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AWARDS EVENING

Last night we held our annual Awards Evening to celebrate pupil success and we were honoured to welcome Simon Jones, Chief Executive of Investors in People UK, as our guest speaker. As you may remember, earlier this year

we become one of only three schools nationally to achieve Investors in People Champion status, so it was fitting that Simon should come and present our awards. Well done to all the pupils involved, and also to all the pupils who were nominated for awards. They will also receive certificates and we will do a full spread in next week's SP Times.

PRINCESS DIANA MEMORIAL AWARD

Related to the theme of `investing in people', earlier this term we were delighted to find out that Jade, Rachel, Jack & Harley had been successful in achieving the highly-coveted Princess Diana Memorial Award for their services to the community. This is a huge honour and we were proud of the pupils involved who, as you may remember, earlier this year single-handedly drove the project to replace our bike sheds and create a first class new area, which our pupils deserve. Well done to all involved!

KEY DATES

As we approach the end of term, I wanted to remind you of important key dates for your diary:

	Monday, 26th November		Year 11 Mock Exams
	Wednesday, 5th December		7:00. p.m. ~ Year Nine Pre-Options Meeting
	Thursday, 6th December		7:00 _ 8:30 p.m. ~ Musical Soirée
	Thursday, 13th December		6:45 - 8:45 p.m. ~ Sweyne Park PTA Key Stage Three Disco

	Friday, 14th December		End of term - school finishes at 1:25 p.m., as usual.
	Thursday, 3rd January		Term starts at usual time of 8:40 a.m.

A ROYAL HONOUR

As I wrote earlier this term in Sweyne Park Times, I had the honour of meeting Prince Charles at Clarence House last Tuesday. Sweyne Park had been invited to attend in recognition of our commitment to staff training, which I am sure you will agree is an essential aspect of achieving a very successful school, and it was an inspiring day. Particularly impressive was the fact that, despite his busy schedule, Prince Charles still managed to find time to talk to everybody individually, and he now knows all about Rayleigh!

Hannah reporting

On Tuesday 6th November I had a trial for Arsenal FC Ladies team. I was very nervous but it went really well. All the girls were very nice and so were the managers. At the end of the two hours of training the scout, Clare Wheatley, said I did very well and asked me to come back later in the week. On Thursday 8th I did my second trial so the manager, Robin, could have a look at my football skills. We did a lot of running and ball work and then went into a game. At the end Robin said he was pleased with me and wants me to come back every Tuesday and play with the girls.

The standard is very high and I really do enjoy playing with Arsenal. I will keep playing with them and then have a trial for the U16's next season.

Sarah 7ACo reporting

Each year I attend the `Discover Dogs' show at Earls Court, London, with my parents, and our Irish Wolfhounds, as breed representatives.

The two day show is run by the Kennel Club and is aimed at giving advice and information to the public about owning a dog. There are representatives there from all the Kennel Club's registered breeds.

Our recent production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a huge success. Here are some pupils' reviews:-

My favourite character is Veruca Salt because she was clear when she spoke, and she really projected her voice. She really did stand out: she brought the show to life.

I give it a 5 star rating because there is absolutely nothing that needs to be improved.

It was an amazing chocolaty delight and deserves 5 stars!!

38 million calories of adventure - Sweyne Park's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The highlight for me has to be the special effects in the TV room. I still don't know how they did it!

An amazing sugar filled performance! 5 stars.

The fantastic story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a mouth watering, bottom bouncing act!

If I had to pick the best character I think it would be ... ... all of them!!

I give it a 5 star rating.

Year 7 Year Council - Pupil Voice in Action

This week saw the first meeting of the Year 7 Council and those nominated to represent their tutor groups were awarded their `Year Council' badges in assembly. Congratulations to the following pupils:

Dean, Sophie, Henry, Emily, Ollie, Leigh, Danii-ella, Katie, Perry, Matthew, Ben, Melissa, Owen, Lydia, Leonie, Charlie, Kieran, Eleanor, George & Lauren.

