Click Here to read the full OFSTED Report ( January 2012) on Tenison's School

IMPORTANT NOTICE

18/01/2012

An OFSTED Inspection of the school will be taking place on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 January. Parents/Carers will received today (Wednesday) a questionnaire; via pupil post, seeking their views on the school's performance.

If you have not received a questionnaire (e.g due to pupil absent), please download the attachment and insert your own details in the address are at the head of the page.

Please note that all completed questionnaires should be returned to the school, in a sealed envelope, marked 'confidential' by 1.00 p.m on Thursday 19 January.

Thank you

Elizabeth Sims

Head Mistress

Please Click here to download the Questionnaire

 

25th November 2011

Dear Parent/Carers,

Re: INDUSTRIAL ACTION

I am sorry to inform you that due to industrial action on the part of a number of Trade Unions, the School will be closed to students on Wednesday 30th November 2011.

School will resume as normal i.e. 8.35 am start, on Thursday 1st December.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Yours sincerely,

 

 

MRS ELIZABETH SIMS
Headmistress

 

18th November 2011

Dear Parents/Carers

Just to remind you that INSET Day is on Wednesday 23rd November, when the school will be closed to students.  Lessons resume at the normal time of 8.35 am on Thursday 24th November.

Year 9 Parents’ Evening > Thursday 24th November

Year 11 Mock Examinations start > Monday 5th December

Parents’ Prayer Time – 7.00 pm > Wednesday 7th December

Year 9 Inoculations (Booster) > Monday 12th December

Christmas Drama/Music Production (evening) > Wednesday 14th December (details to follow)

End of Autumn Term > Friday 16th December

Yours sincerely,

 

 

MRS ELIZABETH SIMS

Headmistress

 

5th October 2011

Dear Parent / Carer

Re:  year 7 parent’s evening – thursday 20th october 2011

Our Year 7 Parent’s Evening is on Thursday 20th October 2011 from 5.00pm – 7.00pm.  It is very important that you attend this meeting as you will have the opportunity to meet with your son’s subject teachers and his form tutor to discuss his progress and help ensure that he will reach his full potential.  The meeting will therefore be vital for both you and your son.

I enclose an appointment sheet for your son.  Please pass this to him and ask him to make appointments with all of his subject teachers and return it to you before the parents’ evening.

I look forward to seeing you on the evening of Thursday 20th October.  If, in exceptional circumstances, you are unable to attend, please telephone me, Ms Chilvers, the Head of Year 7, to discuss the matter.

Yours sincerely,

MS N CHILVERS
Head of Year 7

On Thursday 6th October, a large number of parents, who are looking for a school for their son next September, will be visiting us. On Tuesday 27th September the school will be closed after lunch, at 1.30 pm, in order that the classroom and corridor displays can be finalised.

Communicating via student diaries

All boys will have been given a new diary this week. Please encourage your son to use this to record homework, it should be checked and signed by all parents and carers on a weekly basis. The diary can also be used to communicate messages to teachers where relevant, about appointments or absences. It is important that the school has an explanation every time a boy is not in school.

 

Raising money for Ugandan HIV / Aids orphanages

Ms Appavoo is organising a football tournament with the help of the PE department, to raise money for a very worthy cause, two orphanages in Uganda. Students are invited to enter teams into a football tournament, for a small fee per player. The teams will compete for a trophy and all the entrance fees will be donated to the Ugandan orphanages. Any interested in making a more direct donation to the charity should contact Ms Appavoo at the school.

 

Food Recycling

The Catering Manager Mr Hanfy after discussions with Mr Bromfield will recycle some of the waste materials from the kitchen. Items like potato peelings, onion skins and egg shells will be collected and passed on to the City Farm project to help with enriching their soil.

 

Students reading Newspapers

The library now subscribes to a weekly newspaper.

It is called FIRSTNEWS. Its target audience is for Key- stages 2 to 3 and is therefore suitable for most levels of reading

Currently the library subscribes to a weekly subscription and we receive 3 copies a week.

It is published in conjunction with the national literacy trust. Back copies will be archived on a term by term basis.

For more information about the newspaper, please visit: http://www.firstnews.co.uk/

Other magazines and periodical the library subscribes to are:

The Economist , Flipside

 

Homework Club

We are pleased to be able to host an after-school homework club for a local primary school group. Currently, around 25 students attend.

Parents and carers should also be aware that the School Library is open every day after school for boys to do research, reading and to complete their homework.

 

Parent Staff Association Event

A wonderful time was had by governors, parents, carers, pupils, teachers and support staff as we all celebrated the richness of cultures that make up our school community at International Evening. The event consisted of a variety of performances, some in other languages, which relate to the countries members of our community originate from. There was singing in French, poetry in German, Polish and Afrikaans, music from Spain, Salsa dancing, African drumming and much, much more. The evening was made all the more enjoyable by the fact that many parents and carers had brought food from their culture to share with us. This included Ackee and salt fish,  French tart, Jalof rice, and pizza  We had plenty of delicious food and in fact , so much of it that we had to ask people to take some home with them.

