NEWSLETTER December 2014 Quotes from students and guests: “I had a lovely time. The whole event was wonderful. I will definitely return with more friends next year!” Angela Lester “My role was to talk to members of our community and make sure that they had an enjoyable experience. I enjoyed finding out about their lives and telling them about my future aspirations. My favourite part was seeing the smiles on the faces of our guests, Christmas Community Party 2014 For the past four years, the Catering and Business and knowing that they were having a good time.” Faculties have collaborated in order to organise a Mitchell Beale, Year 11 Christmas Community Party. Students are given “We come here every year, and each time we come, a budget of £50 and set the task of organising the we are made to event, which sees more than 100 people attend feel really welcome. from the local community. This year, we held the The students are event in our brand new Lecture Theatre and invited amazing and hard- students from Milestone . Guests enjoyed working. We look a variety of sweet and savoury dishes, and even forward to coming had the opportunity to win various prizes kindly back next year.” supplied by Marks & Spencer, Asda and our very own Brenda, from Horticulture Department, to name but a few. Swanara Club. The event was a huge “After all the stress and the effort that we put in to success – the students make our last community Christmas party a success benefited immensely it turned out exactly how we wanted. We had more from the superb sense people than we have ever had before and the food of community. was amazing. It was the best community Christmas party ever!!!” Emma Hyland, Year 13 continued over... “It was wonderful to come in and see our students having so much fun. Thank you so much for inviting us.” Nigel Jones, Principal - Milestone Academy “All of the guests expressed their appreciation greatly. We received a lot of support from an overwhelming number of staff members and local businesses who donated raffle prizes and food to help the event come to life.” Flori Catling, Year 13 “All the stress of planning was worth it; it was time well spent and it was great to see that everyone enjoyed the experience as much as us” Emily Britton, Year 13 J Murty & L Evans Christmas Showcase On Monday 15th December, we will be holding our first ever “Christmas Showcase” concert. The evening will feature a varied programme of musical performances by talented students from Year 7, all the way up to Year 12. The students have been working extremely hard to put together these performances and would love to see as many people as possible coming to support them at Lecture Theatre, 18:00 – 20:00, on Monday the 15th December. If you would like to support this event then tickets can be bought via ParentPay. Adult tickets are £4 and Children are £2. This will also entitle you to a free drink and a programme. We look forward to seeing you there. S. Blackmore Wilmington Remembers In the centenary year of the outbreak of World War One the cost of war has been highlighted, perhaps as never before. A group of our students expressed an interest in laying a wreath in Dartford as part of the Remembrance Sunday commemoration, on behalf of Wilmington Academy.This was organised with the support of The British Legion, and the wreath was laid alongside the many others at the War Memorial in the town centre by Michael Evans, Denver Coleman, Conor Jackson, Tom Baker and Taylen Leaver-Gritter. It was very moving to see our students take part in an event of such importance to the community. During the morning we saw over 25 Wilmington students that were there as part of uniformed organisations, which is very impressive and is a shining example of our students commitment to their communities. Wilmington Academy presents Hairspray Both Minerva and Apollo students have been working very hard on the Wilmington Academy Players’ new production of the musical classic ‘Hairspray’ This will be Wilmington’s biggest and best production to date, with the largest cast we have ever seen! Over the first weeks of rehearsals, the students have demonstrated outstanding dedication, collaboration, and persistence in the development of the project. Come out and support the entire cast and crew on Friday the 20th of March and Saturday the 21st of March at 7:30 pm in our brand new lecture theatre! Tickets are £3 for students, £5 for adults and will go on sale closer to the performance dates. Keep a close eye out for updates throughout the year! C. Fallowfield Wilmington’s Published Poets Back in the summer, some Minerva students completed the “War of Words” poetry competition run by Young Writers. The brief was to write an original poem about war and conflict. Our discussions in class were around different types of war and the different meanings of conflict. Students worked really hard on their poems and wrote some excellent pieces which were submitted to Young Writers. In October, it was my pleasure to receive notification that ten students from Wilmington Academy had been successful in having their poems published in the “War of Words” anthology. Congratulations to: Erika Pitcher, Smriti Gurung, Matthew Swyer, Nicole Sampson, Emily Rayner, Yubin Garbuja, Matthew Ray and Cameron Goddard. B. Burwood