Holyrood Academy

NEWSLETTER Issue 02 | Date 13/02/2020

Headteacher Interview Inside this Issue

Headteacher’s Message Parent Governor Profiles Trips & Visits Sport Roundup Drama Drama Drama Awards Evening House Update Music News Exclusive! Students interview Mr MacCormick - ...and a whole lot more. available to view on our website soon.

Headteacher’s Message

Welcome to this half term’s edition of our newsletter. I am very proud of the students and staff whose activities and achievements are within its pages. We have had a great half term which has had a real sense of drive and purpose about what we are working towards together. There has been a really positive feel around the Academy, too. Holyrood exists to serve our community and to ensure that young people of all abilities and backgrounds have the grades, experiences and skills they need to be truly successful. It means a great deal to me that our students are having opportunities to broaden their horizons, experience learning outside of the classroom and experience life outside of their local area. If your son or daughter has not yet become involved in teams, clubs or trips, please do encourage them! These are fantastic places to build self-confidence and meet new people. We are on an exciting improvement journey and I am delighted to announce that two new Senior Leaders will be joining us. Mr Jonathan Black (Deputy Headteacher) will be joining us after Easter and Mr Rob Crocker (Deputy Headteacher) will be joining us in September. Both Mr Black and Mr Crocker are experienced and talented Senior Leaders who will bring new skills and ideas to our Senior Leadership Team. As you know, I am always happy to hear from parents - please do contact me and let me know how your child is getting on at school. If there is something we are doing really well, please let us know so that we can recognise the work of our staff. If there is something you think we could do better, again I would really value your feedback as this informs our improvement. It is always a pleasure to see our students being recognised for what they are doing well - I hope you enjoy this edition.

Mr Dave MacCormick Headteacher Following us? Be the first to know

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Awards Evening 2019

The 16th December saw another memorable and special Awards Evening for our students. The Academy hall was packed with award-winners and their families celebrating academic, sporting, artistic and community success. The audience enjoyed a presentation from guest speaker Nick Corkill about his adventurous life and inspiration to our students. SUBJECT AWARDS

MAJOR AWARDS

Major Award winners

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Y9 Drama

On a very wet Tuesday afternoon in December 2019, Holyrood Year 9 GCSE Drama students battled the wind and the rain to perform their children's theatre devised performances to Manor Court Primary School. The Year 3 and 4 children were treated to a collection of some Roald Dahl inspired performances, including such classics as The Twits, The Witches and Matilda. I was extremely proud of all the effort, energy and enthusiasm my GCSE students put into delivering such interesting and entertaining performances to such a young Mrs Twit audience. Which is by no means an easy job! After the show, the cast completed a Q&A with the audience to summarise what they thought went well and if they had any feedback for the cast to work on if they were to perform their plays again. In which one very lovely Year 4 boy answered "I think the only thing you need to work on is making it longer because we wanted to see more! It was just so funny and completely brilliant!" A great quote for the Year 9s to use in their written evaluations I think! Congratulations Year 9 on a fantastic performance assessment. Mrs Shaun Matilda

Matilda

On their way...in the rain! The Witches

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Business Studies Apprenticeship Show

Our Dragon’s Den House On Wednesday 29th January 50 Competition is launching Year 10 students visited the this week. Do you have National Apprenticeship Show what it takes to face the in Exeter. At the show there Dragons? Please see Miss were over 50 local employers Hamilton in F4 for more and HE providers showcasing details. opportunities to 1000s of student from across the South West in a lively, interactive, fun and informative setting. As We are also launching the a year leader I found the event very informative with lots of ‘Tenner Challenge’ with great opportunities out there for young people, and it was our Key stage 4 classes. good to develop my knowledge of the many local This is a Young Enterprise employment opportunities that exist outside of Chard. competition where It was even more reassuring to see providers who students are given £10 in recognise that young people can achieve, and give them the groups to see how much profit they can make from it. Look tools to do so, even if they feel they are not academically out for more information in your classes. What would you capable. Hopefully the event will help to inspire some of do? our students to aim beyond the false ceiling they sometimes create for themselves. Mr Reid

