! MAY 2021 NEW LINE LEARNING NEWSLETTER Believe and Achieve MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER Dear Parent/Carer, After the most amazing 4 years at New Line Learning Academy (NLL), I write to you today to say farewell with a full range of emotions, but excited about the future for both New Line Learning Academy and myself. The time spent at NLL has been undoubtedly the most remarkable and rewarding of my career. I have had the privilege and the amazing experience, along with so many dedicated individuals, to help build an amazing academy. I leave NLL this summer with the academy firmly established in the community with a strong reputation. In September, we will have our largest year group joining NLL, this is testament to all staff who have made an environment for pupils to excel and to believe in themselves to achieve! The academy is graded Good by Ofsted in all categories New Line Learning Newsletter !1 ! MAY 2021 which is a recognition of how far the the academy has come over the past four years. I, like most in the teaching profession, am assured that there is no greater reward than when a child fulfils or exceeds their potential, in the past 4 years I have certainly seen so many pupils in that category. I have got to know many of our families which has always been very important to me. The staff at NLL always go ‘above and beyond’ and I am very grateful for each and every one of them, especially how they have continually adapted to the ever changing dynamic landscape, which is NLL! I have no doubt that the academy is in a safe pair of hands and the new Head of School, Ms Mackie will lead the academy forward with the same drive, passion, values and ethos. Ms Mackie will introduce herself to you in her new role after the half term break. I leave NLL looking forward to a new professional challenge in my career, taking up a Executive Headteacher role in an ambitious Multi Academy Trust in East Sussex. This notwithstanding, NLL will forever be in my heart and I wish every child, parent, staff member, governor and Future Schools Trust the very best for the future. Yours sincerely, Paul Murphy New Line Learning Newsletter !2 ! MAY 2021 YEAR 11 LEAVERS CELEBRATE… Year 11 pupils celebrated their final day at New Line Learning on the last day of Term 5. The day started with an assembly organised by Mr Jones that included plenty of amusing moments by both Parents and Teachers alike, all contributing to providing a fitting ‘send-off’. After some time spent signing leavers shirts and socialising the pupils enjoyed a barbecue and were then given a ‘guard of honour’, before leaving the school for the last time. The pupils should be commended for the efforts they have made in their final term preparing and completing their assessments. During unprecedented and challenging times they have shown great resilience and spirit completing their studies. We wish them all the best of luck in their future pursuits both in Education, and the world of work. New Line Learning Newsletter !3 ! MAY 2021 NEWS FROM THE ART DEPARTMENT… GCSE Art and Design Moderation Last week saw the deadline for submission of all Year 11 GCSE Art portfolios of work. This is the culmination of lots of hard work over the past two very disrupted academic years. The portfolio pictures below show the hard work, perseverance and talent a pupil needs to show to achieve a high grade in Art. New Line Learning Newsletter !4 ! MAY 2021 Textiles Year 8 Textiles pupils have been busy designing and making puppets in response to a design brief relating to Mary Blair and Tim Burton. They are hoping to create a short skit to show at the end of the term in our mobile puppet theatre. Photography Year 10 GCSE have been very busy this term looking at perspective and photomontage. They have been focusing creating tessellating patterns from photographs they have taken from around the school grounds and then editing them in Adobe Photoshop. New Line Learning Newsletter !5 ! MAY 2021 Great Big Art Exhibition If you have visited the school reception in recent weeks you will have noticed the growing collection of artworks started by the pupils during the last lockdown and then added to over the last term at school. All year groups have contributed to the exhibition and we are very proud of how creative and dedicated they have been during this very difficult period of time in their education. You can follow the Art Dept. on Instagram Miss Chalk and Miss Seager’s tutor groups have been completing the National accredited Bronze Arts Award. They have been looking at online Art Exhibitions and completing their own choice of artwork. The year 10s will be completing their award shortly as the work will be moderated on the 24th June. New Line Learning Newsletter !6 ! MAY 2021 Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over The Country Club (Album Review) By Jack Burkitt Year 10 Lana Del Rey is an American Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, poet, and record producer. She is most well known for her very cinematic, and dark songwriting and style. Lana blew up to fame with her debut single, ‘Video Games’, and later released her record-breaking debut album ‘Born To Die’. Her last album, ‘Norman F****** Rockwell’ received critical acclaim and marked her first album to be nominated for Album Of The Year at the Grammy’s. Lana’s follow-up, ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’ is getting very similar reactions. To kick off the album, Lana performs a beautiful, country ballad, with her signature style mixed with it, however, the standout part of this track are Lana’s fragile vocals, as she sings in her falsetto throughout the song, giving it a sense of vulnerability, innocence and emotion, reminiscing her younger days where she was 19, working as a waitress, and wearing a white dress, hense the song’s title, ‘White Dress’. Following this stunning introduction, we transition into the second single released for the album, the title track, a very nostalgic song, about looking back at a relationship where you just enjoy spending time with your partner and living the regular life, watching TV and doing the laundry, and missing having fun like young couples do. A few songs later, we end up at the first single from the album, ‘Let Me Love You Like A Woman’, which is a gorgeous piano ballad with some ‘airy’ strings played beneath it, both which suit the song very well, as Lana pleads for her partner to escape L.A. with her and travel, and enjoy their time as a couple. This is a meaning which is very relatable to many audiences, which is what makes Lana Del Rey an excellent songwriter, as she is able to connect with strangers through lyrics. The track after, ‘Wild At Heart’, is a very country/folk inspired ballad, which includes the same instrumentals used in the bridge of a song on her previous album, ‘How To Disappear’, one of my favourite songs from that album, therefore I was pleasantly surprised to hear it again on this album. The song following this really intrigued me lyrically, as she sings about the dark side of fame, explaining that it is very pressuring New Line Learning Newsletter !7 ! MAY 2021 and unwanted, as many people recently seem to get ‘cancelled’, giving people anxiety, all being shown in the chorus - ‘we keep changing all the time, the best ones lost their minds, so I'm not gonna change, I'll stay the same, don’t even want what’s mine, much less the fame, its dark but just a game.’ As the chorus rolls around, the very elegant instrumentals get cut off, leaving behind nothing but quietly played strings, and Lana’s horrifying harmonisation on her vocals, creating tension, and the idea that she wants to be heard and make a statement. Eventually, we lead into the concluding song, after a Nicki Lane feature on ‘Breaking Up Slowly’, and the pretty ballad ‘Yosemite’ and the chaotic, yet stunning, ‘Dance ‘Till We Die’. The end track, ‘For Free’, which is a cover by Joni Mitchell, has quickly become one of my favourite songs on this album, from the gorgeous piano chords, to the features from Zella Day and Weyes Blood, who’s sounds match perfectly with Lana, especially when she harmonises with them. Despite being a huge Lana Del Rey fan, it usually takes me a few listens of an album to really enjoy it, which can’t be said for this album, as I knew I loved it after I played it for the first time. Personally, her previous record is still my favourite, however, this album is definitely in my top 3. Overall, this is a stunning album which goes places where Lana has never taken us before, sonically, bringing in new sounds and influences from country music, and many more. I rate this album a 9/10. New Line Learning Newsletter !8.