Attleborough Academy Times www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Spring 2019
Sixth Form Presentation Evening - Page 22
Stage Lit Performance at Norwich Playhouse - Page 18
Annual Presentation Evening 2018 - Page 4
Ski & Snowboarding Trip 2019 - Page 14 working with
Academy Times Spring 2019 Principal’s Foreword out to acknowledge the success of our students. Acknowledgement is one of our main core values and so we thank all those of you who help us reward the success of our students so admirably. Similarly, we held our annual Sixth Form Presentation Evening where our main speaker, entrepreneur Kieran Miles, delivered an inspirational speech to our returning Sixth Form cohort from 2018 encouraging them all to take every opportunity in life to achieve their dreams and aspirations.
Welcome to the Spring Term 2019 edition of the Academy Times. This edition highlights the many success of the Academy since before Christmas which seems so long ago. Last term, was where our core values came to the fore in the Main School Presentation Evening which gave us the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate with the year group that had collectively achieved the highest grades ever at the Academy. As our main speaker, we welcomed back ex-student Rob Jones who is now the Chief Superintendent, Police Commander for Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea. Rob entertained us all with a thought-provoking speech that also included his recollections and admirations of our own Mr Davies. We were also blessed to be treated to a stunning performance from world renowned soprano Soeun Jeon who flew in from Italy to be with us on the evening. I would like to send my appreciation to those businesses and organisations in our community who sponsored the many prizes and trophies that we give 02
Last term was another period in which students were offered an incredible range of opportunities. As I always state, I do think that the impressive variety of cultural, education trips and activities that you can see highlighted in this publication are a tribute to the dedication and commitment of our wonderful staff. When you consider that each trip and activity has to have an enormous amount of preparation to ensure that the event can run smoothly and safely, we all do owe an enormous amount of respect to the staff who, despite the increasing national pressures to focus solely on results, still show the level of dedication to offer so many of these experiences which so enrich the development of our students. Our new building programme is also picking up speed as we are now in the final decision making process of interior design before work commences in the Summer Term which will see the existing mobiles to the front of the Academy demolished and the new Reception Block built which will also include Art, Drama and the Student Support Centre. In this Spring Term, we will hold our final set of mock exams for our examination years and so I would like to thank all of our students for their continued commitment to their studies and I wish Year 11 and Year 13 particularly, all the best of luck with all of their upcoming exams. I would also like to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication and all our parents and carers for their continued support. We will now look forward to the sun shining in the Summer Term and so I would like to wish you all a very happy Easter break with your families. Mr McShane Principal
Netball Round Up
Year 8 Netball tournament @ Wayland 6th March 2019 – Match Report On the 6th March 2019 we competed in a netball tournament at Wayland Academy. Our first game was against Wayland and we won 4-0. We had previously played this team before so we had a rough idea of their game play and tactics. Then we had a short break, during which Mrs Sparrow and Miss Norton gave us advice on coming forward to collect the ball. Next up we played Iceni and beat them 3-0. At 4:45pm we competed against Diss and won 5-0, this was a tough game because their defense was strong, but Ruby Minns and Sophie Randall worked around the circle well and their shooting was very accurate. The next school we played was ASHS, in this game we were very strong together and used good strategies. We intercepted many balls which meant we were able to score from their centres. From good passes, interceptions and brilliant shots we won 6-1. Everyone played superbly and communicated well. We maintained a good stamina throughout the tournament. In the final we competed against Wymondham College. They are our toughest opponents! Both teams played brilliantly and by the end of the match Wymondham College had beaten us 7-1. But AAN kept our heads high and had a positive attitude throughout the game. After the tournament had finished the player of the match was Danni Overton for brilliant interceptions during every game. Well done Danni! Thanks to Mrs Sparrow and Miss Norton for coming and encouraging us in the tournament.
Other Netball News Year 11 Netball team continues to grow in strength after their visit to the Regionals earlier in the year. They have now progressed through to the South Norfolk League Semi Finals against Diss. Year 9 Netball also continue to grow as a team. This year they have played at the National Schools Tournament, county round and they are South Norfolk League Semi Finalists. They play Hobart on Monday 11th March – well done ladies! Year 7 and 8 netball games are now taking place, so look out on Twitter @TSparrowAAN for results.
Maisie Baldwin www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
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Annual Presentation Evening 2018
On Wednesday 5th December, staff and students celebrated the remarkable achievements of Year 11, who had produced the highest GCSE grades at the Academy to date, and also those students from throughout the Academy who have garnered great success across a diverse range of accomplishment. During the evening students from Year 11 proudly collected their examination certificates. Individual subject awards were also presented. Further to this, trophies were awarded to current students in each year group who have excelled in participation, respect, independence, determination and excellence, the key principles of the Academy. Students were also rewarded for progress within subject areas across the year groups. The Academy Hall, packed with an audience of staff, parents, students and local dignitaries, were delighted to listen to the inspiring words of the Guest Speaker for the evening, Mr Robert Jones, a highly successful former pupil at the school. Now having risen through the ranks to Chief Superintendent, Police Commander for Westminster, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Mr Jones was well qualified to talk to the students about setting high goals, having aspirations, as well as a focus on how to achieve them.
the wonderful Soeun Jeon sang Puccini’s tender ‘O Mio Babbino’ followed by a beautiful operatic rendition of ‘O Holy Night’, with soaring high notes that impressed all. The audience were delighted by the impressive performance and students are still talking about her voice and the incredible emotion in her singing. The Principal, Mr Neil McShane, stressed how “grateful and fortunate” we were to have a world class soprano singer “flying in specially from Italy” to perform at Attleborough Academy. Staff and students are most grateful that students were awarded a permanent memento for their achievements, due to the generous sponsorship of many local businesses. The valuable link between the Academy and the community is ever strengthening, widening students’ horizons. It was a tremendously successful evening with parents and staff being able to celebrate the achievements of our wonderful academy students.
