A Message from the Headteacher

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I am writing to you at the start of this academic year, hoping that you had a good and restful summer. We return to School with some pleasing exam results: English and Maths Key Stage 3 SATs results have improved and are now much closer to the challenging targets we had set ourselves back in 2005. The headline 5+A*-C GCSE figure is also very good, standing at 59%. However, we are less satisfied with the number of students who achieved 5 good passes which also include English and Maths. A major thrust this year will be to increase the number of students whose GCSE passes also include English and Maths.

We reopen with a number of improved facilities. As you will be aware, the School now has a state of the art weights and fitness building at the corner of Shelmerdine Close and this was opened in July. Not only will it benefit students during PE lessons, this incredible facility will also be available for staff and, through partnership with Poplar HARCA, it will be open out of school hours for the community. I shall write to you again soon with full details of how you can access this superb opportunity.

Inside the building itself, over the summer we have built a new Science lab, bringing our number to 10, have created a fifth ICT suite, provided a second area for our construction courses and developed a dance area. All of this has been done despite the fact that building work on our brand new School is set to begin in the later stages of next year. I am still committed to providing the best facilities we can now for the students who need them now.

Students will begin school today each being provided with a St. Paul's Way Trust School bag which contains a basic equipment case, with a pen, pencil, ruler, sharpener and rubber. They will also receive a homework diary/planner. Every student will be expected to bring all of these to School each day. This excellent bag idea came from last year's School council and has been funded by the Jack Petchey foundation to whom we offer our thanks. Students must not leave their bags in School overnight. As with uniform, students who arrive without equipment, risk being sent home and will be expected to return immediately ready for learning. I know that I can rely on your support in helping students plan and organise their studies. Please ensure when they leave for school in the morning, they are in full uniform and have a school bag with them.

As you may remember from my letter to you last term, we are expecting OfSTED to return to School this term to check our progress against the issues they still felt were outstanding from the full inspection we had in June 2006. Staff have worked incredibly hard to put in place new systems which track even more carefully the progress students are making. Very soon, you will see in the exercise books of students in Years 7, 8 and 9, statements which describe what it is the students have learnt at the end of a unit of work and what it is they need to do to make progress in the next unit. It would be of great benefit to your child if you can find the time to discuss these statements and targets with them, and support them in trying to achieve those targets.

As I hope you will agree, we have made great strides in recent years to make the School a safer place for students. The impact of the estate-based gangs which continue to exist right across the borough is far less felt inside School than it used to be. Also, that small number of violent students who fail to listen to warnings have been dealt with firmly: and, sadly, many have been excluded. My prime duty is to ensure the safety and security of students and staff and, for that reason, I wanted to remind parents in this newsletter that students who put that safety at risk are very likely to find themselves excluded. Please take the time to talk with your children about what is acceptable behaviour and continue to do all you can to make sure that they are not tempted by gang behaviour.

Finally, I have pleasure in enclosing homework timetables for students with this newsletter. These let you know what homework students ought to expect on a given day. Whilst it is not always possible - or even sensible - to stick rigidly to the days indicated, you ought to expect that homework in the subjects indicated will be set. If you have any concerns about the amount or quality of homework that has been set, please contact the relevant Head of Department in the first instance.

I look forward, as ever, to welcoming you into the School and hope that you will be able to attend our Arts and Community day on Saturday 15th September. We will be writing to you next week with more details.

With very best wishes,

Simon Harris
Headteacher

St. Paul's Way City

This artwork was developed as part of extended schools around the theme of My Space for an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Central London.

Year 8 and 9 students worked with artist, Viyki Turnbull, from the National Portrait Gallery and art teacher, Laura Brereton, to create artwork looking at the relationship between themselves and St Paul's Way Trust School.

The students then worked with spray artists design4life during three days of the summer holidays to create the spray mural on the walls of the school building. Photographs, video and spray paintings from this project will be on show at the National Portrait Gallery in an exhibition this autumn.

To create this dynamic work, the students looked at reflections of themselves and the city around them, and found ways to reflect the built space in their movements using photography and construction. They made drawings of the negative space in stairwells and between doorways and used these to create two metre high architectural models from Dowling rods and fabric.

The students used these to project photographs of themselves onto the surface and thought about layering and changing compositions with their images. They transformed ordinary white cloths into vehicles for their ideas about the school creating distorted images that were fun, weird, surreal and dream-like.

The students' final design was inspired by Frank Miller's graphic novel, Sin City (as was the title of the work) and they learnt how to spray paint with artists Jae and Barney to create this finished work.

The National Portrait Gallery has over 330,000 works in its collection and is devoted to portraits of men and women who have made a significant contribution to British History and Culture. The exhibition, My Space, containing the students' work will be on display within the gallery from the 20th October 2007 to March 2008.

Ms Mason, Assistant Headteacher

Fitness Centre

The School were delighted to officially open the new St. Paul’s Way Fitness Centre on the last day of the Summer Term.

The Fitness Centre has been built using 'Big Lottery' funding and is equipped with state of the art apparatus that has been jointly funded by the school and the Jack Petchey Foundation.

All students will have an opportunity to use the facility in their PE lessons during September.

Our aim is to attract as many children as possible to our fitness clubs which will be held before and after school as well as during lunchtimes.

There will also be an opportunity for parents and other family members to take part in community sessions at the following times:

Tuesdays - 1.00-2.30pm and 2.30-4.00pm
(Women only)

Thursdays - 1.00-2.30pm and 2.30-4.00pm
(Men only)

Please leave your name, telephone number, address and the name of the student you are related to on a piece of paper and hand this into the General Office if you are interested.

Ms. Gardiner, Head of PE

Ramadan

First of all, on behalf of the School, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and prosperous Ramadan. I am writing to remind you of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality during the month of Ramadan.

As you will be aware, school is an active and busy environment. As such, Ramadan can be a challenge for young people given that they have to wake up during the early morning to eat their pre-dawn meal. This can affect sleeping patterns and make children feel tired during the day. Fasting can also be a particular challenge for young people given the energy and focus that they must use during an average school day.

However, as you are aware, Muslims are encouraged not to use Ramadan as an opportunity to avoid aspects of normal life but rather to cope with normal life under a different set of guidelines. For Muslim students, this means that they should not miss days of school or arrive late. They must also try to work harder in school during the month of Ramadan, and try to improve themselves in all aspects of their lives, in dealing with others and their own character, such as respect for others, kindness, forgiveness and the avoidance of bad language and poor behaviour.

The school recognises and celebrates the spirit and values of Ramadan. We will continue to support Muslim students to focus on the important aspects of Ramadan. Given the likely increase in the number of students offering prayer during this month, we have provided extra facilities for daily prayers.

Finally, I would like to wish you in advance, on behalf of the school, Eid Mubarek!

Humayra Khanom, Home Liaison Worker