Knutsford Multi-Academy Trust Yearbook 2017

A N O U T S TA N D I N G PERFORMANCE

YEAR BOOK 2016-2017

NATIONAL SCHOOLS GYM CHAMPIONS

KNUTSFORD ACADEMY IS PROUD TO BE...

THE HOME OF AMAZING PERFORMING ARTS OPPORTUNITIES

RECOGNISED

BY OFSTED FOR OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP

CHESHIRE U18 COUNTY FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS Front cover

December 2016 production of Billy Elliot With Billy played by Year 10 Zac Priestley and Grandma played by Year 13 Cerys Murray

WELCOME

WELCOME FROM THE EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL Welcome to our Knutsford Academy Year Book 2016-17. This book celebrates the achievements of our students over the past 12 months, including academic success, sporting achievement, charity and voluntary work, working with the local community and performing arts excellence.

In the last year we were absolutely delighted to see the Academy receive national recognition as one of the top performing mixed state secondary schools in the country. This is a great reward for our hardworking and talented students, together with our team of staff who work tirelessly to help and support the students achieve everything they can here at Knutsford Academy.

As ever we are very grateful for the support we receive from the Knutsford community and especially our parents, thank you.

I hope you enjoy the read!

Mike Cladingbowl

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PERFORMING ARTS

BILLY ELLIOT The December production of ‘Billy Elliot The Musical’ was performed over five nights and received excellent reviews.

The musical follows the story of a young boy, Billy Elliot whose life is changed forever when he discovers an unexpected passion for dance. Set in the turbulent background of the 1984-5 miners strike, Billy is expected to become a miner like his brother and father. Over 50 students were involved in the production with the lead role Billy played by Year 10 student Zac Priestley. Zac commented, "The opportunity to play Billy is something I will never forget, it was absolutely brilliant to be involved. I cannot thank everyone enough for the support I received, from all my fellow cast members, the backstage team and Miss Mayne and Mrs Scott.”

The opportunity to play Billy is something I will never forget it was absolutely brilliant to be involved.

Zac Priestley Year 10

Helen Mayne, Head of Performing Arts commented, “We chose this newly released production, not only because it is a wonderful and moving story but also because we knew it would offer so many dance, singing and acting challenges for everyone.”

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SCHOOL OF ROCK Earlier this year, Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to offer Schools across the country the opportunity to stage his new musical 'School of Rock' without any royalty charges, with the intention of supporting the growth of musical theatre productions in educational settings.

Knutsford Academy was excited by this fabulous opportunity and set forth to stage the show over four nights in July.

60 students from Year 7 to Year 13 performed in a show stopping spectacular celebrating the power of music in education. This production marked the final performance on the Knutsford Academy stage of two of our Year 13 students, Cerys Murray and Kai Walton, the latter celebrating his 18th birthday on the final night, before both go on to study Drama and Acting at University and Drama School.

Ben Moser, in the role of unconventional substitute teacher Dewey Finn, received rave reviews and was boosted in the run up to the production by a visit from one of the actors playing Dewey in the West End, local born Joel Montague. Helen Mayne, Head of Performing Arts said, “For the students, performing to a sell-out audience over four nights was a wonderful experience and their energy and enthusiasm was a pleasure to be around.”

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PERFORMING ARTS

CHARITY CONCERT WITH KNUTSFORD ROTARY CLUB Sixth Form Performing Arts students hosted a charity concert on 5 May with the theme of ‘West End Classics’ in association with the Rotary Club of Knutsford. The concert raised over £1300 for East Cheshire Hospice and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The Year 7, 8 and 9 Drama and Dance Evening on 15 March saw a variety of acts and performances on the Bexton Road stage.

