Newsletter Issue 5 May 2014

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 5 - MAY 2014

“Not Made in China” – TLA 1st school in history to loan from The V&A Museum – See page 34 Members of the Museum Council – Maarukh Nasir, Jordan Felstead, Cara Burton and Leah Lewis

Message from the Principal Dear Parents/Carers As we enter the heart of the exam season, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all staff and students for their hard work. There is still a long way to go and a lot of effort and revision required but I know we can do it. We are offering more revision time over half-term so I hope students take advantage of this offer as it could make the difference. My one bit of advice to students is to get the best possible grade and not just the grade that is required to get to the next stage. It is possible that grade may not be enough to get to the following stage!!

We have recruited some great new staff that will be joining the English, Maths, Science, Business Studies and ICT faculties in September 2014. Students were involved in each of the interviews and were brilliant; they were astute, knew exactly what they wanted and were also fine ambassadors for the Academy with every candidate commenting on their extremely positive approach to their studies and the community.

We held our annual Museum Learning Conference on Friday 16 May and I have to tell you, I felt extremely proud of both the staff and students who spoke with confidence and were very articulate. We had over 100 guests from all over the country, from many museums, and this time from many local schools who want to get involved in our exciting programme. It is clear to us that Museum Learning and our strapline, ‘Curiosity, Exploration and Discovery’ is making a real difference and many people are talking about it very positively.

You will have also seen in the press that we have been invited to become a Leading Edge School and received an award from the SSAT for our results meaning that we are in the top 20% of schools nationally. Both awards come from hard work but also through staff with expert subject knowledge and a desire to do the very best for every student that walks through our doors. I am thrilled that we are being recognised for this and most importantly that it has been having a positive impact on the students at the Academy.

Finally, I know it is a very important time for many with exams already taking place and many more on the horizon so I wish everyone the best of luck but we all know we get out of life what we put into it!

Rhodri Bryant, Principal

Message from the Governors Governors are delighted to be able to announce that our plans to extend into the Primary sector are progressing successfully. Consultation exercises both for the establishment of our Multi Academy Trust, and the Arbib Foundation’s sponsorship of Parlaunt Park for September 2014 have been completed. We are also currently in consultation with all of our stakeholders about our plans to open The Langley Academy Primary in September 2015. These consultation processes have been a really useful way for Governors to engage with our local community and we have been really encouraged by how positively The Langley Academy is viewed by all. There is a dire need for more school places in Slough and for improved provision at Primary level and The Langley Academy Trust is very well placed to address these needs and to provide a fantastic education for more children.

I am also extremely pleased to be able to announce that we have appointed outstanding individuals to be Head Teachers at both Parlaunt Park and for The Langley Academy Primary.

Finding strong Head Teachers is becoming increasingly more difficult in the current climate of educational reforms and we are encouraged that the Trust was able to attract a strong field of candidates for both posts. 

Jane Sweeney, is an experienced Head Teacher who will be starting at Parlaunt Park on 1st July, 2014. Jane will be spending a day a week through June at the school in a consultancy role giving her an opportunity to meet pupils, staff and the community before she takes up her post. Jane is very much looking forward to leading Parlaunt Park through its conversion to an Academy within The Langley Academy Trust.



Tracey Bowen will be starting as Head Teacher Designate at The Langley Academy Primary in September 2014. The Arbib Foundation will be funding Tracey’s post for the first term to allow her to get started on the Primary project earlier than DfE funding allows. This will give Tracey the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of the design and build of the new academy and also to support Jane at Parlaunt Park as required.

Tracey lives locally and has worked at Lynch Hill Primary for 15 years. She attended both consultation meetings for the Primary and has relished the opportunity to meet so many families who are keen for their children to join the Primary and its Nursery when it opens in 2015.

Whilst all of this work is happening to enable us to set up our two Primary Academies, Governors have not lost their focus on driving and encouraging further improvement at The Langley Academy. Many of our students are tied up in their public exams and we are confident that this year they have been better prepared than ever by our extremely dedicated staff.

The Trust will be holding its annual Governor strategy and training day on 23rd June. On this day we will be looking at roles and responsibilities within the new Multi Academy Trust and

ensuring that we establish clear objectives for the schools within the trust to ensure that children in all of the schools will achieve their full potential – not just academically but also as well rounded members of the Langley community and beyond.

I would like to wish you all an enjoyable half term and hope that our students will return to the Academy refreshed and well rested for the last half term of the academic year.

Annabel Nicoll

Dates for your Diary MAY Friday 23

End of Summer Half-Term 1

13:20

Start of Summer Half-Term 2 Year 12 UCAS Evening Year 12 Work Experience Parent Forum Year 9 Parent/Carer Evening

08:20 16:30 – 19:00

Tuesday 1

TLA Year 7 Parents Welcome Evening

19:00 – 20:00

Tuesday 8 Wednesday 9

Celebration Evening Year 7 Academic Afternoon Sports Award Evening TLA Fair End of Summer Half-Term 2

16:00 – 19:00 14:00 – 16:00 18:00 – 20:00 11:00 – 14:00 12:00

JUNE Monday 2 Thursday 12 Monday 16 – Fri 20 Wednesday 25 Thursday 26

18:00 – 19:00 16:30 – 19:00

JULY

Thursday 17 Friday 18

AUGUST Thursday 14 Thursday 21

‘A’ Level Results Day GCSE Results Day

***IMPORTANT NEWS***

The Langley Academy one of the best in the country for student progress at GCSE The Langley Academy has received national recognition for the value it adds to students’ achievements at GCSE. A recent in-depth analysis of official Department for Education data on all state-funded schools in England by SSAT, the national schools’ membership organisation for improvement and collaboration, identified The Langley Academy’s success.

The Academy has qualified for an SSAT Educational Outcomes Award by being in the top 20% of schools nationally for progress made by pupils between their key stage 2 results at primary school and their GCSE results at age 16.

The Academy has been invited to receive their award at a regional celebration ceremony hosted by SSAT at The St Marylebone CE School in London on 6 May. Sue Williamson, Chief Executive of SSAT said: ‘The Langley Academy should be congratulated for their exceptional achievement. They have proved themselves to be leading the field in improving GCSE outcomes for their students.

There is so much good practice that this school could share, and I hope many schools will join us at the celebration ceremony for the chance to network and share strategies with awardwinning schools.

‘These results are testament to the commitment and hard work of the students, teachers and leadership team at The Langley Academy, and show what can be achieved when skilled teachers have high expectations and ambition for every young person. I am proud that this school is a member of the SSAT network.’

ARBIB HOUSE Arbib students have been busy building dragon heads as part of this term’s VTP. The focus this term has been rowing and students were inspired by various rowing heroes during House Tutor Time. The students designed and created their dragon heads to lead their teams of 10 in a dragon boat race.

Alhena Chohan, Calvin Tremeth and Abbi Griffin creating the Arbib 6 dragon head

Arbib have been running the 7/11 literacy initiative in which Year 7 students read aloud to Year 11 mentors. The initiative was launched to engage Year 11’s with House Tutor Time and raise Year 7’s attainment and reading ages whilst promoting reading for pleasure. The Year 11’s have been specially trained to assist the Year 7’s and have done an outstanding job this year. I am delighted to say that a select group of Year 10 Arbib students have been trained to take over once our Year 11’s leave and have come in to the initiative with great enthusiasm which really engages the younger students. Thank you to everyone involved in the initiative.

