theRedhillAcademy newsletter April 2019 Message from the Head of School The Easter holiday is almost upon us and I know students are looking forward to a well-earned break. It has been a busy term with a range of activities taking place and mock exams for the older students as the real exam period looms closer. All subject areas have been working hard on exam preparation and the students themselves have shown a real sense of purpose and a determination to succeed which will serve them well in the weeks ahead. As part of the assessment requirements, we have been treated to a variety of Performing Arts practicals and audiences have seen incredible talent in Dance, Drama and Music. March saw the return to school of many of our students who left the Academy at the end of Year 13 to pursue the next stage of their education at university or on higher level apprenticeships. We felt extremely proud of the incredible things they have achieved and it was a pleasure to reward them with their certificates alongside our own rising stars in Key Stage 3 and 4. Highlights of the evening included the awarding of the Melissa Ellis Award for Achievement in Modern Foreign Languages to Mollie Smith and the John de Boer Trophy for Outstanding Achievement at Key Stage 5 to Roma Ellis. We were also treated to a thoroughly engaging presentation from the former Olympian and European champion Richard Buck who gripped everyone with his experiences of the highs and lows of 400m running. Finally, I wanted to let you know that the Redhill 70th birthday celebrations will now take place on June 20th as opposed to the original date of May 1st. Please keep a look out for the forthcoming details of the event. Mr N Matthews - Head of School

www.theredhillacademy.org.uk www.twitter.com/redhillacademy [email protected] Schools’ Massive This March, some of our Year 9, 10, and 12 Drama students participated in recreating a key scene from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. We performed alongside many other primary and secondary schools from around Nottingham at the Nottingham Playhouse over a span of two days. Over the course of six weeks we put together three scenes with help from Dawn Richmond-Gordon, a Playhouse director. Performing on a professional stage was a new experience for all of us, and helped our understanding of what professional theatre is all about. It was an amazing opportunity that many of us were lucky to participate in. We would recommend it to anyone interested in theatre or doing GCSE Drama. Skye Salmeron, Betsy Sheil & Alice Taylor - Year 10 It was ACE! The Arts Celebration Evening was held at the end of January, and what an amazing night it was. Year 8s, 11s and 13s were awarded for their service to the academy’s Performing Arts. The evening was even more special for me in particular, as I was awarded the Nichola Epworth Cup which is an honour that I will never forget. A wonderful evening celebrating so many talented people and led by the brilliant Performing Arts staff at Redhill. Peter Newton – Year 13 Holocaust Memorial Day On Wednesday 13th February, we had the honour of hosting an event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. As part of this event we were privileged enough to hear the testimony of Mala Tribich, a survivor of the Holocaust. The event was attended by Mr Matthews along with other staff and students from Redhill and Oakwood. Mala’s testimony was filmed by the Year 9 student Kieran Frankland and introduced by Miss Wilkinson. After the testimony the PRE Ambassadors led a service in the Memorial Garden where there were readings of poems and testimonies, as well as a reflection on the meaning of home - the theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day - and a musical performance from the Year 12 student Lucia Hughes. The service invited students and teachers to reflect on how we can educate future generations and inspire them to stand up against prejudice. Philosophy, Religion and Ethics Ambassadors Couch to 5k After Christmas, again this year the PE department invited students and staff to join the Couch to 5k program. Couch to 5k is a plan that involves 3 runs a week, with a different schedule for each of the 9 weeks. In just 9 weeks the programme helps you to gradually work up to running 5k. This year on the 13th March our Couch to 5k program came to an end and the runners ran their 5k. Well done to all runners that completed their 5k run. Resilience and determination has been shown by all attendees over the 9 weeks. We hope you all keep running! The running club will still take place on a Wednesday afterschool. The PE department U14 Girls South Notts Cup Semi-Final & U16 Girls County Cup Semi-Final

