Latest News
Posted on February 6th 2024
Morden Mail
Morden Mail
15th Edition
Harris Academy Morden
In this issue
- Personal Development
- Careers
- Subject Updates: PE, Art & Design, Music, Literacy, Numeracy
- Safeguarding
- Most Able
- Student Articles
- SEN
- Community Challenge and Rewards
PSHE, RSHE, Citizenship, SMSC and Well-being
We take great pride in the Personal Development Programme we deliver here at Harris Academy Morden. The programme encompasses (but not limited to): Six Personal Development Days; The Jigsaw PSHE and RSHE Curriculum; Assemblies Programme; Core PSHE Tutorial Programme; Careers Programme; RE Curriculum; Pastoral Intervention and Support Programme; Extracurricular Programme and Trips Programme.
Personal Development Day Programme
During Personal Development Days, all students come off their normal timetable and take part in a day of bespoke activities, workshops and presentations centred around a core theme: see below. The days activities provide excellent opportunities for our students to develop and embed their:
Cultural Capital; Citizenship; Resilience; Tolerance; Wellbeing; Aspirations.
For example, you can say something like:
The Jigsaw PSHE and RSHE Programmee is delivered during tutor time in school and covers all areas of the Statutory PSHE and RSHE curriculum. The Spiral curriculum allows students to develop their knowledge and understanding on 6 key topic areas:
Careers
BBC Bitesize
The Academy were very lucky to welcome the BBC Bitesize Careers Tour on Wednesday 6th December. The session, for Years 7-10, highlighted the range of career opportunities in the organisation and the creative industries. Three employees were able to share their career journey with students and to give advice to them about future studies and how extracurricular activities enhance students’ job prospects.. Students had great fun interacting with the panellists with some very insightful questions.
Careers Work Insight Days
KPMG
45 Year 10 students visited the KPMG Canary Wharf office. During this visit, the students met five different employees and learnt about the different routes into consulting, and then worked in small teams to complete and present their ideas based on a consulting task.
PwC
45 Year 10 students visited the PwC London Bridge office, and participated in their New World, New Skills school series. The students met five different employees, had a tour of the building, learnt about the different routes into consulting and then worked in small teams to complete and present their ideas based on two different consulting tasks
Royal Albert Hall
The Hospitality and Catering students had an all-access tour around the Royal Albert Hall where they were able to see all their hospitality facilities. The students then had a Q&A session with the Head Chef of The Elgar Room restaurant and events space, the Assistant Bars Manager and the Events Manager.
Career Talks
Careers Advisor
The HAMD Careers Advisor spoke to the Year 11 students about the different Post-16 routes available and how to access these routes. Then a few students were chosen to have group interviews and receive more personal guidance based on their career aspirations, the Post-16 establishments they have applied to and the subjects they are going to study – this is something that we will continue in the new year.
A Doctor’s Journey
Dr. Mayowo Ojofeitimi gave a motivational presentation to the Year 11s about his journey to becoming a Surgical Urologist Trainee and then held a Q&A session where the students could ask him further questions.
Subject Updates
PE at HAMD
We have had Sutton United come in each Tuesday to run an indoor football club just for girls from Key Stage 3!
Basketball at HAMD: The Year 10 boys’ basketball team took part in a basketball tournament in Harris Merton. Our Year 8 and 9 girls basketball team represented the school in a basketball fixture with Harris Merton.
Boxing at HAMD: RoseHill Boxing Club delivered taster sessions to our KS4 students.
Art and Design
It has been a very busy and productive Autumn term here in the Art department.
Year 7 have been busy working on the key skills in art, such as composition, proportion, shading, blending and colour theory (having a good look at the colour wheel). It has been impressive to see just how keen the students are to learn and create great outcomes.
Year 8 have been building on their experience of Year 7 and have produced magnificent Artwork based on the colours and imagery of Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos). This has allowed the students to produce outcomes which are colourful and vibrant, reflecting the joy of the festival itself. The tasks have also allowed the students to further develop their understanding of the media they use.
