2014 - December - St Augustine Academy

TERM 2
December 2014
‘believe in more’
No.20
Christmas time is here again, already! It is true what they say. Every year
you get older, time seems to go quicker!!
It has been another fabulous term at the Academy. We gained our official
data report from the Department of Education called “raise online”. The
report is very positive. We are now placed in the top 7% of secondary
schools for student progress. In conjunction with our recent “Good” Ofsted
report, this again validates the impact we are making for our young
students.
Our year 11 are next to sit their final GCSEs. To be successful they will
need the full support of their parents and families, as it can be a very
stressful time. The motto I keep promoting is similar to that displayed at the
Etihad stadium, the Manchester City football ground, “Practice again and
again…push yourself…make it count.” Their coaches train their future stars
to, “keep going, keep striving and keep believing, you can make it.” Our
students are our future stars, they need to put effort in, to get the best
results out. This requires student self-motivation, but also the support from
families and teachers. All are needed for success. Together, let us renew our efforts in January.
Mr Attra, who leads our specialism of Business and Enterprise, has been involved in a number of initiatives.
He has been successful in gaining funds from the British Council, to develop student projects with the DAV
Public school in India. The Principal and Head of ICT from this school recently visited our Academy, as part
of the Connecting classrooms project. Under his guidance the Sixth Form organised a successful Year 7
and Year 8 disco and two outstanding enterprising students, Lewis Muir and Kayleigh Osina organised and
ran our successful Christmas Fayre.
We are all very excited as we move into the whole school this January. Our newly refurbished West Block is
fantastic. Although the exterior has remained the same, the interior has been completely renovated to the
same standard as our new build. Design and Technology, Business, IT, PE subjects and Sixth Form will be
based in this block. Also, just outside the West Block we have a new multi-purpose games area and new
seating areas. In addition to these changes we are also creating an Olympic Weight lifting and a boxing
centre at the school. Both have been allocated external funding. Wow!!! Bring on January. Students and
staff are going to love it!!!!
And, what more!!!! To further develop literacy and reading our new library will open next term. And, even
more!!!!! Our new online student and parent portal called the Learning Gateway will be live in January. The
portal is designed as a student online homework planner and for families to receive continuous information
regarding their child. We also have a new website!
To finish, it was wonderful to see each Chapter celebrate the Christmas message at our local parish church.
Kes, our chaplain, organised a lovely service, which was both fun and thought provoking. Enjoy our
newsletter and may I wish you all, students and their families, staff and their families, a wonderful Christmas
and happy New Year.
www.saa.woodard.co.uk
Jason Feldwick - Principal
@SAAPrincipal
After Christmas, students will return to the Academy to see – and use – the
refurbished West Block and the new games area between the two blocks.
The West Block will have superb new facilities for DT, Art, Textiles and
Business together with Maths, 6th form and Sports classrooms.
www. saa.woodard.co.uk
specialism: Business and Enterprise
Events this term
Christmas Fayre success
The second St Augustine Academy Christmas Fayre in November was a great
success and a full report is on the Business & Enterprise page.
However, we wanted to highlight the comments of our Business Enterprise
Ambassadors who masterminded the event. Kayleigh Osina stated that ‘it was
very enjoyable to see a wide range of the community brought together by the event’
whilst Lewis Muir added that ‘it was a pleasure to help organise and raise money
for the Academy’s chapter charities.’
The Academy’s
Youth Social
Action group
raised £50 at
the Christmas
Fayre through their ‘Name the teddy’ and
‘Guess the number of sweets’ competitions
(the teddy’s name was Pauline and there were
243 sweets in the tub).
A big thank you to all those who had a guess;
this money will go toward projects carried by
our students to benefit the local community.
Christmas Concert
The audience at our Christmas Concert were treated to a feast of musical items by students
representing every year group in the Academy. A range of instruments and styles of music were
expertly performed together with some seasonal readings. Highlights included solos from drummers
Jacob Pantony and Brandon Thompson, a virtuoso guitar item from Kirk Sambahangphe and a
carefully executed piano solo by Andrew Tatton. Vocal items included a witty duet from Byron
Sunnucks and George Sutton and a very unusual version of Silent Night - it was ‘signed’ by a
group of students who have been learning sign language with Mr Hewett. Dancers contributed
pieces to the concert including an innovative interpretation of he famous Christmas song, The
Snowman by our star dance student, Adam Patient.
Events this term
St Augustine Academy’s Christmas pantomime brought a stunning performance of
‘Mother Goose’ to Maidstone. One of the most traditional pantomimes in theatrical
history, it tells the story a poor mother and her family who gain good fortune from
their pet goose ‘Priscilla’.
