Intrepidus Summer 2018

THE OFFICIAL KENSINGTON ALDRIDGE ACADEMY MAGAZINE

#11 Summer 2018

SPORTS DAY, PRODUCTION & MORE

P R I N C I PA L’ S W E L C O M E Dear Parents & Carers,

IN THIS ISSUE...

House System Summer 1 Interim Competitions 3 House Drama Summer 2 Interim Competitions Sports Day

4 5 6

Performing & Creative Arts Chicago Trip Wicked Workshop Dance Showdown Red Cross: Make Your Move RAD workshop London Children of Courage Concert GCSE Music Workshops Open Mic A Level Art Exhibition GCSE ACAVA Workshops Little Shop of Horrors

8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 11 11 12

School Trips Jamie’s Farm Duke of Edinburgh GCSE Geography Field Trip

13 14 15

The pages that follow, as ever, contain joyful images and reports on the achievements of KAA students this term. They are an expression of our distinct values of creativity, excellence, resilience and citizenship – values that have been so important for KAA over this last 14 months, and will continue to be the basis of all the work we do as we enter this next chapter.

Some highlights for me personally include the House Rowing Competition at Hammersmith Riverside (rowing is now part of the Core PE curriculum here in Y10 - see page 19) and our annual musical Little Shop of Horrors (on page 12) in the final week of term. Also Sports Day was brilliant this year – the best ever in fact (pages 6 and 7). It was great so many KAA parents at these events, and the back of this magazine lists similar events in the Autumn Term (please add the Christmas Concert on 13th December to your diaries now).

Huge congratulations must go to all staff and students in Franklin House for their victory in the House Cup competition this year. The House system continues to be a vital part of life at KAA, and there is no better illustration of this than the success of Franklin this year. Well done to them and all houses and I’m excited to see the points re-set now for September and the “season” to start again.

Two final reminders:

Sixth Form Year 12 Work Experience Week 16 Year 13 Prom Night

17

Sports F45 Training Session Jeriel competes at School Athletics PE students meet Steve McClaren Rowing Gala

18 18 18 19

Parent Calendar

Welcome to Issue #11 of INTREPIDUS, the final edition of this, our fourth year. The term has been busy and successful as ever for all years, but I want to in particular say well done to our sixth formers and wish them and their parents the very best of luck for A Level results day on Thursday 16th August.

Back page

Many thanks to all staff and students who contributed content for this term’s magazine!

· Summer Academy is running at KAA1 from Monday 6th to Friday 17th August. It is designed to give students (included new Y7s joining us in September) opportunities over the long holiday that are both educational and fun, as well as help get people used to being back in our building. Details of how sign your child up can be found at www.kaa.org.uk/students-parents/summer-academy and spaces are limited so please don’t leave it too long to sign up. · The start of the new year will work like this: - Wednesday 5th September - Y7 & Y8 Induction Day - Thursday 6th September - Whole School Induction Day - Friday 7th September - Timetabled lessons begin for all students The extra induction period is to support a smooth start for the youngest students. For students currently in Y9 and starting GCSE courses in September, they must complete their bridging work in preparation for GCSE over the summer (they should have the details, but can be found on the “Students and Parents” section of our website as well).

Thanks again for all your support this year. KAA’s ongoing success is a result of the partnership and collaboration between teachers and parents, and I know that will continue in the new year (when we will be electing two new parent governors – details to come in September). Have a lovely, restful holiday until then.

Intrepidus,

David Benson Principal

2

H O U S E S YS T E M 2 0 1 7 - 2 0 1 8 It has been a fantastic year for our house system, with many new competitions added to the schedule, including the addition of House Dance as a major competition worth 20,000 house points, as well as many other new interim competitions, such as Ready Steady Cook and science photography.

At the close of the Spring term Franklin house were in the lead in the race for the house cup, but with House Drama, Sports Day, House Rowing and a range of interim competitions across the summer term, as ever there was all to play for coming into the final term.

Science Photography A great example of a new interim competition this year was the science department’s photography competition. The task was to take a photograph of something scientific - the more creative the better - nature, space, chemicals, all things SCIENCE!

