Newsletter Issue 3 February 2014 by Cezary Mikolajewski

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 3 - FEBRUARY 2014 Students take part in ‘Court in the Act’ – See Page 30

Buy tickets for the TLA Theatre production here

A school of choice, a school for life The Langley Academy gets go ahead to become an all-through school! The Langley Academy is delighted to announce that our application to open The Langley Academy Primary, and therefore become an all-through school, has been accepted by the Department for Education, with the first intake into Nursery and Reception in September 2015. It is our ambition to become an outstanding all-through academy by offering an inspirational curriculum that supports the principles of both depth and breadth. We will be placing a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy – the vital ‘3Rs’ of reading, writing and arithmetic. We know that we must provide much more than just outstanding SAT results and will work to develop children’s social skills. We will give them opportunities that they are unlikely to get at a ‘normal’ state school. We will provide a stable foundation that sets our students apart from others and gives them a real sense of self-belief and confidence that is so important in the mind-set of a successful individual. 1

The Langley Academy Primary will offer unique opportunities for children of all abilities with a philosophy based on providing an experience that allows them to become confident, independent and creative. We will achieve this by having extremely high expectations of ourselves and those around us. We will place great emphasis on the qualities of honesty, integrity, work ethic, selflessness, resilience, teamwork, innovation and initiative; qualities that can be better embedded at primary level. For parents and carers who would like their child to join The Langley Academy Primary and therefore be guaranteed a place at the heavily oversubscribed Secondary Academy; or if you would be interested in becoming a governor, or are interested in working at The Langley Academy Primary, please send an email to: tlaprimary@langleyacademy.org For more information go to the new The Langley Academy Primary website:

http://www.langleyacademyprimary.org/

Dates for your Diary February Wednesday 12 Friday 14 Monday 24 Monday 24 Tuesday 25 Wednesday 26

Year 8 Academic Afternoon End of Half Term Start of 4th Half Term Little Shop of Horrors Performance Little Shop of Horrors Performance Little Shop of Horrors Performance

14:00 – 16:00 13:20 08:20 19:00 – 21:30 19:00 – 21:30 19:00 – 21:30

Year 7 Parent/Carer Evening Parent Forum AIG Evening

16:30 – 19:00 18:00 – 19:00 16:30 – 19:00

End of First half term, Term 2 INSET – Academy closed for students Academy opens for start of Second half term, Term 2

12:00

March Thursday 13 Wednesday 19 Thursday 20

April Friday 4 Tuesday 22 Wednesday 23

08:20

Message from the Principal The Academy has been exceptionally busy with hundreds of events ranging from Year 10 visiting the Guildhall Magistrates Court and all 40 of our Duke of Edinburgh students achieving their bronze certificate to Years 11 and 12 /13 preparing for their Pre-Public Exams at the end of this half-term and in March respectively. Of course all of these things are put into perspective given the tragic loss that the Academy has suffered in recent weeks. Rishi Kukar, aged 16 passed away on Tuesday 21 January and George Quigg, aged just 11, died on Sunday 26 January. Rishi was a hardworking young man with a golden smile and selfless approach to life. He made people feel better about themselves and was always striving to be the best he could be. He left the Academy having achieved some great GCSE results so that he could follow his brother into Upton Court Grammar school where we know he continued to be successful. George was a very young man with an old head on his shoulders. He was very inquisitive, fun loving and had a special ability to make people feel comfortable in his company, whatever their age. He had settled in very well to the Academy and enjoyed the variety of experiences offered, including playing the flute, he was a talented musician. Both boys will be sorely missed but never forgotten and when the time is right, we will discuss with both families how best to remember the boys for their unique talents and the joy they brought to so many. The Academy has worked very hard with the appropriate agencies, including the Samaritans to ensure that students and staff feel safe and supported throughout this traumatic time. We feel honoured to have known both boys and will make sure that they would be proud in the way we have responded and the way we will continue to respond over the coming weeks, months and years. Our thoughts are with both families. Rhodri Bryant, Principal

Message from the Governors Governors were delighted to receive news from Lord Nash, Minister for Schools, that we have been given permission to proceed with our plans to build The Langley Academy Primary school. This new school will open in September 2015 admitting pupils into Nursery and Reception from the local community. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the Academy and our community. The Minister recognised that there is an urgent need for new Primary school places in Slough and reflected that our bid was particularly strong in terms of the capacity of our expert team tasked with delivering the new school. The new Primary school will allow us to take in pupils at age 4 and to offer them a ‘School for Life’ by guaranteeing The Langley Academy Primary pupils a place at The Langley Academy when they reach Year 7. The Langley Academy Primary will offer numerous opportunities for your children. The Langley Academy students will have the chance to mentor children in the Primary and will take on duties which will allow them to develop as leaders and will allow them to take on responsibilities whether by helping in the playground at break time or giving reading support to younger pupils, etc. All of these opportunities will give your children the chance to develop as the well rounded, caring, sensitive adults that we aim for them to become when they leave us at 18 years old. This is a very exciting period for us, whilst we develop our plans to open the Primary. I would like to also reassure you that the team delivering the Primary will ensure that attention and resources are not diverted from our mission to make The Langley Academy outstanding in all aspects. We have a clear and ambitious plan for the Academy to keep improving and doing everything it can to give absolutely the best education to all of our students. This will not change. The Primary school will strengthen our organisation. We are running an ‘Expression of Interest’ list for parents of children who will be eligible to join The Langley Academy Primary in Nursery or Reception in September 2015 and 2016. For more information, or to register your interest in a place for your child, please go to http://www.langleyacademyprimary.org/ or email: tlaprimary@langleyacademy.org Annabel Nicoll, Chair of Governors

ARBIB HOUSE It has been another exciting term in Arbib House as students fully immersed themselves in the “Sustainability” project. Students were asked to come up with a sustainable way of saving endangered species. Arbib House selected Tigers as our focus. All 6 Tutor Groups came together to create a display including videos, posters and models to spread the word of how people can help save the beautiful Tiger. We also had assemblies delivered by Arbib 5 and 6 this term that involved questions, videos, great information and role plays as they spoke about anger management, inspirational people and overcoming obstacles. This term Arbib House were able to show off our Museum Learning focus once again as the actual FA Cup made its way to the Academy. The trophy worth over £1.5 million was brought into the Arbib assembly and Mr Sullivan along with Ms Blay and Ms Barker gave a presentation of the traditions and history of the trophy and how students could relate that to their studies. Students were also able to have a photo with the Iconic cup.