Attleborough Academy was also extremely honoured to have a special guest, the internationally renowned opera singer Soeun Jeon, at its annual Presentation Evening. She has performed globally, training with the best and having the same voice coach as Pavarotti. Soeun now lives mainly in Italy, focusing on leading masterclasses and supporting young people to achieve their musical ambitions. It was fantastic to hear a live professional performance of such high standard in the Academy hall. Accompanied by the Academy English and piano teacher, Deirdre Marr,
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Year 7 - 10 Award Winners
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FUNDRAISING SIENNA POCHIN
JUNIOR PREFECT OF THE YEAR KATIE CURSONS
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN BOXING LYDIA NAGLE
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FUNDRAISING CAITLIN TAYLOR
PROGRESS AWARD YEAR 7 ALIX KUBALA
PROGRESS AWARD YEAR 8 RITA ALEEVA
PROGRESS AWARD YEAR 9 RHIANNON CHAMBERLAIN
PROGRESS AWARD YEAR 10 TILLY WARREN-PETERS
SIMON GANT AWARD LOUIS PRESTON
DETERMINATION AWARD YEAR 7 ESTELLE MAHER
EXCELLENCE AWARD YEAR 7 HARVEY JUDE
INDEPENDENCE AWARD YEAR 7 NEILA EZERSKYTE
PARTICIPATION AWARD YEAR 7 HOLLY MORTIMER
RESPECT AWARD YEAR 7 RALPH FISHER
DETERMINATION AWARD YEAR 8 ELOISE LILLEY
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Year 7 - 10 Award Winners
EXCELLENCE AWARD YEAR 8 MILLIE GUNN
INDEPENDENCE AWARD YEAR 8 ERIN ANDERSON
PARTICIPATION AWARD YEAR 8 SCOTT SUGGITT
RESPECT AWARD YEAR 8 MIFFY GRANT
DETERMINATION AWARD YEAR 9 KAI RUSH
EXCELLENCE AWARD YEAR 9 CHARLIE SCOULDING
INDEPENDENCE AWARD YEAR 9 THOMAS LAMB
PARTICIPATION AWARD YEAR 9 RUBY SMALLWOOD
RESPECT AWARD YEAR 9 JAMES MARJORAM
EXCELLENCE AWARD YEAR 10 AMELIA ANEMA
PARTICIPATION AWARD YEAR 10 EMMA SQUIRES
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INDEPENDENCE AWARD YEAR 10 TALYN WOODROW
RESPECT AWARD YEAR 10 JAKE STACEY
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Year 11 Award Winners
ALL ROUND ACHIEVEMENT AWARD DAISY EKE
ART AWARD IN EXPRESSIVE ARTS SARAH SMITH
ALL ROUND EXCELLENCE IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION TILLY ANEMA
BUSINESS STUDIES AWARD JESSICA PERRY
D&T AWARD GP - LASMA CISEIKO & LUCY SPURGEON
DAVID BARTRAM AWARD FOR DETERMINATION JESSICA JAMES
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ART AWARD HANNAH SEYMOUR
CITIZENSHIP AWARD ELLIE PRESTON
D&T AWARD PRODUCT DESIGN - MIA KRUGER
DRAMA AWARD ELLIE SANGER
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AWARD ELEANOR GINNS
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Year 11 Award Winners
FRENCH AWARD MATTHEW WALLIS & ALEX GOOD
HISTORY AWARD MADISON CUBLEY
ICT & COMPUTING AWARD CALLUM LODGE
MUSIC PERFORMANCE AWARD JOSEPH ROSALES
MATHEMATICS AWARD BECKY EDE
ORACY SKILLS AWARD CHLOE MATHISON
OUTSTANDING PROGRESS AWARD MATTHEW WALLIS
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HEAD BOY & HEAD GIRL MATTHEW WALLIS & CHLOE MATHISON
GEOGRAPHY AWARD FRASER ARDEN
MUSIC AWARD EMMA FOSTER
OUTSTANDING GCSE RESULTS MIA KRUGER
RELIGIOUS AWARD MEGHANA SUNIL
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Year 11 Award Winners
SARAH MEAD CORE SCIENCE AWARD JESSICA JAMES
SARAH MEAD SCIENCE AWARD MIA KRUGER
SENIOR PREFECT OF THE YEAR HANNAH SEYMOUR
SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD RACHEL BICKEL
SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT HARRY CANHAM
SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT JESSICA JAMES
All of us at the Academy would like to extend our thanks for the generous support of these local businesses, without which we would not be able to organise such a successful and important event: Acutech Precision Engineering Ltd Bello’s Pizzeria Caroline Flaherty Christmas Carnival Dolphin Double Glazing Services East of England Co-op Funeral Services Edwards and Blake Ewin Farms Ltd Family Car Sales Great Ellingham (St James) Scout Group Great Ellingham Pretenders Martin Christopher Opticians Mellor Metals Millbank Estate Agent Nuts ‘n’ Bolts Repco Roof Tiles Ltd Richard Johnston Sherbourne House Hotel St Marys Church Tom’s Fish Bar Weatherill Brothers Ltd William French
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Tender Arts Year 9 Workshops
Tender is an arts charity working with young people to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence by promoting healthy relationships based on equality and respect. In January two of their workshop leaders came to AAN and worked with a group of our Year 9 Drama students for an intensive two days. In this time they learned about the different kinds of abuse through workshops and created performances to share their knowledge with the rest of the year group.
like. Michelle and Gary from Tender Arts said that the Year 9 students worked with an enthusiasm and understanding of Drama that they would expect to see from trained actors. Well done to all of you involved for taking part in something that was engaging and educational. Theatre that makes a difference to people is the very best type of Theatre! It was great for Year 8 to have this experience and it was reinforced a few weeks later with an assembly from the Police about Safe Relationships.
