School Blog

Having so many young people that show huge potential academically at Lister means that we are consistently looking for ways to challenge them, broaden their skills and experience and really work to support them in developing as a well rounded individuals that will be a credit to any college, university and workplace. As part of this we decided to trial the Higher Project with a group of year 9 students in order to challenge them academically, build their research skills and give them the chance to explore an area that they are really interested in, and passionate about.

AQA’s Higher Project runs as an extension of a student’s study and allows them to gain the equivalent of a GCSE. Students are asked to research a topic area of their choice and independently complete a research project, reflecting on the process of this as they do. Students engage in taught sessions which develop skills such as time management, referencing, report writing, critical thinking, problem solving, research….the list is endless- all of which are used within college, university and the workplace. Through completing the project, it is hoped that student’s personal aspirations for future study are developed. Furthermore, the reflective based project log helps students to understand the importance of each stage of the project development process and select and use their learnt skills, helping them to develop their metacognitive awareness.

Our year 9 students have developed some really interesting ideas from the evolution of languages, to the history of medicine and an painting project exploring different artistic styles. We are also lucky to have such dedicated and clever teachers at Lister who offer support to these students through tailored supervision sessions.

The project will run until January 2020, so do look out for the final pieces then! If you are a student who is interested in doing the Higher Project next year please come and see Ms. Voisey.

Lister hosted some visitors from New York City last week as twenty-five students (and their teachers) from the Bronx Center for Science and Math spent a day with us during their visit to Paris and London, investigating attitudes to immigration and education, supported by PDT Partners.

BCSM students began the day with a ‘Making Music’ session, led my Mr. Morgan and Ms. Brown.  Within minutes, they were all body-drumming in unison and singing songs from Lister’s community opera, ‘Full Circle’.  They then had a tour of the school, dropping in on some English and Science lessons, before completing a History lesson on Elizabethan economy with Mr. Beck… they’ll remember MUSHPIE for life!

Teachers and students from BCSM both commented on the wide range of subjects and activities offered to Lister students.  The American system, they told us, was much more proscriptive, with less opportunity for students to choose the subjects they studied, and no music during curriculum time at all!  They were also really impressed with how challenging the work being completed by Lister students was!

The day concluded with a panel discussion – an opportunity for BCSM students to ask our students about life and education in London, and for Lister students to find out about living in New York City.  As it turns out, both sets of students had a lot in common… both groups complained about homework and school lunches, both groups though of their teachers as extended family, and all had very similar tastes in fashion, food and music!

It was a fantastic day for all involved, and we are hoping to be able to arrange a visit for some Lister students to BCSM in the not too distant future!

• Know the triggers: what kind of thing makes you stressed? Is there a pattern? Is there any way to avoid it, or approach it differently? Is there someone that could help you with it?
• Be realistic about what you can do: often stress is a result of feeling overwhelmed and this can be because we’ve over-committed or taken on a task that we don’t feel able to do. We can’t do anything well when we’re stressed, so it’s best to be be realistic and ask for help or say no to things we can’t manage.
• Look after yourself: sometimes, all we need to do is get more sleep and/or eat better. Stress can make us eat more, or not eat enough. It can also make us crave the wrong kind of foods, like those high in sugar and fat, which end up making us feel worse. The healthier we are the better we are able to cope with stress.
• Get into your body, not your head! Endorphins, released by our bodies when we exercise, improve the quality of our sleep and reduce stress. We can even produce endorphins by breathing deeply, which is why relaxation and meditation can help too.

If you would like to talk to someone about a worry or anything else, you could speak to your Tutor, Pastoral Manager or Anti-bullying Ambassador, make an appointment with Place2Be (via your House) or use the online anonymous counselling service Kooth.com.

This year Lister is celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 7th March and we just can’t wait! Once again we are inviting staff and students to come to school dressed as a book character. Staff outfits get more impressive year on year so we’re excited to see more weird and wonderful creations. We’re also looking forward to seeing even more students dress up this year after we introduced their participation for the first time last year – there’ll of course be praises and merits awarded for effort. Students must write their chosen character in their planners (on the 7th March page) and get it signed by their tutors before World Book Day. This is not a non-uniform day – students either need to be dressed as a book character or in school uniform. So, who will you be? Mary Poppins… Harry Potter…The BFG… Gangsta Granny… Peter Pan… Alice in wonderland… Oliver Twist… Katniss Everdeen… Percy Jackson…. Pop into the library for more ideas!

We’ll be celebrating the wonder of books on and around 7th March. Look out for a special Thought for the Week, themed assemblies, tannoy readings and teachers sharing their reading history. On World Book Day we will have an extended tutor time in which we’ll be doing an exciting competition based on the detective game Cluedo. Of course, all students will receive their £1 book tokens which can be put towards a book of a higher price or exchanged for one of the special World Book Day publications. This year the £1 books include offerings from Lister favourites Rick Riordan, Malorie Blackman, Jeff Kinney, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Patrice Lawrence.

All these celebrations will be supporting Book Aid International. If you dress up please bring in £1 so that we can contribute to their very important work. Book Aid International’s vision is for ‘a world where everyone has access to books that will enrich, improve and change their lives.’ They work all over the world to make this a reality. Take a look at their website to find out more about their essential work.

