The City Times Autumn 2 2014

TheCityTimes DEC

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Season’s greetings January 2015 from The City Monday Staff training - academy closed Academy, Hackney Tuesday Year 11/12 Parent Day

Autumn 2 issue 2014/15

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Our Winter City of homemade, festive houses created by our students for their art homework project - is on display in our foyer now.

Departures & Arrivals: a flying start for our GCSE drama group

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Wednesday 7 All students return to school

Message from the Principal As we come to the end of the term and the year we can reflect on a stunning set of achievements for the academy.

Our first set of examination results were exceptionally good and are a clear endorsement of our approach: to promote the highest standards of behaviour and ally that with engaging teaching so that we can secure the best possible progress for our students. You will be pleased to know that national statistics released last week show the progress our Class of 2014 cohort made during their time at the academy placed us within the best 1% (the top 35) of schools in the country.

This measure of progress means that (of their best eight GCSEs) students who attend The City Academy, Hackney leave with a total of 11 GCSE grades higher across all subjects than if students attended an ‘average’ school.

In November, our year 10 drama students took to the stage for their first public performance Carol Shields’, Departures & Arrivals.

the academy stage. More photos of the cast, and from the show itself, are available on our Flickr page now.

The play - a collection of 22 vignettes - gave the entire cast the chance to take centre stage as a whole host of larger-than-life characters were brought together in the departure lounge. The show had everything: comic exchanges between awkward gentlemen, nervous parents saying farewell to their ‘gap year’ children, aspiring air stewards, and attention seeking celebrities.

Coming up this term, our Sixth Form students are taking part in a National Theatre project, performing a new play called Drama, Baby by emerging writer, Jamie Brittain. Come Dance with Me is a new event for the creative calendar in February, followed by our annual Shakespeare production staged by our Key Stage 3 students.

Both thoughtful and funny, the whole cast brought yet another fantastic performance to

For more information, please visit the Events page on our website: www.thecityacademy.org/events.

But as you know, we are much more than simply the sum of our examination results, however good they are. We are a community which expects the best from and for our students and there is no better way of demonstrating this than attending the various exhibitions, shows and concerts we stage. The Christmas Concert is always magnificent and this year will be no exception.

If you are lucky enough to get a ticket you will see how high expectations and commitment to standards delivers professional outcomes in all aspects of life at the academy, including the arts.

Mark Emmerson Principal

Festive fundraising

Support our Christmas Jumper Day fundraising by texting ‘TCAH96 £2’ to 70070.

TheCityTimes - in print and online every half term |

www.thecityacademy.org/news |

@cityacadhackney |

flickr.com/tcah

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Word wheel can you find more than 40 words all containing the middle letter? There’s one nine-letter word too.

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Parents/Carers vote for your new Parent Governor www.thecityacademy.org/parents Earlier this term the academy wrote to all parents/ carers inviting you to apply to become a Parent Governor at The City Academy, Hackney.

We would now like for all parents to vote for their preferred candidate by Friday 9 January 2015.

A ballot sheet has been posted to all parents accompanied by a letter from the Principal and their copy of The City Times.

Please complete and return the form to vote for your preferred candidate or complete the electronic voting form by following the link in the text message you received.

The successful candidate will be invited to join our existing Parent Governors, Toyin and Lola on the Governing Body, and will be announced in the next issue of The City Times.

If being a Parent Governor isn’t for you but you’d still like to play an active part in supporting the academy, we have a volunteer reading programme and our Parent Staff Association is always looking for parents to help run the second hand uniform shop.

Lost property www.thecityacademy.org/parents We have a lot of lost property in storage and need to ensure the method of managing items is clear to all. The system is explained below: 1. All items of clothing should be clearly labelled or marked by parents 2. If items handed in to reception are labelled, they will be returned to the student 3. If an item is not clearly named then it will be held until the Friday of each week in reception 4. At the end of the week items will be moved to the lost property store 5. If identifiable, items can be claimed between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on any Parent Day (the next Parent Day is on Tuesday 6 January) 6. All unclaimed items will be donated to the second hand uniform shop or a charity.

