ASTON MANOR ACADEMY 2022
PART OF EQUITAS ACADEMIES TRUST
HEADTEACHER Dear Parents, This term newsletter is filled with wonderful news of what has been going on in school, and some of our many pupil achievements. We are feeling very positive about the progress that pupils are making, the exam preparation for our KS4/ KS5 groups, the sporting activities and the increasing number of trips and visits that are taking place. We have raised over £3000 for charity this year, which is beyond our expectation, helping Islamic Relief and Birmingham Children’s hospital. Although we are not yet back to our full programme of events following COVID, it certainly feels as though we are well on our way to offering the many different enrichment activities that pupils deserve. We are thinking about all of our families who are fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and wish you all Ramadan Mubarak. Jill Sweeney
CAREERS FAIR
BATONBEARER NOMINATIONS
Commonwealth 2022 AMA Batonbearer Nominations Assembly CONGRATULATIONS to Mohamed Alamin Hussain (11BS) who was voted as our official Nominee for AMA and will go through to the Birmingham Schools’ Ballot (results to be published in April).
Please pass on your congratulations to all students nominated, it really was a lovely way to recognise and reward these exceptional students for their hard work, dedication and commitment.
Year 7: Brooklyn (7) & Azaan (7) Year 8: Muna (8), Manal (8) & Taha (8) Year 9: Rochelle (9) & Abas (9) Year 10 : Saira (10) & Pristin (10) Year 11: Ircile (11) & Mohamed A H (11) 6th Form: Ahmed (13), Paul (13), Chenee (13) & Maryam (13)
At the beginning of the Spring Term we invited several colleges, universities and employers into school for the KS4/5 Careers Fair. It was a busy event where pupils got to speak with experts to help them gain further insight into their future pathways. Moving on from Year 11 and from Sixth Form can be a time of concern, so events like this help our pupils to get as much information as possible about future destinations of study and employment.
Following the event, all of the visitors involved commented on the excellent standard of behaviour and the maturity of AMA pupils. Ms Hughes
The Globe Theatre – London, 23 March 2022 After years of theatres being closed, the English Department were so delighted to finally be able to offer 45 of our students an opportunity to visit the World-famous Globe Theatre on London’s Southbank. We set off at 10.45, admiring the beautiful countryside which swiftly turned into high rise flats, buildings and apartments - a sure sign we were in the Big Smoke. Anticipation and excitement built as we turned the corner to see hundreds of other
On Friday 26th January, the IT department took our Year 10 students to Warner Bros Harry Potter studio in London as part of their OCR Creative iMedia course. This trip was linked to our OCR Creative iMedia Level 1/2 course. It was a good opportunity for Year 10 pupils to see how digital graphics are used in the real world of work. The trip helped students develop their ideas for when they complete their coursework and they learnt about how IT is used in industry to promote and advertise products. On Tuesday 15th March, Year 12 students studying OCR Digital Media
school students and staff, just like us, making their way into the theatre. Our seats were fantastic, and the weather made the experience all the more enjoyable as we sat down to enjoy. 90 minutes later, our students’ minds were enriched with the wonderful words, works and world of Shakespeare. A truly unforgettable experience, and an incredible way to kick off our upcoming study of Macbeth, in English.
Level 3, took their own pictures of Birmingham, showing how diverse and cultural it has become. This is part of their Unit 3 coursework, Learning Outcome 2: Be able to plan and develop pre-production materials for an original media product to a client brief. Please congratulate our IT Digital Leaders 2022 YEAR 7 7A—Nagiba uz-Zaman 7S—Hasham Ali 7T—Mahteb Hosseing 7O—Mohamed Abdiwali 7N—Tasnim Islam 7M—Lamis Esenoussi
YEAR 8 8A— Zahirah Sultana 8T—Saaim Mehmood 8O—Ali Kholil Hussain Mohammed 8N—Umar Islam 8M—Zara Islam YEAR 9 9A—Alan Grodkowsi 9S—Yusuf Ahmed 9T—Mahima Khan 9O—Umme Aiman Hussain Majeed YEAR 10 10T—Yashial Waqas 10S— Aliakbar Rafat 10S—Danial Ebrahimi Majd 10O— Khadija Ahmed
SPORT THE BASKETBALL ACADEMY BASKETBALL
Y7/8 Girls Basketball Team
Congratulations to the Y7/8 Girls Basketball team, who gained a Silver Medal (2nd Place) at the Aston School’s Partnership Basketball Tournament at Holyhead. The team just missed out on a Gold Medal (1st Place), losing by 2 points only against St Pauls in the last 4 seconds of the game! Excellent performances throughout! Results: AMA (10) Prince Albert (0) AMA (8) Holyhead A (0) AMA (10) Holyhead B (2)
AMA (4) Broadway (0) AMA (2) St Pauls (4)
The Basketball Academy have worked incredibly hard over the last year, during training evenings, weekends and throughout the school holidays. The second team have enjoyed moderate success, beating our local rivals twice, and with one game remaining, still have the capacity to finish second in AOC league 1. The first team have had a successful season, winning the ABL Northern Conference and making the national playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, Aston Manor beat Carmel College (Liverpool), advancing to the elite eight stage, and tied against New City College, the London Lions BBL Youth Team. Unfortunately, the nerves got to Aston Manor, and we started the tie on the back foot, playing the occasion rather than the game. Aston Manor recovered and ended up outscoring the opposition in the second, third and fourth quarter, but, regrettably, that wasn’t enough to win the game. We end this season ranked number six in the country and are now back in training in preparation for next season. We are sad to say goodbye to our graduating class, a number of whom have received offers to continue their basketball either in the UK or overseas. Well done to all who have been involved this year.
