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13 November 2015
Mr Taylor, Cover Supervisor: Wednesday 11 November was Remembrance Day. This is a day to remember all those who have fought and died in all wars since World War I. All students have taken part in assemblies based around this theme and poppies have been on sale in the Academy shop. Last year, Holly Hall raised the most money of all Dudley schools and we hope that we will do as well this year. Pictured are Student Leaders with Mr Taylor who led the assemblies.
Mr Sissons, Director of Learning: This week Key Stage 3 students received their Mathematics extended homework certificates for their half term 1 tasks. In total sixty-six students received a gold award and will now be entered in a special prize draw at the end of the Academy year in recognition of excellent homework performance. Well done to those students!
Mrs Lee, Director of Key Stage 4: From Monday 16 November the Academy shop will begin selling stationery items which were previously sold in B4. The shop will be open every day before the start of the Academy day and at lunch time and will be run by senior Student Leaders who are currently receiving training.
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Miss McKay and Miss O’Neill English Teachers: Key Stage 3 students are invited to attend our new Film Club. It will take place every Wednesday at the end of the Academy day until 4.15pm in B11.
Mr Taylor, Cover Supervisor: This weekend a group of Holly Hall students will be visiting Belgium and France for a WWI Battlefields Tour. On Friday 13 November they will take part in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate (pictured) in the Belgian city of Ypres where they will lay a wreath to commemorate the men who fought and died throughout the four years of World War One. Look out for a full report from students next week.
The first film we will be showing is Fantastic Mr Fox based on the book by Roald Dahl. If you would like to attend please see Miss McKay.
Miss Gibbs, English Teacher: Congratulations to Amman Ahmed (8GIB) who is this week’s winner of the Reading for Pleasure book review competition. Amman reviewed Alex Rider Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz. He was presented with a prize of a box of
Courtney Gallear (8HAR): “I love Grab Bags! I order one every morning which takes just a couple of minutes. At lunch time, I don’t have to wait in a big queue in Scotty G’s, I just grab my bag in the hall and eat! This leaves me more time to spend enjoying my lunch break. Now we even have a loyalty card which gets me a free drink or fruit pot for every five Grab Bags I order.”
Mrs Milovsorov, Coordinator of Food Technology and Catering: You may remember that last year we participated in the prestigious National School Food Champions Programme, supported by the Department for Education. The main purpose of this was to improve the uptake of school meals as this is directly linked with attainment of students. We are pleased to announce that during the second half of the Summer term we increased our uptake by 6% and in the first half of the Autumn term we have increased it by 13%. We are always looking for feedback from both students and parents on how we can improve further so please let us know of any ideas you have. Watch this space for more exciting announcements and competitions. Pictured: Mrs Milovsorov with her achievement certificate. Page 2
Remember, you can buy a main meal, dessert and a drink in Scotty G’s for just £2.
Mr Markham, Director of Inclusion: We have introduced measures to ensure that our students are not exposed to the wet weather at lunch times. There is now indoor provision and all students have been made aware of these arrangements..
Mr Sharp, Art Teacher: Year 9 have been producing surrealist artwork. First they created a drawing and then developed their ideas to create models, paintings, digital artworks and sculptures. Daniel McGregor (9WRD) has created a realistic Japanese warrior helmet and Jazzmin Taylor (9SPE) has created a 3D painting with eyes. Well done to all students.
Miss Westwood, Mathematics Key Stage 3 Coordinator: On Friday twenty Year 11 talented maths students participated in the Senior Maths Challenge. They competed against thousands of students from other schools in the United Kingdom. Congratulations to everyone that took part. We will let you know the results as soon as we have them. The next challenge will be the Intermediate Maths Challenge on 4 February 2016. Here is one of the questions from the Senior paper. The Knave of Hearts tells only the truth on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He tells only lies on all the other days. The Knave of Diamonds tells only the truth on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. He tells only lies on all the other days. On one day last week, they both said, “Yesterday I told lies.” On which day of the week was that? A.Sunday D. Thursday
B. Monday
C. Tuesday
E. Friday Page 3
Mrs Milovsorov, Coordinator of Food Technology and Catering would like to remind Year 9 students moving from Textiles to Food Technology that they will need to bring the ingredients for jam tarts to their double lesson.
Mr Townley, Leader of Arts and Design: Enrichment Day2 will take place on Friday 20 November, with a wide range of activities taking place for all students.
Year 7 will be enjoying a visit to the Black Country Living Museum to do a local history study on the importance of coal in the development of the Black Country. Year 8 will focus on relationships with activities taking place in PSHE, Maths and Science.
Year 9 will be following up on the work they started on Enrichment Day1 with the ’Soap Challenge'. They will be promoting the Academy’s new student shop and decide how Student Leaders should spend the money raised through the sale of the soap. In addition there will be
18 November 20 November 26 November
Full Governing Body Meeting Enrichment Day2/Skills Show GCSE Certificate Presentation Evening 7.00pm 27 November Staff training day - Academy closed 1 & 2 December Year 11 Parents’ Consultation Evenings 7 - 11 December Exams focus Years 7, 8 & 10 15 December Performing Arts Showcase 18 December Academy closes for the Christmas holiday 21 Dec - 1 Jan Christmas holiday
an opportunity for Year 9 students to taste some new foods they may find on the menu in Scotty G's. Year 10 will be motivated by David Hyner in a session on interview and presentation skills. There will be an opportunity for students to give feedback to Student Leaders on the issues that affect them around the Academy. They will also explore post 16 opportunities. Year 11 will be visiting the NEC in Birmingham for the 'Skills Show', the UK’s largest skills and careers fair to help them plan for life after they have left Holly Hall next summer.
Have a go at Mr Nation’s puzzle. The sum of the symbols of each row in the square are given. Can you find the value of each shape. Hand your answer to Mr Nation by the end of Tuesday 17 November 2015. The winner, drawn
Please be aware that the Academy will be closed to students on Friday 27 November 2015 for staff training.
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