DANCE FESTIVAL 2017 This year’s annual Dance Festival held on 29 March was well supported by the school’s community. The performance celebrated the work of students from across all year groups as well as showcasing the talent of the school’s gifted and talented dance companies Ignition and Fusion. GCSE and A Level students used the performance as an opportunity to present their examination work, whilst younger students enjoyed the experience of performing in front of a live audience. The festival was well received by a sell-out audience many of whom expressed their delight at the talents on display. Congratulations to all those who took part in the festival, and a further thank you to all who have supported our Performing Arts events throughout the year.

Mrs Scott – Head of Dance

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BESWICK WINNERS 2017 Composer

Abigail Chetham

Junior Musician

Emma Bland

Best Beginner

Jodie Brooke Anna Collins

THE 39TH YEAR OF THE BESWICK

Ensemble Players

Kai Walton and Oliver Turner

The annual Beswick Music Festival celebrates musicianship here at the Academy. In this year's event, held on 22 March, students from Years 7 to 13 performed to an independent judging panel chaired by Music For Life’s Alistair McWilliam. We were also treated to a performance by the Sixth Form Choir and former student, Sasha Carillo De Albornoz.

Kai Walton and Oliver Turner

Junior Vocalist

Charlotte Johnson Anna Taylor and Abby Taylor

Contemporary Musician

Oliver Turner

Senior Vocalist

Anna Collins

Senior Musician

Zoya Imtiaz

Shorrocks Award

Emma Bland

Wallace Rose Bowl

Oliver Turner

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SPORT

NATIONAL GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONS Knutsford Academy gymnasts were crowned National Schools Champions for the second year in a row, having won the event on Friday 10 March. A fantastic achievement for Georgia, Sophie, Millie and Louis, whose success is built through our partnership with Knutsford based Gymfinity and the squad's head coach Lily Rees.

Our victorious gymnasts, L to R: Georgia Ban-Murray, Sophie Baldwin, Millie Marshall and Louis Thomas

CHESHIRE U18 CHAMPIONS The newly established Sixth Form Football Academy run in partnership with Egerton Football Club had a very successful first season, winning two trophies, the U18 Cheshire County Schools Cup and the Macclesfield and District Cup. Football Academy students are based in the Studio School where the majority are studying a BTEC in Sport and combine this with football training and games during the week.

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We are just so thrilled to have won the title again. The team have worked very hard and set themselves high standards. They are an absolute pleasure to coach, I have worked with them all for a number of years now and it is fantastic to see their efforts rewarded.

Head Coach Lily Rees

NETBALL Miss Ince provides an update on the netball season and the progress the teams have made We have had a fantastic netball season playing more fixtures than usual as we joined the Vale Royal League. This ran alongside the Macclesfield District League and resulted in fantastic progress and development of each team.

We came away with a great selection of silverware and are really looking forward to developing the squads next year with the help of our coaches, Elaine Thomas and Justine Leigh.

U13B Runners up – Macclesfield League U14 Winners – Macclesfield League U15B Runners up – Macclesfield League U15 Winners – Vale Royal League Well done to all the netball girls for their effort, commitment and determination over the year.

We have had a great turn out for Rounders Club this summer with over 60 girls attending regularly from Years 7 - 9. They played a number of friendly matches against local schools in the Macclesfield and District league.

ROUNDERS TEAM WIN MEDAL

The Year 9s did particularly well in the Macclesfield tournament where they played Wilmslow in the final. At the end of the 27 good bowls the score was 4-4 so it had to go to a nail biting 9 extra balls. In the end, the team just lost out on winning the Gold and picked up Silver medals. Well done to all the team, especially the Year 8 girls who stepped up to take the place of the Year 9 girls who were on out on their Duke of Edinburgh expedition. We are looking forward to next year with two new local leagues starting which will mean lots more fixtures!

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SPORT RUGBY This year saw our Rugby develop still further, with the introduction of Saturday Rugby for the under 14s followed by a Rugby tour to Holland (see page 24). It also saw the Year 7 Rugby team up and running playing 6 games with 3 victories, two defeats and a draw.

CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP November 2016

Students from Years 7, 8 & 9 took part in the Macclesfield & District Cross Country Championships, with Taylor Edwards coming first in the girls and Sam Jackson winning the boys.

