Newsletter 2

Message from Ms Bower, reading this year, The Company has kindly donat-
Headteacher ed a beautiful garden ornament named ‘Alice’ to
our school, who is definitely setting the reading
Dear Parents, scene!
Carers and Families All pupils in years 7 – 10 are now beginning to re-
It is with great pride that I introduce this spring term vise for their summer exams. During May and
newsletter and I hope that you enjoy reading about June, all pupils at our school sit exams in all sub-
the various exciting opportunities that pupils and jects with results being reported home to parents/
staff have taken part in this term. carers. Your son/daughter will be issued with their
We have had a special focus on reading this term, exam timetable soon. Y11 pupils are working hard
and you will see from your son/daughter’s most re- to secure the best possible outcomes for their final
cent assessment report that we are testing all pu- GCSE exams. This is the first year that pupils will
pils for their reading and spelling ages every term. be sitting the new English and Maths GCSEs and
Our recent data tells us that our pupils are making we are supporting pupils by holding regular prac-
good progress in reading and, that our strategy to tise exams which are marked by the class teacher,
improve spelling - ‘repeat five’ – is having a signifi- giving pupils very thorough and clear guidance on
cant impact. 75 pupils from years 7 – 11 have now next steps.
achieved the maximum reading age that our test I hope that in reading this newsletter, you take
records: 18 years and 11 months. All 75 pupils pride in celebrating the achievements of our school
have received a Head Teacher’s award for this im- community. I wish you a happy spring break and
pressive achievement and are now on the A Level look forward to seeing you in the summer term.
standard reading programme. Our school library Kindest regards
continues to be very popular and is used very well Wendy Bower
by pupils from all year groups. Our library is open Head Teacher
from 7.30 until 5.30 each day and is open on Satur-
day mornings for Y11 pupils. I am particularly im-
pressed with Year 7 pupils who have shown them-
selves to be very keen readers – they have taken
out over 1000 books since they joined the school in
September!
Our school always marks World Book Day, but this
year staff and pupils put in extraordinary effort to
make the day very successful. Pupils and staff
came to school dressed a character from one of
their favourite books. The day was a celebration of
reading and the Literacy Team put on many excit-
ing and imaginative activities throughout the day - I
hope you enjoy seeing the photographs both in this
newsletter and on our school website. I enjoyed
spending the day as Mary Poppins! You may re-
call that The Worshipful Company of Hackney Car-
riage Drivers funded the planting of the school or-
chard two years ago. As part of our celebration of

We invite you to join with us in creating something very special. We are
building a fully inclusive environment that celebrates

achievement, aspiration and a life-long passion for learning for all members
of our community.

Through rich provision, a holistic approach to learning,
excellent teaching and no ceiling on aspirations, our students will
develop into young men and women who are successful, motivated, and
proud to be ambassadors for themselves and their communities.

Our students will be highly literate and numerate and fully prepared to
begin the next phase of their lives, able to work resiliently
both as part of a team and
independently.

They will have a firm belief in their own potential and will always look for the
potential in others. They will know how to lead healthy, safe and happy
lives and will never lose a
thirst for new knowledge.

Governors, staff, families and students will act as strong
role models, embracing cooperative

involvement and setting high standards that create a
clear identity and ethos for the school.

Together we will build a reputation as a centre
of excellence in Custom House; an inspiring
beacon that is celebrated locally, nationally and internationally.



In January, all Year 11 students attended an amazing performance of the musical
Blood Brothers at the Woking New Victoria Theatre. The performance was brilliant
and gave us a very useful insight into the text. Here are some of the students’ com-

ments:

“Wow! I understand it much more clearly now.”
“The acting was brilliant and really helped me to relate to the characters.”

“I had a great day.”

The students all behaved impeccably and were a credit to the school. Well done, Year
11!

