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Charles Dickens’ ancestor at unveiling of artworks.
Four New Art works inspired by the writing of Charles Dickens were unveiled in one of the author’s old haunts in Borough on Friday, by children from two local schools.
The works, in printed metallic semi-cylinders, jut from the walls of the alley beside the John Harvard Library, formerly the site of the Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison where Dickens’ father was interned.
The prison and its surrounds appeared in several of his novels, in particular Little Dorrit, the story of young Amy Dorrit, who visits the prison to look after her poor indebted father.
Each artwork appears as a page of the story with a window-like hole, revealing inside a scene from little Dorrit. And each scene, in the place of the original illustrations, are the faces of the children of Cathedral School and St Joseph’s, who made them with the help of their teachers and local artists.
Present to unveil the works was Ian Dickens, a direct descendant of the Victorian novelist.
“I get goose bumps standing here, thinking that my own flesh was here,” said Mr Dickens, who is chief executive of the Digital Radio Development Bureau.
“My great-great-grandfather came here to visit his father in the debtors’ prison. My bank manager says it’s a trait that all Dickens have.”
He said it was right that today’s school children should appear in the original illustrations. “Two centuries on,” he said, “the essential elements of life remain the same as in Victorian times.”
And ten-year-old Bimbola, from Cathedral School, whose face now adorns the alleyway as the innocent Little Dorrit, says she will find ways of coping with the fame.
She told the ‘News’: “I’ll have to find a different way to walk to school now.” (Southwark News 30/9/2004)
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Southwark first to implement schools project.
Southwark Council has become the first local authority in the country to implement a project under the national ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme.
Work has begun at Kingsdale School on a £15.9 million project to refurbish the entire building and create a new sports complex, a catering suite for vocational training, music block and internet café. A further £7.9 million is also available under the scheme for refurbishment in other Southwark schools.
The new Kingsdale School scheme follows completion of the award winning ‘School Works’ building project at the school, which set new standards for education architecture.
Using the same architect, design team and building contractor work has now started to bring the rest of the school up to 21st century standards.
Cllr Bob Skelly, Executive member for education, said: “We’re delighted that the project is moving forward so quickly and that the whole school can now be bought up to the excellent standard of the previous refurbishment. Kingsdale School was the fastest improving community school in the country last year and this latest refurbishment should give the school even more of a boost.”
Two other Building Schools for the Future projects have also been given the go ahead in Southwark. Plans for further work at Waverley School and Charter School are still being finalised and will be announced later this year. (Southwark News 30/9/2004)
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Ex football star at Camberwell School for Scout charity launch
Scouts from Bermondsey and Camberwell joined new Chief Scout Peter Duncan at Archbishop Michael Ramsey Technology College this week, to launch a new charity initiative for The Scout Association.
Ex-Liverpool player Craig Johnston was also at the Camberwell School, to help launch The Big Kickabout. The football based event, taking place on May 22 2005 at Queens Park Rangers’ Loftus Road stadium, aims to raise £100,000 which will be shared equally between The Scout Association and the charity CLIC – Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood.
The Big Kickabout is open to all members of The Scout Association and will feature celebrity and professional football matches as well as a full programme of entertainment and football themed activity. Peter and Craig are both involved in recruiting players and celebrities to participate and they hope to attract a range of top players with many already showing an interest.
Football has always been a major part of Scouting activity, with notable former Scouts such as David Beckham and Teddy Sheringham playing for their Scout Groups before going on to greater glory at club and country level. (Southwark News 30/9/2004)
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Academy pupils back at school
Pupils at Peckham’s City Academy are now back at school, having had to wait while a new building was finished.
The building containing a new science and technology centre, motor engineering centre and learning resource centre, part of a £25 million project, was due to be completed before term started, but overruns on the schedule meant some kids missed out on the first week or two of school.
Head Peter Crook told the ‘News’ “Obviously the health and safety of the children comes first. The pupils at the academy work an extra 150 hours a year compared to other schools in the area so in the end they will not miss out. We are extremely pleased with our new building and believe it’s an excellent resource for the children.” (Southwark News 23/9/2004)
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Come for a cuppa
Pupils, Teachers and parents from the Charter school in Dulwich will be just some of the millions of people up and down the country talking up cancer charity Macmillan’s calls to be part of a record breaking coffee break and raise money for charity.
