Sir Robert Woodard Academy“Performing Arts and Mathematics”

Autumn 2012 Newsletterwww.srwa.woodard.co.uk

Dear Parents/Carers

At the end of a very busy term we have selected a number of news items, events and reports to give you a flavour of the many things we have been involved in over the last 3 months.

The term started on a high note with a very positive report from Ofsted following their second monitoring visit in September. Their judgement of ‘good progress’ in all areas was a justifiable tribute to all the hard work carried out by the staff and students.

The academic year is now well under way and Year 11 students are beginning to realise how little time is left before their final exams. We are very grateful to all of those parents/carers who attended the Year 11 Raising Achievement evening

last month and who are working alongside us to help their sons/daughters succeed and achieve the highest possible grades next summer.

The support of our parents/carers and the local community is very important to us in lots of ways, whether it is by coming to one of the many performances described in these pages, attending parents’ evenings or just responding in a positive way to the changes that we are introducing on our journey to becoming an outstanding Academy.

I would like to take this opportunity therefore to thank you for your continued support and wish you and your family a happy and peaceful Christmas from everyone at SRWA.

Mrs C SingletonExecutive Principal

From the Principal

ANNOUNCEMENTS• Academy Christmas Lunch - Wednesday 19th December.• A reminder that on the last day of term (Friday 21st December) students will be dismissed from

the Academy between 12.30-12.45pm.

Performing ArtsPerforming Arts Tour to Waldkirch, Germany,2nd – 7th July 2012

“…wonderful ambassadors for their country and their school.”

After eight months of planning, six months of fund-raising and intensive rehearsing, at 3.00am on 2nd July, 85 students and staff set off from the Academy, bleary-eyed but full of enthusiasm and eager anticipation.

The Tour was a triumph from beginning to end. From the (slightly grumpy when we arrived) hotel owner who described the students as the most disciplined and best behaved he had ever met; to the delicious alfresco food, lakeside in Waldkirch; to the open air concert in Freiburg and the Mayor’s reception, the experience for everyone was a pure delight. It was hard work, with two performances each day in a wide variety of different locations, as well as trips to all the local attractions, there wasn’t a moment to spare.

The students worked as a team, they tackled every new situation with a determination to overcome any problems and they performed their socks off! New friendships have been formed both within the group and across the continent, and we were ‘front page news’ wherever we went!!!

In his letter to us in August, the Lord Mayor of Waldkirch described the students as “…wonderful ambassadors for their country and their school and not only for their willingness to perform and give so many concerts, but also for their friendliness and openness to the people.” The Lord Mayor also said “it was an honour and a great pleasure to be able to watch and listen to your students’ performances”.

We are very proud of them all – this was a superb example of just how special the students of this Academy are.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: A sleigh full of delight!

From Tuesday 27th November to the final triumphant night on the 30th of November, CS Lewis’ classic children’s story was brought to life in spectacular fashion.

The Alan Strong Studio Theatre was full to overflowing with over 100 students moving seamlessly off and on its staging area. This was a collaboration on a grand scale as Dance, Drama and Music were brought together as never before with the Food Technology Department providing a five star dining experience before each show. Nearly four hundred students from Sompting Village, The Globe, Seaside and Shoreham Beach Primary Schools came to the two matinees and loved every minute of it. For those of you who know the story you’ll appreciate the lovely detail of Turkish Delight being served with the interval refreshments.

The production values of the show were extremely high: the set was purpose built to reflect the two worlds of the play – the snowy wasteland of the Snow Queen’s Narnia and the war-ravaged England of the 1940s; the costumes all lovingly and creatively tailored from scratch for over one hundred actors and dancers; a lighting design that harnessed the full potential of the new state-of-the-art lighting rig in the Theatre; music adapted and performed live from the gantry by a band of highly professional staff and students; and make-up, hair and masks that would have graced a West End show. The performing arts staff under the irrepressible and dynamic leadership of Miss Venn, Head of Drama, have done an amazing job.

