Schools do rules. Parents do principles. Government (regardless of political leaning) needs to regulate.

Schools do rules

Governments have put schools in charge of pupils’ online safety. It is literally in the job description. Schools do not shirk that responsibility. I would be confident that Croydon High pupils would be able to recite good online safety rules if you were to ask them. The point about online harm, however, is that it is no longer the case that an individual can follow rules and keep themselves safe.  This is an outdated view. As a former teacher of Breck Bednar, I have been privy to the educational journey brought about by his horrific grooming and murder as well as the subsequent excellent work by the Breck Bednar Foundation. Schools and pupils have learnt these lessons, and there are regular reminders to pupils about direct online dangers even before they reach secondary school, and these embed themselves at a young age.

It is not the sole method of online harm, however.

To provide an analogy, pupils are not crossing the road and deciding if the car(s) are a safe distance away. Rather, the road is moving, the cars appear out of thin air, the length of a pupil’s stride appears to change with each step they take, and drones fly above their head tracking their every move and dropping hazards onto them at a time judged to be the most impactful.

I refer to the power of the crowd, and the algorithm. Cyber-bullying is a much more persistent form of bullying than a barbed comment in the playground, intended to sting in the heat of the moment and delivered with venom. Instead, throwaway comments leave victims wondering as to the genuine feelings of their contemporaries, and of course there is direct bullying including the re-posting of embarrassing/doctored photos etc. The significant difference is that the online victim re-visits the unkindness several times, sometimes through others liking/re-posting, and sometimes of their own will, to try to find meaning or understand the bully.

Furthermore, online, young people using perfectly innocent search terms, will listen to normal music and attempt to connect with their real-life friends. However, because every click of it is tracked, and because children follow anything bright and flashing or with the picture of a cat on it, they can be funnelled down ever more extreme tunnels of content or, inexcusably, directly sent harmful content based on the fact that other users shared a similar set of clicks and hover time as them. This last point was so dreadfully demonstrated in the case of Mollie Russell, and companies admitted as much when the review into her death was published earlier this year.

Tough to see how schools have the power to stop the internet.

Parents do principles

Decisions about how to parent are individual to each family, but it does feel like those decisions are now dictated far more than they may previously have been. In addition, constraints on parental impact and role modelling are in play.

In the face of the tidal wave of technological innovation and revolution, the ability to instil principles in the way they might wish to has become more and more challenging for parents. Regrettably, education’s best response to the recent pandemic also contributed to parental impotence, demanding that pupils spend hours on screens. Each sector was doing what it thought best at the time, of course, and in the moment, online learning was a complete necessity, both for educational and socio-emotional progress. However, resetting the boundary expectations in the home, and with schools harnessing the best bits of online learning, screen time is inevitably “up”. Role-modelling was also dealt a cruel blow. For those who managed the impossible pre-2020 of separating work life from home life, suddenly working from home meant children witnessed parents glued to the very screen they were previously forbidden. Everything required parents to interact with a screen, the shopping, work, booking the covid tests, connecting with friends, even online exercise classes.

More screen time, more clicks, more hovers, more algorithmic data… on both pupils and parents.

Tough to see how parental principles can withstand the big data which is now available to power the content directed at their children, or the screentime covid hangover.

Government (regardless of political leaning) needs to regulate  

The headline that sparked this particular “Leadership Dislikes” was:

Proposed amendments to the Online Safety Bill will give bereaved parents access to their dead children’s social media accounts, with the heads of social media companies required by law to release the data or face fines and a possible prison sentence. By Charles Hymas, The Telegraph.

The Online Harms White Paper was published in 2019. The year 2022 is fast drawing to a close.

In that time, an intense 18-month period has driven teenagers, and pre-teens towards technology. The introduction of social media in 2009 was followed by an increase in self-harm among young girls.  The covid pandemic has been followed by a mental health slump amongst young people nationally.

Of course, I fully support the proposed amendments referenced in Mr Hymas’s article; it follows unthinkable damage to the family, friends and community who are seeking such tragic information. I am pleased that, in principle, the UK government is taking steps with an end goal of making the online world safer for children. It is one area of life which has, for many years been an indisputable determining factor in the level of happiness and wellbeing of children.

My hope, however, is that the rest of the Bill grows more teeth as it moves through its interminable amendment phases.

Will the Bill make a dent in the ability to send a disappearing message?

Will the Bill prevent the suggestion of inappropriate content to impressionable young people?

