Be the best you can be

Whitley Newsletter EASTER 2017

Message from the Principal In this issue

Dear Parents / Carers, Pupils Practise Skills for Duke of Edinburgh ... 4 Coventry 2021 UK City of Culture Bid ...... 5 This has been an extremely busy term with The Base Outstanding Pastoral Provision ...... 5 excellent opportunities for students. WE Day ...... 6

School of Rock ...... 6 The PE department led an extremely enjoyable ski trip to Austria. Year 9 students are making Primary School Valentine Cooking & Crafts ... 7 good progress towards their Duke of Edinburgh Rotary Young Musician Competition ...... 7 Bronze Award, and have started working Comic Relief ...... 7 towards the expedition. Year 7 students attended Warwick Arts Centre for World Book’s PSL Science Workshop ...... 8 th 20 Anniversary and met a number of Authors, Year 11 Masterclass in Science ...... 8 Presenters and world and Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill. Girls PE News ...... 9 Frankly Speaking Competition ...... 10 A number of year 8 and 9 students had a Boys PE News ...... 12 fantastic experience at Coventry Magistrates Whitley debating team speaks at Rotary Youth Court involved in a mock trial; whilst some older Speaks Final ...... 13 students in years 10 and 11 travelled to London and performed extremely well in a Public World Book Day ...... 14 Speaking competition at Benjamin Franklin Austria Ski Trip ...... 16 House. Chirag Virchande, 1 of our speakers, has been invited to join a residential programme KS3 Visit to Normandy ...... 17 hosted by the Sutton Trust. Visiting French School ...... 17 Post 16 Student Success for Cambridge ...... 18 Finally, I would like to wish all our year 11 and Year 10 Pupils raise money for charity ...... 18 post 16 students good luck during the exam season next term. It is important to have a PSL International Whitley ...... 19 break, but keep on top of revision and make a Year 7 Africa Day ...... 20 good plan for next term. Improvements to Whitley ...... 21

Post 16 Ecology Trip ...... 21 I hope all staff and students have an enjoyable break and come back refreshed for the summer An afternoon with Sam Verralls ...... 22 term. Post 16 Maths Challenge ...... 23

Whitley success at Celebration Evening ...... 23

LRC Book Reviews ...... 24

Careers Fair - Calling all professionals ...... 24 Mr F. Rex Online Uniform Shop ...... 25 Principal School Diary ...... 26 Advertisements ...... 27

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Important Notices

Are you interested in Holidays during Term time training to become a impact student outcomes ... primary or secondary school Whitley Academy does not authorise absence during teacher? term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Our school is part of a growing number of schools that are leading the way for more school-led teacher Even short breaks from school can reduce a pupil’s training. This is really important to us because it chances of succeeding at school by as much as a means we can choose the very best talent and quarter, according to DfE analysis of KS2 and KS4 develop the best teachers. Being able to choose attainment data. who we train as teachers helps us in delivering the best outcomes for our students. 44% of pupils with no absence in KS4 achieved eBacc – against 32% for pupils who missed up to 14 days of The provider we work with has vacancies now to lessons over the two years of study for their GCSEs, start training from September 2017 and we would be and just 16% for those who missed up to 28 days. very interested to hear from you if you are thinking of becoming a teacher, or know someone who is. A similar pattern was seen at a primary school level We’re looking for people who have (or will have) a where pupils missing up to 14 days of school in KS2 degree, have a passion for teaching and want to were a quarter less likely to achieve the expected inspire young people to fulfil their potential. level or above in reading, writing or maths tests than those with no absence. We’d love for you to ask us about the exciting teacher training opportunities available. If you are Please support us with this important aspect of interested please contact Mrs Owen. school life.

For any further information on what becoming a Mr F Rex teacher might involve more generally, you can also Principal visit http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching.

Mr F Rex Principal 3 Pupils practise valuable skills for Duke of Edinburgh

Award

Whitley Academy has recently launched the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. 20 year 9 students have signed up to undertake this nationally recognised award and will be completing it over the course of this academic year.

The Award is a personal challenge; it pushes young people to their personal limits and recognises their achievements. All participants must complete four sections; they must practice a skill, volunteer somewhere or for someone, partake in a physical activity and then complete a 2 day expedition in the countryside. In order to complete the expedition section, participants must attend a series of training sessions to learn camp craft, navigational skills and first aid. Pupils attended their first training session on Thursday 8th December where they participated in team building games, learnt basic map reading skills and had a go at our onsite orienteering course.

The second session took place on Tuesday 14th of March. The day consisted of the students learning compass bearing skills, pacing skills and how to plan a simple route. The students then put what they had learned into action on the first practice walk around Meriden. Students followed a planned route which took them around the outskirts of Meriden joining with the Coventry Way . They also undertook scenario based training where they were submerged into possible situations that may arise on their expedition and how they would deal with these situations. This included the use of all emergency shelter. The day was a huge success! The participants will now start to plan their first practice expedition which is due to take place in May.

Report by Jonathan Bellamy: Our walk took place on Duggins Lane, from there we split off into two groups, one doing the reverse way and one doing On the 14th March our second training session began, the correct way. The walk lasted around 4 miles going along first of all, we were in the classroom learning about the greenway and field surrounding it. Every half a mile or compasses, bearing and symbols. We were then given a so, we stopped to discuss key points, first aid or bearings. At map of our area and compasses. We also started to learn the middle we were shown survival tents and bivvy bags. We about pacing and its benefits if there are no tick features. then walked back to our starting point and left the area at We practised this lots of times around our running track, around 5.20pm, we arrived back at school at 5.50pm after and got our bearings back and forth around our field until lots of traffic. our break. Overall, a good day spent learning more to help our DofE After this we were back in the classroom doing some experience. revision from our previous training session. We continued to work at each station of revision for 10 minutes approximately. Within the stations, the topics included maps, grid references and symbols. We then went on our lunch until 1.00pm and then met up at the minibuses to leave.

