Headteacher Welcome
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HEADTEACHER WELCOME ‘The reason a lot of people do not recognise opportunity is because it usually goes round wearing overalls looking like hard work’ - Thomas Edison Our wonderful Year 11s are over halfway through their GCSEs as you read this and we are very proud of how hard they have been working and how they are stepping up to the challenge of these exams. This time of year is incredibly pressurised for our young people, for their families and for teachers too as we are all unified in wanting the very best. It would be fair to say that it really is a team effort throughout the GCSE season as every member of staff has been involved in supporting the students in various ways from ensuring fruit and water are available at the start of exams to picking up anxious youngsters and being a friendly ear to providing post exam debriefs. Even the students from across other years have been part of the effort by being respectful and conscientious in ensuring Year 11s have the best experience possible. We are really looking forward to celebrating at the prom later this term – always a fabulous occasion in the Academy! The beginning of July will see our new Year 7s join us for a four day transition event which is an exciting new venture for us. It is a project agreed between many of the primary schools and both of the secondary schools in South Weston to try and ensure a positive and supportive move from primary to secondary as well as a great start to relationships between new families and the Academy. Being community focused is one of our values and we are relishing the opportunity to strengthen the links this new event will provide. Of course our pledge to this four day transition has meant we have also changed how we offer the traditional enrichment activities which will now happen over different days in the summer term. Students in Years 7-9 will receive information very shortly, and our Year 10s will be going out on Work Experience so there will be lots of new experiences coming up for all students. Earlier this term I promised you an update on our wish to join the Cabot Learning Federation and I am thrilled to say that the Regional Schools Commissioner South West Headteacher Board has agreed the transfer of Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College to the Cabot Learning Federation. Significant work is now underway to make this happen and I hope you will be as pleased as we are that Broadoak Academy will come into being in the new academic year. Students are already involved in designing a new logo to mark the start of a new phase for the school. Thank you to those of you who have been involved and have taken the time to share your thoughts and ideas. Ms K McGillycuddy Headteacher 2 YEAR GROUP UPDATES Lower School Celebrations Year 7 have been busy raising money for their chosen charities whilst Year 8 students enjoyed a visit to Bath University. We have also celebrated many varied successes in school with our Lower School ‘Hot Chocolate Mondays’… Hot Chocolate Mondays Students in Years 7 and 8 celebrated being ‘Stars of the Week’ and joined Mr Knight for hot chocolate and biscuits during tutor time as a treat. Congratulations to: Tyler, Kacey, Jacob, Milena, Jack, Bailey, Phoebe, Jakob, Freddie, Milly, Rowan, Daniel, Jasmine, Jacob, Haydn, Ashley, Sophie Michael, Caiela, Libby (26/03/2019) (29/04/2019) Krysta, Tia, Olivia, Elise, Sal, Millie, Matthew, Jackson, Lucas, Will, Tyler (13/05/2019) 3 YEAR GROUP UPDATES Year 7 During Year 7 charity week lots of fundraising took place. There were a variety of events including cake sales, lucky dips and a sponsored ‘blind’ walk. One of the chosen lower school charities this year is Guide Dogs for the Blind so the students took part in a blindfolded walk in which they were led around a course by their partner. The other chosen cause is the dementia unit at Weston Hospital. With Year 7 and Year 8 efforts combined, lower school students have raised a fantastic £770.00 which will be split evenly between the two charities. Thank you and well done to all! Year 8 Approximately 60 year 8 students attended the Buddy Programme run by IntoUniversity staff. The group attended a workshop in which they learnt about university life and took part in activities related to engineering degrees. This was then be followed by a full day's visit to the University of Bath. Students completed a tour of the campus to investigate studying at university. In the afternoon they took part in a themed workshop. The Buddy Programme was an excellent opportunity for students to find out about studying at a higher level and career paths afterwards. Meeting university students was hopefully inspiring and the scheme gave the young people the chance to think about how they can achieve their goals. Mr Knight & Mrs Hambley Head of Lower School and Assistant Head of Lower School 4 YEAR GROUP UPDATES Year 9 Terms 4 and 5 have flown by for Year 9 as we have been busy with the options process. Thanks to the support of parents, tutors, subject teachers and Mrs Grimshaw, the process went smoothly with everyone successfully submitting their preferences. It was the first year for students to have the opportunity to visit key stage 4 lessons and have a ‘taster’ of what next year has in store. Students visited computer science, iMedia and photography on a fact finding mission. The Plastic (not fantastic) committee have worked hard this term. All classrooms now have a recycling box for plastic bottles. On the last Friday before Easter they organised a highly successful Easter tombola, raising over £60. We are raising money to provide all year 9 students with a plastic free pen! During Year 9 charity week, staff and students are raising money for Greenpeace UK through cake sales, a raffle and sports competitions. Our Education Welfare Officer, Mr Ali, has been challenging staff and students to a table tennis tournament for a donation to the cause. On 5th June students are taking part in a Sponsored Walk for World Environment Day. Students can pay 50p to wear a green or blue top and the sponsored walk will see students walking from Broadoak to Weston Pier and back again in aid of Greenpeace UK. In PSHCE we have looked at aspects of healthy living and healthy relationships. In response to a recent report on the changing face of high streets, students designed and presented the ideal high street of the future. Celebration assembly was a pleasure as usual. 24 students received gold certificates for achievement. 14 students were congratulated for participating in the Carnegie reading challenge. Mia was congratulated for winning book tokens for her entry in the 2019 poetry competition run by the LRC. Mrs Downes Head of Year 9 5 YEAR GROUP UPDATES Year 10 A busy few terms have been spent in the classroom for Year 10. They have been responding positively to their PPE's, ensuring that they are closing their knowledge gaps across all subjects and a number of year 10 students are now beginning their final GCSE exams in specific subjects. Staff have been quick to recognise the hard work that is going on in lessons which was highlighted by 4 pages of positive feedback received during the planning for the year 10 celebration assembly. Praise should also go to the Year 10 students who were involved in the recent 'Broadoak's Got Talent' production. Year 10 are now looking forward to their Work Experience in July and their taster day at Bridgwater College this term. Mr Perham Head of Year 10 Year 11 Term 5 has seen many important elements for Year 11, the students have been finalising fundraising for the 2019 Year 11 leavers prom; completing coursework and controlled assessment; undertaking revision and beginning their final exams. So much work has gone into these final preparations, and it is now that the heart and soul of the students is really coming to the fore as the students build on their skills of resilience, determination, time management and effort, turning them into their final push before they leave us this summer. They have collected their leavers hoodies and are looking forward to the leavers assembly on June 14th, Prom on 27th June and then finally, GCSE results on August 22nd. Keep going Team Awesome, you are nearly there! Mrs Harvey Head of Year 11 6 BECOMING A MOBILE PHONE FREE SCHOOL A real focus for us as a school has been to ensure the very best climate for learning so that students are fully prepared for lessons and any distraction is eliminated. To support this we have made the decision to become a mobile free school because of the negative effect on student learning and the part that they sometimes play in antisocial behaviour. This decision has not been taken lightly as we have done significant research into the topic to look at what the issues are. Our rationale: There are a number of reasons why we have made the decision to become a mobile phone free school. Some of these are outlined below: • Research has shown that in mobile free schools academic outcomes are increased. The London School of Economics found that it had the effect of giving pupils an extra week’s education over the course of an academic year. The researchers who looked at schools in four English cities found test scores increased by more than 6% in those which were mobile free.