2nd - Sameera (13 Tutu) 3rd - Rose (7 Jones)

=4th - Zina (8 Moore)

Congratulations to Noah (9 Baker), Sameera (13 Tutu), Rose (7 Jones), Julia (13 Attlee) and Zina (8 Moore) for their top placed entries. The 5,000 points for this interim competition went to Franklin, and you can see why with Noah’s stunning architectural photograph (top right).

=4th - Julia (13 Attlee) MERIT - Tarik (8 Murray)

S U M 1 I N T E R I M C O M P E T I T I O N R E S U LT S Science Photography 1st - Franklin (5,000) 2nd - Pankhurst (3,750) 3rd - Angelou (2,500) 4th - Honeyball (1,250)

Spelling Bee 1st - Franklin (5,000) 2nd - Angelou (3,750) 3rd - Honeyball (2,500) 4th - Pankhurst (1,250)

MFL Competition 1st - Honeyball (5,000) 2nd - Pankhurst (3,750) 3rd - Franklin (2,500) 4th - Angelou (1,250)

Only Connect (Maths) 1st - Pankhurst (5,000) 2nd - Angelou (3,750) 3rd - Franklin (2,500) 4th - Honeyball (1,250)

3

This year for House Drama, each of the four houses were given a different Shakespeare and challenged to create a 10 minute performance presenting part of the play. Angelou recreated scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Franklin battled The Tempest, Honeyball took on Romeo and Juliet and Pankhurst performed scenes from Macbeth.

External judges watched the performances with a select audience in the drama studio, with the full show being streamed to students in their form rooms so the whole school could enjoy the show. Students worked exceptionally hard and performed Shakespeare’s words with confidence, hugely impressing the judges.

House Drama Results Congratulations to Pankhurst students for their winning entry with the Scottish play. Many thanks to Miss Miller and the Heads of House for their commitment to rehearsals with students to ensure the excellent quality of performances to wow our judges.

1st - Pankhurst (20,000) 2nd - Franklin (15,000) 3rd - Angelou (10,000) 4th - Honeyball (5,000) 4

Maths Challenge 1st - Franklin (5,000) 2nd - Pankhurst (3,750) 3rd - Angelou (2,500) 4th - Honeyball (1,250)

Ready, Steady, Cook!

1st - Angelou (5,000) 2nd - Franklin (3,750) 3rd - Honeyball (2,500) 4th - Pankhurst (1,250)

Ready, Steady, Cook!

Students were challenged to cook a recipe in 40 minutes using the ingredients provided with 48 hours to discuss with their team and plan in advance. All meals were put through rigorous taste testing with many willing teachers!

HOUSE COMPETITIONS

S U M 1 I N T E R I M C O M P E T I T I O N R E S U LT S

With six weeks in the Summer 2 term, there were just two interim competitions before exam week. Franklin bagged themselves another 5,000 points in t he mat hs cha ll eng e, and Angelou were victorious in the brand new Ready, Steady, Cook competition hosted by the Design and Technology department.

5

S P O RT S DAY 2 0 1 8 On Thursday 12th July the whole school spent the day at the Linford Christie Stadium. On a wonderfully sunny day, students enjoyed another Sports Day packed with track and field events and entertainment from Mr Kavanagh on the mic.

As students battled for points and medals for first, second and third place, House Cup leaders Franklin felt confident in retaining their Sports Day title for a second year.

6

HOUSE COMPETITIONS

Highlights included the staff and sixth form relay - with the sixth form team just beating Franklin staff to first place.

After a fantastic day of students showing true intrepidus across all events, the results were announced and revealed FRANKLIN were sports champions for a second year running. Special mention must go to Honeyball, who came a very close second, securing their highest ever sports day finish.

Sports Day Results

1st - Franklin (20,000) 2nd - Honeyball (15,000) 3rd - Pankhurst (10,000) 4th - Angelou (5,000)

Our thanks to Miss Thompson and the PE team for all the hard work that went into organising another thrilling Sports Day.

7 Photography: Mr Todorovic, Noah (9 Baker) and Musa (9 Lennon)

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

There has been a host of fantastic performing arts trips, workshops and events this term, a taste of which are reported in the following pages by our Performing Arts team.

Chicago trip In May, A Level Dance students went to see the West End production of Chicago. As part of the A Level Dance course students study American Jazz Dance and the Chicago choreographer Bob Fosse, so the opportunity to see Fosse choreography live on stage was a great experience for them and helped towards their written exam.

