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newsletter the HallParkAcademy March 2018 www.hallparkacademy.org.uk www.twitter.com/hallparkacademy This has been an unusually short half term, made even shorter by the unexpected snow days in early March. However, that doesn’t mean to say that things slow down here at Hall Park Academy. This half term has seen a real focus on the world of work. National Careers Week was again a highlight, with visitors from different industries talking to students about opportunities that they might be interested in pursuing in the future. Year 8 students have been busy choosing their options and students in Year 13 have spent a day exploring life beyond Hall Park when they ‘move on’ to university or apprenticeships later this year. Mocks 2 have been keeping Year 11 busy and we welcome them into school during the Easter break for our annual Easter revision school. As we approach these final few weeks of Year 11 it is important that students make the most of all support that is offered to them. Happy Easter. Mrs Dyce Jess Skevington and Imogen Tomlinson from Astle House presenting their fund-raising cheque to Brinsley Animal Rescue

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Page 1: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

newsletter

theHallParkAcademyMarch 2018

www.hallparkacademy.org.ukwww.twitter.com/hallparkacademy

This has been an unusually short half term, made even shorter by the unexpected snow days in early March. However, that doesn’t mean to say that things slow down here at Hall Park Academy. This half term has seen a real focus on the world of work. National Careers Week was again a highlight, with visitors from different industries talking to students about opportunities that they might be interested in pursuing in the future.Year 8 students have been busy choosing their options and students in Year 13 have spent a day exploring life beyond Hall Park when they ‘move on’ to university or apprenticeships later this year. Mocks 2 have been keeping Year 11 busy and we welcome them into school during the Easter break for our annual Easter revision school. As we approach these final few weeks of Year 11 it is important that students make the most of all support that is offered to them.Happy Easter.Mrs Dyce

Jess Skevington and Imogen Tomlinson from Astle House presenting their fund-raising cheque to Brinsley Animal Rescue

Page 2: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

On Tuesday 6 March, six language students from Hall Park Academy took part in the Going Global event at the University of Nottingham. The event was jointly run by the university and Business Language Champions, an organisation which brings schools together with successful business people who use foreign languages in their everyday work. The Hall Park team was made up of Freya Meakin (Year 8), Caitlin Inkster (Year 8), Jenny Huang (Year 9), Keira Gisborne (Year 9), Robyn Charlesworth (Year 10) and Aliyah Kelsall-Travers (Year 10). Throughout the day they learned about the most influential languages in business and politics, they had taster sessions of Russian, Portuguese and Mandarin, and designed their own product which they then had to market to foreign trading partners at a mock trade fair… in German! Whilst Hall Park wasn’t the overall winning team, Jenny Huang got a special mention for her involvement throughout the day and the whole team learned a lot about different languages and their importance in a post Brexit economy.

Going Global

On Friday 9th March the Theatre went quiet for the morning, as all of Year 8 took part in a PSHE activity. They were treated to an interactive theatrical workshop by a company well known to HPA students, Pint Size Theatre Company, who have been to our school many times now. The theme was internet/on-line safety and healthy relationships. The first hour of the workshop was an emotive performance. You could hear a pin drop as the students watched the play in silence. The second hour was much more interactive, with the company asking for volunteers to ask questions to the cast, while they were still in character. The Pint Size Company said that “The Year 8’s showed maturity and knowledge beyond their age group!” All in all it was another successful activity for our fantastic Year 8’s.

Luv-u-2

Page 3: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

During National Careers Week, all students were invited to attend careers talks throughout an extended tutor time. We welcomed visitors from a variety of different sectors to talk about their career and education journey.Monday 5th MarchEngineering talk delivered by Ben Clark, Fuel Handling Design Engineer with Rolls-Royce Submarines. Tuesday 6th MarchAndy Waller, Managing Director of Trading Deckers, Hospitality Deckers Restaurants Ltd talking about his career within the hospitality industry.Wednesday 7th MarchZeta Rose from Medical Mavericks giving our students an insight into how many jobs there are within the NHS.Thursday 8th MarchJack Hibbert from the Nottingham Fire Service talking about careers in the Fire ServiceFriday 9th MarchLaura Jubb, a Work Coach with Nottingham Civil Service talking about working with young people.

