Dear Parents and Carers

Transcription

1 July 2015 Dear Parents and Carers As we come to the end of another academic year, I am sure our students will agree when I say that the 2015 summer term has been, in equal measure, exciting, at times exhausting, but certainly an enjoyable one for all. The following pages provide a snap shot of the various educational visits, experiences and achievements of our students during this term. Summer 2015 also brings our first e-newsletter, offering instant access to the range of activities and opportunities which students enjoy at Abbey Grange. We feel that the decision to send the newsletter electronically addresses feedback from parents and carers about the newsletter failing to arrive home, having disappeared into the unknown depths of students rucksacks! It also supports a more environmentally friendly and cost effective approach. However, a number of paper copies will still be available to those who prefer this option. Newsletters are also available on the Academy website. On Friday 5 June we were delighted to welcome the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, to Abbey Grange who presented 210 students with the Archbishop s Young Leaders Awards what an achievement! An extremely proud moment for students and staff, particularly as this our first year group to have completed the Key Stage 4 Award. June also saw 160 Year 8 students enjoy the annual trip to Normandy to visit the battlefields and surrounding area. The students were excellent ambassadors of Abbey Grange, the interest and respect shown to veterans and involvement in the service of remembrance are to be commended. It was great to see many of you at the Music Festival on 1 July enjoy your children s performances. I was struck again by the enthusiasm and talent of our students which was clearly on display, despite it being the hottest day of the decade! In recognition of our links with Ethiopia through Partners for Change and Jill Adam Associates, we held our first Ethiopia Day on 2 July. This was a celebration of music, dance, food, faith and partnership which raised much needed funds to support our Year 11 students forthcoming participation in the annual Great Ethiopian Run. As the term draws to a close it was good to see so many students being rewarded for academic and personal achievements at our Celebration Assemblies. All students have now completed their final GCSE and A level examinations and await their results with anticipation. After all their hard work I am sure they will be looking forward to a relaxing summer break. On behalf of the Governing Body and staff at Abbey Grange I wish them every success for the future. We look forward to welcoming new students to the Academy in September and to another successful year. I would like to thank you for your support throughout this academic year and also express my appreciation to the Academy s dedicated team of staff and governors. We will also see the start of a building programme as students arrive back in September. After successfully bidding for government money we will be seeing a new block being build to give us 8 additional classrooms and an extra school hall. This will give us much needed extra capacity to continue to deliver an enriching curriculum. Wishing you and your families an enjoyable summer holiday and hopefully, some sunshine! Jon Norden Jon Norden Principal

2 ABBEY GRANGE STUDENTS AWARDED THE ARCHBISHOP S YOUNG LEADERS AWARD Students, Staff and Governors were delighted to welcome the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu to Abbey Grange on Friday 5 June 2015 to present 210 students with their Archbishop s Young Leaders Awards. On this senior leadership course, students put key life and leadership skills into practice in order to make a difference in their school and local community. Dr John Sentamu said: I m delighted to award these students who have worked very hard on their Young Leaders Award at Key Stage 4. I m really pleased that they have come to discover that true leadership begins through serving others. Congratulations Abbey Grange Academy and keep up the good work. Over the past two years the students have studied modules in: Creative thinking, Teamwork, Communications, Conflict Resolution and Public Speaking. They developed a campaign focused on World Food Day, leafleting shoppers in the city-centre of Leeds, they produced cakes for local care homes and developed materials to support the Year 7 students transition into secondary school. Young Leaders Award Student, Iyanu said: This is a very enjoyable course because you can work hard and somebody else also gets a lot out of it and student Kiesha added: The course challenges us to ensure our leadership skills are working for the benefit of others. To hear what more students have to say, watch this video:

3 ETHIOPIA DAY 2 JULY 2015 Students enjoyed the opportunity to explore and experience Ethiopian culture at Abbey Grange on Thursday 2 July tasting new foods, learning Ethiopian dancing and taking part in traditional customs and practices as part of a celebration of music, dance, food, faith and partnerships. We welcomed Dr Jill Adam (Jill Adam Associates), Dave Newton (CEO of Nova International), Tony Goodson (Independent TV Broadcaster), Dan Finn (Archbishop of York s Youth Trust Director,) Malcolm MacNaughton (Archbishop of York s Chief of Staff ) who support Abbey Grange students with their fundraising campaigns and also members of the Ethiopian community in Leeds who provided traditional food and held an Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Also featured was a special video message from Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds. During the afternoon students had great fun trying to beat the world record time of the great athlete, Haile Gebrselassie, in a 10 kilometre race. The event raised awareness of the plight of those in Ethiopia and raised funds to support the Year 11 students who will be visiting Ethiopia to take part in the annual Great Ethiopian Run. On behalf of all at Abbey Grange I would like to offer special thanks to Sam Belako and our Ethiopian guests who helped to make this event such an interesting and enjoyable day. To our students a few words of encouragement from the great man himself, Ethiopian athlete, Haile Gebrselassie, Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there. Well done and thank you to all the students involved. Mr Cooper

