Arete by Colchester Academy - Issue 2

Issue 2

“If you deliver “Excellence is the excellence gradual right resultthat now, of always gives you striving the best to shot dothe at better.” best future - Pat Riley you’ve got coming.” - Robert Forster

Arete reté

Excellence of any kind

Areté Excellence of any kind Introduction Welcome to our latest issue of Areté.

Here at Colchester Academy we strive to ensure that our young people receive the very best education, realise their full potential and are prepared to become responsible and successful citizens. We make a real difference to the lives and outcomes of our students.

Based on our values of Culture, Character, Currency and Commitment, we ensure that we make the most of every learning experience, every day.

We are very proud of the work our students create every day. In light of this, we have created Areté; a collection of excellent work from a range of subject areas.

Areté in its basic sense, means “excellence of any kind”. In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was ultimately bound up with the notion of fulfillment of purpose or function: the act of living up to one’s potential. This is what we expect from our students every day.

We hope you enjoy this selection of excellent work.

J B et t s

Principal

A rtw o rk

by Rumana Ferdushi Year 10 student

Areté Excellence of any kind

Arete Excellence of any kind English Creative Writing by Daniel Johnson

Last half term, Year 9 read the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck. It is set in 1930s America and is a story of friendship in a world of loneliness.

Year 9 were learning key skills ready to prepare them for their literature exam which included: reading a text; being able to select textual references (quotations); analysis of language and using inference. For their end of unit assessment, the students in 9x1 were given an exam style task which consisted of an extract from the end of the novella, and answering a question based on one of the key themes in the text - loneliness.

Daniel achieved a very high grade: he wrote in an extremely thoughtful, and perceptive manner.

Mrs Locke English Teacher

Areté Excellence of any kind Science The Earth and Solar System by Molly Kibble & Fearne Hester

Molly and Fearne in Year 7 have ??? demonstrated their knowledge,

interest and understanding of Miss Edwards ‘The Earth and Solar System’ in a Head of Science review of the topic, creating these two outstanding pieces of work.

Their attention to detail, information presented and art work really are “out of this world”.

Miss Edwards Head of Science

AretĂŠ Excellence of any kind

Arete Excellence of any kind

Artwork

by Harley Shelly Year 10 student

AretĂŠ Excellence of any kind

Photography

by Natalie Howard Former Year 11 student

Areté Excellence of any kind

Arete Excellence of any kind Spanish Student Teachers by Fabilha Sarwar, Sky Marzel, Kaitlin McGenn, Alex Rowley & Pen Igbinedion

Year 9 students have run a Spanish teaching lesson once per fortnight to members of staff at Colchester Academy, offering them the chance to learn basic vocabulary and structures they could use if they were to holiday in a Spanish speaking country.

Lesson 1 was how to introduce yourself and say where you are from.

Lesson 2 is based on how to order the most popular food and drinks.

Students have introduced the lessons by using a “Do Now” activity; teaching the easier vocabulary before moving onto the core vocabulary, followed by pronunciation practise. Each week, these students plan the next lesson to build on prior knowledge and cement the language into teachers’ long-term memory.

Miss Constantinescu Head of MFL

AretĂŠ Excellence of any kind Computer Science Caesar Cipher Programming by Elliot Labdon

This term, students in GCSE Computer Science have been learning how to programme using the programming language Visual Basic. A range of skills have been used including variables, selection and iteration to create basic programmes and applications. Elliot has grasped these skills very quickly, showing an excellent understanding of the concepts, and has been able to apply these skills to solve a given problem.

After completing the lessons tasks, Elliot has been completing a previous years controlled assessment task without any prior knowledge. Elliot has used further high-level thinking skills, such as decomposition, to analyse the problem and successfully create the solution in only three lessons.

Mr Wills Assistant Principal

AretĂŠ Excellence of any kind

Arete Excellence of any kind

Artwork

by Paris Bryden Year 8 student

AretĂŠ Excellence of any kind

Photography

by Louie Duffett Year 10 student

AretĂŠ Excellence of any kind

Arete Excellence of any kind History The History of Medicine by Abby Leech

Abby has worked exceptionally hard to begin her History GCSE in Year 9. This term she has been studying medicine from the middle ages to the modern day.

Having already filled one exercise book with fantastic notes on the subject, Abby completed an assessment on the topic.

Abby’s task was to argue which vaccination was the most important breakthrough in the prevention of disease between 1700 and 1900. It was the first time we had attempted a 16-mark question of this nature and Abby certainly did not shy away. She wrote a brilliant answer arguing her case, earning 14 out of the 16 marks available on the assessment - approximately a GCSE grade 7. A superb effort and a brilliant achievement.

Mr Salmon History Teacher

Academy AreteColchester Excellence of any kind Hawthorn Avenue Colchester Essex CO4 3JL

Twitter: @ColchesterAcad

Facebook: ColchesterAcademy

A rtw o rk

by Leah Chaplin Year 11 student

Culture

Tel: 01206 861217 Email: general@colchesteracademy.org.uk Web: www.colchesteracademy.org.uk

Colchester Academy, Hawthorn Avenue, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3JL Tel: 01206 861217 Email: general@colchesteracademy.org.uk

Character

Commitment

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Currency