AES Community News

Anglo proudly commemorated its 50th anniversary with a grand historical exhibition, celebrating five decades of educational excellence and community impact. The event, held on Friday 21st June brought together alumni, ex-staff, students, parents, upcoming parents and students and community members to reflect on the rich history and achievements of the school.

A Journey Through Time

The historical exhibition showcased the evolution of the Anglo European School from its founding in 1973 to the present day. Attendees were able to view a variety of memorabilia, including the bamboo cane pre-dating 1970, the Punishment Book, Headteacher’s Log Book, Trophies, past Year books and old newsletters dating as far back as 1974. A memory wall of photos was also put together from all the photos received from ex-students and staff, evoking nostalgia. The displays put together depicted the development of the school, taking over the site of the old Ingatestone Secondary School, which was threatened with closure and then in 1973 Mr Pitt, Headteacher, secured the approval from the Council of Europe to use the circle of 12 gold stars. The school was then opened as the Anglo European School in September 1973.

Reflections on the past inform the future

Mrs Gee, current Headteacher said: “Our 50th anniversary is not just a celebration of our past but a reflection on our journey and the values that have guided us. This exhibition beautifully encapsulates the spirit of our school and the countless memories made here.” Mrs Gee's speech reflected on how all present had contributed, in so many ways, to the development of the vision, aims and international curriculum and how these had all informed our life pathways, principles and achievements.

Attendees not only had the opportunity to learn more about the history of this unique school but also shared memories with our current students who were able to show them around and talk to them about what it is like to be an Anglo student in 2024. One member of the community said, “I spoke to lots of people and all agreed it was a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones." Another said, “It was a truly lovely evening talking to pupils past and present and meeting ex-staff members too".

Over the past 50 years, the school has grown and evolved, continually adapting to meet the educational needs of its students, while maintaining a commitment to academic excellence, community partnerships and an international baccalaureate education.

Where will the next 50 years will take us …?

Mrs Porsz our German Expert Mentor (GEM) and one of the Specialist Teachers from our Beeleigh Language Hub had a fantastic time presenting to other German teachers at the ALL London Event on Saturday 15th June 2024. She spoke about applying principled practice to the teaching of the new GCSE for German, and shared resources with peers from other schools in London and the surrounding areas. Mrs Porsz is also a new addition to the ALL London Branch committee and is excited about this new role! This all forms part of our drive to share best practice and to help to increase uptake of languages across the country via the NCLE Language Hubs initiative and the Goethe Institut's GEM programme.

In partnership with NCLE (National Consortium for Languages Education), we hosted our first Beeleigh Language Hub student & teacher event. Year 10 students from our partner schools, located across the Eastern Region visited us for a cross-hub competition. Our student workshop was led by Business Language Champions who briefed the students on how languages are used within the World Health Organisation. Students then worked collaboratively, using their language skills to build a creative, multi-media campaign to raise awareness of their chosen health issue.

Several students were commended for their stand out performances, including Jack Carter for his linguistic contributions to Anglo's Spanish team and Maite Schulze-Casademunt for her leadership of Anglo's German team. One of the teams from our partner school, James Hornsby High School, took 1st place for the day; their enthusiasm and team work stood out.

Whilst the students were busy working away, teachers from across the Beeleigh Hub didn't get to just sit back, they were working next door on developing HHCL (Home, Heritage and Community Languages) provision. This was led by Clare Allison, Development Officer for HHCL at UCL IOE. We were also pleased that Eva McManamon, Senior Qualification Manager from Pearson Edexcel was able to join this workshop and hear feedback from the schools in order to further develop the HHCL qualifications on offer.

In the afternoon, the student sessions continued with a focus on looking ahead to studying languages further. Students had a Chinese taster lesson with our visitors from BLC and then we welcomed Dr Birgit Smith, former Director of Language Studies in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University. She shared how important their linguistic skills are for the future and the many routes and possibilities available when studying Languages at University.

We want to commend the hard work of students from across the Beeleigh Language Hub, they bravely stepped out of their comfort zones to use their linguistic skills outside of their familiar classroom contexts. We'd like to thank our visitors for their valuable contributions to the day and we look forward to more projects and collaboration with our partner schools.

Ingatestone & Fryerning Junior School welcomed Anglo staff. Year 5 took part in a linguistic tour, collecting passport stamps along the way. Students learnt about countries in German, ordered ice cream in Spanish, described their faces in Russian and animals in Chinese. In the afternoon, Year 4 students learnt about French phonics through songs from the Francophone world. We have lots of future linguists in the making in Ingatestone!

We have had another fantastic year with our visits programme with 776 students taking part in a wide range of exchanges and visits. We visited stalwarts of the visits programme like Ebblinghem with Year 7, our Year 8 and 9 exchanges to France, Spain, Germany and Italy and Curriculum residentials at GCSE and A Level for Geography, Biology and History. This year we have added a work experience visit to Venice and reinstated visits to Geneva to visit Cern and the UN for our Lower Sixth.

Our Year 9 Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) students have also had the once in a lifetime visit to Xi'an, marking our first trip to China since 2019. The MEP is a shining star in our Anglo curriculum, and we couldn't be prouder to offer our students such a unique and enriching experience.

Students were delighted to read our latest Ofsted report, which has awarded Anglo European's International Sixth Form with an ‘Outstanding’ grade!

Our school’s personal development programme also received ‘Outstanding’ and was deemed ‘exemplary’.

The report also highlights The Anglo curriculum as ‘highly ambitious’ and commends the ‘unique international’ ethos.