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Congratulations to including mentors, caseworkers, home/school liaison the YR10 tutor officers, keyworkers and counsellors. We work with many groups who lent their students across all key stages with the aim of removing any support to the barriers to learning that they may have, empowering them Coventry 2021 bid for to be the best that they can be and ultimately to reach their Capital of Culture potential. We use preventative measures and early through their Spring interventions to promote good mental health, emotional term tutor challenge; well-being and a positive attitude to learning with our they were to create students. We also work closely with external agencies/ pieces of art to organisations including CAMHS, Families First and COMPASS reflect Coventry’s who can provide specialist support to our students when commitment to needed. Several members of the Inclusion team are trained culture, to the arts and its contribution to music, sport to lead on CAF’s (Common Assessment Framework) to and industry over the years. In a highly competitive year provide support to a child and their family which ensures the group a judging panel deliberated over the final results right sort of help is being accessed when it is needed either with 10MPU, 10LHA and 10LWR taking the top three through school or through external services. places. Congratulations to We recently held a ‘Celebration Evening’ at The BASE to 10LHA who won the celebrate the achievements of identified students who overall challenge which receive a lot of their provision within our support unit. The measured their evening was a huge success and the feedback from parents/ behaviour, attendance carers was overwhelmingly positive regarding how the staff and the artwork – they at Whitley Academy have helped their children to progress. were rewarded with an afternoon off school and If you would like more information regarding our family a free Nando’s! events, the support that can be accessed through the Inclusion team or would just like to speak to someone

regarding your child’s progress, please do not hesitate to contact myself and I would be happy to help. Sally Allen Director of Inclusion

At Whitley Academy we pride ourselves on our Outstanding pastoral provision as the work of the Inclusion team is second to none. The BASE (our Inclusion/ SEN unit) provides all kind of support for Whitley Academy students and their families. The interventions we offer include ‘Breakfast Club’, mentoring, counselling, family meetings/conferences, community events, 1:1 literacy/numeracy support and group-work (around anger management, self-esteem & confidence, building resilience, friendship etc). We also have a sensory room at The BASE which has been praised by many external professionals including OFSTED who have deemed it to be a ‘very positive initiative’ in supporting students who need a quiet space to reflect and refocus. The Inclusion team at Whitley Academy is made up of a group of experienced non-teaching staff members

5 about his lonely first day at primary school, about practising WE Schools English in the mirror. Our final closing act was The Vamps. People ran up and were screaming like mad. They performed a few songs and before we knew it was time to leave! We all WE Schools is a unique, four-step programme – delivered had an amazing time can’t wait for next year! by our educational partners in more than 10,000 schools across the UK and North America – that challenges young Melissa O’Brien Year 8 student councillor. people to identify the local and global issues that spark their passion and then empowers them with the tools to take action to change the “me” to “we”. The WE Schools programme provides teachers and students with lesson plans, educational resources and a full calendar of action campaign ideas. Through WE Schools, students gain an understanding of the root causes of pressing issues like hunger, poverty and lack of education, and explore what they can do to help. They also plan at least one local and one global action to improve their community and the world. “On March 22nd 12 students with Miss Hilditch and Miss Oakman went to Wembley arena to WE Day. We saw lots of inspirational speakers and performers such as Jessie J and Kate Winslet. The experiences have made me think about inspirational plans to help children in the future and how I can make a difference in life”. Clayton Pitter Year 9 We arrived in London at 9:35am. It was only a short walk to the venue, on our walk we saw Wembley stadium! We were given free WE Day bags, which had a flag book and water bottle in. Fleur East was first to perform she sang ‘Uptown Funk’. Afterwards, the two co-creators of WE day came onto the stage. Everyone gave them a big cheer. They talked to us about how they were only our age when they came up with the idea of WE Day. Their names are Craig and Marc Kielburger. They said statements and each time they said them we said, “I AM WE!”. Our next speakers were twins Nungshi and Tashi Malik. They are both women who have climbed many mountains including Everest. They said “back home in India women have lots of mountains to climb however they are invisible”. Meaning that these women have their own challenges. When they finished, we had our next performer Conor

Maynard, a UK singer. He performed ‘Are You Sure’ (his own song), and a mix of other different songs. After we heard non-gender binary Maria Munir speak. She was Every Monday, we have musicians from the Upton Blues born neither male or female. She has made the news Festival that come in and teach students how to play African about when she came out as being non-gender binary to drums, Guitar, Bass Guitar and Piano. Todd North has turned ‘ex potus’ Barack Obama! into the next ‘Elton We then spent half an hour having a break and eating our John’ on the keyboard. lunch. Kate Winslet then talked about working in her We plan to perform at mum’s sandwich shop in Reading before becoming one of this Year’s Upton Blues the most successful actresses ever. She was in TITANIC! Festival in July. We then heard Spencer West interview A young girl who wants to support education for all girls. Miss Hilditch Then we then listened to a poet called Shakil. He had a hard time as a child as he was from Aleppo. He talked 6

Primary School Valentine Cooking & Crafts

Miss Hilditch and Mrs Daniel hosted a Valentines family cooking/ crafts event for children and families of our local th primary schools. Friday March 24 was Comic Relief and we raised an There was a great turn out, we had over 17 families , who all amazing amount of money! The grand total was £882.41! A got involved with the activities, such as making short- massive thank you to all the staff and students who took bread and Valentine crafts. I loved doing the face painting at part in the different activities at break time and lunchtime in this event the canteen, such as eating a doughnut for 50p without licking your lips. Miss Hilditch would like to say a special thank you to all of the school council who gave up their break and lunch times to sell red noses and cakes .

