Attleborough Academy Times: Summer 2017

Attleborough Academy Times www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk

Summer 2017

Year 13 say ‘goodbye’ - Page 34 Page 4 AAN Students create BBC School News

Page 30 AAN Year 11 Leavers’ Prom

Year 11 Leavers’ Day - Page 28 part of the

Academy Times Summer 2017 Principal’s Foreword In light of this, I would like to thank and pay tribute to my incredible staff who, even in these challenging times where the focus is so fully on examinations and qualifications, still see the great value in providing so many extra-curricular opportunities for our students.

It is worth remembering that every trip or event requires a substantial amount of preparation and paper work to ensure that the trip is risk assessed and that health and safety and safeguarding concerns are all covered.

The fact that staff are still prepared to carry out this substantial planning, often in their own time and are willing to run residential trips in their own holidays shows the outstanding level of commitment they have to educating our students Please do have a look at the annual highlights video by linking to our YouTube site from the Academy website.

Considering that the video could not include our annual Sports Day or the Year 13 Formal due to the deadline for its production, it is an outstanding tribute to the strength of our community.

As the Summer Holidays approach, it is time for us to pause and reflect on our many achievements in this academic year. Before writing this foreword to this Summer edition of the Academy Times, I started to select the photos and videos which will form my annual ‘highlights’ video to show in my end of year assemblies to the students. It is always a challenge to choose ‘what to leave out’ to get it all into eight minutes but this year the task seems even greater as we have had so many events and extra-curricular activities.

I always promise new parents that we are not just a ‘results factory’ and every year we seem to justify this because the quantity and range of our extra-curricular activities shows that we take our responsibility to help parents educate the ‘whole child’ very seriously. Many of you will also know of my admiration for the saying, “It takes a whole village to educate a child”. In looking at the enormous list of opportunities for students through the activities and events we have provided this year, it seems we might have visited many more villages than just our own!

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The academic year for Year 11 and Year 13 always end with their Leavers’ Days and then the ‘Prom’ and ‘Formal’ respectively. At these events particularly, we always feel incredibly proud when we reflect on how our students have grown into such admirable young adults during their time at the Academy. A member of staff sent me an email after Year 11 Leavers Day which I feel sums this up: “Thank you for today. As I watched the Year 11 Leavers presentation it struck me the contrast between the nervous, shy Year 7’s who came into the school five years ago and the young, confident, happy young people they have become.

It could be that we just had a fantastic photographer on that day, however, I think it is much more than that and despite all our various challenges it is testament to the fact we turn out “good” young people we can be proud of”.

Many thanks to all of our community who supported our Year 11 Prom in June. Every year, we see even greater numbers of our community lining the arrival route to welcome the students in their vehicles on their Promenade. Many of the students looked astounded as they stepped out of their arrival vehicles and onto the red carpet to be welcomed by the photographers and then by our staff. For their proud parents and staff alike, they truly are celebrities for the evening. It was appropriate to see them being so appreciated as they had made such an effort and looked so fabulous. You can view many of the photos from the evening on our Gallery page on our Website. Many thanks to all of the staff involved in preparing for the evening and to Miss Parks and Mrs Cushing who co-ordinated the event.

Similarly, most recently, we celebrated with our Year 13 at the Library in Norwich. Again, this was a splendid event and it is always an emotional evening for staff as we have to say our final goodbyes to our wonderful senior students. Whilst it is always a sad moment to say farewell, we are always comforted with the satisfaction of knowing that we have prepared them well for the next steps in their lives. As always, I must give special thanks to the parents and carers of the students who are leaving. You have been a vital part in our partnership and the major partner in their growth and development. We should all feel justifiably proud of them.

We look forward to welcoming our new staff after the Summer holidays, within which we will learn of our GCSE and A Level results for this academic year. Of course this is the year when English and Maths have been changed to numerical grades and because of the uncertainty within the new assessment system, all schools have been advised to not even try to predict the new national measure of Progress 8. We do truly hope that our Year 11 and Year 13 students get the results they wish for and truly deserve after all their focus and hard work.

Lastly, thank you to all our staff for their hard work, commitment and dedication to improving the opportunities and outcomes for all of our students.

Thank you also to all of our students for their commitment to their studies and for their generally excellent behaviour.

This year has seen even less disruptions to lessons and attendance has shown even further improvement overall.

Finally, thank you to all our parents and carers for their continuous support. We should again feel proud of what we have achieved as a community in this academic year and look forward with confidence to even further success.

Best wishes to you all for a happy and relaxing summer break.

Mr McShane Principal

The staff who leave us at the end of this year are: Miss Bracher (MFL), Miss Burr-Walpole, Miss Burt, Mr Corden (Cover Supervisors), Mr Masdin (House Leader and PE), Mr Ricketts (SENCO), Mr Rosembert (House Leader and PE) Miss Sweet (Mathematics) and Mr Tarr (SRB).

We thank them all for all their hard work and appreciate their input to the Academy. Mr Ricketts will be familiar to many parents as he has been the mainstay of our very successful Special Educational Needs department for many years and has been at the school since January 1990. He and all the staff leaving have been a valued member of our community and we wish them all every future success.