On Friday, September 24 Macmillan Cancer Relief is attempting to beat the Guinness World Record for the world’s biggest coffee morning – by encouraging as many office workers as possible to join them for a cuppa. Charter School will hold two coffee break sessions, one from 8-8.30, which is open to outsiders, and another later in the morning for pupils and teachers. (Southwark News 23/9/2004)
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New admissions system is now in place but……
Michael is sixteen and he has never attended a secondary
As another group of anxious parents prepare to run the gauntlet of secondary school applications, a tribe of children from previous years remain in limbo – out of school or simply “unaccounted for”. Southwark council says it offers every graduating pupil a place, but some parents who have struggled, sometimes for years on end to get their child back into education, deny they were ever offered one.
The latest parent to contact the ‘News’ was Paula Cousins. Her son Michael, who is sixteen this year, has not been in school since he left Southwark Primary.
“It’s too late for him now,” said Mrs Cousins.
“His four years have gone. He would have left school by now. In four years no one’s done nothing.” Ironically Paula was one of the group of Bermondsey mothers who four years ago took matters into their own hands and started a successful campaign for a new school, the City Academy, now in its second year.
“It was Michael and his mates being out of school that made us start it all,” she said.
While the campaign, led by Bermondsey grandmother Kate Southion, gathers speed, the mothers set a makeshift college for their children. Called Bermondsey self-help school, classes began in a rented room above Rotherhithe Library ion Albion Road.
“The mums paid for it,” she said, “and we paid for a teacher, but we didn’t get any support so we had to shut it down. That’s the only bit of schooling he has had since he was 12. He is now sixteen.”
Since then, she claims she made every effort to get her son into school. “I phoned up the education place at Walworth Road. We went there twice. No one got back to me. After a year I gave up because they had given up.”
Shortly after the ‘News’ contacted the council about Michael’s case, Mrs Cousins received a letter from the education department, asking her to get in touch.
A council spokesperson said: “We did offer Michael a school place after he left Bermondsey School in 2002 but this place was not taken up. We’ve offered a range of support to Michael, including home tuition, and have set up several meetings to discuss his education with his family, which have not been attended.
“If the family now wishes to discuss his education with us that would be welcome.”
If this is true Mrs Cousins wants to know why she has not been prosecuted. “If your kids don’t go to school you get your child benefits stopped or you get taken to court. That’s not happened, because they know he can’t be taken to school.”
Andy Simmons, Labour spokesperson on education, sits on the scrutiny committee that in November plans to cast a critical eye over Southwark’s secondary school admissions.
“The council is not doing its job, “he said. “There is an obligation on the council to provide spaces for children at school, and to ensure that children attend. I have come across quite a few children who have been out for a couple of years. That’s a real disgrace. The council should know who they are; they should have been tracking them.”
Before the summer break a question on the subject was tabled at a full council meeting: how many children remained out of school?
The answer came back: 117 pupils were unaccounted for.
As Bob Skelly, executive councillor for education explains, this means they have been in touch with Southwark’s admissions department but have not been placed by Southwark.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean they are out of school, “he said. “People go to school in other boroughs and our systems of communication with other local authorities is not exactly fool proof.”
But among the unaccounted for children, it appears there are several like Michael Cousins.
“Before the City Academy,” said Cllr Skelly, “two to three years ago we were in the same sort of trouble that Lambeth is in at the moment - far too few school places. In 2000 there were no schools in the borough people wanted to send their kids to. Leaving out Bacon’s and the voluntary schools, no one wanted to go to the community schools.”
Now he believes the situation has been turned around. “Now we have three oversubscribed community schools – The Charter School, The City of London and the Peckham Academy.”
While parents from north Southwark might once have turned down Kingsdale in Dulwich or Walworth School, these now have a better reputation he says. “Kingsdale is being completely re-built,” said Cllr Skelly, “with £9m of government money.”
Meanwhile a new admissions system, introduced this year, should make things simpler for parents and stop children being left out of the loop. “It’s a pan London admissions system, “said Cllr Skelly. Most London boroughs are taking part. “Pupils applying this year only have to fill in one form, choose six schools.”
They will get a single letter in return, from the school where they have been accepted. Parents will not be left hanging on to several school offers, waiting for their first choice, and schools will have a better idea of who is coming and be able to free up more spaces.
But for pupils like Michael Cousins, it is already too late. He wants to be a mechanic; he plans to attend the Bosco Centre on Jamaica Road, run by Sister Cecily Dunn, to restart his schooling.
