Heartlines 20, Spring 2016

Newsletter Newsletter of Heartlands Academy

Hearts of Gold for T.I.N. Project

Issue 20 Spring Term 2016

An Interview with Mr Tattersfield Mr Tattersfield, our new Principal, joined us in January and he has been getting to know the students throughout this term. A group of Year 9 students wanted to turn the tables and get to know him a little better too, so interviewed him during their English lesson.

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embers of the Student Voice at Heartlands Academy, have proudly donated a mini food mountain to St Basil’s, a local charity for the homeless in Nechells. The collection started back in December when Mr Levy, Assistant Vice Principal, suggested to a group of Year 9 students at a council meeting that they might like to do something to help the homeless people of Birmingham. Concerned about seeing so many people sleeping rough in and around the city centre, the students agreed and thought they would especially like to help young people who are or have been at risk of being homeless.

Student Lauren Gordon, had the ingenious idea of naming the project T.I.N. – Those In Need, and then using a series of posters and messages, they invited all students and staff at Heartlands Academy to donate any non-perishable food or toiletries that they could spare for this worthy cause. During the month of December the food items came rolling in and very soon, the two designated collection skips were full to overflowing.

The project culminated last week, when the Year 9 students were finally able to load the minibus ready to take it all to St Basil’s. All the donations will go to John Austin Court, which provides accommodation for young people from the locality, aged 18-25.

“The fulfilling sensation of helping others gave me a sense of happiness.It was an honour to help those in need.”

What inspired you to become a headteacher?

Aneesa Kousour Firstly, I am keen to work with children and to bring out the best in them. I had two teachers who worked with me, and believed in me, and without them, I wouldn’t have the incredible job that I have now. Once I was a teacher, I realised that I could impact more teachers through becoming a Head of Department and a member of a Senior Leadership Team. Being a Headteacher means that you can affect 900 students at a time and that makes a huge difference to young people’s lives.

Why did you want to be Principal at Heartlands Academy? Juwairiyyah Akhtar When I came to look around, I knew that it was quite far from where I lived, so I wasn’t expecting to apply for the position. Once I arrived, the students were fantastic. You were all so polite and focused on doing well, so hardworking, and the staff made me feel welcome, even though I was just a visitor. It just felt right.

Did it scare you that we were already ‘Outstanding’? Faiza Mohamed It did a little! I felt a little bit like David Moyes going into Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson! I hope it doesn’t turn out that way though! I’m not someone who sits around much and there is still a lot to do to keep making improvements. My job is to now make the academy world class. This means that there is a huge amount to do to get us to that level. continued on page 2

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From Mr Tattersfield, Principal What an outstanding academy! I can’t believe my first term has flown by so quickly. My first impressions of the academy were absolutely correct and I am enjoying the challenge of the job immensely.

A massive thank you to all staff, pupils and parents for making me feel so welcome; it is much appreciated. The fantastic work ethic of the teachers and the students is enabling us to confidently predict that the academy will achieve its best ever results this year. However, that said, there is still much work to be done and any student who is not currently achieving their target level will be given high focused intervention overseen by a mentor.

We are about to undertake some faculty reviews that will enable us to identify our best practice but also to shine a light on where we can further improve. Some staff have also been out to visit other outstanding academies and we are exploring how we can adopt their best practices to enable us to better continue our journey to becoming a world-class academy.

I wish you all a happy holiday.

Warm Wishes Mr Tattersfield

continued from page 1 Is being a Principal difficult? Isir Hussein It can make your hair fall out! You can never really switch off – I didn’t really switch off as a teacher and that has continued into this role. I can be playing golf and I have an idea so I’ll scribble it down or be answering an email, so it is hard to take a break from the job. Of course it can be stressful, like any job, but it is the right kind of stress that I thrive on and that motivates me to take this academy to the next level.

Are there any changes to make, and if so, what are they? Jasmin Farrah The learning here is outstanding, but it can be even better! The students here want to learn and do the best that they can, but we can trial different methods of teaching. I’d quite like to see the students doing more in lessons and teachers taking a bit of a back step to allow you to flourish even more.

I want to give teachers more time to use what they know about you to plan challenging and innovative lessons.

What are you ambitions for Heartlands Academy? Balqis Mohamed I want every student to leave Heartlands Academy with results to show that they have progressed as far as they could with grades that allow them to move onto further education. Teachers need to

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progress as well, and I want every single member of staff to have the coaching and training to be the best teacher that they can be. Leadership is also important – so looking at how the academy can promote staff from within so that if people do decide to move on, we can continue to have an outstanding leadership team.