Careers Week

Page 4: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Year 7 visited both the Mandir (Hindu temple) and Gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Leicester on Monday 12 February. This visit was arranged by the Humanities faculty in connection with the work students have been doing in Religious Studies lessons on Indian religions.At the Mandir we watched the morning worship take place and then had a tour of the deities led by the temple priest. Those who wished took part in the ritual worship at the Shiva shrine, which included making offerings and ringing the Aum bell. We also saw the shrine of Ganesh, the Elephant God of education and wisdom, fitting for a school visit. We heard the story of Hanuman, the Monkey god and learnt about his shrine.Afterwards we went to the Gurdwara, where we sat meditating in the Diwan Hall as the scriptures were being sung in the Punjabi language. After receiving Prashad we took a tour of the Gurdwara when we learnt about the different parts of the building, seeing classrooms, meditation halls and the official “bedroom” of the Guru Granth Sahib. We heard about what it is like to be a Sikh in Britain today before it was time to sample Langar - the curry-style meal that Sikhs offer throughout their day as a religious duty.Over the day we heard 5 languages being used in worship, met 4 priests, watched 3 worship rituals, saw 2 temples, and ate an authentic Punjabi curry. In addition it was an excellent learning opportunity and a day of expanding horizons.

Shiva, Shrines and Temple Time

Page 5: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Due to the snowy weather we had to reschedule our annual World Book Day celebrations this year! So on Thursday 8th March our students queued around the Languages-Hall to get their hands on one of the 6 free World Book Day titles from Mrs Richell’s room!

Titles from authors such as Andy Griffiths, Clare Balding and Julian Clary were eagerly grabbed by students in exchange for their tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s student librarians who did a terrific job selling their chosen favourite title to fellow students. Over 400 books were collected and are currently being read in school’s DEAR time and Accelerated Reader lessons. We currently have some new Word Millionaires amongst us. Congratulations to Ashmini Indiran, Paige Smith , Kirsten Hart, Ben Cook, and Finn O’Shea.Last month we were visited once again by the fantastic Storyteller Mike Payton, who came to entertain our Year 7 students with some of his fantastic cultural tales. After a fantastic show of both terrifying and hilarious stories, Mike then worked with students in a workshop to help them start to plan and develop their own stories. Students created some fantastic quick illustrations to structure their story and learnt how stories can be quickly created using an easy plot formula. Year 7 students then worked with their English teacher in the following lesson to write their own tales, inspired by Mike’s storytelling style.

World Book Day and Library News

Page 6: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Hall Park Academy joined schools from around the country to support the first-ever National Schools Football Week, staged from 5th to 9th February 2018, in conjunction with the English Schools’ FA Playstation Schools Cup. Close to 2,000 teams took part in the Playstation Schools Cup, which has grown into the biggest grass-roots football competition in England. On the first day over 70 students from Year 7 to 11 attended a penalty shoot-out competition against Mr Hoddle and Mr Illingworth. Despite some good attempts at saving the student’s shots both teachers were unable to save Josh Armstrong’s who was crowned the overall winner and won two tickets to see Notts County FC play. On the second day over 40 students from Year 7-11 attended the kick up and heading competition. Each student got two attempts at each skill, combining their scores to get one overall result for each event. A big congratulations to George Bamford who won the kick up competition and Sam Humphries who won the heading competition. Both students won footballs courtesy of Eastwood Town FC.