RACE FOR LIFE 21 JUNE Over 700 students took part in the Race for Life raising over ÂŁ1500 for cancer research. A great effort from all students especially in the searing heat that day.

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ATHLETICS Katie Waterworth in Year 10 continues to make great strides in the triple jump. This included a season's best performance of 11.26m representing Cheshire in the Mason Trophy Inter-Counties meet. Katie is just outside the top 10 in the country for her age group.

SPORTS DAY

SPORTS DAY The annual Sports Day was held at the Longford Park Athletics Track in Manchester on 11 July. The covered area provided a great space to generate enthusiasm, support and plenty of noise for each event with over 600 students involved.

There were some excellent performances, superb efforts and lots of team spirit shown on the day - the Year 8 girls’ high jump competition was a particular highlight.

18 new school records were set on the day, with the most impressive coming from Taylor Edwards, Year 7, running 1500m in 5:04 mins.

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SPORT

SPORTS AWARDS

The annual Sports Awards was held on 19 July and saw over 150 students awarded with either a commendation, half colours or full colours for their sporting effort and achievement over the year.

Year 9 James Nixon

FULL COLOURS WERE AWARDED TO: Year 7

Taylor Edwards

Year 8

Maya Ashcroft Sophie Baldwin Emma Maxwell

Year 9

Georgia Allen Slava Balovnev Harrison Beasley Marcus Blake Ben Bradley Jacob Brindle Nathan Brooks Sam Christensen Jude Clarke Abby Comline Barney Crump

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Callum Grassby Matthieu Hilton James Hough Elise Humblet Maisie Jardine James Kerr Hannah Lynes Zoe Maxwell Robbie McInnes Dylan Moore James Nixon Charlie Norbury Alexander Possee James Stride Will Stride

Year 9 Abby Comline

Year 10

Georgia Ban-Murray Eve Cosgrove Millie Marshall Louis Thomas

Year 8 Emma Maxwell

DUKE OF EDINBURGH

The Academy’s Duke of Edinburgh Award programme continues to grow with more and more students taking part. This year over 120 students participated on the programme from Year 9 through to Year 13 and for the first time 16 students achieved their Gold Award.

GOLD SUCCESS 16 Sixth Formers completed their DofE Gold which culminated in a 4 day expedition. Head Boy, Oscar Edmondson tells more about what it means to be involved with DofE. I have been involved in the DofE programme at the Academy since its inception in 2011. It has been very exciting to be part of the first group that has made the transition to the ‘Gold Award’ and to be able to see the interest grow at Knutsford. Through DofE, I have been able to be creative with my time and given the opportunity to take part in genuinely fulfilling volunteering work, developing new skills and personal fitness.

Most recently, myself and a group of 16 Year 13 students completed their final expedition.

Over the course of the 4-day expedition we faced long days, rewarded by stunning Yorkshire scenery. We were completely self sufficient and the achievement of completing the Yorkshire Three Peaks was a fitting way to end our DofE experience at Knutsford.

BRONZE AND SILVER AWARD This year, 81 Year 9 students have signed up for the Bronze Award and successfully completed the 2 day expedition in the Peak District.

After completing Bronze the previous year, 25 students in year 10 achieved their Silver award with a 3 day expedition.

The students have also been involved in a variety of volunteering activities, supporting the Scouts, litter picking and coaching a variety of local sports clubs, including Egerton Football Club and Toft Cricket Club.

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ACADEMIC SUCCESS

GIRLS IN STEM Isobel Barker Year 8 Earlier this year I went to go on a Girls in STEM event and had a blast. The experience was incredible and it has really inspired me to push myself in the STEM subjects. The activities include building a remote control car in groups, which meant making sure the wiring was correct for it to zoom around the room. Another activity was magic and how magicians aren't actually doing the impossible, they are actually messing with our minds causing them to be blown away by the

amazing trick we see. Magic is just science. The final activity we did included two different skills one being coding and the other being creativity and maths. This activity put our mathematics skills to the test. We first had to code our balloon plane to fly, this was done with a little fan. The other part was to balance out the forces on the balloon plane.

