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March 2016

I am sure – like me – you are deluged with e-mails each week, so it is always nice to receive a ‘proper’ letter through the post. A recent Royal Mail delivery contained a very official-looking ‘proper’ letter, almost buried within a pile of educational supplies catalogues, circulars and bulle-tins. It was even more intriguing because the envelope was stamped with a Government crest. Thoughts race through your mind – not always pleasant ones! So, it was wonderful to open and read a letter of congratulations to the school from the Minister of State for Education – Nick Gibb MP.

The Minister’s letter praised Sir William Robertson Academy for the school’s ‘excellent improve-ment’ in examination results between 2013 and 2015 which places the school as ‘one of the top 100 non-selective state-funded schools in England showing the greatest sustained improvement in the percentage of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades, including English and Mathemat-ics GCSEs.’ This is wonderful news for everyone associated with Sir William Robertson Acade-my as it clearly indicates that the hard work of pupils, parents, staff and governors is combining to create a truly great school which is amongst the most improved schools in the entire country.

More good news followed hard on the heels of the Minister’s letter – success breeds success! The Department for Education’s School Performance Tables website allows parents to compare their child’s secondary school to other similar schools nationally to see how it is performing rela-tive to others. The Performance Tables indicate that Sir William Robertson Academy is the best performing secondary school (compared to all other similar schools) within a 75 mile radius.

These excellent outcomes for our pupils provide a fantastic platform for the school’s proposed development as a Multi Academy Trust. The consultation concluded on 29

th February and provid-

ed a clear mandate for Governors to approve unanimously that we submit a proposal to the DFE to develop as a Multi Academy Trust to the benefit of all local children. Our plans were endorsed by both Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils and also received the support from a local MP. Everyone at Sir William Robertson is totally committed to ensuring that our children remain at the centre of any developments for this school. However, it is only right that excellent schools like Sir William Robertson take the lead in shaping the future of education in our local communities as this is ultimately to the benefit of current and future generations of young people and their families.

The pages that follow in this newsletter are packed full of the achievements of our pupils. It is a joy and a privilege to work with them to support and lead their learning and development. Wheth-er as a single school or a Multi Academy Trust, our message will remain the same. We want all of our students to ASPIRE to be the best that they can possibly be. We want them to face an ever-changing world with knowledge and self-confidence but with compassion and understanding in all of their interactions with others.

Thank you for your on-going support of the school and its values.

Mark Guest, Headteacher

SWRA News Page 2

Year 10 Parents’ Evening

Tuesday 19th April 2016

4.00pm - 6.30pm

In this issue:

Ski Trip 2016 Page 3

World Book Day Page 5

Easter Language Fun! Page 6

Moving Visit to Auschwitz Page 8

Sport Relief Bake Off Page 9

Sports News Page 11

School Council visit Guildhall Page 12

History in the Making Page 13

ICAEW Base Competition Page 14

Work Experience 2016 Page 16/17

Dates for your diary Page 24

SWRA News Page 3

Ski Italy 2016

On Thursday the more advanced skiers were treated to a sunny days skiing in Pila! Ice skating on Thursday night is always a comedy event as students who often excel in many sports find this activity particularly challenging!

The students undertook a varied après ski programme which included eating pizza, ice creams and crepes togeth-er with some ice skating, karaoke and sledging. Whilst sledging, pupils were amazed to see Gino de Campo learning to ski. The film crew took some shots of our pupils which were later shown on “This Morning”. All the beginners groups were out of the baby bowl by Wednesday and enjoyed putting some miles under the skis for the rest of the week. Some of the beginners made real progress during the week and were skiing down the tricky red runs into Zerotta! As ever the pupils were the highlight of the trip. We were blessed with the Armani brothers (Mario & Briggsio) locking themselves out of their rooms in their thermals, not so cool now! Joe Statham trying to ski in another students skis and Jack Goode walking into a glass door. These were three of many stories shared and each evening our pupils thoroughly enjoyed being given the prestigious SWRA ski awards (Diamond Bling, Gladiator, Racoon, Daft Bat and I Lived) each evening. The ski trip ended on the Friday night with a last minute shopping trip to Courmayeur where the students were treated to their final Italian Ice cream, Smartie crepe and hot chocolate! Many thanks to all the pupils whose behaviour whilst away was outstanding!

Letters for the 2017 ski trip are already out. We will be looking at returning to Courmayeur or trying the new resort of Madonna de Campiglio in the Italian Dolomites. Closing date for our current Year 7, 8 and 9’s for applying for this trip is Thursday 14

th April. Letters were handed out at an assembly last week or are available on the website.

Many thanks for a great week.