However, it was the sheer energy, discipline, commitment and talent of the young people that really made it a night to remember. As an ensemble, they were second to none and the perfectly cast principals really shone. This was a show that made all who saw it deeply proud to be associated with the Academy. We salute you all.

The Performing Arts Staff

At the beginning of October we held our Year 6 Open Evenings which were a great success. We changed the format this year so that parents/carers and Year 6 students were given a map and were free to visit the departments they wanted to see. Prefects were on hand around the Academy to help and we have received some wonderful feedback on how polite and helpful they were. Departments also put on activities for the Year 6 students to join in with whilst parents/carers could look at resources, students’ work or speak to members of staff, they were aided by students from all year groups who had volunteered to help. Our students were a great credit to themselves and the Academy as they engaged with the Year 6 students, explaining tasks, demonstrating how things work and making them feel at ease. There were drama and musical performances taking place throughout the Academy, which all helped to give a vibrant and uplifting feel. We had over 300 students helping out on the evening, which demonstrates their commitment to the Academy, something that many of the parents/carers commented on.

Mr FerrierAssistant Principal

Year 8 Boys’ Football Team

The Year 8 boys’ football team began the season in fine form with an outstanding 8-2 away victory over Chatsmore Catholic High School. There were fine performances from all over the park, with the stand out performance coming from Reece Snow who bagged himself a hatrick, alongside a couple of assists. Hopefully the team can continue their great start to the season with a victory over Longhill High School in the National Cup.

Mr DalesYear 8 Football Manager

Physical Education

Year 9 Football Team

The Year 9 football team began their campaign with a game against Shoreham Academy. Games against Shoreham have always been close in previous years. Shoreham however took an early 5-0 lead until SRWA decided it was time to stage a dramatic comeback. Liam Reynolds scored a long distance free-kick before James Thurgar and Kofi Joseph scored to make a tense final 5 minutes. Well done to all the boys that competed and continued to try as a team.

Mr BromleyYear 9 Football Manager

Year 6 Open Evening

Primary School Sports Events

On Wednesday 7th November the PE department hosted the first of our primary school sports events this term - a Year 4 and a Year 5 indoor football tournament. Watched by a capacity crowd (around 150 primary school parents) and teachers from the 4 schools, students from both year groups competed against each other in a round robin tournament. Matches were refereed by our Year 12 and 13 Sports BTEC students (Elanor Francis, Zach Fitzpatrick, Aaron Shorter, and Sam Gunn). The results were:Year 4 Year 51st = Sompting North Lancing2nd = Seaside/North Lancing Globe3rd = - Seaside4th = Globe Sompting Still to come are table tennis, netball, athletics, cricket and rounders tournaments!

Living For Sport Miss Arnold has been working with a group of Year 9 and 10 girls on the SkySports Living for Sport initiative. The girls have now met their mentor - GBR beach volleyball player, Jake Sheaf. Jake has also led a volleyball session for Year 10 GCSE and BTEC students in the Academy.

A more detailed article on this initiative can be found further on in this newsletter.

Gifted and Talented On Wednesday 28th November the PE department ran the first of its Gifted and Talented sessions. Based around the subject of Nutrition, our gifted and talented key stage 3 students looked at how we prepare for sport, the effect of energy drinks, and how nutrition can affect our sporting performances. In the next session, we are working with the Food Technology department to develop sports meals.

Cross Country Event

This event was a huge success with 13 schools and over 160 students competing. Our students fought hard to get some top 10 finishes including Sahara-Re Betteridge (9th) and Sine Sibanda (4th). Our 6th form students who helped marshal the event were a credit to the Academy as they braved the cold to expertly guide the runners around the course!

Congratulations to our students for their hard work.

Curie Chapter News

SRWA Head Boy and Head GirlNeelesh Dooraree and Tacita French

The most significant thing that stands out this year, is meeting new people. It pleases me that there are others wishing to do further education, it’s comforting in a way, knowing that there are people going through the same stages you are.

