2010 Term 3

1.Draw the flag of Haiti.

2.Where is Kilamanjaro?

3.Why is Lee Climpson going to climb it?

4.Name one thing you have done this year for someone else locally.

5.Name one thing you have done this year for someone else inter-nationally.

Answers to Miss Hughes by Friday 12th March. This month’s competition winner will have the honour of £20 donated in their name to a charity of their choice. Take the time so you can give generously!

Thamesview School with Bus iness & Enter pr i se Sta tus Spr ing Term 3

February 2010

THAMES V IEWS Inside the Issue:

Headteacher’s letter 2

Community Points 5

Enterprise Community 4

Challenger Community 6-7

Endeavour Community 5

Discovery Community 3

Important Dates 5

On the 20th January, 11X attended the "Driving Towards 2011 Go-Kart Challenge" at Buckmore Park. Having spent a day competing in race heats and showing some excellent, and at times dare devil driving skills two drivers, Danny Whiteford and Kieran Hall, were entered into the final. Unfortunately we did not come away with any trophies this year but a great day was had by all, despite the freezing cold weather. I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to John Assiter for assisting on the trip and to all in 11X for their impeccable attitudes and being excellent ambassadors of Thamesview School.

Martin Francis

Trafalgar Day Parade Zoe Appleton Trafalgar Day Parade from Term 2 Newsletter

Thamesview School PTFA presents

A Quiz With a Difference!!!

Friday 23rd April 2010 Doors open at 7.30pm Quiz starts at 8.00pm

Come and celebrate St. George’s Day and

help to raise money to buy a Quizdom set for your

son/daughter to use in school.

What’s Quizdom? Come along and find out!

£2.50 per adult

£1.00 per child

Food available on the night. Bring your own drink.

Tickets to be purchased in advance from

Linda Farr, Finance Office, Thamesview School

On Thursday 4th February, Thamesview’s Year 7 bas-ketball team had their first fixture against a renowned basketball school NTC. With two of our own star players in wheelchairs, it was a fantastic example of inclusive sport where every-one’s sole aim was to show the opposition a thing or two about our determina-tion. Our team showed great character and hard-work with positive attitudes, despite a final score line to NTC. A brilliantly exciting game to watch though!

S Franks

Driving Dare Devils!

Year 7 Basketball

Superstars: Harry Flat-man, Rhys Terry, Bryan Webb, Max Sullivan, Daniel Sparks, Ashley Cripps, Lanre Sowami and Reece Isted.

Win, win, win…

Enter the competition to get £20 donated to a charity of your choice.

Wizard of Oz Competition The audience at the Wizard of Oz pantomime, Woodville Halls, may have noticed another set of characters, as well as those on the stage! These included a large witch, made by Thamesview School, who won the secondary school section of the competition, organised by The Talking

Directory, Gravesham Extended Services and the Woodville Halls Manage-ment Committee. Well done to all involved, including the Art Club students and Sue Pettipher.

Richard Curtis

Special points of interest:-

Auto 22 Sporting Stars Maths News Police Support

Thamesview Year 12 Diploma students are continuing to work outside the classroom; this time at Riverside Primary School. This project looks at regeneration in Gravesend with the Year 12 students helping Riverside. We look forward to the results.

Pauline Blayney

Dear Parents, Carers, Governors, Teachers, Students and Friends Further to the recent publication of our validated results, I would like to share with you our Press Statement: “Following a four year upward, year on year improvement in all areas since I joined the school in September 2005, I was hugely disap-pointed that our percentage of five A* to C grades, including English and Maths, dropped from 33% in 2008 to 17% in 2009. My first concern was for the students, and I was pleased to learn that they had all achieved sufficient grades to go on to their pre-planned college, sixth form, training or employment opportunities. Our English grades continued to improve reaching 43%. However, a number of students attained a D grade in Maths, and it was this that had the impact on our overall score for English and Maths combined. In Maths, there had been departmental staffing concerns, and I am pleased to report that we have now been able to recruit further good quality Maths teachers to ensure standards are significantly raised in this curriculum area. We have redoubled our efforts since the summer. Maths is a whole-school priority subject. We are offering one-to-one opportuni-ties, after-school Maths sessions, Saturday lessons and using our local Grammar School sixth form students to support individuals on a small group basis in one of our revision classes. These initiatives, together with improved quality of teaching in Maths, will ensure we achieve above the National Challenge floor target for 2010. Our five A* to C grades in all subjects has increased from 20% in 2004, to 42% in 2007, 67% in 2009, and we predict we will achieve above 70% in 2010. Our contextual value added data continues to score high in the top percentage across the UK, proving we are achieving well across the school. Everyone is committed to working together to achieve our goals. In 2009 we gained our Business and Enterprise status, received an Ofsted inspection where we were graded as ‘good’ overall, and we have a brand new school building opening in July 2010 as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme to look forward to. I am confident we will exceed the National Challenge floor target above 30% for 5 x GCSEs including English and Maths in 2010 and in future years, as my first priority is that our

