I N S I D E :

I N F O R M A T I O N 2

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Key Term Dates: 7 Jan: Students return 16 Jan: Year 11 Parents Evening 30 Jan: Year 9 Pathways Evening 8 Feb: Non uniform day 15 Feb: Break up for half term 16 Feb: Ski Trip

Term 2, issue 17, 2012

S T U D E N T /P A R E N T S ’ I N F O R M A T I O N

S T U D E N T S ’ A C H I E V E M E N T S /I N F O R M A T I O N

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The Abbey NewsThe Abbey News The Abbey School A Business and Enterprise Academy

As 2012 draws to a close we have a great deal to celebrate as a school. We now have over 1,000 students and 20 staff at The Abbey. 2012 has seen many highlights: We received confirmation last week from the Department of Education that our Value Added results are amongst the top 8% of schools nationally. This means that as a school we add ‘more value’ to our students from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 than 92% of other schools in England. Students may arrive with lower than average results but they finish year 11 with 8 or more good A*-C passes. We should be very proud of this as a community. Since September many students have taken part in trips and visits abroad which include foreign visits to Germany, Poland and Cyprus. This week alone Year 7’s will have experienced a Christmas Market in Lille, their first Christmas dinner served by staff and prepared by our excellent Chartwells catering staff, lead by Paul Brown. All students in Years 7 to 10 will take part in certificate presentations and Year 11 will experience their ‘mock’ exam results experience event. Our PTFA Wine and Wisdom was a great success raising over £800 which will be used for specific projects to improve the students’ experience in school and a proportion of the sum raised will be used to build a small kitchen for our ever-expanding Sixth Form (now over 160 students). Last week our Performing Arts department organised a Christmas concert which was very well attended by parents; the performances were also used to support their BTEC assessments. Finally, I would like to thank our remarkable staff for always going the extra mile, for our Senior Leadership Team for their dedication and to our very talented and gifted young people. I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for your support. We look forward to another exciting year at The Abbey. Mrs C Woodend Headteacher

A time to celebrate!

Thumbs up for high-tech diners School dinners have been given the thumbs up by pupils at The Abbey School, who have a new high-tech way to pay. Pupils have registered for the new system, just in time for their Christmas dinner. They pressed their thumbs onto an electronic pad on Thursday (13), creating a unique algorithm link to their own school dinner account. Now all they have to do at dinner time is press their thumbs on the pad to order food. Parents can preload school dinner money on the internet, or pupils can still put cash in a machine at school to top up their account. Russell Stewart, regional manager of Chartwells, supplier of dinners at The Abbey School, said: “The thumbprint technology makes everything easy and reduces the time it takes for a transaction from 12 seconds to 3.6 seconds, meaning everyone gets served more quickly.” Mr Stewart added: “The system is also very good as by using a thumbprint instead of cash, no one can tell who is receiving free school meals, which eliminates any stigma associated with it.” Year 9 pupil Matthew Perry, 13, was one of those queuing up to register on Thursday. He said: “It’s a much better system and it means you don’t have to worry about forgetting your dinner money and going around feeling hungry all day.”

Top Tweeter Stephen Fry has backed the efforts of The Abbey School history teacher, Mr Cloke, in raising awareness of men’s cancers for Movember.

Mr Cloke has not only grown an impressive handlebar moustache during this month, but he has been drawing famous figures with moustaches to add a new dimension to his history lessons.

One comic historic character caught the eye of prolific Tweeter, Stephen Fry, who has more than five million followers. Mr Cloke sent him a drawing of the Blackadder Goes Forth character, General Melchett played by Mr Fry, and tweeted: “Have been drawing famous moustaches on school board for Movember. I hope my latest effort doesn't offend!” Mr Fry tweeted back: “Not in the least. Deeply honoured!” Mr Cloke said: “I sent the tweet to Stephen Fry without any hope of getting a reply. I was surprised and delighted to get such a swift and positive reply from him and I knew the students would be very impressed too.”

Seven teachers from The Abbey School, Mr Storey, Mr Cloke, Mr Cassidy, Mr Jago, Mr Scott, Mr Noone and Mr Podesta took part in Movember, raising £250 between them.

One of them, history teacher Mr Storey, has been supporting Movember for the last three years at the school and says it has helped raise awareness of the campaign amongst pupils. “The pupils have been asking why we are growing moustaches and the history department has been using the whiteboard to draw pictures of famous historical figures with moustaches to highlight Movember. “It has helped raise awareness of men’s cancers and because quite a few famous sports people are taking part, like footballer Michael Owen, it has become a talking point.”

