NEWSLETTER

Issue number 14

Friday 24th May 2019

Together We Make A Positive Difference

7 for 7 book challenge quiz Four top readers in Year 7 travelled to with Mrs Hamlet to take part in the 7 for 7 Book Challenge Quiz, presented by Creative Learning Services. There were five other schools participating, and although we did not win, the students performed very well and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to test their book and general knowledge.

Well done to all of the students involved - Divpreet, Shruthiy, Dnega and Maryam.

Author visit - Alex Wheatle

Alex Wheatle, winner of The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and MBE for services to literature, visited our library to talk to groups of students from years 8 to 10. He told them all about his challenging childhood circumstances, growing up in the care system, and how it led to his involvement in the Brixton riots in 1981 and the life-changing moment he discovered the power of reading. Students found inspiration in his tale, with comments such as:

 “Today I understood the importance of reading.”  “I use to hate books until I read Alex Wheatle (‘Crongton Knights’).”  “Today was interesting and inspiring. It makes me want to read. It makes me want to do something in my future.”  “Interesting and reassuring. It doesn’t matter what your story is – it’s never too late to start doing what you love.”

All students who attended were gifted books which they got signed by the author; they then enjoyed participating in a writing activity led by Alex. Alex Wheatle is a strong role model who demonstrates that you can achieve great things with hard work, determination and hope.

Lord Lieutenants Young Person of the Year 2019!

A huge well done to Dev who was announced as the Lord Lieutenants young Person of the Year 2019 in the category of Young Volunteer of the Year!

You will remember that Dev was featured in out last newsletter after his visit to Downing Street and appearance on The One Show BBC for his work on poverty.

Dev continues to display Rushey 1-2-3 in everything he does. Well done!!

Rushey Mead Academy Follow us on Twitter @rusheymeadnews Melton Road I I LE4 7AN I 0116 2663730 Follow us on Facebook @RusheyMeadRMET CAT Scheme Workshop

On Wednesday 10th April ‘Dance4’ an established UK flagship dance development organisation who are at the forefront of work with and for children and young people in the Midlands, delivered a traditional Kathak dance workshop to a selection of our students. The students had the opportunity to work with Archita Kumar who has a wealth of dance knowledge and experience in the field. Archita Kumar gave the students an introduction to the Dance4 CAT scheme, which is the Center for Advanced Training at the Birmingham DanceXchange. The Scheme is a dedicated training programme created in order to nurture and support those students with potential, drive, ambition, determination and talent in dance. The workshop focused upon the traditional Kathak dance technique and choreography, overall the workshop was a success and the Dance Artist was very impressed with the students’ behaviour, technique, passion and commitment and has recommended a number of students to audition for a place on the CAT scheme in the future.

Well done to all of the students that took part in the workshop, you were a credit to the Academy. Shivani 9RUM, Shivali 9HAS, Anaya 9MEM, Mahima 9RUS, Nikisha 9MEM, Nikki 9BOM, Vidhi 9RUM, Simran 9RUM, Sapna 9BOR, Rhea 7BOS, Priyanka 9BOM, Bella 7BER, Niti 7CHR, Toral 11MER, Arushi 11RUM, Sugarima 9BEM, Keshvi 10MER, Pragati 9BOR, Tejal 9BOR, Harshita 10MER, Pranay 7CHM, Simran 9MER, Bhakti 9HAS, Dhara 9HAS

The spirit of Bollywood

As part of the BTEC Dance qualification the students are required to study a number of different dance styles and one of the chosen styles is Bollywood dance. To support this, the dance department arranged for the BTEC Dance students to visit The Curve on Friday 26th April to watch a professional Bollywood performance ‘The Spirit of Bollywood’ by Shiamak. The performance took them on a journey through the ages of Bollywood from the 1960’s to modern day. The choreography was highly effective, the costumes were elaborate and colourful and the dancers’ performances were exceptional, demonstrating excellent interpretive and physical skills.

The experience was extremely beneficial for the BTEC dance students as it gave them a real insight into the technical and interpretive skills needed by a dancer in the Bollywood style in a public performance. It was also good for the students to see an ex-BTEC Dance student Elisha and a current Year 9 student Nikisha 9MEM dancing on stage in the performance.

