Leadership Likes: Mr Murphy
Mr Murphy talks about the problem solving skills Croydon High pupils develop through various initiatives.
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Find out what is happening at Croydon High this week.
Mr Murphy talks about the problem solving skills Croydon High pupils develop through various initiatives.
Read MoreThe prize winning scientific writer Roger Lewin said “Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve”, but he would be amazed by the number of ‘solution finding’ opportunities our girls embrace here at Croydon High School. Just last week the Mathematics department held a whole problem solving morning for Year 7 students, where they worked in teams to solve unfamiliar puzzles. This one-off event is just the start of their investigative journey in the subject and by the time they join the Sixth Form many are ready to enter the “Senior Mathematical Challenge” organised by UKMT. Eight of our students were awarded certificates for their performance in this year’s challenge.
Head of Maths, Mr Rew confirmed that it is not just about the competition itself but also about developing their overall problem solving capabilities. He says “these styles of problems are used regularly within lessons to provide depth of exposure to problem solving, which ultimately contributes to excellent A level outcomes in Mathematics.”
On Monday I was attending a meeting with Mrs Leppala in Science and found myself waiting for a large group of students to complete a practical in her laboratory. It transpired that this was part of a selection process to identify a team to compete in “Top of the Bench” competition held by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Interest in this competition from Croydon High pupils is so intense that we simply have too many students who want to enter and so are having to whittle down the numbers to meet the entry requirements. Those students who are not fortunate enough to make the final team will have other opportunities when the Physics, Chemistry and Biology Olympiads take place later in the year.
Throughout the week in Enterprise Technology, students from Year 2 up to the Upper Sixth have been participating in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge. This competition runs in over fifty countries worldwide and aims to stimulate interest in problem solving and logical thinking. It will be followed by the Year 8 CyberFirst competition, organised by the National Cyber Security Centre, where our students will pit their wits against a range of cryptography problems, analysing and cracking complex codes and ciphers. This year, we are also hoping to enter our first contestants into the British Informatics Olympiad, which aims to find the top five young programmers in the country who will represent the UK at the international competition next summer!
Whilst the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has identified that boys tend to perform better in individual problem-solving tasks it also noted that girls were about half a year ahead of their male contemporaries in collaborative problem solving. Through the range of opportunities available at Croydon High School, not limited to those mentioned previously, we are addressing problem solving on both an individual and collaborative level, giving our girls a chance to shine and fulfilling our ethos of “every girl, every day”. Watching our students build resilience by engaging with the questions in these challenges and seeing the creative methods they employed to come up with an answer made me think about the importance of problem solving in their future lives.
Problem solving is valued highly in our economy, and is something that is consistently evaluated in school, university and in the workplace. Employers hope that every new recruit will bring a fresh perspective to the old ‘problems’ or new challenges that their business might face. As a result, demonstrating strong problem solving skills can be the secret to success when applying for university, a job and indeed throughout one’s career. In the past few years we have seen first hand the need for society to be adept at adapting to and overcoming unforeseen problems, so preparing the next generation to be able to do this is one of our most important goals here at Croydon High School.
My experiences of just this one week have made me feel that, if our girls are anything to go by, this really won’t be a problem.
Mr Murpphy
Assistant Head (Digital Strategy)
Leila Green, (Dewji) 2001, is a lifelong book lover who co-founded Known Publishing with her brother, Ali, to turn entrepreneurs’ experience and expertise into bestselling books. She is an experienced non-fiction writing coach. She helps entrepreneurs become the authority in their niche and grow their business with a book. Leila studied English Literature at Oxford University after leaving Croydon High.
Leila attended a special International Women’s Day reception at the House of Lords, where Inspirational female founders from across the UK gathered. The event spotlighted over 100 impressive, multi-achieving female business owners being championed by Small Business Britain’s ƒ:Entrepreneur #ialso100 campaign, which showcases the phenomenal contribution to society, the economy, and communities that many female founders are making across the country.
Leila was named an ƒ:Entrepreneur #ialso100 in recognition of her inspiring entrepreneurial journey, which has involved running several businesses that support entrepreneurs with something to say and getting their message out there.
Leila enjoyed afternoon tea and networking in Westminster, meeting peers from ƒ:Entrepreneur #ialso cohorts from both 2021 and 2022, and special guest speaker Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, who paid tribute to the power of female entrepreneurship.
Leila said, “It was so inspiring to meet so many wonderful women doing incredible things: running businesses, supporting the NHS during Covid, running charities, and helping people back into employment. They are all rockstars.”