Head teacher Catrin Woodend helped with the shave-off. She said: “I’m very proud of the teachers who have taken part in Movember as it is such an important cause. I was happy to help in shaving off the moustaches and to support their efforts in raising the profile of men’s cancers.”

Movember originated in Australia, but has become a worldwide movement to raise funds to combat prostate and testicular cancers – with £79.3m raised in 2011.

Stephen Fry’s Movember Tweet to Abbey School teacher

Sudoku Answers: Row 1: 3,2,4,6,1,5 Row 2: 6,5,1,4,3,2 Row 3: 4,3,2,1,5,6 Row 4: 1,6,5,2,4,3 Row 5: 5,4,6,3,2,1 Row 6: 2,1,3,5,6,4

Children in Need Children in Need was a great success. We had lots of activities going on throughout the day. The School Council raised over £40.00 with their cake sale thanks to Demi Crawley, Russell Mackrill, Lauren Partis & Chloe Bullard. The School Council also raised over £50 with Odessa Smith - Wallace at the forefront of the

team with the Name The Bear competition. Mrs Woodend, Headteacher picked out the winner to be announced this week! School Council rep Megan Wheeler raised lots of money with a sponsored basketball shoot out. We have so far raised a total of £700!

Pant mime Trip ‘Oh yes it is’

On Tuesday 11 December, one hundred Year 7 students went to see ‘Sleeping Beauty’ at the Marlowe Theatre with the English department. It was a fun way to introduce students to stagecraft and the live theatre experience! Students were expected to participate in the pantomime and they helped to make sure that The Abbey School was heard throughout the theatre!

The Abbey All Stars Book Club

Kaileece Read and Joshua Judges got to choose a book of their choice from Amazon after winning the end of term book club competition. Both students made exceptional contributions towards the group, and also put in an exceptional amount of effort towards their work.

There is a seasonal trend happening at the Abbey school. Every year staff donate their Christmas card money to Crisis for Christmas, a much deserved charity that supports people of all ages to a warm place to have a Christmas dinner and all the trimmings. The things that we take for granted at this time of year are not in every ones life and this charity reminds us of this fact. This also gives staff the opportunity to come up with inventive ways of sending seasonal greetings to each other.

We hope to raise enough money this year to give Crisis enough money to feed 10 people. Once we have raised money then it is usual for Mrs Woodend to give a large donation for this cause.

Crisis for Christmas

EAL Christmas Party

Christmas Treats

On Monday 17th December, 46 Year 7 students visited a French Christmas Market in Lille. Leaving at 7a.m., the atmosphere on the coach was one of huge

excitement, as many of our students had never been to France before. We arrived in Lille at midday and the students immediately took the opportunity to explore the Christmas stalls of the market, and indulge in some very chocolatey crêpes! The students were extremely pleased and excited to show off the presents they purchased for various members of their families, and used the opportunity to put into practice the French they have already learnt. On the way home, we stopped in Cité Europe so those who still had Euros left could finish their Christmas shopping. The students had a wonderful day. Everyone was exceptionally well behaved and returned to Faversham exhausted but having had an experience that they will always remember.

As part of the Wider Key Skills qualification, each year students have an Enterprise project. This year students made Christmas products to sell to staff at the Abbey. The Christmas hampers are becoming a staple gift for staff to give to their loved ones and we sold out before we advertised them this year. Students were also given the task of making a non-food gift, so they decided to make scented candles, presented in tea cups and saucers. As usual staff at The Abbey supported the students and some were disappointed as we sold out of all the produce very quickly. The ethos behind the projects is to help students understand that you do not have to spend lots of money to give a beautiful gift to someone.

The Christmas Show was enjoyed by over 200 parents, friends and family members. There was a wide range of talent on show from lower school dance club shaking their stuff to year 13’s! The boy street dance crew once again were a hit! Sixth form completed musical ensemble

pieces that will be assessed for their BTEC Level 3 - many of them had never picked up an instrument before! Year 11’s dazzled with a fabulous band, Scrooge contemporary dance and street dances (Jingle Bell Rock) - these are also being marked for BTEC assessments. Mince pies and mulled wine were on offer with our new cafe style performance style - this seemed to go down well with the audience who joined in all the singing! Ella Mills gave a fabulous rendition of Halleluyah with Sam West on guitar. Kyle Edlin wowed the audience with his first ever solo performance "Driving home for Christmas"! Year 10 also completed their first public performance with their 'Eight days of Christmas' dance - Jordan Coles and Trevor West showed off their street skills! Year 9 students completed their singing unit with a fancy dress version of Last Christmas and the show finale of 'Merry Christmas everyone!'

