Work & Events Blog

As part of book week, today was Character Day at Charlton Park Academy and there were a lot of brilliant outfits - from Charlie Chaplin, clowns, princesses to Dorothy and the lion from the Wizard of Oz. We had our local Councillor Jackie Smith come in to help celebrate the day, as well as to promote reading. Tatayana and Martin from Woolwich and Eltham libraries came in with forms to sign up new members, and now Greenwich libraries have over sixty more new members today.

On Friday we have a parents’ workshop, where there will be inspiring ways to encourage and support reading with your children. However, throughout this week we are still collecting books for our library, so don’t forget to donate books that you no longer need. We love reading at Charlton Park Academy.

Friday 16 November was packed with excitement at Charlton Park Academy

In the morning we had a guess appearance from Cherry at Heart n Soul to tell us about all the amazing and creative things they do - from DJing workshops to dance events at the Royal Festival Hall.

There was also a KS4 poetry workshop organised by our librarians and they invited back Sara Williams to be part of it. However, throughout the day Children in Needs events were taking place. From face painting to a disco and cake sales to photographs with Pudsey, to the grand finale of a show compared by Captain Heinz. The main show allowed our pupils and staff to show off their skills as well as having lots of fun and laughter.

What a great way to end the week.

The Eco Team at Charlton Park Academy is getting back together. On Thursday, 22 November, a special visitor, Philip Hunton, is coming to do Eco workshops with Charlton Park Academy students to launch our new Eco Initiative.

He will be talking about recycling and making Tetra Pack purses with pupils in their classrooms. The workshops are all full, so hopefully he will come back to do more at a later date.

Team leader Sergio in the Sensory Garden

HSBC PB’s voluntary team came on their bi-annual visit to Charlton Park Academy. Sergio, who leads the team, brought some colleagues to help with general maintenance in the much loved Sensory Garden.

Nick, from Rainbow House, welcomed the team and gave them an overview of Charlton Park Academy and the importance to the school by their act of volunteering. After the detailed health and safety talk, the team were split up into groups: pruning and planting, irrigation and moving soil.

Sergio, an Analyst at HSBC PB, became involved with the HSBC PB’s voluntary scheme - which aims to help with education and community projects - many years ago.  Sergio first started volunteering in 2004 for a school in Greenwich, but a chance meeting with a fellow colleague who was volunteering at Charlton Park Academy, introduced him to the school and this rest is history. Sergio’s first project at Charlton Park Academy was working in the Sensory Garden – which was in its very early stages. Just knowing through the staff feedback about the importance of the garden and also what his son, who attends the school, gets from being in it makes Sergio passionate about the importance of volunteering.

Sean proudly standing by a previous project he was involved with

Sean, a regular volunteer, is part of the Loan Management Team loves returning to help support the work the school does through his volunteering. “It gives me a sense of well-being to know that I’m doing something for these children. Just knowing they get something out of it is great.”

Veronika, a new volunteer to the programme, is part of the Operational Risk Department and was on gardening duty. Veronika was attracted to this programme because she loved the fact that she would be working in a Special Needs School and she enjoys gardening too, so would happily return. Sajith, a Director, also a newbie to Charlton Park Academy but not volunteering in schools said, “It’s a break from work and I’m doing something for the community. I’m just happy to help.”

The rain in the afternoon did not halt the volunteers and a very productive day was had. The Sensory Garden is now back in use and ready for its first visitors.

Volunteers from HSBC PB at Charlton Park Academy

Friday the 16th March saw the opening of our new Library. In order to celebrate the occasion staff and students dressed as their favourite book character for the day and several students either read a poem or talked about their favourite book. The Mayor was greatly impressed by these students and has promised to invite them to his parlour sometime.

Key stage four perform A London Romance - The Production was a culmination of a whole years work in which every student played a big part including writing the script, set design, choreography and lighting….see and read more

On Thursday 5th March Kathryn Blair (former Prime Minister’s daughter) presented the school with a special award and MOVE students with individual certificates. The School award was for our event held at the O2 Dome on 7th November 2008 when students passed on an Olympic torch to the cheers of their peers and the public using their mobility equipment and practising their skills from the MOVE programme. The MOVE Young Person Ambassador Kathryn Blair presented the school with a prize of £500 to spend on MOVE equipment. The whole school was present to share in celebrating the fantastic achievements of our students with physical difficulties in the MOVE programme. Well Done.

During the half term break a film production crew came into school to interview two ex students Georgina and Emma for a website about disability access. They were asked about their experiences and thoughts. Their confidence was impressive and they added a very valuable contribution to the project. This is a site that many families may find helpful as it provides lots of information about accessible places, services transport, attractions and more. Visit at www.directenquiries.com

Stage Right, an all inclusive performing arts project has just started as an after school club at Charlton School.  Run by Greenwich Academy of Music and Drama and with the help of staff from school, students’ access music, drama and dance through various activities.  This term students have been developing their drama skills and have been learning lots of news songs.  Watch this space for details of our first performance later in the year.

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Post 16 students took part in an art project with art students from an organisation called Create to Learn who came into school to work with them. They worked on a project called My Alter Ego where students had to think about themselves as their heroes or imaginary people they would like to be…………

http://www.createtolearn.org.uk/index.php?page=view-project&request=72

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An exciting opportunity has been provided for a group of students at Charlton School and St Ursula’s Girls School to take part in a Film Production Course ran by Spectrecom Film Company……………..

 Post 16 students enjoyed a very interesting presentation by Toby Hewson last week. Toby came in to talk to students about his life and setting up and running his own company called JustDifferent at just 26 years old. He gave some very good advice to students on making the most of their time in school and to staff he requested that we are ambitious for our students and not just for what may be achievable but what may seem impossible. Toby was also filmed by the film production students and interviewed by Georgina.

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video coming soon

C7 students are awarded an outstanding* for their short film ‘The Environmental Detectives’ at the RIBA in central London……….

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One of the most exciting events in school this year was a visit by Tom Avery, the artic explorer who recreated the disputed 1909 Artic expedition by Robert Peary. It took 37 days, traveling in similar style with Canadian Inuit dogs and custom built wooden sledges.