This term, our amazing Year 7 cricketers won the overall league for Hounslow Schools’ Cricket. They have dedicated great amounts of time to practising and improving their skills and truly deserve this accolade. 

Maanas, [7O] told us, “In late June, Gunnersbury Boys School visited us for a match. We bowled first, Eisa took 3 wickets (2 catches and 1 wicket). We were in a strong position from the start.” 

“After that, Saksham tooka couple of wickets which Eisa caught. At the end of the 10 overs, they hit 18 runs. We finished the game early!” 

Areeb, [7B] told us, ”In the recent match with Heathlands, we did really well. We scored 121, we scored the runs first so they were chasing it.” 

The staff who run the Cricket Club have offered fantastic coaching to our students, who are really grateful for the time and effort that is put in. 

“We haven’t lost a single match. At Cricket Club, we are taught to focus on accuracy rather than speed, and to understand timings as well as how to hit the ball and run.” 

Let’s hope we can continue this great run of victories into next summer! 

 

            

The Junior Maths Challenge encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.

Special mention goes to Abhayjit Bhangu who got best in Y7, Zayd De Silva who got a Gold award and best in Y8 and Laksh Damree who also was awarded Gold. Congratulations to all that took part. 

In my opinion the Junior Maths Challenge was quite challenging due to the fact that it had very complicated questions. I also think that the junior maths challenge is very luck based in spite of the fact that negative marks used to be handed out for the wrong answer. I found the maths challenge relatively easy as I have done it last year but for year 7s that is not the case. I can say that the test is a good thing as you could add it onto you CV and have a certificate as proof.

Laksh Damree [8Y] - Gold award

'The Junior maths challenge is a very fun and good experience. It allows us to think out of the box and solve problems that we would not usually get in class. Although it can be a little difficult it's worth the experience and you get a certificate at the end to show for your hard work. In my opinion everyone should attempt it because it is fun working through these difficult puzzles and rewarding when you solve them.'

Sahil Kotak [8P] - Silver award

The 2023 Sports Day provided an opportunity for Y7-10 students to showcase their abilities to perform in a highly competitive setting while also having fun. The harsh sun beating down on the field initially caused some to look irritated, however, this was shortly remedied when ice pops were distributed to compensate for the hot day. By sporting the colour of their form group, everyone in their team felt as though they were all working together to achieve one common goal: to beat the other forms in every competition! Despite being on opposing teams, they demonstrated refreshing sportsmanship as the racers were overheard complimenting each other on their accomplishments. A few aspiring athletes even left with as many as three medals around their necks. Sam and Mr Fakouri, who were in charge of making the announcements, advocated for a lot of encouragement from the spectators. The morale maintained high throughout as the students who were watching collectively cheered when their form came around the corner of the track. "Come on Raheem, that's what I mean!" was one of the many rhyming chants they began. Water bottles were handed to all runners as they sat in their ranked seats so that they could catch their breath before the victors walked to the podium to snap a picture of their unforgettable achievements. 

The Yr10s, in particular, gave it their all in the relay, as evidenced by the way they slumped onto the chairs afterward, sighing in relief at their efforts. Considering today is possibly their last ever sports day, the competition in the air most likely brought drove them to work as hard as they could. Even when they weren't racing, the Yr10s could be seen having a push-up competition among themselves; while they didn't get any points for this, their dedication still shone through. 

Something that is not really done at our sports day very often is the sac race which today brought out the most laughs. Teachers and participants joined in the light-hearted atmosphere as some pupils would often lose their balance and fall whilst jumping in the sac. 

Since the school does not have a starting pistol, a wood clapper that could mimic the desired sound was used for "firing" that alerted participants to start the track races. Undoubtedly, the competition that required the most encouragement from the rest of the school was the 800-meter race. All of the runners performed incredibly well for one of the most challenging runs. Some of them slowed down near the middle, indicating that it was clearly quite exhausting for them, but Ms. Jennings admiringly ran alongside them for support. Since there was not a staff race this year, she was unfortunately the only teacher to run on the track. Whilst this may have been disappointing to some, students in the older years have learnt from experience that the P.E. department always wins anyway - for obvious reasons. 

