We were blessed this morning, February 22, to welcome our friends, Margaret and Barry Mizen in to school to chat to two groups of students, from Year 11 and Year 12.

Their son, Jimmy, was attacked and murdered on May 10 2008 in a Baker’s shop in Lee Green in South London after a glass dish was thrown at him during an altercation.

The Mizens are very supportive of our school and  work tirelessly travelling the length and breadth of the country sharing their message of love, peace, forgiveness and hope to young people with their ‘For Jimmy’ charity. 

Their visit today comes as the 10th anniversary of Jimmy’s death approaches and they spoke from the heart, candidly about the impact his murder has had on their family.

They stressed the importance of forgiveness and the need for young people to be kind to each other.

Director of Religious Studies, Andy Lewis, invited them in and said: “They met with our senior 6th Form TELCO representatives as well afterwards and urged them to help them get involved with community issues telling them their input was vital to bring about change.”

Rabbi David Hulbert  from the Bet Tikvah Synagogue in Barkingside paid us a special visit today, February 21, and came in to speak to two groups of Year 11 boys who are preparing for their RE GCSE exams this summer.

He spoke to the students in Cardinal Manning Hall and was happy to answer their questions about Judaism and his faith in a bid to bring to life, so to speak, what they had learned in class. 

He spoke about the history of the Jewish community in the East End and what it means to be a Jew today. He also focused on Jewish festivals and life after death. All topics they students have been studying.

“When they are sitting their exam and a question on Judaism comes up, I hope the boys remember this session and it helps them with their understanding” explained Director of Religious studies and Assistant Headteacher, Andy Lewis, who arranged the visit. He added: “The sessions were really helpful and they were able to ask the Rabbi anything. He said he was impressed with  the students and said he was very pleased to help us out.” 

Rabbi Hulbert is the longest serving congregational Rabbi within Liberal Judaism with 27 years in the pulpit.

Our basketballers faced a strong team of Under 17s from Fishponds in Bristol’s Bristol Metropolitan Academy this afternoon at home in our sports hall.

The team travelled up this morning and played really well but the final score was a fantastic 92 – 53 win for our team.

Well done lads.

Whilst most of us were enjoying a rest last week over half term, two of our 6th Form Year 12 students, Jamie Halliwell and Brendan Smith, were busy learning all about the world of democracy and politics at MP Stephen Timms’ Politics School.

Only ten students were lucky enough to get on the prestigious week-long course after they applied just before Christmas and as part of their work experience they visited the Palace of Westminster and worked on policies including Brexit. 

Later on in the week the  group visited local businesses and went to Silvertown’s Tate and Lyle factory and they had a planning meeting with the CEO of Westfield at the shopping mall.

One day they were taken to The Sky Academy at Osterley to undertake media training and see how image is an important part of modern day politics.

It was a brilliant opportunity for Jamie and Brendan  who say they are both keen to have a career in politics. They said their insight into politics and seeing what a typical  day in the life of a busy MP and parliament was all about was really engrossing and made them really determined to succeed and get more involved.

Director of 6th Form, Mr Templeman, added: “This enrichment opportunity will really help our students focus their learning plus they will have gained excellent skills that they can utilise their whole lives.”

Thirty Year 10 students were treated to career workshops in school today, February 8, when British Publishing House, Penguin Publishing, visited.

The visitors brought camera equipment in and filmed some of the session.

Mr Miah’s tech savvy Young Enterprise students took their fantastic new product to Spitalfields market yesterday, February 6, and braved the freezing cold weather but still managed to pull in the crowds.

The Year 10 lads have devised a collection of USB bracelets in a variety of eye-catching colours that plug straight into a laptop and are compatible with Smartphones, Iphones and Samsung.

Costing just £5 each or £12 for three, the bracelets are a handy, stylish and affordable way to have a convenient USB with you at all times – technology at your fingertips so to speak.

The wearable USB bracelets double as phone chargers and are proving popular in school.

At Spitalfields yesterday, our stall was visited by MP Stephen Timms who spent time chatting with our students and Arjun and Ross from the television show ‘The Apprentice.’ from the 2017 series.

The bracelets are on sale in school now if anyone is interested in buying them from our Young Enterprise group.

Councillor Seyi Akiwowu came in to speak to 199 Year 10 boys this morning, February 1, about democracy.

This is the fifth time Seyi has been in to the school and she has now spoken to all Year groups on a variety of topics including online safety, trolling, harassment, bullying and democracy.

Our wonderfully generous staff and students have so far raised £1, 415 for CAFOD today, January 31,  after coming in wearing their own clothes for a donation to the worthwhile charity.

The money will be used to provide clean drinking water in Bangladesh to support Rohingya refugees as well as providing shelter and food for children in Syria and much much more.

Money handed over to CAFOD in Lent is doubled by the Government which is fantastic.

Swapping their uniforms for mufti is a fantastic way to raise money.

Here are some students getting involved.