city academy norwich newsletter march 2013
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City Academy Norwich Newsletter March 2013TRANSCRIPT
part of the
Swimming for 5 to 16 years
Page 13
CAN Film ProjectPage 11
Chef Franck Pontais presents cooking demonstration at City Academy NorwichPage 7
SPRING 2013
City Academy Norwich
MAGAZINE
As you can see, we continue to
involve the students at CAN in some
wonderful learning experiences.
I would like to draw your attention, in particular, to some of the amazing work that is being done in the Digital Technology area. The Eve project involves students flying into a virtual world and participating in collaborative problem
solving activities. Mr Mullis and Mr Thompson are presenting this project to an International audience in Brazil over Easter. Students are building computers for home use, some are building touch screen tables, while others are designing Apps for phones. This new world at the Academy is giving CAN students a head start in their future lives.
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part of the
ContentsFrom the Principal 3
EVE Project Workshop 4
Holocaust Memorial Event 5
Intermediate UK Maths Challenge 5
First private dining experience 6
Chef Franck Pontais at CAN 7
Information Technology 8–9
Radio Plays 10
NUCA exhibition at CAN 10
University of East Anglia students 10
help develop GCSE drama pieces
Art and Culture in London 11
Inspire a Generation dance show 12
Norfolk Winter School Games 13
Swimming lessons for 5-16 year olds 13
France trip 2013 14
Students design mountain biking tracks 15
Army assault course 15
Family Fun Day 16
St John Ambulance Cadets 16
World Book Day 17
Book Publishers Project 18
Students take a trip to see the Hobbit 19
Accelerated Reader Scheme 19
Gifted and Talented Conference 20
TEN Gifted and Talented Student Forum 21
Cambridge University Challenge day 22
Students create Mars Landers 23
Russian taster session 23
Red Nose Day 23
Where to find us 24
Obviously there is more to life at CAN than this, as the magazine shows, but this is a glimpse into the future!
Mr D Brunton
Principal
From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
EVE Project Workshop
Students take part in Intermediate UK Maths Challenge Thirty City Academy Norwich
students joined the top 20%
of maths students in the
country to take part in this
year’s Intermediate Maths
Challenge on 7th February
at City Academy Norwich.
The students had to do a 1 hour paper, testing mathematical and logical reasoning.
Congratulations to Jessica Rudd, Michael Cushion and Matthew Welch who all won a silver award and to Kye Metcalfe, Scott Buxton, Aakash Weerasingha and James DeAntonis who all won a bronze award. Best in year certificates go to Jessica Rudd, Michael Cushion and James DeAntonis. The Best in School certificate goes to Michael Cushion in Year 10. Students were selected from Years 9, 10 and 11.
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Holocaust Memorial Event at City Academy NorwichFollowing Holocaust Memorial
Day on Sunday 27th January
City Academy Norwich students
were given the opportunity to
experience a day of activities
designed to broaden their
knowledge and understanding of
this important topic.
Rather than attend their usual Tuesday lessons Year 8 students took part in a range of Holocaust workshops led by their Humanities teachers in collaboration with a group of 15 History PGCE students from UEA. Pupils learned how to examine a historical artifact, they used evidence to solve a mystery and built up an interactive timeline of the Holocaust. Throughout the day pupils worked collaboratively in groups and were encouraged to
discuss ideas and generate their own questions. The culmination of the day was a group task that required pupils to design their own Holocaust Memorial.
The day was planned and organized by History Advanced Skills Teacher Dan Carter. The aim was to engage pupils in the study of the Holocaust by introducing them to personal stories that they could connect with and understand, rather than to shock them with graphic photographs and films. The feedback from pupils and adults who participated in the day was overwhelmingly positive; pupils who might not ordinarily be interested in History were enthusiastically asking questions and participating in the group tasks.
The EVE Project workshop aims
to engage staff and students in
the development of an exciting
3D virtual world that liberates
students in their investigation of
STEM based projects.
The virtual world would be created by and with students, initially within the Academy, broadening to encompass schools across the county and across the globe. Students would work in teams on different islands to develop a sustainable energy source within their environment and to produce materials which help other students in their investigations under the theme of Energy.