We are thrilled to announce that MINDfest will be returning to Holyrood for it's second year. Our aim of this event is to provide students with strategies and information on how to look after their mental health and wellbeing, and this year want to make MINDfest bigger and better than ever! WE NEED YOUR HELP! We are looking for volunteers who would like to run workshops with students and share their knowledge and experiences of mental health with them. You would be assisted by a member of staff and be a recognised part of this wonderful day for our young people. Are you a yoga instructor, an artist, a sports expert, a florist, a professional who is able to provide information on mental health? We need anyone with a practical skill who feels confident in contributing to this amazing event. If you are available on Tuesday 7th July 2020 between the times of 8.30-3.10 and would like to volunteer, please get in touch with Mrs Carlile ([email protected]).

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Holyrood Governance

Holyrood Academy Local Governance Committee has four Parent Governors, elected from the parent body. Governors generally serve a four year term of office, but this can be extended.

JONATHAN FAREY Jonathan is the longest serving governor at Holyrood, with a farming, forestry, building and landscaping background. Currently a full-time farmer, Jonathan is involved with the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, organising a consultation process to feed into a new stewardship programme. He is the parent of a student in Year 13 and all his children have attended Holyrood, coming from its feeder primary school in Combe St. Nicholas. Jonathan is a director of The Watch Project in Chard which helps people aged over 18 with different issues, through peer support. Along with his wife, Jonathan helps run a youth theatre in Chard for 8 to 18 year olds which he finds very rewarding. Jonathan thoroughly enjoys being a Governor, working with interesting and dedicated people in a team, all for the good of our young people, who will hold the future before long. Jonathan feels we must inspire them as he has been inspired to try and make the world a better, fairer place.

RICHARD POOLE A recently appointed Parent Governor, Richard is the parent of a Year 7 student who was previously a pupil at Combe St. Nicholas Primary School. Originally from Cornwall, Richard moved to Chard in 2009. Richard has been a police officer with Devon and Cornwall Police for the last 22 years. He currently works for the Police Federation, but has previously been an armed response officer. He calls himself a veteran Royal Navy engineer and was a member of the Padstow Lifeboat crew for 17 years, and the Coastguard cliff rescue team based in Newquay. Having successfully set up a joint Police/NHS partnership mental health project, he is currently advising the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in setting up a similar scheme. Richard describes his own education path as vocational rather than academic, and having had decades of experience in public service has the strong belief that the importance of investing in our children’s education cannot be understated. Becoming a Governor is Richard’s way of playing a small part in making Holyrood Academy the best it can possibly be.

Careers Focus

YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE Year 10 students will be completing their work experience from 22nd – 26th June 2020. This is an exciting opportunity for our students to experience what work life will be like for them and to gain some fantastic hands-on experience. Work experience placements should be organised by the end of February. Please work with your child in order to arrange this. If there are any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact their tutor.

NATIONAL CAREERS WEEK National Careers Week is at the beginning of March. There will lots of discussions with students in lessons about the types of careers that each subject can lead into and teachers will be discussing the different paths they have undertaken. There will also be information about the types of careers that are predicted in the South West and what are the most popular careers in our area currently.

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Meet our Parent Governors

Although elected by the parent body, Parent Governors do not simply represent the views of parent/carers, although their insight from this perspective is welcomed and valued. Parent Governors have equal status along with all other governors and deal with a variety of issues from finance to safeguarding, curriculum to premises, staffing to community.

DANIEL PRITCHARD Daniel, a newly appointed Parent Governor is the parent of a student in Year 8, who previously attended Manor Court Primary School. Daniel has lived in Chard for the past 27 years, with his parents originally from Axminster. Daniel spent 21 years of his career working locally at Oscar Mayer, starting as a box packer and working up to being the Health & Safety Manger until he left the Company in 2016. Currently, Daniel works in the Civil Service in scientific research as a Health & Safety Business Partner. Working in this industry has encouraged him to broaden his scope on life and by being a Governor he hopes to use his experiences, local knowledge and technical skills to support the management team at Holyrood. Being a Governor Daniel wants to help structure the future for our children and others in Chard, and being a family man with four children, he knows the future and education for the children at Holyrood is essential to a brighter future for everyone in the local community. In his spare time Daniel supports Exeter City, and enjoys playing cricket and darts.

