Civitas Magazine - Spring 2016

SPRING 2016 • ISSUE 17 News • Competitions • Spring Term

Ark Academy’s Official Magazine.

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Welcome from the Principal Dear parents, carers and students, It was another action packed term. So many opportunities and so much to be proud of. So many students do take advantage of these opportunities that we provide and I hope this edition of Civitas really demonstrates what a vibrant community we are.

I truly believe one of our unique features is the variety of events, trips and House competitions that we provide. An excellent example was Science Week which included trips to the Natural History Museum, multiple competitions from building spaghetti towers to spelling bees, lots of experiments at lunchtimes and even rocket launching. A huge thank you to science team but there are so many others I could mention, many of whom are included in the following articles.

Congratulations to our editorial team who have as ever done a fantastic job.

I have also to mention the opening of our wonderful new sixth form block which has been an incredible achievement and another fantastic provision for our students.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and spring break.

Delia Smith

Dear Civitas Readers, We hope you enjoy reading this issue of ‘The Civitas’ and the events that happened in this packed full term!

Dawid Soltysik Graphic Designer (Y12)

Here is the spring edition ‘The Civitas’ - we’ve been working hard to get all the stories published in time for press! Happy Easter!

Chandani Pujawani, Allain Del Rosario, Cameron Russell,Minali Alwis,Jada Eduvie, Iman Moghaddam, Izzy Addo, Kaftun Mohamed Osagie Ehigamusoe

Civitas Prefects

Farewell

Extract from Cameron’s Speech to Year 10:

Since Year 7 the school has offered multiple opportunities to help mould us into people who can succeed in school and also as young people outside of school. I took the opportunities that were presented to me with both hands and I am glad that I did.

These have contributed to making me the young man that I am today. I became form prefect and it gave me the confidence to apply for more leadership roles as I moved up through the years at school. I became more confident in selling myself as a wellrounded person and also improved my interview techniques and application writing skills.

From a very young age I was sent to multi sports camps during the school holidays by my parents it helped me to develop my communication skills and boost my confidence level. This blessing was practically reincarnated in my first Ark PE lesson with Mr O’Carroll. He exposed students to a few new sports but really introduced us to unconventional ways of playing games like basketball or football to help us focus on the fundamentals of the game and not the flashy stuff that we frequently see on TV. I have developed into a role model for other young aspiring athletes lower in the school.

My love for sport has also made me humble, in the sense that, instead of gloating about my grade for my practical marks in GCSE PE (by the way, I’m on 100% in my practical, just so you know!), I have developed into someone who is driven by their competitive nature to win.

Chandani

I started Ark Academy in Year 8 & looking back I was a very shy and frightened individual as the new atmosphere was a challenge to overcome. However my classmates were very friendly and made me feel extremely welcome. The school has provided me with opportunities that

have made me a more caring person such as North London Citizens which helped me acknowledge the problems in my community and help act on them. I am a much more confident individual and improved my public speaking skills by Debating. I did not expect to improve in such a way and am very appreciative.

Iman

5 years at any school will change you a lot, but no school will have changed me as much Ark has. This school has nurtured me and taught me not only the knowledge I need to succeed, but also the social and life skills I require to have a happy future.

I arrived towards the middle of Year 7. I had many problems fitting in as I was literally an outsider, so I immediately knew that it would be a tough year. However, with help from Miss Bowley, my maths teacher, and Miss Downey, my form tutor, I was able to surpass all my targets and my own ambitions, as well as getting a CIVITAS badge. From then on I felt like a true member of Ark Academy, ‘fulfilling my potential as a student and a citizen’.

Allain:

In the past 4 years that I have studied at Ark Academy, I learned a lot of things that have helped make me the person that I am now. What I have become is the product of the hard work that everyone in the school has put in to make us better students and citizens.

It taught me that in order to get what I want in life I needed to work hard in order to make that happen, as something's value and level of importance depends on how challenging it was and the amount of work that you have done in order to obtain it.

I expected to finish secondary school with acceptable and decent GCSE grades and a couple of certificates, but instead I am finishing with huge achievements that I can be proud of. Writing for the Civitas Magazine

was a great experience in which I learned a lot from and I hope that the next batch of Year 11 writers will too.

Izzy

Maturity and respect for others is something I have definitely learnt as those two lessons have helped me develop friendships with a variety of people with all sorts of different interests. I think that is something I have enjoyed the most- understanding that our world is extremely diverse, but that you have to go out and see it for yourself.

I’ve been inspired by amazing teachers who have fuelled my interests English and French, and now I hope to also specialise in those fields in higher education. The opportunities I was given by Ark helped me develop; being featured on BBC Radio talking about issues that affected our school and of course writing for Civitas magazine.

Kaftun

These last 5 years have been the biggest learning curve for me. I've learnt qualities about myself that I never knew I had and developed ones that I knew were important.

I wasn't the most out-going student, but with all the opportunities available, I allowed myself to step out of my comfort zone and try new things.

Being a prefect was an achievement that I was proud of accomplishing because it was a very respected role and it required a lot of trust to fulfil the role to an exceptional standard. I had responsibilities I had to attend to and needed to fully commit to them.

It gave me a real insight on life beyond high school. Ark has allowed me to develop skills that are crucial to everyday life such as confidence, organization, communication and good cooperation. I came in to Ark with high aspirations and I'm pleased to know all my hard work has paid off and I'm one step closer to achieving my goals.

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Primary World Book Day Edited by: Allain Del Rosario On the 3rd of March 2016 primary students celebrated World Book Day by participating in fun and exciting educational activities and events.

Every single student and teacher was given the opportunity to dress up and wear costumes to represent their favourite fairy tale characters that they proudly displayed on the catwalk. They posed individually or in groups together with their friends who were dressed as characters from the same ‘fairytale family.’

During the day each class had a buddy and did different reading activities which challenge their reading skills and helped them become better readers. Year 6 students kindly helped the Year 2 students by

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teaching them how to read – super Civitas!

