From the Co-Headteachers
It has been very busy week in school, but it’s been one of our favourite weeks finishing with three powerful remembrance assemblies on Armistice Day. Our daily learning walks have demonstrated how students are both receiving lots of high-quality verbal feedback from their teachers and contributing positively to classroom discussions.
Within our outstanding House assemblies, a number of key focus points have included messages around men’s health, in particular around testicular cancer and personal safety. House assemblies have also outlined the growing importance of student leadership through our ambassador system.
You can read all the news below. Please do read the full newsletter which also contains information about our values as well as this week’s events such as our historical and memorable remembrance assemblies of which we are profoundly proud.
Simon Fisher and Jo Higginbottom
December Examinations – Revision
The December exams begin for Years 11 and 13 in just a couple of weeks!
Last week, we signposted the exam timetables. If students haven’t already done so, we recommend making a daily revision timetable – this website has templates to help with this. A ‘little and often’ approach is the best way to success!
Club of the Week – KS3 Maths PPA Club
Staff: Miss Highfield
Room: Library
When: Wednesday, 3.05 – 4.05pm
Who: KS3 (Years 7, 8 and 9)
An opportunity for Key Stage 3 students to complete/catch up on Maths PPA with teacher support.
Some students are invited by the maths department to improve their consistency of completion; however, all Year 7 and 8 students are welcome to drop in if they wish to complete their PPA before leaving the school site.
Please do check out our full range of opportunities if you haven’t managed to do so yet.
Christmas Concert – Tickets on Sale!
Our annual Christmas Concert takes place on Thursday 8 December, and tickets are now on sale! Visit our Tickets page NOW to get yours.
At a cost of just £2 (adults) and £1 (children, concessions), this wonderful event showcases and celebrate the creativity, skills and hard work of students in the performing arts. The theme of the concert this year is ‘Our World’, empowering students to present seasonal music and drama featuring languages and cultures from around the world. The event promises to be festive and fun – suitable for all ages. It would be wonderful to see you there!
Coming Up!
- Thursday 17 November – Year 11 Parents/Carers Evening
- Thursday 24 November – Friday timetable
- Friday 25 November – INSET 3 (students do not attend school)
- Monday 28 November – PPA Day (students do not attend school)
- Thursday 8 December – Christmas Concert
- Friday 9 December – Year 7 Induction Assembly
Word of the Week
The word of the week is qualitative.
Safeguarding
Parents/carers should be aware that all schools work incredibly hard at keeping children safe within their local community as well as within school. This is called “contextual safeguarding”. Our current top four contextual (neighbourhood) issues are: mental health, online safety, financial concerns and harmful sexual behaviour. Be assured that we work closely with multiple agencies to recognise, record, report and refer instances when they arise in order to keep children safe.
If you have a concern about the safety or welfare of your or another child, please email the safeguarding team at safeguarding@isleworthsyon.org. Should there be an emergency call 999 or, for non-urgent matters that require police attention, call 101.
News
Remembrance Commemorations
Today (Friday) was Armistice Day, remembering all those who have given their lives in the world wars and conflicts since. Mr Judge (Head of History) led sombre assemblies with all year groups, and several students spoke eloquently, either about their own experiences or reading famous war poetry. Then, a student laid a wreath in the school hall – to directly remember the Isleworth & Syon students who lost their lives in war.
Mr Fisher and Ms Shukla took a small group of students over to the local Borough Road memorial for a short service, led by local reverend Elis Matthews. Max Manson (Year 10) had the responsibility of playing ‘The Last Post’ during the ceremony. All students behaved impeccably during this important series of events and were a credit to the school.
Music Technology Workshop
On Tuesday, four Year 12 music students visited the University of West London / London College of Music. They attended a number of university-style workshops in electronic music production, allowing them to experience university life and network with university lecturers and industry professionals, establishing links to help them build industry-standard portfolios of high quality, as they explore possible futures in the world of music.
This is one of a series of ongoing music industry ‘experiences’ where we hope to establish career and creative links between students and higher education and professionals working in the London music industry.
Hounslow Teen Read Launch
As part of our whole school drive towards reading for pleasure, Ms Squires has once again organised for us to be a part of the Hounslow Teen Read. This borough-wide competition involves students in Years 8 and 9 reading through a shortlist of six books over the course of this term. They will meet during the weekly Book Club to discuss each book before submitting their favourites to the judging panel.
The launch event took place at Brentford School for Girls yesterday (Thursday), with students able to meet the author Sue Wallman and learn more about the process of writing. Students can’t wait to get stuck into the shortlist and share their love of reading with each other and students from across the borough.
Sixth Form Open Evening
On Tuesday evening, we held our Sixth Form Open Evening, with all young people in Year 11 welcome to visit the school and learn about our post-16 offer. We were delighted with a healthy attendance from our Year 11s as well as students from other local schools.
During the evening, the Co-Headteachers and the Sixth Form team discussed how we are uniquely placed to offer students the paltform to succeed, with exceptional educational outcomes and extensive leadership experiences – supported by tailored one-to-one mentoring and outstanding opportunities.
Applications for the Sixth Form are open now. The closing date is Friday 27 January 2023. Check out the application page to read the course guide and learn more.
Sky Apprenticeships
This week, we have some follow-up from last week’s story about the trip to Sky Studios. The staff at Sky were so impressed with our students that the Student Engagement Lead asked to come into school to speak with a wide selection of students in KS4 and KS5 about apprenticeship opportunities at Sky. Several students applied, with four invited to a special insight event next Friday (18 November). There are only 190 places on Sky’s prestigious apprenticeship scheme, so good luck to those students who already made it through the first stage! Keep an eye on this newsletter over the coming weeks for more.
Sports Teams
Saturday was a fantastic morning of sports, with rugby fixtures against Claremont Fan Court School. There were a staggering seven Isleworth & Syon teams in action, including ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams for both Year 7 and Year 8. We have been blown away by students’ commitment to extra-curricular sport this year. Indeed, a stunning 12 sports fixtures took place in a single week! We’re so proud of the outstanding opportunities we offer our students.