Summer 2014 - Bluecoat Academy

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Summer 2014
The news magazine of Bluecoat Academy
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What a wonderful year this has
been! The building work at
Wollaton Park is finally over and
what a success it is. The new
buildings as well as the refurbished
ones look spectacular with the
landscaping gradually taking
shape to compliment them.
We are very excited about the official
opening ceremony which is taking place on
4th July where we will dedicate the new
buildings during a service led by the
Archdeacon of Nottingham, Peter Hill with
Tim Reddish as our guest of honour. It is
wonderful that all of our students now, no
matter which campus they attend, can have
the best possible facilities to support their
learning and development.
Our Bluecoat family has grown this year
with the addition of Bluecoat Beechdale.
Hadden Park High School as it was formerly
known is now being run by Derek Hobbs,
Vice Principal at Bluecoat previously and he
is supported by a range of Bluecoat
Academy staff. Bluecoat Beechdale has seen
attendance improve to record levels, a new
behaviour code has reduced exclusions and
in June the first Celebration of Success
evening took place. This was a huge success
with over 140 students receiving prizes for
their outstanding work and many hundreds
of parents coming along to support their
youngsters. By September a new uniform
will be in place and we are excited to see
many more applicants to this Academy.
Wollaton Park Campus to be officially opened 4th July 2014
We have now appointed a primary head
teacher, Heather Rushton, to lead our
primary work. Heather is an extremely
experienced head who has led school
improvement projects up and down the
country as well as acted as a Department for
Education advisor for a number of years.
The consultation about the primary school
finishes at the end of this term so please feel
free to participate if you would like to. We
are planning to work much more closely
with a number of our primary colleagues as
we endeavour to create a strong family
with all ages represented! Heather is now
overseeing the plans for opening our
primary in January 2015.
We became a School Centred Teacher
Training provider in May this year. This
means that we can now train teachers
alongside Nottingham University ensuring
that everyone who works at Bluecoat is of
the highest calibre possible. Applications to
become a teacher through Bluecoat should
be directed to our website.
In addition to all of these major initiatives,
we have been undertaking all the variety of
activities that you would expect of us; Gold
Duke of Edinburgh students have just
returned for their practice week end, we
have performed Joseph not only to our own
parents but to many local primary school
children, we have a wide range of foreign
visits which have either taken place or are
going to take place, our enrichment
continues to grow and grow alongside our
sporting success.
Continued over
www.bluecoat.uk.com
Update Summer 2014
Continued
Our Christian distinctiveness work continues
to influence the daily working of the
academy with the addition this year of
Bluecoat pastors and a greater number of
communion services. There has been more
than £5,000 raised for charity and I expect
us to surpass our total of £10,000 raised last
year.
In May Oftsed wrote to tell us that they were
not going to inspect the Academy until at
least the summer term of 2015. This was
because of our excellent results and
ongoing success.
2013/14 has been a wonderful year for
Bluecoat and I look forward with real
anticipation to building on the successes of
this year in 2014/15.
Mrs Hampton (Principal)
Challenging
stereotypes
through drama!
On 26th March, a group of Year 7 and 8
students performed a powerful and moving
piece of drama to a group of staff, students
and parents. This was the culmination of a
10-week after-school drama group run by
student volunteers from Nottingham Trent
University. The piece was unscripted and
devised by the students themselves, mainly
using improvisation techniques. It was
entitled "Stereotypes" and each performer
took on the role of a different "stereotype",
including a homeless person, a rich snob, a
teen mum and an old woman. As the
performance unfolded, we saw each
character act in ways which both reinforced
and then also challenged the stereotypes
that they were portraying. In the final scene,
each character revealed their names, thus
emphasising the fact that each person is an
individual who can't be reduced to a simple
stereotype. The level of maturity and insight
which the students brought to the
performance was truly a pleasure to watch.
