Newsletter Issue 4 - April 2014 by Cezary Mikolajewski

NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 4 - APRIL 2014

See what staff dressed up as on Page 41

National Science & Engineering Week – find out what students got up to on Page 18

‘Elite 91’ come 2nd in Regional Finals of the National Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge - go to page 40 to read more …

Message from the Principal Dear Parents/Carers, Another remarkable 6 weeks with just so much happening that it is difficult to keep up! A group of our Year 12 students won the innovation award in the Young Enterprise campaign; students did remarkably well in the recent indoor rowing championships; 5 Year 10 girls came second in the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge; Year 10 completed their work experience week; and recently we held our termly Principalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Assembly where 12 students spoke on various topics ranging from Student Council, to our Leaders of The Future programme and our Bullying Intervention Group. Each student spoke very confidently and was an absolute credit to themselves, their family and the Academy. You will know that the NUT voted to take industrial action last Wednesday 26 March and despite a number of staff going on strike we stayed open for the entire Academy. Although we had to make different arrangements for the day, I was delighted with the response of both students and staff in helping run the day. I was disappointed however with student attendance which dropped from our average which is close to 95% to 91.6% and ask that in future parents ensure that their children attend the Academy whatever changes are expected to the normal timetable. You will also know about our exciting plans to form a Multi-Academy Trust with our Primary and now Parlaunt Park. Further information is available on our website and we will be writing to you about the proposed site for our primary academy when that has been established. This is very exciting and will provide a strong foundation for success now and in the future. Lastly, it is that time of year when exams are just around the corner. This is a difficult time for everyone but we believe we have an excellent support programme in place, including a very busy Easter break revision programme. We will be working exceptionally hard to support each student through this period but ultimately we all know one indisputable fact and that is the responsibility lies with the student and hard work is almost always the best way of achieving potential. I wish you all a great Easter and look forward to seeing you next term. Rhodri Bryant, Principal

Message from the Governors Governors are delighted by the news that The Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Michael Gove, has agreed to the proposal for The Arbib Foundation, Sponsor of The Langley Academy Trust, to sponsor Parlaunt Park Primary School. We are currently in a period of consultation with all of our stakeholders and very much look forward to hearing from parents and carers at The Langley Academy as a part of that consultation. Parlaunt Park is one of our feeder schools to the Academy and they share our vision for providing a holistic education which not only supports excellent academic progress but also offers a huge variety of other exciting opportunities for its students both within and outside the classroom. The decision to welcome Parlaunt Park into The Langley Academy Trust has not been taken lightly. Governors have been working closely with Mr Bryant to ensure that our vision for The Langley Academy to become Outstanding and our plans to open The Langley Academy Primary in September 2015 will not be jeopardised by this new relationship with Parlaunt Park. Our conclusion is that by welcoming Parlaunt Park into the Trust we would be able to further develop our Primary provision and the two primary schools would be able to support each other effectively whilst preparing their students for secondary education with the active support of The Langley Academy. We are very clear that our ambition is to cement the position we have at the heart of the Langley community and these two primary schools will enable us to work with many more local families. We have no plans whatsoever to grow the Trust with any schools outside the local area. A result of the plans to have two Primary schools, is that the Trust needs to expand to become a Multi-Academy Trust. This process is underway and we would welcome your views on the proposal which you should have received in a letter recently. (Please see the website for more details). You will note from the letter that it is a requirement to change the structure of governance and we have proposed a structure that firstly complies with legal requirements, but also will suit the Academy well. Finance, HR, resources, overall strategy and vision over the 3 schools will be the responsibility of the newly formed MAT Board of Directors. Each school will have a Local Governing Body which will be able to focus on all matters to do with the students such as curriculum, teaching and learning, pastoral, museum learning, etc. We also plan to establish a Parents' Advisory Board in each school which would meet 6 times a year and would inform decisions made by the local governing bodies and the central Board. This would be a development of the current Parents Forum and would be led by two elected parents working with the Governors, Senior Leadership of the Academy and parents. I am also delighted to report that, following our recent round of Governing Body committee and full Board meetings, we are pleased the Academy is making excellent progress towards the goal of being Outstanding. Our staff and the Directorate have been addressing any areas that were highlighted in our recent Ofsted report and Governors are monitoring and ensuring continuing progress. We believe that all of the time and dedication that the staff and students devote to the Academy make it an extraordinary and unique school. I would like to congratulate everyone involved. Annabel Nicoll

Dates for your Diary APRIL Friday 4 Tuesday 22 Wednesday 23 Thursday 24 Wednesday 30

End of Spring Half Term – Term 2 INSET – Academy closed for students Start of Summer Half Term 1 “Langley’s Got Talent” See Page 30 for more details Year 6 Welcome Meetings

12:00

Parent Forum Year 10 Academic Afternoon End of Summer Half Term 1

18:00 – 19:00 14:00 – 16:00 13:20

Start of Summer Half Term 2

08:20

08:20 18:00 – 20:00 16:00 – 18:00

MAY Wednesday 14 Wednesday 21 Friday 23

JUNE Monday 2

ARBIB HOUSE Arbib students have been busy learning about their senses during House Tutor time this term as the Science focus took the lead. The Tutor Groups have been getting to grips with how each sense works and thinking about how life might be different without them. All of the Tutor Groups have come together to produce an ‘Arbib Bushtucker Trial’ display in which students are asked to touch a mystery object without seeing it and make a guess as to what they can feel. The interactive project was outstanding and all the students from other Houses enjoyed feeling different textures, temperatures and objects. Arbib 1 led an assembly using the metaphor ‘Life is like a bowl of Ping Pong Balls’ to explain how important it is to set your priorities and not to worry about the little things in life. It was a truly inspiring assembly. At the end of last term Arbib House proudly displayed our ‘Save the Tiger’ project work. All 6 Tutor Groups combined to display videos, posters, t-shirts and pictures to raise awareness of the endangered Tigers. A superb effort by all involved.

Sophie Messett, Mubashire Ali, Kieran Phillips and Callum Hall

All years groups within Arbib House are involved in a House football competition. A strong start from Year 7 and 8s have put them in a good position in the league table. Good luck to all involved. Results will be announced after Easter. A special mention must go out to Stevie Swann and Erin Simmonds who were part of a Year 10 Netball team that won a tournament held at Langley Grammar School. Fantastic effort girls!