FOOTBALL ACADEMY
The Football Academy have continued to work hard in training and games this term. The development team have improved as the season has progressed, achieving a great 1-1 home draw against top of the league, Newcastle Town, beating Blythe Bridge High School and Sixth Form 1-0, and drawing
against Invictus Education Trust, 2-2. This has put the development team in 4th spot in the AoC Invitation 1 league table. The 1st team are still progressing well this season, sitting top of the CEFA Central Midlands Division. We have had successful wins against Mansfield Town, 5-1, a 4-0 win against Derby FC and a convincing 10-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers. 1st team academy left back, Demico Burton, continues to do well with ESFA England under 18 school boys. We wish him well in the up and coming games against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the Victory Shield. Well done to all the Football Academy and we wish them well for the rest of the season.
YEAR 7 NETBALL TEAM
Congratulations to the Year 7 Netball team who successfully achieved gold medal position at the Aston School’s Tournament. Well done!
YEAR 8 NETBALL TEAM
SUNSHINE FESTIVAL
Big congratulations to the Year 8 Netball team for achieving bronze medal position in the Aston Schools Netball Tournament on Wednesday 23rd March. The girls were fantastic and demonstrated such positive AMA attributes. I am extremely proud of their achievement, and I am already looking forward to next season. Well done Year 8 (and my Year 7s). Mrs Reed
LATISHA
Congratulations to Latisha in Year 11 who has made it through to Birchfield Harriers Sprinting Club. Latisha attended regular training sessions at Wyndley Athletics Track and is now working hard to improve her technique and times. Latisha was selected by a Sprint Specialist coach, Neville Facey, who was very keen to take her on. We are very proud and wish Latisha Good Luck in her training and performances.
Sunshine Festival was hosted here at Aston Manor on Tuesday 8th March. 17 students led on an extremely successful SEND sports festival with four of our local feeder schools attending. For many, this was the first time they had led younger students and the confidence and professionalism shown was incredible!
ATHLETICS
Congratulations Y8 Girls Athletics
Massive congratulations to our Y8 athletics girls team who finished 2nd in the Year 8 Girls County Finals! Around 60 schools have competed previously, all to get to this point and they beat them all to come 2nd! So proud of these girls!
ENGLISH - NATIONAL HANDWRITING - COMPETITION Back in January, Miss Rowley launched a Handwriting competition to celebrate National Handwriting Day! She received lots of lovely entries and it was incredibly difficult choosing just one winner – it’s great to see so much fantastic handwriting from our pupils here at AMA. A huge congratulations to the winners below: Holista Glorified 7MCO/MOC Fatima Ahmed 8SMY Sumaiya Khatun 8SMY
Mahima Akthar 9ES/KG Disha Hossain 10SM
Winners received house points, stationery goodies, special handwriting pens, CC stickers and sweets and treats! We hope this has inspired everyone to continue practising their handwriting and focusing on their presentation for the rest of this academic year. Miss Rowley
HOUSE COMPETITION WINNERS!!! A HUGE thank you to everyone who entered the competition. The students opposite have all won: HOUSE POINTS; HOY CC stickers; MORE CC stickers; Sweets and treats; Stationery items; AND MORE!
Miss Rowley has launched the Carnegie Club once again after two years of Covid cancellations! The Carnegie medal is awarded every year to ONE BOOK that is judged as the BEST book written for children/young adults that year eight books are short listed and in Carnegie Club we try to read all eight before the winner is announced on 16th June. Members of the Carnegie Club will have exclusive access to the books – getting the chance to read them before anyone else in the school! We will meet every week with biscuits and treats to discuss the books, write reviews and have a lovely time! Members of the club will also have an afternoon off timetable to watch the awards ceremony LIVE and see the winner announcement in June. If you think you can read eight different books by 16th June and want exclusive access to the best new books, find Miss Rowley asap to register your interest!