4 SUCCESS FOR ABBEY GRANGE ATHLETES Four students qualified for the English Schools Athletics Association Competition held in Gateshead on 10/11 July. Connor Wood achieved a new personal best of 21:75 seconds in the 200 metres reaching the National Standard Alex Pagdin narrowly missed out in the final as he completed the 800 metres in 1:59 seconds Max Ngonji achieved a massive personal best in the High Jump 1.99 metres coming 3rd and also reaching the National Standard Ossama Meslek ran in the 1500 metres completing in 4:04 minutes and gained 6th place This is the greatest number of athletes we have ever had qualify for the ESAA Competition; the students have worked incredibly hard. Connor and Max are now waiting to hear if they will be selected to represent England! Thank you to all the PE staff who have supported these boys on their journey. I d be surprised if there were many other state schools with this number of athletes being represented at a national level. Miss Bancroft & Miss Cole LORDING IT ABOUT IN LONDON TOWN A group of Year 12 Economics students - Emma Hall, Alex Hall, Jack Brodin and Robbie Parker who won the Regional Finals of The Young Consumer of the Year 2015 were given the opportunity to represent Yorkshire in the National Finals at Parliament in London this half term. The students went on an all-expenses paid visit to the capital to take part in the semi-finals of the competition. This included a treasure hunt around London s financial centre (with Mrs Jones leading the team s efforts from the front, in a very stylish yet completely inappropriate pair of flip flops!); a banking based problem solving activity and a teamwork challenge. Eight teams competed on the first day, with only the top four winning through to the finals on the second day. Our students progressed through from the semi-finals in fine style and were invited to take part in the final held within the hallowed walls of Parliament. After breakfast by the Thames, the team competed valiantly against teams from all over the UK, in the quiz hosted by Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond series of books. After a hard battle, the Abbey Grange team were placed fourth overall. Obviously, the team were disappointed not to win, but it was quickly pointed out to us, the teams who had beat us were either Welsh or Scottish, so by our reckoning that makes us English Champions! Miss Rigby

5 YEAR 8 FRANCE TRIP TO NORMANDY This June saw over 160 of our Year 8 students boarding coaches to head off on our annual residential at Le Chateau du Molay in Normandy. Over five days we enjoyed a range of activities both at the Chateau and in the Normandy region. Shopping for food at the market in Bayeux proved to be particularly popular this year, with many of our students enjoying the French equivalent of a hotdog. A visit to the Bayeux tapestry served as an introduction to the history of the region with further historical input coming from our tour of the beaches of D-Day. At the British Cemetery at Ranville we were privileged to meet a number of D-day veterans, who were only too eager to talk to us, sharing their stories and experiences. Swimming at the pool in St. Lo was enjoyed by many, as were the activities run by the chateau staff although it is fair to say that not everybody was keen on the frogs legs and snails tasting session. A new activity this year was a trip to the port of Cherbourg where we had the opportunity to tour a nuclear submarine, visit aquaria and see an exhibit all about The Titanic. Perfect weather and excellent company helped to ensure that staff and students alike had an enjoyable, memorable and educational time. Mr Naish

6 BBC LITTLE PAINTING CHALLENGE COMPETITION Congratulations go to a talented art student from Abbey Grange. Ruby Waterhouse, a Year 9 student, was a selected as a finalist in the BBC Little Painting Challenge Competition, out of thousands of entries from all parts of the UK. Entries were received from people of all ages from school age children to those aged 100 plus! The art work of the finalists and winners is currently on display at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester. Well Done Ruby! Mrs Bose CELEBRATION ASSEMBLIES In the final week of the 2015 summer term four Celebration Assemblies were held. The assemblies reward and celebrate student achievement throughout the year and also offers an opportunity for formal awards to be presented. It is always a pleasure to see the wide range of individual successes, across all the year groups, that our students achieve. Congratulations and well done to all. Mr Cooper THANK YOU TO ABBEY GRANGE EXAM INVIGILATORS To mark the end of another successful examination season the Exams Department held a coffee morning, inviting our team of invigilators who work hard every year to support students during their GCSEs and A Levels. When not trying to be as quiet as possible whilst supervising exams, they proved to be a very chatty bunch indeed! Members of our Senior Leadership Team came along to join in and Principal, Jon Norden, thanked all involved for their part in helping to make sure the exams run like clockwork. Miss Wiggins