Small Business Britain is the leading champion of small businesses in the UK – f:Entrepreneur campaign was launched in 2017 to highlight the stories of amazing female business owners and help provide inspiration and role models across the wider small business community. In its fifth year, the campaign offers a host of events, training, and networking opportunities to boost skills, capability and confidence.
Mrs Roe
Alumnae Relations Manager
Of all the events that we mark throughout the year, the annual Act of Remembrance is probably the shortest but, arguably, delivers the most powerful impact on our whole school community.
As has become the tradition, in non-pandemic times anyway, the school gathers together outdoors to mark the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
Watching pupils and staff make their way to line the athletics bowl, stretching up past the tennis courts to the pavilion and down to the Junior playground where our youngest pupils took their places, is moving in itself, accompanied as it was by the haunting melody of John William’s Theme from Schindler’s List. Our beautiful grounds were displaying all their autumnal glory and even the sun made an appearance, on what was an incredibly mild November morning.
As always our young people showed the utmost respect for the occasion and there was not a sound as they stood and listened to Ms Davies read the short poem August 2014 by May Wedderburn Cannan:
“ And a soldier turned to sleep that night
Who would not wake for the day
And a blackbird flew from the window-sill,
When a girl knelt down to pray.”
This was followed by the traditional Exhortation:
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old :
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
A beautiful rendition of The Last Post played by trumpeters Aila (Lower Sixth) and Tallulah (Year 8) preceded an immaculate observance of the two minute silence, with only birdsong and the distant peal of church bells breaking in to our collective thoughts. Pupils and staff returned to school, silently, with the words of the Kohima Epitaph in all our hearts and minds. Thank you to our Head of Commnity, Mrs Beck, for organising such a beautiful and thought provoking occasion and to all who participated.
“When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.”
Mrs Cook
Director of Philanthropy and External Relations
Our GCSE & A Level Art & 3D Design students took a trip to St Ives to draw on inspiration from various artists in Cornwall.
Read MoreOn the second day of the trip, after visiting the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Museum, we took a trip to the beach to learn more about the local artists of St Ives. Tate in St Ives offered us as students a magnificent insight into the history of Cornwall through a variety of different artistic styles. Our tour guide elaborated on the backstory of how the museum rose to popularity due to its artistic connections. Some even lead back to the Victorian time when many artists came to St Ives to paint the beautiful beach scenery. I thought it was great that the museum included its stunning views to show what inspired the artists. Out of the artists we learnt about, I found interest in Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, and Peter Lanyon artwork. Each showing individuality and expression through their own style of abstract art. I admired the artist’s strong emotional response shown through the art and the different colours, forms and textures or energy it can give off. They looked rather effective against the bland walls and enhanced the mood and atmosphere of the museum. The Cornish landscape inspired Peter Lanyon, but he painted what he saw when he was flying in his glider, so these paintings are huge, with exciting shapes, textures, and colours. Ben Nicholson was married to the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, he like Hepworth wanted to paint what he felt as well as what he saw. We were so lucky to have a tour guide that actually helped fund the Tate St Ives to be built 30 years ago and was actually an assistant to the artist Patrick Heron, she was inspirational.
Amalie M, Year 10
On our last day before leaving Cornwall, we walked to a small museum/gallery called Penlee house. We were given 45 minutes to sit outside to work on our sketchbooks just before we started because we were early. Personally, I spent the time experimenting with printing leaves. When we entered the museum, we put our luggage away and started looking around the gallery. There were paintings by the painter Fred Yates who was inspired by native art. The Fred Yates exhibition we saw showed his relationship with Cornwall and how he chose to express the Cornish landscape and people.
Then we went up the stairs to see two rooms, one where we saw artefacts which showed some of Cornwall’s history, in this room, there was a section where they provided colouring sheets and paper where we could sit down for some time to draw and colour. Next to this, there was another room full of paintings which were landscapes, these were in a different style to Fred Yates. Such as with Yates, they were the Cornish landscape, although they were not as colourful as Yates’ work or in the style of Yates work either. After looking around and looking at the gift shop, we walked to the station to catch our train back home.
Helena T, Year 10
St Ives women artists:
When we were in St Ives for our art trip, we learnt about many different women artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Janet Leach, Marlow Moss and Isobel Wrightson.
