NEWSLETTER Date: December 2018 Issue No

Guilsborough Academy NEWSLETTER Date: December 2018 Issue No. 825 Letter from the Principal As I write we are in the middle of lots of celebrations. We have had house assemblies celebrating individual, team and house successes, with Everdon taking the lead with the highest house points in total. Last week saw us celebrating the academic achievements of our students during 2017-2018. It was lovely to see some recently ex- students in the audience and Adam Taylor, an ex-student gave a very inspirational presentation about what he’s been doing since leaving Guilsborough (read more on page 2). We are also celebrating Christmas with a Carol Service for Year 7, the Christmas Above: Ex Student Adam Taylor Concerts for family and friends, and the 6th Form will be holding their annual carols around the piano this week. Earlier this term we held our 2nd annual Careers and Pathways Fair (see pages 6 and 7), which was very well attended and there are plans for an even bigger event next year. Students and staff also took part in the National Anti-Bullying Week (see pages 9 and 10), which continues to raise awareness that we will not tolerate bullying of any member of our school community. As is typical at this time of year our students in Years 11 and 13 have been doing Pre-Public Exams (mocks in my day!), and our staff are putting in extra hours to mark them and make sure feedback is informative to help each individual to progress in preparation for those all-important Summer exams. Non-teaching friends of mine often ask what staff do on training days, see page 4 for an insight into what we did on our last one. With all this and more going on I wish all our staff, students and parents/carers a well deserved enjoyable, relaxing and safe break. We look forward to seeing our students return after the holiday on Thursday 3rd January. Until then we hope that you find this edition of our newsletter interesting. Please follow this link to see our Christmas card designed by Isabelle Sawyer, Year 7: http:// www.guilsborough.northants.sch.uk/news-events/latest- news/566-merry-christmas18 Mrs J Swales Principal

Above: Christmas Concert in Full Swing

01 Academic

Awards 2017-2018

Right: Guest Speaker Adam Taylor

On Thursday 13th December 2018 we celebrated at our annual Academic Awards evening. Students were nominated in the following categories: “Outstanding Achievement” in each subject area “Relevant “Excellent Progress” in each subject area quote from Outstanding GCSE results (the top 11 students across last year’s Year 11 students) article The best A Level exam results and placed in “The Guy Sellick-Taylor Languages Award” for the most able callout box linguist in Key Stage 3 here.” Letters and awards were also sent home to those students who had been nominated but left school at the end of Year 11 to begin their 6th form studies elsewhere. Those students in Year 13 who had achieved the best A level exam results were also rewarded for their successes and invited to collect their certificates. Addressing the students and parents this year was Adam Taylor a former student from Guilsborough. We are very grateful to Adam for“ givingRelevant his time so freely to us and starting our evening with suchquote an interesting from overview of his career and aspirations which I knowarticle will have placedenthused our students. The evening was filled with student success and it was lovely to seein so manycallout students box enjoying the event and also so many proud parents.here. It was” also great to see why our students received their awards with excellent citations which made the evening even more special.

Miss S Boyer Assistant Principal

02 Teacher Training Centre Update

After a busy term of intense teacher training during September and October our GUTP and Ashlawn associate teachers have settled into their first placement schools. During this time they will be teaching full lessons across the age range and ability whilst also completing university assignments that are centred on their teaching experiences. They will return to training in the centre after Christmas and before they change to their second placement school. Whilst the associate teachers are busy in schools we have been promoting the next generation of trainee teachers via media articles, offering school experience days, promotional videos, attendance at Trainee Teacher roadshows and attending our own Year 10-13 Careers Fair that was held on the 20th of November in Guilsborough’s Academy Main Hall. If you would like to know more about Teacher Training or would like to experience some school taster days then please contact us on [email protected] “Relevant Guilsborough’s Teacher Training quote from article Centre Works Alongside the ‘UNI placed in Club Project’ callout box

The UNI Club is a programme where PhD students from the University of here.” Northampton work with Year 9 students in order to extend and enrich their learning. The UNI Club delivers programmes based on PhD students’ academic subject areas and is taught in a blended learning approach, introducing students to different ways of learning. Previous subject areas delivered in schools have consisted of the use of social media, gothic literature, immigration and website design. Since“Relevant ‘The Uni Club’s’ development in 2016 Guilsborough Academy has been leading on this at the University of Northampton in liaison with the Schoolsquote Engagement from team. This has involved training the PhD tutors in areasarticle such as Teaching placed and Learning, Assessment for Learning, Lesson Planning and Safeguarding in order to help prepare them to work in schoolsin callouton their project box for at least 6 weeks. The UNI Club project is going fromhere. strength” to strength and this year the training was completed at the University’s new Waterside campus full of fantastic facilities. The PhD Associate Teachers are now fully prepped to start planning their sessions and deliver these in schools come the turn of the New Year.