students leave having achieved their potential and are prepared for future life academically and personally.” I do not want to dwell on last year’s results where 32 students achieved a ‘D’ grade and should have reached ‘C’, because this is a new year, new approaches, and a determination that this year will not be a repeat of last year! You will know from the regular articles in the Newsletters, the regular updates by phone and letters to you about your child, particularly in Maths, and by the new and more innovative leadership within Maths, that we are already raising standards and aspirations in this subject area. The countdown is well and truly on for our move to the new school, with the date for us to receive the keys less than 5 months away! Planning for the move across to the new buildings is requiring crucial coordination of everyone involved. We are planning for an Open Day on a Saturday in April, (date to be confirmed), where parents and friends can visit the school prior to its official opening. We are also hoping that there will be some time in July where we can take students across to the new school for some induction time prior to September, and we are applying to Kent for some additional training days in July to help facilitate staff and the move. We apologise now for late notice of these days, as we await confirmation from Kent that these extra days can be taken. Exciting times for Year 11s as they are in their run up to their leaving Prom and final examinations, and exciting times for the rest of the students and staff as we prepare for the move to the new school in readiness for September 2010. In the meantime, I hope that everyone had a well-earned rest at half-term, and that students used the time wisely to revise, get caught up with extended learning and course-work, so that they can all start the term on top of their studies and raring to go!

Best wishes,

Rhiannon Hughes Headteacher

Page 2 Spring Term 3

Building on Success Work has started on the extension to the Vocational Centre. This area will be for Hair and Beauty plus space to teach the Public Service Diploma and other vocational courses. The building company, Rossmark, have been wonderful and have enabled construction students to work alongside them both in the planning and actual building work. Not even poor weather has stopped these diligent workers!

P Blayney

Passing out Parade! On the worst night of the year on December 17th 2009, despite the cold, snow and terrible driving Conditions, this did not stop Aaron Denham, Josh Payne, Tom Hussey from attending a celebration award ceremony at Canterbury to receive recognition for their work on the ‘Challenging Troop’ Experience. With Parents and Guardians in attendance as well, we watched these students being rewarded for their excellent work and achievement. Well done lads but on the next presentation of achievement in April we hope the weather is better! Pauline Blayney, Helen Goodwin & Nicola Salmon

Film stars at Thamesview

On the television recently there has been adverts for the new Diplomas. Have you spotted Thamesview students? They spent a day work-ing on set filming with Kano and his latest single ‘More Than One Way’ to produce a government advert to encourage young people to take Diplomas. What an experience and what a group. Well done to Charlie Rayfield, Raj Barsa and Georgia Bradford.

Pauline Blayney

Engaging Places

Page 3 Thames Views

DTSY Boys vs Girls Challenge Ms Syrett and Mrs Cave have set students in their tutor group a weekly challenge. Every Thursday the boys compete against the girls in a series of tasks that test their mental and physical dexterity. For example, who can bounce a ping pong ball with a bat for the longest! In the picture below, students are seeing who can complete puzzles in the quickest time. Ms Syrett updates the scores each week on Fronter so we can keep up-to-date with how the competition is going. Last score is 7-5 to the boys. So come on girls!

Over the course of Terms 1, 2 and 3 the Discovery Learning Community have been looking closely at the progression of our students in Years 9-11. We have identified different strategies to support students and help them strive for the highest possible grades. Year 9 target students are being mentored by Mr Chapman. They have a fortnightly meeting in which they can discuss their lessons, identifying what has gone well, address any areas of concern and look at ways of securing further improve-ment. Year 10 target students are being mentored in a similar way by their form tutors. There is a men-toring calendar in place which outlines interven-tions at key points in the year. Year 11 target students have an Assertive Mentor. The school, the parents and the students have signed an exam success contract that high-lights support available and allows the students to gain all the additional support they need to gain the top GCSE grades (particularly in Maths and English). So far so good. Our students are responding positively to the support in place for them. Our

aim is to ensure they all reach their Target!

