Academy Life - Issue 18

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Life.

Issue 18 | July 2021

Newsletter

Resilience - Excellence- Respect

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Issue 12 | October 2019 W e l c o m e m e s s a g e f r o m

M

r s

B e t t s

1,000 PaperColchester Cranes Academy As a welcome back project, Ms Coburn invited all of our students to fold a paper crane with a wish or hope for the future contained within it. This comes from an old Japanese tradition where people fold 1,000 cranes to make their wishes and hopes come true. We didn’t quite make 1,000 but they do make such a positive splash of colour in our windows. Any student who made one will see their crane hanging up and hopefully remember the Newsletter positive wish for the future contained within it. Ms Coburn Team Leader Art & Technology

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Dear Parents and Carers What a year this has been – a year where our incredible young people have stepped up time and time again and demonstrated our Academy values of resilience, excellence and respect. I, like you, are incredibly proud of them. This issue celebrates, not only the excellent work produced in lessons, but also the additional experiences that students have had on offer to them. The Duke of Edinburgh participation and success with the Bronze Award has developed those skills, which only outdoor life can really develop. Our focus on oracy and public speaking gave Year 10 the opportunity to develop these vital life skills, in addition to sharing their thoughts on political and social issues beyond our school gates. Listening to our young people share their thoughts on the world and the change they would like to see in an intelligent, well structured and confident manner – gave me confidence in the future and I fully expect them to be involved in future political and social change. It was my absolute privilege to interview students for the roles of Head Students, Deputy Head Students and Senior Prefects. I know I compliment the students every year for being involved in this process, but this year the bar was particularly high! Congratulations go to all who raised their head above the parapet to interview for these roles, the new Head Students are revealed inside. As restrictions ease on Monday 19 July, I would like to wish you a safe and restful break, we are planning, and hoping for, a return to more ‘normality’ when we are together again in September. We will of course write to you to update you on those plans in late August, to give the Government chance to update us of plans dependent on the situation at the time. Again, thank you for your support this academic year – as I constantly tell staff, students, visitors, and anyone who will listen, this is a fantastic place to be and a great community to serve.

J B etts Mrs J Betts Principal

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Culture - Character - Currency - Commitment

Duke of Edinburgh Our wonderful Year 10 students have been working hard towards their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award over the past year. This has been achieved through an after-school training programme consisting of orienteering, map skills, route planning, first aid and outdoor cooking, in preparation for a two-day expedition. There are four sections to complete at Bronze level. They involve helping the community/environment, becoming fitter, developing new skills, planning, training for and completing an expedition. It is all about setting challenges and pushing personal boundaries. Students have said that the Award has boosted their mental health and wellbeing and helped them face and overcome personal challenges. Through a DofE programme young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, problem-solving, team-working, communication and drive, enhancing CVs and university and job applications. Top employers recognise the work-ready skills Award holders bring to their business. Through the volunteering section students have also made a difference to other people’s lives and the community, whether it be mentoring a younger sibling, litter picking in the community or assisting an elderly neighbour. The students set off on their overnight expedition on 11 June until 12 June. Due to COVID restrictions we had to camp on the school field, but students took this in their stride. Students had to complete two day walks with an overnight stay. One walk took the students on a circular route around Elmstead and back to school, and the other day saw them walking the Wivenhoe Trail. Independently, students had to navigate the route using a map and compass, with staff checking up on them along the way. Once back at school students were assessed on their ability to set up their tents and use a trangia to cook a nutritious evening meal. All the students work tirelessly as a team and their determination and resilience shone through at the end of the two days! A huge congratulations to Layla Armstrong, Annalise Gazzard, Katie Hempstead, Dharyan Kanadia, Amelia-Jane Lee, Abby Leech, Sam Lund, Skye Marzell, Kaitlin McGenn, Coryn Morrisson, Honey-Sue Moules, Aaron Perales, Alexander Rowley, Fabliha Sarwar and Alanna Stockbridge for successfully completing the Award. We look forward to welcoming the current Year 9 students onto the programme next year and we hope that this year’s cohort will go on to complete their Silver Award. Miss Kelly Geography Teacher & DofE Co-Ordinator

