The Droylsden Academy Magazine October 2010 Issue 3 A magnificent Evening The first Droylsden Academy Prom took place at Shrigley Hall, a setting which can only be described as a mansion straight out a Jane Austen novel! The event was filled with a hype never before experienced by students, as the location of the Prom was kept an absolute secret! Contents Page 2 • TheSuccess innewsletter our First Year of Droylsden Academy • Vivo • The New Academy Building Page 3 • Extremism Play • Maths Competition The event was ‘invite-only’ • Murder at Droylsden Academy and all students earned their • Geography Field Trip to Llandudno place at the prom with their outstanding behaviour and Page 4 attitude. • You Choose Event • Red Cross Students enjoyed a • Festival of Languages fabulous 3 course dinner, in • High School Challenge breathtaking surroundings, • Year 7 MMU Visit followed by a disco playing • Girls into Aerospace songs of every student’s choice. Students and teachers Page 5 danced the night away, • Succeed in Science after what had been a year • Salford Young People’s University of change, hard work and • Enterprise Learner Journey exams. Page 6 Many students chose to • The Learning Maze use the coaches provided; • New Charter for Learning those who didn’t arrived in a • The NEWTs Eco Group variety of stretch limos and vintage cars. It was clear that Page 7 a lot of thought had gone • Library News into the outfits worn by • A Big Adventure the students and everyone looked amazing. Page 8 • Study Club Returns It is fair to say that a great • High School Challenge time was had by all. • Be Inspired Manor Road, Droylsden, Manchester, M43 6QD Tel: 0161 301 7600 www.droylsdenacademy.com 2 Success in Our First Year Vivo Year 11 students 2010 Update from students: Our year 11 students achieved very pleasing results this My name is James Jones; I am a current year 11 student at year. 80% of students achieved 5A* - C grades, 46% Droylsden Academy. I have been asked to write a few words with Maths and English. This reflects the hard work and regarding the Vivo reward system that is run within the commitment of staff and students. Academy. The Vivo rewards are given for various achievements in the Academy, for example: outstanding work, behaviour, The BTEC courses were highly successful; all students correct uniform and so on. This year I have tried my best to achieved at least pass with many achieving merit and achieve the grades that I needed in my GCSE exams and as a distinction accreditation. result of this I am the current leader on the vivo board! Basically, what happens is when you have enough points you can trade 61 students achieved at least 3A*/A’s which is an them in for gifts ranging from games, tents, jewellery and much outstanding achievement. more. You can find the full range of gifts by logging on to the Vivo miles website, which is run very efficiently by Mr. Frost. I Year 10 Achievement think this is a great idea as you are rewarded for all the effort Many of our students achieved GCSE qualifications you are putting into Academy and not only are you achieving in English, Science and Dance. We are proud of their your best out of school life, but you also gain a gift of your achievements and success. Students are now on target to choice as well! James Jones, year 11 achieve outstanding results in the summer of 2011. I think Vivo rewards are a good idea for Droylsden Academy Year 9 students students to save up for items of interest to them, knowing they A significant number of students achieved GCSE have earned it themselves. Vivo gives out rewards for excellent qualifications in Photography, Dance, Art and Statistics. work, good attendance and uniform etc and to see that come Students have also gained qualifications in BTEC Sport up on your transactions page makes you feel proud. and ICT. Tim Abram year 8. We are very proud of the achievements of our VIVO students. I hope that you have enjoyed a good break and are ready for a year of hard work. I would like to start the new academic year by celebrating some successes from the last one. The New Academy Building The first group of students to visit the new Academy The following students were the leading VIVOers in building site took place on the Friday 17th September. 2009/10. A year 10 Product design group were able to tour the site and hear about a range of design features; Energy Y7 Luke Clayton Conservation, Structural Design, Concrete Reinforcement, Y8 Tim Abram Sewerage and flood prevention. The project is an exciting Y9 Nicole Martin step for all students and staff within the Academy, Y10 Victoria Hind offering the very best in learning environments. Y11 James Jones All students were given a safety briefing before the tour Congratulations to you all, and good luck for this year. began and had to wear full protective clothing. Pictures of VIVO rewards have quickly become a feature of everyday the first visit are posted on the Academy Website. life at Droylsden Academy and almost every single student has received recognition for their efforts. Keep up the Further tours will be arranged good work! A lot of activity took place in the summer over the next 15 months by term with students ‘cashing-in’ their VIVOs for anything teachers who want to connect from art packs to walkie talkies. The postal service has their lessons to the creation of been kept very busy indeed! It takes a lot of effort from the new building. If individual the staff to award VIVOs and maintain the system, but students would like to join a we are all aware of their positive impact, and happy to visit to see the new building, please contact Mrs Fish in the reward students for their efforts. It is always nice to see office next to Mr Davies. so many happy customers! There are always a few students who forget passwords or log-in details, so please contact Mr Frost or your learning tutor if you need any help. Happy VIVOing! The Droylsden Academy Magazine Inspiring Minds 3 Extremism play Maths competition From Adele Burrows In April, a variety of students from the Academy went to Dukinfield Town Hall for a Maths competition involving 12 other local schools. In our very own gym earlier this year, most of the Year 10 The students were Abhishek Bhakta, Samantha Holden, Jessica English classes attended a short play about racial prejudice. Greaves, Charlie Colville-Mace and Harvey Stanhope. Logic quizzes, Using humour and real life situations, the actors tried puzzles and numerous other mathematical problem solving activities to tell us about how religion, race and the people we were done. Although the Academy came fifth, this was a much better choose to associate with affects our everyday life and the consequences our actions could have. result than the previous year! Maybe next time we’ll top the table. Two men and two women were the writers, directors and actors of the short play, all of them playing two roles at Murder at Droylsden Academy least. The women even playing male roles, when the part called for it. – Project 7 They tried to cover every point of view; the warring male As part of the new Project 7 initiative, students were protagonists, their siblings and the reporter trying to ‘investigating’ the detective genre. They were predicting get her story. All the characters’ stories intertwined with their own endings for Roald Dahl’s ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, each other, covering racism, violence and inter-racial putting together their own creative detectives and setting relationships. out the plot for murder and even planning ‘murder mystery’ weekend packs. The aspect which we reacted to the most was the racism. It is everywhere in our lives but we were shocked to hear But one of the more ‘hands on’ activities was a murder some of the language used. I think this had a positive effect within the English department, ‘Murder at Droylsden on the audience and maybe opened their eyes a little. Academy’. The students had a crime scene to study, observe and take notes from, numerous suspects to choose from, I believe the controversial piece may have informed those of us who weren’t aware of the intolerance in today’s alibis to sort out, backgrounds to check into, murder society. weapons to eliminate and the actual murder to solve using their deductions. Many of the English department In light of recent headlines and the on-going racism, maybe maintained their roles throughout the day and provided more of this sort of thing should be shown in schools to the students with red-herrings. Both students and staff give everyone a fair perspective and a better idea of the thoroughly enjoyed the day and many super sleuths are now consequences of our actions. progressing through the Academy. Geography Field Trip to Llandudno In May, year 10 students (now year 11) went to Llandudno on a Geography field trip. It was here in Llandudno where they collected the essential field data for their coursework that would contribute to their final GCSE grade at the end of year 11. The students went on a Tuesday visiting Betws-y-Coed where they took part in many activities including land surveys, pedestrian density, noise metre readings and questionnaires, to practice their field work skills for the following day in Llandudno. The next day was certainly a challenge for the students.