Dear Parent/GuardianIt is my pleasure to report another powerful set of validated exam results. Congratulations to our students and staff who worked tirelessly to achieve this success. A special thanks to parents for supporting the students through the stressful examination season.

Our Key Stage 4 results show strength and depth with 70% of the cohort getting 5 A*-C grades including English and Maths. 48% of students achieved the English Baccalaureate; this is almost twice the national average. New accountability measures were introduced for 2016. 74% of our students achieved on A*-C grade in English and Maths. Our attainment 8 figure was 5.5 (B/C) and our progress 8 was 0.41. This places the Academy in the top 15% of schools nationally for Value Added.

The Key Stage 5 results and progression data shows that we have a very successful sixth form. Last year we had 277 UCAS applications. An exam pass rate of 99% with 23 students achieving all A*/A grades. More than 50% of entries secured grades A*-B and 90% of students went to the University of their choice. My congratulations to all concerned and my thanks for all the hard work and commitment shown. George Snaith, Chair of Governors, opened our new Key Stage 2 classrooms this term. He took the opportunity to thank both the Local Authority and our partner schools in the Gosforth Pyramid. A major strength of our systems is the way our first and middle schools work together to ensure a smooth transfer from one phase to another. This view is clearly supported when you review our exam data for 2016.

Our extra curricula PE programme is an area of the Academy that shows our students at their best. We have local, regional and national success in a variety of activities. We enter teams in a wide range of sports including basketball, netball, football, rugby, squash, badminton and cross country. I would like to congratulate the students and thank the coaches for the hard work and commitment shown.

The Performing Arts department has had another excellent year. Exam success coupled with many extra curricula activities ensures that our students get a rich and rewarding experience in this subject area. The end of year Art show, Christmas revue, carol singing, transition projects and performances at many of our scheduled events have been of the highest standard. Once again my thanks to all involved.

Added to our sport and Arts involvement, there are many and various trips abroad. Many of our subject departments run trips that support and enhance the learning of our students. I am sure you would agree both our students and staff deserve praise for the effort and commitment shown. Gosforth Academy is an exciting and vibrant place to be!

Yours sincerely

Hugh Robinson

Gosforth Academy News BulletinFebruary 2017

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Year 9 / Year 10 Gosforth Academy follows the AQA board Science course in Years 9 and 10. Year 9 students start the course in November of their first year at the Academy. The courses followed are all examined by terminal exams at the of Year 11.

The majority of students follow the Dual award course gaining two Science GCSE grades, one for their Year 10 work (Core Science) and one for their Year 11 work. (Additional Science) Approximately 150 students do the triple award course, leading to three separate GCSE awards, one for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Both the triple and dual award science courses are taught in 12 lessons a fortnight.

Further information on the AQA course can be found on the School website and on FROG.

What stage is each of the year groups at?Year 9

Year 9 students are currently taught in mixed ability groups. They have finished the practical skills course that helps them bridge the gap between middle school science and GCSE and have now started GCSE work.

A test in March/April will review the GCSE work and help to inform pathways for Year 10.

Students are put into final GCSE groups at the start of Year 10 (June 2017).The decision on groups is based on data from middle schools and test data here at the High school. At this point, the Year will be split into two cohorts as follows:

Triple award students, selected on the basis of their ability to study at a rate that will allow them to gain 3 GCSEs, in the same time other students do 2.

Dual Award Students

Year 10

Students are working through the content of the GCSE course.

Year 11

Triple award students: At present they are moving through the “7” modules and doing controlled assessment. All exams will be taken at the end of the course in May/June 2017.

Dual award students: At present they are finishing off the “5” and “6” modules and doing controlled assessment. Additional Science students will do their module exams at the end of the course in May/June 2017.

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Additional ScienceDual award students take the exams for this qualification at the end of Year 11 (June 2017). The Additional Science grade is the second award for students doing Dual Award Science. Again, this is a combination of Biology, Chemistry and Physics topics. Triple award students do the same work but at a faster pace. Additional Science (with core science) provides progression to A-level Sciences.

Triple Award Science

The 150 students following the Triple award course cover the same work as those doing Dual award Core and Additional Science with an extra module in each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The assessment is different in that all exams are taken at the end of Year 11.Triple Science provides progression to A-level Sciences.

Controlled Assessment

Internal assessment is carried out by Controlled assessment tasks. These mostly take place during the autumn term. Year 10 Dual award students do a Data and Case study. Year 11 Dual award students do a Full Investigation. Year 11 Triple award students do a Full Investigation in each subject. These are all nearing completion.

