ACADEMY

SummerJuly-August

2012Ezine

BELVEDERE

Welcome To The Belvedere Academy EZINE Autumn Edition 2012-13* *

The awe-inspiring venue of Liverpool Cathedral set the scene for Belvedere’s annual prize giving and the ceremony marked the traditions of Belvedere whilst celebrating the success of many of our pupils. From the procession led by the Head Girl and Deputy Head Girls to the awarding of examination certificates, this event in Belvedere’s calendar is inspirational and many of the younger pupils sit watching the proceedings and aspire for success like their elders.

Mr Kenendy’s speech could only detail some of the outstanding work that takes place across the Academy, as there is not enough time to talk about everything and it was evident that Belvedere is a successful Academy with many happy pupils and staff.

Lord Adonis, the guest speaker, officially opened the Academy five years ago. He remarked that Belvedere is a “national beacon” and that it truly is “inspirational” as the evidence of Belvedere’s success was there for all to see with over two hundred certificates and prizes being awarded.

Entertainment was provided by the orchestra and the choir and chamber choir and all of the musicians and singers performed beautifully.

Prize Giving

Monday: Dissection of hearts and lungs with Miss Vaughton and Mrs Traynor.Tuesday: Making DNA models out of sweets with Miss Palin and Miss Jones.Wednesday: Microscope Masterclass with Miss Vaughton.Thursday: Designing predators and prey with Miss Jones and health analysis with Mrs Traynor.Friday: Maggot races with Miss Palin.

Throughout the week, a Year 7 Cell competition took place. Pupils in Year 7 were invited to make models of cells and I was amazed at what was produced. I have never seen such imaginative models with some as cakes, pizzas, textile-work and shoe box models.

The final event on Friday, 19th was quite spectacular as students took part in the world’s biggest memory game, organised by the Society of Biology. Words were read out and then pupils had to remember if certain words were said or not. The implications for eye-witness testimony were evident as some of us had imagined that words were spoken when they were not. Our data contributed to research being undertaken by the Alzheimer’s society and the activity was enjoyed by everyone involved. Thank you, girls, for your contributions. By Miss Palin

“We are the champions!” As proud entrants to the Guinness World Book of Records, Years 7 and 8, along with the Science Department, were ecstatic to announce the results of their record attempt this term on Tuesday 13th November. We were attempting to break the world record for the world’s biggest practical lesson at multiple venues and was held as part of our celebrations of the GDST’s 40th anniversary.

However, we were not the only people participating in the record attempt as there were over 2000 students in the GDST all over England. The country-wide activities will all go towards the final numbers for the attempt. The practical involved testing gravity, long rulers and flashing yo-yos, but most of all, it was really fun. By Charlotte Cole and Angelina Steward

15th - 19th October 2012 National Biology Week

Belvedere Breaks

a Guinness World

Record

Precision, concentration, commitment. These are all attributes that professional model makers must possess. This term, the new model making club has been introduced to help carve out future architects and sculpt the next generation of designers. Due to high demand the club’s members have been chosen randomly from a hat and the lucky few were able to begin.

As I attend this club I can say that it is an amazing and fun experience and that I have, and will continue to learn from it. Miss Bradley, who organises the club, arranged for a special guest leader, Daisy Dawes, who has made models for Pingu, Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone and Rex the runt, while successfully publishing two books with the images of her models. The club itself has an aim for all the girls involved to create at least one model by the end of a five-week period, or one big model made by two girls for a play at the end of the term. One of the members will hopefully be making the stage for the performance.

I can highly recommend model making to anyone who is thinking of putting their names down next term. By Angelina Steward

Jon Mayhew, famous author of Mortlock and many other horror children’s classics, came to The Belvedere Academy to do a book signing session with the lucky Year 7s. The spine chilling writer gave the Year 7s his secrets about how he makes a good story. Y7 wrote a couple of short sentences based on their own stories.

