The Buzz Magazine Easter 2018 This Term at BEA Global Rocking Success At Stage One
Final Whistle Goes Boys U12 Football County Cup Finalists
Contents Community Spirit Senior Citizens’ Lunch PFA Quiz and Chips
Helping You Grow at BEA Launch of Duke of Edinburgh Award Elevate – Managing Revision
GCSE Opportunities The Woman in Black Drama Trip Oxford Brookes University Passport Day
Our Sixth Form What’s new? Recent Trips
World Book Day Sporting Success Boys Badminton Year 7 Boys Football Global Rock
Hot Cross Buns Recipe Games Corner
Community Spirit Senior Citizens' Christmas Dinner - Postponed to Tuesday 27 February Each year, together with the Bourne End and Cookham Rotary Club, Bourne End Academy provide a Christmas dinner for our local senior citizens. This year we had to make the decision to postpone the event in December due to heavy snow. We could not believe it when it started snowing heavily again in late February! We remained determined to give our guests a good time as they were so disappointed in December, and thankfully the snow didn’t prevent the dinner going ahead. Ben in the kitchen provided a delicious Christmas meal with all the trimmings - thank you Ben - you worked so hard and it was very much appreciated by all. The Performing Arts Department provided the entertainment, with Miss Arnold’s dancers and Mrs Smyth’s singers - our guests very much enjoyed the talent put on show. The Sixth Form were brilliant in helping with all the organising of the hall and serving the dinners - thank you - you truly were such good ambassadors for our school. As they left in the snow our students gave each visitor a bunch of daffodils to remember their lovely time at Bourne End Academy. Mrs Kimber A Sixth Form Point of View… On Tuesday 27 February, BEA held a very late Christmas lunch for local senior citizens. This was originally planned for December but was cancelled due to the snow! Students from Years 7-12 performed either singing, dancing or both whilst our local senior citizens enjoyed their food. The Sixth Formers showed excellent community spirit by helping to set up the hall and serving food. It was a very successful event, the Sixth Form volunteers spent time chatting with all the guests and they said they enjoyed their belated Christmas dinner, it was even snowing outside to make it seem even more like Christmas! Courtney McCorkell and Lucy Thorniley
PFA Quiz and Chips Night Last month the SBEA held a Quiz and Chips Night. There were 14 tables of 6 - 8 players and a new quizmaster with interactive questions. The bar was well stocked and the fish and chips arrived in the interval, piping hot and very welcome after the first half. There were about six tables with staff members and the rest were parents and local quizzers. The variety of questions was brilliant and catered for all ages and interests. There was even a crisp tasting round which was actually really hard. The evening finished at about 10.30pm and all left very happy and very thankful for a great evening. The money raised from this event was over £600 – many thanks to all who supported! Mrs Gibbons
Ladies Indulgence Evening Friday 16 March saw another very successful Ladies Indulgence Evening held at Bourne End Academy. The atmosphere was terrific and all the ladies who attended were having a lovely time. Most importantly the Supporters of Bourne End Academy raised £1000 for the school. This is a fantastic achievement and we are all very grateful to our SBEA team.
Look out for more news on our upcoming Beer and Band Night on Friday 11 May.
