Or should I say Gentleness. That's right, Gentleness is our theme this week and with only one more week to go, if you're anything like me, you're probably feeling a little fragile at the moment- both emotionally, or physically. It's certainly been a long ol' summer term and a very different one to what we're used to. Trust me though, the end is in sight and as I've said previously, there is light at the end of the lock-down tunnel. Should everything go to plan, we will all be back to normality (or close to it) come September. You may have forgotten what it's like to be in a classroom and you may be feeling fairly overwhelmed by the idea of seeing everyone again. At this point, we need to respect that not everyone will be feeling the same and we need to demonstrate kindness to one another regardless of your own situation. I for one, am worried that I've forgotten how to teach without a webcam in front of me. All things considered, I've become quite used to being on camera. I know that things will be slightly different in September too and I keep reminding myself that everyone will be in the same boat, or should I say the same bubble? We'll probably all lose a bit of sleep the night before the first day back and remember that it's normal to feel anxious when your routine changes. Just know that as your Head of Year, my job is to support you. So, if you're feeling at all worried over the Summer, or in the run up to the start of School, please get in touch with me. I'll be there in my office with a cup of hot chocolate (they've been highly rated by students) or a snack of some sort and we can sit and talk about what's worrying you. I can't promise to make everything OK, but I can promise that you'll leave feeling a little bit lighter for having shared your problems. As the Summer approaches, I also want you all to ensure that you can enjoy a restful break knowing that you have finished all of your work in preparation for September. So, if this is something that you know you've been slacking on and you maybe didn't have a glowing report from all subjects, try your best to get on top of this before next Friday. As always, let me know if I can do anything to support with this too.
Some reflections for this week on gentleness:
Which difficult situations are you facing this week?
Which difficult people will you have to deal with this week?
How might you employ a gentle approach to dealing with these difficulties?
How might you allow God to support you overcoming these difficulties?
Make sure you also watch our assembly from Mrs Jeffery and our reflection from Mr Kibble on gentleness...
Pup-Date
Lola is loving the new house and has already done a good job of wreaking havoc on the garden plants. It's been a busy week, with lots of unpacking to do and furniture to buy, but we're getting there and I've enjoyed doing your live lessons sat in my new kitchen.
Lola's 'play-date' with Mrs Clarke's puppy, Ruby
Now on to the good stuff...
COMING SOON...14th July. SALESIAN SCHOOL END OF TERM VIDEO
Traditionally, in the last week of term we would have Sports Day, Whole School Mass and Rewards given out in our last assembly. This year, we can't celebrate as much as we'd like to as a community. Instead, some very talented members of staff have produced the next best thing. That's right- we've got another video for you. Stay tuned on the school Facebook Page/Instagram/Youtube Channel to see your teachers have their 15 minutes of fame.
Next week, they'll also be some time put aside on Friday morning to celebrate your success, so make sure you're not busy finishing work on that day. We're not quite sure what this will look like yet, but we'll let you know as soon as there's a plan. Regardless, Miss Cella and I are collating awards for those of you who have worked really hard this term and there are some snazzy prizes up for grabs that we'll be posting to some of your front doors.
Before I sign off, just remember this: stay kind Year 9
This week, our theme of the week is Reward. So, maybe this is an appropriate time to celebrate some of your incredible efforts. Your teachers have been busy filling in a progress report for you and, whilst it might look a little different to the normal grade collection, I've still had the joy of seeing how many of you have clearly been working your socks off throughout lockdown.
In light of this, many of you will be receiving a letter from either Mr Kibble, Mr Gower or myself over the next week or so, if you have achieved 4 or more 'Greens' (Excellent) on your data collection. Similarly, if you are someone who has perhaps not been working quite as hard as you could have, and you've received more 'Ambers' (Good) or 'Reds' (Poor), you may be receiving correspondence from myself, Miss Cella, or your tutor next week to tell you that you need to get back on track before we reach the summer...so, don't let yourself down Year 9!
On the whole, we have smashed it as a year group and you have all blown me away at how resilient and adaptable you have been over this incredibly strange period of time.
Assemblies and Messages:
Check out this week's assembly on Reward by Mr McCann and Mr Kibble's message to us all as we approach the end of term.
⭐AMAZING WORK! ⭐
If you're still struggling for inspiration to work hard over the last couple of weeks, take a look at some of the fantastic things that some of you have been producing.
'An Inspector Calls' Newspaper Articles from Owen Christmas and Hannah O'Riordan Owino
Millie Hopkins has been busy making some beautiful revision resources for 'An Inspector Calls'
Ana Altarac has been working incredibly hard on her English work too- there were 6 pages (only 4 shown though!) this week! Great work, Ana.
Mia Marcantonio's artwork is making me hungry for Kellogs too!
Updates from Casa del Moore *New and improved...
Before I sign off, here's what's been going with me this week.
It's been fairly stressful, as I moved house on Tuesday, so I have a long weekend of unpacking ahead of me. Lola is feeling much happier now with a garden to play in!
Hasn't quite figured out the hole in her new Frisbee!
We had a great time visiting the horses in the field next to our new house too! Lola was a bit unsure...
It's a hard life moving house...
That's all from me this week, Year 9. Stay tuned next week for the assembly I filmed. Got my fingers crossed that it will be edited and ready to view soon!
Ask yourself this, Year 9...how much can you be trusted? ⭐Can you be trusted to get on with your home learning without your parents nagging you? ⭐Can you be trusted to go out and socially distance with your friends? ⭐Do friends trust you with their secrets? ⭐More importantly, who do you put your trust in? You might have guessed that our theme this week is Trust. In the gospel,Jesus encourages the disciples not to be afraid of anything, even death, but rather, to trust in God the Father. He tells them that God knows each and every one of them and that they are all precious to Him, so they should have nothing to worry about. Believe it or not, this is how I feel about you, Year 9 and without risking sounding too Gollum-esque, individually, you are all incredibly precious to me. We've all learnt to live with a new sense of normal over the last few months and things continue to be uncertain for the not-so-distant future, but I want to reassure you that things will be OK. I can't promise you that I know all the answers, and I am certainly not suggesting that I am a God-like figure for you. What I can promise you however, is that teachers have your back when it comes to your education and come your exams in year 11, things will be OK. As this week draws to a close, I want you consider the following questions:
Who do you trust and why?
How do you build trust in your relationship with others?
Which relationships do you need to work on in order to build trust?
How could you go about getting to know God better this week?
Which fears might you be able to overcome if you genuinely trusted in the fact that, with God, everything is always alright in the end?
Below is the link to Miss Forman's assembly this week and Mr Kibble's video gives us an insight into forward plans for September.
So, what have you been up to in the heat wave, Miss?
Well, Year 9, that's nice of you to ask.
We managed to do some Cherry-picking from a tree in a family member's garden. Best cherries I've ever tasted!
Lots of staff members had a great time making home-made pizza last Friday night, all courtesy of ZIO's Italian (Miss Smeraglia's husband's restaurant). We've had a mini competition within the staff and I've just been told by Miss Gallagher that I won a prize for the best pizza. Quite frankly, I'm amazed as I never win anything! I'll let you make your own judgement below...
A quick Pup-date
As ever, I couldn't sign off without giving you a quick update on Lola.
She's become a lot bigger over the last week and can't quite believe that she hasn't stopped growing yet. I imagine that I'll get the same shock when I see you all after all of this time off!
Lola now loves the water too. Here she is having the time of her life in Crane Park...
I'll keep things short and sweet from me this week Year 9, as (much to my dismay in having to record myself) I've filmed an assembly for you all to enjoy that will be released next week...don't get too excited.
We're creeping ever-closer to the end of term now and Miss Cella and I are in the process of choosing students for our final awards. For that reason, we're not having nominations this week, but will save them all up for a big blow-out at the end of term. Stay safe Year 9 and don't forget to lather on that sun-cream (after all, I wouldn't want you burning...you're too precious!) Miss M x
I don't know about your Year 9, but there's something special that happens when we all come together as a Salesian community for feast days and whole school masses. There's a part of me that desperately misses seeing everyone congregate on the yard with their chairs and glancing across a sea of heads over at other members of staff as we struggle to reach the high notes in the ever-favourite 'ShineJesus shine'. With our current situation, it's very unlikely that we will be sitting together as a community for a while longer, and whilst technology has brought us together and Microsoft Teams has allowed us a bit of normality as far as lessons go, it's just not the same- let's be honest. This week sees the celebration of The feast of Corpus Christi (The Body and Blood of Christ). It's been a fair amount of time since anyone received any kind of blessing, or communion so it's an important time to reflect on that and what we are missing. With that in mind, take time to ask yourself the following questions this week...
What could you do to draw your community together this week?
What sacrifices am you prepared to make for others this week?
How will you provide spiritual nourishment for others this week?
How will you, through your words and actions, be like Jesus Christ in our world this week?
Also, check out this week's assemblies and messages from Mr Bruynseels and Mr Kibble.
Things are changing...
The bubble.
Yep, that's right. We have a Year 9 bubble and it's ever-growing. Those of you at school, you know what I'm talking about. You come to school each day ready to sit at the computer and work through all the tasks you have been given for the week. You get to wear your own clothes, play Kahoot and get help with your work. It's not really like a proper school day...sounds OK, right?
I know that some of you are feeling really detached from school at the moment, and might think it's unfair that you can't come in- trust me, we would have all of you back if we could! I also know that those in school are really benefitting from the interaction they are getting with others, but I'm sure they would be the first to say that the novelty wears off after the first week, or so.
That's why it's really important that those of you at home are sticking to social distancing as much as possible in order to get this virus under control. If we don't all play our part, then the Lockdown will be for nothing. So, in short, although the rules are lifting a little, please remember that we have some who are in school from 9-3.30pm every day and they are going to feel very hard done by if they know that some of you are off out socialising in town whilst they are stuck within the same 4 walls at school.
Finding a balance...
This brings me nicely on to how much work you are all being set at home. I know that there are two ends of the spectrum:
One End: Diligent students who work their socks off and put 100% effort in to every task
The Other End: Students who haven't picked up a pen/logged on in 13 weeks.
Hopefully, many of you will find yourself around the middle of this very wide spectrum. You're the type of person who completes all the work and feels satisfied knowing that it's out of the way.
So you've done all of your work?
Now, ask yourself this: How good is the work you have produced? Would you give it in to your teacher to be marked?
I have a funny feeling (having seen how quickly some of you are pacing through things in school) that you are not putting as much effort as you could into some of the tasks being set.
Let's take English for example (you know I'm biased)...
Explain how Mr Birling might be considered selfish? Why has Priestley portrayed him like this?
Student 1:
Mr Birling is selfish because he says that he only cares about himself. He is a capitalist thinker and Priestley liked socialism, so he wanted him to be the opposite.
Student 2:
Throughout the play, Priestley presents Mr Birling as a clear representation of the patriarchal upper class. He repeats multiple times in his speeches that he is a 'hard headed, practical man of business' who doesn't believe in the idea of 'community'. Mr Birling believes that the idea of equality is 'nonsense'. Instead he would prefer to 'look out for his business, himself and his own'. This reflects a lack of social responsibility and justice in his character, and demonstrates Priestley's dislike for Capitalist beliefs within society.
Already, you should be able to see the difference. Think of each answer (particularly for written subjects like History and English) as being mini PEA paragraphs. Each week, you should essentially have an essay written in your book. This means analysing key quotations and looking at methods. You can't just write a couple of sentences and be done with it...imagine the horror on your teacher's face!
Equally, I know this doesn't apply to all of you. Some of you are working incredibly hard and struggling to get through it all- so give yourselves a break. And remember, you can reach out for help at any time! Teachers are just at the end of an email (or teams).