7 YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE REGIONAL NETBALL SQUAD Lucy Simpson, a Year 10 student, successfully trialled for the regional netball squad at the end of June. This is quite an achievement as they only put forward 60 girls from the whole of Yorkshire and Humberside to the trials and from this they usually select approximately 25. It s been quite some years since Abbey Grange had anyone competing at this level in netball. Well done Lucy. Miss Cole STUDENT OF THE YEAR We are very proud to announce that Year 11 student, Joseph Pemberton, has been named as Student of the Year at Leeds City College where he has attended one day per week during Year 10 and 11. Congratulations to Joseph from the Governors, staff and your fellow students at Abbey Grange. Mr Cooper THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC The 2015 Abbey Grange Music Festival took place on Wednesday 1st July. The concert is the culmination of weeks of preparation by Year 10 GCSE Music students and students from the six Abbeys. Each Abbey has been auditioning representatives to perform as part of the competitions for the different instrumental disciplines. The winners of each competition performed on stage in the Festival Concert as well as the six Abbey Big Sings, led by the Year 10 students. After a fantastic night of music with some outstanding performances, Whitby Abbey were crowned Music Festival champions for Congratulations and well done to all involved! Mr Birch

8 THAT S A FUNNY SHAPED BALL? Having spotted a gap in the market for a new revision app, Hamza Nawaz, one of our Year 13 Business students pitched his business idea to a panel of potential investors in the Dragon s Den. Hamza s idea was judged to be the best by the Dragons and he was announced the winner of the challenge. Hamza was invited by Trevor Garside, Head of Direct Distribution at Leeds Building Society, to watch the Leeds Rhinos play St Helens at Headingley Stadium. Hamza s prize also included a 3 course meal in the Premier Suite; a tour of the ground and executive seats for the game. Of course, when asked whom he would like to accompany him to the match Hamza replied, his best friend, Nabeel Ahmed, and his most favourite teacher ever, Miss Rigby. All three of us had a fantastic time. Despite some moments of frustration, the boys did manage to explain most of the elements of the game of rugby to me. Although, I have to say I don t think I made much more than expected progress. Miss Rigby AT ABBEY GRANGE This year has been packed full of fun for our students learning about the opportunities available with taking STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects to GCSE and beyond. The Year 12 students attended the Leeds Festival of Science and linked the BBC program cloud lab to real life opportunities in this field. In the afternoon, they immersed themselves in Ocean Engineering which involved designing a buoy to deploy at sea. Year 12 students also recently attended an immersive Chemistry day at the University of Leeds, where they prepared and then analysed Paracetamol, underlying the importance of drug design within medicine. The Year 11 students went to Leeds Town Hall to hear some inspiring speakers talk passionately about their interests, including Professor Alice Roberts talking about a 1.5 million year old skeleton of a young boy and how this links to being Human. The Year 10 students went to a World of Physics event at the University of Leeds and also had a visiting speaker from the Royal Society of Chemistry to talk about Females and STEM careers. The Year 9 students had a fun session, run by the Smallpeice Trust and Shell, building solar powered cars. The Year 8 students had an end of year STEM activity linked to landing on Mars and both Year 7 and 8 were actively involved with STEM club, run by Mr Swinson. There was also the prestigious visit from Rolls Royce, organised by Mr Green, where Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 were able to see a STEM career in action, with a follow up visit to the Rolls Royce site at Barnoldswick, where propeller blades are made. Amongst other activities, Mr Huntley took a Year 8 and a Year 10 team to the Rotary Club Technology Tournament, with the Year 8 team winning the Foundation Gold Award no less. Dr Shaw

