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SKILLS FOR LIFE

As I have mentioned in a previous Sweyne Park Times,
I  have  been  asked  to  represent  the  views  of  the 
secondary   school   sector   on   the   Essex  Business 
Consortium,   a   powerful   lobby  group  of  business 
leaders  in  Essex   with  a brief to improve prosperity 
in   the   county.   Part   of   their  focus  is  improving

employability skills for school leavers within Essex and, after six months' preparatory work, I am delighted to say that Sweyne Park will be piloting a

new Employability Charter, recognised and accredited by big business, later this year. The sorts of skills we will be looking to recognise include motivation, attendance and punctuality, communication skills and reliability. These are all areas which we are also looking to develop as part of our work to become a Thinking School and I hope that the vast majority of our pupils in Key Stage Four will be able to achieve this Charter for their work in school, and that this prestigious recognition will give them the edge when applying for college places, and university jobs when leaving Sweyne Park. Watch this space!

MATHS ENTERPRISE DAY

On the theme of developing pupils' enterprise skills, forty Year Ten pupils attended a Maths Financial Awareness day at Essex University on 11th January. This was a fantastic opportunity for pupils to relate what they have learned in Maths lessons to the world of work, and we will be looking to run more such events in the near future.

HAVENS HOSPICE

As you know, the school has a long-standing link with The Havens Hospice and Little Havens. You will probably have heard or read in the media that the Havens Hospice Group are on a huge fund-raising drive at the moment, as they urgently need to raise money by 31st March in order to continue their valuable work. In response to this, schools in the locality are looking to hold a co-ordinated Non-School Uniform Day to raise funds for this very worthwhile cause. Consequently wewill be holding a Non-School Uniform day on Friday, 8th February, in place of the one which we cancelled last term. Details will be given out to pupils during tutor time.

AND FINALLY …..

A reminder that school ends at the normal time on Friday, 8th February for the half term break and resumes at 8.40 a.m. on Monday, 18th February.

Paul Keetch and the Year 9 team reporting

On Monday this week, Cragrats Theatre group came to visit Sweyne Park Year 9 pupils to perform an exciting visual performance related to options. A number of scenarios were acted out to show pupils what pathways are available to them in the future.

I enjoyed Cragrats because they talked about our options and put ideas across in a clear way using drama. They talked about different options we could choose like apprenticeships, university and college. I was lucky

to be chosen for the second part in a small group. We played a quick game, and then we split up into two groups and focused on "for and against" carrying on studying or working. Natasha 9PGa

On Monday I had a chance to see a real performance group called Cragrats when they performed in front of Year 9. Then I was lucky enough to be chosen as a part of a smaller group. We played games and had lively discussions about our options and our future pathways. Talking about our options, college and the future was very helpful as it got me to understand more about options and how much work we have to do. It was a very fun morning and I enjoyed it. Thank you Cragrats. Hannah 9PGa

On Monday we had a chance to see an excellent drama play. It was about our options. The drama group was called Cragrats and they helped us think about our options and future. I would love them to come back and do it again! Lewis 9PGa

After seeing the Cragrats play about colleges and options for the future I went to a workshop where we did role play games and discussed for and against going to university. Also, we discussed our options. Then we chose Hannah to say what she wanted to be in the future; a sports personality. We discussed what she had to do to get that job. It was a very good morning. Matt 9PGa

Sophie 9NSm reporting Last week Jordan and I were invited to present at a conference in London. We were asked to present this by the specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) who encourage `Pupil Voice' in schools. The conference was held at Savoy Place in London, which (as Mr Samways kept pointing out), was very grand indeed.
	The presentation was the last in a series of three that we have been presenting on `pupils as interviewers.' The presentation lasted for an hour and we had to present to over one hundred people (pupils and staff).
	However, daunting as this seemed, we enjoyed it and had a great time. Both Jordan and I received brilliant feedback from the participants and have been asked to present at Deanes school,

which we will hopefully do in the summer!

Finally, we would both like to say a big thank you to Mr Samways for accompanying us and to both Mr Samways & Mr Hodgkinson for allowing us to present for the SSAT. We are really looking forward to the next conference!

Kajal, Abbie, Sophie, Forrest

Catering Partnership, who provide the school meals service, regularly sit down with its customers to discuss the quality of service and think about ways of improving things.

The girls pictured had generated some innovative and exciting ideas for healthy meals and for outside eating during the summer months.

Catering Partnership's senior managers were very impressed with the way in which the girls put across their ideas and hope to put some into action.

The girls said, "We are happy to put forward ideas to help make changes to our school meals".

Congratulations to Elin 7JDa and Aditi 8YZh who both receive a prize for being the first two correct winners of the last competition. The correct answer was Scotland.

This week's clues:

This country:

is a relatively small country
is one of the richest countries in the world
has four different national languages spoken
has a population of about 7.5 million people
has the franc for its currency
is divided into 23 cantons
has five countries for neighbours
does not have a sea coast

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.

Frozen Fire

By Tim Bowler

Who is the mysterious boy who seems to know about Dusty's missing brother? What does he know and how? Dusty must track down this mysterious stranger across the frozen landscape to unravel the clues to her brother's disappearance, but she puts herself in danger. One of the 6 short-listed books for the Essex Book Award _ will it be the winner?

SHORT-LISTED FOR THE ESSEX BOOK AWARD 2007/8