Will the Bill provide fuller access to information, enabling law enforcement agencies to track harassing images/messages more effectively and to prevent young people sending them without consequence?

Social media needs regulation. I see it used well every day and none of the things young people gain and enjoy through social media are at risk by regulating it. Conversely, to not regulate it, leaves young people as targets, literally, of advertising, of algorithms, of bullying and harassment.

As always, I am encouraged by the examples of youth behaviour that I see around me every day here in school. Our young people are well informed; they recognise the dangers, they acknowledge the damage and as the various activities surrounding any-bullying week demonstrated, they are ready to call it out. But, on its own, it will never be enough.

Schools can educate. Parents can guide. I would argue that only Government has the real power to safeguard.

P.S. For those parents still fighting the good fight in terms of managing digital consumption, the following additional reading might be useful.

https://www.digitalfamiliescounselling.com.au/blog/2014/05/you-are-the-worst-parent-ever

Mr King

Deputy Head (Pastoral)

Congratulations to Class of 2010’s Ramona Gohil, who has been listed in the TechRound Top 50 BAME under 50 Entrepreneurs 2022 as the founder of Rani & Co. Jewellery

TechRound is an online magazine where decision-makers, investors and start-ups of all sizes discover the latest developments and trends in London and throughout the UK. Their list of Top 50 BAME Entrepreneurs under 50 is a testament to the individuals diversifying the UK’s start-up landscape.

Ramona’s British Independent Jewellery brand has helped to change the perception of feminism and support charities focused on women, including Baale Mane, Bloody Good Period, The Red Box Project, and Planned Parenthood.

Ramona is passionate about her British Indian heritage and culture. This is seen reflected in the name of her brand, with Rani meaning ‘queen’ in Sanskrit. The company name celebrates Ramona’s heritage and also suggests that their products are “fit for a queen”.

Harnessing the power of TikTok, Ramona created a campaign that celebrated the beauty of all women, in response to a racist comment which stated that jewellery worn on darker skin would put customers off.

Turning a negative into a positive, Ramona invited five influencers from around the world, of different ethnicities, to spotlight the beauty of darker skin by creating content, when modelling pieces of jewellery from the Rani & Co collection. The campaign delivered great results in both engagement and sales revenue for the brand.

Semi-precious gemstones are present within the range and have powerful meanings intended to empower their wearers. For example, pieces contain moonstone, labradorite, and green onyx, all of which have powerful meanings including femininity and confidence.

The brand continues to grow,  partly as a result of switching to a sustainable jewellery manufacturer, approved by SEDEX & RJC, the world’s leading ethical manufacturing compliance agency.

Rani & Co. launched in 2017 and is now selling on four other online marketplaces. The clothing and jewellery has been admired and worn by many influencers, and Ramona herself was nominated as a finalist for ‘Entrepreneur of The Year​ for the ‘Croydon Business Excellence Awards 2018’​.

Congratulations to Ramona – another trail blazing Croydon High alumna!

Mrs Roe

Alumnae Relations Manager

The winner of our Christmas Card competition was Lower Sixth’s Jemima J with her beautiful oil painting of a candle. Her painting is now featured on our official School Christmas card, which Ms Davies will be sending out this year.

Jemima is a Lower Sixth Art Scholar and she worked on this beautiful image, which is actually on a canvas block, alongside her grandmother also called Jemima, and also a talented artist!  Jemima actually created the artwork a year ago, but the layers of paint were so thick that it was not dry in time for last Christmas!

Jemima J

Ms Davies also chose the following girls cards as runners up and these cards have been printed alongside Jemima’s card in packs of six for you to purchase tomorrow at the Winter Fair! Our runners up were:

Judy L, 4J

Sara K, 4J

Janice W, Y9

Elizabeth T, 10B

Helena T, 10B

Many congratulations to you all!

A special mention and congratulations also goes to these girls who were shortlisted by Mrs Bird in the Junior school:

And Mrs Smith in the Senior School

All those shortlisted will feature in our digital advent calendar on Instagram.com/croydonhighschool so please look out for all their wonderful creations from the 1^st December!

Thank you to all of the girls that took part in this year’s competition. It was fabulous to see so many beautiful designs.

Year 10 GCSE Drama students performed ‘Romeo & Juliet’ at the Shaw Theatre, Central London, on Tuesday 22nd November. This was part of the world renowned Shakespeare Schools Festival. The students had a fantastic experience.

Thank you to everyone who supported the students and attended this performance. With special thanks to Megan Webber, our visiting director and alumna who co-directed this year.

Mrs Morgan Collins and Mrs Webb

Amy J says:

I have really enjoyed getting to play a variety of characters from Romeo and Juliet. Putting the play together was hard work but so much fun, and seeing it all come together on the 22nd of November at the Shaw theatre was so wonderful. I have really enjoyed my time being a part of the cast of Romeo and Juliet, and I would definitely do it again if I could.

Tameeko R says:

I enjoyed playing Tybalt. I learnt many different drama techniques and liked learning how to work together as an ensemble, which was lots of fun. And I thought watching and looking at the different schools and seeing how they perform Shakespeare was really exciting.

Matilda R says:

I feel so lucky to have had this amazing experience of performing a fantastic show with my friends and peers at the shaw theatre. It was an extraordinary opportunity to have played an outstanding part, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Seeing our performance grow along with our characters is something I will forever remember, and I look forward to more experiences like this in the future. A massive thank you to all the teachers that helped us; we are all so grateful for the time and effort put into making this great!!!

Lily-Belle T says:

I enjoyed the experience of performing in an actual theatre and watching the other schools perform as well. I loved performing with the rest of our cast – everyone was amazing, and we are especially proud of members who had to stand in for a couple of the cast! It was fun to multi-role and be part of the ensemble to create an exciting scene. I’m so happy that I got to be a part of it.

Suzie F says:

I found that performing in a proper theatre was very exciting, and it gives you an insight into the industry if you wanted to pursue a career in performing. Playing various characters was very interesting as you got to explore different physicalities and emotions. Working together as an ensemble was great; it builds our teamwork and strengthens our performance.

Amelia C says:

I really enjoyed performing at The Shaw Theatre. It was such an amazing experience, and I’m so pleased that it all went well and that everyone came away from it with a smile. I found it very fun working together as a team to put together a wonderful performance. I am very proud of those who stepped in for those who couldn’t make it.

Amelie B says:

I really enjoyed the experience of performing at the Shaw Theatre. I had an amazing time working with all my classmates collaboratively, trying to direct and find solutions to all the problems that we may have faced in the process. I loved having the opportunity to be able to perform in a theatre with an audience. I definitely felt that it helped build my confidence and learn new acting skills that I will take with me into the future. I also loved how everyone was supportive and put so much effort into the show, especially those who had to fill in at the last minute did amazingly well.

Ellie M says:

I loved performing in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, as I enjoyed playing the characters from Romeo and Juliet, and performing this onstage at The Shaw Theatre was a great experience. It was also wonderful to see the other performances there, and all the rehearsals with my friends were great fun! I was also glad that we got to devise a lot of the piece ourselves, as this is an incredibly useful skill to learn. I am so happy that I was able to be a part of this production!

On the evening of Thursday, 24th November, the main hall at Croydon High was host to the Winter Concert. This event ushered in the festive season as the audience took in performances from scores of the school’s hugely talented and dedicated students.

Proceedings began with lively performances from the Second Orchestra of Eye Level, Tijuana Taxi and Is This the Way to Amarillo. This set the tone for the evening brilliantly, displaying the high level of accomplishment of our lower school musicians. They were followed by Dr Purvis’ Year 7 & 8 Chamber Choir, who performed a heartwarming rendition of Bob Chilcott’s Irish Blessing.

The evening was interspersed with seasonal poems from Maddie Webb and Talia Evans. Many thanks go to Mrs Webb for choreographing the readers and her help backstage.

The Year 11 String Quartet played the Allegro from Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 18 No. 3 and demonstrated some fantastic ensemble skills. We were then treated to our first instalment of the Year 7 and 8 chorus. They performed two songs from the musical Oliver!  These were, Food, Glorious Food and Consider Yourself. They were sung with total commitment and tremendous energy.

Next was the Flute and Clarinet ensemble, who played a medley of tunes from Harry Potter, which had been arranged for them by Mr Ting and had the audience humming along to one of the nation’s favourite film scores.

The first half was brought to a rousing end by the Senior Choir. They sang a selection of songs from the musical West Side Story. They began with a lively rendition of the buoyant song I Feel Pretty. This was followed by the more comedic America, where the choir sections held an on-stage argument, and the half ended with a beautifully harmonised performance of Tonight.

Following the interval, the Symphony Orchestra performed Vaughan-Williams’s English Folk Song Suite. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams, a prolific collector of folk tunes, so this seemed like a perfect piece for the orchestra. It was a huge challenge, which they rose to, confidently showcasing some excellent solo work from the woodwind and admirable performances from all of the other sections of the orchestra. They then played the traditional seasonal favourite, Sleigh Ride, to end their performance accompanied by sleigh bells, whip and horse whinny.