Students will compete to design the most energy efficient island on the virtual world drawing from STEM based skills, participating in exciting new learning opportunities with web based assessment throughout and engaging competitions.
The workshop will be followed by an informative discussion on the learning impact of this virtual world implementation by Futurelab.
Speakers will include:
Jerome Thompson, AST, ICT Teacher, City Academy NorwichTim Mullis, Head of Science/STEM, City Academy, NorwichGareth Mills, Consultant, Futurelab
Academy’s trainee chefs host rst e ternal private dining e perience
MenuPre Starter:
Parsnip soup
Starter:
Anti pasti – cured meats, dipping
oil, gherkins, olives, mozzarella,
sun dried tomatoes, bread
Main:
Breast of chicken stuffed with
brie served on pomme puree with
crispy bacon and creamed wild
mushrooms
(V) Butternut squash risotto
Dessert:
A warm berry crumble
Coffee and petit fours
Five of City Academy Norwich’s
trainee student chefs hosted the
Academy’s first external private
dining experience at the LRC
and our professional kitchen for
twelve Trainee teachers from the
University of East Anglia
on Monday 25th February.
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Chef Franck Pontais presents cooking demonstration at City Academy NorwichChef and Kitchen Artist Franck
Pontais visited City Academy
Norwich on Wednesday 20th
March to present a cooking
demonstration to 80 Key Stage
4 students.
During the 90 minute long demonstration Franck not only showed the students how to make pouched quail egg salad, hot smoked fish and potato terrine and butter roses but also how to use chocolate sculpting in cooking.
Linda Roberts said: “Franck’s demonstration has been really beneficial for the students as it
Customer Feedback“I can’t believe that this food was cooked by under 16’s”
‘Not only was the food some of the best I’ve tasted but the service was top notch too!”
“These chefs and front of house staff will have no problem finding a job post 16.”
“City Academy Norwich are doing something really exciting and unique and this is only the beginning. I wish them the best of luck.”
“The students really excel in a real world situation. They are 100% committed to excellent service as well as superb food. They are the chefs of tomorrow. It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with such high calibre students.”
“Watch out Gordon Ramsay. Wow, just wow!”
“It’s fantastic to see students so passionate about food, it’s clear that they thrive on the responsibility. When is the next one?”
“I thought I would test one of the chefs by asking questions about the food when they came out at the end and, to my surprise and delight he could tell me every ingredient that went into the dish, the cooking method and even gave me a tip or two.”
“It is an absolute pleasure to work with such an outstanding group of students in this setting; we are trying to give them real life experience and the necessary skills needed in order to make the transition into the world of work. I am confident that ‘Exceptionnel’ will continue to grow and will be a fully functioning restaurant based at City Academy Norwich for years to come.” Lee Vann (City Academy Norwich)
Once again our student chefs and front of house staff performed to the highest level and provided their paying customers with an exquisite fine dining experience. The five course menu was enjoyed by guests who were overwhelmed with the quality of the food and service they received.
has given them the opportunity to see where an A* grade in catering could take them. Franck was very inspirational and I am really glad the students were given the opportunity to see it.
Some of the students who attended the demonstration will now put themselves forward to compete in a Great British Menu style competition that will take place in May.
Students who are successful will form together to make a catering team who will cook a lavish meal for Mr Brunton and his VIP guests.
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Pilot Pi ProjectWorking with Norfolk County Council students across Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 will be provided with a Can-Pi, a credit card sized computer that can plug into any standard TV system.
Cisco Invent Students afterschool Cisco club is still well attended with students learning how to build PC’s and take them home. This ½ term has seen a few projects with students building a touch screen table. Brilliant.
BETT ShowA coach of students attended BETT at the impressive London Excel Arena and observed tomorrow’s technology today.
Scratch off – Battle BeginsStudents across Year 7 and 8 are preparing to take on other schools from around Norfolk in a programming competition. Last year’s winners won an amazing £100. Watch this space.
Teacher training A class of Year 9 computing students gave a wonderful presentation of their learning journey to an amazed 160 trainee PGCE students from the UEA.
Well done EllieCreative iMedia student hits national news and hopes to continue her studies to degree level in this area. We are all proud of you Ellie.
Virtual worldYear 11 students are taking to the virtual world in partnership with the Sainsbury Art Centre. With partners from Brazil, France and the UK this looks like a fascinating project.
