Wandsworth

PRESS RELEASE
Borough News November 26 - December 2, 2008

Talented table tennis

teen triumph
The sky’s the limit for this young table tennis star from Tooting, who won an
inter-schools tournament earlier this month.

Emre Ibataglu, 14, a pupil at Ernest Bevin College, beat 120 pupils from other
areas after playing a gruelling 20 matches.

The matches were held by the Greenhouse Schools Project, which funds
opportunities for young sporting talent. The teenage pro is now working
towards his dream of being selected for the junior table tennis Olympics in
2012.

He said: “I had to play eight in a row in front of everyone. I played well but it was
very nerve-racking because every one was just watching.

“The hardest point in a game is when you’re losing, because you have to turn it
around and come right back.”

Ernest Bevin pupil: Ibataglu

On top form: Emre Ibataglu

Ernest Bevin College
Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News November 19 - November 25, 2008

By Eleanor Harding

Two for taekwondo

Two brothers at Ernest Bevin College are fighting their way to the Olympics with their
exceptional Taekwondo skills.
Jibreel Malik, 17, and his brother Sultan, 14, both aced an international competition this
month and are now aiming for the big 2012.
The pair have been practising the Korean martial art for ten years, beginning when Sultan
was just three years old.
Jibreel said: "I like Taekwondo because I like the feeling of achieving something.
"I also love going away with my team, it's really fun."
Sultan added: "When you fight you feel achievement, and when you lose and you look at
what you have to improve on, you're proud of yourself because you won't make the same
mistakes again."
Jibreel, in year 13, came first in the British Open International Championship, while his
brother won bronze on November 1.
The pair initially got into boxing, but moved over to Taekwondo when they found the Empsi
Taekwondo club in Clapham South, near their house.
Jibreel fights with the London team, and
has taken part in competitions all over
Europe including Germany, Austria and
Turkey.
He said: "I'd like to be selected for the
Olympics and to win as many
competitions as I can.
"Then I'd like to give back to other
people and start my own club.
"If I had to pick an idol, my mum would
be one, as well as Muhammad Ali and all
of my teachers."
Ernest Bevin College, in Beechcroft
Road, Tooting, specialises in sport,
maths and computing, and facilities
include a dojo for martial arts, a 25m Martial arts medal winners: Jibreel, 17 and Sultan Malik, 14
swimming pool, a sports hall and a
fitness centre.
The school is now an official pre-training
site for the Olympic games, as judges
felt it leant itself particularly to volleyball,
table tennis, basketball, judo and
wrestling.
Ernest Bevin College
Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News November 12 - November 18, 2008

By Eleanor Harding

Eric gains cult following

with Rubik’s Cube skills
Rolling up at a new school is often scary, but one young man landed on his feet after classmates
discovered his particularly unusual talent.
Eric Chao gained a cult following at Ernest Bevin College just two months after joining in year 7 after he
learned how to solve the Rubik's Cube in just three days.
The 11-year-old can finish the Rubik's Cube in just one minute and nine seconds - and he has of a
Rubik's guru after cracking the code. Eric now has cult status at the school in Beechcroft Road, Tooting,
with crowds of schoolchildren gathering to watch him solve the Cube at lunch and break-times.
Rubik-mania is now so out of control at the school that teachers have had to regulate the performances
to minimise disruption in class. Eric said: "I think doing the Rubik's Cube is amazing when you finish it. I
feel proud of myself.
"I really like my new school. It's really fun meeting new friends. My favourite subjects are maths and art."
The boy, who lives in Wimbledon, joined the school in September after leaving Franciscan School in
Tooting.
One month ago, he saw his cousin complete the cube and said he would stop at nothing until he had
mastered it himself. Eric is trying to not let his new-found fame go to his head and says he is determined
to keep working hard on his maths
and science.
School principal Rukhsana Sheikh
said: "Whenever he starts to solve
the cube he ends up having a crowd
of about 100 students just watching
him.
"He's a very popular young man and
to be able to do a Rubik's Cube
shows a huge talent in problem
solving, solving puzzles and
mathematical skills which he
obviously has got." The Rubik's
Cube was invented in 1974 by Erno
Rubik and is said to be the world's
best-selling toy.
The World Cube Association
Drawing crowds: up to 100 pupils can gather to watch Eric Chao solve
maintains a history of world records the Rubik’s Cube
and the current record is 7.08
seconds, set by Erik Akkersdijk in
2008. Books and guides have been
published on how to solve the Cube.
To see our amazing video
visit yourlocalguardian.co.uk
Ernest Bevin College
 PRESS RELEASE
The TES magazine October 10, 2008