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AAN Students create the news for BBC School News Report Day!

An Attleborough Academy Year 7 English class spent a day learning what it is like to create news to a tight deadline by taking part in BBC School News Report. This is the eighth year running that Attleborough students have been taking part in the BBC News School Report programme.

BBC News School Report gives students in the UK the chance to make their own news reports for a real audience.

The main aim of BBC News School Report is to interest young people in the world around them, by giving them the chance to make their own news. It is also an opportunity for students to inform a real audience, via BBC programmes and web pages, about the stories which are important to them. With access to resources from the BBC News School Report website, and with support from BBC staff and partners, teachers help students develop their journalistic skills to become School Reporters.

On the 16th March, Attleborough Academy joined schools from across the world to take part in an annual News Day, simultaneously creating video, audio and text-based news

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reports, and publishing them on our website. This year, Assistant Principal Mrs McConnell, and Librarian Ms Elliott worked on the day with a Year 7 English class, joined by English and Media teacher Mrs Taylor who had spent the weeks prior to this with her Year 8 students writing articles and filming news. On BBC News Report Day the team were also assisted by Year 12 Literature students Emma and Eleanor and some of the Year 13 Media students were on hand to render the videos ready for uploading onto the bespoke Attleborough Academy BBC News School Report site which was so ably put together by Garry Baisden, Infrastructure Engineer for NES. During the day the Year 7 students researched a range of news sources – from academy based events, through to local, national and international content – accessing BBC live feeds for breaking news. They focussed on items as diverse as an Attleborough Commonwealth flag ceremony, the sacking of Norwich city boss Alex Neil, the famine in Somalia and perceptions of the impact of Donald Trump’s rise to international power. Students were filmed in a studio set up in the academy library and they showed

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great enthusiasm and intelligence in the way they participated. During the day the Year 7s, led by Scott, also interviewed Group Chief Executive of the TENGroup, Mr Dick Palmer, who was visiting the academy that day.

They asked him insightful question about his career, his role as Chief Executive, the challenges and joys he faced, and his views on education. They also asked him to identify what he saw to be the differences in the education he had received as a boy and education today, and they also questioned if he had any personal superstitions.

The Year 7 group all greatly enjoyed the day and commented on the insight they had gained into creating news. They were all thrilled when Principal Mr Neil McShane visited their English lesson the following week to congratulate them on their work and present them with their official BBC News Report certificates.

To access the Attleborough Academy BBC School News website and view some of the excellent videos and articles created by Year 7 and 8 students at the academy go to www.aannews.wordpress.com/2017

Assistant Principal, Mrs Carmina McConnell commented: “Involvement in BBC School News Report Day always gives our students a unique and valuable insight into working in news and the media – particularly the challenges creating content to a tight deadline. It is also a wonderful opportunity for our students to hone their research and writing skills; these Year 7 students have gained great confidence in devising questions, interviewing and then having the chance to evaluate their approaches when they watch the filmed end product”.

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A-Level Geography Residential

In March, the Year 12 Geographers made a journey of pilgrimage to Malham Tarn in order to complete fieldwork for their A-Level course. On the way up to the Field Study Centre we stopped off for a look around Brimham Rocks. Much to our delight, we were able to scramble around the misshapen stacks of rocks with the sun shining down on us. Miss Billin and Mr Barns even found a Geocache hidden in the trees!

The second day saw the students measuring river channel characteristics and working really well as a team; everyone enjoyed a tasty ice cream on the way back to the field study centre. On the third day, students used iPads to collect data on settlement characteristics and what a place felt like to be in. Once all the hard statistics had been calculated, a

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chilled out evening of watching TV or hanging out in rooms was well deserved. We were even invited to see some newly discovered species of lichen, which the British Lichen Society had discovered just that day!

The trip finished with the traditional walk to see Malham Cove and to look out across the limestone pavement, where parts of Harry Potter were filmed. Unfortunately for Hayden Wilby, the soles of his shoes broke off whilst we were walking; perhaps he shouldn’t have worn the ones that were hidden at the back of the garage! As always, the students were all excellent and it was nice to know that the trip also improved the housekeeping skills of Kieran Green and Lewis Moss!

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History Trips

The History department are very happy to have organised and led two extremely successful GCSE trips to Norwich Castle this year.

Our first trip in March took our Year 11 students on a ‘Medicine through Time’ revision day. A great time was had by all as we met a Medieval nun who talked to us about treatments for the dreaded Black Death and we got the opportunity to act a few out (with some hilarious freeze-framing of vomiting)! We also met a Renaissance plague doctor in full costume who led us in an investigation into 17th Century cures - most of which were quite smelly.

Some of us even went to talk to a 19th Century surgeon; although not everyone had a strong enough stomach to hear about the horrors of surgery before anaesthetics and antiseptics and explored the exhibitions instead! After a hectic schedule of revision, we had just about enough time left to explore the magnificent medieval keep, drop a penny down the 41 metre well and have a final group photo.

