FACULTY NEWS

Students in Years 9, 10 and 11 had the privilege of attending a careers fair, here in school, where 30 employers and further education providers SSLT CEO APPOINTED TO RSC HEADTEACHER ADVISORY BOARD exhibited on Thursday 7th October, 2021. The event was designed to allow students to seek information from the various employers and colleges regarding their organisations, the jobs they seek to employ, the qualifications needed and the level of job satisfaction that might be on Current SSLT Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and former headteacher, Sarah Skinner, is interviewed about her new position working with the East of offer, should they choose to peruse that pathway. England and North-East London Advisory Board. It fantastic to be able to open our doors and create face to face careers event in school. The benefit of face to face conversations and What exactly is the job role that you are taking on? Can you explain it to us? information gathering was a huge benefit to our students. The interactions and questioning they were able to engage with, was priceless. Students and exhibitors were very positive about the event and both gained much from those interactions. The Head Teacher Advisory board is a group of CEOs or Academy Heads who meet with the Regional Schools Commissioner to determine the applications that come in from schools and Academies that either wish to become an Academy or wish to join a Multi-Academy Trust. It determines All the employers who attended stated that the students at Colchester Academy were wonderful; they said they asked some very intuitive who is allowed to turn from a Local Authority School to an Academy. questions, were not afraid to ask challenging questions and sort as much information as they could, to help them make informed decisions about their futures. Students represented the school brilliantly and made us all very proud. It was a privilege to create and host such an event, next year we hope to make it even bigger! It was a proud moment to see the high level of engagement in the activities. Well done to all our students, we hope the information you gathered will inspire you to aim high and seek to be the best that you can be. Mrs Ross Assistant Principal It is a collaborative group, it is not paid and you have to be voted in. A number of people stood for election and each Academy Head got a vote. I was lucky enough to be one of the four people that got voted in. When you’re heading up a group of five schools with 3,600 children and 500 staff, you have to take your place and do something outside of your own front door and be responsible. I have induction training coming up in June and then the role starts from September. What did you have to do to get here? In order to earn a chance at the position, you had to write an application explaining a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you do and what you stand for. That profile got sent out on a ballot paper to each Academy Head, who read them all and decided who they wanted to elect. What previous experience have you had to prepare you for roles like this? I have done 11 years of Headship and five years as a CEO. You learn to look at information, analyse it and try to make a determination about what’s in the best interest of schools. You look at finances and you look at the viability of Trusts, in order to assemble an informed decision on the application each school puts in. What kind of role will you play in supporting schools like ours? In this role I do not go out and support schools directly. It is quite literally an admin role to read paperwork around growth, but as a CEO, my responsibility is to work with Mrs Betts, Colchester Academy Principal, and the other Headteachers in our Trust, in an attempt to make sure you have the resources, facilities and teachers to bring about the best outcomes. Ultimately, I have responsibility to the Board for all five schools. What opportunities will this open up for Colchester Academy and other schools in Essex? What does this mean for us? It will raise the profile of our Trust in the wider arena. I think the training I will do as part of the Committee will assist future applications we may make if we were to want to expand. I will be working with other CEOs in which there will be new opportunities for growth to be had from working with colleagues. I think there will be lots to learn from both as being part of the Committee and, ultimately, working alongside peers. How will your job affect students and teachers? What change will it bring? It will have an impact on the bigger picture of Academisation in the East of England, so it won’t specifically change anything for Colchester Academy, but it will be about what the prime profile of education looks like for Academies in the East of England. What qualities do you think you will bring to this job role? I think that I will bring commitment, experience, honesty, a sense of humour and a kind of pragmatic approach to things. We can all have dreams and we can “all want this” and we can “all want that” - and it’s great to aim for things – but sometimes you have to have a pragmatic approach to where you are going to start before you can get there. I believe in configuring the end goal, but more specifically, the steps we need in order to get there. And finally, what do you hope to achieve in taking on this new role? I hope to achieve a better understanding that will help inform my role for our schools, as well as stronger relationships with other Trusts and a wider perspective on their behaviours, which will make me more aware of what I want for our children and our schools. So, I think I will gain more of an insight into matters that I wouldn’t be able to access previously. Article and interview by Layla Armstrong, Year 11 Colchester Academy

