Ark Evelyn Grace Academy - Endeavour Spring 2022

Ark Evelyn Grace Academy News Spring 2022

Inside this issue: Principal’s Welcome Bugsy Malone Dates for your diary

Celebrating our community at

Easter Fest 2022

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Principal’s Welcome Dear Parents, carers, staff and students, Once again, we have overseen an active term. Year 11s completed their second round of GCSE mock examinations, while Year 9s began the selection process for their own GCSE options. This is an exciting yet crucial time for our students, and we will continue to support them as they endeavour towards their best.

We saw brilliant student performances during our Bugsy Malone school production. It makes us proud as a school to see our students perform with such enthusiasm, and we absolutely enjoyed watching the show.

We hosted our Easter Fest spring fair on Saturday 26th March with great success and plenty of fun. It was a privilege to see the joy on our families’ faces brought about by the plethora of activities organised by our fantastic staff. We launched our “Friends of EGA” parent

Every term, we produce our very own school magazine: ‘The Endeavour’, which aims to highlight all our key events from this term.

group and are excited to experience all the great strengths and depths they have to offer our school community.

Our students have been working hard throughout the term, and have also been granted great opportunities, including school trips to universities, theatres, sports stadiums and more.

I want to thank our staff for their continued hard work, and our students and families for their support to build on the great culture and expectations we have at our school.

Tim Dainty Principal

‘The Endeavour’ is a brilliant way to share all the good things that happen in our Academy with the local community and beyond.

We celebrate all our successes as an academy and highlight staff and student awards.

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Nurturing talent for life-long happiness and success

NEWS

Bugsy Malone WEDNESDAY 30TH MARCH THURSDAY 31ST MARCH

Our students lit up the stage this month with two performances of Bugsy Malone, a musical spoof of old gangster movies set in the 1920s, all about doing your best to find your way, with a sprinkle of razzle dazzle and humorous quips.

With the difficulties caused by Covid-19, EGA has not seen a whole school production since before 2020. Thankfully, the wait was finally over! Ms Mannings and Mrs Delsol are so proud of the students who performed, who sang, who designed, and who operated the lighting for the show.

Thank you to Ms Mannings and Mrs Delsol for organising and directing the whole production, to the staff who came to watch or volunteered their time to assist, and to the families to who came to support.

The evening was a great reminder that when you give a little love, it all comes back to you!

Year 10 Take The Lead Trip ARTICLE WRITTEN BY MS MANNINGS, HEAD OF DRAMA, CHARACTER LEAD

We had an absolutely fabulous trip to the Royal Bank of Canada on Wednesday 23rd March as the final part of our Take the Lead programme. Our students were an absolute credit to the school and impressed the highly experienced and well respected panellists in their oneon-one interviews. They worked hard throughout and very much enjoyed the

day, learning a range of employability skills and keeping pace with Year 12s and 13s alike. It was a pleasure to spend the day with them, and they all deserve huge praise for representing the school so beautifully.

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NEWS

Year 8 Cambridge Trip

Year 7 & 8 Charlton Athletic Trip

On Friday 4th February, our Year 8s went on a university trip to Cambridge, where they took part in workshops and tours around the university and local area.

Their curiosity was engaged, and the trip was a great success. We look forward to more in the future!

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY MR HALL, YEAR 7 & 8 DIRECTOR OF LEARNING

We received some complimentary tickets to watch Charlton Athletic vs AFC Wimbledon on Saturday 5th February. The match ended 3-2 to Charlton and was the first live football match that the students had attended. They had a lovely time cheering Charlton and joining in with the supporters’ chants!

Ark Parent Website

Our Ark-wide parent website www.ark-spark.co.uk is going live this week! The website gives information about SPArk alongside general resources to help parents support learning at home.

There is information on mental health and wellbeing, tips for keeping safe online and guides for home learning apps and digital tools.

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NEWS

Year 11 Mock Examinations In Spring Term 2, our Year 11 had their GCSE mock examinations.

Mock exams are a great way to measure and identify where we can better support our students to achieve their best GCSE results, and that is exactly what we do.

Staff worked wonderfully together to make the mocks function smoothly. They couldn’t have gone ahead without the collaboration from our Exams Officer, Site Team, and Year 11 Tutors and DOL. Thank you all!

School Council Our School Council was formed this term. Students from every year group can, and do, use the Council to voice their suggestions for an even better EGA. Staff have been listening to them and are very enthusiastic about putting student ideas into action. The Student Council is a great opportunity for collaboration between students and staff, and we look forward to seeing how the changes they enact make us better as an academy.