Year 10 and 11 Arbib mentors with their Year 7 mentees

The PE Faculty ran a House football tournament last term and I am delighted to announce that Arbib House finished top overall across all year groups. A superb effort from all involved as we continue to lead the way in House competitions.

Well done Arbib and keep up the good work going into our final term.

Ms Whelan

DARWIN HOUSE Another fantastic term has come to an end and once again there have been some outstanding accomplishments from our superb Darwin students.

Spelling Bee This term saw the House Spelling Bee competition taking place. All Darwin Year 7 and 8 students took part in their House Tutor Groups and the winners then fought it out in a spell-off during the House assembly. Representing Darwin House for Year 7 was the wonderful Annabeth Gyamfi and for Year 8 the enthusiastic Lewis Seller. Both fought it out against the other Houses in the final of the Spelling Bee and Lewis did brilliantly finishing 2nd place in the Year 8 competition. Annabeth went one better and finished in 1 st, which is a fantastic achievement that we are all very proud of, a huge well done to both of them and all the students who took part.

District Cup Final The Year 7 football team have had a fantastic first year representing the Academy winning the League Playoff Final and the District Cup final.

An outstanding Darwin student, Connor Lawless played an integral part in the side and his excellent season was topped off with a magnificent hat trick in the District Cup Final.

Langley’s Got Talent The Academy has got so many talented students that we decided to organise ‘Langley’s Got Talent’ and one young man in his final year at The Academy entered the competition to showcase his profound love of music! With GCSE exams ahead of him and revision as a top priority, Aston Sharma in Year 11 still found the time to rehearse for his Langley’s Got Talent performance and what a performance it turned out to be. Performing a cover of Ed Sheeran’s Lego House, Aston sang with passion and was extremely entertaining, showing what a confident young man he has become. I have to mention the highlight of the performance, where Aston got a red rose out of his jacket pocket and presented it to Mr Sullivan who was one of the judges. Aston showed his love for music and gave an exceptional performance that any young musician would be proud of.

Dragon Boat Race This term saw the Henley House focus, which means the much anticipated making of Dragon Head’s and then the even more exciting race. All of Darwin HTG’s Dragon Heads were fantastic and many thanks to all the students who took the time to help in making them, they looked fantastic. Race day came and Darwin 6 came out victorious and went on to represent Darwin House in the final race on Friday. The race got underway and with some exceptional team work, Darwin 6 went onto win the Dragon Boat Race finishing 1st by some margin. A huge well done to Darwin 6 who has shown what a fantastic House Tutor Group they are and with some brilliant team work, what can be achieved together.

I want to say a huge thank you to all Darwin students for a fantastic term full of lots of hard work and various achievements in many different areas. Enjoy the half term break and come back refreshed ready for a final term of even more outstanding achievements.

Mr Bott

GAIA HOUSE Term 5 has seen Gaia House and our students join Henley House to develop everyone’s knowledge and understanding of Rowing.

The Focus for the term has been Famous Rowers and these have been linked to a key word that we may associate with them. The aim has been to raise staff and students’ awareness of these key words and enable them to fully understand their meanings and how the chosen rowers have developed the use of them during their careers. The Academy was set the challenge of developing and presenting a Dragon Boat Head in each House Tutor Group to compete in each House race. Gaia House’s winning House Tutor Group for their design was Gaia 6 ICA who produced an amazing Dragon Head (right).

During Rowing Week the Dragon Boat races were fiercely contested amongst the House out on the 100m straight running track. After having to restart the race for a second time, the race got off to a flyer and each House Tutor Group was neck and neck as they approached the line, but it was Gaia 6 ICA who again finished ahead of the pack to claim the win and their place in the final. I would like to thank Mr Goodchild, Head of Henley House for organising such a well run event.

Gaia House students on the start line in last week’s Dragon Boat heats

9

Connor Stichbury & Frank Francis both Year 10 Gaia 4 BCH working on the production of their Dragon Boat head

Gaia 3 DRO’s Dragon Boat head design

Katie Long & Emily Llewellyn both Year 10 Gaia 5 NRY putting the finishing touches to their design during House Tutor Group in the VTP

10

Robbie Foster Year 8 Gaia 4 BCH and Jordan King Year 7 Gaia 5 NRY looking focused ahead of the House Dragon Boat heats last week

Term 5 sees us saying farewell to our brilliant Year 11 students as they continue their journey through GCSE exams. It has again been a busy time for our Year 11s and they have worked extremely hard with preparations and continuous revision for their Pre-Public Exams. As we approach the half term break our Year 11 students are now focusing in on the hard work ahead and I am confident that they will all see success when it comes to them collecting their final results in August. The final week is vital for them to make lasting memories on what has been a huge effort from Year 7 and I’m sure that I speak on behalf of everyone involved with the House when I wish them all ‘Good Luck’.

11

Ricky Ndlovu Year 10 and Robbie Foster Year 8 Gaia 4 BCH leading our House Council meeting earlier this term

When House Council meetings take place the students lead and take control of the whole thing from start to finish. They show responsibility and leadership and discuss key events and items from the agenda as can be seen here. House Council members are: George Hunt, Natasha Ahmed (Gaia 1), Munashe Ganje, Tara Mehra (Gaia 2), Anisah Chaudry, Jack Stokoe, Jamal Chaudry (Gaia 3), Ricky Ndlovu, Robbie Foster, Chloe Donnelly (Gaia 4), Katie Long, Julia Thurauf (Gaia 5), Lea Foster and Shemelia Lewis (Gaia 6).

Term 5 has also seen Mr Haden (House Link Director) lead our assembly. The Directors work round each House on a rota where they present on a variety of topics. It is always nice to hear that members of staff comment upon the presentation of our students and how responsive they are towards different people who may be visiting the Academy.

Mr Haden presenting to Gaia House earlier this term

12

Student Focus for Term 5: This term the following Gaia House students has been chosen to share his experiences, achievements and ambitions for the future - Munashe Ganje Gaia 2 JMU Hi, my names Munashe amd I’m in Year 10 at The Langley Academy. I love taking part in a range of activities such as football, Art, Drama and especially street dance. The Academy lets me do just that by providing me with a range of opportunities to do what I like to do. I recently took part in the ‘Langley’s Got Talent’ show; it was a great experience and I am privileged to have taken part in it. I was also elected to be a part of the Academy House Council because I provide a variety of ideas. I am very creative and confident. In the future I hope to become an actor/street dancer as I enjoy doing these things and I trust my ability to make it.

With only Term 6 left this academic year we are fast approaching the end of the year. Term 6 will again be a very important time for everyone associated with Gaia House. When I regularly meet with students in House Tutor Groups and separately on a one-to-one basis I am always impressed with their drive and levels of ambition. Everyone is continuing to work hard to make a positive contribution to both the House and to the Academy. Well done to everyone associated with Gaia House again this term and keep up the excellent work.

