NEWSLETTER

I S S U E 4 0 EASTER 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Principal’s 2 All-Action Year 7! Message British 3 Science Week

Time To Talk 4 Walk

SMSC Day 5

World Book 7 Day

Football With 8 Chris Smalling

Duke of 10 Edinburgh

ur Year 7 students blindfolded). One of the “This was the first time spent several days most popular activities was many of this group had O in North Wales caving, where students been away from home making memories and were set the challenge of without their families, but learning new skills as part of crawling through an artificial they all stuck together and our annual residential visit. underground network of were incredibly supportive. tunnels. At the end of each These residential trips offer A group of 49 students day, the group enjoyed a so many benefits and it is travelled to Colomendy with disco, or jokes and songs clear to see students our staff to experience a around a campfire. developing their confidence wide range of teambuilding and resilience over a Enrichment Co-ordinator Mr and adventure activities at relatively short amount of Molloy, who organised the the Kingswood Centre in time.” February. visit, said: “Our students had the time of their lives After a hectic few days, Sessions included and their attitude and students arrived back at the everything from fencing and behaviour was exemplary on the Friday archery to climbing and throughout the three days afternoon, with plenty of nightline (completing an we were away. stories to tell their families. obstacle course while

www.-academy.org | Twitter : @sptacademy | Instagram: @StockportAcademy P A G E 2 Principal’s Message It has been another were winners of Lloyd’s to learn that the school is eventful term at Rediscover Business again over-subscribed Stockport Academy and I Project (p10). Our and that we have the hardly know where to Business Enterprise group highest number of Year 7 begin. There have been won three separate student set to join us in in excess of 492 clubs this accolades including best September 2019 that we term, over 25 trips and stand, best product and have ever had. endless hours of best customer service additional revision for all award in the national We are excited to share students in preparation Young Enterprise more highlights and for mock and mid-year Competition (p6). We opportunities with you exams. I would like to received the BIG Childline within this newsletter, in take this opportunity to Anti-Bullying award for addition to our academy Mrs Janine McCann, thank all of our staff for the 4th time (p3). We website with further their commitment to our have been awarded the details. Principal students and to thank all Good Diabetes Care In of our students for being Schools Award, a national Wishing all of our staff, so mature, focused, wellbeing award and one students, governors, committed and of our Year 10 students families and members of aspirational in all that has been named winner our local community a they do. of the national Show restful and happy Easter This term has had many Racism The Red Card break. highlights, as this latest competition for an edition of our newsletter unprecedented two years shows. We are incredibly in a row. Not forgetting pleased to have started our Student Council, who 2019 in phenomenal reached the regional fashion - so far, we have finals of Goldsmiths’ Mr Frank McCarron, been recognised as a Community Award! It has School of Character, we been an honour this term Executive Principal Inspirational Art Two of our students had their work did extremely commended by a professional artist, as they well but missed narrowly missed out on winning an all- out on the top expenses-paid trip to Japan. spot. However, they received Billie in Year 10 and Elin in Year 11 both high praise from reached the final ten of ’s Ruby, who described Elin’s work as ‘really International Art Competition, and their captivating’, and Billie’s piece as having work was displayed at the UL Leadership ‘lovely tonal qualities’. Conference to be judged by delegates and Manchester artist Ruby Tingle. The overall Head of Art, Ms Stirling, said: “I am so winner would receive a once-in-a-lifetime proud of everyone who entered their visit to Tokyo to the International Art artwork into this competition – everyone Festival, where their work will be displayed. put so much thought, effort and emotion in their pieces.” After tallying the final scores, both pieces I S S U E 4 0 P A G E 3 A BIG Win Our school was honoured with a national anti-bullying Val McFarlane, Director of Bullying Intervention award in February. Group, said: “This is a school which does not tolerate bullying. They have an excellent anti-bullying policy, We have achieved The BIG (Bullying Intervention regular staff training in mental health issues, Group) Award for the fourth year in a row, and are the awareness raising activities and a robust monitoring only school in Stockport to be recognised with this prestigious accolade. The BIG Award celebrates schools and recording system in place.” that have proven their excellence in tackling and preventing bullying.

The school was commended on its wide-ranging approach to taking on the issue, including extensive staff training, parental consultation and an inclusive culture within the school.

Science Celebration Students and staff celebrated British Science Week in Mr Campbell, who put on an excellent set of live March, which ended in a bang! experiments in front of a packed hall during Friday lunchtime. Each day, the Science corridor was buzzing with activity, as the department organised regular after-school clubs Mr Campbell said: “We have had a brilliant week for students to take part in. celebrating this fantastic subject and the impact it has on our day-to-day lives. It was great to see the students so On Monday, Mrs Llewellyn led a dissection workshop engaged and eager to learn, and I would like to thank all that enabled participants to get hands-on while learning the staff involved who gave up their time to make these about anatomy, then, on Tuesday, students had the experiences possible.” chance to learn how to make glue from milk.