Wicked Workshop In April, students from Year 7 and 8 took part in a Musical Theatre workshop with the cast from Wicked the Musical. Students were lucky enough to learn two routines from the show and enjoyed learning the choreography and having a Q&A with the cast members.

Dance showdown In June, the Intrepidus Dance Company took part in the RBKC Dance Showdown run by Epic. Students performed a dance medley from the upcoming musical Little Shop of Horrors. Students performed really well, so well that Tashi (8 Radcliffe) - above right - won a special award for her stand out performance, receiving a trophy and free dance workshop.

Red Cross: Make Your Move Also in April, the Intrepidus Dance Company competed at the Red Cross: Make Your Move Dance Competition.

Students had to perform a piece inspired by the work of the Red Cross and decided to focus on the Red Cross’s help with the Grenfell Tower Fire with accompanying music from the winners of KAA’s Got Talent, Read All About It. 8

Royal Academy of Dance: KS3 workshop In June, 25 Year 7s went to the Royal Academy of Dance to take part in a series of workshops run by the PGCE students. Students had a variety of sessions focusing on developing their choreographic skills, including learning repertoire from the GCSE course!

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

...

London Children of Courage Awards The KAA Choir were invited to sing You Raise Me Up at the London Children of Courage Awards at the Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane. The choir were thrilled to perform alongside David and Carrie Grant as well as contestants from The Voice who also performed on the night.

GCSE Music Workshops In May, our GCSE music students took part in two special workshops. The first was a composers workshop with Rosie and Joe from "Boubakiki". Students learned all about the handpan and how to improvise solos in the mixolydian mode. The workshop also focused on structure and writing irregular rhythms. This really helped launch students on their composition journey.

The second workshop was with three composition students from the Royal College of Music. Our students have been working on one of their GCSE compositions since Easter worth 15% of the total GCSE. The RCM students ran a composers workshop for 2 hours which was incredibly useful.

Other fantastic music news: The KAA Choir have been successful in securing a place in the TBMH's massed choir for their flagship event next year called "Convo". KAA are just one of two secondary schools from the whole of the Tri-Borough to take part. "Convo" is a newly commissioned piece of work for orchestra and choir and the world premier will take place at the Royal Albert Hall with 1,000 young instrumentalists and singers!

Andet (10 Kidston) passed his grade 2 drumming exam, and Alex (8 Moore) and Meklit (9 Chaplin) sat their Grade 1 piano exam.

9

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

OPEN MIC SESSION

On Tuesday 10th July, in the week following end of year exams, our staff and students celebrated with a whole school open mic session in the playground during lunch break. Our intrepidus students stepped up to the mic and were joined by the audience who sang along enthusiastically.

A huge well done to Tyra (9 Baker), Lyric (9 Chaplin), Jeriel (10 Kidston), Sara (10 Simmons) and Eliana (7 Yousafzai) for joining in and singing in front of the whole school!

Miss Arnold, Mr Campbell, Mr Miller and Mr Malik also got on stage to sing, so a big thank you to them too - especially for the much enjoyed Stormzy cover by Mr Campbell!

10

PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS

A L E V E L A RT E X H I B I T I O N @ M A X I L L A S T U D I O S

On Wednesday 11th July our A level Fine Art students held a private view of their final pieces at ACAVA Maxilla Studios. The students curated the exhibition themselves, with assistance from ACAVA staff and the art department.

The show was also open across the weekend for those who weren’t able to attend the private view. Thank you to everyone who attended our first Art A Level Exhibition, your support meant a lot to the students who had worked so hard on curating their exhibition.

G C S E WO R K S H O P S W I T H AC AVA S T U D I O S A group of year 10 GCSE students were also lucky enough to take part in a workshop with ACAVA studios working with two professional artists. The students were set the task to collaborate and create a structure that is not attached to the ground, could be suspended, or on stilts using recycled items based on the theme ‘Eutopia’. The students worked really well together and created some fantastic collaborative work.

11

PERFROMING & CREATIVE ARTS

SCHOOL PRODUCTION

The final date in the performing arts calendar for this school year was our annual school production. This year’s show was Little Shop of Horrors and students from year 7 to 13 have been involved with the show on and off the stage.

