Week 16 (16-20 December 2024)

“Completion Crowns the Task”

More about our theme of the week

The theme of this last week of term was ‘Completion Crowns the Task’ – one English translation of our Latin motto, ‘Finis Coronat Opus’. This is the message and mantra that we always impart to students – that working hard, and thinking hard, will result in exceptional educational outcomes. We are proud of the progress that our students make, but we know that this is only possible if they work hard every single day. We hope that students take some time over the holidays to reflect on how they have improved so far this year – and how they can go even further in the Spring Term.

December Examinations Finish

Well done to Year 11 and 13

This week, the December examinations ended for students in Years 11 and 13. Over the last two weeks, these students have sat internal examinations in each of their subjects – to get a sense of their progress as well as what they need to do to improve further ahead of the public exams next summer. Results will be issued in the new year.

Well done to all students for their hard work and commitment throughout the term – and thank you to our exams support staff team for the extraordinary amount of work that goes into these assessments. At the start of the Spring Term, we have the Year 12 internal school exams plus external vocational exams for KS5 students – students should remember our revision mantra of ‘little and often’ as they head towards the holidays. 

Coming Up!

Dates for the diary, into the new year

You can access the entire calendar via this link.

Partnership Working – Old Isleworthians Sports Club

An invite to this year’s school vs club fixtures

In school, we operate numerous highly successful external working partnerships. One of our most historical and powerful is with The Isleworthians. Started in 1902 and based at the Memorial Ground on Wood Lane, the Isleworthians Sports Club is the centre of our local sporting community. The club provide an environment that encourages sporting and social opportunities for the whole Isleworth community as well as the “next steps” for many of our own students. Indeed, like the school, they practice and promote competitive sport which is inclusive to all groups, always upholding sporting excellence and the values of fair play. It should come as no surprise that their motto and mantra is the same as our own – the end crowns our work.

One shared key role of both the school and the Isleworthians is to connect present members of our school community as well as our alumni – school friends, teammates and colleagues. Given this, we would like to invite all students as well as parents/carers to our annual school versus club sports fixture tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 21 December). This year will a double-header with both rugby and football matches being played in succession. Everyone is welcome.

Co-Heads Rewards – Autumn Term

Rewarding students for their sustained contribution to school life

As the Autumn Term comes to an end, the Co-Headteachers asked each Pastoral Leader to nominate two students per year group to attend a special celebration event in the Dining Rooms. Students were nominated for being a top performer in their year group – be that academically or in terms of their wider commitment to our ethos. These students epitomise what it means to be an Isleworthian and ‘buy in’ to the school’s goals and values.

The Co-Heads asked the students about their progress this year as well as the ways in which student life could be improved in school. This sort of student voice is incredibly important as we seek to continually improve. We are grateful for their feedback!

Seasonal Crime

A reminder to stay vigilant over the festive season

With the dark nights now clearly upon us, we have been communicating to students through assemblies how, unfortunately, there is an annual, seasonal rise in local crime over the Christmas holiday period; this is especially linked to street robbery and, in particular, bicycle and/or mobile phone theft. Important messages from our Safer Schools (police) Officer (SSO), PC Dixon, include:

• being vigilant and not hanging around in large groups which might draw undue attention 
• reporting all emergencies immediately via 999 and non-emergencies via 101 or the Met’s online reporting system
• after-the-event reporting can also take place through face-to-face interactions with our highly effective Pastoral Support Managers (PSMs). In-school, our PSM team are the single point of contact (SPOC) for all incidents. 

You can obtain more guidance from this Metropolitan Police letter.

Winter Concert – Feedback

Some visitor feedback from last week

This year’s Winter Concert was another triumph – in case you missed our full report, check out last week’s Isleworthian. At the event, attendees were encouraged to complete a “feedback bauble” and hang it on the tree – which has had pride of place in the school foyer this week (pictured). We wanted to highlight just some of the overwhelming feedback we received from guests below. Thank you for supporting the arts at I&S.

