Cambridge in their Sights

It was a pleasure and a privilege to accompany 9 pupils to Cambridge University on Saturday 26^th November. Every year, year 11 pupils across the country are given the opportunity to find out how to get into Cambridge – a mission our year 11s took very seriously! 

After the excitement of spotting and taking pictures with Kano (south-east London rapper) at Kings Cross station, we boarded the train for the 45 minute journey to the most prestigious university in the world. All pupils were impressed by the university town and discussions during the 20 minute walk to the Babbage Lecture Theatre consisted of: bikes, ethnicity, food culture in Cambridge, well known Cambridge graduates and the phrase ‘how much longer’ was repeated just a few times. 

It’s a shame we didn’t get to explore the city but we did admire the ornate and iconic buildings on route. 

Our pupils certainly made the most of the lecture; lots of note taking and very intelligent questions were raised. All of them were a credit to the school and I was extremely proud of the way they conducted themselves. 

The trip was certainly worthwhile, if only because our pupils recognize they have a chance of getting into Cambridge, as long as they put the work in to get the grades and they keep their eyes on the prize! Eugene said ‘it was inspirational and motivational,’ you can’t argue with that. 

Many thanks to Mr Peacefield for organising the trip and to year 11s for making it effortless to manage.

Natasha Cameron

2ic Inclusion 

Some recent publicity

http://www.mercury-today.co.uk/index.cfm

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/top_stories/9402562.Staff_hope_positive_Ofsted_report_will_save_Blackheath_Bluecoat

Mind4Mission Charity Trip

In 2009 I was given the amazing opportunity to embark on a missionary trip, with a team of eleven young people, to do charity work in Andrah Pradesh, India. Due to the amazing experience I had, I chose to set up my own charity, Mind4Mission, giving young people within the UK the chance to embark on charity trips to help poverty stricken people in Third World Countries. Since starting, I have travelled to Malawi, Africa for charity work and was then invited back to Andrah Pradesh, India for a second trip in August 2011.

After spreading awareness of the poverty within India, amongst the staff and students at Blackheath Bluecoat Church of England, they decided to aim to raise £500 in order to pay for a water-well to be built in India.

In just 12 weeks over the summer term, staff, students and even parents worked hard together to raise money the needed for the water-well and I am overwhelmed to inform you, that not only did we raise the £500 for one water-well but we raised £1000 for two water-wells and a further donation of £200 for the food supplies of a Leper Colony. Making the overall figures, a staggering £1,200!!! These water-wells now bear the name of the school on a metal plaque and will produce fresh water for 500 families within each of the two villages – the Lemallepadu village and Dhundupalem village – both in Andrah Pradesh, South East India.

Words cannot express my appreciation, I am still stunned now thinking about it, even though I have already travelled to India and completed my charity work. It is amazing to think, that every single person pulled together in such a way, to raise such a large sum of money. The people of India were so overjoyed for the provisions of food and clean water the school were able to charitably give to them and they send their gratitude!

I really just want to give a MASSIVE thank you to:

·        All the students and tutors of the Aylward house that held a weekly lunch sale.

·        All the students and tutors of the Luwum house that held a teacher’s carwash

·        All the students and tutors of the King house that baked and sold cakes.

·        All the students and tutors of the Romero house that donated money

·        All the students and tutors of the Bonhoeffer house who took part in sponsorship

·        All the teachers and parents that baked cakes to be sold on refreshment stands.

·        Everyone who brought or sold Raffle Tickets.

·        All the students who took part in The Sponsored Silence.

·        Al the parents that donated money during Parents Evening.

·        All the staff and students that donated money or volunteered their help

As you can see the list is endless and I cannot thank you enough (sorry if I have missed you off!) The pictures taken show you all the charity work that was able to be carried out using the money raised… As well as a small indication, of the appreciation from the people themselves! Let’s keep us this charitable spirit and continue to give unto those that are less fortunate then ourselves J

Mrs Chantelle Juba 

Key Stage 4 Academic Mentor

BBCS Hosts ICT Mash Up

On Tuesday 6^th of December, the BBCS ICT Department hosted a conference of other ICT leaders from Greenwich schools. During the two hours, ideas were exchanged, stick men were animated, Mandlebrot fractals were created with one line of code and advent calendars were created in Publisher. 

New Government ICT exam initiatives were heatedly debated including BTEC and DIDA changes and the move to GCSE. 

BBCS students’ work was showcased and gained praise including Samir Sharma’s amazing website and blog: www.thebeatles.moonfruit.com/

David Morley from New Haven School.

Mr D. Peacefield

Head of ICT

Shakespeare School's Festival

On Tuesday 1^st November, a group of our pupils performed Othello at the Shakespeare schools’ festival. The performance was a huge success. This was shown in a letter that we received after the performance from the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival coordinator, which said the following:

‘I have heard all about your wonderfully dramatic and intense production of Othello, which was really enjoyed by all. Your really powerful opening started your show with a bang, and excited the audience from the get-go.  The cast did really well to maintain the sense of energy and intensity from the brilliantly fast-paced beginning, right the way through the play.  The tension built and built so that the stakes were really high as the action approached its denouement.  What particularly impressed me was the acting from your cast.  They had a brilliant understanding of the language and their characters, and spoke every line with fantastic intention… It is an extraordinary thing you have done to enable a group of young people to perform Shakespeare on a professional stage, and I am in awe of what teachers, who are already so busy, achieve in the Festival.  I hope the confidence and all the other benefits your young actors gained will stay with them for a long time.’

