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Longfield Academyfor Arts and Sciences

DiaryIts hard to believe we are at the end of the academic term 5 as the weather does not seem to have realised we are in the summer terms! However it is hotting up at Longfield for large numbers of students throughout KS4 and 5 as they prepare to take their examinations.

We know their talent and enthusiasm so we hope that last minute revision and some deep breaths will calm the nerves as they do their best in written papers. As parents all you can do is be there for them, check they are taking short breaks in amongst revision and feed them healthy snacks! Students need to ensure they have their uniform and equipment really the night before and are up, washed and fed without a rush on the day of the exam. Also keep an eye out for those few who seem endlessly fascinated with social media, they will have plenty of time soon to enjoy themselves.

We were very excited recently to host a visit from Lord Jim Knight. He spent two hours at Longfield, discussing technology and pedagogy and looking around the Academy, which he described as ‘lovely’. Its not often we have the chance to show a Lord around the site, he was described by students and staff as really grounded and he certainly knew what issues schools currently face.

Finally can we say a big thank you to all those parents who manage to get their students here on time day in day out. We really appreciate their punctuality and we are aiming for all students to attend on time as we know this is a attribute employers look for.

Tuesday 4th JuneDowne Parents Information event - 4pm & 7pm

Thursday 6th JuneNew Intake Evening - 6pm

Wednesday 12th JuneSports Day

Wednesday 12th JuneYear 7 Parents Consultation evening, 5pm-8pm

Monday 17th JuneRoll over to new timetable

Wednesday 19th June‘Moving On Growing Up’ new intake parents event, 12:15pm & 6:30pm

Monday 24th JuneDistrict Athletics

Mon 24th June - Thurs 4th JulyArt Exhibition

Thursday 27th JuneYear 12 in 13 Activity Day

Mon 1st - Fri 5th JulyYear 12 Induction

Wednesday 3rd JulyPrimary Music Festival

Wednesday 10th JulyNew Intake Taster Day

Monday 15th JulyYear 7 Gilwell trip begins

Friday 19th JulyLast day of term

Please check website regularly for further details and updates

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On the 25th and 26th March 2013, thirty Year 7 students took part in an initiative run by the the Beatbullying charity, preparing them to help with the transition of Year 6 students into Longfield Academy.

The students spoke in a group about the feelings and experiences they had on joining the school.They learnt about the different forms of bullying which can include physical, mental/ emotional, verbal and cyber.

The Year 7’s engaged in role play being both mentors and mentees, learning how to work within boundaries and when to talk to an appropriate adult about concerns they may have.

They all enjoyed the two days, learning new skills and some of the students comments included:

‘’I think we will be able to help the new Year 7’s ... this will be great” - Sammy Root

“I know more about bullying and can identify the different types” - Kefa Reid

“I have learnt a lot in the last two days, working in pairs to practice the skills required to be a mentor, it was hard work, but fun” - Maddison Brown

“We have signed up to a website called Beatbullying and this way we can help others online with their problems” - Jack Wilkinson

We are delighted to announce that all of the students successfully passed the course and are excited about helping with the transitions work. Watch this space for more news.

Mrs J Bannan - Student Support Officer

Beat Bullying Mentors

St George’s Day - 23rd April 2013Sixty Year 7 students attended the St George’s parade in Dartford on Tuesday 23rd April where they exhibited their work. The students produced sculptures with an external artist from Samesky using willow and tissue paper to create torches and flowers to celebrate the patron saint of England. The students paraded through the High Street with a marching band and Dhol drummers on a very sunny day together with a number of other schools from the local area before gathering at the band stand in the central park where there was a local brass band. Students and staff alike thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Mrs H Rennie - Teacher of Art

Thank you to everyone who attended the fundraising day in October - we managed to raise £860. During the day the students sold cakes, craft items and took part in a sponsored static bike ride. Due to everyone’s generosity we have managed to purchase a shed to hold all our horticulture equipment and our future plans are to purchase raised wooden beds so we can grow our own vegetables. Items grown will be used by the catering students and professional kitchen.

By staff and students within the Spectrum Centre.

