Spring / Summer 2017

Mission Statement “To make the Academies within the Greenacre Trust the first choice for parents wishing their children to learn greenacreacademytrust.co.uk vocational and personal skills for a productive and successful life. To make our

Greenacre Academy Trust Academy Greenacre secondary academies the first choice for employers when looking for apprentices and trainees.”

Greenacre Academy Trust

Welcome from the CEO: Mr Andrew Reese

I am delighted to introduce to all Trust staff, school, our children will also be taught life governors and parents of children in the Trust, skills such as cooking, speaking in public, the first Greenacre Academy Trust newsletter. answering the telephone etc. which will help

It is envisaged that two newsletters each year them to stand out and ultimately become will be published in order for you to keep pace more confident adults when that time comes. with latest developments and plans for the To further help them in their journey to future. adulthood, the children are regularly exposed As you are probably aware, there is currently to careers assemblies so that at an early one – Greenacre Academy – stage, they are able to see what future in the Trust, two primaries – Warren Wood opportunities are out there for them. Primary Academy and Chantry Community Finally, I would like to thank all members of Academy - and a private kindergarten – staff, governors and parents for your support. Kloisters Kindergarten - which is situated next The Trust was founded in February 2014 but to Warren Wood. We intend to expand already so much has been achieved with your gradually though in order that both the help and hard work. I hope you enjoy reading children and staff have greater opportunities this first edition and any thoughts will be which come with top quality teachers working gratefully received. with children in more than one school. We Mr Andrew Reese have spoken to the Department of Education CEO, Greenacre concerning our intentions and have received Academy Trust positive feedback. Currently, many teachers both secondary and primary are supporting in one of the other two schools which is progressing school improvement at a much quicker rate. The tremendous OFSTED inspection outcome recently at Chantry for example which improved to GOOD, demonstrated how effective support where needed can make a difference. We intend for this model of school improvement to be firmly embedded. We have a vision that children in our academies will learn ‘skills for life’ which is

Greenacre Academy Trust Academy Greenacre our vision for the future of the Trust. By this we mean that in addition to being taught everything which children need to learn in Spring / Summer 2017 Skills for Life Chair of Greenacre Academy Trust: Nikki King OBE

Academy Trust. This was quickly followed by a request for Nikki to sit on the Head Teacher Board which serves the South East and London advising Government on academies and free schools. This is a group made up mostly of elected Head Teachers who support the Regional Schools Commissioner in the South East and London in taking decisions concerning all schools in this area.

Nikki is one of 7 Academy Ambassadors who report directly to Lord Nash. This role Nikki started work as an admin manager at a is to encourage business to become more Ford dealership from where she was offered closely involved with education and Nikki is a job in fleet sales. Within seven years she passionate about this. It was this passion had made her way up to managing director. that inspired the development of our ‘Skills From there Nikki was head-hunted to a for Life’ ethos. large company and then in 1996 was tasked As Chair of the Trust, Nikki has helped with setting up the UK arm of Isuzu. She develop six central services which support effected an MBO In 2002 and took the all of the academies. These are Finance, business from zero to a £48m turnover in 10 Human Resources, Administration, Data, ICT years. Nikki was awarded an OBE for network and Skills for Life. Each is led by a services to the road travel industry. manager who visits all of the academies In 2014, the opportunity to become an each week. Amongst a variety of benefits of active grandmother led to her selling the having such services, is it allows the Heads company back to Isuzu Japan at which point and their staff to concentrate almost solely she became the Chair of the Greenacre on the education of the children.

Follow us on Twitter: Forthcoming Events @GreenacreAcad 16 June 2017: @WWoodAcademy Greenacre Academy Trust day at Chantry. @ChantryAcademy All academies will be closed to the children @KloistersKinder and the day at Chantry will be attended by all staff.

Greenacre Academy Trust

‘Skills for Life’ ‘Skills for Life’ is at the heart of all we do within Greenacre Academy Trust both within the curriculum and in extracurricular activities. We encourage our young students to reach their full potential both in their academic and personal progress throughout their time at school. We are so committed to our Skills for Life mission that we have invested in our own Skills for Life

Manager who will ensure this is driven forward and embedded in to daily school life. We understand the need and importance of connecting education with the business world which will ensure our young people develop the personal and business skills that will fully equip them for the world of work or further education. We want all our students to have the essential skills for their future whatever they decide to do:

 Confident and equipped with soft skills

 Equipped with life skills so they can be independent

 Understand their role in the community and wider society

 Primary children to be fully equipped and ready to get the best out of their secondary education

 Secondary students to be the first choice for employers

 To be aware of the world and different cultures

 Have a good knowledge of the workplace and how to behave

We are passionate about inspiring our students to be the best they can be and to ‘reach for the stars’ in their future career choice. It is our aim to provide them with the best careers advice they deserve and need. This will be delivered in many ways;

 Regular careers assemblies will be held by a number of different businesses so that our young people can be inspired by a myriad of career opportunities

 Business mentors will be allocated to help with workplace skills, CV’s and job interviews

 Work experience organised within a chosen industry

 Extracurricular clubs which encourage life skills

 Through our DT Department, we will be offering a wide variety of trades to NVQ Level 2 and apprenticeships.