“What chance has he got with no qualifications?” asked his mother. “He can read and write but he’s been left without an education.” (Southwark News 16/9/2004)
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Tour the academy site
After the campaigning, the meetings, the public inquiries, the biggest new build school in London is finally under way. As the 360 pupils move into the row of blue portacabins on the future Astroturf, the cranes and builders are swinging into action, putting the new school’s skeleton into place on the site of the old Paterson Park, writes Euan Denholm.
30,000 tonnes of concrete, 1,000 tonnes of steel work, nearly 250 builders: this weekend the City Academy is opening its doors for the public to look around the site mid-construction.
“This really is a unique chance for people to visit a construction site – something that they may not have the chance to do ever again,” said builder Wilmott Dixon’s Andrew Geldard.
The tour will take people around the Lynton Road site, just as the building’s form is really starting to become apparent. The amphitheatre, the sports hall, the dance studio, the main hall-cum-theatre: slowly they are all taking shape and in just months they will finally open their doors, not just to the school’s pupils but to the wider Bermondsey community.
Running through the centre of the school is a giant atrium which will be covered by a roof similar to the environmental Eden Project in Cornwall: essentially a roof of inflatable plastic pouches letting in more or less light, depending upon the extent of their inflation.
In this school there won’t be any classrooms as such, instead there will be ‘clusters’ running off from the atrium. Three classes will use the same open-plan space providing, the designers hope, a more airy and engaging environment. “We are trying to do all the right things to give the children the very best start,” said Ian Smith, the site’s commercial manager.
The academy is one of the five ‘open sites’ across the capital; the others including Heathrow’s terminal 5, Wembley and St Pancras International. “The concept is wonderful,” said Mr Smith, “I think the ones I will be seeing are those that you couldn’t normally get into, like the Gherkin - that will be fantastic.” The technology teachers are planning to use the building process as an example for their classes.
Smith himself loves to watch the fruits of the team’s hard work appear before his eyes. “It gives a very real sense of satisfaction. Actually seeing pupils coming in and learning here – that will be the real moment of satisfaction.” (Southwark News 16/9/2004)
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100s of new after school places
Southwark Council has announced a radical rethink of after school childcare provision, which will see the introduction of 735 new childcare places across the borough.
Cllr Bob Skelly, the executive Member for Education, said that he believed the new strategy steering the service’s expansion would become a template for ‘best practice’ across the country.
After school care has grown significantly over the last decade from 20 providers to 90 now, of which 31 are provided by the council – that’s one in five Southwark children. Yet, in line with the government’s recent children’s bill, the council is trying to step up to another level and to do that it has embarked on a new strategy.
“It can make a real difference for children’s prospects, giving a sense of self-esteem and achievement,” said new senior development officer Marcia Buxton.
“Good after school care enables people, particularly say single mums, to work their way
out of the benefit cycle,” said Cllr Skelly, pointing to the wider benefits of a strong system.
“Ten years ago all we could do is look to other countries and say, if only we could have something like that here,” said Ann Longfield of the national after school care charity, 4children. “And yet here we are today – it is no surprise the BBC are down here filming.”
Simon Hughes MP who helped launch the strategy said that provision would help channel young children’s energies into more constructive fields, “teaching them to be good citizens in a way that is happy safe and secure.
“Giving the children the chance to have activities outside of school which don’t have to be organised by parents does great things for the family,” he said, before demonstrating his point by painting the face of one eager Walworth youngster.
Central to the new strategy is improved coordination, supporting both council after school care, as well as encouraging a strong voluntary sector. The council is placing an emphasis on improving quality with all providers meeting a ‘Southwark kitemark’ standard.
Extra government funding will be targeted in ten key wards: Newington, Camberwell, Chaucer, Village, Peckham Rye, Grange, Surrey Docks, Livesey, Cathedrals and East Walworth. (Southwark News 16/9/2004)
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Highshore special school toasts GCSE success
Some of the most impressive results in this year’s exam season haven’t come from the borough's usual highflying contenders but rather a school with almost no history of exam results at all: Highshore, a small special school, nestling in the heart of Peckham.
Most classes in the school are not even examined but students studying art took GCSE exams and the smiles are testament to the grades that they earnt. The art room has become a space in which young people, so often frustrated by their difficulties with verbal communication, have found a mode of expression and a means of exploration.
All nineteen students who took the exam achieved an A-C. “It just shows that if you get the right kind of support everyone can progress a long way,” said Kathy Black, an artist supporting Peter Jones in teaching the classes.