Horticulture Fundraising

We would like to bring to your attention that it is a requirement of the Academy insurance that iPads have a strong, protective case to reduce the likelihood of breakages or damage. Please ensure you have one for the start of the new term.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT RE. IPADS

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On the 23rd April Longfield Academy’s Business students from Year 10 and 9X went on a memorable trip to London. It was an amazing trip, whilst still being very educational. We ventured to three different parts of London - Covent Garden, Regent Street and Leicester Square.

During the trip we were allowed to explore the three areas, making notes and answering questions about the sights and businesses that we saw. This allowed us to learn more about the different businesses and the comparison between the areas.

Covent Garden was very quiet compared to Leicester Square, but was a lovely place to visit, we even watched a bit of Opera while we were there! Leicester Square was full of food, films and sun - we had a little bit of time relaxing in the sun on the grass. Regent Street has some of the most recognisable and well known brands which were brilliant to visit, e.g. Hollister, Superdry and Ted Baker.

We also visited some of London’s most famous and unique businesses for example M&M World and Hamleys. (Everyone loves chocolate and toys!)

After a long day of gallivanting around London, we journeyed back to Longfield totally wiped out with sore feet, a bit of sunburn and massive grins. Overall the trip was a massive success, we were even given compliments by members of the public for how brilliant we were!

Overall it was a fantastic day!

By Ella Collett & Rebecca Adam

LONDON WAS AMAZING!!

A great day at Swattenden

On the day that we went to Swattenden none of us knew what to expect because we had never been there before. During the day we got to know the people in our group. These people turned out to be Joe Mann, Jackie Mann, Helen Gold and Arthur Gold. There were lots from Longfield Academy, some had come on the school mini bus and some had come in their cars.We all said hello and then we all just clicked and we got on.

First of all we had the high ropes. We all achieved it but when was Spud’s turn to go up he was shaking just like an earthquake. He did not want to go up there. He got pulled up the ladder by the ropes and nervously stepped on the log that was suspended by just two steel cables. All of our fingers felt like they had frostbite apart from Joe Mann’s because he brought gloves!!

Afterwards we had a team building activity using ropes and columns. It was SO cold and wet and we were getting really muddy!!! It was time to go in and warm up and we had lunch which was cooked especially for us by the Chef. We were very excited at the thought of the next activity. We went to the basket ball courts where we had realised that there were wheel chairs waiting for us. We were doing wheel chair basket ball. We had a great time, it was fantastic!

Sadly, the basket ball came to an end and after an amazing day it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and drag ourselves to the car. It was brilliant to enjoy the day with our family and our Mum and Dad had a great day too.

If Mrs Green organises a family day out like this again, we would recommend that you go along - provided there is room for the Bruce family too!

By Charlie and Spud Bruce - Anderson College

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Student Voice AwardLongfield Student Voice were very honoured to receive the Paul Harris Fellow award from the Rotary Club of Darent Valley.

This prestigious award was presented to Curtis Sutherland and Kynan Dudley-Long by Rotarian Stewart Grainger in recognition of the support Longfield students have given to the Rotary Club in recent years on a number of projects including the monies raised for the Purple Pinkie Campaign which aims to eradicate Polio worldwide.

Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease. Fortunately, although incurable, Polio is easy to prevent. A child can be vaccinated for just 50p, protecting the child against this terrible disease for life.Through one of the world’s biggest immunisation programmes, Polio has been 99 per cent eradicated – so this year is one last push to destroy the disease for good.

It is called Purple Pinkie because when a child is vaccinated, they have a purple stamp put on their little finger. By supporting the Purple Pinkie campaign, you can help make the pain and life-limiting effects of Polio a thing of the past.

Ms L Walker - Vice Principal, Anderson College

Danish students and staff from our link school Soholmskolen recently visited Longfield Academy for 3 days. Whilst here, students attended lessons, made presentations and enjoyed a range of social activities including cooking together in our food technology area, visiting Rochester for a guided tour of the Castle by Mr Chambers, a walking trip of London and an evening disco. The Danes were warmly welcomed into the homes of their pen friends who had a “wonderful experience”, experiencing a taste of life in an English home.

Thank you to all parents and students who hosted Danish students. I trust all involved enjoyed the Danish link experience and we do hope the bonds of friendship will last and that both you and the Danish students will keep in touch - or even visit each other in the future.

The opportunity to become involved in the 2014 link project will be launched next month to the current year 7 students, all of whom met and worked with the Danish teachers during their visit to Longfield.

