Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys win two awards at the Royal Borough of Greenwich Great Debate

On Tuesday 2nd July 2024 a group of Year 8 students participated in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Great Debate at The John Roan School. It was our first time taking part in this event and they were the only team made up of only Year 8 (as all the other groups had Year 9 students). Our students were fantastic and excelled and out of four awards on offer, Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys won two!!

Jude H - Best proposing speaker

Leon Y - Best audience member (asking astute questions of the other schools)

Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls were also at the event and shined, winning the award for opposing speaker so it was 3 out of 4 for the Poly!

We are hugely proud of the way that the students in the team both, speaking and in the research team, conducted themselves at the event. They were well-behaved, elegantly dressed, and engaged wonderfully with other teams' debates and topics.

Royal Borough of Greenwich #GreatDebate #woolwichpoly #woolwichpolyboys #woolwichpolytechnic #thamesmead #greenwich #polymat #polymatschools

Dear Parent/Carer,

As temperatures are increasing this week, please can you ensure your child/children attend school with a water bottle each day, so they can take sips of water throughout the school day and refill their bottles as necessary. This will not only ensure they do not become dehydrated but ensures they remain in class.

We also advise that you also ensure that your child/children have breakfast each morning and, if not possible, at least a piece of fruit to ensure their body is provided with the required nutrients and energy to keep them going and engaged in lessons, at least until lunchtime.

Lastly, if your child is suffering from any symptoms of hayfever, please can antihistamine be purchased (piriton, cetirizine, loratadine) from your nearest drugstore/pharmacy and be taken in the morning before school.

Symptoms of hayfever include:

•  sneezing and coughing
•  a runny or blocked nose
•  itchy, red or watery eyes
•  itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears etc.

Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys Year 8 Football Team District & London Schools FA Cup Champions 2024

Yet another triumphant season for the Year 8 Football Team, clinching victory in both the District and London Schools FA Cup.

These talented students have secured five major trophies during their two years at the school, showcasing their remarkable success.

We are incredibly proud of these students and what they have achieved.

These are the two fantastic cups that our Year 8 Football team has won this season, all set to be proudly put on display at school!

Huge thanks to our outstanding PE department for their invaluable support in leading the Year 8 Football Team to success.

As part of the 2024 London Festival of Architecture, not for profit organisation, HomeGrown Plus, is joining forces with architecture practice Pilbrow & Partners to lead a design workshop for 16-20 year olds to reimagine the city and their place within it.

Over a 3-hour collaborative session, the group will come together to find imaginative solutions to redesign London’s spaces and places, examining how this could benefit them as well as future generations.

You will need to bring along recycled materials, from a cardboard box to a plastic bottle (anything you would usually throw in the bin), and be encouraged to dream up alternative solutions to the way we use and develop our built environment to create a more equitable, sustainable and resilient city.

The resulting models and drawings will be on display at Pilbrow &Partners’ Clerkenwell reception throughout the month of June.

There is space for 20 participants and refreshments will be provided for the duration of the workshop.

Reserve a spot now!

SIGN UP HERE

Introducing Professor Higgins, our esteemed Dog Mentor at Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls and Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys

Professor Higgins is our friendly school dog. He became part of the Poly family as our Dog Mentor in 2022 at the tender age of 6 months old.

In order to gain this title, like any student, he had to sit an exam to ensure he had the right temperament for school life, which included testing his skills such as patience, positivity and teamwork.

Higgins specialises in working with students to reduce anxiety, to encourage social skills as well as helping students who are at the early stages of grasping the English Language. He is also very good at helping students understand the body language of dogs. This is useful when working with students to overcome their fear of dogs as this allows them to feel confident when out in public, including our Royal Borough’s green spaces.

Higgins has a variety of hobbies, beyond the school gates, ranging from swimming (in any body of water, particularly in muddy streams) and even modelling!

Professor Higgins works on a voluntary basis. Like any member of staff, our Professor has his own timetable. This means he avoids the corridors at change of lessons as well as the playground at break and lunchtime.

The safeguarding and wellbeing of our students and staff come first in our Poly family - this includes the wellbeing of Professor Higgins. For this reason, our school community follow these guidelines:
• Keeping our voices soft and calm (to stop him worrying that we are upset)
• Asking before stroking him (he might be on his way to a lesson and won’t want to be late!)
• Picking up any food that we may drop on the floor in the dining hall or playground (some human food can make him ill)

We believe Professor Higgins is the ‘paw-fect’ Dog Mentor 🐕 💙

Say hello to Leah, our school terrapin!

Leah is a yellow-bellied slider, or Trachemys scripta scripta, a species of turtle that thrives both on land and in water. Originally from the southeastern United States, specifically from Florida to southeastern Virginia, this species is now considered invasive, which means that Leah cannot be rehomed.

Donated to Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys by a former student many years ago, Leah is estimated to be around 25 years old. In the wild, yellow-bellied sliders can live over 30 years, while in captivity, their lifespan can exceed 40 years.

As omnivores, yellow-bellied sliders enjoy a diet of pond plants, vegetables, insects, and fish, although Leah’s favourite food is king prawns. As they grow older, 95% of their food intake comes from plants.

Leah resides peacefully in the school pond, located in a courtyard at the heart of the science classrooms, where she is lovingly cared for by our dedicated science technicians.

Leah will forever be a Woolwich Poly terrapin!