During the Spring Term at More House, we host a range of themed weeks, which include careers talks, competitions and a variety of co-curricular clubs which all year groups get involved in.
Week 1: Sustainability Week
Sustainability Week was a collaborative affair between the Geography department and More Green. On the Monday morning Year 12 students Ella Bea, Lexi and Yana led an assembly on climate change and sustainability with Mrs Brett. This week’s themed clubs included tote bag decorating in an attempt to reduce single-use plastics when shopping and viewing of documentaries about water and oil.
Week 2: History Week
During History Week students enjoyed a range of clubs and discussions, including debates on the meaning of History and why we study History, and the Big History Quiz for KS3 students on Thursday. Four Year 9 students also delivered a powerful and thought-provoking assembly on the Holocaust in anticipation of next week’s Holocaust Memorial Day. In particular they focused on the role of the historian in ensuring that such events are remembered and never repeated. They should be proud of the way they dealt with this subject with maturity and sensitivity. Overall an enlightening week which I hope caused our students to think more about our shared past and the lessons it can give us.
Week 3: Financial Wellbeing Week
This was a week on the topic of finance. Students across all year groups learnt about the cost of living crisis, looked at inflation and how this is calculated and discussed measures that can be used to control it.
Years 7 and 8 learnt about the difference between a credit and debit card, what a mortgage is and whether there is still a need for physical money. Year 9 developed their financial literacy. They explored a lot of terminologies and developing an understanding of some concepts in banking. Students finished the week with a quiz testing their knowledge. Congratulations to the following Year 9s; Carmela and Amanda for finishing in 1st place, 2nd place went to Georgina and in third was Tay and Matilda. Year 10 students learnt about financial scams. Looking at the history of scamming and the various different types of scams that are present both online and in the real world. Year 12 explored a virtual escape room using the excellent resources provided by NatWest. They had to answer questions on different financial scenarios to move between rooms and compete to escape within the time limit.
Week 4: Music, Stage & Art Week
During this week we celebrated ‘Mozart’ week with a collaboration between the Art, Music and Drama departments. Assembly explored the theme of Creative Thinking Strategies as an employability skill and highlighted the ease in which Mozart and his contemporaries challenged, questioned and built upon their creative ideas to refine and construct their works, and also explored artists whose work was inspired by Mozart’s pieces. We were treated to a three-part choral work by Mozart, Jubilate.
Students enjoyed a Matisse workshop to collaboratively construct a collage and also a virtual orchestra task. Those in Years 10 and above enjoyed a movie night featuring the film Amadeus. We were lucky to have Frankie Fearis join us for a careers talk to discuss her career as a Casting Director. It was exciting to learn about how creative you can be when imagining a cast for a production or film. Frankie talked about her recent experiences casting Wednesday and The Witcher for Netflix and inspired us all!
Week 5: Wellbeing Week
During Wellbeing Weekpupils had the opportunity to take part in a variety of clubs including Lying Down Meditation Club, Mindfulness Colouring in which pupils were joined by Miss Lewis and Ms Hagerty, Netball Shooting, Table Tennis, Mandala Club and more. We were also treated to some delicious healthy salads at lunchtime!
Week 6: Lenten Fundraising & Spiritual Life Week
The Religious Studies department took the time to recognise our call to live out Catholic Social Teaching through recognising the need to treat others as we would like to be treated. Through focusing on the need for Fairtrade in the business world, we discussed the knock on effect of our consumerism on local farming and the wider community. We looked at wider spirituality outside of Christianity and took a meditative approach to arts and crafts through mandala making. To finish off this important week we looked at the need for respect during debating all topics of disagreement and recognised the necessity of Ash Wednesday to start off this Lenten period.
Week 7: Book Week
We celebrated Book Week and World Book Day, with the English Department. In assembly Mrs Garwood encouraged us all to travel the world and enjoy sharing stories. The week began with a buzz of excitement around the school as our Key Stage 3 Students hunted for hidden book covers around the site. Well done to Elizabeth (Year 8) on winning the Book Hunt!
