Longfield Academy Newsletter

Diary Monday 5th June

Danish students visit Longfield

Wednesday 14th June

New intake evening

Wednesday 21st June

Sports day

Tuesday 27th June

Year 12 Debt Free Degree Event

Friday 30th June

Post 16 prom

Wednesday 5th July

Art Exhibition 6pm-8pm

Thursday 6th July

Year 6 taster day

Thursday 13th July

Careers Convention for Year 10

Monday 17th July—Friday 21st

Year 10 Work Experience

Monday 17th July—Friday 21st

Downe trip

Friday 21st July

End of module 6

Dear parents/carers, We live in challenging times and the recent events in Manchester are an example of this. Such indiscriminate violence that targeted so many young people, presents particular challenges for schools communities. What we need to remember and focus on, are the acts of heroism and kindness that were as a result of what happened and help us remember what makes us human. I see these acts of kindness every day with our students, caring for friends, opening doors, helping to carry equipment for staff or a smile with a simple "Good Morning" - these do not go unnoticed and I am always proud of our students, their understanding of different communities and tolerance of the views of others. As an academy and as a community we will always build on values that support this. The exam season has truly started with our Year 11 and Post 16 students sitting crucial life changing exams. Their focus and determination to do well is admirable and I am looking forward to sharing their joy on results days in the summer. As always there are some nerves and anticipation around this time, and our fantastic staff, having done the academic hard work with the students, continue to show their empathy and care to support all our students in this stressful time. I am sure as parents you will want to thank them for all they have done and continue to do. I hope you enjoy the newsletter and reading about the exciting events of the term. Alex O’Donnell Principal

The parents / carers of any children who are absent must notify the Academy before 9am by calling 01474 700700 and choosing: Option 1: Student absence.

Press 1 for Anderson students

Press 2 for Matisse students

Press 3 for Galileo students

Press 4 for Post 16 students

Please leave a message stating your child’s full name, year group, reason for absence, nature of illness and expected return date.

You can email: attendance@longfieldacademy.org

Reporting your child’s absence

Attendance results

Att

end

ance

The college trophy winner of April

goes to GALILEO!

Winning Tutor Groups of the Month

M01/DMA 96.92 Matisse

S01/JHT 97.92 Spectrum

A11/FFE 96.68 Anderson

G03/SKE 100 Galileo

April

Anderson 94.37

Galileo 94.79

Matisse 94.67

Pu

nctu

ality Evidence shows that students who attend school regularly achieve well. Not surprisingly, those who frequently miss school or who miss school for an extended period fall behind in their work and do less well in examinations. Good school attendance shows potential employers that a young person is reliable, more likely to achieve well and more likely to take part in healthy, enjoyable activities in the community. Research has found that students who miss just 17 sessions (either am or pm) in a year will drop a grade in their exams, which in turn could affect their future life chances. We would like to remind all parents that The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 which came into force on 1st September 2012 gives the Academy power to issue penalty notices to those parents who take their child out of school for an unauthorised family holiday. By doing so, parents commit an offence either under section 444A of the Education Act 1996 or section 103 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and can be served with a penalty notice by Kent County Council. The amounts stated on the penalty notices are £60 for those who pay within 28 days; and £120 for those who pay within 42 days.

Punctuality at School

Running late...alarm didn’t go off….my sister made me late...stuck behind traffic….

These are just some of the reasons students provide for their lateness. Every now and then

this is likely to happen to us all but all to often the same students are late on a regular basis.

Please help your child to be on time by setting the alarm earlier and ensure they leave in

plenty of time. Students should be in school for lesson 1 that starts at 8:40am.

Any student arriving after 9am or are regularly late after 8:40 will be given a break time

detention on the day of lateness.

Trips

We are organising a language and culture trip to Barcelona, Spain at the beginning of March 2018.

The trip is being offered to our Year 9 and 10 students who have chosen Spanish (from September

2017). If you would like more information on the trip, please speak to Miss Charles in Galileo

college to pick up a letter.

In September 2017, we will also launch a new trip to Normandy for KS3 and KS4 French students.

Please ask Miss Charles or Mr Gevaert for more information.

MFL trip to Barcelona March

Bright ideas for a lower-carbon energy future.

Students spent the day at the Olympic Park looking at how we can make a low-carbon future.

Students were able to see where the world’s energy comes from and some bright ideas that could take us to a lower-carbon future, as well as seeing new interventions that could change the way we live for the better. Here is what our students had to say about the trip:

‘I enjoyed it because me and my friends learnt a lot of cool stuff such as, that we can make energy by doing every things like walking and playing games with friends.

‘I also enjoyed watching energy efficient cars speed across the race track.’

‘I liked seeing the cars as they weird and energy saving meaning no pollution in the air.’

Make the Future Live

USA

Skiing Trip

Killington Trip

During the Easter half term we took a group of 47 students from Longfield

Academy to USA to take on the beast of the east skiing in Killington.