Mr B Chapman, Learning Stage

Leader

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends,

A Happy New Year to you all!

We hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas. Despite the snow disrupting the start of term all of us in Discovery Learning Community have quickly settled back into our work. Many students have already faced exams and we look forward to those results when they are released in March. We have also got back to our winning ways in the community competition with victory in the Krypton Factor! Enterprise challenged the other communities to this test of mental endurance. However, our team easily saw off the competition! With best wishes for the New Year.

Mr M Sorby AHT, Head of Learning Community

Fiona Brett, Bronwyn Broad and Chloe Gower organised a cake stall on our recent non-uniform day to raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. They raised £27.10 and helped the school beat its £1000 target. Well done girls!

Celebrating Success in Terms 1 and 2

In our first assembly we had an awards ceremony to celebrate achieve-ment in terms 1 and 2. There were many different categories, not just to do with academic achievement. The list of all winners (selected by staff in our community) is below: Best Dressed Male = Aaron Rogers Best Dressed Female = Harriet Finnigan Best Sportsperson = Aaron Rayner Helping Hand Award (for outstanding contribution to charity) = Kieran Stapley Outstanding Leadership = Jordan Meade Discovery’s Got Talent Award = Lauren Rogers Sunshine Award (for someone who is always positive and boosts the morale of others) = Sian Dowd Most Outstanding Student (based on academic progress and achievement credits) = Kathleen Irwin. Well done to all the winners! Who will win at the end of Term 4?

Winners of the Krypton Factor Competition Jamie Fenton, Max Sullivan, Stewart Atkin, Nicola Thompson, Billy Mancini, Hollie Payne and Lauren Curtis. Well done to you all!

Page 4 Spring Term 3

Dear Parents and carers We start the new year celebrating the success of the last year with awards being given to students and staff for all the fantastic work done. We have also had a change of leadership staff in Enterprise, with our old Learning Director, Gary Robinson, moving to Challenger and Joanne Ryan and Julia Collins sharing the Enterprise Learning Director role. We look forward to a long and success-ful partnership! Best wishes for the new year! Dr P Bell Head of Enterprise

It’s not just the students who did a fantastic job last year, our top tutor award went to Miss Sarah Reynolds for her effort and creativity in form, as well as the huge impact she

had in organising the Operation Christmas Child charity drive. Well done Miss Reynolds!

Each tutor group has a tutor and co-tutor team. For their outstanding effort and drive to always help their form to achieve their best, we want to thank the tutor/co-tutor team Lauren Lee and Maxine Simmons this term for their leadership of LLEp! Our New Learning Directors Hello, I am Mrs Collins and I would like to introduce myself to you as the new Learning Director for Enterprise Community. I have been at Thamesview School for 6 years and following mater-nity leave, I am now delighted to be working within the best Community in the school, supported by Miss Ryan. My role will include ensuring that the teaching and learning within the community is of a high stan-dard and supporting staff to ensure that students achieve to their full potential. I look forward to work-ing with everyone in Enterprise and to the end of the summer term when Enterprise is announced as the winning Community. If you have any queries or require any further information please contact me on 01474 566552 (ext 212) or email me at:

[email protected] Hello, I am Miss Ryan, I have always been very proud to be a Form Tutor within the Enterprise Community and was therefore delighted to become a part-time Learning Director alongside Mrs Collins. I am still the Business, Enterprise and Work-Related Coordinator for TVS, but I am looking forward to becoming involved in the many initiatives and events planned for Enterprise.