Miss B Nunley Assistant Principal— Teacher Training Lead

03 Highgate House Teacher Training Day

On the 6th and the 7th of December the whole Academy staff body had a Teaching and Learning Training Conference at Highgate House. During the twilight session on the 6th of December staff members received a talk from an experienced Mental Health and Wellbeing Consultant to discuss the topic of mindfulness and wellbeing. The session ‘explored the need for finding strategies for applying these principals to self and others in order to embed feelings of warmth and connection’. On the 7th of December both Teaching and Support staff completed a variety of continued professional development activities in order to develop their strategies both in and outside of the classroom. All staff completed a work shop on behaviour which included identifying the different types of behaviours, exploring the underlying reasons and factors that might influence behaviour. This then filtered into a carousel of sessions such as effective assessment for learning, quality- first homework, time management and high quality revision strategies. All of these breakout sessions were led by our own members of staff of which top tips and strategies were shared so that others could take these ideas forward into their own teaching. This was a very successful Teacher Training event which has received some outstanding feedback.

“Thank you for a truly wonderful training session. Probably one of the best INSET sessions experienced in my teaching career”

Miss B Nunley Assistant Principal—Teacher Training Lead

The Three Movember Amigos!!

Photo right: Mr Stiles, Mr Mills and Mr Collins rocking the ‘Mo look’. Our Three Amigos raised £410 for the Movember Foundation! The funds will help raise awareness of and support men through prostrate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health to name but a few. Well done Gentlemen!

As an experienced school-centred initial teacher  Recruitment rates compared to places allocated training consortium The Grand Union Training We have been training graduates to become teachers Partnership is very proud to announce that our high for over 20 years and are very proud of the service standard of training has been recognised by the we offer and we recognise the importance of strong, Government and we have been identified as one of well trained teachers. To have our work recognised the top 25% ITT Providers in the country. As a result by the Government by categorising us as being in the of this we have been awarded multiple-year top 60 of the UK ITT providers is an honour we are allocations for teacher training places on our PGCE very proud to have achieved. course!! In addition to this we have great news about our This means we are guaranteed an unlimited number course tuition fees! of“ PGCERelevant training places in future years for our Primaryquote (General) from course, and our Secondary PGCE It has been agreed by the Government that all ITT courses in Business Studies, English, History, providers can increase their fees for 2019-20 to Mathematics,article placedModern Foreign Languages, £9250. However, we have made a conscious decision Geography, Computer Science, Physics, Physical to freeze our tuition fees so they will remain at £9000 Educationin callout (EBacc), Chemistrybox and Biology. for trainees who start to train with us in September 2019. Fourhere. indicators” have been used by the Government to score the performance of ITT providers with each We will, of course, continue to provide the usual indicator given equal weight. In summary these outstanding quality of training for which we are indicators are: renowned but at a lower cost.  Ofsted rating If you want to find out more about our course and how to apply please contact Tracey Oakley on  Employment rates [email protected]  Quality of trainees’ undergraduate degree classification

05 Careers and Pathways Fair Tuesday 20th November 2018

On 20th November, Guilsborough Academy played host to a number of employers, colleges and universities in an after school careers fair targeted at years 10 - 13.