Year 11 Gosforth Academy follows the OCR exam board’s Twenty First Century Science course. In common with all GCSE courses, students are given a basic grounding in scientific ideas followed by the depth required for study at Advanced level. The course is examined by teacher marked Controlled Assessment and exams taken at the end of the course in Year 11.

The majority of students follow the Dual award course gaining two Science GCSE grades, one for their Year 10 work (Core Science sat in June 2016) and one for their Year 11 work (Additional Science). Approximately 150 students do the triple award course, leading to three separate GCSE awards, one for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Both the triple and dual award science courses are taught in 12 lessons a fortnight. These exams will be taken in the summer of 2017.

All awards can be taken at foundation (grades G to C) and higher (grades D to A*) levels.

Core ScienceDual award students have taken the exams for this qualification at the end of Year 10 (June 2016). The Core Science grade is the first award for students doing Dual award science. It is a combination of Biology, Chemistry and Physics topics.

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If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact Mr Vennart.

Engineering in Education 2017

Need help?

This year’s Engineering in Education Scheme is again being run with the company Pearson Engineering. The team of four from the school are looking at the design of personal protection equipment in a combat zone. They have just finished the residential component of the course at Newcastle University where prototypes of two shield designs have been made. We are very grateful to Pearson Engineering for the support and guidance they have given us.

The scheme runs for a team of four Year 12 students. If you are interested in taking part next year, please come and speak to Mr Vennart in room 148.

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Post 16 News

Year 13 The majority of students in Year 13 spent time completing their UCAS applications last term. A total of 249 applications have been sent to date. It is great to hear that so many students are already receiving offers, including those for some of the most prestigious universities and highly regarded courses. Currently 25 students have received unconditional offers demonstrating the high quality of applications produced

by our students.

Year 12 Last term saw Year 12 students starting their Level 3 courses. As in previous years some students were unaware of the demands of Level 3 study and were struggling with both the increased difficulty of the course content and the expectation of independent study beyond the classroom. By now all students should have settled in to their programme of study and be preparing thoroughly for the forthcoming exams.

Non-negotiablesA reminder of the following:

1. ID badges must be worn at all times on site.2. All students are expected to be in school and working during lessons 1 & 2 (extended

to lesson 3 near exams) unless they have their Independent Learner Award.3. Phones are to be used in the Common Room or outside the LRC only. 4. Study periods are compulsory and should be treated like normal lessons. Registers will be taken and non-attendance is followed up.

Mock Exams-Year 12 & 13 Official mock results will be given out on the following dates but

students may get feedback in lessons before these dates

Year 12 - Thursday 16th March Year 13 - Friday 17th March

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Post 16 News

Maths & English November Resit Results

Several students managed to secure a C grade in the

November 2016 resit examinations. This is a great achievement and now opens many doors for those

students for September 2017. Congratulations to those students!

Work Experience-Year 12 Students should be taking advantage of the two work experience weeks that we offer from 10th July to 21st July. Please encourage your son/daughter to arrange this as soon as possible. They can liaise with Mr Stephenson, Progression Manager, if they would like some support in finding a placement.

Safeguarding-late arrival to school

If your child arrives late to school and misses registration they must sign in at 6th Form Reception. A

number of students are not doing this which is causing unnecessary

worry. Please ensure your child is arriving on time and following

safeguarding procedures.

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It’s been an amazingly successful first term for Gosforth’s sports teams. The PE area is buzzing with students keen to participate in a range of extra-curricular activities – some at a competitive level whilst others simply enjoy taking part for fun and to

improve their skills.

Our teams continue to play fixtures in a range of sports, including basketball, netball, football, rugby, squash, badminton and cross-country. In badminton, we are City Champions at KS4 (both boys and girls) and at KS3, our boys also hold the title, whilst the

girls were runners up.

There were some fantastic individual performances from both our boys and girls teams at the recent City Cross Country Championships with the intermediate

boys securing the title of City Champions too.

In football, our Y11 boys team have reached the final of the Newcastle Schools City Cup whilst in the ESFA National Cup, the Y10 boys team have had a superb run so far and are one of only eight teams still in the competition. In rugby, the Falcons Junior Academy won the northern play offs to reach the AASE final in

December.

As a school, we always try to have a presence in as many competitions as possible and so far this year, we have also been able to enter students into events such as table tennis and rowing which are organised

and run by Newcastle’s School Games Team.

Our students continue to astound us with their superb individual achievements and many represent the city, county or region in their chosen sports. Some have achieved even greater recognition and

are now part of national squads.