In April, we ran a second trip with our Year 10 students which took advantage of the castle’s Norman history to learn about Norwich during the turbulent years of the Norman conquest studied at GCSE. This time we were the ones dressing up, as we had opportunities to explore the Anglo-Saxon exhibit and marvel at the Harford Farm treasure. Leaving the treasure behind it was time to take up shields and arms as we re-enacted the Battle of Hastings with the surprising result that the Saxons seemed to have more zeal for the battle and actually won! Battle weary we

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soon recovered to take a tour of the medieval keep and find out about everyday life in the castle after it was built by the Normans; including some Norman table etiquette and garderobe (toilet) habits. In addition, we heard about the revolt of the earls in 1075 when Norman forces besieged Norwich Castle and it was left to Emma, wife of Ralph de Guarder, to negotiate terms and ensure the safety of the castle inhabitants – girl power! Finally, we had just enough time to explore the castle at leisure before returning to school feeling the Normans had never felt so alive to us.

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SEND Garden This term, the SEN department has started its own garden!

The students have worked hard to prepare the earth, pulling weeds, removing litter and turning soil. They even made their own compost from the banana skins left over from Year 7 catering! Students on a TITAN trip to Lidl selected which seeds we would grow and they bought lettuce, tomatoes, runner beans, onions, watermelons, radishes and gourds. So far the runner beans, radishes and tomatoes have grown really well, though we still have high hopes for the watermelons. However, the best growing plants have been the weeds!

The first produce ready in our garden was red radishes.

Ezzie Price and Kieren King had the honour of pulling the radishes, washing them and then eating them. Ezzie gave his radish a 10/10, and Kieren said “9/10, it tasted really nice, but it had a funny aftertaste!� The students are really excited at the prospect of more things coming from the garden, and Ezzie even wants to make a pizza from the produce! Everyone involved has learned a great deal from the garden, and we hope that over the next few weeks the lovely sunshine will give us even more things to eat from the garden!

Voicebox Visit This year, we welcomed the Matthew Project and their Voicebox to the Academy.

Our students had the opportunity to talk with their advisors about the impact of alcohol, and how to cope with the pressure that University life can place on young people to consume more. Over the course of the day, twelve workshops took place and the feedback students returned to our visitors was overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to seeing them again next year.

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Red Nose Day 2017 Much fun was had, and money raised for Comic Relief, with a variety of activities to mark Red Nose Day 2017. Delicious cakes courtesy of Year 7 Steps to Success students, a drinks and sweets stall, face painting, dodgeball games in the gym and a ‘wear something red’ non-uniform day were organised by the Sixth Form Presidents team and Mrs Flaherty.

We also ran a competition for students and staff to write a funny story in 140 characters, with the best ones being posted on the @AANPresidents Twitter page.

A few of our favourites included: “A monkey ate my homework and flushed it down the loo, the teacher caught that monkey and awarded it a blue!” Mrs Jones “Rick Astley will give you any Pixar film you want, but he’s never gonna give you up!” Sam & Aoife Year 8 The total amount of money raised was a fantastic £833.25! Thanks to everyone for their support.

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PE Sporting round up 2016/17 has been a busy year for the PE department and all those that regularly come to PE for extracurricular clubs and fixtures.

With the PE department operating on only just over 3 members of staff we have worked hard to offer our students as much as we possibly could. From netball and football to trampolining, rounders and athletics, to name but a few!

Even our Sixth Form have joined in, with a girls’ netball team for the first time in 6 years. A big thank you to Chantelle Cromack for organising the teams.

Our students this year have been recording their hours of extra-curricular PE, with many students clocking up over 30 hours. These students will be invited on a rewards trip with the department later this term, watch out for the invite letters soon.

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GCSE Syllabus Poet John Agard Performs at Attleborough Academy

AAN students were very fortunate to receive a visit from the award winning Caribbean-British playwright, poet and Children’s author, John Agard in May. His achievements include being Poet in Residence at the National Maritime Museum in 2008, the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry, the Cholmondeley Award and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2012. Two of his poems - “Half Caste” and “Checking Out Me History” have been featured in the AQA English GCSE Poetry anthology since 2002. During this fifteen year period all Year 11 students at Attleborough Academy have studied this as part of their GCSE English exam qualification – it was therefore an exciting moment when the English department staff were finally able to meet the poet in person.

It was a privilege to welcome John Agard to the Academy; his only other performance in Norfolk at this time was as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival Week. On arrival at the Academy, accompanied by the Writers’ Centre Participation and Learning Manager, and ex Attleborough Sixth Form student, Dr Sophie Scott-Brown, John Agard was interviewed by a team of Year 12 English Literature students. Each of these students – Emma Seager, Eleanor French, and Paige Fox have had the accolade of being accepted onto the prestigious Norwich Writers’ Centre UNESCO Young Ambassador’s Programme for 2017.

The Young Ambassador programme, launched in 2016, and funded by the Arts Council, aims for every school in Norfolk to have a UNESCO City of Literature champion.

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These ambassadors share a love of reading, writing and books in their schools and local communities and spread the word of Norwich as England’s first UNESCO City of Literature. The ambassadors are allocated behind-thescenes passes to festivals, events and performances and are given a range of opportunities to interview writers and artists. They can take part in workshops to support their professional development including presenting in public.

Eleanor, Paige and Emma, along with fellow AAN Sixth Former Alice Wells are four of only 17 students in total from throughout Norfolk to join the 2017 scheme.