Year 9 have produced some truly wonderful work based on landscapes, using several different mediums, and referencing the work of established artists. They have also moved onto looking at the work of Picasso and Braque to better understand the Cubist movement. This will put the students in good stead when it comes to GCSE, should they choose art.
Year 10 are off to a flying start in Art GCSE. They have completed their observational work based on the theme of which they took photographs of. They are now working on Art history based on their own chosen Artist, allowing to explore new ways of seeing and doing.
Year 11 are busy finishing off their component 1. This involved workshops that promotes risk taking and experiementation. They will soon be creating their final piece, and in the new year they will be moving onto their exam project. Very exciting..!
Music
The music department has been working hard this term playing together in Orchestra, Ukulele club and keyboard club.
We have been working on some Christmas music and Year 7 have worked on their keyboard piece ready for assessment.
The orchestra recorded their version of Jingle Bell rock to send to all staff wishing everyone a Happy Christmas!
Singing Club
Singing club has been working on the Sister Act musical collaborating with the drama department – and what a roaring success that show was! Special thanks to all the cast and singing club members who took part giving up their Saturdays to rehearse. I’m sure you all agree we made lots of wonderful memories together! Thank you from the drama and music teachers for your commitment over the past few months we couldn’t have put on a show without you.
The Singing Club had a Christmas special on 11th December where we sang lots of festive songs – Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ was a particular favourite. You’ll be pleased to know the windows are still intact!
Goodbye for now…..
I just wanted to finish the article with a final word of thanks for your support over the last 3 and half years! I couldn’t have built the music department up to where it is now without the students and parents. Thank you to the families who have come to watch the performances both in and out of school…it wouldn’t be the same without you!
Have a lovely restful holiday and all the best for 2024. Miss O’Leary
Literacy
National Poetry Day
On the 5th of October it was National Poetry Day, which we celebrated by, at the beginning of my Physics lesson we were all told to create a poem, and many were unique and all original. Mine was quite all of over the place but, it was fun! This simple creation of a poem enabled my imagination to run into a flow state, it dug a place into my brain that I didn't know I had; but, in general it was a very interesting experience, and it was very enjoyable.
By Li Junior Minzako G10F
Have a look below at some of the interesting activities run by different departments to support National Poetry Day:
On National Poetry Day, we also ran a competition within our school where students were asked to either: write their own poem or take an already existing poem and illustrate it. Below are our two students who won! Congratulations to Elouise Greenslade (G8C) and Summer Farrant (B8C)
Numeracy
At Harris Academy Morden numeracy provision is a high priority.
This term we are supporting 70 KS3 students with numeracy interventions in the mornings.
The students are following the ‘Mathswatch’ online program by completing a series of activities that develop their numeracy skills.
Every two weeks, students are required to complete a numeracy challenge posted on the Daily Message Board. These tasks aim to demonstrate the real-world applications of maths in our daily lives and are tailored to coincide with special occasions like Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. Students are required to respond to a numeracy question and submit their answers to their tutors. Those who provide correct answers are entered into a draw for a chance to win prizes.
KS4 students are completing a Corbett maths numeracy 5 a day worksheet in their maths lesson every two weeks.
Numeracy in every day life
We use numeracy every day in all areas of our lives. Our confidence and ability with numbers impacts us financially, socially, and professionally. It even affects our health and wellbeing.
Some examples of the ways we use maths every day include:
- Working out how many minutes until our train arrives
- Increasing a recipe to serve extra guests
- Checking we've received the right change
- Setting and keeping to a budget
- Helping children with homework
- Managing our diet and nutrition
- Measuring medicine doses
- Making sense of statistics and graphs in the news
Useful websites
Mathswatch
https://vle.mathswatch.co.uk/vle/
National Numeracy https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/
BBC Bitesize Numeracy https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zc8tfrd
Safeguarding
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to our Autumn Safeguarding newsletter.