Teachers may often see the Careers Team popping in and out of lessons to chase students for permission slips or to hand out visit letters. Parents and carers may have signed permission letters for trips and other careers activities. We thank all teachers, parents and carers for their support with this and as a result, the Careers Team have engaged just under 1000 students in careers activities since the start of term!

What have the students been up to I hear you ask? From participating in the Lord Mayor’s Show with Barclays, sound mixing with the Madison Square Garden Company, to listening to ex Olympian Colin Jackson CBE talking about the hurdles in his career to name but a few, it has been both an inspirational and eventful term.

We at Lister are fortunate to have a Careers Team focused on preparing our students to make informed decisions and aspire to reach their goals through activities and events. We had our most successful Year 11 Options Day to date with over 37 organisations attending the afternoon fair and 14 supporting the carousel.

Careers Education as you may have known it being just an interview in Year 11 no longer exists. Neither is it just the responsibility of one person to deliver as it now encompasses a wider school approach both inside and outside the classroom to be effective.

Often when teachers ask a few follow on questions such as ‘what skills do you think you have used?’ when a student is presenting in front of the class for example, or ‘what careers do you think relate to this subject?’, this can encourage students to think about their futures and consider different career families. Equally, we appreciate parents and carers asking the students about the trips or workshops they have attended and how it has helped them reflect on their career choices.

Staff are encouraged to visit the careers office is located in the East block and speak to the team if they wanted further information about what we are doing at Lister or for regular updates, follow the @ListerCareers Twitter handle.

We look forward to all the exciting opportunities awaiting the students in the Spring term!

—

Nazmin Begum

CEIAG and Extended Services Officer

Our wellbeing – our state-of-mind and our feelings – are vital to our overall health and to our learning.

We know we should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. But what can we do for our wellbeing?

There are a few simple things that we can fit easily into every day, whatever we’re doing and whoever we are, that will make a big difference to how we feel about ourselves, our relationships and the rest of the world!

Here they are:

Connect: a problem shared is a problem halved! Talking to a friend often makes the problem seem less daunting.
Be active: as well as keeping us physically healthy, exercise helps us concentrate, feel and look better, and sleep better.
Give: helping others is proven to activate the reward centre of the brain, reduce stress levels and even help us live longer!
Keep Learning: learning something new can change our perspective and build confidence.
Take Notice:slowing down and noticing what’s around us makes us feel more relaxed and puts things into perspective.

What could you try today?

If a student would like to talk to someone about a worry or anything else, they can speak to their Tutor, Pastoral Manager or Anti-bullying Ambassador, make an appointment with Place2Be (via the House) or use the online anonymous counselling service Kooth.com.

Elizabeth Denton

“Harry — I think I’ve just understood something! I’ve got to go to the library!”
And she sprinted away, up the stairs.
“What does she understand?” said Harry distractedly, still looking around, trying to tell where the voice had come from.
“Loads more than I do,” said Ron, shaking his head.
“But why’s she got to go to the library?”
“Because that’s what Hermione does,” said Ron, shrugging. “When in doubt, go to the library.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

In our last post we told you about the physical treasures housed in Lister Library, but there is much more to your school library than first meets the eye. Last year we upgraded our library catalogue to AccessIt and we are delighted with the functionality that this system brings. One of the best things about AccessIt is that staff and students are easily able to view and search the catalogue; simply select the AccessIt app on the Lister Website. Don’t miss the Quicklists we have produced for different curriculum topics and special events, and keep checking back as we are consistently adding to this selection. The ‘One Search’ facility means that you can easily expand searches to other resources like Newham Libraries, The Churchill Archive and The Day news website. Additionally, we have pinned an abundance of research tips and links to our homepage.

During their library lessons we teach year 7, 8 and 9 students to use AccessIt. This has become much easier this year with the introduction of our shiny, new Chromebooks. This equipment is available for students to use in the library before and after school and during break times. We will also put them to good use when we undertake our series of research skills sessions. All students participate in these during their library lessons in year 7, 8 and 9. We teach them how to evaluate sources using the following criteria: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. In the face of Fake News it is so important that we are all developing these skills. The tasks we do are engaging and linked to the subjects the students are studying in English. The research principles we teach can be found in the student planners on pages 85-86 and we encourage these to be implemented in all subjects.

Next term the Library team is excited to be managing the new Learning Hub. Our job as librarians is to bring Lister’s wealth of physical and digital resources to life. As qualified librarians we have the skills and knowledge to help students and staff find the information they need from reliable resources. As Neil Gaiman once said: “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.” We are looking forward to enriching the Learning Hub experience by pointing staff and students towards relevant books, periodicals and online resources. The approach by many of our students seeking to answer questions is simply to ‘google it’. We know that more targeted searching and deeper analysing of sources is crucial in sifting through the deluge of information in this digital age.

We hope these blogs have provided a taste of what we do in Lister Library. Whether you be staff or student, do make sure you visit us to find out how we can assist your studies, research and reading for pleasure. And of course keep a look-out for exciting events hosted by us, like Lister Literary Festival and World Book Day celebrations.

Ms Welton