Mr Symmons, Mr Statham,

Miss Howard and Miss Mitchell

The 2016 Ski trip to Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley left the shores of England on February 20

th this year. Moun-

tainous seas were conquered by all but a few! Upon arriving in Courmayeur the sun was shining and the snow was glistening. Skiing conditions this year were excellent with 200cm of snow filling the upper slopes. The weather was a mix of sun and cloud but on Wednesday night there was a big snow fall of 50cm. The snow meant that there were many soft landings and there were no visits to the medical centre this year! On Thursday afternoon, staff were skiing past a mountain restaurant and were assaulted by the likes of Nathan Cullen, Mario Mills and Millie Scadding. These wonder-ful students decided to gather heaps of the new snow and embark on a sustained twenty minute snowball as-sault on members of staff! Fatigue finally set in and the teachers had no option but to retreat!

To see the fantastic photographs from the trip, click on the link and enter password http://www.interskisnowshots.co.uk/ Dep. Date: 20th February, 2016 Password: SIR7821

Plus many more employers...

SWRA News Page 4

“I am motivated to start applying right now.”

“There were a wide range of companies.”

“I realised there were many opportunities in the companies; not just mechanics with Jaguar but business opportunities too.”

“There were great opportunities and brilliant

information.”

“The interactive stations were fun.”

“It was interesting to see how many different apprenticeships were on offer.”

Mrs Brewer & Mr Mann

Visit to first ever National Apprenticeship Show

We were very pleased to take our Year 13 students to the FIRST EVER NA-TIONAL APPRENTICESHIP SHOW in Milton Keynes recently. It was an ideal opportunity for the students, who would like to undertake an appren-ticeship as their first choice, to see what companies offered apprenticeships for 18-24yr olds. Our discerning students are still on the hunt for apprentice-ships relating to Media, Product Design and Sport but discovered lots of in-formation and opportunities in other areas such as Business, Human Re-sources, Accountancy and Mechanical Engineering.

Above: Alex May & Libby Arnold

Nadhim Zahawi MP, Apprenticeship Adviser to David Cameron formally opened the Show

SWRA News Page 5

World Book Day fun!

Sir William Robertson Academy celebrated World Book Day 2016 in style on Thursday 3rd March with many of the teaching staff dressing as dramatic book characters along with the pupils. Activities during the day included reading sections of Roald Dahl’s ‘Man from the South’ at the beginning of each lesson, a fun quiz where pupils had to guess the teacher reading the book at home and a book snap competition. Characters included Skellig from the same titled book, Alice in Wonderland, Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, MacBeth, Wally from Where’s Wally and Gangsta Granny.

Winners of Book Quiz in the library at lunch time were Team Einstein – Tom Penneck, Ben Coleman, Ben Ashcroft and Oska Mirfin – all in Year 8. Six teams battled it out! Tom Wilkinson in Year 7 won the best character cos-tume award for his Sherlock Holmes as decided by our Head Boy & Girl, Tom Lane and Libby Arnold. English Teacher, Mrs Ainsley was awarded the best character costume for the witch in Macbeth. The English department were wonderfully dressed in their character costumes and Mrs Barnett dressed as Cruella De Ville from 101 Dalmatians even took her character to the classroom for her English lesson!

Mrs Barnett as Cruella (above)

The English Department (below)

Some of the Ca-tering Team (above)

Tom Wilkinson, Year 7, winner of the best charac-ter costume competition (right)

Teachers and pupils enjoying the day! (below)

SWRA News Page 6

Easter traditions in France & Germany - Bassingham

Primary enjoy Languages workshop

Sir William Robertson Academy continues to work with a wide range of primary schools and was delighted to welcome 30 Year 5 pupils from Bassingham Primary School recently for an Easter Workshop in Modern Foreign Languages. The work-shops included sessions in both French and German with Language teachers Mrs Dover and Miss Newns. The theme was Easter Celebrations in France and Ger-many and covered cultural elements, as well as giving pupils the opportunity to do some language based craft activities and take part in a fun quiz. The pupils learnt some essential seasonal vocabulary and put their new knowledge to good use writ-ing greeting cards in the target language. Four of our Year 9 Language Ambassa-dors and a sixth form language student helped with the sessions and organised the quiz.

At the end of the workshop sessions the pupils were presented with certificates and goody bags by Miss Newns, our Head of Languages. The whole year group then had the opportunity to enjoy eating their lunch in the school’s Dining Hall and tasting homemade cookies before returning to Bassingham for their afternoon lessons. The pupils were transported to and from the school by coach organised by SWRA.

Mrs Dover who helped organised the workshop commented: “Our Year 9 Language Ambassadors helped plan the workshops and delivered part of the sessions, as well as supporting the teachers in the classroom. They did a superb job and were a real credit to the Academy. The pupils from Bassingham had a fantastic time and quickly developed their language skills and Easter traditions knowledge whilst having fun.”