Marcus Alexander coming to Wilmington The author Marcus Alexander will be visiting Wilmington Academy in February 2015 with his creative writing workshops. He is author of the trilogy “Keeper of the Realms” as well being an extreme sports enthusiast. He has been sand boarding in the Sahara, climbed ice flows in the Khumbu Glacier and does kickboxing and martial arts. Marcus will be speaking to the students about his love for extreme sports, the unusual foods he has eaten (dog, monkey brains and grasshopper), the unique people he has met on his travels (Bedouin, Karen freedom fighters) and how this has inspired his writing. He will also be speaking about the seven life changing reasons why reluctant readers must pick up books and how to find inspiration for writing and creative thinking. D. Kennedy LEXIA Arrives at Wilmington Academy In September all students in Year 7 and 8, along with selected classes in Year 9, began a phonics based computer programme to improve their reading and speaking ability. The students get one half hour session each week in the Accelerated Reader lessons and have been making good progress. However, to make even better progress, students should be encouraged to complete two – three sessions per week on the programme. This means that students can also work on the programme at home. To download LEXIA onto your child’s tablet or computer please visit the link: http://lexialearning.com/lexiasupport/school-to-home/ Thank you for your on-going support of our commitment to developing literacy. N. Marken 1st Annual Book Day For World Book Day 2015 in March, the Academy will be running a two week festival; The 1st Annual Wilmington Academy Hunger Games. Students will have the opportunity to ‘volunteer’ to take part in various competitions and activities across the fortnight which will earn them points for their tutor group. Then the winning tutor group will be crowned Victors! May the odds be ever in your favour. N. Marken Breakthrough Bake Off Sale Two Post 16 students, Sevilen Sunassee and Louis Newman- Peters organised the Breakthrough Bake Off cake sale for Breast Cancer Research. Students and staff donated cakes and cookies and they were sold at break and lunch time. The event was well organised and they raised £96.20. Katie Durant and Kayla Fitton also helped with the sale. J. Murty Work Experience 2015 Every year we encourage Year 12 students to take part in our two week work experience scheme. We expect them to work in placements linked to their chosen career, university choices or A level courses. Every year it gets harder to find placements that will be of benefit to them and the company they work in, without being a burden. A plea from the Academy if you have contacts or happen to work in any of the following professions, would you be willing to help place one of our Year 12 students? We all had to start somewhere and you might just find a future employee who is a real gem! Placements needed: Banking, Medicine, Midwifery, Garages, Art (including art shops), Solicitors, Travel agents, Care homes, Theatres, Estate agents, ICT, PE, Accountancy, Pharmacy, Graphic design or Media. T. Murphy Year 11 History Since September, all Year 11 History GCSE students have been carrying out their controlled assessment enquiry on political change in the 1970s and 1980s. As part of this work, students even took part in a re-enactment of the 1982 Miner’s Strike. Whilst Wilmington’s version was policed in a slightly more civilised manner, students were able to connect to the passion felt by all involved. Being able to empathise with the delicate subject matter in this way has ensured that the students are well prepared to undertake their controlled assessment assignments before the Christmas break. When completed and marked, the controlled assessment will represent 25% of students’ overall History GCSE. Students will then spend January-May revising for their remaining summer exams, determined to achieve their target grades. R. Leitch Post 16 Poetry Post-16 English have done a brilliant job in the first round of Poetry by Heart. In order to compete, students had to memorise two poems. One poem needed to be pre-1914 and the other had to be post-1914; an incredibly difficult task. Our winner was Katy Smith, with “A Thousand Martyrs” by Aphra Behn, and “Sea Rose” by H.D. She will progress to the Regionals on 16th January 2015. Congratulations to Katy, and to all the contestants for amazing effort and dedication. K. Sanders Stem Club News We have kicked off this year by uniting science, technology, engineering and maths under the guise of making a hand-eye co-ordination buzzer game. Our students are learning new skills such as soldering and studying electronics and electricity plus having a jolly old time designing and building their own games – as you can see by the pictures. Congratulations to Jack Collett, Noah Green, Melanie & Billy Miller, Milly Scott, Adam Wilson and Tom Waller for their enthusiasm and courage in accepting our challenge – you have all done a brilliant job! Next module we will be studying Astronomy and looking at the stars. Any KS3 students interested in joining us on Tuesday after school can sign up on the sheet outside A01. Keep an eye on the night skies on 12th -13th December as, if it’s