Year 11s will sit their GCSE exams during the Summer Term, and we look forward to the excellence we are sure to see!

Reasons to Celebrate

One of our Year 11 students, Uriah has obtained a 2-year scholarship to Norwich Football Club! This is excellent news and a true testament to his hard work. We are very excited for Uriah’s prosperous future.

Best of luck to you, Uriah!

Our Student Council have also been a helping hand in making the local area aware of our community events.

They have visited primary schools to inform them of our Easter Fair community event. They are exemplary students and we are proud of their representation of our school.

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NEWS

World Book Day On Thursday 3rd March, Ms Haney organised World Book Day at EGA. A Tutor Time quiz was compiled to engage students with the world of reading. Students had to recall which books teachers and staff had read from posters around the academy. Students thrived in the healthy, competitive atmosphere! They were enthusiastic, quick to answer, and they discussed the quiz and World Book Day throughout the rest of the day!

Students were also encouraged to get creative by making and decorating their own bookmarks.

Overall, World Book Day was a great opportunity to engage our students’ curiosity and creativity and ultimately bring out their very best. That is exactly what we saw that Thursday.

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World Book Day was a great opportunity to engage our students’ curiosity.

NEWS

Living Eggs Our Science Enrichment worked with Living Eggs to enable our students to watch the lifecycle of eggs as they hatched into baby chicks.

The new-born animals were soon favourites of students and staff alike!

All ten chicks were all given scientific names: Chick 1: Charlie (after Charles Darwin) Chick 2: Ethan (named after the second hydrocarbon, ‘ethane’) Chick 3: Isaac (after Isaac Newton)

Above: Carefully holding one of the chicks

Chick 4: Galileo

Bottom left: The chicks exploring their heated enclosure

Chick 5: Neils (after Neils Bohr) Chick 6: Andre (after one of the scientists who discovered the properties of graphene)

Bottom right: Our students looking after the chicks

Chick 7: Halo (after the group 7 halogens) Chick 8: Octavia Chick 9: Trixie Dix Chick 10: Rosalind Franklin

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NEWS

Year 10 Theatre Trip GCSE drama students were treated to an evening of high drama at the Old Vic. ARTICLE WRITTEN BY MS MANNINGS, HEAD OF DRAMA, CHARACTER LEAD

Our Year 10 students went on a theatre trip to the Old Vic to see A Number. The show was intriguing and full of tension, and brilliantly performed by Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu. The students loved walking across the Millennium Bridge and up to the Strand before the show, and were awestruck by the theatre itself. They behaved impeccably and were a credit to us all. Mr Daly and I had a great night, and were proud to share the experience with our wonderful GCSE drama students.

The show was intriguing and full of tension, and brilliantly performed by Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu.

Fond Farewells This term we say goodbye to two of our fabulous staff members, Ms Hickling, Director of Science and Ms Crawley, English teacher. Ms Hickling and Ms Crawley have played great roles in working with and supporting our students in all areas of their academic and personal development. They have been a huge support system to our Year 11s in the preparation of their GCSEs. Staff and students will greatly miss both members. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

None the less, we are excited to welcome their successors, Ms Agboola, an experienced science teacher and middle leader, who will build on the great 8

work done by Ms Hickling, by leading the science department. Ms Johnson, an experienced English teacher and pastoral leader, joins our fabulous English department. Mr Morrissey will also step in and teach Ms Crawley’s Year 11 classes in the build up to their GCSEs.

Thank you!

NEWS

Easter Fest We held our Easter Fest on Saturday 26th March and it was a huge success, and we have so many to thank for that!

Thank you to our local companies and stores who donated — your generosity to our tombola and Easter egg hunt made all the difference. Our tombola was the most popular it has ever been! It was a joy to see how happy our families were at our fair. There were loads of activities for all — from football, roller skating, an Easter hunt, arts and crafts, dancing and loads of yummy food and treats.

We had a special appearance by the phenomenal dance group, E-Squad who brought the energy and moves, which got the crowd in the mood for more dancing.

Thank you to our wonderful families who attended and staff members for their time and effort.

Bring on the summer fair on Saturday 9th July 2022.

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SPORTS NEWS

Football

Basketball

Year 7 Our Year 7s have played lots of games this year with some mixed results, but the boys are improving week on week with recent wins against City Heights and Lambeth Academy. This is down to the hard work seen at training, led by Mr Thorpe.

This year, we were able to restart the basketball programme post-covid19, entering the Lambeth School League.

We had both teams (U14 and U16) reach the final and place second!

We still have some games left against other Ark schools, so let’s finish year with a couple of wins!

