Newsletter - Aston Academy

Aston Community Education Trust
(ACET) Newsletter
March 2016
World Book Day Bronze Winners
Dear Parents/Carers
As this busy period of the year comes to a close with a flurry
of assemblies and events in celebration of another successful
term, it allows us time to reflect on the achievements of the
huge number of young people within our trust who have
sustained excellent standards of attendance and behaviour
and have engaged in learning with great enthusiasm and
commitment. It is a pleasure to visit each of our academies
and meet pupils and students who are being rewarded for
their effort, progress and contribution. This newsletter
contains just some of the many events and achievements
which give reason to make us feel proud about being a part
of Aston Community Education Trust.
World Book Day proved to be a day to remember in all
our academies with some staff arriving as characters from
well-known books. Post-16 students at Aston organised
a book-swap at which they provided tea and delicious
cupcakes. The senior academy had an extra reason to
celebrate, having been named as one of the runner-ups
in the World Book Day Award, sponsored by best-selling
author, James Patterson. Led by Mr Mike Kilgannon,
Aston’s Lead Learner for Literacy, they submitted a short
film featuring students talking about their individual
reading journeys, complete with animation, multilingual narration and subtitles. We were thrilled to learn
of its success and prize of £3000 to spend on books.
The promotion of reading has also been high on the
agenda in our junior academies with the installation of
three brand new
libraries. Already
the children have
shown
great
interest in using
them and we hope
this continues as
the trust invests
significantly in the
purchase of more
books.
Reading
is such an important part of our lives. Not only does
reading expand your vocabulary, it also deepens your
understanding of the world and the people in it.
Even when reading fiction the characters, plots and even
settings resonate with us in the real world, making reading
not only a fun pastime but an enlightening one as well, as
many well-known authors have reminded us:
“To learn to read is to light a fire.” Victor Hugo
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Margaret Fuller
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Joseph
Addison
“If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot
of books.” Roald Dahl
“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the
finest (people) of the past centuries.” Descartes
So let us try to extend the high profile of reading created by
World Book Day for the remainder of 2016 and beyond so
that all our students/pupils increase their enthusiasm for
reading and that their lives are enhanced by all the benefits
that this will bring.
Another highlight of the term was this year’s Project Ability
event, led by Ms Jill Newbolt at which Aston Academy
welcomed staff and students from all four ACET academies;
and representatives from several other Rotherham Special
Schools, primary and secondary schools. Parents, carers,
staff and students were welcomed by Y13 student, Matthew
Ingram, Ambassador for this project and students from Abbey,
Hilltop and Kelford Special Schools were then awarded with
their GCSE Physical Education certificates. It was a fantastic
opportunity to celebrate the excellent collaborative work
which this project encourages and the additional curriculum
support it provides for students from the special schools.
There are many outstanding young people in our trust but
it seems appropriate to highlight the achievement of two
students from Aston Academy Post 16 for their amazing
success earlier this year. Ashley Gregory and Jack Hogan were
elected as the two Members of Rotherham’s Youth Parliament
from a group of candidates representing all Rotherham
secondary schools. The number of votes they secured reflected
the strength of their manifestos and their passion to make a
difference in the community. I am sure that we all wish them
well and look forward to hearing of their progress in these
influential roles.
As the Easter holiday approaches, we hope that some of our
students and pupils will be using at least part of the two week
break to continue their preparation for the forthcoming
external tests and exams. We wish them well with their
revision, recognising that preparing for and sitting exams
can be a very pressured time for young people who appreciate
the important impact that their exam performance can have
on their future lives. We know that the exam season can be
very stressful for everyone in the family and that encouraging
some children to revise can be a struggle. Staff in our
academies want to support students/pupils in managing
exam pressure and ask that parents/carers who have concerns
for their children inform us immediately by contacting the
principal of their junior academy or Mr Graham for GCSE
and Ms Dwan for A Levels at the senior academy.
On behalf of the trustees, governors and staff of ACET, I wish
you all an enjoyable break and Happy Easter.
Very best wishes,
Eunice Newton
A message from the ACET Trustees
It’s almost around again to that critical
time of year – exams! ACET always aims
high, so it’s no surprise that we have
already set and been working towards
challenging (but achievable) exam targets
for all our academies. Thurcroft Junior
Academy (TJA) face their fourth SATs as
an academy, Lowedges Junior Academy
(LJA) their second and Springwood Junior
Academy (SJA) their first as an academy.
The trustees, and indeed the governors,
wish all our pupils the very best of fortune
in their exams, be they SATs, GCSEs, AS, A
Level or internal. Exam time is a stressful
time for everyone at our academies so it
has been good to evidence all the hard
work and preparation by students and
staff that has been going on to help
optimise our students/pupils outcomes.
You may be interested to go and look at
the new websites for our academies if
you’ve not done so already.
www.lowedgesacademy.org
www.springwoodacademy.org
www.thurcroftacademy.org
ACET have been reviewing the quality of
governorship across all our academies.
This involved inviting each chair
of governors and another governor
representative to a meeting with the
ACET review body to question them
about aspects of governance and to discuss
their approaches to Governance. The
review concluded that the Governance
across all our Academies continues to
be of an exceptionally high standard.
The discussions held are also helping to
further improve this situation.
On to capital funding from the
Department for Education and premises
improvements being implemented by
ACET. All our Junior Academies have
recently benefited from a complete
refurbishment and refit of exciting new
library spaces. This is to further engage
and excite all our young pupils about
reading. Foundations@Lowedges is also
looking brilliant following completion of
the refurbishment. Work on the ancient
heating systems at Aston Academy were
desperately needed and is now completed.
We are looking to develop a central
resource area for the Trust, to be known
as ACET House, which will be the old
unused caretaker’s house at Springwood
Junior Academy. We also await central
government deliberations on bids we have
proposed for further improvements to
our real estate.