“They become much more vocal when they get in here, it really opens them up, “she said.
Lloyd Walters, 16, of East Dulwich, returned for the morning dressed up sharp in his suit, keen to display his portfolio which has won him an A* and a place at Southwark College. “I’m really looking forward to starting at college next Monday,” Lloyd said. “I certainly wouldn’t be doing that if it wasn’t for the level of support I have got from Highshore.”
Around the room there is painting, ceramics, batik and digitally manipulated images; the students have been encouraged to make their own explorations rather than follow a strict curriculum.
Lloyd flicks through an auction catalogue and alights on the Basquiat and Warhol artworks that have been catching his eye. The school was commended on encouraging the students to engage with other artists, building up a dialogue with their work.
With shades of Warhol, Lloyd's work is both prolific and original. He says the art gene runs in his veins: a relative, Dennis Frost, painted Churchill and now his work will be up in Redgate Gallery. He hopes to follow his Mum's advice and sell his work by the beach in Brighton.
“Its great to hear the kids say that they are good at something,” said Mr Jones. (Southwark News 9/9/2004)
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Dads fight for a place
A Walworth dad's fight to get his daughter into the new City Academy in Bermondsey could see the borough's entire admissions procedure thrown into disarray.
Paul Quigley is questioning the mapping system used by the borough's education department to measure the ‘safest walking route from a pupil’s home to the school gates’. Although the new academy is independent from the local education authority, it chose to use the same system that Southwark Council uses to measure distance for all its community schools.
While other parents who have fought to get into the popular new academy have argued that the routes used were not correct, as alternative roads would be just as safe and a quicker route to use, Mr Quigley is the only parent of the 90 to appeal to the academy on the grounds that the actual measurements are wrong. His daughter Charley was among hundreds of others who failed to gain a place at the academy because she was said to live too far from the school, which is currently being built on Lynton Road.
Mr Quigley was told that his home at the corner of East Street and Old Kent Road was some 1,512 metres from the academy. The Academy, which is sponsored by the City of London Corporation, said that they could only accept children in Charley’s educational band living 1,388 metres away.
But using the exact route given to him by the education department, Mr Quigley says he has proven the measurements wrong. He told the ‘News’: “I used a satellite navigation system, other computer systems and have even walked it with a measuring wheel, using all zebra crossing and corners, and can tell you that on all accounts it falls below the 1,388 metres, which would see my daughter at the academy.”
Yet, despite preparing his evidence and putting it before an independent appeals panel, he has been told his daughter cannot be given a place. “I have even offered to take the vice-principal on the route in the car with the satellite navigation system to show him, but all I get is that the mapping system is correct, without any evidence that my appeal has been properly investigated.”
Mr Quigley has now enlisted the help of a solicitor to prepare a judicial review into the case and says he is calling on other parents who think they could have fallen victim to the mapping system to contact him.
"I am prepared to take this all the way to court because my daughter is entitled to go to the academy. Parents can contact me on 07956 883 355.”
If Mr Quigley can prove the system wrong it could potentially mean that all the 800 applicants who applied to the academy and hundreds of others who applied to the over-subscribed community schools in the borough could have had their distances measured incorrectly and may be entitled to appeal.
Local MP Simon Hughes said he would be contacting Mr Quigley. He told the News: “I raised the ‘distance rule’ question again with the Principal when I saw him at the end of the last term. I will be checking with him in the next few days that everyone rejected had the distance properly measured.
There will always be pupils who live just too far away, but it would be unacceptable for someone who does qualify to be denied a place because the measurements are wrong.”
However, the academy’s Principal, Martyn Coles, said that he was “satisfied that the computer programme is fair and accurate”, calling it a "tried and well tested system.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are aware of Mr Quigley’s complaint and have been in correspondence with his solicitors. We use Data Map to measure routes between home addresses and the academy.
“Clearly it is essential that a common measurement tool is applied to all cases. The particular route being disputed has been checked three times but we are in contact with the manufacturers to be sure of the accuracy of the information.” (Southwark News 9/9/2004)
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Vandals Attack Primary School
A Rotherhithe primary school was made the target of a series of attacks by vandals over the bank holiday weekend.
The attacker threw bricks and stones, breaking the windows of the computer room and library and etching depraved messages on the glass at Peter Hills Primary School.
Head teacher Elaine Thomas told the ‘News’ that the school was reviewing CCTV footage of the attacks. “It’s just very sad,” she said. “I’ll see about the insurance, but because it’s a school there is a £500 minimum before they pay out. It means we will have to spend money on the windows that we should be spending on books.”