Friday 22nd March saw two girls football teams visit The Toot Hill School to compete in two semi-final football matches. Our U16 Girls played to the best of their ability with a player down and managed to equalise the score meaning the first half finished 1-1. In the second half the girls unfortunately lost to Toot Hill 2-1. The girls showed great determination and resilience throughout the entire game. In our U14 girls match tensions were high. Olivia Lowe scored an early goal followed by a goal from Toot Hill causing the first half to end on a 1-1 draw. Second half - once again - an early goal was scored by Bailee Manners and Toot Hill then equalised. Both teams played exceptionally well and the end result was 2-2 meaning penalties had to decide the winning team. Eve Shaw, Olivia Lowe, Sommer Smith and Paige Haywood all successfully scored their penalties. Emma Porter, Redhill’s goal keeper, outshined during penalties and saved 2 shots meaning, Redhill won 4-2 on penalties and have gone through to the South Notts Cup Final! All the girls involved in the Semi-Finals were a credit to the Academy showing great teamwork, motivation and resilience throughout both games that were played. Well done girls! Miss J Davis – PE teacher Lady Taverners Competition Girls Cricket The girls Cricket season has once again been successful. The U15’s came second in the County at the Lady Taverners competition for the second year running, narrowly missing out on the regionals which was to be held in Stoke on Trent. It was an extremely tight final against West Bridgford and Ashfield, where we lost out on first place by a mere 3 runs. The U13’s came third in the county which was a massive achievement as they are a new team having only trained together a few times. We now look forward to the outdoor summer competitions. Ms E Baker – PE teacher Redhill goes Green A number of Redhill students from Year 8 to 13 have been meeting every Thursday to support the Academy’s push to reduce its impact on the environment, forming the Sustainability Committee. As part of this drive to make Redhill more sustainable, the Sustainability Committee presented assemblies to all of Year 7. Within these assemblies, each Year 7 received a metal water bottle, with the condition that they should use it to help reduce single- use plastic waste by purchasing less bottled water. Reducing single use plastics helps the wider environment but will also help keep the Academy looking neat and tidy. As part of the effort to keep Redhill tidy half a dozen Sixth formers, including Head Boy Jack Straw, undertook a litter pick collection of 20kg of waste. Emily Baggaley, Year 13, has been a driving force in the Sustainability Committee “We’re determined to change the attitude of some students, and we hope that you will join us. We have plans to improve understanding of recycling through activities in forms. In the meantime, we invite you to consider how much waste you contribute, and how you can make a difference. So, Redhill - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!” Mr Warren has been supporting the group “I have been really impressed with the commitment and passion these students have shown over the last few months. With their help we have already made massive steps in reducing our impact of the environment. We aim to keep this group going for many years to come, continually making improvements”. Mr J Warren – Operations Manager Footprints Charity On Monday 18th March, Knight House was visited by Andrea Kelley, a representative from Footprints Charity. Knight House Student Captains shared all the hard work from the autumn term that led to the raising of an impressive £732.25. A big thank you to all the students, parents and staff that took part or helped fundraise. Mrs C Warren – Knight House Co-ordinator Goodbye to all that In February this year Mr Tyler finally retired after 43 years at Redhill. Most of his time was spent in the PE Department though in recent years he has been a member of our cover supervisor team. Mr Tyler started at Redhill on the first day back after the February half term in 1976. During his career we estimate he taught over 32,000 PE lessons and in the last few years countless cover lessons. Looking back he told us “I wanted to teach PE from the age of 14. I consider myself extremely lucky to have spent so long in a profession that I always considered was second best to being a professional footballer!” Mr Tyler talks fondly of the extra-curricular sporting events and the many successes achieved by Redhill students over the years. In one 11 day period in May 2001, his Year 9 team won three cup finals including one at the City Ground and another at Meadow Lane. When asked how successful his sporting influence has been he said “In all those years, I taught only one student who went on to be a professional footballer at Hull City – maybe it helped that his dad was manager!” We obviously wish Mr Tyler a long and happy retirement and after 43 years it seems right to leave the last word to him… “I have good friends; people who taught at Redhill and moved on, and the current staff who have always been a real strength. Redhill students? They really are very special, and possibly the number one reason for staying so long at one place!” Mr N Matthews – Head of School The Gedling Youth Parliament Elections Democracy, one of our five Redhill Values, was exercised on Wednesday 13th February. One of our classrooms was converted into a functioning polling station, as our students were invited to take part in the Gedling Youth Parliament Elections. Student leaders from each house manned the registration desks to ensure that only one vote per student was granted, voting slips were issued, manifestos were being read and votes were cast into locked ballot boxes. The event was even more exciting at Redhill because two of our students, Eleanor Lumb (Year 11) and Luca Geary (Year 12) were standing in the election against 6 students from other schools in the borough. It was really encouraging to see over 240 students come along and vote - even queue to vote at one stage - and hold challenging conversations around the varying priorities pledged in the manifestos. We look forward to hearing the result. Good luck Eleanor and Luca. Mrs S Staniforth – Assistant Head Teacher Inter House Dance-off and Tug of War competitions A big thank you from the House Achievement Co-ordinators and House Captains to the students that took part in both, Inter House Dance-off and Tug of War competitions. For the first time this year our students went head to head in a Dance battle; showing both initiative and improvisational skills, interpreting a variety of music genre to their own dance styles. Smith House coming in third place, Lawrence in second and Knight House taking the win. We were very impressed with the skills and confidence demonstrated by Redhill students.

