Leadership Likes: Mrs Raja
Ms Raja discusses creativity and courage at Croydon High.
Read MoreWeekly News
Find out what is happening at Croydon High this week.
The Junior School has been a hive of activity this week as we prepare for our Open Day on Saturday. The corridors and classrooms are full of the girls’ work, and we are so proud of what they have achieved in just a few weeks. Particularly striking is the impact of the incredible range of artwork on display around the school. Adorning the walls is everything from environmental art made from recycled plastic waste to clay wall hangings, self-portraits and landscapes. Since joining us last September, our specialist Junior Art Teacher, Mrs Bird, has transformed our provision and the outcomes are impressive. Her incredible passion for the subject is infectious and is evident in the girls’ enthusiasm for the subject and the outcomes of their work – their creativity seemingly knows no bounds! Not only do the displays around school have a positive effect on visitors to the school, but the pride of pupils who see their work displayed is priceless.
However, it is not just in the building where our girls’ creativity is evident, as this week has also seen the installation of the Inside Out Project, a part of the global project of the same name. Instigated by French artist JR who, using his own artistic practice as inspiration, has created a platform where individuals and communities are able to make a statement by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces. Through their ‘Actions’, communities around the world have sparked collaborations and conversations.
Over the past decade, almost 500,000 people spanning across 148 countries and territories have participated in the Inside Out Project, and the project has reached all of the continents, with over 2,000 actions created. Actions have revolved around a range of topics: diversity, community, feminism, racism, climate change, education, children’s rights, and art are just a few of them. Posters are displayed in outdoor spaces that are visible to the public. These Group Action installations are documented and shared online.
Not only is the installation striking and impactful in its appearance, but the messages behind the images are powerful in their own right, covering issues such as climate change, animal cruelty, single-use plastic and the importance of education. Chosen by the girls themselves, they demonstrate just how socially aware and motivated our pupils are.
Henri Matisse famously said that ‘creativity takes courage’. This is a sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with and one that our girls demonstrate every day. For if their creativity is the measure, then we have a school full of enormously courageous girls.
Mrs Raja
Head of Junior School
Our Lower Sixth Business and Economics class enjoyed a conference held by Oxford High School.
Read MoreOn Monday 3rd November, the Lower Sixth Business and Economics class sat, listened and absorbed an all-day Business and Economics conference held by Oxford High School. With numerous speakers from all types of backgrounds, the first half of the day was all about Business and Business Strategy. A crowd favourite of the day was Evan Davies, from Dragon’s Den as the host and voiceover. Davies shared his experiences from Dragons Den and enlightened his listeners on effective business strategy. He spoke about how a product sells itself rather than advertising. A commodity can have a great campaign in terms of marketing but the real selling point is in the quality and functionality of the product. As Davies was the first talk of the day, he set the standards exceptionally high with his enthusiasm and high energy. The perfect start to an informative day that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The further exceptional business talk of the day included Professor Michael Pollitt who gave an insightful lecture on how economists think about firms in business.
These were the keynote speakers for this event.
A huge thanks to Mrs Serradilla for giving us this opportunity and to Oxford High School for organising the well-constructed conference.
Ambreen H and Safa H
Lower Sixth Economics
16 local schools enjoyed a day of sports at Croydon High!
Read MoreLast Friday, the PE Department organised and held a Gifted and Talented Event for 16 local primary schools. Schools were invited to bring 4 of their most able pupils to participate in a busy morning of activities. 64 budding athletes participated in various fitness tests, competed against each other in high Jump and hurdles and finally showed off their skills in a variety of winter sports.
The morning was a huge success with a number of impressive results. Primary school staff all enjoyed the morning, they said their stars had a fabulous time and were very complimentary about the school and Year 10 GCSE PE students who assisted the department with running the day.
Mrs Beck
Head of Community & PE Department
Croydon High provides useful resources during Dyslexia Awareness Week.