As another calendar year comes to a close, a good start has been made by our students whose first language is not English. They all celebrate Christmas in a diversity of ways, but all

come together at this time to celebrate ‘our’ special time. Many will not have tasted mince pies or know what crackers are, and find the concept of holly and ivy a completely strange phenomenon. Every year they come together from different year groups to drink hot chocolate, eat festive goodies and find their common language of English. They are all hardworking towards their forthcoming exams. They will have tutors to help in their own language and may have double the work load of other students.

Christmas Market at Lille

Christmas Concert

Students represented The Abbey School at the district schools’ cross country championships on Wednesday 7th November 2012. Our pupils did us so proud with their outstanding finishing of this course, competing against schools within the district and the public schools.

Girls’ cross country: The year 7 girls had their first ever cross country race. Racing in the thick mud and around the woods was a new experience for them and both Emma Salvage and Tyla May did extremely well. Junior Girls: Both Leah Ball and Maddie Curtis did exceptionally well with their performance; Leah came 13 th and Maddie came18th out of 84 students, qualifying them to represent Kent in the Kent Cross Country Championships. Boys ‘cross country: The boys’ results in this years district cross-country exceeded expectations. The Year 7 performances were very encouraging in light of the race being a new experience. Tom Filmer and Toby Ansell performed exceptionally well. In the junior boys’ race Brandon Donaghy narrowly missed first place after a sprint from 200m out from the finish line saw him miss the ultimate prize by a lunge. Byron Kirk in his first ever race for the school ran in an incredible 18th place, both runners qualifying for the Kent Schools cross country championships to be held in January 2013. Another to qualify for the County championships was Karl Chapman in year 10, who ran in the intermediate race. Being a year younger than many of his competitors, Karl raced to an impressive 16th place wrapping up a successful day of racing for The Abbey School.

Sport Achievements

Volunteer Reading Programme The Abbey School has recently launched a new project centred on reading for enjoyment. A local poster campaign appealed to volunteers from the Faversham

community to share their love of reading with the students and are planning to repeat the appeal in the New Year. We have had an excellent response. The volunteers will be trained in the next few weeks with a view to begin reading with our students in January. The volunteers will be guided and supported throughout their time at the Abbey School. This new and exciting project has developed from a deep and passionate love of reading into a realisation that we could dip into the wealth of experience and knowledge that the local community might have to offer. We also wanted to share and build on the strengths and successes that the Abbey School has so far achieved. We plan to embrace the many different ways of accessing the written word, with not only books, but story tapes, Kindles, word games and poetry. We anticipate an exciting and rewarding time for this adventure, and know that sharing a love of reading will only enhance the lives of adults and students alike.

International Ambassadors’ Trip

At the end of November, five students were flown on an all-expenses paid trip to Cyprus as part of our ongoing Comenius project. Agata Minkowska (17), Alicia Lloyd (16), Emily Smith (11), Chloe Wood (11) and Lucy Parker (11) were accompanied by Miss Mayes and Mrs Laffargue to represent The Abbey School at a project conference which included students from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland and Germany. The purpose of the visit was to study religious buildings in Cyprus and to experience Cypriot culture at first hand.

Two of our students had never flown before and were, understandably, anxious about meeting their Cypriot host families. Little did they know what a wonderful time they would have or that everyone would be in tears when they had to leave just five days later.

We learnt that, due to its strategic position between Europe, Africa and Asia, Cyprus has been occupied by various nations for almost its entire history. The Ottoman Empire, for example, lasted 300 years. Cyprus was occupied by the British between 1925 and 1960 when they gained Independence. Northern Cyprus has been divided from the rest of Cyprus since 1974 and had we crossed the border, we would have needed to show our passports!

We visited Hala Sultan Tekkes, the second most important Turkish Mosque after Mecca. This was located near the Salt lakes (and flamingos) in Larnaca. We toured Agios Ioannis (St John’s) Cathedral and saw Byzantine art (icons and frescos) in Angeloktisti church.

Students learnt about lace making and silver jewellery in Lefkara. We wet our toes in the Mediterranean and thoroughly enjoyed gorging on the fabulous Greek food.

Our students toured the Cypriot school – Vulcan and even learnt some Greek. We all agreed that the visit had been an

incredible experience which we will remember; all helped, of course, by the favourable weather...25 degrees Celsius in November!

