Intrepidus Magazine Spring 2020

THE OFFICIAL KENSINGTON ALDRIDGE ACADEMY MAGAZINE

#16 SPRING 2020

SPRING TERM SUCCESSES

...

In this issue of

Principal’s Welcome Dear Parents & Carers,

Principal’s Welcome

1

KAA@Home

2

House Competitions House Dance Interim Competitions

3 5

Performing & Creative Arts Performing Arts Showcase 7 Great Big Dance Off 8 Composition at Buckingham Palace 9 GCSE Drama Practical 9 Aldridge Junior Art Prize 10 GCSE Art Mock Practical 11 Art Challenge 12 Literary Festival 2020

13

Children’s Mental Health Week 16 British Science Week

17

Schools Challenge

18

Parent Calendar

Back page

It is with great pleasure I welcome you to the 16th issue of Intrepidus magazine. The school building may be closed, but school continues and we of course have so many fantastic student achievements to celebrate this term.

I hope by now students have all watched the End of Term Rewards assembly on KAA@Home (https:// sites.google.com/a/kaa.org.uk/kaa-student-portal/), which includes the latest episode of KAA News - also available on our YouTube channel.

The pages that follow form the best compendium that we can make of the many and diverse activities KAA students and staff have engaged in both within and beyond the classroom over the short but busy term.

I’m particularly proud to share details of the new Head Boy, Head Girl and prefect team, details of this term’s house competitions, and stories from our annual Literary Festival.

Whilst the current arrangements are far from perfect, the school fundamentally remains a strong, happy and resilient community, even if we are not all in one place, and KAA@Home provides a very good alternative school for the half term ahead. My thanks to all students and parents for their support of KAA. Intrepidus,

David Benson Principal

Introducing our new Head Boy, Head Girl & Prefect Team In mid-March, students were lucky enough to hear our prospective candidates for the positions of Head Boy and Head Girl deliver short assemblies in which they gave their own personal perspective on the school’s core values of citizenship, creativity, excellence and resilience. During the final week of term, all students were able to vote for their new student representatives through our very first online vote as students worked from home via KAA@Home. The deadline for votes was just a few hours before Intrepidus went to print, but we are very pleased to be able to announce the new Student Leadership team as below. Congratulations to all the students taking on new roles.

H e a d Gi r l Leah ( 1 2 Fry )

H e a d B oy N eo n ( 1 2 W i l b er for c e )

D e pu ty H e ad Girl Yu s r a (12 Ibrahim)

D e p u ty H e a d B oy Yu s r a ( 1 2 Tu tu )

Prefects Ali (12 Fry) Elijah (12 Roosevelt) Noe (12 Gladstone) Michal (12 Gladstone)

Kelsy (12 Sirleaf) Emma (12 Attlee) Ellen (12 Ebadi) Leila (12 Wilberforce) Emilia (12 Attlee)

Sofia (12 Tubman) Melos (12 Ibrahim) Fatima (12 Tutu) Leo (12 Ibrahim)

2

Franklin win House Dance 2020

The House Dance finals took place on Thursday 13th February, judged by external judges from our partners the Royal Academy of Dance.

House Dance was the major competition of the Spring 1 term, meaning there would be a 20,000 house point prize for the winner.

Each house was asked to create a 3 – 5 minute dance based around a prop. Pankhurst performed first with a dance choreographed around a fan, Angelou were up next with their dance revolving around ribbons, followed by Franklin’s magic hat inspired piece, and finally Honeyball’s school desk piece set to Revolting Children from the West End musical Matilda. It was clear that staff and student had put a huge amount of work into choreographing and rehearsing for the finals.

Students performed to all year groups throughout the day, before the judged finals delivered to a Year 7 audience.

The crowd were thrilled by the performances and keen to find out the judges’ scores, but those were kept under wraps until the end of half term celebrations the next day.

Congratulations to Franklin house who won first place and the 20,000 house points! Honeyball were awarded second place, Angelou came third and Pankhurst fourth.