On Thursday 3rd March we celebrated World Book Day! Reading is incredibly important to us here at AMA and we were eager to celebrate this special day. Miss Rowley launched several competitions for pupils and was overwhelmed and delighted with all of the entries! One competition involved guessing which book characters staff had come dressed up as. Over 70 pupils won prizes for their correct guesses – each pupil was able to take home their very own book to keep and treasure forever. A huge thank you as well to all staff who took part and dressed up as a book character – your enthusiasm for World Book Day is greatly appreciated and together we continue to inspire a love of reading! Another competition was launched to coincide with
the World Book Day theme for this year, which was #IAmAReader. Pupils had to explain WHY they read or WHY reading was important to them. A HUGE congratulations to the winners who received TWO books each, house points, stationery goodies, CC stickers and sweets and treats! The winners were:
Mosara Adam 7MCO/MOC Maisha Haque 8JOS Maryam Tasnim Ali 8PJ Shueb Ali 10RAH Atif Rahman 8SMY Finally, as part of the World Book Day Celebrations, Miss Rowley was once again able to secure a book for every single pupil to take home and keep. We really hope every pupil enjoyed their FREE World Book Day book and will continue to read new and exciting books throughout the year. Miss Rowley
FOOD EXAM ‘CELEBRATING DIFFERENT OCCASIONS’ Monday 24 January 2022 MOHAMMED ARTIEN BIRTHDAYS
ZAKARIYA ALI WEDDINGS
SAFA MAHMOOD DIWALLI
ALEXANDRA SMART PROM
NABEEL ZAHIR EID
ALDAI OSMAN BIRTHDAYS
SAIF UDDIN XMAS
SHAH AHMED CHINESE NEW YEAR
RAYHAN ALI BIRTHDAYS
MOHAMMAD ALAMIN CHINESE NEW YEAR
AMIR MILWOOD EID
UROOJ KHAN -Met GALA
AHMED ABDULKADIR BIRTHDAYS
IQRA KHAN ANNIVERSARY
AHMED SHEIKH CHRISTMAS
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY – REWARDS AND RECOGNITION Well done to the following pupils for their hard work and effort in Design and Technology this term. Pupils have produced some fantastic products with great determination.
Pupils were selected by their teachers as ‘Stars in Design and Technology’ this term and they have received a Design and Technology Certificate and Headteacher’s CC stickers that are worth 50 points. Keep up the hard work!
Two pupils are currently in Watch this space! The Design and Technology with a chance for this award: Harris Bagh-Ali 8JSO team would also like to award the ‘Young Designers and Aida Konde 9DLA – Let’s see who can be Award’ at the end of the academic year. This selected the most times this academic year! award is the recognition of pupils that demonstrate Past winners were: great commitment and enthusiasm in Design Illin Khan (Year 11) and Technology throughout the year. Pupils must Mohammed Shaon Ahmed (Year 10) demonstrate a range of skills and creativity in all areas of Design Technology and need to have been Both pupils were awarded ‘Stars of the rotation’ selected more than once for Stars of the rotation. three times during one academic year. Pupils will receive a ‘special reward’ and a Young Will anyone beat this record? Let’s wait and see! Designers Award Certificate if they are selected.
NUMERACY
Numeracy Games Club
Numeracy Puzzles
Pupils have been practicing their numeracy skills while playing games. Join us during KS3 lunch on Fridays, Week 1, in D27. Collect a stamp each time you come, and on your fourth visit you will also get two CC stickers! After eight visits you will be eligible for a special numeracy prize! KS3 GAMES CLUB - Join us for games, puzzles and activities… Friday, Week 1 D27
Use your numerical skills to find the values of each of the symbols. Submit your entries to Miss Petkar for some CC stickers.
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
MOTHERS’ DAY CARDS Some of the Mothers’ Day cards made during lunch times in the Library Arts & Crafts club by KS3 pupils. Pupils enjoyed decorating and writing lovely personal messages for their mums. Eileen Hughes
PARENTMAIL APP
Thank you for joining PARENTMAIL
Thank you to all our parents who have already downloaded and are using the ParentMail app to pay for school lunches, trips and other school items. Whilst our stats show that we have over 80% of parents connected to the ParentMail app receiving emails and communication from school, we would like to see a bigger uptake on payments. So please, for those of you who have not signed up yet or are experiencing difficulty in downloading or using the app, do contact the school reception for help.
Pi Day
Pi Day took place on 14th March. In form time, pupils participated in Pi Day Dingbats. In Maths lessons, pupils discovered the first 82 decimal places of Pi. Lots of pupils entered the Pi Day competitions: a Pi related scavenger hunt and a puzzle related to Pi. Well done to everyone who participated!
SUMMARY OF CHILD PROTECTION FOR VISITORS AND VOLUNTEERS Aston Manor Academy is committed to the highest standards in protecting and safeguarding the children entrusted to our care.
If you have a concern that a child is being harmed, is at risk of harm, or you receive a disclosure (intentionally or unintentionally), you must contact the following staff members as quickly as possible. SANDRA COLEMAN
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) (Assistant Head Teacher)
EMMA SMITH
Designated Senior Safeguarding Person
NEIL TURNER
Designated Senior Safeguarding Person (Deputy Head Teacher)
JAMES FORBES
Designated Senior Safeguarding Person (Deputy Head Teacher)
ASTON MANOR ACADEMY . PHILLIPS STREET . ASTON . BIRMINGHAM B6 4PZ TEL: 0121 359 8108 www.astonmanoracademy.com
DAN PRESTON
Designated Senior Safeguarding Person (Sixth Form Assistant Head Teacher)
If these staff are not available, please contact Head Teacher: JILL SWEENEY
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