Helping you Grow at BEA Launching of the Duke of Edinburgh Award
The Duke of Edinburgh award is new to Bourne End Academy for 2018 and 2019 and has already shown to be popular among Year 9 and Year 10 students. Bourne End Academy is now a licensed centre offering Bronze award with the potential to go all the way up to Gold. This is an amazing opportunity for the students who will be able to take part in a range of activities to gain valuable skill for their future life. Students are going to take part in volunteering, learning new life skills, getting active as well as going on an outdoor expedition in September. The outdoor expedition will include an overnight camping stay and a teamwork project with objectives to be met. The volunteering section will allow students to help coach and give up their time to help others after or during school time, this has amazing benefits helping students gain valuable work experience in places. The skills section will allow all students to develop a new aspect of their life. Examples could include how to play the drums, new art techniques or even learning how to surf - all helping students explore the variety of activities life has to offer them giving them a range of new hobbies and experiences. All together, the Duke of Edinburgh award is incredibly rewarding for all those who take part; not only do you get a qualification, you will also get first aid training as well. Bourne End Academy is delighted to start this and we hope to see students go on to complete silver and gold awards in the future
Mr Cooper BEA D of E Manager
Elevate – Visiting Year 11 to help with Managing Revision
On Thursday 11 January, Year 11 eagerly gathered in the Hall to await a talk from a fantastic study support organisation called Elevate. The talk had the intriguing title of “Memory & Mnemonics”. A mnemonic is a learning technique which helps you to remember things. Firstly, we looked at good study “hygiene”, and learnt how to make our environment more study-friendly. For instance, most of us are guilty of having our phones close at hand when we are working or studying, but the world will not stop turning if we switch them off! Using a variety of memory techniques, the Year 11s learnt how to remember and recall information. Most importantly, they learnt how to apply these memory techniques to their GCSE revision. There was an enormous difference between what the students could remember when they did and didn’t employ a memory technique. We were very grateful to Elevate for what was a fun and extremely useful presentation. Ms Witts
A memory technique you can try THE VISUAL JOURNEY Link the words or things you are trying to remember to a room in your house. Create a mini-story for what the image is doing in the room. Picture the story as if it is a film, and make it as weird or funny as possible! It should be weird, about you, sensory and interactive for maximum effect! Examples: RIVER – you find a river running through your kitchen, and it is full of fish (but on closer inspection, the fish are cornflakes!). FOG – you have such a hot shower that it turns into fog and you can’t see a thing. You end up falling out of the shower. RAIN – you are in your bedroom and it suddenly starts to rain chocolate buttons.
Recommended resources Memory apps you can download or log into: Memrise.com Quizlet.com Duolingo.com
Other top tips Post-it your house from top to bottom (sorry parents and carers!) Your home will become an interactive set of notes. Record yourself saying key information, then listen back to it on your walk or bus journey to school.
GCSE Opportunities The Woman in Black – GCSE Drama Theatre Trip On Wednesday 31 January 40 Bourne End Academy Drama students from Year 10 and 11 attended the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden for a performance of The Woman in Black. The performance is a terrifying stage version of Susan Hill’s 1983 Ghost Story inventively performed by a two man cast. Despite the eerie subject matter, Bourne End Academy students distinguished themselves by showing they were made of sterner stuff. Whilst other schools attending on the night were trembling in their seats – screams from our rows were non-existent. Well done BEA! Mr Meadows
Oxford Brookes University Passport Day On Tuesday 9 February 24 year 10 students descended on Oxford Brookes University’s Headingly campus to attend their annual ‘passport day’. The students took part in the interactive day, which was focused around Higher Education. During the event, they were introduced to the benefits of Higher Education, the variety of courses on offer and the importance of expanding comfort zones.
BEA students worked in line with student ambassadors from the University – during the day they were questioned about any concerns someone new to Higher Education might have and got to learn more about life as a student. Our Year 10s got to take part in a university tour, getting to see some of the amazing facilities at the campus; lunch was provided in the main eating hall which went down very well. The afternoon had more interactive activities relating to important things such as student finance, potential careers and pathways into University and a final group challenge which was to create a student society. The winning society was the comedy club idea although Nathan’s joke was absolutely horrendous! Multiple prizes were awarded, however it was Ella Twomey who took the accolade of student of the day for her enthusiasm and input to the day. The students were fantastic ambassadors for Bourne End Academy, and left Oxford Brookes with a wealth of information and enthusiasm for their futures. Mr Bray
Our Sixth Form What’s new in Sixth Form? It’s been a very busy half term in the Sixth Form! Since taking over the role of Head of Sixth Form in January I have been very impressed by the positive attitude of so many of our Sixth Formers who are a credit to the school and their families. Our focus has been to develop an ethos of working together as a team. Both staff and students need to work with each other to push for exciting new developments and make the Sixth Form an attractive place to study. Since January there have been a number of changes and events that have taken place to make the Sixth Form at BEA a more attractive place to study, below are just a few examples:
Improved Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) access for Sixth Formers at both BEA and WHS Introduction of Home Study for those students with over 95% attendance and Good or better grades for Attitude to Learning in APC reports. An Activity Day trip where Sixth Formers visited the V&A museum, Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London and Oxford Street. Interview practice and workshops taking place during Enrichment time. The Interact group continue to raise money for good causes. Sixth Formers doing work experience at Claytons primary school. On the 28th March, historian Dr Marc Morris will be visiting BEA to deliver a talk to A level History students from both BEA and WHS on King John. 7 boys in Year 13 completed their EPQ qualification delivering presentations on their projects on the 28th February. All who attended were very impressed with the levels of work put in and the academic rigour of the dissertations.
