Renaissance Education – the local teacher agency for all of London
New academy plan passed by council
The proposal to close the Aylwin School for Girls in Southwark Park Road, Bermondsey, and replace it with a brand new ‘Harris Bermondsey Academy’ was passed at Southwark Council’s Executive last night.
Now the proposal has been given the green light, the existing school will be legally closed and replaced with a new ‘City Academy’, sponsored by Carpet Right magnate Lord Harris, who already sponsors The Academy @ Peckham and is hoping to sponsor the new ‘EDEN’ Academy in East Dulwich.
Headmistress of Aylwin School, Cathy Loxton, said: “We are absolutely delighted and look forward to now pushing ahead with our plans.”
By converting itself to an Academy, the school is able to draw down far greater funding from central government and will get a large capital investment to help it with the transition.
Its new status will allow it to employ a far greater number of non-academic staff in non-teaching positions, such as heads of year. It will also allow it to introduce a new sixth form and run specialist courses in subjects such as tourism and beauty. (Southwark News 15.12.05)
Renaissance – working with schools across London
School pupils sing at The Scoop
Pupils from Bermondsey’s St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School will be performing at The Scoop off Tooley Street on December 20.
The free winter concert at the More London site will include a chamber choir and samba band. Visitors will be able to join in the singing and enjoy a mince pie and warm drink.
The event starts at 5pm. For more
information, call 020 7403 4866. (Southwark News 15.12.05)
Renaissance Education – great teachers for permanent positions
Pupils on parade
Police officers and children joined together at St Michael’s RC School, Bermondsey, on Monday, to parade in their new uniforms, as they demonstrated some of their skills they had learnt under the new Police Explorers scheme.
Over twenty children, aged eleven to thirteen, have learnt about a range of topics, including bullying and crime prevention.
The children presented a drill parade to a hall full of police officers and parents, receiving their caps as the final part of their uniform.
Acting Sgt Dave Snow is one of the founders of the scheme, which is the first of its kind in the country. He said: “The kids have been very lively, and have taken to the Police Explorers very well. I think it’s important to remember that as a new project we started with a blank sheet and just prepared lessons based around good citizenship.” (Southwark News 15.12.05)
Local news for your school on our website? Call us on 020 7953 4053
‘Security would have stopped stabbing’
The head of a Dulwich school where a pupil was stabbed said this week that the incident would not have happened if planned security had been in place on time.
The fifteen-year-old boy was stabbed in his side as he allegedly tried to break up a fight in Kingsdale School last Tuesday, where this week a CCTV access control system was installed, nearly four months after it was supposed to be.
Head Steve Morrison said: “It was supposed to be up in September but was delayed because of technical difficulties. I’m 99 per cent sure that this incident would not have happened if it had been.”
Mr Morrison added that they initially advised the pupil to stay at home as a precaution, until police had charged a suspect in relation the attack, but that he was due to return to school yesterday (Wed morning), after making a request to come back.
He said: “He was ready to return to school on Thursday. He is a first class individual who just wants to come back and get on with his coursework.”
There has been no confirmation as to the type of weapon used in the attack against the West Norwood teenager, and it understood his injury was treated within ten minutes of the incident.
The CCTV was planned eight months ago to deter and combat burglars who have previously attempted to break into the school and steal expensive IT equipment. Police say investigations are ongoing, an arrest has been made and they are continuing to take the matter very seriously. (Southwark News 15.12.05)
Renaissance Education – the local teacher agency for all of London
Raising cash for needy kids
Children from St. John’s Primary School in Rotherhithe raised £500 for Children in Need on Friday by holding a non-uniform day.
Children in the nursery and reception classes dressed in fancy dress, with some impressive Darth Vaders, Spidermen and Shreks among the outfits.
Kim Wilkinson, an employee of media distribution company DNDS, dressed up as Pudsey Bear and spent 90 minutes shaking a bucket, dancing and wiggling at passing cars to raise £267. After her sponsorship was added, the final amount raised totalled £502. (Southwark News 24/11/05)
Renaissance Education – great teachers for day-to-day supply
Southwark second worst in inner-London GCSE table
A government report listing GCSE performances this month showed Southwark to the second lowest ranking of all inner London boroughs.
The Department of Education and Skills issued the table on October 20, which revealed Southwark’s percentage of pupils who achieved at least 5 A*-C grades in the 2004/5 period is 43.8 per cent, higher only than Islington’s rate of 43.1.
Labour education shadow Andy Simmons said: “It’s very disappointing, especially when pupils and teachers have put in a lot of work. I do not think the Liberal Democrats have focused enough on the worst performing schools.”
There are fifteen tables in the report, including statistics of GCSE passes throughout the country, but the amount of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs graded A*-C is the Government’s main performance yardstick.
Southwark is one of the five of the thirteen London boroughs to benefit from the ‘London’s Challenge’ cash for teachers, pupils and leaders in struggling boroughs, alongside Islington, Lambeth, Haringey and Hackney.
Cllr Simmons said Primary Schools had not yet received sufficient attention from the council and that it was difficult for secondary schools to produce the best possible results when pupils were already underachieving at primary school, aged eleven.
The inner city borough with the highest pass rate was Kensington and Chelsea, which achieved 60.5 per cent, followed by Hammersmith and Fulham whose pass rate was 58.5 per cent.
However, despite falling short of other inner London boroughs, Southwark’s summer results, which compared the GCSE grades of individual schools with their previous performance, showed pass rates to have improved from last year by five per cent.
Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, executive member for education, said: “The provisional figures show GCSE results in Southwark have increased significantly on last year, which is the important thing, and we believe that the final adjusted results will be even higher. Young people and education staff in Southwark should be congratulated for the improvement, but we won’t be complacent and continuing to raise educational attainment will remain one of our key priorities. (Southwark News 3.11.05)
Renaissance – working with schools across South London |
