October 2014 DEAR PARENTS/GUARDIANS/CARERS

After a busy first eight weeks there is already so much news to share:

Open day and evening were held in early October and was well attended. Our visitors enjoyed the

variety of activities, speaking to staff and students plus seeing our latest round of premises projects now

fully operational.

Ofsted visited the academy on 16 and 17 September, for a standard, full inspection. The team, led by two

senior inspectors and quality assured by the highest level of inspector in Ofsted, judged the academy to be

Good overall and good in each of the separate categories. They were extremely positive about students,

staff and the academy. A full report is now available on

our website and will soon be published on Ofsted’s

website.

Buckler’s Mead Academy staff and students are celebrating continued excellent GCSE exam results. Students of all abilities have performed extremely well and a wide range of high quality examination results have been achieved. The academy continues to demonstrate a positive trend for GCSE success with all of its students.

Exceptional results at Buckler’s Mead Academy were achieved by many students. Star achievers, to name a few, were:

Tamina Pain with 6 A*s and 7As, Jordan Bastable 2A*s and 11As, Ben Court 1A* and 10 As, Millie Smith 1 A* and 9As

The quality of teaching and learning at the academy continues to be at the forefront of academic success, with staff developing effective new strategies to create the best learning for the students. This year particular subject successes include:

English – 99% of all students achieved a full GCSE. 79*% gained grades A*-C,

Design and Technology – 92% gained A*-C, Art and Design – 85% gained A*-C. Other exceptional level 2 pass rates were achieved through our vocational courses such as BTEC Multi Media 100%, Music 100%, Sport Studies 100%, OCR ICT 100%.

The academy has again built on previous years successes, which last year placed the academy within the Top 2% of the Most Improved state schools in England and identified the academy as the Most Improved in Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire for 2011-13. The results this

year demonstrate the ongoing success of the academy.

GOOD NEWS POSTCARD ART COMPETITION This year’s entries for the Good News Postcard competition were once again of an extremely high standard.

Mr Richard Hunt, BMA Chair of Directors, was given the difficult task of choosing the winners. Evie Callaghan - 7JSI,

was chosen as winner from the Year 6 entries from St Michael’s Academy, Birchfield Primary School and Milford Junior

School. The other winners were: Charlotte Keen - Yr 8, Tom Fowler - 9SS, Azabeth Morley - 10SBA,

Tom Underhill - 11SB. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THEM

Headteacher

ENGINEERING TRIP TO THE

ROYAL INSTITUTE, LONDON 14 aspiring engineers recently took part in an engineering enrichment workshop in the prestigious Royal Institute of Science in London. They were t a s k e d w i t h b u i l d i n g a n “Eggsporter” car complete with safety devices to save the egg passenger from a car crash! The car was crashed into a wall, filmed and the force of impact analysed. The science involved was all about

reducing force of impact by slowing down the crash – this meant adding in crumple zones as well as reinforcing the passenger cell. Students thoroughly

enjoyed the day.

ACADEMY UNIFORM

As the dark nights and wet weather comes upon us can

we remind you that hoodies are not considered

acceptable winter coats to protect against the elements

and are not part of school uniform.

DROPPING STUDENTS OFF AT TOWER ROAD

Please could parents, who are dropping students off in

Tower Road, be aware that there is a lot of traffic

around the back gate. If students could be dropped off

before the corner this would decrease congestion and

increase safety.

MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING

Students and staff at Buckler’s Mead Academy held a cake sale in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Fund. Over the course of a break and lunchtime sale they managed to raise £215. The total was supplemented by the

auction of a Killer Chocolate Cake, made and donated by English teacher Karen Blatch, which raised a further £35 bringing the final figure to £250.

SPORTS AWARDS 2014 Buckler’s Mead held its annual Sports Awards Evening at The

Gateway in Yeovil. It was very well attended with over 500 people, including, students, staff and parents/guardians in attendance. It was a successful evening rewarding all students for their performance, commitment and dedication to sport throughout the year. We invited our partner Primary Schools to this year’s ceremony in order to reward their students for their excellent participation and effort in the variety of festivals that we deliver here at Buckler’s Mead run by our own student leaders. We were lucky to have Serita Shone (GB Bobsledder) to award the students this year and then to close the evening making a truly inspirational speech. We hope that many of our students would have been inspired by the evening and Serita’s words and go on to work hard, be determined and achieve their sporting dreams!

Mrs Fields

Mr Fletcher Mr Fletcher

Mrs Hill

I M P O R T A N T D A T E S

Monday 27 October 2014 to Friday 31 October 2014 - Half term holiday

Monday 17 November 2014 - Yr 11 Trial exams start

Thursday 11 December / Friday 12 December 2014 - Academic Monitoring evening / day

Sunday 14 December 2014 to Tuesday 16 December 2014 - Yr 9 History & MFL trip to France

Thursday 18 December 2014 - Christmas Celebration evening

Monday 22 December 2014 to Friday 2 January 2015 - Christmas holiday

Monday 5 January 2015 - First day of Spring term

ADMINISTERING MEDICATION The academy has sent out forms for permission to

give medication. If you have not done so, could you

please complete, sign and return your form to the

academy’s First Aider, Mrs Davis. Without this

consent we WILL NOT be able to give your child

pain relief if needed. Thank you.

CARRERS VISIT TO

GKN AEROSPACE Five Year 9 students visited GKN Aerospace, at

Yeovil’s Agusta Westland site, on a careers visit, for a

" See INside Manufacturing Day".

