newsnewsNEW CHARTER ACADEMY AUTUMN 2013

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ET H E S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E R F R O M N E W C H A R T E R A C A D E M Y

MAJOR SCOOP FOR MEDIA TEAMGREAT ACADEMIES WORKING TOGETHERPAGE 7

Multi-Cultural CelebrationsPAGE 2

Netball & Sports SuccessPAGE 4

School AwardsPAGE 12

Students from the Art department took part by painting national flags that adorned the street, others designed, then hand-made several traditional outfits that were showcased in a fashion show featuring many traditional costumes from around

the globe. The fashion show was central to the evening, which was well attended by students, staff, parents and the community.

Food Technology students spiced things up with their superb array of foods; from traditional curry, cream teas to spicy hot samosas. Many stalls showcased artefacts, images, history and interesting facts about

culture showing an appreciation of different cultures and the importance of multi-culturism.

Grandparents and students hand made traditional Chinese dragon outfits. Local business and restaurant, Eat In, kindly lent a full size, hand made costume for students to perform traditional dance as part of the celebration show.

Arati Patel-Mistry, Director of Community and Regeneration at New Charter Academy said “The whole event from start to finish was an amazing way to see our diverse community come together, bright, colourful and unique, it shows just how much our local community lives in harmony and respects one another. This year we saw more parents and grand-parents get involved which is great to see, and the students themselves host, choreograph and display work and interests they have”.

news NEW CHARTER ACADEMY

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Looking forward to a new term

We have been joined by 12 new members of the teaching staff – all of them recruited for their professionalism and their ability to make a real contribution to our development as we continue growing and improving.

The summer brought a raft of good news. More than 60% of our Year 11 leavers achieved 5 or more high grade GCSEs and many of our departments produced their best ever exam results. We have continued to invest in the building; 5 more classrooms have been built, 3 top class Science labs have been added, a Student Leadership Centre has been created and The Street has been transformed by an award winning design team from London. You will be astonished by the transformation when you next visit us!

As ever, this newsletter is crammed with stories about the exceptional work that takes place here and the remarkable opportunities that we offer. I hope that you enjoy reading it and look forward to seeing you in the Academy during the autumn term.

THE START OF A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

The new term is under way and there is a tremendous feeling of energy and optimism in the air. More than 250 students have joined us from Tameside Primary Schools and they are clearly excited to be in their fantastic new surroundings.

The transition days created an overwhelming sense of team spirit, one that we have seen rekindled since the term commenced in September.

CELEBRATION

Fashion shows, stalls, displays, food, drink, dancing dragons and music from around the world brought New Charter Academy alive in July with a superb showcase and celebration of multi-culture.

In a fun packed day of ECM (Every Child Matters), students at the Academy took part in making, baking and learning all about multi-culture, celebrating different cultures and ideologies. Work was then put on display around the Academy for all to see.

A selection of music from around the world was played by the school orchestra, and the celebrations finished with competitions, dancing and games.

A FANTASTIC DAY OF CULTURAL

WELCOME!YEAR 6 INDUCTION DAYOn the 3rd, 4th and 5th July New Charter Academy welcomed 271 year 6 students from 34 different feeder Primary Schools to experience life at the Academy before they joined in September.

Over the three days, there was a range of activities planned to help the students get to know the building, their new teachers and one another. A range of exciting and stimulating taster lessons were on offer culminating in our infamous ECM cruise on the Friday. Form rooms were recreated to represent a range of major cities around Europe.

Students made use of materials on offer creating fabulous 3D structures associated with their major city. Traditional costumes were worn, taste buds were stimulated with a range of tasty treats and national anthems and well known land marks also featured. The standard of work produced by the new cohort was outstanding and if this is the benchmark set for the future then things look bright.

Here’s what you had to say about your induction days....

“I really enjoyed my time at New Charter.

The Science lesson was amazing as we

don’t get to use Bunsen burners and

other equipment at our Primary.”

“I felt sad about leaving my Primary School but after these three days I am really excited about starting at New Charter.”