Binary challengeWith nearly 100 entrants to the Binary challenge from across all year groups, we have a new Champion. Congratulations go to Shania Staddon from Year 7. Well done!
Kinect kicks off After presenting to local business champions, the Computing students from Year 9, have been awarded funding to develop their literacy motion games and bring them to primary schools around the county. Wow.
3d printingCreative iMedia students have been hard at work designing and creating phone case’s using an amazing 3d printer. Now they develop apps and phone accessories!
Information and Communication Technology at City Academy Norwich
Undergraduate students
from Norwich University
of the Arts are holding an
exhibition in the Creativity
breakout space from
Thursday 18th April to
Friday 10th May.
Norwich University College of the Arts E hibition at City Academy Norwich
The exhibition will give Key Stage 3 and 4 art students the opportunity to view the work and talk to the artists about their ideas. There will be a student Private View at 4pm and then for staff and guests at 5pm on Thursday 25th April.
Five students from the University
of East Anglia drama department
have been working with City
Academy Norwich’s GCSE drama
students to help them with their
final exam pieces.
The UEA students have performed for the students in an original play, provided one-to-one support to CAN
University of East Anglia students help develop GCSE drama pieces
students and run two workshops based on Characterisation and Themes which has really helped to develop the GCSE performances.
The drama exam pieces will be performed to parents, friends and examiners on Tuesday 30th April and Thursday 2nd May at 7.00pm.
The Drama department
have been running a
Radio Play project with
75 Year 5 students
from St Michaels Junior
School.
The Radio Play project involved the students attending two drama sessions where they developed characters, rehearsed a Flash Gordon script and used iPads to record and edit their radio plays. The students worked really well and were very creative with their ideas for making sound effect noises such spaceships, rayguns and fire.
ear ve students create Radio Plays
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Twelve CAN students have been
getting involved in a huge range of
exciting work experience projects
this term.
Students spent 6 weeks working with local film company C>Media to produce a series of mocumentaries about wizards, chewing gum dealers and killer pens. They have also recorded some special behind the scenes documentaries for Norwich Arts Centre, Cinema City and Mustard TV which will appear on the venues’ websites soon.
Five of these students have also worked as the official film crew to document ‘CAN’s Got Talent’.
CAN Film Project
Forty GCSE Art and Photography
students visited London to visit art
galleries on Saturday 9th February.
The students started their day by visiting Tate Modern before catching a river boat up the Thames to Tate Britain.
Students e perience Art and Culture in London
Kelly Mallet said: “The students were impeccably behaved and I was very proud of each and every one of them. It was a very enjoyable day and the students gained valuable experience in seeing live art.”
City Academy Norwich achieve third place in Norfolk Winter School Games
Eight Year 7 pupils from City
Academy Norwich achieved third
place in the Norfolk Winter School
Games on Thursday 7th March.
The Norfolk School Games is the biggest school sporting event to ever be held in Norfolk and will see over 4,500 young people take part in 23 different sports during 2013.
The City Academy Norwich team took part in a range of track and field events including shot put, standing long jump, standing triple jump, 2 lap individual race and 8 lap Paarlauf relay. The team performed exceptionally well and were great Pupils stage inspirational performance
at ‘Inspire a Generation’ dance showOver forty five pupils from City
Academy Norwich wowed the
crowds at the Norwich School
Sport Partnership’s (SSP) Inspire
a Generation schools dance show
on Tuesday 12th February at the
OPEN Youth Venue.
Three groups of City Academy Norwich pupils performed in the show, the Year 8 lunchtime Dance Club pupils performed “Bout It” from the film “Step Up” followed by a group of Year 10/11 pupils who had choreographed a “Step Up Medley” of music from the film “Step Up” themselves. Pupils from the Academy’s Arts Award Dance course also performed to “I Believe” from “Honey”.
The SSP’s Inspire a Generation schools dance show provided pupils with a fantastic opportunity to perform on a big stage with professional sound and lighting. All dance routines in the show were themed around things that inspired the 300 young people aged between 5 and 16 from 13 schools across the county.
