Mark

Ha

ll A

cade

my

Inspire

From guitar hero ...

... to mad scientist.

Our 2014 Open Evening had a

little something for everyone.

Autumn 2014

A message from the Principal

After the success of the last Year 10 Work Experience we are confirming the following dates for 2015:

Monday 13th to Friday 17th July 2015 – last week of term (Activities Week).

All Year 10 are invited to take part. Letters went home at the beginning of December. There is a

copy on the website or you can speak to Mr Balaam or Mrs MacPherson.

Deadline for applications is Wednesday 8th April 2015.

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a long term (the longest of the school year). Looking back to warmer, sunnier days in September seems a long time ago and it is remarkable to reflect back on all that has happened. It has been a very positive and busy term with a great many achievements; the most recent being our delightful Carol Concert last week with superb performances from a range of students.

I am delighted with the way our new Year 7 have settled in to the Academy and our Year 11 have been impeccable in their conduct and attitude for their mock exams. Our Year 8 to Year 7 buddy system has worked very well and, more recently, our Year 10 have been trained and are running a Peer Reading group with some of our Year 7. Their care, attention to detail and commitment has been a pleasure to witness.

I am also pleased to report that our Student Senior Leadership Team has been trained and they are involved in improvement planning projects ‘by students for students’. They meet regularly with each other and with members of the Academy Leadership Team and we are very proud of what they have achieved so far. The Academy has also been buzzing with the elections for our new style student council which we have created as our ‘Student Parliament’. We have roles that mirror our own British Parliament and the students have embraced our very own Mark Hall Academy democratic process! We look forward to some exciting developments in the Spring term and a visit from our local MP, Robert Halfon. Thank you to all of you for your support and contributions for our recent Children in Need day. As ever, the students got involved with all manner of events and activities. We had an excellent day as super heroes and raised around £800.

A reminder that our Parent Council is open to any parent that would like to contribute positively to the life of the Academy. The council meets each half term on the third Wednesday of every month between 5.15 – 6.15 p.m. to discuss a range of issues in order to offer its opinions. It is a means of opening up dialogue and feedback on what the academy is doing, why, and giving parents the opportunity to contribute to policy making on issues which affect them. The next meeting will be held on 21st January 2015

Dates for your Diary Please note that the end of term date for the Summer term 2015 has been changed to Friday 17

th July.

Monday 5th January – Staff Training Day; non-student day

Tuesday 7th

January – First day back for students; Spring term Thursday 8th January – Year 11 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 21

st January – Options Evening

Wednesday 21st January – Parents’ Council Meeting Thursday 26

th February – Year 10 Parents’ Evening

Monday 16th – Friday 20th February HALF TERM BREAK May I wish you and your family and friends a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and successful New Year. Yours sincerely, Corinne Franceschi Principal

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Student Parliament

Prime Minister - Jude Mante (10) Deputy Prime Ministers - Endrit Abazi & Ethan Cunnew (8)

Home Secretary – Lucy Parish (10) Justice Secretary – Ellie Quereshi (11)

Environment Secretary – Georgia Stringer (10) Foreign Secretary – Brooke Keown (10) Benedek Nemeth (8)

AEA Secretary – Catia Mendes (11) Equalities Secretary – Paris Harvey Venables (11)

Defence Secretary – Savannah Sirkett (7) Chief Whip – Chiko Munyoro (11)

MP Maths – Timothy Chan (9) MP English – Chelsey Stanborough (10)

MP Science – Kirsten Harridance (9) MP Modern Foreign Languages – Tia Knight (9)

MP Humanities – Charlotte Kemble (10) MP ICT – Daniel Herbert (9)

MP Physical Education – Chloe Simkiss (9) MP Technology – Luke Bourne (10)

MP Creative Arts – Megan Burroughs (11) MP Year 7 – Zac Newman (7) MP Year 8 – Dominic King (8) MP Year 9 – Laura Lewis (9)