On Wednesday, Science Club ran a poster competition to celebrate British Science Week, before Mr Cox led a crime scene investigation activity that taught students about forensics on Thursday.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Science Week without a show- stopping demonstration from Head of Science, P A G E 4

Performing Arts Showcase Our Performing Arts students put on a show Year 10 students Carys and Marcey sang to remember at the end of the first half term solos of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ and ‘Yours’ of 2019. respectively, and the showcase closed with the school’s Rock Band – who received a Highlights included numbers from our SA standing ovation along with the rest of the Dance group and tap dance enrichment, performers on the night. along with musical pieces from the steel band and our choir – the latter of which Mrs Campbell, Head of Expressive and performed the ‘The Sound Of Music’ classic Performing Arts, said: “Everyone can see ‘Do Re Mi’. that an awful lot of effort goes into putting on our showcase, and we are incredibly Our Drama contingent gave brilliant proud of our dedicated and talented performances with the National Connections students for delivering such a high standard group, offering the audience a teaser for the on the night.” competition piece they will perform in front of judges later in the year, while the school’s theatre company - Centre Stage – also shone.

Another memorable sketch came from the Year 8 group, who produced ‘Awkward’, which offered a comedic insight into some of life’s most uncomfortable situations. Time To Talk Walk Students donned their walking shoes in Awareness Week, which saw local charity The February to raise awareness of mental health Jamie Horrocks Trust delivering assemblies issues. on the issue, while staff also offered mental health drop-in sessions for students during Years 7-10 spent the afternoon trekking break times. around the school grounds, the idea being that they take time out of Students wore non-uniform to raise money their busy day to discuss for charity, with over £680 brought in to mental health topics with support the cause. Earlier in the year, PE their peers. On their last teacher Ms Foster was appointed as an lap, each student came ambassador to The Jamie Horrocks Trust. up a pledge that would Ms Foster, who organised the Time To Talk work towards making a Walk, said: “We aim to provide an Education positive difference to With Character for all students at Stockport supporting each other. Academy, and developing their social and The event followed on moral consciousness is a key part of that.” from a successful Children’s Mental Health I S S U E 4 0 P A G E 5

New Experiences For SMSC Day We had another busy SMSC (Social, Moral, Spiritual, Students in Year 9 spent the day working with ‘My Cultural) Day in March, with students having plenty Perfect Uni’, which involved discussing what makes of opportunities to broaden their horizons beyond an ideal student at university, designing their own the classroom. university campus and other activities linked towards familiarising themselves with the possibility Years 7-10 spent the day off-timetable, with many of going on to higher education. external agencies coming in to deliver workshops on a wide range of topics. Finally, Year 10’s activities focused on future career paths, with the fantastic ‘Medical Mavericks’ giving In Year 7, students were visited by local theatre students a real hands-on insight into life as a medical group Footlights, who delivered a production based professional, while they also discussed Student Life around the theme of hate crimes. They also spent and their long-term aspirations with ‘Made Light time with the Youth Offenders Service, who had put House Training’, all of which was generously funded together a workshop on crime prevention. by Higher. Elsewhere, Ms Lalmohamed and Ms Land taught students about organ donation, with students roleplaying as patients and doctors and designing posters to encourage people to sign up as organ donors.

SMSC Co-ordinator Mrs Nicholls said: “We had an absolutely brilliant day and it was great to see our students participating in so many new experiences and really getting involved in activities and subjects outside of their usual comfort zones. Year 8 spent some time outside with Mr Taylor to work on a number of teambuilding exercises. They “Thank you to everyone who helped to deliver the also learned about the dangers of gambling online sessions, which make such a fantastic impact across with Mr Morrissey, and MOSAIC gave students the the school.” chance to wear ‘drunk goggles’ to experience the effects of alcohol abuse. P A G E 6 Little Stars With Big Potential

Their story of ‘Penny The Patchless Panda’ is aimed at young children and tells the story of a panda who struggles to fit in with her classmates. As part of the Young Enterprise challenge, they spent a day at the Trafford Centre, winning prizes for ‘Best Trade Stall’ and ‘Best Product’ along the way. Our Young Enterprise group celebrated picking They also embarked on a book tour around local up a ‘Best Customer Service Award at the primary schools, with the group reading the competition’s Stockport Board finals. story to classes at Cheadle Heath, Alexandra The Year 10 students – who formed the ‘Little Park and St Matthews Primaries, bringing along a Stars’ book company – have spent months Penny mascot and Penny toys to further developing a product, taking it to market and promote their work. running their own organisation as part of their Business Teacher Mr Lewis, who runs Young Young Enterprise enrichment activity. Enterprise club, said: “Penny The Patchless They came up with the idea of producing a Panda was a real labour of love for our students children’s book, which they then wrote, and I am so proud of the effort they have put illustrated and had professionally printed – into this project – it is great to see them reaping before selling copies to the public. the rewards.” Work Ex At Lex

