The Official Magazine of Ark Academy
# 11 - Spring 2014
C ivitas The
Warm Welcome… As is spelt out so clearly throughout this edition of the Civitas, we celebrate, reflect on, promote and generally acknowledge our founding principle – Citizenship. What could be more central to our lives than to be a responsible, happy, caring citizen of this planet? We are proud that every member of our community really understands what makes Ark Academy tick and what sets the bar for all of us on a daily basis. We don’t always make it but, by goodness, we love to celebrate it when we see it and I am really thankful to say there is more Civitas every day. Congratulations to everyone mentioned in The Civitas and let’s keep the good deed feeds coming. Have a lovely Easter break.
Delia Smith Principal
THE EDITORS ARE BACK! This issue they reported on the ways Ark Academy demonstrated ‘Civitas in Action’ this term. From left to right: Sharlicia Blake , Jai Stewart,
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Ciara Barrett, Dawid Soltysik, Faith Agyemang-Lorainey, Anithya Balachandran and Sonia Jajua.
That’s so CIVITAS! Miss Ryan giving her support to the cause!
The idea of Civitas isn‟t new or limited to Ark Academy, being a moral citizen with good manners isn‟t too much to ask for.
During tutor time, each year group has been looking at the importance of Civitas both inside and out of school and how it‟s the little things that matter. We shouldn‟t just be Civitas to be rewarded at the end of it, it‟s about doing the right thing because it‟s the right thing to do.
Good Deed Feed
We would like to give special recognition to the students who have been nominated for the ‘Good Deed Feed’.
The art of being Civitas is at the core of Ark Academy and the main focus this term has been to remind us of this and essentially get us back into that Civitas spirit. Different Civitas inspired incentives have been introduced this term such as Mr Edwards‟ „Paying it Forward‟ idea for Socrates house & the Good Deed Feed.
Zaki Dawlazie in Y10. He is an able mathematician but voluntarily comes to Thursday Y10 Maths study support session and has never missed one. He will help anyone and respectfully stays quiet otherwise, not even when he wants to give answers. He’s an asset to the others, and to me, and is a great role model for behaviour and courtesy. – Miss Kubba
Lorena Bala handed in Mustafa M’s wallet (with money still inside). - Miss Geary
Samir Hussain and Dawid Solstyk for always being around at break and lunch to set up Media Studies equipment for controlled assessments for their peers – Miss Downey
C I V I T A S
Hasan Said for handing in an iPhone he found on the 3G pitch - Miss Downey
A girl in my form saw her desk partner didn’t have a red pen, and might be sanctioned for it. So she said ‘Here, take one of mine. I have 3’. It made my day - Miss Kubba
Elise Benjamin and Alexandra Bazavan in Year 7 allowing other students who'd been absent to photocopy their classwork – Miss Lewis Smith One Wednesday Miss Cooke came into my room at 4.30 while Alex Ion was on the piano to say that I should leave by 5, because it had been such a crazy week. I told her that I had to do one or two more things including tidying my room. I left Alex on the piano while I did some photocopying and resource making. When I came back my room was immaculate. Alex had tidied it for me. That’s so Civitas. - Mr Franklin
North London Citizens
CitySafe Haven Campaign The North London Citizens team have been working on a project to make London a safer place. We want to make sure that if you are in any danger, local shops and stations can protect you. We heard two tragic stories; one of Martin Dinnegan and another about Jimmy Mizen who were being chased, so ran into their local shops but they were both turned away by the owners and killed as a result. To prevent this happening, the NLC team convinced Brent Civic Centre to become a CitySafe Haven. They met with Cllr Butt, who agreed to display the CitySafe sticker. We asked him why he chose to be part of the campaign and he said, “I do value the community and I want them to feel safe wherever they are. It will raise awareness of what CitySafe Havens are for, as the Civic Centre is a central point in the community.” On the day of the City Safe Haven launch, the Ark NLC team set out to raise awareness of the cause we were fighting for by holding a flash mob. Yes, you heard right - we danced our way into the public‟s mind. We didn‟t grab as many people‟s eyeballs as we intended , but had a few spectators and many enthusiastic NLC students dancing their Civitas feet off! It was wonderfully choreographed by our very own Clement Owusu and musical accompaniment on bongos by Srinjoy Mukherjee, whose hands were sore by the end but for a good cause. The entourage was led by a cheerful Ms Haslam and motivating NLC leader Paul Amuzie.