The Ambassadors were Alfie Cornish, Sam Wright, Alice Ward and Hannah Grindley along with Sixth Form

Language student, Sophie Corby.

Frohe Ostern! Joyeuses Pâques!

SWRA News Page 7

Wow Day Careers Fair 2016

Sir William Robertson Academy celebrated its first WOW ‘World of Work’ and enrichment day of 2016 with a vibrant and busy Careers Fair which brought many local employers, organisations, universities and training companies to the school on 9th February. The hall was full with stands from Access to Music, Siemens, the RAF, the Army, National Citizen Ser-vice, Lincoln University, Leeds University, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln City Council, Raytheon, the Prince’s Trust and Lincolnshire Co-op amongst others. Years 7-11 were engaged with careers-related activities all day and the Sixth Form also visited the Careers Fair as well as helping to man our Sixth Form stand. Year 7/8 pupils also got the chance to try their hand at Judo with Lincoln Judo Academy! A fun and interesting day all round.

The translation of Judo is 'The Gentle Way'. Judo is an excellent sport for everyone, incorporating skill, speed, technique, stamina, strength, fitness and discipline. It also builds self-confidence as well as developing self-respect. Lincoln Judo Academy kindly came in for the day to give our younger pupils a chance to try the sport. They have clubs in Bracebridge Heath, Sleaford and Waddington. Sessions are held at Waddington Village Hall on Monday evenings and our pupils can either see Mr Costello for a flyer or contact Barry on 07956 635659 for details (or visit their website www.lincolnjudoacademy.co.uk).

Barry Cooper, three times British Champion, be-came a Black Belt 1st Dan at the age of 16 shortly fol-lowed by his 2nd Dan and qualified as a level 2 coach.

Barry had been teaching for over 20 years.

SWRA News Page 8

Y13 History Visit to Auschwitz, Poland

On Wednesday 2nd

March two Year 13 history students, Fay Hearn and Oliver Winter, along with Mr Hollingworth visited Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of the Holocaust Education Trust Lessons from Auschwitz project. The visit offered the stu-dents an opportunity to gain an insight into the reality of the holocaust and attempt to humanise the story of the extermi-nation of around 6 million people.

The trip involved visiting the local Jewish cemetery, now left desolate with the last living Jewish occupant passing away in 2000. Later in the day the visit involved tours around both Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau. We were also part of a memorial ceremony where candles were lit and placed upon the line which brought so many to their deaths, both a fitting and thought invoking end to the day.

Oliver: “The trip gave me a sense of scale and helped me understand what happened at Auschwitz and during the holocaust.”

Fay: “Even though I have been to Auschwitz it seems quite surreal and find it hard to imagine the amount of people that were involved. I hope by the end of this pro-ject to understand more.”

Fay and Oliver will go on to become Lessons from Auschwitz ambassadors and will be involved in spreading their knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust to students lower down the school.

Mr Hollingworth

Listening to the talk The moving Candlelit Memorial Ceremony Birkenau Death Gate

Auschwitz 1 Gate

Xyklon B

The Watch Tower

SWRA News Page 9

Year 4/5/6 Open Events 2016

Summer Open Evening - Thursday 30th June 6.00pm - 8.30pm

Open Week Mon 12th - Wed 14th September 9.15am - 11.15am

Open Evening - Wednesday 14th September 6.00pm - 8.30pm

Please help spread the word….

Visit www.swracademy.org for more information

Thank you to all our wonderful bakers and buyers - £235.00

was raised on Monday for Sport Relief! And the winners are:

*Star Baker* Samuel Mallon, Year 7

Showstopper Samuel Mallon, Year 7

Best Technical Mr Buxton

Best Cupcakes Mrs Foster

Best Fruitcake Kieron Sellars, Year 8

Best Balanced Flavour James Lesinski, Year 7

Best Traybake Mrs Alexander-Grocott

Best Cookies Joe Statham, Year 8

SWRA News Page 10 Sports News

U16s Girls Lincolnshire County Cup Semi Final

House Cross Country Results

Boys House Cross Country results: Girls House Cross Country results:

Y7 S Winner - Aaron Scholes Y7 S Winner Alice Heaton

Y7 N Winner - Peter Wynn-Jones Y7 N Winner Izzie Whitfield

Y8 S Winner - Bobby Macdonald Y8 S Winner Sophie Lorenti

Y8 N Winner - Oli Eagle Y8 N Winner Lily Kempster

Y9 N Winner - Josh Hanstock Y9 S Winner Celia Davis

Y9 S Winner - Harry Denman Y9 N Winner Libby Moran

Well done to all our House winners!

