Autumn 2014

Our senior ambassadors for RE (Holly Walker, Jake Chaplin and Ryan Hutchings) organised and delivered a conference for students from schools across Nottinghamshire. The conference took nearly a year to plan and organise! The aim was to help spread the word about how exciting, challenging and useful GCSE RE really is. We thought pupils at Redhill were very aware of this but we were worried that the message might not be as clear in other schools.

We welcomed some very special guests on the day including BBC presenter Sarah Julian and Dr Sarah Smalley who is the chief executive of the RE Council of England and Wales. Sarah Julian gave a talk about her radio programme which is all about faith and belief in Nottingham. She even stayed to do a question and answer session afterwards. Dr Sarah Smalley said she was incredibly impressed because the day was produced by young people for young people.

“Jake, Holly and Ryan did so well in so many different ways. They showed astonishing levels of confidence for young people in the sixth form. To be able not only to do the organising but also to present and lead sessions with students from five different schools is an achievement many young teachers would find daunting, but they carried it off in the nicest possible way and were both modest about what they'd done but also (rightly) proud of their achievements.” Dr Sarah Smalley

The day was a real success and yet again, I was left feeling incredibly proud of our RE department. It’s wonderful to see our pupils demonstrating their commitment to RE because they know it’s vital both for their own development and for the wellbeing of society. A special mention must go to Holly Walker who ended up giving an interview for Central News!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to our newly appointed young ambassadors for RE: Sam Walker, Meghan Swarbrooke, Emily Johnson, Emily Baggaley, Rosie Gough, Laura Norris and Olivia Harrison-James. Who knows what they will achieve over the next year?

Miss Wilkinson

The Redhill Review

From the Principal

As you can see from the articles in this newsletter, Redhill students continue to participate in many exciting activities outside their normal lessons. As well as the Performing Arts opportunities on offer, students have also been getting involved in science, technology, maths, poetry, politics and charity fund raising.

Whilst academic achievement will always be our central aim, a successful school is much more than this. These activities add breadth to our students’ experiences, often challenging them to go outside their comfort zone.

As always at this time of year, we are also looking forward to our Christmas Carol Concert which will be held at St Paul’s in Daybrook on Wednesday 17 December. I am sure that many of you will be there, but if you can’t make it, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Mr Burns

At the end of September, the staff at Redhill exceeded all expectations by raising the amazing sum

of over £160 by bringing cakes in to sell in the staffroom for the Macmillan coffee morning. We also

had a big raffle with donated prizes which boosted the collection. The Science department had an

event the week after which then added to this sum and the grand total banked was well over

£250. A massive thank you to everybody who helped or supported this national event for such a

worthy cause.

Mrs Barton and Mrs Cripwell

Message to Parents — Parking on Redhill Road

We have had a number of complaints from local residents about cars

blocking their driveways both before, and after school. We would ask

that you please park considerately if you are either dropping off

students in the morning or picking them up at the end of the day.

Wicked Dance Summer School 2014

Dancers from Years 7-11 spent the first week of the holidays working with Musical Theatre

professional Louise Lenihan to create an outstanding performance for friends and family. Louise has

starred in West End productions including Grease, Chicago and Starlight Express for over 20 years.

Each day started with a strenuous physical warm-up, followed by vocal techniques and learning

professional repertoire from various musicals including Hairspray and West Side Story. On day 3,

the students were given a break and travelled to Birmingham Hippodrome to see an inspirational

performance of Wicked, the prequel to the Wizard of Oz. On the final day, the students wowed

friends and family with the amount and quality of what they’d learned in such a short time. Parents

commented on what an amazing performance was produced and students were very grateful to

have had the opportunity to work with Louise and see such a fantastic show. It was wicked!

Macmillan Coffee Morning

National Poetry Day

Although you may not realise, poetry has a great impact on our lives. Its purpose is to provoke

a certain emotion and often, it leads to a change in society. On Thursday 2nd October, it was

National Poetry Day and some of you may have taken part in various activities in school to

celebrate. On this day, I was lucky enough to be in London celebrating my own poetic

achievements.