Some of his fantastic books include: Mortlock, The Demon Collector and The Bonehill Curse. The Year 7s recommend them as they are very interesting. But, could all of this possibly lead to Belvedere blossoming some of its own writers? We hope to see some of the girls taking his tips and following in his footsteps. By Isabella Byrne, Amy Bunnett and Abigail Dunn

Year Seven are currently studying Ghost Stories in their English lessons and to tie in with this theme, the celebrated children’s author Jon Mayhew was invited into the Academy to share his spooky tips. He held workshops in the library for all the year seven classes in which he showed the girls how to pack their writing full of tension. The girls learned all about the power of the word ‘something’ as well as the writer’s secret technique of, ‘patting the

Jon Mayhew, famous author of Mortlock and many other horror children’s classics, came to The Belvedere Academy to do a book signing session with the lucky Year 7s. The spine chilling writer gave the Year 7s his secrets about how he makes a good story. Year 7 wrote a couple of short sentences based on their own stories.

Some of his fantastic books include: Mortlock, The Demon Collector and The Bonehill Curse. The Year 7s recommend them as they are very interesting. But, could all of this possibly lead to Belvedere blossoming some of its own writers? We hope to see some of the girls taking his tips and following in his footsteps. By Isabella Byrne, Amy Bunnett and Abigail Dunn

Year Seven are currently studying Ghost Stories in their English lessons and to tie in with this theme, the celebrated children’s author Jon Mayhew was invited into the Academy to share his spooky tips. He held workshops in the library for all the Year Seven classes in which he showed the girls how to pack their writing full of tension. The girls learned all about the power of the word ‘something’ as well as the writer’s secret technique of, ‘patting the dog.’ Jon was incredibly impressed with the girls and said that, “You have some very gifted writers amongst your year seven and all of them were so polite and attentive.” By Mrs Follett

What an introduction to the school! 15 lucky year 7 students were escorted by Miss Jones to the Lord Mayor’s Civic Service at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral on the 4th October 2012. In such a prestigious venue, it was hard not to be nervous as we prepared to parade the banner that we had custom made for the event (no bright colours and glitter were spared). Joined in procession by primary and secondary schools from across Merseyside, we proudly represented the academy in our roles as Head and Deputy Head girls of our respective forms.

The theme of the event was ‘City of Treasure’ with several important figures including Joe Anderson, Lord Mayor of Liverpool addressing the audience; talking about the history of Liverpool and what it has to offer now. We thoroughly enjoyed the performances during the event; the best one was a performance of ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey!’ The trip was a great success, we were proud to be invited to attend and excited for our first chance to represent the school. By Libby Barton and Ruby Wallis

Model Making

City of Treasure

JonMayhew

Escape to fly By Laura Jones(Inspired by ‘She’s leaving Home’ by the Beatles)

The sun rises, free in the skyA robin tweets as it passes by.She throws open her curtains, a brand new dayNow it’s time to get awayAway from pressure, away from homeAway from sadness, from being aloneShe tiptoes quietly around her roomFor she knows her parents will be waking soonGathering things, getting dressedTrying hard to look her best.The times that were hard, the tears and fightsShe tried to forget the lonely nightsShe frowns at these thoughts as she packs her caseTrying not to let it show on her face.Downstairs she goes, hanky in handShe leaves her bag by the umbrella stand.On the fridge the message she wroteAll her thoughts in the form of a note.She steps outside with her bag and a smileShe hasn’t felt this free for a long while,Meanwhile, inside, her mother awokeAnd went downstairs to find the noteShe read it all, her hand flew to her head,She ran upstairs to her husband in bed.By now, far away, in a fresh, foreign placeShe explores the news with a smile on her face.She left her place, her house, her homeTo go out and face the world alone.Her parents to this day will ask, ’Why?’But she was ready to leave, escape to fly.

My Brother By Georgia Maestri-Banks

When my brother was born, I was so excited,But he was poorly and we were soon parted.He was in an incubator and had a tube in his nose to feed,He had a lot of other difficulties and many diverse needs.

As he grew up, he took time with his walking,He still really struggles, even now with his talking.When he laughs he makes my dayAnd he always asks me to watch telly or play.

Now he is older, it is me that cleans his messAnd now I got a party to go to without a new dress.My mum thinks he’s an angel, but it’s only me who knows,He’s a really little monster who picks his flat button nose!