Throughout March, Year 9 students visited Lex went on to the Vehicle Management department Autolease in Cheadle to get a taste of the world and were given headsets to listen to live calls of work. The following report is by Year 9 from customers about vehicle repairs they student Abigail. needed, and people who have recently been involved in an accident. “The day was packed full of helpful information about their business, such as daily I thought it was great and we were able to gain responsibilities and how they achieve customer an insight into what different departments do satisfaction. and what life is like in an office. At the end of the visit, we found out about the perks of working at We also met some of the most important people Lex and enjoyed a free hot drink!” at Lex - they told us about their departments, what they specialise in and how they achieved their career goals.

Firstly, we visited the Accident Services department and were told about breakdowns and shown pictures of some collisions, with staff explaining how modern cars are designed to protect drivers in an accident. After that, we I S S U E 4 0 P A G E 7

A Real Page-Turner! We celebrated World Book Day in style on 7th Beauty and the Beast’s Belle were among the March, with costumes, competitions and much, characters spotted around school throughout the much more. day.

Our Young Enterprise group took full advantage of World Book Day to promote their ‘Penny The Patchless Panda’ book, with students making their own costumes to represent the characters they had created.

Students and staff were encouraged to dress up as their favourite book characters, which resulted in a wide range of some of literature’s best-loved faces turning up at the school gates in the morning.

As ever, competition for the best-dressed student was fierce– with some top quality efforts including As you might expect, the library was a hub of The Cat In The Hat, The Queen Of Hearts, Harry activities, including Golden Ticket hunts and word Potter and Where’s Wally. However, the winner of searches, as well as a visit from local author (and the top prize – a brand new Kindle – went to Year 8 former staff member!) Becky Fleetwood, who met student Daniel Chilvers, for his excellent portrayal of with students to share her secrets of how to be a Dorian Gray. good writer and sign copies of her latest novel, ‘Chroma’.

Literacy Co-ordinator Mrs Cawsey said: “We had such a brilliant day celebrating everything literary and it was amazing to see the effort that students went to with their costumes. The atmosphere around school was brilliant and everyone fully Staff also went all-out, with the English department embraced the theme of dressing up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. the event.” Meanwhile, Elphaba the Wicked Witch, Gandalf, and P A G E 8 Premier League Class Stockport Academy students were cheered on presentation about the work they have done so by Manchester United star Chris Smalling as far with FBB and the difference it has made. they starred in the launch of a regional football Enrichment Co-ordinator Mr Molloy said: “The initiative in February. FBB programme has been a fantastic initiative A total of seven schools participated in the for us over the past few weeks, offering football tournament at our sister school Salford students the opportunity not only to develop City Academy, watched not only by the Premier their confidence and leadership skills but also League footballer but also by the national to experience opportunities they might have press, who were keen to see the work students never otherwise had access to.” have been doing with the Football Beyond As part of the programme, students were also Borders (FBB) programme. taken to watch a game at Old Trafford a few Chris, who is a patron of FBB, came to support weeks ago, where they witnessed the Red the wider launch of the scheme for schools in Devils defeat Brighton Albion 2-1. the north west.

Our students played brilliantly and reached the semi-finals of the tournament before being knocked out on penalties. After the schools faced off against each other on the pitch, everyone moved inside for an awards ceremony, with Chris presenting participants with their trophies and certificates. Students then took part in a Q and A with the England International, while they also watched a Veteran Visit Our Year 9 students were treated to a “It was an absolute honour to hear from special visit by members of the Stockport our two guests and our students showed Normandy Veterans group in March. them the utmost respect - you could hear a pin drop as they told their stories, as Alfred and Maisie Barlow spent two hours everyone was so focussed on what they with our students, sharing their had to say.” experiences of life during wartime and to give them a better understanding of the For more information on the competition, Second World War. visit https://stockportveterans.com

The visit was also used to launch an essay competition that students have been entered into, which encourages them to research the role of Stockport in WW2 and how the war affected people in the area.

