kay tinsley, principal newsletter term 2 : december...

The st leonards academy

newsletter TERM 2 : DECEMBER 2017

Kay Tinsley, Principal

PRIDE THROUGH SUCCESS

Where better to start than with the relaunch of our PRIDE agenda in the form of our Pride Pounds? This reward system has been well received amongst the students, particularly thanks to the wonderful prizes available at our popular auctions, many of which have been donated by the local community. The students have shown renewed enthusiasm and engagement in our core value.

At the beginning of the year, the students were a credit to the Academy, as were our hard working staff, securing a ‘Good’ judgement to Ofsted. Our “strong, positive, working relationships between staff and pupils” continue to grow, allowing us to focus on the best possible support and provisions to reach the high expectations and success deserved.

In the summer our Y11 students performed exceptionally well in their examinations. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the success of the students who left in the summer; it was a pleasure to see so many at our Y11 Celebration Evening to acknowledge their achievements.

We are also proud to say that we are now a TEEP Ambassador School, allowing us to be a centre for excellence in the region, based on our planning and delivering of five part lessons. We are one of just twenty schools nationally that have this status.

This year has been especially notable for the amount and quality of the extra-curricular activities organised for a full range of students; including the ever popular Ski Trip, an exciting Spanish trip to Barcelona, and several English trips to the theatre as both informing and rewarding students.

At the end of this term staff have also taken students to the pantomime in Hastings, following a very successful run of our own Christmas show, ‘Elf the Musical’, in which a huge number of students (and staff) worked tirelessly to present a professional and festive performance.

I am enormously proud of our achievements at The St Leonards Academy in 2017.

I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to the staff and students for their hard work throughout the term, and to recognise the invaluable support from parents and carers, in our work to secure brighter futures for all of our young people. Finally, I would like to wish all our students and parents from the staff and governors, at our Academy and the University of Brighton Academies Trust, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Kay Tinsley, Principal

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Year 11 Celebration Evening 2017

The Academy helds it annual Year 11 Celebration Evening on Wednesday 29th November 2017 to recognise the achievements of the Academy's class of 2017.

The former Year 11 students, who completed their GCSEs this summer, returned to receive their certificates and awards at the event, attended by hundreds of parents, carers and community representatives.

The St Leonards Academy singing club performed as people were arriving before Ms Tinsley opened the celebration. Ms Tinsley said that the students’ achievements were even more remarkable given the introduction of new, tougher GCSEs this summer. She said: ‘We are all so proud of our students’ outcomes; they have achieved great outcomes through hard work and determination’.

Dr John Smith, Chief Executive of the University of Brighton Academies Trust, presented the students with their certificates and awards, congratulating them on their many achievements and encouraging them to be confident in all of their future plans and aspirations.

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Three of our students had great success in this year’s Senlac Rotary Club’s Young Chef competition.

Zachary Allen, Y10, Alyssa Whiteman, Y9 and Bella Rees King, Y8 took part in the local round of the competition, held at Sussex Coast College Hastings on Wednesday 8th November.

Those having the difficult task of judging the competition were local restauranteur Paul Webbe and Senlac Rotarian Dave Miles. Paul said the competition, which was sponsored through the Senlac Rotary’s trust fund, showed some exceptional local talent. He was particularly impressed with Zachary’s pan fried duck which he considered to be the best dish of the competition.

It was the second year that Zachary has entered the competition. His prize was a coaching session at one of Paul Webbe’s restaurants. Zachary said he was thrilled and delighted to have won after being runner-up last year and is grateful to Paul for giving him the opportunity to have coaching at his restaurant.

Congratulations to all three of our very talented students. The next round of the competition, the District Final, takes place in Maidstone on Saturday 27th January 2018 and we wish Zachary the best of luck.

Zachary wowed the judges with his menu of pan fried duck breast with lemon and orange jelly, salmon on a bed of mashed vegetables with roasted tomatoes and chocolate spheres filled with a cream cheesecake mixture, and came first in the competition.