During the interview by the three students, they questioned him about how he came to be a writer, the process of being published and his life as a writer. He replied “I did not just wake up and want to be a poet. As I grew up, all the things pertaining to language excited me: English lessons, debates, fragments of language – I’d see a phrase, a funny advert, the lyric of a song, a fragment of a hymn. Once you love language across the spectrum you begin to compose.”

To a question about what it was like to be a GCSE syllabus poet he responded that he was glad the exam board chose his poems as he had had some very touching responses.

When asked if he had a favourite poem amongst his own canon, he replied “That is like asking a mother who is your favourite child” as each poem had specific context and meaning to him. He said about his experience at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival that there had been “an appreciative and warm audience, and a good age range from GCSE

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students and senior citizens. I enjoyed myself as for the first time I had the chance to chill out in Norwich and get to know it better”. A range of interesting further questions about his approach to poetry were explored. Then John Agard asked the students about their roles as Young Ambassadors at The Writer’s Centre. He ended the filmed interview, which lasted nearly half an hour, by re-iterating his message that: “If you are ambassadors then the main thing to put over to people is the love of language, that language excites you.”

John Agard then gave a presentation to a hall full of Attleborough students from Years 8,9 and 10. He read from a number of his poetry anthologies and explained the impetus and ideas behind many of them. His enthusiasm for the power of words was entirely motivating and exciting; his energetic and passionate approach to poetry inspired all who watched him perform. Towards the end of the presentation, in time to hear him perform and explain the GCSE syllabus poem ‘Checking Out My History” a large group of Year 11 students who had been taking an exam that afternoon came to witness his performance and had the thrill of shaking hands with one of the writers they have studied for the last two years. There was a final question and answer session where students were able to actively engage with his perceptive observations and imaginative approach to life: everyone agreed it was an afternoon to remember!

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Book Club

As part of Book Club (which takes place in the Library every Tuesday lunchtime) a group of students from Years 7-10 have been involved in shadowing the Carnegie Medal.

It is an annual prize - celebrating its 80th year in 2017 - awarded to the best in children’s and young people’s fiction. Over the course of the last twelve weeks, students have been reading the eight shortlisted titles and taking part in discussions, writing reviews, and designing alternative book covers.

This culminated in a visit to University Technical College Norwich on Monday 19th June, where students met and talked about the books with fellow keen readers from the other TEN Group Academies. They also enjoyed being able to cast their vote for who they thought should win and taking part in a tightly contested quiz, before watching the live screening of the ceremony to see who the judges had awarded the medal to.

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Many were happy that Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys was victorious, although others were disappointed that their favourite hadn’t won; but, as one student said, “they were all great books and all deserved to win!”

Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2017: •S putnik’s Guide to Life on Earth

by Frank Cottrell Boyce •T he Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon •T he Smell of Other People’s Houses

by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock •T he Stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard •R ailhead by Philip Reeve •B eck by Mal Peet with Meg Rosoff • Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys • Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Talk the Talk On the 16th May, Mrs Taylor and Mrs Marsh, Literacy Coordinator, were joined by 50 Year 8 students in a fantastic workshop led by Talk the Talk, a masterclass encouraging “confident communication for life.” During the workshop, which lasted a whole day, students learnt valuable presentation and speaking skills. Having fun looking at body language and playing communication games, it was also visible that everybody had to overcome personal barriers when speaking in front of others.

It was, therefore, great to see how students worked together and motivated each other. The presentations given at the end were personal, well thought through and, at times, emotional.

We had a taste of the power of communication, and we are looking forward to seeing how students will put their newly learnt skills to use. www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk

Year 10 Performance at Norwich Playhouse In March, Year 10 returned to the Norwich Playhouse

It was really fantastic to see just how much our Year 10s

stage. This time they were performing extracts from

have grown in confidence since they performed Macbeth

Blood Brothers, which is a set text for both English and

last year and how their dramatic skills have developed.

Drama. It opened with the whole cast performing ‘Kid’s

As a parent said: “This is a night we will not forget in a long

Game’, a high-energy exploration of the street games

time.” We are hoping that these are lines that will not be

played in Liverpool in the 1950s. We then shared some

forgotten before the closed book English exam too! Well

key extracts from the play and ended with ‘Tell me it’s

done Year 10, you were aspirational and inspirational and

not True’. As Sophie Smith walked up the steps singing

made us all very proud.

‘Tell Me it’s not True, Say it’s Just a Story’ her voice filled the auditorium and you could hear a pin drop. As a final moment, four of our talented Year 8 students stepped through the montage and performed the prologue from Romeo and Juliet, which formed a bridge to the following school’s performance slot.

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Year 12 Drama Students Perform at Norwich Playhouse

In March our Year 12 Drama students performed to a large crowd, on a professional stage, at The Norwich Playhouse as part of the Springboards 2017 Drama Platform programme.

As part of their A Level programme of study, the Attleborough students worked hard under the tuition of Ms Sian Jones, and Mrs McConnell, to create a devised piece of theatre, utilising techniques they have learnt from Drama technicians such as Brecht and Frantic Assembly.