It was a lot hard than you think! This day was very awarding and exciting, I loved it!

NATIONAL LEAGUE TABLE SUCCESS Knutsford Academy is celebrating recognition as one the top performing schools in the UK following the publication of The Sunday Times Schools Guide. The guide, which lists the top performing schools in the UK, saw the Academy placed 226th nationally and the top performing mixed secondary school in Cheshire East.

Executive Principal Mike Cladingbowl commented We are absolutely delighted to see Knutsford Academy feature so prominently in this guide. This success is due to our talented and hard-working students and staff. The top end of the league table features predominantly selective schools. In terms of non-selective schools, the Academy was placed 52nd in the whole of the country, which I am very proud of.

The guide ranks schools based on examination performance at GCSE, A Level and International Baccalaureate and is intended to help parents and children when selecting a school.

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UNIVERSITY SUCCESS Sixth Form students spent the early part of the academic year fine tuning their UCAS applications and visiting numerous universities.

All students who applied for a university place received offers, with a number at the UK’s top universities including both Oxford and Cambridge University.

James Philpott has received an offer to read Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, James was absolutely delighted to receive his offer he commented, “Having worked so hard on my application, it feels great to have received an offer. I hope I can get the grades I need this summer.” Kate Haselden has received an offer to read English Literature at Mansfield College, Oxford.

MANCHESTER AIRPORT A Level Science students took part in a STEM master class at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Manchester Airport in December 2016. The aim of this masterclass was to inspire young people and open their minds to the world of STEM subjects.

Students took part in a number of workshops with employers and representatives from local universities including Manchester University, Salford University and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The students were given the chance to speak to the industry specialists behind Manchester Airport’s £1bn transformation project and learn about the 500 future roles that this will create in the local area.

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SCHOLARS PROGRAME

THE BRILLIANT CLUB A group of 12 Year 9 students were enrolled on The Brilliant Club Programme where they got the opportunity to work with a world class researcher. This is the second year we have run the programme and this year we were delighted to have PhD student, Tom Withers, from The University of Manchester, tutor students through their mathematics assignment: ‘Fractals and Chaos’.

The programme began with a launch event at The University of Manchester where students were introduced to their task and to university life. During the following four weeks Tom visited the students in school where they each took part in a 1 hour tutorial. They were then briefed on their task of carrying out independent research that resulted in a final assignment that was to be marked at the standard of one key stage above their current level.

All students successfully graduated from the programme with 50% of them achieving first class honours. The graduation ceremony took place at Lancaster University where they also had the opportunity to view the facilities.

STEM CLUB YEARS 7 & 8

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KS3 STEM Club had three different themes this year that covered Mathematics, Science and Technology. Around 10-15 Year 7 and 8 students regularly attended every Tuesday where they were able to challenge themselves in completing activities such as breaking out of panic rooms by solving mathematical puzzles and creating their own digital animation. The aim of STEM Club is to allow the students to experience Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics from a real world perspective and to showcase the variety of potential career pathways in these subjects.

RAF CHESTER UNI Students in Year 8 visited Chester University’s research centre to take part in a STEM event hosted by the RAF. The first activity of the day was a code cracking challenge run by a former member of MI5. Students had to locate the all important container using map reading skills and identifying common links and patterns.

The second activity had an aviation theme, this time the challenge was to make a fully functioning aircraft.

The Academy's students demonstrated great team work and project management skills going on to win both challenges bringing home prizes and certificates.

MAKE IT CHALLENGE The Make It Challenge sees a number of schools participating with a variety of local and national businesses to create and plan a manufacturing process with a given budget and floorplan. The students, all from Year 9, worked in 2 teams and had to pass physical challenges, interviews to promote their company and present their plans to an audience of over 200 people.

