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We’re A Top TenAcademy!

Newsletter

Newsletter of Heartlands Academy Issue 17 Spring Term 2015

Heartlands Academy has been recognised by SSAT as one of the best in the country for student progress at GCSE. The academy has received national

recognition for the value it adds to students’ achievements at GCSE.

SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers Network, recently undertook its annual in-depth analysis of offi cial Department for Education data on all state-funded schools in England and identifi ed Heartlands Academy’s success.

The academy has qualifi ed for an SSAT Educational Outcomes Award by being in the top 10% of schools nationally for progress made by pupils between their key stage 2 results at primary school and their GCSE results at age sixteen.

A large majority

of the Year 8 cohort have been involved in the BBC School Report project. As part of the process students have interviewed a host of famous faces: the Leader of the Council,

Ann Lucas OBE; writer and rapper, Benjamin Zephaniah; world-renowned surgeon, Dr Fiona Reynolds and the Duchess of Kent, to name but a few.

The students have gained experience in researching along with compiling direct and probing questions. Some interviews were undertaken electronically, whereas the majority were conducted face to face.To watch our fi nal report, visit:www.heartlands-academy.org.uk/news/bbc-school-reportMore on this story on page 5.

NEW - Heartlands Academy Comic.See back pages.

age sixteen.

“Congratulations - you are a winner in this year’s SSAT Educational

Outcomes Awards.

On behalf of SSAT, I am delighted to let you know that your school has

won an SSAT Educational Outcomes Award for your exceptional progress.

The award is to recognise your achievement of being in the top 10% of

schools nationally for value-added progress.

The school has quali� ed for an SSAT Educational Outcomes Award by

being in the top 10% of schools nationally for progress made by pupils

between their key stage 2 results at primary school and their GCSE results

at age 16.‘Heartlands Academy should be congratulated for their exceptional

achievement. They have proved themselves to be leading the � eld in

improving GCSE outcomes for their students. There is so much good

practice that this school could share, and I hope they will join us at the

celebration evening for the chance to network and share strategies with

award-winning schools.

‘These results are testament to the commitment and hard work of the

students, teachers and leadership team at Heartlands Academy, and

show what can be achieved when skilled teachers have high expectations

and ambition for every young person. I am proud that this school is a

member of the SSAT network.’With best wishes,

Sue Williamson

Chief Executive

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Mrs Jones’ Diary 2015

As we come to the end of another term

at Heartlands there is even more success

for us. In February we learnt that we had

been designated Teaching Schools status.

Teaching Schools are chosen because of

their strong track record in a number of

categories. These include:

• Initial Teaching Training

• Continuing Professional Development

• Leadership Development

• School to School support

• Research and Development

This is another massive achievement for

the Academy, its staff and students.

To add to this the Academy received

another e-mail from Sue Williamson;

Chief Executive of SSAT. (see front page)

As we approach our Spring break I

would again like to thank the staff,

students, parents and the community

for all that they do to support Heartlands

Academy and for making my job such a

pleasurable one.

We return on Monday 13th April when

examination preparation will be a key

focus for our students in years 11, 12

and 13.

May I wish you all a restful Spring

break.Mrs G Jones, Principal

Miss Bailey, Assistant LMStudent at Heartlands 2002 -2007

Miss Henry, LibrarianStudent at Heartlands 2002 -2007

Mr Hoxha, Sports CoachStudent at Heartlands 2003-2006

Miss Henry left Heartlands in 2007 with one thing in mind

- to succeed. Although she never realised just how far she could go. “I didn’t know what I was going to do but University wasn’t in my vocabulary. Look at me now.” Four years of study led Miss Henry to gain a 2:1 in Advertising and Brand Management at Staffordshire University. Miss Henry has stayed in contact with Miss Bailey and some students from her year group, going out for meals now and again. Her most inspirtational teacher was Mrs Hanson. “No matter what, she was always someone I knew I could talk to, gaining valuable advice that I still use to this day. Simply the best.” Miss Henry advises other students, “Always believe in yourself, no matter what background you’re from. You’re able to do anything you put your heart and mind to.”

Take Three Former Studentsand bring them back to work at Heartlands.

Mr Hoxha went on to train in plumbing after he left

Heartlands but quickly realised it wasn’t his passion and changed course to take a BTEC in Sport, for which he received a distinction and subsequently gained a degree at UCB in Sport Therapy. Now back at Heartlands as a Sports Coach, he says, “It is an amazing feeling to work alongside my teachers, I may have stopped being their student but I am always learning from them”. He is really impressed with the new sports facilities and says that, “everything has changed starting from the new building to a new reputation for the school. Heartlands is now recognised as one of the best schools in the Midlands!” His advice to today’s students is, “Believe in yourself because anything is possible.”