The students chose to focus their research and theatre performance on a crucial and pertinent social issue: the current world refugee crises. During the course of this research they gained a great understanding of the terrible issues that were pulling apart families and causing fatalities as people fled from unbearable conditions created by wars and persecution. Their research was further inspired by visits to the academy of experts in the field who helped

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them bring depth to their projects, by providing accounts of real life experiences. These included a young doctor –Dr Rachel Manning - who has worked recently volunteering between her periods in British hospitals as a medic in European refugee camps, and a sea rescuer for a charity aimed at saving the lives of refugees who are fleeing across dangerous waters to avoid wars. The students’ research made them come to understand that the people undergoing this desperate situation, rather than being merely numbers reported in news reports, became to them real people just like themselves, who, prior to the devastation that hit their country, had previously shared similar lifestyles, and had comparable aims and interests. The students effectively built on the ideas and skills they had learnt studying Brecht and Frantic Assembly to bring a variety of theatre techniques into their creations. The AAN Drama students gave two moving and highly engaging performances to the Norwich Playhouse audience. These represented only part of the final

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devised performance for A Level; full performances of these then took place to an invited, and exceedingly appreciative, audience in Attleborough Academy’s Drama Studio in April.

Ms Sian Jones, Drama Subject Lead and Head of House commented: “Performing at a professional venue is an invaluable experience for our students. They produced two wonderful theatre pieces on an important social issue and we are very proud of them. The performance to a large and unfamiliar audience has given them all great confidence as they move forward to Year 13 of the Drama course.”

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Pint of Science On Tuesday 6th June, two scientists from the University of East Anglia (Dr Stephen Robinson and Mr Benjamin Kirkup) visited KS4 classes 9Fe and 10He and KS3 class 8B1 in their science lesson. This event, organised by Dr Sophia Elias, was entitled Pint of Science: Why Haven’t We Cured Cancer Yet? Ben and Stephen spoke to the students about what cancer is, how it arises, and how it is diagnosed and treated.

Students were shown their own stained cheek cells down the microscope and saw examples of the cancer cells the scientists work with in the lab. The students were able to ask questions and have these addressed by the end of the sessions. Feedback from these lessons was very positive, with students commenting on how much they had enjoyed the lesson and how their knowledge of this subject area had increased. This event was also a great opportunity for students to ask Stephen and Ben about how to get into a career as a scientist.

‘Reading’ Dogs Bringing trained/vetted dogs into schools to act as companions for students to read to is an increasingly popular way of developing a calm environment in which to promote learning & literacy, as well as positive behaviour and wellbeing: “Reading to dogs has been proved to help children develop literacy skills and build confidence, through both the calming effect the dogs’ presence has on children and the fact that the dog will listen to the children read without being judgmental or critical.This comforting environment helps to nurture children’s enthusiasm for reading and provides them with the confidence needed to read aloud.”

(The Kennel Club) On Wednesday 26th April we were very pleased to welcome Keira and Kesha, 6 year-old Hungarian Vizslas, into the Library to spend some time with our students - many thanks to our Science Technician Mrs. Wright for bringing them in. They proved so popular that we are hoping ‘reading’ dogs will become a regular part of school life!

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Professional Footballer returns to his Attleborough roots Professional footballer Danny Wright, who attended Attleborough High School as a student, returned to pay a visit to his educational roots. Danny is currently centreforward for Cheltenham Town and recently scored the goal that kept them in the Football League. He has had a well-travelled football career playing for Histon, Wrexham, Forest Green and Gateshead before signing for Cheltenham.

When Danny was at Attleborough High School he played in the successful Year 10 County Cup winners’ side of 2001, managed by then Head of PE, John Lund.

Whilst on his visit Danny spoke to, and inspired, young footballers currently in the Academy. He talked to Brad Davies, Jacob Edwards and Dominic Campbell. As well as the Academy football team, they also play for Attleborough Town Under 13s, exactly how Danny began his career.

He also met up with Simon Davies who had been his teacher all those years ago.

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Danny’s brothers Matthew and Steven also attended Attleborough High School and his nieces Bethany, Hannah and Elleinor currently attend the Academy.

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Commonwealth Flag-Raising Ceremony To reflect the communal spirit of Attleborough, the schools of the town joined together to witness the Commonwealth flag-raising ceremony in Queens Square on Monday 13 March.

During the ceremony, the Mayor spoke about how the Commonwealth benefited us and celebrated our diverse community. The bright azure and golden yellow flag was hoisted joyously into the air to be marvelled at by the town’s people.

Year 7 Creative Writing Workshop A group of Year 7s were lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a local author, Sarah Helen Binnie, for a two-hour workshop on Wednesday 14th April.

The workshop consisted of looking at local folk tales and students used this as inspiration for their own work.

Students thoroughly enjoyed the session, producing work that will be displayed by The Writers’ Centre Norwich over the summer. Sarah Burt, English teacher, said that: “The highlight was seeing just how engaged the students were when having their stories critiqued, a nervewracking thing for a writer at any level, but they all handled it with great professionalism.”

Thanks to The Writers’ Centre once again for providing an excellent opportunity for our students to expand and develop their knowledge of literature, their own style and writing ability.

