From the Co-Headteachers

Parents/carers often ask how they can support and assist the school. Many of you already do a generous and effective job of supporting and checking the ongoing attendance, punctuality, PPA (homework) completion and reading ability of your child. However, very few offers come in the form of either work experience placements or requests to speak to our amazing students at our I&S Inspires talks.

We recognise that talent is everywhere yet opportunities are not. So, we continue to actively look for, first, Year 10 and Year 12 work placements as well as, second, speakers who wish to inspire students about their own career pathways. If you are interested in contributing to any of these two opportunities, please get in touch.

This week has seen the build-up to our annual, outstanding Track & Field Championships, held over the road at the Osterley track. Throughout the week, our exceptional Year assemblies and daily, face-to-face Study Support sessions have been focusing on student participation at the event. Our mantra is “the sum of the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts.” With this in mind, students have been energetically and collectively selecting their athletic teams with the objective that EVERYONE takes part. This inspirational, active citizenship always produces staggering individual leadership, outstanding resilience, and an astonishing amount of goodwill across our school community.

Finally, with the onset of Eid next week, parent/carers and students should know that anyone missing an internal examination on the same day need not worry. We have scheduled exam catch-up days so that students celebrating Eid can complete their internal assessments and succeed.

Thank you to those parents/carers who have given us feedback on this newsletter over the last few weeks. Do you feel that this newsletter is helpful to you? Do you enjoy reading it? If you have any comments, positive or negative, please use this form to let us know.

Simon Fisher and Jo Higginbottom

Praise

We are proud of our tradition for exceptional educational outcomes. One reason that students achieve at this school is that we encourage parents/carers, teachers and other adults to notice what they do well and praise them regularly, consistently and specifically.

This fosters a positive environment in school. We recommend that all parents/carers keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, as these often celebrate student success stories from across the age ranges.

Club of the Week – D&T Practical Skills Masterclass

Day: Wednesday, 3.05 – 4.05pm
Staff: Mr Elliston
Location: 112

For students who are interested in developing their skills to the next level, Mr Elliston has offered the chance to students to come and learn higher skilled crafts such as jewellery-making and wood-turning. See this ring created by Rian McKeever using silver wire and a blue bead. Anyone interested in learning how to master more sophisticated skills should speak to Mr Elliston directly, to see about joining future masterclasses.

Careers Corner

Free family tickets are available for Step Up Expo, running from 30 June – 1 July at London Olympia.

This event for teens and their parents/carers gives them the opportunity to engage with experts on a wide range of 16+ and 18+ education and life choices including schools, colleges, employment, and apprenticeships. Tickets can be found on their website.

Safeguarding – Water Safety

As summer continues, temperatures are still very pleasant and we are coming to the end of the school year. Soon, our students will be going on their six week holidays but, with their new freedom will come a new set of challenges. Of course, students’ idea of fun while out of school will not be that of others. 

This week we wish to highlight the importance of open water safety. Water is by its very nature hazardous and care must always be taken when being near water margins. 85% of all accidental drownings occur at open water sites. We recommend reading this guidance on how to stay safe.

If you have a concern about the safety or welfare of your child, please email the safeguarding team at safeguarding@isleworthsyon.org. If there is an emergency call 999 or, for non-urgent matters that require police attention, call 101. 

Holiday and Food Programme

Next week, all children on Free School Meals (FSM) will receive a flyer offering them the opportunity to join up to four weeks of sports camps in August. These summer camps will take place on school site and will include workshops about food and nutrition as well as the importance of exercise for their general wellbeing. A nutritious free lunch will also be provided.

Parents/carers should ask their son/ward for the flyer which is, essentially, an invitation to join up. Initially, there are only 30 free places on the HAF programme but this could rise with demand. Bookings for children on FSM will go live from Monday 26 June. The camp is also open to “paid places”, so anyone can attend from Years 7 to 11 for just £25 per day.

Results Days

Now that Year 11 and Year 13 have finished their examinations, attention turns to Results Day in the summer. We have sent full details of the arrangements to parents/carers this week; if you missed it, read them on the ‘Letters’ page.

Coming Up!