Trustees are already looking forward to
the fifth ACET Annual Awards Evening
in May. This is a great opportunity to
further recognise success in its many
different forms across all our academies.
Trustees are looking forward to deciding
the winners of the awards. We understand
competition is again very strong for each
award and that the standards are very
high.
Finally, a reminder about ACET. The
Trustees of ACET are Roy Dyson, John
Swift, Paul Bennett, Eunice Newton and
myself (John Barton). To learn more
about our aims and ethos please feel free
to visit www.astoncetrust.org
Wishing you a good Easter break,
John Barton
Chair of ACET
Creativity Across ACET
Chinese New Year Displays
Lowedges Junior Academy
Aston Academy’s Easter Hat Preparation
Springwood Junior Academy
Lowedges Mother’s Day Cards
Lowedges Mini Beasts
Thurcroft Junior Academy NEWS
“With your commitment we will exceed expectation”
Dear Parents / Carers,
The term has been very short, just ten weeks and Easter
is just around the corner. It has been a really busy term
trying to fit in all the exciting new learning experiences
for the pupils which have included celebrating the
Chinese New Year, a Fire Safety assembly and a visit to
the academy by the Dogs Trust.
As Miss Beecher left us at Christmas we welcomed Mrs
Gray who is now teaching one of our Y3 classes. We
were also pleased to welcome to Thurcroft Mrs West
and Miss Holland who are our new Assistant Inclusion
Managers.
The most exciting news for us this term was the grand
opening of the new school library. This is a resource
that we will all benefit from for a long time, and it has
given the pupils a really amazing space in which to
enjoy reading.
Chinese New Year
We continue to promote our multicultural heritage and the academy
celebrated the Chinese New Year
in February with a Chinese Dance
Workshop. The pupils thoroughly
enjoyed dressing up as the Chinese
dance dragon, and learning the subtle art
of Chinese dancing. The pupils also took
part in a creative arts competition to
design a plate. The design had to reflect
2016 as the Chinese Year of the Monkey.
The entries were fantastic and we have
Our celebrations for Easter are well under way with
parents and carers already working at home with their
children to the create artistic masterpieces in the form
of Easter Gardens and Easter Bonnets. The term will
end with the Grand Easter Parade. We also have the
Easter Assemblies to look forward to with parents and
carers invited to join us. The Easter Disco will give the
children time to relax with their friends before the
holiday.
May I wish you all a very Happy Easter holiday and
thank you for all your help and support this term. It is
very much appreciated.
Denise Richardson
Associate Principal
Safeguarding
We are always trying to improve safety
for our pupils. The South Yorkshire Fire
Service came to see us in January and they
gave a talk to all the pupils on what to do
in the event of a fire. They focussed on
safety in the home and what to do in the
event of a fire. One of our governors, Mr
Roy Dyson was also present to oversee
the proceedings. A really useful assembly
with lots of helpful and practical advice.
Also linked to safety was the visit from
the Dogs Trust. They brought with them
a little pug called Winnie who touched
the hearts of all of us who saw her. The
aim of the visit was to help children to
understand how to stay safe around their
own pets, and also any other dogs they
may encounter.
Impeccable Behaviour
Awards
some talented designers. Pupils from
Lowedges Academy came to Thurcroft
to judge our entries and the winners
received certificates and prizes for 1st
and 2nd place.
The school continues to focus on rewards
for impeccable behaviour and it was a
pleasure to present the Y3 pupils with
their first Impeccable Behaviour Stars
this term. 77% of our pupils collected
their Orange Star and 77% of pupils
collected their Pink Star this term. It is
really special to see so many parents,
carers and grandparents attending
the presentations. The feedback from
families is always positive, and they feel
very proud of their children.
ACET Matball Competition
In February our Y3 pupils had a fantastic
morning at Aston Academy in the ACET
Matball Competition. They played all the
other ACET junior academies. Thurcroft
won all their matches and they agreed
that it was great to be part of ACET and
get the chance to meet pupils from our
other academies. Well done to Y3.
Thurcroft Junior Academy NEWS
“With your commitment we will exceed expectation”
World Book Day costume winners in our new library
World Book Day
World Book Day was on Thursday
March 3rd. It was a truly fantastic
day. We had been waiting a long
time for that day for a very special
reason. It was also the day our new
School Library was officially opened
by a member of our Local Governing
Body, Mrs Helen Rogers.
The library is a wonderful resource,
and one which will help us give all
our pupils the opportunity to read
good quality books, use our new
online technology, and enjoy the love
of reading in a bright, child friendly
environment.
The pupils came to school dressed as
the characters from the books they
love to read. The character costumes
were ingenious. We welcomed Dennis
the Menace, Gangster Granny, the
Mad Hatter, and many more. The
Associate Principal, decided which
judges had a seriously hard time
window display was the best. Y6 won
choosing the best characters from
with their interpretation of ‘Jurassic
each year group.
Park’, with Y5 in second place with
The academy held a Window Book their book display of ‘Inside the
Display competition. All classes Worm’. Third place went to Y4 for
joined in the fun by creating window their colourful display of ‘Charlie and
displays of the books the children the Chocolate Factory’. All classes
had read together. The character in the academy had worked hard
winners from each year, helped by on their very artistic displays. It was
the governor Mrs Rogers and the
hard to choose a winner!
Springwood Junior Academy NEWS
“Sempur Sersum - Always Aim High!”
Dear Parents / Carers,
Spring term has been a whirlwind
of new initiatives, new resources
and new challenges. We have had a
fantastic refurbishment of our library,
which follows a woodland theme in
keeping with our Springwood name.
We have bought new furniture,
shelving, seating, and display areas,
and are currently restocking with
new books to complement our
existing stock. Once we have updated
our electronic lending system the
library will be open for all to enjoy.