The FA Cup comes to TLA

Gregory Edwards, Arbib Head Boy Akash Babuta and Reko Ndlovu with the FA Cup

Mr Sullivan delivers the FA Cup Assembly to Arbib House

I would personally like to thank Year 11 parents and carers of Arbib students for their attendance to the recent parent/carer evening. We were once again very well supported and this can have a huge impact on the attainment and success of our students. I ask that Arbib students continue to aim for the top in attendance, punctuality and attainment and I am sure we can keep up the outstanding efforts moving on into next term! Well done Arbib and keep up the good work.

Young Ice Hockey star receives fitness boost As part of Slough Community Leisure’s continued support of local sporting talent, 13-year-old Lewis English has been given a free Synergy Health & Fitness membership allowing him to make use of the gym and swimming facilities at both Montem and Langley Leisure Centres. Having first tried ice skating when he was just six years old, Lewis English has gone on to represent the England U13’s ice hockey team and has recently been selected to play for the U14 team. In 2013 Lewis travelled with the England team to play in Canada, as well as the Czech Republic at Christmas. Lewis says, “I would really like to progress in the sport and represent Great Britain at some stage, as well as hopefully receiving a scholarship to play overseas. Ice hockey is a major part of my life and I love playing the sport. I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone at Slough Jets; they do so much for the junior programme. To help me achieve my goals it’s really important for me to keep fit and healthy and the Synergy Health & Fitness pass will really help me out.”

Lewis English with staff from Synergy Health & Fitness

Rob Whitehouse, Chief Executive at Slough Community Leisure, commented, “It’s important for us to be able to support the local community. By being able to give Lewis free use of the facilities at Montem and Langley Leisure Centres we hope that he will be able to reach his potential and fulfil his aims. We wish Lewis every success in the future.” Ms Whelan

DARWIN HOUSE Too late for the previous Newsletter article, but of supreme significance to Darwin House, is the final emergence of another winning Darwin team performance. Darwin 3, so often in the past thwarted by interpretation of competition design rules, finally satisfied the judges to produce this winning Cracker: the best packaging of foodstuffs for the Christmas period to be distributed among the Langley community.

Showing off the winning design are members of Darwin 3: Delza Brown, Fazile Zogjani, Amirah Riaz, Charlotte Bedford, Amrit Bu dwhal and Eshaa Rehan. The ever combative House Tutor for Darwin 3, Miss Blackmore feels that justice had been finally done!

It is the turn of Darwin House to drive the Vertical Tutor Programme next half term. Combining with the Science department and including Science Week, the theme will be The Senses. I am sure that all Darwin House Tutor Groups will want to win the prize for the best project and that Ms Blackmore will want to win again. Finally, time is short for the Darwin House Year 11 students to drive toward the academic finishing line for great GCSE academic success. Last year, our students enjoyed wonderful GCSE results, and now is the time to make sure that the picture is the same for this academic year. Darwin House students work hard and work smart. Enjoy the break, but do not lose sight of being able to open the next academic door by doing really well at this critical stage. Mr Bott

GAIA HOUSE Term 3 has seen Gaia House lead the Academy in the Vertical Tutor Programme (VTP) and again develop everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awareness and understanding of Sustainability.

The focus for the term has been Habitat Loss where the topics have varied from Human Causes to Deforestation and Urbanisation to Climate Change. The Academy was set the challenge of developing and producing a Campaign for a chosen endangered animal from around the world. The focus for Sustainability Week has seen students working hard to complete their Endangered Animal Campaigns, where they have to be voted in by their peers and Houses during assemblies. Each house was assigned an endangered animal for which to run an awareness campaign during Sustainability Week. The animals chosen included the Asian Elephant the Orang-utan, the Leopard, the Tiger, the Marine Turtle and the Giant Panda. Students have had the term to prepare their campaigns and are marked on Sustainability, Creativity and the quality of information provided. During Sustainability Week a number of activities will be taking place, on the Monday we are taking 30 students to Kew Gardens to take part in the Deforestation Workshop. Throughout the week Year 7s are making paper to work with in art and Year 8 students are taking part in tailor made Museum Learning Workshops based on a variety of objects from the Rainforests. On Wednesday, for the first time at the Academy we are holding an Environmental Fayre when local environmental agencies are setting up stalls for students to visit and learn from. Finally we have had a team of dedicated students working hard to produce a rainforest canopy to decorate the Academy to create the feeling of walking into a rainforest. I would like to thank Ms Robinson for all of her hard work with the development of the term and especially with the organisation of Sustainability Week.

