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This Issue: y Rabbit Hutch Inspires Students y Success Far From Taxing ... y A Welcome For A New Bishop y Sporting Successes y A Year In Pictures

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Darlington’s Only Church Of England Academy

July 2011 Issue

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As another academic year comes to an end, it is appropriate that it does so

with encouraging news about our progress over the past twelve months.A team from Ofsted recently visited the Academy on a monitoring visit, which is different from a full inspection but is important none the less because it assesses how much progress we are making.

Their findings make for good reading. According to the inspectors “the Academy has made good progress in making improvements and good progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.“

The inspectors add: “Attainment across the Academy is improving. The increase in the proportion of students attaining five GCSE grades A* to C or equivalent has been impressive, moving from significantly below

average in 2009 to significantly above in summer 2010. Current assessments show the Academy is maintaining this strong improvement.”

The inspectors also say: “The gap between the Academy’s results and the national average is narrowing. Last year’s gap between boys’ attainment and girls’ is also narrowing effectively, due to improvements in the quality of teaching, assessment and targeted support to students at risk of underachievement. Students successfully meet their targets in subjects within the Business and Enterprise specialism and participation rates are high.”

The report shows that we are getting it right from the moment students walk into the building, saying: “Leaders have been particularly successful in accelerating progress in Year 7, in this their first year in the Academy, not least due to the good transition arrangements and House and family group system that help them settle in well.“

In addition, they say: “The proportion of good teaching is increasing…. Good relationships between teachers and students typified all lessons observed. Lessons are purposeful and students generally apply themselves quickly to their learning.”

This makes for heartening reading I think you will agree and the report should encourage everyone at the Academy.

You just have to look at the stories told in this edition of the newsletter to realise the progress we are making. There are tales of academic achievement, successful examinations, awards received and competitions won. Within these pages you can find all sorts of other success stories too, from new teaching initiatives to sporting successes, artistic excellence to enterprising entrepreneurship.

These are exciting times for St Aidan’s. Students are doing remarkably well, staff are working extremely hard and parents are playing a full part in our daily life.

There are many challenges ahead, and we are confident about our ability to meet them. Yes, it’s a journey but you can be assured that we are well on our way.

So, thank you to all who have worked so hard to make this happen and I hope that all connected with the Academy have a peaceful and enjoyable summer.

Remember, ‘Together We Can ...’

Alison Appleyard, Principal

CELEBRATING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

Success Far From Taxing As Team Wins National Prize

Principal Thinking

Students triumphed in a national competition designed to test their business knowledge, beating 70 schools and academies from around the country.

The team won the Level 2 section of Challenge the Chancellor 2011, which is run by the Chartered Institute of Taxation and entailed them answering a series of questions surrounding the UK’s tax system for students. The students were mentored through the competition by Elaine Coulthard from HMRC Specialist Investigations. The successful team members were Andrew Robinson, Jack Usher and Josh Robinson.

Lorna Reed, Academy Assistant Business and Enterprise Co-ordinator, said: “This competition really took our students out of their comfort zone to achieve in an area with which they are not familiar as taxation is not on our curriculum. It encouraged them to consider real life situations and use their problem solving skills to come up with a solution. It is excellent experience for the world of work.”

Principal Alison Appleyard said: “This is a terrific achievement by our young people. Central to education is taking often difficult and complex situations and explaining them to young people so the fact that our team won by understanding taxation is very commendable. It also illustrates how many subjects cross over. This success was not just about understanding business, the students also needed to display a level of mathematical expertise.

Care

AROUND THE ACADEMY BREAKING NEWS

The Academy bade a fond farewell to our Year 11 students when the

Prom took place at Walworth Castle.

Sixty two students and plenty of staff attended the event and House Manager Carol Donald said: “It was a brilliant occasion. It was our way of saying farewell to them and celebrating their achievements during their time with us.

“It was a lovely evening and they really did look stunning. The transformation from Academy students to people taking a step into adulthood was striking.”

Prom Is A CelebrationGoing Live

Bishop Designate Visits Academy

FROG, the Academy’s e-learning platform, has gone live and is already proving remarkably popular with students.