Barbara Hepworth:
Barbara Hepworth was a sculptor who focused on organic and modern sculptures. Often her work would display motherhood. `She was also the first person to put holes in her sculpture, which creates awareness of the inside and outside of the sculpture, not Henry Moore, which is what we are led to believe. Her favourite material to use was marble, but she also used different types of wood, such as holly wood.
Janet Leach:
Janet Leach was a potter married to Bernard Leach. She used to experiment a lot with handmade glazes and different materials. She had her own kiln just for her experiments because the glazes would cover the walls of the main kiln used by the other potters. Her work was very different from her husband and was more experimental and free.
Isobel Wrightson:
Isobel Wrightson mainly used watercolour in her paintings. She painted pictures of the harbour and the boats around St Ives. It was amazing to learn about her as not only was she a student at Croydon High, but she was also a teacher here too! Her paintings were atmospheric, and the colours are true to what we saw in St Ives. It is true what they say colours are so different down there.
Marlow Moss:
Marlow Moss did both sculpture and painting. She used folded sheets of gold to create different shapes and forms in her sculptures. She used many geometric shapes and basic colours in her paintings to form her pieces. It was interesting to learn about her as she was the one who came up with the idea to use geometric shapes and primary colours. Still, Piet Mondrian being a man, obviously took the credit and created a career out of this technique!
Women really struggled to be artists at this time; it was and still is very male dominated.
Elizabeth T, Year 10
On our first morning in Cornwall, we visited Leach Pottery, a cornerstone of culture and the arts in St Ives. A walk through the museum where equipment and pots were displayed gave us an insight into how the potters combined traditional Cornish materials with Japanese techniques and glazes to create iconic and yet utilitarian pottery. Many of us especially enjoyed hearing tales of Janet Leach, the founder’s third wife, a fiery Texan woman who kept a gun in the attic and had her own kiln made especially for her inventive and often messy pottery experiments. Strong personalities seemed to be a theme at Leach Pottery. As we passed the stream running alongside the workshop, the guide informed us that when Bernard Leach was alive, he would throw unsatisfactory pots into the water.
The pinch pots that we made in the second half of the morning did not have to meet the same harsh standards placed upon the apprentices. The teacups that we shaped with our palms and fingertips need not look perfect but, instead, be comfortable to hold in our hands. No pot was the same, and it was intriguing to see how everyone approached the task.
We look forward to seeing our pots in a few weeks when they have been glazed and fired.
Eleanor Q, Upper Sixth Art Scholar
We walked just over 75,000 steps over the weekend; some were more challenging walks than others!
35 students and four staff members went on an incredible adventure to Zanzibar in East Africa.
Read MoreOver the October half term, two teams from Croydon High – consisting of a total of 35 students and 4 members of staff – went on a fantastic adventure to Zanzibar, a beautiful island off the coast of Tanzania in East Africa. Each team spent one week in the beachside village of Paje on the east side of the island, and another in the historic Stone Town district, on the west side.
While in Paje, there were visits to a seaweed farm (as well as seeing how seaweed is processed into soap and other cosmetic products), a sponge farm, a spice farm, and snorkelling in the beautiful Blue Lagoon. We also went to the Jozani-Chwaka National Park (the rare Red Colobus monkeys were a highlight), to the Zanzibar Butterfly Centre, and stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) between the mangroves along the coast. At our base camp, we also enjoyed making jewellery with Maasai women and cooked local cuisines such as chappati, sweet buns and sweet bananas with the lovely Swahili locals.
Stone Town was notorious for being a slave market town and visiting the memorial to the difficult history, there was something all of us found harrowing and illuminating. This migration has resulted in a rich culture that draws on roots from East Africa, the Middle East (particularly Oman), Asia (particularly India), European colonial influences, and Britain. We learned the basics of the Swahili language (“Mambo!” “Poa!” “Ahsante sana!”), Zanzibari culture (Mama Abla’s home-cooked meal lingers in the memory), the country’s history and Islamic influences, and local industry (such as fisheries). A particular highlight was learning from resourceful local craftspeople, including a day making soap and bookbinding and a day spent making drinking glasses from discarded wine bottles! Finally, the snorkelling was huge fun, with our day on Safari Blue counting as one of the best days of our lives.
Everyone who went was in universal agreement that this was one of the best school trip adventures ever and that we would recommend it highly to all students in future. A huge thanks to Miss Vaughan, Mrs Gower, Ms Pryce, Mr Ting, as well as Jen, Chris and Gemma from Global Action for giving up their time over the half term to lead us, keep us all safe and make sure we had a great experience!
