April 2014

Principal

Mr Francis Galbraith

Newsletter

Website address: www.goldingtonacademy.org.uk

YEAR 7 CLAY ART WORK

Pupils have designed their own clay masks taking inspiration from Kimmy

Cantrell’s work. He is a self-taught abstract artist who emphasises different

sized facial proportions. Mrs Brewer

Goldington Academy

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY .. . . SUMMER TERM DATES 2014

EASTER HOLIDAYS — Monday 7 April 2014 — Monday 21 April 2014

Tuesday 22 April SCHOOL CLOSED Staff Training Day

Wednesday 23 April SUMMER TERM BEGINS

Thursday 24—Sunday 27 April Year 8 Girls’ Hockey Tour — Cardiff

Wednesday 30 April 7RLM History trip to St Albans

Wednesday 30 April Parents’ Forum

Friday 2 May 7PGS History trip to St Albans

Friday 2 May Year 8 Girls’ HPV Injection

Wednesday 7 May 5.30 pm — 7.00 pm Year 8 Reports Evening

Monday 5 May SCHOOL CLOSED May Day Bank Holiday

Monday 12 May—Thursday 15 May KS2 SATs

Thursday 15 May 6.00 pm—8.00 pm PTA Disco

Friday 16 May Year 6 Trip to Cinema

Monday 26 May—Friday 30May MAY HALF TERM

Dear All

As I mentioned in my introduction last term (and Diane our Chair of Governors articulates in her piece in this term’s

Newsletter) we are a member of the Pilgrim Learning Trust (PLT) group of schools. In February we had a two day School

Development Review with three Headteachers from the PLT and a Lead Inspector from Ofsted. The Review involved 35

different teachers having lessons observed, lots of pupil conversations, analysis of school attainment and progress data and

meetings with eight Middle Leaders. We were delighted with our overall very strong “Good” grade given in the follow-up

report. In their summary the Review Team found the following areas of strength as well as some areas for consideration:

Areas of strength:

Strong, effective team based approach to high quality teaching and learning.

A climate and culture of positive relationships, respect for each other and awareness of need.

Examples of highly effective teaching and very strong pupil progress.

Thorough and detailed analysis of attainment data to support learning.

Pastoral care in all its facets.

Pupil behaviour for learning.

Areas for consideration:

Ensure consistency across the curriculum and within departments to ensure best practice is commonplace. i.e.

marking, planning and delivery.

Take the lid off teaching to allow more freedom for pupils to take control of their own learning.

Embed effective practice so that all middle leaders have the capacity to secure consistently very good teaching

and learning.

Reviews like these are extremely important in helping us improve the school and that is why I want to share the key findings

in this introduction. This review and the subsequent report will be very useful to us as we look to enhance the school, and

your child’s experience of it, in the next 12 months.

On another matter I’m delighted to say we have had 213 Year 4 students put us down as first choice for September 2014.

This means we are oversubscribed by almost 40 children and helps to demonstrate how we remain a very popular school

within the local community. Can I once again thank you for your continuing support of Goldington Academy and can I take

this opportunity to wish you and your family a wonderful Easter break. We look forward to seeing your child return to us on

Wednesday 23 April.

Goldington Academy

On Thursday 13th March, a group of Goldington’s Most

Able Year 8 English students went on a trip to the Globe

Theatre in London. When we were there, we had a tour of

the theatre and were given lots of interesting information

about its history and the Shakespearian plays that were

performed there. Later in the day, we all took part in a

drama workshop which was led by a professional actor. We

rehearsed scenes from Romeo and Juliet, a play we are

currently studying in lessons, which was fun; even the

teachers took part. When the workshop was over, we went

to take a look at the Shakespeare Exhibition which was in a

different part of the theatre.

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As part of the exhibition, we were given a talk about the

type of clothes and fabrics people wore in Shakespeare’s

day and Rajesh was dressed up as a shepherd girl! It was

very interesting and quite funny too! Overall, it was a great

day – really interesting.

