Blog week ending 25th May

We are justifiably proud of our amazing school community and take every opportunity to come together to mark great achievements and for cultural events such as our many drama productions and art trips.  This week we have enjoyed a whole host of activities (and delicious food!) as part of our Culture Week celebrations which culminate in students’ wearing clothes that represent their cultural influences and heritage.  In our next blog I will share details and lots of photos!

Students across Food Preparation and Nutrition lessons have been preparing a range of dishes from different countries and cultures including (in the below pictures) Jamaican jerk sweet potato curry.  Which links beautifully to culture day activities this week.  Students practiced their slicing chopping, measuring and simmering skills in the preparation of this delicious and healthy dish.

Our Year 7 Scientists have been exploring Hookes Law in their physics lessons this week.  In this practical lesson students were applying force to an object in order to change it’s size and shape – in this case by adding masses to a spring.  Following their investigations students were able to sucessfully describe the relatiinship between force and extension and compression.

Our Duke of Edinburgh students have successfully completed their practice expedition!  Students completed a gruelling six-hour hike, cooked independently and generally managed themselves in what turned out to be quite variable weather!  The DofE is intended to challenge and test students’ new-found skills.  It was a tough weekend with highs and lows (and no access to mobile devices!), but Dr El-Damanawi was pleased to see students rising to the challenge and demonstrating resilience and leadership skills.

Miss Deacon’s Year 9 scientists have been conducting food tests during a practical lesson.  Students tested a range of food types to determine the starch, sugar, protein and fat content of the samples.  It was a positive lesson where students worked independently learning to apply their findings to evaluate food groups and consider health implications such as which foods would be best for someone with type 2 diabetes.

Students in Year 9 and 10 had the amazing opportunity to see a live theatre performance of Les Misérables at The Sondheim Theatre on Tuesday 16th May 2023. This was made even more special with a Q+A with cast and creatives from the company and a special talk from no other than Claude-Michael Schoenberg, the composer! Students had a wonderful time and represented the school superbly. 

Please join me in congratulating all student basketball players that represented the school during the recent local school tournaments. The school teams took part in a Year 10, 9 & 8 tournament winning all but two games!  A fantastic performance!

Year 10 team lost their first game by a single point, and then went undefeated for the remaining four games.

Year 9 team was undefeated!

Year 8 team also lost their first game by a single point and then went on to win the rest.  

Year 10 team

Terese O

Carel G

Anthony F

Ayodeji (Y9)

Kingsalem (Y9)

Year 9 Team

Ayodeji

Kingsalem

Isaac S

Pharell

Arrey

Obafemi (Y8)

Year 8 Team

Dominik C

Obafemi

Henry N

David S

Denzel

Hayden (Y7)

Miss Rutt recently took Liv D-S and Sophie C to the Kent School's Trampoline Competition in Gillingham. It was a fantastic day with the girls competing against local schools within Kent. Stone Lodge proved very successful as Sophie won silver in the Year 9 and 10 girls advanced category, missing out on gold by 0.2points, and Liv won gold in year 11 and older girls’ elite category! Massive congratulations to Liv and Sophie for their achievements, they have set the bar high for next year’s SLS competitors!

Our Year 12 Sports students travelled to Crystal Palace F.C Foundation Academy.  This trip formed part of their Careers Programme and allowed them a unique insight into work opportunities within the sporting world.  It was an exciting and rewarding experience which they’re hoping to repeat in the near future (and get an opportunity to beat the Crystal Palace players!)

Congratulations to Year 10 students Mollie M and Amber S who have successfully graduated from their Young Medics course from Kent and Medway Medical School in collaboration with Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent.  It’s been an amazing opportunity to discover more about potential career paths and specialisms in medicine.  Mollie added, “we really enjoyed the whole experience, especially getting the chance to perform an ultra-sound using new technology linked to an IPad – the university is the first in the UK to have the technology!”

Students visited Hadlow fishing lakes as part of our wellbeing programme, taking students out of the classroom and into the countryside developing confidence and learning new skills.  Students are invited to attend the course which is led by qualified angling coaches.  As you can see, the location is idyllic and our students soon mastered the basic skills, some catching rather large fish!  Our thanks to The Tackle Box in Dartford who kindly fund the initiative providing all equipment and coaching.

On Sunday 14th May, Miss Rutt and Miss Haynes took the Year 7 girls football team to Wembley Stadium to watch the Women's FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United. It was an amazing day and we were a part of a world record attendance of 77,390 at a women's domestic club football match. Commiserations to Manchester United and congratulations to Chelsea! 