My day at “Blood Brothers” At the interval, I realised just how many people there actual-
ly were. I could see hundreds of school children queuing to
On Wednesday 18th January, I went to “Blood Brothers” at the buy souvenirs and ice cream (which I fully believed was an
New Victoria Theatre in Woking. We left to see “Blood Brothers” extortionate price considering the size of it). The school, I felt
at around half past twelve and we then had an hour and a half was, very well behaved throughout the trip and during the
drive to see the show. On the coach, I wondered whether the play interval.
would have a similar effect to what it was like on paper and I was
intrigued to find out if it was. I knew straight away, however, that When the second half of the play started, we had some food
there would be some differences being that the play was a musi- and were eager to see what was going to happen not least
cal and we had spoken the songs in class. knowing that the brothers, Mickey and Edward were going
to die…
When we arrived at the theatre, it was crowded as many other
schools around the country were here to see Blood Brothers for Mickey and Edward were older in this next segment and so
just the same purpose as us. The theatre itself I found was rather was Linda who was in love with Mickey. This segment had
small but it was a good size because we could take in the details more drama and comedy in it than the first half, I felt, be-
that might not have been noticeable on paper. For example, the cause it was more relatable, especially with Mickey and
actors who played Mickey and Edward were actually adults play- Linda’s relationship. There were a few cheeky bits but that’s
ing seven old children which was a quite abnormal sight to be- what made the second half of the play hilarious. When the
hold. I thought, however, that they did a great job portraying sev- brothers met again for the first time, it was refreshing and
en year olds and I especially thought that the actor who played quite good to see, despite knowing what was going on later
Mickey did a good job in doing so. I also thought that Mrs John- in the play. The trio grew old together however the Narrator
ston did a fantastic job in playing her and Mrs Lyons was also very was never far away like a constant menace. He was con-
good at her role. The two of them gave the characters faces to stantly there I felt that the Narrator did a good job intimi-
the script we had read and I have special praise for Mrs John- dating the characters and making sure that they knew that
stone’s singing voice however I believe that she was a bit too old something bad must come out of this. Linda I felt sorry for
perhaps for the role as in the script she is meant to be more like but it made me view her differently when I saw the play act-
twenty. ed out as she was in love with the two of them, rather than

4

Mickey constantly. The ending of it was still quite surprising
though. BANG BANG BANG! Three shots from a gun went off
and the characters were dead, Mickey and Edward. It made
me jump from my seat. The ending was quite emotional and I
think that it has more emotion being acted out rather than
read aloud on paper.

From what I felt about blood brothers is that it shows that the
touching story of unconditional and instinctive brotherly love
that is tarnished forever by tragedy. It made me feel the mes-
sage and that was to “always love your brother” and to make
them feel like you are a part of them. It also shows me that I
should never neglect any of my children because they would
make me feel as I am part of their world and also I would have
to protect them with everything I can. At the end of the show
as Mickey and Edward die, it shows me that you always must
have time that to spend with them because that shows you
that you care about them and you will always have a feeling
that you care about them.

By Harry and Emmanuel

All Year 11 will soon be given a FREE
workbook that will allow them to revise
independently at home. The workbooks
have been provided by the school to all
pupils to complement their classwork.
Pupils are encouraged to bring in anything
they complete and show it to their
teachers for feedback.

Additionally, all Year 11 students have place to look at lessons about
been given additional English Language employment laws & rights and
mock papers that we hope they will citizen’s rights.
complete at home as part of their
independent revision. As part of Child Sexual Exploitation
Awareness week SHINE will be
Year 7 Classes have been researching the changes to the One delivering workshops to all Year 10 students on
relationships and sexual exploitation.
Child Policy in China and finding out how it affects people’s human
rights. Students have been comparing rights in China to rights in Year 11 Students have started looking at the UK
the UK. Year 7 classes will be studying puberty, friendships & emo-
tional health lessons after the Easter break. constitution and how decisions are made and the
country is run. Students have been able to use the
Year 8 To complete their topic on Democracy at work in the UK current Article 50 process in Parliament to remove
the UK from the EU to see the constitution in ac-
classes have chosen a pressure group in the UK to research and tion.
present their findings to classes. Students are now researching
crime in London and will carry out a survey on attitudes to and Students have also been delivering presentations
perceptions of crime. to classes as part of completing their course work.

Year 9 Students have been taking part in lessons on healthy Keep up all your great work!

relationships & sex. These have included looking at the many chal-
lenges young people face surrounding
relationships today in a changing
world. This has included looking at
how our relationships and emotional
health can be influenced by technolo-
gy, social media and the internet.

