News Archive
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Digital Day (BIMA)
8th October 2014
Matt and Tom from ‘Spirit Digital Media’ supported our students in the creation of a social media software.
App research
26th September
‘We are experience’ came to visit Petchey group to gain some feedback on an app they are designing for young people.
Unicorn Theatre Trip
12th September
Another successful trip to the Unicorn Theatre. Tales From MP3 was an amazing show where the actors performed monologues they heard through headphones.
Induction Week Puzzle Day
11th September 2014
With the initial assessments over, the whole school came together for a puzzle challenge event. Student had battle through a range of physical and mental challenges to gain points for their team.
Congratulations Petchey on winning the Puzzle challenge event.
GCSE Success
August 2014
Presentation Day
June 2014
Alternative Curriculum
June 2014
Roding film
June 2014
Puzzle Challange
June 2014
Loving the limbo peeps.
Well done Lyle, enjoy your prize!
Sports Day
June 2014
A fantastic day for the whole school.
Well done Canteen !
Stop and Search Speaker
June 2014
Local police visited Canteen to have a workshop about how the local police could make Stop and search more acceptable.
Advertising Guest Speaker
16th May, 2014
Stephen Dury, Managing Director ISME Markets & Business Development Santander, visited the school today to deliver some insight into the advertising industry, to support the GCSE Media Exam.
Brixton Prison visit
May, 2014
“We went to Brixton prison to work with an organisation called Keep Out. During this workshop we learnt about consequences, personal responsibilities and what life is like in prison. We also learnt that there is a victim to every crime that is committed. At the end of the workshop we realised how similar their childhood is similar to our lives now. “
Student feedback
Showcase 2014
4th April, 2014
Parents attended the Education Links 2014 Showcase today, were they could speak to tutors about their child’s individual development and were able to appreciate the presentations each group had created. The winners of the annual Writing Competition were announced. Congratulations to the winners and all who entered. Thanks must go to Abi Bown for being our judge.
Newham College Careers Fair
March, 2014
Head Teacher invited to House of Commons
11th March, 2014
Click the image above to be taken to the site
Cultural Day Hannah
7th March, 2014
What would you do with ultimate power? Become rich or famous, live forever or heal the world? More importantly, would you trade it for your soul? These were the issues explored in the Unicorn Theatre's production of Hannah. Staff and students enjoyed the production based on Marlowe's Dr Faustus and many 'oohs' and 'ahs' were heard in response to the incredible use of and video projections resulting in optical illusions. Students should be commended on their good behaviour and we must thank the Unicorn Theatre company for their workshops held on Monday 3rd March and for the tickets to this thought-provoking show. We look forward to working with them again in the future.
2nd Place Barclays Life Skills Brief
6th March, 2014
Four of the team represented our school during Thursday’s final presentations at BBH Global advertising company, based in London. The students conducted themselves in a mature manner and gained respect from all, leaving with their heads held high, waving their runner up certificates. The students will now sign up for the Ladder, which will help them gain media knowledge and experience in the future.
Students were encouraged to create a product and start their own business. £80 was raised and given to charity.
Park Enterprise Continues
February, 2014
Read all about it
February 2014
Sandy Davies said: “Creating confident individuals who can achieve success and become valuable members of their communities is central to the vision of Education Links. And we want our communities to sign up to that vision too.
Careers week
February 2014
Professionals from all walks of life worked with the young people, inspiring them to follow their dreams.
Barclays Life Skills Brief
January 2014
A group of students from the New Canteen worked on a brief created by Barclays for their Life Skills programme. The student worked really hard to storyboard, film and write the lyrics for the advert.
Fight for Peace
Autumn Term 2013
Students from all of the groups have visited Fight for Peace. Fight for Peace uses boxing and martial arts, combined with education and personal development, to realise the potential of young people in communities that suffer from crime and violence.
Our students have enjoyed their experiences saying, "Fight for peace was fun but tiring for all for us", "Boxing loved it", "My legs was killing the next day", "Good to learn", "Fun".