He goes to primary school and has lots of friends,He really is quite clever, he can paint and hold a pen.He loves to play fight and gets into trouble,But my dad thinks he’ll be in the Paralympics and win a gold medal.

I love my brother, he is the best,But we always have to go to the doctors cause of his chest.He struggles and is different and sometimes people can be snobby,My brother has Down’s Syndrome and his name is Robbie!

The Final Quest By Lydia Brady

The world is changing, spinning round and round,With gravity pulling our feet towards the ground,Close your eyes and take some deep breaths,Get ready to run towards the final quest.

All for one and one for all,The world is one spherical ball,Slavery, rebellion, riots and wars to be put in the past,As love is the only thing that can truly last.

With pollution everywhere, from air to land,Rare tropical fish are washing up on the sand.Lives are lost every single day,The world is screaming at us, ‘Change your way!’

A tree is like a timid-child,But trees unfortunately are being cut down in the wild.So many voices, but one is never clearly heard,The odds are in our favour, flying high with the birds.Who said the sky is the limit? Because that is a dream,The world is developing, to have better quality of life for everyone it seems.

No matter what the consequences or the price we have to pay,Time is slowly ticking away,So we need to save the world now, we doAnd you know how, it is down to everybody, including me and you.

If the sky is as blue as it can beAnd the stars are shining over the sea,Treasure this memory as much as you can see,Because in twenty years or so, that may all be a memory.

The world will not be the same as you currently know,If we don’t do something to stop the flow,If we do not save the world now, things will never be the same,Bring on the Poetry Games!

10:30 am on November 9th and a huge van drives away bound for Morocco. The van contained hundreds of useful items including school uniform, furniture, different types of equipment and surplus ICT materials which were donated towards this very charitable cause: The Morocco School clothing appeal. If the shipping to Morocco goes well, the Academy even hopes to donate more things to the school in The Talatast Rural Centre just by the Atlas mountains in Marrakech.

Mr Kennedy said, “We are proud to be involved in this initiative and feel that it will provide enormous help for the disadvantaged children and will help to remind us how fortunate we are to be at a school like The Belvedere Academy.” Miss Jones, Mrs Marshall and a group of their Year 7 helpers all shared Mr Kennedy’s pride as the van drove away filled with our generous donations. By Libby Barton

Morocco clothing AppeAl

Photos courtesy of Liverpool Echo

Many of Belvedere’s budding poets submitted brilliant poems for the Poetry Games competition run by Young Writers. Congratulations to Laura, Lydia and Georgia who were selected by the judges to have their poem published in an anthology. They are now waiting to see if they become finalists for a chance to win an iPad.

U n , d e u x , t r o i s . . . O n y v a !

‘Make do and mend’ the old wartime motto evoking the quintessential British resilience, has inspired a new enrichment. As well as being practical, this is creative and cost effective; everyone wins, even the environment! Every Tuesday after school we have attended the make do and mend enrichment, helping us girls to take our old unused items and re style them thereby extending their life cycle. We have learned how to use the sewing machine to attach components and have used various techniques to demonstrate our creativity: attaching studs, buttons, beads and tie dying old shirts. By doing this course our textiles skills have widened and it has enabled us to create inspiring items. This is a great challenge, and it has made us really aware of how wasteful people can be when it comes to clothing. Now there is no need to worry about wearing the same dress twice, or having the same dress at a party. With our bespoke designs, we are setting the trend! By Chloe Nezianya, Heather Rowland, and Christina Dunmore

Well, on 11th October all of the Sixth Form physicists went to see it... or at least a model version of it at the Daresbury Laboratory. The day began with an illuminating talk from Allan who gave us an insight into how the LHC works and the purpose behind the experiments which are carried out there, apparently it’s a lot more than just smashing particles together!

Fortunately, we were able to closer look at some of the models. Allan then gave us another talk based on the research and experiments taking place at the Daresbury Laboratory and how they can have an impact on new technologies and medicines.