‘I really enjoyed the show, the dancers had so much energy’ Krishika 10MEM ‘The whole performance was so colourful, bright and interesting’ Mary 10BER ‘It was so well rehearsed, you could see that the dancers had spent a long time practicing’ Ameliya 10HAM

Careers news

Careers in Finance talk – Tuesday 14th May in the Careers Library Guest speakers from the finance sector, Colin Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer from Hinckley & Rugby Building Society and Natasha Bourne from Cambridge & Counties Bank came into speak to a group of Year 10 and 11 students about working in finance. They gave a great insight into how to get into both banking and accounting sectors which we hope the students found useful.

Year 10 Apprenticeship Assemblies – 8th & 9th May Lisa and Paresh from came into assembly to speak to Year 10 Photos courtesy of Cares Ltd. students about apprenticeship opportunities after Rushey Mead. They explained in detail what apprenticeships were and how transferable skills gained at school can be used to get onto an apprenticeship programme. A big thank you to Lisa and Paresh for their valuable insight into getting an apprenticeship. (Apprenticeship logo from https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/)

Year 10 - Group work sessions Sessions are now coming to an end, we hope that students have found them useful so that they can start thinking about what they would like to study and where after Rushey Mead Academy. Students are encouraged to come to Careers and speak to a member of the team if they have any concerns or questions. Mrs Butler (Careers Advisor) working with Year 10 students showing them how to research careers and courses.

Year 10 – Loughborough University Holiday Club – 28th- 31st May A group of 13 Year 10 students have been given the fantastic opportunity to go to Loughborough University for 4 days during half term to take part in various activities, consisting of designing their own trainers and creating their own marketing campaign to playing basketball with Leicester Riders. They will be getting a taste of university life as a student and will find out more about higher education options available to them at post-18.

Year 11 Students should now be receiving their confirmed place at college – please come and see us in Careers if this is not the case as we are here to help. Please accept your place on UCAS and advise the other colleges that you have as back-ups that you have a place elsewhere. The easiest way to do this is to withdraw the applications on UCAS or message the colleges on UCAS. Please come and see us in Careers if you have any concerns.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR EXAMS - FROM YOUR CAREERS TEAM

Forthcoming events: Careers Evening – Tuesday 8th October 2019 (6-8pm) Apprenticeship evening – Tuesday 29th October 2019 (6-8pm)

College Open days Leicester College – Thursday 27 June 2019, 3.00pm – 8pm – Saturday 5th October 2019, 10am – 1pm

Parent Survey 2019 - Win £20 worth of vouchers

Every year we ask parents/carers to complete the Rushey Mead Parent Survey. It is important that we receive a good number of responses in order to obtain an accurate overview and to enable us to ensure we are doing the best job possible for your child at Rushey Mead Academy. When we receive 100 responses all participants will be entered in to a prize draw to win £20 worth of vouchers. Your views are very important to us and we would be grateful if you would take some time to complete the survey. Rushey Mead Parent survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PCNWP7C

Year Top A2L and Most Improved TOP A2L MOST IMPROVED Congratulations to the following students who have

Grace 8BOR Joshua 8CHS the best overall Attitude to Learning scores in the summer term. Naailah 8BOS Martin 8BER Hriday 8BOR Sezan 8CHS Principal’s Award

Naomi 8BOS Haajara 8HAR Congratulations to Mansi 11HAM, Khushi 11HAM, Deeya 8RUR Aisha 8CHR Neha 11HAM, 11MEM & Ishika 11MEM who all received certificates from the Principal in Dhruv 8CHS Tanatswa 8CHR recognition of outstanding effort, progress & Komal 8MER behaviour! They received the highest Rushey Vishni Anju 8BEM Reward points in their year group. We are really proud of you, well done! Aasiyah 8RUR Tulsi 8BOS Benjamin 8CHS Diya 8BOS

Heenakumari 8HAR

Trishna 8BOS Aashi 8MEM Rani 8MER

Forthcoming events

PL Monday - Monday 17th June 2019 (school closes to students at 2.00pm) HALF TERM BREAK Monday 27th May - Friday 31st May 2019

Spring 2018/19 Newsletter Working Together to Make a Positive Difference

Message from the Chief Executive Although it’s now technically summer, it has been decidedly chilly outside. As you will see from our newsletter in our schools there is considerable warmth and sunshine! We wish all our primary Year 6 and secondary Year 11 students success with their SATs and GCSEs.