The evening was a real success (98% positive feedback) with around 30 employers and Further Education/ Higher Education providers representing local opportunities. From Churches Shoes, Highgate House, Cummins, Mahle, Weetabix, Police, Army, Navy, RAF, Ricoh, NHS, Wilson Browne Law Firm, Teacher Training, McIntyre Hudson, Santander and Weetabix, pupils learned about the different routes into a wide variety of careers. Higher Education and Further Education were also well represented by De Montfort University, Loughborough University and Northampton University together with Moulton and Northampton College and our own 6th form. Almost 150 students and their parents attended between 5pm and 7pm and the hall was positively buzzing with activity. The feedback from the night was overwhelmingly positive. “So useful to have so many companies under one The Academy is very excited to announce that we have a new roof” Year 10 parent Twitter feed for all things careers “A real eye opener” Year 10 parent related. “This has given me some good ideas for what I can We’ll be tweeting regularly with news about school careers activities, as well as do next” Year 11 pupil retweeting relevant information from the worlds of “Really worthwhile, and we think one of the best work, further and higher education. ever – went really well, and lots of interest” Our username is @Guils_Careers, and students, staff Employer and parents can follow us at https://twitter.com/ Guils_Careers. “Polite“Relevant and well informed students” Employer quote from Our careers team can also be contacted via Twitter, so If anyone would like to follow up on the event, do message them if there is anything in particular pleasearticle speak with placed Mrs Cottom, Careers Adviser you’d like to know. (They can also be contacted by whoin is basedcallout in C4 Wednesday box – Friday, email at [email protected].) [email protected].”

Mrs H Cottom Careers Adviser

06 “Relevant Careers and quote from Pathways Fair article placed in Tuesday 20th callout box November 2018 here.”

“Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

07 Making Good Career Decisions This is the first in a series of articles about using Labour Market Information to guide decisions about future study and career paths. ‘Labour Market Information’ is an extremely dry term which simply means – what jobs are there? What do employers need? What training should I do? LMI can help people identify the skills they might require in the future. Even within familiar occupations, job tasks and job titles change and develop as products and technology change and develop. For example, e-commerce has changed the way businesses operate, and subsequently the way that administration and finance workers operate; it is increasingly important to understand occupations in terms of the skills that are required to do them well. It also helps students to understand how easy or hard it will be to get into their chosen career, and provides useful data about pay levels, job security and local prospects which they need to consider if they are to make realistic and informed career decisions. In summary, LMI can help in making sensible decisions about jobs and learning. The attached poster from the National Careers Service provides summarised Labour Market Information for the East Midlands for the third quarter of 2018. If you’d like any more details, please email [email protected].

“Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

08 Anti-Bullying Week 12th-16th November 2018

The Anti-Bullying Alliance is a coalition of accounts organisations that aims to equip students with the  Block anyone who is acting unpleasantly to you tools to stop bullying effectively. Every year they run or others an ‘Anti-Bullying Week’ where schools are encouraged to support their initiatives and create a  Think carefully about the type of pictures and climate to combat bullying. After a consultation with messages you post. Would you want your over 800 children, teachers and members of the Anti- parents, grandparents or teachers knowing Bullying Alliance, the organisation identified that what you have posted? bullying can be counteracted through respect.  Use the ‘report’ button to highlight Specifically, by opting to respect each other at school, unacceptable behaviour home and online. Therefore, the theme for this year’s Respect Pledge Cards ‘Anti-Bullying Week’ was to ‘Choose Respect ‘. This “Relevant year also saw the first ever ‘Stop Speak Support’ Students in Years 7-11 createdquote a pledge from card during cyberbullying day, which was held on the 15th registration where theyarticle shared their ideas on the November. This initiative was supported by the Royal importance of respect and how they can respect Foundation, and aims to educate young people on themselves and others. Theseplaced cards willin then be used what constitutes cyberbullying and to share tips on to create a display to showcallout how our students box are how to avoid and report such incidences. pledging respect to each other. Some of the ideas were: here.” This year, Guilsborough Academy supported the Anti- Bullying Alliance in several ways.  Compliment each other on our successes  Listen to each other’s opinions to learn new ideas

 Pick up litter and report any health and safety Assemblies concerns to staff

Years“Relevant 7-11 attended an anti-bullying assembly led by  Refrain from saying negative comments about theirquote Head of fromYear. The assembly launched the someone else ‘Choose Respect’ and ‘Stop Speak Support’ initiative, article placed  Look out for each other as well as sharing information on why people might bully,in its callout impact and howbox we can work together to  Say sorry when you need to stophere. bullying” . The assemblies gave some examples of what ‘Choosing Respect’ might mean, and gave some top tips on how to avoid cyberbullying. These were:

 Agree to disagree

 Ensure you are of the legal age to use social media accounts

 Only allow friends access to social media

09 Anti-Bullying Week continued . . . Anti-Bullying Wristbands Year 7 and 8 students were given the option of purchasing an anti-bullying wristband to show support for the cause. They managed to raise £41.10 for the Anti-Bullying Alliance. Megan and Gabriel sold wristbands to Year 7.

