Salter Reporter - George Salter Academy

Salter Reporter
MARCH 2015
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
Edward Scissorhands Cinderella The Bethel 7N1 Poetry A endance Compe on The Eden Project Post 16 Make the News PE Department GSA Netball Success Sandwell Book Quiz Richard’s Reviews Interview with Mrs Halford Drama Variety Night A2 Drama and Theatre Studies Resolu on Dance Show Pupil Premium Awards 2015 Huge congratula ons are in order for all of those at George Salter Academy, who have recently won £5000 in the key stage four category of the Pupil Premium Awards 2015. We have been awarded this due to being one of the most improved schools in the country in terms of a ainment and valueadded progress of our disadvantaged pupils since 2011. In a le er to Mr Green from Da-
vid Laws MP, the minister of state for schools, he said ‘it is clear that you and your staff have provided your disadvantages pupils with a good start in life and prepared them well for their futures.’ We have also submi ed an applica on to be entered for one of the larger prizes, including a na onal award of £250,000 and eagerly await the results, which will be revealed in March. KS4/5 Awards Evening This year’s Awards Evening was held on the 18th December 2014 at the Bethel Conven on Centre, Kelvin Way, West Bromwich. This event is one of the highlights of our year and gives us the opportunity to celebrate the hard work and dedica on of over 400 students who had been nominated by their staff for their hard work and commitment in the previous 12 months. Each subject area nominated students for a ainment and endeavour and there were also awards for pastoral, a endance and work experience. The evening was extremely well supported by parents/guardians and they were entertained by some fantas c music during the evening from some of our talented musicians. We were also very privileged to have Sameena Ali Khan as our guest speaker. Sameena presents the ITV news and spoke to the students and guests about her role on television and also about the importance of perseverance and hard work. She was certainly a hit with the parents/guardians and students and an inspira on to us all. -Mrs Hathaway Edward Scissorhands On Tuesday 10th February, I went to see The whole cast were on top form and Ma hew’s Bourne’s ‘Edward Scisso- their comedic mings were perfect. Some rhands’ at the Birmingham Hippodrome scenes were so funny that I nearly choked with some other Drama and Dance stu- on my popcorn giggling. dents. There were loads of twists and turns in The produc on was based off the film of the story that I didn’t see coming and the same name by Tim Burton and was there was a lot of gasps and murmuring about a man called Edward with Scissors a er the ending. for hands who is taken into care by a fam- I’d defiantly recommend ‘Edward Scissoily and falls in love with a girl called Kim. rhands’ to anyone. It’s emo onal, funny The last Ma hew Bourne produc on I and it will s ck in your mind a er you’ve saw was ‘Lord of the Flies’ and that was seen it. one of the best theatre produc ons I’d 10/10 ever seen so I knew that this one was go- -Richard Guga ing to be a treat. I was not wrong. ‘Edward Scissorhands’ was one of the most beau ful and poe c theatre producons I had ever seen. The slick movements, the music, the ligh ng, the set, the costumes were all outstanding. The me flew past so quickly that it felt like 5 minutes. My favourite part was when Edward danced around an ice sculpture he made for Kim. It was just a marvel to watch. Cinderella On Thursday 11th De- had both the adults and cember 2014, George children belly-laughing Salter Academy took stu- alike, it was a great perdents from 9W2, 8W2, formance and our stu7E1 and the breakfast dents fully enjoyed the club to The Grand Thea- whole experience. It was tre in Wolverhampton, to lively, interac ve and see a performance of the they even got some pripantomime, Cinderella. mary school kids up on The behaviour of our stu- stage to join in with the dents was excellent as show! always. The show pulled out all The pantomime starred the stops to ensure that Hollyoaks actor Joe Traci- everyone went home ni as Bu ons, and Julian having been thoroughly Clary as Dandini – the entertained and with a prince’s faithful advisor. huge smile on their faces. From the excessive and extravagant costume Miss Smith changes to the jokes that The Last Day of Term: ‘The Bethel’ This year’s extravaganza took place on the 19th December 2014, the whole of the Academy was transported to the Bethel where we all witnessed the very best in entertainment!! As usual the staff had worked hard to perfect their performances, unfortunately for some their hard work didn’t pay off!! However, the students enjoyed their efforts and were generous in their applause! The real stars of the show were the students, it is amazing that we have so much talent in each year group and their performances were of the Going to the Bethel Centre for Christmas has become a tradi on for George Salter. There are staff performances from each house and music performances and dance performances from students of all years. Although I’ve only seen two, I have to