3

You can the full performances on the KAA YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/KAAVideo

HOUSE COMPETITIONS

Honeyball

Angelou

Pankhurst

4

Interim House Competitions

The interim competitions for the Spring term have ranged from sports to literature, with Franklin just overtaking Angelou for the total house points earned across the term. Franklin dominated in the sports events, with a win in Table Tennis and Indoor Athletics, and taking second place in Trampolining. However, they also picked up extra points for Literary Week and British Science Week competitions! Angelou students showed a range of talents with wins in Trampolining and Psychology, and second place in Athletics and the Poetry Slam. Honeyball proved to be the best linguists on the day and took first place for the MFL competition, as well as scoring bones house points in the Literary Week competitions. Finally, Pankhurst’s creativity and performance skills shone in the Poetry Slam. Well done to all students involved in every single competition, every point counts!

Competition

1st place

2nd place

3rd place

4th place

Indoor Athletics

Franklin - 5000 pts

Angelou - 3750 pts

Honeyball - 2500 pts

Pankhurst - 1250 pts

Languages Quiz

Honeyball - 5000

Franklin - 3750 pts

Angelou & Pankhurst - 2500 pts

Psychology Quiz

Angelou - 5000 pts

Franklin & Pankhurst

Honeyball - 2500 pts

Poetry Slam

Pankhurst - 5000 pts

Angelou - 3750 pts

Franklin - 2500 pts

Honeyball - 1250 pts

Trampolining

Angelou - 5000 pts

Franklin - 3750 pts

Honeyball - 2500 pts

Pankhurst - 1250 pts

Table Tennis

Franklin - 5000 pts

Pankhurst - 3750 pts

Angelou - 2500 pts

Honeyball - 1250 pts

Recite Pi Competition

Pankhurst - 5000 pts

Franklin - 3750 pts

Honeyball - 2500 pts

Angelou - 1250 pts

Literary Festival

Honeyball - 750 pts

Franklin - 250 pts

British Science Week

Franklin - 500 pts

Indoor Athletics The indoor athletics competition in the Spring 1 term was a fantastic event with an electric vibe of competitiveness and true house spirit. The houses came out in force, especially Franklin who had exceptional numbers. The students organised themselves efficiently into who was doing each event. The PE department were extremely proud of the students who took part in the events they gave 100% and represented their house with great pride.

Trampolining

5

A Franklin vs Pankhurst match in the House Basketball tournament

In the Spring 2 term, the PE department held the second annual inter house trampolining competition!

It was a close contest with over 40 students taking part and choosing to compete in one of three levels. We were really impressed with the level of precision and talent that was displayed. Angelou took the overall win with outstanding individual performances from Eden (7 Lovelace), winner of level 1, Amiah (7 Lovelace), winner of level 2 and Alexander (7 Gauss) in Honeyball, who won level 3.

HOUSE COMPETITIONS

Poetry Slam

During our annual Literary Festival in March the four houses battled it out, judged on poetic language, idea and theme, tone and mood, body and facial movement, vocal strength, and fluency. Mr Fisher, Mr Waller and Mr Beddows (in full Peter Pan fancy dress) made up the judging panel.

Keeley (7 Fermat) was named by the judges as the individual stand out act, however the overall winners were Pankhurst. Well done Keeley!

Ta b l e Te n n i s House Table tennis was a SMASH! The PE department held its annual table tennis house competition in the Spring 2 term. Sixteen participants battled it out head to head to see who would be crowned the top spin king or queen of their year group. The competition was fierce, with our students showcasing their fine motor skills and quick reflexes, matched by quick movement around the table. The results were as follows: Year 7 8 9 10/11

1st Franklin Franklin Pankhurst Franklin

2nd Angelou Angelou Franklin Pankhurst

3rd Pankhurst Honeyball Honeyball Honeyball

Recite

4th Honeyball Pankhurst t5r4q1sa2 Angelou

C o m p e t i ti o n

In March, students went head to head to recite as many digits as possible of the famously irrational number Pi.