Miss Kitson who runs the Arts Award Dance course said;“I am really proud of all the pupils that took part in the show. They have all worked extremely hard to prepare and they all gave it their all! I would like to thank the School Sport Partnership for providing our pupils with the opportunity to take part in tonight’s show”.
Lisa McGreevy, dance coordinator for the Norwich School Sport Partnership, said: “The young people have been working on the show since October and they have been brilliant. I am so proud of them.”
The performances can be viewed online at www.youtube.com/norwichssp
Pupils from the Academy will also have the opportunity to take part in a second SSP dance show that is being held in June.
Academy introduces new affordable swimming lessons for 5-16 year olds City Academy Norwich will soon
be offering a programme of new
community swimming sessions
for young people aged between
5 and 16 years old. The sessions
will provide an affordable way for
young people to learn to swim or
develop their stroke further.
Sessions will be held every Thursday evening between 5pm and 7pm at the Academy’s swimming pool with the first session being held on Thursday 18th April.
5.00 to 5.30pm: Non swimmers5.30 to 6.00pm: Children that can swim 5-10m6.00 to 6.30pm: Children that can swim 10-25m6.30 to 7.00pm: Children that can swim 25m+Sessions are only £3 and participants will be able to pay on a weekly basis or up front for a half term.
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ambassadors for the Academy throughout the event.
Over the next few months City Academy Norwich pupils will have the opportunity to compete against other local schools in a variety of other sports to win a place in the squad to represent the Norwich School Sport Partnership (SSP) in the Norfolk School Games summer finals.
Year 10 – Football teamCity Academy Norwich Year 10
boys football team are through to
the Final of the Norfolk Cup after
beating Nethered High School 8-2.
The goalscorers were:
George Couzens x2Todd Cantwell x2Matt WelchHarley BlackKofi BoatengJimmy Rajabu
This is the first time City Academy Norwich have got to the Norfolk county cup final. The final is going to be played on Tuesday 30th April at 7.30pm at the FDC (Bowthorpe).
Everyone is welcome to come
along and support the team.
For more information about
the sessions please contact
the Academy’s swimming
instructor Ben Johnson on
City Academy Norwich’s Duke of
Edinburgh Award students were
given the opportunity to spend a
day mountain biking at the Hautbois
Centre and design their own tracks
in November.
The students, who were working in conjunction with the Sports Partnership and the British Mountain
Students design mountain biking tracks
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Duke of Edinburgh students huddled
together in the freezing cold to
welcome the Army and their mobile
assault course in November.
After demonstrations of equipment, team building games and the occasional press ups students took to the course and did time trials.
All students who took part and got very muddy in the process.
Students brace the elements to tackle Army assault course
There are still spaces available for
students to come to France on a
Watersports and cultural holiday
from 27th July to 4th August.
Students who attend will have the opportunity to go sailing, canoeing, kayaking, abseiling and a host of other activities. They will also spend time in the local community volunteering for a local project.
Spaces available for students on France trip
Biking Association, were encouraged to both ride the course and research various elements of it so they could create their own track in the Bluebell Woods. Working closely with The British Mountain Biking Association, students have now created designs and plans and will be building the course in the next half term.
Although this is a trip aimed at Duke of Edinburgh Award students, there are spaces available for other students who are interested.
For more information please see Mr Deal.
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St John Ambulance Cadetsat City Academy NorwichFurther to the last issue of the
Academy magazine, we can
now show you the photo of
City Academy Norwich St John
Ambulance cadets receiving
a formal presentation of their
certificates on Wednesday
19 December 2012.
Family Fun DayTwo of the businesses DofE
students have set up ran on
Family Fun Day.
Both were a massive success and £250 was made by the end of the day between ‘Planet Smoothie’s’ drinks and ‘Beautiful loving connections’ with their bracelets.
With several opportunities left to sell their products these two businesses look set for big things. A huge congratulations to the students that took part.
World Book Day at City Academy NorwichCity Academy Norwich celebrated
World Book Day on Thursday 7th
March by providing a range of
fun activities for students to get
involved in.
The LRC held some book quizzes as well as a book cover design competition for Key Stage 3 and 4 students. Staff were asked to wear badges naming their favourite books literary characters, ranging from the Gruffalo to the Count of Monte Cristo, and students had to find out who everyone had chosen.