Miss Bailey left the academy in 2007 with a plan to go

to university to study drama and eventually become a teacher. When asked how things turned out, Miss Bailey revealed that she has done rather more than that: “Since leaving school, I have travelled the east coast of Australia, been to university and performed in theatres across Birmingham. There have been many surprises along the way. Mainly how challenging getting to where I currently am and how much further I still have to go, before I have accomplished my goals.” She has also learnt about mental health issues after a spell working for MIND. Now back at Heartlands, as a member of staff she fi nds it a little “nerve-wracking”. Best bit about the new building has to be “the Drama studio!” Of course!

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DISCOVERYCENTREMathematics, Science,Health & Social Care, PE.

Four of our Year 10 students recently participated in the

FMSP (Further Mathematics Support Programme) Maths Feast Competition that was held at Birmingham University. Shyann Phillips, Naa Adei Kotey, Ismaeel Aziz and Aadam Chugtai were the budding mathematicians chosen to represent Heartlands Academy. The aim of the competition was to provide an enjoyable and enriching activity for Year 10 students to work together in solving challenging and interesting mathematical problems. Competing against eleven other teams from schools in the Birmingham area they showed much enthusiasm and

mathematical knowledge, enabling them to achieve a very creditable overall fourth place finish. More notably, they earned certificates for winning one section (building a tower made of columbus cubes) and were also awarded certificates for the best teamwork in the competition. Well done to all four students!

Mr Heath, for Maths Dept.

This Girl Can ‘This Girl Can’ is a scheme focused

to inspire women to wiggle, jiggle, move and prove that judgement is a barrier that can be overcome. Fear of judgement is stopping many women from taking part in exercise but as thousands of women up and down the country are proving, it really doesn’t have to.

An opportunity arose for a group of girls from the academy to attend a ‘This Girl Can’ inspired afternoon where they participated in a range of physical activities. The girls took part and competed against other schools in sporting activities such as golf, dance,

athletics, football and netball. As an academy we were very successful in these activities however, witnessing the enjoyment and huge smiles on

the girls’ faces whilst being physically active was the greatest moment of the day. Well done to all the girls who paricipated. Miss Hands, PE Dept.

Maths ChallengeTwo Year 10 Maths classes

took part in the Intermediate UKMT Maths Challenge earlier this term. This is the most widespread maths competition in the UK. We extend our congratulations to all the students who participated, particularly Shyann Phillips, Naa Adei Kotey, Ismaeel Aziz, Aadam Chughtai and Mohamed Warsame, who achieved the highest scores. Shyann, Naa Adei, Ismaeel and Aadam were then selected to take part in the Maths Feast, a group maths competition which took place at Birmingham University on Wednesday 11th March.

Miss Joomun, Maths Dept.

A Maths Feast

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exploration CENTREHistory, Geography, Religious Education, Sociology and Psychology

Year 7 Impressions of Exploration!Two students in Year 7, Halina Dad and Simrah Malik have enjoyed learning in the Exploration Centre this year. It is the first time they have learned about History, Geography and RE in stand-alone lessons. Here is what they have to say:

Many people think Humanities are lacklustre subjects;

actually, when you come to Heartlands, the subjects and lessons are taken to a whole new level. Before we elaborate on this, we must say that the teachers are fantastic!

In R.E, your opinion matters - we have many debates and discuss our views. We have lots of fun whilst doing our work and are guaranteed to leave the lesson with information we never knew! R.E is really interesting

and we are grateful to have all the resources we need to enhance our learning. The magnificent R.E teachers are: Mrs Hussain, Mr Ruwaid, Miss Bailey-Green, Miss Smith, Miss Zia and Miss Rahnie!

History is brought to life as if we are there! We have amazing History teachers - Mr Collins, Mr Robertson and Mrs Steward. They bring excitement into lessons by giving us a variety of tasks involving group work which enhances our team working skills! History is important because it helps us to understand the present. If we were to listen to what History has to say, we can come to a sound understanding of the past that will tell us much about the problems we now face.

Experiments, videos, posters and much more - Geography is packed full of science and the wonders of the world. Mr Ahmed, Miss Freeman and Miss Fleming deliver our answers to any geographical question we could ever think of. We look at the world economy to the developing world and explore natural disasters and solutions; we are taught how to be aware of theses disasters and how we can act on them.