After many hours of rehearsals our cast performed four shows at The Playground Theatre on the 17th and 18th July. Students performed two matinee shows for Ark Brunel, Avondale and Oxford Gardens primary schools and two evening shows to packed out audiences of staff, students and parents.

Many thanks to Miss Miller, Miss Gurnell, Miss Cockell, Mr Rigby, Mr Dunning, Miss Grace, Mr Clayton, Mr Edwards and Miss Dinsmore for their hard work rehearsing and working backstage for all the performances!

Finally, a huge thanks to The Playground Theatre for hosting our production this year.

12 Keep up with all the latest Performing Arts news at: https://sites.google.com/kaa.org.uk/kaaperformingarts/home

Words: Miss Paine

I would like to begin by SHOUTING OUT to Arthur (9 Matisse), Tyler (9 Chaplin), Ella (9 Kahlo), Ruby (9 Hepburn), Pamela (9 Hepburn), Drini (9 Chaplin), Mickel Crossman (9 Chaplin), Shawkanni (9 Chaplin), Katie (9 Hepburn), Zoe (9 Chaplin) and Eknoor (9 Hepburn). These were the second cohort of year 9 KAA students to attend Jamie's Farm (the first was last summer). We all had a beautiful week in Herefordshire, surrounded by beautiful scenery, playful animals, and glorious sunshine.

SCHOOL TRIPS

J A M I E ’ S FA R M R E S I D E N T I A L

Throughout the week every single one of the students developed their self confidence. The groups cohesion grew greater with each day, as all students worked alongside one another from dawn till dusk. They all gained the most valuable life lessons about sustainable farming and agriculture and prepared/cooked all their meals from farm produce.

This has given them a priceless understanding about the environment and a sustainable way of living. I've never seen a group of students work so hard from 7.30am to 6pm doing tasks, activities and farm chores without giving up. The care and consideration they had for the animals was just heart warming and all 11 students truly threw themselves into going "wireless" and leaving technology, family and friends behind. A quote from one student: "I actually forgot about my mobile phone".

Big thank you to Miss Dinsmore and Miss Agullano for their endless engagement with the kids and taking on farm life, I couldn't have done it without them!

13

SCHOOL TRIPS

DUKE OF EDINBURGH EXPEDITIONS

Words: Miss Julings

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a globally recognised youth achievement award aimed at helping young people to develop key life skills. KAA has been running the award since opening our Sixth Form in 2016 and DofE is currently offered to students in Y10, 12 & 13. Students choose activities from the different award sections; skill, physical and volunteering, and then regularly undertake their chosen activities for a certain period of time. To achieve the award, they must also plan, train for and undertake an expedition, which our students successfully completed this summer.

Practice expedition Before they can complete the fully assessed expedition, students must undertake a practise expedition. This took place in the wilds of zone 8, on the outskirts of the Chiltern Hills. Over the course of two days the group carried everything they needed to survive. This included tents, sleeping bags, cooking stoves, and enough food to last the whole group several weeks.

Students spent the first day practising their navigation skills with a member of staff, before being let loose on the second day to test what they’d learnt.

All the students improved their skills over the course of the practise expedition, including how to work positively as a team and pack more efficiently!

“It was a good bonding experience and it taught us a lot about how working together is important when overcoming challenges.”

Emily and Leah (10 Simmons)

Qualifying expedition During the last weekend of the summer term their newly developed team work and map reading skills were seriously put to the test whilst embarking an epic 27km hike for their qualifying expedition. This took place in the beautiful Ashdown Forest area, which posed the new challenge of navigating through woodland (not an easy task!).

This time, the students were being assessed on every aspect of the expedition, from getting to the campsite in good time, to cooking their evening meal and how well they worked to together as a team.

Despite getting ever so slightly lost on the 2nd day, the students all successfully completed their expedition, and should be commended for managing to stay positive despite some significant challenges and setbacks.

All the students well and truly embodied our core values of resilience and Intrepidus throughout both expeditions and should be really proud of themselves. Many thanks to all the staff who volunteered their time to support the trips. Thanks also to KAA Intrepidus Trust and the DofE Diamond Fund for their generous grants, which meant students had brand new equipment to use.