Bella and Alyssa cooked extremely well and were awarded first and second runners-up.

senlac rotary club Young chef competition

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Kate HeitzmanSubject Leadermathematics

HomeworkA reminder that all year groups from Y7 through to Y10 should be completing weekly tasks on Hegarty maths. The maths team has supplied orange workbooks to complete the work in and students should be bringing them in to tutors for checking. Pride Pounds are being awarded for this. Well done to the students below who have completed more than 10 hours of learning on Hegarty:

Harvey Hoggins Lia Jones Keira Pemble Jia Li YoungToby Young Isabel Lister Aleksandra Wesolowska Clara Patrao LombaSeren Barnes Jake Goodheart Erin Badrock Adam TabibNathan Small Rebecca Rising Keren Ndayizeye Bobby DearsleyJodie Andrews Willow Cronin Madison Lewis Lucius WhiteJames Chow Jenna Thomas Liam Hunt Ellen Mapuranga

The reason for this invite was because they are going to be sitting the Higher GCSE paper in the summer and should be aspiring to achieve the best grade possible, this coupled with the fact that the maths department believed that some of these selected students had the potential to reach a grade 7 or above. Since the beginning of the year, Mr Coffin and Mr Ogwuda have witnessed an excellent turnout week-after-week (with Mr Ogwuda possibly shading the win with L side of the year!)

These students are showing great maturity and are continually showing up and working on areas that have been highlighted in their mocks as areas of improvement; hopefully they will reap the rewards for their efforts in the summer! I am particularly looking forward to a few more terms of a well-attended Aspire club packed to the brim with enthusiastic Y11 students! (In spite of being consistently asked on a weekly basis to provide unhealthy snacks for the masses!)

AspireAt the beginning of the year a number of Y11 students were invited to join an “Aspire” club that runs during period 6 on a Wednesday.

Gifted & Talented club has had a great start to the year. This enrichment club aims to inspire and encourage students to further their maths knowledge, beyond the curriculum being taught in class. Participation in the club helps students to develop their interest and skills in mathematics, benefitting them now and in the future. During term one students were exploring how mathematics is used with regards to money. Students learnt how to budget and save, understand

interest rates and compare commercial offers such as phone contracts as well as learning about various large financial services companies. This is an exciting topic that helped draw attention to the real-life applications of maths. This term, the club has a practical focus investigating how mathematics is used in design; clothing patterns, tessellations and architecture, for example. In particular, focusing on more complex algebraic problems.

gifted & talented club

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maths homework clubMaths homework club has had a fantastic turnout this term across KS3. After school on Thursdays, students have been working towards completing a variety of Hegarty tasks, set by their teachers.

With support from Miss Foster and their peers, students have shown determination and have been working through and completing their homework successfully and on time. We are looking forward to another successful term.

Y8 students have been working extremely hard on various topics in maths after school. They have looked at; multiplying and dividing, fractions, algebra – expanding brackets, measuring angles and compass work. For their hard work, each week, a student gets selected from the raffle and wins a delicious delectable prize! The Y8 students were also rewarded with a celebratory breakfast (bacon rolls and hot chocolate). A massive thank you to our very own Y10 students who endeavour to help out each week, from the start of the year this has included: Emily Bounsall, Tiger-Lily Lee-Ryan, Zachary Allen, Jack Bounsall, Carrie Benge, Milo Turner, Rachel Green.

careers

Year 8 students visited Mallydams RSPCA Centre on Thursday 30th November. This was part of the ‘Open Doors’ project organised by East Sussex County Council. The students were given an introduction to the work of the RSPCA and talked through the work carried out at Mallydams. Students were shown many of the careers in the RSPCA ranging from Wildlife Collection Officers and Vets to Analysts and Photographers.

The students used the question and answer session to ask some very articulate questions and they came away from the visit with a greater knowledge of careers in the RSPCA and the work of the RSPCA.

Trip to RSPCA Wildlife centre

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Visit to the Rathfinny Wine Estate

The Open Doors project is run by East Sussex County Council where Sussex businesses open their doors to students during the month of November.

This trip was careers focussed and students were given a tour of the estate and its facilities. They had a talk about the different careers that are available at Rathfinny which included a chemist, lawyer, vineyard worker, hospitality staff, chef, security, HR, PR, marketing and shop work, to name a few. The students enjoyed an informative and interesting visit in a beautiful setting and everybody was impressed with the story and ethos behind the Rathfinny Wine Estate.