Humanities builds up our independence and helps us to develop our own opinion. We don’t know what we would do without them…

Simrah Malik and Halina Dad (7ROB)

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expressionCENTREEnglish and Modern ForeignLanguages,

The Academy has had its own MFL Blog for a while, but it has really

taken off this term. Each class takes it in turn to write something for the blog, about what they did in their lesson, and add a photo or two. They agree the wording as a class, and then publish it. Students can go to the blog in their free time to add comments on their own or other classes’ activities. In addition, there is a weekly Revision Resource published on the blog for KS4 and KS5, which includes a direct link to the resource, so that students can revise little and often using interactive, interesting resources in French and Spanish. If you haven’t visited the blog for a while, why not take a look now?

MFL Dept.

MFL BlogYear 8 decided to tackle this

question and pose it to a number of celebrities across the world. Being the fi rst time the Academy had entered this nationwide scheme, we were unsure what response we would receive from the numerous letters we sent out.

However, replies were received in the multitude with famous faces offering to help us out in our quest for a newsworthy report. After months of juggling the Year 8 English curriculum with fi ne tuning their interviewing skills, we fi nally found ourselves in the fantastic situation of having interviewed the following: Dr Fiona Reynolds, Benjamin Zephaniah, Daniel Blythe, Nick Owen, Catherine Ogle (the Dean of Birmingham Cathedral), David Jamieson (the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner), and HRH The Duchess of Kent.

Hopefully, after watching our fi nished report, your own interpretation of a typical role model will be challenged. All of our interviewees were quite adamant that a true role model is one who is available to us and encourages us to evolve in the best possible way; one who may not necessarily be found on the front cover of a magazine – but who could be found living next door to us instead. Miss Hamman, English

How important are role models in today’s society?

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World Book MonthIn March the LRC celebrated World Book Day with not just a day but a whole month of reading related events. World Book Day was a great celebration of authors, illustrators, books and, more importantly of reading. Our main focus for WBD was to encourage our students to explore the pleasure of books. The event was themed around the stories of Dr Who and our special guest was Dr Who author Daniel Blythe who certainly tried to bring sci-fi to life for students. If this didn’t work the life size Tardis in the library certainly did. Other events included: inviting parent volunteers to come and read aloud to a group of Year 7 students; displaying a huge eight foot reading tree on the English fl oor where students could name their favourite book on the leaves; a day long reading relay and whole Academy story board write up.

World Book Month is all about getting students interested in books and helping them discover more books and authors. We hope we did it this month, and if not there is always next month to try again.

2nd-6th February 2015.Miss Henry created a themed storytelling area in the LRC comprising a rocking chair, fi re place, rug, bookshelf and radio. During the week, English teachers brought their year 7 students to the LRC who then sat on the rug and heard different members of staff and sixth form students read to them from the rocking chair. The English students loved it and it was nice to see teachers from different departments in new surroundings. A huge thank you to Mrs Blackwell, Mr Forrester, Mrs Smith, Mr Lea, Amber Shamaoon, Ms Christie, and Mr Henshaw who took the time out of their schedules to read to the students.

Miss Henry

On Wednesday 11th February, Miss McArthur held a Harry Potter themed reward event in the LRC. The event was held for top readers and avid Potter fans. The LRC was temporarily turned into Hogwarts with students being divided into houses by the infamous Sorting Hat! Once placed in their houses, students were given colour coordinated ties and met their house captains. During the event, students were served lunch that saw a Potter twist on cakes and snacks. They were given a chance to gather their Potter knowledge before the fi rst quiz commenced. After the fi rst quiz, Huffl epuff were declared

the winners and presented with popping candy cupcakes. Shortly after, the second quiz was under way with Huffl epuff being announced winners once again. After a brief vote, they graciously offered their celebratory cupcakes to Gryffi ndor. There was only a short amount of time

left before students had to make their way back to class but before they left, the two houses

who didn’t receive cupcakes were each given a legendary Golden Snitch.

NationalStorytelling Week

Harry Potter Party

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On Thursday 29th January, Miss Henry ran a Storytelling Competition in which she encouraged students to perform an extract from ‘The Graveyard Book’. The reason the word perform is used and not read is because we wanted the students to use different tones of voice and drama to make the extract come alive leaving us as listeners wanting more. The event was a complete success! Twenty-seven students took part, all acting out what the passage meant to them and how it made them feel. We ended with three winners who were:

• Bronze – Fahma Said 7ROB• Silver – Adil Junior 7VAH• Gold – Sonia Shaheen 7LOK

Congratulations to all three students.Miss Henry

26th January-13th February.Miss Henry organised a few year 7 students to take part in a competition in which they ran a campaign around the academy asking students and staff to vote for their favourite book. This not only helped improve their creative skills, but also helped to boost their confi dence and improve their leadership skills. The students worked hard on thier promotional material: posters, badges, leafl ets, key rings, cake sales and raffl es. Thank you for all the support from staff and students who helped them by wearing their hand crafted badges, putting fl yers on notice boards in tutor groups and even by voting. Two winning books were chosen based on the number of votes they received and on who had the best campaign:

• Most Voted Book – Skullduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy• Best Campaign – Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

StorytellingCompetition

Favourite Books

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imagination CENTREArt, Drama, Music

Whilst most students are relaxing at home on a Saturday,

the Music Department’s Wind Band decided to play a concert at the famous Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham. Playing numbers such as In the Hall of the Mountain King composed by Edvard Grieg in 1867 (although many would recognise it today as the Alton Towers theme tune) and also the theme tune from Star Wars by John Williams, they impressed the audience which included Mr Mee, Mrs Ward and Miss Bailey. Students who took part were:Shyann Phillips 10KAS, Tabinda Shamaoon 10SLD, Iza Rafiq 10LEE, Sabrina Chimm 9HWS, Naa Adei Kotey 10POJ, Leo Short 7LOK, Keana Miller 9VAM, Alexandra Gallagher 8JOR, Amino Maow 10SLD, Natalia Gordon 7RHS and Haleema Shireen 9KHA. They should all be very proud of such an accomplishment!

Mr Mee, Music Dept.

The Panto: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

This year the Drama department was delighted to present Snow

White and the Seven Dwarfs as their annual pantomime production. In total, twenty-four students from across the academy took part, spending many months in rehearsal sessions fine-tuning their acting skills and learning the many songs and dance routines. They opened on 3rd February with a matinee performance for a group of ninety primary school children from: Harper Bell, St Joseph’s and Cromwell Primary Schools. All pupils joined in enthusiastically by booing the evil queen and cheering the hero.

Two days later came the evening performance with many parents and

members of staff in attendance. The audience were fantastic joining in with cries of, “it’s behind you” and a good time was had by all. I would like to thank all the students involved with the production for all of their hard work.

Mr Henshaw, Head of Drama.

Theme Tunes at Adrian Boult

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innovationCENTREICT, Business Studies,Design Technology, ASDAN

The Computing and ICT department has been running

sessions for staff at Heartlands Academy to help them become more confident in using Microsoft Office software and attain the Microsoft Office Specialist qualification, recognised in over 160 countries worldwide. This qualification entails becoming an expert user of Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Access, enabling both teachers and support staff to use these skills to track and analyse data effectively and utilise all features within the software to create professional documents. It has been a great success, with a selection of staff across the school feeling motivated to keep building their skills in each package! A big congratulations goes to Nicolene de Zeeuw, (also known as Nikki) for qualifying as a Microsoft specialist in PowerPoint and Excel and Yanshu Song for earning the

Microsoft Training

A selection of our Year 12 and 13 Computing students enjoyed an

informative visit to King’s College London this February. Students were

King’s CollegeLondon

Microsoft expert qualification in Excel. Furthermore, I would like to extend a sincere ‘well done’ for all the hard work all the staff involved have been putting in. If you are interested in joining us for the training sessions and unlimited laughs (with Mr Farooq’s priceless humour and cakes), come along on Thursdays at 4pm or email s.farooq@heartland-academy.org.uk.

Mr Farooq, Head of ICT

given a behind the scenes tour of Strand campus in central London. During the tour, they were able to see how students live first hand, from relaxing in the social spaces to studying hard in the library. This was followed by a hands-on subject fair where students were able to experience modules of Computer Science and a range of other subjects as well as engage in informal conversations with current students across these faculties. The day was wrapped up with a session run by tutors at the university in which students were taught how to make a competitive application to universities like Kings College London. The students thoroughly enjoyed the trip to London and found the day instrumental in building their plans for the future.

Miss Ramzan, ICT Dept.

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NEWS FROM THE SIXTH FORM

Heartlands Academy Sixth Form recently welcomed back the Class of 2013/14

to not only recognise their many individual achievements and congratulate each and every one of them on being an integral part of the most successful Sixth Form year to date, but also to express how immensely proud we are of all their accomplishments. The evening was well received by all and a fantastic opportunity to both reminisce and also look to the future, with past students encouraged to embrace the opportunities that they have created for themselves and lead extraordinary lives.

Mr Dixon, Head of Year 12

Presentation Evening

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AND IN OTHER NEWS...

If students are struggling with their homework, please feel free to attend Year 7 Homework Club which is held straight after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the ICT suite.

