Our Community Day on Friday, entitled 'Choose to Challenge', explored the theme of sexual harassment. Thanks to the students who took part in making the film above for articulating their views so thoughtfully and sensitively.
In this newsletter
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Dear Tallis family As I write, our young people are finishing a day focused on good gender relations. It is challenging work for them and I expect that their declarations at the end of the day, written in tutor groups, will give us much to work on in the future. Our aim to understand the world and change it for the better is not simply achieved, and can’t just be done through the subject curriculum. We have to give young people time and space to explore their thoughts and understandings, mindful of the different journeys all humans have to take to reach understanding. It would be easy to ignore issues like racism and sexual violence in the wider world, but it wouldn’t be right.
Thank you for your support.
Carolyn Roberts, Head
Don't forget to read the latest blog post in Mrs Roberts writes, a regular column about school life.
This half term we evaluate all the Tallis Habits, reflecting on those habits of mind we have exercised this year and which might need further strengthening through deliberate practice.
Parents Evening – Year 10
The Year 10 Parents Evening will take place via videocalls on SchoolCloud. The event will run from 15:45 to 18:45. Please keep a note of the date and times.
A short guide on how to add appointments has been emailed out to Parents with their login details. Best option to use is manual so you can select the teachers you want to meet with, you can also add a guest to the video call if you wish.
Here is a demonstration video for SchoolCloud. The password for the videos is 'easyevenings'.
Please contact mfletcher@Thomastallis.org.uk if you have any issues making appointments (please check spellings and details before you login).
Michelle Fletcher, Office
Student WisePay Accounts
Please try to ensure that student accounts are kept topped up. We have a very long list of student IOUs!
Many thanks Donna Perry, Catering Team
A-level photography Our Year 12 photographers have been busy designing and making their own photobooks. This project challenges students to create a body of work on a subject that interests them and then to present their images in photobook form applying the skills of editing, sequencing, layout, cover design and associated typography. This process is a great way for students to reflect on their practice, their approach to photography, and begin to identify a topic for their personal investigations in Year 13. We are delighted with the variety of books being created and very excited to see them in their final published forms.
The group also visited the Mohamed Bourouissa exhibition at the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art last week. The exhibition is free and provides an overview of the artist's socially engaged photographs, videos and installations which explore marginal communities and their cultural forms of expression. The group also took the opportunity to explore the photographic delights of New Cross!
Jon Nicholls, Director of Arts & Creativity
Tallis Words for July Promoting the importance of students’ vocabulary has been a whole school focus for the past few years, as research shows that explicit teaching can have a huge impact on student confidence and progression. In order to support this further, we have been promoting four whole school Words of the Month.
For July, our four words are:
Fore - a prefix meaning ‘previous’ ‘earlier’ ‘in front of.’ Perpetuate - to cause something to continue. Futile - pointless, achieving no result Sacrosanct - something too important or special to be changed or criticised.
Please encourage your child to use these four Words of the Month in their lessons and beyond!
Tallis Reads
Thank you to Mr. Sinclair for a motivational reading of Who Moved My Cheese. You can watch the reading again here. Our next Tallis Reads will be performed by Ms. Lymer on Tuesday 6th July at 8.40. You can watch the reading as long as you are logged in with a Tallis email account by clicking this link.
Oxford Dictionary Parent Discount
We wanted to let you know that Oxford University Press are offering many dictionaries at a 50% discount. You can order via the OUP website and enter the discount code, shown on the flyer, at checkout.
Foyles Poetry Competition
We would love to see lots of students from Tallis entering the Foyles Young Poetry competition. The deadline is Friday 31st July and you can enter directly here, or email your poem to Ms. Church at echurch@thomastallis.org.uk.
Book Giveaway
A Thornton Heath-based youth charity, Music Relief Foundation is running a giveaway on their Instagram to give one lovely young person a new book by Croydon-native and New York Times Bestseller, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Ace of Spades is a YA novel (age 14+) about two teenagers with a secret exposed by an anonymous texter, Ace.
Summary: ‘Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can't escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn't afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...’ The purpose behind this giveaway is to continue to encourage young people to read and is open to those over the ages of 14. To take part, follow Music Relief Foundation on Instagram @musicrelief1 and comment why reading is important to you under their post. If a young person doesn’t have an Instagram account, they are welcome to ask a parent or guardian to enter on their behalf! Winners will be randomly picked.
Ms Viegas and Mr Harvey, Librarians
Young Creatives Young Creatives is open to all 15-18 year olds, living or studying in the Greenwich borough. During this summer weeklong residency, you will work with artists, Bhavesh Hindocha and Geoff Johnston to rethink the museum. Alongside each other you will devise new questions for future museum visitors and create a new collaborative artwork that will be showcased in the museum. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, work collectively and gain invaluable experience working critically in a museum setting. To register please follow the link to the online registration.