Realise your Potential with Make Happen

This term Year 7 students have had ‘The Bookbuzz Experience’. Bookbuzz is part of the BookTrust – a charity which aims to encourage students to read by providing them with their own books to keep. Here’s what some of our students had to say. Jasmine 7O2 Switch-Up To start our Bookbuzz journey we watched a video containing a review of each of the books.I chose the book SwitchUp about two girls who board the same flight to London. It’s the beginning of the craziest plan ever. Damiola 7H1 Animals Up Close Bookbuzz is a book company dedicated to getting books to Year 7 students for free. I think Bookbuzz is a fabulous charity as I was not a fan of reading. In class we watched a 24 minute film about the books and the Colchester Academy students have benefitted enormously from this organisation and the wonderful events they have to offer, explained the stories. and weauthors will continue to support our students through offering everything Make it Happen has to provide, to ensure our students have bright futures. Below are links and information areas for you to explore. Please sign up for any events you wish to, they Tristan Bad Man are all there to7L2 helpLittle support our community, particularly through what is a very challenging time. Bookbuzz has helped me a greatthese deal. events, Insteadplease of me do having pay fortoa contact us via general@colchesteracademy.org.uk. If you need any support in accessing not to hesitate book (reading is now one of my favourites) Bookbuzz put it in my hands for I could notstep thank We are free. with you every ofBookbuzz the way. enough for putting such a brilliant book in my collection. Mrs Ross Marleigh-Rose 7L2 City of Ghosts Assistant Principal and Raising Standards Lead I’ve always enjoyed mystery books so when I saw City of Ghosts I knew I

Jack Petchey Foundation On Wednesday 16 June, Year 10 had the excellent opportunity to work with the Jack Petchey Foundation’s Speak Out challenge, which offered a workshop to develop our speaking skills. This ran throughout the school day, and we were placed into groups, with a trainer from Speakers Trust assigned to each. The Jack Petchey Foundation partners with Speakers Trust to provide the challenge, which aims to build confidence in students’ skills in communication. Activities involve impromptu speaking and describing personal stories, with the workshop culminating in a speech performed before the rest of the group. The Speak Out challenge focuses on improving young people’s abilities and confidence in their speaking. We went through exercises about body language, our confidence and ability to improvise, and then the content of speeches. In my group, one of these exercises was listing features that we could think of that made up a good speech in terms of three categories: vocal, visual and verbal. This was useful for me because it helped me to divide areas of effective speaking to focus on aspects I might not usually consider. The workshop was helpful to me because it definitely improved my confidence in my speaking ability, especially in terms of how I present myself. It also gave me a much better understanding of how to structure a speech, which is very useful to me because I have my spoken language exam soon, and also will give speeches before an audience as a Head Student. The Speak Out challenge was a positive experience that resulted in a growth in confidence and comprehension. Daniel Johnson Head Student

Realise your Potential with Make Happen

This term Year 7 students have had ‘The Bookbuzz Experience’. Bookbuzz is part of the BookTrust – a charity which aims to encourage students to read by providing them with their own books to keep. Here’s what some of our students had to say. Jasmine 7O2 Switch-Up To start our Bookbuzz journey we watched a video containing a review of each of the books.I chose the book SwitchUp about two girls who board the same flight to London. It’s the beginning of the craziest plan ever. Damiola 7H1 Animals Up Close Bookbuzz is a book company dedicated to getting books to Year 7 students for free. I think Bookbuzz is a fabulous charity as I was not a fan of reading. In class we watched a 24 minute film about the books and the Colchester Academy students have benefitted enormously from this organisation and the wonderful events they have to offer, explained the stories. and weauthors will continue to support our students through offering everything Make it Happen has to provide, to ensure our students have bright futures. Below are links and information areas for you to explore. Please sign up for any events you wish to, they Tristan Bad Man are all there to7L2 helpLittle support our community, particularly through what is a very challenging time. Bookbuzz has helped me a greatthese deal. events, Insteadplease of me do having pay fortoa contact us via general@colchesteracademy.org.uk. If you need any support in accessing not to hesitate book (reading is now one of my favourites) Bookbuzz put it in my hands for I could notstep thank We are free. with you every ofBookbuzz the way. enough for putting such a brilliant book in my collection. Mrs Ross Marleigh-Rose 7L2 City of Ghosts Assistant Principal and Raising Standards Lead I’ve always enjoyed mystery books so when I saw City of Ghosts I knew I

