On Friday the 3^rd of December, Year 10 students took part in a communication workshop hosted by the Speakers Trust. Speakers Trust are a charity committed to helping young people improve their speaking and communication skills, who work alongside the Jack Petchey's Speak Out Challenge Foundation, to equip students with the confidence and skills they need to share their ideas and reach their potential. The day was an incredible success and offered our students a platform to prepare for their GCSE Spoken Language endorsement.  The winner of each group will be performing their speech in the Year 10's end of term assembly, and the top three students will be selected to participate in the next stage of The Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge. 

It was a really gratifying experience and helped to boost my confidence. We got to share some stories and were asked questions about our experience. My mentor, Brendon, was really supportive and helped everyone overcome their anxieties about speaking in front of the class.  We got into small group to write and perform our speeches at first and then delivered them to the whole class. Overall, I am very grateful for the Jack Petchey Speak Up Challenge came to our school to do this workshop.

Congratulations to our worthy winners: Kaya Vasudeva, Sanpreet Arora, Simranpreet Sandhu, Mustafa Usman, Diya Harrish, Pavleen Madhan, Shiv Padhiyar and Emily Nicholas. 

Nancy Dutt [10O]

Well done to Palvin Fernandes, Rohut Kumar Bajaj, Aya Galawinge, Yusuf Khan, Simarpreet Khurana and Minhaz Rahman who achieved a Bronze Award and Muna Abdullah and Shenoy Rego who achieved a Silver Award. 

The ability to recognise different patterns, think logically and an understanding of mathematical theory were a few of the skills demanded by the Senior Maths Challenge. The biggest challenge I face while preparing for the Senior Maths Challenge was getting rid of my calculator dependency and using new tricks to solve problems efficiently without a calculator. Honing these skills helped me not only for the challenge but also for everyday use as a student. The Senior Maths Challenge was truly an experience I will treasure, from preparing to competing with the brightest mathematicians around my age.

Shenoy Rego [13]

During October, to express the Halloween excitement, a spooky story competition took place. Students were encouraged to put pen to paper and let their imagination free as they created thrilling short stories that sent shivers down spines. I would like to congratulate Prem Ghatora [8R] on his story called “Her.”

Here is an extract…

“Breathless. Exhausted. Frederick’s breathing grew heavy. His chest ached. His head throbbed. Sweat trickled down his temples. To be honest, he was drenched in sweat. His legs were sore yet he still kept running. The barren dead trees around him made him feel small, weak. While tough gusts of wind pushed him away, the crow song could be heard in the distance. He could hear the rapid unsteady beat of his heart. The air was poisonous and repulsive, making him want to retch. This dismal place made him shiver. His legs were in agony making him want to yell, but he knew he couldn’t stop. Otherwise it would be the end. He couldn’t stop because he was being followed, hunted. By Her… Frederick didn’t even want to recall her name. It made him shudder…”

Brilliant! As a result of his terrifically terrifying tale, he was awarded a quill writing set, a journal and a collection of stories by Susan Hill. Well done, Prem!

Alisha Rizwan [10G]

Parents of Year 13 students were invited to meet with senior teachers to discuss their child's higher education apprenticeship and career plans for Post 18.  Teachers also discussed attainment in the September UCAS mocks and students had the opportunity to review their targets linked to their first choice university courses and apprenticeships.  Given that there were so few faces-to-face parent meeting over the last eighteen months, it was a fantastic opportunity to meet with parents in person.  Parents also appreciated being able to come into school to meet with teachers and the turnout was excellent as over 90% of parents were in attendance.

Mr Slade has worked as a Librarian for over 15 years and is excited to welcome students to our new Learning Resource Centre.

For KS3 students, Mr Slade recommends books by Anne Fines, Charlie Higson, Roald Dahl and C.S Lewis. For KS4 be recommends books by HP Lovecraft, Rick Yancer, MM Kayes, Malorie Blackman and Isaac Asimov.

He is currently re-reading the entire Discworld series by Terry Pratchet.

For more reading recommendations and the opportunity to join book clubs, students should come to the LRC. Students are welcome to at lunchtimes on selected days and every day after-school. 

This year’s Senior Student applications were outstanding.  We had nearly thirty applicants, who all prepared exceptional personal statements to support their applications.  The interviews were as impressive and the panel of Senior Teachers were blown away by the preparation that had gone into the interviews and the clarity and eloquence of the presentations. 

It was exceptionally hard to whittle down the applicants to the 16 required to make up the team but after 2 days of deliberation, the decision was finally made.

The Team have already begun their work with other year groups as well their specific projects for the academic year.

Well done to 2021 Senior Team, and we can’t wait to see you leave your indelible mark on the Heston community under the stewardship of Gurpreet Arora [Head Boy] and Maryam Hussein [Head Girl].