Well done to our girls when they represented the school on Thursday 11th February in the Semi Finals of the Lin-

colnshire County Cup. It was a hard fought game with some excellent play against Spalding High School but the score finished at SWRA 0 v 2 Spalding. Player of the Match went to Abbie Bennison. Well done ladies!

Katherine Bradford Holly Brown Indianna Bomford Smith

Iona Mowat Millie Randall Jasmine Keyworth

Becky Dwane Freya Grocock Chloe Haggo

Abbie Bennison Chelsea Smith Eve McDonough

Mrs Davison

More Sports Results.....

U14 Hockey - SWRA 2 v 1 KSHS....goal scorers were Ella Holmes and Libby Moran. POM went to Hope Brooker

Y7 Netball - SWRA 2 v 17 KSHS.....Player of the Match went to Jenny Chen

Y9 Netball - SWRA 16 v 7 Priory Well done girls!

Y8 Netball - SWRA 1 v 5 Priory Unlucky girls.

Congratulations to the Year 7 Netball team on their first win for the school against Walton winning 9v2. Player of the match went to Leah Shepherd.

Congratulations to Izzie Knight for being Player of the Match in Y7 Netball at KGGS

Congratulations to Charlotte Foskett, winner of the Year 8 girls house Table Tennis competition

Congratulations to Sam Wright who won the Year 9 boys and Katie Randall the Year 8 girls Table Tennis

SWRA News Page 11

Sports News

Year 9 Football Win

Keep up to date with match fixtures, pick up times and match news on our Facebook page

‘Sir William Robertson Academy’

Year 10 GCSE PE pupils have been working with the Lincolnshire FA recently as part of the Football Futures programme. During the first session they focused on coaching and officiating.

Gavin Evans (GB Olympic table tennis squad) has started his second series of Masterclasses on Tuesday 8th March with a good take up. These run for 10 weeks running after school on a Tuesday.

FA Football Futures Programme

Table Tennis Coaching - popular second course

Congratulations to the Year 9 boys football team who beat Kings recently 2-1. A well deserved victory and long over-due!! Well done boys:

Drew Harbron Dylan Mercer

George Chapman Alfie Cornish

Lewis Hobbs Harry Denman

Lee Bussell Oli Eagle

George Clarke Josh Hanstock

Shaun Wright Joao Stark

Connor Jackson Jack O'Malley Dempsey

House Table Tennis Success

Congratulations to Josh Wright House, Table Tennis champion, Year 8 (south band).

SWRA News Page 12

School Council enjoys visit to Lincoln Guildhall

On Monday 29th February the School Council went on an insightful and enjoyable visit to the Lincoln Guildhall

and Stonebow. Once we had arrived, the Mayor’s Executive, Mr Cook, met us and took us inside to reveal a spectacular wooden table in the Council Chambers, this was later the setting of a productive and positive school council meeting. After we had finished our meeting, we were then given a tour and education of the history of the Mayors and Mayoress’ of Lincoln. This allowed us to see many historical artefacts, such as the Mayor’s ring, and a sword, which was once presented to Lincoln by King Richard III, which have great importance to the histo-ry of Lincoln’s council. We could view the robes worn by various council members during their meetings, some of which were over 100 years old, and Archie Burton, Year 8, a member of our council, even got to try on the Mayor’s robes. We hope this will become an annual visit for the school council so that each member will get to see the glowing history of Lincoln and it’s council and provide him or her with aspirations to eventually join it.

Tom Lane, Year 13

The School Council meeting at the Guild-hall.

Archie Burton wear-ing the Mayor’s robes.

Keep up to date with school events and news on our Face-

book page

‘Sir William Robertson Academy’

SWRA News Page 13

History in the making!

Since September Year 7 students have been learning about the Middles Ages in England. Following the battle for the throne in 1066, students then learnt about a good way of keeping William’s throne secure after his victory in the Battle of Has-tings. Students have learnt about how the King used castles and have completed an independent research project based around English castles. As part of this pro-ject several Year 7 students have made a model of a typical motte and bailey cas-tle that can be found in Medieval England. The castles ranged in size and materials with some even made out of cake! The project allows students to be as creative as they wish and many commented on how much they enjoyed making the models.

Mr Jell Creative Castles made by our talented Year 7s

SWRA News Page 14

Base Competition 2016

On Thursday 10th March I took two teams to the ICAEW base competition at the Lincolnshire Showground. It is an ideal opportunity for pupils to gain a stronger understanding of Business and Accounting, and the tasks that are usually presented in their line of work. The school has a fantastic heritage in the competition with a team win-ning two of the three heats that they have entered in the past.