We are also in the middle of
World Book Day
Thursday 3rd of March marked World
Book Day and we had a very special
visitor in school; none other than Mr
Willy Wonka! He has been having some
refurbishing our Y1 classroom, with
orders made for brand new furniture,
a wonderfully interactive role play
area and a dedicated art/wet area.
We are aiming for this to be finished
in April.
initiative and various attendance
rewards respectively. A big thank
you to all our school community
for supporting us in our continuing
aspirations as part of ACET.
in all kinds of weird and wonderful
directions, before being brought to a
resounding conclusion by Y6. We shared
it in assembly and everyone agreed it was
a great piece of fiction! The story will
shortly be available to read on our school
website – we hope you enjoy it!
Reading Challenge
David Simpson
In addition we have introduced a
Associate Principal
new Behaviour for Learning strategy
aimed at promoting and rewarding
positive attitudes towards learning
in school (see below) and are seeing
tremendous
improvements
in
both home-school reading and in
attendance/punctuality as a result
of our ‘Reading Around the World’
Behaviour for Learning
Well done to the 112 pupils who met
the challenge of our new Behaviour for
Learning strategy last half term! They
flooding in his factory, owing to some
bad weather and all the recipes he had
written down on paper had been waterdamaged and become unreadable!
Fortunately, by working with each of our
classes during the day, we were able to
come up with some fantastic recipes and
chocolate bar names for Mr Wonka to
take back and get his Oompa-Loompas
working on! It was a very creative
experience for the pupils and Mr Wonka
was extremely engaging and got full
attention from everybody. We also wrote
a wonderful school story called “Baby
Blue’s Rainbow Adventure”, which was
started by FS2, and then passed onto
each class in turn to continue and take
showed that they are at least ‘Motivated’
and/or ‘Impeccable’ learners in at least
four out of six key areas of learning
in school, which includes readiness
to learn, self-discipline and task
completion. In doing so they received an
‘Excel’ certificate and Star badge to show
they have met the required standard,
in a special awards ceremony held for
parents and family. They have also been
granted some extra privileges including
a non-uniform day and an invitation to
the Associate Principal’s Half Termly Tea
Party!
Visitors to our school may have seen a
varying number of brightly coloured
round
badges
being worn by
our pupils in
recent months.
These
show
off our pupils’
commitment to
our latest homeschool reading
challenge, ‘Read
Around The World’. Once pupils have
read at home fifteen times they get a
blue badge to signify they have ‘read
across Europe’, and it is their ‘passport’
to move into Asia where they focus on
reading a further fifteen times. Once
done, they receive a red badge ‘passport’
which shows they’ve read across Asia
and can move onto Australasia. This
continues across seven continents in
total, and once they have read around
the world they receive a fantastic new
reading book from a variety of wellknown children’s authors including
Roald Dahl, Mallory Blackman and
David Walliams. In the four months the
challenge has been running we have our
first pupils coming through who have
read around the world – well done to
you all!
Springwood Junior Academy NEWS
“Sempur Sersum - Always Aim High!”
to judge their displays. Pupils created
paper plate designs at home, and also
learnt some traditional Chinese dancing.
The whole experience has given pupils
a better understanding of how other
cultures celebrate their beliefs.
Enterprise Fayre
Every term we hold an Enterprise Fayre
which is linked specifically to Design
and Technology learning in school. The
pupils create items as part of their wider
topic to display, sell or demonstrate in the
school hall on a special Enterprise Fayre
afternoon. The creation of their items
Y2 Whirlow Residential
Every year 24 of our Y2 pupils, in two
groups of 12, get the chance to go to
Whirlow Hall Farm in Sheffield for three
days and two nights away from home.
In early February our first group went
and had a fantastic time. They learned
all about how a farm works and how
animals on the farm are cared for. They
collected eggs, groomed and fed the
small animals, cleared up after the horses
in the fields and spent an afternoon horse
riding! In addition, they learned about
how the crops are grown and cultivated,
as well as making their own sandwiches
and cooking their own food, with their
teachers’ help. It is a wonderful learning
experience for our pupils, one which we
love taking them on, and year-on-year
pupils tell us how much fun they had
and how grown up they felt being away
from home for a short time!
Chinese New Year
Celebrations
February focussed on celebrations of
the Chinese New Year, which this year
is the year of the Monkey. Pupils studied
how the Chinese people traditionally
celebrate this festival including how a
few days before the Chinese New Year,
people will do a complete clean of the
house which signifies removing the old
and welcoming the new. Houses can be
decorated and there is often a New Year’s
Eve family reunion dinner, and children
are given gifts of money in red envelopes
as it was believed that the money in the red
packet will keep evil from the children,
keep them healthy, and give them a long
life. Each class created Chinese New Year
displays which were judged by pupil
representatives from Lowedges Junior
Academy with us sending a team over
requires careful planning and design,
accurate construction skills, teamwork,
resilience, compromise and adaptability.
In addition, pupils have to use literacy
and numeracy skills when considering
advertising, promoting and pricing
their products, with much conversation
involving the phrase ‘Profit Margins’!
This term FS2 are creating ‘Fossil Printed
Biscuits’, Y1s are selling ‘Grow A Bean’
kits, Y2s have manufactured Fire Globes,
Y3 have constructed wooden Plant Pots,
Y4 have modelled fridge magnets from
clay, with Y5 designing Greek Brooches.
Y6 are providing further refreshment
with their Cookie Bonanza! We are
looking forward to a busy, successful
Fayre!
Lowedges Junior Academy NEWS
“With your commitment we will aim high to achieve and exceed expectations”
Dear Parents / Carers,
At long last, the children are walking
to and from the academy in daylight
marking the end of what seems to
have been a very wet and dreary
winter!