Hrithika in Year 6 said: "It was fun as everyone was able to dress up as their favourite fairy tale characters and we were able to help other students improve their learning".

They were able to share their knowledge learned in class to help those students in lower years who are still at the early stages of reading. This day helped them to relax and take a break as a reward for the hard work that they have done in the past few months while being able to help themselves and others to learn at the same time. Definitely another successful World Book Day!

Year 6 Trip to Tower of London Edited by: Allain Del ARosario

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On 29th January 2016 Year 6 students went on a trip to the Tower of London to learn about its history by visiting various places within it that were of importance historically.

They took a tour and were shown sites where famous and significant events took place but also things contained in the Tower that were of great value.

These items show the history of the Tower's development, most specifically the Crown

Jewels which features some of the world largest and most interesting gems.

in the world which is located at the heart of the Tower.

Angel found the trip interesting and exciting: ‘It helped me learn more about the Tower's history and lots of things I didn’t know about it.’

It was built with the purpose to subdue and terrify Londoners but also as a deterrent against invaders. The children learned about the Tower's prison system and the punishments that were given to people – some of them were pretty gruesome!

They also saw the Black Ravens which were thought to be the guardians of the Tower and it was believed that their absence can cause the Tower to fall. They went to the White Tower, one of the most famous castle keeps

Amaan said: ‘It was a great experience and we learned a lot from it’.

Year 2 Maths Magicians Edited by: Allain Del Rosario On the 3rd of February 2016 four of the most mathematically talented Year 2 students - Ranen, Mishka, Zakariya and Heer, went to Globe Academy to represent our school by competing in a Maths competition with many other Ark schools.

The overall school winner was to receive the Ark Schools Year 2 Maths Challenge Trophy where their school name can be engraved on and be kept for a year. There was also medals for schools and individual participants, but all received certificates. There were four rounds in the competition in which students were tested in. Round 1 was maths puzzles which included Anagrams, Suduko, and Code Breakers and Round 2 was all about reasoning word problems. Round 3 was a race against the clock.

given 5 extra marks for good teamwork. We are even more proud of them displaying good participation and teamwork skills than we are at their success at maths! Ark Primary came an impressive third place and the children were each awarded with certificates, bronze medals and some chocolates.

The students had a great time and Heer said that if given the chance:" I would definitely want to do it again".

Zakariya said: "It was exciting, fun and I learned a lot from it. I really liked the Code Breakers challenge.’

A times table challenge required the children to remember a lot of information x2,x3,x5,x10, and as an additional challenge the children were timed for the 4x table that required speed and precision. This was the round our Year 2 students did particularly well in. The final round was the team challenge – ‘Maths in the world around us.’ This was a set of challenges were children were expected to apply logic and demonstrate teamwork such as using nets to build 3D shapes. For example a square based pyramid which students found challenging.

Teachers marked the children's work and our Year 2 students were Primary News

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Around the World in 60 Minutes Edited by: Iman Moghaddam A feast for the senses was provided by the English as an additional language department (EAL) as students and teachers celebrated their heritage during the ‘Around the World in 60 Minutes’ event and we enjoyed hearing from our wonderfully multicultural community.

Miss Hanna read the Egyptian national anthem called ‘Bilady, Bilady, Bilady’ which included the line ‘Above all people your Nile and countless graces’ to signify the citizens love for their country. Her Dad also helped to teach her the song and make sure she got it right – we think it worked!

Melina in Year 9 read a poem in Farsi named ‘Thank You’ where she spoke of two types of people - those that build you up and those that knock you down. She maturely said that ‘in the end she thanks them both, for what they have taught me.’

We got a valuable lesson in morality and how to treat our friends from Amira in Year 8, who told us a fable passed down from generation to generation in her family. It is entitled ‘For Tit, For Tat’ and tells of a camel and a fox on a journey to get food and the traits they exhibit along the way, some of them not very Civitas! The moral was not to be selfish, but considerate and never to betray a friend.

One huge highlight was the Bollywood dance led by Miss Haria, who was ably supported

by Melina and Ali – that group have some great moves and it was a lot of fun to watch their performance. The surprise rap by Mr Robinson certainly livened up proceedings as well!

To top off the festivities, Ghulam and Alshimaa made traditional middle eastern snacks for everyone to enjoy, which were very well received by our hungry performers. The entire occasion was a huge success and we hope to see even more countries represented at next year’s event.

Amine Abdouai: A Colossal Cook Year 11 student Amine Abdouai has definitely shown extreme talent and skill through his 3rd place win at the national finals of The Tabasco cookery competition. In conjunction with this issue’s theme of opportunity, Amine has shown the extent of taking action and taking hold of the opportunities given to him and succeeding!

The competition was sponsored by Tabasco Sauce and the owner of the company was present to see the action, also the competition was actually for over eighteens, but talented Amine, who already works as a chef at a hotel in Cricklewood overcame that barrier when his head chef noticed the greatness in him and knew he would succeed. Therefore, Amine was actually the youngest person to ever enter with over 1000 applicants. If that isn’t talent, I don’t know what is!

Every participant had to cook something savoury that had to include the signature Tabasco sauce, so Amine made a superb dish, which he came up with by himself! He said “For the finals I did something traditional and I came up with it myself as I was very passionate about it being from my background. So I made fruity steamed couscous with chicken, chickpea and pea risotto cakes deep-fried with a roasted onion dip and a 6

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hummus lemon and chipotle dip” The judges were impressed and rightly so, as they commented on the fact that he had the best presentation, the right combinations and tasty food.

When asked if he found it difficult Amine denied it as he put his achievement down to practise and hard work “I practiced so much, so I was calm and it ran smoothly” he said. With all of his hard work, he was rewarded as he came 3rd in the competition, he said “the best moment had to be receiving my bronze medal and prizes and presenting my food.”