The teams were competing against twelve other teams from across the county including most of the local Gram-mar Schools. Unfortunately neither team came out victorious but can feel extremely proud of their efforts. Their presentation and team work skills were excellent, so much so that one team made it to the final four but unfortu-nately fell at the last hurdle.

The team that progressed the furthest comprised of Emily Andrew, Oliver Cann,

Kyle Wallhead, Aisha Mamadi, Libby Arnold and Josh Redmond.

Having watched the second team’s presentation, I believe that they can feel extremely hard done to having not progressed further as their presentation was exceptional. This team comprised of Josh Kilcullen, Dan Fawkes, Alex May, Adam Saxby,

Charlotte King and Bethany Hassall.

Well done Sixth Formers - you should be very proud! Mr Barnes, Head of Maths, ICT & Business Studies

Emily Andrew, Oliver Cann, Kyle Wallhead, Aisha Mamadi, Libby Arnold and Josh Redmond.

Josh Kilcullen, Dan Fawkes, Alex May, Adam Saxby, Charlotte King and Bethany Hassall.

Xmas Fundraiser takes total

to over £374,000 raised Mr Chris Parkes, a volunteer Ambassador for Cancer Research UK from Waddington came into school last week to accept a cheque for £580.62 raised at our Christmas Jumper Day. Mr Parkes has been fundrais-ing for over thirty years and has now raised over £374,000! Year 8 pupil, Evie Burrows, suggested the Jumper Day and the charity. Evie and fellow Year 8 pupil Chloe helped with the cheque presentation to Mr Parkes.

Mr Guest, Chloe Pearson, Evie Burrows and Mr Parkes

SWRA News Page 15

“Working Together to Make the Roads of Lincolnshire Safer for All”

Once again we were pleased to welcome the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership team to talk to Sixth Form, Years 12 and 13, about the dangers and consequences of driving. Their 2Fast2Soon presentation of theatre production, video clips and re-enactments combined to deliver a very thought provoking and sometimes literally hard hitting afternoon.

The scenario was based around a true incident where a young, speeding driver crashed his car into another, fled the scene and had to face the consequences of lying to police, a subsequent prison sentence and the death of his own mother due to the stress of his predicament.

The biggest impact to students was the presence of innocent driver and victim of the incident, James, who suf-fered horrific internal injuries and was willing to talk to our students about the ongoing effects on his life and health and answer their questions.

Student comments on their feedback forms included:

“The clear view of how extreme road accidents can have on multiple people and the ripple effect.”

“The powerful adverts and real footage of the crash – hard hitting.”

“The opportunity to talk to an actual crash victim. It helped to show the impact that dangerous driving can have.”

“I liked how they got us involved with the discussions and used volunteers to help demonstrate.”

A workshop followed involving the students, Sarah Cliffe, Tom Lane and Celia Beckford as drivers and passengers and illustrated to passengers how they can tactically get out of a speeding car if they feel unsafe. The best meth-od being to tell the driver they are going to be sick. No driver wants his or her passenger to be ill in their car. The car stops and the passenger then gets out to ‘be ill.’ They are then out of the car and can make their own choice about how they resume their journey.

Our students gave some very insightful input to the questions put to them by the team and as usual helped to make the afternoon with their own ideas, discussions and suggestions.

The aim of 2Fast2Soon is to:

Raise awareness of the immediate and long term consequences asso-ciated with poor road user behaviour and decision making.

Establish improved decision making to enhance safety as a road user.

Identify factors associated with: risk, consequences, peer pressure and effects on the family.

Mrs Brewer

On Saturday 12th March local baker and renowned character Pete Welbourne hosted a charity "Bread Make, Bake and Taste" event in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust at The Venue in Navenby, attended by over 140 people.

The idea came about at Christmas after a former SWRA pupil from Navenby was diagnosed with testicular cancer in November of last year. The event saw Pete and his son Richard, supported by Olli from Welbournes' bakery in the vil-lage, showcasing how to make various types of bread, and with the audience having opportunity to ask questions and participate in the baking process and then sharing the bread around the room for everyone to enjoy a taste.

There was also a cake sale and raffle on the day which, combined with ticket sales saw over £1850 raised for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The trust aims to raise awareness of cancer in teenagers and support those who have been diag-nosed, along with their families, as they deal with this disease.

Baking Fundraiser - Teenage Cancer Trust Event

SWRA News Page 16

Work Experience 2016

Another fantastic year with our Year 10 students at their work experience placements! All Year 10 students had the experience of the world of work during the week 7th – 11th March at various companies in the local area as well as Grantham, Sleaford, Lincoln and Newark areas. We also had three students going further afield to Leicester, Mansfield and Nottingham.

