GSAS Newsletter July 2017 - SoLFest special

SolFest Special Issue July 2017 Issue #155

Word on the Street The Newsletter of Green Spring Academy SHOREDITCH and Sixth Form

Throughout the month of July 2017, Green Spring Academy Shoreditch celebrated its eighth annual Summer of Arts, Culture and Learning Festival (SoLFest). With a fun-filled and learning-centred programme of trips, events and activities, SoLFest 2017 was once again another exciting and fulfilling period for our students and staff at the academy.

The aim of SoLFest is to develop students’ learning and skills through an array of creative, engaging and cultural opportunities, involving workshops, tournaments, music and drama, themed days and trips.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was chosen as SoLFest’s headline ‘Shakespeare Day’ event and the commitment shown by students involved in the production was tremendous.

This year’s SoLFest also presented a unique opportunity for Teach First trainee teachers to become part of the festivities.

Thirty three beginning teachers observed, assisted and delivered lessons and workshops between 5th and 18th July.

Other highlights included in this special edition newsletter are: a summer concert, an art exhibition, Latin Day and Bastille Day celebrations, various workshops and ‘Education Without Walls’.

We would like to thank all staff, students and parents/carers for their amazing support and hard work during SoLFest, which once again has been a great success!

A Midsummer Nights Dream

Following the success of last years The Tempest, this year the drama team and its hugely talented students took on an interpretation of shakespeare’s A Midsummers Nights Dream for its headline performance. The performance went down a storm with audiences young and old with a mixture of humour and the typical shakesperian drama there was a bit of everything for everyone. The cast had a gruelling schedule performing the play 4 times over the 2 days but the students took it all in there stride and the commitment shown by students involved in the production was tremendous.

Congratulations to the Drama department and everyone involved on another flawless perfomance. Bravo!

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World Book Week at GSAS

Shakespeare Day 2017

On Friday 7th July GSAS organised its annual Shakespeare Day, a transition day for our cohort of Year 6 students. The day was themed around A Midsummer Night’s Dream and began with four fun and engaging workshops delivered by our teachers and visitors from Teach First, in Shakespearean inspired costume. Despite the scorching hot weather students produced some great work, demonstrating imagination, confidence and curiosity. After lunch students enjoyed the fantastic premier of A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed by a group of talented GSAS actors - a magical end to a day of interactive and inspiring learning. We look forward to welcoming the Year 6 students to the academy in September.

Arts and Music Evening

GSAS held an Arts Evening on Thursday 20th July 2017, a popular event in the SoLFest programme. The art department organised its annual exhibition to showcase the amazing work that our students from across the academy have produced over the year. The art and photography on display was really high standard, demonstrating skill and creativity. We look forward to seeing their talent develop throughout their time at GSAS and beyond! Thank you to Ms Austin and her team!

Following the art exhibition was the SoLFest Music Concert.

There were fantastic performances from the SoLFest Choir, the string group, jazz ensemble, academy bands and solo artists that captivated the audience. A rendition of Kool & The Gang’s Celebrate by Ebenezer Johnson and friends got the crowd moving and the evening came to a close with Lost Boy and Heal the World.

The concert comes at the end of our eighth SoLFest (festival of arts, culture and learning) and the audience of proud parents/carers and teachers thoroughly enjoyed the event.

Thank you to Mr, Slater, Ms Watts and Glen Johnson and all the musicians for a great evening!

GSAS hosts first Careers Fair

On Thursday 13th July 2017, GSAS hosted its first ever Careers Fair to coincide with SoLFest. Students and parents/carers were given the opportunity to meet professionals from a wide range of industries including medicine, law, engineering, communications, consulting, banking, business, and more. They also had an opportunity to learn more about university study at UCL, Newcastle, Westminster and SOAS. This was followed by panel discussions on Law & Government, Medicine & Healthcare, Media, Communications and the Arts, and Business, Banking & Consultancy.

The event was well-attended and there was a definite ‘buzz’ in the air as students asked questions about work experience and future career pathways, not to mention enjoying their goodie bags! Many students left saying they felt inspired and now know what they need to do at school to get their ‘dream job’.

GSAS would like to thank all the companies and professionals who gave their time to speak to our students and to all staff who supported the event.