As the short spring term comes to
a close, please be aware that the
summer term is very lengthy this
year – please ensure your children
make the most of the two week
holiday at Easter and come back to
the academy feeling refreshed and
Fundraising Activities Helping Others
In January, Linda Gooch from the
NSPCC was welcomed into the academy
to deliver an assembly to the pupils in
order to raise awareness of the role of the
NSPCC. Pupils were set the challenge of
taking part in a sponsored ‘Big Workout’
during PE lessons. The hype amongst the
pupils for the event has been enormous –
they really have taken their involvement
in the project very seriously and I was
amazed to hear how much money the
pupils have raised in total – a staggering
£700 to date, with further contributions
coming in daily. Once again, thank you
to all the parents/carers who have made
this happen, you really have helped to
make a difference to the lives of other
children.
Curriculum Enrichment
In order to provide the pupils with a rich
learning experience and in response to
parental suggestions, a greater number
of class visits have been organised
ready for another rigorous term of with your children; I look forward
learning.
to working in partnership with
you when the pupils return to the
Pupils in Y1 will be taking the
academy on Monday 4th April.
phonics screening check in June and
pupils in Y2 and Y6 will be taking
Rebecca Scutt
their SAT tests in May. More details
Associate Principal
will be shared with you after the
Easter break and results from the
tests will be shared with parents at
the end of the summer term.
On behalf of all the staff at Lowedges
Academy, I hope you all have a
relaxing and enjoyable Easter break
this year. During the spring term, the
following visits have taken place;
Y6 visit to Crucial Crew at Hellaby in
Rotherham. During the day visit, the
pupils were involved in real-life scenarios
to help them identify possible safety risks.
For example, pupils had to experience
calling for emergency services at the
beach; spot potential safety hazards on
a role-play building site; take on court
room roles during a role-play court trial.
A good time was had by all and it was
delightful to be informed that the pupils’
behaviour had been impeccable. Well
done Y6!
Y3 visit to Weston Park– the visit
provided pupils with an opportunity to
look around the Egyptian Museum and
real-life artefacts alongside taking part in
an Egyptian workshop. Many gruesome
tales were shared with me about the
pulling out of brains and intricacies of
canopic jars. Armed with goody bags
and smiling faces, the children were
full of excitement upon their return to
the academy – another winning visit!
Once again, it was truly wonderful to
receive an email from the museum staff
to inform us of the pupils’ exemplary
behaviour.
Keep up the excellent attitudes Y3!
New Library
We have been very fortunate at
Lowedges Junior Academy this term as
through ACET sponsorship, we have
had the privilege of seeing a state of
the art library being installed within
the premises. While still in its infancy,
the academy library boasts aesthetically
pleasing book displays along with
comfortable seating arrangements and
cosy spaces for pupils to curl up with a
book. Also available are flat screen PCs
and Kindle e-readers. New stocks of
books are also on order so that when the
library is officially opened in the summer
term, pupils will be able to use the area at
lunchtimes and have the opportunity to
loan books out of the library to read at
home. We are hoping for an extra special
guest to attend the official opening…
more details to follow soon…
Lowedges Junior Academy NEWS
“With your commitment we will aim high to achieve and exceed expectations”
Pupils also enjoyed taking part in
the class competition of designing a
window wall display for a particular
book. All class entries are stunning and
are on display in the foyer corridor. I
am now left with the very difficult task
of judging which class is winner and
which is runner up…
Step into Sport at New York Stadium Rotherham
Step into Sport
A selection of Y5 pupils at Lowedges
were invited to the New York
Stadium in Rotherham to attend ‘Top
Sportability and Adventure Challenge’
workshops, in what turned out to
be a truly inspirational day. After a
fantastic opening led by young leaders
and Olympian Ben Pipes, the children
were grouped with pupils from other
schools and led around three different
workshops by young leaders.
The purpose of the event was to
combine primary and secondary
age children where each team would
include children with and without
SEND. The challenges consisted of
boccia, curling and various team
challenges, which involved high levels
of communication. The challenges
encouraged teams to work together,
to include all team members and to
complete a range of problem solving
tasks, demonstrating high levels of
teamwork and leadership. Each team
was provided with a challenge that
they must discuss, plan and complete
demonstrating teamwork skills. They
were then encouraged to evaluate their
team performance: explaining their
strengths, areas to improve and what
they would do next time to be more
successful.
This turned out to be a fantastic
opportunity for the children to develop
their social skills, teamwork, leadership
and confidence within sport, which
could be taken back to school where
children will have the confidence to
lead and deliver challenges during
lessons and break times. During the
afternoon the teams were provided
with a leadership challenge, where the
children would then lead the activity
to a group of children with SEND or a
group of veterans.
The event proved to be a thoroughly
successful and enjoyable day for all
involved where children at Lowedges
showed their capabilities to work as
a team as well as showcase leadership
qualities. The closing ceremony
perfectly summarised the key message
of the day highlighting that you
can achieve anything with positive
attitudes.
World Book Day 2016
During the spring term, we have
continued to actively promote and
raise the profile of reading in the
academy. Being a competent reader is
vital if children are to achieve their full
potential in life. Needless to say, the
opportunity to celebrate reading and
authors on World Book Day was fully
taken advantage of. My sincere thanks
go to everyone who contributed to the
vast array of costumes and character
doubles throughout the academy –
pupils and staff included!
Thanks also go to the pupils (and
parents!) who engaged in the home
project of designing a scene from a
book or a book cover inside a shoe box.
Entries were vast and varied and once
again were testament to your ongoing
support for your children’s learning –
thank you to you all.
World Book Day prizes are being
awarded during the final week of term
before the Easter break.
Helping your child to become
a more confident reader…
We aim to ensure that all children in
the academy achieve their potential
and ask that parents/carers support us
by listening to your child read at home.