The cast brought to the stage a range of magnificent, larger than life characters in
true exaggerated pantomime style. Standout performances in particular were Adam
Patient as Mother Goose, Bryon Sunnucks as Silly Billy, Ryan Gudge as Jack,
Alex Vidgen and Jack Webb as Nifty and Shifty, Izzy McNally as Jill, Abbi Caine
as Fairy Goosedown, Jai Sheperd as the Demon Mervisto and of course the sheer
back breaking performance of the giant goose ‘Priscilla’ played by Jason Tanton.
Students not only shone on stage, but the backstage support from students was outstanding too. In particular,
taking charge of operating the sound desk for the first time was year 9 student, Isaac Anscomb.
The Academy was privileged to have a professional interpreter, who signed the whole performance on Friday
night – a truly magical experience alongside our fantastic student performers. Thank you to all that supported
the production and came along to support this year & look out for next year’s pantomime ‘Snow White.’
Out & about this term
Clothes Show
Year 9 students were not looking forward to the long coach trip to
Birmingham but couldn’t wait to get to the NEC for their exciting visit
to the Clothes Show Live 2014. Britain’s biggest fashion event gave
the students an unrivalled opportunity to see superb contemporary
designs, fantastic outfits and a catwalk show.
Comments from our
students included;
‘the clothes show was
amazing and the
models’ performance was brilliant. Their style was very
unique compared with high-street clothes and has
inspired us to be more creative.’ Another student said it
was ‘an amazing experience, I want to go every year!’
Harry Potter
The whole of the year 8 cohort were invited to the Warner
Brothers Studios this term to the Harry Potter studios. This was a
fantastic experience to put together all the elements students had
been looking at in term one within performing arts, dance, music
and drama. Students were fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed their
experience. Mr Collin was also very excited to see part of the set
in production for the new Star Wars film upon arrival at the studio!
The photos show a selection of characters, sketches and models
which were taken by one of the students, budding photographer
Josh Clarkson.
6th form Public Services
The sixth form Public Services group visited the London
South Bank Centre for the WHY? Festival. The purpose
of the visit was to explore the empowerment of young
people in a democratic society. This was to enrich the
Citizenship unit of their course.
Student successes
It’s always encouraging and motivating to hear of the successes of our students who go that
extra mile, achieve in events and activities out of Academy time or who go out of their way
to do things for others. If you know of others who should be celebrated in the newsletter,
please send details to Ms Thomas (contact email on back page of the newsletter).
Hope 5 has 2 students who are kick boxers:- Carys Harper, who has recently achieved her
red belt and Zakk Norris who has passed his orange belt.
Alix Richardson has been selected for the England under 14s Korfball team and has already
played in an international tournament against some very strong opponents.
Lewis Muir is an expert in Wing Tsun Kung Fu which is a
Chinese martial arts discipline made famous by people such as Ip
Man and Bruce Lee. Lewis explains: “I started three years ago under
the teaching of Sifu Lorriane and Si-Je Kim at Kidz Kung Fu Academy.
I have been senor assistant instructor for two years and train with the
adults and as well as teaching young people. I achieved my 2nd Black
Belt Degree this month and was awarded the best senior assistant instructor 2013 by the parents."
Year 8 student, Joshua Clarkson, made a magnificent effort to
raise money for charity in November by spending a couple of days in
break & lunchtimes selling freshly made cakes. He had wanted to
support the BBC Children in Need appeal and raised a grand total of
£24.77. Well done, Josh!
The National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme is aimed at providing young people with the
opportunity to try climbing and to develop their skills in a safe and fun environment. In conjunction
with Sportivate, Lower Grange Farm has been running NICAS climbing course for 10 – 17 year olds
who are new to the sport. Over the last 8 weeks they have learnt to belay each other and climb
safely at the indoor centre. Congratulations to Jack Garety and Isaac Anscomb who completed the
course this term and gained their Level 2 Awards. To do this, they had to complete 25 climbs as well
as to be able to act in a safe manner and as part of a team while belaying other students. Lower
Grange Farm is running more of these courses in January - www.lowergrangefarm.co.uk/nicas
Science is a piece of cake!
Jasmine Harper from year 7 cooked up – literally some work to submit for her science homework
recently. Tasked to illustrate the cross-section of a
plant cell, she made a cake at home with each part of
the cell
structure
carefully
labelled.
(see photo).
And, as a
bonus, she
could eat it
afterwards!
Jake (right) and Isaac
(below)
The Academy travels...