Abbey Primary School and Kestrels’ Field Primary School set to join TMET

We are delighted to announce that the Department for Education approved applications for both Abbey Primary School and Kestrels’ Field Primary School to convert to join The Mead Educational Trust (TMET). We will work closely with both Abbey and Kestrels’ Field throughout the academy conversion process and are hopeful that the schools will officially convert to academy status on 1st September 2019. Sarah Ridley, Director of Primary Education at TMET, said: “We are delighted at the news that both Abbey Primary School and Kestrels’ Field Primary School will join our family of schools. We are looking forward to working closely with the schools to share good practice.” “Colleagues from across our schools have been working with Abbey Primary since September 2018, so we are we are thrilled that it has decided to join The Mead family of schools, allowing us to continue its school improvement journey and build upon our existing relationship with pupils, parents and staff.” Abbey Primary School is a larger than average primary school located north of the City Centre and is a major feeder school for Rushey Mead Academy. Kestrels’ Field Primary School is a larger than average primary school located in North Leicester and is a feeder school for Hamilton Academy, among other schools. 1 Follow us @TMETrust Our schools are prolific members of the Twitter community, using the social media platform to celebrate achievements and share details of the fantastic events that take place within their schools. We’ve rounded up some of our schools’ recent tweets.

2 Rushey Mead Academy amongst top 5% of schools in England for Progress 8 We’re thrilled to share the news that Rushey Mead Academy received a letter from the Minister of State for Schools Standards Nick Gibb congratulating them on the high level of progress that its pupils make between Key Stage 2 and the end of Key Stage 4, using the Progress 8 measure. The school’s Progress 8 score places Rushey Mead Academy in the top 5% of schools in England. The letter goes on to confirm that the school is also in the top 4% of schools for pupils entered for a language at GCSE, and congratulates the school on “providing pupils with a firm foundation in linguistic knowledge, as well as broadening their horizons and enabling them to embark on further study”. A huge congratulations to the Executive Principal, Principal, staff and pupils at Rushey Mead Academy for this fantastic achievement. TMET schools set to change names from 28th August 2019 A number of our schools are set to change their names on 28th August 2019 following a public consultation held in April. Hamilton Academy will change its name to ; Knighton Fields Primary Academy to Knighton Mead Primary Academy; Northfield Primary Academy to North Mead Primary Academy; Rowlatts Hill Primary Academy to Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy; Thurnby Lodge Primary Academy to Thurnby Mead Primary Academy; and Willowbrook Primary Academy to Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy. The change of names will explicitly reflect each schools’ link to The Mead Educational Trust. Including the word ‘Mead’ within the schools’ names will help to build public recognition of The Mead family of schools, celebrating their long established track record of school improvement intervention and raising standards. The change of name will be particularly beneficial for schools joining The Mead Educational Trust that are judged by Ofsted tobe requiring improvement or inadequate, as it will signify the Mead family of schools’ commitment to raising standards in such schools. Feedback from parents regarding the name changes has been positive, with one parent commenting that Hamilton Academy’s name change will be a “great new opportunity for the school, staff and children”.

