2018-19 Term 3

News, Events and Updates at Brompton CCF Brave the Elements for Bushcraft Day

It was a freezing Saturday in mid-January, but thankfully the cadets were wrapped up warm and excited about the day ahead. Our bushcraft instructor was waiting for the cadets so he could introduce them to basic bushcraft skills, which included fire starting and shelter building. Fortunately, for the rest of the hard-working staff, Ms Knight and Ms Hipkiss set the perfect standard in providing constant cups of coffee and hot chocolate. They even managed to rustle up some baked potatoes, amazing what you can find in the woods!

After building a fire from scratch using the natural environment, a flint and cotton wool, the cadets were soon feeling warm under the canopy of the pine trees.

After the mini lessons it was the turn of the cadets to confirm their skills by building a large fire and cooking their dinner in a shelter big enough for their team to live and survive in.

The results were outstanding, all the cadets managed to contribute toward collecting fire wood, cutting wood to build the frame and gathering the roofing material to clad their shelter. We had a competition for the best shelter and as you can see the results were very impressive.

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A Fascinating Forensic Science Day at The University of

Our Year 12 and 13 Criminology classes were invited to visit the University of Kent’s Physical Science department by Robert Green MBE to take part in Forensic Science Day.

The day began with a session on how to investigate secret and deleted files on a hard drive using digital forensics in order to gain electronic evidence to solve criminal cases. Students were given the chance to do blood splatter analysis and fingerprint matching and learnt the importance of Forensic Science when investigating crimes.

In the Charles Darwin Laboratory in the School of Anthropology, students also learnt more about Forensic Osteology with Dr Chris Deter. Students found it extremely interesting to understand the amount of information revealed about a person, simply by measuring and observing the bones of a real skeleton.

The afternoon was the highlight of the day for many students, when they were able to do some real ‘scene of crime’ work.

The University of Kent has recently set up a mock house in the grounds for undergraduates to practise their Forensic Science skills.

Our students were given access to this area and really enjoyed the challenge of locating as much forensic evidence as possible as they learnt how to dust for fingerprints.

2 2018-19 Term 3

Meet our new Duke of Edinburgh Ambassadors

We are really excited to introduce Evan and Cian, two of our Duke of Edinburgh students who are now fully fledged DofE Ambassadors.

The boys attended an Ambassador training day with the South East Regional DofE office. They have already got big plans for the year ahead, including promoting the prestigious DofE award to younger students across the UKAT Trust and sharing their stories so far.

Along with many other students at Brompton Academy, they will be collecting their Bronze Award on the 20th March at Rochester Cathedral and they are also looking forward to completing their Silver Award later this year.

The DofE staff would like to congratulate all students on passing their Bronze and Silver awards this year.

To learn more about the DofE award please contact the DofE Team on 01634 852341.

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4 2018-19 Term 3

Brompton Academy Cheerleaders lead the way in the Kent School Games

On Monday 4th February both the Brompton Academy Senior and Junior teams competed in the Kent School Games Cheerleading Final at Medway Park. Competition was fierce, but the teams had been training hard for this and their hard work paid off, with the juniors placing 3rd and seniors placing 1st! Well done to all students involved.

New Boxing Club Packs a Punch

This term Brompton Academy, in partnership with Olympia Boxing Club and The Arches Local Project, launched a brand-new Boxing Club. The club takes place every Wednesday, with qualified coaches putting our students through their paces. Focusing on the discipline and fitness techniques of boxing, it has certainly proved a hit with male and female students alike. So far over thirty students have attended the club and have shown outstanding commitment and determination to improve their skills.

5 2018-19 Term 3

University of Kent Lead the Academy in a Healthy Eating Project

This term Phase One students across the Academy have been introduced to healthy eating and discussed how to make healthier choices with their food and drinks.

In Key Curriculum, students have been learning about the many ways to eat more healthily and the benefits of exercise. They had an interactive lecture by representatives from ‘Chartwells’, the company that provides our students and staff with breakfast and lunch on a daily basis.