The future looks bright for Amine as taking this opportunity can now lead to bigger and better things. His dreams and ambitions have certainly been catapulted by this experience and in the future Amine commented that he wants to finish his catering course, work on a cruise ship as a chef and travel the world, then finally own his own restaurant and be the first ever Algerian chef to do so.

A clear form of inspiration has been shown through Amine’s dedication and all of us can learn from him and seek to also achieve our own dreams.

Edited by: Izzy Addo

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Careers Day: Glimpsing our Future Edited by: Iman Moghaddam Year 9s will soon be making key decisions for their future. To help them make these decisions they had a drop down day with the purpose of giving them vital information and providing them with an insight into the futures they could have.

With help from motivational speaker King Cas, a number of business experts and our own Miss Haslam, who planned the day’s activities, the students had a “fun, exciting and educational” experience, according to Aksha Vohra. The entire day was spent discovering their true ambitions and learning the pathways to their desired futures.

Students were able to actually spend time thinking about what they want to learn in university and how they will get there.

The word of the day was ‘Experience’. Everyone learnt about the experience their teachers had and how they got to where they are now.

They were also able to see for themselves the atmosphere that would be present in professional workplaces and how they would be treated if they were employees. For one entire day the Year 9 corridor looked like a business conference with all the students wearing professional clothing, from suits to high heels.

Many students saw the day as a very decisive experience for them, especially with their GCSEs just around the corner and with them needing to make numerous important choices in only a few months time. I think Emil Ganea speaks for everyone when she says that the activities and speaking to professionals in different fields helped her with “knowing what the right decisions to make are’. I believe that is the best way to sum-up the entire day’s purpose and effect.

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Safe Crackers Stun at Maths Contest Edited by: Minlai Alwis The Year 8 Ark Maths Challenge was held at Ark Academy for the first time, with an impressive collection of Ark schools arriving to participate in the day. The day consisted of teams of four, from each school, battling in four rounds of a variety of challenges and competitions.

and in that time another team got the answer & 5 points more than us so we had to come 3rd place!’ The day was organised by Mr Edwards who did an impeccable job in running the entire day smoothly; he was assisted by four year 11 prefects: Nkosteng, Ubah, Chandani and myself.

The Ark team was a group of skilled and competitive Year 8’s: Shukri Lloyd, Bipanshu Sharma, Hasan Ali, Alicia Lawrence and Olivia Lee. It was a pleasure to witness the students putting their maths skills to test under timed conditions; the atmosphere and spirit of Civitas and excellence was evidently an contributing factor. The rounds were: Team Tension, Quiz Quest followed by Builders and Architects leading to the ultimate and most enjoyed round of the day…Safe Crackers!

All the schools rose to the challenge and giving up was not an option!

Nevertheless, Isaac Newton were awarded a well-deserved first place with 130 points. John Keats grabbed second place from Ark Academy by one point, leaving us in respectable third place. Hasan Ali stated, “It was something very different, we had many tough moments but we collaborated ideas and every round was a surprise.”

Shukri explained: ‘There was a four digit number with lots of questions about it and we had to figure it out and type it into the safe where there was chocolate! We were given clues to the numbers, i.e. there were two prime numbers in the code, there were two consecutive numbers, two even numbers etc. We had 3 tries to open it and you had to wait two minutes between each try. ‘ In the interests of fairness and Civitas, Mr Ahmed inadvertently ended up costing the team a 2nd place finish! As Shukri explained: ‘We knew the answer after 30 seconds but he made us wait the full two minutes

Perfect PI Day Edited by: Ms Mintern Always a fun day in our school calendar, as a Maths school we take our Pi recital very seriously and ensure we bring our A game every, single time.

As if reciting the digits of Pi wasn’t enough excitement, this year’s contest featured an entertaining new twist….the chance to Pie a teacher!

Yes that’s right, if a student recited 50 digits of Pi they got to cover a maths teacher of their choice with a foam filled concoction – if that’s not an incentive, I don’t know what is.

To separate the wannabees from the can-dos we asked that any students interested in participating send in their audition tapes showing them reciting Pi. The last section of the competition was of a culinary nature – our lovely teachers baked pies that staff could bid on, and cast votes for the best presented pastry on show.

Miss Ozeke was extremely happy with how the event went: ‘Pi and Pie – what more could you want? That’s because we had apple pie, cherry pie, pecan pie and mathematical Pi!’ The contest was brilliant, it was the best Pi recital we’ve ever had and I think the new element that Mr Ding designed, of having students enter- so they had to recite 50 decimal places before they could even take part in the competition was great. But the addition of being able to pie a teacher was fabulous too!

She was pretty impressed with our defending champion too: ‘Shukri was brilliant – I cant believe her mind works in that way, she just recites the numbers so fast!’

She recited 367 digits, over 100 more than last time and although she didn’t reach her target of 500 digits, it is a truly incredible achievement and we are all very proud of her.

As for the best baked goods, Jimmy in Year 7 had a clear favourite; ‘I think number 4 is the best because Miss Shotton did a good job with the cherry pie and it looks nice. Even before it got baked it looked nice, because of how she sprinkled the sugar and she didn’t do it too overloaded. I think that I would eat it rather than all the other pies!’

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The Great Ark Debate

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Edited by: Minali Alwis The Great Ark Debate was held at Dartmouth House, with 15 of the Ark secondary schools competing to take the victorious title.

The motion prepared and debated was: ‘Should schools expel bullies?’ followed by an unprepared motion of: ‘Should the media report on the private lives of public figures?’.

The Ark Academy team were, Bipanshu Sharma and Meesha Nathan-Stoute (Year 8), Nadia Stewart (Year 9), Annie Ward and Khatra Hassan (Year 10).

All our speakers rose to the challenge against teams with members much older than them and won all their rounds.

