Newsletter 32

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INA Principal's Newsletter >4

05 June 2015

Announcements Year 9 Options Update I’m really pleased to announce that options have been allocated and the vast majority of students have been allocated their top four choices!

With next week being exam week, and the importance of those end of year exams, we have made the decision to postpone the release of option allocations until after the exam week.

Dear Parents and Carers,

T

he students are busy gearing up for their end of year exams (Monday 8th - Monday 15th June). So there was some welcome respite yesterday when the whole secondary school came together in year groups to enjoy our annual Sports Day. It was a gloriously sunny day and there was a great atmosphere at each of the venues.

Thank you to those parents and family members who came to support. Full results will appear in next week’s newsletter.

Thank you too to those of you who took the time to Right now, we think the complete our parent questionnaire over the Easter most important thing for Year 9 to focus on is their period. I have read each response carefully and end of year exams and to do as well as possible in discussed the feedback with the Senior Leadership all of their subjects.

Team. In this edition of the newsletter I give some details of what you told us and what action we plan Options allocations will be issued in a letter to take in response. that goes home via students during the week beginning 15th June, along with details of the With best wishes, process for requesting option changes.

Many thanks for your patience and continued support.

Ms McEvoy, Assistant Principal 2 INA Newsletter

RP

achel Macfarlane, rincipal

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>>> News Ramadan

With Ramadan fast approaching, we are aware that there may be students choosing to fast. In order to efficiently cater for students, minimise cost and wastage and ensure that you will not be charged, please can let the school office know in writing if your child is planning to fast and for which dates.

Fraser Thomson, Chef Manager

Literacy Parent's Workshop Dear Parents/Carers,

We would like to invite you to our upcoming Literacy parent workshop being held at Isaac Newton Academy from 6pm7pm on Wednesday the 17th June. In the workshop we will be sharing information that will help you to understand how Literacy is taught in the Secondary School and offer advice on how best to support your child with developing their Literacy skills in English and across the Curriculum.

If you would like to attend please let us know via email info@ isaacnewtonacademy.org or drop into reception to register your interest by Monday the 15th June.

We look forward to seeing you on the evening.

Rebecca Curley,Head of English & Jo Spencer, Vice Principal

Year 9 students run 5k charity ‘race for life’ for Cancer Research UK Over the half term break Sumayyah Ali, Hanifa Sultan and Aafreen Khaliq, all in Year 9, ran a 5k charity ‘race for life’ for Cancer Research UK. Between them they have so far raised and collected £802! Congratulations girls! I have it on good authority that Sumyyah’s mum, who also ran the race with the girls, came in 8 minutes before the girls!!

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Bloomberg L.P Trip

L

ast week I and twenty nine other children went on the Bloomberg trip. Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting to a network of information, people and ideas.

In order to get there we travelled on trains. Once we arrived at the Bloomberg building we had to get our name tags made because we could not enter without them. Then we were taken to another room full of other Ark Academy students. There we had an introduction to Bloomberg and what people at Bloomberg do. We were also informed about how Bloomberg started, which was in 1981by Michael Bloomberg with the help of Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, and Charles Zegar.

After the introduction we had three talks by people who worked at Bloomberg. The first was about analytics, the second was about computer coding and the last talk was about journalism. All three presenters spoke about the basics of each of their topics and how analytics, computer coding and journalism help the Bloomberg Company. After a quick snack we carried on with another activity – speed dating!

In this activity we got into pairs and had to interview an employee of the Bloomberg Company. During this activity we asked questions like: What job do you do? Did you

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always know what you wanted to do? What skills are needed for your job? From this activity I was able to learn quite a few things. For example, changing your career path is fine as long as you have a job that you are happy with and it is fine if you do not have a fixed plan, you can just work it out as you go along.

'All three presenters spoke about the basics of each of their topics and how analytics, computer coding and journalism help the Bloomberg Company. After a quick snack we carried on with another activity – speed dating!'

