green grass
We must change nature from saying ‘farewell’
In case it is dying, were dying as well.
To show our family and friends the beauty of
life
To help polar bears and pandas survive
No matter what, you may only be a teen
It’s never too early or yet to be green.
To claim to the world that this talk should gain
weight
Let’s firstly take part in this Global debate.
Nathan Greenfield, 8F
Mother Nature is healthy
And has beauty and is wealthy
But with global warming in the way
It will take Mother Nature’s beauty away
Our ice caps are melting
And Earth is flooding
Polar bears are swimming
Because their homes are melting
Burning hat temperatures
More gases in our air
Over-flooding Mother Nature
Does anyone care?
I think if everyone teams up
The world can really change
Less pollution will be better for us
Stop driving our cars and lets all get the bus!
Luis Korkou-Sanchez, 8F
Trips
The Wallace Collection
Islamic Patterns Workshop
A group of twenty students from Year 7 to 10,
attended a one day workshop at the Wallace
Collection, Manchester Square. On Tuesday
25th March The workshop was led by an Islamic artist, and after a short presentation students
were given the opportunity to work in the gallery. Afterwards, students returned to the learning studio to produce a geometric pattern using
water colours. It was a really enjoyable day for
all involved, and gave everyone a chance to
consider how they could include numeracy further in their artwork.
Ms Spalding, Art
Student comments: ‘I
learnt that in Islamic
art, geometry is the
embodiment of God,
floral patterns are the
love of God and calligraphy is the word of
God.’
‘As a result of the
trip, I will make progress in my studies because
I have learnt how to draw fine lines and have
practiced drawing accurately.’
The artist we worked with: ‘It was a real treat
working with you and your kids, so come back
soon!’
Year 9 Trip to St Mary’s University – March
13th 2014
‘Nothing can stop us being successful’
When we arrived at St
Mary’s University Strawberry Hill, we
were introduced to
what life is
like as a student and all
the degree courses that are available. We
were shocked at how many different courses a
person can choose to study at a higher level.
We were even informed that you could do a
degree in ‘Beyoncé studies’
After a talk from undergraduates about their
studies we were given a Campus Tout. We
were shown all the different facilities available
eg Sports Hall, Library etc and the living accommodation. This was very interesting and
we really got a feel about student life.
The university then treated us to lunch in their
refectory which we all enjoyed.
Overall the visit was fun, interesting and gave
us an insight into what it is like to be an University student.
We left knowing that nothing can stop us from
being successful and that we should take every opportunity that comes our way.
Amber Dutton 9A
FRIDAY MASS
Mass is celebrated every Friday morning at 8.30 in G1
All are welcome to join.
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Trips
St George’s Ski Trip 2014
On the 15th of February this year, 32 pupils
from St. George’s journeyed far and wide to
reach the
mountains
for the Ski
Trip 2014.
After a ferry
ride, and
coach journey of 26
hours, we
finally
reached the Ski Resort- Prato Nevoso in Italy.
After the first restful night’s sleep, we were
ready for the week of skiing ahead. We were
divided into two groups, and met our instructors who we were sad to leave by the end of
the week.
During the time we did many different activities, such as: a quiz, bum boarding, tubing,
night skiing, went to a disco and more. Skiing
in the day was an amazing experience and a
quite a challenging sport to get the hang of;
however we all did in the end. The trip overall
was fantastic and a once in a lifetime experience which we all thoroughly enjoyed. I would
recommend it to everyone, and we are definitely planning to go next year!
Amber Dutton & Joshua Garwood-Watkins
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Year 10 Trip to Jesus College, Cambridge:
Trips
Humanutopia Trip
On the 10th of March James, Leanne, Emmanuel and I attended a trip near St. Pauls. At the
trip there were a numerous amount of other
schools attending as well.
We took part in many activities and mixed with
the other students. There was also a chance to
win our school £3000 which we won! The competition was to make a product to start off a
business. Our idea was an app called
‘socibag’. It was a way to help children enjoy
learning more where they took part in lessons
which they would get movie points to buy movies.
