Newsletter to Parents October 2019 Edited by Isha Parmar, Communications Senior Prefect 2019/2020

Highlights

Young Health Champions Awards

On 10th October I had the pleasure of attending the Young Health

Champions Awards presentation at Slough Aspire. The Young Health

Champions from across the four pilot schools were there to tell us all about

the work they’ve been doing in schools to promote positive messages

about mental health and wellbeing as well as sign-posting services for

young people to access help. Over the past year they have delivered a peer

led education emotional well-being programme in their own schools,

trained younger pupils to support and then rolled this out to partner

primary schools. They have also formed a co-production network to

support peer engagement with local strategic partners such as the NHS and

Slough Borough Council to help shape future health and wellbeing services.

In order to do all this they have also completed a Level 2 Award, in Health

and Wellbeing which is accredited by the Royal Society of Public Health.

Community cohesion charity Aik Saath delivered the training to the group

of YHCs every week during the last academic year, and the champions were

Parents and all visitors to the school

should enter the building through the

main reception area at the front of the

school. Please do not use the pupils’

entrance. Safeguarding our pupils on

the school site is a priority.

Follow us on

@HerschelGrammar for our

latest news, reminders and

useful retweets!

Key Dates 28th Oct to 1st Nov: Half Term

4th Nov: School closed for INSET 4th Nov to 8th Nov: Year 11 Work Exp

13th Nov: Year 11 Subject Evening 20th Nov: Sixth Form Open Evening 26th Nov: School closes at 1.50pm 3rd Dec: Year 12 Subject Evening

12th Dec: Year 10 Subject Evening 16th Dec: Mentoring Day

17th Dec: End of Term

Herschel Grammar School

Highlights

awarded their certificates by the Mayor of Slough,

Councillor Avtar Kaur Cheema at the awards

event. The project has been funded by NHS

Berkshire and the local school improvement fund

in partnership with the Local Authority. Schools

involved are Herschel Grammar, Wexham School,

Slough and Eton and Baylis Court School.

Such is the success of the programme that it has

now been rolled out to the other secondary

schools in Slough.

I’m very proud of the success of our Young Health

Champions - Neha Verma, Aarushe Singh, Jaskaran

Kharay and Salem Mohammed. They have

certainly raised the profile of good mental health

and wellbeing in our school and been excellent

ambassadors across the town.

Jo Rockall, Headteacher

Up on the Roof

As you have been informed before, the school was

successful in receiving funding for two CIF (Capital

Improvement Fund) projects for which we applied

back in December 2018 to the ESFA. The roof

project commenced on 1st July 2019 with the

erection of scaffolding and the boiler project

commencing on 15th July. The roof project was

supposed to be completed by mid-November.

However, the roofers were working very hard over

the summer holidays, putting in long hours during

each day and working most weekends, which

made it possible for them to complete the project

by 31st August. The only thing that was left to do

was remove the scaffolding, which was done

between 17th and 20th September 2019. We were

very happy working with the roofing company

NRA Roofing Services who did a fantastic job with

the two new roofs on the main school four storey

block and the Design and Technology block.

Highlights

With the new insulation that was put up we hope

that the building will retain the heat better in the

winter months, which could help us save energy in

lower heating bills.

It was great that at the same time we also received

funding for our second project which was to

replace our 60 year old inefficient oil fired

boilers. This project was managed and completed

by Southern Maintenance Solutions UK Ltd,

another excellent company we were able to work

with.

After some initial challenges with asbestos

removal in the boiler room which took longer than

anticipated we managed to get back on track and

the boilers were installed in time for us to have hot

water at the beginning of the new academic year.

The old boilers had to be removed with the help of

cranes and the whole frontage of the boiler room

had to be removed in order to take out the old

boiler in sections, the total weight removed being

around 13 tones. The pipe lagging and some other

bits and pieces were completed during

September, none of which interfered with the

running of the school. Oil is a very expensive

commodity and our new boilers are running on

gas, so we look forward to be saving some money

on lower heating bills from our new boilers. The

new boilers are very clever too as they are

currently learning our building and heating

requirements and are adjusting themselves and

programming themselves as to how best to heat

our building. They are calculating the outside and

inside temperatures and working out when the

heating needs to come on and off. This is a long

way off the old manual system we had in place for

so long.

Mrs Vucic, Business Manager

We are pleased to let you know that both projects

have now been fully completed, in time and within

budget!

What We’ve Been Up To

As You Like It: Shakespeare

Schools Performance

On Wednesday 16th October, myself and eighteen

other pupils ranging from Year 8 to Year 13

travelled by minibus to the South Hill Park Arts

Centre in Bracknell to perform our half an hour

modernised version of Shakespeare’s comedy ‘As

You Like It’. We arrived in the early afternoon for

a technical rehearsal where many of the cast

members were able to experience the Wilde

Theatre’s stage for the first time.

