Issue: Autumn 2014

www.moatcollege.org

- Message from the Principal

- School uniform policy/guidelines - Punctuality

- ParentPay - Charity News - International News

- Cross Curricular Day - Awards Evening

- What’s happening around the departments - Nanowrimo - Moats Kitchen

- Message from the Principal

- School uniform policy/guidelines - Punctuality

- ParentPay - Charity News - International News

- Cross Curricular Day - Awards Evening

- What’s happening around the departments - Nanowrimo - Moat’s Kitchen

It’s already well into the autumn term and I can tell that it’s going to be an exciting year. Inside

this edition you will find that there is so much going on at Moat Community College. Welcome back to parents of students in Years 8 - 11 and welcome to the new parents joining

the college. I am pleased to report on what has been another very successful term for Moat and, as usual, I have been impressed by the effort and attitude of the students. A week has not gone

by this term when I haven’t been incredibly proud of our students’ achievements! The 2014 GCSE exam results were a little disappointing, as they dropped from last year’s record

for the number of students gaining 5A* - C grade GCSEs including English and maths. However, despite the disappointment, these results represent the third highest ever achieved by the

college. We will be doing everything possible to ensure the 2015 results are the best they can be. Staff at Moat work extremely hard to maximise the achievement of all students.

Our new buildings are now close to completion. The remainder of the refurbishments, including the demolition of the old maths and science block, should be complete by January 2015.

Therefore, all students are benefitting from our fantastic new facilities this academic year.

Please make sure that you send your child to College punctually every day unless they are seriously ill. The link between good exam results and good attendance is absolutely clear – the students who are here the most do the best!

Many parents buy new school clothes for their children during the holidays and I remind you of

the importance of sending your child to Moat in the correct uniform. As you are aware, we have recently introduced a new uniform.

It is compulsory for all students in Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 to wear the new uniform. Year 11 students are permitted to wear the old Moat uniform, and a lanyard identifying them as Year 11,

during this transition year. Please could parents ensure that items of clothing are suitable for school, e.g. clothing not too long or heels too high, as this presents a health and safety risk.

Most of the compulsory items on the list are available at school wear stockists. However, the

compulsory college jumper or cardigan, with embroidered logos, are available to purchase

directly from our official supplier:

Uniform Direct (www.uniform-direct.com),

54-56 Humberstone Gate,

Leicester.

Telephone – 0116 2511844

Alternatively, uniform can be purchased via the Tesco website (www.uniformeasy.com). Further

details of the new uniform requirements are included with this newsletter.

A number of staff are moving on at the end of this term. These include Miss Chudasama, Miss Borsada, Mrs Asfaw, Mrs Kerridge, Miss Nelson, Mrs Z Patel and Miss Bennett. I am sure you will want to join me in wishing them success and happiness in their futures. I would like to thank

these staff for the many years of loyal and exceptional service they have given to Moat.

The staff join me in wishing you a good holiday and a happy new year. Please note that the new term starts on Tuesday 6th January 2015.

Mr N. Boyd Principal

Message from the Principal……..

Moat Community College Uniform Guidelines

Please refer to the uniform guidelines below for further clarification of what is acceptable and

unacceptable.

Item Acceptable Unacceptable Additional Notes

Trousers Plain black Flat or pleated front Full length bootleg or

straight style

Trousers tucked into socks Cropped trousers/shorts Jeans or denim Jeans “style” or combats Leggings/jeggings/tracksuit bottoms Zips that show Large belts Buckles/laces Pin stripes

Belts should be worn within belt loops and not for decorative purposes. If worn with boots, trousers should be worn outside boots.

Skirt Plain black Modest length Pleated or plain A-line

style

Large belts, buckles, laces, pin stripes Denim Tube or skinny fitting styles/jersey/lycra Slits Floor length

Skirts must cover three quar-ters of the upper leg as a mini-mum.

Shirt/Blouse School range Plain white Must have collar Fitted/tailored

Coloured Embroidery Capped sleeves Patterned Midriff on show Sheer/transparent

Any vest/top worn underneath should be plain white, and the shirt/blouse should remain but-toned up to cover this.