The system allows students to connect with each other on-line and carries Academy news. On its first day alone, it received more than 7,000 page-views and in its second week, the figure was similarly high with its popularity having continued since then.

Mr Johnson, e-learning Co-ordinator, said: “Its popularity is more than I thought it would be. Students have really taken to it. They like its social networking aspect and we are seeing increasing numbers of students logging in.

“In the initial stages, we have been working to make sure that using FROG is part of the culture of the Academy so that students know how to log in and use the system.”

To strengthen that work, each house has appointed Frog Champions to promote and monitor its use. FROG will also play its part in a new system being brought in to improve the way the Academy communicates with parents about the homework being set for their children.

From September, parents will receive a letter at the start of each term which gives them details of the homework due to be scheduled. Similar information will also be placed on the Academy’s e-learning platform, which parents can visit.

The idea behind the change is to ensure that parents are given a good idea of the work that their children are being asked to undertake. It is hoped that the improved communications will help parents feel more involved in the day-to-day running of the Academy.

The new Bishop Designate of Durham visited the Academy just hours after his name was formally announced by Downing Street.

Currently Dean of Liverpool, The Very Revd Justin Welby spent a day touring his new Diocese and set aside two hours for a visit to the Academy, meeting staff, governors and students.

During his lunchtime visit, he took questions from a panel of students, who asked him about his faith and how he saw the challenges that lie ahead when he formally becomes Bishop of Durham later this year.

Justin said: “I know that I have much to learn about the area and its issues. My first priority here will be to get around as much as possible and listen as carefully as possible to as many people as possible. This is a wonderful challenge and privilege, but there is a vast amount to take in.”

Students entertained an enthusiastic audience at the summer concert.

Among musicians who performed were those who had earlier enjoyed a workshop with steel pans player Paul Witty. Music Teacher Mr Daglish said: “It was an excellent opportunity for them to learn from a professional musician and, at the end of a full day, perform at a concert for people to enjoy.”

Music For The Summer

Respect3

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CELEBRATING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPORT

Olympic Tickets Success

Champion Gymnast Craig Inspires Students

Olympic gymnast Craig Heap visited St Aidan’s Church of England Academy to help students celebrate their first ever sports week.

Craig presented prizes to students who had done well during the week and chatted about his career, which has included 14 British titles, more than 100 international competitions, including some as GB Captain, two Commonwealth team gold medals and achieving his personal best at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He also showed students at the Hundens Lane academy some of his medals.

Olympian Craig made his visit because a major focus of the week, which ran between June 13 and 17, was the philosophy of the Olympic movement, which is based on respect for human dignity, the joy of effort and participation, the educational role of good example and mutual understanding.

Events staged during the week included athletics training, inter-House tournaments in sports including football, netball, rounders, and orienteering and a sponsored skipathon. The Shield was won by Bede House.

On each day, the kitchen’s menus reflected each of the five continents represented by the Olympic rings. In addition, each family group was given a country and asked to create a display about that nation.

Among those students who chatted to Craig were Declan Clark, Ryan Shields, Blake Wilson and Chelsea Fisher, who are part of the Get Set Network, which has involved young people from around the country in spreading the word ahead of the London Olympics next summer. Craig presented them with their own medal, a signed photograph and a celebratory bouquet in recognition of their organisation and Olympic leadership throughout sports week.

Responsibility

Sporting Success

Students enjoyed their best year since the Academy was formed when they competed in the town’s sports competition at Clairville Stadium.

All Darlington secondaries competed and the Academy won Gold medals in a number of events:

Year 7 • Renish Mar-Fri - Girls Long Jump • Courtney Dinsley - Girls 100m

Year 8 • Sophie Taylor - Girls 200m • Keeley Earl - Girls 800m

Year 10 • Hollie-Anna Goode - Girls Discus • Patrick Owsiak - Boys High Jump • Jamie Sung - Boys Long Jump

For Renish, it was a great moment, having come to study at the Academy when she moved to Darlington from Cameroon, where she was a keen athlete, primarily as a runner. She said: “I like sports but this was the first time I had won something. I felt really excited when I did it.“

The Academy was successful in the draw for tickets for the Olympic Football, securing 17 tickets for St James’s Park and 17 for Old Trafford in July 2012.