Year 10 Following their work experi-
ence placements Year 10 students
have used their experience of the work

5

For the first time in the school’s history, staff and
students of The Royal Docks School came together
in order to celebrate International World Book Day
on Thursday the 2nd of March. Students and staff
alike were invited to attend school dressed up as
their favourite characters from their favourite
books and boy did they deliver!

We had characters from all walks of life, be it the
cast of Star Wars, an ensemble of dastardly devious
Dickensians, or a web of wonderful Wonderland char-
acters. Lessons continued throughout the day as nor-
mal, albeit with a slightly more impressive literary
twist than we might normally be used to!

There was a plethora of activities for our students
to take part in so that we could raise the profile and
importance of reading and literacy within the school:

In the morning, students were invited to a
book swap, here they could swap a book
they had read and enjoyed for a new book

recommended by a friend, a peer, or even a
teacher!

Throughout the day, any student that
took a book out of the library was giv-
en a brand new book to take home
from school for free! We had a huge

number of titles to choose from, in-
cluding books by Stephen King, Roald
Dahl, Neil Gaiman, Jonas Jonasson,
H. G. Wells, Kelly Link,Tom Hoyle,

Clive King, and Patrick Ness. Some-
thing for everybody was on offer!

We hosted a number
of competitions,
including one to
see who could
find out the
most teach-
er outfits
through-
out the
day, includ-
ing the book
they came
from.

Mr Dallimore as
The invisible Man

6

We had a particularly exciting competition for the World Book Day
best dressed student (as voted for by staff) and
best dressed staff member (as voted for by stu- Winners
dents) of the day! This was hotly contested with
Aqsa Khan in Year 11 winning a Kindle Fire HD in the Student who has the most
student competition (she has also maintained a improved reading age:
spelling age of 18 years and 11 months!) and Ms
Cripps pipping the other staff to the post to win Saima Hussain
some fancy chocolates for her excellent Cheshire
Cat costume from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Student who has taken the most books
out of the library since September:
As a way of both congratulating and thanking stu-
dents who are regular readers we had a number of Bishakha Alam
Kindle Fire HDs to give away as prizes. Well done to
Bishakha Alam in Year 7 who won a Kindle Fire HD Best Dressed Student:
for having taken most books from the library since
September. An impressive feat for a student so new Aqsa Khan
to the school! Another big well done has to go to Sai-
ma Hussain in Year 10 for making the most progress Best Dressed Teacher
in her reading age, 7 years and 7 months since the
first test! Ms Cripps

Whilst the day was one filled with fun and frolics, it

is important for us not to lose sight of the reasons

we did it. Student literacy is one of the most im-

portant aspects of your child’s education. It allows
them to access the texts that they study in class
and it allows them to succeed, not just academically

for their exams, but in all walks of life. We ask that

you support your children by helping them to read

regularly and by ensuring that they have access to

any books they might need. We are unbelievably for-
tunate to have arguably the finest school library in

the borough with an overwhelmingly large selec-

tion of both fiction and non-fiction

texts to choose from. Please
make sure that your child
is taking full ad-
vantage of

everything

that we

have on
offer
to

them!

Mr O’Brien,
Whole School

Language &
Literacy

Co-ordinator

Ms Boren as dopey

7 More pictures next page...

Ms Wilcox
as The Cat in

the Hat

8

Ms Harper
as Jessie and
Bullseye from

Ms Bower as

The Watch to dismantle and
assemble; during
The focus of our skills based the process they
lessons in computer science is were required to
to design and create a wrist identify all the
watch using the BBC micro bits. components that
In this project the wrist watch makeup the com-
is made from an old pair of puter and their
jeans, T-shirt and the micro functions.
bits.
Robotic Club
The microbits were fun to use
in and out of the classroom; Students’ enthusiasm in the
designing code and building robotic club is mind blowing!
gadgets are great ways to build They have been incredibly
better understanding of elec- brilliant. They started the
tronics as well as giving compu- first stage of the project
tational thinking skills a boost. building a robot using Lego
mindstorms EV3 2 weeks
Students worked in groups of ago. The second stage will be
three and there were various for them to program their
skills to be learnt in the project robot to execute their com-
as well as connecting the micro mand, which will be filmed
bit to the computer using the and uploaded to the school
USB cable and uploading the
script to activate it. website.

