Wigston Academy and Wigston College 12th February 2021 Welcome to our half term edition of the weekly bulletin...
As half term is here I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making sure our students have been well looked a er and educated. You, our parents have been fantas c at suppor ng your children, o en juggling numerous other things at the same me.
I would like to thank all of the many parents and carers who have been in touch to pass on their thanks and support, it is greatly appreciated as we all know that responding to this pandemic has not been easy.
Also, to those of you who have raised your concerns we hope we have been able to address them and reassure you, as the most effec ve way of suppor ng your child is when we all work together.
Our staff and teachers have quickly responded to se ng up in‐school tes ng, remote learning and also offer extra ac vi es, compe ons and challenges that go beyond the basic government requirements. I want to thank them for their flexibility and dedica on not only for doing their job but also like many other parents dealing with mul ple demands on their me.
Thank you to our students, they have once again shown how adaptable and resilient they can be, engaging with remote learning and the incredible challenges they have had to face. I have been so impressed by the quality of the work they have produced and their posi vity.
So over half term please take me away from home educa on and try to spend some me reflec ng on what has been achieved. Recognising that although academic educa on is important there are s ll other just as important if not more so aspects to a young person’s life. Feeling safe, loved and cared for and developing skills outside of school subjects are just some of them. Please remind them to be kind to themselves and let them know that we are here to help if they have any worries or concerns.
Although we do not know yet about when school will return and we will be able to see our students again, we would like to reassure you that we are fully prepared with our tes ng centre up and running and our protec ve measures s ll in place. We await the government’s announcement a er half term when we should find out further informa on.
As always if you have any ques ons or queries please have a look at our FAQ document which can be found on our website or contact us directly. Mr M Wilson Headteacher Thank You
February Half Term: Thank you to everyone that has par cipated in the ac vi es in the bulle n so far this year. Half term is a me for students to recharge their ba eries. This week there are some challenges for you are your families to try, if you would like to. Please let us know how you get on!
Challenge 1: Pet Portraits
Bramble the rabbit
Cadie Munday Year 7 and the smiley Ruddles J
Mindfulness Challenge 2:
We will be running a series of crea vity compe ons over the next few weeks to test out your levels of crea vity and to encourage you to try something different. This compe on is open to all students, families and Wigston Academies Trust staff. This week’s challenge is:
Draw, paint, crochet, bake, sew, digital design or sculpt the best ‘We are in this together’ representaƟon Judges will be looking for the most creaƟve use of materials!
Please send entries to [email protected] with the subject line We are in this together Closing date: 18th February. Make sure you include who the entry is by. There is s ll me to enter your Best Pet Portrait too! Closing Date Friday 5th February. Virtually Everyone is a Fan of the Virtual Parents’ Evening! With some in trepida on, we ran our first ever virtual Parents’ Evening at the Academy and the first in the Trust using a purpose built app. We shouldn’t have been worried as the evening ran very smoothly – with most people’s technology behaving itself as well – which resulted in large numbers of both staff and parents giving very posi ve feedback about the experience at the end of the night.
Following our survey to parents and carers, we found: Around 80% of you found the app very easy to use in terms of both booking appointments and taking part in the evening. 55% of you said that you preferred the virtual evening to the usual face‐to‐face mee ngs in school, and another 25% said the virtual evening was as good as the normal Parents’ Evening. Most parents thought the 5 minute mee ng slot was long enough although some would have preferred slightly more me. We will look into the feasibility of this for future evenings but it does depend on the number of parents who will be trying to get appointments.
Parents and carers also included lots of encouraging comments at the end of our online ques onnaire. The following summarises many of them: “Overall….it was really good. I much preferred it, I didn’t need childcare, wasn't waiƟng around…., wasn't looking for teachers’ rooms etc. Thank you to the school and all the teachers for arranging it and trying something new.”
There are two more virtual Parents’ Evenings scheduled for this term (which we are now looking forward to with much more confidence!)