As part of the ‘Open Doors’ project, a group of Year 10 students had the opportunity to visit the Rathfinny Wine Estate in Alfriston on Friday 17th November.

Year 10 students from The St Leonards Academy were pleased to visit General Dynamics on Tuesday 22nd November. General Dynamics is an international engineering business located a few miles from the Academy that employs 300 people locally. Students were given a talk by two current apprentices about their roles and the careers that are available at General Dynamics.

Trip to General Dynamics

They were then treated to a tour of the facilities and shown first-hand the work of the company - including the making of electrical components for fighter jets and communication systems for tanks. The students left with a greater knowledge of electrical engineering and apprenticeships.

careers

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PE Lee Boniface Subject Leader

The St Leonards Academy had a very successful Area Cross Country competition, coming home with Team Gold for the boys on top of 7 individual medals.

Cross Country Success

The girls ended the day in a creditable 4th place. Those competing for the Academy, adding to the names above, were Kya Lacey and Lacey Weston in Y7, Amy Robertson, Paige Stephen, Anya Lee, Ellie Lincoln, Eden Kane and Elodie Chattein in Y8, Katie Eglington in Y9 and Emily Bounsall, Felicity Stewart and Millie Ancell in Y10. Just making the Academy team is impressive as all students in Years 7 – 11 compete for their schools in the Intra-school cross country week. The effort and determination of the students was highly impressive, with the majority of them finishing those particular lessons with a real sense of pride and achievement.

Miller Davies (Y7) and Jonas Judah (Y8) both won their individual races and came home wearing gold. Lewis Courtnage took silver in the Y10 boys race as did Hannah Chapman in the Y11 girls. Hannah finished just ahead of team mate Natasha Mason who gained an excellent bronze. Ben Beckley (Y9) and Jak Laidlaw (Y11) also returned with bronze medals.

The boys team won the overall competition in some style, those named above were ably supported by strong runs from Harry Jefferys, Archie Warmington & James Courtnage in Y7, Braden Tilbury & Thierno Diallo in Y8, Noah Judah and Matt Maurice in Y9 and Alex Palmer-Blades and Jonah Davies in Y10.

The result is even more impressive due to the fact the team were missing Reece Lincoln, who set the fastest time in the Academy during cross country week at school.

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The St Leonards Academy Under 16 girls team performed superbly to win the HRSGP table tennis team event. Our team included Holli and Georgia Ferguson, Sacha Ward and Simona Dyulgerova. The girls remained unbeaten all afternoon, not dropping a single game against Bexhill, Rye and Claverham.

They then went on to represent the area in the East Sussex finals and met Willingdon and Patcham High, where they had extremely close matches losing out 5-3 in both and having to settle for bronze.

table tennis success

The St Leonards Academy enjoyed hosting the Under 11 event with over 50 youngsters from across the county competing, including local school West St Leonards Primary Academy.

The Under 16 boys team performed well, being runners up in the local event. Our Under 13 teams also competed and gave it their all, the boys coming 4th and the girls 3rd.

Year 7 Football teamWe had the best turnout ever at the Y7 football trials with over 50 boys attending. We selected 3 school teams to play for the Academy this year.

The Y7 A team finished 3rd in a very competitive league and is still in the County Shield tournament. The Y7 B team has played one game so far this year with another game to be arranged later in the year. The Y7 C team’s first game will be played in the new year.

Finally, there was a superb turn out for the Y7 intraschool competition where Holmes finished in 1st position.

1st Holmes

2nd Da Vinci

3rd Austen

4th = Churchill

4th = Darwin

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2 Golds and 1 Bronze at Sussex Schools Sports Acro for TSLA!The St Leonards Academy took 24 gymnasts to the Sussex Schools Sports Acrobatics competition on Saturday 25th November, at the University of Brighton.

There was a superb team atmosphere and some great performances in the pair, trio and individual sequences. For over half the team, it was their first time performing in a competition and in front of an audience of well over 200! The PE department was very proud of the students’ efforts and their composure and performance in all the routines is to be congratulated. It was great to see so many parents supporting and assisting with transport. This was much appreciated!

The first of the 2 gold medals went to Emily Bartholomew in the basic individual girls Y7. She was joined by Charlie Collins who matched her winning gold in the Y7 basic individual boys. The bronze medal was won in the mixed novice trio by Chloe Muchavaira, Nicolas Miceli and Thomas Godfrey.