We say goodbye to: Mrs Keenan who will be returning to her family in Northern Ireland

Mr Forrest who has achieved promotion and will be joining Spires Academy Mrs Brown and Mrs Finlayson from Autism Centre who have shown so much care and dedication to our Autism

students

Congratulations to: Mr Clarke who has achieved promotion to Director of Sixth Form and Mrs Butcher who becomes Head of Year 10

We welcome:

Ms Cripps Subject Leader of Geography and Mr Holley joins the English Department

In April of 2013, Mrs Goss, Mr Johnson and Mr Jago will be running in the Brighton Marathon. A marathon is just over 26 miles in distance and this is an event for which the three of them have been in training for months already. Many more long, cold Winter mornings or evenings of training lay ahead before the marathon comes around..! Mrs Goss, Mr Johnson and Mr Jago have decided to run jointly for a charity. The chosen charity is "The Willow Foundation". "The Willow Foundation is the only UK charity to provide positive and life-enhancing special days for seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds. Willow strives to create a unique and unforgettable day that is tailored to the needs and dreams of every beneficiary. He or she chooses exactly what they would like to do on their special day and Willow aims to meet and, wherever possible, exceed their expectations, making the day truly special and memorable." (willowfoundation.org.uk) The charity is particularly close to Mr Johnson's heart as The Willow Foundation provided him and his wife with a weekend to remember whilst she was seriously ill and it certainly contributed positively to her recovery in the long term.

Football Matches Our Abbey School Football teams have made an excellent start to the football season by wining numerous matches and playing to the best of their abilities. We would like to say a big thank you to all students for partici-pating and to Mr Gates and Mr Goodenough for their continued support.

Matches Information below:

Year 7 Abbey School v Barton Court Grammar School: 4-2 Year 8 Abbey School v Barton Court Grammar School: 2-1 Year 8 Abbey School v Queen Elizabeth Grammar School: 4-3 Year 8 Abbey School v Simon Langton Grammar School: 1-1 Year 8 Abbey School v St Anselms: 2-4 Year 8 Abbey School v Herne Bay High School: 3-0 Year 9 Abbey School v Spires Academy: 4-3 Year 9 Abbey School v Chaucer Technology School: 4-3 Year 10 Abbey School v Herne Bay High School: 1-9 Year 10 Abbey School v Queen Elizabeth Grammar: School 4-1

Improving communication with parent/carers

Fascinating facts you may want to know!

Butterflies smell with their feet

The only English word that ends in ‘mt’ is dreamt

Laughter is a proven way to lose weight

It is impossible to lick your elbow

Ants never sleep

Althaiophobia is the fear of marshmallows

Light from the sun takes eight minutes to reach the earth

The electric chair was invented by a dentist

Extra Curricular Clubs

Sudoku

For those of you that are Twitter fans, you can receive all the latest news and information about events by following @abbeyschool

Fill in the grid in such a way that every row and column and every 2x3 box contains the numbers 1-6 Answers on page 2 at bottom of the page

At the start of the new year, the Vocational Catering area will be hosting a master class in street food run by the up and coming chef Andy Bates. The year 10 students will get an insight into his life and how he became a street chef. The Vocational Catering team will also be hosting a function where the clients will be given the pleasure of eating dishes from Andy's new recipe book. This will be prepared and cooked by the chef lecturer Mrs Oakes and Andy will be judging the finished dishes and assessing the chefs’ skills, this is how students are judged by Mrs Oakes. The students will also be handed a signed recipe book of Andy's food that has been donated by Mrs Woodend.

MONDAYS: Boys Football: Year 7, Sports Hall, 3.30-4.30pm Film Club: All years, A15, 3.30-4.30pm Girls Football: All Years, Sports Hall, 3.30-4.30pm TUESDAYS: All stars book club: All Years, LRC, 3.30-4.15pm Basketball Club: Girls, Sports Hall, 3.30-4.30pm Art Club: All Years, S1, 3.30-4.30pm Girls Netball, All Years, Sports Hall, 3.30-4.30pm Spanish Club, All Years, C17, lunchtime WEDNESDAYS: Lazerlight: All students, B1, Lunchtime Dance Club: All Years, Girls, A18, 3.20-4.30pm Street Dance Club: Boys, All Years, Girls’ Gym/Main Hall, 3.20-4.30pm Badminton, All Years, Sports Hall, 3.30-4.30pm Table Games, All Years, LRC, 3.30-4.15pm Boys Football Club: All Years, Sports Hall, 3.30-4.30pm History Surgery: All Years, AL,A2 or A4, 3.20-4.30pm Boys Dance Club: All Years, Hall, 3.20-4.30pm THURSDAYS: Two Thirty Clubs: at 2.30pm every Thursday in the LRC, sign up with Mrs. George in the School Office Boys Basketball Club: All Years, Sports Hall, 2.30-3.20pm

94.3% Latest Attendance figures

At this stage of the academic year we'd like to congratulate all students on achieving excellent attendance percentages! Well done all!

If you would like to discuss your child's attendance please contact Mr Jago in the

Attendance Department.

Street Food!