Elizabethan Academy Prospectus 2014

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 . . .

Students transfer to us from an average of thirty different primary schools each year and - if geography allows - teachers from The Elizabethan visit each and every one of them in their primary school, to help them make a smooth transition from primary to secondary.

Links with primaries are strong, and we have a comprehensive programme of activities which allow students from nursery through to Year 6 to get to know our staff, students and school.

These include Forensic Science Days, Mathematics Workshops, Languages Days, Arts Fairs and Sports Leadership Programmes.

We want your child to feel safe and happy at school. All students are allocated to a tutor group, with both a tutor and a co-tutor who will see their groups on a daily basis. Ofsted noted that “mixed-age tutor groups are popular with students�, and we feel that this opportunity to get to know some of the older students in the school gives our new arrivals much greater confidence.

Weekly assemblies, led by members of the Senior Leadership Team or Team Leaders, are an opportunity to remind students of our core values and to share in their successes.

Caring for, and Supporting your Child

Principal’s

Welcome I feel very privileged to be Acting Principal at The Elizabethan Academy. I am proud of our Academy; proud of its traditions and its modern outlook; but, most importantly, proud of its students.

Our students come first; they are at the heart of everything we do. They are our biggest asset and our best ambassadors. We strive to prepare each and every one of them for the next steps in their lives and to equip them with the confidence, skills and qualifications to succeed. We want to shape the pioneers and leaders of the future.

We have high expectations of our young people and high aspirations for them. We support them to aim high and to develop their own individual talents. There are varied opportunities for them to contribute to the life of our Academy, and our Leadership Programme is recognised both locally and nationally.

Choosing the right school for your child is one of the most important decisions you will make on their behalf. Whilst this prospectus will give you a flavour of the wide range of opportunities open to our young people, I would urge you to visit our Academy, see us in action and talk to our students to see why they are so proud to be part of The Elizabethan too.

Jason White Acting Principal

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Students have positive attitudes to learning as a result of the school’s encouraging ethos.

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Students are polite, well-mannered and friendly.

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Ofsted 2014

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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Students are inspired by the teachers’ excellent subject knowledge and high aspirations.

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Ofsted 2014

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.

There is some outstanding teaching in a number of subjects.

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Ofsted 2014

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

Educational Visits

• Providing targeted support in the Inclusion Base for students who, for whatever reason, are falling behind with their studies

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.

Having Your Say : The School Council

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

We are extremely proud of our daughter’s achievements at The Elizabethan Academy and very happy with the progress she has made.

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Year 11 Parent

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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 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.

Examination results at The Elizabethan have improved year on year, at all levels, including in the Sixth Form.

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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My time at The Elizabethan prepared and inspired me to aim high and ‘think big’.

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Sophie Wilson Elizabethan alumnus, Cambridge graduate and now qualified teacher