 Courses on Sales and Customer Service

We have high expectations of all members of Greenacre Academy Trust and will be rigorous in

Greenacre Academy Trust Academy Greenacre offering each one significant opportunity in partnership with the local and wider business community so that their unique talent can be recognised and progressed. Spring / Summer 2017 Skills for Life Recent News Chantry Community Academy is now a ‘GOOD’ school

Following an OFSTED inspection on 6/7 December 2016, Chantry has been rated as a GOOD school. This follows the previous inspection in May 2015 when the school was “A strong and part of another Trust, where at that time it committed team” was deemed to have ‘serious weaknesses’. The inspectors were clear that the ‘determined and unwavering’ approach to teaching and learning and pupil progress taken by the head teacher, ably supported by her deputy, was instrumental in the rapid improvement. She has worked very well with all stakeholders to develop a strong and committed team. An experienced “determined and governing body has helped enormously and unwavering approach” the teaching staff are revitalised to an impressive extent. The children were praised for being polite and behaving so well.

Greenacre Academy Trust

Recent News Red Nose Day: Warren Wood Crazy Hair Champions! The lengths some people will go for charity

is amazing and the Aunties at Kloisters Kindergarten and lots of the children in our care on Friday 24th March 2017, certainly did just that!! In just one morning’s session at Kloisters, with encouraging a ‘Crazy Hair Day’ we have already raised over £100 for Charity! The children have had lots of fun with Red Nose Day activities to keep them engaged.

Medway Schools Handball - First Place!

MYG Table Tennis - Second Place! Greenacre Academy Trust Academy Greenacre

Primary School Games Infant Agility - First Place! Spring / Summer 2017 Skills for Life

Genius Squad

“The world they create is the world we all deserve to live in.”

vision and unwavering belief that change is possible. On Thursday 19th January, we were honoured The world they create is the world we all to welcome influential international deserve to live in. educationalist, Angela Maiers and Lord Jim Knight to Greenacre Academy to develop our Acting Deputy Headteacher, Mr Wise is excited Genius Squad. by the potential of this new group, "We have been searching for more independence from Angela is growth mind-set specialist who our boys' to prepare them for their place in spent two hours with students from all year the world. We want them to know that they groups to help them find their inner genius. are able to make amazing things happen and With over 1,000,000 children around the we are confident that our own Genius Squad world involved in her Choose 2 Matter will inspire their peers. In fact, their next steps campaign, we were keen to tap into the will be to train our teachers in funding their power of positive thinking. own inner genius before launching this across The students involved found the experience the Academy Trust." very inspiring and followed up on a Skype chat with Angela the next day to share their ideas about how they can take their ideas forward. Their plan is to teach their own teachers about what is means to be a genius on the upcoming teacher training day! Angela shared the news of her session with our students on her website: "Big WOW moment of Day One in ! Spending the morning with these amazing young leaders so inspired by their compassion,

Greenacre Academy Trust

Recent News Medway Primary & Secondary School Games Greenacre Academy has got off to a great finishes 1st and Yr 10/11 Boys finished 2nd. start for the academic year 2016 – 2017 in the Sportshall Athletics: Yr 7/8 finished 3rd and Medway Secondary School Games

went on to qualify for the School Games Competitions. The Secondary School Games Finals where they finished 11th. are an annual series of sporting competitions. Schools can compete in as many or as little of Warren Wood the events as they wish, with placings from Over the duration of the year, pupils from the each event being tallied to see which school academy have been participating in numerous will become the overall Medway Secondary Mini Youth Games and Games School Games Champions! Competitions. These competitions have been linked to the PE curriculum which helps to ensure pupils are taught the correct skills and tactics ready for the competitions. Additionally, there has been numerous lunch time, gifted and talented clubs and after school sports clubs to improve the overall sporting ability of the children here at the academy. To date our final placings in the competitions are as follows:

So far this year Greenacre Academy has Tag Rugby: 23rd out of 50 schools. placed highly as follows: Hockey: 15th out of 44 schools. Rowing: Overall SSG Champions with Yr 7, Yr Badminton: 17th out of 39 schools. 9 & Yr 11 qualifying for the Kent School Year 3 & 4 Golf: 2nd out of 18 schools. Games Finals. At the Kent Finals, Yr 7 & Yr 9 became Kent Champions and are now Basketball: 11th out of 51 schools. through to the National Rowing Finals in Sportshall Athletics: 2nd out of 29 schools. March. Table Tennis: 2nd out of 33 schools. Handball: Yr 7/8 SSG Champions! Yr 7/8 qualified for the Kent School Games Final, The achievement thus far has demonstrated where they became Kent Champions and are how much PE has come on leaps and bounds

Greenacre Academy Trust Academy Greenacre now through to the South East Finals in May. and really has put Warren Wood Primary Futsal: Yr 7 finished in 6th place, Yr 8/9 Academy up there on the sporting map!! Spring / Summer 2017 Skills for Life

Rowing: Two National Champs!