“The battles were fierce!” exclaimed Miss Lewis-Smith who was utterly proud of all the speakers that delivered their level best throughout the competition. Additionally, all debaters having never participated in a Great Ark Debate, they were professional and didn’t fail to disappoint with their well-constructed arguments, speech delivery and teamwork in every battle.

protected by the law.’ On top of this, Nadia and Bipanshu bravely participated in a mixed-schools debate and won both those rounds which is an excellent achievement.

Special recognition must go to Meesha ,who, out of 80 participants on the day, was awarded the Best Point of Information of the whole event. She explained:

Overall, having competed to the best of their ability, the Ark team were unfortunately pipped of a place in the glorious final by an all Year 10 team from Isaac Newton. A resilient team from Ark Helenswood Academy grabbed the winning trophy with Isaac Newton Academy coming second place.

‘I was very happy about winning this award because it was out of all the Ark schools so it was very good to be singled out.

My Point of Information was about protecting celebrities’ children from the media; someone said that their kids would be badly affected by bad press and then I said that in photos celebrities children and spouses are

Nadia mentioned, “Although I have debated in school before this was a new experience and I was nervous however, we challenged ourselves and did our best!”

Nevertheless our debaters left, with their heads held high, proud of their performance and hoping to return next year to take the title!

BBC School Report Day

Edited by: Iman Moghaddam A small group of Year 8s & 9s were able to experience a small insight into the world of journalism when they travelled to the BBC centre in central London, for BBC School Report Day, where hundreds of schools from across the country were creating their own news.

Especially now, with questions about freedom of speech around the world, we must see the importance of teaching everyone about the values of journalism. At the centre, the eager students enjoyed a beginner’s tutorial on the methods used for report writing. They also learned and improved their news anchor skills through an activity called BBC Minute, where they presented a story to an audience of their peers. They also spoke to the news readers

at the centre and received good advice about what to do to start careers in journalism. As a result of her exciting experience, Jasmine believes: “a future in news reporting is now a serious ambition for me.”

Amira tells us about her favourite moments: ‘We went to the actual BBC building which was really cool and it’s been a fun, new experience. We did BBC Minute where we used microphones and recorded our own news within 60 seconds; they broadcast these news stories around the world and mostly in Africa.

We went into the studio and he got us some microphones and a few headphones and we recorded ourselves speaking into them about

current new events from today. There was this one story about a cat and it was trying to mimick this Vine video when a hamster was on a spinning wheel, but the cat did it in the washing machine! There was also a story about a penguin that travelled 5,000 miles to and from Brazil to Chile, where he lived – all just to see his owner! We had 12 stories originally and had to pick 5; you only had 12 seconds to say each story.

The microphones were really cool but the way my voice sounded deeper than it actually is, that was weird. The technology and computer and the way he could record it and it went so quickly from us speaking to a real news story was cool!’

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World Book Day Edited by: Chandani Punjawani

On Wednesday 3rd March Ark Academy celebrated World Book Day. The day was a great success with events that everyone could be a part of. Throughout the day a ‘Reading Relay’ took place where a short part of a story was read in each lesson throughout the school. This made the day special as it allowed the Academy to ‘weave a bit of reading into the day’ to truly show our appreciation.

Poet Inua Ellams, a London based poet and playwright, ran extremely entertaining workshops with Years 7-9 where he asked them if they had ever lied, stolen or cheated in an exam. His reasoning for this question was

because poets lie, steal and cheat from other sources to create their own poems. Ellams also showed the students how to describe emotions when writing. Roshan in Year 7 said “It was great! I enjoyed the weird questions he was asking us. It really made me think”.

Miss Brandman explained: “The day went really well and it was lots of fun to have teachers reading their favourite books out at Real People Read”. Miss Clarke read ‘The Wee Free Men’ by Terry Pratchett. She said: “It’s one of my favourite books because my mum bought it for me when I was a child as it was also one of her favourite books when she was

little and she was so happy to see me enjoy it just like she did. I also have good memories of reading it as a child; Terry Pratchett is a funny writer so it was very entertaining.

Mr Edwards read the poem ’The Emperors New Clothes’ by Roald Dahl as it was something that would make the kids laugh.

He said “I like doing performance so I really enjoyed reciting this poem to them. Roald Dahl was one of my favourite writers when I was little and I feel like he is someone that is timeless as children now still enjoy his work and will continue to do so as his writing is always funny and entertaining to the children.”

Year 11 make History with Year 2 Edited by: Chandani Punjawani Ark Academy students become experts on Florence Nightingale when Year 11 historians pass on their knowledge to Year 2. Whilst the Year 11 teachers were nervous as they entered the classroom to begin teaching their lesson, the Year 2 students encouraged them with a great amount of support and excitement.

The lesson was extremely beneficial for both the teachers and the students, Mustafa in Year 11 said: “It was a great way to consolidate our learning and I will definitely revise by teaching from now on.” Asha in year 2 explained: “They were good because they made it slow so we could all understand

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everything they were saying. I liked that they kept on letting us listen and then have some time to write it down.”

After the success of the first lesson the Year 11 students were invited back to the Primary school where their students became teachers and led a spectacular presentation all about what they had learnt. Year 11’s Alex said: ”I was a bit frightened before I started but it was easier than I expected! I was surprised at how confident they were when doing their presentation definitely something I could learn from.” Stefania agreed: “They were so cute and I was so impressed when watching them

teach us”.

Real life History teacher Mr Coward feels the experience is beneficial all round: 'Year 11 get a really good opportunity to deepen their knowledge and become experts so that they’re ready to teach a topic.

It’s also really good as some of them may want to work with children in the future and some of them really enjoy working with the younger students.’The teachers hope to meet the students very soon to teach another full filling lesson on a different subject.