I have learnt a lot from this trip and it benefited
me greatly because I now have a clear idea of
what I want to achieve and how I’m going to do
it. I also know now the consequences of bullying and other stuff which may affect others
around me.
At first the people who were running the trip
mocked gangs to show us how dumb and stupid they look. This also helped us realise that
there is no need for postcode wars and
showed us the dangers of drugs.
On the whole I found the trip extremely fun and
also educational.
Luke Baiden 9P
13
Arsenal Double Club Trip
Today we went to Arsenal stadium it was fun.
We had a tour we saw everything.
We saw the player’s kit and their changing
room. When we looked at the away team’s
changing room it wasn’t as good.
We also got to see the pitch, it was massive
and we were looking from the best seats of the
pitch.
We had look at the trophies, they had a couple
of them. We also saw where the players’ families would sit and eat food.
We also saw the place where the away fans
would sit and it wasn’t like where the home
fans would sit.
It was a really fun day and I enjoyed it a lot.
Ryan Beckles, 7F
Trips
Brunel University Trip
Selected students were privileged with a trip to
Brunel University by Miss Sozzi on Thursday
20 March 2014, myself included. It was an interesting experience given to us as an insight
into life at university and a motivator as we
gradually approach the time where decisions
are made as to whether or not to continue on
to A-levels and uni.
Brunel University
is
considered a
world-class
university by
many,
let
alone one of
London’s
finest, in the
West London area of Uxbridge. Founded in 1966 and
being close to its 50th anniversary, Brunel University is named after the 19th century evolutionary engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The university is renowned for its engineering,
entrepreneurial and financial qualities, it having the best Business and Management department in the United Kingdom. It also has a
fervid sports environment.
This trip to Brunel University was one of few
trips I can remember which actually kept to
schedule: the trip letter’s predicted journey
time of an hour and a half was converted into a
more realistic fifty minute journey on both leaving and return journeys with very little traffic.
We were directed to the Lecture Centre of the
adequately sized university where we learnt
from the lecturer that over 14,000 students
enrol at the campus and, to the astonishment
of us all, Usain Bolt frequently trains at their
indoor gym during the summer!
A handful of undergraduates of the university
enlightened us with insights to their story en
route to joining the campus before we were
allocated in groups of eight to ten to be toured
around the facility. We were shown the room
of the student touring us, the campus’ library
and shopping section, and the aforementioned
indoor gym which was my group’s favourite
part of the tour excluding the succeeding canteen. By then, we were quite hungry and
knowing we had a voucher of £5.60 to spend
only tempted us further to head to lunch slightly early.
An hour’s lecture was then hosted by European and 2 times British Uni Boxing Champ Patrick ‘Ultra’ Diai. Patrick taught us of his struggles on the way to success, growing up in the
said difficult area of Newham in east London
to being motivated to become an athlete, a
boxer and an engineer. He inspired us to build
confidence in life and to not be disheartened
but educated by our failures on the path to becoming successful ourselves. The humorous,
encouraging and thought-provoking speech
was a great way to end a lively and productive
day.
Isaiah Egwuagu, 10C
Poetry Corner
Heritage
Heritage. My colourful heritage.
When I enter the site of Rio
I see the blue sky.
The sun is shining like
A bright beacon of freedom
Flying in the sky
With the colourful birds.
Red, blue and green
Flapping in the sky.
Also, the beautiful Jesus himself,
Shining bright on a sunny day
With a bright smile.
James Cawley, 9T
14
Interview with Precious
This term we are interviewing two very talented members of our school within the
realms of music and performance.
First is Precious Williams, 11A who entered a tri-borough competition to win one
of only ten opportunities to work with a
professional voice coach. She ended up
not only working with this coach but also
their famous client Jake Bugg! Read about
how she managed to get her place on this
once in a lifetime workshop.
Can you explain what the audition was
like?