Mr. J. Ting
Teacher of Music and Enterprise Technology
It was our great pleasure to welcome the Class of 1970 in person, on Saturday 15 October for a belated reunion.
Read MoreTowards the end of 2019 Sallie Sheridon (Thomas), Sue Hanson (Tiffin), and Gillian Turner began to contact friends from the class of 1970 to invite them to meet up at the Ivy Link Summer Lunch in 2020 to celebrate their 50th anniversary since leaving Croydon High. As the pandemic developed and the chance of meeting face-to-face faded, it was suggested by some of the year group that perhaps they could have a virtual ‘Zoom’ reunion instead. Thirty six attended the first Zoom reunion in July 2020, and what began as a one-off event morphed into an on-going series of meetings; the group now has contact with more than sixty people from the Class of 1970.
To that end, it was our great pleasure to welcome the Class of 1970 in person, on Saturday 15 October. Thirty remarkable women joined us, mostly from the UK, but some from as far as Canada and Australia. School magazines from 1964 to 1970 were collected from the archives for our guests to browse through, many spotting poems and articles they had written as pupils. A whole school photo from 1969 caused much cheer and our school history banners were of great interest.
Our wonderful catering team served a deliciously retro-style menu including Fruit Punch on arrival, followed by Prawn Cocktail, Coq-Au-Vin, and Lemon Meringue Pie. Seats were swapped between courses to enable varying conversations and company. The day would not have been complete without a tour of the school which sparked even more laughter and memories.
“Well, I don’t really know where to start to thank you for arranging such an amazing day for us on Saturday – just a huge thank you. Right from the beginning, it was a joy to be making the arrangements with you – you were always so flexible, understanding, and kind. As for Saturday – it was perfect – ran like clockwork – delicious food and such an interesting tour. Please pass on our thanks to all your colleagues. We are talking about doing this all again for our 55th Anniversary – stand by, please!! Some of us who live locally hope to come to the annual Ivy Link Summer Lunch in June next year.”
Enormous gratitude to our catering team, premises team, and Mrs Cook for their efforts in making the day such a resounding success.
Mrs Roe
Alumnae Relations Manager
A celebration of the life of Croydon High Schools' most famous Alumnae. Jacqueline du Pré.
Read MoreOn Friday, 4th November, the Music department celebrated the life of one of Croydon High Schools’ most famous Alumnae. Jacqueline du Pré joined the school as a talented and promising cellist, and went on to conquer the world of classical music with her fantastical sense of interpretation and a freedom of technique often associated with a much smaller instrument such as the violin. She sadly lost her battle with multiple sclerosis in 1987 – at the tragically young age of 42 – and the celebration concert marked the 45th anniversary of her death. The day started with an assembly performance of the Elgar cello concerto by Amy in Year 13 (the concerto that made du Pré famous) and continued with a lunchtime concert at Croydon Minster, showcasing some of the talents in the school.
The concert began with Amy repeating her performance of the 1st movement of the Elgar Cello Concerto. She confidently conquered the technical challenges of the piece and performed with passion, understanding and commitment. This is the piece which shot Jacqueline du Pré to international fame at the age of 17, when she premiered it in the Royal Festival Hall with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. For critics and public alike, her performances focused new attention on the inherent pathos in Elgar’s melancholy masterpiece and had a ringing authority that has never been matched by anyone else. It was wonderful to see Amy blossom in her playing on such a special occasion and demonstrate a similar understanding of the plaintive mood of the piece, which was written as a response to the suffering during the First World War.
The next performance was of the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A given by Lara in Year 8. She demonstrated great musicality in her accomplished interpretation of this demanding set of themes and variations. The third performance came from Milly, also in Year 8, who played the Allemande from Bach’s 2nd Partita. This is a very demanding piece of unaccompanied violin music which was performed with intelligence and control by a student demonstrating maturity beyond her years.
Eloane (Year 11) played next and gave yet another wonderful performance on cello of Fauré’s Elegie. This moving piece requires the performer to change from passionate slow sections to fiery ornamented playing, and Eloane achieved this with an accomplished professionalism. The final performance came from Yuki (Year 10) playing in her first concert at Croydon High. She performed ‘October’ by Tchaikovsky on piano. This is another technically challenging piece, reflecting the passing of autumn and required a confident yet gentle touch and some large left hand arpeggiations masterfully controlled beneath a melody played in octaves.
All of the students who performed should be congratulated for their performances, and a special thanks goes to Ms Warwick for her magnificent accompanying skills. The audience was highly impressed by the quality of music-making from the Croydon High musicians, and the organisers of the Minster recital series gave them an extra round of applause, stating that they couldn’t wait until the next concert.