Our Sixth Form is closely knit so I’ve never felt ‘on my own’ about worrying about the future. We’re all in a position where we’re deciding what direction we want our lives to take and how we’re going to get there. As daunting as it sounds, it’s nice to know I’m not doing it alone.

Neelesh DoorareeAcademy Head Boy

My name is Tacita French and I’m the recently elected Head Girl. Part of the election process involved giving a presentation to each year group’s assembly and it was a good opportunity for me to talk to students in different years and meet them informally after the presentation.

There are a variety of new leadership opportunities which allow the Sixth Form to interact and help with the younger years and staff. This is helpful for both parties as Year 7 and 8 benefit from their input and new friendships are made. Sixth Formers, like myself, who are applying to University can also include these activities in their UCAS application.

This first term back has been both busy and productive. It has been interesting to meet the new members of staff and students and there has been a happy, hardworking atmosphere. Just as we’re all getting settled we’ve also had open evenings to meet prospective new students and parents which reminds us all how quickly the time goes.

The new Ambassadors have taken up their duties and are donning their distinctive new jumpers at events. Tacita FrenchAcademy Head Girl

The year has started with a great sense of purpose as far as the Sixth Form is concerned. Students have come back ready to work and achieve their best in their first round of mock examinations. These will be in preparation for January examinations.

A number of Year 11 students attended the Sixth Form Open Evening on 9th October.

This term has also seen a number of Sixth Form students take on leadership roles. Our Head Boy and Head Girl have been elected by the academy and all ambassadors have been appointed to specific duties.

Head Boy: Neelesh Dooraree (Ambassador Team)Head Girl: Tacita French (Chapter and Academy Councils)Deputy Head Boy: Kai Gillett (Chapter and Academy Councils)Deputy Head Girl: Giselle Morris (Ambassador Team)Ambassadors: Shannon Bailey (Inter-Chapter Competition); Georgia Boden (Charities Committee); Harry Bush (Inter-Chapter Competition); Gemma Colwell (Inter-Chapter Competition); Bronwyn Davies (Links with Other Chapters); Hayley Eichenhofer (Charities Committee); Louise Etheridge (Charities Committee); Chloe Gates (Links with other Chapters) ; Charlie House (Inter-Chapter Competition); Jasmine Kennedy (Links with Other Chapters); Shu-Ying Lin (Charities Committee); Abbie Lisney (Chaplaincy); Asha Pinder (Chaplaincy)

The Chapter Council has also formed and will be taking responsibility for organising Sixth Form events and ensuring that student opinions from the Sixth Form are heard and considered. The Council is made up of: Sam Lisher (Chair); Mark Ewens (Secretary); Katherine Hamblett (Secretary); Ryan Wheeler (Treasurer); Jake Andrews; Sam Lay; Amr Suliman; Nadia Nyatsanza.

Our AS Biology students, Shannon Bailey, Elanor Francis, Rachel Luff and Laura Still, are working hard to promote enthusiasm for Science in younger students. In addition to showing Year 6 prospective students how to make nylon, how to test for hydrogen and how to make an acid neutral through fun experiments, they also demonstrated the digestive system to a Year 8 class with the aid of baked beans and sausages!

Mrs J ReadmanCurie Chapter Head

Brunel Chapter News I would like first to introduce the Chapter Prefects as: Bethany Bayes, Rachel Ellis, Georgia Murdoch-Henney, Jasmine Harwood, Louise Fieldus, Suzy Brown, Taylor Dayer and the Senior Prefects, Abigail Phillips and Annalise Short. They have proven very enthusiastic, trustworthy and creative; I very much look forward to the rest of the year working with them.

However, it is not just the girls in Year 11 who have been proving that they are reliable and trustworthy. Matt Starling, Greg Powell and Omar Aamir have been impressing Reverend James with their involvement in the running of a five aside football club for Year 9 and 10 students.

In Performing Arts, Zak Sharpe and Thomas Nulty have won leading roles in an Academy production and along with other Brunel students demonstrated their dramatic talents.

Other successes from this term. • All 4 year groups are now involved in paired reading and many are also involved with reading with

students from outside the Academy. • 8AM won the ‘Year 8 Spelling Competition’ in the second week.• Georgina Bellinger won the Family Maths Challenge at the start of term.• I would also like to welcome Ms Massey, Mr Spinner and Ms Coombs to our tutor team and Mrs

Westgate who is our new Chapter Administrator.

Miss RoycroftBrunel Chapter Head

Roddick Chapter News Roddick Chapter have had an excellent start to the new academic year, with a superb staff team, students and prefects.• At the time of writing this, Roddick Chapter is in the lead for the total number of merits! • We welcome our two new Year 8 tutor groups; 8IS and 8PO. • Two Roddick students need special mention, because as part of their summer holidays, they both

gave up their time freely to help others; Ryan Mander completed a sponsored walk to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and Stephanie Tullet gave 60 hours of her time to the Chanctonbury Community Play Scheme for children with a range of disabilities.

Mrs ShrimptonRoddick Chapter Head

Living for SportThere is a sports initiative our PE Department is running with a group of talented sports girls.

It is called the Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative and we have 10 places for girls within the Academy. We will be working with them each week on a Tuesday, offering them new sporting experiences both on and off site, arranging for them to meet with elite athlete mentors provided through Sky Sports and helping them focus and improve attitude and behaviour around the Academy. Our allocated Athlete Mentor is Jake Sheaf, a GB Beach Volleyball Player.

The girls selected are: Annie Rolf, Milan Hyde, Jess Pike, Charlotte Hersey, Denise Smith, Rosie Dixon, Sarah-Jane Blackstone and Shannon-Louise Brown.

The girls are all talented in sport and PE. The initiative was set up to help raise aspirations through sport and to show young people what opportunities are

available to them in sport if they focus and achieve well in education. It is a fantastic opportunity for the girls during which they will be expected to help run extra-curricular PE activities for others within the Academy.

Our first activity was rock climbing at the Adur Centre. The girls loved it and were a credit to the Academy.

The popular lunchtime event ‘An Audience With…’ has been drawing crowds to the LRC on Fridays this term. Mr Bromley (Director of PE) spoke about his enjoyment of the Hunger Games trilogy which has recently been made into a film; and Ms Goodwin spoke about her current fantasy favourite ‘Game of Thrones’.

With every Key Stage 3 class using the LRC for at least twenty minutes reading every fortnight and reading being a focus in tutor time, books and reading are a hot topic. The LRC has plenty of reading material to suit everybody, from graphic novels, magazines and ‘Quick Reads’ to classic literature and more challenging texts as well as books by the most popular authors for teens such as Cathy Cassidy and Robert Muchamore.

The LRC and Literacy Team also arranged for Year 7s to watch the live streaming of a conversation between Quentin Blake (illustrator of Roald Dahl’s books for children) and Michael Rosen, Poet, which was planned to celebrate Roald Dahl Day this year. The LRC also ran a competition to design Dream Jar labels as it is 30 years now since Roald Dahl first published the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), a book much loved by children everywhere.

Chapter Paired Reading sessions are underway again in the LRC, where older students from each Chapter support the less able readers in lower years by reading together, thereby building confidence in the younger students and also building relationships across the year groups. These pairings can be valuable in both sets of students as the older ones gain experience in working with Year 7 and 8 students; they remember what it felt like to perhaps struggle a bit and can empathise more readily than an adult.

An Audience with...

Visite des Étudiants de l’Année 10 à l’Exposition ‘LANGUGES LIVE’ à Londres, vendredi 19 octobre, 2012

Nous avons pris le train de Lancing et nous y sommes arrivés vers 11 heures du matin. Il y avait beaucoup d’étalages de beaucoup de pays et les représentants étaient très aimables. Nos étudiants se sont bien amusés parce qu’ils s’intéressaient à toutes les langues et les cultures différentes et ils sont revenus avec des sacs pleins de choses gratuities. Quelle journée fascinante!

