2020 WINTER/SPRING ISSUE Burnage ACADEMY FOR BOYS
It’s the End of an Era. Happy Retirement Mr Fenn. Inside this issue School Term Dates Headteacher Interview . . . . 2 School Rewards Shop . . . . . 14 PE ...... 21 Easter Half Term English ...... 4 DT & IT ...... 16 Outdoor Activities ...... 23 06/04/20 25/05/20 Maths ...... 6 Humanities ...... 17 House News ...... 25 – 17/04/20 29/05/20 Science ...... 9 Art ...... 18 Burnage Social Media . . . . . 27 MFL / EAL ...... 10 Food Tech ...... 19 Summer 17/07/20 School Council Communication Team Interview with Mr Fenn on his retirement.
What is your proudest moment at this school? “I’m struggling to think, as I have been here so long there is not one standout moment. It's not getting Outstanding from Ofsted! It’s when one of our most troubled students turned himself around and made a success of his life. His best friend was stabbed to death and he was destined for prison. At the end of Year 10, he turned himself around and is now a teacher in China. Even though it happened after he left, I think that’s still my proudest moment.”
What would you like to be remembered for? “Being the best I can be! Making people laugh, I hope! Just the understanding that success is all about relationships and trying to show people that there’s enough hatred in the world. If people remember that, then the world will be a better place.”
What will you miss about the school? 2 “The friendliness of the children mostly. I have never worked in a place where children, boys, are so incredibly open. I’ll miss that because you don’t get that out in society. People aren’t friendly, generally, whereas they are in this school.”
Have you ever regretted anything? “Trusting people who shouldn’t be trusted. I trust anyone until you show me you can’t be trusted. If someone breaks that trust then that lets the school down. When someone lets the school down, I regret that.”
What do you hope our students will achieve? “I just want the children who leave this place to make the world a better place, and that is a huge thing to achieve. Most of us go through life making things worse and I’d just like them to make Manchester a better place, it’s their community. I’d like them to make the most of their family, friends and environment.”
What is your funniest moment in school? “There have been lots but one of the funniest ones was when I was on a residential with my Leadership Group and one of my Deputy Heads phoned me, saying that he couldn’t move and was in agony. I thought that he’d had too much to drink the night before but it turned out he hadn’t and I ended up going to hospital with him in an ambulance!”
What three words would you use to describe the school? “Caring, aspiration and pressured.”
2 Why pressured? “I think that the kids who come to school are under a lot of pressure. The exam system is crazy – it’s absolutely ridiculous and it’s not fair. It doesn’t do anything other than make people miserable. You can’t work out from the exams that we put you through the things that are going to help you. At no point in your future will you have to remember everything that you do in an exam. You just don’t – you Google it. The reason why people used to have extremely good memories one to two thousand years ago is because they had to remember everything, you don’t now, you can write them down which allows you to do other things and go on and do great things.” Is this why we have all our SMSC trips? “SMSC trips are everything to do with school. If you go on an SMSC trip we prepare you for the con- cept of awe and what feeling of awe is. When we take you somewhere like Manchester Cathedral, or anywhere, and we explain to you the history and the importance of a particular site, it gives you much more understanding of the society you live in. SMSC is as important to me as anything else you do because what’s the point in teaching you Maths, Science and everything else and you just go out and become a drug dealer? That’s not what it’s about. It’s about how to care for other people, and if we want you to care for other people, we need to get you out of school and into the world.”
Will you come to visit school? I don’t think I’ll come back and visit. Not because I don’t want to, but being here for nearly 20 years it’ll be very difficult for me when I leave because it’s a way of life, the job. I think I’ll find it hard to come back to see people, very hard. I’ll see people on Wilmslow Road and in the mosque or in the community, wherever it may be. Headteachers usually don’t go back because there’s a new Head, and you don’t want them to feel in any way undermined. The new Head is the future. I’ve met him, I know 3 him, he’s really good and I’m very confident he’ll do a really good job. I don’t think me hanging around would help.
What are you looking forward to? Like all people I have hobbies. I keep bees, I fish. I’ll still be working because I think that it’s our duty to contribute to work and so I’ll carry on working. I don’t know where, I don’t know what I’ll be doing, but I have so much experience I imagine people will want to know what not to do. I imagine I’ll carry on doing bits of work. And looking after my family and children, I’ve got four grandchildren.
