One Year Celebration Event

NEWSLETTER
22nd July 2014
One Year Celebration Event
On Wednesday 16 th July, we celebrated our first year as an
ARK Academy. We were joined by the Mayor of RBKC,
Maighread Condon-Smith, Venessa Willms, Director of
Primary Education at ARK, lots of friends of the school and
were glad to see so many parents present to share in the
celebrations too. After some words from Mr Smith and our
guests, we were treated to some great performances by
children from across the school. After refreshments, guests
were given tours of the school by some of our ambassadors.
There was great admiration for the decorations and the
cake. Thanks to Miss Davis for coordinating and to all the
staff who worked so hard to make the event a success.
Another example of the great teamwork we value so much
at ARK Brunel.
or wounded in battle, as this year marks both the 70th
anniversary of D Day and the centenary of the outbreak of
World War I. It was a great experience for all involved.
Hannah, from Year 5, said: "I really enjoy being part of a
choir with other ARK Schools. It helps to build your
confidence.”
Strong SATs Results Again
ARK Brunel Primary Academy in Middle Row has shown
improvements in results for Key Stage 1 students and
continued strong results from Key Stage 2 exams. Students
saw their Year 1 phonics screening scores improve to 90% in
2014, up from 80% in 2013. Combined SAT results also
showed improvement, rising to 83% from 79% in 2013. We
are already at or better than the national average in all areas,
and we are working to continue to improve.
Science Day
Brunel at the Barbican
On Monday 7 July, ARK Brunel joined 750 pupils from 25
academies in the ARK Schools network. They came
together to perform in the sixth ARK Schools Music Gala
held at the world-renowned Barbican Centre in London. A
packed audience of around 1000 supporters celebrated the
achievements of students from throughout the network. The
Barbican Centre, which is normally home to the likes of the
London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare
Company, hosted ARK Schools children who performed a
range of music from John Williams to Pharrell Williams. The
event involved pupils of all musical abilities and ages, in a bid
to prove that everyone has the ability to be a musician, given
the opportunity. Performances included the Eurovision
Anthem ‘We write the story’ written by ABBA’s Björn
Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, ‘Skyfall’ by Adele as well as
Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’. Pupils also performed ‘Hymn to
the Fallen’ by John Williams, a moving tribute to those killed
We were joined for the day on Friday 11 th July by the team
from Science Boffins. They spent the day working with
classes, exploring some of the wonders of science. Some
children carried out their own experiments at home. Special
mention goes to Elisa Rustemi who amazed Mr Smith with
her bouncing egg experiment. The children and teachers
made a real effort with dressing up and a great day was had
by all. Special thanks to Miss Donaghy for organising the day.
Computers, IT, internet, websites, social media…
We are enjoying having new, up-to-date IT facilities in our
new building. Our computers are fast and responsive and we
are making great use of our new laptop trolleys in classes.
Having extra computers at the edges of our classrooms
means it’s much easier to integrate computer work into our
daily routines too. We enjoyed having parents come in to
use the school facilities to complete online surveys recently.
We’re using our website more and more to publicise the
great things that are going on at Ark Brunel. Have you had a
look recently? www.arkbrunelprimary.org
Are you a Twitter user? We are! Follow @ARKBrunel for
regular updates about what’s going on. There’s also a link on
our homepage.
Hello and goodbye
We look forward to welcoming Ms Helen Smith and Ms
Melanie Lintott in KS2, and Ms Tiffany Leers in EYFS, who
are joining us from September. We also welcome Megan
Charlton and Joe Crosby who will be with us for the year,
training to be teachers as part of the ARK ATT Programme.
We are saying goodbye to Miss Rockcliffe and Miss Francis
this summer, who are both leaving us for schools closer to
their homes. Also, Miss Naughton will be leaving us to train
to be a teacher herself. Great thanks to them for their hard
work and dedication over the years and best wishes for the
future.
Priorities next year
We have been busy planning for next year. One of our
priorities for next year is to make sure that we are involving
parents and carers in school life as much as we can. We will
be organising more events that involve parents and look
forward to building closer links in order to be the best
school we can possibly be for the children. If you ever have
any ideas or issues that you would like to discuss with us,
please speak to your child’s class teacher or make an
appointment to see one of us. We look forward to seeing
you soon.
Attendance This Year
Building works
You will have noticed that our old building is rapidly
disappearing. While this has involved some noise from time
to time, learning continues and we look forward to
completion of the works, when we will have our main
playground ready for use. The children have managed
superbly well this term with only a small area to play in. Well
done!
Bristol
Durham
Exeter
Imperial
Kings
91.6
94.5
94.1
93.9
94.9
Lancaster
Loughborough
Oxford
York
94.0
96.0
94.7
94.9
Our target for next year is 96%. If we can all do as well as
Loughborough Class, we’ll get there!
KS1 and KS2 Performances
On Tuesday 15 th July, Key Stage 1 performed our new
school’s first ever play! ‘The Highway Rat’ was a fantastic
performance which was thoroughly enjoyed by both
performers and audience. If you were lucky enough to see
the play, we know you will have enjoyed it. Bravo, Key
Stage1!
Also, Key Stage 2 shared with us their production of
Sherlock Bones which was a treat. We look forward to many
more productions with in our lovely new hall.
Please remember, holidays in term time will not be
authorised, and may lead to a fine from the Educational
Welfare Service.
This is our final newsletter of the year. Thanks for
your continuing support and have a great summer.
Dominic Smith
STOP PRESS!
Many thanks to Corann Malcolm for organising the uniform
swap. Many parents have commented on what a great idea it
was!