Mr Suranyi
Director of Music
Our amazing A Level Art student Eleanor Q will be representing Croydon High this year.
Read MoreThe Articulation Prize England is open to all post-GCSE students aged 16-19 in full-time education. Regional heats and finals will be held across regions in England from January to March 2023, in partnership with 16 museums and galleries.
The Articulation Prize for England takes place annually between January and March across 10 regions.
Over 1000 young people deliver a 10-minute illustrated presentation to an audience about a work of art, artefact or architecture of their choice in a school, museum or gallery setting.
Our amazing A Level Art student Eleanor Q will be representing Croydon High this year on 20th January at Dulwich Picture Gallery. If she gets through this heat, she could be presenting in the final at the National Gallery.
Eleanor, one of our Head Girls, is taking four A Levels, including Art, Politics, Latin and REP, and is pursuing her love of Politics next year at university. This passion is evident in her artwork this year,
‘I have taken the themes of feminism and political activism and used them to influence my textiles and collage work. I have chosen textiles for my year 13 personal project because it represents classic ideas of femininity, and subverting those ideas creates impactful and interesting pieces’.
As well as developing her practical work, she is also currently writing her 3000 word illustrated essay
To what extent did female artists of the Mid-20th century successfully weaponise their bodies, sexuality and experiences in response to oppression?
Art has often been used as a weapon in political warfare, whether in the form of Propaganda: cementing the ideology of dictators, or as a protest: fighting against oppressive forces; it is a powerful tool that cannot be underestimated. The mid-20th century was a time of significant social change in the West, with political activism becoming increasingly popular in response to issues such as civil rights, women’s rights and the Vietnam war. The political activism of the time consisted of marches, protests, sit-ins and other displays of emotion conducted by a particular group in response to a political ideology prevalent in their country or region with which they disagreed.
So powerful and thought provoking and if you want to read on, please come to our Art & Design summer exhibition in our main school hall, where you will be able to see Eleanor’s work as well as all of our GCSE Art & 3D Students.
Past presentations
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHjUTdj-LJ4O5sU4kt3AmSw
Mrs Smith
Head of Art & 3D Design
An inspiring 90-minute workshop led by visiting author Adam Robinson.
Read MoreYear 10 participated in bespoke creative writing workshops on Wednesday 2nd November, developing their writing skills in preparation for their upcoming GCSE in English Language. Each student enjoyed a 90-minute workshop led by visiting author Adam Robinson, who has been preparing the script for an adaptation of Dickens’ classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ for a stage adaptation recently.
The sessions involved mystery objects, obscure memories and plenty of humour, and each girl had the opportunity to write and share their work in a supportive environment. At lunch time, a group of our budding Creative Writers from KS3 and KS4 met with Adam for an informal chat over lunch and to share their own storytelling ideas and obstacles. His advice about sourcing a literary agent was highly informative and encouraging with the notion to pursue every opportunity and participate in as many writing workshops as possible strongly affirmed!
Pupils found the day inspiring and fun, whilst Adam was hugely impressed with their enthusiasm, creativity and the positive energy of the school in general.
Ms Howie
Second in Charge of English and Academic Scholars’ Coordinator
Season 2 Episode #5 (The Yorkshire Shepherdess) –This episode on #RaiseHerUp: Amanda Owen aka the @YorkshireShepherdess
Amanda shot to fame when she and her family appeared in Channel 5’s Our Yorkshire Farm in 2018, which soon had 3m viewers per episode. She is also a best-selling author, presenter, photographer and mother of 9. Airing to coincide with #COP27, this episode includes Amanda discussing her relationship with nature and the need for us to see ourselves as ‘custodians of the land’, protecting it and passing it on to future generations…as well as some great Ravenseat Farm anecdotes which you won’t want to miss!
Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.
Our School Minibus service offers an efficient and flexible option designed to help families with journeys to and from school. Minibus travel is offered to pupils in Year 3 and up.
The service is managed on our behalf by Vectare, a specialist school transport management company. All bookings for our school bus routes are made via our online booking system, which can be accessed at croydonhigh.vectare.co.uk.
The website allows you to book travel 24/7 from anywhere, meaning that if you need to leave early for work one morning or are running late and you would like one of our students to travel on a school bus as a one off, you can make a booking right up until the route is due to depart. Payment for the school bus service is made at the time of booking, so there is no need for pupils to carry cash.