Saints Advocate Advocate Vol 2 No 6 July 2011
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AllAll Saints Advocate Advocate Vol 2 No 6 July 2011 ALL SAINTS From the Principal ACADEMY Ms Young (PE) - good luck in the next stage of your career, Mr Wow! What a year we’ve had… Talbot (Maths) – best wishes for your training to be a If you have passed the Houghton Road Missionary, and Mr Lee (Business Studies) – best wishes for entrance lately you will have seen the your travel overseas. In September we will be joined by the visible signs of the construction of our following teaching staff: Miss Di Giampasquale new building. Having been involved with (Communications), Miss Russell and Mr Thompson (Science), the plans from the outset, and having Miss Thomas (Maths) and Mr Walbank (ICT). Mr Christou- visited several academies built by Willmott Dixon, I Harris will join us as an Apprentice ICT Technician. A warm know we shall have a building to be proud of, with superb ICT welcome to all our new colleagues. facilities, fantastic Sports facilities, and outstanding facilities Looking forward, we are anticipating another significant for the Arts. That’s just the start - the finish of the buildings I improvement in results and we are trying very hard to make have seen brings school building design to a new level. sure every single one of our students outperforms expectation. Construction work is on schedule ready for handover to us in We are, of course, still playing catch-up for issues prior to the June 2012; from September 2012, therefore, all classes will be Academy’s opening and we will continue to strive to achieve delivered in the new futuristic learning environment. the highest standards for all our students. What is most The Academy year 2010/11 has been even more exciting than significant is the continued transformation in our students’ the previous year. In terms of achievement, many of our attitude to work and to their education students have been entered early for their courses. In the The message is clear – we are going to try our hardest for our current Year 10, therefore, 86% of the whole cohort has a students, do our best for them, go the extra mile and to GCSE grade C or above equivalent in ICT and 90% as a GCSE encourage them to be ambitious for themselves, their grade C or above equivalent in Business Skills for Work. In the Academy and their community. In expecting this of our current Year 9, 92% have achieved at least a C grade in ICT. In students we have noticed an upbeat ethos, an ethos which is addition to this, all Year 9 students studying Childcare have friendly, positive and extremely aspirational. Visitors to the been accredited with at least a Pass at GCSE level subject to Academy continue to be astonished, not just at the ratification. transformation from previously but they frequently mention During the year we have seen the quality of Teaching & how welcoming the Academy is from the moment they set Learning go from strength to strength. Our HMI visit in foot on site, from the Reception area and the Reception staff, September 2010 was most positive and we have used this and to every other adult and young person in the building. We good inspection as a springboard for further improvements. do believe we are writing history and, therefore, we are We are trying very hard to link with local schools to ensure spending a lot of time ensuring that the conditions for learning that students entering in Year 9 hit the ground running. As I are correct and that we as adults in the Academy are setting a write, Mr Kemp, my Vice Principal, is already planning a change continuously positive upbeat and aspirational tone. We shall of timetable to be introduced in January 2012 so that Year 9 be judged over time but if I could see into the future I would students can start their GCSE courses early. say that All Saints is the place to be. In this year we have seen some staff leave but every single Finally, I should like to say a big thank you to every single appointment since September 2010, both teaching and person, student, staff, parent, carer, governor, sponsor, associate staff, including those who will start with us in stakeholder, community user, colleague Headteachers, and September 2011, has been an improvement on those colleague associate staff for your part in developing All Saints outgoing. A big thank you to all staff who are leaving us in July; into our exciting and vibrant learning community. You will be you have all played a huge part in the transformation of pleased that you are part of history in the making! education within our community and I wish you all the very best in the next phases of your lives. 1 Tom Waterworth www.allsaintsacademydunstable.org INTAKE DAY We as the Student Leadership Group put together a session for the Year 8 Taster Day including a starter activity, a video and a plenary. The focus of our session was to give the upcoming Year 8 a basic guideline of Academy life at the Academy, and what they can expect when they come here, also as an introduction to the staff at the Academy, such as; ICT, Music and Religious Studies teacher interviews. The outcomes we expected from our sessions was for Year 8s to gain knowledge of the Academy, such as; different areas of the Academy and different teachers from different subjects. From planning these sessions we have gained confidence and know how to work independently and collaboratively to develop an interactive and informative session. Also knowledge of how to set up an intake day session has been similar to how teachers plan lessons, and having the experience of organising group events, which has been fun, but hard work. We hope this will encourage Year 8s to join the Student Leadership Group when they join in September, and hopefully they can give us new aspects, views and opinions to improve school life for everyone at All Saints Academy. The day was a great success. By Aeilish Wynne and Nathan Marshall By the time you are reading this article, the new intake of Year 8s into Year 9 will have had their two “taster” days at the Academy. This is the second year where two complete days were devoted to the new intake so that these students were able to become acclimatised to the new rules and regimes, expectations and aspirations that the Academy has for the new students. As in previous years, a completely separate timetable was mapped onto the existing timetable for the two days which gave the new students an opportunity to taste the wares of the café (we provided them with a free lunch on both days), to find the Main Academy Hall, the Sports Hall, the various classrooms as well as experience some lessons given to them by our teachers. This year, the timetable was again full with taster activities in Media, Health & Social Care, BTEC and GCSE Sport and Business Studies. More traditional lessons of science, textiles, music, PE, drama and dance were also attended by the Year 8s. Their new form tutors spent two very useful days accompanying the students as they went to their lessons; useful because the form tutors now say they have had an opportunity to get to know their tutees before September and so, useful bridges have been built. The new intake also saw superb presentations given to them by the Student Leadership Group who introduced the Year 8s to other, more student led, activities and aspects of the Academy. The two days also gave an opportunity for important tests to be conducted so that accurate and up to date data could be gained in order to place students in the correct band and set before September; obviously we have already gathered information and data on students from the Middle Schools but this additional information that the CATs (Cognitive Ability Tests) yield enable us to begin to set further targets for the students based on possible predictions that CATs give with regard to GCSE. So, after a final assembly, during which the Year 8s were congratulated for their excellent behaviour, polite manners and smart dress, the year group was dismissed and we look forward to another year in which the standards for the Academy will b raised by a cohort of young people who want to come here and will live up to the mission statement because they want to “Aspire, Strive and Achieve” at All Saints! Oh, and a big “thank you” needs to go to all colleagues who assisted with the smooth running of the arrangements, to the café staff for accommodating us all, to the Student Leadership Group who not only put together the presentation but also provided invaluable help in the classrooms, and lastly to all of the parents who attended the parents’ meeting on the evening of the second Intake Day. Allan Grubb Achievement Leader KS 3 www.allsaintsacademydunstable.org KARL WHITE, YEAR 13 I have just completed 3 years in the Sixth Form at All Saints Academy (one of which was at NTC) and am really pleased with my progress during the course of this time. In my first year in the Sixth Form I was shocked to see that I had underachieved in a big way and decided to restart my Year 12 in September 2009, the first year of the Academy. I studied Maths, Chemistry and Forensic Science, and I am currently waiting for my results which will take me to Hertfordshire University to do a degree in pharmacology.