Enterprise Stars! At the end of the year each form had the opportunity to nominate a student for Best Effort in Extended Learning, and a Star of the Form for general effort and helpfulness; the results were:

Star of the Form Excellent EL work

EpEA Courtney Harvey Leah Swain

EpGR Molly Higgs Alicia Gigg

EpJR Jessica Goldsmith Sophie Hart

EpLLE Michael Fenlon Bobby Ingram

EpM Ibukunluwa Oluwasegun Jessica Hirst

EpSR Ceri Smythe Robins Clayton MCIlroy

EpGS Amy Costas Anastasia Kravcenko

EpGF Charlotte Cox Ria Franklin Jones

EpSB Lauren Skehan Shelly Murray

Enterprise mascot Enterprise won the mobile phone donation scheme last term (old mobile phones are recycled for charity) and we had the option of adopting a Panda, Polar Bear, Dolphin, Orang-utan or Rhino. After voting in tutor groups the majority went for a Panda!

Panda facts! They only live in a small part of Asia. They are endangered for two reasons. Firstly, they repro-duce slowly and secondly their habitat and food is being destroyed (bamboo forests). They don’t hibernate! Unlike most bears their diet is very low in fat so they can’t build up the fat reserves to sleep during winter.

Extended Learning Our new extended learning is focused on each student, ending up in a ‘This is your life’ presentation or documentary. They can choose projects based on their life, focussing on either the Environment, Science, Geography or History.

Thames Views Page 5

FUNky Fridays have been a success in Endeavour. Most of the students are motivated and enjoy moving around the forms working on different activities. The students have cho-sen to continue with FUNky Fridays and have made some really positive comments and suggestions as to how to make them even better.

I can’t quite believe that January has already finished. Endeavour students are starting to show that we are now a force to be reckoned with in the Community competition as we have finally managed to surpass the formidable Discovery Community and move into third place. Whilst we still have a lot of chasing to reach Challenger and Enterprise I do feel that by the time summer arrives we will have poll position in sight! Our Year 11 students are progressing well and GCSE exams will commence soon. English revision classes have started for

The students really caught onto creating eye-catching logos for the Endeavour community. We looked briefly at shop and company logos and the importance of that in creating an identity. Then we set about creating our own logo for our school community. I especially liked Sakirat's contribution entitled 'A Brighter Future' with a simple capital E and a Ladder for success; bold, simple and sending a clear message about Endeavour. What I also discovered was that we have many budding artists within the Endeavour Community!

Mrs S Lok EVSL

We have been working on creating the homepage for Endeavour VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). Students used Macromedia Dreamweaver MX to create links to internal and external websites. They inserted and edited images and text for the webpage. Students across the Community enjoyed the session and picked up new web design skills. All students worked in pairs and produced very good quality web pages, some of the comments from students include "very enjoyable session", "I have the confidence to create my own website", "I didn’t realise web design is so much fun". The sessions were very successful in terms of transferring skills to students, however with some additional time, students could develop their webpage fully customised to Endeavour.

E. Rahman

‘I like FUNky Fridays because it’s something different to do in form’

Year 9 ‘I like going to different forms and working with different form tutors’

Year 7 ‘I like doing activities about the community; it makes me feel like part of a ‘team’

Year 10 Congratulations to Mrs Lima who entered a competition for Key Stage 3 PSHE and for win-ning first prize, a £50 Amazon voucher, which will be spent on PSHE materials!

targeted Year 11 students on Wednesday afternoons. It is extremely important that all targeted students attend the revision classes. Funky Fridays have continued to provide students in Endeavour with an opportunity to be creative and develop community spirit. It was wonderful to see all their excellent work being showcased to the rest of the community. We felt a sense of pride when our theme song was played. Key Stage 3 students are currently

working on their Extended Learning projects which is themed, “This is my life.” On the academic front, Endeavour students have been making continued and steady progress. I am confident that they will continue to outshine students in the other communities. I wish you all a good break over half term!

Miss Ingrid Arndt

I have really enjoyed getting to know students from different forms in a relaxed environ-ment. All students that have participated have been willing to have a go. They have shown great team skills and produced some really nice certificates.

Mrs Collier EVLS

Community Points

Challenger 206

Discovery 172

Endeavour 174

Enterprise 210

Term Term Start/End Dates

4 22nd February—1st April

5 19th April—28th May

6 7th June—23rd July

1 Sept 2010—To be confirmed

Event Date

Year 11 Focus Evening 3.30—4.30pm 18th March

School Production Week 25th March

Parents’ Forum 17th June

Parents’ Forum (revised date) Please email items to discuss

7.00pm 18th March

Year 9 Courses Fayre 4th March

KS3 Parents Evening 23rd & 25th March

Staff Development Day 25th June

Note to parents: If you are booking a holiday during school time please ensure dates do not clash with exams: Approximate dates - 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th & 21-26 March, 24 May—30 June 2010. Please note dates may change. No holiday forms will be agreed during the examination times.