ALISON COLLINS Alison is the parent of a student in Year 9, who previously attended Neroche Primary School in Broadway. Born in Devon, Alison moved to Somerset in 1998 when taking up teaching appointments in the county. Alison is currently the Headteacher of a local primary school and is heavily involved in the education of children aged 2-11 years. She is a keen cook and avid reader. Like many parents, Alison finds a great deal of her time is involved in providing a taxi service for her 2 children, supporting them with their various interests. Through this Alison has met many interesting people and heard many different viewpoints, all of which have confirmed her belief that we are all keen to make the world better, fairer and more equal for our children as they grow up. Alison has developed an interest in special educational needs and disabilities and is keen to see that all children regardless of their ability have the best possible start in life, and that this is carried through into their later years. Alison became a Governor in order to play a part in making this happen at Holyrood, along with being able to use her educational experience and knowledge to ensure students at our Academy develop the skills and resilience needed for the next stage of their education.

Careers Focus

MADE WORKSHOP Some of our Year 11 students took part in a revision skills workshop which was run by Made Training and Next Steps South West. In the 2 hour session, the students identified different strategies that they could use and learnt how to create a memory palace ready for their all-important GCSE exams.

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Health & Social Care Y11 Theatre Trip...cont

At the end of last term, our Year 11 Health and Social Care It was not long until we noticed Gabe Larter-Webber had students visited Sunnymeade Nursing Home to deliver volunteered himself to take part in the traditional 'Street handmade Christmas cards, mince pies and chocolate Santas Theatre'. As you can see from the photo below, he did a to the residents. Our students loved spreading Christmas sterling job and received a huge round of applause from the cheer and making the residents’ day. All the cards were crowds for his efforts. made by Years 9, 10 and 11 Health and Social Care Then it was time to queue outside the Fortune students. Theatre, where the students eagerly awaited Susan Hill’s acclaimed ghost story of The Woman in Black. Stephen Mallatratt’s ingenious stage adaptation kept our students on the edge of their seats, hiding behind coats and scarfs, and more often than not - screaming in horror and hugging one another in fear of The Woman in Black sneaking up behind them. It was certainly a gripping production and one which gave our students an excellent understanding of atmosphere, tension, illusion and controlled horror. Mrs Lowe and I are already looking forward to reading your Theatre Reviews Year 11! Mrs Shaun

Y11 H&SC students with Sunnymeade residents

Y11 Theatre Trip

On Thursday 23rd January 2020, Year 11 drama students headed for the dizzy heights of London. Upon entering the outskirts of our capital city, the students (and staff) on board the coach were treated to Mrs Shaun's "London Coach Tour", where I shared my knowledge (supported by Google!) of London landmarks, facts about Harrods and tales of the Drama School life which I experienced when living in London many moons ago. By lunchtime we had arrived at Covent Garden, where the students had some free time to enjoy the shops, food and bustling atmosphere. Woman In Black - Y11 drama students

Gabe Larter-Webber in Covent Garden

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KS3 Drama Club

The Drama Department celebrated the festive season in Tommy White in A Christmas Carol style this year with our KS3 Drama club (60+ members strong!) performing not one, but TWO Christmas shows to a sell-out audience of 120 people! First up was Ms Jolliffe's cast, who gave a captivating rendition of A Christmas Carol. Taking us on a journey of greed, gratitude, reform and forgiveness; with some stand out performances from Tommy White and Evie Guy. During the interval the audience were not only treated to hot chocolate and mince pies, but also to an eclectic Art Exhibition, showcasing the creative work from Holyrood's KS3 Art Club. Thank you Mrs Cumberland for sharing the broad range of skill and talent within your department. The audience soon returned to participate in the final show of the evening, Aladdin. The cast put all their energy and enthusiasm into delivering a humorous portrayal of some very well-known characters. At the end of the evening, we took a moment to remember those people who will be without a home this Christmas and are in urgent need of support. Our audience were extremely charitable at reaching into their own pockets to offer any change they had. And by the end of the evening we had raised £86 that was donated to the Crisis charity. A HUGE THANK YOU to Ms Jollffe, Mrs Lowe and the Aladdin Cast Drama Ambassadors for all their time, effort and support in organising such a brilliant opportunity for our students (and their families) to enjoy and remember. Mrs Shaun