Learn a new skill with your child in ICT, Art or Cooking after school

I would be interested in joining Family Learning at no charge. Tick as appropriate:

ART □

ICT □

COOKING □

Name of Parent: ......

Signature: ......

Name of Student: ......

Tutor Group: ......

Is there any other class you would like us to run? Please specify:

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On a Wednesday after school in T01 there is a regular school Please return to School Office or band practice with the help of Miss Hilditch and Miss Shellard. We are planning to enter the Rotary Young Contact: Mrs A Nagra on 024 7630 2580 Performer of the Year in May. If anyone is interested in joining the school band please see Miss Hilditch. Email: [email protected]

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Primary Science Workshops - Heart Dissection

Aldermoor Farm bought both of their year 6 classes into to visit Miss Denton in the Science Laboratory. They were After Easter Whitley will be showcasing all that it has to given a master class on dissecting a heart under the offer to prospective future pupils from year 5.They will be microscope with the classes following her every move! in from 9am till 12:20pm and take part in three sessions The pupils and visiting teachers were very impressed and rotating around a variety of different subjects to give the afternoon was enjoyed by all. them taste of what really is ‘Wicked at Whitley’!  Thursday 27th April – Opening Minds, Performing Arts and Art

 Wednesday 17th May – Opening Minds, Sport and Catering

 Tuesday 23rd May – Opening Minds, Media and Geography

Year 11 students participate in science master class

On Friday 10th February, thirty Year 11 students participated in a science master class all day, to prepare for GCSEs in the summer.

Students enjoyed engaging with physics practicals, looking at Hooke's law, terminal velocity, energy transfer, and circuits. They then developed revision materials for chemistry, focusing on electrolysis, bonding and chemical reactions.

This was followed by a walking talking mock. The students worked extremely hard and we hope they take the opportunity to use the resources at home to revise from.

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Girls PE News We also hosted an interschool Basketball tournament after Christmas. Lots of teams took part and they all really A huge thank you to Nia Moorhead (Y13) and Natalie Hill enjoyed themselves. The winning team were Yusrah (Y13) for helping to run and coach the Netball club on a Ndumbogani, Whitney Gosling, Mackenzie Crisp, Kyra Tuesday after school. They have attended every week with Ramsey and Kimberly Chipungu – all girls from Y8. We are plans of what to work on each week and the girls have hosting an interschool Dodgeball tournament on Thursday th made a massive improvement. Well done! 30 March; keep your eyes peeled for this.

Netball has also been a success this year with many matches taking place. The league for this school year is coming to an end now so results tables will be coming in soon. Lots of pupils have represented the school from year 7- 10 and have worked hard to do us proud. Y7’s are currently near the top of their league; Also our Y7/8 girls got through to the level 3 county finals th well done to them – only a few matches left for them. We for Sports Hall Athletics on Wednesday 15 March at wish them luck for those. Our Y7 team also took part in North Solihull Leisure Centre. This was a fantastic the Netball School Games competition on Friday 17th experience for them and all athletes tried their best th March and came 4th out of 6 schools; player of the despite the Y7 girls coming 7 out of 7 and the Y8 girls th tournament was Lea Quarm. They also played in their coming 6 out of 7. league tournament on the same day at Coundon Court; Our Y8 and Y9/10 Rowers have also got through to the they got through to the next round as they came runners level 3 county finals on Tuesday 4th April at Alan Higgs. up in the first round but unfortunately got knocked out of Well done to Shanice Goonan, Khelya Bitemo, Kimberly th the second round. We came 6 place out of 9 schools. Our Chipungu, Aaliyah Ogden-Conway, Demi Woollaston, th Y8B team had their tournament on Thursday 8 March – Jaicee Corbett, Georgia Angell and Phoebe Wooliscroft. they played 9 matches and played really well throughout Good luck girls – come and use the rowers in the PE showing excellent team spirit. Player of the tournament department for practise! was Aaliyah Ogden Conway. Our Y8’s are currently third in Some of our Y9/10 Netball girls have had a fantastic their league at the moment. opportunity this half term. An England Netball Coach Football has also been a came to Whitley and gave them training on how to huge success this year. umpire High 5 Netball. These girls then were asked to We have entered into a umpire the Primary School Games Netball competition on league with two teams – Wednesday 1st March and Wednesday 8th March at the Y7/8 and Y9/10. Every 2 Xcel Centre. The girls really enjoyed the experience and weeks the girls have received lots of praise from Primary school teachers; played matches and particularly on how well they umpired the matches and have won every match they were role models for Whitley Academy. Well done so far; they are girls – we hope you continue this love for umpiring currently top of their outside of school. leagues. The girls have really improved their skills and abilities, and have gained lots of knowledge of the rules of Football. Good luck for the rest of your matches.