On the way home, our coach

was pulled over by the

police; at first, the coach

driver thought he was in

trouble, but it turned out that

we needed to let a car with a

police escort past - we

thought it might have been

the Prime Minister, David

Cameron. Lewis 8M

On Thursday 13th

March, some of the Year 8 students got the chance to go to

the Globe Theatre, London. We arrived by coach and were split into groups.

The exhibition was my favourite part as there was a lot to do and see, and we

could explore it with our friends. However, we also had a tour of the theatre,

which was very pretty and were able to watch the actors warming up ready for

their matinee performance of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ which was really funny.

We took part in a drama workshop too and I think everyone enjoyed the day –

I would go again.

Jessica

Goldington Academy

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NOTE FROM THE GOVERNORS

As you know Goldington Academy is an active member of the Pilgrim Learning Trust ..... "Pioneers in Education"? The Pilgrim Learning Trust is a collaborative group of 24 North Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire schools consisting of infant, primary, lower, middle, secondary and upper schools. The key purpose is for self governing schools to work together to improve teaching and learning. We do this by peer review, school to school collaboration and sharing of best practice. The objectives of the PLT are to raise standards in education, governance and to procure cost effectively. The PLT has three groups that oversee, review and advise upon all its activities. The Heads Group: all head teachers are equal members and meet as required, but at least termly. They prioritise all activities associated with teaching and learning and evaluate all that has been organised by the PLT The Governance Council: each member school nominates a PLT governor ( I am Goldington Academy's representative) and attend all meetings. The GC receives all reports on the PLT activities but has a particular role in approving and evaluating the Governor Training and Governance Audit. The School Business Managers Group: each SBM is a member and meet regularly to share supplier/procurement information and discuss group procurement. We undertake this commitment in the belief that structured school to school collaboration is an effective strategy for successful improvement and Goldington Academy will continue to benefit from this worthwhile partnership.

Accelerated Reader has now been up and running for a term. The pupils are busy taking quizzes and in that time have read 2161 books and over 64 million words! Congratulations to our 10 Reading Millionaires who have each read over a million words: Year 5 — Jake Year 6 — Jacob, Daniel, Miriam, Megan, William Year 7 — Callum, Leon, Tabitha Year 8 — Jack

REMINDER

Please ensure the School Office has up-to-date contact and address

details for your child(ren). Thank you.

Goldington Academy

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Thank you to all the boys, girls and members of staff who dressed up for

World Book Day. Not only was it fun trying to work out who everybody was,

your contributions have raised nearly £500, all of which will be spent on

buying new books for the library. Here’s a selection of some of the amazing

staff and pupil outfits:

W

O

R

L

D

B

O

O

K

D

A

Y

Goldington Academy

GYM AND DANCE DISPLAY (1, 2 & 3 April 2014)

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I really like the Gym and Dance Display it gives us a good feeling about danc-ing and I also want to say thank you to Mrs Warner, Mrs Parker and Miss Simmons, we could not do the gym and Dance Display without them. Elsie It’s hard work going

to all of the

practices but it is

worth it because in

the end if looks

great. Some of the

performances are

amazing and really

elegant. Isabelle

I really enjoy the Gym and Dance Display, it’s my second

display and I think it’s worth all the practices we do. Becky

I think that the Gym and Dance

Display is amazing. It will make

all the mums and dads very

proud that their sons/daughters

are doing it. Kameron

I love the Gym and Dance Display. It shows what Goldington Academy can do. Also when it’s the Lower school performance they can see what they can do when they come. Amelia

Goldington Academy

I am very proud to announce that eight children from Drama Club volunteered to enter this year’s Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama where I was very pleased with their achievements. Chris achieved both a first and second place in his classes of Bible reading and a presentation on rugby; Hugo and Travis received a third place in their verse speaking duet of the poem “Bazonka!” by Spike Milligan Grace also received a third place in a very competitive class where she read the poem ‘Alone in the Grange’ by Gregory Harrison and Sofia and Maja received a third place where they performed an extract from ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl, portraying convincing characters of Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey. Finally, Charlotte and Mia who entered separate classes of reading poetry achieved a commended mark for their promising performances. A number of Goldington pupils achieved success in the music categories. Well done to William, David and Tia on each coming first place. Mrs Wildman, Drama Co-ordinator

SUCCESSES

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CONGRATULATIONS

The Year7/8 Girls Football team reached the semi final of the District outdoor tournament, held on a wet and windy day at Lincroft.