Reading at home doesn’t just mean
reading books – we know many children
like to read comics and magazines at
home – this is fantastic and we actively
encourage it!
ACET PE
ACET House Morning
A
tremendous
morning
of
competition was enjoyed at Aston
Leisure Centre as the junior
academies of ACET came together to
play a tournament.
Lowedges, Springwood and Thurcroft
Junior Academies made the journey
over to Aston and played in their
house groups for the morning in
a mat ball competition. There was
fantastic sportsmanship shown by
the children, excellent organisation
and leadership from Astons Post 16
Sports Leaders and some brilliant
ball skills being exhibited.
Barnsley. After making a promising
start to the match, the girls set a total
of 77. Despite bowling very well the
girls lost with 4 balls to spare.
After an outstanding season Mr
Whitehouse and his Y8 Boys
football team has reached the final
of the Rotherham Schools Football
Competition. Achieving 4 victories
on route to the final the team will
play Brinsworth to try and claim
the prize of best Y8 football team in
Rotherham.
Players of the day were Lucy Jacobs
who bowled out four players in
four matches and Lucy Payne for
an excellent all round performance
making a number of excellent catches
and scoring many of our crucial runs.
Aston Badminton Teams Star in
South Yorkshire Finals
Both the Lower School and Upper
School boys and girls teams
progressed to the South Yorkshire
Nearly 100 boys and girls really
demonstrated the School Games
values of Respect, Determination,
Honesty, Self-Belief, Passion and
Teamwork and they were a credit to
their schools. Well done everyone for
such a great effort!
Girls Cricket Team Outstanding
in Yorkshire Finals
The Under 15 Inter Girls Cricket team
finished in 2nd place at the Yorkshire
County Finals of the Under 15 Inter
Girls Cricket Tournament which was
held at the Leeds Headingley cricket
ground, home to Yorkshire County
Cricket. Aston beat Sirius Academy
114-57, Macmillan High School 10358 and Wakefield Girls High School
97-77 in order to progress through
to the semi final before beating
South Hunsley 98-65 all out in the
semi final. The final was another
close fought battle against our South
Yorkshire rivals Horizon School from
Y8 Football Team in Rotherham
Schools Finals
finals after impressive performances
in the Rotherham stage. In the
finals there were some impressive
performances and the teams finished:
Lower School Girls:
4th in South Yorkshire
Lower School Boys:
4th in South Yorkshire
Upper School Girls:
2nd in South Yorkshire
Upper School Boys:
5th in South Yorkshire
Aston Success at Indoor
Athletics
Throughout February both the Y7
and Y8 Athletics teams competed
in the Rotherham Indoor Athletics
Finals. All teams were outstanding
winning numerous events. Overall
the teams finished:
Y7 Girls: 2nd in Rotherham
Y7 Boys: 2nd in Rotherham
Y8 Girls: 4th in Rotherham
Y8 Boys: 1st in Rotherham
Aston Academy NEWS
“With your commitment we will make a difference”
Dear Parents / Carers,
Following a very short but busy half term
we would like to take this opportunity
to thank you for your continued support
in ensuring that students attend well, are
punctual, arrive in the correct uniform
and with the necessary equipment.
Following the Easter holiday we will
continue to apply our high expectations
and, as always, will contact you should
we need your support with any of
these areas. Could we also take this
opportunity, particularly to ask that you
ensure that your child arrives by 8 30am
each morning so they are on time and
ready to learn.
Over the last half term, Post 16 and
Y11 students have been busy finishing
their courses and beginning the revision
process leading up to this summer’s
exams. Staff from the academy have
contacted you about the many additional
revision opportunities available to all
Aston Students Youth
Parliament Victory
The UK Youth Parliament is the national
voice of young people aged 11 to 18.
UKYP consists of elected Members of
Youth Parliament, who represent young
people in their constituency. The Youth
Parliament campaigns on issues that
are directly chosen by young people
through the ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot. For
example, over the past year MYPs have
campaigned about improving mental
health services and for the introduction
of a Living Wage; both of which have
seen substantial changes, especially with
the introduction of the Living Wage.
Each year the Youth Parliament runs
what is known as ‘Make Your Mark’. This
is the UK’s largest youth consultation and
gives young people the chance to have
a direct voice on what they want their
Youth Parliament to campaign on. The
ballot contains ten issues, ranging from
Votes @ 16 to ending discrimination,
and young people select their top issue.
The top three issues nationally are then
our students and again we appreciate
you encouraging your children to attend
these sessions.
books. Our students will be helping
us to choose books by their favourite
authors and nominate their ‘best reads’.
We were particularly delighted over
the last half term that two of our Post
16 students, Jack Hogan and Ashley
Gregory, were elected to represent young
people in the UK Youth Parliament.
I am sure they will approach this
task with a sense of commitment and
professionalism, we wish them well.
The next half term is a long one, with
examinations commencing towards
the end of it, so may we take this
opportunity; staff, governors and
trustees of ACET, to wish you all a very
happy and restful Easter holiday.
More recently, all students at Aston
Academy participated in ‘World Book
Day’ activities. Special assemblies were
held, staff dressed up as their favourite
book characters and a coffee and cake
book swap proved to be very successful.
You may also have read in the local press
that Aston Academy achieved third
place in the national World Book Day
Award with our animation, ‘Where Does
Reading Take You?’ We are delighted
with this recognition as well as the
£3000 we now have to spend on reading
taken to the House of Commons debate
in November, where MYPs debate in
the chamber and vote on which issue to
campaign on; the debate is aired live on
BBC Parliament and is chaired by the
Commons speaker, John Bercow.
