TheCityTimes Autumn 2 - 2013/14
@cityacademynews
Painting the City red The Lord Mayor’s Show
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Message from the Principal Mr. Emmerson, Principal As we end our first term with a cohort of students in years 7 - 11, I can definitely say that after four years of growth, we at last feel like a full school. It is a testament to the strength of the staff we have appointed, who have settled in so well, that we continue to deliver high standards in all we do.
Earlier this year, The City Academy, Hackney was honoured to receive an invitation to take part in the Lord Mayor’s Show. Sixth months on, November arrived and our specially-formed troop of musicians and dancers brought their youthful rhythm and energy to the streets of the City of London. Sponsored by the City of London Corporation, the academy recently welcomed the departing Lord Mayor, Roger Gifford, as a guest speaker to our annual Founders’ Day awards (see page 4). Three days later the academy were equally pleased to be performing for the incoming Lord Mayor, Fiona Woolf who has supported our talented musicians through the sponsorship of an annual music prize since the academy opened in 2009. Our music and drama departments combined their efforts, choreographed routines and
composed samba-style arrangements of songs including Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean and Singing in the Rain which proved to be an unfortunately accurate weather forecast. Despite the rain, crowds lined the streets in their thousands to see hundreds of floats parade past including our committed ensemble of students and staff. Well done to everyone involved, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Our academy band have since gone on to play a string of dates for the City of London Corporation including performances at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet - at which guests included the Prime Minister - and the Guildhall Christmas Market raising money for the Red Cross. Most recently, the Young Brasscals ensemble performed for Christmas shoppers at Westfield Stratford City. www.flickr.com/tcah
Much has been accomplished this term: year 7 induction, staff training, a GCSE drama production, music performances, the KPMGfunded year 8 instrumental tuition project, our first Sixth Form Open Evening - attended by more than 300 prospective parents and students - as well as a range of enriching trips and visits which have enhanced the curriculum and broadened the experiences of our students. The highest expectations of our students prevail and we believe that they will achieve excellent results at the end of year 11 which will ensure that they can progress towards their lifetime ambitions, which we naturally hope they will continue to work towards in our Sixth Form. With mock exams and end of term assessments behind us there are a number of reward trips and fantastic events such as the Christmas Concert to look forward to before a well-earned rest for our students and staff. Enjoy the holiday.
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South Pole, East London Penguin Project
Congratulations @StJtB - winners of the @BaduSports primary school football tournament @cityacademynews. #football pic.twitter.com/3Oe6MtyFhI Mr. Emmerson presents the winning team, St. John the Baptist Primary, with their trophy. Anyone visiting the academy over the coming weeks - perhaps you have tickets to our Christmas Concert - will see our foyer transformed into a snowy, South Pole scene densely populated with homemade penguins. Thank you and well done to all students and parents who clearly worked so hard on their creative creatures produced for our annual Key Stage 3 art project. A gallery of penguin pictures can be found overleaf as well as on our official Flickr photo gallery page. Visit: www.flickr.com/tcah.
The academy uses Twitter to build networks with our neighbouring primary schools, local organisations, museums, galleries, councillors and parents too. A link to our Twitter feed can be found on the homepage of our website along with a link to our photo galleries on Flickr.
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The City Academy, Hackney Values and Success
Half term highlights Events As the autumn term draws to a close we take the opportunity to look back at just a few of the highlights before looking ahead to a new term and a new year. We began the 2013/14 academic year, as we have each year to date, with a new year group. With our oldest students now in year 11, lots of new events such as GCSE drama productions, art exhibitions and Sixth Form open evenings have now been added to our calendar, broadening our programme of events further still. We hope you were able to attend at least one of the events featured below.
Access Project Ongoing
International Food Evening Friday 15 November
Lord of the Flies Wed 27 & Fri 29 November
Sixth Form internal applications Thursday 19 December
Our year 11 students began the half term with a trip to the offices of our joint sponsors, KPMG, to meet with their Access Project tutors for the first time. The volunteer professionals from the financial services firm support our GCSE students through oneto-one support each week.
Thank you to all the parents who both helped run and attended our annual International Food Evening and Quiz, our bestattended yet. The food was fantastic, as was the atmosphere. Well done to Ms Crowhurst’s team of teachers, students and parents who won the quiz.
Congratulations to our year 11 GCSE drama students and the drama department for staging such a professional and enthralling production of Lord of the Flies. Photos from the show can be found on our Flickr page:
A reminder to all year 11 students and their parents - the deadline for internal applications to our Sixth Form is Thursday 19 December. Application forms can be downloaded from our website or collected from reception.
