Summer 2014 - Ernesford Grange Community Academy

Holland trip
pages 12-13
Next term starts:
Mon 1st September for teachers
Tues 2nd September for Years 7, 10 & 11
Wed 3rd September for everyone!
Newsletter & Magazine
ERNESFORD GRANGE
COMMUNITY ACADEMY
Summer 2014
The New Uniform!
As most of you must know by now, Ernesford
Grange will have a new uniform from the start of
next term!
Fortunate Chakabveyo tried on the uniform for our photo,
and had this to say, “When I put the uniform on it made
me feel proud and important. I felt extremely smart and I
am really looking forward to wearing it from September.”
The new blazer, clip-on tie and jumper will all be available
from Andy Blair Sports and School Wear from 4th August.
Community Academy
Newsletter &
Magazine
July 2014
Dear Parent/Carer,
This has been a very busy and exciting year for Ernesford Grange,
as we continue the journey of school improvement.
Having the support of the students, parents, staff, governors and the
community is, I believe, an exciting part of the transformation that is
taking place at Ernesford and will put Ernesford Grange at the heart of
its community for the future.
We were delighted with the recent HMI report (May 2014) which
commended us for the “rapid and sustained improvement in all aspects
of Academy development and the provision and outcomes which have
been transformed”.
I now feel that much is in place to ensure that the students become
more involved in their learning, more excited about their futures and
well prepared for adult life.
Editorial
last year thanks to the hard work of Year 10s
& 11s and the staff – so fingers crossed for
the exam results.
It would be really easy to focus on the
future of Ernesford Grange at the moment.
No-one can miss the great new school
being built on our old all- weather pitch. It
seems like nearly every time we look up,
something different is completed and it is
really beginning to take shape. We’re also
busy being fitted for the new school uniforms
that are coming in from September. Class
photographs will never look the same again!
Again, The ‘build a plane’ team have made
great progress this year and also our football
teams have gone from strength to strength.
The Summer Fayre attracted a good number
of the local community and raised money for
our local children’s hospice ‘Zoe’s Place’.
Finally, Student Leaders have been
established, which is about school members
supporting each other, for example in the
library or the playground. This, added to
various volunteering activities led from
within the school, shows that we are working
better together as a school community
and are keen to be involved in our local
community too.
However, perhaps we should take this
opportunity not to just think about the
exciting future ahead, but also to take some
time to think about all of the things that we
have achieved this year.
Does anyone remember Her Majesty’s
Inspectors (HMI) coming in? (we’re
sure the teachers will especially). What
a fantastic result! “There is rapid and
sustained improvement in all aspects of
Academy development and the provision
and outcomes have been transformed” (HMI
report May 2014). The mock results have
already shown a lot of improvement from
Ernesford Grange
Headteacher’s
Message
The introduction of Student Leaders, Sports Leaders, the new school
uniform and our exciting extra-curricular provision will continue to
add to the overall experience of being at Ernesford Grange, for our
students.
The partnership work with Sidney Stringer Academy has been
instrumental in our rapid progress and we look forward to it continuing
next year. We are also preparing for the exciting move to our fabulous
new school during the Spring Term of 2015. This will be a wonderful
facility which will create a fantastic new learning environment for all
students and the community.
We are looking forward to another busy and exciting new year in
September and with your continued support, another exciting year in
which we will continue to make rapid progress.
I wish you all an enjoyable summer break.
Christine Dennington
Headteacher
So, although there is a lot to look forward
to, when we look back over this last year we
can feel justifiably proud.
Maya Purcell
Year 8
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3
Summer 2014
Contents
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
14.
17.
18.
20.
22.
23.
24.
26.
27.
28.
29.
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31.
32.
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34.
New Uniform
Editorial
The Head’s Message
Ross’s Bench
PC O’Brien Run
Busy Kids Dinosaurs
Peace through Unity
Poetry Competition
MP visit
Rotary Awards
Police @ EGCA
Science Club
Holland Trip
PE News
Nigel Hinton
Year 11 Ball
Build-a-Plane
Year 6 Science
Cov Uni Visit
Sports Day
The New School
Summer Fayre
Art Show
Performing Arts
Year 13 Ball
Geography Field Trip
Uni Results
Building Castles
Parents’ Voice
Maths Primary Day
Cubby News
Dinosaur Wall
PC OBrien Run
Ross’s Bench
The team that put the bench together
Many of you will know that back in October last
year, Ross Emslie (student in Year 11) lost his battle
with cancer. Needless to say the year group, as well
as other students across the school, were affected
by Ross’s death and wanted to do something to
commemorate his time at Ernesford Grange.
To that end a memorial bench, with a plaque
dedicating it to Ross, was purchased and a
ceremony, attended by the year group, staff and
Ross’s family, took place on 14th May.
The bench is now in place by the pond and is
used every day by the students. A fitting tribute to a
lovely student.