clear, the Geminids meteor shower should give us a nice display of shooting stars – no telescope or binoculars necessary! K. Oliver Welcome to our New Examinations Officer I am pleased to announce that Louise Jackson is our newly appointed Examinations Officer following the recent retirement of our long serving colleague Lorraine Clarke. I am sure you will join me in thanking Lorraine for her dedicated service of over 20 years and in wishing her well for the future. We also welcome Louise to Wilmington Academy and wish her every success in her new role. We have recently received the examination certificates for the summer 2014 GCE, GCSE and BTEC examinations and letters have been sent out informing students that they can be collected from the main office. Please take care to check that they are correct and ensure that they are kept in a safe place as they are expensive to replace. Year 11 students will be undertaking their Mock Examinations in the week beginning 26th January 2015 so it is important to plan and undertake some revision during the long break. I strongly advise students to attend as many as possible of the revision classes taking place after school and on Saturday mornings over the next few weeks. Revision Guides can be purchased through ParentPay for most subjects and they provide a valuable basis for effective revision. B. Dedross 2014 In November, Pudsey Bear made another appearance to raise money for Children in Need 2014. The students and staff at Wilmington Academy responded generously and gave all they could, from pennies to pounds. Pudsey enjoyed walking around the school site and even teaching some Maths lessons! The generosity at Wilmington Academy is overwhelming and each year the grand total that has been collected has increased. This has been my 9th year of experiencing the discomfort of wearing a big yellow furry costume for a day, not to mention the face paint, yet each year it is worth it just to see the welcoming response and charitable nature of everyone at the Academy. Well done to everyone for contributing this year, raising over £150.00 for a very good cause. R. Mongon Horticulture at Wilmington Another great start to the year for our Horticulture Department. We had a lecturer from Hadlow College Florist Department. She taught our Year 9 students how to make a button hole, a real hands-on experience for our students. We took our Year 10 and Year 12 students to Coolings Nursery, Knockholt, to look behind the scenes at the Nursery to see what is involved in keeping the business thriving. We have a visit planned for next year to Hadlow College to show our students how they can progress from the Academy to the College with their Horticulture qualification. Hopefully, we will be planning next year’s entry into the Chelsea Flower Show. Preparation starts in January and we look forward to another successful show in May. We are very much focused on careers in the Land Based Sector and encouraging our students to look at all the opportunities available to them in this area. We would like to take this opportunity to thank any parent who sent in Morrisons “Let’s Grow” vouchers to the Academy. We have collected enough vouchers to get some much needed seed packets for the department. B. Dedross

Skills London 2014 On Friday 21 November, Year 12 and Year 13 students were given the fantastic opportunity of attending the popular Skills London Show. The event is the biggest jobs and careers event for 15-24 year olds and featured over 45,000 job opportunities, including Apprenticeships, 185 exhibitors from top employers (including British Airways, and HSBC Bank, to name but a few), colleges, training providers and advisers. Students had the opportunity to talk to exhibitors and find about possible future career paths and life after their Post 16 studies. Here’s what a few students said about the day: Our trip to the skills show was successful; we got to see each different sector of industry, talk to potential employers and universities and as I am interested in business, I went to all of the business venders to see what they had to offer in terms of my future. I found this incredibly beneficial.Luke Lonergan When visiting the Skills show day on the 21st October, I left with a positive and enthusiastic outlook about university. The day allowed me to explore and ask questions about courses I wish to take, and I have also made a decision about which universities I would like to apply to. Jessica Martin L Evans Careers Careers Education, Information, Advice and guidance forms an integral part of Wilmington Academy’s educational ethos from Year 7 through to when the students prepare to leave us at the end of Year 13. The careers section of the Wilmington Academy website has enhanced the research that students can do into different opportunities in the future. We are encouraging our students to look at different opportunities that are available so that they can be fully prepared for the work place. The most recent section to be added to the website has been a job opportunity section where employers can advertise their vacancies. This has given our students a portal where they can access either current part time or full time positions, which they may wish to consider. We will be advertising local and national