Lastly we had a tour of the Bloomberg office, which was very nice and modern. I quite liked the fact that there was one colour per floor and the amount of amazing fish tanks they had around their office. The person who was giving us a tour said the reason they had so many fish tanks was because it created a peaceful environment. After our tour we headed back to school.

Overall the Bloomberg trip was a good experience and it taught me quite valuable life lessons. For example, it is fine to change your career path if it means you can do a job that you really enjoy.

By Jasleen Puaar

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Barcelona During the May half-­‐term, 30 students and 4 brave staff members went to Spain for 5 days to experience the magic of Barcelona. We left school on Tuesday 26th May and after a few teary parents waved goodbye to our enthusiastic and eager hispanists, we were on our way to Luton for the flight to Barcelona. The week that followed was spectacular. The Spanish weather could not have been better with 5 wonderful days of sunshine and temperatures between 25 and 27 degrees all week.

Here is what one of our students had to say about the experience: ‘Going to Barcelona seemed like an exciting yet scary idea at first. When we arrived on the first day and looked around, nearly everything was in Spanish! From road names to shops to general places.

When we had our first free time I was scared that we would get lost but there were enough landmarks nearby to make sure we recognised where we were. On the second day we went to the market and we had an activity to do in groups. During our lunch time each group got a challenge; ours was to get a picture of an ostrich egg. The market was very busy and full of lots of different things so it was very difficult to find our way round. I went round, saying ‘huevos grandes?’ to people which meant big egg, and although it seemed like a bad phrase it helped us get the ostrich egg. We explored the market and tried out different Spanish food.

On the third day we went to Nou Camp which was an amazing place to be. We saw many trophies and other really cool items. On Friday we went from the North of Barcelona to the South and we spent 3-­‐4 hours at the beach which was really fun. This was followed by our last evening meal at a Tapas restaurant where we ate many different Spanish snacks; some tasted weird and others tasted delicious.

Finally on Saturday we went to ‘La Sagrada Famalia’ which was a huge beautiful cathedral designed by Gaudi. My Spanish has become more spontaneous and fluent after coming back from Spain it. Although at first communication was difficult, it got easier as the days went on. All in all I thought the trip was very enjoyable as well as educational. By Halema Anjum

To say we were proud of the students’ integration into Spanish Society would be an understatement. I can safely say they were a joy to be with and their level of Spanish on the journey home blew us all away.

Ms. Davies, Head of Languages

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Feedback from the Secondary Parent Questionnaires: April 2015 328 parents/carers responded to this year’s questionnaire. We are really grateful to each one.

83% said that their child feels safe at school.

85% believe that their child’s teachers encourage him/her to do his/her best and to achieve his/her potential.

88% believe that INA celebrates and recognises achievement and progress.

83% said that they believe their child is taught well.

Your comments about the school website and the newsletter were overwhelmingly positive. Most respondents said that they find the website useful and informative and do read the newsletter regularly. We plan to migrate to an updated website shortly and on the new look website the primary and secondary newsletters will be separated. One parent asked that we make paper copies of the weekly newsletter available. In future we will ensure that a few copies are available at the main reception for any parent to collect.

The issue that elicited the most critical comments was school lunches. At the time that responses were being written we had been without a chef manager for a number of weeks. Our new chef, Fraser Thompson, started at the end of the Easter holidays. We hope that your child has reported an upturn in the quality, taste and variety of school lunches: the students have certainly fed this back to us. Some of you asked whether we might consider a sandwich option in the future. We have decided that, from September, we will relax the dining arrangements for the founding cohort. They will still be required to eat in the dining hall each and to purchase food from the school. But the lunch offer for Key Stage 4 students will include sandwiches and paninis as well as a hot meal option. We are also going to introduce split lunches from September, with KS3 and KS4 students eating at different times. This will ensure that the dining hall does not get over crowded as the school population grows and that queues remain short.

We plan to hold a parent meeting one evening before the end of term for anyone to attend who wants to raise concerns regarding food and lunchtimes to meet with myself and Mrs Chamberlain, Finance and Resources Director.