Work experience gives students the opportunity to gain an insight into the world of work, to investigate possible career paths and a chance to put their learning into practice. Students also have the opportunity to develop their self-confidence and improve their communication skills. For many students, work experience can be their first taste of the world of employment. Work experience offers students the opportunity to gain an insight into what life will be like when they leave full-time education and leaves them better prepared for the challenges and rewards employment offers.

The students have been buzzing since they returned to school chatting about their experiences of work and about the wonderful opportunities they had comparing school life to the real world of work and how different it is.

Preparing our students for this event starts back in September, ensuring that all the students have the best possi-ble placement which is suited to each individual and it is always a pleasure for staff visiting the students whilst on placement seeing them in a totally different environment enjoying and making the most of the experience. The positive comments from the employers are always such an inspiration and a delight and it is very rewarding to hear the buzz from staff talking about their visits in such a positive way. A few part time jobs and offers of possible apprenticeships is another bonus for the students.

However, this success would not happen if it were not for the generosity of the businesses providing our students the chance to spend time in their workplace offering these opportunities. All students have to be supervised and are offered planned programmes of work organised by the employers, some of which have been outstanding at a very high level. They give up their time freely in support of our young people and we are very grateful for this.

We now look forward to our Year 12 students who have opted to take advantage of another week’s work experi-ence at the end of June!

Mrs Morton

Bill Hemingway from BGB

Innovation regarding Callum

Campbell:

‘Outstanding student, a

credit to himself and the

school’

Julie Priestly from DBS In-

ternet Marketing regarding

Jake Wells:

‘An employer would be

lucky to have him!’

Lucy Wilson while on placement at Derry Build-ing Services. It was great to hear about her week via DBS’ Twitter feed!

SWRA News Page 17

Work Experience 2016

Tommy Watson at Virgin Trains, Grantham Station

Tommy sent a lovely thank you note to the staff he worked with at Virgin Trains, Grantham Station and they added this to their Twitter feed with some fantastic comments - see across.

Well done Tommy!

Devonnie Proctor at Grantham Hospital Joseph Ablewhite at Sharmans Agriculture Ltd

@SWRACADEMY

@performingSWRA

Holiday Activities

Ideas for activities to do over the holidays are available on the

Family Services Directory at www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/fsd

Click on ‘What’s On’

SWRA News Page 18

Did you know that you can set an alert so that your child doesn’t run out of money for school

dinners?

Since the introduction of Cashless Catering we are finding that a small number of pupils are trying to purchase school meals with insufficient funds on their accounts. In the first instance we will encourage your child to call home to get their account topped up online.

In order to ensure that the canteen runs as smoothly as possible may we suggest that you set and receive automated alerts from ParentPay for low balances and other purposes! It’s quick and easy to set up giving you peace of mind that your child/children will not get to the till only to find they have insufficient funds.

Go to the ‘I want to…’ area of your home page View/edit profile>Alert settings

Balance alerts: simply choose the type of alert you wish to receive (Email or SMS text) and set the ‘Threshold’ for each child. We recommend that this is set to cover the cost of meals for 3 days in order that you have time to top-up.

Other alerts that may be of interest include:

New item alerts: you can choose to receive an alert when your child’s school sets up a new payment item for your child.

Payment alerts – cheques and cash: you can set up alerts to tell you when a cash/cheque payment has been recorded against your child’s account in school ensuring you know the payment has been received safely.

Should you have any queries please contact the Finance Team on: finance@swracademy.org

Helping you manage school dinner money allowances

Year 12 Geographers visit to Snipe Dales

On Wednesday 8th March the Year 12 Geographers

and Mr Phillips braved the elements and visited Snipe Dales Nature Reserve in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Working alongside the Lincolnshire Trust and Lincoln University the pupils did a number of assess-ments on the water quality of the river running through the Dale. The pupils were tasked with judg-ing the water quality by counting the invertebrates and fish in the river.

Mr Phillips

This visit attracted lots of coverage on Twitter thanks to:

@LincChalkStream

@Lincs Wildlife

@NaturalEngland

Remember you can follow school activities on Twitter @SWRACADEMY

Pictured with Mr Phillips are L-R Eloise Richardson, Keisha Milne, Tom Priest & Elliott Barkham.

SWRA News Page 19

Income Support

Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance

Income-related Employment & Support Allowance

Support under Part VI of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999

Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit

Child Tax Credit with an annual household income of less than £16,190 & do not get Working Tax Credit

Cashless catering*– there is no differentiation between who pays and as a parent you can track your child’s meals online. An additional sum of money has also been allocated to pupil’s daily allowance above the pre-scribed floor value.

