www.burlingtondanes.org

ACADEMY NEWS 28th March 2014

performances to cover in depth, but special

mention must be made of Joshua Barredo as

Doody, Chanel Vital as Marty, Freeda Bernard as

Jan, Darnell Christie as Sonny and Nikita Crossman

as Cha Cha.

Well done also to Johnley Videna, Emmy Toulson

and Ryan Tasker, who added a healthy dose of

comic value to proceedings, and to Newar Mekhael

whose rapid-fire commentary was sharp and

impressive.

Dame Sally said: “I have been here for six years and

this is, I think, the best production I’ve seen.”

A comment on the school Twitter account read:

“The final night of Grease is underway and what a

performance it is! Some very talented students at

BDA.”

Well done all and a huge thanks to BDA’s amazing

performing arts department, who never fail to raise

the bar.

Grease is most

definitely the word!

For this year’s much-anticipated BDA musical, the

performing arts team and a group of talented

actors from across the academy took on one of the

most celebrated stage musicals in history and

delivered in fine style.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week,

the Dennis Potter Theatre – packed to the rafters

with parents, pupils, teachers and governors –

played host to the Pink ladies and the T-Birds, who

took the BDA community by storm with a truly

exceptional production of Grease.

The cast and crew leapt together through time and

space to 1959 and the all-American Rydell High,

where youth culture was changing, rock and roll

was on the rise and a sense of rebellion hung heavy

in the air.

Dylan Arango and Nardos Mogas brought Danny

and Sandy to life with a pitch-perfect balance of

sweetness and swagger. Their excellent vocals were

complimented by Dylan’s formidable stage

presence and Nardos’ mature understanding of

character.

Youngsters Tamara Kovacevic and Harry Kelly were

both superb in their roles as Frenchy and Roger. The

pair were responsible for countless laughs and are

sure to be part of many a successful BDA

performance in the future.

Llodawna Ellington was predictably brilliant as the

complicated Rizo, blowing the audience away with

her wonderful voice and gritty take on the troubled

teenager, while Yassin Seddik was cool as a

cucumber playing the endearing rogue Kinicke.

There really were too many exceptional

Next week is

Charity Week at

BDA!

Charity Week is always a highlight in the BDA

calendar. Our community is committed to helping

those less fortunate than ourselves, and we relish any

opportunity to raise money and have a little fun in

the process.

Last year saw staff and students take part in

countless activities, including: Sponge a Teacher, a

sponsored silence, a charity chicken race, I’m a

Teacher Get Me Out of Here and Mr Wilson’s famous

chicken BBQ.

This year we have an even more exciting line-up:

•On Monday we have Are Your Teachers Smarter

than 11 Year Olds? which will take place in the

Dennis potter Theatre at lunchtime.

•Also on Monday, from 5-6.30pm, we’ll be hosting a

year 7 disco, with prizes awarded for best dressed,

best moves and the student who dances most like

their dad.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FINAL WEEK

Please note the following arrangements for the final

week of this term:

-On Thursday 10th April years 7, 8, 9,10, 12 and 13 will

be dismissed at lunchtime for the Easter Holidays.

Year 11 students who have applied to BDA Sixth

Form will remain in school and will be expected to

be in professional dress (as worn by the current sixth

form).

-Year 11 students will be in as normal (in regular

uniform) on Friday 11th, with a reward assembly to

be held during period 6.

-Year 10 business pupils and catering pupils are in on

the Friday.

-Year 12 and 13 are in by invitation only. -Revision programmes will be published soon.

REMEMBER: All students are expected back in school

on Monday 28th April.

•On Tuesday lunchtime teachers will be taking part

in Teachers Got Talent in the Dennis Potter Theatre.

•Tuesday afternoon will see the return of Sponge a

Teacher in the Burlington playground at about 4pm.

•On Friday students will have the opportunity to

dress in their PJs, onesies or as a famous movie star

for the day, but of course this is not compulsory.

•Every lunchtime next week there will be cakes on

sale, with all proceeds going to charity.

More events are still to be announced so keep your

ears to the ground and be sure to arrive next week

prepared to do your bit for charity!

BBC SCHOOL REPORT

Well done to the 7B students who took part in this

year’s BBC School Report, all of whom produced

thoroughly researched and well-written articles

about a range of important topics. Hamdi wrote an

excellent piece about behaviour in schools and how

teachers are expected to deal with unruly pupils;

Felix, Robel and Kareem turned out a fantastic

report on the closure of the UK’s libraries; while

Ibrahim and Ashkan addressed a very original issue

in their article about Islamic law in Britain.

These excellent pieces – along with Mariam and

Areima’s analysis of the changes to the GCSE

exams, Assamaa and Sara’s piece about the

missing Malaysian plane, and Dua and Maisie’s

exposé of the foods we falsely believe to be healthy

– are all available to view online here:

http://burlingtondanes.org/life-school/bbc-school-

report. Well done all for producing such professional

work!

