Parents' Mailing
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Parents’ Mailing Acklam Grange School April 2019 Dear Parent and Guardian, Message from the Headteacher What an unbelievable term it has been at Acklam Grange School! Our students have continued to amaze us across all the year groups as you will see throughout this version of Parents’ Mailing. This week I have had the pleasure of attending our termly PRIDE assemblies celebrating all the great work, resilience and RESPECT that has been demonstrated by our young adults. ’You are awesome’ has been our book of choice this half term and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to our students read it. Just twenty minutes a day of active reading can make a significant difference to a student's chances of academic success. Reading a wide range of fiction and non-fiction improves vocabulary and helps to develop comprehension and inference skills. Parents can support us in our aim to develop positive attitudes to independent reading by encouraging your child to spend time reading each day; taking time to talk about reading choices and try reading together. You might want to take a look at the AGS Read To Succeed page on our dedicated literacy website to explore our recommended fifty books to read before you leave school or book of the month for inspiration. If you haven’t already done so please ensure that you have registered and downloaded our ‘ClassCharts’ and ‘E-Schools’ App to ensure you keep up to date celebrating all your child’s achievements with us. You can also follow us on social media to keep up to date with our schools achievements and extra-curricular opportunities at: www.facebook.com/acklamgrangemiddlesbrough @AcklamGrange @Acklam_Grange_School May I take this opportunity, to thank you all again for supporting your children and our school this half term. I am extremely grateful and privileged to be a part of our Acklam Grange Family and from all of us we wish you all a restful break and look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 23rd April 2019. AGS Student Leaders are appointed! Over the last half term, we have undergone the pro- cess of appointing this years new prefect body. This has included appointing our new Head Girls and Boys. All students are considered for achieving the prestig- ious position of prefect. We take into consideration their full behaviour record, attendance and punctuality and the students contribution to school life and the wider community. Once the prefect body has been confirmed, we then select our Senior Prefect Cohort. From this, the appli- cation process for Head Girl and Boy and their deputies begins. Students were invited to write a letter of appli- cation for the post. This year’s letters were of a particu- larly high calibre and for the first time we asked the stu- dents to write a manifesto to explain to our student and staff body what their intentions for the role would be. All students, who applied, were interviewed by Mr Laidler, Headteacher, Mrs Lowes our current Year 10 Leader and Mrs Darbyshire, our Assistant Headteacher. The top eight candidates from the interviews were anonymously able to showcase their manifestos to the whole school. Stu- dents discussed the merit of each manifesto during Let's Get Going in tutor time. They were then able to peruse the manifestos at Student Services, following this a ballot was undertaken. Taking into consideration each students whole school contribution, the letter of application, the vote from the manifesto and the interview we appointed two Head Girls and two Head Boys. We are thrilled with our appointments and would like to congratulate the following students on their success: Head Girls Hannah Olley Deputy Head Boys Rachel Pennington Mani Jamshidi Jack Gorman Head Boys Kaden High Deputy Head Girls Robert Gibson Sumayah Allam Aiman Fatima Celebrating at the School of Sanctuary Awards Following our achievement of being the first secondary school in Middlesbrough to become a School of Sanctuary, we were invited to attend an awards ceremony at Middlesbrough Town Hall. Acklam Grange School was represented by Suliman Ghadiri, Year 8, Sebastian Chifani, Year 9 and Deputy Head Girl, Souzan Ibrahim. The students presented a speech which included their personal insights into the journey towards becoming a School of Sanctuary, they also reflected on the importance of providing a safe, welcoming environment for all, regardless of their cultural backgrounds or prior experiences. Other speakers at the ceremony included Tees Valley School of Sanctuary Coordinator, Pete Widlinski, Councillor Mick Thompson and Sarah Wilson, representative from The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. To round off a wonderful day the students enjoyed a multicultural buffet provided by The Other Perspective CIC, an entrepreneurial platform for diverse regional communities which offer