At the end of the second day the whole of Year 8 came to watch these performances in the school hall. They were incredibly impressed by the standard of the work and, more importantly, left the hall more knowledgeable about recognising what a healthy relationship looks
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Library Events
English Speaking Union (ESU) - Spoken Shakespeare Update Last week AAN held the first round heats of the ESU’s Spoken Shakespeare competition.
As well as being Valentine’s Day, the 14th February is also International Book-Giving Day. To mark these celebrations the library hosted ‘Blind Date with a Book’. Each year the BookTrust kindly provides free books and resources through their School Library Packs. These books were wrapped in brown paper and put on display for students to choose from; the idea being that students would be issued with a book not knowing anything about it, encouraging them to not judge a book by its cover and to take the opportunity to try a genre of book that they might not ordinarily choose. This proved to be a popular event, with students excitedly unwrapping their books to find out which one they had chosen!
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The annual World Book Day celebrations took place on Thursday 7th March, with activities happening throughout the day. During form time we had the InterHouse Book Quiz, where a tight battle saw Kett victorious, with Nelson in 2nd place, Boudicca 3rd and Cavell 4th. Then at lunchtime we had a World Book Day party. As well as balloons, bunting and party snacks, students had the opportunity to play games, recreate book covers in our ‘photo booth,’ and enter a ‘How Many Words are in the Book’ competition. The book was Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban containing 107,253 words – congratulations to Thomas in Year 7 for winning with the closest guess of 107,200!
The external adjudicator Laura Tompkins, who is a former AAN student, felt that the competition was very close, but eventually decided that Ellie, Maggie, Emilia and Holly had won through to the Regional Finals. Many congratulations to them. All the students worked very hard on learning and performing their lines and there were also exceptional performances from Chiana, Thomas and Chloe, but unfortunately only four students could be chosen to represent the school; Chiana was chosen to be first reserve. Good luck to our finalists for the regionals on 3rd of April in Ipswich.
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New Technology Helps Norfolk School Pupils Predict the Impact of Global Weather Events This term Year 10 students were given the chance to learn about the impact of weather and climate events, using an innovative new tool developed by the World Energy & Meteorology Council (WEMC). Kit Rackley, WEMC’s Education & Program Officer and a former Geography teacher, came into AAN to help lead the session with two groups of Year 10 students. The sessions used a web-based tool called the European Climatic Energy Mixes (ECEM) Demonstrator. The demonstrator was designed in collaboration with WEMC’s partners in the UK and Europe, to help the energy industry and policy makers assess how well energy supply will meet demand over different time periods, by visualising climate and energy data. By assessing historical data about key weather events across Europe, the demonstrator helped the students to predict the impact of climate change and anticipate future risks. AAN is the first school in the UK to use this tool as a teaching resource, currently only two other schools have used the demonstrator; one in France and the other in Ghana. After the session the students were able to give some feedback to Kit on how the programme could be improved for future use in education.
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TITAN Three of our Year 11 students have successfully passed their TITAN Green Test, enabling them to travel independently by public transport. Well done to Ben, Kelli and Charlie who have all made amazing progress on the TITAN scheme over the last few years.
Year 11 trip to the Sainsbury Centre
On Wednesday 13th February, we took a group of Year 11 GCSE Art students to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich where we were joined by artist Genevieve Rudd. After exploring the permanent collection on the theme of portraiture and making drawing-filled zines, we turned our 2D sketches into 3D wire and mod rock sculptures. It was a joy to see all students engage with the activities and being confident to explore more contemporary working methods. Genevieve applauded the students for their work. To finish off an exciting day, we took a walk through the sculpture park, creating more drawings and reflecting on a great day! www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
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Ski & Snowboarding Trip 2019
This year 14 students travelled to Italy to enjoy the challenge of skiing and snowboarding. As always, we had a fantastic time and this year the sun truly shone on this trip. The beginners group took to the slopes like professionals and really put in every effort to progress as fast as they could. Even when they fell over they managed to get right back up again and plough on. They even surprised the teachers when they said they had skied in part of the resort which is notoriously hard to ski in and full of red pistes!
loathed by snowboarders. However, this year’s group of snowboarders manged to get the whole way down the run without having to constantly push themselves which shows talent in their ability. Yet again the weather treated us kindly and we had back to back
sunshine all week. Après-ski events included bum boarding and a torchlit ski where all the schools grouped together and skied down the slope whilst holding glowsticks. We went on night walks to the gelateria to try out all the tasty flavours; chocolate and hazelnut were clear favourites within this year’s group.