Translation: Year 10 Visit to the Languages Live Show in London on Friday 19th October 2012

We took the train from Lancing and we arrived there about 11am. There were a lot of displays from many countries and the representatives were very likeable. Our students enjoyed themselves because they were interested in all the different languages and cultures and they came back with bags full of free things. What a fascinating day!

Madame Phelps

Roddick’s shoe box appeal for Link Romania We set ourselves a target of 16 boxes (two per tutor group) but due to the overwhelming response of the pupils, teachers and parents, we absolutely smashed it collecting a total of 27!!!

The boxes were delivered to the Worthing depot on Friday and loaded on lorries to begin their journey to the families of Eastern Europe in time for Christmas.

Thank you to all that have donated and helped to sort out the boxes in the Roddick workroom. The quality and array of gifts donated has been amazing and I am positive the boxes will bring joy and happiness to the children and families who receive them.

Thank you for your support.

Mr P O’Brien Roddick Lead Tutor

Future Chef 2013Competition

Future Chef Finals

After a close fought contest with 80 contestants, Lauren Sinfield of Year 10 was crowned the official Academy heat winner of Future Chef 2013.

She created an amazing menu of:

Baked Salmon with a seafood sauceTimbale of lime rice Fresh wholemeal bread and a mixed saladPassion fruit soufflé with a passion fruit sauce

Well done to Lauren, who went to the West Sussex regional heat on the 15th November at Crawley. Lauren then successfully won her way through this local heat to go to the regional finals of Future Chef in Southampton in February 2013. Congratulations to Lauren and we wish her good luck.

An article appeared in at 12.10pm on Saturday 24th November 2012 in News.

The Year 10 Alternative Provision Group all cooked a dish as part of the Future Chef competition. Mrs Cole and I had to judge all the dishes and that included tasting them! I am pleased to say that Ben Young went through to the next round.

Big thanks to Mrs Green, she did a fantastic job getting them to this standard.

Mrs Morley

A w a r d s CeremonyOn Wednesday 24th October we celebrated the achievements of our students in our Annual Awards Ceremony.

Nearly 400 guests came to celebrate with the students who received awards for progress, irrespective of their starting positions as well as academic, sporting and performing arts excellence. There were also awards for positive contributions to both the life of the Academy and the wider community. Over one hundred current and previous students attended the awards ceremony and received certificates and vouchers.

The awards, including a number of trophies and shields, were presented by Mr Martin Fausset, Managing Director of Ricardo Engineering, Shoreham. Ricardo have recently teamed up with the Academy to work with our students bringing them real world examples of science, maths and design technology. Three new awards with trophies made from the pistons of the McLaren F1 sports car were presented by Ricardo to three students for their achievements in these subjects. The Academy presented Mr Fausset with a trophy of interlocking cogs which had been designed and manufactured by Year 13 3D Design student, Connor Lane.

The Woodard Board Award for enhancing the Christian ethos of the Academy was won by Year 11 student Simon Parker. Simon has raised considerable sums for charity this year including organising and staging an entire event for ‘Help for Heroes’ in the summer. The Principal’s award for outstanding commitment to the Academy went to previous Head Girl of the Academy Laura Day.

The Academy jazz band, orchestra, choir, and steel band provided a stunning soundtrack to the evening with some exceptional performances that received a standing ovation.

After the ceremony the Year 10 Hospitality and Catering students ably cooked and served food to the guests.

We would like to thank the students who worked so hard during 2011-2012 to win these awards and who acquitted themselves so well on the night. We would also like to thank all of the guests who joined us in this celebration and the staff and students who helped stage such a successful evening.

All photos from the Awards Ceremony are available on our website:- http://www.srwa.woodard.co.uk. Go to the ‘News & Events‘ tab, choose ‘Gallery’ followed by ‘Awards Evening’.

We wish to thank Gardner and Scardifield Ltd, Lancing for generously donating to us the plant and flower displays.