Year 7 Review 2018-2019

The Year 7 Review 2018/19

In this issue: Future leaders p3 Extra-curricular p4 Getting out on trips p6 Performances p7

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This year our new Year 7s will be coming from 46 different primary schools! 23 students are coming from Millfields - that’s almost a whole class!

There are also 23 students who are the only ones coming from their primary schools. Look out for them and make friends!

Welcome from the Headteacher Dear Year 6 students, Welcome to Clapton Girls’ Academy! I hope you enjoy reading this issue of The Year 7 Review, designed to give you an insight into life as a Year 7 at Clapton. Our students have worked incredibly hard this year and have been involved in a huge range of extra-curricular activities. I look forward to meeting you all soon.

Ms Feltham

Hello, I’m Ms Evans, the new Head of Year 7. I was a Year 7 Form Tutor before this and I also teach languages.

Moving to secondary school can be daunting, but my fantastic Year 7 Form Tutors and student ambassadors are here to help and guide every step of the way.

We have an exciting year ahead!

I’m Ms Campbell, the Year 7 Engagement Support Assistant. I support the Year 7 team and the students in so many ways! In the past few weeks I have been to visit some of you in your primary schools.

Our Year 8 student ambassadors came with me to give their perspective on life at Clapton.

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Being a Year 7 Form Tutor is very special. We see your excited and nervous faces on day one and it’s our job to take you through the highs and lows of your first year!

We watch you relax into school life and become confident young women.

The hardest part is saying goodbye when you become Year 8s!

Remember to tell your family and friends that they can keep up-to-date with the latest academy news by following our social media. Every day we post photos and information about all the exciting opportunities our students get involved in as well as their brilliant achievements.

Future Leaders

At Clapton, we focus on championing women’s achievements and have a range of leadership opportunities designed to help you gain confidence and valuable experience to become future leaders and strong independent role models.

A grand total of 31 Year 7s were chosen for the challenging leadership role of student ambassador this year.

Our year in this role has already kicked off and we know it will get even busier in September when we will help you settle into Clapton, and also show off our academy to Year 6s who are deciding which school to go to in 2019!

Louisa, 7P

Words of Wisdom

Awards & Prizes We get awards and prizes for so many things. Ms Feltham, the Headteacher, gives out Special Recognition awards for something outstanding that we have done. We also have an achievement assembly at the end of each term where our attendance and achievement is recognised.

Every October there is a prizegiving evening. Our teachers are nominating us for the trophies now. I hope I get one!

I wish I knew that I would learn how to use a timetable!

I wish I knew that after the first few weeks I would know my way round school!

I wish I had known that teachers and students would help me and I shouldn’t be scared.

I wish I knew that I would make friends easily!

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Naima, 7A

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Florence Nightingale

Marie Curie “Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.”

A Cappella

A Cappella club is something new for me. You have to be dedicated but the end result is amazing.

You also get to perform at the winter concert and sometimes even outside school.

We did a charity performance outside a local Tesco at Christmas.

Eleanor, 7A

Clay Club Beauty by the Geeks discovered the science behind all sorts of lotions and potions! The labs have smelled incredible as we created lotion bars, soaps, lip gloss and loads of other products that would have been good enough to sell on the high street!

When I started at Clapton I had just moved so I knew no one in the area.

We were given the opportunity to join clubs.

After looking at the long list, I decided to go to debating, basketball and tennis, where I met people in other forms and year groups. There I met one of my closest friends and got to know other people from my form.

Ivy, 7P

Phoebe, 7L

Year 7 students are expected to attend at least two clubs per week.

Debating club is fun and educational. It helps with your confidence and teaches you to express opinions that have facts to accompany them. Games are used to get you started on debating many different motions. We are the borough champions this year!

We also helped prepare primary pupils for the Hackney Teaching Schools Alliance primary debating competition.

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Seren, 7T

Gardening

Debating

Beauty by the Geeks

Basketball

“I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse.”

Valentina Tereshkova

Emmeline Pankhurst

Rosa Parks

“It doesn’t matter what country or what political system you are from.

Space brings you together.”

“We are fighting for a time when every girl born into the world will have an equal chance with her brothers.”

“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”

Tennis

This year the Year 7 and 8 B team reached the second division in the Team Tennis Schools Programme run by the Lawn Tennis Association and we only picked up our rackets in September! We were so surprised to reach the semi finals of the competition!