AROUND THE ACADEMY Short Stories

The Annual Arts and Music weekend on Derwentwater

had a Caribbean flavour. As well as canoeing, ghyll scrambling and archery, the students enjoyed the opportunity to play steel pans made from oil drums.

The Outdoor LifeStudents Ready For New Roles

Students Show Their Dramatic Skills

Rewards Trips

A competition which has been running since Easter has

rewarded students who produced good attendance at the Academy, as well as showing effort and good behaviour in lessons. Having met the standard, nearly 400 students qualified for a place on one of five trips, including to Flamingo Land, Wet & Wild, Laser Quest, Fishing and Forbidden Corner.

Onward To College

Ninety Year 10 students spent a day at Queen Elizabeth

Sixth Form College to give them an experience of life in further education.

York visit

The whole of Year 7 visited York as part of their Enquiry

programme, visiting the Minister and other attractions, including The Shambles, Jorvik, York Dungeon and York Castle.

Students head for London

A group of 40 students from Years 7, 8 and 9 visited

London to see The Wizard of Oz show and visit the Natural History Museum . They stayed overnight in the Capital.

Outside The Academy

Care5

When the Academy named David Joni as its new head boy, it marked a special event in its development.

David, who came here from the Czech Republic, is the first head boy who has been appointed having spent all his secondary school career at the Academy, which will start its fifth year of existence in September.

The 15-year-old was elected at the same time as new head girl Michelle Foster, also 15, who came to the Academy in 2009.

David, who previously lived near Prague until his family moved, said: “I have been here throughout my secondary school career and have seen the Academy getting better and better. I am looking forward to the responsibility that comes with the job and to representing the Academy.”

Michelle said: “I am looking forward to serving as head girl. I expect to have plenty of work to do.”

The head boy and head girl have a range of duties, including attending Academy meetings and representing it at official events. Among their first jobs was to help welcome Bishop-Designate of Durham The Very Reverend Justin Welby when he visited the Academy in early June.

The head boy and head girl’s deputies are Sophie Arthur, Hollie-Anna Goode, Hayden McIntee and Shaun Woods.

Students were involved in developing a review show featuring a series of short plays.The show, which featured some of the Academy’s most talented performers, was the latest in a

successful collaboration between the Academy and David Evans and his company, Forge Solutions, of Nottinghamshire.

Plays on which the students worked included a drama featuring a German doctor carrying out experiments in a World War Two concentration camp and a remaking of Robin Hood.

Student Ella Greenwell, who is taking the subject at GCSE, said: “I really like acting and enjoy doing this kind of thing. It gives you the chance to express yourself.”

Fellow student Sean Moody, also taking the subject at GCSE, said: “It allows you to interact with people and that is why I enjoy it.”

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The Academy, has become one of just six schools selected to host an event

connected to the Turner Prize, the art world’s most prestigious award.The Turner Prize will be staged at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead in the Autumn and schools across the North East were offered the opportunity to host a series of workshops based on the entries into the prize.

A team of staff and students from the Art and Design Department at St Aidan’s put together one of the successful proposals, attached to balloons, and will host a visit from the Turner Prize Cafe, a mobile cafe that will travel to schools and academies between 12th September and 18th October.

During the visit, students and staff will take

part in artist-led workshops inspired by The Turner Prize 2011 nominees and their discussions will be documented through film and photography which will form part of an exhibition in Quay Level 2 at BALTIC when it hosts the Turner Prize 2011 between 21st October and 8th January.

The St Aidan’s proposal included quotes from students about the importance of art with the words attached to balloons which sprang free from the box in which they were contained.

Miss Woodhouse, art teacher at the Academy and one of the team that put together the proposal, said: “Bringing the Cafe to the Academy will help raise awareness of modern art among our students. “When we discussed the idea,

some of the students did not even know who Turner was so this will open their minds. Some students think that because they cannot draw, art is not for them but we are encouraging them to think again.

“We chose the balloons as a way of delivering the proposal because it was different and inventive.”