Tights/Socks Tights – Plain black school range

Socks – Plain black or white ankle

Patterned or footless tights

Jumper/

Cardigan

Plain black with Moat Logo Logos/name brands other than the Moat logo

Abaya/

Jubbah

Plain black

Shoes Plain black shoes or boots Coloured laces Trousers tucked into boots Trainers Plimsolls Flip flops Heels over 2”/large platform soles Canvas

Trainers are only to be worn when participating in a sporting activity

Head/hair

wear

Plain black, headscarf/topi Plain black, hair bands,

“bobbles and clips”

Embellished or decorated Coloured

Hats should not be worn indoors at any time

PE Kit Plain white t-shirt Plain black sweatshirt Black tracksuit trousers/

shorts/leggings Trainers and white socks

Zips or buttons on sweatshirts (health and safety)

Other Any make up and jewel-lery worn should be discreet

School Uniform Policy

Compulsory Items

Plain black trousers or skirt

Plain white shirt with collar

Plain black V-neck jumper or

cardigan with Moat logo

PE Uniform:

All Compulsory Items

Plain white t-shirt

Plain black sweatshirt

Plain black tracksuit bottoms/shorts/

leggings

Optional Items

Plain black abaya or jubbah

Plain black topi or headscarf

Punctuality

Be on time….. At the start of the day, the majority of students arrive in school before the doors close at

8.40am. This is essential so that they can get to registration. The school has to ensure that

all students are registered correctly for their safety. There are important messages that have to be passed on and students also have

to attend assemblies before they go off to lessons for the day.

However, if a student is late, this may result in a detention so it is very important for students

to arrive on time.

Mr N. Anderson

It’s all change (preferably no £change) at Moat Community College.

As a parent/carer of a student at Moat Community College you will know that there are ‘things’ that need to be paid for.

As we have moved into our new school we have new ways of working that change the way

we would like you to pay for dinners, trips etc. In an attempt to remove all cash and cheques (which saves us money and resources) from

the college, we are asking all parents/carers to use our e-payment method to pay for anything that costs £10.00 or more, e.g. a week’s dinner money, trips, equipment etc.

whenever possible. This can be done online using a very secure website called ParentPay or in cash at local stores where you see the PayPoint logo if you have requested this service from the college.

Even if you don’t want to pay in this way, or what you are paying for costs less than £10 we

would still like you to register on line and create an account, as we will only be sending receipts through this system. We will also be able to use the system to communicate other

information to you by text and email. The registration process will be/or has been sent to you in a personal letter. If you haven’t

had the letter, or it’s lost please contact reception and we will issue you with a new letter; your user name and password are in the letter. If you would like help setting up the account

initially please ask at reception. AND

Don’t forget that if you apply for free school meals and you are eligible, your child will get £50

a year to spend on or put towards trips and ICT equipment. If you think you might be eligible ask at reception and they will assist you.

If you have already applied or have been entitled to free school meals in the past five years £50 has already been placed against your child and can be spent in this academic year.

Remembrance Day

Last term we raised enough

money from the non uniform day and substantial vivo donations,

to take on two new children for the next 4 years through Islamic Relief’s Orphans One to One

Programme.

We have received details of the first of our two new orphans. This orphan is Ifrath Mirfa

Mohamed Hanifa. She is 3 years of age. Ifrath lives in

Sammanthurai, Sri Lanka. Her father died, so she is

by her mother. Ifrath has

two siblings.

They live in a house made of

brick, in average conditions but with no gas supply.

Without our sponsorship money, Ifrath would face a struggle in

her early life to get the nutrition and healthcare she needs. Her

health should be much less of a worry for her family now.

Mrs Steventon

Charity

On the 10th November, most of us in Moat watched

a live assembly streamed from the Tower of London. Thousands of schools across Britain joined in with

this event to learn more about Remembrance Day. We were asked to think about the following points:

Why should we remember?

What is so significant about the 100 year centenary? How should we remember?

The assembly repeatedly reminded us that the 888,246 ceramic poppies around the Tower of

London represent the 888,246 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth who died in World War One.

On the 11th November at 11am, the whole school held a two minutes silence, along with the rest of the

nation. Many of our staff and students bought poppies to support the work of the British Legion.

Mrs Steventon

International News

We are in the second year of our three year

British Council link with Canyon Higher Secondary School in Bhopal, India. Last year

Miss Nelson (Science) and Mr Daine (PE) visited the school to share some of our schemes of work for practical lessons, as

Canyon School do very little practical work. We also linked two geography classes in each

school, to talk to each other about their views on global warming and recycling.