YEAR 10 PARENTS’ EVENING – TUESDAY 2ND MARCH AND WEDNESDAY 3RD MARCH – PLEASE SAVE THESE DATES YEAR 7 PARENTS’ EVENING – WEDNESDAY 10TH MARCH – PLEASE SAVE THE DATE
More details on these events will be emailed out to parents and carers at the start of the next half term. As well as these Parents’ Evenings, there will be reports going out to other year groups. A wri en report for Year 9 students and for Year 13 students will be emailed out to parents and carers early in March.
Great news for writer and performer Zach! Zach Varnam in Year 10 has been enrolled in a radio presen ng course with community radio sta on ‘TakeOver Radio’. He has learnt about the structure of and how to write features, and has now been let loose on presen ng weekly at the sta on. He is thrilled to be gaining further experience in the arts whilst par cipa ng in produc ons are on hold. He also looks forward to taking part in Laugh Term again this year, which is part of the Leicester Comedy Fes val, and this year will take place online. I can’t wait to watch Zach’s set, he is is guaranteed to raise a smile.
Go wild with Virtual Zoo Days and Live animal cams! Use the links below to see what is on offer: h ps://www.chesterzoo.org/virtual‐zoo‐2/ h ps://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/panda‐cam/ h ps://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/penguin‐cam/#penguincam h ps://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/ ger‐cam/# gercam h ps://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/koala‐cam/#koalacam h ps://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/lion‐cam/#lioncam Posi ve Messages from the World of Sport!! For those of you that follow our PE Twi er account (@WigstonAcadPE) or the school Facebook page, you’ll have seen the special video messages we’ve been revealing everyday for the last two weeks. This has seen 13 stars from a variety of sports passing on their posi ve messages to all of our students during lockdown. If you haven’t seen them yet, head over to our Twi er, Facebook or the PE YouTube channel to see what you’re missing. A big thank you to the following sports stars for ge ng involved: Harriet Cooper – L&R Athlete Kevin Friend – Premier League Referee Nat Johnson‐ Sheffield United and Northern Ireland Footballer Jamie Caven – Professional Darts Player Freddie Tuilagi – Ex Leicester Tigers and Samoan Rugby Player Harry Ellis – Ex Leicester Tigers, England and Bri sh Lion Rugby Player Sarah Becke – Harlequins and England Rugby Player Zoe Aldcro – Gloucester‐Hartpury and England Rugby Player Shaunagh Brown – Harlequins and England Rugby Player Josh Cobb – Ex Leicestershire and Current Northamptonshire Cricketer Emma Wiggs – Paralympic Gold Medalist Darien Nelson Henry – Leicester Riders Captain Chris an Fuchs – Leicester City Footballer Half Term Ac vi es
Visit London! Online family events If you are looking for something different, use the link to access the online events below: h ps://www.visitlondon.com/things‐to‐do/event/45089111‐february‐half‐term‐in‐london
Welcome the Year of the Ox with London's official Chinese New Year celebra ons which are taking place online this year. 14 Feb Get ready for a hive of online ac vi es as part of the Virtual Discovery Week: Emerging from Winter, hosted by The Royal Parks. 15‐19 Feb Southbank Centre's Imagine Children's Fes val is back for another year! This me, en rely virtually, with arts and culture ac vi es for your li le ones to enjoy. Join online events about climate change and explore Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis 13 Feb with the Science Museum, from home. Countless crea ve ac vi es await you on the Foundling Museum's website – from making gra tude paper chains to cra ing le ers for those you miss! Bring Hogwarts home with the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. It's as easy as turning on your devices for a bag‐full of magical ac vi es! Create your own Persian Miniatures pain ng, with the guidance of Yasmin Hayat, during a free online workshop from the Victoria and Albert Museum. 15 and 19 Feb Or have a go at beatboxing on a four‐hour workshop with beatboxer Jason Singh. 17 Feb Welcome to Wigston Academy’s weekly read, courtesy of the Oak Na onal Academy!
ABOUT KONNIE As the longest serving female Blue Peter presenter, from 1997 to 2008, Konnie Huq is no stranger to the middle‐grade market. She is an ambassador for the Prince's Trust and the Bri sh Asian Trust. This is her first foray into children's books and Cookie is inspired by Konnie's own London Bangladeshi background, her love of science and her unashamed nerdiness!