Youth Parliament Candidates
Ashley Gregory (left)&Jack Hogan(right)
In February 2016 the Rotherham Youth
Parliament elections took place, with a
record turnout of young people across
the borough voting. A total of six
candidates put themselves forward for
election, with the two Aston Academy
candidates being elected as the Members
of Youth Parliament 2016-18. The results
Yours faithfully,
Rebecca Hibberd
Josie Sanigar
Associate Principals
of the election were as follows:
• Rosalind Overfield - 358 votes
• Thomas Jackson - 834 votes
• Jack Hogan - 903 votes
• Tooba Siddiqui - 593 votes
• Ashley Gregory - 2742 votes
• Emilia Ashton - 387 votes
Therefore Ashley Gregory and Jack
Hogan were elected as Members of
Youth Parliament, and Thomas Jackson
and Tooba Siddiqui were elected as
Deputy Members of Youth Parliament.
We would encourage anyone who has
a particular issue or concern to contact
their members, using the follow details:
• Twitter - @UKYPRotherham
• Facebook - /UKYP.Rotherham
• Email - [email protected]
World Book Day Triumph!
‘Where will reading take you?’ was the question posed
to members of our Academy community on Thursday
3rd March, in celebration and support of World Book
Day.
the ‘Cherub’ series and the author, Robert Muchamore,
were involved in a live streaming event in the library
where they had the opportunity to pose questions to the
author.
Aston Academy students and colleagues had received
the tremendous news that they had been awarded the
bronze prize in the World Book Day Awards.
Some colleagues dressed as their favourite book
characters for the day, with many members of the Maths
Faculty flying the Hogwarts banner for the school
of ‘witchcraft and wizardry’; whilst memorably Mr
Kilgannon could be seen roaming the corridors as Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde; at the same time as Mrs Burgin was
reminding students of the benefits of a ‘spoonful of sugar’
helping the medicine go down. Media representatives
from the Rotherham Advertiser and the Sheffield Star
visited the Academy to take photographs of the event
and were impressed by the scale of the celebrations
across school and the contribution of many colleagues
including the ‘recommended reads’ board in reception
directing students to different literary works that were
memorable to them.
The competition involved students producing a short
film considering where reading can take you. There were
over a thousand entries nationally and it is extremely
rare for a secondary school to be short-listed let alone be
one of the prize winners of this prestigious literary event.
The academy have been awarded £3000.00 to spend
on books for the library, in support of encouraging
students to ‘read for pleasure’. Students are currently
deciding which books should be purchased and a trip to
Waterstones is scheduled for some of the prize winners
to gather the chosen titles.
The winning of the award was announced to students
during special celebratory assemblies on World Book
Day. A programme of events also saw the students
involved in D.E.A.R. periods (Drop Everything and
Read); with some ‘Hunger Games’ readers chosen to
participate in a special archery workshop, whilst fans of
Congratulations were given to the students and colleagues
involved in the World Book Day Award and members of
our academy community are even more enthused about
discovering where our reading will take us in the future.
In response to media questioning regarding our award,
our Executive Principal, Mrs Newton said: “We are
thrilled to win this wonderful prize and we are immensely
proud of our students’ creative efforts. Our film showcased
the children’s diverse tastes and reading choices and gave a
real glimpse of what reading in our school community is all
about. At Aston, we know that reading unlocks learning –
and pupils will be so excited to choose the wonderful new
books their efforts have earned them.”
Aston Academy NEWS
“With your commitment we will make a difference”
Students Visit
Rotherham Cabinet
On Thursday 3rd March, a group
of five Y9 students, William Oxley,
Ellie Barnes, Amelia Harvey, Heather
Spooner and Alex Fish visited the
Mayor of Rotherham, Maggi Clark
and her Consort, husband Peter Clark,
at Rotherham Town Hall. This visit
followed participation in Rotherham
Democracy Week in October when the
same group of students took part in an
inter-school decision making exercise
run by the Borough Council. After being
introduced to the Mayor, the group took
part in a question and answer session in
the main Council Chamber.
issues around the EU Referendum on
June 23rd. Government and Politics is
now an established part of the Post-16
curriculum and on March 7th A Level
Politics students will meet our local
MP, Kevin Barron, for a tour of the
House of Commons and a discussion
in a committee room about the role of
backbench MPs.
Gold, Silver and Bronze in the UK
Maths Challenge!
Congratulations to everyone who took
part in the Intermediate UK Maths
Challenge which took place earlier this
term.
A record breaking 39 Maths students
from Aston Academy achieved a Gold,
Silver or Bronze certificate, awarded to
only the very best competitors in the
country.
An extra special congratulations goes to
the following students who got the best
marks in their Year Groups:
Y11 – Jade Maltby
Y10 – Alicia Greenfield
Y9 – Jade Campbell
House News!
This has been a very busy half term for
the Houses. In the sporting arena the
House Badminton Competition, held on
29th February was won by Verelst with
Darcy runners up. The House Basketball
Competition featured students from
Y9 and 10 and Darcy were the run
away winners. Students love the bakeoff competitions and the standard gets
higher every year as the success of
The Great British Bake Off permeates
through to the House System - Y8
students produced stunning buns for the
Valentine’s Bake Off held on February 3rd
with Verelst narrowly defeating Darcy.
Y7 students are eagerly anticipating the
Easter Bake Off on15th March.
Y7 Performance Day
The discussion centred around the issue
of child safety in Rotherham and the
problems of local authority budget cuts.
There followed a tour of the Town Hall.
Students were fascinated by the weight
of the Mayoral insignia and mace, which
is worth almost £500,000 and the display
and portrait of Sergeant McKay, from
Kimberworth who was posthumously
awarded a VC in the Falklands War. The
Mayor then joined us for tea and cakes
and commented on how insightful and
knowledgeable the students were.