With many of our teams still in regional and national competitions, we hope to build on this success and for more up to date news, results and information, please check out the school website and follow us on

Twitter at @GosforthPE

ROUNDUP

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Perfoming Arts

Gosforth Academy Christmas Revue ShowA key value of education at Gosforth Academy is the all-round attainment of individual students promoted by participation in many activities. This inspires students to be highly motivated

individuals and respected by their peers for being so.

Training in the Performing Arts inspires confidence and enhances presentation skills. It promotes higher levels of individual

excellence; develops team building and leadership skills along with a passion to showcase the best of one’s abilities.

As teachers of the Performing arts we value hard work, continuous improvement, high expectations and we nurture

great ambition. We develop the human capital needed to succeed through clearly scaffolded, rationally structured teaching.

Well done to all of the students who performed through music, dance and drama at our Revue Show on Monday 12th December.

Members of the Fusion Band played an eclectic mix of music from Prokofiev to Herbie Hancock as well as pop standards.

The choir performed a number of seasonal songs (both old and new arrangements) singing with a lovely blended sound. Dance and drama students performed pieces from a variety of musical theatre shows, with well-rehearsed ensemble pieces as well as strong individual performances. Two of the highlights included the satirical piece performed by the year 9 Music Theatre

group, ‘Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher’ from Billy Elliot and the dance piece for ‘Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better’

choreographed by ex-student Sarah Gannon.

Thank you to all of the parents for supporting this event.

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Well done to the Food Technology department! Members of the Fusion Band and Choir entertained invited guests from care homes in the area. Once they had eaten their Christmas Dinner, Mr Bruce then led them in singing and delivered the most terrible jokes! Thanks to all the students and staff who provided food, music and prizes and to Mr Tait for organising it.

Well done to all of the choir members who participated in a range of Christmas events: singing in Eldon Square, Newcastle, to raise money for the Toma Fund (supporting families of children and teenagers in the region who are affected by cancer); singing at Asda, Gosforth, to raise money for St Oswald’s Hospice; and as Gosforth Academy has community links with Melton House Care Home, Melton Park, we also visited to sing to residents. Finally, the choir along with Food Technology raised money for the Salvation Army through break time events at the Cousins and Sixth Form Libraries.

Perfoming Arts

Pyramid Ceilidh 2017 Our pyramid grand ceilidh has now been

running for a decade and there was a lovely informal atmosphere as our musicians played to a full hall at Gosforth Central Middle School on 16th February. The ceilidh band is made up of students from Year 5 through to Year 13 (as well as staff members). As well as the full band

performances, we were also treated to Irish dancing, a rendition of ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’ by Year 11 GCSE Music students and a special performance by a folk trio of Northumbrian Pipes, Guitar and Fiddle playing reels and

songs from Northumberland. Well done to all of the musicians and their family members who

danced the whole evening.

Music Transition Project

Well done to the Year 9 musicians and singers who worked with Year 8 students in the music transition project. In the morning they spent time developing their sight reading and ensemble skills, working in smaller groups on arrangements of a variety of songs before presenting their performances. In the afternoon they worked with Dr Paul Edis, jazz pianist and performance specialist who teaches at the Sage Gateshead as well as at various universities in the north east. Paul brought his jazz trio who performed to the students (on piano, bass and drums) before helping them develop their rhythmic and improvisational skills in a loud but constructive workshop. He spoke of how impressed he was with the self-confidence and quality of musical skills as well as the

behaviour of our students.

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Are you a native speaker of French, Spanish, German or Italian?

We are looking for native or near speakers who could volunteer to help our A level students to develop their speaking skills. As we are no longer able to employ foreign language assistants, our A level language students would really benefit from being able to discuss topical and

cultural issues with a native speaker in the run-up to their speaking exams next term.

If you are interested, please contact Ms Clarkson (French), Miss McKenna (Spanish), Mr Welsh (German) or Mr Martin (Italian) on 0191 285 1000 extension 1210. We will provide any training and guidance necessary, explaining what the speaking exam involves, all the

materials that you will need and how to best develop students’ communication skills.

SPORT @ GOSFORTH

NEW YEAR NEW FAMILY MEMBERSHIPOnly

£57PER MONTH

Call us now on 0191 255 9054 to find out morewww.gosforthacademy.org.uk/sport

New Family Membership available to everybody!

Your Body Your Health Your ChoicePlease contact S@G to confirm age restrictions for group exercise classes and fitness suite usage.

2 adults and2 children (11-15yrs)can have access to our

Fitness Suite, theGroup Exercise timetable and

52 badminton courts each year

School Notices