apprenticeship schemes when they are advertised in the New Year so that 2015 leavers have a wide range of options to consider. Wilmington Academy looks forward to working towards the Investors in Careers award. This is an award where the whole of the Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance will be scrutinised and evaluated against set standards. As the Careers Advisor I am pleased that the students have access to my contact details on the website and can email me with any queries or organise to make an appointment for a careers related interview. L. Tannock Girls Sport at Wilmington The girls have been representing the extracurricular clubs extremely well this year. Girl’s football, netball and trampolining have really taken off with students being extremely committed to attending. Girl’s football has been boosted by sessions from Gillingham FC and the performance level has been really high. Miss Stewart and Miss Collinson are really looking forward to all the fixtures, events and trips coming up – keep an eye out for these. There are too many students to individually mention but a massive well done to all of the girls who are regularly attending clubs, keep it up. L. Collinson Wilmington Girls Football Team In September the Year 7 and Year 8 (U13) girls’ football team played their first ever 11 aside match for the school in the Cup. Although they lost, they had a brilliant game especially the second half of the game with Alex Bonner (Yr7 Apollo) and Rosie Nobbs (Yr8 Minerva) both scoring fantastic goals!! The progress they have made as individuals and a team over the last season has been absolutely brilliant. Every single one of them deserves some recognition for this commitment to the school team and for representing the school in a fantastic manner. Thank you to the staff that came out to watch the game; it makes such a difference when the girls know that teachers outside of PE give them the recognition too. Please keep encouraging these girls and others with football club and the other sports on option for them; it’s so good for them to be getting involved! L. Collinson Quiz Night We are running a Quiz Night in January 2015 (date to be confirmed) to raise funds for the school trips to Brussels, New York and Germany. Tickets will be available in January. These evenings are always popular and great fun and there will be a raffle with the chance to win a range of prizes including the luggage in the picture. B. Dedross A District Cross-Country Year 7 Boys Team Result Year 8/9 Boys Team Result 1st Dartford Grammar 1st WGSB 2nd Wilmington Academy 2nd Dartford Grammar 3rd 3rd Wilmington Academy 4th WGSB 4th Leigh Academy 5th St Johns 5th Ebbsfleet Academy 6th St Johns On Thursday 6th December over 7th Longfield Academy 30 Wilmington Academy students 8th Meopham competed in the annual PEA district cross-country competition held at the Leigh Academy. The entire cross-country team did exceptionally well and were a credit to the Academy. Our year 7 and 8/9 boy’s cross-country teams did particularly well. The Year 7 boys’ came 2nd overall and the year 8/9 team came 3rd.

I Priest Post 16 Football Team – Wilmington v Ebbsfleet Academy Our first away game of the season was away to Ebbsfleet Academy. We started well passing the ball around. Ten minutes into the match Ryan Parish was fouled 25 yards from goal, Darren Wilkins stepped up and struck the ball across the goal into the top left corner beating the keeper. Five minutes before half time Ebbsfleet were back on level terms with a strike from 20 yards into the bottom right corner. Ten minutes into the second half there was a large break in play after a player from Ebbsfleet seriously injured his leg. The match continued and Ebbsfleet started to get a grip on the game, they took the lead 10 minutes before the end with another strike from 20 yards from goal. We tried but failed to get back into the game after several good efforts were saved. The match finished 2-1 to Ebbsfleet. Team sheet - George Donovan, Ryan Parish, Matt Nelson (captain), Louis Rhodes, Teddy Drewer, Darren Wilkins, Naz Uddin, Tom Field, Brandon Dehal, Sylvester Mbeah, Ronan Prima. Subs - Ryan Smith, Dawid Ciecierski. Man of the Match - Darren Wilkins

S. Metcalf Amazon Rain Forest comes to Wilmington Year 8 were delighted to take part in a series of workshops about the Amazon Rainforest hosted by Zoolab. Their ranger, Jack, came into Wilmington to give our pupils a lesson on the layers of the rainforest and the animals you could expect to find there. He was accompanied by a snake, some toads, a land snail, cockroaches and Rosie the Tarantula which the pupils got to learn about and hold if they wished. The experience was enjoyed by all and has deepened their knowledge of the unit we are studying in Geography this module, Brazil. We are looking forward to offering this workshop again in the future. S. Rackley Netball During module 1, Year 7 netball girls took part in a mini tournament between Gravesend Grammar and Northfleet School for Girls. Wilmington won all of their games and had the most students out of all 3 schools. All students were exceptional and encouraged each other and the other teams. Their constant commitment to training really paid off. Well done! Rachel Davidson Francesca White Millie Rose Sandy McLaren Jemma Pope Kenna Collins Skye Watts Madison Lapper Jayita Booneady Tiana Chapman Alex Bonner Keneshia Sebastian Chloe Cotton Sophie Sheffield Francesca White Nikola Krawzcyk

