In our latest staff interview, Robyn, Year 7, spoke to Ms Garland, a member of the Art and Design Department. Here’s what she had to say in response to Robyn’s questions.
What is your favourite part of graphics?
I love the design and idea stage. It is exciting when students get really creative ideas and apply them to their work.
What is your favourite year group to teach?
I like them all in different ways. I enjoy the creativity and enthusiasm Year 7’s have for their design work. Y8 polymorph is always a fun project. I also like the older year groups, where we can explore design in greater detail and have more time for projects.
What is your favourite song?
I’m not really sure. My ‘favourite’ of anything changes over time, so I can never pick just one. I like songs that make me think or feel deeply, or remind me of special people in my life.
What is your favourite project you have created?
Before I started teaching I was a Graphic Designer and I worked on a project to design a book – the cover and all the pages too. The client allowed me lots of design freedom and I was really proud of the outcome. I also really liked helping my students create the Alice In Wonderland poster last year and look forward to doing the same for this year’s production.
What is your favourite colour?
My favourite colour is teal – a blue-green shade! There is no reason behind it though, I just like it.
What if you didn’t teach art and graphics what would you teach?
Besides the other technology subjects, which I have also taught, I think I’d probably enjoy teaching biology or sociology.
What made you pick graphics?
I have always been artistic, but when my children were small I started a community magazine that became quite successful. I was doing a lot of graphic work for the magazine and I realised I would like to go back to university to become qualified in the subject.
What other hobbies do you have?
I have always loved reading, although these days I only seem to have time to listen to audiobooks. I like making art and exploring new techniques – currently I am working on a slow stitch project. But my favourite hobby is probably paddle boarding – being out on the water makes me feel happy and relaxed.
Why would you recommend someone choose Graphics as a GCSE option?
Graphics is art with a purpose. It is a powerful tool for communicating important messages, ideas and such. Our GCSE and A-Level classes have a strong art element to them, but also include exploring digital media and typography. Our projects have a lot of personal choice in them, but outcomes are more defined, so designs are applied to album covers, posters, packaging, etc. Graphics is a good choice for anyone who likes being creative, even if you are not a great artist, because it is more about great ideas.
Do you have any pets?
I have always had dogs – I currently have two whippets, who are sisters. My ‘heart’ dog (most beloved) was a scruffy, mixed breed, rescue called Gypsy. I also have a little pied wagtail (bird) who nests in my roof and has been visiting my windowsill for 3 years for food, although I don’t think I can call him a pet.
How would you describe Northgate in 3 words?
Welcoming, Creative and Inclusive.
Tell us something about you that others might not know
I have aphantasia, which means I can’t ‘picture’ anything in my mind – not even something simple like an apple. All I ‘see’ in my mind is black, so I have to ‘picture’ things as descriptions. This has been challenging as a designer, but it is all I’ve ever known. I have to use visual references when I am drawing a design idea. My son can draw the most amazing things from his imagination, which I am very envious of.
Thank you to Ms Garland for taking the time to answer the questions and to Robyn for asking them. We look forward to seeing which member of staff is interviewed next.
In our latest staff interview, Keira, Year 7, spoke to Miss Douglas, a member of the Art and Design Department, who teaches both Design Technology and Art. Here’s what she had to say in response to Keira’s questions.
Why did you decide to pick Design Technology?
I like to create and share my ideas with others!
What is your favourite part of Design Technology?
Seeing students create and see their finished projects.
What is the best subject in Design Technology?
I quite like resistant materials and CAD (Computer Aided Design)
How long have you been working at Northgate?
I’ve been here since September but used to work here a few years ago as an Art Technician.
What is your favourite project to teach at school?
Currently it has to be the lamp project based on design movements for year 10’s and 12’s. I enjoy teaching all the design projects as I feel you get to see a different side to students.
What is your favourite colour?
I like the colours green and pink.
How would you describe Northgate in 3 words? Ambitious, busy and innovative
What is your favourite song?
I like Becky Hill’s song ‘Powerless’
Do you have any hobbies?
Yes, I like to do kickboxing, running, taking my paddle board out and DIY. I am forever making, painting or learning new skills.
Have you had any other jobs prior to teaching?
Yes a few, Swimming school coordinator/teacher, lifeguard trainer, art technician, upholsterer and many more!
What was your favourite subject at school and why?
