News from Etonbur y A cademy

There has been great excitement at Etonbur y as building work continues on the new Sixth Form centre The plans include a large social area with comfy seating and a glass windo w o verlooking the garden There will be café ser ving ho t and cold drinks and snacks, which the students have been par ticularly excited abou t The construction company SISK has o ffered to help develop the Sixth Formers’ garden and recently held a competition for students to design it, with some great prizes on o ffer I am delighted to announce that Lucas N won f irst prize o f £50, with Hannah P in second place and Lily D in third place All the designs will be used in the construction o f the garden, which will be such a special and unique space for the students’ wellbeing

After months o f preparation, our Secondar y mock trial students attended Stevenage magistrates cour t last month for a local competition, accompanied by Ms Denton. Judged by real magistrates, the students entered two heats, one in which they prosecu ted the defendant and the o ther where they defended an individual for an o ffence. Well done to all who entered and thank you so much to Ms Denton!

Most recently our Primar y and Secondar y dancers entered the Bedfordshire County Dance Final Competition. The dance teams had been working on their rou tines since September with our PE Apprentice ex- student Miss King who competed in the same competition herself whilst at ETA multiple times On the day they competed against 20 o ther schools in the region The girls pu t in huge dedication and commitment and their per formances were ou tstanding, they came away with silver and bronze medals! Congratulations girls we are exceptionally proud o f you

A group o f Year 8 & 9 students were lucky enough to attend the festival's f irst schools programme on Tuesday. The Cambridge Festival is an annual event sho wcasing all o f the world-leading research carried ou t by the university. The students saw three lectures at the Babbage Theatre abou t maths as logic, ar tefacts held by the Museum o f Archaeology and Anthropology, and engineering used in production.

Our Brilliant Club have enjo yed a school trip to Oxford University to take par t in the Scholars Programme, which is a charitable programme aimed at encouraging students into higher education Our Juniors have enjo yed a trip to The Space Centre and Year 6 are looking for ward to a trip to Harr y Po tter

We are delighted to share the success o f our budding scientists, a group o f Year 10 students par ticipated in a STEM Careers Day at Redborne Upper School They took par t in various challenges, demonstrating leadership, creativity and teamwork and achieved 3 f irst places and a second! Excellent result!

A big thank you to The Need Project volunteers who suppor ted our secondhand uniform sale at their centre in Sto tfold This event highlighted to our Etonbur y Community the fantastic work o f this ver y impor tant local charity Please continue to share in our values, Ever yone is respectful, Together we care and Always aim higher

Ian Evason – Execu tive Principal Etonbur y Academy www.etonbur y.org.uk