N. Stewart Football News After a 7-2 victory in their opening league game, the Year 9 boys’ football team are nicely placed in their District League, and harbour strong hopes of qualifying for the league final. With the Kent Cup their major focus this term, the boys sadly suffered a narrow loss to Ravensbourne, having knocked out Kemnal Technology College on penalties in Round two. Captain Kanan Fitton and fellow strike partner Alfie Clark lead the scoring charts so far, in what has been a promising start to the season for the Year 9’s. The Year 8 team find themselves top of their district league after a 100% winning start, in which they have defeated both The Leigh and , thanks to some great performances from midfielder Jack Kelly, and some inspired goalkeeping from Luke Yates. Our Post 16 team have also experienced a strong start to the season, with the 6th formers recording two wins from their opening three games. M. Slater Calling all Year 11 and 12 students! It’s not too late to do something amazing in 2016 with Wilmington Academy and Volunteer with African Adventures for an experience of a life time. Following the success of our volunteering trip to Kenya in February of this year we are looking to repeat this experience in 2016. We are looking to take a group of enthusiastic and self-motivated students to Kenya to work with one of a number of projects; tasks include teaching and construction. In addition to this, you will visit a number of attractions such as the Equator and Thomson Falls. You will also have the opportunity to go on Safari with the chance to see the Big 5 in the wild. If you are interested please see Mr Hellyer for further information before Friday 9th January 2015. M.Hellyer Visit to The British Film Institute Our Year 13 Film Studies class recently had the opportunity to visit the British Film Institute’s Reading Room. The students had the chance to access the largest collection of film esourcesr in the world. With several hours’ access to books and journals and instruction in how to use the library system, the day was a huge success for coursework research and a big step into university research skills. K. Saunders Teaching & Learning – Progress Over Time It’s an exciting time at Wilmington Academy with developments in Teaching & Learning. Over the last two modules staff have been developing progress trackers specifically for their subjects. Progress trackers are now on display in all student books, making it clear how students have progressed across a topic or module. Students can now easily identify their targets, how they need to improve and articulate this. G. Stringer Wilmington Academy has introduced a new marking and feedback initiative across the academy. Over the past module, teachers and students have been compiling feedback of their work via a Wilmington Learning Conversation proforma. This allows teachers to explicitly explain what went well and areas to improve. Students are given the opportunity to respond and share their views. This dialogue is crucial to enable progress to be made across all subjects in the Academy. S. Shead Onatti Theatre Company - Spanish play 250 students from the Leigh Academy, Longfield Academy and Wilmington Academy had the pleasure of attending a Spanish play performed by the Onatti Theatre Company. This was a great opportunity for the students to develop their listening skills and understand Spanish in a real life context. The language was accessible and in line with what our students are taught in their lessons. There were no special effects, just two actors with simple props and acting skills, who entertained our students for a whole hour in Spanish. It was a very successful event that we will be repeating for our students of French. Y. Mimoun MINERVA SPOTLIGHT “A good education is the greatest gift you can give yourself or anyone else.” – Mahtab Narsimhan As we approach the festive season, I feel it is important to reflect on the great start to the academic year for Minerva College students. The Year 7 students have made a very impressive transition from primary to and are now fully embedded into the positive ethos that Minerva College has. Year 8 students are working hard and are about to embark into the New Year with thoughts about what subject options they will choose to study around Easter 2015. Our Year 9 students have begun their pathway in gaining qualifications and developing their learning skills to achieve outstanding progress. Year 10’s are producing work that will be reflected upon, refined and then submitted to ensure they achieve the very best outcomes and finally Year 11, who have made a sterling effort in raising their aspirations through maximising their efforts in attending revision clubs, Saturday schools and other interventions that the academy provides. One can see that student progress and learning is at the core of what we do. I have the privilege of regularly going into a variety of lessons and experiencing the ‘buzz of learning’ and the great rapport that students and staff have, all with the same goal in mind – success. I feel it is essential