Newsletter 6

Appleton Academy

Spring newsletter

Featuring:

o Summer Attendance Challenge

o World Book Day

o National Careers Week

o Wow Bus

o Age of Wonder

o Red Nose Day

Together with our community, we can achieve extraordinary things.

Welcome

Welcome to our sixth newsletter highlighting the fabulous work taking place in secondary. Appleton has been its usual busy self with a wide array of trips, visits and activities taking place and students have been taking full advantage of our wider curriculum offer.

In each newsletter we will share a flavour of what is happening in the academy, including insights into the fabulous work taking place in classrooms.

In this issue we have exciting news of our summer attendance challenge, open to ALL secondary students regardless of their previous attendance

We also have our usual library update, an article on our amazing fundraising on Red Nose Day, a feature on Word Book day and much more!

If you have things you would like to see feature in the newsletter, please let us know.

Mrs Garlick Head of Secondary

Attendance at Appleton

Improving attendance to school is a national priority and a key focus for the school. We are excited to launch our summer attendance challenge.

The “Ultimate” summer attendance challenge!

Challenge 1: 8th April to 24th May

7 weeks = 34 school days

Challenge 2: 3rd June to 19th July

7 weeks = 35 school days

The challenge is in 2 parts on the dates above.

Attend school for a full 5 days to get 1 prize draw entry for £50 shopping vouchers

Attend school for a full 10 days to get 1 prize draw entry for £100 shopping vouchers

Maintain an attendance streak beyond 2 weeks and get a prize draw entry for £150 shopping vouchers for each week students keep their streak!

This means that students can earn:

-7 entries into the £50 prize draw

-3 entries into the £100 draw

-6 entries into the £150 draw

-1 extra entry per week for no lates into the £50 draw!

-This is in addition to the mini prizes available for Perfect 10 You will receive a text message each week to let you know if your child is on track to meet the attendance challenge.

Red Nose Day fun – and fundraising

Students and staff alike had great fun raising money for a good cause on Friday 15th March. All in aid of Comic Relief, the charity behind Red Nose Day, we held a range of activities so that students could ‘do something funny for money’ to raise funds for this important charity, which tackles poverty both in the UK and abroad.

Students came to school in non-uniform, featuring something red, their pyjamas or something funny. It was great to see so many getting involved, with lots of students spending the day in their pyjamas and dressing gown – and even one or two dinosaurs! We held a range of ‘pay to play’ activities and games at both break and lunch times, including bottle swap; join the dots; shoot basketball hoops; table tennis; the climbing wall and more. We even had a games room and karaoke! The tombola was a hit, with students able to win Easter egg treats, and even luxuries such as designer perfumes for the lucky few.

The highlight of the day – and the stars of the show – were undoubtedly those brave teachers who volunteered to be ‘sponged’ with wet sponges by students. The weather didn’t answer their prayers, delivering a chilly day with icy winds! Students lined up to throw wet sponges at their teacher of choice, and Mr Kerrigan got the crowd going by soaking the teachers with the hosepipe. They got their revenge when the hosepipe was turned on him!

Huge thanks to all of you who got involved – we hope students had a lot of fun and we’re so proud to tell you that, as a school community, we have raised over £820 for this amazing cause!

Red Nose Day fun – and fundraising

Red Nose Day fun – and fundraising

English

This year World Book Day was held on Thursday the 7th of March The theme for World Book Day 2024 was "Read Your Way". Explaining this year's theme, the charity said: "World Book Day 2024 will celebrate that children are more likely to enjoy reading when their choices are championed, and we make reading fun."

We celebrated Book Day at Appleton with a range of exciting activities and experiences for our students including:

An interactive bookshelf – students and staff created a collaborative display of all their favourite books on the canteen wall at lunch time.

Book crossing – five lucky students found books hidden around social areas of the school, once they’ve read their books, they can be rehidden for someone else to find and enjoy.

Short Story – over the course of the day students read The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, reading a section at the start of each lesson. By period 5 students couldn’t wait to find out how the story ended!