From this trip we gained a better understanding of how physics can influence our lives and what being a physicist really means. By Shannon Radcliffe

Four in the morning and twenty two excited Belvedere girls prepared to leave England for the French capital Paris. Joining them on the trip were Mr McGovern, Madame Saulnier and Mrs Barry Gallardo who were all eagerly anticipating the chance to put their linguistic expertise to good use!

After an early-morning flight, our spirits were still high as we landed in Paris CDG Airport and made our way to our accommodation. We had a rainy boat trip on the River Seine. Although it was extremely wet and windy this did not dampen our spirits- pun intended!

The next day we visited the world famous Eiffel Tower. We travelled up the colossal monument, all the way to the top (1,063ft!) and managed to see the beautiful views of Paris, the truly amazing city that it is. Luckily for Olivia Henderson, 11P, she was celebrating her sweet 16th in Paris, so that night, we went out for a 3 course meal in Montmartre, where the waiters serenaded her with Joyeux Anniversaire.

On the last day we visited the Louvre, a highly respected art museum that contains the world famous Mona Lisa! It was certainly an experience that we will never forget.

Year 12 pupils took part in the ‘Engineering Your Future’ event in the Town Hall to explore various types of engineering and the work that is done in their field on a day to day basis.

The sessions were interactive, fun and extremely informative. It really inspired us to think about a future in the industry; I have since applied for Mechanical Engineering in University.

The ‘marketplace’ also offered us alternatives to University such as apprenticeships, and more information on Aerospace, Civil, Chemical and other types of Engineering.

With a lack of women in the industry, it is an excellent career for girls with an interest in Science, Maths or Technology, and Belvedere girls are definitely the kind of people who’d fit the job! By Mrs Traynor

Make do and mend

Engineering your future

E v e r

heard of

the Large

H a d r o n

Collider?

This year Belvedere is taking part in our first ever whole school read. The goal is to get as many pupils and staff as possible to join in a shared reading experience. For this we have chosen the dystopian adventure trilogy The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Belvedere Reads was launched in a whole school assembly and since then there have been lots of Hunger Games related activities happening around school. Our library quiz tested pupils’ knowledge of the first book. We had over 100 entries. Congratulations to those girls who got every answer correct and were entered into the prize draw. Amelia Johnson 7B was the winner and received her own copy of the film companion book.

Those who have read the story will know the significance of the Mockingjay. As part of Belvedere Reads, we recruit our own Mockingjays to spread the love for The Hunger Games around school. Anyone with a good idea to promote the books to pupils and staff can apply. Mockingjays need to be prepared to come up with lots of ideas and stand up in front of people and talk about the books.Our first Mockingjays are Eleanor Miley 7F, Katie Copley 7F, Kimberley Coakley 7C and Aisha Chowdhury 7R. They are easily spotted around school by the distinctive Mockingjay pins they wear on their blazers. Their idea is for PE lessons based on the Capitol Training Camp which Katniss and the other tributes take part in before the start of the Games. Year 7 will complete this scheme of work after Christmas. A Training Camp enrichment activity is planned.

Our ‘Design a Menu’ competition has just closed and soon, the whole school will be able to eat food inspired by the books in our very own Hunger Games themed day in the dining room. The books are available to borrow from the library or you can buy the whole trilogy from Miss Murphy for £5.

To read more about Belvedere Reads, including the latest competitions and events, please see the web site under ‘Students – Library and Study Facilities’. By Miss Murphy and Miss Smith

Belvedere reads

‘Reaching for the sports stars!’ Should be the Academy motto as we are very proud of the amazing sporting achievements our students have accomplished. At Belvedere, we are privileged to have many sports stars such as Rebecca Tunney studying here. We also want to celebrate our sports stars of the future. 3 of our students have also achieved great things in gymnastics and Tae Kwon-Do, and are heading for even more success as they prepare to follow in Rebecca’s footsteps. Maira Malik is a world champion in Tae Kwon Do! The martial arts master is now in Year 10 and has competed in many competitions, winning medals, trophies and awards; she is a martial arts inspiration!