that our learners develop both their academic and social skills so that they become well–rounded individuals by suitably preparing them for their onward journey in life. During our scheduled tutor programme and weekly assemblies, my team and I discuss expectations, standards, attitudes to learning and celebrate our student achievements. Minerva’s 16 Form groups produce engaging, thought-provoking and entertaining assemblies on a range of social and cultural topics such as ‘Children in Need’ and 10,000 hours’. The Minerva College is a collaborative and successful organisation and I am proud of the staff and students within it. I would like to thank staff, students and parents for all their hard work so far this year and wish you all a very happy Christmas break. Please find below, a flavour of what we achieve within the Minerva College using quotes from my team – Staff and Students… M Gore, Head of College Once again, we have had an excellent start to the year and continue to go from strength to strength. The rigorous pastoral programme introduced in September 2012 is now fully embedded and forms a crucial part of students’ social and emotional development. Highlights so far this academic year have been the Action Day and the ‘Is It Worth It?’ road show. Action Day involves suspending the timetable so students can focus on different aspects of their personal, social and health education. On this occasion students received important, age appropriate Sex and Relationships Education, as well as experiencing educational and fun workshops on a range of issues including careers, financial and personal wellbeing. Professionals from industry were invited in to work alongside Wilmington staff and provide advice and expertise for the Key Stage 4 students. I know from students’ feedback that they found the day enjoyable and really useful. However, the real highlight for Year 7 students in particular has been the ‘Is It Worth It?’ road show. This is an interactive school tour commissioned by Kent police to raise awareness of a range of issues affecting young people. This year the focus was on E-Safety and students from Key Stage 3 thoroughly enjoyed an informative and entertaining presentation. Another important aspect of our pastoral work is the Assemblies, which continue to be informative, thought provoking and often convey a powerful message. M13- M16 have given us an excellent start to the year’s programme and I look forward to seeing the fruits of the tutors and their tutees preparations in the new year. I wish you all a happy, relaxing and, for Year 11, a productive break. Best wishes for the New Year. T. Salih It’s that festive time of year again when we SSMs reflect on what’s been happening in Minerva. We love the way the students get excited as they tell us about what Christmas really means to them and how they enjoy their families getting together. Year 11’s are already focused and attending the various revision sessions we have on offer. We are mentoring our own students which will help them prepare for next year’s exams. Keep going. You can do it. Action Day was a huge success and it was a pleasure to pop into different lessons and see so much activity and fun. We would like to wish all Minerva students and parents/carers a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. S. Duff & T. Penkert Minerva Year 7 Experience “As I am in Year 7, I am new to this school. I like it here a lot. I have made new friends really easy. The Classes that I attend are really fun and I learn a lot of new things. This is a new building and I really like it. The P.E. is really fun because we have a nice big field and we have an indoor sports hall. The P.E. teachers also run a few clubs after school, I am playing football at the moment, We do lots of different assemblies, some are about ourselves and others and some are fun, interesting assemblies.” Bailey Nathanael, Year 7 Minerva Year 8 Experience “Being a Year 8 has opened a lot of opportunities and responsibilities, whether it be challenging tasks or fun trips away, we are now starting to realise our potential focusing on who we will become as a person. With supporting students and staff, workshops and assemblies, every day has something new waiting for us to enjoy. Action Days means that we can try new subjects and work with other students, varying our abilities in order to view new things that we wouldn’t normally come across. Overall, the year so far is proving to be a new journey for us to explore.” Charlotte Crockford and Elise Grigg, Year 8 “I think that Wilmington Academy is a great school with amazing staff to make lessons and assemblies fun and enjoyable! The new building is great and the teachers always bring new things in for us to try such as our humanities animal workshop. As far as our assemblies they always keep them up to date and fantastic. I think the school; staff and lessons are brilliant along with the students.” Connor Plummer, Year 8 Minerva Year 9 Experience “Wilmington Academy is a great place to learn because the teachers are friendly and make our work more fun. The lessons are enjoyable and are made to suit what’s best for us. I love it when we have our end of year assemblies because we always have good music and there are so many good prizes for us to win!” Rhiannon