Mrs Jones’ mantra on our exercise books is ‘Learn, Success, Achieve’ – what will your slogan be? Moushimi Akhter Believe, be resilient and aspire. Until I had someone believe in me, I didn’t know I could be a success, so belief plays a huge part in everything that we do. Once you believe, you can do anything. Not everything is going to be right the first time that we do it, so we have to learn to come back strong and determined. Finally, aspire to be better – because

once you believe in yourself and are prepared to come back from whatever knocks you take, you can achieve your aspirations.

Where was the first school that you taught?

Hamza Sheik It was a school called Sir Christopher Hatton in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, way back in 1992! That seems like such a long time ago now! I hope I don’t look that old!

What other plans do you have for the academy?

Nathan Parkes There are lots of things to investigate, for example, Sixth Form being in a separate building isn’t ideal.

I’d like to make them much more visible and part of this main building. I think we could look at how many lessons you get in a day and how much time you spend in each subject area. What you have is absolutely fabulous so I don’t want to do too much tinkering!

What did you intend to be when you left school? Darnell Lynch-Duffy A professional footballer, but deep down I always knew that wasn’t going to happen.

When I was at university a lot of my group of friends were training to become teachers and I loved how it looked and how they spoke about it. I tried it and fell in love with it. But even at 22, I wasn’t certain about what I wanted to do.

DISCOVERY CENTRE Mathematics, Science, Health & Social Care, PE.

Egg Challenge Event at Selly Oak Trust School

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eartlands Academy has now established a link with Selly Oak Trust School (a special school) and as a result, ten students

Public Lesson Studies

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s Javaheri, has been involved in organising a groundbreaking research project that involves hosting “Public Lesson Studies”. Following a successful funding award from the Central Maths Hub, the academy has been able to implement this innovative idea whose aims are threefold: to aid professional development, increase pupil achievement and to address the needs of the added content to the new maths curriculum.

So far, two out of four of the study sessions have been held, both attended by teachers and academics from across the city.

The first session was hosted in

from Y7, 8 and 9 visited to carry out a collaborative science project. The theme was ‘the egg challenge’ with the aim of building a capsule strong enough to protect an egg from cracking when dropped from a specific height. Our students led the session whilst working alongside eight year 8 pupils from Selly Oak Trust School. Utilising their scientific knowledge of speed and gravity, they were able to develop a variety of capsules to reduce the impact on the egg when hitting the ground. Students

from Heartlands also benefitted by the opportunity to improve their communication skills while working with pupils from a different background and in an unfamiliar setting.

It was a very successful event, enjoyed by all the pupils involved and with no scrambled eggs! The teachers at Selly Oak trust School enjoyed the activity and company of our students so much that they have offered to visit Heartlands so as they can deliver their project at an appointed time. So, watch this space!

Mr A. Ogunsina (Teacher of Science) Mrs B. Blackham

early December, and focused on geometrical reasoning asking the question, “Can we help transition from oral reasoning to written

course of the lesson and went on a journey of discovery in a relatively short time. The post lesson discussion was a very engaging and informative summary of what had been learned.

The second session was held last week and focused on mathematical reasoning which sought to address the question “How does planning for student responses impact on students’ confidence to reason mathematically?”

The academy will be holding two more Public Lesson studies and it is hoped that teachers will be able to implement significant changes to their teaching methods using what they have learnt from the study.

Ms Javaheri, Maths

reasoning through visualising?” The underlying objective for the teachers was to develop a lesson that facilitated deep understanding of geometry by their students. Participants observed how students developed their personal mathematical reasoning over the

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exploration CENTRE History, Geography, Religious Education, Sociology and Psychology

Delightful Dorset and Durdle Door

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n Friday 18th March, Geography students from Years 11 and 12 arrived at Osmington Bay (Dorset) after a long 4 hour drive. We were greeted by the staff at PGL and had time to have dinner and settle in. To welcome us further, we attended a warm campfire, with biscuits, marshmallows and music.

On Saturday, we all went to the River Wey for river studies. The weather was cloudy, but fortunately it didn’t rain. Part of river studies involved measuring the rivers, velocity, gradient, width and depth.

It also meant we had to physically get into the river, which for me resulted in soaking wet feet.

On Sunday, we all took a trip to Durdledoor and Lulworth coast. We were able to see landforms we had studied in the classroom. For all of us, this was especially interesting as it brought to life what we had already learnt and further enhanced our understanding. Finally, we made our 4 hour journey back home to Birmingham. A special thanks to Mrs Hanson, Miss Freeman, Mr Lee and Mr Hickey for taking us on the trip.