MP Year 10 – Shannah Farrow (10) Wow, this term we have seen the Mark Hall Parliament being formed with 25 students being elected via a student democratic vote. The Academy had such an overwhelming response with students from all year groups putting themselves forwards to be part of the MHA Parliament. The Student Parliament will meet every half term and each member will also attend the Student Voice Focus Group. These groups will focus on issues to do with Teaching and Learning, the Academy Environment and developing the Culture and Ethos of the Academy. It has been exciting that our Local MP Robert Halfon has sent us this e-mail. “I would be delighted to visit the school and meet the Mark Hall Parliament. This is an amazing initiative and I will support it in any way I can. The students are more than welcome to come for a tour.” What’s Next? The Student Parliament will be deciding upon their first focus group projects, driving forwards the opinions of all students to help the Academy strive for excellence. Watch this space……….. Mrs Ruffles will be liaising with MP Robert Halfon to arrange for a student visit to the Houses of Commons. Thank you to all the students who have put themselves forwards to represent the Mark Hall Academy Student Parliament.

Mrs Emma Ruffles

Open Evening

Our Open Evening was a great success. We had many parents and prospective students attend the evening with many commenting on the noticeable improvements around the Academy and there was a positive and exciting feeling all around. Both of the Principal’s speeches were full and the audience appeared transfixed when our students took to the podium. Luke Rayner, Head Boy, and Lucy Mears, Head Girl, told us about their journey over the last four years as they enter their final year but the stars of the evening were two of our Year 7 students. Considering Charlotte Pratt and Harrison Myers had only been with us for a few weeks they warmed our hearts and and made us laugh with their tales of transition from “little school to big school”.

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RAKTrain

Mark Hall got the chance to take part in a few courses that RAKTrain offered us. I was one of the students lucky enough to be asked to attend along with Chelsey Austin, Callum Boon, Rebecca Brigden, Shane Brinkley, Levi Clark, Natalia Dabrowska, Mitchell Lindsay, Ammarija Rakisa, Malyar Safi, Michael Wood, Jack Woodward, Luke Attard, Kane Bennington, Luke Bourne, Reece Bryant, Brandon Crawford, Breeze Hawkins Emma Hitch, Kazia Javeleau and Lucy Knight On the Monday, we went back to the RAKTrain centre and had a talk with the Manager Rob. He told us what we were going to do and what he wanted us to achieve from it. On that day, we went to the outdoor pursuit centre. It was a lot of fun as we got to spend the day abseiling and rock climbing. On Tuesday, we went to Hertford Regional College and were shown around. I found it very

interesting and was amused by all the different courses you can take in that college. Later on in the day, when we went back to the centre, we had a very important talk from John. He told us about his son, Robby Foster. Robby was in fact a Mark Hall student. He went to the war and fought for our country. Sadly, Robby died while fighting. It was very upsetting but an amazing story that he told us. Everyone at RAK and all the students that know the story would like everyone else to know also. Hopefully we could get something done in his remembrance at the school, this would make John

happy. On Wednesday, we went on the mopeds in the centre. It was a very interesting experience, I must say. I think that everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed having a go. We also learnt how to repair a moped and got very dirty indeed. Plus we all looked amazing in our blue overalls. On Thursday, we were meant to go on a boat and drive it on the lake and in the sea at Southwold. However, we

didn’t get the chance to do this because we were stuck in traffic for around an hour. So sadly, we didn’t make it but we were promised it would happen still in a few weeks, which we were pleased about. So instead of doing this, we went back to the centre and had Pizza Hut. We also got the chance to do a health and safety course. This would look very good or our CV so I thought it was a good opportunity. Personally, I think that Friday was an amazing opportunity that was maybe a once in a lifetime. We got to fly a flexi-wing plane at North Weald Air Field. It was amazing. We were taught how to start it, control the throttle, fly in the air and some of us even got to land it and take off. All of us had so much fun. Also the food there was amazing. Throughout the whole week, Jo, John and Rob were our leaders. We had so much fun with them. They are all so nice and brought a lot of laughter to our week. I was so happy, I got the chance to meet them and got to take part in this amazing week.