• “Everyone participating was full of energy and we enjoyed every moment of it. Thank you for such a lovely evening.”
• “An incredible evening of music and drama from the students – so much talent and hard work. Thank you to the performers, backstage team, staff and site team for a wonderful festive event!”
• “Was so impressed with the confidence exuded by the performers.”
• “What an incredible show! So much talent and hard work – great to see such confidence on stage.”
• “Thank you to all – we are so grateful to have such wonderful staff for our son.”
• “An amazing evening, full of wonderful performances. All the performers were exceptional, and their hard work and dedication showed.”
• “How extraordinary, magical, inspiring, incredible the boys are, carefully guided by the most delightful teachers. A true Christmas gift. Thank you.”
• “Really enjoyed the whole evening – what an amazing way to show off the stars of I&S.”
• “Great event celebrating all abilities. Loved the passion and support of staff.”
• “What a perfect blend of music, drama and recital.”
• “Thank you to all the teachers for making I&S such a great school.”

Extra-Curricular Round-Up – Autumn Term 2024

A summary from our Extra-Curricular Coordinator

The Autumn Term has lived up to our constant drive to offer outstanding opportunities to our students. With a total of 55 clubs, ran by 31 staff, the boys have been able to discover new crafts, practice already loved sports, revise, perform and learn more about cinema. This has widened their horizons and enriched their learning experiences. In total, there have been an amazing 3,575 attendance marks registered on our system! We are delighted that so many students took on the opportunities offered to them day in, day out.

The top attender this term was Roo Clark (9Sn, pictured centre below), who received 50 attendance marks. Kairos Karchenko (7Sn, left below) and Vedansh Scindia (8Br, right below) were tied in terms of number of opportunities attended, with each student taking part in nine different clubs this term!

Keep an eye on the website in the New Year for an updated Spring Term timetable.

Pride of House

A new set of award winners

The final Pride of House awards for the year have been revealed – 40 outstanding students who have shown dedication and commitment to school life.

Click a house badge below to see who they are!

House Point Champions

A student reaches 250 house points!

In school, students earn house points for outstanding contributions in all aspects of school life including lessons, PPA (homework), extra-curricular opportunities, student leadership and citizenship. At various milestones, certificates are awarded.

One student has already reached the Diamond threshold – meaning they have received 200 house points this school year. Well done to Arjan Rajan (8Am, pictured right) for this outstanding achievement!

Please note that we will update this weekly as more students reach the threshold. There are five more students within touching distance of reaching this impressive milestone.

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.

Safeguarding and Personal Development

Keeping children safe over the holidays

Domestic Abuse

Not all families have a restful, peaceful festive break as, unfortunately, rates of domestic abuse increase over the Christmas period. Given this, we regularly signpost Hounslow’s One Stop Shop drop-in service which is based at the Holy Trinity Church, High Street, Hounslow, TW3 1HG. This service provides free guidance on family law, protection orders, housing, benefits, etc to anyone affected by domestic and sexual violence.

As a general reminder, any child who is witness to domestic violence is also regarded as a “victim”. The contact details for this support are: 07810031780. 

“If you don’t know, don’t go”

Coming towards the Christmas party season will see many young people heading out to celebrations, often in the homes of friends’ or acquaintances. Although many of these parties will end with nothing worse than tiredness, other events may lead to greater problems, this includes sexual exploitation, drug use and/or other risky behaviours. In view of this, police forces across the country are signposting key messages to young people in order to keep them safe. Information from West Yorkshire Police caught our eye. This weblink provides information for young people about the potential dangers of house parties, and how to keep themselves safe. We also recommend this resource, which discussed other pitfalls and advice about having safe festival fun.

The school is closed from 12.30pm on Friday 20 December and reopens on Tuesday 7 January at 8.25am. If you have a concern about the safety or welfare of your child during the holidays, please email the safeguarding team at safeguarding@isleworthsyon.org. A member of staff will be monitoring the account. If there is an emergency call 999 or, for non-urgent matters that require police attention, call 101.

News

Celebrating our students, in a multitude of ways

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Senior Awards Evening

On Monday, we were delighted to host our Senior Awards Evening, celebrating students in Years 10-13 from the 2023-24 academic year. We once again held the event in December so that our leavers could attend, as many of them have just finished their first semester at university.

In total, 137 students received awards during the hour-long ceremony. We presented a range of cups, prizes, trophies and awards to encompass all aspects of school life, including academic, sporting, citizenship and arts success.

The final prize, though, was the most prestigious of all – the Headmaster’s Trophy. Congratulations to Mikaeel Shah (pictured first above), a worthy winner due to his exemplary seven-year school career where he gave a sustained contribution to many different aspects of school life. Now studying maths at University of Cambridge, it was a pleasure to present Mikaeel this award. Well done to him as well as everyone else who received awards! These joyous celebratory occasions are a lynchpin of school life.