We had with us a very much beginners group with 39 that had never skied before,

apart from their dry slope lessons here in Kent. Within 2 days all of the students

had left the beginners slopes and were making their way around the many runs

and trails that Killington had to offer.

After 5 days we left Killington for New York, whilst there we took in the views from

the top of the Empire State building, jumped on the city line cruise boat to the

Statue of Liberty and strolled through central park.

All of the students were a credit to their parents and Longfield Academy through-

out the trip.

Poetry

On Tuesday 16th May 2017, 13 of our hardest working Year 7 students were given the opportunity to go to Wilmington Grammar School for Girls to see a performance from the poet Neal Zetter.

We were lucky to share this experience with Wilmington Grammar School for Girls, Wilmington Grammar School for Boys, Wilmington Academy, Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Dartford Grammar School for Boys, Holmesdale School and Strood Academy.

The students were chosen by their English teachers as a reward for their good behaviour, excellent attitude and performance in their English lessons and work.

Some of the students chose to purchase Neal’s latest book ‘It’s Not Fine to Sit on a Porcupine’ and have had it signed.

Neal performed several of his poems with lots of audience participation. He showed that you can write poetry about absolutely anything from ‘Ketchup’ to ‘Dads’ and that poetry can be full of fun and not dull and boring as it is sometimes perceived.

Miss Williams (Head of Literacy) and Mrs Desforges (LRC Manager) were very impressed with the students who were great Ambassadors for Longfield Academy.

Neal Zetter - Poetry Day

Go

ogle Field

Trip

A few weeks ago, Years 7 and 8 along with some Year 9 and 10 students received the opportunity to experience a Google virtual reality expedition. Each year group looked at content related to their current humanities and geography course as well as other exciting places.

Year 7 and 8 got to experience Brazil, The Galapagos Islands, Volcanoes, outer space and Underwater ecosystems. The students in Year 10 used the VR equipment to look at pictures of Rio. That has allowed them to get a more in depth and detailed look at the different zones of Rio and how their differ; crafting a better understanding of the issues that they were studying.

The students in Year 9 looked at different aspects of physical geography such as: volcanoes, rivers and space. This allowed them to learn different structures and facts in an enjoyable and creative way.

The experience was a success and students enjoyed themselves throughout!

Google Virtual Reality

Parent V

oice

Parent Voice Feedback—KS3 Information

Working with the parents and carers of our students enables us to seek solutions to

further improve what we do at Longfield Academy.

As a result of parent voice feedback at the Year 8 consultation event in Module 4, we are

please to provide parents/carers with Key Stage 3 (Years 7 & 8) Programmes of Study for

each subject. We have also added some resources that you may find helpful of supporting

your son/daughter at home with their studies.

The information can be found on the website: http://longfieldacademy.org/about-us/

parents-voice/

If you have any further queries regarding the subject content please contact the subject

leader.

We have an increasing amount of lost property held in the cloakroom,

students are forgetting to collect their belongings. Please can you make sure

your child has their name in their clothing so we can return it to them.

If your child has lost any items over the last few terms, can you please get

them to go and see Mrs Connolly in the cloakroom.

School bikes

If you ride a cycle to school please can you make sure that you have a cycle chain to

secure it to the bike sheds provided.

Matisse Fundraising Day

Ch

arity Day

Our charity day this year was in aid of Kent Search and Rescue, the team who helped to find Jack Morrisson, a student of ours who unfortunately passed away last December. KSAR respond regularly to call-outs throughout the year, and are run solely by volunteers.

Students were incredibly enthusiastic on the day of the fundraising. Not only did we have a non-uniform day, but KS3 tutor groups also ran stalls: a very wide range! From ‘Chill-out rooms,’ to Sweet Stalls, from Tombola to Beat the Keeper, an enormous amount of money was raised at break and lunchtime.

On the Thursday, our Post 16 music students put on a performance in the Matisse Gallery, raising over £32 in donations.

The total amount raised for Kent Search and Rescue is £800, as well as £93

donation for the whole team to come and eat in the Telescope Bistro in June.

Alu

mn

i

We are looking for any ex–students that came to Longfield Upper, Axton

Chase or Longfield Academy.

We currently have an Alumni of 400 people who attended one of the above

schools and are hoping to increase our members further.

If you, or anybody you know, came to the schools please visit the website

below to register.

To sign-up please visit: latalumni.org.uk

For more information please contact: lesley.mcintosh@latrust.org.uk

Rodin

Clu

b

Engineering

The Rodin club focus this module has been on science and technology, working with Engineer Phil Moffitt and Longfield science staff to develop their knowledge and understanding of engineering.

Phil has provided students with a multitude of stimuli to be creative thinkers, inspiring our members to solve real design problems, to ‘think out of the box’ and be competitive both as individuals and working in teams.