Mr Spilsbury

13

GLOBE HOUSE Over the past year Alyssa Meacock and Tatenda Munzara have embraced the role and done an incredible job of being Globe House Captains. As they both leave us this term, the reins are passed to Nicole Blackman and Rahul Doll. Globe House would like to congratulate Nicole and Rahul for their success in achieving the status of our House Captains. I look forward to working with you. A heartfelt thank you to Alyssa and Tatenda for all their hard work; it has been a privilege working with you. I hope this experience has enriched you in many ways and will serve you in good stead for your future endeavours in leadership.

Rahul Doll – Year 10, Tatenda Munzara – Year 11, Alyssa Meacock – Year 11 and Nicole Blackman – Year 10

Chloe and Tia Boland represented Globe House in The Langley Academy’s very own version of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. The girls joined Leah Lewis from Grace House to produce an act that wowed the judges.

Chloe and Tia choreographed their own dance which they performed while Leah sang. Unfortunately the girls did not win but we are still very proud of them.

Well done girls!

Chloe Boland (Year 8) and Tia Boland (Year 10)

14

A group of Globe students, and others, including volunteers from schools nearby, were involved in a Beatboxing/singing workshop with Ms Hendrickx. This workshop took place over two months with students getting the opportunity to write their own song. During this time, our participants held rehearsals twice a week at The Langley Academy and Slough and Eton school. The large group of contestants gradually diminished during the selection process until the final group emerged. Through commitment, dedication and hard work our team gave a brilliant performance at London’s Southbank Centre.

William De Guzman (Globe3), Liveta Montvilaite (Globe1), Osman Zafar (Globe1), Komal Chaudhrey (Globe1), Priya Mohan (Globe4), Ethan Kohli (Globe4), Deimante Montvilaite (Globe5), Vinnay Mahi (Globe1) and Gracjan Borkowski (Globe3)

15

Jade Leonard (Globe3), Komal Chaudhrey (Globe1), Deimante Montvilaite (Globe5), Vinnay Mahi (Globe1) and Jakub Kordel (Globe3)

Some Globe students who are part of the Academy’s Debate Club were awarded the opportunity to attend the Guildhall in Windsor on Wednesday 7 May 2014. During their trip they were allowed to adjudicate a 19th century court case. This activity involved them working as a team to defend or prosecute the accused. Students were required to gather evidence before being called to the stand to present their opening statement. They were then questioned by the opposing bench. This experience was both educational and enjoyable for our students and they will remember it for a long time to come.

16

Year 11 Globe House students

This term has been extremely busy and eventful for our Year 11s as they have started their exams. All of Globe House would like to take this opportunity to wish them every success for the future. You have been an amazing year group. You will be missed.

Ms Pereira

GRACE HOUSE This has been an extremely short, yet incredibly busy term. Year 11 students have been completing coursework to meet various deadlines and are now revising and practising exam technique for their forthcoming written exams. Good luck Year 11 – not only in your examinations, but in your future plans.

I would like to thank Keerit Devgon and Jessika Dhanoa for being fantastic House Captains for Grace House. We really appreciate the exemplary way you have conducted yourselves in the role and for the time and effort you have put into representing the Academy. Well done!

Grace House students have participated in Rowing week activities, most notably the Dragon Head Race. All students conducted themselves extremely well and had a great time. Grace 6 won the race for Grace and went through to the final. This win was for the fourth year running!

We held a Spelling Bee to promote Literacy in the Academy for Year 7 and 8 students; the heats were run in House Tutor sessions. The winning students from each House Tutor Group went through House final in assembly. Nikki Chaggar won the Year 7 semi-final and Samiya Rahim won the Year 8 semifinal.

17

Grace House is in charge of the Vertical Tutor Programme next half term. Work is already being done by the VTP working party for this and we look forward to various activities in Cricket Week. We will also be planning for The Langley Academy Fair and Sports Day, among other activities, during CAS week.

Have a pleasant and safe mid-term break!

Ms Decosemo

HENLEY HOUSE Once again, students from Henley House have put together reports and profiles regarding their HTGs for this half term’s newsletter: Henley 3: My first year at The Langley Academy has been both exciting and tough. I’ve achieved many rewards for my hard work such as the highest ATL every term, letters and certificates from teachers and the Principal.

Harlin Dhillon (Year 7) My first year at The Langley Academy has flown by fast and throughout this year I have made friends with different people in other Houses. I have chosen my friends wisely as I have two major best friends which care and comfort me even when I’m not having the best day. They also guide me to do the right things which affect me greatly in a good way. Even though I have had some ups and downs, I will not let anything come in the way of me achieving my goals.

Avriya Grewal (Year 7) Henley 4: Our main achievement has been the team work used to make our Dragon Boat Head. Every person in our Tutor Group had some input into our final creation, be it from designing, voting for a design, painting or making a part of the dragon.

We feel it was this team work that helped us to have the best Dragon Boat Head in Henley House.

18

Other succeses include Manraj Tack and Nazneen Aslam focussing on achieving their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award as well as Year 10s and 11s working hard to obtain the best grades they can from their exams.

Henley 5’s trips of Term 5: The Year 9’s have been on lots of trips in this term. Danielle Deadman went on a trip to HMS Wellington with her History class. They learnt how to use maps for navigation using a compass and about Warships and convoys.

Grace Eckett, Jessica Swan Gonzalez, Mustapha Mussa and Matthew Stoneman went on a Maths trip to The Natural History Museum, where they learnt about radial symmetry and used trigonometry to measure the top of a building.

They also were lucky enough to hold Margo the tarantula, which was missing a leg and also many cockroaches.

Henley 6: Milo Quinton (project manager) and Laren Stewart (vice project manager) came up with the idea of the Dragon Boat Head – The Pink Power Ranger. Sylivia Duncan and Jaidev Chana were our representatives in the spelling bee.

Andrew Manyumbu (pictured right) was one of the contestants in Langley’s Got Talent. He came third!

Mr Goodchild

19

English As we enter the exam season, we wish the very best of luck to Year 11 students taking IGCSE English Language and AQA English Literature. Many took part in a special workshop over the half-term break to maximise their chances of achieving good grades and we look forward to reaping the rewards of their hard work in August.

In the 450th Anniversary year of Shakespeare’s birth, Year 10 are studying Romeo and Juliet for GCSE English Literature and their understanding and enjoyment of the play was greatly enhanced by a performance from The Globe Players “in the round” – the Atrium forming an exciting performance space. Being so close to the actors, as well as the absence of staging and special lighting, gives students an idea of how the plays were experienced by the “groundlings” in Shakespeare’s time – intimate, fast and participative – very different from the formal theatre of today. The new Museum display of Shakespeare plays, curated by students, formed a fitting backdrop to the production.

20

To celebrate World Book Night, we once again gave away specially selected titles to parents and students attending the Welcome Evening for next year’s Year 7. Encouraging students to read is the best way to improve their literacy and parents can make a significant difference to their children’s progress by listening to them read aloud two or three times a week. Please encourage them to join the local library and make books and reading an integral part of their lives.