Debate topic for next

week : “This House would

ban child performers”

DofE Silver training expedition

Seven BDA students spent yesterday afternoon at

Evelyn Grace Academy, vying for the coveted

crown of ARK Spelling Bee champions.

The first stage of the competition was the quickfire

round, which required a single speller from each

year group to correctly spell as many words as

possible in a short space of time. Kareem stepped

up for the year 7s, Nasteho for the year 8s and Zak

for the year 9s, in what proved a profitable round for

the team: Zak came a very well-earned third while

Nasteho spelt every single word correctly, claiming

first place in the process.

The knockout round was a little less successful, but

there is no doubt that Alice, Saleem and Aishni were

particularly unfortunate with the difficulty of the

words they were given.

Despite just missing out on third place, the day was

a great success. We very much enjoyed mixing with

other ARK schools and are looking forward to the

next opportunity to win back the title. The group

were great BDA ambassadors and a special

mention must be made of Adnan, who very

honourably volunteered to be a reserve and

provided top support throughout the day.

Mr Lawrence: Last weekend the Year 12 Duke of

Edinburgh Silver Award students completed their

training expedition in the Chilterns. We were very

lucky to have some lovely sunny days although the

students found the two nights sleeping in a tent to

be cold and uncomfortable. Students did very well

to carry their equipment for the three day

expedition and despite blisters and getting lost all

four groups made it to the finish having learned lots

of lessons ready for the final assessed expedition to

the New Forest in June.

I have been very impressed so far with student’s

energy, self-discipline, commitment and capacity

for teamwork as they complete their Silver award

and I am sure they will continue to push on to ensure

they not only pass their expedition but also do well in

their volunteering, skill and physical sections of the

award.

The Oxbridge Project: ‘Blood

and Matzo: Myth and the

Middle East

Dr O’Hear: On Tuesday March 25th we were

honoured to receive Dr Peter Claus, History Fellow at

Pembroke College, Oxford University, to address the

Oxbridge Project. Dr Claus gave a talk entitled

'Blood and Matzo: Myth and the Middle East' in

which he took us on a fascinating journey of some

of the myths surrounding the Jewish people that

originated in the Middle Ages and still endure in the

Middle East to this day.

The 'Judeophobia' of the Middle Ages ranged from

outlandish myths about Jewish people using the

blood of Christian children in rituals (the blood libel)

to allegations that Jewish people were responsible

for outbreaks of the plague (they were often less

affected by plague due to their purification rituals

which helped to keep away germs). By

the16th century most of the Jews had been

expelled from Western Europe. However, these anti-

Jewish myths from the Middle Ages were

reincarnated in the 19th and 20th centuries in

Europe and America in the form of documents such

as the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', a fabricated

document which purports to unveil a world

conspiracy of Jews which would lead to world

domination if left unchecked. Astoundingly, despite

having been resoundingly discredited as a worthless

forgery, new editions of 'The Protocols of the Elders of

Zion' are being published in the Middle East to this

day and help to fuel a casual media iconography

of anti-Semitism in this region. In a recent poll, 100%

of Jordanian Muslims admitted to holding

unfavourable views of Jewish people (alongside 99%

of Lebanese Muslims and 98% of Egyptian Muslims).

Dr Claus thus convincingly demonstrated the

damaging legacy that historical myths can continue

to perpetuate even in our supposedly more

'switched on' age. He was also at pains to point out

that he could have delivered a similar talk on the

damaging and enduring effect of 'Orientalist' myths.

None of us are immune to the effects of myths

about other cultures. Dr Claus singled out Felix

Butcher (7B), Sadek Al-Saabari (7B) and Ezra Gill

(10B) on account of their excellent questions and

responses.

We are very grateful to Dr Claus for driving all the

way from Oxford to give us this super talk, a taster of

what reading History at Oxford University must be

like.

“We are very grateful to Dr

Claus for driving all the way

from Oxford to give us this super talk”

A VISIT FROM THE U.S. EMBASSY

Mr Whitlock: Over the past five weeks a core group

of Year 11 students have participated in the "Being

Muslim Being British" course which is funded by Ealing

Council & led by Anjum Khan on behalf of

Cambridge Universities Psychology Department.

Students were exposed to prevalent issues facing

young Muslims and their identity in Britain today

whilst developing their integrated complexity

through short videos, role play and debate. The

culmination of this course ended on Tuesday with a

visit from the United States Embassy. Present was the

First Secretary to the Ambassador, Eric Geelan, and

Jamie Martin Some 6th formers joined the group as

students posed challenging questions on issues

surrounding Snowden, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq War,

Osama Bin Laden, International Relations with the

Kurds and much more.

The US Embassy said they would report back to

Washington D.C with ideas and concerns that were

brought by students. They also commented saying

BDA students have been the most sophisticated and

articulate when being questioned out of any school

they have visited. After this the BMBB students gave

short presentations reflecting on the course and were awarded with certificates.