Left to right: Tareek Frater – Simpson, Joyce Mugume and Clement Owusu lead the dancers
Edited by Ciara Barrett and Anithya Balachandran
Bus Campaign
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Ty-rell Edwards explains the difficulty he has getting home due to poor bus service.
John Barry, Head of TFL
Brent Citizens Assembly
On Wednesday 2nd April, at the Brent Citizens Assembly, Ark Academy’s hard work really paid off when they won NLC Action of the Year for their continued work on the Bus Campaign. Tre Camps said “We were very persuasive and enthusiastic about what we were doing and it worked. It was inspirational to see how the other young people expressed themselves as I would like to speak like that in the future.” Congratulations to them all, especially to Samir Hussein (right), who was awarded Young Leader of the Year and Miss Haslam who was honoured with Leader of the Year.
Victory for Ark Campaigners! To show how tired we were of waiting for a response from TFL managing director Leon Daniels, NLC put their pyjamas on & went to TFL HQ to demand he meet us! Later that term, John Barry, Head of TFL, met with the NLC team at Ark Academy to listen to our individual testimonies about the problems we experience when trying to get home. We secured a 25% increase in capacity, equalling two more 206 buses every hour. An amazing result – well done to the NLC team!
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Community Leaders - A Perspective Let’s get an outside view on our school. Ark works with our schools liaison PC Donna as part of the project which aims to create safer neighbourhoods. Q. So PC Donna please explain to us what a City Safe Haven is? A. A City Safe Haven is a place where anyone can go to for help when in a crisis for example if you’re being chased by a gang and you run into a City Safe Haven which might be a corner shop it is their duty to protect you and call the police. Q. How far do you think Ark has come in the Safer Neighbourhoods project?
Q. Last but not least what is your opinion on our core value of Civitas?
A. Oh, Ark is definitely streets ahead (pun not intended) in terms of knowledge and practical implication. Compared to other local schools Ark is the school where my job becomes easier as I don’t have to do much as the teachers and students both are very knowledgeable in this matter.
A. I think it is great. The idea of citizenship should be implanted in every young person’s mind so as they grow older in life they will become better people.
My second interview was with Issa Issa, Director of the Bright Education Centre. Q. What is your role at Ark? A. The Bright Centre mentors students which the school refers to us. We then have a meeting with students to help them sort out any issues they have.
With students Yusuf Yusuf, Abtidon Yusuf and Abdirashid Hassan
Q. What is your opinion on Civitas? A. I think it is great. That is my expectation of every young person. It is very impressive. This is one of the 30 schools I work in and in this school I see where people work in teams every department works with each other. Q. What is your perspective on Ark? A. I have seen good things in many other schools both primary and secondary but Ark is definitely one of my favourites. Students are always punctual to lessons, teachers go to the canteen to have lunch and the food is amazing! Q. One word to describe Ark: A. Great!
Edited by Anithya Balachandran
School Governors & School Council Although we as students don’t see the governors very often it’s important to know they play a significant role in our school and their feedback is very valuable. I interviewed two of the parent governors, Shama Siddiqui and Samira Sadeghi who had visited Ark Academy, to get their views.