Mr T Brock - Spectrum Teacher

Danish VisitLord Jim Knight Visit

Lord Knight visited Longfield Academy on (date). He spent time in several lessons and spoke to a number of students about their work and the use of iPads. He also visited the Genius Bar and spoke to a group of iLeaders who shared their favourite apps with him. He recommends Cargo Bot.

Mrs Anne Davis - Principal, Matisse College

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Opening to the public from January 2013 7 days a week

For more details call 01474 700 700

Email: gym@longfieldacademy.org

LongfieldAcademyFitness Suite

or

www.longfieldacademy.org

(Please refer to website for times)

At Longfield Academy we have many areas to hire with magnificent state of the art facilities.

• Wedding Receptions• Training Venue• Conferences• Celebrations• Tea Dances• Craft Fairs• Fetes / Bazaars

• Theatre• Sports Hall• Dance and Drama Studio• Tennis Court• Classrooms with Apple

IT equipment and music facilities

• Catering

For enquiries please contact Katie Petts: email: katie.petts@latrust.org.uk

All types of events catered for:

Longfield Academy Fitness Suite

Hiring out facilities at Longfield Academy

Examination Season

The public exams are now well underway.

Students in Y11 are on their ‘exam timetable’, coming in to the Academy for the revision sessions and exams. Further opportunities to revise have been scheduled for the holiday period.

Similar revision opportunities have been provided for Sixth form students as twilight sessions, enabling their lessons to proceed uninterrupted during the Academy day.

Details of these have been issued to the students but can also be found on the website. All the other details regarding examinations are located in the dedicated Exams section of the website.

Should students be needed to complete/improve vocational work they must attend as requested.

Finally, a couple of reminders for students:1. Personal timetables with seating details should always be brought to the exam room. Replacements can be obtained from College Offices for a 50p administration fee.2. Mobile devices of any description should not be taken into an exam room under any circumstances. The penalty is disqualification, even if the device is switched off.

Should you need to talk to someone about any exam related matters please contact the Academy and ask for the Assessment Office.

Mr M Hatton - Vice Principal, Galileo College

Expressive Arts Clubs

These will be held on at the following dates, times and locations below. Please speak to your art teacher

Tuesday Drama club 4pm - 5pm - Drama studioGCSE textiles and fine art club 4pm - 5pm - B002/B003Music theory 4:15pm - 5:15pm - B009 Photography club - 4pm - 5pm - B001

Thursday Arts Award 4pm - 5pm - B002Art catch up KS5 - 4pm - 6pm - B004Choir - 4:15pm - 5:15pm - B009Dance club - 4pm - 5pm - Dance Studio

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NThe vast majority of students come to school on the bus system using their freedom passes and this is the form of transport that we wholly support for our students. For a small number, transport to school is much more difficult and so arriving by car is the only option. We are very aware of the congestion that is on site first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. Kent County Council are also aware of this and recently undertook a traffic survey. We were provided with the outcome of the survey and a number of points were highlighted for us.

There are clearly marked entrances and exits, with clear directional road markings. The entrance to the turning/drop off bay is at the gate closest to the front entrance. This is a dropping off area only and should not be used for parking. There are a number of disabled badge holder spaces. These are allocated for the students who are in possession of a blue badge or being collected from the Spectrum Centre. Please do not park in these bays as some of our students are finding it increasingly difficult to locate their transport.

The gate at the far (New Barn) end of the car park is an entrance only. There have been a number of occasions where cars have exited from there and caused traffic concerns. We have been notified by Kent County Council that should an accident occur there, that the driver’s insurance is likely to be invalid.

If students or visitors to the Academy are arriving or departing on foot, they should use the pedestrian gate directly outside the Academy main entrance. Walking through the large vehicle gates presents a very clear danger both to the pedestrian and drivers who alter their direction to avoid them.

Thank you for your help in keeping students safe at Longfield Academy.

Mrs A O’Donnell - Principal - Anderson College

Traffic on Academy Site

Courses and meetings for parents

We are often informed of courses and meetings that are aimed at supporting parents and families in the local area. To help distribute this information, details will now be displayed on our website. Please keep an eye on the “upcoming events” section on our website and follow the links for more information.

Ms G Peters - Student Support Coordinator