The articles which follow detail some of what’s been going on in more detail by the Sixth Formers themselves. The Sixth Formers have shown real engagement this term and this stands us in great stead to make even more improvements to the Sixth Form over the rest of the academic year. Mr Sheehan
Recent Trips Zebra Technologies Who knew that a major business was on the school’s doorstep? On 17 January a small group of Sixth Formers visited Zebra Technologies which specialises in scanning, tracking and barcoding in shops and warehouses. It is the largest employer in Bourne End. After a short tour of the premises we were taken to the demonstration room where clients are taken to view merchandise. We all had a chance to experiment with the scanners and talk to members of their Human Resources team which was very helpful as we were quizzed about good and bad CV writing techniques. The trip provided a great opportunity for the Sixth Form to find out more about local industry and potential employment. Evie Williams, Rebekah Blazey, Georgia Burnham and Theo Taylor
A Level Geography Field trip For our A level Geography fieldwork we visited London to see how different places change and whether the perception of each place changed as the location changed. We started at Oxford Street where we visited estate agents to collect data on house prices and evaluated the different buildings and how they are used. We got the opportunity to have lunch at Nandos and because we were quick obviously a little bit of shopping along Oxford Street! We carried out surveys to find the perceptions of people that were in the area at the time. This allowed us to find out how similar peoples’ perceptions of a place were to the actual reality that we had found out. We used this information to compare it to our next stop at Spitalfields. This area is towards the east end of London and we found that it was, as expected, very different to the centre. This was a more diverse area which had recently experienced gentrification which has had a major effect on the actual physical landscape and peoples’ perception of the area. The house prices were much cheaper and the majority of shops were independent businesses unlike the high-street shops on Oxford Street. We were able to look around Spitalfields market where there were so many unique stalls. Then we got to taste the delights from the many different stalls that are now found at the market before we came back on the train. Anya Gvero
Business Trip to the Eden Centre On 19 February, our Year 13 Business BTEC class embarked on a trip to the High Wycombe Eden centre to conduct various interviews with two contrasting business stores. Our aim was to understand how these stores have used visual merchandising to their advantage and prosper within the Eden centre. We arrived at midday and were briefed on what we needed to do to collect our data for research which would go towards our Unit 16 Visual Merchandising coursework. I left the group promptly and headed for my two chosen stores of Build-A-Bear Workshop and Next. My questions were asked and answered in an efficient manner from both stores, these businesses were both keen to help local students which was very helpful! They were so efficient I had time to type up the responses from the managers and meet up with the rest of the group. Others had chosen to move in small groups for moral support. Overall it was an eye opening and necessary experience in order for our unit to be completed but also interesting to find out more about the workings of national chains that operate in our local area. Tommy Lee
Enrichment: Claytons Primary School Every period four and five on Wednesday we go to Claytons Primary School to help in reception classes. There are four of us who attended Claytons and we are split into two and put into two different classes, one class is called Bronze class and the other is called Silver class. During our periods at Claytons we help out by listening to the children read and helping them if they are struggling with words by using phonics to sound out the letters. This helps with our Health and Social Care course as we study how children’s brains develop intellectually and emotionally and being able to see it firsthand helps us understand how each brain develops differently and how the theories we study relate to this. We also play games with the children which is very useful as we also study how children play and how their fine and gross motor skills develop. It also shows us how they learn cognitively and how they use different play to learn, for example solitary play (where they play on their own) and cooperative play (where they play with others). We also support them when they are doing arts and crafts and encourage them to identify repeating patterns, colours and how the colours can change when mixed with other colours. Also, this shows how they use their fine motor skills when sticking small pieces onto paper and using a paint brush and holding it correctly. We really enjoy our opportunity at Claytons as it improves our studies and helps us to understand how children develop. Cassia Shepherd, Chloe Hyde, Lyuboslava Angelova & Reycelle Racimo