It was quite scary actually because it was a
small room and Miss just said “sing now” and I
didn’t really know what to do. I found it quite
hard to begin with and then I just got the hang
of it.
Can you tell us what it was like to work
with a professional singer and their coach?
It was really good. It was so helpful as well
because they taught you so many things, not
just singing but presenting yourself and how to
compose yourself when singing. Working with
Jake Bugg was the most awesome thing ever!
Would you like a career in singing?
Definitely, it’s what I want to do. I feel like that
before I was always singing, writing my own
somgs, playing, stuff like that and then after
this project I realised how much I want to go
into singing.
What is your favourite thing about performing?
It’s got to be the crowd as back stage you can
hear them all shouting and drumming and all
you can think is “this is it. I have to go out
now”.
Is there any chance that you’ll be able to
work with Jake Bugg again?
Yeah, there is actually. He said that he wants
us back to do his tour with him and so we're
going to be singing along with him on stage
when he's in London and doing a few songs
with him. We'll also do some workshops and
coaching sessions with him which is pretty
cool.
Were you excited about getting one of the
ten places?
Yeah, I was really excited actually because i
15
found out that not only did a few people from
this school audition but about 50 other schools
auditioned. I was surprised that I got the space.
I'm so happy and grateful that I did.
How do you fit singing in with the rest of
your life?
I sing everywhere! Whatever I'm doing I love
singing. I've got a manager now so I'll go to the
studio at weekends after revision. It's kind of
hectic but it still works.
Do you ever get scared about performing?
Sometimes when I go onstage it's like "oh my
god"! But then it's good in the end.
Tell us about the first time you performed
with Jake Bugg.
It was strange. It was a different environment
and I was apprehensive at first because I'd
never done anything like it before and didn't
have much experience. After a while you go
back stage and see everyone and it's really fun
and lively. It was just a great experience and
you can never forget. It was strange being on
stage with someone who is so notorious and
you get to be a part of their music that other
people love. It was amazing. You get to flash
you VIP card as well!
Any last thoughts?
I would definitely recommend it to other people,
it was so amazing because not only did we get
voice coaches but we got luxury treatment. It
was in the Royal Albert hall and because of
that I got to work in the royal college of music
every Tuesday. The fact that he wants us back
for the tour is amazing!
Interviewed by Jessica Marshall, 12A
WORLD B
16
OOK DAY
17
Prize Giving Evening
understanding of the expectations that are
placed on her. Vera is a credit to the year
On 24 March we celebrated Prize Giving
Evening 2014. Karen Buck MP joined Mr Tis- group and I truly believe that she will go on to
sot and Mr Mortin (Chairman of Governors) on greater achievements in her future.” Mr Pearcentre stage to award prizes of books, vouch- son HOY9
ers and certificates. It was a very proud evening for winners, their parents and families and
for the staff who presented the winners on the Year 10 Unique Clarke. “Her hard work, dilievening. There were 111 winners in total, win- gence and consistent approach towards her
school life ensure that she continues to shine
ning prizes for hard work, effort and enthusias a beacon of excellence in our school comasm in subjects across the year groups.
munity. We are considerably proud of Unique,
as her character combined with her outstanding work ethic continues to establish her as a
Peer Mentors
leading role model in the school.” Mr Patrick
and Prefects
HOY10
were awarded
for their commitment to their
Year 11 Geraldo Olivera. “He is
roles and responsibilities and an enthusiastic hardworking young man who
the ‘Excellent Code of Conduct around School combines studying seriously with a good sense
of fun and equally important a strong sense of
Award’ as nominated by their Heads of Year
reliability and responsibility. Hence he is on
went to the following students:
track to achieve some excellent GCSE grades
whilst also being an excellent prefect on whom
Year 7 Adam Abdel-Shakour. “Adam is a bit we rely. He gave up the skiing trip this year in
of an unsung hero. His behaviour and effort in order to ensure his course work was all completed to the highest level and by doing so,
lessons is always exemplary, when asked to
do anything he always goes above and beyond shows that he is firmly fixed on his goals and
– he is never satisfied with the bare minimum. prepared to give up short term satisfaction. He
He’s polite, helpful and great role model to the is a brilliant example to the whole school.” Ms
A. Thomas HOY11
rest of the year group.” Ms Savage HOY7
th
Sixth Form
Asanka
Wanniarachige:
“Asanka, in so
many ways, is
the model prefect. He exhibits strong leadership skills as
well as a well
developed
Year 9 Vera sense of perIvanova
sonal maturity. Asanka is a very positive role
“Vera has shown great consistency in her ap- model both to his peers and to those pupils
proach to school life. Having been selected as who are younger than he. He is always good
a Prefect in Year 9, she has demonstrated the humoured, polite, respectful and deals with all
maturity often found in older pupils and an
situations in a reasonable and measured way.”