Term 3 has again been a busy term in Gaia House for our Year 10 and 11 students as they have been working extremely hard with preparations for their Pre-Public Exams that are due to take place next week. We hope that they all gain the grades that their hard work deserves. With the countdown now on especially for our Year 11 students they have now begun the process of completing applications for our 6th Form and further education. Good luck to all our Year 11 students with their revision and preparation for their upcoming exams. Gaia House Assemblies Throughout the term, House Tutor Groups have presented their assemblies to the rest of the House. There have been some brilliant performances from many of our students in the House and this term saw Gaia 5 NRY present their assembly on Deforestation (right). As mentioned, each House Tutor Group had to present their Endangered Animal Campaign to the House this week. We were given the Asian Elephant and the students were challenged to research, draw up a mission statement, and develop their campaign to be voted in by the rest in the House. This campaign was led solely by the students. After each had presented and took the time to inform us of the vital facts about the Asian Elephant, the votes were counted and I’m delighted to say that Gaia 4 BCH were chosen as Gaia’s representative in next week’s Sustainability Fayre.

Student Focus - Term 2 The following Gaia House students have been chosen to share their experiences, achievements and ambitions for the future:-

Shemelia Lewis, Kiran Ahmad and Rochelle Bristol

Shemelia Lewis, Year 11, Gaia 6 ICA “My name is Shemelia Lewis and I am in Year 11. In the earlier years of my secondary education I can admit that I wasn’t always the best and was quite simply an unfocused student. A lot of the time I was getting it wrong with teachers, receiving numerous amounts of detentions and being sanctioned for my lack of behaviour. Now that I have grown and matured throughout the years I decided this is not the right path to take as an individual with the potential to succeed. Teachers and students around me saw that I had something special inside which I could use to be successful in life and really achieve great things. This gave me the motivation to do better and progress academically. I have a real passion for Performing Arts, especially the musical side of it. This has carried me over a heavy and steep mountain that I found difficult to climb. Because of this passion I am participating in The Academy play “Little Shop of Horrors” next term and I applied for a Level 3 course in Performing Arts at Uxbridge College where I have secured a place. If I do well in my GCSE exams I will be able to 11

attend Uxbridge College in September. I have also already achieved the important GCSE’s required to be accepted to do the course and those are Maths and English Language. Along my journey I am committing myself to trying things outside of my comfort zone for example I chose to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. It took up a lot of my own time but I was willing to put the effort in and achieve something new to me. Looking back I have no regrets and I am happy that I have passed and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Another thing that I’ve committed to is being part of Gaia’s House Council, although I’ve held this position since Year 8 I never really contributed much and voiced my opinion. Now I am more comfortable to do so and it has become a strong point for me. I aim to continue achieving my goals to set me up for the future and to pursue the dream I’ve had for as long as I can remember”.

Kiran Ahmad, Year 11, Gaia 2 JMU “I am currently in Year 11 and have been studying at The Academy since Year 7. With the hectic timetable for exams approaching, it is crucial to understand how individual studies are just as important and how necessary they are. I was pleasantly surprised at how many after school sessions and enrichment choices there are in order to support any students that may benefit from them. I have been staying after school to get an extra push within my subjects and these have helped me significantly. For my GCSEs I chose French, Art, Business and Geography in Year 8. In the future I hope to continue my studies here at The Academy and in our 6th Form as there are many great courses that I am considering. The courses I would like to study are English Literature, Maths, Psychology and Economics as I feel like this can open many doors in the future as I thoroughly enjoy them. After 6th Form I would like to progress and move onto study further subjects at University. Good luck to everyone this year and if you would like any advice or guidance then just give me a shout”.

Rochelle Bristol, Year 11, Gaia 2 JMU “My name is Rochelle Bristol and I am currently one of the Year 11’s in Gaia House. I’m in the midst of taking my GCSE’s and have gained a high C in both English and Maths. I am currently on track to get high B’s. I have secured GCSE’s in all 3 Core Sciences and am currently studying Additional Science allowing me to take 2 exams for each Science and expanding my knowledge of the overall subject. Securing a B grade in English, Maths and Science is important to me as gaining a B will allow me to attend our 6th Form and further my education. I hope to soon become the second person in my family to attend university after my brother and the first to study A-levels. University used to be a distant dream for me when I was in Year 7, my future was unclear I had no ideas or dreams on my future and just went where life took me. However, now with the career path I wish to take, university is a must. I hope to study Marine Biology at university with 1 year of study abroad. I’ve always had an interest in the sea and the life in it, although I was unaware of the career paths available that involved marine life. Once I discovered Marine Biology, I began researching more about the departments within the job and I am now interested in Ecology to be more specific, Shark Ecology.

Being a part of Gaia House has helped me mature a lot throughout the years and helped me understand the importance of prioritising. Having been in Gaia House for many years many opportunities have been presented to me. Some of these include being House Captain, Sports Captain and even presenting an assembly on the effects society and parental pressure can have on children throughout their GCSE years. I have also other opportunities presented to me that were not limited to just Gaia House, some of which are participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Mosaic Project. The Duke of Edinburgh award is a great achievement to get involved with and is very worthwhile. Honestly there were highs and lows but looking back the whole experience was very enjoyable. Being able to give back to the community while achieving a prestigious award was very pleasing and hope that all that attend the school and participate in the award enjoy it as much as I did. The mosaic project consists of a small group of people being chosen to be mentored by the staff of the Hilton Hotel (Terminal 5). This project has opened my eyes to the real life of work and has furthered my knowledge of the world of work. During the Mosaic Project we worked on our greeting skills for interviews how to write a CV and organisation skills of which I largely lack. The Mosaic Project has helped many others as well as myself and will continue to do so in the coming years. With improvements being made to our careers advice area I hope that all who are struggling or are unsure will be sure to ask Miss Ruth Turner for advice and find something they wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mind doing for the rest of their livesâ&#x20AC;?.