Thank you to our volunteer parents and the Parent Staff Association for their continued hard work having set up the second hand uniform shop which has quickly become a valuable and muchneeded service for our families.

Parents/Carers - has your child grown out of any of their uniform? Do they no longer need their white blouses now that they are in year 10? Please donated any items you may have by dropping them into reception any time. Thank you.

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Urooj Mohammed Melisa Buitrago Vargas Aldgate T Aldgate P

Klara Qosja Aldgate G

Top merit winners this half term www.thecityacademy.org/students Congratulations to all of our top merit winners from the past few weeks. Students receive merits every day and rewards each term for outstanding behaviour, attainment, effort and positive contribution to the academy.

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Rickye Allen Aldgate B

Nabeel Hannan Ludgate B

Huseyin Gulbeyaz Newgate T

Kirie Richards Ludgate P

Damla Bozdag & Tilly Kealy Herbert

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Accelerated Reader of the Week www.thecityacademy.org/students/library Congratulations to the Accelerated Reader of the Week winners for this term. Each week our winners are announced in assembly, in the library section of our website and via our Twitter feed.

In Key Stage 3 all students participate in the Accelerated Reader programme to encourage them to read and enjoy the broad range of fiction books available in the academy library. How does it work? Having read a book of their choice, a student then takes a quiz which tests their knowledge of the book they’ve read, the story, and the characters. If they pass the quiz then they receive a certain number of points (based on the complexity and length of the book) towards their personal reading target for the term.

Many of our students exceed the target set for them. We have lots of challenges and fun competitions to stretch our most avid readers including the new ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ where students are challenged to read one million words across the academic year. Prizes and vouchers are awarded at the end of each week, term and year.

From cover to cover

Our students’ top-rated books As part of the Accelerated Reader programme (see above), students are asked to rate the books they have read. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is still a firm favourite amongst our Key Stage 3 students, as are a number of David Walliams’ books including Billionaire Boy. Also in the top 10 is The Dirty South, a book about life in South London during the time of the Brixton riots, by Alex Wheatle who regularly visits the academy to give talks to our students. It should come as no surprise that The Hunger Games series also makes the top 10 alongside award-winning titles The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Fault in our Stars. A few ideas for last-minute stocking fillers perhaps?

Very poor

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Outstanding

92++M8 92%

of parents would grade the academy as good or outstanding.

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Half term highlights With our first set of GCSE results under our belt and the opening of our Sixth Form, we say farewell to 2014 having hosted more events than ever before this term. Familiar favourites such as our Christmas Concert, Sixth Form music recitals, science taster lessons for parents; and there’s much more to come in 2015.

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1. Our Key Stage 3 students and parents have clearly worked very hard on their Winter City art

homework projects. Adam Boubekeur’s fully-furnished, festive house takes pride of place on the front of the academy’s Christmas card 2. Infinity Agbetu’s incredibly thorough and colourful annotating 3. Our Sixth Form singers perform for parents at our annual International Food Evening and Quiz. Mr. Malcolm’s team won the quiz... again 4. Blockbusters was hard enough in English. How about in Spanish?

5. A very proud parent films his daughter’s recital performance at Sutton House 6. An equally proud Ms Jones, Subject Leader Music, who received the Mayor’s Music Prize on behalf of the academy at Hackney Empire 7. Our talented chefs have created some delicious dishes this term for their Catering course and our Junior Chef competition 8. Teen Tech - students put Google Glass to the test at the Copper Box, pictured above with the Deputy Speaker for Hackney, Sade Etti. More photos from all the events showcased above, and more, can be found on www.flickr.com/tcah.

Twitter @CityAcadHackney Every week we share a similar grid of nine photos highlighting activities from the week, classroom best practice and trips our students have been on. Why not subscribe to our Twitter feed by following the links on our website now?

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91% of students left the TCAH

National

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academy this year with five or more GCSE grades A*- C, the top attaining cohort in the borough.