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Cedric Anselin Talk We were pleased to welcome former Norwich City footballer Cedric Anselin to AAN to talk to our students about his experience of suffering with depression over the past 14 years.

Since retiring from football, Cedric has become a mental health ambassador for Norfolk County Council and the Football Association, visiting schools and football clubs to promote the importance of mental health awareness, as well as speaking about it in the local media. Mustard Television came along on the day to do some filming, as part of a documentary about Cedric.

Also present was Gabriel Abotsie, who works for the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust as the new Men’s Wellbeing Nursing Lead, to provide additional information and advice about mental health and wellbeing.

This visit follows on from our involvement with the Time to Talk Day in February, a national event led by Time to Change, which aims to break the silence around talking about mental health.

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Careers events at AAN 2016 -17

It has been another packed year of careers events at the Academy. Ensuring that students have a broad awareness of the range of careers opportunities and routes into further education available to them is key to the Academy’s extra-curricular provision and so we are very proud of the many activities that have taken place this year: New Scientist Live: In September a group of year 11 and A-level students visited the New Scientist live event at the Excel arena where they attended lectures by cutting edge researches and explored a range of interactive stalls focusing on the latest research and development within science and technology. This included the latest in virtual reality technology and simulations of life on a space station.

Students were also able to talk with practicing scientists, industry experts and recruitment teams from some of the country’s leading universities.

Career fair, supported by our membership of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. Business that attended included KLM, Carters construction, local Veterinary practice CVS vets who bought their dog Poppy and Local business Anglia demolition even brought one of only three JCB simulation devices in the country. Students developed both their awareness of careers but also their interpersonal skills as they toured the fair interacting with potential future employers.

Norfolk Skills and Careers festival: The festival ran again this year at the Norfolk show ground and we were pleased to take 50 year 9 and 10 students. Students were able to visit stands from employers across Norfolk, find out more about higher education and apprenticeships and watch the many participants competing in the annual construction and engineering competitions that were taking place.

Kidzania trip: In March as part of International women’s week 50 year 7 girls visited Kidzania in London. This purpose built careers experience allows students to role play a range of careers included medicine, broadcasting and engineering. Throughout the experience the students earnt kidzo’s currency and were able to spend their earnings at the end of the day.

Careers fair: We were extremely proud this year to have over 30 local, national and international businesses attend our

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Royal Marines Visit: We were very lucky to have the Royal Marines visit again this year; they spoke to a group of brave year 9 and 10 students about life in the Marines and then put them through their paces in a physical training session.

The students were highly challenged by the expectations of the sessions but showed exceptional resilience and team working with them all making it to the end.

Still more to come: And that is just a list of events that have occurred so far this year. Still to come will be the year 10 work experience and a year 8 and 9 trip to Easton College during Pledge week. This will be reported on in the Autumn edition.

Ms Edwards

Royal Navy catering challenge: We also had a visit from the Royal Navy Catering officers who spent the afternoon with a group of year 9 and 10 students completing a ‘Ready steady cook’ style challenge. The officers presented the students with a mystery bag of ingredients and they were given 90 minutes to prepare two dishes. The students excelled themselves with a selection of fantastic chicken dishes and even some choux pastries and meringue deserts. The Navy officers gave the students some excellent feedback and were very impressed.

Royal Air Force STEM roadshow: The Royal Air Force also sent a team to the Academy who presented to year 8 and 9 students their roadshow called ‘Fun with flight’. The show taught students both about the science and technology behind flight as well as about the many careers available in the Royal Air Force. The students were treated to watching a start of the art surveillance drone fly over their heads and record them with its cameras, a Ruben’s tube demonstration and even a real miniature jet engine was demonstrated; showing both the noise and power of these impressive engines.

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National Link Project with Ambler School

A Year 7 Attleborough Academy English class were very excited to each receive a personal letter in June from students who attend Ambler School in London. The decorated envelopes containing the letters were opened in their English lesson and the students shared the news they contained and the information about the lives and experiences of the students in this inner city London school.

The letters were part of Attleborough Academy’s four year National Link Project with Ambler School in Islington, London. The project was established by Attleborough Assistant Principal, Mrs McConnell, and Ambler Headteacher, Ms Juliet Benis, with the aim of sharing the students’ contrasting school, and life experiences. The project gives Attleborough students a window into the lives of inner city school pupils; lives within a very different environment to their own. However, it also shows them the similarities within their education and experiences; how much they share the interests, outlook and hopes and dreams as other children of similar ages. Mrs McConnell and Ms Benis also developed the project in order to identify ways in which they can effectively share best practice across the contrasting contexts of an urban primary and

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rural secondary school and explore the ways students can interact further and develop their learning and their understanding of different heritage and lifestyles.

This year the project began with Year 7 Attleborough students composing handwritten letters where they introduced themselves to the Year 6 students at Ambler and explored key aspects of their lives and their perspective on what made Norfolk unique and why they enjoyed living here. The Ambler Year 6 class received the letters with great excitement and expressed a deep interest in learning about life in Norfolk and the similarities and differences between their lives, backgrounds, education and those of the Attleborough students. In their return letters, the Ambler students answered many of the questions the Attleborough students had asked about their school, heritage and interests, and gave them a range of interesting information about their day to day lives. As one Attleborough student commented: “It is just so exciting to receive a letter. It is the waiting for it that makes it just thrilling; it is not like email where you get it immediately. And you can hold it and take your time to read.” Another student said “ It is brilliant to get

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to know someone who is a similar age and lives somewhere completely different to me. The student who writes to me speaks two other languages - that must be incredible – but they like the same things I do.”

