We invited Wandering Bears, a photography collective, to visit the school to work with our Year 9 and 10 students on Thursday. It was fantastic to watch the students working collaboratively and enjoying the tasks which encouraged them to think imaginatively and take risks. Each student received a free booklet in which to present their own versions of several works of contemporary photography. Thanks to Nik, Luke and Peter from Wandering Bears for encouraging our students to become even more creative and thoughtful photographers.
Dianne Minnicucci, Subject Leader for Photography
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Hello
We’re having a great time at Tallis despite the cold. I’ve met some wonderfully supportive and concerned parents this week, and, as I write, year 9 coffee morning is happening in a FULL Gallery. Yesterday we welcomed Danes and Wandering Bears, of which more later. Thank you for your partnership in the work we do.
Many of you will know that heads are very worried about funding as government policies start to bite. The National Funding Formula hits London schools very hard because we were so well funded in comparison to other areas. That’s not to say that money was unfairly distributed – though colleagues in other areas would say so – but that other areas were grossly underfunded. I seem to have done nothing but cut budgets for 10 years now. It is undoubtedly the case that we will have to make some very painful decisions in the next years, and once have this year’s Options process underway, I’ll be talking to parents about some of the choices we might have to face in the future. You’ll have heard about schools where the arts are effectively dead, a result of accountability and budget pressures? That won’t happen at Tallis, but we will need to look very hard at what we might have to sacrifice in order to protect our broad and balanced curriculum.
The news this morning that the £384m earmarked for forced academisation has reverted to the treasury, rather than going into the DfE is beyond annoying. Truly, we have had too long with different governments wasting time on structural reform and taking their eye of teacher supply and sensible funding.
Therefore, as well as keeping you informed as the picture darkens, I forward the following:
Dear Head teacher
I am deeply concerned about the school funding situation.
I am giving my support to a new parent-led campaign opposing cuts to education funding and I have been pleased to see that the campaign is quickly gaining ground. In the last few weeks, the campaign has been covered by Channel 4 News, BBC London News, Evening Standard and on Huffington Post.
The campaign supports the idea of a review of the national funding formula and agrees that historical imbalances in funding need to be addressed. However, at a time when our schools are facing massive real terms cuts, the proposed new NFF is a squandered opportunity to remedy injustice. Funding isn't fair unless there's enough money in the pot to begin with.
We have two simple demands - firstly to protect per pupil funding in line with inflation and secondly to ensure that no school loses out under the new NFF. The parent campaign has been founded by parents from some of the worst-funded areas and the 'best'-funded areas standing together to ask for fair funding for all our schools.
The campaign founders are currently preparing a response to the government about the new funding formula, while it's in this consultation period. That response is all the more likely to be listened to if it has the backing of tens of thousands of parents from across the country via a petition.
To that end, please would you share the petition with your parent body along with a link to the campaign website.
Some schools have done so in an email to all parents from the governors; other schools have included it in information to parents about the wider funding situation.
Parents up and down the country need to know that this parent-led campaign exists and that parents have a powerful voice.
Our Tallis Habits focus this half term developing greater Persistence. There has been lots of evidence of persistence in action in classrooms recently. Thank you for your support at home.
Have you ever wondered what lurks behind the walls of an art gallery? Who works in the bowels of the building? What and who makes Tate Modern tick?
A group of young photographers from Thomas Tallis School in London and St. Peter’s School in Bournemouth have photographed Tate Modern behind the scenes and are ready to reveal its hidden spaces to the public.
Inspired by the radical visions of modern photography represented in Sir Elton John’s collection, the young photographers share their collective photographic knowledge, insights and strategies with visitors to Tate Exchange on Monday 6th February. They ask important questions about the value and status of photography as art and its role in contemporary culture.
Drop in and make your own photo fanzine, learn how to be more creative with your camera phone and share your own radical visions. Activities through the day will provide the opportunity to tackle some of the big ideas in photography and engage in discussion about photographs on display in the gallery.
We'd love to see you there!