Franklin was the only house with one participant George in 8 Stoppard - knowing Pi to 103 digits. A very impressive memory! Pankhurst and Honeyball were close behind with their participants knowing a good junk of the first 50 digits. We even had two students singing the Pi song - Ruby-Ni (7 Gauss) and Paige (8 Beckett) - which added to the entertainment element of it all.

The final points for each house saw a difference between Pankhurst and Franklin of just a few digits, but Pankhurst house just managed to beat Franklin, despite George’s impressive achievement.

Want something to do this Easter? Try seeing how many digits of Pi YOU can learn for next year’s competition!

Try using the Pi song by watching this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=3HRkKznJoZA.

6

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS 7

KADA “Alice” Production We were delighted to welcome students, parents, staff and friends of the academy to our Performing Arts showcase on Tuesday 4th February, supported by Delancey and the KAA Intrepidus Trust.

The showcase was a celebration of the work KIT and their supporters have done since 2018, developing a wide range of enrichment programmes and activities benefiting over 850 KAA students. The aim of the Trust is to provide KAA students with a range of transformative opportunities in sports, life skills, academic enrichment and the arts; opportunities which would otherwise be out of their reach, and beyond the capacity of the school’s budget. To find out more about the work of the KAA Intrepidus Trust, visit www.kaatrust.org.uk.

Gabriel (8 Pinter) and Irene (8 Gupta) opened the evening by speaking about their experiences of performing arts and enrichment at KAA and how they have developed their confidence, motivation, engagement and aspiration, helping set them up for long-term success in their lives.

The headlining performance was KADA’s production of Lauren Wade’s Alice which they have devised and created during their enrichment since September. A huge congratulations to the entire cast involved in the showcase, this show would not have been possible without the commitment and energy put into every rehearsal.

The evening also included renditions of The Logical Song by the KAA choir and Runaway Baby by the KAA band. The dance company performed a Wizard of Oz themed dance piece called No Place Like Home. Our talented A level dancers performed their exam piece Bad Liar.

Our thanks to the KAA Intrepidus Trust and their donors, who have given so generously to support Performing Arts at KAA, Pirate Crew for their lighting assistance, the DT department for making the set for Alice, Rose (9 Jones) for her design of the front cover of the programme and our audience of parents, carers, staff, friends and family – thank you for supporting the performing arts at KAA! Our next production Annie - will perhaps be postponed but definitely not cancelled and we look forward to seeing you back in our theatre for Annie as soon as possible!

Full details will be sent to parents as soon as we have a firm date.

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

Dancers qualify for Great Big Dance Off national finals

On Monday 13th January, 26 students in Year 7 to Year 9 travelled to Hayes, to represent the school in The Great Big Dance Off competition.

The dancers from Intrepidus Dance Company confidently performed 2 different dances, choreographed by Mr Dunning and Miss Nix. One dance showcased the versatility of the dancers as they performed a mash-up between Bhangra and Hip-Hop. The other really highlighted their contemporary skill and acting ability as they performed a dance inspired by the Wizard of Oz. Their weeks of hard work was evident, and the dancers did the school really proud. We are absolutely thrilled that the team came 3rd in the competition out of 40 entries. This means that they have now progressed to the National Finals!

All members of Intrepidus Dance Company deserve praise for their success and encouragement to keep working hard so we can put our best foot forward in the finals. Intrepidus magazine look forward to reporting back after the team compete in the national finals in the summer term.

8

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

Students perform at Buckingham Palace

By M r R ig b y - He ad o f M u sic

In February and March, a small group of year 9 musicians were lucky enough to take part in a composing workshop with the Royal College of Music that culminated with a performance in the Queen's Gallery of Buckingham Palace!

We were only allowed to take 6 students, and the budding composers selected were Rose (9 Jones), Jasmine (9 Hume), Abigail (9 Carter), Katie (9 Jones), Amy (9 Tatchell), and Jonah (9 Hume).

The students started working towards the performance a few weeks before with a trip to the Queen's Gallery and a tour by an art historian. They focused on 3 paintings and a sculpture of particular interest; George IV in all his regal splendour, George and the Dragon, a tavern in the 17th century, and a sculpture of a Greek myth. The students then worked at the Royal College of Music for four days over their February half term composing music to depict each piece of art.

In early March, alongside two other groups of students from Pimlico and Hammersmith Academy, as well as students from the Royal College of Music, the ensemble performed their creations in front of a live audience whilst the gallery was still open. Sadly the Queen was unavailable!

The compositions and performance were absolutely fantastic and students overcame their nerves and played exceptionally well. The whole experience was fantastic!

G C S E drama students rise to exam challenge

By Ms M ille r - Head o f Dr am a

On Tuesday 10th March our Year 11 GCSE drama students created scripted performances for an examiner.

The pieces showcased their skills in areas such as character, voice and physical skills and audience engagement. All performances were plays written between 2001 to 2015, with students taking on complex themes and mature characters.

Each piece had two contrasting extracts to highlight character development and lasted between 8-12 minutes.

All of the GCSE cohort rose to the challenge, creating their own costumes and designing the set and props they would use. The examiner commented on how thoughtful the pieces were and how students had clearly put time and effort into these pieces. She also commented on the organisation of the day and the exemplary conduct of our students throughout.

9

I was so proud of them, they displayed resilience and such maturity, but overall kindness and support for one another.

On Thursday 13th February Salma (13 Wilberforce) had her work exhibited at the first ever Aldridge Signature Junior Art Prize at the Bankside Hotel, in partnership with Artellite.

From 39 outstanding entries from Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 students across the family of Aldridge schools, Salma’s painting was selected as one of three finalists in the ‘Fine Art’ category.

A panel of judges, including Foundation Trustee Lady Carol Aldridge, former Darwen Aldridge Community Academy student Khushna Sulaman-Butt, and Peter Gabriel, representative from the competition sponsor, Callsign, were asked to score the entries on a range of criteria from creativity and originality to quality of artistic composition.

The finalists were invited to spend a day seeing the best of London’s art venues, including Somerset House and the Tate Modern, before heading to the Bankside Hotel for a private viewing of the exhibition where winner for each category was announced. We’re thrilled to announce that Salma won the Fine Art category and has been awarded an internship at Artelight.

Not only did Salma secure this fantastic internship, she also sold her work at the private view. We’re very proud of Salma for this fantastic achievement after the hard work and creativity she has shown in her art A level.

Well done Salma!

The Boy In The Durag Oil paints, linseed oil, turpentine, liquin, MDF board 35 x 43 x 1.6 cm 2019 About the work:

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

Salma wins new Aldridge art prize

This piece specifically hits close to home, the boy painted is a younger brother of my close friend, who is of Somali heritage.

Born in London and being of Moroccan heritage, the area I live in consists of predominantly African backgrounds, with families of different cultures combining the differences to create a united community in White City Estate.

The significance of the durag, is to defy the stereotypes behind this head-piece, associated with being criminalised. This is simply a 13 year old boy, wearing the durag as a fashion piece, representing his style and culture.

10

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

Fantastic artwork produced for the Year 11 mock Georgina (11 Lennon)

Tariq (11 L en n o n )

Caala (1 1 Chapl in)

Ria (11 L ennon)

On Wednesday 18th March our Year 11 art students completed their mock practical exam. Examples of work produced are shown here; we think you’ll agree they produced a fantastic range of pieces!

We’re particularly proud of these students for managing to focus and complete this important practical exam the week before schools were closed during a concerning time. They should incredible maturity and focus throughout the day. Well done!

11

Lethai (11 Fitzge rald)

Bensu (11 M atisse)

Ed a (11 F itzg e rald )

Tanisha (11 Nijinsk y)

Suely (1 1 Chapl in)

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

Creative projects to complete at home

With everyone having to spend time indoors, it is the perfect opportunity for families to get creative. Below is a paper manipulation project that you can try, there are also lots of other ideas which can be found on the Intrepidus Learning page under the subject ‘Art’: https:// sites.google.com/a/kaa.org.uk/art/art/ks3 -weeklyResources: You can use any paper you have lying around, magazines, old envelopes, card etc.

