Barnet FC Academy Youth FA Cup Progress

As part of a very long standing and successful partnership, Barnet Football Club's up and coming young players train and are coached with Barnet FC just over the road from our school at The Hive, and undertake their academic Higher Education with us, here at Canons High in our Sixth Form.

We have been watching the Barnet FC Academy team's progress in this seasons FA Youth Cup with great interest.

SECOND ROUND QUALIFYING

Barnet beat local rivals Boreham Wood 4-1 on 5th October.

THIRD ROUND QUALIFYING

Barnet lost to Ware FC 3-2 on 19th October whilst unfortunately down to 10 men. 

Our Under 19s Barnet students compete in the National League Under 19 Alliance - the highest ranked league outside of the professional game for this age group in the United Kingdom.   

JEANS for GENES

Thank you to our Sixth Form Student Leadership team for getting this charity event organised at short notice.

Our students and staff were allowed to wear their jeans to school on Friday 22nd September for a £1 donation on this year's Jeans for Genes Day.

Their donations to this charity saw a respectable £250 raised for this great organisation which works with children and families living with genetic condition. 

Menopause Workshop

As part of our Wellbeing programme, female and male staff were invited to attend an enlightening workshop on the female Menopause on 13th October.

Still affected by a great deal of apathy, misunderstanding and seen as a taboo subject by many different groups, the facts and consequences of women going through the menopause needs to be spoken about and addressed!

This is what happened when health, lifestyle & menopause expert Meera Bhogal visited us and opened her workshop by sharing her own personal '10 year menopause nightmare'. What made her own experience of entering the menopause at a relatively young age so dreadful was her ignorance of what was actually happening to her body and mind, combined with the lack of support and understanding she encountered.

"No one had told me anything about what I might experience. No one talked about it. I knew nothing!"

Meera's honest explanation of the medical symptoms and emotional anxiety which can be encountered struck more than just a nerve with most in the group. 

Meera was very pleased to discover that we had already implemented an official  Menopause Policy here at Canons High. No more whispering 'women's problems', and more straight talking about a fact of life!  Thank you to Dr N Shah for organising Meeras visit. It was very revealing.

Our large collection boxes

Special Delivery - Top donating students at the Harrow Foodbank along with Foodbank staff and Dennise O, Sixth Form Head Student with special responsibility for Community.

Foodbank Collection

A whole school collection for our local Harrow Foodbank was undertaken over several weeks, the actual delivery being made on the last Friday before we broke up for the Autumn Half-Term on October 20th.

To add impetus, there would be a prize for the tutor group, across all its year groups, who collected the most items. Large boxes for each of the Red, Orange, Yellow Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet groups were left on the stage in our hall, and day by day we could see their contents growing.

Our initial aim had been to collect 1,000 items needed by the Foodbank to make up their distribution boxes, but we ended up collecting a fantastic 2,636 items!

The announcement of which group collected the most will have to wait until we return in November, but the main thing is the actual collection and donation of these items to an extremely worthwhile and unfortunately essential  Foodbank service in Harrow.

Massive thanks to everyone who donated and helped with this very important task. 

But why do we have Foodbanks?

The whole concept of Foodbanks doesn't sit comfortably with many people and their essential existence can be used as a political pawn to try and shame others at times!..

...but the fact is that people, through no fault of their own, can sometimes find themselves very suddenly in crisis and with no means to feed themselves or their family. 

Help is needed there and then.

Different frontline professionals, like Doctors, Health Visitors and Citizens Advice can issue a foodbank voucher to an individual in need which they can then use immediately at their local foodbank.

Freshers Fair

The number and variety of clubs and activities which students can enjoy is growing rapidly.

Our annual Freshers Fair was an opportunity to showcase all these different clubs in one place, specifically for our Year 7 and 8s.

Stalls were set up in the Hall on Thursday 19th October and they were crewed by staff or current club members, ready to sell the excitement of Astronomy, Science, Film, Drama, Dance, Chess, Gardening, too many different sports activities to mention plus a whole host of other clubs and activities which are now being run.

JOIN SOMETHING

ENJOY SOMETHING

JUST DO SOMETHING

Check out the large Clubs & Activities display board situated just outside the doors into the main teaching block, or ask your teacher or tutor.

Staff Quiz Evening.

Covid and the Lockdowns did huge damage to everyone's social lives; so it was with great delight that a staff quiz evening was organised just before the October half-term.

Long standing friends and colleagues eagerly formed themselves into teams and really welcomed the opportunity to spend some fun time together.

A superb quiz, including a music round and an active participation task was organised by quiz master and Leader of Faculty (Sport, Health & Wellbeing) Mr B Rawlings, who even dug out his sparkly compères jacket specially for the occasion. 

A team consisting of Senior Leadership figures were adamant that they would win, but ultimately came third (school report: could do better!) I feel a re-match coming on.

Entry fees and donations all went to CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) which works on suicide prevention by standing up to stereotypes and standing together to show that life is always worth living. 

Teachers Getting a Taste for Food

A special CPD (Continuing Professional Development) session was  held  at the beginning of October  to encourage teachers of other subjects who are planning to teach Food & Nutrition at Key Stage 3.

It was organised and run by our own Miss Campbell and attended by teachers from many different schools.

In the current climate we are finding we have a severe shortage of specialist food teachers in the profession, which has resulted in drafting in staff from other disciplines to deliver food education, often with little or no training. The course provided them with the opportunity to look at the pedagogy of teaching food and cover the practical requirements which will help practical sessions run smoothly.

Basic Nutrition, Health & Safety, preparing demonstrations and tips on how to set up the practical classroom were all part of the day. 

The session was run in conjunction with the FTC (Food Teachers Centre), a UK based self-help group for secondary teachers founded by Louise T Davies in 2013 and supported by experienced volunteer associates. There are over 5,000 active teachers in the group.

It provides a platform to exchange best practice, give advice and support to less experienced teachers, answering practical concerns and keeping them abreast of the latest curriculum changes. It is a one-stop shop for like-minded professionals who seek help through authoritative and accurate information.