say, I enjoy these performances tremendously. I love listening to students singing well known songs such as ‘All about that Bass’. You can clearly tell these guys have been prac sing and they make it look effortless. The students and teachers are fantas c playing the instruments and I always love the dance performances. It’s done so slick and stylish and I have to applaud the students and the teachers for their work on that. My favourite part is always the house staff performances. I love seeing what Kenrick, Brunswick, Rowley and Farley come up with and you can always tell that the teachers are having a good me. It might be really silly but that’s the whole point, it’s supposed to make you laugh because highest quality! The audience were, as ever, enthusias c and suppor ve of all the performers and brought the house down with their cheering and applause. It is always a pleasure to be a part of this day, the behaviour of all the students was impeccable and their support for each other was impressive. Many thanks to all the parents/guardians who came to support the event, hope the noise wasn’t too much for you!! -Mrs Hathaway you know they’re doing it for fun. For example, last year Mr Deare and Mr Hayes did a li le compe on a er an accident that occurred in a parcular sumo wrestling match. It was childish but hilarious although I know a few people who were disappointed that they didn’t actually start wrestling. Sadly, whenever I watch these performances I can’t help but feel like I want to be part of the ac on. I really want there to be some Drama performances so that we could maybe do some comedy Christmas themed sketches. Apart from that, I really enjoy the Bethel Centre visits (and it’s not just because we get free chocolates). Last year was amazing and I hope they carry on with their brilliant track record. -Richard Guga 7N1 Poetry As part of the year seven curriculum, 7N1 had to study poetry based on World War One. We read and analysed several poems including Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen; The Charge of the Light Parade by Alfred Lord Tennyson and The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy. The class enjoyed studying these poems and learning about the harsh condi ons that soldiers endured. They were especially moved when they watched the footage of soldiers struggling to survive. As part of the work that the group completed, they each wrote a poem of their own. Here are two examples: -Miss Kelly Trapped - Jessica Rowe I am trapped in this hell of a place, I am trapped in the trenches, Where bombs are dropped on us and guns fired at us. I am trapped here like a rat in a cage, What do I do? I am trapped! I don’t know how to escape, I’m trapped in this one frame of mind, The Fight—Leeza Ali I can’t think what to do, I am trapped in my mind. Bodies falling to the floor People are dying I can’t decide what to do, We are figh ng in a war I could go forward and charge into the gate of Planes are flying death, Or I could turn back and become a coward. Swords, knives, daggers and guns, I am trapped, with the decision of what to do. People are worried that they will die . My family members, my beloved ones I turn around and there’s the enemy, Are pleading to God with a desperate cry. Face to face with me. They grab me, and e me up as easily as ea ng The ba lefield is bloody and red yoghurt. Gun shots so loud they’re deafening my I am trapped. Trapped. ears. My brain’s not thinking properly inside my I don’t know how to escape, injured head I’m trapped in this one frame of mind, And so I shoot myself. I can’t think what to do, I am trapped in my mind, In this death place 9K2 Win the A endance Compe on We were extremely excited when we was an excellent achievement for me received the news that we had won and my form. As a member of 9K2, I the a endance compe on. We al- am very proud that we achieved the ways wanted to be the ones with the 100% a endance as a form, during the best a endance as a form and when last week of school. This was the first we did win it we didn’t even realise we me we have ever won the a endance had won. It was a big surprise as our compe on. It is overwhelming. As a form has never won the compe on reward for winning the compe on, all before, but we were really proud of of our form were rewarded with a £5 love to shop gi voucher. I think this each other when we did. has made our form more likely to win -Selina Kaur the a endance compe on in future, as we now know it pays off as we get a Last term our form, 9K2, won the reward. a endance league. We have been trying to win this compe on since year 7 -Emma Steventon and we finally did it. At first we never even knew that we had won it, un l Last term 9K2 won the a endance Mrs Webb came in and told us. Miss league. We were all really happy that Wakely was over the moon and we we had won it, and especially that we were happy as we all got our love to were all going to be presented with a shop vouchers. We were very happy £5 voucher for a range of different shops. This was the first me that 9K2 -Lewis Allen had won the a endance league. Miss Wakely, our form tutor, was very proud We were really happy and excited of us