Principal's Newsletter Friday 16Th November 2012 Dear Parents And
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Principal’s Newsletter Friday 16th November 2012 Dear Parents and Carers, Official Opening at Isaac Newton Academy We are very excited about our Official Opening Ceremony on Tuesday next week. Mr Clift Matthews has very kindly produced biographies of our two special guests, which we wanted to share with parents, carers and students: Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is a British scientist, author and broadcaster. He is a professor of Physics at the University of Surrey where he also holds a chair in the Public Engagement in Science. He is vice president and trustee of the British Science Association and holds an EPSRC Senior Media Fellowship. Born in Baghdad in 1962, Al-Khalili studied physics at the University of Surrey and graduated with a B.Sc. degree in 1986. He stayed on to pursue a Ph.D. degree in nuclear reaction theory, which he obtained in 1989. In 1989, he was awarded a Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) postdoctoral fellowship at University College London. Al-Khalili was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for Science Communication for 2007 and elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He has lectured widely both in the UK and around the world, particularly for the British Council. In the 2008 Birthday Honours Professor Al-Khalili was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Some highlights of Jim’s broadcasting career include presenting the BBC documentary ‘A Volatile History of Chemistry’, ‘Science and Islam’ and ‘Shock and Awe: the Story of Electricity’. During his career Jim has also published a number of books on the subject of Physics including ‘Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines’, ‘Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed’ and ‘Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Science’. Professor Al-Khalili is also one of the few current scientific writers to promote the contribution of Islamic and Arabic scientists to our current understanding of science, such as in his book ‘Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science’ and ‘The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance’. Heather Fell Heather Fell is a British modern pentathlete who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal in the women's modern pentathlon event. Heather grew up on a farm outside Tavistock, Devon, where she learned the disciplines that make up the modern pentathlon. These disciplines are combined to simulate the experience of a cavalry soldier behind enemy lines and today this consists of five events: pistol shooting, fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run. Heather continued to train for an opportunity to compete in the Olympics whilst studying for a degree in physiotherapy at Brunel University. After much success at junior level, including two gold and one silver medal in the 2003 World Junior Championships in Athens, Heather overcame injury problems to be selected for team GB at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where she won the silver medal. More recently, whilst continuing her training Heather occasionally works for BBC South West as a commentator and had a lot of work over the 2012 Olympic period. Heather also writes for a monthly column for the Tavistock Times Gazette about her life on and off the track and is a keen follower of the Exeter Chiefs Rugby Union team. Fundraising The first meeting of our Fundraising Group took place on Thursday 15th November in the dining hall. Thank you to those parents who came and shared a range of exciting and creative ideas and suggestions. Our first fundraising venture will be a refreshment stall selling drinks and home-made savoury foods and cakes before the End of Term Concert on the evening of 19th December. The concert starts at 7pm, but we would invite you all to come in from 6pm to have something to eat and drink and to meet other families. If you are able to make a cake or donate a food item, please contact the school by email or phone. Following the concert, we will be holding a Grand Raffle. Tickets will go on sale at the start of December. If you an item that you are able to donate for the raffle, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Suitable gifts might be: One-off new and unused items of value vouchers for a restaurant, leisure facility etc. tickets to a show, event or attraction. We look forward to seeing all families at the event on 19th December and to celebrating the end of term together as a school community. BRIDGES The new BRIDGES focus from Monday 19th – Friday 30th November is Resilience and Patience Dame Ellen MacArthur showed resilience by breaking the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in 2005, battling the rough seas including Cape Horn. John Harrison (1693 – 1776) invented the marine chronometer over 31 years of persistent experimentation and testing for the British Parliament after they offered a prize of £20,000 (comparable to £2.87 million in modern currency) for the solution. Resilience Is being robust, staying engaged with learning regardless of challenge. People who are resilient don’t give up, stay positive, stay mentally focused, view setbacks as future opportunities. Patience Is taking time and staying focused to achieve the best outcomes. People who are patient think before they act, take their time to produce a quality outcome, are aware that the best outcomes takes time to achieve, keep calm when they feel frustrated. Well done to Shanzeh Haroon (7N) who is this week’s Mathematician of the Moment. She has demonstrated excellent problem solving skills and has clearly shown BRIDGES traits of creativity and perseverance. Well done to the following students who also entered and submitted a correct answer: Antalya Mustafa, Sam Morrison, Ledina Zeneli, Faheem Rahman, Zaynah Chaudhry, Anastasiya Kalashnikova, Saskeia Francis, Sunna Siddiqui, Maryam Rebhi, Sneha Prasanna and Rafiya Shaukat. The Mathematics department would like to encourage all students to enter next week’s Mathematician of the Moment competition. Have a look at the problem below. Answers and explanations/working out to be written on a Maths postcard to be placed in the Maths post box no later than 4.10pm on Friday 23rd November. Good luck!!! PROBLEM OF THE WEEK Monday 19th to Friday 23rd November Key Dates for this Half Term Friday 30th November Mike MacFarlane (GB Olympic medallist & Commonwealth Gold medallist sprinter) visiting. Wednesday 19th December End of Term Music Concert 7pm. Thursday 20th December Awards Assembly 8.50 – 9.50am. All Parents & Carers invited. Friday 21st December Last Day of Autumn Term. Students dismissed at 1.20pm. Monday 7th January 2013 Term starts at 8.30am With very best wishes, Rachel Macfarlane .