A Putney teacher will be inspiring his pupils with new technology this term after spending part of the summer break at a celebrated event in the United States.

Hiten Mistry from Putney High School (GDST) received a special invitation to the Discovery Education Summer Institute (DENSI)– an exclusive teaching and learning week in Utah, focused on using technology to support pupil achievement.

One of just four UK teachers invited to make the trip, Hiten was chosen for his enthusiasm for teaching with technology, having been awarded the prestigious accolade of 'Apple Distinguished Educator' earlier this year. Flying to Utah in late July, Hiten joined hundreds of educators at The Weber State University in Ogden.

Now in its 14th year, the Discovery Education Summer Institute connects tech-savvy teachers from around the world to share ideas and inspiration. Featuring interactive seminars and hands-on workshops exploring technologies such as AR and VR, the event helps teachers to create digital learning environments that engage pupils and improve achievement.

The Discovery Education Summer Institute is the flagship event of the Discovery Education Community – one of the world’s largest education networks with an audience of over 4.5 million teachers and educators.

Speaking after returning from Utah, Hiten Mistry said:

“The Discovery Education Summer Institute in Utah was an unforgettable experience. After 16 years in education I’ve never experienced over 100 educators from different educational contexts in one room, sharing and collaborating. The positive vibes, stories and ideas from all those I met will stay with me for a very long time.”

Andrew Hammond, Senior Director of Learning & Community at Discovery Education said:

“We were thrilled to give Hiten the opportunity to attend the Discovery Education Summer Institute. This year’s event was a true celebration of education technology - a coming together of education enthusiasts all striving to re-imagine the future of learning. I’m sure that Hiten’s experience will benefit his pupils and the whole school community.”

Hiten was joined by 3 other UK teachers: Hayley McKechnie from Lee Chapel Primary School in Basildon Essex, Laura Sparkes from St Mary of Charity Primary School in Faversham and Joseph Reid from Trinity St Mary’s School in Wandsworth. The group returned to the UK in August ready to put their learning into practice.

The Discovery Education Community connects teachers through social media and events and provides a gateway to education advice and inspiration from around the world.

In May 2007 when Lissy was six years old, her mother, Emma was in a car crash with a dustbin lorry on the Fulham Palace Road, London and was on life support for two weeks and in hospital for five months.

“Seeing the doctors caring for my mother, and others, in their time of need, is what made me to want to study medicine,” said Lissy, who scooped A Levels in Government and Politics, Biology and Chemistry at Putney High School GDST.

A Putney High School teacher is one of the UK finalists of The Pearson National Teaching Awards. Miss Pippa Wadey has won a Silver Award in what is widely considered the UK’s “Oscars for Teachers”, nominated in the Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School category.

Miss Wadey, Director of Learning, Research and Outreach and Teacher of Religious Studies, will go on to the UK final in October at an event which will be televised by the BBC. It is there that the winners of 13 Gold Awards will be announced.

This year, Putney High School GDST also has three teachers who have been awarded Certificates of Excellence in the following categories:

Outstanding New Teacher of the Year - Miss Hannah Lovell (Biology Teacher)

Excellence in Special Needs Teaching - Ms Justyna Sokolowska (Head of Learning Enrichment)

Teacher of the Year in a Primary School - Mrs Ena Burgess (Junior School Director of Music).

Headmistress, Suzie Longstaff said, “The strength of any school lies in the quality of its teaching and we know how lucky we are to have inspirational staff who always go the extra mile for their pupils. Pippa’s enthusiasm and wonderful thirst for learning are truly contagious. We are extremely proud of her.”

Miss Pippa Wadey

“I feel extremely honoured to even be part of the group of teachers nominated for this category. I’m lucky enough to teach the most amazing group of students and be supported by a brilliant group of colleagues, so this award is just as much theirs as it is mine, ” she told us.

Miss Wadey joined Putney High School in September 2015 and since then has constantly strived to build fresh and creative methods into her teaching. Her ground-breaking approach to lessons and co-curricular learning inspires students to be curious and intellectually ambitious in their thinking. Her initiatives include Harkness Table discussions, Philosophy “Hot Topics” Talks, an award-winning “Outstanding Outcomes” project, Putney Ideas Exchange (PIE) evening lecture programme and leadership of the school’s action research programme on the Science of Learning, looking at the development and workings of the brain and how these can impact pupils’ learning. Miss Wadey work has led to a 2019 TES award nomination for the school (for strategic innovation). She will be speaking at the Festival of Education at Wellington College on Friday 21 June.