as she has wanted us to win it for when we found out that we had the a very long me. best a endance. It was kind of a surprise as we had never won before. Our -Sandeep Ghik form tutor was really happy when she told us we had won. She always wanted to have the best a endance for her form. We could tell she was proud of us as we had never won before. -Maahima Begum Winning the a endance compe on The Eden Project A group of GSA Art & Design Students travelled to a ended. We hoped you enjoyed yourselves as Cornwall to exhibit a collec on of their course- much as we did. work based on natural forms at the Eden Project– a topic perfectly epitomising this environment. Nina Jarre Each student produced an exhibi on Fahima Begum demonstra ng a wide range of skills and techniques. Some of which include – Pain ng, drawing, Almas Saaed tex les, photography, and printmaking. As well as Shakelun Khanom their work, students displayed a comment book in Hannah Dhala which viewers are invited to write a comment on Anu Shemar individual’s art work and the exhibi on as a whole. Rebecca Garner The weather was fantas c as we spent the Jake Blakemore second day in St. Ives. We walked through small side streets taking in the dozens of small art galler- Tim Redhall ies displaying an array of styles, techniques and LaShauna-Jai ar sts. Samuels The students were a credit to George Salter Ethan Bishton in every way. Behaviour, manners and a tude Hoshyar Kadir were excellent....as always. The exhibi on looked excellent as was the weekend. Mrs Shaw and Mr. Owen A big thanks and well done to all that Post 16 Make the News! On Tuesday 3rd March 2015, George Salter experienced another "first", when it was selected as the venue for a debate filmed by ITV news. The date involved Post 16 students from George Salter, along with other post 16 centres across the Midlands, and was about young peoples views and opinions on the forthcoming General Elec on. The debate was hosted by Sameena AliKhan, who also presented Awards at our annual awards evening in December 2015. Filming took place in the new theatre, and the producer of the show also gave our post 16 Film Studies a talk on how they set-up for the debate with regards to sound, lights and the extensive rehearsals! The ITV team were very complementary about our students and Academy, and the end product will be available to view on the Academy website as soon as it is released. PE Department If you don’t already know by now that George Salter PE department have a huge list of extracurricular clubs and teams for you to a end; where have you been? From Futsal to Frisbee, Athle cs to Hockey, Fitness to Friday Fun, we have it all going on down in PE every week. There has been a number of very commi ed pupils a ending such clubs and because of this have been improving their skills on a weekly basis. This commitment to prac se has been complimented with a range of successes. Let’s start with Netball who have once again had an excep onal start to the year which has seen both Under 14 and Under 16 squads become Sandwell Netball League Winners for the 3rd year in a row. A er winning the South Staffordshire County tournament and being Runners Up in the West Midlands Regional Tournament both teams have qualified for the Na onal Schools Finals in Liverpool. nal job with some standout performances from Vicky Loa, Lewis Allen and Jaiden Gamble. Year 9 boys and girls have been so successful that they have advanced to the next round to represent Sandwell against other Black Country schools. Good luck! Hockey prac ce runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week and three people who have been their every week are Rohit Kumar, Mar n David and Dylan Harvey who have shown an astonishing commitment to training. Key stage 3 have had a number of very impressive performances this year and have been unlucky not to pick up their first victory but will look to do this on 24th March against Nunnery Wood. Key stage 4 had been scheduled a number of fixtures but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to weather but despite this have con nued to train hard in an cipa on for their first game. Badminton club on Monday and Wednesday with The Albion Founda on has allowed pupils to deHard-work and commitment has paid off for 3 puvelop their skills, put their name forward for sepils who have been selected for West Midlands lec on in fixtures and meet with West Bromwich Under 17 Squad (Ellie Benne , Tumba Katanda Albion Midfielder James Morrison. and Nasara Arne ) and 5 pupils who are now in South Staffordshire County Netball Academies (Daisey Co erill, Samba Katanda, Rhea Patel, Jazmine Seaton and Octavia Donaldson). 12 Boys and 12 girls from Years 7, 8 and 9 have been going to Tipton Sports Centre every month for the past 5 months to represent George Salter at indoor athle cs against Sandwell Schools. All George Salter teams have been doing a phenome-