Shama Siddiqi Q. What kind of impact on our school do you feel you have in this role? A. I feel I can bring the concerns that parents have directly to the attention of Mrs Smith. Q. What kind of impact does Ark Academy have on you? A. Ark Academy has given me the opportunity to see how good teaching practice and a strong citizenship ethos can bring a real sense of community and confidence to disaffected students. Q. What did you speak with the School Council about when you visited us? A. I found out about how safe and secure the majority of students feel at Ark Academy; how seriously they take Civitas; how proud they feel to be attending Ark Academy; how they had gained so much confidence in such a short space of time; how they really enjoy all the enrichment opportunities and how poor behaviour was sanctioned and dealt with quickly. Q. What were your impressions of our school while you were visiting? A. I was struck by how orderly and composed the school was and that there was a real sense of calm throughout the building. The lovely displays, excellent use of form boards and scrapbooks around the school celebrate achievement and reflect the values and ethos of the school as well as demonstrate all the different activities that take place Q. What are your impressions of Civitas at Ark Academy? A. I’ve seen some excellent examples of Civitas around the academy – the main things I see are usually people picking up litter or clearing away a tray that isn’t theirs in the canteen. Initially I chose this school as a gamble but it’s really paid off. There’s a very welcoming atmosphere and there are always visitors about. Being a parent governor I’m extremely interested to see the way the school guides the students along a moral path.
Samira Sadeghi Q. What kind of impact does Ark Academy have on you? A. I have become more Civitas! In addition to my role as a parent governor, I also volunteer in the lunch hall two days a week. I have a new-found respect for the school teachers and staff - they are a dedicated, talented, and selfless group of individuals who sacrifice a great deal of their own time to do our children an enormous service. Q. What did you speak with the School Council about when you visited Ark Academy? A. We primarily wanted to know whether Ark Academy was a place where they could expand their social, cultural and moral horizons, as well as their academic knowledge. The councillors enthusiastically ensured us that it is such a place, especially because of the school's main ethos of Civitas. Did they feel safe and included after transitioning from Primary school? Again, the Year 7 council were unanimous in expressing how safe and welcome they felt at Ark. Q. What were your impressions of our school while you were visiting? A. I was so impressed with the level of engagement exhibited by the students, the quality of teaching, the high level of discourse, the clean and attractive surroundings, and the overall sense that students were happy to be at this school. Q. What do you think of our school motto, Civitas? A. As you can tell, I'm already quite sold on Civitas! It is one of the qualities that sets us apart as human beings and is so valuable to improving all of our lives. Ark was teeming with Civitas during our visit - students holding open doors for adults, standing respectfully when visitors entered the classrooms, speaking and listening to each other attentively during lessons, and being willing to share their classroom with total strangers!
Edited by Faith Agyemang-Lorainey
National Science and Engineering Week At Ark Academy we focus on all aspects of learning and if getting involved and active is the way to embed it, then so be it! One of our core values is Participation and, as you can see from the photos, every year group joined together to show their enthusiasm during challenges they really enjoyed, in order to win house points and support their house.
Year 8 were given two challenges, ‘Build the tallest tower to support a tennis ball’ and only given one newspaper and some sellotape. The second challenge was to create a parachute to support an egg, with string, a piece of card, two balloons and sellotape. Azaina Eugene from 7Sanger said, ‘I think that all the engineering challenges were a great way to show your creative art skills as well as your science skills!’
For the “Lollipop Bridges” engineering challenge teams had to build a bridge across a 60cm gap to support a toy car with only lollipop sticks & sellotape. Curie grabbed 1st place gaining 250 House Points and are clearly very proud of their creation!
On Year 7’s trip to the Science Museum they viewed an exhibit about Earth, which explained how earth was formed and the potential future of the planet, and also got the opportunity to explore the Interactive Launch Exhibit. Zara Zeshan said the visit was ‘An exciting experience. I learned a lot of information about new topics.’
Going, going....gone! But did the egg make it??
The ping pong projecting machine zip line gets underway! Left to right; Tharshiya Paramanathan, Sasha Barrett, Bianca Ionsecu and Shania Varshani
The science fair had students build a machine to project a ping pong ball as far as possible. The competition was well and truly on and things got very heated! Devonte Kearny earned 100 House Points for his creation; Maliqua Stephenson came 2nd with Brandon Ramos-Martin (below) taking 3rd place. Martyna Szczachor from 7Fleming said, “I enjoyed watching all the activities, the week intrigued me because I’m not a big fan of science but NSEW changed my opinion”.