Grace, Archie, Jemima and Harry sold wristbands to Year 8.

Year 7 Christmas Hamper Competition

In order to support local causes this Christmas, our Year 7 tutor groups took part in a Christmas hamper competition. Each tutor group was given a cardboard box and were tasked with adding some Christmas spirit to it. The hampers were then made up of food donations from students, parents and staff, who I would like to extend my thanks for their contributions. The food hampers were then donated to Daventry Food Bank, who will Above: Most Creative—7SPR then distribute the hampers to local families and individuals in readiness for Christmas. A reindeer pulling a sleigh, featuring Mr Spiller as Father Christmas and his The following tutor groups won the competition: tutor group as elves  Most Creative Hamper—7SPR (3 house points each and sweets)

 Most Festive Hamper—7AYN (2 house points each)

 Most Professional Hamper—7HTF (1 house point each)

Above: Most Festive —7AYN

A brightly coloured sleigh Left: Most Professional—7HTF complete with Christmas elves and bears peaking out

10 On Tuesday 11th December, the Music Department hosted their annual Christmas Concert, a celebration of the musical talent that we have across Guilsborough Academy with a few festive favourites sprinkled generously throughout it. What a lovely evening of music making it turned out to be. The concert started with the newly formed Wind Band performing Christmas Rock. The performing groups throughout the evening included the Jazz Band, choir, the guitar group and the newly formed flute choir. There were also beautiful individual items from students in Year 10 (Joshua Manz, Annabelle Bird and Hope Raffell, Isabel Gorrod), Year 11 (Phoebe Jarvis) and Year 13 (Anastasia Church). In all, over fifty students took part in the evening’s activities. Music from the John Lewis adverts over the years made a regular appearance throughout the programme, as well as more traditional“Relevant offerings such as Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Jingle Bells. As usual, Mrs Holmes was very pleased to hear the entire audience sing 'O Come All Ye Faithful' with such gusto at the conclusion of the evening.quote Our from thanks go to Mrs Meakin for her help with the programme and the tickets, Mr Dixon (senior) for articlehis support with the stage and sound, Eddie Leveritt in Year 13 for his work on sound and lighting, Dewi Jones in Year 10 for his magnificent stage management on the day and Aidan Dixon for accompanying so fantasticallyplaced throughout in the evening. Our next musical performance will be the Spring Concert on March 26th 2019. callout box Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! here.”

“Relevant

Ourquote Year 7 Studentsfrom took part in a Christmasarticle Carol placed Service at Guilsboroughin callout’s Etheldreda box Church onhere. Thursday” 13th December 2018.

Mrs D. Holmes Subject Leader for Music

11 NMPAT Autumn Festival of Music A good number of Guilsborough students performed at the recent NMPAT Autumn Festival of Music held at Spinney Hill Theatre, and at the recent Winter Concert for the county’s Choirs at Christchurch in Northampton. Many congratulations to those pupils involved.