PE Department Harpreet Kaur and Sophie Lyn-kew helped Bathurst and Pheonix and two clean lead the Key Stage 4 girls team to success sheets on the bounce for year 7 with against a range of schools at Woodgreen ‘super save’ Ahad Zahoor in goal. Last Academy earlier on in the year. More re- week’s fixtures were against Pheonix and cently a 3 day compe on against Shire- saw year 8 open up the week with a 5 nil land saw 8 selected George Salter players victory, years 7 and 10 followed excellent demonstrate their superior skills in an start up with an 8 nil annihila on and a 6 outstanding show of talent where they nil thrashing respec vely. Well done lads, were able to win every single game; that’s but don’t rest yet, we have more work to 24 games! As a reward for commitment to do! Badminton club and a ‘Well done’ to pupils, The Albion Founda on and the PE department will be taking 13 ‘chosen ones’ to watch the YONEX All England Badminton at the NIA Arena this Saturday where they will watch elite professional Badminton players from around the world compete. George Salter basketball teams have also had another phenomenal year with both under 14s boys and girls teams becoming It would be impossible for us to comment Sandwell winners advancing to Black on all the success and the progress pupils Country School games where they were are making by a ending all the clubs on successful and will now progress to West offer, but we want to see more new and Midlands Finals on 10th March. Coach returning faces down in PE a er the Sheridan has also led under 16 girls to suc- school bell chimes at 3 o’clock. So if you cess in the Sandwell schools Basketball are not sure about what is on offer and league. The under 16 boys hope to emu- when, ask your PE teacher, check out the late this success on the 12th March when posters in PE or log on to FROG to see the they take a trip to Sandwell College to metable. We have plenty of exci ng play in the Sandwell school finals against things going on right now and plenty more Pheonix. Basketball doesn’t just stop at secret stuff s ll to come (Tennis a er lower school, coming off a very impressive Easter anyone?). 108 to 27 victory against UCB, George Oh, and the legends board shows that LaSalter sixth form Basketball team are now mar Reid in year 7 has a ended 96 sepacurrently third in the Associa on of Col- rate clubs since September, can you beat leges. that? George Salter Football teams have also been doing fantas c this year, with victo- -Mr Burns ries from year 7, 8 and 10 against Stuart George Salter Netballers set to take to the Na onal Stage A er winning the Sandwell and then County stage, George Salter Netball U14 and U16 squads a ended the West Midlands Regional Schools finals on Sunday 8th February at Bromsgrove School. We put a lot of extra training into our prepara on for the compe on and felt ready and raring to go up against the best 14 schools from across the region. Both teams made excellent starts in the group stages and proved we were going to be hard teams to beat in both the Under 14 and Under 16 age group. Our Under 16 team remained unbeaten throughout the whole group stages and worked together fantas cally to sail into the semi-final. My team, the Under 14’s played some excellent Netball and also qualified for the semi-final. The Under 16’s played Bromsgrove in their semi-final. The George Salter squad were too strong for the home team with outstanding through court play and shoo ng by Nasara and Octavia. The score finished 10 -5 and sealed the Under 16’s place in the Na onal Finals. The Under 14’s came up against Higham Lane, a very strong Netballing school. The game was ghtly contested from the first whistle and at half me the score was level pegging. We showed determina on and passion to go on to win the match with some amazing shoo ng from Tumba Katanda and turnovers from Vicky Loa. As the final whistle went, we ran to the Under 16’s court, as we were both playing at the me. When we realised that both teams had qualified for Na onal Finals the celebra ons begun! The excitement of qualifica on saw a slight lapse in concentra on with both teams narrowly missing out in the finals; however we did the job we went to do and qualified to compete against the top 16 teams in the country. As a squad we would like to thank all the teachers and parents who came to support us. Now the hard work really begins with more than 8 hours a week of training in the run up to Na onal Finals on Saturday 14th March! -Rhea Patel (Under 14 Netball Captain) Sandwell Book Quiz On Tuesday 25th November 2014, three teams from George Salter Academy took place in the first round of the Year 7 Sandwell Book Quiz. Each team consisted of four students who had worked hard over the previous weeks to read and revise four books. The teams competed against each other, and were quizzed on their detailed knowledge of the books. A er a close compe on, the winning team consis ng of Aaron Shelton, Ashan Shakil, Sophie Haney and Kirandeep Kaur, qualified for the second round where they would go up against another school. On Tuesday 20th February the winning team, along with their mascot, George the orang-utan, went to West Bromwich Central Library to take part in the semi-final round against St Michaels Church of England High School. The compe on was tough and throughout the seven rounds, the teams were never more than 4 was a great experience. I read books: Millions, Point points apart. In the final four Blanc, Dear Olly and Cirque Du round, George Salter fin- Freak. I liked Cirque Du Freak ished one point behind more than the others because St Michaels purely on a it was unpredictable and exci ng. I also had fun when technicality, and St prac sing with the other team Michael’s went through mates.’ to the final round, -Kirandeep Kaur knocking us out of the compe on. Behaviour ‘The book is a fun thing to do was fantas c throughout if you choose to do it. It tests the book quiz, and we many of your skills, such as memorizing and comprehenwere congratulated on sion. The book quiz can get such a close compe on really compe ve, because by both judges and the everyone wants to win, and you need to prac se well beschools library service cause the other schools are manager. A huge con- really hard to beat in the book gratula ons to those quiz. Also it allows you to who took part and for all make new friends in and out of school and meet new peoyour hard work in ple from the other school(s) ge ng as far you did! you play against. The main thing is, you have fun!’ -Miss Woodhouse ‘I enjoyed the book quiz and it -Ashan Shakil Richard’s Reviews So, what’s been going on in my life since my last ‘review?’ Well, a lot of stuff. I’ve had my exams, I’ve been watching movies a lot more and I’ve read so many books, it’s star ng to hurt my brain, literally. Let’s start way back in early February where I had my week of exams which would determine which set I’d be put in when I go into Year 9. To be honest, I’m not really sure why we had our ‘end of year’ exams at the ‘start of the year’. The next few months feel like they’re leading up to nothing except Year 9 and the days are staring to go more slowly than ever. For the past few weeks, I’ve tried to read as many books as I can. But because I usually leave School at 4 o’clock (because of a er School clubs), I’ve had fit in: reading for 2 hours, doing loads of homework, watching TV, ea ng, and going on the Computer! I usually have to go to bed at half past ten!! For this review, I decided to read and watch some old and new books and movies. So, the first movie I’m going to review is one that was released back in 2004: Mean Girls I know, I know. Why would I be watching Mean Girls? Well, it was actually my sister who convinced me to watch it. So, I did. What did I think? Well, it was great. The movie made me laugh out loud from start to finish and I think it’s one of the best ‘chick flick’ movies I’ve ever seen. The movie is about a girl called Kady (Lindsey Lohan) who moves from Africa to a new School where she makes two new friends and has to go undercover as one of the ‘plas cs’, three evil chicks who set out to be the best of the school and ruin other people’s lives. This movie was really entertaining to watch and proper hilarious. My sides were hur ng a er watching it and I do think it deserves the praise and respect its received. The performances are top notch with Lindsey Lohan and Racheal McAdams giving great performances as Kady and Regina George. The story is smart and can be emo onal at mes and I think anybody who doesn’t watch it shouldn’t be counted as Steven King is known as one of the best horror writers ever born. His a teenager. books such as ‘Carrie’, ‘Salem’s lot’, ‘The Stand’, ‘The Mist, ‘Misery’, ‘Pet Ceme- 10/10 tery’ and ‘The Shining’ are regarded as classics in the book industry. My favourite book wri en by him however (and the one to absolutely terrify me) was IT, a story about a group of kids who are terrorised by a shape shi ing monster who takes the disguise of Pennywise the dancing clown as he hunts his prey. IT This book is split into two parts, one focusing on the characters as children and them as adults. This book kept me awake the whole month yet I couldn’t put it down. Steven King takes an ordinary thing such as a clown and makes it terrifying. The main characters are well wri en and you really sympathise for them as you read the terrible things that happen to them. I am aware that there is a movie version of this but I haven’t seen it yet for obvious reasons. IT is a fantas c book and is defiantly in my top 100 books of all me. 10/10 The Fault in our Stars The Fault in Our Stars has become of the most popular romance movies of the year. You’ve either seen the movie or read the book, or you’ve done both. I read the book first (because that’s just who I am) and later saw the movie. The movies are never as good as the books but this one is pre y close. The Fault in Our Stars (based on the book by John Green) is about a girl called Hazel who has cancer who is forced to a end a support group where she meets and falls in love with a boy called Augustus. The performances from the main cast are strong with Shailene Woodley (Hazel) and Ansel Elgort (Augustus) being par cular stand outs. They have good chemistry and it is easy to believe that these two are actually in love. You see them go through pain, happiness and emo on and it makes the ending even sadder. The script is brilliant and the suppor ng cast are on top form. The cinematography, if a bit basic (this is a romance) is s ll good. The film follows the book very closely which was a worry before I saw the movie because films usually dri away from the source material. The movie is great and when I get the chance, I will buy the DVD so I can re-watch this great modern classic. 