9 Pupils at Frankly Speaking Competition Written by Duncan, Year 8 student reporter

At 6:00am, I woke up to get ready to go to London for the Frankly Speaking Competition, held at the Bloomberg L.P building, and organised by the Benjamin Franklin House organisation.

For your information, Benjamin Franklin House is the only surviving home of Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the USA. interesting to find out that behind the chairs of the receptionists, was a wall with a line of hidden cameras After a quick breakfast, I left for the train station. and we were asked to stand in front of the camera to get our pictures taken. There were five of us: Amy and Chirag - our Post 16 Head Boy and Head Girl, Imogen and Louise - Year 11 pupils, We were then lead up to the floor above. There were and myself, reporting for the school website. three security staff standing near the escalators and reminded us to scan our passes before going upstairs. The At around 7:50am, we arrived at London Euston station. first thing we saw was an enormous aquarium with a large We headed to the underground and looked for the amount of tropical fish right in front of our eyes. They Northern Line. There were people walking back and forth, must have had every species in there. all around us, moving very fast. On the way to our meeting place, we passed by a When we got out of the underground, it took us some humongous room without any walls! What you could see time to locate which direction to go with. Thanks to was just food and drinks on display! It was a world of Imogen’s Google map, we reached our destination well colours: the colours of the nice lights hanging from the ahead of planned time. high ceilings, the food, the cereals, the fruits and the flowers! Wow! And people! There were so many people On arrival at the Bloomberg building, we couldn’t believe walking around. our eyes! It was massive. The building had a cuboid shaped block with frozen plants inside. There were real We were then lead down the stairs to the nice and cosy auditorium. Whist waiting for the other schools to come, we started wandering around the place. Everything looked new and shiny.

After having some refreshments (with help from the four Bloomberg staff), we were then lead to the main presentation hall and sat down. We were given a swift summary of what was going to happen and where everyone was going. The first names to be called out were Chirag and Amy of Year 12 and 13. Mrs Nguyen and I decided to follow Chirag and Amy for the first heat.

Devante, the Bloomberg apprentice took us through some offices to another room where the debates for Years 12 and 13 took place. Chirag and Amy were against Prince Henry’s Grammar School in West Yorkshire. The topic was white flowers which had bloomed perfectly. to maintain open borders to EU citizens after Great Britain has left the EU. How interesting! When we looked around we saw lots of security standing around, the building was highly defended yet beautiful at Both teams came up with many sharp arguments, for and the same time. against the topic. Each speaker had a maximum of 7 minutes to deliver their speech and answer questions Later on, we realised the main focus of the employees from their opponents. Sitting at the back facing the two inside the building was to provide data for financial teams, we could see how much the students had markets and investors. The data needs to be accurate, fast researched for their talks. The hard work had paid off after and relevant. We were also told that the data needs to be all. transparent so that there is no risk to everyone who gets involved in it. Then came a short break before the second heat. During this time, Ms Nguyen talked to Paul, one of the two judges Back to our day… who also worked in the building. Paul told us he has 29 offices across Europe to supervise and spoke about how After spending a short time at the reception desk, each of he didn’t go to university but still got the job at us was given a nice pass with our photos on them. It was Bloomberg. How inspiring!

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group was exactly the same as the one for the Post 16 students. Our Whitley Academy team was in opposition.

Personally I found it fascinating to see how each team member worked. They took notes and raised questions whilst the speaker delivered the speech. It was challenging to keep track of your speech and make sure they responded to some points of information (POI) from their opponents.

Some points raised by Imogen from Whitley Academy really fascinated me, such as in around 40 years time, Artificial Intelligence will be more intelligent than humans. I need to do some research into this one day. We then met Devante (the Bloomberg apprentice) who took us to Imogen and Louise’s debate on the sixth floor. 12:20 pm - Lunch time! Devante told us he was working in Bloomberg for a year before he goes to college to study Economics. After lunch we all gathered inside the Hall to listen to the results of the first half of the day. Unfortunately our two teams didn't win. We comforted each other with our ever fighting spirit, that it is the taking part that counts.

We will be so ready for the competition next year.

We spent some time going through our two teams' performance, making sure lessons were learned. Finally and reluctantly, we decided to leave the impressive Bloomberg building.

However, we left on an extremely high note knowing that Chirag, Head Boy of Whitley Academy, just received the brilliant news that he was invited to join in the Introductory and Finalist Residential on 9 - 12 April in London. It is hosted by the Sutton Trust US Programme There were a lot of offices behind the shiny glassed walls 2017. Wow! with staff working on their many screen-computers. Everyone was focused. There were some people walking On the underground there was a delay and we ended up around and talking to other people over the phone. missing the train. We had to wait till 7:42pm until we could get back home.

After an hour on the train we arrived back in Coventry and I was picked up by my dad. Overall we enjoyed the trip and learned lots about public speaking, despite the fact we did not win the competition.

We kept walking towards the room for the Years 10 and 11. The topic was about the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (A.I). The format of the debate for this year

11 Boy’s PE Year 10 Student Leaders

Rugby Year 10 BTEC Sport pupils are leading sports sessions as part of their coursework. So far all have been brilliant. We

Year 7 and 9 students have continued to play rugby have some excellent sports leaders in the making. fixtures this half term with tournaments being played at Pinley RFC. The year 7s are developing into a good rugby side with all of the players being able to tackle, pass and ruck. They have potential to be an excellent side in the future. The year 9s also played at Pinley in a tournament and won 2 of their matches. We are hopeful that some of the boys not playing any sport at the moment will take up the game at weekends. Pinley RFC are looking for players and if students join the club we have free jackets available for them.