Year 6 Rugby team will be playing against Alban next week. Best of luck to them. Mr Llewellyn

YEAR 8 CHRISTINA LINGER AWARD Christina was a pupil of Goldington Academy who tragically died (whilst in Year 8) in the February Half Term holiday of 1985. It was her parents’ wish that we award each year a silver salver “The Christina Linger Award” to the Year 8 pupil who most mirrors the values and characteristics that Christina had. This year the Christina Linger Award was presented to Hollie for her qualities of hard work, enthusiasm and desire to succeed. No higher award is given out to

a student of Goldington Academy. Many congratulations Hollie.

Goldington Academy

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Our aim as a committee is to provide a disco per term for pupils, subject to school

agreement and some sort of Summer/Christmas fayre going forward. Again we are

appealing for help with all these sorts of events, from contacts in the local

community ie prizes and possible stalls to regular helpers to buy refreshments for

occasions such as discos.

Friends of Goldington Academy Contacts: Carmela Martiello - Chair 07951 688482

Lucy Bywater - Secretary 07914 606816

Charlotte Bozward - Treasurer 07887 781672

Messages and suggestions can also be left at the

School Office.

We are a fledgling committee with a handful of helpers and we are

looking for some more members to help in organising future events and

fundraising for the Academy. We currently meet every couple of

months for an hour or so, so there is minimal commitment as we

appreciate time is of a premium for us all.

We would like to begin with a very BIG thank you for all your

support to date. As you can see we have raised an amazing

amount of money thanks to parents, pupils and teachers alike.

We hope to be in discussions shortly with the school on projects

that would benefit from these monies. Any suggestions from

parents and students would be greatly received.

Fun Run 2013

£5,054.30

*Amazing * Thank you!!

December Disco

£873.80

Thank you!!

Due to delays in changing over signatories on the banking account which

have only just been resolved, some of you may have paid the Fun Run by

cheques, which have only just been deposited. We would like to offer

our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause and this should not be

an issue in future.

We raised …..

Goldington Academy

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SATS INFORMATION EVENING—THURSDAY 27TH

FEBRUARY 2014

On Thursday 27th February 2014, 200 Year 6 pupils and parents attended SATs Information Evening.

The evening involved a brief introduction to SATs followed by interactive English and Maths workshops.

We would like to thank all those that attended, making the evening a great success.

If you were unable to attend, your son/daughter should have brought a pack of information home for you to read. Further questions relating to SATs should be directed to your child’s class teacher.

SATS WEEK — MONDAY 12TH MAY—THURSDAY 15TH MAY

We would be grateful if you could avoid arranging holidays and appointments during this period

Well done to everyone who has entered a competition so far this term. After Easter we have two competitions running: The Pet Photograph Competition and the Gardening Competition. Do you have a pet that looks like its owner? Is your pet the cutest animal in the world? Who can grow the most unusual vegetable? Who can grow the tallest sunflower? Also, congratulations to everyone who has become a Reading Millionaire, they automatically win 50 House points! Current point scores:

1st: Emms 907 points 2nd: Stott 774 points 3rd: Frezza 734 points 4th: Foster 722 points 5th: Pendleton 698 points 6th: Rogers 693 points

Correction from the previous Newsletter

World War I competition winner: Victoria (Year 8) drew a marvellous picture using the number 100 with a scene of a soldier, a cross and a poppy drawn within the numbers.