Georgia Stringer

A select number of thoughtful and fluent Year 10 students have recently been given the opportunity to become mentors to identified Year 7 students who need to improve their reading skills, following the completion of their training for a programme of Paired Reading intervention. The lucky Year 7 recipients were delighted to be partnered with their Year 10 reading mentors and have eagerly and actively continued with their intervention, three times per week during Home Group Time, since the training was given in the middle of November.

The training for Paired Reading was provided by Annabel Clarke, Chartered Senior Specialist Educational Psychologist for the West Essex Educational Psychology Service, and largely consists of helpers reading alongside, and in time, with their partnered, student peers in order to build confidence. There is also an element of key questioning from the helper to the reader before, during and after reading books, in order to develop comprehension and decoding skills. Mrs Franceschi, Mrs Collins, SENCO & Inclusion Manager, and Mrs Loft, Lead TA for English, were all present at the training and, in particular, congratulated the Year 10 students on both their maturity and willingness to coach others in a constructive way. Positive feedback and encouragement was also provided to the Year 7

readers, and it is envisaged that the intervention will make a huge difference to their reading abilities. Selected Year 10s (fluent readers) reading with Year 7s who need to improve their RAs. The photos were taken at the Paired Reading training (given by Annabel Clarke), but Paired Reading now takes place on Tues, Thurs and Friday mornings during Home Group Time. Mrs Franceschi, Mrs Collins and Mrs Loft were all present at the training. Annabel Clarke, Chartered Senior Specialist Educational Psychologist for the West Essex Educational Psychology Service. Year 10 Jude Mante Jaime Purcell Joe Roberson Emma Hitch Summer Page George Beldam Mari Prior Eloise Linford Georgia Stringer

Paired Reading

Year 7 Jakub Frankowski Toby Cross Nathan Hodgson Destiny Wood Harry Paulin Mate Balog Freddie Murray Nikita Little Matthew Alavoine

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Maths Challenge

Several Year 8 students ( and on occasion some Year 7 students) attend an enrichment c lub , f ocused on Mathemat ica l problemsolving activities, after school on Mondays. This has taken place since the beginning of the Autumn term and, as a result, a group of four students in Year 8 have been entered to participate in the Team Maths Challenge 2015.

Students will take part in the Team Maths Challenge at the Centre for Mathematics and Science at Cambridge University on the 16th March 2015. Students from Mark Hall Academy will also take part in the Junior and Intermediate Maths Challenge next year. The Maths department has used creative resources from the “nrich” website to develop students’ problemsolving skills in all areas of Mathematics. Our aim is to enter 30 students for the Junior Maths Challenge at the end of May 2015, so watch this space!

Thank you to Ethan Cunnew, Alex Nunn,

Maisie Bamford-Davies, Dominic King,

Endrit Abazi, Josh Smith and Dylan

Galloway for their dedication to the group.

Mrs Karin du Toit

ZooLab

In the Zoo Lab experience I learnt that a giant African land snail has 10,000 teeth and a millipede has over 400 legs.

I liked the animals and the information about each animal. I only held one of the animals and that was the snake. I did not touch or hold any of the animals.

The animals I saw were: a tarantula, crab, snake, snail and cockroach. I also enjoyed learning about each animal and how they live.

Everyone knows that Mr Sowemimo dislikes and is petrified of animals, but when the snake came to him he touched it and conquered his fear of snakes.