Year 8 Football

The year 8 boys have been playing well in the cup and have won two fixtures to reach the semi-final. They beat Ernesford in the first round relatively comfortably and then had a closely fought game against Grace Academy winning 2-1. The team have some new players in Alan Miras and Niall Courtney, both of whom have been excellent in their first two matches, and with the likes of Sam Rodber in attack the team will always have a chance of winning. Well done to all the students who have taken part in the school teams.

Year 7 Football

Year 7 footballers beat Blue Coat 5-4. 5 goals from Samir Yousefi and a MOM performance from Khalid Cabdallahi. Well done boys!

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Whitley debating team at Rotary Youth Speaks final

Written by Holly (Year 7) and Ciaran (Year 8) student reporters

On Friday 27th January, a debating team from Whitley Academy took part in the Rotary Youth Speaks Coventry Intermediate Final, a debating contest for pupils across Coventry.

On the evening of the debate (hosted at Bablake School), four Whitley Academy students prepared to wow the Third up was Heart of England who had the subject of crowd. These student speakers were: Ciaran, Jason, 'Fantastic Books' and why to read them. Zeeshan did a Destiny and Sam. Jason and I (Holly) had another special factual speech and even gave advice about reading to mission to accomplish: writing the blog about the event. children and adults alike, in the audience.

5:45pm - Then Bishop Ullathorne put to the viewers a more sinister speech, “This House Would Arm The Police”. Joseph was We were greeted by a wet walk in the rain and some the speaker who arrested our attention with a speech on issues regarding where exactly the event was on the why the police officers in Great Britain should be armed. Bablake site. Eventually we found a very helpful student who helped us locate the theatre. When Coundon Court hit the stage, eyes were fixed on them due to the fact that their speaker Hayarah was going 6:25pm - to delve into the world of human rights. What a clever idea! Their topic was very current. We were ushered into the Bablake theatre where the event was being held and told the rules. The three judges The sixth group to attack the audience with facts and introduced themselves including Ms Davidson, Mrs C. opinions was the hosts, Bablake! Speaker Bhavan took us Bond, and Mrs Ryan. through a vast subject; “The Problem With Evil”; sadly, her team substantially ran out of time. President Kennedy began the night with the most heart- breaking topic of animals in sports, and the topic Penultimate to the last speech was Barr’s Hill with encompassed an explanation of the pleasure we get from “America; Powerful Or Not?” The speaker Kajaanan was sport at the expense of animal pain. The chairperson, funny and informative, talking to us about soft power, Miriam, engaged us with her captivating introduction. It hard power, cheeseburgers and the one, the only Donald was a very strong team and they used all of their charm to Trump. get the audience’s attention to the topic. The speakers did it very well. Finally Seva school wanted to share with us their thoughts on video games. Birjot ,the speaker, reviewed his personal Next up it was Whitley Academy; our school! opinions on games, as "violent and corruptive".

We did extremely well. At the start we were unsure of the So all in all, not a bad day. We didn’t win but it is the proceedings of the debate. Then the whole team quickly taking part and having fun that counts. Fresh minds and a grasped the gist of their roles. Ciaran (our speaker) did us new experience under our belts, we left Bablake knowing proud with his wonderful speech on the topic “The Silent that we had tried our hardest. Witnesses”. Sam was very articulate in his role as the chair person. Destiny – as the Proposer of the Vote of Thanks – We would like to thank the Rotary Club of Coventry for interacted with the audience by asking them questions giving us such a great platform to raise our voices on the based on the stories Ciaran told the audience. It was not topics of our concerns and interest. an easy topic to talk about. Everyone in the audience listened and gave Destiny very thoughtful answers. We, Holly and Jason, sat and watched waiting to write the blog.

13 Pupils meet famous authors and illustrators on World Book Day

Written by Holly and Destiny, Year 7 student reporters

On Tuesday February 28th, fourteen book loving Year 7 students gathered in the Learning Resource Centre, ready for a trip to the biggest book show on earth! Everybody was extremely excited to be going to the Warwick Arts Centre for World Book Day’s 20th anniversary.

We all knew we were about to observe a handful of authors and illustrators, their magic tricks, how they wrote their books, and how they had begun their journey of writing.

of Dennis the Menace’ was Steven Butler, to introduce The presenters, authors and illustrators for the day were Alex T. Smith. Steven Butler; Alex T. Smith; Holly Smale; Nick

Mohammed; Julian Clary and David Roberts; Sam and Alex was very funny and shared with us very interesting Mark; and Jessica Ennis-Hill. stories. He was born and brought up in Coventry, and

went to Coventry University to study for a degree in 10:05 AM Illustration. Alex then talked about drawing a dinosaur,

which turned out to be a turtle. He was witty and brilliant! After a short trip in the school’s minibus, the group Alex then shared with us some childhood memories of his arrived and took their comfortable seats in Butterworth grandad who inspired him to become an illustrator. Hall, Warwick University, in amazement. The room was just so BIG.