This year, we extended the project to include Art through the same theme.

We made 22 bags from recycled materials. These were done by parents, staff, students

and even a governor!! Ms Dimitropoulou and Mrs Steventon took them to Bhopal during

half term to give to the Canyon students. At the end of November one of their teachers

Ms Priyanka and a student Sanskar visited Moat for a week, and brought their own bags here as a swap.

Bhopal Visit The trip to Canyon School was amazing. The students had very poor

facilities, but they worked incredibly hard and were extremely respectful.

The rules were quite strict there and no-one forgot their books or pens! All students had to buy their text books

for every lesson. If they were late in the morning, they had to do squats!

School started at 7.15am and finished at lunchtime so that the junior school

could use the building in the afternoon.

The students had a lot of responsibility and did things like take assemblies, check uniform, supervise the lates

‘squatting sessions’, organise the class-room ready for the teacher to take a

lesson, organise students for House competitions etc.

One of the things which stood out was that Canyon students were very proud

of their school and very proud of being Indian. They used assemblies to

promote the idea that India is a good place to belong to.

This is something that maybe Moat students could do more of.

Next year, we hope to send a maths teacher and an English teacher, to

finish our three year link.

Mrs Steventon

Ms Priyanka and Sanskar come to Moat

Year Seven tutors, LSAs and students went on a team build-

ing day to Willesley on 10th October. The students partici-

pated in a range of activities which helped them bond in

their form groups. Students participated in activities such

tug of war, ski racing, crate walking and assault course ac-

tivities with particular talent being shown on the climbing

wall and the spider web. Students were very competitive in

the scavenger hunt. The go karts and shelter building were

particularly popular activities!

Students were enthusiastic and engaged, working hard to

win counters for politeness, effort, respect for others and

cooperation. 7.1 were the winning form and achieved over

five hundred counters in total. I was very proud of the team

work shown by form groups and respect that students

showed to the environment. Congratulations Year Seven!

Mrs Hill

As part of our health and safety programme, Lyn

Rowe from the city road safety team runs ses-sions with all KS3 tutor

groups. This term, she was able to get the road

safety drama team to give a ‘roadshow’ to the whole of year 7. As al-

ways, this highlighted the need for her work,

as more than half the year group admitted to not wearing seat

belts!!

Year Seven Cross Curricular Day. Health and Safety

Awards Evening……...

The moat annual awards evening was held

in October to celebrate the achievement of students past and present. The prizes

were presented by Aamena Manga who is an ex-student herself who talked about the importance of working hard at school

and how it helped her to get to university where she is now studying Spanish.

The major prizes were awarded to the following students:

Siham Ali

Usmah Zaman

Kartik Govind

Uzma Ahmadje

Maria Choudhury

Nishat Tarannum

Tyree Stevens

Shakeela Admani

Rochana Ryan

Siham Ali

Adnan Cassim

Muzammil Malamji

Arbaaz Cassim

Nishat Tarannum

Jahira Chowdhury

Awal Khan Yaecarak

Rizwanaa Patel

Shafaat Nasrulla

Design & Technology Department

Jaguar /Land Rover Trip generates interest in careers in product design,

engineering and vehicle technology.

Fifty seven students from KS4 studying Product Design had an excellent opportunity to see

real-life technology at work.

The students saw a fully interpreted production line in action at the Jaguar/Land Rover,

Birmingham manufacturing plant.

They witnessed the new Jaguar XF being manufactured by a combination of manufacturing

robots and factory workers with a new car rolling off the production line at a speed of one

every 82 seconds.

The excellent factory tour and subsequent question and answer sessions have given the

students real-life experience of their course of study and hopefully have inspired some of

the students to seriously consider engineering as a future career.

Science News

New science learning

resources

Your son/daughter has been given details about a new learning resource called

Doddle Learn.

The website has a variety of activities for revision and homework to help students in years 9, 10 and 11.

They should go to www.doddlelearn.co.uk

and then type in the details that they have been given to log in.

Science Exams

In August, we were very pleased with the achievement of last year’s

year 11 who achieved some excellent results.

The current year 10 and 11 have been working very hard and we

expect some very good results from them. They recently sat a mock

exam which will help them to recognize what they need to do to achieve their grades in the summer.

However, it is important that your son/daughter continues to work hard

and ensures that their attendance is excellent as we will be completing controlled assessments and revising

in the next few months before their final exams.