The visit started with a welcome talk from the

Managing Director. The Yeovil factory makes the

main airframe for the AgustaWestland A159 Wildcat

as well as parts for: Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier and

other aircraft manufacturers. The structures made

are complex, highly detailed and show the skills

involved in their manufacture. Boeing use GKN to

make the door frames for the 747, Airbus use GKN to

make engine cowlings and flap parts. GKN

manufacture these parts for other aircraft

manufacturers who do not have the skill to make

these themselves. We were given a tour of the factory

where we were able to see some of these parts being

manufactured.

After lunch, provided by GKN, the groups were then

split for a practical exercise of wire bending; a task

given to interviewees to check manual dexterity and

ability to read and understand simple instructions. It

looks easy on paper but not so easy when you have a

go yourself! This was won by Saul Rockett. A quiz

followed with Daniel Newton, Archie Bower

Liam Haines and Callum Withers all getting prizes.

To round off the day the overall Site Director called

in to discuss apprenticeships with the students. A

very informative day out for the students privileged

to be given the opportunity to visit such an

interesting manufacturing facility. I am already

looking forward to next year’s visit.

CITIZENSHIP & POLITICS NEWS

There’s been a lot in the news recently about elections and referendums but the pupils of Buckler’s Mead Academy will go to the polls on Monday 10 November to select the academy’s new Somerset Youth Parliament candidate. Candidates standing for election are from Years 9 and 10 and will have time to campaign for votes.

Good luck to all those participating!

Mr Tofts

Mr Bray

STAND UP TO CANCER

A fundraising day was held Friday 17 October, where

students and staff could wear an item of clothing of either

pink or orange to help raise funds and awareness for

Stand Up To Cancer charity. An amazing total of £411.00

was collected from donations. Thank you to everyone

who participated. Mrs Gorrod

Mrs Davis

BUCKLER’S MEAD EXTRA CURRICULAR DT & SCIENCE CLUBS

Club Teacher Where and when

Details

Animal Care

Students in years 7 and 8

Mrs Hurd Every Friday

2.50-3.30

Room 27

Understanding the care needed to look after a range of animals; maintenance of clubs pets; rota looking after smaller rodents during holidays/ long weekends (parents will need to be available to collect the cage); possible trips to look at other types of larger animal care; hopefully guest speakers to talk to us about more exotic animals.

Biomed

Students in any year

group

Mrs Fields Every second Thursday, beginning 18/9/14

2.50-3.30

Room 29

A challenging club for Gifted Science students interested in medical careers – future doctors, vets, dentists.

We will look at basic anatomy, including some dissection if students are interested in this. We will also look at cutting edge technology in medicine and the wide range of careers in biomedicine.

General Science Club

Students in year 7

Mr Lea Wednesday 2.45 - 3.30pm

Room 29

General mad scientist experiments.

Depending on students’ interests, this club might develop in different ways…

Flight Club (Flying Start Challenge)

Students in years 7,8 and 9

Mr Tofts Thursday 2.45 – 4.00pm

Room 16

This is in conjunction with Agusta Westland and gives good contacts with this major employer in the town. In the summer term, students fly the gliders that they have built. We have a small wind tunnel in storage and I would like to get it sorted for use in the Department to demonstrate the theory of flight to students.

Green Power Car Club Mr Tofts Tuesday 2.45

Construction Hut

This is a competitive club -the main sponsors for the competition are all high profile firms and organisations like Ford, Siemens, IET, Unipro and Newcastle University. Students build a green power car themselves with minimal teacher input. During the year, there may be a trip to Silverstone to watch a race meeting and visit the garages to talk to drivers and engineers.

Lego League

Invitation only, initially to Year 10 students who are taking Systems and Control.

Mr Tofts Please contact Mr Tofts in the first instance.

Past Challenges have been based on topics such as nanotechnology, climate, quality of life for the handicapped population, and transportation. By designing our Challenges around such topics, participants are exposed to potential career paths within a chosen Challenge topic, in addition to solidifying the STEM principles that naturally come from participating in a robotics program. Team members also learn valuable life and employment skills which will benefit them no matter which career path they choose.

Blacksmithing Club

Places are limited for this club. Contact Miss Sturman or Mr Tofts in the Design and Technology Department.

Mr Hill Thursday 2.45pm - 4.30 pm

Room 21

The club uses the Forge to hand make pieces in the traditional art of Blacksmithing. There will also be instruction on welding and brazing and the use of the lathe.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT—EXTRA CURRICULAR CLUBS, AUTUMN TERM 2014 Day Lunch After School

Monday Badminton/Table Tennis Staff Meetings

Tuesday Badminton/Table Tennis Girls Hockey (Years 9 & 10) - CFo / SHi

Wednesday Department Meeting Boys Rugby (All years) - VH / SC / PM Girls Hockey (Years 7, 8 & 9) - LT

Thursday Badminton/Table Tennis Girls Football (Years 7, 8 & 9) - SK

Friday Badminton/Table Tennis Girls Cardio Tennis - 3pm - 4pm Satellite Tennis Club - 4pm - 5pm Yeovil Tennis Club Coach

INFORMATION ABOUT EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

ALL STUDENTS ARE WELCOME TO ANY ACTIVITY, IT IS NOT JUST TEAM TRAINING.

LUNCHTIME ACTIVITIES ONLY REQUIRE TRAINERS, NOT PE KIT.

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ARE FULL PE KIT.