Meet our new Head Students Prefects are Year 11 students who have been R e m o t e L e a r n i n g , L e a r n i n g O n l i n e , L i v e L nominated e a r n in g by … w e h a v e b e e n d o i n g i t a l l , a t C o l c h e s t e rdepartments before undergoing a rigorous A cad em y selection process. They Lockdown has been long and tiring. Sitting in front of a screen, day have a range of duties to in day out, has been a burden on all of us, including students, lunch parents and guardians, and any other poor souls who has fulfil assistedincluding in ensuring students at CA have continued to be dedicated tosupervision, their teaching studies. small groups of younger students and supporting However, we are immensely proud of our community and cohort of students for the dedication and resilience they have shownthe in school’s faculties. progressing with their learning. It has been a real pleasure seeing our learners flourish, especially with new features, such as the ‘chat Our Head Students are function’ in the google classroom. Such a function has enabled our selected teachers to question students in a different manner, engaging new from within a responses and developing ideas and thoughts in a different way. of Senior Prefects. group The path to these Further to this, the attendance to lessons of all students has been of is rigorous, an exceptional standard, especially when you consider we,appointments as an and before selected, they academy, have been providing ‘live’ lessons for all learners. Highlights have seen 78% of theand academy on and attending have completed an application form, delivered a presentation thenlogging undergone an interview with a panel lessons per day, with this peaking in certain year groups to 82.9% in of senior staff members. This year’s demanding selection process was the most competitive the school has Year 11, 79.3% in Year 10 and 79.5% in Year 7. Additionally, we have witnessed in recent years, and due to the the candidates, the decision of whom also quality seen real of dedication from our students with 51% attending 4 orwould become the moredifficult lessons onone a daily again, this has peaked at 53.9% in Year school’s Head Students was an extremely tobasis; make. 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. After much deliberation, the above students were chosen to fill the appointments of Head Students. We know we are all yearning for the return of students to the We know that whatever measures have been put in place Well done to Daniel Johnson and Skye academy. Marzell. online, it doesn’t make up for the quality of face to face teaching and lea Mr Halliwell Assistant Principal

Something else

Author Visit Some of our Year 7 and 8 students have been participating during lockdown in a Mini Book Club – At Home reading an ebook of ‘I Have No Secrets’ by Penny Joelson, a page-turning thriller seen through the eyes of a unique narrator. Nominated for a CILIP Carnegie Medal, it won the FCBG Children’s Book Award for Older Readers. 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. The last event was a Google Meet with the author, Penny Joelson, who gave us some insight into her writing style (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 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

Star Student: Harry Sugden Harry Sugden (Year 8) participated in the Pearson’s World Changers competition during lockdown. He chose to solve the issue of littering on Clacton beach and designed an intervention to stop this. One weekend he decided to go and collect the rubbish on the beach using a litter picker. He found plastic bags, broken bottles, plastic straws, tinfoil, face masks, ketchup sachets just to name a few. To deter the public from littering, he wanted the council to have hard hitting posters on their bins. ‘Big or Small, Bag it all!’, ‘Take only memories, leave only footprints’ were two of the slogans he came up with to go on his posters. He presented his research and ideas to the judges which left them feeling impressed. In his speech he explained how he would fund the posters using local businesses, showed his designs and provided evidence of how they could solve the issue of littering. Pearson’s then featured Harry for ‘World Environment Day’ and ‘World Oceans Day’ in May 2021. By solving issues in our local community, he has demonstrated that he is a world changer. Miss Davies Science Teacher