Mr Fishman, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Centre Co-ordinator reports:
Running for the second year, the DofE has had very good uptake from Year 9. Enrolments are now
closed for this year, and students have been given log-in details to their own online area where they
can log the activities for Physical, Skill and Volunteering – please make contact with Mr Fishman if
you need these details.
The next stage is expedition training, where participants work as a team to master the skills needed
to complete the expedition safely and successfully. This includes map reading, putting up a tent,
cooking on a camp stove and route planning.
The expedition training will take place during Enrichment every week in terms 3 and 4, starting on
January 7th 2015.
Please make sure you come along every week to learn new skills and grow as a team.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:
Expedition dates for 2015 have now been
confirmed: these are 9-10 May 2015 for the
practice, and 12-14 June 2015 for the
qualifying expedition. Attendance at both
weekends is required – please make contact
with Mr Fishman if there is a problem with
these dates.
There is also an Expedition Information Evening
for all parents and participants on Thursday 29th
January 2015 following the Year 9 Parents’
Evening – letters to follow shortly.
Finally, huge congratulations to the following
students for completing their Bronze award,
which was presented to them by members of Maidstone United FC at a special awards ceremony at
Invicta Grammar School on December 3rd:
Elizabeth Adesanya, Vincent Fraser, Beth Hunt, Hannah Morris, Dominic Nye, Zoe O’Kill, and
Kaya Whiskin (pictured above), and also Robert Reed, Manish Gaha, Jack Webb, Thomas Webb
and Sanjay Sunar.
Linking with India
As part of their competencies
lessons with Mrs Downs, class
7 Holly have made pen pal
friends with a class from our
partner school in India, the
DAV Public School in
Ballabhgarh. They are
improving their handwriting
and literacy as well as making
friends, learning about different
cultures and having fun!
Two members of staff from
the DAV School visited St
Augustine in November.
See our Business and
Enterprise page for a report
on their visit.
Focus on DT and STEM
A ‘model’ subject
Mr Bass, our Head of Design Technology, has had to be very inventive in his lesson planning since
September as he is currently teaching in a small classroom whilst awaiting his lovely new, fully
equipped room in the refurbished building. This term, his year 8 students were given a brief to invent
a character and then design and build a room decorated and furnished to illustrate their character’s
personality. The photos show how imaginative the students were in their designs. Abby Lovett really
enjoyed making her character a ‘foodie’ whilst Sophie Cook created ‘Rocky’ who ‘likes rainbows,
sweet food and happy people.’ One of the model rooms featured an amazingly spider crafted from
wire amongst the equally effective cobwebs that coated the walls and furniture.
Miss Leach makes a plea: We are embarking on a new
and exciting mission to improve Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), to provide exciting
opportunities for our students. We hope to inspire the next
generation of STEM academics through working with
ambassadors currently working in the field and student
challenges will be set throughout the year. Created by major companies such as Dyson to engage the
students’ creative and engineering skills, the challenges will allow students to think outside the box
and come up with solutions and concepts that may become the next ‘big idea.’ We are also launching
the CREST award based on STEM activities, which will also enhance our students’ personal
statements due to its recognition by UCAS.
To make sure that all of this can happen, we have applied for the Galaxy Hot Chocolate Fund which
means that for each week up until February 23rd 2015, 4 prizes of £300 are given away.
Please can I ask that students, parents/carers and relatives get behind us on this fund raising task, as
the one with the highest votes receives the prize. Follow the web link below and vote. Let’s make this
dream a reality!
http://www.galaxyhotchocolate.com/galaxyfund2014/profiles/st-augustine-academy-stem-group
Thank you in advance!
Vocational courses
Skills Centre
Students attending the Senacre Skills Centre are currently
focussing on improving their carpentry skills. Year 11 student,
Chris Richards, is shown with the window frame he has made.
Chris hopes that this course will help him to gain an apprenticeship
in the construction industry which is his future career choice.
Having spent time last term with rabbits, snakes
and newts, this term at Hadlow College, St
Augustine students were getting to grips with the
care and feeding of some smaller creatures. They
were also looking after some slightly bigger animals - pygmy goats although it’s debatable whether the goats were getting to grips with
the students!
Hadlow
College
Work Experience
Parents/carers and year 10 students have now been informed about
the Work Experience programme at St Augustine Academy and
students have been tasked with finding, and securing, a placement
for the week of 6th—10th JULY 2015.
Placements have to have been organised and details given to Ms
Thomas no later than 13th FEBRUARY.
Although this date still seems to be a long way away, the time will
disappear very quickly and students are urged not to leave their
search until the last minute. So far, 8 students have managed to
organise their placement and another 4 are on the list for a course
with the Police and Army. Congratulations to all these speedy
students!