Track & Field Championships

Just seven days to go until our Track & Field Championships over at the Osterley track. A highlight of our school sporting calendar, all students in Years 7-10 will be involved in a fantastic day of sport.

A letter was sent to parents/carers about it this morning, containing full details about the change to school arrangements for the event. In case you missed it, you can read the full letter.

Word of the Week

The word of the week is advocate.

Pride of House

One students from each form has been rewarded for their fantastic contribution with a Pride of House award. Check out the full roster by clicking a house badge below!

House Point Champions

Another 8 students have won either Diamond or Prestige house points awards this week – the top two honours available. House points are awarded for positive contributions to school life.

Note: this list is accurate as of 7.00am today (Friday). If your child reached a threshold after 7.00am on Friday, they will appear in the next list. 

Prestige (300 points)

Freddie BAXTER (8Ad)
Luke O’CONNELL (9Ad)
Aaron OPEL (7Tu)

Diamond (200 points)

Yad HASSAN (10Sn)
Adyan ILAHUNOFF (7Br)
Jayden PEREIRA (7Am)
Munir SAFI (8Bl)
Nathan SNADDON (10Tu)

News

Primary Workshop – Science

Last week, we wrote about our burgeoning primary outreach programme. It has continued with a flourish this week! Ms Stead and the science team once again hosted Year 6 students, this time from The Blue School.

The title of the interactive, hands-on session was ‘Salty Story’. Students were shown our extensive array of scientific equipment and how it works, before discovering how that equipment could be used to create salt. Students did some dissolving and evaporating, and particularly enjoyed using the Bunsen burners!

It was a brilliant session, with incredibly positive feedback from the junior students. The overwhelming adjective, repeated again and again, was “fun”!

Primary Workshop – DT

It was not just the science team getting involved with primary schools this week. Mr Scanlon and Mr Elliston hosted 60 students from Smallberry Green primary for a fascinating DT session. Students learned some basics about circuits before getting the opportunity to use the soldering iron for the first time. Sixth Form design engineering student leaders were on-hand to assist the Year 6s, who loved getting stuck in!

Badminton London Youth Games

Two Isleworth & Syon students led the Hounslow badminton team to triumph at the London Youth Games tournament this week. This means that they beat out all other 31 London boroughs. The team was led by I&S member of staff Miss George and featured students from across Hounslow school.

Aayan Memon (9Br, pictured third left) and Rory Williams (11Sn, pictured first left) were our two representatives, playing every game for Hounslow. This is the first time that the borough have ever won this tournament, so it is a fantastic achievement. Well done, everyone!

Science Kew Gardens

Our vocational applied science course has again been popular for Sixth Form students this year. It offers a more practical-based curriculum for keen scientists. 

Earlier this week, Ms Thyagarasa and Mr Khan took the Year 12 group to Kew Gardens in June, so that they could bring their study of ‘plants and their environment’ to life. Students spent four hours looking around the gardens, studying abiotic and biotic factors that affect plant growth and distribution. This was a fantastic way to link their classroom learning to the real world and increase their knowledge!

Old Vic Schools Club IV

This year, the school has taken part in the Schools Club programme run by the Old Vic theatre in London’s West End. 30 students have been involved, taking part in workshops led by theatre staff as well as attending four theatre trips. We wrote about the first, second and third trip previously.

The fourth and final trip took place this year, with students going to see a musical adaptation of Bill Murray film ‘Groundhog Day’. It was a great performance, and students were full of praise afterwards. Taffarell Morris (10Tr) said, “It was really good and I enjoyed it – I like the lighting design because it was different to what I’d seen.”

Year 11 Celebration

Year 11s were celebrating on Tuesday as they finished their GCSE examinations! That same morning, their Pastoral Leader, Mr Gaskell, hosted a special celebration assembly. The students enjoyed reminders of the past with photo and video montages of their time in school, from day one in Year 7, through various school events, sporting activities and arts performances. 

Prizes were awarded to various worthy students for excellence over five years of schooling, including the student with the most positives (Jeswin Estibeiro) and the least negatives (Suleiman Khan). The event ended with a delicious barbecue in the quad – pictured above! 

We hope students enjoy a well-deserved summer break and look forward to seeing them on results day in August, before starting Sixth Form in September.