Karamveer Sohal Year 9 has been in Burrowbridge in Somerset all weekend to help with the flood relief effort. He went down with his dad on Saturday morning at 5.00am and spent most of the weekend helping locals evacuate their homes or move furniture around and make sand bags to build shaft damns. Well done Karamveer!

At the half way point in the academic year I am pleased to say that everyone connected with Gaia House has made a valuable contribution to what we are trying to achieve. Overall, Term 2 has again been a busy but successful term for Gaia House students. We have already celebrated a great deal of success within the House and success isn’t just handed to you without having to work extremely hard to achieve it. Gaia House and the students linked to it raise its profile every day and our reputation is continually growing around The Academy. Enjoy the half term break and I look forward to seeing everyone in term 4. Mr Spilsbury

GLOBE HOUSE Globe House has had a keen focus on attendance and punctuality this term. Globe 2 (JEV) has won the prize for having the most weeks of 100% attendance last term. Students will enjoy the added benefit of choosing how they would spend their financial reward. Similarly, Globe 6 (JCS) has won the school prize for attendance. They too will enjoy their prize money in the weeks ahead. Special mention of Sabeeka Qureshi must be made. She is the leader of the Globe House Council and sits in the Academy Council as well. She has made tremendous strides in providing a voice for the concerns of Globe House students and has been pivotal in convening council meetings. Thank you Sabeeka for your hard work this year. Our Year 11 students are about to embark on their pre public exams next week. I would like to wish them every success and offer any support they may need during this time. Ms Pereira

GRACE HOUSE This term has really rushed by and has seen both extreme highs and extreme lows for the Academy Community. The Grace House Eco-Council representatives, Leah Lewis, Ravi Sharda and Jordan Felstead have been working hard with the rest of the Eco-Council in preparing to deliver an assembly during “Sustainability Week”, which is during the last week of Term 3. They will be launching ideas for our Eco-Code of Conduct and the requirements for the Eco-Schools Green Flag award.

Year 11 Parents Evening was well attended and many important discussions were had about future plans and targets for the forthcoming GCSE examinations. Year 11 students have also been completing 6th Form Application forms. Many have already achieved their English and/or their Maths GCSE qualifications, therefore reducing the work-load and stress for them in the summer. Year 8 Option Forms are due in by Wednesday 12 February, although Year 8 students can hand these forms in as soon as they have made their important decisions. I will then discuss their choices before submitting them for processing. Year 8 Academic Review Afternoon also falls on Wednesday 12 February, for any last minute queries. We hope to see as many parents on that afternoon as possible. Ms Decosemo

HENLEY HOUSE

Henley 4 has displayed some really strong values in recent months. They had the most weeks of 100% attendance in the House in the lead up to Christmas, for which they received prize money and the responsibility to decide how it was spent. As a group they made the generous decision to donate a substantial proportion to the House charity, Alexander Devine Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospice. At a time when incomes are pressured and the mood is one of belt-tightening, it is credit to these students they have chosen to help those in need. Akhila Joseph from Year 9 took a lead role in writing a letter to accompany the cheque that has been sent. 15

Yet more pride is felt at the involvement of the Henley House Captain, Kelsey Edwards (right), in the Academy’s Bullying Intervention Group, who have now been recognised with The Diana Award for the South East region. Kelsey is a fully qualified anti-bullying ambassador and, as well as helping students deal with issues around bullying, she has also inspired other students from Henley and across the Academy to take up the mantle and become our next antibullying ambassadors. Mr Goodchild

English Congratulations to Year 11 students on their success in the January AQA and IGCSE exams. Many exceeded their personal target grades, improving on their Summer results, and nearly 80% of IGCSE students achieved Grades A* - C. The students in Year 9 who are currently reading “Frankenstein” by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley enjoyed a visit to the Hunterian Museum in the Royal College of Surgeons, where they viewed a fascinating, if macabre, collection of pickled specimens and learned about early operating procedures. They then went on to the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garrett in Southwark. The Theatre was rediscovered in the 1950s in the roof space of St Thomas’s Church, where it formed part of the old St Thomas’s Hospital, before it relocated to Lambeth in the late 19 th century. Students trod in the footsteps of early 19th century apprentice apothecaries, who were required to observe operations in public hospitals, as medicine entered the modern age and became increasingly research-based. It is the advance of this “modern” medicine that forms the backdrop to the creation of Frankenstein’s monster. The 6th Form Mock exams produced mixed results. Year 12 and 13 students are being encouraged to attend additional sessions on the Unseen poetry and prose sections of the exams during Enrichment every Wednesday. The deadline for both Unit 2 and Unit 4 coursework is Tuesday 25 February. Please support students to complete these vital essays (worth 40% of their final AS and A2 grades) over the half-term break.

Maths Congratulations to the nineteen Year 11 students who passed the Maths GCSEs they sat in November. Their hard work, attendance to after school and Saturday sessions, and overall commitment has paid off! The Saturday sessions have now begun for those Year 11s who have not yet achieved a C in Maths. Permission slips have been sent home for the following dates: 1, 8, and 15 February, and 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 March. Please encourage your childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendance to these revision sessions. Three Year 9 students have started their Saturday Master Classes at Kendrick in Reading. They are studying the maths behind topics such as crop circles, social networking, and bridges with other G&T students throughout the area. For all parents/careers and students please be aware that there have been some changes to the Maths after school support time table. The updated version is below:

UK Maths Challenges are starting this term with the intermediate challenge. Give this problem from a past Junior UK Maths Challenge a try:

Humanities History History students this term have been studying a variety of different topics. Year 7 have rounded their studies of Ancient Civilisations off with a study of Ancient Greece, in particular the city-states of Athens and Sparta. 7N also took part in an object handling workshop with Ms Barton looking at Ancient Greek pottery. Their studies will continue next term with a study of Roman Britain. At KS4 students in Year 11 are reminded of the importance of the next few months. All Controlled Assessments must be completed in good time and mock exams revised for. We wish them all the very best in this vital few months of their education which will provide them with a good platform for further education. We urge Year 9 and Year 10 to strive for excellence in their study of History in order to attain the very highest grade possible. Finally, we have some very exciting news for students in Year 12. Two students, Maste Said and Calvin Worthington, will be attending the Lessons from Auschwitz project run by the Holocaust Education Trust. They have already attended the first session and have attended the unique one day trip to Poland to the largest extermination centre in the Third Reich, Auschwitz-Birkenau. This wonderful opportunity is only extended to two students per school annually. We very much hope that in the next newsletter they may be willing to share some recollections of their experience and help in the coming months raise awareness in the importance of remembering the Holocaust.

RPS Year 7 have been studying Creation this term and have been looking at the different approaches taken by science and religion when looking at the question ‘how did the universe come into being?’ All students have worked very well on this and have come up with some interesting and insightful views during lessons In Year 8 students have had a break from the R.E programme and have been thinking about their future career choices as part of their preparation for KS4 options. Students have worked through the careers booklet and have all completed an online questionnaire helping them think about what job they might like to do in the future Year 9 students have been looking at the nature of personal identity and self- esteem. We have explored these themes generally and have also examined how religion helps form an important role in giving the religious believer an important aspect of their self- identity Year 10 students have been grappling with the age old problem of God and evil. The main question that we have been examining is why does a good God permit evil to exist and why do innocents suffer? The students have explored Christian and Muslim responses to this question and have also looked into Hindu perspectives. Most students have made some very valuable and insightful contributions during class discussions. Year 11 are continuing with their GCSE studies and are currently following the same material as Year 9 on religious identity. Students should be preparing for the forthcoming mock exam and should get into the habit of revising regularly.

Design Technology As ever the ground floor of South Wing has been busy with a steady flow of students going the extra mile: Year 7s keen to finish and pick up their finished projects, Year 8s dropping in, curious to find out exactly what would be involved in their option choices in DT, Year 9s and 10s exploring the KS4 course and producing super work. Year 11s discovering that it really is crunch time, putting in some extra minutes and effort, and producing some outstanding work. Even students from outside of DT have been coming in, keen to learn and make use of the technologies available to us at TLA. It is wonderful to see and share your enthusiasm. Enrichment Club Students have been busy building their robots ready for robot games from the start of next term. A challenging team task, the groups are doing really well, the build is nearing completion, but enrichment time really seems to fly. Just as they really get into the swing of making … a groan is heard as they have to start to pack up until the next week.

We are waiting for someone to invent Smellovision– The aromas wafting from the Food Tech rooms are enough to make the mouth water. Good work Year 9.

This QR code takes you to the presentation shared with year 8s to explain the options available in DT. We can’t wait to share this year’s GCSE outcomes with you. There are some projects that are on track to be very impressive indeed. In keeping with the SUSTAINABILITY focus, Year 7 product designers made junk bugs and competed against each other in a number of mini-challenges. It was a bit chaotic mid competition as the bugs jiggled (or not) to their escape. It has been very pleasing to see year 8 teams working together to solve the ramp rage challenge, a competition to slow the progress of a marble down a ramp using only materials from the ‘scrap trays’ Pictured are the winning teams from each half of the year group.

Congratulations to Aleksandra Wieteska, winner of the January What Izzit competition. Aleksandra correctly identified the January DT item as a 3D printer. Congratulations also to Humza Butt of Year 8 whose guess of 55 items was closest to the number of 3D printed items in the orbs. Look out for new competitions going up soon - Get involved in DT!

ICT Meet the TLA Digital Ambassadors Digital Ambassadors are chosen by their class teacher to represent the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; views about ICT. This can be on anything from e-safety, issues with hardware or software, staff and student training, and helping to plan the future ICT needs of the Academy. It is a way of including the student voice in the running of ICT in The Langley Academy.

Jessica Swann Gonzalez, Sasha Scatterfood, Byader Hamed, Mr Blackford, Aman Basra, Jessica Soomal and Aaman Malik

CAPA Getting Lost in Art On Wednesday 15 January, 60 Year 10 GCSE Art students went to the Tate Britain, London. This was one of the first GCSE Art trips run by the Staff at the Academy. Looking at the recently curated collections students explored works of art created by the masters of different genres. They spent their time gathering research for their Cubist and Expressionism projects. Students were given the opportunity to explore the works of art in small groups, taking photographs and making notes. Students were able to look at Tateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collections by Henry Moore, William Blake, Turner and Duveens. The trip was hugely successful and members of the public commented on how well our students behaved around the gallery.

A Level Drama & Theatre Studies Last week the A2 Drama and Theatre Studies students performed a piece of devised theatre created especially for Year 9. The work used the stimulus of a smart phone to explore issues surrounding the impact of digital technology on our lives. The two performances were excellent and clearly demonstrated the huge amount of work put in by our 6th Formers. Well done to all involved!

AS Art Exhibition Huge congratulations to our Y12 AS Art students whose work was displayed in last week’s More Issues Than Vogue exhibition of self-portraiture. The work was thoughtprovoking and inspiring. Thank you to all who attended.

Mujtaba Mohammad with his artwork

TLA Musical The Langley Academy proudly presents: “Little Shop of Horrors”   

Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th & Wednesday 26th February Ticket Price: £3.00 Start time: 19:00

Visit www.parentpay.com to purchase tickets for your chosen day. Collect tickets from Ms Robinson on Fridays at break time or collect at the door on the night.