“I was excited when I realised that

the teacher I had over the three

induction days was going to be my

form tutor in September.”

“One of my biggest worries was getting lost in such a big building but after the second day I was starting to feel more confident about getting around.”

“I am really looking forward to getting involved

in some of the many clubs that New Charter

Academy run and one of the buddies even told

me that they do archery and skateboarding!”

4 5

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

“Luckily for me I love to read and most of the fiction written for young people today is brilliant, a great improvement from my own youth when there were very few good quality authors writing for young people. I skim read most of the fiction books purchased for the library and read thoroughly the ones I consider reviewing and recommending. The advantage of having read so many of the books is that I am usually able to find a book to suit even the most reluctant of reader.”

The Library has just settled into its new home in a larger open area and can be accessed by all year groups throughout the day. I asked Mrs Thorpe what was happening for the Autumn term

“There is lots happening this year, for example every Year 7 will receive a free book selected from 12 bestselling titles. The funding for this from the Bookbuzz organisation. There are to be two author visits this term. The first, Stephen Delaney, son of Joseph Delaney author of the very popular Spook series of books, is to visit school on the 22nd October to run a writing workshop with Year 7 students. This is to coincide with the release of the film of the book ‘The Seventh Son’. The second visit is Daniel Blythe who is the BBC official writer of the Doctor Who series of books. The date is to be confirmed.

With reading groups, competitions and study skills activities there is always a great deal going on. There is training available for students who wish to gain work experience by helping to organise and run the library.

Moving with the times and keeping up with technology, the library is involved in several projects to introduce e-reading to students. The books available in e-format are becoming more and more interactive. Mrs Thorpe said “I recently looked at a copy of Alice in Wonderland, which had Alice running through the garden and tumbling down the well alongside the stories opening text, I was re- visiting a book of my youth, but presented so much more excitingly, all of my favourite characters running about the page illustrating the text to fantastic effect.”

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN E-READING OR READING GROUPS OR WOULD LIKE TO APPLY TO BE A MONITOR, PLEASE COME TO THE LIBRARY TO FIND OUT MORE.

LOCATION: School Library

FACT FILE: The library offers a welcoming, attractive and supportive environment, which has continuous access before and after school as well as throughout the school day. Students can experience a variety of learning experiences through a range of facilities including internet research and independent work areas, together with 14,000 resources to support this.

SHHHHHH! LIBRARY TALK!

community newsA family fun day was held at the Academy on Wednesday 28th August with over 250 people and over 20 agencies in attendance.

All courses are delivered in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and will give you the opportunity to develop your skills, confidence and make new friends. For more information and to book your place contact our Family Learning Manager, Tasleem Saghir on 0161 214 8248 or 07896 141 636.

PARTNER AGENCIES WERE ON HAND TO GIVE ADVICE ON BUDGET, EMPLOYMENT, HEALTH AND EDUCATION AS WELL AS HAVING LOTS OF FUN ACTIVITIES.

Along side the partner football tournament there was an inflatable assault course, stall activities, archery, skateboarding, football with a community BBQ and refreshments. “Absolutely fabulous, something for all ages” said Kerry Lord from Ashton.

FUN

What’s on offer...Courses available for Parents/Carers of New Charter Academy students.

in the sun...

Our teacher profile this term looks at Mrs Thorpe,

our very own librarian who is passionate about

her role at the Academy. Always available to assist

students in their research and in advising on the most

appropriate resources.

In the nets...

Congratulations to the Year 11 netball team who played in the recent Tameside Schools Cup Plate competition. The whole team showed great team spirit! They were narrowly beaten by Mossley Hollins in the final to come away with a silver medal. Well done!

THE TEAM INCLUDED: Eloise Shaw, Elise Mayers, Emily Bradshaw, Demi-Leigh Morris, Abby Welsh, Sarah Hallsworth, Sarah Travis, Sepiso Kwalombota

Conversational English class

Conversational English class

Keeping up with kids Maths

Family Phonics

ESOL class

Literacy Level 1 / Level 2

ESOL class

Cook & Eat

Employability Skills including: Intro to Email, Internet and Word Processing Introduction to Volunteering Course Sew and Repair (learn basic sewing skills)

My Maths: Parent guide to support your child with e-learning

I am Learning: Parent guide to supporting your child with e-learning

COURSE TITLE DURATION

Full year

Full year

15 weeks

12 weeks

Full year

15 weeks

Full year

10 weeks

6 weeks 6 weeks 6 weeks

One off/drop in

One off/drop in

DAY

Monday

Tuesday

Tuesday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Wednesday To be confirmed Saturday

Wednesday

Wednesday

TIME

10.00am - 12.00pm

10.00am - 12.00pm

1.00pm - 3.00pm

1.00pm - 3.00pm

12.30pm - 2.30pm

To be confirmed

9.30am - 11.30am

9.00am – 11.00am

1.00pm - 4.00pm

To be confirmed 10.00am – 12.00pm

2.30pm – 4.30 pm & 6.00pm - 8.00 pm

2.30pm – 4.30 pm & 6.00pm - 8.00 pm

news NEW CHARTER ACADEMY

news NEW CHARTER ACADEMY

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WORKEXPERIENCED

An excellent opportunity for our students to gain invaluable experience

New Charter Academy was invited to take part in an exciting pilot programme with Barclays Bank. ‘B-Kids’ was a three day event that involved just 100 young people from across Greater Manchester, each visiting a different branch throughout July.

New Charter Academy took students along to the branch in Ashton back in July. Our students were given a taste of this experience before it is rolled out to one million school children across the UK.

Gifted and Talented students excelling in Maths and Business were invited to apply for the B-Kids programme through CV and covering letter. After a gruelling interview by Academy staff, four students from Year 9 and five students from Year 10 were successful. As part of the Barclays ‘Life Skills’ programme, the students were involved in work and money skill workshops before they were put through their paces during a mock interview by branch staff! They experienced customer service first hand when they shadowed different roles in the branch before taking control, serving customers’ front house, as Cashiers and Personal Bankers. The students were impressed and amazed at the number of different careers a bank can offer. Handling the cash and loading the cash machines added to the excitement!

This provided an excellent opportunity for our students to gain invaluable experience and the students enjoyed the opportunity to work with professionals. This has also strengthened the partnership between the Academy and Barclays and it is hoped that we can be involved in many more exciting projects.

This has also strengthened the partnership between the Academy and Barclays, expanding networks for careers, work experience opportunities and community strategies.

The students from New Charter Academy in Ashton got the chance to talk to Mr Prisk at the National Housing Conference in Manchester. In an event that is attended by press from all over the world, the young media moguls were the only people to secure an interview with the Housing Minister.

Teenagers from New Charter Academy and Copley Academy in Stalybridge were at the event with housing association New Charter Housing Trust Group which exhibited at the conference for the first time this year. New Charter, which sponsors the two academies, invited the students to the event to help showcase the work it is doing to improve education across Tameside.

The students spent three days interviewing visitors at the event which is held each year by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). They recorded, filmed and edited the interviews live on New Charter’s exhibition stand before putting them up onto a TV screen for guests to watch. The academies worked with New Charter Housing for six weeks to prepare for the event, developing skills in media, filming and interviewing.

The event was the first time the students from both academies (as part of New Charter’s Great Academies Education Trust) have worked together – a partnership that helps to bridge gaps between local communities.

New Charter Academy Director of Community and Regeneration, Arati Patel-Mistry, said: “We were really excited to take part in such a big event in Manchester. This project shows how important relationships across the sectors are for the community, and how much good work can come out of these links.”

“We were especially pleased to work with students from Copley Academy as it is important for students to learn from each other as well as their tutors. To our knowledge, this is the first time students have been involved in the UK’s biggest annual event in the social housing calendar, which is really exciting.

“We have some great facilities here at New Charter Academy and some very talented students so we were delighted to be able to use these resources as a national event.”

Recently, I was honoured to take part in the memorial service for the two Police officers who tragically lost their lives in the line of duty. It was so emotional to see the Force and the families in tears and made me realise just how much Police Officers put there life on the line, each day to protect our community and keep it safe for future generations. I am so proud to be a Police Cadet and think that the opportunity has inspired me to become a Police Office in the future.

I would advise anyone who is interested in the Police Force to grab this opportunity should it come to you, I for one, know that this has opened doors to a different career choice and the drive to continue to University.

BY BEN GREAVES - NEW CHARTER ACADEMY STUDENT - YEAR 13

New Charter students visited the Ashton branch of Barclays in July 2013

Budding-young journalists

from Tameside put VIPs on the

spot during media interviews

including an exclusive with

Housing Minister, Mark Prisk.

The Roman Mysteries: the Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence

The story is set in Rome a long time ago and is about a girl

called Flavia who is trying to find the killer of her friend Jonathan’s dog. She becomes friends with Nubia an African slave girl and Lupus a beggar boy with no tongue so cannot talk. This is the first book in a series where the friends work together to solve crimes. It is very captivating and you will want to read the full series of the books.

By Megan Shepley 8LLE

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

The story is about a young boy called James Henry Trotter, who is an orphan due to his parents being

killed in a severe crash. He has to go and live with his appalling nasty aunties. Aunt Spiker, who is really thin and Aunt Sponge, who is really fat. The story has a very fascinating and exciting plot, it is very addictive and you would find it difficult to stop reading.

By Saddiya Pervez 8SW

A series of Unfortunate Events – The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

The book is about three children; Violet

who is the oldest and likes inventing things; next is Klaus who loves reading and the youngest is Sunny; she likes to bite objects. They live in a huge mansion with their parents. At the start of the story the children are at the beach when they are told by Mr Poe, a friend of the family, the bad news that the Bauldelaire mansion had burnt down and they had lost their parents in the terrible fire. From that moment the children are in grave danger from Count Olaf who is after the children’s money.

“I liked this book because it is a great adventure story, with a very different story line than other books I have read. I found it very difficult to stop reading and would recommend it.”

Review by Suraj Rash 7KAH

BOOKREVIEWscoop

for the media team

major

POLICEcadets

New Charter Academy student Ben Eckersall, 14, agreed: “We’ve all really enjoyed working on this project with New Charter. Helping and meeting students from Copley Academy was my favourite part.

“I love working with videos and media things so it was fun to do something that people are going to see outside of school.”

When I was asked by Mrs Lister, Head of Sixth Form, if I would like to join the Police Cadets - I jumped at the opportunity. Knowing that my application for University was no longer just about academic qualifications, it needed added experience and profiles for my personal statement. The Police Cadets offered those interesting and great opportunities that I need.

Starting in July, we were issued with our Police Cadet uniform. Working with Cadet Leaders, PCSO and Officers, we meet each week for two hours and take part in many different aspects of police work. We learn about different crimes, how you would deal with all types of behaviour and incidents, physical ability and law.

We have already had visits from guest speakers from the Anti-terrorist division, the dog patrol unit, and have more planned to visit. We get to see first hand how the units work together as team. Helping with searches, out on patrol with trained officers we also get a first hand insight into life in the Police Force.

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ECMYet again the generosity and entrepreneurial skills of students from New Charter Academy have shone through. At the end of last year, Mr Jacques Jnr was pleased to announce to students at special celebration assemblies, that they had raised the phenomenal amount of £2089.00 over the course of the year for charities that they have chosen, of which most are local to Tameside.

In addition to this, students have taken part in a nationwide project called Tenner Tycoon. This competition was run through Peter Jones, of Dragon’s Den fame. In their ECM lessons our students were given just £10.00 per form to invest and generate profit from a business idea.

Similar to the Dragons Den and The Apprentice programmes’, they thought up ideas for their business and collectively decided on a theme for their business. They decided a strategy of how they would invest and re-invest the money. Raising a massive amount of money between them, the forms subsequently decided which charities would benefit from the profits.

The winning form (9HB) raised a massive £524.72p of which £220 was donated to charity.

Three kind hearted students in 9HB presented a cheque worth £100 to Willow Wood Hospice, and donated £120 worth of cat and kitten food to Tameside Animal Shelter.

Elicia Rawsthorne, Year 9, explains “It made me proud to raise money for a charity that is a good cause and I know that it will help people that need it.” Her friend Maisey Hughes, Year 9, stated, “The animal sanctuary really need money for cat food and relies on the donations to keep it going.”

Gardeners and young families have been touring each other’s patches to create pieces of art for a new project with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.Residents from gardening groups in Ashton, Tameside, teamed up with local families and artists over the summer to visit gardens and parks and the people that look after them.

The project called ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’ was set up by the theatre and housing association New Charter Homes to encourage parents and students from New Charter Academy and nearby residents to get to know each other better.

While out and about in the area, they took part in gardening-themed art classes led by the professional artists to make mini gardens, bugs and mosaics. Some of the artwork will now be put on show at a communal garden at New Charter Academy.

How Does Your Garden Grow? is part of a three-year partnership between New Charter Homes, the Academy and the Royal Exchange Theatre to help bring the community and the Academy closer together. So far,the project has worked with more than 200 people in the area with activities like writing and photography workshops, theatre trips and behind the scenes tours.

Amanda Dalton, the theatre’s Associate Director of Education said: “Art projects are fun for everyone and we want to give people the chance to mix with different people and try out new skills.

“We hope it will give people of all ages more confidence to try new things and be creative – it could even help some to find a route back into work.”

Tony Powell, New Charter’s Executive Director of Neighbourhoods added: “This project has given local gardening groups the chance to meet each other and they’ve enjoyed each other’s company so much that they have decided to meet on a regular basis to share ideas.”

New Charter Academy students in association with Royal Exchange Theatre and New Charter Housing

created mosaics as part of the arts and horticulture mosaic project, “How Does Your Garden Grow”.

Community Artists visited the academy to deliver planning, design and creation workshops with students

and staff. They visited a local community garden, Hurst Knoll to inspire them in the creation of their designs.

Students researched ideas, techniques and created prototypes before creating their design in ceramic tiles.

A celebration event was held with parents, the local community and partners who were given the

opportunity to participate in lots of activities while celebrating the students and community achievement.

The mosaics are to be displayed in the Academy grounds and Mrs Marshall-King will continue the fantastic

project into the future.

“There are always pets that need help and I am glad that we chose this charity.” Finally Rachel Fletcher explains; “The animal shelter had so many animals who needed good homes, seeing the work they do made me feel happy, but sad that there were so many animals there who need good homes. I am also really proud to have given this money to Willow Wood because it’s a fantastic charity that helps out local people.”

PRESENTATIONThrough various charity events such as market stalls in The Street, discos, non-uniform days and ECM the grand total mounted up with cheque presentations to Friends of Tameside Young Carers, Tameside Animal Sanctuary, HOPE Epilepsy – Tameside, Shauhaney’s Dream, George House Trust – Aids Charity, Willow Wood and SENTAZA primary school in Uganda.

£250

£500

£750

£1000

£1250

£1500

£1750

£2000

£2250

£2500

£2750

£3000

GOAL!

SUCCESSA-HOY!A group of netballers were caught out when an Olympic legend dropped in. The NCA students were taking part in a ‘Back to Netball’ session when Sir Chris Hoy appeared.

He was there to present them with an award - ‘Back to Netball’ has been named the UK’s Best Sport Project in this year’s National Lottery Awards.

How Does Your GARDEN GROW?

“It’s a really great result and it shows how projects like this are benefitting real life people.”

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EXAMSUCCESSATTENNNNNNTION!

GCSE

When it comes to action, excitement and adventure...

A LEVEL

New Charter’s class of 2013 leave the Academy celebrating a record breaking set of GCSE results, with nearly every department achieving a “best ever” performance.

Principal, Stephen Ball, who took up the helm just 18 months ago, was delighted to see so many subjects out performing their previous best: “The Academy was inspected by OFSTED just over six months ago and inspectors praised the changes that have been made and recognised the speed at which we are improving. The rate of progress is certainly borne out by this set of results which shows that all of our staff and students are working really hard to achieve success.”

Among this year’s highest achievers were Soyful Alam (3A*s, 5As and 2Bs), Nathan Beckles (8As and 2Bs), Leanne Butlin (4A*s, 1A and 3Bs), Lukas Lazar (2A*s, 5As and 2 Bs), Gabrielle Murray (2A*s, 4As, 3Bs and 1C) and Michael Sutton (1A*, 7As and 2 Bs). 61% of students took away 5 high grade GCSEs, a great achievement for the students and staff.

In September this year New Charter Academy introduced the army cadet syllabus to the school curriculum with 12 students enrolling as army cadets. Apart from learning and developing from the army cadet programme they are also on course to gain a BTEC Public Service Diploma.

So far, the students have taken part in adventurous activities like hill walking, kayaking and indoor climbing. They have represented the school and the community on Remembrance Day. They have attended the homecoming parades of regiments returning from Afghanistan, and have taken part in community projects and become ambassadors for the Academy.

On occasions they have ended up a little wet and muddy, but they have all learnt the benefits of courage, discipline, respect, integrity, loyalty, selfless commitment and teamwork. During the summer break, three members of the group visited summer camp for 12 days, along with 600 other cadets from Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force.

We are looking forward to the new term with a new cohort to join the growing ranks of army cadets. The current cadets are looking forward to more challenges.

Major P Lomas, Public Service Teacher, ACF

The Army Cadet Force (ACF) has over 46,000 cadets in almost 1,700 detachments all over the country and is one of the biggest and best teams around. When it comes to action, excitement and adventure, it’s hard to find anything that beats the Army Cadets.

PRINCIPAL, STEPHEN BALL WAS ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED WITH THE CLASS OF 2013 AS EVERY SINGLE STUDENT WILL NOW BE GOING ON TO TAKE A DEGREE COURSE IN THE AUTUMN.

He said: ‘These results speak volumes for the commitment of the students and the quality of out staff. This is a modern and dynamic learning environment which provides great teaching and intensive individual support and the outcomes show that we really do have a winning formula.”

Last year, New Charter was amoungst one of just nine schools and colleges in Greater Manchester to achieve a 100% A-level pass rate and Head of Sixth Form, Helen Lister, is proud of the fact that this has been achieved again.

She said: “Our sixth form came into existence three years ago and this is our second full set of A-level results. So far, every one of our A2 students has passed every examination they have taken. We couldn’t be happier for all of them.”

Amoungst this year’s outstanding performers are Sona Mistry whose 2 A* and 3 A grades have won her a place to read Medicine at the University of Sheffield and Jack Curry whose 3 A grades have enabled him to read Biology at Manchester University.

Head of Year 11, Libby Gilmore, who led the team that supported the students throughout their final year at the Academy was justifiably proud, “It is really great to see so many of our young people achieving the results that they have worked so hard for and now going on to take up places at college and in the Sixth Form” she said.

A-level students at New Charter Academy have been celebrating once again. As one of Tameside’s newest sixth forms achieving a 100% pass rate in this Summer’s examinations.

ECOWARRIORS

TAMESIDE CHAMPIONSMEET THE...They reached the finals by beating the likes of West Hill and Hyde – resulting in New Charter Academy taking the proud title of Tameside Champions in U13s and U15s Table Tennis.

Both Teams now go on to represent Tameside in the Greater Manchester Championships... GOOD LUCK !

Under 15s Team: Kamil Gufar, Mubashar Nadeem, Neel Vyas, Ikram Azad

Following on from the success of the U13s Table

Tennis Team (who are Tameside Champions), the

U15s Table Tennis team played in the finals of

Tameside Championships this week.

“The purpose of drill is to be disciplined, to wear your uniform and to fall in at the right time. I like doing drills because it makes you feel proud in what you do”.

Megan Newton Hague

“When I went hill walking I didn’t have much confidence in myself and I didn’t think that I could do it, but I pushed myself and built up my self-esteem. After the event I was exhausted and worn out but I enjoyed every bit of it. We all benefited from this because it builds our skills and for us to overcome our fears”.

Cody Dean

“The third camp we went on was a camouflage & concealment camp. We had to put camouflage cream on and we had to learn how to hide so we weren’t seen. We had to know how to put the cam cream on a certain way. It was really fun but tiring. I was worried that I was going to struggle but it was easier than I thought”.

Nikita Halson

Cadets Thoughts

New Charter Academy Broadoak Road, Ashton under Lyne OL6 8RF

T: 0161 241 9555 F: 0161 214 8299

W: www.newcharteracademy.org.uk

L E A R N • G R O W • A C H I E V E

DATESFOR YOUR DIARY

PARENTS’voiceYear 11 Parents EveningThursday, 24th October

Inset Training DaysFriday, 6th December

Christmas BreakFriday, 20th December

SPRING 2014

First Half-Term StartsMonday, 6th January

Inset Training DaysThursday, 13th & Friday, 14th February

Half-Term BreakFriday, 14th February

Second Half-TermMonday, 24th February

Easter BreakFriday, 4th April

SUMMER 2014

First Half-TermTuesday, 22nd April

Half-Term BreakFriday, 23rd May

Second half-termMonday, 2nd June

We would like to thank everyone who helped contribute to this issue of news by writing the stories and highlighting the achievements of our students.

THANKS!!!

CELEBRATION& rewards

New Charter Academy’s Vivo scheme is going from strength to strength as the new school year starts.The programme is a type of points system, students are rewarded with Vivo points for things like respect, politeness, leadership, uniform, punctuality and attendance.

Each Vivo point is worth a penny and students can save these and purchase items for themselves. This year, the school has taken the project a step further and opened a Rewards Shop on campus where students can go in their break to spend their Vivo points.

The Shop is run by Student Ambassadors. Enrichment and Reward Co-ordinator, Tracy Williamson, said; “It has proved really successful. The students run the shop completely everything from buying stock, stock control, banking, point of sale, and customer service, the whole concept of running a shop.

“It’s great for students to develop and gain new skills; it has been well received and the Ambassadors are a great team and pleasure to work with.”

The shop sells sporting equipment, books, stationary and hair straighteners amongst other items. Students can even choose items from the Argos catalogue and they are ordered in.

The most popular item of the week is the One Direction book, which has been flying off the shelves. Student Ambassadors Dhiren Mistry and Dillon Kevat, gave a guided tour around the Rewards Shop and were clearly passionate about their roles.

Dillon said; “It is really great. It is a good opportunity for us to gain some work experience. It’s been really busy.”

There are 100s of Vivos up for grabs each week and ambassadors, parents as well as teachers can keep

track of these online, with students being able to see what they have been rewarded for and spend online.

The shop was officially opened by Head Teacher Mr Ball, who said; “I am absolutely delighted that we have now opened the Vivo Rewards Shop at the very heart of the Academy building. We are passionate about recognising, rewarding and celebrating student achievement and to have the shop open and located in the busiest part of the building really symbolises what we stand for.”

Student Ambassadors are students that, after a rigorous selection process, are chosen to shoulder extra responsibility throughout the Academy.

Ambassador, Laura Graham refers to her role as being; “An opportunity for me to gain work experience and learn how a business operates, dealing with so many students at the shop on the opening day was hectic!”

All parents of Academy students automatically become members of Parent Voice when their child joins us. There is no elected committee, only the Chairperson and Treasurer are elected each year. We are a group who meet to work with staff to support communicating with parents, fundraising and keep parents informed of the latest developments in our Academy and education. Parent Voice is an important point of contact between parents and the staff on a pleasant and informal basis and we are always happy to welcome new parents/guardians who feel they can give their support to the school.

If you would like to attend the meetings please contact Carol Baguley at the Academy.

There are 60 student ambassadors currently at New Charter Academy. Each ambassador works in different areas such as year group councils, the staffing interview panel, the events team and community.