The programme continues next module when these budding engineers will develop their own projects with Mr Speake and Mr Lyons to present to Phil.

Watch out for the process on our Twitter feed, @iLongfield.

Can you read a Million Words?

Our Year 7 students can! So far this year 14 of

them have. In fact, 3 of them have read over 2 million words!

Our Hall of Fame for our millionaire readers is as follows:-

Position

As at

23/05/17 College

1 Daisy Glazebrook 2,405,730 Matisse

2 Billy Lee 2,344,481 Galileo

3 Lianne Hoang 2,121,212 Galileo

4 Hollie Pendrigh 1,777,907 Galileo

5 Kiera Johnson 1,514,929 Galileo

6 Alfie Lynn 1,474,646 Anderson

7 Isaac Harris 1,445,260 Galileo

8 Lewis Crowhurst 1,418,944 Galileo

9 Megan Wilkinson 1,128,544 Matisse

10 Jay Redding 1,126,776 Matisse

11 Mahi Patel 1,056,966 Matisse

12 Ryan Mackway Jones 1,043,825 Matisse

13 Eloise Penney 1,027,808 Anderson

14 Lucia Tourmentin 1,014,245 Matisse

The total numbers of words read for each college is as follows:-

Galileo 24,598,346 words

Matisse 20,853,133 words

Anderson 17,887,036 words

In the academic year 2014/15 we had 3 millionaire readers and in 2015/16 we had 7 millionaire readers, so our current Year 7s are doing amazingly well.

Well Done and Keep Reading.

Read

ers

Men

tors

We have recently recruited and trained a new group of student mentors to add to our ever growing team at Longfield Academy. The new Year 7 mentors have been nominated by staff for this role and we are delighted to have such an enthusiastic group to work with.

We will be putting them to work immediately to help with the Year 6 Transition visits and taster day. We have confidence that they will be positive role models not only for Year 6 but also Longfield Academy.

Congratulations go to:

Anderson

Bo Parsons, Abbie Lawrence, Alfie Lewis & Caylum Burgess

Matisse

Daisy Glazebrook, Megan Wilkinson, Oliver Low & Archie Tee

Galileo

Kiera Johnson, Sian Reeves, Lewis Crowhurst & Billy Lee

Mrs Peters & Mrs Bannan

Student Support

Student Mentors

PP

G Even

t On Tuesday 16 May Longfield Academy hosted the AMG for the Patient Participa-tion Group from Kent House Surgery in Longfield. It was a very successful and well attended event that was enjoyed by all that came.. Quizzes, nibbles and refreshments were on the agenda as well as interest-ing talks on this years topic, Medical Emergencies by the practice doctors. Also at the event was a display of old school photographs from the 1960’s and 1970’s from Longfield Academy Business Manager, Lesley McIntosh. This was to promote the network of ex students from Longfield High, Axton Chase and the new Longfield Academy and to seek new people to join our 400 strong member-ship. If you attended Longfield School, from any era please do join our membership of ex- students. Whether you would like to become involved in the school in any way or would just like to rekindle old friendships please sign up at the address quoted http://latalumni.org.uk/ or go into the last tab on the right hand side of the Longfield Academy Website , select the Alumni and sign up there. Alternatively contact the Academy and speak with Lesley McIntosh who will be please to hear from you. 01474 700700 or lesley.mcintosh@lattrust.org.uk

PPG Event

# Shareaware

The NSPCC have launched a new campaign to make more young people # Shareaware.

Their website is full of ideas to encourage discussion about what people choose to post

or share online and gives helpful hints on how to start these discussions in the home.

Go to their website at https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-

safe/share-aware/

NSP

CC

Club Staff Day Time Year Group

Badminton Mr Powell Monday 3:20pm – 4:30pm All Years

Graphics Club Mr Bryan Tuesday 3:30pm-4:30pm All Years

Indoor Football Mr Powell Tuesday 3:20pm-4:30pm All Years

Football (Girls & Boys) Mrs Walden Tuesday 3:30pm-4:30pm All Years

Science Club/ Revision Class/Rodin Club

Mr Lyons Tuesday 3:20pm 4:30pm All Years

Success Lounge/ Homework Club Mrs Blowers/Mrs McKee

Tuesday 3:20pm - 4:00pm By Invite only

Cooking club (starting 14th June) for 5 weeks

Mrs Blackwell Wednesday 2:00pm – 3:00pm Year 7 & 8 only

Success Lounge/ Homework Club Mrs Blowers/Mrs McKee

Wednesday 2:00pm- 4:00pm By Invite only

Success Lounge/ Homework Club Mrs Blowers/Mrs McKee

Thursday 3:20pm - 4:00pm

By Invite only

Warhammer Club Mr Groth/Mr Plummer Thursday 3:30pm-4:45pm

All Years

Basketball Mr Gevaert Friday 3:30pm – 4:20pm All Years

After School Clubs