PE The start of this term has been slow in regards to netball fixtures, however the Year 10â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s played a home game against Slough and Eton. The girls played well but it was a very physical match which the girls handled fantastically by continuing to play their own game. The ball moved swiftly down the court from the centre pass where Erin Simmonds and Kerrie Long were waiting for the ball to score. Katie Long and Praise Okoro played fantastically in defence collecting every loose ball and defending the goal successfully, only allowing Slough and Eton to score one goal throughout the whole match. Ellie Long, Karina Kakar and Leah Lewis controlled the centre of the court fantastically allowing our shooters to remain up front and score 10 goals. This 10-1 win from our girls was well deserved and has continued their successful move through the season. We have some more upcoming matches throughout February for the Year 7 and 10 netball teams and a tournament for the Year 8 team at the end of the month. We had an exciting trip organised for some of the Netball girls to watch England v Jamaica in the International Tri-Series, which was to be held at The Copper Box Arena, London. However unfortunately much to our disappointment this event was cancelled due to damage to the flooring at the venue. Fortunately we have another trip arranged for some of the girls to watch Surrey Storm v Team Bath at the Surrey Sports Park in February.

Museum Learning The Hunterian Museum and the Old Operating Theatre Students from Year 9 English visited the Hunterian Museum and Old Operating Theatre. The trip was to inspire the students and give them historical context to their current novel, Frankenstein. The students had a tour of the Hunterian Museum and enjoyed looking around their unusual collection. The Old Operating Theatre is the oldest operating theatre in Europe and the students learnt more about nineteenth century surgery methods.

“We got to see a Roman horse tooth” Some Year 7 classes got the opportunity to handle Greek and Roman artefacts during their History lessons. The objects, on loan from Reading Museum, included Greek pottery, Roman bathing tools and a stylus. The students have just finished their work about the Greeks and are now beginning to study the Romans.

X3N9W+JGUPREENNLYY+U (Welcome to Bletchley Park) Year 12 and 13 Further Maths students visited Bletchley Park, the home of World War II code breaking. The group learnt more about different types of codes used during the war and had a go at cracking some of them. They were shown around the site and got to see some of the code breaking machinery in operation. The experience was particularly valuable for Divanshu Magon (Year 12) who will be creating an exhibition and activities about cyphers and code breaking after half term.

A German Enigma code machine

Secrets from history The Year 13 History students visited Kings’ College Archive for a special session looking at material from the Cold War. Much of this was classified in the 1950s, meaning that the students were able to see documents that were confidential at the time.

All in the mind Caroline Smith from Bethlem Hospital Museum and archive visited AS Psychology students for a session about mental health. Using original case material, photographs, doctors’ reports and patient art work, Caroline and the students shared their ideas about what is mental well-being. One student said, “It taught me so much about mental health and mental illnesses, which we learned to make a distinction between.” We hope next year to take the students to the museum itself, which is part of the South London and Maudsley Hospital.

Lessons From Auschwitz Maste Said and Calvin Worthington travelled to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp this week as part of the Holocaust Education trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s project, lessons from Auschwitz. Over 1 100 000 men, women and children lost their lives at this camp during the Second World War. Maste and Calvin, in Year 12, will be running a project in school to share the lessons they learn while in Poland.

Museum Club First World War Project Museum Club continue to work on their First World War project, working along-side Year 10 History students to curate the Paul Nash exhibition. The group are currently looking for objects for the exhibition and beginning to write their labels. They are hoping to gain an Arts Award through the project and put the work towards the Extended Project. Just before the end of last term the students visited the Imperial War Museum for a war artist workshop. The group learnt more about war art, looking in detail at a number of paintings. They also heard more about the techniques that Paul Nash used in his paintings.

Students from the Museum Club outside the Imperial War Museum

River & Rowing Museum The Museum Club have also created activities to be used in the family activity trolley at the River & Rowing Museum. The students created a number of activities including a wordsearch, trail and colouring sheets. The activities are proving popular with the visitors to the Museum and will hopefully raise more awareness of our Museum Learning Focus.

Coming soon… Next term look out for… Year 9 maths visits to Oxford… Year 10 textiles trip to the Ashmolean and Botanical Gardens… lots of in-school Museum Learning activities for Science Week…Happy Birthday Mr Shakespeare, Getting ready to celebrate 450 years since Shakespeare was born.

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Celebration Evening A very special event took place on the evening of Tuesday 4th February, with forty-one year 11 students being recognised for their amazing efforts and completion of their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. The students involved needed to complete four sections to a high standard, which comprised of:    

Volunteering: undertaking service to individuals or the community Physical: improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities Skills: developing practical and social skills and personal interests Expedition: planning, training for and completion of an adventurous journey in the UK

In addition to this, the students involved experienced levels heightened self-confidence, increased levels of independence of thought and action, developed an increased sense of responsibility, cultivated new talents and abilities, cemented new relationships and developed their ability to lead and work as part of a team. What made the evening even more special, was the fact that 100% of the students who started the award, completed it, in comparison to a national average of below 50%. Huge congratulations to all students involved and let’s hope that the current group of sixty-one students will achieve the same level of success.