I had several, P.E was definitely one of my top few. I have always enjoyed learning new skills and being active, I also enjoyed the creative subjects and catering because the teachers were really supportive.
Tell us something about you that others might not know
Many years ago I took part in a staff school panto and dressed up as a frog (Betty Croaker) my face painted green and it took at least 24hrs before the colour came out!
Thank you to Miss Douglas for taking the time to answer these questions and to Keira for asking them. We look forward to seeing which member of staff is interviewed next.
In our latest staff interview, Poppi, Year 11 and Poppy, Year 8, spoke to Mrs Woods, Head of Computer Science. Here’s what she had to say in response to their questions.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
I love spending time with the students.
You used to teach English – how has it been teaching a completely different subject?
I had to completely re-train. I found the process really exciting, and for me, Computer Science is a very logical subject to move into because the overlap between English and Computer Science is where all the creativity is.
What interests you most about computing?
I love how the different components work and I am interested in the research on how computation supports literacy.
What is your favourite topic to teach in computing?Â
I enjoy teaching Binary maths and raising awareness of how technology impacts our lives.
Who is your favourite computer scientist and why?Â
There are many inspirational Computer Scientists but I am interested in the research and work of Carrie Anne Philbin. She creates lots of resources, coding books and courses for children.
Do you have any unusual hobbies?
I used to be a scuba diver instructor, but now I enjoy spending time with my family, particularly playing Lego with my grandchildren.
Have you had any jobs other than in teaching?
I have had many jobs prior to teaching, including working in a care home and in HR. I have also worked in all educational settings – from nurseries to adult education in many different roles.
What is the best thing about Northgate?
The students and staff.
How would you describe Northgate in 3 words?
Amazing, supportive and progressive.
What is an interesting fact about yourself that nobody else knows?Â
Something I don’t tell a lot of people is that I have always loved playing computer games. I consider myself to be a bit of a ‘gaming-geek’!
Thank you to Mrs Woods for taking the time to be interviewed and to Poppi and Poppy for asking the questions. We look forward to seeing which member of staff is next to be interviewed.
In our latest staff interview, Willow and Olivia, Year 8, spoke to Mr Beasley who is a member of the Maths Department. Here’s what he had to say in response to their questions.
What is your favourite chocolate bar?
Toblerone
You travel quite a lot in your holidays from school, where has been your favourite place to go?
My top 3 are Santorini, one of the Greek Islands, Italy and France
We hear you helped bring Pringles to the UK – tell us a bit about that!
When I worked for a bank, my job was to provide money to people to help their business grow. A man came to see me to ask if he could borrow money to help launch a new snack into the UK market. That snack was Pringles. I gave him a bank loan and he made a lot of money and created a really great selling brand.
What has been your favourite job?
Teaching – it’s fun working with young people most of the time!
What’s the best thing about being a teacher?
Seeing young people achieve and develop into fine young adults.
You like to go to concerts – who has been your favourite act to see?
Muse. I love them very much and see them as much as I can. I saw them in the UK, France, Italy and the USA last year.
Tell us something about you that others may not know.
Tiger Woods hit me with a golf ball on live TV when I was on holiday in the USA.
Which football team do you support and did you ever play football?
I support Sheffield Wednesday and I used to play for Doncaster Rovers youth team. I played as a striker and my best friend there was Brian Deane, who went on to score the very first goal in the Premier League against Manchester United.
Do you have any pets?
Yes, I have 4 chickens – Daisy is my favourite!
What other jobs have you had outside of teaching?
I have worked in Finance in corporate lending and investment
What was your favourite subject at school?
PE. I loved it.
Can you describe Northgate in 3 words?
A happy place
If you were not a teacher what would be your dream job?
A front man in a massive band. It’s a shame I can’t sing very well!
Thank you to Mr Beasley for taking the time to be interviewed and to Olivia and Willow for asking the questions. We look forward to seeing which member of staff is next to be interviewed.
We are pleased to introduce our March bulletin. In our bulletin this month there’s news about Year 7 Number Day, our successful Intermediate Maths Challenge students and plenty of updates from the library.
We hope that you are able to take some time to have a look at all the goings on at Northgate from the last month and enjoy seeing what we’ve been up to. Please share with your friends and family via our Facebook and twitter pages.
Miss Theobald (School Council Coordinator) + Northgate School Council.