Aisha Johnson, Year 12

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page Young Writers Once again, our s nd tla ar He e th of s is one of the gem m fro . Students Academy website , contribute work p ou gr every year cy era lit ng di an outst demonstrating tstandou , ly ive ess pr and, far more im Please d imagination. ing creativity an : at rk t latest wo read through ou k/ s-academy.org.u nd tla ar he www. l m .ht ers news/young-writ ent! to leave a comm and don’t forget

expression CENTRE

English and Modern Foreign Languages,

An Inspector Calls

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selection of sixty-five year 10 and year 11 students took a journey back in time earlier this term whilst seeing An Inspector Calls at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. From the cruel capitalist Mrs Birling sneering and scowling at the

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ix years ago, Chris Evans had a dream: to get children excited about reading and writing. All children, no matter what their ability. 500 Words is now one of the most successful story-writing competitions in the world. Nearly half a million students have written a story for 500 Words; that’s over 215 MILLION words!

Although the government believes it is vitally important that students read and are inspired by classical texts such as novels by Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte, the academy believes that students should also be exposed to and motivated by

audience, to the powerful and passionate Inspector Goole yelling his lines furiously across the stage, the world of Brumley came to life before their eyes. Students were amazed and enthralled by the award-winning performance, and represented Heartlands Academy excellently. It was a brilliant opportunity for students to show how keen they are to extend their learning beyond the classroom and develop insight into a key play for their GCSE studies. Keep your eyes peeled for the English department’s next theatre trip!

Mr Williams, English the very best work of their peers.

Hence, students in Year 7/8 have not only studied the work of William Shakespeare this term, but also the work of some of the very best writers in the country...most of whom are between 9-12 years old!

Our students have been analysing the work of these young writers in exactly the same way as they explored Shakespeare, and have used their work as a catalyst for their own creative writing.

Some of the stories they focused on can be found in the English section of Moodle, but many more can be found here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ p00rfvk1.

Miss Hamman, Engllish

Ambassadors for Peace

Heartlands Academy serves a diverse community: approximately 45 different languages are spoken within the school, and differing spiritual and scientific beliefs amalgamate from all turns of the religious spectrum.

Religious diversity and social cohesion have long been seen to be at odds with each other. Yet, Heartlands Academy personifies the possibility of multicultural and multi-faith societies working in productive harmony.

Compiled from a diverse range of cultures and identities, emphasis is strongly placed on the need for a continuous process of mutual engagement and learning about each other with respect, understanding and tolerance.

Due to this ethos, the academy has been declared ‘Postcards for Peace School Ambassadors’. The Postcards for Peace scheme embraces peaceful communication through simple messages. We know our academy can demonstrate that young people have the potential to play a massive part in changing the world, and promoting peace in everything they do. The voices and actions of our school generate movements.

Our official blog - http://www. postcardsforpeace.org/category/ambassadorschools/heartlands-academy/ - is updated weekly, and March provides to be an exciting time for the initiative to progress further with planned meetings arranged with Wasp Rugby Club representatives, and the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Miss Hamman, English

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he spring term has seen a huge interest in cycling at Heartlands Academy, both from students and the staff. The first wave of enthusiasm was from Year 11 PE students who were given the opportunity to do mountain biking as one of their GCSE practical sports. The subsequent cycling that took place in Sutton Park has been so popular that none of the 17 students involved missed a single session and this commitment and determination has resulted in all of the students demonstrating remarkable improvements in their off road skills and techniques.

A special mention must go to; M’hd Forid Uddin Ahmed, who so keenly taught himself to ride a bike before he attended the session; Roland Grodkowski who achieved a remarkable 10/10 (Grade A*) and Malikah Gayle who achieved 9/10 (Grade A). Due credit must go to all Heartlands students who took part in the GCSE Mountain Biking sessions who all achieved at least 8/10 (Grade B).

Since February half term, Years 7 and 8 have joined in with the cycling fun in undertaking another Department for Transport funded scheme - ‘Bikeability’ and ‘Bikeability Plus’ training. Bikeability training is designed to develop students’ confidence and awareness so that they can cycle safely on the relatively quiet roads they would experience cycling to and from school. Each group of six students gets three training sessions using loan bikes provided through Birmingham City Councils’ ‘Big Birmingham Bike’ initiative. The training has been extremely successful with all twentyfour students achieving the Level 2 award and six students achieving the Level 3 award. (A level 3 award means they can teach others to ride bikes!)