Inside the Computer

This term there was excite-
ment for year 8 as they started
their practical lessons in Com-
puter Science (Inside a comput-
er). They worked in groups of
3/4 and were given a computer



This term we are celebrating following a really successful start to our academic year. Between September and December the Pass
groups worked really hard to complete their AQA Unit Awards. They have shown that with hard work and determination they can
achieve some outstanding work. The Head teacher presented the students with their awards in a special award ceremony and she said

she felt honoured to be asked to do this.

The following students from years 10 & 11 have done the school and themselves proud on this year’s United Kingdom Inter-
mediate Maths Challenge, a very difficult paper. Congratulations to the following students who showed that they are among
the brightest mathematicians in their age group in the country.

Year 7-10 Year 10 Year 11

Well done to all students on the positive attitude
you have been demonstrating in your lessons.
Please ensure that you continue to revise at
home. Keep this up.

All students in years 7 and 8 are expected to Front: Darral Boye-Moses (silver), Mahim Hussain (bronze), Front: Bao-Tran Pham (silver), Chelsea Vu (bronze),
revise and complete weekly at least one extra Back: Mahraz Abdullah (bronze), Milot Dvorani (silver), Back: Opemidileoluwa Olukoya (bronze), Elena Moga.
piece of homework on mymaths and or Hegarty Oluwatobiloba Ibrahim (silver) and Yulin Xue (gold and the (gold and best in year 11), Auste Klimauskaite
Maths. Your teachers will give you your login top student) (bronze). (Agne Pasvenskaite – silver)
details.

Please remember to have your equipment ready
for your lessons. These are calculator, mathe-
matics set, pens and pencils.

Year 11 The Mathematics Department has put into place Please ensure that you are using the AQA revi-
sion guides given to you along with the
Intervention Sessions to assist students who are currently un- mathswatch CD and/or Hegarty maths and the
der-achieving in the subject. These sessions are on Tuesdays Pixl maths revision posters for you to display at
and Wednesdays during lunchtime. Please ensure that you home (see below). Do not just read and watch
attend these sessions in order to achieve the best possible the videos, you must PRACTISE by doing ques-
grade. All other students are welcome on the other days. Well tions yourself. Mock 2 has shown a differ-
done to the 40 students selected to attend the NewVic Mathe- ence in the grade for a number of you.
matics and Science master classes. Please ensure that you
make good use of this opportunity. Pixl maths
revision
posters

Students who have received prizes for
demonstrating outstanding numeracy skills in lessons

Billy Watson 8S, Lujain Bahri 7K, Ronny
Haxhiu 7X, Basel Bahri 8W, Freddy Cottis 7G,

12

KS4 music students have been composing music in preparation for their exami-
nations. Year 10 students have been composing individual performances
in their chosen style.
Year 11 Music students have completed their individual
compositions and are now beginning work on their ensemble
compositions.
All students are to be congratulated on their progression. Well done!

Year 9 music students have been completing a unit of work on song writing. They have written some interesting,
imaginative songs. They are beginning to understand how to structure their music using chorus, verse and bridge.
Year 8 music students have been composing music in the style of horror music. They have had the opportunity to
use their creative writing skills to write a horror story and they are currently in the process of recording their stories
onto their backing tracks.
Year 7 music students are learning how to create a sound collage using loops in Logic Pro X. They have already cre-
ated the background ambience and they are now in the process of adding sounds from nature.

DRAMA

Year 11 Drama students have begun preparation for their final
GCSE examination. They are now working on collaborative
groups and are producing finalised performances. They have
worked diligently and are on target to doing well in this
examination. The examination will take place on
27th and 28th April. Well done Year 11! Break a leg!

Year 10 Drama students have begun work on their Component
1 unit of work. They are devising performances in the style of
Brecht, Theatre in Education and Physical Theatre. They are
beginning to understand the intricacies of the devising process
and they are looking forward to sharing their work with a live

audience at the end of the term. Well done Year 10!

KS3 drama students are completing a unit of work on scripted
performance. They are working in pairs or threes and

producing a scripted play. They have approached it with
maturity and are set to produce some lively, imaginative per-

formances for their TA4 grade.