A Christmas Carol

Drew, Daisy & Faith in Aladdin

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Sixth Form FESTIVITIES IN THE SIXTH FORM COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON TEA A wonderful part of my job is seeing the extraordinary Once again the Senior Team hosted a very festive Christmas kindness and talents of the young people I work with. So, afternoon for the elderly in our community. Just over 40 for the second year, we had a Sixth Form advent calendar Chard residents attended and were treated to a warm to reward this. Each day Gloria and I were fortunate to be welcome by our Deputy Head Girl Rachael Davis playing able to provide a small treat to a student who went above Christmas carols on her trumpet, followed by a Christmas and beyond either academically, through enrichment, 100% quiz, delicious food, bingo, Christmas carols and a present for attendance or by helping others. Their names were then every guest to go home with. I was very proud of all their written and exchanged into our advent calendar to be efforts in coordinating the afternoon but in particular the entered into the Christmas Stocking draw. Tutors also enjoyment that was so evident from everyone involved. The nominated one student per week to be entered, so we Christmas spirit and care for the community was the perfect ended up having 71 names to draw from on the last day of end to the Autumn Term. term, with the lucky winner Lucy Hollister having been We are looking forward to our next community project in nominated seven times! Mrs Challis March with the Senior Team leading our annual Food Bank collection for Lord’s Larder. Information on this will be communicated home after the February half term.

WELLBEING CHAMPIONS Seventeen of our Sixth Formers were trained by SHARE as Wellbeing Champions in December. These students are very keen to support all our students in the Academy in any way they can. Working closely with Mrs Naylor they will lead a group of students from the lower years in the Academy to champion positivity and look after one another. This will run alongside our YOUnique group which supports talking about anything and celebrating everything.

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Sixth Form

ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT THIS YEAR’S UCAS APPLICATIONS 44% of Year 13s have applied to UCAS this year, with many of them already having heard back with impressive course offers and/or interview dates. A breakdown of the data from those who have applied follows:  63% of these students will be the first member in their family to attend university.

We were very fortunate to have Dr Cathy Randall-Phillips  40% have already received reduced offers from their from Bath University’s Psychology department spend the chosen university courses due to their involvement in the day with our students and Mrs Ingrams on the 21st January. HE+ Cambridge Programme, attending Sutton Trust The students were very intrigued to learn more about Summer Schools, the Exeter Progression Scheme, our Clinical Psychology and the vast opportunities within this involvement on Exeter University’s PCAP and their own field and more specifically at Bath University. work ethic. Our Year 12 Business Studies students have secured a place  33% have achieved unconditional offers already. Please in the semi-finals for the national Student Investor remember whilst these are an achievement recognising Challenge national competition – we wish ‘Mystery Inc.’ the students’ abilities and course choices, there can be best of luck in the next round. This is a brilliant loopholes attached to these offers so it is crucial that achievement led by Miss Lemon and Miss Hamilton, if you students continue to put in 100% effort to achieve their are interested to learn more about this venture organised best (final grades will still be on their CVs when they later by the The London Institute of Banking and Finance please apply for jobs, now is not the time to become complacent follow the link: www.studentinvestor.org/regional- – you want to achieve your very best). finalists.php  17% have been called to interviews (and have had Several of our Year 12 students have started to apply for significant support in preparing for this). the Sutton Trust Sumer Schools, providing amazing  7% have already secured scholarships and/or bursaries. opportunities for them to discover what university life can be like. But as mentioned in our weekly briefings these are also a brilliant way to gain an insight into a specific field of interest to prepare our students for Higher or Degree Apprenticeships and make them stand out when mentioned on their CVs. There is still time to apply, the deadline is the 3rd March https://summerschools.suttontrust.com/ Due to our long-standing relationship with the Holocaust Educational Trust we have been incredibly fortunate to secure six student places for this year’s ambassador scheme (Post-16 institutes are only typically given two a year). Ellie Hull, Ellie Knight, Chloe Teague, Ollie Denning, Caitlin

Smith and Nicole Brook are the fortunate students who will get to attend three training days and a fourth day visiting Auschwitz and an opportunity to meet and hear from a