Name County Group Phoebe Jarvis (clarinet and voice) County Clarinet Choir

County Training Orchestra County Youth Choir Holly Godley (flute) County Flute Choir County Junior Wind Orchestra Emily Richardson (flute) County Flute Choir County Junior Wind Orchestra Nick Hoppe (bassoon and clarinet) County Junior Wind Orchestra County Training Wind Orchestra Thomas Speed-Andrews (cornet) County Junior Brass Ensemble William Speed-Andrews (baritone) County Junior Brass Ensemble “Relevant Robert Gorrod (cello) County Junior Orchestra Ivy Allbrighton (voice) County Senior Girls Choir quote from Isabel Gorrod (voice) County Senior Girls Choir article County Training Strings placed in Maya Hall (voice) County Senior Girls Choir callout box Darcie Tanner (voice) County Senior Girls Choir Isaac Beetham-Green (cornet) County Training Brass Band here.” Daniel Heilbuth (voice) County Training Choir Lydia Game (voice) County Training Choir Daisy Loach (flute) County Training Wind Orchestra Joseph Hall (cornet) County Youth Brass Band Alex Sharman (cornet) County Youth Brass Band Felix Wright (saxophone) County Youth Concert Band Tarrin“Relevant Marshall Cross (saxophone) Jazz 2 quote from Grade Successes Thearticle following pupilsplaced have recently taken instrumental exams and have had greatin success. callout box Joshhere. Manz –” Grade 6 Vocal – Merit Darcie Tanner – Grade 1 Piano – Distinction Tarrin Marshall-Cross – Grade 5 Theory Beatrice Chandley – Grade 5 Flute – Merit Many congratulations to the students. Mrs D. Holmes Subject Leader for Music

12 Guilsborough Academy Student Council

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected to the Student Council:

Year 7 Gardner Charlie Elesgood AVL— Jack Gospel, Lottie Searle SHS—Seb Hyde, Mia Husslebee These students will canvas the AYN— Jed Armstrong-Hallam, SNK—Jake Incley, Miriam Ansell opinions of their tutor groups and Olivia Joyce VH—Jude Farmer, Lydia Stamp then meet once a term with the Head of Year to share their views. BLL— Gabriel Jones, Megan Lyon Year 10 The following topics have been HCH— Oliver Williams, Ebony DAV—Jack Cox, Georgie Warren Heap (Senate) identified for future agendas: HMR—Fin Cullup, Hope Raffell HTF— Jake Brown, Hannah Raper (Senate)  Achievement LGN— Ollie Saunders and Libby HMS—Marcus Judge, Emily  ‘Life Skills’ Days Allan Leather  The Environment SPR— Daniel Fox, Maisie Green NLD—Gavinder Bal, Grace Uphill  Health and Safety Year 8 SVS—Harrison Dennis-Taylor, BNN—Deacon Mitchell, Courtney Madeleine Spittles Congratulations to the following Dipple TAL—Will Hoinville, Tegan students who were elected to represent their year group in the BRK—Caden Vorster, Pagan Price Ponting Student Senate. CPE—Elliot Foxon-Day, Rosie TMP—Sam Boham, Isabel Gorrod Year 7 – Ebony Heap Jenkins WDS—Chloe Ludlow, Sophie JFF—Nicholas Hoppe, Jessica Castle Year 8 – Oscar Davies Adams Year 11 Year 9 – Jake Incley, Talia Coles, Kira Howes JKN—Fraser Roper, Ettie Cosford- Eliane Tallis Jones Year 10 – Hope Raffell Lauren Bates STN—Oscar Davies (Senate), Year 11 – Joey Gwinn Mollie Deacon Kara McCrone The Senate will meet once a term TRH“Relevant—Carrick Williams, Grace Megan Choudhury with myself and share the views of Allcott Joey Gwinn (Senate) their year group with the other representatives. I will then relay quotePRD—Jacob from Nicholls, Ellie Cam Taylor McCrone their views to the Senior article placed Alex McLaughlin Leadership Year 9 in callout box Sophie Weatherby Team. BKShere.—James” Mason, Talia Coles, Gracie Howley-Bumford Kira Howes Right: Student Charlie Gamble COL— Maddie Humphrey Council Badge Josh Sharpe HD—Sam Holmes, Alice McGuire Max Rhodes JOT—Rebecca Wilson, Hannah Tilt Fin Scull Miss G Keenes LMB— Ethan Rolfe, Grace Honor Corr Head of Year 7 Assistant Principal

13 Cookie Decorating and Cake Baking Competition

On Friday 14th December the Academy held a Cookie Decorating/Cake Baking Competition. Students entered cookies that have a Christmas theme to their decoration or a Christmas flavour. The quality of entries was very high. There was a £1 entry fee which will go to the students house charities.