Some of you commented that your son/daughter can get overloaded with Independent Learning. In response to this feedback, we have reminded teachers to ensure that they are setting IL according to the timetable, on the allocated day of the week. We have also asked that, in the run up to the exams, teachers do not set IL as well as revision.

A few parents said that they were disappointed that ICT/Computing has not been offered as a GCSE option.

This is something that we plan to introduce in the future and to offer as an enrichment activity next year.

Some parents said that the fact that we have Awards Assemblies during the school day makes it impossible for you to attend if you work. In response to this, we have decided to hold our End of KS3 Year 9 Awards Assembly in the evening on Monday 20th July at 6pm. We hope that this will mean that every family of a Year 9 student can be represented at the event.

And lastly, some if you expressed frustration that, whilst you work with us to ensure the safe arrival and dismissal of all students to the primary and secondary schools by not driving down Cricklefield Place, some other parents ignore this request and drive dangerously and park inconsiderately. We understand your frustration.

Rachel Macfarlane.

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Praise and Recognition

Form Totals Year 7 A N S I C W T E

Merits 1523 1476 1399 1305 1259 1214 1209 1058

Year 8 T E N A S I W C

1098 999 973 953 945 870 870 755

Year 9 W N E T S I A C

982 917 864 738 703 618 570 510

47.74 46.33 43.34 43.32 41.43 41.09 37.83 34.32

Year 9 W N E T S I A C

42.70 41.68 37.57 33.55 30.57 28.10 25.50 23.18

Form Averages Year 7 A S N I C W T E

69.23 63.59 61.50 56.74 55.05 52.78 52.57 48.09

Year 8 T N E A I S W C

1 s t p l a c e : N ( 3 3 6 6 m e r i t s) 3 r d p l a c e : S ( 3 0 4 7 m e r i t s)

Jennifer Byrne Year 8 Pastoral Leader, i/c Praise and Recognition

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ATTENDANCE

Regular attendance is a crucial factor in students’ educational development and ability to achieve their full potential.

At Isaac Newton Academy every student is set the target of 100% attendance. We know that attendance has a direct link to progress, and would urge you to really consider if a day off school is necessary. The students all have exams coming up and minimising lost learning is really important at this time.

Results for last week

7A 7T 7C 7S 7W 7I 7E 7N

99.1% 98.7% 98.6% 97.3% 96.4% 95.2% 93.5% 92.2%

8S 8E 8T 8C 8I 8W 8A 8N

98.7% 98.3% 97.5% 97.3% 97.1% 97% 96.4% 94.3%

9T 9C 9N 9A 9E 9S 9W 9I

99.1% 95.9% 95.5% 95.2% 94.9% 94.8% 93.5% 90.5%

Year Groups

Year 7 96.4%

Year 8 97.1% Year 9 95.6%

Leanne Abbott-Jones Year 9 Pastoral Leader INA Newsletter 9

End of Year Exams 8th – 15th June 2015

Designed to test the full range of content, knowledge and skills covered during the course of the year Designed to be similar in nature to the end of KS4 examina=ons Designed to gauge a student’s level of understanding and track their progress over =me To inform your summer term grades and your baselines for next year

Revision )ps – being prepared

• Ensure you have caught up on any missed learning • Ensure you have completed all your green pen correc5ons and ACTION points from STA marking • Ensure you have spoken to your teachers so you know what is covered in the exams • Set out a revision 5metable in advance so you know what you are revising, when and for how long and use the EASTER BREAK!

Revision )metable

1st May 2015

Subject Topic 5pm - 6pm

6pm - 7pm

7pm - 8 pm

8pm - 9pm

Parent Signature: 10 INA Newsletter

End of Year Exams for Y7, 8 and 9 Please find below the end of year exam timetable. Please note that the year groups involved in the am and pm session vary daily.