The third day saw over 40 students compete in two

events which were ‘king of the ring’ and ‘one bounce’. After a long duration of competitive action Sam Humphries won his second event of the week in ‘king of the ring’, and Year 8 Noah Hemsley won the ‘one bounce’ competition. The penultimate competition was a team event of football volleyball consisting of 5 players per team. Each team played each other, with students varying from year 7-11. The year 9 GCSE PE team took the victory. Well done to Freddie Pitts, Aiden Horspool, Jack Harbon, Joe Schorah, Jake Lawes and Charlie Birch-Mann. The final day was the much awaited 5 a side tournament. An impressive 90 students attended from all year groups. The tournament was split into Key Stage 3/4 Girls, Key Stage

National Football Week

Page 7: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

3 boys and Key Stage 4 boys. Each team played one another to compete for the winners medals. A big well done to the Key Stage 4 girls winners: Kasey Hinchley, Amy Rutherford, Abbie Staples and Hannah

Lakritz. The Key Stage 3 boys winners: Charlie Bone, Jack Spittal and Liam Salisbury. The Key Stage 4 winners to Freddie Pitts, Aiden Horspool, Jack Harbon, Joe Schorah, Jake Lawes and Charlie Birch-Mann. Our referees Chris Huskisson and Mr Wright chose players of the tournament which were Rubi Miller, Charlie Birch-Mann and Leo Hoggard.The week was a huge success having over 300 students take part across all activities, however would not have ran without help from staff. A big thank you to Mr Hoddle, Mrs Scott, Chris Huskisson and Mr Wright for your help throughout the week.

Page 8: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Lawrence HouseLawrence House has continued to become more and more active with each inter-house event. Our attendance at Inter-house netball allowed us to form two teams and as a member of the house leadership team, I can’t wait to see the attendance at inter-house rugby. On another note, mock support and preparation has been professional and without a doubt helpful. I’ve seen clear improvements from my mock 1’s and feel like my overall grades have improved. As we move to the end of the year, I have already completed five pledges and will continue to not only work towards my pledges but encourage others to get theirs done whether it be through inter-house events or encouraging participation in community events.J.Stapleford - Lawrence House CaptainPledges in Lawrence house have significantly increased in the past few months. Our leaders are Jack Bamford and Sarah Amphlett with 8 pledges a piece. In order to make their clean sweep of all 10 they need pledge 3 (performing arts) and pledge 6 (assemblies); maybe they could put the two together and do a ballet piece in the final assembly of the school year!Daisy Jones in Year 8 has been the standout performer with 7 pledges already obtained. This is particularly impressive having only been in the school for under 2 years. Well done Daisy!Mr Hassall - Head of Lawrence House

Erewash HouseThis half term is always a busy one for Erewash House. We host our Annual Erewash Easter Egg-stravaganza in order to raise funds for our nominated House Charity. This year we are supporting the Broxtowe Homeless Project. Recently they came in and delivered a moving assembly, which they then followed up with an interactive workshop, for our Year 10 students. Hopefully, we have managed to raise a substantial amount of money to help out this worthy cause.We are blessed with some extraordinary young people in Erewash House. I would like to give a special mention to two of them:Bradley Mears in Year 7 proudly displayed his Silver medal in a recent assembly. This was achieved at a regional Taekwondo tournament in Bath. Bradley won 4 out of his 5 bouts. Well done Bradley! From now on, we will be calling him Sir!Charlie Baguley in Year 10, recently took part in a National Seminar on Internet Safety Day. Charlie travelled down to London and actually chaired the seminar! The objectives were to draw up a list of recommendations for the Department for Education. The event was even broadcast live on the internet. Good job Charlie! A future politician in the making!Enjoy the Easter Break. You all deserve the rest. Lots to do in the Summer Term!Mr Spriggs - Head of Erewash House