Holocaust survivor. A life-changing experience which will not only enrich their lives but all of our students’ lives when Thinking of applying to our Sixth Form? Download an they return as ambassadors. application form from our website or better still come and have a chat with Mrs Challis and discover the opportunities

we have to offer! www.holyroodacademy.com/academy/ sixthform

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Flying Start Challenge

Flying Start Challenge is a STEM competition for local schools in the South West of England which is run and sponsored by eight aerospace engineering companies: Airbus, Atkins, BAE Systems, GKN Aerospace, Leonardo, MBDA, Rolls-Royce and Safran Landing Systems. The challenge is designed to allow students to develop their knowledge of flight, and gain some hands on engineering experience. Whilst doing this, we aim to provide an opportunity for students to build on their soft skills such as teamwork, communication and problem solving, while also having fun. The task is for teams to design, build and test a model glider that they will present at their regional Fly-Off, where each team will have the chance to fly their glider against schools from the same region. Teams will be judged on various criteria such as the distance flown and innovative design. Our students have been working with engineers from Leonardo in Yeovil, and have produced some creative designs. They have all made it through to the Regional Finals at RNAS Yeovilton next week. The three teams are made up of: Josh Truscott 9xM Leonie Ennis 9yM Ben Sutcliffe 9xQ Jacob Paul 9yM Flynn Smith 9yB Leon Harms 9xBR Georgina Hallett 9yM Max Taylor 9yB Henry Windsor 9xBR

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Music

It has been an exciting time in the music department this Holyrood Academy Music Department will also be hosting term as we have once again hosted the Opera Plus Project the annual CAFOS concert on Wednesday 18th March at at the Academy. Opera Plus is an award winning initiative 6.30pm. Local primary schools will take part in a mass run by Jackdaws Music Education Trust that introduces concert which always ends with a breath-taking finale opera to school pupils in a straightforward and manageable involving all of the performers. Below is a photo of last way. Photos below are of members of the choir involved in year’s massed choir. the creation of a brand new opera “The Stylist of Somerset”. From the title can you guess which opera it is based on?! The performance will take place on Friday 24th April from 5.30pm in the Upper Site Hall. Mr Gilham

All of our GCSE candidates are hard at work completing their performances and compositions for the upcoming exam. Year 7s have been learning to play the guitar and ukulele in their lessons; Year 8s have been learning about calypso music and opera; and Year 9s are exploring film music. You never know what style of music to expect to hear when you wander down our corridors! Finally, huge congratulations to Year 13 student Rachael Davis who passed her Grade 8 Horn exam last term. The photo below is of Rachael with Mr Lloyd Jones who played the piano accompaniment for her in the exam.

Mr Lloyd Jones and Rachael Davis

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GCSE Maths Revision Etihad Stadium Visit

YEAR 11 AND YEAR 12 GCSE MATHS REVISION Just before Christmas, a group of 35 Year 10 students enjoyed a fabulous trip to watch Manchester City vs Time is marching on and we are preparing for the GCSE Leicester City in an enthralling Premier League Maths exams in lessons and homework by completing encounter. The match ended 3-1 to the home side! practice exam questions to build confidence and familiarity with the exam process. Accompanied by Mr Reid, Mrs Coles and Miss Lemon, we travelled to Manchester full of excitement and anticipation Outside of lessons the Maths Team are running revision of the experience ahead. Upon arrival at the Etihad Stadium, sessions on Wednesdays after school – details of topics to we were greeted by our tour guides who taught us about be covered are shared in lessons with students prior to the the history of the club and showed us the amazing facilities sessions and students are encouraged to sign up to the both outside and inside the stadium. The students enjoyed session they will be attending. visiting the home dressing room where they learned who Other revision resources available to students: was in the match day squad and starting XI before any of Access to the PiXL Maths App which allows them to the news outlets! A highlight was walking down the tunnel complete bespoke revision tasks on a phone or tablet or to pitch side on our way to meet Pep Guardiola (a PC. hologram version, unfortunately!) in the Media Suite. www.vle.mathswatch.co.uk to watch tutorial videos and As usual, our students were an absolute credit to the complete practice questions school and I was extremely proud of them. www.cgpbooks.co.uk access to the online textbooks and Mr MacCormick revision guides All logins and passwords are shared with the students in class and on ShowMyHomework. There are many ways to revise – the most important thing is you’re doing SOMETHING to #getmoremarks! A little effort now, goes a long way in the end!