10/10 The Hunger Games Like Harry Po er and Twilight, The Hunger Games has become insanely popular with readers and just like Harry Po er and Twilight, there have been film adap ons made with part 2 of Mockingjay (The last book in the series) ready to be broadcast soon. Because of this I decided to go back and read where it all started, ‘The Hunger Games’, wri en by Suzanne Collins. The story is about an event called the Hunger Games where a boy and a girl aged 12-18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected to fight in a televised fight to the death. When Katniss’s li le sisters is chosen, she volunteers to step in for her and is forced to fight instead of her. I generally enjoy ‘The Hunger Games’ even though it is very similar to ‘Ba le Royale’, a book about a group of high school students who are forced to fight to the death by the Chinese government. Katniss is a very strong, independent female lead; something I thought was missing from Twilight. I found it really sweet how she volunteered for her sister even though she knew it was extremely likely that she was going to die. As the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Gale, a friend of Katniss who we assume she might love but when she fights in the Hunger Games, she meets a boy called Peeta who is another boy we assume she might fall in love with. This is like Twilight all over again and that annoyed me but I had faith in Suzanne Collins for being careful with this and luckily, she was. The book is a lot more violent than the movie and that is understandable. I’ve read Harry Po er, Twilight and now The Hunger Games; I want to see what’s next. 8/10 Heads Up! A Digital Storytelling Project For the past four weeks, a couple of Year 7 and 8’s have been taking part in ‘Heads Up!’ A project which allows taking the phone out of your pocket and seeing different things it can do and how it could help this School. We have been developing ideas on how electronic devices could help this School, benefi ng teachers and students. We’ve been working with two people from the project, Tim Wilson and Maya Chowdhury who are fun and enthusias c people to work with. We’ve been split into two groups, one working with Tim, the other working with Maya and we’ve been filming short 45 second commercials, seeing the effect electronics can have at this School. I am a li le worried that this means that they’ll be ge ng rid of books forever!! AHH!! In the commercials, the books are like the dragons and the devices are the Knights! Apart from that, I am thrilled that I am part of this project and I can’t wait to see what this’ll lead to. Interview with Mrs Halford By Richard Guga Mrs Halford, an English teacher who has done many exci ng things in life, such as skydiving off mountains, is new to George Salter and for the Salter Reporter I decided to ask her some ques ons: Why did you decide to come to George Salter? Miss Halford replied with ‘I had been teaching for 8 years at my last School and I wanted a challenge, a new environment and I love it, the kids are wonderful here!’ What do you love most about teaching English? “I love everything!” she laughed “I love reading because it’s interes ng and brilliant and I love seeing children read!” What English subject do you love the most? “Crea ve Wri ng. I love books and I love reading about imagina ve new worlds and new characters and I love seeing what the children write.” If you were trapped on a desert island, what book would you take? “That’s very difficult; I’ve got so many favourites! Probably ‘Scarlet Le er’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne because it’s about love, passion and deals with real life issues.” What’s been your favourite year group to teach? “That’s extremely difficult to answer! I love all my year groups! Year 8 are very enthusias c and all of Key Stage 4 are great!” Drama Variety Night Before the excitement of the new block, the drama department felt it would be a shame not to have a good old send off for the Drama Studio in Old Kenrick. Over the years, there have been some brilliant work created and performed in the space, and the Drama Variety Nights on Tuesday 9th December and Thursday 11th December, were no different! The showcase, involved students across years 7 to 12 and variety greatly in topic and style. Some of the performances included: Extracts from ‘Our Day Out’ performed earlier in the year. We were really excited to be performing at the Variety night. As part of our GCSE course the first two assessments are about exploring concepts, ideas and play texts, so it was great to be able to perform. We only had four weeks to prepare, and on the night itself I was actually quite nervous. I am so glad we did it though because I was able to start building up my con-