I would like to thank Year 7 parents and carers 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. Well done Arbib and keep up the good work. Ms Whelan

DARWIN HOUSE “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”: Nelson Mandela. Success is no accident and Darwin students have been busily accumulating the rewards for preparing thoroughly and competing against others. Connor Dobbyn was among the group of students who entered a local Control Technology competition involving The Langley Academy, Upton Court and Slough & Eton Schools. Connor was in the winning group and our congratulations go to him. Annabeth Gyamfi (pictured right) competed in and successfully won the ‘Guess the Character’ prize on World Book Day and Ololade Idowu (pictured left) won a camera for winning a National 3D Printing technology award. We say goodbye to Ms Bennett who is leaving us at the end of this term. Ms Bennett originally worked with Mr Katsholo and Darwin 1 and when Mr Katsholo became Head of Faculty for Mathematics and had to give up his stewardship of the House Tutor Group, Ms Bennett took over full control. Ms Bennett has been a wonderful Tutor and will always be a Darwinner. We wish her well. We also welcome back Callum Schurer who suffered a very bad injury when playing football which required delicate eye surgery. Callum is making a good recovery and is typically back at the academy, even though he is far from being fully recovered. A lovely boy and a true Darwinner. Finally, there are many heartening stories involving our students coming from Work Experience. Many of our number were offered jobs following the experience: Kirk Reid at Pets at Home, for example. I was particularly taken by Nasra Bedwi’s story of working in a Retirement Home and doing so very well. A very caring student in a very demanding environment.

A hard term gone and another to follow. Our Year 11 students face a set of demanding GCSE examinations that will test their knowledge, skills and commitment. A critical time for preparation is both here and now: success is no accident. Darwin students prepare to succeed. Mr Bott

GAIA HOUSE Term 4 has seen Gaia House and our students join Darwin House and develop everyone’s knowledge and understanding of Science.

The focus for the term has been Senses where topics have encouraged both students and member of staff to test their senses and balance. The Academy was set the challenge of developing and presenting a display for one of the topics and Gaia House were given “Smell”. Each House was assigned a gazebo from which to organise their displays during the final week of the term. Like every term this academic year, this term has again been a busy time for everyone involved with Gaia House. Our Year 10 and 11 students worked extremely hard with preparations for their PrePublic Exams with many gaining outstanding results. As we approach the Easter break our Year 11 students have now begun the process of completing revision, coursework completion, and exam practice. With weeks quickly running out for our Year 11’s, we all hope that they all gain the grades they deserve. Easter is a crucial time and the Academy will be a hive of activity for Year 11, 12 and 13’s.

Student Focus for Term 4: This term the following Gaia House students have been chosen to share their experiences, achievements and ambitions for the future.

Lauren Bradburn, Year 7, Gaia 6 ICA Settling into The Langley Academy and Gaia House! Hello my name is Lauren Bradburn and I’m in Year 7 Gaia 6. I have found The Langley Academy (TLA) the most amazing Secondary school I have ever been to! I was so happy when I had received a place at the Academy. I had the opportunity to move to the Academy or stay at my old school. My family were so supportive and would have been even if I had chosen to stay. They have supported me all the way. On my first day at the Academy I was nervous and I had no clue where I was going. I walked into the reception and had to wait in the waiting room before meeting my Head of House, Mr Spilsbury. He had a chat with me about what I liked and disliked and he made me feel really comfortable. He showed me my House Tutor room and when I walked in, almost everyone wanted to get to know me. I sat on a table with Lea Foster and Sophie Knight and the rest of the House Tutor Group also made me feel welcome. I knew a lot of people in Year 7 as we went to the same Primary School. They showed me around the Academy and they were even in most of my classes. My favourite lessons are Science with Mr Muranda, Drama with Ms Shaw and of course History with Mr Kidd. I love my House Tutor Ms Carron, as she makes our HTG as much fun as possible. I love taking part in House Rowing and all the other activities that we have the opportunity to get involved in around the Academy. My overall opinion is that I love The Langley Academy and I think that Gaia House is the BEST!

Harjiv Bachra, Year 10, Gaia 2 JMU Hi I’m Harjiv Bachra. I am part of Gaia House. I am in Year 10 and I am enjoying it but am becoming more aware that I will soon leave The Langley Academy and will begin my future outside of the school. I know that I will need some very good GCSEs and will make my decisions for my next steps based on my results. I didn’t make the best start to my education at the Academy, but I am now making up for lost time. My options are still open for my future after education but I know that I would like to start my own business. This appeals to me because I would like to be in control of my own time and drive my own agenda for my business. I am not sure exactly what my business will be as I need to put more thought into exactly what is important to me but I do know this: That if my business does not succeed first time it will not in any way put me off trying again. I will just learn from my mistakes and come back stronger from a slightly different direction. I know I can do this because in many ways I have proved it to myself.

Albin Szymanski, Year 10, Gaia 3 DRO My name is Albin Szymanski and I am a Year 10 student in Gaia House. I want to tell you about my life as a non-English speaker arriving from Pulawy in Poland in 2011 and now I am a fluent English speaker. I found it really hard at first but now it’s alright because the Academy helped me and made me feel more confident. I don’t speak English at home so school was the only place that helped, developed and supported me to speak English. I still miss Poland but I enjoy living in England because there are a lot of opportunities for me. It has taught me that you can get through and it gets easier eventually but only if you keep trying. I still think of Polish as my main language and Poland as my home but I know English well enough to get a good education. My favourite subjects are PE and Science and when I leave next year I want to be a chef. My intention is to attend college after Year 11 to complete a chef’s course so that I can follow my dream to open a Polish Restaurant serving Barszcz, Grochowka, and Flaki which is a kind of stew. And finally…. With only 2 terms left in the academic year we are fast approaching a very important time for everyone associated with Gaia House. When I meet with the House every Wednesday for assembly I look around and I am confident that everyone is working hard to make a positive contribution to both the House and to the Academy. Every week I ask every student to aim and strive to achieve their full potential and for our Year 11 students, the proof will be when they collect their final GCSE grades in August. I hope that everyone enjoys the Easter Break and uses the time wisely to recharge their batteries ready for the next term. ‘I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.’ Ken Venturi Mr Spilsbury

GLOBE HOUSE Globe 1 It has been a successful term for Globe 1 and Ms Hendrickx is really happy with the participation of her students in all areas of academy life. Komal Choudhry and Osman Zafar were fantastic ambassadors for the House, giving strong performances in our whole Academy production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. 9

Globe 2 Danielle Miller (pictured left) recently achieved a Grade B in her Spanish GCSE exam. This has been a fantastic accomplishment for her. Not only has she achieved her grade B but she has recently kindly donated some food to a local homeless man. Shannon Stephens (pictured right) recently completed a full two weeks work with British Airways. Shannon thoroughly enjoyed the experience and worked tremendously hard to achieve a very good report from her mentor.