Ammar is Soaring to Success Edited by: Ammar Al-Kahachi

‘For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return’ Leonardo da Vinci Since I was young I have always aspired to become a pilot and now the dream is becoming more of a reality. It’s such a sensation when I am flying in the sky! I think there is a high demand for pilots as technology is improving and they transport a lot of people from Point A to Point B. My Dad also wanted to be a pilot but in Iraq there are not a lot of choices for professions there so he didn’t get the opportunity and now I want to become one and make the most of my chance. I‘m fortunate to be in a country where some of the best flight training schools are located & visited two of them earlier this term.

CAE OXFORD AVIATION ACADEMY From huge cutting- edge simulators to small piper aircrafts that you fly to gain hours of flight experience, I found it extraordinary!

The opportunity to experience flying a Boeing 757 simulator was phenomenal!

It is my dream to join and study at CAE Oxford as they also have partnerships with many airlines such as British Airways, Ryan Air, Easy Jet, & more. The academy aims to turn you into a fully commercial airline pilot holding a European licence to fly.

We were taught about the entry requirements, how much responsibility you have as a pilot and learnt about the facility and its resources and equipment. Ground school is the toughest phase you do and this takes 6 months to complete – its theory work and learning the foundation of how to fly the plane, classroom based.

After this you go to another country (Arizona, Phoenix or New Zealand) to continue training because they have more air bases and fuel is

cheaper than the UK so that’s why you go overseas. Depending on the number of recruits, this can take between 4-6 months.

When the cadets return to the UK they do their IR [Instrument Rating] training where you learn to navigate in really bad weather like fog and rain with plane instruments.

CTC AVIATION I also visited a more recently established excellent pilot school CTC Aviation. It’s an outstanding Academy with over 98% airline placement.

The staff were extremely helpful and experienced at giving advice and support which encouraged the cadets to gain confidence.

I spoke with two Captains – they both worked for BA and said: ‘the most important thing to help you become a pilot is to do extracurricular activities such as air cadets or other things they could potentially help outside of school.’

As a result of my journey and research, I have now joined Air Cadets to gain relevant qualifications and experience such as Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and First Aid. There are programmes called MPLs where the airline pays for your training and invests in you and then you are guaranteed a job at the end – almost like a scholarship programme – 5,000 apply for 12 places so it is a tough process!

SUMMARY Pilots do have a very expensive route - it costs £120,000 to train as a pilot and 3 years to receive a BA Hons degree in air management however it promises you a great future career.

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Dear Sixth Form students and parents, It has been a fantastic first six months for the founding members of our pioneering Sixth Form. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with every student and have been impressed with how they have made the ‘step up’ from GCSE to A Level.

There have been an enormous range of opportunities this term which have catered for a variety of student interests. Examples include: • Trip to Nottingham University • Visit to King’s College London • Interviews at international consulting company • Barclays Life Skills Day • History walking tour of London • Biology visit to the Natural History Museum • Medicine talk with Dr Hickling • Geography trip to Greenpeace • Trip to North London Collegiate School Chemistry Society • Numerous guest speakers to the maths Digits society • Work with the Brilliant Club and Nuffield Foundation • Student SLT and student prefect teams launched

Students have reflected on these opportunities and used them to inform their thinking for university and beyond.

Furthermore, students continue to have an excellent impact across the whole school, supporting houses and form groups at KS3-4, and supporting reading and handwriting in the primary school. Plans are afoot for them to also help in primary maths next term.

In addition to this, students are already looking at what courses and universities they might apply to for 2017 through a structured ‘Progress to University’ scheme of work delivered by tutors.

Following the fantastic opening ceremony of the new Sixth Form building we are extremely exited about moving in after the Easter break. It is a truly incredible building with exceptional facilities and state of the art equipment to ensure that our students have the best possible environment for learning.

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The summer term is when all the hard work pays off. It is vital that students build on the momentum of spring term in the run up to the AS exams starting in May.

SF Contributors Have a wonderful Easter!

Chris Fairbairn Director of Sixth Form

Principal Mrs Smith with Sixth Form Students at the official opening of the new sixth form building.

Geography Trip to Yorkshire Dales Edited by: Keliesha Cheese My recent geography trip to Malham Tarn showed me that I’m actually stronger than I look because despite all the death traps and over-whelming heights, I actually conquered my fear of heights! This was especially true when it came to walking down 500m high hill and even though I had my little tantrum on the way down, the feeling of accomplishment was beyond words. Due to the fact that the Wi-Fi was invisible it presented an opportunity to bond with my fellow Geoggers and find out their likes, dislikes and fears.

I also saw another side to Mr Chandler and Mr Mcgregor and found out that Mr Chandler has love of Caribbean food and Mr McGregor has vast knowledge of boy bands. The most memorable moments of the trip were me, Dawid and Clement falling in to the river one after the other and being able to watch the stars, it made me feel like a real tourist.

The Monday when we were leaving I was excited because I knew that some real good food was coming my way but I was also sad to leave because I knew that I would miss the fresh country air and twinkling little stars.

Going to Malham Tarn meant that I actually put my knowledge of post glacial landforms, rivers and population to the test. Having the opportunity to visit a settlement in Ariton allowed me to see what’s like to live in a rural area where your nearest global shop i.e. the Co-operative, is around 7 miles away.

We compared this to the settlement in Gargrave which was a rural-urban fridge area meaning that there were main roads and primary schools but it was still closed off from the urban world.

Overall my trip to Malham tarn was really enjoyable and even thought I complained a lot I would love to go again and do all the same activities.

Boot removal, Wembley style!

iravi Did Clement and Ka g than do more swimmin measuring?

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Auschwitz: A History Lesson Edited by: Haider Moosa Earlier in the year, myself and another sixth form student, Chris, were given the privileged opportunity of visiting the Auschwitz camps in Poland. In my previous history lessons, I have studied all about Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jews and so when the opportunity arose, I had to take my chance to envision all my historical knowledge in front of my eyes rather than in comparison to just words on a page. The experience for me was an overwhelming one and one that moved me. By seeing the desolate land, the small barracks, the egregious gas chambers, the remaining possessions of the Jews, and the barbed wires, it hit me in the sense that I couldn’t comprehend how vile humanity were.