14

SCHOOL TRIPS

Y10 GEOGRAPHY FIELD TRIP On the 10th and 11th July, the Geography department took 110 intrepid students to Eastbourne and Beachy Head on the South Coast. The purpose of the trip was to gather data for their exams and to see coastal processes and management in action.

Words: Miss McNeil

The fieldtrip included a very steep trek up Beachy Head, ice-creams, field sketches, chips, beach profiles, sediment sampling and analysing the effectiveness of coastal management. The students were so motivated throughout the day and they didn’t even complain when they realised they had to walk 8 miles and the coach wasn’t going to take them everywhere.

We were so proud with how they represented KAA. The students were fantastically behaved; members of the public actually commented how exceptionally polite they were. Ethan (9 Kidston) had a lovely conversation with a retired gentleman about the sea defences of Eastbourne.

Quotes of the trip: ‘I’ve never seen the sea before, this is amazing’ Adnan (10 Jobs) ‘This is nice and all, but Clacton’s better, it’s got a funfair’ Jodie (10 Kidston) ‘This has actually been really fun, even the work bit’ (Amina (10 Winfrey) ‘That seagull stole my sausage’ (Agnesa (10 Balon)

HUGE thank you to the amazing Miss Blount for organising both trips and leading the days.

15

SIXTH FORM

Y E A R 1 2 WO R K E X P E R I E N C E W E E K

Words: Miss Julings

Raouf (12 Gladstone) and Abdullahi (13 ) both gained work experience with trading and investment firm Caxton Associates this term. Below, Raouf talks about what the week involved and what he got out of it: “As part of the 1-week Internship, I got to see how a Global Macro Hedge Fund functions. In addition, I met an amazing team of people who are experts in their field. I was lucky to have many conversations with them and received lots of advice about the workplace, education and life in general. I also learnt more about financial services and trading through an intense series of presentations from the Caxton team. We also had the pleasure of meeting with staff at Morgan Stanley, one of the largest investment banks in the industry. At the end of the week we were all put into pairs and assigned equity (stock), and were tasked with delivering a presentation about whether we would buy or sell the equity. It was presented to a room of 10-15 traders, economists and other interns and allowed us to showcase what we had learnt over the week.�

Well done to both students for gaining such fantastic work experience.

As a result, Raouf has also been chosen out of 400 applicants to undertake a work placement at the bank of England - another fantastic achievement!

Many other Y12 students gained high quality work experience this year, including placements with the following organisations:

On their last Friday at school our founder sixth form students enjoyed a BBQ with their teachers to celebrate the end of the year!

16

SIXTH FORM

Y 1 3 L E AV E R S P RO M N I G H T

Following their exams across May and June, on Friday 29th June our founder sixth formers enjoyed a fantastic Year 13 Prom at The Rembrandt Hotel in Kensington. Sixth form teachers joined the students for a buffet dinner and dancing. It was a lovely way to celebrate a brilliant two years KAA Sixth Form.

Our thanks to Mr Fisher and the sixth formers who organised the event for all to enjoy. We look forward to seeing our Year 13s (and Year 12s!) again on Thursday 16th August for A Level results day.

17

SPORTS

F45 TRAINING SESSION Words: Miss Thompson

To consolidate the Year 10 GCSE PE students’ understanding of components of fitness and methods of training we went on a trip to F45 fitness training studio in June.

The students were unsure of what to expect at this popular training franchise, yet were all taken back by the fantastic facilities. The students took part in a functional full body work out, which certainly left them gasping for breath. I was extremely pleased with the effort levels the students gave and we hope to have a repeat visit in the future.

E N G L I S H S C H O O L S AT H L E T I C S C O M P Jeriel (10 Kidston), took part in the London School Athletics Championships at Battersea Park on Saturday 11th June, to compete in the 100m. On arrival Jeriel was asked to also compete in the 200m, which is his preferred event and without hesitation he accepted. After a tough round of heats, he successfully qualified to the finals. The 100m race was first and Jeriel was looking extremely strong, placing 2nd place in a really competitive field where he even grabbed a personal best of 11.17 seconds. There was only a short time to recover between the two event, but the adrenaline had clearly kicked in and Jeriel was determined to push on and give it his best in the 200m. Again, the field was of a really high standard and it was all very close going into the last 50m. Jeriel did well to maintain his technique and focus.