Mrs N Lauder Head of Design Technology

“Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

14 Cora Bancroft Gives us an Insight into Life after A Levels . . .

”After finishing my- A levels, instead of going to university I joined The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. This is a four year program where I will spend three days a week working as a Dyson engineer and the other two studying for a degree through the University of Warwick. My first rotation has been in software, working with one of the connectivity research teams out of the Bristol office. It’s been a huge learning curve! Over the past two months I’ve gone from never having coded before to learning two programming languages and doing things beyond printing “Hello World” to new program we get the chance to make a difference the console and it has been hugely rewarding. This in the future of The Dyson Institute and our feedback year I’ll also complete rotations in electrical and is truly valued. “Relevant mechanical engineering which should be equally It’s definitely not a normal university experience. challenging and interesting. Before getting an offer Listening to friends moanquote about 9ams from when you’re in from The Dyson Institute I was planning on studying a taxi/on the bus for 7:45article each morning is strange to civil engineering at Imperial College London so getting say the least but it is undoubtedly worth it. Life at the opportunity to try out lots of different disciplines Dyson is amazing too- weplaced’ve had cooking in lessons is really exciting. from Joe Croan, Dyson’scallout head chef and box when the This term we’ve been studying applied programming, Dyson Airwrap styler was released stylists came in to mathematics and materials. We have a full day of do the hair of anyone whohere. wanted” it- I think the lectures every Wednesday followed by a self-study results of mine are on #insidedyson on Instagram! day on Thursdays. Six or seven hours of lectures can For anyone going through UCAS I’d definitely be really intense but having Thursdays to work recommend looking at apprenticeships too. Going through everything from the day before is invaluable! into year 13 I was convinced that I would go to My favourite module so far is maths, especially since university but finding The Dyson Institute changed the focus is now more on how what we learn can be that. Not only do I gain a degree but I get to solve the applied to our rotations. Coursework has definitely real-world problems that drove me to engineering in been an uphill struggle though- coming from maths, the first place- and do it debt free!” further“Relevant maths and physics at A-level where writing morequote than a paragraphfrom was considered excessive For more information or to apply for the 2019 cohort trying to write a 15 page report in a not-unreasonable visit www.dysoninstitute.com amountarticle of time placed is a huge challenge. Cora Bancroft Thein support callout we get withinbox The Dyson Institute is unlikehere. anything” anywhere else and there’s a real focus on our wellbeing. We get assigned a “family” (I have two dads in the year above and two brothers) as well as having regular meetings with the Undergraduate Development Partner to check on our progress, goals and any other issues and the Dyson Institute as a whole is invested in us being in the best position to do as well as we possibly can. Being such a Mr J Ditchburn Leading Tutor Year 13, Teacher of Geography

15 Guilsborough Alumni Return to Teach (Part One)

Guilsborough has always been a highly respected, forward thinking School/Academy and a very rewarding and exciting place to have a teaching career. In addition, the new Teacher Training Centre makes Guilsborough a number one choice for teacher training. We attract high quality teachers and a number of Guilsborough Alumni have made positive choices about returning here as part of their career journey. In this Newsletter we have two ‘stories’ from our Guilsborough Alumni who now teach here. We will feature more Alumni who work with us in the next Newsletter.

“I started as a student at Guilsborough in 1993. I was very excited when the position of Lead Teacher then completed my A-Levels in Geography, Art and of geography was advertised in May 2018. Now I Economics and Business in the year 2000. Mr Bird have two young children it’s much better to be and Mr Ditchburn both taught me for my A-Levels, closer to home, and I’m very happy to be leading the and now I’m on my second round of working with Geography department at Guilsborough. I look them! forward to sharing my passion and love for After leaving in 2000 I went to study Human geography and inspire the students of Guilsborough Geography at The Nottingham Trent University. I like Mr Ditchburn did for me 20 years ago! graduated in 2003 with a BA (Hons). I then moved to I am looking forward to continuing my charity work The University of Nottingham to complete a PGCE in at Guilsborough by supporting The Northampton th Geography. On completion of my teaching year I Trustee fund. I wish to take 6 form students to The found myself back at Guilsborough to take up a Gambia in 2020, which is a trip I have run for the last 7 years in my previous school. I am already maternity cover in the Humanities department. I pleased to have set up a trip to Sicily for our GCSE took on the maternity cover as it was always my students in July 2019. I have a huge passion for intention to travel the world. I ended up staying a travelling and hope I can open the eyes of students little longer as job openings came up, but in October and inspire them to see the amazing world we live 2006 I left Guilsborough and flew to South America in.” to start my world trip. I travelled to 13 countries. On return in June 2007 I was back at Guilsborough doing some supply teaching, but unfortunately there was no permanent teaching post for me. I worked at John Cleveland College in Hinckley where I became ‘Leading Edge Coordinator’, and then took a promotion to Assistant leader of Humanities at Weavers school in Wellingborough. During this time I started my Masters in ‘Educational