D. Falk
Head
of Year
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The PC O’Brien / Dave Watson primary
cross country school race was held at
Ernesford on Saturday 10th May. This
was the 31st year it has taken place and
children from over 16 primary schools
took part. Lots of Year 10 helpers came
in to help with the running of the event
- next year the Sports Leaders will have
this role! The weather conditions were
just right for running and there were great
performances and close finishes. In the
local race the results were 1st – Willenhall,
2nd - St Barts and 3rd - Ernesford Grange.
In the guest race Styvechale narrowly
beat Bablake and Eastern Green.
D&J Henry sponsor the event providing
medals, trophies and refreshments.
The event was attended by Dave
Long - a two time
Olympic marathon
runner.
The task we were set was to decorate the fence
at Busy Kids Nursery. After many weeks of
designing and drafting a variety of concepts, and
after hearing their suggestions and preferences,
Hannah, Reece and I went and pitched our
different designs to the nursery staff who chose
which would be best for the children.
After completing and then varnishing all our
designs – which was very sticky and nowhere
near as much fun as painting - we could finally
put them up on the nursery fence. Sadly Reece
and Hannah couldn’t make it due to illness and
work commitments, so I took over along with
Neil, the woodwork technician, and
Mr McQuiggan.
The winning designs included friendly
cartoon dinosaurs with accompanying numbers
and an enchanted
castle rising
through the
clouds.
We spent a long time deciding
where would be best to put them
all, and after much debate, we
chose and fixed them to the wall
with screws and weather
resistant adhesive.
While
we
were
putting up the last couple
of pictures and touching
up a couple of spots with
varnish, the staff of the
nursery came out, along
with some other people
from the Art department,
to look at how is was going
and they all loved it. The
whole project has been a
wonderful success.
The castle and clouds were
painted by Hannah Abbott and Reece
Wheatley, Year 13 Art students, while
I had the task of painting the five
dinosaurs and numbers.
After many weeks of work,
and no small degree of stress
over whether we would meet our
deadline, we finally finished –
now my greatest concern was
the naming of the dinosaurs.
This was almost as difficult as the artwork itself,
though after much deliberation I settled on
Hugo, Douglas, Norbert, Daisy and Harriet.
4
Aimi Sargeant
Year 13
5
Peace through Unity
On Friday 6th June 2014 Miss Livingston
took a small group of year 9s to Coventry
Cathedral to participate in the “Peace
Through Unity” remembrance service.
D-Day Remembrance
Service at
Coventry Cathedral
We listened to many war veterans
reflecting on their war memories from the
Normandy Landings on D-Day. We also
watched a presentation about Alex Ntung’s
life during the African genocide in the 1990s
and his struggle to flee the country.
Schools from around Coventry took
part in producing a short film with the
help of some World War 2 veterans which
explained D-Day and the veterans shared
their experiences, the effect it had had on
life today and also hopes for the future.
The service finished with a special Peace
Picnic, during which doves were released
from a cage in the grounds of the cathedral.
The idea of a Peace Picnic had been thought
up by the Normandy-Day charity and was
aiming to be in the Guinness Book of
Records as the world’s largest picnic. It
certainly united the many school children
who attended Coventry Cathedral.
Poetry Competition Winner
In last term’s newsletter we launched a poetry competition on the
theme of ‘changes’. The winner was Brandon Williams from Year 7
with this entry:
Changes come
Changes go
Changes make
The rattle snakes glow
Changes come
Changes go
Changes make
The faces throw
Changes come
Changes go
Changes make
Another promise grow
Changes come
Changes go
Changes make
The river flow
Changes come
Changes go
Changes make
You wonna say no
Changes come
Changes go
Changes make
Tempers blow
Winner Brandon
Williams and
runner-up Elizab
eth Westgarth
receiving their pr
izes
This term the competition is to draw a cartoon
strip. The theme is ‘starting school’ and the rest is
up to you. It can be black & white or colour, funny
or serious, three panels or a whole page.
The first prize is £10 and the winner will be
published in next term’s newsletter.
Entries into the box in the library!
Overall the day opened students’ eyes to
what happened on that fateful day of June
6th 1944.
Abbey Jobling and Chloe Ord
Year 9
6
7
Can you do
better than this?
We’re sure you
can!
Winning Designs!
Students representing Ernesford Grange
Community Academy have again been successful
at the annual Rotary Awards.
MP Jim Cunningham Visit
When I met MP Jim Cunningham, I did not
know what to expect, and I was nervous. When
he arrived, I shook his hand and he was pleased
to be greeted. Emma Taylor, Lewis Marshall
and I gave him a tour of the school and he really
enjoyed it.
Rebecca Bennett, Year 12
He then met up with the Headteacher again.
He was friendly and respected us as student
leaders.
James Aitken
Year 9
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Low Relief
The awards are given for Design and
Innovation in any of the Technology
subjects including BTECs, and the
prize giving ceremony took place
at Queen's Road Baptist Church
on the 18th June.
In total we had entries from two
A-Level Product Design students;
James Hutt-Dixon and Cody
Turner, and three GCSE students;
Miriam Bibi, Daniel Taylor and
Naomi Kanza-Yobi. Miriam's
project- a Garden Light- was the
overall school winner and also won
a subject specific Resistant Materials
prize sponsored by Sandvik, whose
judge decided it was one of the top
three pieces of work in the city.