During the summer, I entered a competition called Foyle’s Young

Poets which some of you may have heard of. Overall, there were

14,000 individual poems submitted from all over the world. These

poems were judged by a very famous lady called Grace Nichols and

another great poet, Simon Barraclough. There were 15 overall

winners and 85 commended poets, which was the category I fell

into. As a result of this, Ms Leeson and I attended an incredible

ceremony in London where I received my prizes and heard the

winning poems. What made this even more special (apart from the

amazing view of the London Eye) was meeting Grace Nichols and the

other commended poets and winners. Everybody all shared the

same passion and all were so talented and friendly. The event made the fact that it took four

trains to get there due to several cancellations so worth it!

My prize was a bag full of poetry related books by top publishers and a year-long membership

to The Poetry Society which keeps me up to date with poetry related news, allows me to

attend various events and publish my own work on the Young Poets Network site (which I

advise you check out). However, the best prize was the great confidence boost from the whole

experience. It was a very surreal and overwhelming day but I am now more determined than

ever to continue writing and keep the form going!

I would urge any keen poets to check out www.poetrysociety.org.uk and keep your eye out for

next year’s Foyle competition! You never know where entering the competition could lead. It is

open to young people aged 11-17, regardless of experience or ability. It would make me

extremely happy if just one person would take that small step of entering as it is really

important that we keep poetry alive and continue to write and inspire people.

If any of you are keen on writing

poetry and/or want any more

information regarding the event or

competition itself, you can email me at

chloe.lee09@hotmail.com and I will be

happy to provide you with further

information.

Chloe Lee, Year 13

Specialisms Week 2014

The Redhill Academy’s annual Specialisms Week ran last term and, as usual, the

Year 7 timetable was replaced with a series of bespoke activities, which were based

around a ‘Super/Natural’ theme.

Arts activities consisted of a series of song writing workshops, which included

composing soundscapes and performing supernatural songs. Art students produced

cardboard creatures and our young dancers choreographed original pieces, based

on a variety of heroes and villains. Drama students worked with a professional film

company and produced a spooky DVD, ‘Deadhill Academy’.

Science activities included

the exciting opportunity to

extract and view the DNA of a

kiwi fruit using the work of

the scientists Watson & Crick.

Pupils also designed and

tested a bridge that had to be

strong enough to support an

armoured knight to cross and

rescue a princess from an evil

dragon!

Another workshop had the pupils create their own supernatural creature that they

could imagine living in either the jungle, Arctic or under the sea. Lastly, students

had to help Harry Potter fix a mistake he made in his Potions lesson before

Professor Snape found out!

Students also participated in Code Breakers’ Guide to the Galaxy workshops

provided by the Maths faculty, shadow puppet workshops provided by the English

faculty, Extra-Terrestrial workshops in Design and Technology and an Unbelievable

workshop led by Humanities staff. All of these events were recorded for posterity

by our own Year 7 paparazzi, who were managed by the ICT Faculty.

Thanks to everyone involved, it was a very enjoyable few days for both students

and teachers alike!

Mr Latham and Mrs Ollis

Youth for Change and Girl Summit 2014

At the end of the Summer Term, two A Level Sociology students, Beth Evans and

Monique Price, were selected to attend the “Youth for Change” conference, which

is an event held by the Department for International Development. The students

were nominated by the school to the local MP as a result of their hard work and

dedication in A Level Sociology. They were then selected out of hundreds of

applicants to represent Nottinghamshire.

The students spent the day at Westminster participating in key debates, with

students from across the globe. Issues that affect young people in contemporary

society were related to. The discussions that the students participated in helped

inspire action at “Girl Summit 2014”, the global conference hosted by the UK

government and UNICEF.

The students listened to a number of talks from key politicians, such as Theresa

May, as well as from young people involved with UNICEF. The students gained a lot

from this experience as the speakers were truly inspiring. It also allowed the

students to apply their

sociological knowledge to

‘real’ societal issues.

Miss Armitage

It has been a busy start to the Autumn Term for the football teams of The Redhill Academy; with 31 fixtures already having been played by the end of November.

We had in excess of 50 Year 7 boys at-tend the new intake football trials in September, and the girls have been fortunate enough to have their training sessions delivered by the coaches from Nottingham Forest.

Our Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 Girls have made an impressive start to the season, with all three having negotiated the early rounds to reach the Quarter Finals of their respective County Cups.

