School Blog, week ending 28th November
November is Empathy in Action month – when we take time to understand other people’s feelings and experiences, it spurs us on to act. The focus this year is empathy in action – that means coming together to improve each other’s lives and solve problems facing communities. This could be as small as actively listening to one another or as big as a local school litter pick.
We want to encourage everyone to make every day an Empathy Day, and to keep taking steps to build a better, more empathetic world.
This week in the Library lessons students met (virtually) Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho (a poet and children’s author) who spoke about empathy in our daily lives and encouraged us to practice and increase it by reading. Paul believes that the empathy we feel for characters in stories transfers later to real-life situations!
Year 7 and Year 8 also focused on ways to make a difference before reflecting and writing their own Empathy Resolution and making empathy glasses.
Our Librarian, Mrs Nguyen would like to encourage everyone to make every day an Empathy Day in order to build a kinder and better world!
In our Library we have a number of books that encourage us to be kinder to each other.
The 2024 Read for Empathy collection is here!
Year 9 English students are currently reading and discussing War Poetry, specifically in this lesson, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. During the lesson Mrs Evans and students discussed the poem considering the links between remembrance and empathy – despite the poem being written over a hundred years ago, about a battle long gone, the words resonated with students making the authors words relatable and poignant.
In Ms Adebiyi’s Year 9 reciprocal reading session, students were asked to analyse Ernest Hemingway’s key quote ‘All things truly wicked start from innocence’. It was wonderful to see the class sharing their views that children are born pure but can be victims of something bad happening in their lives which can make them ‘turn wicked’. With little input from myself, I was touched by how empathetic the students were as they explained that some people in the world are bad not due to their own fault. The class demonstrated exceptionally high levels of emotional intelligence, essential qualities for the school and wider society – it tied in perfectly to the societal theme this week of ‘Empathy’.
Miss Rutt and Mrs Pickard (pictured below with students) held the first training session for Student Leaders. This year we have our biggest cohort of Student Leaders, so all gathered in the main hall and took part in an array of activities looking at key qualities of student leaders, student impact, role models, communication and much more! It was a fantastic morning and both Miss Rutt and Mrs Pickard commend all leaders for attending and giving their all in each activity. Well done student leaders!
We have also elected our head students who will make up the Executive Student Leadership Team. Year 11 head students are Michelle O and Keon O and sixth form head students are Kieran N and Flourish A (pictured below).
Miss Deacon’s Year 8 Chemists took part in a quick-fire quiz to test their knowledge of element symbols before challenging themselves to identify compounds! Students used Lego and white boards to demonstrate their understanding.
Careers Update. Our student correspondent Harvey of Year 13 commented “Throughout my time in SL6, I have had several career talks delivered to me and my peers. Each speaker comes in to offer an insight into their career and aims to inspire students and teach them about the pathways into their sector. Two speakers that stood out personally for me were Damian Irvine and Mark Litchfield. Damian is the current CEO of Ebbsfleet United and within his time in sports business has been at several clubs including EFL side Notts County where he was responsible for the loan signing of Premier League star Jack Grealish. Damian spoke to us about his career and explained to us that there are so many jobs available within sport that we as Sport and Engineering students can aim towards, including designing new sports infrastructure, coaching and media jobs.
Mark Litchfield spoke to us about his journey to become the Press Officer at Millwall Football Club. This was of great interest to me as Mark operates in a field I aspire to forge a career in. He explained that to get into the sports industry you need to get your name out there and take initiative like he did by writing a sports blog each week that caught the attention of South London Press and eventually Millwall. SL6 offer inspirational career talks throughout the two years which look to give you guidance for when you depart the school.”
Careers Assemblies. Every day this week Years 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13 welcomed visiting speakers highlighting a range of career paths and providing an oversight on all aspects and routes into it. Current employment sectors are;
Year 7- Police
Year 8 and 9 – HR
SL6 Years 12 and 13 – Architect/Construction
Pictured below Mrs Brampah, our Trust Head of HR delivered a session sharing details of her role and how rewarding a career in the recruitment and HR sector can be. Mrs Brampah stressed that there are many routes into HR that offer a high level of job satisfaction from helping others and having a positive impact on workplaces and individuals.
