2018-19 Term 3 News, Events and Updates at Brompton Academy CCF Brave the Elements for Bushcraft Day It was a freezing Saturday in mid-January, but thankfully the cadets were wrapped up warm and excited about the day ahead. Our bushcraft instructor was waiting for the cadets so he could introduce them to basic bushcraft skills, which included fire starting and shelter building. Fortunately, for the rest of the hard-working staff, Ms Knight and Ms Hipkiss set the perfect standard in providing constant cups of coffee and hot chocolate. They even managed to rustle up some baked potatoes, amazing what you can find in the woods! After building a fire from scratch using the natural environment, a flint and cotton wool, the cadets were soon feeling warm under the canopy of the pine trees. After the mini lessons it was the turn of the cadets to confirm their skills by building a large fire and cooking their dinner in a shelter big enough for their team to live and survive in. The results were outstanding, all the cadets managed to contribute toward collecting fire wood, cutting wood to build the frame and gathering the roofing material to clad their shelter. We had a competition for the best shelter and as you can see the results were very impressive. 1 2018-19 Term 3 A Fascinating Forensic Science Day at The University of Kent Our Year 12 and 13 Criminology classes were invited to visit the University of Kent’s Physical Science department by Robert Green MBE to take part in Forensic Science Day. The day began with a session on how to investigate secret and deleted files on a hard drive using digital forensics in order to gain electronic evidence to solve criminal cases. Students were given the chance to do blood splatter analysis and fingerprint matching and learnt the importance of Forensic Science when investigating crimes. In the Charles Darwin Laboratory in the School of Anthropology, students also learnt more about Forensic Osteology with Dr Chris Deter. Students found it extremely interesting to understand the amount of information revealed about a person, simply by measuring and observing the bones of a real skeleton. The afternoon was the highlight of the day for many students, when they were able to do some real ‘scene of crime’ work. The University of Kent has recently set up a mock house in the grounds for undergraduates to practise their Forensic Science skills. Our students were given access to this area and really enjoyed the challenge of locating as much forensic evidence as possible as they learnt how to dust for fingerprints. 2 2018-19 Term 3 Meet our new Duke of Edinburgh Ambassadors We are really excited to introduce Evan and Cian, two of our Duke of Edinburgh students who are now fully fledged DofE Ambassadors. The boys attended an Ambassador training day with the South East Regional DofE office. They have already got big plans for the year ahead, including promoting the prestigious DofE award to younger students across the UKAT Trust and sharing their stories so far. Along with many other students at Brompton Academy, they will be collecting their Bronze Award on the 20th March at Rochester Cathedral and they are also looking forward to completing their Silver Award later this year. The DofE staff would like to congratulate all students on passing their Bronze and Silver awards this year. To learn more about the DofE award please contact the DofE Team on 01634 852341. 3 2018-19 Term 3 4 2018-19 Term 3 Brompton Academy Cheerleaders lead the way in the Kent School Games On Monday 4th February both the Brompton Academy Senior and Junior teams competed in the Kent School Games Cheerleading Final at Medway Park. Competition was fierce, but the teams had been training hard for this and their hard work paid off, with the juniors placing 3rd and seniors placing 1st! Well done to all students involved. New Boxing Club Packs a Punch This term Brompton Academy, in partnership with Olympia Boxing Club and The Arches Local Project, launched a brand-new Boxing Club. The club takes place every Wednesday, with qualified coaches putting our students through their paces. Focusing on the discipline and fitness techniques of boxing, it has certainly proved a hit with male and female students alike. So far over thirty students have attended the club and have shown outstanding commitment and determination to improve their skills. 5 2018-19 Term 3 University of Kent Lead the Academy in a Healthy Eating Project This term Phase One students across the Academy have been introduced to healthy eating and discussed how to make healthier choices with their food and drinks. In Key Curriculum, students have been learning about the many ways to eat more healthily and the benefits of exercise. They had an interactive lecture by representatives from ‘Chartwells’, the company that provides our students and staff with breakfast and lunch on a daily basis. Students were able to create a healthy meal, and also design their own nutrition bar; promoting and marketing the benefits of healthy food choices to other students. Students were also able to create and sample healthy fruit smoothies. All of the students agreed fruit smoothies are a great alternative to the energy drinks and fizzy pop drinks that they might have chosen in the past. 6 2018-19 Term 3 Throughout the project, year groups had assemblies led by the University of Kent, who introduced the importance of healthy eating and what potential changes students can make to their diets to increase their alertness in lessons and live a healthier lifestyle. The University of Kent also staffed three lunch time stalls and demonstrated to students how to prepare a meal, swap sweets for fruit and reduce sugar content in sugary drinks by swapping to sparkling water or squash. 7 2018-19 Term 3 Jumping for Success Brompton Academy Trampolining Club has been preparing this term for the Kent Schools Competition at Medway Park in March. We have over thirty students attending trampolining. Many students have been selected to represent Brompton Academy in Novice, Intermediate and Advanced categories. We wish them all good luck in their competitions! 8 2018-19 Term 3 A Wealth of Activities in the Brompton Academy Library Brompton Academy’s library hit the ground running with an exciting start to 2019 including: Define the ‘L' Word Competition Students competed passionately to find and define the most interesting words beginning with L; winning Valentine’s Day prizes for their efforts. As well as being plenty of fun, it was a superb way to practise and encourage dictionary use and boost vocabularies! Well Played The first wave of our ‘Well Played’ initiative with The University of Kent is going well. Using board games and card games, students develop their oracy, debating, storytelling and listening skills - all vital as students progress towards their GCSE English qualification. Our second cohort are currently being invited to join the programme. One Hundred Amazing Women In our quest to help our students develop a wider understanding of History, the Arts and Innovation, we have been looking at the top one hundred amazing women who have influenced culture and science around the world. Students can take part in our competition to name and highlight an amazing woman who has inspired them! 9 2018-19 Term 3 500 Words As many of our students are keen to enter the BBC Radio 2 ‘500 Words’ competition, we are looking at developing writing skills in lessons as well as hosting writing workshops on Mondays after school! Coming Up – look out for preparations for World Book Day, Inky Fingers and Science Week! Rowing Success in the SSG Competition Over the last few months, these four students have been competing in various rowing competitions. Their hard work paid off when they came 1st in Medway and qualified to participate in the West Kent Finals at Greenacre. The Year 9 girls performed so well they also qualified for a place in the Kent Schools Finals in February. Rowing students were inspired by Olympic Rower, Charles Cousins at their final competition and finished 5th in Kent. This is an incredible result – well done girls. 10 2018-19 Term 3 Get Involved with Music at Brompton Academy University of Kent Music Education Study An MA student from China is currently at the University of Kent conducting a comparative review of Music Education in United Kingdom and China. Brompton Academy Music Department has been working closely with the University of Kent to reflect on the similarities and differences as well as start to trial music practices that take place in China. This is an exciting opportunity and we hope to create strong links with schools in China in the future. Phase One - Instrumental Lessons As an Artsmark Platinum Centre, we are always working to celebrate and nurture new Arts talents at the Academy. We are now offering guitar and drum lessons for Phase One students. All tuition is conducted on a one-to-one or groups basis with a rolling timetable. This means students will have tuition at a different time every week, therefore the impact on missing the same lesson twice is minimised. There are a limited number of places and instruments available and therefore it is a first come first served basis. Please can you get in contact [email protected] for further information regarding prices, timetable etc. Phase One - Urban Playground Urban Playground is an Orchestra/Big Band group where you can continue learning an instrument or learn how to play a new instrument.