Picture Perfect

Up and away: Tim Kay teaches English and is Head of

Year 9 at Ernest Bevin College, a boys’ school in Tooting,
London.

He has been climbing for about three years, and spends

most half-terms in Snowdonia or the Peak District.

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News August 27 - September 2, 2008

GCSE results - report by Jamie Henderson

Hard work on GCSEs pays

off for thousands of teens
From no An Ernest Bevin student who only learned to speak English six
years ago has defied all the odds and achieved eight A*s, one A
English to and one B in his GCSEs.
eight A*s Despite only arriving in Britain in 2001, Andy Terziu, 15, picked up
the language quickly and has become one of the top students in his
year.
Although Andy is on holiday with family in Greece at present, his
father Fatmir was on hand to pick up his results last Thursday at the
Beechcroft Road school.
Mr Terziu, the editor of an Albanian newspaper, said:
“Of course I am delighted for my son. When you come from a small
country like my family have, you have to prove yourself.
“This country has given us a wonderful opportunity and we are proud
to be here.
Top student: Andy Terziu “I believed in him and he has made me so proud. Instead of
watching TV or playing computer games, he does his homework or
reads books. That is why he has done so well.”
He added: “A lot of the credit should go to my wife. She is a maths
teacher and has helped Andy so much.
“Maybe now he has set himself very high standards but I know he
can do really well in two years, at A level.”

Results table
School No. of students A* / A 5 A-C Pass
Burntwood School 270 23% 72% 98%
Proud: Fatmir Terziu, Ernest Bevin College 168 24% 83% 95%
father of Ernest Bevin Emanual School 88 41% 95% 100%
student, Andy Terziu,
Andy got 8 A*s, 1A Graveney School 243 36% 81% 99%
and 1B Thames Christian College 17 42% 90% 99%
Putney Park School 11 42% 73% 99%
Putney High School 104 88% 99.6% 100%
St Cecelia’s School 145 43% 73% 97%
Southfields Community College 196 20% 73% 100%
 ERNEST BEVIN COLLEGE

Ernest Bevin’s Nadir Parvez (right)

Ernest Bevin’s Andrew Isabirye opening results (he got three As)
7A* 5As

ERNEST BEVIN COLLEGE - GCSE

5 or more A*-C 83%
5 or more A*-C inc. Maths / English 52%
5 or more A*-G 95%
1 or more A*-G 99%
More than 300 A* / A Grades

Ernest Bevin high achievers: Lee Stennet 6A*. Patrick Guilfoyle 4As 1A* .
Nabeel Asif 5A* & 4As. Abimanju Thuraisingham 4A*s.
Sunny Ramgolam 6As. Jordan Livingstone 5As.

ERNEST BEVIN COLLEGE

‘A’ Level Average Points Score
2005 2006 2007 2008
137 144 207 260
Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News Julyr 6 - July 22, 2008

Finding the right

word
Wordsmiths and letter lovers had fun at Ernest Bevin College's first
spelling bee.
Inspired by the American model, the school handed a book containing
hundreds of words to year 9 pupils.
They were tested in class, and the best spellers went forward to the
nailbiting final.
Francis Chavez, Jared Tsirides and Tremayne Bruce emerged as the top
three.
Ruksana Sheikh, principal at the school in Beechcroft Road, Tooting,
said: "Spelling is so crucial for every subject. Next year we'll have a
spelling bee once a term for each year group.”