Year 7 King's Coronation Performance.  Our Year 7 students got the chance to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III by taking part in a very special year group song. All students in Year 7 learned to sing a specially composed song in their music lessons and even made flags to wave for the occasion. Led by Mrs Archibald, they sang the song as a year group as the finale to their coronation-themed assembly. Well done Year 7, you certainly raised the roof with your performance!

Beat Goes on Music Workshops.  Last week, all students in Year 7 and 8 got the chance to take part in a special music workshop led by a company called 'Beat Goes On'. Ollie Tumner, the director of the company, gave our students an insight into what it is like to be a musician on the West End stage having performed for two years in the production Stomp! He talked to the students about being a professional musician and told them about some of the countries he has visited including playing in the Rio Carnival in Brazil. 

The music sessions focussed on body percussion and students had the opportunity to take part in a range of musical activities including performing, improvising and working as an ensemble with rhythm as the starting point. These skills are developed each week in music lessons and it was great for our students to have the opportunity to meet another musician to help them develop further - Mrs Archibald is looking forward to seeing all the new skills learned put to use in future music lessons.

A selected group of students continued to work with Ollie on djembes and agogo bells, learning the rhythms of West Africa and how to play the special West African instruments. Click here to hear their performance after just 40 minutes work - what an achievement! 

Message from Sara Kemsley, Chair of our Governors.

What have the Stone Lodge governors been up to lately? 

The Governors are a group of people not employed by the school, whose role is to support and monitor the vision and performance of the school.  We have parents, staff and community governors with different life experiences and skills.  In addition to meetings with Mr Barnett and other senior leaders, we visit the school to find out more about different aspects of the work going on. 

This year we have looked closely at how safe students are in school, the first aid and emergency procedures, how well teachers are supported to share and develop the best practice and also the Successful Lives programme.  We have visited the new Sixth Form and looked at how the school prepares students for their future careers and opportunities right through their time at SLS.   

We have had presentations to explain more fully the cornerstones of the SLS approach:  a curriculum which is responsive to needs, reading skills for success and coaching of staff to be the best they can be.  We also meet with parents and students if it can help to improve attendance and behaviour.  After all, the best school in the world cannot help a student who is not there or misbehaves all the time! 

Our overall impression is of a very well-organised and committed school, which is well-supported by students, carers and parents who want the very best from their opportunities.  The school is always very calm and purposeful, and students and staff alike are open, polite and enthusiastic.  We know the work that goes on behind the scenes to achieve this under the strong leadership and values of Mr Barnett.  Staff really go ‘above and beyond’ to help students and families with problems. 

Now that lockdowns and the worst of the pandemic seems to be behind us, we would like to be able to engage with our parents and carers more.  The online parents’ and carers’ evenings work for some, but others miss the chance to come and chat with families at the face-to-face events.  We are looking at ways to do address this for future parents’ and carers’ evenings, and with other events. 

For more information, or to join the Board, please click here

Feel free to get in touch at any time. 

Sara Kemsley, Chair of Governors 

To contact Sara Kemsley, email office@stonelodgeschool.co.uk marking your message for her attention.

Please join me in congratulating Finlay L-A of Year 9 and Ralphie M of Year 7 who with their football team Fleetdown United made it to the cup final in the Selkent A League (the highest standard they can play at their age group) which was played on Sunday.  It was a tense and challenging game but they won 2-1, with Ralphie scoring one of those goals.  A brilliant achievement, our congratulations to you both!

Thank you to all supporters and participants of the Inflatables Challenge!  Together we have raised a staggering £1,000 (so far!) in what was a great fun event in conjunction with our PTFA who do so much to raise additional funds to be spent on our students.  Our Go Fund Me page is still open, please click here for more information and to donate.

Forthcoming Dates;

Start of Term 6 – Monday 5^th June

Year 10 Parents’ Evening – Thursday 8^th June

Year 9 Examinations – Monday 19^th June to Friday 23^rd June

D of E Qualifying Expedition – Friday 30^th June and Saturday 1^st July

Year 12 Parents’ Evening (post 16 options) – Thursday 6^th July

Year 10 Geography Field Trip – Thursday 6^th July

Sports Day – Friday 7^th July

Bugsy Malone school production – Wednesday 12^th July and Thursday 13^th July Please note new dates

Year 10 Geography Field Trip – Thursday 13^th July

Years 7-10 Learning Beyond the Classroom school trip – Friday 14^th July

 

Best wishes,

Gavin Barnett

Head Teacher