Globe 3 Congratulations to Gracjan Borkowski for winning a gold medal at the South of England Indoor Rowing Championships, in the over 11s category. Gracjan not only represented the Academy but also promoted rowing for students with disabilities. Well done!

Globe 4 In January, Year 10 sat their first ICT exam as part of the OCR Cambridge Nationals ICT course. The results were extremely encouraging, with the average score above National average, as well as the performance in almost all questions. Well done Year 10!

Reece Gale, Joshua Leonard, Amani Ahmed, Jessica Soomal and Azraa Amin Mohamed

Globe 5 Globe 5 has had a vast range of successes this term. Well done to Amy Dent (Year 7) who won student of the term for PE. Keep up the good work! Well done to Ben Kingston (Year 9) for helping his local community by filling up sand bags to hold back the recent floods. We are proud to have you as Globe students. Huge congratulations to Tamanna Begum (Year 11) for passing her Duke of Edinburgh award, a fantastic achievement! Finally congratulations to Vidhant Mehta for representing the Academy in Year 8 football and helping the team win their most recent match.

Amy Dent, Ben Kingston, Vidhant Mehta and Tamanna Begum

Globe 6

Congratulations to Lacie Wood, Year 9 (pictured right) for winning two silver medals in cross country running. She has trained very hard to achieve her goals. Lacie said it was a very good experience for her as there was some tough competition. Congratulations to Hamza Bajwa, Year 7 (pictured left) for getting his green belt in Kudo and a certificate for Karate. Hamza said that it was a good experience and showed him how to defend himself. He is very proud of his achievements and hopes to continue with Kudo.

Also in Globe House this term, Jade Leonard, Globe 3 (pictured left) and Vinnay Mahi, Globe 1 (pictured right) were elected as Library Prefects. Well done to everybody in Globe House for all your hard work and effort this term. Ms Pereira

GRACE HOUSE This term Grace House have been working on the sense of Hearing with many activities being planned and carried out. There have been numerous activities going on around the Academy inspiring our students. The Year 11 into 12 AIG Meeting took place on Thursday 20 March. Many of our Grace House students have applied to our 6th Form and interviews took place and many offers of a place made. Year 8 individual option choices were made back in February and the option choices offered to each student were published on Friday 21 March. Any queries about these for Grace House students should be raised with me as Head of House as soon as possible. Controlled Assessments in many subjects are coming to a close this side of the Easter and Year 11 students should be concentrating on serious revision over the Easter holidays. There are a number of revision sessions and workshops taking place during the holidays to help maximise the success of our students. Three Grace House students who are now in the Sixth Form are applying for the position of Head Girl/Boy. They are Kirsty Dean, Daniel Onokha and Calvin Worthington. We wish them much luck with their application, interview and presentation to the 6th Form. Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Easter and look forward to a busy summer term and all the fun and opportunity that it is sure to provide. Ms Decosemo

HENLEY HOUSE This half term we have decided to let the students contribute to the writing of the Henley newsletter. What follows are the achievements of members of some of our House composed by members of their House Tutor Groups. We hope that everyone has a wonderful Spring break and please look out for further student articles in May. Henley 1 Where do I begin with the achievements in HE1TKI? This House Tutor Group is full of talented people. We have dancers, musicians, footballers, and even leaders of the future. Harry Mewett in Year 7 won a medal in a street dance competition he took part in. Despite winning this medal, he has carried on to improve his amazing talent by attending enrichment dance classes. He says “this medal is a personal achievement, and is the proof of hard work and dedication”. We also have another talented dancer who has won an award and a medal at her theatre school for her tap dance ‘Grade 5 for teachers’. Liliana Carri has also taken part in school productions. She is a queen of drama who has many more awards to win. But that’s not all we have. Unssa Bhatti and Amandip Brar, who are in year 11, achieved an A*in their recent Spanish exam. Amandip says “I feel I can accomplish anything now”. Bradley Eastmond in Year 10 has also passed his recent business exam and won many of his recent football matches. We also have Ekpe Olonta Year 10 took part in a programme called future leaders and was very successful throughout the programme. Henley 3 This spring term, Henley 3 has succeeded and achieved in a range of activities, from mini term projects to huge House challenges… The theme of last term was endangered animals, and Henley House was allocated the orang-utan. Every individual House Tutor Group had the responsibility of thinking of ideas to campaign and raise as much money as possible, for helping the endangered orang-utans. Henley 3 was able to win the most votes when they presented their ideas for the orang-utan campaign. However there were a variety of good ideas all around from other Tutor Groups, so we interpreted all of the ideas together. As a result, we were selected to represent Henley House and to set up the stall, which needed to reflect creativity but also awareness for the orang-utans. As a House Tutor Group, we decided to sell food to help receive donations. These included homemade cookie favours, sweet favours and orang-utan-themed cupcakes. In addition, Henley 3 was the only House Tutor Group with the most days of 100% attendance over the last term, which is a massive achievement! Because of the 100 Club, Henley 3 received £100 which they spent on a baby shower for Ms Dhillon before she left to have her baby!

Henley 5 Abi Cobley in Henley 5 made a great contribution to the school production; “The Little Shop of Horrors”. This is the final year that Abi can take part in the school production as she is in Year 11 therefore she had one of the main roles. Abi’s excellent singing and dancing as one of the “Ronettes” furthered the understanding of the story to the audience. The rehearsal’s for the production went on for four months including half term holidays and the hard work and long hours really paid off in the final show. Abi said about her role in the production: “I really enjoyed playing ‘Ronette’ as it wasn’t what I was originally cast as, so that was a nice surprise. Having the opportunity to work with the same people who have taken part in different productions for the past three years was really enjoyable. For me what made the show different, was it was my last one and I am very grateful for this opportunity”.

Jessica Swan Gonzalez has taken on a role as a digital ambassador with a group of other selected students within the Academy. An assembly was recently presented to staff by the group of students where Jessica and one other student spoke up about two websites; “Geoguessr” and “Phrase.it”, to help teachers begin lessons with more interesting tasks.