INTERMEDIATE MATHS CHALLENGE On Thursday 6th February forty Year 10 students sat the UKMT’s Intermediate Maths Challenge, answering questions like those below. There is the opportunity for Bronze, Silver and Gold Certificates and to go through to the next round. We wish all of those who participated the best of luck.

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Helmstedt Trip

In December, the MFL department took a group of 30 students to Germany, Belgium and France. We visited a secondary school in Helmstedt, twinned with Chard, we also went to the border crossing memorial and we were welcomed by the twinning association at the local Christmas market. In Bruges, the students also enjoyed the Christmas market and its beautiful architecture. In Dunkirk, the students were able to see the beaches from where thousands of soldiers had to be evacuated during the second world war. Once in France, we learnt how to make pastries and bread. The highlight of the trip was the warm welcome in Helmstedt and the gifts from the German teachers and students to celebrate St Nikolas, we are already planning to go back later this year!

Scholastic Book Fair

The Learning Centre hosted a Scholastic Book Fair during February where students were invited to buy books, posters and stationery. The two-day lunchtime event was very busy with queues of students eager to choose from a selection of over 200 titles. Pleasingly, over 70 books were sold to students and staff. All of the items purchased earned Scholastic ‘rewards’ which will be spent on acquiring more books and resources for the Learning Centre.

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Sport Roundup

HOCKEY We have had some impressive displays of hockey since the last Newsletter with some great team efforts and stand-out individuals aplenty.

Boys U16 - County Champions!

Boys U12 - 4th in County

Girls Y8 - County Champions!

Boys U13 - 3rd in County

Boys U14 - County Champions! Girls Y10 - 3rd in County

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Sport Roundup

NETBALL Netball league matches are starting in the next few weeks so friendly games have been played in preparation.

Y7 A Team Y9 Squad

Y7 B Team Y10 Squad

Y8 Squad Y11 Squad - Area Runners Up

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Sport Roundup

HANDBALL CRICKET Handball Club and friendly fixtures have just started, with Primary Cricket Sports Leaders (from Y8, Y9 & Y10) all the Y7 Boys playing their first ever Handball match! helped coach at a KS1 Primary cricket festival.

Y7 Squad Cricket Sports Leaders

Y8 & Y9 Squads

U13 Girls - through to 2nd round of chance to Shine Competition

BTEC SPORT L2 BTEC Sport students achieved brilliant results in their exams with a 98% Pass rate! A special mention goes to the students that achieved the top grade of Distinction: Oscar Antill, Murenn Crouch, Oliver Saxby, Lalande Virk, James Wilding, Alex Albon and Barnaby Willis. The Year 9s and 11s are currently working hard completing part of their practical assessments; Working on their fitness and rounders skills.

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Celebrating Our Students

ARCHERY FOOTBALL Year 9 student Hannah Wells has been progressing rapidly Congratulations to six Holyrood girls who have been through recent Archery competitions and at the Brixham instrumental in the establishment of a new girls’ football Clipper Tournament on 26th January, she broke the U16 team at Ilminster FC. recurve county record by 15 points. She was also awarded Seen here with their team-mates are: Holly Sunnick, Matilda 3 gold medals as the highest scoring junior competitor in Wallbridge, Pyper Davis, Ellie Samways, Lola Russell and recurve, longbow and club team events. Hannah hopes her Ruby Smitham. attendance at future youth development training days will get her noticed for the GB development programme. Watch this space!