Maira Malik is an experienced martial artist, and has adapted her skills well to Tae Kwon-Do training. She has a natural ability which has helped her to achieve great results in various tournament events. Maira recently won Gold (Patterns) and Bronze (Point-Stop Sparring) medals in the British Tae Kwon-Do Championships. She performed skills that required her to show strength, power and technique and competed against many opponents who were much taller, stronger and weighed triple her weight. It was a very tough competition and Maria looks forward to competing in many more Championships in the future. A fantastic achievement. Well Done, Maira! By Miss Scott

Sports stars of the future

Ellie Tierney is the city’s leading junior gymnast! She is now in Year 8 and has just received this fantastic title! According to Ellie she is going to be trying out for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics so watch out for her on your T.V screens, you heard it here first.

Last but certainly not least, Chelsea Mealey is a budding world class gymnast. She trains at Park Road along with Olympic athletes such as Beth Tweddle and Rebecca Tunney. We were lucky enough to get an interview with her; “Training alongside Beth and Rebecca is really fun and inspiring because they are like role models to me!” Chelsea will also be trying for Rio and we hope to be writing an article about her success story when the time comes.

Good luck to all our sports stars, we hope that this inspires others to take up a sporting challenge of their own. By Lily Davies

Success for Maira

This term a group of Year 9 girls attended the ‘Make it’ Enterprise Challenge

at Aintree Racecourse. The day consisted of the girls coming up with a new product which would aid survival after a natural disaster. The girls worked brilliantly as a team and had to

pitch their idea to a team of dragons who were all industry experts. Their presentation was amazing and the judges commented on their confidence and professionalism.

Well done, girls! By Miss K James

Make It Enterprise

On Friday 2nd November, Year 11 GCSE Health and Social Care girls visited The Belvedere Preparatory School also known as ‘The Hamlets’. The trip to the nursery was a most enjoyable experience that we will never forget.

The children in Reception were exceptionally well-behaved and they were very adorable, with their little uniforms, shoes, hats and backpacks. All of the children were quite curious as to what we were doing visiting their classroom. The children within the classroom were nervous of us at first but as time passed they became accustomed to us being in the room with them and began to warm to us. It was rather fun, observing the children during story time, as they all got dressed up as bears to go on a teddy bears’ picnic.

When it was time to leave we helped the children to put on their coats and pack their bags ready to be collected. It was rather sad to leave the children, but it is only down the road from our school and in the future many of the girls will join The Belvedere Academy’. By Dana Ho, Courtney Terry, Hannah Yafai, Alice Houston-Thorman, Raechel Nicholson, Emily Brownless, Emily Higgins

N u r s e r y V i s i t On Tuesday 20th November, Year 12 Physicists spent the whole day at Liverpool University Physics Department at a Particle Physics Masterclass. This was an opportunity to hear about some of the ideas encountered in lessons and widen their understanding by attending lectures and trying computer modelling packages to help process data and verify particle reactions. Girls also had to analyse data and then identify possible particles that the data could represent.

Girls also heard an excellent talk by Dr Barry King about the recent discovery of the Higgs Boson (the missing particle) and how Liverpool University made a significant contribution to the design of one of the inner detectors at CERN, Geneva.

Congratulations also goes to Paula Wulff and Annie May Walsh who were accepted onto the Nuclear Physics Masterclass where they have both been involved in project work using the equipment in the University Physics department. The results of their work will be presented at a special celebration on 5th December at the University which will also be attended by parents and teachers.

By Mr P. A. Caulfield

Annie May and Helen using the powerful computer simulation package.

Year 12 Physicists spend the day in University at a Particle Physics Masterclass

WORLD RECORD SCIENCE LESSON

We raised £66.00 through the sale of yo-yos and bean bags that were used in the World Record Breaking Science Lesson for Children in Need. Thank-you to all who donated.

YEAR 3/4 INDOOR ATHLETICS

On 27th November Belvedere hosted the Year 3/4 Indoor athletics event. The schools that attended were Belvedere Preparatory, Carleton House and Holy Family. They took part in obstacle races, relay races, vertical jump, triple jump and long jump. The Year 10 Young Leaders were great role models and helped officiate and record scores. Holy Family were awarded 1st place, Carleton House 2nd place and Belvedere Preparatory 3rd place. It was a very enjoyable day. We look forward to hosting it again next year.