Year 8 Alaa Muradi. “Alaa is always a polite
and well-mannered student, always smiling.
She has a positive effect on those around her,
she is particularly helpful and always helps me
to get my
lines organised in the
mornings.”
Mr Keeley
HOY8
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Science Week
17th – 21st March was Science Week and the
Science Department arranged a huge variety of exciting Scientific activities including..
Mouse dissections
“Thanks for today - it was the best day. I had a
good experience and learned that mice have
thin skin. It was my first time seeing a body
from inside – I saw the heart, brain, lungs, ribs
and stomach.”
Josef Ibrahim, 8T
“The dissection was cool because you could
see all the inside organs, but it was very
smelly so it would have been better if we had
nose plugs provided to not be put off by the
stench of a dead mouse’s insides.”
Mariam Katushadze, 7A
Zoolab
“Sophie from Zoolab had brought in a tree frog,
a tarantula, a millipede and a corn snake. The
tarantula was dangerous and we weren’t allowed to hold it, but I held the others. The
snake had smooth scales and the tree frog can
stick to things. The tarantula has little irritating
hairs and the millipede had lots of legs.”
James Lawler, 7P
“On Friday 7P embarked on an amazing journey to F14 to see amazing creatures from the
dark depths of the world’s rainforests. Some
animals were scary, some were just weird, for
example the giant millipede – this creepy
crawly lives on the forest floor in the Amazon.”
Joseph Kelley, 7P
“Zoolab was epic! We got to see some animals
from the Amazon rainforest. Sophie introduced
us to Millie the
millipede –
when you touch
her she has a
strong grip on
your hands and
it felt a bit weird
and tickly”
Timeyin
Omagbitse, 7P
19
“The dissection was informative and very interesting. Especially how we got see its brain
and intestines!”
Inaky Asensio, 8C
Year 7 ‘Egglander’ challenge
24 primary school pupils were invited to take
part in the Science week challenge where they
were involved in making an “Egglander”. The
idea was to mimic the landing of Rovers on
Mars. Pupils were enthusiastic and engaged
and were excited to test their egglanders at the
end of the day.
Primary school teachers were very supportive
and took an equal part in the challenge. One of
the primary school teachers said “I’ve enjoyed
this more than the students and now we can
make this again with the other pupils”. Some
of the pupils said that they enjoyed coming to
the secondary school and would like to come
here next year!
Art at St George’s
20
Interview with Jesse
Jesse Anim-Boadu in 8A recently attended
auditions to become a member of the National Youth Music Theatre. He got in! This
amazing company can count some of the
most famous actors, singers, directors and
musicians as its alumni, including Jesse J,
Idris Elba, Jude Law and Sheridan Smith.
Are we about to have the next big British
talent here at St George’s?
Read on to see how Jesse dealt with the audition process and what he wants to do with
his performing.
How did you find out about the audition?
I found out from Ms Savage because she had
preserved a leaflet for me that had all the information about the audition. She put one aside
for me and then explained it all to me.
Explain what it was like going through the
audition.