English Teacher Ms Croft giving away books at the Year 6 Welcome Interviews

21

Maths It has been a busy term with our Year 11, 12 and 13 and some of the Year 10 preparing for their final examinations. Students have attended extra revision sessions after school and with other groups attending classes on Saturday throughout the term.

A small group of Year 11 students will have intense revision classes over half term running from 09:00 - 15:30, with a half hour lunch break at 12:00.

The last of our Year 9 students went on the Oxford Museum trip this term.

40 students from Years 7 and 8 took in the UK Maths Challenge earlier in the term. 14 students received awards; 6 silver & 8 bronze certificates. Leena Toora and Jaidev Chana each received best in year on the UKMC for The Langley Academy.

This term we also have to say goodbye to our PGCE students who have been with us the last few terms. Hiba Kindi and Aisha Saeed we wish you the best of luck as you enter your NQT year.

Numeracy has also been a regular part of the VTP this year. See if you can answer this VTP style numeracy problem. If you know the answer, hand it to Ms Butzen in the Maths department and you may receive a little prize. If you don’t know the answer, you’ll have to wait for the answer in the next newsletter issue!

22

Science The AS Chemistry Students took part in the RSC International Chemistry Olympiad Competition Round 1 back in January. Round 1 involved students throughout the UK taking part in a 2 hour competition that involved University Level questions.

We are proud to be the only school in Slough that provides our Chemistry students with this opportunity to learn advanced Chemistry outside of the normal A Level Specification. This year our students received the following awards (Including the Year 13 students): 3 Participation, 8 Bronze, 5 Silver and 2 Gold.

Starting top left Clockwise: Chloe El-Bokhari, Weronika Ranisz, Kirandeep Phull, Tulsi Tandom, Jasveet Heer, Jasmin Kaur, Lilian Ateng, Navdeep Sidhu, Mr Brozny, Qasim Alam, Thomas Simon, Christen Montgomery, Mohammed Salih, Zaki Yasin

23

Humanities History History students this term have learnt a great deal. In Year 7, students have carried on their chronological study of the British Isles by focussing on the famous Battle of Hastings and looking at reasons as to why William of Normandy was able to defeat Harold Godwinson.

Year 8 have studied World War II this term in preparation for their study of the Holocaust next term; a deeply moving and informative period in the modern world. We have also received confirmation that once again the Holocaust Education Trust will be sending a survivor to speak to Year 10 students about her experience. We hope that students will embrace this unique opportunity and use this as an opportunity to reflect on their own lives and give thanks as to how lucky we all are. Stay tuned for the next newsletter to hear them share their experience. Year 9 continue to really thrive with their study of a challenging subject by carrying out a depth study of Weimar Germany.

Finally, we as a department would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our exam classes in Year 11, 12 and 13 the very best of luck in their exams and wish them all the best in their futures.

Design Technology Year 7 and 8s are working on their Summer Term Lego themed build your own homework, we look forward to seeing some of your awesome efforts from 10 June!

The following students have been nominated by their teachers as performing exceptionally well this half term. They have been so super and so great that they will be awarded the first batch of SO‌DT badges, Keep up the wonderful work!

Munaahil Rana, Matthew Wilson, Aoife Brennan, Wiktoria Dlubak, Menahil Hassan, Julia Thaurauf, Sam Mihalache, Matthew Cargin, Oscar Yau, Danielle Deadman, James Ashford, Adam Toubal, Byader Hamed , Sehanna Dev, Lola Idowu , Javneet Phull, Thurgaashini Nagarajan, Paras Sharma, Harshdeep Singh, Andreia Cunha and Mariam Bhatti.

24

We bid our Year 11 students farewell, and wish them luck in their forthcoming exams. Some have created truly fantastic pieces of work some of which have been showcased in the museum cabinets.

Here are a few of our favourite pieces.

25

MFL Year 8 students have been involved in a project to create a song in Spanish. The students could use the soundtrack of a popular song. However, the lyrics needed to be original and all in Spanish. The class was divided into groups of six students and all of them contributed to the final outcome. In the end, each group presented an original short song to their peers, and all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Some Year 7 students have been involved in a project called ‘Three Little Pigs’. In class, students were introduced to the popular fairy-tale in Spanish or in French. The students then formed groups and prepared a role play in the target language, on the story. All groups presented their role play to the rest of the class and assessed each other. From that assessment, the best six were chosen to do a video.

The video will be recorded next term after school.

Year 9 students, Jaiya Sidhu, Amaarah Safir and Tanya Barlow

In French, Year 9 students researched the French educational system for homework and worked in groups to present one aspect of it to their peers. Some worked on Nursery, Primary and Secondary school while others researched facts about 6th Form, lunch in school and French holidays.

When learning a language these small projects are important and help to engage and motivate students.

Students can use the foreign language in a different and more meaningful context. At the same time, they are given the opportunity to explore a different culture, they have fun and it is a chance to develop further their ability to work in teams.

Harminder Bhinder and Farees Matloob presenting their homework on the French school system

26

CAPA It’s been yet another busy term for the CAPA Faculty. Students have taken part in their GCSE and ALevel Art, Textiles and Drama exams and we have taken students out on theatre and textile trips.

Exams! Exams! Exams!!

We ended last term with 2 evenings of drama performances by the GCSE Students. Working in small groups students have been rehearsing extracts from a variety of plays since Christmas. They have worked extremely hard over the last few months, even attending rehearsals at the weekend. For many of the students this was their first time performing in front of an audience. The performances were also watched by an external examiner, as a live exam. The grades awarded on the night will go towards their final GCSE Drama grades awarded later this year.

This term we also saw another evening of drama performance by the AS Level Students. Students had to perform a monologue from a play of their choice as well as perform as a group in a play. This year the Students performed an edited stylised version of Tissue by Louise Page. Again this was a live exam with students performing in front of an external examiner with the grades awarded going towards their final AS Level Drama grades.

Thank you again to everyone who was able to come and watch the show. It was enjoyed by all audience members. It is really important for the students to perform in front of an audience and we would encourage students, staff and parents to attend in future.

The Art and Textile students have been busy completing coursework and taking part in their practical exams at GCSE, AS and A-Level. They have been exploring different subject matters given to them by the exam board since Christmas.

With 2 days to create a piece of art work some of the students produced Masterpieces. The students have worked extremely hard and their artwork is a credit to them. We look forward to them achieving some excellent grades in the Summer.

The art work will be on display later this year at the Celebration Evening on 8 July. Hopefully you will be able to attend to celebrate the student’s achievements.

27

‘That was Scary, wasn’t it?’

On Tuesday 6 May the Drama department took a group of 17 students to see Frantic Assembly’s new piece of theatre ‘The Believers’. Written by Bryony Lavery and directed by Scott Graham this was a mesmerising show. With themes of religion, control and loss, the show was hard hitting but the physicality and incredible staging made this a fully immersive extravaganza that left the audience breathless and moved.

The students that attended the trip were full of high praise upon leaving the Tricycle theatre, stating it was the best thing they had ever seen. Talk continued on the journey home about some of the stunts and effects used and it was clear this was a piece of theatre that had a far reaching impact on the students. As a department we try and introduce students to varied theatre forms and I think this physical piece was an eye opener to what theatre could be.