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Police @ E G Academy - The first Year
Wow! Where has the last year gone? It seems
like only five minutes ago that my sergeant and
I sat down to discuss how we were going to
improve our engagement with the community
who live, work, shop and particularly with
the young people who go to school within our
geographical policing area; which incidentally is
Binley and Willenhall.
The logical route seemed to be through the
schools in the area, which include the seven
primary schools as well as Ernesford Grange
Community Academy. We made a simple plan
for introducing me and what I could offer to the
schools and simply got on with going into the
schools and talking with staff. We had no idea
how I would be received by staff, we had no
idea how I would be received by parents and
certainly no idea how I would be received by
young people. Saying this may sound odd but
suddenly having the police visiting schools every
day is a massive change and certainly for some
people required some adjustment in thinking
and perception. Not least within my own team
back at the station. However the schools seemed
very open and positive to an increasing police
presence, in particular Mrs Dennington who
opened the door at Ernesford to me and it has
stayed open ever since.
The initial positive reaction from Mrs
Dennington enabled us to start building a
positive, mutually beneficial and successful
relationship between the school, community
and the police. At the time my shift pattern was
3 earlies (8am x 5pm), 3 lates (3pm x 11pm or
3pm x 1am) followed by 3 days off, working this
pattern we soon discovered was never going to
allow me to achieve what we wanted or what
the school needed in terms of availability and
time within the school day. To accommodate
the school and the needs of the community my
working pattern changed to 8am x 4pm Monday
to Friday, which may sound easy but nothing
within the police is easily changed and certainly
not working hours, in fact I’m still officially
working a rotating shift pattern.
From the first day I entered Ernesford
Grange Community School, now Academy, I
was inspired by the positive attitude displayed
by students, their thirst for achievement and
ability to make things happen for themselves
and the school as a whole. My job has changed
significantly within the last year, from being
a bobby on the beat to schools liaison officer,
was indeed a massive change with a whole new
10
set of challenges and hurdles to overcome. I
have served with West Midlands Police for 21
years and my role as schools liaison officer
meeting positive inspiring young people
every day at EGCA has without a doubt reinvigorated me and my career, now I find
myself looking forward to every day. Why the
change you may ask? Well I’ll tell you: In the
last school year I’ve delivered assemblies and
seen some inspiring and eventful assemblies,
worked in the classroom, attended and read at
world book day, mentored numerous fantastic
students, eaten lunch with staff and students
discussing various subjects, been to school
fayres, attended parents evenings, met with
“parent voice” and now I’m meeting the
new year 7’s. I’ve even set up the student
surgery, which is held every Thursday lunch
time, where students can come and talk about
anything they want, as long is it’s not crime
thrillers!!
Not every day is easy and without a doubt
there are some challenging situations I find
myself in, but would I change my job for
another? No I wouldn’t, and I’m already
looking forward to the next school year.
Some final words before the summer
holidays; please be safe and have fun.
See you all in September,
PC Simpson
with different types of glass to see how
it affects the voltage produced. We are
also investigating what we could power
with our solar cell and the best place for
it to be set to get the most sunlight. The
reason we used berries is because it is a
natural substance that is cheap to get and
is a replacement for the expensive rare
metals that are commonly used. The
reason berries work is because of how
the cells are used for photosynthesis so
we used that idea with solar cells.
Science Club
This year in Science Club we have been investigating
solar cells and how important glass is in society. Glass
can be used for many things in society.
We decided to
test glass in solar
cells to find out how
much it affects the
energy output. First
we had specialised
glass plates. We used
numerous techniques
to find out which side
was conductive; one
of them was to use a
UV light which would
light up the conductive
side. Then, we mixed
ethanol with titanium dioxide to create a paste which we
then applied carefully to the conductive side and we left it
to dry overnight. The titanium dioxide is a semi-conductor
and it allows the electrons from the dye to pass through
the solar cell. Then we crushed raspberries with a mortar
and pestle and then filtered the juice. The reason we used
berries was because it is an electrolyte meaning it captures
the photons to produce excited electrons. We then placed the
glass squares in the filtered berries so that it was completely
covered. It was then left for a minute, then we took out our
glass with small lab tweezers, making sure we did not touch
the surface with our fingers. Once it had dried we layered
the sides in graphite from a pencil as the graphite helps speed
up the process. The piece of glass was then clamped with
two clips on both sides of the glass tile to a volt meter and
taken outside into the sunlight for testing. Our experiment
was successful as our solar panel produced energy. We had
just made a renewable energy source with glass and other
easy to obtain items. We would like to try this test again
11
We also made a questionnaire
asking people about their toasters.
Most people don’t like how easily
their toast is burnt, also how they
cannot see how done their toast is.
That is why we believe that a ‘see
through’ toaster is a valid idea.
I’m sure this experiment will help
us advance our project further.