Student Voice Sports Council Since the New Year, the Sports Council have been working hard to try and improve PE at the Academy in any aspect they can. The Sports Council this term have held a meeting discussing the concept of sport within the 6th Form. This meeting was 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, myself and Bradley alongside the sports councillors have created a questionnaire which we hope will give us a better understanding about how the 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. By Matthew Ensby and Bradley Powell Eco Council This term we have been focusing on our upcoming assembly that will be presented to all the Houses at the end of this term. The Eco Council has not had the opportunity for a long time to give an assembly to the Houses so we are hoping that it goes smoothly and that the students will interact and learn something from it. We have also been working alongside Gaia’s Head of House, Mr Spilsbury, to help organise some of the events that will be taking place during “Sustainability Week”. We guarantee all students will enjoy and hopefully learn or experience something new in that week. As always we have also been looking at ways of reaching the Green Flag Award. This is what the Eco Council’s main topic will be on every week until we achieve this award because it is one of the highest achievements our academy can achieve to show how eco-friendly it is and that is basically what our purpose is; to make the Academy as eco-friendly as possible. Also, a quick reminder for everyone that if you have any enquires or suggestions please do not hesitate to ask someone wearing a green Eco Council badge. Lastly, please do not forget to turn off all the lights when leaving an empty classroom. By Leah Lewis Museum Council The Museum Council are working towards a special exhibition to celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday which will open in April. The cases in the Atrium will each represent a different Shakespeare play and we are looking for groups to curate a case. If you would like to be involved please email museum@langleyacademy.org.

Members of the Museum Council were involved in the interview process to recruit the Head of Museum Learning maternity cover. The students did a great job on the student panel, asking questions that they had created and getting the candidates to think about how they would use objects with groups of students ‘We had a say on who and why we liked each candidate and our input was acknowledged’ (Jordan, Year 10). Katherine Rose will be starting as Head of Museum Learning in the middle of February. Ms Blay will be going on maternity leave later this month and we wish her lots of luck with her new baby and look forward to seeing her back in 2015. Charities Council Academy Recycles Christmas Cards Well done to everyone who brought in their Christmas Cards and put them in the box in the Atrium to be recycled. We were able to collect a stones worth of cards which were taken to Sainsburys to be sent off to the Woodland Trust to be recycled. To put this into sustainability speak: If we all recycled just one card this Christmas this would save 1,570 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases – the same as taking 500 cars off the road for a year. If the average card weighs 20g, we recycled 11kg of cards = 550 cards. This = 8,635,000 tons of CO2 greenhouse gasses = 275,000 cars That’s excellent!!! So next year remember, don’t throw your cards away, recycle them at the Academy. Charity Christmas Boxes still a huge success I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who brought in items for their House Tutor Groups Christmas Box. Each House Tutor Group was asked to decorate and fill a box with non-perishable food items which would be donated to Slough Food Bank. The boxes were displayed under the Academy’s Christmas tree where they were judged by the Principal. The boxes were amazing and competition was the highest yet and after careful consideration this year’s winners were: Darwin 3 and Year 13 T4 for 6th Form.

Members of the Charities Council delivered the boxes during the last week of term. They were gratefully received by the Slough Foodbank who were amazed by the amount of work that students had put into decorating the boxes. The Langley Academy recently received the following letter of thanks: Dear Beth Brock & Friends, Thank you for your donation to Slough Foodbank. The scholars, teachers, parents and friends collected 209.2kgs of foods; enough to provide about 60 family meals. Please tell everybody about their gifts and pass on our very real thanks to all those who gave so generously. As you may know Slough Foodbank has been operating for nearly 3 years now and during that time we have been able to help over 5,000 people. In the year 2012-2013 we helped 700 more people than in the previous year. In April and May this year we have seen a further sharp rise as we recorded a 20% increase, over the figures for April and May last year, in the number of people coming to us for help; no doubt because of changes to the government benefits system. We are seeking new organisations and individuals to join us so that they, and you, who are already making donations, will rise to the challenge. We are anxious to be able to respond to the increasing requests. Your generosity and support for this venture is greatly appreciated. Kind regards Deryck Doling, Slough Foodbank Administration, 21 December 2013

Court in the Act Thieves who raided a workshop in Windsor more than 100 years ago underwent a 'retrial' on Wednesday. As part of the Royal Borough's â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Court in the Actâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; education programme for schoolchildren, students re-tried the scoundrels at the Guildhall in Windsor - the venue of the original trial. The 30 students from the Year 9 Debate Club divided into two groups each - prosecuting and defending. Deputy Mayor of Windsor and Maidenhead Cllr John Lenton and Deputy Mayoress Cllr Margaret Lenton officiated. At the end the students voted to acquit two of the three thieves and convict the third. But the original culprits did not come off so well back in 1895. Royal Borough education officer Alice Le Page said: "They were only between nine and 11 and were charged with stealing from a workshop under the railway arches. "They were all found guilty and sentenced to be birched." Details of the original case came from the Berkshire Records Office. After the visit, the Mayor wrote to Mr Bryant saying how impressed he was with the students and how well they debated the case.

Photo courtesy of Baylis Media

Member of the Debate Club: Adam Toubal, Nad Abbas, Jamal Chaudry, Molly Frewin and Rochelle Markman-Scadding Photo courtesy of Baylis Media

The trip to the Windsor Court was a once in a lifetime opportunity. During the trip we enhanced our problem solving and public speaking ingenuity. Our task was to re-enact a court which involved a group of boys who were involved in a robbery. Each group had the task to defend or prove a boy guilty. In my groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s instance we had to defend a boy who was being charged of theft and damaging property. This was a very challenging task because in every piece of evidence we obtained, the boy openly admitted to committing the crimes. When it came to fighting our case in the court, we were prematurely left with no defending statements and as a result lost the court case. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has received an opportunity to attend one of these sessions. Keaton Sangha, Year 9

Rowing Rowing - Thames Valley Trials Head

The first outdoor rowing event of the season took place on Sunday 2 February at Dorney Lake. Because of the floods on the rivers, entries reached their maximum before the closing date, and before most of our students had returned their consent forms, so only one of the 8 crews we wanted to enter were able to get their entries in. Roy Carlton was sculling a year above his age group in a double scull with Benjamin Harris, starting the time trial event at number 332 of a total 521 entries, ranging in age from older masters down to J13s (Year 8s).