Penkert, Year 9 “I think the lessons this year have been brilliant. My favourite lesson is Product Design. Action Day is the best we did workshops all day. Being in Minerva is fun; we always get pushed to achieve our potential. The reason it is good is because of the people.” Kieran Munday, Year 9 Minerva Year 10 Experience “I’m a Year 10 student at Wilmington Academy. I want to tell you about my enjoyable 4 years at Wilmington. The teachers are great, trustworthy who inspire you to achieve the best possible grades and even give great life advice. I am happy at the academy, I have good friends and comfortable working with my fellow peers in the classroom.” Roland Vata, Year 10 Minerva Year 11 Experience “Success is an easy goal here at Wilmington, I’m in Year 11 and I enjoy every moment of being here and being a part of the Minerva College. I get tons of support from my friends and teachers. The support is amazing, I have a mentor to keep track of my subjects and help me head in the right direction; my mentor also suggests extra support which I can get from any subject, such as after school, lunch times and Saturday School. If I feel I’m falling behind my teacher will help and support me by spending their free time to make sure my coursework and class work is up to date and is done to the best ability possible for outstanding results at the end of Year 11.” Leah Dixon, Year 11 “Life in year 11 is a good experience. It may not seem as easy as it looks, but this is the year teachers prepare you for the real world. All the teachers are putting pressure on you but this is because they want you to succeed and make your future bright. The teachers and other staff will be supporting you 100% throughout the whole process. My mentor also gives me extra support to make sure I make the right choices. Year 11 can be a difficult year but it is also very important so make the most of it and put in as much effort as you can.” Ejay Harewood, Year 11. On the 16th September Madison-Mai Lapper went to Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor of London, with her street dance crew Juicy. They took part for the children’s charity: Dot Com Children’s Foundation She performed in front of Prince William and Kate, contestant , Anton Du Beke, Mark Wright from Towie and many more celebrities. Madison-Mai had a fabulous time. AP☼LLO SPOTIGHT I know it seems that Christmas seems to get earlier every year, but I cannot believe how quickly the first two modules have gone. Looking back it is incredible what has been packed in to such a short amount of time. Our new Year 7 students have settled in very quickly, as demonstrated by their excellent work during our Open Evenings and Open Mornings. Many of our visitors said how impressed they were with how they conducted themselves, commenting specifically about how proud they are of the Academy. Walking around the Academy it is great to see the students focused on their studies and engaging in their learning. This is all part of the strong work ethic we encourage at Wilmington and our challenge to students to fulfil their potential. There is a real desire amongst the students to achieve and make good progress in their studies. Again, visitors to the Academy regularly comment on how impressed they are with the attitude to learning and conduct of our students. Next year has its challenges for all students, but particularly for those in Key Stage 4 and 5 as they approach their final examinations. Please can you check the website regularly for any revision sessions that are being delivered, as they can play a significant role in helping students achieve the highest grades. We deliver a comprehensive support programme and every Year 11 student has a personal mentor. As ever, we appreciate any support you can give in encouraging attendance at these sessions. I cannot emphasise strongly enough the role they can play in preparing students for their GCSEs and A Levels. At KS3 the students are producing some excellent pieces of work and we are excited by the enormous potential that they have. It is just as important that the students in these year groups work hard, so that they are well placed to develop their learning, so that they can achieve the highest grades in Key Stage 4. The pathway to success at GCSE starts in Year 7. One of our key priorities is good attendance. Apollo attendance is currently 94.8%, which is above national average, but is below our target of 95%. I would like to say thank you for all the parental support in encouraging students to maintain high attendance figures. Let’s push on to reach 95% or higher. On behalf of all the Apollo staff, I would like to wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas break and a very successful 2015. Mr P Devlin, Head of College Greetings from Mrs. Johnson! Although Mrs. Johnson can’t be with us at the moment she has passed this message onto us all. “Thinking of you all at Christmas. Love Sweetie xx”