Sporting Success BEA Boys Badminton The boys have had a fantastic badminton season this year. Fixtures began after October half term and we played our last fixture just before February half term. We had matches against Great Marlow, Cressex, St Michaels, Highcrest, Sir William Ramsey, and Sir William Borlase. A special mention is in order for our Key Stage 3 Boys Team made up of Kieran Purchase, Thomas Hawes, Callum Smith, Charlie Williams and Harry Hawtree. This squad won every single fixture in the league. Each and every player has shown huge improvements in both their skill level and their knowledge of the rules and scoring systems involved. Our Key Stage 4 Boys Squad has done brilliantly with many convincing victories and only a couple of really close battles ending in defeat. Our team was made up of Luke Johnson, Max Barratt, Michael Croker, Nyle Goldston, Ben McKenzie and Harrison Wood who are all in Year 10. Many of the teams they played against were Year 11 students so next year’s league hopes are looking very promising indeed. We have had an excellent turn out to badminton club and it looks like we will have numbers to enter a girl’s squad next year! Mrs Kirk
Year 7 Boys Football Coaching the Year 7 Football Team to the County Cup Final has been a fantastic experience for me. Having seen all of the players come from different schools and not knowing each other at the start, makes this even more of a success story than it already is. Bourne End Academy revolves around the ethos of “Believe, Engage and Aspire”, and our group of Year 7 footballers epitomise this. Additionally and importantly, the boys work hard for each other. Instead of moaning at someone for making a mistake, they encourage and work twice as hard in order to win that football back. The cup-run hasn’t been straight forward for us, despite the results. Having faced tricky pitches, adverse weather conditions and crucial team injuries, our boys faced adversity and still came out on top. This all comes down to the team’s growth mind-set – they play until the final whistle.
I could not fault any of our boys for the heart and determination they gave for BEA in this final encounter. Despite the result (1-3), the lads have done not only the school proud, but themselves. On any other day the result could have gone our way, however that is the nature of football. Two very good teams battled it out and somebody had to win. We turn our attention to the league now. Mr Martin
What an achievement to celebrate: Our U12 Boys Football Team acquitted themselves admirably against a strong Dr Challoner’s Grammar School side. Whilst we didn’t win, we did show many strengths in skills, organisation and team spirit. The boys have been playing exceptionally well all year and are just one game off winning the league. To be runners-up in the cup and potential winners of the league in their first year playing together as a team is such a fantastic achievement! Well done boys and, once again, thank you to all the staff and parents who have supported our boys. The students have been well supported by parents, family members and their friends. This shows a real community spirit at Bourne End Academy. Mrs Jacobson
Global Rock Challenge 2018 The build up to Rock Challenge this year has been intense to say the least, from rehearsals being cancelled due to snow to making tutus an hour before curtain up because costumes had not arrived in time. Ideas started flowing back in the Summer Term of 2017 when Becky, Anya, Lucy & Evie were finishing Year 11. With the past competition completed, the ambition for success was clearly in sight, and determination started to play its role throughout the early stages of the rehearsal process. September came and once again there was a high interest throughout the school for participating, with over 70 students auditioning, and plenty of fresh blood from the new intake of Year 7s. The buzz in the studio was electric and it automatically felt like a winning team. January began, and ‘new year, new me’ started to kick in, with commitment levels the highest it has ever been, the benefits were easily recognisable in relation to the quality of movement within