Mr Goodchild

6th FORM This half-term the 6th Form students have been gathering momentum for their upcoming exams and final BTEC deadlines. We are really pleased to see how motivated the students are! Year 11 AIG Evening We had over 160 students (including 60 students from other schools) attend our AIG evening last week which demonstrates our growing popularity. We look forward to welcoming these students for the Year 11 Induction Week in the summer term!

Year 12 UCAS Trip All Year 12 students attended a UCAS convention trip to Reading this week. This was the first part of their research to decide whether university is the right path for them. It was a good opportunity to meet universities and learn more about the different courses available to them. Head Boy/Girl Interviews We are currently in the middle of our recruitment process for our new Head Boy and Girl (to replace Assam Ghulam and Neha Parkash and Deputies Omar Afraoui and Sara El-Amri. We look forward to telling you the result in the next newsletter! Ms Humber

Maths The Year 13, 12, 11s and top set 10s have been working hard towards preparing to take their exams this summer. Students that have taken advantage of the after school support sessions Monday through Thursday and the extra Year 11 support on Saturday mornings have been benefiting from the extra time dedicated to this subject. We will be carrying on this support after school on Monday through to Thursday to continue to push these exam students to increase their knowledge and feel prepared for their exams and future. This term the Maths Faculty has been involved in many projects and activities along with our lessons and examination preparation. Half of the Year 9 students have experienced a trip to the museums at Oxford University and the other half will be visiting in upcoming weeks. Here is a description of the experience told from the point of view of three Year 9 boys. On 13 March, the Year 9 set 1 maths were privileged enough to visit the University of Oxford (Museum of Natural History), where we took part in an educational task teaching us the art of navigation. To complete the task we had to use a simple quadrant to measure the altitude (height) of a building. By completing the task we built an understanding of how simple quadrants were used in the past to measure the sun or the pole star above the horizon. From the measurements it was then possible to determine the ships latitude, and therefore be able to navigate. In the second museum, we were given the opportunity to handle some creatures such as cockroaches, tarantulas, and more. We learned the importance of different types of symmetries just within the building as we had been given the task to find creatures with bilateral symmetry (only 1 line of symmetry), for example a crab or even YOU (a human), and radial symmetry (more than 1 line of symmetry), for example a star fish or sea urchin. This was an incredible experience as we were able to explore the wonders of the world which consist of traces of maths. Even though maths might not be your favourite subject, this trip would definitely alter your opinions! Connor Dobbyn, Zain Jafri and Olusola Sola-Ogunniyi 15

The trip also included object handling, with many of the students most enjoying getting to hold a hissing cockroach and a tarantula. When the students returned to school they created posters on the experience.

Three of the G&T Year 9 Maths students have followed in the footsteps of their predecessors and visited Kendrick School in Reading on Saturdays to explore Mathematics Masterclasses. Here is what two of them had to say about this experience. I have attended the Saturday Maths Masterclasses at Reading. When I first heard that I was going to a Saturday school, I thought it would be boring and it would be a big waste of time but it turned out to be amazing! The Maths Masterclasses have shown me maths from a different point of view. It showed me how we use maths in everyday life and I learnt how maths has changed throughout history. For example, we learnt how people made crop circles in large fields and how maths took a big part in that. I really recommend Maths Masterclass because it shows maths from a different point of view. Also, it will show you that maths can be very interesting! By Michal Ignas The Royal Institution Math Masterclasses held at Kendrick School were really quite interesting and not boring at all. I was able to learn a lot of new and very useful things while having fun. One of the most enjoyable parts of the Masterclasses was when we did the Lego bridge challenge which was extremely entertaining. The Masterclasses taught me how maths is used in everyday life and I learnt many interesting things about the history of maths. The best thing about the classes was that I was able to meet a lot of new people, learn new things and have fun. By Navdeep Dhesi This term also included the international celebration of Pi Day. 14 March is celebrated as Pi day because other countries write the date in the other order making the date this month 3/14. 3.14 are the first 3 digits of Pi. It has become an international day to celebrate Mathematics and the number Pi.

Maths students from year 7 to 13 helped the faculty by creating artistic versions of the first twenty-three digits of pi. This effort was supported as well by staff member Rohan Samuel from the SRB. The digits where slowly displayed during the week in the atrium for all to see.

Last year on Pi day, as a Year 11, Divanshu Magon delivered a lesson on discovering pi to the top set Year 11s and 8s. This year he shared his experience with the set one Year 9 students. Then as a class they worked in groups to plan lessons that they delivered to the rest of the Year 9 sets on discovering pi. Here is what one of the Year 9s had to say about the experience: Last week on Pi day (14 March), top set Year 9 had to conduct a lesson about Pi for the other students in our year. Building up to this day, we had to plan the lesson and activities we were going to present in groups of 5 or 6; and we had to ensure that the lesson was appropriate for the range of abilities across the year. The activities we had planned included a starter of 4 Pictures 1 Word to engage the students and get them curious about the lesson, we then had some exploration activities like a Pi Object sort, in which the students had to arrange the given objects in two piles: objects with, and without Pi. We also had a Pi puzzle, which is pretty self-explanatory, and also an activity where the students were able to discover Pi for themselves using museum objects. The experience of playing the role of teachers was pretty overwhelming - in both good ways and bad. Trying to get the attention of the class was difficult and at times they were hard to work with, but they contributed well to the lesson and most were eager to learn. We found out that some aspects of the lesson weren't as engaging as the others, but where competition came into place, the groups in the class were eager to win - like in the Pi Number Sort. I think I've learnt a lot from this experience, like about the way people react towards things and what motivates them: chocolate. Ramsha Syeda

Science National Science and Engineering Week The focus of this year’s NSEW at the Academy was ‘Senses’. Students had the opportunity to experience a ‘hands-on’ Science exhibition and Science shows in the Explorer Dome and theatre. They even had the chance to see what it is like to play football with one of their senses, sight, removed!