Realise your Potential with Make Happen

This term Year 7 students have had ‘The Bookbuzz Experience’. Bookbuzz is part of the BookTrust – a charity which aims to encourage students to read by providing them with their own books to keep. Here’s what some of our students had to say. Jasmine 7O2 Switch-Up To start our Bookbuzz journey we watched a video containing a review of each of the books.I chose the book SwitchUp about two girls who board the same flight to London. It’s the beginning of the craziest plan ever. Damiola 7H1 Animals Up Close Bookbuzz is a book company dedicated to getting books to Year 7 students for free. I think Bookbuzz is a fabulous charity as I was not a fan of reading. In class we watched a 24 minute film about the books and the authors explained the stories. Tristan 7L2 Little Bad Man Bookbuzz has helped me a great deal. Instead of me having to pay for a book (reading is now one of my favourites) Bookbuzz put it in my hands for free. I could not thank Bookbuzz enough for putting such a brilliant book in my collection. Marleigh-Rose 7L2 City of Ghosts I’ve always enjoyed mystery books so when I saw City of Ghosts I knew I

Student Spotlight

Follow us on Twitter: @ColchesterAcad

In each issue, we pick the highlights from our student’s achievements on Twitter and share them here. Here are this term’s highlights.

Dates for your Diary Issue 12 | October 2019

Trips & Visits Colchester Academy

Fri 16 Jul

Last day of Summer term

Sun 16 Feb

Year 11 Disneyland, Paris

1:15pm finish.

Wed 26 Feb

Year 9/10 History theatre

trip

Wed 1 Sep

Non-pupil day

Wed 11 Mar

Year 10 Stratford Field Trip

Thu 2 Sep

Year 7 return only

Thu 19 Mar

Year 10 Walton Field Trip

Thu 16 Sep

Target grade reports

Tue 31 Mar

Year 10 Aspire GCSE STEM

released for Year 8-11

Thu 23 Sep

GCSE Success Evening

day, Essex university Aenean eros lorem, pulvinar a magna in, Sat 9 May Ladies FA cup final, suscipit auctor purus. Suspendisse eget lectus finibus, porta est Wembley ac, faucibus risus. Sed vel stadium sem posuere justo euismod sodales. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam at mollis ex, eu gravida nisi. In finibus rhoncus nulla, a lobortis metus tempus sed. Nam a magna nulla. Integer eu euismod est. Praesent justo elit, laoreet luctus tempus at, viverra sed massa. In diam elit, hendrerit a Artwork by laoreet in, volutpat at mauris. Nam at mollis Alanna Stockbridge ex, eu gravida nisi. In finibus rhoncus nulla, a Year 10 Student lobortis metus tempus sed. Nam a magna.

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Trips & Visits Mon 4 Oct Year 7 baseline testing Thu 30 Sep

Open Evening

Year 7 Residential July 2020 - students can collect information starts letters from Student Reception. Cost £190 (monthly payments Thu 7 Oct Year 7 Form Tutor Evening accepted) Thu 14 OCt Year 11 reports released Year 8/9/10 South of France Trip Summer Thu 21 Oct Year 7 target grade reports 2020 - £681 (monthly payments accepted) 7 spaces available. Students released can collect information letters from student reception Mon 25 Oct October half term

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Colchester Academy Story Hawthorn Avenue Colchester Essex CO4 3JL

Twitter: @ColchesterAcad Facebook: ColchesterAcademy Tel: 01206 861217 Email: general@colchesteracademy.org.uk Web: www.colchesteracademy.org.uk

CultureResilience - Character - Excellence - Currency- Respect - Commitment

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