Students were able to create a healthy meal, and also design their own nutrition bar; promoting and marketing the benefits of healthy food choices to other students.

Students were also able to create and sample healthy fruit smoothies. All of the students agreed fruit smoothies are a great alternative to the energy drinks and fizzy pop drinks that they might have chosen in the past.

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Throughout the project, year groups had assemblies led by the University of Kent, who introduced the importance of healthy eating and what potential changes students can make to their diets to increase their alertness in lessons and live a healthier lifestyle.

The University of Kent also staffed three lunch time stalls and demonstrated to students how to prepare a meal, swap sweets for fruit and reduce sugar content in sugary drinks by swapping to sparkling water or squash.

7 2018-19 Term 3

Jumping for Success

Brompton Academy Trampolining Club has been preparing this term for the Kent Schools Competition at Medway Park in March. We have over thirty students attending trampolining. Many students have been selected to represent Brompton Academy in Novice, Intermediate and Advanced categories. We wish them all good luck in their competitions!

8 2018-19 Term 3

A Wealth of Activities in the Brompton Academy Library

Brompton Academy’s library hit the ground running with an exciting start to 2019 including:

Define the ‘L' Word Competition Students competed passionately to find and define the most interesting words beginning with L; winning Valentine’s Day prizes for their efforts. As well as being plenty of fun, it was a superb way to practise and encourage dictionary use and boost vocabularies!

Well Played The first wave of our ‘Well Played’ initiative with The University of Kent is going well. Using board games and card games, students develop their oracy, debating, storytelling and listening skills - all vital as students progress towards their GCSE English qualification.

Our second cohort are currently being invited to join the programme.

One Hundred Amazing Women

In our quest to help our students develop a wider understanding of History, the Arts and Innovation, we have been looking at the top one hundred amazing women who have influenced culture and science around the world. Students can take part in our competition to name and highlight an amazing woman who has inspired them!

9 2018-19 Term 3

500 Words As many of our students are keen to enter the BBC Radio 2 ‘500 Words’ competition, we are looking at developing writing skills in lessons as well as hosting writing workshops on Mondays after school!

Coming Up – look out for preparations for World Book Day, Inky Fingers and Science Week!

Rowing Success in the SSG Competition

Over the last few months, these four students have been competing in various rowing competitions. Their hard work paid off when they came 1st in Medway and qualified to participate in the West Kent Finals at Greenacre.

The Year 9 girls performed so well they also qualified for a place in the Kent Schools Finals in February.

Rowing students were inspired by Olympic Rower, Charles Cousins at their final competition and finished 5th in Kent.

This is an incredible result – well done girls.

10 2018-19 Term 3

Get Involved with Music at Brompton Academy

University of Kent Music Education Study

An MA student from China is currently at the University of Kent conducting a comparative review of Music Education in United Kingdom and China.

Brompton Academy Music Department has been working closely with the University of Kent to reflect on the similarities and differences as well as start to trial music practices that take place in China.

This is an exciting opportunity and we hope to create strong links with schools in China in the future.

Phase One - Instrumental Lessons

As an Artsmark Platinum Centre, we are always working to celebrate and nurture new Arts talents at the Academy. We are now offering guitar and drum lessons for Phase One students. All tuition is conducted on a one-to-one or groups basis with a rolling timetable.

This means students will have tuition at a different time every week, therefore the impact on missing the same lesson twice is minimised. There are a limited number of places and instruments available and therefore it is a first come first served basis.

Please can you get in contact [email protected] for further information regarding prices, timetable etc.

Phase One - Urban Playground Urban Playground is an Orchestra/Big Band group where you can continue learning an instrument or learn how to play a new instrument.

The Brompton Academy Music department is highly resourced with top quality instruments which can be used by the students during this club.