catering, interpreting and HR services. Following this they were given a personal tour of the newly renovated Town Hall by the Mayor of Middlesbrough, Dave Budd. STEM Club Success! Middlesbrough Achievement Partnership together with the Royal Navy, launched a competition in December to design a new fighter aircraft for the Queen Elizabeth. The entry had to be in the form of a hand drawing which showed what the fighter would look like together with a suggest- ed name for it. Acklam Grange’s Design and Technology STEM group used the design process to gather the research necessary for the project, collecting data from internet searches and conversations with adults who had worked in the aircraft industry. STEM students also worked with our CCF group to decide on the name for the design. The folder submitted was sent to MAP who worked with Royal Navy representatives to de- cide on the winner. The awards ceremony took place at Acklam Green on Tuesday 12 March where all schools were recognised in- cluding our MAT partner Linthorpe Primary School for their exciting entry. Acklam Grange School was judged to be the overall winner for their design entry: ‘Suppressor’ and one of our students, Louis Larder, was interviewed by Ra- dio Tees. We will now host other participating schools when we are visited by a Royal Navy Merlin heli- copter when operational requirements allow so that students can experience for themselves aspects of modern Royal Navy kit. We could not be more proud of our STEM Club! Combined Cadet Force at AGS We are thrilled and proud to announce that Acklam Grange School CCF were presented with the CEP 500 Commemorative Plaque during their recent Biennial Review. At the final parade, the plaque was handed over to the Head Teacher, Mr Michael Laidler by Colonel Chris Tearney. Congratulations! Ben Carr is selected as the Lord Lieutenant's Cadet for 2019. We are extremely proud to announce that Year 11 student, Ben Carr, has been selected as the Lord Lieutenant's cadet for 2019. The Lord Lieutenant (Sue Snowdon) is the Queen's representative for the area. Ben is the only Army Cadet from Cleveland selected for this prestigious role. Congratulations, Ben! Attendance at Acklam Grange School Be here, be on time, be the best Attendance to school is the biggest factor in securing your child’s academic success. At Acklam Grange School, we insist on the highest levels of attendance from all of our students so that they may develop their full potential during their time at school. It is our aim to maintain a cul- ture of excellence, attendance and punctuality. Missing out on education has a significant effect on student’s life opportunities. Everyone associated with the school, including students, parents/ carers and staff, must do all in their power to ensure that excellent attendance and punctuality is maintained as it is an integral part of daily life at Acklam Grange School. So far this year, with your support, we have achieved record attendance of 95.6% which is above the national average for all secondary schools in England. Our punctuality stands at 98%. You, our parents/carers, your children and the school, have worked tirelessly as a team to ensure that attendance and punctuality remains at an all-time high! Congratulations! 1001 students (69% of the school) have achieved 96+% attendance. So far this year, our winning tutor groups overall for the highest attendance and punctuality are; 7MGH = 98.2% 8JKR = 97.6% 9MLK = 98% 10NM = 96.9% 11RP = 97.5% Best Year Group Year 7 = 96.9% 7MGM and 8JKR were the best in their year groups and each form have won a chance to take part in an Easter Egg Hunt! Students with good attendance this term have taken part in activities in the LRC making cards and Easter Baskets. The list of qualifying students for Flamingo Land has been finalised and letters are available from Student Services. AGSSuccess Revision Blog Over the past seven weeks Deputy Headteacher, Mr Tait and Assistant Headteacher, Mr Pacey have been filming short, bite-sized video blogs for parents and students. The aim of the video blogs are to help educate our parents and students on the ‘science of learning’ and get our students into more effective study habits that support long term learning. Below are the four videos that have already been posted: Episode 1 – Retrieval Practice Episode 2 – Getting Revision Strategies Right Episode 3 – Spaced Study Practice Episode 4 – Chunking Revision Episode 5 - Good Sleep Habits Episode 6 - Habit Stacking Episode 7 - The Benefits of Stress To watch our latest revision blogs, head over to our YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or In- stagram TV! Useful information on upcoming exams Year 7 and 8 students will have examinations in Maths, English and Science week commencing 7th May. Students will be issued with a revision timetable and advice and support on how to revise and prepare for these examinations.