Mr Bruce
believe in yourself, in others, in God
Expansion of teacher
training at Bluecoat
We are thrilled to have recently been
accredited as a School Centred Initial
Teaching Training provider (SCITT), working
in partnership with The University of Nottingham, and other partner schools in
the region. This will mean we are able to train our own future teachers.
Through the School Direct Programme, trainees gain practical experience from day
one. It is a great way to learn and qualify to become a teacher. Support bursaries of up
to £25,000 are available. For more information please contact [email protected]
Year 9s do business with Siemens!
On Thursday 6th March, 20 Year 9
students took part in a Business in Focus
event at the local Siemens offices.
The event was organised by “Into
University” as part of their aspirationraising programme. Throughout the day,
the students were working in two teams to
simulate setting up a music charity. One
team set up “Music Beatz Pollution”, an
environmental charity and the other team
set up “Musication”, a charity working to
support education in war-torn countries.
Each team member took on roles including
Chief Executive Officer, Fundraising
Manager, Donor Liaison Manager, Concert
Manager, Social Media Manager, Finance
Manager and Marketing Manager. The
remit for the teams was to organise two
“concerts” and to raise funds to cover
staffing costs and general running costs of
the charity. Money was raised by
completing funding applications, creating
and selling merchandise and asking
“celebrities” for donations to their charity
and the day culminated in a concert where
the two teams performed in front of each
other. Finally, income and expenditure were
calculated and the team with the most
profit won – in this case, “Musication” won
by just a small profit margin!
The day was supported by around a dozen
mentors – members of the Siemens staff
who had volunteered to support this event.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the
whole occasion and certainly gained an
insight into business as well as developing
their communication skills, their ability to
work in a team and their confidence.
Mr Bruce
Step into the NHS Competition
Year 8 student, Benjamin
Etheridge, was presented
with a ‘highly
commended’ certificate
for his entry into the ‘step
into the NHS school’s
competition’ 2014.
Students had to promote a
specific career in the NHS by
creating a range of
recruitment materials, which
appealed to students of
their age group. They could
enter as individuals or as a
group. Ben chose the role of
biomedical scientist and
created an animation from
scratch, a job
advertisement and
job description.
The judges were
looking for
something that was
fun, lively and
appealing, a creative
understanding of
the role and what it
involved, an understanding
of entry routes to the
chosen career, for example
knowledge, skills,
experience and relevant
qualifications required and
clear structure and
presentation.
Ben’s entry was chosen out
of more than 1075 entries
from more than 2480
schools in the UK!
I did this for the first time
with my Year 8 class this
year and they really
enjoyed it.
Mrs Stones
Update Beyond The Classroom
Into University into Bluecoat!
IntoUniversity is an educational organisation which works
in partnership with the University of Nottingham.
They have three centres in Nottingham (in Hyson Green, St Anns
and Broxtowe) which work with local primary and secondary
schools. We really value our close partnership with IntoUniversity,
who run lots of successful workshops and themed days with
students from all year groups, with the aim of helping them to
build key skills and achieve their future aspirations, whether that be going
onto University or another chosen career. Many Bluecoat students also attend their
Academic Support sessions which run after school at the IntoUniversity centres, where
they get support with their schoolwork from trained tutors and current university
students. Mr Bruce
Young Enterprise
@ Bluecoat
Young Enterprise offers a wealth of
practical ways to help young people
to get a taste of the world of work
and the excitement of running a real
business. This year, six companies
from Bluecoat Academy took part in
the Young Enterprise Company
Programme.
During the Young Enterprise projects
the students developed key skills they
need not only for the world of work but
also for day to day life such as; gaining
an understanding of how business
works, the ability to work in a team and
the willingness to take responsibility
and show initiative.
During the one year programme the
companies had to create a product to
sell to the general public. They attended
several events including the Bluecoat
Christmas Market and the Trade Fair in
Nottingham Market Square. Part of the
competition was to create company
documents and to present to a panel of
judges at Boots Conference Centre.
A big well done to all the students who
took part and the members of staff for
their dedication to the companies.