Roy and Ben overtook the crew that started ahead of them, a J13 coxed quad, a boat that should be faster, and left behind the Llandaff J14 double racing in the same event as them. They were overtaken themselves by the event winners, a very fast RGS High Wycombe double, finishing in 4th place in their event. The year 9 and 8 girls will be racing at the National Junior Sculling Head on 14 March. Further events take place in May and June.

SRB Theatre Trip to War Horse and Puppeteer Workshop The Sensory Resource Base took four Hearing Impaired students from key stage 3 to London for a puppeteer workshop which was held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, before going to see the amazing show War Horse at the New London Theatre. This was an amazing opportunity for our hearing impaired students to access inspirational deaf adult role models who led the puppeteer workshops. The students had a chance to access a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hands onâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; puppeteer workshop along with interacting with other young people who had a range of hearing impairments. This was an opportunity for our students to interact with peers who also wore hearing aids, had cochlear implants and also some who used sign language to communicate.

SRB Students Tyrell Miller, Zaheer Abbas, Raqib Khan and Gracjan Borkowski

Later in the afternoon students had an opportunity to see the amazing show War Horse and check out the professional puppeteers in action. It was a super day, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Library PE and Humanities have been, as usual, brilliantly supportive in collaborating with the library by using it’s space and resources to promote and encourage reading, research techniques and literacy. The ‘Reading Stars’ programme has been launched by PE which has included students using the library’s sport related hard copy resources, History has held library based lessons on Egyptians, including museum learning artefact handling, furthermore, Geography held a ‘Nations of the World’ research workshop using just library resources. Media students have also dropped in to use resources while creating pod casts on global warming and biology students have also had a lesson using the resources for their endangered species project.

Mr Chinchen, Mr Trafford and Year 7 students

So far this academic year, students have made 1835 visits to the library during their free time, furthermore, they have used 1203 books and magazines for research or reading for pleasure. Arbib students have visited the most, and Darwin has used the most resources. Well done!!

The library hosted it’s ‘Dared to be Scared’ challenge by encouraging students to read a genre they might not have considered before. R. L. Stine’s ‘Goosebumps’ series and Ally Kennen ‘Bedlam’ series were the most popular.

Organic Garden On Wednesday 29 January 2013 the Organic Garden students went on a trip to RHS Gardens in Wisley. After the 40 minute trip there by Mr Wright, who kindly agreed to take us, we transferred from a dreary old January afternoon to a tropical climate with the Butterflies. There were over 20 types of butterflies all with their own unique pattern. Priya Tumber, Muntaha Ahmed, James Blackman, Ella Norfolk, Jack Hazell, Liam Bates and Maria Paswal were astounded by the different variations.

Joe Critcher with the butterfly on his Blazer

Joe Critcher Year 8 said, “I was helping this butterfly out because he could fly but not for long so I decided to take him round with me but then he got a bit more friendly and got on my uniform. This was a new experience for me as I have never seen a butterfly up close and marveled at it’s amazing patterns and colours. All plants were very well looked after including the Banana Plants and Lemon Plants. I would recommend it to anyone with a passion for gardening”. 36

Ella Norfolk, Muntaha Ahmed and Melissa Daw at the butterfly buffe t table

Liam Bates and Joe Critcher observed how butterflies eat and what sort of food they eat. The butterflies seemed to love it; there were about 17 'buffet tables' dotted around the place. Website is here for those interested: http://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley The season begins early in the polytunnel. Newcomer James Blackman And stalwart gardener Joe Critcher get to grips with seeds.

Friends of the Academy On 27 November 2013 parents, staff and people in the community met to launch and discuss Friends of the Academy. From that meeting a mission statement was created: ‘To work with The Langley Academy and the wider community to enhance the quality of local life’ Since then the Academy have been discussing the way forward. Mr Haden and Ms Lewis have met with Meredith Bevan (General Manager) and Caroline Lowe (Human Resources) from Hilton Hotel Terminal 5; Leaders of the SBCP, Slough Business and Community Partnership and have appointments with the Mayor of Slough on 11 February and local MP Fiona Mactaggart on 28 February to discuss what it is that we need to do to make Langley a better place to live for all. The Academy Council have also met to discuss Friends of the Academy and are now cascading their thoughts to House Councils. It is hoped that in March, parents, staff and people in the community will meet again and begin the process of facilitating a project. If you have any ideas as to how the community in Langley can enhance the quality of local life or you would like to be involved with Friends of the Academy please email tina.lewis@langleyacademy.org

Stationery Packs Our expectation is that students arrive to each lesson prepared for learning. Please use the half term holiday to ensure your son/daughter has the minimum required stationery as detailed below.            

HB Pencil x 2 Pens – Black x 2, Red x 1 Eraser Sharpener Coloured Pencils x 12 30cm Ruler Protractor 180° Compass Highlighter Notebook Scissors Glue Stick

Stationery packs can be purchased through our ParentPay Shop here

Sainsbury’s Active Kids Sainsbury's annual Active Kids voucher campaign is underway, offering schools and groups the chance to secure sports and other equipment and experiences for children and young people. I would like to encourage you to collect vouchers by shopping at your local Sainsbury’s store, at Sainsbury’s petrol stations and Sainsbury on-line shop. You can also swap your Nectar points for Active Kids Vouchers. Please encourage your students to ask their parents and relatives to collect the vouchers when shopping at Sainsbury’s; Vouchers are available between now and 20 May 2014 so you can start collecting straight away. There is a Voucher Collection Box on the SSM desk in the atrium.