• Students are expected to bring exam equipment to each exam: 2xpens, 2xpencils, rubber, sharpener, 30cm ruler, protractor and a calculator (maths calculator paper) in a clear/plain pencil case • Students can bring a clear bottle of water without a label.

The Mathematics department would like to encourage all students to enter next week’s Mathematician of the Moment competition.

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The BRIDGES focus for the fortnight Monday 1st June – Friday 12th June is:

Optimism

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s opposition politician and chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), spent more than fifteen years in detention, most of it under house arrest. She is the daughter of Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two years old while he was campaigning for independence.

Under her leadership, the NLD won a staggering 82% of the seats in parliament. The Burmese dictatorship refused to recognise the results of the election and would not to hand over power to the NLD. Placed under house arrest and cut off from any communication she might have with the outside world, Suu Kyi became one of the world's most prominent political prisoners.

During her incarceration, Suu Kyi remained positive and optimistic and used the time to study, write books and exercise.

She said ‘Fear is a habit; I am not afraid.’ Following her release in April 2012, Suu Kyi was finally allowed to take a seat in the Burmese parliament. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Optimism A shared social sense of what is right and wrong.

Behaviours Adopting a ‘glass half full’ attitude towards your learning, always looking on the bright side even when things don’t go as planned, always looking for the best outcome and taking something positive from every learning situation.

Top tips Students Visualise yourself succeeding in your learning and imagine how positive you will feel, then plan how you will make it happen.

Focus on the positive learning experiences in your life, especially when you are experiencing a challenging or difficult.

Use optimistic and growth mindset language like I can, I will, I can’t yet Parents Talk to your son/daughter about a time you experienced a loss, setback, or hardship and were able to find a silver lining of some sort. Talk about what you did to bounce back from it.

Share with your son/daughter an optimistic picture of your day/week and what you learned from your experiences.

Use optimistic and growth mindset language with your son/daughter.

Jo Spencer, Vice Principal

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INA Newsletter 13

T

e t a y Up d

he children have been getting very excited by their learning this week whilst exploring the new topic of ‘Splendid Superheroes’.

This week we have been reading the book ‘Traction Man’ and working hard on various activities linked to the text. Over the course of the weeks, the following books will be used in literacy lessons as well as many other fiction and non-fiction texts looking at male and female heroes and role-models: Super Kid George saves the Day by Lunch Time The Kiss that Missed Super Moo Winnie the Witch Amazing Mr Zooty

An information sheet about the topic for this half term and how you can support your child at home was sent home on Tuesday, so please check your child’s book bag.

P r imar

Cycle/Scooter Helmet Design Competition As part of our School Travel Plan we are committed to encouraging our pupils to walk, cycle or scooter to school each day. To promote healthy travel and children’s safety, we are offering one lucky pupil the opportunity to win a cycle/scooter helmet. To have the chance to win, your child will need to get creative and come up with a fabulous pattern design for a helmet. A template has been placed in your child’s book bag but, should you require further copies for practice or fun before submitting the final designs, you can access the template with the following link: http://bikeability.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/ Cycling_Helmet_Template.pdf All final entries need to be handed in to the main office, clearly labelled with your child’s name, by Friday 12th June. The winner will be announced and presented with a prize by Friday 19th June.

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Our Exciting Learning this Week

Topic Work

Everyone has enjoyed making ‘Splendid Superhero’ masks, capes and gadgets this week or visiting the Superhero cyber café role play corners.

Maths Mastery This week the children have been learning to compare lengths, capacities and weights and the language to enable them to do so

Show and Tell Mondays

The children enjoy sharing information about themselves and their families.

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Ayaan Iqtidar Hussain Nandini Sharma Hari Virdee Rayaan Vakas Malaika Hussain Aisha Bashir Klaudia Piechlova.

Every week each teacher chooses two children from their class to receive a certificate in assembly, one in recognition of a child demonstrating our BRIDGES habit of the week, and the other in recognition of a pupil’s academic effort throughout the week.

Well done to the following children, who have been recognised this week!