Science Hannah Wells On 4th February, 40 very well-behaved Y9 and Y10 students SWIMMING went to Bath to see and hear Scientists talk about their work at the cutting edge of their specialisms. Highlights On the weekend of 7th/8th February, Year 10 student Maia included: Watson took part in the Somerset County Swimming Championships 2020. This is the third year she has qualified  Following an egg to the uterus - inside real fallopian tubes for this competition and on this occasion she won both her  Looking at white blood cells chasing and destroying heats achieving personal bests in both. Her fly is 0.5 of a bacteria under a microscope second off a regional time which she hopes to achieve in the coming year. With her times she now qualifies for the  Examining discoveries in space, including the Big Bang 2021 Championships. Well done Maia, keep it up! Theory and the movement of galaxies  Discovering the genetic evidence for domestication of wolves into different breeds of dog  Learning how to perform investigations in the most hostile environments such as the North Pole  Understanding why whale poo is red  Understanding the limitations and future of computer science technology, beyond the silicon chips  Looking at the history and future of prosthetic limbs all over the world  Top tips from a leading examiner to help in preparation for GCSE exams.

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House News

SUBJECT BADGES AUTUMN TERM ROUND UP It is important to There was an exciting race for house points last term with recognise the hard work all four houses being in the lead at some point during the and positive attitude of term. In the end it was a two horse race between our students as often as Blackdown and Quantock with the lead changing hands in we can. At the end of last term we were excited to launch the run up to Christmas. Blackdown came out on top with subject badges as a new layer to our rewards system. The 22198 points to Quantock’s 21147. Mendip came third with badges will be awarded to students during the last week of 18933 and Brendon came a close forth with 18626. Well every term in celebration assemblies. Teachers are asked to done to everyone in Blackdown. nominate a limited number of students who display Those points do not include totals won in competitions so consistently outstanding attitude and work ethic over a long the overall leader board for the year may well end up period of time. We have deliberately set a high standard to looking significantly different. be awarded a badge and all of the students who won a badge in December should be rightly proud that they have Speaking of competitions, there was an exciting range of consistently displayed a positive ethos. As well as the competitions that students competed in last term, including students receiving the badge, parents will receive a letter of House Sports, Christmas Cake Making, Cup Cake congratulations. Over 200 badges have already been Decoration and a competition themed around awarded and are being proudly worn on students’ blazers. Remembrance. This term we again have a similar range of We are looking forward to awarding even more at the end competitions that students can enter including a 500 words of the Spring Term. writing competition for Years 7 and 8 similar to the BBC’s national competition. The Heads of House and House Captains were very busy last term and have been working hard in their fortnightly meetings to represent the students and their views. The group has conducted a survey of staff views and there are going to be a number of changes to the school as a result of their hard work. These changes include new recycling bins for the outside areas, a reviewed bullying policy for the school and redesigning the student planner.

House Points Update...11.02.2020 7699 7372 6786 6392

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Christmas Trips

Our annual Christmas Trips day took place on Friday 20th December. The trips are an important part of the school calendar and are an opportunity to provide experiences for our students outside of day-to-day lessons and for stronger relationships to be formed between not only our students, but also between students and staff. School trips are quite often among the strongest memories of a students’ time at school and this year was no exception. Over a thousand students left the Holyrood site, with all coaches departing in record time! Christmas trips day is a huge feat of organisation; thank you to Mrs Gibson and the admin team for making it happen. Trips went all over Somerset and beyond including Exeter, Crealy, Bristol and Longleat. We asked staff from the trips to sum up their days with our amazing students: Miss Munroe – Bowling and Cinema “We began by watching the new Frozen 2, we were eating popcorn at 10am! Then to the bowling alley where Daniel Humphreys was champion and even won a Hollywood Bowl trophy. We ended the trip with burgers and hot dogs, yum!” Mr Slinger – Exeter “We had a lovely time. Exeter is a really interesting and vibrant City. It was nice to take our older students to say well done for their hard work so far this year.” Mrs Davidson – Paintballing “We had over 120 staff and students paintballing in the mud a day after we nearly closed the school due to flooding. This is a fantastic but quite a physically demanding trip as you don’t stop running around and/or ducking paint pellets. The only stops are to stuff your face with food and to get more pellets. The mud was epic! But added to the fun of slipping and sliding and throwing yourself behind wrecked land rovers and jeeps, every student from year 7 -11 was a credit to the school, especially as we had to share the location with other groups of adults. Despite the camouflage and masks Mr Iles and Mr Bates had the unfortunate situation of being easily recognised by the students due to their height, but Miss Coles and Miss Park blended in beautifully.” Mr Ireland – Air Hop “The 278 pupils who came to Air Hop and Cribbs Causeway had a fantastic time. There is clearly a lot of gymnastic talent at Holyrood with students throwing themselves into and off of everything that Air Hop had to offer. Students particularly enjoyed the dodgeball arenas and living out their NBA dreams in the slam-dunk nets. Students were all incredibly well behaved and this contributed to a wonderful trip all around.”

