Issue 15 summer newsletter 2014

Drapers’ Academy Newsletter Summer Term 2014 Issue 15

Academy Life Message from the Principal, Mr Slater This is the time of year to say goodbye to staff, students and pupils, and also to welcome new staff.

We send our best wishes to all of our Year 13 and Year 11 leavers. We look forward with anticipation to their results and hope that they are able to move forward with their education or the world of work.

We say goodbye to the following staff: Ms Blaize—Assistant Vice Principal Miss Shaw – Languages Mr Harris – Science Mr Hurst – Geography

Mr Kelly – Maths Miss Borowiecki – English Mrs Sharpe—Science

We thank them for their contribution to the success of the Academy.

We are also saying goodbye to Mrs Sharpe, who after many years of dedicated service to this community, leaves the science faculty to return to South Africa with her family. Thank you and best wishes for the future.

And finally I would to personally thank Ms Blaize who leaves the Senior Leadership Team of the Academy, for a well-deserved position as Deputy Headteacher of Emerson Park School.

Ms Blaize has been a pupil, Teacher; Head of Department; Head of Faculty; Assistant Vice Principal and Vice Principal (Acting) of the Academy. She has made a massive impact on the lives of so many people and we thank her profusely.

Joining the Academy in September we welcome: Ms Jordan – Languages Mr Dennehy – Maths Miss Bellis – Maths Miss Cuddington – English Ms Dunn – Music Miss Tahan – Science

Miss Wright – Science Miss Canfield – History Miss Alphonse – Geography Miss Woonton – English Miss Monk – PE Miss Ahmed – Maths

We wish them all well.

And finally – I wish you all and all who are connected to Drapers’ Academy very best wishes for continued success, for the final time.

Have a great summer. www.drapersacademy.com

RIBA National Award After our success at the regional level, judges from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) returned to the Academy on Friday 23 rd May to assess our building for the national awards.

On Friday 13th June, we were delighted to find out that we have been presented a prestigious RIBA National Award in the Education and Community category. 44 buildings received the national award with only 4 presented to schools across the country. Other winners included notable, high profile projects such as the London Aquatics Centre, Tate Britain and London Bridge Tower.

This award is an incredible achievement for the Academy and is testament to the unique, successful learning environment we have created in Harold Hill.

Our Academy building will now be considered for the Stirling Prize which is the biggest prize in UK architecture. A shortlist for this award will be announced on the 17 th July.

House Grand Prix Now we are in our final term the house competition is well and truly heating up.

The House Grand Prix competition took place on the 21st May, providing opportunities for crucial extra points. Pupils, students and staff all congregated in the courtyard around the track in which the remote control cars would be racing round. Year 10 pupils Harry Bland (Da Vinci), Jack Andrews (Fermat) and Year 9 pupil Billy Stanbridge (Einstein) have been working during their lunchtimes for several weeks to make this race possible. Over 60 hours of extra-curricular work had gone into building the machines from scratch.

The challenge was set; the teams had 10 minutes to complete as many laps as possible.

Da Vinci and Fermat led straight from the off but it was only a short time before Jack Andrews, the Fermat driver, began to take control of the race. After a while some cars experienced technical difficulties and took a pit stop. Fermat stayed in pole position and raced to a comfortable victory.

Congratulations to Fermat who gained much needed house points. The current house totals are as follows;

Franklin Da Vinci Einstein Fermat

9553 9964 9606 8834

Art Exhibition 2014 Pupils and their families, along with staff enjoyed a fantastic evening at the annual Art Exhibition which took place on the 19th June. GCSE, AS and A Level art work was showcased, with a wide and varied range of themes. Specialisms extended from traditional fine art, through to art textiles, graphics and three-dimensional design.

Visitors to the exhibition have been impressed by the high standard of the work on show, many of whom wrote lovely testaments in our comments book.

Pupils have worked extremely hard to develop their own creative and unique approaches and this was very clear in the work exhibited.

Sian Moynihan recognised by Havering Year 9 pupil Sian Moynihan, member of Einstein house, has been recognised as one of the borough’s most talented young people for her skill in Ice Skating.

Sian has been skating on the ice since the age of 5 and now 9 years on she still loves every minute of it, currently representing Chelmsford Riverside Ice Skating Club competing at the advanced novice level. Sian has had a fantastic season achieving a personal best in the Bracknell open competition.

Sian has real ambitions to go further next season with hopes to be selected for the International Development Squad representing GB. If she achieves her goals Sian will then have the opportunity to compete in competitions overseas.

With her recognition by Havering, Sian has also received a grant of ÂŁ200. The money is going towards an intensive summer training camp in Kitzbuhel, Austria which will be run by top international skating coach Yuri Bureiko. The 6 day course is a once in a lifetime opportunity and has been highly recommended to Sian by her current coaches.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sian for being recognised by Havering for her talent and wish her the best of luck in the future.

Salters’ Festival of Chemistry On Wednesday 14th May, a team of four Year 7 pupils entered the London area Salters’ Chemistry Challenge at Queen Mary, University of London. The team comprised Ashleigh Pearson (Einstein), Mitchell Roach (Fermat), Daisy Robins (Da Vinci) and Timi Tinubu (Fermat).

The pupils competed against 19 other schools for the prize including Dulwich College, Mossbourne Community Academy and Durston House School.

The challenge involved using their practical skills and deductive reasoning to identify the perpetrator of a crime using various techniques usually found in an episode of CSI. The team were up against some outstanding pupils from prestigious schools in the London area, many of them where in the year above. To our great delight, our team battled hard to overcome all the other schools to win 1st prize in the competition. The pupils summarised the experience as “… pretty serious and we had to work together extremely hard.”

Year 7 & 8 Athletic Competition Year 7 and 8 pupils got their first taste of competitive athletics this year when they travelled to Emerson Park Academy on Monday 9th June.

The girls got the team of to a great start with some impressive results. Year 7 Brooke Eaton won the 800m with a time of 3 minutes and 6 seconds and Shakira Adefabi of the same year, continued the success winning the 300m clocking a time of 54.09 seconds.

Other notable performances from the girls included; -

Elizabeth Awoemi who came 2nd in the 200m with a time of 30.97 seconds.

-

Abimbola Jimoh came 2nd in the discus with a throw of 14.25 metres.

-

Kira Smith recieved 2nd in the 800m with a time of 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

-

Emma Hughed came 3rd in the discus with a throw of 15.10 metres.

-

Besarta Ternava was awarded 3rd place in javelin throwing 13.20 metres.

-

Hollie Bell received 1st place in the high jump leaping 1.30 metres.

With these fantastic results, the pressure was on the boys to continue the success.

Year 7 Timi Tinubu was first up in the 100m sprint where he ran an impressive time of 14.05 seconds. For his time Timi was awarded 2nd place, however the podium places didn’t end there for the Drapers’ Athletics Team. Kai Pound received 3rd place for his 200m race where he ran the time of 33.52 seconds and Kieran Moniyhan also came 3 rd in the 800m with a time of 2 minutes 45 seconds. In the field events the boys controlled the discus event with a 3rd and 1st place. Thomas Doidge took 3rd with a throw of 19.85 metres and Ricky Singh won the event with a throw of 24.20 metres. These results meant the team finished the competition in an impressive 4 th place.

@DrapersAcademy Drapers’ Academy www.drapersacademy.com