Read MoreDyslexia is a lifelong genetic condition which affects 6.6 million or up to 10% of the population in the United Kingdom in the way that a person acquires and processes information, most particularly with regard to literacy. It is the commonest of the neurodiverse conditions and we are all likely to come across someone with dyslexia at some point in our lives whether that be a family member, a friend or a work colleague.
The British Dyslexia Association in their Dyslexia Awareness Week of 2022, have as their theme ‘Breaking Through Barriers’ which focuses on how those living with dyslexia have overcome obstacles in their lives to achieve success. This is a theme that at Croydon High we very much espouse as we firmly believe that Dyslexia should not hold a pupil back and are very proud of the achievements of our Dyslexic community both past and present.
At Croydon High, we started our Dyslexia Awareness Week with a presentation for all staff including resources and support material which follows from previous Insets run by the Academic Support Department – most memorably the one when we made all the teachers complete a very difficult French dictation so they could experience what it might be like to process like a dyslexic!
For parents of children with dyslexia, we appreciate that it can sometimes be difficult to know how to support your daughter. To this end, we suggest the following resources that may help:
Dyslexia Awareness Week 2022: podcasts, webinars, videos and interviews https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/support-us/awareness-events/dyslexia-awareness-week/dyslexia-awareness-week-2022
For more information on dyslexia in video format: What is dyslexia?
What is dyslexia? – Kelli Sandman-Hurley
For general information and tips to support a dyslexic child:
https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/children/how-can-i-support-my-child
https://dyslexia-assist.org.uk/for-parents/what-can-i-do-at-home-to-help-my-child/
For coloured overlays and other tinted resources: https://www.crossboweducation.com/Coloured-overlays-for-visual-stress
Touch typing programmes: https://englishtype.com/ and nessy fingers https://www.nessy.com/en-gb
Although dyslexia can cause difficulties with reading, spelling and writing, it can bring many benefits in creativity, independent thinking, and tenacity as many leaders in their field of occupation such as Maggie Aderine-Pocock (Astronomer), Theo Paphitis (Entrepreneur), Richard Branson (Entrepreneur), Orlando Bloom (Actor), and Stephen Spielberg (Film Director) would testify. These are just a few who have broken through barriers to achieve their dreams and we at Croydon High want to ensure that we are the starting point for our dyslexic community to begin their journey towards success.
Mrs Sharples
Head of Academic Support and Neurodiversity
This year, the theme for National Poetry Day was ‘environment’, so what better way to celebrate than with a lunchtime poetry walk around the beautiful grounds of Croydon High. There were three stops to visit along the way. A Performance Poetry Stop, where you could pick a poem to perform to your friends or to the listening poetry tree; a Be Inspired stop, where you could choose one of the environmentally themed writing prompts to write your own poem and the Read Poetry stop, where you could sit and read some of the fantastic poetry we are very lucky to have in the LRC.
The autumn sun shone on the many poetry enthusiasts we have here at Croydon High as they made their way around this wonderful celebration of poetry.
A special thank you to our incredible Year 8 volunteers: Ahaana, Amber, Anaiya, Ella, Grace, Hadassah, Izzy, Meera, Riya and Ruby.
And if that wasn’t poetry enough for one day, we were also treated to the spectacular Mrs Webb’s Performance Poetry Flash mobs, who did a superb job of spreading a poetic buzz throughout the school.
Happy National Poetry Day!
Ms Tapsfield (Learning Resource & Innovation Hub Manager) and Miss Howie (Second in Charge of English and Academic Scholars’ Coordinator)
Well done to our Young Reporters on their incredible start to this year's programme.
Read MoreThis morning got off to an excellent start for this year’s participants of Newsquest’s Young Reporter programme. The programme offers a unique and exciting opportunity, working for a live online newspaper alongside real journalists and publishing on This Is Local – London.