Background

The Teaching Awards were set up by Lord David Puttnam in 1998 to celebrate and recognise excellence in education. The awards recognise teaching staff from around the country for their inspirational teaching and for the amazing contributions they can have on the lives of the young people that they teach.

Putney’s awards were presented by the Mayor of Wandsworth, Councillor Jane Cooper on “Thank a Teacher Day” (Wednesday 19 June 2019) at Putney High School’s Senior Sports Day at Wimbledon Park Athletics Track. James Healey of Pearson was also present to congratulate the winners.

Putney High School High Jumper becomes UK No. 1 ranking best of all time for Under 13

A keen athlete, with ambitions to compete in the Olympic games, Mabel-Rose is the daughter of ex-Wimbledon and Liverpool footballer, John Scales and combines her Year 7 studies at Putney High School GDST with competing in athletics competitions across the country in a distinctive pair of odd socks.

With her latest jump of 1.60 metres at the Lily B League meeting at Walton-on-Thames, Mabel-Rose strengthened her position at the top of the UK rankings. She is currently undefeated in the Under 13 High Jump in the London Indoor Games, The South of England Championships, the Surrey Championships (where she also won silver in the Long Jump with a personal best of 4.43m) and even achieved the joint fourth highest jump in the Under 15 England Athletics National Championships.

Sporting prowess certainly runs in the family, her father, John Scales enjoyed a long playing career with Wimbledon and Liverpool FC. Very proud of his daughter’s achievements, he told us, “She obviously has good genes but thankfully she knows talent will only take her so far and so I’m confident she really has a strong understanding that only the hardest of work will get her to achieve her ultimate sporting dreams. It’s also why we’re so happy she’s at Putney. It's such a positive, encouraging, balanced & 'can do’ environment.”

Mabel-Rose's undefeated jump of 1.60 metres not only gives her a UK No 1 ranking but also puts her on “the best of all time” list for Under 13 and qualifies her for The England National Championships (Under 15) at the end of August.

Mabel-Rose has ambitious plans for the future, “I really want to go to the Olympics – that’s been my goal since day one – when people asked me what was my dream job, I’d always say ‘athlete in the Olympics’,” she told us.

Her next goal to beat is 1.65 but according to her mother, her coach, Trevor Whittle of the Hercules Wimbledon Athletics Club has to keep changing her targets as she keeps beating them.

The “Lucky Socks”

Mabel-Rose is distinctive for her lucky pink and yellow socks which she always wears in competition and first started wearing two years ago when she was only in Year 5.

“I had a competition and found two pairs of socks to use as compression socks, so I wore one of each colour. I wanted to have something unique when I was jumping or doing my running and I started wearing them because it was fun and it would help my parents be able to see me. I always wear the yellow on the left and the pink one on the right and I’ve always done well in competition when I’m wearing them. Now my sister is doing something similar and is doing really well too.”

Meanwhile, the lucky socks are washed and ready for round two of the English Schools Track & Field Cup. Her mother told us, “We are so proud of her, it’s hard to think she’s only 12! Those lucky socks are definitely working well for her, let’s hope I don’t lose them in the wash!”

A professional team of Director and choreographers have this year put together a Christmas production with a difference at Putney High School GDST where girls have had the chance to work with Director, Katharine Drury and professional dance and fight choreographers on the set of The Ash Girl, which premieres tomorrow and runs all week at the school.

Professional actor and Director, Katharine Drury became Director in Residence at Putney in June 2018 primarily to audition, cast and direct, The Ash Girl by British-based playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker. Having trained at Guildhall School of Drama, she is now involved in youth theatre with her own theatre company, PLAY.

In addition to preparation and rehearsals for the play which starts a limited run on Wednesday 5 December, Miss Drury has been running workshops with Year 7, improvisation sessions with Year 3 Junior school pupils, and working twice a week on professional development with A Level drama students and those interested in pursuing a career in theatre.

Miss Drury has seen the opportunity to bring in other professionals to assist with the play. “I wanted to make it feel like a professional production and I decided quite early on that I wanted music running though the play”, she said. “I brought in composer Tom Chapman to compose an original score for the play in collaboration with the girls. There are at least 20 really good musicians in the cast. We also had a fight director come in to the work with the girls to choreograph the fight scenes and another professional to choreograph the dance scenes – it really is a great ensemble piece.”

Asked what appealed to her about The Ash Girl, she said, “I love the playright – I was in a tour in one of her plays so it was nice to come back and work with her writing again. It’s a challenging text for young people – there is lots of tricky dark material – it’s a play about loss and hope and a lack of hope.” Since starting earlier this year, Miss Drury has also brought in actress, Emily Berrington, well-known for the series Humans, who came in to talk to Years 12 and 13 about her role in Machinal at the Almeida. Students were given the opportunity to join her for a Q&A about the play and the industry in general. A few tickets are still available for The Ash Girl.