Who to contact if you have a concern about a child:
If you are worried about a child’s safety, please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead straightaway.
Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Edwards
0208 687 1157 ext 3710.
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads:
Miss Blenkinsop and Mrs Shepherd who can be contacted on 020 8687 1157
Please visit our website to view details of the safeguarding Team and for further information on Safeguarding at the Academy.
Safer Schools
Here at Harris Academy Morden, we work closely with local Police and other external agencies in the Borough. This enables us to keep up to date with everything which may be a concern to the local community but mostly to celebrate the successes of the services available to us. During our last meeting at Merton Local Authority, we learnt that following a Metropolitan Police survey carried out the outcome of this showed us that Merton IS the safest Borough in London with the lowest crime rates. We understand that sometimes when we hear of criminal activities happening this can be very alarming to parents and young people but it is reassuring to know that we are part of a community with less reported incidents.
We at Harris Academy Morden have been fortunate to have a new Safer Schools Police Officer join our team and we would like to introduce you to PC Dionne-Marie Le Blanc. PC Le Blanc will be meeting our students around school and will be on hand to offer safety advice and reassurance alongside her other duties.
Social Worker in Schools – Katie Lissamore
Katie has been working closely with a number of our young people in school and supporting families who have been identified as being in need of support for many reasons.
Katie will be leaving Harris Academy Morden in February to start her maternity leave and we would all like to wish her and her family lots of love and best wishes as they welcome their new addition in March 2024.
Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing
As we have previously said in our Morden Mail we are very fortunate to be part of the Wave 6 Cluster in Merton who provide us with 2 qualified Educational Wellbeing Practitioners and 2 student EWPs. From September 2023 we are pleased to confirm that they have completed work with 12 of our young persons around low level low mood and anxiety. This intervention has made an amazing difference to those students who have taken part in this work.
We are very aware that this has been a long half term of 8 weeks from the return of the October half term until the end of term on 22/12/2023. At the end of this term our students have taken their termly exams / tests and we are quite sure that they will be ready for the 2 week break ahead of them. Please encourage your child(ren) to apply lots of self-care so they can boost their wellbeing and mental health.
If you have any concerns regarding a medical issue for your child, please contact Mrs Ellaway on 020 8687 1157
Most Able
This Autumn term in MAP Club we have had a few creative projects going on, alongside some fantastic events:
· Year 7 have been demonstrating their amazing architectural skills, by designing and developing a Strategic Board Game, based on the concept of Monopoly.
Finishing off with a trip to the Science Museum.
· Year 8 have been developing their own Online Escape Room, with an engaging storyline and striking complementary images. Working in pairs they have constructed a series of tasks in which players must obtain passwords, retrieve clues, and decipher cryptic messages needed to escape their peril.
· Year 9 have had an amazing opportunity to visit the Design Museum. This was a great opportunity to observe industrial, fashion and architectural design. In addition to this they also had the amazing opportunity to see the show stopping The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre.
Student Articles
Year 9 Belgium Trip – Ypres
By Chloe Conroy Year 9
In September, around 50 pupils in Year 9 including myself travelled to Ypres in Belgium to learn about World War 1. This trip taught us many things such us how the soldiers had to live in the trenches and how war impacted the civilians of Belgium. Ypres has a lot of history behind it, considering it is very close to the Western Front.
Stop 1 – The Ypres Reservoir Commonwealth War Commission Cemetery
After many hours of driving from England and across the borders of France, we arrived at our first destination; a cemetery that commemorates the passing of over 2000 soldiers. Many graves were unidentified with the loss of information and documentation of the individuals. My group was the first one, meaning we entered the mountain of graves before any of the others. Not all the graves were for British soldiers, and you could see this by reading the stones. Each one had a unique symbol showing their religion and a different one beneath that represents what role they took in the war. The gravestone would also show you where the soldier was from. Despite there being hundreds of British and Christian soldiers, there were many servicemen who were Chinese, Indian, Canadian and Irish.