Mrs James
Duke of Edinburgh group go for gold
The first training expedition for this year’s Gold Duke of
Edinburgh students took place over two weekends in June as
we have two Gold groups this year.
It was fantastic to see them paddle around the bend at Victoria
Embankment on a scorching summer’s day. They were confident and
competent already having had only a few days training with our
instructors.
I would like to say a massive thanks to Gary Birkin who has been
coordinating the Gold Award at Bluecoat Academy this year and doing a
great job.
Mr Gerry Carr, International Schools Coordinator
Duke of Edinburgh's Award Coordinator
Christian
Distinctiveness
Team continues
to develop
The Christian Distinctiveness Team are
continuing to develop the role of the
Bluecoat Pastors where there will be
more availability for students to come
and discuss any issues they may be
facing with the pastors.
We are also developing the Christian
Union groups in the Academy by linking of
weekly themes for worship more closely to
the Christian Union activities. We are also
developing a student leadership team for
worship as well as a leadership team for
the Post 16 Christian Union. Currently we
have been having termly Communion
services, we have changed the format of
these and many more students are
participating. As a result of this success we
will be moving to half termly Communion
services next year. Mrs Watson
Update Beyond The Classroom
Let’s get the raspberry
jam on… the bread board!
The Raspberry Pi is a mini
computer about the size of
a credit card and we have
been programming the
Raspberry Pi to explore the
world of Computer Science.
We have been learning how
to code in Python and Mrs
Stones is inspiring us to
succeed! Within a few weeks
we will have the ability to
hold our very own Jelly
Babies Got Talent! With the
Raspberry Pi we will be able
to make Jelly Babies sing,
make traffic lights and even
robotics. Watch this space…
the year 9 Computing Class
of 2014 are going to be
Computer Scientists!
By Hannah, Laura, Maryam,
Jenny and Aiden
Oxbridge Evenings 2014
This year Bluecoat Academy played host to two evenings
regarding applying to and studying at the Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge.
On Tuesday 11th March Kathy Purdy,
the Admissions and Schools Liaison
Officer at Peterhouse College,
Cambridge, led an evening regarding
the application process and life at
Cambridge. Peterhouse College is
the oldest of the Cambridge Colleges
and was founded in 1284; it currently
organises outreach activities for the
Nottingham region.
On Wednesday 7th May Andy Avery,
the Admissions and Schools Liaison
Officer at Christ’s College, Cambridge
led another Oxbridge information
evening to which parents were also
invited. Bluecoat Academy has close
links with Christ’s due to the bursary
funded by Alfred Harrison, a former
Bluecoat and Christ’s student,
available to any Bluecoat student
who studies at Christ’s.
Both evenings were very well
attended and the feedback has been
positive from students and parents
alike. It is a pleasure to see so much
enthusiasm being shown by
Bluecoat students for academic
study. Whether these students study
at Oxford or Cambridge, or at
another top University, their
enthusiasm and hard work will
always bring rewards.
Mr Sandiford
believe in yourself, in others, in God
Childcare and Education
Year 10 recently enjoyed a visit to the local
Salvation Army early years provision where
they enjoyed a talk from the manager and
learned about the difference between
private and statutory settings. They made
observations on the displays and the
resources available.
Ms Bird
Update Beyond The Classroom
Paris Maths trip
In the early hours of July 14th, 65 students, from both campuses,
will be departing for a four day long Maths Enrichment Trip to Paris.
Whilst we are there, students will be
involved in a number of activities
including using mirrors and
trigonometry to estimate the height
of the Eiffel Tower. They will also
spend a day at Disneyland Paris,
gathering data that will form the
basis of projects for our Year 7s next
year.
To make sure that the students get
the most out of the trip, they are
spending the weeks leading up to
the departure taking part in a
number of Thursday afternoon
enrichment activities involving both
Mathematics and French, and in one
particular session learning
Mathematics in French! They are
also preparing for their Eiffel Tower
Challenge by visiting the local
university campus to measure the
Aspire sculpture that was until
recently the tallest sculpture in
Britain.