Digital Day
10th October 2013
BIMA Digital Day (or D-Day for short) is a nationwide event linking digital professionals from across the UK's creative and professional sectors with young people in schools and colleges. We were lucky enough to be visited by 'we are creative', who gave some of our media students an insight into the world of digital media. Students first mind mapped problems in their community and then moved on to creating digital solutions. All three or our schools final ideas will be entered into the BIMA Digital competition and who knows, maybe one day these ideas will become reality?
It is fantastic to have visitors from the world of work visit our centers, educating our students on different career paths they could choose in the future. This collaboration with the workforce and the community
is inspiring and will help mould our students to be the people of tomorrow.
Cultural Day
9th October 2013
Growing a feast
September 2013
Roding has been embarking on a group project. We have been growing our own vegetables and have finally been able to pick them. We can't wait to cook our roast dinner in our cooking lessons. We are growing our own 5-a-day! Our veg took us a long time to grow but we're happy with the end product - students from Roding
Roding's horticulture work is enhancing the young people's scientific understanding, building life and employability skills, as well as developing their general language and communication skills.
Sky Sports Special Guest
September 2013
A group of students at the New Canteen were treated to a visit from British Long Jumper JJ Jegede on Wednesday 25th September 2013. The reason for the visit was through an initiative called “Sky Sports Living for Sport” which aims to use sport stars and sport skills to inspire and improve the lives of young people.
Students were given a presentation from JJ about his life and challenging upbringing in East London before he found focus and success with athletics where he has won gold medals including the British Long Jump Indoor Championship in 2012. The group were also given an amazing oppotunity to participate in a practical training session led by JJ at West Ham Park.
Exam Results
Summer 2013
We are proud to announce another successful year for students at Education Links as exam results are distributed. As we work towards Free School status next September, we are delighted that so many of our students have overcome the difficulties they faced to achieve their exam results.
50% of our Year 11 students gained at least one GCSE or equivalent qualification at grades A to C, an increase on last year’s figure of 12%. 2 of these students gained 5 qualifications at grades A to G, and one gained 6 including English and maths. In the 5 years that we have been offering exams at this level this has been the best result for an individual.
Our BTEC programme in Creative Media, Performing Arts and Sport continues to thrive, as 19 students gained BTEC qualifications - 2 Certificates (equivalent to 1 GCSE), 8 Extended Certificates (each equivalent to 2 GCSEs), and 9 Diplomas (equivalent to 4 GCSEs). This number includes 5 Year 10 students, who gained their Diplomas in only one year. They will continue to study in Year 11 for further qualifications.
In all, 59 students were entered for 358 papers, including 24 students entered for 52 GCSE exams, and 19 students who completed BTEC courses. We await final results in literacy and numeracy, as well as ICT, in Functional Skills exams, so more good news is yet to come. All students are eligible to be entered for Functional Skills to ensure they gain the recognition they deserve for the progress they have made, no matter how long they have been with us.
Sandy Davies, Principal
Photo attached – Leanne Tansley, one of the successful BTEC students.
Visit to London Contemporary Dance School
10th July 2013
On the 10th of July, I visited the London Contemporary Dance School in Central London to see the final year dance performance. I think it was an interesting and a very creative piece of work. It was not something you would normally see on the television. In contemporary dance there is always a message behind the dance and this message can be explained by the use of props and body language. My passion and interest lies in theatre and acting. Most of the dance pieces involved a bit of theatre, which made me enjoy it even more. Overall it was a good trip and it was nice seeing a different style of performance. I would not of had the opportunity to see this performance without the school taking me.
Residential
July 2013
We recently went on a residential trip to East Mersea Outdoor Activity Centre, to give 8 young people the opportunity to experience living away from home and taking part in different activities. The experience was really good and the young people as well as the staff enjoyed it a lot. I feel this opportunity gave the young people a chance to experience something new, embracing working as a team which I felt they did well - encouraging each other to participate and pushing themselves to face new challenges together. I just want to say a big Thank You to HSBC Bank for funding this trip.