The intermediates and advanced skiers also progressed really well each day and, by the end of the week, the group come down one of the most infamous black runs in the resort, “Paradiso”. There were some tough moments and lots of screams could be heard from some members of the group but there was a tremendous sense of achievement in completing it. The snowboarders also loved being out on the slopes and they all got stuck in to the fun. They even managed to finish off the “Huskey Run” with flair by the end of the week. This piste is long and flat which means it is usually loved by skiers and
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The following awards were given out this year: • The Hansel and Gretel Award for dropping his gloves all the time – George Simcock-Brown • The Crash Bandicoot Award for bashing in to lots of people – Beth Evans • The Beth Tweddle Award for the most gymnastic moves on the slope – Erin Anderson • The “For the Emperor” Award for being the most passionate about Warhammer – Jonnie Swaddling • The Phone Escape Artist Award for dropping their phone off the balcony – Ella Cockerill-Banks • The Jenga Award for falling over the most – Kelli Parratt • The Best Beginner Award for the most natural first-time skier – Morella Clarke • The Kung Fu Panda Award for best looking tan lines – Alfie Williams • The Frozen Peas Award for the most unusual food choices – Jake Hensley • The White Rabbit Award for always being last to be ready – Liam Allen • The Vanguard Award for watching over his group and supporting the instructor – Connor Pettifer And a special three-part award went to our “Sweet Caroline” 6th form choir: • The Three Tenors “Pavarotti” Award for group vocal talents – Seb Cawley • The Three Tenors “Domingo” Award for group vocal talents – Kit Neil • The Three Tenors “Carreras” Award for group vocal talents – Charlie Mahoney As a final thanks from the teachers to the students on the trip, thank you for making it such an enjoyable trip and we’re glad you had fun. www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
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Curious Incident London Trip
GCSE & A Level Drama Trip to London At the end of January 2019, over fifty of our Attleborough Academy Year 9, 10, 11 and 13 Drama students experienced the wonder of the world renowned play “The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time”, when the smash-hit National Theatre production returned to London for a limited season after an acclaimed UK and International tour. This live theatre experience - a play which brings Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel to the stage and is the recipient of seven Olivier Awards and five Tony Awards - fulfils a vital part of the students’ GCSE and A Level courses. Trips like this provide a truly effective learning experience by modelling excellence in the subject area; a production of this quality provides the opportunity to really boost their overall grades in their live theatre analysis.
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During this trip, led by Head of Drama, Ms Jones, the students gained vital understanding of a diverse range of acting, movement and technical skills that can be employed to enrich a performance. The students all had a fantastic day out and were a total pleasure to be in the company of throughout the trip: they received praise from all the adults they encountered, on the journey and at the theatre, for being such excellent representatives of the Academy by showing such maturity and impeccable behaviour.
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Critique of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time” by Year 12 Drama student Ellie Sanger: This intricate National Theatre original production, with movement created by Frantic Assembly is based around the novel by Mark Haddon. The central message that was evident to me, was how strenuous life can be for those living with autism. The director clearly deemed it important for the audience to leave with the understanding of the complexities of everyday life that people suffering with Asperger’s syndrome must endure. The protagonist Christopher used a mathematical and logical approach to his personal, everyday problems, which enables him to have a sense of control over the chaos. His analytical mind is presented on the stage: The End on stage was transformed into an abstract, 3D space/time graph. When Christopher faced something challenging, a kaleidoscope of words and prime numbers were projected on the walls and floors of the stage in a chaotic manner. This showed an insight to how complex Christopher’s psychological self is and the difficulty to make order and sense in his mind when facing a world so overwhelming for him. One of Christopher’s most prevalent personal struggles was his lack of ability to verbally express his emotions. To overcome this struggle, his teacher Siobhan shows him to use simple drawings of facial expressions to convey his feelings. These simple drawings were drawn by Christopher on the stage floor and then projected onto the back wall of the stage. The illustrated faces were a recurring theme throughout which reinforces the raw truth of Asperger’s; it is a constant battle to control and express their internal emotions. We see his difficulty to interact with people on an emotional level again when he uses people as objects when going into his house. This use of physical theatre shows his inability at the beginning of the play to connect with people, even his family. Christopher does improve throughout the production; his journey makes the audience form a personal connection with him. We see the set around him evolve a lot faster than his personal, internal progress, this shows how he finds it hard to keep up with the chaotic, confusing world. The constant movement from Christopher shows how his body and mind don’t have a break. The only time we as the audience saw him motionless was when his father hit Christopher out of frustration. There was a sound effect that occurred when he was hit, which I interpreted as a fuse blowing. This made me thing of Christopher like an electric circuit, constantly overflowing with energy, and at this moment his father knocked the energy out of him. This is a cataclysmic point in the production. It portrays how autism effects everybody surrounding the person suffering, as well as themselves.
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In Christopher’s case, his Asperger’s has pushed his parents to separate and for lies to develop as a result of bottled up frustration. This makes the audience now empathise with both Christopher and everybody around him who cares for him. We see Christopher fantasises about being an astronaut, he was carried around stage like a rocket which brought his fantasy to life for us watching. The stage was covered in star constellations as Christopher uncontrollably reveals his never-ending knowledge regarding physics. His intelligence is astounding to the audience and shows an aspect of Asperger’s that is a gift. Soon after we are reminded of the ongoing negatives associated with Asperger’s. Such as Christopher’s high attention to detail and obsessive nature. The obsessive aspect of his personality is evident when he is determined to solve the mystery of the murdered dog. We see how much it plays on his mind when the outline of where the dog once was remains on stage. This shows how people living with autism are constantly preoccupied with so many thoughts. Another dominant part of Christopher’s personality is how particular he is with specific things that could be considered irrelevant to anyone else, such as opinions on colours. He expresses his hate for the colours yellow and brown and his love for the colour red. These colours are used subtly in characters’ costumes to show their relationship with Christopher. His neighbour who he forms a bond with, wears red laces, whereas his mother’s new partner wears a yellow waistcoat to convey the negative connotations with their relationship. These colours play a crucial part in portraying Christopher’s progression, for example: he is gifted with a golden Labrador puppy, he names him Sandy (which has connotations with the colour yellow). This symbolism may seem insignificant but for the audience to experience Christopher’s struggles in everyday life and to see this improvement, it felt like we had viewed a huge accomplishment alongside him. This production is hugely educational about the many aspects of Asperger’s and the convincing role of Christopher enabled the learning to happen. I was amazed by the actor’s impeccable talent maintaining this role throughout the entirety of the play. Without his believable performance, I think the audience would not have understood the exhausting, painful life style that is paired with Asperger’s syndrome.
