Message from Steve Brady, Headteacher - Forest Hill School

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FHS Issue 12 17/6/09 13:34 Page 4 PAGE 4 Community Connections Annual Review As ever, 2008-2009 has been a busy year for the Community Performing Arts Team, and as the academic year draws to a close, we can now reflect on our achievements. This year our outreach has predominantly been with schools, where we have sought not only to facilitate high quality learning opportunities in our specialist subjects, but also develop and disseminate best practice through professional development as a means to ensuring our work has a legacy of sustainable impact long after projects have ended. So far this year (Autumn 08 & Spring 09 terms) 44 primary and 1300 secondary pupils, plus 23 teaching professionals have accessed our programmes, raising our total participation figures since designation in 2004 to 8603. However, indirectly, through staff development and training, the numbers benefiting from our work far exceeds this figure. Some of the identified benefits of our work include: increased motivation, engagement, confidence, self esteem and empowerment; improved knowledge, skills (i.e. art and life skills) and understanding; enhanced teaching and learning, and promotion of inclusivity and social cohesion. Projects Brent Knoll KS3 Drama Project A one year drama enrichment project with a focus on developing the social and communication skills of students with autistic related educational, social and communication needs. The project also incorporates professional development for Learning Mentors in the use of drama as an aid to learning.A final performance will take place in the Ken Kirkby Theatre on Wednesday 8th July 2009. `Voices in the Classroom’ INSET A 6-week after-school training programme for primary school teachers aimed at enhancing singing within the primary curriculum. Sessions provided participants with the tools and strategies for finding their voice, structuring their own music sessions, developing their piano, guitar and conducting skills, and building a repertoire of tunes and resource materials (resource pack included). As well as developing participants’ music skills and offering ideas for running their own sessions, the INSETs also helped to raise teachers’ confidence in singing, identified as a key barrier to delivery of music activities at this educational phase. Sudden Soundtracks Working with Year 7 students from Brent Knoll Special School, this 9-week creative music making project used composition and improvisation to create music for film. Project outcomes included the development of participants’ ability to create and play basic instrumental parts; to contribute to the creation and performance of a short film soundtrack and to interact socially. Year 8 Gifted & Talented Drama Club Now in its fourth year, this annual after school programme for gifted and talented students from Sydenham and Forest Hill schools goes from strength to strength. The club provides participants with advanced drama skills training and opportunities to access challenging new drama texts, and includes theatre visits. This year’s programme culminated in two outstanding performances of Blood Wedding on 25th and 26th March 2009. Members of the Community Performing Arts Team Entity – Random ICT Dance Project A Sydenham and FHS Year 10 collaborative project with Random Dance Company and Laban, using Random’s specially created ICT dance resource to develop technical dance skills and create instructed choreographic pieces, culminating in a performance at Laban in November 2008. The project developed students contemporary dance technique and compositional skills to a high standard using professional models of dance practice. As a result, participants developed an appreciation of the high quality creative process, technical and performance skills and working practices required by a professional dance company. Maths Dance Project A five week project working with Years 2 and 6 at Holy Trinity Primary School exploring mathematical principles (signs and symbols, 2D & 3D shapes, partition, times tables) through movement and dance in order to develop students’ confidence and enjoyment of maths. The project included a learning resource pack to support teachers’ future application of maths dance work as part of curriculum teaching. Bollywood Dance Project A five week dance enrichment project with Years 5 and 6 at Perrymount Primary school, aimed at raising the profile of and increasing boys participation in dance. FHS & London Bubble 13-17s Youth Theatre In autumn 2008 FHS joined forces with London Bubble Theatre Company (LB) to provide high quality, out of hours drama activities for young people within the local community. The 13-17s Youth Theatre was officially launched in January 2009, with the group meeting weekly on Friday evenings, during term time. As well as developing drama and performance skills, participants have attended off-site visits to the Theatre Royal Stratford and Royal Observatory, and benefited from the opportunity to perform their work at different venues. To date, the group have shared their work at LB’s Rotherhithe base (May 09) and at Sydenham & Forest Hill Youth Forum’s inaugural event (June 09), and are set to perform at FHS’s community arts festival – Forest Fest (see page 2) and LB’s outdoor performance in Sydenham Wells Park (11th July 2009). In addition, several members have successfully participated in auditions, with some being selected to work for Channel 4’s 3 Minute Wonder. The project is funded with support from the Lewisham Youth Opportunities & Youth Capital Fund. ‘Art Moves’: Royal Ballet & National Gallery Project A large scale collaborative project with the Royal Ballet School (RBS), National Gallery and Sydenham School. The project incorporated an art and dance strand that drew inspiration from paintings by Michaelangelo: The Manchester Madonna and The Entombment, and Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne and Giordano’s Perseus turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone. The project involved 66 students from RBS, FHS and Sydenham Schools and included visits to the National Gallery,The Royal Ballet Upper and Lower Schools in Covent Garden and Richmond, respectively. Responding to the theme of ‘the moving body’ the project culminated in two performances at RBS’s lower school, plus a Royal Gala performance attended by Prince Charles in May 2009. Through working creatively with individuals from different institutions, participants were able to gain an insight into the different and shared educational, creative and life experiences of each other. FHS and Sydenham students gained an insight into Ballet as an art form/discipline, and participating