(Group Coordinator)
I am grateful to our friends at HSBC for sponsoring our residential trip this year, which has been a terrific way to reward young people for their effort and achievement this year. The value of spending time in each other’s company away from the classroom cannot be underestimated. I am delighted for all the students who challenged themselves and succeeded.
(Principal)
Presentation Day
28th June 2013
This years Presentation Day was our best ever with more guests, governors,trustees,sponsors and student families attending then ever before.Our student council had another successful cake sale and managed to raise even more money £100.66 for charity. Anita gave an excellent drama performance that had everyone in stitches and the Media groups 'Ghosts hunters' trailer really got people interested and gave a real insight in to what all our students do within their separate groups. We are all extremely sad to say goodbye to our wonderful year 11's, some who have been with us since KS3 but we are sure that they have many more great things to achieve in the future. Good luck to everyone.
Sports Day
21st June 2013
Friday saw Education Links put down the pencils and lace up the trainers for a day of intense competition on Flander's Fields. With the help of our volunteers from Goldman Sachs we formed our teams and took to the field to complete in races, circuit events and games. As always the tug-of-war was a highlight with all involved working hard to pull their competitors over the line.
As the day drew to a close and clouds came over, the winner was drawn. Congratulations to Canteen Red, who pipped the Chan-dons to the winning place. They were followed by Roding, Canteen Blue and Playhut. Special thanks must go to Alan and Eric for organising the day, Sandy and Debbie for cooking the barbecue and last but not least, the volunteers from Goldman Sachs for their hard work and inspiring sportsmanship.
Paint us Proud
June 2013
During Alternative Curriculum Week Roding group picked up their paintbrushes and went to town painting the centre. With their creative juices flowing the group and staff worked extremely hard to mark their mark, resulting in a new lease of life for the centre and a beautiful space for all to enjoy. We are very proud of their hard work and are very happy that the new look of the building is so inviting. Thank you so much Roding.
Chandos takes to the stage
23rd May 2013
The Performing Arts group leaped on stage, showing off their talent and skill. This was the end of year performance from the BTEC Performing Arts group and they have all showed commitment to the task. All of the team where full of energy, including the staff. Well done to our mini stars. What an excellent show!
Student Council Bake Sale
Friday 17th May
On Friday 17th May, our student council took part in a fundraising event raising money for Cancer UK and Education Links. Student council planned and organised an enterprising project making and selling cupcakes and sweets in order to donate their profits to a charity of their choice.
Students visited all six education centres selling the cupcakes to staff and students for whatever they thought they were worth and sold out completely! The day was a huge success and in addition to learning how to bake, our students raised £97.27. Apart from a fantastic enterprising opportunity it was an extremely enjoyable couple of days with everyone working together as a team!
BTEC Sport Football Event
Friday 3rd May 2013
As part of their Sport's Leadership Unit, our BTEC Sport group had to plan a sports event. They planed a football match with our SEN group, Roding. The session was a huge success with all students working well together. Some of the feedback from Roding Group was that, "the warm up got us all going...the boys were all very friendly...the presentation was excellent" (Sam O'Brien). Well done Park Group!
Khulisa
April 2013
Khulisa is a positive, experiential learning programme that uses therapeutic methods that lead to significant behaviour-change, self-awareness and motivation.
We work closely with Khulisa as part of our anger management programme. A group of students have just completed the course. They found it challenging but some had significant breakthroughs in terms of understanding the roots of their anger and aggression.
Prison Visit
April 2013
A group of ten students visited Coldingly Prison to take part in workshops with some of the inmates. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the event which looks at aspects of the prisoners lives and why they entered prison. The workshop is used as a preventative tool, its aim is not to scare students but to use shared experiences between inmates and students to show how one error in judgment can mean a life behind bars. The lead worker on the day informed us that our students were the best behaved group she had had in the prison in the one and a half years she had worked there - so well done students!