Cookie thinks her life is over because her best friend is moving to Solihull. She begs her parents for a pet to fill the void and sets her heart on the cutest ki en in the pet shop, Bluey. But then the most ANNOYING boy she's ever met in her en re nine years buys Bluey and renames her Nigel! And then he joins her year at school! If that wasn't bad enough, he then moves in next door to her. AAAAGGGGHHHHH!
But it's not all bad. Cookie gets the chance to go on her favourite TV show, Brainbusters. It's only a chance though ‐ she'll have to win the school science compe on first, which shouldn't be too hard. All she has to do is keep her head down, but unfortunately that's not Cookie's strong point...
Your home reading for this week ‐ Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 – is to read or listen to this book. It is a wonderful and funny book. Once you have read it, email a review to [email protected] and you could win a special prize!
Simply click this link to go straight to the website and read or listen to this wonderful adventure! h ps://library.thena onal.academy/get‐to‐know‐cookie‐and‐konnie‐huq/
Fun Ac vity Internet Safety CLOSE UPS
Well done to: Thomas Baldwin, Molly Orton, Flynn Smith Jordi Black, Taya‐ May Bland, Shannon Carter, Nicola Mrugalska and Cameron Lee
Year 9 ADT students were set the task of taking photographs and cropping them. These photographs will then lead to drawings.
1. to hate ‐ je detester Qu’est‐ce que tu aimes faire? 2. to visit je visiter You can use j’aime and the infini ve of another 3. to like – j’aime verb to say what you like doing 4. to do/to make J’aime aller au cinema – I like going to the cinema 5. to eat – je manger J’aime prendre des photos – I like taking photos 6. to take 7. to watch ‐ je regarder To say what you don’t like doing use je n’aime pas 8. to go ‐ je aller and the infini ve Je n’aime pas faire les magasins – I don’t like going Frank likes going to watch the football at shopping. PSGs stadium Frank is a supporter of the team He doesn’t like watching TV on Saturday
Joe Royley Year 8 has used his ICT skills to produce an excellent Natasha likes to buy photographs of the piece of work in French monuments in Paris Teachers are very proud of the engagement from students in their remote learning and would like to share their WOW work each week.
Oliver Docherty Year 8 Amazing Lego models of Paris landmarks
Charlo e Jones Year 9 Great English work
Leah Mistry Year 7 Some lovely work from Leah following her Food lesson on the Carbon Footprint
Cole Robinson Year 8 ‐ Whose French work on ac vi es in Paris is so clearly presented ‐ it makes it so much easier to learn
Jack Mar n Year 11 Fabulous English work Brooke Andrews Year 10 Food Prepara on & Nutri on students have been learning about the science involved in making some of our most popular dishes: in this lasagne not only has Brooke made it look delicious with all the layers and decora on but has demonstrated gela nisa on and reduc on in the different sauces in the dish.
Lily‐Mae Lockwood in Year 11 has been highly mo vated during her Health and Social Care lessons on Teams. This has resulted in producing incredible pieces of coursework, well done, and keep up Alfie Loines Year 8 all the hard work. Stunning artwork
Well done to Ocean Horne Year 7, for crea ng an amazing PowerPoint on The Beatles for Performance Studies. Charlo e Jones Year 9 Amazing pain ng showing Lady Macbeth as a puppeteer and Macbeth, her husband as the puppet! Museum Virtual Tours from Science to Natural History!