In addition, Heartlands Academy has been nominated for the City Councils’ Top Cycle Location Award next year. This exciting award could mean more bike riding opportunities for Heartlands Academy’s students. Watch this space!

Mr Lea, Head of PE & Paul Robertshaw, Birmingham Cycle Revolution

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comes to Heartlands Academy

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imagination CENTRE Art, Drama, Music FOAMY Arts Award

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Parents’ Evening Special Music

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he music department has been working hard to raise the profile of student performance in the school. This has included students playing in lessons, assemblies, music concerts and parents’ evenings. At the end of January, Alexandra Gallagher from Year 9, was the first student to perform for the parents. She played the keyboard on the bridge on the first floor and could be heard throughout the whole front open area of the

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school. It created a lovely calm and inviting atmosphere as parents and students entered. There were many positive comments from staff and parents about the music provided and the quality and attitude of the performance.

We look forward to other students participating in such activities in future whole school events. The professional nature of the performances is a true reflection of the hard work and dedication students put into their lessons and practising their instruments in their own time.

Mrs Ward, Head of Music

group of keen Year 8 students are currently participating in after school activities in the hope that they will achieve the ‘Arts Award’ by the end of the year. This involves learning new creative skills before teaching these skills to others.

The students have been learning about unusual painting techniques, such as using shaving foam and ink to create abstract patterns, and have been having a fantastic time exploring all the unexpected effects. Whilst making a mess in my classroom, the students are also carefully documenting the whole process in preparation for the external moderation that will take place later in the year. The students will be at work every Tuesday after school in the Art department so please feel free to come and see what they are up to.

Miss Bailey, Art.

innovation CENTRE ICT, Business Studies, Design Technology, ASDAN

Masters at Work O I n Saturday 12th March, Mrs Salter and Mr Williams had the privilege of attending the Young Chefs Academy presentation lunch at University College Birmingham to see our very own year 11 chefs, Fatoumata Samateh and Shaniah Da’Costa, graduate from the prestigious catering programme.

Both students have demonstrated exceptional commitment, dedication and passion throughout their time in the university kitchens, and they should be incredibly proud of everything that they have achieved!

Both young chefs cooked a range of delicious, delectable dishes.

Succulent sautéed chicken breast accompanied by fabulous fondant potato left the mouth watering for more; a sticky toffee pudding and a beautiful butterscotch sauce finished a meal fit for a fine dining restaurant!

They represented the academy with aplomb and maturity, and have developed into two wonderfully promising young chefs.

Congratulations to them both.

Mrs Salter, Head of DT and Mr Williams, English

n February, the academy congratulated Mr Farooq, Director of Computing, after he had been awarded the status of a Level 2 CAS Master Teacher. Mr Farooq will now be able to deliver CPD events to other schools and academies in the locality and in return, the academy will receive a small grant for his services. This is also in support of the academy’s Teaching School status.

CAS Master Teachers play a central role in developing the Network of Excellence: a collaboration between teachers, schools and University partners to develop the capacity to teach Computer Science effectively.

Typical characteristics of a Master Teacher are: a passion for the subject, enthusiasm, energy and active involvement in Computing at School (CAS) activities. In order to attain level 2, they need to demonstrate a higher degree of subject knowledge and experience.

Mr Farooq was a good candidate for this role and he will now go on to support other schools in raising standards in computing science. Well done to him!

Ms Burden, Ed.

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NEWS FROM THE SIXTH FORM

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ix members of the Sixth Form were lucky enough this week, to be invited for a tour of the Birmingham Mail Offices and Trinity Mirror Printing site. Alan Mountford, Educational Sales Manager, arranged the event that began with a short meeting with the content editor, Steve Bird. He explained how news stories are received and stored, before being incorporated into the page layout together with any pictures that have been sent. It is his job to decide what goes where, depending on the importance of the story, and finally editing where necessary.

This was followed by a meeting with the Business Development Director, Paul House who gave an overview of Trinity Mirror Midlands’ digital growth. He explained how nowadays most people receive news on their

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smartphones instead of in printed form and there is knock-on effect for journalists who need to adapt their stories. Instead of writing to fill a couple of columns, the stories need to be short and snappy to be easily read on a small screen.

Lastly, the students were taken on a whistle-stop tour of the print site. This was led by the Midlands Production Manager, Nick Cahm who fascinated the students with the vastness, speed and automated technology that exists to turn digital pages into printed newspapers, all folded, stacked and packed onto pallets ready for distribution, in less than six hours!