House News

Page 9: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Collier HouseIt has been a fairly quiet half term for Collier House with us all enjoying 2 duvet days following the snowfall! Despite a flu and sickness bug affecting many students Collier house has celebrated fantastic 100% attendance figures with students being rewarded with chocolate bars and ‘queue jump’ passes each week in assembly in recognition of this. Congratulations were also passed onto Chloe Pickworth. In February Chloe won gold in sparring, gold in special technique and bronze in patterns at the Taekwondo Championships.GCSE exams are approaching and hopefully Year 11 will make full use of the time they have available to them to continue their revision over the Easter break. I look forward to seeing some great achievements in the summer results.Mrs Pegler - Head of Collier HouseAstle HouseOn Friday the 16th of March Mrs Paget, Imogen Tomlinson and Jess Skevington visited Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre to deliver the money (£178) raised from Astle’s Christmas Cracker. On the visit they met Beth one of the co-founders of the charity who showed them around the site. The site is made up of 22 acres of land where they keep horses, ponies and farm animals and an animal hospital where they are currently treating hedgehogs that were too small to hibernate over the winter. The charity is hoping to enter the animals back into the wildlife once the weather has settled down for spring. The Astle House leadership team would like to thank anyone who attended or donated to the Astle Christmas Cracker, your donations are going to a truly great cause.Archie Roberts Gardner in Year 7 in Astle House can be seen in the photographs competing in a major competition in February: the National Championshipsin Bath. Archie got a bronze medal for sparring in his age and height group. We are very proud of his achievement. Archie started Taekwondo when he was just 4 years old with Generation X (Taekwondo for younger children) and began competing in competitions at just 6 years old. He moved into the Taikwon-do group at 8 years and is now a red belt. The next step is his Black Tag this month, to be followed by intense tuition in preparation for his Black belt in October. Also, in October, Archie will compete in the British Championships. We wish you future success Archie.Mrs Paget - Head of Astle House

Page 10: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

The short story competition 2018 at Hall Park Academy was a brilliant success. The competition replaced the annual poetry challenge. The students were challenged to choose a character and a scene and tell an exciting tale with 500 words as the limit. We had many excellent entries from Astle and Lawrence House with stand outs from ASR as a whole tutor group. The judging panel decided that the best entry overall was from Lola-Mae Caulton and Kelsey Brown in Year 9. Their story appears in full below. Well done girls!

Here in the middle of a desolate field, we stood with no food or water to keep us going. We knew where we had to go, where we wanted to go… but which way was it? Marcus went on a search for any source of water but found nothing but dry land. Several hours before we were chased out of our homes, our city. So this is how our journey began…

Through alleys, over walls, through shops and malls, they wouldn’t stop. I was separated from the others so I waited (what felt like a lifetime) for them to arrive, impatiently. On the edge, I waited, waiting and waiting for hours on end. As the clock ticked gradually they came bounding around the sharp corner and he sprinted, coming upon lots of different obstacles. Soon our home town was out of sight and so were our seekers…

At the end of the seemingly endless field, finally, we looked for any sign of civilisation. People that might care enough to help us, hopefully. Practically crawling, we glanced up and saw it. There it was, our new home, our new life, our fresh start.

Eventually, we arrived at the city, panting for breath. We were surrounded by oddly looking strangers. Strange sights. A new environment. Unusual. Lost, so many people bustled and pushed in the crowd, any one of them could be searching for us! Then suddenly, heart pounding, I saw them, out of the corner of my eye. Sarah and Marcus were already running, so I guess it was my time to escape, fast. Attempting to catch up with my companions, the hunter was close behind, I knew without looking behind me, I felt their warm breath on my neck. My pulsating veins were too hot and I felt ill, I could sense their beady eyes staring down on me. Shaking with shock and fear we thought we were safe. But were we?

Glancing around the ghost town we had fled to, unease fled to the pit of my stomach. I saw that Marcus and Sarah shared my feelings through their mask of a brave face, this feeling wasn’t new to us.

We were scared…

For months, we had been relentlessly pursued by those who wanted to ensure that we were their prisoners for life. We had trecked through barren fields and bustling cities. Now this! A run down town. It had all the usual things, yet there was one blatantly obvious thing missing, we were the only ones here!