Awards were given for the most creative groups, and we were absolutely delighted that Emma Bland received an individual award on the day for ‘Outstanding Engagement'.

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LOCAL COMMUNITY ACADEMY AWARDED CHAMPION SCHOOL STATUS BY NATIONAL CITIZEN SERVICE Sixth Form students received the award for taking part in various local social action projects across the area raising funds in excess of £1000 and awareness for various charitable organisations including The Royal British Legion and The Deafness Support Network amongst others.

Mr Lewis Broley, Relationship Manager responsible for delivering NCS in Cheshire added, “We’ve enjoyed working with Knutsford Academy for some years now. The school has always recognised the importance of whole character development, and the ability of the NCS programme to enrich and compliment the learning that takes place in the school, with the learning and development that can take place out of it too.”

WELLY WANGING TROPHY Isobel Tucker from Year 9 designed these fantastic trophies for Knutsford Lions. The trophies were awarded to the winners of welly wanging and tug of war at the Lions Centenary Fair held on Knutsford Heath on 29 May.

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PUMPKIN PATH 2016 For the second year in a row Year 9 students performed their very own dance routine at Knutsford's Halloween Pumpkin Path.

The routine, performed to the theme of ‘Ghostbusters’ was choreographed by the students themselves and they were joined by well known Knutsford retailer and event organizer, Peter Murray from POP Perfumery as well as the Town Mayor, Cllr Jan Nicholson.

'OLD SCHOOL' IS LAUNCHED This year we launched a pioneering new programme in partnership with Knutsford U3A called 'Old School', which brings together senior members of the local community and young students at the Academy. 'Old School' is based on the principle that senior people have as much to learn from teenagers, as teenagers can from senior members of the local community.

The group met up weekly and working in pairs they focussed on a project called ‘Now and Then’ where they looked at the differences between being at school now and in the past.

As part of the programme we also co-hosted an event called ‘The ‘Great Get Together’ held on 17 June to celebrate the life of MP Jo Cox who was sadly murdered in 2016. The event was attended by over 70 people, including the Town Mayor Cllr Neil Forbes.

CHESHIRE SHOW JUNE 2017 The Academy's stand at the Cheshire Show saw primary school children and many parents take on ‘The Academy Challenge’ with a range of science experiments, including build a brain, organ organisations and exploring non Newtonian fluid.

MANOR PARK ALLOTMENT

Construction students from the Studio School have been helping to build an allotment at Manor Park Primary School. They have completed raised beds, installed plant borders and a new pathway.

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CHARITY WORK

TEENAGE CANCER TRUST Over the year the Performing Arts team have raised in excess of ÂŁ3000 for their chosen charity the Teenage Cancer Trust. Funds have been raised through the many events hosted including Billy Elliot, the Dance Festival and Christmas Concert. One of the highlights saw a team of Sixth Formers take to the catwalk in the annual Runway on the Runway event hosted in the Concorde Museum at Manchester Airport. As part of the fundraising for this four students had their legs waxed in front of packed out audience in the Common Room.

MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE At Christmas Year 9 used the Mannequin Challenge to display all of the 300 plus food items that they had donated to Manchester Foodbank. The video soon became something of an internet hit with over over 2000 views in just 6 hours.

The video can still be viewed on the KMAT TV page at the Academy website.

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In the autumn term Sixth Form students contributed raising funds for the Francis House Hospice with a fancy dress day. Pictured are Head Girl, Olivia Withers and Head Boy, Oscar Edmondson presenting a cheque.

MOONLIGHT WALK

CHARITY WORK

Hannah Lynes and Abby Comline have raised more than £2,000 for a breast cancer charity, after taking part in the London Moonwalk marathon event for Walk the Walk.

Abby said, “We thought it was a great opportunity to get involved and raise money for breast cancer.

It was really exciting preparing, and we had friends do our hair and nails for the event. It was quite tiring towards the end with about six miles to go, but it was definitely worth it.”