Art Influenced by Nature Year 10 GCSE Textile students spent the day in Oxford collecting research for their 2nd coursework project. They started collecting their visual research in the Botanical Gardens. Here they were able to take photographs of plants, trees and flowers which grow in the variety of climates around the world. They were also able to look at the art work by a range of artists working in collaboration as part of the ‘Breaking of Tulips’ exhibition. Individual pieces of art inspired by the gardens were hidden amongst the plants and in the flower beds.

After lunch the students walked through the streets of Oxford to the Ashmolean Museum. Here the students were able to look at artefacts from around the world. Their main focus was to look at how artists and craftspeople had been inspired by their surroundings. Many artefacts were decorated with paintings and engravings of plants and animals that live in the countries in which they were made.

Back in the classroom students will use this research as inspiration for their own artwork and the creation of a Textiles piece.

28

‘The trip was great. I loved in when we started looking at all the flowers. I took lots of photographs. I would visit Oxford and the Museums again.’

Pamela Denny, Year 10 ‘I love it when we looked at the Artefacts. I took lots of photographs and a few selfies. The walk through Oxford was awesome.’

Katherine Bryant, Year 10

TLA Voices Following on from the success of last term’s Beatboxing project with World Champion Beat boxer, Bellatrix, the Music Department has launched a new contemporary vocal group.

‘TLA Voices’ rehearse on Tuesday lunchtimes in W2.11 and will be tackling lots of popular, new music - incorporating our new beat boxing skills! What makes this choir unique is that it has been kickstarted by the students and they have a say over what songs we decide to learn and perform. So far, no one has suggested Justin Bieber…….

We already have a performance booked at The West Wing Arts Centre, Slough on 25 June and are looking forward to working with a range of musicians on that day. If you would like to be part of this exciting new group, come and see Ms Hendrickx in the Music department.

PE Year 7 Football Langley Academy 12-4 Beechwood (article written by Aaron Wickens) The Year 7 football team played in the Grenfell Cup final on 28 April. The boys were very successful winning an astonishing 12-4! Goals from Conor Lawless (2), Zack Koundi (2), Aaron Amponsah (2), Bradley Foster (3), Leon Ahmed and Endi Danjolli and an own goal clinched the victory for us. Everyone in the team would like to thank Jose Elliot for being such an inspiring coach!

29

Langley Academy 5-1 Slough & Eton The Year 7 team completed the league and cup double after beating Slough & Eton in the league play-off final. Conor Lawless (2), Aaron Amponsah, Bradley Farren and Bradley Foster scored the goals against a very good Slough & Eton side. The man of the match award was given to Conor Lawless for his excellent display. Well done to all of the boys that have been involved this season, it has been an outstanding season! Mr Elliott is already looking forward to Year 8!

Year 11 Football Langley Academy 0-2 Windsor Boys The Year 11 team lost the Pusey Cup final to a well organised and determined Windsor Boys side.

Throughout the game the boys showed determination, character and spirit and were a credit to the Academy. Oliver Young was named man of the match for his outstanding performance in defence.

Mr Elliott would like to thank all of the students for their efforts over the last two years and wish all of the team success in their future footballing careers.

Rounders It has been a quiet start to the rounders’ season with only a 5 week term and bank holidays in between. We have had a fantastic turn out to training from all year groups with a particularly enthusiastic Year 7 team.

The Year 7s started the season well with a win of 8-5 against Slough and Eton with some solid bowling from Lauren Bradburn and some exceptionally strong batting from Sophie Ward, Nikola Wedolowski and Aoife Brennan. We have lots of games coming up after the May half term so it is vital that Year 7 girls continue to turn up to training so they can continue their winning streak.

The Year 8s have had a quiet start to the season with some difficult games against Langley Grammar and Slough and Eton. Some strong leadership skills shown by Salma Usmani and Simrit Chawla with some talented batters with Chloe Boland and Yaminah Arbibey the season looks set to be a promising one.

The Year 9s have had an unfortunate season so far playing some of the strongest teams in the borough; losing to Langley Grammar then losing by half a rounder to Westgate. However Ms Bellis and Ms O’Brien are sure the team will bounce back from these losses with some strong play from Molly Frewin and Grace Eckett and outstanding leadership from Rochelle Markman-Scadding.

30

The Year 10 rounders team, consisting of Erin Simmonds, Stevie Swann, Katie Long, Kerrie Long, Ellie Long, Hayley Manderson, Leah Lewis, Victoria Elsom and Teodora Roman, travelled to Westgate to play Westgate, St Bernard’s and St Joseph’s. The team won all three games, displaying great teamwork throughout the afternoon. It started with a narrow win over Westgate after a tight finish towards the end. The team then played St Joseph’s, now being warmed up, the team triumphed over St Joseph’s with a score of 7 ½ rounders to 1. The team’s final game was against local rival St Bernard’s. After a fantastic fielding display from all of the team, especially Stevie Swann with her brilliant catch, The Langley Academy beat St Bernard’s with a convincing win of 3 rounders to 1. An extra well done to Stevie Swann and Leah Lewis after their amazing efforts in the field.

Dance We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to have one of the lead dancers from Boy Blue Entertainment visit our school to deliver a dance workshop. The students were selected from all year groups on their commitment and talent within dance.

Once the warm-up was completed, Bruno started to teach the students part of the dance from Boy Blue’s most recent world tour. He split them into two halves led by Year 11’s Yasmin Edwards and Year 10’s Munashe Ganje and they had to learn and then perfect their dance as a group. Bruno taught the dance and allowed the two lead students to perfect their group where they all worked really hard as individuals and also as teams. Both groups performed at the end of the workshop and Bruno from Boy Blue was very impressed with the standard and commitment from all the students.

This was a fantastic opportunity and had a positive effect on all the students involved.

31

GCSE Dance Moderation This term saw the final moderation for the Year 11 GCSE Dance students. This comes at the end of two years of extremely hard work and commitment from all the students, with many of them spending numerous lunchtimes and after school sessions choreographing and rehearsing. The students performed fantastically, with some of them exceeding expectations and did Ms Bellis very proud. Their results were excellent and their hard work over the last two years has really paid off.

Report from Katie Long, Year 10: On 10 May I travelled to Birmingham to compete in the national sevens rugby tournament. It was a lovely day and we played over 600 teams. Our theme for the day was purple minions, we wore dungarees, a purple t-shirt and I had purple hair spray in my hair from my team mates pinning me down and spraying it in my hair. I also wore purple rugby socks and face paint was covered all over my body. In our pool there were 20 teams it was a hard pool. I scored over 60 tries on the day. We got to the final by hard work and determination. Unfortunately we lost in the final by 2 tries but I was so proud of our team because of our team work and perseverance. We are unbeaten in the league and were crowned champions. The tournament was the first game we lost all season. I’m moving up to u18s next season, I’m quite nervous because of how big they are compared to me but I’m sure I will be fine. Our team is called the Berkshire ba ba’s.