Matthew McCrindle
Year 10
Day 2
difficult to do. Graffiti was a
great experience; we got split
into groups of four and were
given a canvas. We had to
use spray paints to produce
artwork based around the theme
‘cultures’. It was great fun
and we all would love to do it
again. In the afternoon we were
allowed free time and we visited
the shopping centre for lunch.
On Tuesday we all were shocked to find out everyone
in Holland rode bikes everywhere! Our journeys
to school by bike ranged from twenty minutes to an
hour! Once we arrived at school, we got a coach to
Poldersports. We all had no idea what we would be
doing and just assumed we would be doing regular
sports. We were wrong! Poldersports was a
cow field were we had to participate in a lot of
muddy activities. The last activity was to row a
boat across a river and then use it as a bridge for
your team to cross. Jack, Ricardo and Matthew
all fell in the muddy water! It was disgusting.
a canal boat trip, which showed us the famous and
historic sites of Amsterdam that were visible from the
canal. The last thing we did in Amsterdam, before
returning to Maarsen, was a DJ workshop. After an
eventful walk we arrived at the DJ workshop and
we were split into two groups, boys and girls. We
were taught basic DJ skills. We didn’t find it very
interesting. After a very long day in Amsterdam we
got back to our host families fairly late and all we
wanted to do was sleep.
Holland Trip
Day 1
On Monday 12th May, Jack Beard, Ricardo
Oliveira, Lewis Roddis, Sophie Ord, Matthew
Harker and Eleanor Hoskins went to Holland
accompanied by Mr Burke and Mrs Jones.
We left Pool Meadow bus station at 11 am for
Birmingham International Airport. There were
some minor delays on the ‘adventures’ we had
in the airport, such as Mr Burke’s case being
11kg over the limit and two or three people being
searched after the security alarm went off. We
got a plane from Birmingham to Amsterdam.
Once we arrived in Amsterdam we got two trains
from the airport and it took a lot longer than
expected. We arrived in Maarsen late afternoon
and were greeted by our host families and we all
went our separate ways.
After having done a lot of physical activity, we
went for lunch at a pancake restaurant, where we
got to choose between plain, apple and bacon. They
were delicious! In the evening, after dinner at our
host family, we went back to school to do a creative
workshop. The girls got to make jewellery for our
fashion show later that week and the boys made signs
for the catwalk.
Day 3
We all went to Amsterdam for the day. We got
split into two groups and went around the Van
Gogh Museum. We got to see lots of Van Gogh’s
work and we even had a go at sketching some
of his work for ourselves. After the Van Gogh
museum, we walked to Dam Square and we got
to have some free time where we went shopping
for food and souvenirs. Afterwards, we went on
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Day 4
On Thursday we had to be at school for 8:20am. We
had to produce a lip dub; none of us had any clue what
it was. We got split up into groups with students
from the other countries and we had to produce
a video of us mouthing and performing the
words to a song. It was a fun thing to do
and we became good friends with our
group. After we had finished our lip
dub, we got the train to Utrecht. We
were split into two groups, our
group got free time to explore
Utrecht and do some more
shopping. After free time
we had to climb the Dom
church tower, which was
95 metres high and had
465 steps.
It was quite
scary when we reached the top,
because you could see the whole of
Utrecht below. We caught the train back
to Maarsen and we went bowling. It was
another great opportunity to make friends with
the students from the other countries.
Afterwards we all returned to the school and sat
outside chatting with the other countries’ students. I
would say it was my favourite part of the trip and we
all made great friends that day. In the evening we had
a catwalk, which we prepared in England, and we all
had to perform to staff and the parents of our hosts.
It was great watching the other countries to see
what they had come up with. We were all
very nervous when our time to showcase
our catwalk came but it was great
fun in the end. Afterwards we
got to watch some of the lip
dubs from Thursday - some
were very entertaining - and a
video of photos taken in the week.
After all the parents had left we had a
disco, which was really fun. We all got
to dance with our new friends and we had
a blast. The disco ended at 11pm and then
we all realised it was over and we had to say
goodbye. A lot of tears were shed as we said
goodbye to our new friends.
Holland truly was amazing, it was a great week.
We met great people and made lots of amazing
friends. We got to learn loads of new things and we
Day 5
had a great time. I was so happy I got to go and I
Friday was our last full day in Holland. We got to would love to go again. Thanks to Miss Gohil for
spend the whole day at the school. In the morning we organising this trip for us.
had two workshops, Graffiti and Street Dance. Street
Sophie Ord & Jack Beard
Dance was quite difficult but a very good laugh. We
Year 10
got to learn new moves, some of which were quite
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PE news
On July 1st, Joseph Aldridge, Jamie
Patterson, Mark Westgarth and Alex
Gascoigne went to the level 3 Table Tennis
Tournament at Warwick University.
We competed in the group stages of the
tournament, managing to qualify for the
semi-finals. We seeded ourselves 1-4,
1 best our best and 4 being our weakest
player.
We played in the semi-finals but
unfortunately lost to strong opponents.