At the end of the event, Orange house was announced as the overall winner. However, we saw a great effort from every single form class representative that competed. 

Roving Reporters

Malaika Abbas [12A] and Abdisalam Abdulkadir [12E]

 

“We are really strong; we can beat every team!” – 7Y [tug of war] 

“There was not that many people going for the race, so I thought, why not try.” – Taranveer 10R [sac race] 

“It felt good to win. I didn’t expect to since I have a lot of pain in my leg, but it still worked out.” – Rawda 7W [sac race] 

“It’s not something you can practice for.” – Angeli 9O [sac race] 

“I fell over but still won.” – Kabir 7B 

“I was not expecting to win since I have never done a sac race before.” Alexandru 10W [sac race] 

“I like P.E, it is different to other subjects where you have to think logically. I think that we need more female sports personalities as role models.” – Heer 9R [40m sprint]

“I enjoyed the race, but I was panicking because my form tutor told me to have an ice lolly before I started. I thought it was going to slow me down, but I still won. I still have to do the relay and tug of war next” – Arvind 8B [40m sprint]

“I ran for my life.” – Najma 10R [40m sprint]

“I didn’t prepare for the race but was still able to apply technique to win. I just ignored the crowd and ran. My sports inspiration is Christiano Ronaldo.” – Y10 1^st place [obstacle course] 

My sister and I joined the Creative Writing Club being run by Mrs Kyriacou and Hounslow Action for Youth [HAY] Charity. Through this we were given the opportunity to join Chiswick House's 'Black Chiswick through History' project. We were invited to write poems about the culturally diverse styles of the house and interpret its features through our creative writing. Out of 17 young people who participated in the project, our poems were selected to be displayed within Chiswick House. Furthermore, on August 24th, my sister and I will be performing our work at Chiswick House and it will be published in an anthology.

We found the experience really insightful and enjoyable. We are so grateful for the opportunity and we would love to do it again.

Hanaya and Renaya Singh [Year 10]

As part of our partnership work with external agencies, our Post 16 students had the opportunity to work with UWL, and present on topics salient to them. I am very proud of the myriad of skills our students developed through this three-month process. Students developed their ability to work in teams and use their resilience to reflectively edit their speeches. Some of our students went through their personal journeys of overcoming stage fright and presenting to over seventy of their peers and teachers. The end outcome was carefully constructed sentences and polished speeches, which allowed us all to reflect on such important issues such as the impact of social media on mental health and the importance of mindfulness. 

Mrs R Kyriacou [Literacy Coordinator]

The University of West London [UWL] gave us the brilliant opportunity to speak about issues we believed to be very important. My topic was mental health and well-being and others chose topics such as knife crime and the perils of vaping. UWL helped us throughout the process with weekly workshops giving us advice on creating effective speeches, rhetoric and our public speaking skills. One example was when practising my speech, they had told me to speak slower to be able to extend the speech and for clarity. This experience has really helped bolster my confidence in writing and public speaking. 

Iman Zain Rusly [12G]

Thanks to Ms Kyriacou for this opportunity and I’m so glad that I stayed with it.  It shows you how important it is to stick with it even when it feels hard.

Sukhdeep Sidana [12A]

Attending the UWL event yesterday was incredibly informative regarding not only advice about future career paths, but key skills needed for public speaking. The students' speech topics ranged from important topical matters such as: mental health, the cost of living crisis and the negative impacts of social media on the youth. The speeches were very well delivered with confidence and raised the audience's awareness of the issues society is currently facing. The event was particularly engaging as it had encouraged students to participate in discussing important questions such as whether struggling with mental health is an individual issue or whether it is improved my reaching out. Members from UWL had also detailed important information we needed to know when moving on to university. This information had included tips on writing competitive personal statements, and the different options regarding the next steps after sixth form. Overall, the UWL event was inspiring for us as students to the wide variety of options we have available to us after Sixth Form.

Chloe Achkar [12E] and Priyal Bharatkumar [12E]