I had to go to Hammersmith and we went to the
theatre there and we had to wait in this room
with lots of mirrors. That made me kind of nervous. There were about 20 others there, I was
the only boy, and that made me nervous! Especially as everyone was better than me, in my
opinion. They told us to do the three areas of
theatre: acting, singing and dancing. It took
about 3 hours.
Why do you want to work with the National
Youth Music Theatre?
Because I’ve always wanted to persue a career
in acting in the theatre and I have now decided
to do something about it.
What’s your favourite thing about performing?
You’re allowed to be yourself and no-one will
care as they are all aspiring to do what you
want to do, so no-one will care if you mess up,
they’ll be supportive.
What are you most excited about now that
you’re a member of NYMT?
I’m excited about getting to live there for 11
days for them to see what I’m capable of and I’ll
be doing a musical as soon as I go there. I feel
elated that this is happening!
21
What is the role that you would most like to
play?
I would like to be any character in a TV soap
because that’s how people who were like me
became well known.
Do you ever get scared when performing?
All the time! Every time I perform I get scared
because you can’t not get scared, it’s part of
performing.
Tell us abouth the first time that you ever
performed, what was it like?
I was in Year 3. I was doing a talent show at
the school BBQ and I performed Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’ and I was really scared!
Would you like to become famous?
I wouldn’t want to become that famous, I would
like to be famous nationally. I’m scared that if I
become famous internationally that it will
change me and I don’t want that.
Interview by Brittany Robinson, 10P and
Anne Marie Onelum, 10C
Around School
Ms Moore and her students have been doing a multi-disciplinary project on Egypt.
PYRAMIDS
Tutankhamun
THE MOST FAMOUS
KING OF ALL…
The tomb of Tutankhamun was
discovered in 1922 by Howard carter.
When he first looked in he saw strange
gold statues painted on the walls. He
had discovered the treasure of one of
ancient Egypt's most famous Kings.
The body and his treasure had lay in
the darkness for 3000 thousand
years. This was unusual because most
of the tombs had been robbed soon
after the burials.
By Tariq Hassan
22
Extended School
Art Adult Education Class
Learning To Draw
Wednesday evening's from 5 - 7pm
On Monday 16th December, students
from St. Joseph’s
Primary School attended a two hour
workshop in the Art
Department. The pupils worked in small
groups and created
a series of Christmas inspired paper
chains.
During the Autumn and
Spring term a group of
adults from the local
community have been
attending an Art class
at St. George's. They
have been given the
opportunity to not only
learn the basics of
drawings, but to use a
wide range of materials
and consider many different artists.
A new material introduced to the class during
this year's lessons has been oil painting, which
was an exciting new challenge for all.
For further information about the class please
contact Chris Golle at c.golle@stgeorgesrc.org
Goodbye
Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Ms Henderson and Ms Shadev at Easter.
Fortunately, Ms Shadev will not be far away as
she will be taking up a post in St Thomas
More. We wish her all the best and would like
to remind her that she’s not allowed to prefer
them over us!
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Ms Henderson, who has been an integral part
of the LSU team and wonderful support to various departments within the school, particularly
English and Drama, is leaving in order to take
up a post as a Pastoral Leader.
We will miss her bubbly personality and permanent smile but do wish her all the very best
of luck for the future.
Come back to visit!
Youth Club
There have been an awful lot of exciting
things happening at Youth Club this term.
Here are a couple for you to enjoy:
Rock School brings the house down
The St George’s Rock School brought the
house down after performing to the Youth Club
on 20th March.
Battling with stage fright, the bands from Years
7 – 11 performed an eclectic range of music
from Sam Smith and One Republic to Lynyrd
Skynyrd and Black Sabbath. The audience
were thrilled, the performers ecstatic and staff
demanded ear plugs in future. Congratulations
and well done to all those who performed.
Personally I would have chosen, as my favourite band, either the Year 7 team or the Year
11s. I would choose either of them because
they were very competitive.
The battle lasted about half an hour and then
we went back to normal Youth Club.
The winners of the battle got to have a song
recorded, perhaps they’ll get on the radio!