Students took part in the Senses Exhibition where they used interactive displays to learn more about their 5 senses. They were able to measure things such as their peripheral vision, test their reaction time and find the limits of their hearing. Students enjoyed the competitive nature of the exhibits and were able to learn something about themselves at the same time. ‘It’s very experimental. It makes you think about how things work’ - Sophie, Year 9 ‘It makes you question how good your senses are’ - Louise, Year 9 ‘It makes you want to think more about why and how things work’ - Aaron, Year 9 ‘This is more experimental. It’s good to be out of the classroom’ - Farees, Year 9

Science teacher Mr Brozny with Year 10 students Renisha Sekhon, Sehanna Dev and Bardana Singh. By turning the dial, you see what the maximum and minimum frequency that you can hear is. A digital display will give you the frequency in Hz and you stop turning the dial in either direction when you can no longer hear any sound

Year 10 students Ravi Sharda, Wayne Homwe Emily Llewellyn and Cara Burton with some of the exhibits

Explorer Dome presenter Ben Brown burning cereal (Rice Krispies ) to show the amount of energy that is stored in food

Humanities History On 5 February 2014 The Langley Academy was extremely privileged to participate in the ‘Lessons From Auschwitz’ project in collaboration with the Holocaust Education Trust. This unique project allows two students per school, per year, to attend a serious of seminars in London which prepare students and teachers for a one day visit to the Nazi extermination centre and concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. The students who applied through Museum Learning and were subsequently selected were Maste Said and Calvin Worthington, both Year 12 History students. After their orientation seminars in the weeks leading up to 5 February (including the unique opportunity to meet a survivor, Zigi Shipper) we left on a 7am flight to Krakow.

Mr Kidd with Maste Said and Calvin Worthington on the train tracks

It is impossible to put into words what being at a place so closely associated with suffering is like so please do take some time to look at the photos which range from the infamous ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (work sets you free) sign at Auschwitz 1, to the piles of shoes, glasses and other possessions.

“Arbeit Macht Frei“ is a German phrase meaning "work makes (you) free". The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during World War II, including most infamously Auschwitz I, where it was made by prisoners with metalwork skills and erected by order of the Nazis in June 1940.

The buildings which contained many of the Jews’ belongings including glasses, shoes and other possessions

We also took photos of the main extermination centre, Birkenau, where it is estimated that 1.1 million people were murdered for their faith, race, sexual orientation or disabilities. The day ended with a special memorial service in the shadow of Krematorium II, a gas chamber that could easily absorb the whole Academy in one processing. The Chief Rabbi of the London Central Synagogue gave us an experience we all agreed we would never forget.

The train tracks where people were selected for work or immediate murder in specially built gas chambers

Of course, such a response to a place like Auschwitz-Birkenau is deeply personal and difficult to put in a piece of writing. Please do speak to either myself, Mr Kidd, or Maste and Calvin about the day as we will be happy to talk with you. We fully intend to run this trip with future 6th Form students as a way of developing their experience outside of the classroom. Maste and Calvin will now be creating a project based on their experience that the whole Academy will eventually be able to be a part of, so keep an eye out for further developments.

DT Good enough to eat! As part of the GCSE Food Technology Course students have prepared a range of Sweet Products that link in well with the idea of Afternoon Tea. These products have been displayed in the Academyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum, situated in the Atrium. They include Homemade Scones and a traditional Lemon Drizzle Cake. Year 9 GCSE Food and Catering students have been looking at the idea of Portion Control, Consistency as well as Presentation within the Food Industry. The foods displayed demonstrate the capabilities and amazing work they produce. Foods include chocolate cheesecake, salmon, chicken tikka, samosas and a modern take on chicken salad.

Fifteen awesome Year 9 Product Design students took part in a half day introduction session to control technology workshop. They built and programmed a Lego robot to negotiate simple obstacles. The students had to work in small groups with other schools to complete the challenge. Cheered on by the students the winning robot even performed a celebratory few twirls. Well done to the wining team which included 2 TLA master-builders. Awesome!

DT in the atrium. We were very pleased to work with the Museum Learning team to display some of the fantastic work currently being produced in Design Technology, The changing displays included examples of KS3 projects, Year 9 and Year 10 work, and some excellent examples of GCSE Controlled Assessment from Mr Bottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Resistant Materials group. In the final week, the Food Technology team provided an ever changing display of food products.

Thank you for the positive comments, we look forward to more displays, and showcases, your work deserves to be seen and admired!

Following the exciting visit of the FA Cup last term, Year 7s were set a Homework project, which culminated in them designing and making (sustainably) a trophy or award of their choosing. Here are some of the fantastic homework trophies submitted. Well done Year 7.

As a national Teach Design Tech Centre, The Langley Academy was invited to enter the earwrap challenge. There were some excellent designs, and many successful products were printed out, participation certificates were issued to Ella Norfolk, Laura Hogg, Ololade (Lola) Idowu, Afiah Anwar, Joshua Leonard, Tanzeel Mirza, Chanveer Grewal,Rayhan Mehmood, and Sehanna Dev. Massive congratulations however go to Lola who won the KS4/KS5 category and received her prize this week. Well done Lola.

VEX-ers finally completed the build of their robots, and took to the first robot games (a practice event) We look forward to the continuation of the competition in enrichment next term.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have Design Technology on their timetables. But it is a delight to see many students learning and applying new skills in the South Wing. DofE students have been developing their baking skills with Ms Decosemo, and even if they were unwilling to be photographed, their baked goods look delicious. Perhaps a little taster session would be a good ‘volunteering’ activity? Another group are developing their skills with new technology to create a usable product using CADCAM. Both these groups are always a pleasure to work with and we are delighted that you continue to show interest in the DT faculty. We are also thankful to Mr St Ledger’s apprentice technicians who joined us for work experience. If you want to volunteer to make some more storage we would be very grateful. Finally the Young Enterprise team worked tirelessly to create a plethora of quality products, Ms Stacey’s students are particularly pleased with their ‘George Girffe’ which they bought from the stall in Windsor.

ICT Wednesday 12 March was an exciting day for our Year 10 ICT students, as they all received their results from the exam they took in January. The students performed well above the national average.

ICT Teacher Mr Ahmed with Year 10 students eagerly awaiting their results

Jannan Said Bradley Eastman and Shannon Stevens with their results

Emily Scothern who gained the second highest mark in the year, Samuel Adenmosun who achieved 100% in the exam with Head of ICT Mr McAlaney

MFL The MFL faculty are pleased to welcome a new member of staff, Ms Laidain who joined the team on 4 March and started teaching French at KS3 and 4 and Spanish at KS3.

CAPA It has been another successful term in the CAPA Faculty. We started the half term with our annual whole Academy production. This year students performed ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’. Following months of rehearsals and the production of set, props and costumes the three evening performances were enjoyed by all who attended. It was a huge achievement for all the staff and students who took part. I would like to give a special thank you to our Year 11 students who have taken part in all 3 School Productions. Thank you to all those who came to see the show and we hope you can attend next year’s production.