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Stage Lit Performance at Norwich Playhouse Year Ten Drama students from Attleborough Academy delighted their audience with performed extracts from Blood Brothers at the ‘Stage Lit’ evening at Norwich Playhouse in February. Our English and Drama departments work very closely together and synchronise our curriculum to support student learning from Year 7 right through to Year 13. ‘Drenglish’ is something we promote and our students love. The value of seeing an English text brought to life through experiential learning is visible in terms of engagement and progress and Stage Lit gave us a chance to showcase this on the professional stage.
Blood Brothers is a set text for English and Drama GCSE and our students have seen the benefits of exploring the script on their feet and taking this fresh understanding back to their English classrooms. A highlight of the preparation was performing to the whole of Year 10 one afternoon, this was brilliant revision for English students and was a useful ‘Dress Rehearsal’ for the performers. Apparently performing to their peers was much more terrifying than a public audience! We have two classes of GCSE Drama students who performed their work as an ensemble and individually. It was fantastic to have the chance to perform to a wider audience and we also had the experience of a technical workshop to support our understanding of how stage lighting works. The standard of work produced reached an all time high and it was evident from the rapturous applause and standing ovation how well received the 18
performance was. Our students radiated joy and energy and it was wonderful to behold the pride they gained from being a part of something so fantastic. Mr McShane said that he ‘particularly enjoyed seeing the same sections interpreted and performed in different ways’ and ‘was #AANprouderthanproud.’ Ms Jones said that she knew they would be good but they surpassed even her high expectations and is particularly delighted by the fact they have managed to transfer all this understanding and experience into writing for the written exam! How fantastic to have opportunities to perform in a professional venue, have fun, entertain others, be a part of a team and grow in confidence while you are preparing for a GCSE. Well done Year Ten Drama Students! We are looking forward to seeing Year Twelve perform their devised piece of theatre about Refugees at the Playhouse on 26th March. www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Cast List: Gediminas Anuskevicius Kieran Best Leah Bailey Owen Bonner Eva Blake Joshua Brett Ben Bluck Deimante Cepkauskaite Max Brooks Isabella Cole Rhiannon Chamberlain Aoife Cross Ellen Cursons www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Francesca Eadle Gabriel Ferreira Poppy Edwards Charlie King Millie Eke James Marjoram Jack Halsall Lucy Rowling Kamile Kurlinkute Eve Royden Joe Mihalop Kayo Santos Megan Mortimer
Jessica Sayer Aidan Norman Megan Schofield Lucy Norman Charlie Scoulding Percy Overton Tala Smith Matilda Parsons Alfie Tyas Amber Perry Alfie Vlatseas Summer Priehs Harry Watson
Kai Rush Abbie Wilson Ruby Smallwood Guoda Smazinaite Liam Stewart Nathan Talbot
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Christmas Concert On Wednesday 12th December, the school opened its doors to host the annual Christmas concert in the main hall, organised by the Music Department. There were a variety of musical acts, ranging from solos to ensembles, and encompassing a wide range of musical styles. Over fifty performers from Year 7 to 13 took part in the concert, ranging from beginners, who had only started learning in September, to more experienced students. The concert was managed by GCSE and Sixth Form Music students, who organised rehearsals and managed the overall event. It was a fantastic evening enjoyed by staff, students and parents. A massive thank you to all who attended and well done to all our very talented performers and tech crew.
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Music Workshop Sixth form and GCSE music students were treated to a two-hour interactive music industry workshop from Sam Robson, founder of Industry Education in Music. Sam has a world of knowledge and experience of the industry to share with students from his own success as a touring musician to running his own business. He presented opportunities in the new digital music industry and how students can access these as a creative career path in this growing sector. A wide range of topics were covered, from DIY bands and solo artists to management, PR, festivals, touring and social media. The workshop covered the many career paths in today’s music industry and provided a great insight for those students wishing to take their music education further and continue their studies.