For the second event this month, every student at KS3 in each tutor group did an inter-form Tug of War with the winners going head to head in the Inter- House competition. Well done to Africanus who came first, leaving the current overall leaders board as pictured above. House Co-ordinator Team Food Preparation and Nutrition NEA2 practical exams In February our Food Preparation and Nutrition students completed their three hour GCSE practical exams for their NEA2 assessment. We had dishes cooked from a range of Asian countries and for a range of dietary needs. All students are to be commended on their organisation and professionalism during the exam. As a faculty we were very proud of what all of our students achieved. Here are a few examples to set your taste buds tingling. Ms A Massey Deputy Faculty Leader Design & Technology The show must go on! For the past five months, I have been travelling down to London every Wednesday. I travel to Sky Studios to film a show called FYI, a children’s TV show that explains the latest news and viral trends. On the journey I focus on learning the script and researching the stories in the show. We arrive in London and get the tube to the studios; I’m starting to get used to the journey more every week! When we arrive, I then head up to hair and make-up and go down to the FYI studio itself. All of the other presenters, Elise, Morgan and Archie, arrive at roughly the same time and we meet in the studio and wait for filming to start with the floor managers, producers, directors and camera people in the studio. When everyone has arrived we get new updated scripts (often with lots of new lines to learn) and then we begin doing warm ups. We get tongue-twisters and stretches to do to warm up so we look more normal and relaxed on camera and with our voices. After that we do voice-overs for different parts of the show, which is the fastest section to film. We spend the next 3 hours filming on screen sections of the show like the intro and outro before we have our dinner break. We chat and have a laugh before continuing to film. I am always a bit disappointed when we end filming, it is so enjoyable and fun, especially as we have a lot of fun on set! It is amazing to walk into the huge buildings and think ‘I work here’ and it is definitely still weird to see the show we filmed for hours, come on TV as 15 minutes every week! Ella Meek - Year 9 Pi Day Last Thursday was Pi Day! It was the 3rd month and the 14th day.... i.e. 3.14 - as the Americans write the date. A few Year 8 classes were challenged to make the best possible human pi in 5 minutes. Well done 8N2 who were the winners. Next year we’d love to try and break the world record for the largest number of people forming a human pi - currently the record is just 847. World record human pi! Form groups also had a pi day quiz which included questions on: identifying flags with circles on, circular logos, anagrams of circle themed words, mathematical formulae etc. The winning forms were: KCM, SEC, GCB, APS and DSMI. Well done to all forms who had a go.