each section, as well as throughout the creation of the end 4 sections. The team began to bond outside of the rehearsal room, creating a ‘whatsapp’ group where ideas, congratulations and support were shared almost non-stop, and we are sure this will continue to be used as a team family platform. The Year 12 girls (Becky, Anya, Lucy, Evie & Abi) spent countless hours dotted around school, whether that was in the studio choreographing and planning in the technology rooms designing set with Mr Vaughan and going on to paint this or even just sitting with costumes organising them into individual bags. The hours of hard work and potentially some stress along the way stood us in great stead when it came to leaving for the Wycombe Swan on 13th March. It was a day full of emotions, high adrenaline and beaming smiles. We enjoyed watching the other schools rehearse and enjoyed even more rehearsing ourselves. A big shout out to Mr Meadows’ dancing in the teacher competition as well as Mr Cooper’s air guitar, which we felt was worthy of the title – he was robbed! The evening rolled around, our hair, make up and costumes were ready and we went onto stage and performed our hearts out. All of this time and effort had paid off as we came home as WINNERS for the first time since 2012. If that wasn’t enough, we even came away with an armful of awards including Best Choreography. Miss Arnold
We cannot wait to compete in the finals at Portsmouth Guildhall in April, with more set, bigger make - up and more intricate details on our costumes as well as tonnes more determination. Quotes from some of participants ‘You are amazing for getting us into this place, thank you so much. I am so happy’ (Abi Young, Year 7) ‘Honestly you all did so well. It gave me goose bumps watching you perform. You deserve coming first place’ (Dominique Kuszynski, Year 12) ‘Well done everyone. So much hard work has been put in. Look where it’s got you’ (Callum Dear, Year 12)
PORTSMOUTH 27 APRIL 2018
HERE WE COME!
Easy Hot Cross Buns Ingredients For the buns 500g strong white bread flour ½ tsp salt 2 heaped tsp mixed spice 50g caster sugar 50g butte, chopped into cubes 200g mixed dried fruit 7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast 200ml milk 2 eggs For the crosses & glaze 3 tbsp plain flour Honey or golden syrup, for brushing
Method 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
7.
8.
Tip the flour into a bowl and stir in the salt, mixed spice and sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips. Stir in the dried fruit, then sprinkle over the yeast and stir in. Gently warm the milk so it is hot, but still cool enough to put your finger in for a couple of seconds. Beat with the eggs, then pour into the dried ingredients. Using a blunt knife, mix the ingredients to a moist dough, then leave to soak for 5 mins. Take out of the bowl and cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape the dough into buns on a floured surface. Space apart on a baking sheet, cover loosely with cling film, then leave in a warm place until half again in size. This will take 45 mins-1 hr 15 mins, depending on how warm the room is. When the buns are risen, heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Mix the flour with 2 tbsp water to make a paste. Pour into a plastic food bag and make a nick in one of the corners. Pipe crosses on top of each bun. Bake for 12-15 mins until risen and golden. Trim the excess cross mixture from the buns , then brush all over with honey or golden syrup. The buns will keep fresh for a day. After that they are best toasted and served with butter.
Games Corner
Spot the Difference See if you can spot the differences between the two hens laying their eggs‌ There are 11 to find!
Easter Word Search
BOURNE END ACADEMY SECOND HAND UNIFORM SERVICE The Supporters of Bourne End Academy are setting up a second hand uniform facility for parents to donate and buy school uniform. If you have any unwanted/outgrown items of BEA uniform (including good quality trousers and skirts) or PE kit, please drop them in to the school office and we will add them to our stock. One of our parents has volunteered to operate this service and will be in school twice a month between 3.15 and 4.15pm, when parents/carers and students will be able to view and buy second hand uniform at very reasonable prices. The first dates you can visit the shop are: Thursday 19 April, Thursday 3 and Thursday 17 May. The designated area for the second hand uniform will be the office in G7 classroom which is accessible from the playground. We are also planning to have a second hand uniform stall at the Year 6 Induction Evening on 2 July.
The Buzz Issue 23
March 2018