Week 8
21.10.2013 Newgate T
NOVEMBER Week 9
04.11.2013 Aldgate P
Week 10 11.11.2013
Aldgate P
Week 11 18.11.2013
www.flickr.com/tcah
Week 12 25.11.2013
Ludgate K
DECEMBER Week 13 02.12.2013
Aldgate P
Week 14 09.12.2013
Week 15 16.12.2013
= Tutor group of the week
79% of parents attended.
92%
of those who attended gave positive feedback. Consultation Week w/c Monday 4 November 2013
Community Flash Mob Sunday 24 November
Twickenham rugby reward trip Thursday 12 December
Thank you to all the parents/ carers and students who attended the first Consultation Week of the year. Taking an active role in your child’s education is crucial in supporting their progress.
Crowds look on and families take photos as our students join our neighbouring primary school and a local community group for an impromptu ‘flash mob’ dance routine outside Hackney Town Hall. Staff at Sutton House (the National Trust property opposite the academy) coordinated the event and hosted individual rehearsals before the event itself in late November.
Following a successful season of their own, the academy U13 rugby squad were treated to a trip to Twickenham, England’s national rugby stadium, to watch a varsity match with their coach, Mr. Kirby.
Top merit winners Rewards Basil Anuar 31 merits Ludgate M
Bobby Okobi 37 merits Aldgate B
Hannah Clavier 78 merits Aldgate I
Emmanuel Kumapanyi 49 merits Aldgate P
... ... ...
Richard Sosanya 124 merits Moorgate I
Congratulations to all our top merit winners for the last half term. Who will be the prizewinning, top merit winner for the term, and which tutor group will top the table?
TheCityTimes
Autumn term 2 - 2013/14
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Key dates for the half term ahead Events
Uniform
We begin the spring term 2014 with a staff training day followed by Parent Day for year 11 parents and students. All students return to school as normal on Wednesday 8 January. This half term plays host to some very important events including GCSE options evening for year 9 students and our Sixth Form Taster Day for year 11. The Parent Staff Association will also be welcoming parents to a taster lesson. Staff training day Monday 6 January, all day The academy will be closed to all students on Monday 6 January for a staff training day. Year 11 will be expected in on Tuesday for Parent Day and all students return to school on Wednesday. Year 11 Parent Day Tuesday 7 January, 1.30 - 8 p.m. Year 11 parents and students are invited to attend their annual Parent Day to meet their subject teachers, discuss progress, exam preparation and learn more about our Sixth Form. Staff training evening Tuesday 21 January, 3.40 p.m. There will be no Additional Studies after school on Tuesday
JANUARY Week 16 06.01.2014
Week 17 13.01.2014
21 January and the library will also be closed for a staff training evening. PSA Subject Evening: Parent Taster Lesson Wednesday 29 January, 5.30 p.m. Parents and their children are invited to attend an evening taster class at the academy. This is a great opportunity for parents to come and experience our outstanding learning environment first hand and hopefully learn something new too. See overleaf for details. Sixth Form Taster Day Saturday 1 February Prospective Sixth Form students, both internal and external, are invited to attend a taster day at the academy. Please sign up online to book your place.
Week 18 20.01.2014
Week 19 27.01.2014
Year 9 GCSE Options Evening Wednesday 12 February, 5.45 p.m. Year 9 students and their parents/ carers are invited to attend a GCSE Options information evening.
Having grown in number year on year, now with a student body of nearly 900, the academy has to manage an ever-increasing amount of lost property and uniform. With this in mind, may we please ask parents/carers to: 1. ensure all uniform is labelled with your child’s name
This is your opportunity to learn more about the decisions you will have to make, the subjects we offer and the potential education pathways and careers this could lead to.
2. ask your child to collect lost property, uniform (if it has not already been returned) or confiscated items when it is made available at the end of each term.
In the meantime, why not refer to last year’s GCSE options booklet as a guide which can be found in the Students section of our website.
Any lost property and uniform that is not labelled with your child’s name will be either disposed of, given to charity or offered to the Parent Staff Association to be sold in their second hand uniform shop at various parental engagement events such as Parent Days and Consultation Week.
For more information regarding upcoming events, please refer to the Events page on our website: www.thecityacademy.org/events.
FEBRUARY Week 20 03.02.2014
Week 21 10.02.2014
Week 14 04/11/2013
Stic me o k n 15 the Week fri04/11/2013 dge.