We hereby invite all students, parents and members of staff to visit the exhibition Echoes Across the Century
at the prestigious Guildhall Gallery in central London.

A selection of our talented and creative year 8 Art students were chosen to participate in the World War1
inspired project, led by the professional artist Jane Churchill. The exhibition explores the personal stories of
those involved in the war as they grappled with separation from loved ones and kept the country moving.

The exhibition is open from March the 31st to July the 16th.

To find out more about this exciting event, please visit:
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visit-the-city/attractions/guildhall-galleries/Pages/echoes-

across-the-century.aspx

A special thank you to Jane Churchill and our year 8 artists: Mitchell Huett 8G, Tommy Ellis 8E, Mateusz
Kopec 8S, Adil Jamaldin 8T, Ramin Saadati 8V, Nahian Sazzadul 8S, Summer Carter 8A, Gemma Benjamin 8S,

Viktoria Adam 8E, Libby Bentham 8A, Emiliano Perleka 8G, Anna Chen 8V, Spasimira Dimitrova 8K, Eylem
Delipalta 8E, Jasmine Sturdy 8G, Erica Dumitru 8V, Risha Talokder 8K, Shane Abigail Hunt 8G.

14

15

Before half term the Year 10 students all went off and entered the
world of work. For one week the Year 10s were employees at a
range of placements and were responsible members of the work
force. There was very positive feedback from the employers and
some students even got paid for their work!

Here are some quotes from the impressed employers:
‘Just a quick update on Jerry's progress. He has been absolutely amazing. He is currently working in
a year 3 class and the teacher has nothing but good things to say about him. He goes above and be-
yond what is expected of him e.g. arrives back early from lunch to set up the class. He does this
without being prompted, which means he has discussed the afternoon session with the class teach-
er prior to the afternoon starting. He has built a brilliant relationship with the adults in that year
group and the children and it's a real pleasure to have him at our school.’
Member of staff at Ellen Wilkinson Primary school

16

‘I would just like to say Abdul Abdullah has
been brilliant the last few days. All work was
done quickly and efficiently, he was polite and
friendly and smartly dressed. He was a credit
to his school.’
Senior Project Manager
As the Head of Year 10 I am incredibly proud
of the students and was so impressed when I
went and visited them. I would like to thank
Mr Drugzani for the organisation and hard
work he put into making this a successful
week and to all of the tutors and teachers
who went and visited the students.

Miss Hendrickson Head of Year 10

17

Congratulations to Adrita Miah for winning Libby Bentham (8A), Emily Mcguinnes (8A)
the Newham library competition. She took Veeral Patel (8a) Mabel Wilson (8A) Jasmine
part with over 200 other young people. Sturdy 8G Mariana Faty Embalo (8S) all played
Adrita was presented with £100 in gift vouch- huge part in deciding year 7 prefects. They set
ers and several books by Roald Dahl together up and lead part of the interviews and the
with a plaque which was presented by Shanthi prefects assembly with out any assistance it
krishnamoorthy from manor park library and would not have been possible without them.
counsellor Paul Sathianesan. Absolutely outstanding!

“This is the best experience I’ve had at Royal Docks…

Ever!” Fariah Tanisha, 7K

Debate Mate has inspired us to learn a skill useful in our
future lives. Every week we use these skills and make the most of
the hour given to us. We make the most out of our experience by
participating in activities and games provided by the club. To be
able to activate our DebateMate brains we visited two tourna-
ments at another school, against different schools, debating about
difficult, challenging motions. Going to tournaments made us real-
ise how important debating can be. We’ve debated about many
things such as “punishing sportspeople for the behaviour of their
fans” and “banning beauty pageants”. We have won and lost de-

bates during the tournament, but
we have learnt that being resilient
is the key to debating. We hope
we can encourage others to join
us, in the fantastic adventure we
are taking.

Aqza Ali Mohammed, 7E and Surobi Mohammed, 7S

18

A great start for Yr 8s working in their Re-
sistant Materials rotation in D&T! Miss Har-
per has already been extremely impressed
with the commitment and independence
with learning that her groups have dis-
played. Keep up the great work Yr 8 - you
will be producing some fantastic products by
the end of the year!