Year 7 textiles students made monster

dolls using the hand embroidery skills that they were taught in their

design lessons. Some examples are shown below:

Modern Languages KS3 – Exam results

Modern Languages Department…………

Modern Languages KS4 – Exam results

ESOL We offer the ESOL course to students with English as a Foreign Language. We had 9 EFL students last year in Year 11 and they all passed the ESOL exams at different

levels: 6 students passed at Entry level 3, 2 students passed at Entry level 2 and 1 student passed at Entry level 1.

We also had 17 year 9 EFL students who sat the ESOL exams. They all passed: 14

students at Entry level 2 and 3 students at Entry level 1. All students who passed at Entry level 2 have moved on to study other subjects.

GCSE EXAMS RESULTS

Total number of students

E or < D

C B A A*

BENGALI 0 0 1 0 0 0

FRENCH 4 7 9 6 1 0

GUJARATI 0 0 2 4 1 2

PORTUGUESE 0 0 1 0 0 0

SPANISH 1 7 18 6 3 2

URDU 1 1 0 1 0 0

FCSE – AQA – YEAR 8 + 9

(Foundation Certificate of Secondary Education) Total number of students

Level 4 Pass

Level 5 Merit

Level 6 Distinction

FRENCH 68 75 16

SPANISH 26 73 44

Additional Languages Exams

Moat Community College offers students the opportunity to take exams in their

home language. If your child knows Urdu, Bengali, Portuguese and/or Arabic we will do our best to enter them for exams where they can achieve an additional qualification. Students need to have registered an interest before the end of term.

For more information contact Ms Hughes

(Head of Modern Languages)

CONGRATULATIONS to the Students of the Term

Mohamed Awale 7.3

Arman Manshur 8.8 Subhan Jina 9.5 Hameed Sherkhail 10.3 Zahin Mohmedali 11.1

Mohamed Abubaker 7.1 Talha Patia 8.8 Asha Shehzad 9.5 Aasia Ahmed 10.4 Raashi Patel 11.3

Khadija Ashiefali 7.2 Mohamadnajib Nasri 8.4

Aatekabanu Lakdawala 9.6 Hawa Faquirbhai 10.1 Kaainaat Munirkhan 11.1

Ibrahim Ramjan 7.5 Dyusha Tandel 8.8 Bilal Abdul Sattar 9.5 Simrana Hamid-Butt 10.7 Imtiaz Choudhury 11.8

The Vocab Express League of Champions 2014 Our year 9, 10 and 11 Spanish students took part in an online National Vocabulary

competition organised by VocabExpress.

Our students needed to spell words in Spanish and English properly to get points. This competition helped them with their literacy skills.

League of Champions 2014

The Genius Cup is based upon the top 25 student scores at each school; whilst the Challenge Cup is based upon everyone's score at the school. You can see who is contributing to your school's Genius Cup score by clicking on the "Your School Geni-

uses" scoreboard.

School Score

1 Ellowes Hall School 135,880

2 Moat Community College 112,015

3 Riverside School, Prague 109,085

4 Wallington High School for Girls 107,385

5 Northfleet Technology College 86,125

6 Palmers Green High School 85,745

7 The Leys 81,510

8 Ysgol Aberconwy 51,670

9 The King's School, Worcester 51,235

10 St John Fisher Catholic High

School Dewsbury 49,185

League of Champions 2014 (Your School Geniuses)

The Student Leaderboard shows individual student progress compared to all

students across all schools in the competition.

Student Score

1 Saynab Ibrahim 14,110

2 Amaan Miah 13,900

3 Jahira Chowdhury 8,940

4 Abdurrahmaan Manga 6,290

5 Aditya Jayesh 2,870

6 Sameeha Mamodo 2,755

7 Fahima Adam 2,700

8 Amirah Yakub 2,670

9 Anisah Patel 2,470

10 Muhammad Molvi 2,265

11 Hameem-Ur Rahman 2,210

12 Mohammed-Fahim Abubacar 2,150

13 Amina Tambu 1,955

14 Daanyaal Lorgat 1,920

15 Mohammed Mamodo 1,860

16 Nabeela Nabi 1,850

17 Zaakira Lambat 1,850

18 Ridhwaan Gadiali 1,800

19 Ayesha Karim 1,560

20 Ammarah Waka 1,520

21 Laiba Amujee 1,470

22 Faiza Dugou 1,425

23 Mohammed Sayeed 1,395

24 Nafisa Suleyman 1,340

25 Esa Amujee 1,295

FORTHCOMING TRIPS

This academic year we are hoping to have these trips with our French students.

