It's the End of an Era

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. 4 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.

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