Stop 2 - Sanctuary Wood Trench Site
After paying respects to the fallen warriors in the cemetery, we ventured to the Sanctuary Wood Trench Site. This site is now one of the few places on the Ypres Salient battlefields where an original trench layout can be seen in some semblance of what it might have looked like. It wasn’t as big as you may think, but it was very interesting. Inside was a small house that had a lot of Soldier uniforms, weapons, and any materials people used during the Great War! In other places, farmers had filled in the holes of the trenches to make way for crops. This is one of the last standing places to go visit the trenches! Now when I tell you these pathways are narrow, I mean they were narrow. We had to walk in a single file line, ducking and watching our steps very carefully as to not fall. If it felt cramped for just a couple of school children, imagine what it was like with hundreds of soldiers!
Stop 3 – Passchendaele Museum
Following our adventure in the trenches, we came to our next stop, The Passchendaele Museum. It is surrounded by a beautiful green space, just by a river. Many things that this museum included was the different weapons used, how soldiers survived gas attacks and more about life in the trenches. There were smaller trenches underground, but they weren’t as big or as free as the ones previously described in the section before.
Overall this was a memorable and thought-provoking trip to Ypres.
Sister Act
By Katrina Vidaseva Year 10
On Thursday the 7th of December, after 4 months of rehearsals , Sister Act Junior hit the stage with a bang. What started with auditions in summer, to after school and Saturday rehearsals, the cast worked so hard to bring this fantastic show to a stage that hasn’t been in use for nearly 15 years! However, the real stars of the show were Mr Donnell (Drama) and Mrs O’Leary (Music) and many other teachers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make to it all happen .
As part of the cast, this performance was one of the best things I have ever done. From meeting new people, making new friends and then standing on stage and singing to hundreds of people. It is absolutely exhilarating! I would have never stepped foot on stage without the support of the cast and teachers. Sister Act Junior brought life back to our school stage and I look forward to the many shows that are to come in the future .
Science Museum Trip
By Jessica Parris Year 7
A few days ago, a club called MAP club went on a trip to the Science Museum. We saw lots of interesting things, such as a piece of the moon, a space rocket, some astronaut clothes and many more interesting things! For our journey up to London we walked down to the tram station and got on the tram that was heading to Wimbledon, then got the district line to South Kensington then we walked from the train station to the Science Museum.
One of the things I really liked to see was probably the area where there was a gigantic rocket ship hanging down from the roof. My friends and I were taking many pictures of the things we saw around us. After we visited the areas around the museum we then went to the gift shop (some people brought some money to spend) some people wanted to buy some toys, games, or some souvenirs. In the middle of the gift shop, there was a man throwing a boomerang and it flew back at him. We then made our way back to the train and got off and waited for the tram we then made our way home.
FBB SOCIAL TRIP
By Hanz Ansu year 9
On the 28th of November, Football Beyond Borders (FBB) took a group of 13 boys to the O2 arena, with one thing in mind: Playing football. As they entered the O2 arena, the boys were met with a shock at their high-level security, making everybody have a bag scan. The O2 was packed with many sights, but once we saw the Toca Social sign, smiles were apparent on all faces.
Toca Social was more than fun, it was amazing! The boys were split into two groups in which they played against one another with head-to-head matches, group matches and duos. With five different game modes including zombie attack, Striker, Atom splitter, Eliminator and The Toca Challenge. The boys would have to claim a football and shoot them at the interactive screen. From group two the main leaders were Joel and Dominic.
From the 157 bus journey to lunch at Nando’s to the train journey home, the boys had a great experience and were very grateful to FBB for this opportunity.