Curie Class: Zoya Abbasi – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for being resourceful and not throwing always things we can use again – even when tidying up.)

Tulsi Jogia – Scholar of the Week (for taking her time to write some interesting and well thought out sentences.)

Maxwell Class: Casian Toaca – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for being resourceful when using the cubes during Maths Mastery.)

Nirmalpreet Durhailay – Scholar of the Week (for answering questions in literacy and maths intelligently.)

Newton Class: Rayaan Vakas – Headteacher’ Habits Award (for being very resourceful in using junk modelling materials to create a fantastic superhero house.)

Mason La Penna – Scholar of the Week (for having a great rescue idea for Traction Man in literacy.)

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Primary Praise and Recognition

Headteacher’s Lunch Well done to the following pupils who have been nominated for the Headteacher’s Lunch next Thursday. An invitation will be given to the children during our Friday Celebration and Awards Assembly:

At Isaac Newton Academy every student is set the target of 100% attendance.

The class with the highest attendance at the end of every week is awarded the attendance trophy during Friday’s Award & Recognition assembly. A big thank you to Mr Antwi who helped generate this week's list.

Curie

95.3%

Maxwell

99.7%

Newton

95.3%

Overall

96.8%

Well done to Maxwell Class, this week’s winners by a significant margin!! We need to make a big push next half term to aim for our 100% attendance!!

It is important that the children attend school every day and do not miss any learning. Thank you for your support in ensuring your child is at school every day, it makes a huge difference to your child’s progress and attainment.

ATTENDANCE

Regular attendance is a crucial factor in students’ educational development and ability to achieve their full potential.

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"We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” Isaac Newton BRIDGES are habits of mind or learning characteristics that develop a pupil's character and learning power and enable him/her to grow into a well-rounded individual and resilient learner.

There are seven BRIDGES habits that we will be working on, which will rotate on a weekly cycle throughout the year. The BRIDGES habit of the week will always be introduced at the beginning of the week during the Monday assembly and reinforced throughout the week across the curriculum.

Each class teacher will award a certificate to a pupil that they feel has demonstrated the BRIDGES focus for the week.

Each week we will update you on the BRIDGES habit that will be introduced in the coming week and offer some top tips on how to reinforce the habit at home too. Please also refer to the Primary BRIDGES wheel above Week commencing 8th June – Integrity Integrity Displaying habits of: fairness, humanity, justice, citizenship, honesty and humility.

At home and school: As the children will soon be moving into Year 1, it is important that they demonstrate how to be a good Isaac Newton ambassador and citizen by role-modelling excellent BRIDGES habits every day.

We will be encouraging the pupils to make sure they play in a kind and thoughtful way and ensure that they include others in their games. Games where ‘turn-taking’ is needed are great at helping the children to understand that everyone has fair turn. It is also important that the children learn how to win and lose a game graciously and show humility when they win or congratulate the winner and say well done if they lose.

The children need to learn and understand the importance of telling the truth even when it feels uncomfortable when we have to admit that we have done something wrong. They also need to learn to take responsibility for their actions and not get into a habit of blaming others.

Tam Broadway, Head of Primary

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Parent Information Board Parent Questionnaires Thank you to those of you who have returned the Parent Questionnaire. The information is being collated so that I can then share it with the rest of the staff. I have looked through some of the feedback and have already made some changes to our practice based on some of your positive suggestions. Over the next few weeks when all the information has been gathered and analysed more thoroughly, I will write to inform you of the changes that we have made to date and changes that we will look to implement in the near future.

Guided Reading

Welcome Ms Curley

Please remember to bring your child’s ‘guided reading’ book back on the correct day. Your child also has home record book for you to write your comments about his/ her reading and progress. You could also include any extension activities that you may have done with the book too. Thank you for your support. If in the rare event a book is lost or damaged, we will ask parents/ carers to pay for the cost of replacing the book.

We are delighted to have Ms Curley join our team; she will be teaching Maxwell class until the end of term and has made a fantastic start in getting to know the children in her class already. In September she will be one of our Year 1 teachers, so will have plenty of time to meet and get to know many of the children and their families across the three classes before then.