Hoping for the correct spelling... The Spelling Bee tested students on the most difficult vocabulary in Science, with Hossein Ali commenting, ‘It was a good remembering activity for us to see which words we have learned.’ The quiz was another popular event, with sports, space, general science quickfire questions and a picture round which consisted of guessing celebrities with science degrees and microscope images of everyday objects. Mr Barnes said ‘It was a lot of fun!’. Well done to Curie, who were the overall winners of the week with 750 house points!
Edited by Sharlicia Blake
News Year 7 & 8 attended their Brilliant Club graduation at Royal Holloway University. Nadia Stewart said, “We did a tour that was really fun and it was useful to get answers to our questions about life at uni. I’ve now got the skills of researching by myself and greater knowledge about Maths and Science since taking part.”
Brilliant Club graduates celebrate, balcony style!
For World Book Day the entire school got involved in a mystery story trail. In each of the lessons that day we read a new chapter of a short story that kept students gripped until the end. The interesting twist was enough to provoke a reaction from our Year 10s. Dawid Solystk said, “I was just so shocked. I never expected that,” and Andrei Bogdan thought that “The cliffhangers were exciting - we expected the characters to be vampires as the story led us to believe this but they weren’t and this was a good thing. There are too many vampire books!”
World Book Day
Victory for Ark Academy’s legal eagles!
On Sunday 16 March, our very own Ms Hodges, Ms Mintern, Ms Bates and Mrs Smith put on their red & white stripy Where’s Wally? outfits and did a 5km jog around Victoria Park to raise money for the National Literacy Trust. They completed the route in a very respectable 45 minutes and congratulations to Miss Hodges especially, for doing the 10km in only 50 minutes! Mrs Smith said: 'It was a beautiful day, great fun and all for a very worthy cause.’ They raised over £300, and it’s a great example of ‘Civitas in Action!’
The Year 10 debate team won the opening heats of their Mock Trial competition, held at Willesden Court. Anithya Balachandran and Cullen Holas gave a sterling performance in defence and our defendant, Jai Stewart, (charged with handling stolen goods) was found not guilty. Iman Ahmadi Moghaddam also won an individual award for Best Prosecution Witness. He said it felt ‘wonderful’ to win and ‘We rehearsed well and as witnesses we were very specific.’ Jai declared, ‘We are all very excited to compete again at regionals in May, we had a really fun day!’ Congratulations to Miss Sutton and all the students involved for their hard work & excellent legal skills!
World Maths Day
The King of Pi, Mr Styles, came back again to secure his No 1 spot as he recited 103 digits of Pi, afterwards he said it was “Easy as Pi!” The day ended with a bang as The Choir, Maths Team and excited students sang The Pi Song! You could feel the excitement and genuine happiness all around the Main Hall. K i n g
As a Maths Specialist School, World Maths Day means a lot to us. One challenge was ‘The Hats’ challenge. The colourful and vibrant hats really showed off many students, as well as teachers’, creative skills. Each hat had mathematical value. Luke Coutinho (Year 7) chose number 11 to signify his age and a prime number, Miss Ryan (Maths Teacher) also showed off her creative skills as her hat represented the maximum number of fields in a data spreadsheet (1,048,576.)
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Primary Maths Challenge
Left to right: Athiya Greenaway Brown, Cyrus Walsh, Aditya Tiwary and Misha Malik
The ARK Schools maths challenge also took place recently at Ark Bentworth, with our primary students competing against seven other schools. We finished in 2nd place, showing how hard the maths department have been working to teach them all as much as possible. The questions made our students think hard about difficult maths, and they had to work together to find out the answers to challenging questions; of course, they got there in the end. The day was enjoyed by all, and Aditya Tiwary said “I don’t normally enjoy maths as much as that, but it was very fun.” Year 9 have been learning all term about which options they should pick for their GCSEs, and have been attending assemblies every week to get a better idea of the subjects available to them. On the 19th of March the most exciting assembly of them all occurred; drama and performing arts. The performing arts class then showed us a performance of the beloved “Thriller” music video, with very realistic looking zombie make up, professional enough to be mistaken for the original. One Year Nine said about the performance, “That could have been a performance in a real theatre”.