TAG RUGBY

Mrs Mc Anespy took the Year 8 Tag Rugby team to a development day at Litherland hosted by the RFU. It was a freezing cold day but the girls even had a go at contact rugby in the afternoon.

STAFF vS SIxTH FORM NETBALL MATCH

Before October half term, staff got their P.E. kits on and stepped onto the netball court to take on the Sixth Form pupils. It was a very competitive match, with a great number of spectators eagerly watching and supporting. Staff were triumphant, winning the game 9-6. We raised £155 for the Oliver King Foundation. P.E. staff are keen to organise more Staff vs Sixth Form competitions in the future. Watch this space!

NETBALL AT BELvEDERE

The netball teams have been performing very well in their school matches. The results so far are:

Year 7 beat Archbishop Blanch 11-0, Liverpool College 2-1, Calderstones 1-0 and lost in a close game against Bluecoat 3-4.

Year 8 beat Liverpool College 5-0, Calderstones 4-1, Bluecoat 3-1 and drew against Archbishop Blanch 3-3.

Year 9 beat Calderstones 5-1, and lost against Bluecoat 2-4, Archbishop Blanch 2-10 and Liverpool College 3-13.

Year 10 beat Bluecoat 15-6, Calderstones 8-4, drew with 7-7 and lost against Archbishop Blanch 3-6.

Year 11 beat Archbishop Blanch 5-3 and lost against Calderstones 4-6.

Seniors drew against Archbishop Blanch 7-7.

On Tuesday 20th of November, a large group of girls from Belvedere packed the whopping 850 shoeboxes that were produce by our school. The target wanting to be achieved was 840, with an expectant target from each year group of 140 which gave us the target amount of 840, after weeks of Charitable fundraising for the shoeboxes Belvedere itself gave 850 boxes to Operation Christmas child.

Everyone helping out was either singing Christmas songs happily to themselves or smiling constantly whilst putting Shoeboxes at the drop off point or in to the van. Mr Kennedy, The senior management team, teachers and of course the pupils all took part in this helpful and charitable event. By Libby Barton, Serena Evans and Georgia McChrystal

Operation Christmas Child

Advertising In The Belvedere Academy News Ezine

The Belvedere Academy News Ezine is published five times a year, in September, November, January, April and June. 1500 electronic copies are widely distributed among parents, local businesses, nurseries, churches and primary schools. Advertising with us will reach a large target audience throughout Liverpool.

All revenue is put back into the production of the magazine.

The advertising rates and advert dimensions are:• FULL PAGE COLOUR £250 Inside front/back cover 180x265mm • FULL PAGE A4 BLACK & WHITE £200 180X265mm • ½ PAGE COLOUR OR BLACK & WHITE £60 (landscape) 180x130mm • ¼ PAGE COLOUR OR BLACK & WHITE £40 (portrait) 90x130mm

To place an advertisement, please contact Mr Peter Dykeaylen on 0151 471 1845. Advertisements should be submitted as JPEG or PDF files on CD or emailed to p.dykeaylen@belvedereacademy.net

Cheques should be made payable to GDST Academy Trust. All copies and payments need to be received one month before publication.

Congratulations to the News Team from Belvedere’s Journalism Enrichment run by Mr Dykeaylen and Miss Keating: Charlotte Cole, Angelina Steward, Laura Jones, Bethany Oram, Nicole Sullivan, Esme Skinner, Abigail Dunn, Amy Bunnett, Isabella Byrne, Emily Fleetwood, Tia Stell, Libby Barton, Georgia McChrystal, Lily Davies, Serena Beth Evans, Esme Skinner, Abigail Dunn, Lily DaviesTayla Brack

Many thanks to teaching staff who have also contributed articles and photographs. For more news please visit www.belvedereacademy.net

If you have any comments or suggestions for the magazine then please contact Mr Peter Dykeaylen:p.dykeaylen@belvedereacademy.net

The Belvedere Academy17 Belvedere Road

Princes ParkLiverpool, L8 3TF

0151 727 1284Email: info@belvedereacademy.net

Website: www.belvedereacademy.net