Newsletter April 2006

This issue

Welcome to the April 2006 edition of Saint Paul's Academy's newsletter!

In this issue:

• A warm welcome
• Reflections
• Visitors to our school
• Year 11
• Year 10
• Year 9 and 8
• Year 7
• Links with primary schools
• Beyond the classroom
• Drama groups visit school
• School journeys
  
• Music hits a high note
• From our football correspondent
• Gaelic Football

Dear Parents and Guardians

“I hope you find these Newsletters interesting, we believe they are a good way of keeping you informed of our progress.”

Principal, Patrick Winston

A warm welcome

We were particularly pleased to welcome Fr Michael Branch to our school, Fr Michael has replaced Fr Anthony Plummer as parish priest of Saint Patrick’s Plumstead. We thank Anthony for his dedication to our school over the years and wish him every blessing in his new role as parish priest at Our Lady of Sorrows in Peckham. Fr Michael has already taken part in reconciliation services along with Fr David Camilleri, parish priest of Saint Benet’s in Abbey Wood, who is a great supporter of our school in many ways.

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Reflections

As we approach the great feast of Easter we can look back on our first two terms as an Academy. It seems very hard to believe that this time last year we had only just received the funding agreement and at times it seemed impossible that we would have everything in place in order to open in September. A year later, we can reflect on what we have achieved and be extremely proud of what we have accomplished, especially when it is taken into account that many Academies have eighteen months preparation before they open while we had only eighteen weeks.

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Visitors to our school

Our progress is, as always, being closely monitored by external agencies and in particular representatives from the Department for Education and Science. We have our own advisor, Gareth Newman, who makes frequent visits to assess our progress and to give advice and in March we were very pleased to welcome Neil Flint, the head of the Academies’ Operations Team at the DfES, who came to Saint Paul’s for the first time. Mr Flint was very impressed by what he saw and he enjoyed meeting both staff and students. He also went to view our new site in Abbey Wood where construction work has already started.

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Year 11

It seems amazing that Year 11 now have under a month left in school before they start their terminal examinations; their achievements to date are extremely encouraging and I am sure that they will do themselves, their families and their teachers proud when the results are published in August. Before then there is obviously a great deal of hard work left to do and I would encourage all students to take full advantage of the revision opportunities they are given both in and out of school. As always, students have been advised that on days when they are not in school they should arrange their time so that they study for three, one and half hour sessions every day. This gives them plenty of time to catch up on their sleep and to have some leisure time.

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Year 10

Students in Year 10 are now in the middle of their GCSE courses and in most subjects coursework is well underway. Obviously, the marks gained from coursework assignments can have a considerable impact on final GCSE grades and it is therefore very encouraging to see so many Year 10 students working hard and in particular making use of our improved ICT facilities. However there are some students who have yet to realise the importance of sustained hard work and some parents have already been contacted to discuss their child’s progress. The Year 10 Consultative Evening takes place on Thursday, 11th May at four o’clock and we look forward to seeing all parents and guardians on this occasion.

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Year 9 and 8

Year 9 are very much aware that their SATs take place almost immediately after we return from the Easter holidays and although we never recommend that students revise constantly when they are not in school, Year 9 students should make the most of the time they have out of school to ensure that they are fully prepared for their examinations.

As I have explained in previous newsletters, Year 8 students will also need to take some time over the break to revise for their maths SAT; you will by now be aware that this is part of our strategy to break away from the idea that there are set times when students have to sit certain examinations and, as you will also know, we aim to explore this idea in a variety of ways in the future. Key issues for individual Year 8 students were identified at last week’s Year 8 Consultative Evening when we were delighted to welcome so many parents and guardians who came to discuss their sons’ and daughters’ progress.

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Year 7

I think we all feel better as the days become longer and the onset of spring is also a sign that Year 7 students are nearing the end of their first year at secondary school and it is time for us to think about welcoming a new cohort of students to Saint Paul’s Academy; it is also time for us as a new and rapidly expanding institution to think about how we can support our local primary schools in the most effective way.

Obviously, we will be going into our feeder school to meet Year 6 students as we always have done, it is our aim to learn as much as we can about students before they come to us so that their transition from primary to secondary school can be as smooth and as positive as possible.

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Links with primary schools

At the beginning of next term, the Performance Arts Learning Zone will be working in primary school undertaking various activities which will both promote the Academy and, hopefully, enhance aspects of the primary curriculum. The Sports Department will be introducing Gaelic Football and other sports to Year 4 and 5 students while Year 10 drama students, under the guidance of Ms Dixon, will facilitate workshops on different themes for Key Stage 2 students. It is also proposed that students who play in the school orchestra or in the steel pan group will visit primary schools to give performances.

Obviously final details are yet to be worked out, but we are very excited about building new relationships with our primary colleagues. Next year, we hope to offer even more activities. The Creativity and Technologies Learning Zone would like to offer taster sessions of subjects such as food technology, textiles, art and design and design technology to primary students.

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Beyond the classroom

As always there is a great deal going on outside the taught curriculum and I am delighted by the development of Work Related Learning and Enterprise initiatives. Over the last half term, a number of our Year 10 students have had the opportunity to attend a wide range of activities which are designed to help them make a smooth transition from school to work; these have included a visit to Queen Elizabeth Hospital to find out about speech and language therapy and having a representative from the Chartered Surveyors’ Training Trust in school to talk about the work of both building and quantity surveyors.

Further activities planned for the summer term include a construction taster day, Trade Fairly where students will learn about money, credit and investment in the context of equality and justice, Manage Your Time and a gardening project culminating in an activity at the Hampton Court Garden Show.

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Drama groups visit school

I pointed out in the last Newsletter that I would need a much bigger space than is available here to highlight all the events that have taken place over the last term but again I would like to highlight a few. Within the English and Communication Learning Zone, The Black Cat Theatre Group came into school to perform scenes from Macbeth for all students in Year 9 while twenty Year 9 students went to see an all-singing, all-dancing performance of the same play at The Dartford Theatre.

A group of our students from all year groups attended the Greenwich Speak Up, Speak Out workshops and competitions and two reached the final which was a real achievement. Finally, and after a lot of hard work by Miss Tudor and her Year 11 team, the School Year Book was sent to the publishers and I am sure it is going to be a volume worth reading!

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School journeys

In the middle of March, a group of Year 8 students went for a long weekend in Wales as a reward for their hard work in English and Communications and as I write a group of students is enjoying a week in Normandy. As always I am very grateful to staff who give so generously of their time to support our students in all aspects of school life.

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Music hits a high note

In music, Year 11 students have been actively involved in Saturday morning revision sessions working on performance and composition for their GCSE examinations. These students also took an active part in the Easter Music Concert, which was a very enjoyable occasion. The Year 9 and 10 steel pan group have again been asked to play at Easter Sunday morning Mass at Our Lady, Star of Angels, Erith but the major event being eagerly anticipated by many people is the Concert Tour to Italy which takes place in July.

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From our football correspondent

During this season, football teams throughout the school have taken part in a number of major competitions, including the National Cup, Kent Cup and the Bromley Schools’ Tournaments. A number of challenge matches have also taken place.

The complete set of results is:

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Girls tournaments Year 7 to 11

Playing record 2005/2006

Congratulations to our Year 8 and 9 Girls’ Football Team on reaching the last eight of the National Tournament before being eliminated by Costessey HS of Norwich. 

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Gaelic Football

The Gaelic Football season has already started and a number of fixtures have already been completed. We are very grateful for the tremendous support that we have received from Dulwich Harps GFC. A very busy programme of fixtures has been scheduled after the half term break.

The complete set of results is:

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