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Sixth Form Presentation Evening
On Friday 4th January we held our annual Sixth Form Presentation Evening, and had the pleasure of welcoming back our Year 13 2018 cohort to celebrate their great successes during their time in our Sixth Form. Over the course of a highly enjoyable and moving evening a range of awards were distributed with the aim of acknowledging and rewarding not only our students’ great academic achievement, but also to recognise accomplishments such as individual progress and achieving in the face of adversity. The evening was led by Mr Cole and Mrs McConnell, with each of the Sixth Form teachers presenting their individual subject awards with short speeches recognising the individual talent in each case. This was a truly wonderful occasion attended by many of our past students, their parents, our Principal Mr McShane, past staff members including ex Head of Sixth Mr Brian Hunt and members of the community, including our Mayoress, our Chair of Governors, and many of our sponsors. We were delighted to have the opportunity to welcome as our guest speaker, the young Norfolk entrepreneur Mr Kieran Miles. Kieran is the founder of a number of businesses, including
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KakeCo, a management consultancy helping organisations ranging with an annual turnover of between £2M and £1.1B to better understand the ‘digital age’ and the 16-30 markets, #DigitalCity which seeks to connect young people, students and parents to exciting digital businesses in their local area for the purpose of sharing ideas, and The Avocado Club which provides new age networking opportunities for business leaders. He is the recipient of many national awards – he was named as one the UK’s Top 26 entrepreneurial change makers under 30 – is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society and the lead of the IoD’s young directors forum in Norfolk. Kieran talked passionately to the audience about his entrepreneurial initiatives, starting from his school days, the interesting pathway that led him to establishing different organisations, and his latest project – the company DUCO who had recently secured the contract to provide the sportswear for the GB Climbing Team in Tokyo 2020 Olympics . His inspiring and lively speech was very well received by the audience. This year was a particularly warm community event with a number of our current Sixth Form students contributing brilliantly to the running of the evening in ways that enhanced the atmosphere of the occasion. A group of our current Sixth Form Year 13 Presidents were in charge of refreshments for the occasion. Sixth Former, and photography A Level student, Jamie Cator was the official photographer for the event, both of the stage presentations and also for posed pictures offered to the audience during the evening. Incredible musical talents were also showcased in the musical performances of two of our current Year 13s: Esther opened the evening with her heart-breakingly pure and emotional rendition of Hugo Peretti’s Elvis recorded, ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ and then again wowed the audience with her opening of the second half of activities with the Beatles’ classic ‘Here Comes the Sun’; Lily Whear brought a very different musical style with her powerful and beautiful Deh Vieni non tardar from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro.
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The evening was made possible by the hard work of many of the Academy staff and by the generous sponsorship of local businesses and members of the community and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors below for their support: • Acutech Precision Engineering Ltd
• Great Ellingham Pretenders
• Attleborough Surgeries
• K M First Aid
• Breckland Industrial Ltd
• Mellor Metals
• Brian Hunt
• P F Southgate
• Connaught Bowls Club
• Plandescil
• Crowshall Veterinary Services
• Repco Roof Tiles Ltd
• Daniels Plumbers Limited
• Richard Johnston
• East of England Co-Op Funeral Services
• Susan’s Work Basket
• Ewin Farms Ltd • Family Car Sales
• icanbea
• Tom’s Fish Bar • Vera Dale
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Sixth Form Presentation Evening Prize Winners Subject Award
Prize Winner
Subject Award
Prize Winner
Art
Niamh Bates
Maths
Shannon Hall
Biology
Alex Whitefield
Photography
Harley Evans
Business Studies
Hayden Wilby
Product Design
Edward Bye
Chemistry
Bethany Alexander
Psychology
Ella Gilchrist
Computer Science
Dylan Walsh
Sociology
Tala Donga
Creative Writing
Emma Seager
Brian Hunt Award for Progress
Harry Goodrum
Drama
Keziah Collier
Keith Maughan Memorial Golden Moustache Award
Jackson Cutts
English Lang/Lit
Gemma Woods
The Sarah Mead Award for Endeavour
Senna Watker
English Literature
Eleanor French
Head of Sixth Form Award
Ella Gilchrist
Geography
Spencer Everett
Edward Bye
Health and Social Care
Gemma Woods
Principal’s Award to Lead President 8” Salver in Presentation Box
History
Adam Spiby
Principal’s Award to Lead President 8” Salver in Presentation Box
Keziah Collier
The breadth and depth of the qualities and achievements of this year group was an inspiration to bare witness to; this was a wonderful evening greatly enjoyed by everyone who attended.
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Sixth Form Christmas Meal In December, Year 12 and Year 13 students were full of festive spirit and brought the year to an end in style. The Presidential Team coordinated the organisation of the annual Christmas Meal at the newly reopened Breckland Lodge. Seats were in high demand as students and staff filled the venue to enjoy a festive feast. It is fair to say that some took the allyou-can-eat carvery to a new level! Following the event, Mr Nevard (@djnevardAAN) tweeted: “Great to join so many of our AAN Sixth Form students for a festive feast! Thanks to Breckland Lodge for another wonderful Christmas Meal - so glad to see you back up and running, with consistently excellent food and service.�
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ARTiculation Regional Final at the Sainsbury Centre
Images provided by the ARTiculation team at The Roche Court Educational Trust
A group of Year 12 and Year 13 students took part in the national competition ARTiculation run by The Roche Court Educational Trust. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop their critical thinking, independent learning, knowledge of research methods and oracy skills. They had the opportunity to express their own ideas on art works which can include works in any medium, from painting, sculpture and architecture to fashion, photography, media and graffiti. Each student built an insightful research project based on their own artistic interest and gave a presentation on this work to a panel of judges. In January, we sent our school finalist, Julia Jopkiewicz, to the regional heat held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts judged by curator John Bloomfield.
The curator and judge of the competition thanked Julia for her perceptive talk which championed the world of fashion and gave it a prominent place in the studies of art history. Karine Akroyd, one of the teachers involved in the project, commented: “We were all incredibly proud of Julia’s performance – her piece represented a fascinating and unique contribution to the world of art historical studies, the academic insight and depth of analysis demonstrated her raw talent in this field, alongside her clear and confident oratorical skills.”
The ARTiculation regional heat involved eight schools and provided a fantastic showcase of young people’s talents, with a wide range of final presentations, including fresh interpretations of Picasso, Pop Art photography and Julia’s outstanding talk on Alexander McQueen’s Voss collection. Having created her own project from indepth independent research, Julia constructed a unique and fascinating presentation on one particular dress from McQueen’s ground-breaking exhibition. The talk demonstrated incredible academic rigour, critical thinking skills and clear confidence in the delivery of her speech. 28
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As part of the longevity of the project, each of our speakers will be able to join the ARTiculation alumni group administered by the Roche Court Educational Trust. This will enable the students to access other opportunities as they continue in their careers and academic studies beyond school. We have very much enjoyed seeing how our students have flourished under this programme and look forward to hearing more about their adventures within the network in the future.
