KEY MESSAGES

Dear Parents/Carers,

Another half-term is upon us, and this is a particularly important one for our students in Y11 who have that final push towards their GCSE exams. Below you will find a link to the exams timetable and also some top tips for exam revision strategies. Our Creative Arts exams are already well underway and more will follow quickly, so managing exam stress is going to be key. We have some tips for this in our newsletter, from Place2Be. The end is in sight; review, revise, recap and rest!!

A group of our students and teachers recently went on a residential to France. For a brief period they were actually in charge of navigating the choppy waters across the channel, steering the ferry! The acquisition of language skills is hugely increased when students can practice with native speakers, so this was a great opportunity for them to do that and to engage in French art and culture, taking in the Bayeux Tapestry along the way. A huge thank you to Ms Calvert and colleagues for giving up their evenings and weekend to take our students on such a great trip.

Massive congratulations to Angus in Year 10 who has started his first season in National BMX competitions and came 11^th out of 48 competitors. We will watch with anticipation and excitement as his skills develop and grow over the coming years.

Over the last term our Y8 students were involved in a social action and charity project called First Give. They have been working hard to support a charity of their choice, developing social actions to raise awareness of their charities' work. The charities have ranged from Childhood Literacy, Children’s Poverty Action Group, Refugees in Lewisham and Second Wave Youth Arts. In the final of the competition, which was last week, they had to present what they had done to a panel of judges including Ms Stanghon and a local councillor and the winning group was The Children’s Poverty Project, with Second Wave coming in as a close runner-up. Well done to all the students for embodying our GREAT values throughout and making such a big difference to our local community.

As part of our drive to be an Eco School, we have also had groups of students involved in the Great Big Spring Clean, tackling the litter in Fordham Park. It can be a thankless task, with new litter replacing the old almost immediately, but the resilience our students have shown in taking this on is wonderful. We will continue to make our local area as nice and as safe as we can for each other.

Y10 have their Work Experience coming up from the 20^thMay for a week and this is always an excellent opportunity to sample the world of work and to decide what we liked and didn’t like about it and help us to make some decisions about our futures. Ms Nembhard has secured some excellent placements for our students, and we hope they make the most of the time they have. This sits alongside an impressive body of work from Ms Nembhard around careers and college support, including The Army of Creatives who have been in arts lessons in recent weeks looking at the creative industries.

One of the most significant things that any of our students can do to support themselves in school is to pick up a book and read it. Read anything until you find the kinds of books that you love and then, not only will you have a friend for life, but your language and thinking expands hugely. A group of our students have started the Carnegie Shadowing Awards Scheme, where the challenge is to read 8 books in the shortlist for the Carnegie Book Award. The students have enjoyed their first read Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher. See below.

On the horizon, next half term, we have our annual Dream Days. This year our theme is My GREAT Big Dream and we have lots of fun and creative activities planned for students in Key Stage 3. To raise money for this, we hope you will be aware, Friends of Deptford Green, our Parent Association, are running a MAYDAYZ Festival on Saturday 18^th May between 12pm and 3pm. See below for further details and please read the message from Paula who is asking for your help and support. We look forward to seeing you there!

Finally, we also said goodbye to Mr Walker at the end of last term. Mr Walker was initially a student at Deptford Green and later a trainee teacher. He joined our PE team and eventually became an Assistant Headteacher, leading on the important work we have done around our GREAT values. Mr Walker embodied these values each and every day and made a significant contribution to our school. We will miss him, but wish him all the best in his new endeavours.

Best wishes,

Ian Paish

Deputy Headteacher

We say farewell to Mr Walker and all the best...

WHAT'S COMING UP @ DG

Y10 WORK EXPERIENCE

Y10 students will be on work experience the week before half-term, Monday 20^th- Friday 24^th May.

All students had the choice between:

Securing their own placement and returning an ‘own find’ form to Ms Nembhard.
Entering a preference on the Lewisham Learn about Work database.
Registering your interest for the Creative Leaders programme or the Build your Future Programme or the Film and TV Programme or another DG bespoke placement.

Before Easter, students were given a letter to be signed by parents and returned to Ms Nembhard If you have not returned it yet, please do so by 8^th May at the latest.

If you do not have a letter, contact Ms Nembhard asap

The placements are taking place during school time; therefore, we have a duty to know where students are going and to have ensured that insurance is in place. Therefore, if you have organised a placement for your child but have not informed Mrs Nembhard, the placement might be recorded as unauthorised absence.

Some employers ask that students have an informal meeting prior to the placement, and it is also best to remind the employer that a placement was agreed for the 20^th-24^th May (in case there has been some staff changes for example).

Some students have not contacted their employer and therefore the placement is at risk of being withdrawn. Additionally, sometimes, employers’ circumstances can change between agreeing the placement and now and they regrettably must cancel. It is therefore important students get in touch.

If you have any questions about work experience, please contact Ms Nembhard, Careers and Enrichment Lead, at cnembhard@deptfordgreen.co.uk or on 0208 469 4896.

We have a dedicated work experience week for Y10 students, but additional work experience can be completed during the holidays and is a fantastic way to explore existing interests and discover new ones as well as building skills, looking beyond the school curriculum, and demonstrating initiative and drive.

Here are some exciting opportunities for students to apply for:

EARTHWISE AT KEW GARDENS

Interested in Science and the Environment? Thinking of applying to Science and / or Geography at sixth form and university and want to make your application sparkle?

Do you know your calyx from your corolla? Which species of trees store the most carbon? Can you identify a stinkhorn? Do you know what a botanist does all day?

Earthwise invites Deptford Green students aged 14 + to go behind the scenes at the world-renowned Kew Gardens and gain an insight into what it is like to work as a scientist in the field. Selected students will conduct their own biodiversity research project, undertake fieldwork using the ‘living laboratories’ of Kew and Wakehurst and hear from Kew experts in biodiversity science and conservation.

Hear from previous participants on this video: - take a look -

This is a competitive process so if you need help to complete the best application, do not hesitate to come to the careers hub for support.

To apply, please complete the online application form. The deadline for applications is Monday 27 May 2024. A reference must be provided to ensure your application can proceed so make sure to enter Mrs Nembhard’s name in the appropriate box in your application along with her email: cnembhard@deptfordgreen.co.uk

You can choose to apply for either of the following weeks and each day each day will run from 10:00 till 15:30:

29 July to 2 August 2024
5 August to 9 August 2024

Earthwise is free to attend and all sessions will include lunch and snacks. Participants can claim travel expenses of up to £13.90 per day.

GOING PRO AT THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Do you want to know what working in a Gallery looks like or have no idea about what jobs exist in a Gallery, but you enjoy art, culture or history and want to find out more?

You are open-minded, inquisitive, and ready to share ideas and get stuck into activities?

You might want to apply to Arts and Humanities courses at sixth form and university and want to make your application sparkle?

Going Pro might be the work experience for you. You will learn what sort of jobs exist within Galleries and what those jobs look like day-to-day, what skills and training are useful, and whether one might suit you.

Dates: 29-31 May, 10.30-16.00 each day. Application Deadline: 16/05

You must be 15+ and you can get more details and apply here: Going Pro - National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk)

VIRTUAL WORK EXPERIENCE

We encourage students to try out some virtual work experiences to discover new sectors and develop their key skills.

Students can register with one of the providers of virtual work experiences that we regularly work with here: Speakers for Schools account registration

Once registered, students can apply to one of the many placements they offer or Mrs Nembhard can send them alert when new placements become available.

Please, note that there is an application process with deadlines and questions to answer and that new placements are added to their website regularly so the offer changes often. If you have any questions or need help with the application, do not hesitate to get in touch with Mrs Nembhard directly. Take a look here: https://youtu.be/mIsRRiL9yrQ

Below is an example of a placement currently open:

Geospatial Virtual Work Experience

Age: 14 - 19

An introduction to the geospatial sector.

The Data Journey: understand how data goes from capture to the end user.

Geospatial Data in Action: explore how geospatial data is used across a diverse range of real-world use.

Learn about geospatial careers and the range of pathways available.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ALISON KELLEHER FROM PLACE2BE WITH IZZY AND SHEETAL Y10

Hi Alison Thank you for joining us for this interview

Alison: Thank you for asking me.

Izzy: Can you introduce yourself and explain your part in the DG community please

Alison: I work for Place2Be which is a charity that works in schools across the country and although we have rooms in school, we are not school, although I do very much feel a part of our school community.

Sheetal: That’s great. Why did you want to become a counsellor?

Alison: That’s a very good question. I knew that counselling works and I could see its benefit when I worked at a service that supported children on a telephone line service, so I decided to train as a counsellor.

Izzy: That’s nice. Did you always want to be a counsellor or was there something else you had in mind when you were younger?

Alison: I’d done different things throughout my career, so the answer is no because I didn’t really know what counselling was when I first began. It just wasn’t part of my experience, and I suppose it was only after understanding and hearing from young people what it’s like to be really listened to by someone that I understood how beneficial it can be.

Sheetal: So what have you been working on recently?

Alison: In this last term before the Easter Break, we were working on Children’s Mental Health Week with our Mental Health Ambassadors who lead assemblies to the rest of the school. After that, I was working with Mr Walker helping him with assemblies before he left school. That took up quite a large part of the last half term. This term I’m going to be working with Mental Health Ambassadors again, who are going to be recruiting Y7 Mental Health Ambassadors for next year so that’s my plan. I’m constantly thinking of how we can advertise Place2Talk so that everybody knows it’s there and available.

