The Elizabethan Academy Prospectus

A Specialist School for Science and Maths

Our Mission To Discover Talent To Develop Successful Learners To Deliver Excellence

. . . for everyone

Primary to Secondary We value our close partnership with local primary schools . . .

Throughout the year, children from nursery to Year 6 take part in many activities with older students from The Elizabethan, so that they transfer to their new school as confident learners. These include Mathematics Workshops, Forensic Science Investigations, Arts Fairs and Sports Leadership Programmes.

Caring for your child is very important to us, so your child will be supported by a form tutor who will get to know your child well. The tutor will encourage positive friendships, pride and generosity of spirit.

Students transfer to us from more than 30 different primary schools, through parental choice, and teachers from The Elizabethan visit every feeder school in the Bassetlaw area to meet the new students to help them to make a smooth transition.

Tutors will also celebrate achievements, instil good study habits and reinforce our high expectations of behaviour, uniform and attendance.

Caring for, and Supporting your Child

Principal’s

Welcome At The Elizabethan Academy, we believe that everyone is unique, so we are very proud to develop independent thinkers, learners and leaders. All our students have their own individual talents, strengths and HUGE potential.

That is why we believe that our role, as adults, is to secure a safe and happy environment in which they can flourish - to inspire young people to believe that anything is possible.

We are privileged to enjoy brand new facilities, to be able to offer your child a vibrant learning environment and also a huge range of enrichment opportunities, for example, in sport, music, drama and dance.

In April 2012, we converted as a stand-alone academy because we could…as a ‘good’ school, in our own right, we had the opportunity to draw in extra funding to support our students, while retaining our ethos and our history as The Elizabethan High School, or Lizzie’s as we have been known, affectionately, for many years.

We continue to have strong partnerships with our Family Collaboration and with other secondary schools, both in Nottinghamshire and across other Local Authorities. We are an 11-18 Academy, with large numbers of students staying on in our sixth form, housed in the Retford Post-16 Centre.

You are encouraged to visit us and see for yourself that we are a welcoming and friendly school, with a positive and purposeful atmosphere.

Lynn Kenworthy Principal

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Staff demonstrate strong, caring attitudes and students receive good personal support and guidance, both at times of transition and when facing challenges.

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Ofsted 2011

Discovering Talent

The Expressive Arts make an excellent contribution to school life and to the wider community . . .

Our extensive extra-curricular programme provides an outlet for students’ creativity and artistic expression, including Art and Photography clubs; Dance clubs and Dance Showcase; Youth Theatre; Shakespeare Festival; West End theatre trips.

Music is very important to us, so we subsidise instrumental lessons and we excel with our award-winning choir, the wind band and string group.

Excellent Enrichment in The Arts

Our sporting successes at local, county and national levels have been outstanding . . .

We offer a wide range from Athletics to Volleyball. Talented youngsters take part in leagues, tournaments and friendly matches and we have an active Academy Sports Council.

We have recently been recognised as a “Leadership Academy” and our priority is to ensure that all students can take part in sport, whatever their level of expertise . . . just to have fun and enjoy the experience of getting better and better.

Excellent Enrichment in Sport We are committed to helping all of our students discover and develop their potential Students who are recognised as Gifted and Talented are inspired to achieve highly. Opportunities include National Maths Challenges, writing competitions, university visits, extended projects and leadership challenges.

Gifted and Talented ” Students

Gifted students in Year 7 recently designed and delivered poetry lessons to the rest of their year group. One student said:

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We learned so much from the experience.

It gave us responsibility and helped us to understand how people learn.

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A good level of challenge contributes to students’ enjoyment of learning through a range of activities.

Ofsted 2011

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Developing Successful Learners

We encourage our students to be independent thinkers, to be curious about the world around them and to be reflective about their own learning.

The six Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills we promote are: • Independent Enquiry

• Team-Work

• Creative Thinking

• Active Participation

• Self-Management

• Reflective Learning

Independent Thinkers, Learners and Leaders

A Specialist School for Science and Maths We have chosen to be a specialist school for science because, in a rapidly-changing society, we believe it is essential that our young people are enterprising and creative, able to use new technologies and to think independently.

These are some of our achievements: • Providing enrichment through Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam Universities and the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust;

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• Achieving success in the UK Mathematics Challenge;

• Achieving STEM awards for our students’ investigative science projects;

• Visiting places of interest such as The National Space Centre, Twycross Zoo, Magna Science Adventure Centre.

The school’s science specialism makes a good impact on provision . . .

There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities and participation rates are good.

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Ofsted 2011

Delivering Excellence

Our Learning Support Department is highly regarded by the local primary schools and the local agencies within the community, helping students to improve their literacy and numeracy skills.

The department is dedicated to: • Providing learning programmes for the most vulnerable students • Providing support and guidance for students who find learning difficult • Providing targeted support in the Inclusion Base for students who, for whatever reason, are falling behind with their studies

Educational Visits We offer a full enrichment programme, every lunchtime and after school.

In addition, all students can take part in a some exciting educational visits such as field trips, evening theatre visits and residential visits. Residential visits have included Barcelona, Paris, Disneyland, Peak District, Poland, Germany, Brazil, The Gambia and Kenya. Learning of this kind is very memorable and develops confidence and self esteem.

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Students’ participation in enrichment activities is good, successfully promoting their well-being . . . There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities and participation rates are good.

Ofsted 2011

Having Your Say : The School Council

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Students’ views are very important to us : at the School Council, students take a lead in shaping learning, planning special events, offering feedback, organising charity work and raising awareness of important issues.

Partnership with Our Parents Positive relationships between home and school are fundamental to a child’s growth and development, achievements and aspirations.

We provide parents and carers with a wealth of information to support their children in supervising and encouraging good learning habits. Our parents say:

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. . . Parents are kept well informed of behaviour and achievements

Students who have special educational needs and/or disabilities . . . are well supported. As a result, these students make good progress.

Ofsted 2011

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. . . has responded very well to your rewards programme

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. . . We have recommended the school to other parents - no-one has a bad word to say about the school.

J is always positive and eager to come and loves the activity clubs at lunchtime

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Our Sixth Form…

At The Retford Post 16 Centre Examination results at The Elizabethan have improved year on year, at all levels, including in the Sixth Form.

In the Sixth Form, we have high expectations of all our students. Their excellent achievement and tremendous creativity makes us very proud.

Our emphasis is on preparing students for their future careers and Higher Education, through the development of independent thinking, teamwork and leadership.

Sixth Form students play their part in the life of the main school, working alongside younger pupils as mentors and supervisors, in school productions and delivering lessons, as part of the innovative Global Student Forum which is gaining us national recognition.

Ofsted judged us to be a ‘good’ school for a whole host of reasons, recognising that the young people who join us in Year 7 go on to make good progress at The Elizabethan.

In a rapidly-changing, economic climate, our priority must be to secure exam success for the next generation, so that they can become our future leaders … and we do.

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I have really enjoyed learning at The Post-16 Centre: there’s a friendly, supportive atmosphere, with good teachers who have helped me to achieve.

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