Brains ticking: Pupils at Ernest Bevin spelling bee

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News May 28 - June 3, 2008

Taiwan trip
A Tooting table tennis champ is heading to Taiwan to
train with the world number seven player.

Emre Ibatoglu, a Year 9 pupil at Ernest Bevin

College, will spend five weeks in Taiwan enjoying
intensive coaching with Olympic semi-finalist, Tong
Feiming, and the country’s national team.

Emre said: “I hope to come back in the top 50 in

England. This is going to be a great experience.”

He is one of dozens of children at specialist Ernest

Bevin College who are hoping to make it to the
London Olympics in 2012.

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News May 14 - 20, 2008

Champion pupils on
the ball in tense game
Ernest Bevin College has emerged victorious in the national
volleyball championships for under-16s.

The team won three sets to one in a tense game against Boswells
School from Chelmsford, and captain Daniel Donegan went on to lift
the cup in front of a crowd of nearly 1,000 people at Bath University.

Although Ernest Bevin won in the under-15 category five years ago,
this is the first time the Tooting school has ever clinched the under-
16s title.

Winners: Simon Ojomoh, Warren Francis and Theo Spencer,

back, Daniel Donegan, captain, and Andrew lsabirye

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News April 30 - 6 May, 2008

Medal desire burns within

Wandsworth’s Winston Gordon takes part in his second Olympics this summer — but it could have been very
different had he not been inspired 18 years ago by his current boss.
The 31-year-old, a member of Chelsea-based Budokwai Club, earns his living working the judo mats for Team GB,
something he has done pretty much exclusively since taking up the sport as a 13-year-old. He discovered the martial
art when former PE teacher and current British Judo performance director Margaret Hicks did a demonstration of the
sport at his school in 1990. And the Ernest Bevin College old boy has not looked back since. Gordon, who narrowly
missed bronze in Athens four years ago, has recovered from a broken hand to take his place in the British team
bound for Beijing in August.
He admits the chance introduction to the sport is the major reason why he is going for gold in China.
“My PE teacher at the time came into assembly and showed the whole school all the moves. The throwing, the holds
and the head locks everything,” he said. “She asked if anybody wanted to come and try so I put my hand up and gave
it go. “She got me into a hold and gave me 10 seconds to escape. I couldn’t, which, being at an all-boys school, was
a little embarrassing.
“Margaret is now our performance director and I am a bit of a specialist on the floor.
“I am a grappler and my favourite moves have always been the holds.”
Gordon, who lost his mother Monica as a teenager in 1993, was beaten in the third place play-off contest four years
ago. He has worked hard to erase that memory in Greece, but believes the experience has been key to his return to
the Olympic stage.
“I don’t like to look back on Athens. I like to keep my eyes on the next challenge,” he said. “It burns that I have not got
an Olympic medal, but that has just inspired me to try to put it right.
“It is going to be hard, particularly in my weight category Everybody is up for it.

“It is the pinnacle of anybody’s career. It will be down to whoever can hold their nerve on the day”
Britain’s four men and three women have high hopes of a strong performance in China with Karma Bryant making her
third Olympic appearance. And Gordon, who still trains at Ernest Bevin College’s state of-the-art sports facility has not
given up hope of matching his team mate’s record, before giving something back to the sport that has given him so
much.
“There is still life left in me to carry on until 2012, but it depends on who else is around at the time as to whether I do
or not,” he said.
“I am interested in coaching if I don’t make it.
“I am fully funded by Team GB and the National Lottery By coaching, I can give something back to the sport.”
Winston Gordon - fact file
Age: 31
Coach: Eric Bonti/Mark Earle Home town: Tooting
Wandsworth
School: Ernest Bevin College
Distinguishing features:
Has a tattoo of his mother’s name and date of birth
in Chinese on his right forearm, and a similar
inscription for grandmother Florence on his left.
Best results:
2008 - Prague World Cup, bronze

2007 - British Open, silver

Moscow Super World
Cup, bronze
Warsaw World Cup,
bronze
Belgium Open, silver
German Open, bronze
2006 - European Championships, bronze
2005 - British Open, silver
2004 - Athens Olympics, fourth
2002 - Commonwealth Games,

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News April 30 - 6 May, 2008

Scheme helps
the young
The little guys got some help from the big boys last week at Ernest Bevin’s
mentoring school.