The club is funded by the Universal Music Sound Foundation. The club runs on a Tuesday afternoon 3.00-4.00pm and is conducted by professional musician, Darren Currington. It is open to all Phase One students with an interest in music tuition.

11 2018-19 Term 3

Medway Sports Awards Recognises Brompton Academy’s PE Department

Brompton Academy were again nominated for of the Year Award 2018. Two years ago we were crowned winners as Medway Secondary School of the Year for Sport provision! This year there was some tough competition, which included Chatham for Girls being nominated for the first time.

Brompton Academy PE Department were placed in the top three; being nominated and invited to this prestigious awards evening for the third successive time is very impressive.

We would like to extend our congratulations to Chatham Grammar School for Girls for finishing 2nd (Silver). Both our academies have been working closely, increasing PE participation and opportunities for all our students!

12 2018-19 Term 3

Brompton Academy Supports our Young Carers

Our Young Carers met on Friday 8th February and were presented with some amazing trips to offer them some respite this year. In April we have planned a trip to Thorpe Park, and another trip to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios Tour in June/July.

We have also booked Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk for three days of amazing adventurous activities - Friday 28th June - Sunday 30th June.

Bawdsey Manor opened in Spring 2018 and the centre has over 140 acres of beautiful grounds packed with a huge range of adventure activities to inspire and motivate our Young Carers.

For more information please contact [email protected]

13 2018-19 Term 3

Creative Talents Emerge in the Cupcake Decorating Elective

From the first session students who signed up to take part have been very enthusiastic and keen to participate.

Students were tasked with firstly making the cupcakes in readiness to be decorated and turned into ladybird cupcakes.

Students learnt new skills; such as using a hand mixer, weighing with electronic scales and making and moulding their own icing to create these fabulous ladybird designs.

Everyone was happy to share any previous baking and icing skills they already had, but also enjoyed learning new skills and supporting each other if anyone needed extra help.

At the end of the session, students were encouraged to assess each other’s work and advise if they found an easier way to complete the design.

It was an excellent elective – enjoyed by all.

14 2018-19 Term 3

How has your PE House Performed this Term?

Inter-form Results

We had two competitions this term where the students have competed against each other for medals and house points. It was great to see so many students compete after school hours and participate in a variety of different sports.

Handball - Phase One and Phase Two

Badminton - Phase One

We are pleased to announce the winners of the boys’ competition was Dickens House, and for the girls’ competition Victory House.

15 2018-19 Term 3

What’s UKAT Sixth Form Really Like?

One of our current Sixth Form students has been offered a conditional offer to study History at Cambridge University. This is Lauren’s personal perspective of why she chose our UKAT Sixth Form.

‘Sixth Form is very different to a student’s previous experience of school, and this is what makes it so enjoyable. Students really embrace adulthood within Sixth Form.

The experience of Sixth Form is greatly defined by what options you take; students are able to choose what they would like to study, and can embrace their own way of learning. Increased control of your own education is critical in developing an interest and engagement in studies. I chose to do History at A level, and the increased freedom of Sixth Form means I can choose how I want to study. This lack of restriction allowed my love of History to grow and, recently, I chose to do it at university.

Sixth Form definitely equipped me with the will to study by myself, to propel forward my own learning to the point where I feel I can thrive in university. Although the material is much harder than GCSEs, my mindset towards studying is much more focussed. The material is also far more detailed than at GCSEs, but you begin to feel as if you truly understand a topic.’

Congratulations Lauren – your hard work has paid off.

See http://www.bromptonacademy.org.uk/97/welcome for more information about the courses we offer in Sixth Form.

16 2018-19 Term 3

Year 8 Prepare for Radio 2 ‘500 Words’ Competition

Year 8Y Literacy class had an opportunity to take part in the Radio 2 “500 Words” story writing live lesson, where they planned their entries with the help of children’s authors Charlie Hinson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and illustrator Elys Dolan.

We wish them lots of luck with their entries.