Izzy: What do you plan to achieve to help children handle their mental health? Is there anything specifically you have been thinking of for the future?

Alison: So I think the best way to do that is through students themselves and I think we are doing that with the MHA’s. I think things like the posters we have in school in Mental Health Boards on the corridors (look out for those!) are very important for jogging the memory and keeping us all aware of how we can look after our Mental Health.

Sheetal: What impact do you think this will have on the school community as a whole?

Alison: I think it’s already having an impact and our service is busy and that’s really good to see; there’s always room for more people to come so I think we are understanding in this school how important it is to reach out and ask for support and that it’s ok to do that for everyone.

Izzy: What’s been your favourite part of your job so far?

Alison: I think I have the best job in the world! It’s really wonderful to meet students and I feel very privileged listening to young people. I hope that they feel that Place2Be is your space and that it is perhaps a different kind of space to experience. Every day is different. No day is the same and there are many angles to my job and so it means that there’s lots of variety.

Sheetal: How do you get your feedback?

Alison: We really value feedback, even negative feedback because it’s only when we hear the difficult things that we can make changes to improve ourselves and that is the same for our Place2Be service. We always ask for feedback. As a charity, gathering data is important so that we can carry on working in schools. We receive feedback very gladly.

Sheetal: Is it verbal feedback?

Alison: Yes, and we also collect written anonymous feedback and we look after everyone’s data really carefully. It’s all anonymised but it helps us know the things we are getting right and the things we don’t do so well.

Izzy: That sounds really important. How long have you been working in counselling?

Alison: I’ve been counselling in schools for about 6 years and then before that I worked as a counsellor on telephones and I actually can’t remember how many years I did that for but it’s been lovely to listen to young people for all this time.

Sheetal: At some point you said you didn’t always want to be a counsellor, so what job did you do before that?

Alison: Before I was a counsellor I started off in Law and I worked for a Management Consultancy firm or two and then I became an artist, a portrait artist.

Izzy: That’s so great! Are there any skills that you took from working in Law and working as an artist that you still use?

Alison: Absolutely. What a brilliant question! What I learned from running projects and negotiating contracts in my first role is like being in school, managing the different aspects of my role. We have several Place2Be counsellors working at Deptford Green who I work with too. When I painted portraits, for me it was about trying to capture the essence of the person inside, as well as capturing their features. I feel that painting led quite naturally into counselling, and I suppose psychology. All of my career experiences seem to link into the work I do now.

Sheetal: Like to capture the emotions and not just their features?

Alison: Absolutely right, but as well as the features.

Izzy & Sheetal: That’s all of our questions. Thank you for coming and doing this interview with us.

Sheetal: It’s been a real honour to talk with you.

Alison: It’s been my pleasure, both of you. Thank you.

GARDENING CLUB

The Gardening Club have been very active so far. We have made new instalments in our garden and are working hard every Friday. You can see from our images that we have done a lot in both our garden and our greenhouse with the help of the lovely Ms Manning! We hope to see more people join our club in the future and help out with this amazing gardening project.

We would like to raise awareness over the fact that lots of people have been messing with our compost bin and flower beds. We ask for this to stop as it causes lots of disruption for our club... no hard feelings but PLEASE stop!

Our Gardening Club would also like to talk about the MayDayz Fair (Fun Fact: the poster was created by one of our gardeners' parents) and our contribution towards it. We will have a stall that gives parents and anyone else who would like to purchase, a chance to buy some of our plants. We have a whole variety of different plants that are just for you!

If you would like some context on the wonderful image of (left to right) Nigella (7LO), Ms. Manning and Ilai (8DA), Nigella was watering our plants outside and ended up absolutely soaked! This caused a water fight between her and Ms. Manning with the hose. Unfortunately, there are some members of the club that did not make it in the image (or took the image aka Katie aka me ) so here are a list of honourable mentions:

Poppy (7FE), Amber (10MA), Pearl (7WO), Harley (8HP),-Maya (8IB), -Lina (7ND), Katie (7LO), Treasure (7LO) and Hephzibah (8MU). Apologies if I have missed anyone out!

Thank you Katie - this is a fantastic article! Well done.

DEBATE MATE

What a showdown! Our students stood their ground throughout this relentless debating competition. It was the league cup and every debate squad from London was invited.

We seized the opportunity and submitted three groups. The venue was SOAS University London WC1. Each group consisted of six students and three students were allocated as speakers and two were allocated to take part in constructing floor questions for the competition.