Gym club will restart on Fridays after Christmas 3.00pm - 4.15pm. We will be building up to the Gym and Dance showcase!

Boccia and kurling: gold and silver

The St Leonards Academy welcomed Saxon Mount, St Marys and and New Horizons to compete against the Academy in the Area Boccia and Kurling competition. With Y11 BTEC and GCSE PE students running the event, there was a fantastic atmosphere all afternoon. The St Leonards Academy was triumphant in the boccia taking gold and silver in the new age kurling. The winners now go on to the Sussex School Games finals.

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The St Leonards Academy competed in the annual District Badminton competition against 7 other schools in the area. Our KS3 teams were triumphant with both boys and girls winning double gold with wins over Claverham and Ark Helenswood in the finals.

Our KS4 teams returned with gold in the boys beating Robertsbridge in the finals and the girls had to settle for silver. A superb effort for all the teams!

Badminton: 3 gold and one silver

School Games Organiser of the Year: National Runner up

The St Leonards Academy is the host school for the School Games Organiser of Hastings and Rother. Our very own Teresa Bennett is one of 9 SGOs in Sussex and one of 450 nationwide. Teresa was honoured to be nominated in the top 3 nationally for School Games Organiser of the Year. She received the runners-up spot and was presented at the SGO summit in Telford in November. Many congratulations Teresa!

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art Mandy HolbecheSubject Leader

This term Y8 have been exploring the use of colour, line and pattern in their work inspired by the artist Angie Lewin. Students have worked hard on developing various different skills in response to the artist including collage, wax–resist & poly-printing. This has enabled them to explore a variety of different mediums which can be seen in some of their excellent outcomes.

year 8

This term, Y9 have made a fantastic start to their photography coursework. They have shown their innovative and creative side by experimenting on Photoshop and in the darkroom. They have learnt new skills using techniques such as colour pop, layering and reversals. They have made positive progress to their work and are continuing to add to their coursework with high quality images, a range of experimental techniques and influencing their work based on photographers they have looked at.

year 9Harvey Green Y8Alyssa Whiteman Y8

Louis Gladman Y8

Mya Johnson Y8

Alysha Billett Y9 Layla Whiteman Y9 Frankie-Lily Whittle Y9 Grace Swaine Y9

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Y11 students have been working on the theme of ‘Natural and Organic Forms’ and creating their final outcomes for their coursework. They have produced a wide range of responses using mixed media, linking their work to other artists.

year 11

Tia Willson Y11

Charley Frost Y11

Cody Cady-McKellar Y11

Larissa Hewlett Y11

Students have been having great fun at Christmas Craft Club this year, working with Mrs Redmond and Ms Smida. They have been busy preparing decorations, wreaths and lots of other Christmassy goodies!

christmas craft club

Tyler Bazeley Y11

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Monday 8th January First day of Term 3 Y11 Parent Information Evening - Holmes & Churchill: 6 - 7.30pm

Tuesday 9th January Y11 Parent Information Evening - Da Vinci & Austen: 6 - 7.30pm

Wednesday 10th January Y11 Parent Information Evening - Darwin & McKellen: 6 - 7.30pm

Thursday 18th January Y8 Parents’ Evening and Guided Choices - all students leave at 1.35pm

Thursday 25th January Parents’ Voice at 6pm - Meet in Main Reception

Thursday 1st February Y11 Parents’ Evening - all students leave at 1.35pm

Friday 9th February End of Term 3

dates for your diary

Adverse weather conditions

Should the Academy have to close due to adverse weather conditions, the information will be published on the Academy website by 7.00am and a message placed on the Academy’s telephone system.

If your son/daughter feels unwell during the day, they must go to Student Reception in the first instance to be assessed by a Student Welfare Officer. If the Academy feels they are not well enough to stay in school, a phone call home will be made.

Students should not ring home themselves as this will be treated as an unauthorised absence.

term 3

Edinburgh Road St Leonards on Sea

East Sussex TN38 8HH

T: 01424 448740F: 01424 440060

[email protected] www.thestleonardsacademy.org.uk

Principal: Kay Tinsley

kay tinsley, principal newsletter term 2 : december...

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