Page 6 Spring Term 3

This term has been quite focused and hard work for both students and staff. Year 11 and 10 have been involved in external maths exams, and the school have mentored, tutored and supported a large number of students through this vital period. We wait to see the results in the next few months, but the students had positive reactions to the exam and seemed quite happy when they came out of the exam hall. We also remembered the people of Haiti, and raised money for them with our non-uniform day. We really do need to look around sometimes at the world around us, and think about how lucky we are, even if we don’t feel lucky in our situation. Some of the scenes on the news of children being rescued, as well as crying and in despair, made me feel very lucky indeed, and in my assembly on this, students commented that we do need to think about others. On a more positive note, our attendance has started to get better in Challenger (we were never that bad!). We are now coming top of the atten-dance table within the Communities, and that is down to some really hard work on the part of the students, and parents. I would like to thank parents for their support in this part of school life, and I wanted to remind parents that every lesson does count. Missing any time in school can have an effect on progress, and could ultimately lead to students not reaching their potential. We also had our Christmas dinner last term, and as the newsletter had already been drafted, I have included some of the pictures in this term’s newsletter.

Mr Hodges Head of Challenger Community

It is always good to get together as a community and have a little fun, and the Christmas dinner is always a good opportunity for us to do that. The new school is also fast approach-ing and a number of our students have been over to the new build. It is very exciting to think that in six months’ time we will be moving into a new school, and all the possibilities that can bring with it. I am currently looking at the ICT in the new school and mak-ing sure that we get best value for the devices that are going into the school.

Key to this new school ICT redevelop-ment is the use of the school VLE, Fronter. Please ask your child to show you Fronter so that you can see what we will be using as we move towards the new school. You can access this

from the school website, at the bottom of the page and click on the Fronter logo. If your child has not got their log- in, please get them to see me and I will get it for them. Lastly, those parents/carers who received a letter about the govern-ment’s ‘home access scheme’, please make sure you phone the number and get an application pack.

Thank you Mr Hodges- AHT Head of Learning Community

Family Puzzle What is this puzzle? (phrase or saying). LAST PUZZLE—Just say what you see!!- Wrong end of the stick! NEW PUZZLE: If you are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove and a gas lamp and you only have one match;. What do you light first?

Well done Challengers for an excellent start to 2010!

We have been top of the attendance leader board for the first 3 weeks of

term. Congratulations Challenger let’s stay

on top of that leader board! Attendance Certificates:

11-15 January 2010 CRR 95.4% 18-22 January 2010 CBE 97.1%

Mrs Brooker Progress Manager

Attendance

Thames Views Page 7

Rewarding students is important to us in Challenger and for that reason at the end of each full term we hold a rewards assembly. This time it was our Christmas Rewards assembly and tutors and co-tutors were asked to nominate stu-dents for different categories. The following categories were set:

Most consistent contributor to form time activities

CKH CKH –– Kirsty Stapley and Alex Terry Kirsty Stapley and Alex Terry CBECBE——Jack ElmesJack Elmes CILBCILB——Luke AdamsLuke Adams CRF—Aaron Greenway CLB—Kerris Webb CRR—Shaun Grimes CSFI—Beth Collins CCSP—Katherine Bagshaw CLF—James Lawrence and Tom Arnold

Most helpful form member

CKH CKH –– Lucy Dallimore and Naomi Nicholls Lucy Dallimore and Naomi Nicholls CBECBE—— Jonathan Wood Jonathan Wood CILBCILB—— Samantha Samantha——Jane HeywoodJane Heywood CRF—Ella Gardiner CLB—Jordan Butler CRR—Lee Pinder CSFI—Luke Powell and Hayden Elliott CCSP— Ashley Stapley and Abbie Marriott CLF—Emma Hogg and Aaron Mills

Most consistent contributor to community competitions

CKH CKH –– Joe Degnin Joe Degnin CBECBE—— Michael Bruford Michael Bruford CILBCILB—— Pembe Osman Pembe Osman CRF—Tony White CCSP—Josie Baldwin CLF—Lewis Dellbridge AND Danny Verge CLB—Joe High

