Year 8 Upper Band girls had a visit from Millie Murray, the writer of novels for teenage girls.  She told students about her very strict upbringing in the East End of London and how she became a nurse even though her real ambition had been to become an actress.

Millie told the girls that even though she came from a poor background, she never used this as an excuse when life was difficult. The girls enjoyed her good humour and asked interesting questions. At the end of the session she read from her novel “Lois”. There was an immediate rush to the library desk to borrow it.

Rosina Purnell      Literacy Co-ordinator

THE MILLIE MURRAY

EXPERIENCE

For some time now the student council have been putting forward their thoughts about the poor condition of the toilets in Lester Block. We listened to them and after nearly a year of planning and hard work the brand new toilet facilities opened to students in March.

The new toilets are a radical new design, completely different to standard school toilets. They are unisex and open plan, with CCTV protecting the public areas. Each cubicle is fully enclosed for privacy, with automatic lighting and individual ventilation.

Most secondary schools have problems with their toilets, such as graffiti, vandalism, smoking and bullying because they are so hard to supervise. We are confident that our new-style toilets will solve all of these problems. We have already had our first visit from another school to see the new facilities— they went away so impressed that they are likely to adopt the same design.

The new toilets cost over £70,000 but we are convinced that this is money well spent to be able to boast the best toilets in the Borough!