Newsletter Principal’S Welcome
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Find us on April and May 2019 2018/19 Issue 5 Newsletter Principal’s Welcome GCSEs have well and truly begun, with Yr 11 students Hall Academy students are encouraged to develop demonstrating their commitment to their future a wide range of skills in order to ensure a successful through hardwork and determination to do well. pathway to a career of their choice. We recognise as a school just how stressful a time this You will see further on in this newsletter the highly can be, not only for the students themselves, but for successful Yr 10 mock interviews, that recently took parents as well. With this in mind staff have gone out of place. A thank you to all those businesses involved their way to help support them in a range of ways. From who gave up their time and expertise. sharing expertise and guidance in revision sessions to advice on wellbeing during the exam period itself. We Mrs Tucker has recently added more information wish them all every success and know they will do the to the website on apprenticeships; if you visit the Academy and their parents proud. careers section of the Academy's website you will find the apprentice pack for parents which gives useful Meanwhile, the Academy continues to expand the information about this increasingly popular pathway. work with businesses from the local area. At Lostock Corptel Computer Donation The computers which where kindly donated from Corptel are Fujitsu i7’s and will go a long way to improving the Graphics Media Suite. These high performance machines will handle software related to art, design and photography like Adobe Photoshop more efficiently, increasing productivity in lessons. They also meet Energy Star standards that will reduce power consumption and be more environmentally friendly. Thank you Corptel! INSIDE THIS ISSUE • Showstoppers 2019 • Green Team • Jessica Sporting Achievements • Work Related Learning • Sewing Club • Y10 Painting Skills • All My Sons - NT Live • Forest School • My Future Day • P.E. Sports • School Lottery • Girlguiding Adventures • Year 7 Ecosystems and more... Work Related Learning All Year 10 students participated in a mock interview this week, conducted by one of our employer business contacts. This is something the students have been working towards for a number of weeks; they have completed CVs, personal statements and letters of application in preparation for this interview. The interviews took place in the hall with each student having an individual 15 minute interview with one of the employers, followed by feedback on their answers and the skills they demonstrated. We are very grateful to the employers for giving up their time to enable our students to have this valuable life experience. Our careers programme aims to provide students with information to make informed decisions about their future. In the remaining half term students will be experiencing a day at Newman College and Runshaw College to give them access to more information about opportunities open to them for their future. Throughout the next year Year 10 students will also receive a guidance interview with Mrs Callagher, the school's independent careers adviser. Mr Doyle, Mrs Bradley and Mrs Tucker. My Futures Day – Runshaw College On Friday 26th April, an enthusiastic group of our Year 10 students visited Runshaw College, for their sampler day. There was an opportunity to visit an array of “stalls” set up by different subject areas and take part in activities. Our students had fun creating cuts and bruises with theatre make up in the Media department, as well as taking part in a “Silver Service” race, involving the transportation of potatoes! Finally, they had the chance to explore the Runshaw campus and absorb the feeling of college life. LHA Green Team Over the course of this past half term, Lostock Hall Academy’s own Plastics Team have been busy planning for a series of assemblies on plastic usage in and around school. After discussing the impacts of excessive plastic waste and how the environment is affected, we decided to open up the opportunity for students to get involved. As well as the school’s focus on developing a positive attitude to learning through the Growth Mindset approach, our Plastics Team are dedicated to keeping the environment clean and suggesting ways to reduce our plastic usage. Having a key role in leading the Plastics Team is something I value very highly and the fantastic effort our team members put into the projects is invaluable. After delivering our presentation to SLT, it was arranged that we meet the school’s catering company Mellors to present our findings and research. Mellors were quite impressed with our suggestions on plastic reduction and agreed to attend future school council meetings to provide a helpful input of ideas. I believe this plays a significant part of Lostock Hall Academy’s principles on improving current services to support the development of students, both in lessons and in terms of Student Voice. Alternatively, if you have any ideas and are willing As our projects and aims move forward, we have to share these with us, we would be very grateful to created the opportunity for students across all year obtain these suggestions. groups to participate in our schemes and join us as environmental coordinators. This is an offer to all Thank you for your continued support! students and I believe that those of you who wish to Joel Hodgson take part with us will be excellent role models for the Senior Prefect school. LHA Green Team - Lead Well done Jessica! Jessica Eastwood is one of our current Year 11 students and has been fully committed to all aspects of Physical Education and school sport. She has represented the school in all available sporting activities and winning multiple accolades during her time her. Jessica has also dedicated countless hours to helping younger students through her involvement within the various young sports leader’s opportunities offered through the school and has become a real role model for our younger students. Jessica also plays sports to an elite level and continues to represent the county of Lancashire with pride. She was part of the victorious Lancashire U-16 Girls football side that recently retained the ESFA Inter-Counties National competition (she had previously won the U-15 National competition). Jessica played in every game throughout the campaign and was again part of the team that was victorious in the final, beating Kent on penalties, after the game finished 0-0 in regulation time. Jessica also represents Lancashire in tennis in the older U-18 age group category. She recently played in the County Cup and was part of the team that defeated Buckinghamshire, North Wales and Wiltshire which secured promotion for Lancashire to Division 2. This has all been achieved while studying for her Year 11 exams which in turn has taken a great deal of dedication from Jessica. Her aim for next year is to progress to college in order to study a Level 3 Sports course. LHA Sewing Club A big thank you to parent Karen Harvey for leading the Sewing Workshop on Tuesday afternoons. Students have been busy learning about how a sewing machine works, pattern cutting and creating items such as aprons, phone cases and cushions. Well done to all students who have shown commitment to the club it has been very well attended. Y10 Painting Skills Art and Design students are continually experimenting and developing their skills in a range of media and have excelled their painting skills this term. Showstoppers 2019 On 1st May some of our very talented students took the stage for our bi-annual performance of 'Showstoppers'. Our audience was entertained by a wide variety of acts including Street Dance, Contemporary Dance, Chinese Dance, singers, extracts from High School Musical, Annie and the LHA Brass Band with Mr J Doyle. A massive congratulations to all involved, not just the talented performers but also to the superb help from students operating the sound and lighting, helping backstage and front of house. Well done everyone, Mrs E Hardacre All My Sons - National Theatre Live Screening Year 10 students enjoyed a powerful and emotional performance of Arthur Miller's masterpiece 'All My Sons', screened at the Vue cinema in Preston as part of the National Theatre Live project. Currently running at the Old Vic Theatre in London, NT Live allows audiences across the country to enjoy the best of London's theatre without the need to travel. The 2019 production of 'All My Sons' has received widespread acclaim for its exploration of the American Dream, family and intergenerational conflict. Charlie Reynolds was moved by the raw emotional power of the narrative and Sally Field's superb performance: 'I found the whole play gripping, especially its astonishing and devastating climax. Hopefully we can see more of these NT Live screening in future!' Special thanks to Mrs Butterworth and Mrs Murray for supporting the trip, too. Year 7 Forest School A group of Year 7 students are part of this terms Forest School initiative. This session was about improving skills with more advanced techniques on open fires, building a safe structure over the fire to boil water. The boiled water was then used to make hot chocolates in camp. They then went on to make pizzas, mixing dough, rolling out, adding toppings and then cooking on the open fire while sharing positive feedback from the morning with all camp members. Easter School Success Well done to all of the students for your attendance and contributions during Easter School. Thank you to staff for running these additional sessions. The feedback from staff and students was they were very well attended, useful preparation for exam knowledge and skills and certainly worth having done.