Improvement Award

CKH CKH –– Albert Toulson and Alfie Smith Albert Toulson and Alfie Smith CBECBE—— Glen Davies Glen Davies CILBCILB—— Amber Hollins Amber Hollins CRF—Bonnie Morgan CLB—Tom Drynan CRR—Lauren Henderson

CSFI—Callum Owen CCSP—Nicole Kitney CLF—Daniel Goodchild

Outside School Achievement Award

CKH CKH –– Holly Ambrose Holly Ambrose CBECBE—— Laura Whitehead Laura Whitehead CILBCILB—— Jack Cottrell Jack Cottrell CRF—William Luker CCSP—Amy Wood CLF—Rikki—Lee Reece and Matthew Thornhill

Quiet Achievers Award

CKH CKH –– Lewis Hubert Lewis Hubert CBECBE—— Hannah Marriott Hannah Marriott CILBCILB—— Morgan Cullen Morgan Cullen CRF—Shania Reeves CLB— Anna Mobius CRR—Aaron Walsham-Coker CSFI—Cameron Watson CCSP—Anthony Wakeman CLF—Liam King and Zak Both

Tutor’s Special Award

CKH CKH –– Maria Parker Maria Parker CBECBE—— Katie Harding Katie Harding CILBCILB—— Helen Turner Helen Turner CRF—Jessica Waters CLB— Alex White CRR—Elle Jarvis CSFI—Rianna Plumb CCSP—Kayley Ayres and Molly Fenton CLF—Jaye-Louise Presland and Louise Morris

Well Done to all of the award winners! Miss Howe

Your Choice Funding Haiti Fundraiser

We have had another successful term at Thamesview, promoting the cohesion of our school community. Our students have been taking part in many fundraising activities as well as community events to involve themselves fully in the school, local, national and international communi-ties. Your Choice Funding has contributed to the enrichment of many students who have been able to access a range of activi-ties outside the regular school day. 15 girls will begin a Charlton Football coach-ing programme on Monday 1st February that will last for 10 weeks. Many of our students have been fishing and two Year 10 boys will be embarking on a fishing coaching course. We have a professional theatre company coming in during half-term break to work with 30 students over a

week; the professionals include West End performers and Circus experts. In April we hope to run sporting activity days for the students during the holidays, so keep your eyes open and sign up for this! The culmination of these activities took place on Thursday 27th January when Thamesview undertook a fundraising activity to support the people in Haiti. The students saw assemblies about the divide between rich and poor; resulting in the massive loss of life in Haiti after the earthquake. The community Cohesion Com-mittee made ribbons and organised a non-uniform day with the aim of raising over £1000 for the charity supporting the earthquake victims. Thank you to all of the staff, parents and students who supported this worthy cause. Kate Hudson

Community Cohesion

No More Litter Having a positive relationship with our local community neighbours is important to us. We must therefore support initiatives that we believe will enhance this partnership. Due to a number of our students who are dropping litter and giving shop owners and their shop-pers verbal abuse, we must support the Police in trying to keep the shopping areas clear of these few students during lunch. We are therefore enforcing the line in our lunch pass letter that any student with a Pass is “expected to go home”. We will therefore, remove any student’s lunch pass should they be found at the shopping area during lunch time. Furthermore, if students are caught littering at school or in the community, they will be expected to undertake a one hour community service litter picking session with our local Police, who will supervise these stu-dents giving something positive back to our community. I am sure you want your child to take responsibility for keeping their environ-ment clean, so I thank you for your support.

Rhiannon Hughes, Headteacher

Phone: 01474 566552 E-Mail: [email protected] Headteacher: Miss R Hughes

Developing confidence and self-belief is also a skill that Thamesview feels is important for students. In our recent initiative for some Year 11 students, we are using an expert life-coach to develop students’ ability to achieve their potential. In our first one-day workshop, led by Mrs Mel Jemmett, students, Molly Cooke and Olivia Davis couldn’t speak highly enough about their day.

“We were told we would come out of the session feeling happy and relaxed, and we definitely felt that!” Olivia

Page 8 Spring Term 3

Thamesview is still collecting and recycling printer ink cartridges on behalf of Born Free.

