Category : Front Page News

Student Success – ‘The Voice Kids’ – Poland

This week we are profiling some great news for a Duke’s student. Michell Siwak in year 10 took part in the Polish version of ‘The Voice Kids’ recently and won! The whole of the Duke’s community is very proud of Michell and the experience has opened up a number of doors for her in the future.

Michell is an incredibly talented singer and songwriter who has showcased her talents at Duke’s on many occasions. Michell said ‘I love singing but I’m not singing to be famous. I sing because I wouldn’t know what to do without it. I’ve always said that to myself to stay grounded.’ Michell also writes her own songs which she loves.

 

Of the experiences working on the ‘The Voice Kids’ Michell said: ‘It was so much fun. Every performance was energetic and getting advice from the famous Polish singers was amazing’. 

 

Everyone at Duke’s is so proud of Michell. We know we’ll be seeing more from her in terms of performance in the future.

Trips and Workshops 

We’ve had a busy week this week with trips and workshops. Our weekly ‘inspire’ group took a trip to Linklaters Law Firm as part of their English and employability workshops and got to learn more about communication in the world of work. 

Alongside this our year 7 Challenge Mentoring group also took their trip to Linklaters on Wednesday as part of their mentoring programme. The students took part in workshops aimed at improving confidence, motivation and academic attainment. The positive feedback from students was overwhelming.  

 

Bright Futures 

The Bright Futures Team were back at Duke’s delivering one of their final workshops before the residential trip taking place in June. The year 9 students who have now been selected to attend the residential trip found out about what they will be doing during their trip to North Wales. The activities and sessions they will take part in are fantastic and all of the students are very excited!

Year 10 Football Success

This week the year 10 football team took part in a 5 a side football tournament. The team played 9 football matches, managing to convincingly win 7 of the matches. Patrick was the competition top goal scorer after effortlessly scoring 3 goals all games in except 1. Excellent performance from the team but a special mention for Musa who played in defence and was as solid as a rock when protecting our goal. 

 

Well done to Mr Durrant and the rest of the team for a fantastic sporting success!

 

African School’s Partnership

This week saw the second meeting of our partner school in Sierra Leone.  Duke’s has been partnered with Lumley Secondary School which is part of EduAid – an educational charity based in the country. Over the course of the next two terms Duke’s plans to partner with Lumley Secondary School on a project around ‘Oracy for Democracy’ – the project will include students from Duke’s meeting with students from Lumley Secondary School through virtual meetings and sharing their ideas on how we best champion student voice. We aim to learn from each other. 

 

Our student leadership team at Duke’s had a great and lively meeting with the students in Sierra Leone comparing different aspects of student voice with an exciting project lined up for the final part of the summer term. 

 

 

Bibliobuzz

Year 7 Bibliobuzz book club students had an amazing experience at the award ceremony on Friday 22nd March at Alexandra Palace. On the day students attended a creative storytelling workshop with author and Bibliobuzz winner Simon James Green which was great fun and entertaining.  There was also a hip hop performance and a creative art workshop. The students and our own library team had a great time!

 

Continued Sporting Success – Year 8 Football

We’re thrilled to announce that our Year 8 football team achieved a remarkable victory in the Haringey cup final! Duke’s Y8 is now officially recognized as the best Year 8 team in Haringey — a significant accomplishment considering it’s one of the most competitive boroughs!

Despite a closely contested match where we had the majority of shots, hitting the post and crossbar, and facing some outstanding saves from their goalkeeper, our team maintained composure. They continued to execute their game plan with determination and resilience.

Congratulations to our talented Year 8 footballers for this outstanding achievement!

Huge thanks and congratulations to all the students but also Mr Green, Mr Warner, Mr Durrant and the rest of the PE department for their positive encouragement and determination!