TMET schools achieve outstanding Challenge Partners QA review results We’re extremely proud to report that each of our schools have received outstanding results in their annual Challenge Partner Quality Assurance Reviews. Upon joining the Trust, each school automatically becomes a member of Challenge Partners, a collaborative network of over 350 schools which operates annual quality assurance reviews focusing on teaching and learning. Knighton Fields Primary, Northfield House Primary, Rowlatts Hill Primary, Rushey Mead Academy, Thurnby Lodge Primary and Willowbrook Primary were all graded outstanding. Hamilton Academy, who joined the Trust in September 2017 after being judged inadequate by Ofsted in October 2016, was reported to have made demonstrable progress. Reviewers commented that: “Students are very proud of their school and it is clear that they enjoy coming to school. They speak positively about the journey the school has been on, the impact of the leaders on their quality of education and as a Year 10 stated, they now “believe in Hamilton”. A huge congratulations to all the schools. The results are a testament to the hard work and support of each member of staff. TMET secures interview for Brook Mead Academy We are pleased to confirm that our application to open a new secondary school in Leicester, named Brook Mead Academy, was assessed as one of the strongest submitted. As a result, Trust leaders were invited to attend an interview at the Department for Education in London on 6th February 2019. We hope to hear the outcome of this interview in late May 2019. 3 Hamilton students develop innovative reading aid to help dyslexia sufferers An enterprising group of Hamilton Academy students is hoping to go national with an innovative reading aid developed to help children with dyslexia. The Year 10 students came up with the idea for the Easy Reader after seeing other students who lacked confidence in reading. The Easy Reader is a reading aid with an adjustable cover that controls the sections of text that can be viewed at once. This allows the user to focus on a single line of text and absorb more of the material they’re reading. While it is especially helpful for dyslexia sufferers, it can be helpful to anyone who experiences difficulty with reading. Student Tasneem Rafik, managing director of the company set up by the students, said, “It was clear that there was a gap in the market, so we created a product to help children address this issue from a young age.” She added, “Our main aim was to help as many students as possible, but after we received such positive feedback, we want to take this product much further, across our city and even nationally.” The group of 15 students set up their company, Companion, and developed the product with the support of their business teacher Mr Patel and the charity Young Enterprise. They have already fulfilled orders from primary schools around Leicester and have contacted the National Literacy Trust about the potential of the product. The Hamilton students attended a trade fair at Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre in March where they sold more than 60 units in a few hours and even received the approval of businesswoman Rosemary Conley. At the trade fair, which was also the local area final for the Young Enterprise schools competition, Hamilton students won the awards for Best Customer Service and Most Innovative Product and were named overall winner. This means they advance to the county level Young Enterprise competition on 7 May and if successful, the national final in London in June. Castle Mead Academy - 4 months to go Earlier this term, Castle Mead Academy received the fantastic news that the Secretary of State for Education had agreed to enter into a funding agreement with it. The agreement is a legally binding contract between TMET and the Department for Education and contains the terms and conditions upon which Castle Mead Academy is to be funded. The news meant that Castle Mead could formally offer places to its founding students. Tom Hague, Principal Designate of Castle Mead Academy said: “We are all absolutely thrilled that the Secretary of State for Education has agreed to enter into a funding agreement with Castle Mead Academy. This key milestone demonstrates the Government’s commitment that we will open and illustrates the Department for Education’s confidence in Castle Mead delivering a high quality education to the young people of Leicester. We have already recruited high quality curriculum leaders and are in the process of recruiting teachers and support staff. We are excited by our developing team.”.

TMET schools collaborate on new curriculum Colleagues from across the Trust have been working together to develop new primary and secondary curriculum frameworks. Principals from across the Trust have worked together to formulate a common curriculum intent (the rationale behind The Mead schools’ curriculums), and are now working with colleagues in their schools to develop their own individual curriculum framework. The curriculums will centre around the schools’ shared values— the 7 Cs : Challenge; Collaboration; Culture; Community; Courage; Creativity; and Character. 4 William Wednesday Schools from across The Mead family of schools have been busy raising money for a student at Knighton Fields Primary who was sadly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia earlier this year. The student, William, is currently off school and is having to undergo an intense regime of chemotherapy. Knighton Fields Primary organised a hugely successful fundraising event called ‘William Wednesday’ which saw the entire community come together to raise money for William. The event involved a bake sale, stalls anda competition for two students to become principal for an hour (competition winners pictured below).

If you would like to donate, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ supportforwilliam.

Willowbrook Primary students announced runners up in Peter Jones Tycoon competition We are pleased to announce that a small group of entrepreneurial students at Willowbrook Primary have been named runners up in the Peter Jones Tycoon Enterprise Competition. Tycoon is a unique national enterprise competition for students aged 6 to 18 that aims to encourage budding entrepreneurs to get involved in business by giving them start- up funding to run a business at school. The students were crowned runners up at an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace in May after their business plan, ’Willowbrook Brilliant Books’, was shortlisted from over 389 other school businesses.