The damage was the more heartbreaking for staff as the block was only rebuilt last year.
“I’m sure we are not the only school that gets attacked,” said Miss Thomas, “but we were very proud of it.” (Southwark News 2/9/2004)
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Kids map out London City
Walworth school children have been creating a map of the city, which they hope will guide other youngsters through the delights of London’s architecture, when buildings throw their gates open to the public later this year.
Children from Michael Faraday Junior School spent three days in the city of London working as ‘architectives,’ investigating the gems of London’s architecture and discovering secret histories, before designing routes which will help other children explore the cityscape.
Open House Weekend will see hundreds of buildings opening up across London on 18-19 September 2004, including in the Gherkin and the new building site.
“We are making maps of London from one kid to another,” said aspiring surveyor Estefan Ellis, 11. “It’s so that they can relate to the city around them.” Estefan and his colleagues drew up five different routes through the city and were clearly enthused by many of the buildings they toured and were keen for the other children to catch the bug.
“They can find some really interesting places like the Bank of England. It felt so high, spacious and old,” Estefan said.
Sofi Tilahun, 11, was bowled over by the Wesley Chapel with its history and calm space within the crowded city. She enjoyed the experience of investigating the urban space so much that she plans to do the same back at home in Waterloo. “This has inspired me to do more maps. Before I didn’t really know what I wanted to do but now I do – I want to become an architect.”
The building the Fidelity Investments sponsored course was centred upon, the financial news provider Bloomberg’s headquarters, also received much attention. “The toilets were the best bit – they were so hi-tech, flushing automatically and you even got magazines to read,” said a beaming Conrad. (Southwark News 2/9/2004)
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Our GCSEs are in line with national trends
As school pupils ripped open envelopes for news of their own GCSE grades, so Southwark’s schools have watched the results carefully to see how standards of secondary education are changing across the borough. And the good news is that the overall trend is one of improving grades, with the number of Southwark pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C passes provisionally up 1 per cent to 41 per cent of pupils, roughly in line with national developments, writes Euan Denholm….
Behind that figure are many separate stories: a huge leap for St Michael’s in Docklands, rapidly establishing itself as one of the borough’s best schools, a marked improvement in results for Aylwin Girls’ School in Bermondsey, as well as excellent results for Highshore Special School in Peckham.
Cllr Bob Skelly, Executive Member for Education, welcomed the news, saying that the provisional figures provided a firm indication that the improvements in Southwark’s schooling were no flash in the pan but part of a firm trend.
“The provisional GCSE results show that overall there has been steady progress for schools in Southwark and we would like to congratulate all of the schools concerned,” he said. “The provisional LEA average is an increase on last year and outs us ahead of our target. This is a real indication that secondary education in the borough is on the move.”
Kingswood has seen a further consolidation in its GCSE results with the figure of students achieving 5 A*-Cs rising another 4 per cent on last year to 46 per cent – up from 17 per cent in 2001.
“They are easily the best performing of all the community schools,” said Cllr Skelly, who believes that the school has achieved this by introducing an engaging and more innovative choice of subjects and qualifications which inspires students. “What they’ve got right is the curriculum. They have bought in GNVQs in more practical and vocational subjects.”
Southwark’s Keystage Three results – exams taken before GCSEs at 14 – have been the best improvement in the country, with Maths results up 7 per cent, which looks likely to be matched by English.
Both subjects are key to opening the door to other subjects and future employment opportunities. And these pupils will be taking GCSEs in two years. “There jolly well ought to be a big improvement in results in two years time,” said Cllr Skelly.
The new system of specialist school legally obliges schools to make available their expertise to other schools, both secondary and primary. Thus it’s hoped that the cultures currently being developed at the borough’s most improving schools will be adopted by some of their weaker neighbours. “I’m not against competition,” said Cllr Skelly, “but at the same time we should adopt a more collegiate based approach, after all we are all in the same game - trying to do the best thing for the kids.”
The borough’s older pupils have also bucked the national trend with the percentage of eighteen year olds accepted for higher education places rising from 15.7 per cent in 2003 to 18.3 per cent in 2003.