Overall we came third. We all had a great
day out and enjoyed the experience. After
this tournament, we are eager to improve
our skills in the sport so that we can
progress further in the next tournament.
Jamie, Mark & Joe
Year 10
On Wednesday 7th June the following pupils went compete against the rest of the Coventry schools
in the year 7 Athletics completion which is held annually at Warwick University track.
We took a team over to Sidney Stringer
Academy after school on the 12th June.
The team was mainly made up of Year 7
girls but we had our faithful Year 8 girls
play also. The Year 7 girls had only had
two practices and they had only played
their first proper game outside in their PE
lesson on the day of the match!
The girls lost the toss so batted first.
There were a couple of cracking hits by
the Year 8 girls. After an eight minute
innings they had scored six and a half
rounders with only one payer out. They
then fielded and got three players out in
the first five minutes. They fielded really
well and the score at half time was a draw.
The second batting innings was much
better and they scored a total of ten and
a half rounders. Again they fielded really
well and Chisai, Ellie and Sarah got at
least four out at first or second base. There
was an excellent catch from Mona-Lisa
and Briony Herdman did some outstanding
fielding earning herself player of the
match!! Great first game girls….you did us
proud! The final score was 13 – 10½.
The team: Briony Herdman
Rounders
match
The students had no previous experience in any of the events so we were pleasantly surprised to
have so many athletes qualify to get into the Championships on 25th June. They competed against
the top 10 athletes in Coventry and despite being much smaller and having no training they did
remarkably well.
Sam Ellis was placed 3rd in the 75m, Travis Bowes was
2nd in Javelin throwing a massive 26m 80 and Reece John
was 2nd in the Triple jump. With a bit of training imagine
what they could do next year!!
Well done boys!
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15
Ellie Canterbury
Sarah Gilkes
Domonique Moore
Michelle Grille
Mona lisa Chindodo
Raina Ravel
Fortunate Chakabveyo
Chisai Zulu
Cerys Edwards
Some of our
school’s athletes
competing in the
events at Canley
track in the heats
on 11th June.
Sports Day results
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Year 7
Riley
Austin
Daimler
Triumph
141
116
113
108
BEST GIRL
Michelle Grille - 2nd HJ /
1st 1000m
Leah Sanders - 1st discus /
2nd 100m
BEST BOY
Sam Ellis - 1st LJ / 1st
600m
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Year 8
Austin 122
Daimler 118
Triumph 80
Riley
70
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
BEST GIRL
Hannah Hayes - 1st
discus / 1st 400m
Vivien Coupe - 1st LJ /
1st 200m
Year 9
Riley
Triumph
Daimler
Austin
Hillman
97
95
83
81
53
BEST GIRL
Mamie Sinclair - 1st LJ /
2nd 200m
BEST BOY
BEST BOY
Jarrod Clamp - 1st javelin Tanarka Gobere - 2nd HJ
/ 1st 600m
/ 2nd hurdles
SILVER MEDALS
SILVER MEDALS
Domonique Moore - 2nd Maya Purcell - 1st shot /
shot / 2nd hurdles
2nd hurdles
Owen Richards - 1st discus Sujahd Sadaghat - 2nd HJ
/ 2nd 600m
/ 2nd 1000m / 2nd 100m
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SILVER MEDALS
Aliyah Salim - 2nd HJ /
2nd 200m
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Year 10
Daimler
Triumph
Jaguar
Riley
Hillman
Austin
116
102
79
70
52
41
BEST GIRL
Alice Lowe - 1st LJ / 1st
600m
Georgia John - 1st HJ /
1st 1000m / 1st 100m
Chloe Williamson - 1st
discus / 1st 400m
On Wednesday the 26th of June the year 7s and 8s met Nigel Hinton, a
children’s and teenage author.
Nigel was born in London in 1941 in the middle of an air-raid! When he was
young he didn’t like school at all, finding his lessons hard and he also felt like
he didn’t fit in. When Nigel was in secondary school, one of his best friends,
called Marco, died on the school rugby field after breaking his neck when he
was tackled, this made him realise how short life was and that he needed to live
it to the full potential.
He first became an author after writing a story for his class in his job of being
a teacher. After reading his story named ‘Collision Course’ to his Year 9 class,
he soon had it published in 1974 because it left his class enchanted that their own
teacher could write such an amazing story. Nigel didn’t manage to get his book
printed easily though, in fact he tried thirteen publishers unsuccessfully until the
fourteenth publisher, who called him within a day of him posting his work off,
loved his work. Nigel more recently has written songs for many famous singers
and bands. He has even got gold and platinum records for a few of his songs!
One of the main things that Nigel talked about is the fact that everyone asks
him where he gets his ideas from and he admits that he doesn’t know - they just
pop into his head randomly!
We also had a small group of Year 6s from Ernesford Grange Primary School
take part; they enjoyed themselves too. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable
experience and special thanks go to Nigel and everyone who made this possible.