Cookie and a book – 10 students from each year group were rewarded for their excellent conduct with a story lesson where either Mrs Garlick or Mrs Barnes read them a short story while they enjoyed a cookie.

Finally, our writer in residence Nik Perring had 'Meet the Writer' sessions with our KS3 students, who were all fascinated to learn more about Nik's writing, his inspiration, and how he became a writer.

English

Staff were delighted to dress up as book characters to get into the World Book day spirit!

English

Students were asked to send in photo entries for an extreme reading competition that pictured them reading in unusual places.

Thank you for all your amazing extreme reading entries!

The finalists were:

Hendrix W

Daisy W

Ffyon B

And Harvey D.

Congratulations to Kudrat U for winning the grand

English

Creative Writing Competition news

This half term, over 200 students entered the Young Writers 'The Glitch' creative writing competition!

"A sudden shift, a twist of fate, and bam! Everything changes!"

What happens when an ordinary day turns extraordinary? What are the effects on the world if one thing is changed forever? What thrilling or terrifying outcomes are unleashed if one mishap alters reality?

These are the questions students were asked to consider for this mini saga competition.

The school that submits the best overall set of entries will win The Young Writers' Award of Excellence and a £100 National Book Token.

The top 5 writers will each win £50 and a trophy!

Plus every entrant receives a bookmark and all writers chosen for publication will get a certificate of merit.

As part of World Book day students who went above and beyond in their lessons were able to earn a golden ticket to enter a prize draw.

Well done to the golden ticket winners!

Lily Rose S

William L

Sophie B

Berenice O and Jack O

We can't wait to receive our copy of the book and see who has been published!

English

As part of their GCSE studies 70 students visited the Leeds Playhouse to watch a performance of Macbeth. For those students who couldn’t attend the performance we are holding a ‘Bringing the Theatre to Appleton’ event during the Easter break, which is open to y10 and 11 students and their parents. This will be delivered by a travelling theatre company called Katch 22. This is being held in school on Monday 25th March and will be followed by a Q & A session with Katch 22 productions. This promises to be a fun afternoon out for everyone to enjoy and tickets are free!

Library Update

By Mrs Parr.

Our writer in residence, Nik Perring has enjoyed working with our students during Creative Writing club sessions.

Ffyon Burnham has written this stunning piece:

The Last time Ffyon Burnham Year 8

I wasn’t to know it would be the last time I’d be spending time with you. My last goodbye, my last hug and kiss. I knew that at some point it might be the last time, but I didn’t think that this would be it. Mum always told us never to argue before we go to bed because it might be the last time we ever see each other. Our eyes were full of life and it was easy saying goodbye because I didn’t know. But it’s hard waking up and not hearing you. It might hurt forever but I know I’ll always be related to you. Mum sees you in my eyes and I see you in them too. I just want you to know that I love you.

Our resident artist, Chris Mould has been busy working with Year 8 looking at different ways to design and use symbols in mapping work.

Art at Appleton

Each newsletter we feature amazing artwork created by our students

Year 7 Acrylic clocks project

This Term, Year 7 have been designing and making acrylic clocks for children. Students have put acrylic cutting and shaping skills into practice as well as filing, sanding, polishing and attaching the clock mechanism.

Rugby League Cares

Rugby League cares workshops on mental health and resiliance

Year 9 have taken part in two workshops delivered by the Rugby League Cares charity. The first workshop focussed on mental health, looking out for friends and checking they are well. The second one, on resilience and being able to overcome adversity.

The presenters in these sessions were former international legends, Keith Senior and Gareth Ellis, along with ex Wigan player Bob Beswick and Leeds player Damian Gibson.

The idea behind the sessions and the charity, is the belief that people are at the heart of Rugby League Cares and they strive to help those in rugby league communities, live happy, healthy and rewarding lives.

Many of the towns, cities and villages where the sport is played experience disproportionately high levels of poor mental health which is closely linked to economic prosperity.

The sessions delivered were award-winning mental wellbeing and fitness programmes, that are recognised as being hugely successful in their ability to empower people of all ages to look after themselves, and others, by harnessing clinically-proven tools and techniques for good mental fitness

Rugby League Cares

Rugby League international and legend Keith Senior delivering a session on Rugby League skills and teamwork.