Our budding reporters from Years 10, 11 and Lower Sixth received their first mentoring session from Diana Jarvis, programme organiser and professional journalist, who launched the programme and briefed the group on their responsibilities as young journalists working for Newsquest.
Pupils received training how to research and structure articles, and where to find the best scoops! They also learnt about important elements of journalism such as libel and fact-checking. Diana introduced them to the online platforms and the team are now on their way.
It is a challenging, but rewarding programme, and excellent preparation for the world of work – we wish the 2022 cohort well! On that note, our 2021 cohort have two winners…Ananya won x2 awards and Louise x1.
Ananya commended for event – “Can Socks Really Combat Bullying?” and commended in the sport category for my article called “Girls Can’t Box!”
Louise won highly commended in event category for her article called “Scarecrows Storming Shirley”
Ms Cotton
Head of English
This week I’ve been asked many times “is it ok not to know?” and “what if I’m not sure?” or “so I thought I wanted to sign up for this career, but now I don’t know.”
Read MoreI want to share what I have said to every student. The first is that it is completely normal and ok not to know where your life will take you in the next 10-15 years. None of you have a crystal ball. And none of you have the ability to predict what your future will hold or that path that you will walk down one day. My life has been part thought through planned, and part open to possibilities and opportunities. And it is this last part that I wish to emphasise. Life is a long journey full of opportunities and possibilities. Sometimes you have to go hunting for them and other times you simply have to say “yes” when they come your way. So do you have to make every decision about your life at the age of 17 or 18? No. What you do need is some idea of your starting point.
The world is changing so rapidly year on year that your starting point needs to be a step in the right direction but not necessarily the destination itself. So it is absolutely okay for you not to know, for you to change your mind and for you to rule out options as you walk down a path. Knowing what you don’t want is as invaluable as knowing what you do. And knowing what you don’t want is an important step in helping us forge your future.
If there is one thing that I can impart to the younger years (all the way from the year 7s), it would be: try every career option. Have a go because the worst that will happen is that you hate one option and the very best will be that you discover that you love another. Either way, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So, this week, Parents, I encourage you to help your child explore a future that they may not have considered. It’s an important part of future progress and it should begin as soon as you step in through the door of Senior School for the first time. Why so soon? Because the whole point of becoming a Senior School student is to find your feet and start paving the way towards a secure future.
I was delighted to see that some had already started that process by attending the GDST Economics conference on Monday the 3rd of October overseen by our lovely new Economics and Business Teacher, Mrs Serdilla. And, for all other students, I am sure that the following links, possibilities and opportunities will also prove useful in helping you to determine your future steps:
1. Please email s.davies@por.gdst.net or via GDST Life (https://www.gdstlife.aluminate.net/app/space/entrepreneurshipportsmouth/group_page/event_group ) to join the GDST Entrepreneurship webinar on the 11th of October 2022.
2. Please look at these websites if you are considering or might be open to considering a future in Engineering:
3. Members of the Upper and Lower 6th should email me p.lakha@cry.gdst.net if they are interested in attending any of the following three Enrichment Days:
4. And last but not least, all students who might be interested in learning about a wide array of STEM career pathways should email me, p.lakha@cry.gdst.net, about joining the Female Lead Workshop at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington on the 11th of October 2011.
We have limited slots allocated to our school so these will be allocated on a first come first serve basis and I need to know by 6pm on Friday the 7th of October 2022.
Dr Lakha-Kassam
Head of Progression and Futures
Season 2 Episode #3 (How to Survive and Thrive in Politics) –Our guest on this episode of Raise Her Up is a Politician and member of the House of Lords, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. As the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet under prime minister David Cameron, she used her position to educate and speak out on issues around islamophobia, extremism and racial equality. She joins us to talk about her thoughts about the current political landscape, her own experiences, and what it has been like working as a political mentor alongside former Number 10 Chief of Staff Alastair Campbell in Channel 4’s Make Me Prime Minister, a show that seeks to find the next generation of political leaders – out now!
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.