The week before we depart, all of
the students will join together to
Raising the grade
On Tuesday 1st April 2014 a small group of Year 11
students from both the Aspley and Wollaton Campuses
were selected to attend the annual 'Raising the Grade
Conference'.
take part in The Happy Puzzle
Challenge, where Mathematics
comes to life through
ingenious, gigantic puzzles.
Mr Gell
Numeracy Coordinator
Bluecoat Academy
victorious in The Poetry Games
Jenni Birch, Harpreet Gill, Amaad Jalil, Fariyal Khan, Antonion
McFarlane, Georgia Norman, Gurjinder Purawal, Huzefa Sajid,
Ethan Selby and Tomek Wos visited Nottingham Trent
University to take part in this event to motivate and inspire
students to do well in their Maths GCSE. They took part in a
variety of workshops and had a thoroughly enjoyable day.
All of the students were a credit to Bluecoat and
participated in the workshops with enthusiam. Harpreet Gill
did us especially proud by winning a prize for her
performance on the day.
Lucy Judd, the Schools and Colleges Outreach Officer at
Nottingham Trent said in email to the academy, "I'm
delighted that it went to such a worthy winner. I heard
wonderful things about her participation on the day and we
were looking to pick students who were quietly, and lessconfidently, wonderful to be some of our prize winners - so I
couldn't be happier to hear that it worked so well for
Harpreet." Anna Sharpe/Debra Urbacz (Academic
Coaching Team)
Twenty four Key Stage 3 students from Bluecoat Academy
have had their work selected by publisher Young Writers
as winners of their national Poetry Games competiton.
Students had to choose from selected topics as the theme of their
writing, from current affairs to the natural world.
Their work is now published and appears in "The Poetry Games: Poets
from the East Midlands" with copies available via
www.youngwriters.co.uk and even Amazon!
Congratulations to all who entered. Mr Sisson
‘Applying to Medical School’ Evening 2014
On Thursday 8th May 2014 Dr Adeel
Ikram, a Core Surgical Trainee, London,
and Dr Ravi Kothari, a Radiology
Registrar, East Midlands, presented at an
evening event at Bluecoat Academy
regarding applying to Medical School
and life as a doctor.
Adeel is a former Bluecoat student who
wished to share his knowledge and
experience with current students. The event
was open to Years 10, 11 and 12 and was
well attended, with around 40 pupils and
their parents attending.
The evening included an hour long talk
about all aspects of the application process
and life as a doctor followed by half an hour
question and answer session. Current Year
13 students who have applied to medical
school this year were also on hand to offer
advice. Entry to Medical School is extremely
competitive, so we are lucky to have had 3
students from the current Year 13, and one
from last year’s year group, having received
offers for September 2014.
The talk was enjoyable and informative, and
feedback from the students who attended
has been very positive. Students have said
that the talk both inspired them to work in
the field of medicine, and gave them
information about how to
successfully apply to Medical School.
Adeel and Ravi have agreed to support
students at Bluecoat in future years as well,
and we are delighted to have their support
in educating the doctors of the future!
Mr Sandiford
Student Progression Coordinator
Update World of Experience
The Arts Faculty
trip to New York 2014
Twenty students from Years 10 to 13 enjoyed an amazing trip to New
York during February half term. The trip included a workshop with a
cast member from the Broadway show "Jersey Boys" as well trips to
see two Broadway shows. All of the usual New York sites were visited
in a true New York busy style. The recent snowfall added to the trip
with great fun had by all in a snow covered Central Park. Mr Collins
believe in yourself, in others, in God
Update World of Experience
Business in Paris
A-level Business Studies students attended the
Business Live conference in Disneyland, Paris.
The trip was a huge success and all students
were a credit to the Academy.