Recycled paper manipulation

Task 1: Experiment with creating a variety of different paper sculpture and manipulation samples. Example: ripping, origami folding, quilling, layering, feathering. See examples below for guidance.

Task 2: Select your favourite samples and make either a garment or sculpture from them on a much larger scale. It can be made of any paper you have at home. It does not have to be a dress!

Task 3: Style your masterpiece on your family members or display it in your house. Don’t forget to photograph the finished piece!

Challenge: Create an illustration or drawing of your masterpiece.

Send your photographs to Art@kaa.org.uk

12

LITERARY FESTIVAL 2020

Celebrating our reading culture Our annual Literary Festival celebrates our reading culture with a week of author visits, workshops, assemblies, competitions and staff fancy dress for World Book Day. This year’s festival from Monday 2nd March to Friday 6th March saw a magnificent range of authors visited our school to run a variety of talks and workshops with students across all three key stages. Their presentations genuinely engaged the students and helped them to see the joy of reading. Cue Jouad (9 Tatchell) having a lengthy discussion with Lindsey Barraclough about witchcraft in 17th century!

Other visitors included Carnegie medal nominated author Non Pratt, winner of the Guardian Children’s fiction prize Andy Mulligan, winner of the Waterstones Children’s book prize and the Blue Peter award for Best Story Katherine Rundell, historical fiction writer Sam Angus. winner of the Booktrust’s Teenage Prize Anthony McGowan and spoken word and rap battle poet Adam Kammerling.

Since the festival, the library has been cleared of many of the authors’ books, waiting lists have been drawn up, as the visits were so popular!

The English department organised a number of book-themed competitions throughout the week with plenty of house points up for grabs! 7 Mirzakhani won first prize in the “Get Caught Reading” photo competition for their MUGA entry (pictured on the next page) and collected 250 house points for Pankhurst. Keeley (7 Fermat) won our “Spook the Judges” competition with her fantastic ghost story and was awarded 250 points for Franklin. Honeyball had a run of luck in other competitions, seeing Tyrshondre (10 Holmes) winning 250 points in “Book Hunt”, Tasnim (7 Turing) collecting another 250 points for Honeyball with her win in the “Create a Character” competition and Amir (7 Turing) winning the “Trash City” competition, judged by author Andy Mulligan (pictured bottom left). The final competition on Friday was our annual poetry slam, which saw Pankhurst placing first and winning 5,000 house points. Well done to all the students who showed intrepidus and performed!

The Literary Festival ended on the Friday with World Book Day staff fancy dress - can you guess which children’s classic each department dressed as on the right?

13

Our thanks to the KAA Intrepidus Trust and their supporters, who make the Literary Festival possible.

PERFORMING ARTS GEOGRAPHY

ANSWERS: Languages - Harry Potter; Maths - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; RE - Mr Men; English - Peter Pan; Performing Arts - Wizard of Oz; Design & Technology Red Riding Hood; Geography - The Day the Crayons Quit; Science - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Tilly - Dear Zoo; Art - Three Little Pigs

DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

LITERARY FESTIVAL 2020

RE

14

TILLY!

SCIENCE

MATHS

Guess the staff fancy dress books…

LITERARY FESTIVAL 2020 15

“Get Caught Reading” competition entries…

Paralympic gold medallist Andy Lewis visited KAA on Wednesday 5th February as part of Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week.

Lewis, who won the men’s P2 paratriathlon at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, met with pupils and staff at KAA, and learned more about the mental health support provided by Place2Be for pupils and parents. KAA has been a partner school of Place2Be since 2014 when the academy first opened.

Lewis spoke to students during a Year 11 assembly about his journey to Rio 2016 and the importance of having support around you. His story was about resilience and the ability to reframe your future when life doesn’t go to plan. During the assembly he acknowledged the pivotal point Year 11 students are at in the education as they gear up for exams, emphasising the importance of resilience and courage when overcoming challenge and adversity.

Lewis also met with a panel of students in a small group to speak about the important work Place2Be does in schools like KAA. During their meeting students had the unique opportunity of holding his Paralympic gold medal!