This visit was part of a wider programme
of increasing the political knowledge
and awareness of our students. Britain’s
democratic system is now an integral
part of the Lower School PHSCEE
programme and a lively Politics club
meets every Thursday to debate issues.
Jack Hogan and Ashley Gregory in Y12
are to be congratulated on their election
as Rotherham representatives of the
National Youth Parliament. All years
have had assembly presentations on the
Our Y7’s have been busy practising for
their Performance Day on Friday 11th
of March. What a talented bunch of
singers we have! Some are even singing
solos! Many thanks to Y9 students for
controlling sound and lighting! We
are now looking forward to our choir
performing at the ACET awards evening
in May, summer showcase in June and at
One Voice (Magna) in July.
As always the Houses were very active
in charity fundraising events and the
Darcy Charity Week raised over £100
for Amy’s House, a nearby respite centre
and educational facility for students
with Special Educational Needs. House
assemblies will be held in the first week
after Easter when silver and gold badges
for house point achievement will be
awarded.
Aston Academy Lower School NEWS
“With your commitment we will make a difference”
Dear Parents / Carers,
The spring term has been a very busy
time for our Lower School students.
This term students have participated
in a range of House competitions
including the Valentines’ Day bakeoff. World Book Day on Thursday 3rd
March inspired them to think about
where reading could take them and gave
them a variety of additional reading
and literacy opportunities, whilst also
enabling them to speak to their teachers
about their favourite reads and book
recommendations. A number of Lower
School students have also been involved
in sporting successes this term, with the
Aston Academy under 15 Inter Girls’
Cricket Team finishing in second place
at the Yorkshire County finals held at
Headingley Cricket Ground whilst the
Y8 Boys’ Football Team reached the
quarter-finals of the South Yorkshire
Cup.
Alongside all of the extra-curricular
and enrichment opportunities, Lower
School students have continued to show
excellent standards in their learning and
have made significant progress. Since
the beginning of the academic year,
Lower School students have achieved an
astonishing 7903 achievement points,
with 4050 awarded in the spring term
alone. Over 700 hundred students
have been congratulated on excellent
monitoring levels in February with
192 students achieving 100% school
attendance since September, and a
further 384 students congratulated for
reaching attendance levels above 98%.
It is a very exciting time to be a Lower
School student at Aston Academy and
the majority of students are making
the most of every learning opportunity
and every second in lessons and school,
in order to become the best that they
can be. Thank you for your continued
support of your children and our Lower
School Students. Working together, we
really are making a difference.
Have a fantastic Easter break.
Yours faithfully,
Lindsey Burgin
Vice Principal
(Lower School)
Student Council
Students recognise that high standards
and excellent attendance and punctuality
enables them to make better learning
progress. In recent Student Council
Meetings, students have discussed
what enables them to achieve their
best learning and what other services
and facilities could be provided within
school to improve their learning
experiences. We are currently working
with students to look at additional break
and lunchtime opportunities, whilst also
reviewing our current mobile phone use
policy to ensure that mobile phones do
not disrupt learning environments.
Action Packed Last Term
A number of Lower School students have
already visited contributory primary
schools to talk to Y6 students joining
our academy in September 2016, with a
prospective 324 new students scheduled
to join us at this time. Y8 and 9 students
have also had difficult options decisions
to make, with Y8 students deciding
on GCSE Modern Foreign Language
Programmes of Study whilst Y9 students
have had to think very carefully about
their Humanities, Design Technology,
Arts and Computing choices.
Y7 students will be exploring the
wonders of Burbage Brook in April,
whilst a number of Lower School
students will be visiting the Crowden
Activity Centre with PE and Y9 students
will be spending time speaking “en
Français” during the final week of term
in Paris.
Creative Writing Success!
On Monday 8th February 2016 (during
the half term break!) three of our
talented Y7 writers travelled to Silcoates
School in Wakefield to participate in a
creative writing workshop. The theme
of the workshop was “If I could change
the world…”; with the students involved
in a range of activities to stimulate ideas
concerning world issues and those
that can be perceived as good and bad.
Rowan Danks, Matthew Hall and Elise
McCulloch were inspirational during the
event and wrote a range of imaginative
pieces that were praised by the post-16
students that were judging them and
‘Pobble’ – a creative writing platform
that enables young peoples’ writing to
be displayed and accessed by interested
readers including authors such as
Michael Morpurgo. All of our students
showed their excellent creative writing
skills; with Rowan Danks receiving joint
first prize for her piece considering the
thoughts and feelings of the African
Black Rhinoceros. It was a wonderful
morning that truly showcased the talent
of our young writers.
Aston Academy Upper School NEWS
“With your commitment we will make a difference”
Dear Parents / Carers,
It has been another very busy term for
all upper school students, Easter has
arrived very quickly and we hope that
students are pleased with the amount
of progress they have made so far this
academic year. It is important that
they have an opportunity to refresh
and recharge over Easter and return
with high expectations and a renewed
Looking Forward to Summer!
All the hard work and sacrifices now will
be worth the rewards, the first being the
opportunity to attend the Prom. Already
discussions on corridors centre on Prom
outfits and travel arrangements. To
further celebrate the end of Y11 we are
offering all Y11 students the opportunity
to buy a leavers hoodie. This is something
we have done for previous cohorts and
they have been very well received by
students. The hoodies contain the names
of all the students in the year group and
will serve as a reminder in future years.
Careers Advice for Y10
Our Y10 students have begun exploring
their options after leaving compulsory
education. They have had the opportunity
to take part in a careers event which has
allowed them to meet various employers
and gain an insight into the world of
work and possible careers. This theme
will continue during the summer term
when students will receive more careers
guidance in assemblies and other events.