BBC Careers Session
By Benjamin Grey- Areben Year 9
On 6th December the BBC Careers road show came to our school. During the BBC careers session, we spoke to a presenter from KISS FM and three apprentices who educated us about our options after Secondary school. They talked to us about apprenticeships and compared them to University and College.
Alex Mansuroglu, a Radio presenter for KISS FM, told us about his experience in secondary school and how it was difficult to think of what he wanted to do next. He educated us about options like apprenticeships, and their benefits.
The three apprentices gave further details on the opportunities you can discover with apprenticeships like engineering and being a technician. Apprenticeships combine real work with training and study. It was interesting to hear their real life experiences.
SEN
SEN updates
Individual Support Plans
This term we have been interviewing many of our students to get their views on what the best support looks like for them in class. The SEN team has been really impressed with the maturity shown by our students when completing this task. The students have been keen to explain their strengths and areas for development and have been able to express clearly what works best for them in the classroom. The Individual Support Plans will be going out to parents at the start of the Spring term for you to check over and add further details that you feel may be needed.
Access Arrangements
This term we have been busy getting all the Access Arrangements in place for our students who require them in their assessments and examinations. Access arrangements or exam concessions are special arrangements that can be applied for and allow candidates with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access public examinations. These arrangements may be extra time, a reader, a prompt a scribe, use of a computer etc. They are put in place to ensure that no individual is disadvantaged in their examinations.
At Harris Morden we have a robust process to ensure that students have the Access Arrangements that are required. We screen all students for potential needs and complete the further testing that is required for those who are flagged. We also have a staff referral process where staff can ask for further testing to take place.
We begin our Access Arrangements testing in Year 9 and 10 to ensure that all arrangements are in place for students to be using when it comes to their GCSE exams.
Prior to Year 9, we look at documentation from Primary school (for example any additional time students had in their SATS) and from our own testing to give students what they need in their assessments, in their lessons and school assessments.
Year 8 and 10 have recently been completing their assessments and have been given their Access Arrangements by teachers to ensure that they have equal opportunity to achieve their potential.
We will be continuing this year with further training for students to learn how to make the best use of their Access Arrangements in their everyday learning.
If you have any queries or questions about this as a parent, please do contact Ms Watson or Mrs Mathieson in the first instance.
Community Challenge and Rewards
During the last 4 weeks of the Autumn term, all students competed in the HAMD ‘Community challenge’. The aim was to have a positive impact on the Academy community and increase their individual, tutor group and faculty scores for the chance to win a range of rewards.
Students worked hard each week to increase their scores by attending school each day and achieving bronze, silver and gold Harris points. They also needed to be on time to school and lessons and not receive any negative points otherwise these were deducted from their totals!
The competitiveness between students, tutors and Faculty Co-ordinators was fierce and the following rewards were issued:
- The top tutor group in each faculty received a breakfast hamper. Students enjoyed croissants, pain au chocolat, chocolate chip brioche, cereal bars and fruit juice during tutor time.
- The top students per tutor group received a selection of sweets, delivered to them by their Faculty Co-ordinator.
- The top students per year group have received queue jump passes and can jump the break and lunch ques for the whole of January!
- The top students per faculty enjoyed a movie morning where they watched Home Alone 2 and were provided with home made popcorn and juice.
- The top tutor group in the Academy received a box of chocolates for the tutor (who chose to share them with her amazing tutor group of course!
- The top faculty in the Academy were crowned community challenge winners.
Well done to all students for their positive contributions to the Academy Community in the Autumn term. Students earned an astonishing 11,284 positive points during the 4 weeks.
The Community challenge will return in the Spring term where Faculties will battle it out to stop Yellow from winning again.
Students will continue to earn Harris points throughout the year to add to their HAMD Currency Score, which they will be able to ‘cash’ in for prizes in the Spring and Summer terms. More details to follow soon.
Contact Us
Harris Academy Morden
Lilleshall Road
Morden
020 8687 1157
Visit us on the web at www.harrismorden.org.uk