Year 8 Modern Languages & Humanities trip During the month of May, we are hoping to take year 8 students to Normandy in

France for a five day joint trip.

Students will be visiting a French farm, the World War II beaches, a museum, a war cemetery, a cinema and other places. They will have the opportunity to experience many aspects of French culture as well as to practise their language and improve their

understanding of history.

Year 10 trip to Paris

Year 10 students will go to Paris for a 4 day trip. Students will visit the Eiffel Tower and the Stade de France in Paris. They will also

have the opportunity to visit the International Space Centre in Belgium

Year 7 day trip to St Omer

As a tradition at Moat Community College, we are hoping to take our year 7 French students to St Omer in France in May.

More information to follow !!

FLSpellingBee All our year 7 French and Spanish students have been entered into the

FLSpellingBee competition. Last year’s winner was Ibraheem Patel, he proudly represented Moat Community College on the Spanish National Final Competition at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

At the moment students are at stage 1, where they need to learn the meaning

of the French or Spanish spellings of 50 words. Students will be competing against other students in the same classroom throughout December. The best four students in Spanish and French will pass into Stage 2, where they will

compete against the other classes and will be learning 100 words.

You can support your child in this competition by listening to them practise their spellings.

For more information www.flspellingbee.co.uk.

We wish them the best of luck!!!

As part of the World War One centenary the

government has organised a visit to the battlefields for one teacher and two students, from every

secondary school in the country. These visits will take place over the four years of the centenary, our school was lucky enough to take part in one of

the first visits in September.

On Friday the 12th October, Uvais Bhesania and Ismail Hitar, both Year 11 History students, and I began the journey by coach to France. Here we

saw many interesting and poignant sights including the Somme battlefields, restored trenches and the

Thiepval Memorial. We also went to the Ypres area in Belgium where we took part in a sculpture project and laid a wreath, during the Last Post

ceremony at the Menin Gate.

The trip was also a good opportunity to remember the 66 Moat students and two teachers who fought

and died in World War One. We visited the graves and memorials of a number of these men and paid our respects.

Since returning to school we have given two

assemblies about our trip and made a number of displays to go alongside the school memorial plaque. Our next task is to co-ordinate a school

project to create a memorial book about the sacrifice made by Moat students and teachers

during the war. Miss Dobson, Head of Humanities

International Literacy Day highlights the

impoverishment of millions of children who do not share our educational

opportunities. Many of our students in the English

department were inspired by Malala's UN speech calling on governments to ensure

free compulsory education and they were inspired to write their own impassioned speeches like her’s.

There were fun activities and competitions

for students in Years 7, 8 and 9. The

standard of entries was very high but Ms

Steptoe managed to pick the following

prize winners who were awarded £10.00

Highcross vouchers:

Winner

Hoor Pathan 9.3

Runners Up

Nabeela Nabi 9.6

Bilal Sayeed (8x/En1) Haleemah Malek (9x/En1)

Jahira Chowdhury (9x/En1)

Ahmed Osman (9x/En1)

Literacy Booklets

Nidah Hanif 9.4 Aafreen Sau 8.5 Adna Dahir 9.2

Special recognition goes to Idiris Adan for

his thoughtful speech on why every child in the world should have access to free education. Idiris presented this speech

skilfully in front of a captivated audience at our Prize Giving evening.

Congratulations to everyone for taking part in this important event.

English Department

Speech by - Idiris Adan

Ladies and gentlemen gathered here today,

I Idiris Adan want to address one of society’s

most fundamental problems –

The future of our children.

Those of you who are parents, ask yourself this

Do you want your child to be an outcast in

society?

Would you want your child to live a life of

poverty?

Do you want your child to fall short of their

potential?

Without waiting for your answer, it’s obvious no

loving parent would want anything less than the

best for their child.

The great Nelson Mandela said ‘education is the

most powerful weapon which you can use to

change the world.’ To do that we need to focus

on one country at a time, step by step, so

today, I want you to think about, Somalia.

