Category : Front Page News

A big week at Duke’s this week – Hollywood, a trip to Westminster and Black History celebrations! 

Letitia Wright Visit 

On Monday 20th October Duke’s was dazzled by the bright lights of Hollywood as Letitia Wright (AKA Shuri in Black Panther) came to visit. Letitia is an ex-student who has gone on to achieve great things in life and was very excited to be back in her old school inspiring the younger generation. It was also wonderful for Letitia to connect with some of her old teachers who still work here!

An award winning actor, Leitita was delighted to share her latest project with Duke’s students – a short film that she has written, directed and produced herself called ‘Highway to the Moon’. The film is an abstract film that follows the experiences of young Black men whose lives have been tragically cut short. She describes the film as a “love letter to young Black men all over the world.”

Not only did Duke’s students get to watch the film, they also got a question and answer session with Letitia. It was fascinating to hear how she had achieved all she had from her younger years in Tottenham. Our students asked insightful and interesting questions – while also feeling a bit starstruck!

The visit was also an amazing way for our students to understand more about careers in the film industry! #Aldridgeconnect 

Westminster Trip – Year 10 Business Studies 

More #Aldrigeconnect activities with a lucky group of year 10 business studies students who got to visit Westminster. The students attended an event called ‘Speak Week’ set up by Loudspeaker – an organisation that specialises in oracy and young people’s voice in conjunction with the House of Lords. 

The students were engaged in a series of workshops on networking, pitching and oracy; all entrepreneurial skills that gave students a window into possible future careers and the confidence to sell themselves. Two students (Ovidu and Tafari) stood up and pitched a business idea in one of the sessions – they represented themselves and us excellently!

Black History Celebration Lunch 

Finally this week a big shout out to the Maths department that led on our annual Black History Month lunch – a great time was had by all and stomachs were well and truly fed. As ever lots of staff from across the school got involved, a great event.

Year 7 Challenge Mentoring with Linklaters 

Our annual ‘Challenge Mentoring’ sessions with Linklaters kicked off this week. A group of year 7 students took a trip to Linklaters offices to meet their mentors and begin the programme. This group of students will visit Linklaters every Wednesday for their sessions which include team building activities, one to one mentoring and interactions with a business environment. A fantastic opportunity for all students involved. 

Godwin Lawson Assemblies

This week Yvonne Lawson from the Godwin Lawson Foundation presented assemblies on staying safe in the modern world. Yvonne’s first hand experience is vital to our students to ensure their safety and success in life.

LAET Partnership Work 

More projects kicked off this week with LAET building on the strength of their Maths and Science work, we had a large number of English students taking part in the stretch and challenge event. We also saw a group of year 10 and 11 students attending a future careers event giving our students information and ideas about future career paths. 

Girls4Tech Event – Mastercard

A group of year 7 girls this week got to attend the ‘Girls4Tech’ event at Mastercard’s London Office. The event celebrated girls careers in STEM and particularly highlighted technology. All of the girls who attended the event had a fantastic experience and were enthused to see how trips like this connect life at Duke’s to future careers  – #Aldridgeconnect 

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Sporting Success

This week the Year 8 football team secured their first win representing Duke’s! The final score was 2-0, although there was a near third goal that got ruled out just as the match ended — apologies to Kuntavio for that!

Isaac scored one goal, and Kuntavio netted the other. Special shout-outs to Elvis in goal who played out of position and had a great performance.  and Christian from Y7, who stepped up to play with the Y8s and made some crucial contributions both in defence and midfield.

Well done to the whole team on a fantastic performance!

#Determination #Teamwork

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Macmillan bake sale 

Well done to the Food Tech team this week for the fantastic Macmillan charity bake sale. Students and staff alike joined in by baking and purchasing cakes during breaktime on Wednesday 8th October. Fantastic to see so many students helping out with the project and baking such fabulous cakes.

Circus Skills Workshops

We are delighted to share that our Circus Project with Jacksons Lane had an amazing start last week! The level of student engagement and lesson objective success went well beyond our expectations.

Pupils took on challenging hand–eye coordination activities that required real focus and perseverance, and the vast majority achieved them brilliantly. 

It was wonderful to see so much positivity and determination in action.

The sessions continue every Friday at Duke’s – A great example of a Connect activity – driving positivity and connection to the world of circus skills!

Sporting Excellence at Duke’s 

We’ve had a week of sporting success here at Duke’s. Petruta in 11V competes to a high amateur level in Kickboxing and last weekend travelled to Wales to earn a stoppage win in the 3rd round against an older opponent. 

Petruta explained that her opponent was very powerful and threw a lot of body shots early in the fight but she wore her down earning a knockout stoppage in round 3. An amazing achievement Petruta. 

Also this week our Year 10s went over to Alexandra Park School to play in the Haringey Borough Table Tennis Tournament. The team was made up of 4 boys: Darius Gabriel Winsan & Jeremy. All four demonstrated teamwork and Determination in action

#Aldridgeconnect