Next, the Chamber Choir gave a lively performance of the 3 Hungarian Folk Songs by Mathias Seiber. These, again, were based on folk melodies. They were followed by the beautiful Ave verum corpus by Elgar, and the set was completed by a moving, a Capella interpretation of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas demonstrating stunning harmonies and dynamic contrasts.

After the beautiful singing, there was a special treat from Mr Ting when his Big Band performed two jazz standards, Gospel and Poco Loco, followed by the Christmas classic Jingle Bell Rock. These featured solos from several of the band were met with a roar of appreciation by the audience.

The year 7 and 8 Chorus concluded the evening accompanied by CHUG (the Croydon High Ukulele Group). First was a lively performance of Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town followed by Filiz Navidad and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. Finally, the audience were handed cards to participate in The Twelve Days of Christmas. I would like to thank all staff and students who worked so hard to make this a memorable concert from all those who helped out backstage, the wonderful catering to the administrative and publicity staff who have been so supportive.

Mr Suranyi

Director of Music

On Thursday 24^th November Year 6 visited the Buddhist Centre in Croydon. The aim of this visit was to consolidate the girls’ knowledge around the Buddhist faith which they have been learning about in their Religious Education lessons. The girls also had the opportunity to take part in a guided meditation, building on their Perpetuam learning around mindfulness. At the end of the visit each girl wrote a prayer flag which will be displayed in the Year 6 Hub.

Mrs Moorhouse

Y6 Teacher

On Thursday 17th November, Year 9 watched the movie Hidden Figures, based on the real life events of female mathematicians at Nasa in the 1960s. The following day, Year 10 watched the film The Imitation Game, centred around the life and work of mathematician Alan Turing during WW2.

Two of our students give you their take on watching these films:

On Thursday last week, Year 9 watched Hidden Figures. In the lessons leading up to the movie we learnt about how to use graphs and coordinates in order to calculate the launch and landing of space rockets; it was rocket science! The movie is about three black women and their lives. They all work for NASA, however they live in a very prejudiced society full of segregation and, despite their brilliant minds, they are shut down at every turn. It was an enlightening experience that taught us about the lives of these inspirational women.

Ava Year 9

Last Friday, Year 10 had the pleasure of watching The Imitation Game in the Lecture Theatre, whilst helping ourselves to a shortbread cookie. The Imitation Game is a movie about the accomplishments and life of Alan Turing; many of us found ourselves with tears in our eyes as it was such a masterpiece to watch. It showed how he cracked the Enigma code that Nazi Germany used for communication during WWII with the help of his fellow colleagues. Those who stayed after school were also allowed to drink a glass of orange squash. It was a wonderful and unforgettable experience; we cannot wait to go on the Maths trip to Bletchley Park to understand more of his achievements in person.

Ella Year 10

On Monday 14 November, Croydon High Sports Scholars were lucky enough to travel to the Advance Performance Lab in Guildford for a day of fitness testing. We have teamed up with the Lab to learn about the importance of strength and conditioning and how we can implement it into our weekly training programmes.

We arrived at 9am on the Monday and started the day with an efficient warm-up led by one of the strength and conditioning coaches. Our warm-up consisted of an energetic game of dodgeball followed by mobility exercises that prepared us for the day ahead.

Across the morning, we performed a variety of different fitness tests and were able to try various advanced sporting equipment, such as weights, contact mats and timing gates. The first test we performed was the 20m dash test in which we were able to use the timing gates; this was the first time that many of us had used this modern equipment. We were then taught how to do a back squat effectively and safely. Using a full dumbbell rack, we practised performing the squats, gradually adding weight until we reached our 10-rep max. Finally, we did three short fitness tests back-to-back. The first one was an isometric mid-thigh pull test, which meant we had to pull on a fixed barbell with maximum effort for 3-5 seconds. The next was a vertical jump test and we finished with an agility test.

Throughout the strength and conditioning session, the group had discussions about the science behind training and we touched upon the importance of sleep, hydration, and nutrition; this really helped to broaden our knowledge of elite training and development. I can confidently say that every athlete learnt something new and we all now have a better understanding of how to develop a long-term training plan. We are looking forward to returning to the lab later this year as well as having access to the elite performance app which will provide us all with training plans and other vital information relating to strength and conditioning.

Chloe B, Upper Sixth