32

Museum Learning This has been a very busy term for students and Museum Learning with lots of projects, trips, celebrations and a big conference.

Year 7 ‘Ideas and Evidence’ trip to Oxford University Museums All Year 7 students have gone on the annual trip to the Oxford Natural History Museum and the Oxford History of Science Museum.

During the visit they explore big ideas and using evidence in science. They learnt more about electricity and became dinosaur hunters and they sorted through dinosaur bones to create their own imaginary dinosaurs.

Health & Social Care ‘Early Years’ project with the River & Rowing Museum, Henley Year 9 and Year 12 Health & Social Care students continued their work on their ‘Early Years’ project.

They had two workshops in school with Maddy Farmer from the River & Rowing Museum. Maddy is supporting them to develop their ideas for a workshop they will run at the Academy for small children from local nursery schools in Term 6. The workshops look like they will be really fun, with activities like mask making, growing plants and bird finger puppets.

33

Museum Council Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

The Museum Council have had a busy term which started with curating cases to celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday. The Council designed and displayed cases for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. Make sure you have a look at the Happy Birthday Shakespeare exhibition; it’s full of swords, potions, hearts and even a donkey’s head!

Year 10 students Leah Lewis, Maarukh Nasir and Jordan Felstead

‘Beyond Langley’ – Museum Learning conference at The Langley Academy The big news from the Council is their hard work towards our Museum Learning conference. The students took to the stage and gave a presentation about the V&A ceramics exhibition ‘Not made in China’ which was on display at the beginning of the year. The Museum Council were a credit to the Academy and worked really hard planning what to say and learning their lines. There were over 130 students, staff and visitors to the conference on the theatre for the event, some of whom had travelled really far to join the event.

As well as sharing with visitors all the activities that happen as part of Museum Learning at The Langley Academy, we were also launching our big project ‘Stronger Together’ looking at helping other schools and museums have Museum Learning projects in school like at the Academy. This is funded

by Arts Council England. Many guests to the conference commented that ‘the bit with the students was the best bit’.

34

VIPs and guests of the Museum Conference included Fiona Mactaggart, MP for Slough, Balvinder S. Bains, Mayor of Slough, Lord Michael Bichard, Chair of The Langley Academy Museum Advisory Group, Sir Martyn Arbib and Annabel Nicoll, Sponsor and Chair of Governors

35

‘Court in the Act’ During Enrichment, our final group of students went with Mr O’Neill to Windsor Town Hall to take part in the recreation of a trial that took place in the same building more than 100 years ago. They had to explore the facts of the case and then take on different roles in a ‘live’ trial, presided over by a legal professional acting as a judge.

History trip to HQS Wellington HQS Wellington is a convoy escort from the Second World War. Our students and staff were invited to go and test out their new workshop for secondary schools. Twenty gifted and talented students studying history in Year 10 went on the trip and took part in a navigation activity, learnt more about primary and secondary resources and learnt more about communication and decisions during an interactive game as convoys and controllers from Derby House.

Survive the City workshop in London Year 9 business studies students went with Ms Carron and Ms Barker to the Museum of London.

They work throughout the day with staff from the Royal Bank of Scotland to help enhance their understanding of commercial growth.

The groups had to compete with their ideas for business expansion and pitch these to a ‘Dragons Den’.

36

Hip Hop & street dance workshop We were really excited to have one of the dancers and choreographers from Boy Blue Entertainment, Bruno Perrier, come and do a workshop for a group of students from Year 7-10. Bruno told us how he was just back from Sochi where he planned the dancing for the closing ceremony. There were some big beats in the theatre he took the group through the kinds of moves he does with Plan B, Rita Ora, MTV Europe and XFactor Live.

37

Rowing Slough Schools Indoor Rowing Championships The Langley Academy hosted the indoor rowing championships for Slough schools in February. Four team events are run, requiring individual performances from 2 people in each of 2 year groups, as well as teamwork through two relays, one of which gets each rower to cover 503 metres, with a quick changeover, and the other relay being of 30 seconds per person. Each whole event sees each competitor racing three times, in 3 different formats.

Annabel Okoro, despite being in Year 9, and third best in that year, stepped up to represent the Academy as the Year 10 second choice. The team of Catherine St Ledger (Yr10), Annabel Okoro (Yr9 racing as Yr10), Jieying Zhang (Yr9) and Mattu Simbo (Yr9) gained maximum points by winning all four individual events, as well as both relays, completely dominating the competition. They have been invited to represent Slough at the Berkshire Games at Wellington College in July.

38

The Year 9/10 boys’ team of Kaarun dev Khundi (Yr10), Adam Banas (Yr10), Harminder Bhinder (Yr9) and Benjamin Harris (Yr9) had an extremely tight tussle with Langley Grammar School. In the end, it came down to the last relay, which Langley Grammar won by only one stroke difference, leaving the Academy team in 2nd place, just missing out the Slough representation invite.

The Year 7/8 boys’ team of Jay King (Yr8), Mikolaj Chibner (Yr8), Donald Simbo (Yr7) and Aryan Suny (Yr7) had mixed fortunes. Donald’s 4th position in the Year 7 boys’ individual race made life difficult for the team. After Aryan, Jay and Mikolaj all won their heats, the scores were level between the Academy and St Bernard’s. It would all come down to the results of the two relays. St Bernard’s won the 2012 metre relay by 2 seconds. In the last relay, The Langley Academy needed to beat St Bernard’s by 2 places. Given that St Bernard’s had finished 1st or 2nd in all the individual events, it seemed likely that St Bernard’s would get the Slough invite on countback. The Langley Academy won the 2 minute 12 second relay by 42 minutes, and Langley Grammar finished 2 nd, 10 metres ahead of St Bernard’s, giving The Langley Academy the overall win, and the invite to represent Slough in July.

The Year 7 girls due to take part for us failed to turn up, so two substitutions were found that morning. Esha Bhalla (Yr7) had never even been on a rowing machine, but by taking part, earned points for the team, and allowed the team to compete. Lauren Bradburn (Yr7) produced a massive improvement on her personal best to become the best Year 7 girl this year. Lea Foster (Yr8) and Abbi Griffin (Yr8) still tried their best, despite knowing they had a weakened team. Medium term, they have been rewarded, as they have now been asked to represent Slough at the Berkshire Games.

In total, 3 of our 4 teams have earned the invite to represent Slough at the Berkshire Games in July, and our 4th team missed it by the narrowest of margins.

39

National Junior Sculling Head In March 2014, the National Junior Sculling Head took place at Dorney Lake. The competition is for quadruple (4) and octuple (8) sculls completing two lengths of the lake, or twice the distance of the Olympic Games. All the events below Year 11 are coxed.

The Langley Academy entered W.J13.4x+, the quadruple scull event for Year 9 girls (Jieying Zhang, Ieasha Khan, coxed by Bethany Witheridge), with two of our Year 8s (Lea Foster and Anisah Chaudry) sculling a year above their age group.

40

A finish position of 44th was slightly down on the previous year, but once again the Academy finished in front of local rivals Kingston Grammar School and Licenced Victuallers School, Ascot.