Moore's Top Four 👑
Izzy Thorpe for her amazing minimalism project for Music - Mr Goldberg
Great work by Laurence Wjingaarden this week. Already completed the weeks work on angles! - Mr Weedon
Amir Bunce for a great on line French lesson today (Friday 12th June) and I was also very impressed with Isabelle Thorpe, George Black, Keira Foley, Marielle Saraty and Toby Dickenson. A great start to the GCSE course! Mr Delaney
Alexander McRobb-Roldan– for such carefully considered explanations as to the meanings behind his images
Amir Bunce– for showing great photography skills with a fab use of colour
Francesca Holgate– for submitting a great set of composition images with really interesting personal meanings behind them
Rachel Lightfoot– for her excellent presentation of her work and stunning sketches of still life objectsn Mr Kern
Oliver Salamonefor his perseverance and continued efforts at home-learning with regard to my subject RE. He has shown that he can take responsibility for his own learning, as he always does. Mr Castillone
Yasmin and Ollie Davis for cooking an amazing Anniversary dinner for their parents. Mrs Carr
Yasmin Davies and Tom Stokes for excellent work being produced and good contributions to online sessions. Miss Mullane
Chester Nucum and Dhilan Joshi got good contributions to online sessions. Miss Mullane
Harry Priestly is really engaged in responding in online lessons. Mr Legrand
Millie Hopkins for going above and beyond during our daily walk in school the other day and rescuing a bird! She picked it up, put it in a tree and that allowed it to fly away - it was hovering dangerously close to Guildford Road before that! Miss Gallagher
Izzy Noto and Oliver Storer: Very, very impressed with early GCSE photography – Mega! Mr O'Keeffe
A HUGE congratulations to all of you for your efforts.
I know how hard it is to stay motivated as time goes on. By the time we reach September, you will have missed 14 weeks of school! Add on the 9 weeks of half term and summer holidays, and that surmounts to a hell of a lot of time that we will have spent away from our school community. Please do yourselves a favour and put in as much effort into these final weeks as you can, so you can have a stress free Summer without worrying about all of the work you still need to catch up on.
Pup-date
Yes, it's that time again.
It's been a fairly quiet, rainy week for Lola. Despite this, I thought you might like to see a clip from last weekend that was taken on a walk at Staines Moor (joined by Miss Peterkin and Mrs Clarke and their puppies and Miss Cella and her horse...sorry I mean her dog, Nala)
Whilst Lola has to be thrown in the water to encourage her to swim, Miss Cella has to physically get in with Nala...mainly because she insisted on rolling in every bit of cow poo she could find *the dog, not Miss Cella*.
Supposedly, Year 9, three is a 'magic number'. If you've heard the song on the most recent lottery advert, you'll know the lyrics from the song I'm referring too- or maybe I'm just a bit old and you have no idea what I'm talking about.
Three: It's the number of close friends I had in my main friendship group at school, the number of biscuits I usually have to eat to satisfy my sugar craving and the number of Microsoft Teams sessions I have today.
Three, as you well know, is also a crowd.
Despite all of this, Google will also confirm that three is meant to be a sacred number and that might have something to do with the Trinity (or, as we know it The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit). God gives Himself three times over out of love and reminds us of how to be selfless...something we have all had time to reflect upon during lockdown. With that in mind, going forward this week, I want us all to be thinking about how we can continue to carry out selfless acts to those around us, whether that is for friends, family, or our wider community.
For more on Trinity, check out this week's assembly by Mrs Bolton on the school youtube channel:
Let's get down to Business...
Unfortunately, you may have heard that we are having a few problems with staffing Business Studies GCSE next year. As a result, I wanted to spend a bit of time addressing a few common questions that I have been receiving from you and your parents.
Question 1: Why have I received an email from Mr Kibble, but my friend (who is also doing Business) hasn't?
If you selected Business Studies as your third choice of subject on your Options form, you will have received an email from Mr Kibble this week asking whether you wouldn't mind swapping to your reserve choice of subject.
Question 2: What if you find a teacher to run the Business course by September? Will I still have to take my reserve if I agreed to it?