P-p-p-penguins Season’s greetings to all our parents/carers, students and the wider academy community. More penguin portraits can be found on our Flickr page along with lots of other photos from recent events at the academy. www.flickr.com/tcah
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Book review by Na’Imah Laurent-Dixon This term our Key Stage 4 students have been writing book reviews of the books they have chosen to read. Year 10 student, Na’Imah, reviews her chosen book, The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen: Macy Queen is a teenager struggling to make sense of her new life after her dad passes away shortly after Christmas. Her relationship with her mum and her own identity are tested as she tries to rediscover herself. Along the way she starts working for a catering company where she meets the artistic Wes. She rediscovers her love for running and her relationship with her mum and sister improves. The Truth about Forever is now one of my favourite books because it explores grief in a very delicate way. It also includes romance which I love to read about but it is in no way a cliché or cheesy. I love that the character Macy develops over the course of the book and ends up finding herself. I like that it challenges ideas of perfection and includes an element of teenage rebellion. I also love all the interesting characters in the novel that have their own background stories. I like how her mum is portrayed as a workaholic
The City Academy, Hackney Values and Success who tries to cope with her husband’s death by being over controlling towards Macy. And how Macy’s sister is coping well with the death and acknowledges her sadness while still moving on with her life. My favourite part is the ending which is a happy one where Macy and her mum start to repair their relationship and she has discovered her new identity, her love of running and her new passion for life. I would strongly recommend the book to anyone. Five stars. Each term the library at the academy invites authors and poets to come and speak to our students about their work, their writing and their lives. This half term we were very pleased to welcome poet, Dzifa Benson, who performed some of her poems for our year 8 students as well as taking questions about her inspirations and how she creates her work. Next term, Chris Bradford, author of the Young Samurai and Bodyguard series will be coming in (with his samurai suit and sword) to meet our year 7 students.
Award winners Founders’ Day Year 8 Subject Awards
Congratulations to all 15 students who won subject prizes - awarded by the Lord Mayor of the City of London - for their efforts and achievements during their first year at the academy: Francezca Cas Ashiqur Chowdhury Kayasha Davis Tanya Ahmed Emmanuel Kumapanyi Brooke Higgins Jakaria Uddin Sebiha Kemal Benita Owusu Saharah Mendes Nikco Clayton Marion Willingham Ferdosi Abbott Dill Cadoret Liberte Ces
English Maths Science French Spanish Geography History RE Business & ICT Technology Art Music Drama PE Founders’ Day Cup
Free Minds by Isabel Chapman, Peabody Trust
Parent Staff Association: update It has been another busy and successful 12 months for the Parent Staff Association (PSA). We have hosted a range of events including two Subject Evenings (taster classes for parents), two education discussion evenings and our annual International Food Evening and Quiz, our best attended yet. Also this year, parents from the PSA have made and sold refreshments at recent concerts and have set up a second hand uniform shop. The uniform shop has proved to be a very successful and valuable venture that parents can both support and benefit from. Please donate any unwanted uniform items by handing them in at reception. Annual General Meeting Thank you to all the parents/carers who joined us for our Annual General Meeting earlier this month. Thanks also go to Mr. Emmerson who attended the meeting to offer an overview of the academy’s progress to date, discuss plans for the Sixth Form [opening September 2014] and to answer your questions. Minutes from the meeting, and from all our meetings over the year, can be found in the Parents section (www. thecityacademy.org/parents) of the academy website. Upcoming Events After a busy first term, the PSA is hosting just one event during the first half term in January: the
first of our Subject Evenings for this academic year. Subject Evenings provide parents with an opportunity to experience life in the classroom at the academy. The hour-long taster classes are open to all parents/carers and their children too; there’s no need to sign up and it’s completely free. Each department at the academy kindly take it in turns to offer an evening of outstanding teaching and learning. Parent Governors Following an open invitation for parents to put themselves forward, we are very pleased that nine parents have applied to become Parent Governors and join year 8 parent Toyin on the board of governors. Next term all parents and staff will be given the opportunity to vote; letters will be posted to all families in January and more information will be available on our website. Parental engagement is hugely important to the academy’s success. Please continue to support the PSA by attending events, coming to our meetings to share your views and buying cakes at the concerts.
Over half term Christine and Eugenie (pictured) attended the annual Peabody Volunteer Awards at City Hall as winners of the Peabody Young Leaders award for their commitment to leading the Free Minds campaign at The City Academy, Hackney. The girls had tea on the top floor of the Mayor’s office and celebrated their win taking pictures on the balcony in front of Tower Bridge. Both Christine and Eugenie have shown their commitment and impressive leadership skills in their involvement in the Free Minds campaign, which raises awareness about the importance of positive mental health and the support services available for young people in Hackney. Youth Sports Awards by Ms Threadwell
Merry Christmas. Stephen Webster
Chair of the Parent Staff Association
The City Academy, Hackney is sponsored by KPMG and the City of London Corporation. The City Academy, Hackney is a registered company. Registered in England No. 6382192 Registered office: PO Box 270, Guildhall, London, EC2P 2EJ. Registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales. Charity No. 1121963
Congratulations to Katie Briggs, Ramaar Morgan-Johnson and Sheik Sheriff who were all honoured at the Hackney Sports Awards for their contribution to sports and physical activity in their local community. All three have volunteered as Sports Ambassadors for the academy, working with our neighbouring primary school students.