Lea, 7T The Year 7 basketball team got through to the Greenhouse League Finals this year. Not bad for our first time in the competition! We also sharpened our skills in a coaching clinic run by the England Basketball Association and met a professional player from the Brooklyn Nets!

Samarah, 7N

Languages

PSHCE

At Clapton we learn two new languages - French and Spanish.

A new thing I learnt in Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship Education (PSHCE) was that bullying can be an issue in some schools, and it can happen outside of school too!

Imagine yourself in the position of the victim with someone bullying you - it would make you really sad.

We looked at this issue in AntiBullying Week and came up with some great ways to beat the bullies.

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Neda, 7P

Technology I love all the practical things in technology that we never got the opportunity to do in primary school. For example, we get to use machines, saws and hammers in woodwork. We also created our own products in all four of the areas we have studied.

In Food and Nutrition, we learned to cook.

In CAD CAM (Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacture) we cut out products using a laser cutter.

We have made keyrings, fridge magnets and coasters. I am currently doing textiles.

We are making teddy bears!

Florence, 7P

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31 Trips

We have 31 student ambassadors These Year 8 students will help mentor new Year 7s during their first weeks at Clapton Girls’ Academy.

Walking Tour

It was really hot on the weekend we went to Phasels Wood. We had to carry our bags and most people had overpacked!

Throughout Year 7 you will have the opportunity to go on several trips during the school day.

We put our own tents up, which was quite tricky. My favourite activity was the bin bag fashion show, even though my team lost badly!

In the summer term there is a residential camping trip. Here you will have the chance to take part in outdoor adventures and develop your team work skills.

London Zoo

Josephine, 7T We took part in a sponsored walk through Central London. Despite the hot weather we made it past The Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral, the performers on the South Bank and Tower Bridge. We completed our quiz, learning historical and interesting facts about the city as we went around. Year 7 raised £1,900 for six chosen charities.

Ms Evans

As part of our biology topic in science, my class were given the chance to go to London Zoo to look at some of the animals we had been studying in class. There were so many breath-taking things to see and do; from walking through a spooky enclosure filled with giant spiders, to standing only a few feet away from the beautiful Sumatran tigers! My favourite moment was seeing the pygmy hippos splashing in a hot pool of water - almost a hippo hot tub!

Scarlett, 7T

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Skiing

Phasels Wood

The ski trip was exciting. Our instructors were very helpful and caring. I was a beginner, but by the end of the trip I felt like I had always known how to ski.

Harisa, 7A

Do you have any comments or questions?

Why not send us a message on Twitter (@ClaptonGA) using the hashtag:

Focus Days

#AskanAmbassador

#

Performances If you like performing, there are loads of ways to get involved at Clapton. There is a summer and winter festival which showcases talent across music, drama and spoken word. This year music students have put on gigs at our pop-up Clapton Cafés.

If you are not sure about performing you could learn what it takes to put on a show by working backstage in costume and set design!

Focus days are days when we are taken off timetable to take part in lots of different activities and learn new things that we wouldn’t normally learn in lessons.

These are the days when we might go out to other places on trips too.

Clapton Café

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15

September 10am-12.30pm

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September 9.15 -10.30am

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September 9.15-10.30am

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October 9.15 -10.30am

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October 5.00 -7.30pm

Fundraising

Invite your family and friends to our next Open Sessions to find out more about Year 7!

Welfare Wall We get to work with businesses and organisations outside of school to learn about future careers!

We join in with national fundraising campaigns throughout the year. It was so much fun this year seeing students and staff in their outfits on Winter Jumper day and in their sports gear for Sport Relief!

Student Takeover!

A group of us have been working on a Welfare Wall project for Sir Robert McAlpine. We have based our designs on some of the buildings they have constructed. Can you guess which famous landmark is shown below? Our finished artwork will be displayed in their staff rest room.

In December we had a Student Takeover Media day. We had to report on what was going on around the academy.

I loved going out and interviewing students and staff, then rushing back to the ‘newsroom’ to write up my notes and post the finished article onto Clapton’s Twitter and Facebook channels.

This is a display of our Year 6 examples of excellent work. We are looking forward to seeing the work of the Year 6s coming to Clapton in September.

For more information, pictures and stories about Year 7 life at Clapton, visit the dedicated Year 6 area of our website.

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www.clapton.hackney.sch.uk/ parents/welcome-year-6