I am sure you will join me in welcoming her to Isaac Newton Academy.

Future Key Dates School Training Days (School will be closed) - Thursday 25th & Friday 26th June Primary Sports Day – Monday 29th June (further details to follow shortly) School Training Day (School will be closed) – Friday 3rd July Pupil Progress Reports Sent Home – Friday 10th July Primary Parents’ Progress Meetings – Tuesday 14th July End of Term Recognition and Awards Assembly – Tuesday 21st July (further details to follow shortly) Last Day of Term - Tuesday 21st July (further details to follow shortly)

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Primary Reminders IMPORTANT REMINDERS Wisepay Details Wisepay details • Please make sure that if your child has long hair it is tied back have been given neatly. Hair decorations must be small and plain to everyone • Schools starts at 8.45; it is important that your child arrives now, which will on time every day so that the teachers can start the lesson promptly. The school gate will be open from 8.25 and will close at allow you to 8.45. order uniform • If any of your details have changed e.g.. your address or phone items and also number – please ensure you contact the office to inform us, so to book a place that we can update our records.

• We expect every child to be in full uniform every day with their for ‘Breakfast top button done up.

Club’ or ‘After • Nail polish is not permitted.

School Club’. If • Only small stud earrings can be worn for safety reasons. you experience • Please ensure your child attends school every day and on time. If your child is sick then you must call the office to let us know by any problems, 8.15am. please contact Ms Rayner who will be happy to help Breakfast Club & After School Club If you would like to book your child in for a place for either Breakfast Club or After School Club, you can make bookings through the Wisepay facilities, if you need any further help in doing this; please contact either Ms Rayner or Ms Heywood, who will be more than happy to help you.

Breakfast is available each day from 7.45am and costs just £2 per day. The children enjoy a range of cereals, toast and different topping, juice or milk and fruit. Any child attending must be brought to the main reception area by 8.20am at the latest.

After School Club runs from 3.45pm – 6.00pm and costs just £5 per hour. The children enjoy a range of snacks each evening and a variety of games and activities Tam Broadway, Head of Primary 20 INA Newsletter

Key Dates for 2015 Summer Term Monday 20th April - Tuesday 21st July Monday 8th June - Monday 15th June KS 3 exams Tuesday 16th June Ark Athletics Wednesday 17th June Redbridge School's District Athletics Championship Y9 & Y10 Parent workshop on Literacy 6pm Thursday 18th June Bug Man Science visit Friday 19th June Author Visit: James Dawson Saturday 20th June Saturday Stretch: Drama and Performing Arts Tuesday 23rd June Humanities Games Y7 I S A C Wednesday 24th June Humanities Games Y7 N E W T

Redbridge School's District Athletics Championship Y7 & Y8 Thursday 25th June INSET Day Friday 26th June INSET Day Saturday 27th June Saturday Stretch: Law Monday 29th June Primary Sports Day 2.30-3.30pm Wednesday 1st July Royal Society Science Trip Year 7&8 District Sports Thursday 2nd July Year 6 Transition Day Friday 3rd July INSET Day Wednesday 8th July PE Awards 6-7pm Tuesday 14th July Reception parents meeting Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th July School Production Monday 20th July Year 9 Awards Assembly 6pm Tuesday 21st July End of Term Award Assemblies Half Term: Monday 25 – Friday 29 May 2015 Staff Training Days: Friday 26th June, & Friday 3rd July

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Term Dates for 2015-16 Autumn Term Monday 7th September - Friday 18th December Half Term 26th - 30th October INSET days: Monday 2nd November and Wednesday 25th November Spring Term Monday 4th January - Thursday 24th March Half Term 15th - 19th February INSET days: Monday 4th January and Friday 12th February Summer Term Monday 11th April - Wednesday 20th July Half Term 30th May - 3rd June INSET days: Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th June

Friday 8th July

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