Key dates for the half term ahead, January - February 2015

Term dates 2014/15

www.thecityacademy.org/events

www.thecityacademy.org/events

We have a wide range of events happening again this half term including Parent Days for year 11 and the Sixth Form, year 9 GCSE Options Evening, a Parent Staff Association meeting and Subject Evening, plus a year 12 drama production. Thank you to our Facilities and Support staff and volunteers who helped Crisis at Christmas open our doors to the homeless over the holidays.

Term dates for this academic year are listed below.

Please refer to the Events page on our website for up-to-date information regarding training days, school concerts and Parent Staff Association events.

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Staff training day Monday 5 January 2015 The academy will be closed to all students on Monday 5 January for a staff training event.

Year 11 and Sixth Form Parent Day Tuesday 6 January, 1.30 - 8 p.m.

We begin the term with a Parent Day for year 11 and Sixth Form students. Subject teachers will be on hand in the Sports Hall to meet with parents throughout the day. Students are expected to attend in full uniform (Sixth Form - smart business wear, as per the academy’s normal expectations).

All students return to school and normal lessons on Wednesday 7 January, 8.25 a.m.

Twilight staff training event - no Additional Studies

14 Wednesday 14 January

There will be no Additional Studies classes on Wednesday 14 January due to a staff training event that evening. Both libraries will also be closed. Students will be expected to leave school at 3.40 p.m. unless they are sitting a detention.

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Parent Staff Association (PSA) meeting Wednesday 21 January, 5.30 - 6.30 p.m.

All parents/carers are invited to attend the third PSA meeting of the academic year. If you have any concerns you would like to raise or discuss with other parents, or would like to learn more about our volunteering opportunities we would urge you to attend.

Spring term 1 Monday 5 January 2015 – Friday 13 February Monday 5 January – staff training day Tuesday 6 January – Year 11/12 Parent Day Wednesday 7 January – all students return Spring term 2 Monday 23 February – Friday 27 March Monday 23 February – Year 7/8 Parent Day Tuesday 24 February – all students return Summer term 1 Monday 13 April – Friday 22 May Monday 13 April – staff training day Tuesday 14 April – all students return Summer term 1 Monday 1 June – Wednesday 15 July Monday 1 June – Year 9/10 Parent Day Tuesday 2 June – all students return

Holocaust Memorial Day

27 Tuesday 27 January

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January each year. It’s a time for everyone to pause to remember the millions of people who have been murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition during the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides. On Holocaust Memorial Day we can honour the survivors of these regimes and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today. 27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

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PSA Subject Evening Wednesday 28 January, 5.30 - 6.30 p.m.

Each term, parents/carers, students and families are invited to attend a taster class. Thank you to science for hosting the last event. Visit our website to find out which subject will be hosting the next parent class. Which subject would you like to try?

Year 9 GCSE Options Evening

11 Wednesday 11 February, 5.45 p.m.

Year 9 students and their parents/carers are invited to attend a GCSE options information evening. This is your opportunity to learn more about the decisions you will have to make, the subjects we offer and the potential education pathways and careers these could lead to. In the meantime, why not refer to last year’s GCSE options booklet as a guide which can be found in the Students section of our website.

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Chinese New Year

19 Thursday 19 February

The most important celebration in the Chinese calendar, the Chinese year 4713 - the year of the sheep - begins on Thursday 19 February.

Parent Days 2015 An opportunity for students, parents and teachers to meet and discuss progress.

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Sixth Form

Monday 23 February Monday 23 February Monday 1 June Monday 1 June Tuesday 6 January Tuesday 6 January

Consultation Week The academy invites students and parents to two Consultation Week meetings each academic year.

The aim of the first, attended by all students, is to set targets for the year ahead. At the second, targets are viewed and progress checked.

All students w/c Monday 3 November Years 9 - 13 w/c Monday 23 February 2015 Years 7/8 Monday 1 June 2015

The City Academy, Hackney is sponsored by KPMG and the City of London Corporation.

The City Academy, Hackney is a registered charitable company. Registered office: The City Academy, Hackney, London, E9 6EA.