The Maths department Winter Wonderland For the eagle eyed readers of the Redhill Review, you may recognise some familiar faces. Having written an article for the previous edition of the Redhill Review, talking about the success of the Inclusion Sports Team and their qualification for the School Games finals, I am pleased to provide an update. Our Inclusion Team had qualified for the finals and were representing Gedling Borough against 7 other district schools. I am delighted to report that our Inclusion Sports Team won the School Winter Games! After an action-packed day at Nottingham Trent University, which included numerous games of Dodgeball and some tense contests in Curling, finalised with a grandstand finish on the rowing machines. I am happy to report that Redhill claimed 1st place in Dodgeball, 1st place in Curling and 2nd place in Rowing. This led to an overall 1st place finish on the day! The team pictured includes: Jenai Graham, Ella Orton, Owen Chaplin, Joel Goodall-Ratcliffe, Nathan Patrick, John Stanley, Nicole Young, Jessica Young, Ellie- May Trendowicz and Tyler Rockley. Mr S Peters - Senior Teaching Assistant Year 9 GCSE Dance Bronze Arts awards Congratulations to our Year 9 GCSE Dance students who have all successfully passed their Bronze Arts award. To achieve this the students have to take part in regular dance lessons and have to perform. Students attended a live performance at Theatre Royal to see Matthews Bourne’s Swan Lake. Here, they had to be the audience. They also had to write a review on the show and present what they thought about all the production aspects. They researched a ‘Dance inspiration’ including choreographers and performers. Finally they prepared a Dance workshop to share their skills with others. This included teaching their peers in Year 9 and also in the community at local primary schools. The students gained a lot from this experience including confidence, teamwork, research skills and how to appreciate dance. All of this has prepared them for completing their GCSE Dance course, which they have started this term. Well done Year 9 and good luck in your GCSE Dance. Miss R Udeshi - Performing Arts Oxbridge information evening Wednesday 24th April, 6.30- 8pm Main Hall Any interested parents or students welcome.

Come and find out more about making an application from University of Cambridge staff and successful Redhill students. Please email- [email protected] to book a free place.

Redhill Lectures and Launch of new Law Society We are very proud of the Redhill lecture programme which has been running now for several years. It is designed to stretch students’ intellectual interests beyond the curriculum and better prepare them for highly competitive courses and institutions e.g. Oxbridge, Medicine and Law. The lectures happen after school and are open to all students from Year 10 upwards. Over the years, our students that have gone on to Oxford and Cambridge have found them useful for allowing them to explore areas of interest, which can then be discussed at interview. We have been very lucky that a number of parents have volunteered to deliver these lectures. Our latest one was ‘To inflame or inform: what is the role of the media in a democracy?’ delivered by Dr O’Nions Associate Law Professor at NTU. It was a really interesting talk and provoked some passionate debate afterwards. We combined the event with the launch of our new Law society. Tom Phillips (our ex Head boy) is now studying Law at with a view to becoming a Barrister. He has kindly offered to run a weekly Law society on Wednesdays after school. Legal issues and routes into various legal careers will be discussed with trips to Court and guest speakers from Solicitors to Barristers and Law students. These are the lectures that we will be running in the summer term. I am starting to put together next year’s programme. If you think you could offer a lecture please contact me directly by email. [email protected]. The lecture could be on a topic of your own personal interest, an academic interest or even related to your job. How important are the Wed 1st May 2019 Arts? Miss Priestley (a Psychological perspective) Professor Tallant (Philosophy lecturer: Wed 5th June 2019 Philosophy of Time University of Nottingham) All students are welcome. Law society- Wednesday 3.15pm room 16. Ms S Sharp - Trust Director of Post-16 English For his creative and imaginative spy story ideas Year 7: Alex Cropley

For outstanding progress in English Year 8: Leona Messom

For continued thoughtful engagement with Macbeth Year 9: Billy Stevenson

For terrific model made as personal interpretation of a poem Year 10: Elllie Stone

For consistently achieving his MAG of Grade 6 in all Literature mini mocks so far Year 10: Ben Busovsky

For continued hard-work, excellent exam preparation which has dramatically improved attainment in both English and Literature Year 11: Lydia Gascoigne