Next, it was Holly Smale – the author of the ‘Geek Girl’ Curiosity enveloped every one of us, and in a rush of series! excitement, we were soon exploring the Warwick Arts

Centre. After a few quick flashes of the camera, we Holly shared with us her school experiences of being returned to the Hall to watch the performances. bullied and singled out by her friends. We all went silent

to hear her story. She also told us of how she became a The first to perform were a group delivering a short professional model at the age of 15. She did not like it and section from one of Enid Blyton’s classic series of novels, left modelling after two years. ‘the Famous Five’. Even though the reading and acting

was simply outstanding, most were absorbed in watching Holly then talked about how she started with her first the cute, fluffy dog that sat with the group. book. It was the life of Harriet Manners, a nerdy 15-year-

old girl who tried out modelling to reinvent herself. Second up, presenter of the show and author of ‘the Diary Harriet was a geek and always will be. Just like Holly’s life! 14

a bit about her first book, and soon after, all of the authors and writers came back to the stage to sign autographs and to say goodbye.

After the show, we all raced to the University bookshop to ensure we got the books we wanted, and then went to get our copies signed by the authors.

On next were Sam and Mark (the CBBC television It was an extremely inspirational and fun-filled day for all of presenters) who told us about their background since the team. meeting and went on to read an extract from their first book. How cool!

After that, Nick Mohammed performed some magic with the help of two lucky members of the audience and introduced the four main characters from his first book.

Up on the stage next were Julian Clary and David Robert who got the audience to help create a new character out of three different animals that ended up making most people laugh.

Finally, Jessica Enis-Hill, who you may also know as an athlete, told us how she had to sit under the table with her publishers due to her son having a tantrum. She spoke

15 Whitley pupils take to the slopes in Austria

The ski trip left for Austria during the February half term break. We stayed in small city called Gmund that was very picturesque and safe for the students. The students skiing was excellent with all students making massive progress through the week with nearly all of them making it onto a black run. The conditions were good, although the temperature was very high and we didn’t see much snow fall. The evening entertainment was good and the students particularly liked the curling even though the ice had melt- ed! Well done to all of the students for their excellent behaviour and attitudes on the trip. We hope to run our next trip in two years’ time, and will be sending letters home with information about this soon.

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KS3 Visit to NORMANDY 1st - 5th June 2017

Payment Schedule Many thanks for the payments received so far; more information regarding passports, insurance cards and parental information evening will follow soon.

European Health Insurance Card

There will be an additional letter issued after the Easter holidays regarding the European Health Insurance Card and how to apply for this if your child does not already have one. They are free and if you would like to apply in advance so that you have this card ready, please follow the link below:

https://www.ehic.org.uk/Internet/home.do

Parental Information Evening

For your diary the Trip Information Evening will be held on Monday 15th May 2017 @ 6pm

Visiting French School Asia Day – YR8

May On Thursday 6th April, the Collège Jean Mermoz will be visiting Whitley Academy bringing 53 pupils who will be hosted by the two YR10 French groups. Pupils will be What? Asia Day involved in an assembly, social time, collaborative lesson, a sporting activity and time in Coventry visiting When? Friday 19th May 2017 the cathedral and the transport museum; this Who? Year 8 partnership is an integral part of our International School Status and is incredibly important in developing new relationships and allowing pupils to expand their cultural knowledge. More information and photos will be published in the next newsletter.

17 Post 16 student successful in application to study at Cambridge University Whitley Academy is very proud to announce that Post 16 student Natalie has been successful in her application to study Mathematics at Robinson College, Cambridge University.

Natalie achieved excellent GCSE results (3As & 7A*s, in 2015) at Whitley Academy, and has continued her success at A-Level, achieving exceptional grades in Maths, Further Maths and Geography. In addition to her independent learning, Natalie gave particular praise for the Post 16 staff and support at Whitley Academy during her university application.

“I applied to Robinson College and should I go, will start in I have been at Whitley Academy since Year 7 and decided October 2017. During my application process, the former to carry on Post-16 after my GCSEs. Advice I'd give to Post- Head of Post-16, Mr Elton, emailed my personal statement 16 starters, or those just starting in Year 7, is to not give to someone who is familiar with Oxbridge applications. I up because you think something is too hard or received feedback from this allowing me to make unattainable”. improvements before sending my application off.

All staff at Whitley will now strive to ensure that Natalie Additionally, when I found out I had an interview, a mock has our full support as she begins preparation for her final interview was set up with a teacher from Ernsford Grange examinations. who studied Maths at Cambridge; this was particularly helpful as it made me less nervous for my interviews now I knew what to expect.

Year 10 Pupils raise £320 for Coventry Charity

Many thanks to Janet McConkey of the Coventry Children’s Boot Fund, who came into the Academy today (8th February 2017) to receive a cheque for £320 from our Year 10 pupils.

Janet (pictured here with Bill Boadle of 10MPU) said she was ‘thrilled’ that the Year 10 group had made such efforts in their endeavours before Christmas to raise money for the fund.

The students held a raffle, tombola, washed cars and sold cakes to raise funds for an extremely worthwhile cause. Ms McConkey told the pupils that the Boot Fund had been in existence for 125 years, and that the average support for a family is £35 towards school shoes, so the Year 10s will have provided at least 9 children with essential footwear and relieved the financial pressure for those families.

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Primary school liaison

Primary schools visit for ‘International Whitley’

On Monday 23rd January, pupils from a selection of local Whitley Academy staff and student leaders gave a helping primary schools joined us for ‘International Whitley’, an hand throughout the morning, offering help and guidance international themed morning, aimed at giving Year 6 to the Year 6 pupils. pupils a taste of Whitley Academy's facilities and lessons. A big thank you to Stretton Primary school, Whitley Abbey Primary school, Manor Park Primary school, and Aldermoor Farm Primary school for bringing the pupils along. We hope they enjoyed the day.