Somalia is an African country with a population

of 9.8 million people (68% of whom are children

under the age of 12.) Of that population, 87%

of people are expected to die of starvation by

2017, and 90% of children over the age of eight

are forced to work in order to provide for their

families. In other words they are being robbed

of their childhood, as their only thought is

survival.

They are hungry, homeless and helpless. Buying

the basics such as food and clothing is virtually

impossible, paying for school is impossible.

In my opinion, this is tragic don’t you agree?

Education after all is a basic human right!

Education must be free for all children all over

the world. Education gives children a chance to

make something of their lives.

I want to tell you about Ali, poor, poor Ali. He

lives in a Somalian village surrounded by crime

and drug gangs. Every morning he wakes up at

5am to walk 6 miles to the nearest well. Every

morning he hopes he can get to school, yet

every day that hopes fades as he battles to

survive.

Ali was born into poverty. He is destined to

never escape that poverty unless... We, yes

we step in and take action.

Nelson Mandela also said that “Poverty is not an

accident, like slavery and apartheid; it is

man-made and can be removed by the actions

of human beings”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we ARE human beings.

We can remove this awful injustice.

The English Department….

Free Education Speech to the Court of Human Rights - by Hoor Pathan 9.3

“Education, Education, Education”. These were the three words that Tony Blair called his

priorities when he became Prime Minister of Britain in May 1997. But who is entitled to education? Is education only for those who can afford it or live in a developed country? If so then is education a right for all as described in the Article 26 of the Universal Dec-

laration of Human Rights or just a service available to those who can afford to buy it?

My honourable judges, the truth is that education has in many countries been turned into a profit driven business scheme, reserved solely for the rich and the privileged.

We live in a world today where we can no longer go on being ignorant to the plight of these children, because it has repercussions. In parts of Asia and the Middle East – chil-

dren who can’t afford to hold a pen are given a gun by extremists, using lack of educa-tion as an easy method of recruitment. Whereas in some parts of Africa - these children are turned into child soldiers by rebels or sold off into the dark world of human traffick-

ing.

These children are our future, we can’t afford to let them slip into the hands of monsters who use them for genocide and steal their innocence.

Furthermore, education allows for individuals to make healthy life choices. The UN reports that in Mali – women with an education of secondary level or higher have an

average of 3 children. Whereas women in Mali without it have on average around 7 children.

Education empowers women to be able to take healthier life choices and also protect themselves and others from HIV/AIDS.

In low income countries, statistics show that for every year spent in education – 10% of average lifetime income of that individual increases.

Youth literacy levels in Europe are on average 95%+ but in some parts of Africa, they drop down to a staggering 50%. We can no longer go on ignoring such injustice – espe-

cially when the G8 countries have made eradication of child poverty and illiteracy one of their millennium goals.

If we put aside the humanitarian argument for a moment and consider the economical aspects, studies show that worldwide illiteracy costs the global economy $1 Trillion each

year. We are doing ourselves a disservice by creating a forgotten generation.

Worldwide education activist and survivor, Malala Yousefzai once famously summed up why global education must be our priority in order to reach a new age of stability and prosperity. She said “Extremists have shown what frightens them the most – A girl with

a book”.

Although it sounds impossible to imagine a world without illiteracy – a utopia, myth or fable, like a promised land, it can be achieved with a 5-step plan.

Firstly the G8 countries with the help of the UN must create a central body in each LEDC with high illiteracy rates. This body must be independent of the local government to

avoid corruption and must be highly scrutinised and regulated.

Secondly, the G8 must convince countries to pledge extra funding within their own nation

along with money from international aid to this project. Aid must then be needs assessed and increased as the project does better.

Thirdly – many multi national corporations operate in these countries, such as Nestlè planting cocoa pods in Africa. The UN and G8 must include a pledge in commercial trade

agreements for these corporations to invest some profits into this education drive.

Fourthly, the G8 must take a lead in curriculum development and oversight of the project. The curriculum must be aimed at equipping these young people with skills for life.

Finally, as the project starts to do well and establishes in areas that need it most, all chari-ties that campaign or fundraise globally for better education must come together with the

UN and hold a massive global fundraising drive for a ‘One World Education’ initiative – combining both public and private sectors.

To build a house, one must start off with a brick. To fulfil such an initiative, we must start here.

The 11Y5 English class wrote this poem to commemorate

Remembrance Day.

Centenary

by 11y5

Already 100 years gone Heartbroken families torn apart Slaughter

Slaughter of the soldiers A fight for peace?