Lead History Teacher Mr Roberts said: I S S U E 4 0 Making The News P A G E 9 In March, we hosted our first ever Primary News who attended today, and they produced some Day, inviting students from St Matthews, absolutely brilliant work. Alexandra Park and Cheadle Heath Primaries to “Several of the students expressed an interest in spend the day at Stockport Academy to produce pursuing journalism as a career and - judging by their own newsletter. today’s efforts- it looks like they could really go After learning about how to be a good reporter, far!” note taking and what sort of questions they might want to ask when conducting interviews, the groups were sent out to some of our SMSC lessons (see page 5) to experience them and then report back on what they got up to. After lunch, they then used their notes to write up some articles, with each school producing its own newsletter as a memento of the day. Mr Prince, who organised the News Day, said: “We were really impressed with the enthusiasm and focus shown by all of the primary students Photo Competition - Spring Term

This term, we have opened our doors to local Primary Schools for a wide range of events, including our after-school clubs in Dance and Drama, PE lessons and our Primary News Day. Younger students have also been competing in sports competitions at the school, led by our Sports Leaders and Stockport SHAPE. If you spot your child in the photos below, email [email protected] to win a prize! P A G E 10 Getting Down To Business In January, our Year 9s attended a Business Throughout the day there were polls that workshop - picking up a top prize for their we had to fill out and this gave us (the efforts at the same time. The following students) the chance to have our say on report was written by Year 9 student and what goes on in businesses today. student newsletter contributor Abigail. Once we had pitched our digital businesses, On Tuesday, 15th January, some Year 9 we had the chance to vote for the business students went to UK Fast in Manchester to we thought was the best. We received the get a taster of Business Studies, called the most votes and won a Baymax Rediscover Project, run by Lloyds Bank. The speaker! Overall, I thought the day was day was packed full of sessions amazing and has definitely inspired me to explaining how a business works and how study Business as an option. This experience to create a business. The sessions included was amazing! useful information such as:

 How to create a business  Roles in your business  Finances  Advertisement We then had to create a business and pitch it to teams from other schools. Our team’s digital business was called Auto-Aid, based on a first aid box that gave you personal assistance. The product would supply medical advice according to your needs.

D of E Blog Our Duke of Edinburgh Award Autolease to enable us to buy new group have been kept busy since hiking and camping equipment! the start of 2019. Enrichment Co-ordinator Mr The enrichment session, which Molloy said: “We have been really takes place for Year 10 students excited for our students to start on Fridays after school, has so far their Duke of Edinbugh Award, involved a wide range of activities and so far it has lived up to our from learning how to plan a trek high expectations. Students have to playing human hungry hippos! taken every challenge in their stride.” The group have also been to visit Rivington Pike twice during the Students have been writing a blog term to put some of the skills they about all of their activities on our have learned in the classroom to website, so if you would like to test on the field, thanks to a read more about their exploits, generous donation by Lex visit www.stockport-academy.org/ students/duke-of-edinburgh. I S S U E 4 0 P A G E 11 A Term In Tweets What’s being said on social media? Follow us @sptacademy

Diary Dates And Contact Details Summer Term 2019 Term dates for Summer 2019 Tuesday 23rd April to Friday 24th May 22nd May: Manchester Arena All Students In

Remembrance Service Monday 6th May 13th June: New Parents Evening Bank Holiday—school closed 21st June: Y11 Prom

4th July: Y6 Transition Day Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May 4th July: Prizegiving Ceremony Half Term

18th July: Sports Day Monday 3rd June to Friday 19th July Follow us on Twitter @sptacademy, All Students In Instagram @stockportacademy and visit (early closure on last day of term) www.stockport-academy.org to keep up to date.

Group emails Group emails—faculty addresses Group emails allow you to get in touch with staff quickly. Simply use the relevant email address and include the staff Phone:english 0161 @stockport283 0330 -academy.org member you wish to contact in the message. You will get a [email protected] Contact us: E-mail: [email protected] response within 48 hours during term time. [email protected] Post: Stockport Academy, Heathbank Road Website:humanities [email protected] Cheadle Heath, Stockport SK3 0UP Twitter:(includes @sptacademy Geography, History, RE) Pastoral Managers email and direct dial telephone numbers: [email protected] (includes Art) Transition, Years 7 and 8 [email protected] [email protected] 0161 362 4226 (includes Business Studies, Computing and ICT) Year 9 and 10 [email protected] [email protected] 0161 362 4252 (includes Drama, Dance, Music) Year 11 [email protected] [email protected] 0161 362 4293 (French and Spanish) [email protected]

Have your say…. Contact us: Post: Heathbank Road, Cheadle What would you like to see in the newsletter? Heath, Stockport SK3 0UP Is there something you particularly like or Telephone: 0161 286 0330 dislike? Please tell us by emailing [email protected]. Email: enquiries@stockport- academy.org Twitter: @sptacademy Instagram: @StockportAcademy