LEPRA Year 7 have been working with Lepra, an international charity fighting disease, poverty and prejudice. Students came up with a range of different ideas on how they could raise funds for the charity. Head of Year 7, Ryan Acton, said “So many students raised a huge amount of money, but a special mention must go to some of our top fundraisers: Amy Jarvis raised over £100 doing swimming events, and Pembe Mentesh and Maisie Purcell (all pictured above right) ran a big bake sale together in school raising over £100.”

The students were then rewarded with a Zumba workout led by Lepra representative Jacqueline Fairbairn who commented, “A big thank you for making us so welcome – as usual the students were fantastic.”

WEAR YELLOW FOR CYSTIC FIBROSIS Students were encouraged to wear yellow for the day on the 23 June following a local campaign led by Knutsford retailer Peter Murray to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis.

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LOCAL BUSINESS

CAREERS FAIR On March 29 the Academy hosted its very own Careers Fair with 40 businesses and colleges attending offering an extensive range of opportunities for our students. Year 13 student Sally Hopkins had a lengthy chat with UK Fast on the day which has now led to her being offered an apprenticeship at the business. Almost 400 students attended on the day in the Studio School.

We were also delighted to see some of the stands supported by former Academy students, including Carly Redhead, pictured below left, who now works for Accenture.

MANCHESTER AIRPORT PARTNERSHIP Our partnership with Manchester Airport offers a range of opportunities, with students attending specialist workshops, supporting the Airport stand at the Cheshire Show and visits to the Airport itself. A number of Year 10 students spent the day at the Airport experiencing a variety of roles from the check in and customer service desks, to security and the airport fire station.

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BARCLAYS VISIT Sixth Form and Year 9 students had the chance to visit Barclays at Radbroke Hall. The day offers insight into life at Barclays with students taken on tours across the site visiting the nerve centre of Barclays systems and IT support teams that cover the whole of the world.

HALLE ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP For the third year in a row students took part in a workshop with the world famous Halle Orchestra on 6 July. The students had to design a concert working out the costs, who should perform and then present back their plans to the visitors. The winning team, ‘House of Sound’ was led by Year 9 Grace White, pictured below.

LOCAL BUSINESS

STUDIO SCHOOL WORK EXPERIENCE The autumn term has seen over 100 students in the Studio school embark on their latest work experience placements. This is central to the Studio school curriculum which has a joint focus on academic achievement and preparing young people for the working world.

Students learn valuable life skills through their work experience across a wide range of local and national businesses which can lead to some great opportunities. For example, media student Alex Platts (pictured) spent a day at the UK Headquarters of Mercedes Benz in Woking on a photography assignment. In addition two students are working here at the Academy on a filming assignment to create a new Sixth Form video. Head of Studio Sixth Form May Hawkins commented,“Work experience is such an important part of the Studio curriculum, and is a real plus for your CV when you start to look for employment.”

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EXPLORING

ZIMBABWE AND SOUTH AFRICA During the Easter holidays a group of students visited our partner school in Zimbabwe, Anderson Adventist High School. Anna Collins Year 10 shares her memories of the trip.

YEAR 9 RUGBY TOUR TO HOLLAND The growth in Rugby over recent seasons saw the Year 9 team undertake their first and very successful tour to Holland during the May half term. The team played two games, with a 55-0 victory against Haarlem and the second game against AAC Amsterdam saw a 51-0 victory. The tour was supported with additional training sessions, games of beach rugby and a trip to Amsterdam.

“We took their school bus to get there and on arrival we heard the most beautiful singing coming from the school hall. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. On that first day there, we got to go around the school and experience their different lessons. We were treated like celebrities, all these kids came crowding around us, asking for our social media and even our autographs. Our second day spent with the lovely people of Anderson High, was playing sports. They managed to beat us in just about all the activities we played.