Science For outstanding attitude in lessons Year 7: Tom Hunter

For exceptional effort in class Year 8: Phoebe Anne Archer Doyle

For effort and determination resulting in an improved result in a recent assessment Year 12: Seona Newton Health and Social Care For their fantastic first piece of coursework Year 9: Aliyah Ireland and Jessica Lawrence

For their excellent effort with their coursework Year 10: Libby Alenson Smith, Tehya Johnson, Kelsey Wright, Jessica Young and Nicole Young

For excellent coursework grades Year 11: Ben Harvey, Emily Morley, Lara Meldrum and Sherin Mitchell Maths The following students took part in the Maths Challenge, which is a National competition and have made it through to the next round

Gold Kangaroo Year 9: Paul Hurst, Tom McCormack, Owen Sutcliffe

Pink Kangaroo Year 10: Jaden Mighten, Christine Bailey

IT/Computer Science/Business For outstanding performance in CiDA coursework and exam with Blue Grade results Year 11: Scott Blyth (coursework and exam), Katie Neale (exam), Melissa Shaw (exam), Kelisha Snape (coursework and exam), Laura Spencer (coursework and exam) School Calendar

APRIL Week 2 Monday 22 EASTER MONDAY Tuesday 23 Year 11 Mentoring Week Year 12 Data Collection 3 Shakespeare Reading Event 6pm Trust Executive Board Meeting Wednesday 24 HE+ Conference Thursday 25 Year 13 Music Recording Day 3.15pm Inter-House KS4 Frisbee Friday 26 Saturday 27 Trip: Year 9 Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Training Day with overnight camp Week 1 Monday 29 Year 11 Mentoring week continues Year 10 Data Collection 3 Year 11 MFL speaking exam (until 03.05.19) 3.15pm Faculty Leaders’ Meeting Tuesday 30 Year 11 GCSE Art Exam P1 and P2 Junior Maths Challenge Year 7 and Year 8 (top sets) 3.15pm Faculty Team Meetings Inter-House Musical Challenge Launch MAY Wednesday 1 Year 12 Progress Report 3 issued Year 11 GCSE Art Exam Thursday 2 Year 11 GCSE Art Exam 1.15pm Trust Teaching and Learning Meeting 7pm Year 11 Commendation Evening Friday 3 Trip: Year 13 A Level Grade Booster Conference, Birmingham Week 2 Monday 6 MAY BANK HOLIDAY Tuesday 7 3.15pm Heads of House Meeting 6pm Redhill Academy Trust Audit Committee Meeting Wednesday 8 3.15pm House Team Meetings 3.15pm Post 16 Team Meeting Thursday 9 ACWY vaccinations - all students in Year 9 Inter-House Chess Gedling Area Athletics – Juniors and Inters 3.15pm Inter-House Drama Year 10 Progress Report 3 issued Friday 10 Week 1 Monday 13 GCSE/ A2 Exam Period starts 3.15pm Staff meeting Inter-House Art Challenge Launch 6pm Redhill Governors’ Business Committee Tuesday 14 Wednesday 15 3.15pm Post 16 Zorba Meeting (main focus Year 13) Thursday 16 Friday 17 Inter-House Musical Challenge KS3 and KS4

Week 2 Monday 20 3.15pm TLC Meeting 5 Year 9 ARTi Reading Tests throughout the week Tuesday 21 Wednesday 22 Year 12 Drama Mock Devised Performance Thursday 23 3.15pm KS4 Zorba Meeting 7pm Annual Football Presentation Evening Friday 24 Saturday 25 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Practice Expedition (until 26.05.19) HALF TERM HOLIDAY Term Dates for 2018 – 2019 Autumn Term Tuesday 4 September to Friday 21 December Half Term Week Monday 29 October to Friday 2 November Spring Term Monday 7 January to Friday 5 April Half Term Week Monday 18 February to Friday 22 February Summer Term Tuesday 23 April to Wednesday 24 July Half Term Week Monday 27 May to Friday 31 May