And finally, you’ve been at this school for 19 years. That’s approximately 5187 days (term time only). Did you ever expect to be at school for that long? No, because most Headteachers in Manchester when I joined would be sacked from their job within five years. Most Headteachers got sacked or had breakdowns. One of them killed himself… There are very few that last more than five or ten years. I’m glad that I have.
Are you proud of the teachers? Proud is a very difficult word. I am in awe of these teachers. I could never have been that good when I was teaching. The pressure that they work under, their resilience, their commitment to the children… I’m just in awe of them. It’s not pride, it’s just ‘wow’, they are just so good.
By Ruben 10B and Hassan 8G
3 1978: Skateboarding, 2020:…? Back in 1978, Mr George (Maths Teacher) created a collaborative poem with some pupils from Burnage High School. They chose the topic of skateboarding, a real craze at the time! Mr George contacted the Manchester Evening News, and the poem was published on 1st February 1978. Fast forward to January 2020, 42 years after the original poem, and how times and crazes have changed! 7n2 worked with Mr George on a collaborative poem focusing on something important to them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they chose to write about gaming! Writing in pairs, first, before collaborating as a whole class, they constructed their poem; every single pupil contributed and it was a pleasure to see the excellent team work in the room. As they were working close to the anniversary of the skateboarding poem, Mr George contacted the Manchester Evening News again, who came into school to take a 4 picture of the whole group – the poem was published online on the 1st February 2020; exactly 42 years after the original!
The boys of 7n2 and Mr George
Have a read and see what you think; who knows what will be the biggest craze in another 42 years!
2020: Living the Game A co operative poem put together by the pupils of Class 7n2 from Burnage High School, Manchester High Five and Fist Bumps to our First Year counterparts of ‘78! Burnage Year 7 schoolboys of 2020 are taking up the weight Of composing a new poem to highlight a big craze 2020 a year to remember changes on in various ways.
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Flick the switch on my Nintendo Switch, log in with username The game is on! Get those fingers ready so cool! Don’t want to be shamed! A reputation to hold on to as 'the best in the school'.
Get behind cover, rifle at the ready Snipe some streamers, but wait – that’s my brother! Go into the cave all those gems are mine Then on to Tetris 99 this is my time!
Call my friend, load up the game I want to be the champ on my Nintendo Switch Play in a volcano the Nintendo is my saviour On line competition do me a favour!
Gun shots all round, angry players try hard The storm is sapping my strength even as I’m on the run Tense as it is, it’s still lots of fun! Med kit to help me survive. I’ll win the game, become a pro 5 Playing with friends, playing on line There’s variety learning and new games to discover I’m saving like mad for the new one that’s due It’s expensive, but worth it! It’ll arrive on cue
I’m getting really hyper with a pump in my hand Running through the wild getting really tired Where am I going? Have I got the ammo? To deal with enemies when they appear and have a go.
X box Series X is probably not the best The PS4 Pro really made me go slim, head banging! The Nintendo Lite made me feel tight playing Fifa Scoring with De Bruyne playing virtual reality, finishing off a Zombie
The End
5 Maths SMSC at Manchester Airport
The year 8s were taken to the Runway Visitor Park to learn about the significance that the UK’s third largest travel hub, Manchester Airport, has for the North West region. Pupils worked in groups to find key information about the site’s history, the eco systems surrounding the airport and the impact air travel has on our environment. They had the opportunity to board real aircraft whilst learning about the different types of jobs that help the airport run smoothly. Not to forget everyone’s favourite part – watching planes taking off and landing, including the arrival of the Super Jumbo, Emirate’s A380. Of course we also looked at the many links between mathematics and the aviation industry and further explored this area on our return to school during 6 the in class follow up sessions.
Maths Week England 11th 16th November The first ever national maths week ran across the country this week. Our boys were involved in a number of activities during the week.
Puzzle of the Day
Puzzles were available daily for forms, including tutors, to get involved with. Some excellent work by year 7 in particular along with 9E and Mr Brooks who hold the record for most correct entries!
Special recognition goes to Mr Barber, Mr Stainton, Mr Mitchell and Ms Horne for staff engagement with these puzzles. Where is the Maths in that? Find the Maths material was used across the school during form times, it was great to see the boys thinking about maths in different places.
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Times Tables Rock Stars
Our school entered the times table rock stars maths week competition and two of our classes were in the top 5 in the country!