'Opposition' or 'Proposition' are the two sides of the debate for each motion. There were three debate sessions that each group took part in. Two groups won one debate out of three and one group won two debates out of three, so all in all, we did really well. Well done debaters! You all stood your ground competing with Y10s.

Thank you Mr Ramsay.

Xavier said:

'Being a part of the debate mate team, I found it amusing when we all burst through the doors pondering the fact, were we going to be late physically or fashionably? However, when we arrived at the university, as it stood powerfully looming over us, we realised what we were about to face! After the first debate we were all tired and exhausted, but all found it a great experience as we discussed it with our friends, asking each other if we all enjoyed it or not. During the interlude, the teachers did a stage performance debate, portraying how a good debate should go involving the certain dramas that can take place, but overall a great amount of knowledge was learnt from this. Lastly, in the final debate, we watched a live debate between the two finalist teams, which was very engaging especially as they asked the audience for floor questions. This was very funny when we watched our DG friend Efe ask a question!'

In conclusion, I speak for all my team in saying it was a truly enjoyable experience for all of us.'

Thank you Xavier - excellent!

Nigella Y7 said:

'On the 17th of April, Debate Mate went to SOAS university for our debate cup competition. We arrived at the university just after 10am. After we got to the university, the head of Debate Mate gave a speech and then we were given time to think about our motion.

Motion: This house believes that Social Media makes it harder for people to become successful musicians.

During this debate we had Kareem (Y10) as our first speaker, Katie (Y7) as our second speaker, Xavier (Y8) as our third speaker and Megan (Y9) as our summary/last speaker. And as floor, Ilia (Y8) and Nigella (Y7) - that's me!. In this debate we were the proposition, so we were for the motion. We went against Harris Academy. Luckily we won this debate! We all had a great time participating.

Thanks Nigella for this excellent contribution.

Help design a banner to go near the underpass near Fordham Park which we will hang from the trees by the ‘fake crossing’ asking drivers to drop their speed! We need photos or designs that are of a HIGH QUALITY RESOLUTION so that we can get the banner printed. Please send your images to twalker@deptfordgreen.co.uk with your name and tutor group so we can award Raffle Tickets and Lorics for your contributions. Thank you!

Newsletters

DEPTFORD GREEN NEWSLETTER

ISSUE: 2nd MAY 2024

KEY MESSAGES

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

DG X FEED

Click HERE to see our AMAZING X account that truly gives you a broad perspective of things going on all across our school!

Thank you Ms Heiser

FRIENDS OF DEPTFORD GREEN PRESENT...

'MAYDAYZ FESTIVAL'

SATURDAY 18TH MAY 12-3pm

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF FODG: PAULA FLACK:

Thank you to everyone so far, who has volunteered to help on May 18th at our Maydayz Festival. The Festival is coming together nicely and we can promise you...

WE NEED YOU!!

DONATIONS

MAKERS

Here is a link to sign up to our PTA: Click HERE - we look forward to working with you!

MAYDAYZ PLANNING MEETING

If you have volunteered or are up for volunteering, please join us this Friday morning 3rd May from 9.15am in the school library. Come to reception. Thank you!

P.S I know parents on our WhatsApp group have been informed already about this meeting. Apologies to those who are not in this group for the extremely late notice. Ms Walker has been really unwell this week, hence the late publication of this newsletter.

WHAT'S COMING UP @ DG

Y10 WORK EXPERIENCE

Y7 RESIDENTIAL TRIP - WEDNESDAY 8TH - FRIDAY 10TH MAY

We wish you all 3 days of fun, adventure and happy memory- building!

AN INTERVIEW WITH ALISON KELLEHER FROM PLACE2BE WITH IZZY AND SHEETAL Y10

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING AT SCHOOL?

Y7 have just finished their first set of core subject exams in the Sybil Phoenix Conference Hall and they did very well. It's good experience for them to sit in that formal environment and they rose to the challenge.

Excellent Y7 - well done!

One of our winners, Olive, had this to say about the experience:

STRESS MANAGEMENT

THE GRIMSHAW PROJECT

RESIDENTIAL TRIP TO FRANCE

FANTASTIC SUCCESS!

Here are some top tips for the exams from Place2Be:

Please find the link to the GCSE Exam Timetable - click HERE

Y11 Exam Revision Strategies - click HERE

We wish you all the very best in your exams. YOU'VE GOT THIS!

CARNEGIE SHADOWING SCHEME 2024

Fancy writing a story?

And if you want to challenge yourself over the rest of this summer term to read more, why not take part in our independent reading challenge...

GARDENING CLUB

DEBATE MATE

Supporting Disabilities in a Mainstream Setting (Rare Conditions) Tuesday 7th May 10.00 -12.00

More details here

New free school meals guidance clarifies adjustments for disabled children