9 YEAR 12 PERFORM YELLOW MOON: THE BALLARD OF LEILA AND LEE BY DAVID GRIEG Yellow Moon explores what it means to live in a celebrity-obsessed world and what it is that defines who you are when you're 17 years old. Year 12 Drama students tackled this gritty, physical and hard-hitting piece head on. Months of rehearsals, line learning, lifting, (almost-dropping!) and strenuous routines culminated in a moving performance of this contemporary play. It was extremely worthwhile seeing all the hard work pay off with a performance which resonated with many of the parents and families who came to watch. Year 12 now look forward to their Unit 3 devising project, watch this space. Miss Taylor WKKC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015 Congratulations to Harry Colley, Year 9 Fountains 3, who finished in the top three in the country for his age group in Kick Boxing. Harry has been chosen to represent England in the 2015 World Championships in Orlando, Florida in November Miss Bancroft A-LEVEL ART & PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION With the summer holidays fast approaching and dreams of lazy summer days becoming more of a reality for staff and students, the Year 12 Art and Photography students were busy organising this year s Art and Photography A-level Exhibition. The event, which took on a new student led format, celebrated the amazing achievements of this year s AS and A2 Art and Photography students. The exhibition took place on the evening of Tuesday 7 July with music coming from Jazz trio - current students - Will Davies, Tom McKenzie and Daniel Johnstone. Mr McGinty ABBEY GRANGE ALUMNI - NICK SWALES OF VECTOR PHOTOGRAPHY In May this year, former Abbey Grange student Nick Swales kindly accepted our invitation to visit Abbey Grange to speak to AS and A2 photography students about his career as a freelance photographer at Vector Photography. Nick talked enthusiastically about his profession and gave students valuable insight into turning a passion for photography into paid employment. Mr McGinty

10 DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD SUCCESS This year has been a great year for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award here at Abbey Grange. 59 students successfully completed the expedition section of their Bronze Award. This included 2 fantastic expedition weekends where the students persevered and had a lot of fun cooking, hiking and camping in the outdoors. Also, 5 students who completed their Bronze D of E Award last year have started their Silver D of E Award. These students completed a 3 day, 2 night practice expedition in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. They had a great time and enjoyed the fantastic views while perfecting their map reading and compass skills. Mr Burgener

11 LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES PAINTING PRIZE Liverpool may have had little to celebrate this year with abject performances in the Barclay s Premier league and an early exit in the UEFA Champions League. It was a similar tale of woe for their neighbours and arch rivals Everton. However, the city did celebrate hosting the 28th John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery, one of the country s most prestigious contemporary art prizes. Earlier in the year AS and A2 Art and Photography students visited the exhibition along with Tate Liverpool to inspire their practical units. The students had an excellent day with the Pizza Express lunch being a remarked highlight. Mr McGinty DARK ROOM WORKSHOP AT HARROGATE COLLEGE In October the AS Photography students visited Harrogate College and took part in a darkroom workshop where they made photograms. The workshop enabled students to experience traditional darkroom processes and further their understanding of these techniques. The students had a great day learning from professional practitioners and created some fantastic photograms. Mr McGinty Created by student Austen Murray Created by student Izzy Budler

12 C H A P L A I N C Y O R N E R As we reach the end of the Summer term and holidays loom, there is much to look back on and be thankful for over the past year. There will for all of us be sadness too and for some people in our school community this has been a difficult and challenging year and we continue to hold them in our thoughts and prayers. In all our reflections we can be thankful for lessons learned, friendships shared and experiences that have enriched all of our lives. Looking back to Easter we celebrated the festival with communion services led by Revd Hannah Smith (Chaplain to Trinity Retail Centre) and Revd Chris Mitton (St Luke s Beeston) and we are grateful for their support to allow our students to experience worship in this way. Students also had the opportunity to explore Jesus journey to the cross through the Prayer Spaces event hosted by Leeds Faith in Schools and based on exploring the Stations of the Cross. This offered creative and thought provoking ways to explore this as a model for prayer, in both RS lessons and at lunchtime. 38 students travelled to Marrick Priory in Swaledale, alongside teachers, Revd Jude Smith, our local Parish priest, Joe Williams from LFIS and Ben Jones from Missional Generation. It was a weekend packed with activities from canoeing to abseiling as well as discussing faith and worshipping together, relaxing and meeting new people. Our focus was the nature of God; student comments included God loves us all unconditionally, God is everywhere, anywhere, no matter what and Marrick Priory is fun! It worked on all levels! Towards the end of April we held a confirmation service at the Academy in which three Year 7 students made a commitment to follow the Christian faith in front of family, friends and the Right Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds. The evening was described as intimate and moving and was a lovely celebration of the journey in discovering more about their faith all three had made. It has been great to see the work of Leeds Citizens grow, as we took part in a demonstration at First Buses to request a meeting which Abbey Grange subsequently hosted. The meeting between executives from First Buses and WYPTE (Metro to the rest of us!) with members of the wider community was very ably chaired by Gabriel Dixon-Hardy whilst Phebe Wilson-Andoh had the challenge of keeping the meeting to time - no mean feat! The meeting achieved its objective in a commitment to work on Leeds Citizens proposals and at the founding assembly of Leeds Citizens on 7 July at Elland Road the CEO of First Buses publically stated his company s commitment. The assembly was a great event to be part of as our students saw hundreds of people from across the city come together to commit to working for the common good in the key areas of health, poverty and transport. Politics on a global scale has been the focus of the Global Justice group with our Climate Change bunting travelling to Westminster as part of Christian Aid s campaign to keep climate change on the agenda. The continued work on Fairtrade has seen us attain the Fairactive Award so well done to all involved and keep up the hard work! At the end of term we will be holding Abbey Communion Services to celebrate all our community has achieved and experienced this year. We look forward to welcoming Revd Jude Smith from St Mary s, Hawksworth Wood; Revd Sharon Smith from St Margaret s, Horsforth; Mark Harlow from St George s and Revd Phil Arnold from St Wilfrid s Church, Calverley to celebrate with us. May I wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer and every blessing as you spend time with your families. I look forward to working with you all again in the new school year. Kay Brown, Chaplain, Abbey Grange Church of England Academy