On Friday 17th March we went to the results from the other heats were finally in, National Rowing finals in London with 12 Karol came 1st! This means that he isn't just pupils who earned their place after winning the champion of the London event but he is the regional heats. now the Year 11 UK Champion. This is an amazing achievement, Karol is the best After winning the Kent School Games rower in the UK for his age! Rowing Finals, Greenacre Academy went to London to not only represent Medway but In the year 9 race, Sam Ituama came 5th in to represent the whole of the county. the whole of the UK this was an amazing result for him and gives him plenty to aim All the pupils represented Greenacre for next year. Academy and Kent in an extremely positive light. The pupils truly did the academy Enrico Ituama came first in his Yr 7 proud and worked well as a team and really heat with a distance of 605m in 2 minutes, supported each other through each of the after the other heats it was announced that races. Enrico is now the Year 7 UK Champion, with his distance only 4m off the national record! Some highlights from the day included, Enrico is now determined to beat the Karol Ituama coming first in his Year national record next year. 11 heat with a distance of 1804m in his 6 minute race. After a nervous 3 hour wait the

Greenacre Academy Trust

Recent News World Book Week at Warren Wood From Monday 27 February, Warren Wood added: “My favourite part of the week was Primary Academy provided an exciting and the potions class, where we made a

busy week revolving around World Book fountain with cola and mints.”

Day. On Thursday, as the highlight of the Furthermore, all children were able to week, all children and staff dressed up as a experience story telling in a different character from their favourite book. It was language and try exotic foods from other an amazing week involving participation in a cultures. Pupils enjoyed reading about variety of activities, including writing book animals in Spanish and Welsh, red hot chilli reviews, designing new front covers for peppers in Punjabi and three little pigs in books, inventing new book characters and Afrikaans. participating in quizzes and role play. Year 3 became the story tellers, creating their own renditions of the classic Mr Men books. Miss Beauty, Miss Cupcake and Mr Smelly were some of the many protagonists which left their mark across the school. A banquet of activities took place in Year 1 including children partaking in medieval jousting, dancing and a glorious feast. Stories about knights and princesses were serenaded to the year group, crafted by the children themselves. A few classes had a Harry Potter themed Warren Wood cannot wait for next year’s week where children were given World Book Day! opportunities to make gruesome spells and intriguing potions, experience writing using quills and even dabble in a game of Quidditch. Mr Garnett, Year 4 teacher said "It was wonderful to see the children so engaged in the activities. The atmosphere of the school really felt like books were being brought to life." A year 5 pupil reported: “We had a magical

Greenacre Academy Trust Academy Greenacre week and we all really enjoyed dressing up and taking part in fun activities”. They Spring / Summer 2017 Skills for Life Kloisters Kindergarten Academy Healthy Eating Head teachers At Kloisters we believe that all children deserve a healthy lifestyle and acknowledge the impact this has on their learning and development. We strive to ensure that during a child’s time with us that they learn how to be healthy and are given the tools needed to make healthy decisions. The children in our setting are given a Kloisters water bottle on entry and encouraged to drink water throughout the day. This has also created opportunities for discussion regarding diet and nutrition amongst key workers and the families in their care. Mrs Louise Ward Head of Warren Wood Academy

We have a pre-planned and carefully focused snack menu which runs on a three weekly basis. The children and staff have worked together to come up with some tasty and nutritional balanced snacks and are finding great pleasure in preparing fresh bread, dips, salads and popcorns. We work as a team to review the Mrs Kerri Edge menu every three weeks taking into account the children’s Head of Greenacre Academy preferences. Our hot lunches are delivered daily by Healthy Roots and are well balanced, organic and locally sourced. Our children as young as two serve themselves dinner and pudding and are encouraged to scrape their plates at the end of lunch. We have worked hard with the children to establish a calm and inviting lunch period which fosters social interaction through the sharing of a meal. Kloisters Kindergarten has been given a status of Healthy Eating Specialist Setting for Medway and has also gained a Gold Award from the National Food Trust. The photos of our children have been used in Medway’s advertising and we were also asked to take part in a radio interview and video recording so that it can be Mrs Kathryn Duncan used on behalf of the National Food Trust! Head of Chantry Community Academy

Contact Information Greenacre Academy Telephone: 01634 861 593 E-mail: [email protected] Address: 157 Road, Chatham, Kent. ME5 OLP Twitter: @GreenacreAcad Facebook: @greenacreacademy

Warren Wood Primary Academy Telephone: 01634 401 401 E-mail: [email protected] Address: Arethusa Road, Rochester, Kent. ME1 2UR Twitter: @WWoodAcademy Facebook: @warrenwoodprimaryacademy

Chantry Community Academy Telephone: 01474 350 011 E-mail: [email protected] Address: Ordnance Road, Gravesend, Kent. DA12 2RL Twitter: @ChantryAcademy

Facebook: @chantrycommunityacademy Skillsfor Life

Kloisters Kindergarten and Pre-School Telephone: 01634 880 298 E-mail: [email protected] Address: Arethusa Road, Rochester, Kent. ME1 2UR Twitter: @KloistersKinder