Leadership and Innovation’. I completed this at The Kingswood Secondary Academy in Corby where I spent the last 7.5 year of my teaching career. I became Head of Geography and then Head of Humanities during this time. I have always felt attached to Guilsborough as I Mrs F Commons loved my time as a student and member of staff. I

16 Guilsborough Alumni Return to Teach (Part One Continued . . . )

“At Guilsborough I studied A levels in Maths, Further Maths and Music. In addition to this I also studied Art and Critical Thinking at AS level. Throughout my time at school I knew I wanted to be a Maths teacher – I loved Maths and my teachers inspired me to want to follow in their footsteps. I left Guilsborough to follow my aspiration to become a teacher and the first part of this journey was to achieve a degree. I went to Royal Holloway, University of London, where I studied a BSc in Mathematics. I was then awarded a scholarship to study for a Masters and I stayed at Royal Holloway for a further year where I gained my MSc in Mathematics for Applications. Following this, I completed a PGCE in Secondary Mathematics at the University of Oxford. I have since returned to Lincoln College, University of Oxford where I completed an MSc in Teaching and Learning. Once I had qualified as a teacher, I came back to Guilsborough to teach as I had enjoyed my time here so much as a student. Teaching Maths is a wonderful job and every day I can share my love for Maths.” Miss J Furnell It is very rewarding as a teacher to see so many of my ex-students (most of whom studied Art at A Level) return to Guilsborough as teachers themselves. I remember them arriving as fresh faced year 7 students and now, they are still fresh faced, but are members of staff!!! Mr R Bird Head of Art/Alumni Co-Ordinator Homework and SIMs Parent App

“Relevant We have been trialing setting homework on the SIMs app for students in Year 7. Allquote other years from continue to have homework set by staff on Microsoft Teams. Following the analysis of feedbackarticle we will placed consider how homework is set for all years and we will notify parents of any changes. If you would like to give any feedback regarding homework or the SIMS app then please contact Miss Furnell ([email protected] callout box ) here.” We have sent out reactivation emails to any parent who has not yet registered for the SIMS app. We recommend all parents download and activate the app as it contains important information about your child’s education such as achievement, behaviour and progress. If you require any assistance with the app or would like any further information then please contact [email protected]

Miss J Furnell Assistant Principal Director of Maths

17 Year 7 Students Create Potato Contours to Get a Better Understanding of Ordnance Survey Maps

In Geography over the last term students have been learning about map skills. Students created their own potato contours to try and bring Ordnance survey maps to life….the students in 7ADW were very proud of their creations!

Mrs F Commons Teacher of Geography

Parents—Please Note The Chairman of the Parish Council has advised that Highways Maintenance are cutting back on the gritting schedule due to cuts enforced by NCC. This year the route from the A5199 “Relevant through Nortoft and up to the Village quote from Green will not be gritted. Please take extra care when the weather starts article placed to deteriorate throughout Winter. in callout box here.”

Dear Parents Please check your son / daughter’s hair for any uninvited guests and treat accordingly. Many thanks

18 House Charities 2018-2019

Staff and students nominated the following charities to support this year within their House’s. Last year we raised approx. £3358 just for the House charities and additional money was raised to support Keeping Children Cafe on Line, Air Ambulance, Christmas Jumper Charity.

19 Congratulations to Sam and Tom! We would like to congratulate two of our ex-students who have recently played for the Leicester Tigers Academy. Sam and Tom, who would both have been in Year 13, have recently played their first competitive game this season as part of the Tigers Academy. They both started in a convincing 66 - 14 victory against Newcastle Falcons with Sam captaining the team. We are very proud of them both and wish them well or the next fixture in the New Year.

