We celebrated World Book Day in style at Staindrop on Wednesday 7th March; a little late due to the snow, but the sun shone on our book-inspired antics as students and staff dressed as their favourite literary characters. Isobel Foster (Year 10), in a beautiful Morgana le Fay gown, Spiderman omas Forster (Year 11) and Soldier Girl Kaitie Heenan (Year 8) were our winners, receiving giſt tokens and Easter eggs. All the students and staff looked fantastic and had clearly made a huge effort. Staff honours went to Mrs Readman, the Oompa-Loompa. We raised over £250 from the non-uniform day, with proceeds going towards library improvements. ere has also been a really enthusiastic response to the book quiz, book token competition and Short and Tweet short story competition. anks to everyone for raising the profile of reading around school and in wider community. STAINDROP ACADEMY NEWSLETTER SPRING TERM 2018 www.staindropacademy.com Tel: 01833 660 285 Headteacher message Dear Parents and Carers, is term has been a very busy and productive term; I hope that you have been following some of the highlights on Facebook and the school website. We had a very positive visit from the DfE in January followed by a behaviour and safety audit (unannounced) in February conducted by the ALP Multi Academy Trust. It was great to be able to feedback positive comments to the staff and students about the improvements in the academy. I would also like to congratulate Year 11 students on how seriously they took their mock exams. e increase in the level of intensity and seriousness that the students are demonstrating in the exam hall is tremendous. Parents would be very proud if they could see the efforts of their sons and daughters. I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday and look forward to welcoming students back, recharged and ready for the period of hard work ahead, on 16th April. Mrs A. Carr Our amazing World Book Day Careers mock interviews Students in Year 11 were involved in one- to-one careers interviews with our careers advisor this term to establish their preferred career paths and talk about options. Students have completed application forms for colleges and are all set for life aſter Staindrop. e local colleges have all been back in school offering their support and doing some mock up sessions. All students who leſt Staindrop Academy last year are either in full time education, apprenticeship or work. Any parents, carers or students with any further questions please contact Mr Gibbon at the Academy. Year 10 Engineering students continue attending South West Durham Training as part of a ten week module of work to complete manufacturing element of their BTec Machining Techniques unit. e fiſteen students are machining the parts to construct an air engine and have been learning new skills using milling, drilling and turning techniques working to tolerances of 0.25mm. e concentra- tion levels have been really high and the quality of work has been excellent by all students. In the photo Adam Williamson can be seen inspecting the tolerances of his piston head with a set of vernier callipers during the finishing stages of the turning process. We are all looking forward to completing the product and thank Tony Waites the lead tutor and three of his apprentices Connor, Elliot and Leon for their fantastic tuition. Engineering training for Year 10 students Uniform notes A polite reminder that trainers should not be worn for school. To avoid any misunder- standing or confrontations aſter Easter, please remember that plain black school shoes must be worn. In addition, trousers must be loose fitting at the ankle, skinny and ‘spray on’ are not acceptable.
Transcript
We celebrated World Book Day in style at Staindrop on Wednesday 7th March; a little late due to the snow, but the sun shone on our book-inspired antics as students and staff dressed as their favourite literary characters.
Isobel Foster (Year 10), in a beautiful Morgana le Fay gown, Spiderman Thomas Forster (Year 11) and Soldier Girl Kaitie Heenan (Year 8) were our winners, receiving gift tokens and Easter eggs. All the students and staff looked fantastic and had clearly made a huge effort. Staff honours went to Mrs Readman, the Oompa-Loompa. We raised over £250 from the non-uniform day, with proceeds going towards library improvements.
There has also been a really enthusiastic response to the book quiz, book token competition and Short and Tweet short story competition. Thanks to everyone for raising the profile of reading around school and in wider community.
STAINDROPACADEMY NEWSLETTER
SPRING TERM 2018
www.staindropacademy.com Tel: 01833 660 285
Headteacher messageDear Parents and Carers,This term has been a very busy and productive term; I hope that you have been following some of the highlights on Facebook and the school website. We had a very positive visit from the DfE in January followed by a behaviour and safety audit (unannounced) in February conducted by the ALP Multi Academy Trust. It was great to be able to feedback positive comments to the staff and students about the improvements in the academy. I would also like to congratulate Year 11 students on how seriously they took their mock exams. The increase in the level of intensity and seriousness that the students are demonstrating in the exam hall is tremendous. Parents would be very proud if they could see the efforts of their sons and daughters. I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday and look forward to welcoming students back, recharged and ready for the period of hard work ahead, on 16th April. Mrs A. Carr
Our amazing World Book Day
Careers mock interviewsStudents in Year 11 were involved in one-to-one careers interviews with our careers advisor this term to establish their preferred career paths and talk about options. Students have completed application forms for colleges and are all set for life after Staindrop. The local colleges have all been back in school offering their support and doing some mock up sessions. All students who left Staindrop Academy last year are either in full time education, apprenticeship or work. Any parents, carers or students with any further questions please contact Mr Gibbon at the Academy.
Year 10 Engineering students continue attending South West Durham Training as part of a ten week module of work to complete manufacturing element of their BTec Machining Techniques unit. The fifteen students are machining the parts to construct an air engine and have been learning new skills using milling, drilling and turning techniques working to tolerances of 0.25mm. The concentra-tion levels have been really high and the quality of work has been excellent by all students. In the photo Adam Williamson can be seen inspecting the tolerances of his piston head with a set of vernier callipers during the finishing stages of the turning process.
We are all looking forward to completing the product and thank Tony Waites the lead tutor and three of his apprentices Connor, Elliot and Leon for their fantastic tuition.
Engineering training for Year 10 students
Uniform notesA polite reminder that trainers should not be worn for school. To avoid any misunder-standing or confrontations after Easter, please remember that plain black school shoes must be worn. In addition, trousers must be loose fitting at the ankle, skinny and ‘spray on’ are not acceptable.
YAM programme During next half term all Year 9 students will be taking part in the YAM (Youth Aware of Mental Health) programme during their PSHE lessons at Staindrop Academy.
The YAM programme offers a hands-on approach to mental health issues such as stress, crisis, depression and suicide. The programme spans over five sessions with three role-play workshops at the core. In YAM students are considered experts of their own mental health and their voices and experiences take centre stage. Role-play and reflection stand at the core of the program as the students play
out and discuss a wide variety of feelings, solutions and outcomes. Cognitive, emotional and experiential learning in YAM help students to explore problem solving and encourages solidarity and how they can help peers in need.
Online Safety TalksOn 26th January and 2nd February Police Community Support Officer Darren Miles visited Staindrop Academy to deliver a presentation to Year 8, 9 and 10 students highlighting the importance of online safety.
The presentation to Year 9 and 10 focused on the dangers of online grooming. As part of this presentation students were shown a film called Kayleigh’s Love Story, a true story of a 15 year old girl who was groomed online. The presentation also focused on Child Sexual Exploitation: making it clear to students what this is, how it could affect them, the signs to look out for and where to go for help and advice if they have any questions. The Year 8 presentation focused on staying safe online and issues surrounding social media. PCSO Darren Miles will be returning to Staindrop Academy to deliver presentations to Year 7 students about how to stay safe online during the course of this term.
SPRING TERM 2018
APRILHalf term Disneyland Paris Trip
Thursday 19th Primary football festival
Thursday 26th Year 8 Parents Evening
MAYw/c 14th Start of GCSE exams
JUNEThroughout Year 10 trips to local colleges
Tuesday 26th Inspire day whole school
JULY9th - 13th Outdoor trip
Forthcoming dates
This half term all of Year 7 has been working on a Fairtrade project to raise awareness of why Fairtrade is important and how it helps improve people’s lives. They are working in groups to create Fairtrade products to sell to all the other students at Staindrop Academy during a “Fairtrade Day” which took place 26th February. All of the money raised by the
Fairtrade Day will be donated to Fairtrade to help them continue to improve the lives of people across the world.
Year 7 Fairtrade event
In school we have been actively discussing the importance of mental wellbeing and mental health with students in assemblies and during form time.
Time to Change, England’s biggest campaign to end stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems,
has a great website that helps parents have conversations with young people (www.mentalhealthmatters.com).
We have recruited a qualified councillor, Donna Heslop to work with some of our students on Fridays. Her meetings with students will take place in our Health Hub which is open at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
Mental health and wellbeing – raising awareness
William Rolt is a talented Year 11 Music student at Staindrop Academy. Even though William has been very busy revising for his GCSE exams, he has still found time to work very hard on his musical studies. He recently auditioned for the National Schools’ Symphony Orchestra and successfully gained a place on the NSSO summer residential course at Malvern College. William has played the violin since primary school, having lessons with the county music service, and is working towards his Grade 8 violin exam, under the tuition of Robert Allfree. He will also
be taking his Grade 4 piano exam. In November last year, he passed his Grade 5 music theory exam with distinction. He currently plays violin with the Darlington Orchestra and he will be playing at the Sage, Gateshead on 17th March as member of the Durham County Youth Orchestra.William is also a member of Staindrop Explorer Scouts and as part of his Duke of Edinburgh gold award he gained a place on the National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra summer residential course in July and will be performing in concerts at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Musical talent representing Staindrop
NEWSLETTER
www.staindropacademy.com Tel: 01833 660 285
Year 10 had recently had their achievement trip to Hollywood Bowl to celebrate all the hard work and progress they have made so far this year. The students had a great time;
it was a very good turnout with some very high scores being made on the night. Keep up the hard work Year 10 and we will look forward to the next rewards trip.
Year 10 achievement trip
Year 7 rugby teamThe Year 7 boys took part in the County Plate Competition at Darlington RFC.
After a break from rugby over the last half term the boys took their time to get going! In the final game the boys were back to their best with an outstanding performance to secure a comfortable win.
Mrs Hawkins and Mr Mappin, with Year 10 Science ambassadors have been inspiring future generations of science students by visiting our local primary schools, to deliver some practical activities. Pupils at Staindrop Primary School had an amazing opportunity to spend an afternoon learning about the heart and circulation. Students had the opportunity to observe Mr Mappin dissect a sheep heart and listen to Charlie and Isobel discus how the heart works. Mrs Hawkins visited Evenwood Primary School to deliver experiments that showed positive results for the presence of specific food
groups. Several primary schools attended our Science Day at the Academy; our ambassadors helped to investigate which materials would be best to make a space nappy for Tim Peake. We also looked at how we can make batteries from a range of different fruits. We will continue our inspirational work with the primary schools during the summer term.
On Thursday 8th March, Miss Donnelly and Ms Walker took thirteen Year 10 Drama students to the newly refurbished Darlington Hippodrome to see ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. The students enjoyed the disastrously funny play-within-a-play, which they will use to help them complete their GCSE coursework. Some students were a little surprised at the parody of amateur drama at first, asking “Is it meant to be this bad?”.
Science ambassadors inspiring the next generation.
Theatre trip to Hippodrome
On Monday 19th March our Science department was visited by Catherine Carlon (Customer Manager) and Josh Mitchell (Business Process Manager) from Hartlepool Water. In the session our Year 10 science students heard about the roles and responsibilities of water companies. Water purification and sewerage treatment is an important part of the Science syllabus and to hear about this from the water company themselves was of great benefit. We also heard about Science based career opportunities in the water industry.
Science behind water
Maths NewsOn Wednesday March 14th, Year 9 students participated in Pi related activities. Students investigated the properties of circles, created poems for memorising the digits and designed logos to celebrate Pi Day. The winning team in Year 9 managed to recall 16 digits of pi using their own system.
Students in Years 8 and 10 over the last few weeks have participated in a maths challenge ran by Newcastle University. Students had to answer very tough mathematical questions and justify their solutions. Hopefully we will have some winners, so fingers crossed.
Primary schools visitsThis half term we have been delivering football sessions for pupils in Year 1 and 2 across the whole Staindrop Sport Cluster. A huge thank you and well done to our Year 10 leaders who have helped to manage and deliver these excellent events over this term.
ASPIRATION • SUCCESS • ACHIEVEMENT
www.staindropacademy.com Tel: 01833 660 285
Student Parliament Student Parliament met on March 14th with representation from all year groups. The reps brought the views of their peers and raised a number of other issues. Our key areas were:
1. Fundraising for our charity of this year, The Alzheimer’s Society. We set ourselves a target £1,000. Ideas included bake or craft sale, donations from local firms, sponsored walk and the big haircut.
2. Litter & our environment – we considered every form of doing litter patrol, ensuring that every room has a recycling box, look into having a recycling bin outside and putting up posters to encourage recycling.
3. Extra-curricular – lots of suggestions, and we recognised we do have a lot going on and there are lots of clubs/groups out in the community already that students can access.
4. Other items discussed included the dinner rota, the library and Easter egg raffle.
Our Head Girl (Emilia Mattinson) and Head Boy (Callum Spence) met with the Senior Leadership Team on Tuesday 20th March to put forward the ideas and thoughts of the students. They were brilliant, again, in the way they fed back and prepared to take the queries/suggestions forward before the next meeting in May.
STAINDROPACADEMY
Year 7 and 8 netballtournament Our girls played their first netball games of the season against Sedgefield.The Year 8 girls played very well for their first game back, but they unfortunately lost 12-1 against a very strong team. Sedgefield selected Tia Race as Staindrop’s player of the match for her performance.The Year 7 girls had an amazing first ever game together. Everyone played their part and did the PE Department and whole school proud. The Sedgefield teacher praised the girls for the talent they showed throughout the game. The opposing team selected Rosie Redfearn as ‘player of the match’ for her brilliant performance as shooter in a 19-4 win. Well done Tia and Rosie!
Year 8 Netball team
Year 7 Netball team
The indoor cricket set-up was very new to most of the girls, but they all pulled together well to compete against other schools, who had been coached by the organisers of the tournament. We won our first game against Teesdale, but narrowly missed out by a couple of runs against Bishop Barrington. The girls all played well, but special mentions go to Charlotte Hewick-Crawford, Rosie Redfearn, Kiera Chippendale, Georgia McAuslane and Caroline Walton for the incredible amount of runs they all managed between them. It was a great experience for our girls – well done!
The points were calculated by runs against different schools and came third out of five schools, ahead of St Johns and Teesdale.
Girls indoor cricket
Kate Williams had another great day competing in the North Eastern County Pentathlon Championship.
Kate got off to a flying start in the 60m Hurdles and finished with the 3rd fastest time, 10.61s. Then shot putt came, a 6.76m throw managed to take her in to second position. In the high jump Kate cleared
1.37m, a PB on her fist attempt whilst the leading athlete cleared this on her second attempt. Kate won the long jump with 4.24m which meant she remained in pole position with the 60m to go. After a long day she ran a time of 8.7s, her slowest of the season, but took the championship title with a final score of 2412, breaking the Darlington Harrier Record of 2176.
Kate Williams wins again!
Once again, our Year 7 and 8 girls were competing against other local schools in a tournament.