Fighting for the country they love They stood their ground, so will we Respect for one another

Freedom for the nation We are all one family

Emotional moments Soldiers gone and peace shone, sacrifice for our tomorrow The veterans are all gone, we have to keep their souls alive

One poppy, one freedom They will never be forgotten

Remembrance, REMEMBRANCE!

The 11Y5 English class wrote this poem to commemorate Remembrance Day.

A group of 27 Year 11 English and Drama students

went to De Monfort Hall on Wednesday 29th October to watch an adaptation of Willy Russell’s Blood Broth-

ers. Blood Brothers tells the story of the Johnstone twins, Mickey and Eddie, brothers separated at birth who reunite and become friends in their childhood, un-

aware of their relation to each other or of the conse-quences their relationship will bring about. The musical

is both funny and sad in equal measure and the pupils were both entertained and moved by the end.

The students joined in with the rest of the audience and gave the actors a standing ovation. They were

very well behaved and waited patiently in the foyer for the bus. It was a successful trip and has really helped our understanding of the play for both English and Dra-

ma GCSE.

I really enjoyed watching Blood

Brothers because it was funny, hilarious, emotional and magi-

cal. Amirah Valimohamed 11.8

I thought it was very interesting

and I was filled with anticipation to see the end.

Atifa Khanom 11.7

Seeing the show has helped me

with my GCSE for Drama because it helped me with semiotics and

freeze frames. The songs were very catchy and well sung.

Faatimah Umer 11.7

Blood Brothers was very

interesting and enjoyable to watch. I liked the part when

they all sang together; it showed they worked as a team.

Maryan Jamac 11.4

Their freeze frames were

impressive.

Maryam Abdinor 11.2

Instead of reading it you saw

what their emotions were.

Sumaiya Begum 11.5

The actors were really good at

showing us what the characters would be like. It will help me

with my Drama performances. Hamdi Farah 11.1

student reviews on Blood Brothers:

On Wednesday 15th November, sixty Year 9

students took a trip to the Curve Theatre to see the West-End production of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer

Prize-winning novel - To Kill A Mockingbird. Set in the Deep South, the production sees racial injustice envelop a small-town community.

Through courage and compassion, lawyer Atticus

Finch seeks the truth, and his feisty daughter, Scout – a young girl on the cusp of adulthood brings new hope to a neighbourhood in turmoil.

The production was fantastic and thoroughly

enjoyed by the students (and staff!).

The English Department….

Super-writer Simon Mayo Shares Stories with Year 7

On Monday 29th September 2 groups from Year 7 Moat Community College went

to the Curve theatre in town. The reason for visiting Curve was part of Moat Community College’s Literacy

program. Simon Mayo is an author of 3 books that he told us all about. The books are called Itch -craft, Itch and Itch Rocks. They are about a teenager who is a

collector of elements which introduced science into show. As well as telling us about his books, we learnt a song about the Periodic table.

One of the funny parts was when we heard about some of the characters vomiting because of the arsenic (a type of poison) in the wallpaper. Did you know this

actually used to kill people about 200 years ago? In the second part of the show a scientist from the company called ‘Mad Science’

performed experiments, which told us about the Periodic table in more detail. Some of the kids had an A4 piece of paper under the chair with a different

element on. There were different schools at the event and we got to communicate with them. It was fun!

Written by Muhammad, Mariama & Mahamud

I wasn’t that keen on reading

before but now I am

Muhammad Bendwala - 7.8

I used to dislike English and

Science, now they are getting more interesting.

Mariama Musse - 7.1

After seeing the experiments

Mr Bhatwadekar has said he might allow us to do some of

the more exciting ones in the science labs at Moat !

Mahamud Ismael - 7.1

As part of the Into Film Festival, 60 year 8 and 9 students went to watch Maleficent at the Phoenix Theatre. As well as enjoying the film, we were treated to a short talk by a member of the British Board of Film Classification. He explained his role and the process the board

goes through to determine a category for anything that is watched by a member of the public. Some of our students were even brave enough to take part in the Q & A after the

film! Rumi Begum (Year 9) shared her thoughts on the film:

First of all, I would say hats off to the director of the movie. It was absolutely brilliant.

Mind blowing in fact. It was so amazing I'm actually struggling to find a suitable word! It's exciting

to think that such good movies are still being made, and Maleficent has proven to be one of my

favourite movies of all time.