Senior Maths Team Challenge In November last year we took four sixth formers, Alfie Holmes, Kit Neil, Mia Kruger and Callum Lodge to the CNS school in Norwich for the Senior Maths Team Challenge, organised by the AMSP. We were competing against twenty other schools from Norfolk in three different rounds. The first round was ten problem solving questions where they could work as a four to share techniques and ideas and answer as many as possible in forty minutes. The second round was a Cross number where the answers to the mathematical clues fill in a crossword type grid. This was quite tricky this year as lots of the questions were dependent on others, so one pair had to wait for another to get their answer before they could complete their question. There is no conferring allowed between pairs, but they were so focussed on the questions they didn’t really talk anyway!
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The final, most tense round, was the relay. Again in pairs, they had eight minutes to answer four questions, but each answer was needed to substitute into the next. Our team did brilliantly, working well together, communicating effectively and being more successful in their approach compared to last year.
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Children in Need Yet again this year, our Sixth Form Presidential Team coordinated another wonderful fundraising effort in aid of the Children In Need appeal. A range of activities took place, including a bake sale, Pudsey loose change bucket collections throughout the day, and even Mr Stott surrendering himself to a soaking in aid of this charity! Esther’s legendary delicious cookies - baked in collaboration with other Year 13s, Kate, and Julia - made a return, and were sold around the Academy throughout the day. It wasn’t long before the donation buckets were as full as everyone’s stomachs.
Overall, a superb £237.40 was raised on the day by our students. This will help to contribute to the £50 million that was raised nationwide, all to help make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK. Well done to all the students involved.
Grow Wild Youth Project As part of the sixth form volunteering programme Mia Kruger was successful in her application for a Kew Gardens’ Grow Wild grant. Mia had to prepare a short video in application to show how she would spend the money on promoting interest in native wildflowers. This is the first time Kew Gardens have funded a project of any type in Norfolk and we are very excited to use this money to support our academy garden. Mia was awarded £500 which she has decided to spend on building a seated arbour with a sensory garden around the academy pond. She will be putting her artistic skills to good use painting a floral mural directly onto the arbour. The idea is to provide students with somewhere quiet to reflect, relax and re-charge within a sensory rich outdoor environment. The arbour is currently busy being painted ready for construction and planting as the good weather continues.
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The winter was a quiet time in the garden, but we have manged to get out on a few occasions to keep on top of weeding and maintenance. Our kindly donated greenhouse is nearing completion thanks to Mr Groves who has been busily constructing it in the back of his lab in his spare time! We have a few winter vegetables to harvest ready to make room for spring planting. If students would like to join us, we are in the garden every Thursday lunchtime and if teachers would like to use it as part of their lessons but are not sure how then just let Mr Brahams know!
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The Sixth Form & Staff Giant Book Swap
This March saw the third in our highly successful Sixth Form and Staff Giant Book Swap events. When doors opened for the Book Swap, the Sixth Form block was buzzing with our staff and Sixth Formers swapping ideas about books in the process of choosing their swaps. These occasions have been set up by Assistant Principal Mrs McConnell to promote the joy of reading across Attleborough Academy, by establishing a lunchtime event where everyone comes together to restock their home library and by providing an opportunity for everyone to share their views about specific texts and explore perspectives about reading generally. The Book Swap was created with the aim of extending students’ exposure to texts across a large range of genres and topics and to role model prolific readers. In the weeks leading up to the event Sixth Form students and staff donated hundreds of books, both fiction and non-fiction, hardback and paperback: from classic novels, historical novels, modern literature, through to children’s classics, history, crime and fantasy. In return for each book that they donated, individuals were given book swap tokens ready to
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use to ‘purchase’ books at the book swap event. It was exciting to note the extensive range of texts that our students and staff enjoy reading as the piles of donated texts came in prior to the occasion. On the day itself, a group of A Level English Literature students worked with Mrs McConnell, carrying books, organising them into categories and labelling and laying out the room ready for the event in the Sixth Form Centre. Within a short amount of time piles of books
quickly found new homes and readers to appreciate them. Any books that remained at the end of the day were then taken by a group of Sixth Formers and donated to local charity shops: not only had some great reads been shared amongst staff and students, but this event also provided benefits for the local community. All in all this was a very successful and enjoyable event, providing the great gift of some spectacular reading hours for everyone who took part!