How one could have the audacity and the hatred towards another race to try and wipe them out of existence beguiles and shocks me.

This epiphany was also helped by having a Jewish Rabbi accompany us who helped us understand the history of the Holocaust and

the background of Jewish lives. As well as that, the Rabbi caused the 1 day trip not only to enhance my historical knowledge but it also changed my view on life and how privileged I am to have such an easy life in comparison to the hardship of the life of the Jews during the rule of the Nazis.

Due to the event being such an inspiration to me, I felt that it was my obligation to spread the message of the Holocaust and to re-humanise the innocent lives that were murdered in camps such as Auschwitz, whether that’ll be Jewish, Black, homosexual, or even disabled lives. Therefore I presented my observations and key lessons that I learnt from my time in such a moving place, to year 9 students through a brief 15 minute assembly.

didn’t only persecute Jews (although they were the majority) but also targeted anyone that wasn’t part of the Aryan race (blue eyes, blonde, physically fit). My presentation was a nice way for the Year 9’s to be motivated to also spread the message about this egregious event in history, but it was also a way to consolidate my knowledge and lessons that I took from the trip.

In the presentation, I focused on two key messages: 1) that every life that was immorally murdered is significant and that we should not overlook the figure 6 million. 2) That the Nazis

Barclays Teach Year 12 Life Skills Edited by: Aysha Lohan Barclays Bank treated our budding businessmen and women to an important session of life skills, teaching them effective communications practices and the benefits of team work.

Marilyn and Raeesa took these lessons from the session: 'To have confidence, to be a leader and to have a strong will to lead a group is what the communications side has taught us. I know how leaders should deliver their communications ideas to the staff members now and to the team; e.g. your voice needs to be strong and clear and your message needs to get across in a direct and explicit way.'

One of the activities involved viewing two different leadership styles - that of football managers Jose Mourinho and Alan Pardew - and assessing which one was most effective.

Amaad opted to emulate Pardew: I wouldn’t want to be like Mourinho because when things get rough he starts to throw a little hissy fit or a tantrum and that’s not good. I would adopt Pardew’s because even though it was not working out their way,

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he took responsibility for it and didn’t blame anyone.'

Aspiring footballer Ridwaan agreed as he looks for ways to apply the advice on the pitch: 'Effective leadership style is someone who shows a keen interest in the team succeeding and not just himself; I’m a centre second midfielder so once I get the ball I’m usually the one who creates opportunities. I would like to contribute more to the team in that sense.'

The students were also struck by how they could put the advice into effect within their schoolwork: Sara said: 'I will probably change the way I run my societies now and how I set up the meeting that we do in SLT because they showed me that leadership is about working together, not individually. When I’m organising enrichments, I will talk to everyone on my team together, delegate roles equally and so people can do them to the best of their abilities.'

Raeesa feels her university applications will benefit: 'The UCAS statement is a big thing so I can use the communications ideas and apply them when I’m writing my personal statement.’

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Guitar Greatness Edited by: Aysha Lohan

Part of the music A-Level course entails studying the history of British pop music from the 1960s to the present. Of course, it is simple to read a list of musicians per decade and make a few comparisons but that can only get a person so far. In order to help us get a better understanding of British pop, Ms Sharp had brought in her friend, Les Davidson, a session guitarist for over 30 years, who has had a first-hand experience of British pop history.

Les began the talk with an introduction to the musicians that had, in his view, a significant impact on the world of British pop (for those that are interested a few of the musicians were: The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, David Bowie, and The Beatles). Being a session guitarist, Les knows

a lot about music technology and how it has changed which is more important than we had originally thought. He taught us that a guitar can have pedal effects which is able to give musicians their signature sound, an example being Led Zeppelin who used a lot of overdrive to give their solos a raw, bold and, most importantly, Led Zeppelin sound. What was even better was he showed us, using his own guitar, what each pedal had done letting us tamper with the levels of those effects. It was like an experimental prog-rock concert to which only three people had turned up! As a member of a band myself (The Daffodils, if you care to give us a listen on SoundCloud) I found this particularly helpful as I can now use new methods to create a sound that is unique and recognizable.

Dodgeballs of Steel Edited by: Aysha Lohan All work and no play makes for very dull boys and girls but we made sure the hard work of our Year 12s was rewarded with everyone’s favourite pastime….. a Dodgeball tournament! Each form took no mercy and the main competition was simply a prolonged warm up to the death stare showdown of STAFF VS STUDENTS. We’re sad to say that Staff triumphed this time but hopefully a re-match will be on the cards before long – hey Sixth Form Team, shall we make it best of 3?

Illaha said: “It’s so fun, I haven’t done something like this since Year 4! I wish we could do this more often – it’s a good way to let off steam and communicate because we’re all in different sets and bringing everyone together in one game is a really good idea.”

Mr Cumberbatch said: “I’m exhausted – we played well but it took until game 3 before I was in the zone haha and I’d already given away important wins. But we did our best and tried to put in a good performance.”

From winning form team Sartre a thrilled Isra explained their game plan: “I’m so proud of my form and our strategies were really good – girls at the back boys at the front! Then we came in when we felt comfortable and it worked!”

Thanks to Mr O’Carroll and the sixth form team, especially Mr Ding and Miss Lewis Smith for organising such a great afternoon.

Sixth Form Pages

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Back to the Future at Notts Uni Edited by: Shaniqua Devonish During this half term, I got the chance to go on two University trips, to Nottingham University and Kings College London.

Both of those opportunities were amazing. Upon arriving at Nottingham on Friday 5th February, my first thought was ‘It isn’t for me.’ The campus seemed very big so it included a lot of walkingwhich if anyone knows me, walking is not for me! We were then given a talk about the university, what a campus university is and about staying on campus and what we can expect from our life there.

This was a fabulous experience and it deepened my understanding of universities in general. We were then given a tour by student ambassadors.