I am extremely proud of what the cast achieved – it was a brilliant experience for them and they did BBCS proud.

Helen Robertson, 

Teacher-in-Charge of Drama.

Media Workshop at the BFI

Yesterday, Wednesday, 30th November, 2011, I took some of my year 12 Media class to the British Film Institute on the SouthBank to undertake a workshop on their practical coursework.

The workshop was run my Pete Fraser, the Chief Examinations Officer for the OCR Exam Board.

The students were also lucky enough to hear from Simon Frame - a Visual Special Effects Supervisor who runs his own company - Men From Mars. He spoke about the films he has worked on, the most recent being 'The King's Speech'. He has been involved in 94 films over his 25 year career so far.

Dexter Fletcher was the second guest of the workshop. He spoke about his start in his acting career but the focus was on his Directorial debut 'Wild Bill', which is released in March next year.

Dexter Fletcher and Pete Fraser

The last session of the workshop focussed on the coursework element. We were able to see past student's work and Pete Fraser spoke about what he liked, disliked and what constituted a high grade.

We gained a lot from the day and hope to be able to attend the next workshop.

Miss M. Carlin
Teacher in charge of Media

Football Trip

On Tuesday, 29th November, I took a group of students and some very willing staff members along to the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal play Manchester City in the Carling Cup Quarter Finals.

The purpose of the trip was to reward and motivate students.

Mr S. Sallis
Teacher of PE

Yr 10 Football

The next Year 10 Football match will take place on Wednesday, 14th December, 2011.

The boys will be playing Corelli College (Away).


Mr Phillips.



ICT Department News

CC4G update

Computer Club for Girls has had three sessions so far this half term and it rocks! Just like the website says we had girls, well was girl from year 9 was up and dancing during her work on the Celebrities project. Here the pupils make a contact list of artists for a simulated music agency and have to decide whether to employ them based on their musical abilities. All tasks lead to ICT skills and this one is no different. It encourages databasing capabilities. Highlights so far have been one year 9 girl reading to everyone and another one in the year 9 asking if she could access the site at home to do even more.

 “Big Hitters” Conference 2011

On the first day of advent, all the A-Level Applied ICT students will set out on a trip to attend the fantastic conference at the School of Education in central London. .

During the day we hope to see: 

• Robert Hamilton, Google Product Manager, California will be giving a presentation on Intelligent Collaborative Tools, discussing how groups like the Arab rebels make innovative use of collaborative tools to achieve their goals.
• Nick Bletzer, Manager of Software Training for IBM UK, who will take a closer look at cloud computing
• Julie Lunan and Andy Birds, who work in the field of service design and transition management for The Co-operative Bank, the Internet bank Smile and Britannia, will be giving a talk on how internet banking works and looking at fraud and other challenges.
• Matt Steell, Director for Data Solutions at DunnHumby, which manages some of the world’s largest and most complex databases, will tell the conference how they help, amongst others, Tesco, Unilever and Coca-Cola get closer to their customers.

Come and share you experience with our students

Lastly, if anyone from the local community has an interest in coming in and speaking to students about how they use ICT in their daily work, or maybe you run an IT company of some sort and wouldn’t mind show a small group of students what you do, then please get in contact with me.

Dan Peacefield

Head of ICT and Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator

Japanese Club News

Konnichiwa!

This has been an amazing few weeks. Miss Bolton and I started the Japanese club to share some of our experiences in Japan with the pupils and it has been a really wonderful time, not just for the pupils who are members but for us two as well.

During the first week we practiced saying our names with Japanese accents and bowing to each other whilst also learning our Katakana scripts. We looked at Japanese festivals during the next club meeting and researched seasonal events and the now famous tree riding festival at Onabashira, marvelling at the beauty and huge sense of community in Japan.

The best session so far, though has been the sushi-cooking session

where I donated some ingredients and we mixed, rolled, prepared, sliced and ate some wonderful sushi rolls. Sharing food with the club members gave Miss Bolton and I a great sense of harmony [wa], which is the character shown here and also part of my name: Peace.

I have also attached a recipe for all those wannabe sushi chefs. Good luck!

I can’t wait for the next few weeks. This club is a one-off seven week event, but may well be repeated next year before Christmas. Arigatou-gozaimasu!

Finally, a (slightly edited) haiku written by a Year 9 student

A cool damp spring breeze

Flowers swaying side to side

In the high meadow

Dan Peacefield

Head of ICT and Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator

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The Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of the blog is to keep everyone reading this up to date with the goings on in the life of Blackheath Bluecoat C of E School.

The first Parents' Evening of the year is on Thursday, 3rd November, 2011 and is for parents of year 11 students.