Milo Quinton, Osman Zafar, Abigail Cobley, Leah Lewis and George Powell

Osman Zafar, Milo Quinton, Kelsey Edwards, Jade Kempster and Abi Cobley

Osman Zafar and Leah Lewis

ISSP CHOIR: Working With World Champion Beatboxer, Bellatrix In Years 7-10, we are working with Bellatrix, the current world champion beatboxer and one part of the all-girl vocal group ‘The Boxettes’. Currently, we are preparing for a concert at London’s prestigious Royal Festival Hall. So far, we have enjoyed numerous workshops with Belle and have really improved our singing and beatboxing skills! Special mention must be made of William De Guzman who has been holding his own in a beatboxing battle against the world champion and has made a real impression on all the other schools taking part. All this hard work will culminate in a world premiere performance of a new work, written and performed by the students of the ISSP Choir on 4 April. It would be great to see some friendly faces in the crowd, so please come and support us – further details available from Ms Hendrickx.

Langley’s Got Talent ‘Britain’s Got Talent’? Well, here at the Academy, we think we can go one better with the upcoming ‘Langley’s got Talent’ on 24 April in the summer term! The event is to raise money for the World Challenge trip coming up in the summer in which students and staff will be travelling to Swaziland, all proceeds from tickets and refreshments will go towards this phenomenal journey some of our students will be going on. The show will be an exciting display of singing, dancing, beat boxing and other amazing talents that the Academy students have kept a secret until now! With 4 judges to get past, this won’t be an easy win for those taking part. Come and witness the talent and get involved with the interactive audience vote! Watch this space for further information on tickets, but make sure to save the date for the event of the year.

Year 11 students a busy completing work for their practical exams over the next couple of months. The art and textile rooms are open to all GCSE students after school on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday until 5pm for students to work on their coursework. Students will be taking part in their Drama exams at the end of the month and we hope you will be able to attend to show your support.

PE Asthma UK/British Heart Foundation Sponsored Run This week in PE every single student has been taking part in a sponsored run during their PE lessons. The students have had the opportunity to donate some sponsorship money which will go to Asthma UK and The British Heart Foundation. With the tragic loss of George Quigg and Rishi Kukar the Academy wanted to again show their support to everyone who has been affected. In total the students have raised £951.32 which is an outstanding achievement and again shows the character, spirit and togetherness of the Academy community. I personally would like to thank all of the students and staff involved for their fantastic achievement.

Year 7 Berkshire Cup Football v St Crispinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Year 7 football team won a thrilling contest 7-6 on penalties after the game finished 2-2. Goals from Conor Lawless and Bradley Foster earned the team a draw after extra time. Man of the match was Camarl Gruber for his excellent defensive display.

Year 7 Berkshire Cup Football v Dedworth The Year 7 football team beat local rivals Dedworth in the 3rd round of the Berkshire Cup. Goals from Zak Koundi (2), Ben Greenidge & Aaron Amponsah earned the boys the victory. Man of the match was Endi Danjolli who was superb in midfield.

Year 7 Slough League The Year 7 football team won their last league game of the season 5-0 against Upton Court Grammar. Goals from Zak Koundi (2), Brad Farren (2) and Endi Danjolli secured this impressive result. The man of the match award was given to Kyle Dobbyn for his battling display throughout. The Year 7 team have now secured a place in the league playoff final.

Year 11 Berkshire Cup Football v Little Heath The Year 11 football team beat Little Heath in the Berkshire Cup 3-1. Yaw Osei scored a sensational hat trick to win the game for the Academy. Oliwier Slusarczyk was named man of the match for his outstanding display in midfield.

6th Form Football v Charter’s The 6th Form football team produced a great performance to beat Charters 3-2 in the league. Goals from Jordan Collings (2) & Bradley Thorpe won the match for the team and made it two wins out of two in the league. Neko Omale was named man of the match for his composed defensive display. Year 9 Netball Tournament The Langley Academy hosted the Year 9 Slough Borough netball tournament on 6 March with 10 teams attending. The Year 9’s played well with good passing and spacing; unfortunately the girls were in a tough pool and did not get through to the semi-finals. The winners of the overall tournament were St Bernard’s. The team was Rochelle Markman- Scadding, Molly Frewin, Danielle Deadman, Ela Metalia, Mattu Simbu, Annabelle Okoro, Felicia Tang, Amber Watty, Hana El- Amri and Ellie Smith. U13 Slough Borough Indoor Cricket Tournament The Langley Academy hosted the U13 Slough Borough Indoor Cricket Tournament. The teams they played against were Newlands School and Langley Grammar, this was the first game most of the Year 7’s had played. It was an exciting game with some good over arm bowling from Harpreet Dhillon and good batting from Sophie Ward. Unfortunately the girls did not make it through to the county finals but it was a good experience for all girls involved: Harpreet Dhillon, Sophie Ward, Salma Usmani, Simrit Chawla, Amy Dent, Esha Bhalla, Mahnoor Khan, Simran Biring, Asees Gill and Anike Abegunde. Sports Coaching The Year 12 BTEC sports students are currently doing a Sports Coaching Unit as part of the course. This has involved them going to Marish Primary school to observe the teachers teach a PE lesson and learn some teaching techniques and behaviour management techniques. The students have then been going in and taking whole lessons under the supervision of Marish Primary school staff. The students at Marish Primary have responded well to the BTEC students and enjoyed learning from them. The BTEC students have enjoyed the experience and have given them some ideas as to what they want to do after leaving the 6th Form.

Bilal Kazaly with students from Marish Primary

The Year 8s played in their end of season tournament against all the other local schools in Slough. The team lead by Salma Usmani and Simrit Chawla played fantastically despite not playing together much throughout the season. Rinora Haziri and Chloe Boland performed well under pressure as the shooters of the team, ensuring they made the semi-finals of the tournament. The team complete by Hafsa Bedwi, Jessica Davies, Julia Thurauf and Karis Boycott played very well in the tournament but unfortunately they were knocked out in the semi-final.

We took a selection of talented netballers across all year groups to watch Surrey Storm v Team Bath play Netball at the Surrey Sportsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Park. It was a very exciting evening with Team Bath scoring the equalising goal within the last 10 seconds of the game. It was a fantastic experience for the girls who took the opportunity to observe these elite players to help improve their own performance. At half time The Langley Academy students even were able to have a go in a shooting competition. This experience really gave the students a boost and increased their enthusiasm mid-season.