LAMDA monologues 7north Arts performing a piece about Christmas morning and a Theatre in Educa on piece about Healthy Ea ng. Year 8s Arts Award Over 80 students performed in these events and The Drama Department were so proud to leave our drama studio with such imagina ve and talented performances before going to the new theatre in January. A huge congratula ons to all! fidence at performing in front of a live audience. It also gave us chance to try out different ideas which enabled us to see whether they would work or not. It was a brilliant star ng point for us as a group which means we can now develop our performance further for when the examiner comes in to see us on April 28th. A2 Drama and Theatre Studies Unit 3 Examina on Project: The Existence of Abnormality In September 2014, four brave students embarked on a mission that would change their lives forever. The brief was simple (or so they thought). Devise an original piece of drama to deliver a message to a targeted audience. This mission would take six months of gruelling rehearsals, waking up early on Saturday mornings to join forces as they set out to create the best piece of drama *cue Jeremy Clarkson voice* IN THE WORLD! These courageous drama sts have finally spoken out about their experiences of the devising process. Joseph Mendez who played the leading role of Shockheaded Peter had this to say. “We had all experienced our ups and downs in this process and encouraged each other when we were feeling fa gued and disheartened on whether we could convert this joint vision, into a unique, entertaining piece. I have personally improved myself as both an actor and a team-member. Miss Clark encouraged us all to take risks, something which we are all personally grateful of. My communica on and my co-opera on skills have rocketed over this rehearsal period. These are skills I will take away with me forever. One of the main highlights for me was seeing the reac ons of my friends and family as we had put so much hard work and effort into the piece and celebra ng with my peers straight a er we finished -an experience I would happily re-live.” tells us more. “There were many highlights throughout our A2 devised piece that will be in my memories for a long me. The rehearsal process for me was the best part, due to being able to embrace each other’s ideas and have a laugh at the same me. My favourite part of the rehearsal process was towards the end. Even though we had structured the majority of the performance we s ll had my sec on to go, in which we included references to games, movies and the internet and I got to portray my favourite type of character: A psycho.” Awesome. Now, a final word from the author of this ar cle, Joseph Maslin. “These past few months have been a blast. I’ve loved every single moment of the process; despite having some obstacles we all managed to overcome them successfully. Overall, I feel privileged to have been able to work with such talented actors and friends. I will never forget the hard work and funny moments that we have had during the devising process. We have all been able to develop ourselves as actors but also as human beings because of this. We are now more confident and able to take risks inside and outside of our drama c life. My favourite moment of it all though (as it is always for me) was the final applause from the audience. I can never get enough of the adrenaline rush that that gives Lovely words from the leading man. But what did me. Thank you to everyone including Miss Clark that made this experience possible.” Jabeen Nabi who played Sly Samantha think? “Performing our A2 piece ‘The Existence of Abnor- So that’s all then folks. And remember, choose Dramality was an unforge able experience and the ma A-Level. main highlight of our project. Our effort and dedica- -Miss Clark on throughout rehearsals gave us an amazing overall result, which we all had an input in, including our teacher. I remember discussing at the beginning of the process what our piece would entail and the narra ve routes we would go with. Every member of the group has developed themselves successfully. Not only have I gained experience in physical theatre, I have also learnt that I am a risk taker, which in fact has hugely built up my confidence. Knowing that our audience felt “the realism” of the piece was comfor ng as we communicated how we all portrayed such damaged souls in a realis c style.” Interes ng stuff. Tim Reddall, playing Evil Eddie, Resolu on Dance Show Thank you to all the parents, friends and family of our students that came along to watch and support the event. Thanks must also go to all the staff that helped with the organisa on of the show, and our sixth form Performing Arts Ambassadors who helped to host the event. Thursday 26th February saw the first performance in our brand new theatre… and what an evening it was! The Resolu on Dance Show was a huge success with over 80 George Salter Academy students performing from years 7-13, and nearly 200 people watching. Mr Green said ‘Time flew by as we watched the students and staff working together to produce elegance, variety and a huge amount of skill, involving a wide range of students.’ Well done to all the students who performed and made the evening so special. Can you spot the ten differences between these two pictures of an angry Easter Bunny? Claypit Lane West Bromwich West Midlands B70 9UW Salter Reporter