The boys involved will be invited to a special celebration to reward them for their hard work.
Year 7 Explore Learning Competition
This term year 7 boys were lucky enough to have Explore Learning come into school and work with our top sets in maths. This was to encourage the boys to develop their ability to solve problems as a team, improve their logic skills, and just enjoy maths puzzles! As a result of this competition, we hope to take four students to compete in a nationwide puzzle competition next year. Our set one gifted and talented boys were absolutely amazing, and the maths faculty were blown away by the answers, problem solving techniques, team work and most importantly responses which validated their reasoning. An awesome afternoons work which was enjoyed by all! 7
7 Year 7 Explore Learning Maths Competition On Friday 24th February we took two teams of Y7s to a national competition run by Explore Learning. Unfortunately they didn't make it through to the finals in London, but their teamwork was exceptional and I just wanted to share the feedback : Burnage Academy should be so impressed with Mustafa, Jamie, Omar and Guheer who were in the first team and Abdul Raheem, Ammar, Umar and Rehan who were in the second team! The teams worked extremely well together and displayed excellent problem solving skills when discussing their strategy and developing a productive one. It was fantastic to see the team's respect for one another when listening to each others ideas, and also the resilience that they had when referring back to the challenge and trying different approaches. Both of the teams received top marks for teamwork and demonstrated excellent collaborative work within their
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teams, remembering to time manage effectively and record their strategy to present afterwards. We are incredibly proud of both of the teams from Burnage Academy and all of hard work that they put in, unfortunately they did not make it through to Round 3 of the competition. The team is not too disappointed and should feel very proud of themselves and their performance.
8 Medical Mavericks come to Science
On Thursday 5th December we took part in a very exciting workshop brought to us by the Medical Mavericks. We had 9 a very enjoyable experience. My favourite part of the workshop was taking blood from a synthetic arm.
9 French Ambassadors
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6 French Ambassadors went to Acacias Primary School to teach French to Yr5. They were outstanding and we received this feedback from their staff: "Your boys were great role models, they were excellent ambassadors ,not just for French, but for Burnage Academy as well! The activities were perfectly pitched and very enjoyable! Thanks again and I look forward to working together again in the near future.” Greg Morrison, Head of Languages Multilingual Streets artwork installed at Burnage Academy A new vinyl artwork has been installed at Burnage Academy, Manchester, which shows a collaborative response by Y9 pupils to the languages and cultures of Rusholme. The artwork was conceived as a sensory map representing the colours, shapes and signs in the linguistic landscape. The work is the result of a series of workshops in June and July 2019 led by Dr Jessica Bradley at the University of Sheffield, freelance artist researcher Dr Louise Atkinson and Professor Yaron Matras at Multilingual Manchester.
10 During the workshops, the young people used artistic methods including drawing, photography and collage to produce individual works which were then digitised and combined to create an overall image representing their experience of the Rusholme area. The process of using artistic methods to explore these questions opened up new possibilities for understanding as the young people needed to analyse and interpret the images around them in order to re-present their findings. Burnage Academy Head of Languages Mr Greg Morrison said ‘we’re really pleased to see the artwork up in our canteen. The project was a great success, thanks to the hard work of staff at school, the range of academics involved, and of course our students – who put so much into the research. It was a large part of the Language and EAL Faculty’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural offer, something that is very important to us here at Burnage Academy. The work that we do with Multilingual Manchester, including the Multilingual Streets project, helps us to promote languages in school and support students in fostering a love of the languages that many already speak’. MFL at the Christmas Markets
Year 8 visited the famous Manchester Christmas Markets this December as part of Languages SMSC in order to see the range of 11 different languages and cultures on display across the city. They managed to spot representatives from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Spain amongst others! It was a good opportuni- ty to enjoy the festive occasion but again explore diversity where we live.
French Y11 GCSE students enjoy a trip to Lille! 35 students, including all Year 11 students preparing for their French GCSE, travelled to northern France to spend 3 days immersing themselves in French culture and practising for the upcoming exams. We had a very early start, leaving school at 5am and heading to Dover by coach. We arrived at the south coast in glorious weather and took a smooth crossing to Calais, where we continued our journey to Ebblinghem, near the town of Saint Omer. Our accommodation was provided by NST, who helped us arrange our trip and plan our activities.