Students won an assortment of prizes ranging from a set of professional drawing pencils for best
book cover design to book tokens and chocolates. Winners were: Best book cover design:
Jhana Herman
Special prize for Key Stage
3 and 4 book quiz:
Emma Holmes and Anya Allen
Form that took part in the most
World Book Day competitions:
Kirsty Shanahan’s Staff Favourite Book
Characters competition:
Amne Khalil, James De Antonis, Harry Barber and Amber Hunt.
Book Publishers ProjectYear 7 pupils have been working
closely with primary school pupils
on their Book Publishers project.
The brief was to design a superhero story for a specific audience. We worked with primary school pupils in year 3 and 4 from Bluebell Primary School and year 5 pupils from Avenue Junior School. First the primary school pupils filled out questionnaires about their interests, likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. We asked them to think about something they needed help with in school, for example using connectives in their writing. We then partnered our students with a primary school pupil. They had to design a superhero story just for that person. They had to try and include all the information their partner had provided in their questionnaire, and it had to help the primary school partner improve on their area of weakness. Year 7 students then spent two weeks writing a personalised superhero story. They worked really hard and showed great independent learning skills. When the stories were finished, students chose to attend workshops. They could either publish their book as a big book, a little book or an
eBook. They spent a further week designing the layout of their books. In the final week, our primary school partners came to visit the Academy. They were shown up to the year 7 zone and really enjoyed having their stories read to them. The pupils and teachers from the primary schools involved were extremely positive about our year 7 students. ‘I liked that you included all my favourite hobbies and made sure I understood everything’ Jasmine ‘It really related to me in real life, as well as having a good story plot’ Kitty ‘It had really good drawing and great ideas’ Callum ‘I loved it when Mia looked in the mirror and she was surprised to
see a monkey tail attached to her! I would love to have a tail!’ Our year 7 students were also really positive about the project: ‘My pupil really liked the story that I wrote for her. She thought it was very interesting and really loved playing the game that I made. I was really pleased I finally got to share it with her. Thank you year 5 for coming to our school!’ Sophie ‘I learned a lot about trying your hardest when presenting a piece of work to someone else. I also met someone who was kind and funny’ Jessy ‘I didn’t think I could write stories, but then I tried and I did it. I’m really pleased and proud of my work’ Emma (Year 7)
The LRC Book Club read
the Hobbit last month and
then went to see the film at
Odeon cinema to compare
it to the book.
Student Anya Allen said:“The Hobbit is an Unexpected Journey that follows a title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to the lost Dwarf kingdom of Erebor.Reading the book inspired me to be more creative and
adventurous with my stories. At first the language in the book was confusing but as I read on you just forget how difficult the language is and you just want to get on with the story.
The cinema trip to see The Hobbit was great. I liked it because first of all I was eager to watch the film. I was able to spend the time with my friends; Emma, Whitney, Poppy, Tia, Chelsea, Emily and Matthew.”
Students take a trip to see the Hobbit
Accelerated Reader Scheme
The LRC and Year 7 have now
received the Accelerated Reader
(AR) scheme. AR promotes
reading for pleasure by making
reading competitive in peer
groups and using quizzes as
assessments in order to suggest
appropriate books.
Accelerated Reader will be running for all Year 7 students after Easter.
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CAN students attend Gifted and Talented ConferenceNine City Academy Norwich
students Year 10 and 11 joined
over 200 students from around
Norfolk at the Julie Arliss Gifted
and Talented conference at
Hellesdon High School.
The event was a unique opportunity for students to meet and listen to top academics speak on a wide range of topics from Time and Space to the Nature of Consciousness.
Students were actively engaged with abstract and complex ideas and their practical application. It was a challenging and rewarding day which students thoroughly enjoyed.