A Brand New Experience for Brompton Academy Students – Glow Yoga

Last term the PE department organised for an external coach to teach - Yoga! It proved very popular and the students had the chance to participate in ‘Glow Yoga’ with a UV light and creative paints. Well done to those students who tried something new!

17 2018-19 Term 3

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

The Brompton Academy refectory treated students to a tasty menu on 31st January in honour of Chinese New Year. The menu featured a live Wok station where students could see Szechuan Chicken noodles and Chinese Veggie noodles being tossed in the air and cooked to perfection.

Dishes were served with Asian style salad and prawn crackers, and desserts included a tropical fruit salad pot and a gingerbread slice. Delicious!

18 2018-19 Term 3

Sharing Successes of our Sporting Teams

Netball training at Brompton Academy is still going strong. Girls in Years 7, 8 and 9 train every Wednesday after school. They’ve also had several fixtures against Walderslade, Thomas Aveling, Robert Napier, Hundred of Hoo and .

Results so far this term - Year 7 and 9 teams won 6 - 0 and 18 - 2 against Strood Academy. The Year 7 team lost 5 - 2 against Hundred of Hoo.

The Year 8 team are still looking for more girls to join up. Please come and try out the Netball club, where we have lots of fun learning new skills.

Sportshall Athletics SSG Competition

This term, we had a fantastic result at the Sportshall Athletics competition at Howard School.

Students had been training hard for this competition, and this was obvious from their performance and results.

The boys finished in 6th place and the girls received Bronze medals. Brompton Academy ended up as the 3rd best school overall in Medway. This is a huge achievement, well done to all involved.

19 2018-19 Term 3

Medway Badminton Competition

Eight Brompton Academy students entered the Medway Badminton Competition where they competed against other Medway schools. Year 7 and 8 girls finished in 3rd place, whilst Year 10 finished in 4th place.

Congratulations to all, and thank you for your efforts in representing the Academy.

Year 7 and 8

Year 10

20 2018-19 Term 3

Calling All Basketball Players – We Need You!

Basketball training takes place every Tuesday in the Sports Hall and Year 7 have already had several fixtures against local schools this term.

On the 7th March 2019 there will be a Basketball tournament against other schools at Medway Park, and we need more Year 8 players to join the club to be able to participate in the games.

Come to the PE office, give your name to any of the PE staff and join the team on Tuesdays for a training session.

Wellbeing Facilities Enhanced at Brompton Academy

The wellbeing rooms at Brompton Academy are continuously being improved. Each room now has two clocks - one of which is an easy read time teacher clock for students that may find a standard clock face more of a challenge.

We are also adding some amazing inspirational quotes to the walls to generate a positive can-do atmosphere!

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22 2018-19 Term 3

Mindfulness at Brompton Academy for Families

Building on the success of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses that we offer at Brompton Academy, we invited parents/carers and students to attend a Mindfulness for Families course which run over a period of three weeks. The free sessions allowed the families to practice meditation techniques together and covered the following topics:

Week 1: Are you living on Autopilot? Week 2: Mindfulness and the Body (including strategies to help with sleeping) Week 3: Being Mindful in Daily Life

If you would like to register your interest for our next course or to find out more information, please contact Mary Murison on 01634 583548.

Mindfulness at Brompton Academy for Adults

23 2018-19 Term 3

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender History Month 2019

LGBT History Month is celebrated every February in the UK. To celebrate the Academy’s diverse community and to celebrate LGBT History Month 2019 we invited students to take part in a design a new LGBT flag competition. Design entries were handed into the Community office before the end of term and the winning flag design will be announced at the beginning of Term 4.

The winning design will be costume made and displayed in the Academy library which will help to highlight the importance of inclusivity, where all students feel welcome, respected and valued.

For confidential advice and support on LGBT+ matters, students are encouraged to see Ms Wood (Student Advocate) in room E221.