125th Anniversary

Alumnae Portrait Exhibition

This year Putney High School GDST celebrates its 125th Birthday with the unveiling of a series of portraits, of twelve trail-blazing Alumnae.

Photographer Anita Corbin, herself a Putney Alumna, and the artist behind the critically acclaimed Visible Girls and First Women UK exhibitions, has gathered twelve pioneering women who attended the school over the generations and have gone on to make their mark in the world.

Her subjects are:

Sophy Gardner. Former RAF Wing Commander

Sophie Simnett. Actor

Mary Coombs. Computer Programmer

Baroness Virginia Bottomley of Nettlestone. Chancellor, University of Hull; Trustee, The Economist & Life Peer

Formerly Secretary of State for Health and for National Heritage

Aicha McKenzie. Director of AMCK and Choreographer

Dr Sandie Okoro. Lawyer and Senior Vice President at the World Bank Group

Jenny Beavan OBE. Oscar-winning Costume Designer

Sophie Raworth. Journalist and Broadcaster

Madeleine Wickham. Author, (pen name) Sophie Kinsella

Pippa Greenwood. Botanist, TV and Radio Broadcaster and Writer

Ailsa Bosworth MBE. Founder and CEO of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society

Anita Corbin. Photographer

 

The exhibition will be unveiled on 8 November as part of the celebrations marking the 125th Anniversary of the school which first opened its doors in 1893.

QUOTES – Photographer, Anita Corbin.

“My overall impression from meeting all the women was their absolute ‘can do’ attitude. They all had such great energies and were all so confident in their own identity, they also had a spirit of non-conformity - not feeling the need to fit into a norm.”

“They were all very up for being photographed in any situation that I felt made the message clear. Most representative of their career or status whether it was business or sport or acting”.

“Putney was always very respectful of the individual – finding what everyone was good at. They knew everyone was good at something and they helped you find it”.

- Ends –

 

About Putney High School

At the forefront of girls’ education for 125 years, Putney is an ambitious and spirited school where girls are inspired to think differently, to find their voice, and to achieve their goals within school and beyond.

For further information and to call for interviews please contact Samantha Hazlehurst

on 020 8266 3968 or email s.hazlehurst@put.gdst.net

In celebration of national Mental Health Week, Putney High School GDST launches, Wellbeing Within – (Thursday 24th- 25th May) two whole days where every lesson, break time and after school club will have a focus on fostering positive engagements and friendships at school.

During Wellbeing Within, students will be encouraged to award Gratitude Points to their classmates or teachers who have made a positive difference to their life at school.

Ex-TV presenter and Psychiatrist Dr Farhana Mann – Will talk to students about Loneliness in an effort to address the isolation and negative feelings engendered by what Headmistress, Suzie Longstaff calls “anti-social media”.

Suzie Longstaff, Headmistress, said: “School is a wonderfully positive opportunity, where many form friendships and support networks for life. Sadly in the age of social media, we’re hearing more and more how young people are feeling increasingly lonely, insecure and inadequate. School is the perfect place to invest time in genuine connections and meaningful relationships every day. It’s our job to help students foster these relationships and give them tools for life. To help young people to step out into the real world and overcome these challenges with confidence.”

 

- Ends –

 

About Putney High School

 

Putney High School is one of the UK’s leading schools, a spirited, ambitious and innovative community in which pupils are stretched, challenged and supported inside the classroom and beyond.

 

About Suzie Longstaff, Headmistress, Putney High School

Twenty years ago, Suzie Longstaff had a successful sporting career as Cox of the British Olympic VIII, coxing amongst others the great Dame Katherine Grainger to her first World Championship medal. Since then she has been immersed in the world of education and is now Headmistress of Putney High School GDST, a leading and energetic girls’ day school in London.

Suzie’s background in music, economics, computing, sport and education have provided a rich tapestry of experience on which she draws daily in a vibrant school where innovation, intellectual challenge and spirit flourish.

For further information and to call for interviews, photographs, or to attend the event, please contact Samantha Hazlehurst on 020 8266 3968 or email s.hazlehurst@put.gdst.net

 

 

 

Samantha Hazlehurst

Communications Officer

Putney High School (GDST)

35 Putney Hill London SW15 6BH, 020 8266 4886

Direct line: 020 8266 3968

 

s.hazlehurst@put.gdst.net   www.putneyhigh.gdst.net