 

 

School Wins Democracy Award

Our school has been awarded a GOLD democracy award. This is as a result of having over 75% turnout in the recent Lambeth Student Elections. Only one other Lambeth school had a higher turnout. The school will shortly be receiving a certificate to celebrate this.

 

Tenison boys elected to serve

For the 3rd year in a row we have had one of our boys elected to serve on the National Youth Parliament. This time the successful candidate was Jeremiah Emmanuel in Year 7.

For the first time ever, one of our boys has been elected as Lambeth Youth Mayor. David Oyedele had over 1100 votes , despite our school population being only 550 . This means that David was able to attract over 500 votes from students in other schools. This is a great achievement. It is also a testament to David's hard work and persistence as this is the second year in a row that he has run for office.He only narrowly missed being the school's Mayoral candidate last year.

David has a £25,000 budget that he will be spending to make improvements for young people in Lambeth.

 

Re:Fast Tomato – ICT programme

When we had the Y8 parents options evening – it was explained that we had subscribed to a package called Fast Tomato – which is a careers software – pupils answer a variety of questions, enter how far they think they will study to and some ideas of their interests and hobbies and based on this, the software package works out some suitable careers for them which they can then investigate online.

We did not have the log-on information at the time – but we now do – as the Y8s are being asked to hand in their option choices  – it would be good to point them in the direction of this piece of software either at school or at least to access at home with parents/carers.

www.fasttomato.com

go to ‘Get your login’

Enter your name  and the school’s Fast Track Code :  ATNL

Click the ‘Get login’ button – make a note of the username and password for future visits – the system will store all information for future access

Select your school year and click the Fast Tomato button

Complete the ‘my interests’ questionnaire

You can then investigate careers etc....

 

Red Nose Day

 

We had a number of activities during last week to help raise money for Red Nose Day including cake sale, 6^th form wear something red, sticker sales and a rap competition. There are still some monies to be collected but so far we have raised just over £600.  A fantastic effort by all involved and the monies will help to make a difference in the lives of others less fortunate than ourselves.

 

BT provides Learning Mentors for Year 10 IT diploma students

 

We are very grateful to BT for the offer of Learning mentors who will work closely with our year 10 IT Diploma students. The mentors are all careful selected, experienced business people who have been  trained to support students with their work. We hope that after we have developed this link that BT will provide us with mentors to support both staff and students in other subject areas.

  

Homework Club

We are pleased to be able to host an after-school homework club for a local primary school group. Currently, around 25 students attend.

Parents and carers should also be aware that the School Library is open every day after school for boys to do research, reading and to complete their homework.

 

Staying in touch

If you have recently changed your contact details please let the school know. It is imperative we have accurate contact details for all parents and carers, not least for emergency situations. If you have an email address, please let us know. Contact atsparents@ats.lambeth.sch.uk.

 

Help required with Careers events

If any Parents / Carers are willing and able to participate in a Careers Fair next year, could they please get in touch with our Assistant Headteacher Miss Phillips at this email address phillips.i@ats.lambeth.sch.uk.

We are also keen to enlist the support of adults who could assist with mock job interviews on Friday 4th February in school. Please contact David Bromfield on bromfield.d1@ats.lambeth.sch.uk for more details.

 

Attendance Issues

Lesson Monitor - during the day we not only register boys at the start and end of the day, but we also do in-class registration in every lesson. This new initiative is having a positive impact on attendance and punctuality to lessons. If your child is away, please contact us by email on school@ats.lambeth.sch.uk or phone 0207-735-3771 or letter.

 

E-safety newsletter for parents and carers

Mr Bromfield will be republishing information  on e-safety as Facebook have updated their services with a "new profile" which automatically shares information with everyone , unless you actively change your privacy settings.

Some parents are concerned about their children using social networking websites (like Face book). As a school we neither condone nor discourage them, but teaching students how to collaborate electronically is something we must do. It is worth noting that with 200 million users Face book is equivalent in population to the 5th largest country in the world and looks set to grow in size. Whilst we need to support young people in developing their IT skills we also have a responsibility to ensure they do so safely. With that in mind this document contains a number of links to websites which provide information on "e-safety" and how to support your child in their use of the internet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/onlinesafety/ - a useful BBC website

direct gov - website with information on many things including internet safety

Childnet International website - supports positive use of the internet by young people and children while promoting safety and awareness

http://www.getsafeonline.org/ - Get safe online - government sponsored website

Facebook's privacy explanation (with full details) can be found at http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php

It is worth noting that for all face book users certain information will now ALWAYS be public: Name, Profile Picture, Gender and Networks you are a member of.

Parents and carers should also be aware that the age restriction for Face book remains at 13.

If a photo or video is posted of someone under the age of 13, then parents/carers can contact Face book request for it to be removed. For more information visit http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=831#!/help/?faq=17289

The Face book Safety Centre also helps explain how to use Face book and report any concerns http://www.facebook.com/help/?safety