I really enjoyed the whole thing because
sometimes I would like to listen to loud music.
However, not that loud!
Marco Moreira, 7C
Rock School takes place every Thursday, 3.305.30 in S2. All are welcome.
Youth Club Valentine’s Special
Battle of the Bands!
In Youth Club there was a special treat for all
the members, we got to hear 3 groups from
Years 7, 8 and 11 play.
Year 7 sang a love song called ‘Gimme Love’
and the rap from ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ which
was my favourite.
The Valentine’s Special Youth Club was great
fun. There was a range of fun activities which
were related to Valentine’s Day in which I took
part.
It was great fun and I think that everyone enjoyed it as well.
When I arrived, I was so happy seeing everyone dressed in bright red.
I found that the thing that I was best at was
‘Guess the Love Song’, our group only got two
but it was worth a try.
There were all sorts of enjoyable activities including a dance off. The final two members of
Youth Club had to battle it out with their dance
moves in front of everyone. They were amazing!
Youth Club this term has been a wild ride but a
fun one!`
Joshua King, 7C
Many thanks to Mrs Greensmith and her
team for all their hard work and the exciting
events that make Youth Club so enjoyable.
24
KS2 SATs Preparation
In order to strengthen the links with our feeder
primary schools we ran Year 6 SATs Booster
sessions in the lead up to the SATs examinations in May. The sessions started after half
term and ran on Saturday mornings for four
weeks. We are very pleased with the response
we have received from both parents and students who have expressed their delight that
we opened up our facilities to them. Each
week, we had about 70 students attending the
sessions.
To further consolidate our relationships with
feeder primary schools, in the summer term,
we plan to share resources, calibrate ideas,
undertake peer observations and review
schemes of work in key subjects between Year
6 and Year 7 teachers in order to ease the
transition between Primary and Secondary.
Ms El-Bendary, Maths
We catered for students of all abilities and
needs. The sessions covered topics such as
Number, Algebra, Data, Shape and Space using test style questions to improve student’s
numeracy and test skills. Similarly in English,
we offered support in reading comprehension,
spelling and creative writing.
Poetry Corner
Blessing
In this life I live today,
There’s a couple of things I want to say.
I appreciate everything.
I appreciate this day today.
I am lucky I am not a kid
Who’s broke and has to live.
James Melim, 9P
25
Year 10 Work Experience
After searching for work placements at Stamford Brook, Willesden and Westbourne Park
respectively, I successfully secured a job at
Cricklewood Bus Garage (Metroline Head Office). I was not really nervous about entering a
completely new environment, not even when I
woke up at six in the morning and got ready. I
could even go as far as to say I was feeling
pretty confident. It was on the bus there that
the nerves and tension started to build up!
I was shy entering the building at a few
minutes before eight, but one of the assistant
managers was very welcoming and gave me a
tour around the facility before placing me in
the Allocations department to see behind-thescenes of how drivers are allocated to their
bus, when they get their work rest days, and
how they are rewarded for overtime. There
was a time period between twelve and three
where the department was available for drivers to negotiate shift alterations; I was thrilled
with the amount of friendly drivers who introduced themselves to me and invited me into
their conversations as they waited for their
shift to start. It was a great start to the experience and I left at four feeling fairly optimistic
about the days ahead.
Rightly so, as the following day I worked in the
Cash Room where I counted £10,000 worth of
money and sealed it for delivery to Transport
for London. I also worked in the Admin Office,
a very jovial (and my favourite) section to
Cricklewood Bus Garage, where I was taught
to track and register bus curtailments (i.e. a
316 stopped at Queen’s Park Station at 12:00
instead of at its terminus at Cricklewood Bus
Garage due to a road traffic collision – RTC).
Although it involved entering lots of codes
such as bus registration numbers and the
aforementioned RTC, it was pretty fun doing
constructive work all day with the company of
a humorous colleague by the name of Mario
Peruzzi. During my
break times of
11:00 to 11:40 –
became flexible as
the
week
progressed – I would
go to Costa on
Cricklewood
Broadway to get
him hot chocolate
if he was too busy
to go himself and
he would provide
extra money in
case I wanted
something for myself.