This led him to finish in an impressive 2nd place with a time of 22.62. For the next 2 days we had a nervous waiting game to find out if he had been selected to represent London. The PE department were ecstatic to inform Jeriel of the good news that he has been selected to attend the English School Competition on the 14th July in Birmingham in the 200m and relay.

Words: Miss Thompson

T R I P TO Q P R W I T H S T E V E M C C L A R E N Words: Miss Thompson

The Year 10 GCSE PE students went on an informative tour of the Loftus Road QPR stadium on Thursday 7th June. After the tour the students had a talk about the career paths three members of staff from QPR have taken. The students engaged fantastically in this discussion, they were intrigued as to the numerous career pathways there are in sport. To end the afternoon the newly signed manager (and ex-England manager) Steve McClaren joined the students. The students asked thought provoking questions to Steve, and he shared great stories about his time as a player and his time at Manchester United.

Thank you to the QPR trust for the time put into organising the event for our students.

18

SPORTS

I N AU G U R A L ROW I N G G A L A

On Tuesday 17th July, staff, students, parents and Governors gathered at Fulham Reach Boat Club for our first ever rowing gala. Both staff and students competed in a knock out competition, with the winners awarded prizes during a BBQ enjoyed by all. Well done to the winning teams (pictured bottom right) and many thanks to the staff at Fulham Reach Boat Club for a fantastic afternoon!

Follow KAA__PE on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest KAA sports news!

19

Autumn Term Parent Calendar Date

Time

Event

Wednesday 5 September

All day

Y7 & Y8 Induction Day

Thursday 6th September

All day

Whole School Induction Day

Friday 7th September

All day

Whole school timetable begins

Tuesday 18th September

6.30pm - 7.30pm

Y7 Parents Evening - Welcome to KAA

Friday 21st Sep - Monday 24th Sep

-

Y12 Oxford Residential

Tuesday 25th September

4.30pm - 7.30pm

Y6 Open Evening

Friday 28th September

All day

Y12 Higher Education & Apprenticeships Fair

Wednesday 3rd October

9am - 10.30am

Y6 Open Morning

Thursday 4th October

9am - 10.30am

Y6 Open Morning

Monday 1st Oct - Friday 5th Oct

All week

Aut1 Revision Week (EN/MA/SC)

Friday 5th Oct- Sunday 7th Oct

All day

Y11 PE Residential

Monday 8th Oct - Friday 12th Oct

All week

Aut1 Assessment Week (EN/MA/SC)

Thursday 11th October

5pm - 8pm

Y12 Open Evening

Tuesday 16th October

4.30pm - 7.30pm

Y6 Open Evening

Monday 15th Oct - Friday 19th Oct

All week

Aut1 Review Week (EN/MA/SC)

Monday 22nd Oct - Wednesday 24th Oct

-

Y10 MFL/Art Paris Trip

Monday 22nd Oct - Thursday 24th Oct

-

Y11 History/German Berlin Trip

Monday 22nd Oct - Friday 2nd Nov

All week

Half Term Holiday (school closed to students)

Monday 5th November

-

Aut2 Term begins for all students

Thursday 8th November

5pm - 8pm

Y12 Open Evening

Monday 12th November

4.30pm - 7.30pm

Y10 Progress Meetings

Thursday 22nd November

4.30pm - 7.30pm

Y11 Progress Meetings

Thursday 29th Nov - Saturday 1st Dec

-

Y8 MFL German Markets Trip

Monday 3rd Dec - Friday 7th Dec

All week

Aut2 Revision Week (all subjects)

Monday 10th Dec - Friday 14th Dec

All week

Aut2 Assessment Week (all subjects)

Tuesday 11th December

5pm - 8pm

Y13 Progress Meetings

Thursday 13th December

6.30pm

Christmas Concert

Monday 17th Dec - Weds 19th Dec

All week

Aut2 Review Week (all subjects)

Thursday 20th Dec - Friday 4th Jan

All week

Christmas Holiday (school closed to students)

Monday 7th January

8.45am

SPR1 Term begins for all students

th

@KensingtonAldridgeAcademy @KAA_Intrepidus @kaa_intrepidus

!

20