Ellie Windmill and Chloe Copeland
Year 8
BEST BOY
Bradley Parkes - 1st
100m / 2nd Javelin
Callum Smith - 1st 400m
/ 2nd LJ
Jack Gardner - 1st LJ /
2nd 100m
SILVER MEDALS
Bradley Cuttiford - 2nd
HJ / 2nd 1000m
Cody Turner, Year 13
Here are the full results from this year’s Sports Day, held on Monday 7th
July. Thank you to all of the staff for helping the PE faculty. And thank
you to the spectators for their encouragement and support of the runners.
All the photos are on pages 24-25.
Fabric Painting
Award winning author Nigel Hinton
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Year 11 Ball
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“I wanted to try new
things. I am interested in
engineering and not many
schools do a project like
this so it is a great thing to
put on a CV or a University
application form”.
Beth Hartopp, Year 13
“I enjoy the social aspect
of the project, the team
building and watching the
students develop and grow”.
Sam Johnson
“The project is very helpful
to me because it teaches me
lots of practical skills that
are very useful”.
Hamed Nasvatzada, Year 10
“I joined the project because
I thought it might be fun and
interesting. I enjoy working
with different people and
reviewing all aspects of
engineering”.
Kieron Masters, Year 12
“After 39 years of teaching Design and
Technology I retired but still wanted to
do something that will benefit children’s
education. I enjoy the atmosphere and
the company of Build-a-Plane and the
teamwork is great”.
Ken Hodierne
“I like the project
because you learn
great new techniques
and master new
tools and it helps
you in Design and
Technology”.
Adam Masters
Year 8
“I like the project because there
is lots of practical work and it
is not just aimed at boys. It is
great because girls get to come
along to help too”.
Danielle Trudgill, Year 7
I am interested in all
kinds of aircraft. I enjoy
the project because the
volunteers make it fun and
you learn a lot”.
James Aitken, Year 9
“I like engineering and
enjoy the project because of
the effort people put in and
the people are great which
helps our learning”.
Alex Gascoigne, Year 10
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“I enjoy watching the
youngsters learning and
getting involved in the project
and meeting new people when
we take our plane to different
functions. Getting to visit
the House of Commons with
members of the team this term
was amazing”.
Mrs Toman
“I got involved in the
project because it was
a once in a lifetime
opportunity and I
enjoy taking on new
challenges”.
Mr Kobrin
“I joined recently to the
project and think that it is
great fun and exciting”.
Ben Franklin, Year 7
“I wanted to pass on
my knowledge and give
something back to the
community. I like aircraft
from modelling to helicopters
to jumbo jets and Concorde.
The people are friendly and
lots of effort goes in to the
project”.
Chas Glover
“I joined the project a few weeks
ago but I have already found out
how great it is and how there is
more equipment and tools used
than in lessons”.
Jacob Hicks, Year 7
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Year 10 “Lab” Work
6
r
a
Ye
e
c
n
Scie
This term, the Year 6 into 7
visited Science for their transition
project. Ms. Dosanjh set up two
fun experiments: sparklers and bath
bombs.
Matthew McCrindle,
Julia Wolkowicz, Jamie Hannan,
Alice Lowe, Chloe Williamson,
Kara Hawkins and I helped out. It
was lots of fun!
To end the lesson Ms. Dosanjh
surprised everyone with a hydrogen
balloon. It was great and the Year 6s
loved it.
Sophie Ord
Year 10
Science Cov Uni
Happening on 8th July
On the 8th of July we went on a science trip to Coventry University, where we had a one hour
lecture from a professor. We then went on to solve a dog-knapping case; a chocolate Labrador called
‘chocolate-truffles’ was dog-knapped and we had to analyse blood, lipstick and hair to find out who
had done it. Then we took saliva samples and found out our DNA concentration per micro-litre; we
used mechanical pipettes to put the purification liquid in the saliva to clean the sample.
After that we compared bones from a crime scene to find out who the victim was; we predicted
their height by measuring the tibia bone and what sex they were by their hips. We then looked at the
skull to find out the cause of death; they were shot in the front of the head and it exited through the
back. We then listened to another lecture where James won an award which was a pack of chocolate
twirls.
Regan Talbot, Matthew Harker,
Jessica Ellis & James Williams
Year 10
For our last physiology lesson of the year we
made a replica of a plant cell out of leftover food.
We used different sized and coloured foods for the
different parts of the cell. We made our nucleus
out of marshmallows, our vacuole out of custard
powder, and the rest with lentils, pasta, rice
crispies, and corn flour. We finally took a picture
of our finished cell model, and then found out the
next day that the squirrels and birds had eaten most
of our cell! Even though it didn’t stay outside
for too long because of the weather and animals,
we still thought we had a great time creating the
replica of the plant cell.
Sophie Bagley, Elif Okten,
Maya Purcell and Alice Gascoigne
Year 8
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23
Sports
Day
After the scores were added up across all
the Year groups, Triumph were triumphant!
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The New School!
As the photographs show,
the work on the new building is
proceeding very rapidly and is on
schedule for the completion date.
As this is being written, the roof is
going on, windows are being put in
and the rendering (including some
areas of green) is being put on. We
expect two classroom ‘mock-ups’
to be in place in September.