Laura Lewis Yr9

Children in Need

To raise money for Children in Need 2014, we followed their current theme of Superheroes. It was a surreal experience walking around the academy, coming face to face with students dressed as the Incredible Hulk, Superman and Bananaman, along

with Batmans, Robins and the Flash! The PE department were dressed as the pizza eating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Principal Mrs Franceschi, never one to let the students down, dressed as Super Woman. Community spirit was shown throughout the day not just in the fancy dress but also the activities at break and lunchtime.

Our fantastic Reprographics

Manager Mrs Batley, made a

superhero cake to raffle, the Year

7 and 8 Hub Club (cooking club)

made cakes to sell, making a very

impressive £185. The

winner of the cake raffle

was Shannon Shelley in

Year 9.

The Learning Hub

organised a tombola with

donated gifts, with

Learning Hub students

promoting the event with

posters. From the

Science department Mr Sowemimo held a basketball competition

with a year 10 student wining the “how many baskets in a minute”

challenge to receive a £10 shopping voucher.

PE opened the Astroturf for “Pay and Play” football which is always a massive hit with the students, many donating more than the required amount. In total Mark Hall Academy

raised £664 for Children In

Need, displaying fantastic team

spirit and community

mindedness to help those who

need it.

Children in Need

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Jack Petchey

Endrit Abazi YEAR 8. Since Year 7 has Endrit has involved himself in Academy life by joining Academy teams and taken a real interest in everything. He is a Peer Mentor and was involved in the transition day to day the new ear 7s. Endrit has recently been elected Deputy Prime Minister for the Student Parliament and has been an active member of the Student panel to interview new members of staff. Endrit has spent his £200 award on basketball shirts for the Junior team Paris Harvey-Venables YEAR 11. Paris has matured and grown throughout Year 10 and Year 11. Paris is a prefect and has helped a number of Year 7 students in their first weeks at Mark Hall Academy. She is the Equalities Secretary for the Student Parliament and has really involved herself in Academy life. Paris has spent her £200 award on a sound system for dance lessons. Emily Cannell YEAR 10. Emily has always been a polite helpful student. She has involved herself in the Mark Hall Academy life, whether it is showing visitors around the Academy on tours or by involving herself in the Academy teams. Emily works extremely hard and is a role model for other students to follow. Emily has spent her £200 award on a graphics tablet and pen for the Art department.

Established in 1999, the Jack Petchey Foundation makes grants to programmes and projects that benefit young people aged 11-25.

The Foundation exists to raise the aspirations of young people, to help them take advantage of opportunities and play a full part in society.

The geographical focus of our work is London and Essex. Since it has been established the Foundation has awarded grants totalling over £85 million!!

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Ketchup Club

The Ketchup Club, located in the Academy’s Inclusion Department, marked its end of term success with a Christmas party for its students on Monday 15th December. In the weeks leading up to the party, the students had been busy with festive activities such as making artistic decorations and party planning. The students socialised within a warm, jovial atmosphere, partying to classic Christmas tunes as well as the latest pop hits, and tucked into treats of sausage rolls, popcorn, low-fat crisps, fruit, mince pies and Christmas cake!

The Ketchup Club was originally launched in September and has been set up to provide a selected number of students the opportunity to develop their social, writing/reading, numeracy and art skills through paired and group activities. Students have already held discussions on topics such as healthy eating and money management, as well as taken part in practical and fun projects such as photographing scenes of their ‘typical school day’. It is hoped in the New Year that the fun will continue with further projects, debates and games lined up for the participants which include Kyle May, Luke Bourne, Katie Clark, Caitlin Moylan, Kaan Ahmet, Zara Garvin and Kyra D’Araujo

In Home Group Time and in English lessons the Year 7 & 8 students have been participating in the Accelerated Reading Programme to increase their reading

skills. To date the Year 7 & 8 students collectively have read a massive

7,050,698

words.

Students in assembly each week have been rewarded with certificates and prizes. These have been awarded for students who have achieved 100% on their reading

tests and for the students that have read the most number of words each week. Group prizes for the most words read in Home Groups and English Groups have also been given. Many thanks to Mrs Barr for all her hard work in co-ordinating

this fantastic programme. We know that improving the student’s literacy skills are fundamental for raising achievement.