Trip subsidies – for all curriculum based off site events to ensure they can participate fully in all learning oppor-tunities.

Easter revision classes* – to ensure your child is prepared for their final examinations by accessing additional sessions based on examination technique and content linked to a wide range of courses.

1:1 Tuition in Maths and English* - to bridge any barriers to making progress in these key areas of the curricu-lum.

Learning Mentor* – provided to support pupils who are struggling to make progress or who are having difficul-ties at home or school.

For a full list of the interventions the school is providing please see the school website (under Parents, Pupil Premium).

Mr D. Bensley, Assistant Headteacher (*This intervention is accessible by all students)

Making the claim not only benefits your child in providing a healthy meal but also releases additional funds to the school to ensure they meet their full academic potential through a range of interventions that the school has put in place. Current initiatives include:-

Free School Meals

– Are you claiming your entitlement?

According to current research it is estimated that over 200,000 pupils entitled to claim Free School Meals are not doing so in Lincolnshire! School meals offer a nutritionally balanced meal during the school day to ensure your child is ready and able to engage fully in their learning and we would encourage you to apply for this entitlement. The following eligibility criteria apply:

Sign up for Free School Meals

There is a universal checking service for free school meals which will enable us to check all secondary school pupils for free school meal eligibility. This system will also determine eligibility for Pupil Premium, which means schools receive an extra £935 per eligible pupil from central government to fund valuable support such as ex-tra tuition and learning support.

The form and further information is available on the school website and can be found under: Finance/Free School Meals and under

Pupil Premium on the Parents section of the website.

SWRA News Page 20

Visit the website to keep up to date on school activities, revision sessions, news, trips and clubs. All letters are available to view and

download on the website - ‘Parents’, ‘School Letters’

www.swracademy.org

UK Mathematics Trust - Challenges 2016

Year 11 Revision Sessions

There are a wide range of revision sessions organised for Year 11 students in preparation for their examina-tions. Please visit the website for the timetables and further information. An extensive programme is in place for Science and English and the timetables can be found via the Latest News Posts on the Home page or via the Examinations page (under Parents). Other revision sessions include:

GCSE Graphics - Tuesday lunchtimes 1.30 - 2.00pm (from 1st March) & Afterschool Wednesday 3.15 - 4.30pm

Graphics Coursework Club continues every week day 1.15 - 2.00pm & Afterschool Wednesday 3.15 - 4.30pm

GCSE PE Revision - every Thursday 3.15 - 4.15pm

Science Revision - lunchtimes 1.35 - 2.00pm & Afterschool 3.10 - 4.10pm (see full timetables)

English - every lunchtime 1.30 - 2.00pm (see full timetable)

Senior Maths Challenge (SMC) 2016

The SMC encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. It is aimed at those in full-time education on a post-16 course. There are usually around 100,000 entries nationwide and certificates are awarded to the top 60% of candi-dates (Gold: Silver: Bronze 1:2:3)

Congratulations to the following students from our school:

Kean Cuff….best in school and a Bronze certificate

Joshua Kilcullen….best in Year 12 and Bronze

Sam Walton ….best in Year 13 and Bronze

Aaron Hancock, Emily Andrew & Ashley Johnson-Bark ….Bronze

Intermediate Maths Challenge (IMC) 2016

The IMC has similar aims as the Senior challenge but is aimed at Years 9, 10 and 11 and there are usually around 250,000 entries nationwide with certificates being awarded to the top 40% of candidates (Gold: Silver: Bronze 1:2:3)

Congratulations to the following students:

Charlie Pearson….best in school, best in Year 11 and a Gold certificate

Chloe Sloan….best in Year 10 and Silver

Ivan Szabo…..best in Year 9 and Silver

Sam Boardman, Joshua Hobby, Jade Blenkinship ……Silver

Tom Hanstock, Daniel Thompson, Jack Patrick, Jordan Howard, Charlotte Pearce…..Bronze

Thank you and well done to all those who took part!

Mr Henshaw

SWRA News Page 21

Are you due to be deployed? As a school we recognise the strain that deployment can place on the families of Service Children and have implemented the following resources that you might want to access during this challenging time.

A learning mentor – who can be assigned to your child to offer both pastoral and academic support.

A counsellor – trained and experienced specifically in helping Service Children.

Tablet PC’s – discrete access to email and Skype has been made possi-ble to ensure that pupils can maintain strong communication with a de-ployed parent.

If you would like to make use of any of these services please contact Mr

Bensley for further information.

Help us to help you! Keep us informed

Please make sure that we have up-to-date contact information in the event we need to speak to you during the school day.