At the moment, the leadership team are working tirelessly to try and solve the issue so as many of you can do Business as possible. However, in the event that we are unable to have as many Business classes as we would ideally like, some of you will be allocated your reserve choice. Therefore, Mr Hamshar and I are making calls to your parents this week to ask if this is something you wouldn't mind doing. By agreeing to go to your reserve subject, this does NOT mean that you will have to take it if we end up finding another teacher.
Question 3: I have changed my mind about my reserve subject and am worried that I will be allocated it if Business doesn't have capacity for me. Can I still change my reserve?
If you are someone who is worried about doing your reserve because you now don't particularly want to do the subject, please get in touch with me, or Mr Hamshar to let us know. We would rather we make the swap to a subject that you wouldn't mind doing now, rather than in September, because by that point it may be too late for us to make timetable changes (COVID-19 is likely to have an impact with this too, so we need to have a clear plan put in place for you all ahead of time).
Question 4: Can I still do Business Studies A Level if I don't do GCSE?
Yes. If you don't do Business Studies GCSE, you will still be able to do it for A Level.
Question 5: If I choose not to take my reserve, is there still the possibility that I will get given it?
Yes. If we don't manage to recruit someone by September, the school will have to allocate student with their reserve choice, regardless of whether you have accepted it, or not. This is why it is imperative that you are happy with your reserve.
If you have any other questions that I haven't covered, please do get in touch with me. Remember to have conversations with your parents about this too, as it would help knowing what your decision is before Mr Hamshar and I make calls to you over the next few days.
Early Birds catch the worms 🐦
Metaphorical worms of course.
Microsoft Teams sessions are now in full swing and it's been great to hear so many of you and actually get some class discussions going. I know that for some of you, it's also given you a little more structure to your day. However, just from my own knowledge, it's clear to see the difference between attendance at my 9am calls, as opposed to my 11am calls and I think that has a lot to do with some lengthy teenage lie-ins.
Remember, your teachers will have put a lot of work into these sessions and they are a great opportunity to get involved with discussion and receive that much needed social interaction with your teachers again, so use them to your advantage because we are desperately trying to ensure that everyone gets a good deal whilst you have to remain at home. This is particularly important if you are someone who is struggling with work, or if you are unsure of how to structure your day- these sessions are there to help you get back into a routine if yours has 'gone out of the window' during lockdown.
Positive Praise...👏 🍓 👑
Over the last week, there's been some name dropping of certain students by other members of staff (particularly within my English Department Meetings) for great efforts with home-learning, or contribution to Teams sessions. Whilst we're saving up for a big end of term 'Moore's Top Four' celebration, I wanted to do a few shout-outs this week for some individuals who have come to my attention. A HUGE well done to the names below...
Harry Priestley: For fantastic contributions on his English Teams lesson for An Inspector Calls. Could he be a long, lost relative of JB Priestley, our playwright?!
Ella Hough: For her insightful contributions on her English Teams lesson.
Dhilan Joshi: For his excellent contribution to his recent English Teams lessons.
Yasmin Davis: For great work in her English lessons on Teams.
Chester Nucum: For working consistently hard on his English work.
Tom Stokes: For being resilient in his learning and making valid contributions in his Teams lessons.
Ana Altarac: For working really hard on her work for all subjects, particularly English!
Ella Brittan: For taking initiative by asking for extra pre-reading for her GCSE subjects.
Laurence Wjingaarden: For upping his game on his work ethic and getting on top of all subjects that he is completing for GCSE
Owen Christmas: For reading Act 2 and beyond in 'An Inspector Calls'
Marco Underwood: For tremendous efforts creating a bar in the garden as a lockdown project...serving non-alcoholic beer to minors of course!
Marco putting in some hard graft on the circular saw!
The finished product that RMT teachers would be proud of
Now, before I sign off and go to my third Teams session of the day, I'll leave you with a quick 'pup-date' on Lola's last week...
Into the woods
Looking ratty after her first swim in Richmond Park
Looking cleaner after the first trip to the grooming salon
Take care, stay safe (especially those of you who I've seen wondering around Chertsey recently...remember to keep your distance!) Miss M x