Mr K Woolridge PE Teacher Head of Year 9

House Point Competition

20 Coventry City’s New Signing Guilsborough Academy’s Tom “Tom has been signed for Coventry City Sky Blues U12's and plays for the Elite Team in the Junior Premier League. He has been signed for a 1 year contract. “

Well done Tom! We all wish you well with your football career!

Tia’s Synchronised Swimming and Katie Qualifies for Ballet Achievements . . . the Regional Finals! Tia recently attended the “With a tough group, a national Synchronised new routine and being Swimming Championship one of the youngest, Katie and her team got a silver had a challenge in the medal, second in the National Development whole Country for her age Programme (NDP) level 5, group! girls aged 15+ trampoline Tia has also been accepted competition in on the associate Nottingham this weekend. programme for Ballet The first routine saw Katie Theatre UK and lying in first place. Her is performing at Rugby Theatre this week harder second routine, with her dance school. one she had not been able “Relevant to fully complete in training, was successful delivered, and gave her third place quote from overall, with automatic qualification to the Regional Finals Maryarticle’s Baritone placed Achievement . . . next year.

Alongside this, her team mates from Market Harborough Maryin Herbert callout (Baritone) box in Year 7 gained a Trampoline Academy who placed 4th and 5th, also took place in the County Junior Wind Orchestra the Team Gold.” thishere. year. ” Well done Katie!!

21 Calling all artisitic students who would like to create a certificate . . . Help is needed over the Christmas period to design a certificate which can be given out to the Student Receptionist of the Month. Chocolates will be given to the winner and all designs need to be handed in to Mrs Garrett in the Admin office by Friday 4th January. Happy Designing!!! Winners for September Rosie Lockwood and Tilly Osbourne Winners for October Max Hayward and Louis Starr Winners for November Lili Smith and Harriet Shields Your help is valued and very much appreciated

Emails – Parents/Carers When sending an email to the Academy please can you address it to one individual to ensure staff are clear as to who the email is intended for and to avoid a delay in responding thinking someone else is replying.

Many Thanks Dates for your Diary:

DECEMBER A Gentle reminder to all Parents/Carers – Unless Wednesday 19 - School Closes your child is on an early bus, please can you ensure JANUARY students are not dropped off before 8.30am – Thank you Thursday 3 - School Opens Thursday 10 - Parent Forum Workshop (6-7pm) Thursday 17 - Parent’s Evening Year 13 (5-7pm) “Relevant Thursday 24 - Parent’s Evening Year 11 (5-7pm) quote from Thursday 31 - Parent’s Evening Year 12 (5-7pm) article placed FEBRUARY in callout box Monday 4 - Production to Primary School here.” Wednesday 6 - Production Thursday 7 - Production Friday 8 - Production Thursday 14 - Parent’s Exam Ready Year 11 Mrs J Garrett (5-7pm) Admin Manager/Clerk to the Governors Thursday 14 - School Closes

Friday 15 - Training Day

22 Sporting News . . .

Congratulations to the Junior Cross Country squads who competed in the Regional Finals Saturday 10th November against a very strong field. Both teams finished 4th narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Finals. A special mention to A Tilt who finished 2nd overall in his race and O Willison who finished 10th overall in her race. Well done to all runners who participated.

Congratulations to the Cross Country squad who participated in the District Competition at Abington park. Special congratulations to Arthur who who convincingly won his race, Jemima who finished 3rd and Olivia and Ben who both finished second in their races. Olivia, Georgia, Arthur, Benjamin, Jack, Jemima, Ben, Dan and Will have all provisionally qualified for the County round in January. Well done all! Netball Results

Year 11 Netball Team won 12-9 against Year 7 - 19-0 Sponne win Moulton School. Year 8 - 23-5 Sponne win Congratulations to N Platt for being awarded players player by the Moulton Year 11 - 5-4 Sponne win team.

Miss S Boyer Head of PE

23 “Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

24 PTA 200 Club . . . Congratulations to:

NOVEMBER DECEMBER No 54 Mrs A Lakey £50 No 15 Mrs J McNulty £50 No 126 Vicky Searle £25 No 79 Mrs Armstrong-Hallam £25 No 53 Mrs J Buckley £10 No 12 Mr D Lomasney £10

“Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

25 “Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

26 “Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”

“Relevant quote from article placed in callout box here.”