GCSE Results 2004
(Five or more A* - C grades)
SCHOOL 2001 2002 2003 2004 Up or down
Bacon’s 72% 54% 69% 73% (+4%)
Sacred Heart 63% 56% 73% 71% (-2%)
Notre Dame 55% 66% 73% 69% (-4%)
St Michael’s 43% 39% 53% 64% (+11%)
St Saviour’s & St Olave’s 40% 59% 61% 57% (-4%)
Kingsdale 17% 41% 42% 46% (+4%)
Archbishop Michael Ramsey 26% 22% 35% 36% (+1%)
Alywin’s 28% 30% 27% 33% (+6%)
Waverley 23% 26% 26% 31% (+5%)
Walworth 12% 14% 18% 20% (+2%)
The Academy at Peckham 21% 22% 18% - Results are
St Thomas the Apostle 53% 53% - - still to be announced
Geoffrey Chaucer 19% 26% 28% -
(Southwark News 2/9/2004)
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On A Roll
St Michael’s in Bermondsey has the most improved results in the borough, but head Martin Tissot says the school can do better……..
In the two years since new head Martin Tissot joined St Michael’s, the Bermondsey school has seen the number of pupils achieving A-C grades rocket from 41 to 64 per cent, making it one of the very best in the borough.
“I’ve reaped what I’ve sowed,“ said the jubilant head girl, Ese Agekukor after picking up 5A*s and 5As. And the same could be said for the school which has made a number of changes since Mr Tissot took over, instilling a strong sense of professionalism, community and hunger for learning amongst the students.
The school was awarded specialist status in business and enterprise which has led to strong links with both local and international business as well as extra pools of funding. Mr Tissot says this hasn’t manifested itself so much in the subjects studied as in a difference in approach, with students gaining an understanding of the requirements of future employers.
Homework clubs and after hours tuition have played a key role in giving the students that little extra push and allowing them to develop real passions for their subjects.
“It couldn’t have been done without magnificent efforts from all the teachers,” said Mr Tissot, who said the success was the result from a real team effort. “Congratulations to all the pupils but also congratulations to their parents who have been so important in giving an extra push at home.”
One of the biggest improvements was seen in modern languages, with pupils giving credit to their teachers for bringing the subjects to life. “We had a great teacher who really helped to motivate us,” said Tilly Francis after getting an A in Spanish. “They made sure everyone knew about Spanish culture and the trips to Spain really helped.”
“It’s important to learn grammar but also about the culture,” said proud Head of Modern Languages Alan Daly. “With that they could grasp that it was a real living language, which if they worked at it, they could use to communicate with other people and see a wider world.”
“I’m really proud of the whole school. We’ve set higher targets every year and every year they have been exceeded,” said Sarah Northam, chair of the governors.
Mr Tissot swore against complacency saying: “I’m very pleased but still very ambitious for the school. There is no doubt that we can do even better next year.”
As to the future, it looks like St Michael’s students will be making it in a whole range of careers from business to medicine.
The class of 2004 also promises to be hot on the heels of St Michael’s older alumni with Ese Agekukor, revealing her ambitions to one day edit a local paper. “I want to be a journalist,“ she said: “I’d love to be standing there asking the questions with the microphone or editing a local paper for the urban community.” (Southwark News 2/9/2004)
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Notre Dame’s high achievers
Five Girls from Notre Dame School had letters of congratulation drop through their front doors saying that they had achieved the five highest exam grades in the country. And four of those were for the same exam.
Laura A Ardaya,15, Diana Quillupangui,15, Maria Chavez Flores and Carol Muffett finished in four of the top five places out of all 37,340 pupils who sat the Spanish specification A exam. Karen Harris,16, was thrilled to come out on top of another Spanish GCSE exam paper.
“I was really shouting and jumping for joy. I just couldn’t believe it, I was so shocked,” said Laura.
“I’m not surprised but very proud” said Karen’s Dad Michael. “Better say thanks to her mum Fabiola for speaking so much Spanish.”
Whilst many of the girls have a distinct advantage in being from Spanish speaking backgrounds, that is far from unique. The girls agreed that the school’s ethos of encouraging them to value their education had a key part to play in making the difference.
“There is a lot of help after school with an excellent home work club where the teacher speaks both French and Spanish,” said Karen
“A lot of English speaking girls want to learn Spanish because they get to know us and hear the language. It brings it to life for them,” said Diane, who is now looking forward to taking the rest of her GCSEs next year. “I want to go into Leisure and tourism so language will be very important to me,” said Diane. “I want to learn French and German as well.”
Apeike Umolu was the school’s top performer, achieving an extraordinary 9A*s and 3As. (Southwark News 2/9/2004)
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