The Tooting secondary school held a peer mentoring day in which sixth formers
gave up their time to help youngsters in the lower years who were finding learning
and school life difficult.

Deutsche Bank funded the initiative, which was set up three years ago.
Kate Muir, who set up Ernest Bevin’s peer mentoring scheme, said: “The peer
mentees have not only gained an older friend, but someone who is available to
help them in their academic and social journey”

Old school: Charles Rafter, 12 with his mentor, 17 year old Mashud
Hannan, playing pass the bucket

Ernest Bevin College

Clapham, Balham, TTooting
ooting
PRESS RELEASE
Guardian Thursday, March 6, 2008

by Chloe Lambert

SPORTING CHANCE
College among seven venues picked for Olympics
Ernest Bevin College is one of seven centres in Wandsworth to be used as training sites for the
London Olympic Games, it was announced this week.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and former athlete and Olympic medallist Seb Coe, chairman of
the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, visited the Beechcroft Road school on
Monday to see its £6 million sports centre, which opened last year.
Pupils showed off their skills with judo, table tennis and volleyball demonstrations, appearing on
national TV to launch the initiative.
The secondary school is appearing in a national guide which lists training venues for athletes in the
run-up to the 2012 event.
Olympic hopefuls will be able to use the state-of-the-art facilities to train for badminton, basketball,
judo, table tennis, taekwondo, indoor volleyball and wrestling.
Ernest Bevin principal Mike Chivers said: “It’s very exciting news. Having top-class people from
around the world in and around our sports centre will be terrific for our young people and for the
community”
Also named in the guide are the Battersea Sports Centre, the Spencer Sports Club, the
Roehampton Club, Tooting Bec Athletics Track, the Bank of England Sports Centre in Roehampton
and Barn Elms Sports Centre.
Each centre now has the chance to gain an international reputation as a sporting venue.
Tessa Jowell said: “There are no guarantees of success just by making it into the guide. There will
be fierce competition to host
foreign teams and individuals,
and now it is for every nation
and region, every venue, to
sell itself internationally’
Lord Coe, who won Olympic
gold medals for the 800m in
1980 and 1984, said: ‘We
said we wanted the London
Games to be for athletes, and
the facilities listed in this
guide will really help overseas
athletes prepare well. “It also
provides a great opportunity
for areas throughout the UK to On your marks: Lord Coe and Tessa Jowell discuss the proposals with
Ernest Bevin principals Rukhsana Sheikh and Mike Chivers
get involved in our plans.”

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News March 5 - 11, 2008

Olympic training at school

Ernest Bevin College is one of seven centres in Wandsworth to be used as training sites for
the London Olympic Games, it was announced this week.
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and Olympic medallist Sebastian Coe, chairman of the
London Olympics Organising Committee, came to the school in Beechcroft Road on Monday
to visit its £6million sports centre, which opened last year.
Ernest Bevin boys showed off their skills with judo, table tennis and volleyball demonstrations,
appearing on national television to launch the initiative.
The secondary school is appearing in a national guide which lists training venues for athletes
in the run up to the 2012 event.
Olympic stars will be able to use the state-of-the-art facilities to train for badminton, basketball,
judo, table tennis, taekwondo, indoor volleyball and wrestling.
Headteacher of Ernest Bevin Mike Chivers said: “It’s very exciting news.
“Having top class people, from around the world, in and around our sports centre will be terrific
for our young people and for the community”
Also featured in the guide are the Battersea Sports Centre, the Spencer Sports Club, the
Roehampton Club, Tooting Bec Athletics Track, the Bank of England Sports Centre in
Roehampton and the Barn Elms Sports Centre.
Each centre now has the chance to gain an international reputation as a sporting venue.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said: “There are no guarantees of success just by making it
into the guide.
“There will be fierce competition to host foreign teams and individuals, and now it is for every
nation and region, every venue, to sell itself internationally’
Lord Coe, a former Olympic gold medallist, said: ‘We said that we wanted the London games
to be for athletes, and the facilities listed in this guide will really help overseas athletes prepare
well.
“It also provides a great opportunity for areas throughout the United Kingdom to get involved in
our plans.”