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Learning Centre Clubs

Homework Club Yu-Gi-Oh! Club (and a bit of Chess) Every student is welcome to attend Homework Club which Space for students to play Yu-Gi-Oh! is made available on is held Monday-Thursday from 3.10pm until 4.20pm. There Thursday lunchtimes. This trading card game is based on are always 2-3 staff on hand to offer support to students, as Japanese Manga (graphic novels). The game is so popular that well as helping students learn that day’s tasks. smaller games are played throughout the week. This group is completely run by students, as staff are still unable to fathom Staff and students welcome the calm, quiet atmosphere its many complexities. allowing students to focus on their work. Students also enjoy playing chess and several sets are available

in the Learning Centre. Most mornings a games of chess takes Book Clubs place from 8am. Book Clubs are held throughout the academic year. Once the chosen book has been read, students meet with the Into Film Club Academy librarian during a lunchtime. Students are offered a drink and a slice of cake (with cake forks)! Into Film Club is run by the library staff every half-term with a screening of up-to-date and classic films on the big screen in The discussions tend to be very lively, particularly if the the upper site hall. Most screenings are a PG certificate and group disagrees with the decisions made by the characters. admission is free. Parents/carers are requested to complete a permission slip for each screening. There are also a number of DVDs available to borrow from the Learning Centre.

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CRISIS Fundraising Student Investor Challenge

The Student Investor Challenge, run by The London Institute of Banking & Finance, challenges teams of schoolchildren to invest virtual money on the London Stock Exchange and trade stocks and shares to make a profit. The top 500 teams take part in the semi-finals, with nearly 1000 schools and 9000 teams taking part in the national competition. Our Holyrood team is made up of four Year 12 students and called 'Mystery Inc'. After the first round, they were placed within the top 150 teams and are now one step closer to winning an all expenses paid trip to New York! We will keep you updated on their progress. Catherine Winter, Managing Director of Financial Capability at The London Institute of Banking & Finance, says: Mr MacCormick with Alexander Brooks-Waite and Ella Bool “This competition is a powerful way of engaging young people We are delighted to announce that our students raised with how the finance sector works and relating it to everyday over £3600 for the Crisis at Christmas Appeal. This appeal life. By bringing it to life through a trading game, young people aims to eliminate homelessness in the UK and provides have proved they can grasp how economies work and the shelter, medical care, food and company to those who need basics of investment. So, congratulations to the semi-finalists it during the Christmas week. The students of Holyrood for making the top 500, it’s a great achievement!” Academy raised enough money to look after 120 people for the entire Christmas week! Mr MacCormick said “We are extremely proud of our students’ efforts to raise money for this worthy cause. They organised raffles, sold their crafts, held bake sales, arranged football competitions and even set up a pop-up nail bar to raise money. Our staff undertook a 110 mile sponsored bike ride, too. I was so proud of our community for pulling together to support those who need our help. I would like to thank everyone who kindly donated to our collections.” Mystery Inc

Parent Evenings in 2020 Term Dates

SPRING TERM YEAR 8 Tuesday 7th January 2020 - Friday 3rd April 2020 Thursday 13th February 2020 Half Term YEAR 12/13 Monday 17th February 2020 - Friday 21st February 2020 Thursday 5th March 2020 SUMMER TERM YEAR 10 Monday 20th April 2020 - Friday 17th July 2020 Thursday 26th March 2020 Half Term Monday 25th May 2020 - Friday 29th May 2020 YEAR 9 Thursday 30th April 2020 BANK HOLIDAY Friday 8th May 2020 INSET DAY Friday 3rd July 2020 YEAR 7 Thursday 21st May 2020 NON-UNIFORM DAYS Friday 14th February & Friday 1st May 2020

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HOLYROODIssue ACADEMY 02 | Zembard Lane, Chard, Somerset 24 TA20 1JL | 01460 260100 | [email protected] 13.02.2020