After visiting the school we moved on to Cape Town where we visited the Robben Island, Langa Township, the Victoria and Alfred waterfront, Cape of Good Hope and last but not least, venturing up the spectacular Table Mountain to look out over Cape Town.

This was a wonderful trip and one that I will never forget.�

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ANNUAL SKIING TRIPS February half term saw students from two ski trips hit the Alps. Over 60 students from Years 8, 9 and 10 travelled to Montgenevre in France and at the same time a separate Sixth Form trip (who took the more luxurious option of flying rather than the coach trip) went to Bardonnecia in Italy.

SHANGHAI EXCHANGE Knutsford Academy is very fortunate to have a partner school in Shanghai, and 2017 marked the 16th year of our exchange programme with them.

Having hosted their partners in the summer term of 2016, Knutsford Academy students travelled to Pudong Foreign Languages School during the Easter holiday to experience Chinese culture and traditions and to participate in a range of activities such as: learning Mandarin, arts and crafts, tai chi and cookery.

The exchange is an opportunity to visit the landmarks of a thoroughly modern city that is also full of history. Most importantly, our students were able to spend a lot of time with their exchange partners and their families. This always proves to be an exercise in exploring and appreciating the many things they have in common, despite the differences in geography and background. As ever, our students were reluctant to fly back home and leave good friends behind.

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EXPLORING

BARCELONA Students had a great time exploring the cultural delights of Barcelona on a four day visit in October 2016 enabling them to apply some of their A Level knowledge. Highlights included: wandering Las Ramblas, watching the street entertainers and eating tapas; viewing some imaginative and interesting pieces at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya; visiting the F1 Circuit de BarcelonaCatalunya; touring the Nou Camp and enjoying the beauty of Parc Guell. We all enjoyed looking after Mr Knott to ensure he didn’t get sunburnt!

ROME Mr Walker and his team took 27 Social Sciences and Philosophy & Ethics students to Rome during the Easter holidays. The action packed four days included excursions to all of Rome’s major tourist attractions and the Colosseum, The Pantheon and Trevi Fountain.

The group also got chance to visit The Vatican and Sistine Chapel and in addition to this they travelled south for a day visiting Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius.

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EXPLORING

NYC The Sixth Form Performing Arts students spent the February half term in New York where they attended four Broadway shows including Sunset Boulevard, which stars former Academy student Michael Xavier alongside Glenn Close. After the show the students got to spend some time with both Michael and Glenn.

YEAR 9 TRIP TO MADRID Our first impressions of the city were beautiful, it had tall buildings, New York style billboards and there was a mixture of modern and traditional statues.

Over the four days we went to a language school for Spanish lessons, visited famous museums which filled our brains with knowledge about Spanish paintings, had a tour of the Bernabau Stadium and spent a day at the Warner Brothers theme park. We also visited the main palace and afterwards went to the park which was great as we could go paddling, Madrid was very hot in July reaching 42 degrees one day!

This was a really enjoyable few days as we got to speak and practice our Spanish whilst visiting a wonderful city.

By Charlotte Johnson, Ben Bradley, Jessica Fox & Alysia Blake Year 9

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ACADEMY PARLIAMENT PARLIAMENT MEET THE MAYOR Knutsford Town Mayor, Clllr Jan Nicholson kindly hosted a meeting of the Academy Parliament in the Knutsford Town Council Chambers.

THE ELECTION Hope Philpott & Olivia Brogan Year 10 On 8 June, the school hosted a mock election to coincide with the General Election. Candidates Sofia Chowdry, Year 10, for Labour; Matthew Flint, Year 10, for the Conservatives; and Henry Ficklin, Year 9, for the Liberal Democrats concentrated

their campaigns on education (polled as the most important issue to years 7-10, the voters) and Brexit. Sofia also focused on safer communities, Matthew on healthcare and Henry on foreign policy.

Interestingly the outcome wasn't quite a reflection of the nationwide result, but the mock election gave an important, independent voice, and a taste of democracy, Sofia Chowdry – Labour to the next generation.