Latest news from the library Ms Hartnett: Good afternoon everyone, hope you’ve

all had an amazing week! A huge congratulations to

all of our winners from BDA Book Week, the list is as

follows:

Y7

Aaliyah Case-Gibbs - 10 word story competition

Hannah Buckley Smith - Book Cover runner up

Jahiem Lorenzo - Book Cover runner up

Lia-Mai Rodney Edwards - Book Cover runner up

Connor Pates – Creative Writing runner up

Y8

Wahbi El Jack Ali – Guess the book competition

Mohammed Hassan – creative writing runner up

Ahmed Omar – creative writing runner up

Saleem Shah – creative writing runner up

Tyrese Edwards – creative writing runner up

Y9

Laureen Agyemang – Winner – Book Cover

competition

Ghalid Kulmie – Book cover runner up

Zak Ellis Khan – Book cover runner up

Reisli Hysa – Book cover runner up

Y10

Raage Egal – Creative writing runner up

Y11

Joe Nobbs – Winner – Creative writing competition

Don’t forget we’ll be running lots of competitions

throughout the year so you’ll still be in with a chance

Numbers

by Rachel Ward

Mr Crowley: The literacy squad picked this book

during our recent trip to Foyles book shop. I am glad

they did as it has proven to be a really good choice. It

is a great story.

The book is narrated by fifteen year old Jem, who lives

with a foster family and is having trouble at school.

She also has a special power, one that she has not

told anyone about. When Jem looks into someone’s

eyes she can see the date on which they will die. This

is a really clever concept that I am surprised has never

been done before.

The story is also really well executed. Jem becomes

friends with a boy named Spider, who she knows will

soon die, and they go to London for a trip. What

follows is a tense thriller centred on a terrorist plot. I do

not want to say anymore as you will have to find out

for yourself! I would recommend this book to anyone

of winning a Kindle, along with other prizes!

The best writers always say that they get their

inspiration from reading lots, so if you have ambitions

to become a brilliant author make sure you’re

reading lots and lots!

We’ve got loads of new books in the library and you

can always come and ask any of the librarians for

recommendations, but don’t forget that we also

have lots of amazing student librarians who also

know lots of great books that you might enjoy, so try

asking them as well! And if there’s anything that

you’ve heard about that you’ve heard about that

you want to read and we don’t have you can

always request it.

The Friday quiz this week is all about myths, so if

that’s something you think you know a lot about

make sure you come and have a go – there’s a

prize for the winner!

who likes books with lots of action or books about

the weird and paranormal. A fantastic selection from the Literacy Squad – this book is amazing!

Transforming lives

that have been

crippled by debt

I am a volunteer, supporting the vital services

provided by the St Paul's Money Advice Centre. This

is the Hammersmith branch of Crosslight, a charity

which helps anyone weighed down by the burden

of debt. This work brings me, as part of the

Crosslight Team, into contact with people of all

ages and backgrounds, who for many reasons

have become indebted. Our purpose is to

transform lives that have often been devastated by

the consequences of their financial predicament.

The dedicated team provides debt counselling and

budgeting strategies to our ‘clients’ free of charge.

http://www.crosslightadvice.org/

So, who is at risk? Our experience confirms that

almost anyone can be sucked into the debt

quicksand. This has been aggravated by the

current economic situation, and agencies that take

advantage of people’s vulnerability. This injects a

sense of urgency into the need to maintain the

Crosslight Mission. We rely on donations to keep

going. So, leading up to Saturday the 26th of April,

our team is holding a fundraising drive to help

sustain the service beyond 2014. Please visit this web

site to find out more.

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/move4change/11

2735

Your support would be highly appreciated.

You may be aware of someone who needs help to

reorganise their financial affairs. In which case, this

article may well serve an immediate practical

purpose. I have made myself available to lead BDA

groups to explore (and to avoid) the traps that lead

to debt misery.

Ken Bromfield MBE.

BDA Governor.

MR PRESTON’S NEWS QUIZ

Answers to last week’s questions: Which town has been named the best place to live in Britain? Skipton in Yorkshire Which European city has introduced alternative driving days because of dangerous levels of air

pollution? Paris Which European city is about to become the first city in the world with its own internet domain

name? Berlin Which film is facing a ban in several Middle Eastern countries? Noah How many medals did

Team GB win in the Sochi Winter Paralympics? six

PE DEPARTMENT FIXTURES WEEK BEGINNING 31.03.14

Date Sport Year

Group Opposition Venue Staff Start

31.03.14 Football 7 St. Thomas Moore BDA KIN/CRA 4.00pm

1.04.14 Football 10 Fulham College BDA KIN/CRA 4.30pm

1.Which country has blocked the Twitter website?

2.Why was Tesco forced to scrap its adverts for cheaper milk?

3.Who has announced a series of concert dates, 35 years after her last

tour?

4.For how many matches have Arsenal been managed by Arsene

Wenger?

5.Why were the England T20 cricket team ‘placed in danger’ whilst

playing their match against New Zealand?