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News February 20 - 26, 2008

Novelist opens
library
The satirical novelist, Guardian columnist and script-writer John
O’Farrell came to open a new library at Ernest Bevin College last
week. The writer, who lives in Clapham, met youngsters at the
secondary school in Beechcroft Road with copies of his new book, An
Utterly Impartial History Of Britain - Or 2,000 Years of Upper Class
Idiots in Charge.

Author John O’Farrell and pupils Fu-Shing Lay, Joel Gordon and Connor Williams
in Ernest Bevin School lIbrary

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News February 6 - 12, 2008

profile: Sadiq Khan

Tooting born
and bred
Sadiq Khan’s life-long connection with Tooting has
brought him a strong and loyal following in the area,
with Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
He was born in St George’s Hospital in 1970 and
grew up as one of eight children in a three bedroom
council flat in the Henry Prince Estate. His father
drove the 44 bus along Garratt Lane for 25 years.

He attended Fircroft Primary School and then Ernest Bevin Secondary School.
He has spoken of the debt he owes to the teachers at Ernest Bevin who encouraged him
to go on to university and study law.
He was politically active from a young age, joining the Tooting Labour Party at 15 to
campaign against the Thatcher government he saw to be destroying people’s lives in
Wandsworth.
When he was 23 he was elected as a Wandsworth Councillor and served the Tooting
ward from 1994-2006, and on May 5, 2005, became London’s first Muslim MP. Before
becoming MP for Tooting he founded one of the country’s leading human rights firms,
Christian Khan, which
acted in several landmark civil liberty cases.
Mr Khan represented several ethnic minority police officers wrongly accused of corruption
by the Metropolitan Police, and cleared the name of the Iranian born Chief Superintendent
Mr Dizaei who has said he was illegally bugged by the police.
Mr Dizaei was cleared of all charges and last summer Sir Ian Blair apologised for the
inquiry Within two years of becoming an MP, Sadiq Khan was promoted to Parliamentary
Private Secretary to Jack Straw and in 2007 Gordon Brown appointed him a Minister in
the Government Whip’s Office.
He lives in Furzedown with his wife, Saadiya, and their two daughters who both go to
Fircroft, the primary school he attended as a boy.