24 2018-19 Term 3

Brompton Academy invites you to support Sport Relief 2019

Over 1,000 events will take place up and down the country for Sport Relief 2019. Thousands of people across the UK will get together and walk, run, swim and cycle in order to do some good and feel great. At Brompton Academy, we would like to do our bit to join in with the fun and fundraising.

We are going to celebrate Sport Relief 2019 on week commencing Monday 11th March to Friday 15th March.

We are asking any students who would like to participate in a Dodgeball event after school on Friday 15th March.

Students are to organise their own teams of ten and can collect a sign-up sheet from the PE office. This event will also include a live DJ and refreshments.

We also will be offering students the chance to participate in our very own Soccer A-M Volley Challenge on Wednesday 13th during lunch time at £1 a go. The winning person will receive a prize. All donations raised will go to Sport Relief.

We really appreciate your support and hope that you’ll have fun helping our school raise lots of money for Sport Relief!

Please feel free to contact Mr Denness if you have any questions at [email protected]

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Sports Clubs – Term 4

Day Sport Phase Time Coach

8:00- Basketball Breakfast Club ALL Mr Webster 8:30am 3:00 – Girls Football ALL Anchorians FC Tuesday 4:15pm Yr7 3:00 – Miss Mann Cricket Girls 4:15pm Mr Denness 3:00 – Cheerleading Juniors Miss Hill 4:30pm 8:00- Table Tennis Breakfast Club ALL Mr May 8:30am Miss Mann 7:45- Girls Gym & Dance ALL Sports 8:30am Wednesday Ambassadors Invite 3:00 – Trampolining Miss Mann only 4:15pm 3:00 – Netball 1 Mrs Smith 4:15pm 3:00 – Cheerleading Seniors Miss Hill 4:30pm 3:00 – Holcombe Hockey Thursday Hockey 1 & 2 4:15pm Club 3:00 – Indoor Tennis 1 & 2 Findsbury Tennis 4:15pm 1:45- Badminton 1 & 2 Medway Badminton 3:15pm Friday Mr May Football 1:45 - 1 & 2 Mr Webster (Boys & Girls) 3:15pm Mr Sparkes

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PE Reminders

We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents and carers about some aspects of Physical Education at Brompton Academy. PE kit comprises of:

Black PE t-shirt with embroidered Academy logo Black tracksuit pants with embroidered Academy logo Black shorts - Plain Black sweat shirt embroidered Academy logo Trainers

No leggings or fashion style jogging bottoms

The uniform can be purchased from Uniform base in Chatham. You can also order at: www.uniformbase.co.uk/shop/-/search/q/brompton

Valuables Students should hand in all valuables to their teacher at the start of the lesson or an after- school club. If any valuables go missing the PE department/academy is not responsible for these items.

Missing PE Kit Students have been shown how to unpack and pack bags containing their uniform. If a student leaves their PE kit in the changing room other classes will enter throughout the day and their kit could be picked up by other students. At the end of the school day the changing rooms are cleared and all kit found goes into our lost and found store. The PE kit is the responsibility of our students and they must take care of their own belongings. It would also be useful if students have their names inside their uniform to make it easier to identify lost kit.

PE Twitter The PE department have our very own Twitter account which can be located by @BromptonPE. Our Twitter account highlights all events that are coming up, extracurricular clubs and the achievements of students, fixtures and results.

Don’t Miss out - Keep in Touch via Social Media

We are excited to announce that a new Staff Social Media team have been working hard on communicating as much as we can with all of our followers.

Keep your eye on our Twitter, Facebook and new Instagram pages for Brompton Academy for news, updates and information about day-to-day life here at BA.

Twitter: @BromptonAcademy Facebook: BromptonAcademy Instagram: BromptonAcademy

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BA Associates

We would really like to hear from any parents/carers that might like to lend a hand and get involved with our fundraising activities. If you are interested in finding out more, please email: [email protected] who would be very happy to hear from you!

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