Our Year 10 Netball team have had a fantastic season this year, which culminated with the end of season Slough Borough schools tournament. The girls were under a large amount of pressure (mainly from themselves) as favourites to win the tournament. They played fantastically throughout beating close rivals Langley Grammar 6-2 and St Bernard’s 6-3. The team lead by Erin Simmonds, triplets; Katie, Kerrie and Ellie Long and Stevie Swann, joined by new recruits this year Leah Lewis, Praise Okoro and Lola Idowu went from strength to strength throughout the tournament, with their confidence and outstanding tactical play demonstrated in all games ensuring that they were undefeated in this tournament.

The students’ fantastic play during the whole season has meant that they have also finished as top of the Slough Borough schools Year 10 League for the first time, which is an outstanding achievement. These fantastic results were well deserved by the girls due to a long season of constant hard work, commitment and excellent teamwork displayed by the girls.

The Under 15 Girls’ Taverners Cricket County Final took place at Newbury College. The Langley Academy U15 team lead by Berkshire player Erin Simmonds were very nervous and hadn’t trained much this season. They put in a very strong game beating Edgebarrow School by over 30 runs, however in their second game against Waingels College, they had unlucky batting session and were unable to field well enough to prevent Waingels from making up the difference. The team consisting of Katie Long, Ellie Long, Kerrie Long, Stevie Swann, Teodora Roman, Molly Frewin, Hayley Manderson and Karina Kakar composed themselves very well under pressure and played very well as team and finished second in the county.

The Year 7 netball team took part in the Slough Borough Schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Netball tournament where they played against all the other local schools. They played fantastically beating Slough and Eton and St Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with Annabeth Gyamfi and Aoife Brennan scoring some very good goals throughout the tournament. The team consisting of Sophie Ward, Mahnoor Khan, Esha Bhalla, Amy Dent, Asees Gill, Amrit Sohal and Anike Abegunde played well under pressure throughout, showing their improvement as a team throughout the season. They unfortunately just missed out on a semi-final place, against some very strong teams.

Business On Tuesday 18 March, 6th Form Business and Law students in Year 13 visited Brunel University in Uxbridge. Ganita Gill said: Going to Brunel was a good experience to see what the university atmosphere was like; it seemed fun with quite a diverse community of students. We also went to the Library and had a chance to look at a selection of books. The Library was huge and filled several rooms. The students were all working independently on lap tops and looked relaxed in their own casual clothes, which is quite different to TLA. I feel ready to move on to the University stage of my education and having been to the Uni several times now, I feel quite comfortable there.

Nusaybah Ali, Kinzah Ahmed, Ganita Gill, Onissa Majid, Juneet Ghuman, Sainabou Njie and Maxine Donkor

Museum Learning Year 9 Maths trip to Oxford Students from Year 9 Maths have been visiting the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the History of Science. The groups have been learning more about geometry in the built environment and symmetry in nature. Some students were even brave enough to hold Margo, the Museum’s spider! Jieying Zhang holding Margo the spider

A trip to Taylor Tugs Students from Year 9 and Year 12 Health and Social Care have been working in partnership with the River & Rowing Museum Early Years Tutor. The students have been learning more about the skills needed and the best activities to run when working with early years groups. The group visited Taylor Tugs, the museums well established early years group and spent the morning working with the children. The visit was a great experience and will help the students to plan and deliver their own Early Years session back at the Academy. ‘It will help me in my course as I now know how to communicate with children and how they will respond’ (Saania, Year 12).

Scones, jam, lemon posset and salmon roulade! Mr Mall’s Year 9 Food Technology students spent a day at the Manor restaurant in Waddesdon Manor. They worked with the restaurant’s Head Chef and Pastry Chef who taught them how to make all the elements of a traditional afternoon tea. The students learnt new techniques and heard more about service within a busy restaurant.

‘Can I try the helmet on?’ Year 7 History students have been able to handle real Roman and Medieval objects on loan from Reading Museum. The objects are a great resource and allow the students to handle some original artefacts, including Roman ear cleaners and medieval coins. The most popular object has been a medieval helmet which some of the students tried out for size!

Alexis Hansel and Sharanpreet Uppal

Museum Council The Council have been working hard on our up-coming exhibitions. Currently they are creating content for our Shakespeare exhibition which will be on display after the Easter holidays. The exhibition will be based around a number of Shakespeare plays and will celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday!

The Council is always keen to spread the word about our Academy and so were very pleased to receive a copy of The Craftsman magazine (pictured left) which had published an article they had written. The Craftsman magazine is the local magazine from REME Museum of Technology who loaned us the Army car on display in North Wing.

Student Voice Year 8 Mock Trial On 12 March, a group of thirty Year 8 High Attaining students had the privilege of taking part in a keenly contested mock trial to improve their higher thinking skills at Windsor Museum, with some outstanding results. The students benefited greatly from the experience and the opportunity increased their confidence for public speaking, as well as stretching their literacy skills. “There was another Great Debate organised by Mr O’Neill and led by four Year 10 students. There was a great turn out, it was a great life experience and it was great fun! We began by debating whether Oscar Pistorius was innocent or guilty for the death of his girlfriend. There were two very well made statements as to whether he was guilty (given by Maarukh Nasir) or innocent (by Nicole Blackman). After this there was a ten-minute discussion as a collective to conclude what we thought had happened on the night of 14 February 2013. We then concluded the Oscar Pistorios discussion by voting whether we thought he was innocent or guilty and by majority vote, we decided he was guilty of the murder of Reeva Steenkamp (his girlfriend). We then discussed whether family is more important than friends. This was led by Tanushree Bose arguing that friends are more important than family and Osman Zafar (pictured) arguing that family is more important over friends and this time by majority vote, it was decided that family was more important than friends. Overall everyone enjoyed it and we cannot wait for the next great debate!” Milo Quinton, Year 8

“Speak Out” Year 10 Workshop On 11 March, thirty-five High Attaining Year 10 students took part in a full day workshop, designed to boost confidence and self-esteem through enabling young people to speak with clarity and impact. The training helped participants become better communicators and more aware of the importance of speaking up, thus using their voice to bring about positive change.