It is actually based on a fairytale, something most people will be familiar with from childhood;

however it presents a completely untold side of the "Sleeping Beauty” story. This made it very

dramatic, yet there were funny elements too.

The movie was set in an enchanted world where humans and fairies coexist. The fairies don't have

a ruler as their community is built upon trust. By contrast, the humans have a King and Queen,

and this reflects the fact that their human world is dominated by a quest for power.

I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it, but the story is based upon Maleficent,

the strongest of all the fairies, having her heart broken by the flawed human, Stephen. The film

explores the meaning of 'true love', and the answer isn't necessarily what you would expect.

To sum up, I would say that Maleficent is worth five stars! It is truly magnificent and I loved every

minute of it.

Year 9 take over the Odeon

On the morning of Wednesday the 12th November, the English department took year 9 to the cinema to watch the new book-to-film adaptation, ‘The Maze Runner’.

Once we had filled nearly every seat and countless selfies were taken, the film began with action right from the start. It quickly became apparent The Maze Runner was going to be a

thrilling watch, but perhaps some scenes (like the squishing and oozing of a monster trapped between walls) were a bit much to take after so many chocolates and crisps! After the dramatic final battle scenes and emotional plot twists, the film ended with applause and

cheers from the students

There was a lot of excited chatter as we waited for the coaches to pick us up, and almost everybody commented on how enjoyable they thought The Maze Runner was. It was a wonderful experience for the students and a decent start to an English Language writing

unit.

National Poetry Day is a nationwide celebration of poetry held on the

first Thursday in October. Every year a theme is chosen to Inspire the event and this year's was Remember.

Students took part in activities based on poems and were inspired to produce their own piece of writing.

Jess Green - Performance Poet Visit

Year 8 and Year 9 students were lucky

enough to have a visit from Jess Green on Tuesday 11th November. She is a well

-known Leicester poet. She performed poems and led students in workshops based on Conflict, to coincide with

Remembrance Day. The sessions were thought provoking and interactive with

all students taking part and some were even brave enough to read out their own poems!

The visit was inspiring and all were

encouraged to be creative and came away with a piece of their own writing.

Two top set English classes attended a debate on teen fiction at Leicester University.

The event included writing tips from Leicester author Bali Rai as well as representatives from

the publishing industry.

NANOWRIMO or Write a Novel in a Month is an international

event in which hundreds of thousands of writers, adults and

young people who commit to write an entire novel in only 30

days!!

This is our fourth year of involvement and we have had over

150 staff and students complete a novel in 30 days.

Adult writers agree to complete a 50,000 word novel and young

writers set their own personal goals, ranging from 2,000 to 40,000 words. It’s been a huge

commitment, with students giving up lunch times and their limited free time to hit their targets.

The project finished on 30th November and over 80% of participants reached their goal and

completed their novel. We will be celebrating this achievement with a special author event at our

annual novelist lunch at the start of the new term.

This year as part of our school commitment to independent study and self-motivating

achievement, students were expected to be far more self-sufficient with the majority of support

given on line and in their free time.

All the participants or novelists receive a special school certificate, a very special NANOWRIMO

certificate and 250 Vivos each. They will know that they have achieved something that many

people dream of; they will have written their own novel.

Moat students on top of Ben Nevis—4600ft

Moat catering are proud to announce our

5* rating from the recent visit from the

environmental health visit. We have got

a wonderful brand new kitchen and

equipment. This was measured on our

policies and procedures in place and

hygienic working practices.

So well done ladies!!

This Autumn term the Moat Kitchen has

proved to be very popular amongst students and staff once again.

At Moat we aim to provide everyone with a healthy, balanced and varied diet.

We have a variety of dishes on offer to

tantalize those taste buds. We have a regular pasta day, curry day, roast carvery day and traditional fish and chip day. We

also have Jacket potatoes with a variety of filings on offer everyday and have a ‘Grab &

Go’ menu which includes wraps, noodles, nachos and burgers.

As a healthy guideline Moat is only allowed to serve one ‘fried’ dish per week so we

have chosen fish and chips every Friday as a treat, which seems to be our most busiest

day.

Moat Community College

Maidstone Road Leicester

LE2 OTU

Tel: 0116 262 5705

Fax: 0116 251 0653 Email: office@moat.leicester.sch.uk

Website: www.moatcollege.org