Accelerated Reading

33 students from Year 7 to Year 11 visited Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park on Tuesday 16th December 2014. Students on the coach were excited as we drove past The Tower of London, The London Eye and Big Ben.

Arriving at Hyde Park students were eager to go on the “thrill” rides and the Year 8 girls persuaded Miss Warwick to go on the 60 metre high Star Flyer swing ride. The Year 7 and 8 students got lost in the glass maze which amused the staff watching from outside.

At 12.15pm the ice skating commenced. There were some amazing skaters, Benedek and Kelsey in Year 8 and Ben from Year 7 were the star skaters of the day. Ryan from Year 8 was the most improved skater of the day. The best fall of the day has to go to Jack and Billy H in Year 7 and Mrs Ruffles.

After the fun and excitement of the fair, Christmas markets and fairground games we were ready to head back to Mark Hall Academy. All students had a great time and were perfectly behaved throughout the day. It was a pleasure to take all of the students.

Huge thanks to Mrs Ruffles, Miss Warwick and Mrs Birkitt for making the day possible.

Winter Wonderland

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Head Boy – Luke Rayner Head Girl – Lucy Mears

Deputy Head Boy – Ellis Dowsett Deputy Head Girl – Rita Showumi

Assistant Head Boy – Lewis Allgood Assistant Head Boy – Kinsley Nelson Assistant Head Girl – Fenella Dunbar

Assistant Head Girl – Chloe Coveney

The Year 11 students have gone through a rigorous interview process to finally become the 8 students that now represent the Student Academy Leadership Team (SALT). These students are integral to ensure that student involvement and participation across the Academy is increased for all and they are taking the first steps to ensure that this is in place and that their legacy continues for many years to come. What’s happened this term? The 8 students that make up the SALT, along with the Senior Prefects and Prefects have supported the Academy in events such as the Open Evening and Year 11 Information Evening. They offered tours and have communicated with our prospective parents and students. The SALT Team have attended the Student Leadership training at Harlow Study Centre on Tuesday 2nd December. During their training they have already started to develop and design the Student Leadership and Student Voice Policy. They have also supported in designing the Student Leadership and Student Voice Academic Calendar. During this training session they also agreed on the structure of the Student Leadership Team in line with our newly appointed Mark Hall Student Parliament. Once these documents have been finalised, these will be shared with all students and members of the community on the Mark Hall Academy Website. Each member of SALT is linked with a member of the Academy Leadership Team to have maximum impact within the Academy and they will meet with their link on a minimum fortnightly basis. They will also oversee the newly appointed Mark Hall Parliament to ensure that this drives Academy improvement. What’s next? The SALT have decided in their first meeting that they would like to develop Year 11 mentors supporting the Year 7 & 8 students in home group time. They also will be heavily involved in shaping and implementing the new House System. Finally they will be looking at the recruitment process for our current Year 8, 9 and 10 students to apply to become part of the Student Academy Leadership Team when they need to step down at Easter. This is such an exciting time for the Students at Mark Hall Academy to put their opinions forward and lead the way in shaping their Academy.

Mrs Emma Ruffles

Student Leadership Team

We are starting a new feature in each term’s newsletter focusing on members of staff and how they apply their passion for their subject outside of the classroom and Academy. The first of our “Staff Focus’” is Ms Cameron (Head of PE). Playing for the OA Saints in St Albans as a fly-half, Ms Cameron has played rugby for 20 years. After her Dad sent her to a taster day when younger, she loved it and decided to continue. Not only has Ms Cameron played for her team but also has representative honours in playing for London & Home Counties under 16 & 18, Herts under 16 & 18 and England under 16 and 18 (development squad). Ms Cameron is passionate about the benefits that playing sport can have, “Through my love of sports I want everyone to enjoy sport themselves. It’s a good way to increase confidence, communication skills, team work and fitness levels leading to a healthy, active lifestyle. It suits people of all sizes and athletic ability. It’s also a great to promote fair play and team spirit.”

