Category : Front Page News

Parent Forum 

We had a fantastic parent forum this week. A brilliant way for our parent community to come together and share their views. We were delighted to see so many parents with us on the evening and it was wonderful to hear from so many in our local community. 

Holocaust Memorial Day

This week we’ve been marking holocaust memorial day with tutor activities and assemblies. This important historical moment was discussed by students as part of their tutor programme with some thought provoking discussions. 

Ideation WorkshopThe Steve Browne foundation were also in Duke’s this week to facilitate an ideation workshops with some of our students. The workshop focused on the idea of ‘self’ and students discovering more about themselves and the world around them. Questions posed by the workshop were: How might we create a school environment where every student feels seen, respected, and valued before behaviour becomes an issue? An inspirational workshop with loads of fascinating ideas.

Sporting Success 

This week 14 Year 8 pupils competed in a borough athletics competition at St Thomas More School. We competed against Alexandra Park School, St Thomas More School, Mulberry School, and Fortismere School.

The PE department are extremely proud of our student performances. They put a great deal of effort into their endeavours and were highly competitive, despite the very high standard of pupils we were competing against. This marks a huge improvement from last year, when some pupils gave up during the longer races. This year, our pupils demonstrated real perseverance and determination, finishing every race they entered.

We finished most events in 2nd–4th place and came very close to winning the boys’ relay, only missing out after our final runner unfortunately tripped in the last stretch.

If last year we struggled to finish races and this year we finished competitively, then next year could hold a very positive surprise for us all!

‘Reflect’ programme with Linklaters  

 This week saw one one of the final sessions of our ‘Reflect’ programme with year 9 girls. The facilitators, Foxy and Kianu were fantastic working with our girls on this project that has explored target setting, resilience and behaviour modification techniques. All of the girls involved in the project agreed that it was fantastic and they were sad to see it finish.

Winter Wonderland 

Just before Christmas Duke’s hosted the first ever ‘Winter Wonderland’ event. This was a fantastic community event open to students who had achieved over 95% attendance and positive behaviour points. We were delighted to be able to invite over a quarter of the student body and their families. The event was a fantastic way to round of the winter term and we’re very much looking forward to more events of this kind as the year goes on.

Community Engagement Event 

We also hosted a hugely powerful community engagement forum in the final week of December. This was a chance for members of our local community to come into Duke’s and connect with us. A great turn out meant that important conversations were had and connections were made with exciting plans for the future of community engagement in our local community.

Positivity 

We’ve kicked off the Spring term with a big drive on positivity. Ms Iqbal presented to all students and staff our plans for building a culture of positivity and praise. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the culture of success blossom at Duke’s in the coming weeks.

Inner Spark 

This week Alain from ‘Inner Spark’ visited Duke’s to deliver workshops on Resilience and knowing yourself. His workshops were really well received and students found his words exhilarating and empowering. Alain himself was born and raised in Bruce Grove so it was great to have him back at Duke’s in Tottenham delivering his messages. 

College Applications

It’s that time of year again where our year 11 students turn their thoughts to next steps. Our year 11 cohort had presentations from local colleges and then time in tutor groups with their tutors to start completing their applications. Every Duke’s year 11 student is expected to complete three applications to ensure they have plenty of choice when GCSE results day happens! Good luck to all our year 11 students. 

Festive Fun

We’re all very much looking forward to next week with lots of festive activities planned for the final week of term including: Christmas jumper day, Festive lunch, Christmas assemblies and also our very first ‘winter wonderland’ here at Duke’s!