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Year 12 Volunteering Programme & St Edmund’s Care Home Training
This year our Year 12 students have engaged with enthusiasm in an innovative and highly valuable volunteering programme at Attleborough Academy Sixth. Arising from this project, Year 12 students from the Academy were given a great opportunity to take part in NHS run professional training about dealing with dementia issues and care of the elderly. The learning session was open to those students who already visit St Edmund’s Care Home each week as part of our volunteering programme, and others who are considering working in caring professions; this offered a fantastic chance to gain relevant experience to increase their future employment chances. The first session took part at St Edmund’s and was attended by both our students and the staff of the Care Home. Further training sessions are to take place over the year and we feel privileged to have this learning opportunity opened to both our staff and students. Since September, for the first time at Attleborough Academy, all the Year 12 students joining the Sixth Form are timetabled to carry out at least one hour of volunteering each week over the academy year. Our Year 12 students were given the opportunity to give an hour or more of their time each
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week supporting charities and groups, both locally and within the Academy. The students’ involvement has been shown to have a wonderful impact on the lives of those that they have chosen to support. In St Edmund’s Care Home the residents talk of the pleasure they gain in the interactions with the younger generation each week. At Christmas they presented our students with delightful individual gifts and they look forward to their visits each week; wonderful relationships have been established across the generations. In the academy garden, in the library and in a variety of main school lessons and in leisure time,
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teams of Year 12 students have also made a great impact working and supporting the learning of younger students. This initiative aims to educate our young people on being part of a society, rather than just an isolated individual and to show them the importance of ‘giving back’ to the community of people that make up our wider world. By the third week of September 2018 each and every one of our Year 12 students was engaged in a volunteering activity, ranging from working with younger students at the Academy by supporting their reading development, through working with Junior and Nursery students in the town, to gathering the life stories of the elderly. Debs Carter, from the Lighthouse Project has been a key advocate of, and positive force, working with Mrs McConnell on the project from the original idea through to its successful implementation. The project was introduced by a series of workshops and presentations led by Assistant Principal Carmina McConnell, Debs Carter, and Jen Pochin from the St Edmunds Care Home. The team presented the students with the external opportunities available, which included visiting as a team St Edmunds Care home to socialise and support the elderly, to working at The Lighthouse Charity teaching computer skills, to supporting at The Pavillion Nursery with the youngest members of our local community. The students had opportunities within the Academy to support lessons of subjects they studied at A Level, sharing their skills in much younger classes. This has the added benefit of them honing their own skills in that subject as they shared their knowledge with others. Other opportunities included volunteering in the library reading projects, work with groups in Citizenship, Drama, and teams in PE, and to be involved in the gardening club run by the Head of Science. Once the different options were presented to the students, they then had to write an application and be involved in group interviews. The applications and interview process also provided our students with valuable experience as they move towards the world of work. www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Mrs McConnell, Assistant Principal commented: “We are so proud of what these Attleborough Academy students have achieved through this volunteering programme. It is such a crucial part of a young person’s education to recognise their place in society and the importance of helping and supporting others in the community. Our Year 12s have embraced this project with great enthusiasm and commitment and they have built relationships with people of different ages, and have gained insight into the power they hold to make a difference in the lives of other people. We are hoping this programme will continue to develop and expand; we are so grateful for the input given by Debs Carter and Jen Pochin to help ensure the success of this project”. We hope for this project to continue to go from strength to strength. If you are involved in a local charity or caring organisation that would benefit from our students volunteering one hour a week with you, then please email: cmcconnell@aan.norfolk.sch.uk 33
Surgery In Schools at U.E.A. In February, our Sixth Form students were offered the chance to attend ‘Surgery in Schools’, an event for medics-to-be in sixth forms across Norfolk at the UEA Campus. It aims to encourage students who are interested in Medicine to absolutely go for it, providing invaluable insights, while also helping them to develop some skills. Meghana, one of our Year 12 students who attended, said that “If you’re someone who is solely looking into medicine as a future career path or even just considering it as one of many, I would highly recommend attending this suturing event. Suturing isn’t a compulsory skill you are expected to perform before attending medical school but it’s great to have a better awareness of the process beforehand.
The day started with students (mainly Year 12s like me) being split into groups so that everyone in a group was from a different school to one another. Each group was assigned a friendly medical student, who gave us a tour of the UEA’s Library- a medical student’s ‘second home’ as one described it, a suturing tutorial using plastic skin models with incisions on it and finally, a hands-on demonstration on operating a small-scale laparoscopic machine. I should add that the last two tasks were quite fiddly but still enjoyable. During these activities, the medics answered our doubts and questions on studying medicine at a degree level and the steps they took getting there. For me, it was a very insightful opportunity that allowed me to interact with fellow aspiring medical students and actual medical students themselves which would be incredibly unlikely to happen otherwise.”
“Paper Birds” Year 12 Drama Workshop Year 12 Drama students had the great opportunity of learning new performance techniques through a workshop session run by Chloe Diggines. Chloe had recently experienced a week of training in these techniques at the National Theatre in London and she visited the Academy to share the skills and approaches she had learnt with our A Level Drama students. The workshop began with a stream of consciousness exercise, then developed to explore a wide range of techniques for communicating these to an audience. Drama student Harry Weaver commented: “I really enjoyed this because it helped me to uncover and explore different emotions in certain situations.” Year 12 Lucy Spurgeon added: 34
“When we performed the ‘Paper Birds’scene I felt it really reflected the emotions we were trying to communicate to an audience.” All in all, the students greatly enjoyed the learning experience and felt that the workshop effectively helped to extend their skills base for achieving at Drama A Level.
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Student Achievements Congratulations to Lily in Year 7 who had a very successful time at the ISTD Grand Finals 2018 Modern Ballroom & Latin American which took place in The Winter Gardens, Blackpool. This was Lily’s first competition as a Junior. In the Ballroom section she danced the waltz and was placed 6th from 32 competitors and in Latin she danced the cha cha cha, achieving 4th place out of 29.
Another success came with Year 11 student, Lydia, being chosen to represent England in boxing. She fought in the International Boxing Show, with England beating Wales 8-5 in the competition. Well done Lydia!
Well done Lily!
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Sixth Form: Accepting Applications for September 2019 Achieve your aspirations with Attleborough Academy Sixth Form For further information, or to arrange a visit, contact Mr Andy Cole, Head of Sixth, on (01953) 452335 Apply through our website at www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk Attleborough Academy Norfolk 9 Norwich Road, Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 2AJ t: 01953 452335 f: 01953 456817 e: office@aan.norfolk.sch.uk www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk