theHallParkAcademy newsletter December 2019 Our new Year 7 students have settled into life at Hall Park, engaging well in the wider life of the school through their participation in extra-curricular activities and already enjoying a number of trips, including a visit to Southwell Minster and a residential visit to Walesby Forest. Armistice Day saw a number of our students invited to represent the academy at a Remembrance Service at the Memorial Cottages War Memorial and also participate in a tree planting ceremony at Brinsley Recreation Ground to remember those who lost their lives in the two World Wars. These students represented themselves and the academy with great dignity at both services. A number of our students have been involved in the impressive production of ‘Eastwood Comics’, a series of comic books produced through the recognition of Nottingham as a UNESCO City of Literature. The students worked extremely hard to produce writing and art work of the highest quality over several months, including school holidays, and it has been wonderful to see these efforts and talents so brilliantly displayed in the finished books. The Hall Park General Election on December 11th saw all students from Year’s 7-13, gather together in the sportshall to hear key pledges from different parties before then completing their own ballot paper to cast their vote.. This was a superb occasion and a fantastic way to engage all students in one of the key values of our academy, that of democracy. It has been wonderful to see and meet with so many parents at a number of events we have held during this term such as our Year 7 Information Evening, Year 12 Welcome Evening, Year 9 GCSE Information Evening, the Year 11 Exam Preparation Evening, Year 13 Parent’s Evening, and Year 10, 11 and 12 Form Tutor review weeks. Your continued support in helping us to ensure your sons and daughters can achieve their potential as members of our school community is always greatly appreciated. Mr Keogh - Head of School www.hallparkacademy.org.uk Message from the Chair of Governors The academic year of 2018/2019 was a year of consolidating progress at Hall Park Academy, making sure that we continue to provide a high standard of teaching for our students. And this has paid off once again for our A Level and GCSE students, with a set of excellent results coming in during the summer. Governors congratulate all our students on their success rates and thank all staff and parents/carers for their continued support. The last three years have seen serious changes to the way in which Government, and OFSTED, measures schools’ performance. This has led to significant changes in all parts of our curriculum. These changes were accompanied by the introduction of two new measures: Student Achievement and Student Progress. These will become even more important during the coming years as Academies will justify their existence based on the degree to which each student has achieved their full potential. And, linked to that, the degree to which the Academy itself has added value to the progress each student makes. Taken together, these measures will help all of you asses how well Hall Park is doing in educating your child. Looking ahead to 2019/2020, in September we again welcomed a much larger contingent of children into Year 7, including many from outside our normal catchment area. Prospective parents understand that we educate children well, treat them all equally and provide them with the skills they need for later life. All within a safe and inclusive environment. Once again I thank you for your continued support during the year. And I thank the Local Academy Body for their unstinting work and effort as unpaid volunteers. Working closely with the Academy’s senior team, they focus on keeping Hall Park Academy on course to provide ever better standards of education to your children and those who come after them. Kevin Edwards Year 7 Careers Assembly As part of our Careers education at HPA this year, we have a programme of events delivered by Nottingham Trent University, to enable students to gain an understanding of what it is like to study at a University and to encourage aspiration. The programme will include assemblies about the benefits of higher education, campus visits and group works. On Friday 6th December a representative from Nottingham Trent University came to deliver the first of these sessions to our Year 7’s. This interactive assembly covered key terminology and the benefits of higher education and promoted the importance of participation and engagement at school as a key to success. Message from the Executive Headteacher Students in Year 11 and Year 13 have been gearing up for their mock exams. Revision has been at the heart of this preparation and students in both years have been reminded that planning their time effectively is crucial to ensuring they are ‘exam ready’. Mr West has shared strategies and resources to help students break down their notes and commit important information to their long term memory. December 12th was Year 11 mock results day and it is fair to say that whilst many were pleased with their performance in the mocks, there is still work to do to ensure all students secure their best grades in the final exams in the summer. The hard work certainly continues in the new year and students will continue to be supported by tutors and mentors. Mrs Dyce Executive Headteacher Lest We Forget On a cold, dark and wet Monday afternoon, a small group of Hall Park Academy students helped to plant some trees at Brinsley Recreation Ground. There were 21 trees planted in total, one for each of the young men from Brinsley who lost their lives during the two World Wars. As the Mayor of Broxtowe pointed out, when the brave soldiers went off to fight, they would not have been much older than the students are today. Accompanying the Head Boy and Head Girl (Max & Jenny) were Logan King (EJM), Elizabeth Peters (EJF) & Alisha Charles (EJT). It was an emotional ceremony, particularly for both Elizabeth and Alisha who are actually related to two of the serviceman (Gerald Gilbourne and Edgar Jepson) that were being honoured. The trees are all upright growing trees and have been planted in rows, to represent servicemen on parade. They will be a poignant reminder for years to come, of the sacrifice that was made by so many young men from this area. PE News Netball club update Netball club has been running weekly every Tuesday since September. We are now training indoor due to the freezing cold, however our matches are all outdoors. Whilst other sporting fixtures might get re arranged in the cold wet weather, netball carries on regardless. Year 10 were the first to have a taste of this horrible weather however it didn’t put them off! Alex Parker was great defending in the circle (even with rain drops dripping off her nose!), Maisy Frost carried on playing through an injury to her hand to make some excellent interceptions. Paige Wing and Kirsty Maddock showed excellent attacking skills in the circle with some fantastic feeds from Caitlin Inkster. Freya Meakin, Freya Blackman and Daisy Jones all demonstrated excellent movement around the court to provide some great passing opportunities. In the Year 7 tournament the girls had even colder but dry weather to contend with. By the end of the evening there were frozen fingers and toes however no one gave up and they continued to challenge for the ball throughout the fixture. Lauren, Cully and Elise made a great team in the middle of the court getting the ball into our attacking quarter. Izzy Plant and Emily Fogg were excellent as shooters. Courtney, Fern and Kayleigh were amazing in defence with lots of interceptions to help us keep in each game. In Year 8 we have some very loud players - however they work really well together. Evie and Evie make great passes around the court, Izzy and Charlotte and Lexie always add that pressure in defence which helps us regain possession. Our other players include Lucy Timmins, Scarlett Walton, Chloe Herbst and Emily Houlden - these girls are committed to training and provide vital links between the attack and defence. In Year 9 the girls played in the warmer weather. This made the games slightly more enjoyable! The girls have worked hard this year on the accuracy of passes and the interceptions around court. Hannah, Betty, Ellie, Rubi, Ashleigh, Cerys, Fraya, Libby and Lilly are really gelling as a team and have some of the best fluency of all the year groups. I can’t wait to see what the next game brings. All of the girls have made vast improvements this year in their game play, the atmosphere at training is fantastic and very supportive. It is especially great to watch the older girls support those in lower year groups. Great start to the year - hopefully it will continue! Year 7 Boys Futsal The Year 7 boys Football team travelled to George Spencer school to take part in the Broxtowe Year 7 5-a-side Futsal tournament. The Hall Park 1 and 2 teams both competed well and scored some excellent goals. The Hall Park 2 team could not get out of their pool but played very well with notable performances from Dan Bailey and the pacey Cole Porter. The Hall Park 1 team qualified out of their group after beating teams like George Spencer. After winning their semi-final they played Bramcote school in the final and ran out 5-0 winners.