Heartlands Academy students have spent a week in oriental

style celebrating the Chinese Year of the Goat. Ahead of the Birmingham festivities that took place during half-term, the academy was decked out in ‘lucky’ red, orange and yellow and the students learnt all about Chinese new year traditions and took part in different activities.

One such activity involved a group of Year 10 students who were also taking part in an Enabling Enterprise project that aims to develop entrepreneurial skills. They stayed late after school to make and decorate tasty goodies such as cupcakes,

cookies and chocolate fruit-boats and then held a table-top sale the following day. The money they raised from it will be used to fund their end of year project in which they hope to raise furhter money for a children’s charity.

A popular local Chinese restaurant, Wing Wah, sponsored Year 7 students by offering the prize for a writing competition for which students needed to research and write about the Chinese New Year. The best five entries were invited for a free lunch at Wing Wah.

As part of the celebrations, everyone had a fortune cookie and on Thursday

12th February, a special Chinese lunch was served in the dining hall for students and staff who enjoyed sampling the delights of chicken chow mein or quorn and vegetable stir fry.

All in all it was a very colourful and enjoyable ‘Chinese’ week at Heartlands Academy. Thanks go to Compass who very kindly sponsored the event. Everyone has been thrilled to take part in this oriental experience.

Mrs Buckingham.

Happy New Year 2015 Chinese Style

Some Chinese New Year facts:Red envelopes (or red

pockets) containing a single

bank note are passed out

from married couples or

the elderly to unmarried

juniors.

It is custom and polite for

children to wish elders

a happy new year and a

year of happiness, health

and good fortune before

accepting the red envelope.

Everything regarding the

New Year has to be new in

order to have good luck

and fortune, that’s why

fortune cookies are made.

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Calendar 2015Summer TermTerm Starts Monday 13 April

Mayday (Academy closed) Monday 4 May

Graduation Day

Thursday 7 May

Half Term Monday 25 May to Friday 29 May

Term Ends (for students) Friday 18 July

Teacher Training Day (closed to students) Monday 20 July

Autumn TermTerm Starts Thursday 3 September

Open Evening

Wednesday 23 September

Half Term Monday 27 Oct to Friday 31 Oct

Term Ends Friday 19 December

12 ©March 2015 Heartlands Academy, No 10 Great Francis Street, Birmingham B7 4QR

E-SAFETY

E Library ServiceHeartlands Academy is offering all students and staff a new E Library service. No fees, automatic returns and no lost books. See the LRC for more information or simply log in to the following website and start borrowing:http://heartlandslrc.lib.overdrive.com/

Opening Times

Mon - Fri: 8am - 4pm

Late Opening for Sixth Form Students

Mon - Thu: until 7pm

E-Safety is a priority at Heartlands Academy and we have measures in place to protect students from unsuitable on-line content while at the academy. If you would like to find out how to keep your child safe at home, please contact a member of our E-Safety team or visit our website for further information.Mrs Buckingham, Miss Johnson, Miss Brown and Mr Ahsan.

Follow us onTWITTER@Heartlands_Acad

LITERACY CLUBLiteracy Club has got off to a great start this term!Cross-curricular conundrums in hangman, mind-boggling word snakes in Boggle and a plethora of other word puzzles and literacy games bring out the competitive sides of attendees; yes, students are never short of fun and games.

Every Tuesday 3:10 until 3:40pm in the English SLZAttendees are enjoying themselves in a variety of games and activities all in the name of improving literacy.

Will we see you there next week?Mr Williams

YOUNG REPORTERThe Young Reporter page on our website has been extremely successful this year. It is updated on a weekly basis and covers a range of different types of writing and a variety of topics. All the work published belongs to students in the Academy – and demonstrates the outstanding nature of our students’ creativity. Some of the work has been completed in lessons, and some has been sent in by students who have written articles in their own time.

Miss Hammanwww.heartlands-academy.org.uk/news/young-reporter

LRC UPCOMING EVENTSSummer Term

Miss Henry and Miss McArthur will be organising theLRC’s first ever Comedy Club

event which we are very excited about. Students, and staff if interested, will be given a time limit to get the most laughs out of the audience. We will also be holding:

A Poetry SlamAfter the success of last year’s event, this is surely one not to be missed!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE INFORMATION ABOUT:

• primary school transition

• Heartlands Academy events

• parenting support programmes

• community partnership work

Contact: Mrs Rachel Buckingham, Business ManagerHeartlands Academy, No 10 Great Francis Street,Birmingham B7 4QR0121 464 5530r.buckingham@heartlands-academy.org.uk