The PE department prepared our Sports Hall for a morning of PARKOUR, an obstacle based sport developed from French military training where the aim is to get over all the obstacles in the quickest and most effective way possible.

19 On the 20th January 2017, the Year 7 pupils from Whitley Academy got the opportunity to “taste” some passion from Africa. Throughout the day, Mr Purslow – the Director of MFL, had prepared many African activities such as Arts, Fashion, Languages and Sports. The day began with a short assembly presented by Mr Purslow and Mr Haxby. The pupils were shown pictures of African geography, including the countries, the wildlife and this vast continent’s complete biological diversities. We also learned about some challenges that African people still suffer including malaria, which comes from mosquitos. Then Mr Purslow showed us a photo of Mrs Nguyen and Mr Purslow receiving the British Councils’ International School Award for the School in October 2016. For your Then riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! End of period 6 and also of the day! information, this award was to recognise Whitley Academy’s school links nationally and internationally, and Thank you to all of our teachers who made the day so is valid for three years from 2016-2019. How cool! enjoyable for all of the Year 7 students including us – Duncan and Ben – the Year 8 reporters. When the assembly was over, the classes went back to their tutor rooms to follow a completely different Written by Ben Davies and Duncan Van Den Top timetable for the day. Year 8 student reporters. We decided to visit Miss Routledge’s Y7 group; the class was doing a quiz where the students were shown a photo and they had to guess whether it was Africa or not. Everyone talked and of course all students surely wanted to win. In Mrs Latue's classroom, pupils did a quiz where they had to find the answers to questions in an atlas such as “What is the tallest mountain?” Did you know that whereas the UK only has 76million phone users, the whopping number of 650 million phones are used in Africa? Wow! They must have super mobile phone masts with very hectic and invisible highways of signals! Over all, the whole experience was extraordinary. Next, it was time to make African masks. In FO8A and F18 (two rooms on the first floor), the pupils were enjoying making their unique African masks out of only paper, a pencil, pencil crayons and string. We interviewed a Year 7 pupil named Tyler and he said: “They are used for religious festivals to represent the spirits of their African ancestors”. It was now time for some African languages. The students were really getting involved in the activity. Then they did an interesting quiz about Africa. Did you know that languages spoken in Africa include Arabic, Berber, Swahili, Hausa and Yoruba? And time for some Drama with Mrs Latue in G08. The class sat in a circle playing wink murder and when Mrs Latue said that the murderer was wearing shoes, everyone took off their shoes! You could imagine how exciting the ambience of the room was! Meanwhile in the Auditorium, Year 7 girls were learning the steps to the famous Whitley Academy 'African dance'.

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A bird’s eye view: Improvements to the Whitley Academy buildings

Something that students won't really get to see, although the benefits will be felt, is the new roof overlay system recently installed on part of our existing roof. This recent works is phase one of a three part roof replacement project envisaged to be complete over three academic years.

After securing a government grant for most of the £220,000 cost, the system will provide at least another 25 years of dry, secure weather protection for our building. With a further two phases to come (pending further grants being secured) the school will be in ship-shape condition for the next generation’s students.

Post 16 students collect ecology samples in North Wales

On Monday 9th January, Whitley Academy Post 16 biology students travelled to Dol-y-Moch, Snowdonia, North Wales, to develop their understanding of practical ecology.

Ecology is a branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

The aim of the course was to give the students opportunities to apply their learning to three different environments, the rocky shore, sand dunes, and a forest. Students gathered samples in each of these environments, ready for the ecology essential practical required for their exams.

The students made excellent progress and were very enthusiastic in conditions that made collecting samples challenging. We hope this experience has given them confidence to perform well in their exams.

Miss Denton Science

21 A special Friday afternoon with Sam Verralls from Wasps Rugby On Friday 13th January, Whitley Academy’s Year 7 Student Reporters (along with Mrs Nguyen) found themselves fortunate enough to receive a visit from Sam Verralls - Community Development Officer at Wasps Rugby, based in Coventry.

His role is to oversee work with schools, Wasps Touch Rugby scheme, and lead on their Coach Class programme. He also does work on social media, and on match days.

Sam was very open-minded and shared with us many stories about his life and his work. We learned that when he was 14-15 years old he enjoyed English Language and liked to write about sports, especially rugby.

Sam assisted in developing a rugby blog site. It now reaches up to potentially 2.5 million people a week. During that time, he got the opportunity to interview a couple of famous rugby players and referees. As a result of his blogging, he was invited (alongside a variety of the best bloggers in rugby) to work on the first ever rugby coverage on BT Sport, which was Leicester against Worcester.

When we asked Sam what he would do if he were to do opposite team so forcefully that he did not only make anything again, he replied that he would like to go back them unconscious, but made himself unconscious. and play more rugby. He would want to play as a number  During his childhood his trousers split in front of 2000 eight, because he likes to have the freedom to roam people. around the pitch. We also found out that his favourite  Additionally, if he started a sport, it would be a Wasps player is Nathan Hughes, but his favourite rugby mixture of American football and rugby, it would be player of all time is Jonny Wilkinson. One of his favourite called “Uberball”. football players is David Beckham.

After the interview, Sam agreed to take some pictures, so We were quite surprised to know that Sam, on a normal Mrs Nguyen took our photos with the man who inspired us day, works 9:00am-5:00pm and can work six days a week. all. One hour went by in the blink of an eye.