11 Arriving pretty tired in the late afternoon, we relaxed and got to know our accommodation a little, with some students taking advantage of the games room or the sports equipment. Our evening meal included the chance to try ‘les escargots’ – only four students were brave enough to try! The next day, we enjoyed some croissants and hot chocolate before leaving for Lille, where we intended to spend the day exploring the city and looking around their Christmas markets.
“The trip was really useful – I spoke to some French people when there and it made speaking the language much less scary when it comes to speaking it in school or in exams.” Imamul, Year 11
Our timing was certainly interesting, as France was caught in the middle of a national strike – meaning that the city was full of protesters, this made our day a little more difficult! Despite that, the students practised their language skills through the various stalls, buying presents for their families and some tasty treats to eat or drink! We left Lille just before the main protest started – but we did get the chance to see the demonstrations and the reaction of the city to it. We were also happy to meet Mme 12 Esnault, our colleague from our partner school Lycée Jean Moulin. She brought her daughter Léa, who now goes to university in Lille and who actually took part in an exchange with Burnage whilst she was still at school in 2014. We were happy to have them guiding us around the city and they even bought us some presents (including a poster for Mr Morrison’s room) and took students to a book shop to help them find something to help their studies. We spent the evening back in Ebblinghem and enjoyed a Christmas meal and quiz, ready for an early start the next day. On our final day, we again enjoyed a French breakfast before heading to Saint Omer to enjoy some café culture – we separated into groups and went to different cafés or shops to buy some bread, coffees and hot chocolates. Again – students had to order their own in French or they wouldn’t be able to have any! We left Saint Omer just before lunch time, heading to Calais for the ferry back to Dover. Unfortunately, the sea was much more difficult this time and a few of us suffered from a little sea sickness – but that’s all part of the fun! Once back in Dover, we had a fairly smooth journey on the coach back to Burnage. We just wish we could have stayed longer!
Students who study French at GCSE will have the opportunity to visit France as part of their course, de- pending on availability. Speak to Mr Morrison or any French teacher if you’d like more information.
12 MFL Celebrate the Chinese New Year
Boys in Year 8 marked Chinese New Year by experiencing some Chinese Dragon Dancing and learning about the customs and traditions of the celebration. All students completed a lesson where they learned about how and why the celebration takes place, and some of the customs that are commonplace during New Year celebrations both in China and in the Chinese community here in Manchester. We finished our work by taking part in a traditional parade complete with dragons and lions.
EAL students had a go at ice skating and went to visit the Ice Village, explored Manchester city centre 13 and the Christmas Markets. The trip proved to be very successful and enjoyable for all of the boys. We departed school at 9am and headed for Manchester city centre via public transport using busses allowed the boys to get a feel for the city and connect their daily commutes and destinations with the greater city and places we were visiting. This SMSC trip also provided the boys with an opportunity to experience the festivities of the annual Christmas Market in Manchester and be part of the greater community. Students were able to see and experience the different activities available at this time of year and see how accessible they are by regular bus routes.
13 SCHOOL REWARDS SHOP Behaviour, Respect, Reward . Here at Burnage Academy for Boys, we strongly believe that a thriving community begins with respect for self and others . To this end, one of the cornerstones of our school ethos is that positive contributions from pupils need to be recognised by our staff - with pupils rewarded for their respect, politeness and manners . Our school shop is a key method through which we achieve this . Here, boys can purchase goods using their reward points as currency, with a simple system used to work out each pupil’s balance in their reward account . School Shop Action Team Mathew Rogers Deputy Headteacher
Place your rewards orders using ClassCharts • Go to www classcharts. com/student/login. SCHOOL SHOP • Enter your student access code . • Click Log-in! • Ask your form tutor if you need your access code! COLLECT YOUR REWARD ORDERS ON THURSDAYS (after school from the school shop)
• All orders MUST be collected on the Thursday immediately after placing them. • NEW! Orders no longer need to be placed the day before – they can now be placed up to a minute before collection (on the Thursday) . • IMPORTANT Orders not collected will be cancelled and pupils risk losing their points. 800 plus prizes claimed so far this year. 786,068 points still available to spend 134,736 points spent so far. GET ORDERING! Bamazon Prime Delivery! CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THURSDAY? Get express delivery on your orders by selecting ‘Bamazon Prime’ - your goodies will be delivered straight to your form (within 1 to 2 school days). See https://www.classcharts.com/rewards for details. SCHOOL REWARDS SHOP
NEW PRIZES ADDED THIS TERM! PRIZES START FROM AS LITTLE AS 40 POINTS! DT visit the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry
As part of the SMSC curriculum the Design and Technology department have been looking at Manchester’s efforts in WWII, specifically investigating AVRO. It was the work of Manchester born Inventor Alliot Verdon Roe, who founded A V Roe and Company (known as AVRO) in 1910. A V Roe became a leader in British aircraft design, building aeroplanes that saw action in both World Wars. We looked at where the factories were located, who was working in them and what they were making. To reinforce this work the students also visited the Museum of Science and Industry to view some of the AVRO aeroplanes that are on display in the Air
and Space Hall. During the visit to the Museum of Science and Industry the students had the opportunity to see a replica of the Roe Triplane 1, which became the first all British aeroplane to take to the skies on 23 July 1909. They were also able to get up close to the WR960 MR2/AEW2 Avro Shackleton, which was designed to conduct search and rescue operations. By visiting the Museum the students were able to see actual 16 pieces of local history in person. They experienced standing under the fuselage of the Shackleton with its huge contra rotating propeller blades, and saw the frail paper wings of the Roe I Triplane, imagining how it would feel to be hanging on at 40 km/h. The feedback from the day was overwhelmingly positive from the students who all behaved exceptionally well.