Assistant Principal Mrs McConnell commented: “This link with Ambler allows my students to practise and extend their writing skills in an interesting and meaningful way, whilst also building friendships with children from an inner city school; a contrasting environment to Attleborough Academy. The students always love receiving the letters – the thrill of the envelopes arriving, opening them, reading and learning about an individual of a similar age with different experiences is always very exciting. Students learn a good deal from this project, both in terms of reading and writing skills and socially in their interactions with the other students.”

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Student Achievements Jack Spall A former Attleborough student who is now a full-time athlete with Team GB has become a sporting ambassador, helping to inspire future generations to take part in sport.

Jack Spall, 18, the current British National Heavyweight Taekwondo Champion, has taken on this role for the Norfolk-based charity Premier Foundation. As part of this, he will visit sporting events and schools to promote sport to children and young people.

Jack hopes to represent Great

Owen Stewart Owen is a keen gymnast and, in May, took part in the Levels 4 & 5 Apparatus Championships at his gymnastics club. He won two gold medals, in the vault and the floor disciplines, achieving the best floor score of the day out of all competitors aged 10-18 years! As a result, he qualified for the regional competition taking place later this month.

Good luck Owen.

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Google Expeditions

In March, all Year 7-10 students had the chance to go

Peru and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro;

on a global field trip with the help of Google Expeditions.

whilst others had the chance to dive underwater with the

The trip was undertaken using a virtual reality teaching

marine life in the Great Barrier Reef. Here they could meet

tool that let students immerse themselves in different

manta rays whilst exploring the diverse ecosystem living in

places all over the world using VR headsets. Some

the corals. Even with all of the excitement of traveling the

groups managed to get up close with the modern

world the students were all still home in time for tea!

wonders of the world, which included the Great Wall of China, the ancient Inca settlement of Machu Picchu in

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Year 11 Leavers’ Day

Year 11 students at Attleborough celebrated their Leavers’ Day on Wednesday 21st of June. It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of a long and intense exam season, for which the students had put in lots of revision and hard work. It was a fancy dress day and the costumes were varied and inventive. The most originally dressed awards went to Sarah Richardson who came as a clown and Jamie Currie who came as a Scottish piper.

After having a Leavers’ Assembly where rewards were distributed for endeavour and achievement, and anecdotes and photos of the students when they were younger were shared, the students paraded in front of the rest of the

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Academy, before enjoying a barbecue - in perfect weather!

Jamie serenaded the diners by playing ‘Amazing Grace’ on the bagpipes. In return, the students expressed their thanks to teachers who had encouraged and inspired them during their time at the Academy.

Neil McShane, the Principal said, “The Leavers have conducted themselves really well in what has been a very enjoyable day. This is a reward for all their hard work and efforts and we look forward to them receiving their examination results in August. They are a credit to their families, the community and the Academy”.

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Caythorpe Revision Weekend Year 11’s have found all the revision that has been required over the last few months tough but during the last weekend of March, 48 students plus 7 teachers all took up the opportunity of spending the weekend together at the PGL site at Caythorpe; this consisted of revising for three hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings in English, Maths and Science. This was then contrasted with physical activities such as archery, Jacob’s ladder and the ‘leap of faith’ as well as zip wiring in the afternoon sessions. During the evenings, students played various team games and on the Saturday evening had a camp fire outside. Although cold, everyone enjoyed singing songs around the camp fire and toasting marshmallows.

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All students participated and behaved excellently with the PGL team saying that it had been a real ‘pleasure’ to have them working with them over the weekend.

Students felt that they had made progress in their subjects, learning quotes or revising with their teachers on certain aspects they were unsure of but also had some time to relax with friends and gain confidence in a new activity.

This is now the second year AAN has taken a group of students away for a Revision Weekend just before Easter and, as it is proving to be such a success, Year 10s will have to sign up quickly to ensure their place is secured for 2018.

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AAN Year 11 Leavers’ Prom 2017

The Attleborough Academy Year 11 students’ arrival at their Prom is always witnessed by a huge crowd of well-wishers, and this year was no exception: proud families, friends and members of the local community, and all the academy teaching staff were there to watch the spectacular entrances onto the red carpet at this June event. The Prom celebrates the end of the students’ GCSEs, and the culmination of their five years at the Academy, and this year group kept up the tradition of previous Attleborough Proms when they arrived in a variety of stunning original vehicles: tractors, limousines, sports cars, classic cars and even a golden carriage pulled by a human horse!

All the students dressed up in their finest attire and looked fantastic as they alighted onto the red carpet amidst flashing cameras and applause. Students were treated to a wonderful, and entirely memorable, evening of beautiful frocks, wonderful food and dancing into the night to a disco ran by Head of House Mr Justin Needs.