Year 9 Careers – We have again managed to secure working on the MIMS (Make it Make Sense) Project for Year 9. This entails working with Greenwich University and Charlton Community Trust to offer Year 9 a different Careers experience.
The first session will cover financial literacy for one lesson on 2nd or 3rd Dec depending on which form group they are in. Last year students found this session very useful in preparing for their future and understanding how important healthy financial choices are.
Calling all local businesses … be part of our Local Champions Project. Could you offer meaningful work experience opportunities to local young people? Our students can add value to your business bringing enthusiasm, a fresh perspective and so much more! Come along to our breakfast meeting on 17th January and support your local community. For more info or to book your place contact Mrs Tiddy on [email protected]
SLS PTFA Christmas Event
Dear Parents, and Carers,
First off, perhaps you would allow me the indulgence of introducing myself to you. I am Joel, or the Reverend Joel Schofield, pastor of Stone Baptist Church, perhaps more importantly to our school community, I am also the newly elected Chair of the PTFA.
On behalf of the PTFA (Parent, Teacher, and Friends Association) we wanted to share with you an exciting Christmas Event.
Join us on Thursday 19th December from 5-6:30pm for our we hope, a new annual tradition, the Stone Lodge School Christmas Singalong. Tickets are available via Parent Pay. Click Here.
There are 300 ***FREE*** tickets available on a first come first serve basis. There will be drinks and Christmas treats available to buy. Please note this is CASH ONLY.
There will also be a collection, which will be split between the PTFA and the Music Department. Please consider if you’re able to support us.
The Year 7’s Christmas Choir will be leading the singing. Accompanied by Dr Muller and the Stone Lodge Staff Band! (What fun)! You are invited to singalong too!
Join us for a night of festive fun, community building, and join in singing some classic Christmas Carols and Songs.
With Christmas glad tidings,
Joel
Rev. Joel D Schofield
SLS PTFA.
We had a CAD masterclass with Year 12 & 13 engineers and selected Year 10 & 11 engineers with Matt Smith yesterday – a senior CAD engineer. Matt went through how the CAD design process happens in industry and showed some of his previous projects. He taught the students how to use reference sketches within SoildWorks CAD program which is a new method of designing. Matt talked through the requirements of being a CAD engineer and what a typical day looks like for him. KS5 students were set a project where the best 3 submissions will result in an award.
Our Year 7 Design & Technology students were tasked with using the Engineering Design Process Steps to design the bedroom of their dreams in this engaging topic. This cross-curricular topic required students to apply their learned mathematics (perimeter, measurement, area), art (creative representation) as well as their engineering software and practical skills when constructing their Dream Bedroom Models.
Congratulations to Elayna who secured a 1st place and to Yasmine, Skyla and Robyn who all secured 3rd place in their age groups in the recent Dartford Trampolining Club Championships! A magnificent performance – well done!
Yasmine N in 8A 3rd place in 12F Level 3
Elayna C in 7B 1st place in Under 13’s Level 5
Robyn S in 10E 3rd place in 14F Level 4
Skyla Y in 8E 3rd place in 10 to 11F Level 4
Forthcoming Dates;
Year 9 Parents’ Evening – 28th November (TONIGHT) 4-7pm in person
Year 11 Mocks – 2-12 December
Year 7 (A-D) Carols at Stone St Mary’s Church – 9 December 9.30-11.30am
Year 7 (E-H) Carols at Stone St Mary’s Church – 10 December 9.30-11.30am
PTFA Christmas Event – 19 December 5-6.30pm FREE to attend – book your tickets on ParentPay
Last Day of Term 2 – Friday 20 December 12.10pm finish
First Day of Term 3 – Monday 6 January
SLS Musical – High school musical postponed to 27th & 28th January 2025 ( 6-8pm)
Best wishes,
Gavin Barnett
Headteacher