The Shakespeare Schools Festival gives the

opportunity for a student to direct and this year I

was thrilled to be given this opportunity.

The process began all the way back in February,

where after much deliberation I chose the play to

be ‘As You Like It’, a comedy involving love,

disguises and lots of marriages! Following this was

the auditions in June and the tricky decision of

casting.

Also in June, I attended a full day directing

workshop in Reading ran by SSF members who

gave insight and knowledge in how to direct and

the different methods that I could use in

rehearsals with the cast.

We began rehearsals the first Monday back of

school in September and with only six and a half

weeks before the final production we rehearsed

every Monday from 3-5pm in the Drama Studio

and eventually on the school’s stage.

In late September we attended a whole cast

workshop where we worked with an SSF leader

who helped me to develop a chosen scene which

the cast then performed to another school. For the

first time, during the penultimate week to the real

show our production was performed to all other

years in assemblies in the main hall and so the cast

had four full dress runs to prepare themselves for

the final performance. Finally, six weeks after we

began rehearsing, I was stood in the wings

watching the cast perform Shakespeare’s ‘As You

Like It’ to a full audience and I believe I speak on

behalf of both mine and the rest of the cast when

I say that it was a wonderful experience.

Minnie Cross, Year 13

Paper Birds

On Monday, 30th September, the Paper Birds

Theatre Company came into Herschel and, as part

of our PSHCE topic on drug abuse, gave us the

opportunity to watch their play, ‘Thirsty’.

The cast also offered the opportunity to a

selection of Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils to experience

the creation of the play 'Thirsty' through a

powerful two hour long Drama workshop. This

workshop gave everyone an insight on how Paper

Birds brought their play to life, a type of verbatim.

What We’ve Been Up To

People who participated took part in activities on

how to develop real life scenarios, then developed

their stories into acting in a less exaggerated way

than normal.

The play performed by Paper Birds was set in a

bathroom, with different stories written on the

walls. That was the most important part; people

called the theatre company and sent their drunk

stories. That’s what made this play stand out. It

was based on real stories, real people. There were

always two storylines in this play and it wasn’t very

difficult to understand which part was about

which story. One was about a strong friendship

between two friends who did everything together

until their life went on separate ways, but who

then met up in the same bar as the second story.

The second story touched a lot of people

emotionally. It was about an eighteen-year-old

who went to university and went out drinking one

time with her friends. All her friends left but she

stayed with a man she had met. She trusted the

guy and she believed she would have a great time.

In both stories, all characters got drunk. The girl

went home with the stranger and it all went

downhill from there.

I would recommend people to watch this play so

much because it made me aware of the powerful

effects of alcohol, specifically through binge-

drinking. The play itself gave me the chills because

of how real everything felt.

Alexia Buhlea, Year 9

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

We are delighted to report that around 120 Year

9 pupils have signed up to take part in the Bronze

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award this year. We look

forward to seeing how they all get on with the

various strands of the scheme.

Open Mornings

We have been very pleased to welcome large

numbers of parents to our school for our popular

Open Morning events, which include a tour of the

school during lesson time and a Q&A with Mrs

Thorne and Mrs Oxley.

Mufti for Thames Hospice

On Friday 18th October, pupils wore mufti to raise

money for Thames Hospice in their bid to build a

new, purpose-built hospice that will serve the

needs of the local community.

Helping the Homeless

Mrs Lyons in the school kitchen has continued her

bid to help Slough Outreach with their work with

homeless people, now regularly providing hot

food to be given out. This has been funded for

some while by our roofing contractor, so Mrs

Lyons will be able to sustain this vital work.

What We’ve Been Up To

Growth Mindset

Year 7 pupils have all taken part in a day of

workshops promoting a growth mindset, which

has been a theme of assemblies and staff training

over the last few months at Herschel. Here are

some pictures showing what the pupils got up to!

From our Subject Departments

Drama: New Views Theatre

Trips and First Visits

This year Herschel Grammar School will be

participating in the NEW VIEWS programme which

has been created by The National Theatre.

The programme will offer a small selection of 6-12

talented Herschel Scriptwriters the opportunity to

work alongside a professional playwright to

develop a 30 minute play script. Training will take

place throughout the year after school in

workshops as well as via an online course. In

March, these scripts will be entered into a national

competition where the winner will go on to having

their script performed in London by professional

actors in July 2020.

Final scripts have been submitted to Mrs Callender

and the chosen students will find out if they are on

the script writing course after the half term break.

Paula will be running a workshop with these

students on Monday 25th November.

This year we have been allocated the professional

script writer Paula B Stanic who grew up in East

London. She became a playwright because she felt

it gave her a voice she didn’t feel she had doing

other work and she believed you could question

and change the world. She continues to write

because she loves watching, reading and working

out how scripts/stories work.

She also loves rehearsal rooms. She’s still excited

about finding new ways of saying what she want’s

to say through live performance. She carries on

because there’s still so much to examine.