One of the speakers and entrepreneurs was 24
year old Fraser Doherty, the founder of
SuperJam, who now sells his jams not only to
Waitrose, Asda and Tesco but globally. Fraser
was truly inspirational! Other entrepreneurs
that the students got to listen and ask
questions to were Ed Bussey (the owner of
Quill which produces content to 81
companies, including American Express
and AXA) and Mark Pilkington
(the head of Disney’s commercial
and sales in Paris). Mr Mather
Bormio 2014
During the Easter break 49 students and 5 staff went to
Bormio in the Italian Alps for the annual Academy Ski Trip.
The weather and snow conditions could not have been better
for the trip (which this year for the first time we flew). Students
had 6 days of skiing where they were taught by Italian Ski
Instructors, each lunchtime students were able to soak up the
sunshine in the fantastic restaurant. The evenings consisted of
trips to the Ice Rink, Pizzeria, shopping around the town, and
now the infamous Miss Bormio competition.
The skiing culminates with a slalom race where all students
have to race against the clock down a track and ski around
poles. Mr Cook set a less than impressive time of 56.25secs
which was quickly eclipsed by most students. Year 13 Sam
Telling won for the second year in a row.
Next year’s trip is already being organised and most students
by now should have received some information during Acts of
Worship, if not, please go to the PE Office and collect an
information letter. Mr Pickard
Update Beyond The Classroom
Joseph
and his
Amazing
Technicolour
Dreamcoat
Our Academy production of Joseph took place in June. As always
the quality of the production was outstanding and it was
wonderful to see such a wide range of students taking part in this
lovely performance. Congratulations to everyone who took part!
Year 9 work with
top fashion house
to create Joseph’s
dreamcoat
The Year 9 textiles group had a special
job to do for this year’s school
production of Joseph’s Technicolored
Dreamcoat.
Working with a team of designers from the
local design house of Paul Smith, students
were commissioned to design the dream
coats for the lead roles in this year’s
production. This was an amazing
experience for students to work with
professionals from the fashion industry on a
live design brief. The work produced was of
a high standard and demonstrated all the
skills the class have been honing this year.
They should all be very proud of what they
have achieved in this complicated task and
we hope to proudly display the coats when
the productions are over. Many thanks to
Andy and Jackie from Paul Smith for their
time and support on this project.
Miss Ivory
believe in yourself, in others, in God
Update Beyond The Classroom
The City of Nottingham
Duke of Edinburgh’s
award Presentation Evening
There were many proud moments for
Bluecoat students, parents and the
Academy at this years’ award evening at
Nottingham High School. So far this
year, 27 students have been successful
in completing their D of E award at the
Academy.
The Lord Mayor, the High School
Headmaster and Phil Brown (DofE director
and Olympic athlete) all made it clear how
all students had been successful, not just
in a fleeting moment, but in months of
commitment to improve themselves and
their communities.
Students who spoke about Duke
of Edinburgh on the evening
said:
“Be prepared for the worst.”
“Agonizing moments.”
“A brutal ordeal.”
“A brilliant experience with friends.”
“I tried new things.”
“I was advancing skills outside the
classroom.”
“Our groups gelled together as a team.”
…which sums up the Duke of Edinburgh
experience very well! Students have gone
through a personal and social
Bluecoat Academy
Music Concert March 2014
A fantastic night of Music took place at the Academy
on Tuesday 18th March.
The Academy Orchestra performed for the first time to a
packed house with over 150 people in the audience. A Level
music students as well as budding performers from younger
years entertained and amazed the audience with their musical
skills. Mr Collins
development through accessing the
outdoors. They now have an award they
can take with them through the rest of
their lives.
A huge thank you to those dedicated staff
who give up valuable weekends to enable
the expeditions to happen - more Gold
and Silver expeditions this term and in the
summer holiday! Mr Garbutt and Mr Carr
Update Beyond the classroom
I’m a Scientist, get me out of here!
Some Year 9 students at both the Wollaton Park and the
Aspley Lane Campuses have been taking part in an
online event to find out about scientists and their roles.