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News February 6 - 12, 2008

Reporter Chloe Lambert looks

Super sport centre around the new £6million
initiative at a Tooting school

for Bevin boys

A long a corridor inside the gleaming, glassy new sports centre
at Ernest Bevin College, a Roll of Honour hangs framed on the
wall.
Here are the professional footballers, Commonwealth athletes
and international martial arts stars who started their careers at
this school in Beechcroft Road.
The facilities were completed last year and opened by Dame
Kelly Holmes in September. However, the idea of a state-of-the-
art sports centre began 10 years ago.
Sport has historically been a strong subject at Ernest Bevin. It
was designated a specialist sports college in 2000 and led the
way in Wandsworth’s healthy schools agenda.
Headteacher Mike Chivers said: “Sport was something the whole
school would be able to identify with. The sports specialism covers
a broad spectrum of fitness and nutrition, and mental health”
As Mr Chivers and his co-headteacher Rukhsana Sheikh stride
through immaculate changing rooms and modern sport theory
suite with rows of new computers, they cannot hide their
excitement. Coaching: One of the training sessions
We look into a gym where several youngsters are on the treadmill, watched over by a superfit PE teacher.
One boy proudly flexes his left arm as we are on our way out.
Then into a enormous judo hall, flanked with spectator seats. Each child at Ernest Bevin does more than
two hours of physical activity a week, from basketball to cricket, lacrosse to Taekwondo.
Ms Sheikh opens a door into a spacious, brilliantly-lit sports hall, filled with the echo of ping-ponging table
tennis bails and the shouts of boys practising basketball.
All this was built on a playground. The boys can now play sport all through the year without being put off by
the thought of running around in the freezing cold in the winter months.
Ms Sheikh said: “Since we opened it, the difference has been incredible. There are now 500 boys doing
extra-curricular sport, after school and at lunch.”
Next door is a large, inviting swimming pool - perfectly still during a break between lessons. It looks more
like a private health centre than a London state school.
“It’s fantastic, isn’t it?”, said Mr Chivers. “Why should adults only have these facilities, why not children?”
Along with top class sporting equipment, the school has also invested in fitness experts and world class
athletes as coaches.
The 50th best table tennis player in the world comes in regularly to play with the table tennis group, and diet
and fitness guru Rosemary Conley runs a weekly fitness class.
Ernest Bevin’s decision to focus on sport was somewhat ahead of its time, given the Government’s new
focus on exercise for children in the battle against childhood obesity. But Mr Chivers thinks sport can play
an even bigger role in the children’s lives. “It’s nothing new that a healthy body means a healthy mind,” he
said.
“You just have a feeling that if people are happy because of the activities they are taking part in, that spills
over into the classroom.
“If you wish to play sport successfully you need to be a good listener; you need to be fit and healthy Those
are many of the attributes that also lend to academic success.”
Key life skills, such as communication, commitment and team work, could be learned through sport, he
said.
On Monday, Ernest Bevin officially launched its rugby academy which is being run in partnership with
Harlequins Rugby Club.
Mr Chivers said: “One reason we adopted rugby is to look at the aspects of how rugby teams play together
- the tradition and respect you might not see in a soccer match.
“It’s not a game that’s traditionally played at inner London schools, and many inner London communities
don’t have access to rugby.
“This provides an opportunity that just wouldn’t have existed.”
Ernest Bevin is also now the biggest table tennis club in England, with 35 tables and seeded player Mark
Smith as full-time coach thanks to the Greenhouse charity.
“It’s perfect,” Mr Smith said. “I can use it as a hub and get primary schools to come in, so we can start
teaching them as young as six and seven.
“The boys can train up to 15 hours a week - that’s the same as in a national academy”
His team recently reached the national semi-finals.
But the table tennis club is also open one evening a week to residents, as part of a wider initiative to open
the facilities up to the community
Local primary schools and special schools, such as Elsley, are already benefiting from the new centre, and
the school has hosted gymnastics and fencing events on weekends for clubs.
Besides getting everyone in the school more active and excited about sport, the centre is also creating
positive links with the Tooting community.
“We worked very hard for this and it is creating a fitter, healthier school,” said Mr Chivers.

Sports centre: Former England player Tony Diprose, the assistant academy manager, with some of the young players

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News January 9 - 15, 2008

Tournament set to bowl

over young cricketers
Howzat! Pupils from eight secondary schools across
Wandsworth are going head to head in a cricket tournament.

The eight week contest began on Monday at Ernest Bevin

College in Tooting and was the brainchild of PE teacher Tom
Wightwick. He came up with the idea after his after-school
cricket club became a roaring success with boys at the
Beechcroft Road school. He said “It was really popular so I
thought I’d give them a chance to play at tournament level.”

Graveney, Chestnut Grove, Emanuel and Salesian College are

among the schools taking part. Boys under 13 will be playing
every week in the hope of making it to the final where a trophy
and medal awaits them.

For the love of the game: Young cricketers show their excitement

Ernest Bevin College

Wandsworth
PRESS RELEASE
Borough News January 9 - 15, 2008

Tea treat for

pensioners
Ernest Bevin pupils got into the community spirit last month
when they invited pensioners to afternoon tea.

Visitors from the Ruth Fitzpatrick Day Care Centre were

treated to sandwiches, cake and tea at the school in
Beechcroft Road, while youngsters provided sweet steel pan
music.

The year eight choir also led their guests with songs.

On song: Pensioners enjoy afternoon tea and music with Ernest Bevin pupils

Ernest Bevin College