This exemplary planning and organisation of the event was carried out by a team of Attleborough Academy staff and students, led by Miss Parks, Inclusion Centre Manager and Mrs Cushing, Head of Lower School, with Garry Baisden, Infrastructure Engineer, and Stefan Middlebrook, Senior ICT Technician, who also ran the ‘mocktails’ soft drink bar during the evening. During the night all the Attleborough teaching staff took on different roles to ensure that every aspect of the event went smoothly and allowed all the Year 11s to just focus on having a fantastic time on their special night.

The Academy Hall went through an astounding transformation to meet the pazzaz, glitter, and sparkle of this year’s theme of ‘The Great Gatsby’: an array of soft inviting lighting adorned the walls and the beautifully dressed tables; specially made cloth chair covers; 30

the screens relaying fabulous parties and dancing from the jazz age, the celebratory photo corner; the McShane’s restaurant with food provided by the school catering staff from Edwards and Blake; The Mocktail bar and the popcorn machine served by Assistant Principal, Mr Barns. Once all the arrivals had been greeted and photographed by the crowd, Principal Mr McShane gave a welcoming address to the students to begin the celebration. The students had a wonderful time enjoying the food and drink and dancing the night away at the disco, during which Mr Justin Needs organised dance competitions and awarded different dance categories.

During the evening students and staff voted for their choice of student in each of a range of categories, and at 10.15, Mr McShane led the award ceremony, where the following students were awarded trophies: Prom King

Deivids Bukovskis

Prom Queen

Chloe Williams

Most Likely to be Famous

Matthew Kennedy

Funniest Person

Joe Gyde

Cutest Couple

Keelan Greer and Rebecca Parsons

Biggest Transformation (Male)

Tom Golke

Biggest Transformation (Female)

Lace Hankins

Best Dressed (Male)

Kah Zheng Yap

Best Dressed (Female)

Peta-Ann Mackintosh

Best Arrival

Becci Ord

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Mr McShane then thanked all the students for their contributions to the life of the Academy during their time at Attleborough, and wished all the students well for the future; many will, of course, be returning in September as Sixth Formers here. He commented about the evening: “This is always an outstanding celebration of our students’ time in the main academy. The community showed fantastic support for our Year 11 who looked like celebrities as they stepped out of amazing display of vehicles onto the red carpet to the cheers of the crowd. It seemed like half of Attleborough had turned up to show their amazing support for our students.I am sure all the parents will have felt as justifiably proud as we all do”.

This was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of their GCSE year for the Year 11 Class of 2017 and our thanks go to everyone who helped to make it such a special evening.

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AAN Year 11 Leavers’ Prom 2017

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Year 13 AAN students say ‘goodbye’ to fellow students and staff

On their last official day at Attleborough Academy, our 2016-2017 Year 13 students made a tremendous effort dressing up for the occasion and ensured it was a day they would remember for the rest of their lives.

The fancy dress the students wore ranged from Alice in Wonderland and The Mad Hatter, through to a Tiger, The Grinch, members of The Royal Family, fairies and even bananas. Although Year 13s will attend their lessons at the academy up until they sit their final exams in each subject, for these students this was the official end of the seven years of their young lives spent at Attleborough Academy.

After a morning of lessons, the Sixth Formers attended a celebration assembly led by Head of Sixth Form Mr Andy Cole. During this time the students enjoyed sharing a selection of memories and humorous events that had occurred in their lives at the academy. Mr Cole related anecdotes about individuals and groups of students and showed photos and videos from across their years at the Academy, which for many of the students began at age 11 when they joined the academy in Year 7. They then spent time with their Sixth Form tutors who have guided them 34

through their two years of study here. Later the students went out into the May sunshine on the Academy playing fields for games of rounders against their contemporaries and tutors. Later in the day the students enjoyed a barbeque whilst they grouped for photos with the friends and teachers that have been such an important of their lives at Attleborough Academy.

Head of Sixth Form, Mr Andy Cole commented: “We are very proud of the group of young people who are leaving us this year. They are a credit to themselves and their community, and we wish them the very best of luck for the future.”

Attleborough Academy’s Principal Mr Neil McShane commented: “This Year 13 group have shown great commitment to their studies in response to the expert guidance of our staff and we wish them all the very best in the next stage of their lives. They have been excellent role models for the rest of the academy. We know they are now well equipped to continue their journey into further education and the world of work.” www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk

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What to do if you are unable to collect your exam results: You can give written permission, which should be signed and dated, for someone else to collect your results on your behalf. Please state the name of the person you wish to collect your exam results.

You can give written permission, which should be signed and dated, for your results to be e-mailed to you on results day. Please include your email address (NOT your AAN students email address).

You can give written permission, which should be signed, dated, and accompanied with a stamped addressed envelope, for your results to be posted on results day.

ALSO please remember that if you are unable to attend the presentation evening, you need to make arrangements for the collection of your certificates: You can give written permission, which should be signed and dated, for someone else to collect your certificates on your behalf. Please state the name of the person you wish to collect your exam certificates.

You can give written permission, which should be signed and dated and accompanied with an A4 stamped addressed envelope, for your certificates to be posted to you.

Examination Certificates will NOT be sent to you automatically.

Email: exams@aan.norfolk.sch.uk The Exams Office