Happy Ramadan To our Muslim Community

22nd March 2023Mrs S Field

Ramadan is a very important time in the Islamic calendar, and Muslims all over the world will take part. This year Ramadan starts this evening (22nd March) and lasts until the evening of 21 April.

Our library has a display area (in the photo) featuring interesting information about Ramadan where the students can come to find out and understand more about this religious time in the Muslim calendar.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast – they won’t eat or drink between dawn and sunset.  Fasting is important during Ramadan as it allows Muslims to devote themselves to their faith and come closer to Allah, or God. Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which form the basis of how Muslims live their lives. The other pillars are faith, prayer, charity and making the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

Ramadan is also a time for spiritual reflection, prayer, doing good deeds and spending time with family and friends. Normally, people will make a special effort to connect with their communities and reach out to people who need help.

It is common to have a meal (known as the suhoor) just before dawn and another (known as the iftar) directly after sunset. At the end of the fast – when the sun has gone down – usually, families and friends will get together for iftar to break their fast. (although during covid restrictions celebrations will have to be via zoom / within bubbles)

Many Muslims also usually go to the mosque to pray, when lockdown restrictions aren’t in place. Some mosques have been holding virtual services online for people to watch together.

Ramadan falls during this month because this is when the holy book that’s followed by Muslims, called the Qur’an, was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, but the date changes each year. This is because Islam uses the lunar calendar (based on the cycles of the Moon), so it isn’t a fixed date in the Western/solar calendar.

There is a special festival to mark the end of Ramadan when they will feast and celebrate! This is called Eid al-Fitr – the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast. It begins when the first sight of the new moon is seen in the sky. Muslims will not only celebrate the end of fasting, but will also thank Allah for the help and strength that they were given throughout the previous month.

Introducing Krystal Alliance organisation – Special Guests at our Employability Day

21st March 2023Mrs S Field

We are excited to announce that Krystal Alliance will be joining us for Employability:

At Krystal Alliance™ we are a team of; fabulous, magnificent, experienced and dedicated, friends committed to working with  organisations who really want to encourage, support and inspire greater equity in their workplace.

Each member of Krystal Alliance is a subject matter expert, whether designing strategies to encourage culture change, or delivering interactive workshops in support of inclusive leadership or dreaming about how to nurture a sense of greater belonging, we get alongside organisations to share what we know in order to learn more.

At Krystal Alliance™ we have an insatiable appetite for what is right. We believe that all organisations do better when they involve more of their people to evolve with more of those best solutions.

Employee voice is always key and every voice matters.

We have a range of Services and Products which may be of interest and there is a regular Blog feature – plus – our weekly KA Quote which you can subscribe to.
Our exciting journey at Krystal Alliance™ has only just begun and we would like you to be a part of it.

Rob Neil OBE, Director & Founder
Website: https://www.krystalalliance.co.uk/about/the-ka-team/

World Book Day 2023

20th March 2023Mrs S Field

‘Better late then never’ as they say!…and we couldn’t miss publishing a memorable image of some of our staff! Can you guess who was who?

Needless to say, it was a very busy week full of activities organised by our English and Literacy departments – special thanks to Ms Print and Mrs Rudolph:

  • Student Librarian Competitions: Book Awards & Book Quiz Wordsearch
  • Fictionary Competition
  • Dress-Up Competition
  • Form-Time Book Quiz
  • WBD Lessons
  • Murder Mystery in the Library
  • Creative Fiction Workshop
  • Advanced Literature Starters

Hope the students enjoyed it and prizes have now been awarded to all the competition winners.

Introducing Ritchie Neil – Special Guest at our Employability Day

20th March 2023Mrs S Field

Introducing another of our special guests for our Employability Day:

Ritchie A.C Neil is a Senior Account Executive at Salesforce (since July 2018).

His sector is the Financial Services Markets, specialising in Banking and Asset Management. After earning his Masters (M.Sc.) in Strategic Marketing & Consulting from The University of Birmingham, Ritchie went straight into the technology & business sector.

Ritchie’s experience also includes working for Microsoft’s largest global delivery partner for 6 years, supporting clients along their ‘cloud journey’ and successfully transitioning their business to the cloud.

Prior to that, he started his career at Logicalis which is a Global Infrastructure and Services provider.

Socially, Ritchie is an avid boxing fan, regular gym user and music enthusiast; but his main non-work passion is mentoring and coaching young people with two charitable organisations, which he is immensely proud of, namely Reach Society and Amos Bursary.

We are committed to the Enfield Inclusion Charter

15th March 2023Mrs S Field

Inclusion is a universal human right. The aim of inclusion is to embrace all people irrespective of disability, race, gender, medical or other need.

Signing the Inclusion Charter is a commitment to:

  • Provide clear, visible and strong leadership for inclusion
  • Ensure that everyone takes responsibility for including children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities
  • Understand that all behaviour happens for a reason
  • Listen and respond to children and young people’s opinions and ideas when making any decision which impacts on their lives
  • Celebrate difference and diversity
  • Work with families, professionals and practitioners across our community to help all children and young people to thrive
  • Ensure that everyone is comfortable to be open and honest about what support they need to help children and young people in their care
  • Support children and young people to prepare for their adulthood from the early years and throughout their childhood and adolescence, so they can shape their future in the way they want.

This charter sets out a shared vision for inclusion and gives 8 principles by which schools, education settings and related services can achieve inclusive education for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The Charter has been developed by children and young people, headteachers, teachers, parents and carers, council officers, health partners and voluntary sector organisations through a series of workshops, focus groups and discussions of best practice.

At the heart of this charter, is a culture where we embrace difference; where barriers are minimised or removed; and where the everyday lived experience, interests and needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are better understood.

Schools and settings who sign up to this Charter commit to both the principles and approach, ensuring more appropriate educational choice for pupils and enabling an environment that promotes peer support and embraces individual differences. This means more of our young people can be educated locally so they can contribute to, and be supported by, their local community.

Introducing Mike Fuller – Special Guest at our Employability Day

15th March 2023Mrs S Field

We are delighted to announce that Michael Fuller will be one of the special guests attending our Employability Day on 30 March.

Michael Fuller is a UK-based entertainment New York Attorney-at-Law and music business consultant. He has worked in the music industry since 1996 enjoying stints at Island Records and the Association of Independent Music (AIM), a music trade association that represents independent record labels.
Since 2014, in addition to working with independent artists and companies, Michael has worked on a number of stand-alone projects in various capacities and has been involved in producing roadshows, theatrical productions and cross-cultural collaborative projects. Michael supports a diverse range of grass roots creative community initiatives.

Watch out for more bios of our special guests, coming soon….

www.reachsociety.com/