For virtual tours and ac vi es try out the links below:
h ps://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/virtual‐tour‐science‐museum
h ps://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see‐and‐do/exploring‐space‐gallery‐tour
Smithsonian ‐ h ps://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual‐tour
NASA Langley Research Centre‐ h ps://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/
Oxford University’s Science & History Museum‐ h ps://hsm.ox.ac.uk/past‐exhibi ons‐and‐displays
Na onal Museum of Compu ng‐ h ps://www.tnmoc.org/
Na onal History Museum, London‐ h ps://artsandculture.google.com/partner/natural‐history‐museum
Belgium’s Museum of Natural Sciences‐ h ps://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/museum‐of‐natural‐sciences‐rbins‐belgium/9AFyJISW8f6HhA? sv_lng=4.377524452981191&sv_lat=50.83670812426187&sv_h=41.892&sv_p=0&sv_pid=RfXEoHayHmWu84CA
Stars of the Week
Don’t forget to nominate your child/children for the work they are doing at home. To nominate your child or children, simply email [email protected] type your child’s full name and tutor group in the subject line and then in the email give a brief reason or set of reasons for the nomina on. All of our Wigston Stars’ names will be kept on record, and when school is up and running as normal, all of these will be entered into a big prize draw. Wigston Academies Trust Bake/Cook Off
Bake off is open to students in all year groups and staff or their li le helpers at home It gives us an opportunity to express our crea vity and it is a great mindfulness opportunity The quality of entries during the last lockdown was superb – it is by choice and for fun Entries will be shared on the bulle n
CONGRATULATIONS TO: Daniel Abdul Halim – Star Baker for challenge 1: The 4 ingredient cook
Challenge 2 ‘Elevate the humble baked bean, create a fine dining baked bean dish using a n of beans and up to 2 slices of bread/toast’ Entries will be shared in the next edi on
HALF TERM BAKE OFF CHALLENGE!
The Great Pancake Challenge! It is Shrove Tuesday on the 16th February, so apt that we have a bake off challenge based on pancakes! There are two different tasks you can choose from this week:
Op on 1: Create a sweet or savoury pancake that uses at least two fruits or vegetables in it’s creaƟon Or: if you are feeling really creaƟve and want a real challenge! Op on 2: Create a 3D object or scene using sweet or savoury pancakes and at least two fruits or vegetables.
Judging Criteria will be: Crea vity and imagina on / Incorpora ng a variety of skills / High quality presenta on of final design
Entry Deadline is Wednesday 24th February Please send entries to bakeoff@wigstonmat.org Hello from Wigston College
We are s ll really impressed with the way that our students are engaging with their remote learning. We are aware that this has been a difficult half term but the resilience of our students con nues to shine through. We are coun ng down the days now un l we are (fingers crossed) able to start welcoming our students back through our doors, from 8th March, barring any further updates from the government.
Today we have sent out our response le ers to all of the students that have applied to join us for next year via the email addresses provided. This is in excess of 400 individual applica ons. Congratula ons to those that have been successful in securing a condi onal offer of a place. We will be offering Virtual Taster Lessons on the week beginning 1st March for any students that have not had the opportunity to experience their subject choices and these will be followed by a virtual face to face mee ng. These mee ngs will provide the opportunity for us to get to know you be er and ensure you are making the right choices for you. You will receive informa on on how to access all of this a er half term. If you do have any ques ons or queries regarding this please, as ever, get in touch with us.
We have a wonderful community here at the College and this con nues even a er our students leave. It has been great to hear from some of our alumni who recently got in touch with us to update us on how they are ge ng on and we thought we would share these with you as we are tremendously proud of how well they are doing and how successful they have been in their chosen pathways:
"Hi! I'm Aman and I studied Maths, Chemistry and Physical Educa on at Wigston College. I went on to study Accountancy BSc (Hons) at the University of No ngham on the Flying Start degree programme in partnership with PwC and the ICAEW. Throughout my degree, I have been fortunate to experience a range of exci ng opportuni es. This includes undertaking two four‐month placements at PwC as an Audit Associate. I was also lucky enough to be selected to represent the university through playing in the table tennis team. I hope everyone is staying safe and keeping well."
"Hi, my name is Luka. A er studying Maths, Chemistry and Physics at A‐Level, I became a student at the University of No ngham studying Chemical Engineering with an Industrial Year MEng. Currently, I am on my industrial placement at Sellafield Ltd and hoping to learn and experience all things process engineering. University has given me a range of experiences, both social and study, as well as allowing me the opportunity to try new things such as my first skydive! I am looking forward to making the most of my placement and then enjoying my final year at University!"
"Hi, I'm Joe and I studied Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A‐Level and I am now at the University of Birmingham studying MEng Mechanical Engineering with an Industrial Placement! I am now on my placement year working as an engineer for Mercedes Formula 1. University has been brilliant as I've learnt so much and even had the chance to par cipate in many socie es which has made it even more memorable ‐ I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's thinking about going."
If any other alumni would like to update us with news of what you are up to please do get in touch.
Le er from Leicestershire County Council