Week 1 also involved me chronologically sorting out all 559 driver files and noting down any
folders of departed drivers so another colleague Tracy could update the system, a job
she never had the time to do and was over the
moon when I finally completed it … although it
was tiring and took the whole eight hours of
work (with break in between, of course)!
Towards the end of the week, I was at a bit of
a loose end with nothing to do but I was toured
around where the buses are actually stored on
Thursday of Week 1, where I took some satis-
fying photos to add to my collection. I also offered to help out in the Admin Office where
Mario suggested I always sneak into anyway if
ever I had nothing to do! At the end of a week
that went better than I ever expected, I took
some photos in the engineering depot where I
“lifted up a double-decker bus”!
26
Week 2 commenced just as superbly as Week
1 ended: I was in the iBus department. This
department
would
interest
anyone,
as it allows you
to
see
behindthescenes
of buses
on
routes allocated to the bus garage on the go.
Literally, there would be a tracker for each bus
on the road showing the service controllers in
the department where a bus was and how far
ahead or behind a bus was to another. I even
controlled some buses throughout the day,
sending radio messages to bus drivers to remain at bus stops for three minutes to maintain
the headway or, even better, to overtake the
bus ahead. The service controllers had the
wildest personalities around and were completely “down widda yout” so I felt at home! It
was a wonderful experience and is joint favourite day with my first day with the Admin Office.
During the second week, I was also driven to
Potters Bar Bus Garage to collect some CCTV
with an inspirational character by the name of
Manny who gave me advice on how to achieve
my aspirations for the future and taught me
some valuable life lessons, as well as comparing our incomparable music tastes and discussing sports cars whilst Capital XTRA blared
on the car radio’s speakers!
I was also assistant receptionist and put in
charge of Lost Property which was the most
challenging part of work experience as it required initiative and swift reactions. Questions
such as the last known location of the item and
the time the bus departed the location needed
to be asked to the caller for the bus to be radioed back into the garage, the item to be retrieved and the owner to be called back to
come and collect it. Two people called in and
two hours later retrieved their items, by which I
was left with immense relief.
On the last day I was sent to Driver Training,
27
where I was taught how to analyse driver techniques by an instructor whilst a reprimanded
driver was undergoing a test to secure his job.
The instructor merely showed me how the driver would be marked en route to Harrow Weald
(the end of the test route from Cricklewood) as
it was obviously too much of a high responsibility job to leave me in control of! We departed
Cricklewood at nine and returned at one where
to my astonishment an over-sufficient quantity
of drivers were relaxing around the entrance to
the garage. Aziz, another Admin Office worker,
informed me that there had been a road traffic
collision and a fatality along Cricklewood
Broadway, so instead I had food in the Cricklewood canteen as opposed to the usual McDonald’s or sandwich from Co-operative. The canteen food was blissful – nothing is better than a
gigantic plate of rice and chicken (I’m talking
the whole leg) for only £3.50! I was given a
pleasant send off from drivers and colleagues
alike and left feeling proud of my achievements
but a bit sad that it was all over so quickly!
When I secured a job at Cricklewood Bus Garage, I knew it was going to be great but I did
not know it was going to be phenomenal. It
was much better than I ever expected it to be
and with Fiona, yet another Admin worker,
happily reassuring me I was ‘part of the family’
and the boss telling me to ‘come to us first for
your first experience driving a bus’, I sure cannot wait to return in a couple years’ time for a
permanent placement in the Admin Office and
as a bus driver!
Isaiah Egwuagu, 10C
From the Staffroom
Cycle Trip
Marathon
Over the Easter Holiday, Mr. Onus, Mr. Corbett, Mr. Keely, Mr. Morgan and myself will be
cycling from London to Paris.
The distance we will cover on two wheels is
293 miles.