Gail Emms

Goldington Academy

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In the morning I went to the Science lab with James,

Michael, Grace, Amy, Daisy, Katie and Jasmine. At

the Science lab each team went to a table—there were

six teams, two teams from each of the schools

participating (Goldington, Newnham and Mark

Rutherford). I was in a team with Grace, Amy and

Daisy.

The first challenge was to insulate an ice cube as best

as we could, we used newspaper, tin foil and the other

available materials.

The second challenge was to prevent an egg from

cracking.

The third challenge was to make a parachute which

had the longest long time and best landing accuracy.

The fourth challenge was to make the tallest tower

out of spaghetti and jelly babies.

The final challenge was to create a bridge out of

straws and newspaper.

Unfortunately we (the Explosive Einsteins) lost, but I

really enjoyed the morning of challenges. Richard

“the whole competition was

really exciting” Grace

“I enjoyed all of the difficult challenges and

won 2 of them” James

“The challenges required a lot of thought to

complete them but were still fun and

enjoyable. Michael

Goldington Academy

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On the 27th March, 8M penfriends visited Goldington

Academy. It was a great opportunity for pupils to practice

the French they had learnt in lessons.

If your child walks to school for a ‘before school activity’ please remind them to take

extra care when crossing the road, as the School Crossing Patrols are not in place until

8.10 am.

We are concerned about pupil safety in the school car park out of school hours, particularly at pick up times

after clubs and practices. Please help us to improve this by encouraging your child not to walk between

stationery and parked cars. Also, please drive and park safely and adhere to the speed limit of 10mph whilst

on the school site.

Individual Educational Needs Drop In Time

If you have a child with Individual Educational Needs at School Action, School

Action Plus or with a Statement and you wish to meet to discuss an issue surrounding their

work at school or any issue relating to their education I will be available to see you without an

appointment every Tuesday between 4.00 and 5.00 pm. I understand that as parents you may

want a conversation more often than twice yearly at Parents Evenings. The sort of issues you

may want to discuss are:

Your child’s progress

A particular question about homework or class work

How your child’s individual needs are being met at school

Just come to the Main Office and ask to see me.

Miss Thompson

Individual Needs Co-ordinator

It was quite fun and I learnt

some new words and tried to

speak a lot of French and it

was challenging trying to

explain the game to them.

Wasim

I thought the day went well

and it was nice to hear how

they speak and what they

had learnt in English. I

liked how easy it was to

have a conversation in

groups and I liked playing

the games. Lewis

I did enjoy meeting the penpals. I

liked it when we got a chance to play

games with them at a table as it was

fun to have a group of French and

English against each other. I also

liked it when we got to try different

foods and take home recipes as a

Goldington Academy

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MASSED MIDDLE SCHOOLS CONCERT

On Wednesday 26th March 65 of our

singers from the Senior and Junior Choirs took part in an exciting event at a local venue - The King’s House. For the first time in many years pupils from middle schools across Bedfordshire joined together to perform a range of songs. The programme was a fantastic mix of traditional and popular music, all accompanied by a fabulous professional rock band in addition to teacher and advanced student instrumentalists. After weeks of extremely busy choir rehearsals, trying to learn all 13 songs in preparation for the event, it was fantastic to arrive at the impressive venue and begin to see it all come together. The afternoon was incredibly busy. A lot of time was taken trying to manoeuvre all the performers onto the staging, leaving us only just enough time to run through the songs with our live accompaniment. Levels of excitement rose as the evening performance approached. We all walked onto the stage as the band played an uplifting, instrumental version of “Let Me Entertain You”. The evident pride and enjoyment amongst the children was a joy to observe; they all sang their hearts out. As well as the massed choir items there were solo items from some of the schools. Goldington Academy was represented by Ella who sang her version of “Your Song” by Elton John beautifully and with such composure and professionalism. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the pupils involved who were a delight and particularly the adults who supported the event – Miss Robinson, Miss Love, Mrs Smith, Ms Fearon, Mrs Davie and Mrs Lombardi.