Important dates Academy Spring Term 2014 Tuesday 7 — Wednesday 8 Jan. — INSET days Thursday 9 Jan. — first day of term Monday 17 — Friday 21 Feb. — Half term Monday 24‐Tuesday 25 Feb. — INSET days Newsletter Monday 7 — Monday 21 Apr. — Half term AUTUMN TERM 2013 Fri 4 Apr. — End of Spring term “Preparing our students for university and for them to be leaders in their community” Principal’s welcome note Many of you are aware that the All of this would not be Globe Academy mission is to possible without the hard prepare students for university work from students and staff and for them to be leaders in at Globe, alongside the their community and we support we enjoy from our continue to make this a very parents and carers. real possibility for our students. As an academy we have I was pleased with the looked closely at the GCSE and significant progress made in my Key Stage 2 results. The first full year as the principal at analysis we did reinforced the Globe Academy. Many of you importance of student’s will already know about our attendance being above 97%. outstanding and best ever It was clear that students results in our primary school achieving the top grades had from our summer term significantly better attendance newsletter. I am also extremely and punctuality to school. On pleased to share with you that average, students achieving our Year 11 achieved the best the higher grades at GCSE had Dear parents, carers and friends ever results in the academy’s an attendance rate 5% higher of the academy, history in the summer than those who did not examinations. I am proud to It is my pleasure as Principal of achieve the higher grades. To say that our increase in results Globe Academy to introduce our ensure that many more of our were significantly above autumn term newsletter. Since students achieve their best the start of term we have made national increases for the grades, the academy will not significant progress in a range of proportion of students be sanctioning any holidays achieving 5 A* to C grades at areas. It has been particularly during term time. In current GCSE, including English and pleasing to see how well our new economic times these mathemati staff settled into Globe Academy cs. Globe Academy decisions are never easy. and to witness the impact of is fast earning a reputation for However, when faced with their work so soon. I hope you high levels of academic such strong evidence that achievement and as an enjoy reading about all of our good attendance ensures extremely safe place for successes in this edition of our better results for students I parents to send their children. newsletter. would be failing in my duty as ‘No excuses. Achievement for all. Whatever it takes.’ 1 (continued)... Principal’s welcome note principal if I allowed students time off from their During the autumn term I asked a team of school studies. inspectors to take a thorough look at the work we In relation to other exciting developments, we do at Globe Academy. The inspectors were in for th are all really excited about our new 6 Form two days. During their time here they met with students, observed over forty teachers teach and that is due to open in September 2014. The th spoke to a number of senior leaders. The report planning for our 6 Form is well underway. I they produced based on what they saw over the have recently appointed Ms Donachy as our new th two days noted that we have a significant Head of 6 Form and over 70 of our students proportion of our lesson that were judged as have already applied to take up a place in outstanding and that the academy is making rapid September. I know that Globe Academy will be progress. The report als the best place for our students to continue in o noted that the academy their studies, especially if they are aiming to go has an extremely calm learning environment, to university. During the last academic year I student behaviour is often excellent and that our deliberately appointed staff who have had children feel extremely safe and secure. While I significant experience of teaching at ‘A’ Level to am pleased with the findings from the review ensure that our students experience the very report, I realise we still have lots of hard work best lessons. In addition, our committed staff ahead of us to be the beacon of excellence we are know your children and as a result are best all striving for. However, this is a very strong placed to meet their individual needs. We will platform from which to start in our desire to also offer all of our students a range of provide our students with the very best experiences such as trips abroad, summer education. schools at prestigious universities and work We do have some staff leaving us at the end of experience at some of the top companies in the this term to further their careers. I thank them all country. Finally, every successful applicant to for their commitment and service at Globe our 6th Form will receive their own personal Academy: Catherine Thomson, Natalia Arosemena laptop computer! ‐Manso. We have also significantly improved the I would also like to thank all of the children, opportunities for students to develop as leaders. parents, carers and staff of Globe Academy for Ms Maci has recently taken up the role as making this such a wonderful place to work and Student Leadership Co‐ordinator and has done a learn. This term we have had numerous visitors to splendid job in organising the selection of our the academy from around the country and the amazing student leaders, our new team of world and all of them without exception have student ‘Heroes’ and the student council. I know commented on the calm yet purposeful learning that our students really want to lead and so environment. I believe this is the consequence of often rise to the challenge when given the positive relationships that are based on mutual opportunity. respect and an eagerness for us all to be the very best we can be. As always, we have many cultural and enrichment activities this term. We have Finally, I want to take the opportunity to wish you celebrated Black History Month, held an ‘Open all an enjoyable and restful festive season and a Mic’ session for students to showcase their happy New Year. talents, university visits, sports fixtures against other schools, our Academy Enrichment Day and much more! You can find out more inside this edition of the newsletter or alternatively you Mr Matt Jones can listen to our student led ‘Podcast’ to find out the very latest news. Principal ‘No excuses. Achievement for all. Whatever it takes.’ 2 Podcasting The “Going Global” podcast is a weekly broadcast that aims to discuss, promote and reflect on the most recent events within Globe Academy and of course the world outside. Each week a small number of pupils make their way to the humble studio in PG6 with a collection of notes to provide their weekly commentary. Each week our dynamic broadcast team aims to provide information which resonates with all ages through a tone which is both relevant and professional. These rising stars of the digital age put in hours of work each week to ensure that those 5 minutes of airtime are packed full of quality. We are now embedded within the school website, so please go to news then podcast to check us out. Mr S Whitehead, Music teacher ‘Do you have a Twitter account? If yes then follow us @ARKGlobeAcademy. If no, then set up a Twitter account and follow us. It is a great way to keep up with daily news from the school and to be reminded about forthcoming school events.’ ‘No excuses. Achievement for all. Whatever it takes.’ 3 The Access Project The Access Project currently provides 30 Globe students in years 10 and 11 with a one‐to‐one tutor. Students ‘earn’ a tutor by attending six weeks of after‐school clubs. Ms Koehle organises two weekly workshops – Debating on Wednesdays and Current Affairs on Thursdays, 3:45‐4:45. These clubs are designed to help improve student’s soft‐skills and university competencies, and are open to all students. If students attend one of them for six weeks, they qualify for a one‐to‐ one tutor! If a student prefers another academic enrichment opportunity such as STARZ, Model UN, Maths club, STEM club, Globe News or interventions, The Access Project accepts these as alternative means of qualification. Once students have qualified, Ms Koehle will meet with them and organise a one‐to‐one academic tutor for them whom they will see for an hour a week for as long as the students re‐ quire in a subject of their choice (nine to choose from). Ms Koehle will speak to the relevant teacher to seek advice on which areas they would like the student to particularly focus on in the tutorials and pass this on to the tutor. The student will then begin tutoring! Adeseye (Year 10) and tutor Ramesh have a festive Maths tutorial. ‘No excuses. Achievement for all. Whatever it takes.’ 4 The Access Project A big congratulation to the 30 students who have already earned a tutor! The Access Project at Globe has a capacity for 25 more students and it is open to everyone in years 10 and 11.