Player of the year: Luis and Ra-Id Year 9 It has been a really good year so far and we are still in the hunt for silver in the South London Cup with a recent and impressive 4-2 win against BTG, which followed a win against Ark Globe. The team reached the top 16 in the London Cup, with a narrow loss 1-2. The attitude and work ethic of players has been immense and we are very impressed with their successes.

Player of the year: Eterne and Najet Year 10 The year has been tough year and results have not always gone our way.

Nevertheless, the team have worked hard at training and shown recent improvements to draw in their match with Trinity Academy. Onwards and upwards!

Player of the year Javeir

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Under 14s We have really improved as a squad.

After early losses, we found our footing to earn wins against Ladywell Prendergast, Bishop Thomas Grant, and London Nautical School. The team have progressed to a good level and we expect to see some of Year 9 featuring in next year’s U16 national basketball competitions.

Player of the year: Connor, Year 8 Most improved: Lucas, Year 9 Under 16s One word to describe the performance this year: dominant. The standard of play in a games has been very impressive, and the results show nothing less. The game performance is constantly improving and there is strong team work across the board.

Player of the year: Kerrick, Year 11 Most improved: Adrian, Year 10

DATES

Summer 2 Monday 4th–Thursday 14th April 2022: Year 11 Revision School

Dates for your diary

Tuesday 19th April 2022: Academy Inset Wednesday 20th April 2022: Students return Thursday 28th April 2022: Year 8 Parents Evening Tuesday 21st June 2022: Year 11 Graduation Friday 24th June 2022: Year 11 Prom Saturday 9th July 2022: Brixton Connect School Fair Friday 15th July 2022: Sports Day Wednesday 20th July 2022: Reward Trips Friday 22nd July 2022: Awards Assemblies

Term dates 2021–2022

Evelyn Grace Academy (Ark Schools) Term Dates 2021-22 September 2021 Wk

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Bank Holidays 2021/22 UK 25th December '21 26th December '21 27th December '21

Christmas Day Boxing Day Substitute Bank Holiday

28th December '21

Substitute Bank Holiday

1st January '22

New Year's Day

Inset Day Network Day *Friday 3rd September 2021 - Year 7 Induction Day

School Holidays

3rd January '22 15th April '22 18th April '22

Substitute Bank Holiday Good Friday Easter Monday

2nd May '22 30th May '22 29th August '22

Early May Bank Holiday Spring Bank Holiday August Bank Holiday

School days

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Exceptional Work

Art Year 8 have been looking at German Expressionism, which took place in the 1920s. It was a movement that was widely defined as the rejection of western conventions and depicted the reality of distorted emotions.

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Art Year 10 have been working on the theme of surfaces, based on the work of Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu. They have been working with architectural arrangements and looking at mark making.

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Exceptional Work

Art Year 11 responses to the AfricanAmerican artist Faith Ringgold who was a pioneer in civil rights and feminism, and who refused to be told how to create her art and expression.

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School Challenge Our Year 9s have been working hard on their School Challenge. From concept to development, the creations belong entirely to the students.

The team have designed two products.

The first is a Green Grower, designed to use its seed trays, camera and GPS to increase biodiversity of a region.

The second is called Aquardian. It can be placed in estuaries in rivers to gather (micro)plastics to reduce the number of garbage patches developing in oceans.

Once full, it can use its propeller to find land and responsibly dispose of the plastic collected.

The students have developed some marvellous ideas and we are extremely proud.

Thank you to Mr Scott for overseeing the School Challenge and for supporting our EGA team.

Speak Out Challenge Thursday 10th March 2022 “A highlight of my week was watching four of our Year 10 students deliver speeches to Year 7 and 8 in assembly on Thursday as part of the Speak Out Challenge run by Ms Haney. They were eloquent about the topics they had chosen which were personal and powerful. Year 7 and 8 were a fantastically supportive audience and there was a real sense of ambition and pride in the room.”

MS HEHIR, VICE PRINCIPAL

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LETTINGS

The perfect space for your event At Ark Evelyn Grace Academy we are proud of our facilities, which include: • A four-court sports hall • A dance studio • Two multi-use games area • An all-weather astro-turf • A 100-metre running track • A drama studio • A gym • Classrooms • Main Hall • Table Tennis • Meeting rooms Each of these areas provide a safe environment in which to work. Our facilities are available to the community, for filming, photography and events outside of normal school hours.

For a tour of our academy, please contact us to make an appointment or take a look at our virtual site tour: evelyngraceacademy.org/contact/facilitylettings Email us at enquiries@schoolsplus.co.uk for more information

OUR MISSION

Nurturing talent for life-long happiness and success.

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‘Cleverer and kinder every day’