The challenge being undertaken will encompass a visit through the Somme to remember
many of the fallen soldiers from World War 1
and a victorious finale down the Champs Elysee to complete the trip.
After this I will complete another intense challenge: Tough Mudder. This is a 20km obstacle
course which will push me to my physical and
mental limits, but a challenge I am very much
looking forward to undertaking.
If you would like to sponsor me for either of
these challenges, I would be very appreciative.
You can do so at this link, just click on my
name
http://www.everydayhero.co.uk/
thames_rail_
I am raising money for the Eston Handicapped
Fellowship.
Mr. Roche, PE
On Sunday 13th April, I am running the London Marathon to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
After months of training I'm just hoping that I
don't collapse in a painful heap before the finish.
If anyone would like to sponsor me, I would be
really grateful. Please visit the following website: http://www.justgiving.com/owneremail/pleasesponsor/Claire-Savage2014
If anyone is around central London on 13th
April and fancies pointing and laughing as I
trundle along, all support would be welcome.
Ms Savage, Music
Golf Day
The first bi-termly golf tournament with our esteemed sister school St. Thomas More commenced in glorious sunshine on the championship
golf course at Stockley Pines in late March with 13
golfers taking part. I will add that the term "golfers"
is being used rather generously here but according
to the dictionary, that's what we were. Although it
was beautiful golfing weather, the same could not
be said of the golf on the day!! 9 holes were played
in the early morning sunshine and it was good to
get out there and hit a few balls. After some refreshments, we commenced our competitive round
of 18 holes. Churchill said that golf is a good walk
ruined, and he was certainly right. However, we all
enjoyed the day with memories and a few rivalries
created for the next day out.
Special thanks to Mr. K. Keeley for organising the
day and apologies to the golfers that were behind
us.
Mr McCarthy, Economics
28
Bath Half
On a cold and rainy morning in early March,
Mr Pearson, Miss Meanwell and I travelled to
Bath to take part in the Bath Half Marathon, in
order to raise money for Jamie’s Farm. Mr
Pearson and Miss Meanwell were trying to
beat their already impressive personal best
times, whilst I was running my first ever half
marathon. It was a challenging morning, with
heavy rain doing its very best to hamper our
spirits, but all of us reached the end with the
help of the thousands of supporters cheering
us on throughout the beautiful streets of Bath.
An amazing experience that raised money for
a fantastic cause and was worth every second
of the pain.
Ms Jones, History
Sports Roundup
This year we were delighted to not only take part in and host our first Indoor Athletics
competition but also come first out of all Westminster secondary schools! A hearty congratulations to all those who took part.
Synchronised rebounding.
The perfect turn.
Indoor athletics moves aside now as we ready ourselves for the outdoor season, a new look
athletics kit and winter training will ensure an invigorated team this year with their eyes on the
London Youth Games in the summer.
As we see Liverpool return to their rightful place at the top of the premiership, our footballers have enjoyed some success this year. Not quite making it to the finals, our year 11s and
8s came second and third respectively.
The race for St. George’s House Champions for 2013-14 has begun to pick up pace!
The weekly house tournament system is still in full swing with teams battling it out each week to
gain vital points for their teams.
Current Standings:
Yellow – 595
Red – 600
Green – 520
Blue – 450
Well done all and thank you for your support.
29
Competition Winner
This year’s World Book Day was an exciting mix of fun and competition. Year 7 spend
hours on costumes to represent their favourite literary character whilst Year 8 battled it
out to see which form could create the most fabulous fairy-tale play.
Below are our winners but CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who took part.
Joshua King
Madison Holliday
Alex Oliveira Krieger
Sina Mizani
Bethel Isaac
Year 8 Play awards:
Best Moral: 8M
Best Acting: 8C
Best use of the absurd: 8A
Best use of stereotype within their play: 8F
Best dance moves: 8P
Most original concept : 8T
In each edition of The Dragon we will hold a competition for students to enter and WIN PRIZES!
Keep an eye out for information about the next editions competition!
30