South of England Indoor Rowing Championships 700 juniors took part in the South of England Indoor Rowing Championships at oxford Brookes University in February 2014.

The Langley Academy took 24 competitors. Of these, 15 produced personal best performances on the day.

Gracjan Borkowski (Yr7) won the under 14s adaptive event.

41

Roy Carlton, Jay King, Mikolaj Chibner and Marceli Mlynarczyk won the junior under 12 boys’ team event.

Kaarun dev Khundi, Oscar Cowan, Adam Banas and Ilja Yashkul had to race very tactically. It was clear that the two teams from Marlow Rowing Club would be better, and that it was going to be very close between The Langley Academy, RGS Worcester, Evesham Rowing Club and Eton Excelsior Rowing Club for the bronze medal. The boys paced the 3 kilometre well and produced better changeovers to outperform compared to their individual results to come away with the J15 team medals.

42

Apart from Gracjan, other notable individual performances came from 5 th placed Marceli Mlynarczyk in Year 8 boys, together with 6th place for Jay King in the same event, separated by just 1 metre, in the same finishing position as Mr Knill and Ms Brock for male and female staff and coaches.

National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships Over 2,500 juniors took part in the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in March 2014. Members of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews were on hand to support the efforts of the students, such as Marceli Mlynarczyk (Yr8) below.

43

Any student from The Langley Academy who had produced 85% or higher of their age standard on the rowing machines was invited to represent the Academy. 22 students accepted the invite, and 20 of them produced personal bests on the day, showing their ability to rise to the occasion.

Mikolaj Chibner and Jay King were 3 metres from winning medals, finishing 5th and 6th of the 147 Year 8 boys competing. They teamed together with Haris Malik (Yr9) and Marceli to take part in the new team event for Years 7-9, finishing 13th of the 47 teams.

44

The Year 7-9 girls finished 18th of 74 in their team event, with Lea Foster replacing Catherine St Ledger from the successful Slough Schools Yr9/10 team of Jieying Zhang, Mattu Simbo and Annabel Okoro.

Donald Simbo finished 20th in Year 7 boys out of 139 competitors.

45

Two top 10 finishes and 5 top 20 finishes represent the best result ever at this competition for The Langley Academy. The younger Year 7-9 boys’ team, Marceli Mlynarczyk, Kaarun Dev Khundi and Roy Carlton all finished in the top 50 in their respective events.

46

Student Voice Student Leaders – Student Councils There are numerous ways in which the students at the Academy can develop and cultivate their skills and attributes by involving themselves in leadership roles within Academy life. The Councils below outline some of their successes over the last two terms.

Charities Council Charities Council enters national competition…..

Members of the Charities Council have been busy working behind the scenes writing their entry for the Speaker’s School Council Award. This is a national competition for School Councils across the UK to write about a student led project that has helped the community.

This is a perfect award for the Charities Council to apply for as every year the students develop projects to raise money to help local, national and international communities. The 20 finalists from across the country will be invited to an awards ceremony at the Houses of Parliament in June.

Staff in the PE Faculty has been busy organising a Sponsored Walk/Run for students to complete during their PE lessons. Usually the money raised is donated to Sports Relief. This year they managed to raise £953.52 which will be donated to the Asthma Awareness and Brain Tumour Charity in memory of 2 of the Academy’s students. Thank you again for everyone who took part and those who sponsored students.

I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of the year. This can only mean one thing….. The Charities Council and House Tutor groups will be busy planning their stalls for the TLA Summer Fair. It’s going to be another fantastic event and I hope to see you all there.

Eco-Council Members of the Eco-Council gave an assembly to all House groups early this term which was most successful, with good interaction and feedback. The Council are now putting an Eco-Code together to be displayed in all House Tutor Group classrooms. This is one of the requirements of the Green Flag status application. Leah Lewis (Year 10 Grace 4) has been very involved in the Eco-Council and has been a leading force in the group. We will continue to involve all members of the Academy in the Eco-Council and its focus.

47

Sports Council Since the New Year, the Sports Council have been working hard to try and improve PE at the Academy. The meetings this year have looked at the concept of sport within the 6th Form and the extra-curricular programme for Years 7-11. These meetings were attended by the usual sports councillors and once again the three new members, Krishan Sharda, Akash Kumar and Brandon Calder who have each put forward some great ideas.

With the main topic of the term revolving around sport in the 6th Form, Matthew Ensby and Bradley Powell, alongside the sports councillors have created a questionnaire which we hope will give us a better understanding of how 6th Formers feel about taking part in sport. We are looking to collect this information as soon as possible and look forward to finding out the results.

We are looking to start up the Rio 2016 club at the start of the next term as it was a success last year and we are considering and planning what sports and activities we can do.

Since our last meeting we have discussed the possibility of starting a student newsletter focusing on just sport to go alongside the ‘Student Voice’ newsletter. This will be produced by the Sports Council each term. Students will be able to write match reports and share new ideas each term.

In the next meeting we will be looking to recruit new members to the Sports Council to replace Matthew Ensby and Bradley Powell who are off to study sport at University. We will also look at promoting students within the Council to replace the current Year 13 leaders.

House and Academy Council The Academy Council continue to meet every Thursday in the board room during House Tutor Time.

Our purpose is to listen to the students and make a change within the Academy. Many of the senior members have all spent five years within the Academy therefore, it’s important to enjoy their secondary school experience and to get the most from their education. It’s in our best interest to make this experience as enjoyable yet beneficial as possible.

Over the past few months, they have been taking students’ ideas into account from many House Council meetings and general suggestions from students. Their input is greatly appreciated. So what have we done? In the past, we have changed the design of the bags and the prices in the canteen.

However, this year we have been focusing on how to make The Langley Academy better suited for learning. We want to make students feel inspired by education and attempt to achieve the best grades they can. We have also looked at behaviour too since we believe that behaviour has a direct impact on our education.

We started to focus on different learning and teaching styles since not everyone learns from reading off a PowerPoint. We want all lessons to cater for individual learning styles so students feel like they are gaining more from lessons. One system we thought of implementing is the study buddy system.

By pairing two students together in each lesson, they will be able to give and receive help.

48

Another issue we had a look at is the marking of books. Getting students books marked is really useful since teachers can give students advice on how to achieve the best grade possible. Sometimes, a simple tick next to an answer isn’t really helpful. One method we believe is useful is a teacher asking students questions to test whether they know a topic thoroughly or not. It’s important to find out where we are going wrong so we can learn from our mistakes.

We also tackled the issue of homework. Many students complained that there were simply too many online resources available such as My Maths and Doddle. It can be incredibly overwhelming and it causes confusion too. We have thought about sticking to one resource where homework should be done. However, all the other resources will still be available to the students who prefer to use them.

Another change which will be coming to the Academy is the arrival of a new reward system. We want to create a reward system which rewards and motivates us. There will be more trips at the end of the year to reward the hardest working students at the Academy. It’s important to feel like you’re being rewarded as it shows how working hard can be beneficial.

There’s one week which all students in the Academy look forward to and that’s CAS Week. It’s one of the most anticipated weeks and we are going to make it even better this year. There are going to be some changes to CAS Week which will make it more community involved and exciting.