For any questions about careers our
Career Advisor’s email address is:
[email protected]
Student Voice
We continue to value the role of student
voice and are pleased to have acted
upon the suggestions that Upper School
students have made this term. We are
opening a number of new classroom
lunchtime bases for our Upper School
students. These are supervised indoor
areas where students can meet at
lunchtime with their friends. We hope
that this will provide a more comfortable
and relaxing area for them over lunch.
resilience to conquer any challenges
during term 3.
Our Y11 students will be using the Easter
holidays to continue their preparations
for the summer GCSE exams and I am
sure will attend a revision session at
the Academy during the 2 weeks. They
have all received their exam timetables
and I am sure will be counting down the
days to their first exam in the summer.
It has been very pleasing to see them
More Praise for Upper school
We have also promoted the need to
praise our Upper School students as the
vast majority continue to ‘get it right’
each and every day. We have really
enjoyed making phone calls to parents
praising students for various good work
in subjects. We have also increased
the number of students we have seen
personally to single out for praise, which
students seemed to have really enjoyed.
Of course there are some rewards, the
favourites being a free lunch pass and a
pass that allows you to go to the front of
a queue for a day. We will continue this
positive message into the new term and
look forward to meeting lots more of our
hard working Upper School students.
GCSEPod – The New
Revision Tool!
GCSEPod is a new online revision tool
that Aston Academy has purchased to
help our Y11 students revise for their
GCSE exams. It provides students with
online revision video pods that can be
accessed via the GCSEPod website or the
app for mobile phones and tablets.
Not only can students use this as part
of their revision plan, they may also be
set assignments to complete by their
class teacher for ELT. These will involve
students watching specific revision pod
videos and then answering questions
about what they have learned using the
website or app. Students work will then
be marked and the results/ feedback sent
back to them online.
Students now have access to GCSEPod,
so there is always a wealth of revision
resources at their fingertips and they
so busy during the school day and in
the afternoon revision clubs. I have
also enjoyed discussing with them the
many different careers and post 16
applications they have been making.
Yours faithfully,
James Graham
Vice Principal
(Upper School)
can revise at home and on the go.
It is important however that students
remember to use this as one of the
tools they have available for them to
revise, along with all the other revision
resources that are provided by their class
teachers.
To find out how you can best help
students revise using this new resource
please visit the parent/carer page of the
website at www.astonacademy.org
Y11 GCSE Maths - Final Few
Lessons
GCSE Maths revision workshops take
place for all Y11 students every Thursday
afternoon from 3pm to 4pm. Other
revision workshops may also be available
- please see/contact your class teacher for
details.
At home, students should continue to
access the faculty’s outstanding online
revision video website on their phones,
tablets and computers. With revision
videos for almost every topic that
could appear on the exams, students
are finding it easier than ever to get the
help they need, when they need. Just
visit www.999maths.com, click on ‘exam
videos’ and get revising.
A reminder that legal changes from
2013 now mean that any student who
does not receive a grade C (or higher)
in Mathematics at the end of Y11 will
have to resit the subject for up to 2 more
years until they get the grade. Securing
a grade C (or higher) in Y11 has never
been more important.
Post 16 NEWS
assessments, they have also been
revising for their trial examinations.
It has been great therefore to gather
them together to celebrate their
successes!
Post16 World Book Day
We are delighted to announce that
Post 16 students helped raise £109.40
on World Book Day. Ten of our Y12
students organised a stall in the Staff
Room, and served tea, coffee and
cake to members of staff who came
down and took part in the Great
Book Swap.
Record breaking number of
students taking A Level Maths!
2016 has seen the largest ever
number of Aston Academy students
preparing for AS Level Mathematics.
The group of over 40 students will be
studying 3 units in Y12 and a further
3 units in Y13.
With the build up to the exams
underway, the faculty are putting on
extra revision sessions for all students.
These take place every Tuesday and
Wednesday from 3pm – 4.30pm in
room N1. A number of other sessions
have also been scheduled throughout
the school day. Good luck to all the
hard working students!
Post 16 Praise Assemblies
It has been a challenging term for
students; not only have they been
working hard on their half termly
Throughout the year, the Post 16
Team has invited over 100 students
together to congratulate them on
either their excellent attendance or on
achieving their target grade or higher
in their Formal Assessments. All the
students were congratulated and they
are extremely proud that a number
of our students registered with the
charity following the event.
Summer Exams
We are quickly approaching the
summer exam period and Post
16 students have been given their
examination timetables. As the Easter
holidays approach, all students should
be gathering revision schedules and
practice examination questions to be
working on at home.
Each student has been given a revision
planner which helps them on a daily
basis to allocate periods of study; the
exam period begins on Monday 9th
May 2016.
Dates To Remember:
each received a letter of praise and a
certificate. Copies of the letters were
sent home to parents/carers.
Register And Be A Lifesaver
On Tuesday 8th March 2016, a
representative
from
“Register
and Be a Lifesafer” delivered a
presentation to our Post 16 students.
Following the AS examinations, Y12
students will begin their A2 studies
on Monday 13th June 2016.
During the week commencing 27th
June, we will be inviting a number
of guest speakers into the academy
to deliver presentations including
applying to university, college and
/ or apprenticeships. This week will
also provide an opportunity for
students to begin to explore the range
of possibilities available to them Post
18.
Y12 students have already begun
to investigate work shadowing
opportunities and this will take place
during the week commencing
4th of July 2016.
This is an education programme
run by Anthony Nolan, the blood
cancer charity, in partnership
with NHS Blood and Transplant.
The programme aims to inspire
16–18-year-olds to register as donors
and potentially save lives. Students
were given the facts about blood,
bone marrow and organ donation
in an inspiring presentation and we
Our annual Leavers Ball will be held
on Thursday 30th June 2016 at the
Holiday Inn, Royal Victoria Hotel in
Sheffield and we looking forward to
celebrating the end of the exams with
our Y13 students.