Jon Nicholls, Director of Arts and Creativity www.photopedagogy.com #tateexposed
#tateexchange
I am the allocated school nurse for Thomas Tallis and have been at the school since October. I run a drop-in service for students from the office in the medical room (room 0603 next to reception) on Monday afternoons.
Students are welcome to come and see me Mondays between 12.15 – 14.00. Alternatively, they can arrange a meeting with me by sending an email: gagbandje@thomastallis.org.uk
Hannah Lees, our Head of Geography, is having a year’s leave of absence to cycle round the world. She writes:
I hope all is going well at school in the New year and that the mocks went well.
I just thought I would email with an update. I have successfully completed the Bupa challenge Tour down under. This is a 100 mile ride, completing the stage 4 route of the official UCI tour down under, just hours before the professional teams take to the route. I did it in the allocated time. Carolyn Roberts, Head
Having ‘dipped our toe’ into various debating competitions in the past, Tallis was approached to host the London round of the World Scholar’s Cup, which took place at our school last Sunday. The World Scholar’s Cup was founded in 2007 and aims to create something different than traditional academic competitions and conferences: a celebration of the joy of learning; a tournament as rewarding for the team that came in last as the for the team that came in first; an enrichment opportunity that motivates students to demonstrate existing strengths and discover new ones.
Having never taken part before, we didn’t quite know what to expect, however, we attended on Sunday with 3 teams of eager students, ranging from year 7 to 13. From 9am – 9pm our students worked with, and competed against, various teams from 4 other London schools. Students completed written tasks, quizzes, debate preparation activities and then took part in several rounds of debates. The debate titles were always challenging and often surprising, such as “Britain is running out of luck!” or “Should people benefit from medical treatments to make them lucky?”.
Following a showcase, the hard work finished with students receiving a flurry of awards and medals, and some of our teams have even being successful enough to be invited to the Global round in Bangkok. Students showed a real commitment to a challenging long day, resulting in a sense of success for all involved. One parent even commented “I never thought my son would be so excited at spending all day Sunday writing and debating. I think it’s brilliant!”. Well done to all students involved who represented Tallis brilliantly: Llly Kemp 7CB Evie Camp 7CB Lois Cook 7CB Callie Moore 8CE Rhianon Ince 10TW Marjan Said 10TW Alara Erden 10DEH Riley Dunmore 7GI Sulyman Hayat 7GI Aine Lawrence 7RJ Malandra Kobong 7RJ Zion Kasaja 7GI Georgia Andes 7GI Ashley Tomlin, Principal Deputy Head and Michelle Springer, Head of Guidance
We have now started to talk about GCSE options with the Year 8 students. The preparation began with a fun and interactive community day towards the end of last term. The Year 8s had a whole day to consider what future career might suit them and to then to look at the GCSE subjects that link in. We have subject teachers speaking in assemblies this month. Please visit the Tallis Choices page of the school website for the latest news and information regarding the Options process. Coming up we have: 1st February - Options Evening (4pm to 6pm) - You and your child are invited into the school to find out more about the subjects on offer. There will be a presentation in the main hall followed by time to visit each of the subject areas and meet the teachers. They will also receive the options booklet. 1st March - Year 8 Parents Evening - This is a chance to speak to the subject teachers before the final decision. The deadline for option forms will be Friday the 3rd of March. In the meantime, please email me if you have any questions about the options process. Andy Pape, Head of Year 8
Our fantastic team of creative writers are going to be meeting every Monday in the library to put together their own e-book, which will be published by Amazon later on this year. Although we have started preparing for the e-book, students from Years 7 and 8 are still very welcome to join. Also, we have 20 spaces for a creative writing trip after February half term. If you are interested in coming along, come and speak to Miss Church in the English office.
500 Words Short Story Competition
This national story writing competition has just been launched by BBC Radio 2. Students up to the age of 13 are invited to write an exciting story of no more than 500 words. You can find out more information and submit your story by going to the website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00rfvk1. It would be brilliant to see a winner from Thomas Tallis!