During the summer holidays,
extensive work will take place on
our current site, in preparation for the move.
Our main drive and car park will be out of use
as Wates install new services, though pedestrian
access down the main drive will remain. A
new ‘in’ driveway for the new build will be
constructed down our middle pedestrian path
(the bell mouth as already been completed).
The pond is to be drained and new pipework
laid between the moat and the pond. Our fish
will be saved and returned to the refilled pond.
We expect that our five new baby ducklings,
their parents and the moorhens will migrate to
the moat for their holidays!
The whole scheme is now at a very
exciting stage as we consider internal
fixtures and fittings. Time is moving on
very rapidly…
Mrs S Burton
Summer Fayre
Sadly the weather
was not great this year,
so the Summer Fayre
was held indoors, but this
didn’t put people off and
the event was packed.
There were loads of stalls
and activities, like face
painting, loom bands,
crafts and a bouncy castle.
Everybody who came
had a great time, and
we raised £752, some
of which went to Zoe’s
Place a local children’s
hospice.
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Performing Arts
The Year 11 Performing Arts group have
recently had their GCSE Drama exam. In drama
the exam takes the form of a performance which
is recorded and sent off to the exam board who
mark it. They worked in two groups and created
original and creative pieces.
For the exam, students have to choose the form
of their final performance. They can use a script,
devise a piece from scratch or combine these elements. Both groups started with a script extract and then
devised around it. The theme of the exam this year was ‘contrasts’.
One group looked at eating disorders and took as their basis the true story of Katherine Dunbar from the play
‘Hard to Swallow’ by Mark Wheeller. They devised original scenes which developed the idea that there is a big
difference between the way the character of Katherine saw herself and how she actually looked. This is known
as body-dysmorphia. Their piece contained many drama strategies such as précis theatre and conscience alley.
What I particularly liked about the piece was the way it was left open ended, portraying the reality of battling
eating disorders – it was left to the audience to decide whether there was a happy ending or not.
The second group tackled the very original topic of the fate of women in the last century. Their original
stimulus was an extract from the play ‘Sepia and Song’ which included original quotes from the suffragette
Emily Pankhurst during her campaign to get women the vote. The group made great use of multi-roling and
used music to communicate the changes of era. Playing a variety of roles gave the group the opportunity to
show their versatility as actors. I thought the end scene was very powerful where the group showed how the
characters were all linked through what the women before them had been through.
The group have been really supportive to each other over the last two years and have really pushed themselves
to explore in a creative and insightful way.
I wish them every success and am expecting some brilliant results for all their hard work!
Mrs King
Art Show
Since
starting
Ernesford
Grange in Year 7, I have always
been interested in Drama and
Performing Arts. I have been
lucky enough to do it every year
since then and I have always
enjoyed my lessons. Don’t get
me wrong, some topics have been
harder work than others, but I
would recommend Performing
Arts to anyone that is interested
in doing performing, drama or
acting. You get to do a wide
variety of topics and work in many
different environments and with
different people. For example last
year we got to tour around local
primary schools and perform a
piece that we devised ourselves,
but it had to be educational
so we decided to adapt ‘Alice
in Wonderland’. We called it
‘#Alice@Wonderland’ and based
it around cyber bullying. We also
had to run a workshop after each
performance. I think that all of the
children we performed to enjoyed
it and took something away with
them. I found skills I didn’t know
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I had when I was helping children
to think about online safety in the
workshop exercises.
Shakespeare for me was not
a highlight and I was relieved
when that topic was finished, but
it is interesting when you really
understand what the characters are
meaning and then you can connect
to them. It did change my opinion
of Shakespeare and made me
realise that there are some amazing
moments in Shakespeare’s plays,
but learning the language was
hard – even when I knew what the
characters were talking about.
My favourite shows have got
to be ‘Shakers’ and ‘Eastenders’
in Key Stage 4 and ‘Bouncers’
in the Sixth Form Variety show.
‘Shakers’ and ‘Bouncers’ are both
scripts so we could concentrate
on communicating the funny
characters and situations which
was fun. Our ‘Eastenders’ play
was fully devised and we enjoyed
playing with the form of the soap,
making everything over the top.
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I have also been in many of the
school shows during my time here
and have enjoyed everything about
those experiences from being in
the chorus (in my first show) to
having an acting part in ‘We Will
Rock You’. The shows are great
experiences and a chance to work
with students of all years and also
to make new friends.
I am going on to study Drama
at University where I am sure
I will build upon the skills and
experiences I have gained studying
Performing Arts at Ernesford
Grange.
Some of my best memories that
I will carry with me through the
rest of my life come from some
of the amazing people I have met
and had the pleasure and privilege
of performing with, so thank
you to all of my class mates and
Mrs King for making my time at
Ernesford so good.
Hannah Trudgill
Year 13
Geography
Field Trip
The Year 10 Geographers enjoyed a day in the
sunshine this half term, collecting data for their
GCSE coursework. The group are studying the
changes a river displays as it travels from the
source to the mouth. Students need to explore
whether the Smite Brook, the river they are
studying, follows the Bradshaw model.