Careers/Work Experience Year 10 Work Experience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3 March 2014 Year 10 spent a week in the work place getting a taste of the working world. The majority of our students had a great experience and were a credit to themselves and the Academy, gaining excellent employer reports. Placements were as diverse as motor mechanics, solicitors, Magistrates Court, primary schools, retail, logistics, veterinary assistants, office admin, florist, care homes and football clubs. Cameron Collings at Brentford FC training ground with Brentford Captain Harley Dean

Careers Fair â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 14 March 2014 The Academy hosted another successful Careers Fair organised by Learning to Work. Year 10, 11 and 12 students had the opportunity to talk to representatives from local colleges and universities, training providers like JTL and the Childcare Company, volunteering organisations, Army, RAF and Police, as well as employers such as Kuehne + Nagel and Barclays Bank. Younger students had the chance to look around during break time.

Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge We are very proud to have a team of young entrepreneurs qualify for the Regional Finals of the National ApaxMosaic Enterprise Challenge. Zahira Batool, Nicole Blackman, Tanushree Bose, Leah Lewis and Maarukh Nasir, all from Year 10, make up team ‘Elite 91’ and demonstrated their business acumen by recording a very good net profit in a business simulation game, as well as showing their understanding of ethical business principles. This year’s Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge has been fiercely competitive with over 100 schools and hundreds of teams participating across the UK. ‘Elite 91’ worked hard on their Social Enterprise business idea supported by their business mentors from the Hilton Hotel T5 Heathrow and took part in the regional finals on 26 March. They competed against teams from Slough & Eton, Beechwood, Gordons School and Oxford Spires Academy for a place in the National Finals. The team delivered a faultless, professional presentation and came 2nd, missing out on the winning place by 1 point to Gordons School! However, they impressed two of the judges so much that they have offered to mentor the girls to help them move forward with their business idea. The girls were a credit to themselves and the Academy – look out for them in the local paper!

Apprentice winner Tim Campbell poses with students

Photo courtesy of Baylis Media

Year 11 – Post 16 Decisions Year 11 students should by now have applied to 6th Form or College for next September. Students who are interested in applying for Apprenticeships need to register on the National Apprenticeships website www.apprenticeships.org.uk. Most Year 11 students will have had a careers meeting by now with Adviza or Ms Turner, anyone needing more advice and guidance should contact Ms Turner by email to ruth.turner@langleyacademy.org or pop into the Careers Area during break or lunchtime. The Government’s Raising Participation Age means that students who started Year 11 or below in September 2013 will need to continue in education or training until at least their 18th birthday. This does not necessarily mean staying in school; young people have a choice about how they continue in education or training post-16, which could be through: 

full-time study in a school, college or with a training provider



full-time work or volunteering combined with part-time education or training



an apprenticeship.

Library The highlight of the term was of course World Book Day. Staff had the opportunity to dress up as a character and students had to try and guess who they were! Prizes for all the competitions were awarded during assemblies to the students who had the most correct answers.

Maths teachers (from top left) Ms Butzen as Cleopatra, Ms Bennett as Maid Marion, Ms Fiore as Pippi Longstocking, Ms Young as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and Mr Estrabillo as Captain Jack Sparrow from The Pirates of the Caribbean

Ms Shaw and Ms Warr dressed as the Where’s Wally character with Year 7s Keara Howard-Phelan and Harleen Sandhu

Mr O’Neill dressed up as Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Mr Matshazi as Winnie the Witch and Ms Jagdev as the DC Comic character Wonder Woman

Other activities during World Book Day included: There was a selection of books and posters of the current Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Laureate, Malorie Blackman on display in the LRC. Her books often tackle difficult and sensitive teenage issues, and have been very popular with the students.

Multiple award winning teenage author Robert Muchamore, writer of the action/adventure â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cherub' series, gave a streamed live video feed talk. He has sold over 8 million books which have been translated into 27 languages!

A collection of short trailer videos of some of the greatest selling teenage fiction books were shown, complete with popcorn!

There was of course the obligatory word search and a book app fact sheet.

The Diana Award Six of our Year 11 students, aged between 15 and 16 years old have won the prestigious Princess Diana award for their unwavering commitment to the Anti-Bullying Campaign which they started here at The Langley Academy.

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

The Diana Award was established in the UK in 1999 in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, as a legacy to her belief in the power of young people to change the world, and recipients of the Diana Award are young people from across Britain who are committed to helping others and improving their communities. Award Holders include volunteers, fundraisers, campaigners and those who have overcome adversity. As part of the Anti-Bullying programme, which the group started 2 years ago, they developed a Focus Group which listened to the students and any worries or queries they had; they attended training with Kidscape to become Anti-Bullying ambassadors and to help with any student that might face bullying at any time in their school life. They worked very hard to build a campaign, presenting in assemblies, organising cake sales, providing questionnaires, building their own awareness section on the website and all of this hard work paid off when one year ago when the

Academy was awarded the kite-mark from B.I.G (Bullying Intervention Group) which is an organisation that endorses schools, stating that the Academy is outstanding in the prevention and education of bullying. However the students did not stop there and created a viral video as part of their campaign and it is this that set them aside from the rest of the nominees and earned them the Princess Diana Award. The students, with help from Miss Wingrove - Inclusion Centre Manager and who oversees the Anti-Bullying Campaign, set about creating, recruiting, directing and editing a viral campaign about the issue of Cyber Bullying. They starred in the film itself and it was displayed around the Academy, on our website and it was used by the very organisation who we gained accreditation and received a kite mark from. On being told they had received the award, Kelsey Edwards, Jade Kempster, Ria Fenner, Estelle Exelby, Ellie Macdonald and Gurchetan Hayer said: 'We are delighted to have received this award, we are very passionate about raising the awareness of anti-bullying within our Academy and love to be part of this groupâ&#x20AC;? The students each received a signed certificate from the Prime Minister and the Academy was awarded a plaque. Due to them winning the Award, they were personally invited to WE! Day, WE! Day is an event organised by children's charity, Free The Children, with the aim of educating, inspiring and empowering 12,000 invited student leaders to take action on local and global causes they care about. The award winners got to hear inspirational and motivational talks from people such as HRH Prince Harry, Ex Vice President Al Gore, activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, Paralympian Martine Wright who overcome her adversity of the 7/7 attack to compete in the Paralympics and many more performances from artists such as Ellie Goulding, Dizzee Rascal and Jennifer Hudson. This event left the students, inspired, motivated and in total awe of the speakers and ready to take on new campaigns that they felt empowered by.

Lost Property We have a number of lost property items at reception. If items have not been collected at the end of half term they will be given to charity or disposed of. 45