During the week, staff and pupils also participated in activities about bravery, to tie in with the theme of this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week #FindYourBrave.

MENTAL HEALTH WEEK

Paralympic gold medallist visits KAA for Place2Be Children’s Mental Health Week

16

SCIENCE NEWS

British Science Week celebrations

From Monday 9th March to Friday 13th March our ‘intrepidus’ students displayed a voracious appetite for curiosity into the world of science during British Science Week as the science department hosted assemblies, house competitions and break time experiments.

On Monday, students lifted into action engineering makeshift hovercrafts, sliding and colliding into action to highlight the behaviour of objects in near frictionless environments, celebrating the recent resupply mission to the International Space Station.

On Tuesday, students from multiple year groups put on their thinking caps as they got creative (and competitive!) as they raced to construct the tallest freestanding structure out of spaghetti sticks and packing foam (pictured bottom right). Franklin came out on top for this competition. Well done Franklin!

On Wednesday, students passing by the science corridor entered into the “Sneeze Zone” as they discovered just how far their sneezes can travel, and experimented the most effective way they can stop the spread of germs, yikes!

On Thursday, students enthusiastically dove into the world of microorganism to see just how diverse our world really is. Looking into samples of pond water, our students were captivated with sights of living creatures that populate a world unseen.

Thanks to all our young scientist (and teachers!) who got involved in these experiments throughout the week!

17

By M r Pr asch - Tea cher of Scienc e

By M r Pr asch - Tea cher o f Scien c e

We’re delighted to report that our Year 9s had a successful afternoon presenting their projects at the J P Morgan School’s Challenge final on Thursday 13th February.

The students competed against 24 other London school and have loved every moment of this project, gaining knowledge, skills and confidence in the STEM subjects as they progressed.

Two KAA teams presented their projects in front of a panel of six judges and blew them away with their ideas - Team ‘Future 22’, which included Havana (9 Bonhoeffer), Marcus (9 Carter), David (9 Carter), Luke (9 Jones), Rose (9 Jones) and Daniel (9 Bonhoeffer), were awarded with the Problem Solving and Creativity Award!

The team “Future 22” project is designed to capture energy typically lost through every day processes, such as body heat from exercise, or kinetic energy from walking, and convert it into electrical/chemical energy that can be stored for later use. Their product design was inspired by the hexagon, a shape with unique properties found in nature, that is both structurally sound and remarkably efficient!

SCIENCE NEWS

Y9 Schools Challenge Success

Well done to all students from both teams for their hard work throughout the Autumn and Spring terms!

18

Summer Term Parent Calendar Date

Time

Event

Monday 6th April Friday 17th April

All fortnight

Monday 20th April

All day

Easter Holiday Intrepidus Learning and Easter Activities timetable to follow at home Contingency School Summer Term begins

th

All day

Staff Training Day

st

Tuesday 21 April

All day

Staff Training Day

Friday 8th May Monday 25th May - Friday 29th May

All day All week

UK Bank Holiday Half Term Holiday

Monday 1st June

All day

Staff Training Day

Tuesday 2 June

All day

Staff Training Day

Friday 17th July

11am

End of Year Celebration Assembly

Monday 20th July

All day

Staff Planning Day

Tuesday 21st July

All day

Staff Planning Day

Monday 20th July Wednesday 2nd September

-

Thursday 28th August

All day

Summer Holiday Intrepidus Learning and Summer Stretch Project / Bridging work to complete at home Staff Planning Day

Friday 29th August

All day

Staff Training Day

Monday 31st August

All day

UK Bank Holiday

Tuesday 1 September

All day

Staff Training Day

Wednesday 2nd September

All day

Staff Training Day

Thursday 3rd September

All day

Y7 Induction Day

Friday 4 September

All day

Y7 & Y12 Induction Day

Monday 7th September

All day

All students return to school

Monday 20 April

nd

st

th

! @KensingtonAldridgeAcademy

@KAA_Intrepidus @kaa_intrepidus