Realise your Potential with Make Happen Bake Sale The Year 10 students in CoPE have been focusing on working with others this half term. The students have done lots of tasks and had lots of discussions about working as a team and what good team work looks like. One of the challenges asked of the students was to ‘work with others to help raise money for a good cause’. The students spent the last 6 weeks planning, organising and researching how they were going to run the event and which charity to raise money for. Sarah, Hannah and Alfie did this with minimal input from the teacher and they came up with all the ideas themselves. The Bake Sale was a huge success and we must also say thank you to some Year 7 and Year 11 students who baked some treats for the Bake Sale. The 3 students raised over £114 for BBC Children in Need. Well done. Miss Fosker Teacher of COPE

Walton Trip Spotlight Event Olympic Park Trip

On Friday 4 March Year 11 GCSE Geography students spent a On Friday 4th March Year 11 GCSE Geography students spent a beautiful sunny March day visiting Walton-on-the-Naze. beautiful sunny March day visiting Walton-on-the-Naze. The aim for the fieldtrip was to prepare students for the ‘unseen fieldwork’ section of Paper 3: Geographical Applications. In the exam The aim for the fieldtrip was to prepare students for the students are asked to apply knowledge to questions based on the use of fieldwork materials from an unfamiliar context. Fieldwork is an ‘unseen fieldwork’ section of Paper 3: Geographical Applications. In the exam students are asked to apply knowledge to questions based on the use of fieldwork materials from an unfamiliar context. Fieldwork is an essential aspect of essential aspect of geography. It ensures that students are given the opportunity to consolidate and extend their geographical understanding by relating learning to real experiences of the world. The Key Question of the fieldwork enquiry was “How effective are the coastal management strategies at Walton-on-the-Naze?”. Students carried out a range of data collection techniques to test their hypothesis “Coastal management strategies at Walton-on-the-Naze are Geography. It ensures that students are given the opportunity effective”. We compared two sites, The Naze Tower beach and the Town Beach near the pier. to consolidate and extend their geographical understanding by relating learning to real experiences of the world. Students completed beach profiles, groyne profiles, wave counts, longshore drift tests, bipolar evaluations and a cost benefit analysis to collect data to test their hypothesis. Once back in the class room we have been presenting and analysing the data to conclude our The Key Question of the fieldwork enquiry was “How effective enquiry. are the coastal management strategies at Walton-on-the-Naze?”. Students carried out a range of data collection techniques to Students showed excellent team work and resilience, test their hypothesis “Coastal management strategies at persevering to collect all of the data. I would like to Walton-on-the-Naze are effective”. We compared two sites, The Naze Tower Beach and the Town Beach near the pier. Students completed beach profiles, groyne profiles, wave make a special mention to Hayleigh Jenkins for organising her team to ensure data was collected accurately and quickly. A successful and fun day out was had by all! counts, longshore drift tests, bipolar evaluations and a cost Miss Kelly benefit analysis to collect data to test their hypothesis. Once Geography Teacher back in the class room we have been presenting and analysing the data to conclude our enquiry. Students showed excellent team work and resilience, persevering to collect all of the data. I would like to make a special mention to Hayleigh Jenkins for organising her team to ensure data was collected accurately and quickly. A successful and fun day out was had by all! Miss Kelly Geography Teacher Something else Author Visit