Out of nowhere, gusts of wind blew piles of dead leaves and mud into our faces and I heard Marcus and Sarah spluttering beside me. Not just on the leaves… on the smell.

Something wasn’t right. The gears wired in my brain, as I tried to crack the case.

But Sarah beat me to it!

The towns full of radiation! And that’s when we realised. We were surrounded.

We had been caught. This is the end.

“Ruby Butterfield, Marcus Jackels and Sarah Windle, you are under arrest”.

By Lola-Mae Caulton and Kelsey Brown (Year 9)

Short Story Competition

Page 11: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Year 11 - Jennifer Chung has demonstrated exceptional drawing skills within her art projects. Jennifer shows a real passion for portraiture and is able to create work in a photorealistic style. Year 10 - Rachel Burdett is a talented artist and has demonstrated excellent skills in drawing and printmaking. Rachel always attends art-club, she is able to work exceptionally well independently and is working ahead of her peers. Rachel’s work is always beautifully presented.Year 9 - Hannah Nicolls has started her GCSE art course exceptionally well. Hannah is able to present her work beautifully, taking pride in everything she does. Hannah is keen to do well in art and acts upon advice given to improve her work. I am really looking forward to seeing what she creates in future projects. India Perkins is a talented artist showing excellent drawing and presentation skills. India has shown a real passion for art always attending art clubs and creating work in her own time.Year 8 - Ryan Shaw and Lorna Shepard have demonstrated outstanding painting skills for their Cubist, still life project. They are able to blend colours effectively, showing control. They have shown an understanding of the Cubism style and have produced some stunning pieces.Year 7 - Olivia Hartshorn, Grace Catlender and Paige Turner have created beautiful self-portraits based on the artist, Loui Jover. They have all shown excellent watercolour painting skills and have shown a great enthusiasm for art.

Art News

Page 12: theHallParkAcademy newsletter · tokens. The most popular of all, and first to ‘sell out’ was Marvel’s ‘Avengers Greatest Heroes’. The books were dispatched by Hall Park’s

Post 16This has been a short but intense term as we build up towards the examination season but there has been time for some fun alongside!Year 13 apprenticeship students have been involved in mock interviews and CV assessments with Paul Smith (Community Governor). Paul was very impressed with our students and they appreciated a grilling in preparation for forthcoming interviews with apprenticeship providers. Students are busy applying for apprenticeships at Rolls Royce and Trust Precision Engineering, for example.Three of our Year 12 students have been involved in a university scheme called HE+ this year. Led by Cambridge University, it involves a programme of activities aimed at encouraging students from Nottinghamshire to apply to Cambridge and Oxford universities. Charlotte Dyer, Georgia Hubbard and Carrie Horspool have now ‘graduated’ from the scheme and they write about their experiences below.Our annual ‘Love your Sixth Form’ event took place on Valentine’s Day. This involved Year 13 students speaking with Year 11 students who have applied to Sixth Form about why the Sixth Form is a great place to study Post 16. All of this happened whilst the music of love (Simply Red classic hits!) played in the background. Students received a postcard as a record of the event. Recruitment to Sixth Form is looking very positive for next year and students can still apply – see Mr Caldwell as soon as possible.

As of late, the Year 13 Prom has been one of the many focuses of the Sixth Form students and the committee. On top of this, the recent mock exams has placed a lot of Year 12 and 13 students under some stress, so to ease the centre into its usual fun self we decided to host a game… Not just any game - Mario Kart! Thanks to Hannah we were able to obtain a copy and a console, and although we aren’t very tech savvy, our knight in shining armour (Mr Leary) was there to lend a hand. This broke the ice with a few students and allowed the Year 12 and 13 students to release some stress in a friendly and competitive way. After this small recuperation, plans were back underway and is still on going. You’ll be sure to hear from us soon!

Head Boy & Head Girl