If you want to get involved and want to have your say then look out for the Year Council representatives or come and see Mrs Spinks in ML5.

GEORGE'S SECRET KEY TO THE UNIVERSE

By Stephen & Lucy Hawking

Take a rollercoaster ride through the vastness of space and, in the midst of an exciting adventure, discover the mysteries of physics, science and the universe with George, his new friends and a super-intelligent computer called Cosmos. Can it take them to the edge of a black hole and back again? And who else would like to get their hands on Cosmos?

This book is a funny and hugely informative journey through space, time and the universe, written by the renowned Scientist, Stephen Hawking and his daughter, Lucy.

WATERSTONE'S WINNERS!

Michelle Waghorn reporting

For the summer holidays, Waterstones in Southend kindly gave complimentary proof copies of two new books (not then published) to our Reading Group, TALK ABOUT BOOKS. The idea was for pupils from local schools to read them and write reviews for display in the Southend store, with Waterstones staff choosing the winning reviews.

I'm pleased to report that our reading group here at Sweyne Park produced the two winning reviews! So congratulations to Samantha Toomey and Beckie Thomas. The girls each received a goody bag from the Southend store. Well done to everyone who wrote a review: they will be on display in Waterstones, Southend. (Thanks to Linda and her colleagues at Waterstones.)

Hazel: My Review by Beckie

I read Hazel over the summer and I loved it! It was fairly light and easy to read, whilst still engaging you in various plots and schemes, getting you to the point where you can't put the book down! I think the author (Julie Hearn) expressed Hazel's feelings very well, making her thoughts comical, but believable. It was easy to believe that someone who is brought up in such an enclosed background could be confused in, what was then, the modern world.

One thing I picked up on, and really liked, was the connection with Julie Hearn's second book Ivy. I have previously read and enjoyed this almost as much as Hazel. I found the connections to Ivy slightly teasing, adding in little things that kind of trigger your memory.

Overall, I thought this was a fabulous book, but be warned if you're one of those people like me, who simply have to check out the end of a book to see if everyone's all right you will have to do the same with this one! At one point, I couldn't sleep until I'd had a quick peep!

If I had to give this book a rating, it would be 8/10 because it was over far too soon!

Bad Blood by Rhiannon Lassiter

A Review by Samantha

I think this book is a fantasy horror type book. I loved it and read it in one night. I couldn't put it down! I was hooked within reading the first four pages. I have never read anything like it! It was so gripping: something was happening all the way through. It's unusual and I think the

author must have a very imaginative mind to think up this adventure. The way she writes makes me feel as if I was watching the characters hurrying around, as if I was there. I was looking in all the dark shadows to make sure Delilah and her drones weren't there following me, trying to get me!

And as for Fox, well that was just weird and I didn't suspect anything that happened. I was being surprised over and over again with the way things turned out. It kept me on the edge of my seat and this book I would definitely recommend to my friends and my Nan, who is a fantasy fanatic!

I think overall that this book is for anyone over the age of thirteen, because all the things that happened were just so scary!

I would give this book 10/10, it was that good!

Don't forget you can join us to TALK ABOUT BOOKS every Thursday morning registration in the Library.

CALLING YEAR 7 READERS…..

Would you like to join us each Thursday morning registration to Talk About Books?

We're judging the six books on the Essex Book Award.

Which one do you think will win?

Which one is your favourite?

Which is the worst?

Last year we even got to meet the winning author,

Morris Gleitzman.

Come and join in the judging!

See Mrs Waghorn for more details.

Congratulations to Fay and Kathryn AGo who both receive a prize for being the first two correct winners of the last competition. The correct answer was The Netherlands.

This week's clues:

Where in the world am I?

Answers to Pupil Services by Wednesday lunchtime. The first two correct answers picked out of the hat each win a prize.