In the spirit of sharing stories we also held a whole school 50 word story competition. Entries were creative, imaginative and fun. Have a look below for just two of the fantastic entries:
I found a music box. Just an old music box, lying there in the antique store. It wasn’t any fancy box with a little handle circling for hours. It was just there, waiting to be picked up by someone that liked old things. I was the one that just happened to pass by.
By Amanda (Year 9)
Once upon a time, there was a cat that thought it could fly. It slowly and carefully climbed to the top of a skyscraper. It thought it knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that cats always land on their feet. Unfortunately for the cat, It was wrong. Splat!
By Sylvie (Year 9)
Well done to Sylvie for winning the 50 Word Story Competition.
Week 8: Careers Week
Our hugely popular Careers Week has encouraged our students to explore, understand and engage with their career choices. A duo of fantastic Talks focusing on Nursing and Architecture was followed by a Scavenger Hunt Careers activity a Resume-Writing exercise and of course our Mufti Day encouraging our students to dress up in a future career of their choice. With proceeds from the mufti day donations going toward the Turkey and Syria earthquake disaster relief effort, we couldn’t be more proud of the level of dedication, engagement and excitement that our students have displayed throughout Careers Week. A huge thank you goes to all the parents who helped in this effort as well as to our fantastic Careers Sixth Form Leaders from Year 12 – Zara, Tavy, Lexi and Ella Bea.
Week 9: Science Week
The theme for Science Week 2023 was ‘Connections’. The week started with Mohini Parmar (an ex-student of Head of Science, Ms El-Ali’s). Mohini gave students an inspirational talk about her journey from an outstanding A-Level student to a prize-winning scholar at University of Cambridge and Imperial College, to becoming a research scientist, and the incredible things that she is currently working on at Synexa.
Everyone had so much fun getting involved with all the incredible activities the Science department set up, including; dry ice demonstrations, a talk about the science behind the production of chocolates, a science fact quiz with questions such as ‘True or false: Can you see the great wall of China from space?‘. Not forgetting all the joy we had visiting and holding the lovely chicks which we had watched hatching!)
Week 10: The World in which we Live
An exciting week of language-centred activities and thought-provoking talks…
We started the week with the Key Stage 3 competition to design your own country and language. Then Lucrezia (Year 11) and Elisa (Year 12) led Chiacchierando in Italiano and demonstrated excellent student leadership whilst teaching KS3. It was wonderful to see pupils speaking Italian to each other and recalling vocabulary they had learnt after the session.
Towards the end of the week, we welcomed Dan Judelson from Salusbury World Refugee Charity who talked to students about his experiences working extensively in politics and about the work he does working as a Salusbury World mentor with both child and  adult refugees. pupils from all Key Stages attended and following the session they asked insightful questions to our guest.
The week’s assembly focused on languages, their surprising neurological benefits, and their role in creating a fairer world. pupils had the opportunity to discuss discrimination faced by refugees around the world and the ways in which language learning fosters tolerance and empathy. ‘The World in which we Live’ themed week culminated in a treasure hunt around the world, where pupils gathered clues scattered around the school to guess the origin of a series of cultural trivia.
Week 11: Inter-House Week
The final themed week was Inter-House Week where we held a range of fun activities. We started off with UNO, Jenga and Easter egg decorating in the Art studio. This was followed by House Bake Off, where each house was provided with a sponge cake, icing and cake decorations to see who could decorate the best Easter-themed cake. We ended the term in a More House tradition… the House Talent Show. We all watched watched as the five acts performed, two singing acts, some piano playing, a dog act and a ju-jitsu demonstration (a first at a House Talent Show). Congratulations to Flora (Year 11) and her dog Alfie for winning House Talent and well done to all the other participants.
Results:
UNO
1st: Santiago, 2nd: Walsingham, 3rd: Iona & 4th:Â Canterbury
Jenga
1st: Canterbury, 2nd: Santiago, 3rd: Walsingham & 4th:Â Iona
Bake Off
1st: Santiago, 2nd: Iona, 3rd: Walsingham & 4th:Â Canterbury