Apollo College Council As part of our Student Voice all of the Apollo Form Groups have elected a Form Representative. It is fantastic that the students are drawn from all year groups and are so keen to play a part in the wider life of the Academy. Apollo Achievers! Throughout this year and last year I have been competing in various competitions around the country. The two most significant were the last two competitions I competed in at the end of last year; the first competition was the National Grades Finals which is a competition where people who have qualified in their regions across Britain go and compete in a national competition in Birmingham. In the competition you have to compete compulsory routines, which I excelled at and came 1st all around for level 6. The team that I competed for London also won the team gold. The second of the competitions was the British championships for 14 and under in Glasgow where I did well and later on in December I received a letter from British Gymnastics saying that I had earned a place on the Great Britain national squad I couldn’t have been any happier as I had been aspiring for the GB squad for some time and to have actually got in was amazing and is now a very significant memory in my life. For the future I am just hoping to continue enjoying what I am doing and am hoping to continue making progress and improving on my gymnastics while also doing well in school. Toby McCarthy Year 11 Settling in! The transition to secondary school is an important milestone in any student’s education. We are really pleased that our Year 7 students have settled in so well to life in Apollo, as shown by the following example: “I started Wilmington Academy in September and I have settled into Apollo really well. All my friends are new friends and everyone is really nice. My favourite lesson is Technology with Miss Long and she is my form tutor. All my lessons are fun and I look forward to school.” Kerryn Spice Year 7

Year 11 Mentoring As part of our support for Year 11 students, every student has a mentor that they see at least once a week. We feel it plays an important role in encouraging the students and helping them cope with the demands of what is, a very demanding year. We think it is successful, and you can see that the students think so to. “The mentoring has really helped me keep on track. I know what to revise on and what I need to practise. My behaviour has got better because I’ve got someone who I meet with regularly that helps me. I’m definitely getting better results now.”Brandon Black – Year 11 “It’s good to have support when you need it and it’s good to know it’s there. It’s helped me understand the transition from Year 11 into the 6th Form a little bit better. I get reminders about revision and homework that helps me meet my deadlines.” Robert Stewart – Year 11 I think it’s beneficial to all the students. You can talk about what problems you’ve got and what you need to improve on, so you can improve yourself. It helps me because it give me scheduled things to do each week. It’s working for me because I’m handing in my work on time.” Nicole Munn – Year 11 “It’s helpful and your mentor gets to know how you’re doing really quickly. They find out everything! I have been attending more revision and I now have a revision timetable. Every single day of every single week is now packed. It’s a good thing because it will help me achieve my grades to get my dream job.” Alex Robertson – Year 11

Wilmington Academy Common Lane, Wilmington, Dartford, Kent DA2 7DR 01322 272 111 | www.wilmingtonacademy.org.uk All text and images © Wilmington Academy 2014 Newsletter design by Toby @ Genobi | genobi.net “It’s really help having someone to talk to about my academic progress. I get reminded to go to revision session and I get set goals to achieve between each session. I always make sure I go back with some merits!” Bryleen Karimakwenda – Year 11 It has been a very busy module for everyone. We have been working very hard in Apollo to raise the attendance, and we are extremely pleased that we have improved from this time last year. Attendance is imperative for the students to succeed. Currently we have 82 students across Apollo that have 100% attendance and we would like to congratulate them on this achievement. We have introduced a Student of the Month Award. Students are nominated by staff for excellent work and effort as well as the contribution they make to Apollo. We were inundated with nominations for this month and it was hard to choose just two students. Congratulations to Adam Wilson A4 Year 7 and Bradley Brazier A11 Year 9 for winning the first Student of the Month awards. Well done, to all students, who took part in Remembrance Day Celebrations. It was lovely to see so many of our pupils giving up their time over that weekend to raise money for the Poppy Appeal, as well as the students that went from form-to-form selling poppies. Overall, Wilmington Academy raised £222.74 selling poppies which is an excellent effort. We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas M. McLean & D. Peeling

Key Dates Friday 19th December 2014 Christmas Break Monday 5th January 2015 Module 3 begins. Whole school back Monday 19th January 2015 Year 7 Parents’ Evening 5pm – 8pm Monday 2nd February 2015 Parents’ Forum 6.30pm – 7.30pm Thursday 12th February 2015 School closes for half term Monday 23rd February 2015 Whole school back Friday 13th February 2015 Inset Day Wednesday 25th February 2015 Year 11 Parents’ Evening 5pm – 7.30pm Monday 16th March 2015 Year 8 Parents’ Evening 5pm – 8pm Monday 23rd March 2015 Parents’ Forum 6.30pm – 7.30pm