They were studying subjects that ranged from Sociology to Business and I was lucky enough to meet one who was doing Medicine (the degree I hope to do) and she gave me good insights into life as a medical student. By the end of the day I had Nottingham in my top 5 choices of uni. Moral of the story, don’t judge a book by its cover!

On Thursday 25th February I got a chance to go home to Kings College. I was very excited for this trip as I have always wanted to attend Kings College since I embarrassingly thought in Year 11 that it was a sixth form college. The historical Kings building just adds to its homey touch and makes it even more

appealing. Kings College is one of the oldest universities in London and has been around since 1829. I feel like it is the perfect university as it has a mixture of everything from the education to the activities, to the history and it’s in the heart of London. We had a tour of one of the campuses and it was very eye opening, from the massive libraries to the intimate classrooms. The view of the London eye from the bar area made me feel like a tourist!

I am very grateful for these opportunities and I hope we have more to come next term.

The Philosophy of the Brilliant Club During the Spring 2 term I was pleased to find out that my application- a paragraph explaining why I should be part of the project - was accepted. I was especially determined to try to be part of the Year 12 brilliant club this year because the topic was philosophy and this is part of what I would like to study at university (Politics, Philosophy and Economics or Maths and Philosophy) so I thought this would be a great introduction to what I could be possibly learning about in the future.

Part of the Brilliant club experience is taking visits to two Russell Group universities (at the beginning and end) and our beginning University trip was to Kings College London. This was a great experience because I had the chance to see what a London university looked like and helped me decide that I might apply to some London universities after all.

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Before sitting through a session of being advised on how to write an academic essay, we also met our tutors and were given an overview of the topic we would have to write a 2,500 word essay on by the 6th of April. The title is ‘Consequentialism, Retribution or a compromise?’.

The other year groups were given essay questions based on different subjects such as Science, English and Maths to name only a few. After two tutorials I am finding the justifications of justice from various philosophers very interesting, by exploring these justifications we were able to differentiate from physiological, sociological and natural arguments.

This makes me glad that I applied for the Brilliant Club this year because I find that even though I have to constantly catch up each week from my lessons, it’s completely worth it.

Edited by: Sonia Jajua

House Music Competition Edited by: Kaftun Mohamed The House Music competition returned with a bang once again and the performances, not to mention the atmosphere, were better than ever. Socrates took first place with Nuradean performing the beautiful piano piece ‘Nuvole Bianche’ by Ludovico Einaudi.

Mr Edwards, Head of Socrates house, said: "I first got Nuradean to audition by playing in House Assembly and I was blown away by his talent and knew we were onto a potential winner!" He also added: "I am really sad to be leaving Socrates at the end of this term so it is great to know I am leaving the house in such talented hands! Rock on Socrates!"

Second place went to Milola and Alice from Curie house, performing 'I Need' by George the Poet. It was a huge crowd favourite and the flawless delivery by these two super talented students stunned everyone present.

Milola commented on the preparation and the performance itself by saying: "I was very nervous when preparing but when I got onstage, I was happier knowing I expressed it the way I wanted to and managed to remember it. It felt amazing being able to inspire people."

According to Yash, who sang a duet, the atmosphere was "extremely positive, all the different acts supported one another" and the crowd cheered for everyone clearly showing their Civitas support. Evidently, the event celebrated the different talents students at our Academy have and this year really set the bar high for House Music 2017!

1st Nuradean

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Milola & Alice

Renne & Yash

Socrates House

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Sixth Form Pages

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Women in Sport Edited by: Kaftun Mohamed On Wednesday 8th February, Ark Academy hosted Women in Sport day alongside the Jason Roberts Foundation. The event highlighted the importance of sports and the different roles women could pursue in this varied industry.

Mr Edmondson, PE teacher, described the day as “absolutely fantastic!”

When asked of the benefits the day brought, he replied saying: “There were so many inspirational speeches from not just players but other women in the industry. It raised awareness to females taking part in sport and for the younger girls to participate outside of their PE lessons.”

During the speeches, the journeys different women took to get to where they were evidently encouraged the other girls to strive for their own goals whether within sport or not.

The day didn’t just consist of speeches; schools from all over the Brent area came to Ark Academy to participate in the fun. There was athletics, basketball and other sports that weren’t available at many schools like golf and boxing so the girls could try a sport they had perhaps never done before.

Safiya Adesanya greatly benefitted from the activities provided:

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‘I usually do feminine sports so to take on another role in a male sport during this event, it really inspires me to do a variety instead of just performing how society expects me to.

I enjoyed golf because we got to hit the ball at this man in an inflatable suit with a target on him and they gave us different types of skills to perform in golf which was interesting.

I also liked how our football coach told us how she got into her job and how you can get into jobs like being an official, volunteering after school or during enrichment which boosts your performance and maybe into leadership as well.’

Shaakeelah Greenland, a Year 11 volunteer on the day was inspired by the message behind the event. She said: “It was clear to see the variety of opportunities available. I didn’t know that there were that many fields of work in sports that one could pursue.”

It was great to see the cooperation skills being shown. Girls who had never met before socialised and played well together, promoting togetherness and teamwork.

The day was extremely valuable to all of us, it showed the respect that women in the sporting industry needed to gain and how they did it.

News

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Sweet Success for Senior Team Edited by: Cameron Russell

The Senior team entered the season with a loss against the best team in the league which was JFS, but we didn’t let that loss affect us. After that match we won game after game and were able to reach the final and play against our old foes JFS again. The game was tightly contested and all the action happened in the last minute or so of the game. There was under a minute to go and we were down by four points.

I brought the ball up and quickly passed to James who immediately pulled up for a three and swished it through so the JFS were only ahead by one. Then I went up to press their point guard and was able to steal the ball from him and dribble up the court for a lay-up. At this point there was about twenty seconds left and we needed a defensive stop to steal the win. The JFS point guard dribbled the ball up the court, with less than 10 seconds left in the game; I reached across him to steal the ball and was surprised when I took it away from him.

