www.southleedslife.com
South Leeds Life | March 2022
Twitter: @SouthLeedsLife
12 School Life
Cockburn Multi-Academy Trust Spring term roundup
Facebook: facebook.com/southleedslife
Captain Cooper’s Hunslet Carr Prim
S
chools across the Cockburn Multi-academy Trust have enjoyed a busy half term since the return from the Christmas break. Here is a round-up of some of the activities from the different schools. IBM P-TECH Residential Visit Year 11 students from Cockburn School, Cockburn John Charles Academy and Leeds City College experienced a residential visit to London on 1011 February. This trip was funded by contributions from IBM and the schools and college. The P-TECH programme is a prestigious opportunity for selected students to gain understanding and experience of the growing digital and cybersecurity sector and to provide them with a pathway through post-16 study leading to internships and potential employment with business partners, such as IBM, KPMG and NHS Digital. The trip was a huge success with students participating in a range of activities including a flight on the London Eye, a Thames river cruise, walking tour of the city, overnight accommodation and finishing with a STEM focused visit to the Science Museum. David Gurney, MAT CEO, said “This visit was a fantastic opportunity for students across the trust, in collaboration with Leeds City College and IBM, to experience a fully funded residential visit that enriched their cultural capital and will raise their aspirations to strive for success in the upcoming final examinations.” LGBTQ+ Week Schools across the MAT provided a range of activities to celebrate diversity to coincide with the annual LGBTQ+ week. Middleton Primary School delivered a whole week of activities to learn about diversity, equality and all the different types of family that exist, encouraging all student to celebrate their ‘uniqueness’ and promoting respect and tolerance. Cockburn MAT secondary schools delivered a week of assemblies to all students focusing on equality and diversity and all schools are taking an active approach to raise the profile of this area by establishing student-led LGBTQ+ groups, which meet at lunchtime and provide students with support. Cockburn School Students in Years 7 and 8
Cockburn MAT students outside Buckingham Palace were amazed by a Royal Institution live demonstration. ‘Energy Live!’ is an exciting audience led show, delving into the different stores of energy and how they affect our lives. Students experienced lively, firebased demonstrations. Audiences left not only knowing their elastic from their gravitational, but also fired up about energy. There was even an extra show in the evening for students from other year groups and schools and their families.
for everyone and they are now on the lookout for new members from the local community. Anyone is welcome, whether you have sung in a choir for years or have never done it before, there is a place for everyone to find their voice. For those that want to show off their new skill, there are performance opportunities throughout the year but this of course is optional, you are free to just come along and sing. By joining the choir, we hope
Cockburn students were impressed by the Royal Institution demostrations Cockburn Community Choir is looking for new members: Cockburn School has been hosting Cockburn Community Choir for a number of years under the leadership of singing teacher, Sophie. It's a fully inclusive choir hoping to engage and enthuse the local community by bringing together people from all walks of life through song. The choir sing a wide range of repertoire from pop to rock, classical to show tunes, there really is something
you find new people to connect with in the community, get to learn some new music, sing some favourites and experience the joy of making music with other people. Singing is a great way to enhance your general wellbeing and that use of breath control seems to make everyone leave much more upbeat and awake than when we arrived. It is scientifically proven that singing improves wellbeing and releases endorphins that boost your
mood. It is also aerobic exercise as it increases oxygen in the blood leading to better circulation. So why not join a choir today? Rehearsals take place between 5-6pm at Cockburn School on Tuesdays during term time. For more information, please contact Mrs Amos at communitychoir @cockburnschool.org. We hope to see you there! Cockburn John Charles Academy Key Stage 3 drama students have been working closely with our educational partners at Burberry Inspire to stage a ‘Shakespeare Festival’ which was presented to an invited audience on Thursday 27 January. Head of School, Siobhan Roberts, said: “It was wonderful to see so many of our students taking to the stage and performing a challenging script with confidence and flair. As an academy we understand how vital it is for students to work outside their comfort zone and to broaden their cultural understanding.” Middleton Primary School The students at Middleton Primary School have raised over £200 to mark NSPCC ‘Number Day’ and the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Wear It Red’ event. All children were invited to come to school wearing something red and a number of their choice. Meanwhile the school’s football team continue to go from strength to strength, having played 8 matches this season and won 7 of them. Headteacher, Samantha Williams, said “I am so proud of our students’ attitude toward charitable endeavours, they are always keen to support those in need. We are also hugely proud of the performance of our football team, their team spirit and resilience absolutely exemplify the wider values of the school.”
Leeds United star Liam Cooper joined pupils for assembly
by Joanna Roberts and Martin Lumb
O
n Thursday 3 February there was an electric, infectious buzz around Hunslet Carr Primary School due to the imminent arrival of Leeds United’s captain, Liam Cooper. All classes were prepared for the amazing experience having had lessons about Liam Cooper where they watched clips of him playing, clips of the team celebrating their promotion to the Premier League and let’s not forget how they learnt the Leeds United anthem, ‘Marching on Together’. Liam’s visit was organised by his LC6, Liam Cooper Academy. We were offered the chance for
Liam to not only visit our children, but for his coaches to deliver sessions for our children. To say we were over the moon with this is an understatement. We knew we had to seize this chance to give our children the life-long memory of meeting Liam and hearing about his journey. All children were challenged to think carefully about what they’d like to find out about Liam Cooper. Teachers explained that although finding out what he has for breakfast would be interesting, we wanted children to think about the skills, resilience, ambition and perseverance it took Liam to become not only a professional footballer, but also the captain of a football team.
A fist bump with the Captain
Liam Cooper presented a signed shirt to the school