Matthew Flint –Conservative

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT TRIP 30 JUNE

Henry Ficklin – Liberal Democrat

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Maisie Jardine (Year 9) & Iwan Rees (Year 12) share their experiences of The Academy Parliament and A Level Politics trip to London “Once we had seamlessly arrived into the hustle and bustle of London life, we set to our first stop at Westminster Abbey. We walked by the Thames, admiring the sites, and crossed Westminster Bridge with tourists everywhere. The tour of Westminster Abbey was spectacular, learning about so many important historical figures buried there and the 28

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events such as royal weddings.

It was amazing to stand on the spot of so much British history, and the building’s architecture was insane! The London Eye was breath taking – Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

Finally, we crossed back over the Thames and entered the Houses of Parliament,

following the Queen’s route during a State Opening of Parliament, including where the cameras don’t get to go.

We explored both chambers of Parliament, from the gold and red of the Lords to the green of the Commons. Our trip to London as Academy Parliament members was an incredible experience – probably a once in a lifetime experience!”

CREATIVITY THE BIG DRAW

Students from Year 7 took part in The Big Draw to celebrate drawing and creating. The event was themed around Roald Dahl’s BFG and students had to capture their hopes and aspirations in a dream jar. Through the design process the Year 7s also prepared a simple quote to summarise their jars, a couple of our favourites were…

My dream is about me and my family going to Perranporth Beach in Cornwall.

It is my favourite beach and I would like to retire there.

My dream is to be an artist and own a sausage dog called Stanley. My favourite thing is something you cannot buy…. time.

FASHION SHOW 2017

Our Fashion Show this year has been inspired by the pastel trend and geometric shapes. It showcased work created by students in Years 7-13 combining their skills to create the show, including: fantastic textile garments, a paper cut stage set, photography, filming of the event and choreography of routines. The Year 9 students are studying Steampunk and have explored an exciting range of materials and techniques to create a collection of corsets, arm cuffs, hats and waistcoats. Year 8 created patterned textile animal masks inspired by artist Laura McKellar and Year 10 and 11 modelled their own GCSE garments inspired by butterflies and rags to riches.

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MEDIA

YEAR 7 ON BBC NEWSROUND BBC Newsround contacted the Academy asking if they could speak to a group of year 7 students on the subject of holidays, following an article regarding the benefits of returning to your favourite holiday hotspot or discovering new destinations. The item appeared on both the CBBC channel and on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC SCHOOLS REPORT David Meaney from Year 7 Over 20 students from Years 7 and 8 took part in the annual BBC Schools News Report Day on the 16 March. The team took on the role of journalists and ventured into Knutsford to capture the latest news from around the town. Between them, they published 7 articles including "Unplug the plug to reconnect the future" in which they visited both the Tesla and McLaren dealerships to look at both petrol and electric cars.

It was a really fun day. I liked being able to choose my own story and then seeing it online for everybody to read!

Rosie, Con and Ted being interviewed live on national radio

BBC 5 LIVE INTERVIEW The day that the General Election was announced the Academy was approached by BBC 5 Live to see if we had any willing first time voters that would provide a live interview for the afternoon show hosted by Nihal Arthanayake. We were delighted that three of our A Level Politics students (Rosie Benny, Con Evans and Ted Parr) stepped forward to offer their views on national radio.

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Together for Excellence

FAREWELLS

FAREWELL YEARS 11 AND 13 Years 11 and 13 celebrated the completion of their GCSE and A Level exams with the annual Prom and Valedictory events, both hosted at the Mere Court Hotel. We wish all our students the very best, whether that be in the Sixth Form, at University or those entering the world of work.

YEAR 11 PROM 22 JUNE

YEAR 13 VALEDICTORY 29 JUNE

AND FINALLY, A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE…

Official Knutsford Academy @knutsfordac Tel: 01565 633294

Design & Print : blueappleeducation.com

9887/07/2017

Knutsfordacademy.org.uk

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