Edited by Jai Stewart
Kingswood 2014
This annual Y7 Kingswood tradition has been fully embraced at Ark Academy. Each year, the Y7’s are given a opportunity to go on a 3 day residential trip to Kingswood, where they can have fun but also meet other people that they wouldn’t usually hang out with at school. The simple fact is – if you don’t work as a team it will not only be boring but also, what’s the whole point anyway then? You’re supposed to make new friends on this trip! During our time away we employed all four core values in every single situation we were in.
The 3G Swing was a perfect example . Miss Cullen was “extremely scared but Miss Armstrong showed Civitas” and convinced her to do it! Despite it being “cold and challenging” the “team spirit” has been well embraced “through everyone’s participation” said Rares Maglan. In the most simple words; “an impressive residential” according to everyone! ARKeys team - Molly said ‘We, we are the ARKeys’ and when Tyreisse, alongside Stephen , said ‘unlocking our potential’ it was clear everyone on our team was inspired. Martyna wrote a song that served as a constant reminder of our passion for whatever task lay before us .We chanted it during all of the challenging activities such as leap of faith . Team 24 – The ’Furious Fifteen’ are particularly special because they did not all know each other at the start of the trip, but from Day 1 they were including everyone and being incredibly positive with one another.
I loved every single bit of it even if it meant I had to get muddy from head to toe. - Beheshta Harghandiwal I was in the amazing group ‘A Stars’ our slogan was “Teamwork makes our dream work” this inspired our team to do the best we could when working together- Ty-rell Alexander
Fun around the campfire - you can almost taste the roasted marshmallows! Sakhi Agni described the trip as ‘The best one of her life’ & said ‘My fears were captured by the leap of faith as I was shivering about getting to the top & leaping down. But I finally conquered my fears and was almost about to do it.’
Most people really enjoyed the trip but ‘the disco was the best”!
Miss Fearnley - Team 18 showed thorough & genuine support for their teammates, cheering & celebrating their achievements. Never did any member put down a team mate or suggest they had not tried hard enough. They bonded with incredible speed and at times, I forgot they were twelve and had just started secondary school.
Kingswood Good Deed Feed Ali Babukharkhel was very Civitas and did not force Robbleh to go any higher than he was able to on the 3D swing. Kieron Vassell made his own bed and 4 other people’s beds, I thought that was very Civitas of him & his mum for teaching him how to do it so well! Steanjae Willliams persisted, even when tasks appeared impossible, and demonstrated grit, maturity and resilience. Nadia Sorabji Stewart was a true team player & born leader while Kalthom Dahir quietly got on with everything participated marvellously.
Edited by Dawid Soltysik
Sport
Kadijah Jones, Sofia Valdes, Neola Suffren, Joana Hoxha (GK), Aspen Morgan, Eleisha Davis, Tianna Marrett The Year 7 Futsal girls were crowned champions of Brent Futsal Competition after playing 5 games including a hotly contested final. The competition was a lottery as the standard of our players was unknown against their opposition but in true Ark style they played hard and definitely strived to achieve. We were the winners of our group and had to play St Greg's. Two things Miss Addison advised were to make sure we cleared the ball away from our goal quickly to push the attack back and when we were attacking we had to push forward into the goal area and shoot at every opportunity. The final.....what a challenge! Lots of fast attacks by both teams and tight defence made for a very close match. We had slightly more possession of the ball and some very dodgy angles when shooting. Half-time & a little pray and we were ready for the second half. A shot from Aspen secured us the win and the title.
Pyramid practice! Investigating the ‘Participation Pyramid’ in GCSE PE...Nikesh Mehta (on the top) will surely never forget this!!