This visit helped the students learn a great deal about two very different work environments that will help with their future decision making. The academy would like to thank the team at Trinity Mirror for such a successful day.

Ms Burden, Ed.

Year 13 Hail Heartlands Humanities Department

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group of Year 13 Humanities students thought it was about time someone told the world just how good the humanities department really are. Below, Ayesha, Afsarah, Umar, Tamiah, Khadija and Hibaq tell their story.

Throughout our seven years of studying history at Heartlands Academy, we have enjoyed the warm welcome from all of the teachers. The best attribute of the history department, is the passion that teachers assimilate into all lessons and this is so inspiring to us all. We have had the privilege of having teachers who instil not only numerous historical facts and dates, but also confidence and drive to help us become better students. “I will fondly remember the time when I was panicked and stressed before exams and so Mrs Steward talked me into jogging, which I still do today! Mrs Bailey-Green has also been a pillar in my learning and development as a student, and her constant support and guidance will be something that I will always appreciate.�

The debates held in our history lessons have helped us to improve our oratory skills and now we are more confident when participating in group dialogues, even outside of our history classes. We bestow a huge amount of gratitude on the Humanities Department, particularly Mrs Steward and Miss Bailey-Green, for radiating such a vibrant and friendly ambiance without which we would certainly not have endured the A-level process with such enthusiasm.

Year 13

COMMUNITY EVENTS Heartlands Academy is interested in community or business projects. If you are a parent, member of the local community or a business who would like to be involved, please contact Mrs Blackham, Community Manager.

Telephone: 0121 464 3931 or email: B.Blackham@heartlands-academy.org.uk

Fish & Chip Friday group of year 10

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students invited the local Friends In Nechells community to come and join us on a Friday to enjoy some good old fashioned fish and chips. The full menu was fish, chips and mushy peas with buttered bread and apple crumble and custard for dessert. The students laid out the tables in preparation for the guests, served the meal and then waited on the guests making sure all their needs were met. This community

engagement project provided an excellent opportunity for all age groups to meet and have an enjoyable

social experience. The high spirited FIN group thoroughly enjoyed both the food and the company. The students learnt all about the skills needed to cater for a group of people as well engaging in conversation with people of a different generation and culture whom they might not normally meet. An allround success for all.

Maths 4 Life Challenge

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group of Heartlands students were invited by the POD in Nechells to lead on a Maths for Life Challenge day. They worked with Noran Flynn and her team to help deliver 13 different Maths challenges to five of our local primary schools. Our students were excellent role models. They guided the primary pupils to reach the correct answer.

Without giving away the answers, they helped those who struggled with the challenges and awarded stars for correct answers. The day was designed to show that Maths can be fun and our students certainly help do this. A great day was had by all.

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Calendar 2016 Summer Term Term Starts Mayday Half Term Teacher Day Teacher Day Term Ends A level results GCSE results

Monday 11 April Monday 2 May (academy closed) Monday 30 May to Friday 3 June Friday 1 July (closed to students) Monday 4 July (closed to students) Friday 22 July Thursday 18 August Thursday 25 August

Autumn Term Term Starts Half Term Term Ends

Monday 5 September Monday 24 October to Friday 28 October Friday 16 December For up to date announcements, follow us on TWITTER @Heartlands_Acad

The School Health Advisory Service Ages 4-19 Community Clinic, At The Pod, 28 Oliver Street, Nechells, B7 4NX

Heartlands Academy is working in collaboration with Birmingham City Council and their Wellbeing service to drive the ‘This Girl Can Campaign’. We are trying to encourage women and girls who are not usually active to try to become involved in physical activities/exercise. We want to inspire women and girls to become active, and conquer their fear of judgment.

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Health and Wellbeing Emotional Health Immunisations Weight Management One to One Sessions Health Workshops

Every Wednesday 3pm-6pm For enquiries, please contact: Central School Health Advisory Service Tel: 0121 245 5750 Email: BCHNT.centralsnteam@nhs.net

Why you must read daily for 20 minutes...

Reading every day for 20 minutes will help you access all areas of the curriculum. Did you know that all GCSE subjects will be assessed for spelling, punctuation and grammar? Therefore, it is vital that you take responsibility for your own learning and continuously develop your literacy skills.

In order to help you, you will find a Literacy folder on

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the Academy’s VLE Moodle website which you can access using your academy log in, and the password ‘Apple123!’.

In the SPAG section, you can review different grammatical and spelling rules, and complete extension tasks at home in order to consolidate any areas of misunderstanding.

© March 2016 Heartlands Academy, No 10 Great Francis Street, Birmingham B7 4QR