Ex Wigan player Bob Beswick, talking about looking out for your mates and checking in with them.

England women's international, delivering mental health workshop and activities.

Wow Girls Festival day

Next stop, Appleton Academy!

WOW, or Women of the World is a global movement celebrating women and girls and takes a frank look at the obstacles they face, with festivals all over the world from Pakistan, Rio, Australia, Rotherham and more. WOW’s first Girls Festival has been travelling across the UK visiting schools, community groups and young people, and Appleton Academy was on its route!

The festival lasted the day for Appleton and was split into two halves. In the morning, we were given the opportunity to participate in three workshops. We were able to exhibit our creative flare when we were asked what we loved about being us and used printing to create pictured to represent ourselves as strong, independent young women in today’s society. We were able to meet four spectacular women at the other end of life’s journey to find out what has driven them to be successful women, how they dealt with adversity throughout their lives and how they are still contributing to society, supporting others in their struggles now. We then had the opportunity to discuss issues that are important to us, gaining insight from our guests. Finally, we got to explore the WOW bus.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, thinking about where we want life to take us, having more opportunity to discuss issues relevant to young women today and showing off our creating side again, writing personal poetry about ourselves.

Wow Girls Festival day

In the afternoon, we went to Sedbergh Sports Centre to meet three more inspirational women. At the sports centre we took part in a Q&A session with three local women who were successful in their sport – Appleton’s own Harleen Kaur, a martial artist and kickboxing champion, Laura Lidden who works in dance and Kirsty Gavillet, chair of Bradford Park Avenue Ladies Cricket Club. We had chance to ask them all any questions we had, then we were able to participate in three taster sessions for kickboxing, dance and cricket. When asked about the day, Lydia in Y9 said:

“At the WOW day I learnt a handful of interesting and new things that I can take with me. I heard inspirational stories, wrote poems and was introduced to new activities I had never even thought about before. At Sedbergh Sports Centre I learnt about amazing women in sports and even got to try some of their sports. I was told about the sexism, racism and hardships they faced whilst growing up in their sports. Overall, I’d say that the WOW day helped me learn about strong women and how I can grow up to become one.”

Student and parent support

In each newsletter we will have a focus on a service or services that can support our students and/or their parents. These services may be something we offer through the school or something that an external provider can deliver. If you have any questions about these services, please contact the school.

Online harms education at Appleton

Appleton Academy is fortunate to be involved in a pilot programme created in partnership with The West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership, Rocket Science, and Step 2. Staying safe online is crucial, especially for young people navigating the ever-evolving digital world. The aim of the programme is to help secondary school students become aware of online dangers and empower them to protect themselves.

The pilot programme includes:

Interactive Workshops for all year groups covering:

How to deal with online problems

Recognizing online harms and dangers

Protecting themselves from negative content

Staying safe while engaging online

1-2-1 and Group Support:

Building and maintaining healthy online relationships

Managing their emotional well-being and self-esteem

Staying safe online

Avoiding the risks of online gambling

This pilot program aims to equip young people in West Yorkshire with the knowledge and skills to navigate the online world confidently and responsibly. Appleton students will be able to feedback what has worked well and what else they would like to learn in order to stay safe. If the pilot is successful this has the potential to be rolled out nationally.

Student and parent support

In each newsletter we will have a focus on a service or services that can support our students and/or their parents. These services may be something we offer through the school or something that an external provider can deliver. If you have any questions about these services, please contact the school.

KOOTH mental health support.

On the week of the 11th March, all year groups had an assembly about the online app and support group called Kooth

What is Kooth?

Kooth are a team of mental health professionals to support young people to navigate life’s challenges. They offer:

• Free, anonymous support: the chat service is free, and you don’t even have to give your name.

• Real people, not bots: the professionals you speak within the chat service are real people who want to listen to you.

• A safe space to talk: the Kooth chat service is a safe space for support accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychology (BACP).