It seems like time has flown as we are already at the end of our second term and it seems like the right time to send a big shout out to Miss Addison and Mr O’Carroll for helping all of our school teams to be the best they can be. THANK YOU!! Badminton On 2nd April a group of Year 9 & 10s had their skills tested by playing matches against Year 11 students. Kiara Taylor said “ It was a good challenge and we enjoyed ourselves despite our loss.’ Typical of Ark Academy students to accept a loss and just use it as a way to improve!
Year 8 Gymnastics team handspring into 1st place! Two talented teams entered this year, a duo of Year 7 girls Ionie and Joana and a group of Year 8 girls Hannah, Jaida, Safiya and Mezdha. The Year 7s took to the floor first, their routine was energetic and balances were precise and held well. They narrowly missed out on first place to a very talented JFS pair. The Year 8 girls competed in the group category; their routine was flawless and perfectly timed. The judges congratulated them at the end for their gymnastic ability and creativity. When they won first place the girls were ecstatic! All girls have been working hard every week during enrichment and extra practices held after school on Fridays. They are already talking about next year’s competition!
Edited by Sonja Jajua
Year 10 Football Team show off their new kit
Of their last match, John Seraphin-Whyte said ‘Although there were a few errors goal keeping wise I feel we did our best which is what matters.’
Capital City kindly took us back in their bus – We didn’t think the underground would have let us on!
Middlesex Cross Country So the weather could have been worse……..however the mud was unreal! 9 of Ark Academy’s finest endurance athletes hopped on the train to Harrow on the Hill School to represent Brent and compete against their peers. The Year 7’s were first up, there were around 80-90 competitors per race all from different counties in Middlesex. The GCSE PE Boys had an exciting visit from Dan McMillan, the Olympian, who spoke to them about his journey as a handball player, from how he got started to the amazing experience of representing TEAM GB at London 2012!
Ali finished a respectable 51st, he loved the experience and the mud. Neola and Bisharo found it tough and finished together 72nd and 73rd, with Neola convinced she will start up training! Zion was able to beat his rival this time and finished 52nd with Ebou 63rd. Shanel put in a solid performance for the girls and crossed the line 66th. The Year 10/11 boy’s race was last. Andre finished 53rd but Antwayne was the stand out performance finishing 23rd, racing against pupils a year older than him.
B A S K E T B A L L After a fantastic season which saw them come out on top in two very difficult semi finals, sadly both the Year 9 and Year 10 basketball teams lost their finals by 3 points. Year 10 student James Dudhi-Price said ‘We played well and it’s a shame because now we can’t play regionals.’ Mr O’Carroll said ‘Unfortunately we were down by 6 points at the end of the 3rd quarter but in true Ark style our Year 10 boys gave it everything in the final ten minutes. With less than 60 seconds remaining we were within one point it looked like we were going to get the victory…as we went in search of the winning basket CCA managed to steal the ball and score to give them a three point lead. Even at this point we did not give up but didn’t manage to make up the deficit. All the boys were outstanding.’Although disappointed the boys are staying positive they’ll be back bigger & better next year!
16 pupils from Ark Academy spent a fabulous weekend at Wellington College. The SPARK choir and Fusion ensemble brings together pupils from ARK schools across the network for a teambuilding adventure! Pupils rehearsed together as a whole group, played chamber music with professional musicians and generally had a great time. We all returned tired but invigorated. A big thanks to the ARK Central music team for making this possible.
Primary Goes Old School!
Year 4 at Hampton Court
Year 3 at Reveley Lodge
As part of their studies on Tudor England Year 4 were treated to a visit to Hampton Court to learn how the Royals lived back then. They had a great day and enjoyed seeing the historic buildings. Meanwhile Year 3 were experiencing what it was like to live as a Victorian - fun was had by all but they are certainly happy to be living in modern times & not during the 1800s!
This edition of the Civitas Magazine was edited by a team of Y10 prefects, under the guidance of Miss Mintern & Mr Ding.
Ark’s SPARKS!
Ark Academy is an all-through school in Wembley and part of Ark Schools. Contact 0208385 4390 / www.arkacademy.org info@arkacademy.org
Ark Events & Trips