Students have been researching the areas of science these
people work on and challenging the scientists over fast-paced
live chats. Questions were selected well and students enjoyed
finding out about a broad range of scientific careers. It has
been a really fun event and students benefitted from talking to
scientists.
Miss Worthington
Brain Awareness event stimulates
curiosity for Year 11 Biologists
On the 26th March 2014, a small
group of Year 11 Triple Biologists
attended a workshop on Brain
Awareness, hosted by the School
of Psychology at the University
of Nottingham.
Academic staff gave mini lectures
on Schizophrenia, the developing
brain, vision and autism. PhD
students organised laboratory
tours which explored topics such
as emotions, memory, gambling
and multi-sensory illusions. Pupils
also visited the Nottingham
Integrated Transport and
Environment Simulation (NITES)
facility and learned about driving
research that utilises eye-tracking
technology.
The event really opened the minds
of our students and brought to
light the complexity of the human
brain.
Asha commented
“The event has inspired
me to take Psychology
at A level and perhaps
look towards a career
in Neuroscience”.
Mr O’Hara
Wonder of DNA’ workshop stimulates
enthusiasm among Technology students
A group of Year 9 Technology
students were invited to an
afternoon workshop on ‘The
Wonders of DNA’, run by a STEM
ambassador.
Students had a chance to isolate their own
DNA and analyse it using electrophoresis.
They were then able to compare the
similarities and differences between with
their own DNA and their friend’s. Students
exhibited an array of skills including;
teamwork, communication, problem solving, analysing,
interpreting and above all, autonomy.
Students enjoyed the challenge of the
task and the complexity of using the Electrophoresis
equipment more commonly associated with A- level Biology.
Derun remarked “It is much more interesting being able to
apply science to something in real life, in this case extracting
our own DNA – I really enjoyed the workshop”. Mr O’Hara
believe in yourself, in others, in God
Update Post 16
A busy time for our Psychologists
We’ve been really busy in
Psychology over the last few
months! In February the Year 13
Psychology students were fortunate
enough to have the opportunity to
take part in a 1 day Forensic and
Clinical Psychology conference held
at the Academy and run by world
renowned researcher Dr Guy Sutton.
Students took part in lectures on
topics such as Schizophrenia; causes of
criminality; the effects of brain
injury/damage on behaviour and DNA
epigenetics. The day culminated with
students taking part in a sheep’s brain
dissection that enabled students to
gain a deeper understanding of brain
structure and function.
In April, our Year 12 Psychologists
attended a ‘Brain Awareness’ event at
the School of Psychology at
Nottingham University. Students
attended mini lectures on brain
development, Autism and
Schizophrenia run by leading
academics in their field. Students were
then taken on tours of the laboratories
in small groups. They visited labs that
were investigating areas such as
behavioural and cognitive
neuroscience; cognition and language
and visual neuroscience. They heard
from students about their research,
different techniques and experimental
methods, and their application in
current research. Students were able to
question the researchers on their work
and our students did us proud in
asking many pertinent and challenging
questions. The day gave our students a
real thirst for studying Psychology at
university and many are now booked
on to Psychology open days at
universities up and down the
country over the next few months.
Finally this week our Year 12
students have had another
opportunity to experience
Psychology in action. Our students
were asked to participate in a
research project being run by
Nottingham Trent University. Sarah
Haddow, a Masters Degree student
from the university, came in to
Psychology lessons to conduct the
research. It was a psychometric study
of intellectual risk-taking and students
were required to complete self-reports
on age demographics, personality and
context with the aim being to look at
how these factors influence and
predict intellectual risk-taking.
Students were able to question Mrs
Haddow about her research aims and
methodology. Students engaged in an
enthusiastic debate about
Psychological research and ethics and
were able to practise applying their
evaluation skills to real life research. An
excellent opportunity to experience
real world research and to develop the
analytical skills so important for the A2
year of the course.