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Jack Petchey Award

This term, Year 11 student Seyaam Ghafari won a Jack Petchey Award. We asked him to write a short piece about it.

It was an honour to win this award and to be congratulated by many. I won this award for helping my community and especially the youth in many aspects, such as organising activities for the younger students in my community for them to have fun and express themselves. I believe us as young people deserve the opportunity to express ourselves and be aspirational and that’s what the Jack Petchey Award stands for.

I decided that I wanted to give opportunities to the young people in my area that I didn’t have growing up. I wanted to make sure they had someone of a similar age to mentor and support them as they got older. It is key to have someone who believes in you and encourages you to never give up, to help others, care and guide you along the right path. We want to achieve excellence together. The one thing I learned in this journey to achieving this award was to not let anyone tell you that you are not capable of doing something. I believe that if you put your heart into something you shall achieve it.

End of Term Assemblies

In this last full week of term, each year group has enjoyed a traditional end of term celebration assembly, led by their Pastoral Leader. These important events give students as well as staff the chance to reflect on their progress during the school year so far, plus celebrate achievements in a range of areas. A number of certificates and awards were presented to Isleworthians who have been fine ambassadors for the school during the Autumn Term. It was a lovely way to end 2024!

Christmas Messages to the Elderly

Students from Years 7-11 have been working hard over the last few weeks week to write letters, cards and poems to share with local residents who attend the Tuesday Club, at the community centre on St John’s Road, Isleworth. The letters were delivered earlier this week. The residents were very pleased to interact with our young people and hear their stories.

We are so proud to be a part of this festive project. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to reach out to our local community and spread a bit of Christmas cheer, thinking especially of those who may be spending the festive season alone.

Christmas Donations Delivered

As mentioned last week, part of our Christmas Charity Drive focused on raising donations for a local food pantry called Ivybridgelink down at the Bridgelink Centre. Our thanks to families for their generosity. Packages were taken down to the pantry on Tuesday morning by Mr Jackson, Mr West, and the team of Senior House Ambassadors (pictured above with just some of the donations), and the staff down there were very touched by the community effort displayed. Charity drives like this are such an important way for students to feel both connected to their community and the benefits of being an active, considerate citizen.

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Bridgelink and SkyUp Community Lunch

As part of our ongoing community partnership with The Bridgelink Centre, we were thrilled to send four Sixth Form ambassadors to a very special event on Monday. Students assisted with the running of a community lunch for about 50 elderly people from the Isleworth area. The event came about due to a collaboration between the centre and SkyUp; a film of the day will appear on Sky television during the festive period.

During the day, students were kept very busy with tasks including setup, meeting and greeting, and helping with the closure of the event. This was a brilliant opportunity for students to give back and volunteer in their community. Students loved being involved and were a credit to their families and the school; well done to Yahya Elottol, Abisherk Kamalanathan, Angad Madhan and Gursharan Singh.

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School Production Announcement

We are delighted to announce that our next whole school production is an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. It will take place on Thursday 6 and Friday 7 February.

Come with us on a journey filled with chocolate rivers, invention rooms, television-chocolate testing rooms and of course the glass elevator. With a cast and crew comprised of students from Years 7-13, we welcome you to come on a magical journey with Charlie as he goes to the chocolate factory of dreams.

Rehearsals are well underway for what promises to be a magical production. We can’t wait to share it with you – more information about how to buy tickets will be released in the new year.

_{Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels}

Student Band to Release Single

As we come to the end of our 39th and final newsletter of 2024, we wanted to end with a fantastic story. We are very pleased to reveal that Soulful, a band made up of Isleworth & Syon students, will be releasing a single through London Records, a subsidiary of Sony.

This superb opportunity came about when the school’s entry won Hounslow’s Battle of the Bands competition in June 2024. The prize was two days at Paragon Studios, based at the University of West London. Across two sessions, students spent time with music producers and engineers to craft a full track. It was a fantastic opportunity, granting students unique access to top-quality professional equipment.

The track had its official launch at last week’s Winter Concert and is now being readied for release. We cannot wait to share the finished product with you in the new year. Well done to the band members: Michael Aina, Jonas Canniere, Ashish Kurian, Reuben Mansaray, Ethan Osahn and Ayman Shah.