Remote Learning, Learning Online, Live Learning …we have been doing it all, at Colchester Academy Lockdown has been long and tiring. Sitting in front of a screen, day in day out, has been a burden on all of us, including students, parents and guardians, and any other poor souls who has assisted in ensuring students at CA have continued to be dedicated to their studies. However, we are immensely proud of our community and cohort of students for the dedication and resilience they have shown in progressing with their learning. It has been a real pleasure seeing our learners flourish, especially with new features, such as the ‘chat function’ in the google classroom. Such a function has enabled our teachers to question students in a different manner, engaging new responses and developing ideas and thoughts in a different way. Further to this, the attendance to lessons of all students has been of an exceptional standard, especially when you consider we, as an academy, have been providing ‘live’ lessons for all learners. Highlights have seen 78% of the academy logging on and attending lessons per day, with this peaking in certain year groups to 82.9% in Year 11, 79.3% in Year 10 and 79.5% in Year 7. Additionally, we have also seen real dedication from our students with 51% attending 4 or more lessons on a daily basis; again, this has peaked at 53.9% in Year 11, 55.5% in Year 10 and 52.7% in Year 9. I hasten to add, these figures are above national averages, as reported by the Sutton Trust. We know we are all yearning for the return of students to the academy. We know that whatever measures have been put in place online, it doesn’t make up for the quality of face to face teaching and lea Prefects are Year 11 students who have been nominated by departments before undergoing a rigorous selection process. They have a range of duties to fulfil including lunch supervision, teaching small groups of younger students and supporting the school’s faculties. Our Head Students are selected from within a group of Senior Prefects. The path to these appointments is rigorous, and before selected, they have completed an application form, delivered a presentation and then undergone an interview with a panel of senior staff members. This year’s demanding selection process was the most competitive the school has Some of our Year 7 and 8 students have been participating during lockdown in a Mini Book Club – At Home reading witnessed in recent years, and due to the quality of the candidates, the decision of whom would become the an ebook of ‘I Have No Secrets’ by Penny Joelson, a page-turning thriller seen through the eyes of a unique narrator. school’s Head Students was an extremely difficult one to make. Nominated for a CILIP Carnegie Medal, it won the FCBG Children’s Book Award for Older Readers. After much deliberation, the above students were chosen to fill the appointments of Head Students. Students met online in a Google Classroom and when we finally came back to school we were able to use a large classroom for our discussions. Well done to Daniel Johnson and Skye Marzell. The last event was a Google Meet with the author, Penny Joelson, who gave us some insight into her writing style Mr Halliwell (lots of Post-It notes) and told the story of how she was once so immersed in her reading, she got locked in a library Assistant Principal for 2 hours after it shut! 1,500 pupils participated in the online interactive event! It was the first time so many pupils across the country took part in a book club. Pupil engagement was fantastic – there were so many questions that Google nearly crashed! We were very proud to have been part of the launch of the first-ever National Teen Book Club. Mrs Hawkins Library Coordinator

A dazzling array of Colchester Academy’s talent was on show at our annual Spotlight competition. This was an opportunity for our young performers to show their talent and dedication in front of a live audience from Years 7-9. In the past our performers have sung to the audience, but this time we were treated to guitarists, drummers, singers, a clarinetist, dancers, and even some onstage magic! Our students applied to get onstage through a rigorous audition process, before being shortlisted for the final. Once this list was decided, our students engaged in a frantic round of rehearsals and meetings to ensure that any performances were stage-ready. This culminated in a final show in theatre on Friday 26th November. Throughout the process, our students showed real ingenuity, dedication and creativity. Any type of performance involves an element of risk, and our performers took those risks and were rewarded with rapturous applause from an excellent audience. Our judges had a very difficult time picking an eventual winner, finally choosing Dylan Mane and Evan Bament (both in Year 9) for their magic trick. The illusion itself was impressive enough, but this was coupled with excellent stagecraft and attention to detail, resulting in a confounding illusion which our students are still trying to work out! Many thanks all our performers, audience members and staff who made our Spotlight event so special. Mr Searl Head of Performing Arts On Friday 11 March, Year 10 Geography students visited London to complete fieldwork for the GCSE course. The aim of the trip was to find out how successful the 2012 Olympics has been in providing opportunities for people in Stratford. On the day, students visited the Carpenters Estate, Stratford High Street, and East Village (formerly the Athletes Village). Students were able to carry out various fieldwork techniques, including; environmental quality surveys, housing surveys, crime risk assessments, field sketches, and questionnaires. The trip was a great success, providing students with a ‘real-world’ opportunity to develop and extend their geographical thinking. Quotes from students attending included; “it is fun doing Geography outdoors,” “the trip has boosted my knowledge for next week’s assessment”, and “it is great to hear what locals think about their area.” All students were absolutely brilliant and many showed confidence throughout the day, when approaching members of the public to complete their questionnaires. In addition, students behaved with great respect and consideration for the area, ensuring local residents and the environment were respected at all times. Mr Noor Geography Teacher