teachers were able to share good practice. YMAZ Music Tech Project A 20-week AQA unit accredited music technology course for 13-19 year olds running from January until July 2009. Led by Street Vibes Youth (SVY) – a not-for-profit music and media education organisation – the Wednesday afterschool sessions develop participants’ skills, knowledge and confidence in MCing, music production, performing and lyric writing, which are then used to create tracks towards an album. The sessions, which are free and open to young people from FHS and the wider community was funded with a grant from Youth Music. Forest Fest - Community Arts Festival & Summer Fair (see article on page 2) Summer Transition Programme Building on last year’s successful programme, FHS will run its second summer performing arts transition programme for 45 of its new Year 7 cohort. The programme, which will run from 27th to 31st July 2009, will include on-site workshops in music dance and drama and visits to the British Music Experience interactive exhibition at the O2 Arena and Laban – the internationally renowned centre for dance. For more details about this year’s programme telephone 020 8613 8423. During the forthcoming year the team’s work will undergo a review as we seek to develop a more strategic approach to our outputs in order to: extend our programming to a wider cross section of our local community, improve the quality of our provision and maximise its positive impact, as well as raise the achievement and aspirations of our students and members of our community. To achieve this, the development of new partnerships will be a nascent feature as we recognise the efficacy of team work in service provision. As another busy year draws to a close, thanks and appreciation goes out to the members of the Community Performing Arts Team who include: Craig Coggle, Nicole Charles, Kevin Jewell, Melissa Knight, Stuart Livingstone, Nardine Montague-Gibson, Ray Oudkerk, Phil Simpson, Michaela Rispin, and freelancers Theo Bryer and Colin Fancy, for all their hard work in devising, delivering and administering high quality projects. And also to the students, teachers and staff in our partner schools and organisations, plus everyone who has supported our work in some way – large or small – for their contributions to FHS’s Community Programme. Sasha Leacock Community Performing Arts Manager
FHS Issue 12 17/6/09 13:34 Page 5 PAGE 5 curriculum Creative Partnerships Creative Partnerships is the Government’s flagship creative learning programme, designed to develop the skills of young people across England, raising their aspirations and equipping them for their futures. R7F have been working in small groups with Samar Maakaron (graphic designer), Michael Shaeffer (actor) and Elspeth Law (Head of Arts) developing their own projects designed to increase independent learning. Each group had four hour-long sessions where they learnt research skills, effective group working and how to lead their own projects. In their words, “I’ve learned to listen to everyone’s ideas and work as a Kiran Ramadan R7F group”, and “I liked having to find things out for ourselves.” They presented their proposals to the Senior Leadership Team: Forest Hill FM, an in-school radio station; Football Friday, where Friday’s lessons are taught using football as reference and inspiration; Concert Creations, a student-led production of a modern adaptation of a classic play; The Hands-On Club, an after-school club focused on designing, making and inventing objects, and Squad 7, a way to use sport in helping students with their concentration. The Senior Leadership Team was so impressed by the depth and quality of the students’ work and presentation skills that all of the projects are currently being considered for trial runs next year. Michael and Samar have also been working with a small group of teachers investigating the issue of independent learning creating small experiments to test out the benefits of applying creative learning techniques to their work. This has included using drama in art lessons to help students analyse paintings, various creative approaches such as dance to help revise poetry and working with students to devise their own approach to reading assessment. The results from the first phase of work have been overwhelmingly positive and next year should see more teachers joining in. Elspeth Law Head of Arts PAGE 6 Samurai School All of our Year 8 students were lucky enough to experience a morning at the Samurai School: a fast-paced Japanese inspired performance by Chris Bradford, first time author of Young Samurai: Way of the Warrior. Chris displayed his skills in martial arts in order to bring the story to life. All students who entered our James Bond Story Writing Competition were invited to take part in a writer’s workshop in the library. Chris hopes his book will be made into a film so look out for the sequel in July, The Way of the Sword. Carol Webb Librarian Lewisham Book Award Sophie McKenzie, award winning author, was invited to judge presentations made by students from secondary schools based on the books in the Lewisham Book Award shortlist. Within minutes of entering the library students were placed in teams with students from other schools, given a title randomly from the list and in half an hour had to produce a presentation to persuade the audience to buy their book. Sophie then signed copies of her latest book Blood Ties. Carol Webb Librarian Boys who attended were James Brightman, Tommy Dixon, Kieran Lang, Michael March, Jared Ndisang, Ben Sanbrook-Davies and Eamon Wen Chris Bradford, author The Captain’s Café The Year 10 BTEC boys prepared and served a magnificent 3-course lunch of Melon Kebabs, Tuna and Pasta Salad and home made cheesecake for 22 guests. The boys planned and coordinated the event and produced eye-catching invitations. The 6th form common room was turned into a café and guests were met by Michael Jones and Glodi Wabelua who offered them home made fruit punch. The waiters – Jake Cullen, David Garrick-Bangbola, Ibrahim Hafiz, Bryan Kasombo, Amir Khoshmanesh, Rhys Miller-Offiong and Rowell Graham – impressed the guests with their politeness, efficiency and knowledge of the food. This was because they had all made at least one of the dishes being served. In the kitchen Bradley Foster washed up and ensured that whatever our guests needed was available. Everyone pulled Bradley Foster D10F and Jake Cullen R10F together as a team and we were all very proud of them. Mr Haresign said, “It was the best lunch ever”. Well done boys!! Joan Reid Learning Support Department
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Message from Steve Brady, Headteacher - Forest Hill School

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