 If your business/company would be able to offer a St Augustine student a one week work placement in
July 2015, please contact Ms Thomas at: vthomas@saa.woodard.co.uk
Business and Enterprise
Christmas Fayre
There were a range of Christmas bargains to bag when we held our second annual
Christmas Fayre here at the Academy. Our Business Enterprise Ambassadors,
Lewis Muir and Kayleigh Osina were the students behind organising the event which
helped raise nearly £350 for the Academy’s three chosen charities, Slideaway, Dandelion
Time and Porchlight. Greetings cards, jewellery, locally produced honey, Christmas
candles, framed prints, decorations, cakes and toys were just some of the stalls which
were available on the night.
A big thank you to Lewis and Kayleigh who demonstrated some key entrepreneurial
skills which even helped them secure raffles prizes from High Street stores such as Lush
and a local florist who both very kindly donated generous gifts. Thank you also to all the staff that helped to make
this year’s Fayre a real success. A final thank you also goes to all the people who attended from parents/carers
to members of the local community.
Years 7 & 8 Disco
Our Year 12 Business Studies students took on the responsibility of running this year’s Christmas Winter
Wonderland Disco for the younger students. Putting their business skills into practice, the students held
meetings with Mr Feldwick and Mr Mason to get approval for their idea and, more importantly, a date for the
event. Once that was set, the students (Prabal Maden, Josh Hook, Jack Bishop and Jamie Long) got to
work on writing a letter to parents and displaying their marketing skills by creating, printing and selling tickets
at break and lunch times. The students also were required to keep an eye on their finances and ensure
enough students were attending in order for them to cover their costs!
Connecting Classrooms visit from India partners
We were proud to welcome to the Academy, the Principal (Mr Chopra) and
the Head of ICT ( Mrs Jindal) of our partner school, the DAV Public School
in India. Having been awarded funds by the British Council under the banner
of Connecting Classrooms, the reciprocal visit over 4 days involved our
visitors going into classrooms and meeting with key subject leaders to gain
an understanding of the UK
education system. Rita Jindal, the
Connecting Classrooms coordinator, also spent time planning
for future projects which both the
students of St Augustine and DAV
can work on.
Term 2 sport round-up
Mr Challiss reports - Overview:
This term has been a very busy and successful term for PE. We have
had many different fixtures as well as focussing on GCSE PE with the
year 11 students.
The Academy currently has 37 students in year 11 who have been
improving their practical ability and are being assessed on new sports
which have proved very popular. One of these is mountain biking where
we took the students to Bedgebury for their first assessment of this
activity. This was a huge success with 5 students achieving an A,* 5
winning an A and 1 student getting a B. A second group is planned for
next term so fingers crossed for similar results.
Gifted & Talented success: Throughout the PE department
there are many Gifted & Talented sports stars who not only work hard
at the Academy but also represent various levels in all forms of sport.
This term has seen more added to this elite group with James Moon
(year 10, pictured right), Ollie Duey and Bradley Ryan (year 7)
successfully being chosen for district level football. As well as this,
Charlie Mae Goad (year 8) has been selected to play at the women’s
Kent FA player development centre.
Lastly, after a successful cross country tournament at Mote Park, we now have George Hall (year 8)
and Harry Young (year 10) who have been chosen to represent the district at Kent level next term.
We are always looking to support and develop our Gifted & Talented students and next term we will
have a new PE room for individual support plans and meetings to further support our students to
develop and succeed.
Fixtures:
Throughout this term, girls have excelled with their commitment to extra-curricular clubs and have
attended football fixtures at Valley Park. Their performance and conduct throughout the games have
been commented on by other schools as exceptional. All the girls are a credit to the Academy and I am
extremely proud of all of them.
As mentioned above we had huge success this term at the schools cross country meet at Mote Park.
All participants were placed in the top 20 for their respective age groups. A special mention to George
Hall who ran in the Year 8 & 9 race and came 12th out of 68 and also Harry Young, who ran in the
Year 10 & 11 race and took 1st place out of a field of 58. Both boys have made the district team and
we wish them all the best for the future.
Finally, the under 16s beat The Malling School 29-20 in the first Basketball fixture we have held for a
while due to the increasing popularity of the sport. Malling was one of the favourites and we hope the
boys will continue in this vein to reach the final.
Trips:
We are looking this term to
re-launch the ski trip using a
new company and at a new
location. We are launching
this a year in advance and
hoping that the opportunity to
spread the cost and the
cheaper price will ensure that
the trip will be able to go
ahead this time.
Our Community
Chaplain’s Corner by Rev’d Kes
'Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . means a little bit more!' –
Dr Seuss
This has been such a full on and amazing term. Thank you
to everyone who has contributed so much to enrich the life
of the Academy over these last few busy weeks.