Absences:

If your child is absent from school or has a medical appointment, it would really help us if you could telephone and leave a message by 9am on the same day. Messages can be left by:

Dialling 01400 272422

Selecting Option 3 to record pupil sickness/absence/medical appointment

Selecting Option 5 to report anything else or leave a message for a named member of staff.

Alternatively, we have an Attendance email address: attendance@swracademy.org which can be used to com-municate absence and appointment information. For future medical appointments, a note can be written in your child’s Planner and should be shown to Mrs Jex at the Office in advance of the appointment.

Attendance is monitored daily/weekly and parents are contacted about any unexplained absence.

Thank you for your help with this important communication process.

Pupil Premium change in Eligibility Please be aware that the criteria for Pupil Premium funding is being widened to include:

Pupils who are adopted but have been looked after for one day or more or were adopted from care or left care under:

- a Special Guardianship Order - a Residence Order

If you feel that you may be eligible for the funding (£1900), please contact the school office.

Mr D. Bensley

SWRA News Page 22

Miss Harcourt & Mr Cooke are taking part in the St Barnabas Strictly Ballroom 2016 on 3rd April

to raise money for St Barnabas Hospice Trust and would really appreciate your support.

Donating to their JustGiving page is easy - just follow this link and click Donate:

https://www.justgiving.com/elizabeth-harcourt2/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=emails-from-

eua&utm_content=shorturl&utm_campaign=eua-email-sponsorshiprequest

You can also come and watch them dance...tickets for the finale at The LPAC, Lincoln can purchased

directly through the website. Click on the link to purchase tickets

www.stbarnabashospice.co.uk/strictlyfinal

Thank you for your support.

We would be delighted if you, your friends, your family members could help collect Active Kids 2016 vouchers.

The vouchers are being offered every time you shop in your local Sainsbury’s and it would be great if you could send them into school and ask your child to put them in the box near Repro-graphics in Robertson. The more vouchers we receive, the more equipment our pupils will be able to benefit from.

Let’s pull together for Active Kids….

Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers

SWRA News Page 23

News from Performing Arts...

Wonderful voices at choir!

Tom Lane performing his A Level Music solo.

Miss Bennett took Sixth Formers Sarah Cliffe, Emma Setchell, Conor Elliott, Ed Fox, Nathanial McNarry and Louis Belkaddar to London in late January to see a pro-duction of Macbeth at the Young Vic theatre. They are required to write a theatre review on a Shakespeare play for their written examination for A Level. During the trip they visited the Globe Theatre which was a fantastic expe-rience.

Good luck to our students for their A Level live performances this week!

SWRA News Important Dates for 2016 Page 24

@SWRACADEMY

@performingSWRA

Sir William Robertson

Academy

March

24th Deadline Y12 WX placement information handed in 24th Last day of Term 4 (Easter Holidays)

April 5th - 8th Y13 Berlin Trip 11th Inset Day 12th Term 5 starts 19th Y10 Parents’ Evening 19th - 22nd Art GCSE Week 20th UCAS Convention Derby Year 11/12 27th - 28th Duke of Edinburgh Bronze practice expedition 28th Maths Junior Challenge 28th Quadcopter Build Challenge continues

May 2nd May Bank Holiday 3rd iGCSE English Language Examination 12th Quadcopter Challenge 14th/15th Duke of Edinburgh Bronze final w/c16th GCSE & GCE examinations commence (until 24th June) 26th Y8 HPV for girls 26th Quadcopter Challenge 27th End of Term 5

June 6th Start of Term 6 13th Y12 return to start their A2 courses 20th Year 12 Induction Day 22nd/23rd Lincolnshire Show Schools’ Challenge (Graphics Club) 22nd - 24th Y12 Duke of Edinburgh Silver practice expedition 23rd - 26th Performing Arts London Trip 23rd Higher Education Evening for Year 12 students/parents 24th Year 11 Prom at Wyndham Garden Hotel, Marston w/c 27th Year 12 Work Experience week 29th Year 13 Leavers Day & Prom, White Hart 30th Raytheon Quadcopter Final 30th Summer Open Evening Y4/5

July

TBA Fashion Academy 1st - 6th Y10/12 Berlin Trip 7th Y7 Induction Day & Evening 12th Sports Day 13th Step 4 in BG’s Next Steps4Study programme 15th - 17th Y12 Duke of Edinburgh Silver final 21st Last day of Term 6

August

18th A Level Results Day

25th GCSE Results Day

September

1st/2nd INSET training days

5th Start of Term for Year 7, 12 & 13 only

6th Start of Term for all other years

12th - 14th Y4/5 Open Morning 9.15am -11.15am

14th Y4/5 Open Evening 6.00pm - 8.30pm

Now on YouTube

SWR Academy

The Quadcopter Challenge