The Under 12 ‘B Team’ and Under 16 Boys have progressed to the last 64 teams in the ESFA National Cup, a remarkable achievement considering the high number of entrants that these competitions attract from across the country.

A final mention should go to four individual students who have all managed to score 5 goals in a single game for their respective year groups; they are Georgie Houghton, Lauren Wood, Jason Law and Qaa’Sim Uhuru.

Mr Trowbridge

Football 2014

Every year we reach out to those who most need support within the world. It is a point in time when as a nation we come together to raise as much awareness as possible by collecting charitable donations from many events and sponsors. Here at The Redhill Academy we strive to collect as much money as possible from our students by having as much fun as possible. Within main school, the children wear non-uniform and pay £1, with just this the school can raise over £1000.

The Sixth Form try and create as much fun as possible by having a fun dress-up day, this year the theme was Hero’s. This lets the students choose to either dress as their hero or a superhero. As a Sixth Form we are entertained by students dressing up as such characters like; Chuckle Brothers, Mad Scientist, Doctor Who, Batman and Robin, Superman and even celebrities of the likes of Joan Rivers.

During lunch time, activities where held in the Sixth Form block for all students to join in. This involved henna designs, Just Dance competition and a week long, ‘guess the sweet’ challenge.

It is important to the Sixth Form that we can make each year memorable and fun, and still remember the cause; this year’s total was over £160. We’d like to thank all who took part and who helped raise and contribute towards our total.

Georgia Jackson, Year 13

Children in Need

JANUARY

Week 2

Wednesday 7 Year 10 English Controlled Assessment catch-up

Thursday 8 Year 11 Progress Report 2 Issued

7pm Annual Presentation Evening

Week 1

Monday 12 Year 12 and 13 Mock Exams (until 23.01.15)

Tuesday 13 4pm Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Wednesday 14 Trip: Year 10 Drama Unit 2—Theatre

Thursday 15 Trip: Year 10 Dance Performance Workshop, New College Nottingham

Week 2

Monday 19 Year 8 Assessment Week

Year 11 Mentoring Week

Year 12 and 13 Art Mock Exams Week (Units 1 & 3)

Wednesday 21 3:15pm Inter-house Blockbuster Quiz Final

Trip: Year 11 History — The Galleries of Justice

Thursday 22 Trip: Year 11 History — The Galleries of Justice

Week 1

Wednesday 28 3:15pm Inter-house KS3 Table Tennis

Thursday 29 3:15pm Inter-house KS4 Table Tennis

Friday 30 Trip: Year 10 and 11 Art — London

Next half term dates for your diary…

‘Perfect’ Attitude to Learning…

Congratulations to the following students who have received Head of School’s Commendations

for achieving outstanding in all of their subjects for Attitude to Learning this term:

Esther Acquah 10AAS

Emily Baggaley 9AJSW

Lucy Barlow 10SJW

Evelyne Deacon 10DJN

Kiesha Gibson 10DMI

Courtney Thorne 11LDG

Benjamin Heath 10DMI

Ben Watkins 10LCD

Redhill Road, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 8GX (0115) 926 1481

www.theredhillacademy.org.uk admin@theredhillacademy.org.uk

FEBRUARY

Week 2

Monday 2 Sixth Form Mock Results Day

Performing Arts Assemblies (until 06.02.15)

Trip: Year 8 — Beth Shalom Centre

Wednesday 4 Trip: Year 12 Forensic Science—Nottingham Trent University

Post-18 Career Development Day

Thursday 5 P1 and 2 Intermediate Maths Challenge—top sets in Yrs 10 & 11, plus top ten Yr 9s

Year 12 and 13 Progress Report 2 issued

Year 13 Drama Exam (Unit 3)

Friday 6 Year 13 Drama Unit 3 Controlled Assessment (until 04.04.15)

Trip: Year 10 and 11 RE — Poland (until 08.02.15)

Week 1

Monday 9 Year 9 Maths Assessment Week Entry Level 2 (Set 5)

Performing Arts Assemblies (until 13.02.15)

Tuesday 10 Year 10 Progress Report 2 issued

7pm Lower School Music Recital Evening

Trip: Year 8 RE — National Holocaust Centre

Wednesday 11 4pm Year 10 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 12 Trip: Year 8 RE — National Holocaust Centre

Friday 13 12:30pm — Valentines Reading Event

Half Term