This is all from the Academy Council. We will continue our work to improve the Academy and make it a better experience for everybody involved. If you have any ideas, please contact anyone who is part of the House or Academy Council.

World Challenge - Langley’s Got Talent Working in collaboration with the staff and students attending the World Challenge Trip later this year The Langley Academy hosted our first talent show. The event was organised to showcase the talents of students who take part in extracurricular activities outside of school and who don’t usually have the opportunity to share their abilities in the classroom in front of their peers.

Starting in January students had to take part in the audition process. Performing individually or as groups they had to perform in front of 3 judges. Acts varied from Singers, to Dancers to music making Beat Boxers. The students were whittled down to 9 Acts.

49

Having rehearsed their final acts in their spare time, with no additional coaching, students were ready to perform in the final. The final took place on Thursday 24 April. Tickets were sold to students and parents with the money raised being donated to the World Challenge Expedition. Ms Shaw presented all 9 acts whilst the judges: Ms Brock, Ms Warr, Mr Elliot and Mr Sullivan gave each act a mark out of 10 after each event. The performances were great. Many of the students had to overcome confidence issues to stand up and perform in front of an audience. The overall winner of the performance was voted for by the audience. Adam Banas, Year 10 and Andrew Manyumbu, Year 10 came in third place; was awarded second place. Aston Sharma Year 11 was the overall winner having serenaded the judges and audience with his rendition of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Lego House’.

The evening was a huge success, raising over £200 for World Challenge. Thank you again for all those who took part and attended the evening. We can’t wait for next year. Could you be a winning contestant on LANGLEY’S GOT TALLENT?

Year 10 students Adam Banas and Andrew Manyumbu came in 3rd place

Runner up Praise Okoro Year 10

Overall winner Aston Sharma, Year 11

50

Careers Mosaic Enterprise Challenge Mosaic Enterprise Challenge is a national competition that takes place every year which over 5,000 students take part in. This year 5 Year 10 groups took part in the competition from The Langley Academy and our team was lucky enough to get through. This team included Zahira Batool, Maarukh Nasir, Nicole Blackman, Tanushree Bose and Leah Lewis and together we were Elite 91. The first round which all 5 of our teams took part in involved taking an online quiz on ethical business and playing an online business game, which is a lot more difficult than it sounds! From each region across England the top 5 winning teams went to the Regional Finals. The Regionals we competed at included teams from Oxford Spires, Beechwood, Slough & Eton, and Gordons School. At the Regional Finals we had 3 minutes to pitch the basics of a business idea which each team had created. Our business was called CBT which stood for Confidence Building Tutoring; the idea was a tutoring course that would be offered to Year 5 and 6 pupils from our local primary schools, where they would come into our school and be taught Maths, English and confidence building skills. The winner from all 5 regionals would then go on to compete in the finals. Unfortunately though, we did not come first in the Regionals and came 2nd by one point. We thought this was the end of the road at this point, we were devastated.

The Elite 91 team - Tanushree Bose, Nicole Blackman, Maarukh Nasir, Leah Lewis and Zahira Batool with Mr Goodyear, Ms Turner, Ingrid Hughes and Sorrel James from Learning to Work and Meredith Bevan, General Manager of Hilton Hotel Heathrow T5

To watch a short video of the regional finals copy the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlSw2ZQ8W0E However, two weeks before the finals we received a phone call inviting us to compete in the finals as the “wild card�, this was such a surprise to everyone! None of the schools were told about a wild card 51

as this was the first year they introduced it and as we were the team closest to winning the regionals but didn’t, we were chosen to be the wild card. Over the next couple of weeks we rehearsed a new pitch about our business but in greater detail, we drafted a business plan and we had to re-play the game. Then the big day arrived, the Finals! These were held at Hogan Lovells in London and the judging panel included top business men and women such as Margaret Mountford and Melody Hossaini. At the finals we had to present our business idea and play the game one final time. The overall scores would be determined 30% from the game, 30% from the business plan and 40% from the pitch. Before we found out the results we were given special talks from top business owners.

To watch a short video of the finals copy this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0xScKsjr5Y Then it was time for the results, first we were told how we did in the game, we got a highscore of 6.4 million which put us in third place. Then they announced the overall winners and we came 4th, we were distraught at first!

We felt like we had lost but we didn’t take into consideration how far we actually got, we came 4 th out of around 1,000 teams and we were the top 30 pupils out of 5,000. We couldn’t have done any of that without the help of our mentors and two teachers; Ms Turner and Mr Goodyear. The evening did not stop there for us though we were then treated by our Mentor (the General Manager of Hilton Hotel Heathrow T5) to tea at the Dorchester in London which was phenomenal! We still have a business bootcamp to attend plus ongoing business mentoring support as well as more workplace visits. So I advise any Year 9s moving up to Year 10 next year to take part in the competition if you get invited as you will not regret it! Overall, we met fantastic people, got to visit the most amazing places, won some cool goodies and saw the best looking cars on the journey.

By Leah Lewis

52

Year 6 Welcome Interviews Year 6 Welcome Interviews - Wednesday 30 April 2014 We were delighted to welcome the students and their parents/carers who will be joining us in September 2014 at their first official Academy meeting on Wednesday 30 April. The photos below speak for themselves!

Mr Morgan

Mr Sullivan

Mr Katsholo

Mr Thiessen

53

The BIG bullying campaign is continuing to grow at The Langley Academy. After 2 years of the group starting, raising awareness, helping students and awards being won, the BIG group has expanded once again.

The founding members, Ria Fenner, Kelsey Edwards, Estelle Exelby, Gurchetan Hayer and Ellie Macdonald started the group when they were in Year 10. In this time they have achieved huge success in not only lowering the already low numbers of bullying instances at the Academy, but also maintaining a campaign and winning numerous awards.

Winning the Diana Award was a huge achievement for them and opened many doors including a personal invite to WE! Day at Wembley Stadium but also a personal invite from the Honourable Earl of Spencer to visit Princess Diana’s family home in Althorp.

Jade Kempster, Ria Fenner, Gurchetan Hayer, Kelsey Edwards, Ellie Macdonalld and Estelle Exelby

54

The hard work these 6 students have put in has been remarkable and they now have the task of handing over the reins to our new BIG group. This year we have recruited even more members and the group now consists of 16 students in Year 10. They will be starting a fresh campaign with new ideas such as a drop-in centre, counselling, more cake sales, a notice board, but also still continue to promote the Bullying section on the website and raise awareness through assemblies and their presence around the Academy.

This group of Year 10s are also part Duke of Edinburgh and are using this great group as part of their Volunteering section for their Bronze Award.

Duke of Edinburgh Award this year consists of 60 Year 10 students, our biggest co-hort to date.

We are in the middle of training for our first expedition which will take the students to the Chiltern Hills for 2 days and 1 night of walking, orienteering, camping and cooking independently.

More on the Duke of Edinburgh will follow in later Newsletters.

Again a HUGE congratulations to all the students involved in BIG last year and we look forward to another year of, helping people, fun, raising awareness and working together.

Ms Wingrove (BIG Co-ordinator)

55