Some comments from students who attended the conference:
Absolutely loved it! Very intellectual and challenges you to think in a way which isn’t necessarily needed in everyday life. Jess Walsh Year 11
Very interesting and factual, really loved the lecture on self esteem as I felt I could really relate to what was said! Gina Matthews Year 10
I really loved it, it didn’t really feel like you were in lectures, it was so interesting, it made you think on a much larger scale on simple things, but in a way you could understand. Bethany Thomas Year 10
I think today was an interesting day. I really enjoyed the lecture on self-esteem as I could relate to it as I’m a performer.Shahrukh Zaffar Year 11
Who should be identi ed as Gifted and Talented?• Those who achieve in and
out of school• An equal share of G&T for
each subject• People who put in effort/work hard• People with a good attitude
to work• Those who constantly excel in
school work• Those who have potential to
do really well/above average
What is an ideal lesson?• Visual and interactive lessons• More variety of teaching
techniques• Less people in a classroom (10
maximum)• More exam practice• More creative lessons• Being pushed to achieve more• Being set work on ability• More gadgets
What should you get as Gifted and Talented students?• Trips to universities• Social occasions• Debate days with other schools• More responsibilities• Have additional further lessons in
a subject of our choosing• Get to go to conferences• More options in lessons• Be able to teach other
younger students
Possible ideas• Mentoring – we mentor younger students and older students
mentor us to help us cope with exams etc• Homework – make sure homework is relevant, informative,
beneficial and challenging• Working with Paston 6th Form College and with their gifted and
talented associations – as they’re similar to our 6th Form and we can discuss ideas, issues and build a link
• Career days – visit career shows (eg Bassingbourn Army careers exhibition)
• Tutoring – we tutor for younger pupils• Have an online G&T network, perhaps a Facebook page• Dragon’s Den-like day• Social event for Gifted and Talented (parties etc)• Days where each group presents a topic of their choice which
they are interested in• Gifted and Talented t-shirts/bracelets
Truly amazing day, but brought more questions than answers.Kye Metcalfe
Year 11I found the
section on time really mentally challenging.Jess Rudd
Year 11
TEN Gifted and Talented Student Forum
City Academy Norwich’s Gifted
and Talented students attended a
TEN Student Forum at the StartUp
Lounge alongside Gifted and
Talented students from across the
Federation.
CAN students were encouraged to share their experiences and views on what it is like to be a Gifted and Talented student and how they would like to see the TEN Gifted and Talented programme develop in the future.
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Red Nose DayCity Academy Norwich have raised
£275.29 so far for Comic Relief!
Students and staff got involved in a variety of fundraising activities including a Teacher vs. Food competition, cake sales, lucky dips, leg waxing and fancy dress.
Well done to everyone who organised and took part in the activities.
Students treated to Russian taster session
7a1 were treated to a Russian
taster session on 6th March
2013 when students Abi and
Freddy and teacher Mrs Read
from the Norwich school visited
City Academy Norwich to teach
students about Russia and the
Russian language. The session
culminated in a craft activity
where students made Mothers’
Day cards.
The event was highly informative, interesting and industrious. Our thanks to our Norwich School partners and 7a1 for being a delight throughout!
Students create Mars LandersScience, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM) students have made
Mars Landers.
Students had to make their Mars Landers out of a tray of things, including card and straws; but no bubble wrap! They had to add crumple zones and pistons onto them and were not allowed to use parachutes – we did not want to make it too easy. The students then tested the Mars Landers with raw eggs – hopefully not breaking them mid-test.
STEM students are now working on Lego Mindstorm robots which our students build and complete challenges with, such as speed, incline and rough terrain challenges. They have to apply, science, technology, engineering and maths to solve the challenges.
Once built, students can change them by adding gearing and changing the drive of them for a speed race, an incline race and a rough terrain race. These robots are programmable and have motors that can change to make them 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive.
A very exciting group of lessons enjoyed by staff and students.
Cambridge University Challenge day
City Academy Norwich’s Gifted
and Talented students visited
Emanuel College at
Cambridge University.
Students spent the morning learning about Cambridge University and the admissions process. They were also given a tour of the campus and introduced to CAMbassadors (Cambridge students) who answered
questions about life at Cambridge University.
Students then attended lectures on Astrophysics and Biomedical ethics by Cambridge academics.
It was a very informative day and students came away enthused about the prospect of going into Higher Education.
Where to nd us
part of the
City Academy Norwich
299 Bluebell Road
Norwich NR4 7LP
Principal Mr D Brunton
For more information, please visit www.cityacademynorwich.org
Tel: 01603 452 628
Fax: 01603 507 215
Email: [email protected]
BLUEBELL R
D
City Academy Norwich
299 Bluebell Road
Norwich
NR4 7LP
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