We have already started to plan a
residential trip to London for our AS
and A2 level Psychology students in
Spring 2015, hopefully involving visits
to the Freud museum (to examine the
work of Sigmund Freud), London zoo
(to investigate comparative
Psychology), a Jack the Ripper walking
tour (to apply theories of geographical
offender profiling) and the historic
Bedlam hospital (now a Biomedical
Research Centre for Mental Health) so
watch this space! Mrs Tickle
Childcare and education progress in POST 16
We are delighted to report that our very first cohort of Level 3 Childcare students
have all achieved their qualification and with some very high grades indeed!
(This is equivalent to three A Levels and a licence to practice).
They have all proved their competency in a variety of early years and school settings.
The group are all prepared and ready for the workforce. Five students applied and
have been accepted at three different Universities to continue their study and aim to
progress into teaching. Four students have chosen to take the Foundation degree as a
route to management in the early years sector. Some students have already secured
employment in nurseries over the Summer period.
Well done to them and we are delighted to have shared their journey!
Mrs Maydew-Deakin
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Focus on
athletics
Once again Bluecoat Academy became City
Athletics Champions in the first competition of
the season, many students took part and had a
great time competing.
The final results were Junior Girls 2nd, Junior Boys
4th, Inter Girls 2nd & Inter Boys 2nd.
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Following their success at the City Championships
some students were selected to represent the City in
the County Athletics Championships. As you can
imagine the standard was extremely high, with all of
the students working to their absolute maximum in
each of their events. The students who placed in the
top 3 in their event have been invited to compete in
the Masons Trophy, which can lead to getting
through to the English Schools Individual
Competition. Here are the highlights
Abbie Seymour - High Jump 4th place
Mayah Charles - Long Jump 1st place,
Relay 1st place
Atoni Rose - Long Jump 4th place (with a PB),
Relay 1st place
Nokuthula Zulu - 100m 1st place, Relay 2nd place
Tamika Shelinkdo - 300m 4th place
Ihesha Wright - Discus 3rd place
Hazel Varley - Long Jump 1st place
What’s hot this summer?
We are now deep into the summer sports
competitions here at Bluecoat Academy
with teams representing the Academy in
many different activities.
We have already tasted success in Rounders,
Cricket, Athletics and Tennis. But we now have
triumphed in a sport we had never competed
in before – Softball. Miss Todd-Ellis arranged for
a coach to come in after school and take some
sessions with a view to entering the
Nottingham School’s Softball Championships.
Miss Todd-Ellis took the Year 8 Girls team to the
event and returned winners, beating Trinity,
Nottingham Girls Academy and George
Spencer School!
Football success
It has been a terrific season
for Bluecoat football this year
with most teams celebrating
success at some stage of the
season.
Next academic year we are
hoping to build on this success,
with this in mind we have entered
some teams into more
competitions. This will give more
students the opportunity to represent the Academy at football. Early in
September 2014 we will be holding trials matches for most year groups as
we aim to have both ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams in competitions.
So if you are interested in playing for Bluecoat next season, please make sure
you attend these trials.
National Dance
Competition winner
Sumanjit Johal a Year 11 student attended a
competition call UDO (United Dance
Organization) in March which ran through the
entire weekend. Sumanjit came first place in
the Over 16’s Novice.
This annual British competition is one of the
largest competitions in the year. Last year
Sumanjit came first in the same competition for
the Under 16’s so has won twice for two years running!
Table tennis
Sycamore Table Tennis Club has been working in partnership with
Bluecoat Academy to provide local primary school students with an
opportunity to play table tennis at the fantastic facilities the academy
have to offer in a new unique delivery model.
The sessions have been led by Chris Turner, the club's Head Coach with over
20 students playing each week, at present all from Middleton Primary School.
Sycamore Table Tennis Club are the current British champions and are one of
only four official Talent Development Centres in England, aimed at producing a
new generation of England internationals from Nottingham. The next step for
the students is to join the Saturday morning programme at Brendon Lawrence
Sports Hall, Hungerhill Road, 9:30 - 11:30am. The first session is FREE!
believe in yourself, in others, in God