Near the end of the interview the Student Reporter team The Student Reporters could not wish for a better interview. started to ask some personal questions.

Written by Paige of 7CLA, Year 7 Student Reporter It was really fascinating to learn that:

 Sam’s favourite food is macaroni cheese bites  His favourite school subject was Physics.  A memorable trip in his teenage years was the trip to San Francisco – the Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood – the Walk of Fame.  He prefers a Ferrari to a Lamborghini.

Some unforgettable memories for Sam include:

 When he was younger, he tackled a player from the

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Post 16 Students receive certificates in Senior Mathematics Challenge

Very well done to Post 16 students Natalie, Chirag, and Nathan for achieving awards in this years UKMT Senior Maths Challenge.

Over 82,000 pupils from across the UK returned scripts for the Senior Maths Challenge, with the top 10% receiving a gold certificate, the next 20% silver, and the next 30% bronze.

The Senior Maths Challenge is run by the UK Mathematics Pictured from left (Natalie, Chirag, Nathan, Miss Heden) Trust, and is supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. It is aimed at Years 13 and below, and is sat in schools.

Natalie - gold award, best in school, best in year. Chirag - bronze award - best in year. Nathan - bronze award.

Whitley Pupils celebrate successes at Celebration Evening

Whitley Academy was able to celebrate the academic success and outstanding attitude of pupils in Years 10 - 13 at our annual KS4/KS5 Celebration Evening.

Well done to pupils that were nominated to receive an award, we are extremely proud of your hard work and dedication to your studies. We hope it continues into the new year.

A big thank you to parents and carers who showed their support by attending the event.

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th If you liked … Why not try ... This year the CILIP Carnegie Medal reaches its 80 birthday.

Every year, the CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded to the writer of an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.

Some interesting facts about the Carnegie Medals:

 From 114 nominated titles, the judges and Chair had whittled down to 40 longlisted books and then 16 shortlisted ones before choosing the WINNER

 Patrick Ness won the Carnegie Medal two years in a row in 2011 and 2012. He’s the second person to do this, the first being Peter Dickinson in 1979 and 1980

Previous winners:

 2015 Tanya Landman with the book Buffalo Soldier  2014 Kevin Brooks with the book The Bunker Diary  2013 Sally Gardner with her book Maggot Moon

Careers Fair - Calling all professionals! On Wednesday 14th June we will be running a careers fair for Y12 and Y10 students. The purpose of the fair is to reveal an insight into different careers and the pathways that professionals have taken in order to access these careers. If you feel that you could offer a talk or small presentation to our students within the field that you work in, please contact The Director of Post 16 Phil Edwards on [email protected]

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Our Online Uniform Shop Is Now Available

To access our online uniform shop, please visit https://www.parentpay.com/ParentPayShop/Uniform/ Default.aspx?shopid=403

PARENTS & CARERS Once you have placed your order you will receive a confirmation email from Parent Pay, and then the school will contact you to let you know when the uniform is ready for collection (which we estimate to be within two working days of placing your order).

Uniform can also be purchased from Andy Blair's shop at 88-90 Barkers Butts Lane, Coundon, Coventry, CV6 1DY.

TERMS & CONDITIONS We respectfully ask that you check your child's size before purchasing garments online. However, should you order the wrong size, the garment should be returned to school with tags still intact, for an exchange.

Note: If purchased from Andy Blair then you should deal with them directly.

25 TERM DATES 2017— - 2018

Term Pupil Dates Teacher Days

th Autumn 2017 th Monday 4 September Wednesday 6 September to th (74 – including teacher days) st Tuesday 5 September Thursday 21 December th Friday 24 November TBC Half Term Break (35 + 39) Saturday 21st October to Sunday 29th October Christmas Holiday Friday 22nd December to Sunday 7th January

th Spring 2018 Tuesday 9 January to Thursday th th Monday 8 January (54 including teacher day) 29 March Half Term Break (30 + 24) Saturday 17th February to Sunday 25th February Easter Holiday th Friday 30 March to th Sunday 15 April

th Summer 2018 Tuesday 17 April to th th Monday 16 April (67 including teacher day) Wednesday 25 July May Day Holiday (29 + 38) th Monday 7 May Half Term Break Saturday 26th May to Sunday 3rd June Summer Holiday starts th Thursday 26 July 2018

SCHOOL DIARY–- APRIL 2017—-july 2017

Thursday 6th April Year 8 Academic Review Evening

Friday 7th April Term Ends for Easter Holidays

Monday 24th April Teacher Training Day

Tuesday 25th April Term Starts for Pupils 8.45am

Thursday 4th May Whitley Awards Evening

Thursday 11th May Year 9 Parents Evening

Wednesday 5th July New Year 7 Induction Day and Parents Evening

Wednesday 12th July Year 11 Leavers Assembly

Wednesday 24th July Whitley Festival

Wednesday 25th July Term Ends for Summer Holidays

26 FREE SCHOOL MEALS

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FACILITIES

Conference and ICT Room Presentation Hall For all your needs: Conferences, Training Newly refurbished auditorium available at Courses, Presentations... Whitley Academy for hire in the evenings and school holidays. Available for hire in term time and during the school holidays  220 fixed seats,  new sound system,  large display screen  projector

Suitable for :

 conference,  presentations  performances

Cricket Pitch

An all weather outside cricket pitch available for letting to local cricket teams this season.

Contact For more information or any enquiries about our facilities please contact:

Mrs A Nagra

Phone 024 7630 2580

Email [email protected]

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