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Languages for SoLFest

During the SoLFest festivities the GSAS MFL team have showcased two days of fantastic activities centered around different cultures. Firstly on Thursday 13th July, the academy’s Latin Day took place providing students and staff with the opportunity to enjoy a variety of activities that promoted awareness of, and engagement in Latin and Roman culture. This included a well-received translation on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and mosaic patterns were created. Some staff dressed up in togas and lessons were taught in The Street. Roman food was also sampled at breakfast, brunch and lunch.

On Friday 14th July, GSAS held their first ever Bastille Day. Students and staff got to sample a French breakfast and French cuisine for lunch and there were lots of fun French culture quizzes and exercises during lessons, and also at break time and lunch time. The MFL Department also wore traditional French berets and scarves! French lessons took place in The Street followed by Year 7 taking part in a Bastille Day treasure hunt, in which they needed to find clues around the academy in order to answer their question sheets.

These two events encouraged students to engage in different cultures. Well done to all the MFL team!

Education without walls

GSAS gets taxi to the sea

GSAS saves lives

Girl Leading group lead the way

On Friday 7th July 2017 GSAS organised its second “Education without walls”day. The aim for the day was to create activities providing exceptional learning environments outside of the classroom. Trips this year included visits to Harlow, Brighton, Kew Gardens, Cambridge, Hyde Park and many more destinations..

The week commencing the 17th July GSAS hosted CPR workshops for all year groups. Led by Mr Sykes the students were taken through each step of the very important procedures in the event of an respiratory incident. It was a hugely benificial workshop for all of our students to learn the skills that could potentially save lives. Thanks to the British Heart Foundation for providing the CPR training kits.

On Thursday 13th July 2017, fifty-two GSAS students attended the annual Taxi Drivers trip to Southend in support of under privileged and SEND children. The taxi drivers drove our students, and many others, down to Southend for a trip to the Southend Amusement park, a disco and a chance to meet various entertainers. Huge thanks to the London Taxi Drivers and all involved who made the day possible.

This year a group of GSAS students have been participating in a number of life affirming events in conjunction with the Girl Leading initiative. During SolFest the girls have organised two fantastic fundraising events in aid of Freedom Charity, a charity which supports victims of forced marriage, FGM and dishonour on the family. The events, a bake sale and a wear your trainers day raised money for the worthy cause. The girls also presented an assembly with the founder of Freedom Charity Aneeta Prem who gave a thought provoking talk on forced marriage.

Well done girls!

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Employability skills workshop

On Friday 14th July 2017, Sixth Form students had the pleasure of once again working with KMPG, the global corporate firm providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services and one of the ‘Big Four’ auditors. A team of passionate volunteers from the firm delivered their quality Employability Skills Programme providing essential life skills. It covered interactive sessions where students learned how to structure professional CV’s and how to deliver engaging presentations. They were also informed about KPMG’s Audit School and College Leaver Programme.

The latter was particularly pertinent as we were also extremely excited and happy to welcome as part of the volunteers team with KPMG, Mahmadul Hoque. Mahmadul was a former GSAS student who chose the School Leavers programme at 16 years and he is now on the way to becoming a qualified accountant.

The academy are extremely privileged to work alongside KMPG. We would particularly like to thank David Gracie (one of our Trustees) and his team for the their continuous support over the last 3 years.

Unidosh workshop

On Wednesday 5th July 2017, Sixth Form students took part in an innovative workshop delivered by Uni Dosh, a financial advice and information organisation specifically aimed at young people. Uni Dosh offers a comprehensive overview of university money matters and encourage students to consider their personal circumstances, visualise their university lifestyle and get a ‘reality check’ regarding the financial situations they will face.

The exciting and jam-packed workshop included budgeting advice; up to date university funding information, how to apply for grants, potential challenges and difficulties, as well as interactive engagement on what students deemed necessary once they were living on their own.

Newcastle University London

On Monday 3rd July 2017, Year 12 BTEC students attended a Newcastle University London workshop that put their entrepreneurial skills to the test.

The workshop was based on the premise that students were CEO’s of a start-up company with a budget. They were asked to consider actions such as copyright, marketing, product launch and ultimately expansion – to name but a few.

All the students were fully engaged and relished the idea that they could create and develop a virtual company.

“I enjoyed the process of creating a company from scratch and how to be entrepreneurial, and I learnt skills needed to be successful.” - Elijah Marshall (Year 12 Student)

Green Spring Academy wishes you a great summer

Find us online at: www.gsacademyshoreditch.org.uk

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