This year we were able to hold our Remembrance
Gathering in the chapel. The atmosphere and the lights
really reflected our love and respect for all those being
honoured that night. The picture below captures a tiny
essence of what it was like to be there. One parent wrote
this …
“Dear Reverend Kes
Thank you so much for sharing with us the thought
provoking remembrance gathering last Thursday.
I would like to say the gathering is for everyone to come
to, as it really has something for everyone whether it be
music, poems, prayers or just writing a message to put on
the tree. It also brings people together who have
experienced the death of a loved one and to let us know
we are not alone in our grief.
Once again thank you for your support and kindness.
Kind regards
Wendy Collison - Jasmine's Hewitson's mother”
We also had a wonderful joint carol service in town with
Maidstone United Football Club and St Michael’s and All
Angels Primary School. It was great to see so many of
you there.
In the last week of term we also have our Chapter Carol
Services in St Michael’s Church. It’s wonderful for me to
now have a strong connection to our Parish Church.
One of the things I have been trying to impress on
students this year is to get into the true meaning of
Christmas. All of us can get caught up in the frenetic pace
of life and the over commercialisation of the season.
Sometimes it’s good to just stop and think about
what the spirit of Christmas is all about even if you
don’t believe in God. For me Christmas gives us an
important opportunity to think of things beyond
ourselves for a change. That’s never a bad thing.
“Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart,
you won't find it under a tree.” Charlotte Carpenter
Wishing you and yours a blessed and peace filled
Christmas and new year.
God bless,
Rev’d Kes
Armistice Day 2014
All around
the country,
communities have
been
marking the
anniversary
of the year
in which
WW1
started in
many
different
ways.
At the
Academy,
students had the significance of the
date of 11th November - Armistice
Day - explained to them by Rev’d Kes
in assemblies. The TV screens showed
over 100 historic photos of WW1
British & Commonwealth troops,
nurses & family groups and even
included poignant photos of boy
soldiers, too small for their uniforms.
Just before 11am on that day, students
left their classrooms and lined the
Academy corridors to mark the 2
minutes silence. Each were holding a
paper poppy that they had cut out the
previous day to represent a lost, but
remembered, life. They then filed past
a specially set out area by Reception to
scatter their poppy. The event was very
moving and brought home to students
the enormity of the tragic sacrifice of
human life between 1914-18.
Term dates & activities:
INSET day, no students
Monday 5th January 2015
TERM 3 starts
Tuesday 6th January
Year 13 mock exams
7th-9th January
6th form Parents’ Evening
Thursday 15th January
Year 11 reward trip to cinema
Friday 23rd January
Year 9 Parents’ Evening
Thursday 29th January
INSET day, no students
Friday 30th January
Macabre art
One of the exciting aspects of
studying art at St Augustine is
that students have the
opportunity to learn a range of
more unusual skills such as
theatrical make-up.
Ms Hoyle is our resident expert
and one of her students, 6th
form art student Courtney
Marchant, transformed
herself into a gory looking
zombie for The Folkestone
Zombie Walk last month.
Academy
information
Contact details
Main reception:
01622 752490
For further information on
anything in this newsletter:
vthomas@saa.woodard.co.uk
Academy website:
www. saa.woodard.co.uk
Christmas Spirit
All of the Chapters started getting in the
festive spirit this week with their
Chapter Christmas lunches. Mrs Seale
and year 11 students pictured here
seem oblivious to Father Christmas in
the background—perhaps he’s found
that last mince pie?...
Ms Hoyle’s year 9 students
(see photo, right) have also
had a recent masterclass on
these techniques. The end
results were photographed
with studio lighting to
complete the eerie effects.
Meanwhile over in
Science...
Mr Brown’s got to breaking point…
Last term, Mr Brown was Rocket Man, now he’s Rock Man!
His year 10 Science students
have been testing the
breaking point - as the photo
shows - of an incredibly small
piece of concrete.
Suspended from it is an
equally incredible 30kgs of
steel weights and stubbornly,
it still refuses to break.
Eventually, the experiment
had to be abandoned, not
because of any scientific
reasonsbut because they ran
out of weights!
Parents’ Forum
Monday 2nd February at 7pm
in the Academy Main Hall
led by Mr Feldwick
This will be an Open Forum for
questions and will also be a chance to
tour the refurbished West Block. We
would especially encourage and
welcome parents who have not
attended a Forum before to come
along.
The Forum commences at 7pm and
refreshments will be provided.
Parents who would like to attend are
asked to ring the main office on
01622 752490 or email
office@saa.woodard.co.uk