14 Burnage Boys in the community.
Year 7 took part in a short heritage walk, learning about five key historic areas on Burnage Lane. They then went to the Library and created a blog post by uploading images and text onto the Burnage: A Place Called Home's project website as a Burnage High Takeover. Students were then able to upload five NFC tags which are a new version of a QR code using the NFC tools app to link to these blog posts. The five programmed tags were put onto a map of Burnage Lane and students were be able to hover their tablets over the route and discover the history of each stop, as put together by their classmates.
The students are working hard in the Photographs, left and below, to create the 17 new QR codes that can be used for the walking maps of Burnage.
A Link to the blog is http://burnagehome.co.uk/wp/blog/
Staff from the community project were very impressed with the enthusiasm and work ethic of the boys involved.
15 Art: The Big Draw Every October schools, museums, libraries and art galleries get involved with the 'BIG DRAW' project originally started by Quentin Blake to get the UK drawing again. We have again been working with Stanley Grove to participate in their 'Installation Art' project. This year the theme has been 'What is on your mind Manchester?' All our year 7 and 8 students have created a paper hat and decorated it with their happy thoughts, worries, ambitions and interests. Their work along with 10,000 other Primary and Secondary school student’s work will be on display in cultural places around Manchester, including the Whitworth Art Gallery and the Central Library on 30th October.
One of the many hats drawn by our students
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'Sculpture in School' Project
This year Burnage Academy for Boys was shortlisted for a special Masterpieces in Schools event supported by Manchester Art Gallery. This term we have been working with the Gallery on this very special and exciting project. Nine of our year nine students were selected to work on the project, with the aim of learning about curation in order to deliver a series of workshops based on a piece of sculpture from Manchester Art Gallery. We have been extremely privileged to work on such an unusual project as we have met the sculptural artist Halima Cassell and seen pieces of art being restored, protected and curated. Our group of nine year nine students delivered a series of workshops on Tuesday 22nd October. The project has been documents throughout and will be on display in the Manchester Art Gal- lery's new Sculpture exhibition opening on 6th November.
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Community Christmas Buffet
On Thursday 12th December Burnage Academy for Boys hosted Christmas Buffet for various members of our local community.
Despite the horrible weather, guests came from the surrounding community centres
On the day, the Year 10 Food GCSE stu- 19 dents and the Year 7 cooking club lovingly prepared all the food. Other students also helped in the decoration of the hall. They all did a fantastic job and the guests were very impressed by their cooking, service and hospitality.
The wonderful atmosphere was enriched further by fabulous entertainment provid- ed by Green End Primary School. Their wonderful choir sang Christmas songs and carols beautifully; their talented and energetic Bollywood dance group also entertained us. A huge thank you to the children and Staff of Green End Primary school for your sup- port on the day
17 RHS BIG SOUP
SHARE
On Thursday 10th October 11P took part in the RHS Big Soup Share. We wanted the chance to celebrate the work the boys do in the garden by harvesting crops, whizzing them up into delicious soups and sharing it out to staff to raise money for a very worthy cause close to all our hearts. In the morning 11P worked extremely hard preparing all the vegetables from the garden.