Thamesview’s Organic Gardeners have been working hard, despite the inclement weather, and

have been out in the rain and bitter cold clearing up leaves and preparing the flower beds. They are now anxiously awaiting delivery of some topsoil for their flower beds . They have also been busy preparing their new notice board with details of the club and pictures (located outside Room 2); come along and have a look. Any old gardening tools, donations of plants, seeds etc will be greatly appreciated. Mrs J Dean

+ = +

LIVING

The winner of the Mobile Phone Competition for the Winter Term was

Challenger. They are currently voting within their Community as to

which endangered animal they want to adopt as their Mascot. Keep those mobile phones coming in and your Community could be next to win! We are also opening the mobile phone collections to include I-Pods, MP3 Players and games con-soles. So come on, support endangered animals and recycle those old, broken, and now unwanted items responsibly.

Congratulations to Our Sporting Stars Chay Bellingham, Macauley Kemp, Daniel Large, Laura Hobson, Katherine Bagshaw, Georgia Reece and Char-lotte Harwood have been chosen to represent Gravesham at cross country. Good luck to them for the 6th February! Also, well done to Lewis Gibbins who has been chosen to repre-sent an 'England' team in a French swimming competition. Our school swim team have their first meets of the year on the 23rd and 30th of this month, so good luck for another storming success goes to Robyn Stevens, Keeley Gibbins, Alexie Leech, Amy Costas and Lewis Gibbins!

Former Student to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro!

In February 2010, Lee Climpson - a former student at Thamesview, who left in 1995 - will be attempting to scale the mighty Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. At a height of over 19,000ft, it will take six days of hard walking, with overnight stops at the camps. Temperatures can drop as low as -18 degrees celsius at night and there is a risk of altitude sickness. Lee has been on an intense training programme for over 3

months to hopefully make sure he is fit enough to take on this chal-lenge. At the same time, Lee hopes to raise money for Diabetes UK which is the largest organisation in the UK working for people with diabetes. The charity helps people to live with the condition as well as campaigning and continuing the search for a cure. Diabetes is an illness in which the body either does not produce enough (or any) insulin which is required to control the amount of glucose in the blood stream. Low or high blood-glucose levels can result in short-term loss of consciousness and possible long-term eyesight, circulation, and heart/kidney problems. As such, Diabetes sufferers control their blood-sugar levels with a strictly con-trolled regime of injections, diet and/or tablets along with daily monitoring of their blood-glucose levels.

Lee’s mum Sharon – who works in the PD department here at Thamesview - has Diabetes along with a number of close friends and current students at Thamesview School, plus over 2 million people across the UK. If you would like to sponsor Lee for this worthy charity please go to

his Just Giving page at: http://www.justgiving.com/leeclimpson

Lee in 1993, aged 14!

2010—Lee Aged 31

Thank You!

Thamesview School

Thong Lane, Gravesend Kent. DA12 4LF

“I wanted to develop confi-dence in myself. It was a very positive approach to talking about our feelings and the course made you think about things in a more positive way. We were helped to see where our beliefs come from, explore it, and then helped to find ways of where we want to be and how we can get there.”

Molly

Maths News The module exams which Years 10 and 11 took on 21st January went extremely well. The Module 7 exam (which more students sat than any other pa-per) contained questions we have been practising regularly, such as Scatter Diagrams, Equations, Pythagoras’ Theorem, Rearranging Formula and at the end was a fantastic, 4 mark ‘Mean From a Table’ question! I was so pleased to see so many students entering the exam feeling positive and well prepared. Most came out positive too. I look forward to the results on 11th March. A big thank you to all staff and parents for pushing the use of Fronter (mentioned in the last newsletter). There were over 300 ‘hits’ on the Maths area in the run up to the module exam. The online MyMaths is also helping students improve skills. The maths team have been using IPODS and Mobile Phones in lessons. We have been fortunate enough to have a class set of IPODS, onto which we have installed maths video clips. This has allowed students to focus on topics in which they feel they need more support. Students have also been working in groups to solve a set of problems and texting a total answer into a central website. The answer appears on the whiteboard as they send it. Students have found these e-technology activities enjoyable. We would like to welcome Mr Yearsley who will be taking the lead for maths and Miss Clow from Canada as an extra maths teacher to the faculty. Both members joined us during Term 3.

Mrs Sesay, AST Maths