13 Dear Parents and Carers What an interesting and exciting summer term our students have enjoyed. It was a pleasure to welcome Dr John Sentamu to Abbey Grange at the beginning of June; as Mr Norden comments it was a very proud moment for all when so many of our students received the Archbishop s Young Leaders Award. The Archbishop encourages each of us, particularly through the Young Leaders Award, to be the change we want to see in our local and global communities. I am very proud of the commitment and enthusiasm our students have shown to being the change they want to see and this newsletter serves to highlight just some of the ways Abbey Grange students are empowered to make a difference. I am sure you are all looking forward to the holidays feeling relieved that students final examinations are complete. I wish them every happiness in their chosen career paths be it university, 6th form or employment. As you are aware I have been undertaking the role of Executive Principal at our sponsor secondary school Lightcliffe Academy in Calderdale following Abbey MAT becoming sponsors of Lightcliffe Academy (formerly Hipperholme & Lightcliffe Academy) on 1 March We are supporting the Academy to raise the standard of teaching, learning and student achievement to enable them to move out of special measures. I am grateful for the assistance of senior staff from Abbey Grange who have been sharing their expertise with staff at Lightcliffe Academy, working with me to develop systems and processes to support the development of their provision. It is hugely rewarding to know that Abbey Grange is sufficiently strong to share this expertise and still develop our own provision. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff and governors who are working towards our vision which is to ensure that all children in Abbey MAT receive a high standard of education in a secure and caring environment. Ofsted revisited Lightcliffe Academy this term; reported on the positive change and progress being made. There is still much to do but improvements are taking effect and having recruited a new Principal and Vice Principal for Lightcliffe who share our vision, further progress will be made in the forthcoming academic year so that together we will work in Partnership to Educate, Nurture and Empower all in Abbey MAT. Enjoy the holidays Carol Kitson CEO/Executive Principal Abbey MAT

14 Farewell from all at Abbey Grange On behalf of the Governing Body, past and present staff and students, we congratulate the following staff on their appointments and wish all those moving to pastures new every happiness for the future. Promotions - Jon-Paul Craig (Achievement Director) has accepted promotion to Assistant Principal at Lightcliffe Academy and Damien Mellor (Assistant Achievement Director) has been promoted to Achievement Director also at Lightcliffe Academy. James Clarke (Abbey Manager) is to be a Head of House and promote a pastoral system at Lightcliffe Academy which will be developed from the system in place at Abbey Grange Farewell to - Kate Bancroft (Head of Department: PE) as she moves to Dixon s Academy and to Zack Lewis (Teaching Assistant) who is to undertake a PGCE with plans to become a Business Studies Teacher. And to Brenda Mitchell (Teaching Assistant), Clive Smythe (Subject Leader), Mark Twitchell (Progress Leader: Maths) and Haydn Wilson (Subject Teacher: PE & Healthy Schools Co-ordinator) We also wish Carolyn Barraclough (Subject Teacher: Geography) and Wendy Helmsley (Teaching Assistant) a very happy and healthy retirement Thank you all for your friendship, commitment and dedication over the years.

15 TERM DATES REMINDER Monday 7 September 2015 is Staff Training Day New Term Starts: Tuesday 8 September 2015 ONLY Year 12 students Start time am Wednesday 9 September 2015 ONLY Year 13 and Year 7 students Start time Year 13 ~ 8.30 am Start time Year 7 ~ am Thursday 10 September 2015 ALL students Start time 8.25 am UNIFORM REMINDER Girls if you choose to wear a skirt when you return in September, please remember it needs to be an Abbey Grange uniform skirt with logo (only available from our suppliers, Rawcliffe s) otherwise trousers must be worn.