We'd like to extend our gratitude to all our incredible staff and students for their hard work and dedication and thank all our parents for their unwavering support and commitment to the vision and aims of this very distinctive school.

Our latest report is now available for you to read.

Year 8 students participated in the Crime and Safety Awareness Day workshops today organised through the No Way Trust Ltd. These workshops included presentations about fire safety, train and level crossing safety, knife crime, domestic abuse, county lines, prison (including a visit into the life-size replica prison cell) and a presentation from an ex-offender sharing her story. This is a unique and interactive educational experience for our students and we hope that they have learnt and understood how to stay safe on and off line, at home and in the community and to make informed choices.

Teachers observed:

“Students were very engaged. Seeing the prison cell van definitely got some of them thinking.”

“Students listened to some hard hitting messages which hopefully opened their eyes and will help some to make good decisions around drugs.”

“The ex-offender told a powerful testimony about how our choices affect our lives.”

Students said:

“I have learnt not to go on the railway tracks"

“Drug dealers like to employ innocent kids that are lonely and vulnerable.”

“I have learnt never to be stupid on train tracks or train stations even if my friends tell me to.”

“It was very emotional and interesting. It made a big impact about how I think about life and the choices I will make. I really enjoyed these workshops.”

“It was very interesting and I learnt lots about prison. I found the prisoner talk touching and realistic, but also a bit scary, it was great.”

Thank you to PMNW for putting together a fantastic thought-provoking day and thanks also to Safer Brentwood team of Brentwood Borough Council for their kind donation towards the cost of this event.

The key message the students were able to repeat was “We are not invincible, we are not immortal, we need to be careful.”

Ben Houri, Paris Saint-Germain Academy’s International Technical Director and Paulo Pereira, UK Technical Director were in the UK and visited Anglo European School’s PSG Academy. They spent an hour meeting with Mrs Gee to discuss future plans for the academy's expansion, facilities, the prospect of a football tour to Paris and expansion of the academy into the Sixth Form to support the IBCP. Ben then spoke to students in Year 10 and the Lower Sixth about careers opportunities in the sports industry and how academic qualifications in Science, PE and Languages can lead to impressive international careers in the sports industry. He was particularly interested in our commitment to learning languages and promoting the importance of this for those hoping to work in this industry.

This follows the very successful Easter camp where 58 young people from aged 8-18 took part in a week of football training at Anglo European, supported by the 4 PSG coaches and overseen by Academy Manager, Rebecca Turner, who works closely with Mrs Gee and Mr Cuff in developing our own academy.

Ben and Paulo spoke widely about the power of learning languages. Paulo speaks his native Portuguese, English and French and Ben speaks French and English and they told students that their work as Technical Directors would not be possible without speaking at least 2 languages fluently and the expectation for PSG coaches is that they will have 3 working languages. They were hugely impressed with the articulacy and fluency with which our students spoke to them and they encouraged them to seek career opportunities in the Sports Industry. PSG has over 800 employees in Paris alone and as well as sharing their own journey in the industry, they opened our students eyes to the vast range of employment opportunities such as Physiotherapy, global entertainment and gaming, data analysis, sports psychology, catering and nutrition, fashion design as well as the routes into coaching and playing football.

He stressed the importance of determination, resilience and being indispensable to future employers and encouraged our sixth form students to apply for internships, apprenticeships, work experience and the importance of first impressions and communication skills. The Paris Sant Germain way is to seek excellence in everything and he could see how our students were keen to achieve this.

We are seeing the impact of our academy training on our football team’s outcomes this season. The Year 7 boys have improved throughout the season, finishing very strongly winning their last two games. The girls' team have had an excellent season and remain unbeaten.

Mrs Gee added, "The academy is developing the best possible conditions to allow the players to build on the skills they learn in PE, develop advanced football skills to have fun exercising and getting fit. The academy is strengthening the students’ competitive spirit and we are now working to forge stronger links now with our peers in Paris and develop our curriculum offer in the Sixth Form, in partnership with PSG."

This week we were visited by Kay Bellwood from the Brentwood Buzz, a podcast celebrating all that is good about Brentwood through the people who live and work there. She interviewed Jody Gee who shared her stories of growing up in the Brentwood area and her experiences in the teaching profession and now Headteacher of the Anglo. Feel free to listen to this interview.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-brentwood-buzz/episodes/S2Ep4-From-Cymru-to-Classroom---Meeting-Anglo-European-School-Headteacher--Jody-Gee-e2ih7m7

Work experience opportunities are vital for students to gain an understanding of the world of work. Our Year 10 and Sixth Form students are required to take a two-week work experience placement. Are you able to offer a placement to one of our students?

By hosting one or more of our students, you're providing them an invaluable opportunity to explore the world of work while benefiting your business. Plus this is a chance to connect with future talent and contribute to shaping young minds!

The beauty of work experience placements is their flexibility - they can be tailored to suit your specific needs. Even if your industry doesn't directly align with a student's studies, the skills they gain are immensely transferable and beneficial.

Moreover, offering work experience can be an excellent gateway to identifying potential candidates for apprenticeships or future employment opportunities upon course completion.

If your organisation can support our students with work experience placements or if you're open to engaging with students about your career journey, we'd be thrilled to hear from you. Please reach out to us at enterprise@aesessex.co.uk

Email: enquiries@aesessex.co.uk
Website: aesessex.co.uk
Location: Anglo European School, CM4 0DJ, Willow Green, Ingatestone, UK
Phone: 01277 354018