Ms Cameron trains twice a week with 2 additional fitness sessions, with games every Sunday in the

season. “My advice for those of you wanting to play a sport is to speak to PE staff to find local links, just

go round and give it a try….get involved!”

Staff Focus

On Friday 24th October, the UK turned pink with hundreds of thousands of people brought together by their passion for pink and one united goal – to beat breast cancer.

Every penny raised moves us towards a future that’s free of breast cancer. Thank you to those that took part in joining forces to help find the cures for the most common form of cancer in the UK but also to Mrs Birkitt for organising this event. Mr Abbott won the “Bin the Beige” contest on the day and we raised a fantastic £125.

Carol Concert

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Students really began festivities at St Mary’s Church, Churchgate on Thursday evening at the Mark Hall Academy Christmas Carol Concert. The choir opened beautifully with a candlelit “Once in Royal David’s City”, and sang stunning harmonies, with Mr Sowemimo on guitar, for “Silent Night”. Year 7 Drama students put on a fantastic condensed production of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Year 11 GCSE Drama students entertained with a piece, “Hot Money”, that was written by them for their mock exam. Bradley Sweeney read a brilliant Mark Hall Academy re-working of “T’was the night before Christmas” to much applause. The choir then showed their swing for some contemporary Christmas favourites such as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Let it Snow”. Mrs Franceschi brought a moment of reflection for the Principal’s Reading and then the whole congregation was invited

to join together with the choir for the final songs of “O Come All Ye Faithful“ and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Before braving the cold everyone enjoyed tea, coffee and mince pies and made extremely generous donations to the St Mary’s Church offertory. A wonderfully Christmassy time was had by all; staff, students, friends and family, leaving just one question….what shall we do in next year’s concert?! Well done all performers and choir, we are so proud of you!!

Special mentions and thanks to Mrs Klingenspor, Mr Sowemimo, Mr McKenna, Mr Osborne, Mrs Franceschi, Ms Beeson, Ms Burns, Ms Dutch, Mr Senior, Ms Warwick, our performers and our choir

Academy Community Use

As I am sure you are aware, the academy facilities are used by various organisations outside of academy hours to support the local community. I wanted to make you aware of activities available to allow you the chance to try something new if you feel so inclined!

If you are interested in joining any of these activities, please contact the person mentioned above directly or come along at the right time to see them. Please note that these activities are not run by Mark Hall Academy and participation is at your own choice and risk. Please talk to the instructors before participating if you have any medical condition or concern which may affect your ability to take part.

Monday CS Just Fitness Sarah Packer

07815 538608 6.30 - 7.30pm West Gym

CS Just Fitness Sarah Packer

07815 538608

7.30 - 8.30pm New class from

12 January! West Gym

Slimming World Carina Trickey

07736 046793 7.00 - 9.00pm West Hall

Tuesday Zumba with SJ Sarah-Jane Wren

07971 338980

7.00 - 8.00pm New class from

6 January! West Gym

Ballroom

Dancing

Lesley Whitaker

01279 316361 7.30 - 9.30pm West Hall

Wednesday CS Just Fitness Carly Bown

07904 784798 6.30 - 7.30pm West Gym

Zumba with SJ Sarah-Jane Wren

07971 338980 7.30 - 8.30pm West Hall

Thursday Circuit Training

Mrs Denise Hayes 01277 363533

07971 769038 7.00 - 8.00pm East Gym

Mens 5-a-side Andy Clark

07970 125488 7.30 - 8.30pm West Gym

Ballroom Dancing Lesley Whitaker

01279 316361 7.00 - 9.00pm West Hall

CS Just Fitness Sarah Packer

07815 538608 6.30 - 7.30pm West Gym