Two choices for 1:1 support

You can reach out to them by live chat or message.

What’s the difference between live chat and message?

A chat is a live conversation between you and a Kooth mental health professional. Before starting a chat session, we’ll ask you a few questions so we know what topics you may want to discuss. This lets us know how we can best help.

A message is a bit more like an email: you send a message to the team, and one of them will get back to you. If you don’t feel like chatting right now - or it’s outside of chat hours - you can send a message to the team, and they will get back to you as soon as they can. Click the logo above to go directly to their website.

What an exciting half term it's been for careers in the academy! We have had our best National Careers Week yet with a wide range of daily careers webinars including Space Careers, BBC Apprenticeships, Being a Medical Student plus many more. Our students loved hearing about industries and jobs they had never considered before.

We

know from regular student voice that

many

of our students aspire to work within the NHS. Labour Market Information (LMI) tells us that the NHS is one of the biggest employers in our region. Unsurprisingly, the NCW webinar Being a Medical student was very popular with our students. We plan to facilitate more opportunities around the NHS careers in the future.

Eight of our female students took part in a virtual talk about inspiring future women in leadership roles. The group had open and interesting conversations about discrimination in the workplace and how to overcome such inequalities.

Quality careers

education, information and guidance is critical in supporting our students to make informed and aspirational decision s. During National Careers Week all lessons had a careers focus to support this learning:

Monday - Decisions at different stages

TuesdayEmployability Skills - Transferrable skills

WednesdayEmployability –demand (LMI)

Thursday - Pathways - college / 6th form

Friday - PathwaysHigher Education

Here are some of the brilliant examples shared with students.

Shared by Mr Roche in Digital Literacy lessons

Examples of education al pathways for students who want to continue studying science

A Date For Your Diary

Come along with your student after school 3.20 - 4.30 to meet colleges, universities and local and national employers. Speak to our career advisors about next steps and careers ambitions. We hope to see you there!

Throughout NCW students loved hearing about their teacher's varied careers paths.

Alumni feature

Harleen Kaur

We were proud to meet Harleen in March this year when she was taking part in an event for young people as part of the WOW bus visit to Bradford. Appleton students were fortunate enough to meet her and ask her about how she became a successful in her chosen field and how she overcame any barriers to success as a woman in sport.

Harleen Kaur was a student at Appleton Academy from 2012 to 2017. Harleen was a committed student who achieved excellent grades at GCSE as well as being an avid sportsperson outside of school. As a young girl, Harleen’s passion for sport shone brightly and she trained in martial arts and later kickboxing. In 2020, Harleen graduated from Leeds Beckett University with a degree in Sports Science and she has gone on to achieve great things in her professional career.

As a competitor, Harleen won British kickboxing gold in 2015, followed by silver in the World Martial Kombat Championships. She was the first British Asian female to represent England kickboxing in the world championships. Harleen was a Batonbearer for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, in recognition of her work within sports that brings South Asian women and women from other backgrounds to the forefront of sporting activity and athletics.

She is a representative in sport for her country and women in the South Asian community and is the youngest ever recipient of NatWest’s Asian Women of Achievement Awards as Sportswoman of the year.

Harleen is also a keen volunteer, dedicating every summer to visits to Punjab in North India, supporting a sports charity, teaching life skills, English and self-defence. Driven by her passion to give back to communities, she also works as an ambassador for Sporting Equals and the Asian Sports Foundation who promote diversity within sport.

During the Covid-19 lockdown she noticed the potential of the communities of Asian women in Bradford. With this in mind, she founded Club Ekta, a sports club to empower and improve social, physical and mental wellbeing of women and children through sport. Club Ekta provides an opportunity for young people the chance to develop their skillsets through coaching.

Looking to the future: Alumnae appeal

At Appleton Academy we highly value our connections with former students. We like to celebrate their achievements and experiences with students, staff and the local community.

We would love to hear from former students and hope to be able to work with them, in the capacity of volunteer, mentor and/or inspirational speakers. If you are a former student and would like to be contacted about the possibility of working with us, please complete the form on the link below or alternatively