Friday 2nd February saw the whole of Year 7 come together for the annual Number Day activities, organised by Miss Theobald from the Maths department.
Over the last 14 years of Northgate taking part in Number Day, Year 7s have managed to raise over £3300 to contribute to the continued work of the NSPCC and Childline. There were a number of activities the Year 7s took part in. During Period 4 half of the year group gathered in the main hall. They started their session with number aerobics, which included some volunteers demonstrating what to do. It was great to see such enthusiasm from everyone!
The main activity was a quiz. Not only were students competing for their House Teams to earn valuable points for the House Competition but they were also competing against others in their teaching groups to win a prize. There were certainly some tricky questions however determination took over. The final part of the session involved students creating real life graphs. They were all given a coordinate and created a coordinate grid in the way they were sat. Miss Theobald displayed instructions such as ‘stand up if your x coordinate is 2’, ‘stand up if your y coordinate is -3’ and so on. Students were able to see that they were creating vertical and horizontal lines and impressed with the language they used such as parallel. It gave them an opportunity to start to discover more about straight line graphs, a topic they will develop later in their Maths curriculum. During Period 5 the remaining Year 7s had their chance to take part and they also took part in a ‘very strange game’ looking at properties of numbers.
There was a teacher treasure hunt which students could take part in during break and lunchtime or at home via Satchel One. 25 teachers had been assigned a number. Students had to answer questions such as ‘what is the sum of the Maths teachers?’, ‘which teachers are square numbers?’, ‘which teacher is the smallest prime number?’ and so on.
New for this year was a virtual escape room. Almost 30 students took part in this in their own time, solving problems and cracking the codes to 10 different rooms in the school. Some great problem solving on display.
Congratulations go to the following Year 7s who won the main quiz in their teaching groups – 7Aspire: Darcy F and Frankiie A-R, 7Tenacity: Robin W, 7Endeavour: Henry S, 7Courage: Tess C, Charlie B and Kaleb B, 7Integrity: Joshua B and Jack C, 7Motivation: Finn B and Phoebe L and 7Valour: Ezmae R. Winners were presented with chocolate and puzzle books. The winner of the teacher treasure hunt, receiving an Easter egg and puzzle book was Cameron N and the winner of the Escape Room was Austin B, who received an Amazon voucher!
Miss Theobald was pleased to be able to go into the last Year 7 assembly of the half term to present all the certificates and prizes. In the week before Number Day Year 7 classes took part in a lesson all about McDonalds and investigating the McNugget number (google it to find out more). Winning classes which demonstrated excellent problem solving skills were 7Courage, 7Aspire and 7Endeavour. They were all presented with boxes of biscuits.
In the House Competition, it was a very close fought contest, with Attenborough just pipping Holmes in to first place, with Hawking in third and Rowling in fourth.
Miss Theobald commented after Number Day, ‘it was great to see everyone so engaged in the activities in the hall and many of them continuing the fun at home with the two optional competitions. Year 7s are great mathematicians so I look forward to seeing what they can achieve in their next few years at Northgate! I look forward to Number Day again next year.’
Tess C, who was one of the winners from 7Courage, said, ‘On Number Day I really enjoyed the number aerobics at the beginning of the session. I also enjoyed taking part in the virtual escape room and cracking all the codes as I haven’t done an escape room before.’
Charlie, from 7Courage, explained, ‘My favourite part was making the human graphs. I liked seeing who stood up for each question and the lines they were making and the fact that Keira was (0, 0) in the middle. I also took part in the virtual escape room at home which was good fun.’
A big thank you to Miss Theobald for organising and running the event. Well done to everyone who took part and thank you to all those who collected sponsors for Childline and the NSPCC to help continue the vital work they do.
In our latest staff interview, Robyn, Year 7, spoke to Ms Garland, a member of the Art and Design Department. Here’s what she had to say in response to Robyn’s questions.
In our latest staff interview, Keira, Year 7, spoke to Miss Douglas, a member of the Art and Design Department, who teaches both Design Technology and Art. Here’s what she had to say in response to Keira’s questions.
In our latest staff interview, Willow and Olivia, Year 8, spoke to Mr Beasley who is a member of the Maths Department. Here’s what he had to say in response to their questions.
Friday 2nd February saw the whole of Year 7 come together for the annual Number Day activities, organised by Miss Theobald from the Maths department.