I sprinted up the court for a lay-up and landed behind the back board thinking that I had missed but when I saw the ball had dropped through the hoop everyone started screaming and yelling in excitement. We now had a three point lead with six seconds left. The whole team played lockdown defence to close the game and when the final buzzer sounded we were all jumping up and down as we had finally regained our title.

A jubilant James felt that ‘As a team we came together as a group and didn’t let our age or inexperience in the senior league ruin our performance’.

Personally, I felt that our high team morale and our passion to win for every second of the game was the main reason why we were able to win and reclaim our title.

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Brent Basketball Champions 2016 Edited by: Cameron Russell We’ve done it once again, can you believe it? Great team efforts were put in by all year groups as Year 8 through to the Senior team of Year 11 & 12s were able to retain or reclaim their Brent Basketball title.

Unfortunately, Year 7 weren’t able to claim their first Brent basketball title but they put in a tremendous effort and couldn’t have played any better. Year 8 however played extremely well all season and were able to claim the Brent basketball title in a great 53 – 14 win over Preston Manor and secured their place in the Nationals next season.

Following this, Year 9 did not disappoint as they won convincingly 5424 in their final over Queen’s Park Community School with a fantastic dominating display.

Moving on to the higher end of the school, the Year 10 squad were going into their fourth consecutive Brent basketball final. They were the reigning champions since Year 7 and constantly came out and played as a cohesive unit on the basketball court. For the fourth year in a row they showed why they have dominated the basketball court since year seven with a very convincing 68-13 win against St Gregory’s.

An ecstatic Matthew David-Tate said: ‘The team showed how well we can play together, we communicated well and didn’t let the big lead make our performance drop’. Teammate Joel Agyekum agreed: ‘We came out with the right mentality that allowed us to play the best we could to regain our title’. It was a great team win from a match that was played extremely well from start to finish.

Brent Indoor Athletics This term, Ark has been successful in many of its sporting competitions. One huge event was the Brent Indoor Athletics. This competition saw a group of Year 7s and Year 8s run, jump and throw their way to victory!

Edited by: Izzzy Addo

Despite the contest being held indoors, the usual races, relays and field events were still kept intact and the talent and persistence of our student body was displayed as our Year 8 boys’ team came 1st! Isaac Adelekan in Year 8 commented on the essential tactic of the group: “We worked well as a team & made sure we communicated.” Henry Opoku, in Year 8 spoke of the challenges of the event: “The 100m race was hard because you have to race against people you’ve never ran against before, and the javelin was difficult because the actual javelin was hard to throw.” This displays the hard work and excellence of the students as they participated and tried even when faced with difficulties.

The girls team did not disappoint either, as the Year 8 girls came 3rd in the competition and the Year 7 girls also won their rounds.

Miss Addison, Head of girls PE said “It was a really good day, but equally it was tough, really tough.” Paris Maduro in Year 8 was confident in herself and her abilities as she told us she found the competition ‘easy’. However she did mention ‘the 6 lap race was hard and it tested me so much.’ Overall, the event was a success and we can only look forward to more talent being showcased in future competitions.

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Good Deed Feed...

Ark Academy celebrates the good deeds that have happened during our spring term. Have a look below, can you spot your name?

During the student elections, Euler had 2 candidates, Yash Shah and Jazmin Fields.

Both gave very strong arguments as to why they should be elected and it showed with the results... Jazmin won by a single vote, which came from her opponent Yash!! Had he have voted for himself, then it would have been a tie!

Mr Ahmed

Lonie in Year 9 wrote out the melody part for her friend’s assessment, as they had been unable to work it out themselves.

Miss Walker

My three AS students, Ciara Barrett, Aysha Lohan and Simeon Adesanya have provided a musical interlude for House Music and will be playing at the opening of the 6th form building. Two of them are playing instruments that they don’t normally play!

Nathan and Prashina in Year 10 made fabulous cakes as part of raising money for Cancer Research for their Duke of Edinburgh award. They raised £360 which is a fantastic amount of money.

They also spent a great deal of time baking as everything they sold was home made.

Miss Sharp

Ms James

- All of the Year 11 students who served canapés and drinks at the Sixth Form Opening Ceremony – they did an impeccable job and were professional, smiley and mature all evening. Very impressive!

Miss Mintern

Munasar Hassan 9FO displays Civitas behaviour on a daily basis. He is polite, kind and helpful to everyone in the school.

He is a such an important and valued member of our form, he is respectful to his classmates and always listens to the opinions and problems of others.

Mr Gidman

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Chrisanne James for seeking out a new opportunity by joining the girls’ rugby team, and attending every practise session and game since she has joined.

Yasser Dadd and Ammar Al-Kahachi for compering the Storytelling event during Around the World in 60 days – they definitely pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone and did a fab job as hosts!

Mr Edmondson

Miss Brandman

PE teacher Miss Gallagher for making the most of her opportunities and forming a football team to compete in the People’s FA cup. Over 4000 teams entered and her team ‘She Can Play’ has battled against teams from across England and reached the finals of the tournament representing London, on March 19th in Sheffield. Amazing achievement!

PE Department

Thierry and Joshua were very helpful to me at the Natural History Museum so I bought them a ‘Thank you Costa’!

Miss Hickling

Natasha Chauhan is always going the extra mile to help out her peers and younger students in the library. She is an excellent teacher and mentor for younger students.I can tell she has really established a bond with some of them, and that helps to make the library a warm and welcoming place for all. I am so impressed by her commitment to citizenship, hard work, and friendly attitude every day!

Miss Dineen

oUR cAME sIXTH f SUCH ORM A WAY! LONG

Design & Graphics | Dawid Soltysik

Photography | Christina Donellan & Emma Franklin Articles | Susan Mintern & Y11 & 12 Prefects