They then made 3 different soups to share with staff.
Menu
Red Lentil and Tomato Soup Spicy Tomato and Red Pepper Soup 20 Creamy Leek and Potato Soup T
There was a great turnout and everybody enjoyed the experience and even the soup!!!! The boys raised £100.28p . A BIG Thank you to the staff that attended and a Huge well done to all the boys that took part. Celine Doyle & Michelle Chesters
18 Inter School Badminton The badminton season has again started well for Burnage. Once again I am pleased to say that we retained our status as the KS4 Doubles Champions. The partnership of Raza (playing with his shoes on!) and Keshap breezed through to the final beating King David 15 5. The KS3 partnership consisting of Zaid and Sameer had to settle for the silver medal narrowly getting beat in the final by King David 11 8. A good start to the new academic year. The KS4 winning team (above) consisting of Moeed, 21 Muhammad, Keshap and Wajahat were the winners, winning the competition 4 games to 1 against a competitive King David side.
The KS3 team consisting of Qais, Abubakar, Zaid and Shahab came beat another King David team in the bronze medal match 3 games to 2 to finish 3rd overall.
19 The sporting success continues: Y7/8 Futsal Tournament
It was the year 7/8 Futsal tournament yesterday at Platt Lane. It was the boy’s first experience of playing Futsal and we eventually came joint third, which has been great for the boys as they haven't won a game this season. We lost to Loreto 6 1 in the first game, with Abdullahi scoring. We then beat Manchester Grammar School 3 0, with Hamza, Danish and Jamie scoring. In the semi final, we drew 2 2 with MCA, with Danish scoring two.
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In the photo above ,the boys in classic pose ready for the forthcoming action.. In the photo on the left, the boys proudly wearing their medals. Well done to all!
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KATH FRY CHALLENGE WEEKEND December 2019 The Kath Fry Challenge is an adventurous activities competition for teams from Manchester schools. Ghyll Head Outdoor Education Centre runs the competition every year, over a number of winter weekends. It has run annually ever since the year 2000 and we always send a team. Each school sends a team of ten students plus two staff. Up to four school teams could be at Ghyll Head at the same time. The students from each school have to cooperate with each other around the house throughout the weekend – keeping the house tidy, working together at mealtimes, being on time and so on. For activities, each team works separately with an instructor and their school staff. 2019 20 Team
Amaan 10B Hassnain 10F Hassan 10B Badar 10G Haider 10F Sufian 10U Ibrahim 10F Noor 10B Meer 10G Danyal 10R
[Danyal was unable to take part] Recently, fewer schools have taken part in the Challenge and this year the other school that should have been on our weekend withdrew, so we were “flying solo.” 23 During the weekend, the following challenge activities took place: Friday evening – a night navigation activity – the team has to find its own way around a route (about 3km long), near Ghyll Head IN THE DARK, BY THEMSELVES. They completed this, mostly in heavy rain, without getting lost! Saturday (all day) – a Mountain navigation day the team has to follow a route to the top of a moun- tain and back down. The Mountain Day challenge was exceptional this year. It was a cold, windy but dry day. Snow was lying on the ground above about 500m. The instructor had such confidence in the team that we were able to get to the summit of Coniston Old Man (809 m) in what amounted to an ice storm! There was deep snow and the winds were gusting to 60 miles per hour and blowing ice and snow at us almost all the time above 650m.
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Saturday evening – a team challenge on the Ghyll Head site – the “egg drop.” They made a cradle and parachute for their egg and it survived a drop of about 12 metres from the top of the climbing tower without break- ing. Sunday – activities chosen by the team themselves: A lot of snow fell overnight and Sunday was a cold, dry – sometimes sunny day. It was less windy than Saturday.
The most adventurous activities that the boys chose were: The Climbing Tower. Nearly all of them got to the top, including some who had not done any climbing before this weekend. Everyone got at least half way up the tower (see left). Canoeing on the Lake – This was joining three canoes together to make a trimaran and paddling across the lake and back. After a few problems with tying the knots (that hold the raft together) properly, their trimaran was successfully made and floated. As soon as they started to paddle it, they had the 24 raft under complete control and could confidently move it forwards, backwards and in any direction they needed to go. After a short practice run, they paddled from the boathouse to the far side of the lake in less than 8 minutes. That is a record for beginners (see below).