Underlining the artistic talent at the Academy, Key Stage 4 art students staged an end-of-year show, which was formally opened by Tim Grant, Principal and Chief Executive at Darlington College, who said he was impressed by the standard of the work on display.

CELEBRATING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

Academy Scoops Turner Prize Honour

Respect

The Academy is offering additional support to families following the appointment of Louvain Holden. Family Liaison Officer Louvain came to St Aidan’s after fulfilling a similar role at Darlington Borough Council. Her role includes visiting families where students have been

recording low attendance and helping them to work through any problems they may have. Louvain said: “My approach is very much to be supportive and help students and their families to address any issues around low attendance. “Although I am supportive, I do remind parents of the implications for students who miss classes in terms of learning lost and possible other implications. “Although it is early days, the approach is working and attendance is going up.”

Louvain, who is pictured here getting to know students at the Academy, said: “I will always help Academy families in whatever way I can.“

Helping Families

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A YEAR IN PICTURES

Responsibility

Issue 12 - 2010/2011 - July 2011

Summer 22nd July 2011 - 5th Sept. 2011

Half Term 24th Oct. - 28th Oct. 2011

Christmas 15th Dec. 2011 - 2nd Jan. 2012

Half Term 10th Feb. 2012 - 17th Feb. 2012

Easter 2nd April 2012 - 13th April 2012

Half Term 4th June 2012 - 8th June 2012

Summer 23rd July 2012

St Aidan’s Church of England AcademyHundens LaneDarlingtonDL1 1LL

T: 01325 373770F: 01325 373771E: enquiries@staidansacademy.org.ukW: www.staidansacademy.org.uk

Sponsors

St Aidan’s Church of England Academy is a registered companyCompany registration no. 06162865Registered office: St Aidan’s Church of England Academy, Hundens Lane, Darlington, DL1 1LL

Holiday Dates (Inclusive)

Aegies Associates Ltd Specialists in Marketing, Innovation, Brand and Product Development

Tel: 01325 301220, Mob: 07900 583131 Email: enquiries@aegies-associates.com Web: www.aegies-associates.com

Design & Production

COVER STORY

Rabbit Hutch Inspires Students

Sustainable TravelAccredited and RecognisedSustainable level 2010

A team of Year Nine students won a business prize from Teesside University after being inspired by the humble rabbit.The team of seven took part in the university’s first Junior Blueprint award, which celebrates enterprise and innovation among 13-16 year-

olds. St Aidan’s was one of seven entries in the Entrepreneurs of the Future category and their idea for a visor for laptops secured them £500 for the Academy.

The idea for the ‘slim shady’ visor, which shields laptop screens from sun glare, came from a rabbit hutch which uses similar material to do the same kind of job. Although similar devices already exist, the girls set out to produce it more economically, retailing at £12.99 rather than the average £50.

To secure the prize, Bethany Evans, Melissa Gentles, Michaela Griffith, Zoe Philp, Katie Macalister, Gugu Nkomo and Jess Metcalfe, had to make a short advertising film for the product before giving a presentation to a judging panel.

Gugu said: “In the summer a lot of people want to go outside to use their laptops but the sun gets in the way by reflecting on the screen. We were really excited to win, all seven of us screamed!”

Jess said: “We knew that the idea already existed but we were sure that, by adapting the cover used for rabbit hutches, we could do it cheaper.”

Lorna Reed, Assistant Business and Enterprise Co-ordinator at St Aidan’s, said: “The girls’ success is fantastic. They put loads of hard work in to the project, much of it in their own time and outside of school. They came up with their own idea and took it to the next level. It‘s been such a great opportunity for them to showcase their enterprise skills.” Laura Woods, Director of the university’s Department of Academic Enterprise, said: “St Aidan’s were worthy winners in what was an excellent competition. Junior Blueprint has been a fantastic experience for us all. It’s been a real pleasure to work with the schools, and we’ve been blown away by the enthusiasm and creativity of these young entrepreneurs.”

* This edition of Academy includes a look back at some of the best business and enterprise stories in which our students have been involved over the past year.Together We Can