The first stop was at Willey, in Warwickshire,
where the river begins. It was less impressive
than expected; a puddle under a tree by the side
of the road.
At each site, the students tested the velocity
of the river, as well as recording the depth and
the width. This can then be used to calculate the
discharge (the amount of water going past at that
point).
We finished the day at Coombe Abbey Country
Park, splashing around in the river, collecting
the final sets of data. It was a really successful
trip that has yielded us great results for their
coursework.
Uni
results
The Sixth Form Soirée
was held at Coombe Abbey Hotel this year, and was a great success!
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Owen Barry received a 2:1 in Fine Art from
Aberystwyth University.
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Tom Adams received a 2:1
in Environmental Science from
Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
What is...
Mathematicians
Save the Day!
Parents’ VOICE?
(Parents’ Views, Opinions, Information, Communication and Education)
It is an informal group that started four years ago, it gives parents the opportunity to meet, discuss
and receive information on various issues. All meetings are held in the sixth form area, they start
at 6.00pm and tea, coffee and biscuits are always available. Meetings are quite informal and are
attended by several staff including the Headteacher. PC Simpson is also a regular attender.
Students from our local primary
schools continue to come and enjoy our
maths sessions. This time the students
had to solve a mathematical problem to
stop all the dangerous animals escaping
from the zoo and running wild in
Ernesford Grange!
Luckily, we have some very clever
mathematicians who were able to stop
them from getting loose just in time.
Phew!
Meeting dates for the next year are;
Wednesday 17th September Wednesday 4th March
Wednesday 12th November
Wednesday 29th April
Wednesday 14th January
Wednesday 10th June
If you are interested please just come along.
Building Castles
In Miss Livingston’s year 7 class, the students
had to make or design a castle for their homework.
At this point in time we were learning about the
formation of the castles in medieval times.
How to attack and defend the castle. The
students had four weeks to make their castle
as we had the Easter holidays. In this
task four students made a castle using
a range of items, they were Danielle
Trudgill, Chloe Copeland, Morgan
Smith and myself. All four of us
made castles from cardboard and
recycled objects. Some of the boys
also made castles but instead decided
to make it a bit more fun, in this case
they were playing computer games at
the time. They created their castles
on ‘Minecraft’. Finally the rest of the
class did drawings of what it would
look like inside and out.
To end this I decided to put I few
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facts in about castles;
1.
Did you know that the quickest way
to destroy the castle was to go underneath
the corner of the castle and burn the wood
holding it up.
2.
In medieval times they didn’t
have a toilet so they used to have a well
inside and they would have to do their
waste in that.
3.
Finally,
Windsor
Castle is the oldest European
Castle still occupied. At
about 900 years old, Windsor
is still occupied by Queen
Elizabeth II (one of the many
places she calls home).
Molly Finch
Year 7
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Cubby Corner
With the recent changes to the Youth Service
we have had to change some of our sessions.
The Cubby at Ernesford Grange Community
Academy has reduced some of their sessions,
however they have retained the core sessions
that the majority of young people still attend.
What we have had the opportunity to do is to
expand our provision across the neighbourhood
and return to Willenhall. It seems like old times
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returning to the former youth space
which now forms part of the café area.
To retain some of our reputation we
have kept the name The Cubby and call
ourselves The Cubby in The Café at The
Haggard.
The sessions are being delivered in
partnership with the YMCA who are
supporting with doorstep sports and
additional youth workers. This will help
sustain sessions and provide a greater
offer of service to the young people of
the Willenhall area.
Already the sessions have been well
attended, we have been focusing on developing
positive relationships with these new young
people. The young people have engaged
well and are already exploring issues around
relationships, sexual health and drugs. It is still
early days, but the team feel ready to meet the
challenge and to develop a great programme for
the sessions.
Over the summer we will continue our Monday
evening sessions followed by daytime provision
and trips to reward the positive engagement of
young people in the youth sessions.
Between now and the summer, working in
partnership with the stakeholders in Willenhall,
we are planning a large scale consultation with
children and young people. We will be going
into schools, libraries, community centres and
going door to door in order to find out what
young people from Willenhall really want to
do. Please be welcoming to the people going
round door to door, we want to know what you
want, so feel free to tell.
During the Godiva
Festival the Youth Tent
was again full of young
people performing and
one of our own was part
of the event.
Daniel
Hooper, who appeared at
The Albany for the youth
arts event, was beat boxing
again. There was also
youth information, yoga
and activities for young
people to engage with.
If you would like to know more, or become
involved with the sessions at The Haggard
please feel free to contact
Tammy Ballard on 07908213745
or [email protected]
Katie Joyce, Year 12
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Painting
Lead Teacher - Ms H Noble
Graphic Design and Layout - Mr I Wells
A2 ART SCULPTURES PROJECT 2014
The Water Buffalo was built by Jessica Tyson
The Wolf was built by Tom Read
The Giraffe was built by Emily-Jane Johnson
The cockerel was built by James Hutt-Dixon