Throughout the weekend, the boys worked very hard with all the activities and made a very good impression with Ghyll Head staff. The weather was in itself a challenge. They successfully took on all the “challenges” – including getting up on time, making their own breakfasts and keeping the bungalow tidy. ‘The boys were a credit to themselves and the school.’ John Haddon /Steve Shropshire (Party Leaders)
22 .Rewards trip 19th December
House Leaders took 160 students to the Savoy to watch the new Star Wars film. The boys at Burnage were amongst the first in the city to see the film due to us all going at 8.30am on the day of release.
The film was thoroughly enjoyed by all and a great reward to those pupils who have 100% attendance and excellent behaviour in school.
Foodbank Trussell Trust Last term a group of students got together and set up a school council action team. They made a poster and delivered 4 assemblies across the whole school to all the house assemblies based on the work the Trussell Trust charity do for families in need all over the UK. They launched a 25 food bank collection and went round promoting and collecting donations from staff and students throughout the months of November and December. We managed to deliver over 100 carrier bags of food to Margret at the Trussell Trust just in time for Christmas, when families are struggling. Students involved were Salahuddin , Wali , Abdul and Usman all in 8A.
Mental Health We are pleased to welcome Jeremy Holloway to the staff team at Burnage this term. Jeremy is a mental health practitioner and will be working with us every Friday. Jeremy works for MIND/YASP, local mental health charities. Jeremy is currently supporting a number of our students in school. Jeremy is based in the Milner room. 23 Mental Health First Aid We were delighted to welcome Katy Storie ex Olympian and ex England Rugby player to Burnage last Friday. Katy worked with a group of 6 students in the morning, training them up to be mental health ambassadors. During the afternoon the trained ambassadors delivered a session to 20 students teach- ing them how to be mentally healthy. The session was enjoyed by all and our boys did the school proud. Students involved and trained up to be the ambassadors are Ibrahim, Hamza, Ahmed , Qasim, Raqib and Adam.
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Various pictures of the boys participating in fun mental health activities.
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Burnage Social Media News
We have listened to feedback from parents and students and are increasing our output on social media.
Our YouTube channel will post highlights from the school on a termly basis, as well as share interesting clips and noteworthy events. Why not subscribe?
We will also continue sharing information on our well-established Twitter page @Burnage_Academy, which has been running since June 2013. We’re happy to be returning to Facebook too – ‘like’ our page via the link at the top of our website. We will use both of these platforms to share photos and information, and to promote Parents’ Evenings and other events that we host. 27
We have an Instagram account, which you can follow @burnage_academy. We are hoping to get this account more active towards the end of this year, so make sure you follow so you don’t miss out when we do!
We know how important it is to stay safe online – which is why we are sharing this information with you. We want to make sure all of our students, parents and the wider community are following the correct accounts for us so that you can be sure that you are receiving accurate information. We also ensure that all students learn about how to stay safe online – if you would like further information, please visit National Online Safety at www.nationalonlinesafety.com.
Direct links to all of our social media channels are available at the top of our website burnage.manchester.sch.uk.
Make sure you like/follow/subscribe to our accounts to stay up to date with all of the wonderful activi- ties we have to offer here at Burnage!
25 Burnage Academy for Boys SHARP
The School Help Advice Reporting Page (SHARP) system provides a CONFIDENTIAL way to help prevent YOU a FRIEND or SOMEONE you know from SUFFERING.
Please take the time to look through the pages for help and guidance on a number of different subjects but if you or someone you know have any problems with your family or friends, either at School, at Home or in the local community please don’t suffer in silence drop us a line or see us in person and we will do whatever we can to help. To contact us anonymously, visit the site http://burnage.thesharpsystem.com then click ‘Make Report’ and fill out the form.
Burnage Academy for Boys ‘Always being the best that we can be’
The Burnage Academy Newsletter is written and published by BURNAGE ACADEMY FOR BOYS staff and pupils of the school.
BURNAGE LANE Editor: D Lingenfelter
MANCHESTER M19 1ER This newsletter contains information about pupils’ activities in school and is intended for general information only. Erroneous information or omissions may occur due to typographical or TEL: 0161 432 1527 layout errors. Should you see any errors, you are invited to contact us for the appropriate corrections to be made. FAX: 0161 442 7158 The information in this newsletter may be translated to other Email: [email protected] languages for the convenience of parents and other readers. (contact D Robinson)
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