Ms Callender, Head of Drama

Geography: Kew Gardens

Year 8 visited Kew Gardens this October. This

place has thousands of plants from across the

world, including deserts and rainforest. We visited

Kew Gardens for educational purposes, to

understand ecosystems better. We learnt about

the different climate and adaptations that plants

have; it was fun and academic at the same time.

We discovered extraordinary plants and learnt a

lot of extra knowledge about them. In conclusion,

I think it was a very remarkable trip and everyone

enjoyed it.

Sneha Karwal, Year 8

From our Subject Departments

Geography: Rivers Fieldwork

The Year 10 students studying Geography have

spent a day trying not to get their feet wet in the

River Wye!

Based at the Field Studies Council’s Amersham

centre, the day centred around looking at the

ways in which the characteristics of the River Wye

changed as it flowed downstream, and two sites

near High Wycombe were visited to collect data on

river geometry and velocity – one in the upper

course and one in the lower course of the river.

Field sketches and flood risk assessments were

also carried out at each site. Secondary data on the

river from 2018 was used to compare with the

primary data they collected and to bring in more

data collection sites.

Students are now writing up their findings as a

mini enquiry and they will use their work to

answer fieldwork based questions on hypotheses,

methods, sampling, conclusions and limitations in

the Paper 3 exam at the end of Year 11.

Geography: Landform Models

Year 9 pupils have taken part in the annual Coastal

Landform Model competition – here is a selection

of the models produced.

Careers at Herschel

Careers Insight 2019

Our annual Careers Insight event took place on

Monday 7th October. This year we were lucky

enough to have nearly thirty guest speakers in

school, giving students in Year 11 and 12 a wide

range of career opportunities to sample.

Students signed up to attend up to four careers

presentations of around 25 minutes in length, the

idea being that our guest speakers had time to

develop their career area properly and answer

student questions. This year the guest speakers

were encouraged to really think about school

subjects and how they would be relevant to the

career on a day to day basis.

Most work sectors were covered somewhere - we

had a pharmacist, several different engineers, a

software developer, a town planner, a teacher of

performing arts, a fashion expert, an HR manager,

an actuary, an apprentice auditor, an

entrepreneur, a student who had studied abroad,

a psychotherapist, a clinical scientist......and

several more! This year it was also very exciting to

have so many Herschel alumni back with us - more

than half of our guest speakers were ex-Herschel

students, thanks to the power of our alumni

network and of course LinkedIn.

In the foyer we had stands from Royal Holloway

University and also Uxbridge College, promoting

different pathways for after GCSEs and after A

Levels.

The students definitely found the sessions

impactful, taking plenty of notes as the sessions

went along.

All of our careers work in school is now based

around the national Gatsby Benchmarks, which

aim to ensure that careers education and guidance

is delivered effectively in all schools across the

country. This event forms a major part of our drive

to meet Gatsby Benchmark 5, which is ‘encounters

with employers and employees’ and also

Benchmark 4, which is ‘linking curriculum learning

to careers’.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our

guest speakers, and also to Kate at Learning to

Work who sourced three of them for us - and even

managed to find another architect at very short

notice when one of the speakers was suddenly

unable to attend.

Mr Wilkins, Careers Leader

Careers at Herschel

Living Better with Tech at O2

On 27th September, we were invited to work with

other schools in O2 Telefonica’s ‘Living Better with

Tech’ workshop. We participated in this workshop

with two other schools, Garth Hill and Lynch Hill. It

was a new experience and could have impacted

our future.

While we were at O2, we had to make an idea for

an app that could later be published. Our main

goal was to get teenagers off their phones all the

time and socialise instead. We were split up into

nine teams to produce nine ideas. Everyone

was also able to use Wix to set out their app

and see how it would look if it were published. We

were discussing things like augmented reality and

how to incorporate learning into games.

This experience really challenged our creativeness

and imagination to create a unique idea totally out

of the blue. It also helped with confidence as we

had to present our finished ideas in front of the

rest of the pupils attending, more than half that

we hadn’t known before. The winning team had

an idea of going outside and doing activities to

earn points and having a chance to win some

prizes.

We would like to thank Learning to Work, Mr

Wilkins and the staff at O2 for making this

possible!

Sabeen Salman, Year 8

Lego Mindstorms at Mars

A group of pupils from Year 7 spent the day at

Mars Wrigley’s offices taking part in a robotic day

using lego Mindstorms, organised by Learning to

Work and run by Mars staff.

And finally……

Herschel has been awarded the SILVER School Games Mark, awarded by the Sport Industry Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University. Many congratulations to our PE department!

Looking for Talent

We would love to hear about our students’

achievements in the wider world. Please send a

brief description of any such outstanding

successes to talented@herschel.slough.sch.uk,

stating the students’ name and form.

We will celebrate them in forthcoming

newsletters.

Mrs Smith, HPP Co-Ordinator